Sakura, You Smell So Good

White steam filled the restroom as Sakura soaked comfortably in the bathtub, the fatigue from her earlier run completely gone.

She lifted her small hand from the water, creating ripples. Beneath the hot water, the hand of a six-year-old child looked very tender.

With her mind settled, Sakura could feel her Chakra was almost fully recovered, and the excess Chakra was automatically gathering towards the center of her forehead.

Her nerves, which had just settled down, tensed up again.

Haruno Sakura at sixteen was strong, but when it came to Konoha, she was just average.

She shouldn't relax too much...

"Sakura, you're going to be late."

Haruno Meiko knocked on the restroom door, her voice following.

"Coming, Mom!"

When Haruno Sakura arrived at the classroom, her hair not yet completely dry, class was about to start.

"Sakura, did you take a bath?"

Ino touched Sakura's cherry-blossom pink hair, which was still a little damp.

"Yeah, I did some training this morning and took a bath."

"Looks like you didn't manage your time well. You should have woken up earlier next time."

Haruno Sakura casually tucked the hair that was obstructing her vision behind her ear, responding to Ino with a light laugh.

"Ah..."

Sakura is so diligent...

Ino looked at Haruno Sakura, feeling a sense of defeat.

"Sakura, why are you working so hard? Isn't it good to be with us?"

Ino didn't understand why Sakura was pushing herself so hard. She had only just received the study materials yesterday and was already practicing today.

Sakura scanned the people in the classroom.

There weren't many, only about twenty or so.

But the vast majority were children from various ninja clans. Nine of the twelve rookies were here. Besides herself, the other eight rookies included six future clan leaders, and two who would become the Seventh Hokage and the last Uchiha.

In terms of background, Sakura was the lowest.

In terms of resources, Sakura was the lowest.

She was just a civilian ninja.

To reach the highest point and face all kinds of challenges in this world of bloodline superiority, a ninja Sakura's abilities were far from enough.

She needed to work even harder.

"Ino, actually, we are..."

Before Sakura could finish, a dry towel landed on her head.

"Dry your hair, or you'll catch a cold."

Iruka looked gently at the little girl with slightly damp hair.

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei."

Haruno Sakura wiped her hair, thanking Iruka.

"We are what?"

Ino looked at Sakura curiously.

"We are friends for life."

Sakura smiled and answered Ino's question.

"Ah, you sly one! Sakura definitely wasn't going to say that just now."

Ino playfully pounced on Sakura, a little annoyed, and snatched the towel from Sakura's head.

"There's no need for Sakura to say it, I already know."

Ino stood behind Sakura, drying her hair with the towel as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Feeling Ino's movements on her head, Haruno Sakura couldn't help but smile.

Perhaps she was overthinking things.

She and Ino were clearly the same kind of people.

Unlike usual, Sakura didn't listen to Iruka's lesson today. Instead, she picked up other textbooks and started flipping through them.

She already knew what Iruka was teaching today from last night.

Time trickled by, and the morning lecture ended. During this time, Iruka completely ignored Sakura's 'daydreaming' behavior.

"This afternoon is physical training, everyone get ready. Remember not to eat too much."

As Iruka's words fell, a wail erupted from the classroom.

The physical training at the Ninja Academy was nothing like the easy gym classes of their past lives.

This was a method specifically designed to push the stamina of these reserve ninjas to their limits.

Or you could say, as long as it didn't injure them, they would train them to death.

"Especially you few in the back, it's best not to think about skipping class."

Iruka continued, tapping the desk.

"I'm talking about you guys, Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji."

The faces of the boys Iruka had specifically called out instantly stiffened, their little schemes vanishing into thin air.

"Sakura, we have demon training this afternoon~~"

After Iruka left, Ino immediately clung to Sakura, her face a mask of misery.

"Well, we have it, and we can't escape anyway."

Haruno Sakura closed the textbook in her hands, looking helplessly at Ino who was leaning on her.

Ino suddenly sniffed Sakura, her breath tickling Sakura's neck.

"Sakura, you smell so good~~"

"What shampoo do you use?"

At noon, Sakura didn't eat on the training grounds as usual. Instead, she flipped through "The First Hokage's Will of Fire" while nibbling on onigiri made by her mom.

Ino had disappeared somewhere, but the person clinging to her had changed.

"Heh heh, Sakura, this is Tenraku I just learned from the recipe you gave me yesterday~~"

"Sakura, try it for me~~"

The blonde boy grinned cheekily, leaning close to Haruno Sakura, holding open a bento box that was clearly just bought.

Looking at the Tenraku in the bento box, which didn't look very appetizing, Sakura gave Naruto a surprised glance.

This guy was really putting his heart into cooking...

Sakura didn't refuse Naruto's kind offer. She took the chopsticks Naruto handed her and picked up a piece of deep-fried shrimp, putting it in her mouth.

Honestly, it didn't taste great.

"It's not bad. It would be better if there was a little less salt in the batter."

Sakura preferred a lighter taste, so for her, Naruto had used a bit too much seasoning.

"Then I'll make it even better next time!"

Naruto wasn't discouraged; instead, he perked up.

"When did those two get so close..."

From the window, three heads were lined up perfectly.

Kiba, his face painted with red oil paint, spoke as he looked at the two in the classroom.

"It looks suspicious no matter how you look at it."

"But when did Naruto learn to cook? I really want to try it."

Choji chewed on his potato chips, his gaze fixed on the bento box in front of Sakura.

"Isn't it obvious? Naruto likes Sakura, and Sakura doesn't feel the same way."

Shikamaru, sporting his signature dead-fish eyes, spoke as he watched Sakura, whose attention was entirely on her book.

But speaking of which, Sakura was really amazing, actually planning to skip a grade.

The black-haired boy with the pineapple cut had noticed from the beginning that the book in front of Sakura wasn't material they were supposed to be studying yet.

This meant she had genuinely gotten advanced materials from Iruka, and Iruka's allowing her to do as she pleased all day clearly showed his support for her skipping a grade.

Their class was about to have a genius