ꕥ 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕠𝕥𝕦𝕤 𝔹𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕞𝕤 𝕋𝕨𝕚𝕔𝕖 ꕥ

Third Stage

"Marriage my ass, no one would wanna marry you." Naruto snickered.

"Shut up, who wouldn't want to marry an Uchiha?" Sasuke replied with a red face. He glanced at Sakura, curious of as to what her thoughts were.

The pink haired girl hummed thoughtfully. What Sasuke said was arrogant but true. Who wouldn't want to marry the last Uchiha heir?

She nodded. "Hm. He's not wrong...he's damn rich too." Sakura winked and made a money motion with her hand.

Sasuke sneered at Naruto. "Yeah, dumbass. I got money." He copied Sakura, shoving his hand into the Uzumaki's face.

"BRO. Just cause Sakura sensei is a gold digger doesn't mean everyone else is!" Naruto insisted persistently, rolling his eyes.

That seemed to put Sasuke into a sour mood. "Shut up, dipshit." He kicked his teammate from where he laid. "I don't care if she's a gold digger, that's one who would marry me and zero for you."

Sakura laughed at his words. Sasuke glanced at her again in the dark, secretly happy. That was a point for him and a big fat zero for Narutoad.

"Good night." Sakura said. "Tomorrow is the third stage match announcements, so rest well ."

—

"Bye bitch." Naruto waved eagerly as Kakashi came to pick up Sasuke. "I hope you never learn the Chidori and end up losing your match!"

Sasuke had convinced Kakashi to teach him the lighting jutsu and more— without Sakura having to bribe the silver haired jonin. She predicted that they would finish just before the matches for the exam began, like in the anime.

During that time, Sakura had much to do.

—

"Hey, Itachi. Been a while." Sakura walked into an abandoned shack, feeding some dried corn to a crow that sat on her shoulder. "Unusual of you to call me here first."

"Hello, Sensei. I'm sorry for asking you to be here so suddenly. You must be busy right now." Itachi smiled tiredly, and Sakura noted that his eye bags were more prominent.

"It's alright. What did you want to tell me?" She sat next to him in front of the rickety dining table. "If it's about the Akatsuki, I suggest you go ahead and accept his offer."

"His?" Itachi said in shock. "It still surprises me how much you know..but yes, it's about them. Are you sure? They may ask me to do horrible things."

"Quite. In fact, they will. I'm sure. But don't worry...I assure you they will only ask you to get rid of meaningless thugs and criminals. They are a criminal organization, but they also know you. They will not make you do things you do not wish to do." Sakura put a hand on the Uchiha's shoulder reassuringly, and he leaned into it gratefully.

He also pretended he didn't feel the girl channel her healing chakra into him...or that she gazed at him knowingly after she took back her hand, and that he felt a cold emptiness fill him after her hand was gone.

"Thank you, sensei."

They both stood up.

"You're welcome, Itachi. I'll see you soon."

And then the pink haired girl was gone, and the Uchiha was left to sit back down, alone and weary already without her assuring presence.

—

"ALRIGHT MY BOY. FIFTY PUSH-UPS, INDEX FINGER ONLY. LETS GO." Sakura blew a pink whistle harshly, wearing a black tracksuit with pink blossoms on the sleeves. "HURRY UP NOW."

Naruto sobbed as he once again, for the 69th time today, got down on the grass. "I only made fun of his persona-"

"THATS A HUNDRED, BOY."

Sakura sighed and walked to a chair by a tree, where Hyuga Neji sat on another uncomfortably. "U-um..Haruno-San, is this really nec-" "Do you want to have a go as well?"

"No ma'am. Thank you for the offer. W-why am I here again? I-if I may ask."

"Well of course you can. See, I hear this—NARUTO, I DONT SEE YOU GETTING LOW. I hear this child has been inconveniencing you these days, so I've decided to teach you BOTH a lesson. Isn't that lovely?"

Sakura knew humiliation wasn't the right method to teaching Neji. What he lacked was encouragement and praise for his own efforts..so Sakura had created a training regiment for him.

"Y-yes ma'am, quite lovely. But a lesson for someone like m-me as well? I don't think that's necess-"

"TWO MORE BOY. GET TO IT. Well Neji, it's quite necessary. A good match requires the opponents to be of sound heart and sound mind. Come, let's walk a bit." Sakura grabbed the Hyuga's shirt collar and dragged him out of the small lot. "NARUTO, I'll be back soon. I better see you making holes in that tree with your chakra by the time I see you again."

Naruto sobbed into the grass again.

—

TIME SKIP

"START!"

Neji and Naruto shook hands. Sakura was proud to see that their respect for each other was now genuine and large, telling her that her regiment had worked.

"GO HELP THAT OLD LADY CARRY HER BAGS NEJI"

"WHAT?"

"THE OLD LADY"

"YES MAAM."

"Why thank you young man. You're such a great help..."

"Thank you kind sir!"

"If only there were more people like you..."

"Ah, such a strong boy...I must thank your father later."

Neji came back to Sakura, his cheeks redder and redder everytime. "I think I'm happy ma'am"

"WOO GET IT NEJI" Sakura cheered as he kicked Naruto far into the arena wall.

"WOO YESS NARUTO" she cheered as Naruto used chakra to punch Neji into the ground.

In the end, Naruto finally won by using a hole in the ground made previously in a different match. However, they both shook hands again with mutual respect and understanding.

Soon, it was her match.

—

Been a while, guys

Mb for no updates, will try to make longer chapters