Switched With a Fangirl (Various!Naruto X Reader)

31.

The sun wasn't even up by the time you wake up the next morning. You tiredly make your way to a training ground, settling down on a log. You close your eyes and breathe in deeply, holding your breath as you feel your Chakra. As you exhale you focus on moving the chakra where you want. Inhale, hold, exhale. It feels like you're doing it merely a few minutes before sunlight begins to shine behind your eyelids.

"What time is it?" How do people tell time on the go.. You knew it wasn't time for your fight yet either way, and now that you'd opened your eyes and broken your concentration you were feeling restless. You wonder if Sakura's great chakra control made it easier for you to learn, like her body's muscle memory was doing majority of the work.

You stand up, retrieving your bow and arrows from the bag. Sakura had mentioned attaching chakra strings to your arrows, but you weren't sure what that'd do for you. As you draw the bow back your shoulders ache from the practice yesterday, you draw a breath before letting it fly at a tree. It misses the tree and disappears into the tall grass of the forest. You sigh and drag yourself in the direction it disappeared, staring down at the grass still wet from dew. You find it half buried in the dirt, which probably isn't good for the arrow. Upon standing up straight you finally look forward.

Dew drops cling to the beautifully designed silk threads. A fly struggles to escape the web, alerting the spider to it's presence. As you continue watching the wheels in your mind start turning. Haku is quite hard to see, he has many visual copies of himself.. but visual copies can't interact with the world itself. One shot, that's likely all you'd get. If that.

You practice with new found motivation, hopeful for the fight again. Not to win, of course, you've accepted that won't happen. But to land a hit, just one good hit on Haku. Despite your excitement, you keep yourself calm as you practice. Breathe in, breath out. Feel the chakra move.

"Sakura." You hear your name, her name.. Ino? "The fights are about to begin."

"Thank you for letting me know," you respond and collect your things. Ino waits for you, the two of you beginning to walk back together. "How much did you see?"

"Not much, you're using a bow?"

"Yeah, my godfather gifted me it and helped me learn the basics." You reply, looking over it. You do genuinely appreciate the gift, the bow isn't overly decorated but it is beautiful. Sturdy.

"You think that'll be enough against Haku?" You smile at her, excitement running under your skin.

"No. But it's something." She says nothing for a moment.

"He's above genin level already, I'm not sure why he's even taking the exams."

"I think it's nice, he gets to meet people his own age. Plus, he's not exactly got the cleanest past. It probably would not be a good look for the village if we did just throw both him and Zabuza into high ranking levels and call it a day." She shrugs, nodding her head a little.

"How do you do that? Talk to people like that?"

"What do you mean?"

"You convinced a criminal to not only not kill you, but to also join your village and serve your kage."

"Oh, I don't care if he serves the hokage or not. I'm just glad they're both alive, and able to make that choice themself. Zakuza is really just trying it out, I'm sure if he hates it he'll go back on the road." And you'd accept that, though you have to wonder if Haku would go with him.

"You're okay with that?" She seems surprised.

"Yeah, I could always go with." You're joking, of course. She seems to understand that, but regardless she decides to change the subject.