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"To be successful at anything you don't have to be special. You simply have to do what most people are not. Consistent, determined and willing to work for it."
Found this and thought about our special kunoichi, who put so much of herself on the line, that hasn't been explored yet.
Hope you enjoy this chapter
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CHAPTER 6:
Sakura could feel the sweat dripping off her face. She would've thought that when she achieved her spirit form, regular bodily functions, including all of its unfortunate chain of events, would be rendered moot. While she assumed soul reapers were basically ghosts, Kisuke had corrected her that she was actually a spiritual being that had enough power to make her solid enough to touch and interact with the physical world. A trait that ghosts weren't able to accomplish. However, she wouldn't be seen or heard in this form unless the individuals had high spiritual pressure of their own.
The training room beneath Urahara Shōten had become Sakura's santuary for three weeks and the staple of her daily routine in this foreign world. She would wake up, eat, then head straight down for her warm-ups. Sometimes she'd have to nag Kisuke to wake so that she could actually start. Since he insisted on being there for her training sessions, as he was the one coaching her in swordplay.
Even as a shinobi, Sakura had a limited range of weapons, and they had stuck to the typical kunai knives and throwing stars. While at the academy, they did teach the students some bare basics in a variety of weapons so they could eventually decide for themselves which ones they wanted to master, but Sakura hadn't really felt a pull towards using iron and steel over her fists. That was even before she had become Tsunade's apprentice.
When she thought back, Sakura wanted to kick her younger self for her lack of common sense. She was already limited in her ability as a kunoichi being from a civilian family with no special jutsu to inherit, and her average chakra capacity with subpar control.
She preferred to push down any negative voices for her lacking, because she had been pushed down as a child over the pettiest reasons that she didn't want anything to engulf her sense of worth. But once she stepped out into the real world, she realized that acknowledging where you fall short would be the first step to growing.
She still didn't like swordplay, though.
Kisuke explained to her that a zampakuto, the sword of a soul reaper, was one of the ways to channel her spiritual energy and fight. She had to master this new power. It wasn't an option if she wanted to keep the hollow's will from swallowing her whole. She was able to maintain her soul reaper form on its own, converting her body into spiritual form, and Kisuke immediately handed her a wooden sword and told her to start swinging.
He taught her how to step, how to hold the blade, how to breathe at every strike, instructing and listening were not the same as actually practicing, which she discovered very early when he swept a wooden sword from under her feet.
She had only been a soul reaper for three weeks, but she had taken the time to learn as much as she could about her new condition. One of the newest concepts of this curriculum was the basics of a zampakuto. The fact that it was more than just a sword or a primary weapon. It was a sentient katana that embodied a part of the wielder's soul, which allowed them to develop unique powers through a symbiotic bond. Even Sakura had to do a double-take on that lesson because it sounded unbelievable.
A sword that was the extension of her own soul. To have her soul's power now chained to this length of metal felt like a cruel joke.
Kisuke told her that she would have to learn to master Shikai, the first release that came from speaking the sword's command word or name. Then she would learn what her newly acquired power could really do.
This somewhat got her excited and invested in learning swordplay, but while she wouldn't know what form her sword would take, Kisuke warned that inexperience coupled with spiritual pressure and shikai wouldn't bode well.
Sakura stood in the center of the room, the black fabric of her shihakushō clinging to her skin, damp with exertion. She swung her zampakuto against what should've been the inferior opponent, a wooden sword, but it was being wielded by a clear veteran. Every swing she made felt like a clumsy betrayal of her own body next to Kisuke's, who could counter and pivot with far less speed than what she was accustomed to sparring against. And that was one of the more humiliating factors.
It didn't take much for Sakura to understand that this so-called humble shopkeeper was so much more. There was still a lot Sakura was trying to uncover, not just about her situation, but the degree her hosts were involved.
She wanted to get the name out of her sword already; she wanted to call it out so that she could advance to the next stage. When she asked Kisuke to tell her what the end goal would be, the final stage, he said she would have the graduate to get there first. Infuriating, but there was nothing she could do for now.
Across from her, Kisuke leaned casually on a wooden bokken as he watched her catch her breath. Constantly, the statue of calm in the storm of her effort, but she had learned by now not to expect much mercy when it came to training with him. This was for his benefit, the moments he took to observe her. She didn't now for what, and when she confronted him, he played dumb, so she chose to conserve her energy.
She raised her zanpakutō with both hands, settling into the fifth form Kisuke had drilled into her.
Right foot forward. Weight balanced. Elbows in. Blade at forty-five degrees. Her muscles remembered the positions now, even if her heart rejected them. She moved through the kata like she was speaking a language she couldn't understand.
"Your stance is improving," Kisuke said, circling around Sakura. That was part of the training; every time she would misstep and falter during their spars, and there was a moment of separation, she would have to return to her stance and start again. She bit her tongue while Kisuke would adjust her, tapping on her shoulders, legs, arms, and hands with the wooden sword. "But your grip is still strangling the sword. You're holding it like you're trying to choke the life out of it."
"Maybe I am," Sakura muttered, transitioning into the sixth form. The unnamed blade caught the light.
"Again." He said simply.
They both kicked off and clashed, the wood and metal meeting with a heavy thud. Sakura couldn't help sneaking a glance at the blade from the corner of her eye, of course the way the wood and metal met, her irritation grew as she saw the smooth line as if the sword had been varnished. No matter how many times she swung, or how hard, that wooden sword would not so much as drop a splinter, never mind split in two.
Her strength, even without chakra enhancement, had been trained to be above average, and she could cut a rock with enough force with a kunai, but for some reason, she could never so much as dent the bokkan.
And Kisuke was something else when he was in teacher mode. While Tsunade had a consistent mannerism, he didn't.
Sakura felt the impact shudder up her arms, teeth rattling in her skull. She pivoted, trying to redirect his next strike the way he'd shown her, but Kisuke moved like smoke through her guard. His wooden blade kissed her wrist barely a tap, and her zanpakuto went spinning from Sakura's nerveless fingers.
That was the seventh time today, or was it the eighth?
Now Sakura stood, empty-handed, chest heaving as she stared at the sword lying a few meters away. It felt almost like it was accusatory. You don't want me, it seemed to say. And I don't want you either.
And it added salt to the wound when Kisuke rested his wooden sword on his shoulder, "What are you waiting for? Pick it up."
A casual statement could not have sounded more insulting. While she would normally just do as she was told, today, she turned away from it completely.
"No." Sakura clenched her jaw. She curled her hands, the only weapons that ever felt right. "I'm done."
Kisuke didn't get upset; that was another adjustment for Sakura, who was used to Tsunade's temperament overtaking her. "Well fine, but you're just delaying your own progress."
"Does that matter when we've been at this for three weeks and I still haven't heard that sword talk to me?" Sakrua snapped back. Even now, it seemed ludicrous to her.
"You're thinking of it as a tool. Like a hammer or a scalpel. Something external."
"Isn't it?"
"No." Kisuke gestured at the blade lying on the ground. "That zanpakuto is as much a part of you as your arm. As your heart. It's the physical manifestation of your soul given form and steel. You can't wield it properly until you accept that."
Sakura bent to retrieve the sword, holding it up with bitterness. "That's easy for you to say. You're not the one whose entire future is dependent on a piece of metal talking to you."
"The problem is, you don't believe you're a soul reaper," Kisuke stated, "You've got the power, the look, and even the potential, but you don't have the belief."
"That's because I'm not a soul reaper."
She was a kunoichi, a medical ninja. She was meant to be back in her village, training with her mentor, learning to master new healing jutsu, and working in the hospital with Ino.
"I'm not meant to be here. But I am." Sakura huffed, spinning around, throwing her arms out. "I'm stuck in another dimension learning to use a weapon I'm unfamiliar with because if I don't, I'll turn into the same kind of monster that killed my comrades."
For a moment she was stunned into silence, as her eyes focused on the end of the bokkan now a millimeter away from her nose, she hadn't heard Kisuke so much as patter a footstep, but he was towering near now. "You didn't choose this, yes." He tilted his head, and for a moment, the shadows beneath his hat lifted, revealing his eyes that had turned cold. "But the Hollow that killed them? It's still inside you, Sakura. Coiled around your soul like a parasite. Every day you reject this training, you give it more ground. More room to grow and fester inside of you."
"Thanks for that analogy." Sakura grimaced.
She knew he was right. She could feel it sometimes, especially late at night when sleep refused to come. A coldness in her chest where the Hollow's hole was.
"And if I do learn this?" Sakura asked, trying to raise her sword, but it felt like the blade had suddenly gained weight, perhaps taking in all her doubts. "If I master the sword and achieve this Shikai state you keep talking about? What then?"
"Then we move onto the next step." She already knew there was a next step, but Sakura wanted to know the details of how many and what it would take for her to finally return home. But that had been alluded to.
"Which is?" but Kisuke just grinned and turned around.
"Let's end it here for today."
..
..
..
Sakura missed sleeping well.
When she was in Konoha, Sakura could always fall asleep nearly the minute her head hit the pillow after he entire day had been filled with training, hospital shifts, and running errands for the Hokage. But now all she could do was lie away in that empty room Kisuke had set for her on the top floor. As it turns out, his entire store was bigger than it appeared. And she would lie in her futon, staring at the open window, watching the sky, and filling her mind with thoughts. Thoughts that would take her hand and lead her into dark places, and try to devour her with emotions.
She thought about how she was missing out her medical training with Tsunade, how Ino might be getting ahead of her soon. How Shizune was suddenly going to handle all of Tsunade's errands on her own again. And how Naruto was going to return soon.
It had been a little over a year, getting closer to two now, and soon they were supposed to meet again, so they could save Sasuke. But how was she going to accomplish that feat from all this way here?
This situation was unlike anything Sakura had ever dealt with before, and she wouldn't be able to face it head-on if she didn't admit that what she was going against was out of her element.
And this was something she would have to accomplish alone.
There was no one to fall back on.
No one to hear her cries.
Just her.
And that was terrifying.
For the first time, Sakura was going to have to rely on herself.
And she didn't know if she was strong enough.
Those were the kinds of thoughts that would creep in on her at night, stealing her sleep, hindering her progress, blocking her beliefs.
And yet she showed up every day.
Because the reality was clear. There was nothing else for her to do.
'Naruto…'
..
..
..
Sakura woke up expecting to be brought back to the underground training area. Where she would continue, what felt like a fruitless effort to cultivate a connection to her zampakuto so that it would finally tell her its name.
But when she reached the main room, she found Kisuke standing near the entrance. He was sorting through inventory, checking items off on a clipboard with the focused attention of someone actually running a business rather than training a soul reaper.
"Ah, Sakura!" he greeted her cheerfully, not looking up from his clipboard. "Good morning! Sleep well?"
"Well enough," she replied cautiously. Something about his tone put her on guard. "Should I head down to the training room?"
"Hmm?" Kisuke looked up,"No training for you today."
Sakura looked at him like he had spoken English to her. "What?"
"I decided that today there will be no training."
"So I'll be doing self-training."
"Nope," Kisuke said, obnoxiously cheerful. "You are officially barred from any form of training today."
It seemed that he was going to be adamant in his decision to keep her from training, but he didn't realise that Sakura was not one to go down without a fight, and if she had to butt heads to get her way, she would.
Sakura began making her way towards the backroom where the hatch was that led to the underground area. Kisuke called her back, but she didn't listen and kept walking.
"If you're not going to train me, then I'll do it myself."
But before Sakura could blink, she felt her whole body flip, her back hitting the wood with a heavy thud that shook through her bones. She felt Kisuke's cane leaning on her chest.
She glared up at the man, who was looking at her from the shadow under his hat, "You are not going to make anymore progress like this. You think you can just push through and force your zampakuto to reveal itself to you. You think you can just bulldoze your way through this training, but I hate to break it to you missy, you don't have the skill, nor the talent for a quick break."
Sakura grimaced as the cane dug a little harder into her chest, but she didn't sway. Speaking through gritted teeth.
"I can't waste time. Did you forget I have a place to go back to!? I have people waiting for me! I can't just-
"That's why you should shut up and do as you're told," Kisuke said coldly, so cold that it felt like her breath would turn to ice. An unusual pressure filled her body, but then just as quickly as it appeared, it vanished, and Kisuke had moved.
"Alright now, you need your allowance."
"A what?" Sakura asked, still picking herself off the floor. Her expression could have curdled milk, showing everything she wanted to say in retaliation. But it would show her desperation that had been living in her chest for the last three weeks. The desperation to leave this world and get back. She still had training to do back home with Tsunade; she had so much to do before the year was up, and Naruto finally came back. Before they went to get back Sasuke.
She wanted to go back.
Back to Konoha. Back to Naruto and Tsunade-shishou and everything that makes sense.
But Kisuke wasn't having it. He reached into his yukata and pulled out a small plastic bag, the kind used for shopping in this world. Inside, several bills were neatly folded; he tossed them to her.
Sakura caught it reflexively, years of ninja training making the motion automatic. She stared down at the money with growing confusion. "What's this?"
"Money. You know, that thing people exchange for goods?"
Her eye twitched again. "I know what money is. Why are you giving it to me?"
"Why don't you spend today exploring?" Kisuke might have said it like a suggestion, but after the display, Sakura could sense it wasn't.
"Go look around. Get familiar with Karakura."
"I don't need to-
But her retort was interrupted. "You need a break. We're not getting anywhere with your training so far, and at this rate, we aren't going to make any progress, so missing a day isn't going to change much at this point. You need to do something besides turning into a soul reaper all day."
Her jaw dropped, "Wasn't that a good thing?"
"Yes, but right now you're not going to make further progress, and I need to figure out how to adjust your regimen. So for the time being I want you to take a rest today, go explore the town."
He started to guide her towards the exit of the store, where Jinta and Ururu were playing baseball. She was deposited onto the front step.
"And Sakura," His smile was visible for one more second, "Try not to overthink things. Sometimes the best way forward is to stop trying so hard to move forward."
"What does that even-
"Okay, bye!"
The door slammed shut, leaving behind the gob-struck kunoichi.
"What the hell?"
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