A flash of silver darted past her; catching the blonde girl off guard. She startled and spun around to look behind her. A young pink haired girl was running at her, desperation evident on her face.

"Oh Ino! I'm so sorry," she started tearing up and the blonde grinned.

"Sakura, it's okay!" She put her hands on the girls shoulders and forced her to look at her. Ino cocked her head to the side beaming at her friend.

Sakura's jade eyes captured Ino's azure ones, and a small smile lit up her face. "I'm glad I didn't hit you," she stated carefully.

Ino smirked. "You couldn't hit me even if you were trying." She teased taking Sakura's hand and interlacing their fingers. She gently tugged at her best friends hand. "Let's go practice."

Sakura and Ino stood back to back, each holding a shuriken and facing crudely drawn targets.

"On three," Ino whispered quietly; tensing her body to throw. "One," she felt Sakura's body tense behind her. "Two," both their arms came to the ready. "Three!" The tension released and a small thud echoed through the clearing.

Both girls were quiet for a moment as they accessed their attempt.

"Woohoo!"

Birds fluttered away from the shout and took to the skies. Ino's eyes remained on her attempt. The shuriken was embedded about 30 centimeters to the left of the target. Missing completely. She turned to look at Sakura's attempt. The pinkette was beaming and dancing with pride.

Embedded directly in the middle of the target was Sakura's shuriken.

Ino's stomach twisted with jealousy and she frowned. "Lucky shot," she mumbled. Sakura turned and looked at Ino her grin faltering. She bit her lip nervously and tears pricked at her eyes.

"Yeah, you're right." She whispered quietly. Ino looked at her quickly and guilt washed over her. She walked over to the tree with Sakura's shuriken and eyed it. Her fingers tapping on her chin. She looked at it from all angles, hmming and ah ha-ing as she scrutinized the target. Sakura gulped nervously, unbeknownst to the blonde inspecting her work.

"Actually Sakura, I think this is a perfect shot." Ino had no idea what made it a perfect shot but once she proclaimed that she watched as the jade eyed girl beamed happily.

"You really think so?" She asked. Ino came back to the pink haired girl and smiled.

"Sakura, you're going to make an excellent Kunoichi." Ino assured. Sakura continued to smile her eyes closing in her happiness.

"You're going to make an excellent kunoichi too Ino." Sakura added.

"Oh I know, I've gotta work hard if I'm going to beat you." She joked nudging her elbow into Sakura's side. "You amaze me Sakura." She said honestly.

The pink haired girl blushed, and as Ino walked away to retrieve her shuriken she cast a glance back at her own "perfect" throw and slyly pocketed the shuriken she hadn't thrown.

'I only wanted to impress you Ino, but I've got to work harder.'