Disclaimer: All Naruto characters and plot references are property of Masashi Kishimoto.

Edited: 07/02/2021

A/N

Thank you all for your kind comments and encouragement.

I'll admit I'm shooketh (is this how you use it? I'm really very old inside, I don't know). I'm also very grateful. I didn't expect my way of reliving boredom and procrastinating would be welcomed so warmly. It makes me all tingly inside, it's one of the few bits of happiness I've got around lately that's entirely my own and it's all thanks to you. So thank you. Please bear with me until the end, I'll try to make it worth your while.

As for this story: I'm making it clear in advance that the plot won't be truly starting for a few more chapters. I find it's best to introduce most if not all the center players beforehand, so that I don't have to shove 'fillers' down your throat when we're in the thick of things. So expect maybe two or three more introductory chapters (this one included), until our stage is properly set, and I can get on with it.

Another word of caution: this right here, this very chapter, is where I'm officially kissing most canon compliant characteristics goodbye. Sakura's going to be even more different now, Naruto will of course tag along, and all characters introduced or described might (most likely will) not be the same as in our much loved source material (the manga, guys. I don't have the willpower to watch the whole anime, for the love of god).

With this little ramble done, please, a round of applause for Sakura's third chapter 😊

The Leaves of the Tree

3.

It's been almost two months since Sakura semi-forced Naruto into training with her in exchange for helping improve his chakra control. If at first Sakura begged for a break after half a lap around Konoha and was beaten by Naruto in ten seconds flat, now she ran three full laps and could last up to twenty minutes.

She never won.

She never even landed a punch on Naruto. She couldn't keep up with him at all. But she improved so much in so little time, she wasn't even considering stopping.

And Naruto's chakra control improved so much it made Sakura giddy.

Whenever Naruto aced a new low-level jutsu, Sakura beamed and fist-bumped the air along with him, while Sasuke-kun rolled his eyes and Kakashi-sensei scratched at his head uncomprehendingly. She'd taught Naruto how to do that. She helped him. Every little step he took in the right direction was a large leap for Sakura's self esteem.

Maybe she'll never be a prodigy like Sasuke-kun, or a genius like Kakashi-sensei, or even a hidden talent like Naruto. But apparently, she could nourish someone else's talent. And she could do it well. It made her think of Ino's promise that Sakura would one day bloom into the most beautiful flower.

Maybe, this was her way of doing it.

"C'mon, Sakura-chan! Another lap!"

Sakura grunted and dragged her aching feet onwards, following behind Naruto's orange-clad back in a steady, if slow, rhythm. They were on lap six and Sakura wanted to drop. Preferably into a bath, but at this point she'd settle for any kind of flat surface.

"You can do it, Sakura-chan!"

Really, she so wanted a bath right now. To smell like a person, and not some sort of sweaty, dusty beast.

"Gooo, Sakura-chan! Believe it!"

"Naruto!" Sakura roared, "shut your trap or I'll strangle you! Believe it!"

Naruto yelped and quickened his steps, but Sakura's anger gave her strength and soon, they were racing each other to an unknown finish line.

If she weren't so damn tired she'd be having fun.

"What a marvelous display of youth!"

Naruto tripped over his feet in surprise and fell face first onto the dusty path. Sakura managed avoiding the same fate only barely and stood over his crumpled form, bent at the waist and gasping for breath.

Something green hopped in place smack in the middle of their way.

'Not a thing,' Sakura realised, 'it's – it's a person!'

'Thing fits, too,' Inner Sakura commented in horror.

Sakura couldn't really argue the point.

The person was a boy, maybe a year or two older than herself. From his bowl cut black hair, bushy eyebrows and tight, green leotard he gave the impression of unstable sanity – but that was the sort of impression most shinobi gave. And he was a shinobi – a well-maintained Konoha forehead protector hung about his neck on full display.

"It's a caterpillar!" Naruto screeched, "a talking caterpillar!"

"What caterpillar?" Sakura snapped, "it's a person!"

Though honestly Naruto's description wasn't too far off.

"Fair maiden!" the strange boy exclaimed dramatically, "you're full of beautiful, fiery youth! It is almost as beautiful as your youthful face! Truly, you're a shining example of Konoha youth!"

Sakura tried her best not to gape.

Naruto already took a step back and half hid behind her, his eyes wide with concern. He obviously decided they just stumbled upon a lunatic, and after months of living under Sakura's dictatorship he was confident in her ability to get them out of it.

Sakura wasn't as confident.

"Please, do me my honour of accompanying me on a date!"

"What!" Naruto screeched while Sakura took a step back in surprise.

As you've probably guessed, this was how Sakura and Naruto met Konoha's Green Beast, Rock Lee. Of course, he wasn't quite Konoha's Green Beast back then, but he was well on his way and at that point in time Sakura was rapidly developing her mother's long perfected talent of sniffing out useful connections. Naruto, bless his dumb blonde head, seemed to be born with it.

As Rock Lee's seemingly unending stamina registered along with the complete lack of any chakra around him, Sakura and Naruto exchanged a brief glance before pouncing on their prey. That is, new friend. If Lee was at all disappointed that Sakura completely avoided his invitation on a date, he didn't let it show. If anything he seemed to be exceedingly flattered and happy to have been promptly interrogated about who he was, what team he was on and how come they've never seen him around before being hauled to the nearest training field where he completely and totally thrashed both Sakura – which was expected – and Naruto – which was a little bit less expected, as Naruto could go one for days. But apparently when he was faced with Lee, he could go on for three minutes, fifteen seconds, at most. Sakura timed it.

"Lee-san," Sakura began earnestly, "would you like to join us for our morning training? It would be a great help!"

"Yeah!" Naruto wheezed, shakily lifting a foot in the air from his sprawled position. Lee had completely exhausted him. "Bushy rows, you've got some sick moves! Teach 'em to us, dattebayo!"

"I would be honored to partner with you!" Lee exclaimed with much enthusiasm.

Sakura began to suspect this was his default mood. She sort of… liked it?

'Damn straight!' Inner Sakura hissed, 'it's damn motivating!'

"As Gai-sensei is your sensei's Eternal Rival and Best Friend, I'm honor bound to help you always!" Lee continued, "We're already bound through the ties of our masters!"

"Kaka-sensei has friends?" Naruto asked in genuine surprise.

"No way," Sakura whistled. "Someone can put up with that personality-lacking, shameless-"

"Oi, Sakura-chan," Naruto guffawed, "that's not true. Kakashi-sensei has a personality. It's Icha-Icha Tactics."

"Being a pervert is not the same as having a personality!"

"To be fair," Lee said seriously with ahtoughtful look on his face, "Guy-sensei probably has enough personality to spare. Yes."

Before Naruto could ask what he meant by that, Lee promptly hauled them off for another round of thrashing. Inner Sakura cheered for their early victory.

This new friend was guaranteed to be worth it.

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!"

Team 7 was on their first long mission since the Naruto Bridge Debacle. Yes, Sakura was calling it that, capital letters required. It was honestly such a huge fuck up she couldn't believe the Hokage hadn't issues some sort of investigation into it. Ino was also thoroughly horrified and swore up and down that it definitely wasn't normal. She'd suggested bullying her father into digging up the full report on their mission, but Sakura waved the offer off. She didn't want to relive the thing ever again, thanks.

As of now, Team 7 were taking a break for lunch. Kakashi-sensei lounged in a tree right above Sakura's head, reading his precious porn. Sakura was steadily working through her unusually large lunch-box. Her mother had received some letter from their relatives in the capital and had been particularly emotional for the past week, smothering Sakura and Sakura's father with uncommonly soft affection.

Sasuke sat across the road, brooding, as per usual.

'I'm proud of you for dropping the kun,' Inner Sakura complemented quietly.

'I'm proud of myself, too,' Sakura agreed, a little smugly.

She'd dropped the honorific approximately ten days ago. All three of her teammates looked stricken for the first day – Kakashi-sensei in particular, for whatever reason. By the third day, Naruto was over it. By the sixth day, Sasuke actually smirked at her, as if he were finally getting just that little bit more comfortable with his only female teammate, whom he'd known since they were five. Oh, Sakura still thought he was the best thing since strawberry mochi, but she'd learned Sasuke was uncomfortable with fawning and appreciative towards practicality. So she made herself practical.

"Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan, SAKURA-CHAN!"

"I heard you the first time, sit down and shut it!" Sakura barked, and tossed a piece of pickled plum at Naruto's head. He caught it in his mouth. It was no loss, she didn't like it anyway.

Naruto made himself comfortable next to her then and fished out the daily lunchbox Sakura had presented to him out of his pouch with care.

"What do you want?" Sakura grumbled. She was enjoying her lunch. And staring at Sasuke while scouting their surroundings. She found he completely bought into that pretense, and intended to use it to it's fullest, thank you. And no, she hadn't shared with Ino. Best friend or not, they were still competing for his heart. Sasuke just didn't know it.

"I forgot to tell you yesterday," Naruto began cheerfully. "Bushy Brows invited us to his birthday party!"

"Lee-san's birthday?" Sakura perked up, "when is it?"

"Yesterday!"

"Are you daft, Naruto?!" Sakura shrieked, loud enough to alert the dozing Kakashi-sensei and draw Sasuke's attention, even though he was trying to ignore them. "Was the party yesterday, too?!"

"Nah!" Naruto quickly backed up a little, and put his lunchbox as a sort of shield between them. Sakura would never risk ruining her masterpiece, and he knew that now. "It's this Saturday, this Saturday! It's some sort of extra super training, and then barbeque!"

"Extra super training?" Sakura tilted her head. Lee was already completely insane with his workouts. It could get worse? Truly? "That sounds insane," she concluded, "I'm in."

"Seriously?!" Naruto wailed, "no fair! I'm only coming to the barbeque!"

"Your loss, man," Sakura drawled, in perfect mockery of Shikamaru when someone refused his offer of an afternoon nap. Naruto immediately got it and snickered.

"Well, Bushy Brows said to let you know his sensei's gonna be there," Naruto said cheerfully, "and his teammates. I'm bringing Shikamaru and Choji to the barbeque."

"Naruto, you can't invite people to some else's party."

"Nah, Bushy Brows knows 'em," Naruto waved her off, "they're skipping the training part, too."

"How the fuck does he know them?" Sakura wondered aloud.

Naruto promptly dropped his lunchbox.

Kakashi-sensei dropped his precious Icha-Icha Tactics.

Sasuke's eyes widened.

"What?"

"Sakura-chan," Kakashi-sensei said, his tone the flattest Sakura had ever heard it. "Watch your language."

Ah.

So she said that aloud. Then again, Naruto swore all the time, and no body ever told him to watch it.

'No fair!' Inner Sakura protested, 'favoritism!'

"Naruto swears all the time!" Sakura immediately protested, "And Sasuke, too!"

"Oi!"

"Hn."

Her teammates glared at her for throwing them into the mix.

Kakashi-sensei blinked and then promptly straightened. Quite suddenly he went from lazy and uninterested geezer to intimidating jonin. It was so quick Sakura almost got whiplash.

"New rule," Kakash-sensei growled. "No one on this team is allowed to curse. Or be rude in general. Those who do, will be punished."

"But teme's always rude," Naruto pointed out.

"Piss off, loser," Sasuke snapped.

"Both of you do a hundred push-ups and chant the ninja code from memory," Kakashi-sensei ordered.

Sakura spent the rest of their break watching, gobsmacked, as her teammates were disciplined for the first time. And with an iron-clad determination, too. Kakashi-sensei seemed to take her use of foul language as a personal offence.

'I think… I think we might be his favourite,' Inner Sakura mumbled in awe.

'Maybe not his favourite,' Sakura noted, 'but something's there, definitely.'

'You're going to abuse it to get more library time, aren't you?'

'Hell yes.'

'That's my girl.'