martyr

-lilacwrath-

7/2/2017

Taoyuan County, Taiwan

Disclaimer: Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

A/N: Thank you for your patience, my wonderful readers! This chapter was pretty darn difficult to write, sheesh.

And, the issue between me and monstersinmind has already been sorted out and dealt with amicably between the two of us. We both deeply apologize for the problems caused and sincerely thank the people who've continued to support us. We would really appreciate it if the harassment and negative comments about the situation are put to an end. The both of us are on friendly terms and even encourage our readers to check out each other's stories. We've left the issue behind us now, so we would appreciate it if you do, too. Thank you.

Also, jamielmx did an adorable fanart of Yamanaka Mika on DeviantArt! Go check out my profile page for more info!

See you at the bottom :)

-chapter xi.-

chūnin exams (part ii.)

"Anyone who imagines they can work alone winds up surrounded by nothing but rivals, without companions. The fact is, no one ascends alone." -Lance Armstrong

"Did you triple-check your weapons pouch?"

"Yes, tou-san."

"Are your bandages wrapped too tightly?"

"No, tou-san."

"Let me adjust your new utility belt again."

"But, tou-san, you've done that for at least three times already," Sakura sighs. "I appreciate your concern, but I really am all prepared and ready to go."

Wordlessly, Fugaku gives her a look, setting his cup of tea down on the table and beckoning her towards him with a flick of his hand. Sakura heaves another sigh and pads obediently to stand in front of him, lifting the hem of her shirt so he can readjust the newly-purchased utility belt.

"'All prepared and ready to go?'" Mikoto says as she enters the living room, a hairbrush and hairband held in her hands. "Don't make me laugh. Just because I let you get away with a nest for your hair like this on usual days doesn't mean I'm not going to do anything about it when you're competing in the Chūnin Exams today in front of the whole village."

"I'm used to it," Sakura replies with a small shrug.

"Does this feel okay?" Mikoto asks, nimble fingers already tying the hairband in place. "It's more of a half-up ponytail than an actual ponytail. This hairstyle keeps the most of your hair away from obscuring your vision and generally getting in the way, but also covering your neck the way I know you like it. And, of course, it's pretty."

"Prettiness is useless in this case, Mikoto," Fugaku quips from the side.

"Shush, Fugu-chan," Mikoto says without sparing a glance at her husband, placing her hands on her daughter's shoulder and turning her around to examine her from head to toe. "I want my daughter to look pretty when she pummels her opponents with style."

Her husband only sighs into his cup of tea.

"Saku-nee!" Itachi waddles into the living room, waving his short arms over his head to get her to pick him up. She complies to his wishes, hoisting him up in her arms.

"Will you be watching me fight?" she asks him. "Will you be wishing your big sister good luck?"

"Saku-nee doesn't need luck," Itachi says with all the confidence of a two-year-old. "Saku-nee can defeat everyone because she's the best!"

"If you say so," Sakura chuckles. 'If only it were that easy.'

"You should get going now. We will be watching in the stands along with the whole clan," Mikoto says, lifting Itachi from her arms. "Fight well."

"I'll make you all proud," Sakura vows.

Her father's hand lands down on her head.

"We already are."

[martyr]

"Place these scrolls inside your weapons pouch," Kosuke says, handing the items to the participants gathered on the arena. "Once your scroll has been taken away, you are immediately disqualified. You cannot return to the fight even if you are still capable of going on. To guard your scrolls, any tactic is allowed except for one very crucial rule that must not be broken: Murder. Whatever you do, you cannot use any lethal techniques against your opponents with the intent to kill. Control and discipline—never forget that. Am I understood?"

"Hai!" the gathered genin answer in one collective voice.

"The order is Team A, Team B, and lastly, Team Nara. Team A, stay down here in the arena. Team B and Team Nara, go wait up there in the balcony until your turn comes."

As Sakura walks up the stairs with her teammates by her side, she looks over at the crowd, at the section in the stands reserved for the Uchiha clan members only, and just happens to catch Itachi's eye. At her glance, her little brother throws his hands up the air with a wide grin from sheer excitement, nearly punching Mikoto in the face as she holds him on her lap. Sakura returns his grin with a rare one of her own, raising her fist in reply.

"Hey, kaa-chan, tou-chan, Tsume-obaa!" Kaito hollers from beside her, waving his arms over his head wildly. Now the size of a miniature horse, Ryū scrambles up onto Kaito's back, letting out a volley of frenzied barks even as his partner nearly keels over under his weight. Mika, for her part, ducks her head in embarrassment at her teammate's boisterous actions. Eventually, when they make it up to the balcony, the first match is already about to start soon.

Team A manages to retrieve one scroll from the chūnin team, before their opponents overpower them in the matter of a few minutes, gaining all three of their scrolls and ending the match. Although they had lost rather quickly, the girl of the genin team might have a high chance of being promoted to chūnin, as she'd displayed admirable skill in getting the chūnin team's scroll by use of a high-ranking earth jutsu.

Team B appears to be more skilled in terms of both prowess and teamwork than Team A, for they are able to retrieve two scrolls with cleverly coordinated taijutsu and manipulative genjutsu before their three scrolls are taken by the chūnin team.

Before they know it, it's already Team Nara's turn to go down to the arena and fight, and the only time Sakura has heard the Inuzuka clan shake up such a clamor was when they were howling for blood in the Fifth Shinobi World War.

"We're up!" Kaito flings his arms around his female teammates, dragging them shoulder-to-shoulder down the stairs.

Sakura tilts her head to whisper to her team, "We fight as one, but if they manage to separate us, I'll go against Kakashi, Mika will fight Obito, and Kaito and Ryū will go for Rin."

Her teammates nod in reply, eyes on the other team. Mika's expression is somewhere in-between nervous and determined, Kaito's excitement is practically fizzing in the air with its sheer élan, Ryū's tail thumping enthusiastically against the ground in an erratic beat, and Sakura, for her part…

'I'm ready.'

"Fight with your all, but fight by the rules," Kosuke says. "Is everything clear?"

"Hai!" answers the six of them in one collective voice.

"You may begin," Kosuke says, slashing his hand through the air before retreating.

[martyr]

For a long, stretched-out moment, not one single person moves. The members of Team Minato and Team Nara stare each other down as the audience sit frozen on the edge of their seats. In times of war, morale in each village must be kept as high as possible for the benefit of every shinobi and civilian, and nothing beats watching Konoha's next generation of young and talented ninja to help maintain hope and faith.

Abruptly, Sakura, Kaito, and Ryū burst into action. She had sensed Obito's chakra building up for a huge release, and does not doubt that Kaito and Ryū had smelled the incoming explosion before it takes place with a roaring whoosh of raw, burning chakra.

The three of them merely dash around the thick stream of fire, not faltering in their advance. Meanwhile, Mika follows after them headfirst, hands flying through seals and cocking her head forward before her tower of water crashes against Obito's flames, extinguishing the searing heat but causing thick steam to rapidly cloud up the arena grounds until it obscures their vision.

'Guys, up there!' Mika's voice trills in her mind just as the ground rumbles beneath their feet. 'Watch out!'

Living up to his much vaunted genius, Kakashi has swiftly summoned long columns of earth to form as steps to keep himself above the blinding steam. With her Sharingan activated and having cloaked her two eyes with a paper-thin layer of chakra as further reinforcement, Sakura spots his dark figure flitting back and forth through the air before she has to leap back to avoid a spray of thrown kunai, courtesy of her former mentor.

Drawing chakra into her lungs, she expels it with a silent roar of 'Fūton: Daitoppa!' The destructive wind from the squall clears away all the steam in one instant, simultaneously toppling Kakashi's earth columns. She raises her kunai when he pounces down upon her with his tantō drawn, the clang of metal shrill in the air as he shoves her backwards, shoes skidding across the ground. Sakura flips backwards and lashes out with her legs, but Kakashi merely tilts his head to avoid her feet kicking for his chin. It's not the first time she curses her short limbs.

'Formation D!' Mika voices in her head. 'Gather to me, the three of you!'

Streaking back to her female teammate, Sakura catches sight of Kaito and Ryū leaping over Rin and heading towards the Yamanaka in a similar fashion. Obito, who has been exchanging blows with Mika, pulls away and flickers back towards Rin and Kakashi when he sees the three of them approaching.

"Gamayu Endan!"

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

"Jinjū Konbi Henge: Sōtōrō! Garōga!"

A blazing fireball erupts from Sakura's mouth that is augmented by Mika's torrential stream of thick oil as Kaito and Ryū—having fused into a two-headed wolf—spin in a violent assault straight towards Team Minato. The other two members of Team Nara swiftly follow after the myriad of flames, fur, teeth, and claw, never faltering in their pace.

Kakashi slips underneath the ground to shield himself, wading his way through the dark earth towards his opponents. Meanwhile, Rin and Obito manage to throw themselves out of the destructive path of the fireball in time, but very nearly almost lose a limb or two from trying to substitute themselves away from the snapping jaws of a two-headed beast.

Just as Kakashi is about to burst upwards from the ground and make a grab for the Yamanaka— 'the most vulnerable, the weakest link, take her out first'—his world shatters apart around him. He can only stare with bulging eyes and his heart in his throat as a small foot decimates the entire field of the arena, forcing him to leap for more stable ground lest he wants to be crushed to a pulp. From his perch atop a jagged boulder, he spots Rin ducking away from a clawed swipe from the fused beast that is the Inuzuka and his ninken, and Obito exchanging blows with the Yamanaka.

'Useless,' he thinks in annoyance as he watches his teammates exchange meaningless blows back and forth with the other team, making a derisive noise in the back of his throat. 'Have they never heard of tactics?'

He jumps away from Sakura who flings herself at him.

'She's strong,' he admits to himself silently, thinking of how she had stomped the ground asunder with one single stamp of her foot. He steps to one side, knocking away her arm with his own. 'Not to mention, dangerously fast.'

With that thought, he raises an extra-thick earth dome over Sakura and races towards Obito, cursing in displeasure when he hears his earth jutsu shatter and crumble down not a second later, footsteps pounding after him. Attempting to deter her again, he blasts a volley of wire-laced kunai and shurikens over his shoulder without looking backwards.

"Keep the Uchiha busy for a while," he spits out when he reaches his Obito, grabbing him by the shoulder and swinging him around, ignoring the look of horror that his teammate shoots him. "I'll be back before you know it."

Obito has no other choice but to meet Sakura head-on as Kakashi shunshins towards Mika, intent on following through with his plan.

'Why did he switch with Obito-san?' Mika thinks in wariness and confusion, readying herself as Kakashi approaches her. 'He has to know that Obito-san doesn't really stand a chance against Sakura-chan. And I—I don't stand a chance against Kakashi-san at all.'

Kakashi leaps into the air and sends a scissor kick towards Mika, who grabs his ankle and twists him away using his own momentum. However, Kakashi is able to bend into himself in midair and catch Mika in the head with a brutal axe-kick.

Painfully disorientated, Mika staggers forwards, dropping to her hands and knees with a hoarse cry. A hand fists itself in the back of her shirt, dragging her upright. Mika cranes her head around to meet eyes of dark grey and chilling ruthlessness, before something is shoved between her lips and into her mouth.

She chokes at the sheer bitterness, before she finds out that she can't draw another breath from her suddenly overwhelmingly tight throat. Something inside her closes up like a tiny window, and white spots dance behind her eyelids before darkness rushes up to swallow her whole.

[martyr]

"One brat down," Kakashi calls. "Two brats to go."

Somehow, just somehow, Sakura manages to catch his unmistakably clear voice pierce through the din of the melee, and she shoves Obito away and turns around just in time to see him let go of his hold around Mika, letting her topple bonelessly to the ground, facedown, where she doesn't move again. A pool of red rapidly expands below her chin, and there is a terrible, telltale way to how her limbs are so slackened and limp. With her Sharingan activated, she can see how Mika's chest is completely still, instead of rising and falling with every breath. But, despite all that—what really sends an icy chill snaking down her spine is the fact that Mika's chakra is completely static.

'Calm, Sakura,' she reprimands herself viciously. 'Calm down and think. Think, dammit, think!'

"You…" Kaito inhales sharply, pushing himself up to his hands and knees from where Rin had thrown him to the ground, half-scrambling and half-crawling towards the prone form of Mika. He rolls the girl onto her back, hands cupping around her face in fearful concern. "Mika? Mika, this isn't funny. We're in the middle of the Chūnin Exams. This isn't the time to play possum."

'Possum,' Sakura starts at the word. 'Yes, that's it. Possum. I should've realized sooner.'

"Sa-Sakura, she—" Kaito angles his face up to look at her, face ashen and teeth digging into his bottom lip with what must be enough force to draw blood. "Sakura, she's dead. Mika's dead."

His control over himself, previously strung tight by a tenuous thread, is completely snipped by one long and furious howl that bounces off the walls of the arena. Several onlookers in the stands have risen to their feet, and Sakura spots a few Yamanaka clan members conversing rapidly between themselves, blonde hair whipping about in their vehemence. Yamanaka Inoichi himself is standing before his clansmen, arms held out in a manner of placation. It is the last sight that Sakura manages to catch before she has to reach out and fist her hand in the back of Kaito's jacket to yank him back from lunging forward.

'He wouldn't,' Sakura reassures herself. 'This Kakashi isn't the Kakashi in my timeline, but he is still the Kakashi I know. He may be rude and mean and full of shit, but he is not cruel or ruthless. He wouldn't have it in himself to do it.'

"Let me go, Sakura!" Kaito roars, whipping back to snarl in her face. "Look at what that bastard's done to her! H-He—Mika—fuck, he killed her!"

It takes her a moment to absorb his enraged and grief-stricken expression. With his lips curled back wide enough to expose his elongated canines, his pupils slit like a feral beast's, his fingernails lengthening to hooked claws—the killing intent wafting off of her teammate is nearly enough to rival a certain jinchūriki's when he'd been clocked in red, malevolent chakra.

"It's just like what Shikaku-sensei said to you barely a week ago," Sakura replies calmly. "You are smart, Kaito, but sometimes you just don't use the brain biology has given you."

"The fuck do you mean?" Kaito struggles in her grip with even more effort than before. "How can you be so calm when Mika's lying d-dead on the floor—"

"Be quiet and listen to me," Sakura cuts him off. "Once ingested, the possum pill will send the victim into a death-like state. The victim's chakra will be suppressed and diminished to a near-imperceptible level, mimicking a corpse." She turns to his ninken who is nudging their third teammate's cheek with his snout, letting out little whines as if trying to wake her up from a deep sleep. "If you still don't believe me, take a look at Ryū. Tell your idiot partner, Ryū."

Kaito goes lax in her grip.

"You're sure?" he whispers, eyes rounded with anxious hope. "You're not saying this just to comfort me?"

"Do I seem like that sort of a person to you?" Sakura scowls at him. "We've bled and sweat together for more than one year already. You know better than to assume that of me."

Across the arena, Kakashi meets her eyes with a cold calmness. Flanking him, Obito and Rin are crouched on the ground, hands tensing around their weapons as they wait for a retaliation.

'Brilliant idea,' Sakura thinks silently to herself, 'but also terrible. You just don't know the meaning of too far, do you, Kakashi?'

Turning back to Kaito, she says, "I have the cure." Her hand delves under her shirt and flips open one of the many tiny pockets of her utility belt, closing around a metal container in the shape of a cylinder. "This is another test. They want to see how genin like us will react under drastic pressure, but they won't be waiting forever until you get a grip over yourself. What they don't know is that genin can be masters or practitioners of herbs and poisons, too. The possum pill is something only jōnin are informed of, but I've done my research."

"How do you have the cure?" Kaito gapes at her. "Did you know this would happen? What—"

"Shinobi must always arrive to the battlefield fully prepared," she says, pressing a blue-colored pill into his hands before stowing the container back into the pocket. "When I go on to engage Team Minato as a distraction, you will feed her the cure."

"You're gonna take the three of them all at once? Are you insane?"

"Maybe," she replies offhandedly, attention already drawn to their three opponents who have started to make their way slowly towards them. "They're closing in. There's no time to waste. It should take Mika around twenty minutes to regain consciousness, but it doesn't matter, for she has already been disqualified from the match. As soon as you feed her the cure, you and Ryū will come up to aid me. Target Obito first, and I shall deal with the other two. I refuse to finish this without you, so hurry."

Without further ado, Sakura breaks off into a sprint towards her opponents. Mirroring her actions, the three of them descend upon her, feet rapidly pounding the earth as they increase their speed by a notch. A dizzying surge of adrenaline shoots through her system, and Sakura revels in it. It's been a long time since she's gone against worthy opponents while knowing that she can rummage around her full arsenal and let go without any acute fear of fatally harming them.

In this timeline, in this body, will she be able to match Kakashi's prowess in battle? Will she be able to outmatch him, no less?

'Only one way to find out.'

Dropping down and rolling forward to avoid Obito's searing column of flames, she immediately leaps upwards to face Rin who bursts through the midst of the fire jutsu, wires bursting out from behind her to lash out at Sakura like carnivorous vines.

Sakura flits through the wires, occasionally having to resort to using her kunai to snip away several strands that get too close.

"Taking three chūnin at once?" Kakashi scoffs as he unsheathes his tantō. "You must be even more arrogant than I'd thought."

"Do not mistake confidence for arrogance, Kakashi," she replies, before blowing forth a great gust of whooshing flames.

Kakashi adjusts faster than she anticipates, materializing by her side and swinging a hand in a vicious chop towards her stomach. Sakura sucks in a large breath, enlarging the gap between his hand and her stomach just enough to avoid what would have been a painful connection.

Sakura shifts to the balls of her feet as a blur of black and pastel pink flashes towards her, hands clenching and eyes sharpening—instead, Rin whizzes past her, using skillful footwork to turn around and skid to a strategized halt.

Meanwhile, Kakashi lunges headfirst towards her. Sakura digs her heels into the ground to parry Kakashi's strike of his tantō with two kunai held in a cross before her, before dodging to the left just in time for Rin's palm to brush over her shoulder. Using Rin's momentum to her own advantage, Sakura throws one kunai to deflect Obito's, before snapping her empty hand up to wrap around Rin's arm, throwing her over her shoulder to crash painfully on her back to the ground.

Years of bloodshed catches up to her, and she falls into the movements rhythmically, trusting her hands, feet, and body to tell her how, when, and where to strike. Her mind may be old, but her body is young, and as she takes a firm hold on Obito's shoulders when he makes a grab at her and swings him away to crash into Rin and sending the both of them tumbling away—

It feels damn good.

She has just enough time to see Kaito barrel into Obito when the latter tries to rejoin the fight, sending the two of them rolling away in a tangle of struggling limbs, before Kakashi makes a jab at her ribs with his tantō, forcing her to twist away. Apparently deciding that Obito can handle his opponent on his own, Rin streaks back to help Kakashi—only for a blur of fur and claw and teeth to intercept her, clamping his jaws around her leg until she trips.

Juking to the left with feline grace, Kakashi then spins on his heel and slashes at his opponent's face. Surprised at his incredible speed because it's been so, so long she's fought a worthy opponent—in this body, not to mention—Sakura is just barely fast enough to hold up her kunai in a rigid front guard to avoid being permanently mutilated. Kakashi's tantō slides off and makes a jab at her shoulder, but yet again, Sakura reacts just in time and catches the sharp edge with the hilt of her kunai—a feat only skilled swordsmen can achieve. She ducks away from Rin's punch—who has apparently succeeded in shaking off Ryū—and lashes out with one leg.

'Sorry, Rin, but I can't afford to have you distract me from Kakashi.'

The chakra-induced kick finds its way into Rin's abdomen, once again propelling her away from the fight with alarming speed. Sakura has no time to enjoy the small victory, though, for it takes Kakashi only a millisecond to get under her guard and punch her in the jaw with enough force to send her staggering. She barely raises a kunai to block the downward strike of his tantō in time.

"Don't you think your little stunt was a bit over-the-top, Kakashi?" Sakura asks under the clash of her kunai and his tantō, arms slightly trembling under the weight of his persistence.

"Not at all," Kakashi replies smoothly, before thrusting his tantō with a sudden burst of strength, pivoting on one foot and lashing out with the other one at her right shin, effectively kicking her feet out from under her and making her tumble to the ground. "On the battlefield, my little stunt you speak of is nothing. The enemy is well-trained, well-equipped, and battle-hardened. They will fight savagely. They will resort to any tactics in order to win. You only got a small taste of what is yet to come."

'He may not be as strong or fast as he will become someday, but that does not mean he is a shinobi to be underestimated,' Sakura berates herself, rolling away as his sword stabs into the spot where her face has just been barely a second before. 'After all, he is the esteemed prodigy of his generation, son of the White Fang who just so happened to be of the same caliber as the Sannin. I, too, must resort to nastier tactics, it seems.'

Rin streaks forward to take Kakashi's place, hands aglow with blue chakra. In dance-like steps, she lashes out with those glowing hands, leaving glistening residue in the air like tiny blue fireflies with the speed of her movements. Again and again, Sakura maneuvers around her strikes in a graceful dance, noting the frustration that starts to blaze in Rin's eyes.

'So, she can perform the chakra scalpels technique, too,' Sakura thinks, twisting out of the way to avoid another swift jab. 'Had she survived in my original timeline, she would've been incredible. She was the one who'd implanted Obito's Sharingan into Kakashi's damaged eye socket, after all.'

Her train of thought is interrupted by a shout of outrage.

"Let him go! Let him—wait, no! No! Stop…!"

'Kaito. Ryū.'

Deciding she really should stop playing around, Sakura ducks under Rin's arm and dashes forward with a startling increase in her speed, shooting out with one outstretched hand to grip her opponent's nape, yanking her forward and delivering a deft chop to the back of her neck with her other hand.

'Thank Kami you're not too tall,' she says to the unconscious Rin silently, squatting down to retrieve the girl's scroll. However, her other opponent is still very much in the shape to continue on with the fight, having her jump away to avoid the sweep of his leg.

"You're not going anywhere," Kakashi says, stepping forward and cutting off her path to Kaito and Ryū. "Your fight is with me—"

"Maybe later, Kakashi," Sakura replies, stowing the small scroll into her weapons pouch securely. "My teammates call for my aid."

"Foolish of you to think that I will allow you to go answer their call—"

He is cut off by a cloud of smoke that erupts between the two of them. Kakashi instantly leaps back, wary of what jutsu his opponent will attack with. When the heel of a foot fills up his vision as it closes in on his face, he sheathes his tantō and wraps both of his hands around the ankle in one smooth motion, using Sakura's momentum to swing her away from him.

However, he does not see the other clone drop down from the sky and deliver a vicious axe-kick that would've straight-out knocked any lesser ninja unconscious. Instead, seeing as how Kakashi is the esteemed prodigy of his generation, he merely drops to the ground and rolls at the impact, the back of his head pounding with agony.

'Kage Bunshin?' Kakashi can't help but freeze in shock. 'She shouldn't have enough chakra to pop out even one of them.'

A second later, a hard heel shoves itself mercilessly into his solar plexus, propelling him backwards with stunning strength until he crashes against the wall of the arena. He rolls to his feet just as swiftly, flipping backwards to avoid another strike that would've surely incapacitated him for good.

Up in the stands, he can hear the audience bellowing and hooting at the top of their lungs, losing their heads over how the Uchiha prodigy had managed to land multiple hits on the Hatake prodigy. With shadow clones, even.

'What a nuisance,' Kakashi thinks silently, ducking down from a blow and returning it with his own. 'Even if they are solid, they are still nothing more than clones. I need to get rid of them and go help the dobe. There's no way he can handle her on his own.'

[martyr]

She hopes what she is about to do won't be too out-of-the-line. People like Danzō, Fugaku, Orochimaru, and Neji may approve, but she knows many others who would be downright disappointed with her for resorting to such nasty tactics.

She'd been a split-second too late in going to Kaito and Ryū's aid. The chilly-scented stink bomb that Obito had thrown at the two of them had instantly knocked them clean out. The noses that the Inuzuka and their ninken were so proud of had backfired on them, heightening the scented attack to an unbearable level until their olfactory senses went haywire and shut down.

The ninken is a mess, a hind leg broken as a result of Obito trying to bait Kaito by going for his obviously more vulnerable canine partner. That particular move had surprised Sakura quite a bit. It seems, just like Ryū, Obito has more bite to his bark than it had appeared so. The only thing she'd managed to do was shunshinning behind Obito and slamming her heel against his spine. Not hard enough to make him paraplegic, but enough to incapacitate. With two scrolls in her possession, and two of their own scrolls in the opposing team's—it will now be up to her and Kakashi to decide the final outcome of this match.

"Then," says Sakura slowly to herself, ignoring the way her stomach clenches, "so be it."

[martyr]

Kakashi has just popped the last clone out of existence when Obito lands beside him. Sweeping his eyes across the arena, he sees Sakura on the other end crouched over the sprawled forms of her two teammates.

"I'm surprised you managed to get away from the clan bratling after defeating the Inuzuka and his ninken," Kakashi says, turning his gaze back on his own teammate, tone mildly impressed.

"What can I say?" Obito flashes him a tired yet triumphant grin, still panting hard. "I've improved. It's just like what Minato-sensei said: I'm a late bloomer, and I'm only going to get better from here on out."

"Not fast enough," Kakashi scoffs. "You'd be so much more useful if you had the Sharingan, dobe."

"And you'd be so much more useful if you were less of a bastard and more cooperative as a teammate, teme," Obito snaps, his earlier grin wiped away by a scowl, eyes narrowing into slits.

"I'll show you cooperation," Kakashi fixes him with a haughty smirk, leaning close in a menacing manner. He doesn't need to be an Inuzuka to smell his impending victory. "You can stay here while I go deal with the Uchiha brat. I can defeat her on my own, so clearly, there's no need for you to be here anymore. Just watch."

It is in that moment when Kakashi detects something very, very wrong. With so less distance between him and Obito, he has a close-up view of the Uchiha's eyes, and there's something very, very wrong with those eyes

'Too sharp, too intelligent, too ancient—' he takes in a sharp intake of breath through his nose. 'Those are not the eyes I know, imposter.'

"Actually," he says aloud, fingers curling around his tantō, "you are still very much needed, Obito. Why don't you hand me your scroll for safekeeping?"

"I'd rather not. I believe it would be much safer here with me—"

Across the arena, the clone poofs into nothingness, the henged Obito melting away to reveal the real Sakura as she catches Kakashi's tantō on the edge of her kunai when he abruptly brings it down towards her shoulder in a forceful strike.

"Funny how you thought you could fool me," he says over the clash of blades. "I do wonder, though, how you managed to henge into my idiotic teammate so masterfully with every detail down to the point. I never would've noticed had I not been stuck with him for so long already."

Instead of answering him, Sakura replies with something that he would've never expected to hear from anyone.

"The White Fang was a true hero, Kakashi." With his bent knees lowering him to her height, Sakura's lips graze his ear with every word spoken. "Your father was a true hero."

Sakura feels his shoulders stiffen up predictably, his grip on his tantō tightening until his knuckles shine white.

"You dare speak of a man you know nothing about?" Kakashi hisses, and the only warnings Sakura receive is how violently he starts to shake, and a flash of silver, before he engages her in a flurry of steel.

Just like her, Kakashi is the type of shinobi to be even more wary of once he is spurred on by his emotions. The people who aren't familiar with him would never suspect him to be such a person, but Sakura knows better. No one fights dirtier and more brutally than blood. Sakura knows that best. He seems swifter and stronger, as if his smoldering rage won't be quenched until he sees her bleed.

Activated by Kakashi's state of enragement, the first layer of her genjutsu settles onto him. Predictably, he shakes off the genjutsu with ease, continuing their dangerous dance of bukijutsu, yet does not detect the much more complexly weaved layer just underneath. The second layer sinks into his nervous system like syrup, and the tip of Kakashi's tantō suddenly hovers one inch from piercing into the throat of the one person he has sworn to never become.

Violently rattled, his tantō drops from his suddenly loosened fingers, and Kakashi backs away like a cornered cat.

"Kakashi," says the person, eyes crinkling with a warm smile. "I haven't seen you in so long, my darling boy."

In Sakura's memory, Hatake Sakumo has a kind face, silver hair that was always tied back into his usual ponytail, and dark, soulful eyes that were creased with laugh lines. Undoubtedly, nearing his death, the same eyes must have sunken in with grief, cheeks hollowing in with sorrow. Kakashi had once shown her a picture of his father, and Sakura had taken a long time to marvel over the striking similarities between the two of them. In the picture, Sakumo had still been a man both feared and respected for his talents in the ninja arts, hailed as a genius shinobi just like one his son would eventually become. Had become. He had looked happy and at peace as he stood in the middle of one of Konoha's many streets, the sun setting behind him.

It is how Sakura remembers him even now, and so, it is with that very same picture that Sakura forges this fake person from.

"T-Tou-chan," the whisper sounds foreign to Kakashi's own ears. Too vulnerable, too heartfelt, too…weak. And yet, it is his own voice that speaks the two words that he had not believed he would ever use again.

"Come, Kakashi," Sakumo says, spreading his arms wide. Had Kakashi still been a little boy with a father whom he looked up to as a hero, he would've run into his embrace without any hesitation whatsoever. Instead, he forces his trembling hands to form a seal.

They say there is no person you can hate more than the one you used to love the most.

"Kai!" he shouts with all his might, summoning his chakra in one sharp spike. To his mortification, his voice is still tremulous, but fortunately, he succeeds in disrupting the genjutsu, his vision clearing and—there's a sharp tug on his weapons pouch, and he glances down just in time to see Sakura's hand slipping away, scroll gripped by thin yet strong fingers.

Kakashi may be the prodigy of his generation, but, for once, she has years and years of experience on him, and no one fights dirtier and more brutally than than blood. To Sakura, Kakashi is like her older brother, and that is enough for her to know the exact placement of his heart, where to strike, and how to make it hurt in the most agonizing way possible. That is enough for her to take his heart in her hands and squeeze.

"You," snarls Kakashi, shock and fear finally giving way to anger. To pure, unbridled fury. Although he himself knows that the match is over, although he has seen his scroll taken away with his two own eyes, although his team has already lost—he wants to see her bleed.

He comes at her with his right fist crackling with eye-piercing white lightning, birds chirping the song of death at the top of their lungs, nothing but a swirling mass of bloodthirst and wrath in his eyes—and Sakura slides smoothly under his outstretched hand, holding back a wince when a few sparks lash out at her exposed skin, and grabs him by the elbow, using his momentum to throw him to the ground behind her. Without missing a beat, Sakura pivots on her heel and her other foot comes gliding over his throat, forcing his chin back and exposing the pale column of his neck.

The whole arena is silent except for the final dying sparks of Kakashi's Chidori.

Sakura lifts her head to see the spectators practically hanging off the balcony in sheer anticipation, and a handful of people—Fugaku, Mikoto, Minato, Kushina, and Hiruzen himself—on their feet before she lowers her eyes to meet Kakashi's.

"Do you know where you made a mistake?" she asks.

He thrashes under her foot, choking out, "I had not expected your dirty trick—"

"Do you know where you made your mistake?" she asks again.

"You caught me by surprise—"

"I'll ask you one last time. Do you know where you made your mistake?"

"You had no right—no right at all—"

"Wrong, wrong, wrong," answers Sakura quietly, shaking her head side to side in disappoint, her eyes never leaving his. "For a shinobi hailed as the esteemed prodigy of his generation, I expected so much more from you."

Pinned beneath her foot, Kakashi continues struggle against her hold while trying his best to burn a hole in her with his smoldering glare, but does not try to say anything. It might have something do with her foot pressed over his throat, though.

"You made a mistake in thinking that you could have won this all by yourself. You believed that you had no need for your teammates. You thought yourself to be invincible," Sakura says, watching him struggle under her foot. "Well, let me tell you something, Kakashi: We are only as strong as the people and the things we fight for. The reason Tem Nara won today was because of everything that we stand for: Teamwork. We fight for each other, we inspire each other, we strengthen our spirits to become stronger and stronger everyday to be able to protect each other with the best of our abilities. But, you? You fight only for yourself, and that one fact makes you as squashable as a fly."

He spits out a glob of blood and phlegm, closing his eyes as if the mere sight of her looming over him disgusts him to an unbearable level. "You wouldn't understand anything."

"You're right. Maybe I don't. But, I do know something that will do you well to hear and take it to heart." Sakura presses her foot over his jugular, forcing his eyes to meet hers once again. "Holding resentment is like ingesting poison. It eats away at your insides like acid. You may think that your hatred will harm the person who harmed you, you may think that your anger will burn the person who hurt you, you may think that your weapons will cut the person who scarred you—but you're wrong." She watches him still completely under her foot. "Resentment, hatred, anger—they are like curved blades. What goes around, comes around. And, the person you still hold a grudge against? He's dead. And, you? You need to let go."

'Just like how I did. Just like how I'm trying to.'

Without another word, Sakura lifts her foot and turns to face Kosuke who had made his way down when he had seen the match nearing its end.

"Proctor-san?" she says pointedly, holding out the three scrolls, the symbols of their success and victory.

The elderly man nods, pressing a chakra-cloaked hand against his throat to amplify his voice for the whole arena to hear.

"Winner: Team Nara!"

The audience erupts into an uproar, and amongst the sea of the hollering crowd of thousands of people, Sakura locks eyes with her little brother. He looks a little stunned as he stares at her, eyes rounded with dazed elation and admiration. However, when she smiles at him, a grin instantly expands across his face as his own voice begins to mingle in with the rest of the cheering.

And that is enough. That is enough for her to feel like this victory was worth it. She's not proud, but she's happy, and she's lived long enough to know that happiness will always be more striking than pride.

-to be continued-

A/N: This chapter was unbelievably difficult to write, and although I tried my best, I still feel like I messed up in a lot of places. Hope you still enjoyed the majority of this chapter, though!

While Rin isn't one of my favorite characters, I've always quite liked her. I honestly do believe that she would've been a powerful ninja had she survived. And I can totally see her getting along very well with Sakura in canon-verse. It's a shame, really.

The next chapter will definitely be uploaded in a shorter time than this one took. Also, I'm extremely grateful and completely blown out of my mind over how the last chapter received more than a hundred reviews! Thank y'all so much!

Feedback is appreciated!