Author's Note: I am so sorry for the wait! Holy crap over 200 reviews? Thank you! Oh my gosh! Thank for all of your kind words, everyone! They all mean a lot to me! I hope that you enjoy this chapter too! Don't forget to check out the poll on my page! Now, I guarantee to all of you, the turn this story will take will make Sakura capable of being with any of our three possible suitors. Promise! Anyway, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Warnings: Nothing much, maybe language.

Word Count: 6,988

It was about another month later before the village was teeming with people. Sakura's idea was used, and modified by Tobirama, to get people take up temporary residence in the village to watch the battles and sell their goods. Sakura went along with a bunch of people from the different clans to nearby villages and encourage them to come and see the battles, asking for kind donation based on whether they enjoyed the fights or not.

Normally, Sakura wouldn't have expected that to really work, but it brought in an entire slew of people from all the nearby villages. Sakura had forgotten that in this day and age, it is a lot less common to see any sort of shinobi battle because it was very dangerous. It's the same in Sakura's time, except in the Hidden Villages, the people are surrounded by shinobi and can see what they can do every single day. It's only the people not surrounded by shinobi every moment of the day that finds great intrigue in seeing them battle.

If Sakura had to guess, that's probably why the Chunin Exams were so popular. People are fascinated by the abilities of shinobi, especially if they aren't one. So, Sakura takes her previous thought back. She should have expected that it would be this awesome. Sakura felt right at home in the bustling dirt roads. This was what Konoha was suppose to be about. All these people with their contrasting personalities and views was very much like the future her home becomes.

Sakura, along with a bunch of volunteers from all the clans, mostly women with the occasional boy and Hashirama (who wanted to take part in as many aspects in this as possible), organized and preapproved the ribbons and where they would be going and with whom. Noncombatants in the clans were in charge, in shifts, on keeping score for all the clans to make sure this entire thing runs as organized as something like this can be. Controlled chaos, if Sakura had to put a phrase to what was going on.

Everyone was in a sunnier mood, despite the chaos. So many people having entered the village, anxious to see what all the clans had to offer and the "Yay! We have a village fund!" as Hashirama calls it, is beginning to grow as people pay a small fee for the three day long epic shinobi battle royale. The first day would start at noon, which was coming up shortly, and go until midnight. The second day would go from eight in the morning to early even, then a dinner provided by the Akimichi clan, and the final day would be midnight until noon the next day.

There is even a betting box going around. Every match can have people betting on one side or the other. Well, it's more like donations. If someone really enjoyed the match they can throw some money in the box and that also goes to the village's upbringing. Tobirama came up with that one.

Once everyone is acclimated, Hashirama calls for all participants and spectators to head to the one day 7th training field for the first match. There is wooden pillars separating all the fields to show out of bounds and safe spectator lines. The pillars are imbued with Hashirama's wood style chakra, so that his wood clones would be able to dictate easily who was in and out of bounds and to keep the people safe.

The entire village was practically jittering with excitement as everyone, shinobi and civilian alive, arrived at the training ground and gathered around the eldest of the three founders.

"Thank you, everyone," Hashirama says, then waits a moment for the loud din of everyone talking to quiet down. "Thank you, everyone, for participating and for coming to join us. We are so excited to have you all here and hope that you enjoy! Now, for a first match, just to kind of see first hand how things will be done, we invite a match between the young woman that came up with this idea and a young man from my clan, Ryo. Both of you would you please come and demonstrate."

Sakura and the Senju in mention both walk into the middle of the sanctioned off portion for this battle arena. Sakura remembered Ryo, he was one of the two Senju that Sakura ran into when she first woke up in the past, She accidently beat him down swiftly and then kind of split without really seeing the battle all the way through. So, Sakura can understand where he's coming from. A man's pride can be very crippling.

Although Sakura isn't much better. She has a pretty hearty pride as well.

"Ryo-san," Sakura says, tipping her head in greeting. He does as well, out of respect.

"After this battle is over, it will be decided," Ryo says. "We will both know where we stand with one another."

Sakura nods. "And then we can put this behind us. Agreed?"

Ryo nods. "Yes, ma'am."

Madara remembered Sakura's ribbon colors and the point system and was easily able to make the adequate number of ribbons of all the colors specified. Everyone knew what they meant and how much each was.

The prize for the winner with the most points, excluding Madara, Hashirama and Tobirama, who denounced the possibility of them winning do to the massive advantage they'll have just from their ribbons alone as Kage level shinobi, would be allowed to get specialized armor and a weapon of their choice, crafted using chakra metal. Which was high quality stuff that was not only a powerful conductor to chakra, making it immune to chakra based attacks, but it was also hardier than any sort of metal out there.

In Sakura's time such a thing was extremely hard to come by, but now? It was next to impossible. Sakura had to wonder where they had managed to find enough to be able to make both armor and a weapon from. Either way, it was a juicy prize for the people of this time. Not so much for Sakura, because she doesn't wear any armor, but maybe she could get some kind of specialized weapon or something. That is, if she wins.

Sakura and Ryo both have green, 30 point, ribbons for the equivalent of a Chunin.

Sakura reaches back to her medical pouch and pull out her signature black gloves, slipping them on. Sakura shakes her limbs out, warming them up. She rolls her shoulders a bit before falling into a defensive crouch.

This was a big moment. Sakura was helping hand out ribbons this morning. She saw that there was far more men grabbing ribbons rather than woman. If Sakura had to guess, she's one of maybe two dozen woman participating. She knows that Salma is working as one of the refs and Aya is participating. She also knows about one of the Senju women, a genjutsu specialist called Toka will be fighting. Those are the only ones she knows by name. The rest are a mixture of Sarutobi, Uchiha, Senju and only one Yamanaka. There isn't any Akimichi kunoichi, which actually doesn't surprise Sakura much.

Even in her time, there wasn't many Akimichi kunoichi, and not for any sexist reasons, as far as she knew. It just wasn't popular for the Akimichi women, they much preferred to stay at home and cook. Or at least, that's what she once heard Choji telling Ino when the blond had brought it up.

What happens today, right now in these fights, will dictate how kunoichi are viewed for years to come. When she was called up here, Sakura heard the giggles from the people, both clans and civilians. They don't think much of her. Well, the Uchiha and Senju, from what Sakura saw, managed to keep their faces neutral, but that could have been for any number of reasons.

They know what Sakura did to Kana so it could be that, or the fact that Hashirama was staring at them with level brown eyes and no one wanted to risk his wrath - though Sakura doubted the gentle hearted Senju could conjure such an emotion - or perhaps it was Tobirama and Madara, standing on the opposite side of the field from most of them, staring with almost daring eyes.

It leads Sakura to wonder if Tobirama told them - or at least Hashirama - about what Sakura had said about their shared mother. He didn't mention it, but perhaps that was because there was nothing more that needed to be said. Or, it could just simply be that Tobirama hadn't said anything. It could just be that, too.

"Are you ready, Sakura?" Salma says, bringing Sakura back to the present. The battle field has been cleared so that Sakura and Ryo could have their fight.

"I'm ready," Sakura says, looking over at Salma standing at the sidelines.

Salma nods, then looks over at Ryo. "Aniki? Are you ready?" Ryo nods and Sakura blanches. This guy was Salma's brother? She never asked Salma about her brother and now she feels really stupid for having not. Who would have thought that the guy Sakura rubbed the wrong way day 1 ended up being the older brother to her first friend in this time.

What rotten fucking luck.

"I'm ready," Ryo says, pulling out his sword.

Salma nods and holds up a hand. "Hajime!" She chops the air. Sakura and Ryo charge at each other. Just because this is Salma's brother, it doesn't mean that Sakura can't make this a true fight. As warriors, they owe it to one another to fight their hardest.

Ryo, with the distance his sword offers, swipes at Sakura's head. She ducks under the swipe, dropping down to a knee in front of him, striking out her foot at his left shin. He steps back to avoid the strike and swings the sword down toward Sakura's face. She pulls out a kunai and blocks it, the loud clang of metal against metal rings in Sakura's ear.

He's strong, but since Sakura got training from Tsunade, there is very few that could win out against Sakura's physical strength. She pushes his sword off to the right and grabs his wrist, standing up and twisting it sharply, making him drop his sword. Ryo grunts in pain and once again tries to maneuver his weight to throw Sakura off her balance. She teeters a bit, but keeps her left heel dug into the grass. With her free leg, she kicks his sword away, less he escape her grip and go for it again. The last thing she needs is to get stabbed.

Sakura spins around, wrapping his arms around her and throwing him over her shoulder and onto the ground, no doubt nothing he expected. His armor is cumbersome and slows him down. Sakura flips him onto his back and twists his arm up toward his shoulders. She drops her knee onto the center of his back, holding the kunai to his throat. It all happened so fast, it took Salma calling the match in Sakura's favor for her to realize that it was over.

That was probably the shortest match she had ever been part of. It probably wasn't fair for him. He had a lot working against him. Sakura's a girl. She's smaller than him and a lot lighter so her strength was a surprise and usually people don't try to get that close to each other. Sakura is one big contradiction. She shouldn't be this strong, this fast, this shinobi like. She's a woman.

Needless to say, there was some surprise - or a lot of surprise - in the shinobi and civilians alike. Even though Ryo and Sakura, when viewed by the Fifth Hokage, for Sakura, and the soon-to-be First Hokage, for Ryo, are both of Chunin rank but there is significant differences in their power. Perhaps because Sakura had a legendary warrior as her teacher, while war was Ryo's teacher.

Sakura stands up, moving away from Ryo to give him some space. Ryo climbs to his feet, rolling his shoulder back, no doubt pained when Sakura twisted it the wrong way, before bowing his head to Sakura. Sakura bowed back. She couldn't tell if he was upset by what had happened. His face remained neutral.

There is some awkward clapping that followed. Obviously no one knew what to think. No, strike that. Aya knew what to think. She was cheering very loudly, jumping up and down, fist striking the air.

"You go, Sakura-sensei!" Aya cheers, grinning brightly.

Sakura glances over at the boisterous Uchiha, waving fondly at the younger teen. Aya grins brightly when Sakura turned to look at her.

Ryo picks up his discarded sword, putting it back in it's sheath. He turns to head toward the crowd only to stop for a moment and pull off his ribbon that was wrapped around his belt and offers it to Sakura. She takes it, nodding her thanks. She pins it half hanging out of her medical pouch with a sewing needle she borrowed from Salma. Once it's in place, Sakura turns to follow Ryo off the field.

"Sakura-chan!" Hashirama calls from where he stood on the opposite side of the field from Salma, and where Sakura was heading. She glances over her shoulder at him, raising her eyebrow in question. "Come here!" He says, waving her over to him.

She spins around on her heel and walks over to the future First. She stops right in front of him. "Yes?"

"I would like to fight you next, Sakura," Hashirama says, smiling.

Sakura stares at him. First, blankly, then, as she processed the words, in absolute horror. She holds her hands up and shakes her head. "Are you nuts? No way!" She backs up slowly.

Hashirama grabs her arms to hold her in place before she can get too far away. "No, no, listen to me first. Don't run away."

"I don't want to fight you," Sakura says, not pulling away though.

Hashirama frowns at that, probably having never been told of such a thing. There is a bit of a pout to the future First's expression. "Why not?" He asks. He sounds like a child being denied something he wants.

Sakura scoffs at that, rolling her eyes. "I want to live," she says blandly. Hashirama looks mock hurt.

"I won't hurt you," he says, pouting. "Think of this only as a fight between friends."

Sakura gives him a incredulous look. "Right. I don't doubt it'd be a friendly bout, sort of," she mutters that last part to herself, "but there is no way someone like I can even offer a challenge to you, my lord."

Hashirama scoffs. "No such thing. Everyone offers a challenge one way or another. And besides, it's not about winning or losing. It's about having fun and giving people a good show so that they invest more in the village." He smiles at that. "Fine then. Think of it as public service. Besides, we have to show how two on two battles work."

Sakura visibly pales. "Who else would be fighting?"

"Tobi and Madara offered to be part of the demonstration," Hashirama supplies. Then he smiles, as if he saw nothing wrong with that statement.

But Sakura did. "My lords," Sakura does a sideways glance toward the other two, before looking back over at Hashirama, "I mean this in the kindest way possible, but no. It's an honor, truly, but surely there is someone else out there that could be a far better partner for whoever was the odd one out than I. And besides that, I'm interested in watching the match too. I don't want to be in it."

"I understand," Hashirama says, wilting like a flower under a harsh hail storm. "I just... I just thought it would be fun, you know? Your match against Ryo ended too quickly, I thought that perhaps this would be a nice way for us to bond. True shinobi showing their mettle against one another. All in good fun, you know?" He releases Sakura's arms and looks at her with large, puppy-dog brown eyes.

Sakura looks indecisive. She doesn't want to make an ass of herself going up against three legendary warriors, or, two. It's a two on two battle. But what she said was the truth. She'd have a lot better time witnessing the battle rather than to actually be participating in it. While a great honor, it also feels really painful, or like it would be. This entire thing could go one of two ways. Either they go easy on her and insult her as a shinobi, which Sakura's not completely not okay with because she'll need all the advantages she can get when facing one of these warriors, or, she gets the crap kicked out of her.

Just short of fighting her ass off and making this the best Kami-damned battle she ever fought in just to not negate any strides she has made for people's opinion of Kunoichi. Surely no one expects Sakura to nearly be on the level that these three tread on, but still. After her victory against Ryo, no matter how swift, was still a major victory in the eyes of the people.

Now Sakura's conflicted. If she accepts, even though she's going to fail epically, it's still such a honor to fight these legendary titans. And one of the men that she has come to admire most in the world, the First Hokage, wants to fight her, to show the world what he sees. Whatever that is. Sakura can tell that Hashirama has great respect for woman, she's seen how he treats her and every other woman he's ever come across, so she knows this isn't something underhanded of any sort. Maybe she should take a chance.

"I... don't know what to do," Sakura says, sighing.

"Don't let Hashirama pressure you," Madara says, glaring at Hashirama.

"Or you could," Hashirama offers, smiling boyishly. Tobirama rolls his eyes.

"How you make friends, brother, I will never understand." He shakes his head. "If she doesn't wish to fight us then you shouldn't try and force her."

Hashirama pouts, looking between his little brother and childhood friend. "I'm not forcing anyone into anything. Don't say that. You make me seem like a bad person and I'm not trying to." He looks over at Sakura with gentle brown eyes. "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan. If you really don't want to, you don't have to."

Sakura sighs again. "Look, it's nothing like you guys think. I only have the greatest respect in the world for the three of you and you're all on such a level that... well, it's a little intimidating to think about. Either I don't try my hardest because I'm nervous and it seems disrespectful to you guys, or I do try my hardest and all the planets align and there is some kind of awesome celestial event going on and I manage to land a blow..." Sakura rubs up and down her arm, suddenly nervous on how this will sound. "I could seriously hurt someone. I know how to control myself but... the three of you are so legendary. I just don't want to make a mistake or anything."

Sakura runs her fingers through her longer pink hair, making a mental note on just how long it's getting.

Hashirama brightens up immediately. "Is that what you're worried about? Aww, Sakura-chan, there is no need to be worried. You are an amazing medical shinobi, Sakura, I'm sure that everything will be fine. Okay?"

Sakura nods, shoulders sagging a bit in defeat. "Okay. Then, who's on who's team?" Why is it getting so hard to say no to the First? Oh, that would probably be why. He's the First-fucking-Hokage.

Hashirama is practically bouncing in excitement. "I wanted to be on your team, Sakura," he glances over at Tobirama and Madara, who were staring blankly back at him with almost two whole people length of empty space between them. His shoulders slump, looking depressed. "But, I doubt the two of them could work together so, pick your poison, Sakura. Tobirama or Madara?"

Sakura gives him an exasperated look. "It honestly doesn't matter to me."

Hashirama smiles, patting Sakura's shoulders, finally letting her go. "Excellent. Then I suppose I'll partner with Tobi, he'll be jealous if I picked Madara," Hashirama says teasingly, looking over at his brother. Tobirama rolls his eyes while Madara just starts walking onto the field, his strides long and sure. The battlefield was his playground, as it is for all legendary warriors. This is where he's meant to be. His lethality and grace was always present, Sakura noted, but the moment the battle was hanging over him like fresh meat to a hungry dog, both increased ten fold.

And Madara wasn't the only one that had such a shift. Hashirama and Tobirama did to. Sakura hadn't seen it Ryo and hadn't had the chance to see if anyone else had it yet either, but she knew from experience that Tsunade had such a switch, as did Kakashi. They could be the most dangerous people in the world and walk around like they are ready to break the world in half, but put a battlefield in front of them and it shifts their entire presence into something a hundred times more physically dangerous.

Such a thing wasn't the case for Sakura. She was no doubt a dangerous shinobi, she gives herself enough respect to acknowledge that, but she's not like any of the aforementioned people. There was a special presence of lethality and grace whenever they were placed in front of danger. Sakura has yet to learn how to separate the two personas. The blood thirsty shinobi willing and ready to kill and be killed, and the 17 year old girl that is still, in her own way, trying to find herself and her way back home.

Sakura follows after Madara, mentally laughing at the irony of all of this. Just months ago, she was battling the man that is now going to be her ally against the two Senju founders of her home village. Even in mock battles like there, where there is no killing and it's all about strutting one's stuff so to speak, Sakura has to work with Madara like he was the only person in the world she could trust. And he has to for Sakura too. Hashirama and Tobirama, being brothers and longtime battle partners, has an even steeper advantage compared to Sakura and Madara.

"We will demonstrate a two on two battle," Hashirama says to the crowd. "It's at this point that everyone can disperse and start having your own battles." Sakura's not sure if he was saying that just so everyone knew that they could leave, or if he honestly expected people to head off, but no one moved, even though there was murmurs of appreciation for the clan leader's time. Who would skip out on an opportunity to watch these three legendary warriors fight and not have to worry about dying? That's why Sakura wanted to watch.

But alas, the fates are not kind. As usual.

"What's the plan?" Sakura asks once Madara finally turns to her from the center of the field. "I'm sorry about you getting the short stick."

Madara waves her concern away. "We will utilize the natural disadvantage."

Sakura's eyebrow quirked up at that. Her voice coming out flat when she asks, "And what does that mean?"

Madara blinks, looking at her confused for a moment before shaking his head. "I didn't mean it like that," he says softly, rubbing the back of his head uncomfortably, letting out a little sigh. "I mean... Hashirama, honorable and empty headed Hashirama, will try to do his best to dance around his battle with you, which we can use to our advantage."

"He wouldn't fight me seriously," Sakura says. She doesn't know if she's insulted or relieved by such a thing. No, she doesn't want to fight to the death or anything, she definitely wouldn't win anyway, but she does want to be taken lightly. She is still a Shinobi and she has her pride.

"Perhaps," Madara says, shrugging his shoulders. "Honorable Hashirama would do his best to respect the Kunoichi side of you and the woman side of you. It'll be interesting to see how he pulls that off."

Sakura shakes her head. "Okay, fine. I'll take what I can get. So what's the plan? I'm not fast enough to compete with Tobirama-sama, and I'm not a jutsu specialist. I have only have a handful jutsu that aren't medically based." Sakura shrugs. "Sorry."

Madara shakes his head this time. "Don't apologize for your skill set. We can just work around it. I remember you said something about your Taijutsu when we first met. And that tree..."

Sakura nods and says, simply, "I'm strong."

"Perhaps there is something you can do with that..." Madara says, but doesn't sound too confident. They way he tilts his head, the hair that usually covers his right eye slides away and reveals it. Sakura watches as the deep black abysses disappear and the Sharingan spins to life. It has been a lot longer than Sakura realized since she had last seen the Sharingan. Even in a village made up with dozens of Uchiha, the Sharingan almost felt like a taboo thing. A sign of distrust. So no one used it as far as Sakura knew. Not even Aya. It mesmerizes Sakura for a moment.

Seeing the red wheel of death appearing in the Uchiha Patriarch's eyes brings Sakura's mind to a place she hasn't visited in a long time. Sasuke. The thought alone surprised her. She had thought about Ino and Naruto a lot. Hinata and Tenten too. She had even spared a few heartbroken thoughts for Neji, the friend she knew for certain she had lost. Yet, not yet, had her mind gone to the boy who she spent the greatest portion of her life pining over. A boy she was willing to sacrifice everything for.

Yet since she got here, she hasn't thought about him. Maybe once or twice, in the midst of other thoughts the boy she had loved would flicker across her mind, but there is no solid memory since she got here that she can recall really thinking about the boy. Somehow, even though the jerk she had decided - after he tried to kill her again - didn't matter anymore left her feeling bad for not having thought about him. He wasn't just the boy who would never love her. He was her teammate, her friend.

Why did that thought leave such a sour taste in her mouth?

She quickly shakes her head, trying to get her head back into the game. As bad as she felt for not giving all of her friends and family the proper thoughts they deserve from her, now wasn't the time for her to be doing that. Even if this wasn't a serious life or death battle, it was still a battle and someone could get hurt if she's not paying attention. Namely herself.

"If I can get my hands on either of them..." Sakura says slowly, lowering her voice so only he can hear her, "then, I'd probably be able to remove them from the field." Madara stares at her with mixed emotions across his face; disbelief, curiosity, maybe a bit of wonder. Sakura can almost imagine the look on his face when he realizes that she really isn't messing with him. "I will not win in a straight up fight, but I may be able to get one of them off the field, but that's only if I can get close."

"Then you go for Hashirama," Madara says, face falling back to a neutral look. "I've had enough spats with Tobirama to know how he works. His speed is legendary, even I can admit to that." Sakura nods in understanding.

"Are you two ready?" Hashirama calls, hands folded neatly in front of him. Tobirama is already in his battle armor, similar to the armor that Sakura can recall in fragments of her memories except that his long sleeve black shirt under his blue armor is replaced with a short sleeve black shirt. Everything else in the same.

"I am," Madara says.

Sakura nods, pulling up her gloves on a little bit more secure. "I am as well, Hashirama-sama."

Hashirama smiles, moving his right hand up his long white sleeves for a moment, touching a dark mark on his arm - undoubtedly a seal - before sending chakra into it and his armor appears around him, settling easily into place. Madara did the same, a seal on the back of his hand summons his own red armor onto his body, kicking up his hair a bit in the pop.

"Salma?" Hashirama says, looking over at the young Senju woman. "Would you do us the honors?"

Salma bows respectfully. "Yes, my lord." She holds her right hand up into the air. Sakura hears another pop next to her and Sakura sees something in the corner of her eye that makes her heart rate pick up. In Madara's hands is his signature gunbai fan and battle scythe.

For the first time in a long time, Sakura's knees start to tremble. In her mind's eye, she can see Obito wielding the legendary fan, swinging it around as if it were his when he was still playing the part of Madara. Even though it was just a fan, it was unique. It was capable of enhancing the chakra nature coming out of it with torrents of wind or fire. The edges of the fan are super sharp and easily able to cut through hundreds of people.

Sakura shivers, pulling herself away a bit, shifting ever-so-slightly away from Madara. She shakes herself trying to force her mind to focus. She takes a few deep breaths before falling into her offensive crouch. She's going to have to be quick on her feet. As kind and friendly as Hashirama was, he was still a powerful shinobi that was revered as the God of Shinobi. One doesn't get that title for being a push over.

In some ways - whether it's intentional or not - it's smart to be as disarming as Hashirama is. When talking to him Sakura often forgets that he's probably the most powerful shinobi in this time. Sakura has to keep murmuring to herself as she stares at the brown haired man directly in front of her, under her breath, "Take him seriously. Don't be fooled."

"Hajime!" Salma calls.

Sakura waits a fraction of a second, catching Madara shooting past her like lightning. His feet barely touch the ground as he swiftly closes the distance between himself and Tobirama. Tobirama, sword in hand, meets him half way. They clash and Sakura wonders if she actually saw a shockwave pass between them or if she had just imagined it. They both spun and twirled around each other in a deadly dance.

Clang, clang, clang. Jumping around each other so fast that Sakura could barely make out what was happening.

"Sakura-chan!" Hashirama calls, pulling Sakura's attention over to the long brown haired Senju and blinks in shock, realizing he was just a few feet in front of her and closing he distance fast. "Battle time, my friend!"

Sakura ducks just in time to avoid the kick aimed for her head. She scrambled under his leg and runs for her life, trying to put as much difference between herself and the Senju clan leader. She spins around to see him leisurely standing where she used to be moments before, he was staring at her with curiously deceptive eyes, giving her a moment to catch up with what was going on. Which she was thankful for. Focus, Skaura, damn it!

Sakura quickly calculates a plan in her head, not feeling very confident before pulling out a kunai and running back at him. She swipes at his face, which he easily avoids, ducking down and swiping at her feet with his own. Sakura jumps up, jutting out with one foot toward Hashirama's chest. He leans back to avoid it. They trade blows for a few minutes. Punch, kick, doge, jump, spin, back up, switch stances, block, side step, advance.

It took a quick pause in the battle for the pink haired girl to notice the fluidity of her own body. Battling against Hashirama was like an eloquent dance. Hashirama and Sakura were the dancers and their battle was the steps, the movements. Tobirama and Madara's sword, scythe and fan clanking, thwacking and clinking off of each other was their ballad. And it was all surreal.

Hashirama closes the distance this time, intent on keeping the dance going. So they continued for a few more minutes on top of however long they had already been fighting. The future First must have sensed that Sakura was ready to move on to the more epic parts of the battle for he smiles easily. For the most part, their Taijutsu bout was more of them feeling each other out. Get a feel for how the other moved, but it was on such a subconscious level that it's left Sakura surprised. She's not the person that is elegant and beautiful in a fight.

That's right. Sakura isn't the delicate flower, dancing soothingly in the breeze. If anything, she's a tornado. Swift, unpredictable and very dangerous if one gets caught in the cross fire.

Hashirama must have seen the shift in Sakura, when her stance changed. She squared her shoulders and leveled out her chin. A quick flicker of the eye over to where the Uchiha clan leader and the younger brother of the First showed a flurry of moving colors, spinning around each other trying to get the better of the other. Their clothes and armor are barely able to keep up, Sakura doubts that the civilians can see much of what's going on. Perhaps that is why Hashirama was taking it slow. This is a show after all.

Sometime during their match, Sakura had lost the kunai in her hand and it alarms her a bit to realize how much on autopilot she was. Sakura charges, pulling her hand back for a punch, and like so many times before, Hashirama is easily able to side step her. But Sakura wasn't going for the punch. At the last moment, she pushes chakra to her hand and lets it graze against his right thigh as she flies past him.

She turns to face Hashirama right as he lets out a grunt of pain and falls to a knee, looking surprised. There is murmurs in the crowd behind him, wonder what could have happened. Sakura shakes her head, forcing herself to forget that they are there.

As if on instinct, as soon as Hashirama hit the ground, Tobirama was at his side, grabbing him under the arm and scanning his body for injuries.

"What's wrong?" He asks, gruffly, eyes flickering between Hashirama and the gracefully approaching Madara. He walked slow and smooth, each step precise and purposeful. His dangerous red eyes focused on Tobirama flickering between chilled detachment and near unrivaled rage. Something lurked beneath those red depths that wanted desperately to destroy Tobirama and it appeared as though it was warring inside of Madara.

Fear crawled up Sakura's spine for a moment. In three second intervals, Madara had the presence of the person she stood before and battle years and years in the future. Sakura has given out her fair share of dangerous looks, and has been on the receiving end of some really bad ones herself. But never before, not even in the future, had she noticed just how dangerous Madara was looking at Tobirama. If Sakura had to use one word to describe it, the first word that came was poisonous.

But the look in his eyes kept flickering back and forth between being the Madara Uchiha she's coming to know and the person that he was in the future. The person who just wanted everything to stop. Sakura was watching the person she was coming to like turn into the person she probably feared the most. And it terrified her. Sakura, perhaps, had forgotten what truly mattered here and what she should have been looking for. Madara wasn't a monster now, that much she was able to discern, but he wasn't in her original timeline either. And he changed then too.

Thankfully, somehow, whatever it was that was changing him, hadn't won yet. He was obviously still fighting it, whether he knew it or not. His facial expressions never changed, just his eyes. The ever dangerous Sharingan.

"I'm okay," Hashirama says, halting the frightening shifting in Madara's eyes and the Uchiha clan leader remains, the dark look disappearing into the abyss. "I..." Hashirama takes Tobirama's arm, pulling himself up but when he tentatively tries to put his weight on it, it easily yields. Hashirama half lifts it, wiggling his ankle experimentally, trying to figure out what's wrong. "I can't really move my right leg..."

Madara circles around the two brothers to stand next to Sakura. His eyes are scanning Hashirama's favored leg. Hashirama leans again Tobirama, rubbing his thigh, eyebrows raised curiously.

"You..." His voice is soft, as if in disbelief. "You severed the muscles in my leg," he says shocked, eyes widening. "Yet the flesh is undamaged...fascinating."

"Definitely," Tobirama says dryly, "especially during a battle."

Hashirama nods in agreement. Either he didn't notice the sarcasm in Tobirama's voice, or he didn't care to address it, because he's still looking at his leg curiously. After a moment he looks up at Sakura and smiles.

"I do believe this fight just got a lot more interesting." His kind, dark eyes light up in interest. Tobirama lets go of Hashirama's arm and the older man balances on his one good foot, holding up his other one slightly.

"If by interesting, you mean harder, then yeah," Madara says, black tomos spinning around his pupil. He sounds pleased.

Hashirama laughs. "Yeah, that too."

Sakura shoots a look over at the Uchiha clan leader trying to see if he was still warring with himself, but he's calm and relaxed and whatever was happening as he was approaching stopped. Because of Hashirama? Sakura's eyes flicker back to the Senju clan leader. He's quickly trying to adjust his stance to accommodate the loss of his right leg. Once he's appeared to got it, he turns back to Sakura.

"I truly will have to pick your brain apart after this is all send and done, Sakura-chan. I have to know how you did that," Hashirama says, adjusting his battle stance a bit to keep the weight off his bad leg.

Sakura nods. Tobirama takes his place right next to Hashirama and the battle continues. But this part is a lot more hecktic than before. Tobirama and Hashirama are staying close to each other, forcing Sakura, who is the smallest of them, to bounce around in-between them, avoiding strikes on both sides, while Madara was circling around on the outside.

Hashirama has slowed down considerable, trying to adjust to his handicap. When Sakura's hand glows again, flying out toward his left leg this time, the future Firsts hands fly together, interlacing. A very familiar hand seal. Sakura releases the jutsu and jumps up, out from between the two brothers and away from the ground as quickly as she can having a bad feeling about what was coming next. She was right.

Wood broke out of the ground and shot after her, and Madara, who also put distance between himself and the brown haired man. Tobirama quickly closed the distance and continued their battle. When Sakura hits the ground, she runs for it, ducking and dodging the pillars of wood forcing distance between them. At the last second before hitting the tree line, Sakura spins around and jumps up onto it, pulling five kunai from her pocket, running along the wood back toward Hashirama. She quickly wraps the kunai with bomb tags and throws two toward Hashirama, on the ground next to his bad leg.

He diverts his attention for a split second, sees the bomb tags sizzling away and jumps off with his only good leg, only making it a few feet before doing some more hands signs and an earth barrier wraps around him, protecting him from the explosion.

Sakura lands on the protruding bubble of earth, feeling with her chakra to confirm that he's no longer in there. Head hunter? Sakura jumps down to the ground, looking around, mentally recalling the last time she was in this position. Sakura smiles a bit. It's now, or never.

Sakura twists around to look at Madara. "Madara-sama," she calls. His head tilts slightly in her direction but he doesn't take his eyes off of Tobirama. "Jump!"

With that, the prized student of the Slug Princess Tsunade brings her fist up, charging it with Chakra and slamming it down on the ground, feeling the earth shatter and yield beneath her strength with a triumphant yell, "Shannaro!"

For the Reviewers:

1. Vampirelover12100: Haha, thank you! I'm so glad that you liked it! Thanks so much!

2. LoonyTuned: Yes, I couldn't agree more about Hashirama! He's just so cute! Thanks a ton!

3. Anya Ishikawa: Hahah! Holy crap, Salma's meeting with a lot of people! XD

4. StarKissed666: I've been thinking about it. We will have to see. :D

5. Wang Yao: What? Oh no! Don't worry, your vote will be taken into consideration too! I'm sorry about that! You read my other story? Aw, thank you! You are definitely included and I love hearing what you have to say. :)

6. HaPPy2901: Haha, so sorry about that! Hopefully when the romance begins to happen, regardless of who it's between, it'll be believable and people will like it.

7. spiderqween1: No, I completely understand. Tobirama is a close second right now and only needs a few votes to become the top contender. Oh yes, you will definitely have to let me know when your story is done! I can't wait! Ooh, congratulations! Thank you so much!

8. Alyssa Heloise: I think I'm in love with the brotherly relationship Hashirama and Tobirama have. :D Oh no, it's totally fine! Thanks!

9. dreadwings: Thanks!

10. Mishil: Thank you very much for all your kind words! I'm happy that you are enjoying the story so much!

11. ShatteredGreen: He was more referring to his raging little brother quickly approaching him, than anything, but also a bit of a reminder to her to keep an eye on herself. Thanks!

12. NarutoXHonoka: Trust me, whomever Sakura gets with will in no way impact the future in the way you are fearing. :D Yeah, the Uzumaki clan will be making an appearance soon, but right now, there isn't really any legality to what they are doing. The Fire Country hasn't even gotten involved yet. Yes, things will take a very interesting turn, I think. XD

13. Kosmas: Thank you!

14. miniemousemom: Thank you!

15. Mameha: Thanks!

16. Zero-Tails317: Hehe, yeah. A lot of questions that will start getting their answers once a fondly thought of friend appears. Thanks!

17. silverwolfighter00: Haha, thank you!

18. PeopleOrderOurPatties: I'm so glad that everything is making sense and isn't hard to read! Thank you very much!

19. moonlight468: Hehe, we will learn soon!

20. katsekala: Thank you!

21. Taraneh Rose: Thank you!

22. lyndyloowho: Have no fear about that! I promise! Haha, that's fine!

23. True Guardian Angel: Thanks!

24. Mistra Rose: Oh no problem! I'm still working out in my head where exactly that I want to put that situation, but no fears, it will come! :D Thanks so much!

25. sebabug: O.O I am so terribly sorry. XD Or not. Haha.

26. Shadowfate2322: Thank you!

27. RedGoddessEclipse: Thank you!

28. mani nova: Got it. Thanks!

29. Konohamaya Uzumaki: OOh, maybe. XD Hehe, thanks!

30. britneybish: Thanks! Sorry for the wait!

31. Alexandra Sylvan Daniels: Hi Alex! I'm Lexi, it's awesome to meet you! I'm so happy that you enjoy the story and it's not too hard to understand.

32. Stunning Sunset: Thanks for the help!

33. SilversunnyD: Oh gosh, thank you so much!

34. blackcreed11: He is pretty cool, huh?

35. ArtlieST: I'm so happy to hear that! Thank you!

36. alice: ...hm. Thanks?

37. Akatsuki's Kyuubi: Sorry for the wait!

38. sousie: Thank you!

39. animefan36: Oh man, I never thought about that! Hahaha!

40. hentai18ancilla: XD

41. SoraAraii: Thank you! Sorry for the wait!