She had breathed her last.
Sakura's lungs felt like they were on fire. Her airways were filled with water and her heartbeat was growing weaker by the minute. She desperately tried to move, to swim her way out, but she couldn't so much as lift a finger. Her own lightning had short-circuited, leaving her muscles paralysed.
After everything she had gone through, was she really going to die here, of all places!? In her own village, drowning in a water barrel? Had the Lightning Chakra Mode training instructions been fake all along? So kind of post-mortem trap, in case the Raikage's killer ever managed to decipher the manual's secret code and learn his secrets?
No, that couldn't be, Sakura thought to herself, that man could never imagine himself losing…
Gradually, Sakura's world dimd and her consciousness slipped away— until suddenly, a pair of arms plunged into the water and grabbed her, hauling her out of the barrel by the armpits... and that's when everything went black.
…
The next thing she knew, Sakura was on her back, sunlight warming her face and muffled voices echoing in her ears. Her chest hurt, and her lips felt a bit tingly as well.
"This isn't working," ca Sasuke's agitated voice. "They're too soft. My hands just keep sinking in. Kakashi, there has to be sothing else we can try."
"Wait, I think she's coming to," ca Kakashi's voice. "Sakura, can you hear ?"
Sakura coughed out a litre of water in response.
"Kumo's Lightning Chakra Mode, eh?"
Sakura cracked open an eye. Kakashi-sensei was standing over her, studying her handwritten notes with a thoughtful expression, while Sasuke knelt at her side, his face oddly red and his hands tucked behind his back. Turning her head, she let out a quiet sigh of relief— they hadn't overturned the barrel when they had pulled her out.
"Don't tell you want to try again?" said Kakashi, carefully pocketing the instructions manual. "You nearly killed yourself trying. If we'd decided to cancel our training session, you'd be dead."
"I have to," gasped Sakura. "I need to catch up to Sasuke and Naruto, or they'll leave behind."
Kakashi was confused.
Sakura had always been a good deal stronger than his other two pupils, so why did she believe herself to be so weak? He'd heard all about her progress from Tsunade upon his return to the village, and it's not as if his student had rested on her laurels.
After all, Sakura had made the Lorentz Gun Jutsu actually useable, invented brand-new Rasengan variants where even he and Minato-sensei had failed, improved on Lady Tsunade's own signature technique…
"Ugh…" Sakura grunted as she sat up, her chest pooling in her lap.
…
…
…
And then the ryō finally dropped.
"KYAAAH!"
Sakura's arms flew to her breasts, trying in vain to hide their imnsity. She was still completely naked, and Sasuke and Kakashi had seen everything! Sasuke's eyes unconsciously flicked to her crotch, and Sakura curled up into the foetal position, clutching her knees to her chest. At least this way, everything important was covered.
"I can't be a bride any more…" she said dully, her eyes turning into a dead fish's. "Please excuse …"
Under Sasuke's and Kakashi's mystified eyes, still curled up into ball, Sakura rolled herself back to the barrel that had nearly killed her. Finally realising they were staring inappropriately, they turned away, while Sakura crawled headfirst back into the water.
"Wait, wait, wait," growled Sasuke, whirling back around. "You can't—"
"What?" Sakura said listlessly, poking her head out of the barrel, reddish water streaming down her face.
Sasuke swallowed hard.
"It should be fine, as long as we stay here to keep an eye on you, in case you make a mistake again," said Kakashi-sensei. "I'm quite knowledgeable in Lightning Style, so just ask if you need any help."
"Wow," Sakura said flatly. "It's almost like you're teaching and being all responsible and stuff."
Kakashi smiled behind his mask.
"You're not exactly the easiest girl to get along with," he said.
…
After soaking in the tallic-tasting water for a few minutes while she waited for her strength to return, Sakura felt like she was ready to try again, so she called out to Sasuke and Kakashi, who were sparring nearby.
"Just… just don't stare at too hard, okay?" muttered Sakura, blowing bubbles into the water with her mouth. "Just keep an eye on … but don't look directly at ."
"That doesn't make any sense," said Sasuke flatly, but Kakashi laid a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.
And so, Sakura began cycling her chakra through her pathways once more, the water in the barrel churning as she released it through her Tenketsu. This ti, though, she kept going much longer, sustaining the flow until the chakra wrapped fully around her, allowing her skin to start drying despite her being subrged up to her neck.
At last, after half an hour of steadily releasing chakra at a pace of one-twelfth of a Kakashi per hour, Sakura's skin was completely dry, and she had barely scratched her reserves. She pictured her chakra building up electric charge, converting to lightning nature— and then, the nature of the chakra seeping through her Tenketsu abruptly changed.
"GYAAAAH!" Sakura scread.
Imdiately, Sasuke and Kakashi reached to pull her out of the water, but Sakura violently shook her head.
"I'm… fine…!" she grunted through gritted teeth, as electricity arced around her, licking at the water's surface and at the edges of the barrel. "I… can… keep… going…!"
It was a different kind of pain than before.
Last ti, the electricity had coursed through her body; this ti, it surged around her. It felt like using the Chidori— except it wasn't just her hand, it was her entire body… and it was far, far worse. It felt like every inch of her body was being bitten by bullet ants, as the process caused the tal ions suspended in the solution to bind to her skin!
And speaking of which, she needed to do her head as well.
Sakura took a deep breath, pinched her nose and closed her eyes, then let herself slip fully beneath the water.
The pain instantly turned from manageable to excruciating. Her pseudo chakra cloak flared out of control, turning erratic as her own lightning turned inwards, short-circuiting her. A final jolt lanced through her body, and then everything went dark.
…
A few minutes later, Sakura opened her eyes. This was getting annoyingly familiar…
"That was two seconds," said Kakashi, looking down at her pityingly. "You have to stay fully subrged for at least two hours, without pause, to get minimal results… or so your notes say."
Sakura groaned.
If she got out of the electrified tallic solution before the hour was up, the chakra tal wouldn't end up binding properly to her skin cells, which ant the treatnt couldn't be done pieceal, by taking breaks between sessions.
It had to be done all in one go, and the longer she stayed in, the better the results!
The secret manual stated that the Third Raikage, the hardest man alive, had managed to endure the pain for three entire days, stopping only due to chakra exhaustion. Although he hadn't lasted as long, the Fourth Raikage had still managed an impressive eight hours.
It was written that the treatnt had diminishing returns past the ten-hour mark, but even so… how on earth was Sakura even supposed to co close to that!? She had the chakra to go even longer than the Third Raikage, but she could hardly even picture herself lasting ten minutes!
Had she finally hit the limits of her body?
Was this the insurmountable difference between n and won…?
Or were her willpower and pain tolerance simply not good enough for a Shōnen Protagonist?
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