Sakura wasn't sure if it was the two living Hokage gaining up on her as punishment for her escaping her hospital bed when the Petal attacked or if the Fifth in all her wisdom knew that the new mother needed the forced rest to bond with her baby and let her body heal naturally. But it had been six weeks since the birth of her daughter and Sakura was going mad feeling cooped up in the tower. She hadn't been allowed to train or other fun physical activities, the most they had allowed was walks around the village. It was the best and worst six weeks of her life. She hadn't thought that anything would ever be as hard as being a ninja but motherhood was doing all it could to prove her wrong. About the time she felt ready to surrender, her husband would come to the rescue.

Naruto had kept up his tradition of talking with Takara when he got home from a hard day in the office. He would take her and they would cuddle up in a rocking chair in the nursery and he would tell her about his day, anything interesting that was going on around the village, and if he spared with Sasuke, he gave blow by blow details of the battle. When she watched as father and daughter conversed, it gave her just another of the many reasons she loved the man more than life. The time he spent with the tiny bundle of blond showed his devotion that he had in every aspect of his life.

Sakura came to adore that time of small freedom. It was only an hour or two, but it was the part of her day where she got to reclaim a little bit of herself. A shower had never felt more glorious than after dealing with another tiny person all day. It rivaled the feeling of a shower after a tough mission. If she was too exhausted to even attempt a shower she would nap or curl up on the couch with a good book.

Like most woman she liked the classic romance novels but she thought some of them had nothing on some of the drama she found in her life. When she had first really moved in and unpacked her travel bag of absolutely everything, she had loaded Naruto's almost empty book shelf with some of her favorites she had collected on her travels she couldn't part with. Her husband had laughed when he saw her favorite book, Tales of A Gutsy Ninja, among the collection. Saying he never imagined she'd own a book written by Jiraiya. She was petrified thinking something that lewd was in her collection but her heart started beating again when she understood what book he was referring to. It was a well loved, scratches on the cover and the ends had dog ears. It even had some burn marks from accidentally dropping it in a campfire when someone had surprise attacked her. She planned to read it to Takara when she got a bit older.

Believing he was more intuitive than he really was, Naruto planned an outing for his family when he heard Granny had given his wife the all clear to resume training. Sasuke had warned the new father he needed to ease the loose cannon back into things rather than ambush her with everything at once. He hadn't liked his friend referring to his wife as a "loose cannon" but it had fit her a little too well for him to have a good argument against it. The boys had decided to get everyone together for a lunch outing at one of the training grounds. The dark avenger turned husband brought his wives and herd of children. Naruto invited Granny and the teams former sensei Kakashi. Also the rest of the people who had at one time been involved with Team Seven at different times. He also extended an invitation to his students. He hoped the group wouldn't get too rowdy with all the kids that were going to be around.

Sakura was overjoyed to see everyone, including Sai, that was saying something. Everyone enjoyed a quiet lunch except for the excited children running and screaming instead of eating. She was busy in a conversation with the other mothers about feeding schedules and other mothering advice she wanted to pick their brains clean about when they noticed their husbands starting a contest of strength. They had moved away from the group so children wouldn't get caught up in any destruction the men might cause. She let out a long low sigh, they had done pretty well to not start a contest during the meal, so she decided to just observe her teammates and not reprimand them for competing with each other.

Her first ravened haired teammate was gearing up to show his power. He jumped straight up in the air and came hurtling down a balled fist to punch the unsuspecting ground. He made a sizable crater that he could be proud of despite his blond teammate's laughing and calling it along the lines of pathetic. Naruto moved a good distance from his rival's hole and threw himself in the air doing a side flip coming down and attacking the ground in a different form than his competitor, creating a dent in the earth about the same size. Thus the fighting began about who had created the better crater. Huruko moved out to show her senseis how it was done but her attempt failed, making a crater noticeably smaller than the first two.

"She released her chakra too soon," Sakura critiqued.

Her master nodded while she sipped on some sake. Naruto had become quite the politician, promising her more sake than she could drink if she came to the lunch. She would have come anyways but when he lead with that motivation she could hardly turn the young man down. He knew her all her weaknesses, strong drink, gambling, and his handsome smile.

"Than you should go show her how its done," Sai commented to the pink haired medic in his emotionless manner. He wasn't goading her or challenging her abilities, just stating his thoughts as was his habit.

Jun took the baby in her arms so she couldn't use Takara as an excuse to not join her teammates. Sakura was ready to decline getting caught up in the senseless competition but her common sense was silenced by her ever present drive to prove herself to those around her. Her body moved of its own accord as the tiny voice in the back of her head gained momentum and spread her doubts out on the floor of her mind. It told her she wasn't anything compared to the rest of the team. She was nothing special, she didn't deserve to be on the team, because they were the demigods of the ninja world.

Feeling like each step towards them was like a clap of thunder from her tree truck thighs, her self image had been slaughtered by pregnancy and the baby fat wasn't leaving as fast as she wanted. Her mantra had become nine months on, nine months off. It did nothing to comfort her now as she cringed from them looking over to see her approaching, pausing their argument of the rules on do overs.

"You ladies have had your fun, now step back as a pro shows you how its really done," she grinned but it was a fake boast to cover her insecurities.

The men and the demon shook their heads but moved away for the sake of safety, they had all witnessed her power before. The voice of self doubt sang out to her again, claiming she was too far out of practice and she would fall short as she always did when it came to her boys. Common sense pleaded for her to just go sit down and let them take their do overs. As she reached her desired spot her drive took over again, shoving all the worries down a deep hole and locking them away behind a heavy door of self worth.

Her body shook in anticipation, it wasn't a life and death fight or something that had any real meaning but she loathed the thought of failing. Falling short of anyone's expectations, including her own, was something she couldn't allow. She made herself relax and focus, readying herself, she didn't move in a flashy jump wasting chakra. She simply coiled it up to her shoulder and as she pulled her elbow back it flowed up to the tip. Her fist shot down to the dirt, her perfectionist side didn't allow her to use a single drop poorly. Her crater would have caused the other three to seem dwarfed if it had not consumed them. She jumped to the far edge to watch as the carnage of dirt and dust return to the earth, her pride swelling in her breast.

Standing there pondering how the boys were fools for ever thinking they could out match her in a competition of brute force was appalling. The wind tugged at her rose colored mane as she felt like the goddess of destruction, all her lingering fears locked away her stance was proud as the tortured dust cleared and she could see the group. There were a few looks of shock, but mostly there were looks of admiration and that they expected this result from her.

"Is that as impressive as I think it is?" Jun leaned over to ask the Fifth.

Her smile was proud as she answered the young woman, "it would be if that was the extent of her power but she was holding back."

Whispers had been heard by the slug princess that the disciple had surpassed her master, Tsunade's self-regard had not wanted to admit being outmatched by the young medic but she had known for a long time that it was more than possible it had happened ages ago.

"That was holding back?" Yamato asked sceptically.

"See the line, she kept it from coming too close to the spectators, can't endanger the children," noted the copy cat ninja.

"What a monster," came Sasuke's offhanded comment looking at the size of the damage.

Naruto was again reminded why he didn't want to piss Sakura off, without thought, his head nodded in agreement to his teammates assessment. Naruto had a theory that if she ever punched him like that even the fox wouldn't be able to heal him fast enough to save him from her overwhelming power. It was one theory he never wanted to test. The boys had planned this for her, to remind her she was still an impressive figure even if she didn't feel like one. He had noticed his wife's waltz with trying to cling to her identity as a ninja and being a new mother with someone completely dependent on her.

His classic fox grin spread across his whiskered face as he thought of the next thing he wanted to remind her of, she was his lover. Sakura noticed it and her tiny voice snuck out the keyhole of the door her drive had slammed on it to remind her that if he wanted, Naruto could destroy the village with a single hit. The thought deflated her ego a bit. A whisper of hope twirled along, bringing light to her jade eyes, sending the voice back to its dungeon, even among the demigods of the Leaf, she had a place, it was right beside the man she loved, between him and any danger lurking in the dark world.