Sakura could feel the rough bark underneath her fingers as she watched the water rush quickly beneath the bridge. The red paint was chipped where she was standing, old and worn down from years of sun and traffic on both the boards and the handrail. To her left, though, the part of the bridge that had been restored after the invasion stood proud and new. It was the same color paint, perhaps exactly so, but so much brighter and more vibrant. The new wood was solid and fresh on the other side of the bridge.

She couldn't help but feel like she was the old half of this bridge; she'd gone through incredible hardships too. Orochimaru had broken her and her team down, just like he had this bridge with his invasion. She'd promised to be better, be stronger, to not let herself watch her teammates backs while they passed her by any longer. She would rebuild herself better, up to her fullest potential.

Instead, she stayed just like her old self. She'd tried, on a few occasions, to better herself. She'd put work into developing new techniques and being more useful in combat, trying to rely on her strengths as a ninja. Even with all her work, she still fell behind her teammates.

One was off betraying the village, cavorting with the evil that was Orochimaru and learning all a Sannin had to teach him. The other had left only a few days ago, also with a Sannin of his own on a training trip. Yet here Sakura was stuck with D-Rank missions all on her lonesome. Her, the old worn wood that was overlooked as her two teammates were rebuilt from the ground up into something newer, better, fresher. Something she would and could recognize but would never reach herself.

Those D-Ranks are where she should be right now rather than wasting time on this bridge. Ever since the invasion, she'd been secretly taking as many extra D-Ranks as she could, on her own, in between her training and missions with the rest of Team 7. Her mother and father (not mom and dad, never mom and dad), had both made it to one of the shelters during the invasion. Just as they saw the shelters behind the Hokage Mountain in sight, the genin escorting them had been hit with a kunai from behind. Her father had made a split-second decision and shoved her mother into the shelter and closed the door behind her. Once the door was closed the seals activated automatically, locking all the rest of the civilians and her mother in the shelter. It was the kind of sacrifice she could be proud of.

She hated herself, in a tired and resigned sort of way all these months later, for still being mad at him for not being faster. Just a tiny bit, just enough to have saved himself as well.

Her father had been the breadwinner of the family, her mother a traditional housewife. When the invasion was over and the Sandaime's funeral finished, her reconnection with her mother was both heartfelt and strained. Tears fell and hugs were given more freely than ever before in Sakura's short life during those first few hours. Until, inevitably, the topic of money had come up.

"I'll help with the bills, of course," Sakura had offered as her mother had fretted over the repairs their home would need in the near future.

"You most certainly will not, young lady," her mother had been quick to reply. She had turned, eyes ablaze with pride and determination to set Sakura straight. "I am your mother and it is my duty to provide for you. I can find a job; surely the Village will need all the help they can get right now. Besides, you've only been in your career for a year. How much money could you truly make?"

The answer had been, surprisingly, quite a bit. At least, she was able to rake in more than enough during the rebuilding after the invasion. D-Ranks had been flowing plentifully to help rebuild and repair the defenses. Now, nearly 5 months later, most of the Village had been rebuilt and the D-Ranks were drying up.

Her mother had eventually succumbed to the fact that without any job experience from the last 13 years, it was difficult to get a job. Their relationship became more and more strained as her mother was forced to rely more and more on her for income, and Sakura was forced to scrounge for D-Ranks she could complete independently.

Things weren't quite dire, not yet, but Sakura was beginning to get worried. Without a team, the types of missions she could take were limited. A genin's expected pay, even if she switched from working with Kakashi-sensei to taking a full time role in the Genin Corps, wasn't enough to sustain both herself, her mother, and their home.

Which just made today all the more frustrating. There had been not just one but two prime missions she could have taken by herself today, but instead she was stuck at the bridge waiting for Kakashi-sensei. He had rolled up out of nowhere the night before as she walked home from a training ground where she'd been attempting to practice on her own and simply said "Team meeting tomorrow, Sakura-chan. Don't be late!" His head tilted, his eye crinkled, and then he was gone in a swirl of leaves.

Perhaps it was her own fault; she hadn't let her teammates know about her difficulties. She never mentioned her father and was lucky that she'd been able to schedule his funeral on a day when the team wasn't busy. Surely, her issues with money and losing one parent were so minor compared to her teammates! She'd learned so much about her teammates in the last year they'd been together since they graduated from the academy.

Sasuke's determination to grow and his tragic childhood; Naruto's reputation within the village, the scorn he so undeservedly received, and his ceaseless happiness and eagerness to protect. Even Kakashi-sensei always kept himself slightly distant and aloof, surely from all the loss he'd experienced in his long career as a ninja. Sakura didn't have the right to burden them with her own troubles.

Her training was well ingrained in her from the academy, though. Mizuki-sensei and Iruka-sensei had been very clear in their lessons.

"Your jonin-sensei is there to teach you, guide you, and mold you into the best ninja we believe you can be," Iruka would say. "Just always remember that they're also a superior officer! You must listen to what they say, always."

"Their main job," Mizuki had later elaborated "is to keep you all alive until you're strong enough to do it yourself. Mostly, this means teaching you the skills you'll need with more personalized approaches than we can provide you. It also means that when they speak, you listen. It won't be like with us, here in the academy. Out there in the real world, there's danger around every corner and the jonin won't always tell you everything they know; only what they think you need to know. So, when they say 'Jump' you don't have time to ask 'how high,' you just jump and pray it's high enough."

So, when Kakashi called for a team meeting? Sakura didn't question it. She just showed up.

She knew he'd be late. She knew, like she knew the sun would set, and the river would run, and the wind would blow. Kakashi would be late.

She couldn't manage to let herself show up late, though, even when she knew he would be. There was just some small bit of her that refused to let that respect for authority, the training the academy drilled into her, die the death it so dearly deserved. So instead of performing two D-Ranks, one of which was going to be the extra funding she and her mother needed to be able to afford gifts for each other for the upcoming Rinne Festival without dipping into their precisely managed savings, she was at Team 7's old meeting spot on the bridge, alone.

She wasn't in a training ground, so couldn't perform any real physical training, but her chakra was always with her. She'd been fiddling with it for the past two hours while she waited, an idle sort of training while her thoughts meandered. She still harbored some hopes of pursuing her dreams of helping Team 7 by becoming a medic-nin, and one of the primary things a medic-nin needed was good chakra control.

She paid close attention to her chakra as she manipulated it within her body, running from tenketsu to tenketsu and performing different patterns, each more intricate than the last. Different chakra exercises to increase the flexibility and responsiveness of her chakra to her desires, making it easier to operate or perform different techniques. She didn't expend any of the energy, as she didn't have a lot to lose at any given time, but she figured performing the exercises internally would be sufficient, even if it was probably easier.

Sakura regretted the death of her grand plans from a month ago. She had a revelation in the form of Tsunade, their new Hokage and the legendary medic Sannin. Sakura had figured that if Naruto and Sasuke both got to be taught by a Sannin, then she would too in order to keep up with them!

Unfortunately, her hopes were dashed when she realized what becoming the Hokage's official apprentice would entail. Living expenses enough to sustain herself and only herself, as the Hokage's student, yes; but also a moratorium on any missions that weren't explicitly assigned by her shishou. Sakura knew her skills wouldn't be up to the woman's standards and she wouldn't be allowed into the field for missions, not even D-Ranks, until she was up to par.

Sakura refused to abandon her mother like that, so had instead made the recommendation to Hinata, Ino, and Tenten to approach for an apprenticeship. When Ino had learned that Sakura wouldn't be applying, she had quickly lost interest. Tenten had been initially excited, as Tsunade had been her childhood idol, but quickly stated she wanted to forge her own path to greatness, rather than follow in Tsunade's exact footsteps. Hinata, however, hadn't outright refused. For anyone else, this would have been a declaration of intent similar to Lee's shouting about youth.

With some gentle and not-so-gentle encouragement, Hinata had eventually asked and prevailed in becoming the Godaime's apprentice. Sakura was so, so happy and proud of her friend. Happy enough that she did everything in her power to squash the burgeoning ember of jealousy deep in her breast that threatened to ignite itself into an inferno every time she thought about it.

Instead, she focused on a new formation in her chakra exercises, one she hadn't ever tried before. It was tricky, a swirling pattern where rather than swirling all the chakra in one direction or another, she was supposed to split her chakra into its yin and yang natures, then swirl them in opposite directions within her body. It was slow moving but she was sure that –

"Yo," she heard Kakashi-sensei's voice interrupt her at the exact same time she felt his hand land on her head and ruffle her hair. She hadn't even felt him arrive, the air barely moving with his appearance!

So cool, her inner voice marveled. One day I'll be that cool too, shannaro!

Sakura just smiled instead and tried to tilt her head up to look at him, but his hand kept her firmly locked in place. "You're late, Kakashi-sensei."

"Maa, Sakura-chan, what happened to my cute genin who used to get so mad?"

"Not even going to offer an excuse anymore?" she asked with a sigh.

"Mmm, would it make you feel better if I said there was a black cat who needed help carrying their groceries across the road of life?"

"Silly sensei," Sakura said, and she couldn't help from keeping the pure joy out of her voice for how reliable he was, strange as that sounded. "You can't use up all your excuses now. You won't have any for later."

"Ah, really?" He demurred, lifting his hand off her head, and she could just imagine him scratching at his cheek. "That would be bad, wouldn't it."

"So," Sakura finally asked after their comfortable pause edged a little too close to becoming an awkward silence. "What is our team meeting about? Do you have a mission for us, or did you just want to do some team training?"

She couldn't help it, she had to rip the band aid off. She was worried, had been worried since yesterday, about what this meeting was actually about. What would happen to them now that Naruto had left too, left them behind, left her behind, but surely, surely Kakashi wouldn't -.

"I'm afraid I have bad news for Team 7, Sakura-chan."

Her stomach dropped, her throat ran dry, and she clenched her fingers. She refused to turn around and look at him. "Oh?" was all she managed to say.

"The Village is in a very bad place right now, Sakura-chan. I'm sure you've noticed that most of the repairs from the invasion have been completed, which means now the Hokage wants to put as many of her jonin and chunin as she can on high value missions."

He paused, clearly willing her to say something. Begging her to make this a conversation rather than a confession. She refused to make it easy for him.

"I'm going to be running a lot of missions. Back to back, non stop, and I'll be out of the village often. For most of the new genin teams with jonin sensei, this isn't an issue. They're still in three man squads, and the value of having a jonin come back to the Village slightly more often for training trips is worth the loss of income from those few extra missions they run."

Sakura stared straight ahead, watching the water whirl as it ran past the bridge. She tried to gauge the speed of the river from afar, and match her chakra to it. Nothing fancy, just increasing its speed through her pathways, something simple to occupy her mind so she didn't scream bloody murder at her sensei who was abandoning her. Just like Sasuke. Just like Naruto. Just like her father.

"But Team 7 is just you and me right now. The Hokage can't justify the loss of income from my missed missions if I came back to teach regularly. The missions I'll be running will be some of the hardest we have to offer and require some skills I have that other jonin don't."

Sakura waited with bated breath for the hammer blow. The death knell of Team 7 as she knew it that she could sense was on his lips. The apologies, the stammered excuses.

The worst part was that she knew he was right. She knew that the only thing he spoke was the hard, cold, logical truth. She really didn't belong on his missions, and she really wasn't worth his time. He was worth more to the village out in the field working than he was teaching a useless kunoichi like her.

Her anger swelled with her chakra, rampaging like the ceaseless power of a river rushing forwards. She suppressed that anger, and her inner voice sneered But what about comrades, huh sensei? Am I the only one who even listened to your lessons when you taught them?! Cha!

She'd been trying to be truer to herself, to suppress her emotions less and embrace herself as a shinobi, but she refused to let her sensei see her break down as he left her. Refused to let him see her as weak, the way she feared he'd seen her in the past; the way she feared he still saw her.

As he moved to speak, she reached an epiphany. She didn't want to show him her tears, her sadness, her desperation.

But why the hell would she hide her anger? She had every right to be angry for being abandoned again!

"Sakura, Team 7 is -"

"Take me with you, sensei." She spoke strongly, firmly, but even she could hear the simmering fury that burbled beneath her voice.

There was a pause.

"Maa, Sakura-chan, the missions I'll be going on won't be easy. I'll be out of the Village for months at a time. You really aren't-."

"Am I the only one," she said, low and harsh as she cut him off, "who listened to you on our first day together, sensei? Am I the only one who learned what you had to teach us?"

She turned around and looked at him now, for the first time seeing all of him as he stared at her. His one eye showed very little emotion, and she wasn't sure she'd ever seen anyone be so still in her life. He almost looked like a wax statue, except even in stillness he was too lifelike for that.

She swallowed once, heavily, and looked him directly in the face as she murmured the creed he'd taught her so long ago.

"Those who don't follow the rules are scum. But those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum. Are you abandoning me, Kakashi-sensei?"

She stared at him with all the defiance she could muster, all the burning inferno of her Will of Fire.

He stared at her for a long moment, silent. "If you come with me," he murmured, low now, and dangerous. Almost like he had sounded on the bridge in Wave against Zabuza. "I can't guarantee your survival. In fact, you'll probably die. Are you asking me to bring my treasured comrade to their death, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura's heart skipped a beat and her anger fluttered into something else, almost like longing, as he called her a treasured comrade. That was good. He still cared for her, so now she just needed to convince him to take her with him. Which tactic should she try?

"I'm asking you to take your student with you, to do your duty to me as my sensei. Shinobi are ones who endure; we walk with death. Where you go, I go."

"I won't be responsible for my comrade's death just for something so silly as a teacher's pride, Sakura. Besides, it's my duty as your teacher to ensure your survival. You have a better chance of survival in the Village, and I won't even have time to teach you while we'd be out on missions. I'll be moving at too fast of a pace."

Internally, Sakura deflated at his easy deflection of her argument, but committed herself to trying until she had absolutely no options left. Even if the way he dropped the -chan honorific from her name and focused on her so intently it made shivers run down her spine.

"You won't have to teach me. I can continue to learn and train while we move. I'll follow all your instructions to the letter, and when you say the fighting will be too difficult I'll stay out of the way and hide. I won't get involved. I'll make your missions easier; I'll put up and take down camp, I'll carry extra supplies for you. I can do additional reconnaissance work in low stakes environments that would be easy but time consuming for you."

"I don't need a maid or a lackey; these are solo missions for a reason. More people means it's easier to get caught or captured. If I go down on a mission, you're a liability that could get taken by the enemy and tortured for information."

"So, keep me in the dark. Only give me information I need to know. I'm a genin, I know my limits. I don't need to know everything or do everything. I just," and here she paused. "I really, really want to stay with Team 7."

"People change teams all the time, Sakura. It's the nature of being shinobi. You should get used to it."

Her frustration mounted at his casual dismissal of yet another argument, and she blurted out a reason that she really hadn't been meaning to.

"I could really use the money from the missions!"

He paused, and if she didn't know better she would have thought he was tilting his head at her in confusion. But no, he hadn't moved a muscle.

"Money?" he asked, eventually, some unknowable quality to his voice.

"Forget about that," she insisted, clenching her fists. "That's not the point. The point is that I don't want you to abandon me, and I refuse to abandon you! We're Team 7, we're all that's left of Team 7, and I refuse to let us break apart!"

"Why?" he asked. "What's so important about you and I staying together? I'm sure you could find a teacher more suited to you with little trouble. You wouldn't even need to join the Genin Corps if you didn't want to; there are plenty of three man squads with Jonin sensei who have open spots right now. I even hear our new Hokage is starting up a medic training program, if you were interested in that."

"I promised I would protect my precious people, just like Naruto. I promised I would never look at all of your backs again. I would stand beside you all and defend you with everything I had, rather than staring at your backs waiting to get saved."

It was the first time she'd articulated her new nindo, and it felt good to say it out loud. "Team 7 is my precious people. You. Naruto."

Sasuke. The name hung between them, heard but unspoken.

"So I need to stay with you, to make sure that I can be strong enough to stand beside you all, and ensure that when Naruto comes back, he has a Team 7 to come back to. It's important! Besides, you're my teacher, Kakashi-sensei. I don't want any others."

As she said it, she realized it was true. Maybe she would become a medic nin, maybe not. But her desire to train under Tsunade was born of the belief that Kakashi would be leaving her just like Naruto and Sasuke had.

But if she could keep him? If she could stay with him? He might be a terrible teacher, but she would take him over Tsunade every time.

He was Team 7, and she was too. That was all there was to it.

So how could she prove it to him? What had he taught her that she could show him to get it through his skull that she not only needed him, but deserved him?

Tree walking? Team formations? A bit of extra coaching on breaking genjutsu?

None of those were really his teachings though. Just general ninja skills. What had she learned from her sensei that was on par with his belief on never abandoning a comrade? It hit her in a flash.

Look underneath the underneath.

In a moment, her mind worked at a mile a minute, kicking into overdrive. What did she know about Kakashi? What did she know about his missions? The Village? What was underneath their conversation, and what lie underneath that?

Underneath their conversation was clear to her – it was about what was more important. Team 7, or the Village. Kakashi was arguing that she wouldn't be able to keep up with him, and therefore her desire to stay with him wasn't what was best for the Village, or for her. He argued he was doing what was best for her by keeping her away from his dangerous missions.

He was right; she couldn't handle A-rank missions. She wasn't ready.

But we've already been on an A-Rank mission together, she couldn't help but think. We went to Wave and faced Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist. Kakashi protected us fine then. He sent Sasuke, Naruto, and me on an A-Rank mission to go after Gaara. So, clearly I can handle an A-Rank mission when it really, truly matters.

So, Sakura determined, she needed to look a layer underneath that. What was more dangerous than A-Rank missions? S-Rank? But there truly weren't many of those. They were rare not just because of their danger, but because of how few S-Classed dangers there were out there. Even Kakashi would need a team of shinobi all on his level to take down an S-Classed threat on a mission, probably!

But what else could it be? The only thing more dangerous than highly ranked missions were the types of missions that high level ANBU took, where it wasn't just the danger but the sensitivity of the mission that was important.

She stared at Kakashi hard and thought about everything she knew about him. A year ago, when they did their introductions, he hadn't told much about himself. He was secretive, aloof, and had been doing missions since before she was born.

Other shinobi in the village respected him. She'd watched on more than a few occasions, random shinobi walking out of his way while he read his dirty porn books in public rather than making him dodge around them. Jonin were respected, but very few had that level of respect. Kakashi was one of the best of the best, and she remembered how lucky she felt when she realized how important her sensei was.

Who were more respected and feared than Jonin?

ANBU. Which were exactly the kind of missions that would be far too sensitive to take her on. Was it worth the risk to let him know she knew, and it would be okay if he had to leave her behind? Was she sure in her analysis?

If she screwed this up, he would leave her behind for sure.

Confidence, though, was part of her new creed as a shinobi. She smiled at him, big teeth and as guileless as possible.

"Besides, Kakashi-sensei, you've taught me plenty!"

He just raised an eyebrow at her, and she couldn't help but cross her fingers behind her back as she continued to smile at him.

"Even in our first lesson, you were preparing me for the future. You exposed me to genjutsu, and look how useful it was during the invasion! And I'm showing you the importance of never abandoning your comrades right now. All of your teachings, especially from as early as your first day as my sensei, have stuck with me. I've taken them to heart."

He stared at her, head tilted visibly now, but showed no other outward sign he was picking up what she was trying to tell him. She had to have faith in his skills as a ninja, his knowledge of her as a ninja, and her own determination to get him to understand. To remember.

"Who could possibly know you better than me, sensei? We're Team 7. I know you want to go on these missions solo, but you sometimes get lost on the road of life. Or have to help little old ladies cross the street. Or see a black cat and have to take the long way around. But I don't mind if you are late sometimes. If you disappear for a few days or weeks it's okay. I know it's important that you listen when a little birdie tells you to be late. I can keep camp and wait patiently for you to show back up and for us to get back on track with missions as soon as you're ready again. I can be patient."

She stared at him and held her breath as she waited. This was it.

She didn't want to admit it, but he really had presented her with the perfect opportunity. A stretch of high-level missions, even if she only received a tiny fraction of the pay as a barely contributing genin, would be more than enough to financially support her and her mother for a while. If he didn't agree, she would have to start seriously considering her other, non-ninja, options.

Like the matchmaker her mother kept pushing her to go see. She couldn't support her mother and herself on a genin's salary alone, but if she managed to find a rich husband, or at least fiancé, then that was a different matter. Even forgetting the fact that Sakura was 13 and very much not interested in that, thank you very much! It was so old fashioned, and she wanted to date and choose her own future!

Family comes first, though, and she'd suck it up and go if she couldn't figure something else out in the next couple of months. The tiny little voice that told her a husband might refuse to allow her career as a ninja was mercilessly shoved so far down she didn't have to pay attention to it.

"Maa, Sakura-chan," Kakashi finally said to break the silence. "I'm so proud you've taken my teachings to heart and know me so well. You truly are my precious student." He pretended to wipe a tear from his eye, but Sakura stayed on guard. This was a good sign, but she wouldn't give up until he had officially said he was taking her. He smiled at her, eye crinkling and mask shifting as he said "We leave tomorrow at dawn. Pack for three months; and don't be late!"

Then he was gone, in a whirl of wind and a flutter of leaves. Sakura watched, stunned for only a moment before her lips curled into a wide smile. She jumped into the air with pure joy, letting her chakra bring her higher than should be possible and pumped her fist in victory!

"Shannaro!" she shouted, ecstatic at her victory and the solution to her problems.

Her mother would be taken care of. She would get to stay a ninja. Team 7 was staying together, even in its diminished form.

Kakashi wouldn't be able to spend any time teaching her, so she'd have to teach herself, but that was fine! She could do that! She was good at watching and learning on her own anyways; all the sensei at the Academy had always focused more on Clan kids than her and the other civilian-born kids anyways. She would just have to be sure to pack some study materials.

That thought seemed to unfurl a long list of things she needed to do to prepare before she left for... three months! That was the longest she had ever left the village.

Sakura squared her shoulders and punched a fist into her palm. She could do this.

Authors Note:

Welcome! To my second ever attempt at a multi chapter fic. I desperately love and am inspired by a number of other fics which focus on making Sakura more than canon ever thought she could be. I hope you enjoy my attempt at a similar kind of story!

Let me lay down how this is going to go:

I have the first 6 chapters, each in the realm of 4-6K, written and edited. I plan to post one chapter every Sunday for the next 5 weeks. My HOPE is that over the next 5 weeks I will be able to take the additional 8k (roughly) words I have past the first 6 edited chapters and expand them into 6 chapters of their own (probably about 30k). Then I want to repeat this process so that I can continue to post one chapter a week until the story is over, with no gaps for the readers at any point in time. We'll see how well that works out in reality, but hope springs eternal I suppose! If my plans DON'T work out, the 6 chapters I have currently written at least end at a somewhat satisfying location, story wise, so there won't be any crazy cliff hangers. If, by the end of these 6 chapters being posted, I don't have the next "section" of story written far enough along that there's a vaguely satisfying conclusion to the mini "arc" of the story, I won't post until I have reached a nice mini conclusion. I am committed to the idea of never leaving this fic on a cliff hanger for a long period of time. In a perfect world, I plan to write "Sakura's World Tour (TM)" as one book, which will encompass the three months Kakashi says their trip will take. Then I'd continue to write different books detailing Sakura's experiences and growth through the time skip due to this one big change, ie staying with Kakashi and learning from him instead of Tsunade. I have a rough outline of how that all will go. And then I'd move on to writing through Shippuden given the ripple effect changes that would take place from Sakura being different. We don't live in a perfect world though so I can only promise to do my best. Be prepared, btw, that the Slice of Life tag is there for a reason. I don't anticipate any big plot stuff to be front and center during most of this "book." Consider it more a character study and progression fantasy style growth, showing Sakura getting stronger and growing both as a person and in her ninja skills, albeit in a different way than canon presented. She'll still face obstacles (she'll be on missions after all) but there isn't one, or even a few, plots that will be resolved; just missions she completes as she also focuses on growing and learning and keeping up with Kakashi. Lastly, if you enjoyed it, please leave a comment! I will try to respond to all my commenters and LOVE talking about the story :) Right, that's enough from me, hopefully future chapters won't require any silly Author Note's nonsense. Hope you enjoyed!