Chapter 1: Counterattacks and Noodle Soup

From where she stood she could see it all; the endless, blue sky, the sun diving for the horizon, the rivers here and there, the lush green treetops and the mountains. She could also hear the chirping of the countless birds gracing the sky above her.

However, the only thing she focused on was the blonde boy in the clearing in the middle of the forest. She saw him form some hand seals and knew that would cause at least ten Kage Bunshin. A second after she spotted eleven identical boys; her intuition rarely disappointed her when it came to her friend.

To her luck, he hadn't spotted her. Taking form as one of his clones – the boy wouldn't count them anyway – she joined the crowd, a sly smirk gracing her now masculine lips. If he had seen it, he would have recognized it right away, but he was merely an inobservant, hyperactive and pretty much goaded shinobi that moment. She gladly took advantage of that.

"Before you begin searching for Sakura-chan, I want you to hide your bells differently, so that she doesn't know where to look once she finds the real me," the true Naruto said, and his clones all picked a fake silver bell with an orange ribbon up from their left shoe, which Sakura easily memorized. Naruto himself didn't move his bell.

Naruto, you certainly aren't a great thinker, now are you?

The thought made Sakura smile a very un-Naruto-ish smile, which he of course didn't spot. Her best friend had too many weak sides for his own good.

"Now, go find her!" Naruto shouted excitedly, and they all disappeared in different directions.

Her surveillance was done, and after quickly looking around to make sure she was alone, she released the Henge. Praising herself lucky that Naruto once had taught her Kage Bunshin, she made a single clone and then used Henge again. Now she had a clone which looked like her, Haruno Sakura, and she herself looked like Naruto. So simple, yet brilliant. She could swear that Naruto wasn't able to compel such a simple strategic as she was performing.

"Now, fight me like you're the real me,"she demanded her clone, smiled slyly and began shouting: "I've found her!!"

As she spotted several Narutos appear she began fighting her own clone – not to the extent of destroying her, of course. That would be a suicidal move to her ridiculously simple plan.

"I've got you, Sakura-chan!" the real Naruto claimed triumphantly, revealing his true self as he appeared. Any other shinobi wouldn't be able to distinguish Naruto from his clones, but Sakura had managed to sense him most of the times.

Sakura, still disguised as Naruto, made ten Kage Bunshin herself, and they began attacking Naruto's. Now there were twenty-two Narutos and one Sakura. The fake Sakura disappeared in a puff of smoke as she was stabbed in the arm. The damage had been insignificantly small and nothing she couldn't easily heal. She knew that Naruto wouldn't cause her serious harm.

The real Naruto looked dumbstruck as he eyed the redoubled number of himself. Sakura threw a kunai at him, making a tiny but just accurately visible trail of blood on his left cheek. She was infallibly able to distinguish him from all the clones. Naruto himself didn't know who had thrown the kunai since they all looked like him and fought each other. The ones attacking him were easily killed off.

A few more clones disappeared, were neutralized to smoke.

He knew what Sakura had planned, and he knew it was working too well.

"Dammit, Sakura, you're always too sly," he growled, a challenging grin on his features. Now he just needed to find out who his own clones were, and who Sakura's were. And who Sakura was. In this riot it seemed impossible.

He spotted one clone disappear, but not into smoke. A clone wasn't able to teleportate…

His face turned into a triumphant smirk as he hastily blocked the attack from behind, undoubtedly the real Sakura. She still did not release the Henge.

"Nice try, Sakura-chan," he said, a well-known, amused look on his face. He easily recognized the smile gracing the lips of the distinguished kunoichi. It looked rather weird on him; that smile only fit Haruno Sakura, with her pink hair, pale skin and jade eyes that made the lush green of the forest surrounding them look bleak in comparison.

"I know where your bell is, Naruto," Sakura said, victory lingering to her now own, feminine voice. She saw no reason for disguising her voice now that Naruto had discovered her.

"Now that you have revealed yourself, please release the Henge so I can see your pretty face again. I miss it," he said, tease easily caught in his voice, "And how do you know I haven't hid my own bell another place after going to search for you?"

That possibility had passed her mind, but she had refused it, supposing that Naruto wouldn't think steps ahead. Her intuition about him did fail at times, though not often. This was one of the rare times, unless he was bluffing, which wasn't unexpected.

Uzumaki Naruto was, after all, the number one ninja of surprises.

Seeing no reason for maintaining her disguise, Sakura released the Henge Technique, her teeth slightly gritted and her brows scrunched.

He can be bluffing… After all, he is not incompetent as a ninja, merely sticking to simple ideas. But I doubt he had seen this coming.

Flick-flacking as Naruto lunged at her, she skidded to a halt around twenty meters away and smashed a chakra-filled fist to the earth, causing the ground to shatter and crumble underneath them. The remaining Kage Bunshin disappeared by the violent quake, and Sakura made ten new, looking like her true self of course, and motioned for them to attack Naruto.

After throwing a smoke bomb, Sakura joined her horde of clones and lunged for the blonde's leg while he was occupied by her clones. To her horror there was no bell in his left shoe, which made her eyes widen in realization.

Either he was telling the truth, or then this is-…

What apparently only had been a replacement of Naruto turned to a mere log, leaving a frown on Sakura's face. Spotting the explosion tags on it, she quickly leaped away and landed without range of the explosion, which soon lit up the area with a deafening bang.

She sheltered her eyes to prevent stray splinters accessing her most important sense. When the log was no longer existent, Sakura let her eyes trail over the area, searching.

Suddenly she was grabbed from behind, her arms wrung painfully to her back as a set of lips moved to her ear.

"You are underestimating me, Sakura-chan. Did you forget that smoke bombs are the perfect medium to use when you do Kawarimi?" Naruto's voice, somewhat calm but still playful, triumphant as always. She gave a hiss as she felt her arms slowly being put out of joint, and a clone of Naruto appeared in front of her, began rummaging, searching her body for her bell.

Knowing that everything a Kage Bunshin discovered and learned would return to its owner when it was defeat, Sakura gave a slight growl. When Naruto's clone would disappear, Naruto would actually remember Sakura's body and figure since he literally had touched it himself.

Oh, he was on thin ice, and she doubted he knew it himself. She would have her revenge.

With a sly smirk Sakura rammed her forehead into the fake Naruto's, and he disappeared. Maybe too roughly, she then forced her heels to Naruto's shins, receiving a growl of discomfort as she was released.

"Touché, Naruto," she grinned teasingly, took advantage of his moment of pain and disappeared into the forest.

She needed to come up with a plan that would actually work. She needed to get Naruto's bell before he got hers. She needed to do something she normally wouldn't do; after a tight friendship through several years they had come to know one another's way of fighting. It was useful when working together on ANBU missions, but when sparring with each other, as they did now, it was both an advantage and a disadvantage. She could predict most of his attacks and knew both how to strengthen and weaken them, and he did the same with her way of fighting. They sparred to force each other to provoke out unusual plans, learning how serious it was to be able to change your way of fighting if you fought someone who knew you enough to predict and counter your every move and attack.

Normal shinobi would have though Naruto and Sakura was sparring for fun, and yes, it was fun, they couldn't deny it, but this was actually ANBU training. They had recently passed the ANBU exam and joined, and they were contemporary on the same team with two others they didn't really know. Their team had only been on a few missions, since most teams were going to be renovated. Until Tsunade had designed perfect teams, the ANBU members were loosely thrown into teams as they passed the exam. It was only a matter of days, maybe weeks, before the teams would be changed finally until Tsunade saw them as perfect.

That Sakura couldn't be on team with her best friend was a sad realization she had to accept. Of course, there were both pros and cons about being in team with your best friend. She would be able to rescue Naruto if he was hurt, but if he was killed Sakura would be mentally damaged and might be too shocked and unable to fight. She knew that Tsunade knew that too, and Sakura had a feeling that she was not going to be teammates with Naruto after the renovation.

A sad thought, but she knew Naruto would become stronger when he had no one to protect him which Sakura usually had gotten a habit of doing.

For now they would just have to enjoy their sparring together, which brought Sakura back to what she currently was doing.

Oh yeah, thinking…

Changing your style of thinking and fighting was actually quite complicated. Sakura was usually thinking everything thoroughly and Naruto usually followed the line of least resistance. It was actually both admiring and frightening that he could think so simple during fights. No complicated plans, no time to study his opponent's style of fighting, strengths or weaknesses. Also, he had the tendency to use Kage Bunshin in every fight. True, it was a very handy little jutsu, but he was so easy to read after doing the same over and over again. He was simpleminded, and Sakura's job was to change that.

Sakura, on the other hand, used too much time thinking – precisely like she was doing now – and Naruto always expected her to have some kind of insane plan hidden in her sleeve among back-up plans if her main plain was cut in failure. Naruto's job was to make her think lesser, which she had tried when acting like his clone just a while ago. And that had almost worked. If Naruto hadn't actually been thinking ahead she would have won their match. Their training seemingly did have the right effect on them.

The question was then: Did Naruto expect her to only use simple plans, or did he think that she couldn't let go of her devious plans and attack like she normally would?

Or did he expect her to attack simply because he knew that she knew that he thought she couldn't let go of her normal fighting style? Or did he expect her to attack normally because he knew that she knew that he knew tha-

Okay, stop right there, Sakura! You're over-thinking again, and you're confusing yourself!

The last couple of days they had been sparring she had attacked normally, letting simple plans into her whole big plan. Almost every time Naruto had been close to fall for that trick, but he gradually seemed to see it come. He knew that she used simple plans which actually were though thoroughly; attack carelessly, concept strong and always prepared for failures.

That was completely opposite of what Naruto was doing. And he knew how she was fighting now. She had to change it once more, giving him the final surprise and win. Then she could find another style tomorrow.

Today she knew he was quite aware of her way of trying to confuse him. What she yet hadn't tried was setting up traps. She didn't really know many, but she could try – she would rarely try anything she knew she wasn't good at. Maybe Naruto knew that was a change and therefore a surprise attack, and maybe he hadn't shed one single though about it.

She decided to try. If she failed, she would make up for it tomorrow when they would have their next bell test. For now it was three points to Sakura and two points to Naruto. Sakura had been the first one adjusting herself to her opponent's way of fighting, since it was quite difficult forcing Naruto to think a bit more than usual.

The thought was actually quite funny, but despite his simpleminded fighting style he was actually a strong shinobi. Some of the honor was thanks to his ability to surprise his opponent, which Sakura had lost to now twice. And true, his Kage Bunshin had been involved in both…

Maybe he was actually a genius when it came to handling Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Admirable, Sakura must admit, but nonetheless useless in some circumstances. Of what she knew, Naruto had yet not been in any situation where his Kage Bunshin technique hadn't been useful.

Yet…

Sakura promised herself that she would find a way to prove that wrong. After all, her job was to make him think differently, forcing him to come up with new strategies. If he was unable to use Kage Bunshin he had to trash his normal style of fighting and try something new. She would think about a way to do so for tomorrow, for now she had to focus on this spar.

Okay, traps… I will be using traps. Let me see, what will be suitable?

Thinking of how easily Naruto had stepped into Kakashi's trap eight years ago, she smiled as her thoughts already began forming several ideas of how to surprise the blonde. In the original Bell Test Kakashi had 'dropped' his bell on the ground inside a noose. She knew that Naruto wouldn't fall for that again, since he obviously had been aware to not do such a stupid move again. She was sure that he knew that she had considered it, knowing that she would find it hilarious if he actually fell for that again.

And yet, maybe he was sure Sakura wouldn't make such a simple trap because he knew that she knew he wouldn't fall for it, so that he actually found it completely unexpected. If that was the case, Sakura could take advantage of it and also get a good laugh if he actually fell for it.

But she was sure that she would underestimate him that way – it would be her failure like two times before. After all, she should keep reminding herself that the boy had made an ANBU; he was not weak and not to be underestimated, no matter how dumb he could seem now and then. That was the mistake his opponents had made, and they had paid dearly.

She should neither underestimate nor overestimate him. Overestimating him was merely a waste of effort.

Now, where is he and what is he planning?

…

And what am I going to do as a counterattack?

Sakura rummaged her thoughts, trying to find something that would work out perfectly for Naruto's level of thinking.

Noticing the darkness slowly creeping onto the sky, she smirked somewhat wickedly, a well-known sly glint in her emerald eyes. She would definitely use the darkness to her advantage

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"The looser gives supper!"

Naruto remembered these words clearly. He was, after all, the one exclaiming them eagerly before he and Sakura had begun their spar in the morning. He too had noticed the setting sun and knew they had been sparring for around twelve hours, only a few breaks when they needed food and water.

He also knew very well that his best female friend soon would be fatigued while he still had some stamina left; a lovely advantage from the Kyuubi.

He would run her exhausted and give the final blow when she was too tired to keep up with his speed. Surprising himself with the quite new and more tactical way of thinking, he grinned as he sat on the tree branch, rubbing his sore shins lightly as he still could feel her heels on them. He guessed he had deserved it after what his Kage Bunshin had done to her – not that he hadn't been aware of it in the beginning.

… Actually, he couldn't remember if he ever had touched his rosette-haired friend like that before. After the way she had responded he guessed that was not the case.

Next time she'll definitely castrate me.

The though sent another grin to his face, well knowing that she really wouldn't do that no matter what he did to her. She was damned violent and quite mad at times, but she loved Naruto too much to ever harm him seriously. He doubted she would even if they had to try killing each other in order to survive. And he doubted he would be able to kill her. The years had brought them closer than ever, and no one had ever been such a good friend to him as she had. Not even Sasuke who he had seen as a brother to him.

Sakura was special, someone precious to him.

And yet, she was going to have a going-under so violent that she would beg to pay his ramen every day for the next couple of weeks to gain his mercy.

Or, maybe not, but the thought sounded cool, Naruto mentally crooned with a dreamy smile.

The day purple, winged pigs invaded the sky she would pay for his meals – she had told him so. Naruto, of course, had tried to find a way of letting that happen. And Tonton and purple paint had been involved. That Naruto had been punished dearly was no surprise, not even to himself. If Naruto ever had walked on ice thinner than his every hair straw it must have been that day.

When he remembered it, Shizune's face had actually looked hilarious just before she had gone into a frenzy state. It was a shame that he hadn't taken a picture.

Catching his mind very much off topic, he shook his head lightly and tried once again to dish up a plan. He knew that Sakura knew that he knew that she was close to exhaustion, and that he would take advantage of that. He just had to do it quickly because Sakura would carry out her plan before she went into a weak state. But if he managed to avoid her attacks until fatigue took over her he had already won. Or so he was sure.

If he won he would gladly eat to his heart's content at Sakura's expense. And he knew that she knew that too. And luckily for him, if Sakura won he would only have to pay for one bowl more than usual, since Sakura rarely ate more than one portion. To him it was almost a win-win situation.

The thought of free ramen made a smile grace his lips.

Forming some hand seals, he let thirty Kage Bunshin come to life.

Sakura would be surprised – and poor – when she found out that he actually had thought several steps ahead this time.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

With a contended sigh, Sakura stretched her arms agilely and eyed her work which much to her pleasure wasn't visible.

Perfect. This should do it for now.

She had build fifteen traps around the area. Each consisted of chakra sensing exploding tags placed on four near trees, forming a square. When somebody entered the square the tags would ignite and explode; if a clone entered it would be defeated immediately, but if it was Naruto the explosions would merely bruise him here and there, nothing dangerous. Sakura's chakra bond around the square would then react when he stepped outside again, and she would feel it immediately. The blonde would most likely get a clue on what she had made once he stepped into a trap, but he would not be able to feel the small amount of Sakura's chakra that would linger to him when he leaved.

That way Sakura could distinguish Naruto from his clones, which she knew he would make. Then she would follow him, letting groups Kage Bunshin attack him now and then when he least expected it. Then, as final, she would join a group of her Kage Bunshin and attack him, knowing that he would think that she was a mere clone too.

It was more or less the same style of attacking she had used when fighting Zaku in the Forest of Death during the Chuunin Exam several years ago.

While she would be waiting for her turn to attack she would put a very strong chakra bond around the area Naruto was in, so that he wasn't able to escape immediately unless Sakura was defeated. She naturally knew that after all this her energy and chakra amount would be very low, and she knew that Naruto still would have enough stamina to beat her. It was merely a matter of seconds she had to knock him off feet when she finally attacked him herself; after a few seconds he would know that this was the true Sakura and then he would fight until triumph.

If she was fast enough and if luck was on her side today, she would return home with money in her wallet. If not, she would have to request more missions outside ANBU until she would have money enough to pay her rent.

Sakura quickly made sure her chakra was masked, and hid in a tree out of range of the air pressure from the exploding tags, as she felt Naruto's chakra – or rather, one of his clones' chakra. No kind of Bunshin was able to mask their chakra, which Sakura had taken advantage of several times during her ANBU training with Naruto. This was naturally also a disadvantage to her, and therefore she usually didn't use it.

The same second she felt someone pass her chakra bond she heard the explosion. No one left the trap afterwards. In the next second two other explosions went off, scaring nearby birds which took off and crossed the sky rapidly, chirping loudly in awareness. Still no trespassers.

As furthermore five traps had been activated and no one had escaped the squares, Sakura gave a sigh. Was he going to assault the area with clones?

Another trap went off with same result. Sakura narrowed her eyes in aggravation. Then another trap was entered and exploded, and as Sakura was about to sigh again she felt something.

Ohoho, there you are, Naruto…

She felt Naruto rush into hide, apparently seeking solace from the sudden explosion. A second Sakura wondered if he even had noticed the other trap explosions since he literally had went into one, careless as if nothing had happened. A second it struck her that he could have planned this, knowing she would never hurt him severely. Maybe she was underestimating him and he knew it.

Seeing no reason for letting go of her plan she followed her teammate, finding him in the middle of a small clearing where he was looking rapidly around as if not quite getting what was happening here.

Perfect…

Sakura sent her first group of Kage Bunshin, then immediately began sealing the clearing with chakra as her clones lunged at her friend. When Naruto nearly had defeated the clones, Sakura sent more and continued sealing the area. Everything went as planned.

Seeing him wipe off her clones one after another, she sent her third group of Kage Bunshin. She was done sealing the clearing. Now she only had to wait for Naruto to finish these clones off. When only two clones were left, Sakura made five new and joined them as they lunged for her friend.

What she hadn't seen was the small grin on his face.

In a moment that to Sakura seemed to freeze she spotted that grin, but it was too late – a realization she had to accept as she saw him turn to her, ignoring her other clones, and then jabbing a foot into her stomach, forcing the air out of her lungs before she crushed forcefully into a tree. Collapsing, Sakura growled out her displeasure and could only watch as Naruto killed her clones.

He then finally turned to her, a smile that promised his triumph on his sly expression. Sakura could already feel her valet lighten as she was pinned to the ground, face and front downward with her arms wrung to her shoulder blades and a knee in the small of her back. She was literally eating dust.

"Gotcha, Sakura-chan!" the blonde exclaimed cockily, "Now, where's the bell?"

Sputtering out the dirt, Sakura hissed in defiance. The only thing she gained by that was more weight upon her back.

"Okay, okay, I admit defeat!" she muttered irritably, "But only if you tell me how you knew it was me." Naruto gave a low, masculine chuckle.

"You're not the only one here able to leave your chakra upon enemies to track them, ya' know," he told her, his voice proud, "You were underestimating me once again. As punishment I gain my third point plus I will eat you to poverty."

Sakura sighed despairingly, biting her bottom lip. This was what she had feared all along. But luckily their training helped her friend. In her case it could be discussed.

"It's tied to the knot of my hitai-ate…"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

As Naruto's fourth bowl of ramen was pushed aside, he sighed in satiety as Sakura sighed in discomfort for the upcoming bill. It was truly a mystery to her how Naruto could eat so much – he was thin and not particularly muscular. Where did the food end?

Sakura glared at him, a brow raised sulkily. Her friend stood up, stretched his arms wearily with a prolonged yawn and grinned at her. When she had paid, risen to feet and left Ichiraku she received a curt, strong pat on her shoulder and she was about to stumble forward, fatigue immobilizing her body slightly.

"Thanks for dinner, Saku-chan," he said, an undertone of provocation, satisfaction and amicability to his cheery voice. The rosy-haired kunoichi couldn't restrain a smile. No matter how much her friend could prove her wrong and spend her money on food she could never really hate him, barely be annoyed with him. She loved him too much to let her aggravation affect him. That it would never change was a thing she had sworn to herself. And she didn't want their friendship to end. Never.

"You're welcome," she muttered as a respond and swung an arm around his slightly broad shoulders, leaning her head against his bicep with a tired sigh. He pulled her closer, noticing her legs gradually failing under her.

"You want me to follow you home?" he asked softly, his voice suddenly worn out too. Over twelve hours. It had drained him too, but not to the extent as nearly collapsing like his female friend beside him.

"Only if you don't mind."

"If I did I wouldn't have asked. And besides, regard it as a gesture of appreciation for your lovely presence." His words were somewhat teasing, albeit genuine. She gave him a faint smile as they began walking toward her apartment complex.

"Thanks."

"So, what are you gonna do tomorrow?" he asked, changing topic.

"Train with you, of course. It's not like ANBU have particularly much spare time, you know…"

"From tomorrow we're dismissed since Baa-san is going to renovate teams. She has said we probably won't be working in ANBU for a week or so."

Sakura's eyes widened. How could she forget that? She supposed all the training had made her somewhat mentally absent lately.

"Oh… Well, then I guess I'll take the opportunity to get some medic missions and earn some cash to make up for your gluttony," she answered, nudging him softly with a giggle, "You?"

"Having a date with Hinata-chan," he answered as a slight blush crept onto his quite dirty cheeks.

"Ah, I see," Sakura said, winking, "How is it going with the two of you?" Though Sakura knew that Naruto wasn't the type who bragged about his private life, she still knew that he trusted her and wanted her to know what happened between her best friend and one of her nearest female friends.

"Y-you see…" Naruto began as his face got a deeper shade of red. Those words were enough for Sakura to giggle again and squeeze her friend slightly, knowing that something had been going on between him and Hinata recently. Even though it was summer it felt like the sweet spring atmosphere still hung in the air.