To clear up why Sakura and Sasuke can't see Naruto's seal, they don't know about Naruto's fluffy little problem, yet. And yes, Naruto knows about Kurama, it's just that Sakura never saw any of the Mizuki incident so it's not in chapter one. R&R! ~Koi

"Do as many push-ups as you can until you drop!" Kakashi-sensei called when stretching was over.

Sakura wanted to die halfway through the said activity, seeing as both herself and Sasuke had had to push each other down so they could stretch farther. Not to mention the stretch where they had to loop elbows and pull the other cross their back. The poor pinkette had been blushing the entire time.

'He's for Ino,' was her mantra the entirety of it all. Though, she didn't say it aloud, of course.

Getting to the ground, Sakura found that her hair only fell over her face when she tried to do a push-up. She sat back up and pulled it out of her face, huffing a bit. "Kakashi-sensei," she called hesitantly, "You wouldn't happened to have some kind of hair tie with you, would you?"

"Hm?" the said jonin looked up from his book.

"Do you have a hair tie?' Sakura asked again.

"Hmmmm," Kakashi-sensei thought for a moment, before shaking his head, "Nope," he said, "But I do have some trap wire."

Sakura sighed, "Can I use some of that." A minute later, Sakura had received a small length of wire, which she tied into a loop then used to tie her hair back. It wasn't that hard, she just had to be careful she didn't cut her fingers. But, besides that, the wire worked nicely.

Tightening her ponytail, Sakura got back down and started to do her push-ups. Naruto was still going, counting twenty out at a slow pace. He seemed to start struggling a bit around fifteen, but didn't look too tired as he continued past the number.

Sasuke was slightly faster than Naruto, and he didn't seem to be breakings a sweat – did he even sweat? – and was around twenty-five, if she was reading his lips correctly. His eyes were focused, staring straight in front of him and he mouthed the numbers silently.

'He must do this a lot in his spare time,' Sakura thought, before shaking her head and bending her arms down into a shaky push up. She nearly groaned, and was huffing at ten. When she practiced with Ino and Hinata, it was never about strength, but form.

Not to mention Ino would only do exercises that would help her stay skinny and fit.

Sakura dropped at twenty, sitting up and blushing. Naruto was shaking, but kept up his pace. Twenty seconds later, he dropped at forty. Sasuke lasted another minute, before stopping at fifty-five. Kakashi-sensei looked up and raised an eyebrow.

"Numbers?" Each kid mumbled theirs, and Kakashi-sensei shook his head. "Sit ups are next," he ordered, "Every day you are going to up the number you are at by five. No trying, doing. Got it?"

"Yes," Team even chorused, before getting on their backs and starting their sit-ups.

Sakura was actually confident in herself with this exercise, and was happy to find that she was able to keep up with Sasuke in it. Their paces were even, though their numbers were slightly off, seeing as since Sakura had a chest – no matter how small – she touched her legs a bit earlier than her crush, though she won't admit it, did.

Naruto struggled more with the sit-ups than the push-ups, and was struggling to make his chest meet his knees. "Why, 'ttebayo?" he huffed out.

Kakashi-sensei chuckled, "Kata's and ninjutsu aren't going to help you with everything. You need to be able to grab onto things and haul yourself up easily."

The Uzumaki mumbled something under his breath, before counting thirty-five aloud and dropping onto his back. Sakura and Sasuke were left, and even though both were exhausted, they kept going. Sasuke wasn't going to lose to Sakura, and Sakura wanted to just keep going.

Only went she realized that she was struggling to touch her knees at seventy did she realize she had to do more the next day. The pinkette dropped to the ground, her ponytail trailing behind her. "Done," she said, closing her eyes and turning over onto the cool grass.

Sasuke stopped five seconds later, huffing a bit as he lay down. "Hn," he grunted out.

"Dattebayo," Naruto whined.

"Well," Kakashi-sensei said, snapping his book closed, "that wasn't too bad, excluding Naruto's number."

"Oi!"

"Give me a lap around the village, you can jog or sprint, just stay together, and then we'll move onto the actual training," Kakashi-sensei said, getting up, "I'm going to go out and grab something to eat, since it'll take you guys a while."

Sakura raised a shaky hand and held up a thumbs up, "Got it, sensei," she muttered into the ground, "You're ditching us."

Kakashi-sensei smiled, "Exactly."

An hour later, Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke all dragged their legs into training ground three to find their sensei sitting in front of the memorial stone, staring at the names. "Kakashi-sensei," Naruto called, "We're done, dattebayo."

The albino turned away from the characters engraved in the obsidian, "Alright," he said, getting to his feet. He tossed a scroll to each of the kids, "These will be yours to keep, I bought them. The rest of the kata's, though, you'll need to find in the library."

Sakura gaped, "Thank you, sensei," she said, "How much do I owe you?" Beside her, Naruto started to check his pockets for loose changes to give to his teacher.

Kakashi-sensei shook his head, "You owe me nothing, consider these gifts for becoming genin. Now, I want all of you to take your tops off."

Sakura blinked, then squealed, hiding behind the first person she found, who happened to be Sasuke. Naruto stared at Kakashi-sensei, "Pervert," he deadpanned.

Kakashi-sensei laughed, "Not like that, you idiots. I have these," he held up three sheets of paper, each with the same Konoha symbol on it, "These will be pasted on your body like a tattoo. Don't worry, they come off."

"What do they do?" Sasuke asked, stepping to the side to cover Sakura a bit more. Naruto shifted to, holding out an arm in front of the girl. Unknown to them, the pinkette only blushed.

Kakashi-sensei held up a scroll, "They show me what kind of exercises you need to do to be able to use your fighting style to the best of your ability. Now," he smiled and let a small wave of killing intent seep out, "strip."

"Shirts only, though," he added, "and Sakura, you can keep your undershirt on. There's no way I'm letting you walking around with only chest wrappings with two pubescent boys next to you."

The girl nodded and stepped back. Naruto grumbled something but pulled on his jacket. "Mesh, too, for you boys," Kakashi-sensei added. The blond yanked his mesh armor off and walked over to the stumps, throwing them over one of them.

Sakura turned away to pull off her mock neck, only to see Sasuke yank both his shirt and mesh armor off in one swift movement. She went beat red and stumbled back, covering her face with her hands.

'Don't get a nosebleed,' she thought to herself, trying to push the image of Sasuke's chest out of her mind. 'Do not get a nosebleed, Sakura. Don't you dare embarrass yourself.'

Both Sasuke and Naruto were well sculpted, and while they didn't have abs yet, Sakura could only imagine both of them grown p and shirtless, they were both extremely gorgeous. Moat girls didn't even notice how hot Naruto was because of his pranking personality.

"Oh how wrong they are," Sakura mumbled to herself, looking up from her palms…only to find her shirtless teammates staring at her. Blushing a bit, Sakura fiddled with her hands like Hinata, "Um," she said, "Could you turn around?"

Naruto blinked, before going red and closing his eyes, covering them with his hands as he turned his back to her. Sasuke's cheeks dusted a light pink, his ears a few shades darker, and he nodded, turning around. Kakashi laughed and did the same as the two boys, smiling the entire time.

Sakura grabbed the edge of her shirt and pulled it over her head. She adjusted her undershirt, making sure her the leather part that was covering her bindings was in place. She looked to see if any of her wrappings were visible, then tightened the upper leather part.

"I'm good," Sakura said, and everyone turned around. Naruto immediately blushed and started whacking his head on a stump. Sasuke scowled and reached over with his leg, kicking the blond hard in the back.

"Ow!" he yelped, whipping around and holding the sore spot, "What was that for?! Dattebayo!"

"For ogling our teammate when you're supposed to be working," the Uchiha said dryly.

Kakashi-sensei raised an eyebrow, "Oh-ho? Is there something going on between our little blossom and death king here?"

"No!" Sakura shouted, a little too quickly and a little too loudly, "I mean, no, there's nothing." Sakura straightened up a bit, "But I do, however, know someone that would love to hook up with him."

Sasuke groaned and ran a hand over his face, "For the last time," he grumbled, "I am not dating Yamanaka."

"Please?" Sakura asked, completely forgetting about Naruto and Kakashi-sensei, "Just give her a chance."

Kakashi-sensei cleared his throat, "While this is amusing," he said, "please keep any and all relationships out of team time. I don't care whose baby daddy you are or whose tonsils you sucked out in the past week; this is training, not a social event. The Academy is over and done with."

"We're twelve," Sasuke deadpanned, "There's no way we'll be doing that."

"Yeah, 'ttebayo," Naruto said, "Teme's right! We're only twelve."

"I'm thirteen," Sakura piped in.

"That doesn't make a difference," Sasuke said.

Naruto, on the other hand, gaped, "You're older than us?!"

Kakashi-sensei shook his head, "You get sidetracked so easily. Okay," he said, this time directing the words to his students, "Now that you all look like you're part of a porno," Sakura and Naruto went beet red at this, "Come here and I'll put the tattoo on."

Kakashi-sensei pulled a towel and a water bottle from somewhere – Sakura truthfully didn't want to know – and grinned, "Who's first?" He scanned all three, "Okay, grumpy!" Before Sasuke could even protest, Kakashi-sensei had somehow crossed the distance between himself and his team and placed one of the strips on Sasuke, taking the towel – which he'd poured water on – and holding it over the tattoo.

The boy sucked in a breath through his clenched teeth, "What the hell?" he growled, rolling his shoulders. Sakura watched as his muscles shifted a bit and fought down another blush.

"Oh, yeah," Kakashi-sensei said, "I forgot to mention it's going to burn."

"I hate you," Sasuke hissed. Kakashi-sensei chuckled at that. Ten more seconds passed, and he took the towel away. Sakura and Naruto leaned closer as he peeled the strip off, leaving a black Konoha symbol right over their teammate's heart.

Kakashi-sensei stepped back and pulled out his scroll. The characters for 'Uchiha' appeared. "Sakura," he said, "You're next." The pinkette nodded hesitantly and stepped forward. "I need you to pull your mesh up a bit."

Sakura complied, and Kakashi-sensei put the strip on her side, a few centimeters above her hip. He wetted the towel with the water again and placed it over the temporary tattoo. Sakura hissed. The albino was right, it did burn.

Ten seconds passed again, and Kakashi-sensei peeled the strip off. Turning to Sasuke, he raised an eyebrow, "Are you going to keep watching or are you going to practice?" the Uchiha glared and headed off towards the other side of the training grounds clearing, unraveling his scroll and studying the kata positions.

The Hatake turned to Sakura next, "You, too." She nodded and headed off. "Okay, Naruto, come here."

As promised, Sakura took Naruto out to takoyaki after training. The two had done some final stretches and asked Kakashi-sensei or Sasuke if they wanted to come along – okay, it was mainly Sakura who asked – but were turned down by both men.

After throwing their shirts back on and fixing their hair, again, mainly Sakura, they headed out to Takashi and Tadashi's stand. "Excited?' Sakura asked as they turned into the market section of town.

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, 'ttebayo! I've never had takoyaki before."

Sakura just stared at him, "Really?"

"Really, dattebayo."

She shook her head, "Tadashi is going to stuff you chalk full of takoyaki." Naruto laughed.

As they passed by a few stalls, Sakura watched as civilians scowled at the blond next to her, muttering horrid things under their breath. The pinkette never understood why people hated him. Sure, he'd pranked most of them, but they weren't that bad.

The worst the Uzumaki had done was paint the Hokage monument – though Sakura, Hinata, and Ino secretly found it hilarious. He'd never even hurt anyone.

"Ne, Naruto," Sakura said.

"Yeah, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura looked over to the boy and shook her head, "Never mind."

"So," Ino said, hugging the pillow in front of her, "How was training today?" The Yamanaka had invited both Hinata and Sakura over to her house for dinner, and the three were currently in the blond's room, talking about their teams and training schedule.

"It was good," Hinata replied, "Kurenai-sensei said that we were a tracking team, so she decided that for morning practice she'll hide somewhere in the village and we'll have to find her."

Ino huffed, "That sounds boring."

Hinata shook her head, "Not really, it allows me to get used to working with Kiba-san and Shino-san. And it's easier to use my Byakugan if I practice with it."

"Hm? That's interesting," Ino sighed, plopping her chin down in her hand, "I wish I had a dojutsu, they're so cool. And they look pretty."

"Really?" Sakura asked, before realizing her mistake, "I mean, they do look cool, but if you saw them in battle," the pinkette shivered, "I'd turn tail and run."

"Why?" Ino asked.

Sakura shrugged, "I don't know, I mean, most people with dojutsu's are naturally strong. Right, Hinata?"

"I guess," the Hyuga said, pursing her lips a bit, "it still takes time to build up your strength."

"But it gives you an advantage?"

Hinata nodded, "Yes, it does."

"Oh! Oh!" Ino shouted, sitting up straight, "So I did some research into Sasuke-kun's family, you know, the Uchiha clan?"

Hinata and Sakura shared a look. Ino never really knew her boundaries with some stuff. She went so far sometimes, and the two had to pull her aside more than once to explain to her she wasn't able to do it. It didn't always work though.

"Anyways," Ino continued, "I hear they have a dojustsu, too!'

"Really?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah, I couldn't get the name or what it's like, but I hear it's insanely powerful!" Ino sighed dreamily, "I wonder what it would be like if he stared at me with those eyes. Sakura."

"What?" she asked.

Ino leaned forward and grabbed her best friend by the shoulders, "If you ever see it, you have to draw it for me, got it?"

Sakura nodded slowly, "Got it." 'I really don't get Ino sometimes,' the pinkette thought to herself.

"So, Sakura," Hinata said, "Training with Sasuke-san and Naruto-kun? How'd it go?"

Sakura blushed, "We just did kata's that Kakashi-sensei taught us."

Ino swooned, "Sasuke-kun doing a kata. God, the only thing better than seeing his muscles in action would be seeing him shirtless!" The blond squealed and threw her pillow in the air. She then started to roll around on the floor, holding her hands to her chest as she muttered things about the great and powerful Uchiha Sasuke.

Hinata caught the pillow Ino threw and handed it to Sakura, who reluctantly took it. "Imagine," Ino huffed out when she calmed down, "Sasuke-kun doing kata's while shirtless!"

The image, which she'd seen only a few hours ago, popped up in Sakura's brain. Her face lit up scarlet and shook her head, "Ino," she whined, "Get up."

"No."

Sakura chucked the pillow she was holding at Ino's head. The blond sputtered and spat a few times before ripping the fluffy object off her face and sitting up, "Sakura!" she yelled, "Why'd you do that?"

The said girl shrugged, "I don't know."

Ino rolled her eyes and hugged the pillow to her chest once again, "Did you see any interesting things on Naruto?' she asked, waggling her eyebrows at Hinata. The Hyuga blushed a vivid shade of red and suddenly found interest in her hair, playing with a few strands.

"Well," Sakura said, "He was actually really good at push-ups."

"R-Really?" Hinata asked, glancing up.'

Sakura nodded, "Yeah," she said, before switching to a serious tone, "but he's sucky at sit-ups."

Hinata giggled a bit at that, and Ino sighed dreamily, "Sasuke-kun's good at everything," she said, "I wish I was you, Sakura." The blonds nose curled up in disgust, "I'm stuck with a lazy ass and a fatso."

"Shikamaru-san is really smart," Sakura protested, "I hear his IQ is pretty high. And he seems to be motivated when he wants to be," she raced her brain for some good points for Ino's other teammate, "And Choji-san is…kind."

Ino smiled, "Ohhh? Don't tell me you have a crush on Shikamaru."

'I have a crush on Sasuke,' Sakura deadpanned in her head, before realizing her mistake, 'Wait! No! I don't!' "No," Sakura said, scowling, "I was just saying good things about him."

Ino scoffed, "If you can find good things in him, then you must like him."

"Ino," Hinata chastised, "That's just an assumption."

"It's the same for you with Naruto, though," Ino huffed, squeezing her pillow a bit tighter.

"Look," Sakura said, "I don't have a crush on –"

"Girls!" Inoichi yelled up, interrupting Sakura mid-sentence, "Dinner!"

In a flash Hinata and Ino were racing down the stairs, trying to beat each other to the food first. Sakura sighed and followed right behind them, happy the conversation was over.

"Sakura, honey, what are you doing?" Sakura stopped in the middle of one of her kata's, which involved some kind of high kick, and stared at her door. Kizashi was standing in the doorway, staring at his daughter with concern.

Sakura suddenly lost her balance and fell onto her floor with a loud 'thunk.' "Ow," she mumbled rubbing her butt, "Dad," she said, "What are you doing here?"

"I heard a commotion coming from your room," he said, as if it was obvious, "What are you doing?"

"Kata's," Sakura said, blushing a bit as she got to her feet.

Kizashi raised an eyebrow, "River spirits (kappa)?" he asked.

"Kata," Sakura corrected, stressing the syllables, she stepped forward and started to shoo her dad away, "Now go," she said, "Since I'm making a commotion here, I'll just practice at the training ground."

Kizashi glanced at the clock in the hallway, then back to his daughter, "At five in the morning?"

"Training starts at six."

He frowned, "Isn't it dangerous to go out that early?"

"There'll be patrols," Sakura said, "And if something happens I can kawarimi myself out of there." Kizashi blinked. "I'll replace myself with a random object," she explained.

He nodded and bent down, kissing her forehead, "Be safe, okay?"

Sakura sighed, I'm a ninja, dad," she said, "My life will never be safe."

"I know," Kizashi replied, "But a dad can dream."

"Goodbye, father," Sakura said, closing her door.

So my friend asked me what songs I would use for the opening and ending for Fading Petals if it was an anime. Now, that would never happen, since this is a fanfic. But I can always dream. Haha!

Anyways, I'd probably use Kimi ga Yobu no Nara (which roughly translates to 'if you call for me',) by Fujita Maiko for the ending since it's just so beautiful and seems to reflect the SasuSaku relationship. The opening would most likely be Clock Strikes by One OK Rock. Just listen and you'll understand, it just has an opening feel to it.

I actually listen to these while I write, along with random NightCore mixes and AKB48 songs. Anyways, R&R! ~Koi