A/N: This is my first attempt at fanfiction. I have no beta. If anyone should wish to become my beta, then prove it by providing me with a long list of every grammar mistake/spelling mistake/awkward wording in this chapter. If you do it well, then you're my beta.

Prologue

The Forest of Death. A foreboding place, filled with darkness... And the creatures that reside in it. Dangerous, bloodthirsty creatures. Which made it the perfect testing ground for potential chuunin.

Seventy-eight ninja had entered - twenty-six teams - and many had already been killed or knocked out of the exam, and many more were soon to follow. A few by the forest itself rather then the enemy teams. Truly a testing grounds for ninja.

This is where team seven found itself on the second day of the second exam.

One exhausted, desperately trying to set up traps to the the best of her ability, all the while still tending to her teammates laying beneath the enormous roots. Two in a state of forced sleep, one in danger, one not.

Sakura is scared. Terrified, to be exact. How could this exam have gone so wrong? Her greatest idol, Sasuke, is even now fighting for his life because of one person - one genin! And her other teammate, Naruto, had also been knocked out by the same person. How? Even though he appeared to be an idiot most of the time, she had come to see him as the cornerstone of the team - he had proved as much in the land of waves - and he had wielded a terrifying power when he came to rescue Sasuke.

And where had she been? Cowering in the trees, unable to help at all. She was useless...Useless.

No! She could not give in to the exhaustion and despair she felt creeping over her. She was useful now she told herself, keeping them safe from the forest and the other teams while they were unconscious.

Setting careful traps, the most dangerous and impressive she could remember from the academy. Considering her memory, these were quite impressive, and could easily take out a normal genin.

She went over to check on Naruto again. He only appeared to be sleeping. Normal sleep except for the fact that she couldn't wake him up. She began to go back and set a few more things to discourage potential attackers.

Sasuke began to convulse in his sleep. Sakura rushed over to him, almost dismantling one of her carefully set traps. What was wrong with him? She applied a cold cloth to his forehead, did her best to make him comfortable, and sat down to rest and think about what she could do. All the creepy genin had done was bite him!

...He was a genin, wasn't he? Her leaders couldn't have missed a higher ranked ninja entering the exam... Could they?

That night was a cold one, overcast, with the moon only occasionally shining light down into the black forest. The wind roared through the trees, knocking leaves down to flutter, which cast small moving shadows in the moonlight. A sprinkle of icy rain added to the eerie atmosphere.

Through all this, Sakura stood vigilant atop the small alcove where her team lay. Minor camouflage jutsu all that is protecting her from view. The wind drowned out all sound, adding to her paranoia.

It began to storm in the early morning hours, the icy rain pouring down, obscuring her vision as well. Sakura shivered. To cold or fear? Even she couldn't tell. Several times during the night she checked on Sasuke and Naruto, at first to move them farther into shelter, then later to check up on Sasuke's fever.

Around 5 am, the storm passed, leaving only silence. Near absolute silence, the only sound being the light breeze rustling the trees overhead. And to anyone that has ever spent any time in the woods, that is abnormal. And ninja of Konohagakure – even genin – know their way around the forest.

The silence was ominous, a harbinger of terrible things to happen that day. Though she was not someone given to superstition, Sakura still decided to set up a few more basic traps in different areas around the camp. Most would be noticed easily, but she reasoned that anything could be useful in the confusion of battle.

In the hours before dawn, Sakura took it upon herself to create a trap she had only read about in passing. A small genjutsu trap, centered around a kunai. As Sakura did not have much training in this art, the best she could do was attach chakra laden strips of paper around kunai, and intently focus her genjutsu onto it, as if it was the target.

Upon activation of a basic kunai trap, it would be released, and a small area of effect would hopefully induce sleeping for a short period of time on unprepared shinobi. Due to the way this technique was performed, with only the most basic equipment and jutsu, this trap would only work for a few hours before the chakra was dissipated completely, making it useless.

Even seconds would be useful to her though, each one bringing with it the hope that one of her teammates would wake. These were highly chakra-intensive techniques to Sakura, this would probably leave her drained for quite some time.

She placed these at the edges of the parameter, near the most obvious places an enemy would approach. Hopefully these would dissuade any shinobi that were particularly inept at genjutsu.

Several hours later, she was just beginning to nod off after caring for Sasuke when it got even quieter, if that was possible.

Thump

With a start, she whirled around. There in the early morning light, stood a team of ninja, partially obscured by shadow.

Oto-nin, she realized, noticing the headband. Two male, one female.

Of the two, one was wrapped entirely in bandages, with only one eye left uncovered. The other was wearing a strange type of headband that she didn't immediately recognize, he was slightly taller, with black hair. And the last, female, ninja had long black hair, and was staring at her with cold eyes.

"Heh heh... You've been up standing guard the entire night, haven't you?" The bandaged one, she realized, by the slight movement of his mask.

"As of now, you're off duty. Just wake Sasuke for us." The fear began to take over, her panic almost overwhelming her.

As if to drown out her frantic heartbeat, she yelled "Wh-what are you talking about!? I know someone called Orochimaru is the one who's been pulling all the strings, so what do you want!?"

She noticed surprise on their faces, at least the ones with uncovered faces. But at least they weren't attacking. She quickly tried to buy some time, desperately hoping for some help.

"What does this mark on Sasuke's neck mean!? With him in this condition?! Get out of here! Go!!"

She heard them mumbling amongst themselves, and a ray of hope shone through the darkness.

"Maybe... just maybe they'll leave?"

It was a futile hope, but a hope nonetheless. It was quickly crushed.

One of them began to walk forwards.

"Just a bit farther, just a few more steps..."

"Wait!" she heard the bandaged one exclaim – he was obviously the leader – and he quickly stopped.

The leader began to berate the obviousness of one of her traps, but she kept silent, wishing Sasuke would just wake up! By now she knew that this would not happen in time, and she and her team would probably end up dead. But she would put up a fight! A good last stand. Maybe a miracle would happen, but she wouldn't rely on such hopes.

They began to rush forwards, jumping over the obvious trap, and she activated the real one. A huge log swung down at them, and she could hear their exclamations of surprise. Any hope she might have had about them being weak shinobi was quickly dashed to the ground as the log splintered into tiny fragments.

The leader began to rush towards her, his battle cry going unnoticed as she concentrated on what lay ahead.

Elsewhere in the forest, a young shinobi clad in green heard a small click as he raced towards the sounds of battle. He turned to notice a kunai flying towards his face, which he quickly caught with his fantastic speed.

A small exclamation of surprise was all he had time to do as the genjutsu took effect and he fell towards the forest floor. His last thought before he hit was his wish that he was able to muster the chakra to use a simple "Kai".

The leader thrust his kunai forwards into Sakura's forehead, destroying her bunshin.

She quickly jumped out, throwing her shurikin towards the more aggressive ninja. She observed the reactions. One of them simply lifted up his strange armband to block the few directed at him, and the other... Threw them back before they even reached him?? The small gust of wind told her he was using a type of air technique.

She quickly dodged them to the best of her ability, she was not prepared to dodge her own weapons so fast... And found her hair tightly gripped in the hand of the female ninja!

The girl sneered down at her, berating her hair and looks. Calling her a disgrace to all shinobi, spending more time on hygiene than on training. She emphasized this with several painful jerks on her hair.

The next words out of girls mouth she would remember with utmost clarity for the rest of her life.

"Zaku...Why don't you finish Sasuke or her other teammate... Right in front of this little bitch? The least we can do is entertain her!"

The taller one laughed at this, she now knew his name at least... "Haha, good idea!"

Her fear was accentuated when he took a few steps towards her teammates.

"No! They wouldn't!"

Tears began to flow unbidden down her face. "Why was I so stupid? Did I really think that I could get through life as a ninja without training myself better? I'm worse than a burden to our team, I'm a cancer to it!"

'They are always having to help me, save me from whatever is attacking. I'm just in the way!"

"I have to help them this time!" she mumbled to herself. "Just this once!"

And with that lingering thought, she snatched a kunai into her hands, and with one slash, cut her hair completely out of the hands of the girl restraining her, leaving a long slash across her enemies knuckles.

As her headband fell to the ground, and her former captor prepared to throw her weapons, Sakura's hands flashed into the signs for substitution. And she vanished before her enemies could attack.

She dashed straight for Zaku, hands full of kunai. As she heaved them at him, he cried "Zankuha!" and her weapons were once again thrown at her.

This time though, she was ready. The kunai struck only wood. She appeared above his head, and as he threw his kunai at her, the rudiments of a plan were beginning to stir in her head.

She let them strike her, knowing he would think them another substitution. Pain lanced through her arms as they struck. As planned, he began to look around for where she would appear next, and she shoved her kunai straight through his arm, and viciously bit down upon the other.

After a brief struggle he threw her off, and she tumbled across the ground, where the leader then grabbed her by the arms and hauled her up.

"You really thought you could beat us, didn't you? You couldn't even defeat Zaku!"

As Zaku paced towards her, his face a mask of rage, in her peripheral vision she spotted a sign of hope. Sasuke was beginning to open his eyes!

She stared defiantly up at Zaku from her position on her knees.

He lifted his kunai.

Sasuke began to sit up.

She closed her eyes.

Pain. Unimaginable pain. Twice,in the right side of her chest, she was stabbed. She began to black out.

She was distantly was aware of a flying sensation as they threw her into the bushes at the side of the clearing.

"I did my best, at least I saved my team." Was the last thought that entered her mind.

And then the blackness took her.