Naruto: Reborn as Sakura with Manyuu Chifusa Template

Shira believed that Sakura wasn't taking him seriously due to his inability to perform Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, but nothing could have been further from the truth. On the contrary, Rock Lee's offhand comment about Shira's strength had thoroughly spooked her, even if she didn't outwardly show it.

Even though Sakura had won her match against Lee in the first run of the Chūnin Exams' finals, his shadow still hung over her. She had never fully mentally recovered from the one-sided, supersonic beatdown he had given her before she managed to turn the tables in a single blow.

This experience had left her with the impression that Lee and his Eight Inner Gates were invincible, which is why she'd been so surprised to learn that he'd lost to Hinata's team. In truth, Lee was anything but invincible— his options were limited to Taijutsu, leaving him extremely vulnerable to trickery of any kind.

That said, if Lee claimed someone was strong, Sakura made a point of paying close attention!

"Seven Heavens Breathing Method: Second Activation!"

The yellow aura surrounding Shira deepened in colour, and his muscles bulged, making his frame visibly bulkier. So much chakra was surging through his pathway system that his body could no longer contain it— it was bursting from his Tenketsu like a boiling kettle letting off steam!

Now thoroughly spooked, Sakura quickly channelled wind chakra from her Breast Seal and accumulated it on her palms, bypassing the need for hand seals.

"Wind Style: Gale Palms!"

Sakura snapped her right hand against the air and pushed, feeling the air shoving back against her palm. The space between them rippled, and the ground erupted behind him as the pressurised wave of air exploded harmlessly past him. Shira had already vanished and flickered elsewhere to resume powering up in peace— she had failed to interrupt him!

"Seven Heavens Breathing Method: Third Activation!"

There was no time for Sakura to pull out a senbon for the Lorentz Gun Jutsu— Shira's aura deepened and his skin grew pink from the strain, and the ground erupted once again as he accelerated explosively, his figure turning into a blur. He fully intended on finishing the fight with a single supersonic punch before his opponent could get serious!

Sakura's Sharingan spun rapidly.

Two tomoe weren't enough to track such speed, but they were enough to grant her the insight to calculate where and when he would enter her striking range, which was easy enough given the parameters she was given. At his speed, it would take him an immense effort to change trajectory— that was Newton's First Law, after all.

(Okay, I'm done with the science, I swear.)

Sakura lowered her centre of gravity, her toes tracing the Tai'in Taikyokuzu— the Yin-Yang Diagram— in the dusty soil at her feet.

"SHANNAROOO!" Sakura screamed. "Eight Trigrams: Revolving Heaven Palm!"

Pushing off her back foot, Sakura began to rotate rapidly, releasing chakra in a sharp burst from all 361 of her Tenketsu like booster jets to increase her angular momentum. This was her Uchiha-flavoured spin on a Hyūga technique: with the Sharingan guiding her timing, she didn't need to continuously release chakra— a fraction of the normally required chakra, released at the exact instant of impact, was all it took to parry a single instance of a strike!

The instant Shira's powerful fist was about to connect with her face, a bubble of spinning chakra flared around Sakura and cleanly redirected his blow. As he stumbled past her uncontrollably, she gracefully pirouetted one last time and gave him a light karate chop at the base of the neck.

"Lightning Style: Chakra Enhanced Strength!"

Shira barely felt the blow, but as he turned to face her, his eyes still resolutely fixed on the dainty toes peeking out of Sakura's standard-issue sandals, a wave of dizziness hit him, and he staggered. In an attempt to regain his balance, he tried flailing his arms… and promptly found himself doing the splits.

"It's not a Genjutsu," said Sakura, as she watched him spasm uncontrollably on the ground. "And I'd suggest turning off that weird mode of yours. You're only going to hurt yourself if you keep this up."

Shira couldn't understand what was happening to him.

Genjutsu wasn't supposed to work on him when he used the Seven Heavens Breathing Method— it made his chakra too wild and untameable to control. He knew this, because his teammate Sen had tested it on him.

"Argh!" groaned Shira, toppling backwards.

'So, this the woman who Lord Gaara admires…' he thought to himself. 'After everything I told myself, I still underestimated you…'

Even though Sakura had barely touched him, the strong electric field she had produced from her palm had scrambled his nervous system, temporarily rerouting every one of his limbs' nerves. Unable to maintain his breathing technique due to the pain, his aura gently subsided, and his engorged muscles and reddish skin returned to normal.

Left ring finger controls left middle finger. Right pinky is linked to left arm… left foot's middle toe controls left leg… right arm is right leg… sphincter commands right arm.

Right leg, check.

Left leg, check.

Right arm, check.

Left arm, check.

Four limbs, check!

To Sakura's surprise, Shira worked out the basics very quickly. Without even bothering to figure out which muscles would make his hand close into a fist, he suddenly leapt up and tried to slap her with an open palm… only to give her tits a meaty smack.

Boin~

Shira's mind went blank.

So soft…

"Oi, Shira, what do you think you're doing!" cried Yome, his rosy-cheeked loli teammate. "Just tag out and quit embarrassing yourself already!"

Before Shira could work out how to move his tongue and lips to form words, a red-faced Sakura slipped a senbon into her palm and jabbed it into his neck. The needle struck a key Tenketsu, cutting off the chakra flow to his head— and he toppled over backwards for the second time, unconscious.

"Konohagakure's Team Asuma advances to the finals!" shouted Baki. "Where they will meet Konohagakure's Team Kurenai!"

Understandably, the crowd erupted in boos.

Until now, Team Shira had been undefeated; they had been the Hidden Sand's best and last hope of reaching the finals. But as things stood, two teams from the Hidden Leaf had made it through… and the Hidden Sand, despite hosting the exams and having home advantage, had none.

It was nothing short of humiliating!

"SILENCE!" shouted Gaara, his booming voice ringing across the coliseum. "That's enough! Is this how the Hidden Sand treats guests from afar? Is this how you want us to be seen?!"

"THE HIDDEN LEAF ARE A BUNCH OF CHEATERS!"

"THE FIFTH IS THE LEAF'S PUPPET! THE FIFTH DOESN'T CARE ABOUT THE VILLAGE, HE ONLY CARES ABOUT SERVING HIS MASTERS' INTERESTS!"

Someone in the crowd threw an overripe tomato at Gaara, but his automatic sand defences flared up and blocked it. Some people tried jumping down into the arena, but were quickly stopped by Suna-nin dressed in flak jackets… but that only seemed to incense the crowd even more.

"DOWN WITH THE FIFTH!" some people in the crowd chanted. "DOWN WITH THE MONSTER RACCOON DOG!"

The chant picked up in popularity, gradually becoming louder and louder.

"What's going on?" asked Ino in a frightened voice, as she and Chōji ran up to Sakura. "Everyone's so angry at us…"

"Someone's trying to instigate a riot," replied Sakura tiredly, leaning on Chōji for support. "Agents provocateurs hidden in the crowd, I think…"

Gaara floated down from the VIP box on a cloud of sand and landed next to them in the arena.

"My political rivals have made their move," said Gaara grimly. "This has gone on too far— I'll arrange for you to leave the village quietly before someone gets hurt… Ah, here comes Baki, he'll…"

Something was wrong— Baki's chakra was spiking!

"Wind Style: Blade of Wind!"

Baki suddenly flickered forwards, slicing at an unsuspecting Sakura's back with his sharpened wind blade.

"No!" shouted Gaara.

He shaped a fist from the sand at his side and intercepted the attack, before driving it into Baki's chest, sending him flying backwards. He fell a few metres away, spewing an ungodly amount of blood, staining the dust with scarlet …

"What?" Gaara gasped, his eyes growing wide. "I know I didn't use that much force—"

"THE KAZEKAGE'S GONE MAD!" a nearby Sand Jōnin bellowed. "HE'S GONE AND MURDERED LORD BAKI!"

And just like that, the coliseum descended into chaos. Civilians tripped over one another in their mad scramble to escape the spectator stands, while guards brutally shoved plebeians aside, focused only on evacuating the nobles from the VIP boxes.

"Nononono," muttered Gaara, clutching his head. "Shut-up-shut-up-shut-up-shut-up…"

The Hidden Sand had plunged into full-blown civil war... and Sakura and the others were trapped right in the middle of it all.