Chapter 10
Sakura training
Sakura had already been working all day and had made some headway. She was working on a medical technique that was harder to do than the Rasengan was for Naruto.
She ended up having to take the room in Lady Tsunade's office to practice because of the limited space in the village. She would try to start the technique and then it would just fizzle out, and then she would start again, only for it to fizzle out again. Each time she turned her irritation into a productive source of energy and kept working at it.
At the end of 14 hours she was able to master the 1st of the 5 steps, "the easiest step" as Lady Tsunade put it. She had to take frequent small breaks because the steps were so intense they drained a lot of her chakra.
She mastered the 2nd step by the 4th day and although Lady Tsunade gave her a bad time (mostly to motivate her) Sakura really was the most gifted Ninja she had ever trained. She picked up complicated Juitsus quickly and made them look easy. She knew that brining Sakura in as her medic on the operations was their only chance for success. She only had 8 more days to learn the rest and master it if she were going to get one full day of rest before the event took place.
With time getting closer, Sakura began to lose her focus, and started doubting her ability to master the juitsu.
Lady Tsunade noticed this and pointed it out to her, "You're wasting time Sakura, the more you doubt yourself and your abilities, the less chance we have for success, don't forget that."
This 'pep talk' seemed to work and pulled her out of her stupor. She refocused her energy and kept trying.
"Should it look like this," Sakura demonstrated what she had so far for Lady Tsunade.
"Yes, a lot like that but the last part is still wrong. Try to move it more like this," Lady Tsunade tried to show Sakura how to change her juitsu.
"I'm trying!" Sakura exclaimed, she continued to push herself further until she was beyond exhausted. After several hours Lady Tsunade came back to check on her.
"That's good for today Sakura, go ahead and get some rest, we'll start again tomorrow." Lady Tsunade walked over to the door, waiting for Sakura to come so they could leave together.
Sakura was out of breath and her chakra was pretty depleted. "Then again," Lady Tsunade thought "all of us are pretty depleted from the war. At least with her training so soon she can build up some endurance and she will be ready for the length of the operation." She looked at Sakura intently.
"What is it Milady?" Sakura asked.
"The operation, I need to prepare you for what to expect." She explained.
Sakura raised her eyebrows, surprised that there was more to tell.
"It won't be easy for the two of us, but it will be harder on our patients. In order for this operation to be a success many things need to happen. We will need to fuse the cells of the 2nd Hokage with the living cells that Naruto and Sasuke have now. That will be the easiest part." She paused.
"The easy part, I haven't even reached that part in the juitsu that you're teaching me." Sakura complained.
"I know, but I have confidence in you Sakura. The operation will also require that we recreate their chakra network, which is the dangerous and painful part. You will need endurance to perform this juitsu on our two patients, and if either of us falter the operation will fail."
"I'm not going to let that happen Milady," Sakura reassured her sensi. "What's painful about this juitsu?" she asked.
"It won't be painful for us, but in order to recreate a chakra network in a body part the user must activate juitsu continuously in that part during the entire procedure. If either of them falter, the result will be the same." Lady Tsunade finished.
"There are a lot of variables here, if we somehow manage to overcome all of the obstacles then they can both become Shinobi again, but if we fail there will not be a second chance for them, correct sensi?" Sakura asked.
"Correct. Also remember that in the eyes of the other nations we will have lost two powers that won the war, ones that caused nations to have a reason for an alliance. It would be risky for the alliance to lose this power because it could upset the balance that we've worked so hard to achieve."
Sakura was startled by this but could see how this made sense. While they had Naruto and Sasuke no country would dare pull out of the alliance after seeing what those two were capable of.
Sakura and Lady Tsunade reached the door of the hospital.
"Have a good night Milady, I'll see you tomorrow." Sakura stated before leaving.
Lady Tsunade nodded her head "Good night Sakura," she said as she walked back to her office.