Puppeteer

Not everyone is friendly

Shortly after meeting the Sand shinobi, Team 7 met up with Kakashi. They'd arrived at the meeting place -a bridge- and had been greatly surprised to have him arrive more or less on time. The man bearing great news of how they were progressing in ranks, the prospect of becoming Chuunin exciting the young genin. The trio instantly returning home to gain parental/guardian permission to take part in the exams.

However, it wasn't until a few weeks later that the exams actually began. The team choosing to arrive about 10 minutes early and unsurprised at the fact the corridors were empty. Candidates for the exams yet to arrive at the academy. Passing through the first task with ease, the group found themselves sitting in the currently empty classroom in which the exams would take place. It wasn't until 15 or so minutes after they'd arrived that the rest of the candidates began to steadily file into the room. 30 minutes after that, genins arrived in a wave, clearly, something had happened which had caused this to occur.

At the sight of the rest of Konoha 9, Sakura's two teammates lept to their feet (or paws in Akamaru's case) and raced towards their academy friends. Sighing, Sakura got to her feet, slowly following after them. "So the losers have finally arrived?" Kiba's voice was loud as he addressed the six other genins in front of him. "What do you mean 'finally'?"  Ino said loudly, her finger pointing at the boy in offence, "I mean we got here, what, an hour or so ago?" the Inuzkua turned to look at his female teammate who nodded her head in agreement. Eyes turning to look at the quite girl, something felt very different about her. In the academy she was cold, warming up as the years went by. But now, it was like her personality had done a complete 180, the aura in which surrounded her giving everyone a sense of both relaxation but also cautiousness. It was quite uncomfortable.

After brief reflections on what's been going on, a silver-haired boy approached the group. "Hey, you guys. You should quiet down a little. So you're the nine rookies that just graduated from the academy, correct? You're fooling around with those cute faces... Geez, this isn't a field trip." his sarcastic comments, however, were not greatly received by his audience though, "Who are you to tell us that?" Ino said arrogantly, "I am Kabuto Yakushi. Look around you..." the group turned to see essentially everyone in the room glaring at them. "The ones behind you are from the Hidden Village of Rain. They have a short temper. Everyone is tense since its right before the exam. I warned you so you don't get picked on. I guess it can't be helped though since your all just rookies who don't know anything. It makes me remember the old me. Maybe I should give my cute little underclassmen some information, then with these recognition cards. In simple terms, it's a card that has information burned into it using my chakra. I've collected information for this exam for the last four years. There are about 200 cards in total. It looks white but to get the information out of this card, I need to use my chakra." he spun the card around using his index finger before it released a poof of smoke and the blank paper was replaced by a map. "This one shows the number of examinees and countries participating. It also has the number of participants from each hidden village. Let me ask you, why do you think we do the chuunin exam together? First, it's to deepen friendly relationships with other countries. Next, it's to heighten the level of the ninja. That is what they say anyway. The real purpose is to confirm the level of ninja in each adjacent country to try and balance out the power. If they don't do that, the weaker ones with being invaded and dominated by the stronger villages. So they need to check and restrain each other's power."

"Are there any cards that have detailed personal information?" now it was Sasuke's turn to talk, the Uchiha speaking confidently and rather pridefully, "Yes. Is there someone that interests you?" was his response and from the smirk growing on the boy's face, it was exactly what he wanted to hear, this only being confirmed by his verbal confirmation, "The information on this exam's examinees is not perfect, but I've burned and saved them. They include information on all nine of you as well. Tell me whatever you know about the people who interest you. I'll look it up for you."

"Rock Lee from Konoha... Also, do Sakura, the one over there." he pointed to the pink-haired girl who'd previously been scolding her two teammates but upon hearing her name, she turned to look at the Uchiha. "Oh, you know their names. Then it won't take much time." the man then flicked through the pack before drawing two cards and holding them before him, "Here we go." Sasuke scowled at Kabuto, "Show me." The man smirked before applying chakra to one of the cards, "Rock Lee, he's one year older than you. Mission experience:  20 D-rank and 11 C-ranks. The squad leader is Might Guy. His hand-to-hand combat skills have dramatically increased this past year, but his other skills are terrible. He got everyone's attention as a skilled rookie Genin, but he didn't take the chuunin exam. This is his first time taking it, like you. His team is made up of Tenten and Neji Hyuuga."

Kabuto then placed the second card down before applying chakra to it "Next, let's see Sakura Haruno, she's your age, but I'm sure you already know that. Mission experience: 7 D-rank, 1 C-rank and 1 A-rank. The squad leader is Kakashi Hatake. Whilst she is proficient in taijutsu, genjutsu and ninjutsu, she excels in -that's interesting- puppetry. In fact, she is the only puppet user in Konoha. Rumour has it the first time she was seen it was with Akatsuki members in Iwagakure and she defeated the jinchuriki there to collect their chakra. It is unknown what she did with it though. This is her first time taking the exam and her team is made up of Naruto Uzumaki and Kiba Inuzuka." eyes turned to the girl who tensed at the description. He shouldn't know most of that information... So how did he? She was drawn out of her thoughts by Naruto's voice, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I'm not going to lose to any of you! Got that?!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, pointing aimlessly towards the crowd, "That felt good." he said before crossing his arms behind his head. Sakura looked at the smaller boy before letting out a laugh, "I'm sure you will, Naruto." was all she said as she ruffled his hair gently. The rest of Konoha 9 were less forgiving of the boy.

Suddenly, a team of Sound shinobi began to move around in the crowd, instincts kicking in, Sakura began to move as well. Pushing her two teammates behind her as she bit her thumb -summoning a puppet, a familiar dragon poofing into vision before shifting to take on the attackers. The kunai-thowing shinobi didn't even stand a chance against the chakra-absorbing jaws of her puppet. The ninja crying out in shock as the fangs pierced his skin before paling and collapsing as his limited chakra sources all but vanished. With the flick of her finger, she shifted the dragon towards Kabuto, the puppet coiling itself around his neck, its cold eyes gleaming in the light causing the other shinobi to hesitate. The third teammate of the group rushing over to the one on the floor, unsure how to handle the situation. Sakura, however, growled out, "I suggest you leave us alone, else that will be you next time and I won't stop until all your chakra is gone, understood?" she tilted her head in an unnerving fashion as she threatened the boy who nodded before collecting his teammate and fleeing. Sakura sighed before flicking her puppet back to her and returning it to its seal, "Let's go sit down then."