Chapter 3: Natural Talent
It was official, D ranks were the worst thing to be invented. While Sakura didn't mind lighter work, especially since she knew she was nowhere near ready to go out into the field, the mindless drone work of D ranks was getting to her and her teammates.
She looked over at Naruto, who was picking weeds with a scowl. She giggled. Since her talk with Anko, she has been attempting to be nicer to Naruto. To her surprise, she found Naruto very funny, whether it was his immature reactions that matched her inner thoughts or his boisterous personality that exuded happiness.
Sure, he was still annoying most of the time, but he wasn't as bad as she thought he was in the academy. However, her new attempt at friendship with Sasuke was advancing slower than she hoped. She looked over at him on the other side of the field with a stern expression on his face. She stared for a few moments before catching herself and quickly looking away.
Since she realized that what she was doing to Sasuke was not only rude but quite creepy, Sakura didn't know how to feel. She still liked him, but it was clear that her attempts at affection only seemed to make Sauske annoyed or angry. Most girls in the academy shrugged it off as him being shy, but now that she thought about it, it was clear that Sasuke never showed affection to anyone. The closest was Naruto, but he insulted him almost every time they spoke.
Sure, it had only been a few days cold turkey or not constantly ogling over him, but she hoped she could get closer to him and help him out of his darkness. Sakura continued ruminating on her dilemma as they finished their second D rank of the day.
On their way back to the Hokage tower to report on their success
Naruto started to complain." This is so stupid; we are supposed to be ninjas, not gardeners or janitors."
Sasuke nodded in agreement, frustrated with the less-than-engaging task they were doing.
"Well, you guys have to do them. D ranks are a good way to get you guys used to working together as a team, and it is important because it teaches you skills that you need to know as a leaf Shinobi". Kakashi chimed in briefly, looking over his book.
"Plus, you guys have been genin for only two weeks; anything C rank or above means you probably have to leave the village, meaning anything can happen. You have to be prepared, and this little grunt work is a good way for us to decide when you are while you make money and help out the village. Anko added
"Yeah, whatever," Naruto said, still displeased with the current situation
As they made their way into the tower, the Chunin at the mission desk commented when they saw Team 7 walk in.
" You know I've never seen a genin team-taught by two high-ranking ninjas before."
" Yeah, the Hokage decided that this lazy ass needed some extra help teaching." She said, taking a jab at Kakashi
"Well, if this little team works out, they might try pairing a special Jonin and a Jonin together more often." The Chunin said
Naruto perked up at the term he hadn't heard before.
"Special Jonin, is that like a Jonin but better."
The Chunin laughed lightly, "No, it is just a title for those between the ranks of Chunin and Joninin. SpeciaJoninin has some Jonin-level skills but not enough to become full-fledged ones."
Sakura, becoming curious about the current topic, asked
"So, which one of you is a Special Jonin."
"It's me, sadly," Anko said with a hint of melancholy in her voice
"So that means that Kakashi is stronger than Anko," Sasuke said more of a question than a statement
Anko flinched at the comment
"I wouldn't be so confident about that kid. I have never fought him before, but with a bit of elbow grease, I'm sure I could give him a run for his money.
"Oh, are you sure about that," Kakashi said as he narrowed his eye at Anko.
"Yeah, I am. I know you have a cool nickname and all, but I won't say I can't beat you just because of your reputation." Anko said, making Kakashi wonder if Anko was more jealous of his nickname than his rank.
"Wait, why don't you two fight, and we can see who's stronger" suggested Naruto
This statement interested both his teammates as all three genin looked at their senseis.
"I mean, there would be no reason it's not like it would help in teaching you guys," said Anko, desperately trying to hide her excitement at the prospect.
"Come on, we can learn a lot from watching how ninjas fight. " Naruto said, eager to see a fight.
Kakashi looked at Anko
"There's no way we are doing this right?"
"I can't believe we are doing this," Kakashi mumbled under his breath
Anko and Kakashi stood across from each other 20 feet apart in the clearing, while the genin were a safe distance away.
"By the way, Hatake, you probably want to start with your Sharingan uncovered don't want to send you to the hospital," Anko said, cocky as ever.
Kakashi gave an eye smile.
"We'll see if you can back up those words."
He then launched a kunai into the air, and its descent signaled the start of their fight.
The genin watched in anticipation on a hill with a good view of the clearing.
"Who do you think is going to win" asked Naruto
"I don't know. We have never seen them fight before, but with Kakashi's strength during the bell test, it's hard to imagine him losing. What do you think, Sasuke?"
Sasuke was not paying any attention to his teammates. His focus was entirely on the duel between his teachers. He was anxious to see just how strong they were without holding back.
When the kunai planted into the dirt, Anko pulled three senbon and fired them at Kakashi.
Kakashi quickly pulled a kunai and deflected them.
Anko started to advance while periodically throwing senbon, targeting different areas of his body to keep him off balance. As Anko got closer, Kakashi suddenly closed the distance, and Anko had to dodge back to avoid a blow to her head. She dashed a few feet backward and got into her taijutsu stance. She then charged Kakashi with a hook aimed at his head. Kakashi was about to counter, but Anko suddenly stopped and spun on her heel. Kakashi only had a second to tilt his head back to avoid a sudden roundhouse kick. They then began an exchange of blows.
After the first few seconds, it was clear to Anko that she was outmatched. Her taijutsu style relied on unnatural dodges and counters to get into her opponent's guard. Still, it also required her to predict her opponent's movements. This turned out to be near impossible with Kakashi. He was slightly switching his style every other move, making him unpredictable and her unable to counter his attacks consistently.
Anko dodged a kick to jump away and get distance. She was more than a little frustrated. He had outmatched her in taijutsu without the use of his Sharigan. As she got more distant, she began to perform hand signs.
Earth Release: Earth flow Spears
Anko put her hands on the ground in front of her. Earth spikes began to shoot through the ground between her and Kakashi.
Kakashi didn't dodge and began to run through hands
Lightning Release: Depth Charge
Lighting enveloped Kakashi's body, and they shot forward, crashing into the earth and disrupting it. Anko barely managed to dodge as she rolled out of the way of the bolt.
Anko pulled down the sleeve of her trench coat to reveal a poison bomb launcher and began firing at Kakashi. The small bombs exploded on contact and released gas in a wide area. Kakashi dodged the gas, taking extra care not to get too close since he didn't know how seriously Anko was taking this spar.
Once the barrage stopped, Kakashi noticed the gas dispersed around him in a circle. Blocking his sight from Anko
"You'll probably want to pull out your Sharingan for this," yelled Anko
From beyond the wall of smoke, Anko quickly raced through hand signs. The gas around Kakashi dispersed just as Anko finished her technique
"Fire Release: Flame Wisps Technique "
Anko spat out a large amount of fire that quickly formed into dozens of tiny wisps of flame that surrounded Kakashi. Before he could make a move, he saw Anko start to run around him and throw sebon. He prepared to counter with a kunai, and then his lone eye widened as one of the senbon made contact with the wisps and nearly tripled in speed. He barely dodged out of the way of two of them, But one scraped across his arm and was hot enough to already close the wound after it passed through.
He instantly uncovered his eye, revealing his Sharingan. As he prepared to counter the rest of the technique. He tried to deflect one with a kunai, but it went straight through the kunai, leaving a small hole. This left him only with the option to dodge the incoming attacks.
By the time it was over, he found that he had not suffered any severe damage, but he had a few more closed cuts on his arms and legs. Kakashi quickly realized that if this wasn't a spar, Anko would have most likely pierced him with more than one of those flaming senbon.
Anko was breathing heavily. She hadn't quite perfected the control needed for that technique, so she wasted a lot of chakra on it.
Kakshi addressed anko
"If this wasn't a spar, I would think you wanted to kill me."
Anko smirked, "Well, I couldn't let you take it easy the whole time."
Kakashi smirked under his mask and performed a jutsu
Water Release: Water Bullet Technique
As he shot out a fast-moving torrent of water at Anko
With no time to dodge, Anko performed a small Great Fireball Jutsu to counter the Jutsu. She quickly realized her mistake as the steam produced made her lose sight of Kakashi.
Cursing at herself, she quickly used Earth Release: Mud Wall directly at her feet to raise the ground beneath her and out of the cloud of steam. As she looked around for Kakashi, waiting for him to attack, she noticed too late when she felt the wall beneath her rumble slightly. As the wall exploded to reveal Kakashi, he landed a punch on her chin and then a kick to her chest, sending her spiraling to the ground.
Anko quickly recovered and launched senbon at a still mid-air Kakashi after her rough landing. She almost celebrated when they made contact, but she was surprised to see Kakashi disappear in a puff of smoke.
Anko then felt cold metal on the side of her neck
"Looks like this round is mine."
Anko could feel his smug expression despite not seeing it.
Anko put her hands up, annoyed
"Fine, you win this time. You masked bastard."
"Oh my god, That was amazing," their eyes then turned over to see the astonished faces of their students and Naruto hopping up and down excitedly. All three of them were in awe of the speed and intensity of the fight.
"You have to teach us how to fight like that!" Naruto yelled, imagining himself using awesome techniques like his senseis.
Calm down. It will take years for you guys to get to my level, but if you keep working as hard as you guys are, then you guys may have a chance," Anko said
Naruto stared at her blankly
"Didn't you just lose"
"Lose win, it's just semantics," Anko said, slightly denying her loss.
The three genin gave Anko a look of pity at her immense cope.
Kakashi coughed, "Well, I hope this little brawl inspires you to work harder. "
The genin nodded
Anko and Kakashi had just finished their monthly report to the Hokage. They were only 30 minutes late at that, although it took several colorful threats from Anko to get Kakashi to show up that early. Hiruzen nodded as he re-read the report,
Naruto had improved his chakra control and taijutsu. According to Anko, his knowledge of tactics and strategy with his clones showed great potential. And to his biggest shock, Anko taught him the Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu. A jutsu he taught Anko several years back.
Due to the extra conditioning she received, Sakura improved significantly physically. While she still wasn't on the level of her teammates, her stamina was good enough that she could last several minutes in taijutsu spars. She was also a prodigy in genjutsu and had almost exhausted the number of C-rank techniques Anko and Kakashi could teach her.
Sasuke had continued to improve in most areas, with his control and taijutsu becoming more refined with the guidance of his teachers. Over the month, he also learned the Great Fire Dragon Fire Technique and started the beginning stages of making a new fire technique.
Hiruzen looked up, satisfied with the progress of Team 7
"You both are doing excellent jobs. Thinking they can progress in only one month shows the early benefits of this dual assignment. "
"Thank you, sir," Kakashi said while eye smiling.
"Thanks, Gramps." Anko grinned at her grander father figure.
"Well, if that's all, you are both dismissed."
"Actually, there's something we want to ask you."
said Anko
Hiruzen looked up and motioned for her to continue
"Well, Kakashi and I have thought about nature transformation training for the three of them this month."
Hiruzen eyes widened
"You realize they won't be expected to know nature's transformation until chunin right."
"Yeah, but that's usually due to the lack of control or levels in fresh genin charka. Sakura's control is prodigal, Naruto's has massive reserves, and Sasuke knows multiple fire transformation techniques, including the B rank I taught him last month.
"Well, I understand why you will want to tell me, but you know I fully support any decision you make in how you two teach your genin; there must be something else you wish to ask for," Hiruzen asked.
Kakashi chimed in
"Well, we propose that if we can teach the kids nature transformation and one new C rank each, you will start assigning our team C rank missions. "
Hiruzen eyes narrowed
"While both of you are favored by me, I can't bend the rules I set in place. Genin must have 4 months minimum training in the village before any C ranks are assigned."
Hiruzen sighed. "Also, my advisors think I'm already giving your team too much preferential treatment. If I allowed you guys to break the rules I put in place, that wouldn't let me hear the end of it. "
"Come on, Gramps, the sooner we get the kids into the field, the better we can prepare them for the future. Besides, Kakashi and I would be going, so it's not like anything sort of an A rank could challenge us," Anko said confidently.
Hiruzen started at both shinobi pensively.
He knew what they said had merit. Both Anko and Kakashi could easily complete even B ranks. Still, neither of them had ever had a team of genin on a mission before, so he hesitated.
The Hokage sighed. "Fine, I'll consider it, but only if they pull it off in two weeks."
"Two weeks!" Anko yelled, surprised by the short timeframe
Yes, I want this to be a test; if I am going to send them out into the field, then I have to be sure of their talent."
"But..."
"That's a fine timeframe," Kakashi cut in. The Hokage was already hesitant and wanted to avoid pushing their luck further.
Anko huffed but didn't press the issue any further
"I also have one more condition. You will oversee a spar between the three genin, and I will observe it with the rest of the council."
"May I ask why?" said Kakashi
"I need to show Homura and Koharu that this team is worth investing in, and if I can show off how much progress they have made, I can change their mind. "
"Danzo isn't on your ass about us, too," asked Anko
Hiruzen shook his head, "This seems to be one of the few things he and I agree on."
So in two weeks, when you guys are going to have your next meeting, Kakashi deduced
"Yes, we only set aside a day every month when all four of us are together for an extended period. And this time, it's two weeks from now."
Anko looked at Kakashi.
"Well, we must be on our A-game to complete this. Don't worry, Gramps, we'll have them ready by your meeting,"
Hiruzen smiled
"I have full faith in Team 7, I'm sure your students will impress."
All three were about to head to the training ground on Monday morning. Anko suggested that they meet before training to start the day. Sasuke was initially hesitant, but it had just become routine after the first few times.
They would meet at Naruto's apartment since it was the closest, eat breakfast together, and share notes on their progress.
When they arrived, they found their teachers standing with Kakashi, holding three small papers in his hand.
"What's up, brats."
"Yo"
Anko and Kakashi respectfully greeted them
"Nothing much, so what are we learning today anyway."
"Well, today, you will be learning your chakra natures."
Sakura raised her hand but quickly lowered it when she realized she was not in a classroom and then spoke.
"Isn't that for elemental manipulation"
Yeah, normally genin don't learn this until they are ready to become Chunin," Anko informed
"But, you guys are anything but normal," Kakashi said while holding his trademark eye smile.
While his words implied that they were advanced for their age, Kakashi's delivery made them feel more like zoo animals or circus performers.
"Okay, everybody, line up," Anko ordered rudely, taking the papers out of Kakashi's hand.
She then handed one to each genin.
"What are these sensei?" Sakura asked
"Don't tell me we are going to do a stupid test?" said Naruto
"These are chakra papers; when you channel charka into them, they reveal your chakra affinity," informed Anko
Naruto then, unprovoked, began channeling charka into his paper. His paper was sliced in half down the middle.
"Oh no, I broke it Naruto yelled!" devastated he messed up something so simple.
Anko snorted. "No, brat, you didn't break it; the paper reacts to your chakra affinity," she then batted him lightly on his head,
"Don't do things before we tell you to do them."
"Sorry," Naruto apologized as he rubbed his head
"Since your paper spilt in half, you have wind-natured chakra. "
"Cool" Naruto exclaimed,
"Uh, what does that mean," he said as he rubbed the back of his head.
Anko sighed. "Can you take this one, Kakashi"
He shrugged
"Well, Charka, nature is like how you have a dominant hand in your day-to-day life. There are five charka natures: Fire, Wind, Earth, Lightning, and Water. Since you are wind charka-natured, you can mold and control the wind chakra more easily than other elements. Naruto nodded; he understood most of that.
Anko looked at the other two and waved her hand.
"Go ahead. I wanted you to reveal your natures all at once, but since someone jumped the gun, that doesn't matter anymore." She gave a pointed look at Naruto
Sasuke's paper then crumpled up and rose in flames, and Sakura's paper crumbled into earth.
"So Sasuke, you have a fire and lightning affinity, and Sakura, you have an earth affinity," Anko explained.
"What are your affinities," asked Sakura.
"My affinity is fire, but I know two other elements. Earth and wind, but I only know one wind jutsu," said Anko
"Lighting is my main affinity, but I can use all five chakra natures, thanks to my Sharrigan," Kakashi explained.
"So, what do we do now" asked Sasuke
Anko thought for a moment,
"It'll be best for Sasuke to train his lighting affinity with Kakashi; considering he is already used to elemental manipulation, he'll get the hang of it quickly. "
"I know earth manipulation well, but I only got the hang of wind manipulation a few months ago. Are you better at it, Kakashi?"
Kakashi shook his head, "I can use wind jutsu, but it's my worst element. If I didn't have my Sharingan, I doubt I could even mold the chakra correctly."
"Well, I'm over Naruto's and Sakura's training."
Kakashi nodded and motioned for Sasuke to follow him to the other side of the clearing.
Anko turned to face Sakura and Naruto and began a lecture
"Okay, there are multiple stages to elemental manipulation, but you guys only have to master the first stage for the techniques we will teach you. The first stage is learning to turn your chakra into the element you want to channel."
She then addressed Sakura.
"Okay, Sakura, you'll need to do this for basic earth manipulation."
Anko reached down, grabbed a handful of dirt, and closed her hand; after a few seconds, Anko opened her hand and presented a small stone.
"This earth exercise is about melding the dirt with earth chakra."
"How am I supposed to channel earth chakra," asked Sakura
Anko thought for a moment,
"Imagine your chakra system and think about it being connected to the earth beneath your feet; it should feel like you're almost pulling chakra from the ground and into your hands."
She nodded, bent down, and grabbed a handful of dirt. She closed her eyes and began to visualize her chakra system. She imagined herself pulling chakra from the earth. Her chakra felt slower, more heavy but also more sturdy. She began to focus this feeling on her hand.
When Sakura opened her eyes and her hand, some of the dirt had clumped up into a ball before crumbling apart in her hands,
Anko gave a nod of
"That's a great first attempt; keep at it; if you need any help, I'm going to be helping Knucklehead over here with his wind manipulation."
"Okay, sensei," said Sakura as she prepared for her second attempt
Anko walked over to Naruto, who was getting impatient.
"So what do I do?" Naruto said, hopping up and down
"Calm down here; take this."
Anko handed Naruto a leaf.
Naruto looked down at the leaf, bewildered
"If this is supposed to be a joke, it's not funny."
Anko sighed,
"The leaf is supposed to be the medium for your wind manipulation. Your training will be to split this leaf in half."
Naruto ripped the leaf in half
"No, not like that, you idiot. You have to do it with chakra."
"Oh, you should have said that"
Anko rubbed a hand across her face
"Look, grab a few leaves and make some clones. You don't have Sakura's control, so the extra help will be useful. "
Naruto created five clones. They ran to nearby trees and grabbed some leaves; the five clones stood at attention in front of Anko, leaves in hand.
"So what do I do?" asked the squad of Narutos
"I'm going to be honest, brat, I have a very shaky grasp of wind manipulation; I just cut the leaf myself a few months back; in my experience, the best way to do it is to visualize your chakra as sharp. It also helps if you try to cut the leaf from both sides."
The Narutos nodded, and they began to do the exercise.
Anko continued to supervise Naruto and Sakura for the next several hours, and she had to hide her shock. Despite her confident words with the Hokage, she had resigned herself to waiting to start actual missions because even with the progress the team made during the first month, she assumed that they would probably need another month or two before they could start learning elemental jutsu.
She figured Sasuke would have no issue with learning his secondary affinity. After spending a month training the boy, it was clear to Anko that the boy was a prodigy. In her youth, Anko considered herself one, but she had nothing on the kid.
But here were Sakura and Naruto, making progress in a few hours that took Anko months. And the most incredible thing was how different their approaches were.
Sakura had taken to documenting and taking notes of all of her attempts. She would review all her notes between attempts to analyze the best approach. Sakura would sit still with the dirt in her hand, molding the earth slowly. Her attempts would take several minutes, but she made considerable progress each time.
Naruto's approach was pure brute force. All of his clones would constantly mold chakra for hours on end. After a while, the clones would stop looking at their progress, and then Naruto would dismiss them, gain their memories, and summon a new batch. It wasn't a refined method, but Naruto had gotten a few centimeters cut into his leaves.
This was the first time Anko felt astonished by what her students were doing. Their progress during the first month could be attributed to their putting in the necessary work. The genin showed up to practice on time and stayed late to perfect their new skills.
But what progress they were making now was a product of their natural skill and talent.
By the end of the first week, all three genin had mastered the first stage of basic elemental manipulation, a skill that took most ninjas years to learn, trimmed down to a few training sessions in between D ranks.
When the genin arrived at the training ground the following week, they were greeted by one Kakashi and two Ankos.
"Why are there two of you," asked Naruto
"You guys have made enough progress to where we can teach you some C-rank elemental jutsu. At the end of the week, we want you guys to do a three-way spar to show off your skills. So we want to keep your training separate this week."
"Why?" asked Sakura
"In the field, you'll find foes you have no information on. We can simulate some of that in this paper, so you guys have to devise tactics and counters on the fly."
All three genin nodded.
"Okay Sasuke go with Kakashi. Naruto, go with my shadow clone to the east of the training grounds, and Sakura, we can stay here."
Once the others left, Anko began her explanation of the jutsu to Sakura
"Okay, so this jutsu is the most versatile earth jutsu there is; it's called the Hiding Like a Mole technique."
Sakura raised an eyebrow at the strange name.
"Hey, I didn't name it; I just used it. To use this technique, you must manipulate the earth into fine grains to move through it. If you manage to master the technique, you can reshape the earth as you move, leaving behind no trace. It requires no hand signs, but putting your hands into the serpent sign helps you channel the chakra. We will take this slow since it can be pretty scary the first time you attempt this. Just follow my lead and don't freak out."
Anko put her hand into the serpent sign, and Sakura followed suit.
"Okay, the first thing you want to do is channel the earth's chakra into the ground, but instead of clumping the earth together, break it apart."
Anko began to demonstrate, and the dirt around her feet began to break apart into sand. She sank until her feet were ankle-deep in the earth.
"Okay, I want you to sink this far. Unlike water, when you are on the earth, you always have support, so you can't drown as long as you have control of your jutsu. "
"Okay, I can do this," Sakura said to herself.
Sakura focused and began to channel her chakra into the earth. She felt the earth start to break apart. First, she felt a change in her footing, almost throwing her off balance.
"Stay calm. It will feel weird, but the most important thing is to maintain concentration."
"Okay, Okay"
She regained her focus and managed to sink to her ankles.
"Okay, sink down to your knees and begin to walk around. You have to get used to the feeling of going through the earth."
Sakura focused again and sank down to her knees.
"Okay, try to mend the earth back as you walk."
"Why do I need to do that?" asked Sakura
"In combat, an enemy will notice a disturbed patch of ground. If you can mend the earth back using the technique, then you can maintain stealth."
Sakura nodded and began to walk around. It was a struggle at first. The combination of the foreign sensation of being covered in thousands of dirt particles and her inability to see her feet made her hesitate each time she took a step.
After some time and a few tips from Anko, Sakura found that she could easily reshape the earth if she rotated her chakra around her. One rotation would break apart the earth, and the other would mend it as she moved. After about 30 minutes, Sakura had gotten the hang of moving in the earth.
Anko moved on to the final essential part of the jutsu.
"Okay, the next part is how you can tell where things are when you're underground. This is technically another jutsu, but it's used so much with this one that it's considered the same. "
Sakura climbed out of the ground and stood at attention
"It's an earth-based senor jutsu. You channel your chakra through the earth, and you can sense the vibrations of anything moving. Above ground, you could probably sense upward of 30 feet around you. Still, you can use sense vibrations up to hundreds of feet away underground. Close your eyes, use the earth as a conduit, and spread it as far as you can."
"So, it's like when I move my chakra through someone's system when I cast genjutsu."
"Yeah, sorta, but instead of invading, you must sync yourself with the earth."
Sakura closed her eyes and placed her hand on the ground. She reached out with her chakra and expanded it outward. She felt the vibrations of Anko's pacing, but the direction exact direction was unclear.
"I can sense vibrations but can't tell where they're coming from.
"Don't focus on the area where you first sense one; focus on the direction from which it came. " Anko suggested
Sakura began to focus again on the vibrations. It was almost like following a trail, looking for the origin point. After a few more attempts, she was able to locate Anko.
"Good job. This technique is not for above-ground sensing but will be much more helpful when underground.
"Are you ready to make your first attempt?" asked Anko
Sakura steeled herself; just two months ago, she had never imagined doing something like this. However, this training with her team and teachers gave her purpose instead of the contact drifting she did at the academy.
"Yes, I'm ready."
"Okay, the final step is to combine all of them and go into the earth. You can coat yourself in earth chakra to prevent the dirt from getting in your nose, mouth, and eyes, but still, be careful. You can breathe with this technique, but I don't think you're ready for that yet. "
"Wait, you can breathe underground."
"Yeah, if you advanced enough, you can trap air as you go under to give yourself extra time underground, but that's too advanced for you. Focus on going under and rising back up; go at most 15 feet from the surface. "
Sakura took a deep breath and began channeling chakra into the earth. As she sank, she steadied her breathing. Before her head went completely under, she took one last breath of air and submerged it into the earth.
Being underground was a strange feeling. The earth bent to her will and made movement easy, but she still felt claustrophobia and anxiety running through her.
What would happen if she ran out of charka and got stuck down here? Would she be crushed or suffocated slowly in the earth? Her thoughts were interrupted when Sakura was poked in the side by a rock. It brought her focus back onto her current situation, as she realized she had lost some control of the jutsu and didn't fully break down the earth around her. She steeled herself from the anxious thoughts and continued down a little further until she stopped.
Landing on solid earth in a small self-created cavern, Sakura opened her eyes; she didn't know what she expected, but the total darkness surrounding her didn't do anything to put her at ease. She closed her eyes and began to use the sensor jutsu.
She could feel Anko's chakra seeping into the earth and the faint vibrations of trees rustling; she could even sense the faint vibrations from the areas where Naruto and Sasuke were. It was a fantastic feeling to feel so much despite being surrounded in darkness; her mind made up the colors, the vibrations spread out around her in golden circles from where they occurred, and the charka from above mixed in like a mist. Sakura wanted to continue to experience this, but she was quickly reminded about her need for air. She quickly moved up; her ascent was like building a staircase underneath herself as she burst from the ground.
She took a deep breath and got an impressed whistle from Anko
"A whole twenty seconds. That's a hell of a first attempt." Sakura continued to breathe deeply for a few more seconds before she spoke with labored breaths
"Why didn't you tell me about the colors," asked Sakura
"Colors?" Anko asked puzzled
"The colors of the vibrations and the chakra were beautiful, Sakura said, still in awe of what she experienced. "
"Wait, do you mean the sensor jutsu? All it is supposed to do is give a general idea of where things are located; it's not even meant for chakra signatures, " said Anko
"But I saw everything, even your chakra."
Anko thought for a moment.
"I wouldn't be surprised that with your Sakura control and all of the visualization training we've done, you probably improved the technique somehow.
Sakura stared at her hands in awe; she made a technique,
"Don't get complacent," Anko said, knocking the girl out of her trance.
"You still have to practice going in and out of the earth; you have to slip in and out efficiently enough to use it in the field. "
Sakura nodded and stood back up for another attempt. She had additional motivation for this training and needed to know that what she had done wasn't a fluke.
Anko's shadow clone began to speak.
"Okay, are you ready brat?"
" I was born ready," Naruto said, excited to begin.
"This Is the only wind technique I know right now; it's called Gale Palm. It has basic hand signs. You put your hands together and channel the wind chakra in a vortex."
"Vortex?"
Anko pinched the bridge of her nose
"A circle Naruto"
"After you channel enough chakra, focus it on one palm, then release it like this."
Anko clasped her hands and thrust her right hand forward as she did, and a strong torrent of wind gusted from her palm, riding some dirt particles and making some loose leaves fly into the air.
"Cool, let me try."
Naruto put his hands together and focused intensely on circulating his chakra correctly. He then performed the jutsu. The compressed air exploded, resulting in a more powerful wind, but it traveled less distance.
Anko looked thoughtful at the outcome of the technique.
"I'm Sorry, sis. It looks like my control still needs work," Naruto said, disappointed that he failed.
"No, your control was fine; if it was bad, you would have launched the jutsu back at yourself; you just put a lot of chakra into it. Usually, when you overload a technique, it wastes the chakra and fails, but with Gale Palm, it makes the blast stronger.
"Does that mean I have to put less chakra into it"
Anko shook her head
With how I wanted you to use it, it won't matter. This is mainly meant to be used as a utility jutsu. You can use it to propel your weapons forward at a higher speed like this.
Anko took out a kunai and threw it. She then performed the gale palm again, and the kunai flew forward at a blistering speed and impacted a faraway tree, embedding itself halfway.
"Awesome, is that what you want me to do."
"Yeah, it would complement the shadow shuriken jutsu well, but with the power you can put out with it, it would probably be wasted on just that.
A realization came over Anko, and a devious smirk came over her mouth.
"Oh, Naruto, what is one of your many self-given titles," asked Anko
'Future Hokage of Konoha?'
"No, the other one."
"The greatest prankster of the leaf"
"No, the other one."
"The number one most unpredictable ninja"
"Exactly, so how would said ninja like to create a new taijutsu style?"
Hiruzen and his three advisors, Homura, Koharu, and Danzo, were in his office.
"Okay, old friend, what is this important thing that made you interrupt this meeting," asked Homura
"I wanted to talk about Team 7," said Hiruzen
"Again, I keep telling you that you put too much faith into that legacy, I'm sure the kids are doing well, but do they have to be brought up during this meeting? " Koharu said, annoyed.
"Kakashi and Anko came to me with a proposal that if Team 7 could learn elemental manipulation in the next two weeks, they could skip the usual probation period genin teams go through."
"So, not only are you assigning two of our best ninjas to them, but you also want to bend the rules for them as well; this is ridiculous; we should be focusing on our current issues, not worrying about some kids, who won't be decent ninja a decade from now," said Homura
So what do you think about all of this, Danzo? Talk some sense into him. asked Koharu
Danzo wanted a few moments before he spoke.
"Despite not fully agreeing with his reasoning behind it, I agree with what he is doing with Team 7. While Hatake and Mitrashi wouldn't have been my first picks as instructors, the lack of training we have given two of our most valuable assets, in the Nine-Tails jichuriki and the Uchiha, is malpractice. I would have had their training together years ago."
"Thank you, Danzo,"
Hiruzen looked over his. We are going to watch them spar with one another. I was sent notice that the genin accomplished their goal of mastering elemental manipulation, and they wish to show their results to you to cast away any misgivings you have about their group. "
"This is ridiculous, "said Koharu
Trust in me. I want you to put your faith in the next generation. It won't take more than a few minutes. If they don't show enough progress, I'll stop giving them special treatment."
"Okay, you guys know the rules; if you think you have to hold back on an attack, do it, and don't hesitate to forfeit if you guys get hurt," Anko said
The genin wanted in anticipation for the start of the spar
Kakashi held his hand up, wanting to signal.
"Go"
Sakura immediately reached into her tool pouch and tossed a smoke bomb at her feet.
Naruto yelled, "Let's go," and performed the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Three clones appeared, two beside him and one behind him. They all faced Sasuke, ready to attack.
Sasuke was not surprised over the past month; Naruto had quickly learned the less is more rule in combat and had made his clones more efficient. Sasuke weaved through hand signs, still keeping an eye on the area where Sakura disappeared. And performed
Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique
He spat out flames that turned into a dragon's head and moved it towards Naruto; Naruto then smirked and shouted, "Uzumaki Manuver Body Shield Wave." Naruto then produced twenty clones and had them all rush forward at the dragon. Once they made contact, the dragon exploded in flames.
Naruto used that opportunity to close the distance with Sasuke, and they began to exchange blows. Naruto performed a backstep and created two clones behind Sasuke. Sasuke quickly backflipped over a kick performed by one clone and caught a punch from the other one. He then turned and performed a kick to the clone's head, dispersing it and putting a kunai through the other one's neck. Sasuke defeated both clones in a few seconds, but that was long enough for Naruto to make his move.
He was on Sasuke's guard and had both hands clasped together; in an instant, his right palm was on Sasuke's stomach.
Gale Palm Strike
All the air left Sasuke's body as the force from Naruto's attack sent him flying backward into the trees. Before Naruto could celebrate his attack, he felt the ground beneath him rumble and a fist came toward his face. He blocked it with his arms, but it launched him back. His arms ached in pain,
Damn, Sakura hits hard. Thought Naruto
She emerged fully from the ground and commented
"Good reflexes; I was sure I had you."
She then shifted her weight forward and dashed toward Naruto
He quickly made three clones before him to ward off her attack.
But as she got close, he began to see two of everything. His clones took swings at Sakura but ended up falling over each other. The next thing he knew, Sakura was landing a vicious hook to his face. He was sent spiraling backward onto the ground,
Just when Sakura was about to push her advantage, she heard the whooshing of flames from her right.
Phoenix Fireball Jutsu
Sasuke fired multiple small fireballs at her
Quickly, she performed the Hiding Like a Mole technique and slipped back into the ground.
So that's how she's hiding, thought Sasuke
Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu
Naruto recovered and launched three shrunken that turned into fifteen. Sasuke, realizing he couldn't dodge the shuriken without taking at least getting a scratch, decided to use his new lighting jutsu
Lighting Style Depth Charge
Sasuke began to channel lighting chakra around his body and he released it knocking the shuriken away.
Naruto began to charge again at Sasuke with clones; he and Sasuke continued to fight at close range, with Sasuke being much more cautious, not wanting to get hit again by Naruto's wind technique.
In the following exchange, Naruto made three clones and sent two of them forward. He then put his hands together and jumped off the back of the third clone directly toward Sasuke in an attempt to attack him from multiple angles.
Sasuke evaluated his options. Even if Naruto wasn't close, the winds from it could easily knock him off balance, leaving him vulnerable to attacks from his clones. Sasuke also didn't have any counters to wind Justu.
Just when Sasuke thought he was out of options, Naruto's eyes changed slightly, and he went off balance. Naruto's aim was off, and he sent his Gale palm attack straight down at his clones. This also pushed Naruto further into the air, sending him flying toward the trees.
Just as he was about to thank Sakura internally, the ground exploded under him, and he felt a fist drive into his gut. Surprised, he fell onto his knees and looked around for Sakura, but he didn't see her.
Getting flashbacks from the bell test, he quickly tried to jump into the air, but Sakrua's hand burst through the ground, grabbing his ankle and pulling him down. He promptly began channeling lighting chakra on instinct and performed a Depth Charge, expelling lighting from his body.
He heard a scream of pain and felt Sakrua's hand let go. As he climbed out of the hole, he felt exhausted. Had he used that much chakra?
Twenty feet away, Sakura emerged from the ground, hair a mess and clothing slightly singed. Naruto lay tangled in the branches of a tree, directing some clones to get him out.
Anko and Kakashi looked at each other and decided this was a good place to end the spar.
After a few minutes, the genin were gathered, and all looked a little worse for wear.
"Good job, guys. There are a few things you guys have to work on."
"Naruto Sakura caught you in two low-rank genjutsu; we will be doing extra reps in your disruption training. " Naruto groaned
"Sasuke, I think you did well, but you were a little too gungho with your ninjutsu; I know you probably wouldn't be that careless in the field, but this is a good lesson in learning how to pace yourself in fights that are going to last more than a few seconds. It's a problem for many ninjas, including me," said Kakashi."
Sasuke nodded, accepting the criticism.
"Sakura, you did well in utilizing your techniques, but you could have been more aggressive early; sometimes opportunities won't appear as they did in this fight, so you are going to have to learn how to create your own," said Anko
"Thank sensei, " said Sakura
"Okay, you guys should head on over to the hospital and get yourselves checked out; we're done for today," said Anko
Anko and Kakshi arrived at the Hokage's office. The secretary spoke
"Oh, the Hokage is expecting you. Go ahead and head on in."
Walking inside, they found the Hokage blowing some smoke rings while taking a brief respite from his paperwork.
Hiruzen acknowledged their entrance with a nod.
"So, did those old farts approve us for C ranks," asked Anko
Hiruzen smiled
"Come by in the next few days, and I'll have a mission ready for Team 7."