Author's Note:

Thank you everyone for your kind reviews!

Please keep in mind this story is NOT cannon-compliant to either the anime or the manga. It will deviate more and more as we go along.

I intend for this to be a beast of a fic, so rest assured that I will be updating on a regular basis and chapters will be 3,500 - 4,500 words in length. I hope to update on a weekly schedule, with new chapters coming out every Wednesday evening. However, I am painfully aware that I am my own worst enemy when it comes to procrastination and will not promise that life won't get in the way.

Chapter Two

Sakura ground her teeth in frustration. Kakashi-sensei is an asshole.

Obviously we committed some gross atrocity in a past life, Inner grumbled. I'm thinking mass homicide or something equally horrendous.

That's the only logical explanation, she agreed.

It had been two days since the Epiphany Exercise, as she mentally dubbed it, and she could now state that Kakashi had a phobia of punctuality. He had continued to instruct his pupils to arrive at Training Ground Seven at a miserable hour while he failed to show up any earlier than mid-morning. Idly wondering if he bestowed the Hokage with the same honor, or if he limited his irritating tardiness to his three students, Sakura blew her long bangs out of her face and leaned her shoulder against the middle training post.

She had spent the past half hour watching the sky gradually lighten from a deep indigo to a soft cornflower blue. The air was damp with moisture, the birds were just beginning to sing their morning ballad, and the sun had not yet turned the practice area into a scorching wasteland. It would be have been a tranquil atmosphere if not for the presence of two moronic boys.

Now that's a bit harsh. I'm sure Sasuke couldn't have earned the spot of Top Rookie if he didn't have braincells, though at this point I agree that they must be overshadowed by his ego or he wouldn't let Naruto goad him into their ridiculous arguments.

Sakura snorted in amusement as she glanced over her shoulder. The peaceful quiet of the morning was split by the angry voices of her male teammates. She had long given up trying to follow what they were bickering about - it changed from one moment to the next. Without Kakashi around to keep them in line, they quickly dissolved into testosterone fueled discord.

At least we came prepared today. Sakura had hesitated to bring such a non-essential item the day prior, but considering that their sensei had no shame in publicly reading porn, she mentally shrugged and pulled a library book from her hip pouch. Settling with her back resting against the post, she resolved to at least be mildly productive while waiting for their sensei to show up.

Chakra Nature: Types and Combinations had been written by a half-senile monk approximately fifty years prior, but it provided a through breakdown of the five major chakra natures, the nine known combination techniques, and tips for "connecting to one's inner energy". An often-repeated suggestion called for extensive meditation, which she had never had the patience or the interest to do so during her academy days.

He's a fucking monk, what the hell were you expecting him to suggest? asked Inner in disbelief. Sakura grimaced in defeat and mentally added it her training checklist.

As the monk had lived along the northern boarder of Fire and made frequent pilgrimages through the newly-established shinobi villages, the text presented interesting points on the distribution of the chakra types throughout the five nations. Unsurprisingly, the nations' names corresponded with their population's prevailing chakra type. However, Konohagakure, with it's more lenient immigration policy, had developed a greater diversity and as such was generally considered to be an annoyance during times of international conflict, as the opposing forces could not focus on defending from techniques of a sole nature.

Sakura paused to stare blankly at the pages as her mind started to whirl. If the unpredictability of the nature based jutsu of Konoha's ninja forces had created an advantage over their opponents during times of war, was it possible to recreate the same effect on a smaller scale? A individual scale?

"Mah, Sakura-chan, that must be a fascinating read, but how about we head over to get started on our mission for the day, mm?"

She jumped, startled out of her contemplation. Sakura glanced up to see Kakashi standing in front of her with his hands stuffed in his pockets and his visible eye creased in amusement.

Damn sneaky ninja.

That is the goal, right?

Ignoring Inner, Sakura stood and dusted the grass from her backside. She saw Kakashi's eyebrow raise when he noticed the title of the book she slid into her hip pouch, but he made no comment as they moved to intercept her two still-squabbling teammates. A swift smack to the back of their heads had the boys finally ceasing to verbally abuse one another.

Unfortunately, once they realized who was responsible for their head trauma, they turned their ire onto the jonin.

"YOU'RE LATE, KAKASHI-SENSEI!" yelled Naruto.

Sasuke didn't bother adding his own snide remark, but his glare burned into their unapologetic teacher. Kakashi waved off their irritation with a lame excuse and briefed them on their mission for the day. As she had expected, it was another dull D-rank, which probably meant that she'd be forced to play mediator between her teammates and the client.

The previous day's task of painting a fence for a local business owner had not exactly gone well. Kakashi's lackadaisical attitude had the ability to ruffle even the smoothest of feathers, Sasuke's snobbishness and the Uchiha fan emblazoned proudly on the back of his shirt had earned him a series of sneers, and Naruto's inability to follow the simplest of instructions and subsequent dousing of the client in paint had given her pounding headache by the end of the afternoon.

She was also fairly certain that they had won the questionable honor of being the fastest genin team to earn a negative review from an employer.

Today's mission was helping an elderly woman weed her vegetable garden and Sakura no more optimistic of their chances of completing the deceptively simple job without incident. She was sadly proven correct when they took twice the expected time to finish the task because Naruto and Sasuke decided to turn it into a competition of who could finish their section the quickest and had succeeded in pulling out the woman's medicinal herbs in addition to the invasive weeds.

Kakashi's skeptical gaze and his muttering of "look like weeds to me" had caused their client's face to turn a startling shade of purple and Sakura had genuinely feared that the old lady would have a stroke. After she intervened and calmed the woman down, they were forced to re-plant the delicate seedlings at an excruciating pace while the old bat snarled at them to be careful with her precious herbs and hovered to ensure that no further damage was done.

By the time they had completed their oral debrief with an exasperated Hokage and collected their mission pay, Sakura was ready to go home and to wash off the dirt and relax for a bit before returning to the library to study and finish up her written report.

She was surprised when Kakashi stopped them from shooting off in different directions and said that they weren't yet done for the day.

Chuckling at his student's confused expressions, he explained. "We haven't really had the chance to bond yet. Why don't we grab lunch before starting on the exercise planned for the afternoon. Sensei's treat."

"Bond?" sneered Sasuke. "Why the hell do we need to do that?"

Kakashi sighed and gently patted the Uchiha upside the head with his ever-present orange book, much to her teammate's irritation.

"Have you already forgotten sensei's first lesson?" Kakashi asked in exasperation. His voice hardened with seriousness as he continued. "Your team will be you lifeline when out on missions and the sooner you three learn to trust and rely upon one another, and myself, is the sooner I can start to hope you'll come back home with all limbs attached." A stunned silence met his words.

Naruto was the first to recover from their sensei's sudden serious attitude and hastily suggested Ichiraku ramen as the perfect bonding food. Sakura wrinkled her nose at the suggestion, as ramen had forever been listed as a non-diet food in her mind, but quickly shoved the her hesitations aside.

One of the books she had checked out from the library was a guide to proper nutrition for active shinobi and she was shocked to find that she had been under-eating for the past few years for a girl of her activity level. It turned out the deficiency in calories and nutrients were likely contributing to her inferior stamina and chakra reserves, much to Sakura's horror. While ramen was by no means a "healthy" meal, it did have an abundance of calories that she needed to fuel her body after a long day spent sweating in the sun.

Sakura's casual agreement had Naruto star-struck and at Sasuke's indifferent shrug, he shouted "Dattebayo!" in excitement and tore down the street in the direction of the food stall. The rest of the team continued a more sedate pace, but eventually they were all seated at the counter of the infamous restaurant.

"Oh, ho! Brought some friends today, Naruto-kun?" smiled a kind-looking man behind the counter.

"You 'betcha! This is the team I was telling you about Teuchi-san! I just had to bring them to the best ramen shop in Konoha!" Naruto replied with a grin.

The man, Teuchi, chuckled. "Well its lovely to meet all of you, Naruto-kun here is our number one customer," he stated proudly.

Sakura and Sasuke muttered polite greetings and Kakashi replied with his casual "Yo!" as the owner passed out menus and glasses of water.

After a brief deliberation they placed their orders. Sakura was unsurprised when Kakashi stuck with tradition tonkotsu ramen, but was interested to note he added an extra boiled egg. Naruto's usual turned out be two bowls of miso ramen with extra pork belly. How he could put away two full bowls was beyond her comprehension. Sasuke was a bit adventurous and ordered the garlic miso ramen, which she imagined to have an interesting favor profile.

Sakura was cautious and stuck to the tradition tonkotsu ramen, as it had been a while since she'd indulged in the sodium laden treat but added extra black mushrooms to increase the vitamin total. The food stall was filled with an awkward silence once their orders were collected and Teuchi retreated to prepare the bowls.

Sakura blanched when she realized it was up to her to use her conversation skills to prompt the males into breaking the tense atmosphere. For all Kakashi seemed to support their team development, he clearly had stunted social skills and while Naruto had enthusiasm in spades, she knew his ostracization by a good portion of the village had meant that he had little tact when it came to small talk. She had assumed Sasuke would have been instructed on the finer points of conversation, being from one of the most powerful clans and a member of the main family to boot, but his inability, or unwillingness, to talk had her questioning that assumption.

"So… when is everyone's birthday?" She questioned. At her confused teammates stares, she rolled her eyes and explained further. "If we're going to make an effort to get closer, it only make sense that we make it a rule that we go out for a celebratory dinner on or near our birthdays. Mine's March 28th."

"Mine's October 10th!" cried Naruto.

"July 23rd," came Sasuke's soft reply.

Kakashi didn't seem like he wanted to give his out, but under the glare of his three students he relented.

"September 18th," he finally grunted.

"Oh!" cried Naruto. "Sensei's birthday is coming up soon!"

Kakashi narrowed his visible eye in distaste at the implications of that statement.

"I won't pass up the opportunity of a free meal, but if you three even think about doing anything involving candles, balloons, or, Kami-forbid, singing, I will personally make your lives miserable, got it?" He threatened.

Someone was clearly traumatized at one point. And I don't see how he thinks that's an effective threat, snorted Inner. Isn't he already making our lives miserable? Then again, if he doesn't consider daily D-ranks as misery, what the hell do you thing he does?

Mentally shuddering in fear, Sakura was quick to change the subject as Teuchi arrived with their meals. With only minimal encouragement on her part, the team was able to carry on in casual conversation and finish lunch in peace. Though the three genin had tried their damnedest, they never did catch Kakashi with his mask down.

. _ . _ . _ .

Bellies full and energy restored, the team followed their sensei through the winding streets of Konoha as he led them to their afternoon "exercise". Sakura was fearful of what their masked sensei had come up with, given that the last one had resulted in her utter failure.

"Uh… Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hm?" he replied without looking back.

"What exactly is this exercise?" she asked in trepidation.

He glanced at her in amusement but didn't faulted in his steady pace. "It's actually something inspired by that book you were reading this morning." He answered.

Sakura frowned. She received looks of bewilderment for the boys. She knew they had noticed that she had chosen to bide her time that morning reading, but they apparently hadn't paid any attention to the title.

"Is this going to be mediation practice?" she asked. That was the only training she had gleamed to be recommended by the text. Naruto and Sasuke relaxed marginally at the suggestion.

Kakashi tilted his head to the side in thought. "Mhm, a good guess, but no." The boys tensed back up again. At Sasuke's frustrated huff at his answer, Kakashi turned around and started walking backwards in order to fix them in his gaze.

"How about my cute little students trust in their sensei, hm?"

At the skeptical looks he received, Kakashi sighed. "I promise it's nothing too terribly taxing. And you might just learn something interesting about yourselves." He swiveled back around and effectively ended the line of questioning.

The three genin grumbled softly but contained their curiosity until the group reached the outside of a small, nondescript shop. Kakashi didn't pause he stepped through the door, a small bell ringing to announce their presence.

They hurried in behind him, but stopped in the entry as the door swung shut. Sakura blinked in surprise. Sensei had lead them to a … fuinjutsu shop?

That's certainly what they appeared to be standing in. The walls were stacked high with organizers containing various types of chakra sensitive paper, brushes, ink stones, and multiple colors of inks.

"Feel free to look around, I won't be long," instructed Kakashi. "But don't touch anything." He said with a sharp look at Naruto who had already started to stretch out a hand to fondle the soft-look brush bristles. Naruto blushed and quickly pulled his hand back.

"Yes, sensei." They chorused sweetly. He gave them one final wary glance before he started toward the shop keeper behind the counter.

Sakura joined the boys in pursuing the shelves, arms carefully crossed behind her back to suppress the temptation of grazing her fingers along the items. She was still curious as to what they were doing in the shop. The academy had taught very little on the art of seals, only briefly glossing over the fact that they were used frequently in explosive tags and storage scrolls, as well as a measure of security when transporting important documents.

Iruka had always been adamant that no student attempt to create their own seals without the supervision of an experienced specialist. He had advised that trying to save a few dollars on explosive tags by making their own would in all likelihood result in blowing the entire village to smithereens.

Kakashi was true to his word and after taking only a few minutes to make his purchase - small squares of thin paper - he quickly herded his students together and back out into the summer sun. Ignoring Sakura and Sasuke's curious looks and Naruto's badgering, he shuffled them along to a nearby park before turning to finally address them.

"These," he said holding up the five small slips "are chakra papers. By pushing a small portion of your chakra into them, we'll be able to distinguish your chakra nature and have an idea of where to focus when you three eventually start learning ninjutsu." His lips twitched behind his mask, barely suppressing a smug grin at his students' awed expressions.

He took one of the pieces of paper in between his index and middle finger of his right hand and it rapidly crumpled as he applied chakra to it. Sakura's jaw dropped and Naruto cheered as Kakashi handed out the remaining slips. Even Sasuke looked vaguely impressed.

"As you can see by my demonstration, I have lightning natured chakra. While it is certainly possible to learn jutsu outside of your natural inclination, and many jonin eventually specialize in two, it will be a slower process than if you were attempting to master one of your own nature. Now go ahead, my adorable little students, and let's see what you've got."

Kakashi seemed unsurprised when Naruto was the fastest to shove his chakra into his paper and it promptly split down the middle and fluttered to the ground.

"Naruto-kun here has wind natured chakra. Although more common to Suna, it's not an unusual for Konoha shinobi." Kakashi observed. Sasuke was the next to snap out of his daze and concentrate on his own paper.

Sakura detected a glimmer of amusement in their sensei's gray eyes as the edge Sasuke was griping burst into flame and he yelped - dropping it to the ground in shock. A moment before it became consumed by the fire, the far still-intact corner crumpled as well.

"Sasuke-kun has, expectedly, fire natured chakra - it's one of the hallmark features of the Uchiha clan. He also seems to have lightning as his secondary nature."

"Two chakra types?" Sasuke asked puzzled.

Kakashi nodded.

"Yes, about one out of four shinobi is what we refer to as dual-natured. It'll come in handy down the line as you expand your jutsu collection. Now, last but not least, why don't you go ahead Sakura-chan?" He crinkled his eye at her gently.

Sakura nodded nervously and clutched her sheet tightly as she pushed a minuscule amount of chakra into it. The paper first dampened and then crumpled into a soggy ball.

Her eyes widened in shock. While her lightning natured chakra was not too uncommon in Konoha, water certainly was. Especially as the primary type. For all that Kiri's recent bloody history provoked fear and a desire to flee within its communities, the boarders were notoriously tight - the Land of Water, and by extension the Village Hidden in the Mist, wasn't willing to let other nations potentially profit from their internal conflict.

Kakashi rubbed at the back of his head. "Well Sakura-chan… that's certainly an… interesting combination you have there."

Fuck, now you've gone and done it. We've been made interesting. Inner spat the final word as if it was a curse. Nothing gets a head removed faster.

Would you stop being so dramatic? We're on a squad lead by the famous Copy Ninja, surely we can depend on him taking the brunt of homicidal maniacs attention… right?

She turned her attention back to the team in front of her. Naruto had already started to moan how he was the only one on the group with a single nature, somehow completely forgetting about Kakashi, and Sasuke was gazing at her with ill-concealed resentment burning in his dark eyes.

Oh ho, looks like baby Uchiha doesn't like sharing the spotlight. Inner grinned wickedly.

Sakura winced. That's not quite the attention I was trying to get from him.

Look here you little shit, we've already discussed this. Focus being a better kunoichi. We'll come back to the topic of boys once the voices finish crackling and they grow some goddamn balls.

Sakura coughed to hide her squeak of embarrassment at the comment. She glanced up at Kakashi and saw that he was regarding her with a frown. His face quickly smoothed when he realized she was looking and he crinkled his eye at her once again.

It's like he's pulling on a mask. She mused.

Doubly impressive considering less than a quarter of his face is showing. Inner added dryly.

Pervy-book-reading—sensei probably come to the same conclusion we did. Water nature equals probable Kiri ancestry and thus equals becoming interesting to people you really don't want to be catching the attention of.

And interesting equals dead for tiny pink haired genin.

. _ . _ . _ .

Though Inner's harsh assessment had damped her spirits for the rest of the evening, the next morning Sakura woke up with a brighter outlook. There was nothing she could do to change her chakra natures - and Inner was most likely correct in that they would eventually draw unwanted attention - but that didn't mean she couldn't embrace the unique opportunity presented to her.

Sakura hopped out of bed and threw on her clothes for the day. After a quick but nutritious breakfast with her parents, she headed out the door and in the direction of the library.

Kakashi had instructed his students to once again meet at Training Ground Seven at a unreasonable hour, but as she had no intention of wasting the pleasant morning listening to the boys squabble and since their sensei was unlikely to show up until several hours later, Sakura threw caution to the wind and decided she'd spend her time seeing if she could find any beginner-friendly water style ninjutsu scrolls.

It was still early enough that her sanctuary of the written word wouldn't yet be open, but she had no objection to trying her hand at meditation to pass the time until the chunin assigned for the day arrived.

Settling on the top step of the library's stairs with her legs crossed, her eyes closed, and her hands lightly resting on tops of her knees, Sakura took several deep breaths.

She had glanced through a few texts the previous evening again to reacquaint herself with a few of the exercises outlined and had elected to go with one titled "The Senses". The premise was fairly simple: she would center her focus on each of her senses, acknowledge what they relayed, and then gradually let her awareness fade until it was only a slight tickle at the back of her mind. It seemed to be the safest method to master, as it allowed her to still perceive any threats while clearing her mind.

On her next inhale, Sakura concentrated on everything she could feel. The coolness of the concrete beneath her, slightly damp with the morning dew, the soft pressure of her clothes against her skin, the gentle caress of a breeze on her face, and the tickling of hair on her shoulders. After a few breaths focusing on the sensations, she slowly blew the air out her lungs and her awareness with it.

A slight smile bloomed on her lips as she recognized that the exercise was actually working. While she could still feel everything, it was overlaid by a subtle numbness. Encouraged, she continued on.

On the next inhale, Sakura focused on the smells around her. The fresh grass was fragrant due to the moisture in the air, there was a soft sweetness that she associated with the roses planted in the library's front garden, and the warm sent of baking bread drifted on the wind, no doubt from the bakery two blocks over. More swiftly this time, she centered herself and exhaled through her nose. She could feel herself slipping further into the space where the only things she was fully cognizant of were the silence in her mind and the surging of chakra through her body.

Finally, Sakura focused the sounds she could hear. The gentle swaying of leaves as they rustled in the wind, the twittering of sparrows foraging for worms, and the distant sleepy bustle of the morning market getting underway. With one last deep exhale, she felt a serene smile take shape.

Now she could understand what the crazy monk had been ranting about. This level of internal reflection was energizing. She could literally feel the individual chakra pathways running through her, pooling and swirling at the certain points and rushing quickly through narrow channels in others.

She felt powerful. Like with enough determination she climb mountains, crush boulders with her bare hands, or -

Her eye twitched and her mouth turned down into frown. There were two male voices talking loudly nearby. The sound quickly turned into near-shouting as the pair moved further down the street and closer to her position on the steps.

Who the fuck is shouting about youth this early in the goddamn morning?!

Scowling in agreement, Sakura slowly peeled back her lids until she could squint down the road in the direction of the distraction. Convinced that she must be hallucinating, Sakura opened both her eyes fully and turned her head to gaze directly at the forms coming towards her.

There was a man in a hideously green jumpsuit, of all things, and a mini-me trailing not far behind him. Even odder than their matching bowl-cuts was the fact they were walking on their hands.

What the hell?

Sakura froze when their gazes fell on her. The pair quickly righted themselves and, with matching blindingly bright grins, were instantly standing in front of her.

Oh Kami, what sort of demons have we attracted now?

Post Note:

If anyone reading hasn't had the chance to try authentic ramen I'm praying for your soul, because I can tell you right now that you are missing out on an essential part of life. There's a local ramen shop that I spend way too much time and money at.

And if anyone is wondering, my order is the same as Kakashi's. Tonkotsu ramen with an extra egg. Yum!

Also, I realized I made a slight error in the previous chapter by placing the end of the academy year in late summer, which is nowhere near the Japanese usual of final terms ending in the spring, but then when I went back to the anime, Naruto's calendar appears to be on October in Episode 3? I'm super confused on the timeline, so we're just gonna roll with my original of the end summer.

Reviews are always appreciated! And feel free to leave your favorite ramen!

Also, because your comments make me smile, I'll be replying at the end of every chapter to the ones that I have received prior to the posting. The only exception to this rule will be any truly hateful commentary, as I do not believe in giving attention-seekers the response they desire.

Much love,

Mistress Kakashi

lovecrazyhedgehog - I just acquired a beta reader, so hopefully any spelling or grammar issues will be caught before future chapters get posted. Yes, Sakura and Inner's conversations are not cannon-compliant, but as I regularly talk to myself in real life, I took some liberties when writing them. Thank you for your review!

Brookeskto - The convos between Sakura and Inner are some of my favorites to write, so I'm glad you're enjoying them. Thank you for reviewing!

Suzululu4more - Sakura's training plan isn't done yet, she's gonna hate me by the time we really get started! *wink* Thank you for reviewing!

Guest Reviewer #1 - I'm glad you like my interpretation of Sakura. Yes, she does quite quickly realize the error in her ways, but then again I've always been a bit disenfranchised with the fact that she didn't work to get better until after her love interest disappeared on a vengeful rampage. *rolls eyes* Yep, I defiantly plan on continuing this fic! I already have the next dozen or so chapters planned out! Thank you for reviewing!

Wake Up Steampunk - I'm glad you're enjoying Sakura and Inner's relationship, as their interactions are the most fun to write. Repetition is something I've really learned is a problem when writing and I'm trying my darnest to avoid it, so glad to know that's working! In regards to your advice on the hair color issue, do you have any pointers on how to avoid falling into that hole? I honestly hate the word "pinkette" but figure it wasn't considered to be a proper word because, well, people don't naturally have pink hair. The fact that it appears to be a bastardization of "brunette" briefly alleviated my hesitation in using it in my work, but I'm now starting to question that logic. The reason for my word use also links back to the problem of repetition, where I'm trying not to constantly be repeating character's names. Again, I super-duper appreciate your tips and any advice you have for a novice writer. Thank you so much for reviewing!

Angie2002-01 - I'm glad you're enjoying it so far! Hopefully this chapter lives up to your expectations. *wink* Thank you for reviewing!