The next morning, something unexpected happened.
"Sasuke-Kun..."
Sakura Haruno showed up to the early morning training.
No one had invited her.
The day before, after the sparring matches, Kiyomi had been feeling a little irritated. She wasn't the type to openly complain, but Sukuna's teasing and mocking earlier still burned inside her. So when Sakura came up to her in the hallway, acting all friendly, Kiyomi couldn't resist getting a tiny bit of revenge.
It wasn't just about Sukuna either, Sakura too was wasting her talent acting like a fangirl all this time. She felt a little irritated.
Her condition was previously very similar to Sakura's, not working hard, and then life took everything from her. How come Sakura was all happy and bright? Even after knowing it wasn't Sakura's fault, she was irritated.
Especially when Sukuna was the one who made her realise this, and how his sister had the same situation as hers.
In her taunting, she accidentally revealed about the daily morning workout they were doing, and that caused everything.
Sakura froze. "Sasuke-kun comes as well?"
"Mhm," Kiyomi nodded, brushing her hair behind her ear with a smug little smile. "Every day."
That was all Sakura heard.
She didn't care about Sukuna. Or the fact that it was a team effort. Her brain completely skipped over everything else and locked onto one single fact:
Sasuke. Morning. Training. With Sasuke-Kun.
That night, Sakura set ten alarms, threw on her uniform early, and showed up to the training grounds before the sun had even risen.
She was half-asleep, grumbling the entire way. "Why does Sasuke wake up so early…? This is torture…"
When she arrived, she spotted the group.
Sasuke stood calmly beside Kiyomi, stretching.
The moment Sakura saw him, her eyes lit up like fireworks. "Sasuke-kun!"
She completely ignored the person standing next to him—Kiyomi—who was visibly rolling her eyes.
Sakura rushed toward Sasuke like a missile, hands clutched together in front of her chest. "You're so amazing, training this early! You're so cool!"
*Twitched...
Sukuna on the side had a vein popping. Sasuke was coming for only a week or so. He had been at it for a year and so. He had an intense feeling to smack that arse of hers again.
A little spanking would make her see the reality right...
Sasuke grumbled, sending a glare at Sukuna, blaming him for this, to which Sukuna just shook his head and pointed at Kiyomi. He wasn't taking blame for this, not even for his sister.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed as they turned to Kiyomi, who could only smile warily.
Kiyomi raised an eyebrow. "Really? You're ignoring me now? I told you about this training!"
Sakura just giggled and turned her back to her, pretty much ignoring the girl.
Kiyomi's eyes narrowed at this. She clenched her jaw but said nothing… for now.
Sukuna, on the other hand, was stretching in the distance and didn't even look at her.
"You two, show her the basic workout before you start yours."
He had a different mission today—one he had planned since yesterday.
It was time for Naruto to get serious about taijutsu. And while he was at it, also teach Karin the basics.
So, earlier that morning, he had gone to Karin's room and literally dragged her out of bed.
"Five more minutes…" she mumbled, buried under her blanket.
"Of what, leaving you dreaming about getting love bites from pretty boys..." Sukuna rolled his eyes, and Karin's face turned red.
Sukuna yanked the blanket off her, earning a glare from the girl and a groan.
Karin groaned like a dying cat. "I hate you…"
Sukuna grinned. "A lot of people hate me dear... do you know what happened to them..."
Karin blinked; her early morning irritation and lack of enough sleep didn't let her come to an answer.
"They are dead. Now come up and train or you'll be on that list." Sukuna all but picked the little girl up like a kitten and dragged her out of her apartment.
Eventually, after much dragging and grumbling, Karin made it to the training field, hair messy, glasses crooked, and looking like a zombie.
"Remind me why I agreed to come with you?" she muttered.
"Because the other option was going to bed at this time after playing kinky bite games with geezers three times your age in Kusa...," Sukuna replied offhandedly.
That made Karin shut her mouth.
He waited until Lee arrived though.
The moment Lee arrived, he gave a dramatic thumbs-up, teeth sparkling in the morning sun.
"YOUTHFUL TRAINING BEGINS NOW!"
Karin nearly screamed. "What is wrong with this guy?!" She was horrified by those caterpillars wiggling around this strange guy's face who had just shown up.
'They are alive....' she shrugged.
Naruto, already stretching, gave her a sympathetic look. "You get used to it…"
Naruto too wished to train with his Sakura-chan. However, Sukuna didn't let him. He was forcefully held back because today wasn't just normal physical training for Naruto.
"Ah, Lee. you remember what I asked you yesterday in the Academy right..."
"Don't worry Sukuna-San, I'll make sure to teach Naruto-Kun here with everything I got." Lee gave a thumbs-up at Sukuna and turned back to Naruto.
Lee clapped Naruto on the shoulder. "Today, Naruto-kun! We shall polish your taijutsu into something beautiful and strong! You will burn with the fire of youth!"
Naruto's eyes sparkled. "Really! Let's do it!"
Meanwhile, Sukuna stood next to a grumpy Karin. "I'll handle your training just as yesterday."
"Why do I have to do that? I just came to Konoha. Why can't I relax a little?" Karin pouted, still feeling grumpy.
"Because you're behind everyone else in the class. You have to work extra hard to catch up with them."
Training began in full swing. While Lee ran Naruto through a brutal set of drills that involved handstands, cartwheels, and punching trees, Sukuna focused on Karin's basics.
He corrected her stance, showed her how to punch properly, and taught her how to move without tripping over her own feet.
By the end of the training, she was down on the ground, panting. Completely exhausted.
The other newcomer was better in this regard; Sakura's physical condition let her do the heavy training without any prior exercise.
However, her plans to flirt with Sasuke were rendered useless.
...
Back inside the Hokage's office, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, sat at his desk, peering into his crystal ball using his special jutsu. The ball glowed faintly, showing a perfect view of the training ground.
His eyes were focused not on Sukuna, or Lee, or even Karin.
He was watching Naruto.
Hiruzen had made it his personal duty to keep an eye on the boy now and then to see who he was coming in contact with. He wanted to be sure Naruto was safe… and also, that those around him were trustworthy.
And for the past few days he was troubled due to Naruto's getting in contact with the Uchiha siblings.
If the others wanted to join Naruto, Hiruzen didn't mind. In fact, he welcomed it. Naruto needed friends. He needed a connection to the village. But the Uchiha siblings… they were different.
The Uchiha clan was dangerous. Especially after what happened with Itachi. He was keeping an eye on them and knew many of the Uchiha had awakened their Sharingan as a side effect of the massacre.
If anything, Uchiha were more dangerous now than ever before.
And now, to add more to his worries, there was Karin—the newly arrived Uzumaki girl. Her background was unclear. Letting her grow close to Naruto without some kind of supervision felt risky.
However, this was his only chance to provide Naruto anything akin to a family. So, he not only accepted the girl but even arranged her in the ninja academy.
Just as he was rubbing his temples, thinking through all of this, the door to his office suddenly burst open.
SLAM!
Hiruzen didn't even need to look.
"Danzo," he said with a tired sigh. "What you want now."
Danzo Shimura, wrapped in his usual robes and bandages, walked in without invitation, his face stiff and his one eye sharp.
"You're watching the Jinchuriki again," Danzo said, eyeing the glowing crystal ball. "Good. Then you know why I'm here."
Hiruzen leaned back in his chair. "Forget it Danzo... you're not getting anywhere near Naruto until I'm Hokage...."
Danzo's eye twitched, hand clenched.
'HOKAGE...' this was the sorest point of his life.
'Yes you're Hokage, but why? Because you beat me by a few seconds in accepting Tobirama sensei's assessment. I could have been the Hokage if only I had spoken first.' Danzo's mind railed with anger.
"We cannot allow the Jinchuriki to get too close to the Uchiha," he said sternly. "You know the situation. After the Uchiha purge, many of the hardliners were eliminated… but the remaining clan members are awakening their Sharingan at a much faster rate."
Hiruzen's brow furrowed.
Indeed, his old friend also had the same idea as him. Hiruzen couldn't help but sigh.
Danzo continued, "And let's not forget—we still don't know who stole Shisui's eye. If the Uchiha are hiding it, then they're more dangerous than ever. Putting the Jinchuriki near them is reckless."
Hiruzen didn't say anything for a moment. His headache was growing worse. This was the same argument Danzo had been making since the Uchiha downfall… a downfall that Danzo himself had helped cause.
And more ridiculous, he did a half job. 'If you're doing sin at least make sure you do it right. Leaving halfway for sins to come back their ass. You might not care about your bandaged ass but what about mine...' Hiruzen's blood was boiling inside.
Danzo pressed on. "And what of the new Uzumaki girl? Her background is unclear. Give her to me. I'll put her under proper supervision."
Hiruzen's eyes sharpened.
"No."
"We need a substitution just in case the current Jinchuriki host is..."
"I said no Danzo. Don't even think about it..." Hiruzen's voice deepened.
Hiruzen repeated, more firmly this time. "She's just a child. And she's been through enough already. I won't let her fall into Root's hands."
Danzo clenched his jaw, displeased.
"Hiruzen, you'll regret this..."
"Danzo... I'm Hokage."
xxx
Please Consider Donating Power Stones if you like the Chapter.
Every 250 Stones for an Additional Bonus Chapter.
"Thank you Very Much for All Your Support"
If you want to read up to 20+ Chapters in advance, check my Patreon on
Patreon.com/Kamidemond