Wild Cherry Blossom

Chapter 1 – Exams and Confusion

Pain. That was the first thing she felt as she slowly clawed her way back towards consciousness. It was not any psychical pain she could name and she instinctively knew that this pain was spiritual in nature. Some twisted foreign presence, clawing and biting its way through her soul.

She was confused, where was she and what was attacking her very essence? Well whatever it was she would be damned if she let it win without a fight.

'After all I always win in the end.' The thought flashed through her head followed closely by a wave of confusion. 'Wait, who am I?'

Another wave of pain washed over her as the entity gained another deeper hold on her being. The thing attacking her felt utterly evil and repulsive and she cursed her current confusion.

'Focus on this thing first!' she berated herself mentally even as she prepared to fight the intruder. She focused and began to gather her energies around the presence's tendrils and squeezed, compacting her ki violently around the intruder. Whatever it was, it was obviously not expecting any resistance as the entity was immediately forced to retreat from the sudden onslaught.

'Suck on that!' she mentally cheered. Her elation was short-lived as the entity began thrashing about, lashing its tendrils violently. With each new movement another wave of pain washed over her.

'Damn it! What are you?' she grit the spiritual version of her teeth and fought back, pushing harder. The entity started to slowly lose ground to her will, its rapid movements blocked by her ki. Realising it was being forced away, the entity tried changing tactics. The many tendrils it had pulled back and began merging into one large one. This larger tendril then pushed forward with far greater strength.

She mentally grunted from the force, but held her ground by sheer willpower. After what seemed to be forever the thing suddenly stopped fighting and retreated away.

'Oh, you don't attack me and just expect to get away?' she mentally shouted at the entity as she pursued it. The thing shrank away to a small black spot, a tiny blemish on her soul that she was determined to remove. She smashed her ki against the thing and was surprised as the spot resisted her attack.

'Hmmm, whatever you are you've given up for now eh?' She gave the thing a couple of good hits before deciding it was not going to bother her for a while. She would deal with it later.

'Now where the heck am I?'

She forced open her eyes and blinked them, trying to clear the blurriness. The first thing she noticed was orange? She blinked, yup still orange, but now she could focus better she saw it was a young boy dressed in a very bright orange jumpsuit. He was lying on his back seemingly out-cold. Seeing the rise and fall of his chest and feeling his ki she knew he was alive and of no danger to herself. She noted his spiky mess of blond hair and some strange whisker-like markings on the one cheek she could see. He seemed vaguely familiar.

Extending her senses she instantly went on high alert, there were some nasty auras right nearby. She counted seven auras in total, three were giving off large amount of killing intent, one was showing bored indifference and another three that were further away seemed to be scared but trying to stay hidden.

‘I would have to wake up in the middle of a battle. Just my luck…’ She groused as she rolled over. Pressing her hands against the ground she raised her upper-body until she was kneeling on her legs. She quickly looked around taking in her surroundings. She appeared to be in a forest of some kind, and seemed to have been hidden among the gnarled roots of a large tree. Whoever had moved her and the blond boy had tried to hide them from sight. A quick glance up revealed a dark starry sky revealing it was night.

A glance downward showed she was wearing a red sleeveless outfit with a thin white trim, kind of a cross between a shirt and a dress, but only the front and back parts extended to mid thigh. Underneath that she found a tight pair of black shorts.

‘At least it’s not too girly.’ She thought. ‘Huh? Why would I worry about it being too girly? I’m a girl aren’t I?’ she paused in her self inspection.

‘Why do I feel so off?’ She frowned while looking down at her hands; they seemed wrong but also familiar somehow. That they moved when she wanted them to do so and the fact she could feel to slightly damp ground below them told her that they were definitely her own.

"Hey Dosu, why the hell does the boss want this loser?" a voice asked nearby. She turned her head and found a young boy, around twelve or thirteen being held in the air by his blue top. The boy had been in a recent fight, covered in minor scrapes, bruises and dirt. He looked exhausted but had a defiant look in his eyes as he glared at his opponent. The older boy holding him was fairly tall, with spiky black hair and wearing some type of camouflage gear.

"Heh, he probably won't Zaku, not now that we've proven that this Sasuke is weak." another man, who stood hunched over was dressed similarly, but his face was almost completely hidden behind wrapped bandages. He was wearing a weird furry cloak and had a cheese-grater? on one arm.

"Pathetic." the one called Zaku looked over towards the tree where to other two lay and blinked in surprise, giving Sasuke enough of an opening to free himself with a twist of the guys wrist.

“You little punk!” Zaku growled rubbing his wrist as Sasuke rolled backwards away from him where he took up a fighting stance.

“What are you doing letting him go?” Dosu asked shaking his head.

Zaku finished rubbing his wrist and pointed behind and to the right of Sasuke. “You won't believe it but the girl that got marked is awake.”

“What?”

Said girl suddenly found three Soundnin’s and Sasuke’s attention focused onto herself. "Umm, hello." she waved less than enthusiastically.

"Damn, this will complicate things." Dosu swore while examining the girl for signs of the cursed seal being active. 'If she now has the cursed seal we won't be able to beat her. Kabuto told us she would be dead before now and to get Sasuke as soon as possible. That’s why we’ve attacked now instead of waiting.'

"Then I'll just uncomplicate them!" shouted Zaku confidently grinning like a madman as he pointed one palm towards her and the unconscious boy, revealing a small hole in the middle of his hand. Seconds later she felt a build-up of ki and something else that she could not quite recognise, in the ninja's body before it exploded out of the hole and headed towards her.

'Using his ki to produce massive air pressure!' she realised as the attack shot at great speed towards her and the vulnerable boy. With as much speed as her unfamiliar body allowed, she roughly grabbed the boy by his orange clothes and leapt upwards narrowly avoiding the blast of pressurised air.

'Wow…' she thought landing lightly on a branch above the area where the blast hit, watching pieces of bark, dirt and leaves get blasted around. 'There was enough pressure to see the air distort.' She made sure the blond boy was safely tucked under one arm, before stepping off the branch.

"Not bad," she stated to the shock of everybody in the clearing as she landed easily and handed the blond boy off to a stunned Sasuke. "Sasuke wasn't it? Here look after blondie for me."

"Sa…Sakura?" he stuttered as she turned back to face the three Soundnins. 'How did she avoid that attack?'

'Sakura, is that my name?' she absently thought. 'Seems familiar, but I need to take these guys out first before I worry bout that.' She started by analysing the odds. ‘Sasuke seemed to be the one defending us so he appears to be on my side.' She frowned slightly and noted the head-bands everyone seemed to be wearing. 'Hmm, those three have a different symbol. Looks like a musical note, and that one attacked me with an air-based attack. The others have a leaf symbol I think, so this looks to be rival clans or something and these soundy guys seem to be the bad guys.'

Sakura quickly ran her fingers across the headband she was wearing more as a hair-band than a forehead protector, making it look like she was adjusting it when she was really checking the symbol. 'A leaf, guess I know which side I'm on. Whoever these guys are they're not playing games. Not with an attack like that. I'm not liking the odds here, Sasuke is tired and the other guy is out cold. Even if he weren’t they’re only kids and these guys are pros.' She fought back a wince of pain in her chest. 'Damn, my body didn't like moving that fast from earlier.' She could already feel the telltale signs of over-exertion on her part, she'd used far too much ki fighting that whatever it was and this body's reserves were way lower than she was expecting. Her body seemed awkward and restricting, like wearing a pair of too small shoes or panties as a guy. 'Where the hell did that thought come from?' Sakura thought in surprise, her memories were definitely screwed up and she would have to do something about that later. Her energy seemed weird too, like her ki was being mixed with another power and it was making it hard for her to pull that energy out for use.

'I need to end this fight fast.' she thought. Now that she had seen the attack she was pretty sure she could beat the guy easily enough. She started to gather her energies for her attack; she would need to move fast. 'I’m gonna havta gamble, it’ll have to be a show of force. This'll wipe me, but I can't let em know that.'

"So windy, that’s a powerful attack but it's to all intents useless." Sakura smirked in a particularly annoying fashion hoping her opponent had a temper. "Next time try using both hands, you might actually hit something, like say a rock or if ya get really lucky, maybe a turtle." She emphasised the really part.

The Soundnin bristled. "Why you little bitch! I'm gonna kill you!"

There it was. Sakura felt the power build-up that signified the Soundnin’s attack as he pulled both his arms into an attacking position. Pushing her body beyond its current limits she exploded into a straight head on dash. A cry of Sakura filtered past her ears but she was completely focused on her opponent whose eyes widened in shock at her speed. She was in front of him just as his powering up reach its peak.

"Ultimate Zankuuha!" Zaku shouted pushing his attack towards the small annoying girl. Sakura smirked while focusing a small portion of the remainder of her power into the tips of her pointer fingers and with exceptional precision used them to block up the Soundnin’s palm-holes. It seemed like there was for a moment, complete silence as if the world itself was holding its breath.

"You lose windy." Sakura calmly stated as the Soundnin’s forearms started to swell from the pressure being blocked and having no where to escape to. His eyes seemed to widen to the size of plates as he realised exactly what the outcome was going to be and he began to scream in pain as his arms bulged further still, before rupturing in a spectacular and gory manner. The pressure escaped in multiple directions harmlessly to anyone except the Soundnin who was now in tremendous agony.

"A powerful attack but its flaw is far too obvious." Sakura stated with a nasty smile as she pulled her fingers back with a faint pop, allowing the Soundnin's arms to flop uselessly in front of him. She then proceeded to land what looked to be a lazy roundhouse kick against his head sending him crashing into his colleague who was forced back, his feet leaving a short gouge in the dirt from the impact and sent Zaku into a welcome unconsciousness.

Using all of her willpower to appear calm and unhurt she fixed the remaining Soundnin’s with an intense glare. "Take him and get lost, before I really get mad."

Dosu stared in shock at how easily the girl had dealt with Zaku. 'And that was without the seal being active. If she does activate it…we’re dead. What was that man thinking?' Quickly he weighed up his options and decided his course of action. He reached into his top and pulled out a scroll and held it towards her.

"Here, have this scroll just let us leave." he placed the scroll gently onto the ground.

“What are you doing?” the girl Soundnin asked.

“I’ve decided this fight is over.” Dosu growled before hefting his fallen comrade over his shoulder. Just as they started walking off he looked back over his shoulder at them. "If there is another situation where we meet in this exam, next time I promise we won't run."

Sakura watched them leap away into the trees, never once taking her eyes off of them or the same intense stare off her face. Once she was happy that they had really gone she let out a big sigh of relief.

"Sakura are you…?" Sasuke asked approaching the girl slowly. He had never seen her do anything remotely like that before. Usually she was useless or just plain annoying, never had he known her so dangerous. 'She beat that guy in one move, yet they neutralised my attacks easily. How did she suddenly get so good? Was it that bite?'

Sakura turned to him and smiled in a way that he would have best describe as a Naruto-foxy grin. She began to nervously rub the back of her head with one hand.

"Sorry 'bout this." she stated before her eyes rolled up and she collapsed bonelessly forward forcing Sasuke to catch the girl in reflex. As he gently laid the unconscious girl down three shadows fell over them. Sasuke quickly reach for a weapon, but paused as he saw it was Shikamaru’s team. They must have been hiding nearby. He was still wary as everyone competing in the exam could be an enemy.

"Is forehead okay?" Ino the slim, blond pony-tailed girl dressed in a blue outfit asked Sasuke.

"I think so. She just seems exhausted." Sasuke frowned at the sleeping girl.

Ino was torn between jealously that her rival for Sasuke was being held by him and her concern for her friend. Concern won for once and she smiled and kneeled down to check the unconscious girl.

"Your sensei must have taught you some awesome stuff for forehead to get that good."

Sasuke snorted. "Riiiight. Kakashi-sensei didn't teach us to move like that." He checked Sakura's neck where she had been bitten by that snake-man and found a weird bruise, a small circle, yet the bite marks had vanished completely.

"He didn't? Where did she learn to move that fast then?" Ino asked. Sasuke frowned at her but said nothing too caught up in his own thoughts to answer.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru stated mulling over what he had seen. Something had happened to Team 7. Whatever it was had knocked out both Naruto and Sakura and had left Sasuke shaken. Although the Uchiha boy was trying his best to suppress it, Shikamaru could see the boy was upset and a little scared. Somehow Sakura had suddenly become far stronger than before as well. Yep, definitely troublesome.

-- -- --

Hidden in the branches of a nearby tree Kabuto watched in fascination. Orochimaru had missed his target when that Sakura girl managing to push Sasuke out of the way. Instead of giving Sasuke the cursed seal as had been planned it had instead gone to the pink-haired girl. Neither he nor Orochimaru thought the girl would live, and although a set back perhaps not a total loss. The girl would die and Sasuke would more than likely still seek Orochimaru out, if not for power then at least to avenge the girl’s death.

However that had not happened. The girl had survived the cursed seal. Not only survived it, but suppressed it almost completely and then had defeated one of Orochimaru's Soundnins easily with barely any energy left. Of course they had been the lowest of the low but it was still impressive. Kabuto smiled to himself, clearly amused. The girl had surprised him completely; he had assumed like everyone else that she was nothing special, the token female of the group.

The cursed seal had obviously done something to her, but it was not what was expected and Kabuto had a suspicion that when the girl regained her strength she would be far more interesting to watch than even the Uchiha boy. However he had a job to do first and that was making sure that Sasuke made it through the forest and to the finals.

-- -- --

The sound of dripping water pulled Sakura back towards consciousness. A partially large droplet splashed on her forehead, the coldness snapping her eyes open. She sat up quickly and took in her surroundings instantly on high alert. She appeared to be in a sewer.

‘Just great, my mind is all messed up, my body’s all weird, I’ve been attacked by some kind of black spot and now I keep waking up in totally different places.’ She mentally grumbled as she pushed herself off the ground. ‘Weird I don’t actually feel tired.’

Looking around she found another surprise laying on the ground beside her, the blond boy in the amazingly bright orange clothes, as before he was unconscious. A faintly warm, slightly sickly smelling breeze blew through the tunnel the two of them currently occupied, reminding Sakura of breathing strangely enough.

“Well, where the hell are we now blondie?” she asked the unconscious boy. With a sigh she plopped herself down, cross-legged and folded her arms across her chest and frowned in concentration. The breeze blew past once again, this time going in the opposite direction.

“Okay, this place is spooky.” She mumbled. Deciding that she should try and wake her mysterious companion Sakura reached across and shook the boy’s shoulder.

“Hey wake up.”

The boy groaned before opening his eyes. Sakura took note that they were a bright blue. He looked at her in confusion before recognition dawned on his face.

“Sakura-chan,” he said happily sitting up before looking around in confusion. “Huh? Where are we?”

Sakura sighed in mild annoyance. “Great, you don’t know either.”

“Eh? Did Sasuke really drop us in a sewer?” he asked standing up while examining the pipes running overhead.

“No idea, last thing I remember properly is fighting that guy with the air attack.” Sakura stated standing up also, noting that boy was shorter than herself while the boy’s whisker marked face scrunched up in concentration. “By they way, what’s your name?”

“Eh?” they boy asked clearly surprised. “What do you mean?”

Sakura shrugged her shoulders. “Well, my heads all messed up since I woke up that last time.” She pointed a finger against the side of her head. “You look familiar but I can’t remember ya name.”

The boy was suddenly in her face examining her closely his eyes narrowed dangerously. “You look like Sakura-chan, but there’s no way she’d forget me. Is this a trick?”

Sakura sighed. “No trick. I got no problem calling you blondie all the time if you want that.” She glared back at him. The staring match was interrupted by distant chuckle. A very evil chuckle followed by the breeze picking up.

“Wha…what was that?” the boy asked nervously glancing in the direction the noise had came from, previous hostilities forgotten. Sakura felt her skin crawl, whatever it was, its presence felt very powerful, very old and utterly malevolent. Although her instincts told her to walk away quickly, a small voice at the back of her mind thought strangely that whatever it was knew something about why her head was messed up. Deciding she had to know Sakura began to walk down the tunnel towards the noise.

“Hey where are you going?” blondie asked grabbing her left arm. With a quick jab to his wrist he found his fingers opening involuntary allowing Sakura to continue.

“I’m going to find out where the heck we are and what’s going on.” She simply replied. “You can stay here if you want to scaredycat.”

“I am not a scaredycat! And my name’s Naruto not blondie.” Naruto informed her as he caught up with her. Oh yeah he would prove that he was not scared.

The tunnel turned out to be rather short and the two lost ninjas soon found themselves in a huge chamber, ankle deep in cold water and lit with a sickly yellow glow. Naruto let out a gasp at seeing the massive bars in front of them, the bars themselves where thicker than he was wide.

Sakura could really feel the presence now, whatever it was, was just behind those bars. She could not actually see anything behind them because of the darkness but it was there. A glance upwards showed the bars disappearing into the inky blackness above them. At what she assumed was halfway up there was a lock with a sealing ward attached to it. Whatever was behind those bars was a prisoner she decided.

“What is this?” Naruto asked nervously stepping closer to the bars trying to see what was hidden in the dark.

“A prison.” Sakura stated examining the bars. “A very big and well made prison.”

Naruto was too busy examining the darkness at his level that he did not see a pair of huge slitted, blood red glowing eyes open in the cage above him. Sakura yanked the blond boy back by his orange jumpsuit as a set of massive claws swiped at him through the gaps in the bars landing on the ground with a huge thud.

Naruto landed on his behind soaking his pants in the water and looked up in shock as a massive muzzle came into view attached to the eyes. Rows of gleaming white razor-sharp teeth were revealed, set in a vicious grin that conveyed pure cruelty.

“So I finally meet the instrument of my imprisonment.” A deep smooth voice rumbled reverberating throughout the chamber. The voice seemed that powerful that they felt it rather than heard it.

Naruto stared at the giant fox behind the bars and it suddenly clicked.

“You’re Kyuubi!” he shouted jumping up and pointing accusingly at the demonic fox. “This is all your fault! You’re the reason everyone hates me.”

The demon laughed at Naruto before snorting at the boy, the unexpected wind knocked him over into the water once again. Naruto glared at the fox annoyed. “This is the stupid seal on my belly right?”

“Good, you actually do have a brain in that head.” Kyuubi growled before slamming against the bars making both of the humans below him jump. “The cursed seal that your Yodaimine used to deny me my freedom.”

“So…this is inside me?” Naruto pondered and then looked at Sakura who was looking as confused as he was. “Then what’s she doing here?”

“Heh, heh, heh. So you noticed. He is here because I brought him to see me. We have much catching up to do.”

“What do you mean by him?” Sakura asked in surprise at the gender pronoun. Looking on with interest at the fox she asked “Do you know me?”

“You don’t remember yet, but we were once allies Godslayer.”

Naruto looked at Sakura in puzzlement. ‘How could Sakura have been allies with Kyuubi?’

“Godslayer?” Sakura rolled the word over her tongue but it meant nothing to her. “And what exactly does that mean?”

“Oh?” Kyuubi drawled. “Perhaps your other name will mean more to you Wild-horse of the Apocalypse. We met at the end of this world and through an alliance of convenience fought together.”

Sakura shook her head, nothing the fox way saying was making any sense to her and judging by Naruto’s face neither did it to him.

“Your being here now is interesting…” the fox paused. “This promises to be fun.” Kyuubi continued. “Perhaps once your memories come back we’ll talk again. But for now you’re both going to wake up.”

-- -- --

Nearly two days had passed since Sakura and Naruto had met the Kyuubi inside of the blond haired boy. Strangely enough Naruto had only asked about the experience once just to make sure it had actually happened, and he had even done it outside of Sasuke’s hearing. Sakura guessed it was because he did not want Sasuke to know about the demon inside him. It was weird; she would never have been able to tell judging by Naruto’s extreme personality that he was the container of such a powerful entity.

A loud cry followed shortly by three loud splashes made her lookup and she smiled at the scene. Sasuke and Naruto were fishing in the river just down from the small camp the three of them had setup. Well it was a form of fishing, if the use of ninja skills counted as fishing. Naruto would climb to the top of a nearby rock outcrop and leap into the air, produce a couple of clones (she was still trying to figure out that technique) and land with a huge splash in the river, scaring the fish enough to cause them to leap out of the water where Sasuke would then use his kunai to pin them to a nearby tree. It was quite impressive to watch actually.

Sakura had spent the time since waking up for the second time two days ago analysing her current condition. She had discovered that one reason her body had seemed so off was she was a kid too. She could not actually remember how old she was but she was certain she was older than her current body. The more she thought about it the more Kyuubi’s words seemed to make a strange kind of sense. Past lives and reincarnation? Was this what was going on? Memories from a previous life awakening or was it something else entirely. Or maybe she was just going mad.

She had found out from Sasuke and Naruto that they were in the middle of an exam to become chunin grade ninjas and the current consensus as to her fractured memories were caused by being attacked by some snakeguy who had bit her.

Absently she rubbed the spot on her neck, it had throbbed on a couple of occasions but she easily subdued the thing. Neither of the two boys knew what it was claiming that she was the smart one and if she did not know what it was then they would not either. Her thoughts where interrupted by Sasuke handing her a cooked fish on a stick. She shook her head in surprise. She had been so caught up in her thoughts that the boys had finished fishing and cooked the catch without her noticing.

"Thanks." Sakura smiled taking the offered food. Sasuke faintly nodded before sitting down to eat his own, while covertly watching the girl. She was not acting like her usual self and her claim of amnesia was worrying Sasuke. Naruto had acted funny around her when they first woke up. He had kept glancing at Sakura funnily and when Sasuke had mentioned it to the blond boy he had just mumbled something about weird dreams and changed the subject. All this and the threat of the snakeguy had Sasuke on edge.

At least Naruto was now acting like his usual self now. “That one’s biggest!”

Naruto devoured his fish in seconds, closely followed by Sakura herself, leaving Sasuke staring at the two in surprise. The trio sat in silence for a short time.

"This is the 4th afternoon since the start of the second test. It started around 2:30pm, meaning we have 26 hours at most left to finish." Sasuke stated in between mouthfuls, letting that facts sink in. "We need to find a heaven scroll."

Sakura frowned. This test was weird and she was still unsure what was really going on. She did know that this test meant a lot to both Sasuke and Naruto so she had decided to help them complete it before getting herself checked out by someone qualified. She had gone over the rules with Sasuke the other day and she quickly pointed out that the longer they waited the less likely they would pass. However they had been forced to wait the last two days to heal up enough.

"Sooo Sakura-chaaan, do you remember anything else yet? Like being my pretty girlfriend? Eh? Eh?" Naruto asked hopefully even if it was not true.

"She has amnesia idiot." Sasuke stated annoyed at Naruto's antics. "And beside she isn't your girlfriend."

"No she doesn't Sasuke-bastard. She just doesn't remember us right Sakura-chaaaan?"

Sakura just rolled her eyes. Sasuke flicked a small stone with his thumb which lightly clipped the boy's head. "That is amnesia dummy!"

"Oi!" Naruto grumbled rubbing the spot where the stone had hit rigorously.

"I'm going to get some water." Sasuke announced getting to his feet and heading towards the nearby river.

"Hey, hey!" Naruto spoke as he picked up their earth scroll drawing Sakura's attention. "There's a way to get the scroll without fighting."

"Huh?" Sakura looked at the blond boy in surprise as he reached for his small travelling pack and pulled out some scrolls. Realising what he meant Sakura stared at him. "You mean to…"

"That's exactly what I mean." Naruto smirked looking slightly evil. "I have tons of scrolls; all we need to do is make one look like a heaven scroll."

"Yes but you don't know what’s inside. I'm sure the examiners will check the scrolls."

"These things usually have a password in them. One that needs two parts to understand. Basically! Basically! You have to say the password when you reach the tower to pass the test. So we take a look and figure out what the other one says." Naruto stated triumphantly as he held the scroll in front of himself and placed his thumb against the seal. Just as he was about to peel it open a hand came out of nowhere and clamped itself over Naruto's hand preventing him from opening the scroll.

"You shouldn't do that. Did you forget the rules?" asked Kabuto from his crouch next to Naruto. Sasuke must have spotted them and came running, but crawled to a halt at recognising Kabuto from earlier on in the first part of the exam.

"What's going on?" he ask suspiciously reaching for his weapons.

"Nothing much, just preventing these two from disqualifying your team." Kabuto calmly stated letting go of Naruto's hand and standing up. "They were going to open the scroll. That would have been bad."

Sasuke stared at his two team-mates. Naruto looked guilty but Sakura just seemed confused. ‘How did he sneak up on me?’ Sakura thought narrowing her eyes at this Kabuto.

"Geez, what were you thinking?" Sasuke asked closing the distance between them.

"That was close." Kabuto told them. "In the previous exams the scrolls were loaded with a hypnotism-jutsu. Anyone who saw it would be knocked out until the end of the exam."

"By the way…" Sasuke wondered suspiciously watching the older silver haired boy. "You’re Kabuto right? What are you doing out here all by yourself?"

"It's not like I'm after your scroll…" Kabuto smiled.

"Yeah, if you were you could have taken it just now.” Sasuke agreed. “So you're after a heaven scroll as well."

"No actually I already have both." Kabuto chuckled showing them the two scrolls. "Something happened and I'm on my way over to the tower to meet my team-mates."

Sasuke stared in shock. 'What!'

"Well, I'm off." Kabuto waved turning away.

"Wait!" Sasuke said with force. "Fight me!"

Kabuto paused and glanced at Sasuke over his shoulder. "Fight you…?"

"You idiot! What are you saying?" Naruto cried out. Sakura just stood and watched the two unsure which side to take.

"You are serious." Kabuto smiled turning to fully face Sasuke.

"Sorry, but we're running out of time."

"Sasuke! Kabuto-san helped us!" Naruto shouted in his usual manner.

"Shut up!" Sasuke said not taking his eyes off of his target. Sakura was forced to lean out of the way of Naruto's flailing arms as he made his thoughts clear. "You jerk!"

"We don't have a choice. I've said it before; this is the only way for us to survive in this forest." Sasuke stated.

"You're lying." Kabuto said simply. "You aren't as cold-hearted as you’re making out. If you really were you would not have challenged me. You would have just attacked and tried to take my scroll. That's a ninja." Kabuto push his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I don't dislike you for that, so I'll tell you the path you should take. But I'll tell you as we move. The smoke from that fire and the smell of fish can be sensed from miles away. Wild beasts or enemies could be on the way."

-- -- --

Moments later the group were leaping from branch to branch high up in the trees and making good time as they headed towards the tower.

"Are there really enemies left?" Sasuke asked Kabuto mid jump.

"Yes, no doubt about it. Just think for a second." seeing he had their attention he continued. "Do you know what the smartest tactic is in a large area like this forest?"

Sakura smirked realising exactly what Kabuto was saying. "The goal is the tower, so the easiest thing would be to head there at the start as fast as possible and set an ambush for the other slower teams."

'Smart girl.' Kabuto thought, 'Smart and powerful. It’s going to be interesting to see what you are capable of.'

"Exactly. However, there may be others in the same position as yourselves."

"I see!" exclaimed Naruto. "So there already loads of enemies at the tower waiting to ambush us. Bring it on! We'll kick their ass' and all pass the second test!"

"At this point in the test people I call 'collectors' appear." Kabuto told the group. "Even though the tower is right in front of their eyes, the difficult test in this forest of death, that situation that gives birth to them. Basically, those who collect extra scrolls, incase they run into a strong enemy and need a gift to ensure their escape. Or those that try to receive favour or information by delivering an extra scroll to another team from their village. Or those that decide to pick off more teams to ensure an easier time during the third test. You should realise that the ones who do this are strong and confident in their abilities. The worst possible enemy."

"I see..." Sasuke stated as they continued to leap from tree to tree. "I finally understand why you appeared to us. You're scared too."

"...exactly." Kabuto chuckled mid-summersault so he could smile at Sasuke.

Sakura landed and paused, something suddenly felt wrong to her. Her sense of danger was tickling the back of her mind. "Guys wait..." she glanced around finding herself alone. "...up."

She sighed in annoyance before glancing over her shoulder. Someone was watching her but she could not pinpoint where from. 'Need to hide quickly.' she thought scanning the area for someplace to hide. Not seeing anyplace appropriate she swore quietly.

-- -- --

Kabuto landed lightly on a large branch and held his hand to signal they were pausing. Two light thumps signified the others had landed next to him. Wait two? He glanced around and immediately saw Sakura was missing.

"Where's the girl?" Kabuto asked checking around for her. Sasuke glanced around and his face showed concern.

"Sakura-chaaaan!" Naruto shouted out as Sasuke groaned into his hands at the imbecile.

"Naruto-kun," Kabuto sighed, "if she's been abducted you've just let anyone in the area know we're here."

"She was right behind us. She can't be far back." Sasuke reasoned. "We need to find her, we can't finish the exam unless the whole teams arrives at the tower."

Kabuto frowned. 'Damn that girl. Going missing at a time like this.' He concentrated on locating her presence. 'Got you!'

"She's behind...huh?" Kabuto was surprised when her presence suddenly vanished. And it did not just vanished like someone being killed, it just faded away.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked reaching for a kunai.

"I thought. Nothing." Kabuto frowned. 'This is odd. I can't even track the cursed seal.'

"There!" Naruto shouted spinning around and throwing a kunai. The kunai flew straight and true hitting it's target with a wet splosh. Too bad the target was just a centipede, an exceptionally large one but nevertheless a centipede.

"Eh?" Naruto blinked and then looked sheepish.

"We don't have time for this." Sasuke growled. "We need to find her." He leapt off followed by Kabuto. Naruto groaned at making another mistake showing off before following the others.

After a couple of hours searching the area the group stopped. Everyone was slightly tired from the constant searching, and so far no sign of Sakura was found.

"Why do I get the feeling we're going round in circles." Sasuke complained. "And where did Sakura vanish to?"

Kabuto spotted it first. Tapping Sasuke on the shoulder he pointed to his right. There pinned to the tree was the centipede Naruto had killed earlier. "I think we have been going in circles. And that would explain how we can't find her was well. A Genjutsu."

"Damn." Sasuke swore glancing around. "What do we do?"

"I bet whoever this is, they're sitting back waiting for us to tire ourselves out running around and then move in for the kill while we're tired."

"So what do we do?" Sasuke asked while Naruto grumbled about cowards.

"I..." Kabuto began but was cut off by a started cry followed by the sound of something falling through the trees. He instantly knew the Genjutsu had dropped. "What the?"

A second later there was another cry of pain and then silence.

"Eh? What do we do?" Naruto asked spooked.

Without warning a body fell from above them and slammed onto the branch they were standing on coming the rest hanging over said branch. All three ninja immediately looked up and stared in surprise.

"Sorry guys, it took me ages to find em." Sakura grinned hanging upside down by her legs from one of the branches above their heads.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto gaped pointing at the girl.

-- -- --

As luck would have it the three defeated ninja's that Sakura had taken care of had a heaven scroll and within twenty minutes later they had reached their goal of the tower.

Curiosity was eating Kabuto on the trip and he had asked Sakura how she had done the disappearing trick. She had told him she was not sure what it was she had done, but it had been something she suddenly had remembered. Kabuto felt the girl was lying, but accepted her explanation. He knew Sasuke did not believe the girl either and noticed the boy watching her like a hawk. Naruto seemed to be the only one that believed her, but then he was Naruto.

"You're late Kabuto." a voice stated as Kabuto's two teammates walked into the clearing. Both the newcomers wore masks obscuring the lower halves of their faces.

"Oh, you guys." Kabuto greeted them. "We ran into some trouble. Sorry." Kabuto turned to Team 7. "We're going through this door guys. Wish us all luck."

"Yeah!" Naruto cheered grinning wildly before he and his team entered the tower.

-- -- --

“I’ve written down all of his data from the second test.” Kabuto stated with a smirk as he held up one of his statcards. “You want this correct?”

“So how was it?” a hoarse gender-neutral voice asked taking the offered card from Kabuto.

Kabuto laughed. “You’re that interested Orochimaru-sama…”

“I want to know your opinion…” Orochimaru stated lightly while analyzing the card carefully, a faint smirk playing on his features. “as our spy.”

“That’s unnecessary.” Kabuto stated. “As everything will be decided by you. However, here is the data I’ve collected on the girl. You may be interested.”

Orochimaru’s head snapped up in surprise. “She lives?”

Kabuto handed another card over. “Alive and kicking, and if that was not surprising enough she seemed to have suppressed the cursed seal, if not completely then at least beyond my abilities to cause it to awaken.”

Kabuto watched his master’s face scan the card incredulously. “This is most…interesting. This little mistake may have been fated. If this data is correct I just may get more than I expected. A better body with the Sharingan and a powerful ninja as well.” Orochimaru smiled evilly. “Perhaps we should find out just what she is capable of then, I will arrange a…special match for her.”

-- -- --

Authors Notes :)

Constructive criticism would be liked, not just “your story sucks”

I hope this chapter was long and detailed enough. I’m gonna try and keep the chapters fairly lengthy. If you haven’t guessed by now the crossover is with Ranma half, there were enough hints I hope :P

About the ki, that will be explained in time and yes they use chakra, again I hinted at it. Kyuubi knowing Sakura’s previous life will be explained in time too. Same with her memories.

Omake 1

Naruto landed on his behind soaking his pants in the water and looked up in shock as a massive muzzle came into view attached to the eyes. Rows of gleaming white razor-sharp teeth were revealed, set in a vicious grin that conveyed pure cruelty.

“My what big teeth you have Granma.” stated Sakura.

“All the better to eat you with my dear.” Kyuubi singed.

Omake 2

Naruto landed on his behind soaking his pants in the water and looked up in shock as a massive muzzle came into view attached to the eyes. Rows of gleaming white razor-sharp teeth were revealed, set in a vicious grin that conveyed pure cruelty.

The effect was ruined by the pink nightcap and nighty. “Whaaaaaat?”