34 - A Day of Training

Well, okay, it made sense that someone else deserves a chance to go on a mission, because this time it was Team Asuma's turn. Naruto was training with Kakashi and Yamato, while Fuyuka had a lot of catching up to do with Bleach.

Also, she got formal permission from Tsunade to go to the Shadow Star base at will, where she discovered they had a computer.

Let's just say, the keyboard is not surviving.

Of course, she was still mildly upset with Tsunade for agreeing to some semblance of an alliance with Sun Star, but that wasn't her business now.

"Sakura," she greeted, spotting her pink haired teammate watching Naruto train. "Watching again?"

"Yeah," Sakura replied simply. "He always trains so hard, how is he not tired?"

Fuyuka shrugged casually, sitting under a nearby tree and pulling out another volume of Bleach. "Hey, you should read manga too. Watching Naruto train all day can't be good for your mental state."

"Bleach isn't therapy."

"It totally is."

For a moment the two girls were silent, then a soft smile appeared on Sakura's face. "You're right. I shouldn't mope around all day. What do you say we get some dango?"

"Do you mind if I join you?"

The girls turned around, spotting Sai with his usual smile, glancing at Naruto as well.

"Sure," Sakura replied with a nod. Casting the hard working Naruto one last glance, the trio walked away.

"Four dango sticks, please," the pink haired girl said to the stall keeper, handing over the money. She added to her teammates, "I'm saving one for Naruto."

The three Team 7 members took a seat at a bench by the road. The sun was bright, but the day still felt pale, as if something terrible was going to happen soon.

"I'm serious, you guys should read Bleach," Fuyuka insisted, earning a playful eye roll from Sakura. "You read enough for all of us, Fuyuka."

The blue haired girl snorted, taking a bite of her dango. "Uncultured swines."

Once their food was finished, the trio returned to where Naruto trained incessantly. It somewhat confused Fuyuka how he had the energy to work so hard, but that might be because she was on the lazy side. Not Nara-level lazy, but lazy enough.

"Fuyuka-san."

Naruto was seriously getting an audience, because Yozora was here too. The boy stayed at the hospital, in the same room as Shigetsu, who received healing daily from Miyabi to just sustain his current state.

"Sup." The blue haired girl waved at her student. "Need something, or are you here to watch Naruto train too?"

"I want to keep training, I... I'm not a fighter anyways, so I need to try harder than usual."

Fuyuka nodded, somewhat miffed at how sentimental her student was. Sakura interrupted before she could walk away. "I need to be able to do something, I'll help you."

"As will I," Sai added with his signature smile.

The blue haired chunin blinked in surprise. "Okay then."

"Understand your enemies, Sai's summons can be destroyed but Sakura's fist can't!" Fuyuka shouted commands from the sidelines as Yozora worked on summoning the right creatures to counter controlled attacks from Sakura and Sai.

"I-I know!" the purple haired boy called back, destroying an ink creature from Sai by summoning a Scorpio and lunging away from Sakura's punch- not chakra infused but still strong in its own right.

"There's an opening now, take the initiative and attack!" Fuyuka continued her commands. Yozora followed the orders, summoning a Leo that lunged in to bite off a chunk of Sai, who countered with his own ink lion.

The back and forth went on for a while until Fuyuka called for a break, by which she meant 'I want to read Bleach so you guys can chill.'

The sun was still bright, but the day was still dark.

Fuyuka's instincts were correct, as if she was the OC of a fanfiction author or something, because Team 10 returned with the announcement of Asuma-sensei's death.

She was further notified of Kakashi-sensei leaving as Team 10's acting leader so they could return to resume the fight. Plus, with Naruto's training, she didn't have much of a chance to join the fight. Seriously, the Akatsuki members Ino described to her sounded like they should drop dead ASAP.

And also, she wondered- would Sun Star go after these two as well?

Fuyuka was glad to hear from Sakura that Tsunade agreed to send Team 7, but only if Naruto can finish his training in 24 hours. The chances of that was near zero, but then again Naruto was unpredictable.

This is the nicest thing she can say, get used to it.

She half watched as Naruto worked on some Rasengan thing, mostly focusing on the Bleach volume in her hands. But now Fuyuka was curious about something.

What was her chakra affinity?

Fuyuka had never wondered about it, since Hoshino-Tsuyoku stuff fell into a whole other category. The blue haired girl had no clue unless Bleach Obsession counted as a chakra affinity.

"Hey, Sakura, what do you think my chakra affinity is?" she asked the pink haired girl, who had arrived to watch the training as well. After all, whether they get sent on the mission or not depends entirely on how Naruto's training proceeds.

"I don't know, I never really thought about it since you don't use many jutsu other than Stellar Snare and the basics," Sakura admitted, taking a seat next to her teammate. "If- no, when Naruto completes his training, we'll ask Yamato-sensei for one of those chakra papers."

"Welp, just more waiting then."

"Yurei." The lavender haired boy glanced up as Kyomu stood at the entrance to his room. "I need you to go after two new Akatsuki members while assisting the Konoha shinobi, as well as keeping an eye out for other Makoto puppets. I couldn't gather much from the Ivory one."

"Okay."

As direct as ever. Yurei stood up, leaving his crayon drawing on the table and picking up a ceremonial bone dagger, his weapon of choice.

"I will see to it."

"Before we go..."

To Fuyuka's pleasant surprise, Naruto did in fact master his new move in time, and now Team 7 was prepared to set off again, all transportation covered by a star bird from Yozora.

"Yes?" Yamato turned to his student.

"I want to know what my chakra affinity is too," Fuyuka announced.

The Anbu member pondered the time, before deciding there's enough time for a quick check. He retrieved a chakra paper, like the one Naruto used, handing it to the blue haired girl. "Channel your chakra into it."

Sakura, Yozora, Naruto and Sai crowded around her as she focused her chakra into the paper. They watched as the small piece of paper slowly turned soggy.

"Well," Yamato announced. "It seems your chakra affinity is water."