A few days have passed since the second exams started and Sarah was busy making a new batch of poison. Kakashi was watching over her carefully (how bothersome) as Naruto and Sasuke sparred in the background. Tomorrow they would meet back up in the main arena alongside the other teams that have passed for the final part. Sarah was quite glad for this to be almost over, considering they've: been harassed by older Genin, got attacked by a team, and had to fight against a fucking Sannin.

"At least we didn't have to fight that Gaara guy."

What Sarah found to be odd was Nemuri's sudden appearance. They've always been an enigma, but why did they decide to appear now out of all times? That's what got Sarah confused.

"Hey Sarah, mind tossing us some of your weird ass seals?" Sasuke spoke up.

"Sure," Sarah grabbed a nearby scroll and threw it over towards Sasuke, "Just try not to paralyze yourself."

Sasuke gave her a thumbs up before going back to fighting Naruto. If she could hear an explosion in the background, that was probably just her imagination...

"My cute little Genin have grown up so fast," Kakashi praised, "I can't wait to watch you three fight tomorrow."

"I'm sure Sarah-chan will win her match. She's pretty strong!" Naruto said as he ducked from Sasuke's fist, "After me of course!"

Sarah rolled her eyes. Typical Naruto behavior.

"Alright you two that's enough sparring for now. Let's try to conserve as much chakra for tomorrow's exam!" Kakashi said as he confiscated Sarah's supplies, "And don't try to permanently cripple someone with that poison."

"Depends on who I'm fighting," Sarah responded as she put some stuff back into a storage scroll, "I don't make any promises."

"Good luck!" Kakashi shouted as he walked out the door.

"Wait. What does he mean by good luck?" Naruto asked.

Sarah shrugged, "I guess we're about to find out."

-

"Congratulations on passing the second test! Among the 78 participants for 21 to get this far... I know I said I'd cut it in half, but I was expecting single digits..." Anko sighed.

Sarah stood in the crowd amongst the people who have passed the second stage of the exam. She and her team had came out freshly rested and replenished whilst everyone else (stans the sand siblings) looked like complete shit.

"Ah, it looks like Sasuke-kun passed too~" Ino giggled.

Sasuke sighed.

"Your team isn't too bad, Kakashi. Going up against a Sannin and coming out alive? Those three surely are lucky," Gai complimented, "But as long as my team is around getting farther will be impossible. From now on it's all about real ability. With youth there's sweet times and sour times, eh...Kakashi?"

Kakashi gave Gai a confused look on his face, "Huh? You said something?"

Gai looked at him with a dejected expression on his face. His rival has once again outsmarted him.

"Oh wow! Jiji and Iruka-sensei! Kakashi-sensei! Even Bushy-brow's sensei is here! It's like everyone has assembled!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Heh..I can't say I'm getting a good feeling about this," Sasuke said, "For this many people to make it..."

"This sure will get interesting," Naruto clapped his hands together, "I'm excited."

Sarah remained silent.

"Hokage-sama will now explain the third test so listen carefully," Anko announced.

"There is something I would like you to know before the coming third test... It concerns the true reason for this exam..." Hiruzen adjusted his hat, "Why do we have all the allied countries taking the exam together? "To promote friendship amongst the countries!" "To raise the level of success!" I don't want you to be confused about the meaning... The exam is a replacement for war among the allied countries."

Sarah could hear a few hushed whispers from amongst the crowd. Gripping onto her bag tightly, Sarah took a few deep breaths. She had to remain calm.

"If you go back in time, the current allies were enemies who fought each other over who would rule. In order to prevent wasteful fighting, the stage that these countries chose for battle.... That is the origins of the Chuunin selection exams."

"Why the hell do we have to do all that crap? Isn't this thing for deciding who's a Chuunin?" Naruto spoke up.

"It is in fact that this exam decides which shinobis have what it takes to become a Chuunin," Hiruzen responded, "But on the other hand this exam has another side... Where each country's shinobis risk their own lives to protect the lands prestige. Watching this third exam will be leaders and influential individuals from many countries who make up the clients of the shinobi. The leaders from these countries will also be there to watch each of your battles. If the strength of a country is clear then that country will receive more clients, if a country is seen as weak then they will loose clients. This will signal to potential enemy countries that "our village has this much power" so it will send a political message to the outsiders."

"Yeah but why? Why do we have to risk our lives in battle?" Kiba asked.

"The strength of the country is the strength of our village. The strength of the village is the strength of our shinobi. A shinobis true strength is only born through life or death battle," Hiruzen responded, "The exam is a place to see each country's strength and to show off your own strength. It only has meaning because lives are at risk. That's why those that have come before you have fought in the Chuunin exams, for this dream that is meaningful."

"But then why do you say stuff about it being 'for friendship'?" Tenten asked.

"I said it in the beginning, I don't want you to confuse the purpose of this. By losing life and establishing balance this is the shape of friendship in the world of shinobi," Hiruzen responded, "Before we begin the third test I will tell you one more thing; this is not just a test, this is a life or death battle with your dreams and country's prestige on the line."

Naruto nodded, "I get it now.."

"I don't care what it is just hurry up and tell us what this life and death battle entails," Gaara demanded.

"Yes...I'd like to now explain the third test but-" a cough interrupted Hiruzens speech.

"I apologize Hokage-sama, from here on as the referee will please you allow me, Gekkou Hayate..." the man asked as he bowed down before Hiruzen.

Hiruzen nodded, "By all means.."

Hayate got up off the ground and introduced himself, "Hello everyone, I'm Hayate. Uhm...before the third test begins there's...something I would like you to do. It's a preliminary for the third test...to decide who gets to participate in the main event..."

"Called it," Sasuke muttered under his breath.

"Preliminary? What do you mean?" Shikamaru asked.

"I don't understand this. Why the hell can't we all participate in the main exam?" Naruto asked.

"Uh....because the first and second test may have been a bit too easy this year...we have too many people remaining...According to the Chuunin exam rules we must have a preliminary round and reduce the number of participants for the third test," Hayate responded, "As Hokage-sama indicated earlier, there will be many guests at the third test so the fights could take too long. We are limited on time. So...anyways, feel free to drop out now if you wish since we will be starting the preliminaries immediately."

"What? Right now?" Kiba shouted.

Sarah sighed. This was about to get really messy...

"So...nobody wants to retire? Okay...oh um...I forgot to mention that from here on this will be individual battling....Anyways, let's begin the preliminaries," Hayate said before looking up at the electric scoreboard, "Uchiha Sasuke vs Akado Yoroi."

Sasuke smirked, "Looks like I didn't have to wait too long."

"Good luck Sasuke," Naruto said as he and the other Genins were escorted outside of the arena.

Sasuke and Yoroi stood directly in front of each other. Sarah watched from the sidelines intensely, anticipating what the outcome of this matchup will be.

A silver haired man sat down beside her and Naruto, introducing himself as Kabuto Yakushi. Sarah immediately felt bad vibes coming from him, but Naruto seemed to enjoy his company so she wasn't going to say anything about it.

"SPY. SPY. SPY."

The match had officially begun. Sasuke threw shurikens and kunai at Yoroi who dodged it without much effort. Yoroi charged at Sasuke with his fist and punched the ground Sasuke was standing on, making the ravenette fall over. Sasuke quickly got up and started to form handsigns.

"Katon: Gokkyatsu no jutsu!"

He immediately spat out multiple fireballs at Yoroi who quickly dodged them, extending his hand out towards Sasuke in an attempt to touch him. Sasuke decided to use this opportunity to attach a few of Sarah's seals onto Yoroi's body, activating them with his chakra. Yoroi exploded, flying him back over towards the wall as Sasuke protected his face with his arms.

Sasuke's arm warmers burnt off, leaving several scorching burn marks littering his arms. Sasuke gritted his teeth in pain, mentally reminding himself to never take seals from his female teammate again.

"Winner, Uchiha Sasuke!"

"Woohoo!" Naruto shouted, "I knew you could do it!"

"That idiot!" Sarah internally exclaimed, "He could've killed himself with that move!"

Sasuke walked out of the arena and headed over towards Sarah who quickly healed his arms up before punching him in the head, "Don't ever fucking do that again, got it?"

Sasuke nodded, "Fine."

Sarah smiled, "Good, I'm glad we're on the same page. That rule also applies to you too, Naruto."

Naruto gulped in fear, "Y-yes ma'am."

"Kyaaa! Sasuke-kun!" Ino looked at him with hearts in her eyes.

Naruto and Kabuto glared at Ino. Sasuke sighed as he hid himself behind Sarah.

"I hate fan girls."

Sarah nodded, "I'm aware. You hide behind me and Naruto everytime one approaches you."

"At this point just file a restraining order," Naruto said.

"I think I might have to do that soon..." Sasuke responded.

"Umm...okay we will now start the next matchup," Hayate announced as the electric scoreboard revealed who would be going up next, "Zaku Abuni vs Aburame Shino."

The two headed down the staircase and into the arena. Hayate stood in between them for a few seconds before quickly stepping back, "Begin!"

"Will Shino-kun be alright?" Hinata asked Kiba.

Kiba nodded, "He's strong. I'm sure he'll pass."

"Y-Yeah.." Hinata mumbled before shouting, "G-good luck Shino-kun!"

"Kick his ass!" Kiba shouted.

Zaku scoffed.

"I'm just going to give you a warning.... If you fight here you will be finished. Forfeit," Shino warned him.

Zaku rolled his eyes, "Nah, I don't think I will."

Zaku charged at Kiba with both of his palms extended, "Take this!"

A blast of air shook the arena. Kiba and Hinata gasped in horror. Shino just stood there unfazed, bugs crawling all over his skin as they made their way over to Zaku.

"These are called destruction bugs. They attack their prey in numbers and feast on their chakra. If this many attack you then you will be finished," Shino said, "If you don't want that then give up. That's your best option. If you use that technique with your arms again then the bugs will instantly attack you from behind. If you use it on the bugs then there will be an opening for me to attack. Either way you can't pass here."

"Don't mess with me!" Zaku shouted as he extended both of his arms to his sides, "Take this!"

Before Zaku could react both of his arms were blown to pieces. Shino quickly came up behind him and whispered something in his ear, "I warned you."

Shino kicked Zaku to the ground and knocked him out cold.

"Winner, Aburame Shino!" Hayate announced as the medic-nins came rushing into the arena to grab Zaku's unconscious body.

"Wait...what? Since when was Shino that strong?" Naruto asked.

Sarah shrugged, "To be fair he always was odd..."

Sasuke scoffed, "That's rich coming from you, our residential poison mistress."

Sarah rolled her eyes, "Fuck you."

"Damn it, there's so many strong contenders here. How will I ever become Hokage at this rate?" Naruto exclaimed.

"Work for it," Sasuke responded, "Get stronger. Use your brain."

"Hey, that's actually not bad advice. Thanks Sasuke!" Naruto responded.

Sasuke scoffed, "Hn."

Shino walked up to his teammates and was embraced in a hug from Hinata.

"Co-Congratulations Shino-kun!"

"Heh, great job," Kiba said.

"Yeah..I'm counting on you guys too," Shino responded as he embraced his team in a hug.

"Hmm...I think it's about time we start the next match," Hayate announced as the electric scoreboard revealed who would be fighting next, "Tsurugi Misumi vs Kankuro."

Sarah didn't bother to pay much attention to the match. She was too busy listening in to Naruto and Kabuto's conversation.

"Heh..he's definitely a spy."

"Holy shit Sarah, he's using a fucking puppet!" Naruto shouted. Sarah quickly snapped out of her train of thoughts as she looked at the scene below her.

"Hmm...so he's a puppeteer? Interesting," Sasuke complimented.

Sarah nodded. She didn't particularly care about the match, instead was focused on the mysterious enigma that was Kabuto Yakushi.

"It's time to begin the fourth match..." Hayate announced as the scoreboard revealed the next duo. Sarah quickly snapped out of her thoughts, "Yamanaka Ino vs Sarah."

Sarah groaned, "Well fuck me."

"Good luck Sarah-chan!" Naruto shouted as Sarah jumped off the balcony and into the arena.

Sasuke gave her a thumbs up.

Sarah summoned a rubber band out of her scroll and quickly tied her hair up. She didn't need luck, what she needed was a quick and solid plan...and fast!

Ino made her way into the arena and stood across from Sarah, "I never thought I would see the day where I would end up fighting you.."

Sarah remained silent.

"You're quite the enigma: showing up in the middle of the school year, instantly befriending the dead last of our class, not showing any sort of skill whatsoever outside of being book smart. I didn't really think much of you at first, that is until you decided to put my rival under an illusion..." Ino continued, "You've piqued my interest after that. I've never met someone quite...strange as you. Your powers are out of this world...It's almost as if you're not exactly from here."

"Begin!" Hayate announced.

Sarah quickly pulled a kunai out of her sealing scroll and charged at Ino. Ino pulled out a kunai from her pouch and blocked Sarah's attack. Sarah quickly backed away and threw a few senbon at Ino, the blonde quickly dodging before throwing shurikens at her.

"Is that all you got?" Ino taunted.

"No, that was just a warmup." Sarah quickly jumped up into the air and opened up her scroll, grabbing a giant ice spike covered in various seals out, "This is where the real battle begins!"

Sarah threw the ice spike nearby Ino, watching the shards shatter to the ground as some cut Ino all over her body. Channeling some of her mana into the seals, Sarah watched as Ino was wrapped up in the vines.

Ino gritted her teeth, using all of her strength to grab a kunai out from her pouch and cut the vines away.

"Is this some sort of fucking joke to you?" Ino shouted.

Sarah smirked, "The only person here that's acting like a joke is you, acting all prissy and self-absorbed just to get a man's attention. Newsflash: Sasuke doesn't like you. He also couldn't care less about hair or that shitty clan ability you Yamanaka's have. Grow the fuck up."

"Oh that's it!" Ino said as she used the kunai to cut her hair off, "I'm sick and tired of you disrespecting me and my ability."

Ino discarded her hair onto the ground, "I don't need this fucking hair. I'm going to end this match right now before you continue to further humiliate me."

Ino quickly made handsigns. Sarah tried to take a few steps back but was unable to.

"Hm...interesting," Sarah thought, "I never thought you could incorporate hair into a trap."

"Ninpou: Shintensin no jutsu!"

Ino's consciousness instantly went directly into Sarah's body. Naruto and Sasuke gasped.

'Sarah' smirked, "Too bad, so sad. It's finally time to end this battle. I, Sarah, would like to..."

"Not so fast," a voice said from within Sarah.

Ino hesitantly turned around and came face to face with another version of Sarah, a much more...cuter one. This version was wearing a light green dress that flowed like leaf petals, her hair was curly with a wreath of leaves and flowers adoring it. Her signature scar was gone, her eyes shining like the stars in darkest of nights.

The void around them turned into a garden full of various plants and species. Ino was amazed, entrapped within the beauty of her surroundings.

"I don't think it's nice to inhabit what's rightfully mine," the version of Sarah said as she was sitting on top of a nearby tree.

"Uh..." Ino gulped, "I-I didn't mean to! I swear! Just let me out of this genjutsu and allow me to finish up this round so I can become a Chuunin!"

'Sarah' chuckled, "Oh I'm afraid I can't do that."

Vines wrapped around Ino's body, choking her to the point where she was almost unconscious. 'Sarah' stared at her with a bored expression her...their?...face.

"You're in my domain now, bitch."

Ino's whole body exploded, forcing her to release the jutsu. Ino's eyes shot open as she stared at Sarah with a horrified expression on her face.

"S-Stay back you monster!"

Sarah cackled, her eyes turning into stars as she slowly started to approach Ino.

"Oh but Ino...I'm not the monster here."

Sarah quickly pinned Ino to the ground, whispering into her ear menacingly.

"The real monster here is you."

Ino let out a high-pitched scream as Sarah pulled out a kunai from her bag and stabbed her in the side.

"Enjoy getting poisoned, bitch!"

Ino started to hyperventilate, quickly pulling the kunai out from her side and getting up off the ground. She was hallucinating, seeing double versions of the girl in front of her.

"Is this a dream? Am I stuck back there in that garden again?" Ino started to claw at her face, "Please help me, somebody!"

"Ino snap out of it!" Shikamaru shouted.

"Ino!" Chouji shouted.

Sarah lazily walked over and flicked Ino on her forehead, sending the blonde toppling to the ground unconscious.

"Winner, Sarah!" Hayate shouted.

Sarah walked out of the arena feeling a bit better about herself. Her eyes have reverted back to normal and she finally managed to brush Ino's hair off of her. Everyone quickly moved out of her way as she walked over towards her teammates and Kabuto.

Kabuto nervously gulped, "Uh...great match?"

"Thanks," Sarah gave him a side-eye before sitting down beside Naruto.

"Did you really have to go that far?" Naruto asked her.

Sarah smiled as she looked over at Sasuke, "Let's just say I did it all for a certain someone."

Sasuke smiled just a little.