Chapter 15

Lei

My eyes trailed over to the pink haired girl who had been tailing Hinata and I for the entirety of our date, and when I say "the entirety," I mean THE WHOLE FUCKING THING!

This wasn't unusual for Sakura to spend hours watching me, however I would excuse that when we were still academy students.

We're genin now, and if she is spending several hours a day watching me instead of ya'know…training with her team, then it means she'll end up falling behind.

Sakura, the same woman who is hailed as the strongest woman in the entire world in a few years, is falling behind.

Which means I need to do something about her, now!

So as I walked Hinata back to her compound, after concluding our date, I thought about ways I can help the clanless girl.

"Are you alright, Lei? Is something bothering you?" Hinata asked to my right, her body pressed into my arm and a concerned frown adorning her lips.

"Yeah, I'm fine, sorry. Just thinking about ways to get stronger." I half-lied, which earned a giggle from her.

"Sounds like you. Ufufu." She pressed herself further into my side. Her intimate contact with me and that dangerous laugh of hers left me wanting to push the date a little bit longer, preferably in her room, but I quickly put that thought out of my mind.

We're kids…She's a kid. I've been in this world for almost eight years, which means I'm twenty-seven mentally.

I pushed down any moral questioning I had for myself and gave Hinata a tight hug. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Hinata returned the hug, squeezing me as if she never wanted to let go before pushing herself away. "Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow."

I watched as she walked into the house and closed the door behind her, staying there for about a minute, just in case she came back out with something to say, but when she didn't come back, I made my way back over to the entrance of the Hyuga Compound.

My eyes glossed over to the head of pink hair that was suspiciously hanging out right above one of the Hyuga's fancy bushes.

"Sakura." I said drily, my deadpan increasing as I saw the bush twitch. "I know you're there, so go ahead and come on out."

Sakura took a few moments to truly understand she had been caught, and slowly made her way out. "...Haha, hey Lei, funny seeing you here."

I resisted the urge to facepalm. "Walk with me."

I looked away from Sakura's stunned face, and started making my way back to my compound. We walked in silence all the way back to my home.

As we walked I fell into thought about how much my existence changed this universe. Honestly, it was a pretty common concept that my brain constantly fell back on, but regardless, thinking about it too much doesn't lead anywhere good. There are too many unknown variables to suddenly believe that my presence is the only thing in this universe that is different.

Naruko and Satsuki being good examples. As well as my deceased father, and Tobirama supposedly having a son.

This world was changed before I even got here, so thinking too deeply won't lead me anywhere.

…However, there are things my presence has quite obviously changed that can be corrected for the better.

Three examples of this would be Sakura, Ino, and Kiba. Ino being the fangirl she is, spends some time watching me, even before we became genin, although not to the extent that Sakura spends. Realistically, my presence hasn't changed much for Ino, as far as I know, although Sakura may even be weaker since she's not motivated to impress me or anything since i'm not on her team, like Sasuke was, though her sensei may be teaching her better than Kakashi did in canon.

Kiba on the other hand is definitely stronger than he was in the original. Him constantly competing with me for the strongest in the class, as well as Hinata's affections must have pushed him to train more and thus made him stronger. Which means my presence had a positive impact on him, even if he doesn't know it.

Correcting Sakura's deficiency in power and skill will lead to an absolute powerhouse in the coming years, and if I can do the same with Ino, she may very well end up becoming one of the strongest people of the Konoha 13 down the line.

When we arrived, I stopped and turned towards her. My eyes staring into hers expressionlessly.

She blushed under my gaze, her face turning away as she moved her body idly.

"...Um, why did you bring me here, Lei?" She asked after around half a minute of silence.

"I think you should know why." I answered with a raised eyebrow. She hadn't ever entered the Senju compound in the past, but she had watched the girls and I train from a vantage point in the village.

Sakura's face started burning brighter, her hands coming to her cheeks. "Eh?! …I-Isn't it too s-soon? I d-don't mind, but please, b-b-be gentle!"

Never in both of my lives have I ever deadpanned harder. I didn't even deign her with a response, and instead reached into my pouch, fishing out a kunai and throwing it in front of her feet.

That action startled her and she scrambled back, and ended up falling on her ass.

It wouldn't even have hit her…I have my work cut out for me, but the memory of Sakura slamming her fist down on Kaguya's big stupid fucking head brought a small smile to my face.

If I succeeded, she wouldn't just be a God Slayer…

She'd be a God.

—

Six Hours Later

"I-I can't." Sakura groaned through pants. Her form was barely visible to me thanks to the night's darkness as I sat at the top of a tree, looking down at her.

"Then we'll stop here." I grinned, although I doubt she could see my face.

As I had done with the other girls, I instantly had Sakura start tree walking. She was exceptionally talented, even more so than Satsuki in this regard, which was completely unsurprising to me. In only six hours, she had managed to make it half-way up the tree.

Thanks to my sensory chakra, I was able to quickly determine part of the reason Sakura has such good control is because she has low chakra reserves (Even though I already knew that) but even still, it's no wonder a sannin like Tsunade chose Sakura as her student.

Sakura's control represents a good foundation in her journey to become a kunoichi. When I first arrived in this world, I thought I'd rather have a bunch of chakra instead of a great amount of control over a small amount of chakra, but that was when I was stupid…well stupider than I am now.

Having that control when you have small chakra reserves means you'll keep that control when you have large chakra reserves. It explains why Sakura was so powerful and precise in the canon timeline, and for the first time since I've started taking people under my wing, I'm actually incredibly excited to see how much stronger this girl will become.

Both Naruko and Satsuki are already destined for levels beyond comprehension, but Hinata and Sakura aren't expected to rise to the level of those two, knowing I'm creating four powerhouses that will be able to take on entire villages in the coming years is doing a lot more than rubbing my ego.

It's stroking my shit!

"Lei?" Sakura asked, snapping me out of my power dream. "Thank you!" She bowed, or I think she bowed, it was really hard to see in this dark.

I leapt off the tree, landing right in front of her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't thank me, Sakura. I just taught you what your jonin sensei was going to teach you anyways. Though if you want to keep pushing yourself to greater heights, you're always welcome here after your team missions." My grin grew just a bit wider at the blush and small nod she gave me.

"I'd like that!" She blurted out, just a bit too excitedly.

I didn't mind her feelings, in fact, I encouraged them. If she was motivated to see me everyday, then it means she would be motivated to be trained by me everyday.

"Though I suppose it's getting late, want me to walk you home?" I asked.

A small nod was my answer, and I motioned for her to lead the way.

We walked through the quiet 2 AM streets of Konoha, making our way towards the middle of the village where Sakura's house is. When we arrived we saw an older woman sitting on the steps looking extremely bothered. When her eyes looked up to us, happiness filled her eyes as she rushed towards Sakura.

"My baby!"

Oh…Yeah, now that I think about it, nabbing a child without any forewarning to their parents might not have been the best way to go about things.

"M-Mom! Let me go, you're embarrassing me!"

"Your father and I were worried sick, he's out looking for you as we speak, where were you?" The Haruno Matriarch asked with tear-filled eyes.

"I'll answer that." I stepped forwards, albeit hesitantly, "Sakura was at my compound training, we had completely lost track of the time. I also admit I should have given you and Mr. Haruno heads up in advance, I take full responsibility." I said with a low bow as was proper.

I could understand a parent's worry for their child, and in this situation, I was the very reason they were so worried in the first place. The least I could do was offer my apologies.

"And who are you?" asked with no small amount of coldness.

"Mom, he's Lei." Sakura answered with a whisper that was too loud to be an actual whisper.

Her mothers features went from cold to surprised, and then to understanding in the span of three seconds.

"Oh, I see now, I wish you would have told me earlier, Sakura." The older woman gave her daughter a teasing smile, which made Sakura's face turn a shade no different then her hair. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lord Senju, I'm Mebuki Haruno, Sakura's mom."

Ah, I see.

"No need for such formalities, , please call me Lei." I chuckled while still holding my formal bow.

"If you insist, Lei~" Oh I don't like that. "Though it's only fair if you call me Mebuki, I'm sure you wouldn't mind?"

"Not at all…Mebuki." I said just a bit hesitantly.

"Good." She nodded, pleased with herself. "As for this little incident, all is forgiven, though my husband and I would appreciate hearing from either you or my little blossom in advance."

"MOM!"

"Understandable, I will make sure to do just that if Sakura fails to." I gave the older woman a small smile which she returned, ignoring Sakura's mumbling protests. "It's getting a bit late, so if you don't mind, I'll be excusing myself."

Sakura stopped spouting whatever objections she was saying to her mother and looked back at me.

"Have a good night, Lei." Mebuki waved, although her eyes were focused on her daughter, a teasing smile tugging at her lips.

"Good night, Lei." Sakura said quietly.

"And good night to both of you." I waved back before body flickering back home.

—

The Next Day (After D-rank mission)

"So…let me get this straight." I rubbed my eyes tiredly. Naruko, Satsuki and Hinata all standing by my side.

"You." I point at Sakura. "You bragged about how I started training you."

Sakura nods once, an embarrassed flush marking her cheeks.

"Then you." I point to Ino. "Decide that you want extra training too and resolve to come train with me."

Ino nods easily, an annoyed frown on her lips.

"Alright, that's easy enough to understand." I cross my arms and nod sagely.

Then my calm drops.

"But why the fuck are they all here!" I shout, pointing at Asuma, Kurenai, and Genma along with the rest of their teams.