Sakura lied on her bed in her room as she stared at the ceiling. A lot of things were running through her mind, most of all was the fact that she was in the final round of the Chunin Exams. She completely understood the circumstances of how she ended up there: there were an odd number of combatants who were participating in the preliminaries and the protector made it clear that one person would automatically advance to the final round. In the end, that person ended up being Sakura. Some people would say that she was the lucky one, but Sakura felt embarrassed and ashamed. It was the same as it always was; she got through an ordeal without doing anything. Every mission since she was one Team 7 was the same; Sasuke and Naruto were the ones who faced the enemy head on while she held back on the sidelines. The Chunin Exams opened her eyes to how pathetic she really was; if Rock Lee and the others hadn't shown up, those Sound Ninja would've easily killed and her friends.
To make matters worse, she was going up Ino Yamanaka in the finals, the most skilled genin in her class alongside Sasuke and Shino. Sakura remembered every since her days at the academy, Sakura never one a match against Ino. Every time they spared, Ino would use her clan's telepathy to make a fool out of her. When she used her jutsu to take over Sakura's mind, Ino would make her do things like jumping in mud puddles, picking her nose, eating bugs, and taking off her clothes in front of everyone. Ino would do anything to make Sakura look like a fool in front of Sasuke; now she had the chance to embarrass her in front of the entire village.
Sakura knew exactly what she had to do: she had to become stronger. Right now Naruto was training for his fight with Neji and she could only assume Sasuke was training for his fight with Garaa. She had to put forth the effort so that she could protect the ones she cared about all on her own. The only problem was she didn't know who could train her. Who could help her?
"Will you get off butt and help with the dishes!?" Sakura heard her mother Mebuki yelling at her father Kizashi. "Oh great, they're at it again,' moaned Sakura as she turned on her side. "I can't understand why a blowhard like my mother married a joker like my father…" It was then that Sakura looked at the white circle on her dress: the emblem of the Haruno Clan. "My father!" she exclaimed as she sat up on her bed. While Sakura knew her clan wasn't anything great like the Uchiha or the Hyuga, there had to be some special techniques within the Haruno Clan that her father could show her. Although he was a goofball like Naruto, Sakura knew her father Kizashi was a strong shinobi. Sakura pushed herself out of bed and headed downstairs to ask her father to train her. When Sakura got downstairs into the kitchen, she saw her parents arguing over the sink.
"You call yourself a great ninja and yet you can't even clean a dish properly!?" exclaimed Mebuki as she pestered her husband.
"Sorry dear, but I never any good at the Clean Dishes Jutsu" laughed Kizashi.
"Well you certainly didn't master the Good Joke Jutsu either," stated Mebuki. "Just let me do this and find some other way to make yourself useful for once." Mebuki took over the dishes as Kizashi walked past Sakura out of the kitchen into the living room. Kizashi was about to lie down on the sofa to catch some Zs when Sakura caught him.
"Hey Dad, can I ask you for a favor?" she asked.
"A favor?" asked Kizashi. "Well sure but it will cost you. If you need me to do your laundry, it will cost 5 Ryo. If you need me to go out shopping for you, it will cost 10 Ryo. But if you need to…"
"I want you to train me," interrupted Sakura. Kizashi's jovial attitude faded away when Sakura said this. This was an enormous surprise to him because his daughter never took her training completely seriously. Kizashi stared at her as he tried to find the words to say.
"You want me to train you?" he asked. "You were never too interested in practicing your ninjutsu on your own, let alone with me. You were always more concerned with maintaining that pretty hair of yours. Why do you all of a sudden want me to teach you?"
"Because I finally realized how weak I really am," Sakura answered as she lowered her head with shame. During the Chunin Exams, I couldn't protect my teammates all by myself. Right now they are trying to make themselves stronger and I am here doing nothing. I have always depended on them while they couldn't once depend on me." Sakura then raised her head as she became fueled with determination. "Right now I only have one month become stronger for the Finals. If I don't learn any new jutsu, not only will I look like a fool in front of the whole village but I won't ever be able to protect those two as they've done for me. Aren't there any jutsus that our clan uses that you can teach me? I have to become stronger for them." Kizashi was surprised to see his child so passionate about her training for once; he was unsure what to make of it all. As he saw fire in her eyes, he knew how serious she was right now. Kizashi knew that Sakura was finally ready to learn the clan's Hiden Jutsu.
"Well there is one technique that is unique to our clan," replied Kizashi. "However, it is not easy to master and I won't go easy on you. But if you really believe you are up for it, I will gladly teach it to you." Sakura's face filled up with joy upon hearing this.