It was a slow two weeks with team arriving every few days Sakura and the others sparring lightly or studying as much as they could "Psst Sakura-chan" Naruto calls out one night when there was only one day left of the two weeks they had been given "Yeah Naruto" Sakura turns her head tiredly she had been teaching herself a little bit of medical ninjutsu and it was taking a lot out of her "What do you think will happen tomorrow" he asks "I don't know expect the unexpected" she shrugs simply before falling silent and drifting off into sleep.
The next day Sakura nudged Naruto and Sasuke awake feeling suddenly very uneasy before walking over to Gaara who had practically remained glued to her side during the two weeks pulling Naruto and Sasuke with her feeling safe now "Sakura-chan" Naruto pouts wiping the sleep from his eyes "Hush now Naruto" Sakura gives him a pointed glance before glancing around the room again and finally spots the object of her unease the silver-haired boy from the written exam.
Sakura watched as he spotted them and began walking towards them only to pause and head in the other direction she wondered what caused him to halt when she felt Gaara shifting restlessly next to her "Gaara" Sakura whispers softly placing her hand on his arm and just like that the shifting stops and he settles back down all of this was watched by Temari and Kankurou and they stared at her in awe nobody ever touched Gaara the sand always came up to prevent it.
All of a sudden there was a loud commotion as the last genin team come barreling through the door causing Sakura to let out a gasp "Shikamaru" she calls out running over to the boy Gaara and the others trailing behind her "What the heck happened" Sakura bends down next to the cut and bruise riddled boy "We were ambushed" Ino gasps out breathing heavily "Can you stand" she asks and the three nod struggling to their feet before letting Sakura lead them to the bench she had previously vacated.
Running through a set of handsigns Sakura's hands glow a soft green and begins healing the worst of the cuts and bruises on Ino who stared in astonishment before she moved on and healed Chouji and then Shikamaru last who seemed to have the worst of the cuts and bruises before sitting back on her knees and swiping the sweat off her forehead digging into her pouch she pulls out a food pill and pops it in her mouth feeling her chakra restore immediately as Naruto helped her to her feet staring in amazement.
"When the heck did you learn that little trick Sakura-chan" he asks pouting that she hadn't taught him "Something I've been practicing for the last couple of weeks while we've been here" Sakura shrugs looking the three over once more before deeming them healed enough "To be honest I didn't think it would work" she says again causing Ino to gape at her "You mean you did that without knowing if you could actually heal us" Ino shrieks standing up and pointing an accusing finger at Sakura who smiled sweetly sending shivers of fear racing down her spine.
Ino couldn't quite put her finger on it but Naruto, Sasuke and especially Sakura were all different somehow but Sakura was definitely scarier than the red-headed boy standing next to her and that was saying something a suffocating aura was pouring off Sakura in waves and she left like she was being strangled by invisible hands a minute later the feeling stops and she stares wide eyed at Sakura who grinned innocently at her before skipping off after handing a some food pills to Shikamaru for them to use.
"Sakura-chan" Naruto grasps her sleeve staring up at her with a pout on his whiskered face "Yes Naruto" Sakura asks already knowing what he was going to ask "I'll show you later after this part of the chunin exams is over" she sighs out causing Naruto to let out a happy shout before falling silent as sensei's from other teams start appearing and knowing that their sensei was part of the exam Sakura follows the others pulling Naruto and Sasuke with her Gaara staying close until Baki leads them to a different part of the room.
"Sakura-chan" a familiar voice appears behind her and a heavy hand is set on her long pink locks ruffling her hair turning she gives Kakashi a slight glare while swatting his hand away "Aww Sakura that's no fun" Kakashi pouts behind his mask "Don't mess with the hair Kakashi-senpai" she responds to his pout with another glare before smiling and giggling at him as a few people drop out of the competition including the silver-haired boy that made her seriously uneasy every time she saw him.
In no time at all the next proctor for the exams Hayate Gekkou is explaining that since there were to many genin left they would have a preliminary round to cut them down to about half soon the fights are underway with genin from all teams being paired against each other Sakura cheering on her friends and teammates and quietly chatting with Kakashi until her name is brought up on the electronic board along side Ino's name and she jumps over the railing waiting for Ino to make her way down to the arena.
"Forehead girl just give up now" Ino smirks at Sakura flinging an insult when she stood in front of her long-time rival at least in her mind anyway "No way Ino-pig your so going down" Sakura insults her right back a frown tugging her lips down settling into a fighting stance that protected her on all sides while Ino stood there smugly "Begin" Hayate calls out Sakura immediately jumps backwards watching Ino carefully a few minutes pass with the two girls sizing each other up before Sakura suddenly disappears.
'What the hell' Ino's eyes widen when Sakura disappears from sight along with her chakra looking around warily Ino is unprepared for the punch the side and she flies sideways to land against the wall with a thud standing on shaky feet Ino tries to bait Sakura into revealing herself "Come on forehead girl to scared to face me like a true kunoichi" she calls out in false confidence only to be flung away from the wall as she is grabbed and thrown to the otherside of the arena like a ragdoll.
After standing again Sakura finally reveals herself the picture of concentration no expression was in her eyes and they had darkened to a forest green taking this as her chance Ino charges Sakura fist flying only to trip over her feet as she is sent careening past Sakura who side-stepped her and headlong into another wall this time bashing her head against the concrete 'Oww hell that hurt' Ino thinks blinking sluggishly as Sakura picks her up and sends her flying back across the room to her starting position "Come on Ino stop playing around we aren't academy students anymore" Sakura scolds harshly.
"All this has ever been to you is a game Ino and it's about time someone showed you differently" Sakura pulls her hair up into a pony tail reminiscent of her sensei's and gets into another fighting stance "Oh and you think your the one to teach me huh Forehead girl" Ino stands anger radiating from her as Sakura stands there impassively and unimpressed "That's another thing Ino quit with the names we aren't little kids anymore now take me seriously and don't hold back I'm not a weak little flower anymore" here Sakura smirks for the first time since the fight began.
"Why you little" Ino was now furious Sakura was treating her like a baby and it was pissing her off "Fine Sakura you want me to take you seriously so I will" Ino snaps falling into Sakura's trap hook, line and sinker as she loses her cool and falls into a sloppy fighting stance "Ino, Ino, Ino" Sakura tsks out loud further taunting the blonde "Your stance is sloppy and I stop several weaknesses" she throws her hands in the air with a dramatic flare spinning out of the way of the kunai Ino had thrown at her.
"Ah there's another thing your aim is terrible" Sakura teases playing with Ino now that she knew she wasn't a serious threat even with her clan jutsu at her disposal "Ah, ah, ah Ino-chan" Sakura blocks the punch Ino had aimed at her head and shoves her back sending her flying once more only this time Ino landed on her feet "Oooh there you go Ino your finally getting it" she taunts some as Ino shrieks at her in her fury "Stop messing with me Sakura or your gonna get it" Ino screams charging forward only to trip over Sakura's foot.
Above Naruto was cheering her on "Kick her ass Sakura-chan" he calls out "Hey Sasuke who do you think is gonna win" Naruto rounds on Sasuke "It's obvious the winner is gonna be Sakura" he says simply watching Sakura bait Ino and letting Ino tire herself out as the girl falls into Sakura's trap over and over again "It's an excellent strategy that she's using isn't it Sasuke" Kakashi speaks up beside him and he nods in understanding "Yeah this way Ino tires herself out and Sakura doesn't have to do much other than dodge" Sasuke explains cringing.
Below Sakura had just punched Ino on her face and now her jaw was dislocated "Awwwwwww" Ino screams in pain tears falling from her eyes as she holds her jaw gingerly now staring at Sakura in obvious fear 'She's really gonna kill me unless I do something' Ino thinks eyes wide and backing away when Sakura starts walking towards her and then she smiles performing the handsign for her jutsu only to black out as Sakura punches her head too late to do much more than slump to the ground collapsing on the spot.
Ino is taken away on a stretcher to be healed while Sakura heads back up into the stands "That was harsh of you Sakura" Sasuke smirks at her and she shrugs "Ino needs to learn that she can't play around being a shinobi isn't a game and she needs to start taking people seriously and start fighting seriously or someone is going to do a lot more damage to her than what I do" Sakura explains sitting down next to Naruto as Hayate calls for a 30 minute break to stand stretch their stiff muscles and generally move around before the next match.
About 10 minutes later Ino trudges up the stairs to the stands and walks over to Sakura who jumps to her feet "Your right Sakura I'm sorry for not taking you seriously or being a ninja seriously" Ino says simply before moving passed her and to her teammates who pat her on the back comfortingly Shikamaru smiling at her and mouthing a small troublesome before turning back to sit on the bench next to Choji after Ino rolls her eyes and tells them to buzz off as she sits next to her sensei Asuma Sarutobi.
A minute later Gaara appears next to Sakura in a swirl of sand causing most people to shift away from them in fear having heard horror stories about a boy in the sand village who used sand to kill his victims in his rampages Sakura was used to this and simply waits for Gaara to say whatever he wanted to say because he obviously wanted to tell her something after a few minutes he looks her in the eyes his pale green irises staring at her in contemplation and nods before patting her head gently.
"Well done" Gaara says finally gathering more sand and putting it around her wrist "Thank you Gaara that's high praise coming from you" Sakura smiles at the red-head sweetly before he disappears in a swirl of sand and appears next to his team who after months of this were finally used to his new attitude towards the world and were no longer fazed by his comings and goings and instead were secretly celebrating because Gaara was no longer angry and they knew if they went out they would need to bring Sakura with them.
The rest of the break passed peacefully until the next fight pairings are revealed the fight was brutal as the Hyuga boy that had called out to her before the beginning of the written exam attacks Hinata viciously in the end she is sent crashing to the floor her heart almost giving out and this pisses Naruto off who swears to defeat him in the next round of the Chunin exam and fights continued on until there was no one left except for Gaara and Rock Lee who was on the Hyuga boys team.
The fight started out normally until Lee took of his leg weights and actually got through Gaara's defense of sand and Sakura knew that if she didn't stop him Lee would end up dead and she calls out to the boy who had become her friend in such a short time "Gaara you've won please if you don't stop you'll kill him" Sakura pleads Gaara pauses and lets the sand drop restoring his sand armor that Lee had broke waiting until he was called winner to which he immediately appears next to Sakura.
His mannerisms were shy and repentant as if he knew he had done something horrible "Gaara it's ok" Sakura soothes fighting with herself not to smile because it was the last thing that Gaara needed as he practically glues himself to her hip "I'm sorry" Gaara whispers leaning his head against Sakura's shoulder feeling like a child again and wishing that she would scold him properly "I already told you its..." Sakura trails off noticing Gaara's expression and she sighs wishing that she didn't have to shoulder this particular responsibility.
"Gaara what you did was wrong and you need to learn a little more control you can't kill everyone just because they get through you ultimate defense and it will happen again" Sakura steps away from him hands planted on her hips scolding Gaara harshly "I won't always be there for you Gaara and you need to learn how to stop yourself from losing control like that again" she softly smacks his forehead before turning away from him hoping to show him that she was serious with her scolding also knowing she was probably the only person that could get away with it.
Glad that she had scolded him Gaara grasps Sakura's elbow in thanks before heading towards his team where the proctor called down the winners to the arena where they drew numbers which would determine who they fought against in the next rounds which were lined up like this Shino vs Kankurou, Temari vs Shikamaru, Sakura vs Dosu Kinuta, Naruto vs Neji and Sasuke vs Gaara with that the genin head back to their sensei's while Sakura and her teammates head over to Kakashi who was waiting for them.
Grabbing hold of the genin he teleports them back outside the forest of death where Anko was waiting for them "Congrats for making it through to the final rounds now there's 2 months before the next round and I've found teacher for each of you to train with" Anko explains "Sasuke you'll be training with Kakashi, Naruto you'll be training with Jiraiya as he specifically asked to train you and Sakura you'll be with me and Ibiki" she ticks off before teleporting away to do whatever she usually did.
"Alright well I'm gonna head home and get some sleep" Sakura waves disappearing from sight as the runs home meeting Shino along the way and walking with him the rest of the way home "Sakura well done" Shino greets complimenting her on making it through to the final rounds of the chunin exams "Thanks Shino" she smiles at him before being hugged by their father her gives her another round of congratulations leaving Sakura embarassed as the maids chuckle at her expense.
The next day Sakura arrived at their usual training grounds late only to find Anko not there "Ah if your looking for Anko she's in the Hokage's office with Ibiki you should hurry" her father appears unruffled and holding her pack out 'Ohh thanks Anko-sensei for telling me' Sakura huffed before speeding through the streets of the Leaf Village flying up the steps of the Hokage Tower and down the hall towards the Hokage's office immediately being let in after knocking on it just once and there her sensei stood next to Ibiki.
"Sakura we'll be training outside the village for the next two months so if you'd like you may go tell a couple of your friends that you'll be gone" Anko turns to her female student who nods and runs back out the door "So you want us to find Tsunade is Jiraiya and Naruto coming with us" she asks and Hiruzen nods "Jiraiya has already been briefed and he was told to tell Naruto but I doubt he has" the Hokage sighs again "Go find him Anko quickly before Sakura-san tells him she's leaving" Hiruzen tells Anko who heads out instantly.
"Hey Naruto pack for a couple of months your leaving the village with your trainer" Anko appears behind the boy who stares at her for a moment before shouting in excitement and running back to his apartment to pack just as Sakura comes zooming by and she grabs the girl by her shirt collar "Woah slow down there pinky Naruto will be with us on the trip so don't worry about him" Anko pulls the girl to a stop choking her for a second before releasing the shirt collar and she zooms off in a different direction.
"Hey Temari, Kankurou where's Gaara" Sakura comes flying around the corner nearly ramming into the two "Don't know" they answer simultaneously growling in frustration she tries to locate the red-heads chakra again with out much success 'Sand if you can hear me take me to Gaara' she pleads with the sand on her wrist and then she is swept up in a swirl of sand coming nose to nose with Gaara, Sakura breathes a sigh of relief before pulling him into a hug tightening her arms around him when he returns the gesture.
"Gaara I'm going to be leaving the village to train with my sensei" she pants out once she had released him from her hug a frown eerily reminiscent of a pout appears on his face "Why Sakura" he asks and Sakura sighs sadly "Not sure but I'll be back before you know it" she tries to grin before tying a red ribbon around his wrist "For luck it's not like your sand but I hope you keep training in self-control Gaara" Sakura gives him another little hug before waving and hopping of the tree branch they had been standing on "I promise" softly floating after her.
"About time you got here brat" Anko glares at her and Sakura bows lows "Sorry Anko-sensei I had to find someone" she grins sheepishly as Naruto and another male rounds the corner Sakura's eyes widening as she realizes just who this guy is before she can say anything though Anko pushes through the gates and out onto the path heading for Tanzaku Town the last place Tsunade had been seen several minutes of travel later Sakura falls back to walk even with Naruto while staring at Jiraiya.
A minute later he turns his head and catches her staring before picking up Naruto and setting him on the other side of him to walk closer to Sakura "What's your name kid" Jiraiya asks curiously "It's Sakura Aburame" she dips her head in acknowledgement "And your Jiraiya one of the three Legendary Sannin known to have been trained by the third Hokage and trained the fourth Hokage when you were young you made a pact with the Toads of Mount Myoboku where you trained until you became a Toad Sage" Sakura announces causing Jiraiya to throw his head back and laugh raucously.
"You've got spirit little girl" he pats her on the back "Yeah pinky there is definitely something else" Anko calls out from the lead without stopping or looking back "Hey Sakura-chan remember you promised that you'd teach me that trick you used during the chunin exam" Naruto pips up a pout on his lips and fake tears threatening to fall from his eyes and Sakura sighs "Alright Naruto come here" she gestures to the spot on the other side of her before going through the complicated task of teaching Naruto medical ninjutsu.
"Ok Naruto show me the handsigns again" Sakura asks again and Naruto slowly does them grinning when Sakura gives him a small smile "Good job now got through them again and call up your chakra" she instructs showing Naruto a couple of times before letting him try and after a few minutes a green glow appears around his hands and Sakura lets out a happy cheer "That's it Naruto you've got it all that's left is practice" she pats his head giggling when he loses his concentration and the green glow fades.
"Hey brat where the hell did you learn medical ninjutsu" Anko yells from the front again "I read it in a book and practiced it while we were in that tower" Sakura answers "Pinky I swear your not a normal genin" Anko sighs rubbing a hand down her face all of this caused Sakura to laugh "I'm sorry Anko-sensei but that's not the first time someone has told me that" she says and Anko rolls her eyes looking back to glare playfully at her pink-haired student "So Anko-sensei what are we leaving the village for anyway" Sakura finally asks.
"Ah we never did tell you did we" Ibiki speaks up this time and Sakura pouts "No you didn't" causing everyone to laugh at her "We are looking for Tsunade Senju we've caught wind that something is going to occur during the last fight of the chunin exams" Ibiki explains seriously causing Sakura to pale "But that's Sasuke's and Gaara's fight" Sakura exclaims loudly fearing for both boys safety "It's just what we heard Sakura don't freak out yet" Anko swings her head around to look at the panicking pinkette.
"Don't worry about Gaara, Sakura-chan he'll be fine and with how close you two are I'm sure he wouldn't do anything that would hurt you" Naruto grasps Sakura's hand staring up at her the conviction of her words ringing through her ears and she smiles down at him fondly patting his hand "Thank you Naruto you're right about Gaara he wouldn't hurt me ahhhhh" Sakura trips over a snake the sand around her wrist cushioning her fall before picking her up and this causes everyone to stop and stare at her "What the fuck is that around your wrist Sakura" Anko asks furrowing her eyebrows in concern.
The shock of Anko using her name and the curse word causes Sakura to pause for just a minute before grinning innocently at her "Don't give me that look Sakura that shit don't work on me" Anko smirks chuckling when Sakura pouts "Gaara gave this to me before we entered the forest of death" Sakura finally explains rubbing a finger over the sand bracelet watching as Anko stalks towards her and takes her wrist in her own hand "Has it ever hurt you Sakura" Anko asks scanning the sand with her eyes.
"No Anko-sensei Gaara has never hurt me in fact he's one of my closest friends" Sakura smiles at Anko who finally releases her wrist eyes wide in shock "He's the demon of the Hidden Sand village loves no one but himself kills ruthlessly without remorse and he's one of your closest friends" Anko snarls fearing for her student "Anko-sensei from the first day I met him I've always known he was different but I can say for certain that Gaara has changed" Sakura says firmly her voice full of conviction.
"What the hell pinky I'll believe you only because your my student" Anko sighs before turning her attention on Naruto "If anything happens it's up to you Naruto to make sure pinky here gets to safety" she says before turning back away and start walking again "I promise Anko-sensei but I don't think Gaara would ever hurt her" Naruto calls out surprised that he had been brought into the conversation before shrugging and practicing the jutsu Sakura had just taught him hoping to make her proud and get it quickly.
A few hours later the group of 5 reach a town and Anko heads straight for a hotel "Come on you guys lets rest here for the rest of the day and get going tomorrow Sakura your sharing a room with me" she calls out before stalking into the hotel and getting two rooms one for the girls and one for the guys "Hey Anko-sensei can I go explore the town" Sakura asks sitting on the bed that was furthest away from the door and windows "Sure pinky just make sure your back before 11" Anko waves her out of the room without looking up.
Sakura hopped up from the bed and ran out the door looking around the town for awhile before she heard loud cursing coming from behind her and she looks back noticing a man with violet eyes and silver hair wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it "Jashin Fucking Damn It" the man cursed again running his hand through his silver hair and Sakura being the good girl she was decides to ask him whats wrong "Hey Mister is everything alright" she asks walking up to the man "The fuck do you care bitch" he curses at her.
Unfazed by the mans foul mouth "Just thought I could help" Sakura shrugs "Bitch you think you can fucking help me hahaha that's hilarious" he laughs swearing loudly again "Alright fine bitch I lost my fucking pendant and I can't do rituals without it oh by the way bitch my fucking name is Hidan" he curses even more before finally telling her his name and Sakura shrugs her interest peaked "Mine is Sakura but call me whatever you want and does your pendant carry your scent" she asks curiously.
"The fuck if I know bitch" Hidan swears again "Ok well I'm gonna summon someone who's good at tracking scents" Sakura turns away for a moment before summoning Tomo conversing with him for a moment before gesturing at Hidan "Tomo-kun I need you to help us locate Hidan-san's pendant do you smell his scent anywhere in the town" Sakura asks grinning gleefully when Tomo squeaks in affirmation "Where is it Tomo-kun" she asks again watching as he flies next to Hidan and pulls a pendant out of the hat attached to his cloak.
"What the actual fuck" Hidan curses himself for his stupidity before "Thanks bitch" he pats her head before turning and walking away "Wait Hidan-san you said rituals what kind of rituals" Sakura asks curiously keeping up with his fast pace through the village "You interested bitch" Hidan asks and Sakura nods eagerly "Come on then my treat for helping me find my fucking pendant bitch" he gestures to the tea shop and Sakura squeals excitedly before rushing in after him "I love sweets" Sakura says smiling.
After their order had been set on the table Hidan starts up the long process of explaining his religion "So it's like this bitch I have this religion called Jashinism my god is called Jashin he's the Lord of Slaughter you fucking with me so far bitch" he asks stopping and looking at her "Of course Hidan-san" Sakura nods leaning forward eagerly for some more information "Fucking good" he smirks before launching into an even more detailed explanation about the blood letting rituals and of course the immortality and pain turning into pleasure.
"You got that bitch" he asks holding open the curtain for her "Hell yeah Hidan-san" Sakura smiles impishly at him before running off to Jashin fucking knows Hidan smirks before heading outside the village where his partner waited for him "You'll never fucking guess what happened to me shitface" he curses causing Kakuzu to roll his eyes "Shut up Hidan or I'll kill you" the green eyed man says and start walking meanwhile Sakura had made it back to the hotel all the information Hidan had given her about Jashin running through her head.
'It's affirmed after the chunin exams end I'm going to find whatever information I can on Jashin' Sakura swears to herself before laying in bed drifting off to sleep the next day Anko nudges her awake and she jumps out of bed grabbing her pack and following her sensei down the stairs hoping they found Tsunade without to much trouble and with that the group of five head out of the little village heading straight for Tanzaku town 'I really hope Gaara is ok' the thought flies through Sakura's head a few hours later.