Stream of past

Special Training

After Sakura and Sasuke made sure Kakashi-sensei won't fall off his bed in his sleep, they came back to see Naruto do what Naruto does best, piss someone off. That someone happened to be Inari, Tazuna's grandson. The 2 of them were arguing about ninjas and heroes and values, which ended with Inari storming to his bedroom. After the scene that unfolded and some scolding from Sakura, they ate dinner and went to sleep.

When morning came, Sakura slowly got out of her room and went to the kitchen. There she saw her sensei sitting at the table, reading one of his cursed books.

"Yo." said Kakashi.

"Sensei you're awake! I'm glad to see youre feeling better." Sakura took a seat at the table and poured herself some tea.

"Ah, don't worry about it. I'll manage" said her sensei.

Sakura snorted, she remembered fondly how her sensei avoided the hospital like the plague. "You speak as if chakra depletion is something to laugh at."

"You seem amused by it." She merely rolled her eyes at his statement.

"Actually sensei, I wanted to talk to you about something. It's about that ninja hunter we encountered yesterday."

"Oh?"

"I've encountered in my training as a medic nin that you can induce a death like state using senbons. Since the only way to kill with them is by piercing a vital organ and that hunter nin pierced Zabuza's neck, I've concluded that the hunter nin might be his ally." said the pinkette.

"Hmm, that is a pretty good assumption Sakura, seeing that hunter nins usually dispose of the body. I think you might be right." said Kakashi.

Sakura nodded."We should tell the boys." Just then Naruto entered the kitchen loudly, talking about food with Sasuke behind him. After they relayed the information to Naruto and Sasuke, Kakashi concluded that they were going to train, in order to be ready to face Zabuza. After they ate breakfast, they made their way to the forest.

Once they arrived, Kakashi decided to teach them how to climb trees without using hands. He started climbing the tree while explaining the exercise. Saying how the right amount of chakra needed to be exerted in order for this to work. After the explanation, he told them to try.

Sakura, raced up the tree with speed, when she reached the top she looked down to see her teammates stare at her amazed. Sakura smirked.

"Well? Are you two just going to make me wait up here? Come on!" She smiled when she saw determination build in their eyes. They both sprang up the tree. Marked the spot where they stopped with a kunai and started again. While they kept on climbing, Sakura came down to watch them next to Kakashi-sensei. They kept watching the boys train, only stopping them to give advice, until sunset.

"Ok boys, last round. After this we'll go back to rest." said Kakashi-sensei. Both boys nodded determined and sprang up the tree for the last time. Sasuke climbed about 4 meters and marked the tree, but what shocked them was that Naruto kept climbing, at least 2 meters higher.

"Woohoo, see that Sasuke? I'm so much better than you." said Naruto, grinning. This, clearly angered the Uchiha, who glared daggers at his blonde companion. The Jinchūriki kept on celebrating, while Sakura tried her best to be happy for him. While it was good that Naruto improved, this also worried her, since this didn't happen last time. She couldn't help but have a bad feeling about this. Would Sasuke's anger flare faster? Will he leave the village again? Those thoughts scarred her deeply.

They all walked back to the house and ate the food that Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, made. After talking about the mission a bit, they all prepared to go to sleep. Sakura laid on her futon thinking about Zabuza and Haku, she stood there with her eyes closed, engulfed in thought until she heard a door open and close. She concluded it was Naruto going away to meet Haku for the first time, but after a while she heard it open and close again. Sakura looked around her room and realized that both Naruto and Sasuke's futons were empty. She quickly stood up and decided to follow her raven haired teammate. She stepped out of the house and followed Sasuke's chakra signal in the forest.

She found him practicing tree climbing. Of course, the stubborn Uchiha just couldn't admit that Naruto was simply better than him at something. She stood there quietly and watched him try and try and try again. Eventually he reached the spot where Naruto stopped, but that wasn't enough for him. He wanted to go higher and prove he was better, superior. He kept going until he didn't have enough chakra to go higher than 1 meter. Sakura knew if she didn't stop him now, he was going to hurt himself. She came from behind him, put her hands under his armpits and started dragging away from the three. Sasuke started jerking away from his attacker.

"Sasuke! Sasuke, stop! You're going to hurt yourself!" yelled Sakura while trying to restrain him. Once Sasuke recognized the voice, he stopped jerking and Sakura released him.

"What are you doing here, Sakura?" asked the avenger.

"Cutting your little exercise short, you should be resting, not climbing trees." she answered.

"It's none of your business." he said coldly.

"Actually, as your teammate and the medic of this team, it kinda is." said Sakura.

"You don't understand..."

"Understand what, Sasuke?"

"I need to get stronger, if that dobe can beat me, how the hell am I supposed to get my revenge?"yelled Sasuke.

Sakura's eyes softened a bit at his statement. "Well then enlighten me, Sasuke, if you collapse in the middle of battle and die, how are you going to get your revenge?"

"What?"

"Look I understand you need to get stronger, I understand your need for revenge, but training yourself to the point of collapsing will get you nowhere. You'll only hurt yourself. Strength doesn't come overnight, trust me. You need rest. So please, come back to the house with me." said Sakura while gripping his shoulder. Sasuke's eyes widened at her statement, he reluctantly gave her a not and she smiled in response. They both walked back to the house in comfortable silence.