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chapter eighteen

A tougher one came after. Shin, (Sai's brother) versus Shikamaru. That one went on for about twenty minutes, and just when it seemed like Shin had the upper hand, he forfeited the fight. Naruto's mouth dropped. Shin was quitting? Just like that? He was a formidable warrior! He had an ANBU's training, and the upper hand, since he was accustomed to both close combat and long distance combat, in a way that Shikamaru wasn't. He quit with a smile on his face, though, and Naruto thought he had an idea of why. Sai didn't seem too upset or surprised from where he was watching in the sidelines, so Naruto assumed the two of them had planned this out. He grit his teeth. If Sai quit mid-battle too, him and Naruto would have words.

Naruto and Kiba's fight was next, and Sakura had a feeling Naruto had this in the bag, so she went and found someone quite special- Hinata Hyuga.

Sakura had been subtly influencing Hinata's environment since they were in the Academy. She was one of Sakura's close friends, so Sakura had always kept close tabs on her. Hizashi Hyuga, the younger twin of Hiashi Hyuga, hadn't died in this timeline (due to his friendship with Kushina Uzumaki that kept the two of them quite tightly knit together- yes, she saved his life, what's it to ya??) so Neji had less of a stick up his ass and was nicer to his cousin. Him and Hinata got along fairly well, and with Neji's help, Hinata had at least a little bit more confidence and strength by the time she reached the Academy. While happy for the wholesome relationship between the cousins, Sakura knew she still needed a bit more help.

So she took Hinata aside during Naruto's fight.

"S-Sakura-chan! How are y-you?" Hinata asked, playing around with her fingers. Sakura smiled at he nervous energy the girl was throwing off.

"Just came to see how you're holding up. We haven't talked in a while, huh?" Sakura asked, a soft smile on her face at just seeing the girl. She adored Hinata, and thought that she deserved the world.

"I'm doing well, Sakura-chan, t-thank you." Luckily, Hinata stuttered decidedly less, so her words were legible.

"Awesome." She said, hooking an arm around Hinata's shoulders, and dragging her to the railing to watch Naruto fight Kiba.He'd said some ridiculously inspiring things the last time, and the being the dramatic blonde bitch he was, he said the same things, nearly quoting it from memory. Sakura sighed, smiling, and shook her head at her teammate.

Then Naruto landed a punch on Kiba, sending the boy flying back, his dog with him, and Sakura screamed, heart pumping. She jumped up and down, grabbing Hinata's hands in excitement, shouting encouragement.

When the crowd settled down, and Sakura's adrenaline rush went away, she looked at her beautiful, but shy friend. She was clasping her hands together, a stunning small smile on her face.

"Who're you rootin' for?" Sakura asked, slinging an arm around her shoulders and wiggling her eyebrows.

Hinata blushed heavily, making Sakura giggle. She loved giving Hinata grief, and loved meddling in her and Naruto's love life more. "Um... I don't know yet. K-Kiba-kun is my teammate, and I would l-love for him to win... but... um... N-Naruto-kun..."

Sakura squeezed the girl's shoulders, giving her a serious knowing look. "I gotcha, Hinata." Hinata gave her a grateful smile, which made Sakura want to go "awww" and squish her cheeks, but she just smiled back.

She saw a change in Hinata's facial expressions during the fight, and knew the girl still had a huge crush on Naruto. Sadly, her not-very-spatially-aware friend had completely forgotten about that tiny detail, and hadn't acted on it. Sakura sighed, more in annoyance this time. She'd been working hard to push the two of them together in this life, but Naruto insisted on being oblivious and stupid. She loved her surrogate brother so much, but he was an absolute pain in the ass.