A/N: Thank you for over a hundred follows. Road to a hundred reviews and favorites, hear I come!

Naruto stood facing Sakura, observing the determined look on her face. She was in a taijutsu stance, ready for offensive combat. Her hands were positioned in front of her, ready to punch or block at a moment's notice, while her right foot was set back and her left foot was forward.

He studied her movements with a neutral expression, his focus solely on her. She was the only thing that mattered at that moment.

Kakashi looked between the two. "Are you ready?" he asked.

Naruto blinked in reply while Sakura nodded, keeping eye contact with him. He stared at her down.

He didn't mean to intimidate her; no, his intention was to test her. Over the past month, Sakura had been telling him about her improvement and newfound strength. Naruto was proud of her and would seize any opportunity to express his admiration. It was a joy to see his friend so confident and self-assured, but at times, she still questioned her abilities.

When she fell into these self-doubting moods, she would always implore him not to hold back during their eventual sparring session.

Now, here they were, in Team 7's training ground.

Kakashi raised his hand and shouted, "Begin!"

In the blink of an eye, his hands flowed with fluid movements as he performed hand signs. Suddenly, a pocket of air thrust from his hands towards her. Her eyes widened in panic when she realized she couldn't dodge.

Naruto raised an eyebrow when she burst into a cloud of sakura petals.

Leaning his head slightly to the right, Naruto dodged the water bullet meant to knock him out. Pulling out a scroll from his pouch, he directed it behind him in one smooth movement. Pouring chakra to unseal the scroll, dozens of shuriken raced towards where the attack originated from.

Turning around casually, he bore witness to the carnage. His shuriken covered quite a bit of the grassy floor of the forest, having not been made sharp enough to pierce. He was here to defeat Sakura, not kill her, but with the amount of chakra he poured to the seal, the force at which the shuriken were shot would've knocked her out, or badly bruised at the very least.

His senses screamed danger. Naruto's eyes flickered to the right, catching the sight of a storm of sakura petals blurring towards him.

With deft movements, Naruto executed hand signs. He inhaled deeply, expelling a stream of mud towards the petals. Quickly assessing his chakra levels, he broke the illusion, revealing a stream of water in place of the petals.

What commenced was a battle for supremacy. Chakra vs chakra. Earth vs Water. Two areas in which he would always win. His mud consumed the opposing water. Naruto poured more chakra into the technique to increase its force. It hurtled towards Sakura..

She met it head on. Jumping, she landed on top of the river, uncaring of his chakra fighting her hold. Unfortunately, her superior control had reign in this fight. His chakra was spread evenly through the entire river. Expending more helped to fight against her hold, but her attention wasn't being split, and when you added her perfect chakra control to the mix, there was nothing he could do but end the jutsu.

Even so, it would take time for the mud river to dispel back into pure chakra. Running through it, she was atop him, aiming a punch to his face. He blocked the attack with his forearm.

Sakura smirked.

Being nothing more than a feint, she grabbed his forearm. He was about to disregard the hold entirely to punch her stomach, but he did a double take. From where her hand was grabbing his arm, his chakra was flooding out of his body to conjoin with hers.

He had known what she and Kakashi had been working on this past month, but to not only see it realized, but experience it was a surprise.

Overcoming his shock, Naruto kneed her stomach and shoved his forearm from her grasp. Sakura blocked his knee with her shin, and jumped backwards. Smirking, she charged towards him, and he met her head on.

Naruto began with a vicious roundhouse that would send her flying. With one smooth movement, Sakura leapt over the kick. Positioning herself horizontally in midair, she aimed a kick that would have severed his head off. He barely dodged it by leaning back.

Sakura landed on her hands and used the leverage to propel herself back towards Naruto. Deciding to up the ante, Naruto seized hold of her feet as they raced towards his head.

Surprised by his speed, she couldn't react when he used the hold he had on her to twist her body and shove her down to the ground. Sakura landed harshly on her back, and a spray of saliva flew from her mouth as she cried out in pain. Before he could capitalize by kicking her stomach, Sakura used a singular hand sign.

His body froze. Fear that wasn't his own paralyzed him. Before he could dispel the genjutsu, Sakura rolled away from his reach. Smothering the foreign influence on his chakra coils, he snarled at her. "You really have got to stop doing that, Sakura-chan," he growled, frustrated.

Sakura winked. "Bite me, Naruto. If you–"

Naruto didn't give her the time to finish that statement.

No more.

He had wanted to test her capabilities, but now, by proving she could hold her own, Naruto would give her everything she had asked for.

He raised a single palm and performed a hand sign. Five clones formed from the earth. While his clones charged towards Sakura, he closed his eyes. When he opened them, he truly understood the world.

Before this month began, and before he truly knew the capabilities of Earth Release: Earth Tremor Sense, whenever he used the technique, he could only catch a glimpse of anything that touched the earth.

But it was an important detail that they had to be physically touching the earth. If they were on a tree, for example, they would be blind to him. But by constantly practicing the technique so he wouldn't need hand signs for it, he had figured out how to improve it. It took far more chakra than any normal person could justify spending, but he was no normal person.

His chakra scoured through the earth. Instead of focusing on distance, he kept it minimized to the training ground. But the technique went further. Anything that touched the earth was used as a conduit for his chakra to travel through. So, now, if one hid in a tree, he could sense them. The only ones that could hide from him were those who could fly, and he had only heard of one man that was capable of it.

The Tsuchikage, however, wasn't here to bother him, so he didn't have to worry.

Sakura couldn't hide from him. And thanks to him not needing to use hand signs for the technique, he could move freely.

Opening his eyes, he bore witness to a huge wave of water gushing towards him. His clones were quickly going through hand signs, and he joined them.

Kakashi had been frank on why had chosen this spot; he wanted to provide Sakura with as many advantages as possible. They were situated close to a lake, which she could use to access a vast amount of water when needed. Additionally, having stolen some of his chakra earlier, Sakura now had access to greater power than ever before.

And she was taking great advantage of this fact.

Finished with his hand signs, he slammed his hand on the ground, wind gushing from it and propelling him far into the air, his clones following suit. Staring at Sakura, he watched as she danced through hand signs.

Without needing to be prompted, three of the clones grabbed their brothers and blurred through their own set of signs. He and two other clones of his were hurtled towards Sakura.

Due to their high speed, Sakura would have difficulty hitting them. Naruto was cautious, however, and meticulously focused on his chakra coils to avoid being tricked again. Balancing the focus between combat and detecting genjutsu was a challenging task for him, as he lacked experience in this area. However, his clones were designed to handle the majority of the fighting, leaving Naruto to only watch for Sakura's attempts to use genjutsu or escape.

Sakura backflipped out, landing a distance away. Just barely in time to dodge him and his clones landing on her position.

His knees buckled from the force, but he ignored it, charging towards her, his eyes following her movement. His clones ran beside him, and one placed a hand on his back.

Not requiring any warning, Naruto steeled himself for the approaching attack. In a flash, he was propelled through the air at breakneck speed, and was upon Sakura in an instant.

As if the world was moving in slow motion, he watched as Sakura turned her head up to gaze at him in panic. He quickly checked his coils. Sensing no interfence, he grinned a feral smile.

The two were on top of the trees. Sakura had planned on tree jumping to escape his pursuit. But he tackled her. Failing through the air now, he was half expecting her to burst into a cloud of petals, but his smile increased when she didn't.

Sensing a clone landing on the ground beside him, he watched from the corner of his eye as it flashed through a flurry of hand signs.

Sakura attempted to break free from Naruto's grip, but he had mounted her back and was now securing her in a chokehold with his left arm. With his other arm, he pinned one of hers close to her side. Despite her efforts to strike him with her free hand, Naruto gritted his teeth and persevered through the blows.

Fortunately, he no longer needed to. Two earthen spears formed from below Sakura's chin, gently warning her to stop. She wasn't happy about it, but she stopped her assault.

Naruto released the hold he had on, standing up. Offering his hand to her, she took it, her expression downtrodden. "I really thought I could beat you, Naruto," she said with a sigh, shaking her head.

Before Naruto could comfort Sakura, Kakashi appeared beside them. "You did great, Sakura," Kakashi praised her. "When I first met you, Naruto and Sasuke were much stronger than you, but now you're on their level. Naruto won this fight, but you could have too if you had taken advantage of some opportunities. You've come a long way, and there's only room for you to grow from here."

Sasuke then jumped down from the tree he was observing from and landed beside Naruto. "Your genjutsu skills are quite impressive," he said, with his Sharingan spinning. "You caught Naruto with them at times where I wouldn't have been able to." He gave her an appraising look before softly smiling."I'd love a fight with you in the Chunin Exams. You'd be a good challenge."

Naruto was in disbelief. "Sakura, Sasuke just praised you. He's never done that for me, so you're already ahead. But I agree. I'd love another fight."

Sakura looked at the three of them with gratitude. "Guys, thank you. I wasn't sure, but you're right. I shouldn't compare myself to you. I've gotten stronger than I ever thought possible in such a short time. I should only compare myself to my past self and… maybe Ino," she chuckled, "but her sensei isn't as good as Kakashi, so I've definitely surpassed her."

Kakashi coughed. "Yes, well, I am the best jonin in the village. It's not wise to compare me to anyone." He then shook his head. "But enough of that. We're not done here. You three rest for a few minutes, then you'll fight... me!"

He grinned at the groans he received.

Sasuke stared at himself in the mirror. He was smartly dressed with a suit that fit impeccably well, befitting the hours of tailoring he had to endure to make it so.

If his mother was here, she'd tease him about how attractive he looked. Sasu-chan, do you have to be so adorable? She'd always ask. The amount of times he ran around the house to escape her kisses…

He smiled softly at the memory. His mother was the only reason he was able to get through those monotonous Uchiha meetings he had to dress up for. His father would always give him a verbal lashing whenever he whined about him wanting to stay home. Itachi would–

Sasuke sighed. Other than his family being alive again, there was nothing he wanted more than to fondly remember the kind older brother he used to have, but that was only a facade that Itachi had worn to hide who he truly was.

He clenched his hands, the veins bulging from suppressed anger.

His brother wasn–

An arm was placed around his shoulders. Turning suddenly to look at the newcomer with surprise, Sasuke found Naruto grinning at him.

"Damn, Sasuke, you're looking cute. Hoping to attract some girls?" he teased.

Sasuke looked back at the mirror, snorting. He admired his suit again. "I doubt the Hokage would have girls our age at his fancy dinner."

Naruto tsked. "But there are women out there who'd love some Uchiha genes," he said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Sasuke blinked. "Ew."

His friend chuckled, squeezing his shoulder slightly before removing it. Sasuke inwardly smiled. It didn't need to be said, but he appreciated what Naruto had done nonetheless. Getting his mind off of his previous train of thought was thoughtful of him.

"I know. I regretted the second I said it. But anyway, how do I look?" he asked, playing with his tie.

Similar to Sasuke, Naruto had on a two piece suit. His were tailored to his frame, tightly hugging his body. Unfortunately, though, his obsession with the color orange was ruining it. Instead of the normal dark colors he usually wore, the suit was bright orange. His tie was black, but that was the only thing that looked good.

"I thought I told you how atrocious that bright orange is? What happened to the dark orange? That would've looked fine."

Naruto shook his head, playing with his tie. "Sasuke, I listened to you for the longest time, but, you know, I felt a calling today. A sign from the universe. When every cell in your body screams, 'Put on the orange!' How could you not listen?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Your choice, I guess. But with the important people who are no doubt going to be there, you should've chosen a color that's dapper."

Pressing down his suit, Naruto grew serious. "You can't say for sure there will be any. The Chunin Exams are arriving soon. Saidame-ji-chan could be inviting us to ask us how we're doing. Before Kakashi, he was the one to teach us most of what we know."

Sasuke examined himself in the mirror, wanting to make sure he looked perfect. "That is one possibility, but I think you're just choosing to be stubborn in believing that so you don't have to worry about it. Think for a second. Hokage-sama invites the last Uchiha and the son of the Fourth over to a formal dinner, one that requires a suit. Every time he's asked us over before, he's never done that before."

"You're forgetting Sakura on that list."
Sasuke smoothed out his air, wanting to look impeccable. He didn't say anything; Instead, he raised an eyebrow in response.

Naruto sighed. "Unfortunately, you make a good point." He abruptly shifted the focus, diverting the conversation to a new subject with a quick shake of his head. "About Sakura, we really should hurry soon so we can pick her up."

Sasuke checked himself one more time in the mirror, before turning away. Naruto followed beside him. "You're right. Try not to get not lost in her eyes again when we see her wearing her dress, alright?"

Naruto grabbed his heart in mock pain. "Ouch, Sasuke. That was just a platonic moment between friends. She used to have a crush on you, y'know. I'm the one who should be worried here."

"She grew out of it."

"You can't know that for sure," he said in a sing-song voice.

Sasuke sighed, growing tired of the topic. "Let's just hurry up and get to her place. I want this dinner to be over already and we haven't even arrived."

"Sasuke… I was done with this dinner when I had to buy my suit a few days ago."

Naruto knocked on the door of the Hokage's mansion.

When Naruto first visited the Sarutobi estate, he was in awe of its grandeur. The Sarutobi clan, being one of the oldest families in Konoha, had accumulated vast wealth, and this was evident in the luxuriousness of their compound. All the buildings were made of wood from Hashirama's Wood Release. Combine that with the numerosity of the buildings and the many floors each had… His mind boggled at how much it must've cost them.

"Amazing," Sakura whispered under her breath.

Naruto grinned at the wonder in her face as she examined the beauty of the compound.

She had on a vibrant white kimono with intricate pink flower petal design displayed on the background. While the kimono did accentuate her curves, it didn't go beyond the degree of modestly doing so. The sash was tied delicately around her waist.

In her hands, she grasped a bouquet of flowers, meant as a gift for the 'Esteemed Hokage,' as she referred to the old man. He'd wheeze if you called him that, he thought amusedly. Though he'd never show it outwardly.

He was about to nudge her slightly to ask what she was thinking, but the door opened before he could. Konohamaru opened the door with a surly expression on his face. "Did you really guys have to take so long to arrive?"

Naruto walked past him, messing with his hair on the way. "We're exactly on time, Konohamaru. Don't get prissy with us."

He could hear Konohamaru call out an embarrassed "Nii-chan!" but he didn't pay attention to it. Walking towards the dining room, he slowed down for Sasuke and Sakura to walk beside him when he reached their destination.

Sakura marveled at the opulence on display. Expensive paintings, gleaming silverware, plush upholstery on the dining chairs, and even the velvet drapes over the windows. It all spoke of wealth and power. On the other hand, Naruto thought it was a bit gaudy and impersonal. It was a display, a performance. Everything was selected for visitors instead of the old man who allegedly lived here.

Visitors like the boisterous wife of the Daimyo, who was regaling the old man with tales of the adventures of her cat.

"And, mind you, we had no idea it had even left the group! You would expect a cat that wandered in the middle of the Suna desert to die, but my dear Tora is resilient! A few weeks later she comes back, fine as a daisy," she laughed.

The Sandaime joined in her mirth. "She must have been a ninja cat in her past life, if that's the case."

Naruto headed towards the two but was beaten to the punch by someone who spoke first. "Too true, Hokage-dono! That cat of yours, Shijima-sama, is quite a lively animal," the person said jovially.

"Now who is he?" Sasuke asked curiously.

"Good question," Naruto replied, examining the newcomer.

He was a tall man with a slight belly on him. With the smile on his face and the cheer in his voice, you could instantly tell he had a larger than life character. His opulent kimono with necklaces containing gold, crystals, and diamonds showed off his wealth.

The man's gaze turned on them, excitement flitting through his eyes when he did. "Our guests of honor have finally arrived! Come, come, how are you three all doing?" he asked them, shaking each of their hands when they reached him.

"Ah, thank you for asking. I'm doing well," she said awkwardly, trying to be formal. Turning to the Sandaime, she offered her bouquet of flowers. "Thank you, Hokage-sama, for inviting me. My mother wanted you to have these flowers as appreciation."

The old man raised an eyebrow, a slight small on his face. "It wasn't a problem at all, my dear. Thank you for the flowers. My garden did need some variety." Grabbing the gift, he snapped his finger.

Naruto smirked when Konohamaru entered the room. "Yes, Ojii-sama?" he asked dejectedly.

"Take these flowers to the garden, would you?" he asked, an amused glint in his eyes. Konohamaru bit his lip but acquiesced with a sigh. The Sandaime chuckled. "He defaced the Hokage Monument again. His punishment is following my orders this evening, so please, if you ever need anything, ask my grandson," he explained.

"Kids these days are lacking proper discipline, Hokage-dono. You have my respect," the newcomer said. "Now, it's high time we ate. I'd like to get to know your team."

When they settled into the dining table, food being prepared by a combination of servants and Konohamaru floundering around, the tall man decided to speak.

"My name is Takeshi Nakamura. I'm the Daimyo's Royal Advisor, his most trusted confidant, but I've taken a break from it for the moment to watch the Chunin Exams. Are you three participating?" he asked, dabbing at his cheek with a napnick.

Naruto nodded. "Our jonin sensei expects us to all graduate together, so hopefully we don't disappoint, especially if someone as esteemed as you is watching.

Takeshi laughed. "Well, considering your–" he glanced at the Hokage. When he received a nod, he grinned,"–heritage and Sasuke being the last Uchiha, I'd expect the two of you to do well!"

Sakura stiffened when she wasn't addressed. Naruto frowned, speaking up for her. "Y'know, Sakura-chan is just as impressive as we are. She'll be someone to watch out for, too."

The noble raised his hands in apology. "I didn't mean any offense, of course. I just hadn't recognized who she was. All three of you were trained by Kakashi Hatake, yes? I'd expect you to be powerful. But speaking of Kakashi, Hokage-dono, wasn't he also invited?"

"Yo." They all slowly lifted their heads. Sitting upside down on the ceiling was Kakashi, reading one of his trashy books. He gave them a wink.

Sasuke sighed. "I knew it… I just knew he would do something like this."

1 month prior

Nagato gazed at one of Orochimaru's hideouts. Sasori had been searching for the location of the snake since his sudden retirement all those years ago, and retirement... was something the Akatsuki did not accept, especially after a comrade was attacked.

Combine that with Orochimaru planning to interfere with the Chunin Exams? He had to be dealt with.

"Deidara," Nagato called out. The man was standing before the hideout, bouncing with excitement in preparation for the attack.

"Yeah, boss?" Deidara replied with anticipation shining in his eyes.

"Prepare the bombs. Sasori, ready the puppets. Kisame," Nagato signaled with a single hand gesture, causing rain to pour down from the sky and lightning to flash furiously, "try not to flood everything."

"No promises, but I'll try, Leader," Kisame replied with a grin.

"It's time for Orochimaru to rejoin our ranks," Nagato declared.

A/N: Next chapter is a continuation of the dinner and the start of the Chunin Exams. I'm hoping (no guarantee whatsoever) to get it uploaded in two days on Friday because that's when both the two month anniversary for this fic would be and this story would hit 50k. If I can actually achieve that, that would be fantastic.

I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts on this chapter. Was the fight okay?

What do you guys think about the story so far? Enjoy it? Hate it? Neutral?

Stay safe out there, and let's hope I can actually upload the next chapter on Friday.