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Now then, onto the reading!
Suffering and Elegance - Chapter 4
Haruno Sakura
There was a deep sense of "I'm going to regret this tomorrow" thrashing about in Sakura's head right now.
However, more importantly, her curiosity had also been peaked.
Or, rather, one could say the combination of self loathing, curiosity, and a desire to be better combined in a potent cocktail that had her making very dumb decisions. After all, unless she played dirty… there was no way she could measure up to a clan heiress.
"I have to say Hinata, I had kinda hoped that kick would surprise you enough to take you down in one go."
An appreciable background mumble rose up from the Konoha shinobi. Running the gamut from annoyance at such a cheap trick - courtesy of Ino - to concern for Hinata's, three guesses from whom that was, a solid dash of confusion, and, in one case, genuine respect.
"Damn, the girly must have a massive pair to go after a Hyuuga in hand to hand. What the Hell are you feeding your brats, Cyclops?"
Hinata was confused, clearly still unsure what to do even though she held her good hand out, eyes rippling in a way that suggested they were moving from the lavender eyed girl's teacher, to Naruto, and right back to her opponent.
The big catch was that she was still hesitating.
And that meant there was only one thing to do.
"Hey, you heard me. I know you're not mute." Crossing her arms, the pinkette huffed and tossed her hair. "Are you really gonna let me just show you up like this? In front of Na-ru-to?"
Pink cheeks, visible blush, freezing up so much that Sakura had another shot at taking down the girl across from her… and it was probably a better one than she had with her opening move at that. In fact, she made a mental note to exploit people's affection for her blonde teammate in the future. He did seem to have a strange kind of idiot's charisma to him.
This was also still not the result Sakura wanted, so, like any good scientist, she altered her approach.
"Naruto! Blondey! Cheer her on, she was cheering for you earlier!"
A raucous shout responded.
"Oi! How did you even know I was back!"
For a moment, the kunoichi considered revealing her source - that being the heiress's body language. Now that she was actually using her eyes, and her head for once, she realized just how unsuited for the shinobi lifestyle the Hyuuga was. The funny thing being that it wasn't even just how gentle she was, but mostly how she wore her heart on her sleeve. That alone told her more than the former fangirl could have ever really guessed at before.
"Because I could smell three dogs in the room and you were the only one missing, now do your thing you dolt!"
Tactfully, the kunoichi failed to mention it was because she was so hyper focused on every little twitch and jerk and pull of Hinata's muscles. How the other girl seemed almost hypnotic when she used her natural grace, how more than anything else she wanted to pull out her scalpel and get up in them guts!
Violently shaking her head, Sakura forced out the unusual thoughts.
'I've really got to get a handle on this blood lust.'
So, giving herself something to focus on, she started stretching while her earnest moron of a teammate managed to rant and rave in a way that even she couldn't help but feel inspired by.
Obviously, that was nothing compared to the target of the pep talk, as Hinata was now actually taking a very aggressive taijutsu stance, with only a tiny blush on her cheeks, and the eager-to-test-herself kunoichi knew it was do or die time.
'Hopefully not literally!'
Seeing the other girl open her mouth, Sakura didn't wait around to find out what kind of emotionally affirming truths she'd discovered - instead, she launched a series of medical needles, graciously borrowed from the infirmary, straight at her opponent.
Who dodged effortlessly.
'Interesting.'
Quickly reaching into her pouch, Sakura threw another handful of needles at her fellow genin. Targeting areas all over her body, as well as throwing them at irregular intervals. It was all Sakura could do as Hinata weaved and ducked away from the projectiles without losing a single step.
'She can see them all. She can tell their speed and how much time there is between each throw. Even worse, Hinata can definitely pick up even the bracketing shots.'
Sakura threw another handful, this last volley was leapt over as the Hyuuga girl, face set in a determined grimace, moved to close with her. Thankfully Sakura knew this was a moderate mistake as, so far, no one had shown the ability to redirect their movements mid air. And this meant that the pink haired kunoichi was free to fire away at her target with as much freedom as she liked.
But it still wasn't enough to get an accurate reading on the Byakugan, not enough data to tell how it did what it did.
Because even the miniscule needles, not really capable of doing any serious damage, were blocked when Hinata used the thick sleeve of her jacket to shield her face from the worst of the attack - only a few of the handful of darts did more than embed themselves in the strong clothing.
'Is it some kind of perception ability, maybe time dilation?' Jumping back, she kept her distance, not letting her opponent close. 'Or perhaps she can zero in on anything within her field of vision.'
Senbon, kunai, shuriken - nothing ranged would help her. The most important thing, then, would be to lean on the early injury she caused and hammer on that weakness.
'Not that it will help much.'
Grunting, she dodged hard left, Hinata lashing out with a rapid series of strikes that Sakura kept at bay by, somewhat sloppily, slashing at her opponent's hands. However, every time she had an opening the Hyuuga simply reacted in less time than it took for the pinkette to exploit that vulnerability. It was clear by now that the Byakugan allowed not only for a full range of vision, but also additional adjustments which allowed the user to perceive everything within the range of their vision without having to move a single muscle.
So, even if Sakura threw dozens of shuriken at her, Hinata would be able to track all at the same time and either dodge or respond as needed.
'What an unfair ability.'
It wasn't something you could learn with practice, hard work, or talent. It was an inborn advantage granted by whatever ancestor Hinata had who mutated and gained the ability as result of generations of selective breeding and passing down the secrets of the bloodline.
'I want it.' Sakura belatedly realized.
Rather, the urge to find out more and take for herself had grown to the point that it manifested as a desire to actively take what she wanted.
Throwing her body to the side, she let her thoughts race.
Chest pounding, heart beat slamming in her ears, chest sore from how hard her heart was knocking on her ribs, the twelve year old killer did what she had been trained to do.
Letting the last of the several dozen needles she'd stolen fly, she palmed a kunai.
It was a digging tool, not a tanto or even something like a blunt jutte or a more proper dagger. But it was still traditionally used amongst shinobi and had been modified enough to serve her purposes. And that made her smile. It felt good to stretch her legs, to crack the joints in her fingers as she clamped down on the blade.
Coming up from below, Sakura went wide - sweeping up and at an angle and forcing the taijutsu specialist back.
Hinata flinched, clearly confused by the spike in killing intent in the slash, but held her ground.
This was a mistake. Not playing for distance meant that this contest had fundamentally changed. However, that didn't mean the flowing style of hand to hand combat was entirely at a disadvantage. When the pink haired twelve year old stabbed out, the black haired girl was able to redirect the blow.
Her open palm had snapped up, batting the strike away with a grace and instinct that spoke of many years of training.
Sakura simply flowed with the block, transitioning into a spinning jump kick that used the momentum of the first slash to lash out at her foe's head.
Normally, that would have been stupid.
However, when one's foe was working with only one hand - which is desperately playing keepaway with a knife - then one has a little more wiggle room.
The heel of her foot made firm contact with Hinata's face and Sakura had to fight to keep the glee from showing. Which, in hindsight, had been wise.
Rolling with the blow, the heiress turned and lashed out with a knife hand as Sakura came in for a landing. Grunting, Team Seven's representative fell forward as her legs stopped responding to her for a moment. Smacking into the ground, her nose made an unpleasant crunching noise and she sobbed.
'Dammit!' It had been more shocking than painful, but it still felt embarrassing to cry out in front of so many people. 'Get up, get up, get up, get up!'
Jerking, twitching, flinching she climbed to her feet and forced her legs to obey. So, spinning and back pedalling, Sakura wiped the tears from her eyes as she turned around and found the heiress charging. One of her eyes was swollen shut and a nasty bruise was already forming. That was the only reason the pinkette, jittery and unsteady with legs that didn't quite work right, was able to blunder out of the way.
Yet it was clear that the second surprise had been one bridge too far.
Hinata wasn't angry, but her attacks now possessed a weight, a drive, a need to win. That last bit of hesitation was gone… and that had been the one thing truly keeping the taller girl in the race. Sakura just didn't measure up. Sure, she was the daughter of two shinobi but her opponent was just plain better.
A little faster, a little stronger, and with a sharper form - not to mention a taijutsu style she was intimately familiar with - while the pinkette had been slacking.
Jerking back and dodging a spear hand, Sakura brought her leg up and kicked out at Hinata's knee. The Hyuuga responded by taking the blow on the shin and flowing into a three part sequence of jabs and slashes aimed right at the other girl's throat. Bringing her arm up, the newly revitalized member of Team Seven winced when her limb went numb.
While there was no visible damage, the limb fell down, utterly useless. So, even as her legs were a bit more steady under her, she simply couldn't move one of her limbs at all.
Jerking forwards, taking a blow meant for her chest on her shoulder, the kunoichi violently jabbed the blunt end of a scalpel into her opponent's broken arm. Yelping, the heiress brought her head down, slamming it against Haruno's nose - which was now well and truly busted.
Choking on the blood running down her throat, the room fading into silence as a loud buzz filled her ears, the wounded kunoichi kept pushing. Kept trying to finally get in close. Thankfully, with her lungs burning for air, legs begging her to stop, and every inch of her body aching she managed the lock. Having kicked out at Hinata enough times for the Hyuuga to think she was being lazy, Sakura waited until her foe tried to strike at her leg and leapt forward, using a little chakra to boost her attack, and closed for a one armed hip toss.
It wasn't clean and it wasn't pretty, but when the pinkette managed to half wrestle, half throw the other girl to the ground she felt a sense of vindication, of victory, of accomplishment….
All until a chakra coated hand smacked her in the face.
Then she didn't feel much at all because she was unconscious before she hit the ground.
Kakashi Hatake
All things considered, Kakashi was pleasantly surprised.
He hadn't expected his team of freshly picked genin to make it very far in the chunin exams. Talented or not, they simply lacked the experience needed to go the distance when compared to their seniors. In truth, the whole plan had been more centered on the idea of them all needing a bit of a wake up call. Especially considering that their brush with Haku had seemed to rather quickly fade into the background, a fluke and not the reality of being a shinobi.
That Naruto of all people was able to, bluntly, bullshit his way through the first round was extraordinarily amusing.
That they all passed the Forest of Death was pleasantly surprising.
That one of them managed to get to the third round of the exam was a miracle of sorts.
But also cause for concern - and not just because he'd actually have to train Sasuke for an exhibition match… which would cut into his already very limited and precious time.
No, no, no. Orochimaru's presence in the exams was worrying in and of itself. By all accounts, the old shinobi had been gone for over a decade now without so much as popping his head out of the grass, content to slither his way through the ninja world without making too many waves. Biding his time as he planned his revenge against the Hidden Leaf.
To appear now of all times, well, it was no more a cause for concern than the Hidden Leaf's greatest traitor appearing at any other point. Frankly, there was precious little anyone but Sarutobi, maybe Hisashi, maybe himself, and Gai could do about the rogue Sannin if things got out of hand. And no one was stupid enough to think that things would do anything but get out of hand.
Fortunately, Kakashi had more to worry about than an older, more powerful, and experienced shinobi! His gaggle of adorable little, admittedly extremely odd, genin.
'Hmm. I wonder if I'm influencing them negatively?' The jounin didn't bother looking up from his book of smut, more interested in the lewd actions of an amazonian woman and her loving husband than in the Suna Jinchuuriki maiming Gai's pupil. 'I'm sure he'll be fine. I get the feeling that Lee isn't the kind to let something like this get to him.'
Ultimately, it wasn't his place to comment on what another teacher did with his students… so if the taijutsu specialists thought this was a teachable moment, then he'd trust them to only maim themselves severely and not actually die.
Plus there was the fact that, without a question, Might Gai was the single strongest living shinobi of Konohagakure. Some crazed demon host wasn't going to be a threat.
Sasuke, however, would need some additional tutoring over the course of the month. Kakashi had noticed a decided increase in aggression from the Uchiha. Perhaps he'd been in a bad mood, or the ordeal against Orochimaru had left an impression on him beyond the scarring on his shoulder and the wound on his stomach?
If so, then maybe Sasuke was smarter than he looked.
Naruto, boundless energy incarnate, had been somewhat disheartened by his tie with Shino Aburame. But the boy didn't let much get him down, already declaring he would pass the next exam without trying.
Truly a paragon of confidence.
If not much sense. But 'sense' was overrated amongst ninja either way. So all the power to the blonde.
And then there was Sakura.
Where to begin with Sakura?
On the surface, the sole kunoichi of Team Seven wasn't that different from the girl she had been before beginning the test. Sakura was snappy and temperamental, trying to be the mature one only to lose control. Without a doubt, she was the one he feared had been the most affected out of the three.
Well, that and because she suddenly developed the knowledge requirements to become a medical shinobi in the space of about an hour. And if her words were to be taken at face value, managed to undo a very complex cursed seal after it was freshly applied by physically operating on the victim in the middle of a forest without any proper equipment.
'Then again… Rin did give me my eye that way didn't she?'
Only Rin had been a trained medic nin.
And had actual experience on the battlefield.
'Does a run in against a mercenary ninja counts as experience? She didn't actually fight any of them. Sasuke only temporarily died and Naruto didn't level the country in a bout of empowered wrath.'
In hindsight, not realizing that these three were different than normal was probably his fault. After all, he, technically, had been given files on all of them. Files that were still sitting somewhere in his office… in the home he hadn't been to in more than a month… that he visited maybe four or five times a year.
The point was that sending them into a situation where they might have to fight for their lives, after coming back from a mission where they had to fight for their lives was supposed to have dissuaded them from risking themselves all over again. It was impressive that they managed to go the distance, but he was actually glad most of them had washed out.
'Okay, so that's a bit heartless.' Even for him.
Still, for a team of fresh genin, they did genuinely well.
Which meant that he was going to reward them for it.
And by reward, he meant drive into the ground with the most cost effective training regimen he could cook up without having to channel his ANBU drill instructor and turn the trio of anklebiters into adorable little murder machines. All for their safety, of course. Having a run in with Orochimaru meant he had to take off the kiddy gloves and meet the challenge with an iron fist.
Sasuke he would have to handle personally.
He was the one who would have to deal with veteran genin aiming for his head. Especially the redhead from the Hidden Sand village. That one had all the hall markings of a carefully constructed and highly unstable time bomb. Or the fruit of the most careless and half assed attempt at parenting Kakashi had ever had the displeasure to see.
Whichever the truth happened to be, the child was still dangerous.
Fortunately, the removal of Orochimaru's seal simplified the issue.
Kakashi would just have to cram as much training time as he could into the little prodigy until he could beat the sand genin.
If they started tomorrow… they might make it by the time Sasuke had to fight.
Barely.
'Yes. And I think a shunshin entrance ought to shave off the ten minutes we need to help an old lady with her groceries.'
Naruto was going to be difficult to handle.
Not that he disliked the boy's brashness, Kakashi just didn't have the time to spare on the two of them simultaneously - a shadow clone just wouldn't cut it. And even though he hoped their budding rivalry would help them bond more closely, Naruto had ended up facing his worst possible match up in the preliminaries and gotten eliminated.
It sucked, but it happened.
That simply meant Kakashi would need to figure out a different plan for the boy. Tentatively, he was considering sending him over to Gai to study with.
'That branch Hyuuga has a serious stick up his ass.'
Giggling at a particularly lewd scene, he pretended that he wasn't worrying about how serious this generation was turning out to be and was just focused on how a variety of "plots" was useful for any serious writer.
Naruto needed a steadier base to work from. He already had the beginnings of a good fighting style going on, that being a clever and quick thinking brawler. All he needed was to polish it and add a few more tools to his belt. The polishing came first. Arguably the most boring part of the job. Chakra control exercises and careful honing through experience.
And so long as Gai was pushing him to his limit, then Naruto would be far, far too tired to complain and whine. After that, if he showed enough development, Kakashi would dangle a carrot or two in front of him. Enough to get him motivated.
There was only one issue.
The Fox.
Neither he nor Might Gai would be able to help him with it. Sharingan or not, his was just way too taxing to use and Gai would probably just kill the boy if anything went wrong - the Eight Gates didn't exactly have a non lethal power setting when it reached the level of the Kyuubi. Trying to mentally wrestle down an infuriated creature with centuries of experience fueling it to escape wasn't something he was particularly confident in pulling off even on his best day and if Gai had to kill Naruto, Kakashi would lose his student and his best friend when the guilt crushed Konoha's Majestic Green Beast.
'Hmm. I wonder if dad's knife would be sharp enough to atone for that?'
Mentally shrugging, he decided to leave that for Lord Jiraiya whenever he chose to make his presence known.
For now… he'd call in a few favors. Maybe get one of those fabled elite tutors to give the blonde boy some expert attention in areas where Gai didn't specialize. So long as they knew how to motivate him, Naruto was sure to excel.
'And that leaves Sakura.'
His first instinct was to throw her at Kurenai, or Anko, or Yugao. But that just got him thinking about Kurenai, Anko, and Yugao all together.
"Hehehehehehehe."
Everyone in the room gave him a look that said they thought he was crazy, Kakashi just flipped a page and was glad that his face mask hid his blush. And so, struggling to control his instincts which had definitely not been warped to reach an unrealistic view of what human interaction was like, it occurred to him what he should do.
"Huh. I really am scary smart sometimes." The child soldiers in the fighting pit below cried out in pain, but that didn't particularly concern him either. 'Ebisu is pretty annoying. I should let Sakura haze him. That would be funny, plus he'll show off and I have no doubt she'd dissect him. And his training methods are pretty good, so it'll help her cover all the basics.'
Hopefully this would give him enough time to beat Sasuke into something resembling an effective fighter. Because right now Kakashi had to be honest with himself - his teaching record wasn't exactly perfect. Great in that he'd never lost a kid, but, well, not everything in life was about not dying. Sometimes you had to actually learn how to live and make the other person die too.
'Of course, I suppose all of this is moot if the Hokage decides to have Sakura interrogated.' Scratching his chin, he took a moment to consider what he really thought about that.
Ultimately, the cyclopean jounin figured things would be fine. T&I actually didn't do all that much torture, mostly being about using psychology and Yamanaka based mental violations to sus out any secrets.
It was both cleaner and more efficient than actually digging out someone's eye with a spoon - he would know, after all.
So what would probably happen is that she'd get a full walkthrough, they'd decide that she was either secretly a hostile intruder or just his genin, and then do what they'd do. Seeing as how he figured, pretty strongly, that she was still just Sakura, his focus should be on figuring out an actual training plan that let her test and push her new abilities to their fullest.
Both because that was what a good teacher would do and because he'd somehow raised a child soldier smart enough to take a Hyuuga on in close combat and almost not lose.
Though how much of that was due to her newfound skills… remained to be seen.
He had been getting their feet wet with basic chakra control exercises and a simple escort mission after all. And that was before everything went to Hell.
Now? Now he had ample time to plan for the trouble that was to come.
Haruno Sakura
Oww.
Pain was a most excellent teacher, or so the saying went, but the first she felt when waking up was a bone deep ache in her jaw, a spreading pain emanating from her nose, and an odd pins and needles sensation that went from the tips of her toes to about midway up her back. Thankfully, after flexing her toes, she at least confirmed she still had her full range of movement.
This relief then brought a degree of clarity that, in turn, allowed her to reflect on her fight.
Sakura should have seen that last slap coming.
Rather, she knew this would have been the most likely outcome after she decided to goad Hinata into actually trying to fight back for once. Shy or not, the girl sure packed a wallop and a half when she put her mind to it. And Haruno knew she was good at… getting on people's nerves.
Which led to her current stay in the hospital.
Apparently, the body didn't recover immediately after foreign chakra was shoved into it.
Which made sense. The body didn't react well when dealing with alien pathogens and all sorts of invaders. Why wouldn't it be the same way when the literal lifeforce of another human was getting roughly pushed into it.
The after effects were many.
Firstly, she turned to the side and dry heaved, thanking her lucky stars she didn't dislodge her IV, and then rolled back over.
'So you puke after getting beaten up. Duly noted.'
There was, unfortunately, no way to tell if the bruising around the affected areas was accompanied by killer migraines due to the chakra or just her head trauma. Maybe both.
'Probably both.' She decided. After all, she'd never touched alcohol before in her life and right now she felt hungover - dancing pig and monkey and cow and all..
'Clan kids are so unfair.' She grouched, looking up at the colourless ceiling of her room.
But her little piece of theatre had worked.
She fought against Hinata with everything she had, got a few good hits in, and then went down after being completely outclassed by a girl who received far better training than herself and generations of ninja genetics pushing her to be the perfect pint sized killer despite her sweet personality.
'Gods, throwing up again.'
She turned to the side, grabbing for a bucket before retching.
Why didn't she just bully Hinata into an easy victory again?
'Right, right, common decency.'
Not to mention a chance to test herself against someone who wouldn't just kill her. Regardless of how much she'd changed after those Sound ninja ambushed her team during the exams, Sakura knew she hadn't gotten any stronger than she had been before.
The change had been mental.
Intelectual.
Her focus and ability to exploit openings in her opponents had gotten better. Which didn't hide the fact she was the ninja equivalent of a flavorless wet noodle. Better suited for setting up traps and doing emergency first aid. She didn't mind the latter. Rather, part of her relished the idea of digging into the secrets of shinobi medicine.
Learn.
Improve.
Apply that knowledge to better herself.
Cut the eyes out of your opponent's head with the optic nerves still attached so they can watch as you vivisect them to see how their jutsu worked.
Unfortunately, no amount of intellectualizing her problems would make them go away, meaning she needed to establish a baseline in order to see where she truly needed to get better. And the best frame of reference she could have was by comparing herself to another ninja and seeing where she excelled and where she didn't.
'I'd rather have fought with Ino.'
At least then she wouldn't have woken up sick.
Who knows, maybe she'd have actually won.
Looking around, she took in the fullness of the room for once. It was… not awful. Not as stale and boring as it could be. There was a small houseplant on the windowsill, something almost cute and definitely hardy. The ceiling tiles had faint lines drawn on them her eyes could trace and the walls were a soothing shade of cream. Her bed was soft too, the blankets warm, if a little heavy, and the steady hum of a small monitor beside her was a slow reassurance that all in the world was normal.
Amusingly, they'd left her, her weapons - the ones she hadn't appropriated from the testing facility's infirmary anyways - in a neat pile next to her bed.
Kunai, one and all, sat neatly lined up in her pouch.
"I guess I should buy a scalpel then."
'Like Hell we will! Let's nick 'em all!'
Pausing for a moment, Sakura wondered if every shinobi heard a voice in their head before deciding that hearing voices was much more preferable to wearing orange tracksuits and reading lowbrow smut in public.
"Knock, knock."
Rolling her eyes, the pink haired kunoichi glared at her father.
"You know, you could have actually knocked."
Her old man grinned.
"But saying it is more fun! Besides, you look like you could have used some cheering up."
Thankfully, that was the moment when her mother chose to arrive as well and elbowed Sakura's father in the ribs.
"Oof! Savage woman! Beating me like this in a hospital too!"
Both Haruno women turned on the man with a glare that sent him scurrying to a chair.
"Ok, ok! I get the message!"
Waiting for a moment longer, all three started to chuckle. Sakura had to stop when she realized just how much the action hurt and Mebuki, her mother, rushed to her side.
For a moment, all three were quiet. Simply taking a long moment to think and calm down and simply be. Eventually, though, the elder Haruno woman brought her hand up and gently touched her daughter's cheek.
"My baby." Closing her eyes, the older woman sighed. "We knew this would eventually happen. Being a shinobi isn't supposed to be easy. But so young, so soon…."
"Well-" Sakura began. "Speaking of that." She spoke carefully, making sure not to hurt her jaw any further. "I think I needed this wake up call. Now I know just how far behind everyone else I am and how important it is for me to catch up. Speaking of everyone else, how are Naruto and Sasuke?"
At that, her father's eyes darkened.
"About that kiddo…. There is a bit of trouble with them."
Frowning, the kunoichi tried not to immediately start demanding answers.
"I see."