Panting heavily she sprinted through the trees, her eyes looking around desperately trying to find the familiar sight of her home. Tears ran down her face as snot started to travel to her mouth. She sniffed as she tried to keep the noise she made to a minimum. She blinked as strands of her brown hair flew into her eyes. She couldn't let it catch up with her, she just couldn't! She was only four she was far too young to die! Her family would miss her! She wouldn't be able to become a proper ninja! She wouldn't be able to teach her little sister everything she knew! She yelped as she lost her footing and fell from the trees. She landed with an 'oof' on the ground and before she had a chance to recover she heard the loud growl of the bear that had been chasing her. She swallowed thickly as the bear stalked up to her. Just as it was taking another step forward a flash of pink entered her vision. Her eyes widened as she realised who was standing in front of her.

"Sak-!"

"Shush! Go and alert the guards at the compound!" The pink haired girl commanded. The brown haired girl nodded and sprinted off as fast as her little legs could carry her. The girl with hair the colour of cherry blossoms narrowed her emerald orbs at the creature before her. She had managed to save Machi, a distant cousin of hers', but by doing so she had put herself in danger and to top it all of she hadn't brought any weapons with her. She clenched her teeth. Why oh why did she always end up putting herself in danger? It was just ridiculous! She, the heir the Haruno clan, labelled as a troublemaker who would no doubt end up dying because she put someone else's life and safety before her own. It wasn't her fault she did things without thinking! She was normally very knowledgeable. It was only when someone else was in danger that she rushed ahead without thinking.

The bear in front of her growled, reminding her of her current situation. She sighed, hopefully the help Machi had run off to get would arrive quickly, after all she wouldn't be able to hold of the beast with out any weapons. She would just have to play the evade game for now.

The bear charged forward reaching out with a claw towards the pink haired girl. She jumped back to avoid the attack. She then jumped up into the air, over the bear and landed smoothly on the ground. The emerald eyed girl quickly spun around and sent a chakra enhanced kick to the bear's behind. The animal roared in pain as it felt it's ischium break. She leaped into the tree branches above her and watched as the bear lay on the ground howling in pain.

Her eyes softened as she gazed at the poor animal. 'Why do I have to have such a big soft spot..' she groaned as she jumped down. She focused on channeling healing chakra into her hands. Niko, one of her clans' medics had started teaching her medical ninjutsu the week before and she had been progressing rapidly. Her hands glowed green as she cautiously approached the wounded animal. The bear growled warningly as it watched the young girl approach it. Slowly, the petal haired girl kneeled down and placed her glowing hands on the bear. She frowned in concentration as she focused on fixing the bears ischium.

The closest thing to a broken bone she had ever healed was a bird's broken wing, she hadn't even studied the body of a bear yet. She had memorised the anatomy of the human body as well as several different species of birds', however she had never even read a scroll about the bone structure of a bear.

She decided to just focus on realigning the bone using her chakra, hopefully her chakra would be able to act as a splint and help the bone heal correctly. She couldn't do much more for the creature since she was still learning, but she thought she did an acceptable job.

The animal was still whimpering softly but it seemed that it was starting to drift off to sleep. She smiled softly and patted the creatures head, whispering a quiet 'Oyasumi' as she stood up and made her way out of the forest.

"Sakura-chan!" She heard a familiar voice call her name. She looked up just in time to see the worried face of Isao. Isao was in charge of making sure she was well behaved and learnt everything she needed to. Sakura felt a large pool of guilt settle in her stomach, Isao had clearly been worried when she had sneaked off, and had probably been close to having a panic attack when Machi had entered the compound screaming and crying for help. "Thank goodness you're alright! When Machi-chan said that you had saved her from a bear I had thought.." He trailed of looking down at the ground.

Sakura remained silent, there wasn't really much she could say. She had heard someone crying and then heard a growl and had immediately taken action. Maybe she shouldn't have rushed in like she had but Machi was still alive and she was uninjured, so everything was ok!

"Honestly Sakura-chan, do you no what Masaru-sama would doo to me if something were to happen to you?" Isao continued to rant on as they made their way back to the compound.

As they entered the Haruno clan compound a guard body flickered over to them. "Isao-san, Masaru-sama has requested your presence. Sakura-sama, you are to go to training ground four for taijutsu practice with Nozomi-sama" The guard said before disappearing.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later then Sakura-chan." Isao said before disappearing in a puff of smoke. The petal haired girl sighed before making her way through the compound. She went unnoticed as she traveled to her house in the middle of the compound. She entered her house and hurried up the stairs. She went into her room and took off her black and dark grey war kimono. Sakura picked out a red and black, short kimono and put it on over her black biker shorts, then she slipped on some black ninja sandals and some black arm warmers. She was about to leave the house when she spotted her weapons pouch.

'It's taijutsu so I technically don't need any weapons, but then again it's always best to be prepared..' After a moment of hesitation she grabbed her weapons pouch and attached it to her right thigh. Then she exited her house and made her way over to training ground four.

When she arrived at the training ground she spotted the crimson haired woman and walked over to her.

"Nozomi-san." Sakura bowed respectfully.

"Sakura-chan." The woman acknowledged. "Let's start" That was the only warning Sakura got before Nozomi sent a roundhouse kick to her head. Sakura dodged by rolling to the left. She jumped over Nozomi's head and sent a chakra enhanced punch at her stomach only for the scarlet haired woman to burst into a cloud of smoke.

The petal haired girl closed her eyes and tried to open up her other senses in hopes of locating Nozomi. Her ears picked up on movement behind her and she quickly jumped away to avoid the woman's attack.

"I though we were only using ninjutsu." Sakura calmly said as her emerald eyes met with her taijutsu teacher's brown eyes.

"You should know by now that I don't play by the rules; much like most shinobi."

Sakura smirked, "Oh, I think I've learnt from past mistakes." Nozomi looked confused before her eyes widened as she watched the four year old's form turn into water and fall to the ground. A kunai was then placed at her throat. "Do I win?" Sakura was standing upside down on the branch of the tree Nozomi was under.

The brown eyed woman chuckled, " Good job Sakura-chan, but not good enough!" The woman's form dissolved and she appeared on the other end of the training ground. Sakura pouted, she should have known that Nozomi wouldn't fall for such a cheap trick! She grabbed a kunai from her pouch and threw it at the scarlet haired woman. "Sakura-chan! What did I say about throwing weapons at your enemy?"

"Not to because if your enemy runs out of weapons then they can pick up the ones that you threw."

"Very good, now don't throw them!"

"Hai sensei!"

Sakura and Nozomi continued sparring for the rest of the afternoon and didn't stop until a servant came to escort Sakura to Masaru-sama.

"Sakura-sama! Masaru-sama wishes to see you!" The maid explained as she raced over to the panting girl.

Sakura looked up at the maid and said, "Wouldn't Masaru-sama prefer to see me in the morning? It's pretty late."

"No Sakura-sama, Masaru-sama wishes to speak to you now." Sakura sighed.

"Alright," She said.

"Would you like me to assist you in getting dressed and washed up Sakura-sama?" The maid asked. Sakura shook her head before turning to Nozomi and bowing.

"Thank you for the lesson Nozomi-san."

"No problem Sakura-chan, now you should go and wash up, you smell horrible." She grinned. Sakura bowed once more before rushing off to her house.

She stripped out of her clothes and stepped into the shower. Sakura washed her body and hurriedly squirted some cherry blossom scented shampoo into her hair. She rubbed it in thoroughly before rinsing it out. Then she turned off the shower and stepped out, getting dressed into a formal, red kimono with a black obi. She slipped on her black ninja sandals and brushed her locks, tying her hair into a single plait down her back.

She exited her home and made her way towards the largest building in the compound. A servant with dark brown hair and clear blue eyes met her at the entrance.

"Sakura-sama there you are! Masaru-sama is waiting for you in his office." Sakura nodded in response and made her way into the building. Like most of the houses in the Haruno compound, Masaru-sama's home was traditional. Sakura had been called to visit the Haruno clan head on multiple occasions so she had a clear map of the building in her head. She walked through the corridors, making her way to the clan head's office. She knocked on the door and entered after hearing a 'come in'.