One of the Konoha female ninjas left the battlefield and it was time for another to shape up for her fight. Haruno Sakura was matched against someone from the Hidden Sound Village-which meant they knew Sasuke. She had so many questions but doubted her opponent will want to have a chat about him. The battlefield still raining looked bigger to Sakura as she walked out onto the field that no Konoha ninja had lost on yet. 'This is my battlefield' echoed through Sakura's head as she waited for her opponent to come out. Tsunade the legendary Sannin had been teaching her and teaching her well and to match against someone from the sound made her nervous, but also excited. She saw her opponent step onto the field, he was about her height and he had an evil look about him just as the other sound ninjas did from the last Chuunin exams. She quickly wondered why they were not taking part in this exam but that thought went out of her head when the referee began the match.
None of them moved for a while and waited for the other to move. Sakura was a little anxious about the smile the sound ninja had on his face while she stood in front of him. She wondered if Sasuke had given him any insider information about the Konoha ninjas. Sakura was sick of waiting and made some clones and charged in. She concentrated her chakra to her feet and increased her speed, closing in on her opponent who hadn't moved a muscle. As she got closer, she heard something behind her. She distinctly heard someone behind her attacking from the blind spot and she turned her head to see nobody there. She had taken her eyes off her opponent however and gave him an enormous opening to get a clean shot against her. Sakura was sent flying back and picked herself up after she got control of the pain going through her face. The sound ninja hadn't moved much and stood there still with the smile on his face. "Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke told me I wouldn't have to worry much if I was matched against you. I should be more fearful of Uzumaki Naruto-I haven't seen him fight yet and I look forward to it once I finish you off."
Sakura
had got up from and ground by now and created some more clones. She
increased her speed by her precise chakra control and this time she
moved them in all directions around her opponent so as to confuse him
to which one was real. The opponent was circled and trying to keep
all the Sakura's in view when one of them charged in. He threw a
kunai hitting it directly but showing it was one of the clones while
another one attacked him from behind. She had a very good opportunity
but couldn't capitalise as she heard something else. It was a
whisper in her ear as if it was right next to her, "Sakura". It
was Sasuke's voice; she could never forget it as she had longed to
hear it for so long. She hadn't taken her eyes off her opponent but
had lost concentration and was facing another kunai the sound ninja
had thrown at her. She managed to jump out of the way and was met by
him throwing a punch. She had seen what he was going to do and
blocked it. "So this is the real Sakura, not one of the illusionary
ones? Silly move." They sparred quickly and Sakura done quite well
matching the sound ninja for speed but couldn't continue blocking
his vast array of combos and he managed to get a few shots in on her.
Luckily, Sakura had thought of an escape plan and took advantage of
the sound ninja assuming the rest were normal clones. One of the
other Sakura's came from behind and kicked the sound ninja in the
ribs and although she hadn't been able to summon her super strength
into it, it still hurt a fair bit. The sound ninja winced and turned
to fight Sakura, "I thought it was Naruto who used shadow clones,
nice try using one to distract me and you coming from behind-but it's
not going to work." He quickly used a combination Sakura couldn't
keep up with and got a hard shot on her mid section, but he would be
surprised again when this one was the shadow clone rather than the
real one. The real Sakura had been the one he was fighting before and
had gathered enough time and chakra into her hand to punch the sound
ninja right in the face sending him hurtling backwards skidding
across the muddy ground. Everybody in the crowd could feel this shot
and couldn't help but applaud Sakura on this bout which she had
won. The sound ninja's nose was broken and this strength wasn't
something he had been ready for or warned about. She had obviously
been training hard since Sasuke left Konoha; he knew he needed to
play mind games.
as he got up from the ground, he began to make
some seals while Sakura waited for him to make a move. "You know
Sakura, Sasuke likes it very much in the Rice Country. I train
against him all the time; he really is a genius ninja." Sakura was
ignoring this, he was obviously trying to get into her head, she
didn't realise until then how much he had already achieved this. A
sound so peaceful and sweet began to whistle through the air. It was
music, a lullaby song and Sakura began to become sleepy. Was it
genjutsu? She quickly took the appropriate action to release herself
from it but it didn't work and the music continued. She was
becoming sleepier and knew if it wasn't genjustu, it was just
normal ninjutsu. The ninja can somehow create sound whether it was a
voice, sound effect or music. She moved to a position to where the
sound wasn't hitting her directly and although she felt a little
more energetic, was still very lethargic. With Sakura trying to get
away from the Sound ninjas technique, she actually hadn't worried
about unknowingly getting caught in a genjustu. This was what the
enemy had planned on as she was caught in his genjutsu now. Sakura
began to hear things, disturbing things, she could distinctly make
out Sasuke's voice, with Orochimaru, Kabuto and even Tsunade's voice
all telling her how much of a failure she is. Sakura blocked her ears
but she could hear it in her head. This wasn't actual sounds but
sound within her head that she believed she was hearing. She couldn't
get rid of it as she was too spaced out and not thinking straight
from the lullaby song and her opponent was coming in at her for close
quarter combat. Still with the voices echoeing in her head, she
couldn't focus on the combinations the sound ninja was unleashing
against her and she got completely battered in the short bout. She
was in a very difficult situation. She had no idea how to release
herself from the genjutsu and the voices in her head continued, but
then she heard a voice which wasn't meant to be there. It was
Naruto's voice, yelling at her, encouraging her not to lose as he had
done last time in her fight against Ino. She concentrated on this
voice rathe than the others and they seemed to fade out, even when
Naruto wasn't here he was still helping her. She was ready and she
wasn't going to lose.
Her opponent realised she had released the
jutsu somehow and charged in to finish her off. Sakura prepared
herself and they sparred again. It was more even now, with both
getting their shots in and blocking others; the enemy needed an
opening but couldn't find one. Sakura was becoming more confident and
even beginning to find more and more openings in which she could
strike. With her strength, she was able to do more and more damage to
her enemy, who hastily retreated when he saw he was in a bad state.
Sakura knew he would now make this a long distance fight and
wondered what his next move would be. She watched as he made seals,
"Sound Scream Technique!" A loud shrieking came through the
air and hit Sakura taking her off guard and hurting her ear drums and
head as it was so horrific to hear. He had created some kind of loud
piercing sound to neutralise her without engaging at all and Sakura
couldn't move properly. Luckily though, his movements were slowed
from it as he could only walk while using this technique. To get
herself out she would have to take her hands off her ears which meant
allowing her ears to be directly damaged from the sound. She took
them off and quickly went through some seals to call on a shadow
clone. The shadow clone was able to get out of the way of the sound
and come at the ninja from the side. The enemy ninja had to disengage
the technique to avoid being damaged. Once he got rid of the shadow
clone, he turned back towards Sakura who hadn't moved. He done the
same technique but with a different sound, a sound so deep it would
have had terrible impacts on her internal body if it hadn't been an
illusionary clone.
Sakura had used this distraction to get in
behind her enemy and knock him flying. When he got up from the ground
he was dazed and groggy from now having cop two punches from Sakura.
He was fighting on ninja instinct as he was in great pain. Sakura
came in and picked him up, "How are you even moving from my
technique?"
"If I didn't have the ability to heal
myself than I would have been in a bad position, unlucky for you."
"Uchiha Sasuke and I have underestimated you Haruno Sakura."
"Take this message back to Uchiha Sasuke, Naruto and I will
find him." She finished the match and walked off from the field.
This was an emotionally tiring match as well as physically. But
beating someone from the sound was quite promising for her
confidence.