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2 day ago

Jonin exam day 14

The sun was barely beginning to peak over the horizon, when Sakura left the sleepy village. If she was going to catch the bandits off guard, doing it when they're all still asleep was the best time. If she knew anything about bandits, it was that they drank like fish, stayed up late and slept until the sun was half-way across the sky.

The map that Saburo had given her was quite useful when navigating the sand dunes. Everything was starting to look the same after a while, and Sakura was running at full speed for a while until she caught the fainest hint of the sea.

Just over the last sand-dune, lay what was once a very impressive multi-towered castle build near the edge of a cliff on the coast. The sea was the most brilliant blue she had seen. Twinkling in the rising sun, it was beautiful.

If she were even to pick a vacation spot, somewhere here would be perfect.

Zoning in on the only standing tower left, there was some twenty-odd tents pitched up in a large circle where what looked to be an old stone courtyard stood. There was a large pit in the middle, still smouldering from a late night bonfire.

There were more tents than she liked, clearly Saburo had his numbers a bit off, but if she was strategic about this, and careful, it wouldn't be a problem. This would be quick and easy, then she could begin her sprint home. Victorious, and back to the safe arms of her boyfriends and Izumi.

She was quick to coat her kunai with a deadly poison that killed almost instantly. Then she crept her way around the tents. Figuring out which one was the bandit leaders wasn't hard. The biggest, most impressive one stood at the very front of the circle. At least twice as big as the rest. Her ears were nearly straining to hear any other sounds than that of breathing, or the occasional snore.

All she had to do was take out the leader first. Then she could go through each tent one by one.

She cut a small hole into the tent, just big enough for her to squeeze through. It was darker inside, and filled with many possessions. Gold and trophies glimmered on the wooden stands, furs lined the floor and the enormous bed nearly took up all the room. An equally enormous man lay face down, snoring loudly, half-naked and covered in more hair than she ever thought a man could be. She didn't know a human and a bear could have a child.

It was quick, clean and easy, the way her kunai ripped across his throat, shoving his face back into the pillow to muffle any gurgling or groans. He was dead within seconds, and she stayed as perfectly still as possible. Straining once more to hear if anything had changed, if anyone had heard.

Sakura was half-adrenaline, creeping back out her little hole. Only to come face to face with a mountain of a man waiting patiently for her, armed for battle.

She swung with her kunai, trying to get him to back off when he began to reach for her. "Got a live one, boys!" The man roared, grabbing the attention of the full crew. From where she darted, she could see the mass amount of men come crawling out their tents, armed, and ready.

All the chakra signatures coming to life alone told her that Saburo had lied to her.

These weren't just civilian bandits.

These were missing-nin of mercenary rank.

This wasn't an A-Rank solo.

This easily was a ANBU-rank mission for a team.

Her stomach clenched tight and she took a shaking hand to the hilt of her tanto. This was a set-up. A trap, that she had just walked right into.

Suddenly, it all made sense. The strange look Saburo would give his advisors, the unspoken words. The flash of pity in Naomi, the bartender's eyes. Sakura's sixth sense had been screaming at her that something about all this was wrong. From the very moment she had spoken to that man in Suna's bar.

And she ignored it, because focusing on completing this mission as fast as possible was the only thing she thought about, cared about.

"Cute little kitten thinks she's gonna fight us all," the man to her left mocked loudly, earning many laughs and jeers from the others, the sly licking of lips. "Why don't you just make it easier on yourself and surrender quietly. We don't wanna hurt you." The look in his eyes told her completely different.

Live, Sakura, live because you don't know how to die.

Her chakra reserves were high enough that she could Step as many times as she wanted to. Sakura was all around the tents, stabbing and slashing before Stepping again to repeat. She never stayed still long enough for anyone to lock onto her position. In milliseconds, she analyzed exactly where she needed to go next, saw the places where they couldn't catch her.

It was too late for her to run. They knew this area better than her. The only thing she would be risking is getting lost in the desert, with next to no water source and no physical protection. The map was somewhere in the fake leader's tent and definitely out of her reach now.

She got overconfident, watching at least five men succumb to her poison. Because the last time she stepped, there was a sharpness of a needle in her neck. The real mercenary leader stood behind her, hot breath on her skin. "Quick little thing, ain't ya?" She could hear the grin in his voice, and felt something strange course through every nerve ending she had in her body. Coarse through her chakra channels.

"What did-...what the fuck did you just do?" She Stepped, but found that no chakra would come to her call. It wouldn't coat her feet, her skin. She tried again, and she could feel her chakra within, but it wouldn't come.

Kenji waved the empty needle in his fingers. "Convenient little thing, chakra blockers. Find a man and pay enough money, and little cunt's like you don't become a threat at all."

"Ch-...chakra blockers?" Her stomach clenched tightly, and she gripped her tanto until her fingers turned white, eying the men who began to come closer to her. "No one has ever successfully made a chakra blocker that worked."

He shrugged, tossing the needle over his shoulder. "Someone did, and boy, you just can't put a price on that kind of convenience." His grin promised that he would hurt her. Hurt her in ways that only a female could be hurt.

She swung wildly, having echoing memories of her fights with Shisui where he didn't allow her to use chakra, and her fight with Itachi for a scroll. Anko's voice echoing in Sakura's ears."A true jonin knows to never stop fighting. Even when they're out of weapons, out of chakra, out of hope."

She breathed, centering herself and fought again.

And she fought hard.

Even when her sword was knocked out of her hand, even when an elbow found her face, even when she reached for more weapons and found nothing in her satchel.

She fought even when she had nothing left but one fist, and all her other limbs were being held down by men with smiles that made her skin crawl.

She fought until a fist found the underside of her jaw, and her world went to black.

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A/N: Man, trying to write out a jonin exam is kind of hard. It's always a battle between "is this too much, is this not enough?" What would kill a normal person? How normal are shinobi? On a scale of immortal to pathetically human?