A reminder to manga readers, this stuff was begun before the manga reached a conclusion to the current anime arc. So, please don't respond this fic by saying any of the following:

"Sakura is more pathetic than that...she can't do the stuff you're making her do! You've put her OOC just like the anime did that one time when...!"

OR...

"Dude...Sakura rules way more than you're letting her...by the time she's insert age here> she should be way more awesome than you've made her! I'm mad at you!"

This fic was meant to be speculation...not spoiler. And to this day it continues to not be meant as a spoiler...and in fact is not a spoiler. So if you know things an anime watcher wouldn't know...please don't comment on them in the reviews...k?

Alright. Moving on.

"Dah dah dah dah dah DAH DAH dah dah dah dah…"

Sakura shut her eyes harder, quite annoyed by whatever noise she was hearing that was definitely not her alarm clock…it came in higher pitched this time…

"Dah dah dah dah dah DAH DAH dah dah dah dah…"

She slowly opened her eyes, beginning to recognize the rhythm. Rocky?

"Dah dah dah dah dah-dah dah daaaaaa! Bo...booooo…"

Who's watching Rocky? Wait…Sakura got up and peeped out the window to find Naruto…obnoxiously singing the Rocky I training song at the top of his lungs…as he saw Sakura peep from her window within the house, he got even louder, and tossed her a thumbs up.

Oh no…I'm going to kill him before I learn anything…

"Duh dah…DAH!"

E V O L U T I O N
Chapter 1: Getting Stronger!

Naruto, Sakura noticed, was unusually peppy today. As they walked down the road to their normal training area, that was blatantly obvious to her. Then again, it made sense…it was his first day returning to his training after being stuck in the hospital. She balled a fist. And it's my first day of training…serious training. Time to rock it.

"Getting STRONG-er…"

But if he didn't stop singing that song, she was going to kill him. Seriously.

About 10 minutes later, she stood, waiting for him in the middle of a clearing in the forest. He was about 10 feet away, caring for a massive lump on his head that had been delivered not too long ago. After a few moments, he rose and turned to face her.

"Hmm…so how should we do this?"

"Eh…" She had thought about it for quite a while herself, but she hadn't come up with any particularly good ideas either.

"You know, Sakura, you never quite said what it was you wanted…did you want to train with me, or against me…or…"

Sakura cut him off before he could say something to the point of under him… "I'm not quite sure…what do you think would be best?"

Naruto paused for a moment and grabbed his chin in thought. He'd never been asked advice before. "Well…maybe I should just fight you…I really don't know your weaknesses well enough to give tips or anything. Would that be okay?"

Sakura frowned. She hadn't really considered taking him head on before that moment. "You'd wipe the floor with me, Naruto…"

"Ah, don't be so sure," the boy said loudly. "I'm not completely healed, and I'm probably a little rusty. Besides, you'd be surprised what you can do when you put your mind to it."

"Eh…" Hmm. Maybe he's right. I mean, what could it hurt? Sakura slipped into her battle stance. "Okay. You're on."

"Sweet." Naruto stretched his arms above his head, andthen slipped into his battle stance. Sakura looked at him carefully, examining his stance, when all of a sudden his arms began to twitch and he broke into half song. "A sparring partner! Let's go!"

"Uh!" She watched as he slipped his fingers into that familiar in…

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!"

Crap!

Suddenly, there were 4 Narutos surrounding her like a cross. Nuts…I forgot about that…her eyes quickly darted around from one clone to another, but none of them moved.

"Okay, Sakura…how about we see how good your taijutsu is?"

Ahh crap I'm here for help on that…eep!

She didn't have time to protest, as the Naruto directly in front of her threw a shruiken toward her…she quickly evaded, leaping slightly to the right, when she noticed the one on her right running in towards her. A quick kick came up towards her midsection; she blocked it with both arms. As she did, she spotted the Naruto behind her come running in as well, and panicked slightly. I won't be able to follow all of them for long…

Sakura saw that the kicking Naruto was slightly off-balance from her block, and she extended her hands, shoving him onto his rear end. As the one behind her threw a punch, she saw it in the corner of her eye and quickly shifted her body weight, turning as quickly as she could away from the punch. It still grazed her cheek, however, but it was not nearly as effective as it could have been. While his arm was still extended, she continued turning to face him, and threw a punch to his gut.

She felt the impact of his gut against her fist, but she couldn't hear anything, and he didn't budge. What? Don't I pack ANY power? She regrouped quickly, as did he, and they spun around each other until they were once again facing off. Now, the Naruto she'd been fighting was in the middle, and she was in his place. Oh…this is starting to piss me off…

Naruto paused as he watched her intently. Not bad for a warm up I guess…then he noticed how quickly she was breathing. But it wasn't a warm-up for her…so then, that punch…ara?

"Shan darou!" Sakura charged in at the Naruto in the middle while he was in mid thought. It took a moment for what was happening to click…she had rolled up her sleeves, and the look in her eyes was pure intensity…she yelled at the top of her lungs, and cocked her fist back…

Kuso.

This punch was definitely stronger. Strong enough so that as she hit Naruto squarely on his cheek, his head jerked sideways and his body spun around so quickly you would have thought she was the heavyweight champ. The other Narutos stared in amazement as their partner disappeared in a puff of smoke, and the girl landed in the spot where he once stood, her fist extended and muscles tensed, chest heaving…

Whoa. Sugei! So she DOES have SOME power…let's kick it up a notch…

Sakura threw that punch out of pure anger at her weakness…the resulting destruction was a bit of a surprise even to her…deep down within she felt something say "I did that?" She couldn't marvel for long, however, the other two Narutos were charging…

Two Narutos? Weren't there…

She felt pressure on the back of her neck suddenly, and – completely without thought, reacted… "SO….TOYA!" Her hands reached behind her and grabbed the clone on her back by the neck and ripped him off of her, slamming him down onto the ground in front of her with all the force she could muster. That was enough to end that Naruto's battle, and another puff of smoke took him away.

The other two Narutos were quite surprised by this point. Well…I suppose she's worthy of being a genin after all…it's not like a random street punk would beat her to a crisp or anything…

He dropped his jaw when he saw what she did next…

She dropped off of her feet, almost completely out of breath, and wheezed in air. Huh?

The other clone disappeared and the real Naruto appeared before her. "You're pooped already? All I did was throw a shruiken!"

She wheezed in more air, attempting to stop long enough to talk, and eventually doing so. "Please…just a little break. I'll be okay in five minutes."

Naruto looked at his watch. Only three minutes had passed since they first started fighting. Are you kidding me! Hoo boy…this is going to be a long day.

It continued this way for about an hour…Sakura would fluctuate from showing promise and strength…to being completely overpowered by Naruto…to being too out of breath to do much without a break..all in the span of…at most 7 minutes by Naruto's watchful eye. This did not bode well.

In fact, by the point they'd been going for an hour and a half, her muscles were twitching when she stood still. Naruto found himself…not annoyed by it…but saddened. "Goodness, Sakura…you're out of shape…"

Sakura didn't bother to look up at him from her position on her knees. She was too embarrassed to bother. "Not everyone can be the God of Stamina, you know…"

"Yeah but…well…let's just say that's not the weak point I was expecting you to have." He saw her attempt to push herself up to her feet, and he could tell she was having considerable trouble doing so. "Let me help you…you've already reached your limit for now." Naruto went to one side of her and aided her to her feet.

"What can I…do to get better, Naruto?"

Naruto frowned as she exhaustedly leaned her weight on his shoulder. At this rate, it'll take forever. If she can only do this much a day, she'll never get in enough practice to really help her taijutsu. No…the real problem is… "Your taijutsu isn't great, but before that, we HAVE to do something about your stamina…"

They began walking back as they continued talking. About halfway back, Naruto's mind drifted from the conversation and into thought. If I continue to help her like this, I won't get any serious training in at all…there's got to be something…hmm.

Sakura frowned as she saw the expression on his face in the corner of her eye. She could tell he was deep in thought, and she was pretty sure why. Just like Sakura, he must have been ashamed of her performance, or lack thereof. And now, he was struggling to find a good way to rectify the situation...or to back out. This was a mistake…there's nothing he can do to help someone this pitiful.

Suddenly, Naruto's lips curled into a smile, and he turned his head to face her. "Sakura…I've got an idea." She turned her head to watch him speak, and he continued. "Here's what we'll do."

And so it was. Sakura remembered it all like yesterday, even though it had been a week. Naruto continued to train her for as long as she could stand in the morning. Literally. She could no longer take breaks while sitting down and allowing her body to cool all the way back down. Naruto vowed to push her harder and harder each day until she became something they would both be proud of.

After he tossed her onto her bed later each morning, she'd wake up in the afternoon and get some food. Naruto would finish his training on his own after lunch, and once she was ready to continue on her own, she would do her own self-training.

She'd asked what he meant by that, and Naruto responded that it meant whatever she wanted, as long as it was aerobic. Jumping rope, jogging, sprinting if she dared…taijutsu practice…anything she could think of that would drain her stamina fast. And whatever it was, she was to do it until she collapsed unconscious, or until he found her after his training. If she pushed the limits of her stamina every day, he said, her body would accommodate by increasing those limits. And since her limits were so low, she needed to push hard…not to where she thought the limit was, but to where her body would no longer take it.

At first she'd decided he was crazy…that she wouldn't abuse herself that much. But, the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. No pain, no gain…and her threshold of pain was too low to not need improvement. So be it, she decided, and the true training of Haruno Sakura began.

Every day that week, Naruto had found Sakura out cold and exhausted, or unable to move, and he was proud that she was going through with it. He knew it was dangerous...a shinobi should never exhaust themselves unless it's a life or death situation...unnecessary risks shouldn't be taken. But, Naruto reasoned, Konoha was safe, and he would protect her. If she really had a rough day, he'd lay low the next day and let her recover…but after that the practices would be kicked up two notches…he had decided that first day that he wasn't going to let her slack.

Friday was the first day he had to actually go through with that part of the plan. As she fell over in mid-punch, Naruto realized he should have saw the need coming…she seemed to be more tired each day. As she pulled herself up to her knees, Naruto smirked. "I'll let that one slide, Sakura. Next time you can't stand up, though, we're done for the weekend." Sakura looked up at him in curiosity, and he replied to her enquiring look. "Give everything you've got right here…and then you get the weekend off." The pink-haired girl nodded to him, bit her lip, and rose to her feet on determination. Slowly, she opened her eyes and spat to her side, then turned back to him, slipping into a side stance. What she saw caught her off guard…not because of Naruto's pose, but because of the look on his face.

He's…

It was a look of focus…and concentration...

"Tajuu kage bunshin no jutsu!" (Multiple shadow clones)

In a massive burst of smoke, suddenly the entire area was covered in orange…

Sakura knew she had given everything she had fighting then…in fact she had a feeling that if she had given just a bit less, Naruto might have accidentally hurt her. Naruto had pinpointed her limits, and he was pressing them great expertise. She couldn't handle a mass amount of clones attacking her all at once, so Naruto pressed at her with only one clone at a time...

Ten minutes later, an exhausted Sakura fell to the ground, and Naruto carried her home to her bed to rest for the day.

Yet, for some reason, she had been optimistic. Maybe, just maybe, she still had something left in her tank this time, and she just needed a few hours to find it. So after a fairly long nap, she dragged herself out of the house to do something involving cardio. Running was out of the question…

Before she knew it, she'd somehow slunk her way over to the battle tree. As she attempted to move her arms, she inwardly cursed. Idiot. You should have stayed in bed for all the good this will do.

After a couple of moments of standing there, she came to the realization that she had no idea how to train on something like this. Looking around, she found another less imposing block of wood to practice her punches and kicks on…probably Rock Lee's play toy or something…guess I'll try it out. Sakura threw a curious punch against the wooden stump, and gasped lightly at the sudden pain in her knuckles. Pulling her hand back and looking at it, Sakura could see the small scratches the wood had made on her delicate skin. I've been a ninja for a full year, and my hands still aren't calloused at all...

A low guttural growl could be heard as Sakura closed her eyes and balled her fist again...

Hyuuga Neji frowned. There were 12 birds around him, he suspected. He could only count 11 with his Byakugan, but some sense within him just made him wholeheartedly believe that there was another. Yet, he refused to turn his head. Part of that was that he didn't want to cheat by moving his blind spot…he was attempting to develop some kind of intuition, after all. The second…was that he had the distinct feeling of being watched himself…and he didn't want to let on that he had noticed. Eventually, his curiosity got the best of him, and he tilted his head to the side, waiting a moment for his 359.5 degree vision to reorient itself. Hmm.

He had been half right. There was a 12th thing, but it was no bird. Someone was training near the battle tree, but they were too far away for his eyes to see. Tenten…does not train her fists. So that must be Lee…even Neji knew it was too early for Lee to be doing hardcore training against anything, even a tree that wouldn't fight back. Deactivating his Byakugan, he decided he'd let the hot-headed boy know that, and make sure he left the area.

As he walked away from his hidden area in the forest and back toward the practice clearing, however, he was quickly able to identify the battle cries and screams as...well...not being Lee's. Slowly, he snuck up upon the area, quite amused. So Tenten wants to diversify her training, huh? This, I've got to see. With a smile, he slowed down to his best sneaking speed, reaching the edge of the clearing and pausing in surprise when he saw her.

That's not Tenten...Neji took a moment and watched her face off with her wooden punching bag...and immediately noticed that her fists were bloody. Reactivating his Byakugan, he watched closer as she threw another punch, this one hitting at an odd angle. He saw the nerve endings sending the shot of pain to her brain, and he watched her extended arm twitch as she felt it. A moment later, she was leaning on the wood with both palms open, breathing heavily. She'd obviously been there for a while.

Neji admittedly didn't know much about Sakura. He knew that she was on a team with the Uchiha brat and Uzumaki Naruto. He suspected she was weak, and had heard rumors of her liking the Uchiha. He knew that she didn't show anything worth bothering to watch in the chuunin exams. But she herself, he was clueless about. Whatever. One way or the other, she was drained, and he'd had enough of watching her damage herself for no reason. Now that he knew she was there, he would most certainly hear her every move if he went back to train. Neji boldly dragged his feet as he entered the clearing, making sure to announce his presence with his feet before his mouth.

"What are you doing here? This is not your training area."

Sakura tilted her head in his direction and made eye contact with Neji's pupilless portals for a split moment. After a moment, she turned her head the other way and spat, then returned to the conversation. "It's as much yours as it is mine."

Neji didn't flinch. He knew it was Konoha's space and not Gai's...but that was beside the point at the moment. "Leave here now. You're disturbing my training." He glanced toward her spit, and noted that her spit was as bloody as her hands.

"What makes your training so important?" Sakura turned back toward the tree and began to kick.

Neji scoffed. He wanted to yell at her for being stupid, but the anger quickly drained away from him, and left him conflicted about why he was bothering. "Leave now while you can still walk home."

Sakura paused in mid-kick and brought her foot back down to the ground. Neji blinked as he forced back a yawn, and noticed immediately that her right fist was balled now. Sakura slowly parted her lips and edgily released a question, muscles tensed. "Was that a threat?"

Apparently, she was a bit hot-headed. "There's no need for threats." Neji felt the last bit of his anger drain from him just as he realized this wounded girl was for some reason angry enough to consider attacking him. Whatever. If she feels like killing herself that badly, as long as she does it quietly...Neji strolled back out of the clearing, feeling her eyes on the back of his head the entire way. He paused when he reached the edge of the tree line. One more shot.

Neji chose his words carefully for greatest effect. "It doesn't take the Byakugan to see you're too weak to be training right now..."

The word weak rang in Sakura's head...

"Your efforts are pointless when you risk everything in making them. Rest and let time be the judge of fate." At that, Neji walked away and into the forest.

Sakura blinked at his words, watching him disappear into the green surroundings.

Neji wouldn't continue to watch her that day...after all, she had spat at his remarks...and her spit was mixed with blood. Surely she knew as well as he did that her training that day was doing no good. Why should he bother?

Sakura knew how wounded she was, and it was her choice. She stood in the middle of the clearing, convincing herself to go on as if he had not spoken. And yet, Neji's words...

"Your efforts are pointless when you risk everything in making them..."

His words reminded her of Rock Lee.

Maybe he's right...there will be other times to push myself...I'm too close to the edge right now.

Neji heard as she threw a couple more punches and kicks, and then packed up her belongings and left. Good riddance. Now he could train in peace, and not worry about a girl breaking her bones a bit away. With a frown, he caught himself thinking ahead...She better not try to come back here again...