I snorted awake at six in the morning again, punching for an alarm clock that wasn't yet sounding. This can't be healthy, I thought groggily, stumbling toward the bathroom. I never wake up this early. I'm dying. This is how it ends.

I splashed water onto my face and rubbed my arms to get my blood flowing. I still felt sore from training yesterday, but I could feel the comforting glow of chakra buzzing inside of me. Just like the book said… food and sleep brings it back. I brushed my teeth and tried to make myself look sentient, eventually walking back to my room with barely a stumble.

Instead of dressing normally as I had before, I held my palms over my clothes and gently pulsed chakra through to pick up each article of clothing. I'd been reading and practising with 101 Chakra Control Exercises all night and blazed through every exercise in the first half, until my chakra started to ache. I wanted to keep up with it. The boys were probably perfect at this by now.

The action helped wake me up; I grabbed another book and trooped down to the kitchen, putting on a kettle for tea. I picked out some leftovers for breakfast; after yesterday I knew I'd need more than an apple for energy.

This was how Mebuki found me, just as yesterday. She poured herself a cup of tea and sat across from me. "So what are we reading today?"

"Chakra: Form and Function," I said, skimming through the text. I was idly trying to stick my feet to the wall beside me as I read on. "It's interesting stuff."

"Has your chakra been bothering you?" she asked sympathetically.

I hummed. "Not in my body, no. I feel fine. But it was doing weird stuff when I was practising kunai yesterday, so I want to check and see if I'm doing something wrong."

She hummed and sipped her tea.

"Oh, that reminds me," I put the book down. "What do ninja girls do for their periods, anyway?

As it turned out, they asked their mother what to do and set an appointment with the hospital. She said she'd have something set up for me and we could go after training sometime in the next week. She assured me I wouldn't have to deal with blood until I was ready to have the procedure reversed, if I decided I wanted children.

That's one more crisis averted. I was starting to like this place.

In short order I was waving goodbye and heading out toward training. I took a quick detour to order some lunches for myself and the guys; I felt I owed them for helping me get up to speed on our training. Plus, with food on hand, we could get our energy back up if Sensei decided to appear to take us on a mission.

He knows the time and place, I thought to myself. He should figure out where we are. Everything is going as planned, right? Yeah, I was still annoyed about that.

So it came as a surprise when I found Kakashi already there when I arrived at seven-fifteen. I double-checked my watch to be sure.

"Sensei!" I called as I approached. He was sitting in front of a stone marked with many tiny names; I'd noticed it the other day before training. Some kind of memorial.

"Maa, my busiest bee." His eye crinkled into a smile. "And carrying so much luggage!"

I dropped my pack onto the ground and sat cross-legged next to him. "Just lunch and some books; I was going to read until the boys arrived." I studied the memorial in front of us; there were a lot of names. "I don't want to be rude, but did you know..?"

He nodded. "My dearest friends have their names listed here. This memorial lists the names of shinobi who have fallen while performing their duty."

I adjusted my posture until I was sitting on my heels; it felt more respectful, somehow. I bowed toward the memorial, the gesture feeling both alien and natural. "I'm sorry. It's hard. I know."

He glanced sideways at me. "Have you lost someone, Sakura?"

Everyone I know, technically. "In my other life. My parents."

We sat side-by-side in wordless commiseration.

After a while, I said quietly, "My mother was sick. They ruled my father's as a suicide. He blamed himself."

He rested a hand on my shoulder. "Don't make the same mistake."

I looked down. "I know that now. I was just a kid. Only eight. There was nothing I could do." Seeing my little brother reach the same age finally made that clear to me, after all this time.

He squeezed my shoulder, and gently pushed me to face away from the stone. "What books did you bring? I hope something to make your Sensei proud." He smiled.

"I don't want to hear that from a man who only reads Make Out Paradise," I scoffed, digging through my bag, taking out a few books and setting them in a stack. I passed one book in particular to him. "Here, it's a book on chakra. There's something I wanted to ask you about. You might know better than my books; none of them cover my problem very well."

"Problem?" He raised an eyebrow, flipping idly through the pages.

I nodded. "Yesterday, while we were training..."

As the story poured out, Kakashi's face grew more and more perplexed.

"...And no matter what I read, putting chakra into an object just can't do that. I'm stumped. I've been trying to think of different experiments I could try to see if they go the same way, but none of the chakra control exercises have gone weird like that."

"I think this is something you need to show me."

After we made our way into the copse of trees and I demonstrated with a kunai several times, he held up a hand to halt me.

"Now I want you to use chakra while you put the kunai in."

I did as he asked.

He put a hand over it, paused for a moment, and drew the kunai out. The hole in the tree remained where it had cut through.

"Did you use chakra too?" I asked.

He nodded. "Show me again."

This time he held a hand over my arm as I repeated the exercise. He frowned at the smooth tree bark I left behind. After a pause, he stabbed the tree again, pulling the kunai back out. "Try again. Just your hand, no kunai."

I placed my hand over the hole and ran the chakra through. It was a strange sensation. As my chakra passed into the tree, it felt almost like that chakra tasted different, or smelled different. It was hard to pinpoint the sensation.

I removed my hand; the hole remained.

"That felt weird," I admitted. "Do trees have chakra? It felt… different."

He nodded. "Everything has chakra. Anything alive has more." He studied me seriously. "If you can sense it clearly once it touches your own chakra, pay close attention from now on to what you touch. It's a very good skill to have, especially if you can improve your range."

"You said you took me to T&I because you could sense fluctuations in my chakra. Do you mean like that?"

He gave me a considering look. "If you can hone this skill, it could become the greatest tool in your arsenal. You'll be better able to tell friend from foe, or when someone has undergone sudden changes." His eyes darkened. "Serious life events or changes within a person can completely change their chakra signature. Never ignore it."

I shivered. "Yes, Sensei. I'll work hard."

He smiled. "I know you will." He started walking back toward the Memorial Stone; I followed behind him. "You may have the least practice of your team, but that means you have the greatest potential. Your world is still open. Don't squander it. In the meantime, be careful where you imbue your chakra. Feel only, don't push. You don't want to injure someone by accidentally trying to heal them."

"Yes, Sensei."

Once we were back in view of the stone, I realised we were no longer alone; Sasuke and Naruto had arrived.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto jumped up and pointed an accusing finger at Kakashi. "Sensei, you made her late!"

"Maa, I had arrived very early, but had to help repair a poor girl's broken heart over long-lost loves from ages past."

"Liar," Sasuke huffed.

I gave Kakashi a considering look. I wondered just how often he wasn't lying.

"Maa, maa. Enough of that. Gather around, Team Seven. It's time for another meeting."

We resumed the semi-circle we had taken yesterday, sitting around Kakashi-sensei as he sat in front of us.

"Bad news, Team. We're grounded."

"Grounded?" Naruto exclaimed. "What did I do?!"

Kakashi shook his head. "Nothing any of you have done. Now, I'm not supposed to be telling you this, but as it directly involves you, they've left me with no choice," he drawled.

My skin crawled. That sounded familiar.

"We're temporarily banned from taking missions."

We all gaped at him.

"Why?" I asked. "That's the entire point of us being a ninja team!"

Kakashi waved his hand. "You are correct. Unfortunately, since one of my genin has been the target of an attack, they don't want us running around, in case the perpetrator tries to strike again." He paused. "Konoha is on high-alert. We are likely not the only ones to feel the effect, but as far as I know, we are the only team who are unable to take any missions."

The air thrummed with disappointment. I looked at the boys; Naruto's face was a mask of incredulity, while Sasuke was glaring at Kakashi suspiciously. "No missions at all?"

Kakashi's eye crinkled up into a smile. "Of course not. After all, who would expect little old me to look after my genin while they embarked on something as dangerous as D Ranks?"

The air seemed to crystalise around him. Brr.

I wrung my hands together. Once again, lives were getting messed up because of me. Now it was my Sensei and my teammates. "Do you need me to hurt someone for you, Sensei?" I asked. "Because I will absolutely hurt someone for you if you need me to."

He patted my head affectionately. "Our delicate flower is always a balm on this old man's soul. No need, Sakura. This is only temporary, I'm sure."

I eyed him critically. He was definitely younger than my sister, at the least. He couldn't be older than twenty-five at the most. "Okay, but if this goes on for longer than a week, I'll march down to the mission-people and yell and cry and make everyone feel bad about themselves."

"Why do I feel like you're not lying?" Sasuke asked, sounding more intrigued than anything.

"I can yell and cry too!" Naruto said. "We'll cause a big scene! And then we'll prank the whole office!"

"Damn straight!" We high-fived.

"I feel like I should be stopping this," Kakashi muttered. "It's probably my job to stop this."

"Lazy as always," Sasuke grumbled, crossing his arms. "Let them do it. They'll probably do something worse if we try to stop them."

"This is about honour!" I retorted. "This is totally up your alley, Zuko!"

He furrowed his eyebrows. "...Zuko?"

I waved him off. "It'd take me like, five years to explain. Just trust me, it fits."

"I have literally never trusted anyone less than you," he shot back.

"Liar. Naruto and I are your best friends now. You're stuck with us forever."

As Sasuke slouched and reflected on his terrible life choices, Sensei gestured at us to simmer down and refocus.

"The fact is, they're right about one thing: you're all targets. Especially you, Sakura-chan. You're going to need my help if you're going to be defended when you're on your own. Konoha can't be considered the safe-haven you're used to."

Naruto cottoned on first. "You're going to train us? For real?!"

Sasuke jerked out of his pity party to stare at Sensei.

"Yes, of course. I'm your teacher, after all. When have I ever let you fend for yourselves without my instruction?"

We all carefully kept silent and avoided looking at one-another.

"So what are we going to learn today?" I asked breathlessly. This is what I'd been waiting for.

His eye curved into a smile. "I'm glad you asked, because you're the one who brought the lesson plan."

"… What?"

He reached behind him and pulled up my copy of 101 Chakra Control Exercises. "Make sure you train hard!" He beamed, dropping the book in front of us before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

There was a lengthy silence as we stared at the book in front of us.

"… I think I actually hate him," Sasuke said, his voice mild.

"I still can't tell if he's being a great teacher or the worst," I admitted.

"A book, Sensei?" Naruto whined, inching away as though the book would crack open at any second and snap at his fingers.

I reached out to take the book first. "These were all pretty easy for me, but if Sensei thinks it's important… What chakra-control exercises do you boys know?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Just leaf sticking. That's what they taught at the academy."

I stared at him. Leaf-Sticking was literally the first exercise the book listed; I'd used it just getting dressed his morning. It was the easiest and least-useful exercise. "Naruto?"

The boy in question shrugged. "Same here. It didn't seem important."

I frowned. "How can you tell when you're using too much chakra for your jutsus, then?" I hadn't noticed until after my practices, but the main reason I'd been exhausted yesterday was from overpowering the jutsu, too worried about using too little and failing. The overexertion was likely making the jutsu harder to control, at that.

The boys shrugged.

They'll kill me if I told them Sensei was right, again, I mused, paging through the book. I'm definitely leaning toward him being a great teacher.

"Okay, here's an index." I dragged my finger across a row of exercises. "These ones are harder, but they seem the most useful. Silent Foot, Tree Walking, Water Walking, Snow Walking, and Air Pocket."

The boys leaned over, silently reading the descriptions.

Sasuke spoke first. "We can't learn snow walking yet. They all seem useful, though. We should go in order."

"Have you learned these, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Just the first one; I was practising in my bedroom last night, so there wasn't much to test myself on. The book said that Silent Foot translates well into the others, though. The feet are one of the hardest places to channel chakra, and once you get that down, the others should come easily."

Sasuke smirked. "Excited to teach us for a change?"

"Maybe a little," I admitted. It felt pretty good from this side of the helping hand. No wonder they hadn't complained when I needed their help.

It wasn't much long after that we found ourselves practising our Silent Foot around the trees. At least, I was practising, Sasuke was glaring murderously at the ground, and both of us were trying to listen to ourselves over the sound of Naruto causing mini-explosions under his feet.

"You know," I called back to him. "Even if you don't get it right, Foot Explosion Technique could come in handy." I paused. "Please use as little chakra as possible and work your way up, though. I can't hear."

There was a distant grumbling; Sasuke and I had banned him to a few dozen metres away to help us out.

Sasuke stepped on a twig which gave a light crack!

"Slowly," I murmured, focusing on my feet, trying to get a feel for the chakra embedded in the leaves and earth. It held a faint taste of petrichor, and I could practically feel the bacteria churning away in the soil. "Give your chakra time to feel around. You can speed up later."

He grunted in acknowledgement.

A couple hours later I had managed to make my steps entirely silent, and Sasuke had his down to a light whisper. We hadn't heard any explosions in a while.

"I think that's enough for now; I brought us lunch. Want to go find Naruto?" I asked.

"GOTCHA!" A pair of hands grabbed around my middle and lifted me into the air.

I screeched.

"Naruto!" I yelped. "Put me down! You jerk!"

"Idiot," Sasuke said idly. Then frowned. "We didn't hear you. I didn't expect you to figure that out before I did."

"Heh heh," Naruto set me down and scratched the back of his head. "When I kept messing up I moved further away, and since I didn't have anyone to practise with I made a whole bunch of clones. I guess having lots of us working on it at once made the whole thing go by faster!" He beamed.

I closed my eyes. "Wait. Are you saying that your clones remember stuff you're working on?" My mind whirled. If I could get used to making illusionary clones, I could read two books at once.

"Huh? Don't they always do that?" Naruto asked.

"They don't," Sasuke said, unintentionally getting his revenge for all my teasing by crushing my hopes and dreams.

"Huh! Well I guess my Shadow Clones are extra awesome and can do more stuff!"

"I have never envied anyone more in my life," I said. "We're going to eat. I'll pick your brain about this later."

"Sounds gross!" Naruto wrinkled his nose, before perking up. "Lunch? Want to go to Ichiraku again?"

"Nah," I said, leading them as we headed back to the Memorial Stone. "I bought us lunch. Since you guys were cool about helping me the other day."

"Sakura-chan..." Naruto wailed. "I think I love you even more than the old Sakura!"

"… I'm pretty sure I should be offended."

"She is less annoying," Sasuke remarked, seating himself by the stone as I passed out lunches.

"… Okay, I am offended. I don't know if I'm really Sakura or not, or if any of this is real," I groused, opening my bento box. "But we're definitely damn similar. And if I get my memories back or me and Sakura switch places again, you're getting your asses kicked."

"I'm okay with that!" Naruto chirped. "How about you, Bastard?"

Sasuke grunted, already digging into his food.

"I actually hate you both," I said.

"Nah, we're your only friends. You're stuck with us, remember?" Naruto grinned. Even Sasuke smirked.

"Hate."

Extra Special Trivia Part 9: Sasuke as Zuko. Imagine with me. "Hello, Sasuke here..."