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.

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

Now that _that's_ all out of the way, please sit back, relax, and enjoy the
show! C&C is always welcome, so please post or reply privately if you like
the fic, hate the fic, or have any other burning notions that you feel the
need to express after reading this. Reader response is the bread and butter
of fanfiction authors!

~Eimii





SUIREN

FIRST STEP: HEAVEN...



"Welcome to Yamanaka Flowers- oh, hello Sakura." Leaning over the counter
and propping her chin in her hand, Ino dropped the perpetually cheerful mask
she wore for the customers and waved lazily as the pink-haired kunoichi of
team seven walked in. "What'cha here for today," she said in a more relaxed
tone.

"Just another daffodil for Lee," Sakura replied companionably, pausing to
admire the botanical feast for the eyes that surrounded her. She still
couldn't understand why Ino sometimes complained about working in her
parents' shop; she certainly wouldn't mind working here. Walking slowly down
the aisle, she stooped to examine the half-dozen daffodils they had in
stock, looking for the prettiest one.

The blonde nodded in understanding. "How is he doing?" she asked after a
moment, her voice dropping slightly. Sakura could tell that she was
remembering their visit to the hospital a week ago, when Lee had collapsed
while trying to do pushups.

The memory brought a sad smile to Sakura's lips. "He's getting better; he's
walking around a bit now. They got him some crutches." They were also
watching him like a hawk, to make sure he didn't hurt himself. Every time
Sakura saw him, she could see how it weighed on Lee's morale, not even being
allowed to train.

"Oh... well, that's good," Ino said without feeling. After an uncomfortable
pause, she piped up with another, more hopeful question that was surely
never far from her mind. "Any word from Sasuke?"

"Ah- no," Sakura answered quickly, grateful for the change in subject, but
wishing that she had something more to report. "But Kakashi-sensei said he
knew where Sasuke was, and then he left too. I'm sure there's nothing to
worry about..." Was a simple heads-up too much to ask though, after a week
missing? *God damn insensitive bastards, the lot of them! Even that moron
Naruto!*

The blond boy was still in the village, but she'd barely seen him the entire
week. He was apparently training with some dirty old man that he'd met
somewhere- like he needed any help, becoming a pervert. It still stung,
though; she was the only one who'd failed, and she couldn't help with her
teammates' training, so she was left all alone with nothing to do.
*Useless...*

If only she'd really defeated Ino. Then she'd... what? Train by herself?
Would Kakashi 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.

Not feeling like sinking back into her own personal cesspool of
self-loathing right before she went to visit Lee, Sakura shook her head and
tried to think of something else. Glancing up at the girl who had raised the
painful subject, she gave Ino a disparaging look. "Shouldn't you be helping
Shikamaru train or something? He's got an extra match; he'll be eaten alive
if he isn't ready."

"That lazy bum?" Ino replied incredulously. "Yeah, right. I don't think he's
training at all, or at least not more than normal." She looked back down to
the fashion magazine in front of her. "Last time I asked, he said it was too
much of a hassle to get all worked up about it. I don't think Asuma-sensei
knows what to do with him."

"That sounds like Shikamaru all right," Sakura replied, deciding on a flower
and standing up. "Could you cut this one for me?"

"Sure."

As Ino rounded the counter with a pair of shears, Sakura thought about the
slick-haired boy. She wondered how calm _she'd_ be, if she were in his
place; she'd probably be a nervous wreck. Lazy or not, Shikamaru was no
fool, which meant that he either he was a brilliant actor, or else he had
more guts than anyone gave him credit for.

She, on the other hand, couldn't even defeat her own rival properly. It was
more luck than anything else that had saved her from Ino's Shintenshin. If
Naruto hadn't shouted at that very moment...

Sakura still wasn't entirely clear on what had transpired next, but she was
somehow sure that it wouldn't have worked if Naruto had never opened his big
mouth. Ino's technique was powerful, and she'd heard that even the Jounin
had been surprised when she threw it off. But since she had no clue how she
did it, other than Ino's bizarre comment about her having 'two minds,' she
didn't think she could rely on that the next time they fought.

Staring over her one-time friend's shoulder, Sakura realized with a jolt
that she wanted to fight her again. She didn't want to settle for 'not
losing' to Ino anymore. She wanted- she _needed_ to prove that she could
win. She needed it so much that it ached, like a gaping hole in the pit of
her stomach. *Is this how they feel...?* she wondered detachedly, images of
Lee, Sasuke, and Naruto flashing before her mind's eye.

"Here you go," Ino said as she finished wrapping the flower, turning to the
pink-hared girl. "What? Do you need something else?"

"I- yes- no. It's..." Sakura mumbled, paying for and accepting the flower in
a daze. Ino was giving her a funny look; she realized she was staring, and
hastily averted her eyes. "It's nothing."

"If you say so, crazy forehead girl," the other girl drawled, not sounding
convinced.

*DAMMIT, I'LL SHOW YOU CRAZY!* But she couldn't just challenge Ino right
there in the shop. She hadn't had any time to prepare. She'd lose for sure,
and she'd sworn to herself that she wouldn't lose anymore. What she needed
was a plan...

Ino's expression grew slightly worried when Sakura didn't rise to the barb.
"Hey, are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine!" the green-eyed kunoichi squeaked, thoughts shooting through her
head at a mile a minute. "Um... I'd better get going, then. See you later!"

"Yeah, later..." Ino replied, waving as Sakura hurried toward the door. "Say
hello to Lee for me."

A parting cry of "I will!" slipped through the crack of the closing door as
it jingled shut.





Slamming the bedroom door behind her, Sakura tossed her bulging shoulder bag
onto the bed and began clearing some space on her desk. After visiting Lee,
she'd gone to the academy and borrowed every scroll they would give her on
mind control and mind defense jutsu. She'd even convinced Iruka-sensei to
lend her some advanced scrolls that a genin normally wouldn't have access
to.

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 willing to
bet that she was the only student who'd known all the answers to the first
part of the Chuunin Exam, and she hadn't even 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.

And that was what she was counting on now. Talking with Lee about his
training- it was a subject they kept drifting back to, since he was so
anxious 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.

Once she became a real ninja, however, it'd seemed like all the studying
she'd done had been pointless. Her entire world had changed in an instant,
the moment she set foot out of the classroom. When they'd been ambushed on
the way to the Wave Country, Sasuke was the only one of them that had kept
his head. She and Naruto had been paralyzed with fear at the first sign of a
real fight, and while Naruto had recovered with a vengeance, she had only
fallen further behind. She was always hiding in their shadows now, just as
she had been sheltered by Ino's shadow before.

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 was not 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.

Whipping open the first scroll on her list, 'Genjutsu and the Mind,' Sakura
unrolled a blank scroll beside it and began plowing through theory-heavy
descriptions of the various ways that the mind could be attacked, taking
notes as she went. genjutsu techniques and their corresponding defensive
strategies weren't covered much in the academy, and while she was more
knowledgeable than most genin, that still wouldn't protect her from the
Shintenshin.

Despite the risks, Ino had shown her once that it was indeed possible to use
the Yamanaka family's 'espionage' jutsu in an actual fight, and Sakura was
willing to bet that her rival hadn't stopped refining her technique just
because neither of them had passed the exam. She was probably already
figuring out ways around the surprising resistance that Sakura had shown
before. Sakura would face a stronger opponent when she fought Ino again, and
this time she was determined to be ready or it.

If that meant locking herself up in her room and spending every waking
moment poring over cryptic tomes, then so be it; she didn't have anything
better to do. Until the exam was finished there were no missions, and she
didn't have a day-job to worry about, unlike Ino. Maybe that was why Ino
complained. Could it be that she didn't have enough time to train?

No, she probably just wanted to go and do something fun instead, like hang
out with her friends or- *STAY FOCUSED, DAMMIT!* Slapping her cheeks, Sakura
took a deep breath and continued reading. The lamp on her desk was still
burning when the first rays of sunlight broke through the window the next
morning, and it would remain so for many nights to come...





If you lack Heaven, seek wisdom and be prepared.
If you lack Earth, run in the fields and find advantages.
If you have both Heaven and Earth,
you will have success in even the most dangerous times.
These rules will guide a person though the extremes...

                                  'Motto of the Chuunin'
                                  -The Third Hokage




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