PRECISION
CHAPTER ONE: BELL
The metal under her fingertips was cool to the touch. Sakura's lips turned down in a frown as she traced her fingers over the engraving on her headband. It was hers now to wear however she wanted. Her first thought was to tie it around her forehead like she'd had it yesterday. But her bangs covered the symbol, and it was hard to forget the taunting words that had followed her out of the classroom.
"Wow, Sakura! I didn't think it was possible to make your forehead look any bigger!"
She hadn't said anything, and was very careful not to react as she walked past the other girls. The comment had still hurt. They always did. It never got easier with time like her parents had said it would. Maybe the taunts had dropped off some as she learned to put on a mask of indifference, but they never disappeared completely, and they never stopped hurting.
With a sigh, Sakura carefully centered the metal plate on the top of her head and tied the ends of the headband behind her braid. It didn't look too bad like that, and hopefully it wouldn't be inviting comment from the peanut gallery. Just in case that wasn't enough, she'd made sure to get ready early so she could be one of the first ones to get to orientation. If she sequestered herself away soon enough, she could usually avoid taunts first thing in the morning.
She smoothed her hand back over her braid and gave herself a tight smile in the mirror. She could do this. She was a genin now, and that meant something. It meant she had to be strong to be able to fight and do her duty as a ninja.
Silently, she slunk down the stairs and grabbed the lunch her mother had made up for her the night before. Her parents had already left for the day, and Sakura wouldn't be coming home for lunch. She wouldn't get to see them both until late that night. But it was easy enough to leave them a small note for when they came home for a meal break.
Went to the Academy early. Wish me luck! I'll tell you all about my team tonight. Sakura
There was only one other person there when Sakura slipped into the classroom a little while later. "Good morning, Sasuke," she said quietly as she passed him and made a bee-line for the back corner of the room.
She wasn't expecting a reply, and she didn't get one. That suited her just fine. Silence meant she could do some more reading in the books on basic genjutsu she'd checked out from the library. There wasn't much more to them than what she'd already learned from her Academy textbooks, but every little bit would help. Every advantage she could get, she'd need.
That ever present thought, combined with her natural bookwormish tendencies, made it easy for Sakura to lose herself in the text for a while. It wasn't until the noise levels reached the distracting dull roar they were when the class was full that she carefully stashed her book away in her bag and looked around. Shikamaru and Chouji and slipped into the seats next to her, and it looked like Shikamaru was already asleep. Sakura shared an amused glance with Chouji as a quiet snore reached their ears.
"Hey! Move it, Naruto!"
Sakura looked to the front of the classroom and couldn't help but sigh. This was almost routine by now.
"Why? You want to sit next to me, Ino-chan?" Naruto asked, a large grin spreading across his face.
Ino laughed and tossed her ponytail over her shoulder. "As if! I want to sit by Sasuke-kun."
It wasn't difficult to see Naruto's face fall at that, even from all the way across the room. Sakura had to hand it to him, though. He recovered fast. "Hey, that's still sitting next to me, you know!"
Even as he said it, he moved out of the way so Ino could sit between him and Sasuke with a huff. "It's just a coincidence, Naruto. Don't let it get to your head."
He scowled. Sakura braced herself for the jump in decibels. "What's so great about Sasuke, anyway?" Yep, there went the noise level, straight through the roof. Who knew how he ever thought he'd make it as a ninja when he was so loud. "You girls are always going Sasuke-kun this, Sasuke-kun that. He's nothing special!"
With a small groan, Sakura leaned against the desk and buried her head in her arms. That was bound to get all the fangirls in class riled up. The last thing she wanted to hear about right now was the many virtues of Uchiha Sasuke. Sure, he was cute, and Sakura could see the appeal. In truth, she harbored a slight—slight-crush on him herself. But most of the people in class wouldn't see much of him after this. Not until they made chuunin, anyway.
Luckily enough, it wasn't too long into the half-yelled lecture that Iruka walked into the classroom. "Alright, alright! Settle down everyone. Time to begin!"
Sakura sat up straight in her seat, ready to pay attention to whatever last bits of wisdom her sensei had to give.
"Starting today," Iruka said, "All of you are real shinobi. But you're still genin and your journey has just started. Soon you'll be taking missions to help the village. So today we'll be making three man teams, and each team will have a jounin sensei. You'll follow your sensei's instructions in order to successfully complete your missions."
It made sense, Sakura thought. Most squads that were sent out in the field were four man cells. Getting them used to that now was only sensible. But, if she was being honest with herself, it still worried her a bit. What would happen if she ended up on a team with someone like Ami, who ridiculed her every chance she got?
Her thoughts distracted her enough that she almost missed her name being called. "Next is Team Seven: Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, and Uchiha Sasuke."
Sakura's brow furrowed in confusion. What?
"What?!" came Naruto's indignant yell as he stood up behind his desk. "Iruka-sensei! Why does an awesome ninja like me have to be on the same team as that bastard?"
Iruka planted his hands on his hips and his expression changed into the one Sakura secretly thought of as the Naruto-face. "Out of all twenty-seven graduates, Sasuke had the best grades. And you were dead last in the class, Naruto. We have to do this to balance the teams, understand?"
Well, that explained why she was on a team with them. Her grades were right around the middle. Her theoretical knowledge was great, but the practical stuff still gave her trouble when compared to the others in class, no matter how much she practiced.
"Just don't get in my way, dead last," Sasuke said.
"What did you just call me?!"
Sakura was grateful for Ino's forcefulness for the first time she could remember when the other girl thumped Naruto on the head. If the two of them couldn't work together, Sakura could see a lot of headaches in all of their futures.
Iruka read out the rest of the teams—some of them Sakura expected, some of them seemed strange to her, but she figured there were reasons they were grouped together. Like Iruka had said, it was all about balance.
"Okay, this afternoon we'll introduce your jounin sensei. Why don't we break until then?"
It was easier than it maybe should've been to slip through the crowd of excited genin. While everyone else seemed to be thrilled about talking with their new teams, Sakura wanted out. It wasn't that she didn't like her teammates. She was friendly enough acquaintances with them. They never ridiculed her for anything, which she was grateful for. But she was used to being on her own, and even if she didn't always enjoy it, it was familiar.
Everything was going to be changing now. Some of it was for the better. Sakura was looking forward to more one-on-one instruction from whoever her jounin sensei would be. She was excited to start taking missions, even if she was a little nervous about it too. It would be nice to get away from the bullies. Maybe it would give her the opportunity to shine a little without having to worry about what people would say about her the second she turned her back.
But even so, there was comfort in the familiar. It was nice to be able to climb up her usual tree and eat lunch while watching people scurry about their business beneath her. Seeing Ino and Naruto bickering in the distance and being able to guess what they were talking about without reading their lips was nice. Knowing that at the end of every month she would have a taijutsu test was reassuring. It was nice to know what to expect, even if it did get a little boring sometimes.
Sakura took her time eating and observing everyone around her. She was high enough in the tree that she had a good view of the entrance to the Academy and could see the jounin slowly trickling in. It was fun to wonder which one of them was going to teach her. Maybe the one with the senbon in his teeth. Or the woman with the wrap dress. Or maybe the man who had to put out his cigarette before he entered the building.
Instead of rushing ahead when break was over, Sakura hid herself in the back of the crowd of genin making their way back to the classroom. Everyone she wanted to avoid was at the front of the pack, and she thought they wouldn't be stupid enough to yell something across the room at her if the jounin were there. She was right.
Sakura once again took her usual seat in the back and watched as the jounin introduced themselves and took their teams out. A few of them were late, but none of them so late as Team Seven's sensei. After forty-five minutes, Iruka apologized and left the three of them in the classroom. Forty-five minutes after that, Sakura was about ready to break something.
"Will you just sit down, Naruto? Pacing and checking the door isn't going to make our sensei show up any faster," she said as she leaned against one of the front row desks.
He let out a disgruntled hmph, backing away from the door. But not a minute later, he started giggling to himself as he grabbed an eraser off the blackboard.
"What are you doing?" Sakura asked.
Naruto grabbed a chair and used it to stick the eraser between the door frame and the door itself. "Setting a trap! Serves our sensei right for being so damn late."
It was Sasuke, surprisingly enough, that voiced the thought running through Sakura's head. "Like a jounin would fall for such a stupid trap."
As if he was just waiting for his cue, their sensei poked his head into the classroom, only to have the eraser hit him right on the top of his head. Naruto erupted into loud laughter as Sakura lowered her head into her hands. This was the person who was going to help her become a good ninja?
"Hmm... How can I say this?" Sakura peeked at her sensei from between her fingers. "My first impression is that I really don't like you guys," he said as his one visible eye crinkled in a smile. "How about we move this to the courtyard?"
It was an oddly quiet troop that made their way to the roof of the Academy. Sakura and Naruto were both frowning at their sensei's back because of his comment. Sasuke had one of his standard bored expressions on. It made for a slightly annoyed group of genin that sat down and waited for instruction.
"Well, let's begin with introducing ourselves," their sensei said finally. He leaned back against the railing cocked his head to the side like a curious dog.
"Hey, why don't you introduce yourself first?" Naruto asked, seemingly torn between curiosity and irritation.
"Me? Hmm..." Their sensei stroked his chin and looked up at the clouds. "Well, my name's Hatake Kakashi. I don't really feel like telling you any of my likes or dislikes. I've got a lot of hobbies. And dreams for the future... Well. You on the left, you're next."
Sakura stared in disbelief for a moment as her brain caught up to her. All he'd told them was his name, and he seemed to expect a mini-biography from each of them. "I'm Haruno Sakura," she said after a moment. "I like reading and training. I dislike bullies. My hobby is playing trivia games. And I don't really feel like telling anyone my dreams for the future right now."
"Alright." Kakashi scratched at his head. "Next."
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are a lot of things I dislike, and I don't really like anything. I can't really call it a dream, but I have an ambition. To restore my clan and kill a certain man."
If the trend continued, Sakura thought she might spend a lot of her time staring at her teammates in disbelief. A cold shiver had run down her back when Sasuke talked about his ambition. It was one thing to expect to kill someone in the line of duty. It was another thing entirely to hear someone twelve years old saying it was one of his life's goals to kill a specific person.
It was a relief when Kakashi pointed to Naruto. "Okay. Your turn."
Naruto grinned and adjusted his headband proudly. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I like instant ramen and I like the ramen Iruka-sensei buys me even more. I don't like waiting three minutes for ramen to cook. And my dream..." His grin grew sharper and Sakura had a feeling she knew exactly what was coming next. "My dream is to become Hokage and have all the people in this village acknowledge me!"
Kakashi took his turn at the mildly disbelieving stares. And then he shook his head. "Alright, tomorrow we'll start our duties as shinobi."
"Alright!" Naruto threw him a salute. "What kind of duties, sensei?"
"First, we're going to do something just the four of us—survival training." He eye-smiled at his team and laughed quietly.
"What's so funny?" Sakura asked, wary. Anything that could make a jounin sound like he was giggling to himself was bound to be bad.
Kakashi waved her off. "It's nothing much. Just that when I'm going to tell you this, you guys are going to freak out."
"Freak out?" Naruto asked. "Why?"
"Of the twenty-seven graduates, only nine will continue to be genin. The rest will be sent back to the Academy," Kakashi said. His voice was surprisingly even and nonchalant for what he was telling them. "This training is a test with failure rate of over sixty-six percent. Anyway! Tomorrow bring all your gear and be prepared to show me all your skills."
Kakashi reached into one of his flak jacket pockets to take out three sheets of paper. "Oh, and you might want to skip breakfast. You're liable to throw up otherwise. Everything else you need to know is on this sheet. I'll see you tomorrow, bright and early!"
Sakura looked down at the sheet of paper in her hand with a growing sense of dread. She'd been working so hard for the past few years, she'd been so dedicated to becoming a kunoichi... and now that might all be thrown out the window with one test she had hardly any information about. Talk about pulling the rug out from under someone.
By the time she walked home, Sakura had read her hand out at least twenty times. With a worried frown on her face, she told her mother about her day and tried not to rip the paper in her hands.
Her mother gave her a soft smile and kissed her forehead. "You'll just have to give it your all and see what happens, sweetheart. Put that brain of yours to use."
With those words, Sakura found her determination. "Thanks, mom!"
She spent the night pouring over her old textbooks and reviewing everything that might come in handy for survival training while mentally cursing her sensei. If he'd just given them more details, she could be more prepared for whatever kind of survival training she'd be doing. Even though there was a part of her that longed to keep studying through the night, she went to bed early in hopes that a good night's rest would help her come morning.
Despite Kakashi's warning not to eat anything, Sakura grabbed a light breakfast on her way out the door. She needed the carbs to kick her into gear and give her energy for whatever was coming. Better to have what little her body could process before she threw up than nothing, right?
She was intensely grateful for the fact that she'd eaten something when she realized that Kakashi was going to be late. Again. With nothing much better to do, Sakura began slowly moving through some stretches as she waited for Kakashi to arrive, mumbling facts and techniques to herself under her breath. If she could remember all of them now, she could be sure she'd remember all of them later, when it was really important.
It was horribly disappointing when Kakashi showed up during her second round of stretches. "You're late," she commented, voice drowned out by Naruto's yell of the same.
Kakashi ignored them and set an alarm clock on one of the posts in the middle of the training ground. "This clock is set for noon. I've got two bells here, and your task is to take them from me before the alarm rings. Whoever doesn't get a bell by noon gets tied to the post and has to go without lunch."
Sakura sighed as she heard the boys' stomachs grumble. That explained why he didn't want them to eat breakfast. She was starting to regret eating such a light breakfast herself, if there was the possibility of her having to go without lunch.
"You only have to get one bell," Kakashi continued. "There's only two, so one of you will definitely fail and get tied to the post. The person who doesn't get a bell gets sent back to the Academy."
The apprehension Sakura had felt building in her gut suddenly vanished. One person would be sent back to the Academy? But that didn't make any sense—
"If you want, you can use your shuriken and kunai. You won't be able to win unless you come at me with the intent to kill." He raised his voice to talk over the start of whatever smart remark Naruto was going to make. "Ready? Start!"
Sakura dashed away, hiding herself in the underbrush. The most important thing for a shinobi to know was how to conceal themselves, and it gave her time to think things over, to plan.
"Hey! Come on and fight me!"
Well, it would if Naruto weren't so distracting, picking a fight with Kakashi. It was a little difficult to run through what she knew about this test in her head while keeping an eye on Naruto's attack. It was easy to see that Kakashi was going to wipe the floor with him without even having to look away from his book. It was disheartening. Sakura's taijutsu wasn't her best skill, and there weren't many ways she'd be able to get a bell without getting close to Kakashi.
All her attention snapped back to the fight, if it could be called that, when she saw Kakashi crouch behind Naruto.
"Naruto! Run!" she yelled, blowing her cover. But, if her hunch was right, maybe it would be worth it to make sure Naruto didn't get too hurt. Even though it was risky, she stayed in the same spot, watching Kakashi toy with Naruto. It wasn't until Naruto launched a handful of solid bunshin (solid bunshin? Since when could Naruto do something like that?) at Kakashi and he disappeared that she moved.
Carefully, she slunk out of the bushes and made for the trees, trying to put some space between her and the clearing. If the hunch she was running on was wrong, she was screwed, but if she was right—if she was right, she could easily pass this test. And that was worth sprinting away from her team in hopes that Kakashi would follow her at some point.
When she got a distance she deemed far enough, she leaned back against a tree and closed her eyes for just a brief second, only to hear Kakashi's voice from above her. "What are you doing all the way out here, Sakura?"
She tensed and looked up, noting the way Kakashi's fingers curled into the shape of the rat seal. Leaves swirled in front of her face, carried by a strong breeze. Sakura looked down at her feet and then off to the side as she heard her name being called.
"Sakura... Help," came Sasuke's pained voice. The vision to her left was badly injured and Sakura felt bile rising in the back of her throat. She'd never been particularly close to Sasuke, but seeing him like that... It make it difficult for her to bring her fingers together to release the genjutsu.
"That—" she grimaced as she leaned against the tree trunk a little more heavily. "That was a little excessive, sensei."
Kakashi smiled at her as he landed on the ground in front of her. "Sorry."
"You don't sound sorry," Sakura drawled, raising an eyebrow at him as she carefully sat down on the ground.
Kakashi cocked his head to the side, looking for all the world like a curious dog presented with a funny new toy. "Not going to try and take a bell from me?"
Sakura shook her head. "That's not the point of the test." She noted the way Kakashi's eye widened and smiled, just a little. "Will we fail if I explain it to Naruto and Sasuke?"
"Why don't you tell me what you think the point of the test is first, and I'll tell you whether or not you can explain it to them," Kakashi offered.
With a shrug, Sakura started her explanation. "It's a test of our information gathering skills and our willingness to think for ourselves, with the side benefit of being a way to test our individual skills."
Kakashi put his book away and crouched opposite Sakura. "And how did you come to that conclusion?"
"Well, yesterday you said the test had a sixty-six percent failure rate. But the way the bells are divvied up between three people would mean it has a sixty-six percent passing rate and a thirty-three percent failure rate. Give or take a few tenths of a percent," she explained, counting her points off on her fingers as she did so. "Plus, there's the fact that shinobi traditionally for in four man cells. It makes no sense for us to get used to working in a three man cell, only to have to adapt once we become chuunin.
"So the test's purpose is to see how well we remember everything you've told us, and how willing we are to work together despite that going against the rules you set at the beginning of the test," Sakura finished with a small, proud smile on her face. "Am I right?"
Kakashi shook his head, chuckling. Sakura had the feeling that if she could see his face, he'd have a bit of an incredulous expression on it. "More or less." He tipped his head back and looked up at the clouds. Sakura waited patiently for a reply to her first question. After a moment, he sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Let's wait and see if either of the boys figure it out themselves, hmm? Stick around here until the timer goes off."
He stood and brushed imaginary bits of dirt and dust off his pants. "Oh, and Sakura? That's not reverse psychology this time." With a hand sign and an eye-smile, he disappeared in a poof of smoke.
Sakura found herself sighing and looking up at the clouds in a mirror of her sensei's earlier posture. Her orders made sense. If she explained everything to Naruto and Sasuke, that would ruin the point of the test. They were supposed to figure it out for themselves.
But what did that mean for her chances of staying a genin? If they didn't get it, what would happen to her? There had been instances, she knew, of early graduates and older genin becoming apprentices to a jounin, but she wasn't nearly skilled enough for that. Sure, she had some of the top scores on all the Academy's paper tests. That wasn't enough to cut it in the real world though, and she knew it.
A breeze rustled through the trees, blowing Sakura's bangs in front of her eyes. As she pushed them away, a faint jingling noise caught her attention. Down in the grass by her feet was a single silver bell on a red string. A smile pulled at her lips as she picked it up, wary of any traps that might have been set. When nothing happened, the smile turned to a full-blown grin.
Off in the distance, the alarm clock rang, signaling the end of the test. Sakura tucked the bell in her kunai pouch and ran off in the direction of the stumps they'd started at. The sight that greeted her there made her nearly double over in laughter.
"Sakura! This isn't funny!" Naruto screamed as he kicked his legs against the post he was tied to. Sasuke was tied to the one on Naruto's right and looked a little bit like an angry cat with his hair sticking up and his lip curled in a snarl.
"Sorry, sorry!" She waved a hand at him and tried valiantly to wipe the smile off her face. It worked... mostly.
Kakashi looked a little amused as he waved at the posts. "Why don't you come take a seat by your teammates, Sakura." She quickly moved to sit on the grass between the two stumps. "Well... There's no need for all three of you to go back to the Academy."
"You mean-" Sakura could hear the excitement in Naruto's voice. Knowing what she did, it made the moment a little sad. "You mean all three of us pass?"
"No. Only one of you passed. The other two should really quit being ninja entirely." Kakashi pointed at Sakura. "She's the only one of you to have gotten the real point of the test and a bell."
Heat rushed into Sakura's cheeks. "I only got a bell because you left one for me, Kakashi-sensei," she mumbled, staring down at her knees.
"What do you mean, the real point of the test?" came Sasuke's voice, hard and cold. The dull thud of ropes hitting the ground followed his words as he finished cutting through them with his kunai.
The completely nonchalant look on Kakashi's face vanished in an instant. "Teamwork," he said. His lazy drawl had disappeared and in its place was a flat, disappointed tone that made Sakura want to flinch. "The point of the test is to see how well you can put aside your own feelings and work together towards a goal. Three genin working in sync could take down a jounin and retrieve the bells. Three genin alone don't stand any kind of a chance."
The fabric of Kakashi's mask twisted in a way that made Sakura think he was scowling. "Naruto, you just ran around by yourself. Sasuke, you assumed everyone else would get in your way. Sakura was the only one to think of someone other than herself. She was looking out for the both of you during this test."
The praise made her flush even more, but it also made her heart swell. She'd done something well, something better than her teammates, even. And here she had been worried that there was a possibility she could end up the weak link.
"Your individual skills and strengths are important," Kakashi continued. "But teamwork is even more important. There are reasons you're put into teams for most missions. People that can't work in teams shouldn't be ninja—they put themselves and their teammates at risk. Teams that don't work together end up dead."
He turned around and motioned to the gray stone behind him. "This is a memorial. Listed on this stone are the names of all the people who died in defense of this village. While we honor these people by putting their names here, this isn't a place you should be aiming to end up.
"I'll give you guys one more chance after lunch. It'll be even harder, but if you can work together, I may pass you yet." He pointed at the lunches. "Sakura, Sasuke, you two can eat. Don't let Naruto have any. It's his punishment for trying to steal food before the test was over. If you do, you fail."
He disappeared.
Sakura hesitantly reached for one of the lunches, ignoring the way Naruto's stomach growled.
"It's okay!" Naruto said, smiling down at her. "I don't need food. Really."
She raised a pointed eyebrow at him as his stomach gurgled even louder. He laughed sheepishly, his cheeks going blotchy in embarrassment.
"Here."
They both looked over to see Sasuke holding out his lunch, inviting Naruto to take some food for himself. Sakura couldn't help but smile, even as Naruto protested. Teamwork, huh?
She held her own lunch out to Naruto, offering him another option. "Sasuke's got the right idea. With you so low on energy, we'll be at a tactical disadvantage when we have to face Kakashi-sensei again if you don't eat."
"Don't worry about him finding out. I don't sense him anywhere nearby," Sasuke said. Sakura threw him a somewhat disbelieving look. He was skilled, but he was still just a genin. What made him so sure he'd be able to sense a jounin if they didn't want to be sensed?
Naruto laughed quietly, a grin spreading across his face. "Thanks, you guys."
A gust of wind rushed at them, followed by a loud bang. In the midst of a large cloud of smoke, Kakashi appeared in front of them looking furious. Sakura dropped her lunch into the grass and immediately went for her kunai. "You guys-!
"Pass!"
There was a moment of silence as all three genin stared at their smiling sensei incredulously. Really? That was the second test? Sakura smiled as she put away her kunai. It made sense, when she thought about it. What was the point of having them fight him for the bells a second time when he'd already explained the test?
"What do you mean we pass?" Naruto asked.
Kakashi chuckled as he cut the ropes holding his student to the post. "You guys thought for yourselves instead of just following my orders. That was its own kind of teamwork. You're the first ones to ever pass my test."
Naruto dropped back down to the ground and stared up at Kakashi in awe. Their sensei twirled his kunai on his finger before putting it back in his pouch. "In the world of shinobi, those who break the rules are called trash. But you know what? The people who don't take care of their comrades are worse than trash."
"We really passed?" Naruto's voice was quieter than Sakura had ever heard it.
"You really passed," Kakashi answered with a smile. "Tomorrow Team Seven begins accepting missions."
With a loud whoop, Naruto leapt into the air, fist pumping in enthusiasm. Sakura laughed and looked over at Sasuke, who actually had a small smile on his face. It was the first smile she could remember seeing from him in years.
"Alright, alright." Kakashi put a hand on top of Naruto's head to stop his jumping. "Get out of here and go get some lunch, you three."
While her teammates grabbed their bags and rushed off in search of food, Sakura took things a little slower. Her pouch jingled faintly as she leaned over to grab her bad. "Hey, sensei?"
"Hmm?"
Sakura held the bell out to Kakashi. "Do you want this back?"
He stared down at her hand thoughtfully. The way he stroked his chin would've been comical even if it weren't for the fact that he was wearing a mask. Since he was, it was downright hilarious. "No, that's alright," he said finally, interrupting Sakura's observations of him. "You keep it. It'll be a reminder of a job well done."
The pleased flush rushed back into her cheeks. "Okay!"
Her hand curled into a fist around the bell. She sprinted all the way home with it in her hand, and when she got up to her room, she tied it to the handle of her desk drawer. It was a place where she would see it every day. Excitement coursed through her. Even more than her headband, the bell was a symbol of her accomplishment. It was proof that she was finally on her way.