A/N : the first arc will be 3 chapters long. I also decided that until Sakura comes back to Konoha, chapters revolving around naruto, sasuke, the Konoha 9 or others will be called fillers (but there will be a lot of them this is a naruto fic after all).

This chapter will be a little slow, but I needed to make her progress realistic and to plant some bases. Don't worry though Sakura will get her first "power up" (or at least part of it) by the end of this arc. just bear with me for this one.

So, she didn't actually start training the next day due to Tsunade wanting to leave the Fire country immediatly.

Traveling with Tsunade and Shizune was… not was Sakura expected, to say the least.

They decided to go to Kusa first, apparently Tsunade had 'business' there – not that she wanted to know – and it was the closest ninja village. Sakura tried to hide her discomfort as they had to pass through the Forest of Death, memories of a hurt Sasuke attempting to flood her mind.

It had taken them three days to get there and Sakura used that time to get to know her senpai and her sensei as much as possible.

The first thing she learned, is that even though Shizune used to be Tsunade's student at some point, the both of them argued like a married couple. The first night in the forest, the legendary Sannin tried to sneakily summon a bottle of sake out of one of her scrolls but her older pupil caught her and told her not to drink in front of her new, underage one. They argued for a few minutes until Shizune relented and they both got drunk. Tsunade tried to pass Sakura the bottle but Shizune swiped it from her hand before she could even consider accepting the offer.

The second thing she learned, was that her sensei would make a bet out of everything. And would lose everytime – not that it stopped her for doing it again. The bet could be as meaningless as wether or not she could slap the butterfly that had landed on her nose with a chakra enhanced palm before it flew away, yet she would always bet ridiculous amounts of money. When she ran out (which she did pretty quickly), she would come up with the most absurd stakes.

"Shizune is gonna be mad when she gets back."

"Oh, really ?" God, not again. "Well, if Shizune doesn't yell at me for finishing the sake before she got back, I will win and you will give your left pinkie toe," she slurred, "but if she does then… I will give you my respect."

Sakura hadn't even accepted the bet. But she won her master's respect that night. She wished she could have earned it through her hard work, but she will take what she can get.

The last thing she learned about them before they reached the Hidden Grass village was that her senpais were polar opposites, and Sakura was their mediator. While Tsunade hot headed and abrasive, Shizune was calmer and gentle. She supposed that's why she got along with them pretty so well, she was like a mix of these two, so she could see both of their point of views when they disagreed, which they did a lot.

They had finally reached Kusa when Sakura learned the real reason of their presence in the village. Apparently, Kusa was one of the only villages where Tsunade didn't owe more than five debts. Still, Sakura wasn't going to let this minor detail make her lose her motivation. Surely Tsunade could gamble and teach her medical ninjutsu.

Since Konoha and Kusa were allies, there was no fuss when they booked a small room at a local motel.

"Tsunade-sama ! I am ready to begin my training !" she exclaimed the second they dropped off their stuff in their room.

"Right now ? We just got here, wouldn't you rather start tomorrow morning ? Rest a little ?" Sakura realized looking at her sensei's face that she had probably already planned her own day in her head. Still, she insisted. Screw resting ! Her inner self exclaimed.

Tsunade smiled approvingly at the determined look in her eyes. "Alright. But you won't need me for the first part of your training. I'm gonna have Shizune supervise you while you memorize those scrolls." she said as she laid out her summoning scroll and summoned… other scrolls, medical ones.

"That's it ? Just those four ?" The scrolls were pretty thick but for Sakura, this was child's play.

Tsunade laughed heartily, "Oh Sakura, those are just the basics you need to know before you start the fish reviving training. Then I'll have you practicing taijutsu, meditating and reading other scrolls. Everyday." Sakura audibly gulped. All three ? Everyday ? "Also, the prints on those four scrolls are very small. Memorizing all of it is going to take you a month at least."

"Don't scare the girl, Tsunade !" Shizune reprimanded. She turned to Sakura and smiled at her sympathically, "Don't worry, if I made it through her training, so can you." Sakura smiled at her senpai's words of reassurance.

"Alright. You get started. I have a card game to win." she winked as she left.

Both her students sighed. Did she even know what card game she was going to be playing ?

During the whole first week of their stay, Sakura never left their motel room, much to Shizune's dejection, who had to stay by her side.

Sakura's brain was starting to saturate. Still, she didn't give up. Everyday, she got up early, completed her morning routine as quickly as she could, and studied the scrolls thoroughly, only taking breaks to eat. It was actually starting to concern Shizune a little.

On the twelveth day, during Sakura's dinner break, Shizune decided to interrogate the girl's intentions.

"Sakura ?"

The pinkette looked up, mid bite. "Yesh ?" she swallowed the food in her mouth. "Yes ?"

"Can I ask you why you're studying like you're gonna die in a year ? Actually, can you also tell me why you suddenly decided to learn medical ninjutsu ?" she narrowed her eyes a little, "You're not planning some sort of revenge against someone, are you ? Because if you are, I hope you know you can't heal a person to death."

The younger kunoichi shook her head no.

"No, it's nothing like that. I'm not training just to become stronger than other people… Well, not, I mean, part of why I'm doing this is because I want to catch up to my team, well, my former team's level. But… mostly, I just want to be able to protect my friends, like they've protected me so many times before." At the confession, Shizune's eyes softened, and she smiled gently at the genin.

"As to why I decided to join you and Tsunade-sama, um… I'm gonna be honest, the thought leaving Konoha played a big part in my decision, but I also loved the idea of being the one to heal my friends after a fight." She looked down at her food. "Maybe I just wanna feel needed, I don't know." she admitted.

Sakura didn't want to look up. She didn't want to see the disappointment she thought she'd see in Shizune's eyes. But her senpai surprised her.

"I understand." The pink haired genin looked up, "We all want to feel needed, somehow. Even Tsunade." she told her.

"It's hard to think of Tsunade as someone who'd need anyone," the genin laughed, "or anything."

"Why do you think she keeps me around ?" Shizune had a kind look on her face as she smiled at her subordinate.

They finished their food in a comfortable silence.

The second week went by surprisingly fast. Since Sakura got into a fast and steady rythm pretty quickly, she feels she'll be able to start the real training before the month Tsunade gave her ends.

She memorized everything instantly, every word, every mudra. She memorized everything that was required of her such as herbs, medicines, the human body and even poisons.

Oh, she couldn't wait to learn about poisons. Apparently, Shizune will teach her this part, as it's her specialty.

But what interested her the most was the Byakugo. Tsunade and Shizune had told her about it during their time in the woods.

It wasn't in the scrolls she was studying as it is an advanced technique that not even Shizune was able to master and it was without a doubt what was going to take her the longest to learn, but once she does, she will be able to use the Creation Rebirth technique and the Strength of a Hundred technique.

She could become invincible.

She would never need anyone to rescue her again.

Those two thoughts became what motivated her to read, and read, and read, night and day, until Shizune couldn't keep up with her anymore.

On the twentieth day, at ten in the morning, she had finally completed the first part of her training.

"I can't believe it. What kind of bookworm robot are you ?" Shizune's eyes were wide in shock, her eyebrows almost touching her hairline.

Sakura tried not to look too pleased with herself, even though she was. Ha ! Take that, Granny Tsunade, 'at least a month', my ass ! Inner Sakura was punching the air and jumping around. And soon so were Shizune and Sakura.

"We have to tell Tsunade ! Right now !" Shizune said, breathing a little heavily after jumping around with Sakura in joy.

"Right now, right now ? I thought she had a high stakes game this morning ?"

"This is more important ! And that way you'll get too see her when she's actually serious. You'll love it."

They immediatly left the motel and walked for about ten minutes before they reached the house that was hosting.

They were denied entrance by the security at first, as it was a private game, but a nice-looking man in a kimono who was coming out of the room they were trying to get into saw them and told security to let them in.

"Don't worry about it, Chet, let the babes in." Shizune looked offended at his remark while Sakura tried to hide her blush, and her smile. She couldn't help it, she liked getting compliments from handsome strangers. "You're with Lady Tsunade, right ? I'm Kagezaia." Oh, so that's why he was letting them in. He was probably winning at the expanse of their sensei and that's why he was in a good enough mood to grant their request.

"Yes, we are. We're not looking to join the game, we just wanna talk to her." Shizune said curtly.

"Maybe after we're done talking you'd let us watch ?" Sakura added, batting her eyelashes.

Her senpai furrowed her brows at her flirting. Just like her sensei, this one, she thought.

He accepted Sakura's request with a charming smile and she swooned. She knew she was too young for this man, but he was exactly her type ; tall, dark and handsome.

When Tsunade saw them come in she frowned at them. "Girls, I'm in a very serious situation now, unless one of you is dead or dying I don't wanna hear it." she warned them, then kept her eyes locked on the game in front of her.

"Tsunade-sama ! I'm done with the scrolls, I can start the real training today !" Sakura didn't listen, she was too excited about her accomplishment to keep it in.

At that Tsunade's head shot up quickly. "Already ?" she asked, dumbfounded. She narrowed her eyes. It had taken Shizune thirty-two days to finish memorizing everything and even then she thought she had a genius in her hands.

Sakura's determination was something else entirely.

Tsunade didn't have time to answer her student properly as the men around them started to get annoyed at the interruption, and a few groans were heard.

"Sorry ! Sorry. We'll let you get back to it." the pinkette nervously apologised.

As the game went on, it became obvious to Sakura and Shizune that the other players had all secretly teamed up to make their sensei lose. The Legendary Sannin had lost before the game even began.

"Sorry, sweetheart," Kagezaia said, facing Tsunade, "but you should know by now the house always wins." he added with a wink, as he swept the money to his side. Unbeknownst to her, the other players were also smiling, knowing they'd get their share of the handsome man's win.

Ugh, what a jerk ! A hot, charming jerk ! Inner Sakura exclaimed. She couldn't believe the audacity of those men, ganging up on her sensei like that !

"Let's go double or nothing." What ?

The other players laughed haughtily and agreed.

"It's gonna go like this ; I'll roll the dices one last time, and if I get an odd number and an even number, you give me one last chance on the cup." she explained.

Sakura knew this was a mistake, Tsunade never won once, and now she expects things to go her way twice in a row ? She had to do something.

As the Sannin was about to throw the dice, Sakura lunged at her to stop her.

Unfortunately, she was too late. She only managed to throw Tsunade off her game as she threw the little cubes awkwardly.

The blonde kunoichi growled, and was about to bite her student's head off, when she heard a collective gasp in the room. She looked down and her eyes widened comically. A two, and a five. She was in !

"Sakura, you beautiful freak !" she said, smiling like a maniac. "You're gonna help me again, I have a good feeling about this !" That meant nothing good.

She looked at Shizune for help, but the short haired kunoichi just shrugged her shoulders with an apologetic look on her face.

"Ok. Double or nothing on an even number."

The man in charge of the cup took both dice, put a cup over them and shook it over the floor. He stopped, and was about to lift up the cup when Tsunade spoke up again.

"Actually, I'd like my student here to shake the cup."

"This is against the rules !"

'What are you afraid of ? She's never played before ! Or maybe you're cheating ?" she challenged.

"How dare you ! You come into my house and accuse me of cheating ?" Kagezaia said, angrily. "Fine, have her shake the cups. It won't change the outcome anyway. You'll lose."

Tsunade gave him a defiant look, a vein appearing on her forehead. The she turned to face her pink haired student with a forced smug smile. "Alright. Do the thing, princess." then she whispered, "But if I lose you can kiss my training goodbye."

Tsunade of course didn't mean a word of it, but Sakura didn't know that. She gulped audibly and shook the cup before setting it back down. She took a second to breathe, her hand pressing the cup down on the floor. She closed her eyes and lifted the cup up.

"Two, plus six, that's eight ! I win ! Hahaha !" She swiped the money on the floor towards her, and put it all in her handbag.

Soon, he other players were shouting at each other, Tsunade was laughing maniacally and Kagezaia looked like he was about to pop a vein.

Sakura and Shizune were too shellshocked to speak. They had never seen Tsunade win. Ever.

As the tension in the room was about to evolve into violence, the three medical ninjutsu enthusiasts made their retreat silently.

Tsunade was still smiling like she had escaped an asylum when they got to their motel room.

"I still don't understand what happened ? How did you win ? You have never won at Cho-han ! Or poker ! Or Kitsune Bakuchi ! Or-" Tsunade cut her older student off.

"I'll tell you what happened ! Sakura happened !" she said, laughing almost evilly. "You're gonna be my lucky charm, kid. I'm taking you everywhere from now on." she smirked.

The day of the win, Tsunade convinced – no, forced Sakura to take a break. She invited the girls to a restaurant with some of the Cho-han money and they had a great time. Tsunade congratulated Sakura on her record time with the scrolls and told her about her training, which would start the next day. It took Sakura ages to sleep that night. She was too excited. She was getting closer and closer to her goal everyday.

The next morning, she woke up first and waited for her senpais to wake up too which took an hour and a half. Sakura immediatly started pestering her Tsunade.

"Are you ready, Tsunade-sama ? You said yesterday we'd start at nine, it's eight thirty and you just woke up. Do you know where we'll find a fish ? Are we gonna have to fish him ourselves or can we just buy one ? I think it'll go quicker if we just bou-" Tsunade placed her hand over her student's mouth, glaring at her.

"Sakura. I'm still hungover, just give me a minute. Literally."

Sakura watched in awe as her sensei used her chakra to regenerate her blood cells and cure her hangover. Tsunade grinned at her student's admirative stare.

"Yeah, kid. One day you'll be able to do that too."

"With you around, I'm sure she'll need to." Shizune added, also hungover but unable to copy her former sensei.

About forty minutes later, Tsunade left the room and came back just ten minutes later with three huge fish in her hand. She refused to tell Sakura where she found them, so she asked Shizune.

"She actually never told me. Refuses to." Sakura was about to speak again but she cut her off. "Trust me, you should let it go. You'll go crazy trying to figure it out." she chuckled.

"Alright." Tsunade started, placing one of the fish on the only table the room had, next to a scroll, and the other two on the floor. "You read that scroll, and with the knowledge you gained the last twenty days, I want you to revive that little fucker. Shizune will supervise you. Also you have three months to achieve that or you're done. Bye !"

"Wait ! That's it ? You aren't going to guide me ?" Sakura felt so frustrated. She was so happy she had impressed her last night and she thought she could supervise her too this time. "Where are you even going ? You said I was your lucky charm, how do you plan on winning ?" Ugh ! Why did I say that ? She's gonna think I'm a whiny bitch ! Inner Sakura shouted.

"I'm not gambling today. I have… business." She opened the door, then hesitated. With a sigh, she added, "Look, you're gonna fail a lot today. You probably won't want me to see that. And if you have any questions, just ask Shizune. She's very talented." With that said she left the room, and a pouting Sakura.

The pinkette decided to stop dwelling on it, That's what the old Sakura would have done, and started reading the scroll.

Five hours passed, and when she felt she was ready to go on with the practical part of the training, she moved onto the fish.

And immediatly fried it.

She felt like crying but didn't. That's my biggest problem, I'm great with the theoretical and bad with the practical.

She heard Shizune chuckle and turned to glare at her. "Don't worry. We usually end up eating the fish. Or selling it." Sakura growled at her which made Shizune's laughter grow even louder.

She sighed. I still have two more tries.

Tsunade hid behind a bush as the girl she was following looked behind her. Still no Orochimaru in sight. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She was starting to feel like the only lead she had was actually a dead end.

"You called for me ?" Tsunade said as she entered the Hokage's office.

"Yes. I have a mission for you. You can say no, I know you're going to be busy with Sakura when you leave, but you're one of the only people I can trust with this." he stated gravely.

"This is about Orochimaru."

"Yes. You and Jiraiya are the only Hidden Leaf shinobis I know that can match up to him. The problem is that we have multiple leads concerning his whereabouts, and most of them are probably dead ends. I decided to have jounins follow up on some of them, but I need you to follow the ones that make the most sense."

"What about Jiraiya ? Why can't he do it ?" she asked. Truthfully, she didn't want to ever see the bastard again. The last time she did, she was left traumatized at the sight of her own blood.

"I did. He accepted. But I need you both on this mission, for efficiency reasons. He will be following on another promising lead." he told her. "Look, I know about your phobia. I don't think it's a problem, you'll just be doing spy work. If you see him, send me and Jiraiya a message and we'll come right away with reinforcements. But, I also heard about your last fight with him. From what I understood, you almost had him, s-"

"Yes ! Almost !" She cut him off, "And I had Jiraiya with me !" She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Fine, I'll take the mission. You know I'm too loyal to Konoha to decline." She said, with a forced smile.

"Thank you, Tsunade. Alright, so we think he might be headed to Kusa soon. There's a girl there, Karin Uzumaki," he gave her a picture of a red haired girl with glasses, "One of the last survivors of Uzi no Kuni."

"Uzumaki ? Like Naruto's mother ?" Like me ? She wanted to add, being the granddaughter of Mito Uzumaki. Alright, this is personal now.

"Yes, they're third cousins. She has a few remarkable abilities that might interest Orochimaru. Like the Kagurashiran, which allows her to detect a person by their chakra even kilometers far. She can also repress her own chakra so deeply that even the most skillfull shinobi couldn't detect her presence." Tsunade gave a low whistle. Impressive. "Also, she possesses chakra chains like Naruto's mother did, to seal with. But that's not what Orochimaru will be after."

"Oh ? That's already enough for any ninja village to try to kidnap her." she remarked. "Ok, what is it ?"

"She can heal any injury on a person if they just bite her. That's what she's doing in Kusa, she's going on the battlefield, letting weakened ninjas bite her. I don't think she has a choice."

Tsunade winced at the image. Poor girl. Her abilities probably made her one of the best medic nin in the world, and she was reduced to slavery.

"I want you to watch her and prevent Orochimaru from getting his hands on her. You won't have to fight him, probably. Just, if you see him, keep her out of his way. But you can't tell the girl. We have a fragile alliance with Kusa, we wouldn't want them to think we're after their greatest resource." he finished.

It was torture for Tsunade to just sit and watch while this little girl with so much potential get abused. But she had to, for the greater good.

For the greater good.

This was the worst part about being a kunoichi, she thought. Sacrificing the one to save the many. When she was younger, she just wanted to save everyone. Now she knew better.

Still. It felt so wrong when the sacrifice was a child.

The ninja world was a cruel world, where kids were treated like adults, and adults had to go to war. In her time, kids even younger than Sakura went to war, kids like Nawaki. Few of them made it back home.

Her brother would have been thirty five this year.

When Tsunade returned in the evening, she found Sakura, working on her last fish. When the pinkette noticed her though she got nervous and fried it.

"Looks like we're eating fried fish for dinner tonight !" she said with what she hoped looked like a genuine smile.

It went on like this for a month and half, Sakura reading scrolls and trying to revive a fish while Shizune supervised and Tsunade spied. Sometimes, when the latter thought her pupil needed a break, she'd force her to come take bets with her. As is turns out, Sakura's presence made Tsunade win every time.

One day Sakura suddenly decided she had enough.

"I can't take it anymore !" she said as she fried another fish with her chakra. "Where do you go all the time ? I'm in here everyday practicing and I can't accomplish anything because you're not here to guide me ! The only time you want me around is when you need me to help you win a poker game !" she screamed.

"Sakura, you know you can ask me questions ! You haven't done it a single time, I'm perfectly capable of reviving a fish, you know." Shizune told her, trying to calm her down.

Tsunade stayed silent. She didn't have the patience to answer her pupil today, not after she saw Karin walking home with fresh bite marks on her jaw.

"It's not the same ! I came here because I wanted to train under the best medic nin that ever lived. Not her student !"

"Sakura ! Maybe you should show a little more respect to your senpai. She is one of the best healers I know ! And you are nowhere near her level yet, so take her advice, and ask for guidance ! From her !" Tsunade practically growled as she got up her seat and left the motel again.

Sakura lowered her eyes in shame and immediatly apologised to Shizune.

"I didn't mean to underestimate you, Shizune, I'm sorry. I do need your help. I just don't know what to ask, I don't know what I'm doing wrong !"

"Then I'll just tell you what to do and what not to do, ok ?" Sakura nodded, "Medical ninjutsu is all about balance. You have to be delicate, but also assertive enough. It's not something you can just learn on scrolls, you have to practice and practice and practice, until you get it."

"That's what I'm doing, but I haven't improved at all !"

"That's because you keep doing the same thing and expecting different results ! Just, try to relax, healing is very spiritual, you have to concentrate of this part of your chakra. When you heal someone, it's like you're one with them."

Sakura looked up at Shizune. The way she spoke about it, she made it sound beautiful. Sakura had only been thinking of medical ninjutsu as a mean to an end and that obviously wasn't working.

She lifted another fish off the ground, and put it on the table beside the other fried one, and she tried again. She tried to flood her mind with her senpai's words, and closed her eyes. Maybe this way, she would feel her chakra's effect more.

She opened her eyes when she heard a flap and instantly fried the new fish.

"Did you see that ? You almost had it !" Shizune looked ecstatic. Did she ?

"It's because I took your advice." she said shyly.

Shizune smiled at her. "Come on, let's go find Tsunade and tell her the good news. And apologize." she finished, giving her a pointed look.

The pinkette blushed a little, "Ok."

It didn't take look for them to find her. They just asked around for the nearest sake bar and went there. They were about to call for her when a man suddenly grabbed her arm and dragged her out. Sakura looked at him more closely and recognized him as Kagezaia, the handsome man she met at the Cho-han game.

"You are not welcome here !" he shouted at a drunk Tsunade, who clearly didn't take him seriously enough to sober herself up. "I'm in shit with the Kaguya clan right now, because you took all my money ! Hey I'm talking to you !" he screamed when she kept drinking from her bottle, unbothered.

But Sakura didn't have the same patience her sensei did, and once again she lost control.

"Keep your hands off my sensei, you asshole ! Agh !" she was on top of him, screaming and punching him hard but she felt unsatisfied still, so she put her hands on his shoulders and fried him like a fish with an uncomplete medical ninjutsu technique.

She was brought back to consciousness by both her senpais dragging her away from the man she had almost killed.

When she calmed down, she realised she was now in the motel room again.

"Sakura, what was that ? I'm very disappointed in you, I didn't think you would break one of the most important rules in medical ninjutsu already !" Tsunade said, a disapproving look in her eyes.

Right, don't use the healing side of medical ninjutsu as a weapon. That's the fourth rule.

Sakura sighed. She knew she couldn't put this off any longer.

"Tsunade-sama, Shizune-san, I need to tell you something about myself…"

A/N : thank you for the kinds words on the first chapter, they made my day! This new chapter came right after the preface but that's probably the only time I'll update this quickly haha

Leave a review, it motivates me! (even if it's constructive criticism)

Also if you're wondering about the plot hole, it's not a plot hole and will be explained next chapter.

The next chapter is definitly more eventful.