Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

The two teams faced each other in the small wooded clearing in the middle of the forest, circumscribed by lush greenery. Sasuke and Naruto were glaring at each other with unspoken insults, Sakura stood clenching and unclenching her fists, and Kakashi looked at the two boys with a look of nostalgia. Sakura noticed this, but did not question him about it. Whatever was going through his mind seemed very personal.

"Alright, that's enough." He said, calling all of their attention back to him. "Like I said, this game will last for twenty minutes. If the evading team is able to elude their opponents for the entire time, then they win. If the capturing team catches them first, then they lose." He reiterated. "Sakura, Naruto, you two are on the evading team." Kakashi said.

Naruto whined that he wanted to be the one to catch him off guard, while Sakura looked down and pondered what she just heard. It all made sense in her head. It was basically a game of predator versus prey, and Kakashi and Sasuke were definitely seen as the predators of the team, while she and Naruto were usually looked at as the weak links. He wanted to see how they would be able to defend themselves if someone were to come after them.

Sakura decided that she would show them. She knew that she was the weakest one on the team at the moment, but she would show that she could take care of herself if she were ever to be underestimated.

"I have small watches for everyone that will ring once the time is expired." He said, handing them each a pocket watch that could be clipped to their neckline. He also handed one to Sasuke before securing his own on his green jacket. "You two have a minute to get a head start. Remember to stay within seeing-distance of each other." Kakashi said. Sakura and Naruto nodded. Sakura contracted her calves to try to squeeze out the pain and get ready for a run. She couldn't let her physical adversity hold her back. "Begin!" Kakashi ordered, and Naruto and Sakura began dashing through the trees.

Sasuke looked at Kakashi, who was looking after his two other students. "What is it that you're planning, Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi just stared at his watch, waiting for the minute to be up. Without looking up, he replied, "I want to see how much potential those two can manifest in each other."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. In each other? He asked himself. Sasuke scoffed a little bit. It's not like those two had any potential to begin with, but power isn't manifested by others unless it is through hate. He thought at he fought to suppress an eye roll.

Sakura and Naruto jumped through the trees until their time was completely up. They took refuge behind a group of pines and knelt down on a branch. Sakura was already panting, and she cursed her terrible stamina.

"Are you okay, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked. Sakura nodded, trying to get rid of the burning sensation in her legs that had returned.

"Yeah, I'm alright." She said. "It's probably best to split up to avoid us both getting caught. I'll be really close so you'll know where I am." Sakura said. That was when they felt a little vibration from their watches. The game had started. "We should keep going. I'll run through the trees parallel to you."

"Alright, but we better go, believe it." He muttered. Sakura could feel Kakashi and Sasuke gaining in on them. She wished she could sense their chakra as they probably could hers. However, she just had to play it by ear at the moment.

With that, they separated and continued through the forest again.

There were only a few minutes left on the clock and the predatory team had still not caught them. Sasuke had tried once, almost putting a kunai through Naruto's arm in the process, but he happened to create a clone of himself to push on the force of the tree to push him away. He was able to go to the tops of the trees again to hide.

Sakura felt her endurance almost deplete completely. She knew that she could not keep running for much longer, but she had barely any time to rest. As soon as she had assumed a position to hide in, it was as if the other team had found her instantly, forcing her to move. However, she tried her best to remain stealthy. Little energy meant that she had to work harder to maintain her furtiveness. She was putting the silent leaps she had learned earlier from Lee into good use.

She knew that the other two had something up their sleeve, and Sasuke had only thrown the kunai because he was becoming impatient of their plan. She looked to her side to see a small yellow blob a little ways ahead of her and a little bit higher in the canopy of the trees. Even though she was looking at his back, she could tell that he was tired of running too.

That was when she heard something coming towards her very fast, and she knew that Sasuke was after her. Before, he had always gone for Naruto, but perhaps he thought he would have better luck picking her off first. She could tell that he was concealing his chakra signature (she did not even know how to do that), but the sound of him jumping off the branches was a dead giveaway. He may have been a prodigy a lot of advanced skills, but he was unable to resist putting force into every single one of his steps to propel himself forward. This gave him away to Sakura.

She noticed that there was something different about his movement patterns. Right when she heard that he was probably only a few meters behind her, he changed directions and started to go towards her left side. His footsteps increasingly got fainter until she could not hear him anymore. Suddenly, with a new burst of energy, he started to run towards her side, as if he was going to ram straight into her.

Sakura knew that this would have instinctively driven her to her right side, closer to where Naruto was. However, Sakura knew better that to do that, since it would just give Kakashi and Sasuke an easier opportunity to capture them both in one hit. Instead, Sakura leaped up onto a higher branch, just as Sasuke came down on her branch. She heard him hiss a little bit at her, and she could not help but feel a little bit of pain in her chest from such an antagonistic sound. He did not pursue her from above, but he made sure to keep pace with her directly below, although he could not directly see her.

Sakura made her way to the top branch of one of the trees. She knelt down and rested there for a few moments before she saw Naruto running a few branches below her. She immediately dropped from her branch when she saw him pass so that she would be in sync with him. However, because Naruto had not expected her sudden appearance, he stumbled on the branch he had landed on with a small shriek. Sakura had to quickly catch the back cuff of his jacket to make sure that he would not completely fall off the branch.

"Be quiet, knucklehead. They're right behind us." Sakura scolded as she pulled Naruto behind the branch of the tree. She had no idea where the two of them were, and she could not hear anything. However, they could be close, observing them.

Sakura uncovered the hand from Naruto's mouth so he could breathe. He took a huge gulp of air. "You scared me Sakura-chan! How did you move so fast?" He asked in a whisper.

"I wasn't fast, I was silent. It's something you have to work on." Sakura remarked. Naruto grinned sheepishly before he stared at the small clock attached to his jacket.

"There's only three minutes left. We can still beat them!"

Sakura shook her head with a frown. "No, Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei are too smart to not have caught us yet. Sensei is going easy on us, but Sasuke-kun is relentless. He should have caught us by now. I think they were just waiting for us to tire out." Sakura concluded.

"That doesn't sound like the teme. He's more likely to eliminate the enemy quickly." Naruto said, scratching his head. As if he could ever take me down. Naruto thought with false pride.

"Kakashi-sensei probably told him to hold back. He's testing us to see something, I just can't figure out what." Sakura said. She squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to think of a solution to their problem. She and Naruto were already too tired to run any more than they had, and she felt that it was not Kakashi's intention for letting them off the hook for so long. Sakura's eyes snapped open as she formulated an idea.

She had no idea what Kakashi planned to test them on, but perhaps it had something to do with them going on the offensive. She quickly thought up a plan on how to combat them. "Naruto, I need you to trust me. Can you do that?" She asked seriously.

Naruto, who was still panting slightly, looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Of course, Sakura-chan. I already do." He said.

Sakura shook her head. "No, I need you to put your faith in me as your comrade. Please." She said urgently. Naruto's eyes widened at her desperate tone, and wondered why his first response didn't satisfy her. Wasn't she basically asking the same thing? Naruto just nodded slowly, a bit dubiously. "Okay, then just play along." Sakura said as she jumped down to the forest floor. Naruto immediately jumped after her.

Sasuke had started to get anxious when the timer was three minutes until being up and they still had not caught the two losers. If it was up to him, he would have caught them within the first minute, but he had to hold himself back based on what Kakashi said.

"Try to drag it out for as long as you can, Sasuke. I want to see what those two can do when paired together."

Kakashi had always been so vague. Sasuke could not help but feel his blood boil at the thought of his sensei. The exercise that they were doing would not help him get closer to killing Itachi or even preparing for the Chūnin Exams, so why was he even bothering with it? The thought of "helping" the other two instead of himself made him callous. Call him selfish, but he needed to be focused on his own power in order to achieve his goal.

Suddenly, Sakura jumped to the ground, looking absolutely exhausted. She looked as though she had completely given up on the exercise. "I don't think I can go much further, Naruto." She whined to her partner, who had jumped through the trees to land next to her.

Naruto hesitated a little bit, wondering what she wanted him to say. After her eyes widened to indicate that he was taking too long to respond, he replied with, "But Sakura-chan! We can't let the teme and sensei win! We can still beat them." Naruto tried to encourage her. Sakura flashed him a small smile to show that he said what she had wanted him to before her face devolved back into a grimace.

"I'm tired, idiot! I can barely stand up and my hair is completely ruined. This whole thing is so stupid." Sakura complained as she stomped her feet on the ground repeatedly.

Sasuke observed their spectacle in annoyance from a tree relatively close to them. Hn. Typical. He thought as he observed Sakura. However, there was something a little odd about her. She was berating Naruto less that he thought she would during her rant. She would usually hit him over the head and tell him that it was all his fault, which was irritating to Sasuke to no limit. Of course, he thought the same way, but it was generally her fault too when things went wrong.

Sasuke saw Kakashi get into a tree right across from him so they were both observing their teammates from opposite sides. Kakashi seemed to be contemplating why their opponents were acting the way they were. Sasuke had an answer for him. It was because they were annoying.

Seeing that the timer was about to run out and the game was about to be over, Kakashi and Sasuke decided to go in for the kill. Kakashi swung one of his wires over to Sasuke and the boy caught the other end and wrapped it around his hand a little for good grip. With that, they descended to where Sakura and Naruto were.

Sakura was not skilled enough to sense where they were before hand, but she had enough common sense to know when they were about attack. Considering that time was almost up, if the two did not make a move soon, they would lose the game. Although she was still trying to figure out what Kakashi wanted to gain from her and Naruto's actions, it was a safe bet that he had not found what he had been looking for since the game was still going on. That gave their team the advantage in terms of deceit.

She knew that if she and Naruto did nothing significant, did something that they were expecting her team to do, then Kakashi would tell Sasuke to wait until the last second to capture them, just to see if they would do whatever he was looking for. If she could anticipate this, then she and Naruto could escape and there would not be enough time to capture both of them.

She was relying heavily on psychological analysis from her repertoire of her teammates' past actions, so there was a good chance that her plan would not work. However, it was their only shot, since running seemed to be out of the question for her, and Naruto seemed as though he was allergic to running away.

She also knew that at least Sasuke would not think that it mattered whether he concealed his presence or not, since he thought they were incompetent of coming up with any sort of counterattack plan. Knowing his whereabouts was enough for her plan to follow through.

As she suspected, when Sasuke and Kakashi charged for them, Sasuke's movements were a bit slower than usual, indicating that whether he used his speed or not, she and Naruto would not be able to evade him.

"Now, Naruto!" She yelled. Naruto quickly performed a hand sign, making four clones show up. Sakura and the real Naruto put their feet on the clones' hands as they quickly boosted them up into the trees, projecting them in opposite directions. This way, there would be little chance that Kakashi and Sasuke would capture them both.

Their opponents' wire instead wrapped around the two clones, who disappeared instantly in a puff of smoke. The two landed on the ground and retracted their wire.

Still in the air after the boost, Sakura glanced at her timer. Just ten seconds left! She thought. She and Naruto could actually win the game! She could feel Sasuke's anger rise at how he would lose to two people who he could have beaten without Kakashi's "help".

However, Kakashi seemed to think of another idea. "Sasuke! Go after Naruto!" He said as he charged at the blonde boy in the trees. Sasuke looked just as confused as Sakura about it. It did not matter who they went after, because if they did not capture both of them, then they could not win the game. Nevertheless, Sasuke obeyed Kakashi's order and went for Naruto, who immediately tried to jump away.

Sakura then saw the fault in her plan. She could still win, but at the cost of Naruto. If it had been a real mission, would she risk sacrificing Naruto's life so she could "win"? On one hand, her pride wanted her to just let things play out since there were only a few seconds left. However, her heart told her differently.

Her heart told her that her teammate was more important that winning some stupid game. If she had to pick between her comrade and proving herself, her choice was obvious.

With her volition solidified, she jumped towards Naruto, which set them up for a collision course towards each other. She hoped that she could push him out of harm's way, or at least, take his place. Either way, they would still win, if she got there in time.

Of course, because her speed was much slower than Kakashi and Sasuke's, and her stamina was still recovering from the intense training that she did in the morning, her plan did not follow through as she had wanted. As Kakashi and Sasuke gained on Naruto, they both released their wires to capture him. Just as they did this, Sakura got to Naruto, and they shared an awkward bump between their heads before they both found themselves trapped in the black cable and falling quickly towards the ground. Sakura squeezed her eyes shut and waited for her body to hit the ground, but it never came.

Kakashi had expertly caught the cocoon of their bodies before they reached the forest floor, safely laying them down on the ground. Sakura and Naruto were tied with their backs together and the wire around their torsos. Sakura made sure not to struggle too much, since the wire was sharp and she was not wearing anything around her arms, but Naruto was violently flailing around, yelling curses as he did so.

Sasuke jumped to the ground shortly after that, looking at her dumfound and shaking his head slightly in disappointment. Sakura averted her gaze, unable to look at him.

"You could have won, you know?" Kakashi asked as he knelt down to Sakura's height. Naruto stopped struggling to hear what Kakashi had to say.

Sakura froze, the fear of her sensei surfacing again. She tried to suppress it, since he was only talking to her casually, but she could not help the sinking feeling in her stomach when he looked at her. She feared that if she did something wrong, then he would give up on her. She knew she couldn't judge, but she had the inkling that a powerful shinobi like him would only nurture the potential that others already showed. That left her out of the equation.

Sakura swallowed a little bit. "I couldn't leave Naruto. I know I could have won, and I really wanted to…" She started in a frail voice as she tried to look over her shoulder at Naruto, who happened to be looking over his shoulder at her. Cerulean met emerald, and they came to a mutual understanding of her intention, "but if I had to win at the cost of giving something else important up, then victory is meaningless." She finished, a little stronger. However, she felt herself start to get lightheaded.

Kakashi paused with his eye closed. Sakura was glad he was not staring at her anymore, because it gave her the chance to glace at him through her weary eyes. He seemed to look remorseful about something, although she could only assume because his face was covered. Whatever his emotion was, he was deep in thought. He then breathed a heavy sigh and stood up, taking out a kunai and cutting off their cables as he did so.

Sakura expected Naruto to immediately jump up and attack Sasuke once he was free, and by the tense stance Sasuke had taken, he had thought so too. However, once Naruto pushed the cable off of himself, he just sat with is back still towards her. He leaned back a little bit into her, but not enough to make her bed at the waist. It was like Naruto was trying to let her know that he was still there for her.

Kakashi then went to their side and patted them both on the head with both his hands. "Well done, you two." He said simply. After that, he just disappeared. Without saying anything, their sensei had dismissed their training.

Sasuke still glowered at them in disappointment. "Why would you throw yourself into danger in a game?" He asked her. Sakura flinched a little bit, but decided that if Sasuke was going to be on her team, she had to learn how to communicate with him as well.

"If this game happened to be a situation in real life, then I could not have just stood there. Yes, this might have just been an exercise, but it is to teach us what to do if this kind of occasion actually arises." She explained. "I took this game seriously because showing that I am willing to give myself up for a teammate is more important than victory."

"But you did not just give yourself up. If this was a real situation, you both would have died. How would that have helped anyone?" Sasuke retorted harshly. Sakura felt tears sting her eyes as her voice got caught in her throat. Her mouth opened and closed as she tried to formulate words to say to him.

"Shut up, Sasuke!" Naruto yelled at him. "You're such a bloody hypocrite! Remember what you did when Haku was about to attack me? We both could have died, but you just ran in front of the senbon!" Naruto vehemently yelled. Sakura had never heard his voice hold such pain and confusion.

Sasuke immediately looked away with a scowl. "I told you before, dobe. My body moved on its own." He said as he started to make his way out of the forest, completely done with the people he'd be forced to spend his Genin days with. Before he moved too far away, he looked over his shoulder and shot a disbelieving glance at Sakura, who had this time held his to see what he would say to her. "And since when have you taken things like this seriously?" He asked.

"But…S-Sasuke-kun…" She tried to call out, her voice a clear indication that she was about to cry, but Sasuke had already started walking away again. At this point, she could not stop the tears from sliding down her face in streams. She covered her face in her hands and tried to block out both the pain and the nausea that he felt.

"Argh! That bastard! I should give him a piece of my mind!" Naruto yelled to no one. He then looked at Sakura's crumpled and sobbing form, his eyes immediately softening. He reached out a tentative hand to touch her, not knowing whether she wanted to be comforted or left alone. He had never seen Sakura like that. He had seen her scared, upset, infatuated, happy, and even sad to a certain extent, but never before had he seen her so broken.

When his hand touched her shoulder, he expected her to flinch back, but she didn't. She just remained where she was, her face hidden within her hands. "Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked cautiously.

Sakura took a huge sniff and tried to rub her eyes free of tears. "Sorry." She apologized, before her face broke out into a melancholy smile. "Pretty pathetic, huh? Crying after I lost a game. Some kunoichi I am." She said, whimpering a little.

"No! Not at all! The teme's just a sore winner, and he does everything to make other people feel bad!" He exclaimed. His words made her feel a little better, even though they insulted Sasuke. Actually, especially because they insulted Sasuke. "Besides, what you did was really cool!" Naruto said.

"But Naruto…if I had done that on the battlefield…because I wasn't fast enough, we both would have died." She said. Naruto shook his head.

"That's not how it looks to me, believe it." He said as he scooched forward a little bit so that he and Sakura were sitting directly next to each other. She sat with her knees to her chest while he crossed his legs. "Except for Iruka-sensei, nobody has cared enough to risk themselves for me. To know that you would actually try to protect me..." Naruto started gravely as he clutched his jacket over where his heart was, "it makes me feel warm right here. I've never had a friend like that before." He said as he looked at her. His eyes showed a bit of uncertainty. "I am your friend, right?" He asked, a little desperately.

Sakura then saw him in a new light. Apart from being hyperactive and a bit rowdy, he was still just an insecure kid who was never shown any love as a child. She wondered how he could keep such an optimistic view when everyone treated him like he was nothing. Nonetheless, he trusted her plan, even though he barely got any explanation. She realized that, since she had become a shinobi, he was the first person to have believed in her. Not even her own parents had shown the understanding that the blonde boy who she verbally abused did.

"Yeah…" Sakura said, a little quietly. "Yeah, you are." She said honestly as she put a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks for believing in me. I know my plan was a little farfetched." Sakura said sheepishly.

"No! I thought it was great! Who cares if we lost? We'll get them next time, believe it!" Naruto exclaimed as he jumped to his feet. He extended his hand to help her up, and she took it thankfully. "But we should probably get out of this forest first." He said as he swung her arm over his shoulder to support her.

However, before they could make it completely out of the forest, Sakura felt all of the day's events catch up to her. Her vision became blurry and she could barely walk straight. Before she knew it, her body started to fall to the ground until she was caught by two strong arms.

When Sakura awoke again, she was lying in a familiar room. She turned over slightly and inhaled the scent of the bed she was lying on, identifying it as her own. She didn't want to open her eyes for fear that it would aggravate the pounding headache that was beginning to resurface. She just snuggled herself back into the covers, trying to block out the sunlight that was pouring into her room and the loud snoring.

Wait, snoring? Sakura thought in a slight panic as she shot up, only to clutch her head as a sudden wave of nausea overtook her.

Great job, stupid. Sakura just mentally sneered at Inner as she tried to sit up again, much more slowly. She looked to where she heard the rumbling noises and found the source on the side of her bed on the floor. As Sakura peered over the bed, she saw Naruto lying on his side with his head rested on one of his arms. Her wooden floor was definitely not the most comfortable place to take a nap, so she was flattered that Naruto had decided to let her preserve her privacy.

Sakura straightened her back as she tried to remember what happened. The last memory that she could conjure up was walking through the forest with Naruto and then feeling really tired. After that, everything was really fuzzy. Sakura slapped her forehead and laid back with a groan. She couldn't believe she had fainted.

Sakura rolled over a bit so that she was on the edge of her bed, looking down at Naruto. If I fainted, then Naruto must have carried me all the way back here. She thought as a small smile played on her lips. Even though they had been through that long chase, Naruto had still managed to get her back home safely. Honestly, how much stamina does this guy have? She thought as she benevolently rolled her eyes. She was happy that her parents worked all day and only came home during the night, otherwise they would have freaked out to find a boy in the house, especially in her room.

Sakura reached over and nudged Naruto's shoulder a little bit. "Naruto, wake up." She said quietly. He stirred slightly, but he only flipped over on his other side and continued his snoring. Sakura breathed an exasperated sigh at his stubborn conscious. Sakura mustered up her energy and swung her feet over the bed, bringing her up into a sitting position. She slowly rose to her feet, careful not to step on her blonde friend. She crouched down next to him and shook him a bit harder. "Naruto, if you don't wake up, I won't make you ramen." Sakura said as she shook him with a little more force.

This seemed to do the trick, since the next thing Sakura knew, she was stumbling back after Naruto had bolted upright, looking frantically from side to side. "Ramen! Ramen! Where's the ramen!?" He exclaimed with wide eyes. He then looked at her. "Are you okay, Sakura-chan!? Is the ramen okay!?" He asked seriously.

"There's no ramen, Naruto." Sakura said as she regained her composure. Naruto deflated a bit, before remembering that he was not in his dingy hovel. He looked around her room curiously. She didn't mind too much since there wasn't anything that she kept in her room that was particularly private, as long as he didn't go snooping in any of her drawers.

"Did you carry me all the way back?" Sakura asked. Naruto stopped his inspection and looked at her, nodding.

"Yup. I hope you don't mind, but your window was open." He said, pointing at her open window. "You really got me worried there, Sakura-chan." He said, concern reflecting in his blue eyes.

Sakura gave him a half smile, guilty that she had put her burden on him. "Thank you. And I'm really sorry you had to do that."

Naruto just shrugged his nonchalance. "Nah, it wasn't a big deal, but what in the world happened? You kind of just got knocked out suddenly. I was afraid you had dropped dead or somethin'." He said. Sakura just shrugged a little. She was not sure if she wanted to tell Naruto about her training with Lee just yet. It was not that she didn't trust him, but she didn't want him to feel that she was betraying her team or something.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I guess all of today's running around tired me out, you know. Not everyone has an unlimited supply of energy like you do, Naruto." Sakura teased lightly. Naruto laughed and puffed out his chest proudly.

"I know. I'm pretty unstoppable." He said, feigning pride.

Sakura's grin grew as she shook her head. "Get off your high horse, whiskers. Both of us still have a long way to go, starting with those Chūnin Exams." When he heard this, a fire immediately blazed in Naruto's eyes. He immediately shot his fist in the air.

"Bring it on! I'll become a Chūnin no matter what! It's just a stepping stone for me on the road to become Hokage!" He said, crossing his arms with confidence. He looked at Sakura to see her gazing at him with a slight smile on her face. "What is it?" He asked her, raising an eyebrow.

"I think you'd make a great Hokage." She said suddenly. Naruto's eyes widened as his face immediately began to heat up. He scratched his cheek nervously.

"Y-ya think?" He asked.

"I believe it." She responded, making him grin. "But when you're Hokage, you can't be pulling the pranks that you do now." She scolded playfully.

Naruto waved his hand at her dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. I'll worry about that when I get there." Sakura giggled at this. Naruto then sobered a little bit as he turned slowly towards her. Sakura's chuckles subsided when she saw his jovial expression vanish. "Hey, Sakura-chan?" He asked. "Why…are you being so nice to me now?" He asked her cautiously, as if he was going to offend her.

Sakura knew that this conversation would come up eventually. Her change in behavior was very noticeable, and it was just a matter of time before someone questioned her about it. "I've taken a lot of time to consider what is truly important to me as a ninja. One of those things is my comrades." She said looking directly at him. "After I had gotten passed my own prejudices and what the other people in the village say about you, I realized that you're not any different than the rest of us. You really don't deserve the treatment that you get, and you're definitely not a dead-last, no matter what Sasuke-kun says." Sakura replied.

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows. That was probably the first time he had heard Sakura disagree against something that Sasuke said. "But…does that mean…?" He could not actually finish his sentence because he did not know exactly what to say.

However, Sakura seemed to pick up on what he was getting at. "Like I said before, you're my friend now. I don't know how I hadn't realized it before, but you've always been my friend. How I treated you was disgraceful. I'm so sorry." Sakura said as she bowed a little bit. Naruto could tell that she was genuinely apologetic, but could do nothing but rub the back of his head sheepishly. He was not used to other kids his age being nice to him, so he didn't know exactly how to react.

"H-hey, it's all good, believe it. What matters now is that we're going to make an unstoppable pair, right Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, his eyes lighting up from excitement. The air in the room immediately lost all of its tension, which was a huge burden off of Sakura's chest. She did not know what she would have done if Naruto had refused her apology, but she would have respected his decision. If someone had treated her the same way she did him, then she would have definitely held a grudge.

Sakura nodded in confirmation. She stuck out her fist. "Right." She said, giving him a little wink. Naruto grinned widely as he bumped fists with her.

Just then, Sakura heard the downstairs door open and footsteps echo throughout the house. "Sakura! We're home!" Mebuki called through the seemingly vacant house. Sakura immediately tensed. Her parents did not take very well to shinobi, and like she had stated before, especially not male shinobi.

"Naruto, I'm really sorry to cut this short, but you have to leave now." Sakura said, immediately rising from her position on the floor. Naruto rose with her, aware of the implication.

"I guess I'll just let myself out the way I got in. I'll see you tomorrow for training, Sakura-chan." Naruto said as he made his way towards her window. Sakura nodded.

"Of course, and thanks for your help." She said sincerely. Naruto gave her one last grin before he jumped out her window. Sakura looked at her window to make sure he had made it out safely. Not surprisingly, Naruto had tumbled face-first into the ground, but still got up and brushed himself off as if nothing happened before taking off down the street. Sakura shook her head at the idiot's antics.

Sakura closed her window with a smile. She had acquired the friendships of two people – Lee and Naruto – who she knew would have her back no matter what the case. She wished she could say the same for her sensei and the object of her affection, but at the rate their relationships were going, they were probably never going to give her any regard.

Sakura just sat on her bed and crossed her hands as she thought about this. If they were not convinced that she was trying to get stronger, then she would show them. She might not have been a shinobi prodigy like Sasuke or have the raw power of a lion like Naruto, but she would prove herself to be useful on the battlefield too.

And the first step to that was getting some rest, since the Green Beast was sure to work her hard the next day, no matter how tired she felt.

Sakura had to disregard the fact that she had fainted the day prior because she had already made an appointment with Lee and it would be rude if she decided not to show up. She made sure to get up earlier and eat a large breakfast so it would digest well and she would have more energy before training. She remembered that Lee said that eating was a big part of her training program too, and she was set on being completely regimental about her career.

At seven o'clock sharp, she was standing on the plain of Training Ground Five. Lee was already there. He greeted her with a smile and a wave, as well as a comment about how incredibly youthful she looked. She was not sure whether that was a good thing or not, but she blushed anyway and accepted the comment. Gai did not seem to be there, and Lee told her that his sensei had a few loose ends to tie up and he would not be joining them.

They had started with running, again doing five laps around the village. And, once again, Sakura felt like giving up. She did not drop to her knees and pant for breath like she did the previous day, but she felt so tempted to rest that she ultimately began walking at some points. This, however, became more painful than relaxing, since every time she did so, Lee made her do ten push-ups.

They mainly worked on endurance that day, since stamina was one of the most noticeable things that she lacked in comparison to her teammates. She held certain positions for minutes on end, ran from one side of the field to another, and even (for they were bored) arm wrestled Lee for a full fifteen minutes straight. The goal was not to take him down, since she knew that was something she could not do, but keep him from taking her down. In the end, she lost, but fifteen minutes was a good start.

Two hours later, Sakura's shirt was soaked with her own sweat, and it clung to her body in a way that showed off her nonexistent figure. In a sense, she still felt a little insecure about that, but she was more concerned about someone looking at her frazzled appearance, because she honestly did not look very attractive at the moment. For some reason, although she did not say her thoughts out loud, Lee vehemently disagreed.

"I think that is enough for today, Sakura-san." Lee said as he handed her a water bottle. Sakura took it thankfully as she drank some of the refreshing liquid. Lee drank some of his own water bottle and swallowed. "I can already see an improvement." He said.

"Really? It's only the second day, and I don't think I've improved at all." Sakura said as she finished up her water. She was very tired and looked as though her legs were about to give out under her. Lee immediately noticed this and led her over to a giant rock on the training field. They sat on the side that face away from the sun, so they were surrounded by its shadow.

"I do not mean physically, because that will take time. I mean your attitude. You outlook on this training seems to have only grown more determined. This is the kind of mindset you will need if you want to complete our training together." Lee said. He then looked at her and smiled. "I think that you'll make a wonderful kunoichi. Just remember that no matter where you start from, hard work can put you on top."

Sakura looked at the ground with a smile as tears pricked her eyebrows. It was true that she was not doing as well in Lee's training as she had hoped, but she knew that the shift she was trying to make was dramatic, so she just had to keep working. It did not matter if she was not as she expected herself to be. That did not mean that she should give up, it meant that she should try harder.

"Sakura-san…" Lee started tentatively. Sakura snapped out of her stupor and listened intently. "I hope you do not mind me asking, but why did you not go to your own sensei for your training? Not that I don't love training you or anything! I am just curious." Lee said.

Sakura turned away from him and pursed her lips, leaning her chin against her legs, which were tucked against her chest. "Because…" She said in a slightly shaky breath. "Because he scares me." She said truthfully. She buried her head in her knees and tried to shield her face away from Lee. However, he could already see the tears that were falling from her eyes. His hand immediately went to her back. He ignored the slight moistness as he began to rub small circles.

"Why?" He asked quietly. He could never understand how someone could be afraid of their own teacher, especially because his own teacher was his role model. Sakura, on the other hand, looked absolutely terrified of hers.

"…He doesn't believe in me. He doesn't say it…but I can tell. He cares more about nurturing the power of Naruto and Sasuke and neglects me. I could tell that he was disappointed with how I acted on the last mission. I don't hate him, not at all. In fact, I think he's being quite fair." Sakura said with a dry laugh as she sniffed a little. "But I'm so afraid that he's given up on me without giving me a chance. I don't want him to always feel the need to protect me to the point where I'm never able to grow because of it." Sakura took another long sniff.

She continued to silently cry as Lee continued to comfort her. He felt that he did not need to say anything. He just needed to be there as her friend, someone who did believe in her.

Unbeknownst to them, a certain white-haired scarecrow watched their spectacle from the trees. Directly next to him was his eternal rival, his arms crossed and his thick eyebrows furrowed. Kakashi leaned against the tree trunk for support. Although he looked pensive, his expression was only a minuscule reflection of the internal conflict he felt. He unconsciously knew what he had been doing to his student, with the low skill level she was at, he made it his goal to protect her because he could not risk losing more of his comrades. However, he did not know that his protection caused her to feel uneasy around him.

Gai turned to Kakashi with a sigh. "I thought you should know what you are doing to your own youthful student." He stated after a long period of silence. With that said, Gai jumped out of the trees and made his way towards his student and his "pseudo-student", leaving Kakashi to recede back into his own thoughts.

He was truly not cut out to be a teacher.

Wow, that was probably the longest chapter I've written in my entire career (which hasn't been very long, but it's still an achievement). Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Do you like the way I built up Sakura and Naruto's friendship? I did not want to jump right into it, otherwise it would have been very unrealistic, but do you guys think that the pacing was good?

Please leave a review telling me what you thought. Now that senior year is upon me and I have college applications (which are hell) to write, the reviews will really keep me motivated. If it is to your convenience.

As always, I hope you all have a fantastic day wherever you are. I'll see you guys next time!