The Next Dimension Over
Chapter Six
It wouldn't be her first time starting training on an empty stomach. She didn't really mind. Her shadow clone had gone around the island (under henge, naturally) collecting what information she could over the day, and only dispelled at night when the denizens of the island had gone to sleep. The fact that it had come back with almost no information of use bothered her.
Really. There wasn't even a decently sized library or archive hall to be found. It seemed she would be deprived of any further information even while she was stuck on this island. At least the information she'd gathered indicated that there were many more, perhaps an entire civilization's worth of, people around the world. It was a world, apparently.
Or she was being lied to. Or this was some sort of convoluted genjutsu.
Or those.
About when she was finally finished digesting the flash of information her shadow clone delivered to her, the door to her room opened, and Goku wandered in. "Hey...can I share with you?" He rubbed at his hair sleepily. "Grandpa and Krillin are taking up all the room in the other bed."
She squinted at him. From her experience so far, she wouldn't have taken him for the kind of person to try to excuse his way into a girl's bed. "...And they haven't before?"
"Yeah, well...Grandpa Roshi said I can't sleep on Nimbus outside while we're here. He said it's 'too dangerous'." He didn't sound very convinced of the fact...so it was likely that there were certain threats involved that didn't have to do with danger to get him to agree. Whether it was because the island really did have some kind of threats she hadn't discovered yet, or whether he was just being a pervert as usual, though...
She huffed after a few moments, and scooted into the bed, gesturing at the outer edge. "Just remember: I could kill you with my bare hands, got it?"
Goku blinked, and stared at her in confusion for a moment or two. "Um...does that mean you want to fight instead...?"
...She really wasn't quite sure what to make of him at all. For as much as some of his actions reminded her of Naruto, others reminded her of Sai.
Or...of no one at all.
She probably just assigned familiarity to things just because she was here instead of home, and alone instead of with her team and friends. Her frown faded into nothing, and she glanced down at the blankets over her legs. "...Just don't snore too loud, or you can sleep on the stairs."
She couldn't see his expression, but he made a pleased sort of laugh, and crawled into the bed next to her. "I don't think I snore. Grandpa and Bulma never said anything!"
She sighed softly and settled down into the bed as he made himself at home on his half. Regardless of how much noise he made, she probably wouldn't get very much sleep anyway.
(*)
He expected grueling training. Waking up at four in the morning after running all over hell to find a stone (for nothing!) was just unfair. It wasn't even hard or useful! It was just mean.
The master seemed to recognize exactly none of his sulking over the matter. But then, the man had spent most of the morning mumbling to himself and making furtive glances up the stairs as if he were thinking about going in to look after the pink freak girl. Krillin was actually a little impressed by his master's persistence: after seeing just how weird she was, even his natural instincts weren't enough to make him want to go anywhere near her.
That said, as far as grueling training went, running around the island wasn't actually that hard, even on an empty stomach and with little sleep. Every so often he glanced over his shoulder. Despite her showing yesterday, she seemed content to simply jog behind all of them, watching the island around her with a bored sort of expression.
Eventually, the master stopped in front of a building in the village, and spoke with its resident quietly for a moment or two, before turning back to them. "Alright then! Everyone take a carton! We'll be delivering this milk."
He blinked. Clearly, he must have misheard the old man. Instead of 'delivering' it, he must have meant 'devouring' it. Because they missed two meals, and they were important meals. "...Delivering milk?"
(*)
She was convinced now, this training was nothing more than genin training. How many times had she delivered milk, groceries, and other heavy or ungainly items around the village or across the fire nation? More times than she'd wanted to count at the time, certainly. It had its place at the time, and she could easily see that it would do Goku and Krillin well (given how exhausted they looked trying to make it up the many steps of the plateau with cartons in hand), but it was of no use to her. She could have delivered all of it herself in less time and little more effort.
The old man watched her silently as he smoked his long pipe, and they waited for the two young boys to make it to the top.
"This course...I haven't ever given it to you before, have I?"
She arched an eyebrow. "Do you forget pretty girls that easily?"
He chuckled, and let out a puff of smoke. "Of course not. Which means...someone else must have trained you instead."
She watched him for a moment, considering her options. While it was true it was to her advantage to ensure he knew as little about her as possible should he be an enemy or some sort of spy of Kaguya...it was hardly a secret that she trained under Tsunade. Furthermore, she wasn't ashamed of it at all. She was proud of it.
She tilted her head to the side, and offered him a faint smile. "Didn't I say? I'm Sakura Haruno. Student of the Fifth Hokage. There isn't a training regiment harsher than hers."
"Hokage..." He muttered under his breath, thoughtful. "Now...what in the world is that...?"
Before she could make any attempt to answer, Goku finally arrived, looking winded and worn, but not tired enough to make her concerned. Krillin was...perhaps a little closer to a point where she was worried he might collapse backward off of the mountain if he wasn't careful.
She frowned, and gestured toward a rock. "Sit down and rest."
"E-eh?" He looked up at her, suspicious as always (exactly what was it that he thought she was planning?). "What are you talking about?"
"This is a break. Take the opportunity to regain your stamina."
He scowled up at her, and then made a furtive glance over toward Roshi. Who remained impassive behind his glasses, puffing at his pipe. "...I'm not tired. If you wanna take a break, then you do it."
She slowly straightened, and shook her head. Maybe the reason she kept feeling homesick and reminded of people that weren't so similar to the boys at all was because when it came to teamwork the two of them were just as bad as Team 7 once was.
"Ah! It's been some time since I've seen such a large group with you!" A strange voice caught her attention away from the stubborn young boy, and she turned toward it with curiosity.
"Yes, well...it has been some time since I've encountered so many with such promise at once." The old man stood and approached the other. Most likely he'd been waiting for this person to arrive, rather than explicitly waiting for Goku and Krillin to catch up.
The two boys chattered excitedly with each other at his offhanded compliment, and she carefully walked past them to get a better look at the person. He was one of the few she didn't get the opportunity to speak to before nightfall the day before. The chances of him having any special information were unlikely, but given that he was some sort of personal acquaintance of one of the people she woke up with, there was some chance of it being significant.
The man looked over to her with surprise after a moment. "Oh. What an extra-rare occurrence! Have you ever had a female student before now? I can't remember..."
He huffed. "It is unusual...but she's proven herself ready for training. And needing of more."
The man's eyes thinned in suspicion then. "Now, when you say she's 'proven herself' I don't suppose you mean that she's-"
"Nothing like that happened!" She growled, gripping her hand into a fist. As much as she wasn't surprised someone would think of the old pervert that way, the idea that someone would think she was the sort of woman to go along with that was unacceptable. She blamed the immediate outburst simply on being so on-edge already with his antics.
"Well..." Roshi cackled in a slow and knowing way. "If that's what you want to-"
Almost before she even realized what her own hand was doing, her fist came down and walloped him upside his shiny bald head.
Possibly a touch stronger than she needed to.
(*)
For a little bit there, Krillin was concerned the morning routine of milk delivery had been for nothing, and the legendary turtle hermit would never actually get up again. It certainly looked that way for a bit, anyway. During it, Sakura hadn't even looked all that apologetic, either.
It took up the rest of the early morning before he actually came to properly, at least. The old master might have looked a little more successfully disgruntled if he didn't have an obvious knot on the top of his head from where Sakura had smacked him.
...It was an uneasy reminder of that strength she occasionally displayed. Sure, she hadn't shown any strain at all carrying the milk bottles, even up the mountain, but that could have been for many reasons! That thing that sent the turtle hermit flying into the sea and tore those clothes apart, though...apparently his mind just preferred to suppress those unpleasant memories as quickly as it could.
It was difficult to suppress them when looking at that injury, though.
"Now..." Master Roshi huffed. "As it's your first day, I'll forgive your inability to finish the milk run! From tomorrow onward, however, we'll finish it each day as our early morning training. And then...you'll begin your morning training."
The old master gestured out at rolling hills of fields that looked almost endless. They couldn't be, since he knew the island wasn't all that big...but still. They were kind of impressive.
"Till this field."
He choked. "This...entire...?"
"Hmm?" His master glanced over at him. "Oh. No. Only this one section today. Over the next eight months, however, you'll have this entire thing finished."
"Eight months?" There was an edge of irritation in her voice that made him tense.
"Eight months." The old man nodded. "That's the time you'll have until the next Tenkaichi Budokai. If you are strong enough to enter it by then, your training will be complete."
"Ten..." He stuttered into silence as he stared up at his master. Strong enough to enter the Tenkaichi Budokai? That's insane! I'll never be able to reach that level in just eight months. Damn...I didn't want to face failure that quickly...
"As for the two of you, however..." The master settled a level gaze on him, specifically. "I expect you'll be ready in five."
He...didn't know what to think about that. For a few moments, in his own head, there was only silence. Shock, and silence.
Then Goku spoke. "Tenka...what'cha call it?'
"You...you're a martial artist and you don't know what the Tenkaichi Budokai is?" Krillin turned back toward his fellow students, to see a blank and puzzled look on Goku's face, and...uh. No, he really didn't know how to read Sakura's expressions. She was weird, and he didn't like it.
He felt too good about what his master had just said to let her get him down. "...Well, it's a tournament for the world's strongest fighters! Only the top fighters can participate, and the winner is crowned as the strongest!"
Goku gasped in surprise. "The strongest? Ah! I can't wait!"
Somehow, it didn't surprise him that Sakura didn't say anything on the matter. She simply watched Master Roshi, as if she were considering something. Totally not interested in the tournament at all.
He added it to her negative points.
"Well...none of you are going to make it if you don't start training!" The old man pointed to the field again. "Start tilling! If you don't do it quickly, you won't get any breakfast either!"
...As much as Goku immediately raced into action and his tummy urged him to do the same, he really did hope that the old master actually had food to give them this time.