I'm sorry for the length of this chapter! I was originally gonna write it all in one chapter but it got HUGE so I split it in two... somehow it stayed gigantic all the same haha
I suggest y'all sit with a nice cuppa in a comfortable position. Oh yeah, I wrote this listening to the fighting soundtracks from the anime and I totally recommend you reading while doing that. Just head over to youtube and type something like Naruto Fighting Songs, any of the thousands of 2 hour long videos will do.
Enjoy :)
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Sakura checked and double checked her uniform.
She had four pouches: one custom-made medic pouch on her left hip, dark blue in colour and holding an assortment of things she'd need such as simple antidotes and soldier pills; a standard pouch on her left hip with a special paralysing poison she created with Shizune-senpai, six kunai, ten exploding tags and various senbon; around both her mid thighs were smaller pouches with more kunai, exploding tags a few pepper bombs and about eight meters of ninja wire.
In her chunin flak jacket were tiny scrolls Tenten had given her for her birthday where she could fit inside an assortment of different weapons and ration bars. On her lower back, stuck horizontally to her vest was her black and red tantou.
Four small knives were hidden in her black sandals, on her wrists and even two poisoned senbon lay between the twists of her braid.
She tightened her hitai-ate on her forehead and headed out, absentmindedly scratching the scar bisecting her eyebrow as she went.
She got a few looks from the people on the Hokage tower but she paid them no mind. She usually didn't wear her flak jacket inside the village and certainly not her medic pouch, but she had to be ready for anything.
It had been about a month since she was appointed as a candidate to take the jounin exams and today was the day she and her fellow ninja would hand in their consent forms. If this was anything like the chunin exams, the test began today even if it wasn't explicitly said.
Spring was in full swing and the mild weather allowed her to comfortably wear her dark chunin issued pants and her prefered skin tight, black long sleeved shirt. She felt right at home in the tight lycra and it hid her ANBU tattoo perfectly.
She took a deep breath as she reached the top level of the tower. She had to remain focused. This was it. After she was done with the exams, she wouldn't have anything else to prove to her peers. She'd have reached the utmost top and she wasn't about to let anything stand in her way.
The room she entered was the one usually reserved for when there was a large meeting. It could probably fit all the jounin and tokubetsu jounin at once. Today, there were only about fifteen jounin and ten tokujo. It made sense. This was a test that never had a set date so it would be harder for any possible spies from other villages to gain access and many of the jounin of the village barely stepped foot inside Konoha anymore since the Crush.
While the chunin exams were specially tailored to showcase all of their strengths to the other allied villages, the jounin exams were perhaps one of the most well kept secrets of the village. No one ever knew when it was going to be held, usually because they had to have a certain amount of applicable shinobi to take the test and even then it was all kept quiet when everything was settled.
Sakura recognised a lot of the shinobi present.
Some of them she had been on missions with, such as Kaito, Raido, and Aoba. Others she knew from her chunin exams like Ibiki and Anko. Then, there were some who she found herself familiar with the way they walked, their hair and laugh.
ANBU jounin, she realised.
People whose name she didn't know but had once or twice seen naked around the changing rooms.
Sakura successfully suppressed a smile at the thought but she was sure she had an amused expression to her face when she stepped up to where the Hokage waited behind a low table, sitting cross legged on top of plush red cushions.
"Here you go, shishou," Sakura said before handing the woman her registration scroll.
The minute she stepped into the tower she'd begun to pay attention to genjutsu, not exactly sending her chakra to do any work, but extremely attentive to the tiniest of details. She couldn't afford to be caught unaware. Maybe that was why she didn't even have to turn to catch the projectile sent her way from behind.
"Anko," Tsunade chastised. "Please refrain from decapitating my shinobi before the exams begin."
Sakura brought her hand to her line of sight to see what the woman had thrown at her. A dango stick. Sakura snickered and rolled her eyes at her shishou. As if she would let herself get hit like that.
Tsunade's dry look told her exactly what she thought of her overly confident face but the woman didn't comment on it. Sakura stepped back and let another chunin hand in their scroll. She turned to where Anko was and sent the woman a charming disarming smile before flicking the stick back at her.
It sailed past her eye, the strength of the throw making her hair swoosh, before reaching the trash can.
There was a pause in conversation in the room as most people tried to look like they weren't watching their every move and others unabashedly stared. Anko's laugh was as unsettling as ever but the woman didn't try to approach her and Sakura only gave her a tiny wave before turning around. The woman had recommended her after all, she deserved at least some type of acknowledgment even after throwing random objects at her.
Sakura let her feet guide her towards the back of the room where Genma was leaning against one of the many windows. He had a senbon between his teeth as always and the first thing Sakura did was pluck the thing right out of his mouth.
"Careful, jiji, you don't want to choke before you can see me kick some ass." Sakura grinned cheekily at him and only when she heard a laugh did she realise the people around him were actually there with him.
Ino's sensei, Sarutobi Asuma, was to Genma's right and to his right was Tenten and Lee's teacher, Maito Gai. Asuma had been the one to laugh and he was still kinda grinning with an unlit cigarette on his lips.
"Jiji?" His dark eyes roved the ceiling. "I didn't think we were quite there yet."
Sakura found herself blushing despite herself. She didn't mean to sound so familiar with Genma in front of his peers. These men were nothing like the ANBU guys they normally hung out with at Headquarters. Would they even find it okay for them to have a friendship as close as theirs? Sakura wasn't sure.
Genma pulled her to him, his arm over her shoulders and her hand immediately went to brace her weight against his chest. His message was clear, even if they did find something wrong with it, he wouldn't give a fuck.
Sakura relaxed against him even as a part of her continued alert.
Gai cut a sharp gaze towards Genma but there was still a smile on his face when he returned her greetings. Sakura figured if anyone would have anything to say, it would be him.
It was weird being in a place full of people that would judge her for being close friends with a man twice her age. She'd become accustomed to the way ANBU just didn't give a fuck about things like rank and age, only skill. It was kind of jarring to realise she'd have to put some distance between herself and Genma.
Given the arm around her slightly tightening when she tried to leave, he wasn't about to let her do that. Damn him.
If her name started to go around the grapevine with stories of sordid affairs, she was going to castrate him while he slept.
"You're Kakashi's student, right?" Asuma asked her.
"Do you see Kakashi here?" She asked instead.
She regretted the acerbic tone of her voice and words the second they left her mouth but she didn't back down. She didn't resent the man anymore but it was kind of unfair that after all she's accomplished by herself, her name was still tied to his like that. She hadn't been the copy-nins student for more than six months and that was over two years ago.
Asuma raised an eyebrow at her while Gai widened his eyes but before they could say anything, Genma stepped in.
"Blossom over here is my teammate now." His words had a tone of finality to them that broke no other arguments and she was glad for it. Even though she kinda wanted to punch him for hinting at her new status as an ANBU operative.
There were more people coming in as Genma drew the two men into conversation and Sakura's eyes wandered around the room. It was to assess the situation around her as much as a way to familiarise herself with the other contestants.
At one point, Gai left and came back with Hyuga Neji under his strong arm. The boy seemed surprised at seeing her there but greeted her with a quiet "Haruno" and a nod.
The surprise on his face had been kind of offensive but not unexpected. Today, she'd get the chance to prove them all that she could make it.
Her gaze continued categorizing everything around her before it fell upon a familiar figure standing to the back of the room.
The man was leaning against a wall, his posture unassuming, everything about him easily forgettable. The Commander was looking straight at her, a small smile on his lips.
Sakura kind of wanted to kick his teeth in when their eyes met and his own closed as his smile grew. Cheeky bastard. She wondered if he knew she was about to be appointed jounin before he roped her into becoming an official member of his 'little gang'. Probably.
She rolled her eyes at him and fought the urge to stick her tongue out. It was amazing how annoying he was without even trying.
Regardless of how irritated she was, seeing him reminded her of something else.
"Where is everybody else?" She asked Genma quietly when there was a lull in their conversation. She could see Gai was occupied shouting something to Neji but Asuma looked like he could be listening in. She'd have to continue this without giving much away.
"They got dispatched yesterday night," he said just as quietly, watching as she twirled his senbon between her fingers. "Undercover job."
Sakura frowned at him, her fingers picking up their pace.
"Without backup?" She asked.
"They're kind of the backup." Genma grimaced at her and her frown deepened. "Hatake sent one of his dogs late last night."
A myriad of feelings churned inside her gut. Concern for Kakashi and her friends sat heavily inside her and she was sure it showed on her face by the way Genma's arm tightened around her.
"Do they have a medic with them?" The senbon between her fingers spun so fast it looked almost liquid now.
"Keiichi is with them." Genma shrugged his shoulder and Sakura scoffed.
"Keiichi wouldn't even be qualified as a fucking nurse, Genma," she said, voice full of scorn even though she didn't hold any ill feelings towards Fox. He was an okay guy in her books and she had to admit his skill in iryo-ninjutsu was passable and even surprising for a guy with no formal training. Still, the concern she felt for her friends outweighed all that.
Genma laughed and his hand grabbed the one she held his senbon.
"You're being careless, Petal."
Sakura's eyes widened. Her movements with the senbon were those of a shinobi that knew what they were doing. The same way she had been looking at people and assessing them, others were surely doing the same to her. To a trained eye, her skill with the senbon was evident and to any shinobi worth their salt it was a given that most people who worked with senbon usually dealt with poison.
Shit, she'd already given way too much away.
With a quick nod, she gave him his senbon back and pushed away from him. This time he let her go.
She had to get her head out of her ass and pay more attention. Tenzou and Yugao were very capable shinobi and Keiichi was a competent enough field solution. Not to mention the fact that Kakashi had Team Seven's uncanny ability to always come out okay in the end. She had to focus on her exam now.
"Alright everyone, can the jounin wannabes please form four lines in front of me," Tsunade called, her voice rising above the carefree chatter around the room. Sakura grinned at Neji's offended face when her shishou said 'wannabes'.
Genma winked at her and she waved at him before doing as she was told.
She stood at the back of a line, Neji's long, ridiculously soft looking hair swinging in front of her. There were a total of twelve chunin in the room plus a really big black dog that marked his owner as someone from the Inuzuka clan. It was a very low number and she guessed even fewer passed the exams. Being jounin really meant being elite, after all.
"You're all here because you had at least five recommendations from your peers," Tsunade said in a clear voice, "at least a hundred D-ranks, thirty C-ranks, ten B-ranks and two A-ranks."
Sakura couldn't keep the frown off her face. She knew being promoted to jounin was more of a political job than actually skill based. The only chunin that ever managed to snag enough A-ranks to even qualify for the test were those who had connections in good places. And that's where the tokujo came in.
People like Genma who had been orphaned in the war—both his parents lowly genin, canon fodder—and didn't have a clan backing him up. He was a genius in the battlefield, but the furthest his skillset got him was to tokubetsu jounin and a place as an assassin in ANBU.
People like Anko. A bright, extremely talented woman whose reputation had been tarnished beyond repair because of a fucking psychopath of a man. The only place she could progress her career being TI.
It was disgusting.
It made her stomach churn and her blood fill with the sudden need to prove the system wrong. She'd gotten there because fate seemed to favor her when it unceremoniously dumped her on Tsunade's lap but her future as a civilian born genin had always been bleak. She'd show them all what people could achieve if they were actually given the chance.
Tsunade graciously got up, spread her feet wide and folded her arms beneath her breasts.
"The jounin exams consist of three phases." She grinned fiercely at them and Sakura heard the guy next to her gulp. She fought a grin of her own. "The first one starts precisely at eight o'clock in the Forest of Death. It's a free for all fight, when we give the signal and you're still alive, it means you passed."
Ibiki moved from his perch on the window behind Tsunade and motioned for each row as he spoke from where they should enter the forest. Each row got a letter N, S, W, E, and each person a number. Sakura would have to enter through the northern gate number forty-four. She wanted to roll her eyes at how ominous it sounded.
"Remember, if you're not inside training grounds forty-four by eight, you're immediately disqualified." Tsunade glared at each of them. "See you there."
In the next second, the room was filled with smoke as all at once, Tsunade, Ibiki, Shikaku and Inoichi all disappeared.
Sakura waited until her fellow chunin all scrambled from their positions, some yelling for their jounin sensei that they didn't come prepared for the forest of death, others running like their lives depended on it and others shouting words of encouragement to themself.
She rolled her eyes and checked the clock. Seven fifty-one. She'd have to run if she had to make it all the way to the northern part of the training ground but she knew she was being observed by the remaining jounin in the room as well as the others contestants.
"Well," she let her voice rise a bit above the noise in the room so she could draw a bit of attention to herself, but not too much. "I'll see you there, Neji-san."
She waved at him and turned around, leisurely stretching her arms as she left the room through the only door even as some chunin desperately jumped out of the windows.
She'd lose some time with this but it was nothing she couldn't make up by taking the secret passage that led to her house. She'd come out around training ground sixty-two and then shunshin all the way to the forest of death. Easy.
The thing was, she wasn't stupid enough to not realise they were already at battle. Her skills were already being assessed by the jounin, her enemies were already sizing her up and taking her actions into account. She looked unassuming, her pink hair making her features look softer even though she probably looked ready to survive war with how she dressed. And her carefree attitude would show that she was either too self-assured or so powerful she could afford to act that way.
Emotional manipulation was a key factor during a fight and everything about her was carefully constructed to keep her enemy on their feet.
When she got to the Forest of Death, she quickly located the hidden camera at the gate and gave it a cheeky wave before immediately putting her usual genjutsu over herself. Once she was inside, she would spend a lot of time unseen and she needed the proctors to know she actually got there before eight.
Sakura matched her chakra to that of a squirrel she saw passing by and jumped towards a tree branch high above the ground. With swift, practiced leaps aided by chakra, she made her way through the forest towards the eastern gates, dodging the natural wildlife, unseen and unheard.
She'd have to be extra careful with Neji. His natural abilities countered hers perfectly and she wasn't sure of the reach of his Byakugan. She estimated at least twice as much as Hinata's but found it better to let someone else deal with him.
During her observations she had noticed that there were three ninja that seemed to have been in the same genin team. That meant they'd have an advantage over everybody else, specially since they got placed in gates near each other.
East gate number seven for the bigger guy who carried a single pouch, no noticeable weapons and looked like he could snap her neck with one hand.
East thirteen for the only girl in the team that held a single katana and a serious scowl on her face.
East eighteen to the lanky dude that had a controlled quality to his movements that set off the warning bells inside her head.
Taijutsu. Kenjutsu. And… ninjutsu?
She estimated their abilities with what little she had gathered as she reached the area near the eastern gate thirteen. It was a calculated guess that they would meet in the middle, so Sakura hunkered down and spread her senses as far as she could without having to spread her chakra.
In her meditative trance she could feel every single being around her. Everything had chakra in it and she could almost see it all. A leaf fell from her branch and she knew it would take exactly 11.43 seconds to reach the forest floor.
She heard a small bird two trees away getting eaten by a snake. She could hear the river in the distance.
A smile came to her face, unbidden.
The last time she had been inside the Forest of Death, she had been nothing but prey. She had felt it in her skin, the cold sweat of fear, the feeling of having every single step watched by something dangerous, something that wanted to eat her alive.
Now she had inverted the roles. She was a predator, coiled tight and waiting to strike.
Adrenaline rushed through her bloodstream when she heard her prey a few meters away. She took three senbon from her left hip pouch and dipped it in the paralysing poison she had stashed away next to them. She had to choose carefully her first kill otherwise she wouldn't stand a chance against three ninja of their calibre.
With a controlled breath, she chose the guy she guessed was the ninjutsu specialist. The other two were clearly categorized as kenjutsu and taijutsu specialists and she knew she could hold her own against them both if she needed.
Sakura brought her arm back and then quickly forward, at the last second remembering she didn't want to actually kill him and changing her aim slightly before releasing the poisoned senbon. One for the inside of his thigh as he took a step forward, the other to his neck and a last one to his bicep.
She would give it to the guy. He was aware of his surroundings enough that he managed to deflect the one aimed for his arm but Sakura's aim was too good and the strength behind the throw too strong. The other two hit their mark.
Sakura didn't wait for him to fall or for the others to react. The poison was fast acting and he wouldn't be able to move a single muscle by the time she touched the ground. Using gravity to her advantage, Sakura kicked the girl in the back.
There was barely any chakra in the hit but it made her genjutsu drop and the girl broke through five tree barks before coming to a stop at the forest floor, unmoving.
The big guy shouted after his teammates but didn't waste time before aiming a punch to her face. With the force and speed of the hit, she knew she'd have been knocked out cold if she hadn't sidestepped it. No matter how strong he was, he got nothing on Tsunade whenever she trained her.
With calm grace, Sakura's fist closed over his extended wrist and she used his momentum to bring his arm behind his back. The guy was at least two heads bigger than her so she kicked his feet from under him and wrapped her free arm around his neck to cut off his oxygen supply.
"What the fuck!" The man choked as he tried to force his arm out of her grip.
A guy like him was probably used to always being the strongest person in the room, physically. He was probably freaking out that a girl as slight as her could be stronger than him. Sakura laughed.
When his flailing had diminished and with it his strength, Sakura let go of his arm to touch her palm to his forehead.
"Shh," she whispered to him while he grunted in her grip.
With chakra finesse only a skilled medic possessed, she shut down some of his key brain functions so he'd go into a comma.
She was going to lay him gently on the ground when she was suddenly attacked from the back. Sakura dropped him unceremoniously, sending him a mental apology for how the fall must have hurt, before unsheathing her tantou from her back.
The sound of steel on steel echoed through the forest and a flock of birds flew away.
"I thought you'd be unconscious," Sakura told the woman, actually impressed with how she had managed to not only stay awake but also have enough strength to attack her. She had been worried she'd hit her too hard when she saw how many trees she ran through.
"Don't," the woman panted, her dark hair falling on her face and blood dripping from her mouth, "don't underestimate me."
From up close, Sakura could see she wasn't that much older than her. Maybe eighteen or nineteen. She sent a silent prayer that this girl wouldn't take this loss and be discouraged to try again. Konoha needed more women like her.
"I won't hold back this time." Sakura nodded at her because she owed it to her. The girl's eyes widened in fright at seeing that this girl younger than her whose kick had broken at least two of her ribs had been holding back.
Sakura quickly advanced on her opponent, her kenjutsu lessons with Yugao coming to the forefront of her mind. Every movement she made with the blade like an extension of her arm came to her naturally, muscle memory taking over and letting her speed increase, allowing her to think less about her attacks and parrys.
It didn't take long to subdue the girl, she was already tired and heavily injured. With a swift tap of the back of the handle of her tanto to the girl's temple, she was down for the count.
Sakura kneeled next to her and used the same technique she'd used on her teammate to put her into a comma.
"Sleep tight," she murmured to the third teammate who was beginning to choke on his spit. She carefully turned him on his side and put him out as well before going back to the girl.
With careful hands, Sakura healed her more serious injuries.
She didn't know how long they'd have to stay there and if there wasn't anyone to set her ribs back in place, it would be hell later on for the girl. Upon further examination, she decided to heal the microtears along the girl's kidneys and her concussion.
"Yosh," she whispered to herself before hauling the girl and the slighter man on each of her shoulders. Sakura walked casually towards the big guy and held him by his flak jacket before starting to climb a tree with chakra infused feet.
She sat the three of them on a large branch and rummaged around their pouches until she found some ninja wire to tie them down. With a carefree sigh, she sat down next to them and opened up a ration bar.
Sakura searched the trees surrounding them as she munched on the dry, almost tasteless stick. She didn't know if she'd get another break before dealing with the others so she'd take—
There!
Sakura jumped to the next tree over and landed on a thin branch just below the one she had been perched on.
"Yo, shishou." She waved at a hidden camera, making sure her lips could be read in case there were no microphones nearby. "I put those three into a comma, so you'll need to revert that when this is over. Check the girl's ribs too, will you? I put them back but it wouldn't hurt to double check."
She nodded at the camera, feeling a little silly for talking to herself but needing to make sure her fellow konoha ninja would be okay. It didn't matter that this was a competition. They weren't competing against outsiders and she didn't want anyone to die in there.
"Oh, yeah!" She was almost about to leap away from the branch before she remembered the lanky guy. "Shizune-senpai, I used suxamethonium on Lanky over there. The effects should pass soon but maybe keep an eye on him to make sure he's still breathing, yeah?"
She waved again before putting her genjutsu over herself and leaping towards the next tree.
She'd make her way towards the gate and circle around the training grounds until she could find the three people that came through the southern gates. South twenty-four, twenty-eight and thirty-two. They were probably long gone but she'd be able to pick up their track if they were careless and didn't hide it.
It didn't take her long to reach the southern gate twenty-four. By then she could see from the sun's position that it was around eleven.
The shinobi's tracks were still fresh.
From what little she had seen of him, he had appeared to be from the Sarutobi clan. She vaguely remembered glancing over his profile once. His affinity was air and he used it to enhance his speed in taijutsu. He would be troublesome but Sakura had an advantage over him.
He knew nothing about her while she knew a bit about his abilities and had managed to gather while inside the meeting room that his attitude was brash. He was an act first, think later kind of guy and she could use that to her advantage.
She paused when she noticed a second pair of footprints joining her prey's. It seemed like there was another predator inside the woods.
Sakura upped her pace when she noticed signs of a fight. From the distance, she could barely hear the sound of screams.
Sakura jumped towards a tree and moved quickly through the tree branches before finding a perch where she could see the fight going on. If her prey had already been hunted, she would gladly let whoever it was take care of him before she jumped in.
The Sarutobi boy was on his knees, screaming in anguish as thousands of bugs crawled on his skin. In front of him, an Aburame stood with his palm outstretched. Fuck, she really hoped those bugs weren't eating him alive.
A silent command from the Aburame and the bugs left the Sarutobi's face long enough for him to yell.
"Fuck you, you fucking maggot!" His eyes were filled with fury. "I'm going to kill you."
"As if you ever stood on my level, Sarutobi." The Aburame's voice was monotone as everyone from their clan's. "In the food chain, you stand below maggots."
Yikes, that seemed personal.
Sakura really didn't want to step into whatever pissing contest they had going on but she knew this was a great opportunity. She'd known from the start the Aburame would be a tough one to deal with, specially since his bugs deemed all her genjutsu entirely useless and this was the perfect place to—
Sakura slapped her neck where something had landed on it.
Her hand had squashed a tiny black bug. Fuck. She'd been made.
Dropping her genjutsu entirely, Sakura let herself fall forward just in time to dodge a swarm of bugs. She scraped her hands along the tree bark to try and slow down before she hit the floor but the impact was still enough to send her rolling through the grass.
Sakura didn't stop to think before sprinting towards the Aburame, tanto drawn and aimed at his vital points.
Another swarm of bugs intercepted her and she cursed when some latched onto her skin. Instead of drawing blood, she could feel her chakra slowly being drained. She couldn't even fucking move with how many were around her.
Trying not to panic, Sakura sent her chakra out of her pathways in a forceful burst, pushing the bugs back in its intensity only long enough for her to move out of the way of the swarm. A scream was torn out of her throat from the pain.
With a barely formed theory in her head, she coated every inch of her skin with a thin layer of her chakra. For the bugs to suck her chakra they had to actually pierce the skin, right? This way, she could sacrifice this tiny amount for them and buy herself time to get the fuck out.
She had lost her tantou in the fray but didn't bother looking for it.
Aburame was looking at her in what she could only guess was surprise. She didn't give him enough time to process, only jumped towards him, chakra scalpels in each of her hands. The man sent another swarm towards her and Sakura didn't even think of dodging. She pushed through the heavy dark cloud of bugs and begged for it to work.
It did. Kinda.
The chakra layer had bought her time but the sheer force of the swarm threatened to push her off her feet. With a frustrated grunt, Sakura channeled chakra to her legs and pushed, the chakra enhanced movement breaking the ground at her feet and sending her careening towards the Aburame.
She dropped her weight towards the forest floor, slid between his legs and cut his hamstrings with her hands.
His scream was almost inhumane and the fact he was an Aburame, a family she'd never heard even a word spoken louder than a murmur, sent chills down her spine. Despite the uneasy feeling in her stomach Sakura didn't falter before turning on her left foot and letting the heel of her other foot come into contact with his temple.
The Aburame flew straight across the small river about ten meters away from them and didn't move any longer.
"Fucking b-bugs," Sakura stuttered. The wave of chakra she'd forced out had frayed her pathways and her whole body was shaking from it.
She used her medical chakra to deal with it but was interrupted when a foot swished past her head. Her instincts had made her move in the last second to dodge the first kick but the second one had caught her right in the cheek.
Sakura used her momentum to flip backwards before jumping towards the tree behind her and landing on a branch with a crouch without turning away from him.
The bugs had clearly done a number on the Sarutobi but now that they were either converging on their master or flying aimlessly, he seemed relatively fine if a bit tired.
"Stupid clan kids with s-stupid fat chakra reserves," Sakura spat blood and raised a hand as if giving up.
The Sarutobi was panting from exertion but she knew he was battle ready and she needed to get ready too.
"You're fast, I'll give you that," she spoke out loud so he could hear her.
It seemed her sudden stop had given him pause as well, like she hoped it would. With a fierce grin, she put both hands to the wrappings on her calves. Her genjutsu had covered the latest weights Lee had given her—The last set, he'd said, you won't need weight training after this one—and she used this time to take them away.
She held it out for him to see before letting it fall to the forest floor.
The resounding sound of the forest floor exploding echoed around them and the tree she was perching on shook with the force of it.
"Well," she said with a bigger smile and she knew this one bordered on uncanny because Inner had been the one to put it there, "if I lose these weights because of you, you can be sure that I will kill you."
The Sarutobi was eyeing her with eyes so big she wondered idly if they would jump out of their sockets.
In one second she was on top of the tree and the next she had appeared behind him. Lee's taijutsu lessons coupled with Tsunade's had given her a particular style of aggressiveness that she learned terrified her enemies. She let the smile on her face grow as the man grew desperate.
He was good.
Very skilled and a passable challenge for her. Just enough so that she couldn't simply end the fight with one punch—not without killing him, anyway. She had to pull some punches just so that she wouldn't accidentally stop his heart or snap his spine but he went down soon enough.
The first mistake he made was blocking her first punch.
The force behind it broke at least four bones in his arm instantly. The man had fire in his soul, though, and he kept going at her without even letting out a scream for it. Sakura was impressed with his speed but it hadn't been a match for Lee's and she was used to sparring with the kid. All it took was one well aimed punch to his jaw and he was out.
Sakura shook herself out, a shiver making her way down her spine when she remembered the feeling of the bugs on her skin.
Her chakra had continued healing the pathways without her even having to think about it while she fought and she felt marginally better but she was absolutely sure she'd have nightmares of this. As if she needed any more fodder for that.
She went back for her tantou and found it lying on the floor.
She put it back on its sheath at the base of her spine and treated these guys like she had the first team she took out. And if she was less careful with them than with the others, well, no one could really fault her for that.
Sakura moved towards the river to drink some water and calculated her next move.
She had already taken out five out of the eleven other participants. There were seven remaining, counting her. Because shishou had said that there would be three phases in total, she figured they'd stop this part of the exam whenever they had an even number.
She could choose to hide away the remainder of the day, she had already taken out more people than what was expected of her, she was sure of that. But no, this was so she could showcase her abilities. She wasn't done yet.
With a resolute nod to herself, Sakura set off towards the middle of the training grounds, keeping the river on her left.
There were many smaller animals fleeing from that area and she had seen at least two flock of birds flying away. She got closer to the centre of the forest and the sounds of battle could be heard if she focused enough.
With a controlled exhale, Sakura put the genjutsu over herself yet again and moved closer until she could see them.
She quickly counted how many people were in the small clearing. Six shinobi, going all out on each other.
If this had been a mission, she would have waited it out, assessed all her opponents carefully before acting. But this was basically a shopping display for the jounin of the village. They would see what each of them had to offer and choose those they deemed strongest. She still had more to show.
Sakura dropped her genjutsu and finally—finally—put on the mask and cloak Inner had crafted for her. The intensity of her killer intent paralysed the shinobi in the clearing below and she let them feel the fear she could smell in the air before she jumped down right in the middle of them.
With concentrated chakra on her fist, she punched it into the ground.
"Shannaro!" Her yell punctuated the sound of the ground exploding all around them.
Shunshuuda, Tsunade had called this hit, Killer Spring. It was an adaptation of one of her shishou's moves and highly effective. The forest floor rose all around them, broken in tiny petal-like pieces and Sakura used an insignificant amount of chakra to cast a genjutsu over them so that they would appear pink, like sakura blossoms.
There were times in a ninja's career that they should be precise and calculating. Other times called for theatricality.
So far, she had been holding back so much. It was getting exceedingly frustrating not being able to let her power loose, to go all out. She didn't think she'd be penalised for killing anyone but at the same time, it didn't feel right attacking her fellow ninja from Konoha knowing that it was very likely she'd end their lives.
So Sakura fixed the amount of power behind her hits to thirty percent of what she usually put. She kicked and punched and moved around the six shinobi around her like water, her movements fluid, one blending into the next one.
She took more hits than strictly necessary, but she could barely feel them. A slice of a katana to her bicep, a fist to her mouth, none of it anything that could even make her pause.
All around her came attacks, she didn't have a single moment of reprieve, no one to have her back. Fire ninjutsu from someone, a wave of water drenching her soon after, a fucking bite that would have taken her leg clean off if she hadn't dodged.
Everything was so unlike anything else she had ever experienced before, it was exhilarating, even though she had to hold back on her instincts to kill. It was enough to bring a grin to her face.
At one point, Neji had turned on her and she blocked his hit without thinking.
It was a mistake, of course, because he used the opportunity to block at least six of the tenketsu in her arm with his Gentle Fist technique, messing with the nerves on her arm and rendering it useless.
She quickly moved her chakra through the pathways faster and in more quantity to force them open again. It hurt like a bitch and she made sure to snarl at the Hyuga so he'd know how inconvenient he was being.
Sakura couldn't use any of her training with Lee during a fight with him because he'd surely know all the techniques Lee had taught her. Any weapon work would be a moot point with him as well because of Tenten and all genjutsu was useless. The only thing she could use to her advantage was her training with Tsunade and her mind.
Inner took over and almost immediately lowered her centre of gravity to match his stance. The snarl on her face came straight from her nightmares and she saw it made Neji pause for half a second, probably not expecting such a violent approach from her as the full effect of her killer intent washed over him.
Half a second was all she needed to attack.
She rushed towards him and used her speed and the images Inner had stowed away from his fight with Hinata during the Chunin Exams to mimic his hidden clan technique. Neji's eyes widened as he did his best to defend himself.
While her posture perfectly matched his, she knew her chakra work was crude at best compared to the Gentle Fist. The way her chakra entered his pathways was forceful and not quite as cirurgical as his, the tenketsu burning beneath her fingers more than closing.
It didn't take long for her to manage to get his heart and he doubled over, blood bursting from his mouth.
Their eyes locked for a moment and something passed over them. They could continue this fight and the only possible outcome she saw was either one of them dying. Their skills were the exact opposite and while he put her in a tremendous disadvantage, so did she.
She'd really rather not fight him unless she absolutely had to.
With a quick nod, Sakura stood straighter, drew her tantou and engaged the other katana user in battle, leaving the pale eyed man to fight the Inuzuka.
Judging by the position of the sun, they were really close to sunset. This all out battle royale fight had gone on for hours and she could see the effect of it on everyone.
She punched a blonde guy in the gut—with a little more force than she'd wanted to—and he went through a tree. The sound of the thick bark breaking was covered by various small explosions all around them, a thick mist covering the clearing.
Sakura took a startled breath and immediately regretted it. The explosions had come from smoke bombs that released poisonous gas. And she had just taken a big lungful of it.
She tried not to panic even as everyone around her broke into desperate screams. Was this really happening? The proctors wouldn't actually poison them, would they? That seemed so extreme.
And if not them, just who would break into the Forest of Death and poison a bunch of chunin? Just one person came to mind. Someone who knew their way around a lab and would have the guts to come back to this place again.
Why would he be here? Naruto was gone and so was Sasuke and she was fucking alone this time around god damnit she couldn't deal with any more of this shit—
With a start, Sakura realised she'd started hyperventilating. It took everything in her to gather enough focus to send a rush of chakra to her heart and lungs. She slowed her heart rate enough that the poison wouldn't spread as much when it reached her bloodstream and tried to isolate the poisoned air in her lungs.
She fought to raise her hands to her chest, every single nerve ending hurt like they had been set on fucking fire but she managed to open her jacket and apply her green covered hands to her chest to help the process.
The smoke began to slowly clear away and Sakura kept her work steady even though she wanted nothing more than to take another gulp of air. Her little crisis had made her breathe more than she should have and a considerable amount had already reached her blood.
She was fucking pissed when she noticed the four figures that teleported to the clearing, the smoke completely cleared out now.
Ibiki, Shikaku, Inoichi and Tsunade stood before them.
Sakura coughed up a mixture of blood and poison and spit it at the ground. The other contestants were on the floor, just like her, some of them still writhing in pain but most had stopped screaming.
Ibiki started going around each of them, injecting the antidote as he went.
"If you're still awake," Tsunade said, her arms on her hips, "you passed the first test."
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Whoo this chapter was so hard to write xD
I don't even know where to begin talking about it tbh hahaha You guys, I had to do some basic physics calculation and almost *died* trying, no kidding. Somehow, google has anything you'd wanna know about paralysing poisons but absolutely NOTHING on how long a leaf takes to reach the forest floor if it falls from a 10m high tree. So I gathered my friends (on the whatsapp group, stay home!) and we all took a trip down memory lane to our hell years *ahem* I meant high school years. Anyway, we managed to reach the number 0.7 seconds but then one of our smartest friends told us that was disregarding gravity and air resistance and the such so I just said fuck it and decided a leaf takes about 11.43 seconds. Don't believe anything I write.
You guys probably already know this but training grounds 44 is called the Forest of Death bc the japanese are ready superstitious, basically. I won't get into too much details bc I'll bore you to tears but basically one of the pronunciation for 4 is "shi" which means "death". Just like we westerners are superstitious about the number 13, they have it with 4. So that's why Sakura rolls her eyes when she got placed on gate 44 of the training grounds 44.
Oh yeah, about Sakura's tracking skills. Well, I was doing some research and came across an article talking about shinobi's and kunoichi's main weapons and the such and it said that ninja were renowned trackers. In the anime, they made it out to be like the only ninja who could track well were those that had extra skills like Kakashi, Kiba or sensory types. That doesn't make sense, so in here, they learn how to track during the Academy and I can just see Sakura becoming really proficient at it bc it's all about looking for signs and patterns. Anyway, that's just a side note that got huge, sorry!
I'm not really sure how I feel about this chapter tbh! What do you guys think on my take on the Jounin Exams so far?
I've been reaaaaally productive lately! There was that chapter on Sunday and on the same day I wrote and posted a one-shot (called "safe from the rain" go check it out!) and not even a week later here I am with 7600+ words and the next chapter almost finished. I think it's all because I lost my job because of this pandemic a few weeks ago and I've just been on a roll creativity wise and also because I have nothing else to do with my free time. Spite does wonders to my muse.
That being said! I think the next chapter comes out this weekend! Hihihi HOWEVER, if you want to see it sooner maybe bribe me with some lovely reviews *wink wink nudge nudge* I can totally be bought.