This took a little while as I'm still debating a few things and I've realised I don't remember the Chuunin exams well beyond footnotes. I'm not massively pleased with this one, but that could just be the stress of isolation finally hitting me. Ah well. Just have to make the next one better.
Also I discovered yesterday Word doesn't want to check my spellings anymore because I have too many errors. Half my fault for writing a single 50k+ document and half because I hadn't added anyone's names to the dictionary until yesterday. So if there's been an increase in spelling/grammar mistakes, I am very sorry
It had taken them the best part of twenty minutes to read and sign the forms. They didn't know for sure if they'd succeed, but trying was the only option. It was like Ibiki said; they needed to be willing to risk their lives to move on in their ninja careers.
"How long do we have?" Shikamaru asked the invigilator that had taken them to gate twenty-seven.
"Twenty-five minutes," the older ninja responded. "I'll unlock the gate when you have five minutes remaining."
"Alright, then I guess we better start planning," he said, turning to Choji and Ino. "I think our best bet is to either pick off a team straightaway or set up camp near the tower and ambush a team later on when they're weaker from battling."
"We have a Heaven Scroll, so we need to make sure we target a team with an Earth Scroll," Ino hummed, the scroll safely tucked away in her pouch. "There's no way to be sure the teams nearest us were given Earth Scrolls, so we'll have to do recon and try and figure it out."
"If we're stuck doing recon anyway, we could pick off teams the first time they camp," Choji suggested. "Rather than make distance, we find an area that's easily defensible and camp there until nightfall. Most teams aren't good in the dark, so they'll stop."
"That's certainly an option," Shikamaru agreed, hand on his chin thoughtfully. "It'll be a lot of watching and waiting if we want to do this subtly. I don't really want to get into a fight."
"Us neither," Ino said. "So we could set camp at… maybe the five kilometre mark? Rest for a couple of hours then split up, try find other teams and then meet up to share our info."
Shikamaru nodded. "Sounds like a plan. If we can get this done in a day, that'd be ideal."
"Yeah, I don't really want to scavenge around," Choji said, his hand itching toward his pack.
Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, "Snacks in base only, Choji. We don't want anyone tracking us before we're home free."
"Yeah, yeah I know. But it's been two hours already," the other boy whined, stretching his arms instead to distract himself.
Time ticked away slowly, but once the invigilator moved to unlock the chain over the gate, they didn't have to wait much longer.
"The Chuunin exam second stage has begun!" The door flew open and Team 10 raced off, Shikamaru in the lead, Ino in the middle and Choji in the rear. They ran up trees and leaped between the branches, the huge gaps daunting, but preferable to leaving tracks in the forest floor. As they travelled the sounds of screams caught their ears.
"You're kidding? The attacks have started already?" Choji frowned.
"Seems that way," Shikamaru said with a sigh.
"Guys," Ino interrupted, "That tree up ahead, avoid it."
Shikamaru slid to a stop on a different tree trunk, crouching to keep his balance. "What's up?"
"I'm… not sure," Ino frowned, stopping on a branch below Shikamaru, Choji landing next to her. "Just… something feels off about it. Like… there's something there?"
Shikamaru reached into his weapon pouch, pulling out an explosive tag and moved to attach it to a kunai. "Get ready to run if we need to," he warned. Seeing the other two crouch, Shikamaru checked his own retreat was clear before throwing his kunai at the canopy of tree that bothered Ino. The explosion rocked the area and for a moment, nothing happened.
"Jeez, Ino, way to make us freak out. Now the whole forest knows where we are," Choji complained.
Shikamaru frowned, "No, she was right, look. Something's coming out." He pointed to a number of dark objects that were starting to fall.
Ino cringed, "Are those… leeches?!"
Choji nodded, not looking overly pleased by them either. "They drink blood right? If they're that big they could kill us in minutes."
"Seems like we're going to have to be really careful," Shikamaru said thoughtfully. "Ino, how'd you know they were there?"
Ino shrugged, "After we got back from Bakugakure, my dad wanted to train with me. It wasn't like fighting or anything, he just made me meditate and focus on my senses. Apparently a lot of my clan are sensor types."
"Sensor type? What's that?" Choji asked.
"Someone who can sense chakra," Ino said, "I mean, like… better than normal."
Shikamaru shrugged a shoulder, "It's better than nothing, and if it stops us getting sucked to death I'm up for it."
"How long can you keep it up?" Choji wondered.
"I have to be focusing my chakra to sense people and things," Ino told them, "The only reason I spotted the leeches is I was trying it while we were moving to see if I could do it without being stock still."
Shikamaru's gaze sharpened, an idea forming. "Is your range bigger while still? How accurate is it?"
"Uh, well, yeah, a bit," Ino nodded, seeming slightly embarrassed. "It… I think I can sense about… half a kilometre radius from myself? I'm not great at distinguishing the chakras yet – I couldn't tell you if it's a human or a like a leech or how many – but I can be fairly sure of the direction."
"Can you tell how strong the chakra is?"
Ino shook her head, "Not really, I've not been practising long enough, and Dad told me people can suppress their chakra, so the reading could be wrong."
"People at Genin level shouldn't be hiding their chakra," Shikamaru argued, but thought of the creepy Grass ninja from before. "But… maybe there are some people in here who are way stronger than us?"
"Like that Gaara guy?" Choji offered, "His team did a B-Rank mission, that's supposed to be completely off the table for Genin."
"Yeah." Shikamaru looked around the forest. "Let's keep moving and make camp in the next hour. Then Ino, I want you to look around for teams in the area, if we can find them without sight, it might be easier to sneak up on them and figure out the strengths of different teams and which scroll they have."
Choji and Ino nodded, "Right!"
It took them almost the whole hour to find somewhere they were comfortable camping, then carefully trapping the area so they could rest, with Choji taking watch while Ino focused her chakra and passed the information on to Shikamaru. "Two teams northeast? Two somethings have spotted one another anyway… there's a lot of movement," she explained softly, a light sweat coating her brow as she concentrated. "And something to the west. There's a bunch of chakras disappearing from the east, but it's right on the edge of what I can detect… could be anything. Clones going poof?"
Shikamaru frowned. This really wasn't a lot to go off. "That's three directions and there's three of us. We can risk splitting up?" he offered, looking at his teammates.
"Not gonna lie, Shikamaru, all of those routes sound like death-traps," Choji said, pulling out two large bags of crisps. Turning, he threw one over to Ino before going back to his watch. "You guys share that one and get a little rest. If two teams found each other north, we could see if they left a scroll behind?"
Ino pulled the bag open without complaint, pressing the heel of one hand to her forehead a moment while the other one grabbed some crisps.
"Headache?" Shikamaru asked.
"Yeah, it'll fade in a bit," she assured. "I'd certainly prefer randomly coming across the right scroll."
Shikamaru laughed, "We should be so lucky." They sat for half an hour before Shikamaru turned to the tree behind them. Pulling out a kunai, he crudely carved a weasel into the trunk. "We'll meet back here in two hours. Go slow, be careful, make it back here."
Choji and Ino nodded. The next second, they were shooting through the trees in separate directions.
Itachi reclined on a sofa in the Forest of Death's central tower. The tower itself on the outside looked like a mess of rooms, and Itachi knew it was originally used to house and train ANBU operatives. This meant rather than being forced to socialise with the other Jonin, Itachi was able to relax in one of the adjoining rooms on the upper floors. They were also welcome to train in the arena on one of the floors below, but Itachi was sure that was only offered as a formality. None of the Jonin present would show off their abilities with foreign ninja present. Too much intel on offer.
The entire bottom level was made up of entry points so the Genin hopefuls could complete their mission and be greeted by their Sensei. The next level was more of more of a self-service medical bay, with bandages, salves and two medical ninja that were hoping to do absolutely nothing over the next five days beyond treating minor wounds or leading young ninja over to the beds on the third level. After that was the arena with a viewing platform and all the floors above were temporary accommodation like the one Itachi was settled in.
The room was fairly plain, and certainly nothing to complain about. The sofa was worn and smelt faintly of blood and sweat, but it was soft and the room was quiet, which sometimes, was all Itachi demanded of a space.
He didn't expect his team to be finished for some time and hoped he'd be able to relax in peace before Kakashi found him again.
"Speaking of Kakashi," Itachi mumbled, raising his hips so he could retrieve Icha Icha from his pouch. He stared at the cover for a long moment, highly doubtful it could hold any secrets. But he also didn't see any point in wasting his peace and quiet sleeping. Perhaps if he was found reading this, he would be left alone? "That's probably why Kakashi does it," Itachi mused, flipping the book open with his thumb and skimming over the first page.
Itachi had to admit, Jiraya certainly had a way with words. His literary voice was clear and easy to consume and there was something oddly satisfying about the main character's plight to woo the leading lady. She was apparently a beautiful woman and a devil with her liquor, but also immensely caring and self-conscious.
He was two-thirds of the way though Icha Icha Paradise when the door to the room opened. Willing to test his theory, Itachi didn't look up from the book, didn't react at all to the person entering and closing the door behind them. "I told you it's good."
"I'm just bored, Kakashi," Itachi assured, rolling his eyes and looking over to the Copy Ninja.
"Oh good, then maybe we can play a game," Kakashi replied brightly.
Itachi blinked. "A game?"
"Uhuh, to get to know one another better."
"Didn't we know each other well enough in ANBU?" Itachi challenged, reluctantly sitting up. Kakashi wouldn't go away any time soon, so he didn't really have any choice but to indulge the man. "Where's Kurenai?"
"With her team, they finished a little bit ago," Kakashi answered as he came to sit down beside Itachi. "A team broke your record by the way."
Itachi frowned. It was already well after sunset, and the exam had started early afternoon. "My record was four hours. Someone beat that?" he asked in disbelief.
"Yup, the Suna team. Ninety-seven minutes," Kakashi confirmed, "The other Jonin are buzzing about it."
"That… is concerning," Itachi said slowly.
"You're telling me. I saw them around Konoha before the exams started. The little one… something wasn't right. He reminded me of you, actually."
Itachi narrowed his eyes. "I don't know your intended comparison, but I'm offended all the same."
"I mean that you're basically a ninja machine, always so serious," Kakashi tried, waving a hand.
"We interact mostly when I'm on duty," Itachi challenged. "I'm not as big a clown as Obito, but I'm not a robot either."
Mentioning Obito seemed to have hit a nerve as Kakashi stiffened, though he didn't react more to the mention of his dead teammate. "If you were like Obito, I'd have feared for the Uchiha clan long before your exile," he said instead.
"This again? You saw the surveillance the Uchiha were under," Itachi griped, knowing damn well the ANBU lookout with a telescope specifically aimed at the Uchiha compound still existed. "It wasn't right. I wanted to change that and misjudged the feelings of my kin. They're better men than I was back then. My father wiser than I gave him credit for." He shrugged. "I've only ever wanted them to be happy, if that doesn't involve me, then fine."
"So you aren't bitter about it?"
"Of course, but I've had five years to think about it." Itachi scratched the back of his head, annoyed. "I was a dumb kid back then, am I not allowed to grow up?"
"I'd argue you're still a dumb kid," Kakashi shot, "But I agree, hindsight is the ultimate power. If you've come to terms with that though, why not try talk to them? Ask for your life back?" he asked, his body language deceptively relaxed as he looked at Itachi from the corner of his eye.
"I don't know where to even begin with that," Itachi said honestly. It was entirely possible he could try and settle back in at home, but would he have to explain himself to the clan? The village? To Sasuke? "It's… just easier to be angry. I don't have to think about what the clan want from me. I can just… be," Itachi sighed. It was something he'd noticed while training with his team. He didn't have to have all the answers, he didn't have to be proper. They just needed someone to train with that wasn't connected to their parents. Because they didn't want to be perfect all the time either. Couldn't be. And it had taken Itachi far too long into his ninja career to realise he couldn't always be perfect either.
Kakashi hummed thoughtfully. "Clans are stuffy huh?"
"The hours long meetings were yes," Itachi shrugged. "Sharingan users were allowed in as soon as they unlocked the dojutsu, otherwise you had to be eighteen. And attendance was often non-optional."
"Ew, I'm glad I never got asked then," Kakashi remarked. Itachi snorted.
"I expect so. More than one once the topic of reclaiming your eye came up. Fugaku always shot it down though." Obito had given it freely, Fugaku always said, and would hear nothing about anyone's idea to take it from Kakashi as it was a part of his precious friend.
"I'll thank him next time I see him."
"Urgh, don't. I'll get arrested just so he can lecture me for mentioning what goes on in clan meetings," Itachi said, rolling his eyes.
Kakashi chuckled. "Fine. I suppose it would get awkward for your team if you were dragged off to the Police Station. Especially during the exams. The next stage is a public tournament isn't it? I assume if your guys make it, you'll want to train."
"It certainly wouldn't help matters, but I suppose it depends on the pairings," Itachi shrugged. "I don't know what most of the ninja in these exams are capable of, so creating strategies would be hard, I'd only be able to reinforce what they already know. If they wanted to learn new jutsu, they may as well ask their parents."
"I wish I had that luxury," Kakashi sighed, flopping back in the chair, unimpressed. "Only Sasuke has a family to fall back on, and half the time I have to actively drag him away from solo or family training. Because his teamwork skills suck."
Itachi raised a leg and kicked him unceremoniously, "Don't give me that look, there's a five year gap between us. I am not responsible for Sasuke's teamwork ability."
"You sucked at it too, the only reason no one comments is you used to compensate for it by being a complete ninja unit in one body," Kakashi accused, grabbing Itachi's leg and pulling it to the side so he could get in Itachi's face as the Uchiha slipped down the sofa.
"I could too work in a team!" Itachi shot, grimacing at Kakashi's masked face barely a few inches from his own. "We worked fine together in ANBU and I was perfectly fine when put in a unit with Shisui."
"So basically you preferred being with competent ninja?" Kakashi challenged.
Itachi shoved himself into Kakashi's personal space, their Hitai-ate pressing together. "I was eight when my teammate was killed. Forgive me for wanting people on my team that could look after themselves," he growled, watching with only slight satisfaction as Kakashi's eye widened. "You aren't the only one that lost people. Both my teammates were older than me. One died, the other quit being a ninja, and my Sensei was a waste of space that wouldn't even look at me half the time."
His shoulders heaved and Itachi belatedly noticed he was panting, and shaking with anger. Behind him, the door clicked open once more.
"I know you're avoiding me, Kakash-eeeeee!" Itachi turned his head and Kakashi shifted to look over Itachi's shoulder. Gai physically reeled back, his face beet red. "I-I'll come back later, you two are obviously busy with the passions of youth! Goodbye!" The door slammed shut, leaving a thick silence in the room.
"Passions of…" Itachi frowned. Gai was weird. Turning back to Kakashi, Itachi realised that not only had Kakashi not let go of his ankle, the older man had placed himself between Itachi's legs, the two getting closer as their disagreement heated up. It… must have looked like a very different situation to Gai. Flopping back over the chair arm with a groan, Itachi ran a hand over his face and shook his leg until Kakashi let go. "That is going to be awkward later."
Kakashi put his head in his hands and had a look of shellshock about him. "He's not going to believe nothing was happening," Kakashi groaned.
"I don't much care what he thinks, the man's a freak," Itachi replied, reaching down and plucking Icha Icha Paradise off of the floor. If Gai saw that too, it probably wouldn't help Kakashi's attempts to dissuade Gai from whatever the man thought he and Itachi had been doing.
"All the same, I don't need half the Jonin corps thinking I'm in a relationship with you," Kakashi argued.
"Like I'd let your ancient ass in my pants," Itachi dismissed flippantly. Getting up, he added, "You're practically geriatric." Leaving a stunned and likely hurt Kakashi behind, Itachi looked for another vacant room to hide away in until the blessed moment his team would complete the exam and he could talk to them instead of crazy Jonin.
They hadn't located a scroll at any of the battles Ino had found and as night fell, struggled to locate another team. Sensing for too long would put Ino completely out of the fight, so as it got on for midnight, they reluctantly made camp, with Choji taking first watch and Ino on last. They had enough food to get them to lunch, though Choji was starting to get antsy about his snacks and their rapid diminishment.
"We need to find a team today," Shikamaru explained as the sun was beginning to rise. "My shadows are at their longest now, so it'll be a good time to engage a group."
"There's a group of three to the west, sleeping if I had to guess, they aren't moving," Ino confirmed.
"Good, we'll head that way," Shikamaru decided. "Keep your sensing to a minimum, we might need your Mind Transfer."
"Got it," Ino nodded standing up. "I'll take point, I know the direction of the ninja." Hopefully they were ninja. Injured too would be nice.
Feeling time was of the essence, they headed out as soon as Choji was done eating his current snack, Ino leading the way. She navigated them around trees filled with more leeches and over a sleeping tiger before they started heading towards the ground, taking to the bushes and slowing their approach.
"Hey… isn't that kid a Hyuuga?" Shikamaru frowned as they looked over a low set of bushes. In the middle of a clearing was a bot who looked a fair bit like Hinata, even having the same lilac pupil-less eyes. The boy turned and they all ducked down, not wanting to fight him. Their target was close and if they alerted them, it would slow down their ability to get another scroll.
"I know you're hiding there," the boy said, "Come out already."
The three tensed, sharing a look with each other. How did he know they were there? They had purposely slowed down and been more stealthy before even spotting this guy and he knew where they were? The sound of a kunai being drawn forced them to act, Shikamaru springing up, followed by Ino and Choji.
"Hey, we don't want to fight," Shikamaru said, hands raised placatingly.
The boy scoffed, "Like you're even worth my time." He turned and walked away, surprising Shikamaru. Beside him, Choji glared, his hand closing into a fist. The Hyuuga boy paused. "Do you intend to attack me from behind, since your hand is in a fist?"
Choji startled, looking at his fist and Ino hurried to speak up, "Ah-of course not!"
"Then leave! Taking scrolls of a bunch of cry-babies like you would make me the laughing stock of the village," the boy barked.
Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Shikamaru tapped his teammates on the shoulder, leading the way back into the brush, "Yup!" He could practically hear the throb of a vein in the Hyuuga's temple.
"How'd he even see that?" Choji asked once the boy was gone. "He had his back to us, does he have eyes in the back of his head?"
"Let's put that to one side for now and just be happy he didn't want to fight," Ino sighed. "We might have been able to get the scroll, but if he could see your hand without looking and find us when hidden, we wouldn't have gotten to the goal before he or his team destroyed us."
"Aren't you bothered he called us cry-babies?"
"Shikamaru was the one crying, not me," Ino shrugged.
Shikamaru gave a weak smile. "It's annoying, but fine, Choji. Are we still on track to that team you found, Ino?"
"Huh? Uh, gimme a sec." She frowned and closed her eyes, hands slipping into the ram seal to aid her focus. "Not really, we went off course running from that Hyuuga guy, but we're near some other teams, could be worth watching them? I think they're fighting, so it's possible to take a scroll from one of them?"
"Well, it's likely if two teams are fighting, they know they have opposing scrolls. So one should be the Earth Scroll we're after," Shikamaru agreed. "Choji?"
"I just want to get out of this forest soon. This exam… it's not what I expected," he grumbled.
Ino reached out and rubbed his shoulder. "We'll be okay. Itachi-sensei totally owes us dinner from this even if we fail here."
"Barbeque pork?" Choji asked hopefully, his mood picking up a touch.
"With extra ribs. His treat," Ino insisted, making Choji smile. Shikamaru had his doubts that Itachi would be quite so willing, but didn't comment.
"Alright, let's get this scroll and get out of here!"
The people fighting it turned out, were Rock Lee and some Sound ninja before the roots of a tree. The tree had come up in some areas, allowing what looked like another team to shelter under it, mostly hidden from the world.
"Good hiding spot, we probably would have gone right past them without Ino's sensing," Choji noted as they looked on from another cover of bushes.
"Hey, wait a sec, that girl behind Lee, it's Sakura," Shikamaru said, his eyes wide. He couldn't mistake the pink hair. "Which means the two behind must be Sasuke and Naruto. But why is Lee helping them?" Lee's team had split up, that much was obvious, but surely it was to search for scrolls. "Are they fighting over the right to Naruto's team's scroll?"
"Sakura… she's all beat up," Ino mumbled beside him, her expression haggard.
Choji pointed to the tree roots. "Naruto and Sasuke aren't in a good way either."
It surely occurred to all three of them that if Team 7 still had a scroll, now was the perfect time to take it, but none of them mentioned it. It wouldn't be right to take a scroll off of a team that couldn't even defend themselves right now.
As they spoke, Lee charged at the Sound nin, recklessly taking on all three. Picking apart the Sound nins formation with well-placed blows, the bandages around Lee's arms wrapped around the larger of the Sound ninja. Arms strapped to his sides, the ninja was unable to react to Lee dragging him around, ultimately throwing the other ninja to the ground with enough force to snap his neck. The other sound ninja seemed aware of this, the other male ninja calling out to his comrade as his own hands smacked the dirt. "Dosu!"
"Some kind of earth jutsu?" Shikamaru guessed, watching as the ground rippled and the point of Lee and Dosu's contact with the ground became a mound of soft dirt, cushioning the blow. Pulling himself from the ground as Lee hurriedly made some distance between him and the other ninja, Dosu didn't waste a moment in charging Lee, pulling back his sleeve to reveal some strange device on his arm, almost like an ocarina with no mouth piece. His punch fell short as Lee dodged, but that didn't seem to lessen the or even stop the blow, as Lee fell to the ground and promptly threw up.
"Lee!" Sakura cried.
"There's more to it than just dodging my attacks," Dosu mocked.
"Shit, they're Sound ninja, so they have to be using sound-based attacks!" Shikamaru realised. "Even if you dodge, sound vibrates in the air, that's what caused Lee to puke."
"So… it's the sound frequency on Lee's eardrum causing the effect?" Ino summarised. "How are we supposed to defend against that? The inner ear controls balance, if you fuck that up, you're no more mobile than a child."
"We have to immobilize them. If they can't move, they probably can't trigger their sound attacks," Shikamaru said, startling as Lee screamed. "What, they're still fighting?!"
"Lee!" Sakura cried again, staring at Lee who lay limp on the floor before her, Dosu leering above them.
"Now, Let's finish this, then I can move on to the others," Dosu said, raising his arm again to strike Lee.
"I won't let you!" Sakura roared, fear for Lee pushing her into action, kunai and shuriken flying from her fingers, only for Dosu to easily block.
"I don't think we can take them, Shikamaru," Choji muttered. "Even that Lee kid Sasuke was so curious about got taken out easily."
"Yeah, which means Sakura definitely can't take them alone," Shikamaru sighed turning to Ino. "You two were good friends right?"
Ino, who was staring at the fight, or what could barely pass as one between Sakura and the Sound ninja, looked pale and frightened. "Wh-what does that have to do with anything?" she muttered. "Sakura's gonna get slaughtered."
"I know," Shikamaru replied patiently, "We haven't fought anyone yet, but she looks like she's running on empty. Ignore the scroll test for the minute. Forget we're in a test at all. Do you want to save her?"
"Huh?" Ino and Choji turned to look at him. Ino was shaking, with fear or worry Shikamaru couldn't be sure. Choji just looked lost.
"Sakura is fighting three against one. Do you really just want to sit here?" Beside them, the sounds of weapons flying and Sakura screaming brought their attention back to the battle. The other Sound boy had his arms raised and Sakura skidded away as though blasted back. Right into the Sound kunoichi's grasp.
Gripping Sakura tightly by a fistful of hair, the girl couldn't move, and she'd landed on her ass, making it hard to turn around and get the other ninja off.
"Hey, Zaku," the Sound ninja called, "You should kill Sasuke in front of this bint. Ninja should be effective, not sexy. That should teach her a lesson."
"Good idea, Kin!" the other ninja laughed, beginning to stride over to the unconscious Sasuke and Naruto now that no one was there to stop them.
"Ino, you need to make a decision, if we aren't all willing, we won't be able to challenge the Sound ninja," Shikamaru pressed. "They're too strong."
"Sakura… I don't think she's done yet?" Choji said. True enough, the girl had pulled out another kunai.
In one swift movement, Sakura swung the kunai between her and Kin, cutting off her long pink hair and allowing Sakura freedom of movement again. With nothing to hold onto, her Hitai-ate slipped off her head.
"Th-that's extreme," Choji muttered.
"Sakura…" Ino breathed.
"Kin! Kill her!" roared Zaku. Back to the other kunoichi, Sakura began weaving hand signs, she couldn't have been any more of an open target. It was the biggest relief to Shikamaru to see the hand signs were for Substitution.
"Her moves are too obvious," Ino realised, tracking Sakura, Zaku doing the same.
"Kin! Keep out of the way," Zaku ordered, twisting and raising his hands to Sakura as the girl threw kunai at him. The Sound nin blasted the kunai back at Sakura with a burst of air from his hands. Sakura barely got her hand signs in, substituting herself and gaining more air as the kunai collided with the wood stump in her place.
"Does… she not know any different jutsu?" Shikamaru asked, unable to comprehend launching an attack with only basic jutsu.
Ino shook her head, hand over her mouth. "She doesn't," the blonde choked out. "She's got no ninja relatives to teach her, and if she did know something else, she would have done it by now."
Where Ino was moments from crying it seemed, Zaku was losing his patience. "When are you going to get it through your head? It's useless!" he yelled at Sakura, reaching for kunai of his own and throwing them at Sakura. This time there was no Substitution jutsu. As was apparently Sakura's plan as she blocked her vitals and used Zaku's confusion to stab him in the arm with a kunai of her own and pin him to the ground with her body, biting his other hand in an attempt to incapacitate the ninja. To keep him from killing Sasuke.
"Let go! Get off me you crazy bitch!" Zaku roared, thrashing around and hitting Sakura in the head as soon as his stabbed arm was free from Sakura's small weight. Blows rained down on Sakura, but to her merit, the girl didn't release Zaku.
Beside Shikamaru, Ino was trembling harder, but no longer with fear, her eyes were sharp, despite the tear in the corner of her eye, her jaw set in a hard line. As Sakura was finally forced off of Zaku, Ino wiped her eyes with the back of her arm. "Let's go. I'd rather die than stand by any more."
Shikamaru nodded, "Choji, follow me. We'll catch them from behind."
"Right!"
Zaku raised his arms to a bloody Sakura, his chakra spiking. Leaving her teammates to slip into the enemy's blindspots, Ino leaped high into the air with a burst of chakra. Pushing some more into a kunai she threw it, the blade sticking into Zaku's other arm deeply, causing him to reel back as Ino landed in front of Sakura.
"I-Ino?" Sakura's voice called out weakly.
"We're still part of another contest, Sakura. So I'm not going to let you die here."
Zaku growled, both arms now bleeding slugishly around kunai. "Great, another freak getting in the way."