Snakes are Venomous, Flowers are Poisonous

Chapter 3: Intelligence Gathering

Sakura was going to throw up.

Wait no, she was going to faint.

Nope, she was going to die.

Three days?! Three days to meet the expectations of a legend?! Inner raged inside of her, screaming insults at her teammates and sensei as Sakura let a fake smile take over her face once more. No need to worry them with her thoughts. It wasn't as if she was going to be picked.

Why not!

'Because I'm nothing like the boys,' Sakura internally sighed as she half listened to Kakashi-sensei's explanation of the test, which ultimately meant he didn't know anything.

Bullshit! We're smarter than both of them combined.

'But in a real fight, they'd wipe the floor with me.'

If we trained—

Sakura cut that thought off immediately. She and Inner had already gone through the exact same conversation countless times before and now wasn't going to shed anymore light on the situation. The fact was, Sakura was still a very fresh genin who didn't have a chance against the other Rookies. If anything, someone from Lee's team would get the apprenticeship. Neji might lost to Naruto, but he was ruthless when it came to fighting.

Oh, who was she kidding? It was Sasuke who was going to get this apprenticeship. There was no way he wouldn't. He was the second son of the clan head, his brother was one of the most intelligent shinobi of their generation, and Sasuke had almost won his fight against Gaara, who was truly scary.

The logical choice would be Sasuke.

That doesn't mean we can't at least try...

'That's true...' Sakura frowned to herself. Her mind was going a million miles per second but none of her teammates seemed to notice as Kakashi-sensei led them towards the missions desk to receive a D rank for the day. Why they weren't training seemed odd to her. They were going to have their skill showcased in front of someone who could have been Hokage, why weren't they taking this more seriously?

Shaking those thoughts away, Sakura focused on the more immediate problem: if she was going to try for this apprenticeship, then she needed every advantage she could get.

What did she know about Orochimaru?

Only textbook information: he was insanely powerful, had been a student of the Third Hokage, was so intelligent that he had even created his own justu like the Second Hokage, and he frequently left the village. He was a legend in his own right, while his team had been a force to be reckoned with during the Shinobi Wars. They had been feared by anyone who stepped up to face them, and even when they couldn't defeat Hanzo the Salamander, he had gifted them the name of the Legendary Sannin.

In short, Sakura was terrified to have to step in front of Orochimaru and reveal her pitiful skills. She'd be lucky if he didn't out right laugh at her feeble attempts.

Shoulders slumped, Sakura barely noticed their D rank mission flying by as she manually picked up garbage. She was sure Naruto and Sasuke were arguing but she couldn't care in the least, not when she was calculating her chancing of passing the upcoming test.

She had her mind on her side, and after her experience during the Chunin Exams, she had a feeling she wouldn't be able to hold back. If she wanted to stand any chance against the rest of her peers—who she very much knew were clan heirs—then she would need to use every bit of knowledge she had acquired over the years. Luckily, with her eidetic memory and having grown up with the other Rookies, she would be able to counter their strategies. It was true that clans kept their kekkai genkai secret, along with their own fighting techniques, but kids would always be kids. Which meant they loved to show off.