21 SAKURA HARUNO P.O.V

The next day we were ready by 5.00am. Ichika sensei brought us to the largest training grounds i have ever seen. It was surrounded by huge trees, a super huge swimming pool, running tracks and various other training materials. Ichika sensei passed us 3 sets of black bracelets. They were simple at a single glance, but when you look closer, you can see some type of complicated sealing formulas on it.

"Put them on. They are gravity bracelets. Much more efficient than carrying body weights. They distribute enough weight throughout your body. Whenever your body is adjusted to the gravity, it will increase correspondingly. Also i suggest you don't take them off, until i say so. Now follow me, as it is our very first day, we will do some regular exercises and workout."- Ichika

The moment i put on the Bracelets, i felt like the world is resting on my shoulders. It looks like the others are also feeling the same. Nevertheless we started to struggle and followed Ichika Sensei. She started to teach us how to breathe while following her.

"Follow the breathing exercises as i instructed, it will allow a set pattern for your chakra flow inside the body and the chakra will keep strengthening your body. Normally most ninjas only store chakra and strengthen certain parts of the body with chakra during fights. Which is the most stupid thing, as you are wasting chakra in your body when you are outside the battle. This breathing exercise also will increase your chakra reserves too and the amount of increase will directly depend on how quick you can get into the breathing rhythm."- Ichika

Wow, i never thought a simple breathing exercise can do so many wonders to a human body. Body strengthening, improve chakra reserves and the breathing pattern it is also calming the nerves in my body. From the way Naruto kun and Sasuke kun are breathing, they are already used these exercises. I will definitely catch up with you guys. After running, we ended up doing some sit ups, push ups, sprints, zigzag running, body stretching and swimming exercises. By the time we finished swimming, Ichika Sensei, brought 3 human size mannequins with various points marked on the body.

"The points marked on the human body are called pressure points. A right amount of force to the correct pressure point can disable your opponent, completely knock him out or can even kill him. I want you all to memorise these pressure points. Start hitting those pressure points on these mannequins. The marks turns white, if the strength is weak, blue if the strength is accurate and you can knock your opponents unconscious and red if the strength is deadly and you may kill someone. You must have Heard about Hyugas gentle fist right, their gentle fist also works in similar style, but unlike you, they can see through the pressure points with their Byakugan. I also want you guys to add chakra when hitting these points. Otherwise the marks will not turn to any color . Constantly shift between using fists, fingers, elbows, legs, knees and feet. you will pass this test when you can hit all these pressure points in 10 seconds. Also i want to see all white, all blue and all red marks when i test you guys. So get the feel right. "- Ichika

This sounds easy at first, but to get the speed and chakra correct, you must have split second decision making and accurate chakra control.

I started to memorise the pressure points first, i have confidence in my memory. After almost close to half an hour, i started to hit the pressure points but after just 10 minutes, i ran out of chakra.

" Sakura, this is just training, when you are out of chakra, you can just try to hit them without chakra to get the feeling of where are the pressure points and try to work on how to reduce the time to hit them all within the time limit. If you try to push yourself, when you are out of chakra, you will be completely out of training for the whole day because of chakra exhaustion. Remember, a Ninja must know his/her limits"- Ichika

Sensei is right, i must not waste my time. Exactly when it was 8.00 am, Sensei stopped us.

"There beside the equipment room, you will find individual lockers and separate bathrooms. I placed a stack of green bottles and spare clothes inside. Use one green bottle and mix the liquid content into the bath tubs. Soak in the liquid for 15 minutes. After that finish your bath and come have your breakfast. Warning, use only one green bottle."- Ichika.

We all moved to our individual lockers and found these green bottles. When i opened the bottle cap, i can sense a nice aroma. Immediately i mixed the contents into the bathtub. Ah what a feeling, i can sense my body exhaustion is replaced by endless energy. If it was not for the 15 minute reminder, i will soak in these liquid for a lifetime. After 30 minutes i was ready and waiting at the table for Naruto kun and Sasuke kun. They also arrived within 5 minutes of each other. The breakfast is as heavenly as the previous day.

"The liquid in the green bottle is called body revitalize liquid. It has strong life energy. The effect of the liquid will be more potent with the breathing exercise i thought you earlier. If you try to use more than one bottle, then the effect will instead turn poisonous."

Lucky me, i followed the order and didn't go greedy. We took a small break till 9.00 am. After that we again arrived at the training ground, but in front of us are more weapons. Apart from the basic shuriken,kunai and senbon needles, there are Katanas, tanto, Kusarigama, chains, nunchakus, spear, staff and all kind of weapons.

"Hmm Sensei, isn't weapon handling about training in the weapon we are most used to ?"- Sakura

"Thats only 50% true. Just because you can use a weapon, doesn't mean you can block the enemies weapons. You have to understand about the other weapons too, so that you can decide whether to dodge or block them. Sometimes in a battle you will be forced into a position, where you have to use weapons that you aren't familiar with. What will you do at that time? Request your enemies to switch the weapons? Or run away from the fight? You will train in your major weapon but also will have more than general knowledge about usage of all weapons. Sometimes this knowledge will also help you in predicting the strategy of your enemies just based on their weapons."- Ichika

Sensei is right. Now wonder Papa called her a treasure trove. Sasuke kun, Naruto kun and me started listening to the explanation about each and every weapons usage, their advantages, disadvantages, range, impact and the ideal places and timing to use them. She went through basic moves of all the weapons.

"Now, you will all start with the basic weapons of Ninja first. Shuriken, Kunai, Darts and senbon needles. Don't try to compete each other. You all have your own pace. At the beginning try to hit your target accurately at the center and speed will increase with your practice. Sakura, specially you, Sasuke and Naruto are drilled in the basics when they were kids, so you should just focus on your own progress."- Ichika

"Yes , Sensei. I will polish my own basics on the foundation skills."- Sakura

I will ruin my progress, if i compete with Sasuke kun and Naruto kun. I will improve at my own steady pace. I will build strong foundation skills. We practiced with weapons till 11.00 am.

"Alright everyone gather around. Tell me what chakra control exercises you know?"- Ichika

"Leaf manipulation"- Sakura

"Tree walking and water surface walking exercises"- Naruto and Sasuke.

"Nice. Sakura what do you know about leaf manipulation exercise?"- Ichika.

"Sensei. This training exercise is done by placing a leaf over individual forehead and having them direct all their chakra onto the leaf, using it as a focal point."- Sakura.

"Good Sakura. But we will increase the difficulty of our training. You all will stick to leaf manipulation exercises while doing tree walking and water surface walking exercises."-Ichika.

"Sensei i don't know about these other exercises"- Sakura

" Tree walking exercise involved focusing a fixed amount of chakra to the bottom of one's feet and using that to climb a tree without using one's hands. If the stream of chakra is too weak, you will lose the footing on the tree and fall off. If it is too strong, you will be pushed away from the tree, causing the tree to break around the point of contact and you will fall again.

Water surface walking is also similar, to do this, you have to be emitting a constant stream of chakra from the bottom of the feet and using the repellent force to walk across the water's surface. This technique is more difficult to master than the tree walking exercise, because the amount of chakra needed changes constantly with the water surface.

You will increase the difficulty of the training by, increasing the number of leafs by placing them at various tenketsu(pressure points) points along the body. Doing this in this way will also strengthen your pressure points.

"- Ichika

Sasuke Kun and Naruto are already doing the water surface walking exercises with 10 leaves already. I was good at leaf manipulation exercise in academy, so i immediately started on tree walking exercise. It took me 20 minutes before i got my control right and reached the top of the tree. But on my sensei order, i started going up and down the tree for 15 times before i was out of chakra.

"Alright.its lunch time. Have a quick lunch and take a break. After that you will be doing a mission. You will be clearing all the stones and weeds surrounding the entire training grounds. You are not allowed to use chakra for this mission. Pure physical strength only. If you fail to clean it in time. Mission failure and no dinner for you guys."- Ichika

"But sensei. This training ground is huge. I can't do it alone"- Sakura

"Who said about doing it alone. You are a team remember. Split the work among yourselves accordingly. I will be watching you guys."- Ichika.

We had a quick lunch and during lunch we decided our portion of work. We took a one hour power nap to freshen ourselves.The mission was strenuous without using chakra, i was clearing out the weeds, while Sasuke and Naruto kun are taking turns clearing the stones.

We almost collapsed on the floor after completing this mission.

"Well i am not entirely happy with the job. But i will give full completion of mission for this as, the time is short. Now these are Chakra papers, send a tiny bit of chakra into them. It will determine your chakra nature.

Fire: the paper will ignite and turn to ash.

Wind: the paper will split in two.

Lightning: the paper will wrinkle.

Earth: the paper will turn to dirt and crumble away.

Water: the paper will become wet/damp.

"- Ichika

I did as i was told. Half paper turned wet and the other part became dirt. So my chakra natures are water and earth. Sasuke kun's are fire and lightning. Naruto Kuns are wind and lightning.

" You all have a good balance of chakra natures for a team. But if you work hard on chakra control, you can also train in other elements. For the next 2 weeks, we will work on various elements jutsu theory and their various hand seals"- Ichika.

"Elder sister, we have Sharingan. So why waste our time learning about all these jutsu theory. We can just copy the skill right."- Sasuke

"Hmm. Let me show you an example. I did teach you Shadow clone jutsu right? Make a single copy of shadow clone."- Ichika

Sasuke kun immediately went through the hand seals and there appeared a exact replica of another Sasuke. Looks like this is a improved version of academy clone technique.

"Good Sasuke. Now use your shadow clone to copy hand seals of my technique and perform the jutsu along with me."- Ichika

With that Ichika sensei went through her hand seals in a slow manner for Sasuke kun to copy.

"Fire Release: Fire bullets"- Ichika

Number of Fire bullets hit the ground in a distance, but when Sasuke tried to use the same sequence, his clone exploded. Except Ichika sensei, all of us are shocked.

"Sasuke, did you understand what happened just now? You were following the same hand seals sequence as me, but the results are different for us. Lucky it was a clone, otherwise it would be you lying dead on the ground. You see, for some of the strongest experts, they don't need hand seals, they can just use a jutsu with chakra control and thoughts alone. If you came across a proper opponent, who can exploit the Sharingan weakness, they can also do the same thing. They will be setting a trap for you, by purposefully revealing hand seals which will harm you. Thats why, you need to study about elemental jutsu and hand seals. Never use a copied technique, without knowing the functioning behind it."- Ichika

Oh my god, that was a dangerous way to kill yourself, if you don't have proper knowledge of what you are doing. Sasuke kun was visibly shaken and sweating bullets.

"The hand seals for the technique are clone explosion. Now you can use them"- Ichika

"Thanks Elder sister. I never knew our Sharingan has such a glaring weakness. I will study hard and rely on my own techniques."- Sasuke.

"Good. Sakura here take this scroll. It contains the complete information about human anatomy and basic medical jutsu. You have 2 weeks to complete it"- Ichika

"I will finish them in time sensei"- Sakura.

"Naruto this scroll is unique scroll. Unlike the half baked knowledge that is around, the scroll contains complete basics of fuinjutsu. If the contents are revealed to other people, i can guarantee, there will be almost a war to acquire it. The scroll itself can be treated as a national treasure even among the five great hidden villages. Memorise the contents quickly and burn that scroll immediately. I expect you all to also keep quiet about this."- Ichika.

What did i just hear now? Just basics on fuinjutsu and it can create a war. National Treasure, that is almost priceless. Naruto kun was shaking in fear and excitement at the same time while pocketing the scroll.

"Sasuke, we will work on your Genjutsu when i deem your chakra control is good enough. For now you will learn on tracking and traps. Here this scroll contains all the knowledge related to tracking and trap makings. Similarly, they are also basics, but burn the scroll after memorising the contents within it"- Ichika

"I will elder sister"- Sasuke.

"You all have a lot of potential. But if you don't work hard on polishing that potential, you will easily end up as another mediocre ninja. If you can show me, that you are truly worthy of my time to train you guys, then i will provide you all the advanced versions of your auxiliary ability training. Be on time for dinner by 8. I will leave dinner for you guys at the dining table. I will be away on some work till late midnight. After dinner, don't forget to read the books in your own room."- Ichika

With that Ichika Senseivanished in front of us in a blur.

"Sasuke kun, your sister, Ichika sensei is strong. "- Sakura

"Strong is not the right word Sakura. According to my father, she easily is the strongest ninja out there. She was only 5, when she defeated an entire army of 500000 forces on her own in a single attack forcing the enemies to surrender. If we have to reach her expectations, we just need to follow her training to the detail. She is strict with her training, but they are not out of our limits. She will never let us do something that is off limits to us."- Sasuke

"Sasuke is right Sakura chan. According to my father, she is the next Hokage candidate without any competition. Father stressed me again and again to not waste this opportunity. "- Naruto

Yes, father is right too. This is a once in a life opportunity for me and our Haruno Family. I will train harder and become stronger.