VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT AT THE BOTTOM!

I don't own Naruto.


A pouch-full of kunai?

Check

Two holsters full of shuriken?

Check

Wire? Flash bombs? Paper bombs?

Check all the way

Seeing that her bags were filled to the brim with deadly weapons and equipment, Sakura adjusted them onto her person, a shuriken holster for each leg. Feeling uncharacteristically pumped, having finally been discharged from the hospital yesterday evening, she set course for her front door. Today was a special day, after all.

Today would be her first time doing solo training.

No team, just her. No Naruto, no Kakashi, and, yes, no Sasuke even.

Jitters went up her spine at the thought of it. She'd never done extracurricular training before, but being bedridden for over a day due to mild internal injuries, sustained after having been taken out in a fight with contemptuous ease, had given her plenty of time to think on her current situation... and her future.

It was pointless to deny anymore just how seriously she was lagging behind her teammates, the distance only growing larger with the passage of time. The invasion had hammered that painful reality home. There they were, on a hastily assigned A-rank mission to rescue Sasuke and about to battle an opponent almost as strong as Zabuza, and she went and made herself in need of saving not three seconds into the fight.

She'd become nothing more than an additional obstacle for her comrades to overcome while already having the odds set against them.

If there was one thing worse than being useless, it was being worse than useless. It was a right shitty feeling, to say the least.

Had she not been so deep in her self-loathing, she imagined Kakashi's hospital visit would have been much more awkward, considering the broken vase she'd thrown across the room when her mounting frustration had reached its peak, no longer able to withhold a physical expression of her tumultuous thoughts.

Her sensei, as annoyingly perceptive as ever - bless his disentranced heart - had suggested training, lighting a spark in her. The realization had hit the female genin like a kick from Rock Lee, one so obvious she knew she would be chiding herself for it in the next several months.

If she didn't want to feel like crap about her skills, then she just needed to work her ass off on them.

Granted, for all her book smarts, Sakura wasn't at all knowledgeable about advanced training methods, and she had very limited information on jutsu she couldn't do. Kakashi would be the best source for both, but he'd been pretty busy as of late, what with the reparations and such. She didn't want to impose on his working hours, assuming she'd even be able to find her sensei.

Fortunately, her genin rank gave her a certain amount of clearance in the jutsu library. Better yet, her ten D-rank, and one A-rank mission record - two when counting Sasuke's rescue - further upgraded her into the Experienced Genin slot, allowing her access to the E, D, and a portion of the C-rank jutsu section of the library. Basic, mildly useful techniques, simple and easy on the chakra expenditure.

That would come later, though. Today was all about physical exercise and weapons practice, as the pink-haired kunoichi was in dire need of some healthy body-building. She would make her way to the library after the training session and study up on a few jutsu this evening.

No more sentimental fantasies or romantic delusions of heroism. Just remembering the times picturing herself being the archetypal damsel in distress, ready and willing to be rescued by Sasuke Uchiha clad in white armor made her cringe. How could she had ever been so monumentally stupid as to think that would bring her pride and joy? Like a dream come true?

More like a nightmare come reality. She might as well go ahead and buy Naruto a bowl of ramen for every time she'd called him an idiot.

Once, about a week into her time as a genin, her silver-haired sensei had mentioned that death was a shinobi's closest and most constant companion with all the casual idleness of discussing the weather. Sakura had been a bit mortified at the time, true, but had quickly reverted back to tripping out about lovey-dovey fantasies that would, more likely than not, remain fantasies.

But now, the notion reverberated in her head every time she contemplated her ninja career. Like he'd said, her life was on the line every time they accepted a mission, regardless of rank. All it had taken for that to set in was just her team coming close to knocking on death's door half a dozen times. No muss, no fuss.

It was a world of scant morals they lived in, and the old Sakura that believed otherwise was a thing of the past, while the new one was ready to move forward. Having eaten a protein and carb-rich breakfast about an hour earlier, she was rarin' to go. Early on, Kakashi's training regimen, as well as Kakashi himself had made it quite clear that dieting was off the table; she needed the energy for training, and any excess fat she might have gained by eating consistent meals would've been quickly shaved off with exercise.

Needless to say, it'd felt like a burden had been lifted off her shoulders.

She wondered if Ino had realized it by now.

A few knocks on the door brought her out of her musings, perking up when she recognized the sequence. Kakashi used a very specific one that, for security reasons, he'd taught to his genin to know when it was him on their doorstep. Putting on her sandals, she hastily made her way downstairs. Her mom beat her to the door, though, and opened it with a welcoming smile. However, while it was the sight of her sensei that greeted her first, he wasn't alone.

"Good day, Kakashi-sensei. Are you here for Sakura?" her mother asked politely.

"Yes, but I'm not the only one, Mrs. Haruno. A friend of mine would like to meet her," he said, gesturing to the woman a bit behind him, who Sakura remembered to be the second stage exam proctor.

Her dad then came to stand next to mom, his perpetual grin as big and goofy as ever. "Well, I'm glad Sakura's branching out and making more friends. As opposed to the sweetness of cherry blossoms she was named after, our little girl has been a bit sour lately!"

The 'little girl' in question blushed and pouted in embarrassment as her father laughed jovially at his poor joke. Seriously, and in front of her sensei too. Not to mention the total and dangerous-looking stranger by his side. Her mother wasn't making things any better, what with her chuckling along.

Kakashi-sensei smiled, or at least appeared to. "I'm afraid this isn't a social call, Mr. Haruno. I assure you, though, Sakura is no trouble," he answered, his tone genial but with a lilt that conveyed his seriousness.

"Oh, then I suppose I better pull out my business pants and-hey!" Both his sentence and his grin were cut off when the purple-haired woman stepped forward and squeezed between them. Sakura felt her gut clench a bit when she stopped in front of the genin and loomed over her with a severe expression, different and scarier than the sadistic but laid-back smirk she displayed at the exam.

Her shoulders tensed when Anko suddenly put a hand on her head and just stood there, a look of mild concentration on her face. She saw her parents ready to come to her rescue but were prevented from doing so by Kakashi, who merely shook his head. She didn't know if she ought to be reassured or cursing him as a traitor, leaving her alone with this blood-sucking monster.

The image of her slicing open Naruto's cheek and licking away a wad of his blood was still in her head, disgusting and absolutely unnerving.

After about half a minute, the exam proctor finally moved, only to start groping her right arm, lightly pressing her fingers against her muscles, moving from shoulder to forearm, then doing the same thing with her other one. She straightened out shortly after and turned to give her parents a scrutinizing once-over, almost like she was assessing their threat level or something, before looking back to her.

Anko's expression softened a mite, but it maintained its earlier gravitas, and her gaze went to Kakashi-sensei. "I'll take her."

Sakura froze on the spot. That phrase had so many meanings, she didn't know what to make of it, though her admittedly short experiences with the woman made her think of the worst.

Her parents appeared to be of the same mind. "You'll take her?" her mom asked in an affronted tone, shaking the Hatake's hand off her shoulder. "Look, I don't know who you are, but you don't get to barge in our home, harass my daughter, and make demands immediately afterward. Just who the hell are you?"

That nightmare-worthy smirk graced the purple-haired kunoichi's face. "Who, me? Why I'm your little girl's new sensei."

... Huh?

The pink-haired genin switched her gaze between Anko and Kakashi, silently demanding an explanation on as to what the fuck was going on, and hoping beyond hope that the two were just pulling her leg and her teacher wasn't actually planning to leave her alone with this thing.

"Unfortunately, the brass has decided to temporarily disband Team 7 and assign a personal tutor to each of its genin. Anko Mitarashi here was eager to accept the duty of taking over Sakura's training for the foreseeable future." The somewhat trenchant glare the woman sent his way gave Sakura the impression she'd been anything but. No doubt the smart-aleck ninja had probably twisted her arm into accepting this arrangement.

Maybe they could bond over their mutual feelings of annoyance for the silver-haired man.

"Really? How come?" her dad asked curiously.

"I'm afraid I can't discuss it at length. I myself will continue Sasuke's training, while Lord Jiraiya takes over Naruto's," Kakashi responded before addressing her directly. "Now Sakura, Anko is one of the most powerful shinobi the Hidden Leaf has to offer. The fact her mission flow is about to be cut by at least half to allow her to focus on training you, her very first apprentice is a most singular honor. Work hard and don't squander this opportunity. Okay?"

She nodded with a wary glance toward the kunoichi. His laziness aside, if he felt her training and wellbeing were secure in Anko's hands, then maybe she was taking her fretting a bit overboard.

It came to her suddenly, almost gasping in realization. This was exactly what she'd been looking for, what she needed to get stronger and catch up to her teammates; a sensei whose efforts would be exclusively focused on her. If Anko really was as strong as Kakashi portrayed her to be, then her advanced training conundrum had just been solved.

Regardless of the fact that her new mentor seemed to have all of Naruto's loudmouth tendencies and none of his innocence.

"If the chit-chat is over and done with, I'd like us to get a move on sometime today," Anko grunted, giving her a meaningful glance. Taking the hint, Sakura headed for the door, saying goodbye to her parents along the way, who responded in with wishes of 'Good luck!' and such.

An arm was placed around her shoulders a few moments after stepping outside, the beige sleeve and calloused but slightly dainty fingers identifying it as the exam proctor's. Kakashi-sensei stopped to her left and graced her with an eye-smile and friendly wave.

Then, she felt a pulling sensation and the world shifted before her eyes.

Nausea built up in her body, her head spinning as the colors passed by too fast for her mind to register, accompanied by a light crushing all around her form. A moment of panic rose, an instinctive and primal fear, but the unexpected phenomenon came to an abrupt end before it could completely overtake her.

Bending forward, she steadied herself by placing her hands on her knees and inhaling deep gulps of air. After the panic and nausea abated, she took a look around, the fear making a threatening comeback when she recognized the imposing wire fence, standing tall like an ominous vigil before what lay inside it.

The Forest of Death.

Gulping down her anxiety along with the bad memories, the genin stood upright. "Was that a... teleportation jutsu?"

"No. That was a pimped-out version of your regular Body Flicker," her new sensei informed her. "By connecting our chakra when I touched you, I was able to take you along for the ride."

Anko began walking, thankfully not toward the looming forest in the back. Instead, she made her way to the rocks positioned about 40-50 meters away from the fence. She took a seat on one in, what Sakura could only describe, an enticing way; leaning on her hands behind her, chest jutting out a bit, and one leg over the other. She didn't know if she did it on purpose, or if it just came naturally to her.

Either way, knowing the woman was made of sterner, less indolent stuff than Kakashi Hatake, she opted to remain on her feet with her spine straight and back rigid.

She just gave her the vibe that said that Sakura ought to avoid taking any undue risks.

The jonin raised an eyebrow and snorted. "Sit down, Private Bubblegum. We ain't training quite yet. Introductions first. I've read your academy file and played 20 questions with Kakashi, but I'd like to hear it from the horse's mouth, too."

Nodding, she lowered herself down into a seated position with her legs crossed and then looked at her mentor expectantly.

"Fine, me first. As you already know, my name is Anko Mitarashi. I like dango, red bean soup, and torturing any unlucky victims who find themselves in my unmerciful grasp." Her sensei gave her a sadistic grin, the implications more than obvious. Sakura herself was now one of them. "I don't like whiny, crybaby pissants who think our ninja career is some fairytale wonderland. My current goal in life is to turn the shit-pile of pathetic that is Sakura Haruno into a real shinobi."

She cringed uncomfortably, more at the very apparent opinion Anko had of her than the language. Nonetheless, she composed herself and answered in kind. "My name is Sakura Haruno. I like umeboshi and... anko dumplings." The older kunoichi laughed at that, the irony not lost on her. "I don't like... having to rely on others to save me."

Feeling a swell of determination at the reminder, and even a little vindictiveness, she gazed steadily back at Anko. "And my goal is to help you turn the shit-pile of pathetic I am right now into a shinobi strong enough to kick even your ass someday."

Though her brow raised a bit in surprise, the woman's visage was predominantly unimpressed. A slight quirk of the lips betrayed her well-hidden amusement. " Gutsy little thing, ain't ya? Makin' such lofty proclamations, and we haven't even started yet. Private Bubblegum, I oughtta give you a good spanking to teach you some respect, but I'll refrain until we start training." She then took in Sakura's entire form. "Hell, guessing by the gear you're wearing, you were about to go out and hit the training fields yourself when Lazy Bones and I came, right?"

The girl nodded, at which Anko continued, "You're not entirely hopeless then, I admit, which brings me to my next point." Her relaxed expression dropped, allowing one notably more severe, almost accusatory, to take place. She resisted the urge to gulp and kept her face effortfully blank, the tension growing more and more palpable. "Do you know just how lucky you are?"

Taken aback momentarily by the acerbic undertone in the question, the genin tried to appease her, figuring she was still miffed for being saddled with her. "Yes, Anko-sensei. I'm very grateful to you for accepting me as your apprentice."

"Good answer, but no," the jonin stated firmly, raising a hand and extending two of her fingers upwards. "You've got two things to be grateful for, each of them out of your control. They're both based on the same thing, though: your genes."

"Huh? I don't get it?" she asked, confused.

"Remember that groping session earlier? That was me examining your body and chakra. And let me tell ya, you've been blessed, brat. Physically, almost everything about you speaks 'above average', or the potential for it, even if you don't look it now." Fingers began dropping as Anko recounted her findings, "Constitution, height, chakra reserves, chakra control; you name it. Do you know what somatotypes are?"

Flabbergasted and more than a little awed by the unexpected response, she bobbed her head rather mutely. "Uh, yeah. Somatotypes are types of human physique people naturally have. They're divided into the ectomorphic, the skinny body; the mesomorphic, the toned body; and the endomorphic, the rotund body."

"Right. You, Private Bubblegum, are mesomorphic," Anko confirmed. "Unless you starve or permanently bedrid yourself, you're never going to be just skin and bones. And not only that but putting on muscle ain't all that difficult for you. Even now, with as little physical training as you've had, there's a level of muscle tone on you. Your chakra seems to be in on the ploy, too.

"I've known kunoichi your age who worked twice, even three times harder than you but had a chakra capacity not a single drop bigger than your own. While not anything super like mine or that bigmouthed teammate of yours, by the time you stop growing upwards, you could have more chakra than seventy percent of the Hidden Leaf kunoichi, no sweat. To top it all off, you've got such damn near-perfect control to go along with it, you could probably... well, do fucking anything, really."

Her sensei then locked on her with an intimidating glare, causing her to almost take a step back lest she risk soiling herself. "And what exactly have you done with this shitload of potential thrumming in your veins? Played hooky during your PE class? Twirled a lock of hair and made googly eyes at the Uchiha in the middle of every spar? Or maybe you had pervy fantasies about sucking his d-"

"Okay! Okay! I get it! I suck. I screwed up. I know all that already!" She interrupted the adult loudly, feeling gradually worse with every accusation she made, not to mention thoroughly embarrassed at the last implication. But she couldn't afford to wallow. Not again, so she did not need to be reminded and be thrown back into that depressed state from yesterday.

She'd dug herself into one hole already; she didn't want to end up digging an entirely new one. "That's why we're here, isn't it? To fix it, and I don't see how pointing out mistakes I'm already aware of is gonna make a difference," Sakura argued strongly.

Anko narrowed her eyes - she couldn't tell whether it was in anger or something else - before sighing deeply in resignation. "Fair enough. No use crying over spilled, milk, I guess," the snake-summoner agreed begrudgingly, though Sakura could sense that she wasn't yet completely over the issue.

She should probably expect at least one more tirade about it in the future.

"Count your blessings that you're a late bloomer, brat. Now, I know most of you preteen girls want the big titties ASAP so you could look all pretty and shit. In your case, however, you should count yourself lucky for being on the very cusp of puberty at 13," Anko said pointedly.

"E-Excuse me?" she stuttered, mildly offended and crossing her arms over her chest. A late bloomer? Her? She'd been one of the tallest girls in her graduating class, and it wasn't like she was lacking in certain areas of the female anatomy. Not any more than the other girls her age, at least.

More importantly, if what her mentor said was true, she failed to understand how it played a part in her training.

"You heard me." Anko grinned smugly, arching her back just a bit more just to mock her. "Puberty is the period where your body is most susceptible to growth and change. Your hormone production skyrockets, and that is the window of opportunity we're going to abuse maliciously. A surplus of growth hormones and even testosterone is circulating in your bloodstream, which boosts both your muscle growth and chakra capacity like it was going out of style."

Sakura's eyes widened in understanding. "Now that you mention it, I remember reading about that once." She furrowed her brow and gave her sensei an inquiring look. "But still, sensei, how do you know I'm just entering puberty? Most girls are 11 when it happens. I haven't ever heard of a two-year delay happening."

The purple-haired kunoichi shrugged indifferently. "Chalk it down to late-onset puberty. And besides, who gives a shit? I just told you it was to your benefit. I could tell because any good ANBU and torture expert should know human anatomy like the back of their hand. Plus, it helped that I got to see your parents, tall bastards they are. Your mom is, what, 172 cm? And your old man is around 185."

She then gave the girl a pointed look. "But you? With your current height, without that puberty-instigated growth spurt, you would be half a head shorter than your mom by the time the growing stops. Let me tell ya, without some physical deficit, that would be almost unheard of. So I did the math. That's it."

That was true enough. Both her mom and dad were of above average height, and the likelihood of her being tall was therefore nigh-unequivocal. Anko's theory was also supported by the fact she hadn't had her first period yet, an event she wasn't looking forward to thanks to her mother's warnings and the biology books she read.

Cramps, nausea, moodiness, or, better yet, all of them together sounded just grand.

"Well, it was a nice, little chat we had, but let's not waste any more daylight," Anko said as she stood up and a kunai shot into her hand from within her sleeve. A darkly amused expression graced her features when Sakura stiffened, eyes trained on the weapon twirling around her index finger. "It's already been established that your physical side needs the most work, so we'll start with that."

The kunai embedded itself into the soil by her side.

"Taijutsu only. Come at me with the intent to snap my neck!"


What was the essence of power?

Was it having numerous skills, never really mastering any one but having proficiency all the same, counteracting the downside with overwhelming variety and unpredictability?

Or was it having much fewer skills to rely on, but possessing supreme competence in their execution to balance that flaw out?

It didn't end there; there were subcategories to consider. Was it better to have abilities that focused on taking down one opponent, or those that had a wider-range destructive effect, intended to finish off multiple foes? Was offensive better than defensive? Was defensive better than supplementary? Would you rather trap or weaken your enemy first and deal the finishing blow when incapacitated, or dodge, defend, and hide until they ran out of steam?

This was a riddle Sasuke Uchiha had been trying to solve since he'd been 8 years old, and it felt like he was no closer to an answer than he had been then. Maybe even worse, considering he had lost to someone his idiot teammate, class clown, and best friend had beaten.

All that training, all that time spent making sure his considerable talent was cultivated to achieve maximum potential, all for the sake of becoming strong enough to kill him... it all felt so wasted.

Sparks of electricity extended from his hand as he growled in frustration, bathing the grass right underneath it in white light.

What was it that made Naruto Uzumaki so damn strong in such a short time? His training? Or maybe his style simply had a natural advantage against Gaara, while Sasuke's own was incompatible? Naruto had said it was his desire to protect his friends, him and Sakura, that had given the boy strength, but doubts plagued his mind.

There had been plenty of Uchiha clansmen on the day of the massacre that had something precious to protect, and it hadn't stopped Itachi from butchering them and their families.

Hatred drove them both; Itachi to kill indiscriminately, and Sasuke to kill for vengeance. It gave them a reason to test their power and improve further, to end life for their own sake. The only thing that set them apart was their moral convictions. Itachi Uchiha was evil incarnate, while Sasuke Uchiha was the one who would make things right.

By any means necessary.

For him to do that, he needed to get stronger. But how would he do that, and what path to take? Fight like his friend or fight like his brother?

The large stone formation stood a few meters in front of him like the world's most convenient target, charging at it with no hesitation.

Naruto was basically a chakra monster, able to dish out highly taxing jutsu with the frequency of a pressurized hose spewing out water. Generally, that took the form of covering an entire area in shadow clones, effectively creating a sea of garish, eye-scorching orange. Plus, there was his otherworldly stamina and durability, enduring hits and stress like a champ and a half, and then recovering in record time.

If nothing else, Sasuke could admire that about him.

Itachi, on the other hand, was like a scalpel, if a scalpel could slice through even the most sturdy materials by finding the weak spot with amazing analytical skills. He didn't know all his brother's jutsus and tricks, but he'd always been something of a perfectionist, practicing a technique until he could do it flawlessly. Though that method would normally take a lot of time, the rotten bastard wasn't a genius for nothing.

However, the one blemish in his spotless repertoire was his chakra reserves. The raven-haired genin remembered his father once complaining about how his brother had average reserves for a Leaf shinobi.

And below average for an Uchiha.

In other words, spamming out chakra-intensive jutsu would rarely ever be something Itachi could afford. For the time being, that was the only advantage Sasuke was consciously aware of, since his latest medical tests, taken just two days ago at Kakashi's insistence, showed that his chakra capacity was in the 94th percentile of all 13-year-old Leaf ninja in the last twenty years.

His arm dug deep into the stone, the Chidori carving a path with minimal ease.

Hence the jutsu practice. If he was to practice the Chidori every two days, do daily physical exercise, and maybe learn another Fire technique from his clan's library, his increased control complemented by the boost in chakra capacity should allow him to perform the powerful jutsu thrice a day in about two weeks time, give or take a day or two.

That is, without using Orochimaru's Curse Mark.

Stepping back from the smoking rock formation while turning his Sharingan off, he gripped the back of his left shoulder where the cursed seal was located. Its influence significantly diminished from within the barriers of Kakashi's seal, its presence was nonetheless like a steady thrum, not unlike the pulse of his heart beneath his fingers, never letting him forget that it was there.

He didn't know where he stood with it. On one hand, it gave him power that allowed his body to surpass its current limitations, and with it came a sense of ecstasy that was just intoxicating. And yet, that same feeling made him wary. It was one thing to experience a surge of bloodlust at the thought of his wretched sibling; it was another at the thought of hurting someone else, like that Sound genin he had never even met before then.

Such an effortless loss of his composure unnerved him. He was afraid if he was to truly give in even further, he'd end up hurting someone close to him, or worse.

Orochimaru of the Sannin was an epitome of evil on the same level as Itachi. Sasuke knew that. For whatever reason he'd been given this thing, it hadn't been charity.

But still, the Curse Mark had saved his life, but even with its help, Gaara had come out triumphant in their battle. And later, when Naruto, in worse condition than him, had stepped forward and took that monster down, the feeling of inadequacy had been overwhelming. That smile Naruto had worn on his face when he'd fallen prey to the spell of unconsciousness had only made the feeling worse.

And this only made the sense of internal conflict worse. Naruto was his best friend - not that he'd admit it - and he felt like a bastard for feeling contempt toward his progress. But no matter by how much he imagined Naruto getting stronger, he could never imagine the blond defeating someone of Itachi's caliber.

And if he couldn't do it, how could Sasuke, someone who was possibly even weaker, do it?

This wasn't how it was supposed to be. He was meant to be the best, the strongest, for only the strongest would be able to bring the traitor Itachi Uchiha to justice.

And yet, as always, he was second best. First to his brother, now to his friend. How had such a mortifying vicissitude come to pass? His hands shook with rage and frustration, putting them in the proper position for the Chidori's activation. Having done it twice already, he knew what he was about to do was extremely inadvisable, outright stupid even, not that he cared.

He just wanted to destroy something before the welling emotions became too much to handle. Flickers of Lightning Style chakra began to emanate from his hand, the jutsu's characteristic sound reaching his ears.

However, a sudden grip on his arm knocked him out of his stupor, the electricity fading into nothingness.

"My, my! It breaks my heart to know my own students don't listen to my advice."

The Uchiha looked up at Kakashi's masked face, his own visage slipping back to its usual expression as he scoffed to futilely hide the lapse in judgment. "I'll consider controlling my impulses as soon as you do the same thing about your tardiness."

"And here I thought it was part of my charm, but I guess that's a fair deal," the white-haired shinobi said, releasing his arm. He cocked his head at his student. "Penny for your troubled, emo-ish thoughts?"

Sasuke scowled as he rubbed the appendage gingerly, the expected ripple of pain coming through from using the Chidori more times than he should have. Good thing he'd done the physical training earlier; his arm would've been too shot to work out now. He turned to his sensei, "What are you doing here?"

The man sniffed, tucking his hands into his pockets before answering, " Hello to you too, my rude, little genin. I just thought you should know that I'm taking over your personal training from now on until further notice."

His brow furrowed in confusion. Hadn't he been doing that already? "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is team training has officially been canceled," Kakashi clarified, causing him to stop and stare in surprise. "Each genin of Team 7 is receiving private tuition. I am assigned to be your personal trainer, while Naruto and Sakura each have their own allocated tutors."

Sasuke... didn't know what to think about that. He'd gotten used to the intensity and shenanigans those two commonly displayed. They were friends, simple as that. Perhaps not the sort that hung out constantly and went out for barbeque, but a solid relationship was shared between the three rookie shinobi.

Nevertheless, he wasn't blind to what this new arrangement signified. With their forces depleted and assignments split between reconstruction and regular missions, the fact the Hokage disbanded his team and appointed shinobi - all of them high-ranking more likely than not - to instruct them individually during such a crucial time meant that a vested interest was placed upon Team 7's development.

He couldn't help the smirk of pride gracing his face. That also meant something else. "It seems I'll be making an effort to get my impulses under control sooner than I thought," he said to his mentor teasingly. Since the Hokage himself had authorized this arrangement, it constituted a certain level of importance.

Which meant the days of Kakashi's lousy sense of timing had been brought to a swift and abrupt halt.

At least in regards to Sasuke's training.

The ninja in question merely shrugged. "Alas, all good things must come to an end. Seeing as you're a bit too worse for wear to train anymore, we'll start tomorrow at Training Grounds 7, the usual time."

Before, the "usual time" had meant Team 7 meeting up 8 in the morning at the aforementioned training grounds. Well, the three genins meeting up at 8 and their sensei arriving anywhere between 9:30 and 11 AM with lame excuses abound. Thank God he hadn't done that during the month before the final stage of the Exams, and it was doubtful Kakashi's annoying habit would make a rebound tomorrow.

He frowned at the reminder that not everything would be 'usual', though.

"Kakashi, will the others and I be teaming up again in the future?" the black-haired teen asked, too embarrassed to directly confess his unease at the thought of Team 7 being forever disbanded.

The crinkle in the adult's eye showed he well understood the underlying emotion. "I imagine so. You three have formed a rapport that is ultimately reliable, shaky and turbulent as it might be on occasion. It would be a pity and a disservice to let it go to waste." He gave his protege a knowing look. "Which, by the way, you almost single-handedly achieved during the invasion."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in the man's direction. "Gaara was getting away. What was I supposed to do? Just sit and do nothing?"

"Despite what you and many others may think, that is not necessarily a bad idea. Getting involved also carries the risk of making things worse, or getting yourself killed for nothing. No one told you to chase after him, and I'm pretty sure I didn't give any such orders myself," Kakashi said with uncharacteristic firmness.

"I was ordered, actually, by the proctor," he responded pointedly.

His sensei's eye widened for a moment before sighing in mild annoyance. "Remind me to give Genma a talking-to for ordering my genin around."

The teen snorted in amusement. It had been the middle of an invasion, a direct attack on their home village. Teacher-student relationships hadn't mattered; only official rankings had. This Genma, at least a chunin and higher up than him had had full authority to command Sasuke to go after Gaara and stop him since the red-head had obviously been a key element in the Sand's arsenal.

He didn't bother correcting Kakashi, though. There was little doubt the man already knew all that. He was probably just trying to vent, and frankly, Sasuke simply didn't care enough about the proctor to stop any confrontation between him and the silver-haired jonin.

And besides...

"Our fight wasn't finished," he said, so low Kakashi almost failed to hear him.

His sensei stared at him blankly, making it impossible for him to even guess his thoughts. After a few short moments of awkward silence, the man sighed again, resignation permeating the exhaled air. "You kids are really gonna drive me up the wall one day, unless your troublesome penchant for acting with wild abandon doesn't kill me first, of course."

He combed a gloved hand through his hair, a single, stern eye keyed on him. "I can understand pride and wanting to prove your strength, but is it really worth risking your life to such an extent?"

The teen glared at him sharply, incensed at his insinuation. What did he know? "If I can't risk my life against someone like Gaara, then how can I ever hope to face him?"

"And how can you ever hope to face him if you're dead?" That statement momentarily caught him off guard, and he turned his gaze away, not wanting to admit its validity. Kakashi continued regardless, "You're gunning for Itachi to avenge the murder of your family, but your current, living family would despair if you were to just keel over like that. Have you ever thought about that?"

No, he hadn't. Even as they were now, most of his thought process was expended on either finding new ways to improve or imagining a gruesome death for the treacherous Uchiha at his own hands. There simply hadn't been a reason to contemplate anything else.

However, now that Kakashi brought the topic up, his thoughts strayed toward his teammates: the lovable, if vexatious dumbass that was Naruto, and Sakura, the hot-headed fangirl with analytical skills comparable to the Sharingan and enough book smarts to fill an entire classroom and then some. Simply the very idea of them being hurt in any way brought an unexpected pang to his chest, caused by a caring he hadn't fully realized he'd developed for them.

Still, since day one he'd made it crystal clear what his ultimate ambition was, and not even they could persuade him otherwise. "They'd understand. At least, Naruto would," he remarked. If anyone could understand the need to get stronger, the unshakable drive for a goal, it was the blond Uzumaki.

"Naruto, really? Reason and he aren't exactly on good terms, you know," his sensei snorted. "You oughtta stop telling him not to run headlong into trouble if you're just gonna turn around and do the same thing. Sets a bad example and all that, and then you can't really blame the guy for thinking such advice is all a load of crap."

In spite of the fact that Kakashi was somewhat insulting him in a very unsubtle, roundabout fashion, Sasuke smirked to himself. Maybe he was setting a bad example, but it wasn't like Naruto had anyone to go headhunting after either. As fiercely opinionated and temperamental as he was, the Uchiha survivor didn't think he had enough bad bones in him to ever think spitefully enough of anyone to actually want to kill them.

Enough to want them pounded to the ground, certainly, but no more than that.

Speaking of which, he wondered who had the honor of teaching that loser.


Tobirama aimed a backhand chop towards Naruto's head. The strike was promptly dodged via ducking underneath it.

The former kage then sent a low kick with his left leg, which Naruto avoided by jumping over it. His mistake, though, was jumping upwards instead of backward, thus remaining within Tobirama's reach, and the man had every intention of pointing it out. Bringing the foot he had just used for the kick down to the ground, he pivoted on it and sent a spinning kick with the other one.

However, in place of the blond being sent flying to the side, Tobirama was momentarily caught off guard when Naruto put his hand on the leg, not to stop it but to use the force of the kick to spin himself and lash out with his own foot.

He, of course, blocked the kick with his left forearm, but his great-grandson immediately put his other foot on the appendage and pushed himself off in a backflip away from him. In a burst of speed, Tobirama closed the distance and landed a light palm strike to Naruto's back while he was still in the air, getting a yelp out of him and knocking him back a few meters.

"Your reaction was good, but unless you're going to counter immediately after, a dodge by leaping should only be done if you're going to put some distance between yourself and your foe," the white-haired man lectured his student.

"Yes, sensei," Naruto groaned a bit as he stood up, though Tobirama knew his durability and recovery speed ensured that the blow hadn't caused any great pain.

Out of all his physical attributes, Naruto's stamina and reserves of energy were by far the most impressive. An Uzumaki through and through.

Beside that, this hadn't been the first time his descendant had surprised him with a maneuver or evaded an attack he had expected to land in the last six days. While Naruto had a few rough edges, he often made up for them with an instinctive ability to perform unorthodox moves on the fly. Tobirama had realized early on the truth behind Kakashi's assessment of his former student.

Naruto's short-range combat instincts truly were phenomenal.

As the Sharingan wielder had said, when intuition steadily took over and emotion was replaced by intense focus, Naruto entered a state that made him seem like an entirely different person; savage in his effectiveness without actually becoming a savage.

It was somewhat eerie of just how much it reminded him of Madara Uchiha.

He didn't despair over it. In fact, and he could not believe the idea was even contemplated, Tobirama was celebrating their likeness. A monster and traitor Madara might have been, but more than either of those things, he had been an incredibly powerful shinobi.

Overall, Naruto's preferred style of combat was much more like Madara's and his own than, say, Hashirama's. Though he'd focus on direct, brute force at the start, the emphasis would switch to speed and agility as they progressed, his flexibility was good, and he had an uncanny ability to use unpredictable patterns of attacks when really into the spar. His strength was above average for his age; not unexpected of an Uzumaki and a Senju.

Either way, it was blatantly obvious that heavy taijutsu training was a must.

Tobirama turned his gaze toward the ten Naruto shadow clones being instructed by one of his own on the kunai hovering chakra exercise. Having listened to Jiraiya's advice, chakra control had been the main focus of Naruto's training. His water-walking had been polished up a bit by having him and his shadow clones do taijutsu katas while standing on the surface of the river.

However amusing the blond's yells of dismay had been for every time one of them fell into the water, the undead kage was quick to give him a 'silence is golden' lecture.

Two days into their training, Tobirama had started him on nature transformation with Water as his first choice. Though off to a bit of a rocky start, he'd managed to get a leaf entirely wet on the fourth day of training, which was followed by him swiftly learning the Water Style: Liquid Bullet on the fifth. The first step to mastering Wind would begin tomorrow, and he expected Naruto to learn a Wind Style jutsu by the time they had to leave.

Most of this would take place in the mornings and afternoons. After a big lunch and an hour of rest, plenty of time with his enhanced healing and metabolism, Tobirama would have him do a variety of physical workouts. Most of them were meant to target his speed, coordination, and reflexes, making good use of the woods around them as an impromptu obstacle course, often made more challenging by the various touches Tobirama added to the exercises.

He had taught Naruto on the first day that muscle growth was a defense mechanism, the body's reaction to prevent itself from feeling the same strain it felt during a heavy workout. As such, the growth happened not in the midst of the exercises, but during the healing process.

With Naruto's accelerated recovery rate and durable body, it meant the jinchuriki could train his body longer and more often than more... conventional human beings, without the negative health drawbacks.

Of course, while clones could help in the development of muscle memory, their physical condition reflected the original, not the other way around, and even the transference of reflexes through clones wasn't a perfect practice. It all boiled down to Naruto having to do each and every exercise alongside his copies during agility and reflex training, and doing strength training by his lonesome.

All in all, it'd been a satisfying six days; Tobirama had little to complain about. Perhaps the only thing that put a bit of a damper on that was Naruto's almost nonexistent self-control. God, he could be loud when excited.

Thankfully, he'd seemed to finally get the gist of his repeated rebukes and toned it down somewhat in the last couple days.

It was a start, if nothing else.

Naruto raising a hand, as he'd taught him, brought him back to the present. "Grandpa, can I be the attacker now? I've been doing defense and countering for the last two hours."

Glancing up at the Sun, he realized it was true. They'd started the sparring session by creating three clones each, where he and his copies would be on the offensive and the Narutos would defend by dodging, parrying, blocking, and countering, the only time they were allowed to strike back. After about an hour had gone by, all the clones had been undone, but the originals had kept fighting to allow Naruto to assimilate the combined experience.

"Yes, I think we've practiced your defensive capabilities enough for today. Take a breather, Naruto."

The Uzumaki slumped his shoulders in relief, emitting a loud sigh. Even he had started feeling some effects of exhaustion at the rate they'd been going. Hell, boredom had begun setting in, in the middle of a fight, of all things."Thank God! I-"

"Oogie boogie boogie!"

What the fu-

Something hard struck his back, sending a lance of pain down his spine. The blow sent him flying and then rolling along the ground. When he finally stopped, he groaned lightly in discomfort and pulled himself into a seated position, rubbing his aching back. He glared at the intruder, also having noticed he was about fifteen meters away from where he'd been standing previously.

"The fuck, Pervy Sage?!"

That super-pervert only had the gal to laugh, already in one of his stupid poses. "It is I, the great Jiraiya, and I've come to test your mettle, young grasshopper!"

That little... "That was below the belt, attacking me while my guard was down, ya perv! So unfair."

"Fair?" the sage asked, an exaggerated expression of confusion and outrage overtaking his visage. "I know not what this is. I, boy, am a shinobi!"

Growling under his breath, Naruto got to his feet. Well, if that was how he wanted to play it, fine. Bending his knees, he sprang forward with a punch aimed at the face grinning disgustingly at him.

"A direct, frontal attack?! You're a fool for thinking me such an amateur, boy!" Pervy Sage exclaimed, ducking down and aiming an uppercut toward his stomach. When it landed, however, Naruto burst into smoke.

Surprise flitted across Jiraiya's face for a mere moment before he turned around to block a kick from the blond.

"A substitution with a shadow clone? A trick?"

Naruto smirked. "The hell's a trick? Imma ninja, Dummy Sage, and there's more where that came from!"

A shadow then appeared right above the man's head, growing larger by the millisecond. The sannin reacted at a moment's notice, leaping backward to dodge the axe kick from a second Naruto, the force of the attack causing a miniature crater to form beneath his foot, a small cloud of smoke rising from it.

Jiraiya stared blankly for a second, the first Naruto dispelling to reveal himself as the shadow clone, before laughing jovially. The genin didn't know whether he was being mocked or not, but the sound alone made one of his eyes twitch. This guy really knew how to get under his skin sometimes.

"That's the spirit, kid!" Pervy Sage declared proudly, entering into another fighting pose. "Now, show me what ya got."

Naruto was all too happy to oblige him, charging forward with intention of pummeling his face.

Tobirama just observed the sudden sparring bout from the sidelines. He was glad to note that it didn't take his great-grandson any time at all to enter his focused state, though he could still merely be high from their earlier session. Nonetheless, progress was visible and that was all that mattered for the moment.

After about twenty minutes, Jiraiya decided he had seen enough and ended the fight by locking the boy's arms behind his back and planting him against the ground on his stomach. Naruto struggled for a few short seconds but soon realized he was in no position to continue their spar. "Fine, fine, you win! Get off me already!" he demanded, disappointed that he hadn't succeeded in landing even a single hit on his opponent.

The Toad Sage hummed, letting go of the hold. "Not too shabby, squirt."

Naruto let out a small 'whoosh' of air, exhaustion coming on strong now. He looked up at his master, calm in comparison to his prior theatrical aura. "Why do you have to be such a goddamned drama queen all the time, Pervy Sage? Isn't the fact you're the most peeping of all peeping Toms bad enough?"

The old goat shrugged nonchalantly, a small grin blooming on his face. "Experience makes you both wiser and weirder. When you get to be my age, you start to appreciate the simple things in life."

A single, distinctly unimpressed eyebrow was raised. As if the blond genin would buy that he'd ever been anything but an exhibitionistic lech. "Simple, huh?" he muttered, scoffing. "Sounds about right."

His muttering apparently hadn't been silent enough for the sage rolled his eyes. "That's taking the 'pot calling the kettle black' thing to whole new level. You're the last person I want to hear that from. I got enough of that shit from my team back when I was a young buck."

"Well, I'm sure you had it comin'," Naruto commented, supreme confidence in his tone.

A chuckle was his response. "Yeah. Admittedly, I did a few times. Trust me, the old man may give off that grandfatherly vibe like a boss, but he wears the Hokage hat for a reason. He could go all prison warden on ya in the blink of an eye. Scary old coot, he is."

Naruto shivered, his last meeting with the Third Hokage well etched in his psyche, that short moment of terror when the strict disciplinarian had taken over the person whom, in his head, he had dubbed 'grandpa' like a demonic possession. "He is. I know."

"Really?" Jiraiya asked, a note of bewilderment in his voice. "What'd you do to piss him off so bad?"

"Nothing. We were arguing, and I yelled a bit, sure... but it's not like it's the first time I raised my voice at him or anything," the Uzumaki answered, uncertain.

"Huh? Then you probably didn't really make him angry at all." The sage waved a hand dismissively. "You're a pretty brazen kid, you know. He probably just wanted to teach you to show respect while in the office. Wouldn't want you bursting in and actin' like a cocksure brat while in the middle of negotiations with a noble, or worse, a fellow kage, unlikely as it is."

Naruto cringed, imagining the scenario from an outsider's view. He would've been hard-pressed to trust the authority of a kage who couldn't even keep their youngest and most impressionable subordinates in line. The shinobi of the Hidden Leaf held deep trust in the old man, and Naruto would've died of shame if he had ever had a hand in portraying him as an incompetent chief of his people.

"I know I shouldn't've carped at him like I did, but I couldn't help it. So many damn secrets, all to keep me safe, and I want to find fault with it, but it's hard when I know how royally I could've fucked up had I been told the truth," the jinchuriki said somberly.

"Them's the brakes, kid. It's the Hokage's executive prerogative to withhold sensitive information that could put a serious dent in the village should it fall into the wrong hands. Don't think you're all that special in that regard," the sannin replied, putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder in a mild gesture of comfort.

Naruto appreciated the small effort, though he felt a bit like shit about it. He perked up then, his eyes gleaming eagerly. "So, Pervy Sage, you here to teach me a super-cool jutsu? You sure took your sweet time finding us."

"Sorry, not yet. I just came here to see how you're doin'. Soon though," Jiraiya responded, much to Naruto's disappointment. A sudden thoughtful expression graced the man's face, looking toward the clones practicing the kunai hovering. He shrugged in sort of 'what the heck' way soon after. "Eh, why not? Here, kid. I've got something for you." Reaching into his coat, he pulled out something that left the blond thoroughly gob-smacked.

Hanging between his index finger and thumb were two pieces of balloon rubber.

Naruto watched, bemused, as he stretched one open. His cheeks then bulged a little, almost as if about to throw up, prompting Naruto to take a step forward in concern. Instead of disgusting bodily fluid, however, water was spat directly into the balloon, filling it up. Jiraiya tied it closed and repeated the process with the other one. One of them was tossed in his direction, which he caught and stared at for a little while, still as confused as before.

Jiraiya switched his gaze between his protege and Tobirama who had come nearer to observe. "Watch closely," he instructed, holding the object out a bit. Naruto dutifully listened, too curious to do anything else, and was taken aback when protrusions began appearing all over the balloon and the thing burst into pieces, the water spilling out violently.

"This oughtta help you with your chakra control. Don't ask me how exactly I did that; figure it out for yourself. The basic idea, though, is to use chakra to pop open the balloon," the Toad Sage explained, pulling out a small sack filled to the brim with balloons. He turned to leave after giving it but stopped for a moment. "Oh, and you can't use nature transformation; pure chakra manipulation only. Don't be surprised if you don't get it by the time we hit the road. In fact, I don't expect you to."

Naruto pouted with indignation as a plume of smoke covered his form, the man nowhere to be found when it dispersed. Taking the last comment as a challenge, he put the sack away into his pouch and got into a ready stance with the balloon in his hand.

He was gonna prove that old pervert wrong, and rub his eventual success in his warted nose.

With his focus on the rubber object, he missed Tobirama gazing pensively at the spot where Jiraiya had disappeared. Nodding decisively, he turned to his great-grandson, finding him in deep concentration, the balloon he was holding moving in a manner that indicated that all the water inside was being rotated in a single direction.

Having already deduced that the idea was to make the liquid churn in multiple directions simultaneously, he opted to follow the sannin's instructions and let Naruto work it out on his own, but later. He had a new task for the young shinobi.

"Put it away, Naruto. You can continue that exercise tomorrow. Right now, I'm going to teach you a new jutsu," the undead kage commanded. "Before that, however, we'll take a lunch break and a short respite. Undo the seals."

An excited gleam entered the boy's eyes, quickly dropping the balloon by his side. Closing his eyes, he sent a small surge of chakra throughout his body and felt a literal weight lift off his shoulders.

On their first day of physical training, his grandfather had placed a seal drawn on a paper tag on each of his limbs and his torso. What they did was multiply the weight of the body part upon activation, based on intent. In his mind, he dubbed them as 'levels'. During today's training, under Tobirama's advice, he had used Level 1.5, meaning his body had become 1.5 times heavier.

While it wasn't much initially, he had soon realized that extended periods of time under the increased weight had eaten away at his stamina and forced him to really push himself in order to maintain his usual speed, strength, and agility.

When doing physical workouts, he'd up the ante and use Level 2, since he'd be active in shorter but more intense bursts.

"What jutsu are you gonna teach me, grandpa?" Naruto asked intently, hoping it would be very useful and, more importantly, stunningly awesome.

His ancestor didn't answer right away. Instead, smoke suddenly engulfed his shape, the same way it did Pervy Sage. He stood and stared, dumbfounded, before the Second Hokage's voice from behind startled the living daylights out of him.

"Tell me, have you ever heard of the Body Flicker Jutsu?"


"I should have foreseen this."

Kabuto Yakushi adjusted his glasses in that way of his that Orochimaru found both annoying and endearing. "I'm afraid, my lord, that nobody could have anticipated this outcome," he assured him, his voice almost as silky as his own.

"The Reanimation Jutsu is his creation, and the man certainly has no lack of caution. It's why he's my favorite Hokage, after all," the snake-summoner replied, a mild note of frustration in his voice.

They were at one of his hideouts a few miles east of the Village Hidden in the Grass, having decided that the Land of Sound would have been the first choice of where to look in case of potential pursuers. Besides, this was one of his 'lucky' bases, where the rate of success with his experiments had been relatively high thus far.

It was made worse when he had to start taking medication for his failing body.

"Nothing we can do about it now, I suppose. We should be grateful that we and the four of the Sound Five had made it out alive. If I may ask, what are your current plans?" his loyal subordinate asked.

Orochimaru leaned his head against his fist, considering his options. Tobirama Senju's presence made things difficult, no doubt having made the decision to remain within the mortal realm to hunt him down. At least, the reanimated shinobi didn't have access to his full power; seventy-five percent at most. And even with his speed and proficiency at teleportation ninjutsu, he was far from clairvoyant.

"Sasuke," Orochimaru answered finally. "We have to bring him into the fold. As long as Itachi lives, and the Curse Mark permeates his being, his ties to the village will be tenuous at best. However, I imagine Sarutobi-sensei will bulk up the border patrols due to the invasion, as well as to give the impression of strength to the Leaf's rivals."

"Which means sending your subordinates to retrieve him would be a lost cause, seeing as you're no longer in the condition to undertake such a risky operation yourself," Kabuto stated with full confidence.

Though he often appreciated the silver-haired man's bluntness, it could be awfully aggravating when he was in no mood of being reminded of the obvious. "Unfortunately, but all is not lost. I merely need time to figure something out."

"I understand, Lord Orochimaru." Kabuto paused then, causing his leader to look at him curiously. One thoughtful silence later, his right-hand man spoke, "What about Lady Tsunade? If she were to hear of the Second Hokage's revival, with a few facts twisted to our benefit, could we convince her to fight against the Leaf? From what I heard, she's been away from her home village for almost twenty years. There must be some love lost there."

Orochimaru smirked. That right there, that ability to come up and consider previously unconsidered plans was one of the many reasons the medic and spy had become his top subordinate, and the only one he could honestly admit he trusted. Not fully, of course, but he could rely on Kabuto to judiciously act on his own without his personal direction.

It was an efficient system in his opinion; one henchman to advise him, contradict him even should he feel it necessary, and a host of nigh-blindly loyal followers to do his every bidding. Even he wasn't arrogant enough to claim the monopoly of being right all the time. Having a single subordinate, a highly intelligent and practical one to keep him focused and bounce ideas off of was plenty.

It lowered the risks of treachery, and even should treachery occur, it could be stamped out quickly and with extreme prejudice.

"A very unorthodox idea, but I'm afraid it's a moot point. The news will soon spread that it was I who brought her great-uncle and grandfather back from the dead. Even should we reach her first, the farce would only last so long."

"Shouldn't we be worried about her returning to the Leaf, then? She might want to seek vengeance on you should that tidbit of information reach her," Kabuto said somewhat worriedly.

"I wouldn't fret too much, Kabuto. She's grown rather disillusioned with the way of the shinobi, not to mention her hemophobia prevents her from engaging in direct combat. Not that I can guarantee that the condition still ails her. In her heart, that woman will always be a medic, so it's possible she's cured herself of it," Orochimaru commented.

For that very reason, he decided not make an assassination attempt on her either. The Sound Five were among the only ones he could trust to get the job done, and even with them, the chances of success would have been slim. Now was not the time to risk the lives of his most capable soldiers.

"Yes. I kind of admire her myself. If memory serves me well, she's the one who came up with the one-medic-per-squad system, including several other medical reforms," Kabuto said.

The sannin chuckled in amusement. Oh, the irony. "Actually, it was I who suggested the idea to her, and she brought it forth to the Hokage and his council. One of my better ideas, but I do regret somewhat the influx of recruits for the Medical Corps it caused, saving the lives of a lot of Hidden Leaf ninja in the field."

"Your idea, Lord Orochimaru?" his medic asked before smirking. "Truly, your genius knows no bounds. It's a shame the obvious logistical difficulties ensured that system remained nothing more than a suggestion and a dream, though."

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes at the cheeky young man. "Don't bother buttering me up if you're just going to insult me in turn, Kabuto. I might just snap and end your life."

"Of course, my lord," his top subordinate answered, completely unfazed. The snake-summoner elected to ignore his lip. "By the way, I should start choosing candidates for the transference ritual. Whether Sasuke is brought here on time or no, it's best that we be prepared."

"Yes, do that," Orochimaru conceded with a wave of his hand. "In the meantime, I will figure something out on bringing him to me. Soon, the power of the Sharingan will be in my hands."


Sorry this one took so long, but it's finally here!

I'd really like your opinion on my depiction of Sakura and Sasuke. I had paid special attention to that, which was the main reason for taking me nearly two months to get this out. Leave a review!

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

On Monday (26th of March, 2018), Tobirama Senju Reincarnated: The Second Hokage's Heir, the original story, will be deleted. I apologize to many of you who enjoyed it, but I'm afraid it takes away the attention from the rewrite, while also serving as a reminder of times when my writing, my grammar, in particular, was absolute shit. At least, in my opinion. This same announcement will be posted in TSR:TSHH, so don't be surprised when a new chapter comes up.

Plus, and I've been hearing this a lot, despite the announcement in the previous chapter, pairings are not yet certain. It's not a Naruto/Sakura fic. If it was, their names would be in brackets. It might, and I emphasize "might", become such in the future, but if it is, it won't be anytime soon.

Recommendations:

Child Borne of Spring by Iaso

An Inch of Gold by KuriQuinn

Another Solution by DryBonesKing

Son of the Earthshaker (Naruto & Percy Jackson crossover) by BonesBoy15

Orochimaru

Ninjutsu: 5 +

Taijutsu: 4 -/m

Genjutsu: 5 -

Intelligence: 5 +

Strength: 3.5

Speed: 4.5

Stamina: 4 -

Hand Seals: 5 +

Total: 36

Tsunade

Ninjutsu: 5

Taijutsu: 5 -/m

Genjutsu: 3.5

Intelligence: 5

Strength: 5 +

Speed: 4 -

Stamina: 4.5

Hand Seals: 4 m/+

Total: 36