Sakura practiced all the water techniques Itachi had told her to, and then once again worked with her liquid whip. Its shape retained more and more….and then less and less. It seemed as though the moment she felt like she had taken a step forward with it – it decided to collapse back into the water.
Her supposed dojutsu would eventually help her with her water control, at least which was the implication that Itachi had drilled into her head. She was holding on tightly to that hope because after the fourth time her water whip failed she wanted to march over to the weapons shot and demand another sheet of jutsu paper…because how the hell could she be a water type!
Sakura growled and kicked up the water from under her in frustration. She was fine with not being good at certain things, but this was ridiculous! It was one step forward three steps back, two steps forward ten steps back, fifteen steps forward, eight steps back…..and in the end, she felt like she hadn't improved an inch.
"Okay…" Sakura exhaled, she needed to relax. She was putting more pressure on success than she could handle.
She squatted down into the river and with precise and careful concentration held a blob of water in the palm of her hands. Slowly she shaped it into a perfect circle, then a triangle, and her next attempt was to be a square but the water refused to obey and seeped through her fingers.
"FINE! I don't like you either!" Sakura huffed as she walked out of the training grounds – slamming the door for good measure and stomped onto the streets.
Just a few more days till Itachi and Shisui were scheduled to come back and she was just completely stuck.
She made it to her apartment building but had no desire to go in. She wanted to train some more…she wanted to see SOME improvement, she was too angry and too full of energy to go to sleep.
Oh, how she wished she could master Tsunade chakra control and kick around a few boulders. She was sure that would cool her down a bit.
"Stupid water, stupid Sasuke," Sakura began as she unlocked her door, "stupid Naruto, stupid Kakashi, stupid dojutsu, stupid dad, stupid stupid stupid stupid," Sakura chanted as she made her way up the stairs. She was going to make dinner and stuff her face with too many sweets.
.
…
.
The next day, Sakura refused to work out. She was still pissed off at her inability to control something that she should have an affiliation towards.
.
…
.
A day later:
After hospital duty, Tsunade had called Sakura into her office.
"Hokage-sama," Sakura greeted with a slight bow.
"Chunin exams are coming up," the Hokage said offhandedly as she rolled up a scroll and placed the Kage stamp over it.
"Yes ma'am," Sakura agreed.
"Are you ready for it?"
"Preparing for it."
"Mmmm, that scowl has been on your face all day…want to explain why?"
"Just frustrated at training."
"Losing motivation?"
"No, no! Hokage-sama it's nothing like that. I just have been struggling."
"Well, sometimes it's good to take a break, you just need a reminder why you're training so hard sometimes. Here," the blonde extended a scroll towards Sakura.
The younger girl accepted, waiting for instructions.
"Take that to the east outpost, and since you look like hell – get it to the station guard by midnight tonight."
"Bu-but that's a day's journey away!"
"Then what are you still doing in my office?"
Sakura tightened her lips together into a line and courtly nodded before running out of the office. She was still in her medical scrubs and needed to change quickly. Rather than taking the civilian road, she made due with jumping the roof tops to get there faster.
.
…
.
Sakura had quickly changed into her dark cargo pants and a tank top, she stuffed her elbow pads and gloves into her mouth as she strapped on her weapons pouch. She snatched her medical pouch off her night stand and grabbed a handful of granola bars on her way through the kitchen. She jumped out her window and rushed towards Konoha gate while she attempted to finish dressing herself.
Tsunade was really cruel sometimes….
But it was exactly what Sakura needed.
.
…
.
Sakura arrived at the outpost ten minutes before midnight, completely out of breath and shaking from exhaustion. She leaned against the branch she was standing on, attempting to catch her breath and lower her heartbeat before making contact with the guard who already spotted her and acknowledged her as a friend and not a threat.
With a final, deep, exhale, she jumped down and approached the six foot something tall guard. She had bright blonde hair with black tips and a long crooked nose and a mole on his chin. Sakura wondered if Kakashi had a mole like that….if she did, she'd definitely cover it up too.
"Greetings," Sakura said grabbing her ninja card from her medical pouch and the scroll Tsunade gave her from her cargo pant pocket.
"Hey little one," the ninja greeted back with a lazy nod as he ignored her I.D and grabbed the scroll. "Ahhh, that time of the month, already?" He spoke as he opened the scroll with one hand and scratched the back of his head with the other. "Only one of you this time?"
Sakura raised an eyebrow, "one?"
"Well, the canteens and chemical equipment are in the tent, knock yourself out. I'll take you to the watering spot afterwards."
"Yes…sir," the Kunoichi said with an awkward nod as he handed her back the scroll and her I.D. As she walked towards the tent she glanced over her shoulder to make sure he wasn't looking. He wasn't.
She quickly, and as discreetly as possible, unscrolled it. The text changed before her very eyes.
"Tisk tisk tisk, Sakura, you should know better," the girl bit her lip – obviously the Hokage would use chakra-ink. "Anyhow, you're in charge of water examinations this month. Test for eighty-five poisons and record your data in the book. Be back by tomorrow night."
Sakura's eyes nearly popped out of her head as she tried to reread the message but the ink had already vanished. She couldn't have read right. That wasn't 85….it couldn't be. Checking for 85 poisons would take forever. She'd only be half way through by tomorrow night….and that's if she was lucky.
"Damnit," Sakura whispered under her breath as she put the scroll back into her pocket and went inside the tent. She had recognized all the equipment.
Water in the canteen, then she was to put water in the test tubes and lastly she was to mix it with a chemical and record the reaction of the water.
"Easy, peasy," Sakura muttered.
.
…
.
The first thing she realized was that the canteens were old…ancient…and three of the four had holes in them, making them almost useless. Out of the 50 test tubes she had, only 23 were actually clean and useable.
She sat at the edge of the bank, looking at the dark reflection in the water; a broken canteen floated nearby.
"You just hate me…don't you?" she asked it with a sigh as she stuck her hand in, "please…I'm exhausted….be nice," she slowly tried to guide the water with her chakra into the test tube in her other hand.
It worked…surprisingly easily.
Sakura wanted to gasp, cry, scream, shout, and squeal all at the same time. That was so easy.
She settled the filled vessel down into its holder and poured an eye drop of a white chemical compound in it. The water immediately turned dark blue. She quickly recorded it and then put an eye drop of another similar looking chemical from a different container. The water remained blue, and she quickly wrote down the results in the journal the ninja guard had given her.
She concentrated getting a thin stream of water to rise and flow inside another test tube. It didn't go as smoothly as her first attempt.
When she ready for a new test tube, the water lost its shape and splashed down on the ground.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Sakura growled to herself.
"Com on! Please!"
She failed again.
'Calm down,' her inner self instructed.
"Okay…sure, I'm calm," Sakura inhaled deeply.
'What are you doing wrong?'
"Nothing."
'….'
"Okay…first time I did it…I was barely concentrated or trying and…no way."
Sakura opened and closed her fist and rolled her shoulders back and forth, "okay…if this is the reason," she began as she carefully placed her hand back in the water. The Kunoichi closed her eyes and steadied her breathing as fountain like bursts of water came out from between her fingers.
She opened one eye and smiled widely as she was careful not to put too much concentration on an absolute figure or shape. Carefully the pink haired girl moved her body around so she was facing the body of water and she leaned over and motioned with her other hand for a single stream. It a blob of water formed between her palms.
It took the shape of a star, then a triangle, then a square, then a dog, and then a circle, but then as she began to concentrate harder the water lost its form and splashed to the ground.
"Hmmmm…"
.
…
.
Two Days Later:
Sakura knocked on the Hokage's door, and Tsunade instructed her to enter and the Kunoichi obeyed.
"Well?"
"Higher than usual sodium levels, but otherwise the water is clear of all the poisons I was asked to check for."
"And yourself?"
"I'm good," Sakura smiled softly.
Tsunade raised her eyebrow and before nodding, "good. Hospital duty in an hour, pediatrics. Understood?"
Sakura nodded and bowed before making her exit. She really needed that miniature mission assignment.
.
…
.
The next night she practiced till well in the morning since Tsunade had given her the day off.
She finally scratched the tree with her liquid whip. She had no energy to be joyous over it. Instead she did it again. And again. And again. Till it was almost a half physical strike. Then she was happy…right before she passed out from chakra depletion.
She was awakened by two jounins. Embarrassingly she apologized over and over. The two boys laughed it off and said its okay. It usually happened to people practicing for the chunin exams, one of them explained. They wished her luck and she rushed back into her apartment.
When she finally finished setting up her bath, with plenty of bubbles, and healthy incense…she realized that she wouldn't even be able to relax in the bath.
Her inner self screamed at her for resting while water was so near. So for two hours, until she was a complete prune, she practiced water manipulation with chakra. She had realized that her failure usually steamed from her over exertion – you can't hold water with an iron-clad fist…she had to be gentle with it and it would respond.
.
…
.
She return back to the training grounds that night, determined to make a real mark on the tree or rock with her liquid whip. She was going to do it….because she was not going to misplace the faith her two teachers had in her.
"Sakura!" Naruto squeaked at her in surprise as she was signing in. She nearly dropped the pen as she looked at Naruto in shock.
"You're here to train too?" he asked.
"Uh," Sakura's genius reply because she thought she remembered hearing rumors that Naruto and Jiraiya had gone away for training.
"Where's your teacher?" Jiraiya appeared, "if Tsunade coming we could have a party here."
"She's not coming," Sakura half whispered.
"Well, you can't train unsupervised," Jiraiya said with a wink, "come, join us. I'm taking Naruto to the thirteenth room. You can come and watch."
"Yea, Sakura, come with us!"
"Her training doesn't include outsiders," the cold chilly voice that Sakura found oddly comforting appeared behind her. Relief flooded through her body when normal people would have felt fear.
"It-itach- HE'S your teacher!" Naruto shouted pointing over her shoulder.
"Don't forget about me," Shisui said with a smile, "come on princess sign us all in and let's get crack-a-lacking!"
"Uh, yes, alright," she smiled as she wrote down her name along with her two teachers, having their ninja numbers already memorized. She turned to Naruto who looked flabbergasted, "I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't tell anyone, Naruto."
He was silent for a moment and then sighed rubbing the back of his head, "well…why would I? If Sakura's happy then I'm happy."
Jiraiya watched silently the exchange between the two students. He knew very well what was going on, and the possibility of what could happen next. He put his arm on Naruto's shoulder, a support the young blonde didn't know that he'd need.
"Thanks," she said gratefully as she walked down the hallway towards the water room, "you guys are back early," she commented while trying to hid her joy over it as she glanced over her shoulder.
"We try…we missed our princess," Shisui said with a huge smile.
"Just when I think you've said the stupidest thing…you keep talking," Itachi deadpanned as Sakura opened the door to the room with the lake and waterfall.
"I have to keep surprising you cuz, or else you might leave me for someone else…someone prettier."
"I am going to kill you if you say anything else that I deem worthy of a death sentence."
"That's pretty much everything that comes out of my mouth," Shisui replied and flickered out to the middle of the large body of water before Itachi could act on his threats, "come on, princess, show us whatcha got!"
Sakura bit her lip slightly; she really hoped that they would have been gone for a little while longer…like after tomorrow…when she improved enough to be proud to show them. She was still getting the hang of the whole not concentrating ordeal.
"We know you had limited time to practice, just show us what you have so far," Itachi said, "use the idiot as a target."
"Come on, Sakura, you hit me hard and I'll give you a kiss," Shisui said with a wink.
Sakura looked at Itachi who sighed, "If you hit him hard, I'll stop him from kissing you."
"Okay," she giggled as she formed a whip without bending down to the touch the water but instead calling it up to her hand in a whirl of splashing water. She hoped that little trick would impress them…Itachi's face remained expressionless but Shisui's smile grew tenfold.
She took a deep breath and concentrated loosely, and recalled her practice sessions. She couldn't try to overpower the water…she had to flow with it….
Just have to do it, Inner Sakura cheered her on.
Sakura stroked Shisui hard with a completely physical liquid whip. She saw him flinch and a thin line of blood seeped through his gray shirt. The whip lost its shape and splashed down into the water as she rushed to Shisui and healed his injury immediately.
"You can beat me to a blood pulp as long as you heal me," he replied winking and leaned in to plant a kiss on her cheek but suddenly a water collar appeared around his neck and tightened. He looked up at Itachi whose eyes seemed to say; I dare you.
Shisui moved his head back and the collar that was choking him, streamed down his chest.
"There," Sakura said smiling, not noticing the silent fight between the two family members.
"Impressive, Princess."
"Do it again, ninety nine more times. Heal him after every tenth, if a strike doesn't draw blood start over."
"Are…are you serious?" Sakura stared wide-eyed at Itachi.
"You do that and then I'll say impressed," he replied coldly.
"Go for it, princess. I think I've gotten three compliments in my entire life from the deadbeat over there," Shisui said smiling as he took off his shirt and tossed it in the water.
"Can…can I please numb him at least?" Sakura asked Itachi.
He nodded, surprised by her unwillingness to hurt Shisui. ANBUs had no quorums about being the crap out of each other…usually even without a medic present.
"Do it on land," Itachi added at the last minute.
"Okay," Sakura nodded and moved onto land and Shisui followed.
"Ready?" Shisui said.
"Yeap," Sakura replied popping the p and then began to strike him.
"Criss-cross your attack and switch up the momentum," he said after the fifth consecutive attack.
Sakura obeyed and stopped at the tenth and went over to heal him, "you don't feel anything right?" she whispered.
"Nada, leave some of the scars…you have no idea how the ladies love the scars."
"Itachi's right…" Sakura said as she finished healing him, "you are an absolute idiot."
"He usually is, good luck princess! 90 more to go!"
After fifty, Sakura paused, "can I rest? I'm losing a lot of chakra from healing and controlling the whip."
"Then don't heal him," Itachi replied.
"Don't you love how he solves our problems…you should see when we're in battle," Shisui added, smirking.
"Please?" Sakura asked again.
"Fine."
Shisui glanced at his cousin who ignored his line of sight. Itachi never "fined" anything. It was his way or…well the very bloody and painful way which would eventually would lead to you doing it his way….or dying.
"Come here," Itachi said before Sakura managed to take a seat, "you need to learn to properly meditate."
"Okay," Sakura agreed as she and Shisui walked towards Itachi.
"Sit, close your eyes, steady your breathing and clam your heart," he said monotonously.
He didn't speak again until Sakura accomplished that.
"Now relax every muscle…nothing's tightened, you're not using any part of your body…"
Later he spoke again, "feel the air on your skin….it's an almost floating feeling. You feel the energy around you…and the chakra in your body…let them become one."
After an immeasurable amount of time Itachi spoke again, "Open your eyes."
Sakura did and she had never felt so refreshed…it was better than sleep. It was amazing…she didn't regain a lot of chakra, but she regained a lot more than if she would have just rested without sleep.
"Wow, that was amazing."
"Now finish your fifty lashes," Itachi said and Sakura nodded going back to the lake to retrieve a liquid whip. Before starting she touched Shisui again, to numb his entire body and then began the onslaught of attacks.
After completing all hundred lashes, in one session no less – Sakura felt pretty damn proud of herself. Itachi remained silent for a moment as he looked blankly at Sakura's liquid whip.
"Does Shisui's body need rest?" The younger Uchiha asked the Kunoichi.
"It would be ideal, his skin and muscles have been healed a lot and once the numbness wears off he's going to be…really…really sore."
"Alright, Shisui rest, Sakura, I'm going to attack you with a sword while we're on the lake. You're going to manipulate the water under you and solidify it before the strike" he said and then warned, "I will strike."
"O-o-okay," she said walking towards the lake slowly, hoping to hide her nervousness, "I don't have a lot of chakra left," she said.
"Manipulation shouldn't eat up a lot of chakra if you're connected to a body of water, and you need to learn to use less when you solidify it."
"Okay."
"Remember princess, it's just like trying to compact a lot of water into a tiny chakra vessel to make it solid," Shisui said as he sat on the edge of the land, his feet dipped in the water.
Itachi took out a sword from his sheath, "don't be scared," he whispered, "I won't go fast…yet."
"I trust you," Sakura said taking a deep breath.
"I'm striking across you, up down from the right," Itachi said, doing just that, slowly, Sakura manipulated the water between her feet to rise up like a shield. It didn't solidify in time, but it did manage to stop his attack. She dispelled it.
"You didn't need such a large amount of water to deflect my attack. If my sword strikes vertically, create water horizontally, if my sword strikes downwards right diagonally, block upwards left diagonally."
"Yes, sir," Sakura nodded, understanding.
"I'm going to cut right horizontally at your neck," Itachi said before moving his sword towards her neck. A vertical line of water jumped up and solidified in time to stop his attack.
"Downward right vertical across your chest," she blocked it perfectly.
"Vertical attack from your crotch up," she blocked it again.
"Right horizontal attack to your knees," she continued doing just as she should.
"Left diagonal bottom up from your hips," she began to feel more comfortable with calling up the water to solidly for a second to block his attack.
"I'm going to go faster now," Itachi said…and he went faster.
Sakura succeeded in blocking every hit he said he'd do, and was only late on three of them.
"Now I'm not going to tell –" Itachi dropped to his knee in time to catch the fainting Sakura from drowning.
"You worked her pretty hard today," Shisui said after he appeared beside his younger cousin. Itachi slowly tossed the girl over his shoulder and walked back onto land. He laid her down on the land carefully.
"I suppose," Itachi answered, returning his sword into his scabbard and Shisui sat beside the pink haired girl, brushing loose locks out of her face.
A moment later Sakura regained consciousness, "wha, what?" she sat up slowly and the swayed to the side lightly.
"It's okay, princess, you fainted," Shisui said offering a smile. It seemed as though she was doing a lot of that lately.
Sakura looked at Itachi, "I'm sorry…I didn't mean to, I'll try harder next to - to use less chakra."
"Alright, nothing else for tonight, let's go," Itachi said as he and Shisui both offered their hand to her.
She accepted both and they pulled her up.
"Man, I'm hungry," Shisui said as he stretched his arms over his head.
"I think you worked hard enough for a nice hot meal," Sakura said, "I can cook for you two if you want…I have enough for three."
"Awwww, princess…Itachi, can we? Can we? Can we?"
"She has a shift at the hospital in the morning; we'll get our meal in our own homes."
"You take the fun out life," Shisui muttered as they walked out of the training grounds.
"I'm surprised more people aren't here," Sakura commented, "no one's seems to come into the water room at night."
"Oh, they do…Itachi, just warned every ANBU and Jonin from even thinking of using that room without terrible…terrible repercussions that would involve a lot of torture and possible loss of limbs and eventual death."
"I did no such thing," Itachi replied glaring at his cousin.
"Well…he just said it will be in use by him…which is saying the same thing…just not in so many words"
Sakura giggled softly, "well, thank you very much," and slightly swayed but both ninjas caught her by the elbows and straightened her. They didn't let her go as they walked down the street.
"I can walk…"
"Hn."
"But isn't better for a princess to be supported by two dazzling knights."
"Shisui, I really think Itachi's going to snap and kill you for the things you say," Sakura said stifling a yawn.
"But if he kills me…he won't have any friends."
"Sure he will, he has me," Sakura said smiling.
"Now you're just giving him an incentive to kill me," Shisui teased.
"I have nothing against killing you both."
Shisui sighed, "You have to excuse Itachi, his flirting skills are outdated by a few centuries and couple parallel universes."
Sakura giggled again as she offered the teased Uchiha a gentle smile, his dark eyes softened as he looked back at her.
A/N: One of my favorite chapters. I hope you enjoyed! Please review!