Behind Innocent Eyes

Reverse Ambush Uno

Last Time:

All that aside, it was time for the third round of the exam, which was Gaara vs Sakura ...

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"Oh shit." Kakashi yelped when he finally remembered about Sakura. "Sakura shouldn't be fighting." He gasped, looking genuinely worried.

Kurenai raised an eyebrow, "Why would you enter them if someone isn't strong enough? They had to be good as a team and individually ... Kakashi." Kurenai hissed, demanding an answer.

"I thought Naruto and Sasuke would get her through the team portion and she'd get weeded out during the preliminary round." Kakashi admitted as he looked down at the pinkette nervously.

The genjutsu specialist blinked, "You mean the preliminary round that didn't happen because the number of people who passed was low enough that it wasn't needed?" She asked and gave an annoyed sigh when Kakashi nodded. "You're an asshole." She said even more pissed at him now that she knew he basically neglected two students.

Guren scoffed, "Don't think about it. Naruto wanted to put in the effort to learn and train. Sakura only had Uchiha babies on her mind and she's a bitch. It wasn't your job to pick up all the slack Kakashi left behind." She said when she saw a flicker of guilt in Kurenai's eyes. No doubt she felt a little bad for only helping Naruto.

"True." Kurenai said feeling a bit better. "Besides, the third round for the exam isn't what's important." She commented, subtly reminding everyone that a bigger battle was about to start.

Everyone in Naruto's group of friends understood what that meant and tensed. Even Kakashi forced himself to not think about his devastating loss and stay alert.

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Sakura heard the referee announce her name and looked around to see who her opponent was, "Gaara huh? He doesn't look too tough." She said, sounding very relieved when she saw the red haired ninja disappear in a swirl of sand and appear in the arena. "Ok. I got this!" She said excitedly and shot Naruto a nasty glare. "Then you'll pay for hurting Sasuke."

Hinata hummed thoughtfully, "He's on the Sand team ... hey, Shino. Didn't your insects say the Sand team killed another team in the forest?" Hinata asked out loud right as Sakura was walking to the door she accidentally broke.

Despite still having Naruto's arms wrapped around his waist Shino adjusted his glasses casually, "Yes. Only one Sand ninja crushed an entire team to death. That was him." He said casually and they heard a squeak of fear behind them.

Kiba's lips twitched and tried not to laugh as he looked over his shoulder at Sakura, "Good luck!"

"Yeah." A very pale Sakura stuttered before looking at the blonde. "Umm ... Naruto-"

"You should hurry up or you'll never get in the arena let alone avenge Sasuke." Naruto commented knowing very well that she was going to ask for weapons or something.

Sakura huffed at the mention of Sasuke and stomped out of the room, "Fine! Idiot!" She yelled up the stairs, unintentionally hurting her own ears because of the echo carrying her shrill voice. "I don't need help from him." She muttered as she stepped out onto the arena ground and walked towards her opponent.

The referee looked from Sakura to Gaara, "Ready?" He asked while deliberately looking back at the pinkette, who he seemed the most concerned about. When both competitors noticed he raised his arm. Begin!" He said and jumped back to get out of the way.

"I'll let you go first. Make it count." Gaara said indifferently.

Sakura was thankful for her forethought while going through the forest before they got to the tower. She was able to get weapons, which were just lying around or from the many times Naruto stripped a team. With her stock of weapons she was able to feel a little better about this. After taking a deep breath the pink haired ninja armed herself with a few shuriken. However, she found out pretty quickly that she was outclassed.