Suffering to protect (naruhina, sasusaku, saiIno, Nejiten)

Chapter 18 (SasukeXSakura fight)

No ones POV

"On my count. 1.....2.......3!" At once Sasuke unsheathed his blade and Sakura got her chakra enhanced fists ready. Both sides charged at each other and tried to hit the other. Sakura aimed at Sasuke's face while Sasuke aimed at Sakura's waist. Both hits unsuccessful as they both dodged and skidded to the opposite directions. 

Not wasting any time Sakura began moving her hands and in mere seconds lighting balls came hurling at Sasuke. He dodged each and every one and countered with his famous Fireball jutsu. 

Sakura leaped into the air to dodge the barrage of fireball attacks but as she thought she had evaded all of them, one of them made contact and she got pushed up onto the ground. She got up from the ground and smiled while looking at her husband. "You've gotten better Sasuke."

"You have as well Sakura. But lets take it up a notch." He smirked and activated his sharingan. "Finally getting serious I see." 

"Well I don't want to disappoint my wife and have her say I went easy on her. That would just put her in a even more bad mood after she loses." "You're pretty confident that you're gonna be the winner my emo-kun." 

Sasuke didn't say anything but you could see a hint of pink adoring his cheeks. Sakura smirked and immediately ran through hands signs for a water style: water dragon jutsu. At once Sasuke countered that with a wall of fire and steam enveloped the stadium. 

As the steam slowly faded you could see Sasuke and Sakura engaging in hand to hand combat. Both sides weren't letting up and instead pushing harder and harder as both sides had sustained a lot of injuries at this point. 

But as one would have it, Sasuke was not one to hold back when given the challenge. He jumped away from Sakura and immediately his sharingan changed into his mangekyo sharingan and black flames came hurling at Sakura. 

Her eyes widened and she immediately jumped to the left and started to put as much distance as she could from her and those black flames. But as one would have it Sasuke sent another wave of black flames at her and she knew she could not dodge forever. 

So she prayed this would work and summoned some of her animals chakra to protect her body from the flames hopefully and simultaneously put a barrier of her healing chakra all over her body. 

She then charged at Sasuke with her charka enhanced fists and started engaging in hand to hand combat once again. Sasuke having the sharingan could predict Sakura's movements so he skillfully countered every move but Sasuke seemed to forget that they all both been on the same team since they were 12. 

So Sakura created 5 earth clones and they all attacked at once. He did not predict this would happen but he didn't care as he could still see their movements and act accordingly. Sakura was thinking of what to do next. Her options were pretty limited as all the ideas that could have worked will just fail as he has the sharingan. 

But there was only one that could work. But it was going to be very risky. But she had to take the chance. No matter what, she had to win and prove to her husband that she was strong and could protect herself. As they were in close quarters, Sasuke unleashed a series of black flames at Sakura and two of them made contact on her left arm and right leg. 

She screamed out in pain and it was burning her skin alive and even though it was only two spots where she was on fire, she got reminded of the place she had been so desperately trying to forget. 

"STOP IT SASUKE. YOU'RE HURTING HER!!!!" screamed Naruto from the stands. He was about to go and stop this fight when Hinata grabbed his arm and shook her head. "Sit down Naruto. I know you want to stop this fight because of what Sakura is going through right now. The girls and I do too, but if you go right now then you'll be proving to everyone that you don't think Sakura is capable of protecting herself." 

"That's not true Hinata. I know Sakura can protect herself. She's really strong. She's holding her own against Sasuke of all people. But Sasuke did not need to use his black flames on her and even if he did, why couldn't he have just put them out once it made contact." 

"I know Naruto. It hurts that she's in so much pain right now but we can't do anything. Sakura wants to prove to Sasuke that she is strong and she will accomplish just that today. Just watch Naruto, Sakura isn't going down that easily." said Hinata as she smiled at Naruto. Naruto reluctantly sat back down and looked over at the fight once more with worry etched on his face. 

Sakura was reliving her days back in captivity when she would be burned everyday and then had to be healed by ninjas just enough where she could take another round of fire. 

Sasuke at this point had extinguished his black flames but Sakura was still on her knees holding her head and saying no over and over again. Sasuke became increasing worried as she had never acted like this unless a painful memory from the that place rose up. As he was about to run over to his wife's side, She began emitting dark and light pink charka with green mixed in and her whole body began getting covered in her chakra. 

"Sakura. Can you hear me." said a very worried Sasuke. No reply. Instead Sakura began to slowly stand up and look at Sasuke with her emerald eyes and chakra covering her whole body taking the form of a panther. He knew that this fight was not over and she was not going to give up until one of them was declared a winner.

So he went back to looking serious and instead of drawing his sword once more, he activated his chidori. He knew there was something going on with her now. Her chakra felt completed different from before and this time it also had a hint of something that he could not quite figure out yet. Sasuke charged at Sakura and extended his arm with his chidori crackling and just as he was about to make contact, Sakura unleashed her own cherry blossom fist and countered the chidori. 

Both parties got pushed back by the impact and there was smoke once again covering the battle ground. As the smoke cleared, you could see both ninjas on their feet ready for their next move. Sasuke charged up his Susanoo and his purple warrior came to life to protect him. 

Upon seeing this Sakura brought out more of her chakra and created a big panther the size of the purple warrior in front of her. At once both parties leapt at each other trying to take down the others creatures. 

The two continued to exchange blows, their attacks becoming more intense and destructive. Both sides had sustained a lot of injuries and were getting low on chakra as well. Neither side letting up, they continued with their fierce attacks. 

Everyone could tell they were nearing the end and the final attack was approaching. "I think this fight has gone on long enough, don't you think emo-kun." 

"My thoughts exactly." Sasuke smirked and once again activated his chidori. Sakura activated her own lighting style jutsu with her panther animal aiding her and charged at Sasuke. Both attacks collided and both sides got pushed to the ground as the ground where they just were had cracked and had a big hole in it. 

Everyone watching was eagerly waiting for who was going to win. They looked over at Sasuke and he was on the ground but conscious. They looked over at Sakura and she was also on the ground conscious. 

Husband and wife began moving to get up very very slowly. Each part of their body was aching and in a lot of pain. It hurt to even blink. But the determination in their eyes was all they needed to get back up. Both stood facing each other on opposite sides of the stadium. Both took one step forward when one of them fell back on the ground. 

Rock Lee came to the middle of the battle field and raised his hand over to the right side. "The winner of this match is Sakura Uchiha!" The crowd urupted in joy and clapped for the winner. Sakura cried and was in disbealif that she won against the one and only Sasuke Uchiha. She was having a hard times believing it. 

She saw Sasuke on the ground and walked over very slowy and kneeled down beside him. "I won Sasuke." 

"I know Sakura. Honestly didn't think this day would ever happen but here we are. I may have lost but I am very very proud of you Sakura. You did a great job battling me. I am honored I could fight with you." 

Sakura cried once more and smiled at her husband. "Thank you Sasuke. You have no idea how much that means to me. Thank you." Sasuke smiled at her and Sakura began healing some of his wounds. 

About 5 min later, the medics came and took them both to get treated. Rock Lee turned his attention to the audience. "We will begin the last match of today between Naruto and Hinata in 30 min."