"FOOD FIGHT!"
"Have you completely lost it!?" Sakura yelled at her comrades. "Just in case you've forgotten, we're not home! We can't go around pulling stunts like this out here as guests!"
How had things degenerated this far— over food? When would people learn that buffets needed sneeze guards? This entire tragedy could've been entirely avoided if the Hidden Sand had just invested a little more money in their cafeteria infrastructure.
Sakura ducked under a stray steamed bun and sighed.
So much for the prestige of the Hidden Leaf Village, the finest of the so-called Five Great Hidden Villages. And the Hidden Sand wasn't much better, either— Konoha might have started this little war by collectively shoving the sweaty Kusa ninja away from the food (accidentally ruining the food for everyone, but at this point, who was honestly still keeping track of who had done what?), but Suna had been the ones to escalate the situation by getting all up in their faces, like it was a matter of national pride!
Well, if you can't beat 'em, join' em…
"SHANNAROOO!" shouted Sakura, as she jumped into the melee armed with a radish.
In the chaos, the Mist and Rain teams— who had absolutely nothing to do with any of this— got swept into the brawl between the Grass, Leaf and Sand teams. Stuck in the middle of the conflict, they were soon trading punches and swinging broken-off table legs at anyone who got too close.
"Please stop, everyone!" shouted Lee, agilely ducking and weaving. "This is not how we should be spending our youths!"
For the Rain shinobi— who were accustomed to getting caught up in the petty squabbles of the three world powers that surrounded their country— this was just another Tuesday. But for the Mist shinobi— who were used to playing the overlords in the sea by themselves— being pelted with dumplings, pudding and cheap chiffon cakes was uncharted territory!
"Onee-sama!" cried out Karin.
"Sakura, watch out!" cried Sasuke, throwing a shuriken to deflect a kunai aimed at her back.
"Thanks!" Sakura called back to them.
Even though it was a discipline that required precise chakra control just like Medical Ninjutsu, Sakura wasn't as experienced in Sensory Ninjutsu— that was more Ino's bag. While she could actively use the Area Scanning Jutsu to map out confined areas and detect people within a limited range, she couldn't reliably distinguish and memorise individual chakra signatures like Ino could.
However, her Lightning Release training had sharpened her sensitivity to electromagnetic fields, so on the other hand, she was getting pretty decent at using her own bioelectric field to detect her immediate surroundings.
This trick was something she had accidentally discovered after two years of messing around with the Lorentz Gun Jutsu: with the ground's slightly negative surface charge and the atmosphere's slightly positive charge, any disruption of the air's natural electric field would indicate the presence of an obstacle— especially if the obstacle in question was conductive like a metal weapon or possessed its own innate electric field… like muscles, hearts or brains.
It worked somewhat like a shark's electroreception ability, though with far less range— air, unlike salt water, was an abysmally poor conductor. The trace amounts of chakra that shinobi unconsciously emitted during combat only marginally enhanced the air's conductivity, which was the only reason this trick even worked in the first place.
As such, it wasn't like Sakura could use this ability to find her lost house keys from ten kilometres away, but it could definitely keep her from getting backstabbed… as long as she was paying attention, that is.
BOOM!
A low, reverberating boom suddenly resonated through the cafeteria, rattling the walls and the floor. The exam-takers froze mid-brawl, momentarily pausing bludgeoning each other with metal pans to search for the source of the noise.
…and an instant later, a turquoise-haired girl crashed through one of the cafeteria windows and landed cleanly on her feet, arms raised like a gymnast finishing her routine.
"Ja-Jaaan!" sang the girl.
She then shaded her eyes, raising one hand to her brow, and she squinted as if she were shielding her eyes from a sun that had already set an hour ago. She then carefully surveyed her surroundings, looking left and right.
"Aww, I missed the start of the party…" she said despondently, before immediately brightening up. "I wonder if I'll still be able to make a hundred friends?"
Even though she was used to Naruto's exuberance, Sakura wasn't really good at dealing with so-called genki girls… She found hyper women to be kind of a headache with their constant yapping.
"Ah, aren't you Sakura-chan?" the unknown girl said, continuing to speak without pause. "Are all girls outside the village as bouncy as you? Or maybe not, huh?"
"You know about me?" Sakura hiccoughed in surprise.
"'Course I do!" exclaimed the girl. "The village head is always talking about you!"
Gears started turning in Sakura's mind.
She'd been to the Hidden Waterfall Village once before, on an escort mission with Kakashi-sensei, Naruto, and Sasuke. It had been a fairly routine outing— or at least, that's how she remembered it. Nothing particularly noteworthy had happened at that time, right?
Wait… hadn't some Hidden Waterfall rebels attacked them when they first arrived? They'd dealt with them so quickly and efficiently, she'd nearly forgotten it had even happened in the first place…
Ding! Mission target Fū detected! Tailed Breast Chakra Mode learning requirements:
Nii Yugito's breast chakra: 1/1
Fū's breast chakra: 0/1
Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. That was Fū? She'd completely forgotten about her!
"The Waterfall's Village Head?" Sakura muttered. "Ah, I think I remember him. His name definitely started with Shi— was his name Shimakaze? No, that's not it. Fubuki, maybe…?"
As usual, Sakura's smooth brain was filled with the names and faces of Kancolle shipgirls— information that was completely useless in this world.
"Close! Lord Shibuki is our Village Head's name," said Fū helpfully. "And I'm Fū! We didn't meet last time, but I'm from the Hidden Waterfall Village, see?" She pointed to her arm, where she had worn her forehead protector. "I came to the Chūnin exams to make a hundred friends!"
Everyone in the cafeteria just gaped at her. Just like that, her sheer liveliness had dissolved the tension in the room in an instant. There was just something magnetic about Jinchūriki like her and Naruto… it was sort of like watching a plane crash.
You just couldn't look away!
"So, everyone, what are we doing after eating?" she continued. "Do you wanna play Trump? Sugoroku? Maybe musical chairs? Or… how about taking a bath together?"
With the tension gone, nobody was in the mood to fight any more… but neither was anyone willing to play along with the quirky girl's antics. They were tired and starving and dirty— with dinner ruined, there was only one thing left to do: take a shower and rest for tomorrow's exam.
"Eh? Huh?" Fū stammered. "Where's everyone going? Don't go away! Come on, I still wanna play!"
"I'll be your friend," said Sakura, as everyone else slowly dragged their feet out of the cafeteria. "So, how about that bath, eh?"
Karin did a double-take.
'Ehhhh!?' Karin screamed internally. 'Since when is onee-sama into flat-chested girls? Did I make a huge mistake by growing out my chest!?!'
Fū was even flatter than she was, if that was even possible…