Sakura arrived at Training Ground Three early. The midday sun was already baking the dirt, but she ignored the shade and stood in front of the practice targets, running through chakra-flow exercises to warm up her hands.
Kenji arrived fifteen minutes later and leaned against his usual tree to watch. Shizune appeared almost exactly at noon with her medical clipboard tucked beneath one arm. "All right. Start."
Kenji pushed away from the tree, walked behind Sakura, and placed both hands firmly on her waist. After yesterday, he expected the blue Chakra Scalpel around her fingers to flicker out immediately.
It stayed perfectly stable.
Kenji raised an eyebrow and squeezed her waist harder. Nothing happened. Sakura glanced over her shoulder with a smug smile. "Disappointed?"
"A little," Kenji admitted.
Shizune made a sharp mark on her clipboard. "Good. That means yesterday wasn't entirely wasted. Let's raise the difficulty."
She raised the difficulty immediately. Kenji started knocking Sakura off balance, catching her wrist halfway through a strike, dragging her backward, and blocking whichever hand she tried to use.
Sakura now had to recover the Scalpel while Kenji refused to let her stand comfortably and concentrate.
She failed several times during the first twenty minutes, but she did not fail because Kenji merely touched her or stood too close. She lost control of the delicate technique only when her balance shifted abruptly, or when Kenji actively trapped the arm she was using to channel chakra.
Eventually, Kenji caught her cleanly from behind, wrapping one arm tightly around her stomach while his other hand pinned her wrist against his chest. Sakura struggled immediately, grinding her heel backward and twisting her shoulders just enough to expose the wooden target. She somehow still managed to drive the glowing blue edge forward and slice the marked section cleanly in half.
Shizune nodded approvingly. "Much better."
Kenji looked toward the senior medic. "She's adapting too quickly."
Shizune's mouth twitched into a faint smile. "You must be losing your touch."
Kenji gave her a deeply offended stare, which Sakura immediately enjoyed far too much to hide.
For the next attempt, Shizune tapped her pen against the clipboard and told Kenji to use whatever specific distractions Sakura already reacted badly to.
Sakura slowly turned toward her teacher, her smile vanishing instantly. "Whatever?"
Shizune didn't look up, continuing to write her notes. "I need to know exactly how much pressure it takes for your control to survive when your concentration actually breaks. Pain is easy to ignore. Surprise is harder."
Kenji gave Shizune a cheerful thumbs-up. She caught it from the corner of her eye and gave him a warning look.
His smile widened.
Shizune's pen stopped moving for half a second.
Kenji moved behind Sakura again, but this time both hands settled firmly on her hips. He stepped close until his chest pressed against her back and lowered his mouth beside her ear while she held the Scalpel steady.
Sakura set her jaw and stared at the wooden target. The blade stayed alive.
Kenji smoothly slid one hand lower and squeezed her ass.
The blue blade shook violently, sparking once, but it survived. Kenji looked genuinely impressed, pulling back slightly. "Yesterday, that killed it instantly."
"Keep underestimating me," Sakura ground out through gritted teeth.
Another squeeze failed to break the blade. Kenji stared at the stubborn blue edge for a moment, then leaned closer to Sakura's ear.
"Ino adapted faster."
The Chakra Scalpel flared so violently that it became a miniature buzzsaw. Instead of merely scoring the surface of the wood, Sakura's hand tore straight through the thick practice board, severing the top half completely and launching it into the dirt.
The severed half of the board hit the dirt with a heavy thud. Shizune looked at the damage, then calmly wrote something on her clipboard.
Sakura immediately pointed an accusing finger at her teacher. "Don't write 'jealousy' down there!"
Shizune calmly drew a line across the paper, crossing something out. Kenji leaned over Shizune's shoulder to read it. It absolutely said jealousy.
Sakura stared at the ruined board, jaw tight, then formed the Chakra Scalpel again.
A blue interface flickered into Kenji's vision.
[Sudden Mission — Don't Lose the Blade]
[Make Sakura maintain a functional Chakra Scalpel for sixty seconds under maximum distraction.]
[Reward: +2,000 SP.]
Kenji read the prompt and smiled.
Shizune noticed the smile immediately and narrowed her eyes. "Why do you suddenly look like somebody just offered you money to misbehave?"
"Medical education," Kenji answered innocently.
Shizune stared at him for a second. She had seen that expression enough times to know asking for details would probably make the situation worse. "I don't want to know."
Shizune stepped back, checked her watch, and started the sixty-second timer.
Sakura pushed chakra into her hand until the blue edge settled into place. Kenji moved behind her and started increasing the pressure while Shizune watched the Scalpel.
He pulled Sakura against him, shifted her hips whenever she found her balance, whispered nonsense beside her ear, and caught her free wrist whenever her concentration settled. The blade sputtered several times, but each time Sakura forced it steady again.
Around forty seconds in, Kenji let his hands become considerably less professional. Sakura gasped and the blue edge nearly vanished.
"Hold it, Sakura!" Shizune snapped.
Sakura stopped reacting to Kenji and locked her attention onto the Scalpel. The blue edge shook badly, threatening to collapse every few seconds, but she kept forcing it back into shape.
The last twenty seconds crawled past. When Shizune finally checked her watch, the Scalpel was shaky and uneven, but still completely usable.
"Time," Shizune finally announced. "Release."
Sakura immediately let the chakra dissipate. She bent forward slightly, resting her hands on her knees, and breathed hard.
[Mission Complete — Don't Lose the Blade]
[Reward: +2,000 SP.]
[Current Balance: 44,890 SP.]
Kenji gave Shizune another thumbs-up. This time, Shizune walked over, reached out, and firmly pushed his hand down. "Stop thanking me," Shizune told him seriously. "She did the work."
Shizune checked Sakura's right hand and chakra flow before finally nodding.
"Tomorrow we take away the practice posts. You'll have to attack, evade, and keep the Scalpel stable while Kenji fights back instead of simply disrupting you."
Before returning to the hospital to finish her shift, Shizune walked past Kenji and stopped for a second. "She responds much better when you annoy her than when you praise her," Shizune said quietly.
Kenji nodded. "Useful medical information."
Shizune started toward the trail, and Kenji reached for her ass as she passed. Her hand snapped around his wrist before he made contact.
She gave him a flat look. "You already got enough assistance today."
Kenji leaned closer. "You said later yesterday."
The corner of Shizune's mouth twitched. "I remember."
She released him and continued toward the hospital. Sakura stared after her, then turned slowly toward Kenji. "I seriously need a different teacher."
"No, you don't," Shizune called back from somewhere beyond the trees.
Shizune disappeared down the trail, but Sakura remained beside the damaged practice posts. She stared at her right hand for a moment, flexed her fingers, and formed the Scalpel again.
Kenji noticed she still wasn't moving toward the village. "You could go home, you know."
Sakura crossed her arms. "I want to do it again."
Kenji looked at her for a second, clearly amused that she was voluntarily asking for another round, but wisely kept the observation to himself. He simply walked behind her and took his position again.
The second attempt went differently almost immediately. When Kenji pulled Sakura backward by the waist, she planted her feet, steadied the Scalpel—and deliberately ground her ass back against him.
Kenji went quiet for a second.
Sakura glanced over her shoulder and caught the missing smug grin. Her own appeared immediately. "What happened? Losing your touch?"
Kenji recognized Shizune's earlier insult and his smile returned. "Careful. At this rate, you might actually catch up."
Sakura's eye twitched.
"What?" Kenji asked innocently.
Sakura answered by turning around, grabbing his shirt collar with both hands, and kissing him hard.
The kiss was impulsive and messy, Sakura's fingers still twisted tightly in his collar. It caught Kenji off guard, but only briefly before his arms slid around her waist and pulled her firmly against him.
Sakura stayed against him for several seconds before pulling away. The smug grin waiting for her immediately soured her expression.
"That meant absolutely nothing," Sakura said, wiping her mouth.
"Of course."
"Stop smiling."
"I'm not."
He absolutely was.
Sakura turned toward the wrecked practice targets before he could say anything worse.
Kenji stepped backward and raised both hands where she could see them.
Sakura narrowed her eyes, immediately suspicious of the sudden distance. "What?"
"Nothing."
Kenji used Steal.
A pair of simple, practical white underwear appeared instantly, resting flat in his right palm. Sakura froze. She looked at his hand, looked down at her own skirt, and then slowly looked back up at his face, her eyes wide with mounting horror.
Kenji examined the stolen underwear carefully, then looked back at her. "Ino wore crimson lace."
Sakura's chakra began rising so violently the air around her literally hummed.
Kenji continued examining the cotton fabric, shaking his head in mock disappointment. "You came completely unprepared for this rivalry."
The dirt cracked beneath Sakura's right foot. Kenji used Hiraishin and vanished an instant before her chakra-enhanced fist tore through the space where his head had been.
Sakura tore after him. Kenji appeared on top of a training post just as she reached him, Sakura's fist smashing through the wood an instant after he vanished again.
He reappeared on a tree branch with her underwear dangling from one finger. "Crimson would suit you better."
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"
Sakura launched herself upward. Kenji vanished again, leaving her fist buried in the branch while his laughter came from somewhere behind her. After several more failed attempts, he finally disappeared from the training ground completely. Sakura stopped in the middle of the wrecked clearing, breathing hard, one hand instinctively pressing her skirt down.
The bastard had actually taken them.
Sakura slowly turned toward the road leading to the riverside district. She knew exactly where he lived.
Later that evening, Kenji was sitting comfortably in his living room, reading a scroll while Doom rested heavily on the rug beside him. Suddenly, somebody began pounding viciously on the front door.
Doom raised his massive, horned head from the floor, a low rumble starting in his chest. Kenji looked toward the entrance, putting the scroll down.
Another furious, chakra-enhanced knock literally shook the heavy wooden door on its hinges.
"KENJI!" Sakura's voice screamed from the porch.
Kenji smiled, entirely unconcerned. "That was faster than expected."
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