"Naruto! You told me you'd ask!"
"I forgot, dattebayo. Jeez, Sakura chan, why are you so angry? I'll just talk to Saul about it next time I see him."
The two walked side by side on the streets of Konoha. Naruto walked with his hands behind his head, while Sakura walked with her fists clenched. She wasn't angry with this idiot, no. She was on edge from how Sasuke had talked to her after the Chunin exams. Angry at herself for not being good enough.
She shouldn't be taking it out on Naruto, but it was so easy to do. He never rejected her, never acted up, and always patiently listened no matter what. Sakura learned that as long as she didn't cross the line by hitting him, he'd still tolerate almost anything.
When she was feeling better later, she'd apologize. But right now having an outlet to vent her frustration kept her from spiraling down into self blame and regret. Naruto could take it, anyway. He was strong, unlike her. Sasuke actually respected him, unlike her. He respected someone like this IDIOT over HER!
Sakura tried to control her jealousy and frustration towards Naruto as she took a deep breath. She couldn't hit him. She really wanted to, but she couldn't. She had to use her words.
When Sakura spoke again, her voice was calm, yet venomous.
"Would the Hokage ever do something like that? Break his word and lie?"
Naruto froze, staring at the expressionless pink haired woman. Did she really just go that far?
"Alright, alright! I get it!"
He turned around and abruptly began walking the other way. Sakura turned around and followed him.
"Where are you going, Naruto? We're not done here."
"...Saul-sensei is always training around this time. He told me I could come find him at Team Eight's training grounds whenever I needed him."
Sakura paused her angry rebuke. Finally, she was getting what she wanted.
The long haired girl smiled sweetly at him as if nothing had happened, "Thank you then, Naruto. I appreciate it."
"...Yea."
He frowned. Naruto was starting to have second thoughts about his teammate. Was she really worth all this effort? Couldn't she see what she was doing? No.
The blonde gritted his teeth. No matter what, he'd never abandon someone who was close to him. He knew exactly what it was like to feel alone and rejected. He was better than the villagers who treated him that way. Sakura would realize what she was doing. Eventually. He'd just have to tough it out until then.
.
Team Eight's TrainingGrounds
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After they had left Kurenai, Saul found the rare opportunity to have a moment of alone time. Hinata had gone with Yakumo to pick out some new outfits. She had multiple versions of her normal ninja wear - her casual grey coat, purple shirt, and pants. However, Hinata had nothing for casual outings, nor did she see the need to buy such things. She didn't want to leave his side, but Saul agreed with Yakumo and sent them off together.
He was alone in the training grounds now, practicing his personally developed technique.
Back in the forest of death while he was trying to escape Orochimaru, he had tried to use a frontloaded body flicker Jutsu and failed, despite having the Chakra and having previously formed the technique within his Genjutsu. It had not been a concern at the time thankfully - he was able to quickly form the hand seals and use the Jutsu quickly afterward.
However, this was a huge potential problem. Saul could die if a frontloaded Jutsu didn't activate when he needed it to. Practicing it within Genjutsu was no longer sufficient.
Plus, now that Orochimaru had learned about it, Danzo would be privy to the knowledge of his ability soon. There was no point in being so careful about it anymore. If Saul couldn't even use the technique he created, what would be the reason for spending so much time on it?
After a multitude of body flicker techniques powered by his frontloading technique, Saul started having to exhaust himself to create more chakra. Yet the Jutsu still wasn't failing?
"What's going on...?"
Saul kept going. But after a short while, the body flicker technique finally failed. Jackpot! Trying to use a frontloaded mind body palm - Saul put his hand to his forehead to investigate with Genjutsu. Yet that failed too?
He was onto something. Saul formed the hand seals for the Mind body palm and pressed it to his forehead. He delved deep into his consciousness into the small room where he had been storing what he now called Jutsu Embryos. Once they were 'birthed', they'd form into full Jutsu. It was fitting.
Yet, despite having created a multitude of Embryos for the body flicker Jutsu and the mind body palm, none of them were there. In fact, even the Embryos for the Mystical Palm and the illusion technique were gone! Saul thought for a moment.
He created a single Embryo for the body flicker technique then went back into the real world. Saul then began using his most Chakra intensive Jutsu, the Mystical Palm Ninjutsu, until he ran out of Chakra again. He made a little more chakra from his body with his willpower, then went back into his consciousness with another use of the mind body palm.
There was no more Embryo for the body flicker technique. He had begun to produce the issue consistently. Now, why exactly was this occurring?
"The frontloading technique I designed... It stores a very small portion of Chakra into a small sphere of will containing the 'instructions' for the technique. Like a delayed release of a mini Genjutsu to affect my Chakra, causing it to be infused with the complete will to form and shape an entire Jutsu.
However... What exactly is stopping my Jutsu from also containing these embryos of Chakra and forming them into other Jutsu? Nothing, right? I had previously thought the frontloaded Jutsu merely had a time limit before they'd turn back into normal chakra, which is why I created them every day. But it seems they were in fact getting expelled as I used Jutsu normally."
It truly was a 'frontloading' technique in this respect. Saul could only use the Chakra present in his body before the fight began for the technique. Any chakra he made afterward could not be used with it. He would have to figure out some way to mitigate this for now - but the knowledge of how and why his technique could fail was good enough for now.
Saul exited his consciousness, feeling a little tired. He currently did not possess much chakra - the more he made a new the less stamina he'd have. There was no point in forming more frontloaded embryos until he had a full reserve of Chakra.
"Hey! Let her through! She's with me!"
Saul heard a commotion coming from the check in area for the training grounds. Saul expended some more stamina to create a shadow clone to go find Karin. With his real body, he went to see what all the fuss was about.
"Naruto... Only you were authorized to come visit Team Eight's section - not the girl beside you. You can enter, but she has to wait."
"What do you mean!? Aren't we all Konoha ninja?"
Saul walked up and interjected, "Is there a problem?"
The older attending Chunin breathed a sigh of relief. He wouldn't have to waste his time explaining common sense to the Nine-Tails.
"No problem. You're a member of Team Eight, so you have the authority to decide who and who cannot enter your training grounds. I was just preventing this woman from entering as well, unauthorized."
Sakura smiled and waved at Saul, before turning to the Chunin.
"Don't worry, you are just doing your job. I'm fine to wait outside if I need to."
"What? But Sakura-chan is just following me inside right? Why is it such a big deal?"
Saul rolled his eyes, "Naruto. A lot of times Ninja train secret techniques that they don't want to spread to anyone else. Even if we're all part of the same village, there is still an expectation of privacy."
"That makes sense!" Naruto grinned sheepishly while scratching the back of his head. "Sorry for causing you trouble then, hook nose!"
The older Chunin touched his nose, feeling slightly insulted before shrugging it off. He waved his hand.
"Just don't cause any more trouble, and it'll be fine."
Saul shook his head. Naruto came up with some really strange nicknames - he was glad he had somehow ended up with something respectful like 'Saul-Sensei.'
"So what are you here for? I was just wrapping up my training for the day."
"Really? That's perfect then! I came with Sakura-chan to ask you for something."