Two months that's how long it had been since she'd been, removed from her position on team seven, taken on as Shisui's official apprentice in the public eye and before the Head of the Uchiha Clan and started a new training regimen.
Today was different though because her usual training partners were gone, so Sakura was left with Itachi for three weeks, and he took her out into the world with a tag along, ever since he and his father had found her in the Nara forest, Shikamaru had been hanging out with her a lot.
So it just so happened that he had three weeks off as well from team training and was going along with them to make sure nothing happened to her, Sakura's eye twitched at that, she was strong enough to take care of herself but Shikamaru, nor Itachi would relent.
Itachi glanced over his shoulder sneakily to peer at his young student, she was just six years younger than him, so it was strange calling anyone a student of his, his eyes slid to the right and onyx clashed with onyx, Shikamaru smiled and went right back to trudging along silently next to Sakura.
"What exactly are you going to teach me Itachi-san" Sakura suddenly spoke up wanting to know more than simply being taken outside the village for three weeks, her trainer for the next three weeks looked at her before giving her a small smile.
"Ah" Itachi smiled inwardly as a tick formed above her eye at his typical Uchiha behavior "I want to see if you can learn any new element, so to prevent any fires in the forest, I'm bringing you out here to teach you how to wield fire nature jutsu's and for survival lessons" he explained.
Emerald eyes wide in excitement, Sakura clapped her hands together giddily, she couldn't wait, learning how to wield a new nature was going to be difficult but if she tried her hardest she was certain she'd be able to do it, all she had to do was have faith in her abilities.
The ones that had grown in the last several months and now she was considered right up there with Sasuke and Naruto, she still saw them on occasion doing missions with Kakashi, who would stare at her guiltily whenever they crossed paths.
They were still missing a member of the team because the Hokage hadn't found someone suitable enough to replace her, and from all of what she'd heard so far, the old man was considering putting her back on Team Seven only for appearances only.
She was being trained by four Uchiha, there was no time for being a team, she missed it sometimes though and soon enough the Chunin exams would be upon them, Sakura sighed softly "I promise to try my absolutely best Itachi-san" she finally said after several long minutes of silence.
His lips curved upwards into a rare smile, oh he knew his little student would try her hardest because that's how she was, he'd seen her training with Shisui a couple of times when he had some time off and she surprised him continuously with her ability to analyze a situation and react appropriately.
Of course that's just all he'd seen because he'd been so busy, Itachi sighed, he hoped to get to know the pinkette more over the course of the next few weeks so that he could have that bond she seemed to have with his clansmen.
Shikamaru peered around keeping watch over his surroundings, to be honest he didn't know why he had wanted to go along with Sakura while she trained with the Uchiha, but after finding her in the Nara forest, with a fractured cheek and covered in blood.
It had scared him, how easy it was for someone to hurt her, Sakura had always been sensitive considering how often she use to cry while in the academy over Sasuke Uchiha, but then she straightened up and started acting like a true kunoichi.
He clenched his hands at his side "Hey Sakura" Shikamaru nudged her in the side and she turned her head in his direction, emerald eyes full of excitement "What do you hope to accomplish by training with the Uchiha" he questioned.
Up ahead Itachi tensed, and Sakura tilted her head to the side in confusion "I want to become strong, so that people will stop treating me like a weak insignificant brat, just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't fight like the guys" she huffed suddenly.
Shikamaru cringed, he had known her confidence was shot to hell because being on a team with two powerhouses were sure to do that, but at least she was willing to do her best not to be left behind in the dust, "Ah that's understandable" he nodded accepting her answer and letting the topic drop.
"Why are you so strange" Sakura giggled suddenly and got a unimpressed look "Seriously though I never thought you'd hang out with me and yet nearly two months have passed and you're still talking to me, I'm surprised you haven't gotten sick of me" she snorted.
"I mean because even I get sick of me sometimes" Sakura put herself down easily, and Itachi sent her a sharp look that she didn't see, Shikamaru's eyes widened he had never heard someone do that before, Kakashi had really hurt Sakura it seemed.
His jaw locked in anger as he tried to cool off, it was weird getting angry at someone over someone else "Nope, so please stop putting yourself down, once I decide to do something I stick with it till the very end" Shikamaru stated bluntly.
Sakura gave a jolt in surprise not having expected such a heated answer and she quickly shut her mouth getting the distinct feeling that Shikamaru was angry, whether it was at her she had no idea but it seemed like the wisest idea to stay quiet so that he didn't get any angrier.
Itachi shook his head, no wonder Madara and Obito had been working on her confidence and trying to boost it, they still had a long ways to go obviously because Sakura still looked down on herself as if she was still a weak genin.
"Here we are" he called once they reached a specific area, four miles out of the forest, they'd been walking since early morning and had traversed nearly twenty miles only stopping for lunch, besides seeing if he could teach Sakura how to use fire nature.
He was going to teach her the fundamentals of survival, how to navigate the lands so that she didn't get lost again, that had been entirely to close for comfort none of them wanted to lose the pinkette they had befriended and this was their way of making sure nothing happened to her.
Sakura looked around her surroundings, the grassy plains, few tree's dotted along the side and untouched grounds, it was going to be such a shame to destroy it because it was so breath taking, but she bucked up her courage and set her pack against a tree.
Shikamaru sat to the side in the shade "Okay Itachi-san, what's first" Sakura asked facing the Uchiha hands clasped behind her back waiting patiently for the teen to tell her what she needed to do in order to get their training started.
Itachi took a deep breath and for her sake formed hand signs extra slow "Fire Style: Fire Manipulation" he called shooting a flame from the palm of his hand, it flew towards Sakura and quick as lightning well as quickly as she could she flew through her own set of hand signs.
"Water Style: Water Shotgun" she shouted as a bullet of water shot from the tip of her finger and collided with the flame, Itachi grinned, she was quick he could give her that much "Um sorry" Sakura smiled sheepishly.
Chuckling Itachi patted her lightly on the head "Right at least you get the gist of you're other nature, it's going to be difficult with having polar opposite natures, do you remember those hand signs" he asked and Sakura nodded hesitantly.
"Do you want me to try it now" she asked and Itachi nodded "Okay then" Sakura bit her lip, all she had to do was have faith and then she'd be able to do it, she went through the hand signs slowly having memorized them the minute Itachi had used them.
When she was done, Itachi watched as Sakura held out her hand palm up and in a unsure tone of voice called out the jutsu name "Fire Style: Fire Manipulation" she breathed keeping her eyes on her hand forcing her chakra to work with the new nature.
Several minutes passed before she gave in and dropped to her knee's "When you said it was difficult you really meant it Itachi-san" Sakura breathed in and out trying to catch her breath, with her other two natures, it was difficult learning a new one.
"Yes, so try again if you can" Itachi ordered lightly, knowing how she hated being ordered around but not willing complain, she tossed him a little glare that he said nothing about and tried the jutsu again, no results like he thought, she had to work hard pushing back her other two natures that wanted to come out.
This continued until dinner time where he called for her to finally stop "Okay" Sakura smiled tiredly and went to flop down but Itachi stopped her "Is something wrong, did I, was I that bad" she asked her forehead creasing in concern.
Onyx eyes clashed with emerald "No such thing, I'm going to teach you how to hunt for food and gather anything you need for survival out in the wilds" Itachi shook his head gently taking Sakura by the shoulder and leading her in the direction of the small river running across the land.
Forgetting all about being tired, Sakura allowed Itachi to tug her anywhere he wanted "First take out some shuriken and ninja wire" he instructed pulling some out himself then tied the wire around the shuriken and held it carefully in his hand.
Sakura mimicked him and then watched as he silently tossed it into the river after watching the water for several minutes, when he reeled in the shuriken attached to it was a small fish, "Now you try" he commanded again and Sakura quickly did as he had.
She watched the river for several long minutes following the movements of a small school of fish clutched her shuriken tighter in her hand pulled her arm back and then in a flash was reeling one of those fish in without truly thinking through her actions completely.
Eyes widened before masking his surprise "Well done Sakura, now catch four more fish just like that and then I'll teach you how to prepare them" Itachi patted her lightly on the back as he added her fish to the one he had caught.
Wiping her forehead from the sweat that had beaded, Sakura nodded and in quick succession caught four more fish before handing them over to Itachi "Okay so this next part is probably going to be gross right" she grimaced remembering the one time Kakashi had made them something to eat while out on a mission.
"Yes, but you'll get use to it, first take you're fish and gut him" Itachi said simply taking one of the fish and doing as he had said, before tossing the mess away into the river, removed the scales slowly so that Sakura could see how it was done and then removed as many bones as he could.
With a grimace on her lips, Sakura did as Itachi ordered her to do and soon all the fish were prepared "Did I do alright" she asked biting her lip as they walked towards their camp where Shikamaru was still waiting, Itachi looked at her before giving her a small smile.
She wanted to hug him in that moment, but Sakura refrained as Itachi taught her how to set up a fire and all of what was needed to make the fish more tasty along with gathering berries "Now as we go through these three weeks, I'll teach you more about how to catch other animals" Itachi warned.
"Of course Itachi-san" Sakura smiled keeping her nervousness at harming another living creature, animals were so cute, fish were completely different, but she would do it if it was necessary for her own survival and make Itachi proud hopefully the others to.
Shikamaru glanced between the pinkette and the Uchiha, "So how did you two meet anyway" he asked wanting to learn a little more so that he could relay the information to his dad, Shikaku had been very curious but no one would tell him a thing, just that Sakura was Shisui's apprentice.
Sakura's cheeks turned red in embarrassment "You remember that day Sasuke accused me of sending him a love letter right, it was three days before academy graduation exams" she cleared her throat leveling a pout at Itachi as the teen chuckled.
When she saw him nod "I ran outside the village and stumbled across Itachi-san, Madara-san, Obito-san and Shisui-san training and well because I didn't know my way back very well, I was kind of stuck there watching them and afterwards we all just kind of became friends" Sakura said in a rush.
"Oh so they gave you the boost you needed to stop chasing Sasuke" Shikamaru asked knowingly, Sakura covered her face with her hands and let out a girlish giggle, it had been awhile since he'd heard the sound come for her and he couldn't stop himself from smiling.
"In a way yes" Sakura finally flashed him a brilliant smile finishing off her fish and berries "Goodnight Itachi-san, Shikamaru-san" she called sweetly crawling into her sleeping bag and closing her eyes to get some rest, tomorrow would be long and draining she was sure of it.
Both males blinked before doing the same, they were safe for the time being so there was no need to keep watch, miles away were Shisui, Madara and Obito, "I wonder how Sakura-chan's doing" Shisui sighed for the millionth time.
"Oh for heavens sake Shisui stop sighing like that" Obito snapped his temper getting the best of him, he'd heard that kami forsaken sigh all damn day and it was driving him to insanity, he missed the pinkette just as much but you didn't see him complaining about it.
In the lead Madara rolled his eyes, the two younger Uchiha were grating on his nerves but at least he could handle himself better than they could, still if they didn't shut up soon he was going to knock em out and leave their asses.
Shisui snorted "Don't act like you're not worry about her to" he leveled a glare at the older Uchiha and got a blazing sharingan glare sent his way "Whoa geez Obito a little warning" the younger huffed with a pout on his lips.
Obito went to open his mouth again "If you Both don't shut the hell up I'm going to know you're asses out and leave ya" Madara snarled from in front of them, hand on his hip, jaw clenched and onyx eyes glaring at them.
Both younger males gulped and wisely kept silent, Madara sighed in relief wishing they could just be there already and be done so that they could get home and pick up Sakura's training she had been excelling lately so it was time to up the difficulty.
Three hours later, the moon shining down on them, Shisui in an uncharacteristic move tripped and Obito let out an obnoxious laugh "Shut it Obito" the youngest Uchiha there snapped angrily, "I'd like to see you be able to navigate a fucking pitch black forest" Shisui growled.
Eyes wide in disbelief never having seen Shisui be so not nice, Obito pressed his hand over his mouth and sniggers filled the air "Well I seem to be doing better than you at least" he retorted and Shisui jumped to his feet fist aimed at his face.
Madara jumped between the two "Enough, you two stop you're idiocy right now" he glared both of them down until Shisui leaned away from him warily, Obito started sulking and they continued trekking through the forest until they finally reached their destination.
And where they'd be staying for three entire weeks, it sucked but at least they could rest up now before starting their work, it was such a drag to be so far away from the village, Madara rubbed his forehead feeling a headache coming on and wished Sakura was there to heal it.
Next time, if they ever got assigned on a mission like this he was going to make damn sure Sakura was allowed to go with them "Now what" Shisui asked finally calming down as they entered the village a full day away from the Leaf Village.
"Eat up, rest, then tomorrow we begin" Madara pointed out bluntly renting three hotel rooms, and passing over the two other keys keeping one for himself then headed towards the cafeteria where buffet style late dinner was set up.
The trio of Uchiha piled their plates high not having had much to eat during the day so that they could get here quicker and sat down devouring sandwich after sandwich and drinking water to their hearts content before they each headed towards their rented room and without even bothering to undress fell asleep.
The next morning, Sakura rose early and wanting to make Itachi proud headed towards the river to catch them breakfast, it was all she knew right now and the more she practiced, the less it would bother her that she was gutting poor fish and handling their insides with her bare hands.
A shiver of disgust rolled through her but Sakura held her breath and finished up in record time before rinsing her hands off, then she went around gathering herbs and berries just like the night before and set the fish up over the fire she started easily to cook.
Shikamaru blinked awake smelling cooking food in the air and sat up with a lazy stretch, Sakura was already awake bustling around their camp putting away her sleeping bag and going through a bunch of warm up exercises.
By the time she was finished, Itachi was awake and the fish were thoroughly cooked "Not bad Sakura-san, considering I just taught you last night, you are surprisingly astute" Itachi nodded at the fish in his hand and at the compliment, Sakura's cheeks turned beet red.
"It was nothing Itachi-san, just doing my best" she fidgeted before snatching one of the fish for herself and bit into the tender meat chewing politely until the entire thing was gone, the next one followed along with the berries before Sakura stood and did some more stretches.
Itachi watched silently pointing out several flaws, but keeping his mouth shut, Madara and Obito were working on that so his job was to make sure she learned something new within the few weeks they had, even if she only managed a tiny flame by the end of the three weeks it would be something.
When she was done, he stood "Alright then, the same jutsu from yesterday I want to see some progress even if it is a small spark" Itachi clapped his hands together staring his little student down, knowing that the pressure would make her wield better results in a shorter amount of time.
Sakura sighed not liking being ordered around or being demanded to have some progress, but went through the hand signs "Fire Style: Fire Manipulation" she called palm up like the day before focusing her chakra into her hand trying to create a little flame.
Twenty minutes into the session, she felt a heat spreading through her veins, pushing a little harder forcing her chakra to work with the new nature, Sakura almost had it before Itachi patted her on the shoulder, the pinkette gave a jerk and let out a squeal of fright.
Frowning, Itachi gave his student a strange look "Is everything okay Sakura-san" he asked gently in case she was still spooked, he of course realized that it was difficult to get over someone you were supposed to trust hitting you and nearly breaking you're arm but still that had been a little much.
"I'm okay I almost had it but you startled me, I was pretty deep in concentration, was there something you needed Itachi-san" Sakura dusted her clothes off as she stood with the help of Itachi because she had fallen and faced him properly again.
Blinking in surprise, Itachi rubbed his forehead "Take a fifteen minute break, drink some water, rest then start up again" he ordered gently nudging her towards the shade where Shikamaru sat watching them and she flopped down next to him.
"Hey" Sakura smiled feeling the effects of trying to use a new nature that she wasn't use to, Shikamaru shook his head in amusement "Do you think I'm trying to hard" she suddenly asked nervously and the boy cringed.
"No Sakura, you're doing excellent in fact I would even go so far as to say that you could even beat Ino in a fair and square fight now" Shikamaru boasted, "Just don't tell her I said that" he chuckled nervously and Sakura nodded in understanding.
"You're secret is safe with me Shikamaru" Sakura giggled behind her head before taking a sip of her water closing her eyes as the shade cooled her heated body off, once lunch hit she was going to take a dip in that river, clothes and all no matter what.
Her allotted fifteen minutes passed by quickly and soon Sakura was hard at work again trying to create a flame out of thin air, using the heat of the air to generate the flame, Itachi circled around her several times using his sharingan to keep an eye on her chakra so that she didn't drain herself.
It wasn't noticeable at first because he was keeping his eyes glued to her chakra coils, "Itachi-san" Sakura called in a strained voice, Itachi looked up and noticed the extremely tiny flame in the palm of her hand, it was going out of control.
"Calm down Sakura-san" he ordered in a soothing tone, he knew it would work on her because whenever Sasuke was in a panic, all he had to do was use that same tone of voice and his little brother would relax instantly.
Now was no different as Sakura calmed down and the tiny flame that she had created was once again under her control "Try throwing it now Sakura-san" Itachi called, Sakura's eyes widened and she chose a little patch of wet looking grass and tossed her flame.
It caught fire and she quickly stamped it out with her foot, in the next moment she dropped to the ground utterly exhausted "Ha, ha, ha, how was that" Sakura asked breathing heavily sweat dripping from every pore her sweat was drenched and she realized belatedly that she should have dressed in her summer clothes.
"Very good Sakura-san" Itachi knelt next to the young girl and gathered her into his arms, she wouldn't be ready to practice for a couple hours because she had pushed herself so hard even now she was already sleeping and he couldn't help but shake his head in exasperation.
'Crazy girl' he thought settling her in her sleeping bag so that she could rest like she needed and recover her chakra, she had used to much just to create that tiny little flame, forcing herself to focus on it until it had no choice but to be created.
This continued until their three weeks were up, Sakura successfully being able to use a minor fire style jutsu besides the first one he'd taught her, not only had she learned how to wield a new nature, she had become a very good hunter and was able to hunt without fail and prepare food for herself and others.
Now there was no way she would fall behind her other classmates, Itachi smirked to himself, he was going to ask for one more week off from missions so that he could watch Sakura shock the hell out of her the older Uchiha's when she used what he'd taught her.
That would be something to witness, he chuckled inwardly as they trekked back to the village, it would take them the better part of the morning and afternoon only arriving when it was pretty much supposed to be dinner time.
And like he thought, it was around five when they made it back to the Leaf Village, at the same time as the others "Ah so you took Sakura-san outside the village to train" Madara asked as they walked to the Hokage Tower to report in.
"Yes" Itachi said simply not explaining what he'd taught her, Sakura smiled innocently a ninja never revealed their secrets and the less the older Uchiha knew about her new found abilities, the more it would surprise them, that's why Itachi wasn't telling them anything.
Obito's eye twitched in irritation, Itachi sure had this way of pissing him off at the worst of times, they were all aggravated for getting stuck outside the village for three weeks to help with some stupid C rank bandits that were attacking another village.
And Sakura looked as if she was happy, it was bizarre but he wasn't going to call her out on it, besides his and Madara's training would start up again tomorrow, they had hashed out details to up the difficulty so he could only hope Sakura was ready.
Shisui looked between his best friend and the two older Uchiha remaining quiet, he had his suspicions on what Itachi had taught his little apprentice, but until she revealed it then he couldn't say anything besides, it would shock the two older Uchiha and that would be worth it to get scolded.
"Sakura why don't you go home and get some rest, tomorrow is going to be a long day" Obito nudged the pinkette in the direction of her house and she hesitated for a brief second eyeing Itachi before he nodded, she smiled widely and skipped off.
The four Uchiha shared chuckles with each other as they continued on their way to the Hokage Tower "I'm afraid there's no time for rest, an explosion happened six miles away from the village and I need you four to go check it out" Hiruzen ordered.
Obito sighed but it was Madara who cleared his throat "If I may ask, Sakura Haruno may she tag along she needs more experience with this sort of thing and she has medical ninjutsu at her disposal" the elder Uchiha asked.
Hiruzen's eyes widened, he didn't know if it was such a good idea, but Madara was right, how was Sakura ever going to learn "Very well but make sure you protect her well" he relented stamping the scroll and handing it over to Obito.
At the suggestion Shisui body flickered out of the office the minute they were released and landed in front of her house, knocking on the door politely, it opened a few minutes later "Ah Shisui-san, is something the matter" she asked forehead creased in concern.
"You're going on a mission with me and the others" he explained before taking Sakura by the hand grabbing her pack that she hadn't had a chance to unpack yet and body flickered to the gates where the others were waiting for them.
Obito burst out laughing at her ruffled appearance, it had been awhile since she'd had to be transported through the body flicker jutsu "Mean" Sakura stuck her tongue out and smoothed down her hair and dress not wanting to be laughed at anymore.
"Sorry, sorry" he held up his hands in apology so she'd stop pouting at him "Okay amusement to the side, we have to check out what caused an explosion six miles away from here" Obito gave the run down of the mission to the pinkette since she was the only one who didn't know what it was about.
Sakura nodded and with that they started jumping through the tree's her keeping up as best she could "So not to complain or anything how come I'm going on this mission as well" she asked talking slowly so that she didn't lose her breath.
Madara peered over his shoulder at the pinkette "You need more experience with missions like this, plus you have medical ninjutsu at you're disposal granted you still have a long ways to go with it but at least you'd be of some use to us" he said bluntly.
Not in the least bit bothered with his way of speaking because she was use to it "Okay I understand" Sakura smiled before falling silent, she had to keep her head on straight because whatever could cause such a massive explosion couldn't be good.
"Somethings coming this way, four, no five of them" a deep voice spoke to the other two gathered they'd been fully revived by strange means and none of them knew where they were, the brown haired one frowned trying to feel out the chakra and see if he recognized any of them.
And he most certainly did his onyx eyes widened and he shared a look with the white haired one "Madara" is all he said, Tobirama grimaced this wasn't going to end well, especially if that man had also been revived.
"What are we going to do fight" he asked his brother Hashirama before the two of them stared at the blue eyed blonde, as they'd learned had been the fourth hokage and had been revived alongside them for whatever reason.
Minato chewed on his nail unsure of what the correct course of action would be "I say we talk and if it degenerates into a fight then we'll defeat him if we all work together, the others will fall afterwards" he suggested, Hashirama and Tobirama nodded before relaxing.
With the four Uchiha and Sakura, the pinkette frowned up ahead were three strong chakra and while she had faith in their abilities she didn't in hers not yet, she wasn't ready to fight for her life, she rubbed her arms as a chill swept through her.
Fear crept into her heart and her throat constricted, Obito pressed his hand to her shoulder and Sakura calmed instantly "Don't worry kid we won't let anyone hurt you plus don't forget you have that chakra enhanced strength" he boasted.
Glad that she wasn't being forgotten about, Sakura pushed back her fear and her emerald eyes flashed in renewed determination, she would stand with them and die with these Uchiha, they had given her the strength to continue on in this world no longer allowing others to walk all over her.
And she'd be damned if she was the first one who went down even if she had to use all the jutsu's she'd learned including the fire nature jutsu's, Obito nodded before focusing his attention forward as they finally made it to the clearing the three strong chakra's were located in.
Only to freeze to the spot "Minato-sensei" he asked eyes flying around the clearing and spotting the first and second Hokage's to "What's going on" Obito questioned severely confused, Minato stood only to stop upon seeing Sakura standing at his side.
"How are you alive Madara" Hashirama grasped a kunai in his hand prepared to fight, Madara pinned him with his onyx eyes and sighed rubbing his neck but ultimately remaining quiet "Don't make me fight you Madara" he hollered at the man as he turned his back on him.
Sakura looked between the elder Uchiha and the first Hokage, the second Hokage doing the same until he caught her and sent her a little glare, she squeaked in surprise and hid behind Shisui "What are you doing Sakura" he chuckled.
"Never knew the Second Hokage could be so scary" she whispered carefully peeking around her head around her current hiding spot only to hurriedly go back to hiding as she realized he was still glaring at her with his soft red eyes.
Shisui sighed guys that stared made her uncomfortable, he'd figured that out weeks ago when he had his first training session with her, in how to use weapons more efficiently, he hadn't managed to boost her confidence much, so that was mostly Madara's and Obito's job.
Minato grimaced "Okay first things first, we have no idea how we were revived at all, second why is there a child here a girl no less" he turned his blue eyes on his ex student, the boy had grown into an adult since his death and still he was childish.
"I can answer that second question, Sakura-san is my apprentice, and the four of us are training her, we decided she needed more experience on missions like this and that's why she's here" Shisui strode forward and Sakura went rigid trying her best to ignore Tobirama.
The blonde sighed "Okay now why is Madara alive and how can you be sure that we can trust him" Minato questioned wanting to get this over with so that they could all go back to the village and rest it had been a long few days since they'd been revived after all.
"He's the Leaf Village's first line of defense, the protector" Sakura's soft voice cut over the arguing voice drawing every eye their onto herself, but she stood tall and looked them all in the eye not backing down even as she met Tobirama's glaring ones.
"Ha so the little brat has a backbone after all" the white haired man chuckled and Sakura blinked her emerald eyes in confusion before realizing that she'd essentially just glared at one of her villages Hokage's, Hashirama burst out laughing.
"So we don't have to fight you is that it" Hashirama glanced at his friend and Madara finally turned to face him, he nodded before rubbing his forehead, that was his sign of saying I've got a freaking migraine somebody heal it.
He was about to offer, but the little pinkette skipped over to Madara's side without flinching in fear and raised a glowing green hand pressed it to the elder Uchiha's forehead and quickly healed the headache that was pounding beneath his eyes.
"Thanks Sakura-san" Madara gave the girl a small smile and she grinned widely at him before they could start heading back to the village, the person who'd revived the three Hokage's jumped out at them and all hell broke loose in the clearing.
Sakura ducked down low as a giant shuriken sailed over her head and slammed into Hashirama's side "Ah sorry" she breathed having had the wind knocked out of her, she followed his lead and twisted to the right splitting apart from him to avoid getting hit with the volley of kunai.
She winced as a senbon scratched her arm, not sure who was friend or enemy anymore, but she was getting really sick and tired of not being able to see properly as she swiped her bangs out of her eyes and peered around the clearing.
Sakura grit her teeth and a grunt sounded behind her, she whirled around spotting Itachi getting knocked back and flew through a set of hand signs "Water Style: Water Wall" she called using the water source that lay beneath their feet.
At the same time as another voice called out the same jutsu Tobirama appeared behind her "Not bad brat, but you still have a long ways to go" he smirked body flickering away dropping the jutsu he'd used to protect her as Sakura did the same.
"Thanks Sakura" Itachi called jumping into the fray again, how the hell hadn't they noticed all the enemy laying in wait for them, just where were they all coming from because every time he killed three, five more took their place.
It was ridiculous, Sakura bit her lip harshly trying to figure out what to do "Earth Style: Bed Rock Coffin" she called slamming her hand down on the ground pouring her chakra in and molding the earth to her preferred liking before crushing an enemy with little thought to her actions.
Minato's eyes widened, so the girl could fight, no wonder Obito was training her she had some massive potential, she breathed heavily for a moment analyzing as much of the situation as she could before darting forward hand green with medical chakra and quickly healed her scratches.
"Ninja Art: Chakra Scalpel" Sakura called unaware that she was being watched as she hacked her way through a few more of the enemy then doubled back to her starting point trying to get a better vantage point by standing a rock.
All eyes turned on Sakura as a voice cut over the chaos "GET THAT BRAT AND KILL HER, SHE'S RUINING EVERYTHING" it screamed, Tobirama was the first one to her side and pulled her out of the way of the onslaught of weapons.
Sakura gave a jolt in surprise and craned her neck around to meet angry red "Ah" she smiled sheepishly, she had been focusing to much on trying to figure out what was going on that she hadn't realized she'd been targeted.
Tobirama shook his head and set the pinkette down "Don't move from my side got it" he ordered and she nodded shakily, no matter if she could fight she was still a little girl and he didn't like the thought of her dying on their behalf.
Soon it was finally down to a few enemy left and they quickly stopped fighting "We want to see that girl in action again" the leader pointed at Sakura, they were going to let her kill them "She's pretty good with her hands" he chuckled.
Hashirama's eyes widened and he turned on his heel to eye the pinkette glued to his brothers side, unlike earlier when she'd avoided his glare and hid behind one of the Uchiha's that she had come with, he hadn't had a chance to see her fight much but it must have been impressive.
Madara's eye twitched in irritation "What the hell have you been teaching her Itachi" he growled at the younger Uchiha, Itachi tossed him an extremely smug smile and pointed at Sakura as Tobirama pushed her forward to stand before the three remaining enemy.
"Just watch" he grinned, this was going to be good, she hadn't used her chakra enhanced strength yet nor had she used her newest little ability, Sakura swallowed thickly before standing tall in front of the three men and then pulled her hand back.
"Holy Fuck" spewed from Shisui's mouth as Sakura used her signature word Shannaro and punched the ground with more force than usual, it shattered upon impact knocking the three men clear off their feet and then to his horror slash amusement smiled sweetly placing her hands on the ground.
"Earth Style: Earth Stitching Jutsu" she grinned pouring her chakra into the ground closing the rifts that she'd made healing the ground like she would a person crushing the enemy before falling to her knee's as exhaustion took hold of her.
Minato's jaw dropped and Obito strode forward "Where the hell did you learn that one" he huffed in an irritation yet proud tone of voice, Sakura smiled impishly glad she hadn't had to use her newest jutsu yet and that she'd been able to contribute to the fight.
"Not telling Obito-san, because a ninja never reveals their secrets" she giggled before letting out a yawn that made her jaw pop, her eyes drooped in tiredness and before anyone could say anything her breathing evened out signaling she was asleep.
Obito rolled his eyes really wanting to smack her, but he couldn't because that had been something they'd all taught her and she was just quoting words they'd told her, so it wasn't something he could rebuke her for, though it did clue him in on something.
"Looks like we are going to have to up the difficulty of her training a lot if she can manage all that" he pointed at the destruction the other Uchiha nodded and soon they were well on their way back to the Leaf Village.
Three days after the revived previous Hokage were reinstated as shinobi and Hiruzen gave the Hokage position back to Minato, Madara and Obito decided it was time to get back to training their little student so they sent Shisui to wake her.
She obviously wasn't quite up to par yet because she looked extremely grumpy when Shisui dropped her off but as they got her new training regimen well under way, Sakura even began to enjoy the new difficulty the training provided.
Only Madara was aware that Hashirama, Tobirama and a clone of Minato's were hiding in the tree's watching her so when Sakura formed hand signs to an unknown jutsu, Madara whipped around avoiding the small fire ball that she breathed towards him.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha you should have seen you're face Madara-san, I totally shocked you" Sakura burst into laughter as Obito and Madara stared at her warily, Tobirama shared a look with his brother but Hashirama shrugged and pointed at the trio in order not to miss anything.
"I see so that's what Itachi taught you and I guess you've been practicing" Obito sighed almost a month is all it took to teach her a new elemental jutsu and nature and he wondered if she would be able to master the others.
Sakura flashed him a cheeky smile before nodding "It's because I had faith that I could do it that's why I was able to successfully use a nature that I couldn't previously use" she pumped her arm in excitement and the two Uchiha couldn't begrudge her, her happiness.
When Shisui showed up to take over, Madara whispered Sakura's newest abilities to him and to watch out because she liked spewing fireballs at them when they were distracted, Shisui nodded and more training commenced, Itachi arrived just in time to see Shisui get scorched.
His clone technically, Sakura pumped her arm yet again "Got you Shisui-san" she grinned as the clone popped out of existence and the real Shisui dropped from the tree's horror in his onyx eyes, his sweet little friend was now a fierce and rather mischievous fighter.
"That you did" Shisui sighed upping her training a little more before it was time to go "Have you learned anything today" he asked as they walked through the forest to the Leaf Village, the two previous Hokage, Minato's clone having dispelled tailing them.
Sakura nodded "It's nice having the upper hand over someone, plus I know if I continue to have faith in myself and my new abilities that eventually I can become as strong as you someday" she smiled skipping along by her friends side.
"You know I'm kind of glad I ran into you guys all that time ago, even though it hadn't been fun in the least, but still" Sakura sighed softly as she tilted her head to the sky watched the clouds go by before glancing at Shisui who was deep in thought.
They reached the village gates but before she could head off like usual to eat or rest or practice more Shisui grabbed her shoulder "The Chunin Exams are coming up in a couple more months, I need to know now if you think you're ready for them" he murmured gently.
Glad that it wasn't something terrible "I believe so" Sakura nodded confidently before Shisui released her, he gave her a small smile before body flickering off, she turned and headed to the training grounds to get in a little more practice.
By the time she got home it was dark, well darker than usual and she quickly made up a late dinner before taking a shower and then falling into her bed to go to sleep after all that training she was utterly exhausted and Sakura drifted off to sleep with thoughts of what would happen during the chunin exams.