thanks for the feedback and favourites from the last chapter! here's the fourth instalment and here's where thinks really take off ;)
Enjoy!
There was a lot to be said about the looming monstrosity that was Training Ground 44, and even from the outside, Sakura could clearly see how it had earned its moniker of "the Forest of Death". She didn't understand how Mitarashi-san could be so relaxed – there was something inherently unpleasant about the aura the forest gave off, and she dreaded having to go in there.
Much less having to go in there and fight other genin for a scroll, of all things.
Logistically, five days for a distance of five kilometres seemed a bit excessive, particularly when one took into consideration that most, if not all of the genin gathered were capable of a chakra-enhanced spring. But, on some inexplicable, instinctual level, Sakura knew that there would be more waiting for them in that forest than just other ninja, and she would consider herself lucky if any of the flora found in the forest would be recognisable to her; the thick, succulent-resembling plant she could see at the very edge definitely wasn't native to Konoha.
Still, while they waited for Mitarashi-san to begin the exam, Sakura remembered one of the Academy lessons which Genma-san had made a point to stress to her; and she turned to her teammates, quietly asking: "Do we have a plan of action?"
Naruto blinked owlishly, as if shocked by the sheer notion before a contemplative frown appeared on his face and he seemed to really think it over. Surprised but pleased, Sakura's gaze moved to Sasuke-kun who didn't bother hiding his surprise at the question, but instead of making her blush, the expression made something bitter stir within her: she realised that what she'd previously taken as a compliment was anything but. His surprise only proved that he didn't think she'd be the one to propose a plan, despite the fact that she was a paper-ninja through and through – planning and strategizing were the only things she could really do on a team of powerhouses. Her mind alerted her to the fact that he had worn the same expression when she'd broken them out of the genjutsu, and she tried hard not to let herself show how much his lack of faith in her hurt.
To mask her sudden bout of sadness, she elected to prod them a little, since neither seemed keen to answer her. "Would you prefer to run straight to the Tower or bide our time by the gates?"
Surprisingly, it was Sasuke-kun who replied. "What would you do?" he asked, and Sakura blinked much like Naruto had a few seconds previous, dumbfounded. Sasuke-kun wanted her opinion?
"You want me to lead?" she asked dumbly, unsure she'd heard correctly due to his unusually considerate question, but hoping against hope that he wouldn't prove her pessimism right.
"Hn." the raven replied, shrugging, though a scowl twisted his lips. Then, he proceeded to prove her right, brutally so. "If you lead you'll set the speed which will ensure that you won't fall behind. And some kind of plan would probably benefit us anyway." and Sakura was torn between being furious that he dismissed her ability so easily, and grudgingly amused, as this at least meant that she was getting to know her teammates better if she could easily predict their responses.
Jerking herself out of her pensive spell, she took a deep breath and tracked back to Sasuke-kun's earlier question, reigning in her emotions as she allowed her analytical mind to take over. "Well, I'd do one of two things…" she began, chancing a look at her boys to find that both were listening attentively. "If I were confident in the superiority of my skills over those of the other candidates, I'd probably hang back, close to the gates and try to pick off teams which have the same idea, hoping that they have the scroll I need." she paused, choosing her next words carefully. In her mind, she'd removed herself from the situation, twisting it into a simple problem similar to that of the test she just wrote, nothing more than an evaluation of different factors and their possible products, the most basic of x+y=z
So if x is strength, and y is experience, z will equal hanging back by the gates. However, if x is speed not strength...
"But if I were more confident in my speed and, say..." She continued, thinking out loud as she tried to come up with a 'y', "say speed and trap-setting, then I'd race to the Tower and set up traps around it, hoping that somebody with the scroll I need will get caught in them." she finished, only then letting herself meet Naruto's literally sparkling gaze.
"Wow, Sakura-chan," he breathed, clearly awed. "you probably aced that theory exam, dattebayo!" and Sakura fought hard not to blush at the praise, which she found came a lot easier when she faced Sasuke-kun glum figure instead.
She was startled to note that he was looking at her with an unreadable expression in his eyes, but he nodded sharply before she had a chance to study it more thoroughly. "I thought that too." he acquiesced, and Sakura barely reigned in a scoff.
(Genma-san's dark humour and lack of inhibitions with his laughter as well as his willingness to call people out on their bullshit had been addictive and infectious, and she kept having to remind herself that that was not an aspect of her personality she wanted Sasuke-kun to see).
Still, she tuned in enough to register Sasuke-kun saying, "Dobe, Sakura, show me your weapons pouches."
Inwardly laughing at how similar this demand was to the request she heard the previous day, Sakura obligingly showed both boys the contents of her pouch, delighting in their shocked expressions, and sending a silent thanks to Genma-san for letting her experience that. (She took smug satisfaction in the fact that Naruto's weapons added up to less than a third of her total.)
Even Sasuke-kun had fewer weapons than her.
"Alright," the raven nodded, attaching his pouch back to his belt. "we'll go with option two, just as Sakura said – we'll run as fast as we can, as far as we can, then set traps. We should make camp close to the traps so we can scout and maybe try to lead some teams into them." Sakura nodded in agreement and even Naruto stayed quiet long enough to listen to the instructions and then started rambling on about bad guys and getting as many scrolls as possible and at some point, Sakura just shut him out as white noise as her eyes scanned the foliage before them. It did not look welcoming.
Then, just as she was considering using one of her bandages as a gag for the loud blond, the gates suddenly opened and a deep gong resounded through the forest, Mitarashi-san's voice joining it not a second later;
"Run brats, run!" she cackled. "The second stage of the Exams has officially began!"
And then they were running, and Sakura knew little else but the blur of the trees and the frantic beat of her heart.
It was a good plan.
As a paper-ninja, she could admit as much. She had taken into consideration the strengths of her team, their abilities in comparison to the others, as well as factors like the potential complexity of the traps they could set depending on the amount of weapons available to them. If this were a theory exam, Team 7 would've aced it no problem. She would've aced it no problem.
In retrospect, Sakura should've known that something would inevitably go wrong – they were Team 7 after all.
But even in her worst nightmares, even in the most horrifying situations and various ways in which this Exam could have potentially gone wrong, Sakura had never imagined that one of the Legendary Sannin would appear in the forest.
Not only appear, but seem to have a personal vendetta against Sasuke-kun.
They had made good progress: though Sakura had initially set the pace, Sasuke-kun then made them push on till Sakura's body clock told her it was around 11 at night; her muscles and lungs alike were screaming in agony and her chakra reserves had never been emptier. With six hours of chakra-induced speed, only a few short water breaks in between and the path through the branches minimising the amount of obstacles they stumbled across, her team had made good time.
They made it to where the Tower was in sight, less than half a kilometre before them if Sakura were to estimate. They decided to stop for the night and Sakura was left to find something to eat after surrendering a third of her weapons to Naruto and Sasuke-kun for them to set up the necessary traps. After that, they established a schedule of two hours. First, Sakura kept watch while the boys slept; she cast a False Surroundings genjutsu on the root the boys were using as cover, making it appear as an inconspicuous branch. She would occasionally get up and check the traps to see if anyone was stupid enough to travel at night and get caught in them but was left disappointed each time. Then, when her turn to sleep came, she gratefully smiled at Naruto, crawled under the genjutsu-covered root they'd deemed suitable for cover and promptly fell asleep, exhausted.
She woke up to the sound of Naruto's victorious shout, and stilled. She felt groggy enough to realise that she slept for far longer than the agreed four hours, and that in itself was enough to make her snap awake. Carefully, Sakura gathered all the equipment they'd used, then, realising that Sasuke-kun must've already joined Naruto, she used her chakra, as per Genma-san's instruction to try and locate her teammates. The sight that greeted her when she arrived at the clearing their chakra had led her to was of a foreign nin desperately trying to parry the barrage of shuriken and kunai set up by Sasuke-kun, while two of his comrades were already on the ground nursing wounds gained from slower reactions. She couldn't help the sudden wave of vindictive glee that washed over her – her plan had worked.
"Naruto, Sakura, check the two on the ground for scrolls." Sasuke-kun ordered when she finally joined them, then, not waiting for their affirmative, he threw himself into the melee of projectiles and with a swift punch, knocked the last genin unconscious.
Shaking off the mixture of awe and exasperation at her teammate's actions, Sakura obediently set to her task – she pressed the pressure point on the back of the fallen kunoichi's neck, then, once unconscious, she checked her pockets, absently noting that the team was from Iwagakure. Her hand found a cylindrical object which she pulled out in hopes that it was their much needed Earth scroll, but what came out instead was a scroll not unlike the jutsu scrolls in the library. Torn between curious and disappointed and spurred by something she couldn't quite explain, she shoved the scroll into one of the many pockets of her vest and resumed looking, letting out a dejected sigh when her hand pulled out another scroll, this time a Heaven one.
"Got one, but it's Heaven." she announced, rising from the unconscious kunoichi's side. Naruto joined her soon after, his hands empty and a pout on his lips.
"Let's hope Sasuke-teme had more luck." he grumbled, and just as he finished, their raven haired teammate joined them, an annoyed 'tch' falling from his lips though there was a satisfied smirk pulling at his lips.
"I don't need luck, dobe." he sniped, proudly brandishing the Earth scroll they needed. "I got it."
And then, just as things were looking up, all hell broke loose.
It happened so quickly Sakura wasn't quite sure what exactly transpired, but suddenly, a Grass ninja appeared between the trees, cutting off their only path to the Tower. Before any of them could fully get their bearings, two snakes with bodies the width of the tree trunks sprang towards them, and only one thing was on their minds:
"Run!" Sasuke-kun yelled and then he was off, and it took all of Sakura's energy and willpower to keep up with him and not panic.
But, it seemed that luck was not on their side; sooner than it should've been possible given their massive bodies, one of the snakes had caught up to them. Naruto, being the closest to the snakes, cursed and tried desperately to speed up, but the snake sprang and bodily destroyed the next branch the blond was going to push off, leaving him flailing in mid-air, a curse falling from his lips before the snake barrelled into him and threw him in the direction of its partner.
"Naruto!" she yelled desperately as her and Sasuke-kun were left staring after their teammate, wincing as the snakes played ping-pong with Naruto as the ball, taking him away from where the two of them were standing. Then, flying through the air and cursing all the while, Naruto's head knocked against one of the trunks with a resounding thud and he stopped struggling, out cold.
"No-!" Sakura choked out, her hand reaching out as if she could somehow reach through the snakes and get to her teammate. She tensed, hand falling to her weapons pouch in the event that the snakes would turn on her, but they seemed content to circle Naruto almost protectively, and with no small degree of effort, Sakura forced her gaze away from the unconscious blond and onto Sasuke-kun. But Sasuke-kun's gaze was not on Naruto, but on their attacker, the mysterious Grass-nin who stood with a wicked smirk their face and with a jolt, Sakura realised that the ninja was a woman.
"Who are you?" Sasuke demanded, kunai pointed threateningly at the nin. "What do you want?"
"My, my, such hostility is truly unnecessary." The kunoichi drawled, her tongue snaking out, pointed and alarmingly long, unnerving Sakura to the point where she shivered. "Your teammate could be dead, you know." She observed as if she were merely talking about the weather. "It sounded like he hit his head pretty hard. And yet… you're standing here, entertaining me with pointless small talk rather than checking his condition. What kind of heartlessness is that, hm, Sasuke-kun?"
At that, Sasuke-kun winced and turned to Sakura. His eyes flickered to Naruto's prone figure before they settled on her, the intent behind the action clear. The rosette's eyes widened, not missing the implied command and she paled. He wanted her to get through the two snakes which looked like they could eat her as a pre-dinner snack? Had Sasuke-kun finally gone mad? She'd rather take her chance with the kunoichi!
But not a moment later, he and said kunoichi were engaged in a taijutsu battle so fast Sakura's eyes struggled to keep up, and she gulped. Or maybe not. Her eyes tracked back to the snakes who, to her surprise, were still circling Naruto, and she realised that their job was keeping her away rather than attacking her. The easiest enemy to beat was a divided enemy, and Sakura had to hand it to the Grass-nin – she'd managed to divide them very well.
Resigning herself to her fate as her eyes focused on her target, Sakura tried to sift through her admittedly limited knowledge of that particular species, annoyed when she kept drawing up a blank; snakes weren't exactly common animals in Konohagakure, particularly not ones this size – she didn't think she'd ever read about one that big being seen out in the open unless it was a summon–
I'm so stupid.
A summon. It was such a simple explanation and yet perfectly explained the size of the reptile, as well as its unusually tame behaviour – summons, at least most of them, were said to be harmless until provoked, or instructed to attack. Sakura spared a brief glance at the Grass kunoichi, wondering why she was so intent on keeping Naruto out of the fight.
That's a mystery for another time. She chastised herself, once again assessing the situation and trying not to let the hopelessness of it all get to her. All I have is basic genjutsu, chakra control, and an abundance of explosive tags and smoke bombs, hardly material to wage war against something that size.
And then, as if triggered by that self-deprecating thought, a skeleton of a plan began to form in her mind, and she winced. It seems like the only option… but it'll be a miracle if I manage to pull it off. Her eyes strayed to where Sasuke-kun's fire jutsu seemed to only irritate the mysterious kunoichi, despite the fact that she should've been burned to a crisp long ago. But I have to try. I have to make the first step towards my nindo.
With that in mind, she took out one of the smoke bombs she bought with Genma-san, this one crimson rather than purple – unlike the others filled with harmless, coloured gas, this one contained chili powder. Sakura's snake biology was pathetically limited, but a snake was a reptile, and reptiles were famed for their incredibly developed sense of smell.
Still, something made her hesitate. Even if I do manage to make them temporarily nose-blind, nothing stops them from lashing out in blind rage and confusion. She argued. If I get hit by even one of them, I can end up like Naruto. Or worse. And then Sasuke-kun will have to fend the crazy snake lady off by himself.
Sakura hated not knowing something. For a paper-ninja, being unsure of something that could be found in books was a nightmare – just then, she resented the genjutsu scrolls available in the library for not telling her whether illusions would be effective on animals.
Guess I won't know till I try.
Nonetheless, she dreaded the possibility of something going terribly wrong, but one look at Naruto's prone form and Sasuke-kun fighting a clearly losing battle filled her up with grim determination.
Let's go!
Sakura's plan, all things considered, was painfully simple. So simple, in fact, that it really shouldn't have worked.
But as she threw the chili bomb between the summons, the gas temporarily obscuring their vision, she mentally apologised to Naruto if he happened to breathe it. But, that aside, it had provided what she had no doubt was hell for the snakes' noses and that distraction was enough for Sakura to progress to step 2: the signs for an internal-effect genjutsu came to her easily, and she worked the illusion till she was as sure as she could be that the snakes believed Naruto was slumped against a tree a good twenty metres away from where he actually was.
Then, she sprang.
Sakura ran like the devil himself was on her heels, not trusting her hasty genjutsu nor the chili power to keep the snakes occupied for long. And indeed, her pessimism was right: not ten seconds after she reached Naruto and hefted him over her shoulder did an enraged hiss reach her ears. She spared a quick glance at the two snakes which appeared to have recovered from the chili powder and were temporarily frozen but she knew better than to trust their stillness. Making sure her grip on Naruto was secure, she powered off towards one of the trees a safe distance away from Sasuke-kun's battle and the snakes, scaling it easily and placing the blond on the branch, his back propped against the massive trunk. She checked his pulse, grateful when it thudded, weaker but there against her fingers. She still had no way of ascertaining the condition of what she had no doubt was a nasty concussion, but at least he was up and away from the goddamn snakes.
Then, a thought struck her.
She couldn't help Sasuke-kun with the Grass kunoichi if she had to keep glancing back to make sure the snakes were not advancing on them. So, the snakes had to go. But how?
Thoughts running wild, hoping against hope that her luck would last, because what she was planning was even more reckless than the previous stunt, Sakura took out four kunai and explosive tags and carefully wrapped the tags around the knives' hilts. Then, she reconsidered, compensating for the sheer madness of the idea and wrapped another tag around each. Just in case, she assured herself.
She knew that she didn't have anything strong nor sharp enough to cut through those scales enough to disembowel, but all the kunai really needed to do was lodge themselves in the snakeskin long enough for the tags to detonate. After that, the power of four tags per snake should take care of the damn reptiles enough for them not to go after Naruto, and leave Sakura to go help Sasuke-kun.
She moved to a branch which granted her a clearer shot at the snakes, then, praying that her marginally better than average aim would be good enough for the kunai to hit their target from such a distance, she launched them. Sakura watched the knives sail true and bury themselves to the hilt, two in each snake, then, before they had a chance to slither away, she pulsed chakra into the tags and watched the snakes explode in a flurry of scales and guts.
Wincing at the carnage that appeared a second before the snakes 'poof'ed out of existence, Sakura was finally able to focus her full attention of Sasuke-kun.
And what she saw horrified her.
He was losing. Badly so. He was on his knees, out of breath and with innumerable scratches and cuts on the patches of skin not covered by fabric of his clothes. The kunoichi was almost untouched in comparison, but the side of her face appeared to be peeling away, a golden eye replacing one of the onyx ones and Sakura got the feeling that something was really very wrong with that woman. Despite the fact that her sense of self-preservation was telling her to run as far as possible away from the battle, to the Tower, to the Academy, anywhere but stay where she was, Sakura kept moving forward, drawing closer and closer to Sasuke-kun. She intended to hide and bide her time, perhaps throw up and illusion and grab Sasuke-kun and run, or at least strategize, but no dice.
The Grass-nin moved towards Sasuke-kun, a kunai in her hand and intentions clear, and Sakura's body moved before her mind could process what she was doing.
Hands flying through the seals, Sakura prayed that she had enough chakra for her trick to work. Then, she was crouching in front of Sasuke-kun, her hand sending three shuriken flying at the kunoichi while another held a kunai in a defensive position. Watching the Grass ninja retreat, Sakura only hoped the forced movement was enough to mask the tell-tale swirling of leaves that accompanied the Hell-Viewing Technique, but if everything went according to plan, the woman was already caught in her False Surroundings genjutsu.
Layering her illusions had been something that she'd read about in the scrolls and begged Genma-san to let her practise on him – the scrolls seemed confident that even if her opponent managed to break the first layer (in this case, Sakura went for the Hell-Viewing illusion) it was very unlikely they would notice the second layer.
But Sakura was soon presented with even more evidence that the woman was definitely not who she seemed because not a second after her feet touched the ground from her forced retreat, mismatched eyes stared at Sakura with an unprecedented degree of lucidity and interest.
Most importantly, they were not the eyes of somebody who'd just had their worst fear play before their eyes.
"Ohoho," the woman chuckled, her gaze on Sakura feeling perversely invasive. "an illusionist in Konoha? How unusual!" and Sakura hated the casual tone, the almost childish playfulness, but she kept her mouth shut and her kunai in place. "But you're nought but an ant in my way right now, little girl." She smirked, and this time, Sakura did not manage to mask her shiver. "Though if you truly want to register as a threat next time, you'll need to learn that sometimes, you ought to dig a little deeper, because love can be a thousand times more terrifying than fear itself."
Sakura knew two things in that instant: one, the woman was clearly not a genin and most definitely clinically insane. And two; that she had to have noticed her glance back at Sasuke-kun, because her smirk grew to obscene sizes and turned openly malicious. "You may doubt it now, but if you'd listened to your fear just now, you would've already been at the Tower, safe and secure and far away from here." And the rosette paled, because they were the exact thoughts that had ran through her mind not five minutes previous. But the kunoichi wasn't finished, oh no. "But instead," she continued, her eyes seemingly seeing right through Sakura. "you're here, your love for your darling teammate making you put yourself in a situation you know will not end in your favour."
Sakura grit her teeth, not deigning the woman with a response and resolved to hold her kunai tighter, inwardly sighing in relief when Sasuke-kun twitched behind her, his hands coming up to pick himself off of the ground.
For the first time since she'd stupidly placed herself between the kunoichi and her teammate, Sakura saw a hint of irritation cross her face. "Now I believe I've spent long enough educating the youth of this worthless Village. Move aside." The last words came out as a hiss, and Sakura found herself knocked aside so hard her back collided painfully with a tree trunk, stars dancing in her vision, but as she blinked to clear it, she paused.
Because it seemed that what had knocked her aside was the kunoichi's neck.
Stifling her gag reflex at the inhuman body modification, Sakura's vision cleared enough for her to realise that the woman appeared to be… biting Sasuke-kun? And then, a scream of agony so pronounced that Sakura's body was moving despite the resounding ache in her ribs ripped through the air. The rosette was at Sasuke-kun's side in a heartbeat, falling to her knees beside him, her eyes rising to send a look in equal parts angry and terrified at the woman who appeared to be melting into the branches.
"My work here is done. Sasuke will seek me out soon enough."
And Sakura glanced down to see three black tomoe appear on Sasuke-kun's neck, and his last scream faded out into a grunt which made Sakura's blood run cold;
"Orochi…maru…"
Initially, Sakura had planned to wait. She hoped to find cover and bide her time, secure in the knowledge that they had their scrolls and at least three more days in which to get to the Tower, which left ample time for at least one of her boys to wake up.
But then Sasuke-kun had to ruin it and say that name. Sakura was no expert, but even she knew the basic history of her Village and the top names in their Bingo Book, and the more she thought about it, the more her dread grew because it made sense. She had been correct in her earlier observation – snakes were not popular summon animals, if one was even honoured and powerful enough to have a summoning contract. And the last known shinobi to have the allegiance of the Great Manda and his kin was Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sannin. Just what, Sakura despaired, what could he possibly have gained from coming to Konoha, missing-nin as he was? And why did the seal he'd branded Sasuke-kun with brim with malevolent chakra so dark that Sakura shivered every time she focused on it?
Those were questions not meant to be answered by genin. She needed somebody of higher rank, Kakashi-sensei, Genma-san, even Morino-san of the first exam, someone she knew would have the answers, and if not, then at least alert someone who did.
But with both Naruto and Sasuke-kun unconscious, the Tower in sight, and Sakura herself nursing what she suspected to be a moderate concussion, the odds were not in her favour. And if she wanted to have someone give her some answers, there was only one option really open to her; she had to make for the Tower. Simple enough, but it posed one significant issue – even circulating chakra into her muscles as she had been doing since they entered the forest, she wasn't strong enough to safely carry both boys and move at the same time. That left her with even worse odds – all she really could do was to transport them to the Tower individually.
And that would mean leaving one of them here.
Unbidden, the hopelessness of the situation overtook her and she collapsed beside Sasuke-kun, her head in her hands, fingers pulling painfully on the pink tresses. What good was the last month? She despaired, I'm just as useless as I was during Wave!
"I trust you."
Sakura froze, the fingers in her hair seizing up as familiar words resounded through her mind.
"Make sure to come back in one piece, yeah?"
Genma-san…
Some of her resolve rushed back, and she clung to it, desperate for a flicker of light in a dark tunnel:
What was another obstacle in her path? What difference did it make if she cast an illusion over their training grounds or a forest? What changed if she was trying to conceal a body rather than the kunai that Genma-san had her practise with?
Nothing.
An illusion was an illusion, and, as things stood at that particular moment in time, genjutsu was Sakura's best and, perhaps only option. She cast a hopeful look at the setting sun, then at the treetops, above which she could clearly see the red brick of the Tower.
If I hurry up, I might even get both of them there before nightfall.
Decision made, Sakura hefted herself to her feet and assessed Sasuke-kun's still form, the first couple of steps of her most risky plan to date already forming in her mind. Increasing the amount of chakra she was circulating to her arms, Sakura bent down and lifted the raven before throwing him over her shoulder, for once not bothering with being gentle. She tracked back to the tree she'd left Naruto on and sat Sasuke-kun at its roots, before she scaled it and repeated the process with Naruto. When both unconscious boys were supported by the trunk, Sakura looked around in search of a root she could conceal a body under.
There.
And before she could reconsider, she was bending down and hefting Naruto over her shoulder as she made her way to the root. She shoved the blond under, piling some branches and leaves to cover him physically as much as she could before she stepped back and ran through the handsigns for the Double False Surroundings technique. As the caster, she could see through the layers and she hoped that for once, subtle misdirection would work better than blatant altering of the surroundings. But she couldn't dwell on it too much. As she made her way back to Sasuke-kun, she pulled out a kunai and carved the Haruno symbol into the trunk, small enough that it wouldn't be noticed unless someone knew she was there. Then, she sent one final, desperate prayer to whoever was listening, threw Sasuke-kun over her shoulder and ran.
Lady luck was on her side as Sakura managed to make it to the Tower without any major incidents; the only downside was that her hands were now covered in burns from stinging nettles, but she was lucky enough that her new outfit covered most of her body. The same could not be said for Sasuke-kun, but Sakura reasoned he would be more inclined to forgive her if he found out that she did it to hide from a group of genin from the Sound Village.
And then, a pair of double doors was before her, and Sakura sighed, breaking the seal that was holding them closed as she stumbled inside. The room was empty, walls made of stone and bare save for a single tapestry that hung on the furthest wall, but Sakura didn't have the time to pay attention to it just then. Instead, she deposited Sasuke-kun on the ground, making sure his back was propped comfortably against one of the side walls, smacked an explosive tag to the exterior of the door just in case, and then she was off.
Finding Naruto took her less than fifteen minutes, but by the time she reached him and dismissed the illusion on the root, she could feel tendrils of black creeping up from the corners of her eyes; she'd used up far too much chakra.
Not yet. She told herself, I need to get Naruto to safety. I can't pass out just yet.
This time, with Naruto slung over her shoulder and Sasuke-kun safe, she didn't hold back; Sakura sprinted quicker than she'd ever ran before, and she was back inside the room less than half an hour after she left. It was with unimaginable relief that she dropped Naruto beside Sasuke-kun, carefully checking both boys' pulse before she allowed herself a few minutes to catch her breath. The night of the second day was nearing when she was running, and she picked herself off the ground long enough to take the explosive tag off and shut the door. Feeling safer than she had since this whole nightmarish exam began, she slid down the wall till she was sitting between the boys, the stress, both physical and mental, of the last two days finally catching up on her.
But there was still one thing that niggled on her mind, and Sakura pried her eyes open and carefully appraised the tapestry at the front of the room. A second later, she collapsed back against the wall, fatigue and annoyance triggering her unpleasant side to come out. "What is it with ninja and riddles?" She whined, ignoring the fact that there was nobody present who could answer her. Sakura sent another glare at the tapestry as she struggled to sit up to study it in more detail.
"If qualities of Heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom to take your mind higher." She read out, then snorted. "Not cryptic at all." She grumbled, sarcasm drooping off her every word, but she forced herself to continue regardless. "If Earth qualities are what you lack, train your body, prepare to attack. When Heaven and Earth are opened together, this perilous path will become righteous forever. This-" Sakura frowned and read through the entire text again to make sure she wasn't being unusually obtuse and there really was a character missing. Groaning in frustration, she opted to ignore it for the time being and kept reading. "This something is the secret way that guides us to this path today. That's it?" puzzled, she read the text over one more time, not liking the fact that there was only one way that her mind could come up with to deal with this as it was far from favourable.
But why make us carry these scrolls all the way here under clear orders not to open them, only to make us open them once we get here? She mused, a frown pulling on her face as she tried to find some method in the madness. Riddle-loving maniacs, damn them all.
Still, only one possible solution stood before her, and she took out the scrolls, laying them down in front of her. Here goes. As quickly as she could, she unravelled the Earth scroll before moving onto Heaven, and when both were open, she squinted at the writing. Is that… 'man'? And that's the character for… 'here'? suddenly, the paper started smoking, and the puzzle pieces fell together in Sakura's mind. She sprang to her feet, exhaustion shoved to the back of her mind, kicked the scrolls as far away from her and the boys as she could and put herself between her teammates and the scrolls, knees bent with a kunai in each hand. Just in time too, for no sooner had she done that did a silhouette appear in the smoke that erupted from the scrolls. Sakura's mind absently registered that what the scrolls contained was a summoning jutsu drawn out on two scrolls, rather than one as was common which was why she didn't immediately recognise it. Then, her eyes fell on the figure as the smoke cleared and she gasped.
"Iruka-sensei?!"
Her Academy sensei seemed as surprised to see her as she was to see him, concern clear in his eyes as he eyed the unconscious boys behind her and the kunai she had yet to put away. "Sakura? Why are the boys unconscious? Are you alright? What happened?" needing a moment to process the questions, the rosette busied herself with putting away her weapons, slightly embarrassed to have pulled them out on her old sensei. When she was ready, she sighed, sagging with relief.
"If I were to guess, Naruto's got a concussion." She admitted. "I probably shouldn't have moved him, but I had no idea how to treat it. Sasuke-kun… it looks like some form of fuinjutsu, but it's not something I've ever seen before. As for me, I'm alright, I think." But as the words left her mouth, she swayed, the spots of black that had taken permanent residence on the edges of her vision completely obscuring her sight for a moment. When her vision focused again and Iruka-sensei's wide eyes came into view, a wry smile made its way onto her face despite her condition. "Would it suffice to say that you have a serious security breach?" she asked mirthlessly, but didn't hear his response, for not a second later, her knees buckled under her and she was swallowed by darkness.
When Sakura came to, it was to the steady beeping of a heart monitor and a feeling like something had died in her mouth. She pried open her eyes and immediately winced, the bright light feeling like a thousand tiny kunai stabbing into her retinas. "Too bright…" she groaned, and almost didn't recognise her own voice.
"Ah, awake at last, Sakura-chan." She recognised that voice, and when she forced her eyes open, wincing all the while, Kakashi-sensei sat at her bedside, signature book missing. "You gave Iruka quite a scare, blacking out like that. And you didn't even wait to tell your sensei you've passed." Though there was an accusation buried under the cheerful façade, Sakura was too tired to deal with that just then and latched onto the banter like a lifeline.
"Sorry, Kakashi-sensei." She replied, trying for a grin but ending up with more of a grimace. "What's the correct protocol when one of the Legendary Sannin attacks you and places some foreign fuinjutsu on your teammate?" she asked and was rewarded with a slight widening of her sensei's visible eye.
"Seems like you're up to speed with your history, hm, Sakura-chan?" and Sakura didn't have the heart to tell him that more than her studying history texts, Genma-san had let her look at his Bingo Book when she told him of their mission to Wave, and Orochimaru was one of the highest-ranked ninja there. So she just nodded instead. "As for proper protocol…" Kakashi-sensei's visible eye flitted to the other side of the room, and when Sakura followed his gaze she nearly jumped out of the bed.
"H-Hokage-sama!" she gasped, feeling her face go red. "Forgive me! I didn't realise-!"
"No harm done." Sarutobi replied and Sakura somehow felt chastised rather than relieved. The second stage proctor, Mitarashi-san stood beside him and Sakura spared the woman a brief glance before the Hokage spoke again. "Now, I realise you've only just woken up, but could you tell us exactly what happened while you were in that forest?"
Just as she was about to nod, alarm bells went off in her mind and she whipped around to face Kakashi-sensei. "Sasuke-kun and Naruto-!"
"-Are both fine and resting, as you should be." The jounin cut her off, his visible eye crinkling slightly. "Naruto's concussion's been treated and I sealed up Sasuke's seal myself after you brought them in. Both have been demanding to see you, actually."
Feeling like a weight was lifted off her shoulders, Sakura nodded and began her tale.
She mentioned the plan they came up with, the successful trap they managed to set, and the mysterious Grass kunoichi that appeared out of nowhere. She briefly mentioned her scuffle with the snakes and Sasuke-kun losing to the woman, glossed over her attempt at ensnaring the kunoichi-turned-Orochimaru in an illusion, and detailed how his neck appeared to become a snake in its own right as he bit Sasuke-kun resulting in that mysterious seal. She then explained her decision to get the boys to the Tower and stopped when she got to the point where all three were safely inside.
When she finished, her story was met with silence, broken only by Kakashi-sensei's sigh. "Iruka needs to be commended for his teaching of giving mission reports." When she sent him a puzzled look, he smiled. "This is the closest you've gotten to your first solo mission report, Sakura-chan. Don't you want to gloat a little, dazzle us?"
"That's enough, Kakashi-kun." The Sandaime interrupted, saving Sakura from having to answer her sensei's bizarre question. "Sakura-chan's report was sufficient and confirms what we already thought. Let her rest." And he made for the door, Mitarashi-san a respectful step behind him, but when the Hokage walked out, she stopped at the door.
"I know we all had some doubts about giving you a genin team, Hatake," she began to Sakura's utter confusion, "but whatever you taught them about comradeship and teamwork, this one's got it down pat." She spared the rosette a glance and tried for what she knew was meant to be a smile, but like Sakura before her, it turned into more of a grimace. "Good job, kid."
When she left, Kakashi-sensei turned to her, but instead of comfort, the look in his eye unnerved her. "Now that that's over," he murmured, before he turned serious. "I don't think I need to tell you how lucky you are that nobody who could break genjutsu stumbled across Naruto, do I?" when she shook her head, hindsight making her feel shame rather than pride at her decision, she was startled to feel his hand land on her head and ruffle her hair like he sometimes did to the boys. "That said, I've got to admit, I'm proud. Out of all of you, I thought you'd be the least receptive to my old man teachings about the importance of teammates, but I'm glad to be proven wrong. Now come on, if you're up to it, we'll go see the boys. Kami knows they've been nagging me almost incessantly since you've gotten here."
And though Sakura laughed with him at the image of Sasuke-kun nagging, a thought struck her that made her pause. "Kakashi-sensei… how long exactly have I been here?" she asked, mind whirring in an attempt to work it out.
"Nearly two days. The time-limit for the second stage is almost up." and when she paled, her horror at the fact that she's been in bed for almost longer than they were in the forest clear on her face, he chuckled. "On that note, your plan before entering the forest and those traps? That was good work, Sakura. A tactician would be proud." And Sakura couldn't quite hide the blush that his words caused, so she busied herself with detaching the IV and heart monitor and swinging her legs off the bed.
"Let's go see the boys, sensei."
Their reunion brought a small smile to Kakashi's face. When news of Orochimaru's presence in the Forest of Death spread to the jounin sensei, he'd been scared. Sakura may have head the sharpest mind out of the rookie kunoichi, Sasuke may have been an Uchiha, and Naruto may have been the kyuubi's jinchuuriki and the son of a Hokage, but they were still just children. The idea of the Legendary Sannin being after one of his students had made Kakashi's stomach churn. Still, he had not expected for Sakura to step up as she had, get the boys to safety and even – from what he'd pieced together from Sasuke's reluctant account and Sakura's own glossed-over version – even attempt to engage Orochimaru herself.
It seemed that there was more to his kunoichi that he'd initially assumed, and Kakashi didn't like to have his judgement proven wrong. He'd just have to keep track of her during the Preliminaries.
Speaking of the Preliminaries, Kakashi turned to his team who'd taken to giving each other noogies and called out, "C'mon kiddies, time to see what's in store for you in the third stage!"
Their indignant shouts at the nickname followed him all the way to the arena.
Sakura never quite believed that Team 7 could really become a unit – they were too different, too focused on their own goals, with too incompatible personalities to ever manage to work seamlessly together. But when she watched Naruto give Sasuke-kun a noogie, then squealed as the raven pulled her in too, she couldn't help but rethink her view. Because both boys had thanked her for bringing them to the Tower when they finally saw her, even if Sasuke-kun had to be elbowed by Naruto to say the words. She couldn't help but feel that they had grown closer over the time spent in the Forest, particularly if she compared them to how they were during the mission to Wave.
Especially when she stood among the other six teams who'd made it through the second stage she couldn't help but feel hopeful: almost everybody else looked scuffed and scratched and bone-weary, as if they'd made it to the Tower in the nick of time and had hardly any time to rest. She listened to the Hokage's speech, a frown pulling at her brows the more he said, feeling slightly disillusioned. How could anybody expect peaceful alliances if even the Hokage said that usefulness and honour came before friendship? But she didn't have long to ponder before a proctor appeared and in a cough-filled speech announced that preliminaries would be held since so many of them had passed the second stage. Sakura sighed at the explanation, not liking the 'fight to sudden death or till severely incapacitated' rule, but she brightened when the proctor declared that he'd step in to prevent any unnecessary loss of life. And then, they were all ushered upstairs as the first match was announced, Sasuke-kun looking eager and relaxed and Sakura felt her nerves dissipate too as she settled in to watch what would undoubtedly be a good show.
After Sasuke-kun won and joined her, Naruto and Kakashi-sensei on the stands, the names started flashing again, each one meaning less to her than the other.
Zaku Abumi vs. Shino Aburame
Misumi Tsurgi vs. Kankuro
And then-
Sakura Haruno vs. Ino Yamanaka
Sakura met Ino's eyes and a silent understanding passed between them. This wasn't about Sasuke-kun anymore; this was about them, and who was better. Sending her boys a small smile at Naruto's loud encouragement and Kakashi-sensei's quieter 'good luck', she moved towards the stairs, Ino doing the same. But then, just as she was preparing herself for a physical and verbal showdown between her and her childhood friend, Genma-san's words flashed through her mind.
"They are your strengths. Play to them."
"If it should come to a one on one battle, end it as quickly as you can."
"You'll be fine."
"I trust you."
And something in her changed, her resolve strengthened, and her intent to win and prove herself won over the slight nostalgia she felt at facing her childhood friend.
Sorry Ino, she apologised, change of plans. I've got someone other than Sasuke-kun that I can't disappoint. She met her rival downstairs, not even registering her taunts as a particular phrase kept echoing in her mind.
"-end it as quickly as you can."
She would. For Genma-san, for all those weeks he spent with her, she would win this. Ino had always been her equal and sometimes superior in some areas of their kunoichi training; but this time, Sakura had the element of surprise on her side.
"-as quickly as you can."
"-quickly…"
And when the proctor said 'Go', Sakura didn't wait around, didn't let the wave of nostalgia stop her in her tracks – she pounced.
The smoke bomb caught everyone off-guard, Ino in particular, as the blonde had been mid-taunt at that particular moment. But Sakura didn't pause, didn't wait; she sought out her chakra as she had been instructed and imagined a thick, grey woollen blanket being thrown over it. Then, just in case, her hands flew through the False Surroundings technique but she twisted it at the last second so only Ino was affected, and then, closing her eyes and seeking the blond out with her chakra rather than her senses, Sakura moved, taking great care that her footsteps were nigh silent till she was right behind Ino. Her hand dove into her pouch and pulled out two kunai, one with and one without an explosive tag. She transferred the untagged kunai to her left hand and pressed it against Ino's jugular, while the tagged knife was sent a good ten metres away from them and detonated.
She'd chosen one with a slightly smaller explosive power than most of the ones in her arsenal – she didn't want the arena to crumble, after all, she only wanted to clear the cloud of purple smoke left over from the smoke bomb she'd thrown at the start.
When the smoke cleared, Sakura dismissed her illusion and Ino flinched, only then realising her position. Sakura briefly wondered if the blonde would try to fight out of her hold, but Ino only grumbled and slumped, resigned.
Valiantly ignoring the shocked faces of the onlookers, particularly the disbelieving expressions on Sasuke-kun and Naruto's faces, she turned to the proctor, hoping that he'd deem Ino incapacitated enough to end the fight before Sakura was forced to press her kunai in any deeper.
Luckily, the proctor seemed to have read her mind as he coughed before announcing; "I declare this match over, with Haruno Sakura as the winner." Sakura allowed herself a small smile as she released Ino, but her happiness didn't last long.
"The hell was that, Forehead!?"
Up in the stands, the jounin sensei seemed to share Ino's confusion.
"I didn't know you taught your genin chakra suppression, Kakashi." Asuma remarked, not having missed the brief period during which even he couldn't quite sense the pinkette. Kurenai turned an attentive ear, as did Gai, and, despite his mask, nobody missed Kakashi's frown.
"That's because I didn't teach her that." was the Copy-Nin's sharp response, his eyes trained on his student.
"She used genjutsu too." Kurenai cut in, her scarlet eyes questioning. "Supplementary at best, but the timing of the application was immaculate. And I may be a recent jounin, but that must've beaten some record – it was one of the quickest battles I've ever seen. Don't really know if you could call it a battle, no offense, Asuma." She added cautiously, drawing a small chuckle from the man.
"None taken. I don't even think Ino expected that, and those two were best friends at some point." All three adults turned to where the blonde was making her way up the stairs and appeared to be taking animatedly with Sakura, though 'talking' may have been a bit of an understatement.
"-and where do you get off hiding genjutsu from me all the way through the Academy? I thought we were friends!"
"Ino," Sakura tried, using the moment the blonde paused to take a breath to try and explain herself, but Ino wasn't having it.
"Not to mention you made me look stupid in front of Sasuke-kun!" she continued her rant, "Honestly, Forehead, when did you get better than me?"
But Sakura was saved from answering by Naruto as he bounded up to her with hugs and congratulations. "Hey hey, Sakura-chan, you were awesome!" he cheered as she regained her balance after the tackle-hug. "The lady over there said you might've beaten the record for the quickest win!"
Sakura's surprised eyes flitted to Kakashi-sensei for confirmation, and the jounin quickly hid his frustration and offered her his signature eye crinkle in response. "That she did." he admitted. "By the way, those were some interesting moves you had there, Sakura-chan." he didn't miss Asuma and Kurenai's knowing looks at his compliment; they both knew that it was aimed to get the pinkette to talk about who'd taught her a jounin level technique.
But then again, if Sakura were the type to boast, she'd have gotten along splendidly with Naruto from the start; as it was, she merely nodded, a tiny smile pulling at her lips at his words. "Thanks, Kakashi-sensei." she murmured, nodding in acknowledgement, then her attention shifted back to Ino, who had waited patiently up until that point before she dug into the pinkette with renewed vigour.
Kakashi sighed. He'd resigned himself to keeping better track of his female student, though there was a twinge of bitterness at Asuma's words. Did the other jounin really think that Kakashi had taught her that? If he did, then Asuma really didn't know him at all – Kakashi would never, ever teach any of his students techniques which were bound to land them in a wet-works squad before their fifteenth birthdays. Particularly not Sakura-chan.
But somebody had, and they'd done it in such a way that she managed to keep it a secret, managed to lull him into a false sense of security that she wouldn't try anything too ambitious to better herself at least till the exams were over. Kakashi would have serious words with whoever it was who'd taught her that, but he was forced to abandon his plotting when another familiar name popped up on the screen.
Kiba Inuzuka vs. Naruto Uzumaki
The rest of the fights verged between embarrassing and terrifying. Sakura decided that even Zabuza had been tame in comparison to the redhead from Suna and she nearly cried at the state of his opponent when the match was over. It's not that he was weak that he lost, she realised, because from what she'd seen, Rock Lee was far from weak. It was that the other boy was simply a monster.
Nonetheless, all of the fights were soon over, and the victors were called downstairs and instructed to pluck a piece of paper from a basket.
Sakura drew out number 8, and she frowned. Then, when the Hokage had them read out their numbers, the purpose became clear, and Morino-san only clarified her guess; still, the pairings he announced sent shivers down her spine.
Naruto had the Hyuuga boy, and Sasuke-kun had the scary redhead from Suna – already, Sakura was worrying for her boys, but then, her pairing was announced and she froze.
Temari.
Her mind flashed back to the battle between her and Tenten, how easily she'd destroyed the weapons mistress without breaking a sweat. But then, she reasoned, that's what happened when two people who favoured long-distance fights clashed; one technique would inevitably prove stronger than the other. Then, another thought came to mind;
I hope Genma-san can be persuaded to train me if I buy him dinner again.
there you go! hope everything made sense!
as always, feel free to drop me a line - I love reading your views and feedback :D