Author's note: No idea why this chapter fought with me for so long, but it's finally done! This will likely be the last setup chapter before things pick up speed again. Enjoy!

What is your Goal?

Kin let her gaze wander quickly over the empty streets and the moonlit roofs. A few lights of late-open bars and the like could be seen in the distance, but most of the village had gone quiet. With a scoff, the Sound Kunoichi closed the curtains, stepped away from the window, and turned around. Dosu sat on his bed, his visible eye closed as he focused on his ears.

"How many?" she asked her surviving teammate.

"Two, as far as I can tell."

"Pff, some Anbu those are. Letting themselves get found that easily."

Dosu opened his eye and shook his head.

"No, if they wanted to, I couldn't detect them. They're doing this on purpose."

"Why would they do that?"

"It's a message. Either for us directly or for Lord Oroch-"

"SHHH! Are you crazy?!" she interrupted him with an angry whisper. "What if they're listening?!"

"Then what? As if they don't know that by now. That stopped being a secret the second Sasuke survived the forest."

Kin bit her lip. As were the rules of the second task, Zaku's death had automatically disqualified them, but even then, they weren't allowed to leave the forest until the end of the five-day time frame. They had spent the remaining days in hiding while trying to tend their wounds which, for the most part, had worked. They only got found on the last day by a rather weak and desperate team, and by then they had recovered enough to deal with them quickly. Not long after, Leaf Ninja appeared, brought them out of the forest and to the hospital where their injuries got treated. The big surprise then was that they were simply brought back to the hotel.

Dosu had a point though. Pink had known about Orochimaru even before meeting the Sound Trio, recognizing them by the headbands. In other words, the connection between Orochimaru and the Hidden Sound village was known, now at the latest. Thinking back at it made her anger flare up as she carefully touched her nose. The bone shards had been painfully rearranged and put together again so it could heal, but it still hurt a lot. It wasn't like either of them had ever actually cared about the exam, only entering on Lord Orochimaru's orders, but now she lamented being out as she no longer had an easy way of giving Pink payback. And with them being apparently watched, trying something now wasn't a good idea.

"But that makes no sense," she added in a hushed voice. "If they know, why aren't they doing something?"

"What do you want them to do, come and interrogate us? It's not like we know anything. Would be too many loose ends I guess."

Kin narrowed her eyes, not missing her teammate's sarcastic tone.

"What are you implying?"

"Think about it! First, he gives us the task of killing Sasuke, but then he goes to him first and gives him a curse mark. Maybe even a new version, depending on what that stuff around it was. This was a test! And not for us, we were the test. For Sasuke."

"You're making no sense, Dosu. Why would Lord Orochimaru do this? We never failed him before!"

"But we did just now. No matter whether I'm right or I'm wrong and he actually just wanted Sasuke dead, we failed at either! But regardless of that, I've seen how it looks when someone gets a curse mark. The few who survive are like wild beasts when they first awaken, filled with bloodlust. And we would've turned ourselves into targets for that."

Kin gritted her teeth. She hated that Dosu once again had a point, she just couldn't accept it. Had it not been for Lord Orochimaru, she would've pathetically starved or frozen to death in the streets. Most in the Hidden Sound Village shared a similar fate. They all owed him, and all paid him back one way or the other. It was only a matter of how. In the Hidden Sound Village, no one was useless. It depended on the individual whether their use was as a person or as a test subject. But the trio had proven their worth time and time again! He had praised their progress! So why? Naturally, Kin was loyal and willing to risk her life for his cause; all of them were. But to be simply tossed aside like this?

"For the sake of it, let's say you're right: what would you do then?"

Dosu leaned back to lie down on his bed.

"Well, that's the question, isn't it?"

Kin scoffed at the unhelpful response and ultimately decided to go to sleep as well.

What she understood the least was why they still hadn't heard from him. Either way, there should've been something. But there was nothing other than silence.

Lord Orochimaru… just what are you planning?

19 days until the third trial

"Damn it!" Naruto shouted in frustration as his hand slipped again, ruining the sealing array he had just drawn. Annoyed, he tore the paper slip apart.

"Patience isn't exactly your strong suit, eh?" his substitute teacher asked with a smug grin.

"Oh, shut up! How am I supposed to be patient when you only give me ten seconds to draw this stuff?! For the barriers, Tanya-sensei always had me prepare the tags in advance!"

"And what if you run out in the middle of the combat? Besides, you can't carry every seal you know with you pre-drawn. One, that would be a nightmare to find the right one in a hectic situation. Two, not all seals can be used as tags, many need to be applied directly. Three, sometimes you'll need to improvise or modify a seal on the spot, you can't prepare that in advance. The suppression seal you're practicing right now for example has tons of variations depending on the circumstances. Seals are a wide and complex field of study, but a powerful tool once mastered. And while some seals can be drawn with chakra alone, most can't. Unique kinds of seals not counted. And don't get me started on seal compression techniques."

"But it took me ages just memorizing the barrier tags!" Naruto complained. "Do I need to get all of that in my head?!"

"You make it sound worse than it is. Draw them often enough and they'll get stuck in your head on their own. Your father got to it easily back then."

Naruto's head perked up.

"Huh? Wait, WHAT?"

His father? Had he heard that right? Was this old perv saying that he had known Naruto's father?!

"Oh, nothing, forget it."

"Bullcrap! You just said-" he began, but a raised hand interrupted him.

"Look, Naruto, whatever you think you may have just heard, I can't talk about it."

Naruto gnashed his teeth in anger. He probably didn't know anything about Naruto's father and was just lying. Why was this guy so frustrating?!

"Damn it, you always do this! Start with something and then drop it! First, you're on about how great your toads are, then it's something about the Ninetails, next you apparently know something the Hokage taught you, but you never follow through with any of it! All you do is tease stuff! You're all talk, you probably don't know half the shit you're promising!"

He could feel his face getting hot from the anger. Just why did Tanya-sensei drop him off to this weirdo, who now just laughed him off?

"Hm, harsh words. But if you can't do something this simple, how am I supposed to teach you all the amazing things I know?"

He laughed again.

"Well, since you mentioned the barrier tag, how did you memorize that one?"

"Tanya-sensei told me a story about the symbols."

"...story?"

Naruto took another empty paper tag from the stack and began drawing.

"A shepherd is building a fence to protect his herd," he started as he drew the open circle in the middle. "At eleven am, he picks up a plank and turns around, then places it down, then places it down," he continued, drawing the first array of symbols from the top-left corner to the open circle in the center, each of the three symbols equaling one action of the shepherd. He then recited the rest of the story as he drew the remaining five lines of symbols for twelve am, one pm, five pm, six pm, and seven pm.

"That's certainly a unique way to do it," Jiraiya commented as he was done. "But that was really slow right now."

"Only because I was explaining it, damn it! I can do it faster!"

"Hehe, yeah, I'm kidding. But I'm sure you eventually won't need to come up with a story for each seal once you've understood the principle behind it. Though that might take a while considering your uptake speed."

A creepy grin appeared on his face.

"Hey, you know, you could give me some incentive, right? A bit of eye candy to make things worthwhile for me maybe?"

Naruto scoffed. He should've never shown this perv his sexy jutsu. But fine, he wanted to see it? He would give it to him!

'Henge no Jutsu!' [Transformation Jutsu]

In a puff of smoke, Naruto transformed into a naked woman. But not the fictitious young woman using himself as a basis; instead, he replaced the head with that of his substitute teacher, merely giving it some more feminine features and making it look younger. But all the other details were still recognizable. As a bonus, just to see his reaction, he also took the nose piercing and placed it… somewhere else. He had used his transformations quite a lot during the preparation for the exam, so making up new transformations from scratch had become rather easy.

Let's see how you like that!

But the expected reaction didn't come. Instead, the older man's eyes narrowed while he rubbed his chin as if he had gone into a deep thought.

"You know, Naruto, now I'm kinda conflicted. On the one hand…"

Naruto immediately canceled the transformation.

"I don't want to hear it, ew! Stupid Pervy Sage."

"Oi, stop calling me that."

"Stop being one!"

The Pervy Sage in question crossed his arms and gave him an annoyed expression.

"Fine, then how about this: if you can make a basic suppression seal tomorrow at noon, I'll teach you what I know about the Ninetails and how you could maybe use it."

"Alright. But if that's another lie you'll regret it, believe it!"

Seeing as the sun was already setting, the two separated for the day. Truth be told, Naruto wasn't sure what he should think about using the fox. It was the reason why he had been alone all his life, it had caused so much death and destruction. As its… 'prison', as Sasuke called it, wasn't it Naruto's job to keep it locked away forever? Then again, even if not to use it, learning more about it might be a good idea, as much as he preferred to avoid the topic.

The rumbling of his stomach interrupted him and he decided that he could still think about once dinner was over. He thought about going home for about a second before deciding on Ichiraku instead, turned his body mid-jump, and pushed himself off the next rooftop in the other direction.

"N-Naruto?"

The soft, but still clearly audible call of his name made him halt - or would have, had he not been in the middle of his next jump. In the corner of his eye, he spotted a patch of red hair illuminated by the light of the street lanterns.

"Karin!" he recognized. Almost losing his balance, he managed to inelegantly brake his jump, pushed himself off the side of the opposite house, and landed in front of the bespectacled kunoichi, making her flinch for a second.

"Hi there!" he greeted her with a wide grin. Finally! Ever since the preliminaries had he desperately wanted to speak with her, but first Tanya-sensei didn't let him and whenever he had looked after training, he couldn't find her. Now, he finally had his chance.

"You-" both of them started simultaneously and interrupted themselves again. A moment of awkward silence followed. Naruto was about to speak again when his grumbling stomach reminded him of his initial plans.

"Hey, um, have you eaten yet?"

"N-no, I was just about to-"

"Perfect! Come, let's talk over some ramen!"

Without waiting for an answer he grabbed her wrist and dragged her along. They were already close anyway, so after just a few corners, he could see the signature lantern of the small stall that was almost like a second home to him. And now, he was going to eat there with his cousin! He could barely contain his excitement.

"I…," Karin panted behind him. "I'm actually supposed to eat... my rations. I was just... going to the hotel… a-also, I don't have any money and, um…"

"Nah, don't worry, I'll treat you, so let's have something special. I think I'll go with wakayama ramen today. What about you?"

"I-I… it's okay, y-you don't have to… a-also, I never had ramen, so-"

"What?!"

Naruto's head snapped in her direction, making her flinch.

"Okay, now I HAVE to treat you. Come, we can't have that!"

He quickly pulled her to the stall, pushed away the half-curtains, and was about to sit down, when he was met with the next surprise.

"Sakura?"

"Hm?"

The pinkette looked up from her bowl and swallowed the bite she currently had in her mouth.

"Hello, Naruto. And… Karin, right?"

"Um, yes!"

"Good evening, Naruto," Teuchi, the owner of the stall, greeted him as well. "I don't think I've seen you before, young lady. Are you a new friend of Naruto?"

"Nope!" Naruto interjected, put his arm around the girl in question, and pulled her closer, eliciting a surprised 'eep!'. "Old man, meet my cousin Karin! Well, distant cousin, but still!"

Teuchi's eyes opened so wide that for the first time since Naruto knew him, it didn't look like he was squinting.

"Oh? I… I didn't know you had relatives."

"Neither did I! Awesome, right?"

A warm smile spread over Teuchi's face.

"You can say that again, this needs to be celebrated! You two can order whatever you want, it's on the house tonight!"

"Really?! Oh, speaking of, Karin never had ramen, can you believe that?"

"Well, then I better put in the extra effort to make something special, am I right? Alright, sit down you two, I'll be ready in a moment."

The two took seat, Naruto still unable to wipe the grin off of his face.

"Um, I-I'm sorry, but I didn't catch your name," Karin addressed Sakura after a few moments of quiet, leaning forward to look at her over the counter.

"No need to apologize," she answered with a smile. "I'm Sakura, this id- ahem, I mean, I'm your cousin's teammate."

The response made Karin blush for some reason.

"Heh, but I knew you were bluffing when you said you didn't like ramen," Naruto snickered, making his teammate roll her eyes.

"I never said I didn't like it, I said it's far too heavy to be a frequent meal to me."

"Why, because of the soup? The other stuff doesn't really weigh more than other meals."

"Not heavy like- argh, forget it. Not really true anymore anyway, since Tanya-sensei stopped pulling her punches I've needed a lot more calories anyway. I've been more or less rotating through the village's eateries for my meals ever since we came back," she explained before taking another bite from her noodles. "I'm not coming here more often than I do any other place. Not everyone breathes ramen like you do."

"Oh, are your parents away?"

Sakura didn't answer immediately. Eventually, she sighed.

"No, that's not the reason. They're here, it's just… things at home have been a bit… awkward lately. Nothing big," she quickly assured him, "just the kind of atmosphere that makes it hard to share a dinner table. I'll talk things through with them, it's just… right now I should focus on preparing for the last trial."

Just then, Teuchi placed two steaming bowls in front of Naruto and Karin, making his mouth water. He quickly grabbed his chopsticks and began to dig in.

"What about your parents, Karin?" Sakura added. "What do they think about you being here? Do they support you? Are they also shinobi?"

Karin, who had just been about to take her first bite, froze upon hearing the question, noodles slipping down from her chopsticks as her hand began to tremble.

"... they… they aren't…"

She swallowed heavily before continuing.

"M-my father died when I was little. My mother took me with her t-to the Land of Grass, b-but a while ago, she… she…"

The girl wasn't able to finish her sentence.

"Ah, shit, why do I always…" Sakura quietly mumbled to herself before raising her voice. "I'm so sorry for bringing it up."

"N-no, you didn't… y-you couldn't…"

Her own sniffle interrupted her as tears began to form in her eyes. Naruto swallowed.

So she is alone, too.

Even worse, he had found people he could now call his friends. But Karin and her team hadn't exactly seemed close. Did she have anyone?

Naruto quickly put his chopsticks away and pulled Karin closer. The girl flinched at first but let it happen. He pondered whether it was better to say something, try to calm her down, but he couldn't decide on the right words. Instead, he opted to simply hold her tightly. A few moments later, Sakura stood up from her stool, walked around the pair, and embraced Karin from the other side as well.

At that moment, it was as if a floodgate had been opened as Karin began to cry loudly, tears and snot running down her face as her emotions, bottled up for who knew how long were finally freed. After a while, Naruto felt his own eyes get wet, but he ignored it. Time became a blur as the three of them stood/sat like that, he couldn't say how long it took until Karin eventually calmed down. Slowly, they went apart and looked at each other. Karin's eyes were red and puffy, and he could see that Sakura also had a thin trail of tears on her cheeks.

A brief quiet followed but was interrupted when something hit the counter next to them. The trio startled and looked to the side, noticing that Teuchi had placed three fresh, steaming bowls in front of them.

"Your old ones got cold," he said in a somber tone. Sakura glanced over to her bowl, which was just as full as the other two.

"But I was almost…" she started, but Teuchi waved her off. She then sat down again and they began to eat in silence.

"It's good," Karin quietly said after a while. That brought a small smile to Naruto's face. Then it got quiet again. They ate slowly, even Naruto for once, and it was rather late when they were done. Then, Karin suddenly spoke again.

"Hey, um… has either of you ever heard the name Kushina?"

Naruto thought for a moment but nothing came to him.

"It rings a bell," Sakura responded, "but I can't… ah, I know! When you used that chain jutsu in the preliminaries, Lee's sensei said it was 'just like Kushinas'."

Oh, right, now that she says it, he did!

"Why do you ask?"

"Oh, um, I met… I met someone who knows a bit about the chains. He mentioned the name."

"Your fight was over pretty quickly," Naruto chimed in. "I honestly can't wait to see you in the big arena, your jutsus are amazing."

"I-I don't think I'll- wait, 'amazing'?"

"It's an apt description," Sakura agreed. "Your healing alone is incredible. But I guess it's not a technique that can be learned, right?"

"You… you would want this cur- this ability?"

"Of course, who in their right mind wouldn't? But it's probably- hang on. Your chains are a Kekkei Genkai, right?"

Karin gave her a confused look.

"Something tied to your bloodline," Sakura clarified.

"Oh, um, yes, apparently. That's what Kak- that's what I was told. I didn't know about it, to be honest."

"If it's tied to your bloodline, then this 'Kushina' must've also been an Uzumaki. Naruto, do you know about relatives you had prior to the Ninetails' attack?"

He shook his head.

"Nah. Don't even know the names of my parents. I tried but couldn't get anything beyond a 'classified'. And all Old Man Hokage told me was 'It is better if you don't know yet. You will learn about them eventually'," he grumbled, saying the last part imitating an old man's voice.

No one ever told me anything.

"Well… Chūnin get access to some restricted information. If either of us makes it, maybe they can find out."

The thought made Naruto's heart jump a little. He had given up on the idea of ever learning about his parents long ago, but what Sakura said sounded plausible. However…

"No," he stated. "When all three of us make it, we can do it together. …and Sasuke too, I guess."

16 days until the third trial

I quickly downed my cup of instant coffee as I watched my student go through another repeat. What little I got to taste of It was as disappointing as always, but it didn't matter right now. All I needed at the moment was to be awake and for that, it would suffice.

As had become a common occurrence over the last few days, I had been late in bed and up early. Late because I had spent yesterday evening making a target/actual comparison of the training procedures. Almost half of the preparation time was over so first results were paramount. And early because I couldn't afford to waste daytime.

Jiraiya hadn't talked to me about it so I had to simply trust in him, but considering who he was, Naruto was the one I was least worried about. According to Shinku-sensei, Sasuke was making great progress. Sakura, on the other hand, wasn't. Not a good sign considering we were close to the point of no return.

Dust shot up as curved earthen plates erupted from the ground, a couple of meters away from Sakura. This was the point where my idea seemed to stagnate. Her chakra pool - bigger than a few months ago, but still limited - also didn't allow for many attempts per day, which didn't help.

"How is it, Tanya-sensei?" she asked, her enthusiasm notably gone down compared to the start of the preparation period.

"The distance should be fine," I concluded. "Still slower than I would like it to be, but it should be fast enough, if barely. The main problem is and remains this."

With little to no effort, I broke off a piece from the left plate.

"You won't win any fights with this. Well then. Almost half of your preparation time for the final task is up. It's time for you to make a choice."

Sakura cocked her head questioningly. I took a deep breath.

"As I already said," I explained, "you are in charge of your preparation, my help is merely an offer. And considering our current stagnation… there is a possibility that we wasted these last two weeks. So, you have to decide. Will you commit the remaining time, betting you'll achieve a breakthrough but risking it amounts to nothing, or will you opt for regular training, simply preparing as well as possible even if it's not enough? Or maybe pursue another idea I didn't think of."

"I-"

"Don't answer right away. This is a choice that could decide whether or not you pass the exam. You're probably almost out of chakra anyway, so I want you to meditate. Use the time to think clearly, and DO NOT fall for the sunk-cost fallacy. I will be back in a few hours and hear your decision."

"Yes, Tanya-sensei!"

She sat down in the shadow of a tree while I went back to the village. I needed to clear my head.

I bit the nail of my thumb as I once again went through everything I had already thought about. The technique we were currently working on had been my best idea, and the only one that, if it worked, had reliable consistency. There were other ways for Sakura to win, sure, but most tools in her arsenal were a coin flip in this situation at best.

Genjutsu was always an option, she had decent basics and in two weeks those could be trained further; but even if Gaara was trapped in one, the sand would still protect him automatically, and banking on the referee not knowing that and declaring the match over prematurely was a fool's errand.

Some final gambit where she would go for a kill only to die on failure was also a stupid idea. And from my estimate, Gaara also didn't seem to think of himself as untouchable; during the preliminaries, I had sensed that his skin had been coated in chakra, so that was likely a form of secondary defense should the sand fail. No hubris to exploit there either.

Of course, if we were being strict, then Sakura didn't HAVE to win. First and foremost, she had to survive. Making a good figure in the first fight and then withdrawing would be okay…ish.

As I thought, I reached the first stop of my walk: the smithy.

"Tanya," the blacksmith greeted me with a grin. "Need to restock? Don't have any of your fleshetts in stock though, want me to make some?"

I didn't comment on his mispronunciation, nor was I surprised by this. Flèchettes weren't of much use on the ground, so I was the only one who commissioned him for those.

"Not today, thank you."

"Alright, then just go to the counter if you need something else," he said, pointing at the girl manning the storefront.

"I will. My commission is progressing as planned?"

The blacksmith rolled his eyes.

"I already told you, I can make it quick or I can make it good. Chakra-conducting metal isn't easy to work with."

"I had no intentions of rushing you. I merely wanted to check on our agreed timetable."

"I will be done on time, but not much before that. You said you could live with that."

That was true, though I had primarily said that for a lack of better options. I didn't let that thought reach my mouth though, so I merely nodded and alibi-bought a couple of shuriken.

If all went well, which seemed to be the case, Sasuke had decent chances against Gaara. But that just wasn't the same. The two boys were widely considered the highlights of the tournament, many looked forward to their fight. Sure, it would look good if Sasuke came out victorious, but it wouldn't be that special. The two most promising kids fought and one of them won, what a shocker. But if Sakura, a civilian-born, would beat Gaara before he could even face the last Uchiha? Now that would be glorious. For her, sure, but also for me, at least in the eyes of those who mattered. She would then lose or forfeit against Sasuke because she couldn't realistically face him after two consecutive fights, and in the finale, Sasuke would meet Naruto. There, Sasuke could finally show off in front of the crowd while Naruto, underestimated by all, would prove himself as his equal, thanks to my guidance.

That was the ideal scenario. And right now, that scenario was becoming increasingly unlikely unless I came up with a solution, fast.

Finally, there was my personal goal, unrelated to the exam. It was annoying that everything had to happen at once, but right now was an opportune moment to get close to Ino and through her to her family. I would need a Yamanaka I could trust to seal away whatever Being X had done to my mind. If something like in the tower would happen while someone like the Hokage saw me… better not think about it. I could not allow that to happen. Which was the precise reason why my next stop was at the flower shop. Closed, unfortunately. What now? Should I ring? But I didn't really have a good pretense. Meeting 'occasionally' was way easier. Maybe the T&I? The Yamanakas sometimes worked with them, maybe I could meet Inoichi there. It was worth a try.

It wasn't far, but I still decided to stop strolling and hurry up, reaching my goal in basically no time.

I sensed the large concentration of strong, refined chakra long before I saw him or heard him call out for me.

"May I ask why the rush, Tanya?"

"Of course, Lord Third," I quickly answered. "It is nothing major, there is merely a lot to do."

The Hokage chuckled.

"Yes, I can imagine."

He looked down the street I had been heading.

"It appears as though we have the same destination. Would you mind walking with be?"

"It would be my pleasure, Lord Third." And the few minutes lost on the last few meters didn't really matter.

"To be honest, my day has far too few hours as well," he mused. "And yet, I don't run. Do you know why?"

"Because you are the Hokage", I answered without hesitation. "The matters you deal with are on an entirely different scale, or are at least perceived as such. If you were to run somewhere, it would give the impression that something is happening, something so big and urgent that it makes even the Hokage hurry. It would create unrest. On the other hand, if you walk slowly, it assures the people. They see that at large, things are fine because if there were any true threats, the Hokage would hurry."

A smile spread on his wrinkly face.

"What a well-thought-out answer. But yes. In a way, this dynamic is not too dissimilar to parents and their children."

I nodded in agreement. It wasn't an outlandish comparison, a good number of historical works depicted the title of the Hokage as the "Father of the Village". While that surely referred more to the power structure and internal dynamics, as was clear to anyone who knew how administrations and hierarchy worked, nice-sounding platitudes were a good way to appease the masses. The main issue is, why was he bringing the topic up now? It wasn't just idle chatter, not after he had specifically stopped me and called me to him. Besides, such an obvious topic - there had to be something between the lines…

Something he could say directly? It had started with him stating that I seemed in a rush… right now, that was from all the preparation work… was he trying to give me a hint? It would make sense, to the outside he had to be neutral so he couldn't openly display a preference. He had been clear since the beginning that he had a vested interest in this team, both by saying things like he was 'curious how they would develop' and more subtle messages like the Anbu watching our bell test. Or, well at least Naruto and/or Sasuke were of interest to him, it was unlikely that Sakura had caught his attention just yet.

So his message this time had to be about Naruto, Sasuke, or both. But just what had he been trying to tell me? The most direct interpretation would be that he thought I needed to slow down and calmly look over… something. But what? I calmly looking over things was all it took, that basically meant I was overseeing something rather obvious.

I still didn't have a clear idea when we reached the T&I building and entered.

The ground was zipping by blow Sasuke as he sped through the forest of the training area. After a lot of time training with his Sharingan continuously, keeping up his awareness at his current speed wasn't the easiest task, but he could understand why he shouldn't allow one of his greatest weapons to become a crutch instead.

Besides, if his current teacher could do it with normal eyes, then so could he. And Shinku was fast, even far past his prime and with an old injury. Sasuke's own speed had also increased notably during the training, but it was clear why Tanya-sensei held her old teacher in such high regard. The retired Jōnin didn't seem to have the greatest arsenal of Ninjutsu, even in moments when Sasuke felt him get more serious, he never pulled out any grand or flashy techniques; but he knew exactly how to utilize his arsenal quickly and precisely. If Tanya-sensei personified power, he personified efficiency, seemingly never wasting a single motion.

The very moment he sensed movement to his right his Sharingan was active again. His view became clearer, he saw the attack and twisted his body mid-jump to narrowly avoid it. Or at least, he would have narrowly avoided hit, had his substitute teacher not strapped a wooden plank to his back to simulate running with a scabbard. The board took the hit and threw him off-balance, making him stumble and trigger a hidden trap. A net sprung up, pulled him in the air, and brought him to a sudden halt.

Sasuke quietly cursed. While he had been spared a rough landing, it was frustrating that he hadn't just failed, but that Shinku had apparently known beforehand exactly where he would fail. But there hadn't been much he could've done. It wasn't like he had forgotten his mock scabbard, but muscle memory was persistent and his reaction time had been too short or a bigger maneuver.

"Let's stop here for now," Shinku stated as he freed him.

"I can still go," Sasuke insisted.

"No doubt, but you're soon expected in the T&I. You should use the remaining time to catch a breath, maybe grab something to eat."

The T&I? The last time he had been here, Jiraiya had claimed it to be the last test for the first phase, so if they wanted him there now, it could only mean they were finally making some progress.

Nodding, Sasuke left the training ground. He wasn't particularly hungry yet though. Was there something else he could do to 'catch a breath'?

Actually, aren't Tanya-sensei and Sakura training around here, too?

He had barely seen his teammates after they had discussed their training plans, and he would be lying if he claimed not to be curious about what they had been up to.

I'm already here, so might as well.

He reached the neighboring training area in no time but to his surprise, the main clearing was empty. The ground showed traces of ninjutsu usage, but no one was there now.

Further in, he finally caught a glimpse of an unmistakable patch of pink hair. Sakura was sitting under a tree… alone?

He had originally only planned to get a look from a distance, but the unexpected sight made him decide to get closer. It didn't take long until Sakura noticed him and opened her eyes.

"Sasuke? What are you doing here? Err, not that I mind or anything, I was just, um…"

"Just passing through. Is Tanya-sensei not here?"

"She needed to go back to the village for a bit and… well, I needed a break anyway," she explained with a sigh.

"Okay, and what's wrong?" he then asked, earning him a tired smile.

"That obvious? Well, we kinda hit a roadblock and she said I needed to decide how to proceed. And I… I don't know what to do. It's a huge decision, and usually, this is the kind of situation I would ask her!"

"We can't rely on her forever, you know that, right?"

"Of course I know, it's just… hahh, you're right. I was just so used to that, if push came to shove, Tanya-sensei would know what to do. I never saw her be out of ideas."

"And the issue is?"

"This."

Sakura stood up, quickly ran through a set of hand signs, and slammed her palm to the ground. A crack traveled forward in a straight line, then a few meters ahead, to curved plates shot out of the ground.

"What jutsu is that?" Sasuke inquired.

"None yet. And from the way it's going, it won't ever be," she stated somberly, kicking one of the plates and making it crumble. "As you see, useless."

Not a jutsu yet? I see, just like with…

"Can't you make them thicker?"

"Thicker means slower, and the sand is fast."

"Is there no way to reinforce them with chakra?"

"There is. For someone with more chakra than me."

So that was the issue. He still wasn't sure what the end goal of this technique was, but when put like that it sounded indeed like a dead end. Was there no way out?

But if even Tanya-sensei has no idea… should I ask Shinku-sensei?

If the older Jōnin had an idea he wouldn't say directly. He would only give hints for him to figure it out himself like he always did.

"It was originally a Water Release technique, apparently" Sakura continued. "Tanya-sensei said she wasn't great with that element though. Her idea sounded really great at first but… I don't know."

The two kept talking for a bit more, but the quick brainstorm couldn't solve the issue. Sakura explained a bit about her tactic for the first fight, but it didn't really translate to the second. In the end, Sasuke's short break was over and he headed to the T&I.

He knew the interior of the building quite well and headed to the lower levels. On his way down, he passed a door from which he could hear Anko talk rather loudly to someone. Wouldn't she be there today? The door wasn't completely closed, so he took a passing glance as he walked by, Sharingan active to see as much as possible in the short moment he got. And whoever he had expected to see with her, Ino certainly hadn't been on that list. And yet, there she was. His sharpened sight didn't miss how different her demeanor seemed as she listened to the proctor. Instead of annoyingly brazen and confident, she looked… subdued. It made Sasuke almost curious enough to listen in, but he ultimately decided against it and walked on, entering the usual room.

Two people there surprised him, however. One was Tanya-sensei, currently talking to Jiraiya. Was that what she 'had to do'? Use this opportunity to catch a moment with the elusive sealing master? If so, it had worked.

And the other, even bigger surprise was none other than the Hokage himself.

"Lord Third," he quickly greeted, knowing that Tanya-sensei would never let him live it down if he didn't greet the Hokage first.

"It is good to see you, Sasuke. I am merely here to assist, however. After we lost both of our greatest sealing masters twelve years ago and the field has become a bit thinly-manned, I am afraid."

Basically the second he said that, Sasuke could see the gears in Tanya's head turn. But for now, he was once again sitting shirtless on the ground, waiting while Jiraiya wrote symbols on his back.

"Alright, this is it," the Sannin announced. "Sensei, I'm pretty confident this will work, but you know what to do if not."

"Yes," the Hokage confirmed. Simultaneously, the two ran through different sets of hand signs before pressing a hand each on the curse mark.

'Gogyō Kaiin!' [Five Elements Unseal]

'Fūinjutsu: Daigojin Shūshuku!' [Sealing Jutsu: Five-Array-Formation Contraction]

Pain. That was the only thing Sasuke could think of. The permanent numbness he had felt in his shoulder was gone, replaced by a feeling as if an entire ant colony was eating its way through his flesh. His right hand clasped his shoulder as he fell over, letting out a silent scream. Then, his vision went black.

When he woke up again, he was in a bed he didn't recognize. The hospital, maybe?

"How do you feel?"

Sasuke turned his head, noticing that Jiraiya was there in the room with him. He didn't answer, merely glared at him.

"Heh, too great, eh? Believe it or not, this was actually the ideal outcome. That it hurts shows the new seal works like intended."

"... the curse mark?"

"Still sealed away, but now with a special one-way seal that allows me to work on it."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, not convinced by the man's nonchalant attitude.

"And the new seal will definitely hold?"

"Yeah, don't worry, I used a trick. Seal compression is a neat technique. Takes ages to set up, allows you to fit very complicated sealing arrays on limited space. This particular one uses a layered approach, the second one catching should something leak through the first, while the third redirects…"

Sasuke began to zone out, knowing full well another rant he wouldn't understand was coming. This time, however, Jiraiya seemed to notice.

"Oi, it's not that hard. It's like a flower."

"...flower?"

"Yeah, petals are rather fragile, right? But while still in the bud, they're so densely packed that they become impressively hard. It's the same principle."

"... as long as it works."

It probably did. Despite his antics, he had proved his skill. Sasuke was simply annoyed and exhausted.

Just as he thought that, the bizarre analogy gave Sasuke a sudden stroke of inspiration. He hurriedly jumped out of the bed, but a sudden wave of dizziness stopped him.

"Woah there, careful! You shouldn't get up yet, you need to rest."

"No," Sasuke refused. "I need to speak with Sakura, now!"