❈—14:: No Pressure

"Guys," I say, "let's kick his fucking ass."

My teammates concur.

Honestly, fuck the bell. I just want to land one punch on his stupid, smug face.

—❈—

Fifteen minutes later, I can barely stand.

I have a dislocated shoulder, a sprained ankle, at least three broken ribs, more bruises than I care to count, and my left eye is swollen shut; my teammates don't look much better.

To be honest, all of this would be fine, more than worth it, if we had managed to land a single successful strike on the smug bastard standing before us.

And yes, I understand that he's a jōnin, that he's S-rank, far beyond our level, but seeing just how far beyond cuts. It cuts deep.

I would like to convince myself that we can keep going. That I can keep going.

But I'm not delusional. Injuries are piling up, and with each new round against Kakashi we end up with less and less chakra with which to patch ourselves up for the next round.

Even Naruto, the stamina monster, is starting to flag. Sakura must be—Sakura collapses.

Before she hits the ground, Kakashi's there; almost like he'd expected it. He catches the girl and settles her gently to the ground so she doesn't hurt herself.

"Sakura," Naruto screams in worry, his injured state making him need to hobble over.

On the floor, Sakura is pale and sweaty. Her lips are blue and she shakes so badly that she almost seems to be having a seizure.

Chakra exhaustion. Sakura pushed herself so hard that she's collapsed from chakra exhaustion…

And somehow, I failed to notice.

"It's just chakra exhaustion," Kakashi says to the worried Naruto as he approaches. "She's fine."

"Can you help her?" Naruto asks all the same.

"Easy peasy."

Kakashi holds his right hand over Sakura, and slowly, five glowing, blue strings of chakra—one from each finger—snake out of his hand and attach themselves to specific spots on her body; her temples, two spots on her neck, and right where her belly button should be.

Almost immediately, Sakura's shaking stills.

That's the Chakra Transfusion Technique, a highly advanced medical-ninjutsu technique that is really the only quick solution for chakra exhaustion…

Well, the only healthy quick solution.

Within a few seconds, Sakura's eyelids flutter open.

"Hey there, Sakura," Kakashi greets her brightly, before cutting off the technique.

"What?" Sakura asks in confusion, then pushes herself up to a sitting position.

Naruto hugs her.

"Are you okay? You had chakra exhaustion. Kakashi fixed you," the boy says, words coming out all at once.

A little awkwardly, Sakura pats the boy on the back.

"I'm fine," she says.

Her eyes search for me, and when they meet mine, I limp over.

Sakura gently but very firmly pushes Naruto away as I near them, her eyes tracking me expectantly all the way.

Wait… does she seriously think I'm going to hug her?

What goes on in this girl's head?

I stop a few feet away. "How do you feel?" I ask.

Sakura looks disappointed.

"A little tired," she says.

I nod.

"That was reckless, pushing yourself to that point," I say.

Sakura looks surprised at my words, then she looks away.

"I'm sorry," she says.

"Hey," Naruto jumps in, "she did that to help us."

"I know that," I say. "I wasn't chastising her, I was…" I pause. That is exactly what I'm doing, isn't it?

I let out a breath, ignoring the spike of pain it draws from my wounded ribs.

"I'm just worried," I say, and Sakura looks at me. "Chakra exhaustion is a serious issue; it can have long-term negative effects. Don't endanger yourself for something that isn't life and death."

"Speaking of life and death," Kakashi says, reminding us all of his presence, "you guys did well. Good job."

"What's so good about it?" Naruto pouts. "We couldn't even touch you."

"Naruto, if you'd actually landed a blow on me, I would have needed to retire," Kakashi says succinctly.

"Oi, that just makes it worse," Naruto says.

"I know," Kakashi says happily. "Anywho, since that was supposed to be training, or whatever, let's recap; what did you guys do wrong?"

My teammates stare at each other in confusion.

"Um, our teamwork wasn't that great?" Sakura tries.

She's right, it wasn't, but that isn't something we did wrong, that's an unavoidable circumstance from our being a new team.

Kakashi shakes his head.

"You're a new team," he says. "You did well enough. Anyone else?"

None of us say anything. Not really knowing what to say.

"No?" Kakashi tries one last time, then he sighs and pulls the little golden bell out of his pocket. "You all forgot what the actual mission was; it wasn't to beat me, it was to get this."

Well, I don't know about that. I'd remembered the bell just fine, I simply hadn't bothered.

"But we can't take that bell from you if you don't want us to," Sakura says, voicing my thoughts exactly.

"Not unless you're dead first," Naruto adds maliciously.

Kakashi fake-shivers. "Ooh, such scary eyes. And you're right, you couldn't have taken it from me, but I would have let you have it if you'd tried to get it."

"Then the exercise wouldn't be very realistic," I point out.

"The exercise was never realistic," Kakashi says.

We all take a second to dwell on that; on all the times Kakashi could—and would—have killed us if he'd actually been an enemy.

I suppose there's no arguing with that one; the test was always unrealistic.

"Your inability to stay on mission aside, I'm impressed; Sasuke, you're great at most things and decent at the rest, combine that with the sharingan and you're what most ninja wish they could be."

The concise, positive review from the jōnin surprises and—surprisingly—pleases me.

Naruto sticks out his tongue at me.

Very mature.

"Naruto," Kakashi says next, and at his name the blonde grins, sticking out his chest proudly, "you suck," the jōnin finishes.

Naruto glares at him.

"But, you have enough stamina to make many chunnin look lazy, and more chakra than even the second Hokage had at your age. Plus you're good at learning on the go. If you're willing to put in the work, I'm sure we can turn you into an unstoppable juggernaut in no time."

"Yeah," Naruto cheers, then frowns; "Uh, what's a juggernaut?"

I roll my eyes.

"Remember how they say the second Hokage fought?" I ask the blonde.

'Like a tsunami that wiped away all in his path' are the words one of our history books uses.

"That's a juggernaut," I finish.

Naruto's grin stretches so wide across his face I worry for the safety of his jaw.

Kakashi moves on to the final member of our team.

"Sakura—"

"My reserves are terrible," the girl says before Kakashi can continue. She looks somber. "In The Academy I told myself that it didn't matter… but it does. I can't go for as long as others can, I can't push as hard as them, I can't even learn certain jutsu because I won't be able to use them."

Sakura's words surprise me.

How long has she felt like this? I wonder.

Hold on, is this my fault? Is this because I chastised her for pushing herself as far as she did today?

Kakashi crouches next to Sakura.

"Take my hand," he says, offering her his right hand.

"What?" Sakura asks.

Kakashi reaches down and grasps her hand in his gently.

"Feel my chakra," the jōnin says.

Sakura frowns, then, after a moment of concentration, she gasps.

"What? How is it so small?"

Kakashi laughs.

"Hey, come on, Sakura. Don't you know to never tell a guy that anything of his is small?"

Sakura blushes, and quickly pulls her hand from Kakashi's.

"What's small?" Naruto asks.

"His chakra reserves," Sakura answers. "They're almost the size of yours."

"Hey, my chakra isn't small," Naruto argues.

"He's a jōnin, dummy," I say.

Naruto has insane chakra levels, true, but that's only for a newly minted genin, many chunnin have similar or even larger reserves.

For a jōnin, especially one of Kakashi's caliber, to have such chakra levels… How does he function?

"Don't worry, Sakura," Kakashi says, patting the girl on the back. "Having small chakra reserves is a handicap I've had to work with, through, and around for my entire career. I've picked up a few tips. Okay?"

Sakura nods. "Okay."

"Good." Kakashi pulls her to her feet, then continues speaking; "don't worry, in no time at all I'll whip you and your teammates into the reincarnation of The Sannin that the brass wants you to be."

There's a silent pause.

"What!?" Naruto, Sakura and I ask simultaneously.

Kakashi gives us a sheepish expression so obviously fake it's disgusting.

"Oops, did I say that out loud?"

"What do you mean whip us into the reincarnation of The Sannin?" I ask.

"Well," Kakashi says, "the higher-ups think that you three have the potential to be the next great thing. You know, like The Sannin were.

"So, uh…" He gives us a thumbs up. "No pressure."