Title: Green Against the Green
Summary: Sakura Haruno has spent years cultivating her skill. She doesn't see her strength; in fact, even doubts it, however, several pairs of eyes serve witness to her growing caliber.
Chapter 1: Ino
It isn't every day that Ino receives a day off. What with medical training and working on Yamanaka jutsus with her father, rarely does she catch a break. Day after day, she feels her energy being sapped from her body as she works relentlessly. She is sore and heavy with exhaustion, and her hands are blistered from the misuse of concentrated chakra that comes with repetitive healing.
Today, however, she is lucky.
The hokage had dismissed her early, explaining that this particular technique required a different kind of chakra control and requested Sakura alone, to which Ino took with a grain of salt, while her father, who was usually always on top of things, also appeared busy, finding him buried in case files.
If she had anything else other than training to do, today would have been the perfect day to do it. So with a smile and a skip to her step, she makes her way to the flower shop, picks a few branches of chamomile, and decides to have a calming bath.
A soft breeze moves her long ponytail, whipping it around behind her like a golden rope. The weather is nice today, she muses.
In her mission to have a relaxing day, Ino finds herself distracted by the pleasant Konoha air and wanders without realizing it.
She is halfway home and only a few meters away from the training grounds when she feels her feet shifting as the earth beneath her shakes. It's a subtle occurrence, but even a ninja of her rank can detect an unnatural tremor.
It is both parts boredom and curiosity that makes Ino follow the dust clouds appearing above the trees. She half expects Chouji to be at the end of her destination, rolling around in his body expansion technique, but throws that thought away, knowing that he prefers his larger backyard.
When she gets there, she makes sure to conceal her chakra and plasters herself next to a tree. She wouldn't want to be disturbed during her training, so she tries not to make too much of an obvious appearance.
Rubble and 20ft-tall, severed chunks of earth litter the ground as Ino finds herself staring while the dust settled. Could someone be attacking the village? A small surge of panic bubbles inside her and before she's thinking clearly, her hands move to their own accord and form the beginning sign for her shindashin.
However, when the shroud dissipates, rather than revealing a large man with large muscles, all Ino can see are thin arms and tiny, balled up fists connected to the ground beneath them.
What the-?!
Her own eyes widen when the air clears completely and her breath is caught in her throat when she sees large, determined, very distinct – very pretty, when sharpened by anger or curiosity - green eyes and pink hair.
It was Sakura.
She's frowning at the crater, four times the size of Chouji in ball-form, almost as if she was unhappy with the destruction.
She hears the pink-haired kunoichi release a roar and delivers another earth-shattering punch to the ground - one that creates a larger mess in it's wake, telling Ino that Sakura wasn't unhappy with what she was destroying, but rather she was unhappy because of what she wasn't destroying.
She watches her do this a dozen more times, each punch building more and more strength and dealing more damage, and she realizes why, lately, her friend had been donning bright scars on her fists. The other day when I healed her hands, after training with Tsunade-sama and performing the mystical palm properly… it was because of this reckless training. She's… so strong.
Ino expects her to stop after the thirteenth time, but instead, watches in surprise as Sakura creates three clones, all equipped with pouches of senbon, attack her with force. Each clone attempts to maim their target with differing methods. It is a hurricane of metal and earth and Ino's eyes are straining to keep up with her rival's speed. She's dodging them really well, she observes.
Her fists clench beside her and she grits her teeth harder than necessary. How did Sakura get so strong and skilled in such a short amount of time? Less than a few months ago, she could barely keep up with the rest of the rookie nine.
And now she's stronger than Chouji and probably almost as smart as Shikamaru now that she reads all those medical tomes.
Ino wants to be mad. She wants to be angry with Sakura for not staying the way she was, within the shadows of the uniquely equipped ninjas she was partnered with. Grimly, she realizes, that this progression will not stop here. There is a glint in Sakura's eyes that she's seen only once when they were in the forest of death not too long ago.
She almost admits to herself that she is jealous.
But instead, she smiles.
And like how, days prior, Sakura cheerfully hugged her for her success before tritely reminding her that she had done the smoother job in executing the healing, Ino is secretly overjoyed for her friend.
You're doing it, Sakura. You're blossoming.
A/N: I am in love with Sakura and Ino's friendship. They have this endearing, honest bond and I'm glad the animators of Pierrot gave them an episode (406) to show it. Also, reviews are nice!