Sakura proudly looked at her new headband. A metal protector with a leaf sign glistened in the morning sun. What a wonderful day! She became eighteen and graduated from the academy. When she went into the corridor, the crowd of teenagers was already swarming under the blackboard. Sakura quickened her pace. She couldn't wait to see the line-up of her new team. She dreamed of some nice, supportive group. Maybe she will be with Hinata, or she will get some kind female coach? That would be a nice change from so many years in a class full of boys. When she finally found her name on the long list, she felt the world violently bring her down to earth. She was in the team with the grumpiest person in the village, who, if that was not enough, considered her as trash. Years have passed since her sick obsession with Sasuke Uchiha ended, but she still couldn't look at him without embarrassment. The only good side of her team was Naruto. Though she never really liked him, at least he was kind and friendly. Just the opposite of her new teacher. She had never met him before, didn't even know what he looked like, but legends of the Sharingan Kakashi were going all around the village, maybe even the world. Supposedly he was so terrifying that enemies were running away from him as soon as they realized who they were dealing with. He was killing his opponents by tearing their hearts out with his bare hand, and while he was still a child, he learned to summon lightning. He wasn't much more gracious to his students. Most of them couldn't even survive the first day. Either they gave up themselves or were sent back right to the academy. Sakura swallowed hard. She couldn't believe she had come such a long way to fail right after she graduated. Their first meeting was due in less than an hour, so she didn't have much time to get there. As soon as she left school, she saw two familiar faces in the yard. Shikamaru handed Naruto his half-smoked cigarette. The blonde choked at the same moment as he took it to his mouth. Nara immediately burst out laughing. Sakura walked over to them, and Naruto's face became even redder than before.
"Sakura!" He exclaimed, his voice still hoarse. "Have you seen? We are in the team! "
Girl made the most sincere smile she could. "Yes, I just read it. I'm actually going to the training ground now, are you coming with me? "
The blonde nodded enthusiastically. They quickly said goodbye to Shikamaru and headed towards the field. All the way, smile didn't come off Naruto's face even once. Sakura didn't understand how he could be so excited and not be nervous at all about their new sensei.
"Aren't you scared at all?" She finally asked.
"What should I be afraid of?" The boy frowned. Sakura looked at him in disbelief. She quickly looked around to make sure there was no one to overhear them.
"Of Kakashi-sensei." Hearing the name, Naruto's eyes lit up with excitement.
"Are you kidding? We couldn't have found a better one! He is amazing! I've always dreamed of meeting him. They say he is the strongest ninja in the whole village! " The boy's voice suddenly lowered to a whisper, as if he was saying something illegal. "Some say he could even defeat the Hokage himself."
Sakura was still unconvinced. "But supposedly he is scary, and he treats his students terribly..."
Naruto waved his hand carelessly. "Nah, you worry too much. It's not like he's some Akatsuki member! How bad he can be?"
The girl nodded. He was definitely right, after all, this is just a ninja from their village. He can't be that scary… When they got to the training ground, Sasuke was already waiting. Sakura winced as she remembered the time when she was thirteen. How she behaved towards this boy back then, was beyond insane. It's been so many years now, that she should probably forget about it, but the cringe still gripped her inside. She just hoped that sensei will show up soon.

She couldn't be more wrong. It had been two hours since the established time, and it still wasn't looking like their teacher will ever show up.

"Are we sure we are in a good field?" Sakura finally broke the silence. With every second she was more afraid that they had mixed up places. As if on cue, a cloud of dust appeared in front of them with a soft puff. All three of them froze in place, surprised by unexpected appearance of the trainer. Sakura took a curious look at Kakashi. He was not at all what she had imagined. She was expecting someone looking far more sinister, with a body damaged by the war, perhaps without an arm or a leg. Maybe someone who would resemble Danzo? She certainly thought he would be older. Although in the case of Kakashi it was difficult to determine age. He had gray hair, but they were so thick and shiny, that Sakura assumed that they looked this way since birth. His face was covered almost completely. Only one eye was exposed, but there was not a single wrinkle around it. His posture also looked young. He was tall and slender, his hands resting lazily in the pockets of his pants.

Naruto jumped up from the grass he was sitting on earlier. A gigantic smile appeared on his face again.
"Kakashi-sensei, it's really you! I can't believe that I am on your team now, I ... "

The man stopped him with a gesture of his hand. His tired gaze passed slowly over the three of them. Sakura thought he looked like he had a hangover.

"Whether you will be on my team remains to be seen. First, I will judge your skills myself. Personally, I don't agree with Iruka. He would pass even a retarded monkey. Then you go on basic missions and we find out half of you could never become a ninja. "

Sakura looked at the boys standing on both sides of her to make sure that not only she became so pale. She was right, even Sasuke looked scared. "But I should probably introduce myself. I am Hatake Kakashi and I will be your teacher... At least for the next half hour."

Underneath the black mask, Sakura was able to notice the smirk on the man's face. She swallowed hard again today. Kakashi nodded at them to follow him and headed toward the edge of the field.

"Show me first how you handle chakra control." He said, stopping in front of the forest. "Each of you climb the tree as high as you can. Without using your hands, of course. Mark with the kunai where you reached."

When the man waved his hand, each of them ran up their tree. With every step, Sakura felt relief filling her. This task was like a piece of cake for her. She has never had the slightest problem with chakra control. Maybe she wouldn't do as badly today as she feared?

When she reached the top of the tall tree, she marked a line with a kunai and jumped branch by branch to the ground. She looked at Kakashi, secretly hoping for some praise or at least a smile, but the man was so busy reading the book that he didn't even seem to notice that she had already finished. Only when Naruto and Sasuke landed next to her, he looked up from the novel. Sakura also compared their results. As she thought, her line was uppermost. The boys did well too. Their markings were just slightly below the treetops. Without any comment, the coach led them to the next spot in the field. The girl struggled to hold back a sigh when she saw a familiar human-shaped shield. As she expected, the task was to throw shurikens at the target. She was never good at this. Sasuke did the best. He flawlessly hit the head of the shield three times. Naruto managed to hit the face only once, another on the neck and a third on the chest. Sakura watched with growing horror as each of her shuriken missed the target. The last one hit the shoulder, but she threw him too weakly, and instead of getting in, it bounced right off it. This time, she was grateful that Kakashi had left her performance without comment. The hope for redemption returned when it turned out that the third competition was running around the field. She has always been fast, she should do well. Just moments after takeoff, Sakura realized that she couldn't be more wrong. She remembered that she had always won races at the academy, but only competed against Ino, Hinata and Tenten. Sasuke and Naruto were much faster. She came to the finish line a few long seconds after the boys.

The last competition was to take away the bells from Kakashi. Sakura clenched her hands into fists. She had to focus. It was her be or not to be a ninja. She failed two of the three previous competitions. If she doesn't prove herself now, sensei will undoubtedly throw her out of the team. After a moment of reflection, she approached Sasuke and gestured to Naruto to do the same.

"He is a legendary ninja." She whispered when the three of them were standing next to each other. "Neither of us has a chance to beat him alone, and he is well aware of that. This task must be a test of cooperation."

Naruto nodded. "What's the plan?"

After a long time of thinking, finally Sasuke broke the silence. "I am the fastest here. You distract him, I will attack by surprise and get the bells."

At a sign of Uchiha, Sakura and Naruto simultaneously ran from two sides of the forest, heading straight at the teacher. Sakura felt strange with the thought that she was about to attack him. Kakashi was still standing with one hand in his pocket, the other holding an open book, which he seemed to be completely absorbed in. Naruto ran up to him a second before her. Just before he delivered the first blow, he created ten clones that attacked the trainer simultaneously. Kakashi eliminated all the clones without a blink of an eye, creating a thick cloud of dust around him. In these conditions, Sakura could hardly follow his movements. She narrowed her eyes, making sure she wouldn't hit Naruto by accident. A moment of hesitation was enough for the sensei to repel her attack, which she had not even managed to inflict yet. He pushed her so hard that she flew back a few meters. Quickly, she realized, that she would not be able to regain her balance. Then there was only darkness.

Sakura opened her eyes with difficulty. The sun dazzled her eyes, which made the excruciating headache even worse. What happened? Why was she lying on the grass?

"You two can go now, I'll wait until she wakes up and make sure everything is okay." She heard a strangely familiar voice, but couldn't connect it to anyone.

"What about the bells, can we keep them?" This voice definitely belonged to Naruto. Sakura couldn't hear the answer to the question, but after a while the boy shouted something happily. He was still talking to someone, but his excited voice was getting further away. The girl suddenly connected all the facts. Naruto, bells...
An overwhelming panic passed through her mind. Could it be possible that she passed out during the last assignment? She struggled to sit up. She carefully rubbed the back of her head, where she already could feel a big tumor.

"Everything's all right?" She had to perk her head up high to look at the face of Kakashi standing above her. She nodded in reply. She has never felt this pathetic in her entire life. He probably couldn't even imagine a worse student. "No dizziness, nausea?" Despite all these questions, the man didn't look worried at all.

"I'm fine." She replied, her voice bitter. Kakashi crouched down in front of her so she wouldn't have to cock her head anymore. For a moment he just stared into her eyes as if trying to judge if she was lying.

"You know I should send you back to the academy, right?" Sakura was staring at her shoes. She clenched her jaw tightly to make sure the man wouldn't notice her shaking chin. "The only task in which you have shown a certain level is climbing a tree. I personally know an outstanding ninja who is terrible at chakra control. But it's hard to imagine any shinobi that isn't fast, can't handle shurikens, or even hand-to-hand combat. "

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut to ward off the inflowing tears. "Please give me another chance..." Despite her best efforts, her voice began to crack. "I'll do my best, I'll be better, I promise..."

Kakashi sighed softly. "This is my first time doing this, so please don't disappoint me Sakura."

The girl jerked her head up in surprise. "Don't be so happy about that. If I don't see enough progress, I will kick you out without hesitation."

A grateful smile appeared on Sakura's face. "Thank you! It won't disappoint you, Kakashi-sensei, I swear! "
Kakashi sighed again and got up from the grass. "We start tomorrow at nine, the same training ground." After these words, he formed a sign with his hands and dissolved into thin air, leaving only a small cloud of dust behind. Sakura tiredly fell on the grass. Everyone always told her that adult life is hard. But she hadn't expected it to happen right away, on the first day of her eighteenth birthday.