Eimii wrote:

still would have been wisest to avoid the confrontation at all, but no
matter.

Yeah, Sakura is developing a definate bloodlust issue. She makes the
same mistake again against Neji, something I hope gets pointed out to
her later.

For the irony value, have Anko say it first.

Hmm... in this case, i would say it's more a matter of wanting closure 
with Ino almost as much as she wants to win. They both this to be a 
fight where they give it their all, and the easiest way they can express 
that with their bodies is a direct confrontation; they're essentially 
having a 'Naruto' moment ^_^;...

True. It wasn't so much this, as the combination of this and her
behavior fighting Neji.

 If Hyuuga

Hinata had been terrible opponent for her, it didn't leave words in her
rather broad vocabulary to describe just how awful a match-up her cousin
was.

Be fair. Except for his out of place sense of Chivalry, Lee would have
been just as bad. Sure, he could be fooled by Genjutsu, but Sakura
wouldn't ever had a prayer of getting off most of her techniques.

A weakness to genjutsu shouldn't be underestimated, especially when the 
genjutsu user is ruthless enough to use explosion notes on her friends...

Oh, Sakura would totally own Lee. He'd give her every opening, and she'd
exploit them all viciously.

        Once more she charged, but this time she stopped before Neji
struck, darting to his side and almost managed to land a blow before he
sent her flying with two Gentle Fist strikes.  This time, though, she'd
managed to shield her tenketsu, and she smiled as she landed near where
she'd been standing when the match had begun.  All the pieces were in
place.

I swear she's a masochist. There had to be a less damaging way to drop
those tags, and I have no idea why Neji didn't see her doing it.

Well, it has to look convincingly like her intent was to attack him from 
concealment. Neji can read her tells almost telepathically because of 
his Byakugan, which means that she has to make it really look like she 
wasn't expecting him to see through her genjutsu. Otherwise, he might be 
on the lookout for her doing odd, suspicious things with her hands as 
she stumbles away, injured. Sakura's strategy also plays to Neji's 
abundant sense of superiority; by making herself appear more inferior 
than she really is, she invites Neji to let his guard down...

But, except for the arrogance, a lot of your arguments don't make sense. 
Assuming Sakura is a good enough actor to fool the Byakugan in the heat 
of battle, she had to act like she thought she wouldn't get hit, which 
means she couldn't be ready to defend herself (that would be very 
obvious), which just makes it even more suicidal.

        Neji flew away from her but Sakura only snarled, "I'm not done
yet," thrusting one arm toward him.  Repressing a shudder at the
crawling sensation under her arm, she shouted, "Hidden Snake Hands!"

This really should have been the first thing she did after exploding the
tags. Strike two of closing prematurely.

Hmm... Sakura's enhanced speed might make closing to striking distance 
faster than the 'draw time' on the Hidden Snake Hands; one _does_ get 
the impression that she is now possibly the second-fastest genin in the 
leaf, with how she's described as moving right here...

The idea of running being faster than handsigns bothers me on a basic 
level. I concede, however, that it IS in genre.

burnt log Neji had used a moment before.  "Too slow," he declared as he
pivoted in place to meet Sakura's counter-attack from above and below.
"Four strikes!"

Strike three. Sakura had no reason not to force Neji to play tag across
the arena. Her situation could only improve with some time.

This would be true if it weren't for the fact that she's described as 
almost completely drained at this point, while Neji is still mostly 
fresh; her poison does not seem to be fast-acting, so he might have had 
enough time to run her to ground before it really kicked in...

Sure.

But is that any worse than fighting him now? He's only going to get more 
tired, while she isn't going to get any more exhausted than she is after 
that massive combo. This is a classic example of only having to fight 
not to lose, not to win.

- Wearing the weights.

She didn't lose anything for it in this case, though; her fights with 
Ami and Ino would have been resolved more quickly if she'd simply 
blitzed them with her superior speed, but neither fight really wore her 
down much at all, and she didn't really show _any_ of her new cards 
until the Neji fight because of this (even if Neji was prepared for the 
speed specifically).

It still showed arrogance. It was justified against Ami, but Ino put her 
on the ropes.

- Excessive, repetative agression. In both the Ino and Neji fights, she
closed to close combat when she would have been better off wearing an
opponent down. She'll need to be broken of the habit, especially if she
is going to become a medinin (just look at the post-timeskip manga to
see similar behavior getting her into major trouble).

Well, she _is_ only thirteen, and has been having some very emotional 
issues thrown at her lately ^_^;... also, see my arguments above...

Oh, I'm not saying she doesn't have plenty of reasons to want to pound 
the shit out of people :)

In the analysis, she earned the Chuunin promotion, but may not (and I'd
personally prefer not) get it. Apprenticeship under the Hokage is
promotion enough.

I see Neji, Lee, and the Mist genin being promoted, with Tenten as a
longshot. Only one of the two girls will be promoted, to allow for an
intact team with Ino and Choji in the next Chuunin exams.

Hmm... by your own assessment criteria, both Neji and Lee should fail. 
Neither of them took most of their fights seriously; Lee wore his 
weights all the way up to the end, while Neji _consistently_ let himself 
be baited into bad situations by overestimating his own abilities and 
underestimating those of his opponents. Lee is still stuck in an 
immature state of wanting to 'test' himself at every opportunity when it 
would be better to just get the job done, while Neji's overconfidence 
makes him slopier than a good ninja should be...

Just playing devil's advocate a bit ^_^;...

~Eimii

Well, let's look at Lee and Neji.

Both Lee and Neji have a big honkin' item in their plus column called 
"Can beat the shit out of most Chuunin."

So, Lee:

++ Can beat the shit out of most Chuunin.
+ Personal emotional investment by Tsunade.
+ Improvization as demonstrated by defeating the Waterfall ninja.
+ Previously demonstrated determination and endurance (not really much 
chance to demonstrate that here, as he almost never got hit)
+ Would have been the winner had he not conceded. That does count for 
something.
- Known weaknesses, though they were not demonstrated in the exam.
- Arrogance. Lee actually did have to drop weights during a fight, 
showing that he overestimated himself or underestimated his opponents.
- Lost it and used the Lotus after his second fight was over. Harming 
himself when he knows Neji is next was a massive failure in strategy. 
Understandable due to the Gaara flashbacks he was probably suffering in 
both his fights, but still a mistake.

Ultimately, Lee will be passed on pure combat ability. He is simply too 
strong to justify keeping him in a Genin team when the Leaf needs Chuunin.

Neji:

++ Can beat the shit out of most Chuunin.
+ Hyuuga prodigy. Tsunade would have to justify not passing him to the 
Hyuugas.
+ Demonstrated awareness of, if not ability to overcome, his weaknesses.
+ Forfitted to Lee rather than risk seriously injuring him. This kind of 
caring for a teammate would not have occured to him in the last exam. 
This is, I think, the point that will clinche it for him.
- Still an arrogant asshole.
- Consistently underestimated his opponent and repeatedly fell for 
deceptions.

Neji will be passed on a combination of ability and reputation, despite 
his flaws. He has combat skills vastly in excess of the minimum, 
displayed maturity during the exam, and was able to endure and recover 
from the two times he was suckered.

Both Lee and Neji demonstrated enough ability to conduct a C level 
mission on their own, though they are probably not mentally ready for 
doing a B or higher without a team. Neither are subtle or, yet, ready to 
be a leader, but that's what Jounin are for.

William





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