Genkaku (Naruto fanfic)

Chapter 17: I hate you

Shizuka took a deep breath before approaching Kakashi as he was leaning against a tree, now only needing one crutch to move around.

"Sensei?" She asked timidly.

The man took one look at her uncharacteristically shy demeanour before closing his book and directing his full attention to his female student.

"I would like to try the fire jutsu again."

After the little heart to heart she had with Sasuke she felt... lighter somehow. Talking about it with someone that wasn't her hospital assigned therapist helped more than she would have imagined.

"Are you sure?" Kakashi questioned dubiously.

"Yes."

And so Kakashi with the use of a quick earth and water jutsu created a shallow pool for her to practice in safely.

With a determined frown, Shizuka removed her shoes (because there was nothing worse than wet sandals) and got to work. She deliberately started small, focusing on creating and sustaining the barest flicker of a flame until she dared to put a bit more chakra.

About an hour later she was content with the singular fist sized flame she could create and sustain for at least a minute before it fizzled out. An ember of pride lit her chest at the stable breathing and lack of trembling hands.

 "What's the next step, sensei?"

"Now, you're going to throw it as far as you can in the direction of that big tree there." He gestured vaguely at the tree she had used for her climbing practice.

"Won't I set the forest on fire?" She questioned dubiously.

"I'll be here to make sure it doesn't." He said without looking up from his book.

Feeling bolstered enough, she inhaled a big breath before shoving at the chakra in the ball of flames as hard as she could.

With an anticlimatic wooshing sound, the orb fizzled out as soon as it left her hand.

"Uhhhh"

The tips of her ears burned pink as she helplessly looked at an amused Kakashi.

"I figured that would happen." He chuckled. "It's harder to maintain the chakra in a jutsu when you're no longer in direct contact with it. Why don't you try hovering it above your hand first?"

Shizuka got back to work with a small pout. Academy jutsu were a lot easier so she hadn't expected this one to be such a step up.

~~~

A kunai came rushing down from the treetops at a high velocity. With an undignified yelp, Shizuka jumped out of the way, nearly falling over due to what was probably a mild case of chakra exhaustion.

After hours and hours (Kakashi got bored enough eventually to leave her unsupervised) she had finally gotten the stupid flames to detach from her hands without immediately fizzling out.

She could already predict the absolute hell it would be to try and get a second orb in the air simultaneously.

A problem for future Shizuka.  

The annoyed glare she shot up in the general direction the weapon had come from lessened as her eyes landed on both of her teammates sitting comfortably on one of the higher branches of their respective climbing trees.

"You guys did it!" She exclaimed happily as she watched the two of them flip back onto the ground.

Shizuka raised her hand for a high five and Sasuke, with an exhausted grin, tapped his hand to hers.