Rewritten as of 09NOV19
Sakura's POV
Relax.
I took another deep breath as I looked Ino over.
I took notice of her toned muscles and felt my eyebrow twitch.
Honestly.
Just how the hell could she spend so much time on her looks yet still manage to find the time to train. I'm sure she's gotten stronger over these last few months too.
But...
So have I.
"Alright ladies, *cough* your match is about to begin. The same rules apply just like the previous matches. One of you wins when the other is knocked out or admits defeat. However I can stop the fight at anytime I deem necessary. Most importantly, there is no killing in these matches." Hayate explained as he motioned for the both of us to step closer to each other.
"Yamanaka, Haruno, shake hands so we can begin the match."
I extended my hand and waited for Ino to do same. However it didn't look like she was going to move her hand at all, as a matter of fact, it looks like she's about to walk away.
How rude.
I couldn't help but agree.
I could hear Naruto and Lee yelling from the stands about how Ino was being disrespectful.
"Are you forfeiting Yamanaka?" Hayate's voice broke over the shouts of Naruto and Lee who both quieted down at his question.
Ino turned back around so fast I was sure she should have snapped her neck.
"Are you crazy! Of course not! Why would I forfeit to this loser?" Ino yelled.
"Because you're walking away." He deadpanned.
"I was just going back to where I was standing before." She explained with a hand on her hip, clearly irritated.
"I think you might have misunderstood me Yamanaka. I said 'shake hands so we can get your match started.' That means, shake hands. If you just start walking away, you're admitting defeat."
Ino looked like a cat that just got thrown in body of water, completely pissed off.
"I bet you thought you looked so cool doing that huh Ino? Well guess what? YOU DIDN'T!" Naruto yelled from the stands as I tried hard not to smile.
She nearly growled as she stomped up to me and grabbed my hand that was still extended. Grasping it firmly and squeezing hard, trying to intimidate me.
My face remained calm and collected and I squeezed just as hard.
I felt satisfaction as I watched her eyes widen a fraction.
We both let go at the same time and pivoted, taking about ten steps away before we once again faced each other.
"Alright, now that that's been settled. *cough* You may begin."
I waited for Ino to make the first move, which didn't take long considering she's been pissed off at me for a rather long time.
She charged at me with her kunai in hand. I quickly pulled mine out as well, not wanting to use Senbonzakura so early in the fight.
I know she saw me use it in the Forest of Death, so it's not exactly a trump card against her, but I'd still like to wait a while.
I blocked every swipe she threw at me, further angering her.
While I knew I was on the defensive side of this spar, I didn't feel overwhelmed like I thought I was going to.
I saw such hatred and anger in her eyes that confused me immensely.
I don't understand why she's so angry with me. I haven't done anything to her, I mean sure I've been a smartass a couple of times with her, but still. I don't think that's enough to hate me to this extent.
Getting even more frustrated that I was keeping up with her, Ino grabbed a second kunai and started using both against me.
I couldn't take an extra second to grab another kunai without taking the risk of getting nicked.
I had to move faster, dodging any blow I couldn't block.
As soon as her blade came awfully close to slitting my throat I knew I had to change things up a bit.
Didn't the proctor say 'no killing'? What's wrong with her?
Not a damn clue.
Ino threw a particular wide swipe, leaving her body open. I ducked and punched her right in the gut.
She coughed harshly, clearly not expecting me to land the first blow. She took several steps back, dropping both her kunai in the process.
Now Sakura!
I was on her immediately, never letting her get the chance to recover from getting the wind knocked out of her.
I ran up to her while she was doubled over and kneed her in the face. She flew back a couple of feet before landing on her back.
Probably knocking the wind out of her again.
But she got up faster than I had anticipated and charged at me. Though this time neither one of us had any weapon besides our fists.
It was during this that Ino finally managed to hit me, a clean punch to the left side of my face.
I felt the tanginess of blood from where my tooth cut the inside of my cheek, but I payed it no mind.
I sent a kick her way only for her to do a backflip and land away from me.
We both paused to take a breath.
Ino slowly stood up and glared at me.
"Just how in the hell are you stronger than me?! You, the little civilian girl with no ninja background, should be below me!"
I internally rolled my eyes and the civilian comment.
Honestly, I've had enough of blondies telling me that.
"Well maybe if you didn't spend so much time on your looks you'd be stronger." I said as I relaxed my stance a little bit. "Face it Ino, you couldn't leave you hair alone for a week in favor of seriously training without losing your mind."
Ino practically screeched in anger before pulled out another kunai.
Careful Blossom, I think you really made her angry this time.
I think you might be right.
However, what Ino did next surprised the hell out of me.
Even Naruto who was yelling at the top of the stands quieted down.
She. Cut. Her. Own. Hair.
Screeching while she did it.
I think you broker her, Blossom.
Uhhh.
"Oh yeah forehead freak! I don't need this!" She said, more like yelled, as she threw her hair on the ground and threw up a hand sign I didn't recognize.
Is that her family jutsu? The one she tried to use on my earlier?
I believe it is.
You were able to block it last time, weren't you?
Indeed I was.
So what you're saying is...
You don't have to worry about getting caught in it Blossom, just get her. Show her just what exactly a civilian born can do.
I formed a shit eating grin as I stared her down.
Let's go.
~•~
3rd Person POV
Ibiki Morino stared at the match before him with a keen eye.
The first thing he noticed when Sakura walked in to the arena was the new addition strapped to her hip.
Before she left to the Forest of Death all she had on her hip was the scroll Zabuza had given her.
And now there's no scroll, but there was definitely a sword.
It didn't take a genius to put the two together.
She opened that scroll and obtained the sword.
How she did it, he doesn't know. But he was sure as hell going to find out.
He took notice of how she had no fear of the Yamanaka girls family jutsu.
Was she that confident she could escape such a strong technique a second time?
Ibiki leaned forward a few centimeters when he saw Sakura reach for the sword that was on her hip, waiting to see how she'd use such a weapon without any previous training.
She held it out in front of her and took her stance.
Her form wasn't terrible, but her feet were too far apart and she wasn't bending her knees enough. Her grip wasn't right either.
If she was going up against any other Shinobi, she wouldn't last ten seconds.
But maybe, just maybe, this could work out in Sakura's favor against Inoichi's daughter.
"Mind transfer jutsu!"
This is it, the moment of truth!
~•~
Sakura's POV
I held my breath as Ino slumped to the floor, head bowed and bangs covering her eyes. I waited, but nothing came.
Not even that tickling sensation I got the first time.
Did she miss? Did it work? Did you block her out?
No, she didn't even try.
She faked it?
Yes, I believe she's plotting something. Be careful.
Well guess I have no other choice then.
I swung my sword from in front of me off to my side, creating a gust of wind around me that blew away all of Ino's hair that was near my feet.
Ino's eyes snapped open in pure shock, confusing me a bit. Wasn't she still trying to pretend that she used her jutsu?
Don't worry about that now, just go!
I shook my head before I channeled chakra to my feet to increase my speed and shot forward.
I raised my sword, ready to swing down when Ino seemed to snap out of it.
She barley had enough time to whip out another kunai and block my attack. She propelled herself back in a one handed backflip and met my attack head on.
We were blade against blade, seemingly on even ground until I pushed up on my sword and left her wide open.
I sent a kick to her jaw and sent her flying, she landed on her back, completely defenseless as her only weapon got flung away from her after my kick.
I leapt forward and had my sword against her neck, thinking I had won, I waited for the proctor to call the match, but he didn't.
What?
Look at her hands.
I shifted my eyes quickly and saw her hands in the same hand sign I saw her use earlier and almost panicked when she whispered the name of her jutsu.
"Mind transfer jutsu."
I felt the familiar pull on my mind from the written exams.
Senbonzakura!
No worries, this match is ours.
I waited a few more seconds for see if my mind would be taken over. When it never happened and the pulling in my mind went away I knew we had blocked her yet again.
I felt myself shiver in excitement.
I looked towards Hayate and paused, listening to what everyone was saying up in the stands.
"Whose in there right now? Is it still Sakura or is it Ino?"
"There's no way Sakura would let Ino take control just like that! It has to be Sakura still!"
"That's not how that jutsu works Naruto, at such a close range there's no way Ino missed. It's Ino in there."
Despite hearing everything around me I continued to stare at Hayate.
"Well? Call the match. Even if she did come back from her jutsu there's not much she can do in this position. Plus if you look at it a certain way, with her mind gone and no one in her body, isn't she technically unconscious?"
The voices immediately stopped.
"S-Sakura?"
I glanced behind me to look at Naruto who was gaping like a fish.
"The one and only." I said with a grin.
"Yamanaka Ino is no longer able to battle, Haruno Sakura wins this round." My grin got only wider as I heard Hayate say those words.
I got off of Ino and put my sword away, back into its holster and watched as Asuma-Sensei and Kakashi-Sensei both jumped down from the balcony.
Asuma picked up Ino after making sure she would be ok and took her back to her team, but not before looking at me up and down and gave me an odd look.
What was that about?
To everyone else it looked as though you dodged an attack that was supposed to hit you head on, they're just wondering how you did it.
Oh...
Yes, now pay attention, your Sensei is trying to talk to you.
I snapped my head to Kakashi-Sensei who was rubbing his head sheepishly with his crinkled eye smile.
"Maa, maa, Sakura-Chan, you really zone out a lot don't you.
Tell me about it.
Hush.
"Sorry Kaka-Sensei. I was just just lost in thought for a moment there. What were you saying?" I said, slightly embarrassed.
"I was saying that we should head up to the stands too, so that they can start the next match." I looked up and noticed that Tenten and Temari were in their starting positions on the field I was still standing on.
I blushed before nodding in agreement.
However as soon as we made it past the stairs leading up to the balcony, we were stopped.
"Miss Haruno, I'm going to have to ask you to come with me." I stared deep into Ibiki Morino's eyes as nervousness entered my system.
My mind immediately went to Senbonzakura who was humming comfortingly against my hip, sensing my unease.
I looked to Kakashi-Sensei who nodded encouragingly. This eased my nerves a bit as I turned back to Ibiki and nodded.
He led me into a secluded room with two ANBU inside.
"Now then, what do you say we have another little talk eh? Preferably about that sword-scroll Zabuza gave you, which you shouldn't have been able to open, and the fact that there is now an actual sword in its place."
Well shit.