I'm a hazard to myself
Don't let me get me,
I'm my own worst enemy


"What even is this?"

They were sitting on their usual training grounds, Naruto looking bored, Sasuke looking enraged at this waste of his time, and Sakura being amused by what was going down in front of her; Jiraiya had taken the lead and was currently chewing out Kakashi, who had actually been almost on time to celebrate the occasion, in what he called a "team evaluation".

"So you get assigned a team, and yes, a difficult team, with big egos clashing, and nobody working together and what do you do?" Jiraiya wrung his hands in frustration. "Nothing! Their teamwork ran on two thirds animosity and one third cheerleading for as long as you had them! The only thing making them barely function those last few days was that their dynamic had now changed to two thirds devotion and one third apathy!" He looked at them. "Or two thirds boredom and one third amusement at what's going on right now, but whatever. So it never occurred to you to do any, I don't know, team work exercises? Bonding activities? Sitting down in circles and talk about your feelings? Anything?"

"We had bonding moments!" Sakura half-heartedly tried to defend her first sensei, even if not really. Training under Tsunade had showed her exactly what she had been missing out on under Kakashi, and she agreed with Jiraiya that his teaching methods had been less than stellar. "They just mostly consisted of getting thrown into situations far beyond our abilities and somehow coming out alive."

"Exactly what she said!" Naruto agreed. "And it was awesome. Except for the almost dying part. We do that a lot..."

"They did display an astounding amount of cooperation once," Kakashi tried defending himself, just as half-heartedly. "On their own, even."

"Oh, did they now." Jiraiya clearly had drawn his own conclusions based on what Naruto had told him already and was having none of what Kakashi had to say. "Do tell."

"They got along just fine when they tried to find out what's under my mask," Kakashi remembered, not seeming too serious himself.

"Fascinating," Jiraiya said without missing a beat and not impressed at all. "So can you at least tell me the purpose of this team?"

"What purpose?" Naruto asked. "We're a Genin team, what's more to it?"

"Genin teams are supposed to specialize already," Jiraiya explained impatiently. "Tracking, spying, fighting, whatever. You guys can't track since nobody here has the skills for that, except maybe Hatake's dogs, and those don't count. You team work is non-existent. You don't have any combo attacks or shared areas of expertise that can justify putting you together in the first place. The only thing you could maybe pull off is be a decent wrecking unit, but those don't get assigned medics, or little girls that can't do anything but the basics." He caught himself there and cleared his throat. "I don't doubt your wrecking abilities though, Girly, please don't tell Tsunade I underestimate you or anything."

"Okay." Sakura was having way too much fun watching Kakashi cringe under Jiraiya's chewing out session to be bothered by anything he said. Or that weird little nickname he'd bestowed her with.

"So what exactly did you kids learn while on this team?" Jiraiya asked the three of them.

"Uh..." Naruto started to think, Sakura rolled her eyes and gave him a moment to come up with something and Sasuke glared at Jiraiya for waisting his time, just as expected.

"We learned to climb trees," Sakura then answered graciously.

"And how not to die in situations too dangerous for us," Naruto added. "Though that just kinda happened and he never taught us anything about it."

"I see," Jiraiya nodded and addressed Kakashi again. "So you get a wrecking team and stop after basic chakra control lessons. You don't teach them any attacks, any combo moves or anything related to the things they might actually be able to pull off under the circumstances."

"The circumstances were that Naruto and Sasuke didn't deem it necessary to work on any of this since their fighting capabilities were already greater than average and this would have just bored them, and Sakura wasn't in the mood to do anything related to fighting, really," Kakashi explained himself, severely annoyed with his students and this interrogation.

"Well, from what I hear, she's been pretty good with genjutsu back then," Jiraiya brought up. "Just dispelling them, mind you, because they don't really teach any combat genjutsu at the academy. But you know some. And you have a freaking Uchiha on your team, which I hear have a knack for these things as well. Why did you never make them do anything related to that?"

"Because, as you know, Naruto most likely has negative talent when it comes to genjutsu," Kakashi reminded him. "And I didn't want to separate the team any more than it already was."

"Would have only meant teaching someone something useful," Jiraiya sneered. "I get it. Also, yes, Naruto can't do shit with genjutsu which makes him walk straight into them even if there's a giant blinking sign saying 'This is an illusion, walk the other way'. I know, I've been there. Wanna know what I did? I taught him to dispel them when something seems fishy."

"Ugh, that was so weird." Naruto shuddered. "And he took that fishy thing way too literally!"

"So that would have been a neat training opportunity, but no," Jiraiya continued. "You were too busy not teaching anyone anything useful!"

"So not true!" Naruto protested. "He taught Sasuke the Chidori!"

"Sure," Jiraiya admitted, shrugging. "But all things considered, that isn't exactly useful."

"It's pretty useful for making holes through people's chests!" Naruto argued.

"Yes, but just like the Rasengan, which I'm also kinda fond as you know, it's not exactly reliable."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto was squinting his eyes as he always did when he was deep in thought about something, apparently trying to figure out what was wrong with his most favorite move ever.

"Think about it this way; ever since you both started depending on your fancy ball of energy attacks almost exclusively, when have ever hit anything besides each other, immobilized targets in self-made sand prisons or targets that weren't even bothering to dodge because they started regenerating while you were still charging it up?"

"Uhm..." Naruto apparently didn't remember any other instance. Sasuke was now glaring like he was majorly offended. Sakura was still having too much fun with this situation to care.

"That's what I thought," Jiraiya said smugly. "So the smart course of action would have been to at least teach you restraining techniques so you can immobilize targets yourself, kind of like those Ino-Shika-Chou kids have to since the fancy mind switch techniques only work on non-moving targets."

Sakura could have sworn she heard Sasuke clear his throat at that, but nobody paid him any mind, not with the show going on any everything.

"At this point their training was out of my hands," Kakashi reminded him. "Tsunade-sama and you already taken over and Sasuke was gone."

"Then let's address that for a second," Jiraiya shrugged. "So you get assigned a team specifically because there's a Sharingan user on it, and you are a Sharingan user, and yet, you never teach him anything related to his Sharingan? No, really, all things considered, I totally get why the kid left. I probably would have done the same, though I wouldn't have chosen the Snake as my mentor." He turned around to throw a chiding glance at Sasuke. "Not cool, seriously. Not cool at all."

"I was under strict orders..." Kakashi started to defend himself, but Jiraiya waved dismissively.

"I didn't raise Minato to raise you to obey stupid orders without question!" He seemed seriously offended at the thought. So did Kakashi.

"Who's Minato?" Naruto asked Sakura quietly as to not interrupt what was going on with their senseis right now.

"Namikaze Minato, fourth Hokage," Sakura answered. "Student of Jiraiya-sama, sensei of Kakashi-sensei, you see his face every day in the mountain. How do you not know that name?"

"People don't talk about him much, do they?" Naruto justified himself, shrugging. "And those two sure don't."

"It's not like the Fourth ever actually did that much for me, except never being there when needed," Kakashi meanwhile hissed almost inaudibly.

"That's still no reason to take it out on hi-... On these kids!" Jiraiya argued. Kakashi visibly paled at the slip-up there, Sakura noted. Though why, and what Jiraiya had actually meant to say, she had no clue."And you know, for not being allowed to teach the Uchiha boy anything actually useful and reliable, you sure were quick to shove everyone but him aside when it came to actually teaching."

"I got a teacher for Naruto and Sakura didn't make it into the third round anyways," Kakashi pointed out.

"A teacher ill-suited for him," Jiraiya specified. "And sure, the girl can't do shit in comparison, so let's just ignore her more. Awesome tactic."

"How much longer is this going to take?" Sasuke interrupted them, just short of being completely furious at this point. "Because if you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly learning anything useful here right now, either."

"I'm teaching you the useful skill to point out bullshit," Jiraiya claimed, waving dismissively. "Which, by the way, you could have done. I mean, Sarutobi-sensei seems to really have had his head up his ass when it came to this issue, but as soon as Tsunade took over? Yeah, you guys should have just complained to her immediately, and not have waited for some freak and his squad of freaks to spirit you away."

"I wasn't spirited away," Sasuke scoffed, seriously offended. "I left willingly."

"And that's the whole problem," Jiraiya made a widespread motion with his arms, indicating they'd just come full circle.

"Right now, you're making me want to leave again," Sasuke spat back. "I've accomplished more useful stuff on my own than by listening to you rant."

"Apparently adopting a more pleasant attitude wasn't among these skills," Jiraiya noted, the corners of his mouth twitching. "Seriously, Orochimaru didn't make you drop the 'tude? Must have gone soft in his old years."

Sasuke rolled his eyes instead of dignifying that with a response.

"Well, he has a point," Naruto supported him. "While it's kind of cool what you've just said, we're not exactly learning any cool fighting skills we should have learned back then right now either, are we?"

"That's because you have all the cool fighting skills you need already. At least in theory," Jiraiya explained. "They just need refinement and a little thinking outside the box, which is why the majority of your training will just be simple sparring. The only stuff you missed out it would make sense to teach you at this point are teamwork and bonding exercises, and I get the feeling you'll conspire to murder me in my sleep if I make you do those."

"Already considering it," Sasuke muttered.

"Or we could just not do anything and throw you into prison for some attitude adjustment," Jiraiya informed Sasuke. "I'm talking about the kind Ibiki does to prisoners. Such a pleasant guy, have you met him?"

Sakura seriously doubted that threatening Sasuke of all things would produce any kind of positive response at this point, but refrained from pointing this out since antagonizing new teachers had never been her thing to begin with. And Jiraiya seemed to like her well enough so far, or at least liked defending her... Which all in all could maybe be related to her being Tsunade's student and the ambiguous nature of their relationship she really didn't want to think about, but whatever.

"No, but seriously, can we just do something?" Naruto asked, both to sort of defend Sasuke and because he was getting bored by sitting around and listening for so long. "You can't really have much more to say, right?"

"No, I think that basically covers it all," Jiraiya agreed. "So yeah, get up, we're doing something."

They walked to the edge of the training area they'd been meeting in to where the surrounding forest started. Sakura liked the trees in Konoha decidedly better than those in Kusa. They looked a lot less creepy and provided less hiding space for ambushes. It was a good thing that in their profession, paranoia was actually a virtue, otherwise she'd have seriously questioned her mental health at this point.

"As mentioned before, your group training will mostly be sparring to refine your already existing skills," Kakashi now took over for Jiraiya, clearly still annoyed by being chewed out like this in front of his new and former students. "Basically just fighting each other, but with a few limitations; first and foremost, no Rasengan, no Chidori. No going in for lethal attacks. No going in for attacks causing damage that Sakura cannot heal."

"That's too vague," Sasuke interrupted him there, not completely unwarranted actually. "What can she heal?"

Though the question was actually not directed at her, Sakura felt everyone's looks on her to clear that up herself. She took a deep breath.

"Well..." Solid start there, good job defending yourself, because this clearly was intended as some form of insult. She cleared her throat just to see if that made it easier. "Cuts, obviously, and burns, bruises usually don't need healing, but technically I could do that, too, broken bones, though those are exhausting, poisons that don't kill you immediately, damaged internal organs, as long as they're not completely destroyed or have been damaged severely enough to have been inactive for too long, uhm, infections, blood poisoning, because those basically work like regular poison, and... yeah, I think that's it." She paused for a second, mulling it over. "Well, more complicated fractures, spinal cord and brain injuries beyond concussions, as well as severed limbs require a team of medics, but I've led some of the procedures there, and attended all of them, so if we can get you to a hospital in time, I can technically heal those, too."

"Okay..." Naruto was scratching his head, trying to process all of this. "So what can't you heal?"

"Well, there are limits on the damage an organ can sustain that determine whether it can be fixed," Sakura specified. "And any of the latter things I can't do on my own, and since we're far from the hospital and all of these conditions are really bad for transportation, I guess we can rule those out."

"Let's just go with that," Kakashi sighed and stopped her there. "Was that specific enough for you, Sasuke?" Sasuke just shrugged, but didn't voice any further complaints, so Kakashi continued. "Also, when we say a fight is over, it's over. If someone yields, it's over. If someone breaks the rules, it's over. And if someone gets send out of the designated area, it's over. Any questions?"

Sakura had some, but deemed it wiser to hold them off until she could get one of her senseis, preferably Jiraiya who to her seemed to have a better grasp on things right now, alone, or at least out of earshot of the boys. She also didn't want to hold things up anymore lest they continue to be bored enough to start fighting on their own.

So when they predictably were pitted against each other for the first fight, Sakura watched on for about three minutes, as Sasuke sliced through countless Naruto clones with the sword she had brought him before. She had even looked up proper cleaning rituals for swords at home to make sure she wouldn't damage it when getting the dried in blood and gore off it (letting it dry had apparently been her first mistake there) but naturally, she hadn't even received a nod of thanks. Or acknowledgement, even.

It was weird, really, since this dismissive attitude was nothing new in Sasuke; he hadn't really thanked her much in the past, had he? Yet it only started to sting now.

Maybe because in this team, she'd always had taken it for granted to be unappreciated in any situation, an expectation that had only changed when she'd started training under Tsunade and actually being kinda good at something for the first time since graduation.

Anyways, watching the boys fight made her really uncomfortable, for, well, reasons, she kept telling herself. Of course she didn't like seeing them fight; the last times they did, it had put both of them with one foot in the grave. Things were still tense all around, anyways. And the rules that had just been set up could easily be broken, even with about the best supervision available to them in the whole village. Which made her question all the more pressing.

"I didn't want to question your authority in front of them just now," she started neutrally, implying to be addressing both of her senseis. "And with all due respect, if we are so lacking in team work, is making us fight each other even more going to help that, at all?"

Jiraiya and Kakashi shared a glance, apparently surprised at her question.

"Well, the thing is," Kakashi started. "As Jiraiya-dono said, this team is running mostly on your and Naruto's devotion to it. That's always been it; you've all been devoted, and those two have always been fighting. So basically, what we are hoping to accomplish with this is inspire a little bit of nostalgia in Sasuke, to remind him that he was devoted to this team once, too."

"Devoted to not dying and getting stronger," Sakura corrected. "Those just coincided with being on this team, and that's no longer the case, at least not necessarily."

"True," Kakashi admitted. "But tell me, when he left, do you think he did it lightly?"

Sakura mulled this over for a second. Well, sure, he'd bothered to justify himself, at least to her, during the small part of his departure she'd been present for, when he could have just knocked her out the minute she showed up, and even taken time to lie her down on that bench, but... He didn't exactly seem hesitant through any of that. Or during anything he did to Naruto afterwards.

"Lightly enough to go through with it," she concluded. "And we did give him lots of opportunities to change his mind."

"Also true," Kakashi agreed grimly. "But that doesn't change the fact that he's here now. He doesn't have to be."

"We didn't exactly leave him a choice," Sakura argued. "Tsunade-sama's terms were very clear in that regard."

"Yes, but he showed up this morning," Kakashi pointed out. "On time even, from what I've heard." Sakura noticed the amused gleam in Kakasi's eyes, but couldn't manage more than a weak smile at his joke. "Point being, he didn't have to be. He's also been remarkably compliant through all of this."

"In other words, he could have been a lot less compliant," Jiraiya added. "The boy has major attitude problems, and from what I gather, he's always had those. But he could have just not showed up, or not agreed to this fight, or still be mouthing off right now. But he isn't. He's following orders. And while he doesn't have much choice on that front, he's still doing some of this voluntarily. So the nostalgia thing seems to be working."

"I guess," Sakura reluctantly agreed and bit her lips. "So if fighting Naruto is evoking nostalgia in Sasuke-kun, what's fighting me supposed to evoke?"

"Respect, hopefully," Jiraiya answered. Then he elbowed her in the side with a smirk. "And admit it, don't you want to smack him around a bit?"

Sakura shrugged.

"At full strength, I think he's more likely to be smacking me around," she admitted quietly.

"He's not allowed to use full strength," Kakashi reminded her. Sakura suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at him. Because Sasuke always cared so much about the rules. Right. "And in any case, you'll at least give him more of a fight than he'll be expecting. So try taking advantage of that."

Something in her wanted to point out the irony that one of the rare times Kakashi ever gave her advice were still revolving entirely around Sasuke, but she swallowed the comment down. So what if they were doing all of this just because of Sasuke. She'd wanted him to be back, right? So why was she so annoyed by doing what it apparently took to keep him around now?

She'd been happy on Team 7 before. Why did it now all seem so frustrating?

Sakura was too caught up in her own thoughts to immediately realize what was happening before her; suddenly there was a cackling and chirping sound, accompanied with the flashing of lightning, confirming her previous assumption about how highly Sasuke regarded rules in general and rules in combat in particular, but all of this wasn't coming from his hand, as it should have. It was channeled through the sword, which she had noticed seemed oddly charred in places while cleaning it. And only when he aimed it at the ground did she combine in her head what exactly he was trying to accomplish here.

Kakashi-sensei and Jiraiya-sama were on the tree to greet her. Naruto wasn't so lucky and hit the ground, completely paralyzed. Sasuke pointed his sword at Naruto's throat.

"Am I done here?" He then addressed the tree, looking slightly displeased at finding them there.

"You broke the rules," Kakashi pointed out calmly, but looking about as surprised by this as Sakura felt. "Therefore, yes you are done, and you lost."

"I didn't exactly break them," Sasuke argued with a cocky smirk the she would have considered hot under usual circumstances, but that now just seemed... Grating. "That was not the Chidori you referred to, and it's not a lethal attack. The paralysis is not permanent, so Sakura being unable to heal it shouldn't matter."

"It is still a Chidori and thus qualifies," Kakashi said. "And regardless, you are not done here, despite your best efforts."

All three of them left the tree, and Kakashi gently pushed Sakura in Sasuke's general direction, while Jiraiya went to collect a knocked out Naruto. Why he hadn't used that move when they'd fought underground a few days ago eluded Sakura, but she really wasn't in a mood to ponder on that now. She was more concerned with not looking to terrified at the prospect of having to fight a severely annoyed Sasuke who could send paralyzing electric currents through the ground.

Oh, well. Whatever it took, right?


Her fights with both Sasuke and even Naruto went about as well as Sakura would have expected. Sure, she did fight back and managed to hit them a lot more than she would have expected herself, but there was absolutely no denying that when it came to an actual combat situation, with none of them gravely injured or anything, there was just absolutely no way for her to hold up. At all.

As if she had needed any confirmation of that.

Still, complaining or showing any kind of weakness, especially with their team dynamics in limbo the way they were, just wouldn't do. So she swallowed the pain and the humiliation, healed everyone else's minor cuts and bruises and went on her merry way, smile in place. She only allowed herself to drag that leg she had probably bruised pretty badly when she was sure nobody she knew was around to see her do it; having a civilian mother and living in a different part of the village than most of her acquaintances helped tremendously.

"I'm okay mom, don't worry!" She told her mother in lieu of a greeting when she limped into the house and her mother ran over to start fussing over her. "No, really, I'm just going to take a bath and heal myself up, and then I'll be good as new! I'll eat dinner after, I hope you've made a lot, because I'm starving!" And gone she was, smile still in place. It would do no good to worry her mom with her personal demons.

The hot water was soothing, but also served as a reminder that besides her bad leg, she also cracked a rib slightly and should be covered with bruises all over by tomorrow. Bruises were annoying, but nothing to waste chakra on (it even said so in her vows), so she just took care of her leg and rib as well as she could with what little chakra she had left.

The boys had not been easy on her. She hadn't expected Sasuke to, after everyone in general and she in particular had been irritating him non-stop for almost a week now. Not even Naruto had pulled his punches, even after seeing her getting beaten by Sasuke. Not that she would have wanted him to; that would have been even more humiliating.

At least tomorrow, she would have private lessons with Tsunade-sama again, and while that mostly meant either doing hospital shifts or paper work by now, it also meant nobody would use her as a punching bag for three days every week, and there would be less humiliation. Because healing and doing paper work were things she was actually kind of good at for a change.

"Sakura, can we talk about this?" Her mom asked her through the door, sounding way more worried than necessary.

"About what?" Sakura asked back, really not in the mood to talk about anything right now.

"Is that how it's going to be from now on?" Her mom continued. "You come home, occasionally, and will always be covered in cuts and bruises and blood..."

"No blood today!" Sakura corrected her. Cuts were something she had healed on the spot, and wiped away the blood as well as she could before heading home.

"I mean..." Her mom hesitated. "I understand that your profession is a dangerous one, but... It's never been like this before, why are things different now?"

"Because I now do actual training with my team," Sakura explained. "That involves fighting and getting injured. I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do."

"I just... Worry..." Her mother's voice was now so quiet, it hardly made it through the door. "When I signed you up to be a ninja, I thought I was protecting you... In a way. I didn't expect it to be like this..."

"Mom, I'm okay!" Sakura assured her. "Really, there's no need to worry about me. And I won't come home like this all the time; I'll be working with Tsunade-sama again tomorrow."

"Ah, that's good." Her mother audibly sighed in relief. "Tsunade-sama hasn't injured you in almost a year now, right?"

"Stop making it sound so dramatic!" Sakura protested weakly. "It's training. Training is hard, training hurts, and sometimes you get injured, that's normal. But yes, Tsunade-sama hasn't had me do anything dangerous in a long time." At least not dangerous for her. And at least not when you didn't count everything that had happened in the last week.

"I know that!" Her mom sounded embarrassed now. "It's just... Be careful, sweetie, okay?"

"Yes, mom, I will," Sakura sighed. "Promise."

"Very well." Her mom now forced herself to sound less worried and more resolute. "So when am I going to meet this new team of yours?"

Sakura almost slipped and hit her head in the bathtub.

"Uhm..." Introducing her team in its current condition to her mom really didn't sound like a good idea. At all. "I don't know... It's kind of... Busy right now..."

"You still could bring them over for dinner!" Her mom argued. "Ninjas still need to eat, right?"

"Sure, but..." Sakura sighed again. "I just... Don't think that's a good idea."

"Nonsense!" Her mother protested. "I am your mother! I have a right to meet the people you spend most of your day with."

"...I'll see what I can do," Sakura relented, not actually meaning to invite anyone over for dinner, but there was definitely no arguing with her mother right now. Not when she went full mother mode. Then she could possibly the most terrifying person on the planet. "I can't promise anything, though! Very, very busy people, every one of them. No time for dinners."

"We shall see." Her mom sounded scarily resolute. "I'll take care of our dinner now. Be sure to get out of the tub before your finger wrinkle, you know that's not good for your skin!"

"Yes, mom." Sakura rolled her eyes. Because cosmetic concerns were seriously on top of her list right now. Right. Priorities.


"Spill it."

Until this point, Sakura's day had been quite pleasant; as expected, working under Tsunade meant nothing else than helping out in the hospital with the post-siege situation that had kept every single medic busy. So she'd spent her day helping out the wounded, watching over procedures, giving orders, filing reports and actually being good at what she was doing. The fact she hadn't had any nightmares involving collapsing ceilings, shattered grounds and lots of corpses had been a pleasant surprise as well.

Right now however, she was having lunch with Tsunade, alone after Shizune had been called to an emergency. Well, technically one of the three of them had been called and Shizune had just been sent. Apparently not at random.

"Spill what?" Sakura asked, feigning ignorance. She did have a vague idea what this was supposed to be about... She just really didn't feel like talking about it. Not even with Tsunade-sama.

"I can tell you're pissed," Tsunade informed her, cutting the chase. "Pissed in general, and since it always comes down to me, I guess at me in particular. That's what I get from running this pony show. So. What's your problem?"

"Nothing," Sakura sighed and tried looking really busy eating.

"Don't you nothing me, young lady!" Tsunade was, of course, having none of it. "You will tell me what has you glaring at everything and everyone when you think they're not looking, or I'm taking you off duty, or something."

"I'm not..." Sakura tried to argue, but just rolled her eyes. "It's my own personal problem, it's not like anyone can help me with that." She bit back a bitter laugh. "I should just be used to it, really."

"Great, now you're being cryptic." Tsunade rolled her eyes as well. "And people wonder why I like to be drunk before noon."

"I think me being cryptic is kind of out of proportion compared to endangering lives and this whole village due to inebriation," Sakura muttered under her breath. "But that's just me."

"Wow, it's gotta be really bad if you start sassing me." Tsunade seemed genuinely impressed now. "Usually, you're too scared, or at least pretend to be, and try to find a way out by just being overly polite." She pointed at Sakura with her chopsticks accusingly. "But not today, young lady!"

"It's nothing, really!" Sakura tried again, trying not to wince at the manner in which Tsunade was using her chopsticks. The downside of being raised by a mother who insisted on impeccable manners.

"Nothing doesn't try sassing me," Tsunade said, getting more irritated by the second. Okay. If she kept it up, the table would be gone and they'd be doing more evasion training for the rest of the year. Sakura did not like evasion training. That would mean she'd get beaten up every day of the week. Not in her best interest.

"Okay, okay," she relented, trying to sound as soothing as she could. "It's just that... You made Jiraiya give Kakashi and us this speech about how everything on the team has gone wrong from the get go."

"Was he wrong?" Tsunade asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, and that's just the point," Sakura was quick to make clear. "He was right. Way too right, actually. He made me realize how... Well... Uhm..."

"How much of a complete failure Kakashi was as a sensei?" Tsunade tried finishing her sentence. "How fishy all those policies Hiruzen had for your team were? Because let me tell you, they were fishy as fuck."

"That, too." Sakura had to laugh a little. "But not exactly. Because Naruto was right, too; Sasuke-kun was the only one Kakashi ever actually paid attention to. And it was unfair, and both Naruto and I suffered from it." Now came the difficult part. Difficult because on one hand, she had to put her frustration into words. And on the other, because she had to do so without letting her anger take over and piss off Tsunade as well. Which was getting harder the more she thought about how to adequately express her problem.

"Well, yes and no," Tsunade said, leaning forwards on her chair and now paying close attention to her. "It's true, you were pretty much ignored, but that was not only Kakashi's or Hiruzen's fault. Well, Hiruzen's maybe, but that's not the point. Jiraiya did point out that you could have just complained to the higher-ups, right? I hear Naruto and Hiruzen got along famously in particular."

"Things kind of happened very fast," Sakura evaded the question. "And it's not like you get briefed on how to tell someone your Genin teacher is ignoring you. To the contrary, we get taught total obedience when it comes to higher-ups..."

"With breathtaking success, apparently," Tsunade commented. "No, really. If you think we get taught that here, you've never met people from other villages. Take Kiri or Iwa for example, those guys are hardcore when it comes to obedience. We here are just lucky my grandfather was a pretty nice guy who didn't think it was too important to enslave every shinobi to the village."

"Be that as it may..." Tsunade interrupting her had made controlling her anger significantly easier. "My problem is more like... I mean..." She sighed deeply again. "All this time I was being ignored on my team, I thought that was normal. The way it was supposed to be. I never measured up anyways, so that's my lot in life. Whatever."

"If this is going where I think it is, this table is not going to survive the conversation and you will get me inebriated before the sun goes down," Tsunade warned her. "But go right ahead."

"Well, it's just that... After spending so much time here, with you and Shizune, doing stuff I'm actually good at, going back just to that is just... Hard," Sakura finally managed to get to the core of it. Albeit put a little more politely than had been her intention.

"I beg your pardon?" Tsunade's voice was dangerously calm, making Sakura squirm in her seat.

"I-I mean... I get it..." She tried paddling back, avoiding her master's glare. "And I'm happy Sasuke-kun is back, don't get me wrong... It's just... Frustrating, you know? I mean, at least the arrangement is about both him and Naruto right now, which is better than before, and they can seriously benefit from it, I'm sure, but..." She sighed deeply. "How do I benefit from being their punching bag?"

"So let me get this straight." Tsunade sat back on her chair, folding her arms and looking at her with something close to disgust. "You are pissed because your teammates smacked you around during a training session?"

"Ah, uhm..." Sakura looked at the table with embarrassment. "Not... Exactly. It's more like I'm pissed because I'll get smacked around for the better part of the week with not a chance to preserve at least a little dignity due to being completely outclassed."

"I beg your pardon?" Tsunade was no positively fuming with suppressed rage.

"Well, it's true, isn't it?" Sakura had a significantly longer fuse, but this was grating on her as well. "I mean, yes, I can do a lot more than I could a year ago or so, so it's not as bad as it would have been back then, but... It's still not good! Nobody benefits from this arrangement! Sasuke-kun was right, sticking me with them isn't helping at all, they'd do best with just the two of them!"

"Well with that attitude, sure," Tsunade spat at her. "I just expected more of you. This is like the fucking board all over again."

"What did you expect, exactly?" Sakura spat back. "That I suddenly discover my secret uber-powered blood line limit, or some weird external chakra source giving me super powers? I'm sorry, that's just not me! I'm practically a civilian with no benefits from my background or heritage or anything! All I will ever be able to do is the basics! And I mean, I do well with them and with what you taught me, just not in that specific team environment, and..."

"Well, for now that specific team environment might give you a thicker skin," Tsunade growled, glaring at her. "I didn't train you to start whining when you lose a fight. You know, had I been complaining every time I go beaten up by my teammates, I'd be the lady serving us lunch now." The words hit Sakura harder than any blow dealt by Sasuke or Naruto ever could. Tsunade apparently saw that in her face, as she smirked before she continued. "Now, there's nothing wrong with serving lunch, mind you, if that's what you want to do with your life. I just didn't figure you the type to give in so easily. Sorry for wasting my time with you, then."

"I... That... That's not what I meant!" Sakura stammered, hands shaking. "I-I mean, you didn't waste your time with me, I'm a good medic! And a good student, and I learned so much, and..."

"Then why are we having this conversation?" Tsunade interrupted her. "If you're such a good student, surely you can figure out a way not to be a punching bag, right?" She groaned. "You know what? I think I've actually been coddling you. So has everybody else. You should have been forced to fight your teammates from the very beginning, like, I don't know, teams are supposed to do. Then instead of being bitchy about getting beaten, you'd be trying to figure out how to avoid this in the future."

"I... But..." Sakura tried collecting her thoughts. "I mean, if the fights aren't really fair now, what would they have been like..."

"It's not about fairness!" Tsunade interrupted her again, massaging her temples to fight off a headache. "It never was. And really, on paper, especially back then you should have been able to do a hell lot more than Naruto at least. Thing is, you never even tried. And now you're sitting here, being pissed at people for expecting you to try now, after all I've done for you. I mean, really?"

"I... I'm sorry..." Sakura muttered.

"You better be," Tsunade groaned. "Now listen to me, if your teammates beat you up, it's your fault. You've been a fucking kunoichi for two fucking years, for heaven's sake! You should have at least figured that much out. And so what if the current arrangement is tailored to suit the Uchiha boy's needs? It's not like he's the only one who benefits from some ass-whopping. In fact, we're just reinstating the old Genin team arrangement, with some extra measures to deal with the talented kids. Are you a talented kid?"

"I... Uh," Sakura hesitated, then saw her master's scowl deepen. "Yes. Yes I am."

"Then quit whining about some bruises and use your talent to find a way to return the favor!" Tsunade barked at her. "Ugh, no wonder the Uchiha boy thinks you're emotionally compromised."

"What," Sakura said flatly, with no idea what that latter part was supposed to mean.

"He filed an official complaint after your training session yesterday," Tsunade elaborated. "About how you are too emotionally compromised to be on a team with him, because of your feelings for him."

All Sakura could do was stare at her master in disbelief. Sasuke had what? The fact that, yes, she didn't quite measure up when it came to a fair one on one fight was one thing, but implying that she was entirely unsuited to work on the team was something completely different! It wasn't like she had pulled her punches when it came to him, at all, because she was afraid of hurting him (like she even could). Nothing she had done in the last week had even remotely been related to... Uhm... Well, maybe the whole clinging to him when he transformed had been a little motivated by those feelings she had. A little. But Naruto had done that, too! So that really didn't count. And what was that even supposed to mean? Even back when she'd been sort of useless, her best moments had always been related to her feelings for him, and...

All of this kind of made her question if she even still had those to begin with.

"So how about those feelings of yours?" Tsunade asked mockingly. "I mean, I totally get the 'have a crush on you hot teammate' thing. I've been there. It's kind of a social expectation for a kunoichi of your age at this point, but really?"

"I... I don't know," Sakura managed to say, swallowing down both her anger and to question Tsunade on her crush any further, because no matter what the answer was, she'd be creeped out either way. "I'd ask my feelings what they are thinking, but they're too busy being pissed right now."

"Good," Tsunade said, sounding grim but not angry at her anymore. "I guess it's nice to see that something still works on you. Your lunch break is over, by the way. Get back to work."


A/N: Sorry, no ass kicking this chapter :( sort of the opposite, really.

On a somewhat related note: There's a giant flashback in correspondence to this chapter where "that fucking board" gets explained. I'll probably post it next week as a separate fanfiction called "Threatening Side Dishes" for companion pieces like this. Look at be being clever. I also probably forgot to mention that if everything goes according to plan, this is going to be a three-part series. Uhm, well actually this is a reboot of an old German fanfiction of mine that has enough content for all of seven parts and a prequel... Buuuut that's neither here nor there for now. Reboot is also kind of a big word. The old version of the first part had 19 chapters. With this chapter, chapter number 7, we have covered the ground of the first two. They, uh, kinda just ran into Oto, grabbed Sasuke, and ran out again in the first version. So if anyone feels like reading baaaad, bad writing and happens to speak German, feel free to seek that one out. I'd warn about spoilers, but honestly... Nah.

See you in like, a week or two.