Chapter 38
"I'd like to see you try, Dead Last," a scowling Sasuke challenges.
"Hey, now, where did our teamwork go," Kakashi easily states stepping between the two. "Sasuke, Naruto's right. You should treat your teammates better. And Naruto, just because you don't agree with your teammate, doesn't mean you fight them. Now, since the third genin of this team is out, I'm willing to give you a three day weekend, but I want you both to continue training and conditioning. We may not have missions but maximizing the strength of your body and skill never takes a break."
"Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke tamely calls. "I need you to oversee my training."
"I guess I can take a look," Kakashi says just a bored.
"Ne, ne, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto eagerly chimes. "I need you to look over my training too!"
"If I have some time, sure," Kakashi replies, taking some of the wind out of the blond's sail. "How's that task Kurenai-sensei wanted going?"
"What task?" Sasuke quickly asks. "Is another Jōnin-sensei training the dobe as well?" Sasuke is clearly irritated by that notion.
"Relax, I'm the only instructor for all the members of Team 7," Kakashi tells the raven-haired avenger, who crosses his arms. "Naruto?"
"It's fine, I guess," Naruto tells him, recalling another of Kurenai-sensei's rules explicitly forbidding him from telling others how he's helping Hinata-chan. "It's super boring though."
"Alright then, dismissed," Kakashi announces, and Naruto is off, hell bent on making up lost training time. His thoughts couldn't be more apparent if he said it aloud...
'I'm going to get the second stage of that damn jutsu down today even if it kills me!'
Naruto's only break of the day came in the form of Ramen, then he would sprint back into training deep in the forest, keeping well away from unexpected witnesses. When Naru-nii joins him for thirty minutes, Naruto goes all out trying to master this stage of the Rasengan.
'You have to work through the pain,' Naru-nii would explain, though it was impossible for him to judge his progress since he couldn't see Naruto's progress. 'And focus as much chakra into that point as you can. Use the pain as a gauge. The more it hurts, the more force you infuse in the chakra. That's how you blow that stupid ball up!' Naru-nii exuberantly calls, firing Naruto up.
With nineteen clones, all twenty Narutos spend the day trying to burst the rubber ball, pushing meeting Kurenai-sensei as far as he possibly could until he couldn't afford to train another minute without being late. Naruto decided to rush back and let his clones continue training. He was nearly back in the village when his mind warped painfully, like someone tried to squeeze a huge influx of nineteen individual memories and experiences in the small jar that is his brain. Before everything went black, he singles out the cause. Somehow one of the clones managed to burst the rubber ball to such a degree that all the clones were dispelled, knocking Naruto unconscious.
He woke up in the morning on the forest floor not fifty yards from the top of the Hokage monument. Fortunately, his head aches with minimal throbbing, which is surprising considering how fast he heals. Heading home, his guilt for missing yet another session contends with his joy for completing the second stage of Rasengan. Triumphant joy won out and he simply commits to apologizing to Kurenai-sensei before that night's session.
KURENAI
"Hey, babe, you're ruining the dango for me," Anko tells her best and only girlfriend.
The red-eyed beauty says nothing, knowing any reply she gives will only make it clear how much of her mind is full of stress. Kurenai's daily routines pale in comparison to the two positive pillars in her life at the moment; two faces at the forefront of her thoughts, one with indigo hair, looking disappointed that her sensei failed her, and the other face looks at her apathetically, as if he doesn't even care enough to hate her.
"I know this whole thing with the Daimyo's daughter sucks but you gotta keep it together," Anko continues after swallowing her green dango with delight. "You can't ever be sure how these things'll turn out, you know. There could be an engagement until minutes before the wedding when it's called off because some other Daimyo or prince needs some kind of alliance. And even if Asuma marries her, it's not like it's for love."
"You're not very good at cheering people up," Kurenai deadpans, pushing her red, white, and green dango away for her tea.
"I usually rely on a lot of alcohol to do the heavy lifting," Anko happily states as she grabs her friends uneaten dango. "Look, your little lamb is with her family for the weekend, I have sometime before tonight's interrogation, let's get some drinks and have fun, yeah? Make a couple cute guys drool?"
"I guess," Kurenai agrees, exhaling. "I think that could help."
"And please get laid," the busty kunoichi adds, quickly provoking a friendly glare from the red-eyed beauty. "What? It's been ages already, and enough is enough. You've been all business since you got your brats and I'm telling you, you can't keep going without a bit of dick every once in a while. You might not have another opportunity to cut loose."
"You know it's not like I'm opposed to some overnight company," Kurenai levels. "It's just..." Kurenai trails off, an image of Asuma appears bright and impressive in her mind and heart. As much fun as a night of non-committed pleasure with a stranger can be, it's a paltry substitute to being with someone you genuinely love. If anything, it just means she has more of an emotional expectation from a partner that Anko didn't seem to care for.
"I know," Anko says sympathetically. "We both have men in our lives we can't forget, though in my case it's because I want to murder him… brutally. It's why I keep it strictly physical, babe."
"I would if I could," Kurenai freely admits with a smirk. "Kami how much easier life would be."
"It's heaven," Anko returns with a broad smile. "For now anyway. I'm sure it'll change eventually—way down the line if I'm lucky."
Kurenai and Anko understand how change is inevitable. It's one of the many principles taught to every shinobi of the Leaf; in their line of work, they can't allow that moment of being stupefied if something doesn't go as planned. Plans often fail, and that failure can cost lives, so they both know in order to survive, they must be able to adapt. Being adaptable means surviving longer and they all want to survive.
After a moment of silence, Anko admits to her dearest friend, "personally, I think this is the moment for you guys, but whatever happens, at least you'll know where you stand with him. That sounds better than all this stress and anxiety."
"We're trained to endure," Kurenai replies with no real conviction.