"Inuzuka-san."
Kiba wasn't listening. Sakura didn't exactly expect him to – or at least didn't expect him to have the common sense to realize she wasn't merely requesting he pay attention to her when she called his name. Except really, in the middle of sparring, his inattention was borderline insulting.
Just as the ground borderline disintegrated beneath his feet while Sakura not-so-patiently straightened, adjusting her gloves. Certainly Kiba's clan operated as part of a unit with their canine affiliates, which could explain his hare-brained attention span, but not enough. If he couldn't fight without Akamaru, Sakura wondered why he had invited her to spar anyhow. There were far more interesting things for Sakura to be doing right now – say, resurrecting a few thousand gophers.
"Inuzuka."
He had at least managed to not get caught in the massive rubble, though he wasn't moving from his perch in the tree. Which was possibly more insulting, because Sakura could feel his chakra, and he wasn't even attempting anything. Absolutely nothing, which added to the nervous tick in her left eyebrow, and prompted her third and final call. "Kiba!"
The answering, "I told you so!" from the opposite side of the training area was issued from an all too familiar blonde. Naruto was waving cheerily and Kiba had fastened his eyes on the other man.
Sakura had a very clear feeling she'd just been played. Punked. Fooled.
She cracked her knuckles.
Oh hell no.
Passing over the annoyingly inactive Kiba in favor of the annoyingly present teammate, Sakura wasted no time in using a few choice words – and punches – to communicate her meaning. What did cause her to hesitate was when Naruto's reaction involved the appearance of one surreally large white canine to come roaring out of the foliage before Sakura very efficiently put him out of service (sometime she would try the chakra-enforced muzzle out on Naruto) and came to a sinking realization she'd been had not just once, but twice. When the blonde faded into brown and pain mingled with a good deal of anger and amusement, Sakura also learned how much more Naruto could take than others their age. And when Kiba was laid up healing in the slow – according to Sakura, educatingly slow – healing process, he learned just how much more there was to look forward to once he got out of the goddamn body-cast.