"Pfft," spat Sakura. "Flbtpfh…"
Sand, sand, sand.
Sand as far as the eye could see— which was not very far, seeing as Sakura had screwed her eyes shut to prevent more grains of sand from getting stuck under her eyelids. The sandstorm spared no one, battering Leaf, Sand, and Mist shinobi alike with a relentless onslaught of fine silica.
If Sakura had ever fancied herself among the top percentage of Rattata, the wrath of the elements was swiftly humbling her. Against nature, even the most powerful of kunoichi was nothing. The Tailed Beasts, Lady Katsuyu, this sandstorm…
Those represented true power!
"Chōji!" yelled Sakura. "Give us some cover!"
"No problem!" Chōji called back to her. "Stand back— Partial Expansion Jutsu!"
Chōji's arms swelled, growing disproportionately large even for his already bulky frame. He set his massive hands on the ground and steepled his fingers, forming a makeshift tent for Sakura and Ino to huddle beneath, shielding them from the sand.
"Ugh, I hate sand," Sakura commented, shaking the sand out of her hair. "It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere."
"Tell me about it," said Ino moodily. "Why would anyone choose to live here?"
"What, you got a problem with how we do things here?"
Startled, Ino and Sakura spun around towards the source of the voice. The blue-haired kunoichi from the Sand and her two teammates were squeezing their way through Chōji's fingers, invading their sanctuary away from the sandstorm…
"Ah, sorry for the intrusion," said Ranmaru apologetically, noticing Sakura staring at him.
And now the Mist team was invading their sanctum sanctorum as well! Ranmaru bowed politely as Suigetsu and Kosame slipped in behind him through another gap between Chōji's massive fingers.
"Mamushi, chair!" the blue-haired girl ordered haughtily. Without hesitation, her long-sleeved teammate dropped to the ground and made a bridge with his body. She sat on his stomach, then glanced around with a look of disapproval. "Nasty," she said dismissively, "but it will suffice."
Sakura and Ino looked at each other in disbelief. Never had they seen someone so shameless— first she barged into their shelter uninvited, and now she had the gall to complain!? It was getting kind of cramped in Chōji-land anyway, so Sakura had no qualms about sending her on her way with a swift, sandaled kick to the backside!
"Show us your scrolls, if you still have any," said Sakura warningly. "Otherwise, don't even think about staying here!"
"Saya-onee-sama?" the purple-haired girl asked the blue-haired, twin-tailed ojou-sama.
"Show her what she wants to see, Sana," sniffed Saya. "It doesn't matter anyway— with such a fierce sandstorm, the second phase is sure to be cancelled."
The girl named Sana pulled out a scroll and handed it to Sakura without saying a word. Sakura gave it a cursory inspection before returning it, then turned to the Hidden Mist team. After a brief moment of consideration, Suigetsu revealed his own scroll and quickly tucked it away again.
Two more Heaven Scrolls— this was getting ridiculous.
"I told you we should have waited some more before picking a fight with them!" Kosame rounded on Suigetsu. "We wasted so much time and energy fighting for nothing!"
"Oh, gimme a break, Kosame," sighed Suigetsu, rolling his eyes. "If we had your way, their scroll would have turned to ashes!"
"What was that, huh?" shouted Mamushi, who didn't look nearly as intimidating as human furniture. "You insinuatin' you could have beaten Lady Saya if ya weren't holdin' back, huh!?"
Sensing that things were about to turn ugly, Sakura quickly intervened.
"Saya-san, was it?" Sakura asked tentatively. "What do you mean, the second phase of the Chūnin exams is sure to be cancelled? Are sandstorms like this one not common in the desert?"
"You will address me as Saya-sama, you vulgar plebeian," said Saya haughtily. "And yes, I meant what I said earlier. Sandstorms are not uncommon in the Hidden Sand, but ones of this scale are few and far between."
Gears began turning in Sakura's head.
If it wasn't normal for such powerful sandstorms to appear out of nowhere, could this one be manmade? The only person she knew with enough power to stir up the sands like this was Gaara, the One-Tail's Jinchūriki. Could it be that the Akatsuki had taken the bait and attacked him— and this sandstorm was his way of defending himself?
If so, there was no way she could stay hidden here twiddling her thumbs! She needed to follow Lady Tsunade's orders and save Gaara, even though she didn't like him very much! The Leaf-Sand alliance was counting on her!
(Of course, Sakura was wrong on all counts, but given the circumstances, could she really be blamed for thinking the sand-manipulator was behind the unnatural sandstorm that had engulfed the Demon Desert completely out of nowhere?)
"Ino," said Sakura, turning to her teammate. "Would you mind using the Sensory Jutsu to check on our surroundings?
"Looking for anything in particular?" Ino asked.
"The Fifth Kazekage's chakra signature," said Sakura grimly. "If you have it memorised."
Ino closed her eyes, her brow knitting in concentration as a bead of sweat traced its way down her forehead. After a moment, she opened her eyes again.
"It's no good," she exhaled. "Something's jamming my senses."
"Huh?" hiccoughed Ranmaru in surprise. "That's odd— I did use my Kekkei Genkai to scramble your Sensing Jutsu earlier when I sensed your feelers, but I stopped a while ago. Could someone else be using a technique like mine?"
This all sounded incredibly suspicious to Sakura.
First the unnatural speed and size of this sandstorm, and now something was sealing all attempts to sense what was happening inside? Brazenly isolating the Kazekage from his people in the middle of his territory… this sounded a lot like the Akatsuki!
"Do you suspect something has happened to Kazekage-sama?" asked Saya, looking awfully interested in what she was hearing. "I order you to tell me what you know, vulgar woman."
"Ranmaru, your Dōjutsu works a lot like the Byakugan, doesn't it?" asked Sakura urgently, ignoring Saya's creepy stare. "Can you see what's going on outside?"
"The Ketsuryūgan is a lot stronger than the Byakugan," said Ranmaru proudly. "Anything the Hyūga clan's eyes can do, mine can do better!"
Ranmaru owed his life to Sakura, so he figured it was time to repay his debt.
"Excellent," Sakura said, turning to the others. "Suigetsu, Miss Saya— how would you like to have the Kazekage of the Hidden Sand owe you his life?"
If it hadn't been for the Fifth Mizukage's orders to make a bang at the Chūnin Exams, Suigetsu would've wanted nothing to do with any of this. But Zabuza wanted the shinobi world to remember the terror of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, so Suigetsu supposed the least he could do was lend an ear.
"…we're listening," sighed Suigetsu.
"Make your case," said Saya haughtily. "You have my attention, for now."