Puppeteer

Finals

Sakura sighed loudly at the sight of a screaming Naruto racing into the arena, the blond yelling something about being chased? With a clearly disappointed sigh, she moved over to where the boy in question stood, his breathing ragged as he gasped for air.

"Naruto, please be quiet," she muttered, swinging an open hand to slap him on the back of the head in order to get her words through to him. "Sakura!" the boy's blue eyes widening in excitement before he flung himself at her body, arms open for a hug.

Green eyes watched the blond boy in slight annoyance and slight happiness -not that she'd admit to that- before scoffing and looking away half-heartedly. "Hello, Naruto," the blond boy grinned to himself, used to her behaviour.

The long lecture she received from the new proctor was one she -thankfully- didn't have to stand through alone. The entire group, as well as the audience, waited patiently for him to stop and the first names to be called.

Much to her annoyance, Sakura had Naruto shouting in her ear the entire time, his over-excited, definitely-not-inside voice causing her delicate eardrums to ring from the volume. With a sigh, she turned to shush him, only to find the proctor finishing up.

Green eyes squinting in annoyance, she shoved her hands aggressively into her pockets, sighing loudly before listening for the first names.

Much to her relief, the first pair was Naruto vs Neji, which meant that her overly exuberant blond teammate was going to be leaving her to sit alone for the next 15 minutes. Something she never thought she'd miss so much.

Smiling. Sakura quickly settled down in one of the plastic chairs situated at the back of the genin sector of the open-air theatre. Opting to ignore the strange looks she received from the other participants as to why she wasn't supporting her teammate, she chose to close her eyes and tilt her chair back.

-

It wasn't all that long after falling asleep that Sakura was being woken up again. The reason for this unwelcomed awakening something to do with either the brutal shaking that she was 100% sure gave her whiplash, or the whining of her name in her ear.

The familiar features of Naruto appearing in her narrowing eyesight. With a groan of annoyance at being woken up, she went to close her eyes again, hopefully, he wouldn't notice.

"Sakura! It's your turn!"

Green eyes snapping open, she rose to stand, peering over the edge of the balcony to see her opponent and the proctor waiting for her. The boy was familiar, that annoying sound guy who'd gotten through, what was his name... Dosu?

Whoever he was, he sure looked angry right now. Not that she could blame him, she almost slept through their match. With one last glance over her shoulder at Naruto, she heaved her body over the rails, dropping to the floor like an over-sized, pink rock.

Sakura's eyes watched her opponent as the proctor gave the same lecture as the previous one before the match began. 

Instead, the pinkette opted to slide her right leg back slightly, the change of angle forcing her body sideways and allowing a little extra power on her right-handed punches. The additional weight she planted on her back leg changing her centre of gravity and allowing her to swing it forwards to add to her punch as well.

Scowling slightly at the fact she could barely make out her opponents actual face, she chose instead to stare at the one feature she could see - his right eye. The dark grey iris merging with his pupil slightly giving him the appearance of not having one and making most of his opponents slightly creeped out.

"Begin."

Unlike most of the genin, Sakura chose to remain rooted in the spot she'd started off in, watching as Dosu mimicked her actions. In the end, it was only the proctor who backed off.

"I've been told your quite the enemy, Sakura~ My village leader warned me to surrender, but I was never one to turn tail and run. Besides, your little wooden puppet won't work on me. I'll smash it to pieces now I know what's coming."

The boy gave off the most impressively intimidating aura Sakura had ever felt off of a genin before. She could only wonder who he was referring to, suddenly it came to her, Orochimaru had mentioned something about his own village in the last few days she'd seen him.

She'd have to work hard on this fight, by the looks of it, he had every right to be confident as well. She knew that the machine on his arm allowed him to distort sound waves, and so she could only assume his words were not a bluff. If he could break people's hearing and remove their balance and even hearing.

Dosu was definitely not somebody she could fight half-heartedly and expect to win against. He would kill her given half a chance.

With a clearly disappointed sigh, she spoke. "I was really hoping that the fight I could reveal this puppet would be more exciting than this. That I would look so much cooler, but I have to do what I have to do. If you know of my puppets, I'll have to use one that you know not of. Hm?"

If she was right about Orochimaru, she could only hope and pray he hadn't warned Dosu of the puppet she was about to use, otherwise this was going to be very embarrassing. Especially since she'd really talked it up.

"I'd like to see you try."

All forms of hesitation disappeared at that comment, he was dead.

Biting her thumb, Sakura reached to the number '3' tattoo drawn in ink on her shoulder. Hands flickering through well-practised hand signs, "Summoning jutsu!" she called before a cloud of smoke appeared beside her.

"I warned you."

Sorry for the late update!