Chapter 16: To Learn and To Teach

Disclaimer: All material placed in this story is not owned by me but by various other companies this story is my property covered under the fair rights usage act.

The Leaf village was having it's usual day; civilians were going about their own business, the sun was shining, the ramen was boiling, the birds were singing nothing seemed out of the ordinary except for one of the training grounds being littered with craters compliments of one Sanin turned Hokage training newest pupil in the art of evasive maneuvers as it was important for combat medics to evade any attacks otherwise their would be no one left to heal the squad. "Come on Sakura; pick up the pace!" Tsunade shouted as Sakura was panting heavily from the tenacity of her mentor, especially when she was at a handicap of not being able to use her power ring. Other times she would spend her days healing animals like; fish, rabbits, birds, etc. with her chakra. Through her training under Tsunade, Sakura was given a position at the hospital tending to some of the patients but at times she would end up pushing herself beyond her physical limits that she would collapse in a heap.

One night however Sakura was playing over that one moment when her ring showed her Tsunade's past and the hole the deaths of her fiancée and little brother left in her heart. She often wondered if even the light of her corps would be able to completely fill the hole left in her heart. "Lady Tsunade; I know that you still haven't gotten over the loss of those you once lost but I must know has anyone filled the whole." Sakura thought to herself as she flew towards the Hokage mansion. There she found Tsunade asleep at her desk with a bottle of sake in her hand. Sakura shook her head as she placed her ring hand on the crown of Tsunade's head. She saw everything that she knew flash through her mind again, however now see saw that the hole was being filled up slowly by Naruto who reminded Tsunade of her little brother but as for who she loved in the romantic sense that was a bit murkier, all she could see was a spiky and long clump of white hair, and a red vest, what that meant to Sakura she had no clue. "That was odd; does she still have Dan in heart even though she knows that he's dead?" Sakura asked herself before trying again before she got a clearer picture of who it was Tsunade was dreaming about. Now that she had the information she needed, Sakura wondered about giving Tsunade a ring of her own to train her in being a Star Sapphire. "Ring are you capable of cloning yourself?" Sakura asked her ring.

"Affirmative, all lantern corps power rings are capable of duplication function." The ring answered her as Sakura nodded her head, grabbed a piece of paper and a pen writing a note and making a ring from her own violet light and laid it next to Tsunade's arm along with the note before heading home and falling into a deep sleep, however her dreams were anything but pleasant. In her dream she saw a great war being fought with the five shinobi nations untied against the Akatsuki and their army of the undead, however things would take a turn for the worst when thousands of black rings would descend from the sky and latching themselves on the ring fingers of all the cadavers in horror Sakura watched as one-by-one her allies fell to the beasts who ripped their hearts out and devoured them finally after it seemed she was cornered on all sides, she shot up in her bed waking in a cold sweat of terror.

"What was that?" She asked herself, "Was that the future, and if so whatever the Akatsuki has planned is only the beginning of the Blackest Night, the worst is yet to come." She thought to herself as she lay back down in her bed. "Naruto please be safe my love." Sakura said with a tear in her eye as she fell asleep again.

The next day Tsunade woke up to find a ring much like her apprentice's and note next to it, she picked it up and what she read shocked her.

"Dear Lady Tsunade: I'm not sure if you were aware of this but back in Tanzaku, my ring showed me images of the great deal of pain in your heart form losing your lover and your little brother but, I know that they more or less live again in the forms of your teammate and my own. I made this ring for you so I could at least teach you how to use the power of the light of love to soothe the lingering pain in your heart from their deaths, meet me at training ground 23 at 2 o clock tomorrow and I'll explain as much as I can.

With regards your pupil: Sakura Haruno Star Sapphire of Sector 2814. P.S.: This ring's power is very volatile if you don't have the will to keep yourself in control of it; it will cause obsessive desire to protect all loved ones and by protect I mean trap the entire population in a crystal prison." The note read which shocked Tsunade to her core but when she saw the ring that lay before her she thought about it for a while until finally she decided to slip it on.

"Welcome to the Star Sapphire Corps Tsunade Senju." The ring said as it released a violet lantern from a shard that broke off while at the same time the violet light began enveloping Tsunade in its embrace changing her attire into something more provocative shall we say; it consisted of a mask and tiara that bore the crest of the Star Sapphires, along with violet knee-high boots, elbow long gloves, and a form fitting Leotard that exposed a good amount of her stomach, and seemed a little tight at the chest exposing a very small amount of her cleavage but not much. Luckily for Tsunade she was able to get that the costume could change to something else based on her thoughts so she covered up the exposed parts of her stomach and then took off to meet with Sakura.

Tsunade arrived at the training ground a few hours later where Sakura was tapping her foot mocking impatience. "You're late Shishou." Sakura said bluntly.

"I'm sorry Sakura I got a little caught up with some paperwork back in the office." Tsunade said.

"Was it really paperwork or was it a bunch of tickets for the horse races?" Sakura said with a smirk on her lips catching her master in a lie and causing her to sweat bullets.

"Sakura can we please just begin the training?" Tsunade asked the pink haired Sapphire who started laughing.

"Sure Shishou, let's get started first off place the ring in the lantern and speak the oath." Sakura said as Tsunade did as she was told and the oath began to flash in her in mind.

"For those whose hearts are full of fright

For those alone in Blackest night

Accept our ring and join our fight

Love conquers all with violet light." Tsunade said as the violet aura around her began to glow. "Okay so now what?" Tsunade asked her pupil turned teacher.

Sakura demonstrated what the ring could do by focusing it at a training dummy and then she launched a crystal-like fist from her ring and smashed the dummy to pieces, next she demonstrated how the ring could be used for just about anything, however Sakura warned her never to let the influence of the light to take over her very being as it could prove disastrous if she did. Sakura then decided to demonstrate how to fly using the ring, it took Tsunade a while to get use to it but she managed to get it down well enough. Thankfully after a few hours Tsunade had gotten down all the aspects of the ring understood and committed to her memory. That night she went home, enjoyed a nice long hot bath and finally went to bed. "Jiriaya I think I understand now why you always looked out for me." She said to herself as she closed her eyes and fell into a deep slumber for the night.

A/N: Sorry I couldn't do this training chapter as well as the other two from earlier but I've been hard pressed for ideas on what to do for filler. It's not one of my stronger writing areas. Either way read and review.