Aceso spent an hour alone, making medicine, using up a ton of chakra. Aceso was walking with her arms full of ointment tins when she fell to her knees and all of them went rolling. She saw a footstep on one, she looked up to see Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro.

" Where have all your chakra gone?" Gaara as he eyed her evilly.

" Into the ointments," Aceso smiled weakly.

" You made way too much," Temari said as Kankuro picked them up.

" I wanted to make sure I had enough," Aceso admitted as Gaara pulled her to her feet. " Do you guys need any treatment?"

" No," Kankuro laughed as he walked over with his arms full of the tins. " All of this is chakra medicine?"

" Some is just plain healing ointment," Aceso answered. " I'm afraid I used too much chakra making the others."

" Maybe you should use some of your own medicine," Temari suggested as Kankuro opened a tin.

" Why are you being so nice?" Aceso asked.

" Don't get too comfortable," Gaara warned.

" So what do I do?" Kankuro asked.

" Wipe a little and spread it on the patient," Aceso explained. Kankuro swiped up a little and then put it across her forehead. The medicine sank in, the chakra spread throughout her body and she began to feel a lot stronger. She wasn't completely restored, but it was enough,

" Wicked," Temari breathed as she snatched the tin. " What do we do now?"

" Rest for a bit," Aceso answered. " We have to wait for the rest of the teams to show up."

" If they show up," Kankuro laughed as he closed the tin.

" If," Aceso agreed with a nod. " I should go back to making more medicine."

" Oh, no you don't," Gaara denied. " You're going to rest." This caught Gaara by surprise, why was he showing such care to some person that's low on his kill list?

" You three should rest as well," Aceso advised. " Oh, and I'm pretty sure you three sent a new record on time, congratulations."

" I don't care," Gaara glumed.

After getting some rest, Aceso was sitting in a room, making more medicine, she was so focused she didn't hear anyone come into the room.

" Didn't Temari say you made too much?" a voice asked. She jumped, turned, and saw Gaara was looking down at her, he wasn't with his siblings.

" Well, if I make too much here, then the rest will just go straight to the hospital," Aceso answered. " So, no harm in making more." She put her hand on the ointment. She focused her chakra until covered the whole thing. She then took her hand back and watched it absorb into the liquid. She looked up at Gaara with a smile before falling over. " Are you using a clone Jutsu?"

" And you're done," Gaara noted as he knelt down beside her. He swiped up some ointment and put it across Aceso's forehead, strength slowly returned to her body.

" Thank you, Gaara," Aceso breathed.

"Don't your parents get worried about you being out here?" Gaara asked.

" If I had parents, I would think so," Aceso answered, Gaara looked directly into her eyes.

" Siblings?" Gaara asked.

" Naruto is on his way, I'm sure of it," Aceso answered.

" You're related to that weakling?" Gaara asked.

" He isn't weak," Aceso argued. " And technically no, but he adopted me as his sister a few days ago." Aceso scooted back and slowly sat up. " I have faith that he and his team will pass this phase." She then got up, but her legs gave out, Gaara caught her. " Thanks again, Gaara." He was stronger than he looked.

The next night Aceso was walking alone, once again she had her arms full of ointment.

" Aceso, there's no other place too," a voice said. She looked back to see the sand siblings walking towards her.

" We've already waited half a day," Temari complained. " How much longer are they going to make us wait?"

" Till the end of the fifth day," Aceso answered. When they caught up to her, they walked into another room. They glanced to the side to Shino, Kiba, Akamaru, and Hinata. The dog seemed pretty shaken up.

" Is Akamaru alright?" Aceso asked as she walked over to them.

" Shaken up, that's all," Kiba answered as they looked at Gaara. " Would you take a look at him?" Akamaru woofed.

" Of course," Aceso agreed she touched Akamaru's head, he was very shaken up. " Well, he's not physically hurt, but he seems to be emotionally distressed." She pulled a dog treat from her pocket and held it up. Akamaru sniffed it, barked happily, and ate it. " He should be good in a few. How are you three?"

" A couple of scratches, nothing major," Shino answered as Aceso took out first-aid. She began to apply some treatment to Kiba and the others a little. The days passed and teams trickled into the tower.

" Don't you think you made too much?" Ino asked as Aceso treated them.

" No, whatever is left over will be brought back to the hospital," Aceso answered.

" Making that much that sounds like a drag," Shikamaru groaned.

" I sure am hungry," Choji groaned.

" Here," Aceso said as she pulled out chips.

" You're awesome Aceso!" Choji cheered as he grabbed them and immediately began to munch on them

" Thanks," Aceso laughed. She got up and walked away after finishing her treatment. She had her head down.

Bam!

She fell backward onto her butt, looked up, and saw Gai's team.

"Sorry Aceso," Neji apologized. " We didn't see you."

" It's alright," Aceso smiled. " You guys looked pretty beat up."

" It was my fault you fell," Lee admitted as he held out his hand.

" I forgive you," Aceso smiled as she grabbed it, he helped her back up. " Let me treat all three of you."

" Our chakra is pretty low," Tenten admitted. Aceso grabbed her ointment and opened it. She grabbed a ton of other supplies. She treated them one by one, lastly, it was Lee.

" You seemed to have gotten beat up pretty badly Lee," Aceso said after removing her hand from his back.

" I had a rough battle," Lee answered as he looked at the ground. " The sound ninja is stronger than I thought. I tried to protect Sakura, but I failed."

" I'm sure you gave it your best," Aceso said.

" My best was not good enough," Lee said. " I will train harder and bloom once more."

" That's a good attitude to have," Aceso said as she swipes up some ointment and then wiped along his forehead and left cheek, color grew on his face. " Is it burning you?"

" No," Lee said as he grew redder. " I do feel stronger and not so drained of chakra. Your ointment is a miracle."

" It's nothing," Aceso shook her head.

" You're truly talented as medic-ninja," Lee complimented.

" Thank you," Aceso smiled as she felt her face turn red this time.

" Aceso!" a voice shouted happily, they looked to see Naruto and his team walking over, Naruto was waving happily. She noticed that Sakura's hair was a lot shorter.

" I shall not keep you from your brother and other patients," Lee said before walking away. Aceso walked over to her friends and Naruto brought her into a hug.

" How do you still have this much energy?" Aceso managed out as she was being squeezed.

" Nothing can keep me down, believe it!" Naruto shouted as he let go of her. She began to treat all of them, giving them some chakra medicine to have more strength.

" Can you check into Sasuke a bit more? Something's wrong," Sakura asked with concern as she saw her move on to Sasuke.

" Yes, Sakura," Aceso agreed, she then saw a mark on Sasuke's neck. " What happened here?"

" Nothing," Sasuke answered quickly. He then whispered. " Don't let Naruto know, it's nothing to worry about."

" Are you sure?" Aceso asked.

" I'm sure," Sasuke said darkly, Aceso sucked in her breath and finished treating them.

Soon they all gathered in a battle arena, Aceso stood to the side as the Chunin stood in front of Lord Hokage. Aceso noticed that a total of 21 ninja had passed.

" First of all, congratulations on finishing the second exam," Anko congratulated.

" I'm really hungry," Choji said as he touched his stomach.

" What a drag," Shikamaru complained. " Aceso just gave you some food."

" I'm still hungry," Choji complained.

" There's also so many left," Shikamaru added. " This is such a pain."

" Sasuke and his team have passed too," Ino giggled with delight.

" Well, of course, they did," Shikamaru stated. " After all the trouble we went through to keep them safe, they've better have passed." All the candidates looked at each other and at their teachers, the staff, and her.

" All right now, pay attention," Anko ordered.

" Lord Hokage is going to explain the third exam to you," Aceso added.

" You better listen carefully, maggots," Anko threatened before turning to Lord Hokage. " Lord Hokage, they're all yours." He slowly stepped forward.

" First, before I tell you what the third exam entails, I want to explain something about the test itself," Lord Hokage began. " Listen closely now. It's something that all of you need to understand. I'm going to tell you the true purpose of these exams. Why do you suppose our country holds these exams in conjunction with our allies?" Nobody responded. " To raise the ability levels of the Shinobi and increase friendship between allied nations, to be sure. But it's important that you understand its true meaning. The exams are, so to speak--" He took out his pipe and blew out smoke. " They're a representation of the battle between allied nations."

" And what's that suppose to mean?" Tenten asked.

" Now, if we look at our history, all the countries that we're currently allied with were once neighboring nations that continuously fought with each other for power," Lord Hokage explained. " In order to avoid destroying each other's military strength meaninglessly, those nations picked champions to do battle on behalf of their countries at a mutually selected location. That was how the Chunin selection exams originally"

"Well, that's great. But why do we have to go through these exams, then?" Naruto asked. " I mean it's not like we're doing this to pick Chunin to go fight."

" Well, actually, there is no question that part of the point of these exams is to select Shinobi worthy of Chunin," Lord Hokage explained. " That's just not the whole story. These exams also allow for a place where Shinobi can carry the pride of their nation on their backs, and fight against other ninja for their very lives."

" The pride of their nation?" Sakura asked.

" Many leaders and people of prominence from various countries are invited to attend this exam as guests, and also possibly to seek Shinobi to work for them," Lord Hokage explained. " This exam will determine the course of your ninja work from here on out. And more importantly, those rulers will watch your battles and take note of the strengths that each ninja and each nation is developing. If there is a gap in power between the countries, the strong nations are inundated with job requests for their ninja. And conversely, the request to countries that are deemed weak decline. Therefore, the stronger our nation is, the better our position when it comes to negotiating with neighboring countries. So it's important to show much military strength our village has."

" Ok, but even so, why is it necessary for us to risk our lives?" Kiba asked.

" The country's strength is the village's strength," Lord Hokage answered. " The village's strength is the Shinobi's strength. And the true strength of the Shinobi is only achieved when it's pushed to its limits, such as in a life or death battle. This exam is a chance for each nation to display the strength of its Shinobi, and hence, the strength of the nation itself. It's because this is an exam where your life is on the line that it has meaning. And it's for this very reason and for the strength of the nation that your forerunners fought in this exam. It's truly a dream worth striving for."

" But then why did you use the expression 'friendship' before?" Tenten asked.

" But you've only remembered half of what I said," Lord Hokage asked. " You also mustn't have the wrong idea of the exam's meaning. This is a custom in which balance is preserved by fighting and dying. In the world of Shinobi, that is friendship. The third exam is a fight for life with the pride of your village and your own dreams at stake."

" Well, he sure convinced me," Naruto confirmed.

" Any test is fine," Gaara declared. " Just tell me what the details of the exam are already. I can handle anything you throw at me."

Very well then," Lord Hokage nodded. " Now listen closely. I'm going to tell you exactly what you will all be doing on the third exam." He coughed and a ninja appeared in front of Lord Hokage.

" Lord Hokage, before you do, please allow me, Hayate Gekko appointed as proctor of the third exam, to speak first," Hayate requested.

" So be it," Lord Hokage agreed.

" It's nice to meet you all," Hayate greeted as he stood up. He started to cough before turning around. " There's something I would like all of you to do before the third exam." He went into a coughing fit. " Let's just say you're lucky you were treated by Aceso before it."