Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Hello everyone! Sorry it's taken me so long to update; college has been really tough, and I haven't been able to update many of my stories. I updated because tomorrow is my birthday, and I wanted to give my readers a birthday present!

A Chance Encounter : Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Edited: August 26, 2018

It was weird to be sitting in a hospital room so soon after having been in one. After the third part of the Chuunin Exams, Sakura had been brought to the hospital in case there were any lingering injuries. Of course there hadn't been and now there weren't any yet again. She wasn't the one who had been attacked…

She remembered being in the library, and she remembered trying to save the man; the one proctor of the third part of the Chuunin Exams. Sighing slightly, Sakura allowed a small blush to form on her face; the proctor, Hayate, was actually very handsome.

She couldn't even really remember how she had managed to come up with the chakra to heal Hayate. Sakura had read over a few text books on medic ninjutsu, but could it really be that easy? She had felt confident in her ability to perform the jutsu; had felt the warmth of her chakra spread over Hayate's chest in what she hoped had been a way to heal him. If she was able to perform the jutsu so easily only after reading books on medical ninjutsu, then what else could she do?

Sighing again, Sakura's eyes danced to the flowers that littered her room. Standing up, Sakura had to smile at them all. She already knew the orange tulips were from Naruto, the yellow daffodils would be from Ino, the bird of paradise was probably from Kakashi, but she did not know where the white lilies came from. She doubted they had come from Sasuke…

Walking over to the lilies, Sakura smiled slightly as she read the card. "Thanks for saving my dumbass friend. These flowers are from him, because I know he won't give you any."

Sakura giggled slightly and walked back over to her bed. The Hokage had come in and talked to her already. The two had a lengthy talk about what had happened, aka what she had heard and saw. They had also had a long talk about not sneaking into the library after hours, where Sakura had effectively felt chastised.

After that was all said and done, the Hokage had thanked her. It was a humbling experience, being thanked by her Hokage. It was one she was never going to forget. She also wasn't going to forget his final words to her.

"You need to stay in the hospital right now Sakura-Chan," Hiruzen had said before he had left her hospital room. "After what you have heard, the hospital is the only place I can ensure your safety."

Sakura felt her brows furrow instantly when she remembered the Hokage's words. When was she going to be strong enough to protect herself? She was the weak one of Team Seven. She was the only one on her team who would not be participating in the final round of the Chuunin Exams.

Sakura knew that she shouldn't be wallowing in self-pity, though. She needed to do something to become stronger. She couldn't stand back and let things happen, she needed to stand up and make a stand, like she had last night. "I swear to myself I'm going to become stronger, and next year I will become a Chuunin."

XxxX

Hayate stood in front of a hospital room door; he wasn't sure if he could do this… He wasn't sure if he could meet the young girl who had saved his life; wasn't sure if he was man enough to say thank you.

Coughing into his hand slightly on impulse, Hayate moved his other hand towards the doorknob. Sighing slightly, he opened the door without knocking, and walked into the hospital room.

Hayate closed the door behind him before actually looking into the room. Turning around, Hayate noticed the small, fragile looking girl laying on her bed. She was not asleep, but she did seem to be talking to herself, however, the thought made him smirk slightly. So the girl that saved him was crazy; just his luck indeed.

She must have heard the door close, because Sakura looked up, and blushed slightly back at him.

This was the man that she saved… honestly, she wasn't sure what he was doing here. If he thought that he owed her, he didn't. She had just been doing her job as a Konoha shinobi.

"Ah… Hi," Hayate said while taking a step into the room. He was no longer wearing his hospital gown, though she still was. It was obvious he was going to be let out, and that thought made Sakura slightly jealous. The man before her was obviously strong enough to leave the hospital without worrying the Hokage… she was not.

"Hello," Sakura said as she tried to smile; well wasn't this awkward? Sighing, she sat up and motioned for him to sit in the chair next to her bed. "Can I help you with anything?"

Hayate's eyes widened slightly as he sat down in the chair she offered him; she was asking if she could help him with anything? Hadn't she helped enough? She was the reason he would not die early; from both Baki's attack and also from the liquid that had been residing in his lungs. Shaking his head slightly, Hayate could only smile slightly at the girl before him.

"I believe I should be asking you that question," Hayate said with a slight headshake. "You're the one that saved my life, I should be the one that should be doing something for you."

It was Sakura's turn to smile back at him as he said that. A bit of determination set in her eyes, before she shook her head and sighed. "I'm fine, really." Sakura said while her eyes seemed to dance around the room, avoiding him.

"That's not what I asked," Hayate said with a slight glare; this girl was going to be difficult, and he was only trying to help. Maybe he was only trying to help to make himself feel less guilty, but still… "I asked you what I can help you with. It can be anything; I believe I owe you, Sakura."

Sakura nodded, and the determined look in her face returned. Emerald eyes connected completely with Hayate's brown ones, before she spoke. "I need someone to help me become a Chuunin. I want to take the exams next year, and I know at this point I am not ready."

Raising an eyebrow, Hayate frowned; that had been his idea as well, but he still needed to know her reasons. "I thought your sensei was Kakashi…" Hayate spoke. "Why would you need my help if you have such a great sensei already?"

Sakura allowed a soft snort to escape her lips. "My Sensei is more interested in my teammates, both Sasuke and Naruto. He has no extra time to train someone as insignificant as myself."

Hayate's eyes widened at the girl's last statement, though, he couldn't help but agree with the former part of her sentence. When someone was on a team with the kyuubi and an Uchiha it was obvious they were going to be the last priority.

"Alright," Hayate said with a swift nod. "To help repay you for what you did for me, I will train you."

"Thank you," Sakura said as she let a smile beam on her lips.

"Sakura," Hayate spoke as his fingers massaged his temples. Looking up to the pinkette, he spoke. "How were you able to heal me… not just the injury that Baki caused, but how did you loosen the liquid in my lungs?"

Sakura's eyes widened, and she watched Hayate for a second. "I… I wasn't aware I healed your illness; I did not even know you had an illness. But, to tell you the truth, I really don't know what I did. One second I was reading about medical ninjutsu in the library, the next I was trying said ninjutsu on you… to be honest I had never really tried it before."

Hayate smirked slightly before standing. "I guess this will be easier than I thought," Hayate said. "I'll head over to the library and pick you up a few scrolls to study. As soon as you're ready we'll begin our training."

Sakura couldn't help but smile as she watched Hayate leave… maybe this was going to be a good thing.

XxxX

Hayate was at the library searching through a few scrolls. He didn't know what he wanted to teach Sakura yet, so it was hard for him to decide on what scroll to check out.

Hayate wanted to teach her some basic taijutsu as well as some ninjutsu but there was a problem; he unaware of what type of chakra affinity Sakura had. His main chakra affinity was wind, but one could never be sure about someone else's. Knowing about her precise chakra control however, gave Hayate the hope that maybe Sakura wouldn't have to limit herself on the type of chakra ninjutsu she used.

It wasn't unheard of for people to be able to control all the elements; there had been special people in Konoha's history that could do it. Those special people had the ability to control their chakra almost perfectly; much like Sakura did. Hayate had a feeling Sakura could master more than just two elements…

Grabbing a few more scrolls, Hayate thought about the pink haired girl again. It was obvious she had a knack for medical ninjutsu. He didn't know what she had read yet, and what she hadn't, but Hayate still managed to grab a few medic nin scrolls before he sighed. He didn't know much about the girl he was going to teach, but he guessed that didn't matter; he'd know the girl soon enough.

Walking to the check out area, Hayate noticed he had grabbed over twenty scrolls. Smirking, he hoped Sakura could read quickly; if she couldn't then she didn't have much hope for his teaching.

XxxX

Sakura walked out of the hospital with a smile on her face; she had somehow convinced the Hokage that she would be fine. Thinking of what she should do first, she found her feet were already taking her to Ichiraku ramen.

Once she arrived at said ramen stand, Sakura's smile widened when she saw a familiar looking blonde. Walking up to said blonde, she gave a small wave when he noticed her. "Sakura-Chan!" Naruto yelled as he dropped his ramen and wrapped his arms around the pinkette.

"It's good to see you too, Naruto," Sakura said with a smile. Sitting in the seat beside him, Sakura ordered some ramen for herself.

"I'm sorry you went to the hospital, Sakura-Chan," Naruto said with a small frown. "I thought you could take care of yourself better than that. What were you sick with anyway?"

It was hard to lie to the boy in front of her, but the Hokage had told Sakura she could not tell the truth; the Hokage had to figure out what to do about Sound and Sand before he would name Sakura a hero. It was hard, because for once in her life, Sakura felt like she had done something right; that she had been strong… it was hard for her not to tell Naruto. "I guess it was just a cold; thank you for your flowers, though. They really were beautiful."

"No problem!" Naruto said with a grin. "I had to go to the flower shop and get Ino to help me."

"That's okay, Naruto," Sakura said with a smile. "Boys aren't supposed to know what kind of flowers to pick out. How's training going?"

Naruto frowned again, but then smiled slightly. "It's going pretty good; Kakashi-sensei is training Sasuke-teme. I had to get a dirty old pervert to help me!"

Sakura smiled at that. Speaking softly, Sakura said, "I'm training too; for next year. I found someone that's going to help me."

Glancing over to Naruto, she realized he wasn't paying any attention to her; she should be used to that… but it didn't make her feel any better.

"What was that, Sakura-Chan?" Naruto asked as he slurped up another mouthful of noodles. Looking next to her, Sakura just shook her head and stood.

"I said that's great Naruto, good luck," Placing a few ryo down on the table, Sakura left the ramen stand without even eating.

She was going to make sure her teammates watched her back for once; she was going to make them regret ignoring her like they have been… she was going to become strong.

Walking around the village Sakura found herself stopping at Team Seven's usual training ground. Thinking back to something she had read in a scroll, Sakura tried to bring chakra to her hands. This time she wasn't trying to heal someone, she was going to try to crush something.

Sakura had read that a woman named Tsunade had been able to use her chakra to add strength to her punches and kicks. Sakura had not been able to read a lot about the woman, but Sakura figured she'd be able to figure it out after a while.

Sakura had to concentrate as she drew chakra into her fists; if she could learn how to do things even before Hayate taught her, it would make things easier. Closing her eyes, Sakura felt her hands tingle slightly.

Raising her fist without opening her eyes, Sakura slammed her fist into the ground below her. Her eyes widened as she pulled her fist back up off the ground.

The punch had done more harm to her hand than it had the ground, but that was okay. It felt good to hit something.

Trying to bring the offensive chakra to her hand again, Sakura started at her fist for a minute. The scroll had said something about coating the outside of her fist with charka to help reinforce the hit, as well as protect the hand.

Concentrating on this took little effort, and once again, Sakura was ready to try her attack. Slamming her fist down to the ground, Sakura was happy to see a small indent of her fist into the ground.

It wasn't the earth shattering punches she had read about in the scroll, but it was something at least. Concentrating on her fists again, Sakura tried to draw more chakra into them to see if that would increase the damage her fists had used.

XxxX

Hayate watched from the sidelines as Sakura tried to use Tsunade's chakra enhanced strength; where had that girl even heard about such a jutsu? It was obvious people really didn't talk about the Sannin anymore. Hayate could only assume she had read it in a book she seemed so fond of reading.

He smirked proudly as he watched her punch the ground a second time; this time Sakura's punch created a small crack that splintered out.

Hayate watched as Sakura took in a deep breath before smiling; Hayate knew that training this girl would be a lot easier than he had first thought. If this girl showed this much potential without even being trained properly, he couldn't wait to see what would happen when he taught her everything he knew.