Sakura looked away from Sasuke immediately, she could feel the tears coming, but she was too exhausted to try and hold them back.

"That was just cruel," she whispered keeping her gaze on the side of the tent. The tears falling now.

"I don't understand." Sasuke blinked away his red eyes, his brow was furrowed. He reached out and took her chin, she tensed but he didn't let go. "I am sorry, I thought..." She finally looked at him. He searched her eyes.

"You pull me into this picture perfect place, then you make me perfect. You touch me there, and there is no way here, with me, how I am. It's just so cruel." She attempted to control her breath. She tried to get her thoughts in order, she knew she was doing a poor job.

"What are you talking about? Did you not want me to?" He shook his head lightly, cocking it to the side. His eyes were filled with emotion.

"You wouldn't want me how I am, not like this." She pulled the blanket off one shoulder to show the rough burn scar that ran from her clavicle down her shoulder into her arm. "This is not what you want to be touching." Her eyes narrowed at him. Sasuke let out a long sigh.

"I don't touch you because since you had your memories retrieved, you don't want any one to touch you. The only ones are Ino and Kiba that can get close. Just now, I took a chance. That had nothing to do with how you looked in there. I create the illusion, and I don't know what you look like under your clothes, so I just thought that I shouldn't take license and..." He let out another sigh and ran his hand through his hair. She started to sob.

"You don't know, you don't know how monstrous that they made me." She pulled her knees into herself. Sasuke grimaced at her words.

"Sakura," He sighed. He then reached up and placed his hand on the back of her neck. He felt her tense, but she didn't try and back away. He pulled her towards him and placed his forehead on hers. "I have wanted to touch you for a long time. This skin," He started to run his fingers from her neck to her shoulder and down her arms, "proves you are strong, nothing more." He began to lightly trace his fingers up and down her upper arm. She took a shaky breath in and closed her eyes. The feeling of someone touching her in such an intimate way was sending shocks through her. He moved his hand up to the side of her cheek, he swallowed thickly as his thumb caressed her. She could feel his breath becoming quicker as it blanketed her face.

"Is this okay?" His voice was much deeper and rougher. She pulled in her bottom lip and ran her top teeth on it and nodded. Sasuke took an uneven breath at her nod. She felt his lips brush hers lightly. He moved his mouth on hers, letting his tongue roll over her bottom lip. She sighed as she opened to him. His tongue moved inside her, caressing her lips and her tongue. She moved her mouth against his, parting more. The gentleness of the kiss was surprising to her. He then started to pull away, taking her bottom lip in his mouth and sucking on it lightly. She moaned at the feeling. He let go of her and pulled apart. Both of them sat panting at each other.

Sasuke smirked at her, then put his lips against her jaw, his tongue moving on her skin. Her hand running over the side of his neck then moved into his hair. He groaned at the sensation of her hand. He moved his mouth back to hers. She allowed him full access, caressed his tongue with hers. His hand moved from her face down her side. He could once again feel her tense, and knew it wasn't from pleasure. He stopped and let his hand rest on her hip an he pushed his weight against her. She leaned back letting more of him onto her cot.

He deepened the kiss, touching and caressing every part of her mouth that he could. Her grip of his hair tightened, the deeper he kissed. He pulled back running his tongue over her lip before taking the flesh of her neck into his mouth again. She arched back giving him more access to the sensitive skin of her neck. He moved his way lower to her clavicle, when she stiffened. She pushed him back softly and contorted out of his grip.

She shifted on her cot, making more room between them. Her breath shallow and quick. "I am sorry," she murmured to him. He just sat and looked at her. "It was getting to be too much." She pulled the blanket back over her shoulder. He just nodded at her. He sat down on her cot next to her, she smirked at him and shook her head.

"Gods, this was completely unexpected." She laughed. He furrowed his brown. "Ya know I thoroughly disliked you only a few months ago."

"Thoroughly disliked? So you hated me?" He ran his hand on his chin and let out a laugh.

"There are very few I hate, and you haven't even come close to that line." All humor left her and her gaze hardened and fell to the floor. She puffed her cheeks as she blew a breath out. She turned her head and cocked it. "So you have wanted to touch me for a long time?" She smiled and felt the warmth of blood rising in her cheeks. He looked over at her and gave a shy smile.

"Yes, for a long while." He reached out and ran his finger along her jawline. She closed her eyes and took a breath in at the touch.

"I am sorry, but why? When we were placed on a team together, you... well.. you were a asshole. I just don't get why you changed your mind." She furrowed her brow as she ran a hand through her pink locks.

"I thought you were annoying." He frowned a bit. " I remembered you from the Alliance meeting that we had with the wolves. You ran up to me and basically clung to me. I thought you were just an annoying little girl." he shrugged.

"You remember that?" He nodded at her. "Yeah that was when I decided that you were and asshole. A good looking one, but an asshole none the less." She rolled her eyes thinking about the memory. He gave out a low chuckle.

"When I saw that it was you that was going to be one my team, I didn't approve. I thought that you were the same kid that ran up to me and clung onto me." He shook his head. " Like I said I am a judgmental asshole that makes brash decisions." He gave her a sad smirk, she looked at him with wide eyes. " Anyways, when we were at the library, and I actually looked at your chakra, I was stunned." She grimaced and looked away from him. "Whatever you went through showed in you in your chakra network." He put a finger under her chin and looked into her eyes. "I saw a warrior in front of me. Some one who was alive because of her strength and shear will to survive. That was when I knew I was wrong about you." His eyes flicked at hers.

"Hey now, I didn't cling onto you, I just said "Hi you're really cute." Then you clicked your tongue and told me off" She laughed. "There was definitely no clinging." She shook her head and smirked at him. He grunted at her.

"Do you still think that I am really cute." He was trying to keep the smile from forming on his face. Her face became a darker shade of pink as she looked at him.

"Yeah, I still think that you are attractive." She looked away smiling and biting her bottom lip. Sasuke grinned and pulled her chin back over to him. He put his lips over hers for a chaste kiss. He leaned back to see her smirking at him was heavy lids.

"I think you need to try and sleep." He saw her tense as he spoke. "I'll stay here tonight." She could feel her body becoming heavy, trying to pull her mind into the dream state with it. She yawned. She wanted to fight it, but knew that it was going to be a loosing battle. She gave him a small nod. He stood up from her cot letting her lie down. She positioned herself on her stomach, with her arm hanging off of the bed. She heard a quiet in take of breath, she knew Sasuke was looking at her back. She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes.

Sasuke sat with his back leaning against the cot. He reached over and interlaced his fingers with her hand that was hanging down. She gave him a small squeeze before finally succumbing to sleep.

While she slept she had the same nightmare, everyone dying, being tortured, she was screaming to wake up but couldn't pull herself away. She was once again in the small box, it was getting so hot. She was panicking. She closed her eyes then opened them and she was surrounded by white. She was panting. Her body felt as if it was burning. She looked around. Then she heard the sound of feet padding towards her. She turned, and she was once again looking at a massive white wolf, it's green eyes soul searching. She slowly raised her hand and put it on the beasts muzzle. It let out a soft whine and pushed into her hand.

Sakura let her hand run into the wolves fur, her breathing coming in at a more normal rate. She gave a small smile as she looked up. The wolf looked down her gaze intense.

"How can I get to you?" Sakura questioned as she put her forehead on the wolves muzzle.

"You are close.." A soft voice whispered to her.

***
Sakura shot up from her cot, her breath coming in pants, and her body slick with sweat. Sasuke jumped back and looked at her. Her eyes were wide and wild as she looked at him. Then slowly a feral grin began to cross her lips. Sasuke sat there starting at her confused at the state she was in.

"Holy shit," she whispered slowly. "Holy fucking shit." Her eyes lit up at her own words. She quickly stood up. Sasuke and the brothers giving her a quizzical look. Her eyes finally finding Sasuke, she grinned showing all of her teeth. "I saw my wolf, after my nightmare, she came out!." Sasuke just stared at her with an open mouth.

"I am sorry, I don't know what that means," He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck and stood up.

"I think that I am going to be able to phase soon." She sat and pondered for a second. "At least that is what I am hoping it meant." Sasuke just stared at her with his brow furrowed. She went on to told him what she saw in her dream she was nearly jumping as she explained it. After she was done talking, she looked around her tent and realized that it was light out.

"I slept until dawn?" She asked as her expression went from joy to a bit of shock.

"Looks like it." Sasuke said as he looked around. She took another deep breath and smiled. Even thought she had the same nightmare, she had managed to stay asleep her body felt as if it had a huge weight taken off. Sasuke walked up to her smiling, he reached out and to touch her cheek, she flinched as she saw his hand coming.

"Sorry," She said with a grimace, but she did take his hand in hers and put it against her face. "it's going to take a while." She gave him a small lopsided smile. He reached up with his other hand and cupped her face.

"We can work on it." He smirked at her, then pushed his lips against hers. She let her hand fall from his down his arm. He moved his mouth against her, flicking his tongue demanding access to her. She let out a soft moan as she granted it to him. One of his hands dropped from her face, gliding down her side until it he reached the small off her back, he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into his body.

Sakura let out a small grunt as her body pushed against his. She found her hand moving off of his arm, sliding over his side, before resting on the small of his back. He moaned into her mouth and deepened the kiss. Their tongues began to dance together, pushing back and fourth between their mouths. Sasuke pulled back and ran his tongue over her bottom lip. He then trailed his mouth over her jaw. She pushed her hips against his, his hand tightening on her back as she did.

He moved his mouth to her ear, taking the bottom of her lobe in and sucking it gently. A shiver of pleasure ran through her as she let out a gasp. Sasuke smiled at her response and nipped her ear gently. She arched her neck, her breathing growing into pants as her body began to grow warm with his touches. His mouth left her ear and covered her mouth again. As he probed past her lips, she ran her hand into his inky hair and pulled it gently. He let out a growl. He left her mouth and began to lick and suck on her neck. She tensed as me moved his mouth further down on her, but didn't pull away. She was beginning to feel a intoxicating heady feeling with each stroke of his tongue. His hand reached up to her shoulders and lightly let his finger tips to trace over the bumpy scars. He then hooked his index finger under the strap of her tank top and slowly pulled it off her shoulder.

While his hand worked on her shoulder his mouth continued it's assault on her neck. As he pulled the strap to the side, he began to kiss further down. His hand moving from the small of her back to resting on her hip. His other hand trailing down her back. He slowly began to kiss her shoulders. There was a hiss of pleasure and apprehension that left her lips. Never had anyone touched let alone kissed her scared skin. She could feel his lips lifting as she moaned again. His mouth crashed into hers again, this time with more force. His hand was now roaming over her her side, it came to the edge of her tank top and began to finger the bottom. Slowly he started to push his fingers under the cloth. Her hand jumped over his and pulled it away. They broke apart, foreheads touching panting.

"I am sorry," Sasuke said, his breath ragged. "I don't mean to push you." She looked into his eyes and gave a small smile.

"It's ok, just I need to go slow ya know?" her nose wrinkled at him. He gave a nod. "I do like this though," the corner of her lips pulled up as she looked at him. He returned the smile.

She then took a step back and looked at the clock on her desk. It read seven thirty. She ran her hand threw her hair.

"I have to start getting ready, do you need to go home and get your stuff?" She asked as she started to pull out her cloths. When she looked over at him he nodded at her. Once she stood up he walked to her, a smile taking over his face. Her cupped her face and gave her a small kiss on her lips.

"I'll see you at the fields." He gave her another smile, it sent chills down her back. He turned and left.

She walked to the training field earlier then she had to, but she just couldn't sit still. Not after all that had happened. Her mind was reeling. She had made out with Sasuke and saw her wolf. She pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. She had always thought that the vampire was attractive, and as she grew to know him she had developed some feelings, but she shoved them to the side. There was too much going on to try anything, and frankly she didn't want to deal with rejection. Also, she knew that it would cause some drama, since they were of two different races. So she kept it all locked away. Call her naive, but she didn't have the slightest that he was remotely interested.

She paced the field, kicking the tops off of the fluffy tops of dandelions. She couldn't stop herself from grinning. Her wolves paced with her, eying her as they did. Occasionally one would let out a yip.

"Hey Sakura," She nearly jumped out of her skin when Naruto spoke behind her. His eyes widened when he saw her react. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." She had her hand over her heart. She chided herself for allowing him to walk up and not take notice.

"It's ok, just caught up in my own thoughts," she gave him a sheepish smile. He smiled back at him. She looked down and saw that he was carrying some type of container. "Whatcha got there?" She pointed to his hand.

"I know this is going to sound lame, but my Mom made cookies for us." His face started to redden. She grinned at him.

"That's awesome. So awesome." She laughed a bit. "Your Mom sounds sweet." He grinned back at her.
"Yeah, she can be. But if you make her angry, not so much. You would think that she was the one that was living with this demon inside of her." He rubbed the back of his neck. Sakura took the container and scooped out a cookie. She took a bite and her eyes rolled with the pleasure that exploded on her tongue. The taste was amazing.

"Oh my god Naruto, these are so good." She said while taking another bite. She chewed and swallowed. "And you know, it's not just your Mom that's like that, I think it's most women." She gave him a wink.

"Great." He groaned and sat down. She took a seat next to him as she finished her cookie.

"You are early today." She said looking over at him.

"I was having a hard time sleeping and was a little restless." He shrugged. "I figured either you or Sasuke would be here, maybe could start early, get more sparing in."

"Weapons or hand to hand?" She asked, a large smile spread across his face.

"Well if you are going to use your monster strength, we can go weapon." He started to pull out his battle hammer off of his side. "Let's do this!" He jumped up and ran to the center of the field. Sakura finished her cookie, then stood up and pulled her Tekko's out of her bag, and placed them on. Naruto stood in the middle of the field watching her in a battle stance. She smirked at him and jumped back into the tree line.

"Oh, we are playing hide and seek are we?" He yelled to her. She just smiled as she made her way up the trees. Naruto went running to where she had entered the forest. Normally they just charged at each other when they sparred, but Sakura felt that they needed to change it up.

She jumped soundlessly from tree to tree. She had lost him fairly quick and she began to circle around him. She smirked as she looked down at him. Naruto was like a bull in a china shop. He wasn't taking note of how loud he was, he was just intent on finding her. She finally made her way behind him and began to pump chakra to her feet. The power surged stronger then it had ever before, her smirk turned into a toothy grin. Sleep had made an incredible difference. She positioned herself in a tree closest to him. He had his back turned looking around for any sign of her. That's when she dropped down pushing even more chakra to her feet and fists as she fell. She raised her fist back and prepared for impact.

The moment her fist and feet hit the ground, the earth errupted like never before. She sunk down into the soil, creating a massive crater. Canyons and cracks spread from her. The trees all around began to shake and fall. Naruto was thrown from the ground high into the air. He manage to twist his body as he flew, but he was not fast enough and hit a falling tree with a thud. Sakura stood and watched him hit the ground. He stood up slowly. She let out a sigh of relief, she had thought that she may had damaged him.

"Fuck balls Sakura, were did that come from?" He asked as he scanned the total devastation around him. She just smirked and held her hand up. Two fingers began to curl beckoning him to charge at her. Once the shock was over, Naruto grinned and started to charge. She just stood three in a battle stance, forcing her chakra to her fists. Naruto began to put his hammer behind him, readying his blow. She started to charge at him, as Naruto began to swing his deadly hammer at her, she pushed her fists together in front of her, creating a barrier with the blades of her tekko.

The force of the blow shook Sakura to her core and made her groan. She kicked him, but she had forgot to chakra infuse her foot, so it just landed on Naruto's side with a thud. He dropped his hammer and grabbed onto her foot, twisting it and causing her body to twist into the air.

When she hit the ground the air pushed out of her lungs. She looked over and Naruto was gathering his hammer and coming at her. He swung it up and was about to strike her while she was lying on the ground. She rolled quickly and it made impact with the earth. She kicked her legs out and swung them behind Naruto's legs causing him to fall next to her. She crawled quickly over to him and straddled him, her tekko against his throat. She raised her brow and him and smiled. He grinned back when she felt his palms hit her stomach and she was thrown off of him. She hit a tree with a thud, but quickly stood up.

"What was that?" She asked as she panted at him. He grinned and stood up.

"Been working on my wind element. Thought you had me there?" He laughed and started to charge. She skipped back and began to run back to the training field. Once she was in the clearing she turned to see Naruto close one her heels. She pushed chakra to her foot, she lifted it above her head and slammed it into the ground just as he was about to strike. The earth exploded around them. Naruto had tried to jump back, but he had landed on edge of a crack and fumbled a bit, Sakura reached back infused her fist and struck his side, throwing him a few feet. She ran to where he fell and prepared to strike him again, but as he rolled over he swung his hammer hitting her in her side and sent her flying. She twisted in mid air and and landed on her feet. Her heels dug into the ground and she slid back a few feet. He stood up panting and stared at her. Her shoulders were rising and falling dramatically as she breathed. She looked at him her eyes narrowing. He once again pulled back his hammer and started to charge at her. She stood there pushing as much chakra as she could possibly into her fist. Her skin began to feel like it was tight and swelling with the energy. She noticed that the flow was not pulsating at much as it use to.

She grinned as she charged him full force. She again hit the ground in front of him. The earth violently shook and shattered around them. She felt herself falling as the earth opened up around her. She landed on her stomach and her head bounced off of the ground. She pulled herself up and put her hand on her forehead, and felt blood coat it. She stood up and and looked up. She had created a hole in the ground that was at least ten foot deep.

"Naruto?!" She yelled. She heard a groan.

"Yeah." He yelled in a hoarse voice.

"You ok?" She yelled, wiping more blood from her head.

"I am fine, are you?" She let out a sigh of relief.

"I am ok. Just kinda stuck down here." She looked up and saw his head peek over the edge, a large grin on his dirty face.

"Hang on down there, I'll grab something to pull ya up." He laughed. "You may want to take care of that though while you wait." He said pointing to his forehead, then vanished. Sakura still stood looking up in awe of the damage she had done. She knew she could split the earth, but this was beyond her wildest dreams. Her hand went up to push her hair and a sharp pain drew her hand down again. She breathed in and focused her chakra back to her finger. Her fingers began to glow green as she began to trace it against her for head. It stung at first, but eventually she felt the cooling sensation of her flesh healing.

Just as she finished knitting her skin back together Naruto appeared with a large branch, he held it down to her and she took hold. He pulled her up with ease, once she saw the grass she grasped at it and pulled herself out the rest of the way. She turned sitting with her legs hanging over the side into the hole she created.

"That's a big hole," She murmured to herself. She heard Naruto laugh.

"Yeah it is. You should look at their faces!" He laughed louder. She looked up at him, and saw he was looking behind her. She followed his gaze to the tree line to see all of the teams standing there with their mouths open and eyes wide. She smirked at herself, and pulled herself up.

"Guess we should head over huh?" She asked as she tried to brush the dirt off of her pants. It was really quite useless, she was covered from head to toe. Naruto grinned and nodded. They slowly walked to the small crowd.

When they arrived everyone continued to stare at them with shock on their faces. Kakashi was leaning against a tree reading a book, he looked up and she could tell he was smirking through his mask.

"Quite a show you two put on there." He looked past them to the training field. "You have pretty much destroyed our field."

"Naa, not destroyed, Sakura was just making it more of a challenge to train on." Naruto winked at her and she smiled back at him.

"Ok, well is every one here?" Shishui walked forward and began to count heads.

"Sasuke isn..." Sakura spoke up, but then she saw him walking through the trees his face confused as he looked around.

"What happened?" He looked over at Sakura, his brow knitted.

"Your teammates were sparring," Ino laughed. He looked over at her, then back to Naruto and Sakura and gave a tense nod.

"Since we are all here," Itachi walked in front of the group. "We have decided that we need to integrate training with all the teams." Everyone stood still staring and the stoic figure.

"We are going to play capture the flag," Shishui grinned at them.

"Alright!" Naruto yelled, Shishui smiled at him.

"How tiring," Shikamaru sighed.

"I believe this is an excellent way to train." A pale boy with dark hair smiled. Sia, Sakura thought. The rest just looked around at each other.

"What are the teams?" Choji asked.

"Cadets against leaders." Shishui grinned even larger.

"Nine against three?" Hinata's questioned in a soft voice.

"Numbers don't really play a factor here." Itachi said flatly. Sasuke just snorted.

"Well let's get to it, and find out if numbers don't really matter." Kiba barked out. Sakura sighed, she knew he hated to be underestimated.

"Here are the rules: one, we need to say within wolf territory, and two there are no other rules. Use whatever weapons and training that you think you need." Kakashi stepped forward. "Come after us with killing intent to get the flag, and we will also do the same. There will be fifteen minutes to meet and discuss strategy, after that, game on." He smiled as he scanned their faces. He held out a flag to the closest person who happened to be Ino. She took it and put it in her back pocket. He then made his way to stand next to Shishui. Itachi followed him and stood on the other side. Shishui smiled at them as he placed his hand on each shoulder.

"Time starts now, battle begins when you hear the air horn" Suddenly the three just disappeared. All of them stood there and stared at them empty space where they use to be. Sasuke let out a sigh.

"We should probably be setting up a strategy about now." He sighed.

"Did they just disappear?" Ino asked still staring at the vacant space.

"Yes, Shishui can teleport to long ranges." Sasuke said flatly. Ino's eyes met him with disbelief.

"Ok this is going to be such a drag, but let's get to it." Shikamaru yawned. "Sasuke, you have intel on Shishui and Itachi, correct?" Sasuke nodded.

"I have also known Kakashi for a long time." Shikamaru nodded.

"Now, are we aware of each others strengths at all? Have they told you anything about the other cadets?" They all looked around and shook their heads.

"Well Kiba does have a theory about our teams." Sakura said as she tried to brush more dirt off of her arms. She stopped for a second and looked down. No one could see her scars with the grime that was layered on her skin. She stopped immediately.

"Really?" Sia asked, his voice almost a pleasant monotone.

"Shut up Sia," Kiba growled at him. He then looked at Shikamauru. " I think we are split up into long, mid, and front lines. My team, I believe, is mid, Sakura's is front line, and yours are the distant fighters." He puffed his chest out slightly and lifted his chin. Sakura rolled her eyes at him. Shikamaru just nodded at him.

"That is what I figured." He said as he rubbed his chin.

"So what does that help us with?" Naruto asked as he furrowed his brow.

"We have to figure out if they are having two guard the flag, or if they have just one." Choji spoke up as he opened a bag of chips. They all just stared at him for a second then shook their heads.

"What do you think Sasuke?" Shikamaru asked looking bored.

"It depends on who they think will be guarding. If it is my team, then they will send two, but if they think that we are going to go for the flag, then they will send one. I think that no matter, Kakashi will be guarding the flag. They in a sense are set up like we are. Kakashi is front, Shishue is mid, and Itachi tends to stay in back." He looked over and saw Shikamaru crouch down and and make a circle with his fingers, thinking about what was being said. "Now when I say that those are the positions that they are normally comfortable with, that does not mean that they cannot perform where ever they are placed." Shikamaru nodded.

"I think, that they will think that we are naive, and it would not even be an option not to have our front line on the flag." Shikamaru sighed. "I don't see another way though." All of them nodded. "So we will have Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura guarding the flag, and the rest of us will go for theirs. Sasuke what can you tell us about Kakashi?"

"He is extremely effective hand to hand. He can be ruthless, and he has a sharingan." There was an intake of breath around him.

"Sharingan, how is that possible, only the Uchiha have those eyes." Sia almost sounded surprised.

"It's a long story, and not mine to tell, plus we don't have time to get into it. He has a Sharingan in the eye he keeps covered, that means he can see your chakra, copy your ninjutsu, and predict your movement. I think that the only way to take him down is to overwhelm him. If it is just one of us one on one with him, there is no way. All of you need to go after him at once." He ran his hands through his hair.

"He can copy all ninjutsu?" Sakura asked as she furrowed her brow, Sasuke shook his head.

"Almost all, thought if it is a ninjutsu that is inherited through blood line he cannot." Sakura nodded.

"So you need to use bloodline ninjutsu against him." Her eyes fell on Kiba and she smiled. "I probably don't have to ask this, but is Akamaru with you." He gave a quizzical nod. "Use him." She winked at him, a grin spread over his face.

Suddenly they were all jumping as a horn blew in a far off field. "That was no were near fifteen minutes." Hinata complained while she was looking at the ground. Sasuke looked over at her and just sighed.

"Do you think that they would really give us that type of advantage in training? I am surprised they let us go for this long." Sasuke grunted. "We have no time anyways, you all need to get going." He nodded his head in the direction that the horn blew. Ino handed the flag Sakura, and began to head towards the sound of the horn. The rest followed her lead and began in her direction.

"We need to get moving," Sakura said as she began to walk back into the woods.

"What? Are we hiding?" Naruto scouffed. Sasuke snorted at him.

"Hiding or not we are no match," Sasuke said flatly, and at that Naruto scoffed.

"I figured, but we shouldn't make it easy on them, and we just have to defend long enough for the others to get the flag." She said as she began to climb a tree. She looked down at Sasuke and smirked, she could tell he was trying to hold back a smile. "I am going to hide the flag," She quickly made her way higher in tree, looking for some type of hole or nest.

"Are we suppose to do that?" Naruto asked as he began to climb the tree next to hers.

"No rules. We should put it here, then stay away from it. I have a feeling that they think that we will keep it on some one, more then likely Sasuke." She had found a birds nest. She wrapped the fabric around it and pushed the twigs and dried grass down, not disturbing the eggs as she did. Once she was satisfied with the coverage she began her decent.

"This way," Sasuke directed them away from the tree. "I think that I should take on Shishui and you two go after Itachi." He grunted at them.

"Why?" Naruto asked as he began to follow.

"Well we don't really stand a chance against them, but Shishui is stronger then Itachi, and I am more prepared to delay him then you two." Naruto just snorted.

"So you think you are stronger then us?" He hissed at Sasuke.

"Yes." Was the only response he gave. Sakura sighed at him, and tried to ignore the way it made her stomach twist. She really couldn't disagree with him. Sasuke had began combat training far before either of the had, so he was in fact more experienced then they were. It still hurt to be thought of as weaker though.

Sakura patted her leg and let out a small whistle summoning the brothers to her. They silently made their way through the trees to her. They jogged through the forest about four hundred feet away from where the flag was located. Sasuke pointed up to the trees, Naruto and Sakura nodded their head.

Before she took to the trees she turned to her wolves. Their gold eyes shone with excitement. "Listen," She whispered as she knelt down to eye level. "I want you three to fan out, go behind who ever is coming. Be quite about it also. Don't interfere unless it is needed, or if we freeze in one position for more then five breaths." She let her gaze fall on each one for a few seconds. "And I know that Kakashi said killing intent, but do not go for the throat ok?" the wolves let out chuffs and snorts. "I am serious, just take down, no killing." She didn't think that they would be be able to land a blow like that, but better safe then sorry. She also didn't want to take the chance that they would get themselves hurt in this game. She clicked her tongue and nodded her head in dismissal. The beasts quickly disappeared into the forest.

She made her way up a tree that was a few yards away from Naruto and Sasuke. Once she reached an acceptable perch she crouched down and scanned the forest floor.

They sat in their trees watching silently for nearly ten minutes before Sakura caught their scents. She leaned back and looked over at her team mates, they slowly turned their heads to her. She pointed to her noise and then pointed in the direction that they were coming in. The boys nodded as they adjusted themselves to look in the direction. Shishui was the first that came into sight. He moved slowly, and scanned the area. Sakura heard a sigh, and turned to look as Sasuke.

"He knows where we are," He mouthed to her. She furrowed her brow and shook her head. How? Sasuke just nodded and rolled his eyes. He then looked over at Naruto. He was pulling out a kuni with a paper bomb on it he just smiled as he looked as his team mates. Sasuke shrugged and Naruto let the blade fly.

It landed right were it was meant, but by the time it made contact with the ground Shishui was already a few feet away. He was extremely fast, Naruto ground his teeth.

Behind the explosion Itachi appeared out of no where. He looked at the forest floor then looked up into the trees. His eyebrow raised. Sakura looked down at them and began to pump her chakra into feet and fist. both Itachi and Shishui were within twenty feet of her. She turned to look at her team mates "Go?" She silently asked. Sasuke nodded. She jumped off of her perch pushing chakra down into her feet. When she met the earth it once again erupted. Itachi and Shishui skipped back trying to avoid the cracks that ran towards them. Sasuke and Naruto jumped down from the falling trees that they where perched in.

Once the earth settled they stood staring at each other. Itachi with no emotion, Shishui with a smirk. Neither side moved.

Sasuke was the first to begin he threw out several shurikens, Itachi and Shishui easily avoided. Naruto began to charge forward, his battle hammer held high behind his head. Itatchi pulled out his Katana, as did Sasuke and they charged. Sakura stood back. She could not make the earth crumble when her team mates were engaged, and they each went after the wrong targets! she thought to herself. She sighed and watched as Sasuke clashed with Itachi. She then turned and started to go after Shishui and Naruto.

He was fast, so fast. Sakura and Naruto had not been able to land a single blow on him. He was able to hit them a few times, when he wasn't dodging and blocking them. Sakura looked over, and it seemed that Sasuke was having a difficult time with Itachi also. Sasuke was right, there was no way that they were going to win. She turned her attention back to the flickering Shihui. He was barely breaking a sweat. she tried to land a punch, but he had grabbed her wrist and and threw her like a rag doll. She stood up and pumped as much chakra into her limbs as fast as she could. Her skin once again felt tight and swollen with chakra. She dashed away from Naruto and stopped once she was almost directly in between the two fights. She jumped up and let her fist slam down.

Sakura blinked and was disoriented. She could hear growling, snapping, and grunts of pain. Sakura looked around, she was standing next to Sasuke and Naruto. Then she looked up and saw her wolves on top of Shishui and Itachi. Both of the men had shock written on their face. It was all an illusion, she thought to herself. She looked back over at Sasuke he just smirked, as he drew out his katana.

"Go for the right target!" She yelled as she adjusted her tekkos. The two boys nodded as they ran forward. Sakura let out a whistle once her and Naruto were on top of Itachi. The wolves pulled back and flanked her from behind.

Naruto was actually able to land a hit on Itatchi before he was able to compose himself. He flew to the ground, and quickly pulled himself up. He wiped the corner of his mouth, Sakura squinted at him, was that blood on his lip? Before she could figure it out he jumped up and blew out a giant fire ball. Sakura flipped back out of the way of the flames. She quickly motioned for her wolves to circle around Itachi. She began to pump chakra in her hands and started to rush him. He pulled his katana out and charged her, while skipping from a blow Naruto attempted to land. Once he was on her he began to swing is blade. She caught it in her both her tekkos, using the chakra that she gathered she twisted her arms and the blade flew out of Itachis hands. She pumped chakra into her foot and kicked at Itachi just grazing him. He rolled out of the way as Naruto swung his hammer.

Itachi jumped back from them, and a small smile pulled at his lips. "That was unexpected." There was the slightest note of amusement in his voice. Sakura and Naruto stood looking at him, their shoulders rising and falling with each breath. She looked past Itachi to see six golden eyes staring at her waiting her command.

"Surprise," Naruto whispered at her. She looked over at him his teeth were clenched. "We have to surprise them, that is the only upper hand we have. They are expecting us to act one way, I assume that they thought that we would attack just like in the illusion." Sakura nodded at him. She looked over at Sasuke and he was battling Shishui, but he seemed to be having a difficult time. She furrowed her brow as she let out a low whistle and directed her wolves to Sasuke's fight.

"That was probably not a wise choice." Her attention snapped back to Itachi, her brows knitted as she her mind raced to figure out what he meant.

"Naruto, we have to hit at the same time." She huffed. She was met with silence. She looked over at her team mate, and he just stood his hand barely gripping on his hammer, his eyes unfocused. "Ahh shit." He was caught up in Itachi's illusion. She started to go towards Naruto, but Itachi suddenly appeared before her. Her breath hitched and he struck her in the chest, causing her to fall. Her rage began to bubble. She could feel her nails extend, her teeth elongate. All thoughts of this being a game disappeared. She pushed all the chakura that she had into her fists, she stood and began to charge Itachi. Just as she was about to come up on him, she slammed her fist into the ground, with her other hand she grabbed onto his ankle. Together they fell into the earth for what seemed like minutes. Both hit the earth with thuds. The earth continued to shake around them as she quickly crawled onto his body and straddled him, her tekkos at his throat. Itachi let out a cough and blood came out past his lips. She lower her fists and stared at him.

He began to buck his hips side to side, knocking her off balance, then took her by her arms and threw her into the wall of the pit. All air escaped her with the force of the impact. She tried to get up, but she felt his foot press down on her shoulder.

"You let your guard down Sakura," He drawled out. She tried to take in a breath but couldn't seem to pull in air. "Just hand over the flag." She let out a laugh. She could tell he was taken back by her reaction, the pressure on her back began to subside.

"I can't believe I just heard Itachi say, "Hand over the flag." She laughed more and turned her head to look up at him. Then suddenly out of no where she saw a blonde streak clash into Itachi and all pressure was off of her.

She looked over to see Naruto standing in front of her, thought something seemed off. That's when he turned his head and looked at her. His normally radiant blue eyes had turned red with slits for pupils, and his eye teeth were elongated. He looked wild and rage filled.

Itachi merely stood up and looked at both of them, after a moment he came at them. They parried blow after blow, they moved around each other so quickly in the small space that Sakura was having a hard time keeping track of who it was she was hitting. On more then one occasion Naruto came close to hitting her.

The ferocity of the battle in the pit went on for what Sakura thought was forever. She was growing tired and her movements slowed. She went to kick Itachi, when he grabbed her foot and slammed her again into the ground. She struggled to get up, but then her attention was drawn up. There the heads of Sasuke and Shisui were staring down at them.

"Game?" She yelled. Almost as if she hit pause Itachi and Naruto stopped and looked up.

"Yeah for a few minutes now." Shishui yelled down and tossed the flag. "We were just enjoying the show." He smirked at them.

A.N.

Thank you all again for the reviews, follows and faves! It totally means a ton! I am sorry that this came out way later then I intended, but I got some painting commissions that I had to finish up. One of which I think you all might dig, a Walking Dead, Naruto mash up. If you want I can post a link when I put it on my DA account.

Thank you once again! Hope you enjoyed!