Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Respect & Understanding ❯ Silent Ass Kicking? ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, for if I did I would make Sakura forget all about Sasuke and make her realize how utterly cool her Team Leader is!

 

 

 

Chapter 4: Silent Ass Kicking?

 

 

 

 

True to his word, Kakashi submitted her name and the next afternoon two masked individuals arrived at the hospital to escort her to ANBU HQ. The ANBU division is housed inside the Jounin HQ building, but down in the basement. It was also off-limits to all but the mask wearing shinobi and those who had business with them.

 

Right now she had business with them. Her two masked escorts lead her to a door at the end of the hall. The rabbit masked escort went inside as she waited with the bird masked one. A few short minutes went by before “rabbit” returned.

 

“They are ready for you now, please go inside and await further instructions.”

 

Sakura entered and took her spot in the middle of the brightly lit room. She faced a panel of three, like her escorts they were masked as well. The center one with the smiling painted face addressed her. His voice was anything but gentle.

 

“Your name is Haruno Sakura and you were part of Team 7 under Hatake Kakashi as a Genin at age 12, correct?”

 

“Yes, sir”

 

“After Team 7's disbanding you became the Hokage's apprentice, correct?”

 

“Yes, sir”

 

“You became Chunin at the age of 14 and then a Jounin at the age of 20, correct?”

 

“Yes, sir”

 

`Don't they have a file on me or something? What, the man doesn't trust his own people's abilities?'

 

“You are currently a shinobi specialized in the medic arts working at the Konoha Hospital directly under the Hokage, correct?”

 

“Yes, sir” Still, she could handle this type of questioning.

 

“You are an only child, having no living relations, and live alone, is that correct?”

 

“Yes, sir” She had a fair idea that those aspects of her life were a good thing in their eyes.

 

“Haruno Sakura, what are you're reasons for wanting to join us this day?” This question was the easiest to her.

 

“I wish to use my medical skills where they are most needed.” Simple and to the point, she figured that would be best in this type of situation.

 

“I see. You do realize that you will be required to do more than just healing? You will no doubt find your self in the heat of battle on many occasions and be forced into decision making that may affect the lives of your squad?”

 

“Yes, sir”

 

“I have been told that the Godiame has indeed taught you more than the healing arts. I'm glad to hear it. You will need it. Now, on to the matter at hand, first you must understand that anything discussed in this meeting is confidential. Any breach of this and you will be severely punished. We have our way of knowing.” Sakura did not want to think about the consequences.

 

“Yes, sir”

 

“Now there is but one medic slot open and you are not the only one vying for it. Hokage's apprentice or not if you do not meet our standards then you will not become ANBU is that understood?”

 

“Yes, sir”

 

`…like I was expecting any sort of preferential treatment, cha!'

 

“Good, now this exam will consist of two parts, the first being the practical and the last the psychological. Your first phase will start tomorrow at 9pm. You are to meet here in this room at exactly that time, not a second later.”

 

The smiley faced masked man held up a scroll for her to take. She quickly moved forward and then stepped back to her original position while stuffing the item into a vest pocket.

 

“Keep that on your person at all times, it's your only way in or out. The door you came down has a special seal on it. An ANBU tattoo or that scroll is the only way to pass through. You are required to bring only yourself, your kunai pouch with the basic essential items issued to you, 3 scrolls of your choosing, and only one other item of your choice. Further instructions will be given to you tomorrow at that time. You are dismissed.”

 

Sakura oddly felt like she should be signing some paper work right about now, giving the ok for them to take half her soul or something. She couldn't shake the feeling.

 

She bowed and turned to leave.

 

Before she even finished her turn she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Five shuriken came at her from two different directions. In a flash two kunai appeared in each of her hands deflecting the star shaped weapons.

 

Before the last shuriken hit the ground both kunai were flung from her hands in precise aim, hitting the two masked ninja on either side of “Mr. Smiley” in the dead center of their chests. Both bodies disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

 

`Transformed Shadow Clones…” `Mr. Smiley' bowed once again to her.

 

“Now you may go.” This time the door was opened by `rabbit' and she walked away without another incident.

 

As she walked down the path that lead to the house her parents left her, she felt the urge to seek out Naruto. Her burning questions sought answers, but she knew it was not allowed. Naruto had told her before when he joined that ANBU entrance exam discussion was forbidden. That's why she found it very unusual that the blonde ninja was sitting on her door step. How did he even know she had been interviewed? As she got closer he rose from her steps and spoke.

 

“Sakura-chan, don't say anything…I went by the hospital to see you, but they told me you left early. I just wanted to tell you that little Ichigo activated his Byakugan this morning.”

 

She saw Naruto smile but knew that wasn't the only reason he had been waiting for her. Her best friend had been worried about her. She briefly wandered what type of dismissal he had gotten at the end his interview.

 

`Hopefully he can guess that my exam is tomorrow. I think he knows from the way he's looking at me, like I have my own little rain cloud hovering over me or something.'

 

If she had any more doubts about him knowing, they disappeared when the blonde flung himself around her and held her tight. She remembered the day after Naruto had told her he had made it. Hinata also told her the nightmares he wouldn't talk about afterwards. She hugged him tightly in return as a reassurance.

 

“That's great Naruto-kun. He's going to be a fine ninja just like his dad.” Naruto pulled back and looked her in the eyes trying to convey his unspoken thoughts.

 

“As long as he remembers never to give up and that no matter what there are people rooting for him…” She was able to read beneath the underneath in his statement.

 

“I'm sure he will. Well, goodnight Naruto, give the family my love.”

 

“I will. Goodnight Sakura-chan!” She watched the blonde ninja take to the roof tops. Her key was already in the lock when she heard the `poof' behind her. She quickly turned around. A visit from Hatake Kakashi was rare indeed. She couldn't for the life of her remember the last time he had dropped by. He had his hand up in his customary hello.

 

“Yo.”

 

She was still in shock as he stood there with his eye crinkled in a smile. She watched him shove his hand back in his pocket and lean toward her questioningly. She was at a loss for words.

 

`What's he doing here? He never comes here. Has he ever been here before?'

 

“Uh…”

 

“It's impolite to stare Sakura. Are you feeling alright?”

 

His silver brow knitted in fake concern. He knew she was shocked; he had never visited her like this before. He just thought it was amusing the way he had made her jaw drop like she was catching flies.

 

“W-What are you doing here? Am I in trouble? Does the Hokage need me? Did some body die? Is it Ino? Is Pig ok? Answer me damn it!” He inwardly chuckled at her frenzied state. His clear commanding voice broke through her fears.

 

“Sakura calm down.” He watched her breathing regulate as she finally came out of her daze.

 

“Sorry, it's just…” She looked highly embarrassed, but he waved it off.

 

“No need. I just came to give you this.” He unsnapped one of his vest pockets and out fell a bell.

 

It was one of the very bells that had been the bane of her existence when she was twelve and the very same bell she had gotten from him at the age of 15 when she and Naruto had tricked him into submission. Kakashi dropped it into her hand and she stared at it bewildered.

 

`Why is he giving me this?' Her thoughts must have been written all over her face.

 

“I thought I taught you how to look beneath the underneath…”

 

His voice betrayed that he was waiting for her to catch on. She thought about the bell and his statement. She thought about what Naruto had said to her just a few minutes ago and then it hit her. She looked up at him and smiled widely.

 

`Like Naruto, he knows too…and is silently cheering me on.'

 

She could tell he was smiling at her and then he reached out like he was going to ruffle her hair like he used to do when she was younger. She dropped the happy smile and glared at him. He quickly changed maneuvers mid air.

 

`I guess it is hypocritical of me to be saying “You've turned into an honorable ninja” and then treat her like she was that naïve little girl…'

 

He awkwardly patted her shoulder while his other hand nervously rubbed the back of his silver head. Her wide smile returned and he was glad. After the third pat she watched him retract his hand and wave good-bye and in a `poof' she was left standing alone, but still smiling. Inner Sakura was pumped.

 

`I'll give it my all! No way will I let them down!'

 

XXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

The next day she had arrived at the designated time and place only to find herself being blindfolded and then carried over an unfamiliar shoulder. She neither knew where she was going or who was carrying her. She figured this was to test her willingness to follow orders without question or they were just messing with her mind.

 

`Probably a little bit of both, the sadistic bastards…'

 

At the end of their journey she was deposited to the soft earth like a sack of potatoes and then told to stand up. Her mode of transportation removed her blind fold and the moonlight glared brightly into her eyes.

 

They were standing in the middle of a forest surrounded by trees.

 

Her carrier brought out the portable flare like light she had used once while underneath the catacombs of Orochimaru's castle. He beckoned her to kneel next to him.

 

The masked man flattened out a scroll in between them with rocks on the edges to hold it in place. It looked like a diagram of some sort. She sat completely still as the leader/examiner handed her a white mask with no markings.

 

“As of this moment you are no longer your birth name. Your code name will be Moon, remember that. This is the diagram of the building that is 200 yards directly to the east. Your mission is to retrieve the scroll that is guarded here.”

 

The leader pointed to a room on the top floor of the building directly in the middle of the complex. She listened with rapt attention, not wanting to miss any vital detail. This was happening all so fast, but she couldn't lose focus before she even got started.

 

“Once the scroll is in your hands you are to read, memorize and then burn it. Finally you are to wait in the scroll room to receive your next orders. Is that clear?”

 

`Why am I supposed to wait in enemy territory? I wonder why I'm not supposed to high tail it to safety. Why in the hell are they having me read the damn scroll! Didn't we learn in the academy that you never tamper with the mission objective!'

 

These were the questions she was just itching to fire at the hooded man, but there was no time for that. She would just have to follow orders like the good little ninja she was.

 

“Yes, sir”

 

“Now there are sure to be traps and trip wires all over the outside area. Guards are usually stationed here, here, and here. Stay to the shadows as much as possible, use the cover of night as your element of surprise. Intelligence says the most skilled ninja is in the scroll room itself but there are also roamers inside, our sources say three.”

 

`Wow, they couldn't make it any harder could they…'

 

“You have 4 hours to complete this mission before they destroy the scroll.”

 

`Guess I was wrong…'

 

“You are to treat this as a real life situation. Your enemies will be aiming to kill. You however will not. If even one operative is killed you will fail and suffer the direst of consequences do you understand me?”

 

`How freaking fair is that!'

 

“Yes, sir”

 

“I hope you understand me when I say that as a “wanna-be” you are like the dirt beneath their fingernails. No, you are less then the dirt beneath their fingernails; you're more like the parasites that feed off of dead rotting fish at the bottom of the ocean. They will not pull punches or give you the slightest bit of leeway...”

 

Sakura knew the man's words were meant to mess with her mind and create fear and doubt; truthfully they just pissed her off.

 

`Freaking parasite my pale white ass!'

 

“Regardless, we are also testing your use of restraint, something an ANBU member must possess on certain occasions. There will be missions where you are to steal or gather information without causing casualties that would bring unnecessary attention to further operations.”

 

`…blah, blah, blah...'

 

The parasite dig was still fresh in her mind and her adrenaline was starting to spread through her blood and muscles. She was ready to get started.

 

“Remember, no casualties, get the scroll, read, memorize burn, you have four hours starting…” She watched him set his wristwatch.

 

“…now!”

 

She was already racing over her second tree limb towards her objective as her nameless examiner looked up from his timer. She didn't hear his next words as she was already too far away.

 

“I hope Kakashi was right about her…”

 

XXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

The wind whipped her pink tresses behind her masked face. She used this time to get used to the new sensation of wearing a mask. The eye holes were large enough not to interfere with her vision thankfully.

 

She was nearing what looked like a haphazardly built stone two story building. The outside area was surrounded by a metal fence that was topped off with what looked like barbed wire. There were two gate guards, one to the east and one to the west. They were housed in makeshift shacks that reminded her of phone booths, but just wide enough to fit a small bench in for the guard to sit on.

 

`Didn't he say there were supposed to be 3 on the outside? Where the hell is the third?”

 

Just then she caught sight of the third shinobi making his way around the corner of the small complex. He was a patroller.

 

“Ok, let's see here…”

 

She pulled out the diagram she had taken before she left, getting into the compound would be relatively easy, but getting into the interior of the building without getting caught would be a hell of a lot harder. Three roamers meant she had to be on top of her game.

 

“…three entryways ground level, six windows on the first floor and six more on the second…”

 

`Using a door is obviously out of the question, a window maybe? Window it is, first things first, gotta take care of the outside. I just know I'm gonna have to fight that scroll room guy. That means I gotta put all 6 out of commission so he won't have any backup…great…'

 

Sakura jumped to the tree limb nearest the fence. She licked her finger and put it up in the air testing the direction of the slight wind.

 

`At least I have one thing going for me so far.'

 

She ripped a small edge off the diagram scroll she held and let it float down to the metal fence. She smiled smugly as she watched the paper sizzle like an insect caught in a bug zapper some people put on their porches.

 

`Electrified…aw, how cute…'

 

Sakura dropped down to the ground and quickly melted back into the shadows as the patrol ninja rounded the corner again. Keeping her chakra masked, she waited patiently as he continued on his way. As he rounded the corner out of sight she concentrated chakra to her feet and broke into a run toward the fence.

 

In a series of flips she cleared the top of the barbed wire and landed soundlessly on the other side. The second her feet taped the ground she broke into a run and flattened herself against the building between two windows. Under the shadow of the overhang she waited for her prey to return.

 

She took this time to chance glances into each darkened window. Each room was devoid of life signs.

 

`Good. I don't need an audience for what I'm about to do.'

 

Her body tensed and she held her breath as the patroller came into view. She watched with baited breath as he walked just yards from her and when he was directly in her line of sight she retrieved two senbon from her pack. If she couldn't kill them, she'd do the next best thing.

 

In one swift fluid motion the needles flew from her fingers and punctured the flesh of the man's neck. He dropped to the ground in a heap. She rushed forward in a blink of an eye and dragged the man into the shadows. He wasn't dead, but he sure as hell looked and felt like it.

 

`Haku, you taught us more than just fighting to protect someone…'

 

Seeing the young shinobi's use of the needles had sparked her interest even back then. She has had years in her own medical training to learn of their uses and the bodies many weak points. Shizune had gladly offered the young kunoichi help in that department. She didn't feel too sorry for the man in the near death state at her feet.

 

`Bastards called me a parasite…'

 

She still had the two at the gate to contend with, but with the patroller out of the way, they were now easy targets. She lay down on the ground at her spot under the two windows and crawled to the edge of the east side of the building. This way, she would be undetected from the inhabitants and still stay hidden in the building's shadow from the outside.

 

In her position just a few feet from the east gate guard she readied her choice of weapon. It was a simple bamboo blow gun with a poison tipped dart. The poison was not lethal, it only induced sleep. The effects were tested to last a good two hours.

 

Once her target sat slumped with his head dropped to his chest and a small dart protruding from the back of his neck, she moved on to the west gate and did the same.

 

`There's no way the rest is will be this easy….will it?'

 

She silently stood up from her position with her back pressed against the building. She was near another window.

 

`Breaking in from the ground floor is too expected…I'll check out the roof first.'

 

Trusting that there were no more enemies on the outside she sidestepped to the part of the building that had no windows. She focused chakra to the soles of her feet and began her trek up the side of the building.

 

The roof was flat and unfortunately gave her no entrance to the buildings interior, not even an air duct or a chimney.

 

`Looks like my only option will have to be a window, but it will have to be a second floor window and there is no way in hell they'd just leave it unlocked.'

 

Sakura consulted with her map again and after a minute she walked over to the side of the roof.

 

`…looks like this is the position of the scroll room. I'll have to pick a side room since I know for certain someone is in this one.'

 

She picked the left room and positioned herself above the window. She pulled out a small vanity mirror she kept in the pocket of her vest. She lowered it over the side of the roof and used it to look into the window from her position laid out on top of the roof's shingles.

 

The inside was dark, but she caught the form of a figure moving across the room headed for the doorway. She decided to risk waiting to check if there was a pattern to the masked man's methods. After what she guessed to be fifteen minutes she was pretty sure he checked this room in five minute intervals.

 

`Five minutes…that's all I've got.'

 

As soon as his last foot walked over the threshold she moved into action. She put the mirror back in its place and let half of her self dangle off the side of the roof. From the upside down position she went to work.

 

With surgical precision she focused the chakra in the tips of her fingers to scalpel blades. She set about cutting the glass around the windows frame quickly. Her internal clock was ticking off the minutes as she concentrated on her task. With just a minute to go she lifted the square of glass onto the roof and then grabbed the edges of the roof and flipped her self into the darkened room soundlessly.

 

She had done a nice enough job that in the darkness you couldn't tell if the window had been tampered with. She silently thanked Kami for making this summer night so calm.

 

`Medic ninjas should learn to use their skills in more ways than healing.'

 

How many times had she heard that before? Kakashi, Naruto, and even Sasuke had taunted her with that barb. If they only knew the extent of great chakra control…

 

`But then again, Kakashi had gotten a taste of it, hadn't he?'

 

She let her smile drop as she heard her target coming back. She swiftly hid beside the bookshelf with her back against the wall, waiting. She had watched him walk by this spot 3 times already in his previous patrols of the room.

 

Using the element of surprise she grabbed him and put him in the sleeper hold, arms around his head and neck, to stifle his sounds.

 

Unfortunately for her, her enemy was not to be underestimated. He sent a forceful swing of his elbow into her kidney and stomped on her foot. She swallowed her pain as she was forced to let him go.

 

Just as her opponent was no doubt in the process of alerting his comrades she lunged at him and managed to stick a senbon in his neck. It was just too bad she had missed the spot needed to rear him unconscious.

 

The needle though had stopped the alert from spilling from his masked covered lips, but unfortunately he was still able to fight and their scuffle was sure to attract unwanted attention.

 

`Why didn't I just needle his ass in the first place? Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!' Inner Sakura was waging a silent war with herself.

 

Her attacker couldn't speak, so that ruled out his use of nenjutsu, but apparently his taijutsu skills were nothing to shake a stick at. She was all too aware of this fact as she felt her back breaking through the wooden table in the middle of the room, his hand on her throat.

 

`Shit! Well, guess they know I've decided to join the party.'

 

She lay there on top of the splintered wood for just a second longer and then her legs were flying in the trade mark “Konoha whirlwind”.

 

`Scroll guy won't leave his post; I'm handling this guy so that means two more are probably on their way. Shit! I can't be caught playing around. Come on damn it, think…'

 

Then it clicked. She was told not to kill them, but not to seriously damage them. She would end this with her next move. Since they already knew she was there, she could hear hurried steps heading their way; she didn't have to hold back.

 

She amassed chakra in her tightened fist and expelled it in an instant upon it landing on her opponent's chest. He went flying back and broke through the wall to hit the hallway and slide to the ground unconscious. He would probably have more than a few broken ribs, a concussion, and some nasty bruises but he wouldn't die.

 

Kunai were thrown through the newly created hole and she kicked the bookcase over in front of her. She heard the “thwack” of weapons hitting wood. There was a cloud of smoke as a smoke bomb went off and she heard a yell.

 

“Konoha sword style: Slashing Heavens!”

 

Her mind whirled as she barely missed being sliced in half by the metal blade her female opponent wielded. The glint of the silver blade, long purple hair, and the striped cat mask seemed all too familiar some how. The answer hit her like a ton of bricks.

 

`That deceased Chuunin examiner's old girlfriend…shit! I heard she was a master swordsman…crap, crap, crap!'

 

Metal bit into the flesh of her right side as she dodged away from the woman's strike. Fingers whirled two kunai out of her pouch as the sword cut in to attack once again. Sparks flew in the darkness as metal danced with metal. Sakura could barely keep up.

 

`If this goes on any longer I'm done for.'

 

Conserving chakra had been a high priority since she knew the hardest fight would be at the end, but she would have to use some now if she wanted to live much less finish the exam.

 

Her kunai were crossed and raised above her head trying in vain to hold off the woman's downward slice, both set of arms were shaking from the force of each other's struggle. Sakura knew this was probably going to be her best chance.

 

`I'll take a potentially dangerous wound over certain death any day…'

 

Without a second thought she focused a large burst of chakra into both hands and then let her weapons slide from her fingers as she slid her hands to the woman's wrists. In doing so the blade came down and sliced through her left shoulder, but in an instant the sword was dropped and Sakura sent a powerful round house kick into the shocked woman's stomach sending her to meet her fallen comrade.

 

Her body bled from two places but the one on her side was nothing compared to the weeping wound on her shoulder. She placed a healing hand to the most critical wound and began to mend it with what little chakra she could afford.

 

`Two down and two to go…'

 

She moved to the hallway expecting to meet her next encounter, but it was empty. He was no doubt hiding in the shadows, just like the one who was somewhere in the scroll room she could plainly see into.

 

`That one won't come out though; he'll guard my prize with his life no doubt.'

 

Just as she thought that, what felt like wire wrapped around her shins and pulled the ground out from under her. Luckily her hands shot out to the ground before her nose was broken. In a flash her attacker was on her and she quickly twirled her last kunai out of her pouch and tried to cut the wire. It didn't work.

 

`Chakra infused…damn it! This must be his specialty. Long range attacks huh?'

 

She roughly stuck the kunai into the floor beside her as she was dragged further into the shadows. Sakura's hand glowed in the darkness. She finally cut through the wires with her chakra laden fingers.

 

The moment the wires retracted back, more glowing wires assaulted her body like whips. They left behind bloody tears in her uniform and flesh. Her shoulders, arms, legs, and chest stung with their new wounds. She couldn't pinpoint the direction the wires kept coming from; it was like they were coming from everywhere at once.

 

`Well, if I can't go to him, I'll bring him to me!'

 

She stood her ground taking lash after lash for what felt like hours, but in reality only a few seconds, while trying to focus her eyes enough to see the wires and not just the blur of movement. The pain was making her eyes water and her knees wobble. Drops of blood were falling to the floor around her.

 

“There!”

 

She snatched a wire and wrapped it around her fist and forearm. The chakra infused material bit into her skin as she slid a foot back to brace herself. With her legs holding her steady she heaved her attacker toward her. She side stepped the body that came hurdling her way and side kicked him through the open doorway of the scroll room.

 

In doing this, the unfortunate soul activated the blast seal that had been placed on the doorway. Needless to say, she damn sure hadn't been expecting that. She was blown back from the force of the blast and ended up hurdling down the stairs.

 

Sakura picked herself up from the bottom of the stairs coughing. Fatigue was starting to set in from the loss of blood and use of chakra. Oh how she wished she was a bottomless pit of stamina like Naruto sometimes. Then a horrified thought stuck her.

 

“Shit! That guy had better not have died…” She hadn't gone through all this trouble for nothing. Inner Sakura's eyes blazed with fire as she punched the air around her.

 

`…live damn you…!'

 

She began the short journey back to the second floor scroll room. There laid the kunoichi and her first opponent still knocked out, but she had no idea where “wire guy” went. There was rubble strewn about and she walked over most of it on her way to the huge hole that used to be the scroll room's doorway.

 

She picked up the kunai she had discarded earlier and as a precaution flung it straight into the room checking for more traps or at least a response. She found none, so she walked forward into the swirling dust.

 

As she neared the center of the room, she saw her prize sitting on a wooden stand just begging to be taken. Unfortunately the scroll wasn't alone. As the dust settled she came face to face with her last opponent. The shinobi was a very large man, both in height and weight.

 

“You're lucky our friend over there is still alive. It's too bad you won't have the same luck.”

 

`Wow, one that actually talks, go figure.'

 

“Hey, I'm not the one who put that blast seal there pal? Besides, the sooner we finish here, the sooner they can all be treated right?”

 

“Then let's begin! Baika no Jutsu!”

 

If Sakura had any doubts about the huge ninja being a part of the Akimichi clan, well they were gone now. His huge fists shot out and enveloped her entire body in a bone crushing grip.

 

“I'll slowly squeeze the life out of you little girl for what you did to Nikomo.”

 

“T-that…w-was...”

 

Sakura felt her first rib break and sucked in a painful breath. This was the last guy and it really looked like he had it out for her. She was going to give this fight her all. She just hoped the second part of the test didn't have much movement involved…

 

“…n-not…m-my…”

 

Blue light illuminated from the spaces between the huge fingers crushing her body. Sweat poured from her forehead and down her covered face as she fought to throw the hands from around her. As the light flared brightly around her limbs, the muscles in her arms clenched painfully as she fought and broke free of his death grip.

 

“…Fault!”

 

The huge hands crashed into the walls on either side of her. With her own hands still aglow she rushed forward between the his outstretched arms and landed a blow in the center mass of his body that sent him sailing through the wall and just inches shy of the electrified fence outside.

 

Her chakra was depleted. That last blow had taken her will to stand. She fell to her knees. She was bleeding from several places, her ribs were broken, and her body was bruised, but her spirit was still intact.

 

`I won…I can't believe I did it…'

 

That's when she remembered the scroll. She crawled her way to the center of the room and gingerly took the item she had risked her life for. With shaking hands she peeled the scroll open and read its contents out loud.

 

“Icha-Icha Survival's new release date is July 23rd 2006.”

 

Sakura's hollow laughter rang in the silence around her and drifted out into the night's air. She moved with the quickness of a zombie as she pulled her lighter from a vest pocket and light the parchment on fire. Her laughter was a byproduct of her pain and frustration. She really felt like crying. A silver haired, mask covered face popped into her mind. It had been his writing. She could recognize his hurried brush strokes anywhere. It always reminded her of chicken scratch.

 

`I hate you with every fiber of my being right now Kakashi…'

 

As she looked up she noticed her masked examiner approached her.

 

“Phase two starts now.”

 

`…can't they even give me time to breathe…?'

 

Sakura had no energy to block the incoming blow. She fell into blissful unconsciousness with her last thought being….

 

`What the hell!'

 

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

 

Author's Footnote:

 

I wanted something totally different than the usual “Forest of Death” trial. I figured stealth would have to be a prerequisite for the ANBU exam so…here was my idea!

 

Ok, hm, I'm totally making things up as I go so…Next chappy! The mental part of the exam! Oh, yeah!

 

Why is she tied to a chair? Who is that whispering in her ear? Why is she seeing these images? Wait, some of them never happened…right? Why the hell does keep asking her about that stupid scroll!

 

There might be some angst, remember Naruto had nightmares after his exam and as you can tell it wasn't from the first part, but I'm a happy-happy type person and I wanted to try my hand at my own version of Sakura so don't expect her to drown in her sorrows!