Night fell on the combat tower, but it brought no relief or rest. The air, swept by a soft wind that carried the scent of pine from the surrounding forests, was charged with a residual electricity. The crash of breaking bones and impacting jutsus had ceased, but the tension remained, a vibration that lingered in the silence.
On the stone balcony, overlooking the scattered lights of Konoha, four figures sat on the edge, their legs dangling over the drop. Sakura, Hinata, Karin, and Ino shared a silence that wasn't awkward, but dense and heavy, filled with the unwanted images the day had burned into their memories.
"I think my muscles are going to go on strike tomorrow," Ino murmured, finally breaking the stillness. Her voice, normally so lively and full of confidence, sounded drained, as if each word took a physical effort. "I feel like I was used as a punching bag."
"I know exactly what you mean," Sakura replied, rubbing her shoulder with a tired gesture. "Every part of my body protests if I move too fast."
Karin hugged her knees, pulling them to her chest. Her gaze was lost on the dark horizon.
"Still… what Sasuke did…" her voice broke a little at the end. "The way he looked at that guy from the Sound when he was already on the ground. There was nothing in his eyes."
"He was enjoying it," Kiba's voice joined the conversation. He, along with Shikamaru and Choji, had approached without a sound. He leaned against the stone railing, with Akamaru peeking his head out from inside his jacket, sniffing the night air. "I saw it up close. He had already won. The guy couldn't even move. That last hit… was overkill."
Choji nodded, unwrapping a bag of chips with unusual care, as if he didn't want the crunching to disturb the night.
"It was unnecessary."
"It's more than unnecessary, it's problematic," Shikamaru said, his usual lazy tone tinged with a seriousness he rarely showed. "A shinobi ends the fight when victory is assured. The logical thing is to do it with minimal effort and exposure. What he did… that was personal. He wanted to inflict pain. What a drag. This is just going to complicate things for everyone."
The group fell silent. Shikamaru's words, direct and unadorned, hung in the air. They knew Sasuke. They had seen his rage, his frustration, his obsession. But seeing it transformed into such methodical and cold cruelty was like watching a friend become a stranger before their very eyes.
Ino sighed, letting her head fall back.
"What is he becoming?"
No one had an answer for that.
Hinata, who had remained silent, suddenly blinked. Her head tilted slightly, a subtle expression of concentration on her face. It was as if she were listening to a frequency no one else could perceive.
"Hey…" she said softly, almost a whisper.
Kiba turned to her.
"What's wrong, Hinata? Do you hear something?"
"It's not a sound," she answered, and a tension she didn't even know she had in her shoulders seemed to dissipate a little. "It's… a feeling. The knot I've had in my stomach all day… suddenly feels lighter."
Sakura looked at her, frowning. Her senses were on alert by habit, searching for any anomalous chakra signature, any hidden threat. She found nothing.
"What do you mean? I don't sense anyone approaching."
"It's not that," Hinata insisted, and a small, almost invisible curve appeared on her lips. "It's hard to explain. It's like how the air changes right before the rain stops. It just… feels different. Calmer."
Sakura stood still, closing her eyes for a moment and extending her own perception. At first, she only felt the wind and the presence of her friends around her. But then, she noticed it. It wasn't chakra. It wasn't a sound. It was a familiar sensation at the base of her skull, a faint, distant warmth that connected to the power Naruto had transferred to her. It was the same feeling she sometimes got when he was training nearby, a silent connection that had formed between them.
Her eyes snapped open, and she looked at Hinata with surprise.
"I feel it too," she murmured. "You're right. The pressure… it's lessened a bit."
Karin and Ino looked at them, confused.
"Pressure? What are you talking about?" Ino asked.
Sakura tried to find the words.
"It's like… when you're waiting for someone to come home and you know they're still far away, but you suddenly have the certainty that they're on their way. That feeling that the wait is about to end."
Hinata nodded vehemently, her pearly eyes shining with a new light.
"Exactly."
They exchanged a look that needed no further explanation. They didn't say his name; there was no need. The shared certainty was enough. He was on his way. Their captain, their friend, the center of their team, was finally coming back.
****
Morning light filtered into the waiting room, but it did nothing to dispel the charged atmosphere. The genin who had passed to the next round had gathered again, the anticipation and nervousness creating a constant murmur. Some reviewed strategies in whispers with their teammates, while others simply stared into space, lost in thought.
In one corner, oblivious to the general tension, Rock Lee was in the middle of a set of one-handed push-ups, performing them at a speed that defied logic. Sweat shone on his forehead, but his expression was one of pure concentration and fervor.
"Nine hundred ninety-seven! Nine hundred ninety-eight!" his voice boomed with unbreakable enthusiasm. "Nine hundred ninety-nine! One thousand! Ah, the flame of youth burns with renewed intensity after a restful sleep!"
He leaped to his feet, showing not the slightest sign of fatigue, just as a figure approached him with a friendly smile.
"That's impressive, Lee-san," Kabuto said, adjusting his round glasses. "Your level of dedication is something rarely seen. You must be in peak condition for your match."
Lee turned, his face lighting up at being acknowledged by a higher-ranking ninja.
"Kabuto-senpai! Thank you very much! A shinobi who does not polish his tools and his body every day is not worthy of protecting his precious comrades!"
Kabuto's smile didn't waver. It was a perfectly practiced smile, the kind that disarms and builds trust. His eyes, however, hidden behind the reflection of his lenses, were cold, analytical, and devoid of any genuine warmth.
"I've heard a lot about your master, Might Gai. Konoha's Noble Beast, isn't he? They say his mastery of taijutsu is unrivaled in the village. Your style is an exact copy of his, correct?"
Lee's eyes shone with an almost devotional pride.
"Of course! Gai-sensei is the most splendid and powerful shinobi in existence! He taught me that a failure can surpass a genius through hard work! Everything I am, I owe to his teachings!"
"Fascinating," Kabuto replied, his tone that of a researcher interested in a rare specimen. "I've heard rumors of an ultimate taijutsu technique. Something about opening the body's eight inner chakra gates. It's said to grant power rivaling that of a Kage, though at a terrible cost to the user. A master of Gai-sensei's caliber must surely know the secrets of that technique, wouldn't you say?"
Lee's innocence was so pure it was almost painful. He didn't see the trap, only the opportunity to praise his mentor.
"Oh, yes! The Primary Lotus and the Hidden Lotus! They are incredible techniques, but extremely dangerous!" he began to explain, with the fervor of one sharing a gospel. "Gai-sensei says they should only be used as a last resort, to protect something or someone more important than your own life and…"
From the other side of the room, partially hidden behind a stone column, Sakura watched the interaction. She hadn't consciously activated her Analytical Eye, but her mind, trained to detect patterns and threats, was working at full speed. She didn't see a friendly senpai. She saw a predator.
She leaned slightly toward Karin, who was beside her.
"Look at that guy, the one with the glasses," she muttered in a low voice.
Karin followed her gaze.
"Kabuto? He seems harmless. A little weird, but harmless."
"He's not," Sakura retorted, her voice barely a whisper. "Notice how he asks questions. It's not a casual conversation. Every question is designed to get a specific answer. He's extracting information from Lee like he's peeling a fruit."
Karin narrowed her eyes, now watching more closely.
"You think…?"
"His posture is relaxed, but it's a facade," Sakura continued. "His chakra flow is perfectly stable, without a single emotional fluctuation. His breathing is controlled. He's acting. Every smile, every gesture, is calculated. He's a snake."
Her gaze hardened, filing away Kabuto's face and name in a mental list of confirmed threats. There was something deeply wrong with that man, and he had just earned her full attention.
"Silence! The next match will now begin!"
The voice of Hayate, the proctor, cut through the room's murmur. All heads turned toward the large electronic board on the wall. The names of the contestants began to flash in rapid succession, a digital lottery that would decide fates.
The air filled with a palpable tension as the names sped by. Finally, the flashing slowed, and two names locked into place on the screen, illuminated in red.
SAKURA vs. INO
A collective silence fell over the room for an instant. Then, all eyes fell on the two girls.
Ino swallowed hard, her face a mask of conflicting emotions: nervousness, resignation, and a spark of stubborn determination. She walked over to Sakura, ignoring the stares of the others, creating a small bubble just for the two of them in the middle of the crowd.
"Well… I guess this was inevitable, huh?" she murmured, more to herself than to Sakura.
Sakura nodded, her expression serious.
"Looks like it."
Ino took a deep breath and looked her directly in the eye. The frivolity and childish rivalry that used to define their relationship were completely gone.
"Listen, Billboard Brow," she said, using the old nickname, but this time without malice, only with the weight of their shared history. "I'm not going to lie to you. I know I don't stand a chance."
Sakura opened her mouth to protest, but Ino held up a hand to stop her.
"No, let me finish. I saw what you did in the forest. I saw how you moved, how you fought. You're not the same Sakura I used to argue with all day at the academy."
"You're not the same either, Ino," Sakura replied, and she meant it with complete sincerity.
"Maybe not," Ino admitted with a half-smile. "But that doesn't change the fact that I'm not giving up. I can't. I owe it to myself. And I owe it to you. I owe you a real fight. So, please… don't hold back. Don't patronize me. Give me the respect of facing me with everything you've got."
Sakura looked at her, and in that moment, all the years of competing for Sasuke's attention, all the trivial arguments, felt like a ridiculous and distant burden. She nodded, a look of deep understanding passing between them.
"I know, Ino-pig. I wouldn't expect anything less from you."
"Come down to the arena," Hayate ordered, his voice echoing in the silence.
They stood facing each other in the center of the stone floor. The rest of the world seemed to fade away. Only the two of them remained, the space between them charged with the weight of a broken friendship and the possibility of a new one.
"Ready?" the proctor asked.
They both nodded, never taking their eyes off each other.
"Begin!"
Ino was the first to move. She knew a taijutsu confrontation was suicide. Her only chance was strategy and her clan's specialty. With a swift flick of her wrist, she threw a dozen kunai in a perfect arc.
Sakura didn't move from her spot. With a series of minimal, almost lazy, dips and twists, she dodged every projectile. The kunai embedded themselves in the floor and the wall behind her without ever coming close to grazing her. The ease with which she did it sent a shiver down Ino's spine.
I can't compete in speed or strength, Ino thought, as she threw a smoke bomb that quickly enveloped the arena in a dense, gray fog. My only chance is that technique.
She moved under the cover of the smoke, throwing more kunai. This time, some carried small explosive tags. She wasn't aiming to wound Sakura, but to guide her movements, to force her into a position where she would be exposed, motionless, if only for a second.
In the middle of the cloud, Sakura remained still. She closed her eyes. She didn't need them. Her chakra threads, an extension of her senses, spread out into the fog, creating a three-dimensional map of the arena. She felt Ino's exact position, the trajectory of each kunai, the pulse of chakra in each tag about to detonate.
She's to my left. She's preparing for the Mind Transfer Jutsu. She needs a clear target and for me to be still. I won't give her that.
Small explosions echoed, kicking up dust and debris. But Sakura was no longer where Ino expected. She moved through the smoke with the fluidity of a ghost, each step a calculated response to her opponent's actions. She appeared and disappeared between the billows of gunpowder, always one step ahead.
From the balcony, their comrades watched intently.
"Sakura isn't even sweating," Kiba commented, impressed. "It's like she's playing a game."
"She's not playing," Shikamaru corrected, his eyes narrowed. "She's holding back. A lot. She could have ended this in the first second, but she's not. What a drag. She's making this more complicated than it needs to be."
Beside him, Hinata understood her friend's hesitation perfectly.
"She doesn't want to hurt her," she said quietly. "She's looking for a way to win without seriously injuring her."
In the arena, an increasingly desperate Ino resorted to her last tactic. She created a single shadow clone, a classic but effective feint, and sent it charging forward while she slipped around from behind. Sakura dodged the clone with a simple sidestep, but for a split second, the distraction worked. She lost sight of the real Ino.
It was all the Yamanaka needed.
Her hands flew to form her clan's distinctive seal.
"Now! Mind Transfer Jutsu!"
Ino's consciousness shot out of her body, a psychic projectile that flew straight toward Sakura, who, for an instant, seemed to have been caught by surprise. Success seemed inevitable.
But the moment her mind made contact with Sakura's, she met an insurmountable mental barrier. She didn't find active resistance, but a passive will so immense and solid that it stopped her in her tracks. And behind that will, she felt something else. A warm, overwhelming presence of an outside power, a vast energy acting as a silent guardian.
Fragments of images flooded Ino's consciousness: Gatō's lifeless face, the steel determination in Sakura's eyes as she protected a bridge builder, the crushing weight of the promise she had made to an absent, blond friend. She felt the pain, the fear, and the resolve that had forged the new Sakura.
In that instant, Ino understood. The girl in front of her was no longer her academy rival. She was a veteran. A soldier who had fought in a silent war whose existence she had never even known.
Inside her own mind, Sakura didn't counterattack. She simply projected a thought, not as an attack, but as a sad, honest plea.
Give up, Ino. Please. I don't want to hurt you.
The connection broke. It was Ino herself who canceled the jutsu. Her consciousness returned to her body as abruptly as it had left. She fell to her knees in the arena, panting, not from physical exhaustion, but from the overwhelming weight of the revelation.
She looked up. Sakura was standing before her, a look of shared sadness on her face. There was no pride in her victory, only relief.
With a sincerity that surprised everyone in the room, Ino raised a hand and said a single word, clear and firm.
"I surrender."
Hayate seemed momentarily surprised by the abrupt ending, but he nodded.
"Due to Ino's surrender, the winner is Sakura."
The crowd erupted in confused murmurs. Ignoring them, Sakura immediately walked over to Ino and offered her a hand.
"Are you okay?"
Ino took it, getting to her feet with her help. a small, tired smile formed on her face.
"Yeah. And… you were right. I have a lot of training to do."
They left the arena together, side by side, an image worth more than any words, leaving most of the spectators scratching their heads, unable to comprehend the dynamic they had just witnessed.
On the balcony, the electronic board came to life again, its lights flashing as it selected the next pair of combatants. The tension, which had momentarily dissipated, returned with renewed force, this time with a much more personal and cruel edge.
The names stopped.
HINATA vs. NEJI
An icy silence fell over the room. From his spot, Neji looked at his cousin across the distance. There was not a trace of familial affection in his gaze. His white eyes, the seal of his clan, were filled with a cold, fatalistic disdain. In his mind, she was a failure, a stain on the prestigious name of the Hyuga clan, and her destiny was already sealed.
Hinata returned his gaze. Her face was calm, her posture serene. But in her eyes, for the first time in her life, a flame of unbreakable resolution burned. She didn't back down. She didn't look away.
This is my ninja way, she thought, feeling the distant calm she had perceived the night before like an invisible reinforcement at her back. And I'm never backing down again.
She was no longer the frightened child who hid behind others. She was a kunoichi of Konoha, about to face the genius of her clan.