Tsukino_Mei

I seem to have overestimated how much in world time I'll fit in per a chapter as well as my word count per chapter, or perhaps I just underestimated how much set-up I would want to do, as next chapter is still only halfway through their second (final) year at the academy (though it's still sitting at a little under 500 words). Since I'm likely heading towards a pair team with Anko, this chapter has some set up for making Sakura not useless. If I do still end up putting Sakuya on team 7 I at least have a back-up plan (excuse) for why Sakura isn't there but hopefully it won't come to that as it's kind of a cop-out (don't worry, it's not that she died)

To promote competition between us, the academy made the grade rankings public, and annoyingly I seemed to maintain a constant 3^rd place.

In the physical classes, like taijutsu and the applications of different weaponry, I was behind behind Naruto and Sasuke. This was no surprise to me, as I couldn’t beat Naruto in a purely physical fight and Sasuke was vastly more experienced in Shurikenjutsu.

My annoyance came in the purely academic classes, like math and theory, where I was tied with Sakura behind Shikamaru and Sasuke. I readily accepted that while he was lazy, Shikamaru was smarter than me, and while I accepted at this point that Sasuke was indeed a genius and it wasn’t purely nepotism, I couldn’t fathom how I was tied with someone so un-like a shinobi as Sakura.

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One Sunday afternoon while I was practicing throwing needles and kunai at targets at the academy training field, hearing someone sneaking up behind me I threw 3 needles at their feet.

“Eeek”

“Naruto! If you keep sneaking up on me, one of these days I might accidentally hit you…” noticing the extremely feminine scream, I turned around and saw Sakura “oh, you're not Naruto. What do you want? Why are you sneaking up on me?”

“umm, I wanted to talk to you, but I didn’t want to disturb you so I tried to approach quietly”

I grimaced at the stupidity of that statement “for someone who does so well in school, you sure are an idiot. What am I supposed to think when I hear someone quietly approaching other than that they are sneaking up on me?”

as she turned her head away, I kindly ignored her as she muttered under her breath “I wouldn’t have even noticed”

“So, while you have my attention… what do you want?”

“umm, I was wondering if you wanted to study together, and hoping that you could maybe help me train.”

“Why me? You haven’t even talked to me before today, and other than the occasional glare in my direction, we haven't even interacted.”

she looked away awkwardly “umm, I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to glare at you. It’s just… My parents told me to stay away from Naruto, and seeing the way you two interact with each other and with Hinata I couldn’t understand why, so I often found myself looking at you guys in confusion”

“Alright, so you're not glaring. You still haven’t answered my question though. Why me?”

“well, I don’t want to turn to a rival for help, and since you clearly aren’t after Sasuke-kun, you’re kind of the only girl I could ask.”

“...and you couldn’t just ask a teacher?”

“I’m worried they’ll decide I’m too weak and I’ll be kicked out of the academy”

I paused to think about it. It was still possible she may end up on a team with Naruto, so this could be a chance for me to act like a big sister and prevent him from having useless baggage. Turning my attention back on her I nodded “Fine, we’ll meet here every Sunday and I’ll help you with taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu.”

she tilted her head questioningly “only once a week? Then can’t we start today?”

“today I’m going to test your limits and then we can come up with a training routine for you”

backing away, a look of dread came over her face “my… limits? What are you going to make me do?”

Seeing her fright I couldn’t help but laugh “hahaha, it’s nothing like whatever your thinking. You’re going to jog around until you drop, don’t worry though, I’ll be right behind you and catch you when you fall.”

“you have such confidence in me”

“What did you expect? If you didn’t always sit out the physical classes I could already have an idea, and we could skip this step. Honestly, I’m surprised you haven’t been kicked out for doing it.” I clapped my hands and motioned for her to come over to me. “No time better than the present, let’s run” and with a grimace on her face I had her start jogging in front of me

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I still couldn’t believe it “you couldn’t even jog for 10 minutes, how did you even get in to the academy?!” I yelled as I stood over her laying collapsed against a tree. “do you really plan to be a shinobi? How are you so weak? What do you spend all your time doing?”

Looking up at me with exhaust clear on her face, she bit back “I’m just a bit tired because of my diet. I need to look good for Sasuke-kun!”

I brought a hand down my face in exasperation “Diet? You’re on a freaking diet?! It sounds like you care more about being a house-wife than a shinobi. If you aren’t even serious then I don’t see why I should waste my time, so I’ll ask again: do you really plan to be a shinobi?”

she looked down, before answering “yes” in a quiet voice

“and you're willing to put in the effort?”

“yes”

(“that was pretty quiet”) Deciding this required a bit of tough love, I brought out my inner drill sergeant “I can’t hear you. Will you put in the effort?!”

“yes”

“Louder!”

“YES!”

“yes what?”

“YES! I will put in the effort to get stronger!”

I held back my smile “good, then get up. I’m going to help you come up with a training routine.”

glaring at me, she chimed back “I can’t move, I’m too exhausted”

“Huh? You just said you were going to put in the effort. If you’re serious then get off your ass, otherwise I’m not going waste my time”

hearing my words, she started to get up before she collapsed and ended up falling back down. Looking up at me with tears in her eyes she asked “I’m sorry but can you… can you please help me up?”

I smiled widely as I gave her my hand “Sure" and as I pulled her up I added "and don’t worry, there's nothing to be ashamed of in asking for help.” 

after pulling her up, I put her arm around my shoulder so she could lean on me as she walked, at which she she anxiously questioned "you'll really help me get stronger, right?”

“Of course. As long as you continue to put in the effort, than I won’t give up on you.”

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After leading her to the academy's library, that was even open on weekends so students could use it for studying, I left the room after telling her I’d be back shortly but that I needed to check a few things to help her create a work-out routine. The truth however, was that I was going to secretly ask Iruka-sensei for advice, as he was the only teacher I felt I could depend on for this.

He was extremely helpful in coming up with a routine for her despite the fact I hid who I was asking for help on behalf of, though I suspect he knew as some of the advice he gave was far too specific like him saying to “make sure she isn’t on any weird diets”. He even gave me some advice to help her with training. Though it seemed it would push her limits, with his help I was able to make a long term plan for her, and so I returned to the library.

Even though she grimaced while I was explaining it to her, she agreed to stick to it. Giving her the benefit of the doubt, I told her that I would check with her every weekend when I’d be helping her train.

Though by the first week after that I wasn’t sure just how much she could have improved in a week, I was still pleasantly surprised that she wasn’t as exhausted as the previous week after a mere 10 minute jog, and so I was able to immediately get started with helping her improve in the basics of taijutsu.

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