To say that Sakura was disappointed in herself in an understatement, she was appalled with herself; she was loathing herself at the moment. She had done horridly at Kakashi's survival straining, all she had done was scream and faint. Literally.

Sighing she turned to her side, her soft covers shifting underneath her as she moved, and stared at the wall. She couldn't believe she had fallen for such an obvious illusion, like hell Sasuke would have been able to breath with that much shrapnel stuck in him, and she had studied it!

…

That was it. She had studied it in theory, in a classroom, but had failed to initiate it in battle and thus put her teammates in danger and delayed them to the point they almost didn't pass Kakashi's damned test.

She needed to learn how to commit theory teachings into practical experiences, but even if she could there would be no way she could win a fight. She had no bloodline like Sasuke, she wasn't a chakra powerhouse like Naruto, nor did she have some special jutsu like Kakashi. All she had was chakra control, and that wont save anyone in battle. Sitting up Sakura decided she needed to visit her old sanctuary.

The library! Sakura smiled to herself, the familiar scent of old books and dust comforted her. Going to the ninja section Sakura decided she should at least learn all she can on the matter, since it is her only strong point.

'Chakra is the lifeblood of a shinobi; it allows them to increase strength and perform jutsu, this is by combining physical energy with spiritual energy the right amount and thus producing chakra.

There are five main types of chakra techniques shinobi can use; these are also called elemental types/affinities:

Fire

Water

Wind

Earth

Lightning

Some can combine two to create special techniques but this usually needs a bloodline limit known as a kekkei genkai, though some can be created without a bloodline but require perfect chakra control and focus, the shinobi must also have mastery of two elements and able to coordinate them at the same time…'

Sakura sighed, she knew all this already; she read the first paragraph again in sheer boredom. Physical and spiritual energy combined make chakra…

Combined… what about when the two energies are separate? Can they be used at all? If so how does one use them? They talk about the merging of the two but what about using them separately?

Sakura scoured the library looking for any hint. None was found; huffing Sakura went back to her house to think things over.

She knew that chakra was created by the two energies and that the two automatically combined, so the two energies were already combined once chakra is unlocked. How does somebody split them then?

Sighing Sakura realized she was thinking in circles, she knew that meditating allowed one easier control of chakra. Well then, tomorrow she would meditate while waiting for Kakashi and hopefully find something useful on this. Sakura had a quick shower and went to bed on the thoughts of her current subject.

Dawn came; Sakura woke, ate breakfast thanks to her paranoia about Kakashi, and left the door with her regular outfit. She blushed when she saw the Uchiha and waved, as expected he gave no positive reaction, but instead of trying to grab his attention Sakura walked over to one of the training stumps and settled down in a crossed-legged position with her hands tangling from her knees.

She took deep calm breaths and looked inside her, after what felt like seconds but in reality was nearly half an hour, and found her chakra. She centered it to just below the ribs and began trying to separate the properties, she felt a strange tinge and grabbed onto it; pulling it away she immediately knew it was spiritual energy, looking for the physical she found it, she tried pulling the two away from their combination but all she got was a small tugging sensation.

"Sakura-Chan!" Sakura jumped out of her trance, trying to calm her rapid heartbeat Sakura turned to find her blonde teammate running towards her from the bridge. Growling she hit him on the head when he was in reach, he face planted the ground.

"Dammit Naruto! I was meditating, you don't call out to people like that when they're trying to concentrate!" Sakura chastised and sat back down, trying to meditate but with Naruto around its like trying to get Sasuke to complement her: impossible.

When the thought crossed her mind Sakura frowned, Naruto thought she was frowning at him and kept quite as he stayed a safe distance away and Sasuke didn't give a damn. There it was again, that thought of Sasuke that didn't cause her heart flutter and her mind go all fuzzy, did Sasuke really care about her higher than a teammate? No he didn't, he hated her because of her behavior and wouldn't bother trying to be friends because of it.

She should try to stop those tendencies, now that she thought about it they were annoying… like he said, Sakura blushed at her past actions and felt ashamed of herself, she was a ninja and yet she acted like a princess! She pushed those thoughts back for later contemplation and tried to separate the two energies, but like always the boys began arguing again.

Just as Sakura was about to hit them and tell them both to shut up Kakashi poofed into existence, smiling at them in a way she was quickly coming to realize that it meant he had some cruel activity he would force them to do.

"Yo" he said just before Naruto screamed about his tardiness, Sakura looked confused and looked at the sun. It was right above them, how long was she meditating?

Her eyes widened and she slapped her overly-large-forehead as she remembered that meditation causes time of the mind to slow, therefore what feels like seconds or minutes is really hours or even, for some, days.

Standing up she joined her team and waited for Kakashi to dish out some torture, as it turns out he's going to give them some physical training… shit. They were forced to do ten laps of the village and then run back to their training grounds and do twenty laps of the border of the area, after that they sparred with each other. They took a ten-minute break and then began push-ups, sit-ups, and anything else Kakashi thought of at the time. Evil bastard.

During the ten minute break however Kakashi pulled Sakura to the side and told her she was going to be practicing her fighting with him, to say Sakura was both thrilled and devastated was an understatement; she was elated she could train with her sensei for once but horrified that she would be doing more work.

The boys were kept busy and Kakashi helped Sakura with her form and attacks, then her blocks and even taught her a few moves. Kakashi was pleasantly surprised to find that his little kunoichi was a fast learner, she just needed to increase her physical strength and, given time, she would be able to hold her own in a taijutsu match against her teammates.

That and she really liked evasion, at first Kakashi could hit her easily but as the day wore on it seemed she was picking things up fast, he knew she was observant but didn't think she would actually use that in battle. He actually expected her to be ogling over Sasuke to see if he was watching but she kept her attentive eyes on him as she tried to land a blow while dodging his, despite her obvious fatigue she seemed to continuously push herself.

Of course all of Kakashi's elated feeling for his students' new vigor in training vanished when she collapsed, hitting the ground with a soft thud that the boys didn't even notice. The silver haired Jounin ran to her side and lifted her up, her chakra was barely there and her breathing was rapid and uneven like her heart rate, the boys finally noticed when Kakashi picked her up and started running at top speed to the hospital, the boys trying to keep up. He would give them lessons on awareness soon, not noticing that their own teammate collapsed and all made him a little angry.

Sasuke was leaning against the wall as he watched Naruto pace back and forth and Kakashi was sitting down reading his book as a distraction, but he could tell the older male was worried, begrudgingly Sasuke admitted to himself that he was sort of worried for his pink haired teammate as well.

Though he hated her at the moment as well, because of her weakness their training was stopped and so he wasn't getting any stronger, he hated how she tried to impress him by fighting Kakashi and she hated how she just collapsed instead of saying she needed rest. She should have said that, then at least he would be able to train, and then she wouldn't be dragging him down.

The door opened to reveal a smiling nurse, Sakura following but her walk was slightly wobbly and she definitely looked tired. The nurse said Sakura was to go home and rest, after a few days she would be allowed to train again but Sasuke didn't like that, knowing Kakashi he would postpone training until Sakura was well.

Dammit! At this rate he would never be strong enough to face Itachi, and it was all because Sakura couldn't handle a single training session. He glared at the back of her head, Kakashi and Naruto at her sides as they walked her home, but she didn't expect her to turn around with a glare of her on.

"I know you don't like me Sasuke, but that gives you no right to glare at me like I caused a flash flood. Oh and by the way, you think I'm useless and annoying right? Well guess what! I. Don't. Care." and with that the young kunoichi walked into her apartment complex and let the three males stand there with wide eyes.

"Sakura is growing up" Kakashi commented happily before walking away with his favorite book, Naruto mumbled something about confusing girls and not bothering her when meditating and left. Sasuke stared at her balcony for a while, expecting her to come out and fantasize or apologize but she didn't. Grunting he made his way to the Uchiha training grounds, there he vented his frustrations.

For the next three days Sakura slept, ate, bathed and meditated, with her teammates regularly visiting her and her mother fretting and scolding them for being so loud when her 'Sakura-hime' needs rest. Though a quick word with Kakashi smoothed things out, Sakura glared at her sensei.

"You sweet talked my mother?" she questioned with a dangerous voice, she had been protective of her mother ever since her good-for-nothing father left, and her mother had been the same with her. Kakashi grinned sheepishly and scratched his cheek, sensing the deadly aura he made a mental note not to flirt with a Haruno.

"If you mean flirting then no, I gave her a guilt talk" he smiled, Sakura still looked a little irritated but her deadly aura was gone so he took that as acceptance. He wondered why she hated the idea of him trying to court her mother… was it because he was her sensei? No she would have said it would be awkward or something, she was probably just protective of her mother when it came to dating… hang on.

"Sakura, where's your father?" Kakashi asked curiously, her shoulders tensed as anger and hatred filled her eyes. Obviously he trod on a touchy subject… oops

"He's gone" was all she said and the room filled with a awkward and heavy silence, Sakura decided to break it and asked Naruto about going to Ichiraku's when she got out, Naruto ranted on about the restaurant and the room turned cheerful and light hearted once again. Looks like he would have to do some snooping…

When Sakura was well enough to train Kakashi actually had a mission for them, the rite of passage: catch the cat.

Now when the three heard it they thought it would be quick and that they would be back to training but as it turns out… this cat has experience, it avoided traps and even managed to get the food without getting caught, clearly they would have to change their tactics. So they forced Kakashi to henge as an old man who just got back from fishing and shared some of his fish, Naruto pounced out and grabbed it on Sakura's signal. This mission took two hours, and that's not counting planning time.

"Not bad" Kakashi said as they left the tower "how about we go to Ichiraku?" he offered and the reactions are as followed:

Cheered happily

Sighed

No response

Take a gander who did what.

Naruto slurped happily on his fifth bowl while Sakura neatly started on her second, Sasuke on his third and Kakashi same as Sakura. The pinkette thanked the staff and put the necessary money on the table and left to go to the training grounds, hopefully no one would be there and she could meditate.

Thankfully there was no one, sitting in her previous spot and same position she started again, three hours that felt like one minute passed as she separated the energies and stored it separated from each other, storing her spiritual chakra away she drew on her physical energy and compressed it in her fist.

Sakura slowly opened her eyes, still focusing on the physical energy, and stood slowly. She aimed a punch at the ground only to stumble and fall when her former friend called out her horrible nickname.

"Hey forehead!" Sakura glared at the source of the voice as she stood from her fallen position, dusting herself off she looked at the blonde female.

"What Ino-pig?" Sakura retorted non-to-gently. The blonde grinned triumphantly and popped her hip out as she placed a hand on her hip.

"Where's your team? Did Sasuke ditch you? No surprise there, no one would willingly train with you!" Ino laughed and Sakura glared, waiting for a few seconds she finally answered.

"I came to train, unlike you" Sakura stated shortly, she wanted her ex-friend gone so she can work on her technique.

"You call sitting there and doing nothing training?" Ino retorted and Sakura had to repress a growl, she was starting to get on her nerves. She never had much patience for stupid people, Naruto being a keen example.

"Its called meditating" she corrected but the blonde just scoffed arrogantly and shifted to a pose that matched the gesture.

"Looked like you were about to hit the ground, what were you really doing forehead?" the purple clad kunoichi asked with a slightly tired tone, not believing the pinkette.

Sakura did growl that time; closing her eyes she calmed herself as she channeled her physical energy like last time, raising her fist she slammed it down and successfully cracked the ground around her, the earth shook but other than the cracks it didn't do much.

Ino looked on amazed, at a loss for words thank kami, Sakura grinned triumphantly and began walking to her old friend; passing her she finally answered her.

"That is what I was doing" and with that the pinkette walked away, going to find a quiet place since team sevens training ground seemed to attract people, probably since Sasuke's there.

Sakura sat on a park bench, her favorite park actually, its pretty far from the residential areas so not many people some here and that means that the government didn't keep it in order so the plants grew large and wild.

The pinkette smiled at the large oak tree surrounded by cherry blossoms and evergreen pine trees, the smell of pine with the colours of orange, green and pink made Sakura relax. Her parents would take her here instead of the other ones because the bullies were there, watching the scene of forever falling leaves and petals Sakura allowed herself to be lost in thought.

It seemed that she had gotten more and more annoyed about the Uchiha's fangirls and rivals always disturbing her training and thinking that she's just waiting for her 'Sasuke-kun'.

Watching a particular petal delicately flutter down to the ground Sakura frowned. Annoying, that's what Sasuke had called her countless times; she almost found it ironic how she sees him in a similar light now, only Sakura actually respects and acknowledges him as a powerful ninja. She watched as the petal finally touched the ground; did people see her like that?

Did they see her as a delicate flower trying to fly but is really just slowly falling to the cold hard ground were she will die?

…

No, she wouldn't play the part of the delicate flower slowly falling to the reality of her delusional dance, she would bloom and let the knowledge of her power fly with the wind… like the petals.

Now that she thought about it, she had been in a delusional dance; fooling herself to love Sasuke and wasting her time that she could have spent training, she had gotten weak because of her own inability to stand on her own.

Standing suddenly Sakura walked over to the drifting blossoms and smiled, watching how the twirled and jumped in the breeze in a whimsical dance of delicacy. Yet no one knew of the powerful life stored in a single petal, it would either grow and bloom next to its mother or give its life to fuel the tree that gave such flowers.

Sakura began moving. At first in timid, small, movements but they steadily grew as she began to dance with the petals and leaves that fell, albeit a bit clumsily but her goal was to be able to dance without disturbing the dancing colours.

By the time Sakura had gotten home it was well past the coming hour of the dark. Despite her exhaustion she smiled brightly, she was far from reaching any of her goals but she was at peace with her mind. With Sasuke no longer plaguing her thoughts she was able to think freely and clearly, it seems 'Sasuke-kun' was a barrier in disguise and now that it was gone she wondered what she would be able to accomplish.

The next day Sakura rose extra early and made a healthy breakfast, she was about to leave the house when she felt that ever-present restriction that came with her outfit. Sighing she went back up stairs and stared at her wardrobe, she didn't have much but there was some things that she could use.

Sakura grabbed a long-sleeved wool shirt that came a little passed the wrists and the hem coming down halfway to her thighs, the back bore her clan symbol of a white ring. She kept her biker shorts as they were and left the house, going to her park she set a timer and began her meditation.

Again, she felt the mixture of the two energies and, again, she separated them. Pushing the physical energy to her hand she opened her eyes and brought out a kunai, reminding herself to buy some proper ones she cut it down her palm.

Now she expected to feel pain or see blood seep out, she didn't expect there to be no cut at all. She poked her kunai into her palm and pressed down but the kunai did not pierce, more specifically her skin did not allow the kunai to pierce the skin. Sakura replaced the kunai with her fingertips, feeling no mark and her skin noticeably harder, now this is something she can work with.

Going back to meditating Sakura traded the physical or the spiritual, Sakura spread it evenly throughout her body and was hit with an overwhelming sensation. She could feel the world around her, the trees and the water that traveled through it, the birds flapping their wings as they took to the sky. Everything.

She clicked the bell on the timer just before it rang; opening her eyes she immediately closed them again. Spiritual energy enhances the senses, so that means that her eyes were extra sensitive. Opening her eyes slowly Sakura looked around, she saw a fly, now this wasn't amazing but the fact that she could see each individual wing beat was… pretty amazing.

Releasing her energy Sakura stood and went to the meeting place, when she got there Sasuke was leaning in his usual pose. She waved offhandedly and continued to meditate, and like before Naruto came screaming but instead of yelling at him she asked for a spar.

At first Naruto was quiet, there's a first, before jumping and grinning as he ran into the middle of the training ground. He turned and waited as Sakura took her time making her way there, focusing her energies as she went.

"Naruto, for now could you just send clones?" Sakura asked as she set into a fighting stance, Naruto looked a little perplexed but complied nonetheless. He summoned three clones and sent one after her, she focused the right energy into her leg as she ducked and did a roundhouse kick.

The clone blocked it but was sent crashing into a tree a few meters away, Naruto and his clones stared for a long time before he summoned more and sent the first two at her. The two circled her and Sakura focused spiritual energy to her ears, the sensation was odd to say the least; she could hear every step, every ruffle of cloth, every breath the two made as clearly as though Naruto was speaking to her.

When the two struck Sakura kept her eyes closed as she quickly 'killed' them, when she opened her eyes she smiled at Naruto. Who looked as enthusiastic as usual, giving a thumbs up to Sakura he grinned.

"Alright Sakura-Chan! Now I'm going to go full on! Shadow clone jutsu!" and with that a hundred Naruto's filled the open space and left little for Sakura to maneuver. Taking a calming breath Sakura plunged into battle, during which time she had to focus on balancing both energies and fighting.

Growling in frustration Sakura merged her two energies and replaced herself with a long just in time to avoid a barrage of a Naruto dog pile, sighing in relief she slumped in the tree branch she was resting in. Sakura knew that his numbers would nullify her new technique for the simple fact that it enhanced taijutsu only, she needed to increase her chakra capacity and learn new jutsu otherwise she would be thrashed in a real battle.

Looking behind her she noticed that Naruto was sending his clones to look for her, grinning as a plan formed in her mind Sakura began climbing. She may not have what her teammates have, but she has something that she has and she's going to use it.

Waiting until only the original was left Sakura stored as much physical energy that felt right in her legs and gave a strong push from the branch she was on, Sakura flew for a short while before plummeting to the earth. Landing just behind Naruto she waited until he spun around before pulling out a kunai and lunging at his throat. Stopping just as the tip was about to pierce his skin, the two were frozen in those positions like a sculpture depicting battle.

"Thanks Naruto" Sakura said as she put her kunai away, Naruto nodded and continued to stare at her in awe.

"That was really awesome…" he muttered before springing into a long rant about 'how cool Sakura-Chan was' and all that, Sakura risked a peek at the Uchiha to find him glaring. At what? Sighing she decided to see what was wrong.

"Is there a reason why no matter what I do you just seem to hate me? Even if it has nothing to do with you?" Sakura inquired, this boy was really beginning to get on her nerves.

"Hn" was all he said.

"What the fuck was that! That's not even a word and it sure as hell isn't an answer" Sakura grabbed the scruff of Sasuke's shirt and jerked him forward "all right Uchiha, you listen now and you listen good. I am training to improve myself, I'm not doing it to garner your attention, but even though I think you're an arrogant prick I still respect as a shinobi. The least you could do is respect me as a kunoichi" Sakura violently shoved the Uchiha heir away, making him hit the rail, and walked away.

As soon as Sakura's feet left the bridge she spun around to smirk at glaring Sharingan eyes, her kunai pressing against his own. She added her energy and shoved him back and his feet left the ground, when he hit the railing he flipped and landed in the water. Sakura walked over casually and peered over the edge, leaning her arms against the railing comfortably.

"Didn't expect that now did you" Sakura said mockingly, she was enjoying this immensely. If she had known being on the Uchiha's bad side was this much fun she would have stopped chasing him years ago.

He glared at her and she gave an unimpressed stare, finally losing his patience he threw his kunai at her shoulder expecting her to cry and move out of the way or get hit and cry. He didn't expect the kunai to bounce off her arm with a 'clink' and plummet into the water, her demeanor never changed and her eyes this time gave a pointed flat look.

"Nice to know I can trust you, I don't care if you hate me Sasuke. All I want is your acknowledgement, and maybe your respect, as me being a ninja" she said finally, he growled again. Getting out of the water he finally answered her.

"Someone as weak as you cant be a ninja, the only reason why you beat Naruto is because it was a spar, in a real battle you would be dead" Sasuke finished and Sakura bristled at his words, Kakashi popped up with a 'yo' but Sakura ignored him completely.

"Alright then, lets spar" Sasuke scoffed at her words, looking unimpressed.

"I would flatten you in seconds" he responded.

"Then you have nothing to worry about" Sakura retorted as she walked into the clearing, Sasuke followed. Naruto scrambled to the bridge and quickly told Kakashi what had happened while the two got into position.

"Think we should stop them?" Naruto questioned, apprehensive of what might come.

"No, it will a good learning experience, if they choose to learn from it" Kakashi said as he watched attentively, his treasured book tucked safely away.

Sakura was the first to move, aiming a punch that she suspected would miss. It did, so Sakura turned it into a flip just in time to dodge the swiping kick that would've tripped her. Responding by using a hand to swing her body around and hitting the surprised boy in the side.

He flew and crashed into a tree, causing it to break. He stood up slowly as he glared, his Sharingan spinning rapidly as he shot forward. She dodged every hit he tried to land and he did the same, the two were in their own world now, one was dancing as the feel of the spar surrounded her while the other gave the intent to kill. Jumping backwards Sasuke's hands blurred through the sings.

"Fire style: fire ball jutsu!" he yelled, pulling his hands to his face he breath in and blew fire. Now Sakura had no idea if she was fire proof and so jumped out of the way, though she did leave her leg to be trapped by the flame.

As it turns out she still feels the heat but ti doesn't burn, her skin was flawless and she smirked at the wide-eyed Uchiha.