Sakura stared at the outcomes of intelligent picks of fighters. She groaned; she could not have been paired up with anyone worse than the name before her eyes. Her hand found its way towards her forehead slapping it out of frustration. Great, there goes another loss. A fight against him.

The kunoichi held a finger at her name tracing it across the board, checking for the 67th time that it wasn’t a mistake. “Nara Shikamaru.” She breathed out. It was no mistake. Somehow she was destined to lose the match before it even began.

“Oi! Forehead girl, who did you get matched up against?”

Sakura turned at her given nickname, frowning slightly. It was Ino. The blonde came running up waving her hand enthusiastically.

“So?” Ino inquired, nudging her by the elbow.

“So what?” She feigned innocent, not wanting to announce her given loss.

Ino clucked the roof of her mouth with her tongue. “Don’t play dumb, Sakura! Who are you up against?”

The pink haired female moved out of the way gesturing her hands towards the board. “Look for yourself.” She muttered a bit disappointed that Ino had to find that she was up against her teammate.

Well, she’s going to find out eventually.

The blonde whirled around, a thoughtful expressing adorning her face. “I never thought you’d be paired up with Shikamaru.” Her expression changed. “It’ll be a good battle.” She said, reassuring her friend. “Don’t sell yourself short, Sakura.” Ino smiled.

Sakura stared blankly at her before she found herself smiling and nodding along with Ino. “Mh!” She paused. “Who did you end up with?” Sakura asked peering at Ino.

The other kunoichi turned around huffing as she crossed her arms across her chest, muttering something over repeatedly.

“Who?”

“Ten Ten.”

Sakura was suddenly met up with an angry face. She stepped back a couple of feet, rolling her eyes as Ino rambled on about this Ten Ten girl.

“…don’t even know her…weapon technique…one year before us…”

One year before us?

Sakura halted suddenly familiar with the name. “She’s on Lee-san’s team.”

Ino stopped walking and turned towards Sakura, her eyes squinting as if trying to remember this Lee guy’s face. “Oh! You mean Thickbrows?” She giggled at his alias. Her friend made a face but made no comment to correct her since it is true.

“Right. She’s pretty good with her weapons. You should watch out if you want to fight me in the end, Ino-pig.”

Ino grinned at her, tilting her head to the side. “I’m not going to lose to you, forehead girl.”

“We’ll see about that!” Sakura replied, running off with a quick wave off her hand. Ino stood glued to her spot as she watched Sakura run off. A small chuckled erupted from her throat before she turned away to meet with her own teammates.

---

Sakura stared at the battle ground. In less than 5 minutes she would be down there against Shikamaru. Her fingers wrapped around the railings of the upper ground, gripping on it as if it was her only way to live. Her knuckles blanched white and the blood drained from her hand.

“You’ll break the railing in half if you grip it any tighter.”

The kunoichi let go instantly, embarrassed at being caught looking for nervous before her fight. “Sasuke-kun!” She gasped, threading her fingers together behind her back. “What are you doing here?”

He ignored her question and turned towards the stadium, leaning forward on the rails his hand clasped together. The young girl sighed as she copied his posture. Her eyes faded into a dull green as she seemed to have suddenly remembered something. Sasuke glanced at his female teammate before speaking, looking forward once again.

“Stop being so nervous. It won’t help you.” He stated.

Sakura turned slightly to look at him, obviously surprised to see him initiate a conversation. “H-hai.” She stuttered, a blush spreading across her cheeks, embarrassed for being caught so nervous. She turned back to the field taking in as much detail as possible. I need to get familiar with the grounds before fighting on it.

Sasuke backed away from the bars and turned to leave. He stopped though, stuffing his hand into his pockets. “You’ll be fine.” He spoke clear enough so only she would hear. It wasn’t a question. He knew she didn’t have the abilities to win physically but she was smart enough to figure something out.

Sakura jumped back from the rails. “W-what?”

He craned his neck, giving her his casual smirk. “Don’t let the team down, Sakura.” And with that he turned and walked away.

Sakura smiled, flattered at the comment. “I won’t.” She whispered. Her head dropped, bangs shadowing her eyes suddenly. Thank you, Sasuke-kun. She raised her head, a new found confidence shining through her orbs. You’ve given me the confidence I needed.

---

Sakura panted. She was soon to be out of chakra but it was no worries for her since Shikamaru looked like he was about to call it quits. When they said he was genius, I should have believed them. The medic observed the terrace around her realizing how much her inaccuracy had changed it. Gone were the grass and tress and dirt ground to be replaced with fissures, dents and large dirt elevations of the land. Get familiar with the grounds my ass. I just completely altered it.

It was lucky for her that she wasn’t so brainless either, though one couldn’t doubt the mind of Shikamaru when it comes to strategic abilities. Sakura looked around her mentally measuring the distance between her and her opponent. She quickly glanced at the sky. The clouds are closing in on the sun…I’ll have to end this with the next move.

It wasn’t the best of plans but at least she had one for the time being. Building up chakra in her fist, she slammed it against the floor once more creating a large up rise in the earth. It was just enough to pull Nara from his thinking. As quickly as the girl could muster, she rapidly formed her hand seal producing two clones.

One made left while the other made right, running directly towards Shikamaru. The Nara genius eyes widened. A direct attack? Sakura isn’t that stupid. He squinted slightly to see a shadow move along the distorted figures of the ground. I see… As he raised his hands in position for his jutsu towards the Sakura hiding behind the rocks, he quickly changed position towards the Sakura on the right. Shit…too close! “Kagemane no jutsu.” He rushed out as she made it towards him.

Her fingers wrapped around a hue of blue as she softly pressed it against his neck before he got her in his attack. Shikamaru let out a sigh. “If your clones attack me. You will also feel the pain.” He muttered as he took one step forward but stopped when he found it wasn’t his leg that moved. It was his elbow. What the?

Kakashi’s eyes narrowed considerably at the stands. This jutsu…

The audience oohed and aahed from their seats, lurching forward for a closer look at the two fighters. Sasuke had his Sharingan ready to copy her move when Godaime moved forward slightly squeezing his shoulders.

“It’s no use, Sasuke. Even if you copy the move—you would never be able to pull it off.” She commented, staring at the match intensely. His brows knitted together in confusion and before he was able to get a word in she spoke again. “Only a medic would be able to perfect that jutsu. It takes perfect chakra control to insert the correct amount of chakra in your opponent’s body in order to render their nerves. Electric is fused within the chakra since your brain send signals to your nerves by electric. By fusing both chakra and electric into one—that is the outcome.” Tsunade pointed to Shikamaru. “Besides, too much chakra you can kill your opponent and too less, the jutsu would not work to its full capacity.”

Sakura is able to pull this off?

The mask ninja grinned under his mask at his student’s bewilderment

Sakura puffed and smiled as she felt her elbows move as well. “You may control my shadow and my movements, but that jutsu I pressed against you messes with your nerves.” She swallowed.

The chuunin before her sighed. This is as good as over. “In that case, I give up.” He said, his shadow separating from hers then retreating back to his own form. Shikamaru began to raise his hand but his knees buckled and he hit the floor ungracefully. “How troublesome.” He muttered.

“Sorry, Shikamaru.” Sakura grinned softly at him before turning towards the stadium, directing her grin at the Hokage. The oversized breasted woman gave her a nod.

“Winner, Haruno Sakura!”

“Wow! Sakura-chan! That was an awesome fight! You really beat Shikamaru.” Naruto happily bounced over to her, smiling brilliantly at his friend.

Sakura giggled, spreading her index and middle finger apart giving her victory sign. “Hai hai.”

“You did great Sakura.” She’s improved greatly. Kakashi smiled at her, patting her head affectionately.

She turned smiling at him. “Thanks, Kakashi-sensei.” Nodding she spun around to collide against a soft but firm body. “Uh…” She let out before realizing that it was Sasuke. “Oh hi, Sasuke-kun.”

“Sakura.” He acknowledged her.

She smiled brilliantly at him and when she realized that was all he was going to say she sighed and waved her good byes. “It’s customary for every ninja to get a check up after a fight.” She explained to them.

Naruto whined at this. “But you’re a medic! You can heal yourself can’t you?”

She smiled at him and nodded. “I can, but Tsunade still wants to inspect my chakra reserves.”

“B-but..Sakura-chan..”

“Actually, it’s fine Sakura. Why don’t you go celebrate with the team?” The fifth walked up and squeezed her shoulders gently. “You deserve it after all.” She smiled at her protégé and Sakura nodded hesitantly. “Come by my office around five. Training begins at regular time.”

“Sakura-chan! That was the coolest fight ever! First you went like this…then like that…then some of this…and you had to throw in—“

“Enough Naruto, I know what I did. Thank you.”

The blonde boy laughed nervously pulling his arms behind his head as they walked towards Ichiraku. “I just thought it was so cool Sakura-chan! I mean wow…”

The medic rolled her eyes and laughed along her friend. “It was a good fight wasn’t it? I hope I get to fight him again.” She turned and smiled at her teammates. “Next thing you know, I’ll be fighting one of you and your face will be eating dirt!” Sakura pointed to herself with her thumb, directly at her chest. “Courtesy of Haruno Sakura, of course.” She said, a bit too haughtily.

Sasuke scoffed at her declaration and looked away. “It was a lucky fight.” He muttered.

“Lucky my ass! I want to see you two fight!” Naruto ran up and spread his arms across the three of them. “I bet my ramen coupon on Sakura-chan! I bet she can so kick your ass!”

Sakura turned and stared at the blonde incredulously. “Naruto! You're obviously not thinking clearly.” She sneaked a glance over at the aloof boy a bit more distanced away from them. Although, it would be nice to see the look on his face when I decide to do some things on my part. Afterall, he's never actually experienced my fighting first hand.

“Aw, come on Sakura-chan! It’ll be a great fight! You’re an awesome medic-nin and aside from your usual aggressiveness you can heal yourself. So therefore you can’t lose!” The kyuubi vessel bounced up and down in front of his female teammate, encouraging her on.

She thought for a moment then smiled. “Alright. Sounds good.” She turned towards Sasuke and lifted her head in his direction. “Are you up for it Sasuke-kun?”

“You’ll be hurt.” Was the only thing he offered.

“Not as much as you will be.” She shot back, pulling on her gloves as she flicked a piece of hair away from her eyes. It wasn’t everyday you were able to fight Uchiha Sasuke unless you were Naruto. It was even a smaller chance when you’re female so she couldn’t let this opportunity pass up.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. “How so?”

“When you’re a medic on the field, you know about certain things normal ninjas don’t.” Her grin reached up to her eyes and somehow that made him return the small smile, although much more sardonic.

“But…” He stopped and turned towards her, his hands crammed inside his pockets. “You forget, I’m not a regular ninja.” His Sharingan was immediately activated and he smirked at her, the edge of his lips curving deviously towards his cheek bones.

Sakura raised an eyebrow and stepped back as Naruto moved slightly in front of her. “Sasuke-bastard turn that off!” The man growled. Sasuke shrugged and kept it on, staring darkly into Sakura’s eyes. She shrunk back a bit her fingers twisting around the hems of Naruto’s jacket. No, she would not allow him to see her scared.

She scoffed stepping out of the blonde’s shadow. “You forget. I’m not the same as I use to be.”

Sasuke smirked and right then Naruto knew it was about to get serious. He slid one foot towards the right and pulled his body in the same direction moving out of the way fro the two to fight. “Okay, I want this clean okay?” He murmured and with a wave of his hand they started.

Sakura dodged immediately, reading his movements easily as Sasuke pulled his arms back to throw the first punch. He brought his knee up to knee her on the chin but she flipped back, boosting her body with her forearm then swiftly bent down to kick him in the shin. The Sharingan user grabbed her leg and pulled her towards him. She used his arm as leverage and pushed herself off, tearing away from him.

He raised an eyebrow as Sakura stood up straight, pulling her hair back into a small pony tail. “How about we stop playing around?” She asked. The man found himself smiling at the question and they were off again.

---

“Give up?”

Sakura chuckled then slightly coughed into her hand, wiping the blood away from her lip. “Sasuke-kun? Can’t take on a girl any more?” She taunted, wincing as she giggled to herself. It hurt to breathe much less laugh.

He gave a rough grunt, struggling to stand up. “You’re injured pretty badly.”

“So are you. I can still heal myself.”

“You’ll run out of chakra.” He quickly retorted. She pointed to her forehead.

“This is called ‘Rebirth of Genesis.’ I’ve been building chakra at my forehead for the past three years. This is created to transfer chakra to all parts of my body, speeding up the process of healing.” She explained, softly touching the small diamond-like tattoo on her forehead.

“Though…” She looked away dropping her hand. “I will never use it against a fight like this…a thing so petty.” Sakura turned towards him and grinned. “It takes away part of your life span.”

Sasuke blinked in surprised and found himself and the floor two seconds later with Sakura straddling his hips with her knees. “Looks like you’re losing your touch, Sasuke-kun.” She laughed and released him, forgetting the moment of intimacy between them. She was much more tolerable now than she was back then, since she wasn’t fawning over him every second of her life.

He brushed the spec of dirt of his arms and winced when his fingers ran over a bruised bone. The medic-nin turned and caught his eyes flinching. She slowly walked over towards him and smiled. “Do you need me to heal you anyway?” She grabbed his arm gently.

Sasuke stared at her for a moment then jerked his arm back. “I’m fine.”

A frown etched onto her lips. “I know you’re not. You took that punch from me dead on. Your bones might be shattered.” She fought back reaching for his arm once more. He pulled away and growled.

“I don’t need help from you, Sakura.”

Naruto frowned and rubbed his head as he coughed slightly. “Why don’t you just let her heal you?”

Sasuke snapped towards him and growled, “Because I’m not injured.” The blonde rolled his eyes and waved at the both of them in a dismissive manner.

“Sakura-chan, don’t heal a stubborn ass like him!” He shouted before hoping on a branch. He rotated his head a bit to catch a glimpse of Sakura’s disapproval. “He’s not worth your time anyway. Stupid Bastard.” A smile appeared on his lips—meant for Sakura before disappearing altogether.

The young medic turned towards the avenger and tilted her head. “Why are you pushing me away, Sasuke-kun? I’m helping you.” Her voice was almost pleading. The man averted his eyes elsewhere and didn’t respond to her. She sighed and gave up. “Fine, if that’s what you want, fine. Sasuke-kun, as your doctor, I order you to let me heal you.”

He jerked his head up, eyes incredulous as to what she just said. “You what?”

“Doctor’s order. If you don’t comply, I’ll have to strip you of your missions for at least two days.”

“You’re joking.” He muttered, eyes still unbelieving her.

“Nope.” She shook her head. “Take it or leave it.”

“I don’t believe you.” He challenged her. She cocked an eyebrow and shrugged.

“Fine, have it your way.” Was all she said before pulling out a small notepad and a pen. Where ever she had produced those items, Sasuke had no clue but whatever she was writing or was going to write, he couldn’t let her. Sakura scribbled a few notes on the pad and smirked as she re –read what she wrote.

On Haruno Sakura’s order, Medic-Chuunin of Konohagakure—it is important that Uchiha Sasuke, Chuunin of Konohagakure, does not receive any missions until further notice. His injuries may be fatal to the mission and may further inflict unnecessary damage upon his wound.

Sakura ripped it off its spiral and walked up to him, shoving the note in his face. “The moment I sign this, you are not allowed any missions until my command.” Sasuke stared at the sheet of paper reading it over and over until the words jumbled into his mind and it suddenly lost its meaning.

“Let me take a look at you, or I’ll sign this.”

“You wouldn’t do that.” He stood up, clutching tightly to his shattered arm. “Do you understand how much this village needs me on missions?”

She growled, tucking the paper into her pocket for later use. “I don’t think you understand, Sasuke-kun. No matter what mission you will get, you can not go on it with that injured arm.” A slender finger reached out to point at it, emphasizing her point. Never in her life had she ever met someone as stubborn and persistent as the person standing before her. “If you would let me just heal that arm right now, and then it wouldn’t be necessary. Why are you so stubborn!”

“I’m fine.” He hissed brushing passed her.

Sakura bit the inside of her cheeks and sighed, her shoulders slumping. She closed her eyes and reached into her pocket pulling out the small piece of paper.

“You’re too persistent.” She said loud enough so he would hear her. “I need to bruise your ego a bit and since you’re not letting me look at your arm, I’ll just let the whole society know that Uchiha Sasuke was defeated by a mere girl.” The medic click on the head of the pen and gracefully signed the paper.

He jerked his head back to stare at her. “You don’t have the authority to do that.”

Sakura cocked an eyebrow and scoffed at him. “Really now? Who is the person who heals you every time you come home injured from a mission?”

He shrugged. “I don’t—“

“That’s right. You don’t know because you’re always unconscious. It’s me.”

“Sakura.”

“Sorry, Sasuke-kun. Looks like you won’t be seen in missions any time soon.” She gave him an apologetic smile. “That’s what you get for not listening to a doctor.” She mocked before waving her hand to leave.

The Sharingan possessor stared at her back for a long while before letting out a curse. He hadn’t known that she would have the galls to do that, much less taunt him about it. Whatever happened in the three years he was gone definitely changed the girl.

A/N: I’m so tired of browsing the Naruto section and finding absolutely NO eye-catching stories to read. Either the plot/storylines are extremely overused or there is just no effort put into work. It’s getting frustrating and it’s getting harder and harder to find any well-written stories at all.

I just needed to put this up since it’s been wasting away on my computer for about 8 months. It depends if I have the time and strength to write the next chapter.