This chapter is dedicated to Blurple121497, for not only giving me the best review I've ever received, but also pushing me to my 100th review. The story Hit List is dedicated to every person who has ever given me feedback or their opinion on this story. Thank you so very much, it means so, so, so much to me.

Much love,

Cap'n Jackelback.


Naruto could really go for some popcorn right now. Yeah. Some nice, buttery popcorn would go great with watching Sakura-chan kick that psycho red-heads ass…

Yeah.

"Yo, Kakashi..." Naruto muttered to his sensei who was watching their pink haired teammate pulling on her black gloves leisurely. Kakashi merely grunted. "I want popcorn…" The copy nin had to admit, popcorn would be nice, but he didn't want to miss this. Watching Sakura spar with anyone is beyond rare, she usually trained with the other medical ninjas with their complex Justus and what not. He would never miss an opportunity to watch his favourite student show off her skills.

"Get it yourself…" he hissed. Naruto grumbled…but quickly got over it.

"Oi teme…I want popcorn."

Sasuke momentarily turned away from the two girls who had both been his teammates at one stage. "So?" he asked incredulously.

"Get me some, bastard."

"Get it yourself, dumbass."

"Why won't you get it for me, you arroga-" Naruto paused halfway through his insult, earning a raised eyebrow from Sasuke. The blonds' eyes were wide, as if he had just realised something.

"Oho! I see how it is! You don't want to miss the catfight!"

Nothing Naruto says ever makes sense, but this made even less sense than all his other statements, so Sasuke had to ask, "What the hell are you on about dobe?"

The idiot nudged him in the ribs "Come on teme, you know what I'm talking about. The perfect catfight, two girls at each other's throats. Nails, fists, legs and clothes flying everywhere." He added another nudge and a suggestive eyebrow raise for good measure. "Though it would be great if it was some other girl instead of Karin…" Naruto mumbled to himself.

Naruto's hypothesis was responded to with a fist to the face, courtesy of the young Uchiha. As the idiot yelped, Sasuke sent him one of his trademarked UchihaGlares©

Idiot. That's not how it was. That's not how he was. He didn't want to miss the fight, but it definitely wasn't for the reasons the dobe mentioned. Everyone had been telling him how much Sakura had improved over the years and that she could even best the likes of Tsunade-sama. But he needed to see it for himself. Sure, he was willing to admit that Sakura had without a doubt grown, but he always thought that she had just stuck to her medical training.

Whilst Naruto nursed his newly sustained injury, Sasuke turned back to the two girls. Karin was clearly shooting sultry glances at him while performing her rather provocative stretches. Sakura on the other hand wasn't even facing him as she stretched down from her hips and placed her palms flat on the ground, and in the process giving Sasuke the just right view of her perfectly shaped as—

WOAH.

Where on earth did that come from? Damn hormones, the dobe had been threatening that they would make their existence known to Sasuke and when they did, he would end up jumping the closest thing with a pulse.

Like hell.

He'd suppressed his hormones when he was a teenager and he would bloody suppress them now. Though it would be a lot easier if Sakura would stop with her god forsaken stretches. Seriously, she should be plenty warmed up by now Sasuke thought… he certainly was…

Completely oblivious to Sasuke's inner turmoil, Sakura turned to face her opponent, "Alright, let's get this over with…" she gritted out.

Karin turned her attention away from her beloved Sasuke-kun, towards the pink haired menace. That stupid little bitch thought that she could take Karin down. Idiot.

Karin flicked her long hair over her shoulder then got in to her stance. Her opponent's eyes narrowed and mirrored her posture.

There was no way that Karin was going to let little pinky get the upper hand on her. She luged forward suddenly, kunai in hand. Sakura didn't even bat an eyelash when she simply side-stepped out of the way and sent Karin tumbling clumsily to the ground.

'Lucky move…let's see that bitch try this.'

She leapt forward and let out a succession of attacks, which the medic quickly dodged. "You might as well give up now." Karin hissed as she slashed her kunai at Sakura's face, "There's no way that a weakling like you will ever beat me."

Oh Karin. You have so much to learn. With air of disinterest, Sakura struck Karin's wrist, sending the kunai flying somewhere into the trees. The young medic landed a powerful blow to her opponents' rib cage, causing the girl to collapse, sprawled on the ground.

'That's not possible!' Karin shot a glance towards Sasuke-kun. His eyes were on Sakura, while Naruto and Suigetsu hopped around and cheered the medic on. 'He's looking at her…why is he looking at her?!' A strangled cry escaped her lips as she launched herself at the Haruno. 'There's no way she'll be able to dodge this!'

It turns out Sakura wasn't planning on dodging anyway. Her fists flickered green as she channelled chakra to them. Timing is everything. As the red head rapidly approached, Sakura prepared herself, and just at the right moment, when Karin was only a few inches away, the medic swung her right fist up into a powerful uppercut and made contact with the girls face sending her glasses in one direction and her in another.

'Enough defence! It's time for some offence!' Inner Sakura roared.

As Karin lay meters away, struggling to get back on her feet, the once weak pinkette aimed her powerful fist to the ground. As she made contact with the earth, the land shook and creators and cracks were left in the previously smooth soil.

Then, she launched herself at Karin and let out a powerful onslaught of attacks.


What the hell?

Sasuke steadied himself after Sakura's unexpected, earthquake causing attack. When…how…where did she learn to do that? Even the people in the village must have felt that.

"Are you surprised?"

"Huh?" Sasuke turned. It was Kakashi who had spoken.

"Are you surprised?" the grey-haired man repeated "Because you look surprised. Didn't really think that little Sakura could become so strong, did you?" Sasuke's former sensei let out a sigh and turned back to the sparring girls "You weren't the only one. When she first did that when I sparred with her, I was so surprised that I gave her the opening to take me down in three seconds flat. We had never paid much attention her, none of us gave her the time of day…but here she is, our strong kunoichi...she did it all by herself too, even after all three of us let her down…"

Sasuke knew what he was talking about. Even though Naruto's gaze was directed at the training ground, Sasuke knew that he was listening and agreeing with every word Kakashi was saying. Naruto had always been there for Sakura, supporting and sticking up for her when no one else would. He used fight her battles for her, and never gave her the chance to let her fight by herself. He had failed her. Once he was gone, she was able to grow.

Kakashi had been too absorbed with his boys becoming more powerful. It started off with Sasuke, the prodigal child with the mighty sharingan. When Sasuke left, Kakashi turned his attention to Naruto, and always overlooking weak little Sakura. And even when Naruto had left, and Sakura was patiently waiting for her sensei to acknowledge her, for it to be her time to be sensei's favourite…he over looked her, again. He had failed her. Once Sakura came to realise that her beloved sensei was never going to come around, she was able to grow.

Sasuke was the worst. In their genin days, he had constantly belittled her, putting her down even after how hard she was trying her hardest to be stronger, to be useful, despite the fact that she wasn't getting a single once of help from anyone. He tore up every single shred of confidence she had in herself. Then to top it all off, he left her and completely broke her to almost beyond repair. He had failed her the most. When he was gone, she was able to grow.

Without Naruto, Sakura was able to learn how to fight and fend for herself. Without Kakashi, Sakura was able teach herself to expand and develop without the help of others. Without Sasuke, Sakura was able to become confident in herself, and to realise that she really is a powerful warrior.

And even after everything, she still came back to them and treated them with the respect, care and love that they never showed her.

Sasuke stared at the young pinkette as she let out another relentless attack that Karin was having trouble avoiding. She hadn't picked up a single weapon yet, she just used her hands.

"Aa." was all Sasuke could say.


Sakura had been throwing her punches for almost three minutes whist Karin desperately tried to dodge and throw in some of her own attacks.

'Dammit! This is getting boring, let's get this thing over with already!' Inner Sakura grumbled.

'Time to end this.' Sakura paused with her attacks and jumped back a few meters away from Karin, allowing the red head time to breathe.

How dare she. How dare that stupid bitch try to make a fool of her, Karin seethed. She clutched her side where Sakura had landed a punch. As she hunched over and huffed, completely out of breath she glared at the pinked haired girl.

Karin grasped the handle of the kunai, this would be her final attack, she would show Sasuke-kun how much of a useless waste of space his so called "team mate" was. 'She is not better than me!' Karin lunged forward, anticipating Sakura's dodge.

But Sakura is never the one to do as expected. Karin's blade went straight into the pinkette's abdomen.

Time stopped for a brief second. Karin was startled as she watched the crimson blood flow from Sakura's wound. Suigetsu, Jugo and Sai all had varying degrees of shock etched on their features. The colour had completely drained from Naruto's usually bright face. Kakashi swallowed thickly and muttered, mostly to himself, "I wish she'd stop doing that".

The blood in Sasuke's veins ran cold. Why? Why the hell would she just stand there and let herself get hit. From what he had seen before, she could've easily dodged that attack.

Sakura didn't even blink when the kunai embedded itself in her stomach.

With a powerful knee to the chest, Sakura sent her challenger crashing into a tree. Within a second of the attack, Karin found the medic hovering over her, with the bloody kunai that had previously been embedded in the pink haired girls' abdomen, pressed dangerously against her neck.

Karin shook, how did she do that? She was just a lowly medic. There was no way that someone like her should be able beat Karin. The green eyed girl lowered her head so her lips were next to Karin's ear.

"Don't you ever underestimate me." Sakura hissed.

Just as suddenly as she had appeared over Karin, the medic disappeared. Karin watched the girls back as she strode over to her bag and her hands flickered with green chakra again. She plopped herself down on the ground and began to heal the wound on her abdomen that was still seeping blood, her red shirt was stained a darker shade.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelped and ran over to his team mate "Are you alright?"

The girl smiled at the blonde "I'm fine Naruto." She said gently.

"Like hell you are! That kunai went right through you! Oh god, there's so much blood…" he paled as he trailed off. His biggest weakness was seeing Sakura hurt; she shouldn't have to go through such pain, that's why he needed to protect her, from anything and everything.

"Naruto relax, the kunai didn't hit anything major, it didn't even go that far in. Besides after I heal this, I'll be as good as new and we can start our training, okay?"

"WHAT!? You're still going to train after that!? No way, I won't let you, you need to go home now and rest for a few of days, call Tsunade-baachan and take a couple of weeks off work, oh oh oh and while you're calling her, tell her to come over and heal you so you won't die!" the Kyuubi vessel screeched and huffed.

The pink haired girl blinked up at him from the floor. Then she began to laugh, and not like a tiny giggle either, a powerful wholehearted laugh that made tears role down her cheeks and made her grasp her sides…that is until it became too painful because of her injury.

Her reaction sent her teammate off again "What are you laughing at! This is serious Sakura-chan! You're always telling us that we have to be careful when we get injured. You said that if it isn't treated immediately it could get infected and then it could cause you to die a slow painful, agonizing death! Oh god! You can't die Sakura-chan! What on earth would we do without you?! Who's going to give me the medicine for indigestion when I eat too much ramen!? Who's going to find a new hiding place for Kakashi's porn when a new edition comes out!? Oh dear lord... who will Teme marry and have hundreds of ki-"

WHAM!

Sakura blinked. What happened? A second ago Naruto was standing in front of her and babbling about some nonsense…and then the next second he was…

She turned her head, and blinked again because the display in front of her was just too weird to comprehend properly.

There was the Uzumaki boy on the floor…and on top of him was Sasuke with one hand over the blonde's big mouth and the other hand around the morons' neck.

What the…?

"Dobe I'm going to kill you…" Sasuke seethed so that no one else would hear.

The blonde let out a loud slurp as he licked his team mates palm, cause the Uchiha to let go in sheer disgust.

"Teme, don't worry, she's going to be fine, I promise." Naruto consoled his obviously distraught friend.

"That's not what I'm talking about…what the hell are you doing?"

Naruto had wrapped his arms around the Uchiha in an awkward hug "Whenever I'm upset, I always feel better after a good, long hug. Come on teme, we'll get through this, just hug it out teme, hug it out."

The idiot obviously needed another beating, and that's exactly what Sasuke gave him.

"What are those two doing?" Sakura muttered. Really, could those two not go a minute without arguing?

"They're just worried about you."

Sakura turned to her sensei "Huh?"

He smiled at her as she finished healing herself "I know they have an annoying way of showing it, but they do care about you, we all do." his eyes flicked to her stomach, to make sure that the bleeding had stopped.

The pinkette smiled up at the man who she felt was like a father to her. "Yeah, I know."

Kakashi chuckled to himself "Although it is amusing to watch Sasuke terrorise Naruto, we should probably get them so we can go train, even if it's just for a little bit."

She nodded and with her sensei, she headed over to her two other boys and they convinced Naruto that she was alright to train for an hour and they convinced Sasuke to not kill Naruto until after training was over.


"Oi skank, get up off your fat ass so we can go train." Sai droned to the girl still on the ground.

"I hope Sakura-san's alright." Jugo muttered "That cut looked very bad."

"Sakura-chan's such a badass! Did you see how she just let the banshee stab her!? And then BOOM! What a punch! You sure got your ass handed to you Karin." Suigetsu snickered in delight.

Karin didn't care what the three of them had to say. There was only one thing going through her mind.

Sasuke-kun was looking at that bitch. He hadn't even paid the slightest bit attention to her, only that stupid, man-stealing whore. Karin could feel it; her Sasuke-kun was slipping away from her, into the hands of that home-wrecker.

She wouldn't let it happen. Karin picked herself up and dusted off her clothes. She was not a quitter, and she wouldn't let anyone take her man away from her. Especially Haruno Sakura.

Sakura wiped the perspiration from her brow. She had managed to work up a sweat despite her teammates holding back on her, as per usual.


"Alright I think that's enough for today." Kakashi called out, eyeing his female student in particular. Even with her injury, Sakura had still managed to land a few powerful blows on her teammates that took them all by surprise.

"Alright! Let's go get some ramen!" Naruto cheered "You coming, Sakura-chan?"

"Nah, I better get home and heal this properly" she said gesturing to her abdomen "you know, before it gets infected and I die a slow, agonizing death."

The blonde paled

Sakura giggled and the gullibility of her team mate "Just kidding. You guys go on without me; I have to buy some groceries anyway."

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked uncertainly.

"Go, go." Sakura shooed her teammates away. After she watched them walk out of the training grounds, she strolled over to her bag as prepared to leave as well.

"Hey."

Startled, Sakura spun around to see who had snuck up on her. "Sasuke ?"

"You should heal that properly." he muttered to the shell-shocked girl. "It would be bad if you were hurt."

And just like that, he was gone.

'What the hell was that?' Sakura thought, as his words echoed around her head.

'It would be bad if you were hurt.'

.

.

.

What?


"Oi teme, where'd you go?" Naruto asked after the Uchiha caught up with them.

"I forgot something." Sasuke answered simply.

Before Naruto could interrogate the boy anymore, Kakashi spoke up "Hey Naruto, hand me the Hit List."

'Oh god, not this again' Sasuke thought.

"Huh, what for Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, but handed the sheet of paper to the grey haired man anyway.

"Number 14. Candidates must be a worthy sparring partner. I'm pretty certain that Sakura's got that covered, don't you think?" Kakashi stated matter-of-factly.

"Yes, yes, YES!" Naruto cheered "Sakura-chan is an amazing sparring partner! She totally qualifies! Don't you think so teme?"

Sasuke blinked "Sakura's…" he started

"Changed?" Kakashi suggested.

"Grown?" Naruto put in helpfully.

Sasuke thought for a moment then, "Strong." he said and continued on towards Ichiraiku's, leaving Naruto and Kakashi in his wake.

"Holy shit, Kaka-sensei. Teme just admitted that he thinks Sakura-chan's strong." Naruto grasped his sensei's shoulders and shook him violently "DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?!"

'Sasuke's finally realised that he does in fact have feeling for Sakura?' Kakashi thought to himself, but Naruto provided the answer for him.

"IT'S THE APOCALYPSE!"

All Kakashi could do was face palm at his student's stupidity.

Idiot.


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