With essays to write and finals coming closer, I'm afraid that the update schedule will be thrown out the window. Updates will be sporadic, if they occur at all.
Thanks to all my readers and reviewers. Enjoy the chapter.
Uchiha Himari was no fool. She knew the members of her clan looked down upon her. All because she didn't have those characteristic red eyes. A genetic defect, the doctors had determined.
She didn't see what was so important about the Sharingan. Sharingan, Sharingan. Plenty of shinobi got along just fine without one. You are an Uchiha, they had said. Without the Sharingan, you are a failure, she had been told.
Well, she had proved them wrong. Despite the lack of a Sharingan, she was one of the best ninjutsu users in Konoha. They couldn't argue with that.
And now she was being asked to teach a bunch of Academy students. She was on leave right now after a stint in Anbu, and being surrounded by kids who were easily impressed by giant fireballs wasn't the worst thing she could do during her break. Her parents hadn't approved.
"Why would you want to be around those silly children when you could be practicing a new technique?"
They had never been able to stop her from doing anything before, and they couldn't stop her now. They knew that. Her parents were only trying to look out for her, in their own roundabout way.
She would never be respected by the Uchiha as long as she didn't have a Sharingan. Hanging out with "snot-nosed brats" would lower her status even more, especially since most of them were so-called "outsiders". She scoffed mentally. There was nothing wrong with being a kid. Everyone was a kid at some point. And there was nothing wrong with being a non-Uchiha. In fact, she rather envied them, especially civilians. Civilians never had to deal with shinobi clan politics.
Now, what should she do for her entrance? It had to be really dramatic. Grab their attention. And there were a lot of clan kids, so she had to do something that would impress even them. An idea suddenly occurred to her. She knew what she could do.
-X-
"Are you OK, Sakura?" Chōji asked, his face scrunched with worry.
"Yeah. I'm OK. I just need to take a little breather," she replied, touched by his concern.
Sakura was currently standing on the track in the Academy training grounds. She had just finished her laps, lagging far behind the rest of the class. Chōji had volunteered to stay and run with her.
Sakura took the opportunity to stretch a little. Out on the track, the slowest students in their PA class were still running.
"I'm just a little worn out by my training yesterday," she explained.
Chōji nodded in sympathy. Sakura's hard days were on Tuesdays and Fridays. When she had first begun her training at the beginning of the month, she had barely been able to walk after her hard days. PA on Wednesdays had been absolute torture for her.
As they walked to the field to join the rest of the class, Sakura scowled at the weight seals on her legs. It was all their fault. They made her sore. They made her slow. They made her irritable.
She blinked as her thoughts caught up with her. Was she really getting angry at inanimate objects? Sakura sighed as she began doing push-ups. There should have been more books about the mental aspects of training. How to keep going when you were feeling down. How to continue walking forward when you weren't making any progress.
There were stories about legendary battles, but nothing about the obstacles the legends had to go through to get as strong as they were. If only training could be as glorious as the montages in movies.
-X-
"You can't watch," the Academy sensei said with a hint of derision.
"I have a pass!" Naruto cried. He knew he was a little late, but he was determined to meet the ninjutsu expert.
"It looks like the signature was forged." The sensei turned away from him in favor of answering another student's question.
Naruto seethed. He knew that people didn't like him because of the fox, but he hadn't realized that it extended to Academy instructors as well. He had really been lucky to have Iruka-sensei as a teacher. While Iruka-sensei never approved of his pranks, he had never looked at him with such disdain, like he was worth less than the gum on the bottom of a muddy shoe. He stormed away from the scene. If Uzumaki Naruto wouldn't be allowed in, then he wouldn't be Uzumaki Naruto.
A few hand seals gave him mousy brown hair, a wider nose, and a tanned face. A few inches had been added to his height, and his appearance favored that of a tall, thin reed. He pulled out a pair of fake glasses and settled them on the bridge of his nose to complete the look. Now he was just another regular Academy student.
He strolled into the Academy training grounds without any interference, and couldn't resist shooting a triumphant smirk at the back of the sensei who had tried to stop him. His spirits lifted, he made his way over to his friends. Sakura's bright pink hair was easily visible amongst a sea of brunettes and blondes.
Shikamaru glanced up as he moved closer, and gestured for the group to make room for him. His friends were unbothered as he sat down. They were used to his frequent use of the Transformation jutsu.
The crowd of students was gathered in a semicircle around the center of the training grounds. All were excited for the upcoming spectacle. Practically the entire school was there.
Suddenly, a burst of chakra emanated from the center of the circle. There were a few yelps of surprise, and the students fell silent. A giant flame raged within the circle, almost blinding in its intensity, before slowly dying down to reveal a dark-haired kunoichi in the center.
His mouth was hanging open. That was so cool!
Ino and Chōji were both staring in amazement. Even Shikamaru's face had on a look of awe, in contrast to his usual lazy disposition. Sakura was … taking notes?
"OK kids! My name is Uchiha Himari, and today, you guys are going to witness all five types of elemental ninjutsu! Prepare to be rocked!" The ninjutsu expert, now revealed to be Uchiha Himari, had a brilliant smile on her face, her posture relaxed. The last flickers of the flame were slowly disappearing, giving her a yellowish glow.
She quickly started forming hand seals, and Naruto noticed that she was wearing black fingerless gloves.
"You've just seen fire, so I'll show you the power of wind," she stated. Her voice, filled with confidence, echoed over the quiet training ground.
The unfortunate recipient of the attack, a training dummy, received several deep gashes before finally being blown away by the force of the wind.
"Wind jutsu are used to cut and slash. They're strong against lightning, but weak against fire," Himari lectured as her attack died out. "It's rare for people in Konoha to be born with an affinity for wind, but not impossible. Wind jutsu can also be used in combination with fire jutsu to increase the strength of the fire technique."
Himari then continued through the natures, demonstrating a jutsu and providing information about each element.
Naruto watched raptly. As the future Hokage, he had to do his best to master as many ninjutsu as possible. When he got home, he was going to find his elemental affinity, and he was going to start training right away!
He frowned then. He knew he needed special paper to find his affinity, but he had no idea where to get them.
"You can to to Pointed Weapons to get chakra paper. Himari-sensei might have some, too. You should ask her," Sakura answered his question.
Had he spoken out loud?
Himari had finished her demonstrations, and most of the spectators were heading home now. A few ambitious students, including Sakura, had stayed behind to ask questions. If Sakura was doing it, then he could do it too!
Naruto stood up and stretched. It felt weird, keeping up a transformation for this long. He walked towards Himari and waited patiently for his turn.
"Do you have any more chakra paper, Himari-sensei?" She had used a piece of chakra paper during her demonstration, but he didn't know if she had any other sheets.
Himari looked pleasantly surprised.
"Yeah, I have some." She paused to fish a sheet of paper out of one of the pockets in her jōnin vest. "Not a lot of people have asked, kid." She paused. "You need a key, too."
Naruto was finally gifted with two items: a key and a sheet of chakra paper.
"Have fun, train hard, and avoid chakra exhaustion, kay?" she said with a wink.
"Thanks, Himari-sensei!"
It felt good to be treated nicely.
He held his transformation until he got to a secluded training ground. A twist of his chakra and he was back to Uzumaki Naruto.
Sakura had explained the usage of the chakra paper to him, so he put a bit of his chakra into his paper. The side closest to him split in half, while the other side became damp. After sensei's demonstrations, he was pretty sure he knew what affinities these matched up with, but he checked the key just in case.
Aha. He knew it. Wind and water. He knew Sakura also had a water affinity. And didn't Himari say that wind affinities were rare? He felt special. A rare affinity. Him.
As he went to stuff the key back into his pocket, he saw a few words written on the back.
He inspected the key yet again.
Your transformation is very good.
He flushed. She knew! Of course, it was probably hard to fool a ninjutsu expert, but … wait. That meant she probably knew who he was. And she hadn't yelled at him. She had helped him.
Somebody had acknowledged him.
The dream of Hokage seemed closer than ever.
-X-
Faster… Faster… Sakura panted in exhaustion as she willed her burning legs to move. She was only halfway through her usual run, and her body seemed to be giving up on her. The weights would make her runs more difficult, she had known that, but she hadn't anticipated this!
Three-quarters through her usual run, she finally threw in the towel and collapsed against the trunk of a tree, breathing a sigh of relief as she felt the tension leave her legs. Deactivating the chakra-suppression seals, she directed chakra to her right leg. Thank Sage for chakra.
She knew she shouldn't rely on chakra during her physical conditioning. That's why she used chakra-suppression seals in the first place. But desperate times called for desperate measures.
When she finally made her way back to the training ground, she was mentally debating whether to continue. It was all too common for shinobi to overdo their training, and she didn't want to get into the habit of pushing herself to injury.
Then again, the next part of her training might be a little easier. She saw Naruto sitting in a corner of the field, meditating.
Sakura thought she would never see the day when Naruto would stand still, but he had avidly thrown himself into ninjutsu training as soon as he had found out his affinities less than an hour ago.
Well, with Naruto trying so hard, there was no way she was going to give up. She had rested for a couple of minutes by now, and the throbbing in her legs had gone down, so that was a plus.
Sakura gleefully removed the weight seals and stood up. And she ran. She felt so much faster without the weights! But how much faster? After timing a few sprints, she was disheartened. She hadn't gotten faster, she had gotten slower. Konoha wasn't built in a day, she berated herself. Her body was still aching after carrying around the extra weight. It was only after sufficient recovery that she would bounce back faster than ever.
She continued her conditioning, grateful for her freedom from the dreaded weights.
A sense of contentment filled her as she finished her last rep. Of course, she still had her cool-down, but she had finished her first day of conditioning with weights! She felt positively giddy with success.
Naruto walked over during her cool-down, finished with his meditation.
"Sakura-chan, do you think people can be mean and kind at the same time?"
She frowned in thought. "Yeah, people can definitely be mean and kind at the same time. For example, look at a shinobi killing an enemy. They're definitely being mean to the enemy, but they're taking those actions so they can protect their comrades, so they're being kind to their friends," she explained.
"OK. Thanks, Sakura-chan," Naruto mumbled, drifting into deep thought once again.
What had he been thinking about?
-X-
"So, how'd it go?"
"How'd what go? You ought to be more specific with your questions." She loved teasing him.
"You know what I mean." He was pouting. She knew he was pouting. She could hear it in his voice.
"It went really well. The kids loved me. It's to be expected, though. Kids know awesomeness when they see it."
"Are you implying that I'm not awesome? I'm hurt, Himari-chan," he said, holding a hand to his chest.
"The only thing that's hurt is your ego, Shisui-kun" she shot back.
"You're so mean!" he accused, childishly pointing a finger in her direction.
"It's in my nature, Sui-kun." Her teasing grin slipped from her face. "You actually think this is going to help prevent the coup?"
A moment of silence. "It can't make the situation any worse," he replied softly. "If we make the Uchiha seem more human, the village's opinion of the clan will start to change, and maybe the elders will stop pushing forward with their ridiculous plan. They'll bring war to Konoha if they aren't stopped."
Sensing the darkening mood, Himari quickly stepped in. "Man, I'm really hungry. Those ninjutsu took a big bite out of my chakra. Speaking of bites, I know that someone promised to take me to an Akimichi restaurant," she said, turning to shoot a devious smile at Shisui.
Shisui gulped nervously. His poor wallet was already crying.