Chapter 86: Genjutsu

Training blind with taijutsu was difficult, if not entirely frustrating. It was a week until the end of June, and a week since taijutsu training had begun—almost a month and a half since he had been brought to Konoha in mid-May. Even though his speed had managed to graze the side of Sakura's face during training the first day, she now predicted that and was able to compensate. Since that day a week ago, he could not land a single punch on the pink-haired kunoichi. Granted the exercises had made things easier in the sense that he could discern her which blows she would throw at him, and by the end of the week he could block about eighty to ninety percent of those attacks.

He remembered sparring her as a genin, and was surprised, if not a little irked to find that her technique hadn't changed at all. It was becoming increasingly obvious as he sparred her now, his blocks one step ahead of her blows and a pattern falling into place. He supposed as a medical ninja she wasn't expected to have as much taijutsu or ninjutsu down, but it was a bit ridiculous to find that she hadn't advanced very far since those days back then.

A kick from the side came at him and he quickly blocked it with his arm; next would come a punch from her right arm; as expected, he blocked the blow as it came. He blocked the next few expected attacks, his mind searching for a possible opening in which he could get in an attack of his own.

Often he would keep her arms occupied with his blocks, and she would twist away out of his grasp before he could get at her, but if he could attack before then, he could have a chance of getting her. His two arms were presently occupied with blocks—he would have to go for a kick, a trip kick. He felt the pressure on his arms starting to ease, signaling that she was starting to spring away; he would have to strike before she was out of reach. He crouched speedily on his left leg, swiping out with his right, attempting to catch her at the side. He dropped his arms and braced against the ground, increasing the momentum of his kick. If she was surprised, and if he was fast enough, and if he hadn't waited too long, then maybe he could hit her. There were too many 'ifs'.

There was the quietest of gasps from Sakura and he smirked at the sound. He had indeed surprised her, and now he was going to gain an advantage. The sudden shock of meeting more air instead of colliding with her feet forced him to convert the momentum to returning him to a standing position to prevent spinning out on the ground. She had jumped out of the way at the very last moment, causing him to miss her entirely.

Movement from the side—sounded like a lunge from the rustle of the fabric. He rolled away quickly and was startled as she leapt over his crouched form and grabbed him from behind. That was new, he noted grimly as he felt the touch of cold kunai metal at his neck, she had never leapt over him before.

"That was good," she praised him, dropping the kunai from his throat, and pulling him back up onto his feet. A dark cloud of irritation formed in his mind as he dusted himself off; he was frustrated for two reasons: first of all, when he figured that he knew her attacks, she had gone and pulled a stunt like that. The second thing that bothered him was that even though he knew that it was almost inevitable that he would lose the fight against her, it still irked him to lose, despite the loss being a given.

"Once more," he told her, as she dropped her arm, getting into a ready position. He would beat her this time, he told himself—just like all the other times…

"No," she stated firmly, taking his hand, her thumb ran habitually over his knuckles, "We went without lunch yesterday, and I will not have you go without again. You need your strength, Sasuke. –It's one o'clock now, let's stop for lunch, then we'll come back for the afternoon and try something different for a while."

"Like what?" he demanded grouchily—in his opinion, nothing was more important than getting taijutsu down. What was she thinking, trying to stop with taijutsu training for the day?

"You need to become accustomed to laying and detecting traps while blind," she replied lightly with a shrug, "And I also want to try a genjutsu experiment on you, so you'll need plenty of energy to put up with what I've got planned."

Genjutsu experiment? He had always had a strong mistrust of genjutsu—and rightfully so. Mangekyou Sharingan was one of the cruelest of genjutsu attacks, and having experienced that damn technique twice, he had never felt the same towards illusionary jutsus. So when Sakura said genjutsu experiment, he immediately became wary of the notion; he knew Sakura would never do anything to hurt him intentionally. Even though he wouldn't admit it, he was worried.

Reluctantly he let her lead him from the vicinity, much rather wanting to stay and train the rest of the day with taijutsu as they had done all week. But he had come to know Sakura over the past month and a bit, much better than he had as when they were genin, and he knew that she would not hear of it. Sakura had changed in personality, but while she was still kind to him and watch over him, she no longer reserved her sharp tongue or stubborn temperament for Naruto. She was firm, stubborn, and scolded him when she felt he had done something he shouldn't have, but she was kind, gentle and was there for him. Something sharp seemed to poke his insides as he realized that Sakura was much like his mother had been—similar, yet different too.

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