"Can you teach me a jutsu?" Sakura asked before Naruto or Sasuke demanded Kakashi's attention when they met for training. She had asked him that every time they'd met for training since their disastrous garden and laundry mission and as yet, it hadn't happened.
They instead had another free-for-all spar and regardless of her hours spent training, the boys ignored her for most of the spar, engaging with her when she inserted herself into the fight and they couldn't avoid her, but then always returning their attention to each other as if she were insignificant. Instead of trying to work with each other like Kakashi-sensei had instructed them to do, they were focussing on trying to beat each other down.
Sasuke had his Sharingan activated and through each move he made, each smirk on his face, he was silently taunting Naruto who grew sloppier the angrier he became. When Sakura was thrown back by a heavy kick to the face, Kakashi called time on training.
"I don't know what happened to you three but your teamwork is worse than ever. I expect it to be back on track tomorrow," he said disappearing in a puff of smoke.
"He's right," Sakura groaned.
"Sasuke thinks he's better than everyone else," Naruto growled petulantly.
"Not everyone," Sasuke replied. "Just you. Lets face it, I'm stronger, faster, and better than you in every way."
"Hey, we all have our strengths and weaknesses," she retorted in her and Naruto's defence.
"And you have a lot of weaknesses. Why don't you work on your jutsu and make the team stronger. You're actually worse than Naruto." Sakura seethed in anger as he casually walked away. Her gaze landing on a cardboard box sitting near them that had been painted to look like a rock.
"Jeeze, that's the worst disguise ever. Rocks aren't square," Naruto groaned when he followed her line of sight.
"Wow Boss, you found me out. I didn't expect anything less from my number one rival!" a child's voice practically squeaked from inside. Sakura smirked as the box went flying and three children- not just one emerged out from under it.
"Konohamaru what are you doing following me?" Naruto groaned again.
"Who's she?" the brat demanded. Then his eyes lit up. "Is she your girlfriend?" he asked in a lower tone while attempting to leer at her. Sakura glared at Naruto who chuckled nervously.
"No. No, this is Sakura. She's my teammate," he almost stuttered out placatingly.
"Oh. Good then I'm not interrupting. Fight me!" he demanded and Sakura laughed, her black mood lifting slightly as Naruto chased after them. She hurried after them when she heard Naruto yelling for someone to put the brat down.
Sakura arrived just in time to witness a pebble hit the wrist of the boy in a black jumpsuit making him let go of Konohamaru's collar, dropping him in the dusty street. He and a blonde girl wore hitae-ate's bearing the symbol of the Village Hidden in the Sand.
She followed the stone's trajectory and saw Sasuke practically lounging on a branch, casually tossing another pebble up and catching it as it fell back into his palm.
"It's not a smart idea to pick a fight inside a foreign Hidden Village," she said stepping forward cutting off whatever Sasuke was about to say and ignoring him and his glare completely.
"He ran into me," the boy in black growled at her, drawing himself up to tower over her. Sakura merely looked at him unimpressed.
"Was it an accident?" she asked Konohamaru who sullenly nodded. "Then apologise." She pushed the brat's head down so that he was bowing. "Apologise," she growled again and the kid started spewing out his apologies. They didn't exactly sound sincere but they were the best the foreign shinobi were going to get.
The boy in black scoffed and they turned to walk away, or rather they tried to walk away. Sakura quickly stepped into their path.
"Paper's please," she asked sweetly. "It would be wrong of me to just let foreign shinobi wander through our village without checking to see if they're even allowed to be here."
The blonde sneered at her but dutifully handed over her pass as did the boy in black. Sakura read through them both quickly. Temari and Kankurō same last name as the Kazekage's. In Konoha for the Chūnin exams.
"I take it he's with you?" she asked looking up at Temari who sneered at her.
"We're standing here together aren't we? Don't tell me you're that stupid." Sakura stared blankly at her before she sighed and pointed at the tree where Sasuke sat.
A red headed boy hung upside down under a branch on the other side of the tree to where Sasuke was perched. From everyone's reactions no-one, not even her arrogant and conceited stuck up teammate, had sensed the boy's arrival.
Everyone's full attention was on the redhead who disappeared from the tree in a swirl of sand and reappeared crouched next to them in the same manner.
"Paper's please," Sakura asked, handing the other two their passes back. He stared at her and she stared back. She cleared her throat when he went to turn away. "Paper's. Please," she repeated. He glared and she held her hand out. The two behind him had stopped breathing.
Even her teammates and the kids were decidedly silent when his hand dipped to the harness holding the gourd on his back. He pulled out his pass and she glanced it over enough to note his name and that it was the same as his siblings. Sakura handed it back to him.
"Good luck in the exams," she said, dismissing them with a nod. "If you're going to run wild through the streets, at least watch where you're going baka!" she snapped addressing Konohamaru with a light slap to the back of the head. She ushered her group away well aware of the gaze that followed her until they broke the line of sight.
She absently told her teammates that the strangers were here for the Chūnin exams and then answered all of their questions over what the chūnin exams were, why the villages tested together and then escaped when she could. She needed to get to talk to Atsuko. Like Naruto, Gaara was a Jinchuuriki. Unlike Naruto, Gaara's seal that contained the demon inside him was weak and unstable.
She didn't know how she knew, she just did.
"I know it's a bit sudden but I recommended you three for the Chūnin exams," Kakashi announced when he arrived- late again, at their unofficial meeting spot. Sakura herself had only just arrived and had been doing her best to ignore Sasuke's glare and Naruto's ranting that she was becoming just as bad as their sensei.
"This is all voluntary. It's up to each of you, if you don't feel ready you can wait until next year." He successfully escaped the over enthusiastic hug Naruto gave him and gave them instructions on when and where to be with their signed application forms. "Take these next few days to prepare, and I shouldn't have to tell you to be prepared for anything," he added before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Sakura rolled her eyes and started mentally preparing a list of everything she would need. She would also need to practice her ninjutsu more. Five days wasn't long to get the hang of something that would give her a competitive edge. She decided it was time to upgrade her wardrobe too.
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