Kosa raised her twinswords and crossed them over her head… but nothing happened.
"Not even a single cloud in sight?" she muttered, scowling as she flicked her eyes skywards. "Just how dry is this stupid country?"
Throughout this run of the Chūnin Exams, a recurring issue among the teams from Kirigakure and Agakure had been their inability to use their techniques to full effect, thanks to the lack of moisture in the air.
"Looking down on , are you?" Kosa hissed, her scowl deepening as she caught sight of Sakura's cheeky smirk. "What, too good to draw your sword?"
"I didn't need it to beat your master," Sakura said, tapping the poml of her sword. "I certainly won't need it to fight you."
It was the sa story as during the last Chūnin Exams. Even though Lady Tsunade had lifted the ban on Breast Flow, using her sword to drain her opponent's chest in front of tens of thousands would only shine a spotlight on her and raise suspicions about the extent of her powers. No— if she had to use it, better to wait for a certain unsuspecting soone with two Kekkei Genkai…
"Lightning Burial: Feast of Lightning!"
In one smooth motion, Kosa reversed her grip on both swords and drove them into the ground. Jagged bolts of yellow lightning erupted from the buried blades, zigzagging towards Sakura, just as she was performing the monkey hand seal. Then, as if it had suddenly lost interest in electrocuting its target, the lightning abruptly forked away, veering wildly off course before exploding harmlessly ten tres behind her.
"Lightning Style: Chidori!"
With her right hand cloaked in blue lightning held in front of her, Sakura dashed toward Kosa like an arrow, slicing through the crackling current ahead. As expected of the unevolved form of the Raikiri, the Chidori could just as easily cut through electricity— negative charges naturally repelled other negative charges!
"Two can play at that ga!" Kosa snarled. "Lightning Style: Lightning Strike Armour!"
Drawing power from her swords, Kosa cloaked her entire body in crackling lightning chakra, almost as if she had entered Lightning Chakra Mode. Faster than Sakura was expecting her to react, Kosa tore her blades from the ground and lunged at her, eting her lighting-imbued fist head on with a twin slash.
BANG!
Repelled by the surging currents, the two girls were violently forced apart, raising clouds of dust behind them as their feet scrabbled across the sandy ground of the arena. For a few seconds, a few phantom thunderbolts continued arcing in the spot where they had clashed, filling the air with the sll of ozone.
One could almost say that the atmosphere was… electric. And judging from their loud cheering and clapping, the audience also seed to be enjoying the special effects!
At any rate, now that her opponent had cloaked herself in lightning chakra, Sakura's plan to use Lightning Style: Chakra-Enhanced Strength was no longer practicable. The technique didn't cause physical damage— rather, it acted a bit like an EMP, except that it would short out the nervous system instead of a computer. But with her opponent shielded like that, it was useless. She'd just have to find soone else to try it on later…
Sakura slipped a hand into her weapons pouch and drew a single senbon, slotting it neatly between her forefinger and middle finger. She then lifted her hand to eye level and carefully took aim…
Noticing Sakura pointing at her, Kosa flickered.
A true Lightning Chakra Mode user could move faster than an ordinary three-tomoe Sharingan could perceive, but luckily for Sakura, her opponent was using a bargain bin version of the technique. She was fast, but not so fast that her Sharingan couldn't track her.
Kosa flickered again and again, but she couldn't shake her foe's aim!
"There!"
Predicting her opponent's next move, Sakura swivelled and pointed her finger gun at Kosa… and imdiately lowered her arm, aiming at her feet!
"Lightning Style: Lorentz Gun Jutsu!"
There was a blinding flash of light and an ear-splitting BOOM, as the slender needle nearly instantly accelerated to Mach 5. It lted mid-air before it could even reach its target, then exploded at Kosa's feet, blasting a crater into the arena floor and throwing the hapless girl into the air.
???
"…!" shouted Sakura. "…?"
The blast had nearly ruptured her eardrums; all she could hear now was ringing. But judging from Hayate's murderer's movents, it seed like she had won.
"…!" screeched Sakura in fright, recoiling as Kosa's limp body landed at her feet.
Yep, she had definitely won.
Good thing Sakura had angled the shot away at the last second— otherwise, Kosa would've been blown to bits, sturdy lightning chakra cloak or not. Killing wasn't against the rules in the Chūnin Exams, but in the spirit of promoting friendly relations between villages, Sakura had graciously spared the other girl's life… even if she had just tried to fry her into bacon.
As she and her teammates made their way back to the competitors' box under a storm of cheers she couldn't hear, Sakura shoved her pointer fingers into her ears, channelling soothing yang chakra down her ear canals.
"Mystical Palm Jutsu!"
A hot, prickly sensation blood on the sides of her head as the healing process began.
"…was amazing! What was that last move?" ca Ino's voice as Sakura's hearing returned. "Oi, are you even listening? Take your fingers out of your ears."
A booming voice echoed through the coliseum, cutting clean through the roar of the crowd.
"What a splendid way to conclude the quarter-finals," Gaara spoke into his microphone in a neutral tone. "It's almost hard to believe the matches we've just witnessed were between Genin."
"Hehe," said Sakura sheepishly, sticking out her tongue cutely.
In truth, there was no reason for Chūnin Sakura to feel guilty— the two 'Genin' from Takigakure that had accompanied Fū to the Chūnin exams were actually Jōnin, and so was Terumī i… though she was closer to the level of the Five Kage.
Had i challenged Zabuza for the title of Fifth Mizukage, there was little doubt she would have won— but her dream was for Kirigakure to prosper, and so, she had stepped aside with grace, unwilling to spark a civil war between her faction and Zabuza's. After all, it had been Zabuza who hired the Akatsuki to help him assassinate the Fourth Mizukage— an act that, in the eyes of many, made him a national hero.
And besides, she rembered all too well the fate of Pakura of the Scorch Style…
"There will be a brief, hour-long break for lunch, after which the semifinals will comnce," Gaara continued. "Thank you for your patience."
It wouldn't do for the foreign dignitaries to go hungry!
"Great, I'm starving," said Chōji, patting his stomach. "I think I can sll a concession stand down that path over there."
"It's a sha Sasuke-kun's team got eliminated in the quarter-finals while you two were gone," sighed Ino. "I would have loved to see his heroic figure in action…"
Sakura stopped in her tracks, stunned.
"What do you an, eliminated!?" Sakura said in disbelief. "He's got Lee on his team! The Rock Lee!"
Karin was also a mber of Team Guy, but her combat power wasn't worth ntioning. But even without their temp mber Sasuke, it shouldn't have been an issue for Lee to sweep through re Genin solo! Had they ssed up with the tag-out system, or sothing?
"So?" replied Ino, sounding rather bored. "You beat him in the last exams, didn't you?"
Sakura ntally brought up the tournant brackets. If Team Guy had lost in the second round, and if the team from Takigakure had forfeited in the first round… then, didn't that an Team Kurenai had sohow managed to beat Lee? Literally how!?
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