Chapter 10

Ahhhhh new chapter, what!

To answer some questions, they are still in the chunin exams, but in my story those that finished early were allowed to leave the tower, just cause I couldn't see Sarutobi being able to keep all those genin (especially Gaara) in such close quarters without the help of many jonin, at which point its not very cost-effective. So I let them go about their business. And oops, sorry, I said Neji's eyes were deep brown, which they're obviously not. So I went back and changed it, sorry!

Also, there will be a pairing, as I don't think it's realistic that no one would pursue Sakura. Who she ends up with, I'm undecided. But I'm in no rush. I'm a bit partial to Neji or Shika, as I could see them being a good match for her, with some development of course. But hey, if you have ideas, I'm all for it!

I also received a pm criticizing me for straying so far from the original canon, so I figured now was a good time to re-iterate. Obviously this is really far from canon, I'm not trying to stick to the original storyline. So things will obviously be way different, including characters, the plot, etc. In fact, after the chunin exams, there will probably be no resemblance to the canon storyline anymore. I ask that you take it in stride and just read. If you really want the canon, go read the mange or watch the anime.

Lastly, this chapter is dedicated to silverwolfigther00 for giving me an extra incentive to write. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be mean :3 Anyways, it made me chuckle, so thanks!

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

"Thoughts"

"Speaking"

Neji got quite an earful from his own sensei as he was being healed himself, but he found it hard to pay attention. Instead he was frustrated with himself. How could a little nobody almost beat him? For all he knew, she might have, had their senseis not intervened. To think, he was almost ready to call the match, feeling it a waste of time, when she suddenly attacked him.

He had no idea what changed and it was bothering him. By all rights, he should have won the battle easily, being one year her superior and a prodigy. But he didn't. It was a tie. Something suddenly changed in her and he didn't know what. And if there was one thing Neji Hyuga hated, it was unpredictability.

"Neji! My eternal rival!"

"Oh great. On top of everything…" the young Hyuga thought.

"What is it Lee?" he asked.

"How un-youthful your responses are! I was merely curious about Sakura-chan! I saw you two walking and talking! How dare you Neji! She is my lovely blossom!" Lee cried, becoming more and more flustered as her spoke.

"…We're not involved."

"You lie! How could you resist my lovely Sakura-chan, no man could!"

"…Lee…shut up. Besides. If she's yours, should you be in the hospital with her?" Neji huffed, rolling his eyes at Lee's undisguised shock and horror until he sprinted to the hospital.

No, Neji Hyuga had no romantic interests towards one Sakura Haruno. He was merely interested as to the source of her strength. There was more hiding in her, and he would find out. After all, he could very well have to face her in the future and he needed to be able to win.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sakura didn't know it but during her stay in the hospital, she was the subject of scrutiny by several people. Her teammates, sensei, Lee, even her parents stopped by, although they didn't exactly have any words of comfort to exchange. But the main culprits were the doctors. She confounded them and Kakashi. The damage to her body, the lack of a curse seal, her depleted chakra, it just didn't make was clear she had over taxed her reserves, there was barely any chakra left in her. And yet, the seal still lay dormant.

Seeing her, several thoughts and emotions rushed though Kakashi's mind. He was aware that only recently had he been treating the girl like her male teammates. He was also aware that she had been getting stronger. But he liked to think that he wasn't so ignorant to her to miss the fact that she almost killed herself trying to take down the Hyuga. If anything, he thought that would be Naruto or Sasuke, given that they're usually more reckless than Sakura. And if he missed something this big about Sakura, who knows what he could have missed with the boys. It seemed he may need to re-evaluate his team.

He hoped she would wake up soon. He needed to talk to her, about her decisions, her training, and most importantly, her seal.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was the day of the end of the second exam when Sakura woke up. Sunlight streamed into her empty white hospital room while she blinked blearily, the only thing registering was the intense pain of her healing chakra pathways. Her physical wounds felt like nothing compared to this. She groaned loudly, raising her hand, green chakra glowing.

"Hey Inner….mind sapping out some of the pain so I can heal us?" she asked, knowing that if she tried, the pain would become so intense she could just knock herself out again.

She heard a resounding sigh, which she took to mean a reluctant yes. Feeling the pain dissipate, Sakura ran her glowing hand over her body, wincing as some of the pain escaped. She took her time, wanting to be thorough, taking care to not screw anything up. When she was satisfied, she let the healing chakra disappear. Taking that as a cue, Inner Sakura released the pain, the only thing remaining after her healing job being the soreness of her body. She would let the Konoha healers take care of that.

"Kami that hurt."

"Sorry Inner, I figured it would be better to get it over with, instead of dragging it out."

"Maybe, but it still sucked."

Sakura chuckled, stretching in her bed slowly. Glancing out the window, she noticed that it was only morning.

"Oh my goodness! You're awake!" a voice shouted.

Sakura turned to see a surprised nurse, who quickly turned tail and ran, likely to get a doctor. Not long after, said doctor arrived, seemingly just as surprised.

"Haruno-san, it's a pleasure to see you up already. And after only a couple days!" he exclaimed.

Sakura's eyes widened, "A couple days?! I've been out for that long?" she asked, stunned.

"Well, yes, but we expected you to be out for at least a week. Your injuries were quite extreme. The damage to your chakra pathways…it was…large, to say the least. Speaking of which, you must be in a lot of pain, I'll have a look at them" he said, handing his clipboard to the nurse before walking over. His hands glowed the familiar green, moving along Sakura's skin. He gasped.

"I-I don't believe it! Your pathways…they're healed! But how?" he questioned.

"That? Oh I just healed them myself, they were kind of bothering me." She replied, unfazed.

"I-I see…" he replied, "Well, I'll take care of the rest of your injuries then…" green hands healing all the soreness and tension from her muscles, sealing up any smaller cuts and bruises. Pretty soon, Sakura felt like she was back to normal.

"Well, I don't see any reason to keep you any longer. The second exams are over today anyways, so you'll be fine for that. Don't worry, they end a couple hours from now." He said, noticing the girl's distress.

Sakura sighed, relieved that she would still be able to participate in the rest of the exams. Saying a quick thank you to the doctor, she signed herself out, leaving the dreary hospital. She took her time, walking slowly in the direction of her house to pick up the rest of her gear that she would need for the exams.

Making it to her house without a problem, Sakura pondered what to do next.

"I have a couple of hours to kill. I guess I'll go meditate by the bridge? Test out our chakra pathways, make sure they're ready to go."

"Good idea. It'll give me a moment to rest after that pain too."

"Right, sorry about that. I guess I lost control."

"I don't blame you. I would have kicked that arrogant son of a bitch to Suna after what he said."

"Yeah, the jerk. Anyways, I'll try not to exhaust myself in the process. Hey…wait a second…I almost completely depleted my chakra reserves…should that curse seal have activated?" she pondered, arriving at the red bridge.

"Ah that, I forgot to say, turns out when the seal is trying to take over, it doesn't work the way we thought it would. Instead of pushing his chakra directly into your reserves, it detours to your mind first, probably to influence your thoughts and personality. So because of that, I can actually hold him off quite easily."

"…oh…"

"Not bad being insane is it?"

"…I suppose. I mean that's good and all, but a bit anti-climactic."

"Well you still need to get rid of the seal, I'm just holding it back."

"True. Alright anyways, time to get to work." Sakura thought, flopping down on the bridge, assuming her trusty meditation stance.

Sinking easily into a meditative state, she first ran a diagnostic check on her chakra networks and reserves. Deeming them suitably repaired, she commenced her usual process, being sure to set the little portable alarm she kept in her ninja pack, just incase she lost track of time.

Sakura always loved meditating. It gave her a sense of peace, along with the knowledge that she was indeed getting stronger. It also helped her to feel protected, being able to detect people when they disturbed the aura produced by her chakra. Of course, some shinobi could still sneak past this, though it was no easy task and only capable by a truly skilled shinobi as Kakashi proved.

"Yo."

For years later, Sakura still insisted that she didn't shriek like her younger self when she caught Sasuke with his shirt off.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I see. So that's what happened with your fight against Neji. I must say Sakura-chan, I'm impressed. You gave the Hyuga prodigy a run for his money. Though you were incredibly stupid in the process." Kakashi said, watching the young girl scratch her head sheepishly.

"Yeah…well the jerk deserved it." She replied, brows furrowing, eyes shooting daggers at the innocent bridge, and nostrils flaring in anger as she recalled the fight. Kakashi felt a shiver run up his spine. The girl was surprisingly menacing when she tried.

Clearing his throat to snap her out of her glaring match with the red wood, "ahem…right…I was meaning to ask about your seal."

"Oh! Right! Why didn't it do anything Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, despite the fact she already knew.

"Well…I was hoping you could tell me. You really depleted your chakra stores, it should have taken over you, and yet it didn't, even though you were unconscious."

"Well I don't know Kakashi-sensei, I'm not the master at fuinjutsu here." She teased, poking her tongue out at the man. Sobering up, she said solemnly, "All I know is I really, really, REALLY hated this seal and I didn't want it to take me over, even if I was about to die."

Kakashi paused, a tad taken aback at her quiet tone. How much had this girl changed and how in the world did he miss it?

Feeling the familiar feeling of guilt well up inside him, Kakashi said suddenly, "…I see…you know Sakura-chan…I think it's time I apologized."

Seeing the girls head pop up quickly, surprised and confusion evident on her features, Kakashi continued.

"I know I didn't pay you equal attention and I know I ignored you a lot. Because of that, I underestimated you and I forced you to seek training somewhere else. You shouldn't have needed to go elsewhere, but you had no other choice. Only recently have I noticed how much you've grown." He said.

As Sakura was about to reply, he continued, surprising her even more. She didn't think she'd even seen him so vocal.

"You've always been capable, but I doubted you, and for that, I'm sorry. You've become so strong and so powerful. You have a razor sharp mind and steel will. I've never been so proud of a student. I just wish I had a part in this change." Kakashi said, his tone serious and disappointed.

Sakura stared at her sensei, her face still suspended in disbelief. This was exactly what Sakura had been complaining about for ages. She had no idea the lazy, perverted man she called a teacher could be so mature. Feeling her heart warm, she smiled at the dejected looking man.

"Cheer up, old man. You were partly the reason I decided to change, and besides, I wasn't much of a kunochi to start, no wonder you ignored me! But if it means so much to you, then I accept your apology." She teased, poking her tongue out to further put the man at ease. Her efforts were rewarded with a chuckle from the silver-haired male as he sat up straighter.

"Mah…such a touching moment. Anyways, we should get going to the exams. We're about, oh…an hour late."

Jaw dropping; Sakura scrambled for her supplies, quickly packing them up as she panicked, "What! Goddammit! What happened to my alarm?" she wailed.

"Oh that? I turned it off. It would have been loud and annoying." Kakashi replied, crinkling his eye at her death stare, sweat dropping as Sakura began to snarl.

"Now, now, you should get going, don't want to be anymore late, right?" he placated, arms out in an appeasing manner as the man slowly backed away.

Sakura glared before turning away to prepare her teleporting jutsu, "I'll get you back. Somehow." She said ominously.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Appearing in a puff of smoke in the tower, she was quickly led over to where the other genin were assembled, once she explained that she had actually completed the exam days earlier, she just got stuck with Kakashi-sensei. Hearing the name, the staff was much more accepting, the copy-nin's reputation known far and wide for constantly being late.

She rushed into the arena, where the first match was already underway. Finding Naruto and Sasuke, she was explained the situation. Too many genin passed the exam, so they were having preliminaries to whittle down the numbers, for fear of boring the powerful and influential audience that would attend the third exam. Sakura nodded in reply, turning to watch the match between two unknown genin.

As the preliminaries proceeded, Sakura made sure to pay close attention to her competition, knowing that she could face any of the winners in the third exam, providing she made it through.

As Sasuke and Naruto both had their matches, she cheered loudly, through she was careful not to mention names in Naruto and Kiba's case, being a good friend to them both. She winced as she watched Kiba lose, but the worse of all was Lee.

Although she didn't reciprocate his feelings for her, the boy was still important; being a good friend, a great teacher, and a huge support. During his fight with Gaara, she fought not to look away, not wanting to show weakness, but inside, her heart felt like it was being squeezed, watching her good friend get beat nearly to death.

She saw injuries like that, in the medical scrolls that she read. There was a low chance that he could ever be a ninja again, the damage so extensive. Only a medic incredibly skilled could save him, and not of those were currently in Konoha.

Watching the boy getting wheeled out, she took in a shaking breath, looking up to find the redheaded boy looking at her with malice in his eyes. She glared back viciously, noting the slight surprise in his eyes as he looked away. She growled mentally, "The bastard. He didn't have to go so far. He wanted to kill Lee."

"I know. If we face him later, we have to beat him. For Lee." Inner Sakura said, determined, balling her hand in a fist.

"Uhm…Saku-chan?" a voice said timidly.

Snapping out of her inner tirade, Sakura looked up to find Naruto indicated to the board.

Sakura Haruno vs. Ino Yamanaka

Staring at the girl waiting in the ring, Sakura took a deep breath, fighting to calm her nerves.

"Easy, easy…settle down. It's useless to fight if we're angry." Inner said, her words soothing Sakura's troubled spirit.

Opening her eyes back up, Sakura leapt over the railing, landing several meters away from the smug, blonde girl.

"Che, took you long enough forehead-girl. What, too scared to fight me?" Ino taunted, surprised when Sakura merely stared back, expressionless as she waited for the signal to begin.

Seeing it, Sakura slid into a defensive posture, awaiting a move by Ino. Having grown up with the girl, she knew Ino could be sly why she wanted to. Although Sakura was confident enough that she could beat Ino easily under normal circumstances, she wouldn't put it past the girl to pull a fast one. She couldn't underestimate her.

"To be a skilled shinobi, always battle as if your opponent is stronger than you. Take no shortcuts." Sakura and her inner said in unison. Thus Sakura rapidly began formulating counterattacks and plans for every action Ino could take. She strategized her victory a number of different ways, her brain making connections and formulating ideas in a flash.

Sakura knew of Ino's techniques. She was a good actress and could screw up a person's mind if needed. Luckily Sakura's mind was already screwed up. The only one that Sakura didn't have a black up plan for was Ino's Mind Transfer Jutsu, having never really studied it previously. From what she knew, Ino needed two things for it to work. Some kind of contact with the victim, and she needed to catch her victims in that hand sign that she did.

Sakura knew she could probably run fast enough that Ino couldn't catch her or use a long-range attack, but she didn't want to showcase her speed, or any advanced taijutsu or ninjutsu. She needed to save those for the third exam. So to defeat Ino quickly without using any of her true skills would be tricky. She only had a couple of plans thought out for this.

Luckily for Sakura, she had plenty of time to develop her plans as it seemed Ino had no interest in fighting currently. All the Konoha genin knew of the two girl's history and the foreigners didn't care. So the girls had plenty of quiet to talk things out.

"So forehead, you seem quiet. What's wrong? I'll try not to beat you too badly, I wouldn't want Sasuke-kun to hate me for hurting his little teammate." She mocked, placing her hands on her hips as she beamed up at the stands, seeing Sasuke glare back.

Sakura sighed, relaxing her stance. Placing her kunai back in her holster, she plopped down on the ground, sitting cross-legged. She rested her head on her hands as she watched Ino, bored. She let out a yawn, smacking her lips as she toyed with chakra in her palm, forcing it to change to different elements.

"Oi, forehead, are you stupid? What are you doing? Are you really that weak you're just letting me win?"

Sakura tensed slightly at being called weak, but managed to restrain herself, knowing that Ino was merely frustrated at her lack of response. In Ino's world, a few things were constant. Her love for Sasuke and Sakura's competition. Seeing one of those change was throwing her off.

"I don't see a point in standing when you're not going to fight." Sakura replied, juggling a ball of fire, water, and lightning in her hand. Although it looked like a simple task, it actually required a fair amount of control. Most genin couldn't do it, but Sakura was known for her control, so this wasn't anything new.

Ino huffed turning red. "I'll show you!" she thought angrily, easily capturing Sakura in her mind transfer jutsu. "Ha! Forehead, weak as always." She thought from Sakura's body, watching her own fall to her knees and slump. There was a light murmuring from the crown in which Ino preened.

"Hey Ino. I'm not weak anymore. When you're ready to fight me for real, train. Then come find me." Inner Sakura said from behind Ino, slapping a sutra on the girl before she could react, paralyzing her, before ejecting her out of Sakura's mind easily, much to Ino's shock.

Finding herself in her own body, Ino quickly realized that Sakura had got the better of her. She had come in, distracted and arrogant and this was a slap in the face of reality. Without her knowing, Sakura had somehow managed to eject Ino and paralyze her in her own body. She wailed in her mind as she watched Sakura stand up, declaring Ino unable to fight.

She grumbled as she was prodded, before Sakura was declared the winner. She felt movement return to her body as Sakura released whatever she did to her. Sitting up she glared at Sakura's back, huffing in anger as the girl walked away calmly. Inwardly she was shocked at the changes in Sakura, along with several others who had just seen her for the first time in a while. Shaking her head in denial, Ino let herself be carted off, still believing that she was stronger, that this was just a fluke.

"Saku-chan, good job! Why didn't you beat the stuffing out of her though?" Naruto asked, tilting his head to the side and the next challengers fought.

Sakura grinned, "Well, I didn't want to show anyone my skills yet. Element of surprise and all that." she said sheepishly, "Sorry if it was boring."

Shaking his head quickly, he reassured her that it wasn't, just unexpected. Sakura giggled at the boy, laughing at his antics as a few other genin observed her. Neji, Shikamaru, and Gaara all viewed the girl, several different thoughts running through their head. One of annoyance, one of curiosity and respect, and one of mild intrigue.

When the preliminaries finished, the remaining genin gathered in the arena, listening to the jonin supervisor and the hokage explain the reason for the exams as well as how the third exam would proceed. Despite this, Sakura found herself unable to focus, chills racing up her spine as she felt a stare of bloodlust directed at her.

Looking around subtly, she saw that it wasn't from any of the genin, but she couldn't find the source of it. Sighing and shrugging her shoulders, she tried not to let it bother her as she drew her number, glancing up at the scoreboard to see who she would be fighting in a months time.

I know mind transfer doesn't actually work like that, but hey, like I said, my story. Oh and by the way, just to explain, because Ino doesn't know about Inner, she just assumes that Sakura managed to master her own mind, controlling her subconscious and conscious as one when necessary. In fact, this is impossible. Inner pretends to be more like Sakura though, to lead Ino to this conclusion, not wanting anyone to find out about her split mental state. She knows Ino will be too embarrassed to blab, so she's not worried about her learning that her theory is impossible.

Thanks for reading! Please review and tell me who Sakura should fight! I have ideas for pretty much everyone and cant choose! ahhhhhh