With a quiet pop, Sakura, Sasuke, Tenten and Fū reappeared in Tenten's hotel room, startling the room service lady so thoroughly she dropped her dustpan and ran away shrieking.
As the queasiness of Space-Time travel ebbed, a wave of distant boos drifted in through the shattered window and reached Sakura's ears. The tournament was still going on without incident— thankfully, there was no Operation: Sunagakure Crush underway, from the sound of things— but evidently, the crowd hadn't taken kindly to the outcome of one of the matches.
Glancing around the room, Sakura noticed that Ino hadn't bothered to wait for their return. With nothing else keeping them there, the group decided to head back to the arena to hand over the comatose Fū to her teammates and watch the remainder of the matches.
"You're back!" Ino gasped, her hands flying to her mouth as she watched her companions shuffle into the exam participants' box. "Sakura, Sasuke-kun, you're covered in blood!"
"It's all right," Sakura assured her. "The blood's ours."
"Fū!"
As soon as they spotted their teammate draped across Sakura's shoulders, the two Hidden Waterfall 'Genin' rushed forwards and pulled her from Sakura's back. To their relief, they found Fū to still be breathing.
"Thank goodness," said Yōrō, his stern expression melting into a look of exhaustion. "She's alive."
"Thank you very much for saving our troublesome teammate," said Kegon, bowing deeply. "We owe you a great debt of gratitude."
"She's alive, but she's no longer the Seven-Tails' host, thanks to the Akatsuki," said Sakura wearily. "You should take her back to your village as soon as possible and inform that Shibuki fellow."
The two Waterfall 'Genin' froze.
First of all, it was impossible for a Jinchūriki to survive the extraction of their Tailed Beast. Second of all, how in the world had this girl found out about—
"Yes, everyone knows," Sakura drawled. "Well done on keeping her status as a Jinchūriki secret, by the way."
Takigakure was a small hidden village, but in its heyday, it consistently produced quality shinobi, which was how it came to possess the Seven-Tails despite not ranking among the Five Great Villages. However, that was long ago— there hadn't been a great war in years, and so no reason to break out the Hero Water that granted immense chakra in exchange for lifespan.
Needless to say, as a small village, they greatly valued each one of their shinobi… unlike a certain star-themed village Sakura could mention.
"In that case, it is the village that owes you a debt of gratitude," Kegon said, swallowing audibly. "Takigakure will not forget Konohagakure's timely assistance in its hour of need."
And with that, Yōrō took Fū in his arms, and the Waterfall shinobi discreetly made their exit from the coliseum, leaving Sunagakure behind to return to their home of Takigakure. Sakura's chance meeting with Fū ended here— but it would not be the last time they met.
…
"Hang on," said Sakura, leaning over the railing and peering down at the arena. "Just how many matches did I miss while I was gone?"
She had left in the middle of the Team Saya versus Team Goji match, but clearly that particular bout had already finished, as they were no longer fighting in the arena.
"Er…" Chōji mumbled.
Chōji gaped as Sakura's ample breasts pressed and flattened against the yellow concrete of the railing… yet somehow, not a single crumb of his crisps fell from his wide-open mouth. Was this bloke a chameleon, or something?
"Eight matches, including ours," said Ino spitefully. "We won against Team Ameno, but we had to use two tag-out opportunities to do it."
Sakura looked down at the arena a second time, where a blonde Sand kunoichi with a broom-like haircut was trading blows with a green-haired Rain kunoichi in a bandanna. Recalling the tournament schedule in her head, Sakura worked out that she was watching the third match of the quarter-finals.
In all likelihood, Kirigakure's Team Mei had stomped Sunagakure's Team Saya, and Konohagakure's Team Guy had won against… Team Kurenai, Sakura concluded after a moment's thought. The two 'Genin' from Takigakure didn't appear to have fought at all, so it was likely they had forfeited their pre-quarter-finals match against Team Kurenai. Once Sakura had dispelled the Genjutsu placed on them and they'd realised Fū was missing, competing in the Chūnin Exams would have been the last thing on their minds.
"So…" Sakura began. "About those matches—"
"We can either lead with me or Chōji," Ino continued. "Since you were supposed to lead in our pre-quarter-finals match."
With Sakura missing, Shikamaru's tournament rules had forced the next person in line— Ino— to tag in or risk disqualification. Quickly realising she stood no chance against her opponent from the Hidden Sand in single combat, she'd promptly tagged out to Chōji, costing Team Asuma two of their tag-out opportunities. And since Team Asuma had gone on to win that match, they now had a grand total of one tag out opportunity.
"Definitely Chōji, since I'm next in line to tag in," said Sakura wearily, turning to the chubby boy. "But Chōji, you need to buy as much time as you can. I'm almost out of chakra."
This empty feeling… was this what it was like to be Sasuke in Boruto's era?
"I've never known you to run out of chakra ever since we graduated from the academy," said Ino in astonishment. "Are you sure you're all right to compete, Sakura?"
Sakura pondered the question.
Her forehead Yin Seal was completely drained, but she still had 120KK of lightning chakra stored in her right Breast Seal and another 120KK of wind chakra in the left. Regular Ninjutsu and Genjutsu were pretty much off the table— but offensive elemental Ninjutsu exclusively of those two natures were definitely still possible…
"As long as I get creative," said Sakura, grinning ear to ear as she imagined the devastation she could wreak with that much chakra. "It shouldn't be a problem."
Suddenly, the crowd erupted into cheers.
"Team Shira is victorious!" hollered Baki, no doubt shouting to mask the dark thoughts gnawing at him over the guilt of having murdered Gekkō Hayate in cold blood. "Team Kurosuki, Team Asuma, it's your turn to fight!"
And with that, Sakura had lost her final opportunity to stick Amegakure's Ajisai with Tenten's special needle. Oh well— what could you do?
And what's the worst that could happen, anyway?
"Looks like we're up," sighed Ino.
"Good luck, onee-sama!" chirped Karin. "I'm rooting for you!"
The crowd roared with applause once more— it was showtime!