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 and Kyluxia

Haha, a bit of warning for this chapter, as it dives back into the awkward territory of horny teenagers, uncomfortable sexual actions, and the result that follow when trying to deal with it all.

Chapter 42: Sakura hates Puberty

Following the success of their morning meditation, Sakura went through the rest of their morning routine in a good mood. As always she first went through her stretches, a not really necessary exercise as medical chakra and passive chakra enhancement could deal with the issues otherwise prevented by stretching, but Sakura had already made it a habit, and it was a way to conserve chakra, even if only by a little. In the life of a Shinobi, anything could happen, so every ounce of chakra she could spare would end up being an advantage should she need it. Afterward, she performed several flexibility exercises and finished it off by working up a sweat with some strength training, making sure to go through several exercises and cycle through all the different muscle groups they aimed to strengthen.

Taking a shower, combing their hair, and carefully drying it with an application of the water walking technique before braiding it again, Sakura considered them ready for the day. Looking in the mirror available in the room, she smiled at their reflection. She felt good, awake and ready, only slightly weighed down by the lack of proper sleep that night.

It was a bit annoying to know that such a lame nightmare already affected them enough to be noticeable. Sakura decided to look into training for going without sleep for long periods of time. Jiraiya's handbook had mentioned that there was special training designed to help with it, but that it required professional guidance, preferably from one's Sensei to avoid developing bad habits or unintentionally cripple themselves with improperly learned techniques for going without sleep for prolonged stretches of time. Hopefully, Jiraiya would agree to teach them in the near future. Sakura would prefer the coming nightmares not to interfere with their daily lives if they could help it.

Waking Naruto proved to be necessary, and embarrassing. Their teammate was still soundly asleep as they entered his room, and as far as they could tell, had either forgotten to or simply not bothered to set his alarm. Unfortunately, Naruto had also thrown off the bedsheets in his sleep, leaving him lying on the bed in just his boxers. Boxers that were hard-pressed to contain a rather morning happy part of Naruto's anatomy. Sakura decided to simply leave, slamming the door as she left, trying to ignore what she had seen, not even concerned with if slamming the door had managed to wake Naruto up or not. It would have to be Jiraiya's problem.

Naturally, Heikō was more amused by the entire situation, remarking on how it was definitely a situation comparable to something from Jiraiya's writing that would have ended quite differently. While Sakura agreed, she didn't want to entertain the idea and simply ignored Heikō's attempts to tease her. She wasn't that easy of a target anymore.

Trying to ignore the brief memory that made their hormones explode in confusing and annoying new ways, Sakura focused on getting them breakfast instead, letting the memory and the feelings it had evoked in them subside. She also promptly ignored Heikō's plans for the future use of the memory and hormones it had stirred up. Sakura hated puberty.

Soon enough, Naruto joined them at the breakfast table. He had apparently been awoken by Sakura slamming his door, but he was still half asleep, and much to Sakura's ire, only wearing his boxers, a loose shirt, and a pair of socks. Fortunately, he at least wasn't sporting a morning problem anymore.

"Goddammit, Naruto! Go and get dressed!" Sakura implored him, annoyed. Naruto seemed to wake up slightly at her command, before blushing sheepishly and obeying by going back to his room.

Before Naruto managed to come back, Jiraiya joined them instead, quickly preparing his own breakfast before sitting down at the table as well. "You're being awfully loud this morning. Any particular reason you decided slamming doors was a good idea? I hope you didn't damage it." Jiraiya told them, referring to their enhanced strength.

"Of course not. We're not stupid enough to use our chakra for that, and it was nothing. Just Naruto being stupid and relying on us waking him again… Speaking of sleep. Can we get to sleep deprivation training soon? We discovered a mental issue that unfortunately has to be resolved by suffering through nightmares. I'd rather get it over with as quickly as possible, without becoming a zombie during the day." Sakura informed Jiraiya, who sighed.

"I suppose we could work on sleep deprivation training once we leave Inaho Village. Just know that it might make the nightmares worse, and you will be feeling awful from the training itself at first." Jiraiya warned them, which wasn't much of a surprise to either of the twins, as the training had been mentioned to be torturous in the handbook.

"As long as it lets us function normally during the day, regardless of our nightmares, we're willing to suffer through it," Sakura assured him, to which Jiraiya nodded and ended the conversation, focusing on his breakfast again.

Naruto soon joined them, this time fully dressed, and thankfully not bringing up their earlier interactions before Jiraiya. Sakura didn't need him to get any stupid ideas from it.

After breakfast, Jiraiya had left, reminding them to meet him at a nearby cafe in twenty minutes. Sakura had taken the time to practice their transformation technique in their room. Specifically, their male transformation.

While they had already mastered the transformation to Jiraiya's satisfaction, which embarrassingly enough, had included it being detailed enough to pass for realistic in certain, embarrassing spots; they had managed to produce a transformation that could pass as a boy even during inappropriately detailed scrutiny. It had been incredibly embarrassing, but Jiraiya had believed in being thorough, telling them that it could come into use at some point. Better mastering a skill or technique and not need it, than need it and not being able to use it.

Unfortunately, that point, combined with the Haruno twin's perfectionistic nature when it came to learning, had backfired horribly in combination with their curiosity and hormones. Heikō had been immensely amused by Sakura's horrified realization of just how incomplete their male transformation actually was. It was embarrassing to admit that she had even reached the conclusion she had, and she had blamed it on Naruto. After having realized what their transformation was lacking, she couldn't with a good conscience leave the issue alone.

As a result, Sakura, with the help of Heikō, was in the process of the most embarrassing transformation process yet. Giving their male transformation a fully functional penis, able to turn hard from arousal, and allowing them to relieve themselves if necessary.

Giving their transformation an erection, or forming a flaccid penis was a non-issue. They had managed those possibilities back then they mastered the male transformation in the first place, on Jiraiya's insistence, which if he hadn't convinced them was necessary, would have been creepy as hell. The issue they were having, was making the faux organ behave in accordance with their own arousal. While aware of penis biology from a medical perspective, there was an issue in trying to simulate the proper hormonal balance and blood flow in their transformation.

They had had occasional successes and learned from them, and by cheating, they had managed a functional transformation where they could control the blood flow manually, but it took too much chakra and focus to be viable.

Sakura hated the fact that they had dedicated so much time to such a stupid detail, but considering their progress and curiosity, they couldn't back down after getting so far.

Heikō's suggestions of asking Naruto for help to get a better reference had naturally been shut down, even as Sakura, with each failed attempt dreaded it to be their only option.

The only other alternative they had, would have been to find a way to properly trigger their faux erection in the appropriate moment, tied to their hormones and feelings of attraction. The issue was, they were a straight girl, at least, Sakura had always viewed herself as straight. Heikō hadn't been clear on her own sexuality, but seeing other girls naked wasn't really enough to excite them. If they wanted to perfect their transformation, that had to change.

It was a perplexing, horrifying, embarrassing, and stupid problem. Naturally, they could alter their own mental preference if they absolutely had to, but after the many misadventures caused by changing things in their mindscape had caused previously, neither of them wanted to touch that can of worms for fear of making things worse. Which left Sakura and Heikō with the problem of figuring out how to trigger their male transformation to respond properly to the allure of the female body from a purely biological standpoint.

The "research" material Jiraiya had provided them with back then they were trying to master the transformation to his standards had desensitized them slightly to imagining their own male genitalia when transforming. It was the only reason Sakura could stand Heikō "experimenting" with their male transformation to see how it would respond to very specific, very intentional stimulus. Sakura couldn't deny that Heikō was effective in her methods, but it wasn't really something that did wonders for her sanity to see her own, if male hands, playing with the genitalia of the opposite gender, trying to get a proper reaction out of it.

Fortunately for Sakura's sanity, due to their time constraints, Heikō hadn't had much time to play around with their transformation. Even if Sakura preferred to retreat into their mindscape for most of Heikō's more enthusiastic tests, she remained aware of it all due to their shared memories, as well as the fact that she couldn't afford to completely ignore the progress made.

She truly had been a prude previously, and now, that she embarrassingly enough, enjoyed Jiraiya's literature, her only saving grace was that she wasn't a complete pervert, something Heikō didn't have any issues with.

With their time up, Sakura eagerly released the transformation, enjoying the return and comfort of their clothing in their proper body, before they set out to find Jiraiya together with Naruto, who had passed the time reading a book.

Only belatedly did Sakura realize the error of having ignored Heikō's experimentation for so long, allowing it to drag on until the time limit they had. Apparently, some of her attempts had been successful, as Sakura realized, much to her dismay, that she was slightly aroused as they went to meet with Jiraiya.

Groaning in annoyance, Sakura hung her head as they neared the meeting place. Only Naruto's noise of confusion had her looking up to see Jiraiya talking with three Shinobi. Ones that Sakura recognized as the three currently assigned the role of patrolling Inaho Village. The ones they had been tasked with avoiding during their time there, while occasionally practice their transformation and stealth against them.

However, unlike the times the three had been on duty, patrolling, one of them now wore a Chūnin vest. Combined with the fact that they all seemed to be talking animately with Jiraiya, Sakura felt a lead weight materialize in her gut, as she realized that there had likely been a test somewhere along the line, and they had not only failed to notice, but likely allowed themselves to fail because they hadn't been as serious about it as they should have been. For one, they had assumed all three of the patrolling Shinobi to be Genin. Assuming another Shinobi's rank in of itself was a potentially lethal mistake. Underestimating a Shinobi because of their rank was just as bad, if not worse. They had done both.

"Shit," Sakura vocalized her worries, while Naruto gave her a confused frown, before scrunching his eyebrows together, no doubt trying to figure things out himself, before inquiring what she had figured out. That at least made Sakura smile, as Naruto had proven himself willing to improve and dedicate the effort to think more for himself to keep up with his teammates. He had taken Sakura's suggestion and help in that area to heart. She was actually rather proud of him as he paled and followed her example.

"Shit," Naruto repeated after her, as he, presumably, reached the same conclusion as her.

AN: So yeah, the twins are still dealing with puberty, and Sakura is as unenthusiastic about it as Heikō is unconcerned.