Lee’s vision becomes wavy and he starts coughing. His ear begins to bleed and Dosu introduces a gadget on his arm. Dosu explains that he doesn’t need to actually hit his enemy because this gadget allows him to use sound. We learn from Dosu that the reason Lee’s vision is becoming wavy (he’s losing his balance) and his ears are bleeding is because the sound he is producing with his gadget is powerful enough to upset fluids inside the ear’s deepest inner canals which results in the loss of balance. Zaku tells Lee his taijutsu won’t work against them because their jutsu is more advanced and that he can manipulate ultrasonic waves and air pressure. Zaku shows his hands to Lee and we see a hole in each one with air coming out. Lee thinks back to Gai telling him the lotus is to only be used as a last resort and to protect someone precious. Gai tells Lee he is proud of him because of how fast he mastered it. Dosu tells Sakura it is her turn and charges her. Sakura pulls a kunai and Lee throws himself in front of Sakura, attempting a leap hurricane. However, he is too weak to complete the kick. Dosu uses his gadget to throw out a sound wave at Lee. Lee falls to the ground. Dosu days it is time to end it but Sakura throws some kunai at Dosu. Dosu blocks them and says he had almost forgotten Sakura.

From the bushes Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji watch on. They realize it’s Sakura against all three of the sound ninja because Naruto, Sasuke, and Lee are knocked out. Shikamaru asks if they should help and Ino says she doesn’t know. Shikamaru says weren’t they friends at one time and Ino begins reminiscing. We see a younger Ino sitting with Sakura on a bench. Sakura begins to say something to Ino but then stops. Ino asks Sakura why she looks down and what she is trying to say. Sakura asks Ino if it is true that she likes Sasuke. Ino acts shocked and Sakura walks away saying that must mean their rivals for now on. Ino tells herself to get a grip because all of that is ancient history. Shikamaru asks Ino what she wants to do and Ino tells him to stop asking her. Ino starts shaking and thinks to herself that she’d get herself killed by helping Sakura.

Sakura attacks Zaku with a set of shurikens but they get blown away by him. The third sound ninja named Kin grabs Sakura by her hair and tells Zaku to finish off Sasuke and make Sakura watch. Sakura believes that it’s over for her because she has no strength left and begins to cry. Sakura tells herself that she let everyone down and beats herself up because everyone always comes through for her. Zaku begins to walk towards Sasuke. A purple aura appears around Sasuke.

Shikamaru and co. notice that it’s about to get very ugly.

Sakura pulls a kunai and Kin says that won’t work on her. Sakura says the kunai isn’t meant for her. She then uses the kunai to cut her hair, which frees her from Kin’s grasp. Shreds of Sakura’s hair begin blowing away, and as her forehead protector slowly falls towards the ground, Sakura thinks to herself about how she has always loved Sasuke, thought of herself to be better than Naruto, and considered herself to be a true ninja. She realizes these feelings are just empty because she has always watched Sasuke and Naruto from the background. We see flashbacks of Sasuke protecting Sakura while she was trying to protect the bridge builder. We then see Naruto and Sasuke tricking Zabuza. Sakura says that no matter what Naruto and Sasuke were always there protecting her. She then thinks about how Lee protected her when they weren’t even teammates. She goes on to say all this time the three of them have been teaching her something and it is time for her to finally learn the lesson. Her forehead protector hits the ground and Sakura says it is time for her to take the lead and for everyone else to watch her from the background.

Ino notices a change in Sakura and Lee mutters for her to be careful.

Zaku yells for Kin to finish off Sakura. Sakura begins using a jutsu and Kin charges into her. Sakura changes into a substitution and Zaku thinks to himself that Sakura can’t fool him. Zaku prepares his hands and Sakura appears, throwing kunai at Zaku. Zaku sees her trying to perform another jutsu and then uses slicing sound wave to knock the kunai into Sakura. Sakura uses substitution jutsu to escape the kunai and then appears above Zaku, trying to do another jutsu. Zaku pulls some kunai and hits Sakura with them. Zaku expects it to be another substitution and looks around for the real Sakura. However, Sakura is really above him and tackles him to the ground. Sakura bites on to his arm and everyone looks on. Zaku begins punching Sakura’s head.

Ino thinks back to when she once found Sakura crying. We see Ino asking Sakura if she is the one everyone always teases because she has such a big forehead. Sakura asks Ino who she is and Ino introduces herself. Sakura introduces herself to Ino but Ino says she can’t understand her because she is crying. Sakura introduces herself again and then Ino touches Sakura’s “famous forehead”. Ino criticizes Sakura for hiding it with her hair and tells Sakura it just makes her forehead look worse. Ino leaves Sakura telling her she will have something special for her tomorrow.

Zaku continues punching Sakura’s head to get her to stop biting his arm.

We see Ino placing a ribbon on Sakura’s head to tie her hair back. Sakura says she doesn’t want her forehead to show even more. Ino says Sakura is just making an even bigger deal about it when she covers it up. Ino then tells Sakura she doesn’t have such a bad face either and she just needs to be more confident. Later on we see Ino introducing Sakura to some of her friends.

Zaku is still punching Sakura’s head and Sakura is now bleeding (that sure won’t help her big forehead).

We see young Sakura telling Ino and her friends that she hasn’t something to tell them. Sakura tells them they will never guess who she likes. The kids say it is probably Sasuke and Sakura asks how they could know. In the background Ino gets a shocked look on her face. The kids tell Sakura Sasuke is the most popular guy ever. Sakura tells them she has a lot of competition then. One of the kids tells Ino that Sakura has really changed and come out of her shell. Ino gets mad and says that sometimes she wishes she would get back in it.

Ino watches Sakura get her punched by Zaku and then continues thinking about the past. We see young Sakura telling Ino that she just found out Sasuke likes girls with long hair. We then jump ahead and see Sakura telling Ino they’re rivals now since they both like Sasuke. We go through another time skip and Ino and Sakura have both grown their hair out. They tell each other they will get Sasuke before the other.

Sakura continues to get her head beat by Zaku’s fist. Zaku finally gets Sakura off him and throws her to the ground. Sakura thinks to herself that it is up to her because there is no one else. Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji appear in front of Sakura. Ino tells Sakura that she told her she would never let her show her (Ino) up.