"Congratulations on passing the second test!" Announced the Hokage, somehow commanding an aura of power whilst hunched, wrinkly and wearing a stupid hat.
Five teams had passed. All of the rookie nine, though Team Asuma and Kurenai had only appeared at the last moment, just barely making it to the tower on time. Suna's team apparently smashed the exam record, appearing at the tower in under two hours, and Team Gai had arrived the morning after Sakura got Team Kakashi to the tower.
Morino was standing with the instructors, but Kabuto's team was conspicuously absent.
"There is something I'd like you to know." Started the Hokage and Sakura perked up from her position at the very back of the group of genin. "It concerns the true reason for this exam."
She lost interest again. Instead, she took to watching Hatake and Maito manage to have a pissing match whilst not looking at each other and standing perfectly still.
"Why do we have allied countries taking the exam together? 'To promote friendship among the countries. To raise the level of shinobi.' I don't want you to be confused about the true meaning. This exam is…"
The pair were pouring more and more of their chakra into their auras, each trying to outdo the other in sheer presence.
"…a replacement for war among the allied countries."
Maito began visibly sparkling. Pumping so much chakra into the air it was manifesting as visibly. Hatake went noticeably white around the edges.
"If you go back in time, the current allies were enemies who fought over who could rule. In order to prevent wasteful fighting, the stage that these countries chose to do battle, that is the origins of the chūnin exam."
Sakura tilted her head. If that was how the exams started than it was certainly an interesting beginning. Much of the literature she could access about the first chūnin exams only talked about the high death tolls, describing exams where only one or two children would actually survive to be promoted. The idea that it was essentially a hunger game's premise was interesting.
Having been quiet and attentive for longer than a few minutes, the Uzumaki predictably became loud and distracting.
"Why the hell do we have to do that crap?!" He screamed, an orange explosion at the very front of the kids. "Isn't this thing for deciding who's a chūnin?!" Sakura sighed. Sometimes she really had to wonder how the Uzumaki hadn't picked up a single thing from Hatake's lessons.
Of course, in the fashion of the man's truly abysmal emotional range, all of his 'lessons' were given in insult format, but still. The Uzumaki should have absorbed something by now, even if just via osmosis.
"It is a fact that this exam decides which shinobi have what it takes to become a chūnin. But on the other hand, this exam has another side, where each country's shinobi risk their lives to protect the land's prestige. Watching this exam will be leaders and influential individuals from many countries who make up the clients of shinobi. And the leaders of the countries will also be there to watch each of your battles. If the strength of the country is clear, that country will receive more clients. And conversely if seen as weak, they will lose clients. This will signal to potential enemies that 'our village has this much power'. It will send a political message to outsiders."
Never one to be outdone by the volume of the blonde, the Inuzuka took that moment to express his complete lack of understanding of his chosen career. "Yeah but why?! Why do we have to risk our lives in battle?!"
"The strength of the country is the strength of the village. The strength of the village is the strength of the shinobi. And a shinobi's true strength is only born through life or death battle. This is not just a test. This is a life or death battle with your dreams and country's prestige on the line."
A man stepped forward. A very sickly, half-dead looking man. He coughed.
"Hello, everyone I'm the third exam's referee. Gekkō Hayate." He wheezed. Sakura stared. "Before the third test there's something I'd like you to do." He withered before her eyes, seeming to become more and more husk-like with every word. "Umm… It's a preliminary for the third test, to decide who gets to participate in the main event."
"What do you mean?!" The Nara shouted, suddenly motivated by the threat of having to do more work than he expected.
"The first and second test may have been too easy this year, we have bit too many people remaining. We must have a preliminary and reduce the number of participants for the third test. As Hokage-sama indicated earlier, there will be many guests at the third test, so the fights could take too long. We are limited in time."
She had heard the rumours, of course, that Gekkō Hayate was permanently sickly. It was just… a lot in person.
"Those who feel like quitting after those explanations, please come forward now. Since we will be starting the preliminary immediately." The man said before turning slightly and devolving into a coughing fit.
No one came forward. The genin simply watched the best kenjutsu expert in the village make a valiant attempt at coughing until he either died or passed out. Judging by the complete non-reactions from the surrounding jōnin and chūnin, this was a regular occurrence. Sakura glanced at the Uchiha, watched the way his hands shook and he swayed lightly on his feet, and considered trying to get him to quit.
But he wouldn't. If the kid was lucky his match would be on early. Maybe Hatake had bribed someone for it.
"The preliminary will consist of one on one fighting. You will basically fight as if in a real life confrontation." Gekkō said after it became clear no one was forfeiting. "Since we have fifteen entrants, we will conduct seven matches and then the winner of the last match will fight the fifteenth entrant. Umm, the winners will advance to the third test.
"The fight continues until one of you dies or is knocked out or admits defeat. If you don't want to die then quickly forfeit, but when I decide that the winner has been established I'll jump in and stop things, since we don't want to pointlessly increase the number of corpses." His tone was matter of fact. Sakura took a moment to enjoy this world's blasé attitude towards children killing each other.
"This electric scoreboard will show the matchups for each battle. This is sudden but let's announce the two names of the first fight."
'Aburame Shino vs Uchiha Sasuke'
Lucky for Uchiha.
The first fight was quick and brutal. The Aburame was best at long range and drawn out fights, where he could take full advantage of his kikaichū. He didn't have the taijutsu abilities to hold up against a prodigy like the Uchiha, even as sickly as the kid currently was.
The Aburame knew this. The Uchiha knew this. The proctors knew this.
He mass drained as much of Uchiha's chakra as possible before being knocked out in only two or three hits. The only surprise was Sasuke using a number of the moves Lee had used against him before the first exam.
Sakura had not expected him to be such a master of the Sharingan already.
In a few years, the Uchiha would be a monster.
"Uchiha Sasuke has passed the prelims!"
'Sabako no Gaara vs Sabako no Kankuro'
"I forfeit!"
"Sabako no Gaara has passed the prelims!"
'Nara Shikamaru vs Akimichi Chōji'
"Ah man! It's the fatass against the lazy bum! Boring!" Uzumaki cried and Sakura smiled.
"I almost feel bad for Chōji."
"Nara Shikamaru has passed the prelims!"
Hatake returned smelling of ink and with a noticeable tension in his spine.
"Kakashi-sensei!"
"How's Sasuke?"
"He's fine. He's sleeping in a hospital bed."
The subsequent hair ruffles lingered a little longer than usual.
'Hyuuga Hinata vs Hyuuga Neji'
Uzumaki's hand was covered in the Hyuuga girl's blood. His chakra filled the room, burning with righteous fury. Sakura's hand gripped the railing. She'd never seen the blonde look so determined before, and that was saying a lot.
"You." He snarled, almost a growl as he pointed his bloody fist at the Hyuuga prodigy. "Are going down."
Most of the spectators scoffed.
Sakura believed it.
"Hyuuga Neji has passed the prelims!"
'Inuzuka Kiba vs Rock Lee'
"Serves the annoying bastard right!"
"Rock Lee has passed the prelims!"
'Uzumaki Naruto vs Tenten'
"GIVE HER HELL NARUTO!"
"Maa Sakura-chan, it's unusual to see you so… exuberant."
The ground was strewn with kunai and shuriken and strangely shaped swords. The roof of the building was blurred with the lingering smoke of hundreds of popped clones.
The dark haired girl was buried underneath a mountain of orange, her never ending supply of weaponry just slightly slower than the Uzumaki's never ending supply of shadow clones.
"Uzumaki Naruto has passed the prelims!"
"WE ARE THE SUPERIOR GENIN TEAM!"
"YEAH! YEAH! BELIEVE IT!"
"Hahaha… you two sure are competitive little monsters."
'Haruno Sakura vs Yamanaka Ino'
"Don't wear yourself out too much, Sakura-chan, you'll have another match after this." Hatake drawled. Sakura beamed earnestly back at him from her position in middle of the room.
"Don't worry, sensei! This will be a great warm up!"
She turned to see a pissed off blonde glaring across from her. An equally pissed of looking Sarutobi glaring at the nonchalant Hatake on the balcony behind her.
"DON'T GET AHEAD OF YOURSELF, UGLY FOREHEAD SAKURA!" The Yamanka shrieked.
Sakura's mind raced. She had a few options for this fight, but if she wanted to end it quickly, without giving away her techniques or proficiency and using as little energy as possible she would need to bait the blonde into overplaying her hand. Sakura smirked.
If she played this right, she wouldn't even have to move from her spot. She crossed her arms and sighed, a brow visibly ticked on the Yamanaka's face.
"Let's get this over with."
"Who do you think you are?!" The Yamanaka yelled, pointing a finger accusingly at her. Sakura picked at a nail. She waited for the other girls frustration levels to visibly climb before answering.
"I think. I'm out of your league."
"You're just some ugly bookworm trying to steal Sasuke from me!"
Sakura missed the pre-puberty Ino that taught her how to braid when her mother was too busy to do her hair before school. She did her best Uchiha impression and looked down her nose like she was looking at a particularly disgusting piece of rotten fish.
"Tch." She said. "I don't even need these for you." And with that she slowly and pointedly unstrapped her numerous weapon pouches, letting them thump to the ground behind her. Turning her back on the other girl entirely as she did. A clear showing of looking down on her. She unclipped her chokutō from her belt and set it gently against concrete. The Yamanaka scowled, her hands fisted angrily by her sides, but still made no move to be the first to attack.
Smart. But Sakura was better.
Sakura smirked and used her hands to crack her neck. "You scared?" She swept her arms out and crooned mockingly. "I'll even let you take a free hit." Her smirk widened. "Or are you too worried about breaking a nail?" She fluttered her eyelashes.
The Yamanaka snapped. Her shriek echoed through the building. She launched herself across the arena. In her anger, the blonde telegraphed her moves and developed tunnel vision, zeroing into Sakura's face and the taunting smirk.
It was simple to slide her foot into the right position and sweep the girl's legs once she got within range, moving over the other girl to twist her hands behind her back and pin her to the ground, one knee pressing down her neck and the other on the small of her back.
The Yamanaka screamed and thrashed, but Sakura simply looked up to the exhausted looking Gekkō.
"The battle cannot be continued, Winner Haruno Sakura!" She stepped off the blonde and hooked a hand under the girl's armpit to pull her upright.
"Don't touch me forehead girl!" Yamanaka spat before stalking over to where her jōnin sensei had jumped down to collect her. On the balcony the Akimichi was eating chips with a worried expression on his face and the Nara was groaning into his hands.
Sakura glanced to her own team, Uzumaki was cheering and bouncing on the edge of the railing with a brilliant smile on his face and, when she looked, Hatake gave her a small thumbs up.
She concentrated on her breathing and let her mind whirl as she strapped her weaponry back on.
"Alright the final battle to determine the last participant in the finals will begin shortly." Gekkō said, indicating for the other contest to come down. Temari landed quietly on the concrete, her strides smooth and predatory as she unhooked the giant war fan from her back.
Sakura's eyes narrowed. She didn't have the chakra reserves to outlast the other girl's attacks and she wouldn't have the strength to brute force through the fan's wind bursts. She wouldn't be able to play nice. A plan locked into place.
She committed the pattern of the wall behind the Suna genin to memory.
"Begin!" Gekkō. Predictably, Temari opened the fan and settled into a defensive position. Sakura kept her face carefully neutral and pulled one hand in a seal above her head, another forming a seal over her chest. She breathed in, breathed out, and exhaled thick, white mist.
Without a body of water to draw the mist from, the technique was incredibly chakra intensive, draining half of her reserves at the very least. But Sakura was not just creating mist, she was thickening it until it was entirely opaque and doing it quickly. It only took a few seconds, but those few seconds sucked most of her reserves away.
She only just had enough to make a single water clone and settle a henge over herself without immediately passing out, sprinting across the room and locking her chakra signature down to nothing. She had just reached the far wall, pressing herself against it, when the powerful wave of air rushed through the stadium.
Her clone dutifully cried out as it was blown backwards from where it had launched itself at Temari, shielding its face against the battering air. Temari placed a hand on her hip and smirked cockily at the panting clone.
"How boring." She said. "My wind trumps your mist."
The clone gritted its teeth, tightening it's hold on a kunai and screamed. "Don't underestimate me!" It launched itself at the genin, yelling distractingly all the while and clearly telegraphing its swing.
Temari drew her fan back and swung, intent on generating another burst of wind.
At the same time Sakura launched herself off the wall, kunai in hand, looking like a piece of the very wall she had left. A blur of brown over the white concrete. The spiky haired girl sensed something and looked over her shoulder at the last moment but she had already committed her full body to swinging the heavy fan. She had enough time to widen her eyes in surprise before the kunai hilt was smashing into her temple and she dropped like a puppet with her strings cut.
Sakura let her techniques drop, the clone melting into water and her henge disappearing.
She looked up to the surprised faces of the Procters. Gekkō coughed.
"Haruno Sakura has passed the prelims."
She was hit by an orange blur, staggering back under the weight of Uzumaki's tackle-hug.
"SAKURA-CHAN WE MADE IT!" He pulled back, grabbing on of her hands in his and pumping them into the air victoriously. "TEAM KAKASHI IS GOING TO THE FINALS!" He cheered. Sakura laughed as a hand ruffled their hair.
"Good job, Sakura-chan." Hatake praised, eye smiling down at them.
"Sensei," She slurred, swaying violently, the tell tale numbness of chakra exhaustion edging into her limbs. "'m tired."
She registered the ground rushing up to her and arms looping around her front before the world went black.