Contrary to what she believed in the Academy, it turned out that human anatomy was very interesting. In the academy, it was all "here's the kidney, you stab you die." Or "here's a heart. Blood flow arteries" but Genin Basic Anatomy 101 was more like "if you spilt a person from mouth to anus, you can stitch them back together!" It seems to try to show the various types of damages that a ninja on the field might get and basic first aid.
It started with cuts & scraps but it soon escalated to bizarre territory like "how to fix if your skin melted and your metacarpals were sticking out due to a fire jutsu." She laughed at that one, being so specific.
But here she was, witnessing exact thing
"You idiot!" She roared at the blond in front of her. Naruto's skin was red with blisters after a rumble and tumble with Sasuke. "Why did you stick your hand in the fire?"
Naruto scratched the back of his sheepishly. "Ahaha but Teme was annoying me." He grumbled.
Sakura sneaked a glance at Sasuke, standing handsomely, crossing his arms. Even the way he is standing is cool.
"Get the dobe to the hospital, I need to work on my jutsu." Sasuke said, already moving away to find a clearing to work on his fire breathing jutsu.
A month ago, Sakura would've pouted annoyed at the fact that instead of spending time with Sasuke she had to bring Naruto to the hospital. But after the Wave Mission, she felt somewhat protective of Naruto. She saw the Kyuubi and the burden Naruto carried. Although Naruto was very much still an idiot, he wasn't so bad.
And for the first time, Sakura didn't see Sasuke's action as cool she saw it as a little… mean. Although the injury was due to lack of caution on both parties, they were teammates who had each other's back. Isn't that what Wave mission showed? In that short period fighting Haku, she felt like they were a team, or at least, the boys were a team.
Perhaps it was the new confusing thoughts that helped Sakura do something that she never thought who would do, disagree with Sasuke. "I-I think we should all go." She said meekly.
Sasuke whipped back in his tracks, his oynx eyes boring into her. Sakura couldn't help but to fidget underneath the intense stare. Oh god I'm going to get yelled by Sasuke he's gonna hate me. Oh god why did I just say that?
Thankfully, Sasuke just grunted. "Hn" he said. Without elaborating, he walked towards Sakura. "We'll cut through training ground 5- it'll be faster."
Sakura grinned. Thankfully, Sasuke didn't find her big mouth annoying. "Y-yeah."
"I'm fineee! I can go for another round dattebayo!" Naruto whined.
Sakura glanced at Sasuke, almost scared that Sasuke would continue sparring with Naruto with a half-gone hand. However, Sasuke just kept walking. "Shut up Dobe. You are too weak to continue."
"What did you say Teme? Come here right now and I'll show you!"
"Catch up then."
And with that, all there was left was the dust cloud that the boys left behind. Sakura watched as the two boys raced across the rooftops, Naruto yelling obscenities and Sasuke smirking.
Once again, she was looking at their backs.
She needed to try harder.
"I want to become a medic-nin. For real. Like Tsunade-sama" she said to Kakashi Sensei. "I want to become strong like the boys."
The droopy one-eyed ninja stared at her, surprised. She supposed that was fair considering it was 6am in the morning and she had knocked on his door until he woke up. Even though it was 6am in the morning.
"Sakura-chan. It's early." Her sensei merely said. Although probably just woken up from sleep, he didn't look sleep hazed at all.
Sakura nodded, taking the comment as an invitation to come in. "Yes sensei. Sorry for coming here so early but I wanted to talk about my career choices." She started taking her shoes off. "Can I come in?"
Kakashi-sensei looked still baffled by her appearance but nodded nevertheless. Not that he had a choice of course, she was already in his house and closing the door for him.
"It's not fair because Naruto and Sasuke-kun are so strong! As you know, I come from a civilian family so I don't have a person I can go and just ask about this stuff." She stepped into his flat, surprisingly neat and tidy. It was sparse but clean.
She heard a slight sigh behind her. "Sakura, sit down and calm down." Sensei said, pulling a chair for her.
Sakura accepted his invitation and sat down. "But I don't know how to start becoming a medic-nin. You said my chakra control is good so I've been doing some chakra exercises like the leaf floating and I've achieved that. I read through all the anatomy books in the library that a genin can access but I don't want to try out healing on –"
"Calm down." Kakashi-sensei interjected. "Let's start from the beginning. Why do you want to become strong?"
Sakura thought quietly. What can she respond with? That she wanted to become a good ninja? Because she wanted to excel at her job? Because she didn't want to lose?
At that moment, it became clear to her why the fact that she was falling behind bothering her to the point of obsession.
Embarrassed at what she was just about to admit, Sakura started at her thumbs. "I'm scared." Sakura admitted almost whispering the words.
"At Wave, I thought Sasuke-kun died and I couldn't shake the feeling that it was my fault. If I was a little faster, if I was a little stronger, maybe he wouldn't have gotten hurt. I'm scared that they'll realise that I'm a burden and leave me behind." And I'll just see their backs again. "I just want to be part of Team 7."
With courage, Sakura glanced up to see Kakashi-sensei look uncharacteristically less slouchy and uncomfortable.
Sakura groaned inwardly. Now Sensei will think I'm some scaredy-cat. Gosh Sakura why can't you keep it together?
There was definitely a bout of uncomfortable silence as Sensei merely sat closing his eyes.
Just when Sakura was finished beating herself up about how silly she was being, Kakashi-sensei started speaking.
"My cute little genin." He said with his eyes doing a half smile. "You worry too much."
Sakura almost bristled at what he said. This was something she was mulling over for three months! She poured her heart and soul into memorizing all these books so she wouldn't fall behind. "But Sense-"She tried to say but was quickly silenced by the jonin's unusually sharp look.
"You are part of Team 7 and I never leave a comrade behind."
And that was that. Kakashi-sensei got up from the chair and ushered out the dazed Sakura out the door, reminding her to come to the training ground at 7 o'clock.
It was like Sakura was in a trance as she walked to grab breakfast. You are part of Team 7 and I never leave a comrade behind.
A part of her knew how utterly cheesy that line was but that was a line that she needed so desperately. For her sensei to tell her that she belonged here. Although a civilian background, she belonged here with the boys. Although she might not be as strong as the boys, that didn't' mean she wasn't a part of Team 7.
With that, she knew immediately what her role should be. Currently they were Team Trouble Magnet – dysfunctional, individualistic and barely functional. She will make this team- her team- into a real team. A team that looks over each other's back, spars together to become stronger, and one that keeps each other safe.
She will lead Team 7.