Edited 7/10/15 – thank my beta, Blade Redwind for helping me catch some of the errors.

Oiroke no Sakura

by Oniko

Chapter Seven

… … …

Sakumo collapsed with Kakashi's weight pinning him face down on the unforgiving ground. He struggled against the hold, but he couldn't get the leverage.

"Give in?" Kakashi asked with cheerful smugness in his voice and not a bit out of breath. The bastard.

Stubbornly Sakumo shook his head. He lashed out with one flailing hand and tried to pull his feet in under him. Kakashi easily batted Sakumo's fist away and shifted his hold, so that one hand between Sakumo's shoulder blades held him down while Sakumo kicked futilely at the dirt.

Kakashi swiftly captured both of Sakumo's hands one at a time and pinned them down with his knees on Sakmo's wrists. Kakashi brought a kunai to Sakumo's throat with his free hand. "Now, do you give in?"

"Yes," Sakumo growled. Sakura hated losing, even to Kakashi. It brought years of failure and insecurity roaring back with a vengeance. Feelings of inadequacy that even Sakumo couldn't hide under a veneer by virtue of not being Sakura. He tapped out. A light fluttering fingertips against Kakashi's calf was all he could manage from this position.

"Good fight," Kakashi clapped him solidly on the shoulder and stood up. Sakumo rolled over and basked in the act of not moving. He wasn't out of shape in either form, but Kakashi had worked him relentlessly.

"If you say so," Sakumo grumbled. His leg muscles twitched. He hated running fights.

Sakumo could hear the crunch of grass as Kakashi stepped up to him. Thankfully, Kakashi managed to avoid stepping on Sakumo's hair. "You don't think so?"

"I've been reminded of how far I still have to go," he said with a shrug, and winced. Movement; bad.

"Hm, what do you think you did well?" Kakashi asked as he crouched down and peered at Sakumo.

"Please tell me you aren't going to give me a performance review," Sakumo said with a groan. Kakashi just gave him that squinty-eyed smile.

"Your genjutsu was good. Seamless."

"You are! I hate you so much right now."

"Taijutsu was solid. Need to work on your speed and stamina."

"I know." Without being able to take advantage of Sakura's chakra enhancements, his strength and recovery tanked. He was able to make up for some of it by deliberately sculpting a more pronounced musculature during the transformation, but clearly that wasn't enough.

"I didn't see much ninjutsu though," Kakashi said with a questioning lilt to his voice.

That was because most of Sakura's techniques were based on either iryoujutsu or Tsunade's enhanced strength techniques. In a carefully neutral voice, he said, "I never really learned any advanced jutsu. Just the academy and genin level basics."

"Excellent!" Kakashi said, and beamed down at him. "Fewer bad habits to worry about."

"What?" Sakumo asked. Kakashi didn't answer, just dropped a heavy scroll on Sakumo's head. "Wh-hey! Asshole." Sakumo grumbled under his breath as Kakashi disappeared.

From his prone position, Sakumo cracked the seal and unrolled the scroll to find that it wasn't just one scroll but three rolled up together. The first was a transfer request to Team Kakashi as a provisional member; the next, an A-rank mission with a briefing and departure scheduled in three days; and the last, a formal investiture of apprenticeship.

"Holy shit!" Sakumo's sat up, and reread the last scroll. It was for real. Kakashi was requesting him as an apprentice in his ninjutsu with a stated goal of complete elemental mastery. He also mentioned under "supporting arguments" that the Haruno propensity for complete chakra control would be invaluable for a Ninjutsu expert.

Sakumo felt his jaw drop as he read through the scroll a third time. Sakura wailed in frustration from the back of his mind. For her, perfect chakra control had only ever been of passing interest to her teachers. Good for a medical-nin or a genjutsu specialist. Good for a kunoichi, but as a shinobi still fell far short of the mark. Sakumo was too overjoyed at finally—finally-being good enough. At finally being recognized by the first teacher that really mattered. By Kakashi.

That thought stopped Sakumo cold, like ice-water down his back. Kakashi. That lazy, perverted jounin who would prefer to slouch about doing D-rank errands instead of actually train his genin team. Look underneath the underneath. One of the few lessons the lazy bastard actually taught them. What was underneath this offer?

Even if Kakashi genuinely thought Sakumo was good enough, the lazy bastard would probably try to foist Sakumo onto someone else: call in a favor, or recommend him for a team with an open spot. He wouldn't do this unless Kakashi was feeling some pressure to act. Who could pressure Kakashi? Tsunade. The Jounin Commander. Why? And what was underneath that to cause Kakashi to actually do it?

Sakumo needed more information. As one of the Hokage's apprentices Sakura was privy to a lot of things that she rightfully should not have been. But there was someone who had access to more. Sakumo dragged himself to his feet. Time to go see Naruto.

After he gathered up all of his chakram.

… … …

Naruto had a small office tucked away in the back corner one of the Hokage Tower's upper floors. Supposedly, Tsunade had tried to keep him in her office to let him observe her work as the Hokage, but that didn't end well and he was banished to this closet with a daily checklist of things to do or books to read.

Currently the Presumptive Hokage was bouncing a ball off of the back wall.

"Hey, Naruto." Sakumo leaned in the open door. "Do you have a minute."

"Oh, sure! Sak-ur-uh-" Naruto paused mid-word and stared at Sakumo like a rabbit caught in a snare.

The ball he had thrown smacked Naruto square in the forehead on the bounce back.

Sakumo chuckled softly and caught the ball before it could do further damage. He entered the room and closed the door behind him. "I needed to talk to you about something."

"Of course! Anything your Hokage-to-be can help you with?" Naruto asked as he started clearing the only other chair in the room of the overflowing stacks of books and papers. "Sit! Sit!"

"I need your opinion on this," Sakumo said. He handed Naruto the scrolls, and waited while Naruto read. Sakumo nervously sorted the books immediately in front of him by subject and neatly tucked the various sheets covered in notes inside the front cover of their respective books.

"Wow," Naruto said. He handed the scroll back to Sakumo. "Wow. What are you going to do?"

"What do you mean?" Sakumo asked, a frown marring his forehead.

"What do you mean, 'What do you mean?' " Naruto asked. "What are you going to do? You're Tsuna-"

Sakumo hissed at him. "Is this room secure?"

"Of course it- wait." Naruto flipped through the stacks that Sakumo just sorted. He pulled out one page and in the process displaced several others. He studied his notes intently before scrawling a complex seal on the wall and activating it. "Okay, we're good."

They stared at each other for a long moment.

"What am I going to do?" Sakumo asked.

"That's what I want to know! You can't apprentice to both of them. There are laws- well, not laws maybe, but traditions. About serving two masters." Naruto waved his hand. "Conflicting loyalties."

"I can't turn it down," Sakumo protested.

"This is going too far. You're going to have to tell them," Naruto said.

"What? No!" Sakumo spluttered feeling betrayed. "I can't. This is- I just can't."

Naruto took a deep breath. "Okay. So, what are you going to do? This mission is out of the village, and you still have your shift at the hospital."

Sakumo swore. "I hadn't even thought that far. There is no way Sakura could get off work."

"Can you get assigned to the mission as a medic?" Naruto asked. "Maybe we could let the team in on-"

Sakumo shook his head. "No, I don't want anyone to know."

Naruto looked like he wanted to protest further, but gave in with a sigh. "The real challenge is how are we supposed to make it seem like you are in two places at once."

"Clones are out," Sakumo said. "I'll need to be able to interact with people and use jutsu both at the hospital and the mission. Henge?"

Naruto nodded. "For the mission or the hospital? It'll probably be easier to have someone be Sakumo while you-."

"No," Sakumo said immediately. The idea of being left behind while someone else took his place made his skin crawl.

"Good luck finding a skilled Medic-nin that can fake perfect chakra control and learn all of Tsunade's techniques in three days," Naruto scoffed.

Sakumo curled his lip at Naruto in a silent snarl. It wasn't fair when Naruto had a point. Though truth be told, Sakura didn't want anyone taking her place at the hospital either. She had worked too hard, carving her place as a skilled professional and not just another nurse.

"Clones!" Naruto suddenly exclaimed and held one finger up in the air like he had made a grand discovery.

"We just went over why clones wouldn't work," Sakumo snapped.

"No, no! Kage Bushin!" Naruto enthused, waving his hand around. "They are perfect! Given enough chakra they can hold their shape indefinitely, use jutsu, and interact with people."

"I'm not you," Sakumo pointed out. "I don't have an unlimited amount of chakra to throw around."

"You don't need a ton of them," Naruto said, clearly not wanting to let go of the idea that Shadow Clones solve everything. "You only need one, and with the Yin Seal you can probably store up enough chakra to put together a pretty solid clone."

Sakumo opened his mouth to protest, and then closed it as he really couldn't think of any good objection. Well, fuck, Shadow Clones really do solve everything.

"The real problem," Naruto said with a scrunched up face as he thought furiously, "is that the clone can't generate its own chakra."

Sakumo nodded. That made sense, the chakra demand for any given hospital shift was erratic and unpredictable. Some were worse than others, but Sakura was always on call for Inbound Team Assessment in case a mission went badly.

"So, you'll just have to learn to use natural chakra!"

"What?"

"Clones in sage mode can draw on natural chakra to replace spent stores," he explained, nearly bouncing in his chair. "Or have a summon feed them natural chakra."

"Isn't natural chakra dangerous?"

Naruto nodded all the while looking no less cheery. "Yeah, if you can't assimilate the chakra correctly it can turn you to stone statue."

Sakumo looked at him dubiously.

"Or, you can tell Tsunade and Kakashi what's going on."

"No." Sakumo cringed. He couldn't do that.

Naruto gave him a sympathetic look. "You know, I'm sure it wouldn't be that bad. Have you considered that you may be blowing things out of proportion? I mean, we all care for you-"

"I know," Sakumo said. "I know you do. I can't. I feel like- I just can't. Please."

"I could say something-"

"Don't you dare!" Sakumo reached across Naruto's cluttered desk to grab his hand. The thought of someone else knowing about him made Sakumo feel sick to his stomach. Sakura still hadn't been able to corner Ino about what she knew, and he was kept up nights worrying about it. "I'll- If anyone needs to know, I'll tell them. Just, please, help me."

"Of course!" Naruto agreed. He gripped Sakumo's hand tightly in both of his. "Of course, I'll help. You'll have to learn sage mode from the slugs, but I can show you the Kage Bushin. Right now, if you want."

Sakumo took a deep breath and nodded. Naruto walked him through the hand seals patiently. Sakumo did several dry runs without any chakra until he was sure he could form the hand seals without any errors.

"Remember: if you want the clones to do something specific, you'll need to have the instructions in mind when forming the clone. Or they'll all try to do what you want to do."

"Who do you think I am, you?" Sakumo asked with faux irritation in his voice. Naruto grinned and waved a hand at him.

"Try it."

Sakumo nodded and dutifully followed instructions. He focused on the bits and pieces of thoughts and memories that he thought of collectively as "Sakura" and imagined them flowing out with the chakra as his hands formed the seals. The Yin Seal at his throat cracked with a force that felt like it should have been audible, but somehow it wasn't. Stored chakra flooded his chakra coils and poured out of him into the forming clone.

He was so focused on directly the chakra that he didn't notice until it was too late, his energy reserves needed for himself dropping dangerously low, and his vision greying before he blacked out completely.

… … …

Sakumo blinked awake to find himself laid out on the floor of Naruto's tiny office and being hovered over by Naruto himself, Hinata and- Sakura? He couldn't help staring, but looking at her was disorientating as well. It wasn't at all like looking at a mirror. He couldn't help but feel that there was something subtly wrong with the clone, though she looked to be a perfect replica. She glanced at Hinata. "How's he looking?"

Did she really sound like that? All high-pitched and shrill?

"Much better," Hinata said, studying him intently with her byakugan clearly activated. It was only then that he noticed that Sakura, rather the Sakura-clone, was carefully feeding chakra back into him. "I think he'll be able to recover naturally from here out."

Naruto breathed out a gusty sigh of relief. He grinned. "You had me really worried there."

"You should be more careful," Hinata chided him gently. "Chakra exhaustion is not something to play around with."

He stared at her wide eyed. His mind kept going around and around in circles. Why was she here? Did they tell her? He glanced at Naruto and the clone. "Did you-?"

"I'll be sure to tell Kakashi to go easy on you," Sakura interrupted him with a subtle shake of her head. "He's not allowed to break my toys."

She helped him to stand, shakily, on his feet. He sent a weak smile at Hinata. "Sorry to intrude on your day."

Hinata blushed slightly and shook her head. "I-I was coming to see Naruto a-already."

"You're lucky she did," Sakura said, brushing dust from his clothes with quick, sharp swipes of her hand. "Otherwise, we might have had to go to the hospital to get your chakra coils checked out."

"Aaand now that the excitement for the day is over-" Naruto rolled up Sakumo's scrolls and handed them back to him. "Congratulations."

Hinata gave them a puzzled look, but didn't ask. Sakumo decided to explain anyway. "Kakashi arranged to apprentice me in elemental ninjutsu."

She beamed at him. "Congratulations!"

Sakura looked up with her expression carefully molded into a look of confusion. "Kakashi? Our Kakashi?" Now Naruto was giving her a curious look. "Our lazy teacher volunteered to teach someone?"

"Huh. That is kind of weird," Naruto agreed.

"Has the council been pressuring Kakashi to take an apprentice, again?" Sakura asked.

"Or have kids." Naruto's giggle was pure shadenfreude. "Remember when what's-his-face waylaid us after that Suna mission to yell about how Kakashi was shirking his duty to Fire. And then Sai said-"

Sakumo waved his hand to catch Naruto's attention and cut him off. "But you haven't heard of anything recently?"

"I haven't," Naruto looked at Sakura, who dutifully shook her head. "But, I'll keep my ear to the ground and let you know if anything comes up."

"Not that I don't doubt Kakashi's good intentions," Sakumo started.

Sakura snorted. "Why not? It's probably better for your sanity that way."

Naruto glanced back and forth between Sakumo and Sakura, and made a strange noise in the back of his throat. "Oh, my god. There's two of you."

"Now, I know you need to take a break," Hinata said while she firmly pulled Naruto towards the door. "Working late. Studying when you should be sleeping. Have you even been eating?"

"Ramen?"

"Not all the time!" She chided him gengle before she gave Sakumo and Sakura an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, but-"

"No, no! You're good," Sakumo assured Hinata as he waved Sakura out the door after them.

"We should get going, anyway," she agreed.

Naruto made another pained noise and muttered under his breath. "What have I done?"

With a final wave they headed towards Sakura's apartment, stopping only briefly at the mission desk to be informed that Kakashi had already cancelled Sakumo's standing mission at the warehouse.

"Such an asshole," Sakumo griped and kicked at the pavement as they walked home.

"At least now you don't have to worry about disappearing for three days, or, you know, indefinitely." Sakura said. The last was spoken somewhat morosely.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," he said, taking the time to really study her. She was wearing her usual summer uniform of red sleeveless top with the Haruno crest and black shorts with battle sandals that had heavy shin guards up to her knees. She had the familiar pale skin that burned so easily in the summer sun, and pink hair the same shade as his that barely brushed her shoulders. She walked with an easy confidence that he remembered modeling off of Tsunade.

Sakura shrugged and eyed him staring at her. "What?"

"How did the clone not turn out to be an exact copy?" He asked, careful to word his question so that anyone in the evening crowd around them wouldn't hear anything unusual for a two shinobi talking shop.

"Yeah, that surprised Naruto, too," she said, holding out her arms to study them. As if that was the extent of the differences between them. "My memory after the jutsu started is a little hazy, but I think you were so focused on creating a clone of me that it just skipped the interim step of forming a henge. Or, incorporated it."

"Was that why the chakra didn't split evenly?"

"Maybe. Or maybe you just shoved everything into the jutsu. We'll have to experiment a bit."

"Carefully," he added. He would need to have someone monitor him until he could perform the Shadow Clone Technique without killing himself. Provided he was able to talk the slugs into training him, and that he survived said training. Great, now he was depressed.

The conversation died, and really, what was the point of talking to someone who might as well be yourself? He'll get all of her thoughts and memories once she dispersed.

At Sakura's apartment, they went through the familiar routine of clearing the apartment. Sakura took point while he closed and set the seals after her. Once they had verified that there were no unpleasant surprises waiting for them, the clone dispelled herself without prompting.

Chakra flooded his coils, and his mind flashed through the last hour from a slightly different perspective and looking at Sakumo with the slightly disorientating not-mirror effect. Even though he felt like had been dropped head first into a river, tossed around and forced to swallow half of it, Sakumo still possessed the presence of mind to form the familiar Yin Seal: Strength of the Hundred.

As the chakra drained off he could finally breathe, and count his blessing that he didn't crash headlong to the floor again. He also realized that he had reformed the seal in its more familiar location over the third eye. He grimaced and rubbed at the warm spot on his forehead. Sloppy. It shouldn't matter, since he was going to switch over to Sakura as soon as his chakra had settled again. But it was a bad habit he was going to have to break if he wanted to pull off the deception for any length of time.

Sakumo fussed around the apartment while waiting for his chakra coils to stop aching. He picked up the clutter, made dinner, and did the dishes. After he ran the clothes in the tiny apartment-sized washing machine again, it was getting the point where it was obvious even to him that he was just putting off the inevitable.

He carefully arranged an offering of sweet greens on a plate and set that on the coffee table before sitting on the couch himself. He took a deep breath and formed the hand seal for the transformation jutsu. He gathered himself and mentally stepped to the side, leaving Sakura sitting—fully dressed, Naruto was right about that—on the couch.

"Ah, ee, oo, eh, oh," Sakura said, experimentally sounding out the syllables. "Hmph! Nothing wrong with my voice. Whatever."

Sakura took a deep breath, bit the pad of her thumb, and concentrated on the particular slug she wanted to speak with. She felt the familiar tug of chakra and smoke bloomed out from the point where she pressed her thumb to the tabletop. Sakura waved it away impatiently and smiled at her tiny visitor.

"Sakura-sama!" The small piping voice came from a slug barely the size of her thumb and the color of speckled coral.

"Hello, Katsuma," Sakura said. While Sakura had a working relationship with Katsuyu, she was tied primarily to Tsunade. Sakura wasn't sure how much of her situation she would have to share to get training in senjutsu, but Sakumo was prepared to tell them everything if she had to. Because of that, Sakura worried that Katsuyu may feel a duty to inform Tsunade. Sakura really didn't want to put Katsuyu in that position.

"Is that for me?" Katsuma asked. He stared greedily at the plate with both eye stalks ziz-zagging about, each eye moving independently of the other.

"Of course," she said with a fond smile. She couldn't help but laugh a little at the small appreciative squeaks Katsuma made as he practically dove into the greens. She politely gave the slug a few moments to enjoy his meal before speaking. "I need your help, Katsuma."

A single eye stalk extended upwards out of the leafy pile and blinked at her. "I like to help Sakura-sama!"

"I need to learn senjutsu," she said.

"Urk!" Sakura watched in alarm as Katsuma curled in on himself. "Nope!"

"Why not?" Sakura asked.

"Nope! Nope! Nope!" Katsuma just tucked himself into an even tighter ball and started rolling around her coffee table, spilling the leafy greens all over the table and floor.

"Please, Katsuma," Sakura begged. She was prepared to argue her case against reasoned opposition. Katsuma's reaction threw her. "It's important."

Katsuma flopped out of his tight ball, landing belly up half on and half off of the plate. His eye-stalks squeezed out from under his body and peered up at her. "Important-important?"

"Very important!" She confirmed.

"Hmm, okay," Katsuma said. He rolled over right-side up. "Have to go now. Bye!"

"You'll help? Wait!" But Katsuma was already gone. He disappeared in puff of Chakra smoke, returning himself to the home of summoned creatures. Sakura groaned and started cleaning up the scattered greens. She had forgotten how child-like Katsuma could be sometimes. It was simultaneously one of the most frustrating and endearing aspects of his personality.

Sakumo wanted to summon another slug. He was worried. She could feel it like a knot in her stomach. Katsuma wasn't the only slug she could call on, but he was the one most easily bribed and usually happy to help. He did say that he would help. She decided she would give him some time before trying again.

If nothing else it would give her a moment to hang her laundry out to dry now that it didn't smell like mold.

She was almost finished pinning up her clothes on the ninja wire strung across her balcony when she felt a tug on her chakra, like a summoning. She frowned, was Katsuma trying to come back? Cautiously, she fed more chakra to the insistent pull and was surprised at the amount it demanded. Katsuma didn't usually need that much. It was only when the world around her dissolved that she realized that it wasn't a summoning at all, but a reverse summoning. She was being pulled to the Shikkotsu Forest.

The first thing she noticed was the humidity. It felt like she was being smothered in a damp blanket. The second was the green. Even the light that was filtered through the leaf canopy high overhead had a slightly green tint to it, and the rocky stone formations that jutted out the ground like the old bones of some long dead giant were coated in moss and lichen.

"Sakura-sama!" Katsuma greeted her cheerfully from the ground at her feet. "I help!"

"You did?" she asked, unconsciously exaggerating her query to match Katsuma's enthusiasm. She knelt down to meet Katsuma as close to his level as she could get. "What did you do?"

"He advised us of your request." Sakura spun as a deep, booming voice came from behind her. A massive slug, larger then even Katsuyu, was curled on a broken stone dais rising from the forest floor with a stone arch behind it to complete the illusion of a giant throne. Sakura was surprised to find herself thinking that the slug was beautiful. It was a velvety black so dark that it seemed to absorb the light, and the lines of brilliant, electric blue that cut through the darkness gave it a feeling of elegance for all of its bulk. Around what may be called its neck was a cord with jade orb. She could feel its measuring gaze as it looked at her. "We are the Slug Sage Subaru."

Sakura quickly scrambled to her feet and sketched a quick bow. "Thank you for seeing me, Subaru-sama."

"The young one insisted that your need was great," it- they, Subaru appeared to favor a gender neutral plural pronoun, said. "We have not shared this gift with a summoner in many centuries. Why, then, should we share this with you?"

Sakura clenched the loose folds of her shorts in tight fists to try to stop her hands from shaking. She was trying to ignore Sakumo's worrying, but it still slipped through in little ways. She didn't begrudge him his fear. If the worse did happen she would be stuck back where she started, maybe with a lecture and some sanctions. While she would hate it, little would change. Sakumo though-

Sakumo would be gone.

Nothing would be left of him but a voice in her head until even that would eventually be subsumed like that nascent personality she used to hide behind as an academy student and genin. She took a deep breath to gather her thoughts and spoke slowly and carefully, weighing each word.

"Humans do not develop the way slugs do. Where slugs will gain female sex organs upon reaching sexual maturity and may lose the penis due to- circumstances," Sakura said. Her coldly clinical voice faltered only a little. "Humans are generally dimorphic and an individual will maintain the same sexual characteristics throughout their lives. However, I have found that my- spirit, is not in alignment with my body in this regard and as my body has matured these aspects of myself have been drawing further and further apart.

"For many years I thought that there was nothing that could be done. The henge was little more than a tease for what I couldn't have, and I-" Sakura shook herself from that train of thought. She had been very angry at her body for a very long time, and would lash out at the people around her with little provocation. Sakumo was able to give her perspective and temper her rage, but it was still too easy to go down those familiar paths and right now she needed to keep this professional.

Subaru listened silently and intently as she explained about her double life. As she explained her fears of being caught and the reactions of people who wouldn't understand. She ended with explaining Naruto's plan and why she needed senjutsu for her clone to maintain independent integrity. When she finished she felt wrung out and emotionally exhausted.

"It grieves us to know that our summoner's own nature is the cause of such distress," Subaru said gently after a long silence.

"Thank you, Subaru-sama," Sakura said softly.

"We would be pleased to ease our summoner in any way that we can," Subaru continued. "But, you must understand that to undertake the trials of the sage is no small task, and we must warn you that they have taken many ambitious summoners from us before. You should consider carefully if this is truly the path you wish to tread."

"I would rather die than go back to what I was before," Sakura said firmly. The vehemence startled both herself and Sakumo, but it was still true.

"It is true that you are closer to our nature than previous summoners. Perhaps you will not find enlightenment as troubling." Subaru mused. "Very well. We shall begin. A message will be sent to your master that you are undergoing the trials."

She felt a moment of panic. "You won't tell her why, will you?"

"As summoned animals we owe allegiance to none but our summoners, and each signatory is sovereign in their own right."

"Thank you," Sakura said, relieved that they would keep her secrets.

"First you must clear your chakra pathways and release the holding seal. This will prepare you to accept new chakra. Today we shall guide you through the basics, but, to truly reach enlightenment, you will need to find the balance with yourself and the world around you." Subaru paused thoughtfully. "You may wish to change to the form that suits you best. It will be more difficult to find balance with the world when your body and spirit are not aligned."

Sakura nodded and quickly used the last of the chakra stored in the Yin seal to transform. After using so many high level techniques in such a short period of time left Sakumo with very little chakra that needed grounding. After having already had a brush with complete chakra drain, it was hard to ignore the instinctive panic as his ready reserves drained. His physical and mental energy stores were still strong, and he held onto that thought like a lifeline. Still, he did as Subaru requested and settled into a seated meditation pose.

"The natural chakra is not so different from the concentrated elemental chakra you are familiar with," Subaru said. "It too exists in the land, the sea, and the sky; in the fire laid in the hearth and the storm that rages outside. It is in all these things and more. You will need to see beyond the elements to the nature of the world and the fabric of reality."

Sakumo relaxed as the lecture washed over him. He stretched out his senses in a vain attempt to see the natural chakra that Subaru was referring to. But for all that he had been blessed with perfect chakra control he was not a sensor-nin.

He glanced up at the sound of low rumbling just in time to see Subaru spit a deluge of a clear viscous liquid. Sakumo had just barely leapt to his feet when the impact knocked him back down. He had no available chakra to shunshin away from the attack. The liquid was infused with an alien chakra like nothing else he had ever encountered that stuck to his skin and tried to bore its way into his empty chakra coils through his pores. It slid down his nose and throat; and tried to consume him from the inside out. He was burning and downing-both at the same time.

Sakumo screamed.