So it began.

The Copy Ninja retreated from Sakura’s position in a familiar poof, leaving nothing but white smoke and an empty space where he once was previously. From a distance that would be out of the way enough to monitor Sakura without her catching wind of his presence, Kakashi could see just how far she would take todays exercise. Her opening decision had been the use of standard E-rank clones she had learned from the academy. Kakashi had his doubts about its effectiveness – mostly because those clones were not physical and did not have her scent, nor made sound effects that the dogs could pick up on – but it appeared as though the ninken pack were humoring her efforts. Sakura had little experience in dealing with enemies who could track her through multiple senses and this would be good practice for her, as intended. 

_‘Well, she’s understanding quickly that it won’t be enough.’_ Kakashi thought to himself, keeping watch high above the ground level. With his ninken keeping track of her and even a couple sticking underground, Sakura’s work wasn’t expected to bear immediate fruit. His confidence in Sakura was not lacking, yet part of him did wonder if she’d lose her grip of the situation and call it quits out of frustration. This was going to be one of those times where he would like to be proved wrong with a smile.

And he had been.

Over an hour had passed since this had all started. Sakura was exceeding all he had expected of her and went over the hour of time he had originally given her. Maneuvering through the trees as her spectator, all of her failures were not immediately discouraging. The kunoichi had tried several different tactics to offer her an advantage over the experienced team of ninken, and some worked better than others. Kakashi saw through the trees and towards the river, saw the beads of sweat forming along her arms and forehead. Her chest was heaving and exhaustion always seemed close enough to take her; he waited and waited for her to ask for a break, but Sakura had never said a word and continued to push herself to her absolute limits. The last time he had seen her working this hard and pushed this far was when she competed against Ino in the Chuunin Exams. Once Sakura was motivated, it had appeared nothing would slow her down. While she may have doubts about her abilities, it was from this perspective that her teacher noted that she was more like Naruto and Sasuke than she realized.

At last her run had come to an end. Sakura was caught one last time before she had admitted that it was time for her to take a well-deserved break. Kakashi was not far off from her by the time she had dropped from the tree – the tree he had been in earlier, he noted – and when called out to Kakashi had dropped down from just above her, having been hidden by her flank just several feet away. The need to keep distance had steadily dropped; focusing on her surroundings became more and more difficult for her in the last twenty minutes. He landed softly but just loud enough for her to hear his approach, not intending for her to mistake him for a ninken hound. As Sakura called out for the surrender, all other ninken had appeared from various hiding places, and one from underground. Kakashi looked among them and found that they were all pretty exhausted too from chasing her around for so long. They must have imagined that they’d get her to quit quickly, but Sakura was full of surprises.

**“All the signs, hm?”** Kakashi’s eye returned to her now, his hands pocketed casually while he examined her features more closely. The exhaustion was evident across her form, yet from it was excitement Sakura had never known before, enough for her to desire to continue even after so much effort placed into this past hour. Kakashi wanted to tell her that there was no need to rush this, but her resolve was not going to be so easily dismissed. He considered her statement a second time, and believed that perhaps Sakura did have what it takes to achieve that goal. **“That’s quite the claim, Sakura. You’ve done well today, but don’t push yourself too hard or I’ll have to carry you back home.”** The Copy Ninja looked down at his gathered ninken, more specifically Pakkun. **“We’ll be heading out to lunch then, will you all be available for later if Sakura’s still willing to continue?”**

**“If she’s really up for another round with us, then it’d be pretty shameful if we backed down.”** Urushi, the white and light-brown furred ninken muttered. Though he appeared a little worn from this exercise with Sakura, he appeared pretty intrigued by her abilities.** “See you soon, kid.”** In a puff of smoke, Urushi had vanished, as did several others, all but Pakkun. 

The small pug had looked at Sakura in silence. Being the leader of the ninken and the tactician, he had been the one most responsible for the performance of the team throughout various missions and exercises like this. His hand had been dealt against Sakura a dozen times over this hour, but no frustration had brought her to surrender to them. Only after being pushed to her limits did she finally concede for the time being, only to be bold enough to claim that she’ll get every sign once she had eaten. Kakashi may have been right about her, but it was only day one and they still had an opportunity to really see what she was made of. After several seconds of awkward silence, Pakkun smiled at Sakura. **“Sorry, I was just thinking about the future. As your rival in this training, I can’t let you succeed without a fight. Eat well, we’ll be back when you’re ready.”** Just as Urushi and the others did prior, Pakkun had vanished as well. 

**“I haven’t seen then that worn out in a very long time.”** Kakashi was quick to remark as Pakkun finally left. He didn’t wish to hurt the pride of his ninken, they were likely surprised as he was how long Sakura would be able to keep moving. The team continued on regardless, but some of them looked happy to have an excuse to take a break that didn’t involve asking for one from Pakkun or Kakashi himself. With Sakura happy to get something to eat, Kakashi beckoned her to follow him, and together they set off towards the village. After a small shortcut through the forest of trees that surrounded Konoha and its borders, the duo were soon back on the main road. It would take several minutes before they’d reach Ichiraku’s for a peaceful lunch together. As they traveled, Kakashi couldn’t help but wonder about Sakura’s goal’s for the future. In the past her focus had been solely on Sasuke, yet from what he saw it appeared as if that dream had changed. Well, they had some time, may as well kill some of it.

**“Do you mind if I ask you something? It’s all right if you don’t want to answer.”** Kakashi asked, offering her a moment to consider. Sakura had mentioned that she was okay with it, leaving Kakashi to consider how to word it all. **“When Team 7 was first formed, your goals were entirely centered on a certain someone. You’re more motivated than ever, and I think his absence might be part of the reason why you’re able to focus.” **Kakashi paused, hoping he wasn’t crossing any lines. As her teacher he had witnessed the many moments where she had been too centered on Sasuke to even think about anything else, and apparently over the month dedicated to training for the Chuunin Finals she hadn’t put any work into her abilities. Sasuke leaving sparked something in both Naruto and Sakura both, but was it only for Sasuke that she truly desired to become stronger? They wanted him back and it was something he understood perfectly well. His regret was not only convincing Sasuke to abandon the path he was going down, but also being unable to make it in time to stop him himself. **“I don’t want to pretend I understand a healthy feminine mind, but I’d like to know where you see yourself several years from now. Have your goals from before become different, even a little?”**

There was nothing wrong with becoming someone’s wife and lover, but her affection for Sasuke had slowed her down compared to others. Leaving her to speak on that as they entered Konoha, Kakashi had given time to consider her response to him, and whether she wanted to continue discussing it was entirely up to her. Arriving at Ichiraku’s, Kakashi allowed Sakura inside first, parting the small curtain and following inside after her. Teuchi and Ayame, the Ichiraku father-daughter team that ran Ichiraku’s, were happy to greet them. Gesturing for Sakura to order her own bowl first, Kakashi took a seat beside her. **“I’ll have a standard miso, Teuchi.”** He mentioned. Teuchi and Ayume gladly began to prepare the meals as requested. Today appeared to be slow, as they were the only ones in at this time, but that was likely to change soon enough. 

**“Was there anything more you’d like to talk to me about personally, Sakura?” **He asked her.