Ultimate
Summary: Sakura is coming home from a mission when she hears a sound in the bushes. Stopping, she finds a gravely wounded black tiger. Thinking it just a wounded animal, she helps it, not knowing that one day she would bond with it, and in bonding, be given a power unlike any other. Rated T. Takes place during Shippuuden. Sasuke is in Konoha.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I do own the plot.
"moo" speech
'moo' thoughts
'moo' Inner Sakura
'moo' Tari
'moo' Sakura mind speaking
Somewhere
Iai, Sakura, and Tenten had been traveling for three days straight with only 3 to 5 minute stops for food and water. They would each get short naps for about 10 minutes and then they would be off again. Fatigue was starting to set in on the two girls but they kept going. Iai showed little signs of change. Sakura and Tenten were lagging slightly behind, only keeping up from sheer will power and chakra, which they were also running low on. Sakura's eye lids felt heavy and she was panting more than usual. She groaned as she leapt off another tree branch. Her vision blurred and she went unconscious in mid air, collapsing onto a branch and sliding off, falling to the ground. Tari caught her on her back before she hit and seriously injured herself and Tenten and Iai jumped down. Tenten ran up to her unconscious friend, even with her own exhaustion.
"Sakura! Sakura are you alright? Answer me!" Tenten yelled at her friend, shaking her shoulders to try to get Sakura to wake up.
"Lay her on the ground. Make sure she has something under her head. Get a spare rag and wet it with cool water. Take it off, re-soak it, dry her forehead and put it back on every half an hour. This is just the first stage and soon disease will set in. I'll go find some food and herbs to make a tea with. She'll need food and drink for when she wakes. You too. When I get back, you go to sleep. You have both done very well. I am proud." Iai explained to Tenten, who only nodded and fished out a rag and went to wet it in the nearby stream. Iai took Sakura's pack and put it under her head, sitting and waiting until Tenten returned. When she did, Iai got up and left without a word. Tenten sighed and placed the rag on her friends head.
"Wake up soon." Tenten murmured. Tari looked at Tenten intently.
'Yes. Do wake up soon Sakura. We are worried.'
An hour and a half later
Iai returned to a barely awake Tenten. He sighed and set down the three rabbits he had caught and the many herbs he had gathered.
"You go and rest. I will take it form here." Tenten nodded slowly and stumbled over to her pack, which she collapsed onto, hugging it like a pillow. Iai looked after her before turning to a clear path of ground and making a circle with stones there. Setting up some logs, he lit them and pulled out a kettle form his bag. Iai filled it with water and put it over the fire to heat. Turning to the herbs he gathered, he started crushing them between two rocks. Once the water was finished heating, he took the kettle off the fire and put on the three rabbits. He added the herbs to the water and stirred it, making a herbal tea. Finished, Iai sat back and started turning the rabbits, stirring the tea and heating it every once in a while.
Sakura
Sakura groaned and cracked her eyes open to reveal a black velvet and starry sky. Her vision was still slightly blurry and her head hurt, brain filled with fog. She groaned again when she tried to sit up, alerting Iai.
"Don't try to sit up too fast. In fact, don't try to move at all. You're too weak from fatigue." Iai said quietly, so not to wake the still sleeping Tenten.
'Cha! Maybe that's because you had us running for three days straight!' Inner Sakura yelled. Sakura sighed and nodded, laying back down. Iai got up and brought over the kettle and a cup. He poured some of the tea into the cup and handed it to Sakura.
"Here. Drink this. It will make you feel better." Sakura only nodded again, taking the cup and drinking its contents. The warm liquid surprisingly focused her vision and made her feel more awake. The fog in her head vanished as did her headache. Sakura sat up this time, a little stronger.
"Thank you. When did you learn to make healers tea?" Iai smiled slightly and sat back by the fire.
"I learned form Tsunade. She told me even though I was a master swordsman; I would still need to rest and eats, so she taught me to make this tea. It was a fast way to invigorate myself if I was on a long mission and didn't have time to rest. That Tsuande, she always did look after me." Iai said, voice fading as he stared into the distance of the night. He sighed and grabbed the rabbits.
"Wake your friend. Supper is ready. Tonight we get a full meal and rest." Sakura nodded and got up, wobbling slightly as she went to wake Tenten.
"Tenten, supper." all her friend did was groan and roll over. Sakura sighed.
"Tenten, up. Food." Tenten shot up.
"FOOD!!" she screamed and ran over to the fire. Sakura sighed and smiled slightly before walking over to join the now eating Tenten and Iai by the fire.
"Here." Iai said, offering her a rabbit which she gratefully accepted. She bit into the juicy, tender meat of the corpse. Sakura swallowed and sighed. She was so tired right now she could sleep sitting up. Iai noticed the tired look in her eyes and the fact that Tenten was basically sleeping sitting up.
"Both of you get some sleep. We'll be starting your training tomorrow so get all the rest you can." Sakura nodded and stumbled to her feet. She walked over to Tenten and shook her. Tenten looked at her then got up and wobbled to her sleeping bag before collapsing. Sakura soon followed. As she lay down, Tari lay down by her head. Sakura smiled and petted her friend.
'Are you alright?'
'Yes.' Tari nodded and closed her eyes. Sakura rubbed Tari's ear before closing her eyes, letting the darkness wrap around her and swallow her.
Morning
"Come on, get up!" Sakura groaned and tried slapped the figure above her, only to have her hand caught. She yanked her hand out of the strong grip and rolled over. The figure scowled and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her roughly. Sakura's eyes shot open as she sat up and glared at Iai, who was already standing up and walking over to the awake and eating Tenten. Sakura scratched her head and got up, moving into the bush to dress. Once finished, she walked over to Tenten and ate the wild herb salad prepared for them. She ate ravenously. Iai watched them, and once they were done, he got up and told them to follow him. Tenten and Sakura looked at each other before following him to a clearing.
"Your training begins today. Firstly, I will need to improve your basic skills, but that will be after I teach you some new things. Sakura, you know this so you can watch for now. Tenten, you need to learn how to locate safe herbs and wild plants that can be eaten. You can get 3 clues from either me or Sakura. For the first part, you have half an hour to find 3 safe plants to eat. Begin." Tenten nodded and ran off into the bush, searching for plants she thought were safe.
Half an Hour Later
Sakura was sitting on the ground cross-legged, pulling at the grass and Iai was leaning against a tree, looking at his watch. Tenten burst through the bush, gasping for breath.
"Sorry I'm a little late. I got slightly lost. Here." Tenten explained, handing over the three plants she had picked. Iai looked at all of them then back at Tenten.
"I am now going to tell you which plants you picked, what their uses are, and if they are lethal or not. This," He held up the first specimen, "is insert good herb here. It can be used for insert uses here. It is non-lethal. Good job picking it out. This," he held up the second herb, "is insert good herb here. It can be used for insert uses here. It is also a non-lethal. And the last one, is insert deadly plant here. It is extremely lethal and is only used in extremely deadly poisons. You eat this, your dead in less than one minute. Be careful next time. Even a sniff could make you very sick. After Sakura's lesson, I will teach you all of the useful herbs and give you a book to help. Study it until you can receipt it from memory." Tenten nodded and sat down under a tree. Sakura stood next.
"What is my lesson?" Iai looked at her.
"You will learn better tracking. Tenten here is an expert as well as a master at recognizing the marks and gashes from weapons and which they were made from. You will also learn this." Iai explained to Sakura who nodded. "I will go into the woods and use various weapons to make marks on trees. While I am gone, Tenten will give you a brief session of what each weapon mark looks like. I will number the trees and give you a scorecard to mark the trees number and which weapon mark you think is on it." Sakura nodded. As Iai walked towards the forest, Sakura sat down with Tenten and began her session.
"Ok Sakura, listen closely. Kunai marks have a medium width and cut deep, though not as deep as others. A senbon has almost no depth and is only a small dot on a tree. Shurikan have a medium depth and it slants from wide to thin and has a slight triangle shape. Swords usually have a long slash and could be any number of depths depending on the pressure put on it. Those are the basics, but there are others like sickles, maces, spiked balls, and many other things." Tenten finished just as Iai came out of the forest, handing Sakura a scorecard and sitting down.
"Ok, you can go in." Iai said. Sakura nodded and after getting a good luck from Tenten, entered the forest. Tari wanted to follow but knew that her master had to do it by herself.
With Sakura
Sakura entered the forest, surrounded by trees with multiple gashes in them. Sakura took a deep breath to calm her nerves and looked at the first tree. It had a small, shallow dot in the tree. Sakura smiled. She knew this one form Tenten's brief lesson. On the scorecard, she put down senbon next to number 1 and moved onto the next tree. This one was a little more difficulty, but Sakura managed to get it. This continued on until she finished and exited the forest. She gave the scorecard to Iai and sat down next to Tenten, waiting for him to finish. He nodded and walked over to her, sitting down in front of them.
"You did well Sakura, but you got kunai and shurikan mixed up on 5 and 9, and kunai and swords mixed up on 3 and 7. Tenten can help you with that and you can help Tenten with her herbs." Sakura and Tenten both nodded. Tari walked over to Sakura and licked her hand before laying down next to the two girls as they studied late into the night. Iai came to them and told them to sleep. Tenten and Sakura both nodded and curled up to go to sleep. Tari lay next to Sakura
'Sakura, you have done well, but it will get harder from here. Please, be careful.'
Done! I'm in mid terms, so ya, ill be studying for awhile. this is important for those who like updating. I am adding a space on my profile where I will keep everyone posted on how far my stories are coming along, since I can only write on Fridays. check there on Saturday, and yes, I might forget so deal.