One Year Later

Sakura panted heavily, doing her best to keep her chakra under control even as her coils were put under some of the most intense strain they had ever endured. Somehow, Chiyo's training was even more difficult when the woman wasn't even there to yell at her.

Her hair dangled past her face as she hung from the thick limb of the tree beside her, using only her chakra to keep her from careening to the ground several meters below her. It was a task that had become more than simple for her thanks to her training, but that simplicity was somewhat overrode by the fact that she also had to concentrate on her chakra strings.

The ten bright green leaves attached to each of her threads swayed in the breeze, floating freely and only kept in place by her fluctuating chakra. It was an exercise in both concentration and chakra sensitivity to keep them there, using just enough chakra to keep them from falling yet not so much that they'd go flying away. It put an incredible strain on her chakra stores and pushed even her prodigious control to its utter limits which was entirely the point. If she could get the hang of this to the point that it became second nature, then manipulating her threads despite the distraction of outside stimuli would become even easier. That meant that even in the heat of battle, her threads wouldn't waver.

It was that thought that kept her going even while her chakra stores strained and sweat soaked into her clothing. Just a few more minutes and she would hit the hour mark that she had been striving for. Just a few more minutes…

"Arf!"

"AH!"

The sudden barking of a dog broke Sakura out of her thoughts and even more importantly, broke her concentration. Her threads dispersed into the wind alongside the leaves that they were attached to and her sandals came unstuck from the bark of the tree, sending her falling down to the ground below as she let out a shrill scream of panic.

Her arms pinwheeled as she fell, trying her best to fix her descent and get her feet underneath her before she hit the ground. From this height, she would definitely be seriously injured unless she managed to land on her feet and Sakura felt her panic build as the ground approached at a rapid pace, far too fast for her to fix the way she was falling before she hit.

She closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around her head in hopes that they would prevent her from cracking her skull or something equally horrible on impact, before awaiting the inevitable pain that was about to greet her.

A moment later, she let out a yelp as a strong pair of arms wrapped around her waist before yanking her back, pulling her into a firm embrace and halting her descent immediately.

Sakura remained frozen for a moment before she slowly removed her arms from around her head to face her rescuer. The pale sightless eyes of a Hyuga stared back at her from an androgynous face, a raised eyebrow giving their expression more emotion than Sakura had seen from any of their clan but Hinata, "Are you alright?"

Sakura's eyes were drawn to their hitai-ate, strapped to the right bicep and gleaming brightly. It looked brand new and likely hadn't seen any wear since it had been acquired. That, combined with this person's age, made Sakura realize that they weren't much older than she herself was.

And yet they were still fast enough to catch her in freefall when she hadn't even heard them approach. That was both scary, and slightly awesome. Scaresome.

Sakura nodded slowly at their question and the Hyuga looked back up at the branch that she had fallen from, "Maybe next time don't do that so high up if you can't catch yourself, alright? That fall might not have killed you but a broken spine is not something that you are likely to enjoy."

No, no she wouldn't. She couldn't be a puppet master if she was stuck in a wheelchair… actually, could she? She didn't need her legs to weave chakra strings or to create seals and puppets. It was entirely feasible that she would still be able to practice puppetry in the event that she was paralyzed, at least from the waist down.

…Though tree-climbing and taijutsu would probably be much more difficult than before without working legs. Maybe she could make prosthetics. If she could create an entire person-sized puppet and manipulate it finely, then legs shouldn't be that hard-

Sakura shook her head, derailing the train of thought before she could truly get on the tracks. She looked up at her rescuer, "R-right. Thank you for catching me."

The Hyuga nodded silently and Sakura was immediately reminded why most people in Konoha found the clan beautiful yet slightly creepy. Sakura couldn't tell the gender of this person but even she could see that they were rather attractive, their high cheekbones and striking eyes making for a statuesque visage. Their eyes both brought the whole picture together and added an air of mystique to them.

Sakura was too young and far too focused on her training to be even slightly interested in romance, but if she was anything like her peers she would admit that she might have developed a rather large crush then and there.

The thought immediately made her look away from the Hyuga, instead turning her gaze to where their arms were still wrapped around her, "Umm, do you think you could let me go now?"

"Are you sure? We're still quite high up." The Hyuga said.

Sakura nodded, "Yeah, I'm sure. I'll be fine."

"Very well then." The Hyuga let go of her, watching with curiosity as Sakura was sent careening back towards the ground once again. Now that she wasn't panicking, it was laughably easy for Sakura to push the necessary amount of chakra into her feet, softening her landing enough that it felt as if she had just stepped off a slightly high step stool instead of having fallen over eight meters to the ground.

She stood from the crouch that she had settled into as a thump came from behind her, turning around to find that the Hyuga had followed her lead and fallen to the ground as well. They were giving her a slightly impressed look, "Most academy students don't know how to tree-walk, much less how to soften falls with chakra."

Sakura grinned, puffing out her chest at the praise, "Yeah well, I'm training to be the world's greatest puppet master. I've got to master all forms of chakra channeling if I'm going to use my puppets to their full effect!"

Her words got her another raised eyebrow and an interested hum, "Is that so? I had heard that-"

"Arf!"

Sakura's eye twitched at the bark and both she and the Hyuga turned to look at the source of the noise. Two figures were making their way towards them, and immediately Sakura recognized the reason for her broken concentration in the rather large ninkin puppy on one of their shoulders. The owner, an Inuzuka with wavy brown hair, called out to them as they approached, "Dang, Hikari, you sure as hell can move when you want to! Why don't you ever move that fast when we spar, huh? Me and Tadao would like the challenge!"

The second person sighed as they approached. He was much taller than his Inuzuka teammate and had an equally massive sword on his back. His hair was a distinctive shade of crimson red that reminded Sakura of Kushina, while his eyes were a dull shade of blue made even duller by the aloof look on his face as he reached them.

"Hikari's faster than any of us and you know that, Tsu. Even your beast mode or whatever can't keep up with them when they really get going. It'd be a total wash out." The teen said, giving the Inuzuka a dry look.

Tsu gave her teammate a glare that her ninkin somehow managed to mimic, "It's called the Four-Legs Technique, jackass! If you're gonna say it, say it right because I did not spend months learning that shit just so you could call it beast mode."

The redhead rubbed the back of his neck, glancing at the clouds above, "Hmm… Nah. That's too much to say. I'm just gonna keep calling it beast mode."

"One more word is too much for you?" Tsu's voice was angry but she was smiling, making Sakura think this was something that they did often, "You're dumber than I thought you were, Jin."

Jin scoffed, "Wasn't it you who said I could be related to a Nara? What happened to that?"
"Oh, that hasn't changed. I've never seen someone as lazy as you still be so good at fighting." Tsu sniffed, scratching her partner behind the ear to the dog's immense pleasure, "It's too bad you didn't inherit their brains too cause now we're stuck with a lazy jackass who can't bother to pronounce two extra syllables."

In response to her words, Jin reached out and flicked her in the forehead. It was an extremely hard flick that Sakura could hear even from several feet away and Tsu immediately reeled back with a hiss, glaring daggers at the teen who had taken to looking away as if he hadn't done anything in the first place.

Instead of giving his irate teammate any attention, he instead turned it towards Sakura who was watching them curiously from Hikari's side, "Hey, Hikari, you've got a little munchkin creeping behind you."

Sakura scowled at being called a munchkin while Hikari just nodded simply, "I know. I saved her from falling to her death after Tadao's bark startled her out of the tree."

Tsu blinked, forgetting her anger at Jin for a moment as her face lit up in realization, "Oh! So that's what that sound was! I thought it sounded oddly like a scream but thought someone was just practicing lightning jutsu again."

"Do they do that alot?" Sakura couldn't help but ask despite how annoyed she was at the Inuzuka and her partner.

Tsu shrugged, "Eh, not really. This training ground is booked for us and sensei's the only one who knows lightning jutsu. Though I think Hikari's trying to learn some."

HIkari nodded silently as Sakura blinked in surprise, "Wait, this training ground is booked? But I've been using it pretty much every day for over a year! How come I never got kicked out?"
"Probably because we were just formed a few months ago and haven't had the chance to book one yet." Jin answered, picking his ear idly, "The whole process is a pain in the ass and I don't even know why I'm telling you this to be honest."

"Because it's polite and if she was here first, she has a right to know." Hikari answered promptly.

"Are you guys going to kick me out?" Sakura asked worriedly. She didn't want to have to find another training ground to use, especially when she wasn't even technically supposed to be using this one in the first place.

Tsu hummed, petting her ninkin as she thought, "Well, we probably should to be honest. Iwabi-sensei is pretty laid-back but I'm not sure he'd appreciate an academy student hanging around while we train."

As Sakura's heart sank, Jin snorted, "You say that, but knowing him, he probably won't give a shit unless she's loud or something. She already knows how to tree walk and if the look Hikari's been giving her is any indication, she was doing a helluva lot more than that when we showed up. He probably won't see any harm in it as long as she stays out of the way."

Sakura looked up at Hikari to find the Hyuga staring at her once again with that same interested gaze that they had taken on when she had dropped from the tree.

"Oh?" Tsu leaned forward in interest as she heard that, "Something that's got Hikari of all people interested? I've got to see that."

Not seeing any reason to keep it a secret, and slightly egged on by the way Hikari looked at her in interest, Sakura extended her fingers, grabbing onto several twigs with her chakra strings and pulling them into her hand.

She held them out for the team to see, "I was doing a chakra control exercise, hanging from the tree and holding onto some stuff with my threads. It's pretty concentration intensive so when I was startled, I stopped threading chakra through my sandals and fell down."

Jin snorted, "You're telling me those tiny little strings need that much concentration? Isn't that a bit too much for something so boring?"

Sakura scowled at his words, not liking how he was so easily dismissing a key component of the art she hoped to one day master.

Deciding to show off a little bit. She reared her hand back, before tossing the sticks up into the air as high as she possibly could. Team 3's eyes followed the sticks curiously and Sakura stuck her hand out again, sending her threads forth once more.

Though the twigs had scattered in the air, her threads still struck true, latching onto the small items and freezing them in place. Narrowing her eyes in concentration, Sakura manipulated her fingers, twitching them minutely which caused the sticks to move as well. They slammed into one another with a loud snap, several of them breaking apart and falling to the ground once more.

Sakura didn't let them land though, instead bringing up her other hand to grab these ones as well. Her fingers danced as she brought them back up towards the others, before they began moving too fast for the others to keep track of.

After a long moment, Sakura nodded in satisfaction and pulled the sticks back in once more. Only now they weren't just sticks, instead having been morphed into a solid creation thanks to Sakura's work. She held it out for Team 3 to see.

Tsu gave an excited gasp and even Jin's eyes widened in surprise as they took in the small wooden figurine that Sakura was now holding. The twigs that she had broken made up its hands, feet, and head, while the larger ones made up its body and limbs. All in all, it looked like an extremely roughly put together doll, held together only by the chakra the preteen continued to flow through it, but Sakura was still more than a little proud that she had managed to do it at all.

She gave Jin a smug look, "How's that? Still boring?"

To her immense annoyance, Jin's face immediately fell back into that dull expression that it seemed to default to. He shrugged his shoulders, "Eh, it was alright I guess. I could probably do the same thing with like five minutes and some superglue."

Sakura's face fell immediately, an annoyed expression crossing her features as she stopped channeling chakra through the doll, letting it fall to the ground where it fell apart on impact.

"Don't listen to him, he's a dick. That was totally awesome!" Tsu's cheer brought a bit of life back into Sakura and she couldn't help but smile, "How'd you even do that?"

"If the user is sufficiently skilled, chakra threads can allow someone to manipulate their own chakra in objects from far away." Hikari spoke up, answering for her, "It's what Suna nin use to control their puppets with such accuracy."

"Really? I thought they just grabbed stuff." Tsu blinked, looking back at Sakura, "And you can use them like that? At like nine?"
Sakura bristled slightly, "I'm almost eleven, actually."

Tsu snorted, "Not that big of a difference, hate to tell you but… Tell you what, you can stay and keep using the training ground but in return, you've got to teach us how to use those strings of yours."

Sakura bit her lip, a little unsure, "I don't know… Chiyo-sensei said it's super dangerous to learn how to use chakra threads without a proper teacher. You can blow your fingers off apparently."

That caught Tsu's interest even more than before and a borderline feral grin appeared on her face, "So you're saying that most people can't do that?" Sakura nodded, "Awesome. I wouldn't want to learn something that everyone can do anyway. Now you've got to teach us how to do that."

"I'll admit, I wouldn't mind learning as well." Hikari finally spoke up in a soft voice. Sakura looked back at them in surprise and they shrugged, "I'm trying to expand my arsenal. The Gentle Fist is a useful technique, but I'd be a fool to refuse to learn anything else."

"You mean like the rest of your clan?" Jin said sarcastically.

Instead of getting angry like Sakura thought they were going to do, and like she knew she would if someone insulted her family like that, Hikari simply nodded at his words, "Indeed."

As Sakura processed that, Tsu leaned forward until she was practically in the preteen's face, her hazel eyes excited at the prospect of learning the skill, "Come on! I'll even sweeten the pot! If you teach us, I'll teach you some stuff too! Do you know how to water-skate yet?"
Sakura didn't. She didn't even know that that was a thing. She knew water walking was a thing, but skating? That wasn't in any of her books.

Behind Tsu, Jin sighed, "How would she know how to do that? Hikari invented it, idiot."

Sakura shot a wide-eyed glance to Hikari who was now looking at the sticks that Sakura had been manipulating with interest. Still, she seemed to feel Sakura's gaze as she spoke, "I didn't invent it. I'm sure other people figured it out before me, I just did too."

Tsu waved a hand, "Eh, semantics. Let's say you reinvented it then." She turned back to Sakura, grinning again, "Either way, doesn't that sound fair? One rare jutsu for another? C'mon, whaddya say?" She held a hand out in askance.

Faced with the prospect of learning another rare skill, Sakura was helpless. She reached out and grabbed Tsu's hand, shaking it firmly as she agreed to the girl's proposition.

Tsu laughed, "Great! I'll run the idea by sensei and let you know his answer. Come back at the same time tomorrow and I'll tell you what he said, alright?"

Sakura nodded, slightly nervous as she realized she still needed to get the permission of a jonin, "Right. I'll do that."

Jin suddenly spoke up, an odd expression on his face. As if he was trying to hold back a smile or a smirk, "You know, Tsu, I'm not sure why you'd make a deal like that."
Tsu, sensing something was wrong, turned a glare towards her teammate, "And what's that supposed to mean?"

Jin shrugged nonchalantly, "I'm just saying, it seemed a bit stupid to agree to something like this just for the chance that you'll be able to learn something that pretty much nobody else can do. I doubt you'll even be able to use it."

The smirk that the teen was holding back came on full force as Tsu suddenly got in his face, practically growling like the ninkin on her shoulder, "Oh, and I guess you think you'd be able to?"

"Probably better than you."

"HUH!?" Tsu's eyes widened and she grabbed Jin by the front of his shirt, "YOU WANNA RUN THAT BY ME AGAIN JACKASS!?"

This girl was starting to remind her more and more of Kiba. Sakura stared at Tsu and Jin as the two of them began to argue in earnest, Tsu's eye twitching irately while Jin had a smug grin on his face as he purposefully riled the Inuzuka up by being what Sakura's dad would call a contrarian douche.

Hikari looked over at her silently as the argument became physical as Tsu literally leapt at Jin and tackled him to the ground with a roar of anger. The Hyuga's eyes were amused yet resigned, and they jerked their head to the side, mouthing silent words to Sakura that their teammate's couldn't hear. I'd get out now while you still have the chance.

As their head moved, so did their hair, allowing Sakura a small glimpse of the headband on their forehead and for a moment, the pinkette couldn't help but wonder why someone would wear a headband if they weren't going to put their forehead protector on it. Nevertheless, Sakura put it out of her mind as she gave them a grateful look, before turning to make her escape from the situation before she was dragged into it or something similarly weird. She practically jogged out of the training ground, not looking back as Jin and Tsu rolled around on the ground to the enthusiastic yipping of Tadao.

She wasn't sure what just happened but she was pretty sure she had just scored a training partner or possibly even three. Not how she saw her training session going but she certainly wasn't complaining.

~~~ Later That Day: Yamanaka Household ~~~

Sakura's hands stung as Ino's sandal slammed into her palms. She grunted, her arms wavering the slightest amount at the force of the strike, before she changed her grip and grabbed onto the girl's heel and the ball of her foot. Twisting roughly, Sakura managed to unbalance her friend, sending her spinning to the ground below with a noise of surprise.

Unlike months ago however, Ino had gained enough skill to recover from such a maneuver. As she fell she managed to put a hand on the ground and catch herself before rolling away from Sakura's subsequent axe kick which slammed into the ground instead.

The blonde sprang to her feet and retreated several feet away. Sakura didn't bother to follow her, using the time granted to her to recover her stamina as Ino seemingly did the same across from her. The two girls were absolutely filthy, covered in bruises and dirt as hours of intense sparring reduced them to sweaty messes.

And it wasn't over just yet. Sakura's eyes narrowed as Ino's left leg shifted almost imperceptibly before the blonde was suddenly springing at her. She was lagging slightly thanks to her exhaustion but even then, she was moving much faster than she was months ago, crossing the distance between them in mere seconds before leaping into the air and swinging her body around for a devastating kick.

Sakura ducked the first and batted away the second that Ino threw at her the moment the girl hit the ground, ignoring the way her palms stung at the hit. A few months ago, Ino had discovered that her flexibility allowed her to use her legs to fight much more easily than practically everyone in their class, including Sakura. She had begun exploiting this aspect ruthlessly, beginning to build a fighting style that revolved almost exclusively around kicks and her flexibility.

It was a bit rough but nobody could deny its effectiveness. Ino had shot up in class rankings when it came to taijutsu, now neck and neck with Sakura herself with the blonde sometimes managing to even beat her on the occasions that they were paired up. If given the sufficient amount of space to do her work, Ino's kicks could easily pack the same punch as Sakura's well, punches.

Luckily, Sakura had managed to quickly learn and adapt to Ino's fighting style, discovering that the best way to counter it was to simply deny the other girl the space with which to use her legs.

After her first attack failed, Ino went to move backwards, hoping to gain some distance so she could shoot forward again just like before. Sakura wouldn't let her. Shooting a hand out, Sakura attached several glowing threads to Ino's shirt, gripping onto the fabric with her chakra before yanking backwards with all of her strength, hoping to pull Ino towards her once again to fight her on her terms.

Instead of that happening though, there was a loud yelp and the sound of tearing fabric, and Sakura watched with horror as Ino's top failed to withstand her strength and gave up, ripping in multiple places and revealing the body wrappings underneath. And as the scraps of bright purple were pulled back towards her instead of Ino herself, Sakura looked up at her friend, fear filling her body as Ino stared down at her newly ruined top in disbelief.

Slowly, Ino looked up at her and Sakura immediately gulped at the blazing anger that was held within those pupiless eyes, "Uh, Sorry about that. I guess I thought your clothes would be, you know… stronger…" Sakura's voice petered out at the end as Ino inhaled deeply, closing her eyes.

When they opened again, Sakura wasn't even given a chance to register the girl's movements before Ino was suddenly upon her once more, swinging out her right leg like she was trying to take the pinkett's head off with her sandals alone.

Sakura yelped, falling backwards onto her hands as she watched the limb slice through the air above her, "Waitwaitwait!" She shouted as Ino twisted on her heel and brought the same leg up into the air right above her. One of the blonde's hands came to her calf as she did what was only a few degrees of verticality away from a standing split.

Aqua eyes stared into terrified emerald as Ino prepared to land a devastating heel drop directly onto the panicking girl, held back only by Sakura's pleading. "Yes, Sakura?" Ino's voice was far too calm for someone who looked ready to murder her friend and sparring partner, and Sakura couldn't imagine how much rage was hiding underneath that calmness.

Whatever the answer was, Sakura definitely didn't want to find out, "I-I'll go shopping with you and buy you a new top tomorrow!" She promised, eying Ino's leg which was poised to slam into her stomach. Ino made a thinking face and her arm twitched as the pressure behind it increased, causing the pinkette to panic even more, "A-And I'll get you some mochi or something after! Please, Ino! I can't train with broken ribs!"

Ino stared at her for a long moment, her placid face not giving any hints as to what she was thinking. Sakura felt sweat roll down her neck as she awaited the blonde's verdict, unsure whether or not her desperate plea for life had worked or not.

Luckily, it seemed that it had. She felt an immense amount of relief as Ino nodded slowly, lowering her leg back to the ground instead of hitting Sakura in the stomach or chest, "Alright." Ino said, the same calm expression on her face as she leaned down and offered Sakura a hand, "But I'm not holding anything back. It's my cheat day so you better bring extra."

Sakura sighed in relief as she reached out and grabbed Ino's hand, allowing the girl to haul her to her feet, "Right, I'll do that. Thanks for not… you know, killing me or something."

Ino flipped her hair, turning on her heel to walk to her home, "Don't get too ahead of yourself, Sakura. I'll be killing your wallet tomorrow. Trust me on that."

Sakura sighed as she used her chakra strings to gather the scraps of Ino's shirt, "Right. Just leave me enough to last until I get my next allowance, all right?"

"No promises."

She should have expected that. Sakura shook her head at her friend's words as she inspected the fabric in her hands. The scraps of Ino's shirt had been torn in long strips but seemed clean enough. A good enough seamstress would probably be able to put the outfit back together without anybody the wiser. Her mother could probably do it.

She told Ino as such, only to be met with a raised eyebrow, "Sakura, I know you care about practicality more than fashion, but I'm not wearing a stitched together outfit. It was an old top anyway. I'll just throw it away."

Sakura stared after Ino in disbelief, holding the scraps of what she had thought was an extremely important garment in her hands as she watched the girl walk back towards her home. As if feeling her eyes on her, Ino turned around to look at Sakura again.

Upon seeing the look on the pinkette's face, Ino gave Sakura a wink, "What? You didn't think I'd actually fight you of all people in one of my good outfits, did you? That'd be crazy. Now come on, Kaa-sama's making something that smells really good and there's no way you're skipping out on us this time."

Still utterly stunned by what had just happened, Sakura automatically did what the girl asked, following behind her slowly as she tried to puzzle together how badly she'd just been had.

This girl was dangerously conniving. Though Sakura didn't know what else she expected from Ino of all people.

~~~ That Night ~~~

Sitting cross-legged in the middle of her bedroom floor, Sakura let out a silent curse, her brow furrowing in slight consternation as she noticed something wrong with the item in her hand.

"Aagh! I messed up again." She growled, turning the item over in her grip as she took in the indents in the slightly rough wood, "Maybe I can… No, it's too deep. Dang it!"

She groaned in frustration, tossing her latest attempt at creating a passable hand to the floor. The wooden limb hit hardwood with a thud, the crux of the issue she had created staring back at her in the form of a socket for a ball joint that was several centimeters too deep. If she tried to fix it she was liable to crack the wood and the same could be said for using it as well. She'd have to start over. Again.

"Why is this so hard!?" She groaned again, tossing her metal tools aside as well as she raised her head to the ceiling in questioning.

Woodworking had never seemed like it would be an easy thing to learn, especially not for someone like Sakura whose talents lie more in mental skills instead of physical ones, but this was starting to actually annoy her. She looked around, taking in all of her previous attempts today alone. Dozens of mangled wooden limbs and faces stared back at her, silent effigies of her failures thus far, and she sighed.

They were a far cry from her first attempts, even she could see that. The lumpy, messy limbs that she had made when she first started were good for nothing but firewood, but she might actually keep these for reference on what not to do at a later date.

She reached for her sealing scroll, preparing to grab another log from her nearly endless supply to start again, only to stop as her bedroom door suddenly opened with a click.

Her mom poked her head inside and opened her mouth to speak only to pause as she saw the mess that her daughter had made on her floor. Sakura gave Mebuki a nervous smile as the woman turned a stern look her way, clearly unhappy with what she had done.

"Sakura, it's time for bed. Before that though, you are going to clean up this mess and clean it up well, do I make myself clear?" The woman's voice was stern and Sakura found herself nodding automatically, slightly ashamed that she had let her work get ahead of her so much and made such a mess.

"Yes, Kaa-chan." Sakura immediately moved to grab her sealing scroll, not even entertaining the idea of disobeying the woman, "I'm sorry, I guess I got caught up in practicing."

Mebuki nodded understandingly, her face softening ever so slightly, "That's fine, sweetie. Just please remember to clean up after yourself, even while you're working. If you tripped in here, you're liable to hurt yourself."

Much more than that. Sakura hadn't quite realized just how much she had let the mess get out of hand. Sharp pieces of wood, various tools, even some screws, her floor was absolutely covered in the stuff. She had some work ahead of her even with the sealing scroll.

"I'll clean it all up, Kaa-chan." Sakura promised, moving to begin her task.

"Good. When you're done, it's straight to bed, alright?"

"Yes, ma'am. I love you."

"I love you too, sweetie. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

The door clicked shut once more and Sakura immediately began gathering up the tools that she had scattered around, cleaning up the mess that she had made as her mother's footsteps faded down the hall. It took her around thirty minutes to take care of the mess, sealing it all away in a scroll to deal with and sort out later. She left a few of her attempts out, placing them on her desk for future reference, before beginning to get ready for bed just as her mother had told her to.

As she slipped underneath the covers in her pajamas however, Sakura was suddenly struck by a very important question. One that she probably should have asked a while ago. She had been practicing crafting puppets for a few months now, but she had never actually asked herself the most important question of all.

What kind of puppet did she even want to make?

Sakura stared up at her ceiling as the thought rolled over inside of her head. The books she had been reading had given her numerous examples of different types and classifications of puppets: skirmishers, trappers, long-ranged support, heck, even some puppets that were just made to get close to people and blow up which seemed like a massive waste of resources no matter how cheaply they were made.

The preteen rolled over in her bed, gazing at her past attempts sitting silently on her desk. She stared at them, the limbs painted softly by the moonlight drifting through the window, and suddenly remembered something. An offhand comment made by her sensei before she returned to her village, something about how most puppet user's neglected their taijutsu training in favor of upgrading their puppets, leading them to being caught off guard in the event that their puppet was disabled some way.

What if she could succeed where they had failed? Instead of making a puppet that was meant to fight apart from her while she hid in the background, she could make one that she could use in conjunction with herself, using it to make up for any deficiencies or holes in her fighting style.

…like a second pair of limbs.

Almost automatically, Sakura found herself getting up from bed, her feet trailing a path to her bookshelf where several empty notebooks lay. She grabbed one at random and made her way to her desk, sitting down and cracking the book open while grabbing the pen from its spine. She immediately put it to the page as ideas flowed forth from her mind, her limited knowledge of puppet crafting surging alongside her creativity as she began to scribble them down.

She stayed like that for at least three hours, sitting at her desk with only the dim light of the moon and her imagination keeping her company.

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