Disclaimer: All characters portrayed (thus far) are creations and 
property of Kishimoto Masashi. I claim no legal right to use them, and I 
am making no money off of this piece of fanfiction. Please don’t sue 
me... or send ninja lawyers...

Spoiler Warning: This chapter still takes place during the intermission 
between the second and third stages of the Chuunin Exam. It was a whole 
month long, ya know...

Non-Yaoi Warning: There were a few more guys in this chapter, but nobody 
we know; better luck next time? ER... perhaps not...

Continuity Warning: This chapter is again a little bit after the last 
one. But rejoice! The next chapter will be directly after this one! We 
shall have continuity...

Again, this is a slight revision on the chapter as it appears over at 
www.fanfiction.net/~eimii, so please tell me what you think! I know i’m 
gonna be retconing at least few things as these FFML revisions progress, 
so don’t be shy! (Rewrites... ugh... >_<;) Anyhow, please enjoy the 
show!

~Eimii





RAIN...
 
A groan of dread escaped Sakura's lips as she gazed forlornly out into 
gray light of early morning. The raging downpour that had swirled out of 
nowhere last night hadn't stopped yet. *The roads must be like brown 
rivers by now.* What were the odds that Gai would cancel practice on 
account of the village washing away? *And deny me the chance to twist 
both ankles and eat four gallons of mud? Not bloody likely!* Sighing, 
the pink-haired kunoichi prepared to once again sacrifice her body to 
the bushy-browed demon of hard work.

*Hmm, maybe if I ruin the hideous thing, he won't make me wear it 
anymore...* she mused, digging The Jumpsuit out from behind her dresser 
drawers. The idea brought a hopeful smile to her face, but only for a 
moment. *No, he'd probably just smile, say something about the beauty of 
youth, and then give me another one.* On top of that, soaking it in mud 
would only improve how it looked, if anything. *Ugh... DAMMIT, this 
sucks!*

After she finished dressing she removed her forehead protector and put 
it back on so that the guard faced forward and dark cloth covered the 
top of her head. It wasn't much, but it might keep some of the mud out 
of her hair... though it reminded her of that creepy judge again; ick. 
At least she wasn't as sickly-looking anymore. Two weeks of training 
every day with Gai under the beating summer sun had given her a glow of 
good health that was only slightly marred by the dark rings under her 
eyes, which attested to what she still did with her nights. *It will be 
worth it! Ino pig is going down!*

With one last painful glance in the mirror to verify that, yes, she 
definitely looked like a class-A dork, Sakura snuck out into the hallway 
and down the stairs. Opening the coat closet, she pulled out her 
father's straw raincoat and hat. They were cheap to replace if the mud 
ruined them, and wearing her own raincoat with this outfit would be a 
crime. With the bird mask finishing her 'disguise,' she opened the door 
and stepped out into the rain.

Locking the door behind her, Sakura took a moment to consider the rainy 
street. She would have alter her routine a bit if she didn't want to be 
spotted looking even stupider than usual on the way to the training 
field where she'd be meeting Gai. First, she gathered some chakra into 
her feet so that she could run over the puddles without disturbing them. 
Second, she concentrated for a moment and performed the seals for a 
slightly stronger than normal genjutsu; there were fewer people on the 
streets, so it would be harder to blend into the crowd.

Satisfied that she wasn't forgetting anything, Sakura leapt out of the 
shadows in the doorway, landed in the middle of a puddle with barely a 
ripple, and began pelting down the street. Her confidence swelled slowly 
as she passed by a few of her neighbors without causing alarm, then 
spiked as she sidestepped Kiba and Akamaru without raising so much as 
whimper. The higher level jutsu didn't seem much more taxing than 
before, either. *Probably no good in a fight, though. I wonder if Gai-
sensei knows any genjutsu...* Seized by a fit of daring, Sakura changed 
course and made for the main road for a bit of 'practice.'

It had started with an idle observation that using presence-erasing 
genjutsu made it a lot harder to walk through crowds- not because she 
might be noticed, but because people didn't do anything to avoid bumping 
into her when their paths crossed. As Sakura danced and dodged through 
the busy streets on her way to meet Gai each morning, it had become like 
a game to her. With a little concentration, it was usually possible to 
predict which way each person was going to go, and she quickly became 
adept at slipping through momentary openings in the chaotic motion of 
the crowd.

Aside from being a guilty thrill, it forced her to push her skills 
daily. She thought she was getting pretty good at sneaking around, even 
if she felt no closer to finding a true counter to the Shintenshin. It 
also served as a good exercise in spotting and avoiding potential 
threats, since there were a lot of ninja in the village as well. She 
hadn't been caught yet, as far as she knew, but she wasn't _really_ 
doing anything wrong- right? As long as she didn't run into any psycho 
foreign nins (and she was _extra_ careful to watch out for them) where 
was the harm?

She paused as she finally came to an alley mouth opening into the 
village's main thoroughfare and began scanning the street. Despite the 
driving rain, today's gamut seemed just as busy as it usually did. From 
the looks of things, the crowds were swelled by foreign visitors 
arriving for next week's Chuunin Exam exhibition tournament. A lot of 
the more well dressed outsiders appeared to have ninja bodyguards as 
well. That upped the ante considerably, but already a rough, zigzagging 
map was forming in her head; she'd have to give those groups a wide 
berth, but it could be done.

Shooting out into the street almost horizontally as she hugged the 
ground, Sakura made a close brush across the path of a gaggle of 
academy-aged kids. Changing directions quickly, she darted between two 
of them, then immediately broke right as a middle-aged woman carrying 
bags of groceries under an umbrella moved to fill the gap. From there 
she straightened and began a series of quick, shuffling dodges as she 
entered a more congested stretch in front of a fruit stand.

A moment later the crowd began to close around her. Checking to see if 
there were any ninja looking her way, she hopped up into a twisting 
forward flip that brushed the tops of a few heads. Infusing her hands 
with chakra, she landed in a graceful handstand on the surface of a 
large puddle that people were skirting around, then cart-wheeled onto 
her feet and back into the fray. Despite the water that sprayed from her 
loose straw cloak during this string of acrobatic maneuvers, not a 
single person even so much as glanced her way.

*HAH! BEAT THAT, INO PIG!* she exulted, for a moment wishing that 
someone would notice her and stop to stare. Diving into the thick of 
things, she tried to vary her evasions a bit more, adding an extra bit 
of flair that she'd be embarrassed by if anyone really were watching. 
The water-walking jutsu added another interesting dimension to the game; 
if she modulated her chakra a bit differently, she didn't have to move 
as though she was walking on dry earth. Instead, going the other way, 
she could slide along like she was skating across glassy, frictionless 
ice.

Hopping over a stray dog then slipping effortlessly between the wheels 
of a moving wagon without missing a beat, Sakura was startled to find 
herself in the midst of a trio of Hidden Rain genin she hadn't noticed. 
Amazingly, they didn't seem to see her! Thinking fast, she hoisted 
herself up on to the lip of the wagon, hanging there for a second before 
pushing off and landing in a crouch on the wall of a building. Running 
just far enough to clear the three foreign nins' heads, she leapt to the 
ground again, sliding backwards as she watched to make sure she hadn't 
been noticed.

A jolt from behind told her that this had been a mistake. Spinning, the 
pink-haired kunoichi was horrified to find a woman in a long khaki coat 
sprawled face-first in a puddle at her feet. A tray of dango, now 
scattered in the mud, lay close at hand. Sakura was torn as she looked 
around at the crowd, trying to decide what to do; most didn't seem to 
notice that anything had happened, though a few had turned to look at 
the woman lying in the mud. It must have been too sudden to spoil her 
jutsu.

As the woman got her hands under her and started pushing herself back to 
her feet Sakura's guilt got the better of her, and she stooped down to 
see if she could help. But as she extended a hesitant hand, her victim 
raised her head and Sakura's blood ran cold. Glaring up at her was the 
mud-caked, wild-eyed face of Mitarashi Anko. The playful bloodlust that 
the jounin usually radiated was absent now, replaced by a look of naked 
fury that made Sakura's knees weak to behold.

*I am _so_ dead...* Instinctively starting to retract the offered hand, 
Sakura froze. *WAIT! NOBODY SAW ME DO IT! DON'T ACT SUSPICIOUS!* She 
tried to get her arm to move forward again, but it wouldn't listen to 
her, so she tried her mouth instead. “Um- er- eh...eheh, sorry?” Anko's 
eyes narrowed dangerously as the nervous laugh escaped Sakura's lips. 
*NOOOO! DON'T LAUGH, STUPID! DON'T APPOLOGIZE! AAARGH! RUN, DAMMIT!*

Her legs seemed to think that this was an excellent idea, and a moment 
later Sakura found herself zooming away from the scene at top speed. *I 
can't believe I just did that! I pushed a jounin into the mud, laughed 
at her and ran away- I'm worse than Naruto!* Sakura wasn't paying much 
attention to which way she was going as she fled; as long as it was away 
the from scary woman, it was the right direction as far as she was 
concerned. *I'm so sorry! Please don't follow me, please don't follow 
me, please don't follow me...*

“COME BACK HERE YOU LITTLE PUNK!”

A kunai whistled by her ear and Sakura heard something snap. Running a 
little faster, the pink-haired girl didn't try to catch her hat as the 
wind whipped it off her head. That had been much too close for comfort. 
Crouching low, she began scrambling along on the ground, half the time 
on all fours as she ducked and dodged between legs, caring little for 
the surprised cries that rose when she cut it too close.

Unfortunately, in her mad flight Sakura had forgotten to check if there 
were any other ninja close by, so she was taken completely by surprise 
when three Hidden Leaf chuunin suddenly seemed to materialize out of 
thin air right in front of her. Thankfully, when their eyes met they 
looked as surprised as she, but it still cost her precious moments as 
they stood there staring at each other. Then, from somewhere in the 
crowd, Anko's voice roared “RESTRAIN THAT NINJA,” and everything blurred 
back into frenetic motion.

Reacting just a heartbeat faster than the chuunin, Sakura pulled the 
fastest kawarimi she'd ever done, swapping places with a smoked ham 
hanging in a nearby butcher shop window as two of the nins fell upon her 
position. The third was already dashing for the front door of the shop 
as she bounded over the counter, ripping a bloody cleaver out of the 
chopping block as she passed. Smashing open the rear door with her back, 
Sakura used the broad blade to defect a handful of needles that 
flickered her way as she slid backwards.

Dropping the cleaver, she snagged a few of the needles off of the 
ground, the glimmerings of an idea forming. Sakura broke right to fake 
out the chuunin still in the shop and then rocketed up toward the 
rooftops, but as expected, the other two were already on their way over. 
Canceling her water walking jutsu, she touched down and began running 
full tilt across the roofs of Konoha village, making sure they could see 
her splashing in the puddles. Then, as she neared the main road, she 
focused her chakra into her feet, leapt high over a large intersection, 
and performed a bunshin to create four clones of herself.

Her hands hidden from her pursuers by the straw cloak billowing behind 
her, she flicked three needles down to make three little splashes where 
the first copy's feet touched the muddy ground before it leapt back up 
to the rooftops. She and the other copies, each going a different 
direction, made not a ripple as they landed. She'd gotten the idea after 
thinking of the Hidden Rain nins at the crossing and remembering the 
genjutsu the other Hidden Rain nins had used on her team in the second 
exam.

Incredibly, it worked! The two chuunin took off after the decoy and the 
third, coming out of an alleyway a moment later, pursued a second copy 
since it was the only one in his field of vision. Wiping her brow, 
Sakura released a sigh of relief. She didn't even have a moment to 
congratulate herself, however, as she sensed something falling from 
above. *$#!%, I FORGOT ABOUT HER!* Crouching as if to bolt, Sakura 
slapped her palms together in a hurried series of seals.

With a loud pop, a burst of smoke puffed up around Anko as she landed. 
When it cleared, all that remained of her quarry was a small barrel with 
her needle sticking out of it. Growling, she spun for a quick look 
around, then leapt off again, shouting at the three chuunin who were 
just now returning from their wild goose chase. After conferring for a 
moment, they split up to comb the area.

Sakura waited for a slow ten count after all of them had disappeared 
before she released the henge technique. Kneeling in the mud, she stared 
dry-mouthed at the point of the needle that she'd caught between her 
palms, then scrambled to her feet and dove for the nearest doorway. *Now 
I gotta hide and get out of this ridiculous getup!* she thought, 
thanking her ancestors that she hadn't dropped the presence masking 
genjutsu; it was probably the only thing that had prevented Anko from 
seeing through her ruse. 


But as her desperate gaze swept around the familiar, flower-bedecked 
shop she'd ducked into, a sense of doom filled her like a lead ball 
dropping into her stomach. Ino was standing behind the counter, looking 
determined as she raised her hands in a seal that Sakura had seen only 
twice before. *DAMMIT! DOESN'T IT EVER END?* Sakura's own hands 
flickered up one more time, and the masked kunoichi performed three 
quick seals. “FUSHINKA NO JUTSU!”

“SHINTENSHIN!” Ino cried at the same time, slumping to the counter as 
Sakura felt a wrenching sensation inside her head.

The world around her suddenly seemed strangely distant, like she was 
seeing and hearing everything from far off. As she regained her 
bearings, a second, more immediate layer of sensation came into focus, 
and she found another blonde kunoichi standing in front of her. Faded 
and ephemeral, the phantom Ino was staring at her in shock. *YES! IT 
WORKED!*

The Fushinka, or 'Vigilant Watcher,' was primarily a survival technique. 
It stimulated the brain, allowing a ninja to remain awake and attentive 
for long periods of time, as well as throw off certain types of 
suggestion (mostly, she'd been using it to stay up late to study). She 
still hadn't learned enough about mind defense jutsu to block the 
Shintenshin, but by keeping her mind conscious, at least she had a 
fighting chance at forcing an invader out.

Unfortunately, Sakura had no experience at all in mental combat, and Ino 
didn't look like she was ready to give up just yet. *Don't even think 
about it!* she commanded as Sakura tried to move toward the door. Ino 
appeared to concentrate, and somehow Sakura knew that her rival was 
seeing through _her_ eyes and feeling through _her_ body, even as they 
stood there staring at each other. Her legs twitched a bit, but she 
couldn't take a step. It was like invisible hands were holding her in 
place.

Meanwhile, Ino was squinting at her face as though she was having 
trouble seeing her. *I saw what you did outside; you might as well 
surrender right now, 'cause you're not going anywhere,* she said, 
looking more confident now that Sakura had tried and failed to fight her 
control. Ino frowned as her opponent ignored her and tried again. 
Growling, she leaped forward and grabbed a handful of pale pink hair. 
Despite how insubstantial they both seemed, the pain felt quite real to 
Sakura, and her concentration was shattered as she tried to push her 
rival away.

Suddenly a hand-shaped shadow filled her vision and Sakura felt herself 
flying backward. Both she and Ino stopped fighting to and cry out in 
pain and surprise as the back of her head hit the wall. She must have 
closed her eyes for a moment, for when she opened them again an icy 
tendril of panic gripped Sakura's hammering heart as she stared out of 
the skewed eye-holes of the mask at the malevolently grinning face of 
Mitarashi Anko. *NO! DAMMIT, WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?*

“What's going on here!”

Captor and captive alike directed their attention to the rear door, 
where Yamanaka Inoshi was standing, wearing overalls muddied to the 
knees and carrying a planter tray of somewhat soggy-looking seedlings. 
The ninja's fair brows furrowed as he noticed his daughter slumped over 
the shop counter. Watching the other two kunoichi carefully, he set down 
his tray and moved to check her for injuries.

“Just taking care of a troublemaker, Yamanaka-san,” Anko quipped, her 
voice laced with cruel satisfaction as she again turned to stare 
hungrily at the pinned girl.

*TAKING CARE OF ME?*

“Well don't be so rough,” the florist admonished, nodding towards Sakura 
as he laid Ino's inert body across the counter. “I think my daughter is 
possessing that girl. Ino, if you're in there, tell me how many kinds of 
orchids we grow in our greenhouse.” 

Sakura didn't try to stop Ino as her hands formed the number seven in 
Konoha ninja sign language. 

The blonde man nodded. “Alright, that's my Ino. You can let her down- 
just be ready to restrain her once Ino releases the jutsu.”

The dark-haired woman looked slightly skeptical but complied, removing 
her hand and backing up a step. As Anko released the pressure on her 
face, the cracked clay mask Sakura was wearing split down the middle and 
fell away.

“Sakura-chan?” the elder Yamanaka blurted in bewilderment.

*SAKURA?* Ino echoed in her head. Looking surprised and outraged, she 
grabbed Sakura's head and brought her face so close to Sakura's that 
their matched bloody noses were almost touching. *It _is_ you! What the 
hell are you doing, bursting in here like that with an examiner chasing 
after you?*

*It was just a misunderstanding!* Sakura wailed in frustration.

*Well, you can explain that yourself,* the blonde snapped testily, 
taking control of the hands again to form the Shintenshin release seal. 
Before her fingers could touch, however, the body's arms seized up as 
Sakura overwhelmed her, tackling Ino to the 'ground' in a fit of 
desperation. *HEY! What are you doing?*

*You can't leave! They moment you're out she'll kill me!* Sakura 
growled, pinning Ino's arms behind her in a pain hold as she sat on her 
rival's metaphysical back.

*You're crazy! What the heck did you do to her?* Ino snarled back, 
bending her leg behind her to kick Sakura in the back of the head. *Let 
go, forehead girl! If you're going to be executed I don't wanna die with 
you!* She tried to move the hands again.

Countering her, Sakura twisted Ino's arm harder. *Stop that! Let me 
think!*

“Ino, is there something wrong? Release Sakura-chan.” Yamanaka-san was 
starting to look worried as he and Anko watched Sakura's body. The young 
kunoichi's face was screwed up in intense concentration, and her hands 
kept twitching closer together and then farther apart, never quite 
touching.

Anko frowned speculatively. “It looks like the other girl is resisting. 
If this _is_ the same Haruno Sakura from the Chuunin Exam, then she 
successfully threw off this technique when they fought in the prelims.”

“Ino said something strange happened that time, like she was ambushed by 
another Sakura inside Sakura's mind,” the handsome ninja agreed. Then 
his expression changed to one of disbelief. “Are you suggesting that 
she's not our Sakura-chan?”

*YOU TOLD HIM ABOUT THAT?*

*OF COURSE I TOLD HIM! IT WAS FREAKY AND WEIRD!*

“With all these clients and foreign ninja around town, we can't be too 
careful,” Anko admonished, watching Sakura warily as the body before her 
continued to struggle under the control of two different masters. “We 
have to assume that anyone can be a spy or an assassin, and having two 
minds _does_ sound pretty suspicious,” she intoned darkly.

“DAMMIT, I BUMPED INTA YOU! IS THAT A #&%IN' CRIME?” Sakura heard 
herself roar, and she felt her hands bunch up into white-knuckled fists. 
Taking a bold stride forward, she shook one of them under Anko's nose. 
“So ya fell in the mud; oh no! The world's endin'! Let's all kill Sakura 
'cause the #&%!in' _jounin_ can't dodge for crap!”

*WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? INO PIG, STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!*

*I'M NOT DOING IT, FOREHEAD GIRL!*

Though she was taken slightly aback by the sudden outburst, Mitarashi 
Anko wasn't one to be intimidated by children throwing temper tantrums. 
“You shouldn't have run then, brat!” she snapped. “How do you think that 
looks?”

“Like I was in a hurry, which I was! I said sorry, didn't I?”

The second examiner snorted indignantly. “You call that an apology?”

“Well, I knew ya were gonna get all crazy on me no matter what I did, 
you sicko freak!” Sakura shot back venomously.

“What did you just call me! Say that again, you little monster!”

“YOU THREW A KUNAI AT MY _HEAD,_ YOU _SICKO FREAK!_”

*YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT! WAIT- NO!* Meanwhile, Sakura was having a nervous 
breakdown. *AAARGH! WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME?* she screamed, pulling her 
metaphysical hair as she frantically tried to regain control of her 
vocal cords.

Ino, having long since escaped her grasp, was staring at her with a kind 
of sick fascination normally reserved for particularly gruesome 
accidents. *I'm not sure, but I want out of here right now! Let me go!*

*I CAN'T MOVE MY HANDS!*

*WELL, NEITHER CAN I!*

By this time, Anko had had just about enough. “Yamanaka-san, does that 
sound like your daughter?” she bit out tersely, nearly spitting the 
words as she glared at Sakura.

“No.” The older ninja shook his head.

“Then does it sound like Haruno Sakura to you?”

This time, he took a moment to consider before answering with a bit off 
off-color humor in his voice, “Yes... but only when she argues with 
Naruto-kun.”

*HEY! WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?*

“HEY, STOP TALKIN' ABOUT ME LIKE I AIN'T HERE!”

“Would your daughter be okay if I knocked her out?” Anko continued, 
ignoring the screaming girl.

“Hmm... assuming she isn't trapped somehow, yes. The jutsu should wear 
off shortly,” Inoshi admitted with a sigh.

*Nya nya- now you're gonna get it!*

*WAIT! THIS HAS GOTTA BE SOME SORT OF MISTAKE!*

“Then with your permission-?” the brunette queried, forming a seal.

“IF YOU THINK-”

“Of course,” he assented with a wave of the hand.

“-I'M GONNA JUST _LET_ YOU-”

And suddenly Ino disappeared. Her distant body seemed to vanish as well, 
making her feel helpless and naked, but she was still protected by the 
Fushinka, for on some level her mind had managed to remain conscious. 
*Fat lot of good it does me,* she mused tearfully, staring into the 
silent darkness that surrounded her. *What am I going to do now...?*



S U I R E N
 


To be continued...

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