Sorry it took so long but I've been busy with my other stories, trying to think of a conclusion to my one shot series and trying to keep up with everything else is getting difficult. But I'll try my best! enjoy!
She woke up the next morning feeling sore and stiff, every time she moved some part of her body cramped and it was very painful. Making her way to the bathroom she turned the knob and filled the tub with soothing oils for her cramps and scented essences to help with the smell, when the tub was full of the steaming water she undressed and plunged into the tub. At first it was painful with all her cramps but her body soon relaxed and the soreness drifted away with the steam. After Kami knows how long she finally got out of the tub and got changed into her knew outfit.
She was starving since she didn't have lunch or dinner yesterday; she made breakfast and made a simple lunch box of rice, steamed veggies and meat. Taking a bottle of water she made her way to the meeting place for her team, as usual Sasuke was there but Naruto was late along with Kakashi.
An awkward silence bloomed between the two, Sakura would glance at him a few times to find him glaring at her. This continued until she finally cracked, with a frustrated sigh she turned to him.
"What?" she asked with a huff and he stood strait from his leaning position.
"What made you change?" he asked, she faltered. Wait, what? She looked at him quizzically.
"Huh?" was her intelligent answer; he sighed and gave her a hard look.
"Never mind" he muttered before going back to leaning against the railing, staring at the water. Sakura tilted her head slightly before shrugging and waiting patiently. Naruto eventually came and then Kakashi, he tested them on water walking and when he was convinced he pulled the two boys into a sparing match, not even giving her anything to do as he watched on with that look of immeasurable pride and praise. She huffed silently before moving to a separate clearing, no even noticed she left.
She gazed at the sky as she listened to their spar in the next clearing over; she clenched her fists in frustration. It's always them, they always get the special techniques, and they always get the appraising looks, they who are always commented on their growth. She raised her fist and crashed it against the earth below her, her added chakra causing a small crater where she stood. She felt a small prick in her hand; lifting her hand from the rubble she inspected her open palm.
A small green crystal lay in her palm; her chakra senses told her it was pure chakra, she stared at it for a long time before she tried a little experiment. She pushed some chakra into the small crystal and it grew in size, glowing slightly.
She picked it up between her middle and forefinger and inspected it further, she tried pulling at it with her chakra; it shrank in in size this time. Looking to make sure no one was watching she then threw the small crystal near a tree, the crystal imbedded itself deep into the wood.
Strange, she could still feel the crystal; she tried tweaking the crystal from where she was standing. Now she didn't expect anything to happen and she definitely didn't expect it to explode inside the trunk, she ducked slightly; moving her arms up, she waited but when nothing came she checked the damage. A small crater three times the size of the crystal scared the trunk, there were remnants of her chakra but that wasn't her concern at the moment.
"Not bad boys, what do you think Sakura?" Kakashi turned from the worn out boys to find the pinkette missing, strange he didn't sense her leave. He turned to the boys to see the same perplexed looks on their faces; they were all about to go looking for her when she showed herself from the trees behind Kakashi. She smiled sheepishly at them.
"Sorry, I was practicing my chakra over the other clearing" she said and everyone relaxed, they thought something had happened to her and she was hurt or kidnapped. She went over and grabbed her lunch box and dug in, eating quickly she closed the box lid and sighed. She was so glad she let her mum teach her how to cook; she looked over to the boys that were staring at her. She looked at the sun; if they didn't leave soon they would see Guy and Lee.
"Are we done today?" she asked and they all snapped out of whatever trance they were in. Kakashi coughed slightly, looking at the boys he nodded to them.
"You boys can go home," he said and Naruto immediately ran for Ichiraku's while Sasuke walked home or wherever he went, he turned to Sakura and walked up to her.
"Sakura, is there something you want to talk about?" he asked but she caught the underlining meaning 'what are you not telling me' but she wasn't ready to give up her secret just yet. She shook her head lightly, carelessly placing her hands together behind her back.
"No, not really" she said in a carefree tone, she hoped he got the message 'not yet' and just left it at that. His one visible eye narrowed slightly and adrenaline shot through her at the idea of being forced to admit her secrets, but he seemed to accept her decision and she heard a 'pop' as smoke replaced where he once stood.
As the smoke cleared Lee and Guy came into view, she smiled at them and walked up to them.
"Hello Lee-kun, Guy-sensei" she said and they returned her greetings with their own.
"So where are we going today?" she asked and Guy smiled at her enthusiasm, he guided them to a large clearing.
"Today I'm going to test you on your taijutsu, Lee you'll be facing Sakura, I want you both to do your best" he said and they both nodded, Lee seemed a bit hesitant but he stood ready nonetheless. Facing each other they waited for Guy's signal.
"Fight!" he called and Lee ran towards Sakura, she knew of his strength so she knew better than to try and block his attacks. She ducked under his straight punch and swiped kicked his legs out, he fell but caught himself and jumped out of the way of her downward kick. It went like this for some time, he would throw punches and she would dodge and counter attack, which he would block, dodge or recover. But he was holding back and it annoyed her to no end, finally having enough she evaded another strait punch but grabbed his arm and, using his own momentum, threw him over her shoulder. He landed on the ground hard but she didn't give him time to recover, twisting his arm behind his back and pinning a knee into his lower back this ensured he wouldn't be able to move without dislocating his shoulder and inflicting pain into his spine.
"Surrender?" she asked through panted breaths, she saw Lee's pained and surprised look. He nodded and she let go, lying on her back as she caught her breath she smiled slightly, Guy came forward and congratulated Sakura on her victory.
"Well done Sakura! You saw that he underestimated you and used that to your advantage! Lee you didn't want to hurt Sakura and went easy on her, this caused you to fail, never go easy on an opponent!" he chastised the younger lookalike. Lee looked down in shame before looking up at Sakura.
"I am sorry for not treating you like a proper opponent, next time I will not hesitate!" he yelled, determination lacing his words. Sakura nodded and smiled at him.
"Sure, I'll do my best" she assured before turning to her second sensei, he nodded proudly.
"Yes! Now Lee do 200 hundred push-ups as punishment! Sakura I want you to practice your punches on that tree over there" he indicated to a nearby tree, she nodded and made her way to said tree and began punching it in timed and spaced pattern. When Lee hit his two hundredth marker Guy called them back again, nodding to Sakura he addressed her.
"Sakura, you've done well. You should head home now, you're not used to our training sessions, we'll see you tomorrow!" Guy said as he dumped a rock on Lee and told him to do another hundred push-ups. Sakura nodded, not envying the young taijutsu master, and made her way to the clearing she had visited before. It was in the same direction as her home so they didn't question her.
She arrived again and it was late afternoon, she brought her palm up to her view, clenching her hands into fists she focused her chakra into one spot, once she felt the hardened material in her hand she opened her palm to see a chakra crystal.
Sakura experimented with the chakra crystals, every now and again it would shatter or explode or just shrink and disappear, and it continued for many hours. Eventually it got to sunset and Sakura was low on chakra, she knew she wouldn't get much more so she headed off into town, she felt like going to that nice sushi and dumpling place.
She took the road that leads to the small restaurant, which she remembered was called Amai kenkō, and passed the Kage Library along the way. She paused mid-step; she had never heard of chakra crystallizing like hers had, maybe the library could help her.
Entering the large building she went strait towards the door at the end of the library guarded by two Anbu. She stated her name when they asked for it, after a few seconds she was allowed entry, she went inside and scanned the clipboard. The clipboard directed her to the chakra section; scanning the titles, she poured through scroll after scroll, anything that may hint her to what she had discovered and if it had been recorded.
She must have been searching for hours but she found nothing on the crystallization of chakra, but she had found some really interesting techniques in the utilization of chakra.
Picking those up she began to move through the rest of the shelves, picking anything that caught her interest and reading through it; she found an explosive katon jutsu scroll, a scroll on battling with ninja wire, some healing scrolls, a large scroll on the human body and the chakra systems, taijutsu technique scrolls and one scroll on the introduction of sealing and protection seals.
Her hands were very much full but she was glad she had a sealing scroll in her pocket; grabbing said scroll she sealed most and carried the rest, she was asked to reveal what she had taken and showed everything to them, the Anbu were surprised by her large amount but didn't comment.
She went to the front desk and after having her register and catalog them she left with her desired scrolls and if she hurried she would be able to grab some dumplings from Amai kenkō!
The sun had risen but Sakura had not slept a wink, even now she wasn't tired, she had spent the whole night studying her scrolls and was currently looking at the chakra flow chart spread out on the ground, many scrolls scattered about her room.
' So this chakra point can be redirected to-' her thoughts were interrupted as a tapping sound was heard on her window. Turning around she found her sensei standing on her balcony, she opened the sliding glass door and addressed him.
"Kakashi-sensei? What are you doing here?" she asked and he gave her a worried look.
"Training started two hours ago" he stated and Sakura's eyes widened, her eyes moved to her clock and it showed that it was long past the meeting time.
"Sorry Kakashi-sensei, I was studying and lost track of time," she said as he looked past her into her paper-covered room, there were notes and scrolls everywhere. He picked up a random piece of paper; its title was 'redirecting chakra flow' he looked at her, she looked like she hadn't slept all night and knowing his student that was probably the case.
"I see, I want you to rest for a few days, it looks like you've had a rough night," he said before placing the paper down and turning to leave. Sakura was surprised by this, but didn't question it, this would just give her time to study more and practice on her own. She had panicked slightly when he picked up a sheet, but it luckily wasn't about chakra crystallization or anything similar.
"Okay, if you say so Kakashi-sensei" she said before turning back to the flow chart, she felt Kakashi leave and turned to confirm that he had actually left. Once she was confident he had left she had a shower and made her way to her clearing, avoiding Kakashi's detection. While she passed the boys she heard Kakashi speak to them.
"Now listen, I'm going to teach you each a special technique understand?" he asked and they both nodded.
Special technique? Each of them would get their own?
"What about Sakura?" Naruto asked and Kakashi sighed, pulling out his favorite novel his posture slacked.
"All the techniques I could teach her are to strong for her" he stated and it seemed to answer Naruto's question enough for him to accept it. Naruto was being taught how to use his Kage Bunshin to his fullest and mix up jutsu's with them while Sasuke was being taught some type of lightning technique. She struggled to keep her chakra hidden as her rage increased; she could finally take no more and moved away to her clearing.
She continued practicing her chakra crystal technique and discovered a few things.
1:She could move it and manipulate its shape without touching it.
2:It could explode if she did something with her chakra, she figured out how but has yet to find out what she actually does to her chakra to give it that explosive effect.
3:She can always sense where even the tiniest shard is.
4:The crystals can be used to stop bleeding and heal wounds at a radical speed.
So far this is all she has discovered but she knows there is a lot more and what she has discovered will open up a range of abilities for her. She heard a long silence and she realized they had left, moving to the bridge where she and her team meet she waited for Guy and Lee. When they came she smiled at them.
"Lee, Guy-sensei its good to see you" she said and Guy gave her a warm greeting, as did Lee, and he sprouted things about 'the power of youth' and how she and Lee were the best students he ever had. They made there way to the wall and did one hundred laps, again.
"Well done Sakura! You were almost able to keep up with us that time" Guy said proudly, Lee nodded vigorously in agreement.
"Yes! You're improving very quickly Sakura-Chan!" Lee commented and Sakura practically glowed in happiness at their praise, she even started doing extra laps, the boys joined her as they did another twenty laps that lasted into the night.
"Good night Lee-kun, good night Guy-sensei!" Sakura called as she entered her house and went to bed. Lee and Guy waved at her, Lee turned to Guy happily but his smile and words faded when he saw the look on his sensei's face.
"Guy-sensei, what is it?" he asked but Guy didn't look at him, still staring at the blossoms door, but he did answer his question.
"How could Kakashi not see her potential, and more so not act upon it?" he said before turning and heading home, Lee looked back and forth from the house to his retreating mentor. He didn't get it but he had a feeling he would understand soon enough, he just had to be patient.
The next few days went similar to that day; she would spend most, if not all, of the night reading new and old scrolls and wrote down notes as she went, then she would go and practice any and all her skills in secret before going with Lee and Guy to enhance her physical abilities.
By the end of the week she felt as though she had earned the right to wear her Haiti-ate and the right to call herself ninja, she walked to the bridge a good hour early.
She would practice a knew technique of hers, she went into the trees and place a chakra crystal by a birds nest before she jumped down and walked back to the bridge. She created a crystal slightly bigger than her palm and focused her energy into it muttering secret chakra technique: Crystal eye in her mind and the nest came into view within the crystals fame, she watched the mother bird come and feed its chicks before flying off again to find food.
She retrieved her chakra from the tree, she can reabsorb her crystals, and spent the remainder of her time trying out her sliding on water technique; it was like ice skating only the water isn't frozen, by tweaking her chakra a certain way she could glide across the water, she had yet to figure out how to do it on land.
A while later Sasuke showed up, then Naruto, and finally Kakashi, he popped out smiling. Before Naruto could yell at him for being late he told us the latest news.
"There's a new Make-Out book coming out!" he said happily, showing them the whole page add in a magazine, Naruto fell where he stood while Sakura and Sasuke sweat-dropped.
"Besides that we have another mission" he said looking at them one by one, Naruto was ecstatic, Sasuke had a smirk on and Sakura looked intrigued. He sighed, he didn't want Sakura to go on the mission but there was no choice in the matter, he didn't even know why the Hokage had ordered them on this mission.
"You'll all be briefed when we get to Kage tower, lets move!" he said and everyone ran to Kage tower, well the boys ran Sakura took to the roofs. A week ago Sakura wouldn't be able to do this but that was then and this is now, and now she has learned a great deal of things. The boys were surprised at first but joined her soon after, they made it to Kage tower in record time.
"What the mission old man?" Naruto called as soon as he entered, Sakura knocked him lightly on the head.
"Be more respectful to your elders," she scolded, her calm demeanor not changing but her voice told him of her irritation.
"Sorry Sakura-Chan" he said and she sighed.
"Its not me you should be apologizing to" she muttered but Naruto didn't hear her, he was still trying to get the briefing out of the third Hokage.
"Let him speak Naruto" Iruka chastised from his seat at the long desk. Naruto grumbled but otherwise remained silent. The Hokage laughed hoarsely before speaking.
"You'll be doing a C ranked mission and it will be Intel gathering, and with Sakura's memory that shouldn't be a problem, you'll be going to wave to locate a scroll that may or may not have information on a group of thugs that have been causing trouble on our borders. They have agreed to let us handle it; this single scroll will lead to the downfall of these thugs, when you have the scroll get back as soon as possible. You'll be leaving in one hour, Kakashi can you stay a moment?" the third asked and Kakashi nodded, waiting for the others to get ready he listened as the Hokage spoke.
"Guy, you can come in now," he said and not a second after the green beast made his appearance known. Strutting in and standing next to Kakashi with a safe amount of space between, Kakashi noticed this and expected something he would not be pleased about.
good? bad? Review please!