Chapter 58: Chapter 73
The first fight was between Ino and Sakura. I had collected plenty of senjutsu chakra while waiting for the preliminary matches to begin. "No punk-ass genin is going to get the drop on me this time," I thought bitterly, remembering how Rock Lee had beaten me so easily. The acrid memory of defeat still burned in my chest. Along with my disappointment in Kakashi, my mood was still sour and all I wanted to do was get my fight over with.
"Begin!" shouted the sickly looking shinobi proctor.
"Shit, doesn't that guy die later? I gotta check my notes." After 12 years, my memory for the minor details was beginning to fail me. Sometimes I wasn't quite sure whether I was working from memories or simply recognizing anime cliches as I live through them.
Sakura rushed in, assaulting Ino with taijutsu, honed after years of reluctant participation in spars with me. Ino fended off the attacks expertly, having sparred for years with her pink-haired best friend. Both of them seemed to be enjoying the fight simply as another of their practice sessions.
"Is that the best you've got, Sakura? Must be nice to have a couple of handsome boys on your team to do everything for you."
"You know I've got more, Ino. Are you ready for this?" Sakura responded, breaking off the constant stream of physical attacks to cast a jutsu. With her fingers extended together and straight, her hands became enveloped in the light blue glow of her chakra scalpels. Ino responded by casting the same jutsu, mirroring the technique with slightly more purple chakra.
I glanced at Kabuto who was scowling at the girls. I wasn't proficient enough in chakra control to perform the technique myself for use in battle but that didn't mean I couldn't teach them Kabuto's signature move.
The two girls danced around each other, swiping with their extended fingers like Chinese Kung Fu masters. I heard Naruto ask aloud, "What are they doing?" The rest of the crowd was also impressed as the two female friends struck and parried with practiced skill. It seemed like forever in the couple minutes they fought, until Ino managed a glancing blow on Sakura's upper arm, causing her to scream in pain and clutch her arm, letting go of the technique.
Panting heavily, Ino pushed her blond hair out of her face and asked, "Had enough yet?"
Although I knew she didn't have enough time to repair the muscles that Ino scrambled, Sakura refused to give up, "I'm going to make it to the finals no matter what! I can't let you stop me, Ino!"
That was when Lee said the ominously incorrect words, "She fights to impress her love! How lucky Haru must feel! Oh, beautiful Sakura-chan, one day I will free you from that evil man!"
"I still can't believe that guy managed to beat me up."
"I told you! There's nothing between me and Haru! That jerk has nothing on Sasuke-san!" Sakura screamed at Lee and pointed to me and Sasuke. Both Sasuke and I buried our faces into our palms and groaned.
"Hey, don't call Haru a jerk!" Ino shouted at Sakura. "Haru is way nicer than your stuck up boyfriend."
"Yeah, right. That demon? Nicer than Sasuke? As if."
"I'm going to make you eat those words and apologize to Haru after I win, Sakura."
"You can try, Ino-chan."
Ino went on the attack, seeking to disable the rest of Sakura's limbs. But even with one limp arm, Sakura was miraculously able to dodge all of Ino's chakra scalpel attacks.
Sasuke immediately became very interested in Sakura's newfound ability. So was Kabuto. And all the jounins.
"Goddamit. I told her to wait until the finals before she started to use the Sharingan. Doesn't she understand this is just the preliminaries?" It wouldn't take long before people started to ask where she got her new red pupil.
Ino screamed in frustration as none of her attacks were able to connect. Sakura would always dodge at the last possible moment with the least possible movement. Eventually, Ino noticed it. "What is wrong with your eye, Sakura?"
Sakura reflexively covered her eye with her good hand, having now realized she was using the Sharingan. "Shit. I wasn't supposed to..."
"Is that the Sharingan?" Ino asked.
"I'll tell you about it later, Ino."
"What did Sasuke do to you?"
"It wasn't Sasuke..." Sakura said, frantic but unable to explain fully. Instead she changed the subject, "That doesn't matter right now. We have a fight to finish."
"I thought we were friends! Why didn't you tell me? Not only did you copy my hairstyle, you're keeping secrets from me! Wait...I get it now. You got a Sharingan to get closer to Sasuke! And you tried to seduce Haru by looking like me!"
"Why does everyone think Sakura likes me? This is so dumb." I just continued to groan into a double facepalm.
Ino continued to shout at Sakura, "I'm going to kick your ass, you two-timing bitch. And you know what? If you want my hairstyle so badly, you can have it." Dramatically, Ino held her ponytail in one hand and sliced it off with a kunai with the other. She flung the strands of hair at Sakura. "There. Are you happy? Enjoy it because I'm going to prove to you that Haru won't fall for a hussy like you so easily, you copycat!"
"For the last time! I'm not interested in Haru! I can't stand that jerk! But if you won't listen to reason, I guess I'll have to beat some sense into you. And I'm not a hussy!" Sakura took a fighting stance. Despite being unable to use her left arm, one chakra scalpel was still a dangerous weapon and with the Sharingan, she still had a decent chance against Ino.
Ino tried her best to take down Sakura with kicks, punches, chakra scalpel slashes, kunai, and shuriken, but Sakura had an inhuman ability to dodge with her implanted Sharingan. I wondered how long Sakura would be able to sustain the chakra drain from the Sharingan. Both of the girls seemed nearing exhaustion.
Suddenly, Sakura froze and took a chakra scalpel to her right arm, which went limp immediately as Sakura screamed in pain. A glowing stream of Ino's chakra was traveling through her discarded hair on the floor and was wrapped around Sakura's ankles.
Ino wiped away some sweat from her brow. "How do you like my Chakra Hair Trap Technique? I'm sorry for pretending I was angry with you but I told you that one way or another, I was going to make you apologize to Haru." She formed the special hand seal for the Shintenshin, looking through her fingers at the immobilized Sakura. "I'm also going to make you forfeit the match. Sorry, girlfriend."
Sakura struggled to free her legs, but was unable to pull them away from the hair-covered floor. She seemed helpless, unable to use her arms or lift her feet. But in the instant Ino's body slumped to the floor limply, Sakura bent completely backward at the knees, flailing her useless arms backward to keep her balance. Of course, Ino's technique ended at that moment, meaning Sakura fell completely onto her back as her feet were no longer glued to the floor with Ino's chakra.
"Ouch," Sakura said as she rolled over, managing to stand by using her elbows and knees. "That was close. Sorry, Ino, but I think I win this one. And for your information, Haru is still a massive jerk," she told the unconscious Ino.
The proctor, Hayate, declared Sakura the winner.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone