Cherry Blossoms and Chakra Strings: Boiling Over

Ami groaned groggily as she woke up, wincing at the ache in her neck. She was in an unfamiliar room, swaddled in itchy blankets and as she slowly sat up, the memories of how she had gotten here came rushing back to her in an instant. She brought a hand up to her throat, swallowing as she remembered the sharp pain of something foreign entering her soft flesh, before a noise off to the side caught her attention

Click. Snap. Click. Snap. It was a rhythmic, jarring noise, like wood tapping against itself over and over again. Amk pushed herself up on her elbows, careful not to put any pressure on her neck as she turned toward the source of the noise.

It was Sakura. She was sitting a few feet away in the corner, right next to one of two windows as morning light streamed down on her, allowing her to focus on her work even in the dark. Ami's eyes drifted down to her lap and she froze as she saw a wooden doll with too many eyes staring back at her.

No, not a doll. She realized. That had to be Sakura’s puppet. It was huge and very creepy, with too many arms, eyes, and a hollow torso that had been opened up to reveal guts made of metal and wire. The light from the window gleamed against metal mechanisms so complicated they made Ami's head spin. Someone her age built that? She must have been some sort of genius or something.

Sakura wasn't actually looking at her puppet or even at Ami. Instead she was staring intently at her own hand, holding it in front of her face with a pensive expression. Ami stared, fascinated and slightly horrified. Sakura's arm was covered in bandages, but inky, black markings peeked out from the gauze surrounded her wrist, trailing up her sleeve and Ami presumed, the rest of her arm. Five thin blue threads of chakra connected those markings to her fingertips and as Amy watched they suddenly pulled tight.

Click. Snap. Sakura fingers jerked into a fist, but it was sloppy, more akin to a spider curling up in death as opposed to anything human or graceful., and Ami retched internally as she realized that the sounds she had been hearing were coming from the Sakura’s bones.

“That… looks painful.” She croaked, her voice raspy from thirst and dehydration.

Sakura didn’t jump. She didn’t even look up. She just released the chakra, and her fingers fell limp, uncurling slowly as she lowered them into her lap. “It is.”

Ami swallowed, swinging her legs over the side of the cot. She felt weak, but she was still alive, probably thanks to the girl in front of her. “Your puppet is cool. What's its name?” She asked, trying to lighten the off tension filling the room.

Sakura finally looked at her. Her green eyes were dull and slightly red, and tear tracks trailed down her face. She looked at the puplet, then back at her hand.

“Teashi. She’s basically a paperweight right now though.” Sakura muttered. “Half the mechanisms require fine motor control to use. I can’t even hold a chopstick anymore. I was trying to catalogue what I was able to do when I got… distracted.”

For the first time since waking up, Ami noticed the pot of ink sitting on the floor beside Sakura. There was a brush still inside and several stains from where it dripped on the floor. Was that where those markings came from? She knew Sakura had some ability with seals, but it didn't look like any seal Ami had ever seen before.

Though I guess that's only really limited to explosive tags and storage seals. The girl thought internally.

Ami watched as the threads came back and Sakura’s fingers wiggled in a choppy, jerking motion. Sakura’s eye twitched like she was trying to hold back a grimace, and Ami swallowed, wondering how much pain she was really in.

“I’m sure you're smart enough to figure out a way to use them all.” Ami tried to inject some confidence into her voice. She gestured to Sakura’s puppet, “You’re the one who made it, after all.”

Sakura let out a dry, humorless laugh. She raised her hand again, the chakra strings flaring as she forced her index finger to twitch. “Smart doesn’t fix nerve damage.”

Before Ami could respond, the door slammed open with a force that rattled the frame.

“AMI! YOU’RE ALIVE!”

A blur of orange launched itself into the room, and Naruto skidded to a halt in front of Ami’s cot, grinning so wide that his eyes were shut. Sasuke strolled in behind him, hands in his pockets, looking bored, though Ami noticed his eyes immediately darted to the bandage on her neck, and she self-consciously looked away as they met hers.

“Of course I’m alive, idiot.” Ami huffed, though she couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at her lips. “Why would they waste a room and a bed on me if I was dead?”

While she tried to stop her exuberant teammate from crushing her in a hug, Sasuke grunted. “Kakashi said you might be out of it after you woke up. How are you feeling?”

Ami's cheeks warmed at the concern from her crush and she raised a hand to her neck, rubbing it awkwardly. “Stiff but… I'm fine. It only kind of hurts.”

Kind of was an understatement, but Ami somehow felt like complaining wouldn't be fair to the one who actually got hurt during the whole ordeal. A little neck pain was better than basically losing a hand.

“That’s good.” Sasuke nodded. “We need a full team if we’re going to guard the bridge builder.”

“Yeah, yeah, Mr. Cool. You can lighten up some times, ya know?” Naruto scoffed, then turned his beaming attention to Sakura. “I’m glad ou’re okay too, Sakura! Hikari said you blew up a whole base! That’s awesome!”

Sakura didn’t smile. She just pulled her sleeve down to cover the seals on her arm. “It wasn’t that impressive, Naruto.”

“No way! It was huge! I saw the smoke!” Naruto mimed an explosion with his hands. “How'd you do it? I’d have to use like a hundred explosive tags to do something like that!”

As Naruto recounted the size of the smoke cloud with exaggerated gestures, Ami watched Sakura. The pink-haired girl wasn’t listening. She was gripping her injured wrist with her good hand, her knuckles white as she stared at the floor with a look of pure frustration.

“Alright, settle down.” Kakashi appeared in the doorway, smiling with his one good eye. “It's good to see you're all up and ready to go this morning, but let's move this conversation to the kitchen, hm? Looks like the rest of Sakura’s team is back from patrol.”

~~~

The genin quickly filed into the kitchen downstairs. The room was crowded, filled with the smell of breakfast and tension.

Tsu and Iwabi were already there, seated at the table. Iwabi looked pale, his flak jacket discarded to reveal a heavy bandage wrapped around his shoulder.

“What happened to you?” Sakura asked, her eyes widening. This was the first time she'd ever seen Iwabi injured, and the sight was almost jarring. The jonin was still composed however, chewing on the butt of a cigarette.

“Had trouble at the tailors.” He grunted. “He used a really big needle, got me pretty good.”

“We found the guy who you saw the other day.” Tsu explained, her face grim. She was feeding pieces of bacon to Tadao under the table. “Tall, creepy, looked sick and pale like he hadn’t slept in a decade. Fit the description perfectly.”

“He called himself Kenji.” Iwabi continued. “He was pretty skilled. High jonin, at least. He wasn't toying with us, but I don't think he was trying very hard either, at least not until right before he left. He gave us some info too. Gato's planning to attack the bridge sometime in the next few days. Whether or not that's true…”

“The next few days?” Ami spoke up for the first time, her voice quiet as she watched Hikari gently apply a glowing green hand to Iwabi’s shoulder. The jonin sighed in relief as the medical chakra eased the stiffness and properly healed the wound.

“Could be tomorrow. Could be a few days from now, could be in two weeks." Iwabi shrugged his healed shoulder. “He didn't reveal much. Probably wants us jumping at shadows. Basic tactics for someone like him.”

“What do we do?” Ami asked nervously.

“There's not much we can do except wait. Kakashi sighed. “We don't know where Gato is or when the attack is coming, so we just need to stay prepared like we were.”

The silence that followed was heavy. The genin looked at each other, restless energy buzzing in the air. Waiting was the worst part of any mission.

Kakashi looked at the group, taking in Naruto’s bouncing leg at Sasuke’s brooding expression, and Sakura’s white-knuckled grip on her own arm.

“Well,” Kakashi said, his eye curving into a smile. “Since we’re all vibrating with anxiety, how about we burn some of it off? A little light sparring might do us some good. Get the blood flowing.”

“Sparring?” Ami looked at Sakura who stiffened. “Is that a good idea? My neck is stiff and Sakura’s hand is…”

“I’ll be fine.” Sakura interrupted sharply. She stood up, the chair scraping loudly against the floor. “I need to work with Teashi anyway so I can see what I'm still able to do with this injury.”

Iwabi looked at his student, assessing her. “Alright. But keep it clean. Single-contact spars. No lethal techniques. We can turn it up a notch once everyone is properly warmed up.”

The clearing behind Tazuna’s house was wide and bordered by the heavy mist rolling off of the nearby lake. The six genin faced off, tension palpable as they waited eagerly to see who would go first. Tazuna's family lingered nearby, seeming eager to watch the two teams go at it. Even Inari was present,lingering in the shadow of a nearby tree.

“First up.” Kakashi announced. “One of my students asked to spar with you specifically, Hikari. Sasuke?”

Sasuke stepped forward, staring at the Hyuga intently. Hikari seemed to have no issue with the challenge and joined him in the ring, taking their stance without a word.

It was a blur of motion from the start. Sasuke was fast, his taijutsu crisp and aggressive, utilizing the Uchiha’s usual style, but Hikari was a wall. Having a year of experience on him and being talented in their own right, they deflected Sasuke’s strikes with fluid grace, using the Gentle Fist turning Sasuke’s own momentum against him.

The spar was over in less than a minute as first contact came in the form of Hikari’s fist landing solidly against Sasuke’s chest. As they came down from their battle high, Sasuke was panting, looking down at the fist with consternation, while Hikari seemed composed and barely winded.

“My turn!” Naruto leapt into the center of the ring before the other two even had a chance to fully leave, pointing a finger at the crowd. “Who wants some of this? I'll take two of you if you want! You'll probably need the help!”

While Tsu snorted at his arrogance, moving to take a spot in front of him, Sakura preempted her and stepped forward instead.

The clearing went quiet. Sakura didn’t say a word. She just unclipped the scroll from her hip and laid it on the ground. Raising her good hand, she sent out a single chakra threads that attached to the seal, activating it remotely.

Teashi appeared in a cloud of smoke, already hovering in the air. The puppet looked menacing, staring blankly ahead as if floated like a ghost and Sakura distantly heard a tipsy Tazuna shout in surprise.

“Whoa!” Naruto breathed, his eyes wide as he saw Teashi in all of her glory. “That’s so cool, Sakura-chan! But don’t think a doll is gonna stop me!”

Sakura didn’t respond. She was too busy concentrating on what she was doing.She could feel the chakra threads connecting to her left hand and they were working flawlessly, but the connection felt numb. Distant.

It would have to work.

She narrowed her eyes, resolve filling her. I can do this.

“Begin!” Iwabi barked.

Naruto didn’t hesitate. He rushed forward, winding up a punch. “Here I come!”

Sakura twitched her right hand. Teashi’s primary arms engaged, the scythes popping out with a click as she swung the puppet to intercept.

Unfortunately, she immediately noticed a problem. A lag in the background where none should have been. The signal for command went from her brain, to the sloppy seal on her arm, to the dead nerves in her hand which once commanded her fingers, and finally to Teashi. The reaction was almost instant, but there was a fraction of a second delay. And to a ninja, a fraction of a second was an eternity.

Teashi’s scythe slashed through the air, but Naruto wasn't there anymore. He saw the blade coming long before it actually arrived thanks to Teashi’s slowed movement. He ducked under the scythe without even breaking stride. “Too slow!”

Sakura grit her teeth. She commanded her injured hand with intent. Turn!

Her fingers jerked. Teashi spun, but the movement was wide and unbalanced. The puppet overshot its mark by a foot, exposing its back.

“Shadow Clone Jutsu!”

Two Narutos popped into existence behind the puppet. One grabbed Teashi’s cloak, yanking her back, while the real Naruto launched himself at Sakura.

“Get off!” Sakura snarled. She yanked her hands back, trying to recall her puppet, but the clones held firm. The heavy wooden doll dragged in the dirt, its joints locking up as Sakura fumbled to command it properly. She wanted to slice the clones to pieces, but her pinky finger just wouldn’t curl tight enough to whip the arm the proper way and before she could force it, Naruto was already in her face.

She flinched as he threw a punch, pulling it at the last second so it wouldn't cause real damage. His knuckles lightly tapped her forehead, and shocked emerald eyes stared into sapphire as he grinned widely.

“Gotcha!” He cheered, happy to have managed first contact, and something inside Sakura snapped.

The frustration, the pain, the fear of being useless – it all boiled over in a surge of hot, angry adrenaline that closed her mind and judgment. She dropped the chakra threads, and Teashi clattered uselessly to the ground as she snarled at her cheerful comrade.

Sakura ducked under Naruto’s arm, moving into his guard. It was a sloppy, desperate move compared to what she was capable of, but it was fast and she was strong and there was no way for him to react to a sudden movement he wasn't expecting. She slammed her palm into his chest, knocking the wind out of him.

“Oof!” Naruto stumbled back. “Hey, wait—!”

Sakura didn’t wait. She followed up, her eyes burning. She swept his legs, sending him crashing to the dirt. Before he could recover, she was on top of him, pinning him down with her knees.

She reached into her pouch with her good hand and grabbed a senbon coated in a purple liquid. It was a mild paralytic, meant for capturing targets, not friendly spars. But in her anger, she didn't think about 'mild’, she just thought about winning. About proving she could still do this.

She jammed the senbon into Naruto’s shoulder, sinking it deeper than was probably warranted as her anger got the better of her.

“Ow!” Naruto yelped, jerking away as Sakura pulled her senbon out of his body. “Hey! What the heck was that!?”

Naruto choked on the last word. The poison on her weapon circulated through his system in an instant, pushed through his bloodstream by his racing hard as it spread like a malignant disease. Before he could even try to fight back and push her off, the effects were already starting to show themselves, locking his joints and sending signals to his brain that something was terribly wrong with his body.

He gasped, curling into a twitching pile of limbs as his body seized up. He shifted under her and Sakura growled as she noticed the poison wasn't circulating like it should have been, as if she had used a weaker dose or Naruto had some natural resistance to her toxins. She had to give him more or he wouldn't stay down!

If she was thinking straight, she would have taken a step back and administered the antidote immediately – Naruto was clearly down for the count, and even if he had some resistance to her concoction, the fight was over the moment he almost decked her in the face. Continuing would have been overkill, and borderline traitorous.

But Sakura wasn't thinking straight. She was lost in a haze of hopelessness and frustration that made her want to destroy something. Anything! And Naruto was her unfortunate target.

She tightened her grip, flipping the senbon to deliver another dose that would probably leave her comrade bedridden for at least a week, when she was stopped by a hand around her wrist and a firm voice in her ear.

“That's enough, Sakura.”

Iwabi was at her side the moment her hand began to lower, gripping her wrist just tight enough to hurt. Sakura blinked, glancing back at him, before she realized what she was about to do and her expression shifted in horror.

“I…” Sakura looked down at Naruto, staring at him and taking in the effects her poison was having on his body. “I didn’t mean… Oh god!”

She fumbled in her pouch, pulling out a small vial of yellow-ish liquid. Her hands were shaking so bad she almost dropped it but she kept hold without spilling any. She knelt down, uncorking it and pressing it to Naruto’s lips.

“Drink this.” She urged, her voice trembling. “It’s the antidote. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Naruto swallowed the liquid. A few moments later, he gasped, his muscles relaxing. He worked his jaw, before slowly sitting up, rubbing his shoulder where she stabbed him.

Sakura braced herself for him to yell. To tell her she was crazy or look at her like a monster. Instead, Naruto grinned. It was a bit strained and not nearly as bright as his usual smile, but it was there, and directed at her.

“That was so cool!” He laughed, rotating his arm and flexing his joints. “Man, you’re super scary, Sakura. What kind of crazy poison was that?”

“Insect-based paralytic.” Sakura said numbly. “It’s made from the blood of a beetle from the Land of Water. You… got better pretty quick.”

She didn't say that quick meant faster than should have been physically possible. Even with the antidote, the lockjaw should have lasted at least an hour. His Uzumaki heritage must have given him some sort of resistance or something.

“Beetle blood?” He scratched his cheek. “I saw some beetles yesterday. I should make some poison too. That stuff hurts!”

“It's more complicated than that.” Sakura shook her head, completely baffled by his demeanor. Naruto wasn't mad at her? Not only that, he was impressed! He didn't seem to care that she almost really hurt him, only that she used a ‘cool poison’ to do so.

A knot formed in her throat, growing larger as Naruto's team came over and helped him up. Sasuke was giving her an intense look that was just a few millimeters of lowered eyebrow short of a glare, while Ami was just sort of… staring at her, concern glinting in her eyes.

Somehow that was worse. Sakura swallowed. She didn't even look at her team, frozen stiff by the thought of seeing the pity and disappointment in their eyes.

“I’m going for a walk.” She choked out, turning away before anyone could stop her. She heard someone call her name but she kept walking, pausing only to seal Teashi away again as she disappeared into the forest leaving her team and her shame behind.