The Jounin removed himself from his perch with one smooth motion and was soon in front of her by the river. She looked around to see Pakkun had let out a yawn and tagged along with Kakashi. She held her breath when he began to speak, first commending her on sticking with such a tedious task. Then he mentioned Naruto and Sasuke, the other half of Team 7 and she pressed her lips together, trying not to say anything on that touchy topic. Sakura knew they had their own goals to tend to and that it sometimes meant that they would need to part ways but Sakura hoped that in time, they'd be together again as they should be: a real team.

\Much to her relief, he moved on and stood beside her now. Sakura looked to him and they turned around, Pakkun now on the other side of her. The pink haired girl waited and watched as Kakashi went through the rapid signs and then before she could think about it, a massive dragon rose from the river, made out of water. She swallowed and looked back to Kakashi who then allowed himself to direct the dragon to launch itself at the ground behind them. They turned around to look at what had happened upon impact. There was more mud now and much of the earth was damaged but it didn't look too bad. Still, she was impressed and feeling a little lost.

She did her best not to fidget as she thought back to when she first saw it.

Back then, it was amazing and now that she was a bit older...? 

It was still pretty amazing actually.

Sakura listened to Kakashi give a very brief description of the jutsu itself but she found it less helpful than he may have intended. **"Alright."** Sakura said, not wanting to appear tongue tied or awe struck. She made sure to tell herself that she could do it. That Kakashi thought she could do it too and that it was the first of many challenges she'd face now. She then told herself that Naruto and Sasuke would be challenged too and in a way, wherever they were, they'd still be facing challenging together. That gave her comfort and she felt herself relaxing a little. As her teacher resumed his lesson, she found herself caught off guard by his praise. She was so used to hearing him praise Sasuke that at first she felt the need to look around for the boy wonder but Kakashi continued to talk so she refrained from appearing distracted.

He gave her what she thought to be a smile before he moved around and stood behind her. Sakura looked over her shoulder and looked back to the river in front of her. The pressure wasn't hidden at all, it was out in the open and she did her best to remain calm and not let it get under her skin. After all, she had been able to tune out Naruto's stupid antics before, this had to be easier than that...right? The dog spoke up and offered her another bit of stress, to which she wanted to tell him that she knew it and didn't need to be reminded. Ino had taught her how self confidence could push someone a long way and right now, Sakura needed to believe in herself.

Before she even thought about beginning, Pakkun offered to let her rub his paw if she did well. **"...Alright, thanks."** She said, not sure if he was being serious or not. Turning back to the river, she took a long but calm steady breath. Sakura closed her eyes and got back in tune with her own chakra flow. She opened then and held her chin up as she began to go through the hand signs as she had done the hour before. This time however, the girl made sure to turn her chakra towards forming the dragon, letting her own energy guide her towards it taking its own shape. The water in front of her bubbled and as she swiftly finished the last one, a small dragon took shape.

Breathing softly, she eyed it.

It looked right back at her.

Gritting her teeth, she allowed her chakra to surge even more as it escalated in height. It was unstable, trembling, but it was almost 3/4'ths as tall as Kakashi Sensei's own. She wasn't sure how to get it to move now but she knew to scale it back so it was easier to manage. It shrunk back down so that it was as tall as her and she then used her mind to make it go where she wished. The aquatic beast wobbled up into the sky and then collided with a tree not too far away. She dropped the jutsu and dropped her arms. **"So..."** She looked down at Pakkun, not sure if she should feel proud or not. **"Is your paw really soft?"** Sakura smiled at him, putting her hands on her hips. Sakura was happy she did something, rather than nothing at all.

Next she looked to Kakashi, wondering what he had to say about her execution. For her first attempt, she was pleased though, if she could admit it. _'Oh yeah, everybody look out!'_ Her Inner Self laughed evilly.