Author's Note: Not much to say really. I guess the idea for this story came from the fact that the females in Naruto could use some more fight time and training. All of them could be a lot stronger. (disclaimer: I do not own any part of Naruto).
Ino will never admit it, but she is jealous of Sakura. It's taken years for the thought to fully manifest itself in her head, and now it is a weed that clouds her conscious. It started when Tsunade took the pink-haired girl under her wing. Suddenly Sakura could destroy things with only her index finger and she started to take shifts at the hospital, while Ino tended her flowers. Then she heard rumors that a certain Kunoichi not only faced the infamous Sasori, but killed him. The only serious villains Ino had ever faced were the men that killed her sensei, and even then she really didn't do much.
Her inferiority was truly uncovered; however, when after one of their usual spats Ino proudly claimed she would always be the best Kunoichi in her class. Sakura's emerald green eyes darkened a shade, and she reminded Ino that they tied the one time they had ever fought. It was clearly a challenge, and Ino in her ignorance quickly accepted.
They went to the training fields and picked a spot far from any bystanders that could interrupt. Ino took a defensive stance and watched her opponent carefully. Sakura was intelligent; Ino would give her that, and probably had some sort of strategy buzzing in that forehead of hers. As if Sakura heard her, she launched an explosion tagged kunai at Ino's feet. The blonde dodged easily, she had been trained as a medical ninja for a couple years, and was able to land on her feet.
Sakura came flying out of the smoke with a hand that glowed with blue chakra, a fierce look in her green eyes. Ino waited until that last moment, and then dodged out of Sakura's range. She quickly sent a wave of kunai her way, hoping to force Sakura onto defense. The pink-haired girl just smiled and disappeared with a quiet poof, the kunai embedding themselves in the trees around the field. Before Ino could blink or even begin to search for her opponent, a chakra signature spiked sharply behind her and a fist collided with her cheek. She hit the ground like a sack of potatoes, only registering the cluster of fully bloomed Cosmos tickling her nose before going unconscious.
A few days later, and the blue-eyed teenager stared at the stocks of flowers arranged on the table in front of her. They were in desperate need of some water and a vase, but for the first time Ino found she was sick of the plants. I am a Kunoichi, what good is flower arranging if I'm in the middle of a battle? And with that she ripped off her apron, marched out of the store, and hoped that Sakura would be willing to teach her again.