Grounded [Open]

[notveryspecial]

Where: Somewhere in Konoha
When: March 8th
Notes: Sakura is injured and stuck in Konoha instead of getting to go out on missions or do things. It's bothersome.

She wasn't in the best of moods. In Ame, she couldn't really spend much time or focus on training, both because it would appear suspicious and because she was simply busy. When she'd returned to Konoha, once all the procedures were finished with making certain she wasn't compromised or anything like that, she'd gone to make up for the time lost training.

Maybe there wasn't a point to continue to train and push herself now that she'd made Jounin and there was nowhere further for her to go. She didn't know what else to fill her time with, though, and even if she passed the Jounin test, she still felt her abilities weren't what they could be.

She'd been experimenting with incorporating her summons into her style and jutsus, and exhausted herself more than she'd realized. Her injured leg was the result of that. It wasn't so bad that medical jutsu couldn't heal it at all...but it was enough to leave her stuck in the village unable to train properly and incapable of taking other missions for the better part of a month.

It was difficult to say whether it was a blessing that it was during her recovery that her two old teammates were assigned on a mission without her. After all, she could sulk over her injury and blame that, rather than face questions of whether she'd been split from her team completely now.

Making her a diplomat so that she could never go on missions with her old team again was far too much trouble. As much as the hokage enjoyed making her suffer, going that far out of his way was somewhat excessive when she'd done nothing personally against him to earn such ire. But if it weren't true, then it seemed just as likely she would have accompanied her teammates (where she belonged) on that mission if not for her leg.

What a bother.

She sighed and sat on a nearby bench along the road. It wasn't because she particularly wanted to enjoy the scenery or watch people move...but if she didn't take a break, she'd probably start to limp again, and that would only be more frustrating.

She wasn't really in a good mood at all this month.

Comments

[senseiofthesea]

"Mmhmm. I haven't seen you with a book in your hands for a very long time. You used to really enjoy studying and reading. Don't you anymore?" He was just watching her now, wondering when that part of her had stalled.

[notveryspecial]

"...Iruka-sensei, I still study." It was just generally only hands on training, not book-knowledge. She'd purposefully avoided all of the physical demonstrations in the academy and made up for it in her book knowledge. Now...she had to catch up to everyone who had left her behind when she did that.

And she'd proven herself twice over this month how much she'd yet to do that.

[senseiofthesea]

"Training and studying aren't the same thing." His expression was soft, and he shook his head. "Don't stop doing the parts you love just to catch up on the rest. You're a brilliant girl, and I expected to hear a lot more about your achievements by now you know. Your quiet surprised me."

[notveryspecial]

She squinted up at him, skeptical. He was either misremembering her or attempting to flatter her to make her feel better. There wasn't anything about her performance in the Academy that should have made him surprised not to hear anything of her after graduation.

It was a nice sentiment of his, though. "I apologize for disappointing you. There were many things I had to catch up on after graduating."

[senseiofthesea]

"I don't doubt you've caught up to them. You look healthier, and I heard about your recent promotion." He tilted his head a little, examining her thoughtfully. "I can see you work hard. Have you created anything interesting recently? I know you used to be rather creative in class projects."

[notveryspecial]

It was probably part of being a teacher that he focused on the positive of her creativity in class, and not on the part that she mostly utilized it to make up for avoiding physical demonstrations and being the center of attention. Which wasn't to say it hadn't come in handy to have that habit and experience once she graduated and had to begin to make her own jutsu to fit in with Team Shirakumo.

...But her most recent notable project involved a level of genjutsu she wasn't readily willing to share with someone who might question where she'd learned such skill from.

Instead, she lifted her shoulder slightly. "I've been experimenting on picking up another chakra nature. Earth and fire don't easily combine."

[senseiofthesea]

He grimace at that statement. "They really don't. You have a voyage ahead of you, but at least it's not opposites."

[notveryspecial]

Opposites, in Earth's case, would be...rather difficult. Trying to combine lightning and earth into jutsu would just destroy the earth portions of the jutsu.

"Choosing an easy combination wouldn't allow for very much improvement..." An easy one wouldn't require her to improve her jutsu and abilities nearly as much as this.

[senseiofthesea]

"Choosing an easy combination wasn't what I meant." He laughed. "But never say that basic things or easy things mean there isn't room for improvement. Most of my skills are based on low level things."