Naruto's match with the Hyuuga was something else, but Sakura felt strangely... embarrassed. Because she could bet that despite the fact that it was the blond who'd won, Sakura was certain that in the eyes of the audience it was the Hyuuga who triumphed. His talent despite being a Branch House member was unprecedented and his swift delivery was something else entirely.

But she didn't have time to ponder as Sasuke was still not there so his match was delayed, and the puppet master forfeited his match so suddenly it was Sakura's turn to fight and she gaped for a moment before obligingly making her way downstairs, sending Naruto a grateful smile when he cheered her on.

I'll be alright. I have something to prove.

When Genma officially began the battle, neither of the kunoichi moved.

Then, Temari spoke, "Forfeit." She demanded. "I don't know what trick you used during the preliminaries, but it won't work against my Wind. Save yourself the humiliation.

And because Sakura had been spending increasingly longer amounts of time with people who lived and breathed sarcasm, she couldn't quite help herself. "Awww," she cooed, delighting in the Suna-nin's confused stare. "you care. How cute." she grinned at the snorts from the audience before she sobered up. "But no can do, unfortunately, Temari-san." she told the other girl sagely, determination in her eyes. "You see, I have a couple of people whom I can't disappoint, so no forfeiting is taking place from my side any time soon."

Temari scowled. "You Leaf-nin are all the same." she sneered. "Fine then," and in a split-second she unclasped her fan from her back, brought it in front of her and swung. "Sickle Weasel jutsu!" she called out.

But Sakura had not been idle during that time. The moment Temari's hands reached behind her back, the rosette jumped away to create distance between them and crouched, hands flying through four seals which had become second nature to her after Genma-san's incessant training:

Tiger, Hare, Boar, Dog-! She named each in her mind before finally putting a name to the technique a she slammed her hands against the ground just as Temari went to swing her fan, Earth Style Wall!

The wall of earth rose up, but Sakura carefully monitored its size, not wanting to needlessly waste chakra; as such, her wall was just tall enough to cover the height of her crouching form and less that a metre wide. Safely covered from the cutting wind, the rosette pulled out a pair of goggles and a scroll. Both had been gifts from Izumo and Kotetsu and Sakura distinctly remembered the conversation that went with them:

She stared at the goggles in her hand, noting their orange lenses and steel reinforced frames. Sakura glanced up at Kotetsu who'd been the one to hand them to her and frowned. "If this is your way of calling me out on my fashion sense, I get it okay, I know that red and pink don't go well together, I just really like red. Happy?" she'd sniped and was almost insulted when Kotetsu laughed as if she'd startled it out of him.

"This is in no way a means of calling you out or anything of the sort." he assured her through his chuckles. "Consider it a gift – your opponent uses chakra enhanced wind, doesn't she?" when Sakura nodded, he grinned. "I don't know about you, but I personally don't fancy having to squint and cover my eyes every time she swings that damn fan of hers."

When Sakura realised how thoughtful the gift actually was, she blushed at her earlier words. "Sorry." She apologised, "And- thank you." then, because she really could not help herself, she grinned teasingly. "Still, orange, really?"

At that, it was Kotetsu's turn to grin. "Okay, I may did want to mess with you just a little bit." and Sakura felt perfectly justified in the elbow she dug into his ribs in response. Then she turned to Izumo, who proffered her a simple scroll.

"Carrying the naginata on your back is not only rather uncomfortable but also a massive giveaway of your abilities." he told her. "The sealing technique is fairly basic and I'll happily walk through it with you in a minute."

When she smiled, immediately appreciative, Kotetsu seemed to have recovered from her jab and threw an arm around her shoulders. "These aren't just freebies though, pinky." when she scowled at him, he grinned. "Consider them incentive. Wipe the floor with that Suna girl. She ain't got nothing on you."

And Sakura remembered the sheer determination and gratitude that filled her then and tried to recall it as she slapped the goggles over her eyes, her vision tinting yellow, and peaked over the top of her impromptu wall. It seemed that Temari's jutsu was a double edged sword because the blonde had to stay still while it took effect and Sakura grinned. Crouching back down, she unsealed her naginata, shoved the scroll back into one of her pockets and waited.

When the wind finally started to recede, she didn't give Temari any time to recuperate: pumping chakra into her feet, she vaulted over the wall and, naginata in hand, and ran towards the blonde. She noticed the minute widening of Temari's eyes as she ran towards her and grinned. Unsheathing her blade, she made a slicing motion towards the blonde's abdomen using the extra reach of her weapon of choice to cover the last few metres between them. Temari was forced to snap her fan shut and jump back a little to avoid getting disembowelled, but Sakura wasn't done. She followed after the blonde, swipe after strike after jab, graceless but insistent, not letting the Suna-nin open her fan again and forcing her on the defensive. Finally, it seemed as if Temari's patience ran out and she grabbed her fan with two hands and forced one of Sakura's next blows aside, aiming to overbalance the rosette and force her on the defensive.

But Sakura had practised dodging two weapons at once from people far more skilled at close-combat than Temari was, so she merely twirled out of the way of the blonde's next strike and fell into a familiar dance of barely-there, dodging at the last possible second, her grin not leaving her face even as sweat began to bead on her brow and her breathing quickened.

She'd learnt this particular fighting style from Izumo – a method of not only minimising the amount of wasted energy by performing smaller, more precise evasions, but also limiting the amount of time during which she lost sight of her opponent. The added benefit was that she'd witnessed first-hand how frustrated Kotetsu had become after a few minutes of not being able to land a single meaningful blow, and she hoped Temari was equally impatient.

Her prayers were answered a second later; "Eugh!!" the kunoichi groaned, and Sakura could see how tired she was getting, not only from being forced into close-combat which probably wasn't her forte despite being surprisingly proficient at it, but also from the sheer weight of her fan. Sakura's naginata, despite its size, was actually really light and allowed her to use the wide swing to conserve her energy by mooching off of its momentum. Temari's fan was more like a club in this context: a big, heavy brute of a weapon.

"Stop. Moving!!" the Suna kunoichi shrieked and Sakura decided to tempt her luck; she stayed in place, directly in front of Temari for a second longer than she normally would, and the blonde jumped on the opportunity. She swung her shut fan over her head and drove it down with enough force that Sakura had no doubt it would've crushed every little bone in her body if she'd let it hit her.

But, at the last possible second, when she could literally see the individual scratches on the fan's frame, the rosette hopped backwards and let the fan bury itself a good six inches into the ground with the sheer force Temari had put behind the blow.

And then, when Temari struggled to pull the weapon out, Sakura quickly sprang forward, chakra in her feet, and she used the fan still embedded in the ground almost as a springboard, running up to its very hilt and delivering a harsh kick to Temari's chin, feeling something crunch beneath her heel.

The kunoichi was sent flying back a good five metres before she skidded to a stop, but Sakura didn't wait to see her handiwork, no. She jumped back, once again placing herself closer to her earth wall, having no doubt she'd need to hide behind it again in a moment and she went through another familiar set of seals;

Snake, Rat-! Hell Viewing technique!!

But just as she completed the seals, Temari forced herself to her feet, fury in her eyes. "You little bitch!" she snarled as she ran towards her abandoned fan, snapping it open to reveal all three circles, "I'll show you! Sickle Weasel jutsu!!"

Praying that the Hell Viewing technique would take effect soon, Sakura once again vaulted over the wall to hide from the cutting wind, but this time, after quickly assessing her chakra levels, a plan began forming in her mind. She waited till the last of the wind died out before she peaked out again, only to see the patented scowl on the kunoichi's face. She barely stifled a sigh at the taunting that followed.

"All you do is hide and dodge! Coward!! Fight me properly!!" when Sakura merely raised an unimpressed eyebrow, refusing to rise to the bait, Temari scowled and switched tactics. "I don't know what you thought it would accomplish, but if you think that a jutsu with just two seals is enough to beat me you've got another think-!" but before she could finish her taunt, Temari's eyes glossed over and Sakura grinned.

She straightened up, delivered a Genma-worthy one-liner, flashed through the – hopefully last for that match – set of seals and prayed her luck would last as she melted into the ground.

Earth Release: Underground Projection Fish technique.

Inwardly, Sakura grinned; Checkmate.

There were a few gasps and incredulous shouts when the Sand kunoichi was sent flying back, but mostly, the shinobi spectators were just amused.

A little pink haired girl from a civilian family against one of the Kazekage's children; on paper, that match should've been over before it even started. However, on paper, that should've also been true for the Yamanaka heir, but she had been defeated so quickly and soundly in the preliminaries that it was almost humiliating. And when the news of the rosette's match up spread to the Jounin HQ, there were some who were willing to place their money on another surprise from the civilian girl in the final rounds.

When the girl pulled out the naginata that was almost taller than her, there were a handful of sarcastic 'good luck' calls from some of the more cynical shinobi. But then, the rosette started handling it, and though graceless and definitely unpolished, it was enough to force the Suna girl out of her comfort zone. And when her seemingly never-ending bout of last minute dodges after she'd been forced on the defensive culminated in a firm kick to the blonde's chin that sent her flying, some of the cynics had been forcefully silenced.

Yet, as the blonde recovered from the second wave of chakra enhanced wind enough for the taunting to start anew, nobody quite expected for her to suddenly break off into incoherent mumbling randomly interspersed with short, blood-curdling screams. Finally, the rosette straightened from her crouch and sent a crooked grin at the screaming blonde.

"That's the thing with genjutsu;" she announced cheerfully, barely heard over the blonde's shrieks. "just when you think it didn't work, it comes back to bite you in the ass."

There were snorts and laughter amongst some of the audience but they quickly died away when the pinkette went through a set of distinctly unfamiliar handsigns and proceeded to melt into the ground just as at least thirty clones replaced her. No later than the last pink strand disappeared underground did Temari snap herself out of the illusion, her gaze wide-eyed and furious.

"I've got no idea where you get off on doing that, but you should know that no bunshin can withstand my Wind jutsu!" she declared heatedly and swung her fan again. "The one left will be you!"

"Not quite." the spectres murmured in eerie unison.

And as the merciless wind cut through the air once again, not a single clone disappeared.

Confused whispers filled the arena.

"Shadow Clones? Wouldn't be the first genin to do them today."

"No way, I'm thinking genjutsu."

"Not standard bunshin, that's for damn sure."

"Why not? They're not casting shadows either."

Everyone saw the moment something clicked in the blonde's mind. They watched as she pulled out a kunai and flung it at the closest clone, only for the knife to go right through it.

The next conclusion was also clear, but as Temari drew her hands into the 'kai' seal, her minute of inattention cost her. With her eyes closed and her focus solely on disrupting her chakra flow, she didn't notice the figure that rose up from the ground behind her.

Her chakra almost completely masked, the rosette emerged from the earth like something out of a horror movie, kunai in hand.

"Temari!!" came Kankuro's frantic yell. "Behind you!!" but before the blonde could whirl around, Sakura took the last two steps and pressed the kunai to her throat much the same way as she had done to Ino.

"I do not wish to hurt you but I will if you even think of moving." she whispered in Temari's ear.

But it seemed that she underestimated her opponent. Quicker than the rosette could react, the blonde seized her wrist and used the hand that was pressing the knife to her jugular to pull the pinkette over her shoulder and throw her into the ground a few metres in front of her.

The rosette's back impacted the ground with a dull thud and she let out a winded 'oof' as the breath was knocked out of her, but Temari wasn't done. For the fourth time since the beginning of the match, the Suna-nin swung her fan, the merciless wind once again filling the arena. Without the cover of her wall to protect her, the audience could clearly see as deep scratches appeared on Sakura's cheeks and uncovered hands, but the rest of her body was luckily covered by her clothes. When she managed to get her breath back, the rosette rolled to her knees, one hand cradling her left side around the area of her ribcage as she waited till the last of the wind died down.

Calling on the last vestiges of her chakra, Sakura flashed through two more sets of seals. The first one produced two Academy-standard bunshin, while the second one allowed her to melt into the ground for the second time.

"The same trick won't work again!!" Temari called out, but nobody missed how she intentionally didn't try to attack the clones, clearly unsure whether these really where standard bunshin or not. There was a moment of silence and stillness as everyone waited for the rosette to surface, the Suna kunoichi growing more and more anxious by the minute. "Is every Leaf-nin a coward like you?" she called out mockingly, then suddenly shrieked:

An arm stretched up from the ground below her, grabbing her shin in a bruising grip and yanking hard towards the ground. Shrieking all the while, Temari smashed her folded fan on the hand gripping her leg, clearly breaking the fragile bones but also opening a deep, vicious gash in her own shin. Something that sounded like a muffled scream came from the ground before another arm rose up and successfully managed to grab the Suna-nin's other shin and a second later, the blonde was buried up to her neck in the hard earth, rendered completely immobile.

A moment later, the rosette emerged a few metres away from where Temari was buried, her right hand cradling her mangled left to her chest and tear-tracks visible on her cheeks, her lip bitten bloody, but there was an angry, victorious glint in her eyes.

"Initially, I planned to let you surrender gracefully." She hissed, her eyes glaring daggers at the immobilised kunoichi. "I wanted to let you keep some of that arrogant dignity you seem to hold so dear. But now?" she went on, letting her injured hand drop limply at her side. "Now, I'm not feeling so kind. Unless, of course," she turned to Genma, "the proctor thinks you can somehow keep fighting."

Genma was pleased to note that some of the anger in the rosette's eyes melted away when their eyes met and he had to resist snorting at her comment. He coughed to mask his grin and spoke:

"Due to the fact that Temari is no longer able to fight, I declare Haruno Sakura the winner of this match."

Ear-shattering cheers broke out.

It was only after Genma-san advised her to go to the infirmary to get her hand checked out did the seriousness and absolute pain of her injury override the wave of adrenaline she'd been riding since the start of the match. Sakura had to pause in her tracks and stuff the knuckles of her uninjured hand into her mouth to stifle her scream.

If she were to wager, Temari had managed to smash almost every bone in her left hand and it hurt more than anything she'd ever experienced before. And then, the fact that shinobi relied on their hands more than almost any other body part caught up with her and she could feel herself start to hyperventilate.

Oh, god what if they can't fix it? This looks seriously damaged! What happens if I'll never have my dexterity back? I'm barely a genin I can't afford not to be able to go on missions because I can't form any jutsu! I'll be useless for real oh god why didn't I forfeit-!

"Hey!" a sharp voice managed to stop her inner panic and she was suddenly faced with a pair of cold though slightly red-rimmed lilac eyes. "You need to breathe." The brunet commanded, his eyes boring into her and daring her to disobey. It took enormous effort for Sakura to calm down enough to listen, but as she forced herself to take a deep breath, it felt like she'd finally broken the surface after being underwater for a long time. The boy's eyes softened marginally when he saw her take another deep breath and he asked, "Do you want me to call a medic?"

Not trusting herself to speak, Sakura nodded, almost calling out when he turned on his heel and disappeared around the corner. The boy was back not a minute later and Sakura calmed down enough by that point to absently note that his posture was impeccable.

"They should be here in a moment." He announced and Sakura nodded gratefully.

"Th-thank you." She stammered out, still not quite recovered from her short but vicious panic-attack.

The boy nodded before his eyes flickered to her injured hand. "That was a good fight." He murmured absently, his eyes trained on the broken bones. "I wasn't aware that there was a clan in Konoha that specialised in Earth Release." When his eyes met hers, there was an inquisitive glint in them and Sakura felt herself blush.

Pretty. Was her main thought, exhausted and slightly delirious as she was.

"There isn't." she blurted. "Or, at least, my family isn't." when the boy's only response was to raise a – sleek, perfect, why is he so pretty – eyebrow, the rosette's blush deepened and she clarified with a slightly squeaky; "My parents are civilian!"

She didn't miss how his eyes widened slightly, but he only nodded