Okay, I'll get it out of the way right now. I'm sorry this isn't the promised length; it's around 900 words off. I've had writers block and I just wanted to get this chapter over and done with so I could get started on something fresh. The new cover helped too- thanks for the suggestion~
And for all the Fanart! Thank you all so much- I'll post links when I have the time! Just check my profile out from time to time to see when they're up! (I love you all so much, you know that right?)
So, things start drifting off canon now, just a little- but it's a lead up to something big I suppose. Anyway, thank you to all the people who reviewed, fav'ed, or alerted this! I'm so happy right now~ only 7 reviews off of 700! Speaking of reviews, I got so many last chapter I'll have to condense things a little (sorry about this):
A big thanks to:
Guest, Maya-chan, heart chan, Uncertain Shifter, smexyforever, TheVastEmptiness, MillaDragon, 1Deivle, iLovMyMV, LadyNorth76, Asymmetrical-Belette, Kildosad, xXTobi'sGirlriendXx, DarkAngelLida, Rena Katsueki, acetwolf94, Momo-Chan, ritaskeetermissk, ringo-nin, Genuinely-Unique, hateme101, kttykiwi, animeman, CheekyAngel94, Lylan Alainn Shade, Girlyoudontknow, Darknceannoya, animelover506, Guest, PeinVPuppy, Safuuru, no name, NobodyInParticlr, light blossom and dark warrior, Hellcat-Sakura, Twyxxy, Hana-Taisho, TabKinesis, Jabberwocky, Nameless Charity, Hime-sama's Fan, Web Spinner, KansonSama, Angrypixels, SexySelena666, Sumiku Agaishi, EternalRoses, Shadow Wolf, Roman's Child, RavenWritingDesk, Archduchess Paradox, Lovely Treason, Essence of Soup, Diehard fan, Ivette the Redwaller, Tobi-Saku Lover, Snickerdoodle, Everee Le Fae, Dreamguard Amell, PiperDreamer, LaCie, slumberdollx, asredwer, nindjo, Angel's Garden, Sylencia, sarah, Myriade, .7946, Chibified-chan, Imyself2121, Guest, Azriel Vincettia, Sakura-Hime Uchiha Loves KPOP, cherryvampiress, lalamnmgirl, 91RedRoses, Tantalizing Kunoichi, angelpanda-chan, Dsikitty2224, Eternal Cat Moon, Ketsueki no Kiki, UniCryin, ikmss18, Oh My Kira, Yuti-Chan, Lala1994, furuba-suzume, Xelexya, Chihori-chan, RedToast, Itachi's Rose, peoplehateme101, Nee-han93, Asarin159, Emzy2k11, glow593, Yin YueMing, momoXvolturi, Ana, AwesomeNess123, Yawningneko.
FairyGuardianRenee- thank you for the review, I'm just chalking it up to a genjutsu being the reason they didn't notice him. You'll have to wait until next chapter to find out about Iruka.
RainBow- ohhhh, hahaha I hope you didn't wear a hole in the floor! Thank you for the review, its great hearing from you! And as for the musing…MUSE AWAY! Go for it!
Eyes of Bedlam- I'm glad I could give you your fix then, thank you very much; it's nice to hear that.
Blue Letters-yay for stalkers!
Swaynoll- thank you, that made my day :D I think that was my first flame- thanks for sticking up for me!
Nashan-kun- it's okay, I know your pain! All is forgiven :D
JeanyDeiXzz- aww, she'll be okay~
Seo- she may, she may not~ but yes, Tobi is a mean boy if you mess with his flower.
Beautify- that's not a bad idea, we'll see if it goes with where this is going.
Pratchee- thanks for the great Fanart!
Ms Lilly- thank you for the fanart too, it's great!
Nifoi- a jealous Madara would be interesting to write…I'll have to look into trying that sometime~
Kalafina94- sorry for the wait, I hope I haven't had you there for too long~ haha, sorry about getting you weird looks ^_^'
I'm sorry if you asked me a question I couldn't reply too, there were just so many reviews!.. Not like that's a bad thing!
ON WITH THE SHOW, I THINK I'VE KEPT YOU WAITING LONG ENOUGH!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!
UPDATED: 3/09/13
Biting her bottom lip and slyly brushing the small pieces of plaster into her lap, Sakura tried to keep her focus on Ibiki as he went on with the rules, desperately trying to ignore the figure peering down from the ceiling. What was he doing? Did he WANT to get caught?! Nobody but the participants were meant to be listening in…
"Rule number three; the sentinels positioned around the room are there to watch you carefully for any signs of cheating." He continued, a smirk pulling at his face as he watched them, staring down some of the weaker looking Nin in the room.
She wasn't one of them.
"…and for every incident they spot, they will subtract two points from the culprit's score. Be warned, their eyes are extremely sharp and if you get caught 5 times…you'll be dismissed before the tests are even scored." He finished, looking to a few sentinels with a slight nod. Listening as a slightly familiar face called out about having his eyes on them, Sakura felt a shiver go up her spine, refusing to look upwards as she held her breath for a second to calm her nerves.
What if they thought Tobi was helping her cheat? Would they disqualify her?...
Just as that crossed her mind, a small folded piece of paper fell to her lap, her quick reflexes the only thing keeping it from dropping to the floor.
'What in the world?...' slowly and quietly unfolding it after gazing around quickly to make sure no one was watching, Sakura frowned a little before nodding subtly and storing the note under the hem of her spandex shorts.
Yes she was ready; didn't her friend have any faith in her? Didn't Tobi know she would do fine?
Or was he losing faith in her like everyone else….Underestimating her even though he admitted to being impressed before at her skill with chakra manipulation.
'Damn it' she silently swore, muttering quietly to herself about not getting distracted during the exam.
Glaring at the table top for a second before casting a quick look above her- she was shocked to see him gone, not a single trace of his presence even being there. Just another thing she'd have to ask him about the next time they met, along with why he was even there in the first place.
But that didn't matter now, she had to focus.
She would ace this test and show everyone up.
Written was her specialty after all.
Taking a deep breath and relaxing her expression, Sakura centred her thoughts, nothing but the test occupying her mind.
'I can do this.'
Seeing Sasuke glaring at Naruto from the corner of her eye, Sakura knew she missed something, something important…
What was it though?
Unable to ask what she missed while calming down and ignoring Tobi, Sakura sweat dropped slightly and sunk in her seat. Looking around at the other participants before swallowing nervously she brought her attention back to Ibiki, just as he finished announcing when the tenth question would be announced.
"You'll have one hour total." He announced before glancing at the clock on the off white wall behind them. "BEGIN" as his bellow reached her Sakura steeled her mind and flipped the paper in front of her, reading the first question rapidly before smiling to herself as she began jotting down her answer.
Codes were simple- She'd done something like this as extra work for Iruka-sensei.
'Good luck Naruto, Sasuke.'
As she scribbled down the appropriate answer to the question, she felt her desk mate on her left tense up, clenching his fists around the edge of the wooden desk and taking deep breathes. So she wasn't the only one nervous about this? She was actually doing better than this intimidating Nin? With her shoulders relaxing even further and her smile turning to a smirk, she moved to the next question, her confidence in herself taking a leap forward.
'Number two, line B in the diagram indicates the trajectory of a shuriken thrown at enemy C by ninja A who is seated atop a tree seven meters tall. Describe and formulate the trajectory required if C were positioned at D, E and F.' She silently read to herself, her lips moving as she worked out the answer on her paper, taking the time to go over it again just to make sure she was correct. 'Also explain the furthest possible range of the shuriken and explain how you arrived at your answer.'
Integrated problems based on principles of uncertainty, requiring complex mechanical energy analysis. This was very advanced… Sasuke may be able to get a few down, but Naruto…. she just hoped he had payed attention to at least one of his classes. Closing her eyes for a second and spinning her pen slowly, she thought out the next question before looking in the blonde's direction, silently trying to communicate an answer to him.
'There can't be more than a hand full of people in here besides me who can understand this…let alone answer them. The questions just keep getting harder and harder…' she mused, feeling her desk mate fidget again before turning his head in her direction and looking at her paper. Sakura stiffened in her seat, quickly putting an arm over her work to block his view before scowling at him subtly. 'Asshole! Can't figure it out on his own…Wait, 2 point deductions and the fuss made over cheating… the proctor was smirking at us all while he was talking, he was…daring us too? They want us to cheat?' with wide eyes the pinkette looked around the room, finally noticing her fellow test mates' actions. They were all cheating…
Was she really the only rookie who knew the answers? Silently tucking the thought away she looked back to Naruto before noticing Hinata seated next to him and smiling.
He'd be fine; Hinata was smart enough to help him out. Nodding to herself she got back to work, kicking her desk mate hard under the table and smirking to herself. 'Cheat off of someone else you bastard.'
Time seemed to be crawling by as she worked her way through the questions, not even paying attention to the teams being pulled from the room loudly after being caught. She was almost done when she felt it…
A sharp push in her head, her mind blanking out and darkening around her as she faintly heard Ino's taunting voice echo in her ears.
'Thanks Sakura~ let's put this brain of yours to use' and she knew no more.
'What's going on? What happened?' she asked herself as she lifted her head from her desk with a confused frown. Something… Ino had done something, Taken over her body…
Taking a deep breath and fighting back the feeling of nausea, Sakura looked at the clock and took note that only five minutes were left until the tenth question was asked. What had Ino done? It shouldn't have taken that long to memorize her work…
Sighing confusedly, Sakura turned her attention back to her work, only to freeze as she eyes lay on her paper.
Forehead Girl!
Pink Haired Freak!
You're not supposed to be here!
Weak!
Useless!
Sasuke-kun is MINE!
GO HOME!
It was ruined. Her work, it was scribbled on and trashed. Why would Ino do this to her? Didn't she have any decency? Her answers were gone, covered in insulting scribbles and words, the questions blacked out so she couldn't read them again… only the first one left so she could pass.
So Sasuke could pass…
With tears pricking her jade eyes and a stabbing feeling taking root in her chest, Sakura bit her lip and whipped them away, but not fast enough to stop a few from staining her already ruined work.
Then there was a chuckle from beside her.
Her desk mate. He was laughing at her.
Then she snapped.
Kicking him again and clenching her eyes closed, Sakura pulled the folded piece of paper from her waist band and unfolded it, tearing it into five pieces and re-folding them again.
Turning her red stained eyes to the smirking blond seated a few rows behind her; she clenched her teeth together and snatched one of the little squares of paper before looking around to see if anyone was watching her movements.
No one was looking near her….but; one of the sentinels had an eye on Ino…
With hurt eyes and a furious scowl, Sakura angled her hand correctly before flicking the paper behind her, watching as it bounced off of Choji's forehead protector and into the centre of Ino's test.
Followed by the scribbling of one of the sentinels as he watched it hit the desk.
One.
Enough was enough.
Another flick of her wrist and another scribble from the sentinel.
Two.
Ino looked in her direction with disbelieving eyes, quickly brushing the paper off her Test and to the floor.
Only for it to be replaced by another.
Three.
The blond was snarling at her, her blue eyes furious as she glanced at the smirking sentinel, his taped nose and spikey hair tilted in her direction as he watched another piece of paper seemingly appear on her desk from the direction of her teammate.
Four.
The pinkette rolled the last piece of paper between her fingers in contemplation before looking at her test once more.
WEAK!
USELESS!
Five.
"Number 57, Failed. Numbers 63 and 52, failed." Called the sentinel, his eyes taunting as he glanced at the unbelieving blond, her hair standing on end as she screeched in fury. Seeing her once friend being led from the room reluctantly, Sakura didn't know what to feel.
Had she really just done that to a fellow Konoha Nin, to her once friend?
Looking back to her paper and trying her best to ignore the words written on it, the pinkette did her best to erase as much as she could, only to fail and have to sit patiently instead.
'I'm not sorry.' She told herself, steeling her resolve as the last of the blond's yells died away. 'I'm NOT sorry. She deserved it…' became the recurring thought as the remaining minutes passed, Sakura still gazing intently on her graffiti covered paper.
"Alright, listen up! Here's the tenth and final question." Ibiki called, a smirk gracing his face as all eyes turned to him. The pinkette gripped her pen tightly, almost breaking it in two as she focused on the intimidating man up front. "But before I give you the question…there are some more rules you need to be aware of." He was interrupted by the return of Kankuro- who threw her a smirk as he made his way back to his seat. "As I was saying; these rules are unique to question ten," he announced, pacing around so he could get a good view of all the participants. "Listen carefully and try not to let them frighten you."
All she could do was fidget in her seat as his eyes swept past her, his gaze both knowing and taunting.
'This is it.'
"Very well then, each of you is free to choose not to take the final question, It's your decision." Listening to him explain the rest of the rules, she couldn't help the shiver that went up her spine.
Everything was riding on this.
Looking up to Naruto's shaking form she found she couldn't blame him.
This moment was monumental for them.
If one of them answered this incorrectly…
She watched as the man sitting next to Naruto raised his hand, followed by a few more groups, each looking to the floor as they walked out.
'Naruto….' He had started to lift his hand, shaking all the while. She couldn't find it in herself to be mad though, he wanted to be Hokage someday and that would be ruined if he failed.
BANG
"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME, I DON'T QUIT AND I DON'T RUN! YOU CAN ACT TOUGH ALL YOU WANT, YOU GUYS AREN'T GOING TO SCARE ME OFF! I DON'T CARE IF I DO GET STUCK AS A GENNIN FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE, I'LL STILL BE HOKAGE SOME DAY!" he shouted before sitting back down again, arms crossed with a pleased grin on his face.
…couldn't he have just…not raised his hand? Slumping back into her seat and wincing slightly as her head pounded, Sakura smiled slightly in his direction.
'At least I get to have a chance at passing.' She thought, already running over the possibilities as to what the question could be.
"If for any reason you want to quit, now's your last chance." Ibiki announced, watching as none so much as moved, all looking towards him with determined faces. "Well then, for those of you remaining there's only one thing left to do. And that's for me to tell you, that you've all passed the first exam!" he announced with an amused smirk.
What…the…
She tuned out as he continued explaining, removing his headband and showing them all the scars hidden underneath, proudly explaining his purpose for the tenth question and the other nine.
"Cheat, in order to survive, and that's why those who weren't good enough at it were weeded out." He continued on, Sakura only catching some as she realised Naruto had no clue what had been going on. Tuning back in she listened to his speech "to steal a document from an enemy strong hold. You have no idea how many ninja the enemy has or how heavily armed they are. Further more you have reason to believe the enemy expects you, that you might very well be walking blindly into a trap. Now, do you have the option on taking a pass on this insane mission? Of saying my comrades and I would rather live to fight another day? Can you choose to avoid danger? No."
She listened intently as he continued, his words striking somewhere deep inside her, her gaze hardening as she set her jaw.
This is what she signed up for all those years ago; this is what her life would become.
"There will be many missions that seem almost suicidal if you think about it, but you do not think about it! You think only of the goal and achieving it through courage and discipline. These are the qualities required in a chuunin squad leader."
She needed to be strong; she needed to keep her determination and courage.
"Those who choose the safer of two paths, those whose determination falters in the face of adversity, those who would put their comrade's lives in jeopardy by worrying about their own, and those who would save their own necks at the price of honour- will never be able to call themselves Chuunin. At least as long as I'm here. " Sakura could only watch, mouth open slightly as he re-tied his headband, watching them all again.
"- All right! We did it, that's one down! Yeah! Yeah!" Naruto stood cheering; ignoring the looks he was getting from everyone.
SMASH
The next thing Sakura knew, a large banner was taking up the front of the room, a purple haired woman standing in front of it with her fist in the air.
"Heads up boys and girls, this is no time to be celebrating! I'll be your next proctor, Anko Mitarashi! Are you ready for the second test?" she asked, her intimidating figure changing rapidly as she closed her eyes and grinned. "GOOD, LET'S GO! FOLLOW ME!"
'What the hell?' Sakura thought to herself, her eye twitching as a headache began building in her skull.
"You're early. Again." She heard Ibiki comment as the silent room watched Anko blush embarrassed, but quickly snap out of it when she noticed how many of them there were.
"How many are there?" she asked confusedly to Ibiki. "Ibiki, you let all these guys pass? Your test was too easy! You must be getting soft…"
"Or it could be a stronger crop of candidates this year." He retaliated, moving out from behind her banner.
"Hmmm, sure don't look it. Trust me, by the time I'm done with them more than half will be eliminated." The pinkette frowned when she heard this, shifting in her seat and leaning forward curiously.
"Ha, this is gonna be fun~ Alright, you maggots have had it easy so far, but things are gonna be different starting first thing in the morning. I'll let your squad leaders know where you're to meet me." She continued, looking at them all like they were bugs to be squashed under her boot. "Dismissed~" wasting little time on goodbyes with her teammates, Sakura hurried home, avoiding as many crowds as she could before taking to the roofs.
Leaning back against the worn rail, Sakura closed her tired eyes and enjoyed the soft breeze tousling her short locks. The dim sunlight bathed her skin as she stayed there for hours, just enjoying the solitude while she cleared her head. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but she felt…betrayed by Ino. They weren't friends anymore that was for sure, but she could have had some decency.
The blond had pushed her too far though, she had been stressed enough as it was.
She wasn't useless.
She wasn't weak.
-Later that night-
Ibiki's P.O.V.
Pacing past the desks and collecting the tests, Ibiki couldn't stop his chuckle as he thought back to the young Uzumaki's paper.
Completely blank.
It amused him greatly to see him talk big, having known from the beginning that the blond had no clue as to what was going on. Reaching for another paper, his hand stilled inches away from it before curiously picking it up and bringing it closer for inspection.
Forehead Girl!
Pink Haired Freak!
You're not supposed to be here!
Weak!
Useless!
Sasuke-kun is MINE!
GO HOME!
Tear stains were evident in some places, small rips in others where someone desperately tried to get rid of the offensive drawings littering the blank spaces.
All in all, the paper was completely ruined.
Curiously looking up to the top corner of the paper, Ibiki visualised the small pinkette that had been seated there earlier that day.
Sakura Haruno
'I wonder…' he mused, collecting the rest of the papers before heading to the security room and seating himself down. Pulling up the videos of the test, he watched the scene closely, noting the exact moment she began acting out, scribbling on her work. Ibiki felt his frown grow as she smirked, tugging at her own hair lightly before collapsing forward onto her desk.
The Yamanaka had done it, Ibiki noted as his frown turned into a small scowl, watching as the blond sat up from her slumped position with a large smirk.
And the pinkette had retaliated in-kind, her subtle movements almost not picked up by the camera as she sent the papers to the blonde's desk.
"Interesting…"
Bet you weren't expecting that, were you? I'm glad I got this out of the way, I feel much better now. I think I just needed to get to a certain point where I could just… go loose? I don't know, but I feel much better writing this now.
So- I'll get straight too it then, there's a poll on my profile I would appreciate you voting in- just so I know where you stand and what you want! And another thanks to the reviewers, I read them ALL multiple times as my motivation~ I love you all, so so sooooo much!
Four questions this time-
One- Have any of you watched Angel Beats? I love it! So touching.
Two- What would you think of a Sebastian(Black butler)/Sakura pairing, I think they're cute together~
Three…I need a suggestion for a new anime to watch...
Four- Would you like to see Ibiki involved with the story line? In some way or another~