Sakura Haruno: The Prodigy

40

Sakura was secretly grinning at an annoyed Kakashi. She had smooth talked her way out of being a proctor and had resumed her position as being a guard for Minato. Kakashi let out a sigh and kept cleaning Sakura's Anbu mask. He really should stop teaching her everything he knows.  He knew she was going to be guarding with Itachi, and he threw a glance to a stoic Uchiha and his sensei. He shook his head and sealed Sakura's Anbu uniform in a scroll and gave her a smile. Sakura had changed out of her Anbu uniform onto her jounin uniform. He watched her put on her gloves and put the scroll into his weapon pouch. "Don't let anyone see you, and if you have to interfere then do it," he said and gave her a pat on the head. Sakura fixed her mask,made sure it was on correctly, nodded, and walked to Minato, who gave her a smile and motioned for Itachi and her to follow him.

As Sakura followed Minato, she stayed silent and found herself in front of rows of genin. Itachi looked at the genin and threw a side glance to Sakura, who seemed to be looking at each genin slowly. Minato cleared his throat and gave a cheerful grin to the genin, "Congratulations on passing the second phase of the Chunin Exams. Your work and dedication has helped you come this far. The third phase of the exams will be one on one battles. Your name will be randomly chosen, and forfeiting is allowed. The last shinobi standing will be the winner. Now, if you feel that you can't go on any longer, raise your hand. The proctor for the third phase of the exam will be Genma Shiranui," Minato finished and signaled to Genma to take the genin who forfeited to a different room.

"Head towards the stairs, your Jounin sensei will be waiting for you," Minato stated and walked to the opposite side of the stairs, followed by Itachi and Sakura. Once Minato got to his designated spot, he turned to his two guards. "Sakura," he said in a low voice, not wanting to be heard, "I want you to settle yourself underneath the statue of the hands. I will give you the order through the headset to interfere only if it's necessary," he said, and Sakura nodded, quickly making a seal and disappeared from them. "Itachi, you will watch the the jounin senseis and their genin. Orochimaru can be hiding among them," Minato stated, and Itachi gave him a nod, stood against the wall, and settled his gaze onto the other side. Genma looked at the screen and raised his hand, "Let the exams begin!" Sakura silently sat under the statue and intently  watched the matches. So far, she concluded that the Yamanaka girl lacked training.

That her Uchiha teammate lacked control of chakra and tended to use flashy attacks, the Nara boy lacked determination, and Naruto lacked planning. So far her teammates had passed and so had the Nara boy. The Yamanaka girl had failed, and now Sakura stared at the two Hyugas battling.  The Hyuga heiress and another Hyuga. The Hyuga heiress seemed to be losing, while the other Hyuga kept his attacks quick and strong. Sakura watched the Hyuga Heiress cough out blood and seemed to hold her stomach. "Come on, Hinata! Don't give up!" Naruto cheered and could hear other shouts of encouragement. The Hyuga boy seemed to advance towards the Hyuga Heiress, and Sakura silently stood up. All she heard was a beep from the headset, saw the Hyuga male raising his hand at the Hyuga Heiress, and quickly shushined out of her hiding place.

Now, she stared down at the Hyuga boy, who seemed to be screaming against the bottom of her sandal. She had only kicked his face, and he fell. So now she had her foot, well sandal, on his face. Kurenai let out a sigh and watched the medics take the injured Hyuga Heiress away. She will make sure she gives her thanks to the pink haired Kunoichi. Sakura slowly lifted her foot and looked at the angry Hyuga. "Refrain from killing the heir for your clan," she stated with a dry tone and gave a glance to Genma. "Neji Hyuga is the winner of this round," he announced and saw the Hyuga boy throw a glare at Sakura and walked back to his team. Naruto and Sasuke stared at Sakura with shock.  She had stopped Neji from killing one of their friends. "Way to go, Sakura-chan!! Naruto exclaimed, and Kakashi felt a bead of sweat roll down his face.

Although he felt pride at the way she handled things, he didn't like idea of a clan leader complaining to him about his daughter. The sand siblings stared at the pink haired Kunoichi with interest. So what she had said was true. She is Sakura Hatake. She had just used one of her well known moves. Temari smirked at the prospect of a strong kunoichi to battle against. In her eyes, Sakura Hatake was worth her time. Kankuro gave a glance to both of his siblings and shuddered at the sight of Temari's smirk. Gaara silently watched the pink haired kunoichi. A powerful opponent. One that was feared like he was. "Proceed to the next round, Genma," Sakura said and simply disappeared from his sight. Genma sweat dropped and cleared his throat. "Temari from the Sand Village, and Tenten from the Leaf Village. Come to the middle and start your match," Genma announced, and Temari smirked. Finally, it was her turn.