Sakura studied the papers before her. All of them were of Sasuke and his known abilities. She needed to find a way to beat him. To counter his strengths which is speed, lightning and the Sharingan.

For months, she's been locked away in her office. A large chalkboard stared back at her, the unfinished equation glaring back at her. The equation that would unlock Sasuke's weaknesses and give Sakura the answers she needed to defeat Sasuke. She had about five chalkboards, each with a different equation on it. On the last was a type of graph, weighing her strengths and his. She had brute strength and agility on him. He had speed and Ninjutsu. In the middle were skills that cancel each other out, like the Sharingan and Genjutsu. Sakura was glad for her Inner. If she wasn't there, Sakura could be a potential victim of the Tsukiyomi that she knew he had acquired.

That was something she took pride in; immunity to the mind-fuck that is known as the Tsukiyomi. Only Tsunade, Shizune, Ibiki, Ino, Shikamaru and Inoichi know that Sakura holds such power within her mind. Thanks to Ino and Inoichi, Inner Sakura is always awake inside Sakura's head and no longer has to be awakened by Naruto or someone outside of the body.

But that doesn't help her beat him unless he uses the Mangekyou Sharingan on her which will probably never happen because Sasuke still saw her as an unworthy and pointless opponent.

"So how do I beat him?" Sakura wondered. "With his speed, I'll never be able to land a chakra enhanced punch on him, let alone touch him with his Chidori Nagashi that can lash out at me at any time."

"Hey, Forehead!" Ino called as she barged in.

Sakura sighed before she sat back in her chair.

"What, pig? Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Still obsessing over Sasuke I see," Ino teased.

"I'm not-! I'm not obsessing over him. I'm just trying to go through ever possible scenario involving his skills in order to find one where I come out on top."

"That's just a fancy way of saying Obsession."

"What do you want, pig?"

"I don't understand what the big deal is. Just fight fire with fire. Monster with monster. Send Naruto or-"

"Ino, that's it!" Sakura exclaimed.

"What is?"

"To fight fire with fire! Ino you're a genius!"

"I am? I mean- of course I am but…care to explain to me what I did?"

"Pig…to fight fire with fire. Or in Sasuke's case, lightning with lightning."

"Oh…but how are you going to do that? Aren't you supposed to have an affinity for lightning?"

Sakura nodded. "Yes. If not, it's virtually impossible. But I have the best chakra control Konoha has ever seen. Nothing is impossible if you have the Will of Fire," Sakura smiled softly.

Ino smiled at her friend.

"Then you better get to it, Sakura-chan," Ino encouraged. "Sasuke's not going to bring himself home."


Sakura exited her office in the hospital and walked to around the village.

"Where would Kakashi be?" Sakura wondered.

An image of the memorial stone appeared in her mind and she let her eyes fall.

"I guess I should visit her anyway…" she whispered.

She headed to the memorial stone but not before stopping by the flower shop and picking up a bunch of different flowers. When she got to the memorial stone, she found it empty. She placed down a pink rose.

"Hi momma," Sakura said smiling. "I know I haven't been around lately and I'm sorry for that. I've just been really busy trying to find a way to beat Sasuke and bring him home, to his family."

Sakura traced the name of her mother. Hanako Rin. She smiled sadly before looking at the pink rose.

"I've been looking for you Kaka-sensei."

"Have you?"

Sakura turned to see Kakashi standing there with his hands in his pockets.

"Why were you looking for me?"

"I want you to teach me the Chidori."

Kakashi blinked in surprise. "I'm sorry, I must have misheard you. I thought you said you wanted me to teach you the Chidori."

"I did. I want you to teach me the Chidori."

"But Sakura-"

"No," Sakura snapped as she stood and turned to face him. "You played favourites with Sasuke and taught him your own original move that he now takes advantage of and uses it to kill hundreds of innocent people. Now I want you to teach me so I can use it to stop him."

"Sakura, for the Chidori, you need the lightning affinity."

"Or intense training and perfect chakra control. I can do it if only you'd let me try!"

Kakashi stared at the pinkette before sighing. "I can't change your mind, can I?"

"If you don't teach me, I'll just try and do it myself and probably end up killing myself in the process. My death would be on your conscience. Is that what you want?"

"Sakura," he sighed. "Alright, fine. I'll train you in how to use the Chidori but if you can't get the hang of it, promise me you will leave it alone."

"I pinkie promise."

"Good."