One Change: Chapter 2 – Chakra

The first chapter of this was better received than I expected it to be! Thank you to everybody who reviewed and/or added this story to their fave/follow lists. crimson dragonX expressed some discontent with this being akin to a series of one-shots. Would anybody else prefer this to be a continuous story instead of a set of chronological one-shots?

In regards to chakra natures – I know that Sakura has Earth(Doton) nature chakra in canon but for the sake of this story she will have water(Suiton) chakra nature. Itachi's will remain fire(Katon)

Thank you to:

Jenni (anon)

crimson dragonX

Guest (anon)

mun3litKnight

kyoko minion

OfEmeraldOrbsAndCrimsonCrows

angel897

Doujin-Maker

Shadowlove'scookies

Standard Disclaimers Apply

It had been two months since Itachi had met his genin team for the first time. They were quiet but he knew that over time he would be able to break down the walls they'd built around themselves and train them to value teamwork above all else. Within the next few months he would surely have them working as a cohesive team unit, separate parts of a well oiled machine.

Though they rarely spoke, let alone initiated conversation, they were efficient. It was almost as though they could handle their own training without his help or prompting.

This was all well and good for now but when they progressed to learning the finer skills of Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and Taijutsu they would need proper guidance in order to fine tune their abilities.

From watching their independent training and sparring matches he had gleaned that the pink-haired kunoichi of the team, Sakura, was a genjutsu type. She had very precise chakra control which, if properly trained and nurtured, could help her to become a great ninja. The type of chakra control that she possessed opened up another interesting possibility to her. Medical Ninjutsu wasn't widely practiced among shinobi simply because it was beyond the realms of possibility for the majority.

He would have to see about finding somebody who practiced the art. Nohara Rin, Konoha jounin and med-nin was at the top of his list. The girl was a few years older than him and though he had very rarely spoken with her he knew that she was am accomplished medical ninja and didn't think she'd mind taking on an apprentice when the time was right.

Haruno Sakura herself had expressed an interest in the art during her self-introduction. She spoke highly of the sannin Tsunade Senju whom had not been seen for many years. Rumour would have it that she wandered the shinobi nations in search of new remedies to further her knowledge. The way that the girl spoke was, in it's own way, inspiring. Many 10 year old students would have answered his question with something whimsical such as wanting to be the strongest or be able to kill the bad guys but the girl spoke with a tenor that suggested she may have seen more of the world than she would have liked in her short life, more than any small child should have to deal with.

He looked at them now; the Hyuuga was facing off against the surly Ashimatsu boy and neither seemed to be holding back. Sakura sat a little way off, her palms pressed firmly into the earth and eyes closed. At first glance she seemed to be simply meditating but when he saw sweat begin to roll down her brow, he activated his sharingan.

It was then that he could see what she was really doing. Her hands glowed faintly with chakra and she seemed to be slowly drawing the moisture from the soil and making in rest in puddles above the now-dry grass around her hands. It wasn't something that had ever seen done before so he decided to continue to observe instead of inquiring as to her objective. He watched as she slowly upturned one palm, the collected moisture following obediently to settle in the upturned palm in an wavering spherical shape.

Interested in what she would do next he leaned against the tree to his left and continued to observe the slightly strange behavior. Slowly, she began to turn the other hand but just as the water began to trickle into her open palm he saw her chakra waver and she let out a gasping breath as the water immediately began to permeate back into the soil. For a moment she sat, breathing heavily as the remaining water drained from her palms in thin streams.

When she began to cough, rasping and trying to catch her breath, the two other members of team two finally seemed to notice that something was wrong and stopped what they were doing in order to turn in her direction and see if she was alright.

By this time, the Uchiha had already shunshin'd to her location and knelt by her side in order to assess whether she had caused any injury to herself. When she finally managed to regulate her breathing somewhat he felt her lean into his side, too physically exhausted to support her own weight even in a sitting position.

Growing slightly worried about the girl who had yet to speak he turned his attention to Haruki. Fixing the boy with a concerned gaze he asked, "Is your Byakugan advanced enough to see her chakra systems?" The boy promptly nodded.

Pressing his finger to his temples, the young Hyuuga directed chakra to his eyes and activated his byakugan. His eyes widened slightly at what he saw and his eyes held a hint of panic when he turned to face Itachi once again.

"She is almost completely out of chakra, I'm surprised that she hasn't lost consciousness before now." He supplied, turning worried eyes on his female teammate.

It was until this point that Itachi realized that the girl was, in fact, now out cold. He wondered how long she had been practicing the water gathering exercise before he had noticed.

Deciding that their training session was over for the day, he lifted the tiny girl into his arms and shunshin'd to front doors of the hospital. Taking a moment to regain his bearings, he shifted the girl so that he held most of her weight with one arm and then used the free arms to push open the glass door and walk up to the reception desk.

The auburn haired women behind the counter gave a light gasp when she saw the state that the child was in before asking what had happened for her end up like this.

Itachi shifted her weight awkwardly so she was once again balanced in both arms before filling the nurse in. "She is suffering from severe chakra depletion. Nothing that bed rest will not fix but I thought I should bring her in just to make sure that their would be no lasting side effects. I will ensure that she doesn't train for the next few days at least."

It was only after she had been placed in a room to rest and he was half way through filling in her patient details that he realized he didn't know who he should contact to let them know of the situation. Surely her parents would want to know of the situation.

For lack of better thing to do he called Umino Iruka as he knew that the chunin had been her teacher in the academy..

When the teacher arrived he was perched on the edge of a chair at her bedside awaiting his arrival. The two left the room to talk so as not to disturb the exhausted girl from her rest. Itachi promptly inquired if now would be a good time to contact her parents. Iruka averted his eyes and was silent for a moment. When he did eventually speak it was soft and regretful sounding.

"Sakura-chan's parents both died 4 years ago when they were ambushed by a band of Iwa ANBU on the way back from a mission. She has been in my care ever since."

Itachi didn't know what the appropriate response would be to the admission so he simply inclined his head, whether in acceptance of the answer or in condolence for the small girls loss, he wasn't quite sure.

Deeming it inappropriate to leave her bedside, he stayed with the genin and her guardian, awaiting the time when she would awaken and he would see her eyes burn will the 'will of fire' once again.

-End Chapter-

So that's the end of this chapter. Don't forget to let me know if you want this to become a continuous story or stay in one-shot format :)!

So we learned a little more about Sakura including that Iruka (I love him so much) is her guardian. Next chapter we will find out why she graduated from the academy earlier than usual and also we'll be seeing some team training. The chakra natures of the other two teammates will be revealed and they will all be given a jutsu to learn!

Please review to let me know what you thought, if you liked it, things you think could be improved, things you might like to see or just to say 'hi!'

Sei x