When you arrive at the training ground bright and early the next morning you are greeted by a bleary Sakura. You'd been somewhat surprised when she rather eagerly accepted your invite to your training session with Gai-sensei. Though given how she looked now, you're not entirely sure that she had understood what exactly that meant. "Good morning Sakura!" You greet her with an audible chirp in your voice.
She rubs her eyes and lets out a yawn, before fixing you with a glare. "How are you so cheery?"
"Finely-honed survival instincts. Everyone else on the team is a freakishly early riser. I've been forced to adapt." You supress a flashback to the numerous times you've overslept (Which were completely accidental, and certainly not because your half-conscious self had a habit of destroying alarm clocks)and been forced to complete your entire morning routine as you stumbled out the door. "Besides, I told you to get a good night's sleep, didn't I."
"I did" she yawns, "But at least I managed to get out of my training sessions with Ebisu-sensei. I mentioned I was tagging along to your training with Gai-sensei and I think he thought I was going insane."
You awkwardly rub the back of your neck, "Gai-sensei isn't
that bad." Though then you glance around, "He should be here soon th-" You cut off as a kunai slams into the ground at Sakura's feet.
Oh no.
She opens her mouth, a question already forming on her lips "Wha-"
"DYNAMIC!" There is a whistling sound; the sound of the air being torn in two as a green blur slams into the ground. An audible crack thunders through the air as a dust cloud stretches up towards the sky.
"ENTRY!"
Sakura jumps into the air, her hair practically standing on its end. Meanwhile you just let your head sink down into the comfortable, and sadly familiar, embrace of your hands. Of course he was going to try to be impressive. You really should have seen this coming.
Your teacher's voice booms out even before the dust has finished settling "
Good morning my youthful pupil!" He strides out of the cloud, the agitated dust streaming off him, seemingly without dirtying his clothes at all. One of these days you'll figure out how he does that.
"And I see you brought a friend! One of the students of my incredibly hip arch-rival in fact!"
Sakura is still looking decidedly pale, probably from catching such an extreme dose so early in the morning...perhaps you should have done a better job warning her. Still, you cough, directing his attention onto you. "Yeah, Sakura here was helping me train yesterday. And well, she wanted to tag along to our training sessions for the rest of the week, since Kakashi-sensei is focused on training Sasuke for his match with Gaara."
Gai rubs his chin, seemingly considering the thought, before turning to Sakura.
"Yes! I believe my eternal rival mentioned something to that effect when I last saw him. And the chance to challenge my teaching methods against his own, undoubtedly, hip methods? A true challenge! Excellent Work Tenten!" He pauses, half turning to Sakura,
"Now, I was there for your own match against one of Asuma's pupils, but one's own assessment of their limits is the most important part."
You wait for her to answer, but Sakura still seems to be frozen with her mouth half open say something, so you take that moment to intercede. "I think so meditation and other focus exercises are what I need to finally get a handle on the technique I've been working on. For Sakura here, her ninjutsu and genjutsu skills are really quite good."
You see Sakura flush slightly at the praise, and Gai just nods thoughtfully,
"Yes, my rival is a master of ninjutsu and genjutsu. So it makes sense for one of his pupils to be skill in their use."
"But from my spar with her yesterday she is somewhat lacking in stamina and-" You pause, mulling over your next words carefully. Sakura snaps out of her trance enough to give you a puzzled look, before you see the smallest spark of dawning comprehensions and horror in her eyes. "Her taijutsu skills need serious work."
The words hang there in silence, the sheer weight of their implications pressing down on you and your newfound friend. She slowly turns to you, her eyes wide. "Tenten
why?"
"Because I want you to improve." is all you manage to get out before you see Gai's eyes blaze to life with barely contained fire.
"I-Wha-" You wisely take a step back, dropping down in a sitting position as your friend is subsumed by a green blur. You feel a small stab of guilt at pawning off Sakura to Gai-sensei like that. But she'll learn something from it. Once you get passed the...
quirks...Gai-sensei really is a great teacher.
You let the sound of shouting and sparring fade into the background for now. You have your own training strategies you want to try for now. Your hands rest on your knees as you focus your senses, letting your
awareness of the world wash over you.
Breathe In.
Breathe Out.
You wince as the after-effects of a localized whirlwind hits you. The whipping wind threatening to break your concentration as you individually pick out every single detail of the world around you one-by-one.
Breathe In.
Breathe Out.
As you do so you let more and more of your golden chakra flow into your senses, sending them higher and higher. You feel your consciousness spiraling downward into ever finer and finer detail as the world around you falls away into a mess of sensation. You're not entirely sure how long you stay submerged there, marinating in your awareness of the world around you.
It comes suddenly, a faint feeling in the back of your mind, something clicks. A pressure releases, and you feel something inside your mind...
unwind. But more importantly, you can hear panting in front of you as your mind breaks the surface.
You quirk one eye open to see a panting Sakura looming over you, her outfit scuffed and dirty, her chest rising and falling with sharp intakes of air. Her face is twisted into a snarl of rage, a single shaking finger leveled at your chest. "
You."
You glance around, strange you don't see Gai-sensei anywhere, before pointing finger at yourself. "Me?"
"
You did this. You left me alone with that...t-that maniac for hours" You feel some of the color drain from your face. Hours, she's been sparing with Gai for hours. Unprepared.
Alone. You suppose you should be happy she's not sporting a green jumpsuit at this point.
"Now Sakura, L-let's not be
hasty here." You stammer out, "At least you learned something right?"
"
Learned something?!" She shrieks, "Oh I learned something alright. Let me show you!" Then, she lunges at you, arms outstretched. Your eyes widen in surprise, but you feel something click in your mind and when you next look the world...
slows down. Every detail of the scene in front of you soaks into your eyes as time grinds to a crawl in front of you. Sakura herself is outlined in a faint gold as her lunges for you.
Gained: [Panopticon Fusion Discipline]
Is this...is this what you were trying to unlock. You blink in confusion once, it feels so...natural. You didn't even need to make hand seals. Your eyes widen as you realize that notion. Then widen further as you remember
wait, crap Sakura is still lunging at me. You hastily push yourself up and to the side, rolling out of the way of danger.
Then the world resumes its normal speed, Sakura tumbling to the ground where you were a second ago in an awkward heap. Groggily she sits up, rubbing her head, "Wha-" Her brows crease, "Wha-happened?"
"Well, you certainly weren't lunging at me that's for sure." You pipe up.
"No, I was." she blinks as you stares into your eyes, "But Tenten, your eyes. They were gold, there and...then uh, you dodged uh-" She helplessly throws her arms up in the air. "Tired."
"Wait, but my eyes are brown why-" and then you make the connection, "Oh. Well, I guess that's what happens when I use that Jutsu."
"Oh." Sakura is quiet for a second, "Wait, what jutsu? Is that what you were practicing here? But...you didn't do any hand signs!"
"Well, you know that Fear Aura I can do?" She nods, "Well I can do other thing with it. Like, I thought it just made me
better at stuff. But now I can use it to...slow time I think? Or at least that's what it seems like. Oh, and I don't need to do hand seals for it."
Sakura opens her mouth to say something, but then closes it with an audible click, an expression of pure confusion on her face. Finally, she opens her mouth again. "What."
You rub the back of your neck, smiling awkwardly, "Yeah, I guess I just kinda...
do it."
Silence reigns between the two of you for a few seconds. "That is so unfair."
You pause to contemplate it, and...well to be honest even if you just had the handful of things you could do right now, the fact that you can do them with no handsigns would already mean you'd be riding high. But you know, you just
know, you can do more...so much more. So nod your head, "Yeah...it is."
Sakura looks like she's about to open her mouth to say something when she's interrupted by a booming voice. "
It sounds like you've succeeded in your own training as well, and just in time too!" There is a skidding sound as Gai appears in a cloud of dust next to you and Sakura. "
Your inner youth shines through brighter every passing day!"
At his sudden appearance you see Sakura go slightly pale, which only worsens with the mention of "inner youth". "Yeah, It finally clicked today. How did sparring with Sakura go?"
"
My eternal rival has truly wonderful pupils! Though you were right in your assessment, she has the spark of youth within her as well. Just waiting to burst free into a full bloom springtime!" He gives Sakura a beaming smile and double thumbs up to go along with his praise.
Sakura for her part just leans over, "Today explained so much about your team, for the record" she whispers.
You wince, "Yeah, it probably did."
Gai continues on unabated.
"However, to cap off today's training. How about the two of your spar! To truly pit your youthful energy against one another, and apply the lessons you learned today!"
Sakura blanches, but then seems to recover some of her game, nodding along. "I'm still...really tired, but Tenten, what do you say? It could be fun!"
You however were planning on heading into the hospital to get the check-up done and over with. Though you could really get that done anytime, and it would be pretty fun to test out your new trick. Way more fun than going to get poked and prodded in the hospital to be honest. Though you'd likely be even more tired tomorrow.
So what do you do?
[ ] Just stick to the plan. (Continue on the hospital for a check-up.)
[ ] The Hospital can wait. Fight time now. (Spar with Sakura. Extra XP gain. +1 Fatigue)
[ ] Stunt?
[ ] Something else? (Write-in)
What you missed while meditating was Gai meeting Inner Sakura. A pity you missed that. Or perhaps not. Nevertheless, Naruto may never forgive you for introducing Sakura to the village's foremost Taijutsu expert. If he ever found out you were responsible for this.
Shipping is of vast importance. Romance is at the heart of life!
Like I said, the only confirmed pairing for this Quest is Tenten/Sharp Objects. and Explosions. 
