✓ 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 ≡ sakura haruno

16 | mind tricks or simple tricks

↪ 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴
𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘦𝘴 ↩

Iruka watched his nine students with sharp eyes, making sure they wouldn't cheat. He was glad to see that none of them was using dishonest means to pass the written exam.

He then heard loud coughing and then looked in the direction where the sound came from. Sakura seemed to be coughing every few minutes since the beginning of the day.

But then he saw her determination, she still kept on writing even when she was a sick mess. He smiled, he always knew his students were precious and hidden gems, she was only looking at the question once then she would write the answer.

'Achoo!'

However this time a sneeze interrupted his thoughts, his eyes wandered back to his student who muttered a small 'sorry' as she sneezed but continued her exams.

Iruka walked towards Sakura who was sitting on the last bench beside the window, "Sakura, are you alright?" He asked.

"Yes sensei," She replied, continuing on writing, determined to get the highest scores.

Iruka's eyes widened when he saw Sakura's slightly pale face. "You have a fever," His speculation was confirmed when he saw Sakura nod her head slightly. 

"Are you sure you are fine?" He asked her again, "Yes sensei, I had some medicine before coming."

"Very well, If you don't feel well then tell me." Iruka gave up on convincing Sakura and went back to the front of the class, observing his students. He would always glance at Sakura to make sure she was alright.

Aside from Iruka, no one in the class knew that she had a fever. After all, everyone was so busy writing for their exams that they never paid attention to anyone else.

"Sakura!"

Sakura looked back and saw Ino waving her hands at her, "Ino, how was your written exam?"

"Ugh, it was difficult!" Ino groaned in trouble.

Sakura nodded as if agreeing with her statement, "But how about you? You have a fever don't you?" Ino question, she looked too forward to Sakura's answer.

"How do you know I have a fever?" Sakura asked back, the gears in her brain already spinning.

Ino's eyes widened for a fraction of a second as she stuttered out, "B-Because your face is pale?" She twiddled her fingers together as she took a sharp breath. Her eyes looked down, hoping for Sakura to buy out her lie.

"Oh," Sakura said, as she smiled as if she wasn't suspicious. "Let's go back, our results are going to be announced soon."

"Yeah!" Ino's voice was too high, relief clearly visible on her face.

Sakura clenched her fist together. There was no way Ino would do this to her, after all, she was her best friend, wasn't she?

Sakura tried ignoring all the signs of lying. But she couldn't, after all, she was someone who lied every day in her life, and spotting a lie was easy for her. After all, she lived her whole life on her lies.

Ino's blue eyes widened in shock, the panic in those eyes couldn't be hidden from Sakura. Then she stuttered, the Ino she knew was a confident girl, she never stuttered. Ino was too out of her character.

Her reasoning was that her face was too pale and Ino concluded that she had a fever. Paleness of the face could be because of various factors such as blood loss, low blood sugar, dehydration and other reasons.

And out of all the reasons, she chose the correct one. Ino never showed any interest in being a medical ninja and these things weren't even taught to a genin. So, how did she know that she had a fever?

Ino never twiddled her fingers nor did she ever look down while talking. She was the complete opposite, she would always hold her head up high like the Yamanaka heiress she was. 

Then the relief in her voice was too high-pitched, unlike her normal voice. Was she really lying? 

No, she couldn't right? After all, they were best friends even when Sakura wanted to deny she couldn't because in her heart she had already made some space for Ino.

'Ino didn't do it,' Sakura thought to herself. 'Those are all my baseless suspicions, they have to be! '

But her suspicions weren't baseless.

"Sakura," Ino called out, "We're going back right?"

Sakura stopped thinking and slowly nodded. 

"Yeah..." She gulped silently. 

She wanted to stop thinking about it, but could she really do it?

After all, once suspicion is aroused, everything feeds it.

― Is Sakura being too paranoid or is she correct?