I would like to thank all who reviewed. It encourages me to update sooner! Although I only update when an idea inspires me or when I feel like it… Oh well! I'll try anyway!

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Blessings Or Curses

Chapter 2

Sakura was so surprised by the tiny flame that burned in her hand, she lost concentration and it went out immediately. No one in the room had anything to say to the unexpected surprise.

Not even Naruto or Ino.

Everyone gaped at the now empty palm that had held the fire. Without a word, the rest of the shinobi in the room also tried to focus on the strange source of energy in their stomach.

Neji glared at his palm when nothing happened until the ground started shaking. Since the window to their room was open, dirt and rocks were able to fly to Neji's hand like crazy. Yet his glare was still glued to his hand.

"Great I get to control earth," he stated sarcastically. He glanced at the other shinobi in the room and gasped when Tenten was suddenly wet.

"Gah!" she squealed with surprise. "Neji! Water just, like, appeared in my hand and splashed all over me! Now I'm all wet!" She looked him in the eye and pouted. Neji smirked at her antics.

"What am I supposed to do then? Cover you in dirt and try to dry you off?" Neji answered smugly. Tenten opened her mouth to deliver a witty comeback when Hinata shrieked uncharacteristically. Everyone turned to the shy Hyuuga and looked at her expectantly.

"Anou, there's a flower in my hand." She blushed when she heard herself say it. It sounded so childish. "It just popped into my hand. Do you think that I can grow plants and things like that?" she asked to nobody in particular.

"Oh! I do, Hinata-chan!" Naruto put up his hand enthusiastically. "I think it's cause your pretty and innocent like nature." He grinned goofily and then pouted. "I can't focus the thingy into my hand. It's too hard."

"Dobe. It's simple. I've already got mine to work." All eyes wandered from Naruto to Sasuke. His palm was sparkling with electricity. Naruto was just about to yell a lame comeback when Ino screamed.

"Naruto! Shut up!" People from all over looked at her as if she were crazy.

"Ahh, Ino, Naruto didn't say anything yet." Sakura stared into her friend's wide eyes.

"What? How's that? I swear I heard him say that he would beat Sasuke's ass in any competition even without using his super duper ninja powers. It was as if he were screaming in my ear."

"Interesting." Tsunade glanced at each shinobi before continuing. "It seems that the Shinshiri Temple granted you powers. Sakura produces fire, Neji can control earth, water sprouts out of Tenten, Hinata can grow strange plants just by will, Sasuke can generate electricity and Ino can read thoughts." She looked accusingly at Naruto and Shikamaru. "Naruto doesn't have enough control to concentrate this 'second chakra' and Shikamaru's too lazy."

"Hey, who said I wasn't trying?" Shikamaru's voice was interested, for once. "I can understand what the animals outside are saying. Like that squirrel over there." He pointed to a brown squirrel that was running from tree to tree. "He was just complaining to a buddy that he needed more food for winter."

A look of concentration crossed Tusnade's features.

"Hmm, Ino can you hear the thoughts of everyone in this room?"

"Perfectly. Maybe too well." She paused long enough to glare at Naruto. "But only when I concentrate."

"What about the animals?" Shizune's quiet voice surprised everyone. "I wonder if you can listen to everyone's thoughts or just a selected few. And how far do you think you can be to listen to someone's thoughts…?"

"Good question, Shizune." Tsunade looked at the Anbu members. "I'm assigning you a new mission. Hone these new skills you have until you can use them in battle. You are dismissed."

She stared at them blankly until she realized they were hospitalized and couldn't leave. Blushing, she turned around and stalked out of the room. Before she left, she heard Naruto yell:

"SMOOTH, TSUNADE-OBAACHAN!"

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Over the next few weeks, while the shinobi were recovering, they practiced using their newfound abilities for as long as they could. Since they were still in a hospital, they could only do so much.

Most of their practice consisted of focusing their 'other chakra' into their palms or various other body parts. With the help of the byakugan, they found out that both chakras were able to flow through the entire chakra network. It made the Hyuuga family members, especially Neji, eager to get out of the hospital to test their brand new skill.

Approximately 4 and a half weeks after their return to Konoha, the 8 Anbu members were freed from the hospital. Or as some called it, the hellhole with terrible food.

They all joined together to practice their new skill in a secluded clearing every chance they got. Each was improving their control over the abilities granted by the Shinshiri Temple, except a certain blond.

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The male Anbu were on one side of the clearing while the female Anbu were on the other. Why?

Simple.

They were having a competition, a very interesting competition. They were playing capture the flag, with a twist. No shinobi skills or weapons, just their unusual chakra. Also, a wager was going on. Whoever lost had to be the other team's slave for two weeks.

Each team was focusing quietly on a plan to steal the other team's flag. Of course no one was allowed to use their ability until the game started, since Ino knew how to read minds.

"Oi! You girls ready yet, or do you need some more time to make sure you don't break any nails?" Sasuke yelled mockingly toward the girls' end of the field. (Very uncharacteristic if you ask me.) "We could give you some more time so you actually have a battle plan!"

"No need for that, losers! That flag is as good as ours!" Sakura's answering call could be heard from miles away.

"Yeah! You ready to get your butts kicked by a few petty girls?!" Ino was surprisingly louder than Sakura. (Ouch. If Sakura's was loud, and Ino's was louder and you were standing right next to her…Ouch)

"Itai! Urusai, Ino! Some people here would like to keep their eardrums, y'know!" Tenten screamed loudly in Ino's ear. Soon enough three of the girls were having a yelling match. The boys smirked smugly, thinking that they would win easily. How they were wrong…

Sakura and Tenten stood as offence, since their powers were better for fighting while Ino and Hinata kept guard of their flag for the same reasons.

Meanwhile, Sasuke and Nauruto were standing at the centreline, waiting for the whistle to blow as Neji Shikamaru stood as offence. Somehow, Shikamaru had persuaded a bird to call out when the game was going to start.

How, you ask? They had bribed him, of course, with food. Terribly evil, huh?

The four shinobi's speed went unmatched as they charged at each other. Naruto was firing blasts of wind from all directions at Sakura's large flamethrower, trying to put it out. But, even the strongest gust of wind couldn't extinguish Sakura's fire. It was even bigger than the Grand Fireball Technique Sasuke specialized in.

Along with Naruto's wind, the fire was growing dangerously. The heat alone could make you faint, but Naruto was well prepared. He ran out of the way when the flame reached him and sprinted toward the kunoichi's flag. Sakura too went to retrieve the other flag as Tenten and Sasuke battled ferociously.

Waves of electricity pummelled against splashes of water as the battle progressed. They almost cancelled each other out, until Sasuke, ever so graciously, tripped over the wet ground. Tenten quickly signalled Hinata to tie him down with her unusual gift, and she succeeded.

Sasuke struggled immensely against the wood that trapped his entire body to the ground, yet he did not prevail. He stared hopelessly at his blonde teammate who was doing terribly.

Naruto, being the klutz he was, was already in Ino's grasp. She was currently pounding him into the ground, where there was an inch thick Naruto shaped hole in the ground. Hinata, the kind and caring one of the group, pitied Naruto and freed him, allowing him to capture the flag and flee.

"Don't you think you're getting off that easily!" Ino howled at Naruto. She began a mad chase toward said boy, leaving a trail of dust behind her.

Meanwhile, Sakura and Tenten were also running toward the centre of the clearing with the boy's flag in their hands. Unsurprisingly, Shikamaru had fallen asleep and Neji was left to defend their flag alone.

Naturally, Neji's earth techniques didn't stand a chance when the water from Tenten's palms soaked them. Neji was left wet and on the side of the clearing with scorch marks from Sakura's earlier attack.

However, Sasuke had finally freed himself from the tomb of dirt when Naruto came rushing by with an angry Ino right behind him. He managed a cocky smirk when he saw what was in Naruto's hands, but it was wiped off instantly when he glanced closer.

Naruto, being a coward when it comes to angry women, was panicking. A lot. So much so that he was unconsciously releasing violent winds out of his hands. The very ones that were holding the object that would declare the boys' victory.

Yes, in simpler terms, he was shredding the flag to bits. Pieces of the broken banner were flying behind him making a trail. By now the only pieced left was the fabric that symbolized the difference between the two horribly made flags. Sasuke groaned when he saw it disappear from Naruto's grasp into the real wind.

A yelp was heard as the boys' flag was electrocuted in Sakura's hands. Damn! She had a mere two feet until she would cross the centreline. She glared at the Uchiha prodigy with a tantrum growing inside her. Ever since she had been appointed the apprentice of Tsunade, her temper had grown shorter and shorter, until it was almost non-existent.

And nobody dared make Sakura angry. Except for Uchiha Sasuke.

He ignored her lethal warnings and regarded her with a smug expression plastered on his face, daring her to hit him. Sakura ran up to Sasuke and smacked his head. His expression changed immediately to one of pure distaste.

"What was that for, Haruno?" Uh oh. Sasuke only called Sakura by her last name when he was really annoyed. Sakura failed to notice this.

"What was what for, Sasuke? You got what you deserved. You burnt our flag, when we were about to win!" By now, the entire gang was watching carefully with a bag of popcorn given that these amusing squabbles happened almost daily between the two.

"What do you mean? It was only fair. I electrocuted our flag cause Naruto ruined yours."

"That's his problem! It's not our fault he ripped it to shreds when Ino was chasing him!. We won fair and square, Sasuke! You boys are our slaves for TWO WHOLE WEEKS. We shook on it, remember?"

And so it began. The daily quarrel of Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke.

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Tsunade was concentrating very hard to decipher the scroll given to her from the Shinshiri Temple. Normally, it wasn't her job to do so, but today was an exception. The scroll had piqued her interest. She had only made sense of a few parts of the scroll, when an ominous earthquake reigned over Konoha, creating havoc everywhere it went.

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Cliffie! What will happen next?! A huge twist, I tell you! R&R please!