Kurenai nudged Shizune under the table with her foot, snapping her out of it.
"Ah, yeah, Sakura is very talented; I hardly did anything worth thanks for; she has been a great help in the hospital, and the staff loves her."
Shizune replied modestly, waving it off as the waitress walked up to their table with a plate of meat and drinks, which she set down. Anko and Kurenai began laying out meat on the grill in front of them as another server returned to take Team 7's order.
Kakashi went all in, ordering meat, rice, and vegetables for the whole team along with drinks.
"What is the special occasion, Kakashi?"
Kurenai asked, raising a brow at the large order.
"Nothing in particular, I'm just happy with the improvements they've all had since I became the leader of Team 7"
Kakashi replied, embarrassing his team with the sudden praise.
"Well, isn't that sweet."
Anko teased the three blushing teens before deftly eating a piece of meat.
"Anko."
Kurenai lightly chided her, giving the three an apologetic look.
"Fine, fine."
Anko raised her hands in surrender, holding out her tongue childishly.
"Here's your food and drinks."
A waitress placed all the food and drinks on the table before leaving.
Kakashi quickly laid the meat and veggies on the table, pouring each of them a drink of sake.
"Have you three ever had sake?"
Kakashi kept his face neutral as the three downed the sake like water and immediately started coughing.
"It's an acquired taste."
Kakashi chuckled softly, drinking his own saucer of sake in one gulp with nothing more than a sigh at the feeling of the liquid warming his chest.
"I don't think sake is for me."
Sakura pushed away the empty saucer, not interested in sake in the slightest.
'You'd break Tsunade's heart if she heard that.'
Kakashi thought to himself as he flipped the meat on the grill.
"It's not bad, but I think I prefer water."
Naruto said, Sasuke agreeing with a 'Hn' that only his team understood as agreement.
The team continued to talk idly throughout the dinner, Kakashi motioning for them to dig in when the food was done.
The three loaded their plates, even Sakura, who had long since given up on eating modest meals, recognizing early on in the first few weeks of being a genin that she had to eat portions that made the portions she ate as an academy student look like a small snack.
"This is the best rice I've ever had."
Naruto looked like he was having an awakening as he shoveled his food down quickly, but he kept his manners that Kakashi taught him.
"That would be from the newly allied Land of Rice Fields. Lady Hokage made a deal with them after taking office. With Orochimaru dead, it was really easy to convince the Daimyo to make a deal."
Kakashi explained, mixing rice with meat and veggies in his chopsticks.
"Yes, much better than the rice we grow in the Land of Fire."
"Doesn't that hurt the rice farmers in the Land of Fire?"
Sakura asked.
Kakashi shook his head.
"A majority of the rice we get is still from the Land of Fire, but it's used to make sake. The Rice from the Land of Rice Fields is much richer, more flavorful, and usually more expensive, but the deal that Lady Tsunade proposed offers a portion of the sake produced by the Land of Fire, with the condition that we get a percent of every bottle sold."
"How much would we even realistically get?"
Naruto asked, not knowing the price of sake.
"The quality of sake we produce here in the Land of Fire is unmatched by any other nation. Because of our brewing secrets and standing, a single high-end bottle sells to the daimyo and wealthy merchants for 600,000 ryo. That is more than an elite Jonin takes home from a standard A-rank mission.
Since we control distribution, Leaf Village earns 450,000 ryo in pure profit for every bottle sold. A 150,000 ryo portion of that retail price goes directly back to our partners in the Land of the Rice Fields to buy the premium rice you are eating right now. This keeps their farmers wealthy and secure. As for our 450,000 ryo share, that goes right into the village treasury to fund the academy, the orphanage, and our infrastructure."
"You seem to know a lot about this deal."
Sasuke spoke up after eating the few pieces of meat and veggies on his plate.
Kakashi nodded.
"Of course, Lady Tsunade asked Jiraiya and me to help in terms of the deal while she was busy elsewhere. Jiraiya did most of the work on it; I was just made aware of the terms as he laid them out."
The four continued to eat, waving goodbye to Kurenai, Anko, and Shizune as they paid and left. Team 7 finished their dinner 10 minutes later, full and satisfied.
Kakashi paid for the meal before the team strolled out and down the main street of Konoha.
"Report to the training ground at the same time tomorrow morning. I'll be working with Sasuke while Sakura and Naruto work with my clones. The next day, I'll be working with Naruto, and then the process will restart with me watching over Sakura's training."
- 6 weeks later, with Sakura -
Coming up from the water, Sakura blew into the gourd and was frustrated that she wasn't seeming to see progress in breaking the gourd, feeling her confidence take a hit, something Kakashi had been waiting for.
"What's wrong, Sakura?"
"I-I can't do it, Sensei. Am I just not suited for this technique?"
Sakura looked upset with herself and frustrated.
"Well, of course you can't do it."
Kakashi held up his hand when Sakura opened her mouth.
"Let me explain."
Kakashi picked up the gourd and threw it on the ground; a metallic ring echoed. The inside of this gourd was lined with steel.
"Each time you've gotten close to making a breakthrough in shattering a gourd, I'd replace it with ones built with stronger material lining the inside of it."
Kakashi explained, watching Sakura come to a realization as he unsealed the very first gourd she practiced with and handed it to her.
"So you mean..."
Sakura blew into the gourd, shattering it into countless pieces in an instant.
"Yes, I mean that you're very suited for the technique. So suited, in fact, that I came up with this method to keep you motivated, but I knew you'd come to doubt yourself eventually."
Kakashi gestured to some of the pieces around them.
"As you can see, you've come very far in just 6 weeks."
Kakashi took out a tiny notebook, something he used to record the time she spent underwater for the past six weeks.
"35 minutes underwater using your chakra control to recycle your oxygen and medical ninjutsu to lower your heart rate."
Kakashi unsealed three more gourds and handed them to her, from the softest-lined material to the toughest.
Sakura shattered the next one just as fast as the first; the second one was not as instant, but easily shattered in under 2 seconds, and the third was shattered in 4 seconds, the hardest to shatter and the one just a step below steel.
"You've been ready to start practicing the Seven Heavenly Breaths for a while now, but I didn't just want you to meet the bare minimum requirements; I knew you were better than that, and you've proved me right."
Kakashi smiled, proud of her.
"You can get out of the water now; I bet you're tired of feeling like a drowned rat."
Kakashi chuckled, drying her off with a couple of wind jutsu when she was out.
"I actually have three stronger gourds that I want you to have and work on at your own time, but these stronger gourds are progressively smaller as well, making them progressively more difficult to shatter. The last one is even made into a necklace so you can wear it at all times."
Kakashi handed her the three labeled scrolls containing the gourds, then sat her down for an in-depth breakdown of the technique.
"With this training, I believe you can perform the first three breaths without any issue; the fourth would be a strain, but you can probably maintain it for at most 10 minutes. Breath 5, 6, and 7 will be achieved once you can shatter gourds 5-7, but unlike the lower levels of the Seven Heavenly Breaths, the higher levels come with increasingly more strain to the lungs."
Sakura nodded seriously, hearing the risks and already thinking of counteracting the later stages with medical ninjutsu, feeling very appreciative of Kakashi for handing her a technique that felt made for her.
"You're a smart girl, so you likely have already thought of using medical ninjutsu to deal with the later stages, and that's a good thought, but I showed you this technique because you have reached the end of what I can provide you at this moment. I can always teach you more ninjutsu and genjutsu, but I feel that you're ready to learn from someone else."
Kakashi said, smiling as he could see Sakura jittering with anticipation.
"But before we do that, I want you to show me the first two breaths. You can do it right now, and I'll personally recommend you along with Shizune."
Sakura immediately stood, took in a large breath, packing in as much oxygen as possible before she rapidly compressed it, the blood in her body pumping faster and faster, a faint steam wafting off her body, the air around her looked to be distorted as a faint yellow aura glowed brighter and brighter until it erupted and danced along her in a flame-like way.
"Can you move?"
Kakashi asked, standing and focusing his observation haki on her and sensing nothing but calm.
Sakura ran through basic katas, wind pressure wiping up with every strike, each move faster and faster as she got used to the absolutely euphoric feeling she felt at the moment.
"This feels amazing."
- Chapter End -
Hope you enjoy the chapter; big skip, but writing many chapters to cover the same training over and over again seems pointless to do, and I felt this way was more impactful for Sakura's character. The perceived failures, only to learn that not only was she doing great, but Kakashi had actively made it more difficult, made her work harder each time she failed, and only when she was truly disheartened did Kakashi step in and surprise Sakura with her progress. I took inspiration from Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple when one of his senseis, Akisame Kōetsuji, used statues to work Kenichi's muscle groups and would constantly change them out without Kenichi noticing.