Pulling My Weight Chapter 5, a naruto fanfic

sorry for the delay and thank you for the feedback for last chapter! here's the newest one, and it's a bit of a monster ;P

ENJOY!

Sakura,

I'm taking Sasuke for a month of training outside the Village; he'll need it if he wants to face Gaara. I've organised a sensei for Naruto who'll go over the fundamentals with him and teach him chakra control so he won't waste as much. I want you to relax, go over your basics, take it easy – you've had a difficult time in the Forest and you have to let yourself recuperate.

See you in a month,

-Your darling sensei

"What."

The word was flat, blunt, and Sakura didn't know which would be the victor from the emotions warring within her; anger or desperation.

A moment later, anger won.

"What?!"

She knew Kakashi-sensei would take Sasuke-kun under his wing; that much was obvious to anyone who'd spent even five minutes in his presence or saw how he looked at the Uchiha. But for him to provide a teacher for Naruto but not for her when both of them advanced to the final round? That was not right. Sakura's fingers clenched in an attempt to quell her anger, effectively crumpling the note still held in her hand. "'Recuperate' my ass!" she hissed, and all of a sudden the anger morphed into something cooler, more stable; "I'll show you, sensei." She promised the crumpled ball of paper in her grasp. "I'll show you the extent of my 'basics'." The anger had stabilised, cooled, and instead of a raging inferno, she felt the familiar flame of determination light up within her once again. She shoved the note into her pocket, grabbed her wallet and snuck out of the window.

After the match-ups for the next round had been announced, they were safely led out of the Forest of Death and dismissed after being given the time and location they were expected to turn up at for the finals.

That was three days ago.

The first day, Sakura stayed home, took a long bath to thoroughly de-Forest herself and went downstairs to cook dinner for her parents. To say the atmosphere was tense during the meal would be like saying Kakashi-sensei had time-management issues: in other words, a complete understatement. Sakura's parents were civilian to a fault – her father was a retired policeman who now worked as bureaucrat while her mother was a performer; an actress, a singer, a model – beautiful and feminine and jaded to the core the second she found out her daughter wanted to be a paid assassin.

Needless to say, neither were thoroughly accepting of her chosen career path.

Most of the time, Sakura managed to avoid them enough to dodge a direct confrontation, but sometimes, her mother's frustration that she could not make her only child follow in her footsteps won out and jabs and accusations sharper than the edge of a knife would be thrown her way.

And Haruno Mebuki knew how to make them hurt.

At dinner, when she couldn't stand the silence anymore, Sakura carefully broached the subject of the upcoming Exams. "I… I might be up for an advancement in the ranks soon, hahaue, chichiue." She announced meekly, eyes not meeting either of her parents' gazes.

"And what, pray tell, does an advancement mean for your kind?" her mother demanded, and Sakura flinched. Her kind meant shinobi, and it had been that way since she'd graduated the Academy – it seemed that up until she was handed her headband, Mebuki had still believed that her daughter would see things her way and fade back into civilian ranks. "I doubt it means a pay rise."

She chanced a glance at her father but he was entirely focused on the sukiyaki she'd prepared, and Sakura would've nearly believed he wasn't listening if his gaze hadn't sharpened the moment he heard 'pay rise'. She stifled a sigh.

"A-actually, hahaue, it does mean a pay-rise. Chunin – which is the next rank from the one I'm at right now – they go on more dangerous missions so they get paid more. Like that time I got back from the Land of Waves!" she brightened at the example, remembering how surprised and pleased her parents had been when she showed them the money she got for her month of absence. "It would've normally gone to somebody much higher in the ranks, but because we didn't know till after we set off how dangerous it would be and we completed it nonetheless, we got the appropriate pay." She hastened to explain.

Her mother looked contemplative. "So the more often you put your neck on the line, the more money you get?" she asked in disbelief and Sakura almost thought she heard concern in her voice.

"Essentially, yes." She admitted, then winced and decided to expand slightly. "But it's not like they force you to go on those missions when you're unprepared – this is why I was absent last week. I was at the Chunin Exams, which are meant to test if you're skilled enough to be undertake the more dangerous mission and still come back relatively safely." She clarified, at which her mother frowned thoughtfully.

"Like a performance review?" her father murmured and Sakura nearly hugged the man. "Exactly!" she nodded instead, a small smile on her face.

"Tell me more about those exams." Her mother ordered and Sakura gulped.

"W-well, it's divided into four stages." She began carefully. "The first one was a theory exam, then the second stage was a survival exercise in a forest meant to simulate a real mission, and the third and fourth stages are combat. And… I'm through to the fourth stage."

"You got through combat?" Mebuki questioned with no small degree of surprise. Her eyes scanned her daughter critically, from her inherited pink hair to her frail figure. "But your Academy teacher always said you were hopeless at combat." Sakura winced. Her mother certainly didn't mince her words, but worse yet was that the rosette knew that Mebuki's surprise was not unfounded. She still was hopeless at close-combat.

"I, um, I had a really good teacher." She admitted quietly, not liking it when her father's eyes sharpened and rose to meet hers.

"It wasn't that Hatake man, was it?" and although Sakura knew that if worst came to worst, her taijutsu – as appalling as it was – would still be enough to handle a civilian, having Haruno Kizashi's intense stare on her, almost daring her to disagree still sent shivers down her spine. She didn't quite know what transpired between her parents and Kakashi-sensei, but she got the distinct expression that the man had not made a very good impression on them.

"N-no." she replied, shrinking in on herself when two pairs of piercing eyes shot to her. "Shiranui Genma-san trained me for over a month. He's a jounin – I mean, one of the elite." She clarified.

"The elite?" her mother parroted, a smile growing on her face. "Why, Sakura, you had one of the elite working with you and you haven't invited him to dinner yet?"

Sakura paled. "He's a busy man!" she hastened to explain, not liking the glint in her mother's eye. "I can't possibly impose on him in such a way!"

"Nonsense!" her mother waved her off. "If he's had enough spare time to spend it with a brat like you, I'm sure he can spare a few hours to try some of my cooking." A dangerous smile crossed her face. "Or he will find some time, if he knows what's good for him."

Sakura tried to argue, but she knew a lost case when she saw one. She sighed. "Just- hahaue, please, promise me you won't try to threaten him." She begged and got a smirk for her troubles.

And then, Sakura's mother rose from the table and disappeared in the lounge. Sakura shot a pleading look at her father, but he merely replied with a small upwards quirk of his lips. "I cannot try to discourage her when I myself am curious too." And so saying, he stood up and followed her mother, and Sakura allowed her head to thump against the table.

She was screwed.

And that had been the first day.

The second day, Sakura got a piece of paper and wrote down everything she remembered about Temari, Shikamaru and Dosu's fights. Assuming she won against the Sand kunoichi, she would then have to fight whoever won from Shikamaru and the Sound nin. She had the advantage of knowledge over Temari, as Sakura had seen her jutsu and knew that she relied on her fan to make it work while the other kunoichi knew almost nothing about her. That was a good starting point, but it wouldn't give her the edge over the other two; moreover, she had no idea how good Temari was at disrupting genjutsu.

So she had a month to find something new for long-range combat as well as something which would aid her in close-combat fights. She was reluctant to try to learn an entire taijutsu style in a month or the conditioning which would be necessary for her frame to be able to handle the exertion, but something would need to be done.

But first things first, she needed to restock her weapons kit. Genma-san's words had stuck with her and she saw the truth in them during the Exam, especially in the Forest of Death. With that in mind, she set off to the same weapons store, wallet in hand and in marginally higher spirits than the day before.

Once she had what she wanted and was about to pay, something else caught her eye. Chakra paper? Puzzled, she asked the shopkeeper and he was kind enough to explain the paper's function; "It allows you to see what elemental affinity you have. Just channel some chakra into it like this-" he held up a piece of paper, visibly concentrated, and a moment later the paper ignited and turned to ash. "-and you'll know. The fact that it burnt just means my element is fire. Here, try it yourself." He handed her a small square and Sakura paused.

"How much is it?" she asked, to which he waved her off.

"Knowing your element could save your life. Besides," he eyed the ample supply of kunai and explosive tags she laid out on the counter. "consider it a bonus for everything else you're going to pay me for."

Flashing the man a small but grateful smile, Sakura held the paper between thumb and forefinger like she'd seen him do. "So… I just channel some chakra into it?" she confirmed and at his nod, did as asked.

She jumped when the paper first turned to dirt and then, as it began to crumble into her palm, some of it became wet and slid down her wrist like mud. Slightly disgusted, she quickly wiped it off before meeting the surprised eyes of the shopkeeper. "Is everything alright?" she asked worriedly, eyes falling to the small spot of mud on the floor. "I'll clean up, I promise."

But the man waved her off. "Don't worry about that," he scoffed before his eyes turned to her, the curiosity within them evident. "Are your parents shinobi?" he asked.

"No, sir, both are civilian." Sakura denied, confused. "What does that have to do with anything, if you don't mind me asking?"

He smiled. "It's just that you seem to have an affinity for Earth and Water. Though Earth is definitely your main one and will come to you a lot more easily, having two is still not exactly common for children who hailed from civilian families." He grinned at her confusion. "It should even out if you ever reach jounin though – most jounin learn to have equal mastery of two or more elements at some point in their careers. Though it's true that, initially, most ninja from civilian families have only one." He explained.

Sakura's brow furrowed in a frown. "Is it bad that I have two?"

"No, not at all!" he hastened to reassure. "If anything, it's gonna make life easier for you." He grinned. "Although it's curious that you have two opposing natures as your affinity." And then he proceeded to explain that every element had another element which it was strong against, such as Fire against Wind, and another which it was weak against, like Water against Earth.

Sakura's mind was working in overdrive. "Is it… is it possible to combine the elements?" she asked slowly, at which the shopkeeper grinned.

"You're a sharp one, ain'tcha?" he teased. "There are combinations of two or more elemental affinities used to create another element entirely, but they mostly depend on a kekkei genkai or a passed-down technique. I think the most famous one in Konoha was the Shodai Hokage and his Wood Release." Seeing her alarmed expression, he laughed. "No one is saying that everybody who can use Earth and Water Release should be able to use Wood Release. That'd be crazy; there's a reason they call Hashirama Senju the God of Shinobi – no one's been able to naturally recreate his technique since."

The rosette absorbed this information and safely filed it in the back of her mind. "Thank you." She murmured before her eyes fell on her weapons. "How much is it for all this?"

Afterwards, she made a quick detour to the library, but this time, instead of jutsu scrolls, she borrowed a scroll on elemental chakra and a history book on Konoha that looked as if it were to crumble to dust in her hands. When she got home and safely put away her weapons, she carefully leafed through the pages till she found a profile on the Shodai Hokage.

It was as Morino-san said, after all: all information was valuable information.

On the morning of the third day, Sakura found The Note taped to her window. After she calmed down, she grabbed her wallet, the library scroll as well as the one she took off the Iwagakure kunoichi in the Forest of Death and promptly snuck out.

Her feet took her to her favourite dango stand and she purposely didn't think about what her mother would say if she heard she was having sweets for breakfast. She could treat herself once in a while, damn it!

When her dessert arrived, Sakura almost inhaled the first stick before she slowed down enough to spread the scroll from the Iwa-nin on the table. She had high hopes for this one – Iwagakure, after all, was famed for their mastery of Earth Release techniques, just as Kirigakure was for their Water Release.

When she unravelled it, a grin stole over her face. Bingo!

"Y'know, kid, if you keep eating junk-food instead of something more nutritious you're gonna remain a twerp forever." a very familiar voice in her ear made her jump and she shot a glare at Genma-san who looked obviously amused and not in the slightest apologetic.

"I have a month off from a life-or-death exam, Genma-san." She grouched, stuffing another dumpling in her mouth for good measure and chewing obnoxiously. "Let me live."

The tokujo snorted and slid into the seat opposite her, snagging a dango stick from her plate with a daring grin. "Ah, about that Exam," he raised an eyebrow. "when I told you to 'finish a match as quickly as you could', I didn't think you'd take it so seriously as to finish in less than a minute." He announced and Sakura frowned.

"Is it wrong, what I did?" she asked in puzzlement, relieved when Genma-san waved her off.

"It's not the question of 'wrong' or 'right' exactly," he explained. "you did what you felt you had to do to win." Then, he smirked. "It's just that jounin are horrible gossips and there're now various bets being placed on who'll win the matches next month and no-one quite knows what to do with you."

Sakura paled. "Me?!" she questioned incredulously at which the brunet shot her a crooked grin.

"See it from their point of view for a moment," he instructed. "The Hyuuga is easy, as is the Uchiha, the Aburame will probably suck all the chakra from the puppet before its owner realises what's going on, and all those worth their salt know not to mess with a Nara. But you?" he met her wide eyes with his own which were brimming with barely hidden amusement and a hint of pride. "A no-name kunoichi from a civilian family defeated a Yamanaka heir in less than a minute with a jounin level technique and a supplementary genjutsu. You can see how you've unwittingly made yourself into something interesting."

"I never meant to-! You said to finish quickly if I could, advised me to use genjutsu and then disarm! That's all I did!" she defended herself, only pausing when the tokujo shook his head.

"And I'm not condemning you for it." He reassured. "I'm just saying that there's a big question mark over your fight and some people are expecting a show." Then, he smiled and his eyes glinted teasingly. "But that's neither here nor there. More importantly, why d'you look like you're reading an obviously stolen scroll when I came in?"

"Who's to say it's stolen?" she grumbled, though she was slightly thrown that he'd noticed. "I could've just borrowed it from the library."

Genma-san raised an eyebrow and brought up three fingers. "Reason one why it's stolen: nobody in their right mind manning the library desk would let a genin take out scrolls elemental manipulation." He grinned when she scowled and lowered one finger. "Reason number two is that while I'm fairly certain you might've found Hiding Like a Mole technique in the library if you were chuunin or jounin," he leaned over to read over her shoulder, "I'm pretty damn sure that Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld is at least a B-Rank. And reason number three is that Konoha is not a Village renowned for their Earth Release techniques, ergo, this scroll is not from Konoha."

When she neither confirmed nor denied his conclusion, he crossed his arms and sat back against the seat, a self-satisfied grin on his face as he flicked the senbon from side to side. "So," he began, the word so smug that Sakura smothered the urge to shove that needle down his throat "did you loot a corpse?"

She promptly choked on her dango.

The rosette turned horrified eyes to the tokujo, who merely looked amused, and when she regained her ability to speak –

"No!" she shrieked, then promptly lowered her voice when at least two heads turned her way. "No." she reaffirmed, and glared. "She was unconscious but alive when I took it."

At the smirk that appeared on his face, Sakura realised that it would've been better to stay silent. "So you agree that you stole it?" and when she realised that his tone wasn't accusatory or disgusted, just the usual infuriatingly amused, Sakura had to admire how easily he manipulated her into admitting the truth.

"Fine." She sighed and sagged in her seat. "Fine. Yes, I stole it. Happy?" she snarked, but his grin didn't fade.

"Very." Genma-san admitted and promptly stole another one of her dango sticks. Before she could dig into him, he asked; "What warrants the interest in Earth Release though? I thought you would've been researching more genjutsu." And Sakura frowned, then carefully relayed what she discovered in the weapons shop the day before as well as what she'd thought she could do to prepare for her battle with Temari.

She was relieved when Genma-san made a point of nodding throughout, and when she finished, a contemplative look appeared on his face. "So you want something close range as well as another way of attacking long-range, yeah?" when she nodded, he grinned. "Well, I'm glad you seem to have sussed out the real reason behind the combat section of the Exams."

Sakura stared. The real reason?

At her blank look, Genma-san sighed, "Or maybe not." He stole another dango stick for good measure before he explained. "The theory exam is to see if you've got the brains or the resourcefulness. The Forest of Death is mainly to see if you can follow orders and survive in unknown conditions which is needed for long-term missions outside the Village. But the combat stage is, well, for you, it's mainly to assess your versatility and decision-making."

The rosette frowned, hearing what he was not saying. "The combat stage is for people like me." She realised, her eyes widening as she worked it out. Genma-san sat quietly, his eyes never leaving her face. "People from no significant clan nor with any particular talents." She continued. "There will always be a place in the ranks for a Hyuuga, like Hinata-san, because of their dojutsu – reconnaissance and intel gathering benefit from people with essentially X-Ray vision." She thought of more names. "Same as the Inuzuka are useful for tracking, the Akimichi for defence and demolition, the Nara as tacticians and the Yamanaka as interrogators." The history book she borrowed the day before was great in explaining to her the function of each clan in their society. "But it's the no-names that need to make a name for themselves who are truly assessed in the combat stage. Am I right?" when her eyes fell on Genma-san, he quickly swapped the contemplative frown he was wearing for an easy smirk.

"Nearly. There's one more thing." And when she frowned, confused, he explained. "Chuunin are mainly leaders." He announced. "Hokage-sama should've told you that even if you start the match, realise you're outclassed and forfeit, you can still become chuunin."

Sakura's eyebrows raised. "You can?"

Genma-san scowled slightly. "Ah. That's why I said 'should've'." he sighed. "Yeah, kid, you can. Because it shows that you know your limits and know when a fight would not end in your favour. For a leader, their squad is their priority. Particularly in Konoha, since we're the 'nice' Village that's so keen on the whole 'teamwork and cooperation' aspect of being ninja." Sakura nodded, Zabuza's words echoing in her mind; Konoha was definitely a lot nicer than Kiri, for example. She tuned back in when Genma-san resumed his explanation. "But you were largely right – being from a civilian family, you'll need to show good decision-making as well as a certain degree of versatility to even be considered for the promotion."

Sakura's eyes fell on the brunet, knowing yet dreading what she had to ask. "Genma-san…" she began carefully. "Would you… would you mind training me again?"

When Genma-san turned surprised eyes to her, she thought for sure she'd overstepped and almost took back her words, but then–

"I thought that was a given." He stated bluntly, and Sakura had to blink a few times before his words registered. When they did, she pushed her plate of dango towards him, knowing he'd appreciate it more than if she were to hug him like she was very tempted to. "I just didn't want to say anything first in case Hatake organised you some new sensei and you didn't want to make this awkward."

At that, Sakura winced. "Ah," she started. "Kakashi-sensei… didn't… organise anyone… for me."

Genma-san's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean 'for you'?" and though his voice was calm, it was also cold, and Sakura decided to show him the crumpled note that she'd shoved in her pocket in the morning rather than go through the pain of explaining her situation. The tokujo's eyes scanned the paper, once, twice, three times before they rose to meet Sakura's, disbelief and anger represented in equal parts.

"What."

And Sakura snorted; Genma's expression was the same as hers had been in the morning when she first read the note. "Beats me, Genma-san." She sighed once she caught her breath. "I just promised myself I'd prove him wrong is all."

The tokujo's eyes snapped to her, and he scowled. "Damn right." He snapped. "C'mon kid, grab that scroll of yours. We're going to train till Hatake will have to shove his 'basics' up his ass!"

Eyes wide and giggling all the while, Sakura obediently snatched up the scroll and followed the irate brunet, her appreciation for the man growing considerably. She jogged to catch up then asked, "Genma-san, not to be rude, but do you even know any Earth Release techniques?" a bit impudent of her to question a jounin, but it had been sitting on her mind since he offered to train her – he never mentioned having an affinity before.

The brunet sent her a sideways glance and scowled but there was humour in his eyes. "Must you look a gift horse in the mouth?" he grumbled. "But for your information, yes, I know about two or three. I'm old enough to have fought in the Third Shinobi War and you learn a thing or two about the other side if a conflict goes on for that long." Sakura's eyes widened. The Third Shinobi War… It was at least a decade before she was born and if Genma-san fought in that…

"You must've been… five years old? Six?" she initially reckoned Genma-san couldn't be older than twenty five, maybe twenty six, but the new information made her revaluate.

Genma-san grinned. "You flatter me, kid." He joked before he grew serious. "Nah, I was eleven or so, fresh outta the Academy 'cause they only started needing child soldiers after I graduated. The real fighting didn't even really start till I made chuunin two years later but you always remember what you learn on the battlefield."

Suddenly, Sakura's respect for the man skyrocketed and she grinned. "For some reason, I'm looking forward to this."

Genma-san's grin turned ominous. "You really shouldn't be."

In the evening, Sakura understood why he'd said that.

They stopped by the library and Genma-san borrowed some scrolls which he'd deemed 'easy beginner stuff' which he planned to pawn off on her after he demonstrated how to perform them while he studied the scroll she'd taken from the Iwagakure kunoichi. His justification when she asked why he was bothering with learning Earth Release himself was; "I need to know what I'm teaching you, don't I?" and after that, Sakura didn't argue anymore.

They went to their usual training grounds and Genma-san quickly explained the ins and outs of nature manipulation: "With Earth, you can alter its state – you can make it into mud or into rock if you wish – you can also change its density, which makes it easier to move around underground, for example. But all of that revolves around a constant, controlled stream of chakra, and so we'll need to increase your reserves before you get started on any of the more advanced techniques." And Sakura agreed, finding the plan reasonable enough, but Genma-san surprised her with what he said next. "Still, I think you have enough chakra as is to try this;" his hands flashed through handsigns which Sakura's mind worked to catalogue – Tiger, Hare, Boar, Dog-! – before he slammed them against the ground, fingers spread, and a thick, half a metre tall and double that in length wall of earth rose up right before their eyes. "this is very aptly named 'Earth Wall'." Genma-san announced, the corner of his mouth quirking upwards. "It's theoretically a B-Rank technique, but it's the easiest thing I can think of to start you on."

When Sakura's eyes went wide at the rank, he grinned brazenly and chucked her a scroll. "It's your element, kid. Learning this will come easier to you once you get the basics down, but till then it's gonna be a lot of hit-and-miss. The scroll should help with the theory aspects, but ideally, you'll want to start on the practical ASAP. We only have a month, after all." Sakura could not help reciprocating his grin towards the end, and they both settled on the ground, cross-legged with scrolls spread out before them.

Sakura managed to read through the scroll twice in half an hour, the second time making sure she hadn't missed any important hints or pointers – it seemed Genma-san was right; all the scroll was useful for was telling her how to channel her chakra, but the actual manipulation was left almost entirely to her.

"Okay." She exhaled, mentally readying herself for the next step and valiantly ignoring Genma-san's raised eyebrow. "Okay." But Sakura wasn't Naruto, she couldn't pull out an impossible technique from her sleeve and get it right on the first go, no, she had to strategize, plan, prepare herself–

She laid her hands out on the ground, fingers splayed wide and palms flat. Carefully, she pumped some chakra into the ground underneath; at first, it seemed completely anticlimactic as nothing happened, but then, Sakura realised that was because she was expecting to feel something by the 'standard' senses, but since she was prodding underground, she had to extend a little; she concentrated on the feel of her chakra and–

The ground that had previously seemed so packed and unforgiving seemed to buzz when her chakra ran through it and Sakura could feel its energy, its obedience, how it seemed to await a command. Curious, she smoothed one of her palms over the ground, never breaking the chakra flow and was startled to note that she could feel a bit of the dirt under the surface follow where her palm went, almost like iron filings to a magnet. Unbidden, a memory of their time in Wave came to mind, how when they were tree-climbing, Naruto and Sasuke-kun's trunks kept exploding whenever they used too much chakra. Sakura seemed to know instinctively how much would be too much, and she realised that even now she was using the perfect balance. Intrigued, she wondered if the same principle that made the trunks implode would work on earth – following the hunch, she took one of her hands away from the ground and increased the chakra flow till she had to concentrate to resist the urge to moderate it to the appropriate level, then, before she could talk herself out of the idea, she slapped that hand lightly against the ground, expelled the chakra she'd gathered and waited.

Then promptly squeaked at the result:

A dark, foot-long crevice appeared in the ground, and when she carefully peaked inside, she could not discern the depth of the crack. Her eyes rose to meet Genma-san's amused gaze, though she didn't miss the raised eyebrow.

"Having fun?" he asked sarcastically, at which she pouted and returned to the task at hand. Carefully, she cancelled the chakra flow to her other hand as well then laid both palms on the ground again, but this time making sure that the fissure was between her thumbs. Concentrating hard, she recalled how the dirt seemed to respond to her chakra the first time and carefully gathered chakra again, smiling slightly when she got that same feeling of readiness from the ground affected. This time, she had an idea of what she wanted to do, how she wanted to manipulate the earth under her control. She imagined it expanding, rising up, filling the crevice she'd made and settling again, leaving the terrain unscathed and even once again. Unconsciously, her chakra seemed to mimic her imagination, and when Sakura glanced at the crack again to gauge her progress, she did a double-take and promptly lost control of her chakra.

The crevice was gone.

Slow, sarcastic clapping reached her ears, and she turned her head so quickly her neck cracked to see Genma-san observing her, both eyebrows raised and a grin splitting her face. "You done playing, or do you want me to take you to the sandbox with the little kids? You'd fit right in." he teased and Sakura mock-glared.

"Shut up, Genma-san." She grumbled, but her words held no real heat and they both knew it. "I think… I think I know how to do it." She added hesitantly, not wanting to come off as overconfident. But Genma-san dropped his scroll and turned so his body faced her and gestured in-between them in a silent 'go ahead', not the slightest hint of judgement in his eyes, for which Sakura was eternally grateful.

She cast one last look at the scroll before she ran through the seals once, without chakra but merely to familiarise herself with the sequence. "Okay." She murmured again, got to her knees and concentrated.

Tiger, Hare, Boar, Dog-! Sakura slammed her palms against the ground and expelled the chakra that she'd gathered in her hands, alarmed to note that it was almost a third of her reserves. She could feel the earth respond beneath her hands, feel its energy coil under the surface and she silently urged it along: c'mon, she thought, up! The second that thought fully formed in her mind, she was scurrying backwards, eyes wide; a thick slab of earth rose up, easily taller than her and over a metre wide. For a moment, she was left speechless in disbelief then sighed in equal parts exhausted and relieved.

"Hm," Genma-san murmured and she realised that he'd gotten up to inspect her handiwork. "Not bad, kid." He commented finally and grinned at her shock. "Not bad at all." Then, he turned to her and clapped his hands together. "Now, I want you to destroy it."

"What?" she couldn't help the incredulity that coloured her voice. "Did you not see how much effort that took?" she demanded.

"I did." The tokujo responded easily, his smirk turning mischievous. "Which is why you're going to do it again and again and again till you don't even notice how much chakra it saps." He announced cheerfully. Sakura levelled him with a flat stare.

"You're mad."

"Probably."

"I'll pass out."

"Undoubtedly."

"You're a sadist."

A shrug. "There're worse things I could be. Now, chop-chop!"

Defeated and not in the slightest happy about it, Sakura set to work.

She did pass out.

Repeatedly.

The first time, when she came to, Genma-san offered her a protein bar, a ten minute break and a word of advice: "You could reduce the thickness – your chakra is coating it anyway, so it's unlikely any attacks would go through and it would save a lot of chakra."

The second time, she was greeted by an unimpressed eyebrow and a hand to help her up. "Your recuperation period needs work."

The third time she came to, the smell of fried chicken greeted her nostrils and her stomach growled like a felled beast. She propped herself on her elbows and was amused to discover Genma-san was sat cross-legged, still studying the scroll, a white carton box in his hands from which she could distinctly smell udon noodles and soy sauce. Seeing her gaze, he offered her a grin and gestured to an identical box beside him, which she eagerly dug into.

"Didn't know what you like so decided that fried chicken is the safe option." He told her in-between bites. Then, as if considering something, he added. "Oh, and no silly diets for the duration of this month." At her incredulous stare, he scowled; "How can you expect to have a decent amount of chakra if you don't eat properly?" he chastised. "Besides, if you're dieting for a boy, he can wait. You're too young to be thinking of boys."

And then, floored by the absurdity of the situation, Sakura laughed. "Genma-san, are you my mom? D'you want me to start calling you kaa-san?" she teased.

The brunet's eyes spelled death when he glared at her. "Make that joke again and I'll pawn you off to Gai in a heartbeat and you'll be running a hundred laps around Konoha on your hands."

Needless to say, that joke perished before it even had a chance to enjoy its brief life.

The disbelief at what she was doing only caught up with her halfway through the second week.

"I'm manipulating an element." She murmured, voice flat as she stared at her arm which was submerged wrist-deep in the ground beside her after no digging, no displacing, just pure chakra control. "Holy shit-! Genma-san, I'm manipulating an element!" she shrieked, her eyes wide as she tried to convey what a Big Thing that was to the amused jounin beside her.

"Yes, kid, I know, you've been doing it for the better part of the week." He replied easily and she couldn't find it in herself to be annoyed at his 'duh' tone. "Unless you've had sudden amnesia, I fail to see why that only registered in your mind as something of importance after a week of doing it."

Sakura paused in her freak-out and took a moment to consider the reason. "Honestly, I think it's… I think it's 'cause I always viewed it like something done by really powerful people, y'know?" she tried to explain, then elaborated at Genma-san's signature raised eyebrow. "I mean, I know, logically, that most shinobi can manipulate an element after they reach a certain rank, but I only ever saw really strong people do it – Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke-kun, Zabuza… I guess, the slight crisis you just witnessed was because I never thought I would be able to do something like that."

Genma-san shot her an irritated look and stood up, gesturing for her to do the same. "Put me under your genjutsu." He ordered. Sakura paled.

"What?"

"Put me. Under. Your. Genjutsu, damn it, kid!" He snapped, for once sounding genuinely irritated. Startled, Sakura hastened to obey, hands flashing through the seals required for the Hell-Viewing technique. She saw how his jaw twitched and clenched and felt the shift when he dispelled it. "Again." He ordered in a voice that left no room for argument. She obeyed and pulled out the Double False Surroundings jutsu, then layered the standard version over it. Sakura took some pride in the fact that it took Genma-san a bit longer to discover the layer, but when he broke that too, he merely demanded she keep going. "The new one this time. Now."

'The new one' meant that Sakura used her imagination rather than an actual technique and implanted it into another's brain with her chakra. She heard Genma-san's breath hitch slightly when the landscape around him transformed into the Forest of Death, but she layered the Mist Servant technique over that before he could dispel it, and waited.

A few moments later, the illusionary clones disappeared and Genma-san's eyes regained their clarity. "Good." He commented. "Now, Earth Wall." Obligingly, Sakura called forth a small wall but made sure it didn't go higher than her waist to conserve her chakra; she had a feeling this was somewhat of a test. She didn't wait for Genma-san's command before she dismissed it and disappeared underground, her hand appearing above the surface a few seconds later only to tap his shin lightly before she disappeared again and emerged completely a few metres away from where she originally stood. Conscious of her dwindling reserves, she allowed herself a moment's respite before her hands flashed through Dog and Tiger seals and a host of haze clones appeared and Sakura promptly sank into the earth again much like with the Headhunter Jutsu, but this one with much more nefarious intent. She smothered her chakra as she moved underground, knowing the clones will effectively mask her re-emergence; she was right, as Genma-san's back was to her, and in a childish fit, she pumped the remnants of her chakra into her feet and pounced.

The softness of their landing alerted her to the fact that the tokujo had definitely sensed her coming, but the fact that he still let her topple him and land on his back made something warm bloom in her chest and she rolled off, not wanting to make him stay in the uncomfortable position any longer than necessary.

"So," Genma-san began after rolling over onto his side, head propped on his elbow. "still feel like you're in any way inferior to your teammates?"

Realising that that was the reason behind his loss of temper and the various tests, Sakura felt her cheeks grow hot. "N-no." she managed to stammer out, not meeting the brunet's gaze. "No, thank you, Genma-san."

She felt more than saw him wave her off. "No need. You need to believe in yourself, kid. You're capable of more than you think."

And Sakura would later blame her poor self-esteem, her pessimism, hell, even Kakashi-sensei and his negligence for the embarrassing words that escaped her next:

"D'youwanttocometodinner?"

It took Genma-san over thirty minutes to get her to pull her head out of the ground – where she promptly shoved it the second her brain caught up with her mouth using her new Earth Release abilities, mind you. They both knew Genma-san was more than capable of simply pulling her out of the ground but he was distracted from his task by bouts of uncontrollable laughter than shook him randomly and eventually even Sakura gave in and sat up to grin sheepishly at him, absently brushing some dirt from her hair.

"Would you- would you mind repeating that?" he asked between chuckles, his cheeks flushed from laughing so much.

Sakura barely resisted shoving her head into the sand again. "I said," she forced out, eyes screwed shut and enunciating carefully, "would you mind coming over for dinner. At my house. With my parents. My mother… wants to meet you."

Genma-san cocked his head at her explanation. "Sure." He shrugged. "What's got you so embarrassed though?"

The rosette shot him a disbelieving glare. "I like words, Genma-san. I consider myself fairly well spoken. I've been thinking of how to breach that subject since you agreed to train me again. But then I had to be stupid and blurt it out like- like-" she struggled for an apt metaphor. "like Naruto." Genma-san snorted, but before he could reply, something else clicked in Sakura's mind. "Wait." She ordered, holding a hand up and levelling him with the flattest stare she was capable of. "Did you just say yes?"

Genma-san, again, shrugged. "Why wouldn't I? Free food. Besides, I kinda want to meet your parents, actually." Sakura stared.

"Trust me, you will regret ever saying that when you actually meet them." But the brunet only smirked and grumbled something like 'let a grown man form his own opinions, brat' at which it was Sakura's turn to shrug.

"Your funeral."

Sakura's calm demeanour only lasted till they got to her doorstep. She turned to the brunet, eyes entreating. "Seriously, Genma-san, my parents hate shinobi. They're very much against my choice and they will not hesitate to rip into you the second they hear that you've been training 'their only daughter how to kill people'." She saw the tokujo's eyebrow skyrocket and she shrugged. "Honestly, I will happily cover for you if you say you don't want to come. Saying that my parents can be unpleasant is like saying the Warring States Period was a skirmish in a sandbox."

Genma-san snorted at her comparison and dropped his hand on her head none-too-gently to ruffle her hair. "Kid. I can handle myself against civilians, y'know? Have some faith."

The rosette raised her eyebrow but eventually smiled gratefully. "Tomorrow at 7?" she asked instead. Genma-san grinned and ruffled her hair again for good measure. "D'you think I should dress up?" he teased, but Sakura actually looked him up and down, as if considering, before she shook her head.

"Just wear something that doesn't scream 'I kill people for a living'." She said flatly though her eyes were shining with mirth. She lazily saluted him then disappeared through the door and Genma finally had the opportunity to really think of how bizarre the entire situation was.

Then, he shrugged; free food is free food.

Dinner the next day was exactly like Sakura had predicted and nothing like it at the same time.

She was right that Haruno Mebuki wouldn't hesitate to dig into anyone who remotely implied 'ninja' but Sakura dared hope her mother would at least wait till they were seated around the table before beginning her particular brand of table small-talk. But no luck. Genma-san barely managed to duck into the living room, looking very… normal in his off-duty outfit – a very respectable pair of black pants, straw sandals and a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up (she had to commend his fashion sense at some point; Mebuki may dislike ninja, but Sakura saw the woman's eyes light up in appreciation when he walked in) – before her mother, with faux cheer dripping from every word, announced.

"Ah, our guest of honour!" she swept into the room with the dramatic air of someone who performed for a living. "So," Mebuki began, a vicious glint in her eyes. "what's the name of the man who's been teaching my daughter how to be a better killer?"

Sakura reasoned she could be excused for smacking her head into the doorframe the second she registered the question, "Hahaue, really–" she pleaded, but one look at Genma-san had her pause in her tracks; the brunet's polite smile never faltered. If anything, when she looked closer, he only looked horribly amused, but he was hiding it well.

"My name's Shiranui Genma, Haruno-san," he replied, and Sakura saw her mother twitch at the polite tone – few people ever met her head-on. "And, with all due respect, I believe you have it slightly wrong." Now, even Sakura's father was listening. "I'm the man, as you said, who's been teaching your daughter how to look after herself better, so that, with every mission, no matter how difficult, she'll be able to come home to you on her own two feet rather than in a matchbox." As he spoke, the edges of Genma-san's polite smile turned razor-sharp. "And if that means teaching her how to kill those who wouldn't hesitate to kill her… well." A delicate, practiced shrug, but his eyes were sharp. "Jakuniku Kyōshoku, right?"

For the first time in her life, Sakura saw her mother reduced to speechlessness.

She barely restrained a grin.

Genma-san is awesome.

After that interesting beginning, the rest of the dinner progressed in what Sakura could only call stunned normalcy. Her father asked Genma-san about his views on politics, the daimyo, Konohagakure's trade – all the mundane things civilian men can talk about. Sakura's mother, after she got over the shock of Genma-san's polite but thorough telling off, send Sakura an unreadable glance then jumped wholeheartedly into her role as a housewife, serving food, giggling where appropriate and subtly interrogating the tokujo throughout. The little quirk of the brunet's lips alerted Sakura that he was very much aware of what her mother was doing, but, for some reason, he allowed it. And then, her father asked an innocuous question, something that was bound to come up at some point, and Sakura's world came crashing down.

Genma-san… was on the Yondaime's Guard Platoon? was her first incredulous thought, quickly followed by he can do the Hiraishin?

It wasn't like she didn't believe he was a talented shinobi – she knew better than to think that his calm and seemingly lazy demeanour was more than just a front, but she never realised how much skill it actually hid. Though, really, she should've expected it with how easy he found it to teach her genjutsu despite claiming it wasn't his forte, or how willing he was to learn another element in order to teach it to her; that sort of confidence rarely came unfounded. But still… protecting the most powerful person in the entire Village? And being one of five people to ever learn the Hiraishin?

Sakura knew she was gaping, but somehow, she couldn't stop it. The more she learned, the more it fuelled that one question that reverberated through her mind over and over again: why would he agree to teach me?

It wasn't as if she was showing any promise when he approached her those few weeks ago in the library; she was but a lost girl in a world of monsters and powerhouses. What could he have possibly seen that was worthy of his time in her?

The rest of the dinner passed in somewhat of a daze, and before Sakura fully realised it, it was late and she was escorting Genma-san to the door, her parents calling out cheerful farewells and urging the tokujo to come over again.

Remembering the manners her mother had drilled into her as a little girl, Sakura walked the jounin outside then paused when she stood in the door. A second's consideration later, she stepped outside into the front yard and shut the door behind her. She stared up at the man, deep in thought, her previous question fresh in her mind.

Genma-san sighed and proceeded to prove himself capable of telepathy; "I may have been one of the Hokage's guards, but before I was all that, I was a little lost brat too." At her wide eyes, he grinned ruefully. "It's written all over your face, kid, this 'why me?' angst you've got going on." He snorted at her indignant glare. "Let me tell you this: poor self-esteem is not 'cute'. Initially, I offered to help you because I was curious – after all, there's not much that can make someone willingly spend as much time in the library as you had." He grinned at that, and the rosette felt an unbidden smile grow on her own face in response. "But," Genma-san grew serious again. "but I stayed because you are skilled, you are talented, and every lost brat deserves someone who can guide them along at first."

It took Sakura a second to fully register the words, but the moment she did, she was throwing her arms around the tokujo's shoulders, burying her face in his shoulder much like she'd done that night before the first exam. She ignored Genma-san's protests of "Kid, we're still not that close-!" and squeezed for all she was worth before she spoke;

"Thank you." She murmured almost reverently. Then, Genma-san's earlier words of comfort and encouragement gave her the confidence to ask: "If I become chuunin, will- would you- could you teach me about the Hiraishin?" she inquired, her voice sounding ragged even to her own ears.

And Genma paused for a second, completely stupefied, before he let a small, secretive grin grow on his face, sure that the kid couldn't see it. "Sure, kid." He replied, lightly patting her head. "If you live long enough."

He ignored the annoyed growl she directed his way as she turned to walk back inside after throwing a wave over her shoulder. He stayed long enough to hear Haruno Mebuki's voice ring clear even through the closed door, a grin growing on his face when her words fully registered.

"I still don't like your kind." Came the blunt statement, and he stifled a chuckle at the words that followed. "But him? Him, I like."

Genma grinned. He did good.

Obviously, whatever gods were in charge of his luck enjoyed reminding him that life sucked whenever he got too comfortable; the next day, he was summoned to the Jounin HQ where news of Hayate Gekko's death made those gathered go positively green in the face. Genma himself felt sick. He liked Hayate, the man was like the younger brother he never had and hearing he was dead – no, murdered – managed to shake him to the core.

He belatedly realised that the Sandaime was also there, the man's meagre height serving to make him blend in with the jounin and chunin gathered, but then he spoke and those standing directly before him stepped aside so everyone could see him.

"There will be a quiet funeral tomorrow, but there will be a big gathering after the Chunin Examinations are over." He announced, his voice grave. "Hayate-kun's death was a real tragedy; he was incredibly skilled for his age, and a loyal shinobi. However, we shall save our grief for now and honour him when the time is right." As if by command, everyone gathered subconsciously straightened, their grief turning into resolve. "Hayate-kun's passing has led us onto another matter – that of the proctor for the final stage of the Chunin Exams." There was a thoughtful murmur as everyone realised that the Hokage was right. "I've been thinking who should take over, and my top three are Aoba-kun, Genma-kun or Raidou-kun."

Genma froze.

He… what?

Beside him, Aoba snickered at his stupefied expression, while a few rows ahead Raidou turned around and shot him a small grin, his height making him easily distinguishable from the others. Then, Aoba, the bastard, raised his hand.

"With all due respect, Hokage-sama," he began, his cheerful tone making those aware of his usual antics sigh and shake their heads in exasperation. "I would be awful as a proctor and Raido-cha- Raidou would scare them away with his face alone." Despite the bluntness of the words, everyone knew they were not meant to offend, and a few chuckles escaped some the chunin. Genma tried to channel as much exasperation and 'I-will-murder-you-in-your-sleep' into his glare as he could, but then Aoba kept talking and it got worse. "You should just make Genma the proctor and save everyone the trouble. He's already a mother-hen as is, his face is decent enough that the kids won't run for the hills if he yells at them."

Genma sputtered; it was annoying enough when the other man accused him of being a mother-hen when they were tired and in the process of getting hammered after a long mission, but in front of all the other jounin and the fucking Hokage was pushing it.

"I am not a mother-!" he protested, but Aoba turned around, shot him an obviously-practiced 'really?' look and cut him off.

"You carry the equivalent of a small pharmacy to every mission on the off-chance that somebody gets injured." He began, a finger going up with every reason he listed. "Your apartment is basically a crash-pad for anyone who gets too hammered to walk in a straight line. You've cooked me breakfast every time I stayed over. Real breakfast. And everybody knows Umino was basically your kid at one point." Absently, Genma sought out Iruka, his desire to smack Aoba only growing when Iruka turned to shoot him an embarrassed smile, the tips of his ears red. Noticing his gaze, Aoba smirked. "Need I continue?"

Feeling his own ears grow hot, Genma gave into the urge to smack the raven then shot an apologetic look at the Hokage.

The Sandaime, to the brunet's great annoyance, merely looked amused. "So it's decided." He announced. "Unless you have any objections, Genma-kun?"

The brat-! came to his mind unbidden, and Genma opened his mouth to say it, but quickly closed it and narrowed his eyes. The Hokage's eyes slanted over to a familiar head of silver in the front row before they rested back on him, and a knowing glint in the man's eyes alerted him to the fact that the Sandaime knew of his unofficial training of the pink-haired menace.

For a moment, anger overtook him. He knew and he still nominated me? Then, his gaze flickered back to the head of silver and something else made him grit his teeth and shake his head. He wouldn't give the bastard the satisfaction, he'll have to work to know how his student got so much better without him.

"No, Hokage-sama, none."

Was that disappointment in the man's eyes? Genma didn't pay it any mind. He had to find someone to fill in for him in the kid's training, and he had to find them soon – him being a proctor now meant that he wasn't allowed to train her in order to avoid bias. His eyes fell on two familiar heads making their way out of the HQ as the Sandaime dismissed them, and Genma's mouth moved before his brain could catch up.

"Oi, Terrible Twins, wait up!"

"You want us to what."

Normally, Izumo would reproach his partner for his bluntness, but for once he was having quite similar thoughts.

"I'm not asking you to work miracles, just, y'know, give her a chance." the tokujo replied, sighing, clearly having expected a similar response. "Consider it payment for that bet you lost but never paid me for." when both paled, a weak smirk pulled at his lips. "Yeah, no, I didn't forget." then he sighed, growing serious once again. "This business with Hayate means that security's been heightened to stupid levels, and since they made me a proctor I can't teach her to avoid 'bias'. And she deserves a fair chance in this, despite what the bastard might think."

Kotetsu winced; Genma was usually very easy-going, to the point where some even called him lazy. Naturally, any and all notions of that sort were quickly destroyed the second they saw him get serious about something, or on the battlefield; still, to hear the brunet curse was alarming to say the least. Sharing a look with his partner, he realised the other mirrored his thoughts – neither of them thought that Genma would ever get serious about a wet-behind-the-ears genin of all things.

"So, assuming that we do do this," he began cautiously, eyes on Izumo's the whole time as they conversed without words before he faced Genma, knowing his decision was shared by his partner. "how will we know what to teach the kid?"

At that, Genma grinned around his omnipresent senbon, some of the earlier light returning to his eyes. "Oh, don't worry about that; the brat will know what to do." and with those admittedly ambiguous words of comfort, the tokujo shunshined away, leaving the two chunin in a very confused state.

"Observe first?" Izumo proposed, at which Kotetsu smirked.

"But of course." he replied, grinning. "Can't trust Genma to be objective after all, not when he's already been invited to dinner."

So observe they did; Genma's description of the girl was hopeless, but how many people did they really know who had pink hair?

Exactly.

They stumbled across the kid when she was on her way to the training grounds; quickly, they stifled their chakra and settled in the branches around the clearing to watch.

The girl walked all the way to the middle of the clearing and sat down, legs crossed and eyes closed, appearing to be meditating of all things. Bemused, Kotetsu turned to his partner, but the brunet had not taken his eyes away from the pinkette, so grudgingly, the raven did the same, only to jump and almost fall out of his branch, startled: the girl was gone.

"-the fuck?"

"I think-" Izumo began, but then, right before their eyes, the landscape started shifting, changing, and instead of a clearing in the forest, they were suddenly on a gritty road, a lake stretching as far as the eye could see before them, the humidity so high it was stifling and a permanent fog in the air. And then even that melted away, replaced with what they knew was the Forest of Death, complete with the dreary atmosphere and a giant pink leech on the trunk closest to them.

Finally, it clicked.

"Genjutsu." Kotetsu breathed, staring at their surroundings with awed disbelief. "She's crafting an illusion."

"When she 'disappeared' earlier, she didn't disappear." Izumo announced and the raven turned to him in confusion. "Chameleon jutsu." he responded, his visible eye narrowed. "If I were to guess, she's still sitting there, just camouflaged."

Gradually, Kotetsu began to understand why Genma had seemed unable to leave the kid alone. "She's got crazy potential." he murmured, eyes wide.

And then, as if proving his words, there was a spark, a flicker, and then the trees were being devoured by flames. Izumo flinched. The flames started out slow, crackling ominously and spread, and then they could feel the heat coming off of them, and for a second, Kotetsu hesitated, unsure.

The flames weren't real.

...Right?

Then, just as he was about to ask Izumo to maybe relocate somewhere safer, the flames receded, too quickly to have been real, and a second later, figures started appearing from the trees, coming out of them like some haunted wood nymphs. All pink haired but decked in black and exuding an unpleasant, bloodthirsty aura. And then, as if they weren't already creepy enough, they moved, movements so synchronised it was eerie. They turned right to the tree Izumo and Kotetsu were perched in and suddenly, two kunai were flying towards them with their names on the handle.

"Shit-!" and they jumped off, straight into the swarm of the zombie-like kunoichi only to realise that the illusion was gone, and a pair of emerald eyes was staring at them from the middle of the clearing with barely masked suspicion.

"Yes?" the rosette asked, not seeming the slightest bit apologetic for nearly giving them a heart attack. "Is there a reason you sat in that tree for so long without announcing your presence?"

Kotetsu blinked, exchanged bewildered glances with Izumo, then turned to the girl. "You... knew we were there?" he asked, slightly dumbfounded.

To his surprise, the pinkette grinned in a way that was distinctly familiar. "You weren't exactly inconspicuous, if that's what you're thinking." she replied, eyes dancing with unrestrained mirth. "Even a genin has more chakra than a squirrel." then, her grin grew. "Besides, I recognise you."

This time, it was Izumo who perked up. "Yeah?" he asked, curious. "Where from?"

The rosette sent them a secretive grin, then graciously divulged; "You were the two responsible for the genjutsu before the first stage of the Exams." she announced, giggling at their surprised faces. "Though I reckon you used a Henge then, but still." she gazed at Kotetsu, "Your hair is kinda memorable."

A moment of silence passed between them, and then they were laughing, Kotetsu and Izumo startled into it and the girl just amused by their expressions.

Though suddenly, she sobered up, and her seriousness reminded Kotetsu that this was the same girl who made him question whether an illusionary fire was real.

"Though I'd still like to know what a pair of chuunin is doing stalking an innocent genin." She told them, eyes moving between them as if searching for the slightest tell.

Kotetsu spluttered, indignant; "Now hold up for a minute we weren't-!" and his eyes narrowed when he realised the rosette was joking, clearly fighting a smirk. Somehow, he couldn't help an answering grin. "Genma was right; you are a brat." he snorted, and the kid's eyes widened at the same time as Izumo snapped, "Kotetsu!" in admonishment.

"You... talked with Genma-san?" she asked, a mix of dread and hope, the look in her eyes so vulnerable it made Kotetsu fidget uncomfortably.

"Genma asked us to train you." Izumo explained when it became clear his partner wasn't going to. "There was an... incident and he was asked to be the proctor for the next stage, so he couldn't keep training you to avoid being accused of bias. So he sent us in his stead."

An expression of inexplicable relief appeared on her face after the brunet's explanation and she sighed. "I thought... I thought he simply got bored of me..." she murmured, so quietly that they almost didn't hear.

Almost.

And Kotetsu had no qualms against showing just how disturbing he found that admission. "Y'know, Genma mentioned something along those lines, but damn, kid, what did Hatake do to you?!" he demanded, a scowl pulling on his lips, startling the girl. "I mean, you're obviously damn competent if you're able to pull off those illusions and I thought you'd have realised by now that Genma is not the type to commit to something and then just go 'y'know what, nah' when he gets bored. He's just not that type of person."

The rosette seemed to be weighing his words, her eyes narrowed and Kotetsu forced himself to keep up his most honest, earnest face. And then, a brilliant grin appeared and lit up her eyes with such hope and happiness that Kotetsu had to look away.

"Alright," she announced, getting up and walking over to them. "I'm Sakura." she introduced herself then turned an expectant face on Kotetsu, who snorted.

"I'm Hagane Kotetsu and this is Kamizuki Izumo. As you've noted, we are chunin and, per Genma's request, we're here to prepare you for the third stage."

Sakura nodded, considering. "Did Genma-san say what you're to train me in?" she asked, and Izumo shook his head.

"He said you'd know what to do once you saw us." he admitted and the rosette frowned.

"Because that's not cryptic at all." she grumbled, running a hand over her face. When she was done, her eyes were sharp, analytical. "What's your specialisation?" she asked, and Kotetsu couldn't stop his eyebrows from soaring.

"We're partners." he replied in a very 'duh' tone, and he knew he was being purposefully obtuse but the twitch that was forming in the girl's brow was amusing him to no end. Izumo shot him a reproachful look and dug a sharp elbow into his ribs then hastened to explain. "We specialise mostly in combo attacks – I immobilise the target with my Water Release and Kotetsu or the both of us use the weapons in our arsenal to disable them. We're proficient with the kunai blade, Tetsu's mace, tanto, katana, tetsubo, nagamaki, kusarigama- you get the hint." he finished abruptly when the rosette's eyes had widened and she was appraising them with a calculative glint in her eyes.

And then, she started laughing.

"Genma-san you cheeky bastard." she laughed, and the chuunin duo, startled at the change, couldn't help but grin cautiously, at which she quickly explained. "I told him I wanted to work on my close combat, but not just taijutsu. My opponent is a Wind user, but her fan seems to be steel-reinforced or strengthened with something equally strong and she can use it like a club when it's folded up. And what do you know, Genma-san was kind enough to send two weapons experts my way."

And then it made sense and all three shared an excited grin. "So," Kotetsu began. "do you know how you'd like to start this?" and the rosette's answering grin was bright and wicked and suddenly, Kotetsu understood.

"I might." she announced. "But since you're the ones meant to be training me, how about we talk through it over dinner? My treat?"

Izumo grinned. "I see why Genma keeps you around." And when she laughed, his eyes sought out Kotetsu's and the raven nodded. They would do this, and they were going to do it well.

The next hour was spent chatting over ramen, working out the exact ins and outs of their training programme for the next two weeks. They had to admit, the rosette's proposal to 'reverse engineer' bukijutsu had thrown them, but her explanation shed some much needed light and they had to admit, it made sense. "It's how Genma-san and I approached by genjutsu." She explained. "If I know how to defend from an attack, or the easiest way to dodge something coming at me, I'll know what I'll need to focus on when I actually start learning to be the one attacking. Two weeks is not long enough to become a master swordsman, but what I need is something that'll let me check her proficiency with close-combat without getting swatted like a fly." She frowned when silence greeted her words, and she realised both chuunin were regarding her with a mixture of surprise and satisfaction.

"Smart and cheeky." Kotetsu surmised. "You're lucky you're such a twerp or else Genma would be all over you." He laughed, snorting when the rosette's face twisted in distaste.

"Okay, ew." She whined, digging the heels of her palms into her eyes. "Why did you have to say that, Kotetsu-san?" she moaned pathetically, shooting him a glare. "Genma-san is like, this cool, crazy uncle, you know? What you said is just– no, ew." And at her explanation, even Izumo started laughing.

"Don't let him hear you say that, Sakura-chan." The brunet warned, and the three of them laughed before Sakura paid for their meal and turned to them, clearly expectant.

"So," she began, grinning. "shall we?"

She distantly regretted asking when twin, evil grins were her only response.

Sakura wasn't lying when she said she thought Genma-san had gotten bored of her. That same morning, she'd woken up to a note taped on the outside of her window, and a foreboding feeling rose in her stomach before she even reached it.

Hey kid,

Something came up, can't train you today, but I will figure something out. Keep going as we've been practising.

Good luck in case I don't see you before the exam, you'll be fine,

Genma

It didn't make her angry or frustrated as Kakashi-sensei's note had. She just felt… resigned. She knew Genma-san wasn't really her sensei, and she wouldn't get to monopolise his time forever. Still, she'd hoped that he'd at least be able to train her for the duration of the month.

She'd resigned herself to spending the leftover almost two weeks doing solitary training, but then, she stumbled across Izumo and Kotetsu.

Who were sent by Genma-san.

'I will figure something out' she didn't think he would, but he had. And it made something warm bloom in Sakura's chest, and she promised herself to take the tokujo out for dinner when she next saw him.

But then, she met up with the two chunin the morning of the next day and she was slightly less grateful. "You want me to run all the way around the Village?" she questioned flatly.

They were standing on the wall that encircled the entire Village, just by the Main Gates.

Kotetsu sent her a gleeful look. "Yup! And no chakra!" he reminded her, as if she could forget. "Genma said the two of you agreed that your stamina and endurance is basically abysmal, but if we wanna train you in bukijutsu, we gotta train up your endurance at least a tad before we get started." He didn't stop grinning through the entire explanation and Sakura quickly moved her gaze to the slightly calmer brunet, lest she punch his partner in the face.

Seeing her gaze, Izumo smiled slightly apologetically. "You can use chakra when you feel like you're about to collapse – we want to go train properly when you finish, this is just a way of seeing where you're at right now, physically at least, so we know what we can and can't introduce to you." Sakura nodded, accepting that information, then turned to her path.

They wanted her to run on top of the wall to test her balance, and use no chakra to see how good her physical endurance was without the added enhancement. And though the wall wasn't thin by any means, a good metre in width, she had no doubt it would become problematic to stay on top of it when her head would start spinning and oxygen deprivation'd hit.

She hid a wince; she had a feeling the results would be… embarrassing, to say the least.

But then, her resolve firmed, and she shed her weapons pouch and jacket, rolled up her sleeves, took a deep breath and nodded to Kotetsu. The raven nodded, eyes on his stopwatch, and his finger pressed a button at the same time as Izumo called 'Go!'

Then, she was running.

They agreed to treat the abandoned Uchiha Clan compound as the ¼ of the way mark, the Hokage Monument as the half-way point, and the training grounds behind the Nara Clan as the ¾ point. By the time the faded Uchiha crest came to view, Sakura was panting with sweat dripping off her chin and running down her back in rivulets, for once grateful the high-ponytail had become her regular hairstyle, because if she'd had her hair down and sticking to her neck, she'd have died. She never really considered what chakra did to the muscles, how, even before Genma-san had really taught her how to do it, her chakra was already subconsciously moving to aid her during a workout, kind of like the way blood shunts when you eat. She didn't really notice it till she was forbidden from doing it. Kotetsu had instructed that she keep a tight watch on her chakra, keep it as far away from her legs and lungs as she could, and that if she gave in at any point, they'd know. Izumo had made it less like a threat and merely requested she keep going without chakra for as long as she could, but reassured her that they'd understand if she couldn't complete an entire lap.

She had no delusions about her stamina. She wouldn't be able to complete an entire lap, but she'd be damned if she gave in too soon.

When the Hokage Monument came into view, every muscle was screaming at her to stop, her lungs burning and contending themselves with quick, loud pants and even shorter exhales. Then, the goddamn stairs etched in the side of the mountain were revealed to her, and Sakura nearly sobbed. She'd forgotten that in order to go round the Village, she'd have to climb up the Hokage Mountain. She slowed to a jog but determinedly didn't stop as she climbed the first flight of stairs and forced herself to keep going despite the burn in her calves and thighs.

Once on top, she had a split second to appreciate the beautiful view of the morning sun over Konoha, quickly calculating that it's been almost an hour since she started, but then her attention was shifted onto her burning muscles and the way she swayed with exhaustion but managed to regain her footing at the last second before she fell face-first onto the ground. She took the stairs going down two at a time, the burn marginally lesser than on the way up. She managed to muster enough energy for a sarcastic wave at a green-clad man she vaguely remembered as one of the sensei during the preliminaries as she passed him stretching by the training grounds behind the Nara Clan and tried not to scowl at his surprised expression.

She wasn't sure what the exact circumference of the walls surrounding Konohagakure was, but she was willing to venture it was at least ten kilometres, perhaps more. As if shocked by that realisation, Sakura's calf spasmed and she stumbled, losing her pace and freefalling till, in a ditch attempt to stop herself from falling off the walls, she called chakra to her feet and made herself stick to the ground in a vain mimicry of the tree climbing exercise.

And then, it was like she was cleansed. Her legs were refreshed with the feel of chakra running through the muscles again, the lactic acid gone and some of her fatigue receded. She vaguely noted that she passed the training grounds behind the Nara Clan a few minutes earlier and she deemed the ¾ mark a decent achievement for her first time. With chakra once again running through her system, she completed the rest of the run in a quick jog, the Main Gates coming into view and the two chunin sitting atop them waved cheerfully when she finally neared them.

"One hour and thirty one minutes." Kotetsu announced as she came within hearing distance, hopping down from his perch atop the Gates. "And you used chakra for the last quarter. Not bad, but we're aiming to get it down to a full circle with no chakra in under one hour by the end of these two weeks." He promised as Izumo handed her a water bottle, a towel and a spare navy t-shirt which looked a tad too big for her, but at that point anything was better than her sweat-soaked shirt which clung to her like second skin.

"Find somewhere to get changed and stretch then meet us at the training ground over there," he gestured past the Gates and towards the first grounds she'd run by when she set off. "and we'll introduce you to bokujutsu as promised."

Exhaustion making her feel little shame, Sakura easily shed her shirt, took the proffered towel, wiped her face and back and shrugged on the shirt, the same cut and material as the green one she'd dropped at her feet. It wasn't as if she had anything to hide, nor any real cleavage to be embarrassed about beneath her chest bindings. Even when she met the surprised gazes of the chunin, the embarrassment refused to come.

She shrugged and voiced her thoughts and earned a disbelieving snort from Kotetsu and an amused glance from his partner. "You're something else, kid, I tell you." then they were walking towards the training grounds and Sakura tried very hard not to take the offhand comment like a compliment.

She failed.

Woah.

Sakura was a bit surprised and miffed when the duo instructed her to sit on the edges of the training grounds and watch carefully, but now she understood.

They gave her a demonstration of sorts, both brandishing a preferred weapon – Izumo a tanto and Kotetsu a nagamaki – and they dodged and twirled and parried and rolled around each other in a way that was more reminiscent of a dance than a spar with an ease that spoke of a familiarity borne of many years together. Every once in a while, one would land a hit, always with the flat of the blade so as not to injure, and when they did, they'd change weapons, Izumo to a naginata, Kotetsu to a tetsubo, and they would resume their dance, their proficiency not in the least affected by the change of weapon.

With every minute that passed, Sakura's respect for the duo grew.

And then, after about an hour passed, Izumo gestured for her to join them and she hastened to obey, forcing protesting muscles to move as she trekked over to the pair.

"That's what we're going to put you through." The brunet announced, much to her confusion. "At least a week of practice with any and all weapons at our disposal, then you'll chose the one you're most comfortable with and we'll spent the last week honing that one before your exam. Sound good?"

When Sakura nodded, Kotetsu smirked. "Good. Now, catch!" he threw her the sheathed tanto and bent to pick something else off the ground. When the rosette went to unsheathe the blade, Izumo sent her an enigmatic smile. "Keep it sheathed." He instructed, then caught a single tonfa his partner threw at him.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at the wooden weapon and the bizarre instruction. Kotetsu, catching her gaze, smirked. "We'll start with non-lethals." He announced. "Any hit we land on you is an extra hundred metres added to your lap tomorrow." When she paled and moved to protest, his smirk turned devious. "But any hit you land on either of us is minus fifty metres from your lap. Keep it fair, eh?"

When the rosette was about to lecture the raven on how skewed his definition of 'fair' was, she caught Izumo's gaze and suddenly she understood.

Spar with a defensive focus. She realised, Not only do I have to watch out as there's two of them, but there's also the added fifty metres penalty for shabby defence. It's almost like-

"Have you been spending a little too much time with Morino-san, hm, Kotetsu-san?" she asked absently as she settled into a stance where she could see both of them in her peripheral vision. She didn't miss Kotetsu's startled chuckle nor the surprised but pleased look he exchanged with his partner.

"Guess you'll have to wait and see for yourself." He replied teasingly, a grin settling on his face which she couldn't help but mirror.

And then they were coming at her and the game was on.

She'd sacrificed any sort of grace and femininity about two minutes into the spar. There was no way she could come out alive if she worried about appearances, regardless of the fact that both chunin were using non-lethals. So she ducked and rolled and dipped and twisted and cursed as she dodged, the admittedly short reach of the tonfa not proving to be a restriction in the slightest for the pair.

Finally, when even her bruises had bruises, Izumo called an end to the spar and she was disgusted to find that while she was dripping with sweat again both chunin seemed only slightly out of breath and sporting lightly flushed cheeks.

"You got hit thirty one times in the space of an hour." Kotetsu announced, flopping on the ground and wiping some sweat off his brow with the bottom of his shirt. "That's an extra 3.1 kilometres to your lap tomorrow."

Sakura groaned and collapsed beside him. "I hit you nine times." She reminded the raven, mirroring his action. "That means it's only two kilometres and six hundred and fifty metres extra." Then, she fell to lie flat on her back, "That hardly makes it better!" she whined pitifully, much to the chunin's amusement.

"After the break we'll go for ten more minutes but reverse the rules slightly." Izumo said, sitting down on her other side. "Minus two hundred metres for every time you land a hit on us and an extra fifty when we get one on you."

The rosette groaned again as she turned to mumble into the grass. "Definitely too much time with Morino-san."

But it paid off.

A week later, she could complete a lap around Konoha with no chakra in under an hour, the two graciously letting her use chakra for any extra distance she'd earned during their spars. More than that, she got to the point where she roughly knew her way around almost every weapon in the chunins' arsenal.

Her favourite, for some bizarre reason, had been the naginata, despite the fact that it was almost taller than her. It had an edge to it which the bō lacked, and was marginally more graceful that a guan-dao as the blade could be sheathed and carried relatively comfortably which was nigh impossible with the latter.

Kotetsu'd laughed at her choice and promptly let Izumo take over, grumbling all the while about 'deceptively nice looking people with a preference for ridiculous monster weapons'. Both the rosette and Izumo had taken the high road and ignored him.

Sakura marvelled at how comfortable she felt around the two, despite them clearly being a two-man squad with bonds that even the Hokage respected and nigh attached at the hip. Sadness filled her when she thought of her own team, how alienated she'd felt from her teammates, how angry at seeing neither hide nor hair of them since the preliminaries. Then, she realised that the two chunin had let her get close, let her in after barely a week while her teammates, and even Kakashi-sensei, despite how much he'd preached about teamwork and trusting each other, had yet to do the same.

It took a while, but she eventually admitted to herself that she didn't feel a sliver of guilt when thinking of her teammates in that way, but it took Kotetsu's personal brand of comfort for her to accept that it didn't actually make her a horrible person. "You realised you deserve better." He simply said while parrying a strike from her bō. "That's nothing to be ashamed of. If anything, it's admirable."

The second week was spent further familiarising herself with the naginata, learning to use it as more than just an elongated pickaxe and how to manoeuvre her body around it.

The two chunin were always ready with teasing grins and easy encouragement and Izumo even promised to teach her his Water Release technique if she made chunin when she told them it was her secondary element.

Sakura had smiled then divulged, "I kind of bullied Genma-san into teaching me about the Hiraishin if I pass, so this'll be a very nice addition." And she dug the hilt of the naginata into the ground and used it like a pivot to twirl her body round and as such missed the startled glance the duo exchanged when her back was turned, mutual understanding passing between them: Genma had taken the Yondaime's death badly, like a personal failure, and the Hiraishin had been the only thing left over when the man was gone; they didn't think he'd willingly…

Their eyes flickered to the rosette when she used the momentum while in the air to snap a kick at an invisible opponent. What was it in her that was so special?

But really, they knew the answer. The rosette may dismiss herself as someone average, not particularly talented in anything, but she was determined to a fault and deadly smart. Her assessment of her opponent's skill had been thorough, and she was never quiet about her shortcomings. She acknowledged what she lacked and worked to fix it, but still never took it to the extreme. She didn't hesitate to tell Kotetsu she wasn't a powerhouse like her teammates, that her stamina was shit and that no, she'd just started, she couldn't do that yet-! But that was just it – despite all her shortcomings and inadequacies, her attitude was not 'I can't do it I won't ever do it' as was common amongst most girls, nor was it the path of 'I can't do it so I'll slave to exhaustion trying to fix it and cause myself more harm than good' as most boys aspiring to be shinobi tended to take, no, it was a calculated, analytical 'I can't do it yet but give me some time and I'll figure out why I can't at my own pace.'. Then, there was the fact that she took all their comments, some harsh some constructive, some complimentary with the same look in her eye, the same thirst for knowledge, for bettering herself. Neither Kotetsu nor Izumo were senseis, not like Iruka and certainly not like a genin sensei, and they were restricted by a very unforgiving time limit. But she took all their warped, free-styled teaching methods at face-value, didn't mind their 'we don't have time for Points A and B so let's skip straight to Point C' work ethic, and what she lacked in terms of natural talent she compensated for with intelligence and steel resolve.

She'd divulged that initially, her determination had stemmed from wanting to help her teammates, from wanting to fight alongside them and not wanting to stare at their backs any longer, and they'd respected that. But then, she told them that during the Chunin Exams, she got through the Forest of Death and the preliminary fight – which they privately thought was ridiculous and inwardly hailed Genma as a miracle-worker because a battle shorter than a minute was not the work of a below-average kunoichi – with Genma's support and encouragement and the sheer determination not to let him down, not to lay all the time he'd spent with her to waste by not giving her best.

"And now, I have two more people whom I can't let down." She told them bluntly, a small smile on her face cluing them into the fact that rather than annoyed or regretful, she was grateful. "So, frankly, there is no way I'm losing that match." And Kotetsu and Izumo had exchanged a proud glance, awed at how her confidence had grown from the first time they met her, feeling as if they'd known her far longer than two weeks.

Synchronised in the way that seemed to irritate everyone but her and Genma, they grinned and told her, with equal conviction, "You won't lose."

The smile she shot them was brilliant and brimming with promise.

On the day of the final stage, Sakura walked to the stadium with the two chunin, thanking them profusely for their time and promising not to disappoint. Then, as she was about to join the other competitors, a shout of 'Forehead!' drew her attention.

She turned and, as expected, Ino came bounding her way, her signature ponytail swishing behind her, Choji and both of their parents hovering behind her.

"I still hate you for beating me," she began and Sakura felt a fond smile grow on her face in spite of herself. She'd missed Ino. "but I want you to go and beat that blonde's ass into next week, you hear me? And stop smiling like that, it's creepy!"

"Ino!" her mother admonished while her father merely sighed, raising a hand to scrub over his face.

Sakura smiled at the blonde and lightly flicked her nose. "I beat you, didn't I, Ino-pig? You really think she's going to be much of a challenge?" and Ino seemed surprised at her confidence then seemed to register the implied compliment and gaped openly.

"Sakura, are you alright?" she asked worriedly, the back of her hand rising to touch the rosette's forehead. "You're… different." She observed cautiously, as if worried that Sakura would lash out and yell at her.

Instead, she shrugged. "I've… gained perspective." She admitted truthfully, but seeing that Ino was far from reassured, she tried something that hadn't failed to distract Ino since she'd known her. Plastering on one of her old cocky smirks, she teased; "I'm still not letting you have Sasuke-kun, Ino-Pig." And she delighted in the blonde's indignant squawk, but before she could reply, the massive door leading to the arena where they would fight opened up, and the cheers of the crowd were overwhelming and Sakura barely heard Ino's 'good luck!' call before the blonde was being ushered by her parents to the spectators' gallery to find good seats.

Then, they were ushered to walk in and Sakura quickly moved to stand beside Naruto, sending him what she hoped was an encouraging smile before they walked through the door with the other candidates. Inside, the cheers were even more deafening and Sakura saw some of the genin cave in on themselves slightly, clearly overwhelmed. Naruto and Shikamaru were amongst those, as well as the mummy like man from the Otogakure.

But Sakura didn't care for the crowd; her attention was elsewhere.

Because in the middle of the arena, with his omnipresent senbon in his mouth, his eyes screaming apologies and a small, secretive smile that shone with pride and encouragement and warmth was Genma-san.

Suddenly, it was as if the crowds melted away and the noise faded into a pleasant hum in the light of her resolve.

She would do this.

THERE YOU GO!

now some author's notes:

there's a lot of weapon jargon in this chapter, so here's a good way to wrap your head around it:
weapons ref: user/Narume13/media/Weapons/Japanese_Weaponry_by_Kobra_Kan_by_ .html

Jakuniku Kyōshoku means 'the weak are meat, the strong eat' which is an idiomatic phrase meaning 'survival of the fittest' essentially.

so far, the way I've written Sakura is by taking the bare bones of her character from Narutopedia and twisting it to my will. in the anime at the beginning, she's shy, love-struck, with a volatile temper, good brains and a bat-shit crazy chakra control. in here, the enamoration in Sasuke translates into a determination of sorts, so it's actually something useful.

and I don't hate Kakashi, btw, i'm just very much not a fan of his treatment of his team in the anime, especially of Sakura.

also, though i'm in no way up to date with the movies, I assure you that Sakura's parents don't share anything with their canon counterparts but their names. I just didn't want to create unnecessary OCs cause i'm shit with names.

(leave me and my love of underappreciated minor characters alone xD)

till next time~