Chapter 51

Two weeks had passed, and now the Chunin Exams were one short month away. In those two weeks, I had made impressive physical gains. After the first week of running and body flickering with my weights as high as I could manage, Hiruzen decided that I was comfortable with the act of moving at high speeds without being able to control my direction, so he started having me working on the Hiraishin full time.

What a piece of work that was!

The Hiraishin was a…complicated jutsu, to say the least. I call it complicated because initially, I thought it was just some type of sealing-based jutsu where you teleport. Of course, I assumed there were extra steps, but I had no clue as to what they were.

Which, of course, meant I couldn't figure out shit.

When Hiruzen saw me struggling, he called for the Hokage Guard, Genma, Raido, and Iwashi to help me with the jutsu.

It took just a day of them lecturing me about the jutsu for me to understand it.

Tobirama's Hiraishin worked in many different parts, with kanji with many different meanings inscribed into the seal. Since there were many parts, it made using the jutsu incredibly difficult since you would have to focus and ensure each part worked well before you could use the jutsu. This alone speaks for how great of a shinobi Tobirama was for creating the jutsu and using it effectively in the warring states period and the First Great Shinobi War.

Now, there was Minato's Hiraishin. He took what Tobirama had and reworked it to the point where there were only three parts with three different meanings.

The first, the kanji was for 'endurance' and focused on creating beacons, or teleportation points within the seal.

The second kanji was for 'love' and focused on locating the beacons.

The third kanji was for 'sword' and focused on the action of teleporting to the beacons.

The Hokage Guard knew this because they all had their versions of the Hiraishin based on these three seals. According to them, when Minato died, he had left behind the full Hiraishin jutsu for them to learn, but they weren't capable of such a thing. So Jiraiya reworked the Hiraishin and split it into three separate seals that worked together. Raido held the seal of endurance, Genma love, and Iwashi, sword. Together, the three could use the Hiraishin to teleport people or even themselves if it came down to it.

So, when presented with the knowledge of how to use the Hiraishin, it was rather simple to figure out how to use it from there. Using the jutsu required a great deal of focus since using it required going through each of the three steps before you could teleport.

It took me several tries, more than I'd like to admit, but eventually, I teleported to a preplaced beacon/marker. It was a weird feeling. I stood by a tree one second, and the next, I was a hundred meters away. It didn't feel like I had moved, but instead, like I was forced to move.

It was something I knew would take a while to get used to and something I knew couldn't be used in rapid succession, at least not yet…but it was a start.

"Congratulations, you've learned the Hiraishin; it only took you two weeks." Hiruzen teased, but I could tell he was impressed.

When I said that, it "took me several tries." I meant that it took me several thousand tries a day for two weeks straight and a great deal of mental exertion before I finally managed to teleport once.

Yes, just once.

I teleported once today and couldn't do it again, no matter how I tried until just a few minutes ago when I managed to teleport thrice more. The focus part was a huge deal breaker; luckily, I was incredibly good at focusing. I had spent my early life training days feeling the air around me for any foreign objects around me and pinpointing them without even looking. I had been building my focus for years, and I'm glad I have because otherwise, I would have never been able to learn this jutsu!

I was neither Minato nor Tobirama, but I was on the path to greatness, and I was excited to see just how far I could go; for now, it was back to training!

— Sakura —

She wiped the sweat from her forehead as she focused her chakra evenly onto the soles of her feet and stepped on the water. She took a step, then another. She felt stable; she made progress!

"I think I got it!"

"Good job, Sakura!" Naruko grinned. "Now we can start with elemental manipulation training!"

"Mhm!" To say she was happy would be an understatement; she was ecstatic! Her chakra control was great, so her sensei, Genma, didn't tend to help her with it. Instead, he gave her low-level jutsu and taught her how to use them. Whenever he wasn't available, her teammates, Taro and Kuzan, were more than ready to help her with her training. Especially Kuzan, he was one of the kindest guys she'd met in her life and would personally take time out of his day to explain jutsus to her when she didn't understand them or show her the correct way of doing things.

She understood why the girls in their academy class had a crush on him-

Though, let the record show, she was Team Lei all day! Also, Team Satsuki…

As Sakura stepped off the water and walked over to Naruko, she began to see the blonde-haired girl in a new light. Before, she thought of Naruko as a girl who hogged the man of her dreams while also being unfairly close to the cold Uchiha beauty that was Satsuki, but in the time Sakura's been training with Naruko, Satsuki, and Hinata, she's come to realize that the three girls weren't bad…they were just incredibly protective.

Considering the fact that Lei was dating all three of them and, according to Hinata, "was open for more in the future." She realized that there would be a flock of women coming Lei's way; it was up to those three girls to filter out the ones that didn't deserve to stand beside him or that they just didn't like. Sakura had grown close to them, and she had come to realize that they didn't mind her existence as much as they used to.

Did that mean she had the green light?

Her heart warmed at the thought of being held in Lei's arms. Such a thing would be a dream come true, but Lei wouldn't just open his heart to her; she needed to prove herself. To rise to the level that his three girlfriends were at. She needed a chance, a stage.

Then the thought hit her.

The Chunin Exams.

That would be her chance, her stage to earn Lei's approval and affection, and she would succeed!

'CHA GO ON THEN BRING IT ON!' Her inner voice screamed, and she couldn't help but agree.

— Shikamaru —

"Your move." Asuma grinned. The older man had him in a pinch, or at least that's what the young Nara would let him believe.

"You're confident today," Shikamaru said with usual boredom as he moved his peace forward. Asuma stared at the board in confusion, which made sense; Shikamaru had just sacrificed one of his pieces, after all.

"Well, why wouldn't I be? I've got a date today."

Shikamaru paused for a moment, glancing up at his sensei and seeing the goofy, lovestruck look in his eyes.

'He's hopeless, a complete lost cause.' The Nara Heir thought to himself as he moved his piece forward. "Maybe if you focused on reality and got your mind out of the gutter, you would have realized how close you were to defeat."

Asuma raised a brow, looking at the shogi board, and low and behold. It was over, Shikamaru had used his sacrificed piece as a diversion and won himself the game.

"Nothing wrong with losing a game of shogi to a genius." Asuma shrugged, making Shikamaru crinkle his nose. The kid didn't like being called a genius, no matter how true it was, because geniuses typically got more work put on their plate. His father was a good example of that.

"Excuses." Shikamaru frowned, setting up the board for another game. "Play the game like you mean it."

"Alright, alright. One more, and then back to training. The Chunin Exams are in one month, and I have a bet with Kurenai."

"Another one?" Shikamaru looked up, his eyes narrowing. "How many do you intend to place?

"As many as it takes."

— Satsuki —

She jumped into the air with a backflip and launched a barrage of shuriken at the targets, each one hitting a perfect bullseye. Of her friends, she was the best with kunai and shuriken; her accuracy was absolute, and if she missed a target, a stationary one, or a moving one, it was because she chose to.

She prided herself on her accuracy, even though she knew that she shouldn't be proud of being the best at something the others didn't care to practice. Hinata only did the bare minimum when it came to throwing weapons, doing just enough to have great aim. Lei, on the other hand, as he so crassly put it, "couldn't give a flying fuck about throwing metal weapons." Not when he had his, and she quotes, "Almighty wood."

Naruko also didn't care about it; she was more of a 'Fight me head-on!' Kind of person, and Satsuki didn't hold that against her.

After all, she liked a good fight as well.

Yet she fell behind Hinata and Lei when it came to strict taijutsu. Sure, it was fair to say she was more skilled than Lei, but he had the speed and strength to make her skill irrelevant and regarding Hinata…that girl was a monster, perhaps one of the greatest taijutsu minds in the history of the village. Her gentle fist was a threat on its own, but when she used her lighting affinity to use the twin lion fists and mix it up with all of the Hyuga techniques, it made her a threat that could kill with a single blow.

So here Satsuki was, pushing herself to the limit, to the brink of exhaustion. She needed to improve. There was a month until the Chunin Exams, and she refused to be the weakest on their team. Naruko could hold that spot!

"You're quite desperate, aren't you?"

Her eyes snapped towards the voice, and a deep frown formed as she stared at Kakashi, sitting in a tree reading…

Is that a new book? Did that pervert sannin really make another?!

She needed to teach that sannin a lesson in the future. He was an enemy to women everywhere, and he needed to be stopped!

"What the hell do you know?" She bit at the Jonin, but Kakashi was unaffected, not even looking up from his book.

"I know much more than you, and that'll never change."

"You think you're better than me, eye stealer; I am an Uchiha, a proud one at that!"

"Yet I'm the only one here with a sharingan."

The moment those words left his mouth, she launched her shuriken toward Kakashi, the man causally reaching into his pouch and pulling out a kunai to deflect them, all while never taking his eyes off of the book.

"You're a feisty one aren't you?" He clapped the book shut, storing it in his pocket. "Well, if it's a fight you want..." He dropped to the forest ground, reached for his headband, and revealed his sharingan. "Bring it."

Satsuki's fists clenched, she reached into her pouch and pulled out a kunai, moving to rush Kakashi. The man used his kunai to block her attacks. Eventually, counter-attacking and forcing her to dodge backward. She took a moment to remove her weight seals and charge again, this time weaving through hand seals.

'Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

A massive ball of fire spewed out of her mouth before splitting into smaller flames that burned just as bright. Kakashi jumped away and that's exactly what she hoped for. She ran toward where he was gonna land and just as Kakashi raised his kunai to block her slash, she threw it at his eye instead, Kakashi was forced to deflect the kunai with his own and Satsuki sent a punch toward his gut which would have connected if she was just a bit faster.

Kakashi dodged by a hair and counter-attacked with a kick that sent her flying into a tree.

"You know, you talk a big game." Kakashi walked forward with slow steps. "The Almighty Uchiha, no one comes close to your greatness, but here you are, on your knees, with your life in my hands." His hand crackled with lightning and Satsuki's eyes widened.

He…He wouldn't!

"Yeah, I may not have been born with this eye…but at least I have one. What kind of Uchiha are you?" He got closer and closer by the second, Satsuki's back to the tree as she looked at his form approaching. A flash appeared in her eyes as Kakashi was no longer there, instead, it was the man she hated most in this world.

No…NO…NOOO!

"You are a fool." "Foolish little sister."

Her breathing increased to rapid pants as Itachi grew closer to her.

"You are a failure; you bring shame to your entire clan." "The talents of the Uchiha are wasted on you."

Her mind grew shaky as the lighting came within a few meters of her.

"Let me put you out of your misery." "Time to die, little sister." The blurring figure of Kakashi/Itachi rushed her.

Her breathing stopped as she threw herself out of the way; she scrambled on the ground, trying to make heads or tails of her situation. Then her eyes looked back to Kakashi; she crawled backward as he dispelled the lightning blade and walked towards her.

"Stay away from me!" She shouted, crawling back until her rear hit a tree. "Please!"

Kakashi walked to her kunai in hand, then dropped to a knee and put a hand on her shoulder. He brought the kunai to her face, and she flinched away.

Moments passed, and nothing happened, so she opened her eyes and saw Kakashi up close, his eyes closed with a noticeable smile through his mask. "Congratulations on awakening your sharingan, Satsuki Uchiha."

Her eyes widened; she looked into the kunai, and lo and behold.

One eye with two tomoe, and one with three.

She had done it; she had awakened her sharingan!