Edit: 12/8/14

While as much as I wanted to rush straight to Hinata first, I knew she probably wouldn't be able receive any visitors, yet. So, to buy time I headed off to Ino's house.

Much to my surprise when I reached the Yamanaka house and knocked on the door… it was none other than Ino's dad, Inoichi.

I stared up at him in mild surprise before I smiled sheepishly. "Hey, Inoichi-san."

He smiled back at me. "Hello, Sakura-chan. If you're here, that must mean the Second Exams are over? I'm sorry, but Ino hasn't arrived yet…"

"She's in the hospital," I explained. His eyes widened briefly, so I hurried to finish. "She's just suffering from fatigue, and a few scratches. She passed the Second Exam, but we fought in the preliminary rounds, and she lost. I'm here to pick up her book, as well as some good food for her."

"I see," Inoichi said, nodding. He moved aside to let me in, and I smiled back at him.

"So… Do you have the day off, or something?" I asked, attempting to make conversation. Also, I was a little curious why Konoha's top interrogator was here and not off… interrogating.

He's not the top interrogator.

But, he's one of the best.

"Something like that," he muttered, a dark look passing briefly over his face before being a smile returned.

"Huh," I said, for lack of a better response. Before an awkward silence fell between us, I turned tail and fled to Ino's room. Once I safely secured her book from her nightstand, I headed off into the kitchen.

Much to my surprise, I didn't run into anyone else of the Yamanaka clan as I raided their kitchen for Ino's favorite foods (cherry tomatoes and pudding). Once I safely had a bundle of food in my arms, I headed off to the hospital.

.

When I reached the hospital, I asked the ever so nice lady at the front desk about Hinata. She said Hinata was still being stabilized, but could receive visitors in an hour. So, I asked for Ino's room and she pointed me in the right direction.

Once I entered Ino's room, she looked up from her spot on the bed. She was sitting up, a few bandages wrapped around her. She grinned at me, then her grin widened when she saw the food.

I dumped the food in her lap, and handed her the book.

"You're a life saver," Ino said, popping a tiny tomato in her mouth.

"I know I am," I said, winking. "Alright, so here's what happened when you left…"

.

I left for Ino's room after a three hour long conversation of me explaining everything, and her jumping in and asking questions. Not to mention we both kept getting side tracked after like every other sentence, so it was an incredibly long explanation. A funny one, but a long one.

After I left Ino's I headed off to buy some flowers for Hinata—white lilies—then, finally, I headed into Hinata's room.

Much to my displeasure, her father and a few elders were already in there.

Hiashi had looked up from Hinata; the elders following his gaze to me.

"Uh… Hi?" I said. "I came to congratulate Hinata-chan, and wish her well…"

"Congratulate?" Hiashi said, unable to keep the disbelief from his voice.

"Yeah. I mean, she went up against Neji Hyūga who was a prodigy and a year older than her and she nearly won. She was close, too, it was an amazing fight," I said, glancing over at a blushing Hinata.

"I-It wasn't… th-that…" Hinata said, her voice taking a very soft tone.

I snorted. "Bullshit. You guys should have seen her, even though she was against all odds she still kicked his ass."

Hiashi pursed his lips. "I find that hard to believe. And who are you exactly?"

"One of her fans," I replied, quirking an eyebrow. "And you?"

"Fans?" one of the elders muttered.

"Mm-hmm," I murmured. "Anyway, you guys really should have seen the match. Actually, if I remember correctly, don't they have cameras in the preliminary room? I bet you could watch the whole fight. I'm sure they kept the footage."

Hiashi's eyes narrowed. "We shall see."

"And even if you couldn't," I continued. "I bet once Hinata's out of the hospital, you could pair her up against somebody else… why don't you try her sister? Hana… Hanabi, right?"

"S-Sakura-chan!" Hinata exclaimed, alarmed.

I shrugged. "I bet you could beat her now. In fact, I know you can."

"I… I don't…"

I raised an eyebrow at her then looked back to Hiashi. "Just a thought."

He didn't respond.

I shifted my balance to my right foot and glanced around the room. "Anyway… I can see I'm intruding on something so…"

I walked over to Hinata, and then placed the flowers in her lap. "I'll be back later, Hinata-chan."

I walked out the door, off to find some sort of sensei for the exams.

.

When I walked out the hospital door, I found myself nearly running into Kakashi. I stared up at him in surprise. Wow, I'm getting a lot of surprises today.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei," I greeted cheerily.

"Yo," he said.

"So," I said, grinning, "about the exams…"

"I found Naruto a private tutor, but I haven't found you one…"

I held up my hand. He stopped. I gave him a sheepish smile. "I know you want to privately train Sasuke. I already have a sensei in mind, but…" I cleared my throat. "But, I was hoping you could help me with a small thing? Just to help get my training started?"

He was quiet for a moment before he asked, "What do you need help with?"

"I want to know my chakra nature," I said bluntly. "Also, I need to find some weights, like the ones Lee-san has."

"Is that all?" Kakashi asked, mildly surprised. "You don't want me to drag you off and teach you some new justu of sorts?"

"I'm not like Naruto in that fashion," I said with a roll of my eyes. "I know you want to teach Sasuke the Chidori and that's going to take quite a bit of time, you won't exactly have a lot of time to teach me anything."

"How did you…?"

"Know?" I finished. "I just do. Anyway. When the exams are over I would love to kidnap you, so I can learn some actual ninjutsu depending on my chakra nature, but for now I can wait. But, I do not know where to get chakra paper to find out my chakra nature and I don't have a clue where to get the weights."

Kakashi's eye crinkled. "I see. I can get you the paper as for weights… Those are an old fashion training style, I'm not sure where I'd get them. But, I'm sure Gai knows."

I deadpanned, "Can you ask him for me?"

"I suppose," Kakashi said. "… I'll have the weights by tomorrow, or at least know where to get them. We can go find your chakra nature now, if you want."

"Yes, please," I said, beaming. "Lead the way, sensei!"

"Alright," Kakashi said, turning away.

.

Kakashi handed me a small slip of paper. We were outside the hospital now, I had walked Kakashi back here after we had found the chakra paper. I didn't want to test my nature yet, though, I wasn't sure why.

However, when we reached the hospital, I decided the stalling had to end.

"Do you know how it works?" Kakashi asked.

"Of course," I snorted, holding up the paper between my fingers.

He didn't respond. I rushed chakra between my fingers into the paper.

It crumpled away into dirt.

"Earth nature," Kakashi said, mildly surprised. "I would have pegged you for a water nature."

I shrugged. "I don't suppose you've copied any earth jutsus?"

"A few," Kakashi admitted.

"Teach them to me after the exam?" I asked.

"I can do that. I'll find you tomorrow, and hopefully have your weights. Are you sure you already have a sensei?" Kakashi inquired.

"Well," I drawled, "I haven't asked him yet, but I'm sure I'll be able to convince him. I'll be training with Naruto's second sensei anyway."

"Second sensei?" Kakashi asked, curiosity tinted in his voice.

"Yeah, he finds another sensei after the closet pervert," I explained. "Or… well. He… uh… will at least… Oh… hey look… I have to go. Good luck with Duck Ass!"

I turned tail and fled.

.

It took me a good half hour to finally find Naruto and the Pervy-sage.

I had jumped across the last rooftop when I spotted Naruto shouting at the Pervy-Sage as said sage stopped walking away.

"… Cooperate with my training, damn it!" Naruto shouted.

Jiraiya stopped, turning around to shout right back at Naruto. "Shut up! I don't like people who don't know the proper way to ask for a favor. And I don't like men."

That's when I made my big entrance.

"Naruto!" I shouted, jumping down from the roof of the nearest building to land next to Naruto. "There you are."

"S-Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, his eyes wide as he gave me a sheepish grin. "What are you doing here? Did Kakashi-sensei ditch you for the bastard, too?"

"Nah, I ditched him and…" I trailed off, glancing over at Jiraiya before my eyes widened. "I know you!"

"Oh?" Jiraiya said, giving me a large grin. "A fan?"

"A big one," I admitted. I rushed forward to him. "Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Haruno Sakura."

"A pleasure, Sakura-chan," Jiraiya said, still grinning.

I glanced behind me at Naruto. "I'm sorry if Naruto has been bugging you. He's a little wound up from the Chūnin Exams."

"He's the one who interrupted my training, Sakura-chan, and now he won't help me!" Naruto shouted, huffing in the process.

I gave him a slight smile before turning back to Jiraiya. "Like I said… wound up. But, he's a really great kid. And… I'm sorry to intrude, Jiraiya-sama, but would you be so kind as to help train Naruto and me?"

"Hmm? So you do know my name, eh?" Jiraiya mused.

"Of course," I gave a mock look of appall. "How could I not know about the great Toad-Sage, Jiraiya? I'm a huge fan of yours and…"

Tell him about his first book!

Eh? You'd think that matter?

No, but I bet he'll autograph yours.

Oh shit! I forgot I even had it with me.

I reached rummaged through my small pack, pulling out an old, beaten up book. The title read, The Tale of the Utterly Gusty Shinobi.

Oh yeah, die hard Narutard right here. I had totally forgotten about this book when I first came into this world, but it was actually a few days before the Zabuza Arc that Hinata reminded me about it. She didn't directly remind me, mind you, but she mentioned how gutsy Naruto was during one of our training sessions and the rest just kind of triggered. It took me a good solid two weeks before I finally found a used copy.

It was actually… very good. The male protagonist went through a rough childhood and had become set in his ways to promote peace, and end the 'curse' known as war and conflict. It had an amazing plot, and a surprising ending.

Not to mention it was one of the few books I allowed myself to read that wasn't a medical book, so naturally I cherished it.

I held it out to him, grinning. His eyes widened briefly before he took it in his hands, looking over it.

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to autograph it?" I asked.

"… This certainly has been read a lot," Jiraiya mused, looking at its worn pages.

I gave a sheepish grin. "Sorry."

He rummaged through his own pack, pulling out a pen before flipping over to the first page and signing his name. He handed it back to me. I placed it back in my pack.

I glanced over at Naruto who was eyeing us curiously.

I cleared my throat. "Anyway… it would be a huge honor and help if you trained us, even if it was just one thing."

"You… I will train… Naruto, was it? You will have to convince me why I should train you," Jiraiya said turning away. "Sakura, I will send a message to you later today about where to meet me for training. Naruto… you have until the end of the day to convince me."

And with that Jiraiya lurched off from the ground, jumping onto the roof before quacking disappearing out of sight.

Naruto let out a frustrated sigh. "Damn it."

I laughed. "Good luck, Naruto. I'll expect to see you at training."

.

It was later that evening that received the message from Jiraiya via frog.

The frog sat on my window seat in my bedroom. I kept the window open to let in a small breeze.

"Are you Sakura?" the messenger frog asked.

I nodded my head. I moved from bed, placing my current medical book down, and headed to the frog. "Message from Jiraiya?"

"Yep," the frog croaked. "Meet him at the North River tomorrow morning, ten o'clock sharp for training. Also, he wants to tell you that the boy will also be joining in the session."

I smiled. "Alright. Thank you for delivering the message."

The frog nodded his head before disappearing in a poof.

Well, well, looks like I'll have a busy day tomorrow.