AN: Hot damn, this update took me a while. I originally had an entirely different chapter I was planning to rewrite, but then, I realized I didn't like the pacing of it. I was going to just timeskip to seven months down the line, but I realized I wanted to actually spend time developing Sakura, Hinata and Shino's relationship and dynamic. Especially Hinata, as she has the most to stand to gain (in terms of confidence and such) that would be rather jarring to portray after a timeskip. I also wanted to develop more of the training Sakura and the others are doing and set groundwork, so it really feels like they're actually working for what they've got.
As a result, this chapter developed in a sort of slice of life way in some respects, before finally transitioning into the meat of the plot that I originally was planning to leap into balls to the wall.
Chapter 3: Foundation
[Shinobi Academy, First Year, 2nd Month]
Two months into the first year, Sakura had come to the conclusion that the Shinobi Academy was… okay. Riddled with Will of Fire and Konoha propaganda nonsense, sure. Filled with stupid kids that were a hassle to be around, yeah. And -in her opinion- sporting a less than ideal education system in regards to chakra, definitely.
But for all its flaws, it admittedly had its bright spots and contextual justifications. The propaganda was at least easy to ignore and roll her eyes at. Not all the kids were pests if she made an effort to handle them appropriately, and those few like Shino and Hinata were particularly surprisingly tolerable. As for the boring, lackluster education? Again, she really needed to keep reminding herself that this was only the first year. She was among a pack of six-year-olds, many of them civilians with no martial or shinobi background at all. They weren't exactly expected to soak up higher concepts from the get-go. It took time to make foundational knowledge stick, and Sakura was just going to have to wait for her peers to catch up more.
As for the classes in question?
She supposed they were going well.
Ninjutsu/Genjutsu was okay. There wasn't a whole lot going on there yet. These past two months had been a preliminary introduction to finding and accessing chakra that several -including herself- mostly found as old news. The leaf-sticking exercise was introduced quickly, and though Sakura had initially made an effort to look as green as the other civilians in the class, Shino and Hinata's telling stares had… admittedly peer-pressured her into finally "succeeding" by the second day since the exercise was introduced. Putting up with Iruka's praise was annoying, but at least she was being given more interesting exercises to do with the others that had succeeded, like spinning the leaf and moving it across her skin.
The rest of that class was mostly presently assigned to learning hand signs, which was easily the most difficult part of it, at least by Sakura's reckoning. At this point, there wasn't any shortcut, just repetition, and exercises primarily consisted of going through hand seals in random sequences listed on the board, building muscle memory and learning how to use each individual hand seal as a guide to shape their chakra. Flash card exercises also featured, where students would be expected to correctly form a hand seal in response to the name being revealed. All in all, standard classroom stuff.
Survival/Traps class was interesting at least. Sakura hadn't really been an outdoorsy type in her last life, spoiled by modern indoor comforts. In this life, however, if becoming familiar with the natural world was going to be a necessity, then she was at least glad to be learning something at all. She couldn't really critique this class for lacking in any way, as -again- she really didn't have the perspective of an outdoorsman to offer on the completeness of the curriculum.
She did enjoy herself, all things considered. Learning how to track, navigate and identify edible and inedible flora. All fairly fascinating. And unless she missed her guess, she could expect this class to eventually culminate in the "foraging" aspect to getting all the students to at least be a little bloodied through hunting and eating an animal perhaps. At least, that made a lot of sense to her as something they should do. For now though, the focus seemed to be on beginner survival exercises.
Taijutsu/Bukijutsu was a mixed bag, but at least Sakura could say it wasn't boring. Her past life recollections of martial arts left her plenty capable of easily slipping into the mindset required to learn martial forms and stances and start back on the path to getting her new body the muscle memory it needed to make them useful. Her experience also gave her the in-practice knowhow regardless to easily handle other civilians in spars. Though, as expected, getting matched up with a clan kid usually didn't go well for her, even if it was someone like Hinata. Actually, that wasn't a good comparison, because Hinata was a bit of a titan when she was tripping over her proprieties. Unless Sakura was willing to cheat with her Stand, most clan kids tended to roll over her just by the merit of superior raw physical might and stamina.
Not that she had any intention to cheat. Risk of making herself stick out more or accidentally revealing her Stand aside, from a practical perspective, she'd be sabotaging herself by not learning the basics right. That was the whole point of this, wasn't it? To shore up her lacking foundation.
By comparison, Sakura didn't really have any leg-up in the art of ranged weapons, starting from rock-bottom like every other civilian-born. Her past life had no tips to share other than theories, and relying on those could only risk forming bad habits. Again, muscle memory was important, and the last thing she needed was to start forming the wrong kind and need to retrain herself later.
It was perhaps interesting to note that this -at least the weapon-handling portion- was one of the co-op instructor periods, and it was where the class would first be introduced to Mizuki-sensei. Knowing what she did about the slimeball, Sakura was honestly surprised to see how dangerously pleasant he was in person. Or, at least, when he was putting on a show in front of an audience. Sure, he exchanged some jabs with Iruka here and there, but it mostly came across as playfully lording his superior weaponry skills over the former, which Iruka easily and amiably agreed with. It was a little frightening to know just how good at hiding his real intentions this asshole was, but there wasn't much Sakura felt she could -or even should- do about it at this time, if at all, just as long as Mizuki continued to do his job right.
On which note, Sakura did start making a habit to cross-reference with other sources anything taught to her by Mizuki, just to confirm he wasn't trying to sabotage Konoha's newest generations of ninja at the root level. Nothing had come up… yet, but Mizuki was still apparently a newer member of the faculty. It was feasible that as he got more comfortable, he'd grow more lax down the road… and do something overt enough to be pinned with.
As for the Kunoichi Arts… Well, perhaps unfortunately, Sakura's request to avoid them hadn't panned out. Whether that was because it was legitimately unviable or because Iruka had gipped her, she couldn't know, but she could work with that result regardless of her disappointment. For now, the class was relatively harmless. Insanely boring, but harmless. Just learning about cultures and how to blend into various job markets. Oh, and of course, the meanings behind fucking flowers. She couldn't roll her eyes hard enough if she tried. Truly, it was one of the classes of all time.
So, overall, Sakura could say her Shinobi Academia had its ups and downs, but at least there seemed to be more of the former than the latter. It was still school though, and she'd always hated school. But all in all? This experience was… tolerable.
[Shinobi Academy, First Year, 3rd Month]
The whomhping sound of air being expelled from lungs sounded out through the otherwise sparsely populated sparring area.
Hinata's eep and squeaked "I'm sorry!" drew Shino's attention up from a class book on hand-seals and chakra molding to the sight of Sakura sucking wind on the ground. Hinata was fretting over her and flinched when one of Sakura's arms shot up, brandishing a thumbs-up, as she groaned and began picking herself back up.
"G-good… throw!" the pinkette wheezed, grinning brightly at the fidgeting girl. Both girls were a bit of a mess, Sakura certainly more so than Hinata, the glisten of sweat on their brows, hair less than straight and clothes rather rumpled. For all that the pinkette was a little taller and certainly more confident, the mousy Hyuga had been smacking her around in the ring like a master bitch-slapping an uppity new student.
Okay, so maybe not quite that badly, but the comparison was there. Hinata wasn't even really trying to "defeat" Sakura, it seemed, half the time as much as acting instinctively on knowledge that had been drilled into her by her family training, which was -as it happened- exactly what Sakura claimed to want from her. Of course, Hinata didn't want to hurt her accidentally, but Sakura had persisted and somehow managed to eek out more investment from Hinata was a simple phrase:
"Good luck, have fun."
Just having it put that way, framed almost as a game? Shino found himself fascinated to see the sort of change that seemed to spark in Hinata, when it wasn't about impressing anyone, getting a good grade, living up to any standard at all. When this was just about moving, about getting the blood pumping and having a good time just living and laughing?
Suddenly, Hinata was a force of nature.
As Sakura had been finding out.
Many times.
Catching her breath again and rubbing the back of her head that had smacked the ground in her tumble, Sakura grinned widely at Hinata, clapping her on the shoulder companionably, to which the Hyuga startled a bit, before tentatively smiling back. Her reactions to physical contact had been… amusing to witness early on, given how she typically devolved into a red-faced mess, but as Shino had gotten to know well over the past few months, Sakura was a rather handsy person, very physical.
Less so with him, perhaps, but that was because her abrupt displays of physical closeness tended to be rather "firm", and she worried about accidentally hurting any kikaichu Shino might have skittering underneath his clothes at any given time. That she was so mindful of a small possibility like that… Shino couldn't say he didn't appreciate it.
By contrast, with Hinata, Sakura had seemingly picked up from the get-go how "unadjusted" the Hyuga was to other people or even just socialization in general and had made it her personal mission to rectify this "atrocity" by hook or crook. The result of which was her being very handsy with the girl, driving the wallflower to a stammering, bashful mess until she couldn't help but be a little desensitized. Grabbing hands, pressing into her side, throwing an arm over her shoulders and even outright hugs, Sakura held little back in her holy quest to bring Hinata out of her shell.
Groaning, Sakura rolled her shoulders and neck, rubbing at her newest set of bruises. "Haaah, you really do a number, Hinata!"
"S-sorry!"
"Bah!" Sakura grinned, waving her off. "Nothing to apologize for. In fact-" She made some distance and retook something approaching a proper stance, hampered by her clear exhaustion. "I'm ready for the next round and more motivated than ever!" Baring her teeth eagerly, she chuckled. "After all, as punishment for my loss, I've dedicated myself to one-hundred-fifty pushups, sit-ups and squats and a 10 kilometer run!"
"A-are you sure?" Hinata squeaked, looking a little freaked out, and Shino wasn't entirely sure if she was referring to the "being ready" or the ensuing self-inflicted punishment for losing.
"And if I lose again without at least inconveniencing you, I'll make it 200 and a fifteen kilometer run!" Sakura declared with a glint in her eyes. "So, come at me with everything you've got!"
"Do you want to win or lose?!" Hinata's voice rose into a somewhat intimidated pitch, retaking her own stance in response, but her lips seemed like they were trying to twist into a smile that she didn't know what to do with.
"It sounds like you're trying to bribe Hinata into letting you win," Shino deadpanned. "Why? Because she will be motivated to make you do less self-flagellation."
"The exact opposite!" Sakura rebutted, firming her stance with determination. "Hold nothing back!"
"O-okay?!"
Sakura was lying flat in the dirt twenty seconds later.
Shino probably enjoyed watching the pinkette drag herself over to where he sat with the trio's bags a little too much, as Sakura waved off Hinata's efforts to aid her, dragging herself into a slump against the chain-link fence. Hinata sat beside her, opposite from Shino, and the two took deep swigs from their water bottles and retrieved their bentos, yet to be eaten. Sakura had apparently elected to abstain in worry she'd puke from such rough sparring, saving her meal for afterwards. Hinata had simply followed along.
For his part, Shino was already quite finished being fed and watered, and though he'd gone one round with Sakura and Hinata apiece, he was saving his energy for the actual Taijutsu class later. In the meanwhile, he funneled the now usual number of feeders in his swarm out of his sleeves to zip over to Sakura and do their duty.
The pinkette shot him a dryly amused look. "Kicking while I'm down, eh? Classy. Very ninja of you." Her tone was clearly joking, no serious reprimand behind it.
"Of course," Shino replied. "Why? Because you have regained a fair amount of chakra in the past hour of abstinence." He usually elected to withdraw his swarm from her before Taijutsu class and related activities, if for no other reason than to avoid them being crushed by incoming attacks or Sakura being sent sprawling in a spar.
For a while, they ate in companionable silence, until Hinata eventually elected to break the quiet. "U-um…" Sakura perked up and lent her a raised brow. "S-so, why the uh… weird-" She seemed to have an internal war with propriety to force that last word out. "- self-punishments?" She pressed her pointer fingers together.
Sakura blinked and then chuckled. "Well, you see, that's easy. It's giving myself a mountain to climb." At Hinata's look, she worked her jaw and then snapped her fingers. "Think of it like: I give myself completely unrealistic and insane goals to meet, and in the process of failing them yet genuinely giving it my best, I still accomplish an excellent goal regardless. And once I actually can reach my initially set goal? I raise the bar again. I've got… let's call it a fairly reliable source that this is a stupid but effective training regimen… which I guess means it's not actually stupid, just as long as you can recognize when you've actually reached your limits."
"B-but if you push yourself too much like that…" Hinata said, "you could-"
"Hurt myself?" Sakura finished, before nodding. "Yeah, I'm aware. I am taking it slower than it might sound on the surface. Building a foundation is important before I can really take to that kind of training style safely."
Pursing her lips in worry but looking somewhat mollified, Hinata sighed tiredly and smiled. "If you say so."
"I do," Sakura grinned.
Shino just rolled his eyes, not that either of the girls could see it.
It was a good day.
[Shinobi Academy, First Year, 4th Month]
"Yatta!"
Shino sighed quietly, as mildly maniacal cackling began to echo across what had become their favored place to stay during lunch hour. Sharing a look with Hinata, Shino raised an inquisitive brow, and Hinata smiled sheepishly, as the two rose to go find the last member of their erstwhile trio. A few male kikaichu trailed from his sleeves, buzzing off in pursuit of the scent of the female he currently had planted on Sakura with several of the other daily "collectors".
Soon enough, a shock of pink hair among the greenery greeted them. The air was cool, but the advent of spring was once more turning the Land of Fire into a lush green paradise of flora. Sakura, for her part, was standing in the middle of a pile of carnage.
If by "carnage" one meant the debris of multiple broken and shattered branches and twigs.
Taking all this in impassively, Shino said, "I wondered about your exclamation. Why? Because you sounded excited, and whenever you do, I get proven right again."
Shooting Shino a flat look, accented by Hinata's quiet giggle, Sakura rolled her eyes and grinned. "Yeah yeah, whatever." Shino eyed Hinata shuffling and figured the girl was considering telling Sakura not to depreciate herself again, before eventually electing against it. Not that Shino quite felt it was needed at this point; he just liked rubbing it in as a running joke, which Sakura seemed to understand. Sakura wasn't depreciating herself; she just didn't understand how to learn at a "normal" pace. "Anyway, I guess if you guys are curious, I might as well show you."
Smirking, Sakura walked up the side of a tree, reached for one of the smaller, lower-hanging branches and scrunched her brow. And with a tortured breaking snap of splintering wood, the bark under her hand fissured violently, spraying bark over the area. Shino briefly spotted a familiar flicker smacking away fragments before they could hit Sakura at near invisible speeds, before the pinkette turned to look at them with a grin. Behind her, the branch crackled and popped and then collapsed to the ground and snapped, as Sakura gave it a light, back-handed rap.
Hinata's eyes were wide, as Sakura dropped back to the ground lightly, shaking off her hand. "What was that?" she muttered.
Sakura laughed. "I just figured out something really obvious. Err…" Shino supposed she realized she meant "obvious" in that way only geniuses tended to and was conflicted about it. "Rather, this is actually an idea I've kinda had in mind ever since I first failed at surface-walking early on," she said, as she turned to Hinata, "but learning a little about the Gentle Fist really got me thinking seriously."
Hinata's eyes widened more, as Shino asked, "How so?"
"So, you know how I've got you two learning how to surface walk, right now?" Sakura prefaced, receiving a pair of nods.
All of them were already long-beyond the leaf-sticking exercise, even by the time it had been taught at their second month in the Academy. While the majority of the class was learning this stuff for the first time, for each of their own reasons, Sakura Shino and Hinata all had long since moved beyond such simplicity. In order to alleviate their shared boredom, Sakura had offered to teach the other two how to surface walk and -once she figured it out herself- liquid walking.
All things considered, it wasn't even a possibility that they wouldn't assent to doing this, and so began Sakura's venture into teaching her fellow students.
But digression aside…
"If you could remind me," Sakura continued with a cheeky grin, "what happens if you put too much chakra into something you are trying to stick to?"
Shino's brows rose at the implications, as he felt he began to catch onto Sakura's line of thinking. Hinata, however, was the one to voice the answer, "It… ruptures and e-explodes?" The little Hyuga breathed in realization.
"So, tell me then, property destruction aside," Sakura mused aloud, tapping her lips with one finger. "If you could time this phenomenon the way a Hyuga does for the Gentle Fist, stick yourself to a target and deliberately overcharge the technique on impact, what do you suppose would happen if you tried this on, say… a human?" Shino felt a cold chill suddenly run down his spine at the grisly image that brought to mind, and Hinata looked a bit green around the gills.
"T-that's u-um…" Hinata cringed.
"Not a pretty picture, eh?" Sakura agreed with a nod. "But then again, as morbidly frank as it might be to say, we are training to become hired killers. And I think, in concept, if mastered, this is the kind of technique that can near completely nullify taijutsu as a threat." She began counting off on her fingers. "Opponent punches you? Fist explodes. Opponent grapples you? Now they can't escape or shift position… and also explode. Inverse is true as well. If you strike or grapple, this magnifies the result to extraordinarily lethal proportions. Further, if you can manage to overcharge even metal enough to blow it up, you can parry, grapple and explode your enemy's weapons too."
Shino honestly had to admit, for all that what Sakura was describing was utterly ruthless in its brutality, she wasn't incorrect. If even half her examples worked the way she thought they might, this was an incredible innovation. Still… "I have to wonder about its viability, however," Shino said. "Why? Because if it was this simple, shouldn't someone else have done this before?"
Sakura frowned, cupping her chin. "That's… true. You would think that'd be the case, right?" Shaking her head, she grimaced. "I don't want to just out and out accuse the majority of shinobi of being tunnel-visioned coasters that have never even considered the concept of innovation when it comes to old jutsu, but…"
Shino raised a single brow. "Innovation is lauded and remarkable, it seems. Why? Because that is what separates the regular shinobi from a genius." Sakura shot him a witheringly deadpan stare but sighed explosively and pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation.
"Anyway," Sakura continued, clearly eager to dismiss that line of thinking again, "you guys want me to show you how to do this? I get that, in concept, it's literally just doing surface-walking wrong on purpose, but there's some nuance to getting your chakra… I want to say 'dense' enough to cause a rupture. Honestly, I think Hinata should have a pretty easy time with this, considering it shouldn't be all that different from the Gentle Fist's concept."
Hinata swallowed, fidgeting and still looking rather ill at ease with the imagery Sakura had conjured prior.
For his part, Shino adjusted his shades with a finger, taking a moment of silent consideration and then finally nodding in ascent. "I would be interested to learn. Why? Because it would be better to have it as an option and not need it than need it and not have it. And even if we never use it…" He addressed his words largely to Hinata. "If nothing else, it will be an interesting chakra exercise."
That last justification seemed to finally push the meek girl over the edge of acceptance as well, giving her own nod and tentative smile now that they were no longer talking about using this new concept for ungodly levels of violence.
Clapping her hands enthusiastically, Sakura eyed them both and smiled widely. "Great!" Spinning on her heel, she marched back over to the tree she'd used for her prior demonstration and beckoned them over. "Now, let me fill you guys in on the basics."
And as they spoke and learned, a thought occurred to Shino that provoked a mild curiosity of a question. "Do you think you should have a name for this technique? Why? Because when it comes down to it, this is not wide-spread enough to have a name. You could be the first."
Sakura paused, brows raised in surprise, like she hadn't even considered patenting this as something of her own design, which was -to be fair- probably exactly the case, given how "obvious" she considered it to be. Working her jaw, she chewed her lip and considered her right hand, slowly tightening it into a fist.
"Hrm… Yeah, sure, why not," she answered. "How about… I call this the 'Surface Destruction Technique', first of its line and the signature move of the 'Rupture Fist' style."
Well, Shino hadn't exactly meant for her to skip straight from one technique to the concept of developing a whole style centered around this madness, but er… He eyed the giddy grin growing on Sakura's face and the flat, unamused look Hinata was shooting him from behind her.
At least she was inspired?
[Shinobi Academy, First Year, 5th Month]
Sakura gave a low whistle, earning a fidget from Hinata, as they passed through the gates of the Hyuga Clan compound. She elected to tactfully ignore the gazes of the guards beaming into the back of her head. "I don't know what I expected exactly, but this really is the residence of one of Konoha's Noble Clans, huh?"
Hinata simply nodded, as they passed through well-tended gardens and fields, stone walkways tastefully tracing their way to and fro. A very traditional Japanese aesthetic suffused the air, permeating even the dress of the people within, like all were beholden to this standard of class and impeccability.
Which, naturally, made Sakura stand out all the more amongst them, a splash of cherry-tree pink among a sea of gray, white and black. Sakura was pretty sure they -or at least she- would be under constant Byakugan watch for the entirety of her stay.
"You guys don't get visitors often, do you?" Sakura remarked dryly, raising a brow at some of the subtle and not-so-subtle stares they were getting.
Hinata flushed, muttered something incomprehensible under her breath, before sighing. "W-we don't get many visitors, no…"
"Security is paramount," stiffly interjected Ko, the Hyuga that seemed to be the assigned regular to pick Hinata up from the Academy. Judging by his bare and unmarred forehead, he was from the Main Branch. "It is the duty of the Hyuga as Konoha's strongest clan to not grow lax for even a moment. For our bloodline is coveted by many with disingenuous intent." His eyes subtly narrowed in a mildly accusatory manner at Sakura, but she simply quirked a brow in feigned confusion, which got him to let up… a little. He seemed keen to imply that allowing her to so much as enter the front gates was somehow a great privilege.
Sakura certainly wasn't about to tell him that the Hyuga would only be the strongest once the Uchiha were massacred within the next year or so (the Mangekyo Sharingan was bullshit), but then again, she wasn't actually sure how many remarkably strong people existed in the Hyuga, given how narrow a view was shown of the clan in the series… to say nothing of any AU elements.
Sakura shrugged. "Ah well, it is what it is." They stepped into the Main House residence, and Sakura shoved down the impulsive desire to feel up the sliding paper doors, curious about how their fine, traditional craftsmanship might compare to the Academy's borderline mass-produced ones. Instead, she made a brief attempt to find her reflection in the hardwood floors and was internally disappointed to find they weren't spotless enough to be reflective surfaces.
At Hinata's somewhat confused but amused giggle, she halted her antics and fell into step with the heiress again. She was gratified to have apparently dispelled at least some of the tension in the Hyuga girl, seeing as how her posture was clearly not as stiff as when they'd first entered the premises. Ko frowned but didn't comment further.
A little further in, a sudden call from behind perked Hinata up.
"Nee-san!" squeaked a small voice, as the rapid padding of little feet preceded an exceptionally small Hyuga girl smacking right into Hinata's legs, wrapping them in a hug.
"Lady Hanabi, you shouldn't run in the halls," lightly chastised another voice, as an older female Hyuga trailed after her, clad in something that looked like a maid's apron over the rest of her gray attire. "You could have knocked Lady Hinata over in a most undignified way."
Giggling, Hinata shook her head and patted Hanabi's head, leaning down to give the girl a brief hug of her own. At the girl's insistent "un's", she finally took hold of the tiny hand that was being stretched out for her own. "It's alright, Natsu, she's just excited. I'm fine."
"Hohoh?" Sakura uttered. "Nee-san, eh? Is this that darling little sister of yours you've gushed about?"
Hinata flushed and looked away but nodded, smiling, while Hanabi simply elected to scrunch her brow in confusion at the byplay. Which was fair, considering she was only two-years-old. Not even this insane world bred crazy intellects that young… At least, one would certainly hope not.
"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Hanabi," Sakura smiled brightly at the tiny tyke, who shot her a rather unnervingly piercing look for a kid her age, glancing at Hinata for support, before simply nodding and tightening her grip on her sister's pants.
"And who is this?" Natsu asked, arching a brow sternly.
"This… is Sakura Haruno. She is a classmate from the Academy, here to study with Lady Hinata," Ko replied.
"I can make my own introductions, thanks," Sakura said dryly, earning a frown from both adults and a somewhat bashful look from Hinata at her less than polite response. "Regardless, that's correct, but I should hope that's not all we get up to, eh, Hinata?"
Fidgeting, Hinata nodded. "I-I suppose we can consider the other thing."
"Later then," Sakura replied before either of the adult Hyuga could inquire for details.
"In any case," Hinata said, "you're a guest here. And um… tea, yes. Refreshments? I can have some prepared?"
Sakura shrugged. "I mean, if you want to, I guess? This is hardly a formal visit… or if it is, that's news to me. No need to stand on ceremony between friends." At Hinata's fidgeting, she realized this was probably clashing with Hinata's sense of propriety that had been hammered in by her father, and regardless of the reasoning, it might make her earn more disapproval from their almost guaranteed watchers. "I suppose if it wouldn't be any trouble…"
Hinata beamed at her and nodded, earning an internal sight from the pinkette.
"Come along now, Lady Hanabi," Natsu interjected, gently but firmly taking the little girl's hand from Hinata. Hanabi let out a little whine, but at Natsu's tutting of disapproval quickly quieted with a frown. Say what you will about Hiashi's parenting methods, but his kids were well-behaved it seemed, even this young. "None of that. You can play with Lady Hinata after your lessons are complete, and she has her own duties to attend to."
Pouting, Hanabi allowed herself to be herded away the way she'd come, probably back to her room or something, Sakura figured.
Hinata, meanwhile, led the way to a rather minimalist sitting room. Though, internally, Sakura could only really refer to it as "lifeless", as another maid left with a few muttered words from Hinata to prepare something.
It was occupied by a kotatsu table and cushions around it. There was a banner of the Hyuga clan hanging from one wall, and there were a few weapons hanging on the walls, most likely for show and nothing more. After all, the Hyuga specialized in but a single taijutsu style that they considered superior to all other forms of melee combat. Weapons would have been practically beneath them. Other than that, the walls remained the same, uniform white as every other wall of the building, inside and out. Similarly, the floorboards were that same, uninteresting brown, hardwood on every surface that wasn't occupied by furniture or cushions.
Honestly, the spark of novelty had quickly worn off the more Sakura inspected her surroundings, and she could pretty solidly conclude that this was a stifling place to grow up, even discounting the other occupants. Such was exemplified by the somewhat awkward silence that began to permeate the area for the next five minutes and change as the two girls seated themselves around the kotatsu and set their school bags beneath it. The looming presence of Ko certainly wasn't helping either.
Sakura's attention turned to the sliding door, as it reopened to admit the maid from before that she didn't know the name of, carrying a tray with a small pot and several glass cups. Hinata murmured a quiet thanks, as the maid set the tea on the table and gave a short bow, excusing herself to attend to other duties.
"I will be nearby if you need anything," Ko said shortly, before stepping out into the hall as well, shooting a stern look Sakura's way before closing the door behind himself.
Translation: "I will be here to interfere if the filthy outsider tries anything."
Or something like that anyway. Probably.
Sakura resisted the impulse to tug at her collar, feeling a little hot all of a sudden, as she patiently waited for Hinata to pour her tea as the host. Her brows hiked up at the pleasant scent that arose from the cups, steaming in the late spring air. Waiting until Hinata had poured herself a cup and taken a sip, Sakura followed suite, humming in appreciation at the note of sweetness on her tongue.
"Not really ever considered myself a tea person, but this is pretty good," Sakura commented idly. "My compliments to your staff."
Hinata flushed a little. "It's nothing… I just paid attention to what you liked is all."
Sakura shot her a curious look. "You've got a pretty good head for that stuff then."
"It's nothing special."
Sakura would beg to differ. She could barely remember her own family's birthdays, never mind what they liked to eat. Never mind what her friends liked. Though, she wondered at times if that didn't say more about her than others.
Clearing her throat, Sakura smiled and set her cup down on its saucer with a clink. "Regardless, I'm glad. This really helped break the ice, when we were practically drowning in all that propriety." She rolled her eyes at Hinata's squeak. "I swear, this place is kinda oppressive. Nice, sure, but definitely stifling."
Hinata stammered a bit, before shaking her head and sighing. "W-well, it's where the Hyuga have lived for generations, and it's served us well."
"Guess this is what they mean by 'if it's not broken, don't fix it', eh?" Sakura replied dryly.
Hinata frowned. "Again with more of your strange sayings."
Sakura shrugged. "But seriously though, I felt like I was being judged with the glares of a thousand suns getting here… Probably still am, considering the Byakugan."
"T-that is…" Hinata licked her lips. "As you said, we do not host many guests." As if that was an excuse for the nearly collective suspicion and less than subtle observation. Then again, given her kidnapping not that many years ago, Sakura supposed it was feasible that the Hyuga were even more hyper-aware of anyone inside their walls than they'd have been at a time before.
"You're telling me this place doesn't always have the pressure of lofty expectations bearing down on all within it every second?" Hinata looked down, and Sakura sighed. "I was concerned that might be the case…" She took another sip of her tea. "I guess that kinda explains your situation all on its own, huh?"
Hinata sipped her own tea, prevaricating on an answer.
Sighing explosively, Sakura groaned and arched her back, stretching her arms above her head. "Man, wish Shino had been able to make it. Feels like he'd have something poignant to say." She shrugged. "Ah well. Enough of this doom and gloom. The tea was good, but we have work to do."
"Work", as it happened, consisted of a little classwork, but not much of it. Rather, the two spent more of their time focused on things that weren't part of typical class assignments, like using each other as sounding boards and makeshift "flash cards" for hand signs. The way Sakura had proposed it, one of them could list off a series of hand signs, and the other would attempt to do them as quickly and correctly as possible from memory, before switching roles and repeat.
An hour and change later, Sakura stretched deeply, arching her back with a groan, as she glanced at the overhead clock. "Bleh, alright. Brain hurt. Move body now. Up for a spar?"
After a moment of hesitation, Hinata nodded and stood.
Shortly after, the two were standing in a rather simple -if moderately spacious- courtyard, a sheet of soil underfoot, as Sakura idly sketched meaningless patterns in the dirt with one sandaled foot. Tilting her head, she fed a little chakra into the earth, getting a feel for its firmness. Momentarily after, she retracted her chakra with a nod of satisfaction.
Movement in the corner of her vision brought to Sakura's awareness the presence of one Hiashi Hyuga, apparently deigning to show his face now for whatever reason he was obviously not bothering to grace them with. Maybe his looming was to remind Hinata that the "honor of the Hyuga" rested upon her performance. Maybe it was a warning to Sakura that he could step in if she dared try anything. Maybe both. Maybe neither. Who knew, really. More importantly, Hinata hadn't failed to notice his arrival, if her stiffening was anything to go by.
Shaking her head, Sakura snapped her fingers. "Oi, eyes on the prize, girl!"
Hinata's gaze flicked back to her, as she fidgeted. "Sorry."
Rolling her eyes, Sakura slowly walked in a semi-circle, drawing Hinata's gaze with her and Hiashi from his daughter's immediate line of sight. "So, here's what I'm thinking. Let's go all out, alright?"
"What?" Hinata blinked, before licking her lips. "A-are you sure?"
Rolling her shoulders, Sakura grinned. "Well, why not? Aren't these conditions ideal? We have plenty of people around that can intervene if either of us screws up seriously."
Hinata frowned. "That's no call to be reckless though."
"Certainly not," Sakura nodded. "But how about this?" She raised several fingers in sequence. "Fight until yield, go all out and only taijutsu or things that enhance it. And yeah, that means kekkei genkai in the mix."
"You don't mind?" Hinata pressed, brow furrowed.
"Course not," Sakura said. "I want to test out the Rupture Fist under controlled conditions… defensively, of course. I really don't see any humane way to test it offensively right now." Her brows furrowed. "Hmm, maybe I could get my hands on some small animals. You think rodents would work?"
Hinata's face turned a little green. "Uh… y-yeah. L-lets just spar now." She took a low back-stance, hands held before her in open palms. It was a fairly adaptable stance, defensive, yet capable of transitioning into an explosive offensive sprint on a dime.
Grinning at the deflection, Sakura took her own stance, a less refined thing than Hinata's, wider too. Her stance was clearly more defensive, evasive, acknowledging the gap in taijutsu experience between them. Her own arms rose into a boxer-like stance, fingers curled into claws, half-way between palms and fists. A haze of blue mist began to ripple from her skin, sheathing her forearms and hands in its whisps. "Remember, Hinata, don't hold back on me now. Byakugan. Gentle Fist. Hit me."
Hinata eyed the occurrence warily but obligingly activated her Byakugan. Before her gaze, thick whorls of chakra bled from Sakura's tenketsu, a lot more than one might normally expect to see from a non-Hyuga, but she wasn't surprised. Sakura was a hard worker, had even studied some biology related to the chakra system. She was actually wasting shockingly little chakra, managing to keep most of it within the skin-tight film and not bleeding off into the air. It didn't really seem to be doing much, but the feat was a decent expression of control nonetheless.
Firming her stance, Hinata refocused her attention on the present, circulating her own chakra far less showily through her arms and hands. "I-in that case, you better not keep holding back against me either…" She knew Sakura was exceptionally cagey about her own kekkei genkai, highly reluctant to use it in matters of training. She seemed to treat it almost more like a crutch at times than an actual asset, but Hinata had seen glimpses of what Sakura could really do when she felt like using it. And if Hinata was going to be obliged to use her special advantages, she didn't see why Sakura shouldn't either.
Sakura paused, her expression shifting to a frown and then a mild smirk. "You sure?"
Hinata nodded.
"Hah, all right then," Sakura agreed after a moment of apparent contemplation. "It'll be a lot more even this time." A second later, she grinned. "Oh, and one last thing?"
"Y-yes?"
Sakura firmed her own stance. "Good luck. Have fun."
"Have fun…" Hinata muttered in return.
For a long moment, the two stayed silent, green eyes meeting bulging lavender. Both measured each-other up without a word, looking for tells of intent.
Their first exchange sounded off with the ringing clap of open palms.
Hinata charged forward, recognizing the Sakura's stance ceded the offensive to her. The pinkette's arms were naturally the most available and immediate vulnerabilities to start with, so she attacked them directly, fingers tracing forth with intent to run along them and close tenketsu in her wake.
Sakura was slower than her. That was an established fact between them. Yet regardless, Sakura's hands might as well have been guided by the stars for how precisely she maneuvered to slap Hinata's aside, chakra trailing behind them. The entirety of the next couple exchanges fared little better. Sakura was on the full defensive, but what an impressive defense it was. Slapping away blows with uncanny accuracy and
Hinata idly noted a marked uptick in chakra waste from the coating of chakra on Sakura's arms, the sudden movement not being conductive to Sakura's level of experience in maintaining whatever this thing of hers was. Regardless, Hinata took the opportunity provided for what it was and instead made to stab her chakra into the tenketsu of Sakura's hands…
Only for it to be violently repelled by a sudden expulsion of the pinkette's chakra.
Sakura switched gears, chakra pooling in her feet and briefly sticking her to the ground, changing her momentum with a truly abrupt suddenness, as she finally returned fire. Kicking up a small cloud of dirt, an explosive expulsion of chakra from one foot sent it sweeping through where Hinata had emplaced her left a moment ago, as Sakura followed up with sweeping attacks of her own, hands clawing and jabbing forth in motions that Hinata thought might be very serpentine when they weren't seemingly aimed to simply grapple or make physical contact at all.
Blinking in surprise, Hinata gave a little ground, inspecting the phenomenon, as she warded of blows with the Gentle Fist's own chakra expulsions. She could fairly easily see what Sakura was doing to defend against her. In a way, she was mimicking the Gentle Fist. Roughly -brutishly, even- and with far more chakra waste due to not having a Hyuga's natural capacity to expel chakra from all their tenketsu…
But that didn't mean it wasn't working.
As she parried and dodged increasingly aggressive and confident blows while Sakura seemingly got the hang of what she was doing the longer they fought, Hinata could only internally remark that this was a fairly vexing style to combat.
As Sakura had said from the outset, the Rupture Fist was inspired by the Gentle Fist… assuming one removed anything remotely "gentle" about it. It was all raw lethality, and Hinata knew that in a real fight, the potential behind even a single blow was horrific injury or death the way Sakura had explained it. The Gentle Fist was so often about death by a hundred cuts, but the Rupture Fist was about finishing the fight in one overwhelmingly brutal strike, doing as much damage as humanly possible with even a single graze. That didn't mean the Gentle Fist couldn't also be instantaneously lethal (because it could), but the Rupture Fist was certainly shaping up to be something that didn't even consider nonlethal options.
So, of course, its defense was similarly brutish.
Where a Gentle Fist user might precisely counter incoming chakra with firm timed expulsions of their own, what Sakura was doing was simply skipping the timing aspect near entirely and maintaining a constant open dam of chakra that shielded her tenketsu from being reached, portions of which she would explosively reinforce against stronger blows.
Hinata couldn't say it was a technique that would be too useful against other kinds or taijutsu, but against the Gentle Fist, it was one of the best ways to defend. Actually, now that she thought about it, against near everything else, it could serve as the foundation for a simultaneous offense and defense, building upon the core dogma of the style of Rupture, to make any melee strike deadly to your advantage, no matter if it was your own or an attack you were receiving.
Hinata skirted around Sakura's offense, her own fingers snaking out for purchase, hoping to land anywhere but the arms Sakura was coating with protective chakra. Another kick from the pinkette was punished with the Hyuga's kick meeting it, spikes of chakra bristling from her tenketsu into Sakura's. Sakura flinched back, her leg snapping back and being wiggled gingerly, and Hinata had her target.
Hinata began throwing her own kicks, sweeps and probing jabs, keeping them carefully low enough to hopefully avoid a grapple. Her arms meanwhile busied themselves with engaging Sakura's waning assault, the other girl breathing harder now after throwing so much into that spurt of offense. She was faster than Sakura. That was true. However, with Sakura's own kekkei genkai's effects clearly in play, she was now losing in precision and reflexes enough to close that gap. Past that, in raw physical strength, she knew Sakura didn't actually lag behind her too much behind stamina conditioning. If it came down to a grapple, that might actually favor the pinkette.
Sakura was on the defensive again, treating her right leg gingerly due to the pins and needles numbness Hinata knew must have been creeping into it. The pinkette gave ground now and became more evasive and choosy with her responses, conserving energy and hoping to wear out Hinata a little more closer to her level.
Hinata took full advantage, her advance relentless and unceasing, not giving Sakura a moment to breath and constantly punching her back towards the edge of the area, changing her angle of attack up constantly to keep her herded. Sakura, however, was hardly failing to still be incredibly precise in her defense even now, her movements always just enough to ward off each of the Hyuga's blows, as she gave ground.
Until-
Chakra burst from Sakura's soles, as she skittered backwards with a sudden burst of prepared energy, finally gaining distance from furious melee. Hinata pursued doggedly, as Sakura failed to stop at the edge of the courtyard, her feet reaching backwards with unerring precision towards a support beam behind her-
And then, suddenly the spar had a new dimension.
Hinata paused for a moment, brow furrowed, as Sakura now perched herself up on one of the support beams for the covered porch that ringed the courtyard. A cheeky smirk was plastered on the pinkette's face, as she resettled her stance again, chest heaving and sweat beading on her skin. "A-anything tha-" She licked her lips, catching her breath. "-that enhances taijutsu is fair game. Now come on. Did you think ninja only battled on the ground?"
One palm beckoned challengingly, a cocky grin on Sakura's lips.
Hinata raised a single brow.
Okay then.
Without hesitation, Hinata stepped up onto the beam, chakra securing her exactly the way she'd been shown and refined over the months. Sakura grinned, looked mildly nervous, and then it was on again.
Spitting into the dirt, Hinata puffed her cheeks and took a swig from her water bottle, swirling the liquid around in her mouth and gargling in a rather unladylike manner, before spitting it too into the dirt. She wiped her mouth with the back of one sleeve and sent Sakura a mildly reproachful look, to which the pinkette didn't have the grace to not look smug from where she was also sitting on the lip of the porch.
For the first time, Hinata had lost one of their spars.
"What? You wanted me to treat you without kiddie gloves too," Sakura grinned.
Which Hinata agreed was perfectly valid, but she hadn't expected quite how dirty Sakura would fight if she thought anything was free game. "That was dirty."
"Don't tell me you can't handle a little dirt-slinging?" Sakura teased, sipping her own water bottle and waggling her eyebrows.
Hinata huffed, but rolled her eyes good-naturedly. She wasn't one to hold a grudge anyway. Still, that didn't mean she liked Sakura using explosive clods of dirt to make it hard to breathe and see. Sure, the Byakugan could see through the clouds well enough, but dirt in the eyes is still dirt in the eyes, irritating as all get out. She hadn't been able to maintain her doujutsu's active state, such was her surprise and disorientation from the literally and metaphorically dirty strategy, and Sakura had proceeded to put her on the ground without hesitation.
Hinata had yielded moments after, acknowledging the theoretical win condition of the Rupture Fist in getting so many hits on her, and she'd spent some minutes after that washing her eyes and face of all the grit She wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that her father was long-gone by the time she bothered to look for him again, not a word said in parting.
Sakura was humming in thought now, finger rapping on her bottle, before she sighed and shook her head. "For a shinobi, the result is the only thing that matters in this world. How you get there is of no consequence. If you aren't fighting dirty, you're not trying to win."
Hinata frowned, brow pinched. "But what about the people that… might get hurt along the way? Trampling over others solely for your goals without care for any other's…"
"The result is not mutually exclusive," Sakura shrugged easily. "If your desired result is that you succeed without anyone getting hurt, then discard all other conditions and proceed. Whenever you find yourself in a tough spot, just keep your goals in mind, and pursue the most efficient path to achieving them. It doesn't matter if it's unfair, dirty, cheap or 'cheating'. As long as your goal is served, it's worth doing. And if your goal is impossible, that simply means you're being too unrealistic and need to lower the number of goals you are pursuing at once, discarding those of lesser importance."
"I see…" Hinata certainly didn't seem to look like she did, not entirely anyway, but she answered in the positive, because that was just how she had been raised to.
"Hinata, even if you don't fully subscribe to it, this is an important thing to understand about how the real world works," Sakura insisted, her tone moderately more serious than it'd been before. She wasn't joking but trying to convey an actual lesson. "It is this mindset that makes a great shinobi, and it is what will be expected of you."
As a shinobi and future Clan Head, Hinata filled in mentally, her expression growing downcast. She knew Sakura was genuinely just trying to help, but just thinking about those expectations and how she didn't feel like she was living up to them the way she wanted to… It never failed to send her mood into a bit of a spiral.
"You'd be expecting too much then."
The sound of a young boy's voice turned Sakura's attention over shoulder to the sight of boy with long hair and a cloth wrapped around his forehead, currently glowering out from a partially open sliding door.
"Cousin Neji…" Hinata murmured.
"This is your cousin?" Sakura asked.
"And member of the Branch House of the Hyuga," Neji answered for her, glower unabating.
"We… sometimes train together," Hinata elaborated, wincing internally at the though of those particular sessions.
"Hmmph, not that Lady Hinata has ever been the sort to make best use of them," Neji sneered, his tone a thin facade of respect, practically looking down his nose at his cousin. Glancing at Sakura, he huffed, "Listen up, you clearly have talent, so you're best off not interacting with Lady Hinata. She'll just drag you down."
Blinking at Neji, Sakura arched a brow skeptically, "Well, that's just like… your opinion, man." Rolling her eyes, she dismissively cast her gaze away and back to Hinata. "So, anyway, before Asshole McUninvited showed up, I was trying to make a point."
Hinata almost choked on her spit at that, as she noted Sakura was trying to completely ignore Neji, not even sparing him the effort to tell him to leave. Not that it wasn't abundantly clear how desirable that might be. Behind Sakura, however, Hinata could quite easily see how that disregard earned Neji's ire.
Neji scowled. "I've said my piece-"
"Clearly not, from the way you're still flapping your lips," Sakura snapped, her own facade of cordiality dropping more. Glancing over her shoulder again, her gaze was half-lidded and almost bored. "Are you about done yet? Have something actually worth saying?"
Neji bristled, but huffed and stepped back. "Suit yourself. You will see the truth of my words in due time."
"You're free to continue being as incorrect as you like," Sakura retorted. "Opinions are just that."
Neji's expression grew bitter and smug in equal turns. "Believe me, opinion has nothing to do with it. The Hyuga are a clan whose destiny is fated from birth, and Lady Hinata's fate has been made clear by her own actions."
Hinata's shoulders had grown progressively more hunched, but she startled at a sudden peal of noise. Neji too looked surprised and then quickly irritated and mulish, as the sound became clear as the rough, raucous laughs of Sakura, her stomach heaving and tears of mirth growing in the corner of her eyes. She continued laughing… and laughing… and…
The sliding door shut with perhaps more force than necessary, and Neji was long gone by the time Sakura finally bothered to stop her obvious mockery, whipping the corners of her eyes with a finger and grinning at Hinata.
"He's quite articulate with his bullshit for such an uppity brat."
Hinata ducked her head, feeling a bit ashamed to realize she found that at least a little funny. Sakura's bad influence was clearly rubbing off on her. "T-that was rude, Sakura."
"No ruder than him," Sakura shrugged.
"Neji… has his reasons," Hinata protested. Good ones, she thought. He didn't deserve what happened to him. None of the Branch House did.
"Everyone has their reasons, Hinata," Sakura said. "Shitty people can be understood, but don't excuse their behavior. He clearly had a bone to pick and wanted to hurt you, nothing more. I think what he really wanted to get from that meeting was further misery in your life by breaking up our friendship… somehow. Petty bullshit." Sakura shook her head. "But I digress. Peace and understanding is all well and good, but don't expect any mercy from me the second victims are involved… especially not if they're my friends."
She nudged Hinata's shoulder companionably, and the Hyuga ducked her head bashfully.
The two lapsed into a more comfortable silence once more, but a creeping thought had been unpleasantly brought to the forefront of her mind. Licking her lips, she prevaricated and took another sip from her water, before finally biting the bullet.
"Sakura… h-have you heard of the Caged Bird Seal?"
Sakura stilled, before slowly nodding.
"W-what do you think of… it?"
"It's vile."
"..." Hinata grimaced, looking away.
"The Hyuga say it's to protect their bloodline, and I would agree, in concept, the seal's advertised function is extremely valuable, an ingenious, borderline invulnerable failsafe against thievery and desertion. If that were all it did, that would be one thing…"
"But it doesn't…"
"No… No, it doesn't." Sakura's expression was dark. "As things stand, it's an abomination, a slave brand, nothing more. It shouldn't even exist. The Hyuga can harp about tradition all they want, but slavery is evil, no matter the justification. Maybe I'm making light of the difficulty of the task, but it seems to me that reworking the Caged Bird Seal to only destroy the doujutsu shouldn't be that hard, right? If the Hyuga Clan were actually interested in justice and protection, that's what should have been done long ago. But no, this is about maintaining the Main House's iron fist over the Branch House."
Hinata was inclined to agree, but thoughts about banishing the seal entirely when she became Clan Head… Those weren't the sorts of things she could just say out loud, not here where anyone could be watching.
"Then… you understand why Neji is the way he is?" she ventured.
"That's right, I just don't care," Sakura said blithely.
"Sakura…"
"I don't mean I don't care what happened. I just mean his circumstances don't absolve him of being awful. He's lashing out at you because you're an easy target, because he knows you won't fight back." Sakura clicked her tongue disdainfully. "He's just a bully, and he will be treated as such."
"You're pretty quick to make judgements about someone you've only met once…" Hinata grumbled.
"Well, I like to think I'm a pretty good judge of character," Sakura said. At Hinata's silence, she sniffed and rolled her eyes. "Ugh, fine, I won't write him off just yet. He can get more chances to prove he's not trash later, but frankly, I'm not going to hold my breath."
Hinata shook her head, but a small smile did break onto her lips. "That's all I can ask…"
Grunting, Sakura stretched and leaned up against a wooden supporting pillar. "Look, Hinata, in life you gotta judge people according to their own merits. Judge their character by how they react to hardship." Her gaze was firm but sympathetic. "A shitty life doesn't excuse shitty behavior. It just means they were too weak of moral integrity to keep doing what's right even when it's hard." Her fingers rapped on the wood of the boards they sat upon. "It's just like your family, right? Like your training?" Hinata looked away. "If we falter under pressure, it's up to us to refine those impurities away. Failing once is one thing… but wallowing in that failure like Neji? Unacceptable."
"It's not fair…" Hinata muttered, pulling her knees up to her chest.
Sakura nodded. "You're right, it isn't fair, but the real world has never been fair. It's not wrong to want to oppose that, but you can't change anything if you hesitate. If you wish for greatness, you must go beyond your limits. Ideals are nice, but they are ultimately worthless without the power to enforce them… So grow strong, Hinata. Believe in yourself. And if not yourself… then at least believe in the me that believes in you." Sakura scooted over to lay a hand on her shoulder. "You have the potential; it's just a matter of realizing it."
"Thanks… Sakura." Hinata smiled softly.
Sakura grinned, gave Hinata's shoulder a squeeze and took another swig of water. Wiping her mouth with the back of one hand, she arched a brow. "So, caught your breath enough for another spar?"
Shooting the pinkette a playful gimlet eye, Hinata nodded and moved to stand.
She had a rematch to win.
[Shinobi Academy, First Year, 6th Month]
"Alright, just like we practiced!" shouted Sakura's voice encouragingly.
"Begin!" said Iruka-sensei.
Hinata's breath hissed between her teeth, a low murmur carrying across the ring.
"G-good luck. H-have fun."
Her opponent charged, and Hinata moved to meet her.
Step one, kite.
Hinata's charge turned into a slide. Rather than committing to the initial clash, the Hyuga bounced on the balls of her feet skittering around Fuki's right straight. She kicked off backwards, minding the distance she did so, evading the sweeping kick that lashed out to buy her redheaded opponent room.
Her fingers twitched, as she restrained the ingrained impulse to attack that dangerously overextended limb as it passed her. Unbidden, her mind flashed to the training that had been drilled into her head, finding so many glaring openings in her opposition that it really wasn't funny. Well, to be fair, many of those openings had the Gentle Fist -Rupture Fist, some dark little corner of her mind suggested- prerequisite, but oh, the things she could have done to that leg with but a tap, never mind catching it in a hold.
Shaking herself guiltily from those thoughts, she gave ground, as Fuki gave chase. Hinata dodged a left hook, smacked a kick down before it could form with a palm to the knee, shoving the girl off balance with just a little bit of commitment to that latter block. She skittered around Fuki's flailing form, as the girl tried to keep the Hyuga in sight, leaning back to dodge a right backhand and then duck under the sloppy hook it transitioned into.
She stayed in her opponent's personal space now, and Fuki was panicking appropriately, eyes and attention tunnel-visioned on Hinata, as she led the duo into a tighter and tighter spiral, slowly dragging that circle in one direction.
"Keep your victory conditions in mind, Hinata!" Sakura called.
"Un," Hinata grunted.
"Shut it, cheer squad!" Fuki snapped, frustration and dizziness disorienting her, as Hinata felt some part of her sharpen.
Opportunity.
Fuki's next left hook was dodged under, as Hinata abruptly changed directions, now moving counter-clockwise in her evasion. So sucked into the prior set pattern was she that Fuki was unable to compensate, struggling to switch mental gears and getting a brief conflict with her current pattern. Combined with her dizziness, she started to trip over her own feet.
As the girl made a motion to back up, Hinata shot out a leg and hooked Fuki's back one, and with a small forward pull, momentum did the rest, sending Fuki tumbling head over heels backwards. By the time Fuki had regathered her senses, it was already too late. Hinata straightened up.
"Winner: Hinata!" Iruka-sensei announced.
"A ring out again?!" came Fuki's incensed cry, as the red-faced girl grumbled and dusted herself off, grimacing as she made the Seal of Reconciliation with no small amount of visual reluctance. "Tch, can't you fight fair for once? You didn't even throw a single punch," she muttered, as the two stepped out of the sparring area to rejoin the rest of the class.
Hinata felt her face heating up, but startled when a hand clapped boldly onto her left shoulder, a familiar arm now laying across her upper back. Sakura's grinning face shot Hinata a wink of support, to which the girl flushed deeper. "Hey now, we're supposed to be ninja, you know? If you're not cheating, you're not trying. Victory is the only thing that really matters. Fairness should never come into it."
Hinata could hear the rewording there of a particular phrase...
"Says the person who infected her with that way of thinking," scoffed Ami nearby, arms crossed next to Fuki and wearing what Hinata had come to find was something of a "resting bitch face". Sakura's words, not hers. "We're supposed to be learning to fight, not run away. If this were a real battle, no ring out would save you."
"Maybe not," Sakura conceded easily, grin unwavering, "But if you have the power to control your opponent's movements, to achieve your goals without ever needing to harm them at all, isn't that perhaps the greatest defeat of all? After all, doesn't that tell your enemy you could have beat them at any time and simply didn't think it was worth bothering."
Ami scowled but didn't refute the point entirely. "Maybe try saying that after fighting me head on for once."
Sakura chuckled. "Perhaps I will."
"Next match, Ami Kazehara and Sakura Haruno."
Sakura's brows rose. "Speak of the devil," she muttered with a quiet laugh. "Out of all the matches I could get… Sometimes, I really wonder about how these match-ups are decided."
"I'll be holding you to those words of yours," Ami sniffed, trotting out onto the field.
"You want me to rub my victory in?" Sakura quirked a brow.
"As if! I'm gonna kick your ass, Pinkie!"
Rolling her eyes, Sakura grinned at Hinata and gave her shoulder a last squeeze before following suit. The pinkette ambled her way over to the opposite side of the ring and proceeded with making the Seal of Confrontation with Ami, as the two waited for Iruka-sensei's signal.
"Begin!"
Neither girl moved.
Sakura grinned.
"So that's how it's going to be, huh?" Ami asked, clucking her tongue. "Guess you're all talk."
"You said you were going to hold me to my words, didn't you?" Sakura asked mildly, tilting her head. "I said this way of fighting implies it's not worth my energy to do otherwise… So if you want a 'fair' fight, then you'll have to make me give it to you."
"That so?" Ami ground out. "Fine!" Putting words to action, the purple-haired girl charged the still stationary Sakura, who merely adopted a sideways stance with her right arm forward, minimizing her profile. Ami's charge quickly turned into a skid, as she cut her momentum and chambered into a low kick, trying to sweep out Sakura's front leg.
Sakura's leg rose obligingly, avoiding the sweep and chambering into a straight kick at Ami's face, but the girl seemed to have anticipated this at least a little, as both her hands clasped around Sakura's shin and her stance changed, apparently about to throw her weight into twisting Sakura's leg and either tossing her overhead or dragging her into a grappling tumble. Sakura's response was to suddenly throw all her weight down on her front leg in a stomp, fouling Ami's leverage, as she brought her right fist down at Ami's chin in a flick that grazed the purplette's nose.
Ami tumbled back, having kicked off the ground to avoid the pinkette's retaliation, but Sakura didn't pursue, merely retaking her original position, smiling smugly. "Tch," Ami huffed, picking herself back up.
"You're getting better," Sakura congratulated lightly, causing an angry flush to spread across Ami's cheeks. "I noticed less overextension this time, and you're actually thinking a couple moves ahead before you act. Praiseworthy."
"I didn't ask for your opinion!" snapped Ami, lunging forward again, leading with a fake out with her back right hand before jabbing with her left.
This time, Sakura gave ground, skirting around the strikes and riding the edge of the ring. Rather than pursuing head-on, Ami strafed, keeping Sakura between her and the ring's edge, as she took a moment to lunge ahead of Sakura's momentum and throw a hook kick at her leading leg.
Sakura abruptly switched gears, taking advantage of the gap provided by Ami's positioning to kick off over her sweep and briefly tuck into a roll that suddenly put Ami as the one closest to the ring's edge. Ami seemed to immediately realize this, judging by how she wasted no time rectifying it was a counter-clockwise inward dash and left jab, drawing her and Sakura back towards the ring's center.
Hinata could see now the way the other girl was moving was an attempt to herd Sakura, to always keep herself between Sakura and the shortest path to the ring's edge and her favored strategy.
Sakura, for her part, laughed. "You know, Ami, you might just have a point! I guess I do need to work on my defense instead of evasion." Hinata could see the influence of her own spars with Sakura now, as the pinkette took a more stable position and began batting away blows with sweeping, open-palmed movements. Conversely, her own offense was littered with knife-hand strikes that jabbed in almost playful warning towards vulnerable, fleshy areas, like the neck, beneath the sternum and armpits, aborting contact each time to not risk causing actual damage.
Ami certainly seemed to be aware of the many ways she had already "died", judging by how much redder her face was getting as the match went on. Hinata shook her head, as the two-minute embark passed. Sakura was clearly playing around, enjoying taking her time experimenting with defense, and Ami was losing by simple attrition, her own constant frenzy of attacks having worn her out. Eventually…
"Winner: Sakura!" Iruka-sensei finally announced with what sounded like relief, now that he could move on to the next pair. It was a fairly sizable class after all, and he only had so much time for each pair to spar to fit everyone in.
Sakura pulled herself up off the huffing Ami, who she'd pinned to the ground with a hand on the purplette's left arm and a knee on her chest. A hand up was offered and smacked away weakly, as Ami groaned and pulled herself up. The two shared the Seal of Reconciliation and moved on.
A light sheen of sweat on her brow, Sakura was smiling, as she walked back over beside Ami. "I wasn't kidding before. It looks like having a mountain to climb is actually giving you the motivation to work hard as a shinobi."
Ami scoffed and flipped her off. "Calling yourself a mountain? Think you're better than me, Forehead?"
Sakura raised a brow, not humoring the petty -and by now, old news- name-calling bait. "Beat me at something other than flower arrangements, and maybe I'll stop saying it without saying it."
Ami scowled but didn't try to refute that, stalking over to her friends, Fuki and Kasumi, to probably commiserate over their shared rivalry with Sakura's own "clique", if that's really what it could be called. Kasumi was already staring daggers at Shino, clearly anticipating trying to outdo his score later in Bukijutsu.
Shino didn't so much as twitch under said staring, which only seemed to work Kasumi up more.
Hinata shook her head and smiled fondly. Sakura could be brash and rather opinionated and Shino a little scary and often hard to read, but having known them for half a year now? She could easily call them her closest friends and wonderful people in their own ways.
And she wouldn't have traded them for anything.
[Shinobi Academy, First Year, 7th Month]
"A-are you sure you don't want one?" Hinata asked, as she shuffled along, the ring of the storefront door closing behind her.
A long-suffering sigh entered the afternoon air of Konoha's streets, as Sakura shook her head. "I don't need a kimono, no." Raising a brow, she snorted. "It would feel weird having someone drop that much money for me on a… not really special occasion?"
Shino shrugged at her searching gaze, and Hinata looked abashed.
"I-it's not that much trouble…" Hinata muttered.
Giving the Hyuga a look of disbelief, Sakura protested, "The damn thing was fifty thousand yen! It's like you're never heard of the bargain bin!" Hinata's face turned a deeper shade of red, as Sakura rolled her eyes. "Honestly, girl, I sometimes forget you're basically a princess, right up until you casually pull shit like this." Giving a faux swoon, Sakura fanned herself with one hand and dramatically placed the back of one hand on her forehead. "Oh! Woe unto me, trying to explain the financial tribulations of the common pleb to royalty!"
"I-I u-um t-that is…" Hinata's ears were cherry red, as she stammered something incomprehensible under her breath, hunching her shoulders.
The girl gave a little jump and then squirmed, when Sakura threw an arm over her shoulder and squeezed the pair into a side-by-side stride, poking the Hyuga's cheek playfully with her free hand. "Relax, I'm just teasing you. You should know our friendship has nothing to do with status. Ours is not a friendship built on material exchanges." Sakura shot her a look. "And that's why I don't want you ever feeling obligated to get anything for me. Your presence and happiness are enough."
Hinata puffed out her cheeks in a pout but nodded, before getting a defiant look in her eye. "A-and if I want to get you something as thanks?"
"I don't need it."
"But if I'm insisting…" Hinata trailed off, and Sakura gave her an unamused look. Hinata pushed forward stubbornly, poking Sakura on the shoulder back, "I'm going to get you something, and I think you're going to like it."
Sakura looked flummoxed and frustrated, an amusingly rare occurrence with her amongst the trio. "But-"
"You just said our friendship wasn't based on material exchanges, so just accept it," Hinata said slyly, a statement that came across rather ominously in her soft voice. Lips quirking, her eyes squinted smugly. "You don't need to pay me back. I'm doing this because I want to."
Sakura looked like she'd swallowed a lemon at having her reasoning turned against her intent, before grimacing and letting out an explosive sigh. "Fiiiiinne, do what you want." Hinata grinned and gave a happy little clap, only to blink, as Sakura poked her forehead. "No kimono though. That shit's still a step too far." Hinata pouted. "If you seriously insist on getting me clothes that I can rarely wear -and will quickly grow out of, mind you, a yukata is plenty. Far less insane price caps on those… though not for your future lack of trying, I'm sure." Hinata didn't meet her eyes but looked distantly satisfied, and Sakura sighed in exasperation, trying to comprehend the monster she had awoken with this latest shopping trip. "Girls." Hinata and Shino sent her a pair of telling looks, to which she rolled her eyes. "Did I stutter?"
"That is a strange turn of phrase," Shino added his two cents. "Why? Because you are also a girl."
Hinata giggled.
"Thank you for that stunning observation, Shino," Sakura groused without any heat, shaking her head. "Don't tell me you also have no concern over high spending?"
"No comment," Shino said with what might have been amusement in his voice. "Why? Because the Aburame are also one of Konoha's four Noble Clans."
Sakura gave a long-suffering sigh, realizing her other friend was probably only interested in enabling Hinata's reckless spending for entertainment. She would find no voice of reason in that corner this day.
Eager to change the subject, Sakura quickly panned her gaze across the bustling street, looking for a distraction, before an appetizing smell drew her attention to a storefront that nearly made her freeze in place. Outside a hitch in her pace, however, she managed to keep going, her gaze locked on the cozy little open-air restaurant that had caught her eye.
"Hey guys, you hungry?" the pinkette asked, jabbing a thumb in the direction of her target, and after exchanging some looks of consideration, the other two nodded.
"I'd love to," Hinata smiled.
"I could, as they say, 'eat'," Shino replied. "Why? Because it is closing upon dinner time."
Sakura glanced at the sky, starting to see some other colors painting the blue. "Huh… guess time flies when you're having fun. Guess we might as well tuck in for one last hoorah before going our separate ways today. C'mon."
Sakura brushed away the brown kanji-emblazoned white flaps of Ramen Ichiraku, humming in consideration at the small size of the establishment, as Hinata and Shino filtered in behind her.
She wasn't entirely sure what she'd expected from the iconic restaurant, but it certainly wasn't a veritable hole in the wall. She couldn't say she was disappointed, certainly, but it was definitely a more traditional and rustic setup than she'd imagined.
The entirety of the restaurant's guest area essentially consisted of a single line of six stools, set up against one conjoined table where food would be served. The whole affair was basically open air, but the cloth flaps hung high enough to at least conceal everything above the counter from view from a typical passerby's gaze. From the counter's edge to the outside, the guest space was barely a meter or so across, and the kitchen beyond that was clearly rather cramped. From the outside of the building, Ichiraku was a two-story affair that Sakura almost hesitated to call an "establishment" at all, such was its small size.
Looking around the rather "compact" space, Sakura could only wonder with some mild concern if the upper level actually served as a living space and if it was even large enough for the father and daughter pair, who were both working the kitchen right now.
"Welcome to Ichiraku!" the graying proprietor greeted with a welcoming smile. Striding up to the counter with a grin, he motioned towards the overhead menu. "You look like first-time customers," he chuckled, earned a raised brow from Sakura. Tapping his nose, he winked. "This old man has got an eye for a particular kind of gawking. Now then!" He clapped his hands. "As I'm sure you can see, we serve ramen here. Today's special is the beef bowl, but far be it from me to tell you what you'll like." Winking conspiratorially, he grinned. "That said, in the culinary world, never be afraid to be adventurous."
Sakura chuckled and shook her head, plopping herself down on a corner stool, so she could hug the wall. Hinata sidled up to take the seat next to her and then Shino the seat next to Hinata. "You're in luck, because I'm already a beef fan -and a hungry one too, so go ahead and put me up for one of those specials. My allowance to 'adventure' will be to avoid questioning what else you put in there until I've tasted it."
"Hah!" the man said. "Got some bite in you? Good! And the rest of you?"
Hinata licked her lips, huddling at the "loud" attention being sent her way, as she eyed the menu, before finally replying, "T-the narutomaki fish look good?" The shy girl made it sound more like a question, but the chef dutifully nodded. She didn't notice the way Sakura suddenly stiffened and inhaled sharply like she'd been struck with lightning.
"Beef as well," Shino said. "Why? Because it looks appetizing."
"A man that chooses with his heart, eh?" the proprietor grinned. "I respect it…" He made a couple notes and nodded. "What size would you like your bowls?"
The trio exchanged looks. "Large?" Sakura suggested. "Ninja training burns a lot of calories." Hinata and Shino nodded at that. "Large for all of us then," Sakura confirmed.
Grinning, the proprietor marked it down and quickly collected the payment. "Large it is. Well then! As first time customers, allow me to formally welcome you to my humble Ramen Ichiraku. I'm Teuchi, and in the back there is my daughter, Ayame." A girl that looked old enough to be a fresh Academy graduate -but had none of the training- sent them a smile and brief wave with a ladle, before returning to stirring a pot of noodles. "We'll be your chefs for today." He cupped his mouth conspiratorially. "And hopefully, many times from now. So, just sit back and relax, and we'll have your food ready in a jiffy."
And so, they did just that.
Teuchi, as it happened, was a fairly chatty cook. It seemed part of the "charm" of his restaurant was his charisma. The man always had a hearty smile on hand and chatter to engage in. Ayame's indignity and admonishment when her father got a little too bold provided an entertaining contrast to his exuberance. So, overall, the wait for food was barely felt at all.
As Teuchi passed three bowls and sets of chopsticks onto the table with a wide smile, he gave a small bow. "Order up! Please, enjoy."
They did, at that.
Sakura hummed in appreciation. Noodles were topped with choy sum, several strips of beef on one side and a couple boiled eggs on the other. A mix of veggies was already stirred in, and an herbal broth steamed merrily. Sakura was not ashamed to say she practically inhaled it all. She certainly made some attempt to not look like a pig doing it and to savor the taste of each bite, but damn. Maybe it was confirmation bias, but it was a damn good bowl of noodles. Honestly speaking, she couldn't believe how much food her 7-year-old body could put away already, but her appetite didn't lie.
Teuchi chuckled heartily. "Ah, that's a sight for sore eyes. Nothing makes a chef happier than seeing his food enjoyed so much."
Sakura nodded, licking her lips. "Happy to provide. I'm pleasantly surprised. I tell you, I'm always wary of trying out new places, but this impulse dine really worked out."
Teuchi grinned, sighing contentedly. "I'm glad. Hah, excuse this old man, but this is a real balm to my soul, seeing kids like you around here again."
"You don't get many kids eating here, Mr. Teuchi?" Hinata asked.
At that question, Teuchi's expression fell a little, but he continued smiling, if a tired little edge to it. "In the past year, I can count the number of times kids have frequented Ramen Ichiraku on both hands," he admitted. Ayame shot him a concerned look, but he waved her off. "We used to have one frequent customer, but…"
"Did something happen?" Sakura's tone was strange, and her gaze rather… intense.
Teuchi chuckled nervously, suddenly looking unsure about the direction his innocent comment had taken this conversation. "Ah, well… I couldn't rightly say," he shrugged, grinning apologetically. "What I can say is that he stopped showing up around a year ago, and I never found out why." Licking his lips, he smiled again in some attempt at reassurance. "But I'm sure it's just the worries of an old man. Customers come and go; I just try to keep their visits enjoyable while they last."
Hinata squirmed, not looking quite mollified, as she slurped up the dregs of her noodles as a distraction. Shino adjusted his glasses but made no comment.
Sakura… closed her eyes. "If I might ask, what was his name, that kid?" At Teuchi's look, she added. "I mentioned that we're Academy students, so maybe I'd recognize him from my class." She grinned wryly with a look of sympathy. "Not holding my breath, but if he does go there, I can let him know you'd love to see him again."
Blinking, Teuchi smiled. "You'd do that? Hah, you're a good kid." Shaking his head, his eyes squinted in elation. "As it happens, he spoke a lot about his dreams of being a ninja, claimed he wanted to be Hokage someday even! As for his name?" He chuckled. "Call it coincidence that this was apparently his favorite restaurant, but his name is Naruto Uzumaki."
"Like the fishcake?" Hinata murmured, before flushing deep red at realizing she'd said that loud enough to be heard.
"Can also mean whirlpool, I think," Sakura added helpfully, before frowning and putting on a show of her eyes flashing with recognition. "That aside, I do actually recognize that name… just not from our class."
Teuchi's shoulders slumped. "Oh."
"Ah, that's a shame," Hinata murmured. "Where did you hear of him then? Can you still find him?"
Leaning back on her stool, Sakura rapped her fingers on the counter in sequence, frowning. She glanced around, but the three Academy students were the only customers present. "Well, I say I don't recognize him from our class, but that's not entirely true. See… this is where things get a little… strange."
"Strange?" Teuchi frowned. "But you saw him in the Academy?"
"No," Sakura shook her head, "but I saw his name." Leaning forward, she hushed her voice to the table, her words carrying no further than the four of them. "Hinata, Shino, have either of you ever wondered why our class has always had an empty seat?"
Shino's brows rose above his glasses. "I have wondered before but dismissed it. Why? Because it didn't seem too strange." Hinata nodded her agreement at that.
"Well, prepare for that to change," Sakura insisted. "I'd actually managed to put that oddity out of my mind right up until Hinata here ordered her meal. By some coincidence, that topic was even more explicitly broached by Teuchi, and my buried curiosity came crashing back." She cleared her throat. "Digression aside… I've never seen Naruto Uzumaki in my life, but I saw his name on the class registry when I snuck a peek. His place in the Academy is reserved somehow, even though he never even showed up to tryouts."
"I thought you'd never seen him though?" Hinata inquired.
"Not in person," Sakura elaborated. "But his Academy file had a picture when I bothered to sneak a look, and he's a real distinctive sort. I'm certain I'd have noticed him if he were in any of the places he should have been."
Shino adjusted his glasses. "Stranger and stranger. Why? Because something untoward appears to have occurred."
Teuchi slumped, suddenly looking very tired and wiping beads of sweat from his brow.
Sakura sighed, looking apologetic. "I'm sorry, Mr. Teuchi. I set out to reassure you, but it seems I must have only confirmed your old worries. It looks like we've got a missing person case on our hands." Grimacing, she asked, "Have you considered filing a missing person report?"
Teuchi started and then frowned. "With the Uchiha Police Force? I…" He grimaced and then nodded. "I suppose it's better than nothing. I might as well do so soon. It's… far too late perhaps, but at least I can try."
"In the meantime, do you know where Naruto lives?" Sakura asked.
Teuchi shot her a dry look. "Well, that's a bit beyond my remit as a humble chef, a bit intrusive all things considered, but if I did, I would have checked in by now, I suppose."
Blinking and looking a little abashed, Sakura simply cleared her throat. "Right. Of course."
"I wonder why you are so interested in this, Sakura," Shino spoke up. "Why? Because in my experience, you do not concern yourself with problems that aren't right in front of you."
Sakura's expression twisted in consternation, before she let out a sigh, considering her now empty bowl silently for several long moments. Eventually, she licked her lips and said, "Because there's more to this story on my end. I won't say too much right now, but… I think something very bad happened to Naruto, and I chose to treat it like someone else's problem. All the way back on the day I'm certain he disappeared, I knew. I didn't know his name then, and I only heard of the event by proxy… I didn't know it would lead to a disappearance either, but I knew that someone had gotten hurt and did nothing but go to sleep." She fidgeted. "I slept like a baby, not a single smidge of concern in me."
"And now that you see the results, that's changed…" Hinata whispered. She fidgeted with her baggy sleeves, before perking up. "I… i-if it's alright, please, let me help- I-I mean…" She licked her lips and said more firmly. "I'll help you."
Sakura chuffed. "Help me? With what?"
"Finding Naruto Uzumaki, of course," Shino answered, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I shall aid this endeavor as well. Why? Because that is simply the right thing to do."
Sakura looked baffled and then let out a huff of air that was somewhere between a laugh, a scoff and a sigh of resignation. "Okay okay. Fine, I wasn't going to ask for help, but I won't turn it down either."
"You kids…" Teuchi was looking down at them with warm eyes, before his expression turned cautionary. "You're all too kind, but you should be careful… If there really is foul play going on here…" He briefly chewed his lower lip. "Just be extra careful."
"Do you think there's something more to this?" Sakura asked all too innocently. She knew exactly why Teuchi would be concerned and knew that he must have known about the kyuubi in Naruto.
Teuchi looked visibly conflicted before sighing. "Just… don't do anything reckless, but how about this: if you manage to find Naruto… I'll reward you three handsomely. I'll pay you like full-fledged ninja completing a C-Rank mission. Consider this a retrieval mission, and the conditions for completion are to bring Naruto back or find proof of what happened to him… whether that be good or bad." Leaning down, he whispered. "Consider doing some research to understand the gravity of me 'ranking' this mission of yours that high. That's all I can say."
"S-so there is something more?" Hinata asked, but Teuchi simply smiled apologetically and avoided elaborating further.
And with that ominous capstone to their conversation, the trio soon found themselves filtering back out onto the street underneath the darkening sky, a mixture of curiosity and unease intermixing between them.
Sakura frowned back at Ramen Ichiraku, before shaking her head. Glancing between Hinata and Shino, she chewed her inner cheek, before asking unsurely, "Are you two really on board with this? This could seriously just be nothing, just me blowing something totally benign out of proportion."
"Y-yes!" Hinata chirped.
"Naturally." Shino's dark glasses glinted under the street lights.
They nodded with no hesitation that she could perceive, and the pinkette sighed. "Alright…" Giving a languid stretch, Sakura worked her jaw and smiled wryly. "Well then, gang? It looks like we've got a mystery on our hands."
AN: And now, we FINALLY get to the part I was excited to start, the moment when what's going on with Naruto starts to get addressed.
