Chapter THIRTEEN

When the preliminary exams were announced, Sakura released a Killer Intent without realizing it. Sasuke had to nudge her into awareness after Kiba and Hinata, who had been standing beside them, began to look uncomfortable.

"What are you doing?" He whispered, not unkindly.

Sakura, on the other hand, didn't care if people heard them or not. "I was told that if I took these Chunin Exams, I could become Chunin and take missions more bloodier and more dangerous further away from Konoha. No one told me anything about a written test or the different stages or whatever. I tolerated the second part, simply because I was allowed to run around and kill everything, but this is getting stupid. Why didn't you tell me about this-" She waved her arms around to gesture to the area around them. "This Preliminary round thing? If I had known before hand, I would have gotten rid of more competition earlier on."

Sasuke frowned. "And how was I supposed to know?"

"Because you're an Uchiha with Genius genes?"

They glared at each other until Naruto let out an awkward cough. "Guys...?"

They both turned and fixed the blond with a death glare.

"You guys might want to fight it out during the preliminary rounds...?" Naruto was always a stupidly brave person.

And the two may-be-prodigies blinked, like they hadn't realized that.


Seven spent the time until the Second part of the exams training.

Well, mostly training.

Minato had caved under Naruto's constant pleading and had decided to train his son. Itachi had taken it upon himself to train Sasuke, who had looked like it had taken every cell in his body to stop himself from dancing in excitement. Sakura, on the other hand, didn't have anyone to train her. She hadn't been in the village long and she didn't particular know anyone. Also, not many people had a water affinity, and there were even less people that could teach her something she didn't know.

So, she spent the time chasing after Kakashi, trying to feed him to her water dragon she created from the closest water source available. She was still bitter about how the man had killed Haku, and in a way, Zabuza.

Then again, the only reason she had forgiven the Copy-ninja enough to be on his Genin team was the fact that she understood the rule of 'kill or be killed' better than most. This world was about 'strong' and 'weak'. If you weren't strong enough, you died, and that was a simple rule.

Unfortunately, she was soon dragged to the Hokage's office, along with Kakashi, for 'causing trouble and disturbing the citizens'. Hey, she believed she had helped the old woman with the big garden which looked like it hadn't been watered in weeks. Besides, it was Kakashi who had punched a hole into the Dragon's head and splattered water everywhere. It was a good thing that Sakura was able to pull it back together before the whole thing collapsed.

Minato had attempted to scold them, but when all he received were twin smiles of innocence, he had given up and had sent them away.

Soon, the last day of the Second Exams came, and Sasuke had to drag a grumbling Sakura towards the arena.


All those who had passed the Second part of the exams were congratulated by the Hokage. Team Seven shared a look when Minato mentioned two teams breaking the record.

"Who do you think the second is?" Naruto asked.

Sakura shrugged.

Hayate Gekko then ran through the rules of the Third round, which was to be held in an Elimination style.

Soon, the names were rolling. The first match was called.

Namikaze Naruto VS Yamanaka Ino.

"The battle of the blondes." Sakura muttered.

Sasuke sighed. "The Dobe'll win."

And he did.

Naruto was the Hokage's son, and the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi. He had trained in order to be able to match and work with his high reserves and his stamina.

First, he created a clone and transformed it into a copy of Sasuke. Ino stood there and blushed when clone Sasuke smirked at her. Naruto followed up with another group of Sasuke clones...

And he made them wiped the floor with her.

Sasuke promised to kill the blond while Sakura watched on in amusement.


Gaara VS Tenten

The outcome of this battle was obvious to Sakura. Tenten was a weapon user, while Gaara had a shield like no other. In this case, the shield was far more superior. It could be used as an attack too.

Though Tenten could control her weapons to some extent from a far, she wasn't able to get past Gaara's defense.

Gaara knocked the girl out gently, then left the battle field when he was announced the winner.


Rock Lee VS Hyuuga Hinata

Though both fought using some sort of Taijutsu style, it was obvious that Lee was superior. He used his speed to overpower Hinata's 360 advantage.

Even if one could see, it wasn't any good if one could not react.

Hinata did manage to land a few blows of her own, but they were mostly faint brushes of her fingers that she barely managed.

Lee was also gentle with the girl. He gently knocked her out, then handed her to Kurenai.


Inuzuka Kiba VS Hyuuga Neji

Compared to Hinata, Neji was much more advanced in his use of the Byakuga. Against Kiba, his Byakugan gave him the 360 advantage, and he could also exploit it.

Kiba was no where near fast as Lee. In this case, if one could see the moves of his opponent, one could counter it.

Neji was deadly and ruthless, but he seemed to see his opponent as 'Hinata's teammate and friend' more than an 'enemy'. He knocked out Akamaru first, as he was the more weaker of the formation. This stopped Kiba from being able to use any of his more stronger combo attacks. The Inuzuka also seemed half distracted by his Ninken partner.

Neji knocked out the boy, and was declared the winner.


The following battles went along smoothly.

Temari beat Choji. Shikamaru outsmarted some shinobi from Kiri. Shino won against Kankuro.

Sakura soon noticed something.

Sasuke did too.

Sakura's face melted into a grin while Sasuke frowned.


Uchiha Sasuke VS Sakura

The two made their way down into the battle field. All eyes were on them.

Teammate against teammate hadn't happened before.

Sakura showed no reluctance, a skip to her steps not even her teammates had seen before. Sasuke looked much more...Uchiha like.

Gekko started the match, and Sakura was onto Sasuke before he could even activate his Sharingan. She kicked him across the field, watching gleefully when he hit the opposite wall. "You tricked me into entering this boring exam! You shall pay for this!"

Sasuke staggered to his feet and jumped out of the way in time to avoid Sakura's bone encased fist. "Stop running and face me like the man you aren't!"

That ticked Sasuke off.

But the question here was, so?

Sakura had made him annoyed, but she was even more annoyed that he was. It was suicide to approach a girl or a woman when they were like that. He knew from being a first eyewitnesses to what happened between his mother and father on days where his mother was in a bad mood.

Sakura brought out a scroll and summoned it's contents. Sasuke tensed, only for the smoke to clear and reveal several barrels. Sakura sliced through them with ease, and soon, she was standing in a huge puddle of water.

They continued with the battle, exchanging techniques. Sasuke was not going to risk going close, especially with Sakura swinging her sword around blindly. He would never be able to beat her in Taijutsu anyways.

The Kaguya clan Kekkei was not called the most superior Taijutsu style for nothing.

However, thought Sasuke's fire jutsus were impressive, but Sakura easily negated them with her water techniques.

It soon became clear that Sakura was pushing Sasuke.

This surprised many people, who knew exactly skilled Sasuke was. Not exactly an Itachi, but pretty close.

Somewhere, Sasuke made a misstep, and Sakura didn't miss it,

She was swooping in for the winning blow, Kubikiribocho raised in the air, ready to bring in down in what would be a finisher, and most probably a decapitation.


Dun Dun DUUUUUUUNNNNNN.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN?

(Sorry for the late update.)

((WOZ RUSHED))


We have put up a poll in order to pick the second half of the crossover we were planning as a side story for 'Of Tales Now and Long Ago' (If you haven't read it, please check it out).

We'll try and write it so that it can stand alone(ish), but sometimes, it might be confusing...but still...

Anyways, please to check it out and vote if interested.


Darque: That's for me to know, and you to kind out. (About first two lines in the Author's comment thingy)

Raven: But I know what's going to happen. I was just reading the draft for the next chapter.

Darque: Gosh. Why can you not tell when I'm talking to you, and when I'm talking to our readers?

Raven: Because there aren't any obvious indications?

Darque: That was a rhetorical question.

Raven: Oh.

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