Chapter 1
Sakura notices something.
She eyes the place on the bark of the tree where Sasuke had left a foot-sized dent before marking the height and flipping backwards.
That's interesting. It must be that he released too much chakra on that last step.
Pondering this, her eyes wander to Naruto, who was doing the same thing as Sasuke, marking the highest heights he could run up the tree with chakra in his feet. She watches as his foot lands on the tree and creates a dent on impact as well.
Hm.
She raises her hand, palm up and stares at it.
Deciding to try something, she gets up from her seated position on the branch and walks to the trunk of the tree.
Her eyes fix to a point on the bark, and she raises her index finger and places it at the point. She closes her eyes and directs a small amount of her chakra towards the tip of her index finger.
... now!
The chakra in her index finger's tip rushes out, and she feels her finger move forward as the bark under her finger concaves in, making a creaking sound.
Her eyes open and scan the trunk where her finger rests. The trunk has a dent as she expected. She hadn't been sure how deep it would be, but she was pleased to see the dent was 1-2 centimeters deep. The amount of chakra she had used was small.
Let's test changing the amount of chakra.
She moves her finger to a few centimeters under the first point her finger had rested on. Her eyes close and she once again directs her chakra towards the tip of her finger, twice as much as the first time.
Again.
Her chakra rushes out of her finger, and she feels the dip of the trunk.
Excitedly opening her eyes and dropping her hand, she eagerly looks at the concave area of the trunk her finger rests in.
The first thing she notices is the diameter of the concave area. Right under the first one, the circle overlaps the one above, but it was not twice the diameter as she expected. She tapped her finger to the deepest point of the first hole, and then did the same to the second. It wasn't twice as deep either.
Another thought strikes her.
I didn't control how the chakra would flow after it goes out... Maybe...
She wished she had a notebook and pencil. Maybe a ruler too. She hadn't thought about it, but she hadn't taken notes since she graduated. Her head filled with ideas she wanted to write down to keep track of, along with her findings.
The chakra doesn't flow out in a controlled way... but maybe I could make it controlled?
To test her theory, she places her finger centimeters above the first hole she created.
Now, how do I control it after it leaves my finger?
Her eyebrows furrow as she thinks. What had she read in her textbooks? Sasuke's fireballs, Naruto's clones.. all made with chakra... and they were controlled.
Well, I control it before I let it out my finger... maybe I can hold on to that control while it leaves my b-
"SAKURA-CHAN!" She jumps. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP THERE?"
She turns around and looks below to where the ground was, some 15 meters down.
Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi were looking up at her. Naruto and Sasuke were both sweating profusely and were directing quizzical looks to her. Kakashi had raised his visible eyebrow and seemed to be looking at the trunk, where she had been experimenting.
"Ugh, Naruto, you made me lose my concentration, thanks a lot!" She huffed, irritated. "I was experimenting with my chakra." She paused, and felt the excitement again after thinking back on her findings. "I think I can make it do some cool things!" She squealed and hopped, excited.
"Maybe you can show us down here Sakura. Let's see what you can do." Kakashi drawled.
She stopped hopping, and turned her head to glance at the small holes on the trunk. Her mind flashed to images of Naruto and Sasuke and what they could do.
Her smile slipped, and she mumbled, looking down at the branch she was standing on, "Well, it's not the coolest right now, so maybe some other time."
"EHH, WHY? I WANNA SEE!" Naruto started to run towards the tree she was using, but he was yanked back by a hand grabbing the collar of his orange jacket, making him choke. Sasuke scoffed.
"Don't pressure her, Naruto. She said she'd show us another time." Kakashi looked back up to Sakura. "That's fine, Sakura, we'll wait." He released a choking Naruto, who coughed and tugged his collar. "Hmph!" Naruto glared at Sasuke and started yelling at him, "Did you just laugh at me, bastard?"
"Hn. You can't even run up that high, dobe." Sasuke smirked.
Naruto faltered, probably not having thought about that before he started running, and scowled, "YEAH, WELL, YOU CAN'T EITHER!"
Kakashi looked back up to Sakura, who was watching the spectacle, bored, as she had seen this happen many times by now. Ignoring the starting argument between the two boys, he said, "Well, don't let us stop you."
She turned her attention to him and rolled her eyes, "You guys already did, Kakashi-sensei, if you hadn't noticed!" Kakashi ruffled his hair with his hand and smiled sheepishly.
Kakashi-sensei can be such a doofus sometimes.
She smiled down at him. About to turn back to the trunk, she paused and glanced down to Naruto and Sasuke still bickering.
"Hey! Are you guys gonna catch up to me or not? Looks like it'll take a year at the rate it's going!" She smirked and stuck her tongue out, before turning back to the trunk.
Her ears picked up Naruto's yells, and shortly after, the sound of two pairs of feet running up the tree.
They're so easy to rile up. She giggled before focusing back on the two holes she had made on the tree. She didn't notice Kakashi had taken a perch above her nearby.
Now, where was I? Oh right, let's try controlling the chakra while it's leaving the body.
Her finger found a point above the two dents on the trunk. As her eyes closed, she coiled her chakra to the tip of her finger as before.
A straight line, a straight line. Follow the direction of my finger...
Concentrating, she let a little chakra slowly out of her finger. It was harder to control, definitely harder than when the chakra was contained within her body. It was almost slipping away, but she held on to it.
Then, suddenly, she realized she was feeling something strange near her fingertip. Her chakra released abruptly, and she opened her eyes wide.
What was that? I didn't feel that with my finger...
Gasping at the theory she just thought of, she paused and reveled in it.
It's the wood... I was feeling the wood with my chakra!
Eyes wide, she was giddy with the revelation.
I guess before, I was just releasing the chakra after it left my body. I guess if it's controlled outside the body, it serves as an extension of the body...
The possibilities were endless. Chakra could extend her physical touch sense?
This is amazing! I need a notebook, shannaro!
Irritated she didn't have paper to write her findings on, she turned back to the wood.
She had hardly made a dent in the wood, so she continued where she left off. Directing it further and feeling the wood creak in with her chakra, she stopped after a few seconds and opened her eyes.
The dent she had made was smaller in diameter than the one below it, but not as as narrow as the diameter of her finger.
Dang. I guess that'll take some practice.
Comparing the three dents' deepness indicated the most recent one to have the most depth, as expected. It was also the one with the smallest diameter.
Let's try the opposite. Shallow but wider.
She picked a spot above the recent one, and repeated the process, except this time, trying to stretch her chakra out to cover a larger, but shallower area.
That was a little easier, it felt like.
The area it had covered was the largest of the four tries, around four centimeters in diameter, and the shallowest, around a centimeter deep.
She stepped back and surveyed the four dents. Frankly, she was amazed at the adaptability of chakra.
No wonder there's so many jutsus out there. I bet you could do anything with chakra. Ugh, I NEED A NOTEBOOK!
Her itch to write the findings down was frustrating her. "Damn it!" In anger, she punched the tree next to the dents. "Ow!" Scowling at the trunk and massaging the fist she used to hit the trunk with, she looked at the place she had punched.
Wait...
She observed how the place she punched had no dents at all. There was hardly any sign of anyone attacking the trunk there. Next to it, the four dents remained.
That was with a small amount of chakra...
She raised her fist to see it clearly.
Larger surface area.
Resolved, she clenched her fist and closed her eyes. Her chakra flowed to her fist, steady and controlled. She pulled back and went for it.
CREA-SMASH
The bark under her fist gave away and she felt her fist move toward the center of the trunk. She opened her eyes and gaped at what she saw.
The punch had created a small crater in the trunk. It was both larger and deeper than when she had just used her finger.
She jumped and punched the air, a wide smile on her face. "Hell yeah! This is awesome!"
"Indeed." She jumped and whirled around to the direction of the voice. "What the- SENSEI!"
Kakashi smiled at her from his squatted position nearby and waved.
Scowling, she yelled, "Kakashi-sensei! I told you I'd show you later! You said you'd wait too!" She clenched her fists and stomped her foot on the branch she was standing on, irritated. "What do you have to say for yourself?" Glaring at him, she waited for his answer.
"Ah yes, I did. I thought I saw something near here so I came to investigate. I lost it though, funny how that happened!" He chuckled, sheepishly ruffling his hair.
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Please, sensei, you could come up with something better than that."
"Why, I don't know what you mean, Sakura." She huffed at this, and exasperated, turned her eyes to the sky above, wondering what she had done to deserve a sensei like this.
"This is impressive, though, Sakura. What made you think of this?" He jumped to her branch, and walked up to her.
She relaxed and grinned, proud, and said, "Hehe, I was watching the guys run up the trees, and they were damaging the tree sometimes when they released too much chakra. I figured I could try doing that too!"
Kakashi nodded approvingly and ruffled her hair. "Good job. You could probably improve and increase the amount of damage as well, if you train more. Have you heard of Tsunade?"
Her eyes widened, "Yes. She's one of the Sannin right?"
"She can make huge craters in the earth just with her fist. One punch of hers could easily kill an enemy. Like you, she has great chakra control, which she uses to achieve that."
Sakura gaped at him, eyes wide. "W-wow, that sounds awesome.." She looked at her hands.
Could I do that too?
Looking back up to Kakashi, who was looking down at her with an encouraging smile, she nodded with a determined look.
"I'll make it so I can too! Shannaro!" She clenched her fish, a fire raging inside her.
"Atta girl! I'd advise you to practice those punches. The more chakra you use up, the more your chakra reserves will increase. The more your reserves increase, the more chakra you can use before you get drained."
Wide-eyed, she nodded rapidly, storing this information in her head.
Kakashi smiled down at her, eye crinkling. "Well, I'll leave you to it then."
"Thanks, sensei!"
He nodded and popped out his orange book, focusing on its words while walking down the tree, eventually sitting down to rest and read against it.
Ugh, that stupid book of his.
She scowled down at his gray hair. Her eyes picked up movement near him and saw Naruto and Sasuke still running up the trees. Their kunai marks on the trees were higher than before.
Man, how long has it been? They have some crazy stamina.
She frowned.
How much time could I last?
Her eyes trailed to her hands.
Let's test it out.
Hello! I've always been frustrated when I see girls in anime with unlocked potential. I had started watching Naruto around ten plus years ago, and it had always frustrated me. For some reason, I got interested in it again after watching some clips of Boruto. Given Sakura's intelligence, I think she would've been able to notice the damage chakra could do, and be curious enough to experiment. I don't know if I'll continue this, but I hope anyone who reads this enjoys!