could not for the life of me tolerate rewriting this chapter for the seventh time so here's the 6th draft version for you all
also couldn't figure out a chapter title so i just used the title of the song i was listening to at the time im posting this

25 • Know Somebody

Carefully feeling around my broken nose, I can't help but feel slightly impressed. Any more force behind that palm strike and it would have been potentially fatal. The only reason it likely isn't is because this was just supposed to be a sparring match, not an actual fight.

Ignoring the way my chakra is already forcefully moving my nose back into shape, I look down at the boy pinned under my foot. I knew he has his problems with me, but I had some hope he'd do the proper thing and repress everything.

"That was really impressive, Ken-kun," I chirp, leaning over so he can see my smile, just to be annoying.

He scowls at me, best as he can with half his face in the dirt.

Masashi-sensei and Haru stand off to the side, simply observing. Masashi seems rather bored; not sure what else he was expecting when he decided today's training will be sparring match after sparring match. This is the third time I've beaten Ken into the ground today; though the matches are at least lasting longer than the previous. He learns quickly.

Haru at least looks contemplative. My matches against her were rather fun. I haven't fought anyone specializing in a weapon that isn't a tanto before. I wonder if she's open to showing me some katas for the naginata she wields.

Training with Team 11 for the past month has been interesting to say the least. They're as skilled and experienced as some of the other ROOT members I train with, but they're also as open with their emotions as the Brats. Considering I was introduced to the team by 'recommendation' of Danzo, it's a weird balancing act of 'Academy Sakura' and 'ROOT 86'.

I'm always professional and polite, with just a hint of cheeky rebellion. I seem approachable without actually letting anything of myself be said. I'm skilled enough to hold my own, but willing to learn from others. I'm made to slip through the cracks and fit anywhere. My pink hair doesn't lend to making me easily forgettable, so might as well be remembered as unassuming.

Interestingly enough, I step off of Ken and away a few steps to let him escape his wire binds with as much dignity as he can, it doesn't seem to fool Ken at all most times.

If anything, Ken is…unimpressed? annoyed? with the act I pull around the team. He doesn't turn his back to me, but he also makes no attempts to dig any deeper. It'd odd since Team 11's mission reports and profiles indicated that he was better suited to picking apart someone's fighting ability.

The little mystery isn't much of a priority, not when Ken clearly isn't going to do anything about it, but it's a fun side project to keep my mind off all the other issues I'm dealing with. Just thinking about everything has my smile straining to stay, mood completely ruined.

"We'll work on increasing your reaction speed," Masashi comments idly to Ken who decided to stay on the ground after escaping his binds. He grunts in acknowledgment.

"You'll be sparring against Haru more often from now on." He nods to me. "Your taijustu is good, but it doesn't seem you have much experience against weapons of medium-range."

Fair enough. "Yes, sir."

"You'll also benefit from sparring more with Sakura." Masashi turns to address Haru. "It'll help improve your own taijustu."

"Understood," she accepted.

"Take a break, half an hour. Stretch, eat, wrap your wounds - just be ready to continue after."

"Hai!"

Holding back a sigh, I grab my store bought lunch and drift off to find a nice shaded area for a quick nap. As annoying as attending the Academy could be at times, at least I was guarenteed some time to sleep.

I wonder how everyone else's teams are coming along.

Sitting in the shade off to the side, Kuri rubs at her shoulder with a pained grimace. She knew training was going to be tough; her teammates are Haruno Sakura's best friends! Of course it would be! While better than the average female in their year, she still has a lot of catching up to do.

Still, she sighs, casting her eyes across the field where Sasuke and Naruto are sparring, it's just a little discouraging.

After Kakashi-sensei's less than stellar introduction (honestly, who's 3 hours late in their own home village? The Academy is right next to the Hokage's Tower! Not exactly hard to miss!) and subsequently less than satisfactory ideas about training after a month, the boys were quick to set up their own training regime. Might as well put those early hours of being unsupervised to some use.

Honestly, Kuri was more surprised that they included her in the training. They aren't really friends, just teammates. But maybe it's because they're teammates? Kakashi-sensei had made it very clear what he thought about teammates.

Or maybe, she physically cringes away at the sound of Sasuke hitting the ground after a particularly powerful over-the-shoulder flip, it's because I'm currently the weakest link and thus a liability.

Kuri was bound to pick up a practical point of view on things after spending years with a classmate like Sakura-san — who constantly questioned and argued with the teachers, and was certainly never quiet or ashamed about it. She certainly didn't soften her words against the other students.

She'd be lying if she said she wasn't grateful for the extra training. While it makes the boys feel more like extra teachers than teammates, it gives her a chance to really understand their strengths and weaknesses. It helps her understand where she could possibly fit between them as she gets stronger.

She doubts she'll ever be like one of the Top Nine from their year, but she's determined to at least be able to keep up.

Which means no more dallying, she nods firmly to herself and rises to her feet. The ache in her shoulder has dulled enough for her to ignore it, and the adrenaline of a spar will soon completely take her mind off it.

Besides, there was a little rumor a while back that Sakura-san had a hand in the Top Nine's training. Getting trained by two of them, and her best friends at that, is kind of like getting personally trained by Sakura-san herself!

"Sasuke-kun, are you alright? And Naruto-san, could you teach me how to do that?"

Despite being on different teams and having different training schedules, they all make an effort to meet up together at least once a week. Everyone, except for one that is.

"Anything new?" Ino already knows the answer based on how quiet it is, but the conversation has to be started at some point.

Hinata frowns at her cup of tea, morosely shaking her head. The others are much the same, refusing to make any sort of eye contact and playing with their food. Sasuke and Kiba are visibly frustrated, turning their movements slightly aggressive.

Ino expected that but sighs all the same. "We know she's still in the village. How is it this hard to find her?"

Sakura has essentially gone missing after team assignments. She never came back after speaking with Iruka-sensei. They'd be a lot more worried if they hadn't already confirmed occasional sightings by the civilians more familiar with Sakura.

And staking out the mission desk has proven useless; apparently her sensei picks up the missions for the entire week in advance, and they don't have any concrete idea who they are or what they look like.

"Actually, I don't think she's in the village that much," Shikamaru speaks up.

"What do you mean by that?" Kiba looks up from feeding Akamaru. "Why wouldn't she be in the village? She can't have already gone on a C-rank mission. It's barely been a month since we all became genin."

Shikamaru pushes his food away, straightening in his seat to lean forward on his elbows. He lowers his voice and they turn towards him with undivided attention. "According to my Dad, Team 11 does a lot of training outside the village."

"The training grounds outside the village walls are only for chunin and above," Sasuke comments, frown softening into something more contemplative.

Shino nods. "A jonin sensei would need to make a request to take their genin, but it's not uncommon. However, it certainly takes time to get approval."

Ino crosses her arms, eyes narrowing. "So then why wouldn't Sakura be in the village that much?"

"Team 11 has been active for two years," Hinata reminds. "It's possible those in charge of approving those requests are confident in her sensei's ability to look after Sakura since they've been doing these trainings with the other genin for so long."

"Okay, so how does this help us find Sakura? It's not like we can join her team during training. Our sensei would need to get approval first, and that's even if they agree to take us outside for training in the first place. Even then they'd still have to get permission to share the training grounds at the same time."

"If Sakura isn't doing training inside the village, then that means she has to be inside for the missions, right?" Naruto tosses out, furiously spinning the chopsticks in his hand. "So we just need to know what all the missions are, that way when her sensei picks them up, we know which ones she'll be doing throughout the week. Yeah?"

"That could work, if we could find someone at the missions desk willing to divulge mission details." Even if they're just D-ranks, it's bad manners to give out another's mission details. Because they're just D-ranks, they may just have a little more luck.

"Alright!" Ino claps her hands, grinning. "We got a new objective this week everyone! Let's try for some good news next time we meet up."

The mood lightens as they all agree, eventually returning to their meals and switching the conversation to different topics. They'll find Sakura eventually; even if they can only check in for a minute, it'll be worth it.

Wiping the sweat off her forehead with her arm, Haru glances at her teammates to check on their progress. Ken is scowling as he pulls out the garden weeds, already half way done. He probably would have been closer to finishing if he didn't take the time to glare at their third teammate so often.

Speaking of which, Sakura is on the last yard of fencing she needs to paint. Then she'll have to double back to add the second layer, just as the client specified. Already Haru knows Sakura won't take a break, even if Masashi-sensei backs Haru on it. The younger girl never does.

It's been a month since Sakura was added to the team and Haru is still conflicted on how to feel about her. It's still too soon after Botan's death to have any positive thoughts towards his replacement. It doesn't help that Ken is particularly uncharitable towards their new team member. Unsettling, he called her and Haru trusts his judgment.

However, with the schedule Masashi-sensei has them on, Haru has come to learn a few things about the younger girl. Nothing major.

To start, she's unflinchingly polite. Going so far as to offer a smile at the client that spit in her direction when they showed up to complete their mission. They know each other apparently— well, more like the client knows Sakura and doesn't like her. It makes her curious, considering the pinkette's position, though neither offered any answers.

Sakura is also incredibly petty and vindictive, considering they left that mission with the man red in the face and practically foaming at the mouth in anger. How she knew those plants were weeds and not flowers as they looked, especially since they were in the client's very clearly defined flower garden, Haru still doesn't have an answer to.

That sort of knowledge is just nonsensical compared to everything else Sakura knows. It has no use in the field— Haru asked. The younger girl doesn't even like gardening. Not that she ever makes such opinions known out loud, but she'd be a lousy shinobi to not notice how the girl would choose just about any other job if given the chance.

Though this knowledge is all gained through observation, which is notable in itself. Sakura never says things just to say them. Is more action than words.

Keen observation has never been her or Ken's strong point, not when it pertains to someone's personality. Ken will look at someone's fighting ability, and Haru will keep an eye on their surroundings. That's how they work.

(Botan was always the more personable one of Team 11. The one made to be more easily remembered despite how often he changed disguises. Their mascot, Ken joked.)

But with Ken more likely to look at Sakura like an enemy, and Masashi-sensei acting more as a supervisor and commander than teacher, it's up to Haru to pick up the slack in understanding their new member. Someone has to if they have any hope of working together well enough not to get each other killed on the field.

(The infiltrator on the ground. The distraction. The bait.)

Looking over her own work, Haru decides that at the very least she can do with a break. Fixing a roof is tedious work even for a shinobi. A stakeout would probably be more interesting. She'd probably have more luck learning about Sakura that way too.

(He could probably have learned her favorite color and snack by now.)

Poking at the body on the table, I spare a brief glance to the agent that dragged it in. This is supposed to be my independent medical training block. I never requested a body, nor was I informed of any evaluations.

I poke the body once more, harder this time for a reaction that isn't forthcoming. The man isn't dead, but neither is he awake or injured. So he isn't here to be healed. It's a little rare for anyone to bother me during this time for their various boo-boos; they've all been pretty respectful of my official nurse hours.

He doesn't look like a civilian; too many scars. He also isn't anyone I recognize or have any familiar characteristics; so hopefully not someone from Konoha.

Add it all together and this man is…a prisoner for me to do with what I want..?

What the hell, I shrug to myself and pick up my notebook, I'll make this work.

"Orders?" I check in, searching for the page that holds my more mild questions on iryo-ninjutsu. Questions I wasn't willing to test on myself, and in which animals didn't and corpses couldn't give me satisfying answers for.

"Keep him alive."

I wait for them to say more, physically turning to face them when they stay silent.

"In one piece?" I dig, honestly curious to what Danzo is thinking by giving me someone with that as my only order.

"Alive," is all they say. They also make no move to leave.

Guess today's training is being supervised. I wonder if it's so that I can be stopped from doing anything that might kill the man. But that implies no trust in my ability to follow orders. So maybe it is a bit like an evaluation; to see what I would choose to do with such free reign, or if I would even question it.

I've already decided not to question it. It's simply too exhausting to continuously rebel against the small things. If this man is important in any way– important to my people in any way– I'll deal with the repercussions upon discovery of such a fact and not now when it's uncertain.

If all I'm asked to do is keep the man alive then I should probably avoid the medical questions surrounding the brain.

Maybe I'll request a body for the next training block. Danzo is clearly willing to provide. I could even experiment with my genjutsu if I had a body to use it on. Maybe I could get a better understanding of how genjustu interacts with another's chakra system and brain.

It'd also give me more reasons to interact with the Blackbirds (as I've amusingly been calling the Uchiha children to myself) outside of scheduled training times. While all my training growing up has made me a well-rounded shinobi, I'm only their instrutor in taijustu, chakra control, and healing (from basic first aid to emergency field surgery that can be performed on another or oneself) because those are the areas I "specialize" in.

Right. As if being able to shove my and others' organs back inside is special and not at all unsettling for only being twelve years old.

If I can get a better understanding of genjutsu, and simply get better at the art in general, I can justify supervising that portion of their training. Apparently really good chakra control doesn't automatically mean I'm great at illusions; I can just identify and escape them quicker than most.

Nodding, I turn back to the unconscious man. I wonder how much being awake or not would affect the results. Questions to note for later, I suppose.

I'll start with a general check up, see what sort of shape the man is in, then practice the basic iryo-ninjutsu and steadily work my way up to my questions. None of my more interesting questions or theories, in which the desired result is an unassuming death that can't be linked to anything beyond nature.

Now, Suna utilizes an interesting form of chakra control called chakra threads for their special brand of puppetry. I'm not expertly proficient (yet) in the art, but what I've been been able to study is fascinating. How do those threads connect to another's person for it to be possible to literally puppet them? Does it connect on a surface level or to their chakra system directly? Maybe to their nerves? But then what about dead nerves? Can chakra threads be produced from dead nerves?

Hm, I'll either need to purposely kill off some of my own nerves to test that once I do become proficient enough, or ask for a subject capable of chakra threads.

I make a quick side note to think more on it later.

More interestingly, can chakra threads be used in and with iryo-ninjustu? Can they be used like actual threads and stitch a wound? Is it possible to heal a wound while standing across the room, no where near or touching the injured party?

Putting down my notebook of theories, I grab a different one - the one used to catalogue the injures of anyone stumbling into the Nurse's Office while I'm on duty for the reports. It'd be useful to have a written account of everything in case Danzo asks.

I should also use this opportunity to practice chakra threads as Suna does before getting too ambitious. An actual puppet is good for practice in learning how to twitch the threads to move certain limbs, but the strength needed likely differs between a doll and a human being.

After flipping to an empty page and blandly tilting it 'Test Subject 1', I snap on some medical-grade gloves and a mask.

Let's begin.

my girl sakuranna is unknowingly slipping and i love that for her