Haruno Sakura

VS

Ino Yamanaka

TWISTED

The next test which awaited the applicants would be a preliminary round of matches, after which the candidates could finally return home before the beginning of the chunin exam's last stage in one month's time. Before Sakura realized what had befallen her, she found herself gathered in the tower's large room right at its middle, along with all other passing chunin candidates, their jonin Sensei, proctors, and even the hokage.

Sakura gritted her teeth. All of them, here to see us battle it out until unconsciousness, she punctuated sardonically. To judge us for our ability to inflict damage.

And so the preliminaries began.

TWISTED

The first few matches went by in a blur for Sakura. Sasuke had already fought and beaten his opponent, one Yoroi Akado, and henceforth, before she could even attempt to quell her now assuaged worries over Sasuke's fight (and her budding concerns about her own), it was her turn.

Against Ino.

And she still hadn't gathered her bearings.

"I'm not ready to fight again…" she muttered quietly, panicking in silence. Her concerns weren't of the physical nature; simply put, she was not mentally prepared to engage in serious combat again, never mind in a fight against Ino, with the stakes so high – on top of the recent realization that she wanted to salvage their friendship.

"'course you're ready, Sakura-chan!" Naruto assured her boisterously. "You'll beat Ino no problem! Believe it!"

"Maybe."

But do I want to? Am I ready?

Giving her a nudge, Kakashi patted her head, and then, in a rare display of fondness, took her hand. But like everything with Kakashi, there was a reason behind his actions. Slightly startled, Sakura realized that he had tucked an object into it.

"We never are," he limited to say.

Sakura looked up at him, her brow creased.

I think I'm starting to understand your cryptic remarks, Sensei, she thought, wishing she didn't.

The object he'd given her was not a weapon – in her state of mind, she had little use for that. No, what Kakashi had given her was far more crucial to her survival: it was her shinobi hitai ate.

And that's when Sakura realized that she'd have to fight against Ino– her best friend, her one rival – and she'd have to do it as a shinobi.

I will never be ready to win… not against Ino…

And then she thought of Kakashi's answer. 'We are never ready'. And for once, his criptic encouragement did have a point, for…

We are not ready for the trial, it's the trial that makes us ready.

She glanced at the forehead protector, which had the proud symbol of Konoha, the statue of the Will of Fire, engraved right into the center of its polished surface. She might not be ready to win, but…

"But I am ready to try…" Sakura offered, smiling reminiscently.

"You sure about that?" Kakashi teased. Sakura seriously hated his humor. Ignoring him, she looked back at the arena. Then at her team.

"Sasuke, Naruto," she pleaded nervously. "If Ino-Pig mops the floor with me, promise you won't judge me."

Naruto squinted at her. Sasuke actually snorted. "Guess you'll have to mop the floor with her then, won't you, Sakura?" he surmised unabashedly.

A bit surprised, Sakura grinned.

That's what we needed to hear, yelled Inner. Shanaro! Let's get this thing going!

Heads held high, Haruno Sakura strutted downstairs without a backward glance.

TWISTED

At one point in her life, Sakura had loved to imagine what it would feel like to finally see her face reflected back at her from the polished surface of a hitai ate. Her own hitai ate.

She had gotten there now.

That hitai ate was hers now.

"Ready to lose, Forehead?"

But now what?

Sakura considered Ino, all poised and ready, then her own blurry face reflected back at her. Her red, sexy dress was in tatters, she had a swollen cheek, her manicure was ruined. Sakura's fist clenched around the piece of metal in her hands. Coming to a resolution, she swiftly tied the hitai ate around her head.

"This Forehead is going to beat you," she remarked cockily, gesturing towards the proud Konoha symbol over her eyes.

Whether Ino saw the resolution burning in her gaze and understood her desire to fight, not as rivals but as kunoichi, or whether she simply tied her own hitai ate on as a cool gesture, Sakura would never know. But she had an inclination.

"Let's do this, Pig!" she nevertheless called out.

Ino's cerulean eyes became focused. "Yeah, let's."

TWISTED

"So sorry, Kakashi, but my bet is on Asuma's kid," Kurenai intoned speculatively.

Guy of course came to Kakashi's rescue without missing a beat: "My money is on my eternal rival and his talented student!" he declared brazenly.

Kakashi chuckled. "Looks like you're on the right side of the bet for once, Guy."

Guy's prominent eyebrows made a show of shooting upwards, slightly startled. Kurenai snickered. "I'm sorry?" she queried in mock outrage. "Ino is obviously the right choice. I mean, she's the clan heir here! No offense Kakashi, but there's nothing outstanding about your kid besides the hair color."

"Careful, you're going to hurt my feelings one of these days."

Asuma chuckled, taking a deep drag from his cigarette. "About that… no hard feelings no matter whose student wins, eh, Kakashi?"

"You know I'm a soft man," Kakashi replied helpfully.

By the point Guy had launched into a speech about the Qualities a Man Must Have and thus the remaining jonin instructors had all but turned their attention back to the match unfolding down on the arena below, rather unlike their respective students a few paces away.

"Listen closely guys, because Sakura-chan is going to win and you better believe it!" Naruto proclaimed resolutely.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes at him, looking at Choji for help, then back at Naruto and Sasuke, the newest arrivals to their lonesome corner of the balcony. "Is there any reason why you've come all the way here to tell us that?" he asked, rather annoyed.

Sasuke settled for ignoring his general surroundings and watching the match, while Naruto remained more vocal about his opinions: "I'm just telling you what's gonna happen!" he shouted. "Besides, Kakashi-sensei's probably making bets with your sensei about it too!"

"That's not what teachers are supposed to do, Naruto," Shikamaru replied drolly, thinking to himself that they were so making bets right then.

"Hmp! You're boring!" Naruto declared, clearly disappointed at Shikamaru's lack of interest in a shouting match.

The real match, in that aspect, was not as one sided: Sakura and Ino were quite busy slandering each other's reputation as they circled one another like vultures (Kaguya knows there is no such thing as a rival fight without trash talk!)

Meanwhile, up in the jonin-part of the balcony, everyone was watching Ino's verbal victories over Sakura (and her own feeble attempts at replicating Ino's jabs) with no small amount of pity and subsequent furthering in their conviction that the Yamanaka heir would be the indisputable winner of the match. Finally, the ominous circling was put on hold and the real fight began – almost completely based on taijutsu. It wasn't even that, for neither Ino's – and less so Sakura's technique was in any way refined. As it was, both opponents were practically left exchanging blows in a methodical fashion.

"I suppose," said Asuma as he scratched his cheek, "that the pressure of their first time's getting to them."

Basically, he was justifying what he must've thought to be a slightly lacking performance on Ino's part.

"Your kid should be accustomed to pressure though, shouldn't she, Kakashi?" asked Kurenai curiously, the Wave incident no doubt on her mind.

"Not this kind," said he without much interest. "This isn't exactly a good time for Sakura to be duking it out."

Asuma snorted, though the rest of the jonin remained in silence. The fight down bellow was still in full swing – actually, it had only become harsher, and dirtier, as both parties were doing anything they could think of to end the match quickly.

"They're both tired," Asuma noted.

"No wonder," agreed Kurenai. "They've been exchanging blows for… what? Almost ten minutes nonstop now?"

Suddenly, Kakashi gave a start, as though overcome by a realization.

"What is it?" Guy questioned.

Kakashi leaned against the railing again, a frown etched on his face. "I focused Sakura's training on the optimization of tools and weapons…" he said slowly.

"So… precision and aim, huh?" stated Kurenai. "Sounds like you."

"Or maybe…" Asuma gave Kakashi a measuring glance. "Traps?"

"Both, as it happens. And I just realized…" Kakashi nervously spun a shuriken in his finger, "that Sakura has likely no weapons left besides for a wire."

There was an uncomfortable and slightly disbelieving silence.

"That is, uh…" Kurenai trailed off awkwardly, clearly looking for a way to nicely phrase how completely unintelligent it was to enter a fight without your main asset. Even Guy seemed at a loss. "… that is, um, not very like you," she concluded.

"It slipped my mind," informed Kakashi agreeably. "I was too busy contemplating my students' fight against a certain friend of ours."

The lull in the conversation came to an abrupt halt. Everyone knew very well who Kakashi was alluding to. But he wasn't done yet. Unruffled, he waved a tiny, plain green notebook in front of their faces, but said no more. Guy snatched it open, Asuma and Kurenai huddling around him to read.

"But this…" breathed Kurenai, "this is your student's account of what happened! In the forest! Aren't we intruding here?"

"Sandaime-sama has issued an order that all jonin or above directly involved in the coming event must be made aware of what happened inside of the forest," recited Kakashi ominously. "I trust you won't speak about this to anyone – not even your students."

The other three nodded, their eyes widening as they quickly scanned the loopy, feminine calligraphy on the paper.

P.S., Sensei, it read, (a final note apparently had been added at the beginning). Please report about this to Hokage-sama yourself, in your own words. I don't want anyone else to see this note.

Asuma, Guy and Kurenai stared at Kakashi, Kakashi stared at the match.

So you wanted me to tell you what happened in the forest, no details left out, right? the note continued. I'll try.

Everything started off normally enough, with mundane threats such as the leeches in the river. (Naruto, the moron, jumped in and I told him not to but he was already inside and then Sasuke pulled him out and he caught the leeches too and then I remembered that they're weak against heat and Sasuke blew them away with a katon jutsu.)

But then something bad happened: we felt a presence. They had concealed themselves below us, and we nearly missed it. Sensei, this person was so stealthy, I swear it could've been you! But no, it was this creepy woman who blew up the ground and made us scatter. I was confused and couldn't see what was going on, but then I felt this really intense fear and something told me to run, so I did, and the woman was chasing me. When I looked back at her, we locked eyes and in that split second I swear I saw her kill me. As I sprinted out of there, it was a struggle just to pull my mind away from replaying that over and over. She chased me through the forest, and no matter what I did or how hard I ran, the woman was right behind me, calling me her prey and other creepy things. I used your wire and a genjutsu to try and block her path in a sudden series of attacks, but she contorted weirdly out of the way – as though her limbs and neck were made of jello and no joints. And I'm a terrible idiot, I know, but I just wasn't looking, and I forgot everything you said about your wire being poisoned, so I lowered my guard and got a tiny cut in my pinky. That was the last nail in the coffin to my downfall; I'd cornered myself. This time, for sure, I was done for. The woman caught up to me, and soon it became apparent (I wasn't thinking clearly so I didn't realize this at the time) that who she really was after was Sasuke, and she must've thought I was him because of the hengue on me (we'd all swapped faces so as to avoid an intruder miming our personalities). But that's when Sasuke came in my rescue. He shouldn't have. He could've just stayed hidden in the trees, he's smart, he knew I was in mortal danger, but he cane for me anyways. I know the Hokage sure would've preferred me to be the one Orochimaru (yes, the sannin) focused on – don't tell him I said that – but instead, even though it was my own mess, I limited to lay pathetically on the ground, unable to so much as move or help Sasuke or do anything. The worst thing was Sasuke's fight. I felt so terrible. It didn't matter how many times Iruka-sensei had complimented him at the Academy, I knew right then that, no matter what he did, Sasuke would be killed and then I would be too. As if to confirm it, Orochimaru made a summons, and I realized that I'd die at the hands (or scales) of a snake the size of my own house. Just as my vision had started failing me, Naruto butted in. At first, I thought he was just being a stubborn moron as usual, but he brought hope. He stabbed the snake, stopping its advance singlehandedly, but then Orochimaru did something to him and he started free falling. I only remember throwing a kunai to attach him to a tree so he'd stop. Thank Kaguya you taught me how to throw kunai without thinking, I was at the verge of unconsciousness.

When I woke up again, I couldn't move and the fight was over. I pumped some chakra and saw that Naruto was still out stuck against a tree and Sasuke lay unconscious an with a terrible fever. I knew I had to get us out of there ASAP, but the paralysis made it impossible to go very far. I cast a genjutsu to hide us (I'm sorry but I think you would've deemed it inadequate – but I was just so tired!) and then I ser some traps all over the place. Orochimaru's lackeys found us anyways and it was my fault, 'cause, after hiding Naruto and Sasuke, I gasped and Dozu figured out my hiding spot. The fight against him, Kim and Zaku was horrible. Zaku I maneuvered into a trap, and I was able to dodge most of Kin's attacks thanks to the special training you put us through before the exam, but dodging didn't cut it for Dozu: his attack was a sound wave, and I swear if he'd hit me one more time it would've been over. But I managed to get him with the poisoned wire (thanks to some rocks) and use him as leverage against Kim so she'd go away. After that I built a bot and some gloves, and then I ate something, and then I got into another fight. These guys tried to kill me with senbon showers. One of them was… he was… one was… killed when I dodged an attack, the other hit by the war, and I jammed the last ones eyes in. I still can't get that image out of my head. I think I was in shock, because I failed to notice the approach of another team until they were threatening my life. Or Gaara was, anyways. I knew that he and Sasuke had some kind of rivalry going on, so I persuaded him to, instead of killing me, escort us to the tower in order to have a match against Sasuke when he recovered (but now I've discovered that he wants it to be a death match!). The worst thing is that after we started walking together, Sasuke woke up with these horrible marks over his face, and I could tell by that ugly, cruel look on his face that he wanted to murder Gaara. I was so repulsed that's I wanted to puke on his head. I tried to hold him back, and I thought Sasuke was going to hurt me too but then he stopped.

Sensei. You need to remove that mark. It's branded him, like cattle. It makes Sasuke a stranger, cruel and cold, and I'm afraid of what might happen if he gets to solve his unfinished business with Gaara. You need to pull him out of the exam! But no, of course you won't. Sasuke's gonna participare or die trying. I mean, he could attend in half a year, but of course participating now is totally worth risking his life over.

Pull him out, Sensei.

The jonin fell completely silent. Down bellow, the match was still raving on.

"Say, Guy," Kurenai hastily looked for a topic to change the horrible mood. "You are the best at taijutsu from all of us, why don't you analyze the figh–?"

"Why THANK YOU!" Guy boomed into her ear, making poor Kurenai wince, just as Asuma gave her a pitying look. Clearly he was a little too eager to leave the silence behind. "As it happens," Guy carried on, "I am the most indicated person to ask in this room, provided that what you seek is to explore the hidden depths of taijutsu!" He concentrated back on the stage. "It appears that my rival's student's rival has the advantage in technique! However, fear not, Kakashi, for your student makes up what she lacks with brute force!"

"Ah, thank you Guy. I think that's enough."

Guy's mouth fell shut with a clack, some sort of deep understanding entering them. "I can see that you are busy fretting for your student, my rival! I shall not interrupt such deep introspection!

Kurenai peered at the pair, doing her best to suppress her laughter. Asuma wasn't fairing any better in his attempts not to choke on his cigarette. The only clue that Kakashi had even heard his self proclaimed rival was the prompt twitching of his hands, now hovering over his side-pocket. However, pulling at some hidden form of inner strength, the man resisted temptation. It came to be that Kurenai reached a milestone in her speculations on the mystery that was Hatake Kakashi's psyche when his student wound up trapped in Ino's jutsu. Asuma, who had until then not offered his opinion, allowed a smirk to cross his face. Kakashi's hands twitched again, though cataloguing his expression proved difficult, especially given the considerable obstacle that was his mask.

TWISTED

"So what does that jutsu do?" Naruto queried uneasily.

Even Sasuke seemed a tad distraught ("what's Sakura just standing around for?") but the members of team ten were less than impressed.

Shikamaru sighed, bored. "Your teammate's not in control of her own body right now, Naruto. You see, Ino is, and she's gonna use that to make Sakura forfeit the match."

"WHAT!" Naruto yelled. "She can't do that to Sakura-chan! That's cheating! No way!"

Shikamaru wished he'd stop shouting.

"Look, Naruto," he muttered. "I wasn't sure at first about who was gonna win, but Ino knew how to play her cards better, so now your teammate's done for. It's a drag, but that's how a match is decided, now accept that or–"

"YOU CAN DO IT SAKURA-CHAN!"

Ugh.

Shikamaru slumped into the railing.

TWISTED

Sakura felt a terrible pressure in her head, as though someone was trying to squeeze a balloon inside. Ino had used her own hair to catch her in her secret clan jutsu, and somehow it hurt, it felt like treason. But then Sakura realized something else. Everything she had gone through, every single stop of sweat, hour of work, every year, it would all be for nothing if she lost now.

"I…" she could hear her own voice talking dully. If she was able to speak, that meant that's she was pushing Ino out of her mind. "I…"

I forfeit! screamed every inch of Ino.

Never! said Sakura. And then, loyalt, she bellowed: "I'M NEVER GOING TO LOSE AGAIN! NEVER!"

I Won't LET YOU! Inner Sakura shouted, growing increasingly confident as she stared the intruder down. I won't give up! Now GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

And Ino bolted, the strange sensation leaving an uncomfortable pounding in Sakura's skull but her thoughts no longer hazy.

She was free, she realized shakily. She was free of Ino's mind control.

Ino seemed to realize this too, judging by the dumbstruck look on her face.

Now's my chance! Sakura thought avidly. This time, she realized, she was ready to fight with every trick in the book, even if the outcome would be the defeat of her friend. Time to set a trap!

TWISTED

"She just freed herself," Asuma stated blankly.

"Now that is most youthful!" Gai cheered. "Such raw fighting spirit is commendable, is it not, my dear rival?"

His remark went largely ignored.

"But how?" Kurenai interrupted Gai's subsequent shouting, sharing a wide eyed glance with Asuma. "Only those very proficient in the mind-arts can free themselves of that jutsu with so little chakra to spare."

"Well, I did teach her a genjutsu," Kakashi informed happily from his spot next to a raving Guy.

Kurenai smirked. "Oh, yes, I know. The fake shuriken illusion, was it? Not a bad start, that's for certain, though Sakura still has a long way to go."

Kakashi's answering face looked a little too smug right then.

"What?" Kurenai asked, now annoyed.

In return, she received one of her favorite bland smiles behind the mask.

"I never taught her that," Kakashi explained slowly, clearly enjoying her now dumbstruck expression. "Just the mole-hole illusion."

This time it was Kurenai's turn to go blank-faced, but Kakashi was unrelenting in his childish gloating:

"It appears that pink hair is underrated…" he added all too happily.

Kurenai rolled her eyes.

"Dully noted, Hatake."

But without warning, there was suddenly an explosion of smoke in the arena, drawing the wandering attention of the jonin back.

"Hoe…" Kakashi intoned thoughtfully. "I didn't know Sakura-chan had smoke bombs."

"It's a genjutsu," Kurenai stated.

"I know." Kakashi grinned.

Kurenai hoped that his student would just lose already. Victory, she found, didn't suit Kakashi's ego.

TWISTED

"You can't run anymore, Sakura!" Ino yelled, panting. "I've got you right where I wanted you!"

Sakura smirked, though it was most likely fake.

"It's not looking good for your teammate," Shikamaru muttered. "She won't be able to escape Ino's jutsu a second time, Naruto."

Grinning, Ino pulled out a shuriken. Unbeknownst to her, this was the chance Sakura had been waiting for. It felt like everything she'd ever done and been was riding on this one moment. She needed to catch that shuriken, the way she'd seen Kakashi do a million times before. She had set an array of traps during the distraction of the fake genjutsu-explosion, but she'd need a shuriken to make them work. She had to do this, she had to concentrate with every fiber of her being, no matter what. She couldn't lose.

"You think a rude gesture will what? Impress me?" crowed Ino, throwing the shuriken – it would likely swish past her, slightly above Sakura's head. Instead of dodging, jumped right into the path of the ninja star, her middle fingers spread upwards in a rude gesture. But giving Ino the bird in front of the Hokage was not Sakura's plan, as strange as that may seem. If she was going to catch the shuriken, she'd rather spare her thumb and index in case her attempt went south, and the other two fingers were to weak, ergo she'd have to use her right middle finger.

The razor-like shuriken was closing in.

This was it. She had to catch it.

But Sakura had miscalculated, the weapon was too far away – in a last ditch attempt, she thrust her other, left hand upwards, and this time, this time she managed to brush the shuriken just enough to deflect its course.

"Pfft! Nice try!" jested Ino. "But I think you missed by a wide margin." The shuriken swiveled past her innocently– and then Sakura smirked. The wire had been cut, the game was on.

"Are you sure?"

Ino scoffed. "Where do you think you're aiming at, Forehead? Don't try to play it off, I'm right he–"

But she never got to finish her sentence. A complicated mechanism of wires had propelled an array of pebbles towards Ino at such speeds, that the one finally impacting her blond skull caused an instant knock out.

The room went quiet.

Sakura just sat there.

She had beaten Ino with just a wire.

She had beaten Ino.

"Victory goes to Sakura Haruno," the proctor declared between coughs.

"Believe it!" Someone yelled.

Sakura felt hollow. What? Did that mean… that their friendship was lost forever? She watched, fighting tears, as Ino was carried upstairs, away from her.

TWISTED

"I… these are Ino's weapons…"

Asuma glanced at the pink haired girl in front of him. Kakashi's kid, the one who'd beaten his own. Her gaze was downcast.

"I'm sorry–" she said. "I didn't mean to beat her so badly, I just–"

"Save it." Everyone stared at Asuma with surprise. Asuma looked at Sakura with fixation. "You said you intended to never lose again. Now stand to your words."

A ninja must assume the consequences of his actions – her actions.

Sakura's shoulders were shaking, and Asuma averted his gaze. The girl's green eyes landed on Kakashi's face as they peeked between her bangs.

His face was without forehead protector. Of course. He'd given Sakura his own! She began unfastening it from around her head, but then Kakashi told her to just keep it. Back in the forest Sakura had used her own hitai ate to build the raft so as to navigate the river, and, as she'd been forced to vacate the boat so suddenly, it was now lost. Sakura frowned deeply, feeling ridiculed. What kind of ninja lost their own hitai ate?

"I guess you'll weasel another hitai ate out of the Hokage…" she told Kakashi gloomily.

Kakashi observed her quietly, suddenly ruffling her head until it looked like a peculiar bush. "Don't you want to greet your admirers, Sakura-chan? I think Naruto would really like to welcome his new heroine…" there was an awkward silence. "Even Sasuke seemed quite taken by your victory."

Sakura couldn't help it, she gave Kakashi a genuine smile.

"I get it, you know?"'she said, giggling. "You didn't have to go that far, Sensei."

Satisfied with the disappearance of her tears, Kakashi shoed Sakura towards the welcoming arms of her team.