His candid response was something she had been expecting but nonetheless, it still knocked the wind out of her.

There was so little that she knew about Sasuke (even Naruto) and while she wanted to place blame in him or in Kakashi-Sensei, she knew she had some fault in not making a more proper gesture of wanting to get to know him, to get past what they had all to deal with during their time at the Academy. Even so, Sakura was smart enough to know what regretting the action she didn't take, wouldn't fix anything. Feeling bad about not reaching out to Sasuke may have been partly her fault, but it was also his own, for being so guarded. In some way, Team 7 was not really a team at all, no one knew each other well and most of the drama or dysfunction could have been mended with the tree teenagers stepping out of themselves and into the bigger picture to come together and do right by their village.

That made its recent disbanding still hurt. In her mind, their team could have been great, and for a short time it perhaps might have been but now with each Genin going on their own way, it was hard to think about the past when the present and future remained rather unspoken for. She knew she could have and should have done more during the month break but it didn't exactly excuse her teacher's actions. Even before the exams, she had already felt Kakashi's attention slip toward Sasuke and away from her and Naruto. And using their weakness and need for extra assistance still couldn't fully legitimize his actions of favoritism. If she ever had a squad of her own, she would hate to do it the way Kakashi had. Of course each team was different and each part of it that time needed different care.

Even so, Sakura didn't want to hold each student to a different standard. A team was a symbol of something bigger and each part should be given the same time and expectations. Just because Sasuke or Naruto needed extra guidance, didn't warrant her being pushed aside and then expected to just find another way to carry on like she was on her own yet still part of a team which had already shown strain. Her opinion of the mistakes she thought he made hadn't changed but she could accept that in his mind, he hadn't see much wrong with what he had done. The last thing Sakura wanted was for him to apologize if he didn't mean it. Nor, was she about to apologize for feeling left out, it was an impasse they each couldn't agree upon so she was happy to drop it.

As she said, it didn't matter now.

Talking about it was only going to ruin her appetite and her drive.

Returning to her meal, she resumed eating, a little unsure of how to go from here. In her mind, there was still some disconnect between her and the others, the man beside her included. Sakura wanted to get stronger but her reasons for doing so needed to be her own and no one else's. It was taking time to get into the right mindset and dredging up their mistakes was surely more detrimental than beneficial. All she could really look forward to was the future and now that the distractions were gone, she could finally get serious and make something of herself, someone who she would be proud to introduce to her eight year old self. Because letting her fantasies get the better of her, was something she regretted, not just because it took her eyes off the real goal.

But because it didn't help anyone. It didn't help her or Sasuke and it certainly didn't help Naruto or her their teacher. But she was learning to figure out what she wanted and why and that mistakes could be made no matter how old or experienced you were. A ninja just had to keep moving and learn from them, whether they were making them or on the outside somewhere. No matter what, she wanted to move forward and make better choices and treat people better than how they were based on her perception. She knew first hand thanks to the recent exams, that everyone was not who they seemed. As they ate, the topic thankfully drifted back toward calmer waters. The pair talked about the recent events in Konoha as it seemed there was an Autumn Festival on the horizon in two weeks time.

A lot of people were working together to create some great street food, booth games and other celebrations for the year's harvest. Konoha was a great exporter of shinobi but also food and other goods as well. Sakura expressed interest in the decorations since Ino's family was going to be in charge of doing something great with flowers and other earthy things. When the meal was over and paid with, they headed back to the training grounds to continue where they took off, since she had yet to complete the task given to her. With the dogs summoned, things kicked back into high gear. For the next two hours, the same thing happened but this time Sakura was quicker with her hand seals and before hour three was reached, she ended up doing all of them before letting teeth meet flesh.

Of course the goal hadn't been reached without taking its toll on the girl. 

She was pretty wiped out from agile dodging and keen peripheral observation. It was around four in the afternoon when the next task was able to be given to her. Sakura had been given a couple minutes to catch her breath and grab some water from the nearby river as she waited for the next step to be given to her so she could finally be a little bit closer to getting a real handle on the dragon jutsu. In her mind, she was sure her next goal would be to actually do it while moving around, which wasn't a stretch logically but physically, she knew she would have to work a lot more harder. An given that the sun was only going to give them two or three more hours (at most) of sunlight, she wanted to get onto the next step sooner, rather than later. [b]"So what do I need to do next?"[/b] She pressed as she stood up straight and turned away from crouching by the river, finally collected and ready.