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I did edit Chapter 9, so if you end up rereading, it'll be better.
The fire jutsu is even more simple than the earth jutsu. It has three parts but they're all stupidly simple and kind of the same action. First, she must convert chakra into fire chakra, then she has to layer her hand in fire chakra, then she has to send all the excess into some stones in her hand until they're red. The important part is getting the stones hot enough that she needs to protect herself with what's in her hand and then gauge how much of each is needed, and that's the part she's failing.
Six hours in, and she's gotten them hot enough to feel uncomfortable. It's progress, but she's so used to learning everything almost instantly that it's really disheartening. She doesn't know how to keep herself motivated trying the same thing for hours. Even as a gamer she's never tried speedrunning or anything, she's just not used to this kind of failure. She succeeded with valor regardless of the challenge, and she wants to continue that pace as long as possible.
It turns out, as long as possible, is about until fire chakra.
"Which is why I'm asking for help." Sasuke looks genuinely distraught with her explanation. She'd call it angry if she didn't know him better, he just looks confused, a little worried, maybe even disturbed.
"So, let me get this straight." He stares deep into her eyes around their campfire. Sneaking out of Tazuna's house to hang around Naruto as he tries to get this tree walking thing perfected is automatic for them. He can do it now, they all can, but Naruto's never been one to be happy with just being okay at something, and Sakura's here for it. "In one day, you've managed to go from never having molded fire chakra at all, to heating these stones enough that the air around them is visibly distorted." Sasuke points at her hand, and the little waves in the air that signify her minor accomplishment.
"Yes." She nods.
"And you're discouraged?" He asks.
"Shouldn't it be faster?" She asks, awkwardly rubbing her arm with the hand not holding stones and molding chakra.
"No!" Sasuke palms his forehead quite forcefully. "No it shouldn't! You know how long it took me? Months. It took me months to learn how to mold fire chakra well enough to cast my first real fire jutsu, and I'm a natural fire element. All Uchiha are natural fire elements."
"That sounds painful." She admits with a harsh wince. "Is there like a cheat code?"
"Yes." She's surprised enough by his blunt answer to set the stones down. "There actually is, it's just stupid." At her eager look, he realizes he's spoken too much, and decides the rabbit hole should just be opened directly. "Forget the objective, and focus solely on generating fire chakra as an automatic response. You'll do this by focusing on generating the fire chakra around your hand, and sticking it directly in fire. Either you'll succeed, or you'll get burned. Repeat until you can do it for long periods of time without getting hurt."
"I thought you didn't like me hurting myself." She points out.
"I don't." His disdain is clearer in his tone than his eyes. He's a scary boy. "But you're going to do it anyway, you should probably be good at it."
"Ah. That makes sense."
"So, my life is a game." It hangs in the air, resting there awkwardly. A team meeting in the woods at five in the morning wasn't how she expected to make this reveal, but if she's going to be giving it out to random strangers like this Haku, even if it's to protect Naruto, then her team deserves the details.
"Sakura, I have a great guy I talk to." Sasuke says, somehow even more awkward than her. He's sitting in the grass, while Naruto stands sideways on a tree. He figured out how to just hang there last night, and now he's using it as a core exercise. She should probably do that, the effort to stay sideways has to be an amazing work-out. The fact that he's flapping his arms like a bird and making the occasional rooster adjacent sound only makes it better. His sense of humor hasn't gotten a lot better since becoming a part of her family, but it has gotten a lot more bold. It makes her snicker. He's able to be this happy almost directly after a senbon was held at his eye.
Actually, all things considered, he was stupidly calm yesterday. Has he been threatened a lot? She needs to investigate that too when she gets home. Sword, Naruto, how to get away with murdering people who threaten her boys, in that order.
"Unfortunately for us, I think she's telling the truth." Kakashi says. Injured or not, he'd never pass-up a team meeting when he can move. They brought his sleeping bag out here to the forest for him, and he's resting in the fluffy blankets like a caterpillar about to change into a butterfly and destroy their enemies.
"Kakashi…" Sasuke sighs.
"I mean it. She's gained two elements in three days, and learned how to mold fire chakra while she was at it." Kakashi says bluntly. "Those three days were not peaceful village days under a powerful tutor either, they were a day after getting stabbed through the gut, with a teacher who was bedridden and couldn't help her much."
"So she's a prodigy, she can still be crazy." Sasuke points out. "In my experience, most prodigies are up the wall bonkers and chewing on a stick."
"Oh believe me, I know." Kakashi laughs pitifully under his blanket. "I know. But this is a different kind of crazy. She can't lie, we know this. Either she's telling the truth, or she believes she's telling the truth."
Sasuke doesn't like it, she can see that much. But he stops arguing, and merely looks at her with great concern. "I have stats." Sakura says.
"Everyone has stats, Sakura." That's Naruto, she's recently gotten him into some fun co-op RPGs like dark souls, and while he's very, very bad at it, it's been a lot of fun teaching him cool new concepts like the statistics menu and leveling up. She figured it would be nice to help him understand before she had to spring this on him, now she's not as sure. "We grow stronger when we do things to get stronger. Like um… push-ups give you strength, and thinking real hard gives you intelligence?"
"Yes." She gives him an approving nod, she's happy he's learning, even if it's a thorn in her side at the moment. If she could see his statistics, she's pretty sure he'd be so much better than when she first got him. Kakashi's been very helpful for her and Sasuke, but she's been very helpful for Naruto. Watching him tremble and struggle to stay upright against the tree is hilarious, he looks like he's going to fall apart any second, but he's persevering in a way she likes to believe she's contributed to. "But mine are different, I can see them, and they seem to be going up faster than they should be. I'm almost half again as strong as I was when I graduated from the Academy a month ago. Years of my life, nothing compared to recent weeks."
"You're also pushing yourself a lot harder." Sasuke points out. "And doing psychotic things."
"Yeah, sorry." Sakura winces. She didn't apologize, or even touch on his concerns the other night, and that eats at her in a way she wishes it didn't. Life was so much easier before she grasped social convention enough to recognize when she's done something wrong. Empathy sucks. "I'll try to be more careful, your concern was valid, and I shouldn't just forget you have feelings like that."
Your Charm has raised to 11
Congratulations, you have achieved Academy Student Charm
Academy Student Charm: We didn't think we'd have to make Academy Student Traits, but here we are. Someone's mood will now appear beside their head in one of those mood chart pictures if you're struggling to identify their expression. |
It's nice to see her efforts helping, though it's sad that such a simple statement is enough. To think, her charm is almost double what it was a month ago. She's starting to understand facial expressions now, and not just the monotone ones one sees in a game like 'that guy is angry because he has an angry face.' She hates to say it, but that skill will probably be really helpful. She's such a lost cause, or was, now she just has to get better.
"I don't have a good way to convince you." Sakura admits, while Sasuke's emotions flicker behind his eyes. "And it's okay that you don't believe me. I just felt like you needed to know. It's not fair that I've been hiding something so big, when you were so open about your brother."
She knows she hasn't won, but she can see it now. Sasuke wants to believe her, he just can't. He's seen someone he believed in lose it before. "Now for the real reason I called this meeting." Sakura stands up, just as Naruto loses his grip and crashes into the dirt in a sprawled penguin-like position. She has to hold back a snicker, this is serious but his groan is funny. He's just flopping around over there trying to find purchase like his legs don't work anymore. "Yesterday, I met the enemy. Today, I plan to meet the enemy again, and I really don't want to be alone when I do that… I don't want to die again. Help me."
Her team is hidden. Naruto and Sasuke are pretty far away, because they're not particularly stealthy, but Kakashi's a jonin and is very good at stealth. He's got a nice signal jutsu planned for if they have to fight, so the boys can join and they can handle this together. It's with that knowledge that she allows her feet to walk into what might be a very dangerous scenario.
She hopes that if things go wrong, Kakashi's in good enough health to turn the tide, but he looks so hurt even after all this time. It wasn't until seeing Kakashi so injured for so long over something so small, that it really clicked with her just how overpowered her sleeping ability is.
To think she went so many years actively trying not to sleep.
Haku is waiting there for her when she arrives, standing tall and patient. It's a little intimidating, when so shortly ago Haku had Naruto in his grip. She doesn't believe she could have won that fight, reflection on it is pretty clear, Naruto could have died because she was impatient and reckless. She needs to learn patience, even if it means spending time away from her sword.
It'll be easier once she knows exactly what it's doing, and if it's the sword at all. She could just be seeing her natural borne impatience in the field, and blaming it on magic because magic is a very convenient explanation. Knowing the difference will be very valuable.
"You actually came alone." The boy stands in the same clearing, waiting for her while she approaches. "That was stupid."
"I trust you." She avoids saying anything that's a lie. She genuinely does trust him. He could have killed them, he could have just not saved her. They're still alive, this boy can be trusted.
"You shouldn't."
"But I do." Sakura leans against a tree, sword still completely sheathed. "I owe you my life, I'm pretty sure that counts for something."
"Without us you wouldn't have been injured in the first place." This Haku's expression is so stone, she could learn a thing or two from those pretty cheeks and well formed face.
"That just makes it all the more confounding." Sakura says. "Why save me if I'm the enemy? I've played enough games to know that you're not evil."
"You've what?"
"You're the secret character you get by making all the right choices." Sakura explains. "I don't think I'm gonna get you, I'm not very good at making the right decisions, but… I do think you're too good natured to hurt me unprompted. You wanted to talk, so I'm here, let's talk."
"You're different." Haku decides. "I am Haku."
"Sakura Haruno." She introduces herself. "I believe you owe me an explanation?"
"I said we'd trade, you gave me nonsense." The boy crosses his arms across his chest. "I do not like being mocked."
"I'm not sure what to tell you." Sakura shrugs, slowly, evenly. Her breath hitches harshly as she realizes that if Sasuke doesn't believe her, why would a random enemy? "I told you the truth. My life is a game, and every step is another portion of a quest. Gato is going to die, and with him, Wave will be restored. It's that easy."
"Say I actually did believe you," Haku begins, "what would that even mean for me?"
"It'd mean you're doomed to fail. You're the antagonist, and the whole system is based around a goal you're actively fighting."
"And if I killed you right now?" He asks.
"You won't." She doesn't even reach down to her weapon at the threat, there's no point. Even if he did, Kakashi would save her… probably. She hopes.
"Kakashi makes my skin crawl, Sasuke makes my heart beat faster every time he glares, even Naruto can raise my blood pressure when he's in a bad mood. But I feel nothing from you, not the slightest presence of desire to kill. The anger that dwells within every ninja, ready to lash out at the enemy and commit atrocity for their village and their people, simply doesn't exist within you. You're a ghost."
"You're stretching." Haku says. "And a bad liar."
"Really bad." Sakura laughs, "soooo bad."
"But you're right." It's that statement hanging in the air that allows Sakura to breathe.
The tension within her fades just a little with every filling of her lungs. "I believe you." The boy nibbles his lip, looking down to her hip where her sword lays pointlessly. He seems to be remembering something, probably the same bloodbath that haunts her dreams. She's had problems sleeping again lately, but luckily she only needs six hours so once she finally manages to get to sleep after a couple hours of laying there she's good. "I saved you because I don't want this."
"Don't want what?"
"This. Wave, all this suffering, all this death. The children can't even afford to eat, and even if they could, the shopkeepers don't have food to sell them." Haku says, voice quivering ever so slightly. His eyes look damp in a way she hasn't seen in quite some time. Ninjas don't cry from emotions, not normally. That kind of reaction is trained out of them in the academy. Aside from when it was her turn with the stick, she can't really remember the last time she cried. "You're not strong enough to pose a threat, so why let you die? Why let another person fall pointlessly for a goal I don't even want?"
"I feel like your master wouldn't be happy to hear this." Sakura says.
"He knows, he just… we need the money." Haku says. "I won't turn against him, you won't have my aid. But… if you were to try to solve all this, I might be able to turn his attention away from your actions."
"I'm not ready." She says.
"Then get ready." There's a growl there, under his tone. An angry chart face appears next to Haku's head, and she has to hold back a sweat drop. It's so big and needless and colorful. The overly pronounced expression of the chart face looks nothing like Haku's diligently held together features.
"I will return here every few days. You will leave a note for me when you are ready to accomplish this quest of yours. Once you have confirmed that I have collected your note, you will have a short time period to do what you want. I can promise no more, I will not betray my master."
"Why even do that much?" Sakura asks.
"Because if Gato is gone, we can leave." Haku says. "A mercenary's word is all they have. Even if we wanted to, we couldn't go back on the mission while Gato is around."
"But if he's dead, then you can go. Why not kill him yourself?" Sakura asks.
"Are you deaf?" The femboy asks. "I said our word is all we have."
Even Sasuke's advice isn't working.
Well, okay, it is. On the surface she's made a lot of progress in just a few short hours, nut deeper, she really hasn't. If her goal is to accomplish every element before she has to make the dungeon crawl, she has to hope lightning and wind are easier than fire. If they aren't, it's far more likely she'd benefit more from doing physical exercises like Naruto and hoping to etch out just enough extra advantage to go on the dungeon crawl.
The bright side is that now that she's talked to her team, she doesn't have to make the crawl alone. The relief that comes with standing by their side is palpable, it helps her breathe, it helps her think, it helps her exist. She's very happy about it, and she probably should be.
"Now that I think about it, where is the dungeon?" The quest is nice and all but if she doesn't know where she's supposed to go, then things'll be really complicated.
Tomorrow, she'll train physically while searching the island for potential locations. It'll give her a much needed stat increase - she hasn't had a real one in a long time - and give her information she needs. Sasuke can help her search, he's a good teammate. Maybe not a great friend, he's a bit too blunt for that at times, but a good teammate.
Sitting with Inari and playing games with him really takes the edge off a day of training.
That she can do it while playing with the rocks is a bonus. He's gotten somewhat good at this, and watching him play makes it really easy to zone out and fade into the background.
| You have unlocked Proto-Fire Affinity, level 1. Reach level 10 to unlock Fire Affinity. |
She jumps at the sight, startling Inari who drops the system. She catches it with her free hand, happy to help and deposits it back in his hands a second later. "Sorry about that." She says, "I just got startled by something."
Proto-fire affinity. That's different to water and earth. It implies that if she doesn't naturally have the affinity, she can earn it. She'll need to tell Kakashi about this, and maybe Sasuke as well. Naruto's getting rather jealous of her power, even if she feels like he'll lay off now that he knows it's actually magic, she has no reason to make his day worse by bragging to him.
It's about respect, respect and a sense of comradeship. She will say with Naruto's impossible stamina he really doesn't get to be jealous, but it is what it is. "Oh wow you're getting really good at this!"
"Thanks!"
Searching the island isn't as simple as she'd like. Sasuke went one direction while she went another. The idea being that if he spots anything crazy and huge or out of place he hunts her down and tells her so she can check it out. She imagines the dungeon will tell her, but it won't tell Sasuke, so it's not as efficient as two of her but she has to work with what she has.
She's been afraid to check her stats since she got impaled. What if she went up like six points in constitution, or worse, didn't. In one way she has to accept that her power has been permanently stained by her untimely demise. In the other, she has to accept that all of that wasn't even worth a stat point.
She'll definitely have to check on her points tonight though, she needs to know if all this exercise is making her any better. High knees, latching onto trees and mimicking Naruto, swinging from tree to tree with her arms like a monkey, jumping around at a speed that's borderline sprinting to get her legs an extra burn. It's mostly strength and agility training, but any training is important. At her stats before this mission, a single point is only about a three to four percent increase, but getting multiple of those is a combat multiplier she can't afford to ignore.
The perks at certain thresholds only makes it more tantalizing, and it helps that even when she messes up and hits a tree or something it does so little damage her constitution skill negates it entirely. She can train in a way normal people simply can't, and she has to abuse that while searching.
It's a nice thought that resonates through her wonderfully as she lands in a clearing and takes a moment to catch her breath and stretch.
| Random Encounter Started: Goblin Horde |
"I'm sorry, what?" She doesn't have a lot of time to be startled by the notice before she's dodging a rock thrown at her from a tree. The entire area around her morphs quickly, lighting up as little green men spawn into existence. There's a fire, there's a chest, there's archers and swords and trip wires and pit traps and it's all clearly meant to be against her.
"Fuck."
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