Training and missions fell into similar patterns. A week of what was essentially glorified endurance and stamina training, sometimes with sparring practice and whatever else Kakashi-sensei thought they'd need thrown in, followed by two days of weeding, trash duty, dog walking, or whatever other chores Kakashi-sensei could pass off as a D-rank mission. Lather, rinse, repeat. Rub the bruises, ease the strain out of limbs, and stretch just in time for two days of "rest."

Aim better, sprint faster, push yourself, push yourself, push yourself!

She wished she'd quit when she'd had the chance, tired as she is of sweat and strain and ruined dresses and shirts and stinging scratches. Naruto laughed, always optimistic and always rising to the challenge. Sasuke is never far behind, pulling himself to Naruto's level and beyond by his fingertips. Sakura wished she had their tenacity.

("It's okay Sakura-chan, we'll get there eventually!")

She felt like she was falling behind. Her limbs still shook after practice, it was her who fell behind during laps, and it was Sakura that still cried into her pillow at the hardness and the frustration of it all. On Kakashi-sensei's team her eidetic memory and intelligence seemed to be held in contempt. What did it matter that she could memorize anything at a blink if she cannot keep up with her more physical teammates? What good is her brain, if her weaker skills get her killed anyway?

Tears and frustration, and a stubborn, bullheaded desire to never, ever give in to the doubt. ("Don't let the bastards get you down, Sakura-chan! Just a little more and we'll show them all!") She gained her ground slower than Sasuke, slower than Naruto, but she gained it. She was pulling herself to their level, slowly but surely. She'd catch them yet.

"Today," Kakashi-sensei drawled, startling her from her wandering thoughts, "We're going to work on genjutsu. Mostly on your ability to sense it and cancel it, as I'm sure my cute students remember the theory from the Academy." Kakashi-sensei went on, and eventually she just rolled her eyes and casually dispelled the illusion her instructor had provided.

A month and a half later, Naruto finally broke. "Please, Old Man Hokage, please. I can't handle another D rank. I want to go on a real mission! Protecting princesses, rescuing lords! Come on!" He whined, punctuating his words with biting, disgruntled looks to Kakashi-sensei.

"Well," Drawled Hokage-sama, before waving forward an unsightly older man who reeked of alcohol and looked decidedly wrinkled. "Tazuna-san would like an escort back to his hometown in Wave country. It's a C rank," he added kindly, mostly to soothe Naruto's building temper. "He's a great bridge builder."

At dawn the next day, after an unpleasant introduction to their soon-to-be charge away from the Hokage's tempering presence, Sakura met up with her teammates by the gates. Naruto was a little subdued by the sheer early nature of the hour, and Sasuke seemed even more grouchy and prickly than normal (not that she cared too much, there was still that weird twinge in her gut every time he got too close that just put her off the Uchiha...just a little. It wasn't butterflies at least, is what she decided she meant).

The sun was nearing a fourth of the sky by the time Kakashi-sensei and Tazuna-san decided to grace them with their presence. The genin were too tired to protest, much at least. Naruto still rallied a token accusation, though any heat behind it had been tired out by the second week of training. Tazuna-san continued to grate on her nerves, though she managed to keep to her manners by the skin of her teeth. It was hot, and it was humid, and Tazuna-san kept up a steady commentary on everything from the weather to the state of his daughter's marital affairs.

Something, a prickle at the back of her neck or a strange sound, made her turn around just in time to catch Kakashi-sensei getting ripped apart by chains. Shrieking, she turned with wide eyes to Tazuna-san at the same time her teammates turned helpless eyes to the only living adult. Within a second though, the training by way of Academy and jounin-sensei kicked in and the three pulled themselves into a standard formation.

Sakura held her kunai at eye level, point facing outwards as she backed herself up against the bridge-builder and then pushed them both back into some cover. Sasuke flanked her on the right, and Naruto on the left, though the latter seemed frozen. She was so frightened, her legs were trembling though her arms were steady. ("We can do it, Sakura-chan.")

When the enemy finally attempted to drive them from their more defensible position, she and Sasuke were able to drive him off. Naruto yelped as one of the claws grazed him, and her heart beat harder in her chest. This was no way to go on, she thought desperately, panting from the exertion and panic. Kakashi-sensei was dead and they were just genin!

Clanging sounded from Naruto's position, and she whipped her head around to see one opponent grappling with three Naruto. In her distraction, the second opponent got past Sasuke, and sent his razor sharp gauntlet past her towards Tazuna-san. Shocked, she twisted too slowly.

She yelped when the clawed gauntlet scraped against the length of her neck as the assailant was dragged backwards. "Kakashi-sensei!" one of the Naruto cried, a desperately relieved sound. Both of the enemy ninja were slammed together by their unamused sensei, and they were swiftly secured. Sakura felt like crying, she was so happy to see her sensei.

She brought a hand to the wound, and immediately made a croaking noise. Blood pulsed out of her neck in time with her rapid heartbeat. "Kakashi-sensei!" She managed, eyes wide and a hollow feeling in her chest. She couldn't think past the slickness on her hands, past the look of horror on Naruto's face, the shock and disbelief on Sasuke's. Kakashi's hand on her shoulder, a strange red eye and a wavering green glow (I think we've seen that before, Sakura-chan), and she collapsed.

Gasping, Sakura struggled to right herself. On her hands and knees, she retched over and over again, feeling disoriented and shaken. By the time her head stopped spinning and her guts quieted, she'd slumped over and focused on the ground. The individual blades of grass underneath her hands felt real in a way that she didn't.

(Kakashi-sensei has strange toes, Sakura-chan!)

"Maa, what a severe reaction." His sandal-clad feet arched in a way that she supposed meant he must be crouching down to her level, and she feels his hand resting gently on her shoulder. "Do you need to go to the hospital, Sakura-chan?" Sakura heard Naruto yelping in concern, and felt ashamed.

"No…" Shaking her head only made her feel more unbalanced, so she stopped. "No, Sensei." He made a tutting noise, like he didn't believe her or as though he was disappointed. She wanted to shrink into herself and disappear. Her lower lip quivered, and hot, angry tears splashed down onto the grass. "I'm s-sorry." She whimpered, unable to stem the flow despite clenching her eyes closed and her shallow breathing. Soon enough and she was full on sobbing, dampening Kakashi-sensei's leg wraps and squeaking out apologies.

"I didn't mean to die, Sensei." She managed between hysterical breaths. "I didn't, I'm sorry!" ("Sakura-chan...it's okay, we're okay, and Sensei's okay, and our teammates are okay! And, and we know we have to get better, and we'll work at it, and...and maybe we can stop crying in front of everybody?")

Sakura eventually calmed down, though she kept hiccuping and she had a headache. Kakashi-sensei dismissed training, and after verifying again that she didn't need the hospital, escorted her home. "She had a bad reaction to a genjutsu, Haruno-san." He explained quietly to her mother, as Sakura shuffled off towards her room. "If she has any nightmares after several days, I would think about taking her to see a medic."

The stairs were difficult to climb in her weary stupor, but eventually she managed to tumble into her bed. Is every genjutsu going to be like this? She asked herself, staring at the ceiling without truly seeing it. We can't...we can't be a ninja like that. ("We'll figure it out, Sakura-chan.")

Haruno Mebuki quietly closed the door behind the escaping jounin, and immediately ran to her daughter's side and curled up around the exhausted child's frame. "Oh my baby." She mourned, gently moving her thumb over Sakura's temple, careful to avoid irritating the scabs underneath the shorn, prickly hair. Sakura fell asleep, feeling safe in her mother's proximity.