A/N: I'm alive. Shocking. Here's the next installment!

Thanks to: Everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I logged on for the first time in years and saw that there were actual recent reviews and I felt horrible for not updating so here it is!

Disclaimer: Nope.

"Talking"

'Thoughts'

'Inner Sakura and Kyuubi'

'Hikari'

'Mamoru'

The Cherry Blossom Reborn

Chapter 13

"To let your guard down is to leave yourself open"

'You barely got out of that last trial alive.'

'Yes, well, it seems as though everyone has recovered in time for the next trial.'

'How fitting. Of course they did.'

'Shush. It's starting.'

"Listen up you maggots! We're moving onto the next part! This is my favorite . . . "

Anko grinned devilishly, grabbing a white sheet and pulled,

"It's a tournament! Each one of you has been paired up and we'll keep pitting winners against winners until we're done. First round is preliminaries, too many of you worms made it through the last exam. Don't worry, from now on whether or not you win doesn't affect your teammates. Now, get out of my sight! I'll see pair 1 in half an hour at the arena entrance."

Everyone dispersed and Sakura looked around for her teammates, she touched her short hair. It felt odd feeling the wind on her neck so freely. Naruto found her first, followed closely by Sasuke.

"SAKURA-CHAN! I know I said this already but I love your short hair!"

"Thank you Naruto"

Sasuke just nodded, his way of agreeing with Naruto's compliment. Since they woke up in the hospital at the end of the previous trial, the compliments had been endless on her new hair. Sakura knew it was mostly due to guilt that they weren't able to help her during the exam, but it had felt nice at first. Now the endless compliments from Naruto had grown tiring and there was a small part of her that wanted to hit the back of his head whenever he said it.

Naruto pumped his fists, shouting,

"This is awesome! I'm so pumped! I can finally show these guys what I'm really made of! Let's go and watch the first match together!"

Sasuke slapped the blonde upside the head.

"Dobe, Sakura is a part of the first match. Didn't you read the chart?"

Naruto whirled around to face Sakura,

"WHAT?! That's no fair. I wanted to show off to Sakura-chan."

Sasuke rolled his eyes

"Show what off? Your unconscious face after you get pummeled to the ground?"

"The hell if I'm going to get pummeled!"

"Want to prove it to me, dobe?"

"What did you just say?"

"Are you going deaf and dumb? I said want to prove it to me, D O B E?"

"I'll smash your face into the ground!"

Naruto was about to launch himself at Sasuke before Sakura cleared her throat.

"Um, you should save your energy for your match. I have to get going. I don't want to be on the wrong side of Anko-san's anger."

"Good luck Sakura-chan!"

Naruto enveloped her into a crushing hug.

"You're going to suffocate her before her match."

"Oops, sorry."

"I'm alright. I'll see you two after."

Naruto gave her a thumbs up,

"Don't worry! They're no match for our Sakura-chan! Shove their face into the dirt!"

Sakura smiled lightly and gave a wave before turning to head towards the arena entrance.

'Who are you going up against?'

'A Mizu nin.'

'Be careful'

Sakura entered the arena to be faced with a male Mizu nin. He seemed rather unremarkable, short spikey black hair and normal clothing from Mizu. Sakura felt a small pang of disappointment, she had hoped that this battle would be more of a challenge.

'Don't worry, Sakura-chan will smash his head into the ground!'

'It'll be a piece of cake! He stands no chance against her. One jutsu and he'll be out for the count!'

'He won't even know what hit him!'

'It'll be all BAM KAPOW WHAM—'

'Please. I can't concentrate with the lot of you screaming in my head.'

A jonin was introducing the tournament and the two ninja. Sakura tuned in just in time to hear him say,

"BEGIN!"

The Mizu nin immediately jumped away and Sakura followed suit. She carefully watched him, observing what his first attack would be. He rapidly executed a set of hand seals,

"Suiton: Mizurappa!"

He put his hand in front of his face and a large gush of water burst from his mouth and headed rapidly toward Sakura. In response, she pumped a small amount of chakra to her feet and jumped slightly out of the range of his attack, flipping over him as she did so. However, the water stream managed to connect with the arm of her top before she could move,

'I liked that top . . .'

She threw a kunai at his exposed back. He deflected the first and jumped out of the way of the second she had hidden in the shadow. Sakura tsked softly, and made hand seals

'I thought that was going to hit him. That would have been the end with the sedative I coated these in.'

The Mizu nin formed hand seals but Sakura finished hers first, muttering,

"Too late."

'Magen: Tengoku no Ongaku'

The Mizu nin finished his hand seals and another jet of water streamed from his mouth and connected with Sakura. The silly girl hadn't expected him to dodge her stupid kunai. Hiding a kunai in the shadow of the first was an academy technique. She fell to the ground unconscious, and a roar of applause congratulated him. He blinked away some sleepiness that must have been left-over from the last exam and turned to wave at the crowd.

Something was off though. There was a weird rhythm to the applause. No, it was more like they made some sort of melody . . .

"CRAP!"

He released a large amount of chakra to dispel the genjutsu,

"KAI!"

He narrowly avoided Sakura's foot as it swung towards his head. Instead, it connected with a log.

"Wha—that was fast."

She ducked out of the way of his fist, hand springing away from the shuriken he sent after her.

'What are they teaching them in Mizugakure. A normal genin in Konoha can't dispel a genjutsu.'

She barely had time to think a hail of kunai were thrown. She jumped but heard,

"Too obvious."

Before she felt a foot connect with her back and she hurdled to the ground.

'Focus!'

'I shouldn't have written him off at the beginning.'

She twisted and softened her fall with a bit of tumbling, but was not unscathed. He back had some major bruises and she was riddled with various cuts and scrapes. She winced internally as she got up. The Mizu nin smirked, panting heavily as he landed a few yards away.

"Don't worry, this will end soon."

He formed hand seals while he stared at the stupid pink haired girl who was just standing there.

'Take a second. Regroup. Think.'

'He's panting awfully hard for so little battling.'

Sakura examined him as he brought his hand to his mouth, crouching down slightly in preparation to jump.

'That's it!'

The Mizu nin smiled. This was the end for the pink-haired weakling. This had started out interesting but ended predictably. She must have relied on those two males she had been walking earlier to get through the previous two exams. It all ended now.

"Suiton: Mizurappa no Hari!"

A jet of water blasted from his mouth. As the jet grew longer, the water droplets turned into longer needles. They connected in a cloud of smoke, only to reveal a log.

"What?!"

He jumped out of the way to avoid Sakura's heel. She followed, drawing zetsumi and aimed for his off-side. He drew a kunai and whirled to protect himself, leaving his other side exposed for the other katana. Sakura swung and he was forced to flip out of the way. The blade connected with his arm as he moved, leaving a large gash.

Sakura smiled, a little apologetic,

"Gomenasai,"

'Suiton: Mizu Hashira no jutsu!'

A huge torrent of water smashed him into the ground. As he struggled to stand up, barely conscious from the force of the water, he felt cool metal touch both sides of his neck,

"Withdraw or I end you."

He moved to use the last dregs of his chakra to use body replacement technique but the blades pressed harder into his neck.

"I can move before you even finish a hand seal."

The nin sagged and obliged, raising his hand in a form of surrender. Sakura sheathed her katana as two medic nin ran out into the arena. The Mizu nin collapsed on the ground from lack of chakra. Sakura waved toward the crowd with a small smile before walking out of the arena.

'He used too much chakra to dispel my genjutsu.'

'That was lazy work. Don't underestimate your enemy again.'

'Mamoru, that's harsh.'

'Next time it could be on the battlefield. It could be her life. Don't let your guard down so easily.'

'I apologize.'

A figure stood behind a pillar and watched the battle unfold. When it ended the figure moved to the exit and clicked its tongue,

"Tsk, tsk, Sakura-chan. You can't get too careless."

He glanced back to look at the young female exiting the arena, his yellow eyes seeming to glow,

"I finally found you. I'm going to finish what I started. I do look forward to meeting you again."

A/N: Sorry, that was probably the shortest chapter I've ever done but more things are to come. I'm committed to finishing this story.

As always, review! Ja ne!

High Summoner Sakura