BSWS CH-29 Clash of Intents Part-2

"Those little brats deliberately bumped into Gaara and threw that food on him to insult him." Temari interrupted with accusations to help their case.

"Oh is that so? Then why do they still have the other half of the cone on them?" Sakura asked Temari while pointing towards the broken ice cream cone on Konohamaru's hand "Based on what I can see, it is more probable that you three deliberately stood in the way and these kids bumped into you due to them not noticing it. It was just an excuse for you three bullies to pick on the kids of our village."

"And you," Sakura turned and called out to Gaara, who turned his murderous eyes on her, "A kid spoiled your outfit with his ice cream. Boo-fucking-Hoo!! Stop being a baby, you brat!!"

"If you want I will compensate you for your outfit. However if you think it gives you the right to bully or hurt on of our village's kids, then you have got another thing coming." Sakura said, clenching Kunai in one hand and unleashing a dozen Chakra Strings with her other hand.

Kankuro looked at this in surprise. Chakra string was majorly a technique used by Puppeteers. But even he was not able to unleash more than one string per finger. In their whole village, only Granny Chiyo was capable enough to do this. She had been training him in puppet arts, hence he knew her prowess.

'To unleash more than one Chakra String per finger required immense Chakra Control. This girl is no longer simply controlling string through her finger, she was controlling them with her will.' Kankuro though as he looked at Sakura enviously. If he could have her talent, then he would advance in Black Style Puppet Arts at least ten times faster.

Meanwhile, Sakura' words stoked the fire in Gaara's mind higher than ever. His fingers twitched uncontrollably as sand started breaking off from the gourd and revolving around him in cloud like form.

"Mother wants your blood..!!" Gaara said as he stepped forward. However, a few dozen Chakra Strings immediately burst out of the ground and tightly bound the Sand Trio in their place. The Chakra needles attached to the strings immediately cut off the conspicuous weaponry of the trio, the Tessen, the Puppet and the Sand Gourd. Sakura placed them far away from the trio's reach.

"You know, a piece of advice as a fellow Genin." Sakura said, walking right up to Gaara and the other two "When Shinobi engage you in gossip and waste your time, they are clearly distracting you. That usually indicates a trap, an ambush or a one-hit-kill assassination attempt. The best choice in such scenario is to not give them that chance."

"Now," Sakura said as she walked back to Naruto and Sasuke "You three are clearly not Sand Shinobi who have infiltrated Leaf Village. With your pathetic espionage skills, bullying tendencies and inability to control emotions, you are not capable of infiltrating anyway."

"In that case, the most logical explanation of Genin like you to come here is either an official mission, or Chunin Exams. Since Leaf is unlikely to let Sand do missions on their turf, You are here for the Chunin Exams."

"Hence, be good little kids and prepare yourself for participation in the exam. Keep pulling stunts like this and I will really make sure you end up in the T&I Department." Sakura said as she took back the strings. Gaara wanted to rush forth and attack, But Kankuro and Temari held him back desperately.

"Gaara, keep the mission in mind. Father will be furious if we jeopardize it." Temari whispered in a begging tone. Hearing that, Gaara controlled himself with difficulty and waved his hand. His Sand brought their weapons back to them and they equipped it once more.

As they prepared to leave, Gaara turned to Sakura and Sasuke, "What are your names?"

"Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke said.

"Sakura Haruno." Sakura said confidently.

"I am Gaara of the Sand. Remember this name, because you have now been marked by Mother. She craves your blood desperately, and I will make sure she gets it." Gaara said in an ominous tone filled with hate, rage and madness, before leaving along with the other two.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto stayed there for a few minutes to make sure the kids recovered and went away. Once she was sure that only three of them were left in the surroundings, Sakura's knees buckled as she left go of the willpower keeping her firm.

Sasuke and Naruto were shocked and they immediately moved to support her from both sides. They helped her get to a nearby park and seated her on a bench.

"Sakura, What happened?" Naruto asked with concern. Even Sasuke looked at her with a little concern showing on his face.

"Gaara…." Sakura muttered as he recalled the sheer scale of the intent behind his actions. She had momentarily even glimpsed the intent spilling out from the Tailed Beast in him, Shukaku. The moment she had captured the Sand Trio, she had felt like she had been dragged in front of a mountain sized beast who looked at her with his enormous hate filled eye.

"What about Gaara?" Sasuke asked.

"That Gaara is absolutely lethal.." Sakura said as she clenched her hand to fight off the impact of the memory of the intent directed at her. Becoming a sensor had boosted her sensitivity to intents, and Gaara's or more accurately Shukaku's intent was beyond anything she had imagined.

"Really? He didn't look like much. I could easily take care of him with a few shadow clones." Naruto bragged.

"Don't underestimate him Naruto." Sakura said "Beneath that casual average look hides an absolute monster, just waiting to be unleashed and wreak havoc."

"If I had shown even slightest of chink in the armor of bravado I had put on, that kid would really have attacked us all, consequences be damned." Sakura said while leaning forward to place her elbows on her knees and clasped her hands together.

"He is a predator that would attack if you show him the slightest weakness. He would have also attacked if I had not displayed enough skill to back my words." Sakura said, looking at her two partners "If we really meet him again, we might have to use everything we have to simply survive."

Sasuke stood up and brushed his pants "In that case, I say we should start training even harder. If your guess is correct and they are here for Chunin Exams, then there is a good chance we would run into them again."

"Then we should train our best moves and prepare to kick his ass next time." Naruto said as he smacked his fist into his palm.

Sakura glanced at her two companions and turned her eyes to the sky. Knowing the future was a very heavy burden. In some moments, She wanted to change the course of events that led to a certain future, yet in other moments she wanted the future to remain same so that she can use that knowledge to survive.

However, even if she one day bent the timeline enough to completely divert the future, she knew that danger would still stalk her at every turn. It was simply because of who she and her companions were. With every day, she was etching new achievements to her fate that would one day make her stand along with the true powerhouses that can affect the future of this world.

Hence, the most important weapon in her arsenal was not her knowledge of future or her system, It was her own prowess. And she would make damn sure that she hones every bit of it to the peak she can take it to.