Sakana's dark eyes flashed across the room to meet Sakura's bright green ones as the pink-haired girl began walking towards the stairs. Sakana, a bit impatient to get started, leapt over the railing, did a couple of mid-air flips and landed gracefully on her feet in front of Hayate. She waited until Sakura stood in front of her before holding out a hand to shake.
"Don't go easy on me," Sakura said, returning Sakana's firm grip.
Sakana smirked and replied, "You asked for it."
"The ninth match - Haruno Sakura and Mizuko Sakana." He broke off his words to cough into his hand and then continued, "Begin!" before jumping out of the way.
Sakana let go of Sakura's hand and did a back wheel kick, firmly striking her opponent across the jaw. When she landed she quickly jumped into the air again, forming three hand signs - the last being the sign of the bird.
"Water style: Water Senbon Jutsu!" she shouted.
A dozen senbon sped towards an unprepared Sakura, striking all over her body. But then she suddenly disappeared and only a log was left where she'd stood mere moments before. Then Sakana felt pain shoot through her left shoulder. She turned to see a smug-looking Sakura flying at her from above. Sakana easily dodged, grimacing as she pulled the other girl's kunai from her body.
"You'll pay for that!" she growled.
As quick as lightning, Sakana formed multiple hand signs before shouting "Water Style: Liquid Bullets!" She opened her mouth and projected ten balls of water from her mouth in quick succession. Sakura managed to dodge a couple of them, but the rest knocked her to the ground. Immediately she was back up and preparing her next attack. As Sakana sped towards Sakura, already forming more hand signs, something happened to her vision. She could suddenly see Sakura's angle of decent and exactly where she would land. It was almost as if she were seeing a short distance into the future. When Sakura finally came at her, Sakana was ready for it.
"Water Style: Water Sphere Jutsu!" she shouted. Immediately, all of the water from the surrounding area, including everything that had soaked into Sakura's clothes began forming a large ball around the pink-haired kunoichi until she was entirely encased in water. Sakana then kept the ball stabilized with her hand, effectively eliminating Sakura's ability to fight back.
"The winner is Mizuko Sakana." Hayate announced. Sakana smiled and released her jutsu, happy at the shocked look on Sakura's face.
Sakura's POV
"How...how do you know water style?" Sakura asked the petite sand kunoichi who had just won their match.
Sakana merely smirked, an expression that greatly resembled one she'd seen on Sasuke's lips many times before.
"You can't judge a ninja by their village," she replied, reaching into her pouch, to pull out a small canister of some sort, which she then held out to Sakura. The girl reached out to take it, but was stopped mid-motion by Sakana's eyes. They weren't blue anymore...they were red and black…with tomoe! Sakana had the Sharingan!
"It's just some medicinal ointment for you and your comrades. Please accept it," Sakana said, breaking Sakura's fixation on her eyes.
"Oh, thank you," Sakura said finally taking the canister. Sakana turned and leapt up to the balcony, while Sakura ran back up the stairs as fast as she could, headed straight for Kakashi-sensei. When she finally reached him, she was out of breath, but he seemed to know she had something important to say.
"What is it, Sakura?" Kakashi asked.
"Sakana...she... she has the Sharingan!" the girl gasped out. Kakashi's eye widened.
"Are you absolutely sure?" he asked. Sakura nodded.
"100 percent! No mistake!" she replied, but before she could say more Kakashi had teleported to the other side of the room.
"Well, Sakana, it seems you're right about one thing - you can't judge a ninja by their village," Sakura thought to herself.