Training ground 7 had never seemed as ominous as in that moment, Sasuke-kun's dark gaze never as judging and Kakashi's porn never as mocking.

Mebuki Haruno had never been a ninja in Sakura's eyes, she'd just been Mom, strict but caring; Mom.

Mebuki was facing her calmly, the expectation of victory written cleanly over her face, her stance at ease.

Sakura, by contrast, was subtly trembling.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Sakura?" Mebuki asked earnestly, her blue-green eyes boring into those of her daughter.

Sakura nodded, feeling as though her anxiety was exposed for everyone to see.

We're ninja! cried Inner. It's about time Mom realices that!

"We're ready," Sakura voiced.

"Oh, are we?" queried Mebuki.

"Yes!" And Sakura charged.

Mebuki, her body arranged sideways into a combat stance, prepared for the assault. "Please, you're not even going full throttle, Sakura. I don't suppose you intend to pass the exams like that?"

Shut. Up! Inner yelled, as her approach fastened. Sakura crossed the field in four strides, reaching her mother in a matter of seconds when–

Mebuki sidestepped her and stuck her foot out.

Sakura, who was now going too fast for her own good, fell face-first into the ground, little pebbles pressing against her cheeks and scraping her hips.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled from the sidelines. "You can do it, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura, who now felt ridiculed, got up and charged anew with everything she had.

She… she riled me up on purpose! Inner mentally cried, feeling like she'd been back-stabbed.

Once again, Mebuki went for evasion, though this time Sakura was prepared for it, countering by punching, which was dodged– once, twice, three times– here Sakura went for a kick… but Mebuki dove diagonally forwards and caught the limb between her arms, stepping ahead just so that she could throw Sakura–

…and we're kissing the dirt, Inner grit out. Again.

"SA-KURA!" Someone constantly cheered. "SA-KURA! SA-KURA!"

"Naruto!" she spat furiously. "Stop making so much noise! It's distracting me! If I'm losing, then it's your fault!"

"But Sakura-chan…"

She balled her fists angrily. "Shut up!"

This time, Sakura drew a kunai.

"You're pointing that at me…" Mebuki breathed. But then her expression turned resolute. "But being a ninja involves knowing how to make use of your weapons!" And this time it was her who initiated the attack. Before Sakura knew what happened, the kunai had been knocked out of her hands with brutal force, and before she could attempt to counter, Mebuki had already put a significant distance between them.

"Your stance is wobbly, Sakura!" came her condemnation. "You look like a gust of wind could blow you away!"

Sakura grit her teeth, taking out another kunai.

"He who first strikes wins!" she quoted, trying not to look like a loser. Sakura swiped with her kunai towards her mother, who moved only minimally to dodge.

"Was that supposed to touch me?" Mebuki jeered. "Sakura, dear, I advice not to use a weapon you're afraid of!"

Sakura grit her teeth, throwing a punch.

I don't want to hurt Mom after all! she thought. I should stick to hand-on-hand combat!

But what she hadn't known was that Mebuki was leaps and bounds ahead of her in taijutsu. After more than five minutes of intense fighting, with Sakura ending positively winded and failing even at the attempt not to pant, Mebuki didn't seem to have broken a sweat.

Her hair was in fact the only thing out of place… it created a strange picture. Sakura was used to always seeing it perfectly coiffed and tamed, whereas now, Mebuki's blonde tresses fanned around her face like a halo, free of its shackling hair-tie, Mebuki' eyes shining brightly.

Is she actually enjoying this? Sakura mentally wondered.

She had better not! Inner complained. I don't know where the fun in bulling us lies!

And so, Sakura once again threw herself at her mother with renewed vigor to prove that she wasn't being bullied, because Sasuke-kun's judging gaze, and Kakashi's measuring eye, and even Naruto's overly-forced cheers, were really putting her on edge.

But one thing was clear: it didn't matter what Sakura tried, Mebuki only seemed to grow stronger with each passing second, continuously pointing out embarrassing flaws such as: "You're wide open!" "Did anyone teach you how to hold a kunai?" "You think your opponent will be impressed by your meekness?" and the list went on.

Moreover, what had startled Sakura the most was that she'd never known her mother to be so good at taijutsu. She wasn't even out of breath!

Why hasn't she ever taught me anything? Sakura wondered incessantly. She only ever encouraged me to practice chakra-control, but she's not even using that skill now!

Gritting her teeth, Sakura decided that if her mother wouldn't use ninjutsu (supposedly her forte) then she would.

Forming the appropriate hand-signs, she cried: "Henge!"

"Is that a transformation jutsu?" Mebuki queried. "Whatever for? I can tell you're still my opponent you know…"

Sakura narrowed her eyes. Maybe transforming into Kakashi hadn't been such a great idea. She'd thought that the extra height and imposing presence would give her more of an edge, but her coordination had only got worse, and besides, how did Kakashi not get hit in the face using only one eye?

Sakura tried the bunshin next, managing a whooping six clones, which doubled the requirements for passing at the Academy.

But Mebuki kept up. With all of them.

"Those aren't even shadow clones, Sakura!" she commented. "You're just wasting time and energy. I can tell which one is you just by the concentrated look on your face!"

Sakura stiffened.

"See?" Mebuki went on. "You just proved my point. Creating only one illusion would've been more effective. This way, you're too focused on making everything move the way you want to. You can't even think of throwing a punch!" And then she proceeded to throw Sakura over her hip and into the dirt.

"Kawarimi!" Sakura yelled, just in time replacing herself with a rock behind a tree, hoping to hide long enough to be able to arm a trap.

"A rock?" Mebuki asked. "I'm pretty sure I saw the exact same one right there…" She chuckled. "You know, dear, it's not a coincidence that everyone uses Kawarimi on nondescript objects such as logs…" And then her face appeared only inches from Sakura's, peeking at her from one side of the trunk.

"Agh!" Sakura yelped, struggling to get away in time into the opposite direction.

But Mebuki, using a stray log from the other side of the tree, made her trip and fall into the dirt anew. "See? Logs are better than rocks."

Sakura frowned grimly, getting up with difficulty.

I don't want to know what my knees must look like by now… she thought tiredly.

"Kawarimi!" Sakura yelled again, making sure to look for a better hiding place this time.

Now if I can only finish that trap…

"The same trick again?" asked Mebuki. "I'm guessing you're preparing a little surprise for me?" She chuckled. "Sakura-chan, traps aren't supposed to be obvious." And then, turning towards Kakashi: "I don't know what you taught her, Hatake, but keep in mind, Sakura, that there is always more beauty in the simple things!"

Sakura, getting tired of all the demeaning insults, made to get out of her hiding place behind a bunch of thorn bushes so she could at least do something to prove that she wasn't completely useless.

I'll show her! she thought. I won't let you make Sensei hate me!!

But once again, she only managed to sputter incoherently, her face this time buried in the thorns she'd been hiding behind.

What… what happened? Sakura thought weakly, at some point realizing that she was crying.

TWISTED

After a minute of stifling her sobs as she lay there, surrounded by thorns, a strong pair of hands grabbed onto Sakura's shoulders, and ever so slowly heaved her out of the biting thorns so as to not hurt her more. Between tears, Sakura glimpsed Mebuki holding her.

"Let's call it a day, ne?" her mother offered.

Sakura glanced at her feet, seeing a thin wire that spanned between two tree stems.

I tripped over that. Why didn't I see it? she thought defeatedly. It's the most basic trap…

But still…

"How did you know that I'd hide here?" Sakura miserably asked.

"I didn't," Mebuki explained. "But I had a clone quickly place small traps around possible hiding spots whenever you weren't looking."

Sakura's jaw dropped. Mebuki had her beat in every possible way. From the application of similar techniques in far more creative ways, to Sakura's supposed specialization in traps, to showing her that the one skill she'd harnessed so much, the ever so complex practice of chakra control, would be useless in the face of simplicity. And her mom had never even thrown a punch.

Sakura lowered her head, not wanting to look Kakashi, Sasuke, or even Naruto in the eye. She couldn't.

"Sakura…" Mebuki called, brushing a pink hair-strand off her sweat-coated forehead.

"Don't act like you suddenly care!!!" Sakura burst out.

"Dear, please–"

"DON'T!" her pride roared. "GO AWAY!"

This time, Sakura was met by silence and two blue sandals moving into the distance. She lowered her gaze, not knowing what to do nor what she wanted. Sakura just felt so disappointed at herself, furious beyond reason, both at her mother and at her teammates, ridiculed and lonely all at the same time.

She sat down, tired and weary, her bottom on the dirt.

At least this is better than kissing it, Inner jeered. Sakura balled her fists and tried not to cry.

TWISTED

Lying on the floor with her teammates hovering over her, Sakura felt ridiculed. Sasuke-kun, and even Naruto, would have done better.

"Sakura-chan! Do you want to get some ramen?" Naruto prodded tentatively.

On the ground, Sakura shook her head.

What hurt her the most was that none of them looked really surprised. Well, it would've been strange if Kakashi or Sasuke-kun had dropped dead out of shock, and Naruto had certainly been supporting, but…

TWISTED

When people are dejected, they tend to view neutral behavior as disparaging, or a glass as half empty. Sakura knew this, but, like one knows in winter that it isn't always cold outside, (yet has trouble believing it), Sakura now had trouble believing in herself.

Kakashi grunted "Your previous teacher… what's his name–?"

"You mean Iruka-sensei?!" Naruto shouted.

"Yeah, him." Kakashi crossed his arms. "He also told me that you aren't ready."

Naruto gawked. "No way! He'd never, ever betray me!"

Kakashi ignored him, for once not by looking at his book. "The nominations can still be revoked, you know? I think I might."

It was her fault.

Sakura saw both her teammates not-so-subtly look at her, and she felt her heart drop to her stomach.

"We'll convince you!" Naruto bellowed regardless. "Throw anything you want at me, I don't care! I'll even fight Sakura-chan's Mom if I have to!"

Sakura's hand involuntary rose as though to stop him, but then it fell back limply onto her lap.

A chain is as strong as its weakest link, she remembered scornfully.

"Hm." Kakashi looked up from his book briefly. "You've convinced me."

"REALLY? Yeah! Kakashi-sensei, you're the best! Believe it!"

"I didn't finish yet." Kakashi punctuated.

"Huh?"

"You've convinced me – to give you one last chance."

"What is this?" Sasuke grunted. "The bell test again?"

"Now, now, you two, don't be like that." Kakasahi chastised blithely. "After all, you passed the bell test by…" he paused for added affect, "getting stuck in a hole and falling for all my traps."

"WHAT!" Naruto yelled in outrage, while Sasuke clenched his fists.

"Just tell me what I have to do, Kakashi," he challenged darkly.

"Yeah! Yeah!"

Subtly, Kakashi's eye darted to Sakura for a fraction of a second.

"Please tell us, Sensei," the third member of team seven added.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head, then grinned.

"Training exercise. You have until the exams to complete it."

"This is gonna be easy! Believe it!"

"Hn."

Am I the only scared one? Sakura thought, worrying her lip.

Kyaaa! This is so stupid!

"Might as well start now," Sasuke added confidently.

"So what do we have to do, Sensei?" Sakura inquired anxiously.

Kakashi sighed and pocketed his book. Seeing this, Naruto jumped excitedly.

"Are you gonna teach us a new jutsu? Huh? Huh?"

Kakashi scratched his head. "Slow down…"

"I wanna learn a new jutsu! Believe it!"

"Dobe, shut up. He was going to explain the exercise."

"Yes, Naruto!" Sakura added. "Listen to Sasuke-kun for once!" It went ignored.

"Hmp! I don't follow orders from you, teme!"

Thinking on it again, Sakura was almost wishing that they kept bantering until Kakashi called the whole thing off, alas, for once in their life, her teammates shut up after a few minutes.

"Each of you will have a roll in this," Kakashi explained in a drawl once he was satisfied with their silence. "And there will be rules."

Sakura nodded along eagerly. Rules were her thing.

If this is about memorizing, then I can beat Naruto-baka in-front of Sasuke-kun! Kaguya, that twit doesn't know squat about following rules!

"Sakura," Kakashi said while handing her a piece of chalk. "Draw a circle of a 4 meter radius, will you?"

Giddily, Sakura complied. Her penmanship skills had always been perfect, and she had been able to take measurements with up to centtimeric precision back in the Academy. When she was done with the circle, she glanced back at Sasuke to gauge his reaction, but he was too busy scowling at Naruto, who was going on about blackboard erasers.

"Good," Kakashi commented when she was done, once again pocketing the piece of chalk. "Rule number one: Naruto can't go within the circle." Naruto scowled while Sakura grinned (does that mean I'll get to be together with Sasuke-kun?) and Sasuke smirked, "–and Sakura can't leave the circle." This time Naruto pouted, Sakura was confused about Sasuke's whereabouts, and Sasuke kept smirking, no doubt thinking that he didn't have to do the test.

"Rule number two:" – now Kakashi fixed him with his gaze – "Sasuke will wear a blindfold at all times."

Eyes wide, Sasuke stared at Kakashi as though he were crazy (as much as his usual stoicism allowed, anyway). Sensing an opportunity to connect as kindred spirits, Sakura butted in: "but Sensei, that's dangerous! Besides, Sasuke-kun's greatest weapon is his sight–"

"You're right, Sakura-chan," Kakashi quipped. "That's why he needs to learn to fight without it."

Again with the impossible feats, Inner Sakura grumbled. Surprisingly enough, Sasuke didn't complain after that.

"Next rule: you will only use shuriken for this."

Sakura pouted, making sure that the genjutsu on her arms was still in place.

"Well okay!" Naruto shouted. "Just tell us already what we have to do!"

Kakashi took out a surprisingly familiar alarm clock and set it to beep every ten seconds.

"Sakura, Sasuke, get inside the circle."

Naruto pouted, while Sakura giddily walked next to the dark-haired Uchiha.

"Naruto," Kakashi drawled, making him snap to attention. "Make a clone."

Naruto complied easily. "What for, Sensei?" the two Narutos asked suspiciously. "Are you trying to teach the teme my Kage Bunshin no jutsu?"

"Don't sound so jealous, dobe," Sasuke muttered.

Sakura blushed at how close they were.

Get it together Haruno! Inner exclaimed. We won't be able to protect him in the exams if we keep blushing every time we get close! This is part of our trial!

With this in mind, Sakura averted her gaze from him and did her best to not look back. This simple practice took so much out of her, that before she even knew it, the explaining had already been done. Somewhat panicked, Sakura glanced around. Kakashi was gone, Sasuke was standing in the center of the circle, all concentrated and with a blindfold, and Naruto was standing outside of it, looking like he for once knew what to do. The clock was still beeping.

"Get into position, Sakura-chan!"

Somewhat startled and panicked, Sakura ran next to Sasuke, because that was the position she wanted to have in his life–

Stop! Inner admonished. We can't think of–

Suddenly there was a shuriken flying at them, at Sasuke-kun, and Sakura was so scared that she pushed him out of the way rather roughly.

Did I just put my hands on his chest? She was blushing again, she knew it. Wait… more importantly:

"Naruto-norama! What do you think you're doing!?" she yelled.

"B-but Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei said that I have to aim at the teme! I'm sorry!"

"Well, you better be!"

Aim at Sasuke-kun? Why? He can't see!

"Sakura. Next time, deflect that or tell me so I can dodge," Sasuke instructed in his deep, velvety, hot voice.

Sakura nodded numbly, too red to even articulate words.

(Of course, the gesture was lost on him.)

Had he somehow sensed that she hadn't been paying attention?

This was something Sakura would never truly know, but Sasuke's sort-of-explanation had at least helped her to understand what to do. Had he consciously helped her out? Or was it a coincidence?

Be that as it may, Sakura ended up figuring out the true purpose of the exercise the painful way: Naruto's job was to throw a shuriken at Sasuke every time the clock beeped, and Sakura's job was to make sure that he didn't get hit by it, either by deflecting it or dodging. Arguably the most difficult one, Sasuke's task was to make it out of the circle while still avoiding the projectiles.

It was hard.

Sakura found that aiming for moving, very small targets, (like shuriken), was very, very difficult. Specially if you had to use a shuriken yourself. (And Naruto put so much force into each thrust, it was horrible!) Whenever she didn't manage to repel the stupid shuriken, which was pretty often, Sakura yelled at Sasuke so he could dodge, – which he did, ever so skillfully. Sakura herself was particularly proud of her approach, which consisted of yelling clock numbers to replace directions. But even then, it cost them all their energy just to stay rooted to the middle of the circle without getting a shuriken to the eye – because Naruto's aim sucked at the worst times possible, and because Sakura's aim sucked at all times.

They spent the remainder of the evening like that, until nighttime.

"We need to stop." Sakura said. "It's too dark to carry on."

The boys didn't want to, (unlike Sakura, who had been itching for a shower after the first ten minutes) but finally they saw reason and left her alone. Sakura practically fled the training ground and dropped all the genjutsu on her at once. Shakily, she removed Sasuke-kun's arm warmers, which felt like a ton of bricks weighing on her, and let herself breathe in the disgusting smell of her sweat. She was glad she wasn't wearing her dress – it would have been horrible to wash.

TWISTED

Ah, yeah. Sakura's parents. I think these two guys have been the most controversial issue in reviews so far. A lot of you are like: why are they ninja???? I wanted Sakura's parents to be NORMAL!!!

…okay, yeah. I totally get what you mean. I'm not joking or anything. As a matter of fact, I was really torn on what to do with them. The whole idea of Sakura getting to the top without a clan or a sanin godfather or whatever to take the credit (somehow) was very appealing to me. But then I decided to go with canon and make at least one of her folks a ninja. (Reasons for this will be covered in feauture chapters.)

But then there's another faction of you who are like: Yeah, fine, Sakura's Mom is a ninja. Then why on earth doesn't she teach her something, HUH????

Okay, again, you have a point. But you know, guys, you could ask Kishimoto that too. I checked on the internet before making my decision, and get this: canon Mebuki actually fought in the fourth war! There's also a really complicated reason for Mebuki being a ninja in Twisted that will make everything make sense (does this sentence even make sense? XD), but it'll be a while till you get to the big reveal.

If any of you have any theories on Twisted you'd like to beseech me with, you're very welcome to! ;) I on my part LOVE when reviewers rant. Didn't see that one coming, huh?