Puppeteer

Preliminaries

Iruka looked down at the trio in front of him. The majority almost failed the academy and yet they were first here, and in record timing as well. It was almost as if all they'd done was run straight to the tower. Shaking off the feeling, he smiled at them, explaining the writing on the wall behind them in simplistic terms so even Naruto would understand it. Shortly after, he led the team inside. "You are the first team here and have another 5 days until you're needed so rest up and get ready for the next exam. You can have any room, just, only take one. We don't have many here. Enjoy your break." he gave them a smile, pointing briefly at different doors and corridors as he explained the location of the main rooms. Pulling the genin in for a hug, he muttered, "I'm proud of you three. I haven't had ramen with you in a while either, Naruto, so we can catch up once the exams are over. Sound good?" he gave the boy a smile before accepting the excited nod as approval and disappearing from sight in a puff of smoke.

The next team to arrive didn't turn up for about 30 minutes. It was that Suna squad which they'd met a few days ago. To say the blonde and puppeteer of the Suna team had been shocked to see them had been an understatement. They had Gaara! How could they have been beaten by a group of fresh-out-of-the-academy genins?!

Sakura looked blankly at the team in front of her, the disbelief clear in their eyes. Giving them a once-over, she deemed them not a threat and turned back to the meaningless task she'd been assigned. Her idiotic teammates had decided they would give cooking a go but had burnt the food instantly. Unable to eat and practically starving, Sakura found herself getting out a pot and looking through the fridge for anything that looked half-decent. Scowling at the lack of edible-looking food, she grabbed a packet of tofu and began to make miso soup.

-

By the end of the 5 days, quite a decent amount of teams had arrived in the tower meaning not only was it more cramped, but food quality and quantity was beginning to drop as well. Whether this food shortage was deliberate or not was unknown, but from the amount of smouldering food Sakura had found in the bin, it probably was not intentional.

Either way, the preliminary round had now begun, the arena holding the few teams which had passed and their teachers as well as the Hokage and a few lower ranked ninjas. Sakura had spent the majority of the long-winded speech from the Hokage doing a mental tally of all the puppets she currently had. The 5 days at the tower had given her plenty of free time to produce more and after tricking her teammates into helping, she managed to double her production rate -for the other two were much slower and had lower quality. Not that that was much of an issue, now she had a multitude of wooden models and was very excited to use them.

She was jerked from her thoughts by the feeling of Naruto's elbow digging into her ribs, turning to scowl at the blonde jinchuriki, she was stopped by the fact they were clearing out the arena. thanking the boy, she followed her teammates up to the balcony. Without evening having to ask, she heard Naruto's voice declare, "We're doing solo fights! Watch me beat everyone here, dattebayo!" Sakura gave him a grin before turning to peer at the empty floor, a neutral look on her face.

-

Slowly but surely, the fights began and ended in a seemingly endless cycle. Her two teammates duking it out together in a 'show of power' honestly, it was slightly embarrassing how it turned out, not that Sakura really cared. Kunoichi's tended to be the weak link in a ninja unit and if they messed up, it just meant that she was at an advantage. Or so she thought.

Sakura Haruno vs. Ino Yamanaka

Turning to look at the blonde girl, Sakura gave her a cold smile before jumping over the railings and landing in the arena. Approaching the jonin in the middle of the arena, she nodded in acknowledgement before staring blankly at her opponent. "Begin,"

The moment the words left his mouth, the proctor jumped away, but the two girls stayed completely stationary in the middle of the arena. "Listen here, forehead, don't underestimate me! I'm much stronger than I was in the academy! I shall win this fight and finally beat you." Ino loudly declared, a smirk on her face as she raised her right hand to point at the other girl. Sakura looked at the girl before nodding her head, an innocent smile on her face. Ino simply frowned, the irritation of having Sakura ignore her, an heiress, was annoying, but to be completely disrespected? That meant payback.

The audience watched on as the blonde girl raced around behind the pink-haired girl, hand moving towards her weapons pouch as she ran. Jumping in the air and twirling, she threw the kunai her opponent who turned on the heel of her foot. With relative ease, she connected her chakra strings to the kunai, jerking them out of the way. "Try harder than that, Yamanaka" When Ino landed on the floor, she let out an almost animalistic growl before shaking her head, she must be more feminine, for Sasuke. Blue eyes met green, a hatred sparking from the blonde but a sense of indifference from Sakura.

Taking note of Ino's lack of movement, Sakura sighed before speaking, "I'm not normally one to brag about my skills, but you are definitely out of your league here Ino. With only your clan's techniques to back you up, you're a bit of a one-trick-pony. Let's end this fight quickly, I have work to do myself, and this is not worth my time. Anyway, I would say it's my move now." Ino growled at the bored-looking Sakura in irritation, all thoughts of Sasuke gone.

Bringing her thumb up to her mouth, Sakura bit down, blood trickling down her skin and leaving a metallic taste in her mouth. Moving to put blood on various seals, Sakura spoke, "Summoning jutsu!"

People watched on as a familiar draconic puppet appeared in front of Sakura alongside various other animalistic wooden creations, in total, there were about 10 collapsed on the floor beside her. Ino laughed loudly, "I've been researching puppetry since I found out about your special skill! I know your limitations!" Sakura gave her a cryptic smile before replying, "But do you?" Ino watched in genuine horror as all ten of her puppets rose from the ground, "I've trained in puppetry for as long as I can remember, I'm not limited like everyone else." Various puppets began to target Ino, the girl unsure which would be most important to dodge. Taking note of the dragon's worn-out appearance, she decided to chance herself with that one. 

Whilst she was correct in assuming it was the oldest, there was a reason why it was so battered and that was because it was one of Sakura's strongest. The other nine were dummy puppets, completely harmless just designed to pressure Ino into allowing the dragon nearing her. Ino could only watch on in horror as she slipped, the dragon biting straight into her arm as her chakra ebbed away. The chakra string attached to the dragon suddenly glowing revealing the chakra transfering up it. "Checkmate, Ino."

- I'm really sorry for the late update, it's not my best work, but I figured it was due time I should update. I'll try and update more if I can.