"You're late, Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, waving her over. Him and Sasuke were already there, waiting patiently for her arrival.
"Sorry." she apologized sheepishly, "I overslept."
No, really. She did. She spent most of the night before doing simple exercises with the kubikiribocho and trying to get a better grip on her near-perfect chakra control. The three of them entered the building just in time to see a boy in green spandex get kicked across the hallway.
"You? Taking the chuunin exams? And you can't even get past us? Ha, what a joke!" someone laughed. "This is a walk in a park compared to what you'll face in the exams. Some of you won't survive, some will be wrecked for life and hell, let's be serious here. Some of us might even go crazy beyond all help."
In front of the entry door of the third floor were two boys around the same age of the genin. Sakura cocked her head to the side curiously. Those two had a striking resemblance to Kotetsu and Izumo- two chuunin she had the impression would be one of the numerous proctors of the exam.
She already saw the lie of this low-level genjutsu, as this actually was part of the exam.
"KInd words." Sasuke drawled, taking a step forward and receiving everyone's stares, "Now get out of our way. While you're at it, you could get rid of this ridiculous genjutsu. Anything to add, Sakura?"
"We're trying to get to the third floor, so please don't stop us at the second." Sakura quipped cheerfully from behind him. Murmurs filled the hall as the Kotetsu look-alike smirked and released the genjutsu.
"You've got sharp eyes. Wanna come over here and see if my foot can shut that big mouth of yours?"
Sasuke's eyes glinted mockingly. He accepted silently and swung his leg to kick, the other boy doing the same. Before their shins could collide, the boy in green spandex ran between them and stopped them.
"What are you doing?" a pearly eyed boy sighed, "You were the one who suggested the low profile, Lee."
"I know, Neji-san, but..."
Once the crowd dispersed, Lee walked up to Team Seven-more specifically Sakura- and flashed a bright, white, grin.
"Hello! My name is Rock Lee- you are Sakura-san, correct? If I may say, you are the most beautiful girl I have EVER had the chance of laying my eyes on! Please go out on a date with me and become my girlfriend! In exchange, I will protect you with every fiber of my being!"
Naruto stared at him with wide, saucer-sized eyes as he tried to digest what he just witnessed, and Sasuke's eye twtiched a couple of times. Sakura let out a nervous trickle of laughter as she smiled at him.
"I'm... really sorry, um, Lee-san, but I'm really not looking for someone right now.." she replied. He did not falter and only smiled brighter.
"Then I shall wait, my beautiful lotus blossom! One day, I'll take you on a date you won't regret!"
Neji shook his head and their female teammate sighed. Team Seven walked around them and made their way to the entrance room. First, though, they got sidetracked by way too much spandex green spandex.
The experience was terrifying.
When they wandered upon the door to the waiting room of the exams, Kakashi was there waiting for them. His lean form was propped up against the door and his eye was glued to the latest volume of Icha Icha Paradise. Hearing the footsteps of his young team of genin, he placed his book in his vest and greeted them with a smile.
"Good morning Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura. I'm glad that all of you made it." he greeted cheerfully. He conversed casually, saying all that what usually was expected in the exams, but Sakura watched him with a critical eye. She had a guess that Kakashi had become aware, maybe a little bit suspicious of her. Perhaps she told Iruka too much. Eventually, he let them by with a simple 'good luck' and they stepped into the room.
It was filled with shady looking genin. They all looked equally dangerous and intimidating, causing Naruto to gulp apprehensively. As Sasuke and Naruto were off conversing with the other rookies, Sakura was off to the side. Her eyes roamed around the room, picking out anybody she might consider a major threat. As her Papa always told her: "Never underestimate your opponent. No matter how small they might look, no matter how weak they might seem, they'll always do something to surprise you. Always keep your guard up."
Her gaze landed on a guy on the opposite side of the room. He was plainly average with silver hair tied up in a ponytail with black, circular glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose. He was looking at a thick deck of cards in his hands before he looked up at the group of rookies. A smirk bloomed onto his face as he made his way towards them. His feet made no sound as he walked- a feat a genin shouldn't be capable of or even being aware of.
Ah, so it's like that, is it?
She later learned that his name was Kabuto Yakushi and the deck of cards he had were actually information cards. Sasuke used this to his advantage and asked about Gaara and Rock Lee. Suddenly, smoke appeared at the front of the room and a deep voice boomed from its confines.
"Alright you baby-faced degenerates, shut the hell up! You're gonna listen to me right here, right now!"
Once the smoke cleared, a large number of sentinels were revealed, as well as the proctor for the first portion of the exam. The commanding officer of the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force.
"I'm Ibiki Morino, your first proctor and your worst enemy. " he introduced maliciously, "We'll begin this test in just a few minutes, but I want to get a few things straight. There is no combat, no attacking each other without permission, and absolutely no fatal force. If you mess with me, you're outta here. Understood? Good. Now everyone come take a number and take a seat in the room."
The room filled up quickly and quietly, pleasing Ibiki. The test hasn't even started yet and Sakura sighed as she watched Naruto freak out a few rows in front of her. Then she took to listening to the excessively long speech about the rules and guidelines of the written portion of the chuunin exams.
No talking.
No cheating.
If you get caught cheating five times, you and your team are out of the exams.
... Yeah, that was the gist of it. That and the final question would be given out fifteen minutes prior to the end of the testing period. After Ibiki called out 'Begin!', Sakura flipped over her paper and stared down at the questions. There were nine.
Question 1: An enemy shinobi has been captured and you are in charge of torturing him for interrogation. He's hard-headed and he doesn't give in quickly. What do you do to get the information?
Sakura thought for a few seconds.
You leave him for three days with no food and water. By then, he should start suffering. If he has yet to talk, break his arm, his shin, and his jaw. If that doesn't work, douse him in water and attack him with a medium level lightning jutsu. If he is too loyal to his village and even genjutsu or mind attacks cease to work, do not give him a second chance. Kill him immediately.
Question 2: An enemy shinobi is twenty feet away on a tree that is ten feet tall. Taking in the account of the average height of a man, how far will you have to throw it so that it will pierce his heart and how much strength should be applied to assure his death?
She quickly wrote down the mathematical formula and the range of every single possibility.
*Question 3: You have 94 chakra pills which each heal 482 chakra. You can use healing touch for 32 chakra to heal 127 health each. An enemy ninja has 147 medicinal pills which each heal 732 health but cannot use healing touch. Using pills and healing touch, who can heal the most health and by how much?
It was simple.
I could win by 72, 212 health.
*Question 4: A shuriken is moving at a speed of 36.7 metres per second when it hits an enemy ninja in the stomach. The shuriken penetrates through the flesh a distance of 6.21 cm. What is the deceleration of the shuriken while moving through the flesh (assuming a uniform deceleration)?
10,844 per second.
*Question 5: Which of the main chakra points is the strongest link to the spiritual world?
Crown.
Question 6: Death is inevitable in the shinobi world. Your teammate has just been killed. What do you do?
Disappear their body and complete the mission. You can't allow your emotions to intercept your purpose in completing your mission.
Question 7: List all the possible natures you can use to perform ninjutsu.
Fire, wind, lightning, earth, water, boil, ice, magnetic, dust, wood, storm, lava, explosion, scorch, blaze, yin, yang, yin/yang.
Question 8: Assume that you have the ability to heal yourself. You are covered in numerous wounds. What do you do to keep yourself alive for the next few hours?
Stop the bleeding of all wounds and stay awake for as long as possible.
Question 9: Pick the most important rule of the shinobi guidelines and explain why it is the most important to you.
The last question was strangely simple, but Sakura went along with it anyways.
Shinobi never reveal their true motive. There are times when they must deceive everyone: friends, family, teammates, allies, associates, and lovers. There are times when they must kill friends, family, teammates, allies, associates, and lovers. Your duty is to whom you swore your allegiance to. If they ask something of you, you must complete it, no matter the cost.
She set her pencil down and looked up at the clock. Only ten minutes have passed by and everyone else was still struggling with the second question. She sighed and leaned back in her chair as she blocked an attempt at a mental intrusion. Ino, probably.
Time went by painfully slow for her and the room seemed to become emptier and emptier with each passing second. Finally, time came for the last question. Sakura was lost in her own thoughts when it came and she hardly paid any type of attention to the proctor or the events around her. Apparently, though, Naruto had yelled out such an inspiratonal comment that it caused everyone in the room to pick the correct answer to the last question: the confidence to move on even when position is threatened.
Ibiki smirked and began his dismissal, though not before one named Anko Mitarashi burst into the room and had exuberantly informed that she would be their next proctor.
Sakura and Sasuke grimaced.
This woman was another Naruto.
It was sunset by the time Ibiki started picking up the test papers from the desks. He had a good laugh at a handful of them. Many people panicked near the end and had scribbled in some ridiculous answers. Ah, the creative, naive mind of genin. A grin was on his face until he encountered the paper at seat number 51. Everytime he read each answer, a little part of his grin would melt away.
When he read the candidate's ninth answer, his lips were pressed in a thin line and his eyes were narrowed. If anything, this paper had jounin answer on it. And the answer of the first question wasn't even in the most common torture practices in Konoha. Ibiki folded the paper and tucked it his black trench coat.
Sakura Haruno, eh?
Well, now he'd have to speak to her sensei.
*Questions with the asterisk were taken from: . I do not own the ones from this site. I don't know if they're right or not, so if it is wrong and you know it is, please correct me. :)