Kishimoto still owns Naruto, even though it's almost over. Also, there wasn't really a good stopping point, so this chapter is longer than a typical one. But I know you guys won't mind that.
As promised, Tenten had found a veritable gold mine of books she could use to identify and key out the thirty plants she had been tasked with identifying, and a dozen more that described how every plant that existed could be used in medicine. They were waiting on Sakura's desk when she returned to her room after dinner to start on all of her homework.
Not only were the thick texts invaluable to her assignment, but Sakura found them fascinating. It was nothing short of amazing what these plants could do when ground up and made into a paste. Like the Horopito plant, or Red Leopard, which could be made into a bruise cream that cleared bruises up in two days.
Sakura found herself engrossed, reading until her eyes itched from staring at the tiny print. Viridian carefully scanned the pages that identified plants by their key characteristics, looking for those Tsunade had assigned her.
The young girl had taken the medic's words to heart. She knew Tsunade hadn't meant for her to put her extracurricular studies ahead of her normal ones, but Sakura could hear the desire in her voice for a competent student. A student that wanted to learn her trade. So, while Tsunade had most likely meant for her to get it done during her free time, it simply wasn't happening.
Free time was a misconception. A dream. It didn't exist.
Sakura's free time was filled with homework, the occasional detention because she was a bit of a smart mouth, extra training under Tenten's magnificent tutelage, and now lessons in the medical field. She spent every waking hour and then some trying to better herself and pull up in the class rankings.
And if she wanted to do that, she would need the edge medical ninjutsu would give her. Which meant the red head needed to impress her newest mentor so that her lessons would quickly advance to learning jutsus. In order to reach that point, Sakura had to prove her dedication to the subject, so she would complete Tsunade's assignments first.
Still, Sakura was relieved when she finished off the paragraph for Club Moss, also known as Wolf's Claw, which was the spores she had originally unwrapped when first looking through the box, that were useful in improving memory and focus.
Mustering up her focus, the young girl pushed through her other assignments one by one. Once finished, she didn't bother climbing into her bed. Instead she just laid her head down at the desk and was asleep instantly.
She regretted that choice in the morning, when she woke up with aching back and neck muscles and not feeling rested at all.
She yawned widely and blearily looked at the clock mounted on her wall, attempting to discern the time. It was difficult to do when Sakura saw three of each hand. When her vision didn't clear she gave up. She felt confident that it was before three in the morning because Tenten was still curled in the cot provided for her and snoring lightly.
Crawling into bed was pointless, she would hardly have the time to fall asleep before she had to be up again, so Sakura peeled her arm from the book she had pillowed her head on, ran a bath because it was more quiet and she didn't want to wake her friend, dressed, and neatly slid her assignments into her bag.
She was just debating if she would have time to find the kitchens and grab a bite to eat before running to Tsunade's lesson when Tenten stirred in her bed sheets.
"Good morning, Tenten," Sakura said cheerily. She still felt a tad exhausted from the lack of sleep the last two days, but Sakura was finding it hard not to be in happy spirits.
Almost a month and a half in and things were starting to look up. Her academic grades were as high as ever and slowly but surely she was improving in the physical side as well, thanks to the bun haired female. And now she would blow the examiners out of the water with Iryō Ninjutsu.
Plus, this weekend she had a promise from Naruto that he would help her train. The blond had promised to get her up to the level of the rest of the clan heirs.
So how could Sakura not be happy? Masquerading as her brother was the most insane and dangerous stunt she had ever pulled, but it was working.
Unlike Sakura, who had to drag herself out of bed some mornings, Tenten was immediately alert. "Good morning, Satoshi. I'll be right back with breakfast and then we can use the extra time since you're up early to practice your newest katas."
Sakura blinked at the other girl's frankness, suddenly wishing she had snuck out of her room before Tenten had woken.
When the brunette returned with a simple meal of porridge with raspberries, Sakura ate slowly to deter her, and when that didn't work begged off just this once. Tenten agreed to let her go and Sakura all but shunshinned to the medical wing despite not having learned the Body Flicker technique yet.
Sakura's second day of Iryō-nin training was vastly different from the first.
Upon entering Tsunade's office, the preteen had proudly presented her already finished assignment. The woman had taken in with an air of disbelief which quickly turned serious as she scanned the contents of the scroll that were a good three and a half feet in length.
Then she ordered Sakura to follow her and exited her office.
Sakura shadowed the world renowned medic-nin as she personally checked on the shinobi still laid up in beds from last week. With each patient Tsunade would describe the injury in detail and Sakura was expected to name as many plants as she could that would be used to heal such a wound.
She hesitantly explained her choices, but Tsunade never said if her selections were right or wrong. Just swept up to the next prone figure and had her do it again. Still, Sakura figured she was doing well because Tsunade was not one for incompetence. If she was wrong the woman would probably let her know immediately, like she had with that nurse when Sakura had received punishment duty a week ago.
Afterwards there was another round of evasion practice, which Sakura faired at as well as she had the previous day, and Tsunade sent her away at the end of the lesson with another box of thirty plants to identify.
Sakura assured herself, as she walked into her Warfare class, which about different battle tactics and when they were best used as well as a history of the wars the Elemental Nations had fought against the samurai, that she would not spend all her lessons with Tsunade researching plants and dodging kunai.
She dug through her bag when Iruka-sensei called for them to hand in their homework, only to turn up empty handed. Dismayed, Sakura realized she couldn't even remember doing her Warfare assignment.
She wanted to bang her head against the desk for all the good it would do her. Not even one day into her new schedule before her insanely heavy workload got to her. Sakura had never not done an assignment. She couldn't believe she had forgotten to do this one though, because she loved history.
Even worse was Iruka-sensei asking her if she was feeling alright and if she needed to visit the hospital wing. Sakura colored while he looked at her with concern, most likely taking in the purple shadows under her eyes and slightly yellow tint to her skin.
She knew she probably appeared drained and fatigued, but that was to be expected with how hard she was pushing herself. The girl in disguise only had to manage for a few more weeks. That was the point where Tenten estimated her katas and aim would be second nature and instead of spending two hours a day on them she'd suffice with just thirty minutes to keep the skills sharp.
Iruka-sensei was the nicest sensei they had. Everyone in her year agreed, aside from Fusoku and his group who thought him to be a joke. But that didn't stop him from giving Sakura an hour's worth of picking up stray kunai from the practice field after lunch.
Sakura understood that he couldn't let her off for free, even though she thought her record should speak for itself and warrant one missed assignment.
She studiously ignored Naruto, who was shooting her concerned glances every time Iruka-sensei turned to write on the board. Hell, even Shikamaru, who usually couldn't be bothered to be awake in this class, was studying her.
Sakura blocked them all out, concentrating solely on Iruka-sensei's lecture, on how the Uchiha clan overpowered the Senju clan and established Konoha, which they graciously allowed the Senju to rule, and taking meticulous notes, as if by doing so she could prove that everything was normal.
It was a fascinating story. Having beaten the Senjus and established themselves above the clan of wood users, the Uchiha clan, led by Madara Uchiha, browbeat the other warring clans into submission. One by one, clan after clan fell to the Uchiha's strength and joined his budding empire, settling across the lands that would become known as the Land of Fire.
Sakura knew that after the Uchiha clan had built their nation, several other clans had congregated to do the same. Sungakure. Iwagakure. Kumogakure. Kirigakure.
And as ninja were wont to do, fighting broke out between the nations and the world was ensconced in war once more. She didn't know the specifics, but somehow Madara Uchiha had united all the nations under one banner, declaring them to be the Elemental Nations with himself as their king in the Chikara Palace and assigning one man from each land to be the Kage, responsible for managing one part of the nation for him.
Of course, once the ninja had stopped fighting amongst themselves, they fought earnestly against the samurai, whose lands border the Elemental Nations to the north. So it seemed that shinobi were always destined to be fighting.
Tensions were continuously high between the Elemental Nations and the Land of Iron, home of the samurai. Their military might was formidable.
However, the samurai weren't the nation's only enemy. There were several smaller countries that had cropped up after Madara had gathered the five greatest into one, like Kusagakure and Amegakure.
Sakura was forced out of her musings by the sound of the palace's clock chiming the eleventh hour, loudly announcing that it was time for the gennin to move on to their next class. She tried to slip out behind Fusoku, who the rest of her friends hated as much as she did, only to have Sasuke block the doorway. She couldn't demand that the young prince move or forcibly shove him out of the way, which gave Naruto the opportunity to latch a hand onto her arm and prevent her from escaping to the safety of Mizuki's Shinobi Rules class. Sakura never imagined that she'd ever put the words Mizuki and safety in the same sentence.
"Are you sure you're alright, Satoshi?" Naruto asked. "Iruka-sensei's right. You look really pale. And it's kinda hard to miss those ginormous bags under your eyes. I'll tell Mizuki-teme that you went to the infirmary if you want."
Angrily, Sakura brushed off the blond's hand. She was perfectly fine. Just because she missed one assignment and it must have been because she was sick. The senseis never made a big fuss about it when other students forgot to complete one; just assigned detention or an hour of punishment labor and moved on.
Why did her mistake mean she was sick? It was nothing more than a mistake. So one homework assignment slipped her mind. It happened. The senseis set them a crazy amount anyway and it was unrealistic of them to expect the gennin to complete all of it every night.
Sakura took her set in Mizuki's class with a huff, set on ignoring Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru, and anyone else that was trying to insist she go up to the hospital wing. Thankfully lunch came after Shinobi Rules. Sakura practically inhaled hers before darting down to the practice fields.
She tuned out Gai-sensei as he went on about how youthful she was for fulfilling her detention so quickly. Taking the proffered wooden crate and set about picking up the scattered kunai. When it was full, she hefted it and carried it to the weapons storage shed, then returned to the field to repeat the process.
After the fourth time emptying the crate she caught the sounds of conversation and really loud laughter. Sakura poked her head outside the shed to spy a group of chuunin, which included Sasuke's older brother amongst them, heading down the path that lead out of Chikara palace and into Baria-shi, the sprawling city that lay at the base of the palace that was famous for its marketplace.
Curious, Sakura watched them disappear, wondering why they were going down to the town on a Thursday. And without permission likely. While chuunin had more freedom, obligated only to follow the commands of their jounin master of four years, whilst they were in the palace they were supposed to obey the same rules they had since day one. That is to say, you were only allowed to visit the city when Master Kensouske said you could.
Sakura hadn't given much thought to the older prince, who was her mentor. One the first day he had said in plain terms that his responsibility was to help the first year gennin with their academics, not be their personal trainers. She never once considered going to Itachi for help because he would only spurn her, seeing as she need help with the practical side of things.
There was no point in going to him when she what his answer was going to be.
Gai-sensei was waiting for her when she brought back yet another crate full of wildly thrown kunai to tell her the hour was nearly up and she'd best head up to the castle if she wanted to clean up before the afternoon lessons started.
Sakura declined, not seeing the point in going all the way back to her room to freshen up only to return to the grounds and get sweaty, dirty, bloody and beaten up. She regretted it immediately when the spandex wearing man started waxing poetic about her youth.
They were having actual spars that afternoon, not just mock ones to practice various strikes and blocks. The announcement had the large group of boys scanning the rest of the class, looking for the one person they wanted to beat.
Sakura tried to catch Naruto's eye but he was already standing next to Gaara, who quite frankly intimidated her. It had something to do with the lack of eyebrows and how he seemed to hate everyone but Naruto. She turned to her second choice, Shikamaru, and found him partnered with Chouji.
Well, she supposed she deserved that for being so harsh to them that morning. They meant well and she acted like they had stolen her homework to get her into trouble.
Fusoku's sneering face suddenly appeared before her, his nose so scrunched up he looked more like he smelled something awful than like he was looking at her condescendingly.
From the corner of her eye she caught the worried glance Naruto had shot at her, but Sakura wasn't worried. Fusoku was all talk and hot hair. Naruto didn't know how much extra practice she had done in the last four weeks. Hours of conditioning to adjust her stances and correct her weaknesses.
She was prepared for this. One benefit of her being a girl, and therefore smaller than all the boys was that she had the potential to be faster. If Sakura went on the offensive first, she had a chance of beating the obnoxious bully.
Sakura faced the brown haired boy, folding her fingers into the Seal of Confrontation when it was their turn, which was made by position her right hand in the position for the ram seal. The Seal of Confrontation was the symbol of combat and a universal sign of engagement between shinobi because it was also the hand sign one made when concentrating chakra.
Her opponent mimicked her and the second he dropped his hand, fingers curling and looking to plant a fist in her gut, Sakura pivoted backward on her right foot, letting him stumble forward when he failed to hit her. She raised her elbow, her very bony elbow, and slammed it into Fusoku's throat.
The boy dropped to all fours wheezing and gulping for air, hands flying up to massage his throat so that he could breathe properly.
Sakura followed up with a knee to the stomach once, twice, and Fusoku crumpled on his side, much like a paper bag did when it was trodden on.
The red head took a step back, looking towards Gai-sensei for a ruling. Her short spar had been met with absolute silence. The taijutsu master gave her two thumbs up, signifying that it was Sakura's win, which had Naruto erupting into to cheers.
Sakura extending the two fingers she had used to form to Seal of Confrontation. Etiquette dictated that the two combatants lock their two fingers together to make the Seal of Reconciliation to acknowledge that the participants were still comrades. She didn't care much for being comrades with a slime like Fusoku, who was forever taunting her about her chances of being cut, or even touching him for that matter, but she wasn't going to upset Gai-sensei by being discourteous.
Fusoku on the other hand had no such reservations. He slapped her hand aside and spat in the dirt at her feet. "That was a dirty trick, Haruno. I'll get you for it."
Sakura stepped back to the enthusiastic congratulations of her friends as Gai-sensei scolded the civilian boy for his unsportsman-like behavior. Kiba pounded her on the back, nearly knocking her face first into the dirt and did his weird barking laugh.
"You can try," she muttered just loud enough for the boy to hear, causing his face to purple with rage. Hopefully that little demonstration would keep Fusoku off her back for a bit.
Four hours later the second, and more crucial, half of the gennin's daily training ended, and all the boys plus Sakura trooped inside to clean up for dinner.
Sakura didn't quite understand why, when being a shinobi was such a physical career and one in which you lived or died by your ability to fight, they spent more time sitting in a classroom doing bookwork than training. For five hours, from seven in the morning until noon, they attended class. After an hour respite for lunch, they were down on the practice fields from one to five, and the hour before dinner was designated as a study hour to start on essays and the like. The two hours before lights out were theirs to do as they pleased, but all the gennins were still furiously trying to finish their workloads.
Naruto stepped into her path halfway across the field.
"I'm sorry."
"That was so cool."
The two had spoken at the same time.
"What did you say?"
Naruto was grinning foxily at her, the expression enhanced by the whisker marks on both cheeks. Sakura on the other hand, was looking at the blond's feet, unwilling to meet his eyes when she had snapped at him for simply be concerned. It was uncharacteristic for her to forget to do an assignment, so it wasn't unreasonable for her friends and even Iruka-sensei to be worried about her.
"I'm sorry, Naruto," she repeated, finally lifting her eyes to his. "I didn't mean to push you away like that. It's just . . . everyone was insisting I had to be sick in order to make a mistake like the rest you guys. And I know I look like a mess right now—" she continued before he could comment her appearance.
"Satoshi, it's fine. We understand. You're allowed to crack every once and a while." Naruto's grin was impossibly wider. "You should do it more often because you were so cool just now. Fusoku never saw you coming. I didn't know you were that good. I thought he was going to beat you black and blue and that it would be all my fault because I chose Gaara as my partner. And then you would hate me because it was my fault you landed in the medical wing. But you were just like pow! and Fusoku-teme was down for the count and you were just awesome."
Sakura stared at the Hokage's son, gaping slightly at how he managed to say all that without stopping to breathe even once.
"Forgive me?" He held up a fist between them.
Sakura didn't hesitate. Her own fist came up to bump against him. "Only if you forgive me."
"Done. Now let's go eat before Chouji devours it all."
Sakura smiled fondly at Naruto, who thought with his stomach as much as he did with his brain, as he dragged her inside in his rush to get to dinner sooner.