Chapter 3:
Sakuras alarm starts ringing and she gets up at the third ring. The events from last night with that freak are still fresh in her mind. Her parents are sometimes forreal wildin. Like all she wants to do is train and live her life to the fullest as a shinobi, even if that is short lived. She feels accomplished with recent recognition from Genma, and her parents were not going to ruin this for her.
'All for some stupid business deal?' Sakura thought while getting up and stretching.
Sakura after stretching looked at her clock, it shows 5 in the morning which gives Sakura an hour. She speeds through her skin care and brushing her teeth. She brushes and braids her hair into two dutch braids since they will probably be the longest lasting for her long ass day. The dutch braids end slightly below her chest and are fairly thick.
She goes through her closet and opts for an all black outfit because she would prefer to not show sweat stains throughout the day since she had two training sessions and then shogi.. And then a date! Which she was currently formulating a plan for.
After 5 minutes of digging through her closet and her new training clothes she settled for the black basic ninja baggy extra pocketed pants, then she does her bindings in black putting on a baggy mesh shirt. It is cute but practical for the drizzly humid day that kohona was planned out to be.
She wraps her ankles and her wrists, throws on her weapons holster, and throws on her backpack. As she checks the time she realizes she has time to make herself and genma some real breakfast. She fries up an egg over easy like her mom once taught her to do and grabs some of her dads rice, 'the only one in the house who even eats it… up until now!' Sakura thought with a smirk. She grabs some of the leftover grilled fish from the night before as well as getting out some side dishes. She decided the best side dishes to be ohitashi (boiled veggies) and nori (dried seaweed) since she loved nori. Sakura packs them into some containers not bothering to be quiet anymore since she was quiet upset with her parents and wanted to make it known that this was an inexcusable act.
She grabs everything and boogies out the door with 10 minutes to spare, not minding on the short time since her house is only a brisk 5 minute walk to the training field they are deciding to meet at.
She gets there and Genma is already there with… Dango lady?
"Genma-san!" Sakura says while finishing her walk to the training field.
"Hey kid. Looks like you had a rough night? Don't you ever get a goddamn break? Anyways we will talk later. Meet Anko Miterashi," Genma says while Sakura looks over at Anko who smirks deviously, "She is here to help me today since I have to leave a bit early for a mission. Sorry I couldn't stay today but you know, when a job calls is calls. Same time tomorrow I should be back okay? Anko is already aware of the predicament and deal." Genma nods at Sakura.
"Alright but don't pull a Kakashi on me and go all MIA because you feel like it. I'll see you tommorow morning hopefully." Sakura says nodding.
Now of course Sakura is bummed out. Sakura of course does understand though that Genma is a Jonin and if he has a mission he has to go on, he has a mission he has to go on.
And just like that with a nod Genma is off in a puff.
"Don't look to relieved kid. Genma is the softest man on Earth compared to me. You will refer to me as Anko-sensei at all times and do what is asked of you. Understand?." Anko says chewing on the Dango stick in a dangerous way.
"Hai, Anko-sensei." Sakura nods while standing up straighter.
"I remember your team and your annoying teammates and sensei, they way they ate my Dango like it was their own... I can see why you sought out Genma, squirt. I knew I made the right decision in avoiding hitting you. On todays plan, A lap around Kohona, including the monument, with up to no Chakra some other workouts too, and then an hour of meditation for those reserves, followed by Genjutsu and Senbon training." Anko barked out in a scary manner like what seemed like usual.
Sakura gave her a a quick 'Hai, Sensei!' Before she began her pain-staking most likey hour and a half long run.
From what Sakura new she would have to pass by the Uchiha compund, Nara fields, the Hokage monument, and the other training fields before she made it back to 31.
15 minutes in and she was at a fast pace so far. What Anko didn't tell her is that she would have her snakes chasing her the whole way to provide some incentive to finish. It was clear that Anko didn't accept failure or a slow win. This somewhat comforted Sakura, knowing she had someone pushing her. Not just one person though, Genma would have probably done something similar to keep her going. Kakashi? He would have just said something like 'Mou Sakura. Its okay, just go sit down and rest while me and the boys finish!' With that stupid book, eye crinkle, and head pat. Anko though? No Anko accepted nothing but swift success and Sakura was going to give it to her. Legs burning, heart racing, and breath fast? Her stress response on full? Snakes nipping at her heels? It should all be damned. Because Sakura was going to finish this lap. So she kept on.
30 Minutes in and she was wavering on the previous sentiments she had felt, which everyone would be. She was in between the Uchiha compound and the Nara Fields. Hopefully she did not run into Shikamaru or Sasuke was all that she could think! She won't because it is 6:30 in the morning currently. And Neither of them would even bother being up this early…well maybe sasuke due to his little vengeance plan. Sakura thought about his little plan with an eyeroll but she kept on running. As Sakura finished realizing she probably wasn't going to see shikamaru, or see stupid sasuke it gave her a little more push… well that and the snakes that had yet to let up.
45 Minutes in and she was at the Hokage monument! This was the hour long part for sure. She was feeling the burn in her calves, lungs, and every part of her body. This conditioning would be beneficial but without chakra she felt as if she would die. She wasn't graceful, she wasn't gliding through this lap..yet. She kept having to remind herself that this long tiring lap was so she can be in front of the boys. So they can look at her back for a bit. A couple of these hard but good laps and her endurance will already be way better than it is now. The stairs she was facing right now would only push her harder and harder. Half way up the stairs and she was ready to change the plan and jump over the railing though. But she feared if she jumped over the railing the snakes would follow so the only option she had was to keep running away from them. She reached the top and felt relief because now she only had to jog down the stairs after this straight away, and then a little while after these stairs she will be back at the field she was at.
70 minutes in and she was crying for air and water but she decided to cling on to the image of her and Itsaki's date. It gave her enough rage to pick up the pace a little bit even. Whoever said that a ninja should turn off emotions to gain strength was wrong because right now, Sakura was fuming and she wasn't even near Itsaki. She was at the bottom of the monument right now coming off the last stair before she was back on the grass. She hurt but the thought of being helpless and arranged to be with some freak to be a paper pusher in a court or something didn't sit well with Sakura at all. This source of anger seems to be a recurring one. Then again who wouldn't be mad about something like that?
She was coming around the bend, definitely slower than the start but still a good pace for how tired she was. Anko was sitting on the ground with a dango stick in her mouth and her eyes on the watch she had on her wrist.
"Push a little more squirt! Or did you forget about the snakes on your heel!" Anko yelled from her spot 100 yards in front of Sakura. Like a cue the snakes sped up and were now literally on her heels. Sakura was bound the have some snake fang sized puncture holes on her heel at the end of this. But the thought of possibly being eaten by snakes made her a little scared. And Anko would let them eat her too. She decided to pick it up and was now dying. Running ungracefully and dreched in sweat she ran faster and made it past Anko before collapsing.
All that could be heard was Anko laughing sadistcally and Sakura's heavy breathes as she layed in a crumpled, but comfortable, pile on the ground.
Anko spoke up first after her laughing, "Not bad kid. Just over a hour and a half. However Genma informed me that he wants you below an Hour by the end of next week so I would start running on your own. Maybe start wearing weights?"
"Thank you Anko-sensei and I will probably. I just don't have any source of income right now because my teammates keep failing our missions. And I have tons of crap going on tonight too." Sakura sighed after sitting up.
"Well we are going to meditate so you probaby should get your mind cleared. Talk to me while you catch your breath." Anko said her demenor changed.
From Sakura's view of Anko she is a crazy bitch for starters, but she is also a curious person. She loves the drama. But in a way Sakura does too. Some shit talk is good for the soul after all. Plus maybe Anko would love to help out.
"Well Anko-sensei, both of my parents are civilian. My mom is some well known public figure or something, or she was I guess. And my dad is some paper pusher in the Daimyo's court who is in a pretty high position. My mom pressures me to be perfect in her eyes, and she things this whole Shinobi thing is a 'phase'. My dad thinks the same. We are by no means prestigious, if anything we are just extremely well off because of my grandparents hardwork. But they desperately want that prestigious title so they have decided to now try and arrange me to marry some freaky little shit who is prestigious. He is so bratty and creepy too. They went ahead and planned a date for tonight without telling me too! Not only that but my teammates are irritable, I love them like my family but they aren't reliable right now." Sakura was chill on the outside about the ordeal, but she was pissed off on the inside and her organs were boiling from her annoyance of it all.
"Okay now that all of that is off your chest lets meditate. And you know what kid, if you do good maybe I can help you out with all this shit!" Anko said while eating more dango. Sakura began to ponder where she gets this endless supply of dango from, but decided not to ask.
Sakura left all of her struggles outside of her body and meditated. She focuses on the flow of chakra into her reserves, whilst expelling slight amounts to slowly grow the size of the reserve. Just like her book taught her. After about an hour of that her reserves had grown a little more and Anko shook her back to reality. In reality Sakura was sweating from the run and the precise control that meditation comes with.
"Alright kid. Stand up and stretch out. And then we are gonna do some questioning." Anko said while she twirled a kunai.
Sakura just mutters her Hai-sensei and stands up stretching some of the stiffness out. When she is done she looks at Anko.
"Can you tell me what a person fears most?" Anko asks staring right into Sakura's eyes.
"They fear loosing what they love most right?" Sakura answers slightly unsure of herself.
"Give an example." Anko orders.
"Well if someone loves a person most, loosing them would hurt them. Or love of money, being broke fears them." Sakura explained
"Exactly. That is what you want to use in a gen-jutsu most of the time. Let me break this down for you kid. Your genjutsu should always use layers. Your first and most notable layer is the decoy layer. Something obviously genjutsu so they disrupt that layer. Your second layer can either be the trap that you set or a challenge to start to break them. Three layers is sufficient because they will just continue to disrupt their chakra until they are certain there are no more. I personally like 3 layers. When you become crazy like me kid, which you will, watching someone break becomes entertaining. Especially if they deserve it. Which brings me to my next point. Always assume that someone deserves it. If you start thinking about someones good deeds you will never get to the bad ones, which almost always outweigh the good ones. As far as you are concerned everyone has it out for you, makes it easier for you to cast a strong genjutsu." Anko lectures her on.
"What if they are really a good person?" Sakura decides to question.
"No one like that truly exists. And if they did, for your sake they are terrible people. Our world is based on a system where your morals cannot be white or black. This is war Sakura, and you have to use what you can to win, to live." Anko says with a slightly crazy but wisdom filled glance.
"Now I am going to show you the hand-signs and stuff. And you are going to fight your way out of my genjustsu until you can't make mistakes, and until you can recognize that you are placed in one in less than 30 seconds." Anko vocalizing in her scary order voice, causing Sakura's back to straighten for the millionth time that day.
The first couple times she layered one. The next large amount she layered two or one, mixing it up. Then the three layer. First she would layer the False-Surrouning, Then an extreme hell-viewing technique, then she would put the last step as the sly mind affect which makes the surroundings look the exact same causing someone to walk in circles and never reach their destination.
After a long time with that Sakura managed to Break out of one in under 30 seconds. In the hell-viewing Sakura repeatedly saw Sasuke and Naruto say they were disappointed in her and that she was weak and annoying.
"How do you feel after that? Traumatized? Sad?" Anko questioned, truly curious.
"Well Sensei… I feel pissed off. I however don't think anyone will ever get a reaction from me again if they piss me off." Sakura said honestly. She says this because after listening to naruto call her weak and sasuke call her weak probably 100 times, she can't even seem to care.
"Good kid. Actually instead of Senbon today kid, lets work on some mental training. You seem overall pretty… weak minded. And I mean that if you get insulted you look like you will fold. You need to take insults as compliments kid." Anko said sitting down and nodding at Sakura to sit in front of her.
"Okay so how do I do this?" Sakura asked.
"Well kid, you are at the point where I think you just ignore them. But what if I told you that you can mess with the other person mentally? You have to be good at dishing out what you receive basically." Anko started. "Here insult me." She finished suggesting.
"Okay uhh… You are a Sadistic Freak." Sakura said
"Makes for a better T&I resume. Besides your boyfriend seems to love the senbon I use." Anko said with a smirk.
"Oh I get it. I get it real good. Okay my turn." Sakura asked ready for Anko to insult her.
"Your forehead is huge." Anko said
"You probably wouldn't have noticed how big it was if you weren't busy trying to see your reflection in it." Sakura said shrugging her shoulders.
"At least I want to look good, your hair is even messy." Anko said trying to rally.
"It wouldn't be so messy if your brother didn't love pulling it you know?" Sakura said keeping a straight face.
"Kid… I think you are my prodigy. Okay Lets go again, this time try and act cocky a bit more. And make a lot more eye contact. And then we can discuss another tactic okay?" Anko Grinned while giving Sakura some tips.
"You are so annoying." Anko said. See Anko knew that Sakura go called annoying frequently by her silly little teammates so she wanted to see how she would react to this.
Instead of speaking this time, Sakura just squinted at Anko's forehead right in the middle.
Anko immediately began to feel embarrasses until she realized what Sakura was doing.
"You are truly my student. That was smart. Making someone really insecure."Anko laughed a little.
"Yeah I learned from the best. Anyways what was the next tactic?" Sakura asked ready to learn more, because she was for sure going to try these out.
"Well, you are going to basically flirt with them I guess. It just makes the other party uncomfy and embarrassed and usually works well in all situations." Anko shrugged nodding at Sakura to insult her again.
"You act really weak." Sakura Insulted.
"Why don't you come over here and Ill show you just how strong I can be?" Anko winked seductivly in an attractive tone of voice.
"You are really good. I don't think I am that bold Anko." Sakura laughed a bit.
"Lets try it. Okay. You are so annoying, you talk too much." Anko said, using the sore spot.
"I only talk this much for people like you." Sakura said winking at Anko.
"Not bad Sakura. Your job is to work on these for the rest of the day deal?" Anko said nodding at Sakura. The latter nodded back in excitement.
"Okay now explain this situation with this little perv kid while I walk you to field 7." Anko grinned in Excitement.
Okay guys I understand it has been a hot second but I promise I will get on my grind. I am just kinda back in my Dramione era so I am reading a lot of dramione fics. Naruto will always be my first love though.
I know this one is kind of short and a tad unedited but it is currently one in the morning.
See you next Chapter.