Welcome back to another chapter of Team Itachi, where Sakura and Tenten will face off against each other in this particular chapter.
Charrmed: True story! ;)
The True Not Important: I'm excited myself on how I'll write this out. Thank you!
Pyr00tje: I like Sakura and Tenten too! :)
Izaranna: Of course! A Naruto with no Rasengan is the worst Naruto :P
Pingeon: Oh, the feels I got when you said this story was awesome. Thank you!
XxWinterRosexX: Yeah, I love Sakura and I just can't stand how people hate her because of her annoying Part I personality, so I switched it up a little.
Sakura and Tenten looked at each other and nodded politely, before walking down to the arena together as Shikamaru and Temari took their leave. Naruto was obviously cheering for his teammate.
"Sakura-chaaaaaaaaaaaan! Go get them!"
Sasuke stared at both Genin in the arena. As far as I know, that girl uses weapons as her... well, she uses weapons as her weapons. Hopefully Sakura learnt some defensive jutsu.
Sakura looked up and smiled at Naruto.
You're so noisy, as always, Naruto... but sometimes it doesn't hurt to have someone like you. She grinned as Naruto continued cheering for her and faced her opponent.
Seeing that neither Genin had anything to say to each other, Genma nodded.
"You may begin."
Within the audience, Kakashi turned to Tenzo.
"Say, Tenzo, didn't Itachi ask you for help in teaching this Sakura girl ninjutsu?"
"Yes," Tenzo nodded. "She learns pretty fast. Well, let's see if she'll put those skills to use."
Tenten unrolled a long scroll, and from it, at least twenty kunai popped out and shot towards Sakura.
"Earth Style: Terra Shield!"
A shield of earth rose to defend Sakura, and the kunai bounced off the hard rock.
Hiding herself behind the shield, Sakura did the Ram, Snake and Tiger seals. "Clone Jutsu." An intangible clone of Sakura popped out, and emerged from behind the shield.
"So you finally decide to show yourself." Tenten smiled. "I'm going to end this battle quickly! Ninja Tool: Million Blade Chaos!"
She unsealed another scroll, and countless kunai appeared in a puff of smoke. Multiple strings connected the short daggers to Tenten's fingers. She thrust her arm forward and the kunai rushed to impale Sakura.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto screamed.
'Sakura' started flickering as the kunai passed through her body, and finally disappeared.
Tenten was instantly on the alert as her kunai disappeared back into her scroll. "A Clone Jutsu?"
"Earth Style: Stone Fist Jutsu!" A muffled voice called.
"Below?!" Tenten looked downwards, as Sakura popped out from beneath. The weapons mistress had no time to react as Sakura's right fist turned into hard rock, and punched her chin.
Naruto gasped. "Great job, Sakura-chan!"
Tenten flew into the air, but landed on her feet. She rubbed her sore chin.
"I'm not done yet!" The brown-haired Genin warned, placing two scrolls in front of her and unrolled them.
That's the Rising Twin Dragons attack she used on Ino! Sakura realized, stepping back.
Releasing smoke, the unrolled scrolls flew into the air, and Tenten jumped in between them.
"Rising Twin Dragons!" The scrolls began shooting all sorts of projectile weapons at Sakura. "Take this!"
"Earth Style: Hidden Mole Jutsu!" Sakura sunk into the ground, and the weapons couldn't follow. Tenten cursed as she landed back on the ground, watching the arena floor warily for any signs of attack.
"Woooah. Sakura-chan learnt a lot of cool jutsu, don't ya think, Sasuke?"
"Yes," Sasuke agreed. "She must have practiced hard." Then he snickered. "Unlike you, probably."
"Oi, oi, oi!" Naruto jabbed a finger into his teammate's chest. "You'll see how good I am later on in my fight!"
Shikamaru shook his head at the two arguing Genin. "What a drag."
Sakura... Ino stared, wide-eyed at her rival as she used jutsu after jutsu.
Suddenly, Sakura emerged from the ground again, her fist encased in rock. Tenten jumped away just in time.
"Ninja Tool: Million Blade Chaos!"
"Earth Style: Terra Shield!"
Sakura pressed her back against the shield, breathing heavily as her shield was assaulted by the rain of kunai. A few weapons got past the shield, but also flew past her.
Tenten paused, swinging a spiked iron ball in her hands, ready to attack the pinkette if she appeared. She was left waiting, however.
"Come out now, and I promise I'll make it quick," the brown-haired girl said in a reassuring tone. From her position beneath the ground, Sakura snorted.
Grabbing a kunai, Sakura maneuvered her way through the ground before poking her head out to see she was now behind Tenten. With a satisfied nod to herself, Sakura pulled her entire body out of the ground.
Aware of her presence, Tenten turned sharply and swung the iron ball in her hand. Unprepared for such a weapon, Sakura tried to combat it with her kunai, but the short knife was easily swept away and Sakura was left clutching to her bleeding hand.
"Hwaaah!" Tenten swung the iron ball.
Gasping, Sakura was unable to dodge fast enough, and had no choice but to raise her hand to shield herself.
The spikes of the ball stabbed into her flesh as the weapon slammed into her left arm. Trying desperately to ignore the pain, Sakura took the opportunity to kick Tenten in the stomach, forcing the tomboyish kunoichi to back away.
Clutching onto her bleeding arm, Sakura took a few steps back, unable to resist a painful groan escaping her lips.
She heard Naruto continuously cheering for her in the background and with resolve, Sakura ignored her new wounds and made two hand seals, seeing her right fist encased in stone once more.
Charging forward, Sakura threw her fist forward, and Tenten countered it with her iron ball.
To Tenten's horror, Sakura's stone-covered fist knocked the iron ball out of her grasp, and proceeded to deal the weapon-using ninja a hard punch up the gut.
"She's using all her Earth Style ninjutsu perfectly," Kakashi observed. "You should consider dropping out of the ANBU full-time and becoming a Jonin sensei, y'know?"
"No thanks, Kakashi-senpai," Tenzo chuckled. "I would have to use my real name."
"Speaking of real names, what is your real name?"
"Speaking of masks, why won't you show us your face?"
"We weren't talking about masks."
"It works," Tenzo shrugged.
"Speaking of youth-"
"Shut up, Guy," Tenzo rolled his eyes, making Guy pout.
Kakashi smirked and turned his attention back to the battle.
"Chaaaa!" Sakura jumped into the air and her right foot flew forward. Tenten shielded herself from the kick with a sharp dagger she'd brought out.
Using her stone fist to snatch the dagger and tossing it away, Sakura tried another kick, but this time Tenten blocked it with her arms.
Sakura then raised her stone fist, and tried to punch Tenten in the face, but her opponent did a graceful leap into the air.
Before Sakura could react, chain ropes wrapped around her body, restraining her.
"Finally got you," Tenten smirked, jumping into the air again and unrolling another scroll. A mix of shuriken and kunai was unsealed, and flew towards the restrained Sakura.
Sakura smirked as well.
"Got me? Are you sure?"
Tenten's eyes narrowed.
"You're going to have a lot of scars on your body in approximately twelve seconds. Don't be cocky."
Her reply was a strong tug on her chain. Tenten looked down at her right hand, which was holding onto the chain rope restraining her opponent tight.
Suddenly, Tenten was pulled to the ground, as the chain in her hand dragged her forward.
Wincing in pain at the friction, Tenten let go, getting up and dusting herself off, but when she'd noticed it, it was too late. Now standing in the exact same spot Sakura was twelve seconds ago, the barrage of kunai and shuriken ravaged her body.
Sakura grinned at the screams of pain she heard, and emerged from underground a meter away from Tenten.
The last of the kunai stabbed into Tenten's shoulder and she collapsed to the ground.
"H-How?"
"You restrained my body and hands," Sakura stated. "But the Earth Style: Hidden Mole Jutsu doesn't require a hand seal."
Her eyes widened in realization.
Then she staggered back on her feet, pulling out all the weapons that were embedded in her body. Growling, Tenten walked up to where her iron ball was lying, and picked it up.
Lee and Neji watched their teammate struggling from the stands.
"To think her opponent would use her own weapons against her..." Neji muttered.
"Aye! But the Flames of Youth in Tenten burns strong!"
Neji could not disagree with Lee for once. "Yes. If it was a normal Genin in Tenten's place, she wouldn't be moving at all."
Sakura got out three shuriken.
"Round Two?" She grinned.
"Yes..." Tenten shot her a weak grin back. "... Round Two."
I don't have much chakra left, Sakura thought. I have to wrap this up quickly.
Tenten charged at her, swinging her iron ball.
"Earth Style: Stone Fist Jutsu." Sakura pushed chakra into both her hands, and now her right and left fists were encased in stone.
"Hyaaa!" Tenten swung her weapon.
Sakura placed her fists protectively in front of her, and the iron ball swiped against her stone-covered hands. Tenten then crouched and sent the iron ball to her feet, and Sakura managed to jump up in time to give Tenten a kick in the cheek.
"Tenten's fighting a losing battle..." Neji said worriedly. "She's already badly wounded from all those kunai and shuriken earlier. She can't do much more now."
As Tenten was distracted with the new pain in her cheekbone, Sakura saw this as an opening. She did the Tiger hand seal.
"Genjutsu: Infinite Darkness."
The audience only saw Tenten looking around, but to the weapons mistress, her sight had been completely taken away from her. Everything was pitch black.
I've got to finish it with this... Sakura did five hand seals. "Earth Style: Earth Dragon!"
Tenten heard Sakura saying this, but she could not see where the attack was coming from. Desperately, she looked around, but the mud dragon had already slammed into her gut.
Tenzo had told Sakura how effective it was, and now she could see it for herself as Tenten coughed out a ton of blood.
"And now, the finale..." Tenzo declared to Kakashi and Guy.
Sakura was thinking the exact same thing as she raised her hands.
"Earth Style: Landslide!"
Piles of rocks and earth rose from the ground, flying up into the air. Sakura thrust her hand downwards, and the flying dirt fell and piled onto Tenten, mimicking a landslide as Sakura cancelled her genjutsu
"Tenten!" Neji yelled.
"Tenten's fiery Flames of Youth have been extinguished!" Lee said in despair.
"That was not an unyouthful killing move, was it?" Guy asked in anxiety, and Tenzo shook his head no.
"Although... it can do a lot of injury. But there's little chance your student's dead."
"Little chance?!" Guy yelled. "That is most unyouthful-"
"Calm down, Guy," Kakashi assured. "I'm sure Tenten is fine."
Tenten's head suddenly poked out of the dirt. Genma ran up quickly and stuck his hands into the rocks to force Tenten's body out.
Carrying the now unconscious Tenten in his arms, Genma set her down, before yelling for a medic. He then turned towards the panting Sakura, who looked rather depleted of energy.
Nodding, the Special Jonin pointed to Sakura.
"Tenten is no longer able to fight, and thus, the winner of this match is Sakura Haruno!"
"Yaaay! Sakura-chan!" Naruto shrieked.
"That was brilliant," Sasuke said, matter-of-factly. "There's no way she's not becoming a Chunin after that display."
After Chunin had come in to clear the arena up as best as they could, Genma spoke again.
"It is time for the fourth match. Naruto Uzumaki and Gaara Sabaku, please come down to the arena."
"My turn!" Naruto said cheerfully, pumping his fist into the air as Sakura came up to join her team.
"Good luck, Naruto," Sasuke patted his back.
"Yeah. Good luck, Naruto," Sakura smiled.
"Sakura-chan, you were awesome!" Naruto shot a boyish grin at his female teammate. "But I'm going to be even more awesome in my match, believe it!"
"Sure, sure," Sakura rolled her eyes, although she was smiling inside. "Go get 'em, Naruto."
As Naruto jumped down into the arena, Gaara stared at the television inside the stadium's medical center as Genma called for him to go to the arena. It was broadcasting the Chunin Exams live.
"Gaara, go," Temari spoke up, her eyes sweeping towards the doctors working on Kankuro. "I'll be here."
Nodding, Gaara smiled at his sister, before making his way down the tunnel towards the stadium.
What did you think of the battle between Sakura and Tenten? I'm not praising myself (maybe I am) but I think I wrote it better than expected. Next up will be Naruto versus Gaara - probably the match everyone has been waiting for. See you all next chapter!