Inner: HEY EVERYBODY!!!!! In case you haven't noticed…I'M THE INNER (and yes, we're actually two different "brains")

I keep your favorite author (RomanceisMyDoom duh.)'s writing sane and understandable – her grammar kinda goes down the drain if she's typing while on a sugar high…

"Kyo-chan! I can sense him," Naruto informed the pink-haired nin.

"Hai, Naruto. Fall back, I'll finish this. And Sasuke, stay back, it's my orders," Sakura stated.

"Whatever," replied Sasuke with equal coldness.

"That mother. Thinking she can protect her children? Ha. They're all weak!" cackled Choko.

Sakura concealed her chakra and did her hand seals in an amazing speed. She disappeared and set a genjustu; after all, she was a genjustu master.

Dizzying cherry blossoms floated delicately around them.

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"What th-" Almost immediately, Choko had trapped in the enchanting sparkle of pink flowers.

The delicate petals swirled dizzyingly, calling out in flashes of rosette colors. All of them looked as delicate as glass, but at the same time, unbreakable.

Choko walked forward, not realizing he was moving. The only thing registering in his mind was the soft petals that floated around him, asking him to dance. Every time he got close to them, they flitted back a little, leading him on. Choko continued in his trance, unable to stop.

Just as he neared the edge, everything disappeared.

Choko looked around, confused, "huh? What happened?"

Then he noticed warm liquid running down his leg, and recognized the acute pain all across his body.

He looked down, "What the f--?!?!"

Millions of bruises and cuts decorated every patch of his skin. But the pain that was now washing over him came instead from a broken arm, some broken ribs, and a few deep gashes across his abdomen. The amount of blood flowing was making himself nauseous.

"It hurts doesn't it?" asked Sakura nonchalantly, perched on a nearby branch, still in perfect condition.

"You bitch," gurgled Choko as he spat out more blood.

"Hn. You're really weak, you know that? You didn't even realize you were in a genjutsu. I can't believe how annoying someone so stupid can be." sighed Sakura. (I/N: now doesn't that seem familiar…?)

Choko's eyes widened. Behind the trees, Sasuke felt just a little uncomfortable.

"Wh-What? While I was in the trance, you attacked me? That's not possible! I didn't feel anything!" He was gaping like a goldfish.

"Pfft. You wouldn't notice if the world blew up around you, even if you caused it. But then again, you're to weak to cause that kind of damage." Emerald eyes, just as cold and hard as the stone, flooded with annoyance as their owner jumped to the ground.

In a moment, Sakura was in front of him. Another second, and what was once Choko was now a bloody corpse on the ground.

"We're done here. Let's go," Sakura directed her teammates as she turned towards the direction of Konoha.

What the hell? Sasuke's brain was on overdrive, to put it lightly. He was having tremendous difficulty appreciating the idea that Sakura was probably on par with, if not better than, him. To make matters worse, his "Uchiha pride" was not taking the fact that she used to be a weak girl easily. There's no way a mere little girl like her could beat me.

"Hey teme! You coming?" Naruto turned to look back at said shinobi, and Sakura paused, a little farther up ahead.

Sasuke just stood there. Then he looked up, eyes locking with Sakura's, his Sharingan already bleeding in, changing coal black orbs into cold crimson depths.

"Fight me. Here. Now."

Sakura's laugh was more bone chilling than imaginable.

"I'm honored."

Naruto looked between his two teammates, his two friends, unsure and confused.

Sakura's voice dripped with a hidden malice.

"Am I worthy of your attention now, Uchiha? Me, the little weakling who always got in the way?" She laughed. "But I haven't been just loitering away my days, Sasuke. After you left to join that gay snake pedo, Orochimaru, I started studying with Tsunade. And I've improved a lot.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, clearly conveying his thoughts: It doesn't matter how much you've improved, you still won't be able to beat me.

"Do you seriously think so?" Though anger dripped from every word she said, Sakura looked to all the world as composed as the Uchiha himself . . .

Or, more accurately, she was as composed as he was supposed to be.

At the moment, Sasuke couldn't be considered calm at all.

He surged forward, ignoring whatever attempt Naruto was yelling out for him to stop. As his Sharingan swirled, the only thing he saw was her smirk, a mirror of his trademark own, mocking him, daring him to test the truth as her eyes glittered with a dark amusement.

He snapped.

Rationality lay forgotten as pure bloodlust roared through his mind. Kunai in hand, he attacked her fiercely, as an animalistic growl escaped his throat.

"You're going to regret saying that!"

Sakura easily the anger-based and uncoordinated attacks, unruffled by her opponent's yelling.

"That may be, but at least I never regret my actions." And though her face betrayed nothing, all of Sakura's resentment and pain hit Sasuke full on.

He hesitated, frozen at the meaning of her words.

That moment was all Sakura needed to send a chakra filled fist down, crumbling the ground beneath them.

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At this point, Naruto was getting worried.

He was considering jumping in and stopping the fight before somebody got seriously hurt. He knew both their abilities could be lethal and, in a battle for the top, they would hardly be holding back. However, he also knew that interfering could very possibly make things worse than they already were.

And he wasn't going to make this an all out war against each other when they used to be – and still were –

teammates.

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Sasuke jumped back, avoiding the damage Sakura's punch created.

And then, whatever Naruto had been planning to do, it was too late. In a few seconds, the fight was in full motion.

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Inner: HA! ANOTHER CLIFF! TAKE THAT!

RomanceisMyDoom: …. Don't mind her. ANYways … Read and Review everybody! That was a hard chapter to write, and it deserves to be appreciated.

Inner: And thanks to everybody who already does! WE LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!

RomanceisMyDoom: . . .

Inner: What? I'm allowed to be on sugar highs too, you know….

(everybody who noticed something weird…..sorry. Part of the next chapter was accidentally put in before it was uploaded. It has now been removed, and everything should make sense.)