Preliminary Match: Yamada VS Harusame
Sakuya let out a sigh as she listened to Nori explain her story. The medic-in-training would admit she felt sorry for the circumstances that led to why Nori is here now, but feeling sorry for the opponent is not something one can leisurely do when in a mission or if war comes. She lets the water chains binding the clone tighten to the point it forces the clone to pop, then carefully approached Nori and steering clear from her head. The taijutsu-using genin could still use her fire-based ninjutsu and it would be difficult to deal with up close.
"If I let you out, doesn't that invalidate what I have worked hard for up to this point, Yamada-san?" Sakuya asked as she soon sat down behind Nori. With a manipulation of her chakra, Sakuya willed the chains to force Nori to sit cross-legged with arms to her side. One of the chains wrapped around Nori's torso pulls her a bit forward to keep the girl from getting any slack.
"So are you fine losing your life right here, Yamada-san?" Sakuya asked Nori in all seriousness that she could muster, "Is it that easy to throw your life on the line and say that the only way you know how to live is to fight?"
"That cut on your neck is not a minor wound," Sakuya added as she took her kunai out, "My water chains won't cover that wound - it would be like bleeding underwater. That wound is on your artery, a major path for your blood from your heart to other parts of the body. If you continue to fight and struggle, your heart will beat harder, and that wound will bleed even more."
"Is winning this battle in the chuunin exam worth dying for, Yamada-san?" Sakuya asked as she pointed her kunai against Nori's back, "If you lose here and still live, wouldn't that mean you have another chance at participating the chuunin exam with more experience and skill? If you die right here, would you still be able to become a chuunin afterward?"
Sakuya doesn't know why she would ask these kinds of questions towards Nori. Maybe it was seeing those who were not as lucky in the past chuunin exams that brought memories to her mind. When the time comes, will she have to decide who to save and who to forsake? She pushes such thoughts aside for the moment. She could ask such questions later from her sensei.
"If you become a chuunin, that means there will be genin following your orders some day," Sakuya spoke up after a brief pause, "Are you going to ask them to fight to the death too? Or will you decide to fight to the death to hold back a foe that is stronger than you so those under your care can escape? If you end up in a mission dealing with someone you can't win against, what will you do?"
Sakuya mentally admitted these are thoughts that bothered her as well when chuunin exams approached, and have set such thoughts aside in the hopes of dealing with them when the exams are over. She felt she was being mean, pressing her own worries against her opponent. Maybe she was hoping for answers for such questions, to see if there is anyone here who worried of the same things as she did.