A:N There's always something about a story where a cold person turning warm brings me the utmost amount of joy. I hope you feel the same, since this story is gonna be that everywhere and anywhere ;) I hope you enjoy the chapter you wonderful reader!

Also! Title and summary have been updated!


"You're not going to pop them attacking them like that." At this point of the genin's training Naruto had them place weights on their ankles. He created an individual clone for each of them to fight.

They were doing as expected.

The three of them felt a haymaker impact their face as they rolled in the grass from the force. They stopped suddenly by either a rock, a tree, or in the worst case going through both.

'You know, even if they're getting pummeled like they are.. they're actually making quite a bit of progress.' Kurama's voice was heard clearly by Naruto who watched the three girls slowly and painfully stand on their feet.

'Maybe, but it's slow.' Before Kurama could respond Naruto whistled to get the genin's attention.

"Rally on me." Naruto dispelled his clones and received their memories. He frowned from the information as the girls plopped in front of him. They each held labored breaths as they tried to recover from their own physical onslaughts.

"You all have to take this seriously. My clones' memories are showing me that each and everyone of you isn't trying your best to kill my clone. You have to actually fight them in order to make more progress."

"S-sensei.. we're trying our best.. it's just that-" Hinata was cut off as Naruto placed his red and blue eyes on her sternly.

"What? That you're reaching your limit? You're afraid, lazy, undisciplined, what is it?" Sakura sat up at that, finally having energy to get angry.

"Lazy, undisciplined? Sensei, the training you're having us do might as well be torture! You're a jonin and we're still a couple of weeks out of the Academy. This might as well be you tormenting us instead of actual training!" Sakura heaved up some breaths at the rant while Naruto glared.

"You want to know torment, you want to know torture? I'LL SHOW YOU!" Both of his eyes became red as the air became thinner, gravity itself seemed to weigh the girls down as killing intent flooded the atmosphere. All of a sudden Satsuki was tied up in a bundle of wood and roots as one of the branches wrapped around her throat, choking her.

Naruto went up to Sakura and gave her a kunai and pointed at Hinata.

"Sakura, kill Hinata or Satsuki dies." Sakura widened her eyes, looking between the Hyuuga who was kneeling on the grass, heaving for air. As well as looking at Satsuki who struggled to breathe and break free.

"I.. I-I-I.." Naruto grabbed the wrist of her hand which held the kunai and glared into her emerald irises.

"You what?! If you don't do something Satsuki will die! If you stab Hinata then Satsuki lives! It's that simple!" Tears welled up in Sakura's eyes as she closed them. She couldn't bear to look at the blonde as she turned her head away.

"I-I.. I can't!" Sakura broke free of his grasp as she began sobbing, the situation breaking her. She knelt on the ground, tossing the kunai away as she covered her face with her hands. Naruto frowned beneath his mask before dropping the killing intent and setting Satsuki free. The three genin immediately felt the effect as they greedily breathed the air once more. Satsuki coughed as she tried to inhale air as fast as she could. Hinata trembled while on all fours, her body not strong enough to pick itself up.

Sakura was still crying, although much more silently now.

Naruto waited a few moments for things to settle down.

"Okay, I want you all to look at me." It took some time but they all gave him his attention, although there was more hesitance and anger than before.

Naruto sat down on the ground, crossing his legs for comfort.

"That's a situation that can happen out in the field. It's something that I've had happen to me." Naruto paused, gauging each of the genin's faces. Satsuki had a slight clench to her eyebrows, Hinata covered her mouth with her hand, eyes widened, and Sakura was on the verge of tears, mouth quivering. But they were all as silent as the grave.

Naruto felt terrible for doing that to them.

"This is why my training is as harsh as it is.. I don't want any of you to go through something like that. But that's the reality of things. Being a shinobi isn't a fair, fun, game. It's life and death, a torturous, gruesome, occupation. If you are all able to pop my clones individually, then that's when I know I don't have to worry about you anymore. There's not many people out there stronger than me, if there is any.. Which is why I push you three so hard." The atmosphere turned from heavy and dark, to heavy and a bit lighter from his explanation.

"If you think my training is torture, then try choosing the life between your friends. I promise, you'll wish to train the way I've been training you." Naruto saw each of the girls become more firm, slightly recovering from the mental trauma.

"Sensei.. We understand why you're training us.. like that.. but we're still new. We need some time before we can be that strong." Sakura spoke up and Naruto nodded in acceptance.

"Okay, hold out your fists." The three girls did so slowly, and hesitantly, with slight confusion. Naruto bumped his fists with theirs as they instantly felt rejuvenated.

"This will heal your bodies, but for the next few days I want you all to take it easy. Today was a hard day." Naruto told them and received nods from the trio. Although Satsuki was hesitant. Naruto knew, out of the three girls Satsuki wanted to become stronger quicker. So breaks to her seemed like a waste of time.

"We'll meet back here in the morning three days from now. I want you all to think about your goals, and what exactly you're going to do moving forward." He received nods again as he bid them farewell. He vanished into thin air while his genin walked off on their own.


Once appearing back in his home Naruto heard Kurama speak.

'You know they're still fresh. Not everyone can be like you and Itachi at thirteen.' Naruto frowned, not saying anything.

'Just rest up, you may have to rethink your approach on how you're training them.' Naruto sighed at Kurama's sound advice. The blonde sometimes hated when the fox was right.

'Okay. I will. Maybe I should go a bit easier.'

'Maybe. Goodnight Naruto.'

'Goodnight Kurama.'

Satsuki

She tossed and turned, breathing fast and heavy as her body fought unconsciously.

Itachi was right in the middle of slaughtering the clan. Their clan, no- her clan. Itachi didn't deserve to have the Uchiha name. She saw him do it, all of it. Women, children, neighbors, uncles, aunts, mother.. father.. as soon as Itachi pulled down his blade to strike them Satsuki woke up. She felt her body drenched in sweat as she breathed rapidly.

"No.. No, no, NO NO NO!" She clenched her fists as she walked outside. She went to a training post to start wailing on it with punches and kicks. She thought about Itachi murdering her clan, she thought about sensei and his harsh training. She thought about how helpless she was. She thought about how weak she is. She thought about getting stronger.

'I will never be helpless again, I will never lose anyone again!' With a scream she punched a hole through the wooden training post.

'Never again.'

Hinata

She had her eyes open, staring up at the ceiling. She couldn't sleep, instead preferring to think about today's events.

"Sakura, kill Hinata or Satsuki dies." Hinata frowned at the memory as she turned on her side.

'I couldn't do anything.. even getting myself to stand was impossible. I'm so worthless.' Hinata closed her eyes in regret. Before memories flooded her and a sudden burst of motivation had her jumping out of bed.

'No! I am not worthless! I will get stronger! No one will be put in that position because I'm too weak ever again!' Hinata remembered Sakura's tears, Satsuki's pained expression. Hinata will never let herself be a burden ever again.

Hinata snuck out of her room and toward her training area. She activated her Byakugan and started wailing on the training post.

'I will be better. No matter how long, how hard it will be. I'll be better than yesterday, starting from today and onward!' She placed a powerful palm strike on the post, exploding the wood into chunks. She breathed in heavily.

'Never again.'

Sakura

Blood.

That's what they were the color of.

Blood, so much blood.

Those eyes.

"Kill Hinata!"

"Satsuki will die!" His voice, so loud, so angry, so bloodthirsty.

"Sakura.. how could you?" It was Hinata, with a knife in her stomach.

"Hinata.. I didn't mean!-" All of a sudden the area changed. It showed Satsuki with a bruised neck.

"Sakura.. why couldn't you save me?" Sakura had tears in her eyes.

"Satsuki! I just- I just-" The area changed and Satsuki disappeared.

Now it was her red, demon eyed sensei, Satsuki with bruises on her neck, and Hinata with a kunai in her stomach.

"It was all of your fault Sakura. How could you let them down? Why weren't you good enough? For us, for the village, for yourself." His words struck deeper than a knife.

"That's not true!"

"Let's face it Sakura, if you were better you could have helped them."

"Stop it! Stop!" Sakura tried to cover her ears with her hands.

But the voice was too loud.

"Worthless, weak, why do you exist? Just to make others suffer?" It was too loud. She could see the smirk through the mask, no matter how much fabric was in between.

"I-I'm not weak, or worthless! No one suffers because of me!"

"Why were you even born? Just to watch while your friends-"

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Naruto, Satsuki, and Hinata disappeared, being pulled into some sort of vortex.

All of a sudden Sakura woke up screaming. She opened her eyes to see the dark traces of her room. She breathed in quickly, as tears formed in her eyes. She sobbed and sobbed, feeling her anger, her sadness take over her.

Then her door was busted open, her mom and dad came in with a sword, and a frying pan respectively.

"Sakura! We're here! Now where is he?!" Her dad swung the frying pan around in the dark, almost hitting her mom who dodged the skillet and sighed. Her mom turned off the lights as her dad kept swinging the kitchen equipment.

"Honey, there's no one here." Her mom chided and her dad widened his eyes, taking a look around the place. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Until the parents saw Sakura's tears.

Sakura's mom and dad approached her and sat on her bad. Both parents split up to sit on one of Sakura's bed sides.

"What's wrong sweetie?" Her dad asked and Sakura sniffled. The parents didn't say anything and just gave her a tight hug.

"Did you have a bad dream?" This time her mother asked and Sakura simply nodded. She didn't trust her mouth to form any words. It was too busy quivering. After some time had passed as the trio held each other for comfort, they felt Sakura gently pull back.

"Are you ready to talk about it pumpkin?" Her dad asked and Sakura wiped her eyes. Sakura's mom took out a tissue box and Sakura took one gratefully. She blew her nose. Then she breathed in deeply.

"I.. dreamt about not being good enough. That I was too weak to help my friends. That I was worthless, and that I didn't contribute with existing.." Her parents let her finish as they both hugged her respectively.

"Oh dear. You know that none of those things are true. You remember that time where you killed a bee that daddy couldn't since he was so scared?" Her mom smiled and Sakura giggled a little bit.

"To be fair.. that was a gigantic bee." Her dad added and Sakura laughed.

"I remember, you were wearing black and yellow. The bee couldn't keep itself off of you." The trio laughed as they reminisced. There was a comfortable silence while Sakura contemplated and the girl's parents waited for her to talk.

"My sensei.. he's a powerful shinobi. One of the best. But that also comes with harsh teachings.. He's made me realize what kind of predicament I'm in." Sakura admitted and saw the concern in her mom and dad's eyes.

"Sakura, if you want us to pull you out of being a shinobi we can help you find your place in the world." Her dad became serious as her mother put a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"We're here for you, so if being a shinobi is too much then we'll have your back." Her mother's words warmed Sakura's heart. The pinkette gave her mom's hand a squeeze as she shook her head.

"No, this is what I want. My sensei can be a jerk but, maybe it's not his fault. He's been through terrible things, he was just helping me realize how serious being a shinobi can be." Her dad smiled at her before shaking his head.

"I understand your sensei may have experienced things that your mom and I can't even comprehend. But remember Sakura. There are things in life that we can't control. But what we can control is how we adapt and react to it. Your sensei, he may have had a hard life.. but that doesn't mean he can be hard on everyone else." Sakura thought on her dad's words. She looked up with a glint in her earthly green eyes.

"You know what? You're right. Life can be difficult, but that doesn't mean we have to lie down when it beats us up!" Sakura stood up on her bed, surprising her parents at the sudden burst of energy.

"I'm gonna show that blonde jerk that I'm not gonna give up! I'm gonna give it my best SHANNARO!" Her parents widened their eyes at her declaration before grinning.

"I guess no more diets huh?" Her mom's question perked Sakura up.

"Nope! If I'm gonna be a shinobi then I'm gonna need all the food I can get!" Her parents laughed and Sakura grinned. All of a sudden her energy left her, as her body and eyes started to feel heavy. She yawned after she sat on her bed. She stretched and then rubbed her eyes.

"Okay.. maybe I should do that on some more sleep.." She yawned again before lying down. Her parents smiled softly as they tucked her in.

"You're going to be great sweetie. Just keep your head high." Her mom said as she kissed her daughter's forehead.

"Yeah, don't give up. And always know, we are so proud of the woman you're becoming." Her father told her, kissing her forehead afterwards.

"Thank you.. mom.. dad.."Sakura was feeling herself drift back to sleep as her parents walked to the door.

"You're welcome sweetie. Goodnight." Her parents uttered the last word respectively and Sakura smiled, embracing the arms of sleep.

"Goodnight.." Her parents turned off the light and walked away.

Sakura knew now what she needed to do. She'll never be a burden to her teammates ever again.

'Never again.'


It's been two days since Naruto has seen his team. Right now the sun had begun setting, the sky had been handcrafted with tangerine, and salmon fluffs of clouds. Naruto felt at peace with being alone. He lied down on top of his dad's Hokage head, enjoying the weather from the Hokage Monument. It made him reminisce on the times he took Naruko up there, just to watch the clouds drift by. Sometimes even sparring.

Naruto closed his eyes and breathed in deeply.

He missed those times. He opened his eyes back up to look at the sun setting once more and felt the peace encircle him again.

Nothing could ruin this moment.

"That's.. lap.. 300.. two hundred.. more!"

He had just been proven wrong.

Naruto sighed, he knew that voice. Maybe if he stayed still long enough, the owner of the voice wouldn't notice him.

"NARUTOOOOOOO!" Well, there goes that. Naruto didn't turn toward the voice as he preferred to keep watching the sun inch its way down from the sky. He felt more than heard footsteps coming toward him as Gai stood over his flat frame.

"How are you doing my arch rival?" Naruto frowned at the question. Gai didn't seem to notice as he got into a fighting stance.

Sage of Six Paths help him.

"Gai, I'm really not in the mood right now." Gai grinned with his flashy white teeth as he walked over to Naruto and pulled him into a standing position.

"Nonsense! A taijutsu spar between rivals is the best way to get the blood flowing, as well as heighten ones own spirits!" Gai kept grinning as he got back into his fighting stance. Before Naruto could physically and mentally prepare himself Gai darted in front of him with a kick. Naruto dodged in irritation as Gai twisted to try and deliver another kick with his other foot.

Naruto caught it and threw Gai away.

"That's the spirit!" Gai shouted with a returning punch once he came into position. Naruto simply dodged, parried, and threw Gai off balance whenever he could. Naruto raised a blonde eyebrow as a particular punch almost caught him square in the jaw.

'Did he get faster? Or am I getting slower? Guess he's not called Konoha's Green Beast for nothing.' Naruto thought as he exerted a bit more effort in irritation.

Gai is such a good person, one of the nicest people Naruto has ever met. There was even a point in time where Naruto relished Gai's challenges and happily took part in them.

However, that was a long time ago. He's a different person now.

Naruto grunted as he sent a powerful kick to Gai's midsection, causing the other jonin to skid back, having rocks and follicles fly into the air. Before Gai could recover, the Ghost of Konoha immediately appeared in front of the onyx haired individual with an uppercut. Gai stumbled back as Naruto entered his zone.

Gai is powerful, he's nice, and such a good person.

But Naruto wanted to be left alone, and Gai sometimes didn't understand when a person truly didn't want company. Nor when that person didn't want to partake in a challenge. Even though he knew Gai hadn't meant to cross a line, he also knew that Gai was just trying to make him feel better with the spar.

However Naruto did not harbor any desire to interact with anyone.

Gai needed to understand this, even if it took him getting a knock in the head to do so.

Naruto dodged a right hook and got under Gai's guard with an elbow to the midsection. Naruto then followed it up with a left hook, once Gai was dazed Naruto took that split second to fly in with a knee to the Green Beast's face.

"Gai.." Naruto punched him in the gut.

"Just.." Naruto gave a linear kick upwards to the man's jaw.

"Leave.." Naruto grabbed Gai's arm while he stumbled back.

"Me.." Naruto pulled the man over his head.

"ALONE!" Naruto slammed the green outfitted jonin down on the ground. The powerful slam causing shockwaves to spread beyond the monument. Naruto breathed in deeply as the man groaned on the ground. The blonde closed his eyes and exhaled. He went back to the edge of his father's monumented head and sat down, catching the last glimpses of sunset.

He felt a plop next to him. Not surprising, there's not much that could keep the man down for long.

They stayed in silence for a few moments, simply watching the sun set. The sky soon darkened with gray as the final vestiges of the sun disappeared for the day.

"Naruto I'm-"

"Gai you don't need to-"

"No, I must. Just please, let me finish." Naruto shut his mouth as he beckoned the man to continue.

"I'm sorry for possibly ruining your evening. I just noticed you alone, contemplating, being sad. I hoped to lift your spirits." Naruto stayed silent, hearing the older man sigh as he stood up.

"Sometimes I just want to be alone Gai. It's not because of you or anyone else. I just.. I need time." Gai placed a hand on his fellow jonin's shoulder.

"I get it Naruto. But before I leave I want you to know." Naruto nodded, still looking straight ahead at the sky.

"We all have a youthful ember inside of us. But that ember.. it'll be snuffed out without another one to keep it alight. Being alone sometimes is a good thing. But you can't be alone forever." Naruto's frown deepened, still not looking to Gai. The man turned around and got ready to get on his hands again.

"I still have two-hundred laps to walk on my hands around the village. I'm going to go before it gets too dark. I need sleep too you know haha!" When Gai received the silence as his response, he gave Naruto one soft pat on the back.

"Think about what I said. I hope you have a youthful rest tonight." Naruto nodded.

"I hope you do too Gai." The bowl-cutted individual grinned at that, to him it was progress.

"Of course! You know me by now!" Gai placed his hands on his ground and balanced.

"Always youthful!" Gai's voice resounded as he walked away on his hands.

Naruto kept looking in front of him. He took peace in the dark clouds, and almost full moon in the sky.

He stayed there until he went home to turn into bed.


Today Naruto is meant to meet with his team. For the past few days the blonde jonin had been trying to figure out a way to apologize to his genin. He had also been thinking about how he could lessen the stress of his training.

So far, he believed he finally figured it out. Now it's just time to meet up with the girls.

Naruto arrived at the training ground to see it empty. He arched a blonde eyebrow. At the very least he should've seen one genin there.

Wait a minute, he felt a slight distortion of chakra nearby his trees.

'Genjutsu! Who had chakra powerful enough to put me in one? Even for a few seconds! Release!' Naruto got out of the genjutsu and heard a voice.

"Fire style: Fireball jutsu!" Naruto saw the flaming coming toward him from the front and he dodged. He smirked, it was just like Satsuki to try and get the drop on him-

"Hyuuga style: Palms of Heavenly Wind!" Naruto widened his eyes as he saw Hinata strike out with both of her palms to create a powerful burst of wind toward the fireball that Satsuki created. It was not only powerful enough to enhance the flame and help it soar faster.

'It even changed its direction!' Naruto leapt above the giant speed ball of fire as it came back toward him. He was just high enough to be safe from the massive explosion of flames. He almost gave a sigh of relief until he heard a snap of rope.

'A trap!' A giant log came flying toward him as Naruto had to twist his body to dodge out of the way. The log almost scraped him as he felt the wood pass by him in another direction.

'That was close..' Naruto looked around for any other surprise from his genin. Seeing none Naruto landed on the ground. Then he felt the wind shift. Naruto leapt to the side as shuriken coated in fire passed by him. He widened his eyes as instead of flying straight forward and away, the shuriken arched and came back in his direction.

'It's strung up with ninja wire!' Naruto ducked as the shuriken flew over his head.

Then he heard it.

"SHANNAROOOOOOOOOOOO!" He widened his eyes as instantly, right after the shuriken flew past him Sakura was right above him with an axe kick, descending down from the air.

Naruto moved more than thought as he rolled out of the way of the blow. He almost had his mouth open in shock as a small indentation was left in the earth right where his head was before.

'I didn't think someone so small and frail could pack that much power. Impressive.' Naruto stood up as he saw his genin form up in front of him. They all had satisfied looks on their faces, smirking in his direction. He looked at them and squinted with his eyes in suspicion.

"So, are you done.. surprising me, or do I have to be pulled in to the hospital for cardiac arrest first?" Naruto asked and the girls giggled.

"Depends, on what you think." Satsuki spoke up as Sakura gave a cocky grin, while Hinata smirked.

Oh Naruto really was astonished by that in itself.

"All I'm gonna say is. What did I miss in the past three days?" Sakura stepped forward with her hands on her hips.

"Enough for us to come up with this plan, among other things." Sakura quipped and Naruto nodded.

"I see. Here I thought I was going to apologize and take it easy with the way I'm training you-"

"There's no need sensei. We understand now." Hinata interrupted and Naruto raised an eyebrow. Interrupting him? That was not like her.

'Someone had a confidence boost out of nowhere..' He sweatdropped at that, as he witnessed Sakura open her mouth to speak.

"Sensei, what you did before.. It was harsh. But we get it, we can't always be jovial when it comes to being a shinobi. It's a hard lifestyle, not one that many can live long in." Naruto nodded at the pinkette, surprised by her maturity.

"That's good I'm glad that-"

"But sensei." Sakura interrupted him. What was up with people and doing that lately?

"We don't know everything that's happened with you up until today. We know that life must have been worse than we can even conceive right now.." Naruto gave a slow nod. He wondered where she was going with it.

"But there are things in life that we can't control. But what we can control is how we adapt and react to it. You can be a jerk sensei. Maybe life had some help in doing that to you. But.. you can still come out better than bitterness. Life doesn't have to control how happy you are." Sakura finished and Naruto widened his eyes.

"We agree sensei. Now that we're a team.. We have each other to lean on. It's as you said right?" Hinata this time spoke as she looked to Satsuki to finish up for her.

"Those who don't follow the rules are trash. But those who disregard their comrades, their friends, those who leave them behind. Those people are worse than trash." Satsuki smirked at the look on the jonin's masked face.

"Exactly sensei. So don't leave us in the dust when you're brooding or something. Or else we'll kick your ass and pull you right out!" Sakura grinned and Naruto chuckled.

"Okay." Naruto surrendered to the onslaught of words coming at him, putting his hands up.

"Okay what sensei?" Hinata asked as the three girls perked up to hear what he had to say.

"Okay, I'll be better about this. All of this. You three have proven to me today that you're truly ready to be shinobi. Your team synergy, your strategies, timing, all of it was great. I'm truly impressed." The girls looked at each other with knowing smiles, while Satsuki smirked.

'Not bad for a few puny runts.' Kurama's voice resounded in Naruto's head. The blonde smiled as he watched the girls high-five each other.

'Yeah, not bad at all.'

Maybe being a sensei wasn't going to be as terrible as he thought.

A:N I'm not going to lie, this chapter was a lot of fun to write. So I hope you enjoy reading it! Please let me know what you think. Also if you're curious my favorite part was writing Sakura's POV. I honestly feel proud about that one. I hope you all have a good day, afternoon, evening, and night!