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Opening her eyes Sakura found herself staring up at the ceiling of her dark bedroom. The sound of the fan hitting her ears. Feeling warm tears trickling down her face, she reached a hand up to her cheek. A smile slowly moved onto her face, as it felt like she was surrounded by her birth parents love.

A week and a half later, January 3rd

Suddenly surrounded by bushes that towered over her, Sakura took in a deep breath and glanced around. Coming to realize everything towered over her. Looking down, she was with a much younger girl's body. A white lace gown covered her, and she wore no shoes on her feet.

Starting through the maze of towering bushes that were a clipped to perfect square shapes, she felt herself having to stand on her tiptoes to try to look over them.

"Sakura!"

The voice was a little bit distant, but she felt like it was familiar. Without warning the young body she was in shot forward. Running throughout the maze, the feeling of the wind going past her, made her want to laugh. So she did, a childish giggle as she turned another corner of the maze of bushes.

"Sakura! Where are you?!"

"Coming!" She called back, as she continued forward. Her much older mind was confused at this. Not sure as to why she was saying these things or feeling this way. Feeling so happy. As she reached the next corner, a feeling of happiness really hit her. It felt as if whatever was around this corner was the source of this happiness. Just as she reached it she assumed like usual everything would turn white.

However, when she turned the corner she was greeted with dark skies above. Gathering her full focus as lightning came from the sky, followed by roaring thunder. This isn't supposed to be happening- Her thoughts were interrupted as a strike of lightning came straight towards her like slow motion. Just as it was about to hit her, she closed her eyes.

Opening her eyes when nothing happened, Sakura found herself back in her bedroom. However she didn't move like usual, as she tried to avoid waking Sasuke up. Sighing softly, she shook her head. Inner what was that?

Saku Inner: I'm trying to sleep here.

Sakura: Do you even need to sleep?

Saku Inner: I do when you're have problems that don't concern me.

Frowning at her Inner's lack of interest, Sakura sighed heavily. Seeing it was about twelve thirty in the morning, she frowned, and let her head fall back on her pillow. Wow, I've only been asleep for barely an hour. I'm going to end up losing it from not getting enough sleep. It was hard to lull herself back to sleep is all her mind did was circle around the dream. Analyzing the difference between the normal dream and this new strange dream. She glanced back at the clock to see it was almost four, and groaned at her mind not shutting off. Finally working her priestess ability, she slowed her thoughts down to bring welcome silence inside her mind. Staring up at the circling ceiling fan, finally she felt herself wind back down, and find sleep again.

The darkness around her was interrupted with a shot of light. A door opening in front of her. Finding her small child-like hands being what opened the door in the first place. Moving through the doorway, she began to skip her way down the hall. A huge hall. Looking down, she was wearing a pale light blue nightgown, that neared the floor, and sleeves that went almost past her hands. Her longer pink hair flew around her lightly. She held a small thin book to her chest. Unsure of its color. Inside, she felt happy. She felt like she was floating free.

The surroundings around her began to blur, as she skipped. She was nearing the end of the large hallway. At the end was two large windows, both of which were pushed open. At first, all she could see was clear blue sky. When she got closer, she prepared herself to look out. But, when she reached the window, light began to blind her, but not for long. The sound of thunder hit her ears, and that light that hit her disappeared to reveal dark clouds up in the sky. Strikes of lightning rained down, and one began to head towards her in slow motion. Right before it got to her, she got a shiver of fear down her spine, then closed her eyes.

Shooting straight up, Sakura gasped at the shock she felt running through her spine. Sunlight filtered in through the windows, and it was almost blinding to her eyes.

"Look who's finally awake," Sasuke's voice as heard, then he walked into the room. Already dressed for the day, and going to grab his weapons from the bedside table on his side of the bed. "You need to get a move on. It's almost eight and we have the training to get to soon."

Sakura hardly paid any attention to what he was saying, and just continued squinting at the windows. Her brain felt like it was still trying to catch up to her consciousness, but also try to decipher her dream. Two crazy weird dreams back to back?

Sasuke's eyes went to Sakura when she hadn't responded to anything he said, and noticed her squinting in the direction of the window. "Are you okay?"

Sakura hesitated for a long moment, then just shook her head. "I need coffee first, then prepare yourself for the crazy weird fuckery dreams I just had." Was all she said before she jumped up from the bed to go downstairs to get her coffee. I can already tell today is going to be terrible.

A half hour later

"Don't tell anyone about the dreams I had. I don't need my two bodyguards to figure out that I'm slowly losing my mind."

"Relax," Sasuke replied, stopping in front of her, as he smirked. "I highly doubt Hinata or Neji are going to think you're losing your mind. If anything, it certainly wouldn't be your dreams that would make them think that."

"Gee thanks," Sakura replied with an eye roll. She lifted up on the tip of her toes to kiss him. "Love you."

"Love you too." Sasuke replied, kissing her once more before watching her walk over to Naruto.

On Naruto and Sakura's walk over to the other training ground, Naruto was studying Sakura. "Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Sakura countered quickly.

"I just thought I'd ask," Naruto replied, an eyebrow raised at her. "You just look really stressed out."

Sighing heavily, Sakura quickly explained her dreams from that morning to him, but waved a hand after she was done speaking. "But we're not going to talk about it. I'm over all this dream nonsense."

"Sakura, the last few dreams you said that didn't matter, ended up meaning something-"

"Yeah, well these don't. I think it's just my mental self-being destructive," Sakura interrupted, as she crossed her arms. "Can we talk about something else?"

Naruto was quiet for a long moment, then finally nodded. "At least we're on the second scroll now, and we are going to get to do some more challenging stuff. Although it sucks that we have to be separated."

"Oh yeah," Sakura said, thinking back to when she, Naruto, and Kakashi had got together a few days ago to go over what the second scroll entailed. She and Naruto had a separate list of about eight individual jutsu a piece they had to learn. According to the instructions of this section of the scroll, she and Naruto weren't permitted to train together, and had to take this part alone. So far they had gone over some of the individual jutsu they had used on her birthday, but now they were getting to the one's they didn't know yet. "I'm supposed to start on a new jutsu today that combines two separate jutsu, but three separate elements. I don't know how it's going to work out. I was thinking about it a lot last night before I went to bed."

"Maybe your stress caused the dreams to change," Naruto suggested with a shrug of his shoulders. However, when Sakura glared at him, he waved his hands. "But we're not talking about that. I got it."

"Good." Sakura shot back, then crossed her arms as they fell into silence. She knew it'd be a long day of training, and she wasn't sure how she'd make it through it.

After training that day

"Just twenty more minutes."

"Training is over Sakura," Kakashi replied watching his student scowl back at him. "You and Naruto are both getting equal eight hours each day. Which technically, since it's so cold out here, you should be getting just four or five hours."

"I'm fine, I don't need to stop," Sakura shot back, noticing how that didn't change Kakashi's look as he just crossed his arms. Stomping over to her bag to collect her stuff, she sighed. Having spent nearly all day on that jutsu that she talked to Naruto about this morning, and she didn't make the slightest bit of progress. All she managed was to do her wind jutsu like normal, then the new fire jutsu separately. But not together like she was supposed to. Once I actually manage to do the jutsu with both the other jutsu combined, then I have to somehow produce lightning somewhere in there. Supposedly anyway.

Saku Inner: It is. You just haven't got there yet. But you will.

Sakura: I don't need you patronizing me right now.

Saku Inner: I'm not, I'm just trying to be supportive-

Sakura: Or you're just trying to piss me off by reminding me of the fact that I spent all day on this one damn jutsu and still haven't picked up on it.

Blocking her Inner from saying anything more, Sakura grabbed her bag, and started to cross the training ground to leave. Just as the rest of her team showed up right by Kakashi.

Naruto being the first to grin at the sight of Sakura, as he missed being around his best friend. "Hey Sakura, how did training go-" He stopped talking when Sakura walked right past them.

"I don't know. Why don't you ask our all knowing sensei?" Sakura shot back bitterly, then she left.

Yamato chuckled, as he eyed Kakashi. "Rough day?"

Kakashi sighed, and shook his head. "She just needs to go home and relax. She can't just train all day in this weather. She can just work on the jutsu again tomorrow."

"And she's mad because you won't let her run herself into the ground?" Sasuke asked, seeing Kakashi nod, he sighed. "Not surprising in the slightest."

Sai's eyes were focusing on Naruto. "So are we still meeting up tonight?"

Naruto's attention, however, was focused in the direction Sakura walked off in. I haven't really got to talk to Sakura today. I didn't realize that by separating in training, that we won't get to speak to each other that much. I miss being able to go on lunch break with her and talk out all this mess that comes with our training...Shaking his head, his eyes moved to Sai. "Wait what did you ask me?"

An hour later, five thirty

Watching as the tide came in, Sakura smiled happily as her eyes met onyx ones. Feeling his arms wrap around her, she laughed lightly. "Oh this vacation has been so wonderful."

"I'm surprised you have it in you to take a vacation," Sasuke replied, smirking down at her, as the wind from the beach went past them. "Usually you stress yourself out so much you don't really enjoy it."

"I'm getting better- Okay, so I'm not getting that much better, but I'm making progress," Sakura replied, laughing at Sasuke shaking his head. She turned to face the ocean again. They were on the beaches in White Ash, and it felt like the ocean water was never-ending. All she knew was that moment, she couldn't be more relaxed, and she sure as heck needed it. Smiling again, as she turned back to face Sasuke. "I wonder if-"

Breaking off as Sasuke was all of a sudden gone, and she was no longer on the beach. She was in the training ground. Unsure as to how she got there, she looked around for a moment. Her eyes caught onto the sight of her training scroll laying out. Jogging over to pick it up, she unrolled it a little, but found it to be empty. That's not right. It's supposed to be full of our training instructions. Unrolling it some more, and some more. She soon found herself close to the end of the scroll, but that's when she found some written ink. Defectio… which she new meant failure in her language.

Realizing that it was meant for her, she dropped the scroll to the ground. The blue sky filled with dark clouds, and the lightning and thunder began. However this time as she dodged the lightning strikes, voices hit her ears.

"You can't complete a simple jutsu! Why are you the priestess?"

"You shouldn't hold the title if you can't handle it!"

"You're running out of time!"

Hearing that last part jolted Sakura awake, as her eyes snapped open and she found herself in the living room. Staring up at the ceiling for a long moment, she took in a breath. Everything was normal again. The fire was going in the fire place, and the lights on the tree were on.

"Hey," Sasuke's voice hit her ears from where he was sitting at the end of the couch she was laying down on. He had been reading a scroll, and looked over when she jumped slightly. Lifting her legs a little, he slid closer to her, so he could lean over and kiss her. Letting her legs rest on his lap, as he smiled at her. "You're not that great at taking naps."

"Are you sure?" Sakura countered, bringing her hands to her face as she yawned and stretched. "Because I feel like I was sleeping for two years, and woke up all delirious."

That had Sasuke chuckling. "You were probably only asleep for half an hour at most… I have to go meet Naruto and Sai for training."

"What?" Sakura asked, sitting up abruptly, as she met his eyes. "Naruto is going with you?"

Unsure as to why she asked, Sasuke nodded slowly. "Yeah, we have the chunin exams coming up. We need to get together to figure out some things before we go."

That had Sakura frowning deeply. "That's not fair. Kakashi said that Naruto and I are supposed to have an equal amount of training."

"Well, it's already past six thirty," Sasuke started, realizing that she was just wanting to train more. "You really don't need to be out in the cold running whatever jutsu you're working on over and over. You have already tired yourself out enough today."

Scoffing at his words, Sakura pulled her hand away from his, and crossed her arms. "And you three men can?"

Sighing at her tone, Sasuke shook his head back at her. "You know that's not what I was trying to say. First of all, we're going to be inside. Tsunade is allowing us to use one of the dojo's in the North forest. Second, we aren't doing any heavy training. We're just figuring out our strategies for the chunin exams."

Keeping her frown on her face, Sakura moved to lay back on the couch. "That's still not fair."

"Think of it this way, you're already a jounin so be glad that you don't have to worry about things like the chunin exams," Sasuke said, noticing that didn't stop her frown. He reached over to rest his hand on one of hers. "You also get to stay here in the nice warm house. Maybe you can take a bubble bath with a glass of your favorite wine."

That was what made Sakura smile finally, as she turned her hand over to hold intertwine their fingers. "Okay, so maybe it won't be that bad."

A few hours later, nine o'clock

Stepping out of the house, Sakura was greeted by a burst of cool wind, and she second guessed her decision to leave right away. But, her feet took her down the steps of the porch anyways. She had a nice evening to herself, and did have a bubble bath with a glass of her favorite wine. She had got tired after getting out of her bath, and dozed off earlier than usual. One minute she was having a normal dream, then next she was surrounded by a storm and the voices yelling at her about not completing that jutsu again.

Just the thought of her dream turned nightmare had a shiver running down Sakura's spine, then she took off down the street. Maybe a run will do me some good, and if I happen to stop to try out that jutsu every once in a while, there's not harm there.

Saku Inner: Sakura this is not what you need to be doing right now. You need to be resting in order to have a fresh start at training tomorrow.

Sakura: You saw my nightmares. You know that I'm failing-

Saku Inner: Sakura those are not real! You can't let something like that affect your judgment in real life.

Sakura: I'm not!

With that said, Sakura pumped some speed into her run. The cold winter wind speeding past her face, but as her body warmed up she felt herself pushing farther. The wall to the village getting close, but she just kept on running at it. A determined look on her face.

The next morning, January 4th

Feeling a little wired, Sakura was quick to start off running to the training ground. Despite her body's exhaustion, the three cups of coffee she had that morning were helping keep her moving. On her run last night, she jumped over the wall of the village, and took off. With her new speed she had been developing since becoming a priestess, she was able to cross into the Land of Rivers, and she nearly hit the Land of Wind before heading back. She even got in some time to throw around the jutsu she had been trying to learn, but still didn't make any progress.

She had returned back to the village nearly half an hour ago. When she got home, Sasuke had already left so she was able to shower, and down three cups of coffee to try and wake herself up again.

Saku Inner: Do you honestly believe your going to get any work done after not sleeping or resting at all last night?

Sakura: I've pulled all nighters before-

Saku Inner: Let me remind you that the night before last, you barley got five hours of sleep. Then you had intense training session yesterday. And finally, you spent nearly all of last night running, and only stopping to throw out a jutsu or take a quick breather. This is not the same.

Sakura: Would you relax? I'll be fine.

Nothing else was said from her Inner other than a long sigh. Shaking her head, Sakura entered the training grounds. She had barely taken a few steps towards her friends, before all their attention went to her.

"Where were you?" Sasuke asked, an eyebrow raised as she walked up.

"I took a shower and I had to change," Sakura replied, stopping by the others, as she crossed her arms. "I know I took a bath last night, but I forgot to shave my legs."

"No," Sasuke said almost as soon as she stopped talking. "I meant where were you last night? You weren't home when I got home, and you weren't there when I woke up."

Thinking she had avoided his questions, Sakura just laughed it off. "Oh, I forgot to leave a note. I decided to spend the night at Hinata's."

This visibly makes Hinata's eyes widen, as the others were focused on her now. Hinata noticed Sakura's quick nod at her, and she relaxed her expression "Yeah, we were talking and fell asleep. No big deal."

Naruto started to shake his head, as he looked to Hinata. "Wait a second-"

"You know after we got ramen, and you walked me home," Hinata interrupted, turned to Naruto quickly, and she placed her hand on his arm. "Sakura was over in my apartment already."

Understanding that she wanted him to lie, Naruto hesitated, but then nodded once. "Oh yeah..."

That seemed to be enough to stop the questions there. As more of their friends began to arrive, Sakura stepped away to stretch a bit, and get some alone time. However, she was barely alone for a minute when someone walked up very close to her.

"What in the hell was that?"

Sighing at the sound of Hinata's irritated voice, Sakura looked up at the sky. "It's nothing."

That only seemed to darken Hinata's glare. "You do not get to just brush me off. Not when I just lied for you."

"Fine," Sakura said after a moment, meeting Hinata's eyes. "I accidentally may have took a walk out of the village last night."

Staring at Sakura for a long moment, Hinata crossed her arms. "Okay, we've left the village while completely drunk all night to go get cupcakes, and we told people. Where did you go?"

"To the border of the Land of Wind. Well almost-"

"What?!"

Sakura slapped a hand over Hinata's mouth. "Lower your damn voice."

"There's no way you made it all the way there and back in time to get to training," Hinata started, shaking her head. "I mean you could probably cut it down to one day of travel if you didn't stop at all, but I mean after training for eight hours I would figure you wouldn't have the energy."

"Well I've gotten a little faster alright?" Sakura countered with a shrug of her shoulders. "And you know me. When have some stuff on my mind, no matter how tired I am, I will go running."

"Naruto told me that Kakashi made it sound like you were having trouble with a jutsu," Hinata said, noticing how that made Sakura narrow her eyes, she knew she was correct on that, and moved on. "So how long did it take you?"

"I left around nine last night, and just got back a little over a half hour ago. So it was about fourteen hours..." Sakura trailed off, as she shook her head and popped her knuckles. "Alright, I see that look in your eye. I know we're about to go back to talking about my reason for going. But, it's all good. I've had my coffee, and that'll get me through training."

"For how long?" Hinata countered, an eyebrow raised.

Scowling at Hinata's look, Sakura moved to walk past her. "Bye."

"Good luck." Hinata shot back sarcastically, rolling her eyes at Sakura flicking her off. Her expression turned to a happier one when Naruto jogged over to her, and wrapped his arms around her.

"I just wanted to say to enjoy training today," Naruto said, then he leaned his head down a little to kiss her. "And maybe we can have lunch together again if you want?"

Hinata smiled, as she reached up to rest a hand on his face. "I'd love that. But don't you usually eat with Sakura on your separate training days?"

"Yeah, but we're really supposed to be separated during this part of training," Naruto replied, holding a frown on his face at the thought. "I don't really know if I like this all that much. It's weird not being able to talk through some of this training together."

Hinata studied Naruto's face for a moment, then she just moved up on the tip of her toes to kiss him. "We'll do lunch again today. But maybe on the way to the other training ground, you could talk with Sakura. Make her laugh or something. She needs it."

"Will do." Naruto replied, kissing her once more before jogging to catch up with Sakura who was already walking to the other training grounds. Catching up to her, he noticed her slow a little so he could fall into step with her. "So why did you lie?"

"I wasn't lying." Sakura shot back irritably.

"Yes you were," was Naruto's immediate reply. "I know that because I was at Hinata's all night last night. Even if I wasn't, I can tell when you're lying."

Sighing heavily at Naruto's words, Sakura brought her hand to rub her temple. "To avoid a long story, I basically left the village last night on the a run, and didn't come back until this morning. I didn't want to concern Sasuke with me once again breaking some rules Tsunade has decided to set for me."

Naruto got a feeling that she wasn't telling him the entire story, but didn't say anymore. Crossing his arms over his chest, he focused his eyes up on the sky. I have a bad feeling.

Later that evening, five thirty

"Alright you're finished for the day."

"No," Sakura started, slightly out of breath, as she walked over. "I can do more."

"Sakura," Kakashi started, his arms crossed over his chest, as he stared at her. The others had finished early, and had walked over to watch her training a bit. Naruto had just arrived when Kakashi called Sakura to stop. "Do you need me to repeat myself?"

Sakura glared back at Kakashi as she stopped walking towards the others, and crossed her arms over her chest. "Okay you said eight hours a day, I've only had about six and a half hours of training, not including lunch-"

"Which you only took five minutes for." Kakashi interrupted her, raising an eyebrow.

"Okay, but you said eight hours-"

"Sakura, you're just getting more and more exhausted, and frustrated over this one jutsu. You're going to end up over-doing it."

"But sensei, I'm fine-"

"No buts Sakura," Kakashi interrupted her once again, as he held a firm look in his face. "Training is over for the day."

After that was said, Sakura remained quiet, and turned to go collect her things. She was hardly listening when the others came over to her.

"So you're still planning to go out for barbeque with us right?" Naruto asked, watching Sakura angrily shove stuff in her bag.

"No."

"Why not?" Neji asked, an eyebrow raised as just a few hours before Sakura had agreed to it.

Sakura just pulled on the straps of her bag. "Because I'm going to work at the hospital."

"Sakura, I really think you need to take a break," Sasuke started, eying her face, he could tell she was exhausted. "Between yesterday and today-"

"I'll be fine. I have some patients to check up on." Sakura interrupted him, stepping forward, and quickly giving him a kiss on the cheek. Then she turned to walk away, but was caught by Hinata's hand.

"Sakura, I really don't think-"

"Would you just back off?!" Sakura snapped, interrupting Hinata, as she pulled her hand from her friends. Her tone even seemed to surprise her. Without saying anything more, she turned, and walked off.

Naruto reached over to take Hinata's hand, as he frowned. "She didn't mean that. I just think she's tired."

Hinata's frown deepened, as she turned to face the others. "I think we all know she lied this morning when she said she was with me last night."

"But why though?" Sasuke asked, shaking his head, as he crossed his arms. "It doesn't make sense."

"I just think she's under a lot of stress," Naruto started, sighing heavily at the thought. "It's this jutsu she's working on. It seems like she's struggling with it."

"Seems like?" Neji questioned.

"Well I don't know for sure. We haven't trained together the past two days. It just seemed like that's what was going on when I got here." Naruto explained, crossing his arms over his chest, as he looked up at the sky. What's going on with her? She's struggling.

Sakura's POV, midnight

"Damn it!" Sakura cursed, at another failed attempt at the jutsu. The effect of the wind had seemed to rattle the walls a little. She was in one of the dojo's in the North forest. Having got the idea to come train here from Sasuke yesterday.

After leaving her friends earlier on that day, she didn't go to the hospital. She went on a run. Staying within the borders of the village this time. Then she ended up here in the dojo. After starting a fire in the fire place, she got to work on that jutsu she had been stuck on. She spent the past hours relentlessly throwing out the jutsu with no progress. She was at a point where her chakra level was practically non-existent, and her whole body was aching and screaming from exhaustion.

Leaning back against the wall, Sakura slowly slid down to the floor. Her eyes moved over to the fireplace, and she found herself fixated on the flames. Within a couple minutes her eyes started to droop, then finally closed.

"You can't complete a simple jutsu! Why are you the priestess?"

"You shouldn't hold the title if you can't handle it!"

"You're running out of time!"

Jumping slightly, Sakura's eyes snapped back open, and she had to shake her head to try to push away the drowsiness. Taking no time, she got up and paced the room a bit to hype herself back up again. Despite her exhaustion she was able to find enough to allow her to try the jutsu again. I can't fail. I have to get this jutsu now!

That next morning

Having had to sneak into the house after Sasuke left again, Sakura was able to shower and change. After downing a couple cups of coffee, she took off to the training grounds. However, instead of running today, she found herself having to walk. Feeling the ache in her muscles and her overall exhaustion was slowing her down. I just need this coffee to kick in already.

Once getting to the training grounds, she took a breath, then emerged from the trees. The sight of her team wasn't surprising, but what was surprising was the sight of Neji and Hinata as well as the lack of Sai. She thought the team was training along today, but didn't question it as she walked over.

The others grew quiet as she approached, Sasuke met her eyes, but didn't approach her when she walked over. "Stay at Hinata's again last night?"

Sakura could tell by his tone that he was fishing for her to lie, and she just sighed and shook her head. "No, I came home."

"Oh," Sasuke started, crossing his arms, as he looked at her. "I just thought I'd notice you coming home since I stayed up all night waiting for you."

That made Sakura noticeably freeze, but she tried to smooth out her features. "You stayed up all night, so what? I didn't come home until nearly forty five minutes ago."

"That leaves as a question to where you were last night." Neji pointed out, noticing Sakura's guarded stance.

When Sakura said nothing, Hinata spoke up. "And if I recall, you said you were going to work at the hospital yesterday after training. Which is funny because I asked around and no one remembered seeing you, and there is no written work to account for you."

"And we all knew you were lying yesterday morning about where you were the night before last," Naruto added, a frown on his face at the sight of how Sakura held an emotionless expression on her face. "I was with Hinata all night the night before last… And last night too before you try saying that's where you were."

"Did you even tell me the truth when I asked you about where you were the night before last?" Hinata asked, laughing sarcastically. "Or was that bullshit too?"

Finally Sakura broke her expressionless face, and sighed. "I was honest with you about that..."

Sakura trailing off led them into silence again. Finally Sasuke broke it by stepping towards her, and speaking. "What's going on with you?"

"I think I'd like an answer to that as well." The sound of Kakashi's voice hit their ears. Their sensei just kept his eye on Sakura. "With how tired you were in training yesterday, along with the steady stream of weakness you were showing, it makes me wonder if you have been disobeying me when I have told you to go home and relax after training."

Sakura remained quiet as she turned away from them all, crossing her arms, and dropping her head.

"I had such a strong suspicion that you were disobeying me that I did a little digging. The night before last you left the village. I'm assuming you didn't rest all that much-"

"She didn't. She went on a run, and didn't stop." Hinata interrupted Kakashi, filling in the information, as she didn't care how much Sakura would hate her for it.

"For fourteen hours?" Kakashi asked, watching Hinata nod her head, he sighed. "So no rest. Then you trained yesterday, and it went poorly. Which is why I sent you home early, and it sounds like once again you didn't rest like I told you too. Did you sleep at all last night?"

When Sakura didn't say anything, Naruto frowned deeply. No sleep in the last forty eight hours-

Nine Tails: More like the last seventy two. Her Inner has been going off about it for a few days now. Three nights ago, she barely hit five hours of sleep. Then a half hour nap or two here and there.

"Five hours," Naruto said out loud. While that had the others looking at him, he focused on Sakura. "You've only slept five hours in the last seventy two hours?"

"That's not-"

"Yes it is. It makes sense," Naruto interrupted Sakura, shaking his head, as he scoffed. "Three days ago, I told you how stressed out you looked. That's only amplified as the days have gone by. You're running off of barely five hours in the last seventy two hours..."

Kakashi noticed Sakura's shoulders were tense, and his frown deepened in his student's direction. "I am telling you to rest and take a break for a reason Sakura. You cannot over do it."

"I have to learn this jutsu..." Sakura spoke up, although her voice sounded slightly defeated.

"No, you are obsessed with trying to learn this jutsu," Kakashi corrected. "Your behavior is proof of that. You've been lying to your friends. Lying to me, your sensei. You haven't been sleeping. You have been training in secret, and-"

"I have to learn this jutsu!" Sakura exclaimed in interrupting, spinning around to face them all. "I have to! It won't stop until I do! Until I finish my training! It's not going to stop!"

It got real quiet after Sakura's loud exclamation. Sasuke raising an eyebrow at her. "What do you mean? What won't stop?"

Sakura hardly acknowledged Sasuke even speaking to her, as she turned to walk a little. Her hands going up to the side of her head, at the thought of those voices she kept hearing whenever she'd doze off over the past few days. "I can't take it anymore! It's not going to stop! I need to finish my training already!" With the voice running back through her head, she felt herself lose a little control. Turning quickly, she lunged and hit the ground with a lot of force which led to a large explosion.

"Sakura!" Neji exclaimed, as he had actually pulled Hinata and Sai back so they wouldn't be affected by Sakura's punch to the ground.

Naruto took a few steps towards Sakura, as he felt that same feeling whenever he knew he had to fulfill his responsibility as her counterpart. "Sakura, I know training has been hard," he says as he holds his hands up to her, as she had faced them again. "But it is apart of your destiny-"

"Don't say that! Don't say that stupid word!" Sakura interrupted, bringing her hands up to her face "I don't want to do this anymore!"

"Sakura, I know it's hard that you have such a big destiny-"

"I said don't say that!" Sakura yelled interrupting Hinata. "Destiny is just another word for not having a choice! I want a choice! I want a say!"

Sasuke tried next. "Sakura, calm down-"

"It's like I can't breathe!" Sakura exclaimed, feeling her anger running around inside of her, and at the same time she felt powerless. "Everything won't stop suffocating me until I finish my training! I can't keep doing this, I have to move past this jutsu! Move on.

"Sakura you need to calm down," Kakashi started, clearly able to sense this reaction was fueled from her exhaustion. "You aren't thinking clearly-"

"I don't have time! I can't- I- I need to finish this jutsu and then the rest of my training! I- I can't keep doing this! I can't keep having those stupid nightmares-" Sakura yelling angrily interrupted her words. "I can't do this anymore!" Feeling her anger pulsing through her, she held out her hands, and without really thinking produced a jutsu. Wind soared around her, followed with threads of fire that in some places produced sparks of lightning. The same jutsu that had given her so much trouble over the past few days.

The others around her had to back off, as her lack of control was causing the jutsu to grow around her. Naruto had brought his hands up, then followed what his mind told him to do. Taking careful steps to her, he activated his nine tails cloak over his skin. Which took the hit of Sakura's jutsu. Finally getting to her, he reached to her, and his arms locked around her from behind her. His nine tails cloak disappearing as she stopped her jutsu. "Sakura relax. It's okay. You're going to be okay."

Sakura however didn't feel the same. She just screamed as the wind around them slowed to a stop, and then she was crying. Giving up. "I can't do this."

While Sakura began to repeat that over and over again, as she cried and tried to breathe, Naruto just held onto her. Letting her cry, as he continued to tell her that she'll be okay. After a few minutes, he noticed her begin to grow limp, as her body was giving out. Catching her in his arms, Naruto frowned as she finally fell unconscious from exhaustion. "I'm so sorry Sakura."

A half hour later at the hospital

"I know you're not okay after what happened," Kakashi was saying to Naruto, as they waited outside the room Sakura was being looked at in. "But you couldn't have known. You've been training separately-"

"I don't know why in the hell we let you talk us into doing that," Naruto interrupted Kakashi, finally turning to face everyone, as he held a very angry look on his face. "We shouldn't have ever done it in the first place!"

"Naruto." Hinata spoke up at Naruto raising his voice.

Kakashi, knowing his student was just placing his anger on him, kept a calm face. "Your training scrolls were clear in saying to do this part separately."

"Well screw what they say!" Naruto shot back, as he had to take a breath to lower his voice again. "This is what happened when I wasn't allowed to be there for her. I'm not going to let this happen again. We're done training separately!"

Kakashi sighed, and crossed his arms over his chest. "There will be instances in the future where you and Sakura will not be with each other when something bad happens. You have to learn to be on your own. I understand where you're coming from-"

"No you don't!" Naruto shouted, which had quieted the whole hall down. "You don't understand. Everything Sakura feels, I feel too. Everything that happens to her, might as well have happened to me too. This whole bond we have may seem like it is just there for show for everyone else, but it is a whole lot deeper than that."

"Yes we don't fully understand it, but that doesn't mean that we-"

"Sakura needs to know that I will be there for her. Even when I can't physically be there, she has to know that I have her back to get through this training. To get through everything that's been piling up on her shoulders!" Naruto interrupted Neji, then he was quiet for a long moment. Then without really thinking he kicked a chair, and clenched his fists. "I will not let this happen to her again! I'm her counterpart damn it! It's my job to make sure she's okay through all of this, and I already failed her once, and I'm not doing that again! Screw this damn rule that says we can't be there for each other! This training method is stupid!"

That was all Naruto said before he angrily turned and walked off.

It was quiet for a long moment, as Hinata cleared her throat. "He's just really angry."

"I don't think he meant what he said to you." Sasuke said to Kakashi quietly.

"I know..." Kakashi trailed off, then sighed. Crossing his arms over his chest, he remembered back to their weapons training. More specifically, the visitor that dropped by one day.

"Naruto's training is mixing in well will hers at the moment."

"At the moment?" Kakashi questioned, his eyes sliding over to the tree. Not able to see the other person, but he didn't need to. "What do you know about their training?"

"Not much," the person replied, chuckling lightly. "Only what I've been told by a friend of mine. All I can say is that this first part of the training when they are able to work together will be blissful compared to what's to come in the start of the second scroll of their training."

"I haven't quite read that far," Kakashi replied, thinking about how he's been keeping their scrolls from them every time they leave training. Just to keep them from trying something stupid alone.

"I suggest not reading ahead," the person advised, sounding confident with that. "Stay following the first scroll. When you get to the second one, you'll begin to understand what I mean by how much better this first part in training is."

Shaking his head, Kakashi closed his eye. I wonder if that is what was meant. The hardest part is them being separated from one another to the point where something like this could happen.

A half hour later

The sound of the door opening got the others attention. They had been settled in Sakura's room waiting for her to wake up. Blonde hair was noticed first, then the blue eyes that were focused in on Kakashi. Stopping with one hand in his pocket, the other up and rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me..."

"It's alright," Kakashi spoke after a moment. "I understand."

Naruto then moved over to Sakura's bedside on the opposite side than Hinata and Sasuke were sitting at. Looking at Sakura's face for a long moment, he sighed. "Ever since we began I could tell that this training was taking a lot from her, and I don't just mean this particular part of training. All of it. Not only that, but everything we've found out has been a lot. It's no wonder that she has been feeling like this."

It was quiet, as Hinata's eyes softened at the frown on Naruto's face. "Do you feel this way too?"

Once again silence covered the room, then Naruto finally shrugged. "I mean yeah, sometimes. There are days when I'll think about everything that's happened, and the roles we're in now… There's like an added pressure to fulfill our roles. I think I manage better, but that's only because of her being the actual priestess here. She's the one that all of this truly falls down on. She's the one that has the mental stress from all the visions and dreams to add on top of her stress in real life."

"You both are under a lot of stress," Neji started, his eyes going from Sakura to Naruto. "But you're not the one who just had a mental breakdown in the middle of the training grounds."

"Yeah, that would be me." Sakura's voice gathered all their attention. Her eyes fluttering open, as she clearly just woke up. Her eyes went to Neji who was standing at the end of the bed with Kakashi. "I don't know why were all surprised. I thought I was an established mental case a few months ago."

"Sakura," Naruto started, reaching over to rest his hand on her shoulder. "I-"

Sakura had reaching her hand up to cover Naruto's, as their eyes met. "I did this to myself. You do not get to sit there and feel guilty. Understand?" She asked, when Naruto finally nodded, she released his hand, and moved her other hand to take Sasuke's from where he sat on her other side. Although her eyes went up to the ceiling. "Let's just layout the facts. I haven't slept well the past three nights. The last two nights were pretty much nothing but a few occasional dozing off moments. But those barely lasted half an hour, but the nightmares would wake me back up."

"So," Hinata started, having followed the ques Sakura gave along with what she's gathered over the past few days. "You're saying that your subconscious was keeping you awake"

"Yeah, I like to always blame shit like this on my Inner, but apparently it was all me this time," Sakura replied, sighing heavily, as she closed her eyes. "Apparently even my own subconscious is hell bent on making sure I don't ever live a normal day again."

"These nightmares-"

"We're all about what would happen if I didn't finish that jutsu, and if I didn't finish my training in time," Sakura interrupted Sasuke, knowing what he was going to ask. "I didn't tell you, because I was allowing myself to fall into the trap. I didn't want to hear all the voices that told me I was failing and that I didn't deserve to hold the title of priestess. So I stayed awake… For three days."

"Okay, well you're not allowed to just dive off into the deep end again. Next time, you need to give me warning so that way I can give you a life jacket or something," Sasuke said, smirking at how that made her smile. "Metaphors aside, I mean something like sleeping pills in your food or something like that."

"Thank you my love," Sakura replied, reaching over to rest a hand on his face before she felt sleep pulling at her again. Her eyes went to Naruto. "I said no feeling guilty."

Trying his best to put a smile on his face to hide the guilty, Naruto shrugged. "I'm not… I'm just thinking about putting all the serious stuff aside, at least you did the jutsu."

That made Sakura laugh lightly, but her laughter faded as sleep pulled at her again.

Taking the opportunity now that Sakura was falling back asleep, Naruto leaned over to get closer to whisper to her. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you like I should have been. I know we aren't supposed to be training together, but that doesn't mean that if you have a bad day you can't come and talk to me about it. I'd listen all night if it makes you feel better… I just don't want you to feel like you're alone. Because you're not. I'm right here, like I've always been. Even if I'm a million miles away, I will always be there to support you. We're in this together."

Sakura only hummed lightly, then closed her eyes. While everyone else could hear what Naruto had told Sakura, nothing was said about it. They just acted as if they hadn't. Kakashi, on the other hand, was focusing back on the memory of the person who visited them that day of their weapons training. Maybe that was the goal of this separate training. For Sakura and Naruto to realize their bond was deeper than just being there for one another physically. If that was the goal, they certainly realize it now.

A/N: So another mental breakdown for Sakura again. With everything that's happened, I feel like a mental breakdown was only a matter of time for Sakura. Writing out this chapter proved to be difficult because there was so much more I wanted to include, but for the sake of length I had to cut some stuff out. My favorite scene was by far the ending where Naruto was telling Sakura he had her back even when he couldn't physically be there for her. I also enjoyed writing Sakura's "fuckery" dreams. I think it's important to note that the scene Kakashi is reflecting on is important in the sense that it just reminds you that someone else in the Leaf Village is aware of Sakura and Naruto's training. I've laid out clues along the way on who it is, but we'll see if you all pick up on before the person is revealed. What was your favorite scene?

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