Chapter 116: Second year exam (3)

- Homura, you're going too fast wait up! (I heard he was a nightmare to work with, but this is ridiculous) (Sakura)

Sakura called to Homura was still scaling the cliff ahead of the rest of his team with the help of his scaling gear.

The same as for his classmates, but were much further behind as Homura had been used to scaling cliffs for a long time now.

- Just hurry up, we have to get ahead of everyone! Look, Gekkou is not complaining.- he pointed to his other teammate who was just slightly ahead of Sakura but still a bit further away from Homura.

But Gekkou didn't say anything and continued scaling without losing focus.

Little did they know what kind of thoughts their quiet classmate was having.

-(Don't look down… Don't look down…Remember the warrior code, and my heart will never waver.)

As Gekkou did not say anything, both Sakura and Homura just thought he was concentrating and moved on.

- Still, we should thread carefully and be closer to each other so that we can support each other. (Why is he so good at climbing things…He seems to have a lot of practice, he hasn't even stopped once since we started.)

- *sigh* I am going to go ahead and set a rope for you two to climb, so wait up!

- No, Homura don't- Ah! (Sakura)

A wind blew past Sakura as she was about to try to talk to Homura she missed a step and lost her footing altogether, resulting in her falling.

- Hyaaaaaaa! (Sakura)

Hearing this loud noise coming from underneath his location, Homura looked down and realized what had happened and his entire brain went overdrive.

- H-Haruno!? !!!!

Suddenly as he saw Sakura falling figure…it overlapped with a memory of the boy Homura failed to save.

But he soon shook the entire thing away and jumped.

- (I have to make it in time!)

Homura activated his sharingan and grabbed two shurikens he had on hand with wires at full speed.

The shurikens collided and subsequently scattered off in various directions but not before the wires could bind Sakura.

Homura then pulled on the wires and used them to lift Sakura toward his location.

And once he had her in his grasp he used one hand that was free, to stop their fall with a kunai.

Stabbing the cliff with all of the strength he could muster in that desperate situation.

-(Damn it, the weight is all off!)

Seeing the ember sparks and the trail he was leaving behind on the surface of the edge of the cliff as he failed to stop their free fall, Homura tried to position his boy in a way that he could put more strength on his grip.

However, it merely slowed down their fall, Homura realized that he would need more power if wanted to avoid getting seriously injured and would need both of his hands at the very least to avoid such a possibility.

Thus he pressed both of his feet against the rocky surface and seeing that Sakura was tightly hugging him anyway, he decided to let go of her and grab another kunai from one of his ninja tool pouches.

He then used to proceed in stabbing the surface of the cliff one more time in order to stop their fall.

Sadly he didn't count that letting go of holding Sakura, that she would use even more strength to strengthen her grip.

- (This girl is crazy strong! She is holding on to me way too tight!…It's hard to breathe.)

Homura was amazed by Sakura's strength, she was holding on to him way too tightly that he was unable to put all his strength in his arms, to make his grip tighter on the weapons he was currently holding within his hands.

Having no other choice, he strengthened both of his feet against the rocky surface, despite the excruciating sensation that plagued his body all over.

-Arghh!!!!!!!!!

The pain of having to use his legs to slow down their descent was maddening.

The sole of his sandals was getting thinner and thinner by the second, as it was disappearing at a faster rate than ever before due to it being made of a polyester kind of material instead of a more durable and heavier material.

After several seconds had passed by, Homura's descent slowed, again and again until he was nonetheless able to stop their descent just a few dozen feet away from the ground.

Subsequently, he leapt off and made a firm landing on the ground.

But not before he proceeded to deactivate his sharingan.

He had never been so glad of having a doujutsu, if it wasn't for the extra visual acuity; things might have ended, much, much worse.

But at the end of the day, it was not a terrible outcome.

Since Homura was certain that the teachers would have more or less intervened one way or another probably had some kind of safeguard protocols put in place for such eventuality.

At least. that's what he believed now that his mind was no longer plagued with thoughts of uncertainty and other unsavory feelings.

Nonetheless, he was still being plagued by something else, or rather someone else as Sakura's firm grip was about to crush his back.

- Haruno! Stop! Stop! We're safe! Let go already!

Sakura opened her left eye slightly to assess her current situation, then realized what had happened and pushed Homura away.

- Urgh! (What the hell!? I-I don't smell that bad!… I think, no, I am sure I took a shower today…*Sigh* I am tired.)

- Ah, sorry. (Sakura)

Sakura realizes what she had done as Homura falls to the ground.

- …Thanks for saving me. (Sakura)

When Homura looked in her direction, her cheeks were glowing crimson and she quickly averted her gaze. However, he had a brief glimpse at her face before she looked away.

- Y-yeah, no problem. (I didn't know that she could make a face like that…Now that I think about it…She's actually quite cute…No wonder Naruto likes her…I found her a bit creepy since she often goes train in the forest alone and keeps yelling like a mad woman for hours on end, hitting dummies until they pretty much break down… she's definitely not a normal girl. If I remember correctly both her parents are genins or chunins; hard to believe they produced such a gifted person like her. Gifted? Wait…she is gifted in chakra control, beyond even the norm… isn't she?)

- Sorry let me help you out…(*Sigh* Why didn't such an event happen with Sasuke-kun instead?…I am sure he would have been so cool…even carrying me like a princess. I can't let anyone find out that I hugged that weirdo Homura, especially not Ino…He sometimes stinks a bit….but not today though. ) (Sakura)

Sakura extended her right hand to Homura in an attempt to help him stand up.

Luckily for him, he wasn't able to read her inner thoughts…Otherwise, he would have been quite offended by the thoughts inside her head as she extended her hand to him.

Perhaps it was fair since Homura was having perhaps even ruder thoughts as grabbed her hand as he got back up.

Though, if she was in her normal state of mind, she would have remembered that she fell because of Homura breaking ranks once again.

But after being saved from a terrifying fall, a lot of things inside her head had been thrown upside down.

- (I have to get her DNA as soon as possible…she might be the key to my problems…and I think I have just the right idea…though I have to be careful otherwise, I might mess it up against her weird over-the-top strength.)

Homura only after being squeezed to death remembers that Sakura was a powerful character in the main storyline of the manga. Since she was not a daughter of a god or had any special abilities and the story didn't really revolve around her, he had almost completely forgotten her existence.

To him, she was just an annoying know it all classmate, that was always too eager to show off that she knew more than others.

A self-imposed snitch, and a teacher's pet that ratted him out when he would ditch class or not show up at all.

So he was not very fond of her, but he ultimately care or even remembered her existence half of the time.

But now he had a reason to remember and even get on her good side.

Since Sakura was going to be the best pupil of the 5th Hokage, who was a descendant of a Senju.

A bloodline that he actually cared about.

- So are you ok?- Said Homura with a smile on his face.

Trying to appear as friendly as he could; which all who know Homura could only mean that he was up to no good.

But Sakura and Homura were not close, not even after almost 2 years.

He hadn't really ever truly smiled since Sakura had known Homura.

Which almost took her off-guard.

- Ah? Y-Yes. Thanks to you. (Huh? That's weird…I think it's the first time he asked me that, since this exam started he called me slow and useless several times already, more than I ever heard someone call me those things in just one day. ) (Sakura)

- We should get back scaling the cliff. ( Just you wait, I will definitely steal your weird commoner DNA.)

-(Already?…but he is right…if I finish early Sasuke-kun is bound to look at me.) Yes, we should. We don't have time to waste! (Sakura)

- Agreed! Hop on my back I will carry you so that we can move faster. (I am going to injure her slightly so that I can get some of her skin samples and DNA easily. No one will suspect anything if that happens while we are climbing.)

Homura was used to climbing terrible heights while carrying heavy weights with him, it was one of the many Might Guy's trademark training methods. It was certainly not a challenge to take Sakura along while scaling a cliff.

- Good idea Homura, you can be quite dependable sometimes. (Yes, I heard that Homura is a training maniac, and he's strong too. If I use him properly I could probably use him to my advantage.) (Sakura)

Both Homura and Sakura saw a renewed vigor as they realize that they could get what they wanted from each other if they just pretended to be more cooperative overall.

It took them a while to realize that their skills were mutually beneficial and could be harnessed for the greater good.

Their greater good.

-(Now's my chance. I am going to use her/ him…to get ahead.)(Sakura, Homura)

While Homura and Sakura were having their little spasm, they failed to realize that their other teammate had frozen in place.

-….(Gekkou)

Passed out due to fear of heights.

He tried to find his warrior's heart but ended up falling asleep.

…luckily for him, he was so focused that he fell asleep still holding on to dear life.

Chapter end