Seeing Sakura get back on her feet, Naruto, who had been deeply worried just moments ago, finally felt relieved. It had been truly terrifying when Dosu suddenly lunged and injured Sakura severely, but luckily she seemed fine now. He resumed cheering energetically for her.
"Be quiet, Naruto. Sakura has already won," Mizuki said to Naruto.
Dosu's last desperate attempt failed to turn the tide, so the outcome was no longer in doubt.
"Team Kakashi won both matches. We'll never be able to hold our heads high in front of the Third now." Among the rookie genin, only one member each from Kurenai Yuhi's team and Asuma Sarutobi's team advanced to the third round—Shino Aburame, who had little presence, and the apathetic Shikamaru Nara. The contrast was glaring.
Down below, after getting back on her feet, Sakura quickly treated her injuries while watching Dosu, who could barely remain standing.
"You've already lost. You'd better give up now. If you keep pushing yourself like this, you could die," Sakura warned him for the last time. His blood loss was clearly excessive; if he didn't get treatment soon, it would be too late.
With his vision blurring badly, Dosu still managed to reply, "Are you trying to joke around? Otogakure ninja don't surrender. Death is the only home we know."
Recognizing that reasoning with him was pointless, Sakura gave up and looked toward the examiner, Hayate.
"Will you continue? Examiner."
"The opponent shows no intention of surrendering. The match continues." If this were a Konoha ninja, it would have been better to end it promptly, but since this was an Otogakure ninja, if he insisted on dying, let him do as he pleased.
As time went by, Dosu's situation deteriorated further. With nothing else left, he gathered what little strength remained and decided to risk everything, hoping maybe a miracle could happen, taking advantage of Sakura's still-serious injuries.
Seeing that her opponent refused to back down, Sakura wasted no time hesitating. Channeling chakra into her feet for speed, she skillfully used the pulling force of the chakra threads shooting from her palms to continuously slide away and evade Dosu. Her body hurt terribly, making it hard to concentrate enough to control the delicate chakra armor. It was better just to stay far away and wait for the opponent to destroy himself. Getting hit again carelessly would really be bad luck.
The rest of the match became a predictable affair, with Dosu staggering forward trying to chase Sakura, only to be effortlessly evaded every time without even coming close. Meanwhile, his own speed slowed more and more, his attacks growing weaker.
Even spectators at the sidelines could easily tell how things would turn out.
"Otogakure ninja sure are hard to understand," Asuma shook his head. To persist in such a hopeless situation seemed utterly pointless to him.
"Maybe it's despair," Mizuki softly replied.
As a fanatical follower of Orochimaru, fully devoted to carrying out his missions, the sense of being abandoned felt as though his life had reached its end. Dosu wasn't a good person, but this cruel world gave him no opportunity to become one. For someone like Orochimaru, skilled at manipulating human hearts, useful pawns like these were limitless in supply. Yet for the pawn itself, surrounded only by desperation, there could hardly be a worse predicament.
Fortunately, there was still one final chance to prove himself to Orochimaru—defeating Sasuke Uchiha in front of everyone and thereby regaining his master's favor.
"What a shame," he thought. "I guess this is really my limit. I'll fall before even getting a chance to face Sasuke. Lord Orochimaru's judgment is indeed correct—we're simply too weak."
Darkness gradually crept over his vision. He could no longer feel his fists as they swung feebly. A sense of total weakness spread through his body, and he could barely follow his opponent's movements anymore.
"Hey, don't you guys think Haruno Sakura's fighting style is quite strange?" observed Kurenai Yuhi, known for her sharp perception. "It's so different from Kakashi's style. Are we really sure he taught her?"
Her earlier superb genjutsu skills and versatile combat techniques were understandable, since Kakashi himself was an all-around ninja. But the key medical ninjutsu techniques like Scalpel and Mystical Palm Technique didn't seem like anything Kakashi specialized in. And that unusual full-body defensive technique? No one had ever heard of Kakashi using anything like that. As for this new method of sliding movement involving chakra threads running through the soles of her feet, it was completely unlike Kakashi's style.
Although Kakashi used many techniques, his style leaned toward quick and direct combat. The elegance in Sakura's fighting—something never seen in Kakashi—was clearly beyond what he could have taught.
"Eh? That wasn't actually from Kakashi-sensei at all!" Naruto, overhearing Kurenai's question, turned around and answered. "Kakashi-sensei was being too biased, taking only Sasuke for special training while leaving me with that perverted teacher and assigning Sakura to Mizuki. It was just unfair! Still, I never expected Sakura would become this strong."
"Really?" Kurenai and Asuma stared at Mizuki.
"To be honest, Asuma," sighed Mizuki, "I get why others might not know, but why wouldn't *you* know? Didn't Ino tell you? You haven't been paying enough attention to Choji and Ino, always playing shogi with Shikamar instead."
"That's right, Asuma-sensei!" Yamanaka Ino chimed in. "Lately I've learned a lot too, yet you never seem to care. You disappear the moment you get any free time."
"You can't blame Asuma-sensei entirely though—he has adult worries to deal with, unlike me, who doesn't need to handle such things." He spent his spare time flirting with girls anyway—how could he have time to care about them?
"Adult worries? What's that even mean?" Ino understood what he meant, but a confused Naruto, being a young boy, just couldn't grasp the meaning.
"Forget looking around everywhere—focus on watching the match. Soon you'll be facing off against Sakura yourself. If you don't pay close attention now, you're going to suffer later."
As Mizuki anxiously waited, the battle below finally reached its conclusion.
'Where is Kakashi? Another match was added, which took extra time. He should've arrived already, right?'
Dosu finally collapsed after losing a massive amount of blood. Spotting her opening, Sakura flicked all ten fingers in rapid succession. Several Chakra Threads wrapped tightly around Dosu's body, binding him completely. With one powerful yank, she tugged him off balance. Already weakened and unsteady on his feet, Dosu crashed heavily to the ground and lost consciousness.
"The winner… is Sakura Haruno." Hayate swiftly announced the result, then signaled for the medical ninja to enter and tend to the injured.
[Finally… over!]
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