Sakura was always scared. Scared to fight, to take responsibility, to get hurt. She was scared to try. And that's why she hid. She hid from her fears, hid them under a fangirl persona, theory-genius. She studied and studied and fawned over Sasuke until she had convinced herself that trying - trying to train - would be a waste of energy, because she would fail anyway. She would fall. She was afraid of falling, of getting hurt, of mistakes. So she hid and hid and hid, tricking herself that a fangirl didn't need to fight, no. A fangirl was weak.

Then she graduated from the Konoha Ninja Academy and was assigned to Team 7. They taught her to laugh, to try. Naruto taught her to believe. Sasuke taught her to love. And Kakashi-sensei taught her the unity of a team; of teamwork and teammates. And for a while, she believed in them. She believed she could try. She could amount to something if she did. She could become useful!

Then came the Wave Mission.

Then Kakashi-sensei recommended Team 7 for the Chunin Exams.

Then Sasuke left.

Then Naruto left.

Kakashi-sensei left too.

Team 7 was gone.

Then she remembered. All the good times. All the bad times. She realized that she had loved Team 7 - they had inspired her. She wanted them back. And so she met Tsunade Senju. And she asked her to take her on as an apprentice. Because, she figured, a medic would be the first step. And she felt herself becoming more useful.

It worked. She saved dozens of patients, and Tsunade-shisiou praised her often. But then Sakura realized: she was still holding back. She was still hiding in the mountains of medic scrolls, hiding in her studying, hiding in the hospital - telling herself repeatedly that saving lives was enough. But it wasn't. Being a medic wouldn't bring Naruto or Sasuke or Kakashi back - it wouldn't help reunite Team 7. It wouldn't help at all - she was only hiding again. Hiding in her fears. Sakura wasn't stepping up.

She wasn't fighting.

But Sakura didn't know if she could do it. Team 7 had gone, and with them, her hesitant confidence. She didn't know how to be strong anymore. She was still scared.

So Sakura found herself knocking on Tsunade-shisou's door, demanding the Hokage train her in battle. Because Tsunade-sama was the strongest person she knew, and over the past few months, she had been like a second mother to Sakura.

As Sakura stood in front of the Hokage's desk, panting from her run and rushed speech, her thoughts raced. What if Tsunade-sama wouldn't accept? What if-

But Tsunade-sama laced her fingers together and told Sakura to meet her at the Hokage training ground at three.

Sakura did. It was hard at first, harder than Sakura would've thought. Tsunade-sama was strict and strong and Sakura was weak and wavered. She wasn't getting anywhere. She was just making a fool of herself, not trying hard enough, not being strong enough, not being fast enough.

Sakura still felt weak. She still hid. She was still scared.

And so she kept on training and training and training. Tsundade-sama met her on the training field every day after three. Tsundade-sama didn't tolerate Sakura's weakness. She taught Sakura to keep her eyes open, even when it was hard. She kept Sakura on her feet and running. She threw heavy boulders and healed Sakura when she couldn't dodge them. And slowly, ever so slowly, Sakura began to gain confidence.

And one day, during a hard day of training, beaten and bruised, Sakura, with the last of her energy, brought her fist, filled with chakra, to meet Tsundae-sama's hand. It collided with a sharp snap. It was Sakura's first offensive blow.

Sakura wasn't scared anymore, and met her teacher's eyes with a smile.