Sakura wasn't entirely sure where to go from now. Because after somehow managing to shut her open mouth and come to terms with the fact that, yes, she was somehow controlling water, the shock had finally worn off and she was left sitting on the lake in just her underwear and chest bindings.
She had actually thought up a theory as an explanation to this startling discovery. She supposed that maybe, when she was trying to turn her chakra into the correct type, she had forgotten to do the hand signs. The scroll had said that you had to mold your chakra at the exact same time you were executing the many seals. Though that did not explain why, she was the only person in the world who could do it. Surely, many had forgotten to do the seals. She wasn't the only one who could do the jutsu. It wasn't exactly an S-rank after all.
But then she remembered something. Luna had once told her that she had excellent chakra control, even better than that of the great Slug Princess. It must've been true because one, her sister wasn't a liar (well, technically anyway) and two, the white haired girl did not hand out compliments easily.
Ah…so that explained it, if her chakra control was better than the female Sannin's, it meant she had the best in the world. It was quite the ego boost actually. Hopefully she wasn't just being arrogant and overestimating her abilities.
But that was beside the point. The pink haired girl concluded that the reason why no one could ever control an element, water or otherwise was because they didn't have the control.
Not even the Nidaime Hokage, with his vast knowledge and perfect manipulation of elemental ninjutsu, could manage such a feat. Actually, when she really thought about it and dug deep into the multiple history textbooks that were in her head she was forced to memorize, the only other person who had even come relatively close to utilizing an element to their will, was her very own sensei; Hatake Kakashi with his two legendary techniques, Chidori and Raikiri.
After all, he did cut a lightning bolt in half. Twice actually, because a bunch of people thought it was a lie the first time.
Once more, she was reminded of how awesome her teacher was, jackass or not
She could feel the beginning of a hero worship blooming.
Talking about the silver haired man, it seemed that he had just magically appeared in front of her, sitting with one leg bent and the other tucked in, his nose buried in his book, as if he had been there all along.
And she couldn't even see on tiny ripple on the water to signal his movement.
Another little reminder.
"Good morning Kaka-sensei," she addressed calmly, running her fingers through the water under her.
"Hmm…good morning Sakura," he replied half-heartedly and the pink haired girl blatantly rolled her emerald eyes not caring if he saw or not.
"Tsk, such disrespect," he mumbled before promptly shutting the book and placing it in his breast pocket in one fluid movement.
She pretended she didn't notice the sudden stare on her profile, and looked anywhere but at him. If he was sitting here now, it meant that he had seen everything. And she meant everything.
But slowly minutes ticked by, and still he had not said or done anything and Sakura was slowly losing the grasp on her already flimsy patience.
She chanced a look from the corner of her eye, and sadly, was caught in his intense gaze. And no matter how much she tried she could not break eye contact.
Finally, he raised an eyebrow in lazy curiosity. "Were you going to tell me about your new 'superpower'?"
She sighed then thought about that for a moment, yes, she most likely would have told him, but only when they reached Konoha and she too had come to terms with it. Unlike a bloodline limit, she was the only one who could do it. No other family, no deeply buried documents on the subject. Just her.
"Yeah, I was," she admitted sagging in shame. Though, she did not know why. "But not now."
"I see…." Was all he answered, resting his arm lazily over his knee.
"W-will you….will you help me?" The young girl asked after some hesitation.
Kakashi didn't reply immediately, instead looking up at the slowly lighting sky. It must've been around four judging by its slightly blue hue.
"Hmm…it will help you survive in the near future," he answered, and she paused.
Near future? What did he mean by that exactly? Was anything big going to happen? She knew that there was going to be a war very soon, in three years at most if they were lucky. Every shinobi, special jōnin and up knew that little tidbit of info. Obviously she wasn't a jōnin, Tokubetsu or otherwise but she had a very special sister who had been preparing her for it since she was four.
But once again, that wasn't going to happen until maybe three years from now. Then she remembered what month it was.
It was April.
And in the near future, there certainly was going to be a big event. One that made even the Shinobi Nations set aside their differences and come together.
It was the Chūnin Exams in just…five months actually.
"The Chūnin Exams…what do you mean 'help me survive'?"
Kakashi didn't speak.
"Help me survive…? AH! I understand!" Sakura exclaimed, putting two and two together. Kakashi looked at her, waiting for his secretly favorite student to prove her intellectual mind once again.
"Because of the extreme tension between all the Shinobi Nations, this isn't going to be just some friendly competition! They're most probably going to tell their genin to be as unfriendly as possible and kill as many enemies as they can and not everyone is a kind as Konoha. Meaning that the foreign genin wouldn't have a much hesitation with killing like we do!" Then Sakura paused, clicking her tongue against her teeth in irritation and still
Kakashi remained silent, already impressed with her deduction skills.
"But no," she continued, "because that would just make things worse…because obviously, no Kage would be happy if all their representatives were brutally killed off!"
Kakashi nodded, signaling that she should continue. "And in the end, it doesn't matter who wins which battle. They judge candidates by their performance so it wouldn't matter if you lost, because you would still have a chance at a promotion! And they know that, so killing would be pointless…" Abruptly she stood up, not in the least bit ashamed that she was in her underwear.
"Kami…the Kage will be treating the exams like a pre-war!" She gasped, clearly shocked.
Kakakshi though, was secretly trying not to burst with pride for his student. In those few short minutes, only five at most, she had managed to process, analyze and come to the right conclusion about a very complex subject, which not even most chūnin could figure out.
"And that right there is why you are my favorite," he told her smiling, ruffling her pink hair as she sat down.
"But don't tell Naruto or Sasuke that I'm nominating you all," he said to her and she puffed her cheeks, an amused twinkle in her viridian eyes. "Their egos are already big enough as it is."
"Ugh…"
And then to the jōnin's immense surprise, even though he didn't show it, she draped herself over his knee, limbs going slack. She looked very much like a sack of potatoes at that moment.
"But Kakashi-sensei…" she whined, turning on her back once he had straightened his leg and he looked down at her, waiting for whatever it was that prompted the sudden sack like behavior.
"Why do I have this horrible feeling that you are finally going to start training us, and it's not going to be easy?" She asked with dread. "Like when you dropped us in the kraal to survive alone for two months."
"Hmm…I don't know why you feel that way Sakura," he drawled casually and she groaned pitifully, and buried her face into his stomach. "Obviously, your instinct needs to be tuned a bit more because what you said is an understatement of what I will put you all through."
"Haha, but that won't be happening until we reach Konoha so you can relax for now." He chuckled lightly and he felt her smile.
They stayed like that for a few minutes before Kakashi said that it was late and that they should take the example of her two teammates currently passed out by the river and hit the sack.
She had agreed and the two proceeded to somehow drag Sasuke and Naruto back. As in, Kakashi literally dragged them through the woods and into the house, before dumping their bodies on their already prepared futons (bless Tsunami's soul).
He then said a halfhearted goodnight to the only conscious genin before disappearing into his own room next door.
That night, Sakura went to bed with a smile on her face, thinking that maybe her sensei wasn't so much of a douchebag.
Sakura woke up that morning to the sounds of birds and insects chirping outside her window and to a steady beam of bright sunlight hitting her in the face, the warm feeling and brightness of it rousing her from her slumber. Not that she didn't try and fight it though, but eventually all her tossing and turning woke her up in itself so she heaved a heavy sigh and resigned herself to the circumstance.
Though when she finally regained her bearings and took a moment to look around the room, she noticed that it was empty, two futons folded and placed in the corner, albeit one was significantly messier than the other.
It meant that her two teammates were already up and about, which was surprising because she normally woke up before either of them. Even if Sasuke was an early riser.
Groggily she wiped her eyes and swept back her long hair with her fingers before slowly standing up (although she almost fell multiple times) and headed to the bathroom to get ready.
Eventually, when she had finished washing and getting ready, and her futon was made, she made her way downstairs and was greeted with the pleasant sight of Tsunami standing at the stove making breakfast. It was as if the woman was psychic.
"Good morning, Sakura," se greeted pleasantly.
Yep, she was psychic alright.
"Good morning Tsunami-san," she replied, going to sit at the table and pouring herself some orange juice from the pitcher which was awaiting her arrival.
"Kakashi-kun and your teammates went ahead and he said that you could follow when you woke up," the blue haired woman told her placing Sakura's breakfast of Rice and Miso soup in front of her.
"Oh…okay then. I'll get going when I've finished here then. Itadakimasu." She thanked before breaking apart the chopsticks and digging in.
Tsunami smiled and with a quick farewell, went off to do whatever it was that she did during the day. Most probably the laundry.
Sakura wasn't in that much of a rush to get going after Tsunami explained that to her so she took her time with breakfast and had multiple glasses of the fruity beverage next to her.
After she finished, she stood up and washed her dishes before heading back upstairs and into the bedroom.
"Meh…how many weapons do I have anyway?" She asked herself after seeing her backpack sitting in the corner of the room. She went over to it and sat down in the middle of the room, before emptying it and counting all the scrolls she had.
But then, after about thirty minutes of methodic counting, something roused her from her concentration. "Inari! Come help me out!" She heard Tsunami's voice sound quite easily through the wooden house and the immediate reply of a young boy going "Coming!" but that wasn't what drew her attention.
It was the two foreign chakra standing outside the house.
The pink haired girl wasn't entirely sure how she landed up in this situation. She could vaguely remember hearing the sound of a dish breaking and a scream from the kitchen but after that it was all blurry. All she knew was that now she was facing two samurai who had possibly deserted their lords or whatever. And let it not be said that samurai were pushovers. They couldn't be really, if their job was to guard and protect Daimyo.
Jumping over a swipe at her legs, she ignored the positively feral grin the bandana clad fighter sent her and tried to aim a quick punch at his chest. He blocked it with his sword and she swiftly ducked under his legs as his partner tried to chop her head off. The silver haired samurai was left stumbling after trying not to trip over her body which had just traversed under him and Sakura took the opportunity to sweep his legs out from under him completely.
"Sakura!" Tsunami called out, voice frantic and said girl flipped over the silver metal which passed through where her torso previously was. She mentally thanked the tied woman and jumped a few feet backwards to take stock of the situation.
She was currently battling two opponents with unknown abilities and excellent teamwork, and all the while, she had to protect two extremely useless civilians from being taken hostage. Battling the samurai wasn't hard, no; it was protecting the Tsunami and Inari part which was hard. With every move she made, she had to make sure that it wouldn't reach the two kneeling a few feet away. Also, she had to remember that she was fighting two people and they weren't bound by the rules of honor like other samurai. One might just get tired of procrastinating and grab one of her charges and force her hands by threatening their deaths at any minute.
It would mean that she would have to finish the fight quickly. Enough playing games.
"Hey look, it seems that the little girl is finally realizing that she has no chance against us Hiro." The one with an eye patch said to his partner, who laughed. Sakura frowned minutely.
"Haha, yeah Zebu, are you done playing ninja little girl?" He jeered, a smug grin on his face and Sakura inwardly rolled her eyes.
"On the contrary Hiro-san! I'm just getting started," she stated smirking and then she disappeared, only to reappear right in front of his face, fist already flying and connecting before he could register what happened. Zebu watched in shock as his partner was sent flying by a little girl not even half their age and was even more surprised when she intervened with his flight course and kicked his limp body towards him.
Zebu was too shocked react and had the wind knocked out of him as his comrade's bulky body crashed into him, knocking him out as well and sending them both into the ocean under the wooden boards.
"Tch, Wh o do you think I am?" Sakura asked smugly before dusting off her hands and rushing off to the shocked Tsunami and Son.
"S-Sakura!" Tsunami exclaimed in surprise but the pink haired girl did not answer, instead pulling out a kunai and cutting cleanly through the ropes holding her hostage.
"Wow! Sakura-nee! That was so awesome!" Inari cried a gigantic grin on his face and the emerald eyed girl was taken by surprise at his cheerful demeanor. She wondered what had brought it on for a moment but decided not to dwell on it.
"Thank you very mu-" The blue haired adult but Sakura interrupted her, by standing up quickly.
"There's no time Tsunami-san," the pinkette said in a firm voice. "You can thank me later. For now, go and get the rest of the villagers. It seems that Zabuza has finally made his move. You all have to fight for your freedom as well. You can't always rely on others to help you."
"B-but, we can't! We're no match for Gatō!" The woman quaked in terror.
"Tsu-"
"No!" A small voice declared, interrupting what Sakura was going to say and drawing both females attention. "NO!" He cried again, but more firmly, prompting the rosette to raise an eyebrow and the mother to gasp in shock.
"We have to listen to what Sakura-nee says Mama! She's right, we need to fight back too! That's what Dad would have done!" Inari said, a determined light resonating in his eyes.
And Sakura need any more prompting.
"Good, I'm sure your father would be proud." The pink haired girl said playfully tipping off his hat and ruffling his hair, making him blush.
Sakura nodded before quickly turning around and running off in the direction of the bridge, already feeling the fluctuating chakra of people fighting.
She needed a plan, she thought as she jumped into the trees and pushed her speed a bit more. Since she had already hidden her chakra, no one would know she was coming and she could use that to her advantage.
The question was how. Using an explosive would give away position immediately so that was counterproductive. Throwing a bunch of kunai would do the same thing so that was out of the question.
Maybe she could stay on the sidelines and watch a bit, hidden by something so that she could get a feel of the enemies' techniques? Hmm…that seemed like the best way to do things. Hopefully she could learn something.
And it seemed she had decided just in time too, because she had just arrived at the bridge and was greeted with the sight of…nothing.
"Kirigakure no jutsu, huh?" She mumbled in understanding to herself.
Silently moving, she jumped down onto the water and ran the length of the bridge, only stopping when she got to the unfinished section or the end really. That was where the chakra was resonating the strongest, meaning that was where the fighting was taking place. She heard the sound of metal against metal and she deduced that it was kunai connecting with each other.
Running up the long pillar, it took her a little under two minutes to finally get to the top, and she hoisted herself soundlessly over the rails, landing on a box of crates.
"Kai," she whispered and chakra immediately flooded her eyes. It was a technique similar to the Byakugan for those who didn't have the luck of being born into the prestigious plan. It enhanced your vision, enabling you to see longer distances and through foggy things much easier. Though, like most techniques in her limited arsenal, it required precise chakra control, or else you were just begging for your eyeballs to explode.
Looking around, she could make out the shapes and pictures things much easier and when she looked to her right, she was startled to see what looked like a dome of…were those mirrors? That was the best she could make out so she just focused on that and moved slowly closer, careful to keep her chakra contained, even to the point of terminating the technique. The closer she got the more sounds she could make out. The thing which perplexed her was the dull hum of SWISH and repeated thuds going on over and over again.
'What's that?' She asked herself mentally.
Creeping closer, she was right in front of the dome now, just a few feet away from the mirror directly in front of her, just for precautions. She wasn't sure what would happen if she stood directly in front of it, and she didn't really want to find out. Luckily for her, the mist was significantly thinner here so she could actually see what was going on, even if everything still took on a grayish tint.
Though, what she saw, she wasn't prepared for. There, inside the mirror dome, were Naruto and Sasuke being assaulted by thousands of senbon, too fast for even her eyes to track. And by the look of things, they weren't faring so well against them, judging by all the needles stuck inside their flesh and the numerous scratches on their skin and holes in their clothing. Sakura mentally winced as another round of needles flew at them, and the two boys were unable to even dodge.
Taking a full look around, she saw that in every single mirror there was a very familiar hunter-nin standing inside. He was the one they had encountered on the way to Tazuna's house and had claimed that he was assigned to kill Zabuza. It had seemed that their suspicions had been correct and that he had indeed been an accomplice to the missing-nin instead.
The pink haired girl's quick mind quickly deduced that it wasn't possible that there were so many of one body and came up with the conclusion that there was only one person, and all the rest were just reflections. The problem was to find a way to detect the real one.
She was sure that Sasuke had already come to that conclusion as well, but for some reason, he too couldn't act on it.
'Probably all those senbon being hurled at him,' she thought with wry humor.
Also, when taking a closer look, she realized that the mirrors were ice and not glass, which also posed another question. Uchiha Sasuke was a fire type. She knew that because of all the numerous times she had to avoid his blazing infernos in the desert. Why didn't he just melt the ice? Surely he had already thought of that, no? So why didn't he…?
Wait a second. Sakura almost slapped her forehead in embarrassment at her own stupidity.
Obviously her hard headed teammate had tried; it must have been one of the first things he did actually, that would mean that for some reason the ice could not melt.
It was probably a kekkei genkei. Because the pink haired girl, with all her vast knowledge, had never read up on a technique like this one. That was also the reason why the cold glaciers would not melt. They must've been infused with chakra and would need a great amount of force to break.
'A great amount of force to break, huh?' Sakura pondered. She had a few powerful techniques that she could use…but none of them would fit this situation.
Although…there was that one jutsu…
Sasuke was inwardly attacking. This Haku guy was proving to be much more of a hassle than anticipated and his idiot of a teammate wasn't helping things either. Instead he just kept getting in his way.
And he didn't even have a clue as to where his other teammate was.
Grimacing as another wave of metal death hit him, he also had to shift his body to avoid Naruto's body from crashing into him. Ah yes, that was another problem.
Those damn senbon. No matter how hard he tried, he could never manage to track them. Even with his Sharingan he could barely make them out. Not to mention he was also trying to keep track of the executor of this messed up jutsu. It was getting a bit frustrating.
At one point, he had managed to hit the long haired boy with a Katon jutsu but before he even had time to make another move, Haku had quickly retreated into the safety of one of his many mirrors.
Personally, Sasuke thought that he was just being a coward by not facing him head on like a man but there was not much he could do about it.
"Naruto!" He shouted in irritation as his blond comrade launched another army of Kage Bunshin at the enemy, only making things worse with all the smoke they produced when they exploded, therefore obscuring the onyx haired boy's already limited view.
He ignored Haku's voice as the boy launched into another bout of bragging (at least according to Sasuke) and tried to think of plan which didn'trequire continued movement as he could barely lift his arm.
In truth, he had thought of many different plans, the problem was, he needed to actually have contact with the real body or at least know where it was to execute any of them. Haku kept on shifting from mirror to mirror too fast for Sasuke to actually make out anything other than a blur.
Okay, fine then. It was obvious that thinking wasn't going to work out. His only option was to charge head on like his teammate was currently doing.
"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" Naruto's loud voice rang out for like the millionth time before once more, the sounds of POOF filled the area.
'Like that,' the Uchiha thought rolling his eyes with what little energy he could muster.
Concentrating, he saw the blur which was Haku's body jump out a mirror to his left and just as he was about to pounce on him, he was interrupted by a sudden flare of very familiar chakra skyrocket.
And it wasn't Kakashi's.
"Suiton: Hahonryū!" A voice rang out, and the next thing Sasuke knew was the loud noise of glass breaking, the sensation of water knocking him off his feet and being swept away by the wild current.
'What the hell?'
Oheyo gozaimasu.
This is OperaGhost11235, bluetopianprincess' beta reader. Apparently, she has some internet problems, and she left me with the chapter to edit and asked me to publish it, so here you are.
How are you enjoying this story, by the way? It's pretty good, don't you think?
So, apologies for the delay, hope you enjoy, leave some reviews, and constructive criticism is greatly appreciated by the author.
:)