By the time Sukuna returned from the hospital after settling Kiyomi into a ward and making absolutely certain her condition had stabilized, the second match had already reached its climax.
The moment he stepped back into the Chunin Exam Stadium, the first thing he noticed was the battlefield itself. The once smooth stone arena had become almost unrecognisable.
Countless pits and craters scarred the fighting ring, some shallow while others stretched several meters across, each one bearing unmistakable signs of overwhelming physical force.
Surely the handiwork of Sakura and her punches if Sukuna had to bet on it. Or it could be just that Tenten got some really good deals on her paper bombs recently.
Between those craters lay hundreds of scattered weapons. Kunai, shuriken, senbon, short spears, chains, and countless other tools littered nearly every corner of the arena until it resembled a battlefield rather than an examination ground.
This was the most battle-like battlefield until now. At least in the visual department.
Sukuna only needed a single glance to understand exactly how the fight had progressed until now.
Sakura had spent the entire battle relentlessly trying to force close combat, while Tenten had done everything within her power to prevent exactly that.
His eyes shifted toward the two combatants. Sakura's breathing had become noticeably heavier, and her clothes bore dozens of cuts where blades had narrowly missed vital points.
Blood stained her sleeves, legs, and shoulders, yet almost every wound remained shallow. The girl's enhanced physique, strengthened through weeks of Sukuna's brutal training and her own unique body, had allowed her to endure punishment that would have forced an ordinary genin out of the match long ago.
Even more troublesome for her opponent was the fact that Sakura had already become a competent medical ninja.
More than once during the fight, she had discreetly run healing chakra through an injured muscle or sealed a deeper cut before it could become a liability.
And it was Sakura's forte too. As his theory goes, if the majority of the Yin energy went to him to create that massive cursed energy pool he had, then surely she had gotten the other part of it.
A large amount of Yang Energy. A part of it must have given her that strong body, the rest... Well, that ridiculous feat of pulling off a B-rank medical jutsu at just the age of 6 or 7 on her first try had to come from somewhere, right?
Standing opposite her though, Tenten looked far less injured physically, but the constant need to retreat while maintaining her barrage had clearly begun to exhaust her stamina.
Her breathing was all over the place. By the amount of weapons on the floor, she might have already used the majority of her arsenal on Sakura.
Despite that, her expression remained focused as she twirled another kunai between her fingers.
"You just don't know when to stay down, do you?" Tenten called while springing backward once again. "I've thrown enough weapons to arm a platoon, and you're still chasing me. What the hell do you two brother and sister eat at home anyways?"
Tenten's irritation was not for nothing. Sukuna, when training to learn how to fight with swords from her, was the same. Unrealistic stamina, and no matter how much punishment you inflicted onto him, he just kept on standing back up.
Even though he never got around to learning swords, Tenten couldn't forget how terrible of a time it was just matching against his sheer stamina and durability.
Sakura was turning out to be the same.
Sakura wiped the blood from the corner of her cheek before cracking her knuckles inside the reinforced gloves. Blue sparks danced briefly across the metal as chakra flowed through them, the special alloy instantly converting it into crackling lightning.
"Mostly lectures from our dear mother dearest..." She shrugged.
"She must have some potent lectures then..."
"OH... you have no idea. But enough about that, tell me, are you planning on fighting back today or not? 'Cause I'm getting bored." Sakura snarled.
Tenten snorted. "Easy for you to say. One punch from you would probably send me into next week."
Sakura grinned despite her exhaustion. "Then stop making me chase you. Just give up already."
Tenten rolled her eyes at that. "In your dreams."
Another exchange erupted immediately afterward. Tenten's hands blurred through familiar motions as another stream of weapons shot toward Sakura from every conceivable angle. Sakura darted between them with surprising speed, deflecting several with her lightning-coated gloves while allowing a few less dangerous blades to scrape across her arms rather than slowing her advance.
Every step she took crushed loose stone beneath her feet. Every punch she threw carved another crater into the arena whenever Tenten narrowly escaped.
She halted midway and picked up some of the kunai from the ground and began to throw them back at her.
Of course, beating someone else at their own game is easier said than done. Not even one touched Tenten, but that made her dodge, exhausting her even further.
The difference in raw physical ability had become painfully obvious to everyone watching. Sakura possessed the overwhelming strength. Tenten possessed superior battlefield control.
So the decision rested on who got exhausted first. Sakura chasing Tenten or Tenten dodging Sakura.
During a brief lull, Tenten's gaze drifted toward the strange gloves covering Sakura's fists.
"You know..." she said while adjusting her stance. "Those gloves, I made them."
That paused Sakura for a second.
"No way, my brother gave them to me."
Tenten blinked before recognition crossed her face.
"I see... so that's why he needed four of them made. I thought back then he was planning on growing another set of arms or something." Tenten snorted, and then a smirk came to her face.
It was good times working on those things. It's not often one gets excellent metal like those to work with.
"You know him?" Sakura asked.
"I do."
For some reason, Sakura's smile became noticeably thinner.
'How many girls does that guy even know?'
Tenten nodded while casually spinning another kunai around one finger.
"He came to my shop a long time ago. We talked for a while about chakra-conductive metals and weapon design. Those gloves were originally his idea. He ruined a rather famous weapon for it.
I felt like cracking his skull open to see where the hell he got such a ridiculous notion back then..."
Sakura's eyebrow twitched.
"...But the idiot finally got through to me in the end."
"Got through to you... huh." Sakura grumbled with irritation.
"They're a nice gift, aren't they?"
"They turned out even better than I expected."
A strange feeling settled inside Sakura's chest.
"I see..."
Tenten smiled innocently.
"He's surprisingly caring for all his brash attitude at times."
Sakura's grip tightened hard enough for the gloves to crackle with louder arcs of electricity.
"...Is that so?"
Sukuna, watching from the stands, squinted at that expression. He knew that expression.
'Is she pissed or something?'
Unfortunately for Tenten, she was.
The barrage resumed with even greater intensity than before. Sakura's attacks became more aggressive, her movements carrying an unmistakable edge as she repeatedly attempted to corner her opponent. Tenten immediately noticed the increase in pressure.
"Hey!" she shouted while barely avoiding another devastating punch. "Can't you go easy on someone who helped make those gloves for you?"
"You talk too much!"
"...Like you're one to talk."
Realizing the fight could not continue much longer with how fast her stamina was dropping, Tenten finally made her decision.
She would end this in one move now.
She leapt high into the air. Both hands formed seals.
"I'm ending this right here and right now. Take this..."
Twin scrolls unfurled behind her.
"Twin Rising Dragons!"
The stadium erupted into cheers as countless weapons burst from the spinning scrolls, surrounding Tenten like twin spiraling dragons before raining toward Sakura in an overwhelming storm of steel.
The attack completely engulfed the arena. There was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. Sakura immediately understood that trying to block everything would be suicide. Instead, she relied purely on instinct.
She dodged the attacks aimed directly at her head, throat, and heart.
Everything else...
She endured purely with her flesh.
'I got to learn some defensive moves after this.' Sakura made a mental note to get one out of Kakashi even if it meant hanging the man with his favorite book open and turned the other way around from his eyes.
Kunai buried themselves into her shoulder.
Senbon pierced her thigh.
A short blade tore across her side.
Shuriken sliced into her arms and legs.
Blood splashed across the broken stone as Sakura continued moving through the relentless bombardment, gritting her teeth while ignoring the pain.
Her enhanced body absorbed punishment that would have incapacitated almost anyone else, but even she had limits. Learning medical jutsu also meant she had improved her control over chakra, so she poured as much as possible to passively increase the defenses of her body.
By the time the technique finally ended, dozens of weapons protruded from her body. She stood trembling, breathing heavily, covered in blood from head to toe.
The audience fell silent.
Surely...
Surely the match was over.
Even Tenten lowered her arms slightly.
"...Well, gotta hand it to you, you're one tough gal. But I guess it's my win..." she admitted quietly.
Sakura looked down.
Then smiled.
"Nah..."
She slowly raised one gloved hand.
"I already have won..." She smirked.
Tenten frowned.
"What?"
Only then did she notice it.
Every weapon she had thrown.
Every metal chain.
Every kunai.
Every shuriken scattered across the battlefield.
Together they formed one enormous interconnected network stretching from Sakura...
...all the way to her own feet.
Her eyes widened.
"Oh no—"
Too late.
Lightning exploded from Sakura's gloves.
The chakra-conductive metal instantly transformed every ounce of her remaining chakra into brilliant electrical energy before sending it racing through the countless weapons embedded throughout the battlefield. The entire arena lit up with blinding blue light as electricity surged across every connected blade like a living river.
The current reached Tenten instantly.
Her body convulsed violently.
"Aaaagh!!"
The tremendous electrical discharge engulfed her completely, locking every muscle in place before finally throwing her backward in a shower of sparks. Smoke rose from her clothes as she crashed onto the stone floor, unconscious before she even landed.
Silence filled the stadium.
Genma stared for several long seconds before finally raising his hand.
"...Winner..."
He looked toward Sakura, who remained standing despite the countless weapons still embedded throughout her battered body.
"...Sakura Haruno!"
The stadium erupted into thunderous applause. Sakura let out a long breath before finally allowing herself a tired smile. She closed her eyes and fell back, that was how tired she was, but before she actually hit the ground, someone was already there, catching her in his arms.
"Nice job, sissy... who would have thought that there was still a working brain inside that giant forehead of yours." Sukuna grinned.
"Oh... just f*ck off." Sakura rolled her eyes at him, but let herself sink into that embrace. She really won. That was a good feeling.
"Language, sister, language. Or do you wish to sit for another lecture with Mommykuna?"
"Can you please be done with that ridiculous nickname? It's awful."
"Nope, no can do. However, I might be able to take you up on your offer to f*ck off. With a few changes, of course..." He grinned and whispered something right into her ears.
Her face went from half pale due to blood loss to tomato red in an instant.
"You... you idiot hentai oni," she stuttered.
"Hentai, me... look in the mirror first, sister. Steam's coming out of that head of yours." Sukuna grinned and dodged a punch right at his face from his dear little sister.
It's always fun to tease her. That's never getting old.
By the time the small banter died down and Sukuna stuffed her from inside out with his Reverse Cursed Technique, not even a single wound remained.
"Hmmmm... it feels good when you do that, you know." Sakura couldn't help it. Medical jutsu could never match what Reverse Cursed Technique felt like.
"Ahem..."
Both were taken out of their banter by Genma, who was giving them his signature deadpan look.
"If you siblings are done playing, then may we continue?"
"Ah, sure, sure. Go on." Sakura immediately got flustered and jumped out of his arms like a startled cat, running away to the candidate stand.
"Well. I believe I'm up next, right?" Sukuna rotated his shoulders, not even caring about the strange look the Jonin gave him.
Sighing, Genma just announced the next match.
"Next match is between Sukuna Naruto and..."
Boom...
Before he could even complete it, a puff of smoke rang out and everyone paused.
xXx
A/N : Man, I always like the teasing and Sukuna and Sakura exchange. Even if its nothing intimate. Just them having a sibling moment is fun to write.
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