Thanks for reviewing you guys! You are AMAZEBALLS!
THROW-BACK THURSDAY
CHAPTER 9:
The Forest of Chakra and Sexual Innuendos
Team 7 stood in the middle of a clearing, surrounded by tall trees. The three genin stood in a circle in front of Kakashi, who was standing using a wooden crutch.
"Now that we have moved on from teamwork, I can now teach you how to climb trees," Kakashi said.
Sasuke spoke up,"Wait, so if we never learned teamwork, then you would have never taught us anything?"
"Yes, anyways—"
"But Kakashi-sensei," Naruto interrupted. "I already know how to climb trees! I thought you were gonna teach us something new!"
"Yes, I know, but—"
"Baka, he means without using our hands," Sakura exposed to Naruto.
"Yes," Kakashi finally broke in with an authoritative voice, trying not to show how irritated he was from being interrupted multiple times. "Sakura is correct. Today, I'm actually gonna teach you chakra control."
Naruto cheered,"Yeah! Catra!"
"It's chakra, Dobe," Sasuke corrected him.
"Ah," Sakura agreed. "Come on, Naruto, we learned this in the Academy."
"I knew that...what's chakra?"
Sakura and Sasuke rolled their eyes.
"Again, we learned this in the Academy, but I'll explain it to you anyway." Sakura said.
"Chakra is the center of our energy, an even combination of our physical and spiritual energy," she explained. "Chakra is essential to even the most basic techniques. Through various methods, the most common being hand seals, chakra can be controlled and manipulated to create an effect that would not be possible otherwise, such as walking on water, exhaling fire, and creating illusions. Chakra is ordinarily not visible to the unaided eye unless it's highly concentrated or manifested in large amounts."
Then Sakura mumbled quietly, "But not everyone can use it." It wasn't directed to them, but Kakashi and Sasuke, being the closest to her, raised an eyebrow in question.
Kakashi brushed that comment aside and nodded. "Thank you, Sakura, for that elaborate explanation. So, taking what she said into account, you can manipulate your chakra to the soles of your feet and walk up the tree. Like this," he said.
He took a moment to focus his chakra to his feet, making the gennin look at him curiously.
"It's impossible, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto grumbled.
Kakashi defended, "Nothing is impossible, Naruto. The word literally says 'I'm possible'."
Then he turned around to put a foot on the trunk behind him, then the other, and taking casual steps up the trunk. He walked higher and higher, making the kids crane their necks up at him, gawking(mostly Naruto and Sasuke), as he continued to level up the trunk foot by foot. He broke off from the trunk as he walked on a thick branch from upside down.
"Su-sugoi," Naruto gaped before he grinned and clenched a fist, a determined look in his eyes. "I so gotta try that!"
"Yeah, now," Kakashi said from his spot upside down on the branch. He took out three of his kunai and threw each one at the ground near the gennin's feet. "Take these kunai, and mark the spot on the tree where you stop." Kakashi pushed off the branch and gently landed back in front of them, careful of his injury.
They nodded and and took their kunai, splitting up to stand at their own tree, and almost simultaneously, they dashed up their tree with a burst of speed.
Each of them ended with a different result. Naruto was the first to fall out of the three, barely making it one and a half feet up the long trunk, and landing on the ground on his head with a yelp. Sasuke was the second to stop, but only making about three forth up the trunk. As for Sakura...
"Hey," Naruto called, sitting up from the ground. He looked around curiously. "Where's Sakura-chan?"
The three males looked around for their pink haired teammate, but to no avail. Suddenly, they heard the loud sound of rustling leaves and a loud crash.
Then turned to the foot of Sakura's tree. A large piece of the tree had crashed to the ground, and a second later, Sakura was there too, perfectly fine and on her feet.
She pouted and looked away from them when she felt her face turn warm.
"Sakura, what happened?" Kakashi asked.
"Gomen, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura mumbled. "I ran up the tree like you said, but I managed to make it to the top and when I slashed the kunai to mark where I stopped, I accidentally sliced the top off."
"...Huh," he replied, slightly surprised. "I see... Sakura has the best chakra control." He glanced at the young Uchiha. "Guess the Uchiha aren't so great after all."
That comment made Sasuke scowl and go back to training. He didn't like the idea of loosing to a girl, much less a girl who came from a civilian family. He'd show that jounin what Uchiha's were made of.
"Sakura's also seems to be another step closer to Hokage," Kakashi added, glancing at Naruto, who after hearing that, immediately stood up and pointed a finger at Sakura.
"I will not lose to a girl!" he exclaimed.
Sakura smirked and sneered,"We'll see."
At these words, Sasuke and Naruto turned to glare at each other and Kakashi smirked in satisfaction at his job well done. The only person not benefiting from the praise was Sakura herself.
She was not as gullible as she was before and took Kakashi's praise with a grain of salt; she knew he only said those things not to make her feel proud of herself but to motivate her younger male teammates. She was a pawn, she could see it now. A tool to be used and then forgotten. The moment she was given to shine ripped out from underneath her and utilized for the benefit of her teammates.
The pink haired ninja knew what her sensei was thinking, Sasuke and Naruto had far more chakra within than she did, even back at the Academy, thus if they could master this technique they would be an asset to the team.
"More like they'd have enough chakra control and strength to not need a third person," she murmured to herself.
Unknown to her, Inner was making her own resolve with these thoughts, something she, herself, decided to not tell her outer counter part.
Power. Need more power...
It was when about two hours later, when Sakura was taking a break under her fifteenth tree(she kept breaking the tops off the other 14), had Kakashi decided to check on them.
Kakashi walked up to her and said, "Hello, Sakura, I think it's about time I teach you something else."
She raised an eyebrow curiously. "Nani?" she asked.
"Take off your clothes."
Sakura stared hard at him, her gaze piercing through him and making him break into a cold sweat. She blinked a few times.
Once...Twice...Thrice.
She grimaced and snarled,"You disgust me."
Kakashi blinked. "Nani?"
Sakura turned and started walking to the boys. "Hey, Naruto, Sasuke," she called, waving to them to catch their attention. They looked at her curiously. "Kakashi-sensei is a lolicon!"
They turned their gazes to him, looking at him blankly for a second before they both grimaced at him and hissed:
"Hentai."
"Little girl lover!"
Kakashi waved a hand dismissively at them, laughing nervously. "No, I didn't mean it like that!" he explained.
"I said that because you're gonna get wet."
Team 7's gennin immediately cringed back, their grimaces deepening.
Sasuke hissed, "You're a disgrace."
"Have you no shame?" Sakura cried out.
"How dare you flirt with Sakura-chan so shamelessly, you dirty old man!"
Kakashi sweat dropped. He sighed,"Because I'm gonna teach you how to walk on water."
Their disgusted looks turned to looks of realization.
"Oh," Sakura said before she frowned, rolling her eyes and grumbling. "You could have just said that from the start. You and your sexual innuendos."
As Kakashi started to chuckle, Naruto and Sasuke nodded irritatedly in agreement before they went back to training.
Sakura followed as Kakashi lead her deeper into the forest.
"Kakashi-sensei, why do you offer to teach me?" she questioned suspiciously as they walked.
He had never shown much interested in her, even when she first became gennin, and compared to Sasuke and Naruto, who had more skill than she had in her first life. Had she been too carefree with her strength and aroused his suspicions? Maybe she should have acted the same, then maybe he would not be so odd and suspicious of her.
He merely shrugged and didn't take to her jab. "I just think that since you've already mastered walking on solid objects, it wouldn't hurt to teach you how to walk on water," he lightly explained. "I mean, you know what they say. The more you learn, the better."
Kakashi left out the part where he wanted to study her newly found abilities and strength. He knew what he saw in her files and it clearly stated that she was the weakest of the three in chakra and physical strength and definitely had no monstrous strength whatsoever. When she showed her undiscovered strength in the Bell Test, he immediately became confused. Then when she admitted what the test was truly about, he became suspicious. And to add to all of that, she never looked lovingly at Sasuke at all.
That was the last kunai.
What was she hiding? He was always suspicious, he was just that could at hiding it.
But he wouldn't confront her. Not yet.
Sakura accepted his answer for now and once they reached the riverbank, he explained the difference between walking up solid objects versus walking on liquid and how to focus her chakra.
"...So, do you get it?" he asked after he explained the whole thing.
Sakura nodded confidently.
"Then see ya on the other side." Kakashi started calmly walking across the river, using himself as an example.
Sakura took off the black sleeveless shirt and white shorts she had been changed into when she was unconscious, which left her in her spandex black ninja bra and mini black spandex shorts she had under.
She stood at the edge of the riverbank as she focused her chakra to her feet and it didn't take her long to feel the chakra swirling at the soles of her shoes.
She put a cautious step on the surface of the water and made sure her foot didn't sink. Then she took another step and another, until she was standing on the middle of the river stream unsteadily.
She grinned, her eyes crinkling. Yes! she thought. I'm doing it! I mean, it wasn't as easy as it was when I was 14, but who cares! I'm doing it!
Yeah, sure you are, Inner Sakura snorted.
Sakura had a confused look on her face for a second, but it was replaced with realization then panic when she felt herself sink and fall, plunging into the cold water and moving down the river with its strong current.
A few feet down the river, she eventually pulled herself out of the river and onto the riverbank, gasping and coughing on her hands and knees. Scrapes and cuts from the river rocks laced and stung her skin and she coughed several times, having swallowed some of the salt water. The river probably was connected to a salt lake, she thought, irritated. She growled.
Kakashi appeared in front of her without a sympathetic look. "Don't look so irritated," he said, before he smiled. "Most kids don't get it the first time, so don't worry about it."
If only you knew. I'm not like most kids, Sakura scowled, snorting. In fact, I'm not a kid at all. I'm a 17 year old chunin ranked kunoichi who was sent back in time in her 12 year old body with a second chance to fix her mistakes and change her future!
But she couldn't tell her sensi that, at least, not until she had proof that he wouldn't report her to the Hokage for a psychoanalysis and for 'impossible theories' and ludicrousness.
Come on, Sakura, she cheered. You got this! You're 17 and a chunin! You were trained by Tsunade, one of the three Legendary Sannin! You got this!
Thanks everyone! I hope you like this chapter!
Inner's starting to act weird, isn't she?
If you like/LOVE my fanfic, please review on your thoughts!