The village was situated in a crater. In the middle was a park with a small lake. Streets spiraled up from it and spidered outwards into intricate patterns that really weren't patterns but a twisted knot. Akane's eyes tried to trace a path to the park from the gates but they kept getting distracted by the different types of people in the giant village. There were merchants yelling about their fares, children screaming with laughter as they weaved through disgruntled shoppers, and shinobi jumping from rooftop to rooftop.
The guards at the gate stood at attention as Tsunade walked by. Akane glanced back in bewilderment at the show of respect only to find the guards staring curiously back at her. She whipped her head back to front and quickened her steps to catch up with the powerful woman leading her.
"Um… Where exactly are we going?" Tsunade looked down at her and opened her mouth to say something, but was distracted by an orange blur rushing towards the pair.
"BAA-CHAN!" The blur launched itself at the Hokage who just stood there calmly. At the last second she held up a hand, palm outwards, which collided with a hitai-ate and repelled the blur into the wall of a store effectively cracking it. A shop owner came scurrying out and started screeching and gesturing wildly at his poor wall.
Tsunade sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose as a vein popped out. The orange blur, which Akane could now see was a young man with yellow hair and bright blue eyes, jumped up and stomped over to the Hokage.
"Baa-chan! How could you just leave in the middle of my training? When I become Hokage I am going to need to know all of the ropes! Not to mention become stronger and…."
"Na-ru-to…" Tsunade growled out each syllable and glared up into the boy's eyes. His face visibly blanched and he gulped. He put up his hands in a gesture of no-harm and started to back away slowly.
"Ne, ne, there's no reason this should get violent, right? I mean, you wouldn't hurt the hero of the shinobi world, would you?" Akane's eyes widened.
"Oh. My. Gosh. You're Uzumaki Naruto!" It wasn't a question as Akane stepped up close to Naruto. She picked up an arm and felt the muscles there before proceeding to poke him in various placed while mumbling to herself. She finally stood up straight before him and lifted a hand to measure their difference in height.
"I thought you'd be taller or at least more buff." She grumbled before retreating behind Tsunade as Naruto started screeching at the young girl.
"Oi! Don't just make assumptions like that! I am plenty buff and tall! I-….Uhh.." Naruto looked around for the pair of women who were just in front of him a second ago.
"Sakura, she will be your charge until she becomes an official chuunin or unless I tell you otherwise, understood?" Tsunade looked at the medic over her intertwined fingers. The pink haired girl fidgeted slightly and her brow furrowed.
"Tsunade-sama, excuse me for saying so, but wouldn't Shizune-san be a more fit choice? She is older and much more experienced than I. She would-"
"Sakura, I chose you for a reason. Think of this as practice for when you have your own genin team." The young girl still looked doubtful as she bowed in acceptance. The black haired girl twisted her hands together. She gets nervous around strangers. Just the thought that this girl who was only a year her senior would be teaching and judging her put her nerves into a frenzy.
"Also, her heritage is top secret and highly sensitive. Certain people should not be made aware of her existence, Sakura, be sure that they are not."
"Hai!" Sakura walked briskly out of the office. Tsunade looked expectantly at Akane and when she didn't move she gestured toward the door.
"Oh! Wait, Sakura-sama!" Akane jolted toward the door as she ran to catch up with the pink-haired beauty.
"Show me what you've got." Sakura had led Akane to the training grounds outside of the village walls. She hadn't looked at her the entire way and Akane was beginning to think that her new teacher didn't like her. Right now, the medic was in a defensive stance as she stared at Akane for perhaps the first time.
"Wha-What?" Sakura didn't say anything but strengthen her stance. Akane nervously shuffled her feet as she moved to stand directly in front of the woman. She tried to look Sakura in the eyes but Sakura kept them pointedly off to the side slightly. Akane sighed as she realized that Sakura was probably already briefed about her Sharingan.
She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. No point in keeping them open then, right? She opened up her chakra system and let it flow. Her hearing sharpened as strength poured into her veins.
Sakura's breath hitched slightly at the speed of which the younger girl formed her hand signs. She had to take this exercise seriously if she didn't want to get injured. This girl was not inexperienced. Her eyes widened as the girl brought her thumb up to her lips and bit down slightly. Sakura pushed backwards as a puff of smoke filled the clearing.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" The smoke cleared to reveal…. nothing. Sakura's ears hummed from the explosion as her eyes scanned the area for some difference. She quickly refocused on the girl only discovered that she had disappeared. In fact, the entire clearing had changed. A lone swing set sat in the middle of a field of wildflowers. Sakura took a step forward in confusion. A flock of butterflies burst from the flowers as a wind that smelled of the sea rippled through them. The crash of waves reached Sakura's ears and she shook her head and tried to focus on her chakra.
When had she cast the genjutsu? Sakura had made sure to not look anywhere near the girl's eyes and she hadn't noticed any weird hand gestures beside the hand signs. Sakura's eyes snapped open at the thought. Whatever was going on right now had to do with the jutsu the girl just cast. But, it was a summoning jutsu, wasn't it? Sakura looked around curiously at the detailed scenery. It couldn't be a genjutsu… Maybe the girl had reversed summoned them. The humming was becoming distracting as Sakura tried to figure out a way back to Konoha. Wait a minute…
It wasn't a reverse summons. The girl had summoned something and that something had cast the genjutsu using sound. Sakura figured the summoned creature would be within the genjutsu and she proceeded to follow the sound of the waves. She already had an idea as to what the creature was. This girl was full of surprises.
Akane panted as she fell on her butt. That's it, she couldn't get back up. The woman in front of her looked like she hadn't even broken a sweat. Akane groaned as she flopped backwards and stared up at the clouds.
"How did you break free of Paikea-sama's spell?" She gasped out. Sakura chuckled as she sat next to the young girl.
"I asked politely." Akane groaned again as she brought her hands up to hide her blush. "You should work on your relationship with your summons. It could mean life or death in a battle. We should also work on your range of jutsu. It seems as though you have an affiliation with wind chakra. Naruto could help you with that. He, also, has summons that cast genjutsu using sound." Akane brought her hands up from her face and looked at them.
"… What will you teach me?" She asked quietly. Sakura looked startled for a moment and glanced down at the girl. Akane saw pain shoot through her eyes before she averted them and her heart plummeted. Tsunade had told her of Sakura's relationship with her brother and warned her about how she may react to his long lost sister. She had been hoping she wouldn't care, but after this event she could tell that Sakura was struggling to cope. She pasted on a smile and stood up to stretch.
"Ne, ne, don't worry about it. I'm sure you have lots to teach me. If you will excuse me, sensei, I need to speak with Tsunade-sama about my living arrangements." She started to walk back to the village.
"Wait, Akane." She looked back to see Sakura brushing herself off. "Tsunade informed me that we are to live together. Come on, I'll show you to the apartment." She walked past the stunned girl who quickly shook herself and followed.