Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do not own the manga, anime, or any other mediums. I do not own the characters, places, or strange theories. The plot is mine, but I don't care if anyone steals it.

Pink locks of hair rustled on the pillow of one Haruno Sakura as she arose for yet another day of her life. The mechanical motions of her daily routine that brought her mind back from dreamland had been practiced and refined for nearly two decades.

The years were still kind to Sakura, as they are apt to be toward the young and restless, leaving her body was toned but feminine. Stepping outside, Sakura took a breath before starting off toward her job at the Hokage's office. After her first and only chuunin exams, it had been pretty clear that Sakura was not cut out for battle. Granted, she had tried time and time again to make her legs and arms move, but the stress was always too much for her. Although team seven had been disbanded due to the betrayal of the last Uchiha shortly after, Sakura signed on to another team with two new rookies in order to complete the Chuunin exams and as such become suitable for working behind the scenes. Naruto, the third member of Team 7, was so shaken by the events surrounding Sasuke's treason the he nearly surrendered his dream of becoming Hokage. However, Naruto proved to be more resilient then anyone had expected and soon picked back up on his trail to become Hokage.

As for Sakura, her eyes had become too dry to weep anymore. She apologized to Ino, who became a great source of comfort. The two were now truly inseparable friends, although it was hard to tell most of the time. Ino had inherited her family's flower shop. Tsunade-sama, who had given up lying about her age, once remarked how strange it was that such a fiery spirit could produce such gentle and tactful arrangements.

Sakura arrived at work on time, as usual. A new stack of paperwork ranging from statistical analysis to diplomatic treaties was waiting. It all passed through Sakura's practiced hands quickly until she cleared a path to her favorite task: "strategic decisions for the general assignment of shinobi tasks for economic stability", which was a complicated way to say that Sakura read over tasks and decided which ninja teams did what. The Hokage's assistant was supposed review her work and veto bad decisions, but the review only happened on slow days, and even then Sakura had never been veto-ed. She had just started when Shikamaru came to her doorway and gave her his "Why did you drag me away from my chessboard?" look.

"Ino's waiting. You're late,"

"I know I'm late, but I just started this and I don't want to leave in the middle."

"Scared?"

"Kinda."

Shikamaru just shrugged his shoulders and walked off. "I don't care if you're late. Just keep me out of it."

In the heart of the forest surrounding Konoha village stood two shinobi. One stood in a normal ready position, a kunai in her rear hand, her blond hair in a low ponytail. The pink-haired, green-eyed opponent stood, relaxed, reaching for something in her side pouch. The two rivals locked eyes, allowing tension to build. The pace at which they readied themselves would have bored any spectator beyond belief, but no one was stupid enough to watch. This time it really was just the two of them.

Ino moved first, launching straight toward Sakura and bring the kunai toward her neck. Sakura waited until the last second to bury her own kunai into Ino's side, only to find herself staring at a log. What appeared to be Ino came down from a tree and landed behind Sakura, who was turning on her heel to catch up with the new attacker. Ino's fist reached her opponent's head just as Sakura turned, but it was only a copy. Ino stood still, listening...

There!

Ino quickly threw three shuriken toward the sound, only to find that she had set off a trap. An explosion threw her backward into a net. In the short time it took her to cut the net, Sakura had launched three of herself from three different directions, centering on Ino. Right as they were about to reveal the true nature of the supposed florist, they disappeared.

Ino had found her prey.

The real Ino had found the real Sakura hiding on a tree branch and moved in. The two were now on the same branch, facing off. Kneeling, Sakura had chosen to block Ino's kunai with her hand, which was bleeding. The wound had not been in vain, however, as Ino had been forced to catch Sakura's wrist in order to prevent having a fistful of shuriken in her abdomen. Ino had failed to catch Sakura in time to stop the tip of one from catching her midsection. They broke apart and reverted to fighting stances.

"You're lagging, Ino-pig."

"That's what you think, big-forehead."

"You're all talk."

"So are you. You're still using the same justu's from when you were twelve."

"At least I know how to use them," Sakura's serious demeanor was beginning to crack.

"Well, maybe if you didn't fight like a preteen I could show you just how strong I've become!"

With that, Ino sent two copies toward Sakura. They were beaten quickly, but it had bought the original enough time to start a combination of hand-seals. Sakura followed with her own hand-seals, trying to finish first. Ino's lead proved to be just enough.

"Doton, Toge no Ame no Jutsu!"

Thorns began to rain down on Sakura, who was still trying to finish handseals, despite all the small cuts. Ino jumped backwards to another tree branch in order to create distance without losing sight of her opponent. Hand seals finished, Sakura launched her counter-attack.

"Katon, Hi no hito no Justu!"

A human made from fire appeared in front of Sakura. Ino experimentally launched a kunai at it. The kunai flew through the fiery person and whizzed just past Sakura's head. Then shuriken that followed, however, were designed to carry a small amount of chakra with them and created blue scratches in the creature's flesh. Enraged by the attack, it flew toward Ino and started swinging rudimentary punches and kicks toward the blond. Ino dodged most of the attacks while gathering enough chakra in her hand to land a punch square on her attacker's chest. Blue chakra met red fire, and the beast vanished.

"Don't think you've won," Sakura panted, trying to stand.

"You still haven't beaten me," Ino replied, mirroring Sakura.

The two women were covered in cuts and burns. Using their last strength, Sakura and Ino jumped down and clashed the same way they had so many years ago. Kicks and punches were thrown and blocked. Determination radiated from them the way beauty surrounds a flower. To their credit, the last hit was actually a palm strike instead of a punch. Nonetheless, they both fell unconscious in a perfect repeat of the chuunin exams.

"Aren't you worried?"

"Nope."

"They could seriously hurt each other."

"Tsunade-sama!"

"They'll be fine. Look, if it makes you feel better, I'll send someone to pick them up if they're not back by dark."

"That's all I'm asking."