"What a haul, what a haul!" said Sakura cheerfully, sounding very much like the founder of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts as she rummaged through her unconscious opponents' pockets. "These weaklings were loaded with scrolls!"
"Creepy," Ino remarked drily. "You sound like some perv who just went on a panty raid…"
Following Team Asuma's easy victory over Team Ameno, Sakura, Ino, and Chōji had continued towards the centre of the desert, hoping to find an Earth Scroll to pair with one of their two Heaven Scrolls. And on the way, they had encountered a group of three Sand Genin and, naturally, intercepted them and robbed them of their scrolls as well.
"I don't think they were weaklings," said Chōji, mostly to himself. "It's your Genjutsu that's too strong."
"Yeah, Sakura," said Ino pointedly. "Didn't you say you'd be taking a step back to give us a chance to shine? You're hogging all the enemies!"
Sakura's cheerful expression gradually shifted to a frown as she continued pulling scrolls from their defeated opponents' pockets, turning each one over to check the label. Heaven, Heaven, Heaven… nothing but Heaven Scrolls!
"You can't be serious," said Ino in disbelief as Sakura laid out the five scrolls in front of her. "What are the odds of getting all Heaven Scrolls!?"
"If we're not counting the scroll we started out with, one in sixteen chances," said Sakura grimly. "That is, assuming there were an equal number of Earth and Heaven Scrolls distributed amongst the 30 teams to begin with."
"What are you saying?" said Chōji, scratching his head in confusion.
Basically, Sakura could think of three possible explanations:
They were really unlucky. The Suna Genin had joined forces, and the team they had just encountered were in charge of ferrying Heaven Scrolls between the Hidden Sand's forces. There was a hidden gimmick to the exam: there weren't as many Earth Scrolls as there were Heaven Scrolls.
"It might also be any combination of the three options I just stated," Sakura sighed. "Take your pick."
"It doesn't change what we have to do, Chōji," said Ino encouragingly. "We'll just have to keep looking until we find one."
Ino closed her eyes and concentrated.
Unlike Sakura, who relied on the Area Scanning Jutsu's echolocation or her hypersensitivity to electromagnetic fields to detect enemies she couldn't see with her own two eyes, Ino didn't need any such gimmicks. By simply moulding her chakra and entering sensory mode, she could heighten her perception and detect distinct chakra signatures across a wide radius.
"Got them," she said after a moment. "One Hidden Mist team— the second one to arrive— and one Hidden Sand team— the ones who were staring at us during dinner. Looks like they're fighting not too far from here."
It was a good thing Ino had memorised everyone's chakra signatures during the food fight the previous evening! Passive situational awareness was a vital skill every shinobi needed to develop to survive and thrive in their field— catching small details and subtle cues could mean the difference between walking into an ambush and avoiding it altogether.
"Shall we crash the party, then?" proposed Sakura. "If either of the two teams has an Earth Scroll, we can team up with the one who doesn't. Then, we can fight it out amongst ourselves."
"Sounds like a plan," said Chōji, crossing his arms and nodding.
With Ino locked onto their target, Team Asuma set off across the desert at a swift pace. Leaving behind the rocky wasteland, they soon reached a stretch of sandy dunes that made running much more tiring— especially for Chōji, with his weight and his damaged ankle.
"How are you two doing on chakra?" asked Sakura breathlessly, her breasts bobbing up and down within the confines of her tight dress as she ran. "Chōji? Ino?"
Sakura was really just looking for an excuse to take a break and catch her breath.
"I'm down to one third, I think," Chōji panted. "Going super-sized earlier drained most of my chakra, but I can keep going."
"I've got a nasty headache, but I can take it," said Ino stiffly. "…wait— they've noticed me! They're scrambling my Sensory Jutsu!"
A thick cloud of fog loomed ahead, strangely out of place in the middle of the desert. Beyond it came the sounds of clashing blades and distant shouting. It was stirring up some rather unpleasant memories…
"That's the Kirigakure no Jutsu!" groaned Sakura. "My Sharingan isn't going to be any good in there…"
The Hiding in Mist Jutsu by itself couldn't block sensors, so there had to be something else at play blocking Ino's senses. Entering the mist before them would be an extremely risky endeavour, as both Sakura's and Ino's best abilities would be sealed.
But hang on, why bother going in at all, when she could just blow all the little piggies' houses down?
Sakura took a deep breath.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
Air whistled through Sakura's lips, funnelling into gale-force winds that tore into the wall of fog ahead, parting it with ease. With little moisture in the desert air to condense into mist, it didn't take much for her typhoon to sweep away the veil of mist the Kiri Genin had thrown up.
"Enemies, nine o'clock!" barked a Mist kunoichi the moment the mist was dispersed. "Suigetsu, formation delta!"
"You do know I'm supposed to be in charge of this team, right, Kosame?" Suigetsu said in annoyance, resting his heavy weapons on the ground and taking a swig of water from a gourd. "… but yeah, formation delta it is."
With the mist cleared away, Sakura could clearly see the combatants.
From the Hidden Mist: white-haired Suigetsu, wielding a massive war axe chained to an equally enormous hammer; a red-haired, shark-toothed kunoichi carrying a pair of swords that looked uncomfortably familiar; and little Ranmaru, who had regained the use of his legs after consuming the curry of life.
From the Sand: a blue-haired, twin-tailed woman carrying a doll, a wild-eyed man wearing a face mask and extra-large sleeves, and a rather normal-looking purple-haired woman.
"Please take this seriously, Ringo-senpai, Hōzuki-senpai," said Ranmaru pleadingly. "That girl is really strong— Raiga-sama lost to her, two years ago!"
"In that case, we'll just have to take revenge for Raiga-sensei!" growled Kosame, brandishing her twinswords. "I'll fry her with my Kiba blades!"
Electricity arced between her swords, but before the kunoichi could summon a lightning bolt, the twin-tailed Sand kunoichi shouted out a warning.
"Stop, you fools! This isn't the time to be fighting, we need to find some cover!" she hissed. "Just look behind you, a huge sandstorm's brewing!"
"As if I'd listen to an enemy's words," scoffed Suigetsu. "Not gonna work!"
He had learned from their fight that the blue-haired girl was a sadistic piece of work, so he had no intention of turning his back on her! But when he noticed the dazed expressions on the Leaf shinobi's faces, he finally turned around.
"Ah."
The biggest (and only) sandstorm Sakura had ever seen was approaching them rapidly. Within moments, all three rival teams were swallowed by a whirling wall of sand so dense it blotted out the sun, plunging them into darkness.
"Gyaaah, my eyes!" Sakura screeched in pain. "I've got sand in my Sharingan!"
It turned out Obito had been right all along! Goggles were the way to go!