But the alternative was insane. A time loop? Things like that only happen in stories.
“But then again, who knows what strange techniques some S-rank ninja might have? I might not even be the target. Maybe that snake ninja has some kind of massive time jutsu going, and I’m just caught in an eddy.”
There was no way to tell. But the loop wasn’t always the same, so maybe there was a way out.
“What patterns have I seen? When I flunk out of the exam I get reset. The same thing happens if I die. But as long as I’m not disqualified time keeps moving forward. So maybe I just need to pass the exam?”
Fat chance of that happening. Let’s face it, as a ninja I suck. Of all the people who made it through the Forest of Death, Ino was probably the only one who would even have to work to beat me. If I wanted to actually make chuunin I’d have to not only beat her, but at least one other real ninja. People like Neji, or Sasuke, or Gaara. How was I going to do that? I’d never worked very hard at my physical skills in the academy, and they were all years ahead of me.
“But time is the one thing I’ve got plenty of.” I suddenly realized. “Even if it takes years, all I have to do is keep improving until I can beat them.”
I quickly discovered it wasn’t going to be that easy. I could pass the written exam any day, but only sheer luck could get me through the second test in the Forest of Death. No matter what I talked the boys into trying that snake ninja always attacked us, and after that it was incredible how many things had to go right.
If Naruto didn’t push Sasuke into giving the snake ninja a good fight, we all died.
If I did anything but nurse Sasuke all night that strange mark our attacker left on his neck would kill him, and I’d restart at the end of the week.
If the Sound ninja found us too soon, or the other Konoha teams weren’t nearby, we all died.
If I made one wrong move in any on our fights I’d be crippled or dead, which would trigger a restart.
Then I finally made it through the forest to the preliminary matches at the arena, and found myself matched up against Kiba instead of Ino. As he casually pinned me down and demanded my surrender, I was bitterly aware that I hadn’t even made him break a sweat.
Ok, fine. I still had the time between the written exam and the Forest of Death to work with. Between that and the fights in the forest I could get in at least a little bit of training with each loop. Heck, I could blow off the exam and spend the whole day practicing if I wanted to. I figured I’d start with something easy, like a counter for that ‘walk in circles forever’ illusion we kept blundering into, and then work my way up.
“Kakashi-sensei, I’m a little concerned about this next phase of the exam. Will you show me how to dispel illusions?”
“If you’re concerned you should spend the day resting, not training. You don’t want to be low on chakra at the start of the next test.”
“Kakashi-sensei, how does the Dispel technique work?”
He chuckled. “You’ll have plenty of time to train later, Sakura. For now you need to concentrate on using what you already know.”
“Well, if we can’t take the exam because of the idiot here I’d at least like to get some training done. Maybe you could show me how to do the Dispel technique, sensei?”
“Training. Yes. Naruto, if you’re so tired all the time I think you could use some serious stamina training. Thirty laps around Konoha sounds about right.”
I winced. Apparently I’d sabotaged poor Naruto’s alarm clock for nothing.
No matter what I did, Kakashi wouldn’t train me. Oh, he had lots of reasonable-sounding excuses, and sometimes he’d have us work on physical conditioning or teamwork if we failed out of the exam, but he wouldn’t teach me any techniques. Why was my teacher so dead-set against training me?
“He thinks I’m incompetent, or too immature to be trusted with anything. That, or he’s just too lazy to bother. Either way, he’s not going to be any help.”
That worried me. If my jounin-sensei wasn’t going to bother teaching me, where was I going to get the techniques I’d need to pass this test?
Well, for the basics I could always go back to the source…
“Iruka-sensei, can you spare me a few minutes? Kakashi-sensei is busy giving the boys some last minute training, and I’m trying to find out how to do that technique that dispels illusions.”
“Well, I can show you but I doubt you’ll have time to master it before tomorrow.”
“Maybe not, but you never know. I learned tree climbing in about five minutes.”
“Really? That’s pretty impressive. Well, it goes like this…”
I got it right on the first try.
“Kakashi-sensei, will you teach me that genjutsu you used on me in the bell test?”
“You mean the Hell Viewing Technique? You’ll have to build up your chakra a bit more first.”
“Iruka-sensei, can you show me the Hell Viewing Technique?”
“That’s an ugly technique for such a pretty girl, don’t you think? Besides, I’m not exactly a genjutsu master myself.”
I ground my teeth. “Fine. Who is?”
“Kurenai-san, I know you have your own students to train, but would you be willing to show me a little genjutsu?”
“I’m sorry, Sakura, but it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to train another jounin’s student without permission.”
“Fat chance of that ever happening. I suppose you guys have some secret permission slip code or something to keep students from lying about that, too?”
She laughed. “That’s hardly necessary, considering how often we see each other. If he isn’t giving you the training you want, perhaps you should ask him why.”
Sure, why not.
“Ok, fine. But why not, Kakashi-sensei? Is there something else I need to make progress in first? Do you think I’d do better with something besides genjutsu? Give me a clue here.”
“You shouldn’t worry so much, Sakura. I’m sure you’ll grow into a fine kunoichi one day. But for now you need to concentrate on your basics, and learn to trust your teammates to do their jobs.”
In other words, you think I’m a silly little girl pretending to be a ninja, and you’re not going to bother training me. Bastard. Fine, I’ll find someone who will.
“Naruto, can you teach me Shadow Clone?”
“Sure, Sakura-chan! Only, isn’t that supposed to take a lot of chakra? Are you sure you’ll have enough?”
“There’s only one way to find out.”
He stared at me for a second, before giving me that stupid grin of his. “Yeah! That’s the spirit, Sakura-chan! Ok, the seals go like this…”
I was expecting the technique to be easy, since even an idiot like Naruto had mastered it. But it was a lot more complicated than I’d thought, and the amount of chakra the technique drained when I tried to activate it was just insane. I saw a hazy image of myself begin to form, but then it popped like a soap bubble and I collapsed, exhausted. Why was it getting so dark?
I woke up in my bed on the morning of July 1st.
“Damn!” So much for my quick road to power. When Kakashi called Shadow Clone a chakra-intensive technique, I thought it might take two or three times as much power as tree climbing. Instead I’d actually died of chakra exhaustion from trying to make a single clone.
I suddenly remembered one of our better fights against the mysterious snake ninja. Naruto had made hundreds of clones, and kept pumping out more as fast as our enemy could kill them. Well, until he blew up half the forest with a giant fire technique.