Chapter 7
The next morning Sakura woke up early. She gathered her things and put them back in the storage scrolls and her pack. She ate a quick breakfast and took a couple sips of water from one of the canteens. When she was finished, she made sure to kick some sand over the embers from the fire she had built the night before.
The pinkette stood up with a sigh. She donned the goggles and wrapped the scarf around her neck and jaw. She attached one of the canteens to the belt around her waist. Grabbing the compass, she decided to continue her journey north.
With the sun beating down on her, the rosette decided to take a break and rest until dusk. Sakura walked over to a tall dune that looked to be casting a shadow. She took her cloak and placed it on the desert floor. Using the tarp, she was able to construct a small tent with supplies she found in one of the storage scrolls. When she finished, she sat under the tarp and took some sips from the canteen she had hanging off of the belt on her hip.
Due to the mid-day heat, Sakura found herself becoming drowsy. She tried to fight her exhaustion, but quickly gave in and fell asleep When she next woke up, it was close to dusk. She started deconstructing the tent and storing them back in her pack. She picked up the cloak and wrapped it around her shoulders.
Sakura turned to continue her journey north when she felt someone punch her jaw causing her face to shift to the left. Rubbing her jaw, she turned in the direction the punch had come from and saw a red-haired, green-eyed girl standing in a defensive position. She appeared to be waiting for Sakura to retaliate. The pinkette just stared at the new arrival with a surprised look on her face.
"What the heck do you think you are doing, attacking me?" Sakura angrily blurted out while she observed the girl in front of her with narrowed eyes.
"You're my opponent. If I want to complete this damn trial, I need to defeat you," the firey red head told her.
Sakura just scoffed at her. "Well, I don't think you will be able to defeat me if your punches are that weak. By the way, what do you mean; I'm your opponent? I was only brought to Suna to be a medic for the trials."
"The medics are back at the arena. If you're out here, than you are a part of the trials. So, that makes you my opponent. You talk big for someone with pink hair," the redhead scoffed at Sakura. How dare this waif of a girl talk to her in such a manner, the redhead thought. Didn't she know who she was? The redhead's patience started running out, so she started to run toward Sakura with a kunai held out in front of her.
Sakura seeing the girl running towards her, grabbed a kunai of her own from her hip pouch and blocked the incoming attack. The pinkette jumped back and took a fast second to scrutinize the girl. The red-haired girl didn't seem to offer much of a challenge to Sakura, but she knew not to underestimate her opponents. Too many times had Sakura's enemies underestimated her in the past.
Sakura doged the girl's kick to her knee by jumping up and flipping behind the girl. When she landed, Sakura kicked the girl in her back. While the girl was on the ground, Sakura jumped on the girl's chest and pinned her to the desert floor. "You need to quit attacking me," Sakura growled out.
"No... I won't stop... I have to defeat you, " the redhead tried to yell.
"I'll let you up if you start answering some of my questions. Do we have a deal?" Sakura asked.
"Alright. I'll answer your stupid questions and then I'm gonna take you down," the redhead answered with a snarl.
Climbing off the girl, Sakura asked, "What is your name and why are you fighting me?"
"Ugh. My name is Tominaga Tamiko. I'm participating in this competition even though I shouldn't have to. I was forced into this competition, because it would offer some prestige to my uncle who sits on the council. This whole thing is a waste of my time." Tamiko huffed as though it was a vain effort just to have to explain herself.
All Sakura could do was stare at the girl with an astonished look on her face. Forced into this competition, because of her uncle. This girl doesn't seem like she really wants to win this thing.
"It's nice to meet you Tomiko-san. My name is Haruno Sakura," she introduced herself. "But I still don't understand why you're attacking me."
"Ugh. Are you stupid or something? I am a participant in a competition between kunoichis. The last kunoichi standing wins the competition. Since you are here, that means that you are a participant as well. If I want to continue and win this stupid thing, then I have to defeat you. Do you get it now?" Tomiko couldn't believe that this pink-haired girl could be so utterly ignorant of the trials.
Sakura took a few more minutes to take a good look at Tomiko. The attire the girl was wearing seemed to be made of expensive material. The kunai she was fighting with looked to be on the expensive side as well. The girl's attitude and tone of voice sounded on the arrogant side. Must come from one of those more prideful clans, Sakura thought to herself.
"Are you sure you really want to win this competition? Who do you want to do this for? Yourself or your uncle?" Sakura asked.
"I - I don't know," Tomiko stuttered. "I was told I had to participate and that I couldn't say no."
"It doesn't seem like you have put a lot of effort into your training and your heart is not in this competition," Sakura challenged. She wanted to she how far she could push Tomiko and see if the girl's true fighting abilities would show themselves. "Are you sure you can defeat me? I don't think you can," she challenged again.
"YES! I WILL DEFEAT YOU!" Tomiko screamed. With her anger fueling her, she made to punch at Sakura again, but her attack was easily dodged.
Before Tomiko could counter attack with a kick to the chest, Sakura grabbed the girl's leg and threw her to the side of a dune. The redhead landed with an umph and scrambled back to her feet. "I won't let you defeat me," the redhead snapped. The girl ran again at Sakura, readying a punch, but then slid on the ground in order to knock Sakura's feet out from under her.
Sakura misread the girl's attack and fell to the ground. "Oomph," she uttered on impact. This girl is getting annoying. First I get locked in a room, then dropped in the desert and now I'm having to fight this redhead who just knocked me to the ground. Temari has a lot to answer for when I get back to Suna.
The rosette climbed back to her feet and took out a few shuriken from her hip pouch. They sliced the air as she loosed them from her fingertips, being aimed squarely at Tomiko. Shortly after, Sakura followed up with a jump high in the sky with her right leg lifted ready to come down on the redhead's neck.
Tomiko tried to dodge the shuriken, but ended up coming underneath Sakura's jump. While she didn't contact with Tomiko's neck, Sakura landed a leg kick to her opponent's shoulder, knocking her to the sand.
Tomiko rubbed her shoulder as she clambered to her feet. She glared at Sakura with her green eyes. Balling her hands into fists, she again ran at Sakura and started to jab with her right hand and then brought her left hand up to punch the underside of Sakura's jaw. Sakura easily dodged the blows and gave Tomiko a roundhouse kick that threw Tomiko back a distance of several feet.
"Why don't you just quit? You're obviously no match for me," Sakura said, rolling her eyes at the redhead. Sakura was getting to her limit of patience. If this girl was not going to stay down, then she would make her stay down. Pulling some chakra into her fist, she dodged Tomiko's next attack and threw her punch at the girl's abdomen. Tomiko bent over in pain from the punch and fell to the ground. Sakura finished by landing a punch to the back of the girl's neck, knocking Tomiko unconscious.
Sakura felt bad about knocking Tomiko out, but the girl just wouldn't stop attacking. When she caught her breath, she walked over to the girl and started healing some of Tomiko's injuries. It was well past dusk when the fighting stopped, so Sakura built another fire to help keep them both warm. She put the tarp over the ground and then moved Tomiko, so she layed on the tarp. Sakura then pulled on some more layers of clothes before covering the other girl with her cloak. She wanted to stay awake until the girl woke up, but finally succumbed to slumber.
When Sakura woke up the next morning, she noticed Tomiko was gone. She saw what looked to be indents in the sand, indicating that someone had walked away, and figured that Tomiko must have woken up early and decided to go back to Suna. Sakura got up from her spot and continued on her journey.
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For three days, Sakura continued walking north. She made sure to check her compass often. She didn't want to stray too far and get off course. The desert was the last place she needed to get lost. In those three days of travel, she had been attacked twice. Each kunoichi she faced had repeated what Tomiko had told her. Medics were back at the arena and if she was out in the desert, then that made her a participant of the trials.
Hearing this just kept adding fuel to the fire in Sakura's mind. If she knew that Temari was going to throw her into the midst of this competition, she never would have agreed to come to Suna in the first place. After thinking about Temari's actions toward her, Sakura had to wonder if Shikamaru knew about this as well. Oh, if he knew - than true pain was going to be felt by the both of them when she made her return to Suna, she angrily thought.
Sakura kept taking repeated breaks during her journey. When she wasn't sleeping, she was reading the survival guide book or eating or drinking water. She would often run through poison and antidote scenarios in her head to help distract her from the heat of the desert. What she wouldn't do for a nice cool, relaxing bath right about now, but she kept trudging along hoping that she would be back in Suna soon.
On her fifth day in the desert, Sakura saw a body on the desert floor. She walked over to the body and found a kunoichi laying down in the sand holding her chest. The girl looked familiar and Sakura kept trying to place a name with the face. When the name wouldn't come to her, the pinkette decided to nudge the girl's foot and ask if she was ok.
The brown-haired girl finally looked up at her. "Sakura, is that you?" she asked her. She groaned out in pain as she tried to sit up.
"Yes. I'm Sakura, but I can't remember your name. I'm sorry. Are you in any pain? Can I help you?"
Still groaning in pain, the girl told her, "My name is Matsuri. I remember you helped to rescue Gaara from the Akatsuki. Yes, I'm in pain. I just got done fighting a kunoichi from Mist."
Sakura bent over the girl and pushed her to lay down. She hovered her hands over Matsuri's chest and green chakra flowed from Sakura's hands while she checked over the brunette. "It looks like you have a couple of cracked ribs. I'll heal you and then you can have some of my water," Sakura told her.
Matsuri just nodded her head and then closed her eyes while Sakura continued healing her. When Sakura finished, she sat up and took hold of the canteen the pink-haired girl passed to her.
"Make sure you take smalls sips. I'm not sure how long you have been without water, but you if you drink too fast, you may choke," commanded Sakura.
Matsuri did as she was told and sipped the water from the canteen. When she finished drinking the water, she passed the canteen back to Sakura.
"Are you feeling better now, Matsuri?" Sakura asked her while she finished drinking the water that was left in the canteen.
"Yes. Thanks for healing me," Matsuri answered. "By the way, what are you doing out here in the desert?"
"Well, according to the last three kunoichis who attacked me, I think I'm a participant in a competition. I was only supposed to be a medic per Temari's request. One minute I was locked in an empty room, then the next minute I was dropped out here in the desert."
Oh, boy. If Sakura is a participant in the trial, then I've got my work cut out for me, Matsuri thought. There is no way I can beat her. It seems that Sakura doesn't know a lot about what is going on. If that is the case, then I'm not telling her what this competition is really for. Let her figure it out for herself. Maybe that Mist kunoichi and Sakura will take each other out. I'm not going to let her win this competition. Matsuri was quickly trying to formulate a plan to keep Sakura from winning the trials.
"Oh. Well, if you're out here, than I think they are correct. You are a participant in this competition," Matsuri responded conspiratorially.
"Does that mean you are going to attack me?" Sakura queried.
"No. I don't think I'm ready to be attacking anyone just yet," Matsuri answered. "Plus, you just healed me."
If I stick close to Sakura, she could offer up a level of protection. The other kunoichis will be going after her first. If she looks like she needs help, than I will help her, Matsuri decided.
"Since we are both in this competition and it seems that Suna is still a couple of days away, why don't we travel together?" Matsuri suggested.
Sakura then noticed that Matsuri didn't have a lot of supplies and didn't feel comfortable leaving her alone in the desert. "Well, I'm not leaving you here alone, Matsuri," Sakura told her. "I have enough supplies to share. I think it would be a good idea to travel together."
After their conversation, Sakura started to make camp for the night while Matsuri started a fire. The pinkette shared some of her food and water supplies with the brunette. They spent the rest of the evening chatting about Suna and Konoha and their friends. When they both started yawning, they said goodnight to each other. Sakura told Matsuri she would take first watch and would wake Matsuri up in three hours. Matsuri nodded in agreement, rolled over and was soon asleep.
Author Notes
Thanks again for the reviews, follows and favorites. This battle scene is light this time around but will get heavier in the future chapters.
Distant Voice - Thanks for the constructive criticism I agree with everything you said. I hope that after I finish this story to go back and revise certain chapters. I was trying to experiment with adding detail in parts of my story. By doing that I got away from focusing on the more important parts of the story. I hope I improved a little bit with this chapter.
Guest - This story is non-canon compliant. I understand that Kakashi is the Hokage after the war in Naruto, but for my story/plot to work I felt that Tsunade would fit better. Temari is playing matchmaker and is scheming to put Gaara and Sakura together. I felt that Tsunade would understand Temari's actions better and would go along with her scheme. In my opinion, Kakashi sometimes acts more fatherly and protective of Sakura (in most fanfiction I've read) and he would not have gone along with Temari's scheme.
Another option, this could take place during the transition time between Tsunade retiring the Hokage position and turning the reins over to Kakashi. I do repeat that this is non-canon compliant. The only thing I left canon compliant is certain couples. I.E. Naruto/Hinata, Ino/Sai, Temari/Shikamaru.
As always I am looking for a Beta. If your are interested please PM me.