Chapter 32
Chapter 32: Countdown: 5
"Please, Gekko-san, take your prescription more carefully!" Sakura scolded, her voice firm as she smacked the Jonin's forehead with one hand. His head jerked back slightly in surprise, the impact causing a small wince. Her other hand held a clipboard, her posture one of professional authority. Outside, the birds chirped in the morning air, signaling the start of a new day.
After her brief training session with Itachi and Shisui, Sakura had returned home, crawling into the iron maiden—an old training contraption she had made sure to adjust for her nightly rest. Thanks to its painful restrictions, she didn’t end up sleepwalking and stabbing someone again. She needed all the rest she could get; after all, there was still so much to process. Kakashi had warned them he would increase their training for the upcoming Chunin Exams.
Leaving the patient room, she made her way to the changing room, striding down the hospital floor to switch into her shinobi gear. Feeling the weight of the mission ahead, she ran toward the Team 7 training spot. As she passed a familiar figure, she did a double-take.
"TenTen?"
The bun-haired girl turned around, her face lighting up with a warm smile. "Oh, Saku! Long time no see! We just came back yesterday evening. I heard you had a C-Rank mission too!"
Sakura grabbed the railing and gracefully jumped down beside TenTen. "It was easy. Barely any work, but your team…" She let her gaze wander over to Lee and Gai, who were currently engaged in their usual insane workout routine. They were a spectacle of energy and enthusiasm.
"…Are lively as always," Sakura finished with a small smile.
"At least I have Neji," TenTen replied, rolling her eyes. "He's quiet, but he's saner than whatever that is," she gestured with a thumb towards Lee and Gai, who were in the middle of a strange pose. Sakura raised an eyebrow at Neji, who was sitting calmly by the side, watching the workout with his usual expression—emotionally distant. His eyes were dull, focused on his team, but there was something heavier behind them.
Right, Sakura realized. Neji was once a ROOT agent. He’d made it to phase three, right? That was a part of his history that wasn’t easy to forget, even if he rarely spoke about it. TenTen looked at Neji, her expression softening with understanding.
"Speaking of 'meet-up' stuff," Sakura began, trying to shift the conversation. "How’s living with your dad?"
TenTen flushed slightly at the question. "Ah, Genma-san?" She giggled a little. "He's like a mother hen! Constantly hovering over me, making sure I don’t do anything reckless. He almost got into a fight with Gai the other day because he insisted I was training too hard!"
Sakura chuckled at the image of Genma clashing with Gai over something so trivial. It was a testament to how much Genma cared for TenTen, though it was a little overbearing at times. After a moment, the two girls exchanged more small talk, agreeing to have a sleepover at Hinata's or Ino's again, and then Sakura took a step back, offering TenTen a wave as she jumped up to head to her team.
As Sakura approached the usual training ground where Team 7 had gathered, the kunoichi was greeted by an energetic Naruto.
"Good morning, Sakura!" Naruto exclaimed, flashing a wide grin. "Be careful though, Sasuke’s turned radioactive overnight!"
Sakura raised an eyebrow, her curiosity piqued. She turned toward Sasuke, only to find him standing off to the side, his usual calm demeanor replaced by something more intense. He was brooding—a storm of emotions swirling behind his eyes. Black clouds of sadness and depression formed around him. Urgh.
"What happened?" Sakura asked, teasingly. "Is our precious Uchihawa-sama suffering love sickness or something?"
Sasuke’s eyes snapped to her in surprise, his face blushing. "No! It's just that my brother came home late, and I asked him to come earlier so he could teach me a new fireball technique!"
Sakura froze for a moment, realization dawning on her. Oh. That was her fault. The tension between the Uchiha brothers… she had a hand in it, even though it wasn’t intentional. Itachi insisted he stay longer because Shisui was a terrible teacher. He was right—Shisui sucked at teaching.
Sakura's cheeks flushed slightly, but she quickly recovered. "Aha… well, don’t worry. I’m sure Kakashi will teach you a new one too if you ask him nicely. If not, I’ll bribe him or something," she added with a wink.
Sasuke gave her a small, skeptical glare but didn’t argue as his face flushed. "Whatever."
Sakura chuckled to herself, feeling the familiar warmth of her team’s companionship. Despite everything that weighed on her—her secrets, her abilities, her burdens—being with them always had a way of making things feel a little lighter. She would protect them, protect Konoha, and keep moving forward, no matter what.
With a puff, Kakashi appeared, book in hand. One hand casually raised for greetings. "Yo!"
"Naruto, I think our team is broken. First, Uchiwa-sama is radioactive, and Kakashi is coming early? Usually, he takes 4 to 2 hours!" she said dramatically as Naruto reached for her hands, and they both dramatically gasped and pointed at the two. "Imposters! GAH!"
Kakashi sweatdropped. "Anyway, today we will start focusing more on the Chunin Exams. We'll train for an hour, do D-rank missions for 3 hours, and then the rest of the time, we train. Got it?" He shut his book.
An hour later, after their D-rank mission, they went back to training.
Kakashi decided to change the training ground. The pink-haired girl felt sorry for the poor chunin who had to clean this place up after Kakashi’s artistic expression.
Naruto stared at Kakashi. "This is insane!" as he pointed at the training field that Kakashi had made using Earth-style jutsu. Sasuke gave Kakashi a glare of daggers and death too.
"Muuh, Naru-chan, my heart is bleeding!" He gave the blond a hair ruffle. "You’ve got 1 hour to pass this obstacle with no chakra!" The 3 genins sighed as he smiled at them.
Although she was very stoic outside, Sakura was celebrating. Finally, something challenging. She was getting bored, after all. Lately, Sakura had been missing her insane, inhuman ROOT training... what was wrong with her? She should be happy not to go through punishments! Sakura waved the thought away from her mind. Stretching herself, she dashed through the first part—a simple hurdle made of earth.
The next was a thin line she had to balance on, with water beneath. Easy. The next thing after that gave her a bit of trouble. It was a vertical slope. Reaching for a kunai, she made makeshift climbing gear, her teammates beside her mimicking.
This was fun. Danzo would always make them do obstacle runs in ROOT too, where they weren't allowed to use chakra. But I bet Kakashi won’t rip our fingernails off or torture us if we use chakra or fail to get through this… she thought as she landed down from the slope.
The next obstacle gave her a bit of a headache. "Okay, what is this?"
"Great, if Sakura has no idea what chance do I have?" Naruto wailed. Sasuke beside him sighed, his eyes widening. "Kakashi-sensei is a sadist!"
Behind her, she heard Sasuke and Naruto following her.
The next obstacle was a set of boulders shaped like humans, training dummies that shifted and turned, designed for hand-to-hand combat. Great. Cracking her shoulder, she went headfirst. Dodging a dummy's punch, she slid and jumped at one, unchained it, then moved on.
Her eyes calculated the amount quickly. 300? Without chakra?!?! Sakura would be fine. She was used to fighting long battles with the faintest amounts of chakra, but her teammates—behind her, she heard them struggle.
"Use kunais and shurikens if you must, just block and keep moving!" Sakura called out, her voice strong.
"Thanks, Saku!" Naruto waved at her, throwing a kunai at a training dummy.
Sakura continued, facing the small army of dummies. Deliberately tripping up here and there, she remembered: She was a Genin after all. Kakashi would feel very suspicious if she didn’t mess up a bit.
When one of the dummies hit her bruised side, which was still not fully healed, she suppressed a yelp of pain. She had a high pain tolerance. Plus, she was almost at the end. Sakura gritted her teeth, pushing through the pain from the dummy's punch. The bruise on her side was a constant reminder of how much she'd been pushing herself, but she wouldn't stop. Not now, not ever. The dummies continued to shift and change, adapting to every move she made, but Sakura was used to unpredictability. She'd trained with far worse in ROOT.
She flipped, dodging a well-aimed punch from one of the dummies, landing gracefully on her feet before sweeping her leg out to trip it. With a swift motion, she delivered a solid punch to its midsection, the impact sending it toppling over. Her eyes narrowed in concentration, and her body moved instinctively, her years of hard training taking over.
We can’t use chakra, she thought, but we can use kunai and shurikens. Technically speaking, if I remove all restraints, I’d be done with this within 30 minutes, but… let’s not. Lately, Kakashi’s been acting weird around me.
Finally reaching the end of the dummies, she realized it took what felt like 55 minutes. The last obstacles were a mix of hurdles, slopes, and circles—simple parkour. Reaching the end, they collapsed at Kakashi’s feet. He held a stopwatch.
"Hm. One hour and 30 minutes. Better than I expected."
The three gasped for air, sending him glares that could bury someone.
"You're a demon! No chakra?! You're a demon! This was insane! We couldn’t use chakra! Kakashi-nii, you're indeed a sadist!" Naruto sobbed. Sakura chuckled beside them. She felt someone give Naruto a soft smack and place a wicker basket on the blond’s head.
"Don’t complain. This obstacle looks way too easy."
Naruto frowned. "Mom! You’re making me look stupid in front of my team!"
Kushina rolled her eyes and raised the wicker basket. "I got some lunch for you guys. Come on, let’s have a picnic."
As they calmed down, Sakura sighed. The obstacle course was actually decent for Genins, if she said so herself.
Danzo had been more cruel-headed, making them spend hours in maze-like obstacles, reversing them without chakra. If they failed, harsh punishments followed. Compared to that, Kakashi was nicer.
She settled on the picnic, relieved with a glass of water. Sasuke looked half-dead, and Naruto still wailed as Kakashi and Kushina talked softly about the team’s training plans.