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Sakura entered her bedroom amidst a flurry of activity.

"Sakura-san, there you are!" One of the maids guided her to a salon chair and a table scattered with makeup that had been set up in the middle of the room. A rack of dresses was being rolled through the door behind her. Another maid immediately spread a cloth cover around her, leaving her head exposed for a woman who began examining her hair.

Sakura never did much with her hair. She kept it long, almost to the small of her back, and it was layered perhaps a year ago. She washed it with decent shampoo and conditioner, but that was about it. The woman tutted and began running a brush through her pink locks

Kakashi entered the room just then, and handed her a file folder. "Yo. Tsunade wants you to look through this."

She opened it to see HARUNO SAKURA printed across the top of the page, with bullet points listed underneath.

"Hokage-sama wants you to continue using 'Haruno' as your surname, and she's going to introduce you as her cousin's daughter from Sunagakure. She's listed some things about your fake backstory that you'll need to remember for tonight." With that, he left, leaving her at the mercy of the women who continued to tug at her hair and swipe her face with brushes.

She skimmed through the short biography. According to Tsunade's creative liberties, she had grown up in Suna to wealthy merchants and was in Konoha to further her education at Senju University. During her time at the university, she would be staying at Senju Kyuuden. She had grown up sickly, which explained her lack of shinobi training and why she had never visited Konoha before. There were some other information listed about her family and childhood that Sakura quickly memorized.

Forty minutes on the dot later, the beauticians stepped back and gave her a once over, congratulating each other for their work. She walked over to the mirror and examined her reflection carefully. Her pink hair was swept up into a loose ponytail, curled at the ends and around her face. She wore a strappy green dress that almost skimmed the floor when she moved. She ran her hands along the fabric and admired the intricate beading that covered the bodice.

Damn, she looked pretty good.

Chapter 5

Sakura had never been to a fancy dinner in her life. She even skipped prom, because she didn't want to trouble her mother with the expenses.

The banquet hall was extravagant and spacious, with rows of long tables taking up one side of the room. The guests were still arriving, and those who already had were standing around chatting while waiters came by with light appetizers.

Sakura stuck with Naruto and Neji, not really knowing what to do. Sasuke had left to have a seemingly serious conversation with Kakashi. She hadn't spoken a word to Sasuke since their encounter, and they merely turned away when the other was near.

"Hey man, your cousin's pretty cute!" Naruto whispered loudly to their Hyuuga companion, which earned him a jab in the ribs.

"Don't even try." Neji threatened.

The cousin they had referred to was a petite girl, with dark hair cut in a neat bob and grey eyes like Neji. She seemed to have spotted them, and was making her way to the trio.

"Hi Neji-niisan. H-hi Naruto-kun."

"Sakura, this is my cousin Hinata. Hinata, this is Sakura."

The girls exchanged greetings.

"I really like your dress by the way." Hinata commented.

Sakura grinned. "Thanks! I love your heels."

"Thanks! They're from a store on Queen Street, you should check them out some time. Their selection is great!"

"Ugh, we'll leave you to your girl talk." Naruto rolled his eyes. He and Neji left them to speak to some council elders (the former grabbing an entire tray of appetizers as he passed a waiter).

Hinata and Sakura chatted for the next while, the Hyuuga introducing her to various guests as they passed. It turned out that the Hyuuga Heir was the same age as Sakura and was also attending Senju University. Her family was in close relations to the Senju clan, so she already knew the truth about Sakura's identity. Sakura felt relieved to have someone she could talk honestly to, and they chatted amicably the whole time.

Dinner was announced, and she was relieved to find seats beside Hinata and across from Naruto. Tsunade presented her welcome speech to 'Haruno Sakura', her first cousin once removed, and Sakura smiled nervously at the guests who applauded for her. She hated being the center of attention.

Thankfully she had Naruto and Hinata's guidance throughout dinner, and she was able to differentiate the salad fork from the fish fork. Hinata was noticeably more quiet once Naruto sat down, occasionally stammering when he directed a question at her. Hmm interesting…

Despite her friends' best efforts, Sakura had managed to spill sauce on her dress, trip a waiter, and fling a piece of chicken across the table by the end of the meal. To her dismay, socializing and dancing were announced to follow.

She escaped to the bathroom in an attempt to clean off the sauce stain on her dress. When she rejoined the festivities, she had lost sight of her friends. She was surveying the room trying to catch a glimpse of a familiar face, when she spotted a set of doors that led to the balcony. There was her haven from forced social interactions!

"Miss Sakura?"

Ugh what now? She pasted on a smile as someone from behind called her name. Her annoyance immediately disappeared when she came face to face with a very attractive man. He had dark hair which was pulled back in a small ponytail. His bangs framed a set of black eyes with full lashes and maturity lines under them.

"Hi." She breathed.

He smiled. "I was afraid I wouldn't catch you this evening. I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Uchiha Itachi, Commissioner General for the Uchiha Police Force." He took her hand and kissed it.

Wow.

"Oh!" Her mind made the connection. "You're Sasuke's brother?"

"Yes, he's my little brother. Well I best be off, it was nice to meet you."

Sakura blushed. "You too!" This gentleman was so different from Sasuke—what went wrong with the second brother?

She slipped through the double doors that she had been aiming for earlier. Walking over to the balcony ledge, she took a deep breath of the cool night air. She turned around, resting her back against the railing, and suddenly realized she wasn't alone.

Uchiha Sasuke, who had also been avoiding the noise of the banquet, was now looking at her from where he was leaning on the railing.

"Oh, sorry." She muttered, making a move to leave.

"Wait."

"I'm…" He struggled with his words for a moment. "I talked to Kakashi and he told me you had nothing to do with why you're here. It wasn't right for me to assume that about you." He stopped. That was the closest to an apology he was going to offer.

Sakura crossed her arms and studied the man in front of her. He seemed sincere. But he had really pissed her off earlier, and she wasn't about to become best friends with the guy. She finally cracked a small smile and went back to where she was before, propping her elbows up on the balcony railing.

"I met your brother today. He's really nice."

Sasuke didn't answer. They stayed like that for a while, each in their own thoughts and looking out at the city lights.

She eventually broke the silence.

"Have you ever been to Konoha Valley?"

There was a long pause, and she was afraid he wasn't going to answer again.

"Hn. A few times when I was younger."

"Ah. It's not very pretty at night there. Senju Estates is beautiful."

"Looks can be deceiving."

After the banquet ended and all the attendants had trickled out or retired to the guest rooms, Tsunade called the four into her office.

"As you all know, Sakura needs to begin her training immediately. Neji will be spending the summer tending to the Hyuuga Hospital business, so I'll be putting you three under the care of Hatake Kakashi as Team 7."

She knew there was something fishy about the butler.

"You'll be attending training and completing missions as a team from now on."

"What?" Sasuke protested. "I don't need a team to train. They'll just slow me down."

And here she was, considering giving him another chance.

"Hey! I'm not gonna slow you down!" Naruto exclaimed.

Sasuke sighed. "Naruto, what kind of missions do you think we'd go on with someone who's barely had shinobi training? She'll just be deadweight."

Wow, it was like she wasn't even in the room!

"That's enough, Sasuke." Tsunade interrupted. "I put you three together because I feel that you can all benefit from each other. You've trained your whole lives alone, and I think it's time to learn the value of teamwork. Sasuke, you've mastered many jutsus and I need you to help train Sakura." Sasuke nodded begrudingly.

"Naruto, you still have to work on controlling your techniques and your consistency." The blond grumbled in response.

"I hope everyone will get a good rest. Training starts tomorrow morning on the bridge at eight. You're all dismissed."

Glare.

Glare.

Clearly they hadn't worked things out yet.

"Why are you guys glaring at each other?" Naruto wondered, calling his teammates out out on their silent feud.

"We're not." They both muttered, looking away.

"Oh-kaay…" Naruto raised his eyebrow but said nothing more.

Sakura yawned. "What's so special about the butler anyway? He's more than an hour late!" She was slightly annoyed at having given up precious sleep for nothing.

"I'm really not that special." Kakashi replied, suddenly appearing in a puff of smoke and causing Sakura to almost fall off the bridge railing she had been perched on earlier.

"Yo. Sorry I'm late, I was—"

"Save it, Kakashi. We've heard them all." Sasuke cut in.

Their new sensei grinned sheepishly. "Let's go."

He led them deep into the mansion grounds, towards an area densely populated by towering trees. He stopped at the base of one of them, and patted the thick trunk.

"Today, Sakura is going to learn about chakra control and climb this tree. Sasuke, will you demonstrate?"

Sakura paled. She tilted her head back and squinted, unable to catch a glimpse of the where the leaves met the sky. The trees were strange, with tall broad trunks and branches, but foliage only at the top.

Sasuke placed his foot on the bark and walked up effortlessly, soon disappearing behind the leaves near the top. He reappeared moments later, leaping from the branches and landing lightly back on the ground.

Freaking ninjas.

"Thanks Sasuke. You and Naruto can go train over by the falls while I work with Sakura. Focus on your chakra control today as well."

Naruto groaned. "But I want to fight!"

"You still lack chakra control. Now go!"

Naruto and Sasuke leaped up onto the tree branch and made their way north to a small waterfall a few miles away.

"Now," Kakashi said, turning to her, "let's begin."

Sakura bit into her sandwich hungrily. It was lunch time, and the team had gotten together to eat in a nearby clearing.

"Sakura, how's training?" Naruto asked between mouthfuls of his own sandwich.

She grunted in response. It wasn't going well at all. No matter how many times she tried, she couldn't support her weight on the trunk.

"How long did it take you to do it, Naruto?"

"Eh...I don't remember. It was ages ago, when I was 12."

"Three days." Sasuke spoke from where he sat, a little ways away from the group.

"Hey! Well it took him almost three days too!" Naruto defended.

Sakura chuckled, relieved that she still had time to catch up.

Sakura bent over, panting heavily. The sun had disappeared behind the trees, casting a deep orange across the sky.

"Hey Sakura, let's call it a day." Kakashi announced, as he and the guys landed on a branch above her head. He had gone to work with the pair in the afternoon, leaving her to practise on her own.

"Wait, I can take a few steps now!" She wheezed.

Her sensei shook his head. "You're not used to exhausting so much chakra like this, your body won't be able to do it today. Get some rest and try again tomorrow."

She sighed and followed them as they headed back for dinner. He was right, she probably couldn't handle any more. All she wanted to do was collapse and sleep. And eat, she was starving.

Sakura's hand slammed down on her alarm clock at 6:00AM.

She slowly cracked an eye open and saw that the sky outside was starting to lighten. Her body ached from the previous day's training, and she grudgingly forced herself up and out of bed.

She pulled on a red t-shirt and black leggings, and quietly snuck down the hall. She swiped a bagel, a granola bar and an apple from the kitchen on her way to the woods.

At the very least she needed to get her chakra control right, if she could even call herself a Senju. She couldn't let the Hokage down after everything she was doing for her.

When she arrived at the edge of the grove, she was surprised to see someone already there, sitting horizontally on a tree. Getting closer, she realized it was Sasuke, his eyes closed and meditating.

Not wanting to be seen falling on her face, she turned another way and walked until she was sure he couldn't see her.

"Ok let's do this."

An hour later and she still had not done it.

What was she doing wrong? She cursed in frustration, and reluctantly walked back to where she had seen Sasuke. He was still there, his back to her.

She couldn't believe she was doing this.

"What." He said, just as she opened her mouth to speak.

Ugh he was so rude. She swallowed her pride and answered him.

"Please help me..."

He got up and stepped down from the tree. "Why should I?"

"Because…If I don't get better, you're going to be stuck with lame missions that Tsunade will force you to go on!"

He scoffed. She was right. "Fine. Let's see what you have so far."

He watched her brace her foot against the tree and take a few steps, before losing her footing and sliding back down. He shook his head. This girl was so clumsy.

"You're concentrating too much on the amount of chakra you're directing to your feet. You need to focus on where you're going, where you want to be, and let your body feel what's comfortable. Think less and feel more."

Sakura nodded and tried again, this time managing a few more steps before she fell back down.

"Better. Just keep practicing." Sasuke instructed, and left her to get breakfast.

Sakura laid down and closed her eyes, after the nth time falling off the tree. She was better at landing on her feet at least.

This was impossible—she couldn't do it. She'll just tell Tsunade that they found the wrong girl, and the real Senju Sakura was out there somewhere climbing trees like a boss.

A shadow fell over her. "Get up." She recognized the voice and didn't respond.

"Weak. You'll never be able to do it because you'll always give up." Sasuke chided, looking down at the girl sprawled on the ground.

She sprung up and glowered at him. "Yes I will! I'll show you!" She stalked off to a nearby tree to try again.

"Oh come on, isn't that a little harsh?" Naruto asked, having just arrived at their team meeting.

"She'll never succeed as a shinobi if she doesn't have drive."

Sakura peered up at the looming tree and tried to imagine reaching the end. Focusing chakra to her feet, she stepped up onto the trunk, her gaze never leaving the foliage at the top. Instead of her usual calculated steps, she strided angrily up the side.

Stupid Mister Almighty Sasuke, always so freaking pretentious and thinking he's better than everyone else. Just because he's raised in a perfect world with perfect things, he thinks he's all that. Well he should try growing up in Konoha Valley working two jobs while studying for school!

Suddenly a leaf smacked into her face, and she grabbed a nearby branch in surprise. Hoisting herself onto it, she leaned against the bark and let out a tired breath.

"Nice job." Kakashi commented, from his perch on a nearby tree.

She looked around and realized that she had reached the peak of the forest, where the leaves met the sky. She could see almost an endless stretch of green behind her, and the Senju Kyuuden on her other side.

"YES! SUCK THAT SASUKE!" Sakura called down, pumping her fist in the air and inadvertently losing her balance.

Crap.

She screamed as she fell, trying to grab onto anything to slow her down. There were so many cooler ways to die.

Expecting to flatten nicely on the forest floor, Sakura was instead caught in a pair of strong arms. Her saviour immediately dropped her once he stopped her fall.

"Ow. Thanks." She muttered at the Uchiha, her pride a little bruised.

"Hm. Should've taught you how to get down first, eh?" Kakashi chuckled.

Her heart pounded from her plummet. "I think I just died a little inside." Sakura croaked meekly.

"That was great! You got the hang of it faster than either of us!" Naruto exclaimed, and helped her off the ground.

"There's still a long way to go." Sasuke informed her coolly.

"He's right. Let's keep training." Their sensei closed his orange book (when had he pulled that out?).

Two weeks passed with six days of training each. The team spent the rest of the first week working on their chakra control, and Sakura grasped the concepts exceptionally fast after her initial struggles. The week after, Kakashi and Sasuke worked with her on handling weapons. She was starting to feel more comfortable throwing kunai and shuriken, and Sasuke was becoming a little more tolerable too.

When she arrived at the bridge at 8:40 one morning, she was shocked to see Kakashi-sensei already there.

"Our meetings are at eight." He informed, his eyes not leaving the pages of his book. "Where are the others?"

"Er. Well you're always at least forty minutes late so we never get here at eight anymore… Naruto went to grab more food and Sasuke already started training I think."

"Psh, always forty minutes late…" Kakashi muttered, but continued reading.

Now that Sakura had a closer look, she recognized the book in his hand. "Is that Icha Icha Paradise you're reading...?"

Kakashi looked up. "Indeed. Would you like to borrow it?"

Sakura flushed. "No! I just didn't expect that you… cus shinobi… nevermind."

"It keeps my mind off of the blood and dead bodies I've seen." Kakashi said darkly. He watched her eyes widen and chuckled. "I'm kidding. The author's writing is sophisticated yet enthralling, and captures the plot development perfectly in this symphonic work of literature."

"...Right."

"LIES!" Naruto cut in, walking onto the bridge. "Don't listen to him Sakura, he's just an old pervert."

Sakura giggled. "What's the occasion anyway, sensei? You're here early."

"We're starting combat training today." His reply made her swallow nervously. Training had been endurable so far, but she couldn't imagine having to actually cut someone with a kunai.

They headed over to the training grounds, a large dirt field with an area set up with dummies and targets. Tall grass and trees surrounded it, many with scarred bark from miscalculated weapons.

Sasuke was throwing his last kunai, which landed with a soft thud in the center of the target.

"Sakura, get into position. It's time to learn to spar. Sasuke, you go against her first."

Oh god.

"Sakura, dodge!" Kakashi's instructions barely reached her ears before her opponent's knee came into contact with her abdomen.

Oof. She collapsed, breathing heavily and wincing at the pain.

It was day four of combat training, and it wasn't getting easier. She was learning to block and throw some punches, but her movements were too slow and her strength was too weak.

Suddenly, Naruto leaped at her from above.

"Throw your kunai!"

Sakura gripped her weapon tightly. "I can't!" She yelped, dodging just in time as Naruto landed and disappeared in smoke.

"Sakura, he wasn't even real." Kakashi strided over from where he and Sasuke were spectating. "You've been working on your throws, why can't you do it in battle?"

The pink haired girl looked down. "I don't know. I just can't imagine stabbing someone like that."

"You have to, Sakura-chan. There are bad people out there, and it'll either be you or them that walk away from a fight." The real Naruto advised her darkly, walking over from his hiding place in the tall grass.

Sakura groaned. "Can I take a break?" She was beat up, sore, and exhausted. She also wanted to get away from the scrutinizing look Sasuke was giving her.

"Why do you want to be a shinobi?" He suddenly demanded.

"I don't know. Maybe I don't want to be one." She muttered. She didn't have the energy to deal with his judgement.

"Always a quitter." He sneered. "You're going to give up again when things get tough?"

"Well I—" She stopped. Maybe she was. Maybe she wasn't meant to be a shinobi.

"I'm gonna go back." She said in a quiet voice, and trudged away.

"She doesn't need that right now." Naruto accused him.

Sasuke shook his head. "She needs something to push her to want it badly enough or she'll never be able to succeed."

Kakashi patted him on the back. "Look at you, actually thinking about others."

The Uchiha raised his eyebrow. "My future missions unfortunately depend on this girl, so she needs to at least be able to survive one."

TBC.

A/N: I appreciate all of your feedback, it's helping me make the story better!

Especially since I actually write these things at work so it's very likely I might not catch a plot hole or notice certain things...