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Chapter 8: Worthwhile Training


Sasuke's POV

"There's something on my chest."

I groaned when I felt my head throbbing once I woke up. I brought my hand to my temples, massaging it in an attempt to make my headache go away. My eyelids were heavier than usual and I almost had a difficult time opening them. Judging from the sunlight penetrating through my eyelids, I knew that it was already morning.

However, the weight on my chest was still a mystery.

After I finally managed to open my eyes, I allowed them to drift down to where the weight lies on. I was completely awake in an instant when I saw what it was. To be more exact, to see who it was.

It was Sakura, who was sleeping soundly as if she had no worries or whatsoever.

The situation I found myself in brought heat onto my face and body. It reminded me that I fell sick last night.

"Why in the world did I fall sick all of a sudden?"

I pushed that thought aside for now and focused on the present instead. I was aware that we were most likely running late for training, hence, I needed to wake Sakura up.

But she looked worn out and was in a deep slumber. She must be tired from taking care of me last night.

"Did she carry me from that bench all the way back to the castle?"

A small smile creep onto my face at that thought and it quickly caught me off guard. There was an unfamiliar feeling inside of me and I couldn't begin to understand what it was. It was definitely something more than a feeling of gratefulness.

My smile returned to my face when I saw how calm Sakura appeared to be when she was asleep. It almost made me forgot that she could be a rather violent and bad-tempered woman.

"Alright, I should seriously wake her up."

I gently shook her shoulder while hoping that she wasn't a heavy sleeper. I sighed in relief when I saw her eyes slowly opening upon feeling the contact.

Sakura rested a hand on her forehead as she got up from where she had been laying her head on. She yawned and ran her hand through her messy pink hair. I could see that she was still feeling very sleepy and her eyes were on the verge of closing again.

That was until she finally saw where she was and who she was with.

Her face was a few centimeters away from mine when her eyes shot wide open. She was frozen still for a few moments before literally jumping out of her chair.

She stared at me with an incredibly flushed face and for once, I wasn't sure what I should do. Should I break the awkwardness with a mean joke or should I just shut up and wait for Sakura to say something?

Hold on, since when did I start thinking of what to do? I had never bothered to actually brainstorm on my next actions.

I closed my eyes for a few moments, trying to untangle my messed up thoughts. When I had finally made up my mind, I turned to Sakura, who seemed to have stopped freaking out that much.

"Thank you."


Sakura's POV

"Did Sasuke just thank me?"

I blinked my eyes repetitively, trying to confirm that I wasn't in a dream. I would never have expected someone like Sasuke Uchiha to be capable of thanking someone.

My earlier embarrassment and shock was gone after a simple word of gratitude. Before I knew it, I was smiling and was almost giggling at the face Sasuke was making. Thanking another person was definitely not something he did very often. He looked so awkward that I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"What's so funny?"

My soft giggles turned into loud laughter when Sasuke snapped at me. The tint of pink on his cheek didn't help make the whole situation less amusing.

I decided that it was best I stopped teasing him when he began sending deadly glares at me. I walked over to the window and realized that it was already pretty late. I turned around and saw that Sasuke was getting out of the bed.

"Are you feeling alright?" I asked as I walked over to Sasuke, who was stretching once he set foot onto the floor.

"I had a slight headache when I woke up but it's gone now. I guess I'm almost fully recovered."

"That's good to hear. I don't want you to faint in the middle of training. It's not easy taking care of you, you know."

I blushed at the thought of how I 'took care' of him last night.

"I should stop thinking about that kiss. Wait, I shouldn't call it a kiss."

Sasuke must have guessed what I had in mind and looked away, not wanting to make any eye contact. And for once, I was glad Sasuke decided to give one of his usual annoying comments to break the tension in the air.

"I thought you're a capable doctor, Sakura. Handling a person with a fever should be a simple task."

Rolling my eyes was all I could manage as I tried not to show that I was relieved he had saved us from a potential awkward situation. Without another word, I walked over to the door and Sasuke followed along. He opened the door for me and almost screamed when I saw who was on the other side.

It was Kakashi-sensei outside the room, appearing very amused at what he was seeing.

"The two of you weren't at the training grounds, so I decided to check if everything was alright."

I was completely speechless and I was hoping Sasuke would say something. When I glanced over to him, I could see that he had no intention of explaining things to Kakashi-sensei.

I glared at Sasuke, which was my way of telling him to say something. Of course, I was completely ignored.

I groaned before turning back to Kakashi-sensei, forcing a smile despite feeling frustrated at Sasuke's uncooperative attitude.

"Sorry, Kakashi-sensei, last night was pretty rough and we overslept."

I was confused as to why Sasuke was suddenly massaging his temples and there was a frown on his face.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"Young people such as you two sure like things rough. I completely understand though. I wonder why none of your friends complained about loud noises. It seems like you guys know how to keep your volume down. That's good to know."

After Kakashi-sensei finished talking, I finally understood what I have done. I shrieked before frantically trying to explain myself.

"You misunderstood what I meant, Kakashi-sensei! All I did was taking care of Sasuke because he was sick."

"Sasuke seems to have fully recovered already. You must have taken very good care of him last night, Sakura."

Kakashi-sensei was definitely not listening to me.

I sighed in defeat while Sasuke acted as if none of this was of his concern. Kakashi-sensei was chuckling as he continued speaking.

"Anyway, Tsunade-sama has something important to announce so training will be stopped for the time being. So, head over to the main hall once you're prepared."

I rushed back to my room without making another eye contact with either Sasuke or Kakashi-sensei. I just had to escape that messed up situation.

Before I closed my room's door behind me, I heard Kakashi-sensei saying something to Sasuke. And I swore I almost fainted from embarrassment when I heard it.

"You know, Sasuke, you should be gentler with girls on the bed. Sakura have some serious bed hair."


Sasuke's POV

"You're a genius, Haruno."

"It's your fault for not saying anything, Uchiha."

"Keeping my mouth shut is definitely better than causing a major misunderstanding."

Sakura and I were arguing while we waited for the others to arrive at the main hall. I still couldn't believe Sakura said something so scandalous earlier. If I didn't rudely slam my room's door at Kakashi-sensei's face, he would most likely start giving me a bunch of advice on sex which I didn't want to hear.

The two of us stopped whispering to each other when Naruto entered the hall with his usual stupid grin on his face. And he just had to make my morning worse by opening that mouth of his.

"Sasuke, Sakura, I heard from Kakashi-sensei that the two of you were so busy last night and ended up oversleeping."

Naruto didn't get to say another word because Sakura was laying several punches on him. She was obviously not going easy on that loud blonde.

Sakura stopped beating up Naruto when everyone else and Tsunade-sama had arrived. All the teachers were there as well.

"I gathered everyone so suddenly because I have just received another letter from the Suna Kingdom. It is confirmed that Orochimaru is behind the suspicious activities that has been going on near their borders. It might also be where his hideout is. The king of the Suna Kingdom also said that there has been a rise in the number of activities and we might need to act as soon as possible." Tsunade turned towards her subordinates before asking them about our progress. "Will they be ready to go in three days?"

Our teachers nodded in confidence and it was the man with bushy eye brows who spoke up.

"They are filled with intense youthful passion, Tsunade-sama. Fret not, they will be well and ready in three days!"

I was cringing when Gai-sensei showed off a very sparkly grin. He looked even more ridiculous than Naruto. And that green spandex of his was an eyesore.

"That's good to hear. Go back to your training at once."

"Here comes another day of Kakashi-sensei's hellish training." Naruto mumbled more to himself but I heard him nevertheless.

I was actually looking forward to it.


Sakura's POV

"Stop moving, Naruto!"

"But it hurts so much, Sakura!"

"If you move another inch, I will completely break your leg."

"You're so mean."

After training for several hours, Naruto had sprained his ankle due to his own carelessness. Luckily for him, I had brought along medicines, bandages and other common medical stuffs. I asked Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke to resume training as I tended to Naruto's injury.

Apparently, Sasuke had been unusually enthusiastic and it was definitely a rare sight. It was pretty obvious that he enjoyed training with Kakashi-sensei.

It showed how much he respected Kakashi-sensei and wanted to learn from him.

My attention went back to Naruto when he screamed in pain. I sighed in frustration as I bandaged his left ankle, all the while scolding him for his own carelessness.

"If you're not so clumsy, you wouldn't end up yelling in pain like this."

I stood up from the ground once I was done with bandaging and shook my head in disapproval. Even though it wasn't a major injury, he was unable to train for the day and had to wait until tomorrow.

"Rest your ankle for now and continue training tomorrow morning."

Naruto was about to complain but I stopped him from doing so with a glare. He began grumbling as he headed over to rest under a nearby tree.

That should teach him not to be so reckless.

"It seems like you do have a great potential to be a great figure in the medical field."

I jumped in surprise when someone suddenly spoke from behind me. I turned around and came face to face with Tsunade, who seemed impressed with what she had seen earlier. I was so focused on treating Naruto that I didn't notice someone else's presence behind me. I quickly regained my composure and greeted the queen politely.

She gave me a gentle smile before speaking again, "I believe that being able to heal the wounded is equally important as being able to fight. I am willing to teach you more about medicines and healing techniques before you leave for the Suna Kingdom. Are you interested, Sakura?"

"Of course, Tsunade Jooheika!"

Even though I didn't know much about Tsunade, Kakashi-sensei once mentioned that the queen was Konoha Kingdom's best doctor and her skills were highly recognized among the people of the Hidden Kingdoms. Although I had yet to spend much time in this mysterious land, I was aware of the extraordinary abilities the people possessed around here.

Just looking at how Sasuke was barely able to keep up with Kakashi-sensei was proof that people of the Konoha Kingdom weren't exactly normal.

"That's good to hear, Sakura. Well then, I'll tell Kakashi-sensei that from now on, you'll train directly under me."

It took all the self control I had to prevent myself from squealing like an over excited little girl. It still didn't stop me from appearing absolutely excited. I allowed myself to grin like an idiot as I watched Tsunade walked over to Kakashi-sensei to inform him of the new plan for my training regime.

"This is definitely a once in a lifetime chance."


Sasuke's POV

In a blink of an eye, it was already the night before we needed to head over to the Suna Kingdom. It was decided that our teachers would be joining us on the mission. Tsunade also mentioned that there would be another person joining us but she had yet to mention who he was.

Well, whoever he was, if he was personally chosen by the queen, he must be a very skillful fighter.

And I must say, training with Kakashi-sensei for only several days was more fruitful than a year long of training on my own. He taught me new things and brought out some of my inner capabilities which I never even knew existed in the first place.

If there were more chances in the future, I would definitely want to train with him again.

During dinner that night, Tsunade announced that we would gather at the castle's gate at 6 AM the next morning. We were advised to have plenty of sleep because the journey to the Suna Kingdom would take several hours.

I decided to catch some fresh air before going back to my room after I was done with dinner. I walked to the garden to relax on the bench and was sort of surprised to see that someone had beaten me to it.

With just a glimpse of pink hair, I knew who it was.

Without saying a word, I silently sat beside Sakura, causing her to screech due to shock. I didn't respond coherently and was just staring back at her with an odd look on my face. All she did was rolling her eyes before leaning back onto the bench.

She was sighing more than usual and she was clearly exhausted. Her overall appearance showed that she had been working hard for the last few days. It was as if she didn't even bother to fix her hair.

"You look like you just wrestled with a lion."

My casual remark broke the silence and it was followed by a snicker from Sakura.

"Are you attempting to joke, Sasuke? If you do, let me just say you're terrible at being funny."

"Do I look like the type of person who jokes?"

Sakura actually gave my question some thoughts before deciding that I could never ever be a comedian no matter how hard I try. The topic was dropped soon afterwards and silence enveloped us once again.

"How's your training with Kakashi-sensei?"

Sakura's fatigued voice filled the air around us but I chose not to tell her how terrible she sounded

"It's fine. How about yours with Tsuande?"

"Extremely difficult and tiring but it was worthwhile."

Sakura began telling me about her training with the queen, who, not surprisingly, turned out to be tremendously strict. Just like what Sakura had expected, Tsunade was very knowledgeable about the medicines and had mastered unique healing techniques which Sakura had never encountered before.

It was just a short training but the result was apparent, which was the same thing I had said about training with Kakashi-sensei.

When Sakura had ran out of things to say, she practically forced me to tell her more about what I had been doing for the past few days. I was reluctant at first but decided to speak anyway. Sakura wasn't planning to shut up unless I agreed to it.

I was in the middle of talking about the stupid things Naruto did when I suddenly felt a thud on my shoulder. When I glanced over to my side, I saw that Sakura had fallen asleep.

Under normal circumstances, I would be pissed off because Sakura had fallen asleep while I was talking. But then again, Tsunade's training must have drained almost all her energy and it was obvious that she was very tired.

"I guess it's my turn to carry her tonight."

I spent a few moments under the moonlight before paying back the favor I owed Sakura.


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