Finally, the day of the final phase has arrived. A lot of people gathered in the stadium to watch the Chunnin exam, including the Hokages and various dignitaries. The first match was between Team 8 and the trio prodigies. Team 8 includes: Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame. The team's tiger-nins did not join the fight because they wanted to show their individual skills.

When the trio prodigies entered the arena, their auras were almost overwhelming. The stadium fell into silence as they stepped onto the center of the field. None of the prodigies were smiling, they kept their stoic expressions to establish their authority in the match.

"Start!" The proctor said as he backed away from the teams.

Kiba was never the strategic kind, so he charged the trio head first. He aimed for the pinkette, concluding that she would the weakest in terms of brute force. His body burned in chakra and he attempted to hit her with his elbow. She stopped it with her hand and flipped to stand behind him.

He growled in annoyance. Two smoke grenades were thrown to Sakura and her teammates would assist her, but they were occupied. The Hyuga twins were fighting each other with their gentle fists while Sasuke's flames pushed Shino's insects away. Kiba hopped into the smoke and speedily landed kicks and punches; however, each of them were perfectly blocked by the pinkette's taijutsu. Finally, he got pissed off because his plan to knock her out while she's blind did not work.

He fed a military rations pill to Akamaru and his fur turned red. The dog growled and became much more aggressive.

Akamaru hopped onto the Inuzuka's back and transformed into him. By then, the smoke has already cleared. Sakura continued to observe her opponent. She read and heard about the abilities of the Inzuka clan, but to what extent did Kiba achieve?

The two figures jumped on her, but she backed away and the land they landed on crushed beneath them. It caused a smoke of debris around Kiba and Akamaru.

The pills doubled their strength! She frowned.

"Fang over fang!" Two of them exited the debris as they rotated in incredibly high speed. They headed towards Sakura but they were stopped with Neji's gentle fists. The Haruno and the older Hyuga had exchanged places. Sakura countered Hinata's gentle fists by slapping away her wrist with equal speed. She pushed Hinata away by focusing her strength on her right fist and landed a punch on the lavender-eyes girl's chest. She was thrown a few feet away, along with the rest of Team 8.

"Sasuke! Neji!"

The boys answered to her call and held her hands. They combined their chakra to produce a new chakra nature.

"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique."

An almost transparent cube with a small sphere inside it appeared with their opponents trapped inside. They tried to escape it, but failed. Soon, the sphere exploded which made them fall unconscious. According to the scrolls, it is very possible to kill a person with that technique, but they had not mastered it to that level yet.

"Winner: Team Kakashi." Genma announced.

The trio prodigies left the arena after watching the medical team transport Team 8 away. The next team to fight was a team from the village hidden in the sand and Team 10.

Even with Shikamaru's strategy, they lost. The sand ninjas were simply too strong. All of them are combat types, especially Gaara. The red head was the strongest and he suffered from zero injuries. The Nara's strategy could only go so far as to injure Temari and Kankuro.

Finally, it was the final battle after a short period of rest. A battle between the team from Sunagakure and the Trio Prodigies.

Neji was the first to take action.

"Water Style: Raging Waves!"

This was the strategy they had planned before the match started. Soaking Gaara's sand would decrease its speed, they could land an attack on him before the sands attempt to protect him.

Temari used her fan and tried to blow the team away, but they were strong on their feet. The Hyuga's Eight Trigrams managed to block her wind.

"Cherry Blossom Release: Cherry Blossom Whirlwind!"

A whirlwind of cherry blossoms surrounded the sand ninjas and swirled with intense speed. The petals were sharper than kunais and knives. It sliced cut through their clothes and sliced their skin. Fortunately for the red head, his damp sand protected him. The only girl of their group blew the petals away, but it acted as a distraction because what came after was Sasuke's jutsu.

"Lightning Release: Lightning Slicer!"

Bright blue chakra took the shape of a boomerang formed on his hand which was raised on top of his head. It buzzed like electricity and hurt their ears.

"First throw."

He threw it to them and sliced through Gaara's sand.

"Second throw."

After catching it, he threw it again. Only this time, it separated into ten similar boomerangs and sliced their flesh, revealing ragged wounds. It surprised the team and the red head. His sand was too slow to form a shield for him.

"Third throw."

The boomerangs merged together and turned to Sasuke. Once he caught it, he threw it again and the boomerang formed into multiple boomerangs. This time, the boomerangs were faster. Temari tried many times to blow it away, but the weapon was made by electric infused chakra cut through her wind. Kankuro blocked with his puppets, but it sliced them to half. A clean cut on his puppets.

Once the boomerangs cleared, the team was left in blood. The injuries inflicted on Gaara was not as serious as his teammates because his sand acted as his armour; however, the boomerangs managed to cut through but it only grazed him.

Even though they were hurt, Temari and Kankuro's attention were completely on Gaara. They looked at his injuries in disbelief grew worried. They could definitely move on, but the red head was not stable. They had to forfeit.

Temari raised her head and said to the proctor, "We forfeit this match."

The trio prodigies were stunned. "What? Why??" Neither of them were happy about it. Even though it brought them victory, it was not justified. It was an insult to them.

Genma nodded at her and announced, "Winner of the Chunnin exam: Team Kakashi!"

The crowd cheered with enthusiasm, in contrast to the expressions of the trio and their family. The retreated into the building to be greeted by Kakashi.

"Congratulations." He smiled.

"...Thank you.." Sasuke muttered.

The day went by with a lot of congratulations and compliments, but they could not look at their family members in the eye. They were embarrassed.

Sakura frowned when her father turned away from her. Her mother embraced her gently and congratulated her.

"When are you returning home?" The blonde asked.

"Tonight. I don't have a reason to live in the Uchiha compound anymore." She was stoic.

Her mother's eyes became sad. "I'm sorry, honey.."

And she still isn't willing to tell me about it. Sakura thought.

After a silent dinner with her family, the pinkette returned to her room. She took a long shower and wore a simple and pastel coloured kimono. It's an attire she usually wears if a fight isn't expected to occur. She sat on the corridor and stared at the night sky, allowing the breeze to blow her hair to the back. She took in a deep breath and smiled at the fresh scent of grass and cherry blossom trees. It was relaxing and took her mind off things.

==

Dedicated to StoryLover_Rodriguez for adding this story to your reading list! I hope you enjoy this story!

I need to learn how to write fighting scenes lol. I freaking suck, that's why I always include jutsus and made the fights short. 😂 If only I have time to read books. I tried to include more actual fighting compared to the previous version, but.. yeah.

~Joelle

Published: December 2014
Rewritten: 9 May 2018