Chapter 4

Hi guys! I literally wrote this all in one go after reading your guys' reviews. Thank you so so much! They inspired me so much! I mean, pfft, who needs coffee and energy drinks when you have awesome reviewers?

First of all, to answer a couple of questions. The Uchiha massacre did happen in this story, apologies. I wasn't exactly clear when mentioning that. As for pairings, thanks for your suggestions! I'm definitely keeping them in mind for when I do introduce Sakura's love interest. For now though, I really want to build up the plot and Sakura's character, as well as her relationships with other characters before I throw that in. Ill post a poll of options when we get there.

Without further adieu, chapter three of A Brilliant Mind! Please R & R!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto blah blah blah.

"Thoughts"

"Speaking"

As the sun hit its highest point of the day, Sakura awoke feeling two new chakra sources approach. She smiled as she yawned and stretched under the tree, sitting up as she waved at the approaching figures.

"Hi Lee-kun! Hey Naruto-kun!" she called, rising to her feet as she watched the boys pick up their pace to greet her.

"Hi Saku-chan! Lee was just telling me about how you guys have been training! That's so cool Sakura-chan!" Naruto replied enthusiastically, missing how Sasuke perked up as he heard about her training.

Sasuke glanced over the unknown boy that was gazing at Sakura with clear adulation in his eyes as he scoffed, trying to ignore the small burning in his gut.

"Doesn't look that strong to me." Sasuke thought haughtily, turning away and resuming his training as Lee rushed over to grasp Sakura's hands in his own, even as she rolled her eyes and Naruto steamed.

"Sakura-san! It is lovely to see you! I just came by to check that your training today went well?" He inquired, smiling brightly even as she pulled her hands out of his grasp.

"It was alright, thanks Lee-kun. It was unfortunate that I didn't have my sparring partner though." She said, frowning slightly.

"That is indeed unfortunate news! Would you care to spar now?" he queried, grinning back at her as she began to smile. They shared a glance as they both leapt apart, startling Naruto and catching Sasuke's interest as he paused in his training in order to watch his teammate fight.

The taijutsu users clashed repeatedly, engaging in a flurry of activity as they kicked, blocked, punched and generally tried their best to incapacitate their opponent without the use of chakra.

Lee would swing a roundhouse kick to her temple, she would duck, grabbing his leg as it swung over her, giving a sharp pull to knock him off balance as she rose up with a hard uppercut, which he blocked, grabbing her arm and flipping her over him.

She landed on her feet, sliding back a couple of feet, ducking and rolling to the side as Lee wasted no time, turning and racing after her.

His knee nicked her side as she rolled onto her back, putting her legs up to flip Lee over her as she jumped to her feet, blocking Lee's rapid punches to her body and face, before he sent a kick through her defenses, tossing her against a tree. She had no time to groan though as he was on top of her again, forcing her to stand and go on the offensive to avoid being thrown around like a rag doll.

As per usual, during the fight Sakura was greatly outclassed, but she managed to hold her own for quite a while, much better than when she first started at least, even landing a couple hits on Lee, of which she was quite proud of. These spars always served to humble Sakura to the difference in skill that still existed between her and her peer.

The two shinobi leapt away from each other, landing on separate sides of the training ground, both breathing heavily, though one more so than the other. They regarded each other before coming to an unspoken truce, standing up and grinning at each other.

"Very good Sakura-san! You have improved greatly from the first day we trained! That roundhouse kick was beautifully executed!" Lee gushed, making her smile as she approached Lee, her hands glowing green.

"Thank you Lee, you are difficult to hit, as per usual." She chuckled, raising a hand to his face and healing his split lip and bruised cheek.

She then ran her hands over her own body, healing her own various injuries as she suddenly became aware of Naruto, Sasuke, and a newly arrived Kakashi watching her, a look of surprise in their eyes.

She blushed, "ahah, hey guys. Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Mah, Saskura-chan, that was very impressive…" Kakashi remarked.

"No thanks to you!" Inner Sakura huffed, "Maybe now he'll finally see that we're not useless and train us."

"Unlikely," Sakura replied.

"Thank you, Kakashi-sensei." She replied curtly, Inner Sakura's words opening up the old wound.

She turned to Lee, smiling gently, "I think I have to go now Lee, thanks for the spar."

"You are most welcome loveliest Sakura-san! I will try to find someone that can spar for you in my absence next time!" he replied, giving a thumbs up as he dashed off, likely to resume his own training.

Sakura turned back to her teammates, raising an eyebrow as she stood, her hands on her hips as she turned to regard her sensei.

"So, Kakashi-sensei, what's the plan for today?" she asked, effectively diverting the attention off her and onto her teacher.

"Right, well we have some missions to do today, so lets head out." The older man said, leading his young team of genin to the hokage tower for another day of grueling, backbreaking, D-ranked missions despite their groans and protests.

After the day was completed, Kakashi herded his tired, annoyed, and dirty team back to the bridge where he grinned at them, his eye creasing happily.

"Good work today guys!" he said, "You can take the rest of the day off now, while I go turn in these mission reports," disappearing in a flash of green leaves.

Naruto turned to Sakura, "Sakura! Would you like to get some ramen with me?" he asked, his bright blue eyes pleading silently. Unable to resist the puppy dog eyes, Sakura sighed and smiled softly, nodding. Naruto turned to Sasuke who shook his head in the negative. Naruto shrugged and tugged Sakura in the direction of Ichiraku's, smiling brightly.

After the pair had finished, Sakura was in the middle of asking whether Naruto wanted to come training with her when they were interrupted by a small group of academy students. Sakura recognized the Hokage's grandson, Konohamaru as he approached Naruto.

Sakura tuned out for a second as a feeling of unease washed over her. She looked around subtly, feeling eyes one her. Her eyes flickered as she caught a glimpse of crimson, furrowing her brows in confusion. She glanced over at Konohamaru and Naruto, who seemed to be engaged in an argument, leading to a small chase.

Her eyes widened as she saw an older boy with strange face paint teleport directly in front of the young boy, causing Konohamaru to crash into him before the young boy had a chance to react. He growled, picking Konohamaru up by the back of his shirt as a girl who had teleported beside him frowned.

"You little shit!" he snarled.

"Don't Kankuro, we'll get in trouble." She said, looking mostly unconcerned.

"Chill Temari, I'm just going to have some fun and teach this kid a lesson. Gaara's not around anyways." He replied, balling his hand into a fist.

"Che, fine, but I'm not held accountable for your actions."

"Hey! Let him go!" cried Naruto.

The other boy glared at Naruto and scoffed, "Huh, Konoha's genin are weak." He perked up as Sakura stepped in front of Naruto, calling out, "Hey girl, why don't you ditch him and chill with me? I'm a way better shinobi than he is." He smirked, beckoning her arrogantly even as her eye started to twitch.

"I highly doubt that. Now if you would please release our friend that would be great." She said flatly, crossing her arms over her chest as he frowned at her.

"Why? He's just a weak kid. I'll teach him a lesson then that kid beside you." Kankuro said, raising his fist.

Sakura frowned and as his fist started to descend she disappeared from everyone's sight. Konohamaru opened his eyes to see Sakura gripping the man's large fist in her own small hand, glaring at Kankuro as she grabbed him by the back of his t-shirt before he fell, setting him down carefully. He scurried back to his friends as Sakura tightened her hand, Temari tensing, until as she felt a cold metal being pressed to her neck. She glanced behind her to see a clone of Sakura with a cold look in her eyes.

"When did she…" Temari wondered, looking over at the small pink-haired kunochi.

"You know, picking on kids weaker than you isn't nice." Sakura said.

"CHA! Yeah! Go Sakura!" Inner Sakura yelled, making her sweat drop inwardly.

Kankuro winced as she gripped his fist. He glared at her, "You bitch!" aiming another punch at her face, to which she caught with the other hand. She twisted his arms, kneeing him in the gut and kicking him to the ground.

When he didn't struggle and just glared at her, she released him, turning her back to walk back to her friends. Kankuro stood and glared, pulling out a kunai. He raised his arm to throw it when a small pebble flew and hit him in the hand, making him yelp. Everyone but Sakura looked up to see where the rock came from.

"Great. More brats." Kankuro frowned.

"Thanks Sasuke…" Sakura thought, turning back around to look past Sasuke at another spot on the branch as she sensed a new, cloaked chakra.

Sasuke spoke, glaring at the unknown shinobi, "Leave. You aren't wanted here," as he crushed a pebble in his fist.

As the shinobi on the ground except for Sakura tensed for a fight, a low voice spoke, causing Sasuke's eyes to dart to the source of the voice.

"Kankuro, you are a disgrace to our village. Why do you think we came to Konoha?" said a young redheaded boy as he hung upside down on the branch behind Sasuke.

As the shinobi on the ground pleaded with the boy, making up excuses, Sasuke thought, "How did he get behind me so easily?" Sasuke frowned, cursing his weakness and vowing to not let it happen again. Turning back to the conversation, he heard the boy tell Kankuro to shut up before teleporting to the ground. Sasuke quickly followed, appearing beside Sakura.

"I apologize for the inconvenience that my teammates have caused you." he said politely, turning away. Sakura's voice stopped him.

"Wait. Are you here for the chunnin exams?" she asked having known about the exams long ago due to her constant interaction with the Hokage, much to the confusion of Naruto and Sasuke.

The boy turned, nodding as he pulled out their passports. He started to turn away once more until Sasuke said, "What's your name?" ignoring Temari's excited expression; he looked at the boy impassively. The red headed boy turned, "I am Gaara of the Sand. I am also interested to know your name, as well as the girl's."

"Sasuke Uchiha."

"Sakura Haruno."

"What about me? Do you want to know my name?" cried Naruto, sulking when the boy ignored him. Sakura patted his arm, "Don't worry Naruto, I know you're strong. We'll show him that." She said, smiling as he perked up.

"Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha…They are strong," thought Gaara as he walked off.

Sakura sighed as she and her team waited for their sensei to show up with "important news" as the young academy student called it.

Currently, Naruto was sleeping on the bridge, snoring loudly and drool dripping from his mouth. Sakura giggled internally. Strangely, it was a very adorable sight. The same couldn't be said for her other teammate though, who, after the confrontation with the sand-nin, had been sulking as he trained viciously hard.

Pushing off from her place on the bridge she decided it was time to do something. She walked over to him, standing next to him watching his eyes flicker to her and his glare increase tenfold.

"What."

"Would you like to spar?" she asked, unfazed by his attitude.

He paused and stood up, regarding her as she waited.

"Rules?"

"Taijutsu and weapons only? First blood? No sharigan." she suggested, seeing him nod. She smiled and leapt back, crouching in a ready position as she pulled out a kunai, awaiting his move.

Impatient, Sasuke lunged for her, swinging his kunai at her as she dodged his blows gracefully, parrying with her kunai as he attacked. His movements were much more erratic than usual, probably due to whatever had him sulking earlier. He growled, seeing her dodge him, frustrating him more.

Some small part of him still believed that she was weak, that he was better than her. Seeing her handle him now was a harsh slap in the face of reality.

Deeming it time to retaliate and having plenty of time to calculate the best route to handle him, she decided to go on the offense. They traded blows until she slowly began to overpower him, his frustration making him sloppy.

"This is useless," Inner Sakura remarked, "All we are doing is making him more angry."

"Hmm, you're right. What do you suggest?"

"Stop the fight and calm him down. He's not fighting you at 100% anyways."

Frowning, she leapt away and stood up, putting away her kunai.

"What. Are. You. Doing." He all but hissed.

"Stopping this fight. I will not fight you unless you come at me with your all. You are sloppy, your anger making you lose control. Calm down and fight me for real," she said, crossing her arms as she glared at him.

There was a moment of silence as he nodded, entering his battle mindset. He crouched in a ready position as she smiled, a smirk being returned as she took off her forehead protector, placing it on her forehead and tying it. This helped her to ground herself and to enter her own battle mode.

The two young genin regarded each other and took off, exchanging blows in a frenzy of defense, offense, defense, and offense. Although Sasuke was no match for Lee, he was well matched for her and engaged her in a fight that had her heart racing and her grinning like Naruto at the challenge.

For each swipe of a kunai, there was an answering parry. For each leg sweep, there was a jump and a roundhouse kick. They panted, meeting each other with a clang as they blocked each other's kunai strike with their own. Grunting as sweat rolled down their faces and bodies, they pushed against each other in a battle of strength.

Unfortunately for Sakura, despite her recent training, she was still not as strong as Sasuke, especially considering she was still wearing her weights. She decided to keep them on for this match as if she had taken them off, Sasuke would have likely demanded the use of his sharigan, which allowed him to still see her movements even if she was faster than him.

Due to this lack of strength, she started to be pushed back and as Sasuke began to smirk she heard Inner Sakura yell.

"He's off guard! Take his legs out!"

Without a moments hesitation she swung her leg out, knocking him flat on his back and as her arm rose to protect her face from his kunai, her own kunai swiped at his shoulder. As the dust settled they heard a voice.

"Mah, isn't this interesting?" Kakashi said.

The two genin looked at their position and sprung apart, blushing lightly as their sensei smiled. Sasuke glanced at her and indicated to her arm, where his kunai had nicked her. He looked smugly pleased. She merely smiled in response and pointed at his shoulder whish was also bleeding slightly. He looked startled and then frowned, observing her for a moment before smirking at her.

They then turned to face Kakashi, who was standing over a still knocked out Naruto, likely trying to determine what was the worst way to wake him up. Taking this distraction, Sakura healed her cut as well as all her bruises before beckoning Sasuke over to do the same. He complied, despite rolling his eyes.

When they were both healed, they turned just in time to watch Kakashi nudge Naruto off the bridge and into the cold water of the river.

He awoke with a scream, "AHHHHH COLD COLD COLD!" scrambling out of the river as he sat on the shore, shivering and drenched. Sakura let out a small giggle as the rest of her team members also looked amused, sans one very wet blonde.

After an impromptu drying session, Team 7 finally gathered on the bridge, Naruto still pouting until some papers were thrust out in front of them, effectively distracting him.

"These are applications for the chunnin exams. I've nominated you three to take the test. You don't have to if you don't want to. If you do, bring these applications to hokage tower at three tomorrow. That's all. Ja ne!" waved Kakashi before leaping away.

The kids frowned at their teacher and looked over the applications. Naruto was predictably excited and even Sasuke cracked a smirk. Sakura on the other hand, was feeling slightly more conflicted, still worried about being weak, despite all her progress, her battle with Lee and Sasuke showing that she was nowhere near "strong" yet.

As the sun began to set, the three said their goodbyes, and parted ways, each heading home, each with the chunnin exams on their minds.

"Are we ready?" Sakura thought.

Chapter 4 is done! Thanks so much for reading! Please review; it motivates me to no end!