Sakura

~:~

"Fuck!"

Sakura clenched her teeth and ran to the bathroom as fast as she could, kicking the door that was blocking her way in. She turned the shower on and plunged her left arm into the stream of water as soon as possible, trying to rid her skin of the sodium hydroxide that had spilled onto her arm.

She was trying a new way to dispose of... things, and lye was the easiest disposal method to get, being a common product used for soap-making. Unfortunately, it also burned one's skin, but that was the price to pay when breaking down bodies.

Looking down at the burn, she swore again, realizing that it would be hard to hide without some sort of arm-warmers or long gloves. Well, she probably needed some anyways. And Sakura could pick up an apron on the way.

She wrapped her arm with gauze from her medical kit carefully before pulling on a loose long-sleeve shirt so that she could hide it. Grabbing her wallet, which was starting to look quite sad (she'd have to "borrow" some more money from her mother soon), she left.

A thrift store would be best on her wallet, but a shinobi goods store would have better quality wares… Sakura waffled between the two for a while before deciding that she'd just have to make the best out of thrift store clothing and buy better materials once she was a genin and could afford it.

The closest thrift store had a small shinobi section that she gravitated towards, sorting through cheap thigh holsters and wraps to find the good stuff, things that civilians had picked up after battles or training sessions and sold to stores for some quick change.

Along with the gloves, she found a battered, but still usable utility belt, with several pouches hanging off of it.

It was brown leather, a bit on the dry side, but she could probably restore it without too much trouble.

Satisfied with her purchases, Sakura set off to find an apron that she could feasibly use to protect her body from chemical spills. Hopefully, when she was finally a shinobi she'd be able to use it to block blood spatter as well, as blood is such a pain to get out of fabric.

She couldn't find anything like that at the thrift store, so she stopped by the surplus store, which had a lot of barely used shinobi gear and things, especially since the Uchiha clan was brutally massacred.

Grim, yes, but they had a lot of clothing and weaponry that Sasuke had no use for, so he just donated as much as he could. The people that didn't care about wearing dead people's clothes got great deals.

After a while of searching, she found a lab apron that would work, despite the blood stains on the back. She could disinfect that.

It was Styrene-Butadiene coated, and as such, it would hold up to chemical spills, but it also had a few useful pockets.

Sakura got back home in time to pull her new additions to her outfits on and finish disposing of her experiment before Naruto got to her house. She was wearing sweatpants and a sleeveless shirt that was tied in the front, looking ready to exercise.

Shit.

~:~

Naruto

~:~

"Hey Sakura-chan! You ready to go?" Naruto asked cheerfully, grinning widely.

When there wasn't a response, Naruto dropped her grin and looked at Sakura, who was frozen with a deer-in-headlights look on her face.

Looking her up and down, Naruto realized that Sakura probably hadn't remembered that she had agreed to go meet Gai-sensei with her.

Naruto rolled her eyes and pulled Sakura back up the stairs of her house, entering her bedroom and pulling some suitable workout clothes from her closet. Naruto turned her back and after a short moment heard the rustling of clothes being put on.

When she turned back around, Sakura was fully dressed in a red tank top, black shorts, and the black full-length gloves that she had on earlier. Satisfied, Naruto led her to the training ground where Gai-sensei said that he'd be.

Waiting for them was not only Gai-sensei but Lee as well, who was waving vigorously at them. Naruto flushed slightly, to Sakura's great amusement.

"Do you have a crush or something?" She whispered teasingly.

Instead of answering, Naruto smacked her on the back of the head, which was apparently answer enough if Sakura's giggling was any clue.

Naruto just hadn't expected Lee to be there, even though he had been the one to introduce them. It wasn't as if she had a crush or anything, and even if she did, she had already decided that she'd only date when she was at least a chunin. Not that it mattered or anything, because she didn't have a crush.

Ignoring her as best as she could, Naruto sped up her pace, reaching the two spandex-clad people.

"Yosh! We will start off with basic stamina training, to boost your Youthful Vigour!"

Lee fist-pumped the air in excitement, making Sakura and Naruto shudder apprehensively.

Apparently, Gai's idea of "basic stamina training" was a lap around the entire perimeter of the village. Of course, there was a few minutes worth of stretching beforehand, but that was still too much running for the average shinobi trainee.

They set out running, not even bothering to keep pace with Lee and Gai-sensei. Sakura did her best, but she began lagging even further behind at around the five-minute mark. Naruto could keep going forever, albeit not very fast,

He took pity on the two of them eventually (more for Sakura's sake than Naruto's) and let them take a short break before continuing onto the lesson.

Gai-sensei seemed more serious when teaching than any time else, at least when it was important.

"The first basic move that most beginners start off on is the ginga, the squat/lunge hybrid that is the foundational footwork of capoeira."

Gai-sensei demonstrated it, lowering himself into a lunge, holding an arm in front of his face, before stepping out with his back leg and switching the positions of his arms and legs.

Sakura dutifully got into the stance, and Naruto followed along. It wasn't as if she was the one that really needed the flexibility training and everything, but learning new skills is always a good thing, especially if it could help her own fighting.

Any sort of structure would be an improvement to her fighting style, as all she really had was sloppy brawling with the occasional bit of flexibility shining through.

They practiced the stances, movements, and kicks for hours, interspersed with strength training and stretching to stop them from settling too much into the routine and getting sloppy with their footwork.

It seemed that Gai-sensei (and more recently, Lee as well) weren't completely insane when they shouted continuously while training.

Well, they were, but less so than they could have been.

Once the two (and Lee, who was practicing alongside them) had gotten the moves down fairly well, the end of the session was called.

Gai-sensei handed them both a pair of ankle weights, the nice ones that you put chakra in to adjust the weight. He grinned broadly and started openly bawling when Naruto barrelled into him with a hug. Sakura and Lee joined in as well, Sakura in gratitude but still hesitant and Lee barrelling with the same energy that Naruto had.

He hadn't gotten a gift, he was just very enthusiastic about the prospect of group hugs.

Sweaty but grinning and satisfied, Naruto and Sakura left the training grounds, stopping quickly at a shop that sold cold desserts to cool down a bit.

Soon after, Naruto and Sakura split ways, off to go home and take a nice cool shower.

It was a good day.

~:~

Sasuke

~:~

"The first thing that you'll need to know is posture. Naruto's already experienced with dance, so she might do better. And Kiyo can only do so much at her age."

Sasuke surveyed his students, a giggling toddler and a giggling teenager with the maturity of a toddler, both wearing matching pink leotards and tutus. He sighed, but went on teaching.

"Keep your neck high," He said, pulling Naruto's head up by her ponytail and grinning smugly when she glared at him "Then drop your shoulders down. Like… there's a balloon tied to your head and bricks on your shoulders."

Naruto did as he said, but Kiyo required a little bit of straightening, especially as he moved onto the next step. He used a hand to pull up from Kiyo's back and straighten her head, and then had the two of them pull their shoulders up, back and down.

Seeing that she at least mostly understood what to do, Sasuke let Naruto start attempting the first position, while he continued helping Kiyo.

It was a simple matter of getting her to push her stomach up towards her ribs and keep her tailbone down, or it would have been if Kiyo hadn't been so unfortunately ticklish.

It took even longer to calm her down because Naruto immediately pounced on his little sister and started tickling her in earnest, so Sasuke just sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands in mock dissapointment.

When they finally got back on track,

"First position."

Kiyo did her best, pulling her feet back and out to her sides, but she struggled with the fine motor control necessary to do it properly.

She pouted, but Sasuke just laughed and scooped her up on his shoulder grunting slightly in surprise at the unexpected weight.

"You're getting big, but you're not yet big enough to do some of these things."

"When am I going to be big enough?"

"The same time that I'll start teaching you weaponry."

"And when's that?"

"That's for me to know, and you to find out later," He said, a bittersweet smile on his face, "Wouldn't want you growing up too fast."