Chapter Three
Sakura's back collided with the dry dirt and her breath came in pants as she struggled to regain her composure.
Perhaps "demons" was too mild a word.
She groan and rolled over to push herself onto all fours. Pillowing her head on her arms, she mentally berated herself for having falling into this situation to begin with.
"Sakura-chan! Do not be discouraged! You have fought well and displayed a commendable level of youthfulness!"
She raised her head enough to glare out from under her pink locks at the annoyingly chipper form of her opponent in front of her. Even as she lay sprawled on the ground, he was bouncing on his toes and throwing out random jabs.
Does he ever fucking stop? Inner's exhausted voice matched her aching body.
"Yosh! My youthful student is correct! You have improved your time from five to eight minutes!"
She dragged her tired gaze to the broad man standing on the edge of the field. The sun was glinting off his teeth and he was presenting her with an encouraging thumbs-up. Her eyebrow twitched in irritation.
"Guy-sensei, with all due respect, three minutes for a week's worth of training isn't very impressive. Especially since Lee-san has barely broken a sweat - and this is our fifth spar this morning." She deadpanned.
His thousand watt smile dimmed slightly and he moved closer to crouch by her dejected form.
"A forest does not grow in a day, Sakura-chan," he said gently. "Nor are taijutsu masters built in a week."
"But I don't want to be a taijutsu master. I just don't want to suck." She whined.
He threw his head back and laughed.
"That is why we offered for you to join us in our youthful exercises, is it not?" With a wink and another thumbs-up, he rose back to his full height.
In a fit of insanity, Sakura had agreed to train with the pair when they approached her the previous week. Izumo and Kotetsu had mentioned her when the green duo passed by the front gate on their morning hand-laps. The chunin had apparently been serious when they said they weren't going to let her waste away in the library after the third day in a row she had showed up to study. When Guy and Lee had heard that the "youthful cherry blossom" was intent on improving her taijutsu, they had jumped at the opportunity to pass on their wisdom.
"Yosh! Onto our sets! We shall complete one hundred reps for every minute Sakura-chan has improved!"
"Brilliant, Guy-sensei!" Lee exclaimed with worship shining in his eyes.
Sighing at their never-ending enthusiasm, she straitened her legs out behind her and focused on her push-ups.
Lee and Guy threw themselves down on either side and quickly surpassed her slow pace. They would spend the extra time sparing with one another until she finished and then the three of them would move onto the next set together. Sakura appreciated that they never complained and always made the point to encourage her between the punches and kicks that they threw.
She centered her gaze on the dots of sweat darkening the dirt under her nose as she lowered her body down. Her arms were already starting to ache and the back of her red tank top was plastered to her skin.
To say that training with Konoha's Green Beast was a challenge was a massive understatement. They had already completed three sets of fifty reps of push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, side-kicks, and five laps around the village before they had paused to spar.
And the two males considered that to be a warm-up.
This better be worth it, dammit.
Sure as hell will be when we knock Sasuke on his ass during our next spar. He ain't shit compared to Lee. Inner grinned wickedly.
. _ . _ . _ .
Sakura's days quickly fell into a routine.
Early mornings were spent with Guy and Lee during their warm-up and afterword she would jog to Training Ground Seven to collapse into a sweaty and aching pile. Naruto and Sasuke had given her wide eyed looks the first morning she showed up in such a state - and officially over an hour late, though their sensei had predictably not yet arrived - but when she refused to give more than a short "training" in response to their questions about her appearance they gave up and pouted for the rest of the morning.
She would use the remainder of the time prior to Kakashi's arrival to meditate or read. Conveniently, he would often use her books as "inspiration" for the irregular training sessions he sometimes sprang after they had completed the daily D-rank mission.
On particularly memorable day, A Ninja's Toolkit: the Essentials and Proper Maintenance had the four of them spilling out their pouches and Kakashi cheerfully telling them they had the proper equipment to fight off a rabid raccoon at best. In comparison to his gear it was painfully glaring that their's were lacking; both in terms of volume and quality. Even Sakura - who's pouch was filled appropriately according to the guide - was deemed to have an "insufficient" supply of, well, everything. He was keen to lecture them on the importance of keeping two dozen shrunken, kunai, and explosive tags on them at all time and their blades sharp enough to draw blood at the slightest touch.
Paranoid bastard, that's double the book's recommendation. Grunted Inner. I doubt he's ever without a weapon within reach - probably keeps kunai stashed between his shampoo bottles.
Sakura spent the majority of her afternoons and evenings holed up in the library writing up her mission reports and combing the shelves for useful texts. Her frequent visits meant that she was now on a first name basis with a good portion of the village chunin and a few jonin who were put on desk-duty for medical or disciplinary reasons. The latter she took great effort to avoid irritating. She had begun to realize that forcibly-idle jonin had the temperament equivalent to that of a dog with it's testicles caught in a mousetrap. She shuddered to think what level her sensei would lower to if forced on bedrest.
It was on the third week Kakashi decided to throw a wrench into her happy schedule.
Sakura was just finishing up her third morning lap around the village when she noticed a small brown and blue creature had taken up residence at her side. She stumbled in surprise and stopped to give it an incredulous look. It was a pug - a ninken if the hitaiate on his head was any indication - wearing a small blue vest.
"Yo."
She let a small squeak at his deep voice. Though she had read about ninken and their advanced communication abilities, it was still shocking for a dog to talk.
"Sakura-chan, right?" he asked.
"Y-yes?" she answered with wide eyes.
"Kakashi sent me out to find you," he said while reaching up with his hind leg to scratch behind an ear. "Name's Pakkun. I'm one of the pack. He wants you back at the training ground."
Sakura felt a brief flash of panic - she was twenty minutes late to her sensei's designated arrival time, but she never expected him to actually show up on time. She was regularly late by half an hour or more due to her morning exercises with the Green Beast, but had yet failed to beat her tardy sensei.
Hell, it was bound to happen eventually. Now move your ass! The longer we keep him waiting the more vicious we can expect the punishment to be.
She gulped and flicked her gaze between the pug and the path she usually took towards the village gates.
"Ummm… I was out here training with Guy-sensei and Lee-san… I don't want them to worry when I don't catch up…" she trailed off.
The dog paused. "Not to worry," he replied. "I'll let them know where you've gone."
"Thank you Pakkun-san! I owe you one!" she called over her shoulder, already running in the opposite direction. By the time she arrived at Training Ground Seven, her breath was rasping out harshly and sweat was dripping down the sides of her face. Sakura stumbled to stop by Kakashi and braced her hands on her knees.
"S-sumimasen, sensei," she panted.
"Mah, all's forgiven Sakura-chan," he brushed off her apology with an eye crinkle. "The boys were telling me all about your early morning training. I'm glad you're making an effort to improve. It's certainly a better alternative than standing around and wasting the morning away comparing egos."
Kakashi cut his gaze in the direction of her male teammates and the smug expressions that she had glimpsed on their faces were quickly replaced by scowls.
I can't believe those shit heads thought that they could rat us out. Pussies! Inner snarled.
Sakura let a brief smirk cross her lips and glanced back up at her sensei. He was inspecting at her with his head cocked to the side and appraising look in his narrowed eye. She flushed and looked down. She usually had enough time before he showed up to tame her disheveled state - or at least for the sweat to dry enough not to be obvious that she did not spend the entirety of her mornings diligently waiting for his arrival.
"Fuck Kakashi, it's been what - a month? - since you got the kiddies and you've already managed to rub off your laziness on one of the little shits?"
Sakura startled and glanced up at the new voice that spoke. A tall, dark haired man was lounging against a nearby tree, a senbon clicking rhythmically between his teeth.
"Not sure laziness is the right word," came Pakkun's voice at her feet. She twitched again in surprise. Dammit, what is his deal with sneaking up on people? "Pinky here's been subjecting herself to Guy's tender mercy - probably every morning for the past few weeks if my nose is right."
"Guy?!" the brunette spluttered, senbon dangerously close to falling out of his mouth. She gave him a bashful grin. Kakashi's visible brow arched in surprise and he let out a snort of amusement. Her other teammates shared a look of confusion - they obviously hadn't yet had the pleasure of meeting her enthusiastic alternate sensei.
"By the way Kakashi, we better hurry up and head out or we're gonna miss that deadline." Pakkun reminded him.
"Ah yes." Kakashi said with a tired sigh. Sakura noticed he had a small bag slung over one shoulder and two extra hip pouches attached to his person. He turned to face her and the boys. "Sensei has been called away on a mission. They don't normally pull jonin from their genin teams, but this one requires one of my particular… specialties."
He gestured to the other man that had strolled closer to the group, "Meet Shiranui Genma, tokubetsu jonin. He'll be overseeing your training for the next week or so. Try not to irritate him. He likes to poke people with those senbon."
Kakashi turned to Genma with a mocking smile. "And Genma, please try not to kill my students while I'm gone, m'kay? They've just started to grow on me."
I like how he phrased that - like we're some kind of parasitic moss on a rare bonsai.
Mmm… but we're cute and just might come in handy one day so he's willing to tolerate us for now.
"Good luck sensei!" She called after Kakashi's retreating form. "Try not to die!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke rolled his eyes at their antics. Kakashi raised a hand over his shoulder in farewell and then disappeared in a flurry of leaves.
The three of them turned to face their temporary team lead. His eyebrow twitched at their matching skeptical looks and he narrowed his eyes.
"What the hell is a tokubetsu jonin, anyway?" Naruto asked squinting and scratching at the back of his head.
"It means I have a specialization that earned me the rank of jonin rather than going through the usual all-around exam process." Genma replied. Sakura found the senbon ridiculously distracting; it bobbed with his every word.
"What kind of 'specialization'?" Sasuke asked scathingly.
She rolled her eyes at his question. He obviously was not pleased by Kakashi's decision to dump them onto a jonin of unknown renown, while she was simply content with the fact he hadn't left them with a stack of D-ranks to complete in his absence.
"That's classified, brat." Genma growled. She got the distinct impression that he was not taking kindly to her snobbish teammate's interrogation.
"Classified?" Sakura inquired curiously. "Then I take it you specialize in assassination? Or perhaps detaining high-class targets?" She cocked her head to the side.
At his sharp glance she continued, "Well, senbon aren't normally considered to be very useful unless you're trying to distract an opponent - or - if you have an intimate knowledge of anatomy and one hell of an aim - they could be used to quickly kill or incapacitate."
"Wah? Where'd you learn that, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.
"A library book." She answered with a careless shrug.
"Really?" Genma's icy voice made her glance up. "Why don't we head over to the library now? And then you can show me which one." He continued in false cheer.
Her stomach sank as she realized too late that 'classified' also likely meant 'don't want nosey genin to be able to figure out with two minutes of observation'.
Finally your bookworm nature is coming back to bite you in the ass! Inner cackled gleefully.
. _ . _ . _ .
The end of an exhausting three days had Genma staring down at a half-empty bottle of sake and the cup beside it, mentally cursing Hatake Kakashi to the deepest pits of hell.
"Hey Gen, Iwashi sent me over after he saw you attempting to drown yourself in alcohol. What's with the murderous aura?" Raido asked as he slid into the barstool at his side. "I haven't seen you in this bad of a mood since we took that last mission to Lightning - and that was after our clint lost his head."
Genma snorted and gestured for the bartender to supply a second cup. "Bastard deserved it. Even the Hokage gave us a pass when it came out he had orchestrated the whole damn trafficking ring that he hired us to snuff out."
He downed his drink and sighed. "You heard I'm babysitting Kakashi's genin team?"
Raido glanced over out of the corner of his eye and gave a quiet "hmm" in acknowledgment as he sipped at his drink.
"Fugaku's youngest and the Kyubi vessel, right?"
Genma rubbed at his temples. "Yeah, but it's actually the third team member that's driving me to drink. Haruno Sakura."
"Haruno? That's not a shinobi name."
"Nope." He leaned back his stool to balance on two legs. "Kid's from a civilian family as far as I've gathered. You may have seen her wandering around the village before - the pink hair is pretty hard to miss." Genma rocked forward again and reached out to pour another drink. "But I'm becoming more and more convinced she's a prodigy that's gone under the radar until now."
"Prodigy?!" Raido yelped.
"Yep. Near photographic memory, wickedly good at strategy, insane chakra control, probably a sky high IQ, the whole nine yards. Kid picked up on my 'specialization' with only a two paragraph blurb about senbon from a book she read two weeks ago. She's on track to finish reading every genin-accessible book and scroll in the shinobi library by the new year."
Genma paused to pour his partner another drink. "The academy records show a dismal taijutsu score - just barely passing - but she somehow ended up joining Guy and his spawn on their morning torture sessions and has improved enough in just a few weeks to bloody the Uchiha's nose during yesterday's spar I had them run. The look on his face was hilarious.
When I introduced senbon throwing - don't know why the fuck the curriculum puts such heavy emphasis on shrunken and kunai - Pinky took a liking to them and had the boys beat at target practice by the end of the afternoon. I figure the lighter weight and her smaller grip make them a better fit."
He threw back his drink and Raido was quick to pour him another cup. The defeated looking jonin was obviously winding up for one hell of a conclusion.
"But the real kick in the teeth came this morning. I sprung the tree climbing exercise on them, correctly assuming Kakashi was focusing more on team building exercises than individual development."
Genma sighed again and cradled his head in his hands. "The little shit got it the first try. No hesitation, just walked right up the fucking tree. I didn't even realize what she'd done until the boys stopped their bitching long enough to point out that she was missing. She was sitting peacefully on the tallest branch, not a care in the world. Strolled back down thirty feet without breaking a sweat."
Raido snapped his gapping jaw shut and sucked in a sharp breath. "That's some Uchiha Itachi level prodigy shit. Most genin take at least a day or two to get the hand of it and bust their heads a few dozen times in the process."
"Oh no," Genma chuckled bitterly. "It gets worse. I managed not to strangle the little brat for being so nonchalant about the whole thing and figured a quick dip in the river would set her straight. So I walked out onto the surface and challenged her to try her hand at water walking. First step had her sinking up to her shins, and the second to her ankles, but by the third step she had it down."
"Motherfucker. How the hell has she gone unnoticed this long?!"
"Wondering the same thing, I wandered by the academy to ask Iruka about her. Apparently, she was a bit of a Uchiha Sasuke fan-girl until she was promoted to genin. But even then, she still got the best written exam scores since Itachi. And I don't even think she was putting much of a conscious effort into it. Not to mention this kid isn't from a clan. She's got no previous training to go off of, it's all just from scratch."
"Do you think Kakashi knows?" Raido asked while rubbing a hand over his tired eyes. He didn't even have to deal with the kid and his head was already starting to ache. Or maybe that was the sake. He poured the last of the bottle into their cups - no reason to waste good wine.
Genma shrugged. "Probably." He squinted unsteadily at the cup in his hand and let out a short laugh. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure he does. Doubtlessly trying to ignore the little voice in the back of his head screaming at him to wrap her in bubblewrap and shove her back into the academy. Kami knows he has an idea of were this is headed. As soon as word gets out, there'll be a target painted on her back. Quick promotions. Mostly in the field with her opponents bodies still warm at her feet. First chunin, hopefully jonin, and then shipped right off to the wetworks squad all before her fifteenth birthday."
The duo downed the last of their drinks. Raido waved off the bartender when he gestured at their empty bottle. They did need to be at least marginally function tomorrow after all.
"You gonna support Hatake keeping this on the down low?"
He got received a snort in reply. "For now, hell yeah. He hasn't even taken them a half mile outside the village gates. Kiddies haven't had their first kill yet. No way in hell am I gonna rush painting her hands in crimson."
Author's Note:
Please don't hate me! *ducks to avoid flying fruit* I know, I'm sorry! This chapter is super late, but it was like pulling teeth to get this thing out of my brain and typed up in a way that satisfied me.
BTW, Genma is so amusing to write, I loved every moment of it.
Please follow/favorite/review! The emails popping up in my inbox every time sends me a notification feeds my muse. :3
Much love,
Mistress-Kakashi
Brookeskto - I like my Sakura a hell of a lot more than the cannon one too! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! Thank you for the review!
Guest Reviewer #1 - I'm glad to hear it! We are going to be focusing on Sakura for the vast majority of the story. You'll catch glimpses of other characters' development, but mostly because they are in close proximity to her. I'll be changing up the point of view every once and awhile so we'll get to see the outside perspective to her progression. Thank you for pointing out the dual/duel error! My bad. XD Thanks for reviewing!