I'm not gonna do this more than once, so I'll say this only once: I DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL OF NARUTO, AS MUCH AS I'D KILL FOR IT.
Shuriken
Sakura had upped the standards as a medic. Being able to bring a small animal back to life at the age of thirteen had been damn near impossible for her mentor, and for her upperclassmen. People praised her and told her wonderful she was; Kind to her patients, a loyal friend, and a good protector.
While Naruto had been gone, a band of renegades and outlaws had attacked Konoha, looking for anything and everything valuable. Sakura had started from the hospital, checked through every house she passed on her way to the front gates of the village, and tore through anyone who was not supposed to be there. Along the way, all she thought was, This is my village! she wouldn't let anyone take anything from it.
When word got around that one of the renegades had gotten away with a secret scroll, Sakura immediately went to Tsunade to ask if she could retrieve it. Tsunade was hesitant at first, trying to think of reasons why Sakura should stay.
Their argument finally boiled down to Sakura screaming, "YOU WOULD LET NARUTO GO ON THIS MISSION, YOU SENILE OLD WOMAN!" in which, Sakura got her way and quickly tracked down the man that had stolen the scroll.
When the perpurtrator saw the venomous look in the roseatte-haired girl's eyes, he dropped the scroll and attempted to run. Needless to say, he ended up with more injuries than forced castration and with a few broken ribs.
Once Tsunade had seen the condition the man was in after being dragged to Konoha by a broken ankle, she suggested that Sakura be put on the ANBU torture and interrogations squad. Which Sakura agreed to a three-week long clinic where she got top grades. Ibiki even started to warn the young men not to piss her off. This was all before she had gained Tsunade's chakra-release technique
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Medic work for Sakura had come easily, like genjutsu, and intelligence gathering. The chakra-release, when Tsunade finally granted her permission to learn it, had taken her almost six months just to get a destructive force behind it. She could never get the punch down correctly; Either it was too weak to even make a dent in the ground or the chakra was released too late, creating little more than a small shake of the ground.
"Sakura, you have to focus with this technique. It's not something that comes naturally to women. Our bodies aren't designed to carry heavy loads with our hands and arms. We're truly not supposed to be able to seperate the mast from a sailing boat. So just hold your fist on the target, punch with your other hand and release your chakra .02 seconds before it hits the target." Tsunade would coach her.
Sakura would nod, calculate the distance and amout of muscle-pressure she would need. The chakra would be gathered, but released too late. "Tsunade-shishou, could you please show it to me again?"
Tsunade would glance at the sky and smile. "It seems the punch is a bit hard for you. Let's try this." Sakura's mentor held her index finger safely curled into the web of her hand, set her hand just above the ground and flicked. The explosion that had taken place was nothing compared to the punch, but still created a crater.
Sakura gave her mentor a worried glance, then copied what Tsunade had done. The crevice that had appeared from the pressure was more than even Tsunade could have done. Sakura smiled to her mentor, who gave an approving nod. "Now try it with two fingers, Sakura-chan."
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Naruto's reappearance in the village, the failed attack on Oto with Sai and Yamato had begun to give Sakura horrid nightmares in which she would wake up screaming, then be too scared to go back to sleep.
She had seen the vicious hate burning in Sasuke's eyes as he had called her weak. Anger fired within her every time she thought of that day, and she trained just to prove him wrong. Even though her medical training had ended over a year ago. Sakura still used her medic skills to help her. She would train with Hinata often, the timid girl would coach her, quite suprisingly, with a strong voice; Pointing out flaws in Sakura's techniques, her stances, and the chakra flow through her body.
"Sakura-san, widen your stance and twist your foot about four degrees." As the pink-haired girl did so, she felt her leg muscles tighten and instantly, her stance felt stronger. She smiled up at her new, shy mentor and both the young women nodded towards eachother.
Sakura had been training with Hinata to learn to sharpen her chakra into a deadly force if she ever ran out of weapons.
"Now, Sakura-san, gather a small amount of chakra in your left hand. No, don't hold it as you would a kunai." Hinata said as she corrected Sakura's hand posture. "Chakra is more delicate than a weapon used for combat."
Sakura invisioned herself holding an akizakura and held her chakra as she would that delicate little flower.
"Much better. Now, concentrate on forming a needle-sharp blade out of the delicate substance in your hands."
And Sakura did. Sakura held the chakra and walked to the nearest tree. She glanced back at the girl and said, "Don't tell Shino I did this, okay?" Hinata nodded, so Sakura proceeded to impale the tree. Withdrawing her hand, Sakura saw the small, needle-like hole she had put in the tree.
She ran up and hugged her friend at her success. "It's no wonder you've already made it to ANBU, Hinata-chan!"
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This last time. This was the last time that Oto was going to attack her village. Her first mentors at her side. Holding the long staff in her hands, Sakura prepared for battle.
Tsunade, her mentor for so many years looked as though she was about to cry. The blonde nodded and Sakura held the bladed naginata in front of her, the sunlight mocking her emotions as she saw her best female friend be thrown back the torrent of soundwaves hurtling towards them.
Sakura concentrated, her green chakra visibly sharpened and pushed through the dangerous, beautiful weapon.
"INO!" she wanted to cry out, but she held her ground. Tears replaced by a repulsed look, Sakura started forward. The deadly blade at the end of the long staff only held wisps of the anger yet to come. The anger towards Orochimaru for stealing Sasuke away; The anger at Tsuchi Kin for mocking her in every way possible; The anger towards Kabuto for betraying her trust. She couldn't take it. She even had pity on her first victim as he was cleanly cut in half.
"Sakura, this weapon is not a toy. Try training with a bo first. It will help you." Sakura's mother said. "The naginata is an offensive weapon as well as a defensive weapon, so use it wisely."
"Osu, Kaa-san." Sakura said, as her mother rumpled her hair.
Since then, Sakura had been training with the naginata daily. The more villagers had heard of her new weapon, the more cocky, or horny, shinobi came to challenge her to a fight. The only person that she hadn't defeated with it was TenTen, but that was no suprise. The weapons specialist, who had recently become an ANBU had Sakura sprawled on the ground, with her own blade pointing at her neck within minutes. But TenTen didn't gloat about it, she pointed out where Sakura's, ever so discreet, openings were and how different people would take advantage of it.
Now, she saw the distinct mask that could only belong to TenTen fly past her as she looked to the brunette. The girl only held out a small tanto that was deflecting senbon aimed at her. Sakura scanned the area, looking for the man that was trying to take her friend's life.
Before she could do anything though, Neji emerged holding what looked to be a bloody mass. He set the dead body down and ran to TenTen. She was shivering in fear as he gripped her hand and kissed her gently on the forehead through his mask. Satisfied, Sakura whipped the blade around, slicing through four more otonin then felt a kunai land in the middle of her spine.
Not missing a beat, Sakura swung her blade over her head, making sure the intricate designs on the back of her jacket were the last thing her victim saw, as she impaled him through his skull. She ripped the small blade from her spine, gathering chakra in hopes of stitching the tissues back together, and threw the kunai straight at the forehead of the nearest target then kept moving.
After slaughtering twenty more otonin, Sakura was finally starting to slow down. The wound on her back, along with others she had aquired, were bleeding profously. Her most recent wound, one across her left arm had severed several nerve passways and muscle tissue, keeping her from using her arm. As Sakura turned back to her village she saw a sight that astounded her: Sasuke was battling Orochimaru.
Wounded and obviously defeated Orochimaru called for his men to retreat. And as Sakura finally lost conciousness, she smiled as she was caught by a familiar pair of arms.
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Sakura gazed proudly at the crowd as she recieved her mask, her uniform, and her very own katana, which her mother had ordered for her. Her best friends at her side smiled as they each recieved the uniforms that the timid Hyuuga was handing out. The girl who had been her equal all through the academy, genin, and chuunin level was now her ANBU mentor, and squad leader.
Sakura's new squad would consist of only women: TenTen, as the weapons specialist and secondary leader. Ino, as information gather specialist and interrogater. Hinata, as tracking specialist, defensive manuvering specialist and squad leader. And Sakura, as information-distribution specialist, medic, taijutsu-specialist, and tactics-organizer. The new lackeys always got all the work she was assured by TenTen and Hinata.
Their mission-slates clean, they became the perfect fighting force and the first-ever all female ANBU team. The katana tied to her back, Sakura faced down every one of her opponents with her favorite weapon; The shuriken her mother had given her before she passed away.
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Throughout all of her training, Sakura had been referred to as the type of person you would love to have as a "Sister." Sakura is a fighter, she fought for all those she cared about. Sakura is watchful, she watches out for everyone in need. Sakura is loving, she cares about anyone and everyone. Sakura is the seer, the one who could see past people's masks and ask them what is wrong. Sakura is the sister.
meh...anyway...I'm not sure who I'm gonna do next, but this story is character studies of the Konoha women and their accomplishments. The very last one will be Tsunade, OK? luff y'all. Chapters will be called what weapon I think most describes the character...OK?
Flames will be used to cook my dinner.