Arc One: Seed

I raised myself

My legs were weak

I prayed my mind be good to me

❀

"I'm back with coffee!" Anko sang cheerfully as she kicked the security rooms door open with a hearty slam before it swung shut behind her. The other sensei's in the room spun their attention from the wall of shelves holding TVs showing footage of hallways and classrooms students were lining up in.

"It's about time -" Kurenai froze and took a better look at the kunoichi. "Where's ours?"

Anko blinked and shrugged as she took a sip. "Never said I was getting some for you all, not my fault you guys assumed the best of me."

Asuma rolled his eyes from his slouched position on the couch in front of the screens, the Anbu around the room never diverted their attention from the monitors, and Gai pushed himself off the wall near the Jonin Ibiki.

"No need to worry, Kurenai-san. I'll get some coffee for us!" Gai grinned and gave a thumbs up.

"Alright but don't be too long. The sign-ups are just about finished and the first phase is about to start." Kurenai placed a hand on her hip and nodded to a screen. Their students were standing together outside a classroom door and mingling in a muted conversation; Lee was moving energetically as he chatted, the girls were chatting with excited smiles, Neji was leaning against a wall with Shikamaru, Choji and Shino, while Kiba was giving Akamaru a treat.

Their sign up sheets were being finalised and soon the first phase of the Chunin exam retake would begin.

"Fret not!" Gai beamed. "I'll return before they're even sitting down!" He charged to the door, swung it open and froze in place.

"Hey guys. Sorry I'm late, I saw a black cat and had to take the longer path to get here."

Kakashi held a hand up in greeting. Gai blinked in surprise.

"Kakashi! When did you get back?"

The man shrugged. "Today, the Hokage wanted as much security as possible for the retake so she demanded I be here as a proctor."

Asuma's stare hardened and he took a long calming drag of his cigarette.

Kurenai leaned back against the wall and crossed her arms. Gai had shaken off his shock fast and was all smiles and energetic patting on Kakashi's shoulder. "That's wonderful! You're just in time for the first phase."

"Yes, I imagine Sakura will be thrilled when she hears you actually came to watch her compete." Kurenai said with a slow blink focused on the copy ninja. Kakashi's step stuttered and his eye latched onto the Kunoichi.

"Sakura's here? Competing?"

"Where else would she be?" Asuma said as he put out his cigarette and rose to his feet. Kakashi's attention turned to him.

"Why wasn't I notified?" Kakashi said. His posture had become stiff though he was trying to present himself as lax as usual.

"Why would you be? You've been off on missions." Asuma took a step closer.

"I'm her Sensei."

"Then where have you been."

"-Alright." Kurenai got between the two men who were almost in each others faces. "This is pointless. Kakashi's back so lets focus on the exam, shall we?"

Kakashi spun to the door. "Where are you going?" She turned her head to him.

"I need to see my student."

"Absolutely not. Times up, they're in the first phase now." She pointed to the main screen and indeed the students were all taking their seats in a classroom. "You're here now. So have some faith in your student and lets watch." She moved from the two and sat down on the couch with her attention now focused on the students on the tv. Asuma breathed a deep sigh and moved to join her on the couch.

Kakashi looked to the door once more before he stepped up to a wall, crossed his arms and focused on the screen.

❀

Sakura's stomach was fluttering with nerves. She was fiddling with the ends of her apron skirt as she sat at a long desk with Tenten seated on the opposite end. Ino and Shino sat in the row directly behind them. Hinata and Kiba sat in the back row. In front of her sat Shikamaru and Choji, then right at the front was Lee and Neji.

She pulled out a small bag on konpeito Choji had brought for her and his team to calm them before the exams and chewed on a few of the sugary treats feeling grateful.

"I can hear your gears turning from here," Sakura turned around to Ino smiling over her own bag of sweets. "Chill out already, you aced this thing the first time so quit stressing."

Sakura smiled, "You're just saying that so you can copy from me."

Ino grinned. "I decline to comment on that."

The two giggled to each other before the door opened and the Jonin Morino Ibiki, the same man in charge of the last written exam and Head of the Torture and Interrogation Force, strolled in with loud commanding footsteps.

"Greeting again, students." He came to a stop at the front centre on the blackboard and addressed them.

"Didn't expect us to go through this again so soon did we?"

Sakura put her hand up, he nodded to her, "Yes, Ibiki-sensei, will Tsunade-shishou be here?"

"The Hokage is very busy. She said, and in her own words, 'If they can't figure out their way through the written exam then there's no way I'll waste time with them.'," Ibiki smirked. Sakura's brow furrowed but she smiled knowing full well that was absolutely something her master would say.

"Now this written exam is similar to your last. However this time your answers matter more than ever."

Shikamaru raised a hand and spoke before he was even acknowledged, "and why should we believe you this time around?"

Ibiki seemed to like that question because he grinned, "good, I like that nerve. You're going to need it."

Sakura and Shikamaru blinked, both noticing his lack of answer and diversion. The Jonin took out a stack of paper and began giving the sheets to each student. "In order to pass, you'll need this whole sheet filled out and all correct answers only. Teams are non-existent in this room. If your teammate manages to complete this exam and you don't then tough shit. You fail and they finish. Any answer left blank or incomplete will result in immediate failure."

Sakura looked from the exam sheet and up at the Jonin. "Oh and lastly you have an hour to complete these papers. Show us how proud 'Leaf Nin' you all are! Begin!"

Sakura's eye widened in shock and she immediately began scanning the sheet questions along with the frantic paper rustling around her.

The questions were different than the last exam of course, but still difficult nonetheless. Still if there was anything Sakura excelled at, it was written work. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from smiling and giving away her thrill at siting at an advantage to the sensei seated comfortably at the front of the room. After a moment of scanning the questions she spun the pencil in her fingers and began filling out the multiple choice section.

As Sakura was gliding through answering the questions, catching her stride around the 10 minute mark, she allowed her mind to wander. She began puzzling over Ibiki's words as she reached the short questions. Why would he say there were no teammates here in the same speech he called them proud Leaf Nin? That seamed like a heavy contradiction considering how proud Konoha was of its community and teamwork.

She put her pencil to her chin to feign herself struggling at the beginning of the last third of the single sheet exam, the longer question. If she kept at this pace she could see herself finishing just before the half hour mark. All those medical exams Tsunade had her do really helped her craft an automatic ease when going through tests. Nearly no stuttering needed between her writing so she purposefully paused a few times.

Ino hadn't even transferred to her yet. Considering how proud of herself the blonde was becoming with every training session she probably wanted to answer as much as she could on her own first. Sakura felt pride on her friends behalf.

Sakura thought over Ibiki's words again. He said 'papers', he had said 'complete these papers' but the exam was only a single sheet. Had he means for each individual to complete their own sheet? No. Ibiki Morino specialized in interrogation so everything here was deliberate. All his wording was deliberate.

Sakura had just finished as she thought of one last thing he said. 'You fail and they finish.' Not pass. Finish. Also he was purposefully vague when he said 'Any answer left blank or incomplete will result in immediate failure.' He didn't specifically say 'your failure'.

No. He must have meant if any one of them failed then they all would!

This test wasn't about individual success! As Leaf Nin they had to prioritise teamwork!

They all had to pass!

Sakura had just finished her exam as she came to that realisation. She blinked her wide eyes back to a neutral expression. Sakura had to pass this message on, they goal was for everyone to pass, if any of them had a wrong answer then they would all fail.

She chewed on the end of her pencil. Ino surely would have noticed Sakura had finished and would possess her any minute now. But she had to spread the message to everyone. How was she going to do it?

She froze her chewing and figured out a quick plan. Sakura folded down a corner of her paper and wrote on the tab 'SPREAD ANSWERS', and once she did that she began tapping on her desk. To the Anbu seated in the corners of the room, to the sensei at his desk, and even to the majority of the students around her; they would hear the tapping as nervous jitters joining the background noise of various pencils scribbling.

But Sakura just needed one person to understand.

The boy sitting in front of her whom she'd been training with for these past few months whom she knew understood Morse code.

Shikamaru's writing stuttered for a second and Sakura fought her smile as she saw him acknowledge her message.

'spread the answers. make sure everyone passes.'

Just as she was sure the message was clear, she felt her vision go dark and Ino possessed her.

Ino smirked as she successfully took control of Sakura's body, her consciousness had taken over and she had felt no presence of that weird inner voice. She was right to put her faith in her Brainiac best friend as she looked over a completed sheet. She began memorising the answers she'd missed or gotten wrong, thankful for her fantastic memory, when she noticed the corner of the paper folded. She flipped it over and saw the note.

Blinking in recognition, Ino nodded to herself and resolved to do her part. Sakura left this specifically for her, so again she'd trust in her best friend.

After memorising the paper and erasing the note, she released her jutsu. As fast as she could she filled out the answers to completion. She sneakily slipped a piece of konpeito and grinded up the sugary treat in her hand, she sprinkled the sweet substance on her paper and grinned as she successfully caught the attention of the little insects flying over head that belonged to the bug boy sitting at her desk.

She too wrote Sakura's note in the corner of her paper and tapped at it as the bugs got close enough to see before flying back to Shino.

Sakura with her consciousness back looked back to her paper and began writing over her answers again. Layering the pencil lines. Shino had gotten the message and had sent out his little insects to Kiba and Hinata, arranging themselves to write out the message.

Hinata steeled herself and activated her Byakugan. She was now able to see Sakura writing her answers over and over again, she was doing this knowing Hinata was likely to see and was letting her copy her answers. Hinata began adjusting and filling out her paper to match the pinkette.

Kiba had gotten Shino's message too and the bugs stayed behind to help him fill out his paper. He petted Akamaru's head as a distraction as the dog took a small rolled up note in his mouth before hopping to the floor. The dog smartly began sniffing before weaving under legs to Choji's bag at the boys feet. The Anbu noticed the dog but seeing as it was only after the food, they let it be, a student wasn't up and about so no rule was broken. The dog disguised passing a note in the boys had by plucking a piece of jerky from the boys bag and returning to Kiba to eat it.

Choji discretely read the note telling him 'answers are on the way' and he signalled with a yawn followed by a tapping on his desk tell Shikamaru he was ready. Shikamaru yawned in response before forming a hand-sign under the table and took possession of Choji with his shadow possession jutsu to fill in his answers for him.

During this, Sakura had managed to get Tenten's attention when Shino's bugs migrated to her desk and told her to copy from Sakura. Tenten rested her head on her hand, she discretely pulled out a small mirror into the palm of her hand and angled it right by her eye to catch Sakura's page which the pinkette had angled in her direction. She stifled a smile and she copied the work quickly.

Once she'd finished, she subtly tied tiny notes to senbon and feigned a yawn and stretch to quickly send them overhead to Shikamau, Neji and Lee. Shikamaru's note said to possess and fill out Lee's paper, Lee's said to wait for the answers and Neji's was to copy Sakura who was still rewriting her answers to make sure the Hyuuga were getting them all.

By this point every pencil in the room were frantically scribbling away.

"Pencil's down!" Sakura gasped and panted for breaths. She gripped her aching hand and groaned as she finally put her pencil down. She leaned back in her chair and the other Genin followed with their own relieved sighs. Ibiki surveyed the students was analytical eyes, Ino, Sakura and Shikamaru looked the most tired and the others stretched just happy to have finished.

"Confident are we?"

"Yes Sensei. We are." Shikamaru met the mans stare with his own. Ibiki nodded and began collecting the sheets. Ino nudged at Sakura's shoulder and gave her a grin that Sakura matched.

"And we've got a failure."

Sakura jerked her head forward with brows furrowed to see Ibiki holding a sheet from the stack with a scrutinized glare.

"What -No!" Sakura protested.

"Yeah, there's no way!" Tenten voiced up. Lee cheered with a "yeah!" as Ibiki read the paper.

"Kiba Inuzuka." Said boy froze, "Question 6 of the short answers. Incorrect. That's a failure."

Sakura's glare hardened further as she stared down the sensei. "No Ibiki-sensei. There's no way any of us failed."

Ibiki stomped up with heavy steps seeming to rattle the pencils resting on the desks to stand in next to Sakura. His stare down on her was as hard as steel. "Questioning me, are you?" Sakura had stared down Tsunade on the training field too many times to feel intimidated by the mans glower.

"I am telling you. We're Leaf Nin. There's no way he could have failed." She sat straighter.

"Yeah! Come on Sensei, there's no way!" Ino voiced. The other Genin showed their support of the Inuzuka with their own glares aimed at the Jonin.

There's no way any of them would have let him fail.

It was a tense moment before Ibiki's glower softened and he grinned at the group.

"You all pass."

Sakura blinked as the tension drained out of her.

"Don't look at me like that, I had to make sure you all understood the lesson I'm not about to spell out." He shrugged off their glares and strolled back to the front of the room with the papers under his arm.

"Congratulations students. These papers will be examined immediately. In the meantime, everyone to the main assembly hall to await further instructions." He pointed to the door and they all bustled their way out.

"Ah! That was a pain!" Ino moaned as she stretched her arms above her head.

"I know right! I got so nervous in there." Sakura laughed as she walked between Ino and Hinata. "I'm so relieved you guys got my message."

Hinata gave a small smile. "I-I'm relieved too. That was really nerve wracking." She said while fiddling with her sleeves.

"I'll say! My heart straight up stopped!" Kiba announced earning a laugh from the group. "I thought I was gonna die when he said my name."

"We had faith in you!" Lee encouraged the boy with a shine in his eyes.

Shino nodded. "We wouldn't allow you to fail."

"Appreciate it, doesn't mean I didn't shit myself." They all laughed together as they found their way to the main assembly hall.

The hall was not especially large; the Anbu lining the walls, the head officials who held his positions amongst the Hokage's inner circle and the village elders made the space feel even smaller. High wooden ceilings and old bricks chipped walls, wooden floors and one balcony along the head wall filled with the village elders, council officials and even some noticeable clan heads. The colours were standard for the leaf village and the Anbu standing along the walls blended right in with their usual uniforms. The students waited for a moment once they arrived before they were permitted to enter.

They lined up like usual in their team formations. Sakura stood alone at the end.

She could feel eyes from above scrutinizing her, no doubt council members analysing the Hokage's disciple, their impression far from the best. Especially considering Sakura had overhead once their dissatisfaction that the student Tsunade had chosen as worthy of her teachings was clan-less and from no respectable lineage.

Team Gai. Team 8. Team 10. Then Sakura.

The students looked around curiously as they weighted for orders whilst the chatter from the balcony overhead continued on. In the centre of the balcony was an empty space for where the Hokage was to stand and give orders. A regal and respectable position above all the ninja on the lower floor.

However Tsunade Senju was never one to go along with how the villages upper positions wanted her to be.

"Good to see you squirts passed."

Said students spun their attention to the entrance behind them as Tsunade powered her way through the room, straight between the lined students and stood at the front of the Hall flanked by Shizune carrying a bag.

"Your excellence, please, you're meant to present yourself from here." An older man voiced from the balcony.

"Ah Shut it, I'm here aren't I. These are my exams, with my decisions, locations, and tasks. I'll give the orders how I see fit." She didn't move her gaze from the students as she dismissed the man and all the chatter came to a silence. Sakura stifled a smile as she felt scrutinizing eyes finally leave her and her mentor took absolute control of the room.

"I'd congratulate you all on passing the first phase of these Chunin Exams. But it was easy and frankly I'd send you all back to the academy no questions asked if you had failed." Her gaze moved over each student and her voice conveyed her seriousness. "No that I'm the Hokage, I'm going to make sure the values of Konoha are pounded into you kids, how kindly or not entirely depends on you as a ninja."

She raised her chin as she finished looking over them. "This Chunin Exam will be with three phases. You've all passed the first and easy though it may have been, you should all be proud of yourselves." She gestured a hand to Shizune who took her cue and moved to Neji who headed the trio, she ruffled in the bag she carried and pulled out a green scroll.

The boy took it with a respectful nod of his head as Shizune followed down and gave a green scroll to each team.

Tsunade continued, "these scrolls are integral to your mission for phase two." Sakura smiled and nodded in thanks as Shizune gave her a scroll. Shizune's eyes softened and she nodded back before rejoining Tsunade. "This phase has the time limit of five days. Your instructions are on those scrolls of which you can only open ten minutes after the test has begun. You'll be given a minute with your Sensei before you're to entre the area and after that then you're on your own. No Anbu and no assistance will be available for you."

Sakura nodded along as she tucked the scroll into her thigh pouch.

Tsunade grinned at the students as they felt an air of suspense. All waiting with baited breath for her to reveal the location of the test. Their last Chunin exam's second phase took place in the forest of death. A hellish experience that still held terrifying memories for nearly all of them.

"You'll be in the Forest of Deception."

Sakura was not familiar with this location.

But the chatter from the balcony erupted much louder than it was before. Disbelief, disgust and a range of offended reactions from all the officials up there, even some Anbu had turned heads to their fellow members, faces masking their disbelief.

"Shut it!" Tsunade roared. "Now I doubt you kids have much of an idea what the Forest of Deception is as a location in Konoha. Good, an unbiased view will do you wonders. Your only instructions are on your scrolls. I will explain the history of this grand location if you make it out at the due time. I'm assuming you're all geared up for this mission as you'll find everything you need for survival inside the forest. If you're unprepared then tough shit, you're trying to become Chunin, learn better."

No one spoke up, whether that be from intimidation or agreement it was hard to tell.

The chatter from above had dulled to incessant whisperings of disapproval. Tsunade rolled her eyes and began strolling back through the students to the entrance. "An Anbu will guide you to your teams separate entrance where you'll wait for the opening command and the test will have begun. On the fifth day the main entrance will be open to allow you out. Once you've accomplished your tasks then you'll be given the directions to the entrance. Anyone wanting to voice any complaints best leave now because I don't have the patience to deal with any."

She stopped in the entrance with Shizune at her side. "Best of luck to you all, make me proud."

The students all bowed in respect as she left the room. Once she was out of sight, the tension left them and many chorused a sigh.

Before any of them could speak to each other, an Anbu officer stood at the heads of each team. "Her lady, the Hokage's disciple will follow me." Sakura blinked at the female Anbu officer with the mask of a cat and a stern voice spoke in front of her. She nodded and waved to the groups before they were all lead off separately. Hinata, Tenten, Ino, Choji and Lee waved back, with the last loud proclaiming "Good Luck!" as they were ushered away.

Sakura felt slightly awkward walking in silence with the Anbu officer, but she knew how important secrecy was to the Anbu Corps so she refrained from asking any questions.

Besides, Tsunade would have given them all the information permitted so asking anything now would be a fruitless endeavor.

She felt the scroll in her side pouch and took a deep breath to calm herself.

She began keeping track of their trail. The Forest of Deception. Sakura puzzled over the place she'd not head of. Considering her book-smarts and fantastic grades it was a marvel to find a location in Konoha she knew virtually nothing about. Had she not been so nervous of her impending test then she surely would have been excited for a brand new learning opportunity.

"We've arrived." Sakura came to a stop at a large wall made of earth. It must have been erected by someone with an earth release type of jutsu to act as a gate. Sakura craned her neck upas high as she could to see trees growing over the wall. She could only see the beginnings of greenery and nothing else to show the forest. They were enormous and the earth wall stretched wide along the area outside of the village, Sakura wondered what made this 'Forest of Deception' so different from the rest of the woodland surrounding the village apart from how truly enormous the trees were.

"You have one minute, make it last." Sakura dropped her head down to the Anbu who stood in an alert stance facing straight forward past the pinkette. Sakura now heard steps from behind her. She spun and found her eyes locked onto her own Sensei.

Kakashi made his way towards his student, Sakura's eyes were still frozen wide and she unknowingly raised two fingers up and nodded her head. Kakashi felt something inside his chest tighten seeing his own student so unconvinced that he would come and see her before her big test that she automatically tried to release a genjutsu.

"I'm here." He raised a hand. Sakura blinked a few times before her confusion had slowly melted away to leave joy. Kakashi's chest ached for his student.

"Kakashi-sensei!" She sped up to meet him half way. "When did you get back!? I thought you were out on missions."

He gave a mild chuckle and tilted his head, "well I'm not going to miss my precious student's big day. How has the Hokage's training been to you?"

Sakura gave a small tired grin, "ah ha ha, trainings been a lot. Tsunade-shishou is a merciless mentor. But I'm doing really well as a medic! I've been interning at Konoha General Hospital and even are assigned to a patient!" Sakura's eyes gleamed happily, thrilled to be able to share her progress with the man. Kakashi's eye softened and Sakura felt a throb in her chest. She schooled her features and lowered her eyes. When did he return? Did he really come to see her compete? She'd like to believe him but...

Kakashi's brows drew up, feeling guilt at the conflict in his students eyes, she should never be this conflicted at seeing him care about her. He may be her teacher, but his absence left a gaping loneliness in her. Kakashi felt his fingers twitch, he slowly raised a hand and moved to hover over he lowered head.

He hesitated. She was nearly up to his shoulders.

When did that happen?

"Time's up."

Sakura's attention snapped to the Anbu who held a timer. The Anbu officer made many rapid hand seals of which Sakura struggled to keep up with. She turned and slammed her palms to the ground and feeling the earth shake, an opening stretched. A section of the earthy gate rose high and shaky.

"The test is beginning. You will find the entrance on the fifth day's night after your task is completed and the test ends."

Sakura nodded in understanding and turned to look at Kakashi who stood with his hands at his sides and a passive look on his covered face. "Well it looks like we sure wasted our time," he scratched the back of his head and Sakura lowered her eyes, conflicted emotions reflected in her eyes and frazzled thoughts buzzing in her head.

"Do your best, Sakura." Kakashi voiced.

Frazzled from seeing him though she may be, Sakura nodded. "Yes, Kakashi-sensei..." She bowed and sped to the entrance.

Kakashi watched her go.

Her figure got smaller and smaller as she ran through the forest.

He remained as the earthy entrance began to close.

He remained as the pink of her head faded into the greenery.

He remained there with his thoughts to keep him company once again.

❀

Sakura was frazzled to say the least. Not to mention that she felt guilty for feeling so frazzled. Kakashi had come to see her, she should be grateful for that shouldn't she? But those months hearing nothing from him and no warning before he left had hurt. She and Naruto has begun a mail correspondence every few weeks since his first letter and those conversations really helped keep her spirits up.

If Kakashi had spoken to her before he left, would that have helped ease the loneliness? Sakura wasn't sure she could answer that.

She was leaping through the enormous trees, branch to branch. Her brows remained furrowed still deep in confusing and conflicting thoughts.

She felt she had a right to be upset, but he was making an effort now, shouldn't she just move past it and be happy he's here? Well yes that would be nice but his presence was still missed and it still hurt. After loosing Sasuke and Naruto only to loose him too with nearly no warning. It had hurt.

Sakura's foot slipped and she managed to catch herself in place before she could slip from the branch.

'Agh! These thoughts are annoying! Gotta focus!'

Sakura nodded to herself in agreement. She couldn't afford to waste any time on these thoughts that wouldn't help her here. It had been five minutes since she'd entered and she needed to find and establish a campsite, it was roughly 10:00 so she'd best prepare for the day. Though her memories of the Forest of Death were mostly horrifying from seeing Sasuke in so much pain and getting that damned curse mark, to the many near death moments she and her team faced, there was still valuable experiences she'd had.

First she began hunting for a water source. She still didn't know what her mission in this forest even was, so she would find a water source, set up camp, hunt for lunch and once the last five minutes were up then she'd open her scroll and plan for the mission given.

The forest was... odd. In a sense, though it was like a forest would with large trees covering the sky, weeds overgrowing the grass and the sounds of birds and insects, it didn't quite feel like a forest.

Sakura would sped past the odd boulder that felt out of place, as though some things had been placed there. Even some of the trees were spaced out, seemingly unlikely to have randomly grown in such locations.

Sakura eventually heard the sounds of running water and came to a pond, with water running over large boulders into the pond. It wasn't small for a pond but it wasn't large either.

Smaller rocks surrounded the body of water, moss, lilies, lotus's and wildflowers were abundant, and Sakura didn't find it odd to call the spot quite pretty. Again, it felt out of place for a forest.

She took out a small flask and filled it up with water. Once full, she made a few hand signs and brought two fingers to the bottle. Thankful for Tsunade's training which had Sakura discovering her Chakra nature types included Water Release. Tsunade had taught her survival techniques which included purifying water either for consumption or when needed for fast medical assistance.

Just as she finished purifying the water, ten minutes had officially passed.

Sakura placed her flask to the side and pulled out the hand sized green scroll from her pouch. She weighed the scroll in her palm and took a deep breath.

"Okay Sakura, let's see what the mission is." She unclasped the seal and began unrolling the scroll.

After a moment Sakura blinked.

- Yarrow

- Aloe Marlothii

- Dark Opal Basil

- False Unicorn

She blinked again and furrowed her brows. Re-reading the scroll a few times, turning it over to find nothing. It was a short scroll... of herbs.

This was a list of Herbs.

"Tsunade-shishou sent us out here to collect herbs?" Sure these herbs were incredibly rare, especially False Unicorn, but still this was the mission? Sakura thought over the herbs for a moment.

It was one thing to read about many, many, many different kinds of medical herbs and natural remedies but it was another to pull magnitudes of books worth of knowledge to find these specific herbs. But Sakura was sure with enough time she'd be able to remember just the right information to find these.

"Alright." She smiled to herself, her earlier thoughts of her teammates leaving her and her horrible memories in the forest of death taking a backseat for the moment as she began to make her camp.

She'd began setting up just a small distance away from the pond, just in-case others found it then they wouldn't find her, she didn't want to have to fight anyone if she could help it. Sakura had filled up and purified a few flasks of drinking water and stored them in a medical scroll on her back, she'd gone over her equipment again to make sure she had everything she needed and found herself with a small fire eating a roasted frog and wild berries for lunch.

As she ate, she went over the information she could recall on the herbs she needed to collect.

Yarrows; medical herbs good for fevers, colds, allergies, period pains, diarrhoea, loss of appetite, even chewing on a leaf was good for toothaches. They weren't a rare herb by any means but they weren't common either, they favoured dry prairies and meadows but Sakura felt her chances of finding an area like that in this overgrown forest quite slim. Their flowers attracted bugs.

"Okay the yarrow herb is probably my easiest option..." She mulled over the thoughts with her thumb pressed against her lip as she fiddled with the berries in her other hand.

Aloe Marlothii; large succulent based plants with single-stemmed aloe. For medical uses, the leaves can be cooked into foods to treat stomach aches and intestinal worms, the aloe found in the succulent leaves would be the main use for Aloe Vera for skin protection, for soothing anti-inflammatory mucilage or for gel over cuts. As for locations it liked sandy areas though it could flourish amidst conditions being for a succulent, so lots of sun wound be preferable and their flowers tended to attract birds.

"A bit trickier..." She popped a berry in her mouth.

Dark Opal Basil; the herb was good for digestive functions, treating acne and insect bites, improving nausea, and even working as a sedative for muscle cramps and spasms. This one was difficult because it thrived in dark areas. Sakura couldn't remember much more of the details on this herb

"Ahh.. Tsunade-shishou has me memorising so much, come on you stupid brain you better remember useful information soon."

False Unicorn; this herb was as an understatement, extremely rare. They were good for women suffering from menstrual and fertility problems such as ovarian cysts, menopause symptoms and even infertility. All Sakura could remember on locations was that it liked moist soil and partial shade.

"Like that's of any use in a forest!" Sakura groaned and sighed. Hopefully she'd remember more soon so she'd have a better chance finding these herbs if she wanted to pass this test.

It wasn't much long after her brainstorming that Sakura decided to get a move on. She'd stomped out her fire and erased all traces of herself before leaping into the trees. Hunting for the Yarrow herb was probably her best bet to start on. She'd need to search around for any helpful environments that looked promising.

Before Sakura had known it, hours had passed. She hadn't come across any significant areas as of yet, just a lot of trees, large animals, and the odd structure making the nature feel odd.

She was growing tired as she leapt from branch to branch. She shook her hands clean of blood she'd spilled from an attacking squirrel that had stood near three times the size of her.

She began wiping the kunai she'd killed the animal with on a large leaf. The squirrel corpse hung on the branch next to her, the buzzing of flies and rustling of leaves was all she heard until her ears registered a low hiss.

Sakura felt her muscles in her legs and arms tense. She dropped the kunai and it stabbed into the wood between her feet.

Her wide eyes snapped up to meet those of an enormous snake terrifyingly close to her.

Wide slitted unblinking eyes.

Sakura's breath caught.

Instead of thoughts of an escape route or fighting plan, her mind was consumed by horrifying memories that held her locked in place.

A sinister woman peeling the skin of her face off.

Orochimaru's piercing eyes.

A giant snake lunging at her and her teammates.

Sasuke's screams of anguish as he was bitten.

Sasuke grabbing her hands and crumbling against her as she sat helpless.

Naruto and Sasuke laying dead to the world.

And Sakura, all alone.

The snake's mouth had snapped open, large fangs displayed and Sakura couldn't move her legs. Not again. Not again! She couldn't move, she could only watch useless as the beast lunged.

"Leaf Hurricane!"

From out of nowhere, Rock Lee came flying in and kicked the snake on the side of its head. Sakura managed to blink her stinging eyes as the boy came to land at her side.

"Sakura-san! Are you alright?" He voiced still with his eyes focused on the snake. Sakura held a fist to her chest and worked to take in deep breaths. She nodded.

"I... ah... Thank you Lee-san..." She grabbed her kunai from the wood and watched as the snake focused back on the two of them. Sakura looked to her side to the squirrel corpse. She grabbed Lee's shoulder.

"It wants the squirrel! Follow me." She grabbed Lee's hand and the boy followed her as the two leapt to the corpse. The snake lunged just as they fell below the branch, its jaw unhinged and it latched onto the squirrel. The two landed on a lower branch and began sprinting through the trees.

"Thank you again, Lee-san. You saved me again." She smiled as they came to stop on a branch.

Lee beamed, "of course! I'll always be here when you need me."

"Where's your team?" Sakura asked.

"Oh! Follow me!" He jumped and Sakura followed the boy through the forest. Eventually they came to an area of the forest with large trees overgrowing to the point where sunlight was only just filtering in small beams of light.

"You found her!" Tenten smiled from a tree branch next to Neji and the two jumped down to meet them. For a second Sakura was worried about an ambush. The rules weren't specified for exactly how many could pass and in the previous exam each team fought each other for a position. But their expressions and easy body language had her calm.

"No problems?" Neji crossed his arms.

"None!" Lee gave a thumbs up and Tenten put a hand on her hip.

"No need to worry or anything, we're looking to team up." She smiled.

"Team up?" Sakura raised a brow.

"Yeah! Your scrolls are the same right?" She unfurled her scroll and Sakura pulled out her own to compare. They had the same herbs written. "Great! Since you're entered as a solo medic then there's no problem for you to team up with us. We have no idea what any of this stuff is, but this aloe thing is like an aloe vera cream, right?" Sakura nodded in confirmation.

"Yeah, these are all medicinal herbs."

"Perfect! Then if we work together we can get them. With your medical knowledge and our skill in numbers it should be a synch." Tenten pocketed her scroll and Sakura felt herself flood with relief at the prospect of going through this test with Team Gai.

"That sounds good." Sakura smiled. Neji nodded and the other two smiled.

"Where should we begin then? What do you think?" Tenten came to nudge her shoulder against Sakura's and looked over Sakura's scroll. Sakura began listing off the herbs and the information she had on them so far.

"Oh!" Lee was jumping excitedly in place. "The Yarrow herb likes areas with a lot of sun?" Sakura nodded encouragingly. "When I was looking for you I passed an area with less trees overhead! Would that be a good place to check?"

"Yeah that's a good starting point." She rolled up her scroll and pocketed it. It wasn't much long after that when the team began their journey. They resulted to travel to the location, evaluate the safety of it before deciding if they should get the herb or set up a camp for the night seeing as it was sometime in the afternoon, the sun was still up but they wanted to be safe.

The group spent a while just traveling with Lee's directions to the area. During their run, clouds had moved overhead and a light rain was sprinkling down leaving the wildlife mildly wet and in another situation Sakura would call it beautiful. The sun's direction indicated it was about an hour or two away from sunset.

The rain wouldn't be much of a hinderance at this rate seeing as how it was just a light drizzle.

"Over here!" Lee lead the group to a stop in a small pasture, the trees overhead were indeed less and at an earlier time the sun would be able to shine brightly down in the small area. The grass and weeds were much taller thanks to the clear skies and flowers grew nearly reaching the students waists. The landed on the floor and looked around.

"This is a pretty good spot to start, it's a little too small of an area for yarrow's to grow however. But this place seems different to where we just were." Sakura said as she felt the soil below.

"Yeah this place is a bit clearer, the trees look thinner and like different kinds compared to the ones before." Tenten spoke as she felt a tree. The rain gave the nature a moist shine to it.

Neji was looking up. He pointed, "the tree clearing doesn't end here, if we continue north then it should expand to a larger area." Sakura nodded and rose to her feet. Buzzing noises sounded around her and she looked up to see flies larger than usual flying through the trees.

"Let us move then!" Lee cheered and the group followed Neji's direction. It wasn't too long later that they came to a much larger clearing and night had begun to fall.

The sun was nearing its descent but it was still light enough for the group to see without starting a fire yet. They followed the tree clearing and came to a much larger area. Trees grew enormously tall and still fell overhead but in the centre of a break in the skyline grew a bush sprouting white flowers. "There it is!" Sakura pointed, but the groups joy was muted by what else grew in the clearing.

Vines layered the ground, nearly completely covering the wild grass and weeds below. Large leaves on those vines casting shadows of their own, and monstrous Venus fly trap heads stood amongst the vines; all facing up towards the sky.

The team leapt up high onto a tree branch to get a better view. Buzzing flew overhead. "Well this is gonna be fun," Tenten sighed. Sakura thought for a moment. "Okay... This shouldn't be too hard. Venus fly traps are nocturnal, right? So we should just be able to run in, grab the herb, and run out." The others nodded. It seems they got here at the perfect time.

Buzzing sounded along with the pitter patter of raindrops falling around them.

After a moment of planning the team resolved on their next move; they would move in pairs, one a head to grab the herb and the other hanging a few steps back to watch for danger. Sakura and Lee would move up front with Tenten and Neji behind.

The vines were truly thick and imposing as they weaved over the ground of the entire clearing. Near ten fly trap heads seemed resting atop the cluster. The vines weren't so entwined that the group couldn't navigate their way along the ground. They didn't want to risk disturbing the heads, plants though they may be, they weren't normal just regarding their unusual size so the group had to be careful. Neji's byakugan had picked up chakra pulsing in the plants which kept the team on edge.

Sakura and Lee began their trek, carefully navigating their way around vines and watching their steps. Neji and Tenten kept watch around them and followed as Sakura lead the team closer to the centre of the clearing where the herb sprouted a shining white. Rain droplets fell around them hopefully hiding the sounds of their movement as they progressed.

Tenten was on high alert, she felt as though this task was too easy. She admired Tsunade too much to think the woman would give them a task this simple. She saw Sakura felt the same way, it showed in the tenseness of her shoulders and how she looked around as they continued. She kept her attention set, the sounds of rain pitter pattering around them a soothing sound.

Suddenly her eyes widened as the sound of flowing water came. That sound was too much water pouring at once for it to be the rain. She spun around to see water pouring not too far away in a stream. It was pouring from a leaf as it moved. Tenten followed the vine with her eyes to see a Venus flytrap head not facing the sky, but down on them,

"Guys! We've been spotted!" She yelled and immediately everyone's attention was on the plant head.

Its green body tinted yellow and orange, its head a beautiful shade stood menacing at a speed a regular plant was bereft of, it lunged at them. "Retreat!" Neji yelled and the group scattered in their pairs.

Sakura and Lee lunged as suddenly the vines around them came to life in strong whipping movements, the two ran up vines, ducking and dodging as now all the plant heads were lunging agape to swallow them. The Genin swooped and dodged, swinging and launching themselves over and under vines, doing all they could and throwing themselves from place to place as fast as possible.

They managed to escape the cluster and duck behind a tree, strong Thunk's slammed against the tree, shaking it to its foundations as a few head collided with the bark, but were unable to reach the team. The group heaved deep desperate breaths as the sounds calmed and the plants returned to their pile.

Sakura clutched her thumping chest, easing her breath to calm down as the others sat along side her. "That.. hah... hah... was close..." Tenten voiced as she leaned against the tree.

"Indeed... hah... They should not have that much energy for nocturnal plants..." Lee agreed.

"And the sun has set..." Neji spoke looking to the darkened sky. "We're at a worse disadvantage now. We should set up camp nearby and hunt for dinner. We need the rest and should re-think a plan tomorrow." The three others agreed and after catching their breaths, the leapt away.

It was much later in the night. The team had found a patch of trees covering them enough from the rain, Sakura Tenten and Sakura had patched the covering with more large leaves to keep them dry while Lee and Neji had hunted for fish. They ate nice enough and the easy conversations were nicer still. They were sleeping in shifts to keep them protected.

Sakura sat on her patch of dry leaves amongst the grass they had flattened, the other three were resting on their own patches near the fire they had constantly fed to keep them warm. Sakura was sharpening her longest kunai as she waited for her time to wake Neji up to take the next watch.

It was then a sudden gust of wind thumped through the air, rattling the tree leaves above and the grasses bellow. Sakura guarded her face as the gust ploughed seemingly throughout the entire area before Sakura realised the wind was coming from above. She looked up just in time to see the tail-end of a beautiful white movement fly through the sky. "What..."

She held no comprehension for what that white movement was as the wind settled. The thumping growing distant as the being flew further away. It didn't seem to be in the sky, rather just under the trees. Sakura blinked as tiny white specks glittered and vanished after only just a few seconds. What was that?

"Haruno-san." Sakura's attention snapped down to meet Neji's eyes, "your shift is over. Go, rest."

Sakura nodded, "ah, yes, thank you." She pocketed her kunai and moved to the patch near the fire to sleep. It came to her easy and she was quick to sink into a peaceful rest.

❀

It was in the early morning that the group stood crouched atop tree branches watching the next of Venus fly traps and attempted to think of a new plan. Buzzing sounded and the heads were all standing taller. With their vines so rooted and the sheer amount of head, it prevented them from reaching the tallest trees over growing around the sides of the clearing.

"Look, we can't kill them. It's their environment and Tsunade-sama told us to survive here, that doesn't mean killing them." Tenten spoke.

"I agree, but these plants are too large and have too great a number for us to simply distract them and none of us have any equipment long enough nor useful for a long range grab." Neji crossed his arms.

"Then what are we to do? They were so desperate to eat us last night it was an though they were starved!" Lee chimed in and his words had Sakura putting a finger to her chin in deep thought.

The Yarrow and these plants both flourished in clear areas with an abundance of sun. They could co-exist well together because the yarrow attracted bugs so it was no wonder why these plants had grown their roots so deep around the herb. Thus the herb would stay protected and flourish and the Venus fly traps would be kept well fed with  a constant flow of bugs. However if their relationship was so mutually beneficial, then why were the plants seemingly so starved that they were so active even at night?

The leaves rustled overhead, buzzing noises joined the sound and one of near ten Venus fly trap heads moved to face the noise. "Everyone be silent." Neji whispered and the team crouched down. The plant head was following the buzzing of the fly that was near the size of a human head. It was zipping through branches, seemingly enticed by the sweet smell coming from the herb.

Suddenly five plant heads lunged, all desperate for even the single bug, however the insect zipped back and between branches. The plants snapped ferociously and repeatedly hitting the tree their food had escaped behind before sadly lowering back down to the vine covered floor.

"That's it!" Sakura spun to the group. "I think I know what to do!" She beamed as she began to explain.

"The clearing is being overgrown. The trees around are stretching too far, because of this the plants are getting less bugs enticed to the herb so they're on alert for anything. If we go around and cut the overgrown branches then the clearing will be open enough for more bugs and the plants will be too busy eating and stretch up so high that we can grab the herb!"

"I like it." Tenten nodded happily. "It's worth a shot."

"Agreed!" Lee pumped a fist and Neji took a moment before he nodded in agreement.

The team confirmed their plan and it took near an hour for them to complete it. With weapons in hand, they sliced down branches, the fly trap heads wound lunch towards the falling wood and launch them to the sides to keep the clearing clear. Tenten had given the boys large rai-shuriken they used to hack the branches, Tenten with a large sword sliced and Sakura finished the job with chakra infused strikes to sever the branches.

Once finished, sweaty and tired, the team sat back and watched in satisfaction how the bugs buzzing overhead were gathering in much larger numbers. Finally able to smell the herb.

It didn't take long for the Venus fly traps to feast almost happily in their movements as they stretched towards the clear sky.

"Go!" The team sprinted down, leaping over and weaving around vines much larger spaced out with how high the plants were reaching.

Sakura closed in on the herb and grabbed a fist full of the plant. As carefully and quickly as she could, she uprooted a piece of it, "Got it!" and the team launched out. Sakura could be mistaken, but it almost felt as through the plants were ignoring them. Whether that be due to the feast they were devouring as an acknowledgement of the teams assistance, she couldn't be sure.

Once clear from the cluster of vines and up high at a safe distance did they celebrate. "We did it!" Tenten threw her arms around Sakura and the two jumped in place happily. "We did! We successfully got the herb!" Lee cheered to the sky and even Neji wore a small smile. Once their elation calmed, Sakura safely bottled the herb in a glass bottle from one of her medicals scrolls and sealed it back away for safe keeping.

"Nice! That's one down and its not even lunch yet." Tenten beamed.

"Yes! I am so excited! Which one should we look for next?" Lee asked

Sakura checked her mission scroll and ticked off the yarrow, "well the Aloe Marlothii like large clear areas with lots of sunlight so another area similar to this one would be good. But they also like drier conditions so I don't think its nearby. Or the Dark Opal Basil can be found in enclosed areas like caves. So either of these are going be the next ones. I suggest we do some scouting of the area for any areas like them."

Neji spoke, "I agree, we'll split off in separate directions in search for either a large dry clearing or a cave are. We'll meet back up here for lunch when the sun is highest." They nodded in response.

Moments later the group scattered.

The scenery remained that of a forest for Sakura but it changed ever so slightly. Thicker trees changed size, she came across different plants, flowers of varying kinds decorated the flora, until eventually she stood in a part of the forest that felt completely different to where she had been. Unfortunately she didn't manage to find any caves or wide open fields.

She searched far and wide as she ran, she came across tall pillars of stone, covered in nature and returned to the earth. The stone was real but could not have simply been here, it was placed, and nor did it seem hundreds of years old though it was beyond her young age.

She came across more ponds of flowing water and beautiful dispositions, wildlife of varying sizes, and plants of a magnitude of colours.

When the time came, Sakura returned the way she had come and hoped the other had better luck than she did.

She and Lee were the first to return. Sadly he hadn't found anything. Soon Tenten and Neji joined them.

"Good news! I found a cave." Tenten informed. "It's real big, I didn't head in there but it had a bunch of mushrooms and plants growing outside that seemed to go inside too. It seems way to suspicious of a place to not have what we need."

"That is fantastic Tenten!" Lee beamed.

"Yeah, that's great!" Sakura smiled. Neji nodded. "We'll hunt for lunch and then set off to this location you've found."

The group managed to hunt some more fish, Sakura roasted a few extra and stored them in her scroll for later seeing how they weren't sure if any ponds or rivers were near the cave that they could find a future meal in. They ate well, cleared their camp, stomped out their fire and then set off on their way.

Time passed, the environment slowly changed, and they came to a stop near a large cave. Tenten had been right, this cave stood tall and imposing, light seemed void inside as Sakura couldn't see very far in before it was completely pitch black. Wild nature grew along the cave, but the odd part was the ground outside the cave and even on nearby trees there was a blackened layer that seemed almost like scorch marks? Like a recent fire had tried to encompass the outside of the cave.

The group inspected the outside of the cave first. The conditions to find the Dark Opal Basil was perfect, there's no way one wasn't growing inside this cave.

"We're not alone." Neji's calm voice was stern and abrupt.

Sakura spun around, instantly on the defensive. "Come out. We know you're there." He voiced as he and the others got into a fighting stance.

From behind a couple trees directly across from the cave emerged, Kiba, Shino, and Hinata; team 8.

"Hey guys. No need to be on the defensive, we're just here to talk." Kiba said although his posture was anything other than relaxed. Team 8 approached all looking as ready to fight as team Gai were.

"How did you find this place." Neji demand.

"Would you believe we were passing by? Because we were. Sure I picked up your scent as we got here but what can you do." He grinned.

"What do you want?" Tenten asked.

"Information." Shino said. "You teamed up with Sakura for information so we would appreciate some too."

"Yeah, think of it this way. We'll help out here to get whatever's in there, and in exchange you tell us about the others." Kiba spoke.

"And what if we refuse?" Tenten raised a hand to a weapon scroll on her back.

"Then we'll have to fight you for it." Kiba crouched low and Akamaru began growling.

"Guys, guys," Sakura spoke up, "there's no need to fight. The help would be useful and it wouldn't hurt to give them information. We don't have to fight for anything." She pleaded. The groups remained at a tense stand still for a moment longer before each person eased out of their defence positions and seemed to come to an agreement.

"Very well." Neji spoke and Kiba stretched with a smile on his face.

"Great! So, what're we hunting?"

"The Dark Opal Basil, have you guys found anything yet?" Sakura tilted her head.

Kiba shook his, "nope! We weren't sure but Hinata reckons its medical stuff and that's why we followed your scent."

"So you were following us." Tenten put a hand on her hip and he dismissed her comment with a wave, "details, details."

Shino tucked his hands in his pockets. "We've been scouting the are since we arrived. We've found forest's of wetland, rivers, a clearing of sunflowers, stone pillars-"

Sakura froze, "did you say a clearing of sunflowers?"

He nodded in response and Hinata picked up, "y-yes, a large clear field with lots of sunflowers growing."

Sakura beamed, "that's great! That's a perfect place to look for the Aloe Marlothii! Could you take us there after this?"

Kiba spoke up, "sure, that is if we get some of this basil stuff too." Sakura nodded. "Sounds fair to me. Guys?" She turned to team Gai.

"Yeah, if you think that information's helpful to us then I don't see the problem." Tenten shrugged.

"Great!" Sakura beamed a smile.

"So... What's the plan? What's this plant thing look like?" Kiba crossed his arms behind his head.

Sakura began, "well the Dark Opal Basil grow in the darkest of places, it likes dark damp environments hence the cave. We should avoid using light sources because of whatever creatures are in there will be sensitive to light, and react aggressively to it. The herb, Dark Opal Basil, sprouts green then matures to a deep purple, they have average palm sized leaves with light purple flowers growing on them, we need to uproot a chunk of it, as it's best to only take a piece instead of taking it all."

"Well without a light source it's gonna be real tricky to find in there." Kiba shrugged.

"Then let's plan this out." Sakura put a finger to her lips in thought. "Objectively Hinata and Neji-san will go in because they'll be able to see the best."

"I have fireflies that would be a good use of natural light and not a large disturbance," Shino spoke up and Sakura nodded.

"Me and Akamaru can guide us, our sense of smell is second to none." Kiba grinned and stood proudly.

"Yes and I know what we're looking for." Sakura finished.

"Lee-san, Tenten, can you two keep watch for any threats while we're in there?"

"You can count on us!" Lee gave a thumbs up.

"Then it's settled, let's move." Neji turned to the cave entrance and activated his Byakugan. Shino held a hand up and a small group of fireflies fluttered from his palm before being dispersed into the cave, Hinata activated her Byakugan and came to Sakura's side, Kiba joined Shino and the group began their trek into the damp dark cave.

Their footsteps were slow and echoed, the fireflies didn't provide much light but just enough that they could see without walking into walls.

Eventually the crunch of leaves ended and their feet met the hard floors. Hinata at Sakura's side seemed worried so Sakura nudged her with her shoulder, she gave the girl an encouraging smile that she hesitantly returned. Hinata suddenly stiffened. Neji at the front had also come to a tense stop.

"What is it?" Sakura said.

"There's something in front of us. I see chakra, it's faint but it's there." Neji was in a defensive stance as he slowly continued.

The group huddled closer together as the walls expanded and the cave got deeper.

Hinata gasped as she and Neji froze, her hand was shaking. "Light." Neji spoke and Shino obliged by commanding his fireflies to just in front of Neji.

"!?" Sakura gasped and froze as the light showed what the two Hyuuga had seen.

Large wide eyes, fangs as long as a forearm, a truly enormous spider stood there face to face with the group. It's wide eyes unblinking in the light and its position stiff and terrifying. "Shit-!" Kiba voiced in surprise.

"Wait." Neji ordered as he took another step closer, his palm still up. The spider didn't react.

"It's dead." At his words, Sakura breathed out a long sigh.

"Shit that scared me." Kiba sighed as well. "What is it?"

"It's a Brown Recluse Spider, we're lucky it's dead otherwise it would have eaten my fireflies and then us. It's venom is a potent hallucinogen and locks muscles stiff." Shino explained, certainly not calming the group down despite his clear attempt to.

"The - The chakra inside we're sensing must be left over, it must've died recently." Hinata voiced.

"Thank goodness." Sakura chimed in at the girls side. "Let's keep moving then, it shouldn't be too far." The fireflies left the spider and began illuminating their pathway, they hung around their feet and ahead a few steps. Sakura furrowed her brows, she wondered more about the basil and racked her brain for more information on it.

She knew there was a trick to finding the herb in dark places but she couldn't seem to recall what it was.

As the group slowly progressed, Hinata looked over her shoulder, her Byakugan allowing her to see the silhouette of the giant spider and she drew in a long breath.

Hearing this, Kiba eased his way to her side, "you okay, Hinata?"

"Ah, yes, I'm just... a little on edge." He nodded in understanding.

"Guys, let's stop for a second." Kiba spoke to the group, "we should, like, assess the area now that it's bigger, I guess?"

Sakura nodded, "sure, the caves wider now, so we should check the sides for anything."

Hinata was thankful and moved to a wall to brace herself against. Having to work alongside Neji had her a little on edge, though she knew the boy hated her, having to be around him while working together wasn't made much easier. She took slow breaths as she leaned her back against the cave wall. A crinkling noise caught her attention, she shifted in the dark and felt along the wall, she felt leaves brush her fingers.

Hinata plucked a leaf that had grown along small vines on the wall. She fiddled with the black leaf as a way of pulling her attention and calming her down.

She furrowed her brow and moved her thumb, the leaf was purple where her thumb had been. Curious, Hinata lifted the leaf to her face and exhaled a slow warm breath on it.

The leaf became a light lavender purple when it made contact with the heat of her breath. Hinata blinked before she sprang off of the wall and sped to Sakura's side.

"Sa-Sakura! Is this the herb? It turns purple under heat." Sakura took the leaf and recognition flashed in her eyes. "Yes! Yes that's it Hinata! I'm so stupid for not remembering they turn purple when exposed to heat." She beamed before freezing at Hinata's wide eyes and petrified expression.

"What-" "There's chakra everywhere." Sakura spun to see Neji frozen in place. She hadn't noticed it but most of the fireflies had vanished.

Sakura felt a crawling sensation on her leg. She looked down to see a tiny spider devouring a firefly. "Guys-!"

"They're everywhere!" Neji spun.

"They've eaten near all of my fireflies."

"Guys run!" Kiba yelled as the group turned. Tiny spiders had covered the wall and began falling from the top of the cave. Sakura slapped off the one on her feet, grabbed Hinata's hand and they began a mad sprint to the entrance. Tiny crawling sensations overwhelmed the students and more and more followed behind them. They sped past the corpse of the enormous spider and in a single dying light of a firefly saw a disturbing number of small baby spider spilling out of the spiders behind and covering the ground.

The group ran and ran and ran until the light of the outside overwhelmed them and they collapsed to the floor in terror fuelled exhaustion.

Sakura, Hinata and Kiba laid on the reassuringly grassy floor and heaved breaths, Neji and Shino stood to the side both out of breath.

"What happened in there?" Tenten crouched down to their sides and Lee ran to the other two.

"Hah... Hah... Spider... A really big one..." Sakura heaved, "but it was dead... but it must've been a mother... 'cause lots... and LOTS... of babies... everywhere..."

"Ah, I see," Tenten patted their shoulders before helping them sit up. She and Lee had made a fire so she ushered the group towards it.

"Well if anything, Hinata figured out how we're going to find the herb. It reacts to heat, so once we get back in there, we'll use a flare and in the flash of light grab a fistful of the basil, roots and all, then sprint back out. The spiders wont come out into the light we will be safe once we get out. We just need to get in there in total darkness to not get their attention until we look for the herb." Sakura rattled off as the teams sat together.

"I wont be of any use then, my bugs will only attract their attention." Shino spoke.

"That's alright. Neji-san and Hinata will be needed to be defence," Sakura passed the leaf Hinata had given her to Kiba for him and Akamaru to scent. "Will you be able to lead us with this?" He nodded.

"Yep, no problem."

"Good, then Kiba will be our guide, Neji-san and Hinata will be defence and I'll get the herb." Sakura finished with a nod.

"Then you're gonna need one of these." Tenten pulled out a scroll and with a few movements she held out a small red flare, one rip on the tape on top and it would act as a light source. "Perfect, thank you Tenten."

The teams resolved to save their second attempt for tomorrow, as the sun was setting and it would be far to dangerous to re-entre the cave so soon. Sakura gave her extra fish to Akamaru, Kiba, Hinata and Shino who hadn't eaten enough before finding them. They along with Neji and Tenten left to collect food for dinner while Sakura and Lee created some sleeping spaces around the fire.

They ate together and decided for safety sake to have two people away for the shifts, one from each team.

Sakura and Hinata were talking quietly to themselves, Hinata held a hand up and yawned.

"You should rest." The girls jumped at Shino's voice. Hinata got to her feet and dusted off her lap as the boy approached.

"Y-yes, thank you Shino. Good night Sakura." Hinata gave a small wave that Sakura returned.

"Good night, Hinata." She smiled. Shino remained standing by the tree Hinata once sat against, Sakura was seated atop a moss covered rock and sharpening a kunai. The silence between the two was a little awkward, neither knew each other well. Shino was a quiet boy who kept to himself, thus he struggled to instigate conversations lest he have something important to say.

Sakura after befriending Hinata would find it nice if she could consider the girls other teammates friends also. "Um, you can sit down. It's going to be a long night." Shino didn't give any reaction to tell Sakura that he'd heard her. She was about to resign herself to silence again until the boy moved around the tree and sat himself on a large root protruding from the ground.

Sakura returned to her sharpening and the two sat in silence.

It wasn't long before a strong gust of wind broke their silence. Sakura closed her eyes to brace through the gust that whipped her hair and clothes frantically around her. She blinked to see shimmering particles raining down to be caught in the strong gusts.

"Again..." She murmured as the wind slowed to a stop and the particles fade away.

"It's pollinating. We needn't worry." Shino voiced.

"Pollinating? Bees do that at night?" She tilted her head.

He remained still, "not bees, other insects also pull their weight at night. What we just witnessed was most likely a moth."

Sakura nodded slowly and turned to look at the black sky through the cracks in the leaves of the trees above.

"Must've been a big moth..." She was met again with silence. Sakura got the feeling that conversation wouldn't be necessary so the two sat in silence until Tenten awoke to relieve Sakura of her watch duty and grant her that blissful sleep she had been longing for.

❀

"Got your flare?" Tenten held a hand on her hip as she tucked a storage scroll in her side pouch. Sakura nodded and patted her thigh pouch. It was early morning, the sun was bright and warm in the dampness of the forest and cave entrance. The group had hunted small birds and safe berries for breakfast, Sakura and Choji had made the drinking water. Neji and Hinata were to act at the front and back as defence, Kiba behind Neji at the front of the group with the leaf in hand to use the scent and find the herb, Sakura between Kiba and Hinata would light the flare.

"We're good to go." Sakura voiced.

"Best of luck!" Lee encouraged loudly as the group made their way back into the cave.

"Stay close." Neji said sternly as he and Hinata activated their byakugan and began leading them.

The group was huddled close, Kiba and Akamaru would sniff the air then murmur directions to Neji who walked with a palm out in a ready stance. Sakura listened intently along with their footsteps echoing in the cave. The floor was damp and distant dripping sounds could be heard.

Seconds ticked away, minutes passed as they carefully eased through the cave.

Enough time had passed that Sakura quietly pulled out her flare and held it tight against her chest.

"Wait." Neji spoke. They all froze.

Sakura strained her hearing and only managed to pick out very faint sounds like pitter pattering of tiny feet. The spiders. She held her breath, listening intently, waiting for their leader to clear them.

Neji and Hinata's eyes were focused on the tiny spots of glowing chakra decorating the cave walls. Clusters of chakra groups more frequently high and low on the cave walls, speckles of the spiders dotted near the centre of the walls around them. It was impossible to distinguish the spiders chakra from any produced by the herb.

The spiders along the floor slowed their movements as silence filled the air.

Sakura whispered, "focus chakra in the soles of your feet, it should help muffle out steps."

"That might attract their attention." Neji spoke low.

"If they see with chakra then they can already see us. This would either help us stay quiet or confuse them." She countered.

"...I... I-I think we should too." Hinata piqued up, palm still outstretched behind them.

Neji took a second, "very well." The group focused their chakra to muffle their steps and continued their trek.

"We're getting close," Kiba whispered, Akamaru was shifting from his place tucked in the boys jacket, his head tucked under Kiba's chin. Sakura's grip on her flare tightened.

"Stop." Kiba halted and stiffed the air, "we're in that bigger area, its growing around us."

"We need at least a fistful with a flower; roots, stem, leaves, and flower." Sakura said. "I'll set off the flare so we can see. Kiba-san, you and Akamaru and I need to grab a fistful when you see it."

"Gotcha." He nodded.

"We'll defend." Neji and Hinata's stances tightened.

Sakura held the flare up and took the pull-wire atop the red cylinder. "Ready... and..." she pulled.

Immediately the environment around them lit up with a blinding red light. The walls shone, leaves cluttered the floor, slumped against the walls, vines spun up the cracks and grew to the ceiling. Hundreds of tiny spiders had the flare fire reflected in their wide eyes and immediately descended unto the group.

Sakura frantically spun, she held the flare up to luminate the area, Neji and Hinata had begun their defence with repetitive strikes around them. Tiny spiders falling one at a time with each strike. Yet they were barely making a dent in the insects numbers as more and more flocked.

"There!" Kiba pointed to the far end of the cave, there sprouted beautiful lavender flowers flourishing under the light and actively blooming under the flares glow.

Just as Sakura turned to see the flowers did a group of spiders fall from above, immediately swarming to Sakura's hand to the flare. With little time to react, she felt a prick of a bite and the immediate tensing of her hand forced the flare from her grip.

"No-!" Should the flare hit the damp ground, it would be extinguished. Kiba spun and dove for the flare. He slid on his chest and managed to catch the still lit flare with a grimace. Sakura sent a pulse of chakra to her hand to expel the spiders and sprinted to the herb.

"Hurry!" Neji yelled as he and Hinata continued to strike spider after spider from the air. Sakura skidded across the puddled ground, she threw out her unbitten hand and snatched a fistful on the herb, uprooting a section with a couple flowers, leaving the majority. "Got it!"

Her frantic feet stumbled and slipped before she finally regained her grip on the floor. Using the chakra in her feet she used it to push and propel herself forward.

The team regrouped and they sprang back the way they came. Kiba held the flare in his teeth as he clutched his hand to his chest. Hinata lead the group with constant palm strikes around them and Neji behind them kept them save. Sakura clutched the herb tightly and ran as fast as she could.

The red light of the flare faded as they began rapidly approaching the cave entrance. Running, and running, and running. Tenten and Lee could be seen yelling encouragements as they ran.

They sprang from the cave like bats out of hell, taking in deep gulps of air, they couldn't rest yet. The baby spiders were still after the flare they'd lit, Sakura could still hear them. "Kiba! Throw me the flare!" She threw her head to the boy, Kiba spat out the flare and chucked it to her.

Sakura focused chakra into her foot, she spun, jumped, and kicked the flare. Chakra hitting it just before her foot could and launching it right back into the cave. The flare zipped straight through the cave and pulling the spiders attention back inside, they retreated after the flare.

Only then did the team collapse with a post adrenaline exhaustion and heave desperate breaths. Sakura slumped to her knees and gripped her right hand, the muscles were tense and rigid from the bite she'd received. Sakura closed her eyes and evened her breathing, she focused her medical chakra to her hand to examine it for the venom. She sighed as she felt it, potent though it may be, it also felt easy to extract since it hadn't passed through her too fast. She placed the herb down and brought the hand to her bite mark and began focusing the chakra to isolate the venom and push it.

"You got it! You got the herb!" Tenten cheered. Sakura nodded as she pulled out a scroll from her back and used her tooth to unfurl it. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just a bite." She analysed the multiple seals for the one she wanted. Finding it, she placed her hand atop the seal and out poofed two vials; one disinfectant and the other a neutral liquid to act as a force to pull the venom.

"Pressing the second vial against the bite, she focused her chakra to push, and slowly the vial began to change to a murky colour. It was a minute later that the venom was fully out of her system, no doubt thanks to the spider being a baby meant the venom was such a small amount. She finished by quickly disinfecting and closing the skin.

She stood and flexed her hand out of its stiffness.

"How are we? Did anyone get bitten?" She saw Neji taking in breaths leaning against a tree, Kiba was laying on his back with his fist against his chest, Hinatas' hands were clutched as she sat. Shino came to Kiba and Lee went to Neji.

Sakura fell to her knees in front of Hinata. The girl flinched in shock at her presence, her eyes wide and shaking, her breath stuttered and hands incredibly tense. Her already pale skin was paler with just how tightly she held her hands, the nails digging in painfully.

"Hinata, did you get bitten?" The girls breathing stuttered again, "show me, please. I can help you, please."

Hinata still seemed hesitant, her reluctance showing in her eyes darting to her hands then anywhere but Sakuras' own eyes. "Hinata, please." Sakura gently placed her hands over the girls, Hinata's grip was too tight. Hinata finally met Sakura's eyes and Sakura was relieved to feel the girl allow Sakura to pull her hands to her. "Thank you." Sakura smiled reassuringly. Hinata looked down tight-lipped.

Her expression still reluctant though she allowed Sakura her hands.

Sakura held her right hand, using both her own hands to pull Hinata's fingers from digging into her palm. Sakura counted five spider bites and began readying her vials. She began her inspection and extraction, noticing Hinata see something over Sakura's shoulder that had her stiffening and looking to the grassy floor.

Sakura focused on healing the girl before asking about it.

It took a few moments to extract the venom, disinfect and close the wounds. Sakura had begun disinfecting her left when she heard a scoff over he shoulder.

"Shameful..." Neji spat. Sakura furrowed her brow. "Excuse me?"

"Have you no pride as a Hyuuga?" Hinata winced. Sakura turned her head to watch the slumped boy out the corner of her eye and continued healing the hand in hers.

"What does being a Hyuuga have to do with being healed?" Sakura gritted out. She didn't like how lowly Neji was talking to Hinata, the girl visibly wilting.

"Everything." His glare hardened, "nothing you would understand."

Sakura was about to snap and demand an explanation when Hinata hesitantly spoke. "I-In our clan, being injured in battle is of great shame. We... We pride ourselves on our perfect defence a-and perfect fighting style that t-to be injured in battle is a sign of shame..."

Sakura's eyes were wide and disbelieving. "Y-You see, if a Hyuuga were to become injured then they are forbidden from seeking any healing. Their shame is displayed to the whole clan-"

"That's enough!" Neji snapped, slumping against the tree. "Don't bring an outsider into our clan's affairs."

"'Clan's affairs'? That's ridiculous!" Sakura finished healing Hinata's hands and shot up to her feet to glare at the boy. "As long as we're out here with our lives on the line, nothing like that matters! As long as we're out here I am our healer and it's my primary job to make sure everyone survives in their best condition." She stomped her foot and got face to face with Neji. "And as long as we're out here no clan affairs or stupid pride will stop me from keeping us all alive."

Sakura moved to grab Neji's tense and clearly injured hand but he snatched it out of the way. The movement along with the venom rapidly locking his muscles in tight painful knots brought him to his knees. Tenten came to his side and Lee knelt beside him. "Don't." He spat.

"You can either let me heal you, or I'll force you to." She said as she knelt in front of him. "The longer we take the more it will hurt to extract the venom."

His vision hardened. He was either shaking with anger or pain. He bit his lip, it drew blood.

Sakura looked over him to meet the worried eyes of Tenten and Lee. They nodded solemnly. Neji's teammates grabbed his arms. "Ngha-!" Neji choked out and Sakura used that split second to force one of the dark opal basil leaves into his mouth and clamp his jaw shut. The herb would help ease his muscles. He continued to struggle in the groups grasp.

"We're sorry Neji! Please forgive us!" Lee said as he restrained the boy.

"It's for your own good!" Tenten voiced and held his arm out steady. Sakura made quick work with extracting the venom; there were three bites on his right hand and four on his left. Tenten used a hand clamped on his jaw make sure Neji kept the herb in his mouth as he tossed and struggled. His protested were muffled as Sakura began her extraction, no doubt he was in pain but there was little else she could do short of just knocking him out and even then he would still be in pain.

So she continued her procedure. His struggling stalled the process but after nearly ten minutes she had finished.

"All done." She sat back and corked the disinfectant vial. Neji's teammates sighed and the boy tore his arms from their grasp the second they loosened their grip.

His expression was dark as he pulled his hands to his chest. Sakura sighed as she wiped her hands on her apron skirt and stood, "we wont tell anyone that I healed you if it makes you fell better." Neji's eyes flared with anger as he shot to his feet. His teammates watched him stomp away from the group and stop by a far off tree. Tenten rose, "I'm gonna keep an eye on him," and she followed after the boy.

Lee turned his attention to Sakura, "please forgive Neji's rudeness, he rarely ever gets hurt and never listens to us when he does. We're very thankful." He bowed his head and Sakura sighed.

"It's not a problem Lee-san."

"If you're done then we need medical attention here," Sakura's attention snapped up to Shino's voice and saw Kiba huddled up gripping his hand.

Sakura shot to her feet and mentally scolded herself for not seeing Kiba's pain and dropped to his side. "Sorry Kiba, were you bitten?" She offered her hand out for him to hold out his bite, the boy winced.

"Nah no bite, but this stings like a bitch." He slowly turned his right hand over to display a nasty red burn spreading from his palm to his fingers. Sakura was careful as she maneuvered his hand around to examine the extent of the burn, it seemed to only affect his palm so Sakura got to work.

"Ok, I'm going to start the healing process." She rubbed her hands together, focusing her chakra to disinfect her hands and brought a steady stream of healing and cooling chakra into her right hand. "This will feel cold but please stay still."

Kiba gave a smirk through his painful expression, "you're the boss-Ngh!" His eyes squeezed shut and he forced himself to keep still.

His hand shook in Sakura's gentle grasp, he was obviously in pain but Sakura focused on cooling the injury. "K-Kiba!" Hinata had snapped out of her depressive state and hurried to her teammates side, Shino was knelt at his other side. "H-How did you get burned?" Her hands twitched as though she wanted to reach out to him but seeing his pain she held them to her chest.

Kiba eased out a breath, attempting to calm himself, "happened when I caught the fire, s'ok though! We got the herb we needed. Besides, it's thanks to your protection that I didn't get stung, I would've been in a much worse state without your help." Hinata blinked and couldn't look in his eyes as he sang such earnest compliments of her.

Kiba winced and sucked in a quick breath. "Sorry, I've finished disinfecting it and right now I'm forcing the dead skin off to be replaced by new skin."

"Heh, heh... When you say it like that it sounds really weird, looks like you're just glowing my hand better." He attempted to joke.

"Trust me, it's a lot harder than it looks, and I need to explain a little problem to you." Sakura said as she took out a water vial, coated is burned hand in the water suspended by chakra in her palm and extracted the dead skin layer. "To put this simply, regenerating skin will fix the burn. But by using medical ninjutsu to speed the process up it leaves the skin more vulnerable, that's why medicine is still very important and you cant depend entirely on medical ninjutsu. I can't use too much chakra to heal this because we don't know what other injuries could happen so I need to monitor my chakra usage. I'm going to remove the damaged skin and give your skin cells an extra push, then bandage your hand. But for it to heal fast, safely and by itself we'll need the proper salves for it."

She gave his hand another round of medical chakra to begin influencing his new skin.

"Luckily for us, one of the herbs we all need to get is Aloe Marlothii. This herb is perfect for healing burned skin."

"So if we work together and get this herb, you can fix him up." Shino summarised and Sakura nodded, she pulled out one of her scrolls and summoned a roll of bandages.

"We don't know what other creatures we'll be facing for these last two herbs and it'll be safer for us to travel in numbers."

"S-So! Could we please accompany you? So you can heal Kiba?" Hinata spoke as Sakura gently began wrapping the bandage around his hand. She turned to Lee.

"I agree! It would be most unfortunate for you to be so disadvantaged when Sakura-san can heal you." He nodded enthusiastically. "Neji may not agree but we will convince him." He jumped up and ran to join his teammates. Sakura sighed as she finished the bandage with a clip and sat back on her legs. Kiba retracted his hand and began testing the mobility, stretching his fingers and examining the bandage. "How does it feel? Not too tight?"

"Nah, feels better than before that's for sure. Thanks, Sakura." He tilted his head up in acknowledgement and she responded with a small smile.

Sakura looked over to Team Gai to see Lee and Tenten appearing to be in a one-sided conversation with Neji. Both looked to be pleading, Neji eventually crossed his arms and looked away. The two smiled after a moment, seems like they managed to convince him. "Success! We may team up!" Lee cheered to the group.

Hinata let out a relieved sigh. Shino rose and pocketed his hands. "If that's the case then we should find some food and water. It's nearing mid-day." Sakura also stood.

"That's a good idea, I need to replenish my water supply."

"We will hunt in a group. One from each team will pair up so as to keep their eyes on each other." Neji said as his team re-joined the group.

Tenten put her hands on her hips, "yeah, the healed will stay here at the base. Sakura you're a neutral party so you should carry this," the girl pulled out the scroll that held both herbs the group had gathered thus far and threw it to the pinkette. Sakura caught it and tucked it safely away.

"I will accompany you both on our food and water mission!" Lee stuck his hand up and came to join Shino and Sakura. "We will return shortly!" He said before leading the two out and into the woods. Sakura gave a brief wave alongside Shino who gave a curt not before they leapt atop tree branches and followed behind Lee.

It wasn't much longer until the group of three had retuned with arms full. Shino had used dragonflies to guide the trio to a river where Sakura had filled her water supply and even found some useful herbs for medical purposes and also for food. Lee's unbound enthusiasm for all activities helped him catch an abundance of fish while Shino filled multiple water pouches which he filtered to make drinkable.

Though Shino wasn't a conversationalist, he didn't seem to mind Lee and Sakura's conversation.

When the group reunited at the campsite, Shino and Sakura cooked the fish, Lee and Tenten stoked the fire with more wood, Hinata stayed by Kiba's side, and Neji stood staring intently at the entrance of the cave.

They ate lunch in a companionable atmosphere with Sakura, Tenten, Kiba and Lee as the ones driving the conversation. Hinata seemed too nervous to draw any attention to herself with Neji seated opposite her, though seated between her teammates gave her enough ease to smile along with the group.

"We should begin our search for the next herb." Neji stood as the group had finished eating a short while ago and he found the conversation timewasting.

"Well Aloe Marlotthi or Mountain Aloe a pretty big and tall plant found in wide flat areas that get a lot of sun. So we should look for a big wide plane without a lot of trees growing overhead." Sakura listed off.

"Do they grow amongst flowers?" Shino asked.

"They can, they don't grow in an abundance so they could be surrounded by flowers. Why?"

Shino raised a hand and in seconds a swarm of ladybugs had converged to him. "I can have my friends scout for specific plants, as for areas with a lot of sun then sunflowers would be ideal."

Hinata clapped her hands and Sakura beamed. "That's a great idea!"

Shino nodded and dispersed his swarm. The group began tearing down their campsite, stomping out the fire and packing up their supplies. It didn't take them very long to finish and soon some ladybugs had begun to return. "They've found a field of sunflowers with an enormous plant growing in the centre."

"What does it look like?" Sakura asked as she adjusted her scroll sashes.

Shino listened for a moment with his ladybugs resting on his open hand. "Orange flowers growing on top, many dead leaves handing around the stem and solid green leaves growing around the top." Sakura's eyes brightened, "That's it!"

"Well then, lead the way!" Tenten cheered along with the rest of the group. Shino nodded and began leading the group. Their pace was slower as Shino had to confer directions with his ladybugs. The environment around them did change from a dense forest of deep greens to lighter browns and dryer tones. The trees weren't as cluttered together and the atmosphere was less moist. Sunlight was less filtered through green leaves and more bright streams lighting the forest.

As they emerged from the dense woods, they came to find an open plane, covered almost entirely in bright vibrant sunflowers. The group stood atop tree's surrounding the sunflower field, there in the centre of all the golden petals grow an enormous plant. The orange flowers growing at the top was even with the green tops of the trees. Birds of varying sizes flew overhead, their tweeting echoing around.

The seven converged to group together, no amount of chakra could launch them all the way over the field to the plant so they needed to plan. "I don't trust this, it can't be this easy." Tenten voiced.

"Yeah after giant Venus fly traps and all those spiders, there's got to be something." Sakura nodded.

"What are we thinking then?" Kiba asked. Shino was stood stock still, staring intently at the mass of enormous sunflowers. The sunflower field was too dense to see anything inside.

"Wait." Neji said. He turned his attention to the trees behind them. "Come out! I know you're there."

It was a silent moment before a long sigh was heard from the trees. Kiba, Neji, Tenten, and Lee took ready stances to be prepared if a fight were about to happen. Sakura was still the holder of the herb scroll.

"Calm down," Shikamaru drawled as Team 10 emerged with their hands up. "We're not here to fight."

"No but you were following us." Neji accused.

"Well yeah, you were all clearly heading with purpose to a location so we figured you'd found something." Ino said dropping her hands, "besides! As the medical professional of Team 10, I figured out we'd find the aloe plant in an open field so we were already on our way here anyway!" She said smugly as she flicked her fringe back.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes with an exasperated, "'Medical professional' you went to one class, and it was just an introductory course."

"And how many courses have you been to? None? So I'm more of a medic than you."  She stuck out her tongue.

"It was a first aid course! I bet you only knew about aloe from some kind of cream you use." Ino waved her hand dismissively. "Irrelevant!"

"Guys, come on," Choji bemoaned and the group of seven dropped their stances clearly seeing no fight.

"You're not here to steal from us then." Neji said.

"You've got seven people, we're not stupid." Shikamaru shook his head.

"Everyone be still." Shino's voice was sudden and stern. Everyone froze at his voice. He remained still and tense, gaze locked on the mass of sunflowers and everyone else slowly hid behind the trees. After a moment of silence Tenten whispered, "what is it?" Shino threw up a finger to demand more silence.

Sakura saw nothing and the Hyuuga remained still under Shino's command thus didn't activate their byakugan. A tweet drew Sakura's attention to the skies, regular sized birds were flying overhead.

Suddenly there was one less bird.

Something like a swiping motion faster than any human eye could register. All she had seen was a barely there blink of colour that if not for the falling feather of the once-there bird she could convince herself she hadn't seen.

All the Genin had stiffened. A cold sweat took over them.

Ino gulped, "wh... what was that...?"

The sunflowers below had shaken slightly and swayed with the movement of whatever had swiped the bird.

There was a CRUNCH. Followed by the silence of a tweeting. One less bird singing.

The sunflowers began to part. A large being began emerging from the field.

Sakura couldn't describe the creature she was seeing. The dead spider may have been big but this creature was truly enormous, its mass taking up nearly all of the field. Green spikes layered with black, highlights of a purplish red, long featherlike feelers protruding from its head leading to wide open eyes. It was long, spiked and truly a monstrous sight. In its jaw crunched slowly was the small bird.

Sakura realised she was holding her breath but didn't feel safe enough to exhale yet.

"W-What-" Hinata stammered.

"She's a Devil's Flower Mantis." Shino whispered.

Sakura gulped. The mantis's feelers rubbed together before fiddling with the bird in her mouth. She shook her head, the shake going down her body and opening the four clear wings accented with greens and lined with purplish red. Sakura noticed briefly that one wing was torn and missing near half of it from where to tip should be to the base.

"I think it's guarding the herb." Lee whispered.

"Typical." Kiba huffed.

"What're we gonna do?" Tenten said.

"We're gonna have to get past it." Shikamaru voiced, easing his tense posture with the realisation he would have to work against the monstrous mantis.

"How're we gonna do that without it noticing us?" Ino whispered.

Shino dropped his hand, "she has already noticed us."

Sakura's body stiffened as the mantis' head had snapped in their direction.

The voice that spoke was both melodious and petrifying.

"Indeed I have."

"Who has entered my home most rudely with no introduction." This was a demand for them to answer. Shikamaru acted first as he realised the weight of the conversation that was about to happen. This creature was obviously too intelligent to just allow them the herb without a fight and too fast for them to have any hope for a sneak attack. The only solution was to talk her into giving them the herb.

"We're mere students who humbly apologize for out rudeness." He spoke clearly.

The creatures head twitched to the side.

"Courteous as you may seem, introduce yourselves." She gestured with one of her front legs to the large head on a sunflower directly in front of her.

"Come."

The group looked to one another. Shino said, "we need to do what she says," before he jumped from the tree and the rest were quick to follow. The leapt from the trees and into the open flower field, jumping from the large flower heads to stand atop the largest one she had directed them too.

Being this close to the enormous creature amplified the power she had over them; she truly was petrifying to see.

Her eyes wide and unblinking staring down on them.

"I am Shino Aburame. These are my teammates Kiba Inuzuka and Hinata Hyuuga. We are students under Yuhi Kurenai, we thank you for your hospitality and forgiveness of our rudeness." He bowed deeply and his teammates followed suit.

Shikamaru took note. "I'm Shikamaru Nara with my teammates Choji Amajiki and Ino Yamanaki. Student's of Asuma Sarutobi. Thank you for welcoming us." The three bowed.

Seeing Lee about to speak, Neji hurried to speak first. "I am Neji Hyuuga of the Hyuuga clan training under Maito Gai and with my teammates Tenten and Rock Lee. We are grateful for your welcome." They bowed.

Sakura jumped in her skin before taking a step forward, she fisted her hands at her sides. "I - My name is Sakura Haruno, I'm the student of Kakashi Hatake and the disciple of the Sanin Tsunade Senju. Thank you for allowing us entry." She bowed low.

It was a suffocating moments silence of the group still bowing before the mantis spoke, "interesting," she said. "You may rise," and they slowly did. "I have heard of you three from Lady Yuhi." Her head twitched in the direction of team eight.

"Yes, she has a contract with the mantis summons. Forgive our naivete, but would you happen to know of them?" Shino asked.

"Indeed, I too am contracted under the mantis summoner. Though I am frightfully needed nor has a summoner been strong enough to summon me for many years now. Though Lady Yuhi and I do talk from time to time." Her head clicked in Sakura's direction.

"A couple Hyuuga, and you... A student of a Senju. How very interesting indeed. Are you here to request something?" Sakura felt her palm and face struck with a panicked sweat. They were here for the herb but there was no way it would be given outright like this. Sakura felt Shikamaru's eyes bearing into her, she knew they were planning to lay on the pleasantries to win the mantis's judgement to eventually earn the herb, so she had to play along. Be kind.

"...Indeed... I... I request to know of your name. We have introduced ourselves, may we formally meet you now?" She held her breath, hoping her forwardness hadn't worked against them an offended the creature.

The mantis' head twitched again before she drew herself up proud and tall, "you may. I am known as Yasue of the fields. Mighty, swift and beautiful beyond compare." She inclined her head in what could be interpreted as a bow. The group bowed lower in response and she seemed to approve of that.

"Your field is beautiful if I may say so." Shino said.

Yasue tilted her head in acknowledgement and gestured with one of her skinny twig like beautifully coloured legs. "Indeed. I have resided here for many years, I certainly have no trouble with my food source." The birds continuing to fly overhead, enticed by the smell of the Aloe herb, agreed with her. "Though it is nice to be presented humans with impeccable manners and an arsenal of generous compliments, I know why you truly are here."

The group stiffened as she took slow yet impactful steps to the side, presenting the truly enormous herb. "You desire my herb. Do not lie." A heartbeat of silence as the group tried desperately to think of how to respond. Shikamaru spoke first. "You're mistaken," before he could continue, Yasue had stepped back between them and the herb and her face snapped closer to them, only a short distance did she crouch still looking down on them. A cold sweat broke out and everyone unanimously prayed the boy knew what he was doing.

"I... I mean to clarify." Shikamaru bowed his head in subtly apology. Yasue's eyes were wide and unflinchingly focused as she allowed him silence to fill.

"Yes we are here for the herb. But we haven't come to take it from you."

It was a moment of held breath as Yasue slowly pulled back and adjusted herself to full height. She demanded, "clarify further."

"We would like the herb with your blessing." Shikamaru said, "we wish to earn it from you in any way we can."

Sakura remained frozen in place as she watched the lack of emotion on the mantis' face.

"How courteous, you come not as thieves but as volunteers." It was difficult to tell but through her tone Sakura felt Yasue was charmed.

"Yes. Surely a being of your importance and grace would have a task unbefitting of them that we could do in your place?" Shino spoke up. Yasue brought up her front legs and rubbed them as she mulled over the Genin's offer.

"You are in luck as it just so happens that I have a task I need done." The group perked up, thrilled that conversing had worked. "You see," She turned to display her back and fanned out her layers of wings, "my wings are indeed beautiful however one has been damaged." One wing was missing near half of it. "My field is an ideal location with nearby water, an endless food source, and easy coverage. I claimed this field though it isn't without rivals." She turned her head to look at the small birds circling. "A great hawk beseeched my field and after the fight when I was resting it swooped and managed to tear off my entire wing. I am now unable to fly, thus I reside here permanently."

Sakura was enraptured by the story, easily imagining the fight that must have been amazing to watch. "That deplorable beast haunts my nights, I've been unable to rest peacefully with the knowledge that it may strike again." She brought her attention back to the group. "Thus I present my take for you. Bring me the hawk and I will grant you a piece of my herb."

They nodded and bowed in response. "You may count on us."

Yasue nodded, "the hawk resides in the clearing full of fallen trees east from here." She gestured in the direction with a front leg. "Lastly, I require you bring it to me alive."

Capturing the hawk alive is no doubt harder than just killing it, this was going to be tricky. "Thank you for your trust. We will return as early as possible." Shino said.

Yasue hummed, "indeed you shall." With a click of her head she dismissed them. The Genin leapt atop the sunflowers before running a few trees deep into the forest for cover to talk.

"Oh my God! That was terrifying!" Ino bursted out as though she had been holding her breath the entire encounter and only now had begun to breathe again.

"I know! I didn't want to make any noise or I thought she'd just straight up eat me." Tenten agreed in a similarly breathless state.

"We shouldn't waste time," Neji voiced as he looked to the sun past the high point in the sky and would be setting in a few hours. "We should find the Hawks area then plan out our next steps." After gathering their breaths and steadying themselves, the team agreed and began making their way east.

Roughly an hour passed when they had found the desired field, the reason it was open from trees overhead was due to the tree's laying in jagged piles on the ground. Clearly knocked over due to the hawk landing heavily atop them if the deep gashes and claw-marks engraving the bark was enough to deduce. Lee looked around "where-" he didn't get to finish as a heavy gust blew around, the genin smartly hid behind the tree's lining the clearing atop branches.

That hawk was large but not nearly as big as Yasue, it stood atop an opening in the largest tree trunk, it's height reached roughly three sizes to Sakura. Light brown and yellow feathers, it cawed a few times likely to ward off any other creature and began cleaning it's feathers.

"Seems like it had an early dinner, we should wait for it to sleep before we back up and plan." Shikamaru said to a chorus of agreement.

They staid frozen in place as the hawk groomed itself. Adjusting its feathers, before it cawed a couple times and dropped into the open dead tree trunk. The sun was beginning to set.

The group retracted into the trees after a moment and converged into a group. "Ok it doesn't look like we're gonna get this thing tonight." Tenten said.

"Indeed, if we were killing it then we could. But the night will be against us should we end up confronting it." Neji agreed.

"Then what do we do?" Ino tilted her head in Shikamaru's direction expectantly. He met her eyes and sighed, dropping hi shoulders and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Okay, we should set up camp and catch some dinner first. Then we'll plan tomorrow out." The team agreed.

Sakura, Lee, Shino and Choji went as the food and water collectors while the rest set up a fire and sleeping arrangements. By the time they'd returned with enough to feed literally all of the Genin in the exams the sun was close to setting. Sakura hated to admit it to herself, but she had come to enjoy this routine of grouping up at night, sharing a meal, and engaging in fun conversations with the other Genin.

It provided her a warm sense of routine and comfort she had been unconsciously craving. Sakura found herself smiling as the group conversed, Ino, Tenten, Lee and Kiba engaging in loud laughs over a piece of gossip the blonde had shared. Hinata quietly giggled at Sakura's side and though the others didn't talk much it was obvious they were paying attention.

The group eventually settled on a plan, come morning they'd begin the necessary crafting but for now they would rest. Sakura turned in early for the night and as she drifted off she could hear the familiar gusts of wind followed by flapping of a large insects wings.

Morning came for her as she was woken up by Tenten telling her that it was her turn. Sakura woke to some fried fish curtesy of Ino, Kiba, and Tenten. It was pleasant.

After eating she joined the group in crafting a large net made with kunai and strings.

"You missed a knot, if you want it to hold then its gotta be a double knot at the crosses." Kiba pointed at the spot Ino was working on. The blonde sighed.

"I'm so not cut out for this," she complained before admiring the speed at which Kiba was threading and knotting. "You're seriously good at this, what's the deal?" Kiba seemed to puff out his chest and positively glow from the praise.

"I'm a layered guy, my sister taught me how to sew and junk since I was little and Akamaru was a little troublemaker tearing up clothes." Said dog sniffled before returning to chewing the bone he had held under his front paws.

"Boo, I'm so envious..." Ino pouted playfully before knotting her piece. "We're about done anyway," Sakura smiled.

"Yeah this is pretty good anyway." Tenten spoke making Ino shoot to her feet with a smile, "sweet! I'll go wake up the others!" She said abandoning her work for Kiba to pick up and finish with ease.

Time passed with the other's giving their approval of the net and the team dispersing to their assigned positions. They spread out individually around the clearing and circling the large tree trunk housing the hawk. They waiting silently for the signal. Sakura snuck with silenced steps up to the trunk as the others watched her. When she arrived she raised a hand and counted down from five.

When she reached 'one', she concentrated chakra into her fist and swung it at the trunk base. She focused to not destroy the trunk but so send a pulse of chakra just before the strike so it would shake the trunk. Just as planned the sudden almost earthquake-like shudder that resonating through the trunk was enough to startle the enormous hawk into springing out.

Just as it emerged the group had send chakra powered kunai to those waiting on the other sides and successfully casted the enormous thread over the hawk. The shrieks the creature screamed were deafening but they had little time to waste.

"Hurry! Seal the ends!" Shikamaru yelled as they converged to beneath the frantically flapping hawk to seal it in the net.

"I'm going for it now!" Sakura alerted as she saw the sharpening eyes of the hawk focus on her teammates, she sprang up and swung at the hawks head, not enough force to kill but enough to incapacitate; she remembered Yasue wanted it alive. The hawks frantic and sharp movements were fast enough to dodge her swing. It's legs kicked and scratched and it's wings fanned out far making it harder for the ninja below to tie it up.

"Hurry!" Neji yelled as he tied a not and began helping Lee tie his. Sakura landed and instead leapt next directly at the birds back, latching onto the feathers on the back of its neck to steady herself. It screamed furiously in response.

"We're losing it!" Ino alerted trying her best to hold onto the kunai.

Sakura swung her fist up but just as she let go the Hawk seemed to notice in an instant because it fanned out both its wings in strong bursts and managed to pull apart the knots connecting the kunai together, breaking free of their net and snapping the cables apart.

"Shit!" Kiba cursed as a cable slipped through his bandaged hand.

The net cable had tangled around the hawks feet and just before it could truly spread its wings it suddenly found itself immobile and locked in place. "Now!" Shikamaru yelled. The genin seemed to be just holding kunai with nothing attached but as they leapt in opposite directions the hawk found itself being incased by seemingly invisible strings until its wings were bent immobile to its body and it plummeted loudly and heavily into the ground.

Sakura hurried to the hawks head and gave it a resounding strike to the head successfully knocking it out.

Their plan had worked.

They had crafted a net using both real cable string and chakra threads, the threads alone were hard to maintain especially for inexperienced Konoha Genin using a technique from Sunagakura. So they infused the cable with their chakra to act as a kind of anchor. So once the hawk had predictable had broken the cable all that was left was the strings of which they just had to hold long enough for Sakura to knock it out. The chakra thread faded after a few seconds one the hawk was unconscious, its clawed feet already tied up thanks to the prior net and the group made quick work securely tying up the rest of it. Sakura's previous swings were purely to aggravate the bird enough to force it to break the net thus springing their real trap.

Once done they allowed themselves to celebrate. "We did it!" Tenten cheered hugging Ino and jumping in place. Sakura held her hands up to which Hinata hesitantly raised her own with a shy smile and the two high-fived. Kiba and Lee hugged and gave each-other a thump on the back. "We need to seal it so we can take it back." Neji voiced as he kept a close eye on the prone hawk.

"No worries! I have just the thing." Tenten approached, pulling out a scroll and twirling it in her fingers. "This guy's pretty big, I'm gonna need some more hands to seal it." The group came and worked together to seal the hawk in a temporary sealing scroll. They were successful and made the trek back to the awaiting mantis.

They waited at the sunflower clearings edge for Yasue to emerge first, knowing it would be impolite to demand her attention and fearful of what she would do if she perceived them as rude. It didn't take very long for the mantis to take notice of their presence and rise from the field to greet them.

"You have returned." She twitched her head to the side and gestured to the enormous flower heads in front of her. "Present yourselves."

Without hesitating the group diverged onto the flower and bowed lowly. "Hoping this morning finds you well, Yasue-sama." Shino lead them. She inclined her head in courteous response.

"Indeed, I will decide my morning on the news of your mission I gave. You have returned with the detestable creature have you not?" Shino nodded and Tenten stepped up with the scroll in hand.

"We have. We request your permission to summon it."

Yasue's long legs took a step back allowing space between them, "you may."

Tenten stepped up, unfurled the scroll with a flourish and in a poof the hawk landed in the space between them. Yasue's unblinking eyes seemed to perk up. "This is a most pleasing sight." She approached the unconscious hawk with slow deliberate steps. The group collectively held their breaths as she slowly took the birds head in-between her extended front legs.

Before the group could blink -SLAM! She smashed the birds head into the group below, waking the bird up with an alarmed screech and shaking the ground making the Genin stumble, not a second for the bird to struggle as SLAM! She slammed its head again with a truly sickening sound of bone shattering.

The bird's wings made a feeble flutter as she raised the creatures now bleeding head to hers, then in a horrifying sight, her mouth opened and she latched onto its skull. Sakura heard Ino gag next to her and Sakura was struggling to watch on as the monstrous mantis's mouth managed to shatter bone and squelch into the brain of the bird.

Sakura turned her eyes away as she was forced to remain still with tense muscles and listen to the mantis slurp and squelch, decimating the hawks brain as she fed. The cruelty of the execution alone was enough to have bile rise in the back of Sakura's throat. The stiff figures standing along side her in similar states of horror and muted disgust told her she wasn't alone.

"Mmm..." Yasue hummed as she lowered the blood soaked carcase of a head that once homed a brain. Her once green tinted pink face and limbs now dripping with blood, she raised a free appendage to rub the blood from her face, deliberate slow easy movements as though she was calmly stretching, nevermore at ease in the remnants of her malicious nature than if she were waking from a particularly good nap.

Sakura forced herself to not look at the birds carcass lest she evict her stomach of her breakfast in a disrespectful show and incur the wrath of the beast in front of her.

"...You have all done well." Yasue remarked as she finished her ministrations and re-centred her attention away from the feathered corpse at her feet and onto the group of children stood in front of her.

"The pest has been taken care of and I am satisfied. I grant you this." She reached a leg to the Aloe herb and plucked off a leaf, the residue slowly stretching between the leaf and the plant before stickily falling. Yasue extended it out to Shino who accepted the herb with a bow and "Thank you."

Before the group could bid a farewell hand hope to never see this horrifying creature again, she spoke up. "I will also leave you with this; instructions for the last herb." That certainly got the groups attention as now the False Unicorn was the final herb that they needed to be done with this forest exam.

"Follow the path to the centre of the garden, there you will find the False Unicorn and the way out. Should you be permitted, then you will gain both the herb and exit."

The genin's spirits lifted, a direct instruction and a location! They wouldn't have to waste the time they had left. Especially after the days spent gathering the other herbs, they were indeed running out of time. Glowing eyes met each other as they all exchanged hopeful expressions, all except Shikamaru.

Sakura froze at his sceptical gaze, he was clearly analysing Yasue's words as he would one of Sakura's shogi moves. Sakura turned to Yasue and watched her head twitch to the side seemingly in amusement, her wide eyes giving no hint as to who she was finding amusing.

The others soon saw Shikamaru and Sakura's tense forms focused back on the mantis. "What's wrong?" Tenten voiced from Sakura's side. It was the second before Shikamaru spoke that Sakura realised what he had instantly.

"'Herb.' Singular." Shikamaru said. The mood dropped.

Yasue's feelers came to her mouth and her head bobbed as though she were laughing though the fact that she made no noise made her even more disturbing. The silence stretched for a moment before Yasue gathered herself and rose to full height. "That I did. Pray tell I wonder, to whom will the herb go?"

Each Genin stood rigid as if suddenly dowsed in freezing water. The enormous creature lowered her head slowly, her face coming to a stop right in front of them.

"You all entered individuals... I wonder how you will leave."

Sakura's muscles were drawstring tight, her eyes wide and afraid, her breath festering in her chest unwilling to leave. Her brain was both overthinking and seemingly frozen. Yasue slowly pulled away seemingly satisfied with the students responses. "That is all. See yourselves out." She eased her legs as though she was relaxing amongst the sunflowers.

The group bowed once more before they leapt away and into the forest. Fear induced adrenaline spurring them all in their speed, it was nearly ten minutes before they came to an exhausted and heaving stop. Sakura supported herself on her knees as she gaped for breath and watched the cold sweat drip from her face.

Yasue was right, they had entered as separate teams and Sakura as an individual. Realistically they all had to collect the herbs and leave with them, but if there was only one of the final herb then... what could they do?

…would they have to fight?

Sakura blinked in shock as a piece of the aloe herb was held out to her. She hesitantly took it as she looked up to see Shino. He paused for a moment before giving a piece more to Neji and Shikamaru. Kiba was rubbing some of the aloe on his now unbandaged hand before he spoke. "So... looks like this is it."

Sakura looked around and saw the others all a mixture of sadness and resolution.

"It is." Neji followed, "we have a location and limited time. It's time we split up."

Sakura felt her heart go cold.

Shikamaru sighed and scratched the back of his neck, his posture spoke volumes for how he agreed.

Sakura felt her grip shaking and she clutched the aloe leaf. She wanted to speak up that she didn't want to split up, she didn't want the group to go their separate ways, she didn't want to be left by herself again.

"Sakura." Her head snapped up and she saw Tenten standing directly in front of her. Sakura rose, forcing herself to stop shaking and met the other girl directly. Tenten took a second, sucking in her bottom lip, mulling over her thoughts before she slowly took a step forwards and embraced the pinkette in a hug.

"You're gonna do great." Tenten said softly as she squeezed the other girl before pulling away. "We'll see you at the end." She meant to sound encouraging and Sakura forced a smile, but that cold feeling was spreading from her heard and through her veins.

Ino gave her shoulder a playful bump and a smile, "Yeah it's like a race, better not slack off now." Sakura nodded and returned the bump.

Sakura took a deep breath as everyone said their brief goodbyes, after giving Lee a hug Sakura saw Hinata's fiddling fingers as the other girl stood uncomfortable and withdrawn. Sakura approached her slowly as though greeting a frightened doe, Hinata jumped in place as Sakura hugged her. Hinata eventually calmed down and returned the hug, she sighed quietly, "I don't w- I wish we didn't have to separate..."

Sakura swallowed, the coldness making her fingers numb, "me neither, but I guess we have to."

Hinata nodded against her shoulder as they separated, "...I guess so."

The 'Good luck and Good bye,' was brief as Sakura was eventually left alone. Team Gai left first, Team 8 vanished in a different direction, Team 10 last made their own way, and Sakura was left alone. Cold.

She busied herself by sealing the aloe away safely in her scroll, she looked to the sun's direction and began to determine the direction of the centre of the forest, and she slowly began making her way there.

Sakura kept her thoughts to herself even though it was obviously doing her no favours. 'It's so... unfair.' She thought, they had been working so well, advancing so much, and truly succeeding when they were all working together. Why now? Why would Tsunade and the other officials give them a task in which one team could succeed? 'how cruel. Will I have to fight the others?'

Sakura shook her head and spurred her leaps with more chakra, if she managed to get there first then she wouldn't have to fight them. Thinking that, she slowed down again. 'But if I get the herb and get to leave... what about the others.' The sun was setting and light was leaving as Sakura got closer and closer to the centre.

Though her feeling were conflicted, she couldn't keep her thoughts from creeping in, and the coldness in her heart froze her to the bone.

Suddenly a large gust of wind nearly pushing Sakura off the tree she landed on, she brought her arms up and closed her eyes and the wind beat at her before easing away. It was then that Sakura realised that she had reached the centre. Once the wind died down and Sakura's eyes adjusted to the darkness of the night did she hear not so distant clanging and thumping, grunting and yelling. Stopping and the entrance to a clearing was Sakura confronted by the scene.

The clearing wasn't natural like the sunflower meadow or the nest of flytraps. This area looked man-made then overtaken by nature due to the unkept upkeep, stones with illegible writing withered by age and weeds, stone lanterns years unused lining a grassy pathway up to a shrine. The Shrine itself was a large wooden structure perched atop a stone staircase that despite its imposing height felt nothing but inviting, the red paint was chipped and worn by the elements, the entrance blocked not by doors but of the giant wings encompassing the structure.

Atop the shrine sat an enormous beautiful white moth, the same that Sakura had seen flying at nights. It's body rested atop the shrine, its wings covering the majority of the building, it watched below intently with its feelers twitching.

In the centre of the clearing was a fight between the three teams. Sakura quickly deduced they had arrived at near the exact same time and were all taken by surprise by the Moth whom must be guarding the herb similar to how Yasue had.

With the sun setting and the final day nearly done there was no time left, they had to fight for the herb and become Chunin.

Lee was locked by Shikamaru's shadow possession, Kiba and Akamaru were engaged in a tag team against Neji, Ino was throwing her stringed kunai in combat with Tenten, Choji was in his human boulder form with Hinata and Shino dodging and looking for an opening. Sakura caught her breath as she watched. What should she do?

She didn't know who to help, if she even should help. The thought that she could sneak up to the shrine and take the herb for herself crossed her mind and her heart plummeted immediately against the idea.

The moth seemed to grow more and more agitated as the teams fought. It's feelers twitching and the white fur on its buddy fluttering in the breeze and standing on end.

The teams were too engaged in their desperate need to beat each other that they couldn't afford to allow their attention to slip lest they lose the fight.

With each clash the moth grew more and more agitated. Sakura had to do something. Fighting each other wasn't the answer. 'Show us what proud leaf nin you are!' 'Make me proud.' 'I guess we have to...'

But why did they have to? Sakura's eyes widened. She leapt from the trees and channelled all she could into her voice. Sakura felt her determination amplifying her actions.

"STOP IT!"

The suddenness of her arrival and booming demand in her voice froze the other Genin who all turned to her as she landed in the middle of the fight.

"There's no rule that says we have to fight! Tsunade-shishou never said we were competing! We're all Leaf Nin. Like before, we should be working together!" She panted after her outburst.

Neji straightened his back, "then why would she give us a task knowing only one herb would be available."

"That was on purpose!" Sakura pleaded, "Tsunade is a strict teacher but nothing is without reason. She would never give us an impossible task. She picked the herb because it would make us work together!" By this point everyone had slowly eased their stances. Shikamaru released Lee, Choji returned to size and weapons were lowered.

Sakura and Hinata shared a relieved smile before Sakura felt a gust of wind behind her nearly knock her off her feet. She spun around to see the moth flap its shimmering wings. Sakura forced her eyes to crack open and see atop the steps lined by unlit stone lanterns and just before the entrance of the shrine sat a low table.

As the wind slowed down, the moth beginning the glow with some rarer weeds and flowers in the moonlight, the group tucked their weapons away earning calmness from the creature.

Shikamaru slowly stepped to Sakura's side, "if you're right and we're suppose to work together, then we all better present the herbs right?" Sakura nodded in response. She gulped.

Taking an initiative as the group began to slowly and respectfully climb the steps, Tenten took out a seal and began lighting fires in the lanterns. Sakura couldn't read any stones as they walked.

The moth made an odd echoing noise as the group came to the table, seeing how this was Sakura's idea they waited for her to speak. "Begging your forgiveness, we would like to present the herbs we've gathered and request access to the False Unicorn." Sakura nodded to the others and they pulled out their scrolls.

Neji placed the Yarrow, Shino placed the Dark Opal Basil, and Ino placed the Aloe Marlothii. The herbs lined the low table as though they were an offering to the shrine.

They bowed their heads in respect and waited.

Sakura swallowed down her nerves, eased her fears as she knew she had to be right. The moth made another sound before it raised its wings wide and vast in the clearing. The group were momentarily taken aback by how beautiful the sight before them was.

The moth fluttered its body in happiness. It gestured with its head towards Sakura. "Go on," Tenten encouraged and Sakura took a hesitant step forwards, slowly entering the shrine. She pulled out a fire scroll and lit the tip alight so she could see in the darkness. The others waited at the table with baited breath. Seeing tall wooden lanterns circling the inside of the shrine; Sakura lit a few senbon needles on fire and threw them at the lanterns, successfully bathing the shrine in a warm glow. Sakura felt an immense comfort from the welcoming sight. "Wow..."

Though it was visibly unkept, it was still a beautiful shrine. With the enormous moth atop it was hard to comprehend how big the shrine really was. Long wooden columns circled the structure, the wooden floor was covered with a long extravagant red carpet laced beautifully with golden embroidery. Along the left side dangled long pleated rope connected to prayer bells one rings for a blessing, they were decorated with gold in the thread and red jewels. Red and gold fabrics draped down the wooden walls. Following the carped through the shrine Sakura saw the main area of prayer. A large long wooden table laid bare if not for the red and gold fabric adorning it, clearly meant for accepting offerings of some sort. Behind the table though where Sakura expected to see a carved stone or wooden figure of some kind of deity that the shrine belonged to; she saw nothing of the sort. No large statue of a deity one pays respect and prayers too.

Sitting in that enormous space the size of a house sat a beautiful carving of a flower bud made of a rich wood. Even though Sakura was not a sensory type, she could feel that closed bud of a flower was a mass of chakra. The carving towered over her yet she didn't feel threatened. She felt as though this was a place of pure intentions and blessings.

"Any luck!?" Ino yelled still from where the group had yet to move from. "Not yet!" Sakura looked around further, Behind the hanging drapes Sakura saw in the corners of the back wall two doors at each side leading to a possible backroom of the shrine. But she felt as though that wasn't where she was suppose to go, as if that was a place for the caretakers of the shrine, wherever they may be.

But on the right wall she saw it, an opening of sorts like a window, lined along that window sat a row of beautiful flowers. Sakura's face lit up as she spotted the False Unicorn. Her quick foot steps thumped on the carpet then tapped on the wood as she came to the sill.

There really was only one False Unicorn. Sakura, with as much caution and care as she could muster, gently uprooted the herb. Being extra cautious as to not leave a mess of soil on the floor, feeling as though it would disrespect the shrine. The flower was a pure white and the stalk was decorated in an array of the tiny flowers lining to the tip. Sakura carefully used two senbon as chopsticks and plucked a few of the tiny seeds from inside the flowers no bigger than a pea.

The reason these flowers were so rare was because the seeds were so tiny and lodged into the flowers that unless they met the proper conditions or weren't buried deep enough they would never take root, not to mention to would take a cluster of seeds to sprout even one flower. Hence one herb could only breed one more, any herb lost was a permanent loss. Properly cultivating these herbs could lead to more but that was a commitment not many could undertake. Seeing how this place, the Forest of Deception was a prime location to grow but too dangerous for people to safely garden, it was a shock even one was still alive.

Now with a small cluster of seeds, Sakura planted them where the prior herb grew, she pulled out her water container and watered the soil with a careful amount. Smiling to herself, Sakura held the herb and returned to the centre of the shrine.

"Time's almost up! You got it yet!?" Kiba voiced. "I got it! I'm coming!" Sakura spared a second to bow deeply to whatever deity the flower bud was, and hurried to the entrance.

"I got it!" Sakura beamed, herb in her hands and light in her eyes. "I got it." The others cheered, thrilled that they had the herb and overjoyed that the test was about over. They were all haggard, tired, and desperate for a shower. She turned to the moth patiently waiting atop the shrine. Sakura bowed, "Thank you."

The moth seemed to like that and gestured with a wave of its wing to behind the group. With a flick of its wing, the gust picked up a few pebbles from the ground, depending on where they landed they either thumped or tapped on the ground.

Neji explained, "There is a path to the entrance, but it's been overgrown." He picked up a pebble and sent it to the centre of the clearing where it 'tap tap tapped' away. "We'll need to listen and follow the path out."

"Woo-hoo!" Ino cheered "We did it!" She jumped in place, Tenten, Lee and Kiba joined her. "Let's get moving!"

"Thank you again, and goodbye." Sakura said, followed by the group bowing politely and then moving as a sole team down the path. The ones at the front threw stones and the others were a flutter with excitement and pride upon accomplishing their task.

"Like, I'm not crazy right? This wasn't actually that bad." Ino said.

"No, no, I totally understand. I expected so much worse from a place called the 'Forest of Deception,' but with a few hiccups this went pretty well." Tenten replied.

"Yeah, take away my burn and I'm pretty happy." Kiba said as Sakura held his hand and sent the finishing touches of healing chakra to work with the aloe and fuel his skin to heal itself.

"It was a challenge but we out-skilled it." Lee agreed firmly.

"Then I wonder why it's called the Forest of Deception? I figured it was cause I thought it'd be worse but it was deceptively easier. But then like, why did those Konoha officials react like we were gonna see the villages worst secrets?" Ino hmphed with a shrug.

The group threw around ideas at each other, partially serious and partially joking as they didn't need to stress anymore since they probably wouldn't ever have to be back ever again.

Eventually the group saw an opening in the large earth build border. Standing at the opening with her arms on her hips stood Tsunade Senju, to her sides stood Anbu officers and proud Sensei's. Ino and Lee waved energetically to their Sensei's and Sakura felt pride bubbling in her chest at the sight of Kakashi waiting for her with her other Sensei's. Two fire seals on posts illuminated the adults.

The student came to a stop at the entrance and stood in a line. Sakura being the one with the scroll holding all the herbs stepped up and presented it to Tsunade.

Tsunade didn't offer any words of praise. She wasn't that kind of teacher, she wanted to see the proof of their work and fruits of their labour first; if they proved that they earned her praise then she would give it. She unfurled the scroll and out poofed the herbs kept in separate containers and strung in safe clumps. She looked up and let her gaze analyse each student before finally smiling.

Sakura bit her lip to keep herself in check as she waited for Tsunade's verdict.

"You all successfully realised the true purpose of this test. You threw your individual victories away, found compromises, and put the good of the village first. You came together as Leaf Nin and accomplished your mission." Tsunade nodded to herself. "You have all proven yourselves to me. I am proud to call you Leaf Shinobi." It took all their collective restraint to not exclaim their joy and accept the praise with a bow instead.

"Now I believe I owe you all an explanation." Tsunade rolled her shoulders and crossed her arms. "You see this forest was created by my grandfather, the first Hokage, Hashirama Senju." The students were taken aback, the great first Hokage? "This forest was made different from the forest surrounding the village or smaller ones such as the Forest of Death. When he was alive it was called the 'Garden of Beginnings.' It hadn't been grown for protection or training purposes." Tsunade looked down in thought over her grandfather before meeting their eyes again.

"He grew the Garden of Beginnings for a woman."

"Aww, how sweet." Ino sighed.

"It was a place to grow herbs and flowers for her, it was a reprieve for him when the mantle of 'Hokage' grew too heavy for him..." She paused. The group all mulling over this knowledge, what happened to the garden to turn it into... this?

"This woman was not his wife."

Sakura and the others nearly choked on their spit. What!? Was the great Hashirama Senju unfaithful? No wonder the village officials seemed to hate this place. "She was a woman who, through unsavoury methods, wormed her way up the village system. My grandfather was a foolish man who saw the good in everyone, even if it wasn't there, he was duped by this woman into giving her titles, this garden, homes, anything she desired. It is unknown how his wife felt at the time about this relationship but it had its consequences."

"Eventually this woman was banished from the village, not without leaving her mark and staining the Hokage's reputation and credibility." Tsunade said.

Her statement's hung heavy in the air and after a moment Shikamaru spoke up. "With all due respect, why are you telling us this?"

"Because I want you all to disregard any pedestal a person is placed on. We are all human and we all have flaws." Tsunade said resolutely. "Hashirama Senju was a God of shinobi, the strongest man in the world, a founder of Konoha, and he was also a gullible man that couldn't tell when he was being used. The village elders and officials would much rather you all believe the myth that the man truly was, and the myth that this garden is a symbol of his deception and shame. When in actuality he was a man with flaws and this forest is a garden of herbs."

There was another pause and Tenten spoke, "if its just a 'garden of herbs' then why was it so dangerous? Why'd you tell us 'if' we make it out?" Tsunade chuckled a little in response.

"That was to emphasise my point, you all were expecting the worst when in reality I had you do some gardening for me."

They were once again, taken aback. Gardening?

Come to think of it, what had they done? They'd cleared overgrown trees so flytraps could eat enough, they'd taken care of an overabundance of spiders thus keeping the pests down to a safer amount, and taken care of an overgrown predator causing a guardian of the garden problems... They really had been gardening.

Tsunade chuckled again at their expressions. "Regardless, you all followed the mission and have thus proven to me that you're ready to become Chunin." But before the group could celebrate she continued. "However, though you've proven yourselves to me, the village elders and officials are not convinced. There will be one final stage to this Chunin exam."

They waited with baited breath as Tsunade announced.

"Tomorrow, your teams will be going up against one of these three Jonin. You will need to complete the assignment and win in order to pass and receive the rank Chunin." She gestured an arm to her side and Asuma, Kurenai, and Gai stepped up. Sakura felt a stone fall in her gut as she and the other students felt the true weight of the final test.

Tomorrow. They would be going up against their Senseis.