Salvation
Disclaimer; All rights to Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto.
Chapter Three
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"Ne? You want us to climb trees?" Naruto asked incredulously, crestfallen he wouldn't be learning an awesome technique like 'super face busting no jutsu' or something cool like that, No, instead Kakashi had insisted they climbed trees while he read his pervy little book.
Kakashi was still tired from his previous encounter with Zabuza in the forest, he didn't feel like explaining things to Naruto for the third time. "Yes. Climb the trees using only your feet and chakra." He tried dumbing it down, but still the blonde didn't seem as though he was grasping the concept.
Sasuke stood indifferently to the side. Neither scourning or admiring the task handed to him. He figured Kakashi had meant that they were to gather chakra onto the bottom of their feet and use it to cling to the surface of the trees, he just didn't understand why that technique would be useful to them at this point, if they encountered those missing nin again they would need offensive combat techniques.
Sakura simply stared. She, a second generation Sannin, did not feel like participating in this training. She could gather chakra to anywhere on her body so easily it was as simplistic as breathing to her now, but she recalled finishing early anyway and doing nothing but sitting idly as the two boys hashed it out all night. She figured a bit of showing off wasn't too bad.
While Naruto and Sasuke bickered in the background about who was going to reach the top of the tree first, Kakashi watched as Sakura approached the tallest tree she could find, gingerly lifting her foot to make contact with the bark of the tree, before easily scaling her way to the top. She had excellent chakra control, he'd known that already from her Academic reports, but he was slightly impressed that she was able to do it in her first try. His charcoal eye flickered to Sasuke, examining the purple handprint shaped bruises that coiled around his throat, hardly able to believe that Sakura was able to cause them. Halfly because she'd always been devoted to the Uchiha, halfly because they were dark and angry, precise and required a lot of brute strength for such dark and focused discoloration.
Suspicion loomed deep in his eyes as he stared at the girl, now chuckling and waving to her thoroughly confused teammates. Sakura, who he'd seen hardly any potential in, had been showing a lot of odd signs lately. Was it possible they had been infiltrated by Zabuza or the fake 'Hunter nin' from before? No… he remembered coming back later last night and scanning over Sakura with his sharingan, there was nothing physically different about her.
Could she have been traumatized by the events previously? No. Impossible. She'd yet to see anything truly scarring, but perhaps the near death experience was just not that shocking to a man who'd seen war and death and loss. Maybe it was scarring to a young girl… He reminded herself to have Sakura take a psyche evaluation when they returned to the village. He couldn't have her pulling any more of her stunts and accidentally killing Sasuke, could he?
"Wow, Sakura." Kakashi goaded, "Looks like she's closer to becoming Hokage than you are, Naruto. On her first try too? Impressive."
Sakura glared daggers at him for using her accomplishments as fuel for her teammates, but sighed. It was necessary, even if his compliment was empty and somewhat cruel, she could understand his reasons. Marking her spot at the tip of the tall pine, she gracefully leapt from her perch. Not even flinching as she directed chakra around the joints in her feet, landing on the ground without a single sound.
Naruto stared starry-eyed at his teammate who had made a four-story fall look like nothing, while Sasuke simply 'Tch'd' in annoyance. Sakura had never bested him at anything, and if she could do it, surely it wasn't too difficult a task.
Naruto and Sasuke had made a dozen attempts, each barely higher than the last, each ending with a not-so-graceful crash to the ground. Though, just as he did before, Naruto was humble enough to ask advice, unlike the holier-than-thou Uchiha.
Sakura happily- unlike last time- gave him clear and easy instructions. He wasn't able to do it perfectly, Naruto was never good with chakra control, his was wild and free. It was simply his nature. Sakura smiled, it was a proud feeling, knowing she was assisting one of the bravest men in this world to succeed.
Stretching her arms over her head with a yawn, Sakura looked at the setting sun. "I'm heading back. Good luck you too." She said with a simple wave to her teammates.
Sasuke, as expected, simply ignored her. Naruto however managed a 'bye Sakura-chan' before she was out of earshot. Though she had no intentions of returning to the cottage. She needed a bit of time to herself for actual training.
Even with the expanse of jutsu and combat information she had, it was useless if the body couldn't keep up. So, once a far enough distance not to be caught, carefully searching for even the slightest trace of chakra in the area, she lowered herself to the ground and folded her legs beneath her, forcing chakra to expand her gates.
It was painful, but even in her small and fragile body, her tolerance to pain was nothing to shake a stick at. So she continued on, forcing her chakra gates to widen and held them for as long as she could, before breaking out into pants and whimpers of pain, then repeating the process all over again. She never really noticed how weak her genin body had been. But now that she remembered being one of the strongest kunoichi in all five nations, it was miniscule in action. If she were going to protect her village, she'd have to be able to take the pain.
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