A/N Do you guys recommend any strong Sakura stories?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 12

"Kaa-san..." The 16 year old boy sadly sighed.

"Tadashi, I'll be alright. You just need to leave. You know the plan?" She whispered the last part, looking around the front of her house, hoping no one was was in listening distance with them.

"Yes." A tear rolled down his face. "I'll protect her."

"Go! Before your father returns!"

What kind of flowers would they like? Sakura wondered as she walked throughout the Yamanaka Flower Shop. She planned to visit Lee and Sasuke in the hospital today and she wanted to get them something.

It was the day after her training with her dad. Kizashi was on his mission and wasn't due to return for a while. The cherry blossom would just have to make do.

"Huh, Sakura?" Said girl turned to the counter and saw Ino standing there.

"Ino...!" When Sakura would walk into this shop, usually Ino's mother was at the till. This was unexpected.

"Getting flowers for Sasuke-kun?" The blonde asked, giving Sakura a knowing smile. It seems as though Ino outwardly didn't have a grudge against Sakura after the preliminaries.

"And Lee-san." The pink-haired ninja replied.

The atmosphere dropped.

"You've heard what they said about him, right?" Ino asked, her voice melancholic.

"...He may not be able to carry on being a ninja."

The silence between the two showed how upsetting the situation was. A ninja may not be able to be a ninja. They didn't want to imagine themselves in Lee's shoes.

Ino walked beside Sakura and picked out four of the same flowers. Handing two over to Sakura, the two rivals made their way to the hospital, not uttering a word to each other until they got there.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto hugged his teammate as he saw her in the hospital.

The amount of hugs Sakura recently received from her teammate was astounding. But she found them comforting and that was what mattered.

"Are you here to visit Sasuke-kun?" The cherry blossom asked. Naruto nodded.

"I already did." He said. "Guy's asleep." The blond ninja was about to say more but he caught the sight of his sensei in the corner of his eye.

"Kakashi-sensei!" He yelled, running over to said jonin and Sakura follwed.

"Naruto, this is a hospital." The silver-haired man groaned. "Don't you think you should be a little quieter?"

"You need to train me for the final exam, believe it!" The host of the kyuubi pointed at his teacher.

"I'm sorry, I can't." Kakashi shrugged. "But I found a qualified replacement."

Another man walked up to the trio and introduced himself. "Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki. My name is Ebisu."

"Hel-" Naruto cut Sakura off.

"You closet pervert!" The unpredictable ninja yelled once again. "I totally got this guy with my sexy jutsu!"

"...Sexy Jutsu?" Sakura said aloud. She remembered it from the academy. It seemed to be the only thing Naruto could transform perfectly into.

That's not right...

"Hey, Naruto?" Sakura caught his attention. "You don't still... use that jutsu, right?"

Naruto had to tread carefully. One wrong move and he would not be able to make it to tomorrow, nevermind the final exam.

"Uh..." He was having difficulty answering and a vein became clearly visible on Sakura's forehead. "Not when I don't have to."

Wrong answer.

"Shannaro!" The pinkette was about to slam her teammate into the ground but she noticed that their sensei was no longer there. "Where is Kakashi-sensei?" She paused, with her fist over a terrified Naruto.

"That doesn't matter." Ebisu pushed up his glasses. "We need to begin our training." He looked at Sakura and Naruto.

"Not me." The pinkette said. "I've been training with my father."

"Well, then, I guess it's just you and me." He turned to the blond.

"No way!" Naruto ran out of the hospital. With a sigh, Ebisu chased after him.

"They're weird." Ino said, walking back up to Sakura. "I've got their room numbers. We should see Lee first."

Sakura half expected to see Gai-sensei in Lee's room, but she didn't expect the room to be empty.

"W-what?" Ino spluttered, looking around the small room.

"The receptionist wouldn't tell you that they had a patient when they didn't, so..." Sakura observed the open window and peeked out of it.

There, on the ground, Rock Lee was doing one finger push-ups. The girls jumped out of the window and ran up to him. Just as they did, a nurse had run up to him as well.

"Rock Lee! Go back to your room at once!" She commanded. The bushy browed boy ignored her and continued counting.

"91, 92, 93..." He carried on until he got stuck at 97.

"Lee-san..." Sakura said but was ignored. No one made a move to stop him but the nurse continued scolding him.

"No!" Lee cried as the nurse came closer to him, startling her. "98..." He paused above the ground, not wanting to fall. "99.." Moments after, he collapsed.

Two doctors ran out to the four people and took Lee back into the hospital.

Ino and Sakura decided to put the flowers in a glass by Lee's bed. Once Lee woke up, he wondered who left them there for him.

"Now..." Sakura slightly blushed. "Where's Sasuke-kun's room?"

"Down here." They walked through the hall and went into the room which should've contained Sasuke Uchiha.

But it was empty.

"Again?!" Sakura cried. She looked out of the window, but he wasn't there.

"Today just isn't our day." Ino sighed. The girls reported that he was no longer there and many nurses searched the hospital.

"You know..." Sakura started. "I kinda expected Kakashi-sensei to take him somewhere to train. Especially after he said that he couldn't train Naruto."

At the end of their hospital adventure, the two kunoichi walked dejectedly through the Konoha Market.

"Alright!" Ino yelled. "I'm in the mood for some dumplings from the Amaguriama!"

Sakura was about to wave goodbye but was shocked once Ino grabbed her hand and dragged her to her favourite place in the Leaf Village.

"They're not as sweet as they used to be..." Sakura said as the rivals were eating their dumplings.

"They changed them a while back." The blonde girl said as she continued to eat. "Hm... I didn's even notice your new look." Ino said.

"Oh?" Sakura looked down at herself. "It's much easier to be a ninja in these." She smiled.

"Yeah..." Their conversation died out.

Even so, Sakura continued talking after a bit if silence. "I haven't been here since right after we became genin." When I was useless as fuck. "So much has changed."

"Yeah." The Team Ten kunoichi sighed. "You're about to become a chunin, I have my first B-Rank mission in a few days..." Ino stretched her arms.

"The final exams aren't for a while. I have no idea how strong the others could get."

"Well," Ino stood up. "I think you're pretty strong now." She looked away. "I mean, you beat me. So I expect you to win."

"Ino..." Sakura was touched. A girl whom she admired at a young age, and had beaten two days prior, actually complimeted her.

"On second thought, Sasuke-kun's in the final round too... And that weird one who beat Hinata. Maybe you'll come third."

Sakura still took it as a compliment.

In the night, Jiraiya stood on top of Naruto's apartment building and Ebisu soon joined him.

"I am sorry I took your student." The toad sage said, not at all seeming apologetic.

"I'm surprised. The Third Hokage would be pleased at your return."

"Have you told him?" Jiraiya asked. Ebisu shook his head. "Let's keep it that way."

"What? Then why have you come back? Is it to do with Orochimaru?"

"No. I came here for inspiration for my novels."

"You came back for something as trivial as that?" To be honest, Ebisu didn't think the novels were "trivial"...

"And also, word has gotten around about Konoha having the Gobi." The sannin eyed Ebisu, signalling for him to tell him more.

The special jonin sighed. "Her name is Sakura Haruno."

"I know." Jiraiya replied. "That has gotten around too."

"What? How would people get word of her name?"

"I don't know."

"Well," Ebisu continued. "Sakura is in the same team as Naruto and Sasuke Uchiha."

Jiraiya laughed. "That's going to be a hell of a team."

"And the beast was sealed within her while she was on a mission with her father to the Land of Earth."

The two didn't speak after that until the toad sage stood to leave. "I'll be continuing Naruto's training from now." With that, he left.

For the next few days, the pinkette continued training on her own. She trained the jutsus that were already in her arsenal so they wouldn't take much of a strain on her and she perfected the Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu.

The struggle she was having was with Water Release.

Kokuo may have water chakra but it was still difficult for Sakura to harness it.

"Argh!" The kunoichi angrily punched the air after only a trickle of water shot out of her mouth. "Why is this so hard?!" She screamed.

"Maybe we should delay learning Water Release for now?" Kokuo suggested. "We need to figure out a plan for the battle against the Sand Shinobi."

"That fan is going to make everything so difficult." The cherry blosson sat on the ground, cross-legged. "I need to get it off of her..."

"She'll be useless without it."

"I know the feeling." It surprised Sakura that she could actually hear the Gobi sigh.

"That kind of attitude will not make you a chunin. Don't roll your eyes at me!" Sakura flinched at the five-tails' raised voice.

"Sorry."

Silence swayed on the training grounds as both women thought about their upcoming match. Suddenly, an idea struck Sakura.

"Maybe I should learn Wind Release!" She exclaimed.

"Why?" Kokuo asked, confused.

"So, once I get Temari's fan, I can use it against her."

"Okay. But what about actually getting the fan?" The beast questioned.

"The Hiding Mole Jutsu will help with that." Sakura felt a big, bright fire burst within her as she pictured winning the match. Temari on the ground while begging for mercy, the Third Hokage promoting her to chunin and Naruto and Sasuke giving her the title of strongest ninja in Team Seven.

"One problem." Her fantasy was ruined by her friend's next words. "It'll be even harder for you to learn Wind Release than to learn Water Release."

"Otou-san knows Wind Release. He can help." Sakura replied.

"Eh... Sakura-san?" The familar voice snapped her focus to three ninja. Shikamaru, Chouji and Asuma stood on the training grounds, staring at the Team Seven ninja oddly.

How long have they been there? Sakura asked herself. Here I've been talking to myself, forgetting that anyone can hear me. Stupid Sakura!

"Uh... Yeah?" The pink-haired kunoichi replied, nervously smiling.

"Nothing..." Asuma said and he walked off with the two members of his team.

Often, at night, Sakura slept dreamless sleeps. But sometimes she would have nightmares. A grey version of herself would stand on top of Konoha's gate, staring down at the village below. Red bubbles would spread around her as well as red and blue balls of chakra.

The balls of chakra would combine and make a purple sphere. Grey Sakura would aim the sphere at the village.

That's when Sakura would wake up.

Today was one of the days she would have that nightmare.