When Michiko woke up, she saw she was in the trunk of tree, but she felt almost completely refreshed. She heard Sakura cry out, and shot up into a sitting position. She saw a Sound ninja beat Lee down, and she lashed out in an instant, punching the shinobi in the face. "What the HELL do you think you're doing?" she snarled, her anger evident in her dark blue eyes. "And who would you be? Another rookie Genin?" her anger was evident as she said, "I'm no rookie…and I'm not a Genin…if you must know, I'm an elite Jounin of Konoha…The Lightning Cat Ninja…" She pulled out her twin katana, spinning them expertly, and smirked. "Do you know what's faster than sound?" she appeared behind him in a moment. "Light…" she stabbed him in the back, and high kicked the shinobi that came up behind her. She reappeared in front of Sakura and Lee, standing in a lazy posture, much like her father, with a bored expression on her face and anger hidden in her eyes. She put her blades away, and turned to Lee, asking, "What hurts?" "My…ear…" She nodded, and used a healing jutsu on his ear. "Rest…I'll take care of this…"
He nodded warily, and closed his eyes. She glared at them, saying, "Don't make me kill you…unless that's what you want…" She glared, and stood, saying, "Sakura-chan…stay back…" "What's a Jounin doing in the forest?" "I'm the one making sure people don't get killed. So back off before I stop messing around…" she pumped chakra into her fist, and said, "I'll give you to the count of three. One…two…" she raised her fist. "THREE!!" she punched the ground with all her might, sending a wave of rock at them, and they barely dodged. She heard a cry from Sakura, and turned around to see the Sound kunoichi had appeared behind her, holding her by her hair. She growled, grabbing a pillar of rock, and ripped it out of the ground with one hand. "Let-Her-GO!!" she said in a threatening tone, wielding the sharp rock like a spear. She pointed it at the Sound kunoichi, the sharp point at her neck, and was about to slice her neck when one of the shinobi ran at her from the side, ready to punch her. She dodged easily, kicking him away, and disappeared in a flash, outmaneuvering his sound waves.
She appeared behind him, saying, "You can't hit someone who's as fast as light, fool…" Sakura began to see how strong her friend really was. All she'd ever seen of her friend was her kindness, her caring, her concern, her temper, her protectiveness, her sadness, her despair, her tears, but she'd never seen her so dominant against an opponent. A blast of sound came at her, but she jumped over it, landing on the trunk of a tree, and used it to catapult herself at the shinobi that had tried to hit her. She punched him in the face, her feet skidding on the ground. "Don't think it'll be that easy!" She would have run to help Sakura, but one shinobi hit her in the side, sending sound waves at her full force, but it just threw her back against a tree. "Damn pests…" she was about to get up when the Sound shinobi with bandages on his face put a kunai to her throat. 'I can't move now…' she saw the tears on Sakura's face, and cringed. 'Sakura-chan…' She glared at the Sound ninja, a hiss building in her throat, when she saw Sakura take out a kunai. 'She can't beat her with a kunai…'
That's when her friend surprised her. She cut her long hair, making Michiko's eyes widened in surprise, and shock the shinobi holding the kunai to her throat. She kicked him in the chest, sending him flying.
She saw Sakura fighting the other Sound shinobi, and went after the kunoichi and the still down shinobi. She stabbed the Sound kunoichi in the stomach, saying, in a deadly tone, "This is for torturing my friend…" she then kicked the girl in the chest, sending her flying. She heard Sakura's muffled gasps of pain, and was surprised to see her biting the Sound shinobi's arm, stabbing the other arm with a kunai. She was about to strike him off when he punched a bleeding Sakura off. Michiko rushed in, kicking him in the face, and he flew into a tree. "Basturds…" she felt her chakra rush around her with characteristics akin to electricity, and glared at all of them. "I'm done playing around…" She made a small sphere in the palm of her hand, with what appeared to be electricity inside of it, and said, her voice deadly, "Lightning Release: Lightning Sphere jutsu!" She rushed at the Sound shinobi who had hit Sakura, almost hitting him with the attack, but he dodged…barely…the attack struck the tree, blasting it apart from the inside out, and making the splinters and remains fall around her as she turned to glare. "As you can see…I'm ready to kill…" bloodlust rose in her blood, but she tried to suppress it. 'Let me kill them for you…' 'No…I can't…it's…wrong…'
She felt something on her stomach burn, and she winced, wrapping her arms around her stomach, seeing what looked like a lightning bolt mark glowing a bright green on her stomach. 'It…burns…' the mark started glowing brighter, and the pain escalated. She cried out in pain as she fell to her knees, holding back the burning tears. 'What is this pain? Make it go away…' Before the shinobi could strike her, she saw Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji jump out of the bushes in front of her. "Ino-chan? Shika-kun? Chouji-kun?" She saw one of the Sound shinobi call Chouji fat, and he had a fit, agreeing to fight. It went pretty well, until they attacked Ino, who was in the Sound kunoichi's body, and make Chouji sick. Michiko couldn't stand, the burning pain worsening whenever she moved, and had to watch as they ran out of ideas. She stood up, enduring the pain, and said, "I'll try something…" she stepped in front of them, and focused chakra into her hands, and did some rapid hand signs, and closed her eyes in pain as she said, "Earth Release: Earth Wave jutsu!" the earth in front of her turned into a wave, rushing at the Sound shinobi, and they dodged.
She fell to her knees, the pain too much to bear, and cried out in pain again as she forced herself to stay conscious. That's when Neji and Tenten appeared above them, and Michiko smiled weakly, saying, "I was wondering when you guys would show up…" she felt light headed, and her body was going numb from the pain. She didn't hear what Neji said, when a powerful, dark chakra built up, scaring her. She moved slightly, so she could see what it was, and was surprised to see Sasuke, with spiraling dark chakra around him. "Sasu-kun…?" "Who hurt you?" she felt the evil in the chakra, and didn't answer…but she didn't have to… "That would be me."
His own teammate thought he was a fool, but he didn't seem to notice. "Now I'll kill all of you in one fell swoop!" Michiko tensed, but the pain became even worse, if that were possible, and she forced herself to relax. She felt someone lift her, and in a moment, she was behind the shinobi who had just tried to kill them. 'He's almost as fast as I am…' He then caught the shinobi from behind, holding his wrist and placing his foot in between his shoulder blades. "Sasu-kun…" she felt a fear gnawing as her heart. "Don't do it…no!!" but it was too late. With a bloodcurdling scream, the shinobi fell to the ground, his arms ripped from their sockets. Michiko's eyes widened in surprise as he turned to deal with the other shinobi.
She stood up, controlling the almost unbearable pain, and got in front of him. "Don't do it! …Please…" she couldn't hold in the pain much longer, and she was probably the only one who could stop him. "You don't need to hurt them anymore…we're done fighting…" she saw the chakra start to disappear as the marking receded. "You don't need to fight anymore…" the mark fully receded, and he fell backwards, though she was fast enough to catch him. The frightened Sound shinobi that was spared gave them his scroll, and left with his unconscious teammates. Kimiko was beginning to breath hard, so she could try to stomach the pain, the urge to chase them down and kill them…She fought against it, and, seeing that her friends were almost all together, helped Sasuke sit up before standing up herself, the pain in her stomach almost completely gone. "I need to go…I need to tell the Hokage something…"
She smiled at all of them, saying, "See you in the next stage of the exam!" before she disappeared into the trees, making straight for the tower. When she got there, Kakashi was worried sick over her, seeing that she got a little beat up. "I'm fine dad! Calm down! I just had a little problem with…" she looked around, whispering, "You know…" he nodded knowingly, saying, "Be careful though, Michi…" she nodded, asking, "What's my job for this section of the exam, dad?" "You'll be a proctor…but I don't want you stopping a fight because your friends are getting hurt…" he saw the hurt in her eyes, and added, "Unless they could die…" she nodded, looking at the ground. "I'm gonna go rest…" Kakashi nodded, but worry crossed his face as he saw her walk away to one of the rooms. 'She tries so hard to use her power for the good of others…will she ever discover that her soul could be at stake?'