I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, I'm just a fan I enjoyed the anime but I love the fanfics even more, they made me fall for the whole franchise.
Chapter 56
Shikamaru stood in the bloody setting called the arena he would have to fight a woman. The Nara sighed and looked up at the ceiling above, the proctor was being troublesome by explaining the same thing over again.
"Troublesome." Shikamaru mumbled and Sakura smirked at the Nara.
"Why don't you just forfeit?" She asked him. Shikamaru shrugged and bothered to reply.
"It will be more troublesome in the long run." The Nara heir replied and Gekkō began the match leaving the two newly minted genin to do battle and try to outdo the previous match's damage to the arena.
"You seem confident you are gonna win?" The Nara heir observed offhandedly. Shikamaru was not blind to Sakura's sudden boost in confidence when she spoke these past few days. The Nara got into a ready position that he still managed to make look lazy and waited. He first needed to see what was going on.
Sakura huffed not saying more and she got into a ready position. Shikamaru attacked quickly throwing shurikens at the pink-haired Haruno who dodged by running left and circling her opponent.
Sakura reached into her pouch and drew two Kunai that she threw at Shikamaru and ran at him.
The Nara jumped back and drew a Kunai deflecting the ones thrown at him. When Shikamaru landed he jumped back again creating space between himself and the Haruno who drew more Kunai and launched them at him.
Shikamaru ran right and threw his Kunai at his opponent who simply ducked and rolled letting the projectile thrown go over her head. Sakura stood from her roll and continued chasing Shikamaru her momentum not decreased by the Kunai thrown.
'She seems confident in her ability to win in hand-to-hand combat, it's unlike her character.' Shikamaru narrowed his eyes in suspicion that Sakura might have a card she was keeping close to her chest. The Nara was not fast it was not long until Sakura caught up.
Shikamaru ducked and pulled out another Kunai with Sakura doing the same and swiping at his neck. The Nara placed his Kunai in the way of the blow and used the force behind it to roll back and then left. Sakura was not using any kind of strategy to fight him, she was fighting head-on like Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, and Kiba which again was so unlike her.
Before Sakura could dash at Shikamaru once more the Nara threw the Kunai in his hand at her feet and stood up before jumping back. Sakura unbothered by the projectile moved her leg back and had the Kunai missing by inches before she threw her Kunai at Shikamaru's airborne form with great force.
The Lazy boy saw that throw coming but he did not expect the force behind it and he definitely did not expect Sakura to suddenly disappear from his sight with great speed. Shikamaru felt troubled but he had to make a decision fast, so he made it.
When Sakura came up behind Shikamaru she did not expect to get blinded by a plum of smoke before she punched a log and her Kunai pierced it. Sakura landed and found Shikamaru in the far corner of the arena looking as bored as always.
Sakura took a deep breath in and released it before turning to look up at Sasuke.
'Watch me Sasuke-Kun.' Sakura thought before digging deep, calling upon the chakra Orochimaru had gifted her that she now called her own. Sakura's hair began to flare up, the abundance of chakra she released causing the floor to cave.
"Troublesome."
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'She figured it out!' The Hokage thought and watched wide-eyed feeling the chakra the pink-haired girl expelled weighing down on him. The third Hokage sat up straight and paid even closer attention to the match at hand.
He looked up to Kurenai and Guy who had returned. Hiruzen twitched his pinky finger twice and a second later the two Jōnin were standing on either side of the old man. The efficiency of the leaf village again shone true to the foreign ninjas. The village was known for 2 things, badass Prodigies, and cliché weather.
'If I die it will probably be a dark stormy day.' Hiruzen gave a low chuckle at his thoughts, the old man finding himself happy to still be able to laugh at silly things.
"Hokage-Sama." Both Jonin said at attention still facing the match in front of them. Baki scoffed, thinking the leaf ninjas were disrespecting their Hokage by giving him their backs but in actuality, they were just confident enough that nobody in that room could reach the third Hokage before they died.
"Did you figure something out?" Hiruzen asked watching as the Haruno cracked her knuckles.
Guy looked to Kurenai having not pushed further in the matter because he was training his genin. Kurenai shook her head before replying.
"She is a smart girl and although a little naive in her thinking, she has a determination in her to push. I believe she figured it out on her own." Kurenai smiled looking at her most promising student if she had to be honest.
"But how do you explain the sudden Chakra spike?" Hiruzen asked and Guy sensei stood straighter, his buttocks squeezing on reflex remembering something.
"Maybe a special kind of variation of the heavenly gates." The sensei of team 9 suggested and Hiruzen thought back to the many books he's read and studied, he was known as the professor for a reason. A man cannot just be a ninja, life gets dull like that, hobbies were a good start, and then a whole other occupation.
"The first Hokage had a state he had dubbed The great Hashirama's blessing." The Hokage Chuckled and Guy gave a big belly laugh with Kurenai releasing a professional chuckle at the silly name the first Hokage could give things.
"As I was saying, this state increased his speed, strength, and Chakra capacity. After coming upon many books and scrolls I learned he was absorbing Nature's energy subconsciously, giving him this greater presence On the battlefield." Hiruzen lectured and his Jōnin listened, absorbing those words and adding to their already tremendous logic of the elemental nations.
The Jōnin's took the time to think with Kurenai smiling when Sakura dashed at Shikamaru with great speed And attacked, landing the first blow of the match. Shikamaru folded over the Haruno genin's fist but Kurenai frowned when Sakura looked up at the Uchiha to see his reaction.
"She still holds affections for the Uchiha." Hiruzen stated watching how the Haruno gritted her teeth, Sasuke was not watching the match. The Uchiha instead looked up at the stormy sky above through the hole made by Lee.
"Yes Hokage-Sama, She is very into the boy. I tried many times to talk to her about it but she is stubborn." Kurenai revealed.
When they found out about Sakura's abilities the Hokage asked her to write a report on the girl's behavior and character so they could find her a sensei to start her elemental training and from there they would find a way to incorporate bloodline training.
"I see, but she still holds great potential and her affections for the Uchiha might benefit the leaf village one day if they were to get together and have offspring." Hiruzen thought and Kurenai's eyes widened including Guy at the prospect of Sakura's ability being a bloodline.
"A Sharingan wielder with the ability to copy Bloodline limits." Guy gasped looking to his Kage who nodded at his thought process. The already feared Uchiha clan would become the bane of every bloodline user.
"How does the Uchiha feel about her?" Hiruzen asked Kurenai who responded that she did not know. "Then you should find out Kurenai-Chan, if he is what motivates her then we should rather foster that bond to grow, I will inform Fugaku of our thoughts." Hiruzen ended the analysis and his Jōnin nodded paying their full attention to the match.
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Shikamaru grunted taking a step back and feeling like he got punched by Choji. The Nara was wide-eyed wondering what was happening to the world, things were changing too drastically. Where would Sakura find such strength and speed, she was supposed to be unable to improve because she was chasing after other things.
'My character profile of her is wrong?' Shikamaru jumped back when Sakura seemed to look up to her supposed 'motivation'. It was the same with Sasuke and Hinata, Hinata and Naruto, all these people with some kind of affection towards someone seemed to improve tremendously and leave them all behind.
"Is that what you have been hiding." Shikamaru looked to Sakura only to see her going through her last hand seal before calling out her jutsu.
"Hair Camouflage!" Sakura's hair grew in length and covered her from head to toe like a blanket. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and prepared himself for whatever Sakura was planning.
A Sakura clone came towards Shikamaru making the boy tense his muscles. The audience saw Shikamaru tense but never saw any clone making its way to him, so when the boy threw himself back as he got punched, people were shocked.
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The Hokage looked to Sakura and then to Shikamaru calculating what it could all mean. Kurenai though narrowed her eyes, she has seen something similar when she was in charge of training the Kurama clan heiress.
"I have seen something similar before Hokage-Sama." She informed like a dutiful Jōnin. The Hokage's presence alone had her continuing. "The heiress of the Kurama clan." She said and the Hokage's eyes widened in understanding before he smiled.
Konoha was looking rather blessed this generation, Hiruzen thought he will have prime candidates for the child of prophecy's teammates when they became Chunin he needed to always have him in a team so he built connections and bonds in the village.
'Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Naruto Uzumaki, The future Sanin of Konoha.' Hiruzen thought that sounded like something he could sell to the council when the decision was being made on who becomes Chunin.
They continued watching as the Nara heir began running and dodging imaginary things. Occasionally throwing himself on the floor like he got hit, twisting and turning.
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Shikamaru was confused, was Sakura using shadow clones? When Shikamaru saw the jutsu for the first time due in fact to a certain blonde bragging he thought that he found the holy grail. Shikamaru searched and searched and searched finally asking his father who said he had bad news for the entire Nara clan.
'Our chakra capacities can not handle even one.' Shikamaru thought one thing, Sakura Haruno was a civilian-born genin, she has less than average chakra reserves that 6 academy clone techniques leave her winded. Sakura spamming shadow clones was supposed to leave her dead…
"Troublesome." Shikamaru watched as one Sakura ran under the rain that came through the hole in the ceiling. The thing that caught his interest is the fact it did not get wet.
"Hai!" Shikamaru exclaimed and found the Sakura clone vanishes just as it came down to punch him with an outstretched fist. The Nara grimaced when he found that he was roughed up somehow by a genjutsu.
Sakura released the genjutsu she used to cover herself. So she could perform her hidden ability of the Kurama clan. The Haruno looked up again and found Sasuke now looking at Lee who had arrived back in the arena in a wheelchair.
'Look at me.' Sakura balled her fists and her chakra spiked once more before she ran at Shikamaru who went through hand seals looking a bit panicked. The Nara could not plan because he was being attacked by new information every time Sakura moved.
"I hate unpredictable things." Shikamaru mumbled something other than troublesome and no one was there to hear it 'Rat'. "Shadow imitation technique." Shikamaru grumbled extending his shadow to Sakura who dodged by hoping to the left.
Shikamaru took control of his shadow and sent it left chasing after his target. Sakura jumped right before jumping high with great force finding herself on the ceiling standing upside down before going through hand seals. 'This will impress him.' Sakura thought about expanding a lot of chakras to make her jutsu a wide area effect. 'This is real.'
"Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death." Sakura whispered causing the whole arena to see the genjutsu she performed. Sasuke finally gaining some semblance of interest.
"Hai" Sasuke dispelled the genjutsu leaving the cinematic show Sakura was screening. Shikamaru tried to make a seal to dispel the genjutsu quickly but his hands snapped to his sides. He knew the roots and branches holding onto him were an illusion but his body did not want to budge.
A Sakura clone appeared behind Shikamaruth through the tree binding him with a Kunai in her hand poised to strike. Tsk Shikamaru released the flash-bang pallet he had in his hand since he realized the Haruno could hurt him with genjutsu.
A sudden flash of light attacked everybody's sight overloading their sense of sight and breaking the genjutsu. Shikamaru rubs his eyes jumping back three times before dropping an explosive tag and extending his shadow to cover it up.
Sakura Haruno rubbed her eyes and blinked a few times to get the stars out of her vision before gritting her teeth. She felt the disturbance in her genjutsu when Sasuke dispelled it. She looked to the Uchiha who looked back at her glaring at her. Sasuke did not like being placed in a genjutsu, especially one the Haruno wasted a lot of chakra for to simply show off.
Sakura looked back to Shikamaru and let her emotions get the better of her, she placed Chakra to the soles of her feet and blasted herself towards Shikamaru who jumped back and removed the shadow hiding his tag.
Boom!!!
Sakura screamed in pain taking the brunt of the force behind the blast. Shikamaru got blown back as well but landed on his feet and skidded to a stop. Shikamaru immediately pulled an explosive tag from his pouch and tied it to a Kunai and then pulled out another flash-bang pallet.
Sakura coughed a few times before standing up she was a little roughed up but otherwise okay.
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Sakura took a breath and winced a little from the pain coming from the scrapes on her skin. She was getting frustrated, Sasuke was not watching her, he was not cheering her on, he was not praising her skills, and he wasn't acknowledging her presence. She gritted her teeth and turned to look at Hinata the cause of her problems.
Another flash bang went off in front of Sakura making her scream in shock at the sudden blinding light. Then she heard a hissing noise, she jumped forward escaping the blast zone of the explosive tag.
"Shadow imitation technique, complete." Shikamaru sighed and Sakura went wide-eyed when she could not move anymore in her position on the floor. Did she just lose? she thought panicked, Sakura now on the floor felt her adrenaline diminish, and with that fatigue hit her.
'Orochimaru's chakra is finished.' Sakura realized in horror, she watched Shikamaru pull out a Kunai and aim it at her but she was unable to follow the move.
"Give up." Shikamaru instructed her and when Sakura glared back at him he sighed. "Troublesome." He threw the Kunai at Sakura with the Kunai lodging itself next to her face. The pink-haired girl grimaced but stood her ground glaring at Shikamaru, she did not plan on giving up.
"Winner Shikamaru Nara of the Nara clan." Gekkō Hayate announced making Sakura's eyes almost bulge out of her eyes. Did she lose? She couldn't lose she was special now, she had hidden powers, her own kind of bloodline limits.
"I didn't give up!" Sakura screamed at the proctor who looked at her before explaining that She was unable to move nor defend herself and that if Shikamaru had aimed for her head she would have died, it was the Nara heir's clear victory.
"No! What do you mean he won, I can still fight." Shikamaru sighed and walked up to Sakura with her legs following the act but instead, she kicked the floor she laid on her stomach first. The Nara reached her and placed the Kunai on her neck. His eyes looked at her a certain way she was used to from somebody else and she remembered it was Sasuke.
A gaze that held nothing but annoyance for her and disdain at having to associate with her. Eyes that told her to get a move on and walk away. Sakura gritted her teeth and began circling her chakra in her body like a speeding train, overloading her tenkentsu and she kissed something better than equilibrium. Divinity.
Sakura's chakra spiked causing Shikamaru and the proctor to stumble backward, with Shikamaru falling on his ass. Sakura never got to see all of that because she went unconscious due to her low natural reserves not being able to handle the larger than normal chakra costs that whatever she just did demand.
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'She was being foolish, she performed better against the Suna siblings. This time around she came in like a heavy hitter no strategy just instincts.' Orochimaru in disguise shook his head in disappointment, the girl was not a skilled fighter like Sasuke, the Hyūga, and this Rock Lee boy.
'Silly infatuations.' Orochimaru thought finding himself disappointed that the girl was too concerned about the Uchiha to pay attention to her opponent at all times. The fact she wasted so much of his gifted chakra to do what he could only call 'show off' to her love interest left him losing some hope in her intelligence.
Orochimaru sighed feeling bored of the happening around him and wondered if he could cause a ruckus before he left the scene. A little fun to make his presence known to his former sensei.
The Haruno girl at least showed her potential in this match he simply had to tame that affection she held for the Uchiha somehow so he could use it to his advantage. Orochimaru sighed when one of his genin was called for the next match against Temari of the sand siblings.
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"It is disappointing that she lost this match, she held all the cards but it seems her concentration was on other matters." Hiruzen deduced watching the medics perform the chakra transfer technique to replenish Sakura who stirred awake.
"She is still young Hokage-Sama but with more experience and time she might change to become a force to reckon with." Kurenai defended her student with Guy nodding in agreement.
"She indeed proved herself able, although quick to get distracted she performed admirably," Guy said remembering the way Shikamaru was being sent left and right by a genjutsu.
"Then let us begin planning out her schedule for if she becomes Chunin, we need to be on our toes with this discovery. Kurenai-Chan you should ask her how she learned to imitate the Kurama clan's genjutsu capabilities." Kurenai nodded and made the objective top of her to-do list, the future of Konoha was looking like a bucket of talents including the Nara strategist making his way back to the rest of the Konoha group.
Authors Note.
I'm tired of these prelims already sigh... I want to world build not write fights I have no stake in. Next chapter Temari vs Kin or something.