Definition of Strength Chapter 3: My Precious: Kakashi's Attempted Revenge, a naruto fanfic

I am just about freaking frustraaaatteeedd~! If you are reading this, be grateful. My thumb drive hates this chapter. Seriously. It ate the same file two freaking times. I had to rewrite this three damned times! If I wasn't so pig-headed stubborn about actually finishing this story, I might have given up by now, with all my creative juices drained dry. There's only so many times a girl can stomach rewriting a chapter which by all rights should have been completed and published a few days ago. I hate my thumb drive. It probably hates me too.

Author Status: Becoming fat by consuming chocolate in an attempt to feel better about having to write this chapter for the 3rd time.

Disclaimer: The world has no justice. No, I don't own Naruto.

'Italic' – internal thoughts

"Normal"- spoken words

{Bold} - Inner Sakura

My Precious – Kakashi's Attempted Revenge

The new day dawned early and bright, the morning sun gently warming the occupants of the hidden village of Konohagakure. The rays of sunshine filtered through the leaves of the trees near Kakashi's apartment complex, creating a myriad of colours, the leaves itself creating a halo glowing with the colours of green, yellow and orange around the trees. It was just another typical day in the village, with birds singing in the background, yet to be disturbed by the busy village life. Kakashi paid no mind to the sights and sounds as he exited his apartment, his mind too preoccupied with his plans. As he was cutting through the market, villagers glimpsed the sight of Kakashi with an orange book cradled protectively.

"I shall never let them get their grubby little paws on you again, my Precious…" They could hear him muttering to the book as he strode past, his sanity having temporarily taken leave.

Even the civilians could feel the aura of malevolence surrounding him, radiating from the masked jounin like a cloud, shrilly alerting their survival instinct with the urgency of a fire alarm. The bystanders gave him a large berth of space, parting like the red sea before him, but all of Kakashi's attention was fixed on the orange book in his arms as he softly crooned to it. "No, darling, they shall learn their lesson."

All the onlookers immediately turned away, pretending to be preoccupied, some even to the extent of quietly slipping away as Kakashi broke out in a fit of maniacal laughter, before stopping almost as abruptly and continuing on his way to the red bridge, leaving them immersed in the feeling of relief from not having attracted his attention or potential wrath.

Sakura rose early, before the sun was up, according to her normal routine. She couldn't stop the elation that coursed through her when she recalled yesterday's events. She headed towards training ground 115 with an inadvertent smile on her face, geared up for a light training before Kakashi's assessment.

Engrossed in the training, her mind wondered during the repetitive movements. She couldn't help analyzing the moves she made yesterday.

'Even though everything turned out alright… I still made so many mistakes. Falling for that genjutsu, being too overconfident… ' Her face started to sour during the assessment of her recollection.

'Naruto has amazing stamina and a massive chakra reserve; he must have made almost a hundred of those solid clones yesterday and still had the energy to fight Kakashi for long periods of time afterwards.', Wincing as she remembered her attempt to make the shadow clone. 'Sasuke was from a clan, born and bred with larger reserves and stamina as well; and his repertoire of jutsu and taijutsu are far better than us.' {Don't forget the rumour about the Uchiha library.}, Inner Sakura gave her input, {Filled with information about the fighting styles and jutsu of the Five Elemental Countries copied with the Sharingan.} They were both almost salivating at the thought of so much information. 'But this rate, they will both surpass me in no time. I've worked so hard and yet…' Riled, she punched the training post she was practicing on with so much force that the training post actually shook and splintered.

'I'm not going to let them best me! I'll work even harder. Just because I'm from a civilian family doesn't mean that I'm weaker.' Now pacified, she completed her light training with zeal. 'I am stronger than that.'

Kakashi hid amongst the leaves of a tree nearby the red bridge. He could spy his unwary three new students lounging on the bridge, waiting for him. 'I can almost taste the sweetness of vengeance. So close…' Eight o'clock. Should he show up now or…? 'I'll let them sweat a bit.' He decided, settling on the branch he was perched on, partially to finish the chapter he was in the middle of and observe his students.

'But they're being rather boring, aren't they?' He observed their relaxed postures, the pink one with her eyes closed and Sasuke and Naruto apparently in another argument. Unable to wait any longer, he used his signature transportation jutsu, taking care to overpower it to produce more smoke than usual.

Letting them choke on the smoke, he waited patiently for the inevitable. Instead, he was met with incredulous stares.

"It's an imposter!" He received glares and suspicious looks.

"Maa, maa. How can I be an imposter?"

"Kakashi-sensei would never come just ten minutes late!" Naruto accused, stabbing his finger at the masked nin.

"Oh, is it? Shall I demonstrate the Thousand Years of Pain technique on you again to prove my identity?" Kakashi asked indolently, half tempted to execute it anyway.

"Eh heh." Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly. "It is Kakashi-sensei."

"Glad I got that sorted out. Now follow me."

He was only ten minutes late. That fact was ringing alarm bells in Sakura's head. There was no way. In all the information they had discovered about the jounin yesterday, everything pointed to the fact that he was usually at least two hours late. In fact, even the Sandaime Hokage had resorted to summoning Kakashi two hours ahead of briefings in order to get him there somewhat on time.

It wasn't an imposter, Naruto had proven that satisfactorily. His chakra levels indicated it wasn't a Kage Bunshin. So what was up?

Still immersed in her thoughts, she simply followed as Kakashi led them to a clearing in the forest. 'The same training ground as yesterday?' Suspicious, she scanned the grounds, her eyes darting to various spots, quickly picking out a few inconsistencies after consulting her mental maps. 'Our traps yesterday, some are still there, but some have been moved or removed? There are a few new ones as well. What is Kakashi-sensei up to?' Noting the locations of the traps, she noted that most of them were near trees marked with red flags. {Shall we run our unsuspecting teammates into it?}

"A hundred laps around perimeter marked with red flags." Kakashi jolted her out of her musings.

"What? That must be at least half a mile each!" Naruto burst out.

"It's one mile actually." Kakashi shrugged uncaringly.

Naruto flared-up, arguing with the nin. Sakura took the opportunity to approach Sasuke.

"A race. We never decided the strongest yesterday."

"Hn."

She took that as Uchiha speak for agreement. Turning to where Naruto was arguing with the sensei, she yanked hard on the blond's ear. "Naruto-baka, hurry up. We're racing."

"Itai!" He complained, rubbing his ear, "Sakura-chan, it is a hundred miles!" It distracted him from a relieved looking Kakashi.

"Well, Sasuke and I are racing," She started, with a guileless look on her face. "If you're not up to it, then I'll just have to do it alone with him." The roseate added coyly.

"No way! Let's go bastard!" Naruto challenged the raven-haired genin.

"Glad you guys have finished your gossiping." Kakashi was immediately hit with three incensed glares. "Alright, begin."

The three darted out, Sasuke swiftly gaining the lead with Naruto dogging his steps. Sakura on the other hand adopted a slightly more leisurely pace, content to let the other two fight it out for now. This pattern continued for fifty rounds, before Kakashi decided that they were exhausted enough, and started setting off the traps he prepared.

"Teme, I'm catching up!"

Sasuke grimaced almost imperceptibly. That dobe had managed to stick to him stubbornly, not even faltering more than a few steps when he had increased his speed. His obstinate persistence was frankly very annoying. The blond had been pestering him almost non-stop for fifty laps now, and he was almost at the boiling point.

"Bastard, you can't lose me!"

He snapped. "As if you can beat me, dead-last!"

This sparked an argument while they were running through a narrow path down a steep hill, each routinely shoving the other, hoping to put off the other's pace. One particularly hard shove unbalanced Naruto, sending him diving headfirst to the ground, crashing into Sasuke, unwittingly tripping a hidden ninja wire in process.

Sasuke pushed the boy off him to the side, feeling a sense of déjà vu. Luckily for Naruto, this act inadvertently saved the blond from a cascade of kunai and shuriken. Onyx eyes widened at the onslaught, its owner quickly rolling to the side, barely avoiding the second torrent. Both boys scrambled to their feet, kunais whipped out ready to deal with another barrage of weapons. They sighed in relief when it seemed to be the end.

"Hah! That was no match for the future Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto exclaimed.

Sasuke whacked him on the head. "Dobe, you set off the trap! I had to save you!"

Another argument ensued. An ominous rumbling sound slowly rose in volume behind them. They both temporarily halted their disagreement, looking around warily.

"Did you hear that, teme?"

"Shut up dobe." Straining his ears to hear, the sound was becoming louder?

"Run!"

Naruto wisely did not argue, sprinting with Sasuke as a large boulder the size of a small house crashed through the undergrowth of the forest ground. Both craning their heads back and spied the boulder.

"Ahh!"

They could only boost their speed desperately, only now noticing the wickedly sharp rocks lining both sides of the path they, and the boulder, were on. Frantic, Naruto spotted a branch further away, its height higher than the boulder.

"Teme, up!"

They both leapt with all their strength, catching hold of the branch, pulling themselves up hurriedly, and holding on for their life as the boulder continued rolling by, eventually hitting and demolishing a huge tree. Saved, they dropped down from the branch.

"Hahahaha… Try to… Huge boulder… Kakashi…" Naruto was overcome with hysterical laughter, fuelled by adrenaline and relief. "We won!"

Sasuke could only smirk, the corners of his lips upturned slightly. In a rare show of generosity, he hauled the blond to his feet. "Enough dobe, don't fall behind."

Meanwhile, nearby in a tree, busy enjoying his Icha Icha book, Kakashi wondered out loud, "I wonder if I went too overboard?"

He turned the page, giggling perversely at the images in his book. "Meh."

A little further away, Sakura had been steadily completing her laps unaware of the boys' predicament. She had been nimbly avoiding most of the traps so far, staging it to look like it was by accident or luck, only falling for one without a genjutsu that used a very well hidden ninja-wire that launched a few easily avoided kunai.

Deciding it had been long enough, she changed the tempo of her strides chewing up the distance, rapidly catching up with the other two genin who were recovering from the adrenaline rush.

"Sakura-chan, you won't believe what happened this now!"

"Don't call me Sakura-chan." She stated, not having the need to butter him up and the moment.

"But, Sakura-chan," he was incorrigible; "You don't know what happened this now. There was this trap with a huge boulder," He indicated with his arms spread out wide, nearly hitting Sasuke with his enthusiastic gesture, "and I saved the bastard's ass!"

"You did not save me, dobe. You set off the trap in the first place!" Sasuke countered, annoyed yet again by the immature blond.

This broke their fragile truce, sparking another fight. Sakura only rolled her eyes and continued on past them, unnoticed by either boy.

Completing another lap without triggering another trap, she met up with them again. The two were now ignoring each other, yet stubbornly keeping up with each other's pace. The signs of fatigue were now showing on them, the dirt with stray twigs and leaves evidence of being inconvenienced by a few traps. 'Naruto probably got them caught in a few traps.' She smirked. 'It's time to up the level.'

Sidling up to them she remarked on their appearance. "You're looking a bit under the weather," she plucked a twig off Sasuke's hair, twirling it around her fingers. "Looks like you had some trouble. Did that happen to slow you down?"

Sasuke almost visibly bristled at that assumption, involuntarily taking in Sakura's nearly immaculate if sweaty appearance. He almost immediately sped up with Naruto following suit. They rushed off, heading into the clearing where Sakura had spotted a newly set up trap. 'It's probably a genjutsu, judging by the chakra.' She quickly decided to let them handle it while she took a short break.

She leaned against a tree and smiled as she took in the entertainment. Really, she had to commend Kakashi's imagination with the genjutsu.

"Ramen, come back!" Naruto pleaded with the ramen-filled bowl that had sprouted legs and was running away from him.

No matter how hard he tried, the bowl kept getting further away from him. Smelling another bowl of ramen closer to him, he turned around quickly. He pounced on it, to no avail, as it turned into a bowl of vegetables. The vegetables hopped out of the bowl, the green horrors latching onto him, chasing him yelling, "Eat me!"

"Noooooooo!"

He turned tail and ran, with the leafy monstrosities close behind.

A sea of miso soup suddenly swamped Sasuke, driving him deep under its waves. He exerted his strength to kick back up to the surface, choking and gasping on the soup. Taking a look around him, he saw a sea of miso soup and giant noodles? Ramen?

His jaw dropped in disbelief, causing him to accidentally swallow yet another mouth of the nauseating soup. How did he get stuck in a giant bowl of ramen? He swam, trying to avoid objects like vegetables and noodles that were swirling around him. Suddenly, he felt a tug on his leg. A noodle had somehow managed to wrap around his leg without his notice! The soup suddenly created a vortex, the swirling whirlpool dragging him down into its depths with ramen ingredients sweeping past him faster and faster. Futilely, he tried to stay abreast of the soup, evading as many obstacles as he could.

A fishcake with a swirl on top swept past. 'Naruto?'

"This is probably all the dobe's fault! I'm dreaming of his ramen and swirls!" He suddenly realized. "Dream… No! Genjutsu!"

"Kai!"

She felt the chakra field falter and vanish abruptly with the burst of Sasuke's chakra, dissipating Kakashi's chakra. Her five minute break is up. Rested, she stretched languidly, starting a jog past the two recovering genins. Sasuke had turned a lovely shade of green, fighting the urge to puke, while Naruto was on the ground, mourning the loss of his ramen. She breezed past them easily, catching up with them entirely by the end of the 90th round.

By then, the boys were nearly collapsing from exhaustion whilst the roseate Nin was feeling the strain of the exertion.

'It's not fair.' She was almost audibly panting, something she wouldn't allow herself to do in front of that arrogant Uchiha. 'Even with all that training, I really am only at the same level as them.'

The three kept pace with each other, not letting any take the lead. The silence was almost deafening, not even Naruto having the energy to talk. The feeling of relief as they finished the last round was tangible. Team 7 promptly collapsed to the ground in sync, breathing heavily. The movements of their chests, up and down taking in precious air, were the only sign of life from the three unmoving bodies on the forest floor.

"Ha... Ah hah..." Naruto gasped, "That was fun... We should... Do it again."

"You idiot." Sakura would have shrieked if she had any energy. Instead, she found it amusing, managing to pull up a slight smile.

Sasuke only smirked, all signs of previous exertions already hidden behind his stoic mask.

They lay on the ground in a comfortable silence before it was broken by the sound and smoke of a transportation jutsu.

"Yo!" The unwelcome intruder greeted. "Stop being lazy and do a hundred push ups."

'If looks could kill, I would already be dead a few times over,' Kakashi mused. 'I didn't think that anybody's glare could be worse than an Uchiha's.' He mentally gave intimidation points to the pink haired kunoichi.

His two other students had already subdued Naruto's whining and complaining, starting the push ups with minimal fuss, though he'll gander that he'll be avoiding some assassination attempts in the future if those dark looks were any indication.

He marvelled at the sheer stubbornness of his three students, their refusal to show their exhaustion to him evident.

"I am actually slightly impressed." He praised them, temporarily forgetting about his ongoing feud with his students, as they completed the 100th push up. "Though you guys should have been much faster." He received their renewed glares. "As a reward, I'll teach you something."

{That lazy jounin is actually going to teach us something?} Inner Sakura was hopping with joy in Sakura's head. Sakura forgot her exhaustion, almost jumping to her feet as she listened intently to the jounin.

He went through the mechanics of chakra control, frustrating her as they had to slow down to re-explain the whole concept to Naruto. {That was taught in the academy, Shannaro!}

She was disappointed when the jounin only walked up the tree. 'Tree walking? I completely mastered that a month ago.' She didn't move as the boys rushed up on their attempts.

"Why aren't you trying it?" Kakashi questioned her as she remained stationary for the next few minutes.

She sighed. "Sensei, I learnt that last month." Without another word, she walked to the top of the nearest tree some twenty feet high, somersaulting off it to land on the ground without a sweat.

'The goldfish look really suits the boys.' She was gratified at the stunned looks of her teammates who haven't passed the three-foot mark yet, Naruto even exploding off the tree once, using too much chakra.

"Sakura-chan is awesome!"

Sasuke merely sulked, rushing the tree with renewed vigour.

"Well, it seems that Sakura is more advanced you other two. So I'll be bringing her for advanced training." Kakashi decided to Sasuke's revulsion. Before they could protest, he grabbed her and initiated a transportation jutsu.

'I really hate that jutsu.' Sakura fought off the lingering nausea from the sudden transportation. 'A lake?'

"Now, who taught you?" The masked jounin questioned.

"No one really. I watched the village genins, researched a bit in the library, asked a few people..."

"You practiced alone?"

"Yes."

"Don't do that anymore. Practicing jutsu or chakra control techniques alone without knowing the proper technique is dangerous. Then again, you did have some idea, didn't you?"

Sakura tried to play dumb, feigning a clueless look at that.

"That genjutsu trap, and a few traps before that." Kakashi continued, "You avoided all that contained chakra, only getting caught by the few that didn't and were very well hidden."

{He knows or at least suspects.} 'We may as well come clean.'

"I can sort of feel chakra." Sakura admitted. "It started after I got better at meditation."

He walked onto the lake. "Tell me what you feel."

Stunned at the feat, Sakura nearly did not respond. Taking control of herself, she forcibly calmed herself, breathing in and out with measured breaths. Focussing on her sensei, she extended her senses to his feet.

There was a chakra output just like tree walking, but the output wasn't steady. It was constantly regulating?

"I didn't think you could walk on anything that wasn't solid." Sakura admitted, slightly downcast at missing a earlier training opportunity. "But your chakra is constantly adjusting to the water?"

"Yes. I take it that you haven't seen this before.

She shook her head, stepping out to the water to try. Her foot sunk in before she could adjust her chakra output. She hurriedly regulated her chakra, managing to stay on top of the water, not sinking. The green eyed girl took a shaky step forward towards her sensei, getting used to the required chakra control.

"This requires good control, but I see you've almost completely got it down."

She nodded, too preoccupied to answer.

"You are dismissed once you have managed three laps around the lake."

Kakashi shook his head bemusedly as he watched his pink haired protégé complete yet another lap around the lake.

He had expected a skilled Uchiha, a powerhouse and a close to useless kunoichi. How his expectations have been exceeded. He almost hadn't noticed how she had avoided all his chakra laid traps, her execution of it being close to flawless. Any other bystander would have only believed in her luck.

'But from a civilian family and only self taught?' He shook his head again. 'This is almost ridiculous! It's like Tsunade-hime as a child.' Chewing his lip, he reflected on it. 'I can't only get her to learn genjutsu and med-ninjutsu, that's a waste, her taijutsu and speed is quite good. But it's a start.' His mind made up, he got up to check on his other students. 'It looks like they'll be able to keep up with each other, weaknesses, strength and all.'

It had been a long day. Sure, he was only lounging for most of it, being entertained by his students' antics through the ordeal, but that was only a minor detail. No, he had been truly surprised by them.

Honestly, he had expected the girl to collapse after a few laps, leaving only the boys. Then he had expected Naruto to either quit or get caught in one of his traps and give up. He had higher expectations for the Uchiha and it was met, but the other two simply exceeded it. The blond was equally stubborn as the Uchiha, refusing to admit defeat, looking to Sasuke as a rival and perhaps even a comrade. The girl could be a genius. Her chakra control made up for the kunoichi's naturally smaller chakra reserve, giving her an opportunity to stand head to head with the other nin.

He was going to have to revise his opinions and plans for his genin team. At first he was only going to laze around, but now... He was going to train and taunt them while lazing around. 'I wonder what Gai would do if my students beat his in the chuunin exams.' He rubbed his hands in glee as he imagined the bowl-haired green clad ninja in defeat. 'This has potential. I guess I could forgive them this once.'

He pulled out his orange book lovingly and headed back to his apartment without sparing another thought for his three students still training at the forest.

It had been a long day. Sakura lay in her bed, unmoving. She had been sore from the head to toe ever since the adrenaline ran out. But she had continued pushing herself ever since Kakashi left; only stopping for lunch.

It was dangerous, she knew, pushing herself to this extent. She had almost completely drained her chakra, even with her precise control. She knew that, and yet... 'I am dumb. It would only get worse if I push myself too hard. I'm not like Naruto; I can't just bounce back after everything.' She remembered how the boys had seemingly fully recovered after the push ups. 'But,' she smiled, 'I kick ass anyway.'

All in all, she was satisfied with how she surpassed her limits today. Maybe staying on this team will be worthwhile after all.

Authors note:

I've somehow managed to complete this after a long holiday (a week) plus a whole lot of frustration from losing my chapters to my thumb drive. I have long since changed my thumb drive and will hopefully be able to complete chapters faster in the future.

Please be kind to the mistakes here, I haven't been able to stomach reading over it more than once. Let me know about any mistakes and I'll fix it =)

Preview:

Team 7 embarks on their very first C-class mission after many frustrating D-class missions. Catching a cat, baby-sitting, and gardening? Not for us! They leave for a perilous journey of self-growth and learning. Sakura decides...?