Title: Way of the Cherry Blossom
Prompt: None, this time.


"Kakashi-sensei?" Her hands folded in front of her carefully as Sakura stepped forward, a bit timid.

Her teacher looked up from where he was reading his usual book, perched on a stump, and smiled his crinkle-eyed smile at her. "Yes, Sakura-chan~?"

The genin ignored the annoyed grumble in the back of her head from the way he said her name, and pressed on. "Sensei, I was wondering… could you teach me that genjutsu you used on me in the Bell Test?" She could still remember that horrifying moment and it sometimes cropped up in her dreams, especially after what happened a few days ago. His rattling, wheezing breath… The coppery tang of blood in the air…

Perhaps something showed on her face, for Sensei sobered and tucked away his book, serious. "Are you sure?"

It wasn't a hard decision to make and it was one she had made already. Yesterday, they had been taught water walking – she had managed it almost as easily as the three, but after holding it for too long and yelling encouragements at the boys, the chakra under her feet had collapsed. Sakura could swim, she had been fine, but… after the boys fussed over her, Sensei drew her aside to tell her that while she had very good chakra control, she had to be very careful how much she used, as it would be very easy for her to succumb to chakra exhaustion.

There were two types of jutsus that precise chakra control was good for – genjutsu and medical ninjutsu. She had briefly considered the latter, but that would only leave her dealing with the aftereffects of battles, and she was pretty sure Sensei didn't know any of that. He did know at least one genjutsu, though, and given her useless performance here in Wave this past week or so…

"Yes." Sakura was extremely certain, and she gave a short nod to go with it. "I don't want to be weak, Sensei, not after…"

Sasuke died.

Her sentence remained unfinished – she didn't need to finish it. Seeing Sasuke-kun and thinking he was- Well, the genin wasn't able to handle that. Not- not easily. If he had truly been… It would be all on her head. Kakashi-sensei had fought and Naruto-baka had almost killed the fake hunter-nin but Sakura-

She was startled out of her increasingly morose thoughts by Sensei reaching out to ruffle her long pink hair, giving her a crinkly-eyed smile once more. "Of course, Sakura-chan. It's a D-Rank, so you should be able to pick it up easily~." He beckoned her closer, and the genin stepped in, watching his hands intently as he carefully went through the two handseals required. "It's just Snake and Rat, but then there's the visualization process that goes with genjutsu…"

Sakura was very gratified to learn that Kakashi-sensei could be a good teacher when he wanted to be.


A/N: My first real venture into Naruto fanfiction... we'll see how it goes, yeah? This is a story that will be told in semi-chronological snippets, going through Part One of Naruto. I want to explore Sakura's development in a different way, with her abilities more mirroring her Part One skills. There will be hints of a pairing in later chapters, but not for awhile and it'll never be a focus. Let's go at this, shall we?