WHAT IF
Kakashi is so focused on training Sasuke and Naruto AND having them not accidentally harm Sakura while training that he is kind of leaving her behind, not paying enough attention to her and her development as a Shinobi.
Sakura is contemplating this fact during a stroll when she stumbles upon team Guy training.
She gasps when Neji punches Tenten on the stomach and is sure that their jonin is going to intervene but before anyone can react, Tenten already has a retractable pole lengthening and hitting Neji on the side of the head.
Neji steps back and cradles his face while there is a bowl cut boy jumping and cheering Tenten on in the background.
“Neji!” Their similar bowl cut jonin calls and Sakura is sure here comes the admonishment. “You are distracted! Run a hundred laps!”
Neji glares and Guy glares back and grunts aggressively and persuasively until Neji gives up and starts trotting.
“Run!” Guy remarks and Neji only slightly increases his pace.
“Tenten!” Guy calls, Tenten is already up by herself and patting her clothes free of grass and dust. “Good thinking! Make sure he doesn’t get you first next time”
“Okay…” She replies lazily, clearly exhausted.
Sakura watches them train, until Neji decides he is done and ditches his teammates and their jonin takes his tiny clone out for a race. Tenten is left behind to sharpen her weapons.
“Excuse me!” Sakura calls, approaching her senior. “How do you… Uhm, how do you make your teammates take you seriously?”
Tenten blinks, caught off guard and confused but responds with the only answer she knows, the one Guy has been drilling into her head for almost a full year.
“You fight them with all you got”
Next time Sakura meets her team for training, she requests Kakashi let her fight against the boys.
Naruto outright refuses saying he won’t punch a girl and before Kakashi can dissuade her, Sasuke is in a fighting stance.
Sakura doesn’t really stand a chance, she blinks and before she knows it Sasuke is coming at her and punches her in the face, throwing her off her feet.
On her way down, Sakura can hear Kakashi coming to her rescue and Naruto yelling at Sasuke for not going easy on Sakura.
Before Kakashi can reach them, Tenten’s voice echoes in her head.
Fight them with all you got.
So she takes advantage of Sasuke being distracted and bites his ankle.
Sasuke shrieks and scrambles away quickly.
“What is wrong with you?!” He rages while Naruto cackles.
“Sakura…” Kakashi sensei is standing before her with a puzzled look. “What are you doing?”
She blinks up innocently, feeling some dripping from her nose, sure she is bleeding a little. “I’m… Fighting with all I got?”
Kakashi is now blinking at her.
Fighting with all she’s got and all that is are bites instead of ninjutsu, taijutsu or genjutsu?
Kakashi is maybe fucking up as a teacher in more ways than one.
He offers his hand to help Sakura up.
“Okay, let’s…” Kakashi stops talking when Sakura ignores his hand and gets up by herself, wiping away the blood under her nose, blinking away tears from her eyes with a determined look on her face. “… Let’s try not biting next time. But I am proud of you for counterattacking”
Sakura smiles wide.