AN: This chapter has scenes out of order that skip around time. I hope it is not too confusing. The reason I did this is because I couldn't think of a better way to get in all the scenes I wanted in one chapter. The last chapter was fourteen days until the exam in case you wondered. Enjoy!
(Six Days until Chunnin Exams)
Sakura looked at her red dress laid out on the bed in front of her and frowned. She owned several dresses of the exact same design that she had started wearing because she had thought they were cute and would get a certain boy's attention. Now though she looked at it with a much more critical eye. It was passible as ninja attire as far as design went but after wearing it for so long Sakura knew from experience it wasn't the best either. She also didn't know what she had been thinking when choosing a bright red color. More than once she had criticized Naruto on how orange is absolutely terrible for stealth but the fact was that bright red was only marginally better when hiding in the forests around Konoha.
However the main problem she was having with her normal ninja attire is that it looked so unbelievably girly. Sakura just wasn't that girl anymore. The girl who only thought of chasing after Sasuke and could not be bothered to seriously think about the life of a ninja was gone. That girl would never have killed two prisoners tied to chairs in cold blood nor have killed two innocent civilians after losing control. Sakura felt different and she would feel ridiculous going into potentially a life or death situation with a pretty red dress now. That old Sakura was probably gone forever. It was time for the new (if not necessarily improved) Sakura to get a new wardrobe.
Looking at the dress Sakura suddenly felt disgusted at ever having been a girl who would wear something like that on a mission to impress a boy. Not that there was anything wrong with Sasuke, quite the opposite actually, but her priorities had been so wrong. On an impulse she gathered up all her red dresses and took them to them into their small backyard. Looking in the small shed they had she got out a metal trashcan, matches and lighter fluid. In moments she had dumped all her red dresses in the metal garbage can, sprayed the lighter fluid and lit them on fire.
It felt good. Looking back on it Sakura hated that girl she had been, just a little. Even though she wouldn't wish her Kekkei Genkai on anyone she couldn't help but feel like it had made her grow up. The real world of ninja wasn't all about love, techniques or trying to prove just how big and bad you are. It was a dirty, violent place filled with death. If she had really realized what it was all about sooner the little girl she had been back in the academy might have run screaming.
Well, it's not like she'd ever really had a choice. Her world would have been filled with violence and death even if she had never gone to the academy. The Santengoku would have happened regardless.
Putting on some civilian clothes Sakura headed out to the ninja shops to find something to wear. There was one large emporium that had the best selection so she made her way in that direction. That's when she saw something that made her stiffen just a bit.
Walking in the opposite direction from her were three teens and a large man all wearing forehead protectors with the symbol of Taki. She eyed them warily as they passed but they barely spared her a glance without her ninja gear or forehead protector. That was fine by her. She didn't want to draw any attention.
The Chunnin exams had been advertised all over the Elemental Nations and now everyone knew Konoha had a Kunoichi who was 'the last Saotome'. At least they didn't include her name or picture. However Kakashi-sensei had told her that she couldn't count on that to keep her anonymous. There was no telling who could find out that Haruno Sakura was the so-called 'last Saotome'.
When she arrived at the store Sakura began to browse unsure of what she was looking for. Something comfortable and professional that said 'ninja'. She was also going to stay away from anything remotely resembling bright colors this time.
There was a lot of traffic in the store so she almost missed it when three more teens walked in. Sakura saw their forehead protectors having the symbol of Kusa and frowned. Great. More foreigners. With her new celebrity status and fresh painted target on her back Sakura was starting to feel more than a little bit xenophobic.
Sakura almost went back to browsing when color on one of the Kusa Genin caught her attention. She saw a Kunoichi several years younger than her teammates with bright red hair and black rimmed glasses. Despite herself Sakura found she was a bit curious about this girl with odd colored hair so she observed her. She was fidgety and to Sakura she didn't look confident or comfortable in her own skin as she trailed behind her teammates. The girl must have sensed her watching because the girl turned her head and locked eyes with Sakura.
The girl's eyes widened slightly and Sakura's eyes hardened. Even if it was probably stupid to have a stare down with a foreign nin when she was trying to keep a low profile now that their eyes had met Sakura didn't want to be the first to back down. She was almost tempted to go into First Heaven a hit the girl with a small dose of killer intent to show her who was boss. However the girl's will broke almost immediately and the redhead turned away, clearly uncomfortable. To Sakura it seemed clear that she wasn't a very confident person. The pinkette couldn't help but feel a tiny bit sorry for her.
After going back to looking at the clothes and found something she could see herself wearing and could feel good about. She picked a few pairs of black shorts in the style that was popular with Konoha Genin and a mostly form fitting, forest green top with a high collar. The top's sleeves reached just above mid bicep and the whole thing was made of a sturdy thick material. When she tried them on she looked at herself in the mirror and decided she quite liked it, especially when her hair was back in a low ponytail like she had taken to wearing it.
A few identical tops and shorts saw her headed home pleased with her new bounty. Now she just needed to break her clothes in before the week was over. She had only six days left until the Chunnin Exams.
(Fourteen Days until Chunnin Exams)
Sakura stood looking at her teammates trying not to fidget as she waited for their reactions. There had been a lot of yelling and surprised looks as she and Kakashi-sensei told Naruto and Sasuke everything. Well Kakashi had done most of the talking and Sakura had mostly stared at her teammates anxiously wondering what they were thinking about her. Would either of them not want to be on a team with her anymore? While Sakura had been tempted to hide some of the nastier parts of her Kekkei Genkai Kakashi had made a very convincing argument on why holding information back from her teammates could be a very bad idea. The only thing they had held back was how Sakura had killed two civilians. Everything else, needing to kill every few days, Saotome, the mission and the Hokage's plan was laid out in the open.
Sasuke's face had shown surprise as the story really got going but he had schooled his face into a stony mask as he listened to the story, only occasionally glancing in her direction as Kakashi spoke. There had only been an occasional tightening and loosening of a fist from Sasuke to tell her he was affected by the story one way or the other. Sakura had no idea if that was a good or bad sign and having no clue what her teammate and object of her affections was thinking frayed on her nerves.
Naruto had been infinitely easier to read thankfully as the story picked up steam. At first he gave her some weary and even a little scared looks when they got to the part about killing on a regular basis to absorb chakra and truth be told that had definitely hurt somewhat. She knew it was just Naruto showing his initial gut reaction to hearing his teammate kills people and he didn't know about it but still it didn't feel good. After that Sakura thought most of the explanation went over his head if the look on his face was anything to go by. However when they got to the part there was a good chance people would be trying to kill her during the exam his face got a serious determined look she had rarely, if ever, seen on his face. That he seemed to take protecting her so seriously warmed her heart.
That's when she stopped thinking of Naruto as just a teammate and started thinking of him as a friend.
Still he hadn't said anything and that was odd for Naruto. So she was still nervous about him too.
In the end to her surprise it was Sasuke who broke the silence. "It's pretty clear you've been working hard since the Wave mission and in a short time you've become a lot more dependable than you were before. I guess having the blood of a famous clan explains how you improved so quickly once you set your mind to it. Shinobi kill, and if you have to do it a little more than others so be it. As long as they're enemies it shouldn't matter anyway. It should go without saying that I won't treat you any different," he said, the softness in his voice taking any harshness out of his last statement. Sakura almost gaped. That was the most words she could ever remember him saying to her, or to anyone, at once. Even though she had a crush on him the support he had just given to her as a teammate was so much more precious to her at the moment.
Naruto was still silent and he had his face scrunched up in what was an almost comical expression of thinking hard about something. She fidgeted with her hands for a few seconds until he finally spoke.
"Well, I always had this idea that being a ninja was all about protecting people. Thinking about killing people, especially you killing people Sakura-chan kinda freaks me out to be honest. But I mean, the Fourth Hokage became a hero by killing a bunch of those Iwa bastards and protecting the village right? I guess you're just helping k-kill the people some other Konoha ninja would have had to kill anyways. Maybe they should even thank you because if you're there they don't have to do it themselves. As long as you don't try to kill me or the teme I guess it's not a big deal,"
Sasuke scoffed at that. "As if she would try to kill us, idiot. Didn't you hear that she wouldn't attack her teammates even with her Kekkei Genkai?"
For once Naruto ignored Sasuke's barbs and went right on talking to Sakura. "But what the bastard said is right. You're a part of this team and you always will be Sakura-chan, no matter what freaky Kekkei-whatever you pick up. You're one of my precious teammates and I'll never let anything happen to you."
After that he seemed to take a deep breath and suddenly it was like normal overly enthusiastic Naruto was back, "And just let one of those Iwa bastards or anyone else try to hurt you and I'll pummel them into next week! So what if Jiji is using you to make them look bad? That's no excuse for those idiots to come after you. It's their own damn fault in the first place! Don't worry Sakura-chan me and the teme will follow the mission and protect you. Right Sasuke?"
"Actually," said Kakashi, "your mission is to make sure Sakura makes it to the finals. Konoha has a lot riding on making her look good in order to further embarrass the Tsuchikage. If she doesn't make it it will look like Konoha created a lot of hype and it couldn't deliver."
Sakura saw Sasuke nodding his understanding and was relieved. She knew he was proud and she had been afraid he would resent her for being the center of attention. It seemed he was taking this seriously as a mission for the good of Konoha and not as a personal slight. She wasn't sure if she would have blamed him if he had been upset… after all for all her improvements thus far Sasuke was still better than her.
"That's a stupid thing to worry about Kakashi-sensei since we're ALL going to make it to the finals. We don't have to make a special effort to get Sakura-chan there since all of Team 7 is going to get there anyway, even someone as bad as Sasuke," said Naruto with a huge amount of confidence. Sakura had no idea where he pulled all that self-assurance from but she liked it. It made her smile and start to feel pumped about all of them pushing through to the finals together.
"Whatever dobe, if anyone holds us back it will be you. I wouldn't be surprised if you're the weakest member of Team 7 now. But don't worry, me and Sakura will drag you through into the finals," Sasuke said with a faint smirk.
"Mah mah, well as long as you all take your mission seriously I guess I can't argue with that strategy," said Kakashi lazily, but something in his voice said he was happy at their attitude.
Before Naruto could build up to having another argument with Sasuke the pink haired girl cut in.
"Guys," she said and instantly all eyes were on her. She cleared her throat a little.
"Guys I just wanted to say… thank you," she said with as much sincerity as she could while wetness filled her eyes. Her chest filled to overflowing looking at her boys who had accepted her right away even with all the new things swirling about her in her life. Right then Sakura felt she perfectly understood why people were willing to kill and die for their teammates.
(Seven Days until Chunnin Exam)
Hibiki Onoki, the Third Tsuchikage, re-read the promotional piece of garbage that had come the night before. Some of his ninja had gotten wind of what was being distributed amongst the nobles and had acquired a copy to show him. The ninja who had given him the rag had fled as soon as he had presented the Tsuchikage with the document. He had been smart to do so.
He would remain calm. It was only surprising Konoha had taken this long to make some move against him and Iwa. There was no need to get angry. It was just last month he'd gotten his desk replaced. Just breathe and calm-
The door to his office opened letting in his long time secretary. "Tsuchikage-sama there is a priority message from the capital," he said without preamble.
"What does it say?" said Onoki in a deep rumbling voice filled with barely disguised wrath. His secretary ignored it and plowed ahead.
"The Earth Dynamo formally 'requests' you come to the capital at your earliest convenience. He says he wishes to 'discuss' these new revelations about the fate of the Saotome clan."
"I see," said Onoki in a deceptively calm voice, "you may go."
The secretary had no sooner closed the door behind him that the Tsuchikage raised his fist and with a bellow of rage brought it down on his solid stone desk smashing the rock to smithereens. Two halves of the incredibly heavy desk fell with a crash and papers flew everywhere.
"Fuck that asshole Fuyutsuki! Fuck Saotome's in the grave! AND FUCK YOU HIRUZEN AND YOUR WHOLE FUCKING VILLAGE WITH YOU!" Screamed Onoki at the top of his lungs. Outside the office his secretary just shook his head. He was used to this sort of thing.
Fuyutsuki Kuririn was the Earth Dynamo, a man who had given the Tsuchikage no end of grief about his decision to wipe out the Saotomes fifteen years before. While in practice more or less equal in standing formally the Kages answered to the Dynamo that ruled the country they resided in. Onoki would have to answer Fuyutsuki's summons and he knew exactly what this was about. The bastard would subtly insult him while being polite and subject him to what amounted to a flowerly phrased 'I told you so'. That the man expected him to come running like a dog just to insult him pissed Onoki off to no end.
Hibiki Onoki clenched his fists and forced himself to calm down. It didn't escape him how serious this situation was. Image was everything and this was going to smear shit all over him and over all of Iwa. It could really be a tipping point that would determine if Iwa would keep up with Konoha's remilitarization or if it would begin to fall behind. Something had to be done. He needed to act decisively.
"You," said Onoki turning sharply to one of his ANBU concealed in a corner of his office, "go find my granddaughter and bring her here this instant."
The man departed in a flicker of shadow and Onoki went to stand by the window as he thought about how to deal with this situation.
He hated the Saotome and was glad to be rid of them but they had caused him almost as many problems in death as they had in life. Onoki had underestimated the political backlash when he'd had them all eliminated even though everyone knew they had been a pack of sick, treacherous bastards, perverse hedonists of the worst kind who did anything they thought they could get away with. It had reduced the strength of the village but it had been necessary and in his opinion long overdue. Onoki did not regret his decision.
However that decision was costing him yet again. Worse still it seemed poised to cost Iwa a great deal. Luckily there was a simple solution. If they could eliminate Konoha's 'last Saotome' during these Chunnin exams the majority of the damage this would do would be mitigated.
It wasn't even a question. The Saotome in Konoha had to die. It was just a matter of making it happen.
It was then that the doors to his office opened without announcement. Only a few people could get away with doing that and one of them was the fifteen year old Genin that walked through the door.
"You wanted to see me, Honored Grandfather?" she asked in that way of hers that was polite and with just a bit of cheek. She looked around at the mess in his office, "Another desk destroyed? Who screwed up this time?"
Onoki looked over his granddaughter, the oldest of his five grandchildren. She cut a fine figure as a Kunoichi with short black hair and black eyes. Hibiki Kurotsuchi wore the earth reds preferred by Iwa Shinobi along with a tactical vest over it. She had an attractive, vaguely vulpine face that was filled with mischief but would quickly turn to malice when she came across her enemies. He was rather proud of her even if he would not express such a sentiment often.
"Here," he said using a casual exercise in wind mastery to float the Konoha advertisement up to his hand, "take a look at this."
Kurotsuchi read it and he watched her face carefully. By her expressions of surprise and frowning concern it seemed she understood the situation.
"Well… that's certainly a problem. We're not going to let this stand are we?" she asked waving the paper in his face.
He batted it aside with a huff of annoyance. "Of course not! Which is why I called you in here. I'm giving your team an A-Ranked mission. You will attend the Chunnin exams in Konoha. As I'm sure you can probably guess your mission is to kill this Saotome Kunoichi while still adhering to the rules of the exam. If she's killed during the exam by Iwa nin most of the problems this issue will cause will be resolved. It might even look quite good actually if you can kill her while in Konoha while playing by Konoha's rules. Those Leaf bastards will look incompetent losing her after making such a big deal about acquiring a Saotome."
Kurotsuchi narrowed her eyes in thought. "You're just sending my team? Why not send more? It would increase the chances of someone getting an opportunity to take her down."
Onoki shook his head. "That wouldn't be a good idea. The most important thing is that we can't afford to have this Saotome defeat any Iwa nin publically. If after all this she's seen wiping the floor with some of our Genin it will add even more fuel to this clusterfuck. Konoha is almost guaranteed to have given her specialized training from an early age hence why your team is needed for this mission. The three of you are by far the strongest team of Genin we have and are probably the three strongest Genin in Iwa. All of you are at least Chunnin level. Makes me glad I held off on promoting the lot of you for so long."
Kurotsuchi nodded at this understanding her Grandfather's reasoning. Still she looked worried. "Is it really smart sending us into the belly of the beast? Including Gari-sensei there are three Kekkei Genkai users on our team. How do you know we won't 'disappear' during the exams and end up in some dungeon as Konoha breeding stock?"
"You're my granddaughter. I'll make it clear that any suspicious 'unfortunate accidents' or 'attacks by missing nin' or any such horseshit will mean war. Hiruzen wants to hamstring us with this stunt but he isn't willing to engage in open war. Besides the aggressor in a war always loses clients and Gari would never go down without making a hell of a mess. You should be relatively safe outside of what the exam entails so long as you don't do anything stupid. I'm also sending Gouken with you as a diplomatic envoy."
Kurotsuchi blinked at that. "Gouken? That old bastard? Why are you sending him? I thought you let him retire."
Onoki chuckled, "Old Shinobi never retire granddaughter, we just take fewer missions. If they decide to turn hostile even with what it would cost them that tough bastard will turn half of Konoha into a raging inferno before they take him down. With someone as strong as Gari there as well I imagine it will be too risky for them to try and start any kind of fight in their own village."
"Gouken the Burning Sky…" mused the Kunoichi, "yes I don't imagine anyone will cross him lightly."
"Indeed," said Onoki, "but at the same time neither Gouken nor Gari will be able to act recklessly. The best resolution to this is if your team kills this girl during the exams. In fact the absolute best outcome would be if you were to kill her personally. The poetry of my granddaughter going to Konoha and killing the last Saotome in my name will play well with all our clientele and it will make us look even stronger."
"You do realize the opportunity for my team to engage hers may never come during the exams right?" asked Kurotsuchi a little dubiously, "we have no idea what the format is going to be. What happens if because of how those Leaf bastards set it up we never get our chance?"
"Of course I realize that! Don't worry about it. I already have someone in mind to take care of it if she somehow survives the exams," Onoki said, sounding annoyed.
The Kunoichi's eyebrows rose at that. "You DO realize that if an Iwa nin assassinates that girl it will mean war with us as the aggressors. I thought that was exactly what you didn't want."
"I said don't worry about it. There is more than one way to skin a cat," the Tsuchikage's smile became so predatory it made the girl shudder, "and I'll tell you this girlie. That Saotome girl won't live to see the day after the Chunnin exams no matter what happens. I won't let Konoha damage us like that. One way or the other that girl is already dead. That is my word as the Tsuchikage of Iwagakure no Sato, mark that in stone you brat!"
(Thirteen Days until Chunnin Exams)
"We're here to work on that special ability you should be able to use while in First Heaven. Supposedly you should take to it like a fish to water so hopefully two weeks of training will be enough to make it useful," said Kakashi as he began his first private tutoring lesson with Sakura.
"Um…" said Sakura, "what special ability?"
Kakashi gave her a deadpan look. "The one described in the scrolls your mother copied for the Hokage about the Santengoku. You telling me you haven't read them yet?"
Sakura flushed bright scarlet. "Well it's not like I've had a chance to since then, it's been an insane couple of days. What with the mission, and T&I and Inoichi, I haven't had time to read any of that! It's not my fault, it's not like I want to be slacking or anything."
Kakashi sighed. "Well then I suppose I should explain it to you since I was gracious enough to read the scrolls in order to help you out. First you need a little overview of Kekki Genkai in general and then we'll get to your 'special skill'."
As much as Kakashi's attitude annoyed her Sakura couldn't deny that she was excited to learn what she was supposed to be able to do. Eagerly she nodded her consent for them to get started.
"Very well. You have to understand that Kekkei Genkai tend to never give its users just one additional talent. They gain a number of at least tangentially related abilities. For example the Byakugan allows for one to see through objects, to see chakra, to see great distances, to see with amazing accuracy and to see in an almost three hundred and sixty degree field of vision. Many Shinobi would give an arm for even one of those abilities and the Byakugan grants them all. Similarly the Sharingan grants partial ability to see chakra, the ability to predict movements based on the movement of said chakra, enhanced visual acuity, the ability to cast genjutsu with eye contact, the ability to break genjutsu, and the ability to copy ninjutsu, genjutsu and taijutsu,"
"Similarly the Santengoku grants a number of different abilities. In First Heaven it grants the ability to gain chakra from those you kill and those who die around you, it frees the mind from all hesitation to kill an enemy, it dulls emotions so they won't overwhelm or distract you, and it frees you from any subconscious hesitation. That last one is perhaps more useful than you might realize," said Kakashi.
"I don't understand," said Sakura, never having heard of the concept before.
"If somewhere inside you think what you are doing is wrong your body and mind will subtly fight against what you're doing. If for example deep inside you hold thoughts like maybe killing this person is wrong. Maybe killing this person is not necessary in this situation. Maybe hurting others makes me a bad person. Maybe they don't deserve it. While none of these subconscious thoughts or worries will stop you from killing someone the fact is your aim will not be quite as good as it could be. Your stroke will lose a fraction of its power. You might hesitate for the length of a muscle twitch on that one particular hand seal. Pretty much everyone, especially Genin, has to fight some inner resistance like this,"
"You on the other hand have no such doubts or hesitations when in First Heaven. According to the scrolls with all your subconscious doubts and reservations gone you should feel mentally and physically light as a feather when in First Heaven. Have you experienced anything like that?"
Sakura thought about it and quickly realized that she had. After killing the second person at the hospice she had gone to train for the first time ever while in First Heaven. Her movements had never felt so smooth and flowing, her mind had never been more focused and she felt so light she thought she might be able to fly if she jumped high enough. So that was the result of having no moral concerns hold you back even in your subconscious. As much as she didn't like to admit it the experience had been truly freeing and amazing.
"Yes I've felt what you're talking about," she said simply.
"Good. Then you should know that just having the Santengoku active improves all your base skills precisely because of that mental advantage. There is a reason ninja are urged to 'kill their hearts' after all."
"Well… good to know," and it was. She wondered just how much of a difference it really made being rid of all internal conflict and hesitations, "but that doesn't sound like a skill I need to 'work on'."
"No, there is one last thing you can do in First Heaven. With what it does to your mind it actually makes perfect sense."
"So what is it?" she asked impatiently. Sometimes sensei liked to drag things out and she swore it amused him watching them get more impatient as he started to talk in circles.
Kakashi sighed dramatically. "So uncute," Sakura bristled at that, "the Saotome have a special kind of killing intent. With their complete disregard for human life generating an incredibly powerful will to kill is incredibly easy for them."
"Killing intent?" Sakura muttered to herself. It made perfect sense in a way. Thinking back to herself in First Heaven it was almost scary how much will to kill she thought she'd be able to generate if she put her mind to it.
"Yes but it's no ordinary killing intent. Normally killing intent from a Shinobi washes over an opponent one time. If they are mentally strong enough to resist it the first time then for the rest of the fight there are no do overs to try again. Once an opponent has the measure of your killing intent it is relatively easy to counter and ignore. However Saotome killing intent is different. They can use it over and over again to batter away at an opponent's mind like taking a hammer to stone. According to the texts even exceptionally strong minds will eventually crack with repeated assaults from their killing intent. Once you break through their defenses the person will be completely paralyzed with fear. It is an extremely powerful attack and it has the advantage of consuming no chakra."
Sakura's mind flashed back to their mission in Wave and how Sasuke had reacted when he had been hit with the full force of Zabuza's killing intent. He had been completely paralyzed and almost looked like he was thinking of stabbing himself. If Kakashi-sensei hadn't stopped him maybe Sasuke would have been overcome with enough fear to do something stupid. It certainly sounded like a powerful skill if she could get it working. It wasn't hard to see how a skill like that would come naturally while she was in First Heaven.
"This is an ideal skill for you to learn especially right now. Very few Genin have the ability to resist even one powerful attack of killing intent. We will drill it relentlessly until the exams. It should give you the edge you need to get you to the finals in one piece."
(Three Days until Chunnin Exams)
"I hate loudmouth little runts like you and on top of that you disrespected me," said Kakuro as he held up Konohamaru with one hand, "It makes me want to break you," he said malevolently. With that the Suna boy with the face paint drew his arm back as if to punch Konohamaru in the face.
Naruto rushed forward to stop it but he had hesitated and wouldn't be able to reach him in time. Sakura had been ordered to keep a low profile but this was too much. Sakura readied herself to step into First Heaven and blast the guy from Suna with a spike of killing intent. It was time to see if her training had paid off.
She didn't have to do anything as suddenly a pebble struck Kankuro's hand at high speed, forcing him drop Konohamaru.
Kankuro flinched in pain and looked around for the where the attack came from. Sitting on the branch of a nearby tree sat Sasuke casually tossing another pebble up and down in his hand.
"Just what do you think you're doing in another person's village, foreign nin? Did you think we'd just let you run wild?" he said in a cool and challenging manner.
And people wonder why every girl crushes on him she thought now wearing an amused smirk on her face.
Kankuro glared darkly at Sasuke, sizing him up, but didn't say anything.
"Get lost," said Sasuke, and in a feat of chakra enhanced strength crushed the pebble in his hands and let the dust flow out from between his fingers.
Damn but her teammate could play at being cool when he wanted to.
"Hey!" called out Kankuro to Sasuke, "come down here you little punk. You're the kind of smart ass little shit I hate the most." The painted boy pulled off the huge bandaged item he had on his back and set it down with a menacing air.
Now Sakura's eyes narrowed and she shifted stance to move if she had to. It looked like that Sand idiot was itching to pick a fight.
"Wait, you aren't thinking of using Crow here are you?" said the girl with the Suna boy, seeming a little alarmed that her teammate was quickly escalating things.
"Kankuro, stop that," came another voice. Standing on the bottom of a branch opposite the one Sasuke sat on was a red haired boy about their age with a large gourd on his back. "You're an embarrassment to our village," the redhead continued.
"G-Gaara…" stammered Kankuro, suddenly looking terrified of the other boy, "P-please listen to me. It was them, they started it-"
"Shut up," the boy said in a flat, threatening tone, "or I'll kill you."
In that moment Sakura believed him. She didn't know what it was about that red haired boy but there was something about him that practically shouted dangerous.
"I-I understand. I was wrong. I-I'm sorry… I'm really sorry," stammered Kankuro.
The boy made a hand seal and used an almost lazy sand-disguised Shunshin to get down next to his team. It looked impressive but wouldn't be a lot of use in a fight.
"Let's go," he commanded and started walking off. His two taller teammates followed without question.
"Hey you," interrupted Sasuke as they were walking off, "what's your name?"
"Who, me?" asked the girl sounding excited.
"No," replied Sasuke as bluntly as ever, "him," he said pointing at the red headed boy.
The boy turned slowly and leveled his disturbing gaze on Sasuke. "I am Sabakuno Gaara… Gaara of the Desert. I have an interest in you as well. What is your name?"
"Uchiha… Sasuke," her teammate replied.
"Hey, hey what about me? Don't you want to know my name?" said Naruto.
"Not interested," replied Gaara curtly. With that he turned and he and his team took to the rooftops.
"More people here for the Chunnin exams," Sakura grumbled.
"Things are getting interesting," said Sasuke with a look Sakura had come to know meant he was eager for a challenge.
"Come on guys let's go. You too Naruto," said Sakura a little grumpily, dragging Naruto off the floor where he was wallowing in depression after being ignored in favor of Sasuke.
"Hai, hai Sakura-chan," he said.
The three of them turned and started walking in the opposite direction the Suna nin had gone. They didn't get two steps before they stopped. Standing in their way about ten feet distant was another team of Shinobi. In the middle stood a tall-ish girl with short black hair and red clothes with a tactical vest over it and a tanto strapped to her lower back. Next to her stood a mountain of a teen at least seven feet tall with a bulbous nose and round face who was at least a hundred pounds overweight. On her other side was a muscular teen with dark skin, bare arms, round sunglasses and long blonde dreadlocked hair.
"Did I just hear right," the girl almost purred with a predatory gleam in her eye, "Your name is Sakura? It wouldn't happen to be Haruno Sakura now would it?"
Sakura finally looked at their headbands and instantly tensed. Two rocks diagonal from each other. This was the team from Iwa they had been warned about.
"Who wants to know?" she asked, trying her best to go for calm and not intimidated. It was a bit hard knowing they almost certainly had orders to kill her. Sasuke instantly took up a flanking position on her side and Naruto, though looking a little confused, did the same on her other side. Having the two of them next to her suddenly made her feel a whole lot better.
"You are Haruno Sakura aren't you? Maybe I should introduce us seeing as you're going to be seeing a lot more of us, Saotome," the Kunoichi said.
"She's the one? She's the one we have to paste?" the really large boy asked, his voice sounding surprisingly dopey and childlike.
"Certainly looks that way," the boy with dreadlocks said in an incredibly raspy voice. He subtly moved his body but it was obvious he was getting ready to move at a moment's notice if he had to.
Sakura and her team tensed at that. The two teams stared each other down, the tension growing thick enough to cut with a knife.
"What makes you think Sakura is the Saotome that's supposed to be in the village? Her name hasn't been made public," Sasuke said in that superior Uchiha tone.
"Please," scoffed the Kunoichi, "this place is terrible at keeping secrets. We knew by the end of the first day. Haruno Sakura of the pink hair. You Konoha Shinobi really need to learn a thing or two about gossiping around foreign nin. It makes it easier for us if you're incompetent though so I guess I can't really complain."
"Hey, who the hell do you think you are talking so big? Bet you're just a stuck up windbag who likes to hear the sound of her own voice. I don't see why we have to stand here and listen to you, hag," said Naruto puffing up in anger at the foreign Kunoichi's words.
The girl just smirked at him. At some unseen signal the really large guy stomped one foot on the ground. Suddenly the earth under Naruto's feet cracked and fractured causing the boy to cry out in surprise.
"Naruto!" Sakura cried out in alarm.
The ground opened up and Naruto fell unceremoniously into an impromptu sinkhole with rock debris all around him.
When she saw Naruto was all right Sakura whirled on the Iwa team in anger. "Attacking Konoha nin in their own village when you're here all alone? If I were generous I'd call it brave, but I don't think you could have possibly done something more stupid even if you tried."
"Please," the Kunoichi scoffed, "you call that an attack? If that is the level of attack Konoha has to offer you might as well save us the trouble and fall on your own kunai. It will be a lot less painful than what I'm going to do to you."
"What are your names?" asked Sasuke. Though he sounded calm Sakura knew him well enough to detect an undercurrent of anger.
The Kunoichi smirked but acquiesced. "Of course. I suppose you'll be wanting to know the name of the team that will be hunting you down in the exams. The big guy here is Ito Akatsuchi. Muscles and sunglasses is Miyagi Kisuke. And I am Hibiki Kurotsuchi," her piercing gaze turned to Sakura. "We may not be able to touch you here but trust me. Come exam time? We're going to burn you and crush you to ash little girl."
Sakura refused to be intimidated. Showing weakness was as good as admitting it. Biting back her apprehension at never having done this outside of practice Sakura activated her Kekkei Genkai feeling her eyes bleed from green to their white-to-honey coloration. The slight narrowing of her eyes and tightening of her jaw told Sakura that Kurotsuchi knew perfectly well what it was.
She'd promised Kakashi she would keep what she could do hidden as much as possible so she couldn't hit Kurotsuchi with a full attack of killing intent like she wanted to. Instead she let her killing intent spread out creating an oppressive atmosphere around the team from Iwa. Any carefree attitude turned decidedly more serious when they got a taste of her desire to rip them apart.
"What makes you think we'll be the ones being hunted? As polite as you've been I can't help but want to show you some of my… appreciation," Sakura said menacingly, acid dripping from her every word.
Naruto who had just pulled himself out of the hole shuddered. Sakura's Kekkei Genkai made her scary as hell.
"If you think you can come here and threaten my teammate you couldn't be more wrong. If you lot try to lay a finger on her," Sasuke said, then activated his Sharingan showing his red eyes, "I'll kill you." You would have never guessed he'd never killed before with the violent way he said it.
"Like we'd let you hurt Sakura-chan, baka nin," said Naruto wanting to get his piece in, "I'm the future Hokage and I'll protect my teammates with my life, dattebayo!"
"Come on we're wasting time," said Kisuke in his low gravel-like voice, "Gari-sensei will kill us if we make a scene."
Kurotsuchi hummed in agreement and turned to leave along with her team. However before they left she had one last parting shot.
"Say your prayers Haruno Sakura… because one way or another you're not living through this exam."
With that they jumped to the rooftops and disappeared from sight.
"So that's the team they sent here to kill you, huh?" said Sasuke, sounding even more serious than usual.
Hidden in a tree nearby three Sound nins had watched the whole interaction.
"What do you think?" one of them asked.
"I don't think the ones from Suna or Konoha are anything special, except for maybe the red haired kid from Suna and the black haired one from Konoha. Maybe the girl since she had a half decent killing intent. They will need to be checked out. The three from Iwa though…" he trailed off, "also dangerous. Looks like there will be a lot of interesting people in these exams."
(Five Days until Chunnin Exams)
"Turn it off Sakura," said Kakashi patiently.
No, she thought, why must we always go through this you bastard?
"Come on we've been over this a hundred times. I know you don't want to turn it off but running around as a half sociopath all the time is dangerous and you need to learn control."
"I am in control. I'll never understand why everyone always insists this is necessary. I'm a much better ninja in First Heaven and I haven't stepped out of line even once!"
"Yes you're a much better ninja. But when you're not being a ninja you need to learn to turn it off. You won't be able to relate to people like they expect you to in that state."
"And that is my problem how exactly?"
"Sakura…" he said an edge of frustration to his voice, "don't make me make it an order. Turn it off now."
With a death glare she privately admitted he was right. People who knew of her situation wouldn't be very comfortable seeing her walking around Konoha with white-to-honey eyes. Being in First Heaven felt so amazing it usually took a great deal of prodding to get her to back out of it. Slowly it was getting better as Sakura better understood the benefits of returning to normal and the changes got easier. Still if all else was the same she might decide to just stay in First Heaven all the time.
"Fine," she said a little sulkily and focused on getting her bloodline to recede. After maybe ten seconds of concentration her eyes started bleeding back to their normal green color.
The change was always jarring and her thinking always changed with it. Now, like every time they went through this exercise, Sakura felt like an ass for forcing her sensei to badger her into returning back to normal.
"Sorry sensei," she mumbled as usual.
"Its fine," he said as always.
He made her wait a few minutes until her mind felt like it had adjusted to the change and everything was back to normal.
"Great," he said happily, "now turn it on again."
Stepping to First Heaven was always a thousand times easier than leaving it, both in the effort it took and the psychological willpower involved. While in First Heaven she was loath to go back to normal. While she was normal Sakura wanted to be in First Heaven even if part of her felt that desire was ultimately unhealthy.
She felt her eyes change again and the amazing clarity of thought that came with First Heaven washed over her. It was like her whole body and mind gave a sigh of relief at coming back to its rightful state.
"Right. Let's take it from the top."
Using the Saotome killing intent technique was a little like molding chakra, except that she had to mold her willingness to kill instead.
"Try the heart this time. And see if you can increase the speed," he said.
The technique was simple and was only possible because of her Saotome blood. Mold the killing intent into a sharp shape like a spike or an arrow and then send it to pierce either you opponent's head or heart. Either was supposed to work since taking out an opponent's mind or heart out of the battle ended in a victory either way.
Supposedly against opponents who were very weak by comparison killing intent could stop the heart or send the person into a coma depending on what was targeted. Against most opponents it was supposed to make them freeze up in fear if it worked.
While she had been improving using the technique she had never gotten a chance to test it against anyone other than Kakashi and that sucked as a field test. First since he was one of her precious people, like an insane and eccentric uncle or something, she couldn't conjure a 'pure' enough killing intent to really affect him. Added that to the fact he was a Jounin and even her especially strong killing intent was unlikely to do anything to him unless she battered him with it many times over… well its simpler just to say that while she felt she had been improving she had yet to see any results from her training.
Kakashi didn't even have the decency to pretend to be affected.
"You've gotten much faster over the last few days. Now it only takes you about two seconds to ready and launch your attack. Still too slow if you're under pressure but at least it will now be useful in a fight," he said. "Let's keep working on the strength of the attack too."
At least he says he feels it, and he must feel something in order to be able to give me feedback. Still would reducing him to a quivering mess of fear even one time be too much to ask?
Guess she wouldn't find out if her training had been useless or if it became the ace it was supposed to be until the exam got under way. The prospect didn't fill Sakura with confidence.
Damn you Kakashi-sensei.
(One Day until Chunnin Exams)
Uzumaki Karin sat in a small restaurant eating with her teammates. Though in reality teammates was too much of a stretch. They were both eighteen and needed someone to round out their squad. The only reason she'd been brought along was so they could use her sensor abilities and so the other two could bite her when they got injured. No one on her team even pretended to be nice to her. Being ignored was actually preferable to how the other two treated the 'useless kid'.
The redhead lamented that she was pretty useless as a Genin. No one had ever bothered to train her beyond the academy so she didn't know anything other than what they had taught her there and even at those things she wasn't particularly skilled at. Her sensing and her innate ability to heal were the only things she had going for her. She had a feeling that was the only reason she hadn't been killed yet in Kusa who was insanely distrustful of outsiders like her. It was also why her other master deemed to keep her alive.
When she noticed a silver haired teen enter the restaurant she nearly jumped. He didn't even look at her but twisted his fingers in a casual way she had been taught to interpret. She waited a few minutes before speaking to her team.
"Sora-san, Homu-san, I'll be right back," she said timidly.
"Heh? Where are you going?" Sora said aggressively.
"Just to the bathroom," she said nervously.
"Well hurry up runt, we're not gonna wait for you once we're done," said Homu dismissing her and going back to his food.
Karin got up and headed towards the restrooms. Instead of stopping there she kept walking and stepped outside the service exit of the restaurant.
As soon as she stepped out a rough hand grabbed her arm and spun her, slamming her against the wall. She looked up to see the silver haired teen smirking down at her with a sadistic gleam in his eye.
"K-Kabuto-san…" she said shakily.
"I'm glad you haven't forgotten. I have a new mission for you from Orochimaru-sama," he said cutting straight to the chase. It wouldn't do to linger having a meeting in a back alley.
Karin swallowed nervously. She hated missions like this. It was always all risk and there was never any reward. "What is it?" she asked. She knew she had no choice but to comply.
"There is a special team in the Chunnin exams we want you to gather information on. Orochimaru-sama is most interested in the team with the last Uchiha. He should be with a pink headed girl and a loudmouth blonde. You're to keep your eyes and ears open and find out anything you can. Also once they enter the Forest of Death during the second exam you are to take note of where they head and use the chakra pulse method you were taught to relay that information to Orochimaru-sama."
Karin's eyes widened into huge panicked saucers. "H-He's going to be here? At the exams?" she asked, her terror of the man clear in her wavering voice.
Kabuto bared his teeth. "Yes he will be. And he'll be very disappointed if he has to waste time in the forest looking for them when you could have just told him where to go. Your reports from Kusa haven't held any interesting information lately. If you were to fail again, who knows what would happen to you?"
Karin sunk even more fully against the wall she was pressed against and tears threatened to fall out of her eyes. "N-No, I'll do it. I promise it'll be good you'll see. I-I'll find out about the team and figure out where they go during the second exam, I s-swear," she begged.
"Good. I hope so Karin, for your sake. You would make such a lovely laboratory specimen."
(Day of the Chunnin Exams)
Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura stood outside the doors of the academy.
"What are we waiting for, dattebayo?!"
"Just taking in the moment Naruto."
"Relax dobe, we have plenty of time."
"Yeah well let's take it from the inside. I'm going to stomp on those uppity bastards from Suna and especially those assholes from Iwa. They won't even know what hit 'em."
"Hey don't forget we have a mission. We have to make sure I make it to the finals remember? And I don't want to be the only one on my team to get there."
"Don't worry, we'll all get to the finals together. Even if we have to carry the dead last on our backs the whole way there."
"Hey!"
"Come on guys. Time to see what we're made of."
AN2: I just want to spell out how Sakura looks because while not exactly story critical I like how it looks in my head and I want to share it with you. Her outfit is essentially identical to Neji's in part 1 including how the top is designed. The only differences are that the top is forest green, it is less baggy and the sleeves are a little shorter. With her Lee-style bandages (because she's been practicing Goken) and her hair pulled back in a low ponytail I think she looks pretty bad ass for a thirteen year old.