Space to Breathe - [ Sakura Haruno ]

CHAPTER 04

It was hell, as the name implied. The first time she'd had this technique used on her, Sasuke was the fake victim, no doubt due to her previous infatuation with the boy. Now though, her father sat before her, bloodied and bruised.

She knew logically she was in a Genjutsu, though. Despite this, she stared at the corpse of her father for a full minute, tears springing to her eyes, before she flared her chakra.

Then, the room returned to normal. Ibiki sat behind his desk with a blank face and Sakura sat out of breath before him.

"You broke out of the Genjutsu, but you used too much chakra," Ibiki explained calmly, not giving Sakura a second to pause. "I'm going to use it again. You'll keep trying until you can use the perfect amount, even under such stress."

Sakura took a sharp breath, but prepared herself quickly. 'It's only an illusion.' She chanted to herself in her head.

When things changed again, Sakura felt her teacher's chakra under her skin, and whilst staring her father's corpse in the eye, she released herself.

"Better, but you were prepared," he noted, "we'll have to work on it, but you're unlikely to fall for this specific Genjutsu again."

Sakura tilted her head slightly at that, and Ibiki explained, "this Genjutsu shows the target their worst fear, more or less." He said, continuing on, "it changes, depending on the person. Sometimes it's your worst fear, other times it's the person closest to you dying."

"Do you not have direct control over the illusion?" Sakura asked, wiping some sweat from her forehead.

"Not really, but you do to some extent," Ibiki explained, but didn't elaborate.

Sakura nodded in understanding, then, "okay, I think I get it."

"Good, then you can start learning it."

                                 
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Kabuto faked a smile as he approached the training field. It wouldn't do to be found out by his new 'sensei', after all. Why the Hokage had felt him the best choice to fill in on Team Seven, well, he knew Orochimaru had meddled in the decision somehow, especially by having his previous teammates coincidentally 'die' the same day the Hokage needed a replacement for the Uchiha's team.

Unless he'd been found out already? But that made no sense, they'd simply capture him. Still, Kabuto tried to keep his guard up.

"You must be Kabuto," Kakashi said calmly as the boy approached, although Kabuto felt a hint of regret from the man, "I'm Hatake Kakashi, the sensei of Team Seven."

"Yakushi Kabuto," he replied easily, "I look forward to working with you and your team for the upcoming chunin exams."

Naruto seemed upset, likely due to the loss of his teammate, Haruno Sakura, although she wasn't dead as far as Kabuto had gathered.

Sasuke seemed... He was brooding. According to Kabuto's intel that was pretty standard.

"We'll start with introductions, then," Kakashi said, gesturing towards Naruto.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto," the boy said, having seemingly forgotten his worries from a moment prior, "I'm gonna become the strongest shinobi, and the next Hokage!"

Kabuto simply smiled politely at the orange-clad blonde before turning his attention to the Uchiha.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke," he said simply, refusing to elaborate further.

"Well, now that we've gotten that much out of the way," Kakashi clapped his hands, "how about we go and get ourselves a mission?"

Naruto cheered, Sasuke groaned. One of them was clearly more optimistic for their chances at a C rank, although it was unlikely they'd go out of the village with a brand new teammate.