Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters.
Thinking
‘Signs to communicate.’
“Speaking”
A/N: This story will contain POVs from other characters too.
Previously,
I look up and see my team looking at me with pride on their faces.
Hayate calls the match and I hear most jounin say,
“How ironic. Defeating a Hyuuga with Genjutsu of all things.”
I turn to Neji, who’s looking at me with an emotionless mask and look him in the eye. “I’m coming for you next.”
Neji’s eyes widen for the first time I've ever seen. Everyone else from Konoha gasps.
I walk back up the stairs once the medics have taken Hinata, and Sasuke gives a small smile, “Well done. You just defeated the Hyuuga heiress.”
I grin, “Thanks.”
Shikamaru grins at me, “You should be proud. And defeating a Hyuuga with Genjutsu?! Damn...”
“I had another idea if that didn’t work.” I grin mischievously.
He raises his eyebrow, and I whisper it to him.
“No way!” he says incredulously.
I nod in confirmation.
“Good thinking, Pinky. I’m proud of you.” Kakashi-sensei ruffles my hair.
“Thank you, Sensei.” I smile proudly.
“And what was up with that, ‘I’m coming for you next’ thing?” Sasuke asks.
“I defeated the Hyuuga heiress, so the Hyuuga Prodigy is next. Plus, that whole ‘you are a failure and will always stay one,’ and his ‘it is Fate’ talk is getting annoying. I’ve trained my ass off to prove him wrong, but he doesn’t seem to learn. The only thing I can do now is beat it out of him.”
Naruto style.
“That’s gonna be fun to watch.” Shika comments.
I laugh. We all turn our attention back to the screen.
The board shuffles the names again, and Tenten and Temari walk down.
“Oh dear. This is not going to end well.” I mutter.
“What do you mean?” Shika asks.
“Look at both of them. Tenten is a weapon user. And Temari has a large fan on her back. And it’s definitely not for show. That means she has a wind affinity. If she has good control over it, her wind will blow away Tenten’s weapons. A weaponless Tenten? Not gonna end well.” I explain.
“You’re right.” I hear Neji say. “We’ll just have to see how she deals with it.”
I was about to gasp dramatically, but then thought better of it.
I look back down to see Tenten placing two scrolls on the ground and then throwing weapons at Temari.
Temari smirks, “No matter how many you throw, they’re just weapons.” She opens her fan once again and yells, “The second moon!”
She blows all the weapons away and then Tenten says, “I’m not done!”
She moves her fingers like a puppet master, and lifts all the weapons again. She directs them towards Temari and smirks.
Temari just chuckles quietly and then uses another gust of wind, this time opening the fan completely.
“Well, that’s it.” I comment. Sasuke nods.
Tenten stands up and Temari speaks, “Moon number three.”
Temari swings the fan around and they both disappear. I tilt my head and track Temari floating on her fan.
“Over here!” She says in a sing-song.
Tenten spins around and blurts, “What?!”
Temari goes back to where she was, and I comment again, “Well that was a waste of time. She could’ve just done that instead of showing off.”
Sasuke snickers.
“Now it’s my turn.” Temari smirks. “Futon: Kazekiri no Jutsu (Wind Style: Wind Scythe Jutsu)!”
Tenten gets trapped in the vortex of wind, and then gets thrown away, straight onto Temari’s fan.
She lands on it on her back and spits out blood.
Hayate declares Temari as the winner, and Lee jumps down just in time to catch Tenten.
Temari and Lee have an argument and just as he attacks, Temari blocks his kick.
“Lee, that’s enough!” Gai-sensei commands. All of them have another... conversation, of sorts, and I zone out.
I start paying attention again when the screen shuffles the names.
“The next match is between Nara Shikamaru and Tsuchi Kin.” Hayate announces.
I place a hand on Shikamaru’s shoulder. “She uses senbon with bells on them to distract her opponent. Her bells are special. It has a special vibration that goes straight to the brain and disorients her opponents. Be careful. And you better win. You wouldn’t want to be worse than a civilian child, now, would you?” I smirk.
He nods, then rolls his eyes. “Thanks for the advice and I won’t lose. Especially to a troublesome girl like her.”
He brings out some cotton and stuffs them in his ears. I raise an eyebrow.
“I keep it with me to avoid troublesome women.”
I snort and he jumps down and faces Kin. He sighs, “Oh man, what a drag.”
“This match is between Kin and Shikamaru. Begin!” Hayate leaps backwards.
Shikamaru places his hands in his Shadow Possession Jutsu seal.
“Shadow Possession Jutsu!” He announces. She leaps out of the way and says, “If that’s all you have, then this is going to be easy!”
I smirk. It doesn’t matter what she says, he can't hear her.
She throws two senbon with bells on them, and then two without. He dodges them all.
“Now it’s my turn.” He speaks.
“Sorry, that was your turn.” She retorts. She pulls her string and he focuses on them.
I see his shadow moving and it connects with her just as she pulls out a few more senbon.
“What? How?” She asks. He turns to me. I nod and keeping one of his hands in the seal, he pulls the cotton out of his ears.
“I’m sorry, did you say something?” He asks, still smirking.
I look at Sensei who is now eye-smiling and muttering, “I’ve taught my students so well. I’m so proud.”
I smother my snickers and look back to the battle.
“I dodged all your shadows!” She protests.
He smirks again, “Are you really that dumb? Look at the strings, you fool. Strings at that height don’t have a shadow.”
He reaches for a shuriken and Kin says, “Are you crazy? You’re gonna end up wounding yourself too!”
“Well, isn’t that what makes it exciting?” Shika aims it at her and throws.
He bends backwards, making her do the same, and then she hits her head on the wall and faints. He releases her and turns to the proctor.
“Winner of the sixth match is Nara Shikamaru.”
“Whoo!” I cheer.
From the corner of my eye, I see Kakashi-sensei placing a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder.
I grin at Shikamaru, “Well done.”
He smirks. “Thank you.”
“I’ll tell you who all get through.” I inform Sasuke. He nods at me, then speaks to Shikamaru.
“Keep her in line for me, will you?”
Shika smirks while I pout.
Sasuke and Sensei walk away, and we turn back to the board, and I ignore the next matches that go exactly like canon; Naruto vs Kiba, Choji vs Dosu, and Rock Lee vs Gaara.
Then the next name that comes up is Yamanaka Ino vs Hyuuga Neji.
I burst out laughing. “This is gonna be so much fun!”
Shikamaru slaps my arm, “Sakura!”
I glare at him, then face Neji. “If you don’t defeat her within the first 30 seconds of the match starting, you’re gonna lose all the respect I have for you.”
He grunts and heads down.
“The match between Hyuuga Neji vs Yamanaka Ino; begin!” Hayate leaps back.
Neji starts monologuing and I groan, “Get on with it already!”
“Shut up!” Shika scolds.
“How come you care so much about how I behave now, but never before?”
He shrugs, “I honestly don’t care, but Sasuke usually keeps you in line. Since he’s not here, I have to because we both know if you’re set free, hell would break loose.”
I pause. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” I look down to the battle.
“You know you cannot beat me. You cannot even beat Sakura. You should give up.” Neji says.
Ino scoffs, “Please! I can defeat Forehead easily.”
Neji looks at her incredulously, or at least that’s what it looks like. With his emotionless mask, I really can’t tell. “Did you not see the battle between her and Hinata-sama?”
I open my mouth to say something, but Shikamaru quickly covers it with his hand.
“Sakura, if you open your mouth one more time, I will be telling Gai that you have... embraced the power of Youth and wish to spar with Lee without the aid of chakra. Am I understood?” He threatens slowly.
My eyes widen as I process the words. Nodding my head, I promise to keep my mouth shut.
I glare at him while he removes his hand.
He glares back, while Neji continues his speech.
After the whole speech about Ino’s Fate and how she’s ‘destined’ to lose to him, Neji starts attacking.
Before Ino can even react, Neji blocks all of her tenketsu points and the match ends.
I want to burst into laughter, but at Shika’s warning glare, I suppress it, making my body shake.
Hayate calls all the winners down and Shika and I jump down.
“Firstly, congratulations to everyone who won their battles. *Cough, cough*”
“Now, I am going to explain how the third round is going to take place.” Hokage-sama speaks up. “In the final round, each of you will put your powers on display. You will each demonstrate the power and control you have achieved in your disciplines. Accordingly, the battles will commence one month from now.”
“Wait.” Naruto interrupts, “We’re not doing it here and now?”
“This is to provide to you all a suitable period of preparation.” The Third Hokage answers, “It is to give us time to send out the summons of the remaining candidates, and give you all time to prepare.”
“What do you mean?” Kankuro asks.
“I mean that to know your adversaries and prepare yourselves accordingly, you need time. Even though up till now all the battles you’ve fought have been real battles, it has been with unknown enemies.
But that is no longer the case. So, to make the battles fair and just, we are giving you the opportunity to practice hard and learn new techniques.
Because by now everyone knows your tricks. So, to use your old tricks in the finals is a sure way to lose. And remember to get some rest as well.” The Hokage explains.
Anko steps forward with a box in her hands.
“Now, with all of that behind us, I would like to wind things up. But, before we bring this to an end, there is one more matter to take care of for the finals.”
“Well then, let’s get on with it! We have to start our training!” Naruto exclaims.
The Hokage ignores him and continues, “In a calm orderly fashion, each of you will pick one slip from the box that Anko is holding.”
“Everyone stay where you are; I will come to you.” Anko informs. She walks to Dosu and says, “Just take one.”
He picks one, then she moves on to the next. When she reaches me, I smirk and she flashes a grin.
I pick mine and wait for Ibiki to continue. “Good, now that everyone has one, going from left to right, tell me your numbers.”
“Eight.” Dosu says.
“Ten.” Naruto goes next.
“Seven,” Then Temari.
“Five.” Kankuro.
“Three.” Gaara.
“Nine.” Shika.
“Two.” Neji.
“Six.” Shino.
“One.” I say, inwardly cheering and freaking out at the same time.
I have to fight Neji?! Right after I say I'm going for him next?!
“That makes Sasuke 4. Very good, now I'm going to tell you how the final selection tournament is going to work. Ibiki, you may reveal which ninja have been paired up.”
“Yes sir.” Ibiki flips his board.
Neji looks at me, as if studying me and I smirk. “Looks like the gods heard me. We have to battle it out.”
“Hn.” He grunts.
I look at the board again.
Haruno Sakura vs Hyuuga Neji.
Sabaku no Gaara vs Uchiha Sasuke.
Aburame Shino vs Sabaku no Kankuro.
Sabaku no Temari vs Kinuta Dosu.
Nara Shikamaru vs Uzumaki Naruto.
Of course, Dosu will get killed, so Temari will fight whoever wins between Naruto and Shikamaru.
I release a breath and smile confidently.
I’ve got this.
Shikamaru raises his hand, “May I ask a question?”
“You may.” Hokage-sama allows.
“If this whole thing is a tournament, does that mean only one of us is going to become a Chunin?”
“No, actually, even those who lose have a chance of becoming a Chunin. The evaluation will be made by myself, the Kazekage, and the lords from the various countries that will ultimately be assigning the missions to you. Through this tournament, they will be able to make a thorough evaluation of your abilities, and then decide whether any or all of you have the desired abilities to qualify for a Chunin. Does that answer your question, Shikamaru-kun?” The Hokage answers. “And with that, let us all adjourn until next month.”
We all leave, and I head over to the hospital. Shikamaru goes back home, and I first meet Shizuka-sensei.
“Sakura! How did the Exams go?” She smiles at me.
“They went very well, Shizuka-sensei. I defeated a Hyuuga with Genjutsu!” I beam.
“You did?! Oh, well done!” She praises me.
“Thank you, Shizuka-sensei, but I actually came here to tell you that I won’t be coming to volunteer at the Hospital much for the next month. We’ve been given one month to train for the final round and there is a new technique I want to try.” I say, seriously.
She waves it away, “Don’t worry about it, I didn’t expect you to come here during the Exams anyway.”
I smile and take my leave. First, I go to see Sasuke. When they tell me I can’t see him, I turn around to see Kakashi-sensei leaning casually on the wall.
“Kakashi-sensei!”
“Hello, Sakura-chan!” He eye-smiles.
“How’s Sasuke?” I ask.
“Oh, he’s fine. He’s still asleep.” Kakashi-sensei waves me off.
“Are you going to be training him for the final round?”
Sensei nods. “Yes, I’ll be taking him on a training trip in a few days. I have also found a trainer for you!”
I tilt my head, “Who is it?”
“Ebisu.”
“What?!” I blurt out. “Ebisu? Konohamaru’s mentor?”
“You know him? Anyway, he’ll be a good trainer for you.” Sensei assures.
“Can’t I just train with Anko-sensei, or someone?” I plead.
Sensei shrugs, “You can try training with him, and if you don’t like it, I can ask Anko.”
I grin, “Thank you anyway, Sensei.”
He ruffles my hair, then shunshins away.
I start walking back home.
I need an ace in the hole. Something that’ll blow everyone’s minds.
I enter the Uchiha clan compound and head to the library. I rummage through the thousand scrolls over there to find something satisfactory.
I find nothing. After an hour of searching, I came up empty.
I walk back out with a scowl on my face. I head back to the training fields and start punching the punching bag.
Suddenly, I stop midway.
“Of course! How could I be so stupid?!” I exclaim. I forgot the one thing that could give me an edge! I head to one of the empty training grounds and sit down. I close my eyes and think back to the Forest of Death.
Orochimaru pulls out a kunai. In a moment of desperation, I punch Orochimaru. I get a burst of power. How? I applied chakra to my punch. The amount of chakra I apply and the moment I release it has to be perfect.
With my eyes still closed, I stand up and imagine the scene in my head. I punch outwards and my eyes snap open.
I take a deep breath and start. I use a little chakra and try punching the ground. Just a few cracks, but that always happens.
God dammit! This is gonna take very long.
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I practice for hours, not managing to find the right proportion. I try again, but there’s no difference to the result.
I wipe my brow, and sense Kakashi-sensei standing behind me.
“Sakura-chan, what are you working on?” He asks.
“Something that’ll blow everyone away.” I grin. Then it fades, “But I just can’t get it to work.”
Sensei nods, “If you have any questions, feel free to ask.”
I smile, “I will, Sensei, but why are you here?”
“I wanted to tell you that Sasuke and I’ll be here for a week or so, and I'll be taking all three of your physical conditioning every day from 5 in the morning, so, be at ground 7. And you’re supposed to be meeting Ebisu at Training Ground 13... two hours ago.”
I roll my eyes and he shunshins away.
I take my gloves off to see how much damage I've done to my hands. I just see a little bruising, and I put them back on.
I walk to the training ground and see Ebisu standing there with an annoyed expression. I snicker and shunshin behind him.
“Sorry I’m late!” I say cheerfully. He jumps and spins around.
Some jounin.
“Ah, you must be Sakura!” He adjusts his glasses.
I nod.
“What would you like to train in?” He asks, getting straight to the point.
“Do you have an affinity for either earth or water?” I ask instead.
He shakes his head.
“What about Genjutsu?”
He lists some but I know them already.
I sigh, “Let’s just do some Taijutsu then.”
“Are you sure? I mean, you did just finish the preliminary.”
I deadpan, “I’ve been training for hours already. I'll be fine.”
He shrugs and takes his stance. I lunge at him and our spar begins.
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I headed home after around four hours of sparring. And even that was too easy. Ebisu was barely attacking, and wasn’t even telling me how to improve myself. Unlike Kakashi-sensei.
I decided to train with either Anko or on my own.
I enter my room and have a quick shower. Sasuke wasn’t home yet, and I didn’t expect him to be.
I crashed, planning my month out already.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
I head to my Training Ground at fifteen to five, and greet Kakashi-sensei.
“Where’s Sasuke?” I ask.
“He needs another day of rest.” Sensei waves my question away. I nod in understanding and Sensei begins my training.
“First, we’ll do some physical conditioning, and then if there’s anything you want to work with, we can do that. For now, give me... a thousand pushups, crunches and squats.” Sensei finishes with an eye-smile.
I smile faintly and begin without any complaints.
An hour later, I finish my exercises and Sensei and I spar for a while.
He helps me polish my attacks. Telling me how it could go smoother, stronger, and basically helping me polish all my skills.
In the afternoon, before we split up, he asks, “Do you need help with anything?”
I think for a moment. “No, I’m good, thank you. But I’ll come to you if I do have a question.”
After that, I went to the Hyuuga clan compound.
“Sakura.” I hear someone say from behind me. I whirl around to see Neji walking towards me. “What are you doing here?”
I smile, “I’m looking for Hinata.”
“Why?” He narrows his eyes.
I roll my eyes, “To take her out on a date. Why do you think I want to meet her? I want to talk to her.”
He stays quiet for a few seconds, then says, “Wait here. I’ll bring her.”
I nod and wait for a couple minutes. The two of them come out, with Hinata looking shy and downwards.
“H-Hello, Sakura-san.” Hinata smiles shyly.
“Hey Hinata.” I smile back, “I, uhh, sorry about the battle. I didn’t want to hurt you that much.” I rub my head sheepishly.
She shakes her head earnestly, “No no, th-that’s ok. It was part of the E-Exams.”
Neji walks back inside, and I ask, “Hinata, could I ask for a favor?”
She tilts her head. “H-How can I help you?”
“You’re a Hyuuga and I have to fight your brother in the finals.” I reply. “I would like to train with you to learn the Jyuuken better.”
She hesitates for a second then nods, “I’ll help.”
“Awesome.” I beam, “Are you free right now, or...?”
“I’ll have to ask tou-sama; I’ll be right back.” She hurries inside and I wait again.
She returns soon enough and we walk to a training ground.
“H-How do you w-want to do this, Sakura?” she asks.
“Well, you attack me with the Jyuuken, and I dodge it. I guess. Is there any other Hyuuga move that he knows that I should be aware of?” I reply slowly.
She thinks for a few seconds, then shakes her head, “At least n-none that I know o-of.”
I nod and we begin.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
A night or two later, I ran around Konoha trying to find Hayate before he gets killed.
I looked everywhere, but I couldn’t find him. Instead, what I found was this-
“-After Gaara’s fight.” I heard someone say. I held my breath and suppressed my chakra.
I peeked from behind the wall and saw a few ROOT guys, Kabuto and Tayuya talking about the invasion.
“Kabuto will cast a Genjutsu and-” Tayuya said. When she stopped, I panicked. I shunshin’d away before they found me.
The next day, I went to Kakashi-sensei.
“Kakashi-sensei? Are we forming an alliance with Sound?” I asked, as if I didn’t know the truth.
“No. Why?” Kakashi-sensei asked.
“Then why would two ANBU guys with blank masks be talking to someone from Sound and Kabuto?”
Kakashi-sensei frowned.
“Don’t worry about it, Sakura. I’ll handle it.” He eye-smiled. I nodded slowly and walked away.
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Two weeks left-
“Yes!” I scream. “Finally! Let’s go! Who’s awesome! I'm awesome! Haha!”
I scribble something in my notebook, and Kakashi-sensei appears.
“Why are you shouting, Sakura?” he asks, a hint of amusement entering his tone.
“Because I’m awesome, is why!” I reply, still noting a few things in my notebook.
Then Sensei looks at the Training Field.
“Did you... use paper tags here?” He questions slowly. I look around at the now cracked ground.
“Something like that.” I grin proudly. “I figured out what I needed to!”
Sensei looks up from the destruction and says, “Well done! Now, who’s going to fix this?”
I grin sheepishly. I notice someone coming from behind Sensei and shunshin away.
I appear in front of the Uchiha compound and grin triumphantly.
I finally figured out the proportions for the super strength punchy thingy! I successfully ruined the whole training ground!
Well, not the whole ground and I didn’t ruin it, but you get the picture. I broke my arms a few times, but who cares about that.
The point is, I’m so awesome, I recreated Tsunade’s technique without Tsunade! In two weeks no less!
Well, actually, I only figured out ten percent of it. But that’s not important.
And I also can’t break down any mountains yet, I can only make a few craters, but that’s not important either.
Anyway, I've been training with Hinata almost every day, and I’m getting much better with dodging the attacks.
I’ve learnt two new Genjutsu, an Earth and a Water ninjutsu, and gotten better at Medical ninjutsu. And I have my ace.
I’m also planning on how to defeat Neji with Genjutsu. I want him to have a humiliating defeat. That'll show him.
“‘You will always be a loser’, my foot! When I defeat him with Genjutsu, it will be so damn satisfying!” I laugh evilly.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
One week left-
I’ve officially mastered my ace, and its variant. I’m not going to tell you what it is exactly, but let’s just say that Konoha and all the other villages are going to see why I’m going to shoot to Chunin.
And Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke haven't left the village, but I don’t see them as much. I’m always training either in a faraway training ground or in the Forest of Death with Anko.
Yes, Sasuke and I do live in the same house, but I train much more than him, so I go to sleep at around 11, and wake up at 4.
And I'm only in the house to sleep. The rest of the time I'm training. Anyway, I have to get back. My break’s over.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Chunin Final’s-
I exhale and pack everything I need. For the Exams and the invasion.
I have my metal marbles, my kunai, shuriken, soldier pills, my medic kit, um, and everything else.
Shikamaru and I enter the arena and smile at everyone in the audience.
“Shika.” I call. He looks at me and I sign.
‘There’s gonna be an invasion later. Be prepared.’
His eyes widen, then he looks around. “Where’s Sasuke?” he murmurs.
“Kakashi-sensei took him on a week-long trip, remember? Plus, it’s Kakashi-sensei. You really think he’s gonna be on time?” I reply.
Shika smirks. I look around, “Dosu’s missing too.”
“Quiet down, you two. Straighten up and present yourselves to the audience.” Genma scolds.
Hokage-sama booms, “Welcome, everyone! And thank you all for coming here, to Konohagakure for this year’s Chunin selection! We have reached the final competition, with the nine finalists who have made it through the preliminaries! I ask that no one leaves until all the matches have been completed. Now, everyone, enjoy!” The Third finishes.
Genma turns to us, “There’s one more thing.” He pulls out a piece of paper and shows us the match set up.
Temari will fight either Naruto or Shikamaru. Hm.
“There’s been a change in the match up, so take one good look at whoever you’re supposed to fight.” Genma drawls.
“Question.” Shika raises his hand lazily.
“What is it?” Genma looks at him from the corner of his eye.
“What’ll happen if Sasuke doesn’t show?”
“If a candidate isn’t here at the time his name is called,” Genma quotes, “He forfeits the match.”
“Hmm.” Shikamaru answers.
“Don’t worry, he’ll be here. You really think Sasuke will chicken out?” I roll my eyes.
“Alright, now listen up. The terrain’s different but the rules are the same; there are no rules. The match continues till either the candidate acknowledges defeat, or dies. That being said, if I acknowledge a match is over, I can step in and stop it at any time. And no arguments. Understood?” Genma eyes each and every one of us.
No one says anything.
“These are the opponents for the first match; Hyuuga Neji and Haruno Sakura. The two of you stay here and the rest of you go to the waiting area.”
Everyone walks up and I hear people talking about the match. But the one I focused on was Kotetsu and Izumo’s.
“Who would’ve thought Sakura of all people would actually last this long?” Kotetsu says.
“Yeah... But she already beat one Hyuuga. That too the heiress. And with Genjutsu, no less.” Izumo replies.
“I wonder what she’ll do here.”
“We’ll just have to wait and see.”
I smile at that. Neji and I walk into the center of the arena.
He scrutinizes me for a while.
The he says, “Quit, Sakura. You are-”
“Hell no, don’t you dare try that, ‘Oh, your eyes drifted to the upper left, so you must be thinking about the traumatic moments of your past’ shit on me! I have no ‘traumatic moments of my past’! Don’t even think about psycho-analyzing me!”
He’s quiet for a few seconds.
“You have anything to say to me?” Neji asks.
“Just this; don’t take it too badly when I humiliate you.” I smirk.
“Very well then. All the better for me.” He slides into the Jyuuken stance. “I look forward to seeing the disappointment and despair on your face when you realize it was always your Fate to lose to me.” Neji smirks back.
I smile with a sparkle in my eyes, “Let’s just start and we’ll see what happens.”
“Alright. Let the first match between Haruno Sakura and Neji Hyuuga begin!” Genma announces.
No one moves. We both wait for the other person to make the first move. Meanwhile, I build up the chakra in my finger and once it comes to a satisfactory amount, I yell, “Finger Gun!”
Imagine Deku’s finger smash, and now divide that by two. That’s my move. Yes, it’s weak, but it’s only to give Neji a taste of it, and it’s not as strong as I can make it.
“What was that su-” Neji starts. Then the power hits him. He goes tumbling back.
You see, the speed is something I am yet to control. Unfortunately, it moves slowly and only in a straight line.
He stands back up and glares at me.
I smirk. “That too much for you?”
I do it again, and it hits him again. I hit him two more times before he smirks, “I’ve figured it out. The chakra moves only in a straight line and is slow. My Byakugan can see the chakra moving.”
“Is that right?” I murmur.
‘Attack!’ I sign to my clones. My water clones jump out of all three directions and we do it again. Neji tries to dodge, but gets hit.
The next time we use it, he leaps high using his chakra, just as I predicted he would.
“Hn. Is that all you’ve got?” He says, smirking arrogantly.
I snicker, “Please. Do you really think that low of me?”
I continue throwing my chakra at him. If he leapt up, I would quickly send a burst of chakra there too. On the third time, I stick a metal marble on my finger.
I lace it with extra chakra and shoot it. He uses the Kaiten this time, but the marble gets through. It hits his arm and he grunts.
I smirk again. “What’s wrong, Hyuuga Prodigy?”
I stretch my sensing out and feel three-fourths of his chakra left.
I smirk.
Exactly according to plan. I know what his moves are. I think I can beat him in Taijutsu!
My clones and I charge. He avoids our hits, and we avoid his.
He kills my clones in the first few minutes, then it’s just the two of us.
I did not expect him to be so strong.
I wince as he blocks a few tenketsu of mine. I jump back to make some distance between us.
Damnit! I got over-confident. What’s wrong with me; I'm not strong enough to beat the Hyuuga prodigy at Taijutsu!
I decide to stick to my original plan. Make him reduce his chakra. I create some mud clones, and they corner him.
We use the Finger Gun a few more times, till I feel his chakra very low.
His eyes widen, and I know he’s caught the plan. He rushes towards me and starts attacking. While blocking his strikes, I command my clones to use the Finger Gun on the ground around us.
For his Eight Trigrams, he’ll need proper footing and that isn’t possible if the ground has craters in it.
My clones do as I say and I manage to create some more distance between us.
I use it one last time, and Neji’s Byakugan shuts off and he falls to a knee.
I charge this time, and start attacking immediately. I aim a kick at his head, which he blocks with his arms, then I take the chance to place my arms on the ground, twist myself and kick his stomach with my other foot.
Pushing myself off the ground, I land on my feet and block his attacks while responding with my own.
We continue this for several minutes, with me being able to land more hits than earlier.
When he starts wheezing heavily, I smirk. I cast a layered Genjutsu, with Vision of Hell and Diminishing Air.
He’ll see his worst nightmare while thinking the air around him is thinning. Eventually, he’ll faint from not being able to breathe.
I feel a burst of chakra and grin.
“That’s the end.” I announce. “He’ll watch his worst nightmare while thinking the air around him is thinning down. Soon, he’ll faint. And even if he broke one illusion, he can’t break the other; he has little to no chakra left.” I explain.
The people who have to make me a Chunin won’t be able to see what’s going on in the genjutsu so I have to explain it.
I sit down and wait for Neji to faint. A minute later, he falls on his front.
Genma rushes to him to check if he’s unconscious. Then he stands up, “The winner of the first battle is Haruno Sakura!” He announces.
Grinning, I head to the waiting area as Neji is carried away by the medics.
I reach the room, and see Naruto grinning widely, “Sakura-chan! I knew you could do it!”
I laugh, “Thank you, Naruto.”
“Smart, Sakura.” Shika drawls. I smile at him. Then he slaps my head.
“What was that for?” I demand, although it sounded more like a whine.
“You got over-confident, didn’t you? You tried to take the Hyuuga prodigy in Taijutsu!” He accuses.
I wince. “Maybe a little?”
He sighs and looks away.
“That finger flicking move was amazing!” Naruto says, excitement evident on his face.
“Thank you, Naruto.” I grin. “That was my Finger Gun,”
“The second match is between Sabaku no Gaara and Uchiha Sasuke. Will the two candidates please come down?” Genma orders. I look at the contestants in the room, then mutter, “Well, isn’t this awkward?” Raising my voice, I yell, “Sasuke isn’t here yet!”
A few seconds pass, then an ANBU whispers something in Genma’s ear. Genma nods, then announces, “Uchiha Sasuke and Sabaku no Gaara’s fight will be held at the end! If Sasuke isn’t here by then, he forfeits the match!”
The crowd boos.
“The third match,” Genma starts again, “Will be between Aburame Shino and Sabaku no Kankuro!”
He finishes, and Kankuro shouts, “Proctor! I forfeit.”
“The winner by forfeit is Aburame Shino! The fourth match is between Nara Shikamaru and Uzumaki Naruto!”
“Good luck, Shika.” I smile. He nods and the two of them head down to the arena.
Genma starts the match and Naruto being Naruto charges head on. He makes five Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clones) and all six of them charge.
Shikamaru blocks their attacks and even dispels three of them. He continues playing defensive for a few minutes, till all the clones have been dispelled, then smirks.
“My turn.” He removes his weights and practically flies towards Naruto.
He throws a barrage of punches that are too fast for Naruto to track, breaking the blonde’s nose and bruising his face.
Unfortunately, Shikamaru slips. He throws a punch and over-extends. Taking the chance, Naruto jumps back and makes more clones.
There are too many. And Shikamaru knows it. He jumps back and makes his hand signs. He uses the Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu (Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu) and burns some of the clones.
Then he tries to take the rest. He manages to dispel half of them, leaving 8.
During the fight, Shikamaru creates four mud clones, and switches with one of them. He Henge’s as a rock and waits for all the clones to dispel. Once only Naruto is left, he releases the Henge and immediately catches him in his Shadow Possession Jutsu.
Naruto grunts and tries to move around. Shikamaru smirks and unseals a kunai from his ring. He walks forward, making Naruto do the same, and points the kunai at Naruto’s throat, “Surrender, or I kill you.”
“W-What?” Naruto croaks.
“Quit, or I plunge this kunai in your throat.” Shikamaru says slowly, as if talking to a child.
Naruto stays quiet, then declares, “I won’t give up! So quit trying to make me quit!”
I facepalm.
Shikamaru doesn’t look surprised. He holds his hand in a ram seal, releases the Shadow Possession Jutsu, shunshins behind Naruto and knocks him out.
Genma calls the match after nudging Naruto with his foot.
Shikamaru heads back up with a grin on his face. I congratulate him and we wait for Sasuke to appear.
“Where is he?” Shika grumbles.
I hold up three fingers. I put one down. The second. As soon as I put the third down, there’s a whirlwind of leaves. When it clears, we see Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke standing there.
“Sorry we’re late!” Sensei eye-smiles. “You wouldn’t believe the traffic!”
I facepalm with Shikamaru. “Why? Why does this always happen? At least come up with a good excuse!” I groan.
Gaara vanishes in a swirl of sand, and reappears in front of Sasuke. Kakashi-sensei disappears and reappears near us.
“Kakashi-sensei!” I snap, “Why would you do that?!”
“Do what?” He asks innocently.
I glare at him, “Bring him here so late that he almost gets disqualified!”
“Oh look, the match is starting!” He changes the subject. I glare at him, but pay attention to the match. As soon as I look away, he shunshins to the audience.
I growl.
I turn to the match again. I notice Sasuke still wearing his white and blue clothes instead of that horrendous grey one.
I pull out two soldier pills and hand one to Shikamaru. He looks grim, and understands me. He gulps it down, and so do I.
“Begin!” Genma leaps back.
Sand starts pouring out of Gaara’s gourd, and I notice Temari and Kankuro tense.
Sasuke wisely jumps back, and Gaara groans all of a sudden. He clutches the right side of his face and pleads, “Please! I beg you, don’t get so mad at me, mother!” He looks up at Sasuke with a crazed look.
Gaara winces again, and the sand collapses.
Sasuke throws a few shuriken, and the sand blocks it. A sand clone emerges from it.
A blast of sand comes towards Sasuke, who leaps up in the air. He kicks the clone’s hand, and then it’s neck. The sand starts closing around his wrist, but he punches the face, dispelling the clone.
Sasuke leans in for a punch, and then appears behind him and punches Gaara in the face.
Gaara flies back, but the sand cushions his fall. He sits up and a few cracks appear on his face.
“So, that’s your Sand Armour, huh?” Sasuke says, taking Lee’s Taijutsu stance. Then he disappears into a blur again.
Damn it! He’s faster than me now! And that’s probably with his weights on!
He appears in front of Gaara and attacks through his sand again.
“What’s the matter? Is that all you’ve got?” Sasuke taunts.
He runs towards him again and circles Gaara. He appears again and knees Gaara in his stomach.
Gaara falls to the floor with the Sand around him. Sasuke jumps back.
Gaara stands up and places his hand sin a seal. I suck in a sharp breath.
Here we go. In a few minutes, it’s going to start.
The sand starts covering Gaara till he’s in a sand sphere and no longer visible.
Sasuke dashes towards the almost closed sand sphere and tries to punch, but gets stopped by sand spikes.
He jumps behind immediately. The spikes change back and cover the sand sphere completely.
Blood trickles down Sasuke’s hand. He lets out a breath and stares at the sand sphere.
A few seconds later, a sand eye forms over the sand sphere. Sasuke throws a few kunai, then shunshins behind the sand sphere, dodges the spikes, punches the sand sphere, jumps back and continues to didge the spikes.
He jumps up and lands on the top of the sand sphere, then jumps again just as spikes form on it again.
He ran up the wall of the arena and formed his hand signs. He clutches his wrist and I smile.
Any second now.
Lightning forms in his hand. The sound of birds chirping get louder. Sasuke runs down the wall, towards Gaara.
He rushes into the spikes’ ranges and jumps past them all. He plunges his hand into the sand sphere.
Suddenly, the birds stop chirping. The crowd stops talking. Everyone holds their breath in anticipation.
And then, a blood curling scream erupts from inside the sand sphere.
“Blood! It’s my blood!” Gaara screams.
Sasuke tries pulling his hand back out, but struggles with it. He activates his Chidori again and pulls it out with Shukaku’s hand holding his arm.
Its arm gets drawn back into the sand sphere.
I turn to see the siblings’ expressions. They’re frightened beyond belief.
A growl can be heard from within the sphere. Then the sphere starts cracking.
My hand moves towards my kunai pouch.
The sand dissolves, and there’s Gaara, standing there, clutching his wound.
He glares at Sasuke and I prepare to attack.
Suddenly, feathers start falling from the sky and my eyes start drooping. I instantly break the Genjutsu. I see Shikamaru do the same.
“It’s started.” I say grimly.
Smoke falls out from the Kage’s box. Ninjas start filing in. The Sand Siblings jump down towards Gaara and Shikamaru turns to me, “Wake all the ninjas. I’m going with Sasuke. Catch up as soon as you can.”
I nod and he jumps away. First, I jump to where Sensei and Gai are standing.
“Sakura! What are you doing here?” Sensei demands.
“Sasuke and Shikamaru are going after the Sand Siblings. I’m here to get as many of the Genin who can fight as I can.” I summarize.
Kakashi-sensei nods and we turn to the faux ANBU and the Sound shinobi.
“You.” I narrow my eyes and glare at the guy in the ANBU mask.
Two Sound shinobi jump towards me and I throw two kunai straight at their heads. They deflect it and the fight begins.
Kakasi-sensei and Gai deal with three of them while I kill one. I finish that quickly, then move onto the next one who attacked me.
I complete that, then move to Naruto who’s sleeping on the floor behind. I wake him up and quickly explain everything.
He nods in determination and says, “I’ll follow Sasuke.”
He jumps away and I wake Ino and Choji up too. Sensei tells them to help the Academy students evacuate. They move away and Sensei summons his hounds. He tells me to take Pakkun and follow the boys.
Pakkun and I head out. I ditch the weights and go as fast as I can.
After a while, Pakkun makes me retrace my footsteps to throw the shinobi off our trail. I do that and we move ahead.
I set some paper tags on the trees and five minutes later, detonate them.
I hear a few screams and smile. It isn't a normal smile. It’s the type of smile Anko would give if she got to torture Orochimaru.
After a long time, Pakkun speaks, “We’re close. I smell Sasuke, that blonde boy and *sniff, sniff* something not human. And Shikamaru. We’ll catch up with him in a minute.”
‘Something not human’ has to be Gaara. Has he already unleashed Shukaku?
And we did. A minute later, Shikamaru was jumping alongside us.
Five minutes later, we catch up with Sasuke and Gaara. Sasuke is on his front with the Curse Marks spreading, on the branch.
I kneel next to him, while Shikamaru shields us along with Naruto.
I start healing Sasuke’s wounds, as the boys start fighting Gaara.
“W-what are you all doing here?” Sasuke grunts.
“Shut up.” I command. “You will not lose control to the Curse Mark, understand?!”
He groans in pain.
“Come on!” I grit my teeth in frustration. I send out strong waves of numbing chakra. The marks recede a little.
“Come on, Sasuke! Just fight it, damn it!” My brow furrows.
“I want Uchiha Sasuke!” Gaara declares. I lift Sasuke and jump out of the way just in time. Gaara’s Shukaku hand slams into the tree and he growls at me, “Give him to me!”
“Hell no!” I reply.
Gaara clutches his head in pain.
Naruto attacks him, but his tail flicks Naruto away.
“I have to save my friends!” Naruto mutters.
Gaara and Naruto argue while I focus on helping Sasuke. Once the pain reduces, Sasuke should be able to control the Mark.
I make a quick decision and build chakra in my index finger. At least twice of what I used against Neji.
I aim at Gaara and flick. A few seconds pass, and it hits him right in the face.
He tumbles behind, but gets back on his feet. He growls at me, but I sent a marble at him. He dodges it this time, giving Naruto and Shikamaru an opening.
They take the chance. I concentrate on Sasuke again.
When I look up after a while, Gaara is almost fully Shukaku.
I help Sasuke stand up after the marks recede.
“Can you walk?” I ask gently. He starts to nod, but then winces and shakes his head.
I sigh, “That should be expected, I suppose.”
I look up and see Naruto get slammed into a tree.
“Listen, Sasuke, I’m going to go help him. Shikamaru, make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid!” I announce. Before either boy can say anything, I jump towards Naruto.
“Come on, Naruto!”
I flick my kunai at Gaara with the Finger Gun behind it.
Naruto makes numerous clones again and attacks. I focus my chakra and try it again.
Unfortunately, Gaara notices me. His hand lashes out, catching me in my stomach. I cough out blood and he throws me away.
I land on another branch, but hit my head and everything goes dark.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
When I woke up again, I found myself looking at someone.
“S-Sasuke?” I murmur.
“Sakura, you’re alright!” He exclaims.
“’Course I am.” I say hoarsely. “Now help me up. And what happened to Naruto? And Gaara?”
I realized I was on a tree branch.
“They’re still fighting and Naruto is currently on top of a giant toad.” He says, as if talking about the weather.
He helps me get to my feet and I notice Shukaku standing with Gaara asleep on top of him. And Naruto on top of Gamabunta.
“Oh hey, Shika.” I saw my other best friend behind Sasuke.
Suddenly, I gasp.
What’s Kurama doing here? Oh wait, that’s Naruto and Gamabunta. Right.
“That’s the-” Sasuke stares at it in shock.
“It’s not the real Kyuubi.” I say quietly.
“What is it, then?”
“How am I supposed to know?!”
Then there is a strong gust of wind. I hold onto Sasuke and Shikamaru and cover my eyes.
Once it dies down, I look back up. I see ‘Kyuubi’ and Shukaku still fighting.
“Guys, it’s not safe here. We have to move!” Shikamaru speaks up.
“No need. This fight will be over soon.” I reply, watching Naruto head butt Gaara.
Shukaku crumbles away, Gamabunta and his son poof away and Naruto and Gaara fall on the branches.
Naruto says something, then the two of them leap at each other, hands pulled back for a punch.
Naruto punches Gaara in the face and the two of them fall to the ground.
I jump to Naruto and flip him on his back as gently as I can.
I place my hand on his forehead and quickly heal the bleeding patch.
I look behind me and find my teammates. We race back to the village and I find Sensei, Gai and Genma talking to a masked ANBU and Baki.
I stand beside Kakashi-sensei and pull out a kunai, just as The ANBU says, “Let’s not be too hasty, now. If we just rush in, we might get snared in their traps.”
“Kabuto.” I growl. “You haven’t fled yet?”
“You got me.” Kabuto shrugs, taking the mask off. “I don’t know why you’re so hostile towards me, Sakura-chan.”
“You don’t? Apart from the fact that you serve Orochimaru? Or that you tried to kill Sasuke? Or that you’re trying to make him go to Orochimaru?” I growl. Then, something in the corner catches my eye.
I tilt my head to look at it and I freeze. Kabuto turns to see what I’m looking at, then he laughs, “They were trying to get to you, but got caught in the crossfire between me and another shinobi. And one of my kunai might’ve hit them. Haha. Sorry about that.”
There, lying in their own blood, are my parents.
I walk to them with a hollow mind. They have a kunai sticking out of their necks, and their blood’s still dripping on the floor.
I bend down and touch them. Their bodies are still warm.
I touch the blood with my fingers and turn to Kabuto. I make a fist and hold my bloody hand in front of me.
“I swear, Yakushi Kabuto, when the day comes, your death will be at my hands. I will get my revenge.” I vow.
Kabuto just chuckles, and him and Baki disappear.
I hold my hand in front of me and watch the blood drip down.
Sasuke and Shikamaru come to my side and put an arm around me.
Kakashi-sensei places a comforting hand on my head and says, “You three should go home. We’ll deal with everything here.”
I shake my head. “I’m staying. There will be injuries.”
My voice is hollow and... empty.
“Sakura-” Shikamaru starts.
“Don’t.” I stop him. “Please. Just let me.”
I walk away to the medics. I show them my ID and they let me work.
I heal a lot of people, but three of my patients die. I work through it, knowing I don’t have time to waste.
I look around, but can’t see Shizuka-sensei. I open my mouth to ask someone, but then I see her. A blonde lady bringing her to the other bodies.
I run to her and fall to my knees. Her throat was slit. I sit back down, feeling defeated and weak and numb.
I head home after helping with the healing, and walk straight to the Uchiha compound.
Unfortunately, I bump into Ino on the way there.
“Forehead! Watch where you’re walking!” She snaps. Without lifting my gaze off the ground, I apologize. “Sorry.”
I start walking away, but she grips my wrist. “What’s wrong?” She asks gently.
I turn around. Her eyes have softened and she’s wearing a worried expression.
A tear escapes my eye and I quickly wipe it away.
“Oh, Sakura.” She pulls me towards her and wraps her arms around me.
I choke out a sob and break down. She soothes me, and lets me cry. She lets me go only once I calm down completely.
She smiles at me, “You’ll be fine. You’re strong. You’ll get through this.”
“Thank you, Ino.” I give her a small smile.
gives me one last hug and we both part ways.
I walk into the Uchiha compound and find Sasuke already there, sitting on the couch, doing nothing.
I cleanse myself and come out. I eat a stick of dango, but it doesn’t cheer me up like it usually would.
I go back to my room, feeling Sasuke’s eyes on me, but he doesn’t say anything.
I fall on my bed, aware of the blank and hollow expression.
Nothing goes through my mind. Not a single thought. Nothing about my match with Neji, or what I will do tomorrow. Nothing. I just lay there, staring at the ceiling.
A couple minutes later, there are two hesitant knocks on my door.
“It’s open.” I say, my flat voice not surprising me.
Sasuke comes in, looking nervous. “Hey. Do you, um, want to talk, or something?”
I look at him. He’s nervous. That much is obvious. But why? He has no reason to be.
My scrutinizing gaze made him even more nervous.
“I can leave... if you want.” He says, looking away. His fingers keep twitching like he wants to hold a kunai or something.
A small smile makes its way onto my face. I pat my bed once and he sits down awkwardly.
“So...” He starts.
“You don’t need to talk.” I interrupt quickly.
“Thank you.” He exhales, relieved.
He lies down next me, more comfortable knowing he doesn’t have to do any heart-to-heart talks.
We just lie there. No one says anything. I move towards him and he wraps his hand around my shoulder.
Eventually, both of us fall asleep, exhaustion taking over.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The next day was spent in mourning. For all those who had died in the invasion, and for the Third Hokage. He still died in his fight against Orochimaru.
The only thing that was going through my mind the whole time I was sitting there, was my fight with my parents.
I turned my face towards the sky, letting the cold rain wash away my unshed tears.
I refused to cry. I’m done with that. Crying will solve nothing. Canon Sakura learnt that the hard way.
From now on, I won’t give myself a reason to cry. That particular emotion will be a stranger to me.
I stayed there even after everyone else left. I just sat there, staring at my parents’ graves.
Half an hour later, my team showed up. Shikamaru and Sasuke stayed by my side at all times and Kakashi-sensei stood behind me, creating a wall around me.
We go to the Training Ground and Sensei gives us some mild training. 25 pushups, meditation, stuff like that.
Sensei let me go earlier, even though I told him I didn’t want to. So, I went to the training ground I used during the one-month training period.
I continued trying out Tsunade’s punchy thing. I’ve figured out 90 percent of it, and I suspect a few more days should do the trick.
It was around 7 at night when I stopped. I walked back home, wiping the sweat off my brow.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
It’s been a few days since the invasion, and the village is recovering. Slowly.
But we don’t have a Hokage and I suspect the Tsunade Retrieval arc will happen soon.
And, I’ve recovered from the shock of my parents dying, and I'm more or less back to normal. Yes, I’ve upped my training by a few notches, but can you blame me?
The Sasuke Retrieval arc will happen soon, and I’m going on that no matter what. Maybe Sasuke won’t abandon the village, but that’s probably wishful thinking.
And I’ve also gotten Tsunade’s super punch down, and I can do it, but it’s not as strong as I would like it to be.
Anyway, I was chilling on the couch, reading Icha Icha – don’t look at me like that; it’s actually pretty good – when Sasuke burst through the door.
He started picking his extra stash of kunai, shuriken and the likes and I sat up.
“Sasuke, what’s going on?” I ask.
“Itachi’s after Naruto in a hotel out of town, and I’m going.” He said, not pausing for a second.
“You’re doing what now?”
“I’m going after Itachi. This might be my chance to finish him off, once and for all.”
“Fiiiine.” I groaned, hauling myself up. “Gimme two minutes.”
That made him pause. “Two minutes for what?”
“To get my weapons, obviously.” I rolled my eyes, sealed my book away – more about that in a bit – and started getting my own.
“Who said you’re coming?” He raises an eyebrow.
“Well, I’m coming.” I crossed my arms. “Now do you want to argue with me about it and let Itachi go, or we gonna leave?”
He hesitated for a second, then succumbed, “Fine, but if you die, I’m killing you. And don’t you dare interfere with Itachi and my fight.”
I snorted. As if it would even be a fight. He’s going to single-handedly crush Sasuke. And we left.
And now here we are, running past the numerous hotels and motels.
I led him to one of the motels with a hot spring, and we entered. We ran up to the floor and saw Itachi and Kisame standing in front of Naruto.
I had to practice a lot of willpower to not jump on Itachi and fawn over him, but I managed.
Did I mention I practically worship Itachi? No? Well, I do. He was one of my favorite characters in Naruto.
“It’s been a long time...” Itachi murmurs, not turning around, “Sasuke.”
“Uchiha...” Sasuke mutters, “Itachi.”
I roll my eyes. How dramatic. Trust Uchihas and Hyuugas to be overly dramatic at all times.
“Uchiha... Itachi?” Naruto looks afraid and astonished at the same time.
“Well, well, well. The Sharingan, huh? He looks an awful lot like you, Itachi. Who is this?” Kisame grins, displaying his pointy teeth.
“My... younger brother.” Itachi replies in the same low voice.
“That’s weird.” Kisame says, “Because the way I heard it, you were supposed to have wiped out the whole clan.”
“Uchiha Itachi! I hope you’re ready to die!” Sasuke declares.
He closes his eyes and both the brothers dramatically open their eyes to reveal the already activated Sharingan.
“It is just as you said, brother. I’ve fostered the hatred inside me. I’ve lived my life for one single purpose! To watch you die!” The Chidori bursts to life in Sasuke’s hands.
He runs towards Itachi, taking part of the wall with him.
Itachi’s eyes narrow by a fraction.
Sasuke approaches Itachi, who being the amazing person he is, just bats it away into the wall, making it break, and then grips Sasuke’s wrist tightly.
All of it without a single change of expression.
He tightens his hold on Sasuke’s wrist. Naruto holds his hand up in a seal and I shunshin to him. I bat his hands away, “Don’t do it! You’ll just end up getting hurt!”
Sasuke grunts and tries to attack, but Itachi breaks his wrist.
Sasuke growls, but doesn’t scream like he does in canon. Unfortunately, Kakashi-sensei's pain tolerance training works.
Naruto doesn’t listen to me. He starts the seal for the Summoning Jutsu, and I jump back just as Samehada cuts through his chakra.
“Sorry, kid. But my blade is made out of shark skin and not only does it cut through chakra; it devours it.” Kisame hefts his sword up again.
He brings it down just as a poof of smoke appears and blocks the blade.
A toad becomes visible, and then another poof, and Jiraiya appears. With the woman slung over his shoulder.
“You two seriously don’t know me, do ya?” He speaks. “Should’ve done your homework on me. Jiraiya falls for no woman’s beauty. Beauties fall for me, like blossoms in a storm!”
I scrunch my nose, no they don’t! I think.
“It isn’t in my nature to be duked by their charms. When you reach where I have, ladies kneel and worship your awesomeness!” He declares.
There’s an awkward silence. Then Naruto turns to Jiraiya, “That’s not true! One wink from a pretty girl and you turn into a mountain of mush! You fell for it like a ton of bricks, Pervy Sage!”
I roll my eyes and tune them out. At least until Sasuke says hoarsely, “Stay out of this!”
I groan mentally. How dense can he get?
“The only one who’s gonna eliminate him is me!” Sasuke declares.
“Go away. You’re not strong enough. Roaming around with a girl.” He shoots a pointed look at me, saying the word like it’s the most disgusting thing in the world.
“Excuse me?” I blurt. Well, that’s rude! Maybe Itachi isn’t that nice after all!
He ignores me, “Friends are simply a hindrance, little brother. I didn’t get where I am with friends. And, you don’t interest me at the moment.”
“Get interested!” Sasuke swings his hand, and Itachi promptly kicks him away.
“Sasuke!” Naruto yells.
He starts running towards them but I hold him back.
“Sakura-chan!” Naruto protests. I shake my head.
Sasuke stands back up. “Don’t butt in! This fight is mine!”
He runs towards Itachi again, and his punch gets blocked again, and Itachi slams him into a wall. Again.
He spits out blood, and Naruto looks horrified, “Sasuke,” He murmurs.
I shunshin to Sasuke and reach for his hand.
“I’m not done yet.” Sasuke grunts. “This... fight is... mine.”
“I’m just healing your hand so that you can fight.” I grab it and heal it quickly.
“So be it.” Itachi whispers.
Jiraiya starts moving, but Kisame gets in his way. Meanwhile, Itachi takes agonizingly slow seps towards Sasuke. It gives me enough time to set the bones straight.
I shunshin back.
Itachi stands in front of Sasuke.
“Finally-” Sasuke starts, but Itachi nonchalantly knees his stomach.
Sasuke coughs out more blood. Itachi elbows the back of his neck and knees his chin. He punches Sasuke in the stomach and slams him to the wall. Then just lets him fall to the ground.
Itachi grabs Sasuke’s collar and held him up to the wall. Sasuke holds up his hands in the ram seal and shunshins out of his grip.
He manages to punch Itachi’s back, before the older Uchiha spins around and side-kicks Sasuke into the other wall.
He pins Sasuke on the wall again, but before he can do anything, I start building my chakra. Sasuke’s eyes widen and he turns to me. “Sak-Sakura, don’t you da-dare.” He chokes out.
“Sorry, Sasuke.” I say, not sorry at all.
I Substitute with him.
Suddenly, I find myself getting choked by Uchiha Itachi.
“Hn.” Itachi grunts. “You wish to protect my foolish little brother? So be it.” He whispers. His fist connects with my stomach. Hard. I cough out blood onto his robes. “Weak.” Itachi mutters, kneeing my stomach, still choking me. Spots start dancing in front of my eyes.
Itachi drops me onto the ground and I breathe deeply, filling my lungs. I take another breath, but Itachi kicks my stomach, knocking the wind out of me.
“Itachi!” Sasuke roars.
I see him turn towards Sasuke slightly.
“Leave her alone! Your fight is with me!” A Chidori lights his hand up again.
Taking the chance, I shunshin to Naruto. I fall to my knees, coughing.
“Sakura-chan!” Naruto looks concerned.
“I’m al- *cough* alright.” I mutter.
“You don’t have enough hate.” I hear Itachi say. I look up to see Sasuke already pinned to the wall with Itachi leaning closer. “And you know what? You never will. Because you’re weak.”
Suddenly, Sasuke looks up and grunts in fear.
Itachi’s put him under the Genjutsu again.
Sasuke screams in terror and slumps.
“That does it!” Naruto starts running again. I manage to run in front of him and stop him.
“Sakura-chan! What are you doing?!” He demands.
“Naruto, trust me! Sasuke wouldn’t want you interfering! And the only thing you’ll end up doing is getting yourself captured! So, stop trying to attack them! If you do, I swear I'll knock you out!” I threaten.
“But...”
I give him a warning glare and he shuts up. Jiraiya casts the Toad’s Stomach something Jutsu.
He makes another speech I tune out, and look at Itachi and Kisame running to the corner.
“It’s useless!” Jiraiya puts his hands on the ground and send a wall of flesh after them.
There’s a rumbling and Jiraiya walks to where they went and says smugly, “There’s not a ninja born who can escape this place!”
Then we reach the end.
“You were saying?” I ask, looking at the black flames.
Jiraiya seals it into the scroll. “Alright, that does it for now. Now, for Sasuke.”
The stomach pushes Sasuke out and I lunge to catch him.
Jiraiya stomps the floor, and the flesh disappears.
“What did he do to him?” Naruto murmurs, coming to my side.
“The Tsukuyomi.” I answer.
“The... Tsukuyomi?”
I nod, “It’s a special Sharingan technique. It places the target under a Genjutsu for 72 hours, but in the real world, it only lasts for a few seconds.” I explain.
Suddenly, a kunai zooms past us.
“Dynamic Entry!” Gai booms. He enters and kicks Jiraiya in the face. Then he notices who he kicked.
He chuckles nervously while I heal Jiraiya. “Sorry, Jiraiya-sama. Maybe I was a little too enthusiastic.”
“A little?” Jiraiya’s eye twitches.
“Forget about that!” I interrupt. “Gai-sensei, you need to take Sasuke to the Medical Corps at once!”
“She,” Jiraiya continues and waves his hand in my direction, “healed up his physical wounds, but his mind might not be fine.”
“Right!” Gai nods.
“But... Sasuke will be fine, right?” Naruto asks.
I nod, “He should be fine.”
Before another conversation can follow and we lose more time, I say, “Gai-sensei, you have to get Sasuke to the Hospital as soon as possible!”
Gai tosses Sasuke over his shoulder like a meat sack and then turns to me, “Are you not coming?”
I shake my head. “I need to go with Jiraiya-sama.”
Gai looks at me questioningly, but I don’t say anything. He leaps out and heads back to Konoha.
Jiraiya looks at me, “Why are you coming with us? And who are you, exactly?”
I sweat drop, “I’m Haruno Sakura.”
“And you're coming with us because...?” Jiraiya prompts.
“Because...” I smile, a glitter in my eyes, “I’ve figured out one of Tsunade-sama's techniques.”