A/N: Made a small error counting the days for the Chuunin Finals by a day, so just pretend like it didn't happen.


"Fifty! Now, hold it."

Zakura breathed calmly, sweating profusely as she held a 60-pound bar horizontally over both of her shoulders in a squatting position.

It had been one week since Zakura began her muscle-building exercises with her father. Although a bit problematic at first due to the chains, Gen managed to include proper upper-body strength training as well.

"Alright, time's up! You did good Princess." Gen said, smiling as he watched his daughter nearly let the weighted pole drop from her shoulders, but she remembered what happened the last time she did that. Her father had given her another set, with an even longer holding period. Safe to say her legs felt like jelly that afternoon. She shivered, slowly rising from her bent position, lifting the bar over her head and then resting it on the ground before her. Standing upright, hands on her hips, she continued to even out her breathing.

"Next: Ten One-Arm Dumbbell Rows, Ten Clapping Push-ups, Ten Standing Dumbbell Presses." Gen said, working the crank to give the chains more slack. "Ten Alternating Dumbbell Curls, Ten Tricep Extensions, and Fifteen Shrugs. These six exercises create one round, you're aiming for three." he added, placing two 20lb dumbbells before her. Zakura sweated nervously at her father's list. It wasn't nearly as bad as the first time when he brought her to her limit, but it was still pretty straining for a newbie like her.

"You've got a minute break via elbow planking in between rounds. Good luck!" Gen said with a demanding gaze and a salute, which Zakura hesitantly nodded to, but began at full force.

Shortly after the first round was completed, Zakura took the planking position. She heard the click of her father's stopwatch. Maintaining her balance, she looked up."Hey Dad?" she asked, his attention fully on the clock in his hands. If it weren't for his raised brow she would've thought he was ignoring her.

"Why did you stop being a shinobi?"

Gen froze momentarily. His lips dropped into a frown briefly before looking at his daughter. "Well, when your mother told me she was pregnant I didn't want to miss a moment of your life." he said with a merry smile. Zakura looked down, her internal clock wounding close to the end of her break.

"Is that so?" she questioned, standing up and taking a quick stretch before retaking the dumbbell row position. The faded-pink Haruno frowned.

"Why do I have a feeling that you don't believe me?" Gen asked, watching as his daughter switched the weight to her other hand.

"I do, but I dunno. It feels like...well..." Zakura said warily, not wanting to really press the matter further, but this was something she wanted to ask him for some time now since discovering his history in the profession. Gen scratched his head with a sigh. "Either I need to improve my lying game or she's sharper than I thought..."

"I'll tell you. But I'll need your help to get better at lying. Can't have everyone figuring me out cause I'm a terrible liar. Deal?" he said. Zakura chuckled, shaking her head at her father's stupid grin before nodding. "Deal."

Gen leaned against the wall, folding his arms as he recollected the old memories.

"Hmmm, you're thirteen now. So, it all began about seventeen years ago..."


Konohagakure, 17 Years Ago – Two Months after the Third Shinobi War

Gen yawned as he opened the door to the Hokage's Office. He and his teammates were given summons to be there for a special mission and were also told to be there early, if they could. Gen was ahead by nearly forty minutes. Glancing around the four corners of the room, he nodded at a familiar shadow before placing himself in a chair.

Shortly after him, his first teammate arrived, Shougetsu Jun. Jun was a smug, muscular, pale skinned man who was easily the tallest of his team standing at six feet and two inches. Wearing standard chuunin gear, his hairstyle of choice was a buzzcut and whatever amount of facial hair he could have grown was only seen in a pyramidal mustache and a smaller triangular beard under his lip. Gen stood up and shook hands with his old friend, both of them wearing large smiles.

"Since the end of the war it's been hard for me to catch you in town! How's it goin' Pinky?" Jun teased, squeezing Gen's hand. Gen squeezed back, earning a surprised yelp from the larger man, releasing his hold on his hand.

" Everything's rather calm now, Brick. I've been on a few border patrols, reconnaissance, and rebuilding cases. You know how it can get, even though the war is over." Gen smiled victoriously as Jun coddled his hand with a pained smile.

"Hahah, I see. Well, it's good to see you again." Jun smiled, nudging his short pal's shoulder before throwing himself onto the two-seater.

With fifteen minutes to spare, their final accomplice arrived. Standing at five foot-eight, wearing a black high collared shirt, matching ¾ shorts and proudly bearing their clans red and white fan symbol was Uchiha Kanagi. Her midnight black hair was styled in short layers stretching down just above her collar bone, a few bangs hanging over her right eye in particular and a silver piercing in her left brow. Her cold, dark eyes scanned the room before they stopped on a mop of pink, turning slightly warmer at the appearance.

"Gen-chan, looking better than you did last week I see?" she waved over to him which the Haruno happily returned.

"Yeah. Finally caught some well deserved rest." Gen said, watching as Kanagi took the space next to Jun. The large man quickly enveloped the slender woman in a one-armed hug, his smile widening as she blushed at the sudden contact.

"Mornin' Kana-chan!" Jun said as Kanagi accepted the embrace, but looked away shyly.

"...Good morning Jun-kun." she replied, just loud enough for him to hear. Gen laughed lowly, happy that these two were such a merry couple. Given that when they first met in their Genin unit, things weren't so swell between them. With their remaining time, the lovers cuddled against one another and Gen took interest in one of the old history books from the bookshelf.

With a sudden flash of yellow, the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato entered the office, quickly followed by Hiruzen Sarutobi's entrance via the office door.

"Good Morning Sir!" Jun and Kanagi stood up from there seats, giving the man a respectful bow.

" So this is why we were asked to arrive early if we could? Did you lose a bet or something?" Gen said suspiciously, bowing briefly to the powerful man before him. Minato chuckled nervously, refusing to let Gen know that he had, infact, lost a bet to Kushina and was promised to appear in his office using Hiraishin for the next month.

'Only three more weeks to go...' the Yellow Flash thought with an annoyed sigh. Hiruzen shook his head, smiling at his successor's unfortunate situation. Minato moved around the desk, placing himself in the large chair with Hiruzen standing by his side. With a clearing cough, Minato spoke up.

"Team Hyakuro, we've been contacted by Tea Country's Daimyo about suspicious shinobi activity in his region. I'd like you three to monitor the Daimyo's palace and the capital city. Their movement has been sort of sporadic, appearing any random day but only being reportedly seen between mid-day and sunset." he said.

" Could they possibly be sleeper agents?" Kanagi asked as Minato shook his head negatively. Hiruzen decided to join in this time.

"It could be possible. But reports say that they didn't carry any sort of insignia with them. If they are unmarked, then engaging them would be inevitable if we wish to find out who sent them, or if they are missing-nin."

"And how long is this mission's duration?" Jun spoke with a lack of spirit, he didn't like missions that pertained in staking out for such a long time. And that was exactly was this was sounding to be.

" Six weeks." Hiruzen said as Jun nodded, but groaned inwardly. 'Suppose I won't be too bored with these two around anyway.'

"Anythings else we should be aware of? Their numbers maybe?" the large man added as he slid his hands into his pants pockets.

"Unknown. You're asked to immediately retreat and alert the Daimyo and us if you're seriously outnumbered. We'll send an accommodating squad as back-up. Any objections?" Minato stated, nodding once he'd seen none of them wishing to make a rebuttal.

" Alright. You'll be leaving in three hours. Pack accordingly." the Yondaime said as Team Hyakuro left via shunshin, but one had caught his eyes. Where Gen once stood, there were now cherry blossoms slowly descending onto the floor. Minato scoffed but smiled at his classmates modest exit.

"Show off."


Two Weeks Later...

Konoha's Maou Hana continued his journey to the Daimyo's palace. He had scouted out his designated perimeter of the area, checked for any disabled traps and eventually ended up questioning a few locals about the mysterious band of people. They had even more rarely been seen since his team arrived.

Were they compromised already? No, it couldn't be. If they were, then why haven't they attacked them yet? Perhaps their numbers are smaller than they had initially thought? Another possibility would be that they do not wish to face anyone from Konoha. Could their lowered sighting be a red herring for them to call for allies?

" Hnn. I need to talk with the others about this. I don't like these possibilities." Gen sighed, scratching his head as he sped up towards his destination.

Upon nearing the palace, he heard a strange groaning sound from the outer wall. He stopped in his tracks, focusing on his hearing to distinguish the odd noise. He heard it again, accompanied by a moan.

A distinctive, yearning moan.

Gen paused, his brows rising in growing surprise. They curved back down sharply, unbelieving of what he was hearing.

" That better not be what I think it is." he growled, pushing chakra to his feet and taking one great bound. Landing not far from the noises, he froze when his brain pieced together what was ahead of him.

Kanagi had Jun pressed against the palace's wall, kissing her lover fervently and one of her hands deep into his pants. And Jun, now being seen in a new light thanks to this situation, had one hand firmly gripping Kanagi's ass. Gen's face turned blank, his feelings towards the current predicament obscured.

Jun opened an eye, suddenly feeling like they were being watched and nearly shouted into his lover's mouth. He released her lips (reluctantly!) before stammering, "G-Gen! Y-you're back already!" he said with surprise, a questioning tone lightly pressed into his exclamation. Kanagi quickly moved her hands from Jun's pants (also reluctantly!), straightening out her ruffled shirt and hair with an immense blush of embarrassment and indescribable shame.

Gen remained stationary for a moment more as he glared at the two before him. He raised a hand to speak, his fingers curled into a fist as he couldn't find the correct words to say right now. Gen clenched the bridge of his nose in aggravation.

'You can't be serious. You can't be serious.' Gen chanted over and over in his head, trying to stave off the fury he wished to unleash on these two for acting like hormonally unstable teenagers on such a mission.

"Gen, I can explain-" Kanagi started as Gen's hand shot up to stop her from speaking any further Within the silence, Gen released a deep breath, vanishing with a shunshin to anywhere than right there.

XXXXX

"They were doing WHAT?!" Zakura said shockingly, her cheeks flushing red at the way the tale suddenly turned. She momentarily froze on her twenty-fifth push-up to look up at her father. He had to be joking. When she saw his sincere expression, she shook her head before continuing her work out.

XXXXX


Gen brushed a hand slowly through his hair as he leaned against the tree he had perched himself high up in. On his way towards Kofii Village, he had stumbled upon a peaceful meadow, and what place would be better to calm down?

'Two weeks. Just two weeks into the mission, and they're doing stuff like this.' the dark pink Haruno sighed, having a mental conversation with himself. It was a proven way, for him anyway, to sort things out and understand both sides of a situation.

' I mean, I can understand what they're going through as a couple inside of the village. With Jun not belonging to any sort of clan, they're probably under Uchiha surveillance twenty-four seven whenever they decide to meet. Not to mention their shinobi lives...Must be hell to manage such a relationship.' Gen thought, his mind bringing thoughts of his girlfriend, Setsuna. She worked part-time for a tailor who's store was rising in popularity for stylish and sleek shinobi clothing. She usually hung out at the Yamanaka's Flower Shop, chatting with Kibiki about something most guys wouldn't be interested in, unless they were caught on an appealing subject for both parties. Heck, her recreational pattern became so routine that Gen could probably find her with his eyes closed if he had to. She had no reason to leave Konoha. She was ALWAYS inside of Konoha.

Kanagi, like all shinobi, could be out on a mission that could go south at any given moment. It also didn't go unnoticed that, although rarely, some enemies of Konoha tried to fight most Uchiha's with a skill set meant to capture. Jun had to put up with that sort of pressure on his mind whenever he knew that Kanagi was outside of Konoha. How could he not hold her tight and kiss her with all of his passion whenever they reunited? To show her how much he cared, even if they had just a minute alone?

'To put myself in Jun's shoes...I'd more than likely do the same.' Gen folded his arms, sliding his body into a laid back position.

'Even so, they should know better than to do those sort of things out here in another country. If we were still inside of Hi no Kuni I wouldn't be as upset, I swear. But with sightings of possible enemy forces, this was a very bad call on their end.' Gen's closed his eyes, his hearing out to the world, and relaxed.

His lips curved into a small smile, just imagining what sort of high-class seduction technique Kanagi had used on Jun, if her last words before he teleported out of there were leading to an explanation like that.

Gen chuckled. ' Well, apologies all around when I return. Can't have them thinking I'm mad at them for too long.' He stood up on the large branch, looking at the position of the sun to check the time. It must have been a bit after two in the afternoon...Why not give them an hour more?

'Torture e'm for a bit. Heheehee!' he grinned like a devil before hopping off to ground level, deciding to explore the area at a civilian's pace.

Strolling through such a natural beauty like this really had an effect on Gen. He was smiling as he brushed his hands against the flowers scattered along the green floor. To see a shinobi in this sort of setting, especially once you've heard some of the main, terrifying rumors/half-truths of their lives, this was sort of unsettling to any normal person viewing from outside. Gen smiled, observing a bundle of Musk Mallows, reminding him of what his hair color might have been like if he had taken more from his father. He really hoped, if he lived long enough to have offspring, that their hair color wouldn't be too bright. He'd feel so guilty!

Gen's hand twitched as his senses kicked in, alerting him to a new presence not far behind him.

'Damn, how'd I let them get this close without noticing them?' he thought, raising up from his crouched position and turning towards the newcomer.

"My my! To see a ninja out here enjoying the view, surely this is a rare sight!" the slightly raspy but definitely feminine voice exclaimed with surprise. She lifted her straw hat slightly to greet Gen, her shaggy, persimmon colored mane splaying over her round, freckled face. Her red-orange eyes matched perfectly with her well-tanned skin. Not to mention that she seemed pretty physically built for her size of five feet. She was obviously an outdoors person. She wore a pair of black shorts, an olive mantle that stopped mid-forearm and a white top that couldn't be clearly distinguished. The brown boots on her feet looked well worn, and if the small pack on her back meant anything, Gen guessed she visited this meadow quite often.

"Good to see a new face out here though! Name's Chijin!" the newly dubbed, Chijin, said with an enormous and friendly smile. Gen gazed at the short woman with suspicion and slight curiosity. He reached out with his minor sensory abilities, gauging Chijin's chakra. As far as he could tell, it was barely above that of an academy students. So she was a civilian, probably from Kofii even. He eased his fighter's instinct, but remained alert.

"...You shouldn't be so trusting to approach me like that, or even give me your name. How would you know I'm not here just waiting to tear something apart?" Gen asked, folding his arms.

"Dunno. I think it's the pink hair." she said, scratching her cheek with an honest, silly grin. Gen laughed at the woman's simplicity and shook his head.

"Well, if you really wanted me dead, you would've done it long ago yeah?" she asked with a seemingly knowing smile as Gen sighed with a small nod. "What's a Konoha ninja doing here in Cha no Kuni anyway? Thought you guys won the war?" she called out, identifying the piece of metal around his upper left arm embedded with Konoha's insignia. Gen hesitated for a bit, pretending to withhold the 'sensitive' information before replying.

"Searching for a new herbal ingredient I heard was being grown in these lands. Might help advance medical science, if I can recall properly." he lied. "Other than that, I'm just enjoying my time here."

"Oh! Well, you wouldn't mind some company would ya?" Chijin said merrily, removing her backpack and laying down on the green pasture. She sighed contently, staring into the blue sky, rocking her knees gently to the sides. Gen smirked, shaking his head at Chijin's laid-back attitude. Taking a seat a distance away from the tanned girl, he joined her at cloud watching.

"Ya know what, shinobi-san?" she said, gaining Gen's attention with a slight 'hm'.

"You're a pretty good liar!"


"You got figured out by a civilian?! Oh Dad that's rich!" Zakura howled with laughter, letting out a pained cry when Gen purposefully hit her sore arm with a bottle of water.

"Yeah yeah, shut up." he growled shamefully, a hue of red to his cheeks. He soon smiled though, realizing his daughter had gotten through the workout with barely a pause. " You did good, Princess. I think you deserve a bit of a break today." Gen smiled, laughing once he had seen the look of shock and immense relief from his daughter.

Zakura hummed happily, nearly finishing the entire bottle of warm liquid before brushing a hand across her mouth to remove the excess.

"Well, I'm sure you didn't leave active duty because of you being figured out by a civilian. Tell me the rest." she stated as Gen closed his eyes and folded his arms.

"Sorry, I would but-" and as if on cue, the door to Zakura's cell opened up, revealing Inoichi and two Anbu agents. "-I think you've got somewhere to be right now." his tone turned more serious as the Yamanaka leader stepped into the room.

"Haruno...Zakura." Inoichi remembered, surprising the young Haruno as he made a brief hand signal towards the Anbu to his left. The masked agent stepped over to the compartment within the wall and pulled out the keys, proceeding to unlock all of Zakura's chains.

"Your testimony checks out, but you've got one final test to go through." Inoichi said with the usual business tone. Zakura nodded, rubbing at her aching arms and giving her neck a casual roll.

"What will that be?" she said, an idea of what the test might be forming in her mind as she realized none of the chakra suppressant seals she had on her were removed.

"You're going to see Ino."


With Sasuke – Uchiha Clan Training Ground #2 – 1:30PM

Sasuke smirked as he steadily bounced on his toes, recently running through one of his clan's high-level katas with ease. The small clanking sound of the weights in the gear Kakashi had bought them reminding him that they needed to be changed soon. Especially if he was fairing pretty good with them as is. He stopped his bouncing, taking a quick breather before walking to the pond located in the middle of the training ground. This was the main reason he decided to come here rather than stay at the Head Compound. He had brought a training dummy to test out that strange phenomenon he stumbled onto during his lightning affinity training. That strange blue flame.

He propped the dummy up on its pole, just a few feet away from the water in case this backfires. The raven-haired boy took a step back, lifting his right hand up and focused to summon lightning chakra. Feeling a slight tingling in his palm, he pushed harder, achieving his goal although to a small level. The arcs of lightning within his palm shot up no higher than four centimeters, it was good enough.

"Now the next step." he said, closing his eyes to invoke the strange fire. Recalling the first time he did this, he had spawned the fire by thinking of his hatred towards Itachi. Revenge for his fallen clansmen. A righteous, burning fury!

"There!" Sasuke smirked successfully, admiring the seven centimeter tall, blue flame in his palm. His smirked quickly vanished as the flame dispersed itself hastily. The survivor frowned. Perhaps he needed to train his lightning affinity more, increasing his chakra reserves wouldn't hurt either.

"I'll need to try it often though. I won't have that much time to gather the necessary components to form it in a real combat situation." he thought, sliding his hand into his pockets. He recalled Kakashi's words about lightning training, the second step was to start a generator and supply it with enough energy to run for five minutes. Sasuke was pretty sure he could find old generators all over the compound. His senses alerted him as he felt someone approaching from the town's direction. It was Kakashi, just who he needed to see.

"Yo, the weights are getting a bit light. I'll need something heavier."


With Naruto - Near Konoha's Hot Springs – 1:35PM

Naruto rolled his shoulders before testing out his new weights Kakashi had just brought nearly half an hour ago. Thirty-five for the arms and forty for the legs. He threw out a set of swift jabs, then a low, middle and high level kick with both legs.

"Alright, definitely need to go over my taijutsu now." he said, walking to his bag and picking through it to open up a scroll he recently borrowed from the shinobi library. It was a taijutsu scroll, submitted by a shinobi from the Shodaime's rule.

" The art of the foot and the hand huh?" the blonde read the introductory phrase. Continuing, he came across a personal entry by the unnamed shinobi.

" For the person reading this, I thank you for choosing this scroll and I hope you will take this style to new heights and most importantly, improve yourself. I am Gong Tae Ryuk, a wanderer from Tsuki no Kuni (Land of the Moon) and I have taken asylum within Konoha's wall to start anew. However, it seems that war will once again break out amongst the rising shinobi nations. And this time, I feel I won't be so lucky to make it out alive. So, here before you is instructions to my family's favored taijutsu style. I have reviewed everything and made adjustments to guide you from a novice to an advanced level. To go further is entirely up to you.
Any additional pointers I have made will be addressed to you as 'my student', remember that.

Become unpredictable, strike swiftly and remain light on your feet, this is Taekwondo! - Gong Tae Ryuk"

"Whoa. I think these are his last words before he went to war..." Naruto thought as he continued onto the scrolls amateur techniques, the starters section mostly containing ways to loosen the limbs and stances that can be taken for maximum effect. Taking some of the information into his head, he walked over to a wooden training dummy he had propped up a few days ago. He turned sideways, raising a fist to chest level and left the other hanging loosely, his feet bouncing him to a rhythm only he could hear.

"This stand provides the most variety within this art. With this, options are available for high to low feints and mix-ups at any moments notice. Although less stable than other styles, you'll be able to strike first, guaranteed, if you can make the correct read."

Naruto attacked the dummy, focusing mostly on striking with his feet. High, mid, and low, forward and back thrust, full circular and semi circular motions were attempted. He had to pause and properly stretch his legs before he attempted a hammer strike. Pulling that sort of string if he failed would, he guessed, hurt like hell.

"Power. Our theory of Power comes from six steps: Reaction Force, Concentration, Equilibrium, Breath Control, Mass and most importantly Speed. If you go for a round house with your left leg, your left arm is brought back to provide reactionary force. Use as many muscles as you can to strike and make the area of impact as small and concentrated as possible. Keeping a solid equilibrium is very important before, during and after performing any technique.
Exhale at the moment of impact to ensure as much force you can muster is being used. Do not just use a limb to attack, use the motion of your entire body for maximum strength. Being able to combine all of these components into one swift movement is shocking and very effective against anyone not prepared for a true taijutsu fight. Attack with assurance, aim precisely and recover quickly to assault your opponent again."

The sunny-blonde smiled as several of those concepts had actually worked, wobbling and sliding the dummy back and side to side. It will take him copious amounts of practice to get the execution, balance and speed he will require to go up against Neji, but his smiled widened at the thought of obtaining a solid taijutsu style to use against stronger opponents.

His head snapped up when five out of his 120-clone army dispelled. Another five followed, and then twenty more periodically. He remembered the headache he got from dispelling more than twenty of these guys at once. Especially if they had any valuable information to offer. Naruto's smiled turned near devilish. Summoning a clone to his side, he held out his palm to it and began to mold chakra. The clone began his work, swiping his hands over it in quick motions to provide the jutsu's shape. The end result was amazing to the both of them, bumping one anothers knuckles as the Rasengan spun marvelously in the original's hand.

"Hahaa! Kakashi-sensei's gonna flip!" he dispersed the Rasengan, smiling at his clone once more before issuing an order.

" C-Squad, how's the new jutsu coming along?" The clone nodded, dispelling itself to spread its knowledge amongst the other clones. An additional clone from 'C-Squad' popped himself, giving his leader the requested report.

"Oh? Not bad! The starting and prepping stance do make a load of sense! Nice work guys!" Naruto thought as he suddenly stiffened, remembering something he had forgotten.

"Dammit! I forgot to ask Kakashi-sensei about the second step for Wind affinity training!" he roughly fisted his hair as he darted off towards town, hoping the jounin was actually occupied on the road of life. He halted once he heard a fit of giggling to his far left. Crouching as quietly as he could on the tree's branch, he closed in on the sound.

As he got closer, he began to hear the familiar, soft tones of women, chatting and laughing about who knows what. He paused swiftly on the branch. Were women using these springs out here?

"Could be their hangout. No need to jump in on e'm." he thought, preparing to search for his sensei again before hearing another pair of giggles to the right of the womens. Perverted ones.

" Looks like there's a pervert ogling these ladies." his brows furrowed in anger, eyes focusing on the direction of the sound. He glanced at his palm, an idea forming in his head. He just found a pretty good test subject.

The Toad Sage, Jiraiya of the Sannin. Famed ninja for standing up with his team of Tsunade and Orochimaru against Hanzo the Salamander during the Second Shinobi War, spent his spare time peeping on women and writing perverted novels from the numerous, delightful experiences. He had ran into a gold mine on his way to visit his teacher, Hiruzen, but he couldn't pass up this divine opportunity.

"Ohhhhhh yes! This is definitely going into the next issue! Just look at that rack!" he thought, blood dripping from his nose, a ridiculously large smile on his face as he scribbled away in his notebook.

"Oy, old perv." a voice came from behind him. He turned around to see a pre-teen boy with golden blonde hair in an orange and blue jumpsuit, holding his left palm out towards him, and his right hand pointed to the side behind it. A small and unstable morphing ball of chakra hovered over his left palm. The boy pulled his right hand back, smirking as he did so.

"Wait, is that-" Jiraiya thought, wide-eyed before the boy shouted. "Suffer!"

Naruto pushed his right hand forward, hard and swiftly into the back of his left hand. The miniature and incomplete Rasengan exploded, releasing a straight path of force that knocked Jiraiya clear out of the treetops and into the hotspring.

The blond comedian smiled as the women screamed and beat the tar out of the old peeper.

"Serves you right!" he said, laughing as he continued his journey.


Konoha's Hospital – With Zakura - 2PM

Zakura waited nervously outside of Ino's room for two conflicting reasons. She couldn't wait to see her friend and what-if said friend just said 'that's the evil one' even if she could see the difference, to get revenge. Her face dead-panned as she started to sweat.

"No no...Ino wouldn't do that. She totally wouldn't do that. We're friends again, right?" she paused as the door opened, revealing Inoichi who looked towards the Anbu agents to either of Zakura's sides. He bobbed his head into the room, signifying that they could escort the young girl in. Once inside, Inoichi had vanished behind the privacy curtain for Ino's bed. There was a slight grunt of acknowledgment before the Anbu pushed her directly before the bed. The curtains moved away.

Ino's hair had retained it's ponytail, although now at a shorter length that barely went past her ears. A pad of disinfecting gauze was placed over her left eye and right cheek. Her left arm was held in a sling that wrapped around her neck to keep her shoulder in place and her right hand was heavily bandaged. Zakura flinched, remembering the ways Sakura had slowly broken several digits on her right hand. She could only bite her lip as she watched Ino sit up slowly, her bandaged hand hovering over her stomach to support herself.

The platinum Yamanaka opened her eye, slowly moving her sight up from the center of her bed towards the pinkette. Zakura froze when she received Ino's worrying gaze. After a moment of an awkward stare down, Ino looked towards her father.

"I can't sense her chakra at all." she swallowed shakily. "Is it sealed off?"

"It is. For your protection." Inoichi said with a nod, looking towards Zakura as the Haruno's gaze swapped between him and Ino. "Is there a problem?"

"Yeah. I-I won't be able to see who's who with those seals on her." she stammered, her heart rate beginning to quicken just at the thought of having to unleash that wave of killer intent towards her. Inoichi face darkened, waving another signal to the Anbu. Zakura looked at the one to her right, their far hand occasionally having arcs of lightning spark around it. She stiffened when she felt the other one placing a palm on her shoulder, she looked up at this one, noticing his hands in a half-tiger seal.

"Kai."

Zakura inhaled deeply, the refreshing feeling of her chakra properly pathing through her system after a whole week. Although now she felt better, the situation really seemed to worsen as Ino's gaze had fell to her bed, her bandaged hand pressed to her fast-beating heart.

"Come on Ino!" Zakura pleaded mentally, feeling the Anbu's grip on her shoulder tighten slightly at the Yamanaka's hesitation.

"She can't hurt you Ino. Not as long as I'm here." Inoichi cooed to his only child. Ino nodded, trembling as her gaze wondered up again, her eye barely open in fear. Her eye widened as the ghostly apparition she had seen at their encounter returned, but rather hazy in appearance.

" W-Wait. No...It's not her..." She thought. Focusing her senses, Ino narrowed her eye. The apparition focused into a mimicking copy of the actual body, looking just as nervous and panic-filled. Although the ghost's eyes were the cerise color associated with her darker half, Ino remembered when both of them had the same eye color.

"She's back! The real one is back!" Ino sighed tiredly. She looked at her dad through her lone eye, he raised a brow.

"So, what's the verdict Ino?"The one-eyed Yamanka glanced at Zakura again, a small smirk cracking on her lips.

"What's this I hear about a name change? Zakura? It's not even that far off!" she smiled weakly, slightly tearing up as her friend, wide eyed, did the same. The lightning Anbu calmed his hand, and the sealer released his grip on Zakura's shoulder. They both looked toward Inoichi, receiving a nod as an okay for them to return to their posts. Zakura smiled, wiping the lone tear that cascaded down her cheek.

"Ino! I...I don't know how I can apologize to you." she said with a waist-level bow, happy that her friend had bailed her out of imprisonment. Ino hummed in thought.

"You've got a kekkai genkai now, right? Come here, tell me about it." Ino said, smoothing out a spot on her bed to the right. Zakura looked towards Inoichi for confirmation, but the man simply moved to a chair not far from their position. She smiled softly, nodding to him before moving and taking her seat next to Ino. She squeaked in surprise when Ino had pulled her into a one-armed hug.

"Good to have you back, Zakura-chan!"


Second Week , 4th Day – With Zakura – 10:45AM

Kakashi hummed in amusement as he leaned against a wooden post, flipping through a page of his favorite Icha Icha novel. His lone eye moved from the writing momentarily to look around the training field.

"Hmm. It looks like Zakura left for today." he said, quickly jumping onto the post to avoid a hand that shot out of the ground. He smiled as Zakura fully emerged from the earth with a small smile.

"That's what you'd have liked me to say, right?" he added before hopping down and placing his book into his pouch. With a wave of his hand, he beckoned Zakura into a taijutsu spar.

Two days. It had taken Zakura only two days to complete her earth affinity training. It was hard for even Kakashi to believe, but she completed the necessary tasks with ease. Kakashi had to consult Gen about her quick development and the man had only laughed, happy that his daughter had beaten his record by three days. Gen explained to Kakashi how his earth affinity was abnormally stronger than others, so he only guessed that it passed down to Zakura.

Breaking away from Zakura's attempt to grab his vest, he performed a one-handed spring backwards to create space between the two. He gave her a knowing glance, which she nodded to before they both sped through a practiced set of seals.

"Doton: Doro Dangan (Earth Style: Mud Shot Technique)!" Zakura commanded mentally, given a much greater speed advantage thanks to the low level earth jutsu. She fired a ball of mud from her mouth that sped towards her sensei. Kakashi quickly slammed his palm into the ground, raising just enough of the earth to form a barrier. The scarecrow smiled when he saw Zakura slide around the stone wall, firing another wad of mud at him. He jumped back, only to meet a familiar earthly resistance.

" A wall? Ah, when she moved around my shield. Very clever!" he commended her use of the Doton Shōheki (Enclosing Wall), wincing when a condensed mud ball hit him square in the chest. Kakashi refocused his attention to Zakura, seeing her and a clone approaching and ready to attack.

" Nice try, but-" his eye widened when both offenders possessed a shadow! He clicked his tongue in self-disappointment, swapping through hand seals quicker than Zakura could keep up with before vanishing into the ground. Zakura scowled, her and the 'clone' splitting up and taking positions high up in nearby trees. Kakashi shortly resurfaced, his gaze switching between both smirking Zakuras. He raised a hand in a half-tiger seal, dispelling the genjutsu the teen had placed on him.

"That's pretty sly of you. When did you cast a genjutsu?" he said, looking towards the real Zakura to his left. He twirled a kunai passively as Zakura beamed.

"When did I hit you with an actual doro dangan?" she retorted, making the jounin look at his vest to realize the mud had vanished. His visible eyebrow rose in honest surprise.

"A double-layered genjutsu? Very well done, Zakura." he complimented, making the teen smile as she jumped down from her perch.

"It looks like your chakra reserves are expanding quite nicely. Think you can handle evasion and countering for a few minutes?" he said, a glint in his eyes that told her he would attack her even if she had said no.

"Vengeful much?" she thought with a sweat drop, nodding before she was bombarded by her sensei's punches, kicks and swipes. For the most part, she did well in avoiding and properly countering her sensei's strikes, but a problem arose once he picked up the speed and placed intent into his moves. Zakura grunted as she blocked a high punch, but gagged when she felt a solid boot into her gut that sent her careening back. She rolled out of control momentarily before righting herself, her fingers digging into the ground as she slid further.

" Ghh! That hurt damnit!" she growled, her eyes swapping to their cerise alternative. She dodged and reacted appropriately once more as Kakashi had quickly engaged her in combat again.

" She gets sharper when she's angry." Kakashi analyzed, side-stepping with ease as Zakura threw calculated blows and kicks his way. "But occasionally-" he jumped over a low spinning sweep.

" She creates too large of an opening." he landed, quickly forming into a side-step kick into Zakura's turning body. He launched his foot forward, intent on ending the sparring session here, but his eyebrows shot up as Zakura spun face first into his oncoming appendage. She shifted her head to the side, avoiding the blow by a hairs width. Bringing her hand up into a tight fist, she yelled as she pressed her attack fiercely into her sensei's stomach! Kakashi seemed to pause on the girl's fist as it sank into his gut and he was sent rocketing back, a tree assisting him in stopping.

Zakura's eyes grew wide as she nearly panicked, realizing she placed just a bit too much chakra into that attack. She sprinted forward to check on her cycloptic teacher.

"Kakashi-sensei!" she crouched down to him but froze momentarily as he began to melt into mud. "W-What?!"

"Doton: Kage Bunshin" he said from his position high up in the same tree, Icha Icha in hand. Zakura looked up, puzzled as to when her sensei had traded places with a clone, but she refused to ask.

"Because of their nature, they can reform if they aren't hit with a powerful enough jutsu or act as a powerful restraint." Kakashi said as Zakura watched the clone reform. It waved at her before dispelling itself and dropping into a small puddle of mud. The cyclops jumped down, walking to Zakura before patting her on the head.

"And with the bonus of it being a kage bunshin, I now know not to fall for your baits. I didn't know you could be such a fighter!" he said proudly, a smile behind his mask.

"Kage bun-!? You'll be teaching me that!?" she nearly shouted, her wide eyes portraying her excitement. Kakashi stroked his chin in thought, smirking as that action did its job of making the girl anxious.

"If you continue to perform well and improve, I'll think about it. Like it's parent technique, it is quite taxing on the user. I don't want to see you dead because I taught you a jutsu too early. Understand?" he said with a fold of his arms. A hopeful and excited gleam appeared in Zakura's eyes as she nodded.

"Get strong enough to use Doton: Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" she smirked, acquiring a new short term goal.

"It's nearly noon and we've been at it since seven this morning. I'm going to see what Naruto and Sasuke are up to. See ya!" he waved before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

Zakura sighed tiredly, rubbing her sore neck. Her Dad wouldn't be free to interrogate until two, so she had a bit of time to spare. Her hand stopped just over her seal, a thought coming to her head.

This cursed seal. Although it's side effects were most likely taken in full by Sakura, it granted a substantial boost to Zakura's performance overall. Thinking about the circumstances she gained access to it, it seems it was readily available during times of stress. Could it be activated any other way? Zakura glanced around the field, sighing once more before settling herself onto the floor. Legs folded and her cupped hands hovering over her ankles, she took in a deep breath before closing her eyes.

"Can I turn this, curse, into a possibly reliable strength?" she breathed out, focusing some of her chakra towards the seal on her neck. She felt the seal consume the portion of chakra it was given, cracking open an eye to see the jagged lines spread over her left arm. She fed the seal more, noting a substantial pull to her reserves as the seal spread further down her body and over her left leg.

" This was as far as I went when I fought Kin and Zaku." she thought, standing up and realizing that her weighted gear felt a bit lighter with the seal activated. She recalled being faster. Enough to outplay their enemies during the exams. There wasn't really a good way for her to test that out by herself, she'd do so later. Zakura reached down her right thigh to her kunai carrier, whipping one out and aiming at a tree a fair distance away.

" That's about 10 meters..." she mumbled, shifting into her throwing stance before chucking the knife with her full strength. After hearing the expected thud, she leaped over to the tree and was astonished by the result. The kunai was buried up to the handle!

"Damn, that's seriously deadly all on it's own. I'll need to work on my accuracy as well." she thought, smiling before yanking the weapon out with a grunt. Remembering the destruction she caused to the Ame team, she looked around the battered field and shook her head.

"Let's not damage the field any further. Doton Shōheki!" she whipped through the hand seals quickly, slamming her palm into the ground to summon several eight feet walls of stone. Although she got her required amount of six, she didn't expect them to each be nearly five feet thick.

"Is my earth affinity improved as well? Wow!" Zakura thought, admiring their domino like pattern. She smiled fiercely, facing against the first slab of stone in her basic academy stance She charged forward, her cerise eyes sharp and focused on her target. She roared as her fist collided with the stone wall! Her shout only intensified as she noticed she had shattered five of them and broken the top half off of the sixth, sending it packing towards the woods. Her excitement quickly died down as she noticed a person had somehow made their way into her training ground.

"Ohh shit! It's heading right for them!" Zakura watched as the person finally noticed the large slab of earth coming to end their life. Zakura's eyes widened momentarily, sharpening as the cursed seal quickly spread over her entire body. She bolted forward, faster than she ever expected before sliding to a halt in front of the civilian. Zakura shouted, bringing a fierce uppercut into the flying stone, shattering it into numerous chunks. She landed on the ground, panting as she whipped around to look at the intruder. It was a girl, probably around her age, with long and somewhat tamed blue hair, a black tank top, navy blue track pants and white running shoes. Zakura growled before speaking to the girl.

"What the hell are you doing out here? I could've killed you ya know?!" she questioned angrily as the girl pointed a trembling finger at her from her panic-seated position on the ground.

" You...You just fuckin' thrashed that- holy shit that was amazing!" the girl jumped up, astonishment and adoration in her brown eyes. " I mean look at you! I'd think you can't flip a table, but kami damn!" she said, a vein appearing on Zakura's head at the underhanded insult.

" I'll ask again, why are you out here? Civilians are asked to be very wary of ninja training grounds." she said, her teeth slightly grinding together. The girl smirked before wagging a finger in her ear, her other hand on her hips.

"Yeah, well we're asked, not told. Decided to spice up my day by walking out here." she said without a care. Zakura's eyed narrowed suspiciously.

"Here, huh? So you knew someone would be here?" she said, her hands curling into fists. The bluenette quickly raised her hands in defense, knowing better than to piss off the girl that just punched THROUGH five out of six, very thick stone walls.

"Hey! Gimme a break! Like hell you'd believe the real reason I'm here!" she scowled, Zakura folded her arms with a mildly interested gaze. "I'm listening."

" I was drawn here." she said stiffly, still unsure if she was safe from Zakura's wrath or not. The pink-red eyed girl raised a brow in confusion.

"You were...drawn here?" she said disbelievingly, but chose to question further regardless. "By what?"

"I don't know! Just some strange force pulled me to this direction! I didn't question it because it felt like a kindred spirit calling out to me. So what was the harm in just following that feeling for a while?" the girl said as Zakura pointed over her shoulder to the large rocks she recently shattered to save this girls life. The bluenette sweatdropped at that.

"Oh, that. Right." Zakura shook her head, sighing at the teen's recklessness. The jagged lines of her cursed seal began to recede to their origin.

"Kindred calling or not, you shouldn't be doing something so reckless as this. Come on, I'll guide you-" Zakura grunted painfully as she collapsed onto her knees, clutching at her neck.

"Transitional tattoos?! Man, ninjas are crazy as fuck!" she said with an amazed smile, which quickly faltered when Zakura gave her a mean glare.

"I mean, uh...are you okay?" she slowly walked over to her pink-headed saviour's side, crouching down and placing a hand on her back in an attempt to ease her suffering.

"Yeah, I'm...I'm fine. Just pushed myself...a bit too far to save you." she cringed periodically.

" Full power is definitely a no-go. For now at least." she concluded, understanding mostly how the cursed seal worked. It grants a huge spike of power, how much possibly depending on the user or mark. She remembered Sasuke matching her with just a portion of his seal activated. In return, the seal required you to feed it your chakra, as a replacement for giving it's own. The pain of using the seal, she guessed, was due it to being either gluttonous or wishing for it to be used more. She would know eventually once she kept experimenting with it. She glanced to the rude teen, noticing she was looking at her seal with a quizzical gaze.

"Luxury, Lust...what's the third 'L' for?" she said as Zakura's cheeks took a slight shade of red at the second insinuation.

"They don't mean anything." she brushed the teen's hand off as she stood up, only to stumble and be caught by the rude girl.

"Woah there! Didn't you say you pushed yourself too far? Shouldn't you be, you know, taking a break?" she asked as Zakura nodded with a tired heave. A flush of red rose to her cheek in embarrassment as her stomach growled loudly. The bluenette laughed heartily, placing Zakura's arm over her shoulder for support.

"Well, if you'd like to train more you're not gonna do it on an empty stomach! Think of it as payback for savin' my ass!" the teen said with a smile. Zakura eyed the girl skeptically, but decided to go with the flow, since she really could use something to eat right now.

"Can I at least get the name of my killer?" Zakura said with a smirk as the bluenette gazed at her with wide eyes.

"Man, that's a fucked up way of thinking! Like I'd stand a chance against a titan like you!" she said with a shake of her head. "I appreciate the joke though, my kind of humor! Name's Keiteki. Be sure to remember it if you ever right down a list of people who helped your sorry ass!" Keiteki said with a wide, teasing grin. It was Zakura's turn to shake her head as they walked through the woods.

After a bit of trekking, they made it back to the entrance. Keiteki shivered as she recalled what Zakura had stated earlier about the way out of the training ground. Most of them were laced with a genjutsu that would hit you on your way around if you didn't know the proper route out. Some ninjas used that as a way to train their genjutsu dispelling skills as the technique grew in power the longer you were lost. It was an odd security measure. You can get in easily, but you're screwed on the way out.

"So, any chance I can get your name?" she said, glancing over to her companion who gave her an incredulous gaze in response, silently saying ' Are you seriously asking a ninja for their name?'.

"Meh. Had to try right? Guess I'll be calling you Pinky." Keiteki smiled, leading Zakura towards town.

"I know of a place that sells pretty good anmitsu and dango. You up for it?" she asked, turning to her companion again only to see her drooling with a ravenous hunger at the mention of sweets.

"Hah! What'd I tell ya? Kindred spirits!" Keiteki laughed, smiling as she continued to lead the way towards her choice of confectionery store.


E/N: And that ends the seventh chapter of Motivated By A Curse!

I think it's come to a point now where I can ask for you all to vote for something in the story. I've got about 42 Follows (might be even more after this post), so how about a Twenty-man voting poll?
What you're voting on; More detail into Gen's mission that may halt the finals by another chapter or two at most, or breaking his story down to only the necessities and have the beginning of the finals appear sooner.

Adding detail in Gen's 'Breaking Point' would include fleshing out the villain and his or her cause instead of just appearing without much of a back-story. There would also be an explanation as to why there are ninja appearing at odd times in Tea Country. I'm trying to inform you of what I'll be placing there without giving away any spoilers and I feel like I'm doing a shitty job. All of this would provide a pretty good cover for a "new" character to appear. If this option is chosen, I'll have the story woven in between mostly Zakura's training sessions.
If you guys would rather have the finals appear sooner, I think I'll have Zakura go over the memory of Gen finishing the tale to her, shortened version.

Or, as a newly thought of third option, Gen saves the rest of the story for after the finals. Maybe dedicate an entire chapter to it to finish it off entirely.

But, it's on you guys. I created a poll on my profile page, check it out! I'll gladly take 10 votes if that's the most I can get!
Leave a response in your review, and even your vote if you'd like. Hope you all will be here for the next chapter!

~ Speed "I know guys, I'm sorry!" Ke'Dai