Darkest Before Dawn

Fight!

It was an abnormally hot day outside and his porcelain mask was making his face more sweaty than he would have liked. He was standing at attention with the fifteen other ANBU members and ran his eyes over the participants. His eyes were locked with Sakura's, and she smiled at him.

"First fight: Weasel vs. Sakura Haruno!"

Weasel withheld a twitch.

The crowed cheered as Weasel and Sakura prepared themselves for the fight. Weasel lifted his head to scan the crowd. He spotted Naruto and Sasuke easily as Naruto was holding up a poster that had had 'BEAT HIS ASS SAKURA-CHAN' in neon orange marker. He was happy to note that Sasuke looked nothing short of embarrassed.

On the east side, he saw Hidan. He was unusually engrossed in the event and his normal arrogant smirk was wiped off his face. Suddenly, Hidan turned his head and exchanged a few words with the blue shinobi beside him.

"Weasel! Haruno! Take your places!"

Weasel stepped towards the southern side of the arena, Sakura towards the northern. His sharingan spun to life behind his mask and his hand was poised to make a grab for the tanto strapped to his lower back.

"Begin!"

His eyes widened as Sakura's form disappeared and a gray first reappeared just centimeters from his mask.

 'She's fast!'

BOOM!

~

The southern wall crumbled on impact and fissures appeared all around the rest of the wall as well as the ground. Weasel dodged it, barely, and flipped behind her. From his spot, he could finally see just who he was up against. Sakura's body had turned dark gray. She turned to face him with the whites of her eyes turned black and her hands glowing a fiery blue.

 Chakra scalpel.

She readied herself.

"Let's dance, Itachi-san!"

The crowd was cheering. This jounin-to-be, Sakura Haruno, was absolutely amazing! They never expected for a participant to be so strong! The fight was exciting and a fantastic way to start the exams. But Naruto and Sasuke were stunned to silence.

"Has... Has Sakura-chan always been that strong?" murmured Naruto. He watched as Sakura's heel slammed into the ground, destroying the arena floor even more. Weasel breathed an enormous fireball as he leapt in the air to avoid the man-made earthquake.

"I don't—"

"She has." Kakashi replied, cutting Sasuke off. His lone eye slid towards his two students. "She always has."

On the opposite side of the arena, Hidan whistled and sat back into his seat. Sakura had improved tremendously since the last time he saw her. She was giving her boyfriend a hell of a time.

Sakura created a shadow clone and they both drew their katanas. They bolted towards Weasel from the sides and dealt three devastating blows, further demolishing the arena. Weasel's arm was caught in one of the blows and he sustained a cut from his shoulder to his elbow that was deep enough to see bone.

"The fight's fuckin' flashy."

"At least it's entertaining." Kisame said. He observed the way she handled her sword like it was an extension of herself, and that she moved gracefully with every step. He nodded to himself in approval.

"And that she put the sword to good use." he murmured to himself as an afterthought.

Seated a few rows above them, Zetsu was conversing quietly with himself.