Chapter Three: Chunin Exams (Part One)
Edited
Sakura swore she was gonna kill Anko-sensei. She didn't care how long it took, she would find a way.
Anko-sensei had decided that Sakura's first official day of training would consist of walking on red hot coals. The point wasn't just to constantly channel her chakra to her feet so she wouldn't feel the pain, it was also to regulate the different temperatures her feet were experiencing as she shifted forward. It was similar to walking on water, as the coals would shift underfoot and they varied in heat. It took a few tries, as Anko-sensei had told her to not lift her feet up whatsoever, but Sakura was able to walk across the mile long track of coals around noon. Her feet were scorched and bleeding in multiple places, as coals were also incredibly sharp; she was nearly drained of chakra, but she had done it. And without too much complaining, so Anko had given the girl some credit. The older kunoichi told Sakura to go home and rest her feet. She had scheduled another training session at the same time and at the same place.
Sakura had done just that, but had also decided to do some mental training. After all, her parents weren't home to see her hobble around and Anko-sensei hadn't said she couldn't. Well, she specifically said to rest her feet, which Sakura had really wanted to do, but decided a little reading couldn't hurt. So, after going through the pile of books, she had finally found two that piqued her interest. She read up on Hunter nins and the many legends surrounding them and their lifestyle while she ate lunch. When she was done with that, she had decided to do some laundry. While she waited on that, she read a few books on human anatomy that went more in depth about the way the organs functioned with one another to create balance, how the nervous system could be affected from the outside, and how the chakra gates functioned within a body. Once her laundry was done, she picked up a book on senbon needle techniques while she made her afternoon tea and continued to read until she couldn't focus on the words.
After wrapping her feet with some bandages, she had decided to go to the training grounds and practice her aim and throwing technique with her needles. She remembered from her Academy days that she was ranked as below average when it came to her target practice, and that she had never truly paid attention to what Iruka-sensei was saying about her technique. God, she had been such an idiot back then.
She had practiced for nearly three hours until she could get ten direct hits. Not necessarily one right after the other, but hey, at least she had managed to hit the target. She spent an hour trying to get ten hits in a row, but only managed seven because she was too focused on how she looked while throwing them.
After mentally berating herself, she closed her eyes and tried again. She found that without focusing on what she was doing and instead going through the motions, she could get eight hits in a row.
She practiced again and again, until dawn the next day, smiling proudly at her target. She had finally managed to get ten out of ten and it only took her the entire night.
Now she just needed to try that on a human test dummy to see how effective her hits were.
When Anko-sensei had shown up and found Sakura already there, even before the designated time, she was both annoyed and impressed. The brat was dedicated, she gave her that. Anko listened as the girl explained for why she was there, and after thinking it over, demanded that she show her.
Anko gave tips to help her, but they came out as orders to not suck as badly. She had zero patience for slow learners, and waited for the girl to throw her weapons down and give up. She had heard the rumors that Sakura Haruno was just a fangirl and too soft to be a ninja. She wanted to prove those rumors right. However, Sakura hadn't gotten the memo and adjusted accordingly to the new orders. That had stunned Anko. And Anko was rarely stunned.
Anko grinned evilly and began to throw kunai at Sakura, telling her to dodge. Sakura did her best, but found that she lacked that natural grace every other girl in her class had had, and ended up covered in small scratches and large cuts. She had been tired, panting like an exhausted dog, but hadn't given up.
Anko stopped around noon and told Sakura that not every kunoichi had to be graceful to be a great shinobi. So long as she could dodge weapons and land hits, that was all that mattered. Anko released her with orders to practice her dodging and reflexes.
On the third day, Anko-sensei had tied a blindfold around Sakura's eyes and told her to defend. Sakura did horribly, but proved she was a tough one. She managed to use her other senses the last hour and was able to dodge better, but she still left the training ground bruised and cut up. Yet again.
On the fourth day, Anko repeated the last two lessons and expected improvement. She wasn't disappointed, too much. Sakura had been able to go on the offensive once, and that had been enough for Anko. She wouldn't admit it, but she was starting to like her new student. She was stubborn, strong-willed, and resilient. And she knew Ibiki was starting to like her too, if his constant presence at the edge of the training ground meant anything.
Anko ended that day's session early, telling the brat she had done a good job and gave her orders to continue her practicing until she could go on the offensive at least twice. Sakura had readily agreed to do just that.
Thankfully, through all of this, Sakura's teammates hadn't once come looking for her. She hadn't been sure if she should be disappointed, or happy. She chose to go with the latter, as it made her training easier to focus on. She didn't need distractions, not when she had ten more days before she had to be back.
She, for once, was not happy about going back on missions with her teams. And she had to wonder if this new outlook was because she had found a sensei who only paid attention to her.
Hiro-sensei had made good on his promise to quiz her. When she had returned her books, he had a stack of new ones just waiting for her. They spent three hours going over everything she had studied in the last four days, and he had spent an hour berating her for not getting herself healed up. Sakura used the excuse that all her time was devoted to either training or studying, and that hospital visits would detract her time from one of those so she avoided it all together until a routine could be established.
The fifth, sixth, and seventh days were hell for Sakura's body. She had felt like a rag doll with the way Anko-sensei had attacked her from all sides. She was forced into defense all three days, and she had felt like her practice had been for nothing. What she didn't know, was that Anko was taking her seriously and came at her with the intent to injure. Not kill. She wasn't ready to kill her student.
That would be later on. When she knew the brat could handle it.
Day eight small change. Not a big one, or a little one. But, there had been a change. Sakura had finally had enough and had attacked first, putting Anko on the defensive for once. The brat had come at her with every intention to hurt her, and she had managed to land a hit. Anko's right shoulder stung from the impact, and she had grinned like a devil. She then went after Sakura and put her back on the defensive until noon, when Sakura had managed another change. She had thrown a kunai in the general direction of Anko-sensei, thinking she had heard her move. Her hearing had been correct, sorta. Sakura had managed to put a hole in Anko's coat, which was impressive considering the girl was almost drained of chakra.
That day had been the happiest in Sakura's life. She was improving, and that was all she needed.
Day nine and ten saw different training. Sakura needed to mask her chakra. Anko made her stand in the center of the field and concentrate on masking her chakra. This was one of those things she couldn't explain, as it was different for every person. So, with words of encouragement, she left Sakura there until she could master it.
The took eight hours, two breaks, and one approving sensei.
Anko told Sakura to go home that day and rest up, as the next day would be focused on her killing intent.
The morning of the eleventh, Sakura got to meet Ibiki and feel his killing intent first hand. She had all but cowered at the sheer power of it, but her awe kept her spine rigid and straight.
She spent all day trying to harness her own K.I, and was able to produce a meager amount. Still, it was more than her teammates could conjure up and that was enough for her.
The twelve day was spent repeating Ibiki's lesson until she got enough K.I to surround herself. She worked on it throughout the day, even showing Hiro-sensei. He had freaked out when she told him who taught her that.
Hiro didn't like the direction her training was going, as he didn't want his bright and cheery student to disappear. But he saw how happy she was, which was a huge improvement from the depressed, meek girl from two weeks ago, and that made his doubts vanish. Despite knowing who her teachers were, he knew they were doing something great with her.
Her last two days of freedom were spent on doing whatever she wanted to do. She asked Anko to spar with her, so she could see where she had improved. Anko obliged her request happily and mopped the floor with the girl. But Anko saw the glint in the girl's eyes whenever she got into her stance.
Sakura was slowly becoming Anko's mini double, and the made Anko smug.
Just wait until Kakashi saw his student and what she had become.
Kakashi-sensei was late, again.
She really shouldn't have been that surprised, but after being spoiled for the past two weeks, she couldn't help but get mad. Anko-sensei had always arrived early for their training.
She had also been spoiled with not having any teammates. Anko-sensei and Hiro-sensei didn't have any other students, so their attention had been undivided when it came to her. But now that she was back to good ol' Team 7, she would ignored again.
Luckily, Anko-sensei had told her that she could always find her down at T&I if being on a team became too much.
Sakura kept that offer in the forefront of her mind as she watched her teammates come into view. She heard Naruto before she saw him, and well, she felt Sasuke's presence not far behind. She was currently laying on the railing of the red bridge, her foot dangling while her eyes were unfocused. She was trying to sense the chakra of her teammates, as a way to keep up with her training. She found that her teammates' chakras were interesting. Naruto's was vibrant, and warm, while Sasuke's was cold. She wondered if everyone's chakra represented their personalities.
Before either of the boys could comment on her change in appearance, a puff of white smoke formed.
Their sensei had finally arrived.
"Yo." Kakashi greeted, giving his students a two finger salute. He ignored Naruto's outburst about him being late in favor of studying Sakura. She had changed in the past two weeks, in more ways than one. Her posture, for one, was more confident. She stood up straighter, prouder. Her aura wasn't as bubbly as before, which was odd. He wondered if she had learned how to suppress that. Her hitea, normally used to hold her hair back, was wrapped lazily around her neck. He noticed that she had gotten the color change. It was no longer red; now it a dark grey. He could only imagine Anko telling her to change it as soon as possible. Her hair, her symbol of pride, was tied up into a low ponytail then braided. It rested over her right shoulder. She no longer wore her long, red dress, which he was happy about. It had been too bright, and too girly. She instead wore baggy, black nin pants, heeled sandals, a fishnet three quarter sleeve shirt over a sleeveless, grey crop-top. Her weapons pouch was in it's normal place and he could only guess as to what was inside. He doubted she had her fans in there, as they looked more like decorations to him than actual weapons.
Overall, she looked like a new person.
He could only hope her appearance was the only thing that had changed.
"Hello Kakashi-sensei," she greeted, her tone even and respectful. At least she still respected him. Sasuke noticed the change in her greeting and raised his eyebrow half an inch before smoothing his look into indifference. He waited for her annoying greeting and her annoying declaration of love. He waited, and waited, and waited.
They all just looked at her, waiting.
Sakura was busy examining her nails, that when she looked up and saw them all staring at her expectantly, she was creeped out.
"What the hell?" She asked, a hand on her hip in defiance.
Kakashi sighed internally; Anko had corrupted his innocent student in only two weeks. That was a new record for her.
"I have some good news," he said, drawing the attention back to him, mainly so a fight wouldn't break out. He knew Anko well enough to know that her bluntness and way of getting under people's skin had probably rubbed off onto Sakura. He had hoped, no prayed, that that wouldn't happen, but his prayers had been shot down. "I've decided to nominate you three for the Chunin Exams!" He stated, waiting for the overjoyed hug he should be getting.
Kami, was nobody listening to him up there?!
These are the votes for who Sakura gets paired up with.
Gaara: 24
Itachi: 24
Neji: 8
Deidara: 3
Shikamaru: 6
Hidan: 2
Sasori: 1
Zetsu: 1
Kiba: 1
Kankuro: 1
Ino: 1
Temari x Naruto: 1