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Sliding up to Rin's side, Sakura chuckled when she saw where her student was gazing. As always, it was Kakashi. Her favorite thing to watch.
"You're staring again," she teased, smiling when Rin looked up at her. "You could join them for training you know. Improve your taijutsu. Maybe you'd even be able to flatten them."
"I don't have the strength to flatten them," Rin sighed. Clearly, Sakura was going to have to work on her students confidence. "I'd just get in the way."
"You won't get better if you don't challenge yourself," Sakura argued. "You'll just end up sitting here watching as they leave you behind, getting stronger and stronger while you continuously doubt yourself."
"I guess," resting her head in her hand, Rin sighed. "I do want to get stronger."
"Kakashi and Obito are always looking for an excuse to train," She continued, patting her student on the back. "Though, i'd suggest starting with Obito first."
He was far more supportive. While Rin needed help with her confidence, Kakashi needed a lot more help getting his arrogance under control. He was certainly better than some of the stories she had heard from her students when they were all younger, but there was still so much work to do.
"Plus you'll be a lot less distracted," she added in, chuckling when Rin turned away from her in a poor attempt to hide her blush. "Have you tried telling him?"
"Multiple times," She's a little surprised by the annoyance that seeps into Rin's words. "Every time he either cuts me off or tells me to stop 'wasting time'. It's like he doesn't care at all."
Sakura knew those feelings all too well. It reminded her of her own childhood, and the silent work driven Uchiha she could never stop watching during her teams training sessions with Sakumo-sensei.
"Maybe he's right," she speaks without much thought, smiling when Rin looks up at her in shock. "If he's not going to pay any attention to your feelings, then you should focus on other things. You're still young after all. There's lots of time to figure things out."
To move on.
To find someone who will love her back.
"What if I can't stop?" Rin's eyes returned to the Hatake, watching as he dodged Obito's kick. "What if my heart won't let go of him?"
"If it's meant to be, you'll both find your way to each other," Placing a hand in Rin's hair, she ruffled it just a little. enough to get an annoyed 'sensei' out of her student's mouth. "But you're still young, Rin. You have lots of time to figure things out, and it's not the end of the world if he ends up not being the one."
"It hurts though," bringing a hand up to her chest, Rin laid it over her heart. "Knowing he doesn't care about me the same way. It always hurts."
"Of course it does. A crush, or being in love, it will always hurt when you know those feeling aren't returned," it was a feeling she knew all too well. "But it's not the end of the world. That hurt will go away."
Bright brown eyes looked back up at her. "Promise?"
"I promise," She gave Rin her best smile. "Now, why don't we show those two what a real spar looks like?"
Rin jumped to her feet, excitement replacing the timid cautious hurt that had been evident on her face.
"I'm going to be the strongest on the team!" She declared, laughing when Obito yelped after getting kicked in the side by Kakashi. "Come on, Sensei. I want to learn how to break a rock with my fist."