Author's Note:
Yes, I'm alive and back with another chapter! Sorry it took so long to get this one out. Two reasons, one; writer's block and two; school. But now it's finally out. Hope you enjoy! But before we begin I would I like to point something out. Although Sakura is eighteen from the future and is supposed to be a mature kunoichi who doesn't allow emotions to get in the way, she is going to get quite emotion in this story, especially when it comes to Sasuke. I mean, come on! She hasn't seen the guy in ages since their last encounter. Most likely she'll have a lot of feelings that need to be released and seeing genin Sasuke has blinded her. All she can think about is the Sasuke in her future who has caused others, namely her and Naruto, so much pain and she's taking all her anger out on genin Sasuke, something that she can't do to future Sasuke. So, I apologize if some of you don't agree that this is how Sakura should act but this is my story and I'm sticking to it. If it makes you feel any better, they (Sasuke and Sakura) will eventually get along…not in a romantic way, of course. This fanfic is purely SaiSaku. :) Sorry for the long Author's Note (do any of you even read these things?). Here's chapter five.

-X-

Chapter Five
-For Whom the Bells Toll-
-Part Two-

-X-

A small part of Sakura felt guilty for the treatment that she was constantly giving her Uchiha teammate these days, but another part, the more stubborn part, of her refused to admit that she was wrong. But Sakura knew that right now, she did not have the right to blame Sasuke at all. The boy had just graduated from the academy yesterday. He hadn't even been on a mission yet, therefore he hadn't killed anyone…yet.

Sakura's eyes darkened. It was true that he hadn't destroyed a single life yet, but still, she couldn't bring herself to forgive him for what his future self had done. The more she looked at him, the more she was reminded about how distant and cold he had gotten from the team. His existence now reminded her painfully of how useless she was back then. Neither she nor Naruto could save him from the pools of darkness that was lurking around in his heart.

She hated that.

Sakura hated how weak she was back there at Orochimaru's lair, unable to do anything when Naruto, Sai and Yamato fought for their lives against him. All could do was watch.

Sakura gritted her teeth tightly. She never wanted to go through that again. This time around, she was going to stop Sasuke from leaving the village, stop him from getting the curse mark and stop him from becoming the person that he would be in the future.

But that would never stop her from hating his stupid Uchiha pride.

Suddenly, the sound of rustling leaves caught her attention. Sakura had just enough time to leap away before two sharp kunai lodged themselves onto the ground in which she had stood a few seconds ago.

Sakura unsheathed the tanto that Sai gave her and held it out in front of her protectively; her eyes scanned the surroundings for her opponent.

Kakashi-sensei, huh? She thought, as she picked up his chakra signature, which was cleverly masked.

All that training in ANBU and with Tsunade had heightened her five senses. She found this to be very useful in battle. But still, she was not sure if she would be able to fight par on with Kakashi. Back in her time, Kakashi and her rarely conversed at all, with Sakura busy with ANBU training with Sai and Kakashi either occupied by Naruto's training or his perverted books.

So they had never gotten the chance to spar with each other.

Her sea-green eyes surveyed the small area covered with trees and bushes. With an environment like this, it was easy for a shinobi to camouflage with nature, especially for such a skilled shinobi, like Kakashi.

"Come on out, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura's grip on her tanto tightened. "I know that it's you."

From up in a large tree, a smile formed from beneath his mask. This little kunoichi…might just be quite the challenge.

Deciding that he had enough of hide and seek, Kakashi leaped down onto the ground. His hand reached into his pouch and produced an orange book. His lone grey eye began scanning across the contents of the page, although his attention was still fully directed upon the rosette kunoichi.

"Well, I'm impressed," he remarked. "What gave it away that it was me?"

Sakura smiled. "There's no one else in this field that would attack me besides you, Kakashi-sensei," she answered his question.

"Hm, is that so?"

Then he disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Sakura gasped and her eyes widened a fraction. That was so fast. Suddenly, her body lurched forward from a sudden impact from behind. Kakashi plunged a kunai into her back, not even blinking when the Sakura in front of him was replaced with a log. Sensing a presence from behind, the jounin ducked just in to avoid a round kick, delivered by the pink haired kunoichi. Sakura gritted her teeth and pull her fist back for a powerful punch. Kakashi dodged and instead, the tree behind him got a taste of her chakra-infused punch. The attack made a clean hole right through the trunk.

Phew! Beads of cold sweat ran down Kakashi's masked face. That was close…

The fight soon turned into a pure Taijutsu match, with Sakura launching attacks and Kakashi just dodging, occasionally with slight difficulty.

Weariness began to show on Sakura's face. She panted slightly. It seemed like her stamina was still not up to full power yet, seeing as how she still gets tired way too easily, although her reserves were still better than how she was when she was still a genin. Her shoulders slumped from fatigue. This battle could take a while.

Seeing an opening, Kakashi's foot lashed out in a powerful side kick, sending a stunned kunoichi towards a tree.

"Shinobi Tactics One: Taijutsu," Kakashi's voice came. "And also, never let your guard down."

Her back made a powerful impact on the trunk. Sakura gasped for breath. The blow had momentarily knocked the air right out of her. Small splinters were stuck in her back from the impact making Sakura wince in pain. An injured back was not something that can be cured easily. She would need some help to get the splinters out after this test.

With some difficulty, she got up and opened her eyes, only to find no one in front of her. Sakura gritted her teeth. This was beginning to get too troublesome.

Great, I'm starting to sound more and more like Shikamaru each day, Sakura thought grumbling.

A few feet behind her, Kakashi smiled from his place up on a strong tree branch. Hm, not bad at all, he thought, closing his eyes.

Then his hands formed the Snake seal and then shifted into the Rat seal. "Narakumi no Jutsu," he murmured.

Suddenly, Sakura vision blurred. Closing her eyes, Sakura shook her head. What's happening? She wondered.

Forest-green leaves began swirled around her.

"This is…" Sakura started, beginning to lose a bit of her consciousness. "G-gen…jutsu…" Her hand reached up, ready to form the sign to dispel the incoming illusion.

"Ka-!"

"S-Sakura-chan," a voice stopped her cold.

The said girl's head slowly turned and was barely able to muffle the scream that rose from deep within her throat.

"N-Na-Naruto…" she managed to choke out.

Bile rose in her throat but she forced it back down. Leaning against the other side of the tree was Naruto. But instead of him being twelve, he was in his seventeen year old body. The usual black and orange jacket that he wore was all cut up in random places, allowing crimson-red blood to leak through the fabric freely.

But what scared Sakura so much were not the many injuries that her blonde teammate had obtained. That would all heal over time. Her attention was directed more towards his face, or more specifically, his eyes.

His blood-red, fox-shaped eyes.

Swallowing the lump that had begun to form in her throat, Sakura forced herself to look into Naruto's…no, the Kyuubi's eyes.

This is just like last time, the medic-nin though with widened eyes.

Staring into the Kitsune's eyes had reminded Sakura painfully of the mission that Team Kakashi had took a year just before her ANBU exam. She was a jounin, Sai and Yamato were still an ANBU, Kakashi remained jounin, and Naruto was a chuunin, not being able to find time to take the jounin exams with Sakura, although he was jounin material.

Tsunade had given Team Kakashi a mission to Kusagakure to find a special herb that was a remedy for a recently discovered poison. Although this mission may not have seemed difficult, the territory of Kusagakure was dangerous to be in. Konohagakure had never formed an alliance with Kusagakure because of the Kusa-nins loath towards Konoha back in the third war. Normally, Tsunade would send only two jounins to gather the herb but since Naruto had heard that it was Hinata that had been poisoned, he immediately volunteered to be in the mission.

He had finally realized his feelings for the ex-heiress after so many years of knowing her. They had been together for months now. At first, Hinata's father, Hyuuga Hiashi was furious to the idea of his daughter being romantically involved with someone like him but after much convincing from his daughter, he finally gave in, seeing how much Hinata loved him and how Naruto was so willing to protect his daughter with his life.

Knowing that the blonde was adamant on going on this mission, Tsunade had no choice but to give in. So she assigned Kakashi, Yamato, Sakura and Sai on this mission as well to keep Naruto in control and make sure he does not perform any rash decisions that will get him killed.

Good thing she did, too…

The team had set out to Kusagakure the very next day. The journey itself was smooth the whole way – surprisingly enough, they never encountered a single shinobi on the first half of their journey. As soon as Team Kakashi made it in the village they came in contact with some Kusa-nins. Yamato and Sai had stayed behind to fight them off, while Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura continued towards their destination. What they had found waiting there was not just the herb but also a very familiar face among the newly arrived group of four. Sakura could still remember that day as if it had happened yesterday.

-X-

"Sa-Sasuke…" Naruto choked out as he stared at the face of his former best friend. "W-what are you doing here?"

Sasuke just stared at him blankly.

Sakura clenched her fist in front of her chest worriedly. Her sea-green eyes glanced from Naruto to Sasuke and then at the former.

"Naruto…" she whispered, worried about her teammate.

She knew that every mission that they went on had a chance of encountering their ex-teammate but still, Sakura had feared this day ever since their last encounter at Orochimaru's base. She was afraid – not for herself but for Naruto. There was no doubt that this mission would end in Naruto and her getting emotionally wounded.

A snort from the kunoichi on Sasuke's team had snapped her out of her thoughts. Sakura turned her attention towards the female. She had ruby-red eyes, which was framed by a pair of brown glasses, and bright-red coloured hair that was in an unusual style. On the right, it was short and unkempt but on the left it was long and straight. If Sakura remembered correctly from her research, her name was Karin, one of the jailers at Orochimaru's base. She had the ability to track people using their chakra and could heal by letting others bite her. No doubt that she was chosen because of her ability and not her personality, Sakura mused bitterly.

"Who are these guys suppose to be. You recognize them, Sasuke?" Karin asked impatiently.

Sasuke closed his eyes and turned his back towards Team Kakashi. "Hn, they're unimportant," he stated bluntly. "We're wasting our time here. Let's go."

Before Sasuke was able to walk another step away, he was stopped by Kakashi's voice.

"You don't expect us to let you walk away from us, now do you?" Kakashi said, speaking up for the first time. He lifted up his hitai-ate to reveal his lone Sharingan.

"Oho, getting serious, are we?" the fish-like being of Sasuke's team spoke up. He had snow-white coloured hair along with a pair of purple eyes. But the most noticeable feature of him was the large sword strapped across his back. "It's been a while since I've had some action." His hand reached back to grab Zabuza's large sword.

"Stop it, Suigetsu. You heard what Sasuke said. There's no need to waste our time fighting them," the orange haired male, with a matching pair of orange eyes, stated. His face was calm but Sakura could see his hands twitch from time to time and the sound of his voice sounded slightly strained.

Karin crossed her arms and snorted. "Just let him fight, Juugo. He might even do us a favour and get himself killed," she said haughtily.

Suigetsu glared. "What was that, bitch?!" he growled.

"You heard me…and who you calling bitch?!" Karin leered at the fish-like shinobi from behind her brown-rimmed glasses.

Sakura didn't know whether to laugh or to feel annoyed at the fact that they have now completely ignored her team. Seeing those two argue made her feel slightly nostalgic. They reminded her painfully of how she and Naruto used to argue. Although it seemed that those two were much worse.

"I see you've found yourself a lively bunch of teammates," Kakashi commented dryly. "Are you sure they won't get in your way?"

"They're adequate for my purpose," came the Uchiha's cold tone.

Sakura clenched her fists in anger. "And we were not?" she bit out. Her eyes lit up in frustration when Sasuke didn't even spare her a glance, nor answer her question.

"And your purpose would be…? If I recall, Uchiha Itachi is already dead. What more do you have in mind?" Kakashi inquired.

Sasuke didn't answer.

"Sasuke, I'm giving you one last chance," Naruto spoke up with his teeth gritted together tightly. "Come back with me to Konoha."

Kakashi stared at the blonde from the corner of his eyes. He could already tell that it was a matter of time before Naruto would lose control of his emotions. The jounin could already see his specks of red in his eyes.

If the Kyuubi was unleashed at a time like this, then there will be trouble, Kakashi thought as his eyes hardened. Yamato and Sai still aren't back yet.

"…Konoha, huh?"

He returned his attention back towards his former student.

"You expect me to walk back in there after what they've done?" The Uchiha's voice was calm but no one missed that anger that was hidden beneath his tone. "After what they've put Itachi through?"

What is he talking about? Sakura wondered.

"If I ever do return to that village, there's only reason for doing so…" Sasuke paused for a second. Then, his eyes shot up to reveal a pair of Sharingan eyes. "…and that's to destroy it!"

Naruto saw red. Before anyone could move as much as an inch forward, the blonde shot forward in a burst energy and streaked towards the Uchiha, who had his hand on his Kusanagi, ready to attack. Sakura shielded her eyes from the rubble that rose from the ground due to Naruto's quick action.

"Never close your eyes in front of an enemy." Tsunade's voice reminded her.

But was Sasuke an enemy? Uchiha Sasuke was known to be a huge threat to everyone. He was a criminal and a traitor of Konohagakure, who recently was labelled as an A-ranked criminal in the Bingo Book. She knew that she was being selfish but Sakura refused to accept the fact that he was no longer the person that she knew when they were genin. He had changed too much in these past few years of his absence but Sakura still wanted to believe that the Sasuke that both she and Naruto yearned for was still in there somewhere, buried within the darkness.

And I will bring him out of it, Sakura thought determinedly.

She brought her arms down and jumped away just in time to avoid a large sword that swiped the place of where her head had been a few seconds ago.

"Che, I missed," Suigetsu said smirking. "But you won't be so lucky next time, Pinky."

Sakura twitched. "What did you call me?" she growled.

Oh, how she hated that nickname. It was even worse than 'Ugly' and 'Hag' combined. It wasn't her fault that she was born with naturally pink hair and that her mother refused to allow her to dye it. It seemed that most enemies that she encountered would judge her by her hair colour.

It pissed her off.

Suigetsu chuckled. "Are you sure that someone as pretty and delicate as you should be allowed on the battlefield?" he asked, ignoring her question.

Was that supposed to be a compliment or an insult? Sakura thought as she glared at the light haired shinobi.

Pulling out a couple of kunai, she threw them towards the fish-like male and watched in confusion when Suigetsu remained still with a grin on his face.

He's going to get hit… So why is he just standing there? She wondered.

Her eyes narrowed when the kunai passed through his body harmlessly and dropped towards the ground, coated in water. The wound on Suigetsu's body began to close up like liquid.

I see…so he can liquefy his body to avoid damage, Sakura thought, getting into a defensive stance. Since his body's made up of water, lightning or earth style jutsu would work best on him.

Her gaze drifted to her right to see Kakashi engaged in a fierce battle with Juugo, who had his curse mark activated to the final stage. Kakashi would normally be the best choice to battle against Suigetsu but it seemed like he was already occupied as it was. Besides, even thought if Kakashi was not engaged in battle she wouldn't count on him to bail her out. Sakura swore to herself that she would never rely on others anymore. She would not be a burden to them.

The sound of a kunai swishing in the air alerted her attention. Sakura tilted her head to the right to evade the weapon. A stinging sensation told her that the blade had grazed the side of her cheek but she ignored the cut. Her sea-green eyes glance at the kunai on the ground.

Attached to it was an exploding tag.

Sakura's eyes widened a fraction. It was too late to move away. "Oh, shit!" she swore.

The sound of an explosion could be heard from a mile away.

"Sakura!" Kakashi called before throwing his arms up to block an incoming punch from Juugo.

Sakura gasped and coughed as she got from the ground, staggering in the process. She didn't know how but she managed to make it in time. As soon as the explosion was set off Sakura punched to ground, causing the earth to rise up, shielding herself from any incoming damage. Of course, she didn't come out unharmed. The ends of her hair and parts of her skirt were singed slightly and her entire body was covered in mild scratches but at least she made it out alive.

"Gah! What's wrong with you, Karin? Can't you even hit someone who was distracted?!" Suigetsu scowled at the red-head, who in return sneered at him.

"Well if I recall your aim with your oversized sword was off, too. Are you sure you have what it takes to wield that large-ass weapon?" Karin glared at him through her glasses.

"Oh, yeah? I'll show how a real man fights! I'll take Pinky here down before you do!" With that, Suigetsu charged at Sakura with his sword raised.

"Hmph! I'll get her before your sword reaches her!" Karin threw another exploding tag attached kunai at the pink haired kunoichi.

But before it came in contact with Sakura, the kunai got intercepted by Suigetsu's body, who, at the same time, was heading towards the kunoichi. The exploding tag exploded, sending showers of water everywhere.

A few seconds later Suigetsu emerged from a puddle, coughing harshly. He gave Karin a death glare. "Now look what you've fucking done, bitch!" he seethed. "I was this close to killing her!"

Karin tilted her glasses up. "My weapon would have made it if it wasn't for your fatass body getting in the way!" she retorted.

"Wench!"

"Jackass!"

Uhh… Sakura looked on bewildered. It looked as if they were more interested in fighting each other.

Suddenly a roar of pain was emitted from her blonde teammate. Sakura turned her head around to see Naruto on the ground writhing in pain while Sasuke stood over him emotionlessly with his whole body covered in Chidori.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried, running off towards her teammate.

Karin and Suigetsu were still too busy punching and pulling each others hair out to notice the fleeing kunoichi.

Sakura could hear Kakashi curse before yelling at her to stop but she paid no heed to his words. Naruto needed her. A sudden burst of chakra from Naruto stopped her in her tracks. She shielded her eyes from the energy force. Only after a few seconds did she look up and the sight before made her gasp. Naruto was motionless on the floor but Sakura could see red chakra beginning to cover up his entire body.

The Demon Fox Cloak, Sakura thought, recalling the time where Naruto had unleashed the Kyuubi at the Tenchikyou Bridge. It was something that she'd wished to forget but knew that she would not be able to do so.

Her gaze drifted towards Sasuke, who had his Kusanagi held upwards. Sakura's eyes widened. He was not thinking of killing Naruto, was he? Nevertheless, Sakura ran forward. Never in her life had she imagined herself protecting Naruto against Sasuke, of all people. But, she must, no…she will protect Naruto, even if it costs her her life.

"Naruto!" she cried, grabbing the Jinchuuriki into an embrace.

The chakra radiating off of his body burned painfully onto her skin but she ignored the pain. The pain that she was feeling at the moment can not even be compared to the pain that she would feel if she was to fail in protecting him. With her back towards Sasuke, she closed her eyes and waiting for the impact. No doubt that she would not be able to make it out alive, but…at least Naruto would be safe.

Sakura smiled slightly at the thought. At least she was finally able to do something for him…

"Sakura!" the sound of a familiar voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

Before the chokutou was able to connect with Sakura's body, Sai managed to halt the attack by grabbing onto Sasuke's wrist, like he did back at Orochimaru's hideout, to stop his attack. Sai gave Sasuke a hard stare but was careful enough to not look into his eyes.

"You again?"

Crunching sounds could be heard a second later. Sasuke looked down at his body to see wood wrapped strongly around his body, immobilizing him.

A roar from Naruto alerted everyone's attention. The red chakra had consumed his body and the first tail had sprouted out. With a yelp, Sakura released Naruto and fell down towards the ground.

Seeing her in pain, Sai quickly released his hold on Sasuke, knowing that Yamato would keep him still, and rushed towards her side.

"Sakura, are you alright?" he asked, helping her into a sitting position on the forest floor.

Sakura couldn't respond. She lifted her hands up shakily and stared at her raw, burnt palms before gazing down at the rest of her body. It was in no shape better. The Kyuubi's chakra had burnt off most of her shirt, revealing a lot of skin. If it wasn't for a situation such as this, Sakura would have blushed at the thought of being half-naked in front of a bunch of males. She pressed her hands against her chest and began healing the burnt skin. She wasn't surprised at all when she found out that it took longer to heal than other wounds.

Sai watched in silence as she began healing herself. His coal-black eyes then drifted towards Naruto.

"Yamato-taichou," he called.

Yamato nodded and diverted attention from Sasuke to the Jinchuuriki and began doing the hand signs for the sealing jutsu.

That should do it, Yamato thought as he watched as the Kyuubi's chakra slowly disperse.

"Chidori Nagashi!"

Yamato turned at the sound of the voice, just in time to see Sasuke's body covered in currents of electricity. The force of the powerful lightning based attack cut through the wood around his body as if it was made of butter.

"Sa-Sasuke…" Naruto rasped out as he lifted his head up tiredly.

Without even sparing Naruto a glance, Sasuke walked towards his two bickering teammates.

"Karin, Suigetsu, we're leaving," he stated bluntly.

The two members of Taka ceased their arguing and nodded. A few seconds later, Juugo joined them. The tall shinobi was clutching his bleeding left arm, which had been severed by Kakashi's Raikiri. Despite the severity of his own injury, Juugo was more concerned about their leader rather than himself.

"Are you alright, Sasuke?" he asked.

Sasuke nodded his head in confirmation. "Let's go," he said tersely.

Before the group could take another step a weak voice stopped them in their tracks.

"S-stop…I…won't let…you leave!"

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder to see the blonde Jinchuuriki staggering to his feet.

"I will bring you back…to Konoha with me!" Naruto announced adamantly. "So, don't you dare…walk away…from here!"

The Uchiha remained silent and didn't give a single reaction to any of Naruto's words. His onyx coloured eyes stared into the blonde shinobi's sapphire-blue orbs, which was filled with pain and determination.

"I'll bring you back to the village, even if that means breaking every single bone in your body!"

Without anyone knowing it, Sasuke's breath hitched slightly. Why…am I remembering that event? He asked himself.

"Sasuke, what's wrong?" Karin asked with concern laced in her tone.

"Nothing," Sasuke replied in a quick and blunt manner. Giving one last look at Team Kakashi, he turned his back towards them. "Let's go."

Before any of Team Kakashi's members could react, Team Taka was gone.

"Sa-Sasuke…" Naruto's words began to fade into the darkness and a few seconds later he did, too.

I failed…again… Naruto's eyes closed and allowed darkness to consume him.

Why…am I so…weak

…

…

…

…Sasuke…

-X-

Hm…how interesting, Kakashi mused as he watched from his position up on a tree branch. The jounin was curious to say the least. He wondered what in the world did Sakura see to make her react in such a way.

"Shinobi Tactics Two: Genjutsu," he murmured to himself.

Sakura was kneeling down on the forest ground, clutching her head tightly with both her hands. A few tears began to leak out at the corner of her eyes and dripped silently towards the forest floor.

This…is not… Her hands shakily formed the Tiger seal. …Real!

"Kai!"

With that, the Genjutsu ended.

Sakura panted harshly from fatigue. Despite the fact that it was only a low-levelled Genjutsu, it still took a lot of chakra to escape from it, seeing as how the effect was too powerful. Her jaded eyes narrowed into a glare. That Kakashi… Sensei or not, he was going down for performing a stunt like that on her.

Okay, I've to focus on finding his chakra signature, the ANBU kunoichi thought as her eyes fluttered shut.

Besides the medical ninjutsu and inhuman strength, Tsunade had also taught Sakura how to detect a person's chakra when it was masked. Sakura had learnt that no one could mask their chakra completely; there was always a small bit of it unmasked. One of the few flaws of any shinobi and Sakura had learnt how to use that to her advantage.

There! Her eyes snapped opened in one second and she disappeared in the next.

"Wha-?" Kakashi only had just enough time to evade the kunoichi's chakra-infused fist before it came in contact with him.

This time the punch didn't simply make a hole in the tree. No…it knocked the whole thing down, sending it crashing towards the forest floor before it split cleanly into two.

Kakashi winced. Ouch…the poor tree…

Sakura knew that she had overdone it when she snapped the tree in half but she didn't care anymore. All she could think of at this moment was kicking her jounin sensei's ass.

"How do you know that technique?" Kakashi asked.

As far as he knew, a technique such as splitting trees in half with a single punch required near perfect…no, absolute perfect chakra control to master. He had read Sakura's file and it had stated that she did, in fact, possess perfect chakra control but had absolutely no knowledge whatsoever about advanced Taijutsu; the category in which this technique is classified under. She had some explaining to do but first he must observe her for a few more weeks to see what other abilities she and Sai were hiding from him.

"Someone taught it to me," Sakura said truthfully. She was never good at lying. In fact, she was absolutely horrible at it.

"I see… Well then, it seems that I've underestimated you." Kakashi's lips curved up into a large smile. "I'm sorry, Sakura," he said sincerely, although Sakura could detect a hint of mockery in his tone of voice.

"Well, you'll be even sorrier when I defeat you!" With a battle cry, she charged straight towards the copy-nin.

Kakashi whipped out a kunai and blocked Sakura's incoming tanto swipe. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. It was uncanny for someone like her to just charge straight in like that. That was Naruto's job. Unless of course, this was just a distraction… The chime of bells was heard from behind. Kakashi's eyes widened in realization; so that was her plan. Distract him from in front with a Kage Bunshin and have the real Sakura attacked from behind while he was busy defending himself.

Smart.

Kakashi's leg shot forward and gave the Kage Bunshin a swift kick to the stomach. The clone gasped in surprise before disappearing in a puff of smoke. The ex-ANBU captain quickly turned towards incoming kunoichi. Her fist was glowing blue with chakra and Kakashi had a feeling that if he didn't dodge this attack, it would be the end of him.

Hatake Kakashi, the infamous copy ninja of Konohagakure no Sato, the man who knew more than a thousand jutsu, had fallen by the fists of one little pink haired kunoichi.

Oh, what a great way to go down.

"You're mine!" the said kunoichi yelled as she pulled her fists back for the final strike, but before she was able to shatter the bones in his body a loud ring sounded through the forest.

Phew! Now this is what I call saved by the bell, Kakashi thought, sweating. Well, I guess that's that. He glanced over towards the kunoichi, who pulled back her fists and grumbled under her breath.

Sakura hated this. She was just so close to getting him and the stupid alarm just had to go off. Talk about perfect timing…

"Looks like the test is over," Kakashi stated happily; his eyes creasing into a smile.

Sakura grumbled something which could not be heard.

"But before we head back, I have just one thing to say to you."

The kunoichi's ears perked up at this.

"Shinobi Tactics Three: Ninjutsu."

Sakura raised her eyebrow at this. "What are yo-?" But before she was able to finish, the Kakashi in front of her disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Oh, well what do you know, it was a Kage Bunshin all along.

Sakura gapped like a fish. She was fighting a Kage Bunshin all this time?! How dare he…how dare he underestimate her again?!

"KAKASHI! YOU'RE GOING TO GET IT NOW!"

-X-

Somewhere in the middle of the forest, the real Kakashi sneezed violently before a shiver ran down his spine.

I sense danger…

-X-

The sun began to set down behind the mountains as Sakura and Sai both headed back home. The test had ended a few hours with unsurprising results. Everyone had passed, including Sai. Sakura just remained quiet throughout Kakashi's lecture. Instead, she had spent the entire time glaring at the masked jounin and plotted her revenge. After the newly formed Team Seven had finished listening to Kakashi, they both headed towards Ichiraku for some ramen, much to a certain blonde's delight. It was here that Sakura had gotten her revenge. She knew how much Naruto worshipped ramen so she used this to her advantage. Using her smarts and her infamous puppy dog face, Sakura managed to bribe Kakashi into paying the gigantic bill.

That was how the infamous Hatake Kakashi had became broke in just one day. Fallen victim to Sakura's ugly face, as Sai would like to say.

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen," Sai mused before ending up with a black eye.

After finishing their meal the five went their separate ways. Sakura waved to both Kakashi and Naruto before leaving with Sai. The Uchiha watched as she completely ignored him and frowned.

"Geez, Hag, what did senpai do to make you hate him so much anyway?" Sai asked as they walked toward their homes.

"He sent a Kage Bunshin to fight me since he decided that I was not worthy of his time," Sakura fumed. "I hate how people underestimate me."

"Maybe you should use this to your advantage instead," Sai suggested.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?" she inquired.

"Well, since people often think of you as a weak, little, pink haired genin-" Sai put his hands up defensively as she shook her fist at him. "Wait, let me finish!"

Sakura lowered her fist but didn't cease her glare.

"-they may get overconfident about their abilities thus leading to their downfall by your incredible inhuman strength."

Sakura looked thoughtful. "Hm, you may have a point there, Sai," she mused before frowning. She whipped her head around to give him a glare. "Wait a minute, what exactly do you mean by inhuman anyway?" she asked suspiciously.

Sai smiled. "Well, you do punch like a mad gorilla. Not to mention your looks-"

Sakura gave him a taste of her 'gorilla punch' before he was able to finish the sentence.

Sai grunted in pain and Sakura smirked in triumph and closed her eyes. "How did you like my inhuman punch now, Sai?" she asked smugly.

No answer.

One of her eyes fluttered open. "Sai?"

The ANBU Root operative was not looking at her but instead, someone approaching in the distance. Sakura turned towards the line of his vision and recognized the familiar shade of raven coloured hair.

Sakura's expression darkened. "What do you want?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at the approaching Uchiha.

Sai blinked, curious as to what Sasuke wanted with them. Sasuke gave the ANBU Root operative a calculating look before returning his attention back to Sakura.

"Drop the jutsu," Sasuke said bluntly.

Sakura's face scrunched up in confusion. "What are you talking about? What jutsu?" she asked annoyed.

Sasuke glared. "Don't act as if you don't know. I'm obviously talking about the Henge no Jutsu. You're not Sakura so drop your act. The Sakura that I know is never this…powerful."

"W-what?!" Sakura sputtered out before giving him a death glare. "You don't know anything about me!" she seethed angrily. "Who gave you the right to judge me, huh?!"

"Sakura, calm down," Sai said quietly, although it was still heard loud and clear.

"Stay out of this, Sai," Sakura bit out, without turning to face him. "This is between me and him." She gave the Uchiha a hard look.

Sai hesitated for a second before stepping back as the two engaged in a glaring contest.

"Let me tell you something loud and clear, Sasuke," Sakura started in a surprisingly calm voice. "I'm not the useless little fan-girl, who chased you around 24/7 anymore. You have never even spared me a glance back then so why are you so desperate now, huh?"

"Because you're now different, because you're-" Sasuke got cut off when Sakura let out a dry humourless chuckle.

"I was different back there too, you know," she murmured.

Sasuke looked confused.

"You never even spare me a glance that time." Sakura's eyes fluttered shut. "Do you know how much I've went through, suffered through, for you?" she asked rhetorically.

A lone tear escaped from the corner of her eye.

"What the hell are you on about?" Sasuke demanded. "Sakura, you're out of your mind."

The kunoichi's eyes snapped opened at that as she gave him a nasty glare through all those angry tears. "I'm out of my mind? You're the one who's out of your mind!" she spat out viciously. "I hate you! I absolutely fucking hate you! Everything is your fault! Because of you, Naruto had to suffer! Because of you everyone almost died! Because of you I-!"

"Sakura, that's enough."

A sharp pain shot through her head before Sakura's vision blurred into darkness. Sai quickly caught her before she hit the ground. Something tells him that he was going to get a beating for this later when she wakes up. He was not going to look forward to that but it had to be done. Sai felt like sighing as he stared down at the unconscious, crying form of Haruno Sakura. Some kunoichi she was, getting her emotions out of hand, but still, Sai couldn't blame her. Even he could feel a spark of anger towards the Uchiha, despite not being able to express emotions that freely like the kunoichi in his arms. He would have to talk to her later about this matter concerning the avenger.

Sai scooped Sakura up into his arms and supported her from her thighs and neck.

"I apologize for her behaviour, Sasuke-kun," Sai spoke as sincerely as possible, although any one could tell clearly that he couldn't care less. "I'll make sure she apologizes to you later."

With a fake smile, the ANBU Root operative disappeared in a whirl of ink before Sasuke was able to respond.

Sasuke stared at the spot where Sai and Sakura had disappeared from. Just what in the world was Sakura going on about a few seconds ago? Him, making Naruto suffer, getting everyone killed?

…What utter nonsense.

For one of the rare moments in his life, Uchiha Sasuke had felt confused. He hated this. He hated not knowing what was going on.

But no matter what, he was definitely going to get to the bottom of this mystery.

I will figure you out, Haruno Sakura…no matter what it takes.

-X-

Author's Note:
Now you know how much I suck at fight scenes. :p This chapter took twenty pages to write; longest chapter yet. :) Hope you enjoyed it. Please review~ Only a few more reviews before this story hits the one hundred mark. Flames are not accepted. I've already lost count on how many times I have to say this -.- Here's a question for those who are up to date with the manga chapters. What do you think of Karin now? Personally, I never did hated her. In fact, I found her quite interesting. Although, I do like making fun of her at times. XD See ya in the next chapter! :)

-X-

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-X-

-Setsuna