By midafternoon, Sakura was standing inside the Konoha Clinic with Kenji's scroll on the metal examination table between her and Shizune.
She shifted nervously as Shizune loosened the binding and unrolled the first section.
Shizune scanned the first page. Her small smile disappeared as she recognized the technique.
"This isn't a beginner's healing manual," Shizune said. "It's the Chakra Scalpel. Used properly, it can cut muscles and organs without leaving an open wound. Where did you get this?"
Sakura swallowed, her cheeks warming slightly. "Kenji gave it to me."
Shizune paused. She looked back down at the scroll, then rolled it closed with a soft rustle. A small smile touched Shizune's mouth before she hid it. Sakura noticed, but had no idea what it meant.
"He notices more than he pretends," Shizune said softly.
Sakura looked down at the scroll again. Kenji had noticed her chakra control. He had actually thought about what she needed.
"Put your gloves on," Shizune instructed, pulling a tray from a nearby cabinet. "Let's see what he noticed."
For the next hour, Shizune kept giving Sakura harder tests. She had Sakura slice a single leaf perfectly in half using only a film of chakra on her index finger. She laid out five diluted training samples and made Sakura identify them by smell and by how they clung to the glass. Then came a dead river fish. Sakura had to remove one small organ without damaging anything around it.
A thin, pale-blue chakra edge formed around Sakura's fingers. The edge stayed narrow and steady as she moved it through the fish.
Without warning, Shizune bumped the examination table with her hip.
Sakura gasped. The blade slipped, slicing into the fish's stomach lining. Dark fluid spilled across the tray. Sakura froze, and the chakra around her fingers vanished.
"I ruined it," she whispered, pulling her hands back.
"In the field, people will bump you. Enemies will attack you. The ground may shake," Shizune said, handing her a towel. "Your hands are steady, Sakura. Now you need the rest of your body to stay steady with them."
Sakura wiped her hands and stared at the ruined fish. After a moment, she pushed the tray back toward Shizune.
"Again."
While Sakura was learning not to freeze when a table moved, Naruto was discovering that twenty clones could still miss one leaf.
He had arrived at Training Ground 3 shortly after Sakura left, carrying two empty ramen cups and no explanation.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Twenty Narutos popped into existence, filling the small clearing with smoke and shouting. They all drew kunai simultaneously and hurled them into the trees.
Thwack. Thwack. Snap.
Branches rained down. Leaves were shredded. A squirrel fled for its life.
Haku stood a few yards away, completely untouched by the barrage of sharp steel. He reached up and pointed to a single, specific oak leaf suspended by a thin piece of ninja wire between two branches.
The leaf was completely unharmed.
"You missed," Haku said politely.
Naruto groaned, dismissing the clones. "Dammit! I threw, like, fifty kunai! How did none of them hit it?"
"Because throwing more kunai does not make them less obvious," Haku said. "All twenty clones looked at the same target, raised their arms together, and threw at the same time."
Naruto crossed his arms, frowning. "So what am I supposed to do? Throw one really hard?"
"Throw two," Haku corrected. "One makes the enemy look. The other one hits."
Haku held up two senbon needles. He didn't shout. He didn't weave a sign. He just flicked his wrist.
The first needle hit the tree trunk a foot away from the leaf, drawing Naruto's eye with a loud thwack. A fraction of a second later, the second needle pinned the suspended leaf perfectly through the center.
"Use fewer clones," Haku said. "Give each one a job. The trick is not throwing more—it is making the enemy look the wrong way."
Naruto stared at the pinned leaf for several seconds. He didn't yell or complain. He just pulled two fresh kunai from his pouch.
"Okay," Naruto muttered, tightening his grip on the kunai. "Let's try that again."
Near the center of the training ground, Kenji was learning that sitting on a stump and giving everyone else advice had consequences.
"You sit while youth blooms around you!" Guy declared, pointing straight at Kenji. "A true shinobi sweats with his comrades! Stand up!"
Kenji sighed. He looked over at Zabuza, who was currently kicking Sasuke into a puddle of mud.
"Fine," Kenji said, standing up and stretching his neck. "Let's see what the Green Beast can do."
Guy did not wait for a starting signal. One moment he was smiling. The next, his heel was sweeping toward Kenji's head.
Kenji ducked under the kick, using the Hiten Mitsurugi footwork to pivot and create distance. But Guy followed him immediately, driving Kenji backward with a blur of punches. Kenji blocked two, slipped a third, and barely twisted away from the fourth.
Every time Kenji blocked a strike, his forearms burned. Guy's physical power was monstrous, even without the Inner Gates.
Guy threw a low sweep. Kenji jumped, using a burst of Geppo to kick off the air and launch himself backward. He landed lightly on his feet, but his calves were screaming, and his chest was heaving.
Guy stopped. He looked like they had not even started yet.
Kenji breathed heavily, wiping a line of dirt from his cheek.
Guy was barely trying. Worse, Kenji knew exactly why he was struggling. Venom usually made him stronger, and Hiraishin let him skip the annoying part of crossing the distance. Without either one, his legs were already burning.
That was embarrassing. He did not need another stolen technique. He needed to stop being lazy.
"Excellent!" Guy boomed, striking a pose with a thumbs-up and a sparkling smile. "Your spirit burns brightly, Kenji! Your reflexes are sharp, but your legs are lazy!"
Kenji forced his breathing under control. "Well, I skip leg days."
"Skip the leg day! That's not good," Guy shouted, his smile widening to a terrifying degree. "But don't worry, I will help you train your legs, starting tomorrow, you will join Team Guy for our sunrise endurance circuit!"
"One hundred laps around Training Ground 3!" Guy announced to the entire clearing. "Followed by two thousand squats! If we fail, we do the next hundred laps on our hands!"
Kenji's smile disappeared.
From across the clearing came a short, unmistakable laugh.
Kenji turned.
Sasuke, face-down in the mud, went silent.
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