Sakura might have always hated them, but she was used to the cold winter days, and even more used to the freezing nights, having spent a good chunk of them deep in the forest, training, meditating, practicing with Itachi and Shisui to just

endure

.

So, a chilly morning at the end of January was nothing unbearable for her, even as snowflakes covered the pink-petal color of her hair with a sheet of white and her bum was more than numb after having sat out in her yard for over two hours.

Shisui had been sent on a mission for the past week, and even though Itachi still met with her every night to keep up with their regimen, she had been neglecting her meditation sessions. It was actually Inner who had pointed it out, finding that her Yang chakra was accumulating faster than her Yin as of late.