↷┆𝗠𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗸𝗶┆Sakura Haruno

XXII.

"Beat his ass, Sakura-chan!" Naruto all but screamed at his pink haired teammate, who was currently engaged in a well heated spar with their other teammate.

Sasuke threw a well aimed punch towards her direction and Sakura barely managed to dodge before throwing a jab at his stomach and creating a distance between them both.

A pained grunt escaped the brooding pre-teen as he jumped back, before molding his hands through a string of hand signs and bringing one up to his mouth, "Fire release: Great Fireball technique!"

Sakura jumped back in alarm and went through some of her own hand signs and then slammed her palm onto the ground, "Earth release: Earth-style Wall!" She exclaimed before a few inches thick wall of earth errupted from the ground, stretching a couple of meters and towering above her in a protective shield.

Soon enough the scorching heat from beyond the wall licked her skin and she took a step back, breathing heavily. She had to wrap this up quick or she was going to loose this. Vaguely, she activated her sensory jutsu and felt for any of her kunai behind Sasuke.

It was a trick she had come up with all by herself. She had marked all of her kunai with simple fuinjutsu seals that were filled with a single drop of her chakra. It was an unextractable seal, meaning no one could extract her chakra to trace it back to her, in case of any high profile enemies. With this, she'd be able to sense the seal within 10 meters from her, in any direction.

Sakura took pride in how far she had come with training and hard work, the many techniques she had learned, all of the current jutsu she had yet to perfect and skills she managed to acquire that she thought were unreachable. It was almost surreal but now, fighting and feeling the thrilling pressure in a battle, it was, in fact, the reality.

She only wished she had started sooner.

Shaking those thoughts away, she sensed a kunai a couple of feet from Sasuke and smirked in sure victory. Focusing on the sole weapon, she did a few hand signs for a Substitution and dissapeared in a black flash.

The Substitution technique was definitely one of the most underappreciated jutsu she knew of. She had decided to master it to a great degree after she had read up on a 'Shunshin no Shisui' that had mastered the Shunshin to very scary level. With the help of her shishou, Sakura was sure she'd master substitution like Shisui too.

She appeared behind Sasuke, her chakra masked. She was about to grab a kunai from her holster when Naruto's loud shout completely ruined the serious feeling in the training ground, "Yeah Sakura-chan! That's a great plan! Amazing!"

Sasuke's eyes widened and he whirled around. In a haste to win, Sakura brought her leg up in a turning kick and it collided with his arm that Sasuke had brought forth to protect himself. He then brought his bent leg forward to prepare a knee strike, hitting her square in the lower right abdomen.

With a pained cry, Sakura was thrown a few feet back, landing on her back after having rolled even forward.

The bright light from the sun first assaulted her eyes as she tried opening them, attempting to ignore the pain around her right hip. A frown etched onto her face, her mouth forming a nasty snarl, "NARUTOOOOOO!!!"

Said boy's face paled drastically in fear and concern.

Sasuke only wiped the dirt off the side of his face and smirked.

Kakashi went back to reading his Ich Icha Paradiase after having observed the heated long drawn out battle. It was mid afternoon, and they had came back from an easy D-rank, when Naruto demanded for a training and sparring session. So, as being unable to deny the boy, Kakashi agreed.