Enjoy and please review. Updated: 02.13.2018
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Sixteen blank, white-masked shinobi sat in practiced silence. An overbearing pressure surrounded them as they waited for the proctor to retrieve them.
Suddenly, the pressure increased when a man in a swallow-faced mask appeared in a cloud of smoke. "Number four," the man said before disappearing just as suddenly as when he arrived.
Sakura stood. She pulled her black gloves out of her pocket, slid them on, and headed to the door leading out.
She had finally made it to the last stage of the ANBU test. All she needed to do was spar with one of the ANBU captains. It was almost expected of her to lose spar, though. All ANBU participants, no matter how strong they may be, were no match for the captains, who had hands-on experience. Luckily, for Sakura, her acceptance into ANBU was not determined by whether or not she won. She was hand-picked to participate in this test; as long as she didn't do something completely stupid, she would be fine.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped out into the special arena that they were going to use. A familiar chakra was already waiting for her. Having had healed Uchiha Itachi often, she knew his chakra even when he was trying to mask it.
Sakura moved into a fighting position while Itachi remained standing unperturbed. Noticing this, she could feel the irritation towards him starting to grow. Did he really not take this fight seriously? Her whole future rode on how well this fight went.
A soon as the whistle blew to start the fight, Sakura charged Itachi only looking at his feet. She was smart enough to know by now that if she wanted to win, she would have to fight mainly with Taijutsu and at all costs she must refrain from looking him in his eyes. Her first attacks were basic ones, all of which were blocked and countered. Sakura wanted to judge how close a safe attacking distance would be before she went all out. Itachi, easily seeing through what she was doing, simply let her carry on while also attacking her.
Itachi didn't need to judge her though; he had read her file when she was picked for ANBU. As his brother's teammate, she caught his attention. Sakura would have needed to be quite strong to keep up with Sasuke and her profile supported that theory. She was a medic-nin (something ANBU was always in need of) and the Hokage's personal apprentice. Itachi already knew this but what really intrigued him was the fact that they both had a similar fighting style. The biggest difference was that he used genjutsu instead of medical jutsu. And upon further inspection, he found that Sakura was originally suited to be a Genjutsu user. So naturally, when it came time for him to choose which ANBU wannabe he would fight, he chose Sakura.
By now, Sakura had come up with a plan and she needed to get serious. She rushed to his left with a chakra infused punch but at the last minute feinted to the right. Itachi dodged the punch and aimed a kick at her side. Sakura caught the kick and threw him toward a nearby boulder. Flipping in the air, he landed on the boulder and used his momentum to push himself back towards Sakura. While flying towards her, he took out a kunai and threw it straight at her abdomen. They hit their mark before Sakura even knew they were coming.
Sakura, not willing to give up, started to heal her wound. But Itachi wouldn't let her rest. He aimed more kunai at her and added a few Taijutsu moves in as well. Dodging all his attacks, Sakura finished healing her wound and was ready to attack again. This time, wanting to try a long distance attack, she put several meters of distance between herself and Itachi. Reading her movements, Itachi smirked and activated his Sharingan. However, Sakura, who hadn't been looking at his eyes, couldn't tell the difference. By the time Itachi had moved his first two fingers, Sakura was already deep in a Genjutsu.
"Shit," murmured Sakura.
"There is more than one way to cast a Genjutsu you know," Itachi stated.
Irritated that she allowed herself to be caught, Sakura replied, "Yeah, I know. I just thought you would let me fight a bit more before you trapped me in an illusion."
"Never underestimate your enemy, Sakura-san," Itachi said coolly.
"I know, I know. I should be especially careful with you too," Sakura said.
Itachi nodded. "Yes, especially with me."
However, before Itachi could do anything more, someone suddenly, attacked him from behind. Attack after attack came and they doubled when Sakura joined in. Needing to get away before he was hit, Itachi produced a giant fireball and sent it towards his attackers. When both the fireball and his opponents were away from him, he jumped back far enough to where he could observe who was attacking him.
At first, all he saw was Sakura and her clone. Upon closer inspection though, he could see that one of them had 'Inner Sakura' tattooed across her forehead. Chuckling, Itachi had something else to add to Sakura's profile - Split Personality. While pondering this, he failed to notice that 'Inner Sakura' had snuck up behind him. Without having time to react, Itachi was knocked unconscious.
When he finally awoke, he could hear voices around him. He was able to pick out his fellow captains' voices. The first audible thing that he could understand was from his cousin who asked, "So tell me what happened again, Sakura-san."
Feeling Sakura's chakra flowing through his face, he heard her reply, "He trapped me in the Genjutsu and I punched him. This type of Genjutsu seems to have an interesting side effect though. Whatever happens in the Genjutsu happens in real life. So when I punched him in the jaw in the Genjutsu, I broke his jaw in real life."
Laughing, Shisui said, "I can't believe it. You beat Itachi at his favorite game and you even broke his jaw!"
"I think I also gave him a concussion," Sakura said more to herself than to anyone.
Shisui laughed harder. After all, how many people could break Itachi's Genjutsu by beating him up?
Blinking his eyes and trying to adjust his eyes to the light, it was now Itachi's turn to feel irritated. How could he let himself be distracted enough to let this happen? He was an elite ninja; he should be better trained for this.
"Rise and shine, Itachi-chan. You just got your ass kicked by a girl," Shisui said; his smile could be heard through his mask.
Sitting up, he could feel Sakura's hands go from his now fixed jaw to his head. Her chakra was warm and it helped straighten out his vision. Itachi knew that he had a concussion and Sakura knew it too, but neither of them said a word. They both knew and that was enough. Glancing at Sakura, he said, "That was an ... interesting surprise. I would never have guessed that someone like you would have a-"
Sakura quickly cut in, "Itachi-san, I think it would be best if you took a break and rested, can you walk to the bench with me?"
"I am fine," Itachi responded.
"So, Itachi, Sakura told us her side of the story how about you tell us your side?" Shisui asked.
"Haruno-san knows how to use the element of surprise to benefit her surroundings. I would highly recommend her for ANBU," Itachi simply stated.
"What? Really?" Sakura said while the other captains murmured in the background.
"Yes, you are the first non-ANBU to beat me. You are also the first to surprise me like that in many years. I am impressed," Itachi said.
The swallow-masked ANBU stepped forward and said, "Well if Itachi-san recommends you so much, then I think that you would make an excellent member of ANBU. Congratulations, Haruno-san."
Smiling as wide as she could, she responded, "Thank you, sir, I promise to work hard."
Laughing, he turned away and went to get the next fight ready. Looking up at Sakura, Itachi said, "Thank you for taking care of me."
"It's no problem. I was the one who caused it in the first place," Sakura replied blushing.
"As a thank you, please allow me to treat you to a drink," Itachi offered.
"Oh no, I possibly couldn't-" Sakura started to say before she was cut off.
"I insist. You intrigue me and I wish to find out more about you," Itachi said.
Turning three shades darker, Sakura said, "If I'm not a bother than I suppose it's okay."
Laughing from a distance was Shisui. Silently he whispered to his fellow captain, "He just got beat up by Sakura and now he's asking her out. Itachi is either brave or stupid."
"We all knew he was brave. What he is doing now is stupid. Do you want to bet that this is going to end badly?" The fellow ANBU replied.
Smiling still, Shisui answered, "That's one bet I'm willing to take."