Chapter 9
"Okay, I want to teach you two abilities that I learned during my time beyond The Fourth Wall. The first one is the 'Training Montage'. The other is the 'Time Skip'," Seichō informs Sakura.
"Um… what kind of jutsu are those?" Sakura asks. "I've never heard of them."
"Yes, of course. Well, the easiest way to explain these moves are to use them. However, I'll try to explain them. The Training Montage and the Time Skip are both Time-Manipulation Jutsu. The Training Montage slows time down over a longer period of time. This is better to use when you want to learn a new move. The Time Skip allows the user to speed time up, but they will still experience everything just at a faster pace."
"So one speeds up time, and the other slows it down? That sounds simple enough."
"Yes, however, there are no set handsigns for either ability. I was told that the abilities technically don't require handsigns, but it isn't uncommon for there to be. For example, our world's time skips use three centered astrik separated from each other with a single space each and are separated from other paragraphs using a single space," Seichō explains.
"I didn't catch that last part. Will you repeat that?" Sakura asks.
He sighs and curses before answering, "It's probably one of those things you can't hear. So you're allowed to hear about paragraphs and chapters but not the specifics of time skips. Okay, I can work with that. Let's get to work."
Seichō raises his hands above his head and shakes his hands ashe slowly lowers them all while saying, "Training Montage."
* * *
"I have one more move I'd like to teach you, alright?" he tells her.
"There's only two days until the Finals. Can you really teach me this ability?" Sakura asks.
"Maybe if I really push Training Montage as much as I can while you do a Time Skip, you can be ready in time to watch the big fight and be prepared for your own," Seichō elucidates.
Then, Seichō grins about something. Sakura asks, "Why are smiling?"
"I elucidated," he tells Sakura. "It sounds so fancy, doesn't it?"
Sakura groans at his stupidity, "Let's just get my training over with already."
And so Sakura uses a Time Skip while Seichō uses the Training Montage.
* * *
Sakura stands in the Arena with Temari, TenTen, Gaara, Sasuke, and Rock Lee. However, Sasuke had just barely made it to the Chūnin Exams in time. It's almost like a mirror of her own world. Some of the same events happen, but she'd be damned if they happened the exact same way. The world likes to fuck with her mind too much to allow her too much of a semblance of something she remembers.
The proctor -- not the same one as last time, she'll note -- informs them, "One participant backed out and the other isn't here, so there had to be a change in the order and pairings. Sai and Temari, Sasuke and TenTen, Rock Lee and Gaara, and Sakura, you will fight the winner between Sasuke and TenTen."
* * *
"Sasuke, you don't understand. Ino, she has been unrightly pampered to be the heiress of the Yamanaka clan when she is weak. I'm stuck being a lowly civilian-born girl with so much potential. You don't know what it's like, do you? Have you ever felt caged?" TenTen asks. "I live life, watching the days pass by as my needs are just out of reach because of a stupid clan!"
"But I do!" Sasuke exclaims, looking angry and upset. "I… I've lost everything. I'm constantly being patronized. People always hate or pity me. Except for one person and I don't want anything from him. I lost a clan because they were stupid. What I want, I can make I mine! I want to be Hokage! I'll make everything right that way! And you're a genius, aren't you? You can figure out a way to fix things for yourself, too."
Sakura stares down at the two who had stopped fighting for a while to rant and yell at each other. Now that she met Seichō, she notices these moments. The natural time skips, the spontaneous speeches, and even the flashbacks.
She thinks of her own world's Hinata. Quiet but always tried her best. She was passionate and loved hard. She could've managed a romantic relationship, but Sakura screwed that up. She missed.
She missed. She missed. She missed.
"Sakura, I can read your inner turmoil from over there," Sakura hears as she looks over to see her brother. The brother of this world's Sakura, Sakura corrects herself. She never had a brother.
Sakura needs a hug and to expirience some quality time with her bro!*
Seichō glances around in confusion. Did he just hear words? Sakura needs a hug? The man shrugs and hugs his sister. He wonders if this will appease the otherworldly voice. Perhaps, that was the voice of someone speaking through the Fourth Wall.
"Wh-what's this about?" Sakura stutters quietly.
"You seemed upset and a little voice told me you might want to have a hug," the pink-haired man informs Sakura kindly.
"Well, whoever it was is right. I've been beating myself up about some… things," Sakura confesses.
Seichō snorts about something Sakura is sure has to do with The Fourth Wall and whatever weird business goes on beyond it.
* * *
"I heard news of my awesome as fuck brother being in the damn Chūnin Exams, fishfuck. You're going to come with me to cheer the cute little bastard on," Itachi claims as he leaves. He and Kisame could get information on said Jinchuriki while they're at it too. It's a win-win situation.
"What? Hell no. I hope you realize I'm not cleaning up after any bodies you leave behind, and if you leave a trail in the name of that poor kid you call you brother, we'll have to fight," Kisame explains.
Itachi sighs loudly and overexaggeratedly, "Alright, alright! I get it. Stop being such a bitch, fishfuck. We're going now though."