Sakura and Naruto were now standing on opposite ends of Naruto's 'stadium'. The two of them had been exchanged blows. Naruto was easily able to land a good few; Sakura didn't have as much luck. Since Naruto had created his arena made from doton, Sakura and he had been mainly using taijutsu, Sakura using kenjutsu also. Actually, to speak more truthfully, Sakura has not found a way yet for her to use suiton and Naruto would just counter any raiton techniques, so she avoided ninjutsu so that she wouldn't squander any chakra. Naruto was only using taijutsu so he could counter Sakura. All he did was counter Sakura's attacks. He never initiated an attack on his own. He was only toying with her.

Sakura was contemplating how to gain the upper hand because at this point, Naruto had a complete advantage. Then it suddenly hit her. It was so obvious that Sakura would of face-palmed herself if she wasn't currently in the middle of a fight. The one thing Naruto could never really grasp was genjutsu. Although, Sakura has not been in any contact with Naruto after he left the village three years ago. She couldn't be entirely sure that his genjutsu abilities have improved. But in her current situation, it was the only thing she could do to try to give her the advantage.

Sakura charged her opponent and former teammate, raiton charged through her blades. She served a volley of swings at Naruto, and he dodged them all. For a brief moment, after her combo, Sakura was temporarily open. Naruto took this chance and threw a few kunai toward her. The kunai hit their mark as they hit Sakura's upper body. On the moment of impact, Sakura's body disappeared. What Naruto hit was a genjutsu clone. Naruto paused to look around. There was no sign of Sakura. Then, something caught his attention. A single pink petal floated down in front of him.

"A sakura petal?" Then before he knew it, Naruto was surrounded by hundreds of sakura petals. They were blowing in a vortex around, trying to trap him in. "Well, Sakura, I got to say that this genjutsu sure is pretty to look at, but…" Naruto pivoted around, landing a solid punch right in Sakura's abdomen. The force of the assault sent her flying right into the wall, causing a portion of the earth to break off.

"Nice try, Sakura. You guessed right in using genjutsu. Honestly, I still don't really have a knack for it. However, instead of improving my ability in genjutsu these past few years, I just focused gaining complete control over the Kyuubi. You see, if a Jinchuuriki was control over his or her Bijuu, then while the Jinchuuriki is hit with the genjutsu, their Bijuu can break it for them. That is exactly what I did just now."

While Naruto was informing her of how he broke her genjutsu, Sakura had lodged one of her blades into the wall in order to give her proper footing. The area was still very coarse with jagged spikes all around them, serving as the floor. Sakura began forming a complex series of hand signs. If genjutsu wouldn't work, she had a back up plan. The earth that was used for Naruto's jutsu was originally resting as the lakebed. It was filled with moisture. Using precise chakra control, Sakura believed she would able to use that moisture for an attack.

"Suiton: Gyousan Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" Twelve streams of water shot out from the earth. They began to form into the shapes of dragons. One after the other, they struck at Naruto. Naruto evaded them all, however each dragon would only curve around as they missed and continued their assault. This dance continued until Naruto found himself in the air surrounded by twelve water dragons.

"Suirou no Jutsu!" All twelve water dragons began to rapidly circle around Naruto. They closed up the distance between themselves until they formed a solid orb of rushing current. Since Sakura had exceptional chakra control, she could hold the jutsu just fine from a distance. She was going to hold it until Naruto called uncle, or drowned. This didn't work out as Sakura planned. She saw the look on Naruto's face and wasn't one of agony. He was smiling, and not the happy, goofy one Sakura was used to. It was more serious. He was looking around the orb of water, admiring it. That's what Sakura read from his expression. There was something else as well. She got the feeling that Naruto was about to do something. Naruto curled up as if he was about to guard from an attack. Then he exploded; his arms and legs stretched out as a thunderous, demonic roar came from his throat. The water prison broke apart as galleons of water shot out in every direction. Sakura lodged her other blade into the earth and grabbed on to both so that the force of the water would not carry her away. Naruto landed on another spike and then leaped off of it to land on the wall on the opposite side of Sakura.

"That was wonderful, Sakura. There is nothing less I would expect from you, but I hope that isn't the best you can do. If it is, then you won't be able to perform the role I've prepared for you very well."

Sakura was taken aback by this a little. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Nothing that concerns you as of now. But don't fret; you'll know when you need to. Now, about our fighting area. It's a little tedious to try and constantly balance on those jagged spikes isn't it?"

"That's why I'm over here standing on my blade. Besides, this area was created from your jutsu in the first place." Sakura said. Sakura knew Naruto was being an idiot, but know she couldn't decide if it was on purpose or if he was a genuine moron.

"You're absolutely right. Now let me fix it."

"Doton: Doriyuuheki!" Naruto rammed his palms on the ground and as he did a wall of earth shot out from his feet. Since Naruto was standing on a wall, his new wall shot across the area until it met the wall in the other side. There was now a circular and flat floor to support the two of them. The two of them stepped off their respective walls and prepared to continue the fight.

"That last jutsu of yours takes very careful chakra control and quite a considerable amount of chakra. You've never been well known for the volume of chakra you possessed. I hope that you haven't exhausted yourself yet, this wouldn't be very enjoyable if you have."

"You shouldn't look down on me so much. I've grown a lot stronger since you left. I have become a Jounin of Konoha so that I would have the strength to track down Sasuke and drag him back, and now I will use the strength I've gained to bring you back as well."

"Oh, trust me, I already know about all that." Naruto scoffed off her comment.

"What?"

"Well let's see here. Like me, you achieved the rank of Chuunin on your first attempt. Then after about a year and completing a considerable amount of missions with amazing efficiency you became a Jounin. You have also gained enough strength and jutsu to be able to rival Kakashi-sensei. Actually, I would think that the two of you might be equals at this point."

Sakura was dumbfounded. "Have you been spying on me?"

"Of course not. I have others to do that for me."

"Bastard!" Sakura charged him again, only to have her attack fail. She tried to stab him with the blade in her right hand, but Naruto pivoted so that his right side was facing her. Naruto then hit Sakura across the face with the side of his fist, knocking her to the ground.

"You shouldn't flaunt your power around so much. Spouting out nonsense like rank and the like, even going as far as to say that you have the abilities to overcome me." Naruto was now looming over Sakura, a cold and arrogant smile ran across his face. "I will tell you this now, Sakura; things like rank mean absolutely nothing to me. No matter what your rank is, no matter how powerful you claim to be, you will always be below me. There is no one within Konoha who possesses the strength to oppose me, not even the Hokage. If you wish to continue, then I will show you how great the difference is between us."

Sakura took another desperate swing toward Naruto. He leaped backward and created a fair amount of distance between them.

"I guess, there is no point in trying to convince you to back down, is there, Sakura?"

"Of course there isn't! I'm going to defeat you right here and now, then I'll drag both you and Sasuke back!"

Naruto chuckled to himself. "Again with such meaningless boasting." Naruto sighed heavily. "All right, if you wish to continue fighting then I have no choice but to comply. I hope you're ready, Sakura, because I will not hold back."

Naruto clapped his hands together, and then slowly began to pull them apart. As he did this, a thin vortex of wind began to spin vertically within the space between his hands. Naruto then ripped the vortex in two. Naruto's arms were now stretched out with a vortex centered at both his palms. As the vortexes began to slow down, Sakura noticed there was a physical form to them. There were four small blades focused on each of Naruto's palms. There was nothing keeping them together, nor was Naruto holding on to them. The blades were simply floating only a few inches from his palms. The blades themselves were sharp all around them, there were no blunt sides. They were round and wide at the center. As they moved up toward their point, the blades curved. The shape that the four blades formed together at each of Naruto's hands reminded Sakura of shuriken.

"You look a little surprised, Sakura." Naruto said as he lowered his arms, the blades staying centered at his palms. "To answer the question that most likely came to your mind first, yes they are shuriken. Although, there is obviously nothing holding them together, well nothing that you can see anyway. It is my own chakra that allows these eight blades to form into two large shuriken and to keep them centered at my hands." Naruto raised up his hands so Sakura could see his palms. On both of them had the kanji for steel written. "Seeing as you have no sheath for your sword, I assume you use a scroll that has a similar seal on it to hold your weapon. Well I happen to find it much more convenient to have the seal on my hands so that I can bring them out at any time without delay."

"Well, I have to say that they are very impressive, but I wouldn't exactly call them shuriken. I mean, the way that they are formed, there is just no way you would be able to throw…" Sakura was interrupted as Naruto did just that, he threw the shuriken in his right. Sakura deflected it, believing that it the four blades would become separate and fall. However, when the shuriken bounced back off of Sakura's blade it spun right back at Naruto and he caught it.

"I told you Sakura, it is my chakra that holds these weapons together. The blades are filled with my chakra and they know exactly who their master is." Naruto bragged

Sakura gritted her teeth. She slammed both her blades into the ground. Visible ration began to charge throughout her body. Sakura leaned back and then shot her right arm forward, pointing at Naruto with her index and middle fingers

"Chidori Dangan!" A large pulse of ration shot out from Sakura's fingers, like a bullet shot from the barrel of a gun. Naruto put his left arm up to defend against the attack. The blades began to spin rapidly and began to grow farther apart as they spin faster. They kept increasing their distance between each other until their circumference completely surrounded Naruto. Then a large circular wall of chakra formed in the gap created by the blades. Sakura's jutsu collided with Naruto's chakra shield and was immediately halted. After the jutsu was successfully blocked, the blades reverted back to the shape of a shuriken.

"A neat trick wouldn't you agree?" Naruto said with a smirk.

Sakura didn't answer him as she ripped her blades from the ground and charged him. The two of them began a dance of metal. Sounds of steel clashing against one another began to fill the area. They both swung fast and deflected with amazing reflexes. Neither combatant let their guard down for an instant. Sakura didn't bother with charging her blades with ration as it would be a waste of chakra since Naruto would just counter by flowing fuuton through his shuriken. Eventually, Sakura was able to get through Naruto's guard just briefly. She tried to hit him with an upward kick to the chin, but Naruto back flipped up onto the wall of the arena. At this point Sakura could not contain her anger anymore.

"What the hell happened to you? I don't understand any of this! You've left behind everything, and everyone, and for what? For power?"

Naruto just smiled and shook his head. "No, Sakura. I motives are not as simple. In the current situation, you could not possible comprehend my intentions."

"That still doesn't explain why you left! You finally had been able to gain the respect and love from the village that you worked so hard for. I can't understand why you threw that all away."

"Sakura, I don't expect you to understand. Honestly, I could care less about how you or the rest of the village views me. It won't really affect my plans in any way. Now, let's stop this unnecessary talk and continue." Naruto was instantly in front of Sakura, not giving her enough time to put up her guard.

"Rasengan!" Naruto initiated one of his signature moves. The blades attached to his right hand spun and opened up a small distance between them as the orb of rotating chakra formed in Naruto's palm. His jutsu collided with Sakura. However, just as Naruto's jutsu hit its target, Sakura's body began to blur. Chirping sounds began to come from the dissipating body as it turned into a large mass of ration. Naruto's muscles contracted as ration steamed throughout his body. The real Sakura came from above him, ready to strike, and Naruto couldn't move as he was paralyzed in place. Sakura cut him down in an x-shaped slash. Naruto's body was cut into four different pieces, but those four pieces immediately turned into dirt even before they hit the ground. A good distance away, Sakura could see the real Naruto slowly break through the floor and crawl out of the ground. When his entire body was out of the ground Naruto immediately summoned his shuriken as he resealed them when he hid in the floor.

"A ration bunshin, that's a pretty advanced jutsu, Sakura. I most likely right when I assume Kakashi-sensei taught you that one. I told you that you shouldn't flaunt your strength around, but I truly believe you are now one of the strongest shinobi in Konoha. You're strong, Sakura, and you're only going to get stronger from here. I really wish that I could test you even further, but I believe that what I've seen today is enough. It is about time I finished this."

Naruto rose up his left hand, and the shuriken attached to it, almost like he was showing it off. "I'm sure you noticed that on a couple of occasions how these would begin to spin and separate, at least I hope you did. You wouldn't be a very good shinobi if you didn't take note of it. Anyway, as I said before, these blades are held together by my chakra. So by simply manipulating the chakra used to hold them together I can make spin and separate as I please. And if I pour more chakra into them, then I can increase their velocity and distance at will. However, I only do this using my own chakra. If I did it with the Kyuubi's, it would be a simple thing to lose control. I have already measured the maximum speed and distance I can create with these blades with my own chakra. The maximum distance I can reach is one hundred meters and…"

Naruto instantly stretched out his left arm so the attack wouldn't hit him. As soon as he did this, Sakura felt a sting going up her upper body. She looked down and found a large gash going up from her left side to her right shoulder. The blades had moved so fast that Sakura's body did not react fast enough to even feel the pain. Then it did hit her, all at once, and Sakura collapsed to her knees, blood gushing out of her wound. Then half the stadium of earth fell apart as the blades had cut right through them. Sakura could now see outside and the view allowed her to see the coast of the lake. Sasuke was already gone.

"The maximum speed is one hundred and fifty meters per second." Naruto gloated, seeing Sakura on her knees staring at the ground. Then he noticed a green aura was covering her wound, which had already stopped bleeding. Sakura's precise chakra control was nothing less than amazing. To be able to heal a wound like that in her condition, most medical-nin weren't even capable of that. Sakura slowly rose from the ground, using the blade in her left hand as leverage.

"You told me that your motives weren't simple, I would have to trust you on that." Sakura as she met Naruto's arrogant eyes.

"Yes, what of it."

"I can't disagree in that aspect, and can't even guess what you are planning. However, I can give a pretty good guess as to why you left Konoha in the first place, even if it isn't the only reason, which I'm sure it isn't."

Naruto's attitude changed drastically to one of anger and pain. "Don't you…"

"You weren't the only one who didn't come back from the Sasuke Retrieval mission, right?" Sakura continued, not letting Naruto get a sentence in. "Do you feel like it was your fault? Do you feel guilt?"

"Sakura, you shouldn't talk of things you don't understand, you'll be crossing the line soon."

"I wonder what that person would think seeing you know. Would that person feel disappointed? I wonder if that person would even go as far as to hate you."

"Sakura, I won't tell you again, you shouldn't talk of things you don't understand!" Naruto had now become completely infuriated.

"And you shouldn't allow yourself to become so flustered!" Sakura threw the blade in her right hand. The next thing Naruto knew, he was pinned against the wall. The blade had gone right through him and nailed him to the wall. Naruto looked down at the blade in shock, but that was over quickly. A smile crept along his face and he began to laugh. As he did this, Sakura noticed that Naruto's body had slowly begun to crumble away as it was only a doton bunshin. Naruto calmed down and had begun to talk.

"Well done, very well done. Your power is nothing less than my expectations, but they aren't above them either. However, that isn't a problem at the moment. I really hope you continue to grow. Don't disappoint." And with that, the doton bunshin disappeared.

"Damn it." Sakura then ran out of chakra and fainted from exhaustion.

Juugo awoke with a major headache. The last thing he remembered was that blonde kunoichi using that astral projection thing on him. He noticed that he was on land and was resting against a tree, and he had no idea how he got there. He looked over and saw that Suigetsu and Karin were talking about something, he couldn't quite hear. Karin stopped as she noticed Juugo was awake, and Suigetsu looked back to see.

"Well if it isn't Sleeping Beauty." Suigetsu teased.

"What happened? How'd we get here?"

"How the hell should we know? Some little girl just did some hocus pocus and then we were here. I don't even know were here is." Suigetsu answered him.

"Little girl?"

"You'll see her soon. She said she went to get Sasuke." Karin answered Juugo this time. Then Sasuke instantly appeared next to them, along with the girl that Suigetsu and Karin mentioned. The girl looked between twelve and thirteen years of age. She had dark blue hair cut hime-style and lavender eyes. She wore a pink kimono with a violet and white floral design along the bottom. On her feet were shinobi socks and straw sandals.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Sasuke asked addressing the girl.

"Well, Naruto-kun told me to get you for out if you ran into trouble."

"You know that isn't what I meant. You shouldn't even be here period."

The three other members of Taka were confused as to what Sasuke was talking about and a little surprised with how spoke with such familiarity with the girl.

"Sasuke, who is this girl?" Karin asked.

Sasuke glanced over at Karin. He then let out a sigh as his eye drifted to the bottom left, signalizing that he was remembering a past event.

"Her name is Hyuuga Hinata, and she died three years ago."