This story starts at the end of chapter 348. UNMARKED SPOILERS!!

This idea just happened to come to me while reading chapter 348. The realization that Sakura’s strong, but not what he needs, ….. I’m just writing something while thinking about this.

I wanted to put in more Sasuke Sakura, but it sadly wasn't my real purpose...

DISCLAIMER!!: NARUTO DOES NOT BELONG TO ME!!! Naruto started around 1999, yes? I hadn't even HEARD of manga then, hadn't seen any anime, didn't know any thing like it existed... You get the picture. (I can never really remember how to spell the real authors name. Kishimoto was it?)

Weaker Than Me

“If you reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally want me to, I’ll go with you,” Karin whispered, scooting closer to me on the bench. As she murmured more nonsensical things, a flash of pink hair rushing by glimmered in the back of my mind.

“Would you just back off?” I asked, using my arm between us to push her away. She had special abilities that I needed, but I didn’t want to have to deal with this nonsense she was spouting as I carried out my plan.

“We don’t have to take stupid Suigetsu either…All we need is each other,” she crooned.

Suigetsu returned dramatically, slicing the door open with Zabuza’s sword, making Karin jump away from me and jam her glasses back on.

As the three of us walked out of the room, I heard the released prisoners talking excitedly as they hurried to their freedom, my name the loudest words of all. I smirked.

---

We sat eating, Suigetsu and Karin sitting far away from each other. I ignored the both of them, trying to concentrate on my plan as I ate.

“Sasuke….kun…” her whisper floated on the wind, and inside, I frowned.

Why think about Sakura at all? From what I had seen, she hadn’t changed too much.

She’d grown up physically. But she still seemed to be infatuated with me. The only thing I hadn’t predicted was the look in her eyes when she charged at me. It was determined, and she looked angry almost. But still weaker than me.

She was still a girl fantasizing about me, no matter how you put it. The Konoha bunch was all weaklings no matter how much they trained compared to others. It wasn’t fair to compare them to the akatsuki, but in the small group I was in just now even...

But you were even weaker than they are now when you defeated Zabuza a little voice in the back of my head whispered. I glanced over at Suigetsu, who was looking at his former sensei’s sword thoughtfully.

Sakura…

Unbidden, the image of Sakura doing what Karin had done formed hazily in my head.

That’s what Sakura would do, I thought. But she would be the one asking me to take her along.

Yet… somehow, I couldn’t really think of the Sakura I’d begun to know, had just seen, as doing that.

The Sakura who’d started in Team 7 would I knew. But Sakura had changed a bit before I left, I had to admit.

Standing in front of Gaara in his monster form for example.

A girl would think twice about that, even if she did know what it would supposedly show.

---

I couldn’t shake the feeling. It was annoying the heck out of me, and so I finally told the other two I needed to make a side trip for a while, to go on without me.

Was my intuition trying to say that there was more to Sakura than the girl I remembered leaving on that bench?

……

I arrived near Konoha the next morning, but didn’t try to enter. Rather I went to the training areas, watching. I wondered if she’d taken my advice from before the chuunin exam, and try to spend more time training instead of trying to spend time with me. If she hadn’t changed, she’d probably be sleeping right now.

Rubbing the back of her hand across her eyes – I couldn’t help it, - almost like a cat washing itself, Sakura jogged into view. Smiling, in a tired, but invigorated manner, she ran at one of the posts. Instead of kicking it though, she jumped up.

Placing her hands on the top of the pole, she stood in a handstand momentarily, before flipping off.

Even as she landed, she leaped away, laughing. When she landed yet again, she slammed her fist into the ground. I watched as the ground rumbled, and split. In spite of myself, I felt my eyebrows rise.

Better, I thought, but still not really impressed.

Kakshi pulled himself out of the rubble, and greeted her with a short wave, his nose buried in his book still.

“Kakashi sensei! Why’re you here?” She called, practicing some martial arts kicks as she talked. “You’re early”

Kakashi muttered some excuse, drowned out by Naruto’s noisy greeting.

I watched the entire training session analytically. Towards the middle, I began to doze off, not really worried. Ninja’s learned how to doze but still be alert on missions.

I felt a presence approaching me quickly from above, and opened my eyes. A figure was falling from the air straight towards me. I could only see the outline as the sun shone on them, but I had a guess to who it was.

Stretching, I stood up, and watched as she crashed into a few branches above me. Green leaves rained down, and a few thumps were her heralds. She fell onto it with a quiet thump, her hands moving rapidly. I watched, as her skin took on the colors of the scenery behind her. Her whisper aptly named it the chameleon technique.

I stayed back, watching. Naruto soon arrived, looking for her

“I didn’t think she wouldn’t dodge that last one,” Naruto muttered. “She’d gotten so good at dodging because she’s the medic and all, she told me about that. So I thought she’d be able to dodge my clone,”

He moved on, trying to find her.

“Maybe the idea was to retreat and plan a new attack?” I heard her chuckle. “Naruto-baka.”

A loud bell rang, and Sakura reappeared as she jumped down to meet Kakashi and Naruto.

She pulled something out of her headband, and handed it to Naruto. The contents of the paper were announced to the world as Naruto gleefully ran off.

“RAMEN!! WAIT FOR ME MY RAMEN!! RAMEN RAMEN RAMEN!!!”

I shook my head, watching him run off. Kakashi’s voice drifted up to me, talking to Sakura about the training.

“Well, I’ll be off then, see ya,” Kakashi said, disappearing in a poof of smoke.

That left Sakura all alone.

Still weaker than me. But maybe not so useless.

TTTTTTTTTTTTT

---

Seeing Sasuke’s reaction to Karin… WAH HA! YES!! Though Sakura (and of course Naruto) would be crushed to know about what’s going on… (Sasuke needs Karin, but not Konoha…)

But at least Sasuke has defeated Orochimaru! waves lil flags happily doing a dance

Now I’m trying to aquaint myself with Sasuke as he is now, and trying to keep and idea of how his perspective would be as I write...

Oh yeah!

Just check my profile page occasionally, at the top I have what's happening with my stories written there if you ever wonder.

Thanks for reading!

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