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.

[Kishimoto's Ninja Lawyers] "LAWSUIT NO JUTSU!"

Spoiler Warning: This story begins during the intermission between the
second and third stages of the Chuunin Exam.

Ah, while Naruto was off squeezing oil from a toad...

Continuity-wise, the first few chapters of this fic jump around a bit.
Sakura is not exactly an extreme person, so her day-to-day life would
probably be as boring for me to write as it would be for you to read ^_^;.

Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that. Sometimes writing daily-life type
stuff can be a fun and relaxing exercise. ^_^

P.S.: Though i'll be posting all 20 chapters of Suiren to the FFML in
preparation to post the _new_ chapter i'm working on (provided anyone here
actually reads these first few),  the existing chapters are all still
available at www.fanfiction.net/~eimii... Just, so- you know... If anyone
here likes it, and wants to read more... (I can dream, can't i?)

Huiiii! But I'll wait for the FFML posted version, since I can give proper,
inline C&C that way :)

S . U . I . R . E . N

Sakura Uzumaki Is Ravenously Eating Naruto?

"Ah- no," Sakura answered quickly, grateful for the change in subject.
"But Kakashi-sensei said he knew where Saksuke-kun was before he left. I'm
sure there's nothing to worry about..." She just wished she had more to
report; was a simple heads-up too much to ask for? They'd already been
missing for more than a week! *God damn insensitive bastards, the lot of
them! Even that moron Naruto!*

"Why do all the important men in my life either have to be busy, missing, or
crippled when I'm horny?!"

The blond boy was still in the village, but she'd barely seen him the
since the end of the second exam. He was apparently training with some
dirty old man that he'd met somewhere- like he needed any help becoming a
pervert!

Ano...slight hitch here. IIRC, Naruto actually LEFT Konoha and went to the
hot springs town a bit apart from the village to train with Ebisu, and
that's where he actually met Jiraiya. Additionally, there's no indication
that Sakura ever met or even SAW Jiraiya until MUCH later...in fact, Jiraiya
didn't even personally set foot back inside Konoha until after the whole
invasion thing.

Now, Sakura WOULD have known that Naruto ran off to train with Ebisu, so...

If only she'd really defeated Ino! Then she'd... what? Train by herself?
Would Kakashi-sensei have found someone to help her prepare for the third
exam? He complimented her often enough about how sharp she was, but he
never really took any interest in her otherwise. He was always watching
Sasuke and Naruto though, giving them appraising looks that he never cast
her way. They were strong, and they would only become stronger, while she
seemed doomed to mediocrity.

Aaaah, Kakashi. What a sexist dick he is...

It wouldn't be the first time she'd come to him looking for study
material. Back in the academy she had memorized every text they'd assigned
her, and then often did extra research to impress the professors. She was
probably the only genin who'd passed the first exam without cheating once,
and she hadn't done any special preparation for it. Even if she'd never
won against Ino at anything else, Haruno Sakura never lost to anyone when
it came to studying.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a whole lot of call for "study-nin"...

That was what she was counting on now. Talking with Lee about his
training- it was a subject they kept drifting back to, so anxious was he
to return to it -Sakura had realized that in some ways they were a lot
alike. Despite the fact that she could figure things out faster than most,
Sakura was no more a 'Sasuke' or a 'Neji' than he was. They were both
'hard working' types, as Lee put it, he with his body and she with her
brain.

Yep, and all the boys love that big sexy brain.

Once she became a genin, however, it'd felt like all the studying she'd
done had been pointless; the real world was vastly different the
classroom. When they'd been ambushed them on the way to the Wave

Drop the 'them'...

Orochimaru's attack had been a rude awakening for her. Caught in the open,
unprotected, it had taken harsh words and painful choices to make her
remember who she was. She wasn't Ino's sidekick, always trailing half a
step behind, not Sasuke and Naruto's delicate princess, basking in their
triumphs and weeping at their defeats. She was Haruno Sakura, and she was
a ninja of the Hidden Leaf. A sharp mind filled with knowledge beyond her
years was her weapon of choice, and it was about time that she started
using it.

"Boring History Lesson No Jutsu!"

At first it was infuriating; she was _sure_ that she was on the verge of
deciphering a major component of the Shintenshin, and she wanted to get
back to work before her momentum faded. When she'd looked at herself in
the mirror, however, Sakura was horrified to discover that she was much
paler than normal, and dark rings had firmly engraved themselves under her
eyes. If she'd dyed her hair black she could have passed for that sickly
jounin who'd conducted the prelims.

Eww!

Unfortunately, just getting out of the village unnoticed was proving to be
a grueling test of her abilities. She was pretty well-known around Konoha,
despite being a mediocre ninja. It was the hair; people _always_
remembered her hair.

Nah, it's the forehead.

Noting the serious look on her face, the chuunin gave her a reassuring pat
on the shoulder. "Heh, don't sweat it. You got years ahead of you to
decide. Better get going though," he suggested, waving her through he
gate. "Anko-sama's coming this way, and she's looking at me like she
thinks I'm trying to chat you up."

And given the kind of person Anko is, she might just ENCOURAGE it.

"Really? That's too bad..." Ino commiserated, though she apparently wasn't
going to let the dig at her name slide. "Dad was thinking we needed some
publicity, so I said I'd ask you if we could rent your forehead for
advertising space. But if you aren't feeling well..."

Ouch! XD

"Ha! Your giant forehead powers fail you! There's no such thing!"

Giant Forehead Powers! XD Oh man, I could have a field day with that one...

"Shut up! It's none of your business! What would a pig know about
diseases, anyway?"

Well, I suspect Ino knows a LOT about venereal diseases...

"Really?" That made Sakura feel a little bit better, though somewhat
guilty that she hadn't gone to visit him recently. "Maybe we should go and
see him off."

"I thought you were 'highly contagious,'" Ino drawled sarcastically.

"Only to annoying pig girls," Sakura quipped back, crossing her arms.

Heh.

"They tend to develop unsightly bruising around the hindquarters after
only short periods of exposure."

Heh!

When they arrived at the hospital, the medical nins were just winding down
in their explanation to Lee's parents

What parents? :P

That did it. With a roar of understanding, Lee clenched his good fist in
front of him. "Ooh! Thank you Sakura-san! I should have known that if
there were anyone in the world as inspiring as Gai-sensei, it would be
you!" Turning to focus his manly, tear-filled gaze upon her alone, he
cracked what was definitely the beginnings of a patented 'Gai megawatt
smile.'

Oh dear. XD

Apparently Gai was a little more perceptive than his student, however.
"Are you feeling alright? You look a bit pale," he noted with some
concern, taking a better look at Sakura's face, then crouching down to
feel her arms. "You haven't been working out regularly, have you? Your
conditioning is slipping."

Uh-oh.

Which brought her back to the present, lying in an exhausted pile of
aching limbs, staring up at the clear blue sky. *'...Run in the fields and
seek advantages,' huh? Maybe if I run fast enough, he won't be able catch
me...*

Wishful thinking... XD

"Of course! How could I refuse a request from a pretty girl who's also a
friend of my Lee?" the jounin assured her jovially, his keen perceptive
powers abandoning him for just long enough to miss the look of doom that
flashed across Sakura's face. "In fact, I was just going to get something
for you, a kind of welcome gift. Here-" Reaching under his shoulder, he
produced a small green bundle, holding it out to her.

Gaaaaah! XD~~

Sakura was starting to really hate that smile. She carefully unfolded the
bundle, not wanting it to be true. "S-sensei, you really shouldn't
 have..." It was horrible- just the color alone made her want to wash her
hands, and the idea of actually _wearing_ that fashion disaster... she
gave an involuntary shudder. *NO WAY IN HELL! I'LL TRAIN NAKED BEFORE I
LET THAT _MONSTROSITY_ TOUCH ANOTHER INCH OF MY SKIN!*

Please do! h.h

Watching as Sakura held up the ridiculous green jumpsuit, nearly identical
to the ones he and Lee habitually wore, Gai flashed her one more blinding
grin and gave her an enthusiastic thumbs up. "Wear it with pride!"

How could ANYONE have any pride after wearing that... @_@

Nice work, looking forward to more!

================================
Please do not stare at my crotch.
              ~~*~~
The Eternal Lost Lurker
www.lurkerdrome.com



             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'