Well - two days late. If you have been expecting me to keep my weekly scheduale. Not bad, but I think I'm going to be behind from here on out.

This chapter was supposed to include the final test that Sakura talks about at the begining, but it just ran a little long on me. Oh well, I think there is enough action to keep you all occupied until the main event. As always, thanks for your comments and support.

She has medical ninjutsu plus amazing strength, but that's not all

She has medical ninjutsu plus amazing strength, but that's not all. Sakura was originally a genjustu type. She may become an even better ninja than the Fifth.

-The Teaching Journal of Hatake Kakashi, 16 August 110th Year of the Leaf

From the Training Journal of Haruno Sakura, 29 April 112th Year of the Leaf

Training ground three is four and a half kilometers long by two kilometers wide. All seven training grounds are this size, and they extend from the edge of Konoha to Deer Creek. Beyond this is the forest over which the Nara Clan still reign. Beyond that lies the wild of the Fire Country. In short, it always seemed like a pretty big area to train in. Yet I quickly came to realize last week just how small an area it was when traveling at top ninja speed while trying to stop even one person from making it across Deer Creek with just genjustu.

Tomorrow is a critical day for my training. Kurenai –sensei tells me it will be a sort of exam. Depending on how I do she may decide that I am ready to train with her in genjustu vs. genjustu training. Assuming I pass tomorrow's trial, training with her in this way would mean I had made it to the final phase of my apprenticeship under her. As exciting as that is, I have my doubts about whether or not I am truly ready for the next level. It all seems to be happening so fast, and I have only recently had what I feel is true success against difficult opponents.

In fact, I faced many opponents with different rules of engagement in an intense week of training, but my victories were few. I found myself getting discouraged very easily, especially in being bested by Genin like Konohamaru. My thoughts wander quite a bit in my descriptions of those training fights, so before I face tomorrow's challenge, I am going to reorganize and summarize them here.

These are arranged from failures to successes, and not the actual timeline of events. I began against Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi, individually. Kurenai allowed that if I was able to stop one of them, I didn't have to face them again. Otherwise, I got three tries. Once that was done, I fought them all together.

Next I was challenged by Hanabi, a Genin from the Hyuuga clan and Hinata's sister. I had to face her until I was victorious. By the fifth attempt, I was beginning to wonder if I would ever find a way to defeat her.

When I was finally able to stop her, I moved on to challenges from two members of my own rank and class, and the process repeated. Ten-Ten and then Lee. I was glad Neji is a Jonin, because if he had still bin a Chuunin I am sure I would have had to face him too. I certainly didn't mind the break from the Byakugan. Hinabi had given me enough trouble as it was. Naturally, I also had to fight Lee and Ten Ten together. Kurenai sensei made me fight them twice. That was a long day. Last and most recently I had to challenge a Jonin.

It was a surprise challenge from a ninja of the Sand, our old friend and ally Temari. She couldn't even really say what she was doing in Konoha, as the Chunin exams were still a month a way, but I gathered it had something to do with the Nara Clan's deployment. She only had time for one try. Kurenai-sensei called it a draw, but I wasn't quite satisfied.

There is no telling what I will face tomorrow. I can only hope I have truly learned anything from the following:

Konohamaru – Failure

The little punk didn't try to evade or even keep a low profile. He came looking for me instead of heading for the goal. I thought he would be easy prey.

I hid myself well and planned an ambush with an exploding honey-dew scented satchel. The satchels are small, can be tied to a Kunai, and set off with a tiny explosive note. It's the most direct way to deliver scent and can easily go unnoticed by the enemy if thrown on target, as the explosion only makes a small nearly soundless, 'pop'. A target walking through the forest stands a high chance of mistaking it for the snap of a twig underfoot.

I suddenly faced five Konohamarus as he made four Kage-bunshin and spread out to look for me. It took me too long to recognize the real one, and one of his clones found me before I could act. The clone made a show of alerting the other Konohamarus while it tried to come at me with taijustu attacks. It was like fighting an idiot Naruto again, which wasn't so bad, as it was a little nostalgic.

The rules of the engagement were that I use genjustu only. Therefore, all I could do was dodge and retreat, and try to find an opening with which to spray him with a small floral aerosol in my palm. I thought I had found that opening, until Konohamaru pulled that technique.

Suddenly I was being assaulted by a nude Naruto, Sasuke, Sai, and even Kakashi. I wasn't being assaulted by punches and kicks either, but by seduction and . . .I'm going to leave it at that. It wasn't fair. The real Konohamaru sneaked by easily after that, and I never even achieved a connection.

Udon – Failure X 3

This kid couldn't smell a damn thing! I realized this much too late. He just waltzed right through my traps that I had set up and ran right by me. I chased after him spraying him with everything I had, but he just smiled and waved lazily, then blew his nose on a hankie as he crossed the creek. I was so frustrated I think there is a new crater by the creek that might be perfect for a fish pond.

I learned right then that I needed to become better at a secondary connection method. I just had no idea what to choose yet. He escaped all three times before Kurenai–sensei finally helped me choose.

After returning to her in shame after failing against the allergy machine for the third time, she smiled at me.

"So what has this boy taught you?" Kurenai asked.

"That I need to use other means of connecting at times, but what . . ."

My teacher was staring at me. Rather, she was staring at my ear to be precise.

"That gold earring," she said thoughtfully. "Yes, I think it may just catch the light well enough. May I see it?"

I hesitated. I didn't want to take off the earring Ino had given me, but I remembered the trust Kurenai had shown in me earlier, so I slowly removed it from my ear and handed the shiny metal trinket over. She examined it between her thumb and forefinger.

"Simple yet elegant," my teacher called the small earring. "Does it have any sentimental value to you at all?"

"Y-yes," I admitted.

"Perfect," she said. "Let me show you how to prep it for sight connection."

After etching a series of very small sigils into the side of the earring with a special process that can not be described here, the earring was ready. It took the whole afternoon to make. Learning to use it will take much longer.

Moegi - Failure

This was my first successful connection to an active target. It was an easy throw with a scent charge, but I found the distance and angle tricky. I almost had her. Night descended quickly in her mind, and she found herself in her bedroom, I made it seem as if she had just awakened from a dream, but I assumed she would dress herself appropriately and remove her makeup. She began to feel as if something was out of place. The connection was too light, and she broke free with an easy release of chakra. I suppose the vision was too complex to start with. She was faster than me, which was a surprise, and once I lost her she was gone.

Konohamaru – Failure

I set several traps against Konohamaru on my second attempt against him. I really had no desire to let him get close to me again, not even with a shadow clone. They included trip wires that would set of scent bombs, and I decided to use foul smelling types this time. I prefer the smell of my namesake blossom, but I was in the mood for payback. But the teammates had talked to each other now, and Konohamaru understood what I was trying to do. He had clothespins ready.

I still connected, as it doesn't take much scent to leak through to forge one, and I attempted to borrow from Kurenai-sensei's book and have him be swallowed up by the ground as my Sakura blossoms swirled around him. The genjustu failed when scent was thrown back at me. Konohamaru fainted from his trance, but he fell on another of my traps. I had set up too many. It was like being sprayed by a skunk, and by the time I recovered; Konohamaru had awoken and was gone. I decided I hate stinky scents.

Moegi – Failure X2

This little shrimp is fast. I'm not sure how fast she would be on the attack, but trying to track her down in a pursuit would be rough. She's also witty, and she had already figured out my limitations by our second fight. I had a feeling she had already explained it to her other teammates. I think she just held her breath as she flew right past me. Try as I might, I was chasing her the whole time. I never got a connection the next two times I faced her. I realized I was going to have to be more cleaver than just setting up traps and spraying people with scents, especially when they knew what they were up against.

Konohamaru – Moegi – Udon – Failure

The rules of engagement change when facing all three opponents. The Genin were once again not briefed on what I would be doing to try to stop them, and it worked to my advantage that they didn't realize I would be using all of my abilities to stop them. My only restriction was that at least one of them had to be stopped with genjustu alone. I finally stopped Moegi with a simple snare trap. She was getting cocky, and she had outrun her other two teammates by at least three seconds. It was good to bring her down a notch as she hung helplessly by the leg from a tree. From there the connection was easy, and I put her to sleep with a simple hypnotic vision of sakura petals and a pleasing scent. I worked quickly enough that she did not alert her other two comrades - who were approaching fast.

I tried to connect to two minds at once for the first time when they saw their teammate and tried to free her. Once again the small explosive scent satchel had no effect on Udun, though I connected to Konohamaru quite easily. The soft petals of my anchor swirled around him in his minds eye as he tried to figure out what had just happened to him. I had not begun any illusions yet when Udon noticed his teammate begin to zone out. As Udon tried to shake Konohamaru out of it I leapt down directly in front of Udon. Startled, he leapt back and drew a Kunai. A toss of my head threw my hair back over my left shoulder and revealed my earring. With his eyes drawn to the motion, I connected with Udon at last.

Everything was going so well, but it was much more difficult than I thought to try and get them both to see the same illusion. I looked for something in common within both their minds, and the first thing I came to was a mutual concern for their teammate – and a certain admiration. In their minds eye Moegi cut herself down with a kunai, and then defeated me with a flying kick to the head. They thought they had won and were on their way to their goal, when Moegi did something unexpected. I had my image of her kiss Udon, and though he quickly fainted.

However, Konohamaru's mind refused to accept what he was seeing. Perhaps I had only read the stronger of the two feelings, but in that moment I learned two very important lessons. Love can be a powerful weapon, but never use it between allies. In the end, Konohamaru escaped as I could only hold my connection with Udon. He kept me busy with a clone while the real him made it across the Creek. It was a very amateur mistake for me not to notice, and I am still kicking myself about it. Kurenai had told them their objective included just getting one member of their team across.

Hanabi – Failure X 4

Hinata's little sister sure is turning into a pretty girl. Long raven hair and those same pearl colored eyes could make her a real heartbreaker in the near future. I know what I told Hinata back then, but if she really took me seriously, she might have her own sister for competition. I like her a lot too. She was quite polite while frustrating my efforts at every turn.

Against the Byakugan, traps were useless and so was any attempt to ambush by simple physical camouflage. I failed three times to intercept her at all as she navigated by me easily. On the third try I didn't even see or hear her at all.

I headed straight for her on the fourth attempt. The goal was to not let her into the trees of the training ground at all, for once she reached the tree line it seemed like she was always staying a step ahead of me. Using my earring, I finally achieved a visual connection, but it was nearly too far out to be effective at all. The connection was very odd in that she could see me but I could not see her. I had to learn to navigate myself toward her while keeping a connection several hundred meters distant. She must have only felt it as a small trickle in the back of her mind, with only a few stray Sakura blossoms passing by.

As I got closer my anchor grew stronger, and I could finally achieve an illusion. But I was too slow. By the time I brought myself within range, she had figured out was going on, and she attacked me directly.

The gentile fist isn't very gentile – at least not when you are on the receiving end. And Hanabi adds her own special flavor to it, instead of using open palm or finger point attacks, she attacks with hooked hands that tear and rend skin as well as leave bruises. There would be no retreating from her, either – not with eyes like that. She left me unconscious after one vicious rapid succession of attacks. I was done for the day.

Ten Ten – Failure

Ten Ten is far too good at traps to be caught in any of my rudimentary ones, so I found I had to use the direct approach. It became a game of cat and mouse. She stuck to the forest floor instead of trying to leap through trees, which meant that to cut her off from the goal I had to come down to her level. Every time I did so though she would somehow sense it, and retreat. I thought perhaps she was trying to avoid a confrontation with my strength.

Her battle philosophy caused me difficulties too. Ten Ten has a certain respect for weapons, and she treated all of my thrown kunai daggers as if they had high explosive notes on them, even though she seemed baffled by the small explosions. Also, I could never seem to land one upwind of her. Frustrated, I tried to get closer to her as she retreated from me again.

That's when I fell into her trap. A pit of loose ground fell away, and though I leapt to safety, two steal mesh nets were spring fired at me from either side. Caught in a tangle in mid-air, I fell back into the hole. She waved at me politely as she leapt through the trees toward the goal, and all I could do was stare in vain at the back of her white kimono as she faded into the distance.

Ten Ten and Rock Lee – Mulligan?

Once again I was finally able to use any ability at my disposal. It felt good to crush the earth again and send the targets of my wrath running for cover. I chose Lee has a target for genjustu, since I had had a successful encounter against him already. The drawback was I was facing two very experienced teammates. I still am wearing bruises and mending newly discovered micro fractures from this contest.

It started off well enough, but then again so has every training event so far. The key to the ninja arts is not to be seen when you attack, but that goes double when going against a taijustu specialist and a weapons specialist at the same time. Because Ten Ten stuck close to Lee, I was able to connect with scent in the usual method with an explosive satchel. I had them both in a nice trance and my anchor was set with sakura blossoms swirling around them. All I had to do was finish them off with an illusion both their minds would accept. Then I made an unforeseen mistake; I chose a sleep inducing illusion.

Trying to create an illusion to put them to sleep acted on their brains in a similar fashion to alcohol. I remember Naruto warning me never to let the man he calls "Fuzzy-brows" have any alcohol, but it didn't occur to me that a sleep inducing genjustu would act as a similar depressant. Lee's mind became suddenly very erratic, and his chakra spiked at an unbelievable rate. It shook both him and Ten Ten free of my connection. My sakura petals danced away randomly and faded away. I tried to form a new connection, but it was too late. Lee had me in his sites.

He growled something about "nightmares" and called me a "she-devil." His attack was furious and fast, and it was all I could do to absorb the blows with chakra-enhanced blocks without getting killed. Ten Ten did not try to help him. In fact, she was doing her best to stay out of his way as tree after tree was mowed down.

Suddenly he stopped, lay down on the ground, and was apparently asleep. I took a step towards him, but a panicked looking Ten Ten was peaking out from behind a fallen log. She was desperately trying to warn me away by waving her hands furiously and mouthing the word, "hide."

I blinked and Lee was no longer snoozing on the forest floor. I heard a hiccup and a wheezy voice say, "Hey pretty lady, wanna dance?"

I punched. I kicked, I blocked. I quickly realized my strikes needed to be full force to be effective. He simply slapped my hands away lazily, and the chakra explosions that resulted ripped leaves from trees and sent loose debris - and Ten Ten - flying away through the forest. I couldn't believe it. It was like punching steal half the time and half the time I hit nothing at all.

At one point he bent over backwards at the spine like he was made of rubber, and I stumbled forward with the momentum of my counterattack.

"Heeeeeeeeeey, " Lee said with a hiccup as he stared at the sky. "You stepped on my foot. You need dancing lessons."

My vision flashed white as Lee's knee connected with my temple.

I awoke to find Kurenai kneeling over me with Ten Ten tending to a snoozing Lee. She told me that she would consider the fight a mulligan, as she herself had never seen anything like that happen before, but warned me to be careful what type of illusion you used on opponents- as if I needed reminding.

Konohamaru – Success

The first success after having so many failures was very sweet, but it was made even sweeter in that I finally caught the little pervert. I intercepted him by igniting an aerosol charge with a remote as he leapt through the trees. The aerosol is designed to send a pressurized gas into the face of the opponent, and even if someone is holding their breath or pinching off their nose, they will still get trace amounts of the scent. It was a different connection method than the kunai charge he had seen our first two contests, and it worked.

The two clones that Konohamaru had with him dispersed, and I felt safe enough to move in closer as the image of my anchor began floating lazily around him in his minds eye. I kept the illusion simple and irresistible to a young pervert such as himself. It felt good to get him back for what he had done to me earlier. Putting him in a hot spring with Tsunade and Kurenai-sensei did the trick. Just when he felt comfortable enough to try to touch them, I had Tsunade-sama act the way she really would if she caught Konohamaru trying something like that with her, and the young Genin was soon begging to be unconscious.

Hanabi – Success

The young Hyuuga taught me a lot about my distance limits with my genjustsu. Too far and she would just shake me off - too close and I knew I couldn't match her gentile fist with my explosive ones. The answer was to move to a tertiary connection method. One that I was less proficient at but knew I would need to learn how to use regardless. Sound.

I had with me the small bell on a string. I wouldn't be surprised it was one of the very same bells Kakashi used in his test after all. I closed to within thirty meters of Hinabi on an intercept course. I rang the bell as she readied herself for the attack. At the first hint of a connection, I hung the bell from a tree limb and hopped to the ground. She knew what was happening to her of course, and I felt her mind struggle against mine. The bell kept ringing on periodically on the wind, and this kept the connection strong.

At last, placing her in an illusion of a dim forest glade with a downy soft bed of sakura petals lulled her stubborn mind to sleep.

Rock Lee - Success

He was as obnoxious as ever. He demanded that we not play games and in the name of the power of youth or some such nonsense that we face each other head to head rather than play silly games. I was all for it, as of course Lee didn't realize that I was only allowed to use genjustu against him. I leapt down from my place of concealment and a standoff began.

He winked at me. It was the first time in a long time that I had felt violated by a gesture. Still, I know he means well. He leapt at me in and covered a huge amount of distance that I was nearly caught off guard, but a flick of my wrist brushed back my hair and I had a connection with time to spare.

Lee didn't know it, but the "contest of youth" was already over.

Still, he fought on in his peculiar style. He was surprised for sure when he found that I was faster than him. He expected I would be stronger, but I could read his surprise easily as I simply caught his leg during a Konoha Senpu attack and threw him roughly into a tree. He took the weights off his legs while talking about getting serious, and I adjusted his physical speed to the appropriate level to match what his brain expected. I even let him kick me around a bit in his minds eye, just to let the hook sink in a little deeper.

Just when he thought he'd won, and he saw me bleeding and battered, a swirl of Sakura blossoms surrounded us both with their full intensity. I had to make it believable, and in the end, his mind accepted that I was indeed strong enough to rip a chunk out of the ground to shield myself with, and then counter with a tremendous punch. He fell unconscious, and victory was mine.

Ten Ten and Rock Lee – Success

I tried my best again to pick up where I'd left off from the last encounter with Lee and Ten Ten, and this time not nearly get myself killed. However, they approached their target destination with a different strategy this time, and the connection process did not go quite as easily.

Ten Ten kept her distance from Lee this time and acted as point. They were using short range radios for coordination. Connecting with them both at once was next to impossible, so I decided to attempt to stop Ten Ten by physical means. I threw a dummy kunai with a dummy satchel attached, and she reacted as predicted, and she landed just as I punched the ground and created a sinkhole for her to fall into. I skidded to a stop the instant I realized it was just a log sitting in the crevice, and back flipped out of the way of a rain of at least sixteen kunai . . . and nearly got my head taken off by Lee.

Ducking and rolling away, I broke a fallen tree in half and used the lower end like a giant baseball bat to swing at both of my opponents. Ten Ten shattered it with three exploding notes. I used the explosion to cover my escape back into the treetops. Once I was concealed from view again, it was time for plan B.

I'm not quite that proficient yet at attacking with medical techniques. I'm not accurate enough with acupuncture needles yet, I can't rewire a whole nervous system like the Hokage, and I've only just begun to read about storing chakra for instant regeneration. Yet, I have perfected one technique fairly well, it just seemed silly to me to use in a fight. But now that I have seen it work I think I may use it more often in close range situations.

Palming a vile of small white powder in my gloved hand, I re-engaged the closest target from the trees with a leap. The catch with the powder is that it requires me to dump it down either the front or the back of a clothed individual, because it needs contact with the skin closest to the spine to work. Lee happened to be closest, but that dorky green jumpsuit of his was going to make things difficult. I cartwheeled away from him towards Ten Ten, and Lee did not pursue for his fear of me catching them both in a genjutsu.

Ten Ten's loose white Kimono made a much better target. I punched at her, and she dodged easily, but a small squeeze of my hand broke the vile, and the powder slipped down the back of her neck easily as she spun away. All I had to do was complete the proper hand signs to activate the chakra inside the powder from within at least a meter away from her, and Ten Ten was done.

She crumpled to the ground in a heap, laughing hysterically as every single one of her tickle centers activated at once. Ten Ten snorts when she laughs too hard. It was so cute I almost forgot to deal with Lee. Another flash of reflected light and another knockout genjustsu later, I had defeated the Chuunin of team Gai.

Temari – Draw

She said she was here on an errand for the Kazekage, and that's all she would say. She was more interested in my training, and said she wanted to help me with it in any way possible. Temari had sought me ought when she learned I was in the village, and to her, this was a small way to repay me for saving her brother. After our battle, I decided Temari had a funny way of showing appreciation.

Since I was now up against a Jonin I was allowed any and all techniques as a set up, but I had to use genjustsu to make the capture. Kurenai sensei explained that the target would be considered too damaged for interrogation, and my mission would fail if I knocked her out or restrained her by any other means.

Temari recognized what she was up against immediately. If she sensed a trap at all, she would precede her movement with a burst of wind from her giant fan. This cut through most if not all of my traps. She was quickly aware of any scent connection from a distance of greater than twenty five meters and would break it instantly with a burst of chakra. Her mental will was extremely strong, and I was beginning to feel discouraged.

The Kazekage's sister was three quarters of the way through the training ground when I tried knocking a tree into her path before attacking her directly. I found myself lifted back into the sky by a huge gust of wind. The wind began to shred my clothes and slice into skin on my shoulders and abdomen. A quick replacement jutsu was my only escape.

When the smoke cleared I found myself behind her. I caused a ground quake in her direction in an attempt to throw her off balance long enough to spray her with a geranium scented aerosol. I held back as she dug her huge fan into the ground to support herself and use as a shield. She released her fan and leapt into the air as I charged her. She flicked her wrists, and two normal sized fans appeared, one in each hand. I could tell from the way they gleamed in the sunlight that although the small red and black fans had an attractive design, they were deadly sharp at the edges.

With her big fan shielding my advance, Temari now had the initiative as she descended upon me. She crossed her arms, and then flung them wide, the result being a deadly scythe of wind. I spun away just in time, but I caught sight of a few strands of my hair floating on the wind.

She landed in front of her enormous fan and spun towards me like a top. Her small fans sliced and criss-crossed at me over and over as she drove me back. She tore into my flak jacket, cut my thigh, and relieved me of a few more strands of hair. At last I managed to catch both her wrists mid spin, and from there it became a grappling match.

"Do you always train with such deadly force in your village?" I asked her with a grunt.

"Only with the ones we trust to stay alive," Temari growled through clinched teeth in return. "You think Gaara was easy on me?"

"No . . .I suppose not," I admitted.

I tilted my head, and I had a visual connection. In Temari's mind, I faded away. I searched her mind for something pleasant, something that would relax her. I morphed into the visage and form of Shikamaru, holding her tightly. Temari did relax. She even blushed. I thought I'd won, but after a few seconds a scowl came over her face, and she punched through the illusion and would have gutted me with her fan had I not leapt back.

"Is that the best illusion you have?" Temari declared in a cocky voice. "Please. Genjutsu is supposed to be ruthless. What are you doing with playing around with flowers and romance?"

I was insulted, but for some reason not angry. My response was to try the visual connection again.

"Too slow!" Temari cried as she hurled a fan at me like some strangely shaped shirruken.

I dodged, but not in time to avoid a gash along my shoulder.

"You won't catch me that way again."

I attacked again with an aerosol spray, but Temari just blew the scent away from her with her remaining small fan. I decided to take a risk. I needed a new object embedded with chakra. Something Temari wouldn't expect. I somersaulted over her head, and her eyes widened as she realized what I was after. I pulled her fan from the ground as I marked it with blood from my fresh cut in the manner I had seen Kurenai mark my earring.

A fan that size sure does draw attention. She chased me down in a fury, but found herself trapped in my illusion before she even got three feet from me. If the fan had been infused with my own chakra, I would have won, but it was infused with Temari's. The result was that when Gaara appeared in my illusion, the Sakura blossoms that accompanied him turned to sand. I had no control over the vision, and Temari and I each found ourselves trapped in a sand coffin by a heartless Gaara – the Gaara of old that we both feared. The sand was crushing me, I could feel my bones breaking in my own illusion, and I could do nothing but call for help.

Kurenai-sensei saved us both. The illusion was suddenly snapped as I felt he chakra flowing through my mind. She had a hand on each of us. She told us to sit down and take it easy for a minute. I thought I was about to get a lecture, but none came. Kurenai was more concerned about making sure we were both alright. My teacher called the battle a draw, because if it weren't for her, we could both be dead.

"Idiot," Temari found the courage to call me at last after she stopped shaking. "When I said be more ruthless, I didn't mean almost kill us both."

"Right," I said with a small nervous laugh.

I learned a lot from that fight with Temari. I experienced the dangers of genjustsu first hand, and I learned to never ever use a connection tool with any chakra except my own. Most importantly, Temari was right about one thing. I was going to have to be prepared to be more ruthless when the time came. I am certainly prepared to be ruthless tomorrow. I may even be ready to be ruthless with Sasuke, if it meant I could bring him home.