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Finally some actual action! But mostly a friendly spar. Sakura's a thinking type of ninja so she obviously isn't playing fair in this chapter, however she's still weak physically. She's got a long way to go before badassery.
Chapter III: Spars, Strength, and Scrolls
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On the fifth day since their training had begun, Sakura woke up feeling sore. She'd been training harder recently and that was starting to make her feel sluggish. She did some stretches before hopping in the shower and getting ready to escort Tazuna to the bridge.
"Yo."
Sakura looked up at Kakashi the moment she left her room.
"How did it go last night?" Sakura blanked out for a moment before realizing her sensei was asking about aim training with Sasuke. Blushing at how nice everything was last night (and the thought of Sasuke) Sakura murmured well and pointed to her healing split lip and bruises. Kakashi eye smiled.
"I was curious because Sasuke has a bit of a shiner on his cheek."
Sakura blushed even harder at that. It had been a lucky shot when Sasuke was caught off guard by one of her kicks. Of course he immediately retaliated with a punch to her mouth.
"Luck, I guess."
Kakashi stopped eye-smiling.
"Ah, Sakura-chan, self-doubt isn't a good thing you know. You're capable enough to take on the boys. Why don't you try sparring with Naruto tonight after dinner? He needs a break from tree-climbing." Kakashi suggested in a friendly manner.
Sakura felt just a tiny prick of discomfort as Kakashi told her she was capable of taking on the boys. Sasuke was so quick and skilled that she had gotten her ass handed to her with him only using taijutsu. And Naruto had endless stamina. Sakura generally felt drained just by looking at him, much less fighting him.
Kakashi must have noticed her discomfort because was now ruffling her light pink hair, causing it to flatten against her face.
"You can do it. You have to figure out how to win."
It was at that moment that the door to Sasuke and Naruto's room opened, with Naruto looking out.
"Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan!" The blond bounced to them.
"Morning." Kakashi raised his hand before poking Sakura forward.
"Sakura has something she wants to tell you, Naruto."
Naruto's face dropped for a second before lighting up like someone stuffed a lantern in it.
"Really? What's up Sakura-chan?" The loudness of his voice attracted Sasuke, who poked his head out of the door to tell Naruto he was being too loud.
Glaring at her sensei and his darned meddling, Sakura huffed. "Naruto, want to spar tonight? You and me, all our ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu allowed."
Whatever Naruto had been expecting at that point it had not been that at all. His grin faltered for one second before grinning even harder. Sasuke just looked confused.
"Sure, Sakura-chan. Just don't expect me to go easy on you 'cuz you're a girl."
Sakura met him with a confident expression. "Wasn't even planning on it."
Kakashi's eye smile was back as he told them that he would be the referee between the two this time.
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Sakura sat in the cave, grinding Machin seeds into power. It had been a peaceful day, much more than the other two. Takehana had given her a firsthand course in poisons and their uses and Sakura was a little impressed.
Even though they were shinobi, when poison was taught in school the instructors tended to treat it as a bit of a cowardly weapon. She was sure it wasn't so in other ninjas, but the Leaf's Will of Fire very much emphasized heroic actions, or so Sakura felt. That and the boys generally didn't learn about poisons, or infiltration for that matter. Those were generally 'kunoichi' skills. Takehana had snorted when she grumbled about that, saying the idea that poison was a 'female weapon' and the disdain towards anything feminine was nothing new.
But Sakura discovered that learning about plants and what they could do to your body was pretty fascinating, more so than the ikebana classes she had in the Academy. She resolved to also look into botany when she came back to Konoha.
"Apply a little pressure Sakura, it must be finely ground." Takehana instructed. The serenity of yesterday seemed to have stayed with Takehana and Sakura hadn't been as frightened of her as she had the night when Takehana told her she was to kill Gato. Privately Sakura thought it might be because the woman had sensed how distraught she had her. In any case, Takehana seemed more reserved today as their usual sundown tea boiled.
The machin was now a grayish powder with no odor and apparently colorless when in water. Handing the mortar and pestle to Takehana, Sakura took a cup of tea for herself as she watched Takehana examine her student's work.
"Well done. Have you thought of the ways you can get him to ingest it?"
Sakura bit her lip. Earlier today as she had watched the mist around Gato's ship an idea came that would require her to both climb up the ship's side and remain undetected and then perform Kirigakure no Jutsu, but it was a long shot.
"Well, the machin is a poison that doesn't have to be ingested, right?"
"Correct."
Sakura fiddled with her cup. She didn't want to let down Takehana with this jutsu, especially since she didn't know if it would work.
"I was thinking… You see I have a ninjutsu that takes my chakra and nearby water and manipulates it into a fine mist which I can use to conceal myself and disperse at the same time. But I need a source of water for it. I was thinking that maybe I can use the machin as a liquid poison and use it to send a mist through Gato's room, filling it with poison air."
Takehana gave her a wide smile.
"How delightfully deadly."
Sakura felt a shiver run down her spine.
"That's the point but the problem is making sure he doesn't see the mist and realize something is wrong, Plus, I'm not sure I can manage to stick to the ship and do a jutsu. If I can observe it happening, perhaps it couldn't wo-"
"Done. Come with me, I shall try this out with another poison."
Takehana was up so fast that Sakura didn't realize what has happening as Takehana grabbed a flask of poison and dragged Sakura out the cave. They disguised themselves with a henge as Takehana led her to an area near the harbors. Sakura hadn't seen this shabby building before, but she could guess why. It seemed that while there was little opportunity for employment on the island, the mercenaries Gato kept hiring were frequent visitors to the brothel. Sakura could see why Tazuna never came near here; it was a depressing sight seeing the faces of the woman who stood outside of the brothel. The prostitutes in Konoha never looked half as miserable.
Suddenly, they heard a commotion. A huge man who looked to be made of muscle had left the brothel, followed by a screeching prostitute.
"You didn't pay!" The woman's dress was falling off her shoulder, it looked like she hastily tried to put it on while chasing after the customer. Several bruises were seen on her neck and tear-stained face. Sakura clenched her fist at the sight but was stopped by a hand of Takehana's as they watched the scene unfold from an alley.
Takehana removed the cap from the flask they had, using her chakra to draw out the liquid inside from it. Her hands positively glowed with chakra of a strange light blue color. Sakura had never seen anyone have this type of visible chakra before. It felt much purer than other chakra as well.
Takehana smiled as she drew the liquid into a bubble and without any visible handseals made it into a small ball of thin mist. The man had knocked the prostitute out cold on the ground and was heading towards the harbor. Still holding the compressed ball of mist, Takehana and Sakura followed him silently into another alley where he turned around.
"Who the hell are you and why are yo-"
Takehana didn't give him the chance to speak as she dispersed the mist ball into mist so fine it couldn't be seen. Within seconds the man was choking up blood on the ground and Takehana waved her hands to disperse the jutsu. Still under henge, Sakura watched the loathing in Takehana's eyes as she knelt down to touch his neck to check for a pulse.
"Such scum. This world has enough filth in it without the likes of him adding to the refuse." Her hands went into the man's robe and pulled out a pouch. She threw it to Sakura and the Konoha genin could hear the distinct jingle of coins inside.
"Give it to the prostitute he beat. I'm sorry, Sakura, but that is all the time we have for today. Good luck with your spar and don't disappoint me with the result, alright?" The henge dropped and Takehana gave her a cool little smile. Sakura, more stunned than anything, gave a glance to the dead man in front of her.
"What's going to happen to him?"
The smile Takehana had given her in the cavern was back.
"Don't worry about it."
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Sakura was very shaken by what had transpired earlier. There had been little pity for the man Takehana killed, especially after Sakura had dropped off the pouch to the prostitutes crowding around the beaten woman, who had blood running down her face and dress. But how ruthless her teacher had been, not even regretting it. It was a different scene from Kakashi, who fought to protect his students. It was a cold-blooded murder.
But it was the feel of the chakra that Sakura had been most perplexed by. It didn't feel like her own chakra, like Sasuke's, or Kakashi's. Naruto's came closer, but only because of how dense it was, not the feel of it. Sakura didn't even think she was cut out to be a sensor but she could tell that Takehana's chakra was not natural in the slightest. Whatever she had done to get such chakra, it probably explained how ruthless the old woman was.
The strange woman Sakura had discovered in the cave had become an endless curiosity for Sakura, one that she both feared and admired. The Ninja World had much to be thankful that Takehana had never decided to become a shinobi; she would have been fierce indeed.
She ate her dinner silently, very aware that Naruto and Sasuke were staring at her. With the incident by the harbor, Sakura had forgotten that she was supposed to spar with her teammate. Since she had barely used her chakra that day, it wasn't like she was tired, just too shaken. Would Gato end up like that on the floor, choking and dead? What would Sakura feel after killing him?
"Hey, Sakura-chan?" Sakura looked up from her rice bowl.
"Don't forget, I'm going to defeat you today." Her blond teammate grinned across the table. Naruto's smiles were usually infuriating but after the events today she felt a little relieved at the sight of it. Things could happen and Naruto would still smile, after all.
'Yeah, right! Let's show him what we are capable of and kick his ass!'
Inner's cries of confidence gave Sakura the bit of fire she needed to meet Naruto's face with a gaze of confidence. After all, Kakashi and Takehana both told her that she could beat Naruto and all she had to do was prove that to her teammates. Naruto was still grinning at her so she slammed her hand on the table, making some the plates jump. Naruto stopped grinning immediately.
"Sorry Naruto-kun, I'm going to stomp you flat."
"Heh." Sasuke chuckled quietly to the side as he watched his two teammates begin staring each other down. He'd never seen Sakura this motivated or Naruto this intense about a fight unless with him or Kakashi. Maybe it was just how forward Sakura had been with this fight. She never seemed to want to spar with either of them. Which, considering Naruto's sounds of pain every time she was angry at him, was strange because she could hit hard enough. She was still so weak, as Sasuke discovered during their spar, but she wasn't hopeless. Not that he'd ever tell her that. She'd stop all her training and bother him about a date again.
Team 7 and their client's family quickly shuffled outside to see the match.
Traditional Shinobi Sparring, or Dentōteki no Shinobi Kumite, was a traditional dating to the Warring States Period from before the founding of the first shinobi village, Konohagakure. Some people even whispered that the Sage of the Six Paths had created the protocol for it when wanting to make a formal way for two friendly parties to test their mettle against one another, not intending it to be anything but a peaceful spar. This was rumor of course, just another one of the preposterous myths that people attributed to this man, like the idea he created the moon.
Whatever the origin, the rules were widespread and breaking them was rude. Sakura had remembered the stir it had caused when Naruto and Sasuke had sparred in their academy times without making "Seal of Reconciliation" after the battle ended. It was a strange honor among shinobi.
Kakashi had put his book away for the minute as he came up to Sakura and Naruto facing each other. Tazuna's family were sitting a good distance away on a blanket underneath a tree, the same one Sasuke was relaxing on top of. It was a mostly quiet night, the only sound being the crickets and the soft bubbling of the stream nearby.
"Hey Sakura-chan? If I win, will you call me Naruto-kun like you do for the bastard?" Sakura could swear she heard Kakashi snort as he came out of the shadows and out away his book.
"Alright," started Kakashi, "You two probably know the rules: Use what you can, no killing or gravely wounding people. Loser is the first to forfeit, or when I step in and choose one." The Copy-Nin walked between them and cut the air between them in a signal. Serious green eye met ever-laughing blue ones as both participants bowed and made the Seal of Confrontation while gathering chakra for their first moves.
"Begin!"
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" called out Naruto immediately. Sakura frowned. Naruto depended on that jutsu and no wonder, it was very useful and something people their age generally couldn't do to lack of chakra and lack of control. Yet Naruto was able to make of these clones like it was nothing.
'All that chakra and it's wasted on him'
Despite not liking Inner's tone, she wouldn't lie about the fact that she was jealous of Naruto's reserves, especially when going up against a spar. It would be impossible to wear him out in a spar because she'd be the one who caved in first. For now Sakura needed a vantage point, somewhere he couldn't reach her easily.
The clones charged forward before Sakura could plan out her ideas any further and she set to dodging. Naruto's style was less finesse and more street brawls in the alleyways. Sakura's was the basic Academy style, balanced but predictable. She blocked several punches from the clones (and Naruto somewhere amongst them), leaving two clones open to be kicked by her in the stomach. One dispelled immediately and the other was sent back. This did little to stop the barrage of clones being sent her way.
One lucky fist punched her in the face, sending her back. There was no blood but a dull, aching pain in her cheek promising a magnificent bruise.
'Damn it. There's too many of them and they keep getting closer. I need something to get them away.'
A few of the clones that were farther back threw kunai at her. An idea flicking in Sakura's mind was put into place as she got her explosive tags out and performed a quick kawarimi.
A poof later and she could see a bunch of Naruto clones staring at the mossy log she switched with. They were scarcely able to blink before Sakura, off in the distance, released the chakra in the exploding tags she put on the back of the mossy log and watched the log explode in the clones face. Three more clones poofed out of existence, leaving at least a dozen and an opening for Sakura to run for the river.
One of the Narutos who hadn't been dispelled or hurt by the force of the blast headed towards her, fist cocked back. Flipping a timed explosive kunai in her hand, she pivoted back to send one at him, releasing it just as he dodged the kunai. The Naruto who had been given chase was knocked aside a few feet away before whining at her.
"No fair, Sakura-chan, you keep trying to blow me up." The Naruto rubbed its head as it stood up again, now joined by four more of the orange-wearing genin. Sakura quickly made sure that the other Naruto clones were farther back before running to the river. The water wasn't deep enough to conceal any clones well but enough to make fighting her a hassle. Sakura landed on the water with a flourish, skating to the side. Some of the clones looked like she'd, well, literally walked on water. Sakura sent her teammate a wink as one of the Narutos turned back to yell at Kakashi for not teaching him this.
Kakashi looked up from his perch and shrugged.
"She learned that by herself." The Naruto clones snapped back to look at her but all they saw was…
Mist.
Sakura clasped her hands in the Tiger seal, releasing more and more water through it. This technique would take a bit of her chakra, but Sakura didn't have many techniques anyway. She couldn't beat Naruto in taijutsu, ninjutsu was too chakra-draining and she didn't know any good offensive ones, and while she could fight off genjutsu, she didn't know any to cast.
Even against Naruto, the odds were extremely against her. She, the top Kunoichi in the class, despite only beating Ino barely for the place, was going to lose to the Academy's deadlast. Sakura bit her lip at how unfunny this was. The day she met Takehana she'd acknowledged that she wanted to get stronger but even though it felt that she learned so much in the past few days, here she was in the same position again.
The mist was thick and spread out enough that the clones were unable to see each other or her for that matter.
"Hey, where'd she go?" mumbled a clone.
"I bet Sakura's hiding among us with henge to confuse us." Sakura, who had been taking advantageof the mist and the trees nearby to tree-walk up to a branch Naruto generally couldn't reach (she hoped), facepalmed. And almost punched herself in the face when she heard the heated rhetoric amongst the clones begin anew.
'That idiot!'
'He fell for this with Kakashi too. Wow, Naruto, don't you ever learn?'
Safely secure far up, Sakura watched as smoke pile after smoke pile poured through the thick mist., which was spreading thinner with every minute. Giggling for a moment, she waited till Naruto began dispersing all his clones before sending several kunai and shuriken down at him.
'I have only one chance to do this.'
With the mist clearing, Naruto's eye sight would have no doubt begun helping him dodge the projectiles. Sakura merely did what she and Sasuke practiced the night before, praying that this time one of the kunais would land where wanted. The second set of projectiles hit the earlier ones, making Naruto unable to dodge one particular kunai. It him in the arm, provoking a yelp of pain from her teammate.
"First blood is yours."
Sakura nearly fell on the tree when she heard Kakashi speak behind her. She turned around to stare at him as he waved and eye-smiled at her. Sakura couldn't even yell at him for startling her when Naruto started yelling for her come out and fight him like a man.
Not sure whether to keep hidden or go throttle him for that comment, Sakura decided to send another shuriken to show him that she was hiding in a tree. Naruto finally looked up at her as she grinned and waved down at him, mist completely gone by this point. Naruto started sputtering as he saw how high up she was and pointed a shaking finger at her.
"Hey! Kakashi-sensei, are you sure that's not cheating or anything, because I don't know if I can make it that high up yet."
Kakashi, still behind her, stuck his neck out so Naruto could see him and waved his hand off.
"Now, now, Naruto, think of this as training. Now you have incentive to reach the top."
Sakura leaned a little forward to stick her tongue out at Naruto for added effect.
"Hey, Naruto-chan, you can always give up you know. I'm sure if you can make it up the big, scawwy tree you can forfeit and admit defeat and all will be right again." Her teasing tone, stuck out tongue, and the chan added to his name had the desired effect as Naruto cringed and stop pointing his finger at her.
"No way! I'll make it up, you better believe it! And I'm winning this fight and taking you down!" Naruto yelled confidently at her. Sakura sat back and smiled down at him.
'He's never gonna make it.'
'We'll see. Naruto's one of those ninja that keep on surprising you.'
"Good luck with him, Sakura." Kakashi told her softly as he jumped off to go sit with Sasuke and the rest. Sakura nodded and pushed her hair back, something she did when she wanted to think with no distractions. Thankfully, despite Naruto's wails of anguish and pumped up shouts, he still wasn't able to make it this high up, and Sakura had gone nearly to the top for that reason. It gave her a long bit of time to think about how she could win this without having to engage him in the process. Thinking in combat wasn't that smart and Sakura wasn't good enough to do it.
'Yet.'
Promising herself that her shortcomings in combat were going to change very, very soon, Sakura looked around the area for something she could use. Close-combat was still a no due to her deficiencies with nin and taijutsu. No genjutsu. She could send a couple of kunai at him again, but that wouldn't work well.
"You do not need complicated techniques to kill a person, but you need them to battle one."
Sakura remembered Takehana's words and suddenly an idea came to mind. It was risky but, heck, maybe she could pull it off. One more quick glance at climbing Naruto and then she set to work, bringing her hands in for some seals.
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Naruto was not having the best day. Sure, he improved a great deal over the past few days but it seemed that chakra control was something he'd particularity had a difficulty in doing because even Sasuke was doing better than him. He'd followed Sakura's advice to the letter, but he couldn't make it to the top yet, and even though he could reach more than a dozen and a half-feet up, after that, his control started slipping and he kept falling. The worse of it was that Sakura had picked a very tall tree.
He looked up at her again, watching her smile as she waved down at him, pink hair shrouding an unusually happy face. While normally he would feel elation at such a look directed at him, and he had to admit she was really pretty when happy, this was not the occasion he'd been hoping to see Sakura smile at him at. He was supposed to be able to win this spar and possibly get her to think him cool enough that she'd go on a date with him to Ichiraku, and then, and then, his coolness factor would make him respected by everyone so much that Old Man Hokage would have to resign and give him th-
Wait, what was he doing again? Naruto slid down further as his focus went into his daydreams, pulling him away from smiling Sakura. It was simply unfair that she could do this to him. He'd almost had her on the ground, since Sakura wasn't a really good hand-to-hand fighter, but then she pulled the fact she could freaking walk on water out of nowhere and then that mist thing of Zabuza's. Naruto would have been whooping for joy if it wasn't used against him. He did want to know where she learned it.
He didn't expect her to be able to hit with a kunai either, but he'd been too distracted with dodging it to realize she made it change the trajectory. That was a pretty neat trick he was sure she learned from Sasuke, he did fancy shit like that all the time. It wasn't like Naruto was happy that she could get this far with him, even being able to hit him with a kunai, but he could feel some respect for what his teammate was trying to do with this match.
'Sakura-chan's really smart. She's probably up there thinking of a way to win this match without actually fighting me.'
It wasn't the kind of match he liked to fight, relishing in an all out brawl like he had with Sasuke sometimes, but there was something he could really respect in how she thought things out. Didn't mean Naruto wasn't really pissed as he landed on his ass on the ground again.
"Dobe, maybe you should give up." Sasuke finally spoke the first time since the match began. A quick glance at the bastard made it clear that he was highly amused at the fact Naruto had been trying to get up the tree for ten minutes.
'Che, as if he can do better.'
"Maybe you should shut up, teme!"
"Make me."
"THAT'S IT! ONCE I KICK SAKURA'S BUTT, I'M KICKING YOUR ASS TEME!"
"Don't count on it." That wasn't Sasuke's voice, that was-
Naruto was slammed on the ground by a viciously grinning Sakura who had somehow walked down the tree without him noticing. He was about pull himself to go return her slam when he realized she thrown two kunai into the fabric of his jacket, effectively pinning him to the ground. Not only that, but as he saw her make the seal for "release" he noticed that they were explosive kunai. Oh shit.
"Naruto?" She smiled down at him, still holding her hands in position. Naruto's mouth wriggled in distaste for a second before sighing.
"Okay, I give up." And he laid his head flat on the ground to see that there was still a Sakura up in the trees.
"Wait, how?"
Sakura struck a victorious pose with two fingers in a V symbol in the air before explaining her method.
"I knew I couldn't beat you face to face, so I devised a way to distract into a position where you would have to forfeit. I left a normal bunshin up there knowing you couldn't tell the difference and then quietly climbed down the other side of the tree while you tried to get up. Then you started with Sasuke so I decided to reveal myself and slam you on the ground and pin you to an explosive kunai so you gave up."
Naruto chuckled as the smiling Sakura-chan high up in the trees disappeared. Kakashi finally appeared to pronounce Sakura as the winner (due to clever outmaneuvering). Sakura bent down to take back her two kunai and help Naruto up.
The two stared at each other, with Naruto's hands behinds his back to give the impression that her win didn't mean much to him.
"Well, I guess that was a cool win." He popped on eye open to watch her reaction. Surprisingly she wasn't mad, even though she punched him lightly in the non-injured shoulder.
"Whatever, Naruto-chan."
They stuck out their hands and entwined fingers together in the Seal of Reconciliation, ending the battle as friends.
Due to Naruto being Naruto, he decided to refocus his efforts on climbing the tree and went back to the tree Sakura had picked out. An elated Sakura, no really Inner was still screaming, shouted yells of encouragement as Sasuke, Tazuna, and Tsunami went up to congratulate her. Well, Tazuna's family congratulated her; Sasuke just stood around and looked cool.
The now familiar ruffling of her hair was felt again as Kakashi patted it. Strangely enough, he'd been right that she could take the boys on. Despite her inadequacies in many forms of combat, she'd won and she wasn't going to let anyone take that feeling of accomplishment away from. A small part of her really wanted Sasuke to say something to her, anything, but Sakura was pretty content basking in her win as she was. A few minutes later and she was left alone as everyone except Naruto and Sasuke went back to the house and her teammates remained to train themselves into comas. Sakura went back to the stream to wash her swollen cheek with the cool water.
With the sounds of fighting gone, it was quiet once more. Sakura kneeled by the creek to wash out her face when she heard a shuffling in the distance. The moon was bright enough that she could see something in the distance of the trees, something bright. A face popped out from behind a tree and Sakura's breathing stilled and muscles tensed at the familiar features and the elegant shape of kimono.
Takehana nodded at her and then disappeared from Sakura's line of sight, as if she had never been there. Sakura visibly relaxed at the sight of her temporary mentor being gone. She'd never thought that Takehana would come out all the way here to watch her match. Sure, she told her to win it, but it never occurred to Sakura that the woman would watch. But that nod was one of approval and Sakura felt it add to the joy she was already feeling.
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Sakura's instincts told her to sneak off for a few hours to Takehana's cave to see if she had anything for Sakura to work on now that the spar was over. The win had settled Sakura's discomfort at watching Takehana kill so easily, though as usual, her feelings about the old woman were mixed due to how much of a mystery she was. But, she also wanted to seek her out for some sign that she was doing something right.
Of course she was happy with the result of the match, but with it came a yearning to be told by an adult figure that she was on the right track to strength. Kakashi merely ruffled her hair; she was sure Takehana would teach her something for showing growth. And that is why she was making her way to the cave.
Takehana was not sleeping and Sakura wasn't expecting her to be. As usual she was sitting by the fire and drinking her tea. Sakura dropped in, with Takehana scarcely nodding before the pink-haired woman took a seat across the fire from her. Takehana merely took a stick to stoke the fire and make it warmer for them both.
"I won." Sakura finally said, a bit of a happy tone in the small statement. Takehana had apparently seen the whole thing and obviously knew but it felt so good to let the world know.
"I saw." There was little eye-contact, just the merry crackling of fire and wood popping from the heat. Takehana sighed as the teapot started bubbling again and finally looked up.
"What do you want? A ruffle on the head like that young man gave you? An acknowledgement of your strength like the one from the blond boy? Or should I ignore your win like the dark-haired boy you seem to fawn over?" The unusually acerbic tone from the old woman startled Sakura and she bent her head down.
"I say this because you cannot rely on others' acknowledgement for strength. You are strong because you wish to be, because you consider yourself strong. Overconfidence is as pathetic as self-doubt to me, Sakura. Honesty with one's self, but not to point where it is an excuse for not trying, is the best a person can hope for." She threw the stick into the fire.
Sakura breathed in deeply. Now that she was here, coming to Takehana's cave seemed stupid. Wasn't it just an hour ago that she told herself that she wouldn't let anyone take this win away from her? And now this woman was doing just that, as usual stripping away all that Sakura was. Sakura always felt emotionally naked around Takehana, as she was coming to realize and perhaps that was the source of the discomfort she felt. The way she easily told the woman things and dropped her guard down around her despite clear indications of danger, the enigma around her that kept persisting in her mind, and the way that Takehana saw through. As if she was clear.
Sakura wanted to defend herself. She wanted to say that she was right in wanting praise because, god damn it, she worked hard. And won despite so many opposing factors. She never felt this emotionally vulnerable, not even when Sasuke called her annoying months ago. And it hurt because she wasn't being told she was pathetic for her skills, but for her character.
Shinobi must not cry. Shinobi must not cry,
"You can cry if you wish. If you want to." Takehana must have seen how Sakura's nose was quivering, a sign of impending tears.
"But crying shows weakness. My weakness." Sakura's voice was small and unsure.
"I reiterate, Sakura, that you should stop caring what others think of you. You are young but you are growing. In your profession, the next few years will be the few you have to show you can survive. You want strength, gain it. Gain it yourself. You wanted to be able to catch up to your teammates? Do it. But know the point you are going towards will be decided by you, not by anyone else."
Sakura's eyes misted a little and she held her head between her hands. She was really a mess to be reduced to tears from just a small tongue-lashing was her only thought as she let a few tear slip through. This trip from home was a strange one, one that she couldn't really describe. On one hand she felt stronger than she had at home and on the other, she felt less secure in her place. It started with her noticing the gap between her and the rest of Team 7 and now showed up with Takehana's criticism. Perhaps it was time to stop looking at Sasuke every time she did something that she was supposed to. She was supposed to find ways to beat Naruto. She was supposed to fight back in spars against Sasuke. She was supposed to find Kakashi and ask him for training. She was supposed to find ways to get stronger, to help her mission.
A fist clenched in anger as Sakura struggled against her own thoughts. The vow of pain Naruto had made back after the first attack when they left Konoha, he'd promised to not run away. Sakura's nails dug into her skin enough that they drudged up blood and she breathed through the pain, silently vowing the memory of it would remind her that she could do it.
"I am strong by my own measures."
Takehana just watched her, not reacting to the words or the small sobs.
By the time the tea cooled down, Sakura was back to normal. Her palms hurt but not enough for Sakura to look for medical attention. It was during the first cup of tea when Takehana finally spoke.
"It's past midnight. Two mornings after this one is when you will finally strike. If you kill Gato, I will reward you with this." And she took a scroll out from her kimono and showed it to her. Sakura looked at the scroll with puzzled eyes before shrugging up at Takehana.
The woman held it up to show her.
"This a summoning contract. You will find out the creature yourself, but if you dispose of Gato, I shall give it to you to sign and carry as I have no further need of it. With it you'll be able to call on summons to help you in battle and in other circumstances. "
Sakura's mouth was left ajar.
'A summon! But scrolls like that are rare!'
Summons were rare and very, very valuable. Most ninja never developed them as it took a tremendous amount of skill (and chakra) to summon good summons and also command them. Of course the Legendary Sannin could do it and were famous for their summoning abilities. Kakashi had mentioned he had summons once, but he hadn't summoned them. Sakura knew from Academy homework that the Hokage possessed the Monkey summoning contract.
The possibilities of what exactly Takehana held in her scroll were mouth-watering. Given the woman's love for poison, Sakura suspected something like spiders or scorpions. Of course, those would be really creepy summons but she could see the appeal in something like them. And they would strike fear on the battlefield.
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It was to fantasies of summoning big ass spiders on the battlefield that Sakura bid Takehana a quiet goodnight and went off to bed. Emotionally, she was still a little stung by the old woman's harsh words, but Sakura felt it was good for her. Kakashi wasn't going to really tell her that. Sasuke was harsh but nowhere as wise and Naruto, well, she didn't think Naruto would ever put her down like that. She hoped not. Sakura looked at the quiet village she was leaving behind for Tazuna's house, wishing the mission was over. She was starting to really miss her mother and father.
The next few days went really well, with the small disturbance of Naruto ranting about meeting a "boy cuter than Sakura" and the morning of the seventh day when Naruto scared them all by almost falling off a tree. Sasuke had saved him in the nick of time. It seemed as though both boys were finally able to climb trees as well as Sakura.
Of course Sakura could practically skate on water, but she didn't feel like making either of the boys train harder.
Her sessions with Takehana had been going well too. The machin was ready and Sakura had snuck onto the ship the night after her win against Naruto to plan out her strategy. She noticed that Gato was constantly followed by two strong-looking samurai. She briefly caught their names as Zori and Waraji and they seemed to the best of Gato's men. Considering everyone that Gato hired that wasn't Zabuza and his helper seemed to be incompetent, Sakura really doubted this but felt that perhaps it would be best to avoid them. The problem was that they were usually with the bastard and Sakura didn't want to poison anyone else, both out of moral duty and just because that was downright sloppy. Somehow she'd been able to buy a gas mask in the village with her meager savings, even with the inflation in the Land of the Waves.
The best luck yet was that Gato's ship was a dark red in most places. So while she planned on climbing away from the docks, it was a small relief that she could camouflage herself if she covered her hair with the red hoodie she bought and not resort to a henge.
Despite everything being ready, it was hard to get rid of this premonition that something wouldn't work out as she wanted it to. That could be the fact that she and Tazuna were currently sitting on Kakashi as he was doing one-finger push ups to regain his strength and it could be the fact that Gato was planning something big.
"So, you think tomorrow Gato might try to attack the bridge?"
Sakura nodded.
"I hid around the docks again and these two drunk men were complaining about being called into work tomorrow for a surprise."
Kakashi grunted in response and left Sakura and Tazuna to worry.
"Starting tomorrow, Sasuke and Naruto will join us at the bridge. Sakura, could I ask you to stay here and watch over Tsunami and Inari for me? I don't think Zabuza will come here knowing I'm at the bridge, but Gato may try something." He paused mid-push up.
Both boys decide to hobble in earlier, supporting each other. Sakura had sighed and given them some balm Takehana had taught her to make to lessen bruising. Idiots, honestly. What if they were too beat up to fight when attacked? Then Naruto had yelled at Inari, who was a brat, and Kakashi had to calm everything down. There really was a strange tension in the air tonight.
"Yes, sensei."
The worry didn't subside with each push up Kakashi did. Every time Sakura was near him she would get the feeling that she should tell him about Takehana and Gato. There was a tiny prickle of guilt every time they discussed tactics that she was betraying him somehow. Sakura wasn't sure whether it was because she was receiving help from another teacher or whether it was the fact that Takehana was most definitely not good news. But the latter idea scared Sakura into silence. How disapproving would Kakashi-sensei be if he found out Sakura had foolishly made a deal with a strange woman she just met and was going to kill someone on her orders? Sakura couldn't bear think about that happening, which is why the words stayed inside, like her mouth was full of taffy instead of secrets.
Preparing for the mission that would start at dawn, Sakura went to bed early with her head filled with dreams of poisoned men and demons in the mist.
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There you go, the last chapter before we finally get to Gato and the fight on the bridge. Sakura's been called out on her personality flaws by Takehana, who's scary, and she managed to win a spar against Naruto with her cleverness. Just pointing this out, but the databook statistics for them at this time have Naruto as the weakest in the team, not Sakura and Sakura, even now, is the highest ranked in intelligence because of her rather fabulous booksmarts. Naruto and Sasuke, however, can think on their feet.
Something I noticed with Shikamaru is that he removed himself from the battle for a second to think of a way to trap Temari. I wanted to show something like that with Sakura. If she had an opponent who could tree climb, well, it would have been over quick. And I'm sure Naruto wouldn't begrudge her the spar either. But yeah, this is where Sakura stands in combat as of now in our story, useless against most opponents, long-range, can hide herself to go plan. Her aim is improving but still, long-range.
The other thing to notice is the hints I keep giving about Takehana and Sakura's relationship. It's taken this long but Sakura's realized that making a deal with an old lady in a weird cave is not the smartest thing to do. But yet she won't tell Kakashi?
Something I noticed with Shikamaru is that he removed himself from the battle for a second to think of a way to trap Temari. I wanted to show something like that with Sakura. If she had an opponent who could tree climb, well, it would have been over quick. And I'm sure Naruto wouldn't begrudge her the spar either. But yeah, this is where Sakura stands in combat as of now in our story, useless against most opponents, long-range, can hide herself to go plan. Her aim is improving but still, long-range.
The other thing to notice is the hints I keep giving about Takehana and Sakura's relationship. It's taken this long but Sakura's realized that making a deal with an old lady in a weird cave is not the smartest thing to do. But yet she won't tell Kakashi?