Shisui studies his three students as they partake in an all out spar against him. Their teamwork is still dreadful - Naruto and Sasuke both want to go their own ways and Sakura was too focused on Sasuke to even think to help Naruto - but it was getting slightly better. Sort of.
He scoffs and twists out of the way as Sasuke uses their clan's great fireball jutsu against him. A Naruto clone immediately attempts a flying kick against him, but he grabs it's ankle and tosses it toward another, making both disappear in a puff of smoke. That was a decent move, but Naruto needed to learn how to be stealthy before it had any hope of succeeding against him.
He's less impressed by the fact that Sakura hasn't done anything but hide behind the other two.
He flips over Sasuke, throwing a handful of kunai that Sasuke easily manages to divert with his own, and lands in front of Sakura. She squeaks.
Good lord.
She attempts to punch him, but he grabs her wrist, using her momentum to twist her around and pressing a kunai against her throat. She stills. He can feel the anxiety rolling off her. He almost feels guilty for scaring her, but she needed to learn that she couldn't rely on the boys forever.
"Not bad," he says once the boys are glaring at him in anger. "Naruto, try to be quieter next time and you might get me. Sasuke, we still need to work on your teamwork, but that move with Naruto was impressive. Sakura," she looks up sheepishly as he lowers the kunai, "stay behind for a minute. I want to talk to you. The rest of you are dismissed for the day. Meet back here at the same time tomorrow."
Naruto "ooooh"s at her while even Sasuke looks a mix of curious and mildly concerned. Shisui had yet to ask to speak with any of them privately, so no doubt they were all imagining terrible things.
He releases her from his grip, noticing that her eyes stayed firmly on the ground as the boys leave. From what he'd read of her Academy file, he's not surprised. She's likely never been in trouble before. "Sakura."
She swallows audibly. "Yes, sensei."
"Walk with me." Her eyes flicker to him curiously and she nods. He leads her several feet away to a tall, black stone slab with names carved in it. "Do you know what this is?"
She glances at him then the stone. "No."
"It's the shinobi memorial stone. The names of countless shinobi who died in combat are carved on here. My entire genin team. My original sensei. Friends I've made over the years. Their names are all carved here."
Both fall silent. Sakura looks up at him. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I don't want you to be one of them, but at your current skill level, I'm afraid you will be."
That startles her and she gapes up at him. "Wh-what?"
He turns to face her. "Sakura, tell me something. Why did you become a Shinobi in the first place?"
"What?"
"Why did you become a Shinobi in the first place? It couldn't have been Sasuke since he didn't really leave the compound until he started at the Academy." An unfortunate side effect of the clan's segregation at the time was that the children of the clan rarely interacted with those outside of the clan. "I doubt you met Ino until you started at the Academy either, so there has to be something else."
She stays silent, thoughtful. "I-I don't- I just-"
Shisui puts a hand on her shoulder. "Tell you what. How about you take the night to think about it. If you figure it out and still want to be a shinobi, you know where to meet us in the morning."
He squeezes her shoulder and walks away, wondering if he'd see her in the morning. "And for the record," he adds, looking over his shoulder at her, "it's okay to have feeling for your fellow Shinobi. It's just when those feelings get in the way of doing your duty that you have a problem."
Sakura doesn't respond nor does he expect her to. Instead, he shushins away.
The following day, he shows up at his usual time and leans against a tree to wait for his students to trickle in as well. To his surprise, Sakura is the first to appear, and he greets her with a smile. "You think about what I said?" She nods. "Come to a decision?"
She nods again, firmer this time. "I want to be a kunoichi. I may have lost sight of that for a while, but... but now I remember."
His smile widens. "Good." He had high hopes for this one. Sasuke and Naruto were inherently powerful due to their respective heritages. Sakura didn't have that, but he had no doubt she's still make a killer kunoichi one day despite not having the pedigree.