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Sakura yawned as she awakened to a run-down room. Pushing herself from the hard bed, she inspected around, noticing Naruto and Sasuke asleep on the bed. She looked down, and it turns out it wasn't a hard bed. CHA! I slept on the floor!
This is so wrong. The guys are supposed to sleep on the floor, not a girl like me! Sakura stood up and made to wake Naruto up, but was taken aback by how adorable her two teammates were sharing the same bed. Of course there wasn't enough space for her—
What am I thinking?! I'm a girl! I'm not supposed to be sleeping in the same room as the boys and—
ugh, Naruto's house stinks! Screw the rules, cha! It costs money to buy extra beds!
I'm not abandoning my friends (OR MONEY!) in order to follow social norms. Got that, Obito?
She hopped onto her feet and grabbed for Naruto first, rolling him off the bed, intending to do the same for Sasuke next. I sure am spiteful.
"OW!" Naruto was forced awake from the painful collision with the ground. Coming to his senses, he looked at Sakura incredulously through droopy cerulean eyes. "What was that for?!"
No way am I going to make myself look bad. Sakura scrunched up her nose. "You snore loud."
Yeah right. Naruto crossed his arms stubbornly, gasping indignantly and pointing when he noticed Sasuke still asleep in his bed. He almost choked from his shock, before a mischievous grin filled his face.
Noticing it, Sakura felt excitement. Naruto's antics were bringing back old memories. "I know what you're thinking—" she accused with a stern voice, and Naruto visibly slumped, "a prank."
As Naruto's expression filled with shame, Sakura suddenly grinned. "Let's do it! Any ideas?"
Naruto brightened up like the sun.
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Sasuke blinked awake to two copies of Kakashi-sensei towering over his bed.
"You overslept and refused to wake up despite our efforts," Kakashi drawled mournfully, with great disappointment in his eye, "You missed the Chuunin Exams."
Sasuke bolted himself up from the bed, paranoid and menacingly. "Hold on, what did you say?"
"Naruto and Sakura went ahead without you and got promoted," The second Kakashi (his shadow clone?) scolded, "In fact, Naruto became a jounin."
Sasuke screamed.
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Naruto rolled around on the floor, covering his ears in a desperate attempt to blot out his rival's screams. "OH GOD TEME!"
Plastic buds from Sakura's goggles were plugged in her ears, so she merely crossed her arms as she dispelled her Kakashi-transformation-technique; no point in maintaining it any longer since Naruto broke his cover.
This must be so embarrassing for Sasuke, Sakura thought as she handed him a glass of water.
Sasuke started choking, as she expected, and grabbed the cup, chugging it down. He exhaled a cold breath, and realized it was all a trick.
I should have seen through it—there's no way the dobe could become a jounin before I do—not to mention, there were two Kakashis. Two… He death glared down Naruto and Sakura. "You both…" Sasuke growled, and Sakura burst out laughing.
At that moment, the door opened, and in walked the real Kakashi. "Yo! What's—" Kakashi was suddenly kicked across the face by none other than Sasuke, and hit the ground with a thump. What the heck?! Under normal circumstances, he would have dodged easily, but he was too dumbfounded at the prospect of Sasuke randomly attacking him that it worked.
Sasuke stepped back. Not another transformation, huh?...Shit, he's the real thing.
Apparently coming to the same conclusion, Sakura shrieked, "RUN!" She vanished in a flash, Naruto and Sasuke close behind her.
When Kakashi recovered, he could only murmur, "My team is insane."
沙
As Sakura turned a corner around the streets near the Konoha Gate, she spotted a black-clothed foreigner with purple face tattoos and a cat-shaped hood. The stranger was currently holding an Academy student in a chokehold, letting his two little friends watch anxiously. A blonde woman with a giant fan over her back stood to the side looking at her nails.
"Konohamaru!" Naruto cried, starting towards them.
"Wait—" Sakura blocked his path, "Let me handle this." Naruto's just going to start a fight.
Approaching the two foreigners, Sakura placed her hands on her hips. "Hey! That's the Hokage's grandson you're picking on! You want to be arrested and disqualified before the chuunin exams even begin?"
At that, the woman's calm face transformed into worry. "She's right, Kankuro. Put him down."
"Shut it, Temari. Little brats need to learn their lessons," Kankuro answered, but he dropped Konohamaru to the floor nonetheless.
"Ouch!" Konohamaru yelped, but Temari gave a sigh of relief.
"Hmph!" Konohamaru crossed his arms. "It's always because I'm the Hokage's grandson that I get a free pass! I want to be seen as who I am!"
KonohaMARU! Inner Sakura awakened. YOU WANNA GET KILLED?!
Kankuro smirked. "Yeah? You wanna be treated as you are without the title? Perfect, the same goes for me!" He reached behind himself for the luggage at his back, and Temari gasped.
"Don't tell me you'll use Karasu for this!"
Karasu? Crap, he's going to hurt the kid! "STOP!" Sakura charged forward and tripped onto her face. Her goggles were on, so her glasses were undamaged, although her body landed with a thump. "Ow…" That bastard attached chakra strings to my legs to trip me! If I didn't have these glasses, I wouldn't have noticed! And I was too focused on Konohamaru to react properly! If Obito-kun found out, he'll scold me for sure!
"Sakura-chan, you did good!" Naruto cheered on, "Even though you're clumsy—"
"Speak for yourself, idiot!" Sakura retorted as she pushed herself off the ground.
"You're annoying. All of you. I don't like runts or any other scrawny weaklings, so when a wimp like this starts shooting off his mouth, I just want to break them." As if to infuriate her, Kankuro picked Konohamaru up again and drew his fist back, throwing it towards the small boy's face—
Only for a rock to slash across his hand. He dropped the child and shrieked, turning a hostile gaze towards his assailant.
It was Sasuke, perched upon a tree to the side of the road, tossing a rock in his hand. "You're a long way from home and you're way out of your league."
Everyone else looked at Sasuke with admiration as he squeezed the rock into dust. "Get lost."
"Hey punk, get down here."
Sasuke didn't move.
"All attitude and nothing to back it up," Kankuro decided as he reached to unwrap his Karasu puppet.
All of a sudden, Sakura spun, throwing a kunai towards Sasuke, who watched the weapon with disbelief while Kankuro paused in his actions.
Sakura's attacking me? Sasuke's eyes tracked the kunai as it avoided him by a mere centimeter, flying past and embedding itself into sand that seemed to have come out of nowhere: floating sand that was not from Konoha.
It was a barrier of sand controlled by a pissed off redhead standing upside-down on the branch behind Sasuke's tree.
"G-Gaara," Kankuro squeaked, dropping his mummified puppet to the floor.
How did he get there? He didn't even make a sound; only Jounin at Kakashi's level are that smooth. Sasuke redirected an assessing look at Sakura, dirtied clothes and bruises. The clumsy annoyance noticed him before I did.
Temari was petrified. The pink-haired brat had just attacked Gaara. Gaara was just attacked. GAARA WAS ALMOST ASSASSINATED! Running won't do—it'll only encourage him to kill us. "Kankuro! Don't run!" She shouted before her brother could think on it, without taking her eyes off Gaara as his sand crunched the kunai into dust. Sand Coffin.
Disregarding Sasuke for the moment, Gaara kept his pale green eyes on Sakura's deep green ones. This girl is no joke. She caught me off guard by acting like a fool, and my automatic sand defense was the only thing keeping me from getting killed. I didn't even see it coming.
Vanishing in a swirl of sand, Gaara reappeared on the ground between Kankuro and Temari. "Let's go."
Temari breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god Gaara isn't going to kill the Leaf girl. It would have screwed up the plan.
"Hold on!" Sakura sprinted forward. "Hey!"
Gaara paused, and Temari bit her bottom lip angrily. Are you suicidal or what?! Your life just got let off! "What?"
"Not you, him," Sakura pointed at the redhead. "What's your name?"
"Sabaku no Gaara," he answered, turning around. "I'm curious about you too. Who are you?"
"Sakura Haruno," she answered quickly, something else on her mind. "Gaara. I'm sorry for attacking you." Sakura's face tinged red in shame. "I could have killed you, and I'm very sorry about that, heh." Sakura trailed off awkwardly. Stop staring at me like that, I already apologized!
Gaara's impassive expression turned aghast. A human, being remorseful for almost taking his life? Impossible.
Uhh, he looks like he's in pain now. I guess the kunai sliced him somewhere and he's only showing it now, like the way Sasuke holds his feelings in. "Are you hurt?" Sakura tried, stepping closer to Gaara as his siblings backed off. "I know some medical ninjutsu that can heal you. Where are you hurt?"
"Here." Gaara suddenly held a hand over the left part of his chest, his voice sounding shaky. Those eyes…they were identical to Yashamaru's, and he wondered whether Sakura was exactly the same; full of kindness, only to betray you.
Sakura raised her eyebrows in disbelief as she placed a hand over the area where Gaara's heart should be, green healing chakra flowing through his clothing as he tensed, awaiting death. She withdrew her hand and placed it on her hip sternly. "Liar! You're not hurt!"
"I'm…not?" Gaara's voice shook, and he grabbed his head suddenly, in pain. Kill…Kill..Kill. "Then why does it hurt? It hurts when I disobey mother."
Sakura punched Gaara's head with the same force she reserved for Naruto, which means, hard. He stumbled, and Sakura grabbed his shoulders.
"You idiot! That's not your mom! It's your Inner Gaara!" Sakura theorized, not knowing it was actually the Ichibi trying to fuel Gaara's bloodlust. "I have one too, and if I obeyed my Inner, everyone would be dead. But I keep Inner Sakura under control just fine, so you should have no problems."
Gaara gaped, a loss for words.
"Your Inner may be strong, but it's you that regulates how much of that leaks into the outside you." Sakura explained, shaking Gaara's shoulders. "So if it hurts, you're being too weak and need to toughen up."
Blunt as always, Sasuke watched coolly, jealousy forgotten. 'Inner Sakura'? Did you really name your split personality and apply it to this Sand stranger? You're insane.
Gaara, however, was spluttering. "Inner…Gaara…mine…to control…"
He doesn't look so crazy anymore, I knew he could do it! Sakura pulled him close and wrapped her arms around his back, squeezing him in a hug. For a moment, Gaara was reminded of his Sand Coffin Jutsu, but this gesture gave off an entirely different feeling…almost like, Yashumaru.
"Exactly! And you're doing great." Sakura whispered. "I knew there was someone else out there with an Inner. That makes you my friend."
Gaara hesitated as she drew back, holding a finger up.
"Also!" Sakura started lecturing, her teacher attitude returning, "A friend is someone you're willing to die for, not a mission." She thought about Kakashi-sensei and Obito-kun, Naruto and Sasuke.
Sasuke sighed. Befriending the enemy again, first Zabuza and Haku, and now…this.
Naruto recovered and grinned, folding his hands behind his head. "Yup!" I was so close to interfering but there's no need anymore! "People who abandon the mission are scum, but people who abandon their friends are worse than scum!"
"Hey listen," Temari hesitated. They're demoralizing Gaara from the Plan. "You can't just—"
"Temari, shut up." Gaara threatened. "Or I'll punish you."
'Punish'? Temari swallowed, having expected a death threat.
Gaara turned his back to Team Seven. "Kankuro, Temari, we didn't come here to play games." His voice sounded less menacing, it unguarded his siblings.
Unconsciously, Temari stepped a few inches closer than usual to Gaara's side, and Kankuro nodded, at a loss for words.
It hurts to disobey my own 'mother.' Gaara had a tiny smile on his face as he walked. But She's under my control, hmm. "An Inner...huh." Gaara's eyes turned skyward.
After the Sand genin was completely out of sight, Sasuke turned towards Sakura. "Do you always have to befriend every hostile person?"
"Oi, Gaara looked like he needed it," Sakura said, not knowing it was an understatement.
"That was awesome!" Naruto laughed.
"Hey Boss! How come you're not cool like Sasuke and Giant Forehead?!"
"Because uhh," Naruto made a mental note to improve himself and soon too. "Anyway! They're my roommate and girlfriend—"
Sasuke smacked them both before Sakura could.
沙
"It is time we select our candidates for the Chuunin Examinations. To begin, will those in charge of the Rookie Genin step forward."
The Hokage watched the four Rookie Jounin Sensei step in front of his desk. "Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma…and Anko. What do you say? Are there any in your squads you would recommend, who are ready for the exams despite their inexperience?"
Anko snorted. "Inexperience my ass."
Kakashi began. "I, Hatake Kakashi, recommend Squad Seven, Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and Haruno Sakura for the Chuunin exams."
"And my Squad is Number Eight: Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino. And now I, Yuhi Kurenai, recommend all three."
"Mine is Squad Ten; Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru. And now, I, Asuma Sarutobi, recommend all three."
"Squad Eleven! Haku and Zabuza, under me, the awesome Mitarashi Anko!" Anko's grin turned feral. "My babies are in."
The Hokage pinched the bridge of his nose as every jounin-sensei in the crowd gasped.
"Hold on! Hokage-sama! With all due respect, Zabuza is a defected shinobi of the Mist! Entering him into the chuunin exams is a declaration of war!"
Anko whirled onto the offending Jounin, her tongue seeking blood, but the Hokage quickly spoke before things turned ugly. "I have already taken that matter into account. It would be an issue if the Hidden Mist were to enter the Chuunin Exams, but they won't, as they are not our allies." The Hokage peered at the jounin group from underneath his hat. "Kirigakure is too engulfed in a Civil War to pester us."
"Even still," another Jounin piped up with concern. "Zabuza is one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist! He's going to blow the competition!"
Anko took that as a compliment. "Damn right he will—"
"That's if he passes the first phrase of the exams," the Hokage interrupted again.
Suddenly, every jounin in the crowd started chuckling. Anko sweatdropped. "Hey!"
They won't screw it up will they? I can trust Zabuza to sit still for a 60-minute written test without destroying the entire examination room, right? RIGHT?
Instead of going straight to the good stuff I should have taught them patience before sating my bloodlust.
Everyone in the room knew exactly what Anko was thinking. A jounin approached her. "You know, I wasn't going to recommend my squad for the Exams, but I don't have to worry about that anymore."
With that, every jounin of Konoha recommended their teams.
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