Hello all! I started this chapter while I was still on vacation, even though I couldn't update it because I was without wifi : ( But hey, if I had wifi that meant I would have updated sooner!
This chapter is dedicated to: Peppei, Blackbird0, The Imperfect Me, and InARealPickle. InARealPickle, I plan to continue this story for a lengthy period of time (possibly all the way through the end of the Naruto series if I can), and I felt that all of the training was needed, because I'm working really hard on character development : ) I'm hoping to keep with that detail through the rest of the story! Thank you for your review though!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Chapter 37: The Final Part of the Chuunin Exams 1
Edited October 24th, 2015
Xxx Sakura xxX
This morning was starting off to be a lot like the morning of the first part of the chuunin exams. Kakashi had woken up early and had made breakfast before the boys had even gotten out of bed. Sakura had been awake, like usual, but she had been able to at least get a little bit of sleep.
She knew her body would need as much rest as possible, but that still didn't allow her to sleep more than a few hours. She had spent majority of the night going through different ways she could possibly beat Shikamaru-kun, and after her many hours of planning, she had felt like she had come up with the best plan she could think of.
Sitting across the island from Kakashi, Sakura drank her tea slowly. They still had an hour before they needed to be at the arena, and she could already hear Sasuke and Naruto moving.
"Nice vest Sakura-Chan," Kakashi said as his eye crinkled in amusement. "Did Shikamaru give that to you too?"
"You knew about the other vest?" Sakura asked with a questioning look in her eye. "I thought you were the one who had given me it."
"Of course I noticed when Shikamaru snuck through your window to put the vest there," Kakashi-sensei said, and she could hear the grin in his voice. "I had to make sure he didn't go through your unmentionable drawer."
"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura yelled as her cheeks blushed a fiery shade of red. "Shikamaru-kun would never!"
"Stay naïve and adorable forever," Kakashi said with a sigh as he patted the top of her head. Sakura pouted slightly before she felt Sasuke-kun walk into the room. "On a completely unrelated note, don't try to enter your room from your window anymore… I may or may not have put a strong genjutsu on your window sill."
Sakura decided to ignore her crazy sensei for now, and welcome Sasuke-kun into the kitchen. "Good morning Sasuke-kun," Sakura said with a smile. "Are you excited for you match against Neji?"
"Excited to kick his ass maybe," Sasuke said with a slight grin as he found a seat next to Sakura. "I think I figured out how to counteract his rotation."
"I'll be interested to know how you'll do that," Sakura said with her own grin. She had only covered the basics of what Neji could do, but she had been sure to tell Sasuke-kun about his rotation technique. She figured if anyone could figure out a way to disrupt Neji's rotation it would be Sasuke-kun.
"Morning," Naruto greeted everyone with a yawn as he entered the room. He looked more tired than well rested, but Sakura knew for sure he had gone to sleep early the night before.
"Hey Naruto-kun," Sakura said with a grin as he slid into the other seat next to her. Sakura offered him her tea cup and he grabbed it from her with a thankful nod. "Why are you so tired?"
"Pervy Sage trained me really hard yesterday," Naruto said with a frown and a sigh. "I wouldn't even be awake right now if I hadn't smelled Kakashi-sensei's yummy breakfast."
"Well it's a good thing that I made breakfast then," Kakashi said as he motioned for the group to grab the tea kettle, cups, and plates. Sakura grabbed the tea cups, Sasuke grabbed the plates, and Naruto grabbed the tea kettle as the four of them started to walk toward the dining room.
"I would have woken you up dobe," Sasuke said with a grin. "After I had finished eating breakfast of course."
"Of course you'd want to eat breakfast before waking me up!" Naruto said as he fought off another yawn. "That's not very nice Sasuke-teme. I bet Sakura-Chan would have woken me up for breakfast!"
"Yeah," Sakura said with a smile as she took a scoop of eggs and put them on her plate. "You guys need a good breakfast because you're going to be using a lot of energy. Both of your opponents aren't going to be easy."
"You're one to talk," Sasuke said with a snort. "Nara is smart, and I know it won't be an easy battle going up against him."
"Yeah," Naruto said with a frown. "Especially because it's Shikamaru-kun."
"I resent that," Sakura said as she took another spoonful of eggs. "I do not sound like that when I say his name… you sound like Ino when she's talking about Sasuke-kun."
"Speaking of Shikamaru though," Kakashi said with a gleam in his eye as he sipped his tea. "Has anyone noticed Sakura-Chan's new vest today?"
Oh no… Sakura could already see the curiosity in both of the boys' eyes at Kakashi-sensei's words. Kakashi-sensei had done this on purpose hadn't he?
"Oh yeah," Naruto said with a nod. "I like it! Though it's kind of a weird color… where'd ya get it Sakura-Chan?"
"… is that the Nara symbol?" Sasuke-kun accused with a frown as he pointed to the right corner of her new vest; Sakura internally panicked.
Her cheeks glowed red for a second time before she frowned at Kakashi-sensei. "You did that on purpose."
"Of course I did," Kakashi didn't even hide his amusement as he agreed with her.
"That's not very nice, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said ignoring both Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun's looks. "You don't do the same thing to Sasuke-kun or Naruto-kun."
"If Sasuke and Naruto had a girl who gave them an article of clothing for them to parade around in," Kakashi said still fighting off a grin, "I would tease them just as much as I tease you… probably more actually."
Xxx Sakura xxX
The walk to the arena was actually fairly short, and Sakura was more than happy about that fact. She, Sasuke-kun, and Naruto-kun had gotten a late start after the two had tried to grill her on who had given her the vest, and why.
Sakura loved their protective nature, because it meant that they cared, but really? It was a vest, and they had both given her an article of clothing, so really what was the big deal?
Sighing, Sakura continued her walk to the arena with Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun flanking her sides. It didn't take long for the arena to come into view because of the mass size of it. Sakura could already see the line for the spectators.
Finding the gate they were supposed to enter through, Sakura waved to both Kotetsu and Izumo as she passed them. Both were lazily standing beside the entrance, and it appeared they were both guarding the doors.
"Good luck Sakura-Chan," Izumo told her with a smile and a nod.
"Don't let your awesome sensei down Sakura-Chan!" Kotetsu said with a Gai-looking fist pump.
"I'll try not to let down Kakashi-sensei, Izumo, Gai-sensei, and Anko then," Sakura retorted with a grin, because really, she couldn't help it; Kotetsu was just so easy to tease.
Kotetsu pouted at her as they walked by, but Sakura ignored him. He knew she was just messing around with him.
As the two entered the arena, Sakura found herself surprised at the mass amount of people that were already there. With the line outside, Sakura knew that the arena was going to be packed. Looking to both Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun, she gave them a smile before walking forward to where the other genin participants were waiting.
Sakura was happy to observe she and her team weren't the last to arrive; she knew that Anko would be happy to note that as well. Gaara and his team had yet to arrive, and she could also see that Kabuto wasn't there yet.
Walking forward to find a spot near Shikamaru-kun, Sakura frowned when Sasuke-kun walked between them. Sakura sent him a questioning look, but Sasuke-kun only smirked smugly. Her teammates over protectiveness was something she was going to have to deal with over time. In turn however, they were going to have to deal with her over protectiveness of them.
Sighing to herself, Sakura sent Shikamaru-kun a smile before motioning to her vest. Shikamaru-kun couldn't hide his grin from her until Sasuke-kun stepped between them, and into her line of sight.
Sakura sent Sasuke-kun a glare, and she heard Naruto-kun's grunt of approval from her other side. Sakura shook her head. "Please tell me you aren't teaching Naruto-kun your language, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said with a frown as she felt more than saw Kabuto enter the arena.
Kabuto's chakra was still masked like it had been back in the forest, but Sakura had noticed that she could sense more of it. She wasn't sure if it was because he wasn't concealing it as well as he had before, or if her sensing abilities had improved that much. Watching as Kabuto appeared beside Naruto-kun, Sakura felt her stomach twist at the grin he sent them.
"Good morning Team Seven," he said in a chipper tone. When his eyes landed on Sakura his grin widened; it caused a chill to run down Sakura's shine. "Hello again Sakura-Chan."
"Kabuto-san," Sakura said with a nod. Really she wasn't so sure why he made her so nervous, but after the last time she had seen him, Sakura was more wary of him now.
"Are you nervous Kabuto?" Naruto asked with a grin and his usual exuberant self. Sakura could feel Sasuke-kun shift beside her; he felt her discomfort as well, but chose not to say anything.
"A bit actually," Kabuto said while his eyes scanned the arena. "This is the farthest I've ever made on the exams. I hope I can make it this time!"
Sakura's eyes scanned the arena as well, and noticed the many anbu members that littered the arena. Of course there would be anbu members here, but Sakura was surprised at the sheer amount of them.
"You're going up against one of the genin from Suna, right?" Naruto questioned as he looked from side to side. "Maybe you'll get lucky again and not have to fight anyone to get to the next round!"
"Maybe," Kabuto said, and Sakura noticed the amused tone he said it with. Raising an eyebrow, Sakura looked to Sasuke-kun in question to see if he had heard it, and he nodded in response. Something didn't feel right to her, Sakura thought as she felt the Suna genin arrive in the arena.
Temari and Kankuro's chakra were both easy to read, and surprisingly so was Gaara's. Gaara's chakra was flickering, and it put Sakura on edge.
When the three of them walked into the arena, Sakura felt more than saw Gaara's look. It was definitely a heated look, and Sakura felt like he was the predator, and she was his prey.
She could feel Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, and Shikamaru-kun shift to glare at Gaara, but she knew that their glares would mean nothing. Gaara's eyes stayed on her as he and his siblings walked to the other side of the line of participants; she thought that Kankuro and Temari might have done that on purpose.
Did they know about the incident at the hospital? Just thinking about it caused Sakura to freeze in fear. If she were to go up against Gaara, she would be facing him again. Even though the thought was a scary one, Sakura knew she would rather face Gaara than have Shikamaru-kun do it.
Steeling her nerves, Sakura scanned the arena again until her eyes landed on someone she knew very well. Kakashi-sensei was slouched in the back of one of the rows near an exit. His slouch was something she was expecting, but seeing him talking to an anbu member was not. The sight set Sakura slightly on edge, but a voice distracted her from her thinking.
"Hello everyone," Sarutobi greeted the crowd as he stood on his spot near the Kazekage. "We welcome you to the final part of the chuunin exams held by Konoha. Please find your seats so that we can get started with the matches!"
A loud roar of approval was met with the Hokage's words, and Sakura felt her stomach drop a little. She wasn't going to be fighting until the last match of the round, though, and she wished she would have been the first one. She would have been more refreshed and ready for her next match.
"Welcome everyone," a person in front of her stated as he addressed the eleven of them. "I am Genma, and I will be giving you guys some rules before we begin the matches. The arena is different, but the rules are the same as in the preliminary matches. You will fight each other until one of you dies, or acknowledges defeat. But if I decide that the match is over, I'll step in and stop it. Understood?"
The group of eleven collectively nodded, and the instructor sighed. "Good," he said. "Now to the first fight. Kankuro Sabaku and Kabuto Yakushi you two stay while the rest of you go to the waiting area. It's up those stairs to the balcony."
Sakura started to head toward the stairs that the instructor had mentioned. Feeling Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun fall in line beside her, Sakura allowed her stiff shoulders to loosen slightly. Even with Gaara behind her, Sakura still felt a little safer with her teammates beside her.
"Good luck Kabuto!" Naruto cheered to the silver headed shinobi as they continued to walk. She didn't say anything to Kabuto as she passed him, but she did nod. She figured it would be rude to not say or do anything, but she still didn't feel comfortable around him.
Kabuto grinned back at Naruto, and the grin caused a shiver to run down Sakura's spine. "Thanks Naruto-kun," he said back.
Sakura sped up slightly and she was the first of the group to reach the stairs. Taking the stairs slowly, Sakura heard the crowd go wild as the instructor signaled the beginning of the exams.
To say Sakura was curious about the two who were going to be fighting would be an understatement. She had not gotten to see Kabuto fight during the preliminary rounds, and Sakura was curious as to what he could do. She had also wanted to see Kankuro's jutsu again; the idea of chakra strings was one that appealed to her.
As she reached the top of the stairs, Sakura almost froze as she saw Gaara standing in the waiting room alone. Of course he would choose to transport himself up to the waiting room with his sand instead of walking.
Sakura ignored the red head as she headed to the opposite side of the balcony. Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun followed behind her quickly, but shot Gaara a glare first.
"You think Kabuto is going to beat the Suna genin?" Naruto asked as he leaned against the railing. Sakura shrugged before Shikamaru-kun leaned casually against the wall beside Naruto. Both Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun had left no room to stand beside Sakura, and Sakura knew the two had done that on purpose. Shino stood beside Shikamaru, though he did not lean against the wall.
"None of us have actually seen Kabuto-san fight, Naruto," Shino said with a sigh. "We don't know who the stronger fighter will be."
"My guess is on Kabuto," Sasuke said quietly as he watched the two stare at each other below. Sakura couldn't help herself as she looked to Sasuke-kun in question. She knew he could feel her wariness of Kabuto, but she wanted to know his reasoning.
"We haven't seen what he can do yet," Sasuke said in explanation. "But I have a feeling that there's a lot more to him than meets the eye."
"His chakra," Sakura murmured just loud enough for the Konoha ninja around her to hear. "It's weird… not like a genin's."
Before anyone could say anything else, Genma, who stood with a senbon in his mouth, looked to Kankuro and Kabuto. "Now for the first match. Kabuto are you ready?"
"Yes," Kabuto said while a smile showed on his face. He didn't look nervous any more, just excited. It added to the nervous feeling in Sakura's belly.
"Kankuro are you ready?" The instructor asked while looking to him.
Kankuro's arms were crossed and his expression could only be described as resentful. Watching Kankuro huff, he shook his head at the instructor.
"I withdraw from this match," Kankuro said and left no room for argument. Hearing those words caused Sakura to twirl around and look to the genin around her in question; it seemed all of Konoha nin were surprised.
"If Kankuro forfeits, then Kabuto is the winner of this match," the instructor said, much to the surprise and displeasure of the crowd.
Sakura herself was surprised at what was happening before her. This seemed… almost too good to be true for Kabuto. He had passed by the preliminaries without fighting anyone, and now he would be passing by the first round of the final exams without having to fight anyone yet again.
It made Sakura especially wary, because now Kabuto would be fighting the winner of Sasuke-kun's match, which Sakura assumed would be Sasuke-kun. That meant that Kabuto would have all of his chakra when facing Sasuke-kun.
"Since you have forfeit the match," the instructor continued over the booing of the crowd. "I'm going to need you to go up to the stands and sit with the rest of the audience."
Sakura watched the look of panic flitter across Kankuro's face. "No, please," Kankuro said as he recovered quickly; his panicked look was now replaced with a small bit of worry. "I'd like to cheer on my siblings from the balcony."
The instructor raised an eyebrow, but then nodded. "Very well," Genma said with a shrug as he flicked the senbon in his mouth. "I mean you made it all the way here, I guess that would be alright."
Kankuro seemed to shrink in relief and Sakura heard Temari's sigh from the other side of the balcony. Sakura frowned as she watched both Kabuto and Kankuro head toward the balcony stairs.
She looked to Sasuke-kun who was standing beside her, and she shook her head. Sasuke-kun looked a little confused at what had just happened, but he also looked ready for his own match. Sakura noticed that Sasuke-kun actually seemed to be shaking.
"You're not scared are you teme?" Naruto questioned from beside Sakura. Sakura watched as Sasuke-kun smirked while looking across the balcony to Neji.
"Not even, Dobe," Sasuke said. "I'm shaking in excitement… it's been a while since I've had a decent person to fight against."
"We fight all the time, jerk!" Naruto accused with a frown. "And Sakura-Chan fights with you too!"
"We spar dobe," Sasuke said with a shake of his head. "You, Sakura, and me; we all spar, but that also means that we hold back just enough so we don't really hurt each other. This fight against the Hyuga… I won't have to hold back. I've already had a taste of what a Hyuga can do when I faced Hinata. Plus, I have a bone to pick with the Hyuga."
"Bone to pick?" Sakura asked with a frown. She really hoped she wasn't the cause of this…
"Yeah," Sasuke said with a firm nod. It amazed Sakura to see Sasuke-kun so openly determined. "He seems to think that you can only be as strong as you are destined to be. I think that's bullshit. Anyone can get stronger if they work hard enough."
Naruto and Sakura both had to smile at Sasuke's reaction. He had really grown in the last few months. If she had asked him that question when they had first become a team, Sakura wasn't so sure his answer would be the same.
"I need Sasuke Uchiha and Neji Hyuga down here for the second match," the instructor called to the balcony.
"Good luck Sasuke-kun," Sakura said with a smile.
"Yeah," Naruto agreed with a nod. "Kick his ass, teme!"
"Hn," Sasuke said with a nod as he watched Neji walk toward the stairwell. Sasuke rolled his eyes before following him.
"You think he'll be okay, Naruto-kun?" Sakura asked as she watched Sasuke-kun's back head down the stairwell. After only a few moments, Sakura could now see Kabuto and Kankuro.
"Yeah," Naruto said with a nod. "Teme'll be fine."
"You're not worried about Sasuke-kun, are you Sakura-Chan?" Kabuto asked as it seemed like he appeared right behind her. Sakura froze for a second before shaking off the awful feeling that was building in her stomach.
"No," Sakura said with a shake of her head. "Sasuke-kun will do well."
"Well you should be the one to know, right Sakura-Chan?" Kabuto asked with a slight smirk. "You have trained with both of these guys right?"
"How did you know-" Naruto-kun was cut off as Sakura watched Neji and Sasuke-kun arrive at the bottom of the stairwell. The crowd was roaring with excitement, and Sakura wasn't sure if she actually wanted Naruto-kun's previous question answered or not.
She had remembered the cards Kabuto had of the other participants in the first part of the chuunin exams. She didn't want to know where he had gotten his information from, especially if it meant he had been spying on her.
"Either way," Sakura said after the roaring from the crowd had slowed down. "I think this will be a good match. Both Sasuke-kun and Neji have a lot to prove."
"The match can go either way," Shikamaru-kun drawled while he slid into the open spot beside Sakura. Sakura allowed herself to calm down, even slightly; she had been nervous Kabuto would be standing next to her. "It all depends on what they've learned this past month."
Focusing on the two down at the arena, Sakura watched as both Neji and Sasuke-kun stood across from each other. The instructor stood in the middle of the two, and nodded to each.
"Neji, Sasuke," Genma spoke while giving both of them a final look. "Are you two ready for your match?"
"Hn," Neji said with a smug smirk and a look of arrogance.
"Hn," Sasuke said with a nod and a look of determination.
"I'm going to assume that means yes," the instructor said, and Sakura found herself sympathizing with him in that moment; if she didn't know Sasuke-kun so well she wouldn't be able to understand what "Hn" meant either. "Let's begin the second match then!"