Ramen Doodles
By Andrew J. Talon
Disclaimer: I do not and probably never will own Naruto or any other copyrighted works mentioned in this story. I am not writing this for profit.
The Impermanence of Life (part I)
A guest chapter by Obloquy
It was a very simple thing that set Sakura on the path of badassery, as much a pun on her name as anything. It was the first spring after Sakura had joined the Academy and befriended Ino, and with her parents busy Sakura had been granted permission to attend the Ino-Shika-Chou clans' Hanami festival (cherry blossom viewing) as a friend of the Yamanaka heiress.
Along with the clansmen, attending the ceremony were other various friends, including the genin team who once served under Chouza Akimichi.
"He's very loud," Sakura commented to a neighboring shinobi with all the tact of a child.
"I suppose he is, but Gai does his best to live every day as though it could be his last. His diligence is an example to all of us," Ebisu commented, melancholy from the sake shared among adults.
They began to talk, and he did his best to impress upon young Sakura the effort Gai put into his life, and the reasons for it.
"People in general, but ninja especially tend to see sakura blossoms as a sign of the impermanence of life. I wouldn't trade it, but I also know that I could die in the service and must put forth my utmost effort to be strong and come home. Or more importantly, to ensure that my loved ones can come home. Gai saw that, with his father," Ebisu sighed.
Quietly, he shared with Sakura the story of Maito Dai, a great man who faced down all the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist to protect his son.
"He won," Ebisu sighed, "and Gai survived, but his father did not. Now Gai trains to ensure that he come come home and bring others home safely, for life, like sakura, is impermant but brilliant."
"Wow..." Sakura breathed. Then, "Sir, you said that people used to laugh at Maito Dai for all his effort training?"
"They did."
"So, the Academy probably doesn't teach the training that Dai and Gai use," Sakura reasoned. "What should I do if I want to grow up strong and bring my friends home safely?"
Ebisu chuckled and told her. A lot of it was very complicated, and Sakura didn't remember everything, but she did her earnest best.
Two days later, a document titled To Blaze Brilliantly! A Young Kunoichi's Training Plan was delivered to her house, with a note that Ebisu would check in on her in a week or two.
It listed all sorts of exercises, a few diagrams, and even a diet plan. Most importantly for the young girl, however, were the explanations: caloric counts, citations of muscle growth, explanations of lactic acid issues and breathing exercises...
Sakura Haruno's inquisitive brain latched onto the new information and dug in greedily. She followed the plan as diligently as she was able, and it was a little hard in the beginning, and it wasn't fun, but as soon as she began out-performing the other students in her academy class - even the clan kids! - she felt a thrill of exhilaration and accomplishment that made the effort worthwhile.
"Iruka-sensei?" she asked, staying after class one day.
"Yes, Sakura?" he greeted kindly.
"Well... We were doing the leaf exercise today, sticking it to our forehead, and I know you said that great ninja trained this way and it felt good that I could do it so well, but I don't really understand how training this way will be useful on missions. I could maybe make a bunch of leaves stick to my body as a disguise if I was sneaking or hiding, but if someone swings a sword at me-," The image in her imagination, of seven sinister swordsmen fighting a single brave ninja, flashed through her mind. "-or throws a shuriken, it's not going to help me much."
"The leaf exercise is practice for training... I suppose, since you did it well, I can tell you about a few other options. But let's start by putting your brain to work. The leaf exercise involves using chakra to make a leaf stick to your forehead. How would you develop this to make it more difficult or useful."
"I could use it to stick more leaves on my forehead?" Sakura frowned, thinking of the mockery she already got from her large forehead (but less of it now that she was beating Ami in regular sparring). "I could... I know we usually wear forehead protectors, so I guess sticking something that isn't a leaf to my forehead wouldn't be useful. Could I stick things-? Oh! If I can stick things to my hands or other places I bet it would help with sleight of hand and hiding secret documents without hidden pockets! And I'm not sure it would work on dirt, but if I stick my feet to the ground then Chouji wouldn't have beaten me by picking me up and throwing me out of the ring yesterday!"
"Excellent!" Iruka cheered, getting a piece of paper and a pen out. "Here, how about I write down a few exercises I know are safe for you to practice?"
Sakura had a goal. She wanted to beat every student in her class in taijutsu sparring at least once before the semester ended. She wasn't beating everyone reliably - Hinata was good at taijutsu, as were Ino and Chouji when they put in effort - but she had so far scored a win against almost every other student in at least one match, even if it required some risks and some unconventional tactics.
Every student except one.
"Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, you're up," Mizuki-sensei called.
Today was the day she'd resolved to tick the last name off her list. Sasuke Uchiha was the best in their class at taijutsu. She knew he'd had clan training - they covered the Uchiha and Senju clans in history class, he wore the same crest and had the same name, even if something had happened that the adults didn't want to talk to kids about and now there weren't any more Uchiha MPs walking the streets - and that he continued training diligently.
So he'd gotten an earlier start than her, but that wasn't a reason she couldn't eke out a win.
This time she had a plan.
"Form the seal of confrontation. Begin!"
They moved, and Sakura was very glad that Sasuke went on the offensive even as she wished that she had some breathing room.
Sasuke was skilled and strong, but Sakura had built up muscles and stamina with her own training, and she could parry or evade his blows.
She could maneuver.
She could leave an opening to bait him.
Sasuke twisted into a flying roundhouse kick - a move Sakura had seen him use a few times in response to an opening - and Sakura put her plan into action.
Iruka-sensei might have called it cheating for her to anchor her feet to the floor with chakra (she wasn't sure), but Mizuki-sensi was the one watching today while Iruka graded papers, so it was definitely safe.
Sakura blocked, and the force did not send her stumbling, because she was rooted like a mighty tree.
She was Sakura from the Tree Leaves, and she was strong.
Sakura turned her block into a grab, flexed her muscles and tendons as Sasuke realized he'd made a mistake, and threw him out of the ring.
Credit where it was due, Sasuke nearly recovered in mid-air, but she'd lured him closer to the edge of the ring so he wouldn't have room to, and he landed out of bounds.
"Winner, Sakura!" Mizuki-sensei declared as Sasuke stared at her, unnerved.
They made the sign of reconciliation, and Sakura hoped she wasn't seen as a sore winner but she just couldn't stop smiling.
"Team Seven will be Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno," Iruka declared.
Naruto was loud as ever, and Sasuke didn't react, but Sakura gave them a polite nod from her seat near Ino and Ami.
"Man, why did you get Sasuke-kun?" Ino groused.
"Hey, that just means I can introduce you as my friend and train together," Sakura offered carelessly as Iruka-sensei continued down the list.
We've all seen OP Naruto fics where he got training early, but honestly, with how powerful he and Sasuke become in canon, it's not really needed.
Why not give improvement to the one member of Team 7 who desperately needed it?