Unforeseen Consequences
Chapter 4: Rivals
Ino awoke to the shrill, persistent clanging of her alarm clock. She slapped one hand down on the bells and hammer, briefly silencing the time piece as she struggled to awaken. With a toss of her head she flicked the blanket from her face, allowing her to glare at the evil device.
Her arm was currently stretched to the limit. As long and dainty as her fingers were, she couldn't reach behind the clock and flick the switch which would let her go back to sleep. Her groggy mind realized she only had two options: She could let go of the bell and hammers so that she could flick the switch off, but doing so would create more noise. Her other method of attack required her to pull her arm from under her torso to reach behind the clock. Either would awaken her further and would banish the possibility of going back to sleep, even briefly.
Of course, that was why she bought the thing in the first place. With the groan of the damned, Ino opted to spare her parents more noise, clutching the alarm clock's noisemakers firmly with one hand and turning the switch off with the other. Now sitting up in bed, Ino scowled at the clock and briefly considered hurling the thing out the window.
Early morning pedestrians were spared a potential head injury as Ino set the alarm clock aside and opted instead to get ready. The Hokage had requested her presence this morning. While she wasn't Tsunade's apprentice, Ino had on occasion taken lessons from the older medic. This morning would be one of those lessons. The unusual hour was normal: As busy as the Godaime was, Ino had to take whatever she was offered, be it as the sun rose or long after sun had set and the daily bustle had ended.
Her morning preparations, normally filled with fluid grace and energy, were rendered wooden and sluggish by the earlier time. Combined with the relative lateness of the night before, the girl was painfully aware that she'd gotten far less sleep than her growing body wanted. Her parents both still asleep, the girl was able to make breakfast without any light teasing from her father. Smacking face first into the front door of the shop, still locked, was just another insult to the injury of rising so early.
Ino stalked through Konoha's streets in the pre-dawn light just before sunrise, making her way to the office building which housed the Hokage's office and training hall. Even after all this time she still trained now and then with Sakura, but now she realized that she needed to increase that. With Asuma no longer in her life she needed to train herself, to become a stronger person. Maybe she could ask for more training with Sakura and the Hokage, maybe even Shizune as the woman had to have lots of experience.
oOo
Ino ducked under the fist, hearing a sharp crack as the four knuckles leading the blow broke the sound barrier. With a frightened squeal, Ino rolled under her assailants shoulder, tagging the leg with an explosive tag and then flipping away. Her assailant snagged the tag and threw it into the air, where it detonated with a light "piff" sound.
"You nearly got me that time, Ino!" Sakura encouraged, cracking her knuckles as she glanced up at the small cloud of black smoke as it lazily drifted into the sky. Sakura's smile turned into a nasty smirk as her stance dropped low, and the blond girl reflected that the pinkette was far too perky for this hour. "Well, let's continue!"
Ino whimpered as she rolled to the side, throwing several blunted shuriken at Sakura as she desperately searched her mind for a plan. Getting up this early to dodge Sakura's attacks? It had to be sadism, Ino concluded. Not to mention the added problem of being a living punching bag for the green-eyed girl's frustrations after dinner last night.
She wasn't a taijutsu-type! She wanted to learn from Tsunade to learn medical ninjutsu, not that bizarre martial art the slug sannin used which required insane amounts of strength. To be fair to the Godaime, she had begun to learn the method of building up and releasing her chakra to boost her own strength... but she was nowhere near Sakura or Tsunade's level.
"Think, Ino!" The young blond growled to herself as she leaped into the air, avoiding Sakura's fist as it ploughed a deep trench into the ground. She allowed her hand to drop into the practice tool pouch she carried. Three more dummy explosive tags, a dozen or so blunted kunai, and plenty of blunted shuriken. Not much to work with, she concluded. She hurled another shuriken at Sakura, saw the pink-haired girl duck under it before she leaped up to meet Ino mid-air.
Ino used a tree branch to deflect her jump towards the ground at the last minute, wincing as Sakura's kick snapped off the tree limb with a sharp crack. The poor branch, having done nothing wrong, was propelled ludicrously high in the air. The blond backed away and defended as Sakura charged in with her fists, a surge of adrenaline pulsing through her as she felt the air around her crack with the violence of Sakura's frenzied blows.
Grateful for the ballet lessons her mother had forced her to attend as a child, Ino used her planted foot to leap and contort in ways Sakura thought impossible as the red-clad girl's punches once again missed. The blond girl planted her hands on the ground and tumbled away, gaining much needed distance from her melee-oriented foe. She needed a plan!
Then she remembered Naruto's fight with Gaara. Imitation was flattery and Ino knew that Sakura hadn't seen this particular trick from her prankster teammates playbook. Not yet, anyway.
Wrapping a kunai handle with one of the explosive tags she had and wielding it as a close-range weapon, Ino charged in, briefly surprising her foe. She ducked under a kick as Sakura responded to the unexpected move, swinging the blade up towards pink-haired girl's throat. The Hokage's apprentice neatly caught the blade between two fingers, employing her strength to halt the weapon immediately. The blond winced as she noted how those delicate-looking fingers bent the blunted edge of the kunai.
Ino pulsed her chakra once as she abandoned the weapon, planting her lead hand on Sakura's left shoulder. Using the girl's frame as leverage, Ino jumped as she tried to drive her knee into her rival's jaw. Sakura tossed her head back, avoiding the blow as she watched the blond girl soar over her head and far out of range. Sakura didn't notice the explosive tag as it burst into flames. Not until it detonated in a puff of black smoke which covered her face in black soot.
"Sloppy, Sakura!" Ino called while still in the air, landing and not bothering to hide the smug grin. Had that been a real exploding tag, the pink-haired girl would have been dead. She'd FINALLY won a round against the Hokage's apprentice. Ino silently thanked Naruto for the tactic as Sakura wiped the soot off of her face with a gloved hand.
"You did well, Ino," Sakura acknowledged, pausing to smirk. "Maybe next time I'll use tools as well... Just so it's a little more even."
"Maybe next time we won't forbid ninjutsu," Ino replied with an equal smirk. She'd learned a very interesting fact which she could apply to her own family techniques and she fully intended to use it if Tsunade ever allowed them to use ninjutsu in their sparring.
Naruto's Apartment
Naruto groaned, feeling the heat on his eyelids as sleep left him slowly, stumbling from his mind. A cracked eye revealed the bright sun shining through a cloudless sky, still low in the sky and shining through his window to cast a bright column across the top half of his futon. He rolled over, feeling the light of the sun heat the back of his neck as he paused, clinging to the last vestige of sleep like a possessive child.
After a moment's pause, he stretched, realizing it was time to get up. He'd promised the old lady that he'd drop by and discuss Akatsuki with her. She said she'd have some free time with some of her students sparring. He glanced up at the clock, noting that he had roughly twenty minutes before he had to be at the training ground.
Breakfast was shrimp ramen and what was left of the carton of milk. Slurping the second, Naruto eagerly watched his electric kettle as he waited for the water to boil so he could eat the first. With a puff of steam the appliance shrieked, and the blond boy eagerly pulled back the top on the container, pouring in the hot water inside. Within moments, he'd slurped down his breakfast. Dressing quickly and opting to save cleaning up for later, he shaved a few minutes off of his morning routine and was on his way with time to spare.
It only took Naruto seven minutes to reach the training ground. He landed lightly beside Tsunade, looking over to see her two students were none other than Ino and Sakura. Both girls sported plenty of dust and minor scrapes. The pair were currently staring directly at one another, unaware of his arrival.
"Hey, Granny," Naruto called, his usual cheer somewhat diminished by the relatively early hour. The blond woman turned to him, her smile strained at the lack of respect in Naruto's form of address. She paused before turning back to the pair of her students.
"You two keep sparring. I've got to speak with Naruto," Tsunade commanded, stepping back from the pair and motioning for Naruto to follow. The boy did, idly glancing back at the two girls.
"Hey, Sakura... Why don't we go all out this time?" Ino asked, looking with a significant grin towards where the Hokage and a certain blond were speaking. Her rival smiled.
"Good idea, Ino," Sakura replied, pulling her gloves tight and grabbing a spare pouch of training tools. They strode in a circle, warily keeping an eye on one another, waiting for some unspoken signal. Their eyes locked and they paused as a gust of wind ruffled the trees, blowing leaves in between them.
Metal clashed on metal as a Sakura hurled a shuriken to deflect one of Ino's kunai.
The battle was on.
"So, you think your new jutsu worked well?" Tsunade asked, eying Naruto with her arms crossed as she leaned against a tree, her eyes never leaving the two girls. The blue-eyed boy's response was cut off by a loud yell and a localized earthquake as Sakura's fist drove into the ground, shattering the flat earth and turning it into a cloud-filled crater. Ino was airborn, sailing over her rival's head and throwing several shuriken to keep the pink-haired girl distracted.
Five blond girls landed and sprinted at Sakura from various directions. The Hokage's apprentice countered with five shuriken, grinning as they passed harmlessly through four clones and the remaining blond ducked under.
"Say, aren't they getting a little rough for sparring?" Naruto asked, his eyes tracking his teammate as she charged Ino with another punch. This one went straight through a tree, pulping wood and cracking it straight up the middle. The girl used one of the falling halves of the tree as leverage to escape a kunai hurled by Ino.
Hearing no response from the other person watching the battle Naruto turned, seeing a look of stunned comprehension dawn on the medic-nin's face, her jaw dropping ever so slightly. She glanced once at Naruto, then back to the fight, the corner of her mouth twitching into a bemused smile.
"Did they get into a fight or something?" Naruto asked, pointing to the carnage. He flinched as another earthquake nearly tossed him to the ground, throwing his arms above his head to protect against stray debris. "Do you know anything, Granny?"
Naruto scowled as the woman chuckled. "Hey, hey! What's so funny, you old hag!"
"You're an idiot," The Hokage concluded with a scowl, rolling her eyes as she turned her concentration on the fight. She gestured to where Ino was twisting out of the way of Sakura's melee blows, the blond girl concentrating as she searched for a way of opening up space between her and her foe. "You might want to watch, brat. You may even learn something."
Naruto's eyes widened and he turned to watch the fight. He could always talk to the old woman later.
oOo
Round two. Ignoring Naruto and Tsunade's intense gaze, the duet clashed. Sakura's unreasonably strong taijutsu versus Ino's acrobatic dodges as the blond did her best to avoid broken bones and unsightly bruises. Ino knew she had to play to her advantages to win this fight. She grinned, forming the seals for Shintenshin no Jutsu as she glared at her rival. Sakura flinched, flipping back and gaining the distance to dodge.
It was all Ino needed. Her fingers shifted from the final seal of her family's jutsu to another ninjutsu, more well-known to her pink-haired rival.
"Shadow clone jutsu!" Though not her signature technique, it was certainly within Ino's ability to learn. She grinned as a single clone poofed into existence alongside her, ignoring the massive chakra drain as her reserves were halved. Ino grinned at the look of confusion on her foe's face. She didn't realize, even now.
Ino's clone converged on Sakura, plunging in for the attack. Within meters of her foe, her clone used a simple clone, throwing Sakura into confusion by robbing her of the time needed to tell the difference between the solid clone and the illusions. Forced to dodge the attacks of both types clones, Sakura was pelted several times with solid fists. She lashed out, dispersing two of the regular Bunshins, receiving a ringing headache for her trouble as Ino's solid clone slammed a heel into her rival's head.
"Now!" Ino roared, her clone grinning at her call, forming the seal for shadow clone and producing a dozen shadow clones of her own. Those clones all used clone jutsu, surrounding Sakura with a virtual army of Inos. Again they rushed the pink-haired girl, who was pelted with dozens of punches and kicks as she tried to defend against the onslaught. Trained to deal with only a small number of foes, Sakura could do nothing but stumble from one attack to the next, collecting bruises and other minor injuries as she avoided the worst of the attacks.
"Nice, Sakura!" Ino called, her clones echoing her words. The feeling of a small army buoying her words, the blond girl understood the orange-clad boy's desire to gloat while he sat back and watched his army pummel his foe. She had just over a dozen clones under her command, and the feeling was intoxicating. "You've watched Naruto fight often enough! Don't tell me you can't deal with shadow clones!"
Thinking about the stories Ino had heard from Sakura and Shikamaru, she couldn't imagine commanding thousands of disposable warriors, all at level of taijutsu higher than her own. With one Jutsu, she commanded a small force of ninja capable of putting her rival purely on the defensive. At the same twitch of his fingers, Naruto wielded an army, each of which was nearly as good as Neji at taijutsu. No wonder the boy was sometimes arrogant. Who needed to be humble when they had an army in reserve whenever they needed it?
But she didn't have the stamina to keep this up, already she was feeling the drain. If she didn't finish this soon she would collapse.
"Clever, Ino!" Sakura called, shoving her hand into her tool pouch and producing a hand full of kunai and shuriken. The smile on the green-eyed girl's face only broadened as she took in the army by which she was surrounded. "But... Let me show you why Naruto is the only one capable of using that technique against jounin-level ninja!"
With those words, Sakura hurled her ninja tools in circle around herself. Throwing her arms in front of her face and dodging, Ino could only watch as all of her clones were dispersed in a single attack.
"See, Naruto's use of shadow clones is special. It's a style of attack only he can use," Sakura commented, grinning as Ino stood, alone now in the woods. She waved her hands around.
"Naruto can call hundreds of clones to his side as he needs them. The loss of a few clones doesn't bother him at all, because creating more is child's play. His army is infinite. I can tell from the look on your face... Yours is not."
Sakura cracked her knuckles, stretching her arms. Then, with a sharp thrust which cracked the ground beneath her feet, she launched herself at Ino. The blond rolled underneath the kick, planting her hands and channelling her chakra just so. Sticking briefly, she was able to plant her feet and flip backwards, soaring over Sakura's head as the pink-haired girl spun around.
Confused, Sakura was unprepared for the sweep kick which robbed her of her footing. She found herself falling chest-first onto a blunted kunai held up by her foe. Only by planting her arms and channelling chakra in a burst was Sakura able to stop her downward momentum. She rolled to her right, avoiding Ino's blade as the blond girl slashed in her direction.
Both girls clashed one last time, Ino regaining her feet and dipping her hands into her tool pouch as she performed a palm strike to Sakura's solar plexus. Sakura ignored the blow, her own punch far more effective as she slammed her fist into Ino's jaw. Perhaps not at full strength, but close enough. The blond skipped along the ground like a flat stone hurled over the surface of the water, finally caught by Naruto before she struck a tree.
"Boom," Ino commented firmly as her eyes met Naruto's, grinning as consciousness fled. Naruto looked up to see three explosive tags slapped onto Sakura's body detonate into puffs of smoke. Bewildered, his own mind ran back to his fight with Gaara, years ago. It was the same tactic. Distract your foe long enough to trade strikes, then let them hit you with a stronger taijutsu attack than you could hit back with. Then they get blown to hell while they're revelling in their victory.
It was exactly the same. Right down to the word on Ino's lips as it worked. Naruto gazed down at the unconscious girl's face in wonderment.
"So, it's a draw then," Tsunade commented, her eyes narrowing as she watched Sakura approach. She wagged one finger at her apprentice. "I'm surprised Sakura... Ino beat you one and now a draw. Even if her teacher was the Third's son, that doesn't excuse how sloppy you were in losing to explosive tags twice in a row! I'll have to double your taijutsu training!"
"Why technically a draw?" Naruto asked.
"Because if this was real fight, then Sakura's punch would have taken Ino's head off with that kind of punch. It's only because Sakura wasn't hitting at full power that Ino wasn't killed." Tsunade explained.
"Oh that makes sense," Naruto said mainly to himself.
oOo
"Oi, old woman! Why do I have to carry Ino!?" Naruto demanded, shifting the blond girl's limp weight on his shoulders. Her arms dangled limply on each side of his neck, and the blond boy was very firmly trying NOT to think about how his hands were supporting her weight.
Walking back from the training ground at a more sedate pace than he'd arrived, Naruto couldn't help but be annoyed. He'd been called out for a quick talk, and here he was doing all the work.
"Isn't it obvious?" The Hokage countered, shaking her head. "Even if it's not TOO much, Sakura is injured from her battle with Ino... and I'm the Hokage. That leaves you as the only one to transport Ino, Naruto."
"I guess," Naruto muttered, paused and shifting Ino's weight so that it was easier to carry. He still thought the reasoning was suspect, though accepted the burden in the end. It wasn't like the girl was heavy. They journeyed in comparative silence, Naruto silently plodding along as Sakura and Tsunade spoke quietly.
Eventually they reached Konoha proper.
"Naruto, you can take Ino back to her house," The Hokage announced, gesturing down the road. "Sakura and I will be at the hospital, attending to our duties. After you drop Ino off at her home come to the hospital so we can finish our conversation, Naruto. And tell that girl she's not allowed to get out of bed for the rest of the day!"
Sakura appeared to be on the verge of arguing, but held her tongue, shooting a glare at the unconscious girl on Naruto's shoulders. The blond boy cocked his head at this, wondering. Nothing came to him as he examined the Hokage's grin and his teammate's scowl, so he merely leaped to the rooftops and made his way to his burden's home, making just a brief stop on the way.
oOo
Ino was slow to awaken, her mind feeling as sluggish as if it were trapped in sticky mud. A jumble of images, her fighting Sakura, crept at the edge of comprehension, ending with soft blue eyes and a concerned face. Clearly Sakura's last punch had packed a fair amount of force, a suspicion confirmed by the lucidity brought about by the sharp lightning strike of pain as she moved her head.
She kept her eyes closed, focusing on her other senses. Something soft and comforting underneath her, almost as if she were sleeping in her own bed. The light sound of someone else breathing, just off to her left. The smell of clean sweat mingled with the comforting smell of mingled evergreen needles and seasonal tree leaves. The tangy copper of dried blood, welling from a sharp throbbing on the inside of her lower lip.
Her eyes opened to a dark blur, before her vision brightened into focus on the infuriating sight of Naruto. Her vision sharpened more to reveal that she was, in fact, in her room. Naruto sat in the chair normally resting in front of her desk, a tray holding a steaming pot of tea and an empty cup resting on her night table.
"Hey, you're awake!" Naruto's loud voice chimed, doing no favours for her headache. Ino felt the urge to scream at him for the lack of caution in dealing with someone who probably had a concussion, let alone for the invasion of privacy, but she didn't have the heart to voice anything against the youth's broad grin.
It was infectious enough for Ino to match, split lip and all. She winced as she levered herself up, consciousness swimming and making her feel as if she was swaying. The gentle, firm hand of Naruto's hand on her shoulder, keeping her from tumbling gracelessly onto his lap, proved it to be more than just a feeling.
"So, I lost?" Ino finally queried, struggling to balance her upright body. She got her elbows planted and managed to keep steady in a graceless slouch. The position was poor for her posture AND put a decided lack of emphasis on the parts she wanted to draw Naruto's attention to, but the gray-eyed Yamanaka lacked the energy to do more.
"No it was a draw but you won the first one so that means you came out ahead!" Naruto assured her, grinning as he rubbed his jaw. Releasing his hand from her shoulder, he raised his index finger in the air, unconsciously mimicking their academy teacher as he continued. "Granny Tsunade said that the explosive tags would have killed Sakura if this was real, but that Sakura's punch would have killed you as well since you were knocked out by it."
She thought about that, she was happy with the win and the draw was okay. For too long Sakura won their little training matches and it felt nice to get ahead. But she knew it would be harder next time, Sakura wouldn't fall for the same trick twice. Plus she wouldn't have her guard down again, Ino knew she would have to fight even harder to beat down the pink haired girl.
But maybe she was finally catching up to her rival after all this time.
"I think I'll avoid winning like that in the future," the blond admitted ruefully, feeling the ache in her jaw as she rubbed her chin. She scarcely remembered the beginning of the fight with Sakura, let alone the conclusion. Despite her efforts to the contrary, the jumbled images remained a chaotic montage with no order or flow. Her eyes met the youth watching her intently and she managed another smile. "Fake explosive tags leave Sakura covered in soot, but you can't really fake a knockout punch."
"That's why you should focus on taijutsu," Naruto smirked, clenching his fist. He threw a jab to his left and thumbed his nose. "It's better to be the one clobbering someone out than being the one clobbered. It's not like you'll ever find yourself in a situation where being able to fight well will hinder you."
"I'll admit that my skills are a little weak," Ino admitted, as much to herself as the orange-clad genin at her side. She smiled and lowered her voice just a touch, adding, "Maybe you can help me learn some grappling?"
"Sure!" Naruto agreed. The blond girl reflected that perhaps that clueless nature of his had its positive sides. It would certainly present her with opportunities the likes of which few people ever offered. Just like an opponent who charges into an ambush without noticing the sprung traps. Naruto gave Ino a thumbs up. "The only guy who's better than me is Bushy brows and I don't think you want your hands all battered and bruised!"
"Certainly not. Though that green outfit would probably look alright on me, wouldn't it?" Ino's stare and the cast of her smirk were, perhaps, direct enough to pierce the wall of obliviousness surrounding Naruto, however briefly. After a moment of dawning comprehension, the boy blushed bright red and directed his eyes elsewhere while the silver-eyed girl chuckled.
"Anyway," Naruto coughed, his eyes not quite meeting the injured kunoichi as he stood. He strode to her open window, planting a foot on the sill. "I've got to get back to the old lady and see what she wants. I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"See you later, Naruto," Ino said with a nod, keeping her eyes on billowing curtains of her window even after the loud shinobi had departed. She had certainly made progress. Perhaps even clued the boy in to her intentions, though she wouldn't be banking on that sort of miracle. What little perception the perpetual genin possessed seemed to be focused on fighting or training. In a lot of ways, he was still the same naive little boy he'd been when he graduated from the academy. Perhaps that was the reason everyone who knew him had such faith in him. He was, in some ways, too pure for any serious guile or deception.
Her introspection was interrupted by her mother's quiet cough at the door. One of her mother's delicate fingers flicked towards the flowers sitting in a plain-looking vase. The florist in Ino groaned at an arrangement of undying passion, fervent devotion, and... embarrassingly enough, unquestioned fidelity. When the breeze shifted and the tea reeked of ginseng, Ino was left to ponder the depths of Naruto's ignorance and the astounding amount of trouble it could cause.
He saw some tea for revitalizing energy and a handful of pretty flowers. Her mother, her teacher in both Ikebana and herbology, saw something decidedly less innocent and alarming more adult.
"Ino, do we need to have a talk?" Though phrased as a question, the blond girl knew it was instead a statement of fact. As her mother sat on the edge of her bed with a stern look, searching for words, Ino was left to wonder just what sort of retribution the blond genin was due for the long, embarrassing discussion she was about to have.
oOo
Sakura was, for the first time in a great many years, experiencing an emotion so long absent from her life that it felt alien. This emotion wasn't anything pleasant, that she knew right away, but it took her nearly half the walk to the hospital to finally identify it: She was jealous, or perhaps even envious, of Ino.
It had been a long time since she'd last felt it. Around the time that she and Ino both discovered they had a crush on Sasuke. It was on that day, so long ago, that the pink-tressed girl decided to push away jealousy and envy. She'd grabbed those feelings and buried them somewhere deep and dark, somewhere she thought she'd never see them again. She thought she never would, given how amiable their relationship became after that first chunin exam.
The years since they'd rekindled their relationship had, she'd assumed, been an ample test of that resolve. Not once in the three years since they'd resumed being friends, had she ever wished she were Ino, wished that the blond girl and her own role were reversed. Perhaps with Sasuke gone that resolve had never really been tested, but she was sure she was completely beyond it.
Yet seeing the blonde girl smile while her head rested gently against Naruto's on the walk back from their sparring match, Sakura finally understood it was jealousy causing that uneasy feeling in her gut. She knew that she didn't want to repeat the same mistakes of the past but she couldn't help feel what she felt seeing them like that.
"Sakura... Even with my lousy record for gambling, I bet you're wondering why I ordered Naruto to take Ino home," Tsunade's statement could have been a thought plucked from the green-eyed girl's mind, and her slack-jawed amazement told the Sannin as much. She smiled. "I can understand your confusion, Sakura."
They walked in silence for a moment, amusement and confused amazement. Sakura's mind finally put words to the question her heart begged to ask.
"Well... if you don't mind telling me... Why did you?" Sakura finally asked, carefully keeping her voice neutral.
"It's actually very simple, Sakura," Tsunade explained, shrugging her shoulders. Despite her casual gesture, the slug summoner refused to meet her apprentice's eyes. "Ino seems to have an interest in Naruto. I think they might be good for one another."
"But-"
"But Naruto has always had a crush on you, and who am I to interfere with his affection for you?" Tsunade interrupted and then continued before the girl could answer the question. "Sakura, no man's heart is a toy. Seeing that girl's interest beside your own lack thereof, I have no reason whatsoever not to help Ino. You have to face the fact that he might not always be there when you decide that you're ready."
"I know that now," Sakura admitted softly to herself. She knew that she had pushed Naruto's affection to just friendship for a very long time. In fact she was worried maybe for too long she had done that, only Tsunade couldn't have known that Sakura had started to see Naruto as more than just a friend. But she wanted to see what else her mentor had to say before she spoke up again.
Crossing a bridge away from the crowds, Tsunade stopped suddenly. She walked to the railing to watch the river flowing underneath, seeming to draw a measure of calm from the placid, gentle flow of water. When she spoke it held no heat, only remorse.
"Sakura, I don't want to see you waste your life hiding behind a wall of excuses. Neither do I want Naruto to spend his life waiting until you tear those walls down. If you're not prepared to fight for him, you have no excuse to be angry if someone else is." Despite the blond woman's gentle words, the splinter of the wooden railing beneath her deceptively gentle hand showed a lack of control the red-clad chunin had rarely seen in her teacher. The sad eyes met Sakura's own, and the young girl was amazed at the depth of pain she saw. "The way you've modeled yourself after me is a great compliment, Sakura. Please, don't take it so far that you repeat my mistakes."
Moments stretched into an eternity and Sakura finally recognized the fragile woman beneath the gruff exterior. Despite the smooth, unmarred surface she showed the world, this was a woman who had flaws which could unmake her with the slightest pressure. Sakura now saw the woman who had had to rely on a genin for protection. The woman who had lost one love to death; but there was something more as well something other than the death of Dan.
She knew of Dan, from Shizune as the older woman had talked about her relative during Sakura's training. She could only imagine the pain that caused both Shizune and Tsunade but there was something more to this. Like Tsunade was speaking about another love that she had only this one she had let slip.
Sakura suddenly thought of Jiraiya, was this history repeating itself? Did her mentor have feelings for her own teammate but had ignored them all this time like Sakura had?
"Tsunade, I've got too much respect for you not to model myself after you in any way I can," Sakura finally admitted, flashing her teacher a small smile. She risked placing a gentle hand on one shoulder. "I guess that means you'll have to do what you can to fix your own mistakes so I don't make the same ones, right?"
"But, there's been too much since then!" Tsunade's voice was close to panic: Like a hungry predator, Sakura pounced on it feeling she knew she was on the right track.
"You're the one telling me that it's not worth repeating mistakes, Tsunade-chan." Sakura's grin was just as smug as the strange honorific, and restored some of the fire she was so used to seeing in her idol's eyes. "Besides, you're the one who keeps telling me that no matter what, you can't give up. Why give up now that you've gained so much wisdom?"
"And I'm supposed to be the teacher," Tsunade finally growled, spinning to lean back against the railing. She flashed a smile to Sakura, and the green-eyed girl saw a serenity she would have rarely associated with Konoha's Fifth Hokage. Then the older woman jabbed Sakura's solar plexus with a scowl which didn't reach the smile in her eyes. "That doesn't let you off the hook, girl! You've still got to make a decision about the blond brat, you know."
"Actually I made a decision last night," Sakura admitted. "I just don't want to ruin my friendship with Ino this time around but I will fight for him. Naruto has always been close to me and very good for me as well. I want to give him the same kind of happiness that he's given me."
In the three years they'd shared, neither the young girl or the mature woman were as close to one another as they were then. Their shared grins reflected a camaraderie which went beyond the bonds of a teacher and student: They were close friends with a similar pain and unconquerable struggle, finally released from the solitude of their emotional trap in mutual enlightenment.
Despite all that she had learned from the woman in the past and all the moments they would share in the future, both knew that this strange honesty on the bridge would be the defining moment of their relationship.
Next up Chapter 5: Students and Masters
Okay now it's all me, the rest of this is totally all my work.
