Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own Naruto or any characters in this story; it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
Special message: Thanks to SilverBladeStar for the suggestion, I uploaded chapters 19 and 20 back to back, so it's possible you missed chapter 19.
Chapter 20: A Team 7 Retreat
Sakura collapsed to the ground, heaving and breathing as much air as her lungs could manage while both Naruto and Sasuke rested their hands on their knees. She was trying her best to ignore the painful stitch she had been nursing for the last twenty minutes, and her body had several minor cuts and knicks everywhere. Thankfully, Kakashi had either taken pity on her or maybe just got bored and called a stop to the training session. They never really could tell with him. The three of them had been running around dodging kunai and shuriken for more time than any of them cared to keep track of
"Great job the three of you," Kakashi said as he closed his novel and jumped down from the branch of a tree he had been sitting on.
She had to hand it to her Sensei. She didn't know how he could hold a book in one hand and read it while still being able to throw weapons with his other hand, especially considering that he was a part-time cyclops by choice.
"You are getting faster Sakura," Kakashi commented happily.
"T-Thanks," she answered in between gasps of breath. She looked over to see where Sasuke and Naruto were standing as straight as possible while trying to level their breathing. They glared at each other as both sets of eyes went over the small cuts and rips the other had.
'Those two absolutely refuse to lose to each other,' Sakura thought, annoyed. She noticed how Naruto's clothes had taken more of a beating than Sasuke's, but on the other hand, it didn't seem like any of the multiple weapons Kakashi threw at Naruto touched his skin. She didn't see a drop of blood anywhere; the same couldn't be said for Sasuke, who had several small cuts in his arms and legs.
Sakura knew that Kakashi was way more lenient with her than with the two of them. He wasn't giving her an easy time per se, but she knew that the kunai and shuriken he threw at her were slower and less accurate than the ones he threw at Sasuke and Naruto. She knew that Kakashi didn't mean any harm by it; he was merely leveling the playing field, but in all honesty, it made her feel pathetic. Especially when she saw that her clothes were more beat up than Naruto's, and she was pretty sure she had a ton more cuts than Sasuke's. It annoyed her to feel this way. She wasn't pathetic! Kami! She had been at the top of her class for so long! It had always made her proud that she could compete with Hinata and the pig. They were both heiress to clans, and she had no notable lineage. She loved her parents even though they annoyed her to no end, but they weren't what she would call notable Shinobi. Her father never made chunin and decided to retire when he got married. Her mother was chunin, and she had no aspiration to make Jonin. According to her, she always took the least risky and easiest missions available and was content living that way.
It also irked her to see Naruto exceeding and, she would never admit this out loud, but also rivaling Sasuke. It seemed like blondes were the bane of her existence! First, Ino, the pretty and sociable heiress to the Yamanaka clan. She hated to admit it, but Ino was pretty and had been very popular back in the academy; almost everyone seemed to like her. How couldn't they? She was outgoing, had beautiful long blonde hair, smart, and decently capable in all practical skills. While Sakura wouldn't call herself an introvert like Hinata, she couldn't strike up a conversation with anyone out of the blue. The blonde bitch even had developed earlier than her! She hated that she was as flat as a board while Ino already had started showing signs of having a much more mature body for boys to like her. Honestly, some days, she wished she was like Hinata. Not that she thought Hinata was ugly, far from it. If you asked her, Hinata could look like a princess if she had a bit of interest in fashion. However, she didn't seem to care enough to do anything extra than what was necessary. She kept her hair short so it wouldn't bother her during training, wore plain clothes, and didn't mind the less feminine aspects of being a Kunoichi.
"So, what did we need our camping supplies for?" Naruto asked, looking at Kakashi.
Ah, Uzumaki Naruto. The other half of her blonde nightmare. Naruto just confused her. Plain and simple. He had been a complete and total idiot who could barely write his own name on the paper sheet on exam day just over two years ago. But now, somehow, someway, he started improving drastically to the point that he could compete with someone like Sasuke. Naruto had no business competing with someone like Sasuke. Sasuke belonged to one of the founding clans of the village and was a prodigy in the shinobi arts! Not to mention, incredibly handsome. If she didn't have any notable lineage, she didn't know what words to describe Naruto's lack of lineage without sounding rude. Not to be crass, but at least her parents were Shinobi, and they were also alive. It sounded awful. She knew that, but when she broke it down, it just made zero sense. Naruto had no one to help him with homework or training besides the academy's teachers. Even then, Naruto would regularly skip classes in the first years of the academy, and when he was in class, he made an absolute spectacle of himself. He had the poorest grades out of everyone in their generation for a long while, but suddenly, he flew up the rankings. He still didn't get the best marks in theoretical classes, but they were respectable, and he became second only to Sasuke in practical classes. It truly irritated her how much he had improved when she compared herself to him, but then suddenly, he had started acting like a klutz after being released from the hospital. She couldn't get it! Honestly, she sometimes missed the ramen-obsessed clown who constantly asked her on dates.
That was another part that annoyed her about her blonde teammate. Looking back, she had been seriously mean to him, yet he always came back to ask her on a date like clockwork. It made her feel good about herself in a sense. She would have never bragged about Uzumaki Naruto asking her on a date, but at least someone thought she was prettier than Ino. But then, Naruto's interest had vanished. Did he suddenly think she was ugly? Was it because she had a big forehead? Or maybe it was because she hadn't developed like Ino. Still, she had proposed to herself to be nicer to Naruto.
"I'm glad you asked, Naruto," Kakashi cheerfully replied. "You three will be camping out here until Monday morning."
It took a few seconds to set in, but all three Genin started complaining when it did.
"That's a waste of my time."
"What are we supposed to do for three days?!"
"What?!"
The next five minutes were filled with questions, complaints, curses, etc.
"Are you three finished?" Kakashi asked in a bored tone with the slightest twinge of sternness. When none of them spoke, he shrugged. "Good. As for what you do, I don't really care. Train, chat, play tag, brainstorm new strategies, tell ghost stories around a campfire, or count the number of leaves in the trees for all I care. The point is that you aren't leaving this training ground until Monday morning. I will know if you leave, but what you don't want to know is what I will do to any of you who attempt to put a foot outside the training ground. Understood?"
The three Genin looked mutinous, but they didn't seem to have any say in the matter, so they all nodded grudgingly.
"As for the concerns you three so eloquently expressed, Sakura, I'll inform your parents. Yes, Sasuke, you can deactivate your sharingan when you want. Naruto, I'm sure Ichiraku's won't go out of business just because you couldn't go this weekend. In fact, I'll head there now to make sure they are still open." And with a puff of smoke, Kakashi was long gone.
The three of them stood utterly silent for about thirty seconds as they tried to accept that they would be camping buddies from now until Monday morning. A few months ago, Sakura would have been thrilled and overjoyed at the prospect of camping out with Sasuke. She was sure she had even fantasized about it at some point. The two of them were sitting under the starry sky with a cozy campfire in front of them as they snuggled together. But now her fantasy included an annoying blonde and shinobi rations for food, not to mention she was sweaty, bruised, exhausted, and had to wait almost three days until she could get a bath.
"He wasn't serious, right?" Sakura asked, hopeful, too hopeful.
Naruto and Sasuke shared a miserable glance before the blonde spoke. "I'm pretty sure he was. You know how he gets about teamwork and stuff. This has to be his idea of bonding time or something like that."
Yeah, that sounded like Kakashi-Sensei Sakura conceded, and suddenly, something occurred to her. "How is he going to know if we leave? I mean, it's Friday, and we are supposed to stay until Monday morning. It's not like he can check on us for the next fifty-five hours."
Naruto and Sasuke frowned in thought as they seemed to consider her point.
"Maybe he has his ninken patrolling," Sasuke suggested with a scowl.
"Oh, Shit!" Naruto swore as he closed his eyes in realization.
"What?"
"He put us into some sort of barrier or something like that."
"Barrier?" Sakura asked, bewildered. "I don't see any barrier preventing us from leaving."
"It's a fūinjutsu term," Naruto explained. "There are barriers that aren't exactly physical. They only activate when you step inside a perimeter."
"You are saying that he did, but that in reverse? This barrier would only activate or alert him when we step out of the training ground," Sasuke added as he caught on.
"I guess so," Naruto answered in a resigned tone.
"Is Kakashi-Sensei good enough in fūinjutsu to know how to do that?" Asked Sakura.
Naruto snorted without humor. "Sakura, I would be surprised if there is an art that he hasn't somewhat mastered," Naruto said, and she could hear a begrudging admiration in his tone.
"Could you disarm the barrier?" asked Sasuke, sounding the slightest bit hopeful.
"I... don't know," Naruto said, seeming to consider the idea before he shook his head. "I've read all the chapters about barriers and didn't find any barrier that works that way. It still could be possible, though. Even if I could disarm it without setting off an alarm, I would have to find all the tags that make up the barrier."
"So where are they?" Sakura asked quickly.
Naruto gaped at her. "How am I supposed to know that?! The training ground is pretty big. For all I know, he put one of the tags under a rock inside the woods, buried them underground, or hid them inside a hollow tree!"
"Agh! And I thought you were good at fūinjutsu!" Sakura knew she was being ridiculous, but she had to take her anger out on someone.
"You know what?! Why don't you go home? When Kakashi-Sensei comes knocking at your window, just put him in a genjutsu to convince him you never left!" Naruto retorted and walked off to the woods.
"Where are you going?!"
"To see if I can find one of those fucking tags!"
Yeah, being nice to Naruto wasn't easy for her.
It turned out that Naruto didn't find anything after a few hours of searching. It didn't matter how many clones he filled the woods with, he knew it would be damn near impossible to find all the tags, and he didn't even know how many tags Kakashi had used. Halfway through his search, he decided he was merely doing it for learning purposes. Huh? His younger self would have had a stroke if he heard him. He did want to see those tags, though. Anyway, the sun was setting, and he hadn't found anything, so he used his time in a more productive way.
"And I thought you were good at fūinjutsu." Naruto mimicked Sakura's voice. Yeah, I always liked Ino better than her." Well, that was kind of a lie now that he thought about it, but he didn't like to remember he had a crush on Sakura.
Naruto muttered some more as he bent down to collect a few mushrooms. He wasn't going to eat shinobi rations if he could help with it, and he could very well help it. This mushrooms were safe to eat, how did knew that? Trial and error. Kami, it is no wonder he was always down with a stomachache when he was a kid. As he picked up the mushrooms, a memory he hadn't thought of in a long time made his way into his mind. He had been eating the fish he had just caught near a waterfall when an old man appeared out of nowhere and started chatting with him. It was hazy, and he couldn't remember what they had talked about, but he remembered that the old man had been the Hokage. He wondered how he had even known where he was or the purpose of going out of his way to meet him in the forest.
"Maybe he was checking up on me," he thought out loud. "Nah, the old coot probably was hungry and decided to go and nick a fish from the poor kid."
Thinking about the Hokage made him think about the dinner at Shikamaru's house last night. Their Sensei was the son of the Hokage? It was a little bizarre when you considered that Asuma dwarfed the Hokage by so much. It was also interesting that he didn't like to talk about it. According to Shikaku, being the son of the Hokage wasn't easy. Well, his life hadn't exactly been a walk in the park, but he wasn't sure if Shikaku knew who his father was. Sometimes, he felt Yoshino knew, but he wasn't sure. His dad put the well-being of the village first and foremost. That's why he had sealed the Kyūbi inside him.
'Maybe it was something like that.' He thought as he reentered the clearing of training ground three with a bunch of mushrooms and a couple of wild berries in his arms. He had sent a clone to fish something out while another collected wood to make a campfire.
Sakura and Sasuke were sitting in the middle of the clearing with their sleeping backs, lying a respectable distance apart. His sleeping bag and other supplies were also laid out next to a bunch of branches and a couple of stones. He plopped down into them. Sasuke merely raised an eyebrow at the mushrooms and berries in his arms but said nothing.
"I didn't find a single tag," he commented as he laid out the mushrooms over part of his sleeping bag and set up the campfire.
"Should we really be making a campfire?" Sakura asked curiously. It seemed her bad mood had passed.
"It's not like we are on a mission or anything like that." It was frowned upon and discouraged to make campfires during missions to prevent giving away your location, but since they were still in the village, he didn't see any problems. He was about to start the fire by rubbing some sticks together when he suddenly got a much better idea.
"Hey Uchiha," Sasuke grunted. "Could you, you know, start the fire with your jutsu," Naruto asked, grinning.
He could see Sasuke's right eye twitch even in the diminishing light. "Do I look like lighter to you, Uzumaki?" he asked dryly.
Naruto shrugged and continued to grin. "I guess not. I just thought you would like a small challenge since you seemed pretty bored."
Sasuke glared at him for a couple of seconds. "Fine."
"That's the spirit," he said happily as Sasuke went through a set of hand signs, took a tiny breath, and released a small stream of fire that ignited the campfire. "Nice."
They all sat in complete silence until one of his clones walked up to him with several fish that had sticks stabbing them. Naruto took the fish from his clone before dispelling him and started roasting them. When he thought they were done, he reached for one and was about to take a bite from it when two large groans sounded. Naruto looked up in time to see a blushing Sakura look away as her eyes fixed on the shinobi rations in her hand.
"Eh... aren't you guys going to take one?" Naruto asked, confused, as he nodded toward the fish.
Sakura looked up, her eyes a little wide. "Really?"
"Yeah, I fished for everyone," Naruto said with a shrug.
Sasuke and Sakura didn't have to be told twice, and their hands quickly shot up to grab a fish as they mumbled their thanks.
"So, what do we do now?" Sakura asked timidly.
Sasuke shrugged, but Naruto snorted. "Play tag," he joked, referencing Kakashi's earlier words.
Sakura's mouth twitched as her eyes concentrated on the campfire. "Do you think the other rookie teams do things like this?"
"I doubted it. I had dinner at Shikamaru's yesterday, and his whole team was there. They were just watching their Sensei getting his ass handed to him in shogi by Shikaku Oc-chan."
"Maybe I could invite you guys over for dinner sometime." She said with an unsure smile.
It was a fraction of a second, but when their eyes met, he and Sasuke came to a silent agreement. He had nothing against it; it was just that he was sure that Sakura's parents would be less than thrilled at the idea of having Konoha's jinchuriki in their home, and well, Sasuke was Sasuke.
"Sure." He answered, shrugging and hoping Sakura never remembered this.
Naruto brought out his fūinjutsu and started skimming over the chapters on barriers to see if he had missed something, while Sasuke took out a scroll and started reading it. He lost track of time as he read, and his eyes started to get heavy.
"Do you guys think this is some sort of test?" Sakura asked before covering her mouth to yawn.
"Could be." Sasuke conceded. "We should take turns keeping watch. I'll take the first watch."
"Sounds good," Naruto said as he stretched his arms above his head before getting into his sleeping bag. He closed his eyes, and before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.
Sasuke was bored out of his mind, which was uncommon for him. Not that he found many things amusing or worth his time; he had given up fun a long time ago. The only thing he truly found worthy of his time was training to kill him. It didn't matter if it was training his physical fitness, mind, or skills. As long as he improved his chances to succeed in his goal, he would do anything, no matter how dull it seemed. He could get frustrated, like when learning to tree walk, but he couldn't say he found it boring. However, he was bored at the moment.
He understood the concept of the importance of teamwork, of course. His teamwork with Naruto was probably the main reason why the three of them and Kakashi weren't corpses rotting away in Nami no Kuni. But he couldn't see how camping out for the weekend with no real goal would be an efficient use of his time. If Kakashi wanted to improve their teamwork, he could have them do more drills during their training session. Not that that sounded appealing, but he would take over this. He didn't understand why someone like Kakashi, whose talent and abilities seemed to be held in very high esteem, would focus so hard on teamwork. He would assume that someone like him would rather work alone just like Sasuke himself did. Kakashi did make him wonder; there were a lot of things about him that, at the very least, caused him to raise an eyebrow, like the fact he had a Sharingan, his perpetual habit of being late, or his hobby of reading what Naruto claimed to be smut in public. He knew that Kakashi wasn't all the way there in terms of mental stability. Not that it bothered him. Sasuke was aware that he was a deeply traumatized individual. Anyways, seventy-five percent of team seven wasn't what you would call normal. Because if Kakashi and himself weren't completely okay neither was Naruto. He knew a bit more about his blonde teammate than any of the other team members. They were both orphans who had to care for themselves from a young age or, in Naruto's case, probably since he had memory. Regardless of their personalities where or how they dealt with it, both knew and understood the horrible pain that was pure and absolute solitude, and he was pretty sure Kakashi also did. Sakura seemed the only one with their sanity or mental health in one piece. He assumed that her behavior was what society expected of a thirteen-year-old girl who lacked any deeply scarring experiences; he wasn't sure.
If he thought about it, the experience of being in a team had surpassed his expectations. Yes, they had been low, but they had been surpassed nonetheless. The blonde annoyed him sometimes, but he was competent most of the time, and Kakashi was also a good enough teacher. Sakura was the only one with whom he had a real issue. Naruto's and Kakashi's eccentricities aside, he knew they both took things seriously. Being a kunoichi seemed to be something secondary to her. Although she seemed to be learning genjutsu and had been training harder during their sessions so, maybe she could improve her dismal skills. If only she could stop looking at him with those lost puppy eyes. He distantly remembered that Naruto used to ask Sakura on dates back in the academy, only to be turned down repeatedly. It seemed that blonde got it through his after several years. He just hoped it didn't take long for her to get it and leave him alone.
The sound of muttering broke him out of his thoughts, and he looked just over where Naruto had settled. He seemed to be mumbling in his sleep as he moved around in his sleeping bag, his brow furrowed. Suddenly, his eyes shot open, and he almost jumped out of his sleeping bag. He quickly averted his eyes and pretended he hadn't noticed. Perhaps he wouldn't have shown him this courtesy if it were anything other than a nightmare or another person. He would have thrown a slight verbal jab or something, but he knew all too well the experience of walking up in the middle of the night and reliving the horrors of his life to find it funny.
"Oi Uzumaki, it's your turn to keep watch."
Naruto turned towards him and seemed about to say something, but he was already lying down and closing his eyes. He just hoped that he wouldn't have a nightmare today of all days.
In a way, it was good that he had to keep watch in case Kakashi came bursting out of the woods to surprise them. It gave him something to do at least, although he very much doubted that the Jonin would come here a couple of hours before sunrise to surprise them. He probably would use the free weekend for a nonstop marathon centered around Icha Icha. Yet, Naruto still kneaded chakra and released it to check his surroundings just in case you never quite knew with Kakashi. From everything he had learned ever since Kakashi became their Sensei, one of the things that he was least likely to forget was that a ninja must never leave his back uncovered. Kakashi was never going to pull that bullshit on him again, clone or not.
Kakashi's doubtful appearance aside, he was still awake and alert. He was usually not a morning person, much less the type to wake up hours before the sun rose kind of person; almost always, it took him a little extra time for him to get out of bed. However, he was quite awake and doubted that he could go back to sleep or, worse if he somehow managed, it would only happen again. He had the nightmare again. The one where he saw Hinata and his mother. Therefore, he decided to let Sakura sleep while he tried to ignore his thoughts for the last couple of hours as he read his book, but he was restless. It's like he was back in the academy before he started really trying. He read the words, but his brain refused to process them.
When the first signs of the sun started appearing in the sky, he got up, made a clone, and ordered him to stand guard while he went to hunt for something to eat in the woods. He usually would have sent the clone in his place, but right now, he needed to move a little to distract himself.
When he returned with four squirrels and a pair of rabbits, he saw that Sasuke was already awake. He plopped down and started preparing them, and Sasuke volunteered to fetch some wood to keep the campfire going for a little longer.
When it was done and the meat was cooking, Sasuke spoke.
"You didn't have to do that." He said, nodding towards the rabbits in the fire.
Naruto shrugged. "I like cooking, and would you rather eat your rations?"
Sasuke didn't answer the question but said. "I'll take care of lunch, and you can cook it."
"Sounds good." He said as he grabbed one squirrel and passed it to Sasuke. "What are you planning to do today?"
Sasuke took a bite off the squirrel and munched before speaking. "Let's spar."
The first thing that passed through his mind was yes! Kakashi didn't let them spar that often; when he did, he constantly stopped them to point out their mistakes and always cut it short before things got interesting. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to go all out without Kakashi nagging them. However, he did want to practice his wind affinity.
"I actually wanted to practice the jutsu Kakashi-Sensei gave, but I'll make some clones, and you can spar with them." He knew that he could do it the other way around. He could spar with Sasuke while his clones trained the jutsu but given how the last time he used his clones that way had ended, he refused to do it. This way was safer. He could still practice the jutsu, and Sasuke would be taking the clones out before they could accumulate too many memories.
Sasuke nodded and stood up, and Naruto made a hand sign to create the clones.
'Well, let's make the best of this!' Naruto thought with determination.
The sound of shouting and the clang of metal hitting against each other woke Sakura up. She groaned as she regained consciousness; her whole body felt stiff and ached from yesterday's training session. She groggily opened her eyes as she tried to push away the last vestiges of sleep. It was bright, she noted. She rubbed her eyes one last time before sitting up. She winced at the pain that tore through her body at the slightest movement, and it helped to jolt her awake just a little.
She turned towards the noises that were coming from a bunch of orange figures jumping around in the distance. "Naruto." She muttered as she clenched her teeth, but he then saw another figure jump over the copies of her blonde teammate before evading a kick; it was Sasuke. They seemed to have woken up before her and decided to train together. She honestly couldn't believe either of them! Here she was, feeling stiff as a tree, and the pair of them were jumping around and fighting.
'A night's rest isn't enough.'
Sakura thought miserably before she frowned. They hadn't woken her up for her night watch. She should be glad she rested more than the two, but it annoyed her. It made her feel useless that she couldn't contribute as little as that and that even though both her teammates had gotten less rest than her, they were already training again. To add to her increasingly bad temper, she felt hungry. She turned to grab some ration from her camping bag but saw two sticks with meat stuck on the ground. It seemed like either Sasuke or Naruto had gone hunting for breakfast, cooked, and left something for her. Her heart wanted to believe it had been a kind gesture from Sasuke, but her brain told her it was probably Naruto's doing. She had been surprised by him yesterday. Even after shouting at him, he cooked and shared the fish he caught, which tasted better than she had expected.
She moved to grab one of the sticks as she tried to ignore the soreness and ache she felt when she made the slightest movement. She wasn't particularly fond of this way of eating, but since her other option was shinobi rations, she decided to try it. It didn't taste bad, but she figured it would be much better if it were still warm, but she was content enough.
She sighed when she finished eating. She observed that there was a separate Naruto from the ones who were sparing with Sasuke. She assumed this one was the original and was practicing the fūton jutsu Kakashi had given him. It bothered her a little that Kakashi-Sensei hadn't considered it important enough for her to learn her affinity. She tried to console herself by thinking that the team already had four out of the five elements covered in theory between Sasuke and Naruto. It also felt kind of a slap to the face that Naruto had two affinities, just like Sasuke. It only furthered her feelings of being below Naruto's and Sasuke's levels. She did some research at the Shinobi Library after that. Kakashi had said it was rare to see someone with two affinities, and indeed, it was true according to the few books she found on the subject. Usually, only people with kekkei genkai, like the one Zabuza's companion had shown, had two affinities. She also knew it wasn't normal for Genin to train in their elemental affinity. It wasn't even something expected from a chunin! She had asked her mother about her affinity and if she knew some jutsu, but she explained that her affinity was fire. However, she had never bothered too much with it because she found it too hard to learn and taxing to use.
'At least Kakashi-sensei seems to think I'm good at genjutsu.'
It was true; Kakashi had told her she had the natural aptitudes to become a very proficient genjutsu user and explained why. Genjutsu was the art of controlling the chakra flow of a target's cerebral nervous system and affecting their five senses. A genjutsu could convince you to see things that didn't exist or make you feel as if you were experiencing an excruciating amount of pain without ever being touched. It required very precise chakra control to manipulate someone's senses and advanced intelligence to create a believable and detailed illusion. Kakashi said that, unlike Naruto and Sasuke, her chakra control didn't come merely from repetition and training alone. Naruto and Sasuke had good control over their chakra, but their control didn't come as naturally to them as it did to her, and both were intelligent, they were also different in that regard. Her teammates had excellent instincts and thrived in battle. Sasuke would analyze a situation and break down an opponent's skills, while Naruto would react and adapt to situations while formulating a plan with his new knowledge. As her marks in the academy, she was book smart, which tended to translate better to genjutsu. Furthermore, Sasuke lacked the creativity to create an illusion to fit the occasion, and his mind would be occupied as it analyzed his opponent. In Naruto's case, while he had creativity in spades, he tended to overlook details and miss a few things while in battle, making him create a poor illusion that wouldn't be believable.
Sakura found that what Kakashi said was largely accurate. To her delight, she could detect and escape Kakashi's genjutsu after the first training sessions and even perform a couple of genjutsu successfully. She was learning a lot from her Sensei, but still, she didn't feel like she had learned anything that changed her feelings about her skills when she compared herself to her teammates. However, genjutsu was a weird art, and now she understood why not many Shinobi decided to specialize in it. Genjutsu, for the most part, came down to circumstances and subtleness. According to her Sensei, only elite users could keep someone under a genjutsu when the victim realized they were in one. That was why most genjutsu weren't flashy; they had to be believable or subtle enough. You could still use a flashy one to confuse or shock your opponent and use that little time window to strike a finishing blow, but it was a risky application. Another alternative was using a two-layer genjutsu or manipulating someone's sense to the point of shutting them down entirely, but like keeping someone against their will, it required high amounts of skill.
So far, Kakashi had taught her Magen: Narakumi (Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing) and Magen: Kokoni Arazu (Demonic Illusion: False surroundings). The former was the one Kakashi had used on her during the bell test; it showed the victim their greatest fear or, if you were skilled enough, anything to frighten them. It was risky to subject someone to their greatest fear without knowing it since it could make the genjutsu completely unbelievable if the circumstances made it so. Kakashi told her that if instead of showing her Sasuke, whom she believed to be in real danger at the time, he had shown her parents, she could have perhaps realized it was a genjutsu. She still would have been shocked, but maybe she wouldn't have been so convinced it was real to the point of fainting. The second genjutsu casted an illusion over a specific location to change its appearance. It could be really helpful, but she struggled to do anything too elaborate yet, and the application also depended a lot on creativity. Creativity didn't come as naturally to her as it did to Naruto, and that's why Kakashi said she could learn a few things from the blonde.
Thinking about that made wished she could practice, but she needed someone to practice with, and at the moment, both Sasuke and Naruto were busy. Still, she had to do something other than sit around watching Sasuke train. It would have been acceptable a few months ago, but now that she had realized how far behind. Slowly and painfully, she stood, walked away from the now-extinct campfire, and began doing katas. She had always felt rather foolish when she practiced them, but having to do so when her body felt so rigid was a whole new level of awkwardness.
She didn't know how long she had been practicing katas, but by now, her body felt looser, and the pain she experienced with each movement had greatly diminished. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Sasuke was no longer sparring with Naruto's clones. Instead, he was walking towards the original blonde. When he reached him, they seemed to exchange a few words that she couldn't hear from this far away, and then Sasuke turned around and started walking again.
'This is my opportunity to ask Sasuke-kun for help!' she thought excitedly, but as she was about to call out to him, he turned towards Naruto as the blonde was about to perform his jutsu. The unexpected distraction caused Naruto to stop mid-execution and explode into a violent coughing fit.
"What the fuck was that for!?" Naruto screamed, and she heard him from all the way there.
Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets and answered something she couldn't hear. Naruto stared at him for a moment before nodding. Sasuke walked closer until he was standing next to Naruto. He turned to face another way, went through a set of hand signs, and a stream of fire flowed from his mouth as Naruto observed closely. Sasuke seemed to be explaining something before shrugging and walking away again.
Sakura blinked a couple of times, unsure what that was about, but seeing Sasuke perform a katon jutsu seconds after Naruto attempted a fūton technique made her remember something she had read while doing research in the ninja library about how each element had a disadvantage and advantage over other elements. The text cautioned users from using certain elements against others since it could result in your technique not working or, worse, enhancing the enemy's attack. The book went on to explain how using fūton against katon would be suicide since the extra amount of air would increase the size of the flames. She had found it interesting at the time, but seeing Sasuke and Naruto now made her wonder. The book didn't mention anything about using two elements simultaneously since it was impossible to use two elements at the time if you didn't have a kekkei genkai, but what if they were used together by two people instead of against each other? Sasuke with his fire affinity and Naruto with his wind one.?
Her train of thought stopped when she saw Sasuke walking a few meters away from her.
"Sasuke-kun!" She called out and jogged to meet him. "I was wondering if you could help me train. I want to train the genjutsu Kakashi-Sensei has taught me, but I need a partner to train with, so would you help me, please?" She asked and crossed her fingers behind her back.
"I'm going to go look for something for us to eat. Go ask Naruto to make a clone for you." He answered and walked past her, heading towards the woods. She watched his retreating figure as disappointment washed over her and sighed.
'One day,' she thought, but she couldn't help but feel her shoulders sag as she walked over to Naruto.
"Hello Naruto," she began, sounding as polite as possible. She didn't think Naruto would spare the chakra to help, but she would try.
The blonde turned to face her. "Hey Sakura. What's up?"
"I was wondering, I mean, I wanted to train genjutsu, and well, I need someone to train with... so could you make a clone to help me?" she asked and then added. "Please."
"Sure." He brought his hands together, and a puff of smoke later, an exact copy of Naruto appeared to his left. He turned towards the clone. "Well, you know what to do."
"Hai." The clone responded unenthusiastically and gave his creator a weak salute before turning towards her expectedly.
"Thank you Naruto." She said honestly.
"No problem." Both of them said in unison, and the original turned to glare at his clone. "Just go help her."
Sakura walked away with the clone in tow, and she thought he heard him mutter something, but she wasn't sure.
When they were a good distance away from the original, he turned towards the clone. She was about to speak but then closed her mouth and thought.
"What's wrong?" The clone asked as he tilted his head.
"Mmm, will this even work? I mean, you are just a clone. Can a clone even be put under a genjutsu?" she asked more to herself than to the clone.
To her surprise, the clone's mouth dropped so far that it nearly hit the floor before he recovered. He looked highly offended. "Just a clone?! I'll have you know that I have the same amount of chakra as the boss! I also have full use of all of my senses and, more importantly, my feelings!"
Sakura had to blink a couple of times in surprise.
"I mean! We are just as good as him!" The clone continued his loud rant as he angrily threw his hands up. "He isn't different from any of us! What makes him so speci-"
The clone couldn't continue his rant because, at that moment, the original appeared next to him and punched him out of existence.
"Damn clone," Naruto said under his breath before turning towards her. "Sorry about that. They are pretty touchy about not being me."
"... w-what just happened?" She asked, perplexed.
Naruto shrugged. "Some of them are a bit rebellious. I get them every once in a while."
"W-what? H-how? Why?"
Naruto scratched his head. "I'm not completely sure to tell you the truth. They all are me, but they can act a bit different sometimes. It's really weird, but they don't usually exist long enough to notice."
"So each clone has their own mood? Like they are still you but they can get what? mood swings?"
"I guess so." He answered and performed the jutsu again.
A new clone appeared next to him. "I'm sorry about that boss! I know better than him! I swear!" The clone said apologetically.
The original Naruto snorted and crossed his arms. "You better! If you know what's good for you," he said before turning towards Sakura. Just let me know if he gives you any problems." With that, he returned to the spot where he had initially been training.
Sakura blinked again. Naruto always managed to confuse her, no matter if it was the original or a clone.
"Right... so yeah, I'm going to put you under a genjutsu." She explained, and the clone nodded.
"Sounds good. What does the genjutsu do?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, it's going to show you your greatest fear." To her surprise, the clone's tan skin went deathly pale as his eyes widened.
"P-please don't do that!"
To her surprise, the clone's face morphed into an extremely pained expression, and his voice came out so panicky and pleading that it unnerved her.
"O-okay." She said, and the clone almost dropped to the ground in relief. She wondered what Naruto's greatest fear could be that it scared him to the point of acting like that. He had seen Naruto rescue Kakashi from Zabuza and hadn't seemed scared. She was sure he had been on some level, but he still had acted. However, just the mention of his greatest fear seemed to paralyze him.
"Actually, it works better that way. I'll do the same jutsu, but I can control what I show you. It doesn't necessarily have to be your greatest fear. I need to practice that anyway, so I'll show you a few different things. Tell me how convincing the illusion is, and then you can break the genjutsu. You remember what I explained about how to break out of a genjutsu?"
"Yeah," The clone said, sounding incredibly relieved, and nodded. "It sounded a bit like what I do when I'm sensing. But instead of kneading it, I need to stop the flow of my chakra first and then release it at once, right?"
Sakura nodded. "Yeah, that's correct. I'll be starting the genjutsu now."
She performed the hand signs that Kakashi had taught her and activated the genjutsu. She chose an illusion in which Kakashi appeared behind Naruto and had to suppress her smile when she saw the clone jump.
The clone remained in genjutsu for a few minutes, unable to break free. She noted how dust seemed to rustle away from the blonde as he released his chakra. After a few attempts more attempts, she decided to stop the illusion.
When he emerged from the genjutsu, she told him, "You have to stop your flow first."
"I know Sakura, it just doesn't feel natural, you know. I've come so used to constantly kneading chakra that I sometimes do it without noticing. The illusion felt real, by the way. At first, I really thought he was behind me, and I had to remember you just cast the genjutsu." The clone shivered.
Sakura smiled at that. "It's a bit tricky to dispel a genjutsu at first." She conceded that it had taken her a bit to get the hang of it, but from the clone described, they had opposite problems. She had no issues stopping her chakra flow, but releasing it all at once required a bit of practice. She thought about how to explain it for a second before she came up with an idea. "Follow me." She said, and she started walking to the stream of water that passed by the training ground.
"Try to stop the flow of your chakra now."
The clone nodded and closed his eyes. The water around his feet rippled, and he shook a little before he opened his eyes and stopped. "I'm going to fall into the water if I do so."
'Damn. I actually hoped he fell.' She thought and then spoke. "Just do it. It doesn't matter if you get wet."
The clone narrowed his eyes. "And why is that?"
She was about to say, 'Because you are a clone,' but stopped in time. "I think a dip sounds refreshing at the moment, and you can always dry off later."
The clone nodded as if pleased by the answer. He started again, and this time, he fell into the water. When he resurfaced, he saw her smiling and huffed. "I'll try to remember the feeling."
It took a couple of tries once they were back at land, but eventually, the clone dispelled a genjutsu.
"It wasn't that hard after I remembered how it felt not to walk on water. You are a good teacher, Sakura!"
Sakura gave him an embarrassed smile; the blonde wasn't so bad at times. "Thanks Naruto."
After thanking Naruto, she tried to think of what image, situation, or person she could use. She had already used Kakashi, Zabuza, and the ninjas they had fought on their way to Nami no Kuni. She took a page out of Kakashi's book, figuratively speaking, and decided to recreate the illusion he had used on her the day of the bell test. She didn't know why exactly, but instead of using Sasuke, the first face that came to her mind was Hinata's. Although she didn't do it as gruesome as Kakashi had done it, she couldn't have done it anyway. What Kakashi had shown her required more than just morbid imagination; it had looked too real to be just a thought.
When she performed the hand signs and started the genjutsu, the clone didn't move until he suddenly screamed. "Hinata!" and frantically rushed in the direction of the woods.
"Hinata!" he screamed again as he crouched down next to nothing, but he didn't seem to notice. "Hinata! Are you alright?! Talk to me! Please!" His voice broke in his last word. It was filled with such desperation and despair that it stunned her. During all the other genjutsu, even though he jumped or twitched slightly, he remembered pretty quickly that it was all fake, but at the moment, the blonde seemed to have forsaken all sense.
"What the hell is going on?" The real Naruto appeared next to her, making her jump slightly. His sudden appearance broke her out of her momentary brain freeze, but before she could undo the genjutsu, Naruto made a cross sign, and the clone dispelled.
She saw a blank look on his face, and then his sky-blue eyes widened immensely before his face contorted into an expression of pure rage.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" He exploded viciously.
Sakura couldn't speak; her mouth stood slightly open as words failed to come out. She saw Naruto's eyes shut tightly as he took several deep, calming breaths. She felt a hot breeze wash over her, and all the hair in her body stood up in alarm. Naruto's body seemed to be shaking with rage, and when he opened his eyes, his eyes were burning with fury, and they looked... darker? They suddenly didn't seem the crystalline blue he usually had; it was like there was a drop of purple in them now.
"Sakura." His voice was an octave lower than usual, and although he managed not to shout, the way he spit out her name made her gulp and take a step back away from him.
"I-I I'm sorr-" he caught her off before she could apologize.
"Don't. Ever. Do. That. Again." He punctuated every word with such venom that her legs felt wobbly. He made another clone and left with another word.
She stood frozen in place, and the clone didn't speak either. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths, but when he opened them, they were back to their usual color, although he still looked furious.
"I-I'm really sorry." She said it, and she meant it with every part of being. The clone took his time to answer, and for a moment, she believed he wouldn't speak.
"It wasn't your fault; you couldn't have known." He answered roughly, and it sounded like it was taking every ounce of patience, maturity, and benevolence to speak those words.
Sakura gave him a weak nod as her heart thumped in her chest. She had never seen Naruto this angry, or anyone for that matter. He had seen Naruto in a bad mood before, but this was different. It looked like Naruto had to actively restrain himself from attacking her, and she was sure it wouldn't have been the regular bruises from training.
"Let's get back to training. Just remember what the boss said; don't ever do that again." He said stiffly.
Sakura nodded, and just for her own peace of mind, she decided to switch to the only other genjutsu she knew. She didn't want to anger Naruto by accident any further.
Usually, Naruto would have stayed to have it out with Sakura, but he knew it was best to leave and cool off. He just hoped that the clone he left was part of his more forgiving self. Two hours later, Naruto wasn't furious; his fury had now downgraded to anger. It had helped that he punched a tree until he felt the wetness of his blood running through his hands. Naturally, the injuries had healed because, of course, they had. He knew for damn sure he was going to have another nightmare again. Still, as much as he wanted — and he really wanted to — he couldn't blame Sakura, at least not entirely. She hadn't used the jutsu like she had first described, and what he saw wasn't his greatest fear, but it came awfully close to it. Why the fuck had she shown him that! Just remembering what his clone had seen made him want to vomit. All the kunai and shuriken seemed to cover every part of her body, and the blood, so much blood. He had to stop walking and lean on a nearby tree to fight the impulse to throw up by taking multiple deep breaths.
'It was just a stupid genjutsu! It wasn't real! She is fine, and nothing bad has happened to her!' He repeated constantly in his head, but he ached to see her. He wished to run out of this training ground and barge into the Hyūga compound to see her or search the village for her if she wasn't there. It suddenly didn't matter that he had spent the better part of two weeks avoiding even seeing her. Just for one second, one quick glance would do. Just to check that she didn't have a single scratch or a drop of blood out of her body, and then he would leave her be. He wouldn't even talk to her because why the hell would she want to talk to him after what he had done?
Besides seeing Hinata agonizing, there was something else that unnerved him. After Sakura had pulled bullshit on him, he was sure that he had felt the pull of something dark for the briefest of seconds. He wasn't sure if it had been the Kyūbi, but whatever it had been, he was glad he had managed to reign in his temper just enough. If at the moment his mind wasn't filled with morbid and horrific images, he would have felt a little proud, but not at the moment.
A sudden influx of memories invaded his mind. It looked like Sasuke had come back with food while he had gone to cool off, and his clone had taken care of cooking. Naruto took one final large gulp of air before straitening himself and heading towards the clearing.
When he arrived, he consciously tried not to look at Sakura. He sat beside the campfire, wordlessly grabbed the piece of wood with meat, and started eating. They ate quietly, with only the sound of wood cracking and the rustling of leaves interrupting the silence. Just after he was done and about to start practicing again, Sakura spoke.
"I wanted to talk to you guys about something." She said in a quick and nervous voice.
Naruto didn't turn to look at her but sat down on the ground while Sasuke spared her a glance.
"It's about your affinities," Sakura explained, and this made him look at her. She flinched when they locked eyes, but even in his anger, he noted that Sakura looked really sorry.
He tried to relax his shoulders, keep the scowl out of his face and the venom out of his voice. "What about them?"
He guessed he failed because Sakura flinched, squirmed, and looked away.
"Do you guys know about the weaknesses and advantages to other elements?" She asked, still sounding meek and avoiding his eyes.
"Yes."
"No."
Naruto turned to look at Sasuke, and the Uchiha had a victorious smirk that made him roll his eyes.
"Well, each element is strong against one element and weak against another." Sakura began, and she seemed a little more comfortable. "Katon is strong against fūton, fūton is strong against raiton, raiton is strong against doton, doton is strong against suiton, and suiton is strong against katon."
"What do you mean by weak and strong?" Naruto asked with his brow furrowed.
"What would happen to this campfire if you dumped a bucket of water in it?"
"I'll go out."
"Right. The same would happen when a katon jutsu and suiton jutsu clash. When an element meets its weakness, the jutsu with the disadvantage is usually nullified, but there are others where something else happens."
"Something else happens?"
"For example, if you were to use your affinity against Sasuke-kun and he used his, not only would your jutsu be ineffective, but it would actually strengthen Sasuke-kun's jutsu."
Naruto's mouth fell open as his eyes darted from Sakura to Sasuke, who had a way too pleased smile.
"W-Wait! Wait!" Naruto spluttered, not fully recovered from his shock. "Why is fūton weak against katon?! When I blow a candle, it goes out! It doesn't become stronger!"
"It's because fire feeds off oxygen. Remember what we were taught about starting a fire in the academy? When you create sparks that light up the kindling, you must blow carefully and softly, and the fire will grow." She explained and then frowned. "I guess a strong enough fūton technique could also extinguish a katon technique, but I think it would be a great risk."
His anger had taken a backseat in his mind for the moment; what he felt now was sheer indignation. It was just his luck that his primary affinity was not only weak against Sasuke, but it would actually make his attacks more potent. Sasuke had a challenging smile, and his eyes almost seemed to twinkle. It was almost like he was challenging him to go ahead and try it. He had never seen the asshole look so pleased in all his time knowing him.
"Temē! Wipe that smile off your face, or I'll do it for you!" he shouted as he pointed at Sasuke. Then, a thought crossed his mind, and he grinned in triumph. "Katon is weak against suiton, and Raiton is weak against fūton! Ha!" To his great pleasure, Sasuke's smile vanished as his eyes narrowed.
Sasuke snorted. "You haven't even mastered your wind affinity, much less begun to train in your water affinity. It'll be years before I need to start thinking about that, much less worry.
They glared at each other with narrowed eyes until a groan broke the silence. Sakura rubbed her temples, annoyed.
"I didn't tell you this so the two of you can start another competition," she said exasperatedly. "I had an idea when I saw Sasuke-kun approach and perform a katon technique while you were training."
Sasuke averted his eyes, looking slightly embarrassed. When the Uchiha first approached him and they spoke, Naruto couldn't believe that Sasuke was actually offering help. He told him that, in a way, the theory between Katon: Gōkakyū and Fūton: Daitoppa were similar from what he had observed. They briefly compared notes, and Sasuke gave him a few recommendations. When he asked why he did, the Uchiha simply mumbled something about tree walking and them being even now. He had to admit that his advice had proved helpful, and the times he performed the jutsu after hearing Sasuke's advice were his most successful attempts. The gust of wind was concentrated instead of flowing in all directions and came out stronger than ever.
"I think that if each of you performed your jutsu in the same direction instead of aiming at each other, it would result in a much stronger attack," Sakura concluded her explanation.
Sasuke and Naruto locked eyes again, but there was no tension this time. They looked at each other curiously before shrugging.
"It's worth a shot," Naruto said.
"It could be interesting, if anything." Sasuke supplied.
Both stood up and walked far from their camping supplies, with Sakura right behind them. When they reached a good spot, they stood almost shoulder to shoulder and nodded to each other.
"Wait!" Sakura screamed, and they both turned towards her. "Can you aim to where there aren't any trees? We don't know how strong the flames will be."
Naruto shrugged, and they decided to walk closer to the water stream passing by the training ground. They stood next to each other and breathed in before performing the necessary hand signs for their respective jutsu.
"Katon: Gōkakyū."
"Fūton: Daitoppa."
A jet of fire flowed out of Sasuke's mouth before, and half a second later, a strong gust of wind met the flames. The previous stream of fire turned into a wild river of blazing flames that incinerated everything before it. After the fire had died out, there was a black path of ashes where the grass had previously been, marks of the now-blackened earth, and a little steam coming from the small river. Sasuke's eyebrows were high on his forehead, and Naruto's mouth stood slightly ajar. They turned towards each other, Sasuke with a smirk and Naruto with a wicked grin, both sweating from the sheer heat the technique had produced.
"That was awesome!" The blond shouted.
Sasuke snorted and pointed to the black trail of ashes. "That would have been you if you had attempted to use that jutsu against me."
Naruto had to admire how Sasuke could insult you while still sounding glad you were okay at the same time. But it was true; looking back, it seemed genuinely irresponsible on Kakashi's part not to give him that piece of information.
"Yeah," he mumbled and turned towards Sakura. He still felt slightly angry with her but tried to ignore it for the moment. "Thanks for letting me know that, and it also was a really good idea to aim this way. We could have set the whole woods on fire."
Sakura looked taken aback at first but gave him a small smile. "No problem, Naruto."
"Kakashi leaves us alone for a day, and we almost set the training ground on fire," Sasuke commented, and to Naruto's surprise, he also had a small smile.
"It's a Good thing we are just the cute little Genin, and he is the responsible Jonin in charge." Naruto chuckled before palming his hands together. "I think we should try to practice this and find a way to use it with our formations!"
"That sounds good, Naruto. Kakashi-Sensei told us we could brainstorm strategies anyway." Sakura chipped in while Sasuke shrugged.
Naruto gave her a small smile as he scratched the back of his head. "I'm not usually that good with planning ahead, so if you have any ideas..."
The three of them sat down to discuss how they could implement this new discovery with the formations and tactics Kakashi had shown them, but before everything, Naruto needed to take care of something.
"We should find a cool name for this jutsu first." Naruto nodded to himself, his expression serious.
Sakura looked at him for a few seconds and seemed to be fighting the urge to say something, but she sighed. "Fine."
"It's a katon jutsu," Sasuke said, not caring much.
"Oh, come on! It's so much more than a katon jutsu!" Naruto began lively and brought his hand to his chin in thought. "What did Kakashi-Sensei say that jutsu Haku used was?"
"Haku?" Asked Sakura.
"Yeah, the guy who was helping Zabuza in Nami no Kuni."
"Oh, right." She thought for a second. She remembered that Naruto had asked Kakashi over dinner the days after the battle. "I think it was Hyōton. Yeah, that's what Sensei called it."
Naruto nodded slowly, his brow furrowed, and then his face broke into a smile as he snapped his fingers. "I got! Shokuton: Shōkyaku Kawa(Scorch style: Incinerating River)."
"That's... not bad, Naruto," Sakura admitted with surprise. She had expected her blond teammate to come up with something ridiculous.
Naruto scratched his nose sheepishly before clapping his hand. "Okay! Now that's done, we can start talking about how to use it!"
Sasuke and Sakura did most of the talking, with Naruto commenting and contributing every so often. They performed the technique a few more times to get a feel for the range of the attack and to try to concentrate the flames so they didn't spread out unnecessarily. After multiple attempts they figured that the flames usually reached up to fifteen meters in length, but it wasn't consistent. They didn't have much success controlling the flames, other than the general direction, but it was a powerful attack, so they continued to attempt it.
After discussing how to implement the new jutsu and reviewing their formations for several hours, they all agreed to call it a day. Sakura went to check the traps Sasuke had left earlier in the day, and when she came back, she handed everything to Naruto.
"You know, Naruto, I would never have imagined you were the type to enjoy cooking," Sakura told Naruto as he put everything to the fire. She still felt guilty after the incident earlier today, but it looked like Naruto was trying to forget it ever happened.
"I didn't at first. Almost everything I ate was either instant ramen or ramen from Ichiraku, but..." The blonde kept his gaze on the fire and gained a soft smile. "But I promised someone I would start eating better, and Yoshino Oba-chan helped me learn. And I got a cooking book on my doorstep one night." He added the last part almost as an afterthought.
"You got a cooking book on your doorstep?" Sakura repeated as she eyed him quizzically.
"Yeah. It just appeared there one night," Naruto mentioned and then frowned. It seemed he had never stopped to think about how weird that sounded.
"Maybe the person you promised to eat better left it to you?" She suggested, and Naruto turned to look over at her this time. Instead of the frown or the soft smile he had previously had, he wore a sad smile and gained a longing look in his eyes.
"I wish, but it couldn't have been." He said as he shook his head. Naruto spoke with such finality that Sakura didn't question it. "What about you Sakura? Do you like to cook?"
"I don't know how to," she said honestly as she glanced at Sasuke, who didn't seem to be paying them much attention. Okaa-San has tried to teach me a few times, but she gets really annoying and bossy about it."
The moment she finished speaking, an awkward silence fell. Sakura closed her eyes and wished she could take it all back. She would have kicked herself in the mouth if she could have, but since she couldn't physically do it, she decided to apologize. However, before she could speak, Naruto broke the silence.
"You know, Sakura? We should find a way to use your genjutsu in our tactics," Naruto said quickly. She really appreciated that he didn't judge her slip-up—or at least he didn't call her out on it—and decided to change the subject. Still, she grimaced a little at the reminder of what she had shown Naruto earlier that day. His eyes turned a little cold, and his shoulders tensed. It seemed that it wasn't easy for him even though he was making an effort.
"Are you sure Naruto? I don't know if my illusions are good enough yet."
"They are," he replied, and she couldn't help flinching. When she turned to see him, she found him grinning at her with closed eyes, which was extremely odd considering what had happened because of illusions. "I mean. It's a bit like with my clones, don't you think? There are a lot of tricks we can do with your genjutsu."
Sakura shifted her eyes away from Naruto. "Yeah, I guess it can be a bit similar in a sense. Perhaps you can help me come up with a few ideas."
"Sure. I'm just not as good at explaining things as you, and I mostly do things as I go, but one of the first things I do in a fight is use a clone. During the bell test, after we hid, I sent a clone first to learn about Kakashi-Sensei. It wouldn't work the same way, but you could do something similar."
Sakura shook her head. "I don't know if I can make something as complex as you can with your clones. The genjutsu I know don't work that way either, but maybe I can ask Kakashi-Sensei to teach me something."
Naruto shrugged and pointed at Sasuke. "You should him what you can do, you know."
"Can you break out a genjutsu Sasuke-kun?" She asked, a little hopeful that she would get to teach him.
Sasuke's hand twitched involuntarily. "I know the theory," he said quietly, trying to prevent a sour look from forming on his face.
"I could teach you tomorrow, and then I can show you what I can do!" Sakura proposed, attempting to contain her excitement and failing.
Sasuke eyed her warily before giving a stiff nod that excited her heart.
"I thought you guys could sleep while I take the first watch. Kakashi-Sensei didn't show up last night, but we shouldn't let our guard down." She offered and smiled at both boys.
Sasuke shrugged and laid down on his sleeping bag while Naruto stared apprehensively at her for a few seconds before shifting his sleeping bag further away and lying down.
Sakura stared at the fire while both of her teammates slept. She recounted how the day had gone. Overall, it had been a productive day, and she found the experience wasn't as insufferable as she had first thought. Okay, there have been a few bad moments, like when she showed Naruto a dying Hinata or when she complained about her mother to a pair of orphans. She grimaced as she remembered her slip-up. In theory, it was a normal conversation, a teenage girl complaining about her parents. Most of the girls she talked to in the academy did it, and it never became awkward or made her feel bad. This wasn't the case in her team. Things like that made her feel like the odd one out on the team. All the members besides her were orphans who had had something go wrong with their lives. Kakashi had said he was an orphan and had most likely fought in the last war; Sasuke, who, well, it wasn't a secret what had happened to his clan, but most people tried not to talk about it; and Naruto, who seemed to have been living alone even before the academy. She felt as if there was this sort of understanding between the three of them that she wasn't aware of. It was like the inverse of an inside joke. She, the one who didn't understand, laughed, while the others who were aware didn't find anything funny about it.
She caught movement out of the corner of her eye and jumped to her feet only to realize it was Naruto squirming around brusquely in his sleeping bag.
'Is he... having a nightmare?' she asked herself before debating whether or not to wake him up. While thinking about it, she kept her gaze on him and heard him whisper and mumble something.
"H-Hinata?"
Sakura's eyes widened before she winced; if it was a nightmare about Hinata, it was definitely her fault. She knew that Naruto and Hinata were friends, and most knew about Hinata's crush on him, but she didn't realize that the blonde cared so much about her. It was sad and cute at the same time when she thought about it. Even Sakura hadn't had a nightmare about Sasuke after Kakashi's genjutsu. Yes, it had been horrible to see, but after learning it was a genjutsu, the image was easier to forget than she first would have thought. She wondered what that meant.
The next day went pretty much like the last, minus the bumps along the way. Sakura had put Sasuke under a genjutsu, and he managed to escape it on his first attempt. They spent the day practicing the strategies they had devised yesterday while trying to implement Sakura's abilities.
"So, how are we getting Kakashi-Sensei back for this?" Naruto asked after dinner on Sunday.
"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.
"Oh, come on! I enjoy it way more than I thought I would, but you can expect me not to get back at him after he dumped us here for three days."
Sakura smiled. "It wasn't so bad, was it?"
"Nah, but I'm still going to get back at him."
"And what are you planning to do? If you haven't managed to ruin his book by now, I doubt you would succeed this time." Sasuke questioned without much interest as he lay on his back with one knee over the other.
Naruto grinned, his eyes sparking with mirth. "Nah, I had something else in mind. I think it's about time we saw his real face, don't you think? There has to be a reason why he always keeps his mask on."
Sasuke scoffed. "That's stupid."
"Are you telling me that you aren't the slightest bit curious? I know Sakura is."
Sakura bit her lip. 'I do wonder.' she admitted to herself.
"Maybe he has... cod roe lips..." Sasuke turned to look at him, and Naruto smirked. "Or maybe... he has buckteeth."
Sasuke stared him down for a long time. "Fine. I'll help you."
Author's notes:
Well, I decided to give you guys a double update with two of the longest chapters to date. I hope it makes up for the prolonged absence. I know these chapters didn't necessarily progress the plot too much, but I wanted to show some bonding time between Team 7 and explore Sakura's character and how she is improving. I know Sakura's treatment of Naruto is terrible and that she has other flaws, but I hope this chapter makes her a bit more sympathetic or at least relatable. I don't know how long it will take to post the next chapter, but I will probably have it ready to post by the end of the month.