~~~ Week One: Day 5 ~~~

Creating chakra strings was a lot easier than Sakura imagined it would be. She had basically already gotten halfway there just from her attempt in the bushes and after a bit of instruction on how to properly thread her chakra through her fingers, the skill came easily to her.

Keeping the threads in existence was a bit harder. Being the purest form of chakra, the threads required a constant and more importantly stable flow of chakra to keep them active. The slightest wavering in the user's flow would lead to them either disappearing from too little chakra or popping from two much. It was a delicate balance and one that took Sakura nearly an entire week to get a handle on.

But she was pretty sure she finally had it. Sakura squinted, focusing her chakra to fix a fault she found in her strings, bringing them back to normal strength the instant that they began to falter. An approving noise sounded out behind her and she grinned, knowing that her sensei was pleased with her.

Chiyo, for her part, watched her student train with a critical eye. Puppetry was an art that took months to learn and years to master. To teach it to a child within four weeks was a laughable endeavor, but Chiyo was nothing if not stubborn and Sakura was nothing if not willing to learn. And learn she did.

The girl was currently using her chakra threads to manipulate several sticks and twigs independently of one another, a task that all potential members of the puppet corps were required to do. As she watched the girl practice, her eyes searched for any flaws or wavering chakra in the threads that she was currently weaving that the girl herself hadn't yet noticed.

Her eyes suddenly narrowed as she spotted something, "You are putting too much chakra into your right tertiary thread. If you keep doing that it'll fall apart! Fix it!"

"Yes, Sensei!"

Chiyo nodded approvingly as Sakura immediately corrected her mistake, dialing back on the amount of chakra that she was putting into the middle finger on her right hand. The bright blue that the string had been glowing faded back into the soft blue that it was supposed to be as it stabilized once more, "Good. Keep that up and you'll be a master in no time, girl!"

The pinkette smiled blindingly at her praise, before returning to her task, her tongue sticking out of her mouth as her brows furrowed in concentration.

Chiyo had taken many students in her relatively long life. She had taught dozens the foundations of her art and was left disappointed more often than not by the lack of passion and drive to learn the skill that she had dedicated a good portion of her life to.

But Sakura… Sakura was truly something else. The girl soaked up her lessons and knowledge like a sponge, showing a zeal and passion for learning everything that Chiyo had to teach her and displaying a burning curiosity that surpassed some of the most inquisitive of Suna's scholars.

Already she had managed to fray the ends of her chakra threads to control multiple points and if she wasn't practicing on sticks, Chiyo was positive she would be able to move a puppet. Manipulate it precisely? Probably not, but she would certainly be able to move it, and that was often the most difficult part for new practitioners.

She watched with some semblance of pride as the pink-haired child managed in a week what took some months to manage. Prodigy wasn't a word that she used often, but when faced with Sakura's astounding growth, she wasn't sure what other name to put to her.

She wasn't going to tell the child of course. Success breeds arrogance, and there was nothing more deadly to a ninja than arrogance. She would know.

Coming out of her thoughts, Chiyo clapped her hands once, getting her student's attention.

"Alright, that's enough." Chiyo called out, bringing Sakura's eyes to her, "You're as good as you're going to get at this exercise. It's time to begin the next step in your training."

Sakura gasped in excitement, her chakra threads disappearing into the ether as she turned and ran over to her sensei. She grinned massively, staring up at the woman with big, green eyes, "Are you gonna let me practice with a puppet now?!" She said excitedly.

Her face fell in slight confusion as Chiyo literally laughed out loud at her words. The woman shook her head as she calmed down, "Puppet's aren't something that are just given out willy-nilly, girl. You might be one of the first students I've had that's worth your salt, but I've got no intention of giving you a puppet."

Sakura was understandably shocked and more than a little outraged at what she was hearing, "What?! I thought that was the whole point of training me! How am I supposed to become a puppet master without a puppet?!"

Sakura yelped as a fist suddenly bopped her on the head the moment the outburst was finished, "Of course I'm not going to give you a puppet you foolish little girl!" Chiyo said angrily as Sakura looked at her with teary eyes, "That would go against everything being a puppet user stands for!"

Sakura's hurt expression twisted in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Every single puppet that has ever been created was done so for the creator's use alone." Chiyo explained with an impatient tone, "The hidden traps and tricks that every puppet is known for is conceived during their creation. For another puppeteer to use your puppet without knowing its exact function is just asking for them to break something important! Especially a novice such as yourself!"

"B-but what about that one girl!?" Sakura demanded, "You let her practice on one of your puppets. She didn't manage to do anything with it but you still let her try!"

She whined as another fist knocked her in the head, Chiyo making her displeasure known, "That's because it was her puppet! Puppet's rarely change hands unless they're handed down or gifted to someone already proficient in the art. She got her from her father, another snot-nosed student of mine."

Chiyo sniffed, "Not a lick of talent in that one. I was hoping his daughter would be better but I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Already, you're just as good as he is with your chakra strings. Makes me wonder if we should start sourcing our puppet corps from civilians instead of established families."

She shook her head, ending the tangent before it could begin, "As I was saying, I am preparing you for all you need to utilize my art. It's up to you to create your own puppet suited to yourself which I will be teaching you how to do in the time that I have left in Konoha."

Sakura blinked in surprise, before a massive smile came over her face, all previous disappointment fading away, "So you're going to teach me how to make my own puppet!?"

"That's the plan."

Sakura immediately bowed low, ignoring the pain in her head as the blood rushed to the forming lump, "I'm sorry for my outburst, sensei! I got excited!"

Chiyo waved her off, "Bah! You're still young. You've still got that youthful naivety in your tiny head. I'll beat it out of you in time."

Ignoring the woman's words, Sakura raised herself back up, giving Chiyo a curious look, "So what are we going to do next?"

"First, I'm going to get you started on sealing." Chiyo responded, "It's best to start early in your journey so that you'll be at least a little proficient by the time you construct your puppet."

"Sealing?" Sakura had heard the phrase before but wasn't exactly sure what it was, "What's that?"

In response to her question, Chiyo stared at her in surprise.

"What's sealing!? What in the world are they teaching you in the academy, girl?" Chiyo asked, bewildered, "You were once allied with the greatest clan of seal masters in the Elemental Nations! You have their village's crest on the back of your flak jackets, and you're telling me you've never even heard of sealing?"

Sakura's face burned in embarrassment at her lack of knowledge, "I mean I've heard of it I think, but I don't really know what it is…"

Chiyo sighed, "Kami preserve me…" Her face hardened, "Listen up because I'm only going to explain this once! As a puppeteer, one of the things that will determine your abilities are your seals. With them, you can make your puppet do things that your opponent won't expect. With the right seals, you can extend the limbs of your puppet tenfold, can store one hundred times the poison in their joints or even carry the puppet itself in a scroll the size of a tin can! There's practically no limit to what you can do with the right seals and a little bit of imagination!"

"The greatest puppet masters have just as much knowledge of seals as they do of puppetry techniques." Chiyo explained, unfurling the scroll in front of Sakura's increasingly wide eyes. She placed her hand on its face and with a puff of smoke, a rather large book was left in her hand.

She held it out to her student, "This is where your next lesson begins. This is a beginners guide to the art of sealing. You'll be studying it alongside your other training in the coming weeks and I expect you to have it finished by the time I leave so you'd better get to it."

Sakura stared at the thing with a sort of reverence. This was the secret to all of the tricks that had caused her to be interested in puppetry in the first place, what allowed them to do all those incredible things that decided explanation and logic!

With great enthusiasm, Sakura flipped open the book and immediately began reading, plopping down right where she was standing to sit on the grass as Chiyo watched her with slight amusement.

She'd be sure to become just as proficient in this new art as she had with her chakra strings! No matter how difficult it was!

~~~ The Yamanaka Household ~~~

Just as she had agreed to weeks before, Sakura had been visiting the Yamanaka Household to spar with Ino at least every other day. She would say that the blonde was progressing in her fights just as much as she herself was in puppetry but well… she'd be lying.

Ino grunted in pain as Sakura's fist slammed into her stomach, sending her reeling backwards clutching the injury. As she backed away, the pinkette didn't attempt to pursue, instead dropping her stance and looking at the blonde in slight concern, "You really need to tighten your guard, Ino, and look at my eyes, not my fists. I know it hurts to get hit but you'll be able to actually predict my moves if you're looking at my face thanks to your peripheral vision."

Ino huffed, immediately wincing at the pain in her stomach, "Easy for you to say when you're not on the receiving end of those things! Jeez, Sakura, I know you're basically training me but would it kill you to hold back a bit?"

Sakura blinked, looking down at her hand, "I have been though."

"Well that doesn't make me feel better at all!" Ino cried, "How am I supposed to get better if you holding back is still enough to knock me on my ass without even trying!?"

Sakura winced at the sudden increase in volume. Why was this girl always so loud? "You just need to learn how to block properly. You're actually a pretty good fighter but you sort of fall apart when someone hits back. If you can learn where to block you might actually stand a chance against… well, not me but maybe Naruto? He just sort of throws himself at his enemy and takes the punches."

Actually, did Naruto even have a fighting style? Sakura was pretty sure that pretty much everyone in class had at least landed a hit on him. Even Ami! From what she remembered, his mother had been an accomplished kunoichi in her time so he should have been getting some good training. Maybe it just hadn't stuck?

As she mused to herself, Ino huffed, crossing her arms, "Great, I stand a chance against the lunkhead who eats fists for breakfast. We both know how durable he is and I know I can't throw him out of the ring like you can, you freakish brute!"

"Rude." Sakura frowned slightly at the blonde's attitude, "And you won't always be stronger than your enemy, Ino. In fact, I doubt you ever really will be. At least not before we graduate."

Ino's eyes narrowed dangerously and Sakura could feel she'd made a mistake, "What did you just say?"

"I meant physically, not skillfully!" She hastily corrected herself as the blonde began stomping towards her. Luckily her words saved her from Ino's wrath as the other girl froze before giving her a the motion to continue, causing Sakura to sigh in relief

"You aren't a bad fighter, Ino. From what I'm able to tell, you'd probably rank much higher in the class if you practiced more on defending and figuring out where to strike instead of attacking whatever you can hit." The pinkette explained, "You've got a much lighter build than I do thanks to your diet so you can't hit as hard. You need to aim for weak spots and try to get your opponent into a position where you can get to them."

Ino crossed her arms, "Okay, and how am I supposed to do that?"

"By controlling the flow of the fight." Ino's face twisted in confusion so Sakura explained it to her, "It's like… okay look, you saw my fight with Sasuke? The way that he was almost always moving and responding to my attacks and the way that I could barely hit him? That was because he was fighting in a way that let him choose what my next move would be. He makes me block so he can take advantage of the way my arms are placed or makes me dodge into his next attack in a way that I can't avoid."

Sakura scratched her head, "He probably learned it from his brother or something because they definitely don't teach that in class. I only figured it out because I was looking through scrolls to help me fight better and even then I can't do it a hundred percent of the time. Maybe closer to thirty percent..."

Ino stared at her for a long time after her explanation ended, blue eyes wide with incredulity at the words that just spewed out of the pinkette's mouth, "How are you not at the top of the class when you can figure that stuff out on your own?!" She demanded.

Sakura shrugged, "I don't really care about that stuff and Sasuke's really just better than me. He's faster, stronger, and better at predicting his opponents than I am. When he's actually trying, I don't think anyone in class can keep up with him except for maybe Hinata."

"Yeah well she's a Hyuga so it makes sense that taijutsu would be her forte." Ino said before a dreamy smile came over her face, "But that just means Sasuke-kun is so great that only a Hyuga can keep up with him in a fist fight!"

Sakura rolled her eyes at the girl's words, "Right. Anyway, let's continue where we left off. If you want to dictate the fight, you need speed first and foremost. If we're gonna get you up to where you want to be, you'll need to…""

From the sidelines, the other member of their group watched what was happening with critical eyes. Inoichi Yamanaka normally wouldn't have been here for his daughter's practice with her pink-haired friend but he had finished all of his work at T early today and had been curious so he was sitting in for his nephew who normally watched over them in his stead.

He watched curiously as Sakura lectured his daughter, an intelligent glint in her eyes that completely contrasted with her childish appearance. She suddenly extended a hand, and Inoichi's curiosity turned to shock as blue threads of chakra extended from her fingertips, sticking to Ino's clothing and causing his daughter to yelp in shock.

"These are the places people guard most so we'll focus on them first." Sakura said, causing Ino to look down at the threads. One suddenly glowed brighter than the rest, "Like here. Your liver is one of your most vital organs. You need to protect it especially hard in a fist fight because one good hit will send you down for a long time. Even with how light your punches are, you could do some real damage. Most people will know better than to leave it open though so you'll need to try hard to get their guard open for it."

As Ino poked at the strange strings attached to her body with a confused look, Inoichi stared in shock as this child who was his daughter's age demonstrated an ability that even few, if any, Konoha ninja could utilize.

The ability to create and use tangible chakra threads was a skill that took more time, effort, and most importantly, chakra control for most ninja to even attempt. Most didn't even bother with it, deeming it too difficult to learn for the little use they would get out of it.

Not to mention, it wasn't exactly a skill one could learn by themselves. Creating chakra threads was an intricate process that required at least some form of prior knowledge on how to do it. Inoichi had heard stories of cocky shinobi who thought they could mimic Suna's most secretive art only to lose the ability to weave seals as their fingers were blown off of whatever hand made the attempt.

And yet here Sakura was, with all ten fingers and chakra threads just as bright and tangible as a member of Suna's puppet corps. So that begged the question, where had the girl learned to do this?

Curiosity getting the better of him, and because it was getting pretty late, Inoichi called out to the two girls as they settled across from each other to go at it once again, "Alright, you two, that's enough for the day. Ino, dinner should be ready inside."

Both of the girls immediately dropped from their stances at his words, "Okay Tou-sama!" "Yes sir!"

As the two of them crossed the field back towards Ino's house, the blonde suddenly sighed, "Hey Sakura, are you sure this is working? We've been doing this for like two weeks and I'm still not able to handle fighting you for more than a few dozen seconds."

"That's because you've only been fighting me." Sakura responded, "I'm better than most people in class so when you're fighting me, you don't notice the change but I do. Despite what I said earlier, you aren't a bad fighter, you just don't block that well or really try to dodge."

Ino sighed, not at all comforted by her words, "Great. I'm better than the creepy bug boy who doesn't even like to fight in the first place. Yay me."

Sakura scowled as Ino called her best friend creepy, but wasn't able to say anything as Inoichi suddenly spoke up as they reached them.

"You should listen to your friend, Ino. Today's the first day I've watched you two spar but I can already see some improvement. If you keep it up, you're sure to catch the eye of that Uchiha kid you talk about so much." He said and Sakura raised an eyebrow as he blatantly played to Ino's massive crush on Sasuke. There was no way she wouldn't see right through tha-

"HELL YEAH!" Sakura whipped her head to the side, incredulous as Ino pumped a fist high in the air with a determined expression on her face, "I'll train until I can wipe the floor with everyone in class and then none of those hussies will stand a chance with Sasuke-kun!"

Inoichi shook his head as Ino's trudging gate turned into a power walk as she made her way into the house, a determined expression on her face at the thought of catching her crush's attention.

"I'll see you later, Ino! Remember what I said." Sakura called after her friend as she disappeared into her home.

"Ah, one moment Sakura." Inoichi called out to the girl, stopping her before she turned to leave.. She looked at him curiously and he gave her a disarming smile, "I was wondering where you learned to use those chakra threads you showed earlier. It's not a skill that anyone here would be able to teach you. How'd you learn it?"

Sakura blinked at the sudden question. She rubbed the back of her head, "Oh uh, it's kinda embarrassing actually. I was walking by one of the training grounds a few days ago and heard some voices. One thing led to another and I ended up in the bushes, spying on some of the Sun's ninja training."

"And I assume they caught you?" Inoichi smiled as Sakura blushed in slight embarrassment.

"Yeah they did. Or well, one of them did. I was watching them use chakra threads and wanted to try it myself so I stopped paying attention to them. I got pretty far in making my own strings when Chiyo-sensei stopped me. Scared the crap out of me too." Sakura looked down at one of her hands, "It was probably a good thing she did. She said I was about to blow my fingers off or something.

Inoichi was starting to form a picture of what was happening and he couldn't believe it, "Sensei, eh? She's training you?"

Sakura grinned brightly, completely unaware of how incredible her circumstances were, "Yep! Chiyo-sensei said that I was super talented and offered to teach me how to use puppets! I'm gonna be Konoha's greatest puppet mistress!"

Inoichi laughed lightly even though he could hardly believe that Lady Chiyo of all people would even entertain the idea of teaching someone from another village.

Still, that explained where her ability had come from. It was no wonder that Sakura was able to make chakra strings at such a young age if Lady Chiyo of all people was willing to teach her. She must really be something special to catch the woman's eye enough for her to take her on.

He'd have to inform the Hokage of course, maybe assign a squad of anbu to keep an eye on her training, but if all went well, then Konoha might just gain another powerful technique to help them against their future enemies.

"Would you like to join us for dinner?" Inoichi asked, motioning inside of his house, "I'm sure my wife made more than enough to feed all four of us. I wouldn't mind talking a bit more about your training and despite her attitude, I know Ino enjoys your company as well."

"She does?" Sakura blinked as Inoichi nodded, "She yells at me so much that I thought she didn't really like me."

Inoichi chuckled, "I can see how you might think that. Ino's always been more outspoken than children her age. She gets her personality from her mother. Believe me when I tell you that she wouldn't spend any time with you whatsoever if she didn't consider you a friend."

Sakura looked towards the door where Ino had disappeared, "Huh… Well she's pretty cool too, I guess." She looked back to him, an apologetic expression coming over her face, "Anyway, I'm sorry but I can't stay for dinner. My parents and sister are getting back from their trip tonight and I wanna eat with them."

Inoichi smiled, showing there was no harm done, "Ah, maybe next time then. Get home safe, Sakura."

She gave him a grin as she turned to leave, "Will do!"

As Inoichi entered his house once again, he happened across his daughter as she was coming down the stairs. She had changed out of her earlier outfit into something much more fitting for lounging around the house instead of sparring.

"Say, Ino." Inoichi spoke up as they both made their way to the kitchen, "Your friend, do you know where her parents are from?"

Ino gave him a confused look, "What do you mean? I'm pretty sure they're from here."

"You're sure?" He kept his voice casual, knowing how sharp his little girl could be sometimes, "They're not from say, Suna or somewhere in the Land of Wind?"

Ino shook her head, "No, they're from Konoha. They're merchants though and are pretty much always out of the village based on what Sakura told me so they probably visit places all over the continent. Actually, I think they just got back from the Land of Wind today."

Inoichi rubbed his chin in thought, "Interesting…"

"What's interesting?" Ino asked, completely confused about her father's questions.

He shook his head, "It's nothing, Ino, just thinking about something. Come on, I'm sure your mother is getting impatient. We'd better hurry and wash up before she brings out the frying pan."

Ino blinked before suddenly picking up the speed, leaving her father laughing as he watched her practically jog to the bathroom.

An up-and-coming Konoha ninja being trained personally by Lady Chiyo of all people. One who apparently had no ties to Suna in any discernible way…

"Shikaku's not going to believe this."

~~~ The Next Day ~~~

Sakura hummed in confusion as she looked over the seal she was working on with critical eyes. She was once again sitting in Training Ground 23, an unfurled sealing scroll held in front of her that her sensei had given her for practice.

Her fingers tapped on her thighs, newly painted nails glinting in the morning light as she cross referenced the seal she was working on with the open book sitting by her side, "What am I doing wrong?" She muttered, leaning over to get a closer look at what it was supposed to look like.

The seal she was currently working on could barely even be called an actual seal. It was a basic array that was meant for a beginner to practice their brush strokes with. Once it was complete, it would light up a brilliant blue to indicate that the new practitioner was ready to move on to the next step. Sakura's wasn't doing that.

Sealing was much more difficult for her than using chakra strings and even now, a full week later she still hadn't quite gotten the hang of it. Her child brain had trouble keeping up with the new terms and line of thinking that was required to learn such an art, often leaving her with a headache after a full day of practice.

She persevered though. It was necessary if she wanted to be a true puppeteer so she would learn and master it like she was going to master everything else that she needed to become the greatest puppeteer the Elemental Nations had ever seen!

…First she needed to figure out how to fix this practice array though. It was supposed to be lighting up, not smoking.

She furrowed her bow in concentration, looking over the inky black array in search of the issue. Behind her, her sensei scrutinized her from a few feet away, keeping an eye on what she was doing. As she did so, Chiyo's eyes strayed down towards the girl's hands.

They were stained black with ink but the deep red covering her fingernails shone through easily. Strangely easily in fact, and Chiyo narrowed her eyes in slight confusion as she realized something.

"Hey, girl." She called out, causing her student to turn towards her, "Where in the world did you manage to get your hands on chakra conductive nail polish?"

Sakura blinked, surprised that the woman had been able to tell, before looking down at her fingernails, "Oh, uh, my parents brought it back from their trip to the Land of Wind. I didn't even know it was chakra conductive until I used my threads but it made it a lot easier to control them!"

Chiyo raised a brow, "That stuff is very expensive even in Suna where it's made. It takes months to gather enough ingredients for even a quart and it's usually all snatched up by the puppet corps before it even hits the market. Your parents must be very successful in life to afford a vial. Are they jonin?"

Sakura shook her head, "Nah, we're a merchant clan! I think I'm the only one who has any interest in being a ninja." She said happily as she returned to her scroll, "The Haruno family isn't as famous as the ninja clans but when it comes to the village's economy, we're pretty well known. They probably managed to get a good deal on it."

Chiyo's eyes widened in surprise before darting to the large white circle on the back of her student's jacket. Now that she mentioned it, Chiyo had seen it somewhere before though she hadn't given any thought to it but she certainly recognized the name.

The Haruno family was less of an actual family and more of a joined collection of merchant clans who joined together in order to trade skills and routes. It spanned nearly the entirety of the Elemental Nations, and while it was mostly inconsequential when it came to ninja affairs, few villages hadn't seen their business reach their gates.

At the center of it all, sat a family from Konoha who the coalition was named after, marked by the simple crest of a white circle. The same one that was displayed proudly on her student's back. If the girl truly was from the family, then it was no wonder that she had managed to obtain a vial of the stuff.

"The color suits you." Chiyo finally said, causing Sakura's eyes to widen, "You forgot to close the linking matrices in your locking seal. Fix it."

Sakura immediately moved to do that, unable to keep the grin off of her face at her sensei's words as she returned to her task with renewed enthusiasm.

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