Four:

It was by nightfall when the camp was finally cleaned, at least to Kakashi's standards. The new recruits had spent hours on end cleaning it up and fixing everything that got broken. As of now, they were all beyond exhausted, sitting on the ground or leaning against poles while rubbing their eyes. Some of them looked like they were actually sleep walking.
Standing all around them was the Elites, some looking at the young men with pity while some just shook their heads. Kakashi was in the front,looking all of the young men over, dryly. His unrevealed eye was on the pink haired 'boy', Zaku, who was sitting 'his' self.

Sakura was one of the few rubbing her eyes, trying to get rid of the sleep in them. She had never been so exhausted in her life. Of course, she had never had to work this hard either. But she knew that she better get used to it. The training was only beginning and she knew that it was going to get harder from there on.
She suddenly looked up when someone sank down onto the ground next to her, his arms wrapping around his knees as he was waiting for further instructions. It was a surprise to see that the blonde, Naruto was actually sitting by her while the other young men were well away from her.
Naruto didn't say a word as he just sat there, looking towards the Elites. He didn't even spare a glance at Sakura. Sakura tilted her head in curiousity before noticing some of the looks that the other young men were giving them. Though her eyes paused on Hyuuga Neji, who was watching her. A few of the men were too, but there was a strange look on Neji's face. He was looking at her with a little curiousity. Almost questionably. But that wasn't just it. He also seemed to be looking her over and that made her tense. She wondered why in the world he was doing that. But then both of them looked away from one another when Kakashi cleared his throat for everyone's attention.

"Congradualations." The silver-white haired Shinobi said, his arms folding over his chest. "You've managed to clean the entire camp before it got too late. I'm half impressed. I thought you wouldn't do it before midnight." He then shook his head as he dropped his arms. "Your reward, bed time. Get some sleep, gentlemen. Because the real training is going to start early. You're all to be up right before dawn. Anyone that's late, answers to me." He then waved a hand towards them, as if waving them away before turning to the other Elites and having a silent word with them.

Mumbling, everyone climbed to their feet and started to move towards their tents. Sakura, however, stood still, looking around wide eyes. There was a problem with her getting to sleep. Where was she suppose to sleep?! She didn't even have a tent.
Sakura sighed and shook her head as she looked around. "Great." She mumbled before looking at the nearest young man, passing by her. It was one of the young men she believed to be called Kiba. "Uh, excuse me." She said to him, and he rose an eyebrow at her. "Do you have any idea where my tent would be located?"
The young man snorted as he shifted his weight. He was giving her a look as if she was a retard. "Your tent? You were suppose to bring one for your own. Not to mention, set it up." He then shrugged. "Of course, I don't see the point. It's a nice night and suppose to be warm. I'm going to sleep out doors." He then wandered off, laughing at Sakura.

"Cha! Don't tell us that you forgot to pack a tent." The inner Sakura grumbled inside her head.

Sakura was grumbling herself as her shoulders slouched and her head lowered. "This is so not my day." She muttered as she just stood there. "Not only I can't make any friends around here, I don't have a tent." She shook her head as she folded one arm over her chest and planted her head in the other hand. She was going to need to figure something out. She figured she could spend the night outside like that guy, Kiba. But exactly how was she going to change without anyone looking?

Just then, a blanket was thrown over her head and a tent bag was tossed down at her feet.

"Ah!" Sakura yelped before scampering to pull the blanket off of her head. She turned to see who had given her what she needed. And to her surprise, it was the silver-white haired Jounin, Kakashi.
Kakashi was eyeing her dully and really didn't look surprised to see that she hadn't brought a tent. He was just standing there, his arms folded and his head tilted to the side. "Set up your tent and go to bed. This is the only time I'm going to be nice, got that?" He told her.

Sakura just blinked at him surprise before she felt a wave of relief roll over her. She quickly bowed to him in gratitude. "Uh, thank you. Um, sir." She added really quickly as she straightened up.
But Kakashi wasn't moving either. He was actually just standing there, looking like he was waiting for something. And then she realized that he was waiting for her to start setting up her tent. Sakura made a face as she looked down at her tent bag before starting to pull everything out. She noticed immediately that she had no stakes to use. And there was another problem. She had never pitched a tent before. "Um..."
"Hmph." Kakashi hummed impatiently. "Let me guess. You don't know how to pitch a tent, do you?" He asked skeptically. He still didn't move to help her. He just turned away, shaking his head. "You better learn real fast, Haruno, or it's going to be a long night for you." And he walked away.

Sakura sighed pitifully as she watched him before getting to work. She wasn't exactly too sure how everything was to go but she was going to try. She laid the tent out and attempted to set it up. It took many tries before she finally got it up. However, it was slumping to the side, looking more like a rag standing up on a stick.
"Oh." She sighed as she looked around. She was having a feeling that some of the guys were watching her and laughing. She didn't blame them. She was pretty sure that she looked pathedic.
But since she was so tired, she was going to not worried about it right now. It would have to do until the morning when she could try again. So she began climbing into the tent, ready to get some sleep.

"Oh please. Aren't you going to set up your tent the right way?"

Sakura jumped in her so called tent and spun around to see Naruto standing there, looking at the tent with a sweatdrop rolling down the side of his face. His state really made Sakura blush. He was wearing only boxer shorts with hearts on them and a black tank top. He was barefoot, not even wearing his sandals.
Sakura felt her face flush but luckily it was pretty dark so that he couldnt' see it. "Um, I did set up my tent." She said looking at the tent above her.
Naruto rolled his eyes before moving forward. He began grabbing at the tent and straightening it. "Got any kunai on you or are you just using butter knives from the kitchen?" He asked saracastically. Sakura gave him a look of annoyance but pulled out a few of her kunai, holding them out to him. Naruto took them and used them as stakes for the tent. In no time, the tent was actually looking like a tent and not a rag.

"Um, why are you helping me?" Sakura asked, tilting her head in a curious way. "I thought you hated me."

Naruto just glanced at her as he reached into the tent and fixed the tent post to make it straighter. "I don't hate anyone but Uchiha Sasuke. I don't like you, okay? But I'm helping you because you looked really stupid trying to set up your tent." He said impatiently.
Sakura frowned at him. She was actually surprised that he just told her that he hated Sasuke. Hadn't they been friends? "Why do you hate Sasuke? I thought you were friends because you were sitting by each other earlier."

Again, Naruto rolled his eyes as he stepped back from the tent, looking it over then nodding in satisfaction. "Uchiha Sasuke is NOT my friend!" He even crossed his arms, making an X. "He's the most annoying guy I know. He thinks he's so cool just because he's one of the nobles and every girl in the country is drooling over him. Besides, I wasn't sitting next to him. I was sitting with Neji, who happens to be Sasuke's friend." He said sounding a little grumpy. Sakura decided not to ask anymore. So she just sat there, shrugging. "Thanks, Naruto." She said once he turned to start moving away. The blonde only waved a hand impatiently at her, but his mood seemed to lighten a little. As soon as he was gone, Sakura closed the tent flaps and climbed into the sleeping mat. At least one of the guys weren't being a jerk to her anymore. Soon, she was fast asleep, dreaming of home.

Back at the Haruno Residence, the Haruno clan were devastated when they found Sakura missing. And what was worst, they knew where she had gone. The very second Daisuka woke up before dawn, he knew something was wrong. His old battle wound in his leg was aching and he knew that was a sign of something going wrong. He immediately looked to see if the summoning scroll was still on his bedside table, and to his grief, it was gone.
He had spent most of the day searching for Sakura, looking around on the house grounds, hoping she was still there. But finding his old war clothes gone, along with his weapons, he knew that she was gone and wasn't going to come back. At least for a while.
Suka, however, did not follow Sakura, no matter how much Rukia asked him to. He knew that if he went to the training camp and revealed his daughter's true identity, she would die. It was a crime to impersonate a soldier, nonetheless a man. It was treason to the Shinobi ways and to the Hokage.

So instead, he spent the entire day praying to the former Hokages and the heros of the Fire Country that Sakura wouldn't be found out, nor killed in the terrible war.

Now, Suka was sitting in his dojo, looking out into the night sky with grieving tears in his eyes. He was extremely worried about Sakura. He hoped that she would be okay. He blamed himself for running away from home. If only he hadn't been so tough on her, she probably wouldn't have run away.
After a long silence, Suka lowered his head and closed his eyes. He let out a long sigh, already knowing that he wasn't alone. He had sensed the new presense enter the room.

"You're very good with your stealth, my young friend. But I know you are there."

There was a low chuckle from the shadows before Uzumaki-Namikaze Minato stepped out and silently walked over to his side. "You may be old, Master Suka-san, but you are still the Shinobi you once were." He said with amusement.

Suka did not look up at him but just stared outside. "Minato, have you come for a social call or to tell me that my daughter is dead?" He asked glumily. He tilted his head a little when the golden haired Shinobi knelt beside him and joined him to staring outside.
"Neither one." Minato said sitting up straight. "Your son, Zaku is alive and safe at the Ninja Training camp."
Suka blinked a few times before looking at him, surprised. He wasn't sure he had heard right. Had Minato actually said that his son, Zaku was alive and safe. "My...my son?" He asked in confusion.
Minato gave him a gentle smile before looking out at the stars. "Don't be too surprised, Master Suka." He told him. "You know why Sakura's doing it. She's doing it for your life and your honor. You know as well as I do that you wouldn't have been able to survive too long because of that wound you gotten years ago. It would have killed you."

"Sakura...so she is posing as..." Suka was saying before he frowned and looked directly at Minato. "And you knew that it was her when you saw her but didn't do anything. Why didn't you?"

The golden haired Shinobi just shook his head as he looked back at him, still smiling in his friendly way. "No. I'm not going to do anything. I'm going to let her stay. No one by myself knows that your son, Haruno Zaku is indeed your daughter, Haruno Sakura. And hopefully, they won't notice." He paused still smiling. "I must admit it though. She's a very brave young woman, Suka, to be doing this. She's very determined. If she wasn't, she would have came home a long time ago. But she is determined to fight out this war for you. She loves you enough to risk her life. And for that, I'm giving her a chance." He told the older Shinobi, who still looked rather surprised.

"But..." Suka looked away. "She's a woman playing as a man, in a war. She could be killed."

Minato just frowned as he looked away. "And she would be if she was revealed. Give her a chance, Suka, to do this. I know she can do it. I've seen the potentional in her." He said sounding very serious. Suka just frowned at him but there was still one thing bothering him. "Why though? Sakura is a woman. And women have no business in a war." He said thoughtfully.
Minato didn't look at him, nor spoke for a long moment. But then he tilted his head towards Suka, his cerulean blue eyes looking into Suka's black ones. "But she does have business in this war, Master Suka-san." He told him simply. "Sakura's business in this war is to fight for your life and her honor." He looked completely at the old Shinobi master. "Like it or not, we need any willing soldier in this war. We're fighting against Orochimaru and his men. And we need as many fiesty fighters as we can get. Male or female. Sakura is a very fiesty youth. And I know that she can do this." He looked away up at the full moon with a soft smile. "And she may even change someone else's future."

The sun rose slowly into the air once morning came and Sakura was still sleeping in her tent. She wasn't even aware of where she was at the moment. She was just sleeping on the blankets and beddings she had been giving, dreaming of being home and practicing jutsu with her father. She was feeling very comfortable while sleeping.

That is until the tent began to shake violently, making quite the racket. "Come on, Zaku! It's sun up! Get your butt up!"

Sakura jerked awake before looking around until she realized that she was still in her tent and the blonde, Naruto was looking at her. She almost yelped in surprise and pulled the covers over her. But then she remembered she had not changed out of her outfit yet and didn't have to worry too much. "What? What is it?"

"Come on, you dolt! We have to be up and ready for training. But we're already late! I slept in too." Naruto said quickly.

Sakura's eyes snapped open wide before she quickly began gathering her things, while attempting to pull on her sandals and climb out of her tent at the same time. Naruto just waited until she was out of the tent and all ready before shoving a cup of ramen into her hands. "Here! Have some breakfast! Now let's go!" He shouted before bolting away. Sakura quickly ran after him while looking at the ramen in her hands. She wasn't too fond of ramen but she was too hungry to complain at the moment. She hadn't eaten the night before because they had to clean up the camp.
"Thanks, Naruto." She said smiling. "For waking me up. I'd probably have slept in if you hadn't come woke me." She told him. Naruto just shook his head

Finally the found out where everyone else was at. Some of the other young men were rough housing, trying to get their blood flowing while others were just talking to one another.
However, when Sakura hurried up with Naruto, a few men looked over at her and looking annoyed already that she had showed up. But neither one, Sakura nor Naruto paid them any attention as they walked over to a more open aprea.

"Oh. Look. It's the pink haired boy, Zaku. So you did decide to get up after all." Another young man remarked.

Sakura frowned at him but chose not to respond. She figured that would probably egg them on if they knew they were getting to her. So she just walked on with Naruto. That is until someone grabbed her shirt and yanked her back. She yelped in surprise before looking up at the annoyed looking Shikamaru. He was holding her by the front of her shirt with a fist raised. "I think I owe you some breakfast, troublesome Zaku. How about a knuckle sandwich?" He asked shaking his fist under her nose.

"Let me go." warned Sakura as she glared at him and tried to pull away. "Or should I show you what happens when you mess with me?"

Shikamaru just narrowed his eyes at her before he pulled his fist back, looking ready to swing. "This is so troublesome but I think I might just like taking you out, you pink haired weirdo." He said lazily before he started to swing.
Before his fist could get even five inches away from Sakura's face, Naruto grabbed his arm and held tight to it. "Leave him, Shikamaru." He told him darkly. "He's only done to you what you deserved. Now let him go." He warned him. Shikamaru yanked his fist away and released Sakura while facing the blonde. The other young men all just sniggered as they surrounded the three. "What's your problem, blockhead? I thought you didn't like pinky here." One asked.

"Or did you have a change of heart for the fair man?" Another laughed.

Naruto shot that one a dark look, his fists balling up tightly. "Shut up, Kiba! I don't like Zaku but you gotta realize that we're in this together! If I didn't know any better we signed up on the same team. Zaku might have girly pink hair but he's like us. Trying to fight." He told him.
Shikamaru just lazily put his hand onto his waist and shifted his weight. "Oh please. We don't need some pink haired troublesome freak on our side. We'd be the laughing stock in the entire Country." He said in a low voice. "He'd probably just make the enemies die while laughing at us."

Sakura glared at him for that remark but she did have a well thought comeback. "Well at least they'd die laughing at me rather than die smelling your foul-smelling breath. I'd almost feel bad for the enemy if you breathed on them." She staid and for once, a few young men laughed at her insult. She was surprised that they actually laughed but it did make her feel a little better.

Shikamaru, on the other hand, gave her an icy look. "Why, you ugly, little...!" He was growly with his fist raised again. Sakura quickly stepped back, a little hurt that he called her ugly but more angrly as well. She wasn't going to let this guy touch her and if he did, she'd pummel him right back. She was not afraid of him and she wasn't going to be. But to her surprise again, Naruto stepped forward in her defense, but so had another young man she remembered to be called Rock Lee.

"Enough!"

Everyone jumped when they heard that voice and Shikamaru immediately dropped his fist. They all turned to see the Shinobi Elites approaching them, lead by Hatake Kakashi. Some of the Elites were shaking their heads while the rest, along with the silver haired Commander, gave them dark looks as if daring them to start another fight. Kakashi walked straight up to Sakura, Naruto, Shikamaru and Rock Lee before stopping with his fist on his waist. He gave them all a very dark look as he looked them over, his one eye mostly glaring at Sakura. "Are we having a problem here?" He asked warningly.

Both Sakura and Shikamaru glared at one another before they shook their heads. "No, sir." They both said.

"Good." Kakashi said with a nod before he dropped his hand. "Line up and hustle about it!" He barked.
Quickly, all of the young men and the young woman shuffled to make a long line, though Sakura and Shikamaru were still glaring at one another. They placed theirselves in line though without a word and soon everyone was standing up tall in front of the Elites. Once everyone was lined up, Kakashi gave a nod as he lazily looked them all over. He didn't look impressed with them at all but didn't say anything as he began to pace in front of the young recruits. After another long moment, he stopped all together and faced them with his hands stuffed into his pockets.
"Now then," Kakashi began. "As I said yesterday, I am Hatake Kakashi and I am in charge of your training. So if I were you, I would put an end to fighting one another," He shot both Sakura and Shikamaru dark looks, who didn't look away from him. "And fight to earn my respect. I'm not a very easy person to get along with but you better get used to it. Because if I'm not impressed with you, the Hokage is not imperssed with you." He then motioned to the Elites standing behind him. "As for all of them, they are Elite Shinobi and they will be helping training you. They will probably be more lenient than I will, but they're not going to go easy on you either. The training you will be going through will be very hard. And as I said before," he looked directly at Sakura when he said this. "If you can't cut the training, you go home. And if there are any more problems, you will deal with me."

A young man close by to Sakura, the one called Kiba snorted as he rolled his eyes. He didn't even look like he believed the silver haired Shinobi at all. "Oooh boy. Looks like we have a tough guy on our hands." He muttered under his breath.

Unfortunately for him, Kakashi had heard that. He slowly turned his eye onto the young man with red markings on his face and glared. "You." He spoke nodding to him. "What's your name?"

All eyes turned onto the frozen young man now but after a few seconds he shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal and moved forward, his arms crossing his chest. "The name's Kiba, sir. Inuzuka Kiba." He said dully. And to Sakura's surprise, something started wriggling within his shirt. Actually it surprised everone but Kakashi as a fluffy head popped out from within the shirt and barked. "Oh. And this is Akamaru." Kiba said as if it wasn't a big deal the dog was there either.
Kakashi narrowed his eye at Kiba before he shook his head and rolled that eye. He looked like he wasn't surprised that it was there at all. "Whatever. We'll talk about the dog later." Then he motioned Kiba to move forward, who obeyed. "Congradulations, Inuzuka. You just volunteered for our first lesson." He told him as he turned his back onto the young man. Kiba, like everyone, looked very interested into finding out what the first lesson would be. They looked almost excited.

Until Kakashi turned around as he was pulling out a kunai and it looked very much like he was about to throw it at Kiba.
Kiba yelped in alarm, as did the puppy, stepping back with fear. Behind him, the recruits standing there gasped as they jumped away from him, not wanting to get hit by the kunai when it was flung at the young man and his dog.
But instead of throwing it at Kiba, Kakashi threw it high into the air, where it hit a very high branch of a tree right above them. It stuck there, almost hilt deep. The very action, of course, surprised all of the recruits while the Elites folded their arms and rolled their eyes. One even muttered, "Here we go. This should be entertaining."

"Now, Inuzuka Kiba, retrieve the kunai and earn my respect." Kakashi spoke dryly as he folded his arms. It was clear that he was smirking under his mask by the look in his eye. He looked highly amused that he had scared the bold ninja recruit into thinking he was going to throw the kunai at him, only to make him look like an idiot for getting scared in the first place.
Kiba, incidently, caught onto the little prank and glared at the Elite, dryly. But then with a shrug, he moved towards the base of the tree. "Fine, fine. I'll get your stupid kunai, Mr. Elite." He grumbled as he grabbed a hold of the trunk.

"Hold it." Kakashi spoke again now moving forward. "I believe you are forgetting two very important details of what makes a true Shinobi." He didn't even seemed peeved at the name Kiba had even called him, but looked amused. He motioned to another Elite, one called Umino Iruka who was holding a pair of weights in his hands. They were simply 10 lbs weights and weren't so heavy. What they were for, none of the recruits nor Sakura was sure but they knew they were about to find out. "This weight, gentlemen, represents Discipline." Kakashi spoke as he took one weight and held it up before taking the other. "And this one represents Determination." And then the silver haired ninja dropped them right into Kiba's hands. "You will need both of these to reach the kunai. Without them, you fail. So the objective is this, climb the tree with these weights in your hands. They must always be in your hands. You don't have them, you fail the test. You drop these weights, pick them up and try again." And he backed away to give Kiba some space. "Now, begin, Inuzuka."

Kiba frowned at the Elite with confusion but then he looked at the weights in his hands. He wasn't really sure what Kakashi wanted him to do. It wasn't going to be easy to climb a tree with something in his hands but he was not going to let some Elite Shinobi make a fool out of him again. But still...Kiba turned his eyes back onto Kakashi, almost glaring. "How in the hell do you expect me to climb a tree without my hands?" He demanded.
Kakashi was smirking, everyone could tell that he was. "Use your feet then. There are ways of climbing a tree without your hands." He told him simply.

Frowning again, Kiba muttered a few choice words before putting the weights down on the ground and then unzipped his thick coat. Without another word, he pulled Akamaru out of his jacket and set him down on the ground. Then he tried to climb the tree.

Unfortunately, he slipped and fell flat onto his butt with a yelp.

And immediately, everyone started to laugh as the young man went bright red from embarrassment and rage before he tried it again. However, Sakura was not laughing. She was actually frowning with confusion as she stared up at the tree, trying to collect her thoughts. She wasn't even sure it was possible to climb a tree without hands. It just couldn't be done, could it? But apparently it could. Otherwise, Kakashi wouldn't have told Kiba to do it. He didn't seem the type to joke around at all.

After nearly the fiftith time of falling out of the tree and everyone laughed, Kakashi nodded to the other Elite Shinobi. And to every one of the new recruits' shock, the Elites all threw kunai up into the air until there were several of them stuck in branches. Two Elites put down a large box, which were filled with several 10 Lbs weights.

"The rest of you, get two weights each and join Inuzuka since you all want to laugh about it." Kakashi told them seriously. "For every single one of you, there is a kunai waiting up in the trees for you. Get those kunai, and you will have my respect. Until then, prepare yourselves. You are in for a very rough training." He gave a few young men a look for already grumbling as the recruits started forward to do what they were told. "The more you complain, the more harsher the training will be. Because you lot are boys. And I need men for this war with Orochimaru and his men. It's time to grow up and become a real man. Now, start climbing."

So one by one, the other recruits grabbed weights and stood in front their tree to start on the lesson. Sakura decided to take a little more time though by trying to figure out a stragedy of how to get up the tree with the weights in her hands. She wasn't exactly sure how she would do it, but she knew she had to try. She wanted that respect from Hatake Kakashi, and from every other person. She paused to watch a few of the others try to get up the tree but they came flying back down, landing hard in the grass. And when she noticed Kakashi giving her a cool look for taking her time, she began to try.
Unfortunately, she did not fare any better than the real boys did. She slipped and fell every single time she tried to get up the tree, landing hard on her butt. She yelped every time but like everyone, she got back up and tried again.
The Shinobi, recruits and Elites spent the entire day trying to get up the trees, and by the end of the day, every single boy, including Sakura, failed to get up the tree. It was a little disappointing to Sakura that she failed the first day, but she was at least a little relieved that she was not the only one who failed. She was more worried about how hard the training was going to be though. Exactly, how hard was the training going to be? She didn't know, but she knew she was going to find out very soon.