AN: Note that I do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or any of the characters from either Anime. This work is a fanfiction written out of my love for the series and not in any attempt to make a profit.

Proofread by: Author

I wish to apologize to those who are fairly familiar with my preferred uploading time. This chapter is uploaded roughly an hour past my usual aim due to me being distracted, having forgotten to set my alarm properly, and real-life calling me away urgently by the time I realized I should be making some final edits. Hopefully, the chapter itself being uploaded makes up for it.

Chapter 33: Upgrade please

"Oh." Was all Sakura managed, while Inner made no attempts to hide the small streak of panic that overcame them at the revelation. The array she was about to step into had been used to forcefully analyze enemy Kekkei Genkai abilities if she had to guess. Fortunately, they had already implied that it had been tested, so at least she knew she wasn't in any danger.

"So, what should I expect, and what do you want me to do besides… well, just stand here?" Sakura asked as she stepped into the middle of the formation.

"Well, I will be giving you some instructions in order to properly gauge how your Kekkei Genkai works. If you're unable to follow any of the instructions, do as much as you can, even if it isn't physical, but mental activity." Mokuba told her with another smile. "As for what you should expect, this array will seal the movements of your lower body, and you might feel some discomfort while it is active, but there should be no pain, and your upper body should remain fully mobile." He added, getting a thankful nod from Sakura, indicating she understood.

"Alright, thanks for the warning." Sakura thanked him before taking a few moments to relax and then nod to Mokuba, indicating she was ready. A quick glance in Kakashi's direction, on the opposite side of the array, had her see that he had already uncovered his Sharingan, ready to use it.

"Then we can begin," Mokuba said, nodding at one of the other medical-nin before activating his Byakugan. Sakura felt her train of thought begin to drift to some questions about the two Dojutsu but felt her thoughts abruptly cut off.

"We're not losing focus now," Inner insisted, quite adamantly, sounding displeased with something. Sakura decided to listen to her and observe the medical-nin instead and made a note to ask Inner about it all later.

Seeing the medical-nin focusing their chakra, Sakura felt a bit apprehensive, her combat instincts beginning to kick in, trying to tell her to get ready and defend herself. Of course, it also surprised Sakura slightly to realize how heightened her response had suddenly become after her time in the forest and Inner let her know that rectifying this had been added to their list of things to work on. Of course, even as her body had prepared for something, the sudden movement of part of the array surprised Sakura.

As Sakura watched in fascination, four of the rows of letters began moving like snakes, coiling around her in a spiral pattern as they bent from their original, straight paths. Sakura was well aware that chakra was to blame for the odd sight, but she couldn't help but feel it was odd how the dried paint moved so fluidly without cracking or flaking in the least. She had to resist reaching for her Natural Energy sense to try and see if she could tell what was going on around her in its entirety. Inner helped her with that restraint.

The next part of the entire process was even weirder, as the lines eventually bent enough to reach her feet, and instead of passing under her, began slithering up her legs, accompanied by the disturbing feeling on something creeping up her inside of her legs. Sakura couldn't help but shudder at the feeling.

"Everything alright Sakura?" Mokuba asked her, and she managed a nod before answering.

"Yeah, just not all that pleasant. I can feel your chakra creeping through my legs. It's almost like barbed wire just barely brushing against my skin, only it's directly against my muscles and bones." Sakura explained while the feeling continued to creep up her legs, thankfully stopping just below her chest. Curious, Sakura tried to move her toes a bit, only to feel the "wires" she had described constricting against them, harshly, but thankfully still painlessly. She decided it was uncomfortable enough not to try it again with the rest of her leg.

"Okay, I don't think I can move my legs now, is it done then?" Sakura asked, looking down to see the paint of the lines disappearing under the hem of the pants she had changed into back home.

Mokuba, receiving a nod from the medical-nin closest to him smiled. "Yes, we're ready now. Please, show us how you mold chakra." He told her, and Sakura complied.

She wasn't sure why, but Sakura had expected all of her abilities to feel impeded, or sluggish. However, as she put her hands together and began focusing on molding chakra out of her mental and physical energies, it went as well as it usually did.

"Alight, is this fine?" She asked, continuing to mold chakra, and looking to Mokuba for instructions.

"It is, but keep going for a few moments," Mokuba told her, before deciding to begin asking her questions. "Have you always found it easy to mold your chakra? Despite the disproportionate amount of mental energy to your physical energy, your control is astounding." Mokuba commented.

"Thank you, and the answer is both yes and no. I always had it easy to understand the concept, but I did have to practice a lot before it became something that came naturally to me." Sakura answered him.

"Oh, I see. That's interesting. It seems you have a talent for it, and if I may be so bold to say it, I suspect that you were hindered from discovering it until you got to properly practice using your chakra in the academy, due to coming from a civilian home. You show a lot of promise if you ask me." Mokuba told her with another smile before being signaled again by the medical-nin. "Alright then, how about you stimulate your chakra coils now with all of that chakra?" He suggested, and Sakura wasted no time doing as she was told, only for Mokuba to frown slightly after a bit.

"What is it?" Sakura asked, worried.

"It seems like you're not used to using your extended chakra network yet. Your new chakra paths are receiving a minimal amount of chakra. Would you mind attempting to concentrate a larger amount of chakra in your head for a bit?" Mokuba asked her, and Inner seemed to agree with trying it out.

Carefully, Sakura focused more on her chakra network, trying to increase the flow of chakra within her head. At first, all she could feel was a building pressure, as if there was some kind of clog building in her head. Inner, seemed to feel uncomfortable as a headache began building, and Sakura was just about to stop, only for the clog to suddenly give way. It was like a switch had been flipped, and suddenly everything seemed to come into clarity.

Sakura took a moment to process the fact that while she couldn't physically see Kakashi, she knew exactly where he was, as well as how surprised he looked. Turning around, she managed to confirm that yes, he was surprised, even if he tried to immediately hide it. "What just happened?" Sakura asked, a bit confused, only to receive two different answers, from two different individuals.

"It seems we accidentally forced a process yet not complete, apologies for that," Mokuba told her, looking a bit concerned. "How do you feel, nothing wrong I hope?" He asked her, while Inner in contrast seemed excited.

"Sakura, you just blew our Energy Sensing capabilities through the roof! It's complementing our regular senses perfectly like this!" Inner told her, already in a celebratory mood. Trying to test Inner's theory, Sakura focused on her Natural Energy sensing capabilities, closing her eyes, only to discover that she could still see her surroundings. Not to mention that she could also do so in all directions at once, as the Natural energy Sensing ability was Omni-directional. In addition to this, her range had seemingly increased to what she guessed was twenty meters or sixty-five feet.

"Sakura?" Kakashi asked her, prompting her to open her eyes and stop focusing on her Natural Energy sense, only to realize that it remained active, and while not in clear focus, she could still feel everyone in the room, as well as their locations clearly.

"Don't worry, I was just taking in the changes. Apparently, these new chakra paths are what let me sense Natural energy. As soon as they were filled with chakra, my range and clarity with my senses expanded. I can feel about sixty-five feet now, and I can see well enough with it to tell someone's expression." Sakura explained, letting her head a relieved chuckle from Mokuba.

"Well, that's a rather fortunate result then. Let us continue, we still need to see if there are any changes with how this affects your chakra control." Mokuba told her, and Sakura agreed.

Afterward, Sakura was asked to demonstrate her transformations and clone techniques, as well as her wall walking technique. Doing so with little effort. She was then asked to repeat them without channeling chakra through her new chakra pathways. While Sakura didn't really notice a difference, Kakashi asked her to try it again with her sense active, and later clarified what he'd noticed. Apparently, while active, her Energy Sensing abilities augmented her abilities somewhat. Kakashi had noted that both her clones and transformations were more detailed and realistic looking whenever she performed them with her sense active.

The proposed explanation was that with the increase of information from sensing the Natural Energy in the room, she could subconsciously produce more convincing results without an increase in chakra, besides the one used up to keep her additional sense active. Sakura also realized that she could now shut off the chakra to those pathways completely, turning the sense off for both herself and Inner, as to where Inner had previously thought it was an always active ability that she could keep Sakura from feeling if needed. Either way, while minor, both revelations were still of big interest to Sakura.

Following the examination of her regular abilities, Sakura was then asked to demonstrate all the abilities she had discovered from the awakening of her Kekkei Genkai and onward. Complying, Sakura began by gathering a small amount of Natural energy and thrusting it out from her palm outwards, letting the energy dissipate out into the air in front of her. Afterward, she gave an example of what she had done while healing Karin, only to run out of things she recalled being able to do.

"What about your transformation?" Kakashi suggested, and Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"It is the same thing as I showed you in the beginning, just me releasing Natural energy in every direction from all over my body at once," Sakura explained.

"Humor us." Mokuba offered, and Sakura decided to comply. Once again, she let the Natural energies within her flow out of her body, only controlled so as to not completely lose the energy as it formed an aura of moving spikes around her, invisible to the naked eye, Shinobi or not. Once again, Sakura's skin darkened together with her hair. This time, aware of the change, Sakura got a good look at herself and sighed at the sight of the unintended and awful looking change.

"Interesting. Sakura, have you attempted to revolve the Natural energy within your own body, similar to how your chakra pathways function?" Mokuba asked her, and Sakura shook her head. "Then perhaps it might be a good idea to try it, although perhaps not right now," Mokuba told her, and Sakura was inclined to agree. She imagined it would require a lot of focus and likely tire her out afterward.

"Alright, can I drop this transformation now?" Sakura asked, and after giving one of the other medical-nin a look, he waited for them to nod before passing it on to Sakura. "Of course.

Bringing the Natural energy back into her body, Sakura immediately felt the fatigue from using the technique, something that seemingly went unnoticed while using it, but it was manageable this time. "I think that's everything," Sakura said, only to hear Kakashi speak up from behind.

"Actually, not quite." Kakashi corrected her, while Sakura turned to look at him for clarification.

AN: The second part of this wonderful exposition to Sakura's abilities will continue in the next chapter. We're not quite done yet, so expect a turbulent and entertaining reveal of some more surprises and explanations. A bit of a challenge, can anyone guess what the muscles in Sakura's brain are for? It will likely be revealed in the next chapter if I get the timing correct.