⏪ Back in Time! (HELP!) [Sakura Timetravel AU]

14: Chunin Exams, Start!

It was a tense encounter.

Sakura felt it. Aggression. This was not turning out good. Stepping in front of an enraged Naruto, she stood between him and Kankuro to act as a shield. Naruto, who was also trying to protect Konohamaru, looked back to check on him. The youngster stood up and dusted off his clothes, the kid had been unlucky to bump into a stranger, a hostile stranger whose immediate thought was to beat him up at that. Sakura already knew him, however, he was a part of the sand siblings: Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara. This was Kankuro. He was pissed off.

"Are you here for the Chunin Exams?" She inquired, even though she already knew the answer beforehand.

Konohamaru looked indignantly at Sakura before asking the same question- except impolitely pointing his little stubby finger at the older teenager, "Yeah! Why are you in our village! Your forehead protector doesn't match!"

"You little brat! Why else would we be in the village but-" Kankuro was silenced with a hard stomp on his foot, inducing a pained grunt from him. Temari sent a sharp glare at him and looked back to Gaara, a hint of fear glimmered in her eyes. Kankuro realized his mistake and bit his lip, scowling. Gaara was silent, he disregarded his sibling's presence as if they were nothing but a burden.

"Hey! What's up with you guys— gah?!" Sakura thrust out an arm and pulled Naruto back by the collar, hissing in his ear to read the situation. Gaara crossed his arms and locked eyes with Sakura, instantly capturing her in his gaze. It felt soulless as if he was looking at a mere piece of flesh that could be mangled and mutilated at his will. His eyes were the definition of a false sense of calm, it was unsettling, irascible. If Naruto had made one wrong move Gaara might've raised his hand and crushed them all with his sand. A flash of anxiety ran through her body, but she stood her ground.

"Will you answer my question?" She queried.

Gaara narrowed his eyes, "Yes, and I suggest you prepare," he turned his back to them, "because I won't hold back." The red-haired boy left the two siblings behind, leaving Team 7 and Konohamaru's crew to have a stare-down with them.

"...You're lucky nothing bad happened," Temari took one last glance at them before shoving Kankuro back by the shoulder, instructing him to follow Gaara. Kankuro sneered at Sakura and Sasuke, but not before giving a special stink eye to Konohamaru. "Get a move on, Kankuro!"

"Argh! I got it, fine!" Kankuro yelled, being dragged by his ear into the distance with Temari.

After the dust settled down (mostly Naruto and the kids), Team 7 gathered together under the shade of a tree nearby to discuss what went down. Naruto was still a little riled up, "Just what was their problem?! I swear that I'm gonna give them a special beating in the Chunin Exams, especially the guy with the weird paint all over his face!" Sakura and Sasuke sighed at his immature remarks.

"You can beat him up however you want when you're supposed to, but please don't start picking random fights with them. This does for every other participant there, okay?" Sakura shook her head with her hand placed on her forehead.

"We don't want to be kicked out of the exams from your ridiculous stunts either," Sasuke smirked contemptuously.

Sakura glowered at the Uchiha and bonked Naruto's head before they got into another nasty fight, "What is up with you two? Did you even hear what I said? Let's not cause any more trouble before the exams even start!"

"...I could say the same for you. You wouldn't want your body to give out in the middle of battle, right Sakura?" Sasuke left them standing under the shade, walking off to who knows where.

Naruto looked over to Sakura in confusion, "Huh? What did he mean by that? Are you okay, Sakura-chan?" His gaze drifted down to her legs, then his eyes widened in shock. "Sakura-chan! Your legs! T-There are so many scrapes and bruises, what happened?!" Sakura rubbed her arm self-consciously and glanced at her leg. She had to admit, it was sore- but that wasn't enough to stop her from doing her daily activities so she paid no mind to it until now. Her teammates were surprisingly concerned.