The Next Dimension Over

Chapter Five

It didn't even matter she was already his least favorite person at the moment. He'd start up a running tally just to make sure when Goku did something stupid (extra stupid, as he invariably would) he wouldn't forget the things she did.

Like getting to run first. And making him have to try his hardest after already earning the right to train under Kamesennin, because thirteen seconds wasn't that far off from his personal best at that distance. At least there was a good chance that he'd get to have the training to himself, though. Goku might not be able to make it under thirteen, and there was no way some girl like her could.

No matter how cocky she looked in her tattered uniform and tacky forehead tattoo.

When the old master bristled, he felt a terrified moment that her rude comment might get him to decrease the time they had to make it in, just to spite the woman. Fortunately...the old man just scoffed, and walked toward the tree. "Well...we'll see, won't we?"

Sakura shifted on her feet somehow, though he...hadn't been paying enough attention to her to begin with to know exactly how. "Any time you're ready for me to start."

Master Roshi made it near to the tree, then turned and pulled up a stop watch. "...Go."

Air crashed across his face, and Goku made a startled sound. Belatedly, he realized that flash of black wasn't just him blinking, it was the woman running. She wasn't really a blur, he just didn't have time to properly register what she looked like running before it was over.

"Wh...wha...?"

"Time." She didn't even sound winded. What the hell was that?

Master Roshi blinked down at the watch for a moment or two. "...Three...point two."

"What?!"

(*)

She'd considered, just briefly, going all out. The distance was short enough that she could flicker the entire way there if she wanted to. But that would be taking the bait that the old man had blatantly laid down, and she couldn't be sure yet that these people weren't her enemies in some form or fashion. Even if they didn't want her dead any time soon, they still didn't need to know her full capabilities.

All the same, she'd had more than enough of his wounded pride. And she had her doubts, if he really knew enough to want to try her real capabilities, that he'd believe her holding back and making it 'just' under the time. It would serve her well enough to make him believe that this was the best she could do, and judging by the looks on their faces, they wouldn't expect better.

"That...that's amazing!" Goku shouted, hands up. "Show me how you did it!"

Krillin crossed his arms and looked haughtily off into the sky, clearly struggling to recover from the shock he initially expressed. "Y-Yeah...well! It's nothing next to what Master Roshi's time would be, right?"

Said master...sighed.

"Speaking of that. You did say each of us needed to display their skill for everyone, didn't you?" She turned her gaze to the old man. "If you can't make the thirteen seconds, you wouldn't qualify for your own training, would you?"

The old man bristled, and a moment later discarded the heavy looking turtle shell he usually wore. "...Well. I can see you're confident...but you'll need to do better to succeed outside of the atmosphere of training." He walked over toward where the other two stood, and began muttering something to them.

She barely had the chance to leap out of the way before he sped from there to the tree, kicking up a storm of dust and dirt, and earning twin shrieks from the boys. As he tapped his hand to the tree, his chest and shoulders heaved in heavy pants. Whatever his level of skill, clearly he hadn't used it in some time.

In the distance, she heard Krillin shout. "T-two-point-five! Amazing!"

The man harrumphed. Or attempted to, though how broken his breathing remained. "Hm. Not my best...but...as you can see. To exceed human limits, you must...push beyond. Them."

She would have been mildly concerned for his health if she weren't close enough to see that his vitality was still intact. If not all of his pride. The two boys ran up to where they were then, expressions a mixture of awe and excitement.

"Can I try?" Goku shouted, eyes sparkling. "I wanna try next!"

"Hm. Well. As I said, you will need to cross the distance in under thirteen seconds to qualify for my tutorship."

"Okay! But..." He frowned, and looked down at his feet. "Can I change my shoes first? These ones are broken."

(*)

Two and a half seconds!

He was in such a daze, he was almost surprised that he made it in the time limit at all. But...it didn't help the fact that Goku got eight seconds. Dammit, what just happened? How did he end up slower than the weird girl who almost drowned herself the day they met and the weird kid who traveled everywhere by riding a magical cloud?

He never imagined people could be so far beyond...that. People being stronger than him he was used to. Being in last place he was used to (though he swore he'd never be in last place again once he had Master Roshi's training under his belt). Master Roshi (...and Sakura. He would begrudgingly admit in just one case) blew out all of his expectations and imagination of the limits of humanity.

He couldn't decide if he was excited or frightened by that prospect, and the indecision made him uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, he didn't have all that much time to think about it. With all the time it took to run and get Goku new shoes and finish the competition, the sun was almost setting already. Training would begin in earnest tomorrow. Tomorrow would be the start of the rest of his life, where everything changed and turned around for the better.

Ten years from then...maybe even five, if he applied himself, the world would know his name.

Tonight, however...

The old master drew two stones out of his pockets and marked something on them. "It will take time for dinner to be made. In that time, I have a challenge for the three of you."

Sakura sighed. He squinted up at her, and then back at his master, but there didn't seem to be a reason for it, and the old man ignored her entirely.

"Do you see these?" He held the two out toward them, both of which had turtle scrawled across them in dark ink.

"...Okay...?" He shuffled a bit closer to figure out what it was about them that mattered. "They're just stones that you wrote on-"

The old man suddenly flung the first, and then the second, off of the cliff. "Go and find them. The one who returns without a stone won't have dinner." He turned and started toward the house. "And if any of you don't arrive in a half hour when it's done...you forfeit."

"W-What?"

(*)

No matter the dimension, it was clear that the bell test didn't change very much. Frankly, she couldn't decide if the reappearance of something like it in this old man's 'training' - or the prep for it, at least - was nostalgic or insulting. Her master's training had been intensive, but she hadn't retred things that genin and chuunin were already taught. Bell tests were as basic as a graduated student got.

...Even when they were upgraded to 'find the object in time' tests.

Still, she supposed there was no way she couldn't play along with his training if she wanted to learn his techniques. Teachers were quite particular about who and how they imparted their secrets to. Much as it was a waste of her time to do this instead of searching for a way out, as long as she was trapped, she wanted to figure out his prize jutsu.

That didn't stop her from walking up to the cliff instead of running to it like the boys did. She frowned down the cliff. It was too far for a sheer drop, but it wouldn't be too difficult to run down it, or at least glide. Goku, however, seemed to disagree. She was...actually kind of impressed to see him swan dive off of the cliff, even though that pet of his would probably break his fall.

"Ugah!" Krillin gave an exasperated shout as he stared over the edge. "What's up with him? It's like he wants to die!"

She planted her hands on her hips as she judged the amount of chakra that would be required to get her to slide down the side instead of walk (no reason to reveal that she could just walk down it if apparently that wasn't something they knew how to do). "More likely he's hungry. I've got a friend like that. He'd probably be dumb enough to jump off, too."

With his new Kurama mode, he'd probably be just fine, too.

"Eh...? You've got a friend?" Krillin blinked up at her, as if that were somehow an actual surprise, before he shook his head and smacked his cheeks. "Oh no! I can't waste time with you, I've got to get back there!"

For a moment, she watched him sprint in the opposite direction, obviously intent to find the safe path down. And obviously not understanding the nature of the challenge. "If you want to get down there before Goku gets back, come with me."

He stopped, and looked over his shoulder. "Huh...?"

"You don't want him getting a huge head start, right?" She offered him a friendly smile, and held out a hand. "There's two stones. We might as well use teamwork, right?" Plus, that's generally what these kind of tests were for, anyway.

For a long few moments, he stared at her suspiciously.

"If you want to give up, that's up to you. But...you know, I'm faster than both of you, and he never said I couldn't take both of them for myself and leave you without food."

He grumbled something under his breath, and then reluctantly trudged back to her. "...Alright, alright. What's your plan to get down there that isn't suicidal?"

"This." She scooped the small child up under her arm. Easily, despite the boy's flailing, and jumped off of the cliff.

"THIS ISN'T A DIFFERENT PLAN AT ALL!" The boy shrieked under her arm as she calculated the appropriate angle to contact with the cliff-face at. "THIS IS SUICIDE!"

And...there it was. Just before her feet contacted with the rapidly moving dirt, she summoned a cushion of chakra, and began to ski down the side of the dirt at a much more controlled speed than free-fall. "Don't move." If he tried to kick or squirm too much, he might connect with the cliff side and not only would it hurt him, but it would throw off her control of the fall.

"I...I'm too terrified to do that...!"

Just as the trees approached, she kicked off of the ground and hopped across a few branches, before finally setting onto the ground with a light thump. "Not bad, right?" She set the child down, and glanced down at his expression with a faint sense of amusement. Really, given what she'd seen so far, it didn't surprise her at all that he wasn't familiar with using chakra to secure one's feet to surfaces, much less more advanced forms of it.

"Y...you really are the worst." He glared up at her, and then dashed off into the trees. "There's no way I'd team up with you!"

She sighed after a moment, and shook her head, listening to the sounds of both boys frantically searching the nearby forest on their own.

Genin...

Well. If they wouldn't behave, at least that made her job of finding the stone much easier.

And also gave her an opportunity to go out and search for information while she played along with the hermit's games. She'd rested enough, she'd recovered more than enough chakra. Two shadow clones, one to help her find the stone (considering the small area they had fallen in), and one to go meet the islanders.

Even if the last time she'd played a game like this she'd still been an academy student, that wasn't any excuse to go and lose.

(*)

"You're...joking..."

He stared at his wise old master in a sort of numb shock that could only come from crushing disappointment following a half hour of grueling work and high stress.

The man shook his head. "Ah...if only."

Goku looked as if someone had stolen...food...from him. Which they had, so actually that was probably a more appropriate expression than his own. The boy was as covered in sweat, leaves, and twigs as himself. Well, maybe slightly less, but then he had purposefully covered himself in a few more when he'd tried and failed to switch out rocks a bit earlier.

Sakura just looked...peeved. Which she didn't have any right to be, since she didn't even look tired despite somehow getting a rock before he could. (Stupid random chance...)

The old man shook his head again, and turned back toward the house, walking toward it. "I'm afraid...I forgot to buy groceries in all of the excitement of moving and beginning training today."

None of them got any food that night after all.