Anger:

Verb) fill (someone) with anger; provoke anger in.

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Canon-compliant, Shippuden Era

WARNING(S): Mild blood mention, mild violence

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If there was one thing Sasuke remembered vividly from his time in Konoha, it was Sakura's anger.

For such a delicate, quick-to-tears little thing, she had her moments - hell, they all had. They were all growing boys and girls, all trying to make their way into a world that actively sought to beat them down with reality despite their dreams. For how smart she was, she was just as easy to rile up - and after all this time, it was the one thing he had expected to remain the same.

But just as his image of her in his mind had been shattered upon catching glimpses of her now, so had his image of her angry.

The hissing, shouting little girl had now grown into a passionate, quick-witted fighting machine - and he had no idea what to do with this new side of her.

Team Hawk stared from afar as she fought off agents of Sound with astonishing accuracy - though her face was pinched tight with fury, her punches were quick and targeted - and with every second, more and more were sent back by the sheer might of her blows.

Karin adjusted her glasses, gawking at her for all of a second - before she turned to Sasuke with what seemed to be her imitation of a mask of cool indifference. "Hmph. She's not nearly as good as you, Sasuke-kun."

"Not good my ass," Suigetsu whistled low as he studied her form. "You call that monster strength 'not good'?"

"She is quite formidable," Juugo observed quietly, wringing his hands together. "I would hate to be forced to cross paths with her. I don't think I could control myself."

Sasuke remained silent, red Sharingan making his eyes glow as he watched her fight.

The crybaby little thirteen-year-old he had left had grown into a sixteen-year-old spitfire of a young woman - and it stirred up feelings deep within, feelings he thought he'd long since buried alive and left to die.

Sakura's eyes were stony, darting back and forth as she assessed her foes' counterattacks. She braced herself with a sudden wall of mud against an onslaught of soundwaves, and as they beat mercilessly against the hardened mud she whizzed through several quick handsigns to make a clone.

"What is a clone going to do against Sound nin?" Karin huffed a laugh. "She's an idiot if she thinks that's gonna last long."

As if responding to the redhead's challenge, Sakura and the clone nodded firmly to one another - and as soon as the muddy wall began to break, the clone rushed towards them with a raucous cry - a single angry word as her fist hit the earth. "SHANNARO!"

The earth began to shake and quake underneath the might of the punch - and even a mile away, Team Hawk could feel tremors beneath the mountain they were perched upon.

"Monster!" Suigetsu repeated in awe, a toothy grin spreading wide across his face. "She's a beast!"

One by one, the Sound nin disappeared in clouds of smoke - leaving only one standing alone, looking back and forth before his legs disappeared into the earth below.

"Headhunter jutsu," Sasuke recognized with a displeased frown. So much like their former sensei.

"She's insane," the redheaded woman balked.

"She's amazing," Suigetsu huffed a laugh.

"She's bleeding," Sasuke added in quietly.

"What?" Karin exclaimed. "How could you tell from back here?"

"Her shorts," he answered. "There's blood on her leg."

As the real Sakura stood there panting, a thin trickle of blood began to make its way down her inner thigh. She looked down and let loose a loud swear, something that made the corner of the Uchiha's lip twitch.

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A/N: Let me know what you thought!