Haruno Sakura; 6 Years Later

Age 18

-Acceptance-

"Now Sakura…you're sure about this…"

"I'm positive!"

"Okay…I don't have any objections."

I took a deep breath.

I was going to become a great ninja even if it killed me. I was just lucky to have a wonderful teacher like Kakashi.

"So all that's left is introductions." Kakashi said as he gestured towards the three twelve-year-olds that were standing behind him. They were so cute! I could remember being twelve and only just graduating the academy! "Students, this is Haruno Sakura."

"Hi!" I said, waving to them.

"Sakura is going to be training with us for a little while." Kakashi said. "Why don't you all tell her your names?"

"I'm Yokozuki!" said the first kid with messy black hair. "I'm going to be the Hokage, just you see!"

Oh, he reminded me of Naruto.

"Tansei." Said the second boy. He crossed his arms and didn't make eye contact with me. I don't think he liked me. He was also very cute, for a twelve-year-old, that is.

He reminded me of Sasuke.

"I'm Youjo!" said the appointed girl on the team. I never really noticed it, but the teachers really did just TRY to put at least one girl on each team. I could tell that Youjo was watching Tansei out of the corner of her eye with a little grin on her face.

Hm…she didn't seem all that much like me…that would have been fun…

"Okay, now that that's over with, let's start training." Said Kakashi.

"Isn't each team supposed to have only THREE people on it?" Tansei said.

"Sakura was a former student of mine." Kakashi said. "She's considering being a ninja again so I offered to allow her to train with us for the day to make sure she wants to."

"So you QUIT being a ninja?" said Tansei.

"I wouldn't say QUIT!" I said, suddenly feeling as though I was on the defensive. "I just sort of discontinued my training while I'll dealt with more important matters!"

"What sort of matters?" Yokozuki asked.

I wasn't going to touch on those matters. It was a part of me that I never wanted to visit again. I wasn't going to hate Ino anymore. She deserved Sasuke for all the things she went through to win him.

No…she didn't win him.

I lost him.

"Youjo, Tansei, Yokozuki?" said Kakashi to break the silence. "Do you three want to show Sakura what you can do?"

"Yeah!" said Yokozuki. Tansei sighed and Youjo bit her lip. I don't think the two of them wanted me to be there, but at least Yokozuki seemed happy. "I'll go first since I'm the best ninja here!"

"No!" said Youjo. "Tansei's the one who graduated a the top of the class! YOU graduated at the very bottom, if I remember correctly!"

"I just don't test well!" said Yokozuki.

"Last place." Said Tansei under his breath.

Yokozuki fumed at Tansei, but Tansei didn't look like he could possibly care less no matter how hard he tried.

Wow…Tansei and Yokozuki practically WERE Sasuke and Naruto. It was kind of creepy. If only Youjo was more like me…then it would make such a funny and interesting story!

"On second thought…" Kakashi said. "I don't need you two to start fighting again so we're just going to start with some conditioning."

"Nice job, you stupid Tansei!" yelled Yokozuki.

"Let's start with a lap around the village." Said Kakashi.

With that, the three kids were gone. I looked at Kakashi.

"They're a unique trio!" I said.

He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Why aren't you running?" he said.

I laughed. Then I noticed that he looked completely serious. "Wait… I have to run too?" I said.

"You're my student, aren't you?" said Kakashi.

I raised a hand to start my argument but my head emptied. He was right. It had been a while since I had done any kind of conditioning so I didn't know what a lap around the village would do to me.

"Um…is there anyway I could start smaller?" I asked.

"One lap is as small as it gets." Kakashi reminded me.

"Oh right…" I said nervously. I cleared my throat and quickly ran off.

I figured I'd catch up with the three kids soon enough, but I didn't see them. My pace soon got very slow and I couldn't help but start walking in order to catch my breath.

That's when I saw Hinata!

I always liked Hinata. She had quit being a ninja too… a year or so earlier. I think she may have been forced into it, but she also could have been scared away from it. I never thought she made a very good ninja just because she was so nice.

"Hey Hinata!" I called, jogging over to her.

"Oh…hello Sakura." Said Hinata, hiding something behind her back.

"What's that?" I asked, leaning over to try and see.

She repositioned herself and began to blush. "Nothing…"

She still acted like a little kid! She was the same age as me but you'd never know!

"Come on, tell me!" I said, reaching by her and snatchingthe thingout of her hand.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, making a jump for them but then backing off.

It was a blank, sealed envelope. I could feel that there was something inside of it, but it would be impossible to see what unless I opened it. Now, snatching it from her was one thing but I wasn't about to open her mail.

"Is this a letter?" I asked. "To who?"

"I wasn't going to mail it…" Hinata said, nervously twiddling her fingers.

"That didn't answer my question." I smiled. I knew it was to a boy. Naruto, I bet. I always thought Hinata liked Naruto.

"Well…" Hinata said. "I was just going someplace quiet so I could write something…"

"Is it a letter to Naruto?" I asked. She blushed so I knew it was true. "I don't know why you're bothering. He's coming home in a few days."

"No…no they're not." She said. "My father…my father told me that they're staying for another year…"

"Another year?" I said, surprised. "They can do that?"

"I guess…" Hinata said. "So I just want to send a few words of encouragement to him."

She said 'HIM'! She DID have a thing for Naruto!

"Him?" I said. "And I thought you weren't going to send it!"

"It's Kiba…he was on my team…" Hinata said.

Liar! Liar!

"Okay, Hinata…" I said, giving her the face that told her I KNEW she was lying. But I wasn't going to pursue it anymore because I felt as though I had embarrassed her enough.

Then I remembered I had to run a lap!

"I have to go!" I said, quickly giving her stuff back to her. "See you later!" Hinata waved to me as I quickly ran off.

I ran by the house that Sasuke lived in. I had subconsciously taken the long route around the village just so I could go by his house. I leaned up against the fence and hoped that maybe he would wander by the window. I never saw him anymore so any glimpse, even at his turned back, for only a second would satisfy me.

Come on, Sasuke. At least walk by…

I sighed.

No! I had to stop thinking about Sasuke! He was taken now! Even though I truly believe that he and I still had a chance, I had to let him go and focus on training! I had to win him back!

"Sakura?" I heard a voice.

I looked up.

It wasn't Sasuke.

"Tenten, hi!" I said.

She looked sad.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing really…" she answered, but she quickly wiped away some stray tears that had managed to leak out. "I'm just taking a walk…"

I didn't know whether to ask her why she had been crying or if I should just pretend to not notice.

"So…do you like being a chuunin?" I asked.

She nodded. "It's okay." She said.

I couldn't hold it back any longer. "What's wrong?" I finally asked.

"I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed." She said. "I sort of miss being a genin and having Lee and Neji on my team. I mean…things were so less complicated back then."

"Things can't stay uncomplicated." I said, speaking from experience.

"I know…" she sighed. "I was just going to go and stop by the place where we always used to train. Do you…want to come?"

"Oh um…" I said, remembering once again that I should have been running. "I actually… um… am doing something right now. Sorry, though!" I felt as though I should have been with her while she was so sad.

She nodded solemnly. "Okay, that's all right." She said. "See you later, then?"

"Yeah." I said.

She walked by me, and I started running again.

The rest of the run was rather uneventful and I cut corners to return back to the spot where Kakashi, Yokozuki, Tansei and Youjo were waiting. And looked like they had been waiting for a while.

"Um…hi!" I said. "Sorry…it's been a while…"

"Sakura, may I have a word with you?" Kakashi asked.

"Oh…sure…" I said as I allowed him to lead me out of earshot of the three students.

"Sakura…" he said. "I'm going to be completely honest with you. I NEVER thought that you'd be able to succeed as a ninja."

Ow.

"And I knew that you were only doing it back then to impress Sasuke." He went on.

Double ow.

"I've seen it a hundred times before." He said. "And I have no right to tell anyone. But now that you're older and hopefully more mature, I'm hoping that you can accept it. Some people just aren't cut out for this ninja world."

I closed my eyes.

As much as I hated to believe it, he was right.

I had been distracted numerous times on a short run, all by completely irrelevant and petty things. I was never meant to be a ninja.

"I understand." I said.

"I'm sorry." Said Kakashi.

"It's all right." I said. I went back over to the three kids who were still waiting patiently. "Thank you for letting me train with you." I turned my back to them and left.

I looked back at them as they already became distracted with each other. I only hoped that Youjo would become a ninja for herself and not for Tansei or else she'd grow up to be just like me.