Pulling My Weight

Chapter 9 || Revelation

The next month was relatively stress-free for Sakura. The promised D-Ranks came and went, as mind-numbingly boring as could be expected. The only highlight of the dull labour was the fact that she was doing the work intended for three genin by herself which meant that she also took home three genins' worth of pay. As such, she didn't complain when she had to catch Tora the cat for the fifth time in the same week. Instead, she gritted her teeth, gave the beast back to its hysterical owner and treated herself to a well-deserved treat at her favourite umeboshi place.

But what really made the missions worth it was what awaited Sakura once she finally got home: every evening, like clockwork, her and Genma would sit on the sofa, the coffee table between them, and play around with theories, techniques and, after a lot of nagging from Sakura's side, fuinjutsu. In those hours, the lines between mentor and mentee were at their most blurry as they both discovered new things, learned theories and techniques they never even knew existed. And, more than once, Sakura would nod off at around midnight, the warmth and comfort of the blanket she swathed herself in every evening lulling her to sleep, only to wake up in her own bed in the morning. Perhaps understandably, Sakura found that she looked forward to the evenings the most.

About a week into her "punishment", when Genma was finally fully recovered, Sakura asked him about the techniques gifted to her by Yuki-san. She discovered quite quickly that, much like when he was trying to teach her Earth Release, Genma believed in starting from the bottom and building up. As such, her first task began with the following words:

"Genma-san, is that... a bowl of water?" she asked a bit sceptically when the tokujo announced he had "just the thing" to help her with her training.

"Yup." the brunet agreed cheerfully. "And don't you look so surprised - I'm not letting you just start off with trying to melt your entire body into water and back again; we're going to start with baby steps or we're not starting at all."

Sakura nodded, deeming that a fair point, remembering back to her first attempts at Earth Release. "Okay. What do you want me to do?"

At that, Genma smirked. Then, he raised his hand and let it hang, palm-down above the surface of the water. Sakura noticed a slight wrinkle between his brown and how the corner of his lips twisted down in concentration before a soft blue glow enveloped his hand, and then, to her utter disbelief, the water rose from the bowl and seemed to stick to Genma's hand like a thin, translucent cocoon. Seeing her wide eyes and gaping mouth, Genma laughed.

"This is what I want you to start with." he announced, and the rosette raised an eyebrow.

"'Start with'?" she parroted incredulously, scowling when the brunet's smirk came back full force.

"Yes, start with. Your chakra control is so precise that I expect you to be able to do this with your whole body in, oh, let's say a month." And the tokujo had the gall to shrug.

Sakura let out a frustrated whine. "But I don't even know if I can do it with one hand!!" she protested, willing the brunet to see reason, but Genma remained (infuriatingly) unconcerned.

"Better get to practicing then, huh?" he teased as a shit-eating grin split his face and he ruffled Sakura's hair. "After all, am I not the most 'patient and thorough' teacher you've ever had?" he teased, and the rosette felt perfectly justified in smacking him with one of the sofa cushions.

But regardless of whether it annoyed her or not, Sakura obeyed. Every day, whenever she could find a minute to spare, she'd find some water - a puddle, one of the streams, or even buy a bottle and spill it - and she'd practise. It was tedious while she was working it out; only slightly more interesting than watching paint dry. The task literally required her to sit with her hand hovering over the water, chakra gathered, and hope to find a way to make it stick.