Working Together
Training Ideas: Hey, Guys.
"Hey, guys. I have an idea."
A week had passed, but not much had been accomplished. Team 7 had decided to focus on the basics, which they had deliberated over and agreed were taijutsu and chakra control. All three of them had progressed to some extent, but all three also thought it wasn't good enough.
At Sakura's comment, the two boys of their team stopped sparring to look at their pink-haired teammate, who made a rather silly image with an open book in her hands and a leaf stuck to her forehead with chakra.
"The Sharingan is activated when the user is under great stress or feels their life is threatened, right? Well, since I think it's something we need to practice anyway, why don't we see if killing intent could activate the doujutsu?"
"What's killing intent again?" Naruto asked, who thought the term sounded familiar.
"You know when Kakashi-sensei does that creepy stare thing?" Sakura clarified, "That's killing intent. It's focused chakra combined with emotions that you project upon another person."
She briefly explained how it was done according to the book she had read, then decided she wanted to try it out first, claiming because it was her idea. She brought her hands up in the ram seal, the leaf falling from her forehead, and she closed her eyes.
"Great, that means I get to be the test subject, right?" Sasuke muttered.
Naruto, as the observer, saw only Sakura's eyes shooting open and Sasuke going completely still. After a few moments, Sakura looked away and Sasuke let out a quick breath of air, as though he had been holding it in.
"Well?" Naruto said impatiently, looking back and forth between the two.
"It...wasn't quite right," Sasuke said, "Not how Kakashi does it. It was as though...well, it was effective, at least, just not for activating my Sharingan."
Sakura was staring at him intently, surprised at the hesitance in his voice. "Well, what was it like, then?"
Sasuke paused to find his words. "It was as though...I'd never be happy again. As though I was alone and no one would ever be able to find me. And it felt like I couldn't move, that was the same as Kakashi's." He opened his mouth to say more, but hesitated again and fell silent.
Sakura seemed concerned for him, but also looked rather pleased at her first attempt.
Naruto just sat back on his heels, saying, "Well, my turn then, right?"
Sasuke just grunted, which the blond-haired boy took as a yes, so Naruto copied Sakura in holding his hands in the ram seal and closing his eyes. He took longer to concentrate before trying, to the point that Sasuke was starting to look around disinterestedly and Sakura was glancing at her book, before there was a sudden rush of power coming from Naruto.
Sasuke and Sakura both froze, the book falling from the girl's hands, completely unable to react to the pure hatred coming off of the blond. An eternity passed in less than ten seconds, until Naruto released them and opened his eyes again. He glanced around, only to see his shocked female teammate, her mouth a little 'o' of surprise, and Sasuke staring at him with his now bright-red eyes, which were wide open.
Naruto, not wanting to admit to his two uninformed teammates that the Kyuubi had suddenly overwhelmed him when he had starting focusing his emotions, and that he had felt very close to losing control, just laughed sheepishly and said, "Well, it worked, right?
xxx
"Hey, guys. It's time I told you the truth about a few things."
Sakura and Sasuke stopped running. Naruto was ten minutes late to their early morning training sessions, and his two teammates had started without him.
The young ninja had delayed coming this morning, wary of the conversation he was about to have.
His teammates were now looking at him curiously, their breathing already back to normal.
"So you know the Kyuubi..." he said, starting out awkwardly. But after a few sentences, he had their complete attention, and training was forgotten until Kakashi arrived.
xxx
"Hey, guys. I've been working on something, and it's about time we test out my ideas."
Sasuke had disappeared for about an hour during their training, making a few vague comments about going to the library. Naruto and Sakura were now experimenting with kage bunshin. They had already tested the limits of Naruto's chakra with his clones (he could make at least a thousand of them!) and so were now testing if they could make a single clone stronger.
The two turned towards Sasuke, happy to have a break, and Sakura quickly tapped out Naruto's last clone.
"What's up?" Naruto said.
"Well, first I need you to swear to not tell anyone else about this." Sasuke regarded both of his teammates seriously.
They both nodded their assent, Naruto rolling his eyes slightly, wondering what kind of secret was bigger than the Kyuubi.
"Just because I'm pretty sure it's illegal," the Uchiha added on, smirking slightly.
Naruto suddenly looked a lot more interested.
"Sasuke!" Sakura yelled, sounding scandalized. "What did you do?"
"Well, if you didn't already know, I've been trying to copy techniques whenever I get the chance-"
"Surprise," Naruto muttered.
"-and I was trying to think of a way to help you two pick up the techniques that I'm learning just as quickly as I do."
"How's that?" Sakura asked doubtfully. "And I thought you were going to focus on mastering your most important techniques, not just copying a lot of other ones that you won't be able to use as effectively."
"I am still working on mastering a few techniques, I'm just also copying a lot because I can always master them later," Sasuke said, shrugging. "My point being, I haven't found a perfect solution yet, but this might help."
He herded them into the clearing nearby, facing Naruto with a little distance between them. His hands flipped through seals, calling out, "Kagemane no Jutsu!"
As Sasuke's shadow stretched out to capture Naruto, Sakura exclaimed, "But isn't that a Nara family technique? Sasuke! You could get in a lot of trouble for that! We all could!"
Sasuke just grunted, ignoring her. "And this is a pretty effective, if basic, taijutsu style I saw a chuunin practicing last week, which I obviously copied, and I thought it might suit Naruto." Sasuke slowly went through the stances of the style, Naruto forced to copy him. Both were rather stiff going through the positions, seeing as neither had ever done them before, but their foot positions and balance and everything were all flawless. Sasuke went through all the stances twice before stopping and releasing Naruto.
Sasuke smirked imperiously at his teammate's two thoughtful faces, knowing his idea was a success and that Sakura was sure to think of even more ways to take advantage of his idea.
After a moment, Naruto tried the first stance again by himself, Sakura quietly correcting his hand position, her face still thoughtful.