Naruto: Blind

"I don't know why you had me bring him to the training grounds, you're not exactly training," Naruto commented, putting his arms behind his head, then he cast a small sly smile at the both of them, "If you wanted to be alone to hold hands, you could have found a private place in town."

Inner Sakura did the rare thing and seeped visibly to show on outer Sakura's face; the glare she had given the loud-mouthed ninja earlier increased tenfold in intensity. Naruto took a step back, and Sakura's embarrassed blush only seemed to make her appear more menacing. Meanwhile Sasuke was scowling quietly beside her.

"Stop acting like an idiot," he spat, his grip on Sakura's hand increasing slightly. Inner Sakura faltered slightly as she speculated whether it was out of anger or if it was just a self-conscious reflex.

"I was just kidding," Naruto babbled nervously.

After glowering for a moment longer in his best friend's general direction, Sasuke stood up abruptly and turned his head towards Sakura, "Are we going to get this fight over with or not?"

Getting to her own feet, she shook her head slightly at his impatience before turning to the young Academy student, "What's your name?"

"Hyuuga Ikane," the boy replied taking a confident step forwards.

"You want me to fight an Academy student?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow in her direction.

"Yeah," Sakura replied lightly, "That's the plan."

"I might end up killing him," Sasuke replied evenly and out of the corner of her eye, Sakura saw Naruto give her an incredulous look. Hyuuga Ikane looked hardly perturbed.

"That's why you aren't allowed to use ninjutsu or genjutsu," Sakura told him sternly. She had little doubt that he could defeat a child, but the best student was usually the equivalent of a genin, and she toyed with the idea of Sasuke fighting one. His blindness versus a genin—she honestly had no idea how that fight would turn out.

"You underestimate me, Sakura," he told her grouchily, sounding insulted by the mere fact that she thought he could not defeat an Academy student.

"No," she retorted, "I don't know how to estimate you. Defeat this boy, then you fight a genin afterwards. Defeat the genin and I'll teach you the new technique."

"Sakura-chan, do you think this fight is really fair?" Naruto cast her a uncertain glance, clearly worried for the young Hyuuga boy.

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun!" Ikane stated arrogantly, thinking that Naruto's concern was for Sasuke, "I won't hurt him too much."

"Let's get this over with," Sasuke said coldly, and Sakura bit her lip anxiously—Sasuke was mature enough not to lose his cool over something some loud-mouthed kid uttered…right?

Taking Sasuke's arm, she led him out into the middle of a trap-free clearing, noting his slightly irked mood. She knew he was not one to take arrogance from others lightly, and she also know that he did not like children, but he wouldn't actually kill the boy.

"Try not to injure him—I promised Iruka-sensei I would return him relatively undamaged," she whispered to him, giving his arm a quick squeeze before stepping away.

"Hn," he smirked slightly in response.

Sasuke had paid close attention to where the boy was moving as they walked out to the field to fight. The boy was a Hyuuga, and had to be considered with a certain degree of caution, even if he was an Academy student—if he could use the Byakuugan already, it could prove to be a very difficult fight; Sakura had made no indication that doujutsu was not permitted. Well, if the boy could use the Byakuugan, he could easily use his speed to avoid it.

"You guys can start now, you know," Sakura called impatiently from his right, but he ignored it—he was going to wait for a weakness before attacking the boy. Rushing blindly—quite literally—at him would most definitely be a mistake, one that he wasn't going to make.

There was another period of silence as the wind blew through the area; Naruto was oddly quiet—perhaps he had finally learned to keep his mouth shut while other people were fighting. Sakura was quiet also, but he wasn't surprised, she had always had the sense to stay quiet when she knew she should—one of the things he hadn't found annoying about her when they were kids.

Ahead of him, the kid shifted his weight ever so slightly to the left, his foot crunching on the hard earth. Sasuke immediately took up a defensive stance, and the boy instantly stopped moving—most likely surprised at Sasuke's reaction to his movement. The kid wasn't stupid, he acknowledged with slight annoyed amusement, but he wasn't Orochimaru's selected vessel for nothing—while that wasn't the best way to boast about skill, it was true, and Orochimaru didn't exactly pick the weakest ninja. Having noted that, he knew that he would have to somehow lower the guard of Hyuuga Ikane.

"Kid," he spoke out after a moment, trying to sound casual, "Tell me what you hope to accomplish by becoming a ninja."

After a pause, seeming to deem the question innocent enough, the boy replied. "I want to be Hokage someday," he responded with conceit and a touch of Naruto's enthusiasm.

"Aa," Sasuke noted evenly, pinpointing the boy's exact location, rethinking his strategy, "A noble dream—but many wish to become Hokage, what makes you think that you will one day attain that dream?"

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