~~~ Week Three: Day 23~~~

Poisoning yourself was just as fun as Sakura had thought it would be. That being not at all.

Her latest addition to her training was certainly taking its toll on her, giving her an almost constant fever and headaches more often than not. This latest poison was one of the worst yet, coming with tingling fingers and twitching muscles-

"ACHOO!"

And sneezes. She hated those the most. It was hard to study when you couldn't even read for more than a few minutes at the time.

Sakura sniffled at the latest expulsion from her nose, groaning miserably. Above her, her sister, Hanami, gave her a weird look.

"Why are you still sick, Nee-chan? It's been forever!" The little girl asked her, swinging her legs idly from atop Sakura's shoulders.

The two of them were walking through the village in the early morning as Sakura needed to run some errands for her training and Hanami wanted to join her. She would never turn down an opportunity to spend time with her little sister and had happily agreed to let the girl tag along.

Sakura gave the girl a miserable smile, sniffling slightly to stop the snot from leaking down her face, "I'm not sick, Hanami. It's part of my training. I have to drink some stuff that will make me feel really bad so I tcan get used to it."

Her voice was stuffy, like she had a constant film of phlegm in her sinuses and the back of her throat. She swallowed it down grimacing as her slightly raw throat spoke up at the action.

Yeah, being poisoned sucked. But she'd deal with it just like Chiyo-sensei said. It would suck more if she nicked herself with a poisoned kunai or something and died because she didn't build up a resistance.

The four-year-old clearly didn't understand the intricacies of her training, "Why? Kaa-chan says we shouldn't mess with stuff that will make us sick!"

Sakura thought for a moment on how to explain it in a way that her younger sister would understand, "Well it's like… If I feel bad now, then when I'm a real ninja and this stuff gets used on me, I won't feel as bad then!"

Hanami's eyes widened, "Ohhhh! Like when June got chicken pox and Kaa-chan let her spend the night!"

Sakura winced, remembering the week that had followed the sleepover and the constant itching that came with it, "Yeah. Like that. I'm drinking a bunch of different bad stuff so that I'll be resistant to a lot of things!"

"Can I try some?"

Sakura paled at the question, imagining her mother's reaction to that. She gave her sister a nervous smile, "Oh look! We're here! Come on, hop off my shoulders so I can talk to Tachi."

Hanami pouted but did as she asked, sliding onto the door as the two of them entered Tachi's store. Hanami's unhappiness didn't last long though, as almost immediately the little girl was gazing around at the weapons and tools lining the walls with great amounts of interest.

"Ah, Sakura! Welcome back." Tachi walked out of the back, having heard the sound of the door opening, "What's the occasion? Today isn't a weekday so I didn't expect to see you here. "

Sakura walked over to the man, pulling Hanami behind her, "I'm actually here to buy stuff this time!"

Tachi laughed, "Oh really? Are you finally taking my advice and buying a training blade? Or maybe this little one would like one instead." He bent down, smiling at Hanami who looked back at him curiously.

"She's not old enough!"

Tachi laughed, "Of course, of course. You can never start too early though. So if you still don't want one of my several fine blades, what are you here for?"

"I need new clothes." Sakura said simply. While Tachi's shop was primarily a ninja outfitter, the man also sold clothing and had a basic knowledge on how to adjust them for a specific person. He didn't have as big of a selection as specialty stores, but he wasn't lacking for variety either.

It was also rather pricey. It was going to be expensive and likely eat all of her savings just for an outfit or two, but if it helped Sakura achieve her goal, then it was more than worth it!

Tachi blinked in surprise at her statement, "Really? You know, most academy students don't go shopping for more durable clothing until they graduate. You're still growing after all."

Sakura nodded, keeping an eye on her sister as she wandered off to look at some kunai, "Yeah, I know, but right now my clothes are good enough to stand up to my training so I need some better ones. I've already gone through like three pairs of pants and Kaa-chan isn't very happy."

Tachi looked her over and Sakura held her arms out to show him the various tears and scuffs in her clothing, including one rather larger gash in her jacket from a kunai that she hadn't quite managed to dodge in time.

"Hmm," Tachi stroked his chin as he thought, "I can sell you ninja grade gear, mesh undershirts, more durable fabric, maybe even come knuckles guards, but I can't give you ninja tools or anything like that. Not allowed to until you graduate or get permission from your academy sensei."

Sakura smiled brightly at his words before something off to the side caught her attention, "That's fine! I don't need any of those things for training anyways! Hanami, don't touch that!"

As Sakura went to stop her sister from cutting herself on a scary sharp looking axe, Tachi laughed lightly, "Well alright then, let's go to the back and get you fitted! Since you told me about your training, I've had some ideas that I just haven't been able to get out of my head."

Sakura gave him a sunny smile as she dragged her sister behind her, "Really? Awesome, let's go!"

Hopefully this wouldn't completely drain her wallet. She'd been saving up for a while now.

Unfortunately, after everything was said and done, Sakura's new outfit would have cost much more than the nine-year-old would have been able to afford. Between the mesh undershirt, gloves, sandals, and the fabric that the clothes themselves were made of, it would have cost a little upwards of four-hundred-thousand ryo. That was more than her parents spent during their trips out of the country!

Luckily for her, Tachi had a solution.

"And all I have to do is shop here when I become a ninja?" Sakura asked the shopkeeper as she tied her hair back up into her signature spiky ponytail.

Tachi nodded, looking her up and down as she settled into her new outfit, "That's it! As long as you buy your supplies here at least until you become chunin and tell your friends all about it, then you can have this at a massive discount!"

Massive was an understatement. Tacho had basically given the outfits to her compared to the original price, and all he wanted in return was free advertising and for her to only shop at his store if she could help it, something she was probably gonna do anyway!

"Wow! You look like a real ninja, onee-chan!" Hanami said from beside her, staring at her with awe in her eyes.

Glancing at herself in the nearby mirror, Sakura couldn't help but slightly mimic her little sister's emotions. She really did look like a real ninja, so much so that she could barely recognize herself from what she had seen earlier.

Her normal loose jacket and pants combo has been traded for something much more durable and ninja-like. A pinkish-red sleeveless shirt sat overtop a dark, long-sleeved shinobi top with flowing sleeves while similarly colored shinobi pants covered her legs, strapped to her ankles with wrapping so the hem wouldn't float unnecessarily. Fingerless gloves covered her hands, giving her a bit of protection while also ensuring she wouldn't have any trouble using her chakra strings.

Tachi hadn't been able to give her any tools,but he had been able to give her a pouch to put them in which was now strapped to her right thigh, in easy reach should she ever need anything such as her storage scroll or the poisons she was training to resist right now.

If she was just a little bit taller, Sakura would honestly think that the person in her reflection was a genin fresh out of the academy. The thought made her grin, wondering how her parents would react to her new outfit.

As she turned herself this way and that, admiring her reflection, Tachi came up behind her. He put a hand on her shoulder, nodding approvingly as she grinned up at him, "Now you're looking like a real ninja, kid. I'm sure those boys in your class will be all over you." He added teasingly.

Sakura scrunched her face, "Ew! I don't care about any of that! This is for training!"

Tachi chuckled, "Haha, I know. I was just teasing you."

Sakura pouted, turning back to her reflection as Hanami played with the hem of her shirt, "I can move a lot easier in this stuff so I should be able to dodge kunai and stuff better."

"Well I'm happy for you. Even more happy to know that I'll have a loyal customer like you in the future!" Tachi laughed, patting her on the shoulder and making her grin.

Although, as she gazed at herself in the mirror, she couldn't help but feel like something was missing. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but the more she studied her reflection, the more than she felt like something was just a little off.

Her eyes flitter over to her discarded clothing, and almost immediately, she realized what it was. She couldn't believe she forgot!

"Hey Tachi,could you make a quick modification?" Sakura asked, gazing at the crest on the back of her jacket.

"This outfit's missing one thing."

Sakura ducked into a bush as a kunai whizzed by her head, only to throw herself to the side as another slammed into the dirt where she had just been.

This was the latest part of her lessons, evasion training, and it was probably the toughest one yet. It seemed that Sakura had been doing too well recently as the intensity of this lesson had been bumped up to eleven, her sensei barely letting off for even a moment to let her rest. Combined with the poison still coursing through her bloodstream, it was all Sakura could do to stay focused on the task at hand.

She darted to the side as her ears picked up the sound of rushing wind, wincing as three dull thuds came from the bark just behind her head. She panted, trying her best to catch her breath as her sensei no doubt repositioned herself,only to freeze as a shout rang out through the training ground.

"Stay mobile, girl! A stationary ninja is a dead ninja!"

Sakura's eyes widened as three shuriken curved unnaturally around a nearby tree, guided by glowing chakra strings as they headed straight for just barely managed to dodge them, sliding around the tree she was hiding behind, only to come face-to-face with another kunai that she couldn't hope to dodge in her surprised state.

The metal ring of the kunai slammed into her forehead, sending her to the ground with a painful thud. She didn't attempt to rise, instead groaning as she rubbed her forehead, "Owww… That's not fair, sensei!"

"Fair?" Chiyo scoffed as she walked over "We're ninja girl. There's no such thing as fair. You knew where I was so you should have been prepared for anything"

Sakura grumbled something unintelligible as she looked down at herself, her mood somewhat lifted as she saw that her outfit had sustained basically no damage during her training. Tachi made good stuff.

But they weren't done yet.

After taking another moment to rest, Sakura huffed, beginning to rise. As she did so, Chiyo spoke up, stopping her before she could do more than lift her upper body off of the ground, "Don't bother pushing yourself anymore. We're done with physical training today."

Or maybe they were. Sakura immediately dropped back down into the grass, relishing in the feeling of the cool plants on the back of her head. Maneuvering her hand behind her, she pulled out a scroll, unfurling it and activating the array.

With a small puff of smoke, a canteen landed on her hand which she immediately uncapped and began taking greedy gulps from, happy to finally be done with all of that.

"Don't drink on your back, you'll choke." Chiyo said idly, nodding approvingly as Sakura immediately followed her instructions and sat up, "It's good to see you're already getting use from that seal. Remember there's more space on that scroll if you ever decide to expand it. No need to buy another one until that one's full or you need a specialty seal."

Sakura didn't respond, too busy relishing the cool, refreshing liquid flowing down her throat.

As her student recovered, Chiyo looked the girl up and down, taking in the cuts on her arms and legs as well as the slight flush to her skin from the poison she'd ingested.

They were making good progress, excellent really, but Chiyo knew that she wouldn't be able to teach the girl everything that she knew before she returned to Suna. She had already skipped over several lessons that she probably shouldn't have, and the fact that Sakura was keeping up was a testament to the girl's immense talent.

She'd crammed nearly a year's worth of knowledge into a single month and still Sakura was keeping up. It was actually incredible and Chiyo wished more than anything that she had more time with the girl.

Ah well, if Chiyo got everything she wished for she would be a very unhappy woman indeed. She would teach Sakura everything that she could in the time she had left and when she finally departed back home, she would make sure that the girl had what she needed to continue her training without her. That was the best she could do for now.

Maybe one day she'd come back and check on the girl. See how she had progressed without a teacher to guide her studies. But for now, she would teach her what she could.

"Get up, girl. You'll recover faster on your feet." She said after giving Sakura another moment to catch her breath. Her student gave her a groan but hauled herself to her feet, standing slightly unsteadily.

Chiyo looked the girl over again, "You should probably think about getting yourself a weapon some time in the future. I know academy students aren't allowed to have ninja tools but you should at least get some training equipment."

Sakura pouted at her words, a little bit of life coming back into her after resting, "But sensei! I want to be the greatest puppet master, why do I need a weapon if I have a puppet?"

She yelped as Chiyo chopped her on the head at her words,"That's pure arrogance girl!" The woman chided as she rubbed her smarting scalp, "Not every opponent will conform to your style of fighting. If you really plan to be the greatest puppet user to ever take up the craft, then that means people are going to know who you are and more importantly, know how to counter your main form of combat."

She had the girl's ear now. Sakura had that glint in her eyes that indicated that she was carefully listening to everything Chiyo said, soaking up her information like a sponge.

"You need to learn how to defend against them. Close range combat is something many puppeteers fail to learn and it has always ended badly for them. You must be prepared to face your enemies with yout martial skill as well as your puppet."

Sakura made a noise of understanding, "I guess that makes sense. Do you have any ideas on what I should learn then? Should I get a sword or something cause I kinda spent all my money on my clothes."

Chiyo raised an eyebrow at that but didn't comment, "That's something you'll have to figure out for yourself. Though if you do decide to get a weapon, I'd recommend something that uses that monstrous strength to yours."

Chiyo had noticed that Sakura was much stronger than she had any right being, especially on the odd occasion that she got angry during their spars. If she had to guess, under the right circumstances, the nine-year-old could be as strong as an adult civilian male which was truly ludacris. If that strength grew as she got older, then she would be a force to be reckoned with even outside of her skills with chakra strings.

Chiyo could only imagine how things would have played out if the girl met the Slug Princess. She would be something else, that's for sure.

Chiyo shook her head, she was getting off track, "Anyway, we don't have the time to get into that right now. I leave for Suna soon and I have a bit more knowledge I need to cram into that noggin of yours before that. First, let's test you on what you've been learning. Have you finished the book yet?"

Sakura grinned, an excited look coming to her face at the prospect of a test, "Yes, sensei. I finished it last night."

Chiyo gave her a critical look, staring her in the eyes and searching for any sign of deceit and finding none. She nodded slowly, "Alright then. I'm going to quiz you on your knowledge and we'll see if you're ready to move onto the next step in your training."

Sakura nodded firmly, green eyes glinting in determination to get right whatever her sensei asked her, "I'm ready!"

Chiyo smirked, "We'll see."

Her face turned serious, "You've been assigned a mission to kidnap a noble from his home without being seen or heard. You've done your reconnaissance and realize that there's no feasible way to get to him without being seen or alerting one of his guards. You could slip into his bedroom and capture him there but he could easily wake up and manage to yell before you can silence him. What do you do in order to retrieve the objective and complete the mission?"

So it was this kind of test, huh? Sakura made a thinking face, trying to puzzle out the answer to the question with the limited amount of info she had.

"Hmm… Oh! Does he ever leave his house?" She asked suddenly as an idea came to her.

Chiyo gave her an approving look, "During your reconnaissance you've noticed that he leaves his home once every Thursday to eat at a specific restaurant in a nearby town. He always has at least a dozen guards with him that are always on alert for any suspicious activity. You have also noticed, however, that they often join him during his meals and the staff of the restaurant isn't well scheduled, with workers picking up shifts quite often."

Sakura nodded, thinking intently, "Then… I guess I'd disguise myself as one of the waiters at the restaurant he visits and slip a slow-acting poison into all of their foods or drinks made from crushed valerim and the roots of lover's embrace. That should let me grab him if I'm careful."

"And why choose those plants? And why prepare it in such a specific way?" Chiyo asked. Her voice was neutral, not giving anything away.

Sakura answered promptly, already sure of her choices, "Since it's just the roots of valerim and not the whole flower, it should be diluted enough to not take effect for a few hours, ideally when he's already fallen asleep, at which point I'd sneak into his room and take him away. The lover's embrace will keep him asleep and if he does wake up somehow, the valerim will make sure that he can't speak because his throat would be so swollen he could barely breathe."

Sakura waited slightly anxiously for her sensei's response, hoping that she had done well in the impromptu exam. Chiyo didn't say anything at first, just staring at her, but just as Sakura thought she had gotten something wrong, the woman nodded slowly.

"I would have used boiled viell root personally but I suppose that answer will suffice. Well done, girl. You passed."

A massive grin formed across Sakura's face as she heard that, and she shot her fist in the air, whooping in celebration, "Cha! I knew I'd ace that! I'm the best!"

"Don't get too cocky, now." Chiyo chided her, "You have a good jumping off point for your knowledge of poisons but I expect you to do your own research as well as continue your resistance training. It takes years to build up a proper resistance to the most common poisons and you have the advantage of starting early. Don't waste that."

Sakura blushed in slight embarrassment at the reprimand, before nodding seriously, "Understood, sensei. I won't disappoint you."

"Good. Then I guess it's finally time that we get started on our final subject. I doubt I'll be able to get through it all before I leave but I'll do what I can to-"

Chiyo cut herself off suddenly, causing Sakura to look at her in confusion. That confusion turned into surprise as a figure suddenly blurred into view right beside her sensei. She yelped, jumping backwards as a man appeared out of nowhere as he moved faster than Sakura could even see.

The man was clearly a Suna shinobi judging by the strip of metal attached to his right bicep. He was dressed in beige, flowing clothing that Sakura's studying told her was for the best airflow, and a stripe of red paint across his eyes. He looked at Sakura for just a moment, confusion evident on his face, before turning to her sensei.

Chiyo didn't look surprised at all at the man's arrival, instead giving him an annoyed look, "Hiro, what do you want? I told you all to leave me alone unless it was something important!"

"I'm very sorry to interrupt, but it is important, Chiyo-sama." Hiro bowed his head low in apology, "We've received word from the Daimyo that a village we share with the Land of Rivers has been infected with a toxin that nobody can identify. It's causing an extremely contagious sickness to spread and already we've lost several chunin who were sent to investigate."

Chiyo still looked annoyed, "Why are you telling me? I know there are dozens of people in the village who could identify a poison by sight and not all of them are worthless slackers. There's no reason to get me involved"

Hiro hesitates for a moment, "The toxin is much more advanced than anyone in the village is able to work with, Chiyo-sama." He said quietly, "The elders are starting to believe it could be the work of him. They've called you back to Suna post-haste to deal with the situation."

'Him?' Sakura turned to her sensei in confusion, ready to ask the woman what Hiro was talking about, only to pause as she saw the look on Chiyo's face. She was scowling, a serious glint in her eye that Sakura had never seen before.

"Has the affliction spread to Suna?" She asked in the most serious tone Sakura had ever heard from her. She stared at the woman in shock, wondering what had caused the sudden shift in mood.

Hiro shook his head, "We managed to quarantine the town in time once we realized what was happening. The chunin we sent are likely still there but at this point, there's nothing we can do for them."

Chiyo scoffed, "If my grandson really is responsible for this mess then there's no doubt about that. Have you at least managed to get a sample so I know what I'm working with?"

"It's waiting for you in the research department."

Chiyo nodded, "Good. Go get my things ready so I can leave as soon as possible. If it is one of his concoctions, then nobody else is going to be able to come up with an antidote and I don't want them to die trying. Nosy upstarts…"

"Understood, Chiyo-sama. Would you like for me to inform the others?"

Sakura watched with growing concern as Chiyo used her chakra strings to gather up the kunai and shuriken that were littered around the training ground, "Don't bother. If you tell them, they'll just try to send someone along with me and I don't need that. Just get my things."

"Understood." The man bowed low, before blurring away and disappearing from sight, leaving the clearing silent once more.

Sakura stared at the spot that he had disappeared from for a long moment, playing the conversation over in her head, before looking at her sensei with a slightly distraught expression on her face.

"You're leaving?" She asked quietly, before her voice quickly gained volume in her distress, "But what about my training? Y-You still haven't actually taught me how to make or use puppets yet! You said you would!"

Chiyo didn't react to her distress, instead continuing her task of cleaning up the area, "I know what I said, but I never planned to personally teach you how to make a puppet during my lessons, or at least not more than the basics. Even if I didn't have to leave early, there just wasn't enough time to actually get through more than the fundamentals of the craft. Woodworking alone would take at least a month to teach you, and you're the quickest learner I've ever seen."

She shook her head, "No, my lessons were on the core of puppetry. The things that you will take with you throughout your entire journey in the art."

Her words did little to make Sakura feel better, "But if I don't know how to make a puppet, I can't be a puppet master! I can't figure that out on my own!" She said, her voice tinged with desperation.

Chiyo gave her a look she couldn't parse, speaking in an almost inaudible voice, "I wonder about that…" Then louder, "Stop whining, girl. I told you I didn't plan to teach you how to make puppets personally. I never said I would never teach you how to at all."

From her robes, she pulled two extremely thick unlabeled scrolls. One of them was a dark green color, while the other was bright red. Chiyo held out the green one for her to take.

"It would have been stupid for me to expect to teach you everything in just a month," Chiyo said as Sakura grabbed the scroll from her, "so over the last few weeks, I've taken the time to prepare several lessons in advance."

"Inside of that scroll is everything you should need to properly begin your journey in the art of puppetry." Chiyo said, causing Sakura to look at her in shock, "Puppet crafting techniques, books on human anatomy and some of the more obscure poisons I have knowledge of as well as their antidotes, lessons on crafting traps and how best to use them in your puppet, all of things that you need to know but I didn't have time to teach you."

"And in this one," Chiyo held out the second scroll, "Are the materials you'll need to put that information to use. I took them from my own stock I use for repairs and there's probably an A-Rank mission's worth of materials in here. I expect you to use them well."

As Sakura took the second scroll, gazing down at it silently, she felt a knot form in her throat, preventing her from saying anything. Chiyo noticed this, and her eyes softened slightly.

She moved forward, placing a hand softly on the pinkette's shoulder and causing the girl to look up at her in surprise.

"You've grown fantastically in these past few weeks." Chiyo said softly, "And even though I wasn't quite able to teach you everything I wanted, I am proud to have called you my student, even if for a short time. You've got a real talent and if we were back in Suna, I wouldn't hesitate to make you my apprentice. If you continue on this path, I'm sure you'll become something special, Sakura."

Sakura stared at her sensei in shock. Throughout the weeks she had known the woman, she rarely, if ever, referred to Sakura by her name. It was always, girl or something similar.

Combined with the genuine praise coming from the normally grumpy woman, it was all Sakura could do to stay composed.

Then Chiyo's face changed back into the perpetually stern look that Sakura had become familiar with, "So that means you better not dare slack off in your training while I'm gone! The next time we meet, I expect you to be able to blow all of my previous students out of the water, understand!?" She demanded expectantly.

Sakura swallowed, pushing back her sadness and giving her sensei a serious look, her emerald eyes glinting in determination behind a film of unshed tears, "Yes, sensei! I'll make you proud! I promise!"

"Good. Maybe when you become a legendary kunoichi, I'll let you take a look at my own puppets." Chiyo smiled again, patting her on the shoulder, "I look forward to seeing how you grow without me, Sakura. Make sure you impress me."

Sakura nodded fiercely, not trusting herself to say anything and Chiyo gave her one last pat on the shoulder before stepping sway. Just like Hiro, the woman blurred in the nine-year-old's sight, before disappearing altogether, leaving nothing but ruffled grass and leaves in her wake.

As Sakura was left alone in the training ground, she sniffled slightly, the sadness that she had been holding back coming in full force the moment she was free of her sensei's scrutiny.

Or rather, her former sensei…

Sakura wiped her eyes furiously, refusing to cry. She knew this was going to happen, Chiyo couldn't stay in Konoha forever after all, but she had been hoping she'd have at least a few more days with the woman. Despite her rough demeanor, Sakura had grown fond of the old woman and was more than a little sad to see her go.

But as she stared down at the scrolls that Chiyo had given her, Sakura suddenly found herself filled with another emotion, one far more powerful than the sadness sitting inside of her.

Determination. Before now, her goal to become the best puppeteer had been a dream, a hope for the future. Now though, as the nine-year-old clenched her tiny hands around the scrolls containing her future, that goal was solidified, becoming something more.

She raised her head to the sky, emerald eyes glinting with the determination flowing through her body.

"I promise, sensei!" The child spoke with all the conviction available in her tiny body, "I will become the greatest puppet master to ever exist! I'll live up to your expectations and go even further beyond them, no matter what it takes!"

"That will be my Nindo, my ninja way!"