"Oi! Forehead!"
Sakura turned to face Ino, too wrapped up in her worries to bother being hurt by the insult.
"Hey, Ino-pig." She halfheartedly returned, as Ino caught up to her outside the Academy. Ino looked troubled all of a sudden, but Sakura was still rather absorbed in her worrying.
"Hey, Sakura." Ino's hand reached out hesitantly, but stopped before it could really touch Sakura's shoulder. "It'll be okay. You're going to pass the exams, you're worrying too much."
Sakura spared a slight fake smile, and turned to the Academy door. "Thanks, Ino."
Ino followed her almost like a ghost, always half a step behind her, until they reached their classroom door and Sakura hesitated again.
"If you don't hurry, I'll take the seat by Sasuke-kun." Ino teased, before placing her own hand on the door, and Sakura grinned.
"No you won't!"
They both shoved their way through the door, and fell into the classroom, still punching, kicking, and clawing.
"I got here first!" they both shouted at once, and Sakura turned to see that the seat next to Sasuke-kun was full already, with another student she didn't readily recognize.
Then again, their class was actually pretty large, so that wasn't odd.
"Ugh." Sakura groaned, before making her way to an empty seat towards the front and waited as the rest of the class gathered, and Iruka-sensei announced the exams. She'd always liked being up front, but today was different. She'd finally be taking the test to see if she could be a ninja, along with all the ninja families' kids. It was nerve-wracking, to say the least. She'd always been good at studying, and Sakura had never failed a test before, but she didn't find either of those facts reassuring today.
The pressure felt like it was building in her heart, and it bubbled up and filled her mouth with a bitter taste. She could only hope that Iruka-sensei would call her name soon, and get it over with.
"Aburame, Shino!"
But that would be against the nature of things. They always went by alphabetical order. Always.
She'd have a ways to go before her name was called, so Sakura did what she did best. She reviewed what she knew.
The extra two years the Sandaime had tacked on to the Academy curriculum had really been in her favor. Before the change, they had been releasing genin when they were twelve years old or even younger.
But the genin had dropped like flies due to inadequate training, so the Sandaime had mercifully redone the Academy training. It was much the same, but the extra two years allowed for some specialization and gender-specific training, among other things.
It had also meant that their taijutsu was more effective, as they had already had most of their growth spurts and had started to build on a little muscle. That had helped Sakura immensely, once she grew longer legs and arms that shortened the gap between her strength and the boys'. They had more raw strength, but she was starting to gain some reach, so she wasn't entirely outmatched in spars anymore.
Sakura had taken the opportunity to take some genjutsu classes, and she had been gratified to finally find a field in which she could excel. Her reserves were small, even for a girl, but her chakra control was first class.
She'd also found a passion in the (admittedly limited) medical classes that the Academy had offered. With the extra two years, they'd put an extra emphasis on medical training, so almost every graduate knew very basic medical jutsu.
They'd started with tree-walking and water-walking exercises to get enough chakra control, and moved on to basic medical jutsu.
Now, the only person in their class that couldn't do it was Naruto, but he'd managed to muscle through the regular field medicine classes anyway. At least what he didn't have in chakra control he had in determination.
So, her taijutsu was passable, though it wasn't fantastic. She could cast one B- level genjutsu, and lots of C- and D- level genjutsu. She could detect and dispel genjutsu very well, and she had excellent (at least for a student) medical jutsu. She'd never be a front-line fighter, she didn't have the chakra reserves or stamina for those, but Sakura was still semi-confident that she'd be a good team member.
After all, even wonderful front-line fighters like Sasuke-kun needed help sometimes, right?
"Haruno, Sakura!"
Oh, Kami. When did her heart decide to take up residence in the back of her throat?
Sakura stood stiffly, and followed Iruka-sensei into the next room, where a panel of chuunin examiners (and likely, some Jounin) sat at a table with papers in front of them.
Iruka-sensei directed her to a sparring circle in the middle of the room, where Mizuki-sensei stood waiting.
"Your first test is taijutsu, Sakura. You need to hold your own for five minutes against Mizuki-sensei to pass this part of the exam."
She swallowed hard, and nodded. Sakura took the proper stance for the Academy style and waited.
"Begin."
Mizuki-sensei started out pretty fast, obviously a quick test-ender for examinees who weren't ready. Sakura blocked his punch, and followed up with a sliding kick to his knee.
After all, he was always going to be bigger and stronger. She'd rather fight a war of attrition with his knees than die because she had too much pride to resort to something Sasuke-kun would think was a dirty trick.
Mizuki then did a quick side-step, and grabbed her wrist, yanking Sakura around him.
'Kuso, that's a killing move if I let him finish it.'
Sakura turned her hand, yanking out through where his fingers were weakest and brought the hand straight up into Mizuki-sensei's nose, which would have broken it if he hadn't moved at the last moment. He looked unpleasantly surprised, which was still a point in her favor.
'That was really, really lucky. If my arms weren't long enough, I wouldn't have had the leverage to do that. And he wasn't really paying attention for anything like that. I won't get one of those again.'
Blood was leaking sluggishly out of Mizuki's nose, but he pressed on and went on the offensive again. He sent out a straight kick that caught Sakura in the chest, since she was still too close to him. She stumbled backwards and tried to catch her breath.
'Ok, so getting in really close to do damage is still a bit out of my purview. Need to go back to attacking his knees and ankles, decrease his range of mobility so that I can actually last. He's too strong for me in a straight fight.'
She dove in again before Mizuki had the chance to close in on her, and delivered a quick kick to his right ankle, while distracting him with a fake punch. He blocked the punch, but the kick connected. It wasn't the strongest kick he would have to deal with today, but it was enough to punish his ankle and make it slightly painful to put weight on it.
So she'd gotten his left knee and his right ankle. Really, she should be working on one leg in specific to immobilize him, so that's what she resolved to do.
He wasn't likely to fall for the same trick again, though. So Sakura went on the defensive, knowing that both forms were likely to be tested anyway.
Mizuki recognized the change in tactics, and quickly (but not as quickly as before, she noted, and favoring his right leg slightly) rushed her, throwing quick jabs and punches that she barely blocked, until she finally couldn't catch them and he caught her in the collarbone and stomach consecutively.
Sakura wheezed as the air was forced out of her lungs and her stomach lurched upwards. Bile rose in her throat, but she swallowed it and waited until Mizuki came at her again. When he rose his arms to jab at her again, she waited until his arms were partially extended and dropped to the ground, swinging around on her hands with her left leg to bring a punishing blow to his right ankle.
There was a small, but distinctive cracking sound as her shin made contact with his ankle, and Mizuki dropped to his knee. He grabbed her extended leg, and twisted it around quickly, which swung her whole body to come crashing to the ground.
Sakura recovered quickly, but so did Mizuki, though he was definitely favoring his right leg now.
She felt like she'd been put through a wringer and hit by a runaway horse, but she couldn't really give up now. This was only the first test.
Sakura put up her arms to defend again, and blocked another blow.
"Stop. Sakura, you pass."
Sakura didn't think she'd ever been so glad to hear Iruka-sensei's voice.
"Your next test is in your knowledge of medical jutsu. You'll need to fix what you can both on yourself and Mizuki-sensei." Iruka stated, writing something down on the sheet of paper in front of him.
Oh, thank Kami. That would be much easier than a taijutsu spar.
Sakura left the bruises on both of them for last, and fixed Mizuki-sensei's nose immediately. It wasn't very much damage, but it probably did hurt. Then she healed up his ankle and knee, and healed up the nasty bruise on her own stomach for good measure.
It had taken a decent chunk of her chakra stores, but it was worth it. Mizuki-sensei went over to be examined by a medic nin, and they nodded.
"Also a pass in medical ninjutsu. Your next test is in the Academy basics. We need at least five healthy bunshin, a henge, a kawarimi, and a genjutsu."
Also easy, though that would drain even more of her chakra. At least she had been smart enough to eat a good breakfast this morning, or she would have failed utterly. The bunshin she made easily, then she did a henge of Iruka-sensei. She did a kawarimi with the log provided in the corner, and another with the same log to put her in the same place in the room.
The genjutsu was harder, because she didn't know which one she should pick. She decided to go with her one B level genjutsu.
"Magen: Jubaku Satsu!" Sakura called, as she carefully but quickly went through the handsigns to the technique.
The genjutsu tree snapped Iruka-sensei up and bound him to it as Sakura disappeared from his field of vision. He stood there for a moment before he dispelled it, and made a few more notes on his papers.
"This is the one Kurenai-sensei taught you, is that correct?" Iruka asked, as he continued to write. The other chuunin at the desk were all looking at her, and Sakura just wanted to run and hide.
"Yes, Iruka-sensei."
It was true, too. Kurenai-sensei had been brought in to demonstrate some more advanced genjutsu techniques in Sakura's classes. After Sakura had gone through her own repertoire, Kurenai-sensei had been excited enough to teach her a few higher-level techniques. This was the highest-ranking one Sakura knew, however. Kurenai-sensei had stated that her Jounin sensei would continue on with her genjutsu training, and that she was already very advanced in that field for her age, anyway.
"Very well." Iruka gestured to the door on the other side of the room, and Sakura went to it. When she opened the door, she found another room, empty but for a desk with a single sheet of paper on it.
Sakura moved to the desk and sat down. This test was… too easy. Something about it didn't feel right.
"Kai!" Sakura pushed her chakra through the handsign, and noticed that the questions on the paper had all changed. She quickly wrote down all the answers, and took the paper back with her into the first room. She handed it to Iruka-sensei, who gestured for her to sit in a chair in the corner.
She took her seat as the chuunin senseis conferred over the results of her tests, and desperately tried not to fidget. After a few minutes, the mumbling died down and Iruka cleared his throat.
"Sakura, would you come here?"
She obediently walked to the front of the desk again, and stood firm. She didn't want to be known as a nervous wreck if she passed, and if they were going to fail her she wasn't going to let them see her disappointment. She'd just try again at the next opportunity, and she wouldn't fail then.
"Sakura Haruno, I would like to congratulate you for becoming a new genin of the Village Hidden in the Leaves." Iruka held out a hitai-ate, and Sakura reverently took it with both hands.
She stared into the metal piece like it held all the secrets of the universe, and saw her own green eyes reflected in the shiny metal. Then Sakura grinned, and tied it over her head like a headband.
Iruka was smiling right back at her, and she made a polite bow to him and the other examiners, before respectfully taking her leave.
When she got through the door, the members of her class were all carefully pretending to not be interested in her hitai-ate.
"Wow, Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted, "Look at you! You're a super-awesome ninja now!"
Sakura almost blushed, but it was just Naruto. The one whose attention she really wanted was still staring out the window into the training grounds like being here was beneath him.
Sasuke-kun was so mysterious. Everyone else was excited, or nervous. He just seemed above it all. He'd always been so much better than everybody else, and he knew it. He'd definitely pass the test, and Sakura only hoped that she'd be on a team with him and he'd finally start to acknowledge her.
Sasuke couldn't possibly ignore how hard she'd worked, or her obvious charms once they were on a team together. Sakura smiled shyly as she passed his desk, but he didn't even look up at her as she walked by.
The next day, Ino and Sakura were racing to the classroom again, playing their same old game.
"I got here first, Ino-pig!" Sakura stated loudly, as she elbowed her way through the doorway.
"Fat chance, Forehead!" shrieked Ino, pulling Sakura's hair and kicking her in the shin.
"Ladies, please sit down."
At the sound of Iruka-sensei's voice, they quietly sat down in the nearest desk together. It was odd, since they hadn't sat in class together since their initial falling-out over Sasuke.
But they were kunoichi now, and they needed to deal with each other in a professional manner.
That, and soon it wouldn't matter, because Sakura was sure that now that they were out of the Academy, Sasuke-kun would fall head over heels with her and Ino-pig wouldn't' have anything to fight over.
"Hey, Sakura-chan!"
"Naruto?" she blinked confusedly. Everyone knew that he'd failed his test yesterday, so why was he here, and with a hitai-ate?
"Yeah, Sakura-chan?"
"I thought you… you know, didn't pass?"
Naruto bounced from one foot to the other, never losing a single bit of energy. Honestly, it made Sakura tired just looking at him sometimes.
"Nah, Sakura-chan, I'm a ninja now, see?" He leaned in and pointed to his hitai-ate, and Sakura stifled a groan.
"Yes, that's right, Naruto is also a genin. Now sit down, Naruto, I need to call team assignments." Iruka absentmindedly shuffled through the stack of papers in front of him, and started calling out teams. After the first six teams, Sakura felt like she was going to die from boredom just waiting for her name to be called. But at least Sasuke-kun's name hadn't been called either, so it was still possible that they were on a team together.
"Team 7: Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sakura Haruno." Iruka droned, and Sakura almost let her head fall to the desk in shock.
"Oi!" Naruto shouted boisterously, "Why's an awesome guy like me gotta be on a team with a teme like him?" He then made a rude gesture at Sasuke, who merely grunted and rolled his eyes, which was so cool that Sakura almost squealed.
"Naruto." Iruka levelled him with a look that would probably scare S-class missing nin, "You were the dead last, so you were paired with the top student and a mid-range student to balance you out. That's why you're on a team together."
Even Sakura had to admit that was kinda harsh. And hey, where the hell did these people get off saying she was a mid-range ninja? She was damn good with genjutsu and medical ninjutsu. Just because those weren't front-line skills doesn't mean they weren't important.
She wanted to growl at Iruka-sensei, too, but knew it wouldn't do any good. At least she'd be on a team with Sasuke-kun.
Sakura looked over to Ino and affected the best nonchalant look she could muster.
"Well, I suppose you're out of the running now, Ino-pig."
Ino merely growled, and after all the team assignments were handed out, they both stomped off to separate places to eat their lunch.
"Hey, Sakura-chan!" Naruto called as he ran out of the building. "We're on a team now, wanna eat lunch together?"
"No, Naruto." Sakura sighed, and rubbed her temples. He'd gotten less obnoxious over the years in asking her for dates, but he still hadn't stopped. She just wished he'd finally ask Hinata out on one, it was obvious that Hinata had a huge crush on him.
Hinata wasn't quite so shy anymore, and had started to make friend with Naruto, but he still didn't seem to get that she really liked him.
Unfortunately, if Naruto was going to be on a team with her, Sakura was going to have to make him realize it if she wanted any alone time with Sasuke-kun. Or even a moment's peace.
"All right, then, Sakura-chan, I'll see you after lunch!" Naruto bounced off, likely to that ramen place he seemed to live at, and Sakura was finally left alone.
"Sasuke!" She called sweetly, "Want to go to lunch with me?"
He didn't even look back at her.
"No." he grunted, and walked away.
She felt heartbroken, but Sakura wasn't about to be deterred. She had him almost to herself now, after all, and it was only a matter of time until he realized how great they'd be together.