8. Training Day

"Alright! Sakura's with us!" Naruto cheered the next morning. As always, his enthusiasm exceeded the combined energy of every other team member. But at least the oppressive silence had lifted around Sasuke. He looked almost, maybe, sort of cheerful (if you squinted and liberally suspended your disbelief).

"Yes, yes." Kakashi-sensei was also looking better. The circles under his eyes were less exaggerated and his normal slouch seemed less from exhaustion and more from his habitual laziness. "Naruto, if you send three clones with Tazuna-san, we should be fulfilling our obligation to the mission."

A handful of clones popped into existence and, with great clamor and cheer, disappeared down the road towards the bridge. They were an effective early warning system if someone did attack the workers and, Sakura realized thinking about the weight of the cloned kunai, more effective than your average clone.

When they reached the familiar clearing, Kakshi hopped up into a tree and pulled out his little orange book. With a wave of his hand, he indicated two trees on the edge of the clearing. One's bark was almost stripped completely off and had a series of footprints leading up to the beginning of a foot of deep gashes in the bark. The other had a path that was shiny with use and a deeply scarred patch of earth at the foot of the tree.

"Alright, you guys know what to do." Kakashi glanced at the boys and returned to his book. With a sigh, Sasuke turned to the scarred tree and with a grimace of determination, Naruto turned to the unmarked one.

Sakura hesitated but, when Kakashi didn't look up from his reading to give her another set of directions, she turned to the tree she had originally climbed and glanced at it critically. Average size, average width. There was the fork in the tree she had reached at her first attempt, though she hadn't actually reached the top like Kakashi had asked.

Well, that was one thing she could do.

Thunk! Naruto fell to the ground, narrowly missing breaking his neck.

Crack! The tree splintered under Sasuke's foot and he kicked off, landing in a neat crouch to glare at the tree.

Sakura took a breath and concentrated her chakra into her feet. When she felt the familiar warm tingle, she opened her eyes and ran for her tree. Plant the foot. Leap up. Feel her chakra meet the warmth of the chakra of the tree, connect to it, settle her as if she were walking on the earth. Push off, plant another foot- again, again-

Her head broke through the canopy and Sakura gave a victorious whoop. Not only had she climbed to the top of the tree, but she realized she could use her chakra as an anchor to balance her on the thin, whippy branches at the crown.

The view was pretty great from up here. Wave country was small- there was only one direction that wasn't ringed in water. She could see the mangroves going out to the sea. See the bridge being built in the distance. See the clearing where the small village slowly sank into obscurity. Saw-

Wait- why was there smoke coming from the northern side of the island? Sakura squinted her eyes and looked at the dark plume rising up out of the forest. Maybe some wood cutters? One of the workers had mentioned that wave country manufactured its own pitch from the variety of firs on the island.

With a shrug, Sakura dismissed the smoke and walked slowly down the tree- allowing neither her momentum or gravity to force her down faster.

"Sakura! How did you do that?" Naruto ran up to her as soon as she stepped lightly off the tree. She was breathing hard- it was more difficult than it looked to keep yourself upright against gravity while fighting not to fall off a tree.

"Magic." She smirked at him, brushing her loosened hair out of her face.

"Sakura!" Naruto whined, "C'mon. Show me. How am I going to be Hokage if I can't even climb a tree!"

Sakura shrugged, "Maybe that will be your title. Here is Uzumaki Naruto- the only Hokage who can't climb a tree. Everyone will laugh at you behind their hands and say- ack!"

With a mock-growl, Naruto had tackled her- knocking her off balance and trapping her in a head lock.

"Sasuke!" He shouted, "I've got her! Now we can torture her until she gives up the secrets of Tree Climbing!"

Sasuke, Sakura noticed in surprise, had drifted closer and was watching them with unreadable eyes. At Naruto's call, he looked up in such surprise that Sakura had to stifle a laugh. But rather than turn away with an irritated huff, he raise a hand and poked Sakura sharply in the side.

"Tell us."

He was, Sakura realize, trying to tickle her.

There was a moment of stunned silence. She and Naruto exchanged a glance- and then they both burst into laughter. Sakura slipped easily out of Naruto's grip and threw her hands in the air.

"I concede," She giggled, "How am I supposed to withstand such skill?"

Naruto was, of course, more dramatic. Falling to his knees he held his hands out beseechingly to their team mate.

"Never have I seen such technique! The skill! The grace- will you teach me your interrogation secrets, oh Master Interrogator!"

"Tch." Sasuke rolled his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets, but didn't turn away. "Maybe."

"A born Yamanaka," Sakura shook her head in mock-sorrow, "Ino will be devastated."

"The Tragedy!" Naruto shouted, "The romance of the century- cut down before it could bloom."

"Tch."

"A T&I dynasty could have been founded."

"Stories could have been written."

"Guys, focus." Kakashi called from the tree, eyes never lifting from his book. Sakura immediately stiffened- authoritorial rebuke, no matter how mild, always filled her with dread.

"We are focusing!" Naruto whined, "We-"

"C'mon Naruto." Sakura grabbed his collar and tugged him towards his tree, "I'll help you with what you're doing wrong."

"Awesome!" Naruto was nothing if not mercurial and easily pleased. "Teach me, Captain Sakura-chan-sempai!"

Sakura rolled her eyes at the old nickname and shoved him towards the tree. "Climb it- I wasn't really watching the first time."

"First hundred times." Sasuke muttered as he came up beside them. Naruto pulled a rude face at him, but quickly returned to his task. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and brought his hands together as he concentrated. Then, with a shout, he opened his eyes and took off for the tree.

One, two-

Gravity won out and Naruto thunked to the ground, only to jump up in the next breath and race back over to Sakura.

"So, so- what am I doing wrong?"

Sakura frowned as she rewound the mental movie in her head. Naruto seemed to be doing all the correct steps- concentrating his chakra to his feet, connecting solidly with the trunk. Wait, that was it.

"Naruto! Your feet are slipping rather than sticking to the bark. You need to concentrate more chakra to the soles of your feet!" She diagnosed triumphantly.

"Huh?" Naruto squinted in confusion.

"The chakra. That you're concentrating to your soles- you need to gather more of it."

"What?"

"You know, when you are collecting your chakra before you run at the tree?"

"Yeah…. No, What?"

"This!" Sasuke snapped. He closed his eyes and brought his hands together. A nearly visible spike of chakra flared into life around his feet. The air suddenly became charged with energy and smelled like an oncoming storm.

Well, that was one question answered.

"Whoa! How did you do that?!" Naruto leapt back in amazement.

"You're using too much chakra," Sakura told Sasuke. "You need like a fourth of that to connect with the tree's chakra."

"Hn." Oh, so that's what I was doing wrong. Thank you so much, Sakura.

Ok, maybe she was reading into that a bit.

"Wait-wait- wait-" Naruto waved his hands for her attention, "Let me see if I got this straight. So, there's all this chakra circling throughout our bodies, right?"

"Along the meridians," Sakura agreed.

A couple weeks into the "how-the-hell-did-Naruto-graduate-without-learning-this?" lessons, Sakura realized that Naruto had no idea what chakra was. Oh, he had heard of the term, but he couldn't actually say how it was created or where it flowed or reference any of the traditional texts that described how to cultivate it. But that was all theoretical and Naruto had already amply proven he did not excel in the traditional school setting.

"Ok. And we can actually, like, control it?" Naruto looked both baffled and confused at the idea. Behind her, Sasuke scoffed, but Sakura only blinked in concern.

"Naruto, how did you think ninjutsu worked?"

The boy shrugged and grinned, "Magic?"

"Naruto, how did you graduate?"

"Eh? Sakura, I told you that story. That bastard-sensei-"

"No," Sakura cut off the stirring rendition of Iruka, the sensei extraordinaire, to the rescue, "No, how didn't a teacher catch this? It's one thing not to know the current balance of major powers. But to not know how chakra works- Naruto, you could have been really hurt!"

"Killed," Sasuke corrected darkly.

Naruto began to look a little concerned, "Yeah- but I know it now? And you and teme have been teaching me lots and-"

"You should go through the entire curriculum with him," Sasuke told her.

Sakura nodded, "I kept all my notes, organized by year and subject. We could start at the beginning in an accelerated program. It will take a couple months, but we've already gone over quite a few things. It's mostly filling in the gaps. A few hours every evening."

"And the morning. We'll get up early- go over the tai-jutsu forms."

"Hey-hey-hey- wait." Naruto shouldered his way into their conversation, "You can't fill up all of Sakura-chan's time. She needs to spend time with her parents. And Ino."

"No, she doesn't. She needs to train."

"Actually, I'd like to make sure I have enough time with them," Sakura cut in. She was oddly touched that Naruto remembered and cared enough to argue for her. "It's my rivalry with Ino that started the whole lesson plan thing anyways. You can work with Naruto on Taijutsu during that time?"

"You need the most Taijutsu help," Sasuke snapped.

"And you need the most socializing," Naruto snapped back, "Which is why we are going to make time to hang out and have fun. Like when we were sleeping over at Sakura's."

Sakura grinned at the memories, "I still can't believe you'd never played poker."

"For such an emotionless bastard, he has a crap poker face."

Said emotionless bastard glared at both his team mates, but relented with a sigh. "Fine. But we're getting up at dawn to train."

Naruto and Sakura shared a high five. Sasuke glared at them.

"Ok. So, if we are going back to basics, we are going way back. Everyone, bring your hands up like this," She brought her hands up to chest level, palms facing each other. The boys followed suit- Naruto looking excited.

"Now, clap them together. Like so. And rub them back and forth until you feel the heat of the friction. Now, pull them apart and do you feel the energy between your palms?"

Naruto nodded in excitement- face lit up in delight. Sakura couldn't help but smile.

"Alright- that's your chakra. With a bit of practice, you can channel that chakra through your hands without rubbing them together. With a bit more practice, you can channel your chakra through other parts of your body, though not as effectively. That's why we make hand signs with our hands rather than our feet or abdominal muscles or- well, I guess if you get really good, you can channel your chakra with just your thoughts and you need neither hands signals nor words to perform a jutsu which has obvious tactical advantages. And I know my dad-"

"Sakura," Sasuke interrupted and nodded at Naruto who's eyes had glazed over. Sakura flushed.

"Well, that's a discussion for another time," Guess she would hold off on her theories of the Hyuga tenketsu control as well. "Naruto, try collecting your chakra in your hand."

Naruto closed his eyes and held up his hand. After a second, his face lit up.

"I can feel it!" He cried. "It's warm and fuzzy!"

Sakura grinned and channeled some chakra into her own hand. She held it an inch over Nartuo's upturned palm and immediately giggled.

"You're right. It feels sort of like sunshine. Warm and happy."

"Eh? Sakura-chan! You can feel my chakra?" Naruto looked at her in amazement.

"Sort of," Sakura shrugged her free shoulder, "I'm not a great sensor- but if you're good you can apparently learn all sorts of things about someone by feeling their chakra: elemental type, emotions, stamina, location, etc."

"Awesome!" Naruto scrunched up his face, "I want to see if I can feel yours."

Sakura doubted that he would. Naruto was many things, but overly aware of other people's energy he was not. She was surprised by Sasuke, who stepped forward with his own palm out. Sakura quickly channeled some more chakra into her palm and held it up to Sasukes. A shiver immediately snaked down her spine. While Naruto's chakra was warm and made her want to smile, Sasuke's was electrifying and made her want to get up and do something, take on the world or something.

"I can't feel it!" Naruto complained after a moment.

"Here, try Sasuke's." Sakura nodded to their empty hands. "His is a little stronger."

Sasuke sighed but obligingly held up his hand. It took Naruto a second more of concentration but then he did likewise.

"Huh."

"Oh! I think I can feel something! It feels. . . sharp?" Naruto asked.

Sakura nodded, "Sharp and tingling. Like when your leg goes numb from sitting on it too long."

"Yeah! Exactly!" Naruto agreed, but then his face fell, "Why can't I feel yours?"

"It's subtle," Sasuke answered. "Sakura's chakra reservoir isn't as large as ours. So her chakra's going to be faint. But it feels. . . clear. Rarified. But fragile? It feels nice."

Sakura immediately blushed a deep red.

"Awwww." Naruto pouted. "I want to feel that. Sakura you've got to get more chakra!"

"Or you could work on your control!"

"Eh." Naruto shrugged off the suggestion, "Hey-hey Teme- what's mine feel like? Huh? Huh?"

"Uh," Sasuke's eyes went blank, "Warm. Powerful. A lot of movement. Not integrated- it feels like there are bits of denser chakra? Or something." He frowned as he focused.

"You're good at this," Sakura commented.

"Hn." Then, "My brother showed me how. He was better."

Sasuke abruptly dropped his hands, cutting off their connection, and shoved his hands in his pocket. Sakura startled- almost stumbling, at the sudden loss of feeling. Her hands felt overly sensitive and her legs felt shaky. Too much focus on their energy- learning the ebbs and flows of their own circling chakra- learning to match hers to theirs and feel theirs react to hers. It felt good. Gentle and open. She blinked to settle herself back in her body.

"Uh, guys?" Kakashi had leapt down from his tree and was standing next to them, "What are you doing?"

"Sakura was showing me how to channel chakra and then we were seeing if we could feel-"

"Yeah, don't do that." Kakashi looked over them with his visible eye, "It's not a good idea to share chakra like that."

"Why not?" Sakura frowned- still feeling a little ungrounded and exposed. "Medic ninja's use their chakra to heal-"

"What do you think healing chakra is?" Kakashi interrupted, "There's a reason it's a different color. It's chakra that has had all personal characteristics filtered out- neutral chakra. That's why it takes such exceptional control to become a medic nin. If try to put your own chakra in someone, the body is going to react badly and destroy itself."

"So I can't just give Sakura some of my chakra?" Naruto complained.

"Nope." Kakashi ruffled his hair, "If you tried to give her a chakra infusion without the proper seals, meditation, and control- you'd end out burning out all her channels and she'd never be able to channel chakra again." Naruto looked horrified and Sakura felt her own stomach drop out in alarm. She hadn't meant to do something dangerous! It was just a way for Naruto to learn about his own chakra.

"But sensors-" She began.

"Sense Chakra, Sakura." Kakashi answered her unasked question, "They are very sensitive and can pick up on the ambient chakra every living thing emits, but they don't actually mingle their own chakra with anything."

"I still don't get why not! What we did felt cool!"

"Naruto, what is Chakra?" When Naruto didn't answer immediately, their sensei turned to Sakura. She answered after a moment's consideration, realization dawning uncomfortably.

"Our life force."

"Exactly." Kakashi nodded, "Every living thing has chakra. Humans, with our ability to think, feel, and be conscious, have a greater capacity to not only be aware of our chakra but manipulate it. Some skilled civilians can use very rudimentary chakra skills to heal or harm- such as famous acupuncturists or martial artists. Shinobi have a greater capacity to both store and manipulate chakra, but we can also manifest it in our jutsu.

"Now, since chakra is our life force- in it is everything that makes us 'alive:' thoughts, memories, emotions, etc. The will of fire, essentially. Would you really be willing to share that with another person? Even your team mates?" Kakashi glanced at them all seriously.

Sakura glanced at her feet. Suddenly, she was very aware of all the uncharitable thoughts, personal grudges, moments of weakness in her life. She didn't want anyone to be privy to those- especially Sasuke. Her team should see her at her best, not her worst. She twisted her hands together tightly.

"Ah- don't look so serious," Kakashi suddenly reached out and ruffled her and Sasuke's hair, "You didn't hurt yourself and are learning a lot about team work. Just don't take it too far, ok?"

They nodded in agreement and Kakashi shoved his hands in his pockets, mask crinkling in a smile.

"Right. So, now that we all know what chakra is and how to channel it, you should all be able to climb a tree now. Sakura, if you would stay behind for a second?"

A/N: This was supposed to be one chapter- but then it just. kept. growing. So you get two chapters of training, explanations and fluff!

Fun fact y'all: you, too, can be like the Naruto character and train yourself to feel your qi (chakra). Just do the exercise Sakura suggested to Naruto. After building up some heat and friction in you palms, hold them about three inches apart and pulse your palms together slowly. With practice, you'll feel a bundle of energy between your hands. And you can feel other people's chakra and everyone has their own, unique sensation. It's fun!

As always, I love favs and follows, but it is your reviews that really spark joy in my heart and push me to write faster! Let me know what works, what could be improved on, and what you want to see. Most importantly have a great day and take care of yourselves!