Cherry Blossoms and Chakra Strings: And Work Some More

Four Months Later

One early afternoon, Sakura was standing in Training Ground 23 once again. Tsu had managed to get her sensei to agree to let the child use the training ground so long as she didn’t bring anyone along with her and kept out of the way on the occasions that they trained. Sakura had been elated, and had more than happily held up her end of the deal, teaching Team 3 how to manifest chakra strings.

Unsurprisingly, Hikari had gotten the hang of it first. The Hyuga’s natural talent for chakra control had allowed them to pick up the skill almost immediately. Much more surprisingly, Tsu had been the next one to get it only a few days later, a fact that the Inuzuka wasted exactly no time lording over Jin who took nearly two weeks to begin showing any progress. That, of course, had quickly led to another argument as Jin returned fire, soon leading to another between the two of them that Sakura had actually been there to witness.

Sakura wasn’t sure how exactly the dynamic between Team 3 worked at all. In the months that she had been using Training Ground 23 with them, she had witnessed at least twenty-seven different physical fights between Jin and Tsu, with Hikari usually just sitting on the sidelines and observing or going about their own training elsewhere in the training ground. Despite how often they got into it though, they were back to talking like normal the next day, leaving Sakura scratching her head wondering how in the world people could argue that much and still be friends. If she and Shino fought that much, she wasn’t sure she could take it.

Speaking of Shino, Sakura hadn’t really had time to spend with him thanks to all of her training recently and she was starting to feel bad. Hmm… his birthday was coming up soon, she was pretty sure. She’d have to get him something extra good to make up for not hanging out in so long.

Maybe she could make a poison to use with his Kikaichu. She’d heard that some of his clan do that sometimes. Maybe a paralytic that would make it easier to swarm his enemies? Eh, she’d workshop it.

Back to the present, Sakura had the training ground all to herself today, which was a bit strange considering the time, but not exactly unheard of. She was using the opportunity that had presented itself to work on another aspect of her training. One that her sensei hadn’t left any instruction on.

The eleven-year-old clenched her eyes shut tightly, concentrating on her chakra and hand movements and trying to shut everything else out. The large pond in front of her shifted slightly, small waves bouncing up and down as if anticipating what she was about to do.

“Dog… Ox… Horse… Dog…” Her hands moved through the signs slowly, still a little unfamiliar with the movements and intricate finger placements needed to create each seal. On the last sign, her chakra built inside of her, reaching out towards the water in front of her almost beseechingly, and emerald eyes snapped open as the child spoke, loudly and clearly.

“Water Release: Funnel!”

Her chakra drained noticeably, and the water in front of her began swirling slowly before rising shakily, a thick whirlpool of water lifting above the surface of the pond and into the air towards her. Sakura sweated, doing her best to keep her concentration on the movement of her chakra, but it faltered slightly despite her best efforts, disappearing altogether as she was suddenly interrupted from above.

“Arf!”

The funnel of water fell to the ground with a splash, soaking Sakura’s sandals and the front of her clothing as she let out a groan upon seeing her jutsu fail.

“What are you doing?” A curious voice came from above.

Without looking up, Sakura answered with a slightly annoyed voice, “I’m practicing a jutsu, Tsu.” She grumbled, before shooting her gaze upwards at the unexpected intruder, “Or at least I was, before Tadao interrupted me again!” She continued, glaring at the Inuzuka who was lounging in the tree above her, her ninkin laying on her belly and staring down at Sakura with sleepy eyes.

Tsu snorted at her words, “If your concentration can be broken that easily, then you have a long way to go, Sakura.”

“Duh.” Sakura rolled her eyes, “But I kind of have to be able to actually use the jutsu before I can practice using it under pressure.”

She faced back towards the pond, bringing her hands up as she prepared to go through the seals once more, but she was interrupted again, this time by Tsu, “Why are you even practicing a lame jutsu like that?” The Inuzuka asked.

“It’s the only one I was able to get a hold of.” She answered, “I’m still an academy student, remember? I can’t access the ninja library until I graduate. My mom managed to get a hold of this one on her last trip and it's low ranked enough that I can actually use it without passing out. That makes it good for practice.”

“Huh. I forgot you’re still just a baby.” Tsu said as if she was just realizing the fact, causing Sakura to sigh. The Inuzuka grinned, leaning down slightly without disturbing the puppy resting on her, “Y’know, if you want some cool water jutsu, I’ve got a ton that I could probably teach you.”

Sakura looked up at Tsu again, this time with surprise instead of annoyance, “Wait, you have a water nature too?”

“Yup. I don’t really use it cause, y’know, I’ve got Tadao here, but I got it from my dad. Him and my mom hooked up while she was on a mission to River Country and I was the result.” Tsu lounged back, holding up an arm as Tadao gave a sleepy yawn on her stomach, “It’s why my skin’s so dark too. I got it from him.”

Huh, Sakura had been wondering about that. Inuzuka were normally pretty pale, but Tsu’s skin was much more tan, similar to someone from the Land of Lightning but not quite the same. If her dad was from River, then that would explain quite a bit. Still…

“I might take you up on that offer later. Right now, I can probably only do this one.” Sakura said, turning back to the pond, “I’m gonna have to grow my chakra stores more before I can use anything bigger than D-rank jutsu. Maybe C-rank at best.”

Tsu watched curiously as the water began swirling again, “I still can’t believe you have three chakra natures and none of them are fire. Your family really must be from all over, huh?”

Sakura just nodded, trying her best to focus on her jutsu. It had come as a surprise to everyone really. Academy students weren’t really allowed to buy weapons but if they had the money for it, chakra paper wasn’t off the market. That was a big if, though. A single medium quality sheet of the stuff could run as much as a whole pack of the same quality of shuriken.

Sakura had been understandably leery of spending so much money after getting her new outfit only a few months ago, but decided that since it was in the pursuit of her goals, it was fine.

An empty wallet and a short burst of chakra later, Sakura and her family were in for the surprise of a lifetime.

Before her family decided to settle in Konoha semi-permanently, the Haruno clan never stayed in one place for very long. They traveled far and wide, picking up members from wherever said travels took them. As such, they could never trace their lineage in any tangible way, and it was likely that they were from all over the Elemental Nations by this point.

That showed in Sakura’s chakra paper. That small burst of chakra had caused half of it to crumble to dust and the other half to become soaked to the point of dripping. That would have been surprising enough, but then said dripping half split neatly in half, causing her to nearly drop it in shock.

Though surprising, the results were clear as day. Sakura had three chakra natures: earth and water as her primary natures, with a minor wind nature on top. Three different natures with only one of them even slightly native to the Land of Fire in the wind nature.

Once he got over his shock, her father had joked that Sakura had a little bit of all the nations inside of her, though the pinkette wasn’t too sure about that herself. She just thought she got lucky, that was all. Even so, having so many chakra natures was rare and would definitely put her on the path to becoming a legendary kunoichi if she could master all three

Being the most versatile in Sakura's personal opinion, water was first on that list.

“Water Release: Funnel” Sakura shouted again, channeling her chakra into the pond. The water began swirling and rising again, this time barely wavering at all as Sakura’s concentration remained solid. She grinned, focusing the funnel towards her once more.

Tsu watched with a slightly interested gaze as the funnel began to leave the pond, “So…” She said, nearly breaking Sakura’s concentration before the pinkette managed to get a hold of it, “What’s this jutsu even for, anyway? It doesn’t look that strong.”

“It’s not.” Sakura said, keeping her eyes on the funnel and her mind on the flow of chakra keeping it sustained. It wavered slightly and she immediately adjusted, “This jutsu is meant for filling things with water when you’re out in the field. It’s pretty simple and doesn’t take much chakra to use so it’s great for people who are training their water release. Like me.”

“Ah.” Tsu made a noise of understanding, “I guess that makes sense. I wish I had that. I just kept trying to use the water bullet jutsu until I could finally do it. It took forever and I was fuckin exhausted afterwards.”

Sakura imagined so. The water bullet technique was a B-Rank jutsu and pretty chakra intensive if you didn’t have a water source nearby. She doubted she would be able to manage the smallest dribble of actual water before she was out of chakra if she tried it herself. That was why she had started with something smaller.

Well that, and it was literally her only option right now. She desperately needed to train hercoils.

The child let out a small noise of triumph as the jutsu was finally complete, water splashing on the ground to her right and soaking into the dirt and grass. From here, the scroll said that it was just a matter of keeping the chakra flow consistent until the container that you wanted to fill up was full. Since Sakura didn’t have a container and didn’t want to expend too much chakra, she cut the flow right there, satisfied with her accomplishment.

As the jutsu faded away, Tsu let out a loud yawn from up above her, “Fuck, this is boring. Where the hell is everyone?” The Inuzuka mused aloud. Tadao was now sleeping peacefully on her chest and she scratched the ninkin’s head lightly before looking down at Sakura, a thoughtful expression crossing her face. After a moment, she nodded, a grin forming on her lips.

“Hey, Sakura, I'm bored. You wanna spar?”

Sakura was taken back at the sudden question, looking up at the Inuzuka lounging lazily in the tree, “What?”

“I said, you wanna spar?” Tsu repeated. She sat up, grabbing her snoozing ninkin softly on one hand and placing him on the branch beside her, before dropping down next to Sakura. She rose to her full height, giving the confused eleven-year-old a grin, “Everyone else is either late or just ain't coming and I don't want to be bored while I wait for them to show. So lets spar.”

Sakura was slightly unsure as she took in the teen’s smirking face, but she had to admit, she had been wondering how she would stand up to an actual genin.

As she debated, Tsu turned and walked out onto the pond. Chakra bubbled under her feet and her stride turned into something much more smooth as she began skating across the surface of the water. After getting a sufficient distance away, she turned back to Sakura, giving her a grin, “To make it more interesting, we’ll start on water. It should be good practice for you.”

Tsu cracked her neck, “You can use anything you like during the spar. Clones, substitution, whatever. I’ll just stick to taijutsu.”

Sakura raised an eyebrow at the blatant handicap, “Anything?”

Tsu nodded, reaching down to the pouch on her thigh, “Anything.” She pulled it off, the sound of velcro ringing across the clearing, before she tossed it to the surprised pinkette, “You know how to use a tool pouch?”

Snatching the pouch out of the air, Sakura gave her a slow nod, “Yeah, I do. But are you sure about this, Tsu? What if one of us gets hurt?”

The Inuzuka scoffed, waving her hand dismissively, “Nah, it’s fine. I’m good enough that even with my tool pouch, there’s now way you’re gonna stand a chance against me!”

Sakura blinked, registering the other girl’s words, before her lips turned downwards as she registered the clear dismissal of her skills. She opened the tool pouch, taking stock of what was inside as well as where they were positioned, before closing it and attaching the pouch to her waist near her sealing scroll.

“Is that a challenge?” She finally asked, suddenly much less wary about this than before as her pride as a kunoichi was attacked so blatantly.

Tsu just grinned, “And if it is? What are you gonna do about it?”

Sakura walked confidently onto the water, trusting her chakra to keep her afloat as she came to a stop across from Tsu. She hadn’t quite gotten a hold of the whole skating portion of the technique that the Inuzuka had taught her, but walking was certainly something that she could do.

She gave the Inuzuka a cocky smirk, as she got into a fighting stance, “I guess I’m gonna have to beat that smirk off of your face.”

Tsu barked a loud laugh at her declaration, lowering her body into a low stance so low, her hands were almost touching the water underneath her, “Atta’ girl, Sakura. Let’s see what you got!” She yelled, and before Sakura could say anything in response, the Inuzuka lunged forward with a feral grin on her face.

Sakura returned the grin as she reached into the pouch and retrieved a kunai, just as eager for the fight now that her blood was pumping, “Let me show you!”

~~~

She got beaten. Badly. For all that Sakura was one of the best students in her class, Tsu was genin and had been for almost a year. She had been on actual missions and had probably fought people who were actually trying their best to kill her. Add into the fact that she was an Inuzuka, a clan only second to the Hyuga in their taijutsu prowess, and there was no way that Sakura was going to be able to beat her even while she was limiting herself to just her fists.

She’d like to say that she fought well, but it was as if she was trying to hit smoke with how quick the other girl was. She wished she was just fighting smoke. Smoke didn’t punch back hard enough to make her ears ring when she got a lucky hit in. She had thought it was just unique to Kiba, but apparently the Inuzuka clan as a whole didn’t really have a concept of holding back.

Lucky her.

Sakura hit the ground roughly, rolling for a moment to negate the damage of her fall, and Tsu was suddenly on top of her, straddling her waist. Sakura’s eyes, which had been clenched shut from the force of the fall, opened as she attempted to sit up, but she froze as she was met with Tsu’s razor-sharp claws directly in front of her face.

The Inuzuka was panting slightly, a wide grin on her face as she stared down at Sakura in victory. A stream of blood slowly ran down her cheek from where Sakura had managed to nick her with a shuriken, and her tongue darted out to lap up the liquid before it fell off of her face.

“I win.” She said simply, and Sakura just nodded, letting her head fall back to the ground in defeat.

“Yeah,” She groaned, her entire body feeling like a piece of well-tenderized meat, “You win.”

Tsu’s grin widened, before the teen got off of Sakura, standing up like she was no worse for wear. She gazed down at Sakura who was much slower to get up, “You did pretty good, Sakura. That was fun.”

“Maybe for you.” Sakura groaned, “And what do you mean. I did good? I couldn’t even hit you.”

Tsu snorted, “Well duh. I’m a taijutsu specialist and an Inuzuka besides that. There was no way you were going to be able to hit me unless I wanted you to. Despite what Jin said when you met us, between me and Hikari, I’m better at hand-to-hand.”

Sakura’s eyes widened slightly, “Really? I thought the Gentle Fist was the best style out there?”

Tsu scoffed, stretching as Sakura got to her feet, “Nah, they just say that cause they’re basically all pompous pricks. Unless they’re really stand-out ninja or jonin, it’s basically just another fighting style. That’s how it is for most things really. Never buy into the hype unless there’s a good reason to, people like to say shit to make themselves look big.”

“Huh.” Sakura said, “That makes sense.”

“Yep.” Tsu nodded, “In the ninja world, it’s all about bluffs and posturing and shit. It's the ones who don’t do that who you gotta worry about. Now come on, let’s go sit down. I know you can probably use a rest after that whooping I just gave you.”

Though scowling slightly at the rib, Sakura didn’t decline her offer, following behind the Inuzuka as she led her somewhere more comfortable.

A few minutes later, the two of them were back by the pond once more, though this time Sakura had elected to join Tsu in lounging in the tree instead of going back to practicing her nature transformation. She’d had enough training for one day.

“Hey so, what was that smoke you hit me with back there?” Tsu asked curiously as she petted her companion, “I don’t have any smoke bombs in my pouch. They mess up my sense of smell.”

“Oh, that was mine.” Sakura said casually, causing Tsu to raise an eyebrow, “It was a sealing tag I attached to one of your kunai while you were distracted by my chakra strings. It expels an aerosolized toxin in a several meter radius when it activates. The smoke it makes is white and it smells like pine needles which is probably why you thought it was a regular smoke bomb.”

She was completely oblivious to the stare that Tsu was giving her as she removed her canteen from her sealing scroll, “I was surprised that it didn’t work which is how you got the jump on me so easily. That one had powered dag stems in it so it should have paralyzed you for a solid ten minutes at least. I guess I crushed it too finely or maybe the stems just weren’t ready yet.”

She took a long drink from her canteen, relishing in the feeling of the cool liquid on her parched throat. Beside her, Tsu shared a look with her ninkin, before a massive grin appeared on her face and she broke out in uproarious laughter, startling Sakura into nearly dropping her canteen.

She managed to catch it at the last second, giving Tsu a confused look, “What?”

The Inuzuka shook her head, still chuckling softly, “Nothing, Sakura. I was wondering why I couldn’t feel my fingers during that last bit of the spar. You sure are scary, you know that?”

Sakura was still confused, but she had a feeling that Tsu wasn’t going to explain any time soon, “Thanks, I guess?” She said, not sure how to process that.

Her words made Tsu chuckle again, “No problem. Now, we should probably clean this up before sensei gets here.” Tsu said, looking around at the kunai and shuriken littering the training ground, “I don’t really feel like getting yelled at today.”

Sakura nodded, “Sure, just give me a second to get the feeling back in my legs. And my hands. And the rest of my body too. You could probably strip the bark off of a tree with those fists.”

“Get used to it.” Tsu chuckled, giving her a grin, “I have a feeling this is gonna become a regular thing between us. And I know for a fact that Hikari’s gonna want a piece of you once they learn that you actually managed to get a hit on me, no matter how small it was.” She said, rubbing the cut on her cheek, “That trick with attaching your strings to your shuriken was smart, I’ll have to try it myself some time.”

Sakura didn’t process the compliment, too busy paling at the thought of fighting a Hyuga in hand-to-hand combat. Especially one as fast as Hikari. She had seen them move or more accurately, hadn’t. They were just that quick.

…Maybe she could find a new training ground? It couldn’t be too hard, right?

~~~

Later that night, after a nice warm bath that did wonders in relieving the pain built up in her muscles, Sakura was once again up at an extremely early hour, working with metal tools and wooden body parts. Though this time, frustration was not what filled her mind. Instead, she was filled with a creative zeal unlike any before.

Her tongue poked out of her mouth slightly as she scraped away the last of the wood from the inside of the torso she was working on. Though calling it a torso was a bit generous. It looked more like multiple lumps of misshapen wood connected by metal than anything resembling a human being, but that was on purpose. Sakura didn’t need the body to look human. She just needed it to function.

She reached beside her, grabbing a length of steel wire before diving back into the chest cavity, her delicate fingers going to work attaching the material to the proper places. This was probably one of, if not the most important step. If she got this wrong and didn’t manage to catch it in time, she would have to completely dismantle the puppet to fix it. She needed to get it perfect on the first try.

Most puppet users wouldn’t dare to try to make a puppet nearly as intricate as what she had in mind as their first, but Sakura had no desire to be like most puppet users. She wanted to be the best. That meant she wasn’t going to half-ass any of her creations, not even what would likely be a prototype.

With a satisfied nod, Sakura pulled out of the chest cavity, placing the wooden torso to the side. She would check over her work in the morning and fix any imperfections and issues that she wasn’t able to see under the dim light of the moon.

Moving her attention elsewhere, Sakura grabbed one of the many spindly arms that she had created, opening them with a screwdriver to reveal their hollow insides. With extreme care, she began to work on them, beginning to craft the base of the mechanisms that would make this creation more than just a macabre showpiece. She bolted together strips of metal given to her by her sensei and coiled wires in accordance to the plans that she had drawn up months ago.

She had progressed a lot since her sensei had left, and not just in woodworking. Her knowledge of poisons had increased by several orders of magnitudes and so had her capabilities with her chakra strings. The texts that her sensei had left to her were slowly but surely dwindling as she absorbed the knowledge held within them, using them to further her studies at an incredible pace that was unique to her and her alone.

Even still, she knew that she had a lot to learn when it came to mastering the art that would take her to the heights that she wished to reach. If she wished to be in the place that she wanted to be by the time she graduated and became a genin in a couple of years, she'd have to keep up the pace.

She had come so far, but she couldn’t slow down now.