Chapter 4:
Determined
As Sakura finished her very detailed description of the Akatsuki, she felt almost lost, again.
'Was this my purpose, could it be. This seemed too simple. If information was all Minato had to offer to Tsunade, why didn't he give it to her himself.' Sakura thought moodily.
'BECAUSE YOU IDIOT, HE WANTS US TO GUIDE THEM OBVIOUSLY. PLUS NOW THAT WE'RE IN THIS YOUNG BODY AGAIN WE CAN CONQUER ANYTHING!'
Sakura was slightly put-off by inner-Sakura's too jovial declaration. Sakura could only imagine inner-Sakura standing with her feet shoulder length apart, fists clenched and a passionate fire as backdrop.
But inner-Sakura had a point. 'You're right. We have the knowledge of all our training all we have to do now is teach it to our body.'
Handing in her report, she waited for Tsunade's next order of business.
" I'll have to meet with the strategist team and form a plan of action so that we can utilize this information, in the meantime you are free to go." Tsunade said. "Also, if you remember anything else that might be important let me know."
Sakura nodded and excused herself, eager to go train so that she could be of help to everyone, and so that she'll feel better.
Stepping outside Sakura was appalled to find it was dark outside, how had she not noticed this earlier.
Unhappy at the fact that it would probably not be wise to train in the dark, especially as unskilled as her at the moment, was a very bad idea.
Making her way home Sakura created a mental planner.
Team 7 is supposed to meet up at 7 am sharp yet she knew Kakashi-sensei would only show up after 10. So that if she started her training at 6 am that would give Sakura approximately 4 hours to train in the morning.
Depending on the day's mission which she believed would only consist of D-Rank missions will not take too much time she theorized. And then after that there would be team practice.
After team practice she aught to have a bit of time left still for training by herself.
At night she could revise her medical knowledge and work on her chakra control, which would also enlarge her chakra. Once she had enough chakra reserves she could start with her ninjutsu training
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And so days flew by, Sakura training to reacquire her previous level, she knew it would take a while and it would never be too early to begin.
She also predicted correctly in them doing D-RANK missions only, which was al fine and dandy until they got assigned to capture the demon cat from the deepest pit of hell possible…TORA.
That little devil was going to be the death of Sakura. She forgot how smart the cat was, and quite skilled. She absolutely hated the mean, hissing, ball of demon fluff. Grudgingly Sakura had to admit that madam Shijimi did pay handsomely for its capture.
On one specific day Sakura had decided that she had to work on her speed a lot. But she wanted to speed up the process a bit, so she went and got herself some weights. Hers were 2 inch wide and barely there thick metal bands with a 'weight' seal carved into it. One on each wrist and ankle. All she had to do was pump some chakra in it, the more chakra the heavier it would get.
So on this specific day she was sprinting flat out, going as fast as she could, her 'weights', not yet all that heavy, made her lag a bit. But Sakura kept pushing forward, after awhile all you could see was a pink blur that rushed by.
As Sakura decided that she should up the chakra in her weights she tripped and unequivocally face planted in the dirt road.
Gingerly raising her head from the dirt, a stray pebble stuck to her prominent forehead, fell off as she frowned.
Turning back to see what the cause of her rough stop was, her gaze was met with angry kitty eyes glaring at her. A strange gargling (she think it was a combination between a meow, a hiss and a groan of pain) reached her ears.
Next she noticed the red bow tied around it's neck.
'IT'S THE EVIL DEMON CAT! CHA! LET'S TEACH IT A LESSON WHILE IT'S STILL DOWN. SHOW IT WHO'S BOSS!CHA!'
Yet again disturbed by inner-Sakura's malicious words, Sakura stared at the growling/meowing/hissing kitty, not knowing what to do.
'It's obviously hurt, maybe I should help her.'
'WHAT? ARE YOU NUTS?! THIS IS THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY, NO ONE IS AROUND TO WITNESS IT'S DEATH SO YOU'RE SAFE. CHA!'
' But I don't wanna kill her! '
Poor Sakura was mortified, not only by her actions of hurting a kitty but also inner-Sakura's words.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a muffled thump. Tora had passed out, probably from the pain, Sakura thought.
Quietly lifting the creature in her arms she made her way home, trying not to startle Tora's injuries. Laying the too quiet cat down on her bed Sakura started to panic. If people found out that she killed the fire daimyo's wife's cat all hell would brake loose.
The fire daimyo would probably have her executed, she thought deliriously.
Calming herself a bit by reminding herself that she's a medic and that this is as perfect an opportunity to apply what she knew and see how able her still young body is.
At least they can't blame her for not trying. Gently placing her hands over Tora's body, Sakura channeled her healing chakra and guided it into the still body.
Noticing a broken rib that had pierced the lung and a dislocated shoulder Sakura wasn't too worried for she knew she could handle this much at least.
Rudely wondering whether the broken rib was caused by her over weighed limbs or the squishing treatment Tora received from her owner.
After healing the cat, she felt a bit better knowing that instead of listening to inner-Sakura's ramble about killing Tora she healed her. Making the still unconscious kitty more comfortable in her bed, Sakura left to go fetch a bit a milk and can of lightly salted tuna.
On her return she noticed that Tora was awake, blankly staring at her. Hesitantly she offered her peace offering. After a while Tora reluctantly excepted the low grade tuna and disgustingly pasteurized milk ( she was used to better quality ) only because she was excruciatingly thirsty, and no cat turns down tuna, even low grade tuna.
+- As Tora ate her fill of the offerings she had to admit that even though the pinkette before her was responsible for her being brought back to that horrible pudgy clamps of that disgusting woman, Tora liked the fact that this little pinkette would make an excellent servant. Maybe Tora will decide to keep her. -+
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Itachi was walking down the crowded road, feeling uncomfortable in being in such close proximity to all these strange people. Deciding he had enough he took to the trees, taking a shortcut to the training grounds.
On his way he noticed a pink blur rush underneath him on the dirt road. Only to trip and fall.
Itachi noticed it was the same girl he had seen sitting in front of the compound a few weeks back.
Apparently this was a common occurrence for the pinkette he thought, as he watch her sit up in the dirt road.
Continuing on his way he pondered if sitting in the dirt was what made her happy like eating dango made him happy.
TBC