And here it is the last chapter of the Chunin exams! enjoy

Naruto CH45: Chunin, Cherry Blossom Amongst Quick Sand

Sakura moved back, skipping with a lightness that wasn't there a month ago, leaving Garra's giant tendril of sand to come down on nothing but abandoned ground as Sakura leapt away. She smirked at her first successful manoeuvre, a true confident flame beginning to blossom in her chest.

Garra, arms folded, standing like a statue in the centre of the circling sand frowned when he saw that the little pest hadn't already been crushed. He was hoping to have this waste of his time over and done with so he could move onto more worth wild prey, like that Haku, Sasuke or "Naruto". The longer he squanders time with her the longer he's gonna have to wait before he can feel alive again. So he willed his sand to pursue and catch her.

Sakura's foot touched the ground though she didn't stop moving, wanting to keep her distance from the sand and instantly realized she made the correct move as the sand didn't stop either. Like an animal the sand moved like an apex predator and seemed to leap at her, it missed, hitting the ground behind the member of Team Seven. Garra frowned at her and more tendrils shot out from the sand circling his feet.

Sakura ducked under the first, feeling some grains brush over her neck, she vaulted over the second, the moment she touched the ground she flipped over the third. She saw a wave coming straight at her and began flipping back as the sand pounced and pounced after her, almost like a frog and she was the fly that was only just out of its grasp. She gritted her teeth and jumped back with all her strength, the sand briefly brushing at her toes, she reached a good twenty feet in the air before landing way across the field.

Garra's sand retreated back to him, Sakura wondered if maybe she was out of his range and that's why he hadn't decided to keep chasing after her. Then again perhaps it was just a deception to lure her into a false sense of security by making her underestimate the reach of his sand. Either way, Sakura wasn't gonna just run in, besides she had a plan. Considering she was still alive right now, seemed her training was already proofing fruitful.

The sand swirling around Garra's feet seemed to grow as restless as him, the look on his face grew darker, a dry grunt leaving his closed mouth. He unfolded his arms, removing himself from his perfect mimicry of a statue into that of someone actually looking ready to fight. "How annoying" said Garra, the tone of his voice more like the growl of some animal denied water for a week, "you shouldn't be allowed to live, you aren't even worth killing, I'm only wasting my time because I have to".

Sakura scowled, this guy really thought that low of her? What an asshole! It was bad enough he was trying to kill her but to say he doesn't even find her worth killing and that she didn't deserve to live was just felt plain insulting!

The sand around Garra began to rise up "why did I have to get stuck with you when there are such other more worthy opponents, with lives greater, power greater, wills and spirits so much more worth crushing!". He began lifting his hands and the sand seemed to follow, rising higher along with the sense of murder Garra began radiating. "Those lives are what I need! to proof my reason for leaving, only with the death of others may I go on living, only with the death of the strong at my hand can I prove my existence to mean something, to prove that it is superior".

Sakura was trying to focus, trying to think of her plan but...she couldn't, this guy, the stuff he was saying it was all just so fucked up. What he had said at the preliminaries was nothing compared to the rant he was going on right now.

"Because I needed to prove my existence was greater than his"

That statement had been delivered, cold and clipped, that Garra had shown everyone he had a few screws loose, but this guy right in front of Sakura right now was full blown deranged. His entire life revolved around the deaths of others, the stronger the better, good guys, bad guys for someone like this such things didn't matter. He feeds of death, takes giving it out as his purpose in life, he was the grim reaper of the sand and right now Sakura felt like she had been underestimating

him this whole time.

Underestimating just how truly mad he was.

Garras lifted his head and his blank green eyes glared out from the darkness around them, locking with Sakura's. She gritted her teeth as Garra's urge to end her wrapped itself around her neck like a noose, cold sweat began to emerge from her skin, her muscles locked and she fought with all her will to overcome it. It was so vicious, so true, so unfettered she could hardly believe it was human, even Zabuza's intent to kill felt more human than this. Though still, Sakura had stared into the eyes of things that made this seem far weaker.

For a moment three sets of eyes flashed across her mind, each pair reminded her that she had faced worse than this.

The first were murky yellow with slitted pupils, those eyes had cut through her. One look into them showed her how she would die and it all had felt so real that for a moment she thought she actually had. Only the sound of her heart thundering in her ears eventually made her realize that she was still alive.

The second were red, ruby or scarlet depending on how they looked at you, but neither shade took away from their intensity with those three tomoes in each eye. These eyes never looked at her directly with the intent to harm, but she had seen them when they had the intent to hurt someone. She had felt the killing intent of the man they belonged to and it was like the wrath of a firestorm. The kind that burns the life away from the face of the earth, a true promise to kill no matter the collateral. To this very day Sakura was glad that guy seemed to be on their side and not against them, but she will forever remember that feeling.

Then there was the last one, like a mix of the previous two, a slitted pupil surrounded by crimson, showing and expressing two things, rage and hatred. Those eyes found themselves in the sockets of her own teammate but they were not his, those had been the eyes of the Kyubbi she had starred into, she hadn't known that at the time but now she did and she'd felt a taste of its fury.

So Sakura would be damned if she was gonna freeze up to anything that was less than those standards, a Sannin, a mystery and a natural disaster, if you ain't at least touching that then Sakura wasn't gonna stay down under your killing intent. And like that Garra's intent slipped beneath her as she rose above it.

She scowled at Garra with nothing but defiance "well if that's how you choose to live your life then fine!" she didn't say this, she shouted it with all her attitude "but I won't let!" she pointed, stabbing her hand forward " I am not letting you kill me just so you can feel better about yourself!". Her pointing hand curled into a shaking first as she glared angrily at Garra in a way that he was clearly not used to "and I very much don't like the way you're talking down to me either!".

Garra stared blankly at Sakura for a moment behind his restless sand, a dry groan leaving his lips until he finally said "you talk too much".

Sakura's face curled and morphed into total disbelief before giving rise to her completely unfettered anger "WHAT!? You're seriously gonna say that to me after you just went on a rant about the meaning of your existence!".

"Silence!" demanded Garra, his voice carried as less of a shout and more as a harsh whisper as his sand spiked forward, whipping across the field in fast-moving tendrils. Sakura's anger melted away in the face of the quickly approaching danger, settling into a cool expression with her eyes sharp and refusing to blink.

"Wait for it" she ordered herself, ignoring every instinct that demanded she leg it, her hand gripping the objects in her pouch. "Can't move a second too soon" she dipped, her legs bending as Garra's sand was already half towards her. A bead of sweat crawled down her face and her jaw clenched, feeling like she was gonna snap a tooth as the pressure of the sands approach began to set in, like the tip of a knife to the back of her neck.

The sand was only a few meters away, splitting apart into five tendrils, opening up on her like a flower before striking down like spears "NOW!". The sand smashed down, exploding like water over the ground, trying to crush Sakura under its preternatural power. But it was all for nothing as the young Konoha girl was no longer there and was rolling to her feet after a pretty hasty leap for safety.

Garra frowned and willed his sand to chase her.

Sakura was not remaining still and was already running, she could feel her heart pounding in her chest, whether it was from all this constant moving with little time for rest or the fact that she nearly just got crushed she couldn't tell. Either way it felt like her heart was trying to beat itself senseless against her sternum. She reached into her pouch and removed kunai's, armed with paper bombs and threw them at Garra, lighting up straight away.

Garra's eyes widened the faintest amount, the sand hunting after Sakura immediately disengaged from her to catch and snuff out the tags. Though Sakura wasn't done.

She kept circling around Garra, coming to his right and then threw more kunai and shuriken, some with paper bombs, Garras sand raised to defend him and the murderous boy started looking even more irritated by this. "This will not work against me" stated Garra, as small piles of sand jumped up and deflected the throwing stars and knives, leaving them to fall uselessly to the ground.

Sakura smirked "we'll see" there seemed to be a slight showing of interest to that in Garra's eyes. Sakura jumped in the air, her hands weaved through seals and her cheeks bulged 'Water Style: Great Water Ball Jutsu!' Sakura unleashed a jet stream of water that collected into a huge ball not a moment later. Garra's eyes widened at the sight of the Jutsu, an image of Naruto briefly flashed through his mind and his sand wrapped itself quickly around him in a protective shell.

The water Jutsu washed over Garra's sand like a waterfall over spear sharp rocks. Garra stood in the darkness of his ultimate defence, his brief pang of excitement at the showing of the Jutsu gone. It was nothing but a shadow of Naruto's, his clearly had more power behind it during his match with Sasuke. More size and mass, that would have at least maybe have made him feel a tremor or two inside his iron proof shell. Right now he felt nothing, saw nothing, he could hear the sound of Sakura's Jutsu like a frightening rainstorm, an alien and very new sound to someone like him who grew up in the harsh desert.

Suddenly for Garra, the darkness began to light up, his stony green eyes could make out his sand built walls, the sound of heavy rain being overthrown by the sharp hiss of lit fuses. Garra's head craned this way and that pinpointing the sources of the familiar sounds, his eyes widened in true shock, his mouth parted with a gasp as the almost unfamiliar sense of danger spiked into him.

All around him, poking out from his walls of sand were paper bombs.

Mulitple sheets of yellow with thick formulas on them, burning brighter than any tags Garra has ever seen before. Garra ground his teeth and swung his arms out "AHH!" the bombs were sucked into the sand and ejected out, carried on small clumps of sand that erupted through the soaked surface. They got a foot or two at maximum before they detonated in a flashy spectacle of explosions that covered the ground for a good dozen meters around Garra.

Sakura had to cover her ears and close her eyes to endured they explosions even from the safe distance she was at. She opened her eyes and saw nothing but a thick cloud of dust and sand in the air, too thick to peer through and see if she had gotten Garra.

"Maybe you are worth killing after all"

Sakura tensed all over as the rough voice left the cloud, she felt shocked at the fact that he managed to endure those paper bombs. The same tags that Naruto said a single one could take down half a house if used correctly and right now Garra's just tanked half a dozen of them!?

The dust began to either part or gravitate to a single source. A pile of sand could be seen in the centre, it was falling away and from it came Garra. Not a scratch on him, no change in him except one thing, the look in his eyes. They seemed a little brighter, less dead and more alive, and Sakura didn't like it.

"You came close to actually hitting me, if I hadn't reacted quick those bombs would have detonated inside my shell" said Garra, his eyes squinted slightly "no one has ever gotten that close since..." his voice seemed to grow distant before he fell silent.

Garra's fist clenched and his body shook, he grunted like he was in some kind of pain, his hands reached up to clutch his head like it was about to split open and he was doing everything he could to make sure that would not happen. "Since!..." he croaked out, beginning to curl forward, eyes wide in something like agony and horror as tortured memories began to plaster themselves over his vision. The sand around him began to convulse, like a living thing suffering from spasms and Sakura backed off, not willing to attack in an unknown and disturbing situation like this.

All that came to a halt, the sand stopped moving and fell into a still ring around Garra's feet. Garra ceased trembling and like his sand became still. "Yashamaru..." he whispered, to himself and only himself, as his eyes lost all their coldness and murder for a brief moment before like an open bottle beneath a tap were filled back up once again and he straightened up. He stared straight, his face set back to normal and his cold gaze unwavering once more, though he did not fold his arms.

He lifted an arm up, hand open and his sand pulsed slightly. Sakura tensed at the change in him. "Yes" said Garra, his voice sounding less dry, something now in it, some kind of emotion "you will be worth crushing after all!" he declared, slamming his hand shut, the briefest shadow of a smile curling his lips. At this the sand exploded out from Garra like a fierce wave.

Sakura shivered slightly, an ice cold chill running down her spine. She turned and began running away from the sand wave that was hot on her tail. A tentacle of sand burst out from the wave and raced forward, it zipped passed Sakura and turned for her to knocked her into the crushing wave. She evaded left, the grainy punch missing her by a breath. Sakura looked over her shoulder and saw the sand churning with the intent of spewing more sandy tendrils to drag her into its dry avalanche.

She reached into her pouch and removed a kunai and some wire and worked fast with her hands to merge the two. Tendrils burst out, about as thick as vines and Sakura threw her kunai embedded it into the stadium wall and pulled herself up and away. Leaving the ropes of sand to grasp at nothing but open space.

Sakura stuck to the stadium wall in a crouch, watching as Garra's sand returned to him in a restless circle as he stared up at her with his pastel green eyes. She had one more plan she could use, if this didn't work then she would call it quits cause she doesn't have anything else in her arsenal that she thinks will let her get in close to this guy. Sakura took a deep breath and ran along the wall and jumped into one of the small patches of trees that cover the rim of the field, hiding from Garra's sight.

Garra growled in annoyance, the distance was too far for his sand to really be truly effective, sure it could reach but it would grow really thin and weak. Plus he didn't feel like wasting chakra on her to make more sand, Garra felt that what he had right now would service. So he moved, he didn'trun, or hurryingly walked, he just casually moved forward like he was on a perfectly normal walk, gradually shortening the distance between him and the tree line.


Kankuro smirked, he leaned back into his stadium chair and laughed "gotta hand it to this chick" he said, grabbing his sister's attention "she's actually managed to make Garra put in a bit of effort for a change, he's actually moving and not just standing there".

Temari smirked "yeah, seems she even nearly hit him with those paper bombs" her smirked dropped slightly as a thoughtful look crossed over her face. She turned back to look at her youngest brother "I've never seen someone get that close before, I wonder if Garra's slipping".

Kankuro shrugged "maybe, but I don't think so, seems that girl just had a good plan in mind. Plus she had the advantage of seeing some of what he could do and a month to plan for some way to attack him",

Temari nodded, seeing his point. Her brother's defence and power is amazing, for most of her life it always felt impregnable, iron-clad, seems like that was a false and childish belief because right now it seemed even Garra's defence was not flawless. It could be slipped by, wormed through, breached by having it accidentally sweep up items.

Temari wondered if that was the onlyway through his defence or were theremaybe other ways?


Garra stopped a good dozen meters from the trees. Nothing but a dozen or so green trees, bushes, patches of grass with long-bladed clumps sticking out and shadows. No sign or feeling of Sakura anywhere, but he knew she would eventually make herself known, he could feel she was plotting against him, she had something planned and he was curious about how close she might get this time around.

Garra perked up when, from the top of the trees, shuriken came flying out spinning in the air like little black saw blades. They came flying out in all different direction but had clear signs that they were under some manipulation when they started curving down towards Garra. The sand-genins dark eyes saw the thin reflections of ninja wire attached to the throwing stars. Garra turned his attention away from the projectiles, following the wire down to the trees.

The shuriken were only meters away when Garras sand raced to shield him from harm, clumps, spikes and tendrils of earthy grains getting embedded with the ebony ninja tool. The sand didn't let the weapons fall but instead began gathering them all together.

The sand right before him started to morph around the two collections of throwing stars. Two sand crafted hands formed, holding the Shuriken between their fingers before arms grew, then a body and a head. The suitable enough formed sand clone then flicked the projectiles into the little patch of woodland on a focused location.

Nothing happened.

Seems he must have missed her or she was taking cover behind a tree, makes sense no one like her would be brave or stupid enough to allow herself to get riddled with shuriken. Suddenly out from behind a shuriken dotted tree came Sakura, in a full sprint straight for Garra, a fiouse glare in her eyes with a kunai in hand.

The sand boy merely cocked his head at her, before he sent a thick rope of sand that slithered through the air to meet her in the same time it took for him to return her shuriken. Sakura screamed, her brief attempt dodge it falling short as it slammed into her and began wrapping around her, leaving only her head exposed, her teeth bared and brow crossed as she tried to struggle out from the sand.

Garra stared at her with placid eyes, the bored and unimpressed look doing nothing to lessen the dark intensity of them as they stared the helpless the Haruno down like a rabbit before a wolf. Garra willed his sand to tighten a small amount, the order causing Sakura to gasp as the sand began making it hard for her to breathe. The sand-nin stepped forward, barely closing any noticeable distance between the boy and his captured prey.

"For a moment you made me feel alive" said Garra, lifting his hand, his fingers twitching with the barely held urge to crush the life out of the girl "but that is now gone" his hand began to close. Sakura began wheezing, her ability to breath now taken from her "but you can give me some of that feeling again with your extinguished life" and so Garra began to clench, slowly, his eyes heavily focused and sucking in the last little moments of Sakura's life.

Sakura thrashed in the hold of the sand, unable to scream her pain with the sand not letting her lungs be provided with the air to do so, tears caught at the edges of her eyes lids.

Garra gazed passed his hand at her "now die!" he demanded before slamming it shut 'Sand Coffin!' at his command the sand compressed with the kind of pressure designed to pulverize rocks. Sakura managed one final wheeze as she wascrush, her body erupting into...smoke. Garra's eyes widened and the quietest "what?" left him.


Up above Kakashi eye smiled "not a bad quality Shadow Clone".


Like when he first stepped before the tree line shuriken came shooting out. Though Garra's mortal mind may still be reeling back his sand was not held back by such human things as confusion, it just reacted to protect its master, blocking and deflecting shuriken from all directions as Garra refocused. A very nasty and displeased scowl crossing his face "this is getting annoying!".

Sakura stepped out from behind a tree, her face a blank canvas with sharply focused green eyes. Garra instantly sent out his hand to capture her, his sand shifting into a form similar to a claw.

She lifted a hand and formed a ram seal. The sand arms began to slow, darken and swell. Garra's face scrunched up slightly at the sight until the sand began to visible leak with water. "What the?" said Garra, confused on how his sand, his sand! Of all sand could have any water inside it.

By the time the sand was even a meter in front of Sakura the attempt, it made to grab her was laughable, Sakura casually avoided it and made a sprint straight for Garra. The red-headed boy performed a quicksand coffin on his sand, squeezing water out of it like a sponge, the sound like a wet boom and the sand was quick to pick up the chase on the blossom girl. Not a few seconds later Garra again saw his sand growing heavy with water and Sakura was outpacing it, he was gonna make it eject the water again when sakura made another ram seal.

BOOM!

Garras soaked sand exploded and as if the detination of his sand arm was the clue he needed, it all became clear.

Sakura roared, a kunai in her hand, most of Garra's sand was behind her in soaked scattered pieces, his defence paper thing compared to before and now was the time to give it everything she had! Sakura moved as fast her legs would carry her, her bob cut hair completely pushed back by her air cutting strike into the mouth of the vulnerable beast, her emerald green eyes burning with nothing but a desire to win, to prove her worth. She wanted to, after this, to go to Naruto and Sasuke and tell them how she beat this guy, how she had won and that their efforts on her weren't wasted one bit.

For herself and for her teammates she was gonna make that dream come true.

Garra's remaining thin ring of sand struck out at her and she applied chakra to her feet grinding to a halt much faster than if she hadn't, the sand attacked like a spear trap. Sakura was briefly a pink and red blur before she was gone from Garra's panicked animal stare. She was behind Garra, his shoulders tensed, there was a gap in his ring of sand now and Sakura was already passed it, he spun around, his pastel greens alight with shock, panic and disbelief.

Sakura charged him and drove her kunai into him, right into his stomach with all her strength, built up momentum and weight. Garra grunted, his form stiff and shaking for a second before he hunched forward on her, his chin coming to rest on her shoulder and his sand ceased thrashing. She could hear him raggedly breathing beside her, as much of a lunatic as this guy was and as much as he wanted to kill her she was not ready to kill him.

"I see" said Garra, Sakura was shocked he could even muster the will to speak right now "your clone was carrying your tags when I crushed it".

Sakura was now beginning to sweat, he was talking far too well for someone who just got stabbed like he did. Sakura moved back, or she tried to, Garra's hand lashed out and grabbed her forearm, tight! Not letting her retract her blade as he remained hunched over.

"Hehehe, not just explosives either, you much have had some tags in there containing seals filled with water, clever".

Sakura was now furiously trying to get her arm free, but Garra's grip was too tight, it felt to be getting tighter and tighter.

"I was truly wrong about you" admitted Garra "you are not as weak, or as worthless as I first thought, I have not felt this alive in so long" this confession and praise of her did not make Sakura feel anything other than chills. "And if someone like you can give me this thrill, this sensation of life then what could someone like Naruto give me!?" Garra's grip tightened to the point that Sakura felt like a bone was gonna give. Garra's head snapped up to her, a wild grin on his face and his eyes bulging wide, looking ready to pop out of their sockets.

It was then Sakura saw to her despair that her attack did truly nothing to him. From where there should be a deep cut there was cracks, like the kind one would see in broken pottery. The area she stabbed looked like Garra's stomach but it was not, all the chips fell away into sand leaving a crack with her kunai lodged between. Sakura ground her teeth "damn it!" she seethed out, her eyes burned wet with an urge to cry at her failure to beat him "sand armour!?".

"Yes, this is my true ultimate defence" said Garra his grip becoming borderline vice-like, a low snicker leaving his clenched teeth "the sand armour!". True terror began to curl inside Sakura when she saw something, inside Garra, her blood seemed to run cold as she felt like something inhuman was looking at her from within him. It became more apparent when one of Garra's eyes looked to shift for a moment, pastel green became replaced by dry yellow, his pupil morphing into a diamond shape with four dots taking the points of a square around it.

Sakura felt her mind recall a similar moment with Naruto "is this guy like Naruto!?"

The strange change in the boy's eye melted out from the centre and away and his eye was back to normal but he still laughed and grinned at her, coming close to her face. "I think mother will love the taste of your blood when I squeeze the life from you!". Garra ceased laughing when in the next moment of his statement Sakura slammed her broad forehead right into his nose with all her might. It may have hurt her more than it hurt him, evident by the red splatter now on her forehead, but it did daze Garra enough for Sakura to twist her arm free and create some distance.

Sakura lifted her hand, Garra's eyes found her, her mouth parted "I forf-!"

"NO!" roared Garra violently and tendrils of sand rushed out faster than any had before, they wrapped themselves around Sakura's raised arm before she could even say her next syllable. The next instant Garra's hand clenched and there was a piecing crunch!, Garra didn't even give the girl's body the time to tell her brain all the bones that just got broken and crushed as she swept off her feet.

Some girls often dream of being swept off their feet by a dark and handsome man, never do they dream of being swept off their feet by their broke arm by a deranged psychopath with what seems like a mommy complex.

Sakura slammed into the stadium wall, so hard the very concrete cracked beneath her forming a pattern like a spider web. Sakura was unfortunately not a durably built as her two teammates and can't just shrug such a thing off, she gagged as the air was beaten out of her, she defiantly felt like multiple somethings broke, her head cracked against the stone rattling her brain in her head and swirling her vision into a nauseating blur as she fell.

She felt herself hit the ground chest first, her eyes blurry, mouth wheezing to suck in air, she could make out colour and shapes with her swirling and darkening vision. She gritted her teeth and for the first time noticed how much she could taste blood, her back burned and her crushed forearm and hand did nothing to send her pain many times worse than that. Sakura noticed a yellowish brown blob encroaching towards her "shit!" it was Garra's sand coming to finish her.

She needed to call the match, she wanted to call the match! But she couldn't speak, her body too busy with the task of breathing, her mind still in a whirlwind of confused thoughts, fading consciousness only kept at bay by unwelcomed bursts of pain throughout her broken body. "n-need to...call... match" thought Sakura, her mouth trying and failing to form words to speak.

The fuzzy image of the sand began to rise above her, tears began to form in her eyes as her end began to block out the light "no this can't be the end" she thought. Her mind beginning to recall her life, a young toddler, her earliest memories, her dad's jovial face always laughing, talking and lighthearted, her mother always kind and caring but much more serious. The first time she was bullied and how low and worthless it made her feel, shy, alone, no one to call a friend only a world of bullies who wanted to do nothing but belittle her day after day for her forehead, because of how she looked.

Ino, her first friend, her first rival and now friend again with a rivalry attachment at the end. She opened up her world, broke her out of her shell and brought light into her stinking isolated world, she gave her confidence when she had none and made her love her forehead, told her to show it off and not hide it all the time. For what Ino did for her Sakura would forever be grateful, she felt like such an idiot for putting their friendship at risk all over a boy, she never got to tell Ino that now she never will.

Tears began to make warm wet trails across her face.

Team Seven appeared in her mind.

Sasuke, she always fawned over him, cooed and worshipped him, longed to have him for herself thinking she could mend him, fix him. Thinking that just if he had her and she had him they could be the perfect cute couple. She thought that was what he needed, what he wanted but just didn't know yet, she thought he was alone and was refusing to let anyone in. She was so wrong, she didn't know a damn thing about him she was just being a stupid girl that was getting on his nerves and pushing him away with her forceful and obvious overbearing affection for him.

Naruto, the idiot, the moron, the class clown, the guy with the worst scores in Academy history, the blur that sat by Sasuke. She hated him for no reason, she hated him cause everyone else seemed to and she never bothered to find out why, she just assumed they were right to so and that was that. She was so wrong about him, she never bothered to find out why and see what he was like. When she did get to know him what she found out amazed her, he was amazing, not as a ninja but as a person, he was kind and welcomed her in even after how much of a mean bitch she was to him. Sakura didn't feel like she deserved such treatment from him when looking back.

Kakashi-Sensei, he was such a perv with his books, his terrible punctuality and shitty excuses for it but Sakura couldn't imagine herself having any other Jonin-Sensei. It was honestly his huge faults that gave her hope that even she could be an amazing ninja like him one day.

Her teammates had let her in, accepted her, cared for her even when she didn't deserve it. They stood with her and even as they were running ahead of her they held their hands back to her and pulled her forward with them. Kakashi-Sensei put her through the ringer any time he could, Sasuke taught her all the medical ninjutsu he could, Naruto introduced her to a Sannin that was many times more friendlier (and sometimes creepier) than the first one. Those guys filled her with a true sense of belonging, a level of value she never felt before.

Sakura right now just wished she could say thank you to them.

Sand like a huge hand hovered over her and she followed it with glazed over puffy red eyes, the proctor distantly called the match, Garra didn't seem to even vaguely acknowledge that before the claw-shaped sand wave swept over Sakura. Genma starred with a frown, Garra looked at him with a smirk but all was blow away into shock when Garra's sand exploded away. Garra, Genma and the whole stadium turn to the sound of static.

Standing before a barely concousions Sakura on a ground covered in scattered clumps of pulsing sand was the copy-ninja Kakashi Hatake, his left-hand sheathed in thrashing lighting. His single visible eye sharp like a tempered blade and despite how much of his face was covered it was all doing nothing to hide how very close to the burning red edge he was right now. He seemed to struggle to will his lightning blade to fizzle out "didn't you hear Genma call the match?".

Garra coked his head slightly, his hollow but intense gaze unwavering at the question "she failed, she lost, she's weak, she's broken now, why did you protect her?".

Kakashi didn't have to think about that question, the answer came to him like it was a poster on his wall he saw every day. His cold eyes warmed up and smiled "because she's my cute little Genin" he chirped out. Garra's eyes widened noticeably at this, this sign of...love. Kakashi's eye reverted back to its previous look "and I won't let her, a comrade, die, not while I still draw breath".

Kakashi turned to the sound of a pained grunt and Sakura shifted, failing to move, he sent her a smile with his one eye and spoke softly to her "don't worry we'll get you patched up okay so just rest there and don't push yourself". Sakura seemed to acknowledge this and ceased any attempts at moving. Kakashi's attention was again stolen by the sound of more pained grunting.

Garra was hunched over, shivering, his fingers clutching at his head like he wanted to tears his own skull open. "t-this place! You people! It's all makes no sense!" muttered the sand boy, the sand around him began to pulse and crawl back towards him. Kakashi tensed his years of battle and training telling him to back up as the very air around this boy started to shift from tense and creepy to full on beastly danger as the sand closed on him. He crouched beside Sakura, putting himself between her and the one who seemed to be having some sort of mental break down.

But Kakashi could feel this was something more, something in this kid was changing or coming undone.

"Sen-sei" Kakashi turned to the weak voice, Sakura was looking up at him with vision that looked as weak as she sounded.

Kakashi turned away from her to look at the boy, he lifted a hand to her "Sakura don't say anything, save your strength". The sand was gathering around Garra's feet, Genma stepped back away from the boy like Kakashi.

"No Sen-sei...you...need to...hear this" said Sakura, her weak voice desperate, Kakashi's head slightly turned to her "I t-think he's like Nar-ru-to...". That warning was given with the last of her strength before she finally gave to her injuries and passed out.

Kakashi was silent, his single eye grim at the implications of what Sakura just told him "like Naruto, does she mean that he's..." muttered the Jonin to himself. Watching as the sand formed a sphere around Garra, the last thing the elite saw of him was one of his stone green eyes, showing all the grizzly intent behind it before the sand hid that away to. Kakashi frowned at that look, he'd seen that look on too many faces, he didn't like the feeling running through him, telling him that this match was only over because a bigger one was about to start.

Kakashi and Genma's neck straightened when they noticed sand collecting over the boulder of it, coming together to form an outrageously realistic looking eyeball. White sclera and a brown iris, despite being formed from sand it looked no different from the real thing. The eye focused on Kakashi and he stared back at it blankly.

Though Kakashi didn't have long to focus on that when his senses picked up the feeling of chakra being used, he noticed the stadium's audience beginning to doze off, from the air like snow white feathers began to gently fall.

"Genjutsu" muttered the Hatake before releasing himself from the will of the Jutsu before it could even make him feel so much as an urge to blink. Next the sound of an explosion caught his ears, this one truly made him feel worried.

Above the stadium's third balcony, from the Hokages private outlook, thick black smoke rose "damn! What the hells going on, are we under attack now!?". Kakashi wanted to run and help! But no he couldn't leave Sakura here with this potential Jinchuriki that was clearly, plainly and very obviously hostile with a capital H.

Well, it was clear to Kakashi that this was no longer a Chunin exam anymore and the lingering threat of this Garra kid was getting in his way now. If his assumption was correct and this very unstable kid was a Jinchuriki and the Sand village brought him here, the sand village whose economy was in danger than it was looking like to Kakashi that whoever was attacking them was most likely the Sand village if itself. Well, it was looking like Kakashi was gonna have to deal with the biggest threat, an unstable tailed beast host.

Kakashi unsheathed his Sharingan and fired up his Rakiri but before he could move dozens of figures landed before him and Genma, in a circle around the sand sphere, guarding all sides. Kakashi frowned at the sight of one of their own ANBU Black Ops amongst all the obvious Sand and Sound Ninja. "now, now we'll be having none of that Kakashi Hatake" chided the ANBU smugly.

Kakashi nearly smirked at the voice, his form being bathed in blue light and thrashing shadows thanks to his own Rakiri. "Kabuto, is that you under there? Don't you know it's illegal to impersonate as an ANBU?".

The ANBU chuckled and removed his mask to reveal himself as indeed Kabuto, smirking with the sun catching his glasses at the right angle to make them gleam blindingly. "It sure would be if I was a Hidden Leaf Shinobi" he said, showing his headband to have a musical note on it instead of stylized leaf.

Kakashi hummed at that "oh so your a traitor" he said, sounding as surprised as a man who sees's the guy get the girl at the end of a love story, his eyes flat. Kabuto just smirked. Kakashi was going to attack when he saw a barrier rise up over the area where the Hokage was, his Sharingan counted seven figure inside the purple Barrier "what the?". Kakashi felt the urge to go help the Hokage but reminded himself that Sakura was passed out right behind him "shit!".

Kabuto smirked at seeing this "get him" ordered Kabuto and the ninja surrounding the sand dome moved, rushing at both him and Genma. Kabuto turned to the dome his eyes glinting and conniving "now don't take too long in there Garra, we're gonna need you to help really liven things up".

All that was heard from the giant ball of sand was the sound of something stirring inside.

Chapter end

Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, as I said I will try and find the time to keep this fic alive and regular.

Honestly, this is one of my more favourite chapters because I honestly liked the dynamic of someone like Sakura vs someone like Garra. I had zero intention of her ever winning this fight but I wanted her to show she had changed and progressed into something more than she was before, that she is now stronger not just outside but inside now too.

As for what comes next well I think it might be a bit of a challenge, especially with how divided up it's about to get but don't worry I'll try and have it all make sense. Wish me luck

Please leave reviews.