AN: New chapter.

"Way to go Sasuke! Talk about showing her not to mess with you!"

"You gave her the beating she deserved Sasuke! Oh, you make me so proud! Checkers, we need to celebrate!"

Naruto and Sakura were both excitedly cheering him on as the results of the clash were revealed.

Nana's fireball had been completely overpowered by Sasuke's snowball, had suddenly found herself facing down the massive attack her fireball had done nothing to melt. She didn't even have the chance to brace herself before it slammed into her, trapped her inside it as it went skipping and rolling across the ground.

She slammed into the trees behind her, had gained the unappreciated experience as to what a bowling ball must go through when rolled into a set of pins.

Quite frankly, the mass of snow surrounding her was the only reason she wasn't crushed beneath the mass of fallen trees around it. It hadn't exploded on impact, had bowled down a fair number of trees before simply collapsing in on itself among the broken trunks and fresh blanket of leaves. It even left her head exposed, kept her from suffocating inside.

Sasuke took in the destruction his attack had unleashed and, with the battle certainly over, could only rub at the back of his head.

"I…didn't mean to do that." Sasuke was a little embarrassed at what this had all spiraled into.

He just wanted his bullies to leave his teammates alone, not drag them into any of this.

He hadn't meant to nearly crush Nana in a boulder of snow. Despite her bullying, how she and her cronies had made his time at the Academy miserable, he wasn't trying to live his life looking for revenge. He was trying to be better than them.

Itachi had taught him that much.

"It was still awesome!" Naruto ran up to him, gave him a hearty pat on the back. "You looked like you weren't even trying and still kicked her butt! And that last attack was definitely awesome! You need to break it out next time we spar!"

"I'm so proud of you!" Sakura merely swept him up in a hug, took him off his feet this time with her deceptive strength. "I wish I had the camera! I forgot to bring it today! Checkers should've reminded me but you know how she is!"

A cry of affront came from the Hippogriff as she appeared at Sasuke's side, her beak lightly bumping against his shoulder in her own form of congratulations.

"Oh hush! We both know you're still mad at me!" Sakura laughed as Checkers nipped at her ear. It was half good-natured and half an attempt to pull it off. She didn't succeed. Like always.

Naruto only patted Checkers on the side, the Hippogriff preening at the praise from the blonde. She quickly forgot about whatever she was upset with Sakura about.

The moment was, once again, ruined by their unexpected trespassers.

"H-Hey! This isn't over!" Taiko wasn't alone as he stomped forward, his usual cronies in Yo, Kosuke, and Minoru flanking his sides. "You think you can just beat up Nana and get away with it!" His sneer was shaky but he was stubborn enough to keep going, arrogant enough to not get the message the entire battle between Sasuke and Nana had been used to convey: Sasuke was stronger than them. "I'm arresting you for attacking a Military Police Cadet! A-And for resisting arrest!"

His words seem to bolster his confidence, bolstered the confidence of his cronies as well by the sneers crossing their faces.

This. This was familiar. They always picked on Sasuke, could push him around with how all the adults turned the other way, with how his own parents didn't even bother to stick up for him.

He wasn't a man, he was nothing but a loser and a Crybaby. Just like he had been in the Academy, just like when they had started bullying him.

"When Fugaku-sama hears about this, you're going to wish you ne-"

Naruto was having none of this.

It wasn't even what the guy was saying. It was the way Sasuke looked and the way his teammate seemed to shrink at the mention of his father.

One moment Taiko was trying to stand tall and in the next he was little more than a heap on the ground, was actively losing the contents of his stomach.

Naruto spared a moment to glare at the other three Uchiha in front of him. All three had taken a step back in shock, were seemingly trapped in a cycle of wide-eyed staring at their downed leader and to the Uzumaki responsible.

Even with their Sharingan, it seemed that Naruto was too fast for them to see.

Naruto wasn't the only one glaring at the Uchiha. Sakura's green eyes were nearly ablaze with fury, an aura of terror around her. She had set Sasuke down and glared down the rest of the Uchiha not occupied with staring in shock at the downed Taiko or trying, and failing, to dig the unconscious Nana out of her snow mound.

"Let's make one thing clear." Naruto slowly brought his fist back in, held up a single finger. "You do not get to mess with my friends. I don't care if you're Military Police. If you try anything else, I'll beat all of you into the ground." Taiko's efforts to stop his retching were starting to show promise, watery eyes glaring up at the Uzumaki.

"Y-You can-"

Naruto grabbed him by the back of his shirt and flung him into the snow mound Nana was still trapped in.

He was lucky it was Sasuke's soft snow, that he only ended up crashing into the still stunned Nana instead of something as hard as concrete.

"I'm not done talking." Naruto didn't know that his blue eyes had turned to crimson slits, that his Chakra was beginning to surround him and it had gone from tinged with crimson to entirely red. "If you mess with my friends, I'll show you just how much Sasuke's been taking it easy on you. Your Ninjutsu, your Genjutsu, your Sharingan, none of that is going to stop me from beating you down. I'm the Orange Beast of the Hidden Leaf! Trained by the Sublime Green Beast himself! My Ninja Way is to always stand by my comrades, to never back down from a challenge! If you threaten them, you threaten me! If you hurt them, you're going to deal with me! If you give them so much as a mean look, you're going to deal with me! Got it?"

Naruto's voice had evolved from merely loud to an outright roar.

"Now get out of here before I kick all your asses!"

With his last shout, his Chakra flared up around him before being thrown out, ripped over the clearing.

No one noticed how the trees surrounding the clearing all grew.

All the Uchiha were too busy running from the pink and blonde monsters in front of them.

AN: Well that was a short fight. I'm sure they'll be no consequences from this. None at all.

PM/Review if you want.

Peace.