Dreams

Today is not a normal day in Konohagakure no Sato because today, a dark cloud filling the sky hangs above Konoha seemingly surrendering it's very self to the city below. However, the deluge does not seem sad, for no rainfall moisten the Hokage Mountain's eyes. There is a wind blowing over the mountain, directing the rain away from the faces. In fact, it looks like the Stone Hokages have the very rain at their backs this day.

A cute little girl holding a folded umbrella walks into the classroom, she is wearing a fashionable purple raincoat, cute purple rainboots, and her blonde hair in a ponytail.

She then looks up and sees a girl in the seats above.

"Sakura!" She waves to the pink girl and then runs up to her normal seat beside her.

When she runs up she notices Sakura's normally silky pink hair is matted down and wet even though the girl wears a pink raincoat that has its own hood. Sakura is looking off into the distance without even noticing Ino.

Ino snaps her fingers a few times in front of her face. "Sakura. Sakura." She calls.

"Hum?" Sakura rouses. "Oh… What's up Ino?"

Ino gives her a concerned look for a second, but Sakura appears to be back to normal, so then she goes on and on about her day, the rain, the fact she is happy that winter is almost over, etc.

After a while, it is the time when class is supposed to start, however, Iruka is not there taking role like he always is.

Some of the boys notice and immediately start acting out like they would never do if he was there, yelling, shoving, etc.

Then, Naruto bursts loudly into class, wearing an orange raincoat with a panicked look.

He looks around and doesn't see Iruka-sensei. He relaxes, he grins widely, gives a little laugh, and leans back with his hands behind his head. "Ah, looks like I got here before Iruka-sensei."

The moment he finishes his sentence, the black board ripples and then falls down, but it is not the black board that falls, but a cloak with Iruka-sensei with a smug grin behind it!

"Naruto, go sit down." Iruka tells Naruto in a completely normal tone.

"Aye!" Naruto yelps and points at Iruka-sensei in surprise.

However, he is not the only one surprised, the whole class is astounded except for Sasuke, Shino, Kiba, Hinata, Shikamaru, and unexpectedly Ino who are not surprised at all.

"Today, we are going to be learning our second jutsu and our first one that uses chakra, the Cloak of Invisibility Technique."

"That's so cool!/Awesome!/Yes finally!/Troublesome..." The students cheered at the display and the news that came with it.

"During the Cloak of Invisibility Technique, the user makes an illusion with their chakra, perfectly matching the nearby surroundings, on a cloak and then covers themselves concealing their presence by seamlessly blending in. This can be difficult because normally what you see when you are very close to an object and what other people see from farther away will very different. Using this technique in an unskilled manner will likely put you at a greater disadvantage rather than help you. However, when you get it right you can use it to gather intel, to stage an ambush, or even to avoid people chasing you."

"Um… Iruka-sensei?" Naruto raises his hand.

"Yes, Naruto?" Iruka questions in slight annoyance at being interrupted but holds it back.

"Yeah… Um… What is that… Catra thing again?"

Iruka eye twitches and he thinks to himself, 'Hold it in. hold it in. I have only taught him this many MANY times already including when we went over the the leaf concentration exercise again just five days ago!'

"Chakra is a mixture of physical and spiritual energy. To make it, you imagine your spiritual energy going from your head and spreading to all parts of your body then mixing with the physical energy in every one of your cells. Sometimes it can help to close your eyes and hold the ram seal. After it mixes you can then control it; the easiest place for it to go is your head, because that is where your spiritual energy comes from and it naturally wants to return there even if it is mixed with physical energy and the hardest place to bring it to is your feet, the farthest from your mind. Your physical energy belongs everywhere in your body and so it does not effect your control unless you try to bring your chakra outside of your body. After you mix your chakra use it right away because otherwise it goes to waste. If you run low of your spiritual energy you will feel sleepy and if you run low of your physical energy your body will feel tired. This is a good way to learn what you need to train, your physical or your spiritual."

Frankly, the main reason Iruka even bothered to explain it AGAIN is because he noticed that a few other kids in the class was surreptitiously listening in to the reexplanation. Although, looking at Naruto's blank eyes, he will likely have to teach him again anyway.

…

"Alright everyone, it's raining to hard today, so we are going to skip our outside class. You guys get to go home early today."

Everyone cheers, stomps down the stairs, and runs out the door to freedom.

Sakura is at the back not rushing with the other kids with Ino by her side.

"Sakura. Could you stay for a moment." Iruka-sensei says before she leaves.

Both Sakura and Ino stop at that. Ino looking over at Sakura hesitantly.

"Go on Ino, Sakura will be right there." He smiles reassuringly over at Ino.

Then Ino leaves, leaving Sakura and Iruka-sensei alone in the classroom.

After a moment, waiting for Ino to get out of hearing range, Iruka-sensei says, "Sakura. Is there something bothering you?"

Sakura looks at him in surprise.

"I noticed that you didn't seem to notice me when you came in and was even surprised when I revealed myself." Iruka-sensei continues.

"Well… Sensei your technique was really-"

"Don't lie Sakura," Iruka interrupts, "I know exactly the level of skill I used for that jutsu, it was purposely not very good, you should have been able to notice me."

"Well…" Sakura hesitates for a while but eventually decides to tell the truth. "I had a... well… I guess I had a nightmare last night and I was thinking about it."

Well... despite how nonfrightening it was, she woke up like it was a nightmare anyway.

"Hum…" Iruka considers her reason.

"You know if a nightmare is bothering you the best way to move past it is to tell someone else about it, like you friends, or your family, or maybe even your ninja sensei." He finishes with a grin.

"You will be a good ninja Sakura, but if you let yourself be distracted on a mission, you could be hurt by it. In fact, I am sure you remember shinobi rule #04. "A shinobi must always put the mission first." These rules are designed to keep yourself from being unnecessarily injured." He says seriously.

After a moment, Sakura smiles back at her sensei, "No, after talking with you I've already forgotten it sensei."

-=-=-=-=- -=-=-l=l-=-= -=-=-=-=-=-​

At night, in her room, Sakura looks at her class notebook that she wrote in the night before. With a determined look and a nod, she puts it on her pink bookcase between two child's fantasy books.

'Iruka-sensei is right, it is time to put down childish dreams of magic and instead to focus on becoming a ninja now. I can't be distracted.'