Chapter 7 here! Constructive criticism is something I can take.

I don't own Naruto.

Chapter Seven: Her Friends

It was 5:58 a.m. Two minutes before Ino was due to arrive. Sakura sat in the rafters hoping to surprise her when she came in. All her medical stuff was laid out on one of the lab tables. Sakura sighed, two minutes sure did seem like a long time when you wanted to surprise somebody, and teaching Ino was going to be hard work. She didn't have to wait much longer though, because just then, Ino came in the door, slightly out of breath. "Are you happy Forehead girl, I got here just in t..." She stopped, looking around. She did not see Sakura anywhere, but her stuff was on the table. Did she step out for something? She thought, confused. Up in the rafters Sakura grinned. She knew just the thing to scare the wits out of the pig. When Ino was occupied with looking at the medical stuff Sakura silently hopped down and went right behind Ino. She shut her eyes for a moment, letting her chakra run to them, and when she opened them again they were her creepy, yellow eyes with slits for pupils. Grinning even wider, Sakura tapped Ino on the shoulder with her finger.

Ino felt a tap on her shoulder. She felt Sakura's presence and she turned around. There, staring at her were two yellow eyes. It was silent for a second or two and then Ino screamed. "AHHHHHHH GET AWAY GET AWAY I DON'T WANT TO BE EATEN!" Flailing her arms she succeeded in knocking Sakura to the ground. Laughing, she let the chakra disappear from her eyes. "Ha ha ha! Ino you should have seen your face!" Ino glared at the still giggling Sakura. "That wasn't funny Sakura. You almost gave me a heart attack!" Stifling her giggles Sakura looked up at her. "I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist. You always get scared by me. You should know better by now." Ino harrumphed and looked away, crossing her arms over her chest. Sighing, Sakura stood up and brushed herself off. "Alright, fun's over. It's time to get down to business." She walked to the other side of the table and looked at Ino. She was still sulking. Sakura cocked her head. "Do you want me to scare you into learning this or are you going to do it yourself?" "I'll do it myself." Ino finally said. She turned around and looked at Sakura, cocking an eyebrow. "Right, let's get to work, and remember Ino, after you learn how to heal major wounds, the real work begins." Ino gulped.

Two and a half hours later Sakura was walking back to her house. That went pretty well for Ino's first time healing an animal. Ino had succeeded in reviving a hurt bird, and it flew off. Ino was pretty excited about that and she would not stop talking about it. Speaking of birds, when Sakura got to her room, there was one on her windowsill with a letter in its mouth. It must be Temari's reply! Hurriedly Sakura put her stuff down and retrieved the letter from the bird. It flew off, squawking. Sitting down on her bed Sakura read Temari's letter.

Sakura,

It's been so long since I've spoken to you. I'm doing all right, mostly learning new jutsu and trying to keep Gaara or the Kazekage in your case, from killing Kankuro. He won't seem to stop teasing Gaara about something unknown to me. Humph, oh well, I'll find out eventually. Actually I want to thank you for providing me with an excuse to come to Konoha. I would love to be on your team with the other girls. I suppose you will receive this around nine something. I should be at the Konoha gates by noon tomorrow evening. I know I know, you usually don't expect me that soon, but I left right after I sent the bird with this letter. I just can't wait for more training! I look forward to training under you Haruno-sensei. See you and the other's soon!

Temari No-Subaku

Sakura felt giddy. Tomorrow she could start training her fellow kunoichi's in the art of chakra control. It was sooner than she expected, so she decided to go find the girls and tell them training would be set earlier than planned. She went to all their houses, and any places they might be but she could not find them anywhere. Weird, I was just with Ino, how could she disappear this quick? Sakura thought about it some more. They're not in their houses so that must mean they are together somewhere. Now that I think about it, there is still some repairing going on the mountain. Perhaps I should look there. With that thought in mind, Sakura sped off on rooftops to her destination. Sure enough, when she got there, there they were. They were trying to lift a heavy log that used to keep water from running down into the village. It didn't look like they were having much luck. That's another thing I've got to teach them. Sakura thought, and walked up to them.

"Need any help?" The girl's all looked at her. "Sakura, what are you doing here, aren't you in the hospital by this time?" asked Tenten. Sakura shook her head. "I didn't have to help out today. I was teaching Ino remember?" She then walked up to the log and lifted it as easily as if it were a sack of feathers. She took it to the edge of the mountain and sealed it there with some of her chakra bindings. It was strong enough to keep the log from moving anymore. With that done, she wiped her hands together and looked back toward the girls. They were all gaping at her. "What? It's not like you haven't seen me lift heavy stuff before." Ino shook her head to wake herself up. "We know that, but it's still shocking to see you pick up about a thousand pound log that three people can't pick up all by yourself." "What did you come up here for anyway?" Sakura grinned.

"Ah, about that…Temari sent me a letter." The girls" eyes widened again, and they all rushed to her. "W...what did she s..say?" Hinata asked. Sakura told them, and then showed them the letter as if to prove it. "Wow, tomorrow? This is wonderful; I get to see Temari again!" Ino shouted. "Yeah, just don't start fighting with her over Shikamaru again." Tenten told her. Ino glared. "I do not like Shikamaru!" The other three raised their eyebrows at her. "I didn't ask you that." Tenten said smugly. Ino, realizing her mistake, flushed a deep red. Chuckling Sakura turned around to view her village. From this height she could see everything. It was quickly being restored to its old glamour, maybe even better. Sakura sighed. She did not know what to do with herself now that she did not have anything to do until tomorrow. It was only ten-o-clock, and if she wasn't careful, she might start daydreaming about Sasuke again. That wouldn't help her concentrate at all tomorrow, so she asked, once again. "Need any help?"

Apparently, they did need her help. They kept her going until nine that night. Tired and sore, Sakura trudged home, wishing to take a shower. Hopefully she would be revived in time in the morning to go meet Temari at the gates. Before she could get home though, a voice called out to her. "Sakura-chan!" It was Naruto, waving her over from Ichiraku's. Oh well, it's nice to see Naruto out of bed rest, and I am a little hungry. Changing her direction, she trudged over to Naruto and sat down beside of him. "I would like one miso ramen please." She told Ayame. Turning to Naruto she smiled. It seemed for once he didn't have anything to say. He just wanted her company, and slurping...or should I say inhaling, his ramen didn't help much either. Turning her chopsticks around her bowl that was just set in front of her, she started eating.

Naruto had asked her what was going on, and in between bites, Sakura told him everything. From her fight with Konan to the training she was about to give to Hinata and the other girls. Naruto's eyes widened when she came to the part about Sasuke and he started yelling. Sakura had to try to quite him down before he caused a commotion. "I'm fine Naruto, it was just a bit of a shock to me that's all, and besides I declined the offer." Naruto's head lowered. "Yeah, but it would have been nice to bash that teme's head in though." Sakura's look saddened. Naruto always thought of Sasuke as a brother, and it killed him as much as it did her, when he left. It was even more of a blow to him when they saw Sasuke again two years ago. Sakura hugged him and tried to cheer him up. "It'll be all right Naruto, I'm sure you'll get the chance someday, maybe even sooner than you think. Besides, you still have me here to bash your head in don't you?" Naruto grinned. "You're right Sakura, what am I moping about?"

He looked down at his ten bowls of ramen and looked back up at Sakura sheepishly. Scratching the back of his head he said, "Heh heh, hey Sakura, do you mind paying for these? I don't have enough money." Sakura glared at him. Naruto started sweating. "Heh, see ya around Sakura, gotta go!" He left. Sakura yelled. "Naruto you baka!"

After emptying her allowance paying for her and Naruto's ramen Sakura was once again trudging home. She tried to get her annoyance with Naruto out of her head by thinking about that shower again. She finally unlocked the door to her house and went in. She stopped. There was something that woke her up more than that shower. She felt unfamiliar chakra, someone was in her house. Cautiously, she tiptoed up to her room with a kunai in her hand. She opened her door, and raised her kunai quickly, but before she threw it, she stopped. There, sitting on her bed, was the last person she expected. The person looked at her. "Hello Sakura...you miss me?"