Kakashi ran towards Zabuza with his lightning blade activated, aiming to kill the missing-nin and end their battle. Just as he was about to connect another person came between them taking the blow for Zabuza That person was Haku. He held Kakashi's arm with a smile in his last moments glad to have been of use to his precious person.

"Is that the masked boy?" Tazuna, the bridge builder, asked in surprise.

For a moment everyone was frozen in shock, trying to comprehend what had just happen.

Then Zabuza chuckled. "Hehe, good job Haku." He praised as he lifted his sword up, prepared to cut down his tool.

Sakura's eyes went open.

'That dream...' She thought to herself sitting up.

Her eyes adjusted to the dark as she strained her ears to hear everyone's elaborate breathing, meaning everyone was asleep.

She sighed getting out of bed knowing she won't be able to sleep. Just yesterday it all happened, the battle on the bridge. Kakashi took on Zabuza while Sasuke and Naruto took on the masked boy named Haku. But what did Sakura do? Nothing!

She just stood in front of Tazuna with a kunai.

She snorted to herself. 'Like that would have stopped someone like Zabuza.'

A C-rank turned A-rank mission ended up giving the pink haired girl a wake-up call on her shinobi life. What would have happened if there was one more enemy? She would have surely died. That thought made her shiver, but it was the truth.

'I wonder...if I would have taken a technique like that for Sasuke-kun?' She mused to herself recalling Haku's last moments, would she have done it?

Would she honestly die for Sasuke who didn't even give her the time of day? Who doesn't even care much about her?

She splashed her face with water to get rid of the sleepy look her eyes had, after looking at herself in the mirror she sighed. If it was a week ago she would have immediately started shrieking about her hair having to be perfect, but now? Let's say she just didn't give it any thought.

'I can't afford to pay more attention to my looks anymore. I'm a ninja now...' She thought to herself.

Her feet started walking on their own taking her to her destination.

Just last week she would think that her hair was more important than being a ninja. But after seeing what she saw yesterday she realized just how much of a spoiled brat she was.

'Actually we were spoiled bitches, cha...'

Normally Sakura would ignore the voice in her head, but...seeing as she had no one to have an honest conversation with she decided to talk to herself. After all what better place to get advice than from yourself?

So she raised an eyebrow. ' What do you mean?'

'I mean we're rude to everyone except Sasuke, isn't that being a bit bitchy?' Inner asked with a frown, pondering on it.

'I guess you're right, but Sasuke-kun's our future husband..' Sakura reasoned to Inner.

Inner snorted. 'He was! Not anymore though.'

'Don't you have a crush on him?' Sakura asked in confusion.

'Correction, I HAD a crush on him. Now? I'm soover him. He might be hot and cool but there's plenty of fish in the sea.'Inner said as she threw a fishing rod in the imaginary river.

'What?! No one could be better than Sasuke-kun!' Sakura argued.

'What about Haku? He was a total bishie!' Inner reasoned.

Sakura blushed, she had to admit the boy was handsome.'Too bad he's dead..' She murmured.

'Too bad.' Inner agreed with a defeated sigh.'But there's still plenty of fish in the sea!'

'Like?' Sakura found herself asking, personally imaging herself with other people didn't make her feel guilty in the slightest, it wasn't like Sasuke would know. So it doesn't matter.

'Hmm Kakashi-sensei!' Inner said providing Sakura a mental image of Kakashi carrying her princess style.

Sakura blushed at the thought quickly shaking her head. ' He's an old man!' She yelled.

'Hehe, age doesn't matter in the ninja world, cha!' Inner said with a big grin. 'But there's plenty of others and plenty of reasons to like them.'

'Oh?' Sakura asked raising an eyebrow.

'Shikamaru! Imagine cuddling with him under the clear blue sky watching clouds. Kiba, imagine how rough he could get.' Inner sighed with hearts for eyes displaying the image to Sakura.

'I-, fine! You're right. There's plenty of other fish in the sea. I'm not going to chase after one who won't even give me the time of day.' Sakura decided crossing her arms

'Cha~ I knew you'd come around Outer!' Inner cheered.

Sakura smiled slightly, she still had feelings for Sasuke. She knew that, but will she keep chasing after him like a love struck puppy? No.

Her feet stopped right in front of the grave team seven made for Zabuza and Haku. With a blink she idly mused how if it wasn't for the boys she'd be dead too, it was a morbid yet true thought.

It was funny how these two had unknowingly taught her what being a ninja truly meant. Not even the academy teachers, her parents nor Kakashi-sensei managed to get it in her head. But two complete strangers had taught her.

So she got on her knees to give them a prayer.

'Zabuza-san, Haku-san...I hope you two are together like Zabuza wanted. My nose is bleeding! You probably don't even know my name, but thank you. The two of you...inspired me to take being a ninja more seriously. Before I met you two I always thought that just reading through books will get me far, but that isn't the case is it? I feel so stupid for realizing this now of all times. Oh sorry, you two don't even know my name!'

'I'm Sakura Haruno, my old goal was to marry my teammate Sasuke-ku...Sasuke Uchiha. My new goal is to become a strong kunoichi, maybe if I work hard I might become one of the strongest. Like the Tsunade-sama! But in order for me to accomplish my goal I have to have my priorities straight. I know this probably won't even make any sense or maybe you'd think I'm stupid...but I vow to not let romance get in the way anymore! I'll train harder and harder, then one day I can proudly say that I survived an encounter with Zabuza Momochi, one of the seven ninja swordsmen of the mist.'

'Cha! We'll become so kick-ass that even you'd cower in fear Zabuza!'Inner confidently declared.

Sakura chuckled standing up. 'Yeah.' She agreed.

'Speaking of Zabuza...he was hot too y'know?' Inner said with a grin.

'Inner! We just promised not to let romance get in the way!' Sakura scolded.

'Correction, you did. I on the other hand shall drool over any hot guy we happen to meet Outer.' Inner said with a shit eating grin.

Sakura shook her head with a defeated sigh. She smiled at the grave and gave a bow "Next time I'll bring some flowers..." she muttered as she turned towards Tazuna's place.

When she arrived she was pleasantly surprised to see Tsunami awake.

"Oh Sakura, I didn't know you were out." Tsunami said with a pleasant smile when Sakura entered.

Sakura smiled at Tsunami."Good morning, can I help with anything?"

"Ah, of course. I'm always happy to have a helping hand"

With that the two girls started cooking up breakfast. While helping Sakura found out that Tsunami liked gardening, so the latter told her about common herbs that could be uses as medicine and about the herbs located in the area much to Sakura's delight.

Eventually the men woke up and took their seats, the two girls not even noticing as they were more interested in their conversation.

"Oh, looks like breakfast is done. Sakura-chan, could you be a dear and go wake up the others?" Tsunami asked.

No one failed to notice the new suffix added to Sakura's name. Kakashi coughed to gain their attention. "That won't be necessary." He said in amusement.

Sakura blushed along with Tsunami, both smiled sheepishly apologizing. The boys (minus Sasuke) assured the two it was alright, they were all happy that the two girls were socializing.

The ninja and family began eating their breakfast in comfortable silence, the fight from yesterday still had them a bit tired. But the girls enjoyed the silence.

'So I was thinking...' Inner began making Sakura pause just as her chopsticks were about to grab the last eggroll.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto questioned noticing the abrupt stop.

Sakura blinked noticing Naruto was about to grab the egg too. She shook her head retracing her chopsticks. "You can have it." She murmured knowing that Naruto deserved it more than her.

Naruto grinned at her. "Really!? Thank you Sakura-chan." He thanked plopping the offered food in his mouth.

"Ah, you're welcome." Sakura answered still looking distracted.

Kakashi and Naruto both noticed along with Tsunami but kept quiet. They thought that maybe Sakura just wanted to decide whatever it is she's thinking about.

'How do we become bad-ass? A lot of ninja's always focuses on one of the three, genjutsu, ninjutsu and taijutsu. But there are other stuff like kenjutsu or shurikenjutsu.' Inner mused in a thoughtful tone. 'Speaking of kenjutsu didn't those thugs leave behind their weapons yesterday? I'm sure they're not top quality but hey still something.'

'Inner, you are a genius.'

'I try, now ask the others to help you gather them!' Inner urged.

Sakura looked at her teammates. "Naruto? Kakashi-sensei? Sasuke?" She tentatively called.

Her team noticed the lack of 'kun' but didn't question it, they just looked at her giving her their attention.

"Eh..I was um wondering if you guys could help me with something after breakfast?" Sakura questioned fidgeting slightly.

Sasuke scowled. "No." He answered earning a frown from Tsunami.

"Of course I'll help you Sakura-chan!" Naruto said switching between grinning at Sakura and glaring at Sasuke.

Kakashi gave her a closed eye smile. "I'm in too." He said.

Sakura gave them a smile. "Thank you."

Naruto and Kakshi both blinked. 'Isn't she sad about Sasuke rejecting her?' Both wondered in confusion staring at Sakura as she continued with her breakfast not even sparing Sasuke a glance.

Sasuke wasn't concerned, he was relieved. He finally lost a fan girl, now maybe his team will be more tolerable. Of course he didn't care why Sakura's attitude suddenly changed, but it didn't really matter.

When breakfast was done the pink haired girl led her helpers to the bridge and explained that she wanted to take the weapons back with her.

"Lucky you I have a few empty scrolls." Kakashi said giving his students a closed eye smile approving Sakura's plan thinking she was trying to make some extra money by selling it later.

"Huh?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"With these..." Kakashi said holding up a pair of empty scrolls. "We can carry all those weapons." He said pointing to the abandoned weapons. "By using the generic sealing technique."

"What's that?" Naruto and Sakura asked in unison.

"A standard ninjutsu which allows a shinobi to summon an assortment of items that have been stored in special seals, using fūinjutsu. Scrolls are the most commonly chosen for item storage. When needed, the owner activates the seals releasing their stored items or weapons of choice. Scrolls can also be used as ammunition for other weapons or have other seals inside of them, which expands the number of potential tricks a shinobi can use." Kakashi perfectly explained.

"...you lost me at summon Kakashi-sensei.." Naruto said.

Kakashi gave a defeated sigh, he should have known Naruto's short attention span would get in his way.

"It's basically a jutsu to keep your stuff in a scroll for when you need it. For example you can use it to store your ramen for when you need it Naruto." Sakura explained to her blond teammate.

"Oh! That's so cool, ttebayo!" Naruto exclaimed as Kakashi stared at Sakura as if she had grown a second head. 'She willingly helped Naruto by herself.' He thought to himself as if it was a miracle.

Sakura frowned at Kakashi. "Is something wrong sensei?" She asked.

"No, nothing. Just thinking how cute my students are." He easily lied.

Sakura however blushed as the mental image of Kakashi carrying her princess style once again appeared in her head while Inner laughed.

"But it looks like Sasuke missed out on something." Kakashi commented shaking his head, he needed to teach that boy that teamwork is the key. When will it get in his head?

"He snoozed he lost, that's what he gets for not wanting to join us." Inner said taking over Sakura.

The people present looked at Sakura wide-eyed. Sakura however kept a straight face. 'Did they figure out I have another personality?'

"Yeah, that teme shouldn't have rejected you Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed.

"You're acting like I confessed to him or something." Sakura said with a sigh.

Kakashi was even more confused, normally Sakura would beat Naruto up for that. He coughed. "Naruto, start gathering the weapons together." He ordered.

"Roger!" Naruto said obliging.

Sakura made a move to follow but Kakashi grabbed her shoulder, she turned towards him in confusion. "S-sensei..?" She stammered out.

"I wanted to talk a bit." Kakashi explained.

'Just talk?' Inner sighed in disappointment.

"About...?" Sakura asked.

"Your recent behavior." Kakashi bluntly said.

Sakura sighed. "Is it that noticeable?"

"Yes." Kakashi said with a nod, chuckling in amusement releasing Sakura's shoulder. "Explain." He ordered.

"I..realized that looks and romance aren't my priorities, I want to become a stronger kunoichi. So I vowed to work harder. I also realized that I was being...a bratty spoiled bitch...so I wanted to change." Sakura explained as good as she could.

Kakashi nodded in approval. "I'm glad you realized that, so that's why you're nicer to Naruto now." He placed his hand on her hair to pat her. "What about Sasuke?" He asked.

Sakura frowned."I still have feelings for him, but I'm done trying. Training is more important."

"I'm proud of you." He stated.

"T-thanks..." Sakura stammered out."And s-sensei?"

"Yes?" Kakashi asked giving her his full attention.

"What's fuinjutsu?" Sakura questioned.

Kakashi sighed "I forgot that they don't really teach that in the academy," He said retracing his hand. "It's a type of jutsu that seal objects, living beings, chakra, along with a wide variety of other things within another object." He explained mirroring the words of his former teacher.

Sakura's eyes took a certain glint at the knowledge."Sensei please teach me!" She begged.

Kakashi stared at her as she made her lips quiver and her eyes tear up, the man sighed in defeat."I have a few books back in the village, I'll lend them to you when we get there, okay?" It was true, he was Minato's student so of course he had sealing knowledge, back in the days he even asked his teacher to teach him but then he gave up on it after Minato died.

Sakura beamed at him."Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" She quickly said as she tackled him into a hug.

Kakashi chuckled rubbing her hair."You're welcome Sakura."

'Oh my God! Outer, I'm proud of your for being so bold.' Inner said nodding in approval.

Sakura blushed finally noticing what she was doing and quickly let go.

"Kakashi-sensei I'm done!" Naruto called out.

Chapter end!