Chapter 8: Sakura vs. Naruto

Naruto looked at Sakura across the stadium, Sakura, his opponent. She looked back with a bit of surprise in her eyes, then she smiled. Naruto frowned, confused wondering what she was thinking, then she spoke.

"Hey Naruto! If you think I'm going easy on you forget it! I'm gonna win this thing and you can't do anything about it!"

Naruto wanted to say something back, he didn't want to fight, no matter what she said, but before he could even open his mouth Tsunade opened hers.

"Begin!" she shouted.

Sakura sprinted toward him already making hand signs. Then three other Sakuras appeared at her sides. 'Shadow Illusion Jutsu,' thought Naruto automatically. He jumped away as one tried to punch him, but then that one and two others disappeared in puffs of smoke with the real Sakura coming right towards him.

He landed and quickly ducked just before Sakura could hit him.

"Come on Naruto!" she said as he back-flipped away, "If you just give up like this it won't be any fun. But I guess that if you're too scared to fight me, you can give up."

"Ha! Me? Scared of you? No I'm just afraid I'll hurt you if I show my real power. I mean come on, me against you? I'll beat you no problem."

"Really, well why don't you prove it!" she said mockingly as she came running toward him.

Naruto made a single hand sign and called out, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Two clones appeared in front of him blocking Sakura from clobbering him while another appeared below the ground poised and ready to strike.

Sakura smiled, 'Same old predictable Naruto.' She thought to herself. She pulled out two kunai and threw them at the clones. The clones disappeared in puffs of smoke, leaving the original Naruto wide open!

Suddenly the ground beneath her opened up and a fourth Naruto appeared fist streaming right for her face. Naruto smiled.

Naruto's smile vanished when Sakura disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving behind only a piece of wood. "Replacement Jutsu!" was all he had time to say before the real Sakura punched him so hard he flew all the way to the other side of the area and hit the wall.

Sakura's pride and ego sky rocketed as Naruto crashed into the wall. But that was short lived as Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sakura was in deep shock, so much that she to react to the Naruto, the real Naruto, that was running straight toward her with Rasengan in hand.

She could only watch with surprise painted on her face as Naruto unleashed his full power Rasengan with a great cry of, "RASENGAN!"

Sakura's world was spinning so fast that all she could see was a blur of color. Then the wall hit her, or she hit the wall. She was too dizzy to think straight, and she was upside down to boot. She slid to the ground and stayed there, trying to collect her bearings. She sat up and shook her head slightly.

Naruto could only gloat. "Ha! I sure did trick you. The only reason I made those first two clones was to keep you from seeing the replacement jutsu seals I was making. You may have known about the clone I made underground, but what you didn't know was that I replaced myself with that clone, because I knew that you couldn't care less about my clones and only care about clobbering the real me."

Sakura was furious that she fell for such a trick, but she did have to admit Naruto was getting better, a lot better. Only her super human strength and endurance, plus all the experience as medical saved her from being rendered helpless and from losing the match this early.

"Alright Naruto I have to admit, that was pretty impressive, but," Sakura fixed him with a stare that could scare even Kakashi, "I don't plan on losing this fight to you!"

Naruto stepped back from the stare that made him want to wet his pants, gulped, and prepared for absolute pain.

Sakura focused her chakra into her feet and hands. This would give her more speed and strength, hopefully enough to knock Naruto into next week. Then she punched the ground hard enough for it to shake, knocking Naruto off balance and drawing many gasps from the crowd. Seizing the opportunity, Sakura dashed over to Naruto and knocked him high into the air. Then she jumped up to him and began swinging him round and round as they fell. When they were close to the ground she spun him right into the dirt, and jumped away.

Naruto's entire world was flashing white before his eyes. It felt like every bone in his body was broken.

"You're weak boy. How you would ever manage to survive without me is beyond even thinking about," mocked the nine-tail's voice inside him. "But I am a kind prisoner-"

'No, demon!' thought Naruto violently, 'I don't want your power, not if it means I have to use it against Sakura.'

"If you ever want to win you must lose your feelings for this girl."

'I don't have to win to become a chuunin.'

"But what about Hokage? Will you let her become Hokage instead? Is she so important to you that you would give up your dream for her?"

This statement put Naruto at a loss for words. The Hokage was supposed to be the strongest ninja in the village. If he lost, then everyone would know she was stronger than him.

'Ok, you win, but only enough to heal my wounds.'

"Of course." The fox smiled as Naruto's consciousness left, his freedom was close at hand.

Naruto got up, his wounds steaming, but healing all the same. Sakura, naturally, looked shocked, but that wasn't about to stop her from winning. She took out a handful of shuriken, ready to throw, when Naruto's body started to glow red. A familiar feeling washed over her. The same feeling she had when Naruto beat back Haku, and from the chuunin exam finals when Naruto used his strange chakra to beat Neji. It was a feeling of hate. Hate deeper than she knew possible. It was strange, really. The chakra emanating from him was both strange and somehow familiar, as if she herself had once been smothered in it.

Inside, her inner self shouted at her.

"Cha! Kill him! Kill the demon boy, he deserves it!"

Sakura couldn't fathom why Naruto deserved to die or why he was being labeled as a demon. But she had such an urge to plunge a kunai into heart.

"Don't resist it! Kill him! Kill him!"

Such an awful hate rose up in her, yet she didn't know why.

"Here he comes!"

Naruto was moving toward her at an incredible speed. She threw her shuriken, but he easily dodged them and kept coming. She threw a punch, but he disappeared right before contact.

He appeared again this time behind her and punched her away. Suddenly, something inside Sakura snapped. It was as if her inner self had burst with the hate that was seeping through her every pore.

Naruto looked up at another Sakura, a much, much bigger Sakura made completely out of white lines.

"Chici!" said the demon fox with surprise!

Tsunade gasped in awe, it was a spirit! Somehow it got inside of Sakura and now, it was coming out!

The spirit changed shape into something of a fox.

"Kyuubi!" It shouted to Naruto. "I've been waiting a long time to do this. You will die, and that brat along with you!"