A/N: Here's the next chapter!

Wildflower Spirit

The very first day Sakura had officially moved into Kaka-Sensei's apartment as his Apprentice, he had sat her down and given her the lecture of a lifetime. He'd sat in front of her, and bluntly, seriously told her everything she was doing wrong as a Shinobi. He critiqued everything, from her strawberry shampoo to her diets to her lack of muscle definition from not training. From her red dress to her bare arms and legs to her perfume. For each thing he listed, he gave her instances where it could have gotten her or her teammates or the client killed. He was brutal, graphic, and, most importantly, completely truthful.

By the end of it, Sakura was a sobbing mess.

He hadn't tried to console her, hadn't tried to tell her it was alright, hadn't told her to suck it up, either. Instead, he'd handed her a box of tissues and waited until she stopped on her own, before offering her an eye-smile and cheerfully telling her that, as her Sensei, it was his job to make sure that those awful things didn't happen. That those things wouldn't happen.

That had been the start of her Hell Training.

First, he had taken her shopping. Her red dresses were placed firmly in the Off-Duty section of her closet. Instead, she was given sturdy, dark-colored clothes. A pair of dark green pants with the ankles and thighs tied down just like Sensei's, and a long-sleeved dark brown shirt with a dark green short-sleeved half-jacket over it, with deep pockets in both shirts and pants. Long, fingerless black gloves with reinforced metal plates in them that doubled as bracers.

The first day of Actual Training, he'd introduced her to the Ninken besides Pakkun. They had then proceeded to cheerfully run her into the ground, harrying her until she'd passed out. She'd woken up back at the apartment, a cool cloth on her head and Pakkun curled up on her lap. Sensei had been reading on the ground beside her, where he had proceeded to cheerfully inform her that Stamina was the first thing they would be working on.

Now, here she was, two months later, her stamina, strength, and chakra reserves matching closely to the average, if not above-average, levels of what was expected of Genin, according to Kaka-Sensei. And, in her hands, was a blade. It was metal, if dull, and Sensei had already corrected her grip twice in the ten minutes she'd just been holding and carefully swinging it in a steady up-and-down motion, her arm muscles straining lightly with the unusual weight and heft of the blade.

"Hatake learn Kenjutsu with live blades," he informed her easily, holding his own, equally dull blade in his hands as he took his place across from her. "The metal is dull enough in the beginning that the only way it will cut is with excessive, unnecessary force. Broken bones, welts, bruises, and contusions, of course, are just a part of learning!" He declared easily, eye-smiling at her as Sakura kept her focus on him seriously. "Now, there are eighteen beginner Hatake Forms. They're called the Little Fang Forms, and are a series of short, swift movements." Quickly, he slid through the entirety of the Little Fang, at half-speed so Sakura's wide, wondering gaze could track and analyze the movements easily. "There are Seven Form Sets all together in the Hatake Kenjutsu. Little Fang, Howling Strike, Silver Crescent, Wolf Moon, Lightning Fang, Hunting Call, and Falling Moon Song. That is in order of difficulty and Mastery. My father," Sensei started, only to stop and take a slow breath as Sakura blinked up at him.

"My Father," he started again, voice steady, "was known as the White Fang of Konoha. He was a hero, and a Master of all Seven of the Hatake Forms. He was able to manipulate the Hatake Clan Chakra, our White Chakra, with a Chakra-blade, to the point that he could cast Raiton Jutsu's with the forms alone. Now, you are not a Hatake," he told her calmly. "You don't have our White Chakra. And, even with training and a Chakra-conductive blade, you may never be able to cast even a weak Jutsu with one of the Forms." Here, he met her eyes steadily, before his own closed into its usual smiling-shape.

"But!" He sang cheerfully, using his blade to gently tap against the side of her own. "You have Chakra Control in spades and growing your own reserves hasn't changed that. This means that, what you lack in power, you make up for with potential. This is why I am willing to teach you the Hatake Forms, why I'm willing to work with you until you have them memorized and Mastered. I have faith in you, Sakura-Chan," he told her simply, seriously, as if it was simple fact and not something she yearned to hear. "You're a good student, a quick study, and smart enough to know your limits. I don't have to worry about you over-working yourself, and you know now the risks with under-working. I'm proud of the progress you've made so far, and I look forward to helping you go even further." Sakura's eyes were watering, lips trembling, even as she tightened her grip on her practice blade and straightened her shoulders.

"Hai, Sensei," she managed, sniffling; Kaka-Sensei eye-smiled at her.

"First lesson," he told her warmly, lashing out with his blade. It slammed into her own with force enough that her palms stung sharply and went numb, making her yelp as the sword was knocked from her hands. "Before you can even begin the Little Fang, you have to learn how to hold and handle the blade." Lifting his blade again, Kaka-Sensei beamed at her, his shadow once more morphing and writhing into a monster behind him as it did. "So! Pick it up, and we'll start again!"

"Hai, Sensei," she agreed sheepishly, absently shaking her fingers out as she stooped to pick up her blade again. She quickly adjusted her grip back into the hold her Sensei had shown her, only much firmer than before.

"Keep your wrists and shoulders steady," he ordered her.

"Hai!" she agreed as he smacked into her blade again, making her grimace as her hands ached. The lesson continued that way for the next two hours.

"Watch your footing. A step out of pattern, a knee bent too much, and-" A lunge, the sharp sound of metal smacking into metal, a muffled yelp as she fell to the ground. "-you die."

"Hai, Sensei!"

"Keep your grip strong!"

"Hai, Sensei!"

"You're not a statue, Sakura-Chan, you can still dodge."

"Hai, Sensei!"

"Footwork!"

"Hai!"

"Dodge!"

"Hai!"

"Grip!"

"Hai!"

And so on. At the end of those two hours, Sakura was covered in bruises, welts, and blood-blisters, dusty and sweaty and panting heavily as she stood with trembling arms and legs before her Sensei.

"Very good, Sakura-Chan," he told her warmly, handing her a bottle of water and a ration bar. "Take ten minutes to hydrate, eat that, and stretch. Then I'll start on the first forms of the Little Fang." Beaming up at Kaka-Sensei even as she panted, Sakura clutched her prizes with shaking fingers.

"Hai, Sensei," she agreed simply, happily. She was always eager for the approval and encouragement of authority figures, especially those that mattered to her personally. And, as Kaka-Sensei ruffled her hair affectionately as she slowly chugged her water, Sakura was all but glowing despite her exhaustion.

'Sensei is the best,' Inner agreed happily from their mind. 'Even if he is an asshole.'

Yeah, Sakura agreed with a sigh as she dropped to begin her stretches as Kaka-Sensei watched. He is.

A/N: Slowly but surely fleshing this Sakura out. With the entirety of her Sensei's focus on her, his blunt assessment and graphic descriptions of her faults and what they could have caused, I seriously doubt that Sakura wouldn't have willingly given up her creature comforts. I hope I'm keeping her still Canon-like despite the AU.