“Maybe he wants a woman who’s a little more womanly.” She shot back cattily.
I snorted, and did the Sexy Technique. “He turned me down when I was like this, Ino. If my boobs were any bigger they’d mistake me for a Hyuuga.”
She giggled. “I think you might have Hinata beat. Damn, that’s some illusion. Can I touch?”
“Sure.” I shrugged as she ran her hand through my waist-length hair. “But it’s not an illusion, it’s a real transformation. Hey, maybe we should try it together. No guy can resist two girls at once.”
Yeah, that was my ‘Sexy’ form’s influence, and I had a serious ‘oh, shit, did I just say that out loud?’ moment. But Ino’s incredulous stare slowly melted into that mischievous grin of hers. “Teach me this technique, and you’re on.”
I woke in a strange bed, with a soft female body cuddled against my left side and an unexpected emptiness to my right. Ino had reverted to her usual self at some point during the night, but somehow I was still in ‘Sexy’ form. How did that happen?
I held my childhood friend close, remembering the previous night. She’d been amazing. Playful and passionate, eager to please and ready to try anything. Just like me. She was a little more restrained after her transformation ran out, but that might have just been exhaustion.
Sasuke was a big disappointment. He lasted maybe two minutes the first time and five the second. Worse than that, it was obvious he didn’t much care if we were having fun.
My thoughts were interrupted when Sasuke stepped into the room and yanked the covers off the bed. “Get up, Sakura. You’re not going to make me miss this test.”
Some boyfriend he was.
Needless to say, I completely freaked when the next reset changed me back to normal.
“I slept with a girl!”
Yes, and you liked it. The little voice in my head seemed to say.
“But I like guys! I’m not a lesbian!”
Yeah, boys a great. But so are girls. Remember how good it felt to wake up in Ino’s arms?
“Oh god, I really am crazy. I never thought about Ino like that.”
Please. You had a cute little girl-crush on her for years before you noticed Sasuke.
“I’m crazy, and my other personality is a pervert.”
No, I just don’t have all your hang-ups. Come on, you know you liked it.
“…maybe. But I’m not going to turn into some tramp who hops into bed with anything that moves.”
Of course not, dummy. I wouldn’t do that any more than you would. I’m just not afraid to let my best friend know that I love her.
“Well, I guess that’s some relief. Wait, what about Sasuke?”
He’s a whiny little emo-boy. But he’s hot, and you and Ino both wanted him, so I figured what the heck. Besides, I bet you won’t make that mistake again.
“Great. Not only am I having an argument with myself, I’m losing.”
I didn’t repeat that pattern, but it wasn’t hard to find one where Ino and I renewed our friendship. All I had to do was tell her I was sick of chasing a boy who obviously didn’t want me, and wish her luck with him. It hurt more than I expected to admit that, but it was worth it to have my best friend back. There were several ways to get both our teams disqualified on the first day of the survival test, and that left us six days together before the loop reset.
But rebuilding our friendship repeatedly got old quick, and beating her in the preliminary round was a sure way to derail it again. Since she was the only one I was ever matched with who I could actually beat, that meant I couldn’t go into the month of training with my friend back. Which sucked.
“Well girl, the answer to that one’s obvious. Time to get back to training.”
It took three deaths, a couple of crippling injuries and another valiant last stand from Naruto to get into the final round again. I knew I’d lost the physical conditioning from my last training month in the resets, but I hadn’t realized how much it had thrown off my reflexes. But a few days of practice got me back up to speed, and then it was just a matter of luck.
“Poor Naruto. I’ve got to remember to do something nice for him once I get out of this.”
Let me out, and I’ll show him just how much we appreciate him. Mmm, I bet he’d be a lot of fun. Can you say Gang-Bang No Jutsu?
“Crazy pervert. I’m not sleeping with Naruto.”
Yes, I was hearing that voice a lot more often these days. It worried me sometimes, and I spent more and more time in the library trying to figure out what was happening to me. Asking hadn’t been much help.
I don’t know why we’re like this any more than you do. Maybe we’ve got a touch of one of those weird recessive bloodlines, like that clan of guys with two heads. Maybe we were exposed to mind-affecting jutsu at an early age, or we have some kind of weird seal on us. To me it feels like we’re the same person, like two sides of a coin. Like you’re the brainy me, and I’m the ass-kicker.
“Well, as long as you’re not going to try to possess me or something.”
My second month of training with Ebisu was as productive as the first. He was so impressed by my instant mastery of water walking that I managed to talk him into testing us for elemental affinities. Mine was earth, which surprised me a bit, while Naruto’s was air.
“Now, don’t expect to get this down right away.” Ebisu warned after explaining our respective leaf exercises. “Most ninja need months of practice to master this step, and it isn’t uncommon for it to take years.”
I focused on the chakra in my hand, going deep like I’d done to try to analyze the Sexy technique. After the three-way incident I’d quickly figured out that the Sexy technique became permanent if I ran it long enough, but it took several weeks of serious research to get any concept of how. Even now I could barely begin to understand the subtle changes the technique made to my body, but at least I could feel them happening.
Compared to that, leaf-drying wasn’t so hard. I held up my hand with a triumphant smile, and poured out the dust that was once a leaf. “Has anyone else gotten it on the first try?”
“Not since Tsunade-sama was a genin.” He said in shock.
“You’re awesome, Sakura!” Naruto shouted.
With another month of taijutsu training I was fast enough to avoid the broken arm, but Temari knocked me out instead. I didn’t even wake up until the reset.
That set the pattern for the next few months. I’d make it through to the final exam every three or four tries, and spend the month training with whatever instructor Kakashi picked out. If Naruto made it through as well it was always Ebisu, but that only happened about one time out of three. Usually he got his butt kicked by Kiba or Shikimaru instead, and I ended up with a different instructor. The first couple of times he pawned me off on some medic-nin, which seriously pissed me off even though it was something I wanted to learn.
“I see.” I’d said bitterly. “Yeah, this way there’s no chance that I’ll pass the exam, but I’ll be a better support flunky for Sasuke when he makes chuunin. Good call, ‘sensei’.”
The asshole actually had the nerve to defend himself. “Sakura, it really is for the best. You’ve done well to make it this far, but you know you aren’t going to get strong enough to beat Temari in a month. Besides, you’ll make an excellent medic-nin.”
“I know that.” I snapped. “I just wish you could see that Sasuke isn’t the only one on this team with potential.”