Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto.

Sooo here is the third chapter, enjoy!

Chapter 3

The doors to the library closed behind her and the smell of paper and ink assaulted her. Sakura took a deep breath and it felt as if something just clicked into place. A tension she hadn't even known existed fell from her shoulders. This was familiar territory. She knew her way around a scroll, she had always enjoyed learning from scrolls in her academy days. Remembering things came easy to her in contrast to her abysmal physical prowess. Though now that she thought about it, she hadn't trained her body all that much in comparison to her mind. The suspicion that she was at fault for her less than admirable grades in taijutsu training threatened to destroy her relatively good mood, so she banished her thoughts to a dark corner of her mind to brood over later.

A quick swipe of her surroundings showed an almost completely empty library, the only other occupants she could make out were a blond woman at the aisle for gardening books and a middle-aged shinobi with dark grey hair and a scar at the corner of his mouth who manned the counter where books were checked out and returned.

The pink haired girl only paused for a second before making her way into the deeper sections of the library, where any ninja related books and scrolls were kept.

She passed rows after rows of bookshelves in search of a fitting subject. Not wanting to admit just yet that she was overwhelmed with the sheer amount of knowledge sitting all around her, waiting for her to learn.

Frankly, she didn't know where to start.

Should she learn something completely new or should she consolidate her already existing knowledge of the basics?

Arrgghhh! Why was this so complicated? Getting stronger shouldn't be so hard!

Immediately after, she knew that her train of thought was complete nonsense. She felt foolish. Becoming stronger was hard work. A lot of it. It meant blood, sweat and tears.

Not as if I have ever done it before…

The bitter thought slipped into the forefront of her mind uninvited and dragged her mood down to an all-time low. Her future teammates will surely have worked hard to get wherever they were now. She, in comparison, had done nothing but aced some tests and (at this word her innards twisted uncomfortably, a mix between guilt, shame and longing) pining after Sasuke-kun.

A prominent frown etched itself into her forehead.

Was she even ready to be considered a Genin? Intellect-wise she was sure that she had surpassed a majority of her classmates, as conceited as it sounded, but physically? She placed somewhere in the last third of her class... So should she perhaps look into a physical skill or generally physical training? Hmmm… She could search for a new taijutsu style! With this she could improve her fitness and what not. Also… the taijutsu style that was taught at the academy was rather blocky. It worked better for the boys in her class. And even if she had every stance memorized, the execution of them was choppy and a little off balance. A style more forthcoming to her body and strengths would only do her good in the long run. With every train of thought that passed her mind, her unforeseen idea sounded better and better. The final decision on what to learn was easy. Taijutsu it is.

Now she only had one problem. She had no idea how to find a taijutsu style that fit her.

Slowly, her eyes searched the bookshelves around her for any kind of clue, a divine intervention maybe.

The sound of someone clearing their throat behind her made her jump, a surprised Eeep escaping her. She spun around as fast as possible and found herself faced with the front of a flak jacket. Her eyes wandered upwards and met the dark, amused ones of the shinobi from the front desk. The pink-haired teen jerked backwards to get some distance between her and the shinobi. Remembering her manners, she bowed. "I apologize. How can I help you shinobi-san?" Although his demeanour remained impassive, she could have sworn that the corner of his mouth twitched upwards. "I too apologize for startling you. I just wanted to inquire if you need help finding a specific book or scroll?" Sakura only blinked, not believing her luck. After a few seconds she jerked back to life, looking at a nearby bookshelf and unconsciously fiddling with her now short hair. "I ah… If it isn't too much to ask of you, could you help me find a scroll on taijutsu?" Unsure of his reaction, she chanced a glance at his face, only to see his grey eyebrows disappear into his hitai ate. "Any specific style you are searching for? A name or something?" Her shoulders slumped, already doubting her decision of asking him. Why would a busy Jonin have time to help? Just to be polite, she answered anyway. "No, that's my problem. I need a style that fits me and I have no idea where to start looking…" The gray-haired man tilted his head, his eyes never leaving her. "Are you perhaps a first generation shinobi?" "Ehh?!" His muttered "that confirms it" went unheard. In a louder voice, he reiterated. "Are both your parents civilians?" A nod and a sceptical "Yes, why?" were his answer. "As I thought. You have the distinct disadvantage that you can't ask your parents for advise in such matters…" Sakura's now downright annoyed expression didn't even give him pause. "…Fortunately for you, I can help you in this case." Her distrustful "And why would you bother helping me? It's not as if I can pay you back or anything." was answered swiftly. "First and foremost, I am on library-sitting duty so right now it's basically my job to help people find scrolls and books. Secondly, I am also a first generation ninja and believe me when I tell you, you will need all the help you can get to keep up with all the clan kids and geniuses out there. So, do you want my help?"

The teen only pondered for a second before bowing and answering to the older Jonin. "Your help would be greatly appreciated Jonin-san." "The name's Shirakumo Hayama, kid." "I am Haruno Sakura." "Well then Haruno-kun, let's go search for a fitting taijutsu style." With this the older man strode down the aisle and turned left. The newly minced genin was stunned for a moment before scrambling after the Jonin.

She found him again standing in front of a long bookshelf filled with scrolls and books. With one hand under his chin, he turned his head only marginally to catch her eyes. "What are your strengths?" "Ahh I… my strengths…I am not good with physical activity…" Sakura trailed off at the end, suddenly embarrassed to have to admit it. Shirakumo-san only raised one eyebrow before speaking again. "And I asked you about your strengths. Who said they had to be physical? So Haruno-kun, what are you good at?" The girl opened and closed her mouth a couple of times without a sound coming out. Then she pulled herself together and began listing her strengths, using her fingers to make a point. "I am good with theoretical knowledge." One finger went up. "I can remember things I read once easily and I am also pretty good at analysing things." The next two went up. "My aim is pretty decent." One more finger went up "I like strategy but it's not covered past the basics at the academy so I don't know how good I am. Oh and the teachers told me that I have pretty good chakra control." Two more went up. "And… I can't think of anything else right now." All the while, Shirakumo-san was quietly listening and nodding along.

"Right now, for choosing a taijutsu style, we can disregard your physical condition because you have to work hard and learn a new style either way so why not focus more on the required abilities. Meaning if you take a strength based taijutsu style, you will naturally focus more on your strength and how much damage you can do with one hit. Though a strength based style doesn't fit your own skills at all. Hmm…For you we will need something that works with your body. You are lithe and not all that tall, so speed and evasion are more your forte than raw hit power." The grey-haired shinobi rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Precision…That's it…natural weaknesses, maybe even pressure points?..." The more he talked, the more the Jonin seemed to slip into his own mind, now quietly muttering his thoughts out loud. After a couple of awkward minutes in which Sakura tried and failed to follow Shirakumo-san's thought process, the older shinobi straightened up and looked at her. "I think there should be something fitting around here…" He swiftly went to the further end of the bookshelf and browsed through the mountains of scrolls with skill.

The teenage girl watched on curiously.

In the blink of an eye, the Jonin carried three scrolls back to her. He then motioned for her to follow him to one of the unoccupied tables a short distance away. There he dumped the scrolls and seated himself. Following his example, Sakura plopped down onto a chair opposite him and looked at him expectantly.

"I found you three different styles that could fit you but we'll have to decide which one is best suited. So, first we have "Twisting Butterfly". It's mainly based on evasion, speed and it's unpredictable movements. It can change stances and attacks within a blink of an eye and your own small size would allow you an advantage in speed and evasion. The downsides are that it has very loose kata and my assessment of you tells me that you need fixed kata and stances to learn and strategize accordingly. So without someone helping you adjusting your katas, it will be hard to truly improve with it." All the while, the pink-haired girl nodded and made mental notes. And whereas the style sounded intriguing, the loose kata stances spoke against it. As Shirakumo-san had said, she would need someone to constantly supervise her and correct her lest she fell into bad habits or learned katas wrong. Just her luck that she didn't have anyone to help her in this case. Furthermore, she might get a sensei tomorrow, but she wasn't alone on a team so her sensei would have to split his time between her and her teammates. Besides, she had planned on training alone too, so the style was pretty much ruled out. She shook her head openly and gestured to the next scroll. The grey-haired man only spared her a glance before continuing on, a knowing glint in his eyes. "This one is called "Dance of a thousand cranes", for short "Crane dance". In my opinion, this one will fit you pretty well. It also relies on speed but focuses heavily on hitting pressure points and weak points of the human body. It's supposed to be flowing, lightning fast and accurate when learned properly. It has more kata than the average style and you have to memorize said pressure points etc. which makes it quite complicated but from what you have told me, analysing and learning this style should be in your range of capability."

Shirakumo-san's faith in her surprised her but it also felt good to be seen as capable. Especially after she had been beating herself up about almost everything since yesterday evening.

She went over the provided info in her head again and she came to like the idea of it more and more. A small smile had stolen itself on her face without her noticing till the Jonin opposite returned it. It lightened up the air around him considerably and he seemed more approachable. The scar on the right corner of his mouth stretched but instead of looking menacing like it would have with some other people, it looked endearing.

"So I take it you agree with my assessment?" "Yes! It sounds amazing! I'll have to find some scrolls on human anatomy and pressure points next…" A sound between a cough and a laugh escaped the Jonin at her enthusiastic rambling and he interjected quickly as she paused to take a breath. "Just to wrap this up quickly, the last style would have focused on defence but I see you already decided to take a different approach." His face had evened out again to its former neutral expression but his eyes shone with amusement. "The shelves with scrolls on anatomy and pressure points are a little further down this lane. I have to get back to the counter before I am accused of slacking off too much. Good luck Haruno-kun." He stood and scooped the two unnecessary scrolls into his arms but before he could disappear back to his post, the hesitant voice of the teen stopped him. "Shirakumo-san could I come to you again when I have a question? I mean if it isn't too much trouble?" The older man blinked once before his lips quirked up slightly. "I am still here for the next two weeks before I get another assignment. It can be quite boring with so few people visiting the library so I wouldn't be opposed to some company once in a while." The teenage girl deciphered his meaning instantly and gave the Jonin a grateful smile.

With this, Shirakumo-san walked back to his post and Sakura lifted her newly acquired taijutsu scroll up reverently. The scroll had a thick band of red colour on both edges, everything else was rather unremarkable.

This scroll contained the first step to become stronger.

She would learn till she got a headache and she would train till she dropped, over and over again. Then she would become stronger. She was sure of it.

AN: Yessss! Chapter three finished!
As I said, I think the chapters get better quality-wise, don't you agree?
Shirakumo Hayama is a legit character in Naruto, although a background character with no importance. I prefer using already existing characters and he fit perfectly.
So, anyone up to guess what kind of ninja Sakura will become later on? It will definitely be different from canon, it's a fanfic after all.
I would love it if you left me a comment.
-yours truly LadyInkwell