Summary/Disclaimer: Time for another chapter of the Merc and the Medic. Enjoy the 2000-word chapter. I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto and a few others do.

(Training Ground 3)

Marmora dodged a punch from Sakura and then drove his elbow into her stomach. She responded by flipping him to the ground before powering up a Charka powered punch.

He used a substitution Jutsu before her fist shattered the ground. Sakura turned in time to see Marmora go for a leaping kick before she slammed him into the pillar and pinned his neck with her elbow.

"I give… Ow." Marmora said, Sakura backed away before she pointed at the trees, they started walking while Marmora blinked and looked at the grove of trees. Sakura walked to the largest one.

"Tree climbing… You want to practice controlling your Charka, you're doing what I did." Sakura stated, Marmora went to speak up before he groaned.

"I'm not a Genin…" He muttered while Sakura crossed her arms.

"Fine… I'll climb the stupid tree…" He said, he walked past the smirking Sakura and started channeling Charka to his feet, something he had seen before.

Sakura watched him make it maybe 15 feet before he fell. Sakura saw him stop himself slowly before she grabbed him by the hood of his jacket.

"Your enjoying this, aren't you?" He asked, annoyed by the fact that Sakura was babying him considering she had him suspended with one hand.

Her smirk told him all he needed, she dropped him and sighed.

"Take off your shirt and gloves." He said, Marmora's eyes widened.

"What?!" Sakura rolled her eyes and sighed while walking around him.

"You're not going to be able to climb right away if you're going to keep trying to tree run without practicing…. You need less weight… I'm going to climb with you… I did this when I was a Genin." Marmora said, Sakura rolled her eyes.

"I did this already." Marmora said, Sakura rolled her eyes again and kicked off her shoes before pulling off her gloves.

"A. You're going to keep trying to climb up with Charka, you're going to get fatigued and fall… Or have a heart attack… Something like that… B. I'm going to help you, but you're doing it my way… C…" She said before pushing a finger into his chest and smirking.

"This is payback for the embarrassing jokes, not listening to me repeatedly and for calling the movie I picked stupid… I've seen plenty of Shinobi without shirts, that also means you considering I've dealt with all your wounds. I'm a doctor, you scared?" She asked, purring out the last part.

"You're an evil Jonin…" He muttered, he pulled his gloves and boots off before reaching down and yanking off his shirt and tossing it to the side.

"You happy?" He asked before he went to climb the tree and follow her instructions.

Sakura climbed onto his back and wrapped her arms and legs around his chest.

Marmora said nothing and sighed, he grabbed onto a pair of groves on the tree.

"Sometimes I regret meeting you…" Marmora muttered to the smirking Haruno and started climbing.

"I thought you used to do this by putting Charka into your feet and without your hands." He muttered while he grabbed at another grove and slowly started climbing.

"You know how to do that, don't you?" She asked, Marmora hummed, Sakura nodded.

"This is to make sure that your body is strong enough to keep up with the Charka… You know the 2 halves of Charka?" She asked while Marmora grabbed another grove and pulled himself higher. Marmora reached for another handhold and grasped at his hand while it stung.

The tree was sharp and rough, he held on with his other hand before he grabbed back onto the tree.

"Physical and Spiritual… I've done a lot of spiritual work… Dagger brought us to Yugakure… Wanted to make sure we realized the important of knowing when not to fight…. I never understood why mercenaries were taught not to fight, I'm glad I got to know about it." He said, Sakura nodded.

"I've noticed that you might have forgotten it… You're not spiritually weak, your physically weak… Your body can't handle the energy its outputting." Sakura said, Marmora hummed before Sakura pointed to a branch.

"Climb to there and we're done for today… Unless you'd like to spar." Sakura said, Marmora grunted and continued to climb.

"You have a lot of scars on your back for a former mercenary. I thought most of them would be on your chest…" Sakura said while Marmora continued climbing up.

"You get more attacks from the back then the front when you're a mercenary… I told you, I've been backstabbed, betrayed, thrown around… Poisoned. You don't get a lot of respect for being a mercenary when you have no real loyalty to anyone." Marmora said while he continued to climb up, he reached a point where he could make the jump.

"Sakura…." Marmora said, making sure she understood what he was going to do.

"Just don't fall…" Sakura muttered; Marmora started to channel Charka to his feet. He didn't need to stick there for a few minutes. He just needed to do it for a few handfuls of seconds if he failed to grip the branch.

'Then again, if I fall off the tree, it's better than having to explain the fact that I carried my roommate/teacher on my back up a tree without a shirt….' He thought before he tensed.

Then he jumped, he reached out like he did every time he had climbed and leapt to a branch. He grabbed at the branch and thrust his hands out.

He felt his fingers grab onto the branch but growled in pain as they cracked.

He slowly pulled himself and Sakura up while laughing.

"I'm the biggest idiot in the history of Shinobi… I swear I could have just ended our lives right there if I missed." Marmora said in between cackles while Sakura rolled her eyes.

"You know I would have stopped us, right?" Sakura asked, she sat next to Marmora who began to remove splinters from his hands and feet.

"I know I need to keep practicing if I'm going to take up that bodyguard job for a few weeks that I signed up for." He said, Sakura turned to him.

"You got a job even after I agreed to train you?" Sakura asked before she began slugging Marmora in his arms while he chuckled and started to feebly block the hits.

"YOU STUPID JACKASS!" She bellowed while Marmora continued to smile.

"I needed a reason to gain more Ryo and second? You can't pull the 'It's my house, I make the rules'." He stated while both looked on the forest before he turned to look at Sakura.

"I've decided to stop relying on just my water Jutsu when things get tough…We are going to need to train more… The only way to become physically stronger is to train." He said, Sakura looked down on the cracked tree and sighed.

While she had been busy on trying to jump to the branch, she had missed that Marmora had applied a lot more Charka then needed.

"I have to work at the hospital for a few days…. I can write a list… But you get in another fight and I'm going to drag you to work to keep an eye on you." Sakura said, Marmora nodded before he turned to look at her.

"Deal… Now, uh. We need to get down… We're about 4 stories up, I'm not sure how far up we are." Marmora said before Sakura sighed and leapt down to another branch.

"I hate when she does that." Marmora said and then he leapt down to the next branch and then followed Sakura down to the ground, branch by branch.

He and Sakura landed on the ground, Marmora looked at Sakura before he grabbed his shoes, gloves and shirt. Sakura looked at his scars, something that didn't go unnoticed.

"I didn't have a good past, Sakura… I am going to atone for it. I grew up fighting for money and thinking if I took missions for the side against criminals, I'd be doing the right thing. I'm sick of fighting for blood money. I fight, I'm going to fight against people who do nothing but hurt good people." He said, pulling on his shirt and then shoes and gloves.

"You're not a bad person, Marmora. You know everyone makes mistakes; nothing can change what you did." She said, he sighed and nodded.

"I know. I know." He stated, both turned back to the city while Sakura pulled on her boots and gloves.

"You still have that meeting with Naruto." He stated while both walked towards town, Marmora folded his arms behind his back.

"We're handle that next… Then we can move onto more training later." Sakura said, Marmora chuckled while both continued their journey to the office of the Hokage.

"You know, as ridiculous and stupid that might have been? I thought it was fun. I mean, trying to jump like 10-20ft was something I never want to do again without a Wire Kunai if you're going with up with me." Marmora said, Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Nothing fazes you, does it?" Marmora heard from Sakura, he hummed and shrugged.

"I'm not someone who likes to hold grudges. I know you likes to mess with me like I do with you. You tell Ino or someone I let you piggyback on me; she's going to think you like me more." Marmora said.

"YOU SPIED ON ME!?" Sakura growled before she slugged Marmora enough to send him flying into the water.

Marmora surfaced a moment later, his ribs bruised but nothing major.

"Ok. A. I could have drowned… B. both of you guys aren't silent like you seem to think… And C. I stood by the door to ask Ino about the plant I was holding, you guys were in a small room, it's not that hard to hear you… So no, I didn't eavesdrop. I stood by the door to ask Ino a question, besides, Ino sounded like she was just looking out for your best interests." Marmora said, Sakura had a vein pulsing on her head before she growled.

"You say a single word-..." Sakura started to say, Marmora chuckled and climbed out of the water, sighing as he looked at his soaked clothing that would need time to try.

"You're kill me? Sakura, I think we've gone back and forth between messing with each other and such to know if you wanted to kill me, you'd have aimed for my limbs with that hit. I would have drowned." He stated before he walked past the Join with amusement.

"Now I'm going to go and dry out. We're going to go meet the Hokage, probably make some jokes you think are way too immature but you are amused by… I don't know you a lot besides legends, I do know you like to try to act strict, but your fun and amusing. You should act looser in public, Sakura… It's nice seeing you happy, it reminds me of when I was with my team." He said before he patted her on the head and walked by her.

Sakura turned to look at Marmora who paused only to look at his clothing and sighed before he smiled and turned to wave at her.

Sakura blushed and then smiled; she had no idea why… But Marmora's words felt… Nice.

She slowly walked after him.

Author Notes

Phew, another chapter done! I want to point out the tree climbing thing was supposed to be another example of Sakura messing with Marmora and an example of their dynamic. I am going to introduce Boruto and villains from that series… Kakashi isn't the Hokage. Next chapter will be on Sunday or Tuesday and will show Sakura and Marmora meeting with Naruto and then training. Until then, Lighting Wolf out!

Ps: Marmora isn't going to train for long, but he wont be more skilled or powerful then Sakura or the others… Maybe equal.