Here is the next chapter! Enjoy.
Sakura never understood why the boys kept her in the middle. Here they were, weeding some old lady's garden, and the two were arguing over her head. It's not like she had a good relationship with Uchiha, so why can't they just sit next to each other? Sakura gave a side eye to the boy in question. She had been getting into quite a few passive-aggressive arguments with him ever since their 'training accident', yet he still would rather sit next to her than Naruto.
It made no sense.
At least being in the middle balanced the Burning out somewhat, but she would rather deal with a little heat than whatever spat the two found themselves in. Sakura felt a drop of sweat drip down her forehead and wiped it away. It was a rather hot day for spring, hot enough that all three of them were sweating in what should be a low taxing activity. Sakura looked longingly at the shade Kakashi-sensei was under, wishing she could relax and read as well. She felt an elbow to her side and glared at Uchiha.
"Have something to say?"
He ignored her.
That was a thing now. If they weren't fighting he was pretending she didn't exist, and if they did talk at least every sentence that came out of his mouth included the words 'annoying' and 'hn'.
Bastard, Sakura wished she broke his nose.
'Inner, did I ever tell you that Kakashi-sensei was my favorite?'
'Other than the sixteen other times you said it this past week? No, no you did not.'
'Oh that's not nearly enough, I will make sure to say it more.'
'Ha, but seriously Sakura, you have to fix whatever this is.'
'Fix what?'
'Don't play clueless, you need to fix your relationship with Uchiha, it's starting to impact missions. You know how to be a professional don't you? Aren't you a Haruno?'
Now that was uncalled for.
'You don't pull punches do you?'
'I learned from the best.'
'True, that I am.'
"Sakura-chan look! I did a great job didn't I?"
She glanced over to the side Naruto was working on, and was happy to see he finished and with no flowers pulled this time.
She trained him well.
"Nice job Naruto, did you want to move on to the other side of the house? We will catch up later." She gave him a tap on the head.
Ah sweet relief, she will never get tired of it.
"Hehe, thanks Sakura-chan. I'll move to the other side after I help you finish." He held his hands together in front of him, a shy smile on his face.
"What, you need to be rewarded for doing the bare minimum Dobe?" Uchiha interjected, he stopped pulling weeds to stand and stare at his teammates. Naruto stood up.
"You want to go Teme?"
"Would you? Or would your precious 'Sakura-chan' save you again?"
And there it was, the statement that pulled her into this conversation against her will.
"Uchiha, I would appreciate it if you would stop mentioning me in your bickering."
He ignored her.
Again.
The pretty little shit, that's it.
Inner was right, if things kept going like this she would loose it on a mission, like this one.
Sakura rose and grabbed Uchiha's arm, pulling him close.
"We need to talk and no, you don't have a choice." Sakura glanced over to Kakashi-sensei.
"Sensei, Uchiha and I are taking a ten minute break to amicably resolve our differences."
Sensei flipped a page.
"No blood or broken bones."
"Yes Sensei."
Sakura dragged Uchiha out of the garden to the other side of the house, and faced him with her arms crossed.
"Look Uchiha, it may be hard to believe but I don't hate you, so whatever this is I would like to fix it. We are teammates, and though it pains me to admit it, I do care about your safety and don't want to see you get killed because we couldn't get along."
"Hn." His tone the least confrontational Sakura had heard all week.
"Did I do something wrong? Not counting the headbutt because you deserved that."
Uchiha looked at her.
"You asked Kakashi for genjutsu training, and you baby the Dobe too much."
Sakura held it in.
Really? That's it? All of the little tiffs he has gotten into with her have been solely because of that?
She exhaled.
"Uchiha, you could ask Kakashi-sensei for extra training too you know, as for Naruto that's how I treat my friends."
It's not like she's going to tell him the head taps are a reliever for the Burning, but what she said was the truth. They were friends. She likes seeing him happy and she gets relief. Its a win-win situation. If only she thought of it sooner, but Naruto was more annoying in the Academy so it probably wouldn't have worked out.
Uchiha clenched his teeth.
"I did ask him, and he said my chakra control wasn't good enough."
"Alright so? Have you improved at all? You can ask again."
"I already have great chakra control, it should be enough."
Sakura muffled a snort.
Uchiha? Great chakra control? Don't make her laugh, he only did what was required at the Academy, deciding to focus on the other disciplines. He had no idea what it meant to have great chakra control.
He's not her, obviously.
"Really? Do you know how to tree walk? Water walk?"
He shuffled in place.
"Hn."
That's a no if ever she heard one.
Sakura ran a hand through her hair, alright she can work with this.
"I'll teach you how to tree walk ok? Then afterwards you can try asking him again."
"Fine, deal."
"Great! We can work on it tomorrow while we wait for Kakashi-sensei to show up. Let's head back."
"Hn."
Sakura and Uchiha were walking back to the rest of the team when she was elbowed lightly.
"You still baby the Dobe too much." He commented, though she could hear the faint traces of teasing.
"Well you are just going to have to deal with it Uchiha." She elbowed him right back. When the two genin reunited with the rest of the team the tension between them had faded. It wasn't completely gone, but it was better. They would be able to work together at least.
'Happy?'
'Yes.'
'You better be.'
'Oh enough of that, get back to work. Sha?'
'You're lucky I can't touch you, na'rro.'
.
Sakura exited the mission desk building, she had just collected her pay, and was headed home to collect the fish she needed for her medic training. They were able to finish the mission earlier than she anticipated, so luckily she had time to do a few things before meeting Higurashi-sensei. A shower though, was the most important.
She needed a shower.
Sweaty and dirty was not the way she wanted to start off her first lesson.
Her good mood plummeted when she saw the blonde mop of hair pop out of the quad of shinobi walking towards her.
Why?
Why was Yamanaka everywhere?
Sakura and Yamanaka made eye contact, the former frowning while the latter gave a bright smile.
"Did you just get done with a mission and are going home? What was that? Did I want to come over? Oh I've loved to! After we turn in this mission I will be right over, thanks Haruno." Yamanaka spoke in a rapid manner, leaving no room for Sakura to chime in, before heading inside with her team.
Why couldn't it have been anyone else who remembered?
Yamanaka would enjoy a nice slap to the face wouldn't she?
'Remember the jutsu Sakura, just think of the jutsu.'
Sakura calmed her breath and resumed her trek home at a quick pace. Sakura hurried into her house when she arrived and flew up the stairs into the shower. Her parents weren't home, so she saved some time not having to converse. After her quick shower Sakura was soon dressed and checked on the fish she was bringing.
She looked at the fish she had grown attached too, she was never allowed to have animals growing up, so this was the closest she had ever gotten to a pet. The Kaito triplets were playing, though their cousins Sora and Yuna were being anti-social. Miku and Yuu were relaxing with Nori and Aoi, while Kagome was swimming circles around them.
Her school of fish looked fine, which was a relief. Sakura was feeding them when she heard the dreaded knock on the door.
She opened it and leaned on the door frame.
"You have twenty minutes Yamanaka, then I have to leave for a prior appointment."
Yamanaka brushed past her.
"Then we better get started right?"
Sakura rolled her eyes and escorted her to the kitchen table. She gave Yamanaka a glass of water and sat down.
"Spill Haruno." Sakura glanced at her own cup of water and was tempted to take her literally.
"There's nothing more to say, what I wrote in the file is what happened." Yamanaka gave her a dry look.
"This one incident can't be all that you know. When did you first notice there was something wrong?"
"When I was nine."
"You've known for that long and haven't told anyone?"
Sakura looked away.
"Who says I haven't told anyone? They either forget or think I'm crazy. My own Father threatened to move, though that's all in the past now."
Yamanaka who leaned forward in anger, deflated.
"What was your first incident?"
"That's... that's personal. Not a conversation for today."
Yamanaka interlaced her fingers and rested her chin on them. Sakura felt slightly uncomfortable with her stare, any Yamanaka that looked at her like that always gave her the chills.
"Ok not today, but! It will happen later. Besides this 'Green Man' who else have you had incidents with?"
"Iruka-sensei, some medic-nin at the hospital, my parents, you, my genin sensei, Naruto, some more people who I don't know their names."
"Wow, that's a lot...wait, Naruto? You call him Naruto now? If you can call him by his first name what about me? Why am I still Yamanaka?"
"Because Naruto is Naruto and you are Yamanaka. So, what are you planning to do?"
"I'll continue to dig in to my own Dad, and will pay a visit to the 'Green Man' to see if I can trigger an incident like yours."
The two took a few sips of their drinks before Sakura spoke.
"Can you teach me that copy jutsu now?"
Yamanaka gave a devious smile.
"Oh Haruno I would love too, but you have an appointment. We need more time than ten minutes. Asuma-sensei takes our team out twice a week for dinner to the Akamichi BBQ restaurant. Every Wednesday and Friday, you can find me there at that time. At least, if you want to learn the jutsu."
Yamanaka excused herself and left Sakura seated at the table, she seethed. Yamanaka wanted her to act like a needy puppy, no way was Sakura going to give her that satisfaction. She'll give it a week and make Yamanaka wait, but for now she had to focus on getting to her lesson.
.
Sakura sat outside Higurashi-sensei's office, waiting for the meeting to be over. On her lap was her bowl of fish, and she'd playfully stick a finger in and out of the water to pass the time. Sakura wasn't one to think that fish were cute, but these ones that grew on her over the last three days were the exception. She continued to play with her fish until the door opened. As soon as Higurashi-sensei's company was out of the office Sakura walked in.
Sakura could tell Sensei was tired, the bags under her brown eyes were pronounced but she still look put together. Her clothes and hair still neat and tidy.
"Good afternoon Sensei."
"Sensei?" The woman looked down at a note on her desk.
"Right, I am mentoring someone, my fatigue must be getting to me that I forgot. So you have near perfect chakra control... what was your name again?"
Ugh, another incident, she can still salvage this though.
"Haruno Sakura, but Sakura is fine Sensei. I brought the fish you asked me to get." She placed her fish on the desk and sat down.
"Right Sakura, let me see what I prepared the other day." The woman cleared her throat reading the rest of the note.
"Excluding today, the normal itinerary for lessons will be as follows. A fifteen minute meeting here in the office for questions you have regarding anything you may see or learn here at the hospital. Following that you will be shadowing me as I do my rounds and will be occasionally sent out to do tasks for the hospital. They will be treated as D rank missions and you will be paid accordingly. Any questions?"
"No Sensei."
"Good, let's see... today I will be teaching you the Mystic Palm Jutsu, which must be why I had you bring the fish."
Sakura's head shot up in surprise. She was going to be learning the Mystic Palm Jutsu? The A rank jutsu where if you mess up you could potentially kill the person you were trying to heal? That wasn't what got her though, no. She had to learn it on her fish?
Her fish?
Sakura unconsciously grabbed the bowl.
"Hmm, I see you have grown attached. That's good." Higurashi-sensei said, grabbing the fish from Sakura and placing it on a bookshelf behind her.
How could that be good?
"Listen closely Sakura, the life of a medic-nin is not one to take lightly. There will come a time when someone you care about will be dying in front of you, and the only person who could possibly save them is you. Sometimes you will succeed, but other times you will fail. Accept it. We are not gods, even though people you'll encounter will treat you as such. You are young, so this may be hard to understand, but you are a shinobi. It will be expected that you act with a calm head at all times, and perform to the expected standard. Now I am not a monster, I won't make you learn on the fish you became attached to, so lets do this. I will give you three weeks, and in those three weeks you will learn and practice on other fish while I keep yours here. At the end of those three weeks you will practice on your own. Do you understand?"
"Yes Sensei." Sakura had a lot to think about.
Higurashi-sensei nodded her head.
"Let's get started then shall we?" She handed Sakura a scroll.
"Read this on your own time, it's a diagram on the inner workings of a fish, it will be imperative you understand this inside and out. Now watch my hands, when you get used to the jutsu you won't have to use the signs."
HIgurashi-sensei moved her hands through various signs, green chakra emitting, then hovered over Sakura's hand.
"There are two steps that I like to use to teach this jutsu. Step one is check, step two is treat. For step one you will learn how to use the Mystic Palm Jutsu to diagnose and understand what is going on in a person's body. Step two will be actually treating what you find. Be aware that sometimes not using the jutsu to diagnose a patient is easier, but since you are learning the jutsu that is what we'll do for now. I am going to perform the jutsu on you now for step one. Pay attention to how my chakra moves inside your body."
Sakura felt Higurashi-sensei's chakra flow into her. It moved in a controlled and smooth manner, just enough of her chakra inside Sakura to get the job done without feeling too intrusive. Sensei pulled her chakra back and grabbed a kunai out from under her desk. Taking the point of the kunai she cut a small thin line on Sakura's hand.
"Step two, treat. Remember the feeling of step one, and compare it with how I use the jutsu now."
Sakura felt the chakra pool along the cut on her palm before it prodded the wound and she watched the red line disappear. That... that was different.
Higurashi-sensei released Sakura's hand and opened a drawer in her desk. She pulled out a few scrolls.
"Here are some scrolls with fish in them. To open, send a burst of chakra on the symbol. You can practice step one with these, but if you run out of fish you will have to go get more yourself. I will keep the fish you brought here in my office till its time. That's all I have for today, you're dismissed."
"Thank you Sensei." Sakura gave a bow. She gathered her scrolls and left the office to head to her team training ground. It was time to get serious.
Sakura pulled out the anatomy scroll of the fish and read it. It took about thirty minutes to complete the scroll the first time, but she took her time and went through it again to see if she missed anything. Once she was sure there was nothing else in the scroll that was important, Sakura opened up the first fish scroll. Out popped a grey one of a decent size. It was an ugly thing, her fish were so much prettier. Sakura echoed the signs she saw earlier with her own hands and tried to emit the green chakra.
It didn't work.
She tried again, though with more chakra used this time. There was a flicker of green before it disappeared. Sakura tried a third time adding even more chakra than before and was able to get a steady stream of green. Bringing her hands down over the fish Sakura inserted her chakra.
It exploded.
'Too much, too fast.'
'You think I don't know that?' Sakura pulled out fish guts from her hair.
It was going to be a long day.
.
Sakura collected herbs in the forest outside of Konoha for the hospital, and thought about how crazy the past two weeks had been. Missions, helping Uchiha and Naruto, hospital work, training, and the best thing was she grew more comfortable with step one of the Mystic Palm Jutsu. All of the extra time she dedicated to training it worked out.
'Dedicated? You have a problem, or more like an obsession.'
Sakura scoffed, she didn't have a problem.
'You do, don't deny it. Every free moment you had was practicing that jutsu, even cutting into your sleep schedule. Just because it doesn't trigger flares for the Burning doesn't mean you can neglect your rest. And, just how many times did you have to change fishing locations due to over fishing?'
'It was only three.'
'Exactly, three times too many.'
'Hey it worked out in the end, I am even starting to get step one without using hand signs! Haa, I'm amazing.'
'Uh-huh. And how many fish were sacrificed?'
'A lot, but it was a noble sacrifice.'
'I see.'
Sakura pulled one last herb out of the ground and placed it in the scroll. She put the scroll back in her pack and sat cross-legged. She looked around, relishing in the perfect temperature and cool breeze of the beautiful spring day when she noticed a small pond ten trees away. There was no set timeline when she had to bring the medicinal herbs back to the hospital, so a little fishing couldn't hurt right? Sakura suppressed her chakra and approached the shaded area of the water, these little sea rats were sensitive to chakra and shadows, made the early days of catching fish very difficult until she discovered it. Walking onto the surface Sakura laid down on her belly and had her hands close together in front of her face as she stared into the depths. Sakura had just grabbed a fish when she heard voices that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"Did you deliver the scroll?"
"Yes, Leader will be pleased."
Sakura released it and walked off the pond. She approached the voices, taking cover behind some bushes.
"Good, the wards will be down for when the snake in the grass arrives." Were they speaking in code?
"We just have to make sure the weapon will be secured, Hashirama's inheritor will take care of him."
Sakura peeked to the side of the bush and saw two shinobi, one man and one woman, their blank white masks hanging off the sides of their heads, were they from Konoha? Their ANBU had animal masks, so she didn't recognize these two shinobi. It seems she stumbled onto something big and way above her pay grade.
"What time will it ta–" The man trailed off muffled by a hand.
"Quiet!" A few seconds of silence passed. The woman covered the mouth of her teammate and sniffed the air. "I smell a rat, capture it."
That was probably her, and she needed to run.
Sakura substituted to where she picked the herbs, and sprinted back to the gate channeling chakra through her legs, ignoring the multiple flares of the Burning. She formed the now shortened hand signs to the only genjustsu she knew and laid a false trail. Sakura prayed it was going to be enough. She heard the whistle of a kunai to her right.
It wasn't.
Sakura pulled out her own kunai, attached one of the five explosive tags she owned onto it and hurled it at the ground just behind her. Under the cover of the dirt displaced by the explosion, Sakura substituted back to the bush where she first listened to them speak, choosing to head back to the village the long way through the trees.
Shit this was bad.
Sakura felt a burst of pain from her side and glanced down, a shuriken was embedded into her skin. They caught up already? What rank were they, chunin? Jonin?
'Sakura focus!'
'I am Inner!'
She pulled out a shuriken with wire attached and headed to one of the larger trees. Sakura banked hard around the tree, throwing the shuriken to a nearby one towards the roots, and held the other end of the wire in her hands. She waited half a second then pulled it on an upwards angle. She heard a masculine grunt but was too distracted by how the metal wire shredded her hands on impact. Next time she would wear gloves.
If there was a next time, because she might die here.
Sakura was in mid air when a flare hit her that caused her muscles to spasm, she missed her landing and plummeted to the forest floor, landing hard on the ground.
Double shit, she could never catch a break could she?
Before she could get up a foot was placed on the middle of her back and held her down on the ground with chakra. The brown haired woman pulled Sakura's head up by her pony tail.
"I recognize you. Top academic scorer out of the last batch of the Academy. Your physical skills though leave much to be desired. Something Danzo-sama can certainly fix. Your long hair... that will have to go, you do not have the skills to keep it."
The pulling on her scalp loosened, the reason Sakura could see being held in the woman's hand. She was holding her hair.
Her severed hair, the humiliation.
"Better. Now to stop you from having ideas of going anywhere..." The woman trailed off as she pulled out a kunai and stabbed Sakura through the hand.
Sakura let out a scream as it trapped her to the ground. The pain was quickly swallowed by anger, and it ate at her. She's a Haruno and she's staked to the ground.
To the ground.
What an embarrassment, a failure. If Sakura could get out of this she was going to kill her.
The two heard rustling coming from nearby.
"You're too slow, we will need to train more when we get back."
The woman turned towards the sound but what came out was not the man from earlier, but a weird looking white and black snake, it didn't look real. Sakura's enemy didn't have the time to block before the snake suddenly wrapped itself around her neck and gave a tight twist, breaking it. The woman dropped to the ground, dead.
What in the Sage just happened?
Sakura has her first lesson and is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Thanks for reading!
I still have about ten chapters to post to be caught up with where I am on AO3, but I'm done posting for today lol. Will do more tomorrow.