Obito-Sensei Chapter 17

Sakura's Potential

Sakura and her sensei danced across the training field in the bright morning sun, and for the fifth time that day there was a loud ring of steel. Obito's sword flashed out and Sakura's flew away, shinobi and blade skittering across the dirt in different directions.

Sakura scrambled after her sword and whipped it off the ground as she came back to her feet, panting with the effort. Obito advanced on her, remorseless. His Sharingan was active: his left eye was closed. He was totally untouched.

"Again," he demanded, and then he lunged.

Her arms were shaking and her body was covered in sweat, but Sakura refused to back down. She bared her teeth and met Obito's short sword with her blade, knocking it back and kicking out at her sensei's gut. The kick passed right through him, and Obito spun out of the attack, his hand coming around. Sakura raised her arm in a hasty block, and his closed fist crashed into her, knocking her sideways and sending her tumbling head over heels.

She didn't release her sword, but when she came back to her feet, Obito was already in her face. He kicked out, trying to knock her blade out of her hands, and Sakura leapt backwards, the air pressure of the missed kick throwing her hair up.

Sakura had always wanted to train with her sensei alone, especially after she'd taken up her sword. She hadn't expected it would be like this.

She lashed out, and her blade passed harmlessly through Obito's leg. He kicked out again, and this one took Sakura in the gut and sent her flying back. It felt like a hot iron had been slammed into her stomach; all the air in Sakura's lungs vanished in an instant, and she hit the ground and rolled in pain, one hand pressed to her stomach and the other holding up her sword.

Her sensei reached out, fingers settling and sticking on the sides of her sword, and tried to yank it from her grip. Lying on her back and struggling to breath, Sakura stubbornly held on. Her back lifted off the ground; Obito grinned down at her.

'Screw you.'

"Alright," her sensei said, letting go of the sword. Sakura flopped to the earth, gasping for air, and Obito knelt down and extended his hand. "Well done."

Sakura took the offered hand, and Obito hauled her to her feet, glancing off to his right for a moment. "You okay?" he asked, looking back to her, and Sakura nodded, not sure if she could speak. Her whole body ached, her arms and core especially. She was going to have some incredible bruises. It had only been ten minutes, and she already felt like falling down and not getting back up.

"I think you showed enough," Obito said with a friendly smile. He glanced away again, to their watcher. "Don't you?"

Asuma Sarutobi was leaning against a tree at the edge of the training ground, unshaven and taking the occasional sip from a canteen. He'd been watching their spar with mild interest. At least, that's what Sakura had managed to see in passing as Obito had disarmed her time and time again. She didn't know much about Team Ten's sensei, other than that he was the Third Hokage's son. The man was intimidating though, tall and rough looking.

"She's enthusiastic," Asuma said, pushing himself off the tree and wandering towards them. He took a cigarette from his breast pocket, but he didn't light it. Sakura gave him a questioning look, and he squinted at her. "But that's never enough on its own."

He took the final steps, drawing up before Sakura and Sensei. He was a tall and broad man, over six feet, and dwarfed both of them. Sakura felt like his shadow had fallen over her, even though the sun was at her back.

"Put out your hand," he said mildly, and Sakura complied, sticking out her left hand with an open palm. Asuma plopped down his cigarette on her palm.

"Rotate it," he said, and Sakura looked from him to Obito in confusion. "Without touching it. Spin it around."

"Asuma…" Obito muttered, and the man laughed.

"If she can't do this, I won't be any use here," he said. Sakura still wasn't sure what was going on, but the man's tone was rude, and it caused something inside her to boil. "So, show me I should stick around. Spin it around, pinky."

"With just my chakra?" Sakura asked, struggling to stay polite, and Asuma nodded, looking down to pluck another cigarette from his pocket.

"'Course," he said, fiddling with whatever else was in his pocket. He kept his head down, not looking at her, and Sakura's nostrils flared. "Chakra is what makes a ninja. Without it, you're just a thug with a knife. If you can't-"

The cigarette in Sakura's hand spun so violently that it took flight, springing up in the air and bouncing off Asuma's nose. The jonin blinked, and behind Sakura, Obito loudly snorted.

As soon as she'd done it, Sakura regretted the trick, but Asuma didn't yell, or leave. He just stood there for a moment, apparently shocked.

"Do that again," he said, and Sakura was the one to blink this time.

"Eh?" she asked intelligently, and Asuma somewhat fervently pressed another cigarette into her palm.

"Do that again," he demanded once more, and Sakura couldn't refuse him. Her chakra extended slightly out of her palm, picking the cigarette just a millimeter up off her skin and spinning it around like a small fan. After a moment, she shoved, and the rotating stick sprung off her palm, up towards Asuma's face once more.

He caught it out of the air between two fingers, his eyes narrowing as he stared down at her.

"Did you show her that?" he asked Obito, his voice suspicious, and Obito shrugged and raised his hands in a helpless gesture and Sakura watched the two adults with confusion. "Did you know-?"

"I didn't know you'd ask her to do that, no," Obito cut him off. He glanced at Sakura. "It's like I told you. She's a natural."

"It's like the Rasengan," Sakura spoke up. Why were they staring at her? "I can't do it myself, but it's the same principle, right? Just rotating the chakra in your palm?"

Asuma didn't blink. The cigarette lit in his hands, and he took a thoughtful puff, staring at her long enough for Sakura to grow uncomfortable.

"Keep up your spar," he decided after a second, turning away. "I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?" Obito asked, and Asuma rolled his eyes.

"Your sensei here is a dumbass with no confidence," he told Sakura, and she had to strongly resist the urge to punch him right in the face. "He asked me to help you cause he wasn't sure he could come up with something that you could beat Gaara with." He laughed. "Who knows if anyone could. But I've got an idea. So stick around, will you?"

Then he was gone in a swirl of leaves, and Sakura and Obito were alone again.

"He's rude," Sakura said, her fist tightening around her sword. Obito grinned at her.

"He's honest," her sensei said, and Sakura realized for the first time in her life that Obito didn't realize just how amazing he was. "C'mon, let's take his advice. Taijutsu this time. He'll be back soon."

By the time Asuma returned, Sakura had several exciting new bruises.

"Here," he said, tossing something to her sensei. Sakura only saw a glimpse, but it looked like a small jar with a silver clasp. Obito popped it open and then cocked an eyebrow, glancing up at Asuma.

"So soon?" he asked, and Asuma snorted.

"Her control is exceptional," he said, and Sakura felt a flush of pride. "If she wants to do more than run away, she'll have to have something up her sleeve." Obito delicately plucked something out of the jar. It was a piece of plain white paper, Sakura realized, folded into a square.

"What do you mean, Asuma-sensei?" Sakura asked, feeling even more embarrassed at the urge she'd had to punch him. The man frowned.

"Gaara's a unique opponent," he said. "You'll need an equally unique jutsu to stand a chance. Academy stuff won't do."

"What kind of jutsu?" she asked, and the older man shrugged as Obito thoughtfully twirled the paper in his fingers.

"I dunno," he said, and Sakura felt a chill. "That's what we're going to find out." Beside her, Obito approached, extending the paper. He held it delicately between two fingers.

"Sakura," he said. She thought he seemed a little grave. "You probably don't recognize this, right?"

Sakura cocked her head. "It's paper, isn't it?" Obito laughed.

"Yeah, it's paper. But it's a special kinda paper," he said, and Sakura felt another jolt of embarrassment. "This is chakra inductive paper; it's made from special trees, like the founding trees, that are fed chakra from the day they're planted. It's very sensitive to molded chakra. We're going to use this to determine your elemental nature."

Elemental jutsu? Already? Even with her newfound determination, the notion just made Sakura feel uncertain. Even Naruto didn't have any elemental jutsu: Sasuke was the only person her age who she knew that did, and he had always been a prodigy. With just a month to train, could she really pick up a whole new skillset? Even if she did, would it be the right thing to face Gaara with? Even if she got a new jutsu, what could possibly surpass his sand shield?

Something must have shown on her face, because Obito chuckled. "This is a good place to start," he said, and recessed the paper into her hand. "Trust me. Just run your chakra through it."

Sakura did her best to banish her doubt, failed, and took the paper from Obito, holding it between her thumb and index finger. She focused, trying to push her chakra into it, and was astonished to find the paper soaked it up without effort, almost like a magnet. She barely needed to extend her chakra beyond her hand before the paper took it in.

The material crumpled, dampness racing up from where Sakura's fingers made contact, until the whole thing was drooping and wet. Obito pursed his lips as he watched, and Sakura looked up at him with uncertainty.

"Does that mean water?" she asked. The opposite of fire. Sasuke wouldn't be able to help her at all. In fact, she didn't know anyone who used water jutsu. Obito nodded, confirming her fear.

"Water," he said, half muttering. "Weak to Earth, too."

"That doesn't matter," Asuma said, crossing his arms. "It's not like she would be able to overwhelm Gaara's jutsu head to head anyway, no matter what she got done this month." He grinned. "In fact, it might help. He'll probably underestimate her, if he understands the elemental disadvantage."

Weak to Earth. Sakura stared at the paper, the world shrinking down to it. Even her elemental affinity was at a disadvantage against Gaara. Her bruises ached worse and worse, and her legs were shaking. Just a single morning of training with her sensei, and the uncertainty that she had started loathing so violently was already creeping back into her.

"Hey," her sensei said, and she snapped out of it, looking back at him. "Don't get sucked in."

"Sensei?"

"I know you're scared," he said. "But try not to think about that right now. You told me you wanted to fight, and I'm going to help you make that happen. Asuma too." He gestured at the other man, who was still standing there with his arms crossed. "We're going to train your ken and taijutsu the rest of the week, alright? If you want to stand up to Gaara, the first thing we've got to improve is your speed and stamina. Once that's at an acceptable level, we're going to move onto your affinity. Asuma and I will worry about that, so for now, just focus on yourself, okay?"

With the rising sun behind him, Sakura felt there was something more than ordinary to her sensei's words. She nodded, doing her best to internalize his words.

"Okay," she said, handing the damp paper back and drawing her sword. In response, her sensei drew his. "Okay. Then let's start again."

###

When Sakura arrived home two days later, shortly after sunset, her parents were waiting for her. She stumbled through the door, dead on her feet, and only realized she wasn't alone when there was a squeal of joy.

"Sakura!" That was her mother, who swept her up off the floor and crushed her to her chest, sending flares of pain up across her chest and back from the multitude of bruises there. "Congratulations!"

"Mom?" she mumbled, and her mother set her down, beaming at her.

"We heard the news as soon as we got back!" she said, and behind her Sakura's father stepped out into the entry hall, wearing an identical grin. "It's incredible, Sakura! You made it into the final on your very first time? We almost couldn't believe it!"

'I only made it because of my team,' Sakura thought, but she didn't speak her mind. She just smiled at her mother instead, enjoying her grin and the way she was squeezing her shoulders, even if it hurt a little.

"We heard about who you were up against too," her father said, his grin shrinking. "The Kazekage's son, huh?" He looked her up and down, and Sakura was suddenly very self conscious of the bruises covering her body. "Looks like you're taking it seriously."

She nodded. "I thought about just giving up, when the match was announced," she said, her eyes slipping closed in a too-long blink for a second. She really was exhausted. Obito-sensei had explained that he was trying to push her to her physical limit to expand her tolerance, and so far he'd done a serious job of it. "He killed that team from Stone by himself… but after what he did to the others, my classmates, I felt like I couldn't just forfeit." Her hands curled into fists, and her father watched her carefully.

"That's good," he said. Her mother was frowning, stepping back from her a little. "But, Sakura… sometimes it's okay to give up, you know?"

"What?" Sakura asked, and her father leaned against the hallway wall, stroking his chin.

"Honey, we just don't want you getting hurt," he said, and Sakura stared blankly at him. "You made it into the final; that alone is an incredible achievement. After that first C-Rank…" He trailed off. "I told you it was a wide world, remember? The Kazekage's son is another part of that. Sometimes, there are fights you can't win. In a situation like that, sometimes you just have to retreat. That's what being a ninja is."

"What are you saying?" Sakura asked, feeling herself start to tremble. "You don't want me to fight?"

"It's not that!" her mother said, shooting a glance back at her father. "We just don't want you to lose. That kid…" Her face twisted. "He's a monster. You know that, right?"

Sakura thought about the team from Stone, about how scared the boy who'd watched her from the ground had looked. About Shikamaru's leg, and Hinata's missing finger.

"I know," she said, her voice low, and her father narrowed his eyes.

"We'll talk about this later," he said, suddenly cheerful. "You look exhausted. C'mon: we both fixed dinner. It's been a while since we ate together."

He was right, and so Sakura followed them into the kitchen without protest. But inside her chest, something was boiling.

'Sometimes, there are fights you can't win.'

###

"Alright!" Obito set down both of the buckets he'd carried to the field, and Sakura gave them a doubtful look. It had been six days since their first day of training, and her sensei had told her he was satisfied with her progress. Sakura hadn't been sure, but she was already starting to feel stronger, lighter on her feet.

Her sensei had spent the last three days teaching her tricks for chakra control, all based on improving her speed and finesse. How to channel it to her legs in precise bursts for mid-combat shunshins, when to leap and when to roll. Sakura had always thought of chakra as just part of herself, an energy that danced beneath her skin, but Obito had opened her eyes to another reality. It wasn't just a burn that could carry her forward, it was a detonation that could hurl her at incredible speeds.

With hindsight, Sakura had realized that this was what Sasuke had been doing for as long as she'd known him: the secret to his explosive speed. It made her feel pretty incredible, to move in a way that made the world blur. She still wasn't even close to Obito, not even remotely, but by the fifth day, she'd at least understood how he'd gotten there.

"Stamina training is done for now," Obito said, telling her what she already knew. "We're gonna move onto nature control now." He grinned. "I'm gonna warn you right now: this is going to be really boring."

"Boring?" Sakura gave the buckets another glance. They were both huge, bigger than her torso, nearly overflowing with water. "What do you mean, sensei?"

"Come here, and I'll show you." Obito beckoned her forward, and Sakura levered herself off the ground and hobbled over, her legs aching with both lactic acid and chakra shock. Tomorrow, she'd be strong, but today, she was just sore. It would always be that way.

"Now, watch carefully," Obito said, and he knelt down in front of one of the buckets. As Sakura watched, he placed one hand on the surface of the water and closed his eyes, focusing. Slowly, he drew his hand up, and the water followed it, stuck fast to his palm. He pulled it up one foot, two, and then after another couple inches he sighed and the small pillar of water collapsed, splashing back into the bucket.

"Water isn't my specialty," he said, rising back to his feet. "Like a lot of Uchiha, my nature is Fire. That said, I still have a lot more experience than you." He gestured to the ground in front of the bucket. "Grab a seat, okay?" Sakura obliged, coming down on both knees in front of the bucket.

"Start out with two hands, and control the water like I did. Bring it up to your head's level. When you've got that, we'll move onto the next stage, alright?" Obito took a step back, and Sakura nodded, bringing both hands down towards the water.

She placed both on the surface, and recalled the lessons of water walking. This was the same thing, she thought, just further abstracted. She molded chakra in her core, gently pushing it down her arms and into her hands and fingers. She felt her hands adhere to the water, and pulled it up.

The water came up willingly, but unlike the pillar Obito had created, Sakura was just left with a coating under her hands, like a layer of jello. She stared at it, and huffed in frustration. Duh. Water walking only adhered you to the top layer of water molecules. If she did the same thing here, she'd only take a bit of water with her.

She dropped her hands back down, totally absorbed in the task. Sakura had always been able to ignore the rest of the world for whatever was in front of her. It was what had served her so well academically, and what made it so easy for her to get lost in herself when she was full of doubt or fear. But right now, it was good. It was helpful. The only thing that existed in the world was her, her chakra, and the bucketful of water.

You have to go further than water walking, she told herself. If you want to create a pillar, your chakra needs to saturate the water and totally control it. Otherwise, it'll just collapse right away. She sent her chakra down, out of her hands, and into the water. To her anger, it dissipated almost immediately if it went too far from her hands. She probed deeper, trying to construct a spike of sorts that would permeate the water, but even that started to disintegrate with too much distance from her hands. She just couldn't project enough chakra outside her body in a consistent manner to saturate the water.

"It's not about saturation," her sensei suddenly said, and Sakura jerked, her heart skipping a beat. Obito was staring down at her and the water with his Sharingan active. He'd obviously been watching what she'd been trying to do. "Some people can pull that off, but you aren't one of them right now." He squatted down. "You can't just fill the water with your chakra: if you were doing that, it might even be more efficient to transform your own chakra into water." He waved off her question before she could voice it. "That's pretty advanced: you won't be learning it in a month, so we're not going to try."

"Then what's the trick?" Sakura asked. "If I can't fill the water up…" She resisted the urge to slap herself. "I've gotta shape it. That means covering it, right?" Obito smiled at her, and she felt her confidence spread through her chest like an oxygenated flame. "It's a liquid. I just need to give it a new container."

"Exactly right!" Obito clapped. "Like I told Asuma: you're a natural!" He stood back up, Sharingan slowly spinning. "Give it a try."

Sakura nodded and looked back down, flexing both her fingers and settling her palms on the water once more. This time, she went slower, channeling her chakra more cautiously. She mimicked the spike approach, but instead of sending it directly into the water, she sent her chakra out around her palms, keeping it active and ready. Her palms buzzed with the sensation, and she drew her hands up in a patient motion. To her delight, the water followed her. As it came up, Sakura sent more chakra down through her hands and into the water beneath it. Not to fill it up with her aura, but to surround it and create a buttress around the pillar that was steadily forming.

More and more water was drawn out of the bucket, and Sakura grew more and more confident. Her fingers closed in slightly, desperate to keep the pillar's shape. When it reached her chest level, the strain grew to be too much. She hadn't been efficient enough with her chakra, and she couldn't apply enough brute force to keep the water structure from wobbling.

Instead of fighting it, Sakura breathed out and let it collapse. Obito stepped forward, and she glanced up at him.

"I'm starting over," she said. He'd looked concerned for a second. Had he thought she'd given up? Like her parents thought she should? Sakura hoped not. Right now, it seemed like her team were the only people who thought she should actually fight Gaara. "I need a better foundation."

"Alright," her teacher said. "It's your show. If you need help, just ask, okay?"

Sakura nodded, but she didn't ask for help.

An hour later, she brought the pillar of water higher than her head, and held it there for two minutes before it collapsed. Obito watched the whole thing with a perplexed expression. Sakura wasn't sure why; had she done something wrong?

"Okay," he eventually said. "Okay then." He laughed and crossed his arms. "One hand now. Ready?"

Sakura nodded, and started again, ignoring the sweat pouring down her forehead. It took her another four hours to manage the same feat with one hand.

After that, Obito suggested they get some lunch. At first, Sakura wanted to keep going.

Then she realized she was wheezing with every breath.

"Yeah," she gasped. "Lunch would be good."

They had a hearty meal at a restaurant Sakura didn't know the name of; her sensei ordered her a plate full of rice, vegetables, meat, and an unidentifiable but delicious sauce, and Sakura worked through it with embarrassing speed. Afterwards, he sent her home.

"Chakra control tests aren't a joke," he told her. "This isn't going to be like training your speed. Projecting that much chakra out of your body is going to exhaust you in no time; if you want to be efficient you're going to be sleeping and eating a lot for the next couple weeks, so get used to it. Your chakra stamina is going to improve, but this first week will be rough. Accept that now, alright?"

Sakura nodded, feeling like her lips were gummed shut. In the moment, she'd been too thrilled to notice how tired she was. Now, she could barely feel her limbs. She was just a head and a floating torso, wobbling through the village vaguely in the direction of her home. When she reached her door, she didn't even knock. She just stumbled inside.

Her mother was home, and met her in the hall. "Sakura?" she asked, and to Sakura it seemed that her mother's voice was echoing down to her. "Home so early?"

"Chakra control," she said, her words slightly slurring. "Sensei said sleep."

Her mother said some other stuff, but Sakura barely heard it as she was herded up the stairs to her room. She collapsed in her bed, and her mother helped her undress. As she slipped under the covers and into sleep, the same thought was playing in her exhausted brain on repeat.

'I gotta get stronger. Tomorrow, I'll go longer.'

She didn't wake up until the sun had set.