Sasuke: Observation
Sasuke stared down at the arena as Naruto bowed to tumultuous applause and Neji was carried out on a stretcher by a team of medics. There was no doubt in the Uchiha's mind that his team-mate would be promoted: he had taken down the Hyuuga with barely a scratch on him and coaxed sensitive information out of his opponent as well. The blond had utterly dominated the battle, remaining a consistent two steps ahead of the cocky Hyuuga.
Next up however was Sakura, who would be up against Gaara. The Uchiha turned to face his team-mate and mutely inclined his head. The pinkette smiled faintly in thanks for the encouragement.
"Good luck, Sakura-chan," Naruto said brightly as he entered the balcony where the rest of the contestants were waiting, wrapping an arm around her shoulders in a quick hug. "Show everyone you've got what it takes. He then turned to the Sand team: "And you, Gaara-san;" the blond grinned. "Don't hold back. I want everyone to see how good my team-mate really is."
Gaara's answering smirk was as cheerful as it was psychotic.
"Baka!" Sakura muttered, gently bouncing her fist off the back of Naruto's head before marching off down the stairs. Kankuro on the other hand stared at Naruto like the blond had just grown a second head.
"You, you don't want him to hold back? But-"
Naruto raised a polite yet somehow condescending eyebrow. "She is my team-mate. That means that, in an emergency, she needs to have the strength and tactical know-how to take me down." He paused for effect. "If Sakura can't so much as stall Gaara, then she isn't the kunoichi I thought she was."
The puppeteer seemed to suddenly remember that Sabaku no Gaara was not the only jinchuuriki entered in the chunnin exams and shut up, turning to look down at the arena again. A good thing too, as the proctor had just announced the start of the next match. Sasuke leaned on the balcony railing and watched closely as Sakura shot backwards away from her opponent as sand erupted from the gourd on the younger jinchuuriki's back. Sinces Dosu had thus far failed to show it was likely Sasuke's first opponent would be Gaara, meaning he had to watch closely to double-check his planned strategy would work out. If their team ever encountered another Sacrifice in the field it would fall to him and Sakura to hold it back while Naruto set up a suitable suppression seal, so this was important practice. True, Amemai-yogensha seemed to be friendly with at least half the jinchuuriki currently around, but that was no guarantee.
The pinkette, contrary to all logic and good sense, coughed into her fist then started to sing. Sasuke's eyes briefly slipped into sharingan as he realised she must be using some kind of genjutsu, but he was unable to properly pinpoint her focus: whatever she was trying to do did not seem to involve Gaara's senses in any conventional way. Then the kunoichi produced a decent-sized bottle of sake from her pocket.
Her opponent hadn't moved from his spot and seemed more puzzled than anything else, though the sand that had emerged from Gaara's gourd was swaying in time to her nonsense tune in a slightly sluggish fashion. Was the genjutsu perhaps aimed at the bijuu? Is that even possible? To ensnare a bijuu with no more than chakra and will? Sakura produced another sake bottle and made a peculiar cooing noise, pulling out both corks with her teeth and tipping.
Gaara's sand rushed forward, completely abandoning him to catch and absorb the alcohol before it hit the ground. Sakura cooed again, sang a happy little riff and bowed low before vaulting over the coiling sand and bounding straight for her opponent, who now looked slightly alarmed.
"What the hell-" Kankuro blurted out as the petite pinkette advanced utterly unmolested by the roiling sand and lashed out at Gaara like his 'ultimate defence' wasn't even there.
"Bribery of an enemy's allies is a perfectly valid tactic," Naruto pointed out lightly, not the slightest wobble in his voice to suggest how entertaining he was finding the match. Sasuke had always thought his emotional control was good; Naruto however repreatedly disabused him of that notion without ever saying a word.
"Bribery?" Temari repeated faintly, eyes wide and face pale as Sakura attacked Gaara with clawed gauntlets, scraping off layers of tightly packed sand from his skin and raising welts. Sasuke was privately entertained that Sakura had managed to distract the Ichibi no Tanuki by plying it with alcohol. True, it was the most expensive sake Naruto and his Hanamachi contacts had been able to get their hands on given a month's notice, so she probably could have bribed a team of ANBU with a single bottle. Keen to see what his team-mate would do next, he kept his eyes on the fight as the pinkette vanished her gauntlets and ran through a few rapid handsigns. Gaara fell over.
"Sakura-chan's out genjutsu specialist," Naruto commented to the Sand team; "even Sensei has trouble with her attacks sometimes."
While Gaara's sand was still frolicking in a distinctly drunken fashion on the other side of the arena the jinchuuriki himself had seemingly given up on it and was trying to hit Sakura directly. Unfortunately however he had clearly fallen victim to one of the kunoichi's balance-disrupting genjutsu and was reduced to clumsy flailing as she nimbly dodged each blow, driving senbon into specific points on his body. One fist got close to her knee but was caught by a ribbon that shot out of her coat sleeve like a snake and caught it before it could connect.
"How?" Gaara rasped, the shape of the arena magnifying the sound so it could be heard all the way up to the roofs of the stands.
"Hand in hand with every strength comes a corresponding weakness," Sakura said evenly as she plucked a seal tag from her pocket, "and there is a reason neither Naruto nor Sasuke will face me in a spar unless Sensei orders it." She slapped the tag on Gaara's forehead and the dancing sand collapsed in a heap. The redheaded jinchuuriki shuddered and went limp.
"Ow... mother?" he groaned.
"As that seal is only going to hold for another minute and I'm almost out of chakra, I forfeit," Sakura said quickly, raising her hand and rapidly backing away from her fallen opponent. "If I was working with my team they would take it from here but I am not dumb enough to think I can kill him by myself before he can recover."
"As Haruno Sakura has forfeited, the winner of the second match is Sabaku no Gaara!" the proctor announced. As he did so the seal on the suna-nin's forehead flaked off and his sand rose and swooped back to him, pulling the senbon out of his body so he could stand again.
"I feel weak," the jinchuuriki hissed. "What did you do?"
The senbon were coated with a chakra inhibitor and the seal was designed to suppress your... tenant," Sakura said quickly, too quietly for the audience to hear through their cheers unless they, like Sasuke, were using chakra to boost their hearing. She hesitated for a moment. "All things considered, it should be out of your system in about half an hour. Sake would help." She reached into her pocket. "I have another bottle-"
Sasuke couldn't help the soft snigger that escaped when Gaara snatched the sake bottle out of the pinkette's hand, removed the cork and swallowed some. The chocking sound to his left told the Uchiha he wasn't the only one having trouble processing what he was seeing. Gaara's shocked sneeze as the alcohol hit his palate was even funnier. Naruto made a gentle wheezing sound that indicated he was sitting on gut-busting hysteria.
"Wha? Wha?" Kankuro gibbered as below them Gaara paused, tilted his head owlishly on one side and took a second, much longer swallow before ambling slightly unsteadily out of the arena.
"Tanuki youkai are grumpy, violent and homicidal little psychos," Naruto said slightly breathlessly, "unless they've had a drink or two. They can't actually get drunk, but a buzzed tanuki is mellow, helpful and more than a little mischievous. Keep your little brother in good sake and his tenant will never be a problem ever again."
Sasuke relished the stunned looks on the two older suna genin's faces. This was what happened when Naruto solved your problems for you: his solutions always worked, but part of you really wished they hadn't as your perception of reality was left in shambles and nothing ever looked quite right again afterwards.
"She said you bought the sake," Gaara said flatly as he emerged on the balcony again.
"I did," Naruto admitted. The redhead smiled, face softening.
"You are my best friend," the aqua-eyed boy announced, tottering over to lean against the blond. "Mother says so."
"I am honoured, Gaara-san," Naruto said equitably and with more aplomb than Sasuke could ever have managed in such a situation, though the blond's eyes were still shiny with mirth. "You are however ever so slightly drunk, so do sit down until it passes." He gently forced the younger jinchuuriki to the floor; the container of the Ichibi promptly latched onto Naruto's leg with one hand and brought the bottle back up with the other, tipping the incredibly expensive alcohol down his throat.
"Sleepy," the redhead slurred, nuzzling Naruto's knee. The blond ruffled the younger boy's hair:
"It'll pass in a bit, don't you worry."
"As Dosu has failed to arrive in time for the third match, the winner by forfeit of the third match is Uchiha Sasuke!" the proctor announced. "The fourth match will be Aburame Shino versus Kankuro!"
"Shoot," the puppeteer muttered, then shouted, "I forfeit!"
Temari snorted, drew her battle fan, opened it and rode it down into the arena, landing on the ground as lightly as a feather.
"Someone's eager," the proctor drawled. "Shikamaru! Get down here!"
Sasuke glanced at the Nara, then at Naruto. The blond nodded and they both turned over to Sakura, who was leaning on the railing between Shikamaru and Shino. The Uchiha knew that if the Nara forfeited the next fight would be between himself and Gaara, since Naruto had a bye for the second round. However fighting the redheaded Sacrifice while he was both drunk and could not reliably access his chakra would be totally one-sided and would not give the Uchiha the opportunity to showcase his abilities before the judges.
Sakura met their eyes and smailed. "Go for it then Shikamaru!" she shouted cheerfully, ribbons shooting from her sleeves to hoist the pineapple-haired boy over the railing.
Aaaaah!" The Nara screamed as he fell through the air. Sasuke winced at the crash when his fellow genin hit the ground. "Sakura?" the Nara's voice rose faintly from below. "Why-"
The pinkette just grinned happily as the rest of the audience started shouting at the two contestants in the arena to hurry up and fight. It was an expression Sakura had picked up from Naruto: the cheerful toothy smile of a prank gone right.
"Hn," Sasuke grunted as below them Temari charged Shikamaru. This should be interesting.
A/N: So, Sakura vs. Gaara, as seen by Sasuke. I am exceedingly pleased with how this turned out.