Greetings! how are we all? why am i even asking? unless you respond in review or PM i'll never know how you are . . . oh well, still nice to ask. in any case, I have a few points to clear up with this chapter . . . i kinda like it buuuuuut i was sick while i was writing most of it . . . so quality it a little . . . questionable and content is two . . . not sure on some of those scenes . . . oh well! hope you all enjoy

see you at the bottom!


Part 9

Ino woke up slowly, smiling and uttering a sigh of content as she took in the luxurious feeling of her bed sheets. The soft, almost cotton like texture of her sheets was absolutely divine. It was then that she realised something was wrong, her bed sheets were silk and not whatever she was currently laying on. Opening her eyes slowly, Ino took in her surroundings, hoping she hadn't given away the fact that she was awake just yet.

"Good morning Ino-chan" came the voice of an unknown male, preventing Ino from getting a look at anything other than her light grey bedsheets. "Oh yes, I know you are awake, not noticing that you weren't in your own home came a little too late for you to try and pretend to still be asleep" the voice continued. With a groan, Ino sat up, looking at the man in question now and noticing that there was nothing restraining her, nothing to stop her from attacking this man.

"Who are you and what do you want with me?" Ino asked, venom dripping from her every word.

"Ahh, my dear, we shall get to that presently however, before we do, would you mind telling me if you can read the memories of those you use that mind body transfer jutsu on?" the man asked and Ino narrowed her eyes.

"I'm not going to help you interrogate someone" she said simply as she glared at her kidnapper.

"I want you to use it on me" he said and this got Ino's attention

"Wha? Why? Why do you want me to use it on you? I'll learn all of your secrets! You aren't supposed to give yours to me, you are supposed to take mine!" Ino said and then realised what she said a few moments later.

"While amusing as that would be, I want you to see something and it exists within my memories . . . it's why I have absconded with you as it were" the man said in reply, a smirk on his lips

"Why should I? Clearly this is serving you so I don't want any part of it!" Ino said stubbornly, crossing her arms as she did so.

"Really? Perhaps then I shall just keep you here and ransom you off to your father" the man asked, chuckling lightly. "In all honesty, if you do not wish to perform this task for me . . . you may leave" the man stepped to the side and indicated the door that was behind him. "The tunnel that serves as this facility's exit will lead you to the side of a back street near to the Yamanaka compound" he said before turning his attention back to the girl sitting in the bed.

"You're just gonna let me go? Just like that? Why should I believe you?" Ino asked, looking at the man with suspicion

"If you were to look into my memories . . . you would know" he replied cryptically. Ino needed to know what this man's intentions were and he was clearly just standing there, it would be so easy for her to just raise her hands and initiate the mind body transfer so she did just that and within less than a second, she was slumped over on the bed.

The man stood there, watching Ino's body for an indeterminate amount of time before, with a gasp, Ino straightened up and looked at the man with shock and disbelief.

"Sen . . . sei?" Ino whispered quietly, causing the man to smile warmly at her, walk around to her side of the bed and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Welcome back . . . my apprentice" the man said with a smile "I have much work to do and you have much training to do . . . we shall meet again in a few weeks, take this scroll to help you learn on your own" the man said, handing Ino the scroll he mentioned.

"Right . . . sensei . . . I guess I will see you next time" Ino said, uncertainty lacing her words.

"Indeed you shall . . . indeed you shall"


"Aren't you a bit young to be in a place like this?" said a barkeep who was greeting a young girl with pink hair.

"I'm a ninja . . . old enough to kill, old enough to drink" the girl murmured and the barkeep then noticed the haunted look in the girl's eyes. With a heavy sigh he pulled out a bottle of Sake and a cup.

"I've seen that look too many damn times" the barkeep said as he filled the cup and slid it along to the place the pink haired girl had pulled herself to "name's Shin" he grunted.

"Sakura" the girl replied as she picked up the cup and knocked the entire saucer's worth of Sake in one sitting. The girl cringed until her head was on the counter but a few seconds later she had risen it and looked at the bottle expectantly.

"What's the story behind this sitting?" Shin asked as he poured another saucer out for the girl who was clearly no older than twelve.

"They don't teach us how to get out of Genjutsu in the academy . . . I got hit with one . . . and I have an exact memory so . . ." Sakura paused long enough to knock back another saucer of the clear liquid, cringe until she got over the kick and then continue. "So I remember murdering my entire family and all of my friends very clearly . . . the smell of blood, the sound of their screams, the feeling of their hot blood" Sakura shivered and another full saucer landed in front of her which she knocked back, this time leaving her head on the counter.

"That . . . would do it" Shin agreed with a grimace, he knew he'd need words with the Hokage about the curriculum of the academy. "Seen some bad stuff in my time as well you know" he said to the girl who looked up, a little blearily. "Fought during the second and third wars . . . wasn't a picnic I can tell ya that now" he said as he pulled out a saucer for himself and poured another for Sakura. The two picked up their drinks and knocked them back together.

"My dad never wanted me to be a ninja, and mum was only a little better, she wants me to fast track to chunin so I can hide in the tower doing admin stuff" Sakura said, waving her empty cup around before setting it back down to be refilled.

"You wouldn't happen to be related to Haruno Kizashi would you?" Shin asked as he remembered a bear of a man with pink hair. Sakura shook her head.

"Mum told me about him, apparently she was related to him or something so he's maybe an uncle?" Sakura said while Shin poured another saucer for her "but other than that, I never even met him, he died before I was born or so I'm told" with that the two continued talking for some time longer.


"Hey Tenten, how are you?" Naruto asked as he walked into the workshop that was attached to the Higurashi weapons shop. Tenten was sitting to the side with a kunai in one hand and sandpaper in the other, several more kunai were on a table nearby waiting to be sanded.

"Hey Naruto . . . what happened to that silly nickname you had for me?" Tenten replied, shooting the blond a grin.

"Meh, it was just a silly nickname anyway, nobody else gets it so I prefer to use it when I don't want others to know who I'm talking about" Naruto replied as he pulled up a stool and a square of sandpaper and began working on the tools with Tenten. "We passed the true genin exam" he said simply.

"Oh? Who's on your team?" Tenten asked, putting one kunai down and grabbing out another before continuing her work.

"I've got Sakura who coincidentally happens to be good at strategy, I've got Sasuke who is already using chunin grade Ninjutsu and we have Kakashi who is famed for being exactly three hours late to just about everything" Naruto said and chuckled a little "Gotta admit, kinda worried my team is gonna die on the way to the missions office let alone on our first mission"

"Well, with specs like what you just describe, I can't see how you would get to that conclusion" Tenten replied, giving the boy a glance as she did.

"Yeah, we all have skills but the thing is, it's the personality clash. Sasuke is an Uchiha, Sakura is bipolar or something and Kakashi couldn't care less if we all died" Naruto said with his chuckle turning dark "certainly going to be interesting"

"Please, I don't think it's going to be anywhere near as bad as you think it will be" Tenten said, looking directly at Naruto. "Now shut up and give me the three twenty grit" she said as she turned back to the weapon in her hand. Naruto obediently picked up a different kind of sandpaper and handed it to the girl and they went back to work.

"Oh hey . . ." Naruto began, pausing his work to look at Tenten. Hearing the tone in his voice, Tenten stopped what she was doing to look at him. Instead of saying anything, Naruto took his sword off his back and held the sheathed weapon out in front of him in both hands, his head bowed slightly. Tenten looked down at the sword and then back up at Naruto before smiling softly and taking the weapon.

"With pleasure" she said before unsheathing the weapon and taking a good look at it to see if there is any damage that would need to be repaired. "You really should bring this in more often, swords need maintenance regularly if you want them to be in prime killing condition" she said as she inspected the blade. Naruto winced at the mention of killing before he turned his head away. "You've used this" Tenten said softly, her jaw set into a hard line "By the look of it . . . they aren't getting up again" Tenten ran a finger over a section of the blade that had some blood still on it. "Let's go get something to drink afterwards" Naruto merely nodded.


"U-um . . ." Sakura began as she watched a tall man in a bowl cut wearing a green body suit. The man in question rounded on the girl with a smile so bright it was reflecting some of the rapidly descending moonlight into Sakura's eyes.

"Greetings! You are up awfully early there! Are you trying to invigorate the fires of your youth?!" Asked the man in a booming voice while he struck a pose with his thumb up.

"A-are you Gai-sensei?" Sakura asked, her desire to be there rapidly dwindling.

"Why yes, yes I am! Was there something you needed of me?! Perhaps you are here to learn the ways of YOUTH!" Sakura winced at the loud bellow that Gai issued forth to cap his statement.

"Gai-sensei! Who is this lovely flower of youth!?" exclaimed a smaller version of Gai who had mysteriously appeared next to his larger variant.

"Erm . . . my name is Haruno Sakura . . . and uhhh . . ." Sakura paused again, remembering clearly what that woman had told her but the two's over expressive nature was very oppressive and this was weighing against her desire to improve. Suddenly, a flashback to the day previous and Kakashi's Genjutsu ran through her mind and Sakura was forced to bow her head and hide her face under her hair. Gai and his clone saw this and instantly knew something was wrong but just as Gai was about to say something, Sakura lifted her head again, ripped the Hitai-ate from her head, forcefully fastened it to her forehead, looked up at the tall man and said, in a voice just as loud and booming as theirs, "HELP ME IGNITE THE FIRES OF MY YOUTH!" Gai was shocked into silence along with his clone for several heartbeats before he cracked a megawatt smile.

"Do you hear that Lee!? This young ninja needs our help to ignite the fires of her youth!" he boomed at the clone, clenching his fist in determination, an action mirrored by Lee.

"Yes Gai-sensei! If we cannot do this I will run three laps around Konoha on my hands!" Lee exclaimed


"Sakura! Why don't you put this on?" Gai asked, holding up a tiny version of the outfit both he and Lee were wearing. Sakura had already been doing some of the warm up exercises that Gai had put her too and was already mildly out of breath despite it only being half an hour in "It's breathable, retains moisture and offers complete freedom of movement all in one sweet package! If you wear it while you train you will notice an immediate improvement in all aspects of your physical training!" Sakura looked at the garment that was flapping around in the breeze in Gai's hand.

"That . . ." Sakura said, pausing while she pointed to the outfit in question "Is supposed to help me train?" she asked

"Yes! I doubt Lee wouldn't have been able to get where he is now in a year if it weren't for this body suit!" Gai exclaimed, drawing the two's attention over to where Lee was running laps around the training field they were in on his hands.

"I guess it can't hurt to wear it while I'm training . . . in that case, it won't matter if anyone sees me cause it's a training outfit . . ." Sakura said as she tried to justify wearing it to herself. Taking the garment and looking it at, it both looked and felt flimsy. "Are you sure this is even practical? I mean it feels like it'd tear if I pull it a little" she asked.

"I have been wearing my body suits for a year now through strenuous exercise and I have yet to tear my suit once despite all of the training with my most youthful teammate Tenten who is a weapons mistress" Lee said, joining in on the conversation. Sakura looked down at the garment and then back up at the two green clad ninja before sighing.

"Fine, I'll be right back" She said before heading off to put the bodysuit on.

A short while later Sakura was standing in front of Gai and Lee again with a deadpan expression on her face. The two men looked at each other before looking back at Sakura.

"Is there a problem with the outfit Sakura-chan?" Lee asked the stoney faced Sakura

"I have two questions . . ." Sakura said "What is this made out of and does this come in other colours?" She asked and immediately the two other green clad ninja grinned megawatt smiles.


Naruto took a good long look at Sakura. They were on the bridge that Kakashi had told them to meet on and currently, the most prominent feature was Sakura who was hanging over the railing like a towel out to dry. She was also garbed in a green body suit which looked completely at odds with her billowing pink hair.

"Hey Sakura . . . feeling a bit tired are we?" Naruto asked, an eyebrow cocked as he studied her response. It took several moments for Sakura to reply and when she did it was several more moments while she pried herself from the railing to look at Naruto.

"Naruto-kun? I was training . . . it was tiring" she said before slumping over the railing again

"Well now . . . you look like you could use some sleep" came the voice of Kakashi as he appeared behind Naruto with Sasuke a close second behind him. "We were going to do team exercises before we do a mission but I think Sakura will need a nap . . . especially if she has been training with . . . him" Images of a green clad man exclaiming 'Youth!' ran through Kakashi's head before he returned his attention to his now green clad student. Sakura was already asleep however so she heard none of this.

"Why is Sakura wearing . . . that?" Sasuke asked, gesturing to the girl's choice of attire

"It's a training outfit that Gai, another jounin sensei, likes to wear . . . he also recommends it to all his students but so far, all bar two have had the good sense to refuse" Kakashi replied "In any case . . . Naruto, grab Sakura, let's go to our training ground"

A few minutes later, they were at their training ground with Sakura peacefully napping under a tree.

"So what's the plan? We can't do team training without Sakura here . . ." Naruto said, looking at Sakura's sleeping form "And is it just me or does that outfit hug her in juuuust the right places?" he added with a grin. Kakashi sent a glare to Naruto who put his hands up in mock surrender.

"Due to . . . circumstances . . . team training will be taking precedence over missions and after team training I will be taking Sasuke on for private tutoring" Kakashi said as he gave a look over in Sakura's direction, hoping nobody else noticed the regret he was feeling.

"Council screwing everything up again eh?" Naruto asked with a grin, eliciting a look from both Kakashi and Sasuke.

"What would the council care about one team dobe?" Sasuke asked, lacing his question with sarcasm.

"You, and the daughter of one of the civilian council happens to be over there napping, but mostly you" Naruto replied with a serious expression. Sasuke just clicked his tongue in response.

"So that's how it's going to work . . . this isn't because Sasuke is favoured though . . . it's just that Sasuke has nobody else to train him, both you and Sakura do" Kakashi said, speaking to Naruto. "For today however . . . we are just going to do a mission, I'll wake Sakura up when it's time but you two can spar for a while, I'm sure Naruto is more than capable of stomping you into the ground Sasuke" Kakashi said, casually egging the egotistical Uchiha on.

"Unlikely" Sasuke replied with a glower aimed at Naruto who grinned as he stepped into his Taijutsu style.

"He was taught by one of the two best Taijutsu fighters in all of Konoha . . . I think he has an edge" Kakashi replied from over the top of his orange book that had appeared in his hand. Kakashi turned at that and walked over to where Sakura was napping and leant against the tree that was providing her shade. "Have fun, stick to Taijutsu, don't kill Sasuke" Kakashi called out


Ino was wondering the streets, heading to nowhere in particular, as the sun lazily descended in the sky. She didn't want to go home yet, the memories she had recently acquired were still fresh on her mind and she didn't want her parents to notice. Suddenly, Ino picked a shock of bright pink hair out of the crowd and followed it.

"Sakuraaaaa~~" Ino sang out to the pink haired girl as she caught up. The girl in question stopped and labouriously turned to face Ino, her current standing posture was hunched almost halfway over. It was at this point that Ino noticed exactly what Sakura was wearing.

"Oh hi Ino, how are you?" Sakura asked, straightening up so that she wasn't slouching so much. Sakura looked weary to Ino but the outfit was of more immediate concern.

"Sakura? What are you wearing?" Ino chuckled, the green bodysuit looked completely ridiculous on Sakura.

"Hmm? What do you mean? I'm wearing my red dress as always" Sakura asked, confusion written across her face. Ino looked at Sakura with disbelief before holding up one finger and pointing down to Sakura's chest. Sakura followed Ino's finger down and took a look at what she was wearing. Ino waited for several seconds before it finally clicked in Sakura's tired mind with an almost audible click. "AAAAAAAAH I forgot to change!" Sakura practically screamed "Th-th-that means my dress has been sitting in a random clearing since five this morning!" Sakura said as she looked back and forth before rocketing off in a random direction.

"And suddenly she gets all the energy back" Ino said to herself before taking off after her best friend. Ino remembered at this point that they were supposed to be rivals for Sasuke's heart but somehow that seemed so childish compared with just last week at team assignments where she watched as Sasuke basically insulted a clan for having been destroyed.

After several minutes of running, Ino finally managed to catch up to Sakura who had put on quite the burst of speed despite being apparently dead on her feet.

"Damn Sakura, when did you get so fast? I almost couldn't catch you" Ino said as she took a moment to get her breath back.

"It's gotta be around here somewhere!" Sakura replied as she frantically searched around the clearing.

"Exactly what were you doing to forget you left your clothes in a place like this?" Ino asked incredulously

"Huh? I was training" Sakura replied as she continued searching.

"Training? At five in the morning? Why were you training that early for? Ino asked with even more incredulous than before

"Hmm? Oh no I started at four thirty and because I had team training today and a mission . . . I wanted to fit in some training time but the teacher I wanted to train with only had his morning routine free and that's what time they start so . . . yeah" Sakura explained as she straightened up with an annoyed express "my clothes aren't here" she said before turning her attention back to Ino "Aren't we supposed to be rivals or something?" Ino sighed

"We were supposed to be rivals in love . . . kinda hard to do when we aren't going for the same guy anymore" Ino said as she leant on a nearby tree, her arms folded.

"You don't like Sasuke any more?" Sakura asked, tilting her head

"No . . . I was already on the fence until team selection . . . you don't insult clans in front of people from clans . . . not like that and especially not when your own clan was destroyed by a single person" Ino said as she closed her eyes and sighed deeply.

"True . . . for me, I just took a look at what it was that I liked about him . . . and I mean he IS pretty . . . but not much else . . . my bodysuit has more personality than he does" Sakura said as she leant against an adjacent side of the same tree that Ino was leaning on. Ino for her part, looked up and inspected the outfit before chuckling lightly.

"You know, I think you are right, green is still a colour therefore your bodysuit has more colour than Sasuke does" Ino said and both girls giggled.

"Friends?" Sakura said suddenly, sticking her hand out to Ino. Ino's face dropped into a warm smile.

"Friends" she said, taking Sakura's hand before yanking and hauling the pink haired girl into a hug that Sakura returned after only a moment of surprise


Sakura walked into a weapons shop, walls covered in implements of death.

"Welcome! Can I help you with something young miss?" the kindly man behind the counter asked

"Umm . . . I was thinking that I needed a weapon . . . my chakra is really small so I can't be a Ninjutsu fighter and Genjutsu doesn't have the same combat potential to make up for it so . . ." Sakura explained as she walked up to the counter

"Ahh I see, you want a main weapon to use so you can still fight even if you are specialising in Genjutsu" The man said as he walked around the counter and began looking at the racks of weapons. Sakura nodded at his statement as she followed him.

"I may not specialise in Genjutsu but without the chakra reserves . . . Ninjutsu is going to be of limited use for me" she said. The man nodded but it was clear his attention was elsewhere as he pulled a short spear from a rack and handed it to Sakura. The girl in question looked down at the weapon and back up to the man who was giving her an analytical look.

"A spear is good at keeping the enemy at distance . . . but it doesn't look right for you . . . spears are more of a defensive weapon and you look like you need an offensive weapon" he said, his hand on his chin in thought. The man took the spear from Sakura and began searching around his racks until he pulled a katana from a rack and handed it to Sakura unsheathed. "Give that a few swings like this" he said as he mimed some downward diagonal strokes. Sakura did this and the man watched intently. Sakura wasn't sure if she thought the intensity of his stare was creepy or not but she certainly felt something.

"Is that any good?" she asked the man "What was your name anyway?"

"Ahh, sorry, I get carried away sometimes, I'm Higurashi, I own this weapon shop and no . . . that wasn't the right one for you . . . maybe a slightly different . . ." Higurashi said, trailing off as he turned back to the rack he had stationed himself at and inspecting the weapons, occasionally throwing a glance at Sakura. "Give the weapon another couple of swings" he ordered and watched her intently as she did.

"I thought this weapon wasn't any good for me?" Sakura asked while she swung the katana but Higurashi stayed silent. Higurashi pulled out another sword that was longer than the katana Sakura had in her hands and also more curved.

"This is a tachi . . . not used all that often any more, too curved, too long, too expensive, too hard to find that sorta stuff" he said as he handed it to Sakura "Give it a few swings" Sakura did and again Higurashi studied her form.

"Any good?" Sakura asked, turning back to the man who was still looking at her with his hand on his chin. "What are you looking at anyway?" she asked.

"That bodysuit of yours makes it a lot easier to tell exactly what kind of sword you need . . . the suit moves with you rather than you move it like what happens with most clothing" Higurashi said

"I'm not sure I understand" Sakura replied, cocking her head to one side

"Ever wonder why samurai wear flowing clothing? It's so that they don't need to worry about their clothes getting in the way, it's the same reason why shinobi wear clothing that allows free range of movement or as close to as they can get but in any case, by watching what your body does, I can see what type of weapon you need" Higurashi explained before taking the tachi from Sakura and walking over to a rack with smaller swords on it. He looked at the rack intently for what seemed a long time before pulling off a ninja-to and handing it to Sakura who gave it a few swings.

"Is this any good? I'm supposed to use two hands right?" Sakura asked as she tried using one hand instead and then tried stabbing with the weapon and an overhead swing "Why is this such a hard process? Can't I just grab a sword off the rack and learn to use it?" she asked

"A weapon must be an extension of your limb, a part of you . . . swords doubly so. Any wasted movement is wasted energy and potential for your enemy to counter, if you can feel with your sword, you will waste no movement" Higurashi said absently as he stood there thinking. "I might have something for you . . . I'll be back in a second" he said before ducking out back of the shop to find what it was he was looking for.

A few moments later, Higurashi walked back into the store front carrying a sheathed blade. The handle was nothing like the weapons Higurashi had in his store and that immediately grabbed Sakura's attention.

"Some guy gave this to me along with a manual on how to use it . . . when I say 'gave' I mean sold it cheaply . . . I'm not even sure how this is made to tell the honest truth because it's certainly not folded steel" Higurashi said as he looked at the sheathed blade. At the base of the grip was a semi-sphere made of metal that looked like it was screwed on. The grip looked like it was leather wrapped and could be used with two hands, a metal band separated one section from the other. The guard was a standard guard used on katanas and other such swords.

"It doesn't look anything like the other weapons here" Sakura said, almost feeling like the sword was calling to her. Higurashi took one look at Sakura and grinned before unsheathing the blade and watching as Sakura's eyes widen slightly.

"It's nothing like the weapons here . . . it was as if, some foreigner took a look at the swords of his land and the swords of ours and said he wanted one of our swords done in their style" Higurashi said as he too looked at the blade. Sakura immediately noticed that the blade was wider than that of the standard katana even though it was curved like one. The blade was maybe two inches wide at it's base, curved like a katana and ended in a point like a katana. "One of the biggest changes to this weapon that I've seen . . . the weapon is double edged"

"What does that mean?" Sakura asked, unable to take her eyes off the sword

"It means that both sides of the sword are sharp . . . funny enough, the curve actually means that the sword can be used slightly differently depending on the side you use it on. The 'front' of the blade, the side we'd normally sharpen, can be used against unarmoured enemies and what not, quick slashes and cuts. The back side however, can be used to chop and dismember and it looks like whoever sharpened this weapon had that in mind" Higurashi explained as he handed the weapon to the pink haired girl who took it reverently.

"It's heavy" she said absentmindedly before raising it to her shoulder and noticing that she could barely get any real force into it if she swung it. Sakura tried something differently . . . she placed the sword on her shoulder, both hands on the grip and stood side on. Next Sakura, instead of just using her arms to swing, stepped forward and swept her entire body in a downward arc, causing the sword to fly through the air until it embedded into the wooden floor with a dull thump. "Erm . . . whoops" Sakura said with her eyes wide.

"Well . . . that was something . . . I needed a new floor anyway, I have no idea what price this sword is meant to be sold at so . . . I'll give you a discount" Higurashi said, knowing full well that the girl was leaving here with that sword. "And the training manuals" he added

"Training manuals? What are those? Do you mean training scrolls?" Sakura asked as she put the sword on the counter.

"No, it seems that the foreigners use books instead of scrolls for training, this one is quite thick and has a lot of instructions in it . . . seems like they really know their stuff when it comes to training new people with a sword . . . although one technique seems a bit silly and involves you unscrewing the pommel . . . that round thing on the bottom of the hilt" Higurashi said before pulling out a large, heavy book and dropping it onto the table with a resounding thud. "So will that be all?" he asked with a grin.


well . . . here we are at the end of another chapter. firstly, I'd like to clarify to those who read these A/Ns i like to watch vids on people blacksmithing things . . . and i like to watch vids on weapons and what not . . . there is some jargon in there that i've used but you can correctly say that it's mostly technobabble, it's correct jargon but is it used right? i have no idea. also, the sword i introduced at the end there . . . i saw it in a vid from skallagrim a little while ago and it was a sort of longsword/katana hybrid . . . it looked awesome.

in any case, tell me what you liked, disliked, what you thought could use improvement and what you'd like to see more of. take care