The finals had taken place, the crowd was filled mainly with Konoha citizens and shinobi. The wind daimyo was seated next to the fire daimyo. In the kage area, it was the kazekage next to the third hokage. Both had a body guard standing next to them.
The rookies who didn't make it to the finals were sitting around each other and their jounin sensei's. Kushina was there as well, sitting between Anko and Tsunade. Jiraiya was next to Tsunade.
Everyone in that group plus Kotetsu, Izumo, Genma and the hokage all had a similar thought.
'Where the hell is Sakura?'
It was a surprise not to see her at all during the introduction to the tournament. The first match was a match almost everybody was anticipating.
Both Neji and Sasuke put on a show. Even though both are arrogant as hell. Sasuke's speed caught Neji off guard. But he was able to stay in the fight while also dodging or blocking out Sasuke fire jutsus. When it came to taijutsu, the hyuga was slightly superior. If it wasn't for Sasuke's sharingan. Neji would've won the fight by closing all of his chakra points. The fight ended with Sasuke colliding his chidori with Neji's rotation. Something Gai didn't take too kindly. Sasuke won due to his lightning shocking Neji's body. Causing him to be temporarily paralyzed.
Shino won his match due to Kankuro suddenly forfeiting their match.
Sai and Choji's fight ended in a draw because neither one could land a decisive blow. Sai avoided Choji by staying in the air with one of his special bird drawing techniques. He tried to send out other animals to attack Choji. But Choji just blew them all away with his expansion jutsu.
Shikamaru and Temari's fight was drawn out long but interesting from start to finish. Shikamaru had caught Temari with his shadow. But he suddenly gave up because he claimed he was low on chakra. Most of the crowd shouted boos at him. While some high level shinobi were intrigued by his strategy.
Now it was time for Gaara and Sakura's fight. Yet the pinkette still hasn't shown up.
"Damn it where the hell is Sakura? They gave her an extra 10mins but time is almost up!" Tenten voices in frustration.
"Don't worry Tenten, I'm sure she's gonna make it." Hinata reassured her. Even though she wasn't all that confident herself that her friend would make it.
Tsunade was irritated. "Where the hell is she? I hope she didn't lose track of time. That's not like her." She was worried for her surrogate daughter.
"If she doesn't make it. I'm so making her target practice for a month." Anko said.
"Jeez forehead you could at least show up after that stunt you pulled in the prelims." Ino grumbled.
Jiraya stayed silent. 'Maybe I should've gone to my myōboku before the tournament started. Hopefully she didn't get caught up in anything on her way here.' He thought.
Kakashi was also surprised his former student wasn't here yet. During the month he was informed that Sakura was no longer apart of his team. He was given a hard scolding by the hokage. While Kushina just kicked his ass. That made him reflect on his actions on how he was treating his student.
Kushina was worried about Sakura. But she knew that she would make it no matter what. "Don't worry you guys, I'm 1000% certain she will show up. She wouldn't miss this opportunity for anything." The red head voiced with confidence.
Kurenai raised an eyebrow. "How can you be so sure?"
Kushina smiled. "I know that girl like the back of my hand. Plus she'll catch hell from me and Tsunade if she dares miss it." She replied.
"Damn right she will." Tsunade agreed.
At the kage area, Hiruzen was about to give up hope on Sakura showing up. "Hmm seems like she won't show up after all." He said.
The kazekage voiced his opinion. "Actually hokage-dono I'm quite sure she'll be here."
Hiruzen slightly narrowed his eyes. 'Why would he ca- oh shit that's Orochimaru!' He thought. "I hope you're right kazekage-dono.
In the area where the fighters were standing. Temari spoke up. "Looks like pinky is too afraid to show."
Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome, she'll be here. People like her are too troublesome to miss things like this." He told her in a lazy voice.
Temari wondered how he was so sure but she kept her thoughts to herself.
Gaara was just standing on the field waiting. It didn't matter to him if she showed up or not.
Genma was checking his watch. The time just ended so he sighed. 'Damn it brat you missed your chance.' He thought.
"Due to the time limit expiring. I'm afraid I have to call the match.." Genma spoke in a loud voice to the voice. However he trailed off his words.
A single sakura petal flew across the arena. Multiple petals soon followed afterwards. Suddenly a strong gust of wind picked in the storm. Causing most to shield their eyes a bit. Hundreds of sakura petals flew through the stadium. After 10 seconds, the wind and sakura petals circled, forming a tornado in the field. After a few more seconds of an intense tornado, the wind stopped with the petals breaking off into the natural wind.
Standing in the eye of the storm was the one and only Sakura Haruno.
Sakura was wearing a pair of gray shorts with tape covering her mid thighs on both legs. She was wearing low heel, knee-high black shinobi boots. A tight red shirt that really showed her breast. Raiko and Shishio were both sheathed resting on her hips. A pouch filled with scrolls and her throwing weapons. The scrolls were storage scrolls and blank scrolls for when she needed them. She also had a small black skirt to cover her shorts. To top it all off, she was wearing a short sleeved white open haori with a pink flame pattern around the hem. Small sakura petals going across the haori, it also had two kanji symbols on it in pink as well. Standing for fearless and cherry blossom. Shima had made it for her awhile ago. She gave it to Sakura while she was changing her clothes. Which caused Sakura to switch up her outfit a bit. Her headband was tied against her left arm. Her hair was beautiful and longer. Pink hair was flowing with the wind. An Anbu-like mask was covering her face, it was a fox mask. She slowly removed her mask revealing her face. Sporting her diamond mark on her forehead, making eye contact with her opponent. Sakura had a small smirk on her face, looking beautiful as well as ready to cause hell to the world herself.
The entire stadium was silent. No one was expecting a flashy entrance like that. Many were interested in the pinkette. Ever since a month ago, rumors about her fight with Lee have been going around. So it made a lot of people wonder exactly who she is.
"Woah...is that Sakura?!" Tenten cried out in shock.
"I-I think it is. No one else has pink hair like that." Hinata spoke out.
"W-What the hell? How did she gets so..so beautiful in such a short amount of time." Ino wondered in amazement and pure jealousy.
"I don't know, it's definitely not a henge. If it is then it's the best one I've ever come across." Asuma voiced.
Kurenai shook her head. "No it's not a henge. That's her actual look. It's amazing how much she's changed in a month."
Many men around the stadium were trying to get themselves under control. Some even had nosebleeds from Sakura's beauty. It caused some women to be in awe of her as well as jealous.
"Well Kushina you were right about the brat showing up. Never would've pegged her to be a show off like this tho." Jiraiya said while giggling inside of his head. He was tempted to start using Sakura as research for his book. That thought was quickly put to bed when he remembered who he was sitting by.
"Hehe Pinky sure is one for attention." Anko chimes in with a smirk.
Tsunade just facepalmed herself and sighed. "Seriously we leave her by herself for a month just for her to not only show up late to her match. But to find out she went through some sort of transformation during that time. Sakura is 4 or 5 more inches taller than she was a month ago. I just know she got herself involved in some shit, I'm gonna have to check up on later." She groaned.
Kushina didn't say anything. She just kept staring at the girl on the battlefield. While the red head was happy that Sakura made it like she knew she would. Kushina couldn't help but to find her heart racing while looking at the pinkette. Unknown to her a small blush crept onto her face. No one noticed it but Tsunade who looked amused.
Once she realized what was causing Kushina to blush. The blonde smirked. 'Ohh I see, you want Sakura huh Kushi? Well you two are basically inseparable whenever you're around each other. I really wouldn't be all that surprised if Sakura had feelings for you like you do for her. Oh this is so teasing material for later.' Tsunade thought to herself.
In the fighting area, Shikamaru yawned. "Told you she'd show up." He said.
"What happened to her? She didn't look that pretty a month ago." Temari wondered.
The lazy Naru shrugged. "Who knows? That woman is troublesome." He replied.
"That's so like you Shikamaru." Choji chuckled while eating a bag of chips.
Temari just shook her head then looked at Kankuro. "Well whatever, she's going to lose against Gaara anyways."
"I wouldn't be so quick to assume that." Shikamaru told her.
"What do you mean? No one in these exams can defeat Gaara." Temari countered.
"Yeah but if you look at how Sakura is standing. You may think otherwise." The Nara said.
Temari and Kankuro took another look at the pinkette. They realized what Shikamaru was talking about. Sakura was standing in a posture that gave off pure confidence. As if no matter what Gaara threw at her. She would still come out on top.
Hiruzen was caught off guard by Sakura's new appearance. "Seems like she's grown quite a lot in the last month." He said.
Orochimaru was intrigued. 'Sakura is definitely worth keeping an eye on. Maybe our rematch will happen today.' The white snake thought to himself.
"Well kid you sure now how to make an entrance." Genma said to Sakura.
The pinkette smiled. "Hey it really wasn't intentional. I just lost track of time you could say." She replied.
Genma smirked. "Yeah sure brat, you better be ready to explain what happened to you after all of this."
"Yeah yeah I know just hurry up and start already." Sakura urged him.
Turning to her opponent, Gaara and Sakura were staring at each other. Gaara still had the same dead look on his face. The same could be said for his eyes. However the pinkette saw a light of hope in them. She knew she had to help Gaara even if it meant kicking his ass to the ground.
"You finally showed up Sakura Haruno, are you going to satisfy my thirst for blood?" Gaara asked in a cold tone. Sending shivers down the backs of many people.
The rosette smirked. "No I'm here to show you it's a different way to go through this. You don't have to suffer in the darkness anymore Gaara. I don't care what it takes. I'm dragging you out of that dark world that will only cause you more pain."
For a second, Gaara saw an image of his mother when he looked at Sakura. It caused a massive headache, making him grab his head in pain.
'Shukaku must be giving him a hard time still. Looks like I may have to deal with it if I wanna be able to help out Gaara.' The pinkette thought.
The red head suna nin calmed down. He looked at Sakura with a slightly crazed look.
Genma looked at Sakura, who in turn nodded at him.
Everyone who cared about the pinkette were worried about her. They knew she was strong, but Gaara is an unstable jinchuuriki.
Genma raised his hand. "Hajime!" He yelled as he got out of the way.
Sakura gained some distance and instantly took out a scroll. She bit her thumb and swiped her blood across the scroll. Then slammed it into the ground. A black seal spread across the battlefield then to the walls of the stadium. Eventually the spreading of the seal stopped.
Gaara was wondering what she did, Sakura could tell what he was thinking and answered for him.
"It's a seal that I came up with that prevents any outside interference. No matter what, no one will be able to come down here until I release the seal. That also means no one can escape so it protects those from the outside. It's in case your tenant decides to get involved." Sakura explained.
Jiraiya looked at Kushina. "Did you know she was this good at fuinjutsu? This would be hard for even experts to pull off." He asked.
"I knew she was good. But I didn't think she would really reach the master level in a month. I'm proud of her. But it seems she intends to fight Shukaku alone if things get out of hand." Kushina gritted her teeth.
Tsunade wasn't doing much better as she was close to breaking the arm rest she was holding onto to.
Jiraiya just held his hands up trying to calm them down. "Hey relax you two. The kid obviously knows what she's doing so have some faith in her." He told them.
"Whatever you do won't save you." Gaara replied to Sakura.
The pinkette unsheathed raiko. Gaara wasn't about to let her get the chance to attack.
He sent out a wave of sand from his gourd towards her. Sakura cut through his sand without taking a step. Gaara kept up the attack, but it proved useless as his sand kept getting sliced through.
So he gathered his chakra to use the earth itself as sand. A huge wave of sand appeared over him. "This is the end Sakura Haruno." He told her.
Everyone watched as the wave of sand shot towards Sakura. Some couldn't look to see her get crushed.
When Gaara sent out the wave of the pinkette, she waited until it got close. The red head watched his sand close in on her. As soon as it was about to crush her, Gaara saw Sakura disappear.
What happened next shocked everybody to their core. Sakura appeared right in front of Gaara. She had her sword pointed right at his neck. One small move would puncture the boy's neck.
Sakura moved so fast that Gaara couldn't react, he barely caught her disappearing. All he could do was stand there in shock and try to clear his throat. Even his automatic defense could not react to protect him fast enough.
Everyone in the stands were also shocked. Most shinobi didn't expect Sakura to move so fast. However only the elite had other thoughts.
"W-was that the hiraishin?!" Jiraiya asked in shock.
"I..I don't know.." Tsunade replied.
"No it wasn't, but it was very similar to it. You could say what she just did was at the same level as hiraishin or even faster if that's even possible." Kushina explained. The red head knew to expect anything from Sakura at this point.
"Damn pinky wasn't wasting time during the month if she's already achieved such a level." Anko voiced in amazement.
In the kage both, neither Hiruzen or Orochimaru knew what to make of what they just saw.
'I have a feeling promoting her to just chunin won't due by the end of this match. To think that she could acquire such speed in only a month. I was certainly right about her being the prodigy of the decade. Maybe she'll be the one to take this hat from me.' Sarutobi thought.
'Interesting, very interesting well I think I'm going to enjoy this match to its fullest. If Gaara ends up releasing Shukaku, I won't signal for the invasion until one of them is defeated. I want to see Sakura's prowess. So far I'm highly impressed. To think that a genin can have the same level of speed as Minato.' Orochimaru thought to himself.
Kakashi could now see truly how much of an idiot he's been. He realized during the preliminary rounds just how bad he messed up with Sakura. Especially afterwards when Kushina nearly killed him, he was unconscious in the hospital for 4 days when she was done with him. Seeing his old student actually turning out to be the strongest of all the genin was very eye opening. He already decided to apologize to her whenever he was able to catch her alone. Now it was time to see what Sakura learned over the month.
Gaara was in disbelief at what just happened. In a blink of an eye, he could've been killed easily. Never has he been in a situation like this before. All he could do was stare wide eyed at his pink haired opponent.
Sakura jumped back, she never took her eyes off Gaara. A smirk could be seen on her face. "I take it you've never been that close to death before? Well sorry Gaara but I'm not going to take it easy on you. What you saw of my abilities a month ago is nothing compared to what I'm capable of now. Your sand is useless against me, it's too slow to catch me and I'll just keep cutting through it."
Gaara frowned before holding his hand out. He formed small bullets of sand then sent them towards her. The pinkette dodged the bullets with ease. She channeled enough chakra to fire back a strong bullet of wind from her mouth. Gaara sand shield blocked the incoming attack. But a good portion of his sand was blown away.
He quickly created sand spikes from his gourd. The red head genin directed them towards Sakura. She jumped in the air then spat out a huge fireball at Gaara. Said boy had to use his sand to cover him from the heat.
What he didn't expect was for her fire to be hot enough to turn his sand into glass. He was trapped from the inside. Sakura ran up to the glass and shattered it with her natural strength.
She didn't stop there as she began a brutal taijutsu assault on Gaara. The red haired boy couldn't do anything to stop it. His automatic defense couldn't keep up to protect him. So Gaara's bones were at the mercy of Sakura's unrivaled strength.
The pinkette's taijutsu form reminded a lot of the shinobi in the audience of Tsuande's style. But there was a mix of Kushina's in it as well. Over the one year Sakura spent inside the time chamber. She developed a taijutsu style that was a mixture of Tsunade and Kushina's styles. Sakura knew that she owed her life to them. While if one of them ever heard her say such a thing. They wouldn't hesitate to wring her neck but the pinkette knew it was the truth. So she wanted to develop a style that would make people compare her to her surrogate mother and her most cherished person.
From the stands, Kushina and Tsuande both felt very touched at Sakura's new taijutsu style. Especially Tsuande, it was like watching her own mini-me. It made her honored to have Sakura as her second child.
Gaara's sand armor that was on his body had long crumbled away. His body was screaming in pain. Honestly, he felt that for the first time in his life. Some of his bones could be actually fractured or even broken. He wanted to scream because of the pain. But Sakura was not giving him time to even do that!
'I-Is this the power she achieved by fighting to protect others rather than only herself?' Gaara thought.
He knew he only had one way out of this. When Sakura kicked him in his stomach. Sending him flying through the air. He broke his gourd so the sand could catch him. He quickly encased himself into a dome of sand.
Sakura was at least 10 feet away from the sand dome. She raised her eyebrow. Wondering just what Gaara was planning to do. She got her answer once she felt his chakra flaring. Did she mention that she could feel Shukaku's chakra flaring as well?
'Uh oh looks like he may be trying to release Shukaku. Hmm I could stop him from releasing Shukaku or I could defeat Shukaku. Then I'll get a lot of fame around the village for defeating a tailed beast. Granted I can't kill Shukaku but I can defeat him to the point where he goes back into the seal. Or I could just break the dome using a flashy move but still let Gaara transform.' Sakura just shrugged before forming a rasengan. When it was completely formed. She added her wind chakra to it. Resulting in a high screeching sound being produced. By the time she was done. Sakura's rasengan has four wind blades spinning along with the sphere.
The audience was amazed, most of the civilians recognized the jutsu that the late, great fourth hokage invented. All of the genin, chunin and even jounin were shocked.
"Hey what's that jutsu Sakura is doing?" Ino wondered.
"I don't know but it looks really powerful. Hopefully she can end it with this." Tenten answered.
Hinata activated her byakugan to see what Sakura was doing. She was stunned at the degree that her best friend could control chakra. Hinata knew this was something that she couldn't dream of doing.
Kurenai and Asuma didn't know what to say. Gai had a thoughtful look on his face. Kakashi was wide eyed at what he was seeing. 'She knows the rasengan?!' Kakashi thought to himself.
"Damn that sure as hell looks powerful. So much chakra is gathered into that jutsu." Anko whistled.
"You taught her the rasengan Kushina?" Jiraiya couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Is she using wind chakra?! She can add her elemental chakra to a rasengan!" Tsunade voiced.
Shizune was watching her younger surrogate sister in shock. She had no doubts that Sakura was way stronger than her.
Kushina just sat there with an open jaw and wide eyes. She always knew Sakura would be the one to complete the rasengan. But she didn't expect her to do it in less than a month! This was nothing short of astonishing. "Yes she is, Sakura has completed the rasengan. And she's soo teaching me how to add an element to the sphere." She said.
Sasuke was seething. Not only was it clear that Sakura had far outclassed him. But her technique is a lot stronger than his chidori. As highly as Sasuke thinks of himself. Even he knew that he would lose instantly if he tried to take Sakura's rasengan head on against his chidori.
In the kage booth, Orochimaru had to seriously consider if he should try to convince Sakura to be his apprentice. She was too talented of a shinobi from what he's seen of her. He had no doubt that her version of the rasengan would nearly kill him if he took it head on.
Hiruzen kept on saying it to himself. That Sakura was the prodigy of the decade or even further than that. He had half the mind to just give her his hat and retire at this point. The old man wondered what else she had in store.
Sakura smirked before charging towards the dome. When she got close, she easily evaded the sand spikes that came out to attack her. She thrusted her attack on the dome of sand.
"Wind style: Rasengan!" She called out.
The jutsu caused an loud explosion. Gaara was engulfed in the high powered jutsu. Completely demolishing his dome. By the time the justu ended. Gaara's clothes were ripped in multiple areas. He also had deep cuts in multiple areas. The red head couldn't move at all. His body was screaming in pain. He couldn't believe that he just lost. Gaara was fading in and out of consciousness.
Sakura had a pleased look on her face. Genma walked up and saw Gaara couldn't move. He smirked and looked at Sakura.
"Winner: Sakura Haruno." He declared to the audience.
And the crowd responded with loud cheers. Many people were highly entertained and impressed with the young pinkette. Those who were spies for other villages all made notes about her. Some of them even going so far as to consider putting her in the bingo book.
Kushina and Tsunade were cheering the loudest for Sakura. With Anko following right behind them. They were all so proud of and happy for Sakura right now.
Hinata and Tenten were also cheering for Sakura while Ino had a smile on her face. She was happy for Sakura. The blonde had already decided earlier in the month that she wanted to try to be friends with Sakura again.
Orochimaru was pleased, he was about to signal for the invasion until he felt a huge chakra spike coming from Gaara. 'So Shukaku still is going to be released. Hmm I want to see how she will handle fighting against the one tailed beast.' He thought to himself.
Sakura watched the sand start to merge with Gaara's body. She could tell he was going through a partial transformation. Honestly she was expecting this, that's why she never dropped her guard.
Gaara was screaming like a mad man. "Sakura Haruno, you are my PREY!" He roared loudly for all to hear, causing most to shiver in fear.
"No I'm not, I'm your friend Gaara. Look Shukaku I don't feel like playing around so just release yourself already." Sakura replied.
Gaara smirked evilly before his sand covered his whole body besides below his knees. He was literally a mini Shukaku if Sakura has ever seen one. The pinkette however was annoyed that Shukaku still wouldn't release his full form.
So she put raiko close to her mouth. Then used her teeth to hold it by the hilt. While channeling wind chakra in her free hand to form a sharp wind sword. This is what she was waiting for out of Gaara. To have the biggest fights of her life on this very day. After today, Sakura knew her image would be changed forever in history.
'I guess now is a good time as any to test out my Santoryu abilities. It should be really easy to cut through his sand right now since he isn't fully transformed just yet. He's very close tho.' Sakura thought before she made her move.
She crouched down with the two swords in her hand in an 'X' position. Sakura stared into the eyes of the beast in front of her. A second later she disappeared and reappeared right behind Gaara. "Santoryu: Oni Giri." Sakura said.
Multiple deep cuts appeared on the mini sand demon's body. Gaara didn't even see her move. He had no idea how her strikes were able to cut so deep into his sand. The cuts actually went right to his actual body. Having blood leak out of his sand. He groaned in pain before turning around to growl at his attacker.
Sakura released her wind sword before taking raiko out of her mouth. "I told you I'm not playing any games with you Gaara. I don't wanna kill you but if you want the slightest chance of killing me then you might as well release Shukaku. I already told you once to release yourself all the way, Shukaku. Plus this is the only way to show you the right path Gaara."
Gaara felt a memory hit invade his mind. It was a memory of his uncle Yashamaru being kind to him. Before the man ultimately tried to kill Gaara. He couldn't understand why he seemed to be reminded of his past whenever he saw Sakura. The possessed red head still could not understand why did the pinkette even wanted to help him.
So he did as she wanted and released Shukaku's full form. A huge wave of sand rose into the air. Forming the body of the one tailed beast. Causing many in the stands to look in fear.
All of the genin didn't know what to do. Most were frozen from the sheer killing intent they were feeling. About half of the civilians have passed out from the fear. Temari and Kankuro were internally freaking out because this was not part of the plan at all. Many chunin and jounin who were in the area were checking on the civilians. Trying to keep everybody calm. They were all waiting for a surprise attack but it didn't come yet. So they waited in the stands until it did happen. It was really the only thing that they could do since none of them can get through the barrier Sakura put up.
'Well well if Sakura defeats Shukaku then I'll make my way down to her first instead. Sensei can live a little longer until I'm done with Sakura. It's a good thing I know this girl wants a rematch with me. The invasion can start then.' Orochimaru thought to himself.
Hiruzen was tense because he knew there was nothing he could do at the moment. Besides Shukaku being released, nothing else was happening. Everyone seemed safe and alive. Unfortunately he witnessed some of his shinobi try to get through the barrier but it was no avail.
"Damn it! She's going to really fight Shukaku!" Tsunade said in anger and fear for Sakura.
"There's nothing we can do Tsunade. I want to go out there just as bad but you know we can't get in there. I doubt even your strength would be able to break through this barrier." Jiraiya frowned while trying to comfort his former teammate.
Kushina stared down at Sakura. She really didn't want the pinkette to do this on her own. But judging from how complex the seals on the barrier look. Kushina knew it would take way too long for her to try to understand the seal and break it down. All she could do was watch and hope Sakura came out on top.
Gaara chuckled evilly. "You will see why you should fear the incarnation of the sand." The read head made a hand seal and said. "Playing possum jutsu."
Shukaku's eyes shone light in them. They even turned over. The sand tailed beast roared in excitement. "Finally I'm free! Alright I'm going to kill everyone!"
Sakura laughed to herself at how rowdy Shukaku was. Certainly one doesn't expect a tailed beast to be so wild. She flew into the sky to face Shukaku face to face. "Well it's about time you showed up. Sorry Shukaku I did plan on having a long drawn out fight with you. But it's best if I end this fast." She smiled at him.
Shukaku growled. "Ha! You wish pinkie! I'll end you right now! Air bullet!" He shot a large bullet of air towards Sakura.
Using her flash step to avoid the air bullet, Sakura decided it was time to pull out some big moves if she didn't want this fight to drag out. Thankfully the battlefield seemed to be big enough for her to cut loose, unknown to her the stadium had been remodeled to a greater size over the last few months.
Staring at the sand bijuu, she smirked at him then made a hand seal. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" She called out loudly.
To the amazement of the crowd, three hundred shadows popped into existence on the battlefield below. It was baffling to believe one girl had so much chakra.
Sakura stood in front of her army of clones with her, some noticed she had markings around her eyes. The toad pigmentations around her eyes were purple with yellow irides and toad-like eyes. She eyed the tanuki with narrowed eyes. Shukaku felt a bit wary of his prey now that he can sense nature chakra radiating off her.
Those who knew what those markings represented were shocked to the core. Especially those who were able to sense the nature chakra coming from her.
"Let's go!" Sakura ordered her army of clones as she took a huge chakra enhanced leap into the air, her clones following right behind her.
A rasengan formed in one hand of hers and her clones. Each rasengan growing to gigantic proportions, in seconds gigantic rasengans were created. Larger than the bodies of Sakura and her clones.
Shukaku blew another air bullet and swung his sand claws at the incoming army, sadly he was not able to take out as many as he would have liked. The tanuki knew he couldn't form a tailed beast ball quick enough either. Neither would his sand react in time. All he could do was brace himself.
"Senpō: Chōōdama Rasen Taragen! (Sage Art: Super Odama Rasengan Barrage!)" Sakura yelled as she and her clones rammed their massive attacks straight into the biju.
Shikaku had no defense against the barrage of rasengan, never in all his years did he think a human could create such powerful techniques. Not to mention that he actually feels pain from these attacks.
He was blown back, his body skidding across the battlefield creating huge ridges.
When he finally stopped, he snapped his attention to the cloud of dust as something told him this wasn't the end. Unfortunately he was right when he saw Sakura's lone self rush out the cloud with a large, screeching, wind nature jutsu that was shaped like a fuma shuriken. It looked deadly powerful. But nothing frightened Shukaku more than the menacing smirk on the pinkette's face.
"Let's see how you handle this you damn tanuki! Senpo: Futon Rasenshuriken!" Sakura cried out loud enough for all to hear, she swung the rasenshuriken directly at the beast.
A massive dome of wind chakra smacked dead into Shukaku, he tried to push against it but slowly his body was being engulfed in the dome of wind chakra.
"HAAAAAAA! YOU'RE FINISHED SHUKAKU! GET BACK INSIDE OF YOUR DAMN SEAL!" Sakura roared.
As more and more of the sand tailed beast's body gets submerged into the dome, he can feel the sharp needles of wind chakra shredding his sand apart. Which honestly surprised him considering how dense his sand is. He knew this was his loss, so before all of his body was inside of the dome. Shukaku protected Gaara's body by pulling the boy inside of him.
The intense gusts of wind were so strong they blew outside of the barrier, causing nearly everyone to cover their eyes from both the wind and dust in the air.
By the time it was over, everyone saw once the dust cleared that Shukaku was no longer present. Only the sand on the ground that created his body is left. Gaara was unconscious on the ground, mild cuts all of his body with blood leaking out of them. He was clearly alive, the pinkette knew that his chakra network is fine since it's obvious Shukaku protected Gaara from most of her last attack. He wouldn't let Gaara's chakra network be harmed. Which is why she had no problem using her rasenshuriken.
She snapped her fingers, disabling her barrier. Next she walked over towards Gaara and healed him up a little. Also doubling checking to make sure his chakra network is fine, which it was just like she expected it to be. When she stopped healing him, Sakura quickly placed a bijuu suppression seal on him to prevent either Shukaku from coming back out or someone else trying to let him out.
While that was going on, everyone in the audience was still dumbfounded by what they just witnessed. Nobody was expecting such an intense battle like that. Literally everyone was amazed by the prowess of the pinkette.
"Holy shit!" Kiba yelled out in shock.
Kurenai normally would scold Kiba for his language, however his words pretty much summarized the reaction of most including herself.
Asuma long lost his cigarette, Gai had no words.
Kakashi was shocked beyond belief, he couldn't believe what he just watched.
Lee was in awe of the pinkette, so was a majority of the rookies.
'Maybe I should try being friends with Sakura again...Sasuke isn't worth pissing her off..' Ino thought to herself. In disbelief of the power her former rival possesses.
"Damn Sakura…" Tenten uttered.
"Amazing…." Hinata said in a low tone, her best friend is so strong!
"What did I tell you? That woman is too damn troublesome." Shikamaru looked at a stunned Temari, he was stunned as well.
"Gaara…" Kankuro couldn't believe Gaara lost even at full power.
Temari didn't respond to the Nara, she was worried for her injured younger brother.
Sasuke was seething in rage and jealousy, he needed that power. Sakura doesn't deserve it.
"Damn pinkie is really something else." Anko said.
"Sage mode and such massive reserves to spam all of those clones, with each clone having enough chakra to form the same gigantic rasengan she did. Then there's that last jutsu of hers…" Jiraiya is stunned that someone so young has mastered sage mode to a higher degree than himself. He saw no other toad qualities on Sakura.
Shizune didn't know what to say other than. "Wow…."
"She took on a biju head on and defeated it." Tsunade's tone was filled with shock and pride.
Kushina on the other hand was extremely happy that she's safe and amazed by her strength. She knew Sakura was going to come back strong, but not this strong. Oh she can't wait to grill her for answers later on, however she also can't wait until she gets her alone back at their home…
The thought of it is making her blush lightly.
In the Kage box, Hiruzen is baffled by the young genin's power. He definitely needs to talk to her about being a possible Hokage candidate. She had too much potential to not consider her.
Orochimaru was internally salivating at Sakura, he needed her as an apprentice. She was too valuable to use as his vessel. He's glad he thought ahead and discreetly sent out a message to the Sound Four about a change in the plans.
Once he gave the signal, a genjutsu fell over the stadium making all of the civilians pass out. Even a few shinobi fell under the genjutsu, most shinobi easily broke the genjutsu.
Once a loud explosion happened in the kage box. The Sound Four and Orochimaru all made their way to the battlefield.
Sakura sensed the incoming enemy, and she quickly made a shadow clone to take Gaara to a safe area. Once her clone took Gaara away, the pinkette noticed a large purple barrier covering most of the battlefield. Looking around she saw four unfamiliar shinobi who seemed to be the cause of the barrier.
"Kukuku we meet again young Sakura." She immediately recognized that voice without having to think about it. Plus she knew he was here in the stadium the whole time having sensed his chakra signature near the Hokage.
"It seems that way doesn't it Orochimaru? Honestly I've been looking forward to this day. You owe me a rematch you dick." Sakura said.
Orochimaru smirked. "So you haven't forgotten about that?"
Sakura scoffed. "Of course I haven't. I'm the one who demanded the rematch in the first place. I will admit I'm surprised you went for me instead of the Hokage."
"His time will come after I'm finished with you." Orochimaru stated.
"Good luck with that, if you think I gave it my all against Shukaku. Then you got another thing coming, I haven't even warmed up yet bastard!" Sakura retorted.
The fated rematch was about to take place.