“Sakura, I’d love to. But what if we end up fighting each other in the finals?”
“Don’t be silly, Lee. I’m up against Gaara in the first round, and there’s no way I’m going to beat him. I just want to put up the best fight I can to impress the judges. But you’ve got to deal with that sound girl, so I bet some practice against another kunoichi melee type would be good training for you.”
“Good idea, Sakura! Together we’ll fan the flames of our youth into a raging inferno!”
“Ah, yeah. Something like that.”
Gai and Lee are pretty nutty, but they’re masters of physical training. It took Gai all of three days to notice how fast I was improving and ask about it. Fortunately I had a cover story.
“It’s a set of secret medical technique Tsunade-sama developed, sir. It speeds up the healing process in my muscles, so I can get the full benefit of a day’s training overnight instead of waiting three or four days for the micro-tears caused by exercise to heal normally. It takes perfect chakra control and good basic medical skills, but I can do it safely for a few weeks before I have to take a break to let the rest of my body catch up.”
“What an interesting technique. Very well Sakura, but be careful not to let your eagerness for training overcome your good sense.”
Yes, contrary to popular belief Gai often manages to get out two or three whole sentences without mentioning the “fires of youth”.
With the ability to do physical training across multiple loops I figured taijutsu was my best bet for taking on the real Sasuke, so I threw myself into a new round of training. I could only take so much of Gai and Lee, but Konoha has lots of taijutsu experts and the training principles Gai followed really weren’t that complicated. When I got tired of the youthful duo I’d switch to Ebisu, or Jiraiya, or even Anko.
Training with Anko was always guaranteed to be interesting.
But I’d been looping for long time now, and even the month before the tournament was getting pretty damned stale. It was always training, research and back to more training, with the same old people doing the same old things. I really missed the loops where I’d gotten together with Naruto, but I was afraid if I started repeating that pattern even he would eventually get boring.
“I can’t actually bring someone else into the loop.” I said to myself one evening. “But I could carry their memories with me and restore them each time. I’m not sure what my limit on that would be, but I think it’s at least a few years worth. Maybe I should give it a try. But the question is, who? Ino? Naruto? Anko? Gee, that’s a scary thought.”
Hinata. If Naruto loves her we’ll need to learn to get along with her.
“Huh. Yeah, what the hell. If it goes well I could even restore her memories when we get out of this thing.”
Hinata was already in the hospital on that loop, having been beaten within an inch of her life by Neji. But I didn’t feel like waiting, so I dropped by her room to talk to her. She didn’t seem very happy to see me at first, but that changed after I healed her. Or rather, transformed her into an uninjured Hinata.
No, I couldn’t have done that in one pass if it had been a conventional beating. But jyuuken attacks damage only a tiny amount of tissue, relying on precision targeting of vital spots for most of their effect. Beaten as she was Hinata hardly had more tissue damage than a good knife wound would inflict, and that was well within my limits.
“S-Sakura! You healed me! H-how? Why?” She sat up in bed, looking down at herself in amazement.
“It’s a long story, Hinata, and I won’t be able to tell you most of it for a month or so. For now, let’s just say that I’m not what I seem to be and I’ve got my reasons for wanting to help you and Naruto out.”
“N-Naruto?” She blushed and looked away.
I rolled my eyes. “Come on Hinata, you’re never going to catch his eye if you can’t get over this shyness. Why don’t we get you something sexy to wear, and you can join us for training today. Jiraiya won’t mind, and I’d love to see the goofball’s face the first time he sees you in something that doesn’t hide your figure.”
Hinata’s blush intensified. “W-why are you doing this? I know he l-likes you.”
There was only one thing I could say to that. “I don’t mind sharing.”
The funny thing was, I really didn’t. I didn’t intend to get romantic with the non-looped version Naruto anytime soon, and Hinata seemed far too shy to get beyond blushing and holding hands in a single loop. But they really were good for each other, with Naruto’s boisterous cheer bringing the shy girl out of her shell while her quiet admiration slowly healed his insecurities.
It took me a few days to coax Hinata into trying something a little more daring in the wardrobe department, but Naruto’s expression the first time she showed up for training without that bulky coat was worth all the trouble. She was still wearing baggy pants and a loose shirt, but it wasn’t enough to hide her figure. Damn if that girl didn’t have more up top at thirteen than even my sexy form.
“Woah. Hinata, you’re really cute!”
Hinata blushed and looked away. “Y-you think so, N-Naruto?”
I snuck up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. “Damn right he does. Naruto, get your butt over here and kiss this sexy girl!”
Hinata’s blush went nuclear, and Naruto went into a stammering fit. But he also came within arm’s reach, so I grabbed a handful of his shirt and pulled him in to make a nice little Hinata sandwich.
“Naruto, even you should know by now that she likes you. Don’t keep a lady waiting.”
Hinata’s heart was hammering so fast I had to use a medical jutsu to keep her from fainting. Naruto stared at me for a second before he finally realized I was serious. Then he looked down to meet Hinata’s eyes.
They kissed.
I was expecting a little peck, but I should have known better than to try predicting Naruto. It was a long, lingering kiss, and Hinata melted against him with a happy sigh. Lucky girl. Lucky guy too, for that matter. I would have left them alone at that point, but Naruto’s arms were around both of us and mine were kind of trapped between them.
Then they came up for air, and Hinata murmured, “Now it’s her turn, Naruto.”
I blinked in surprise. “Um, what?”
Naruto gave me that cocky grin he gets when he’s about to kick some guy’s ass, and kissed me thoroughly.
Woo hoo! Three-way goodies! Gimme a clone to run and let’s really show them how it’s done!
Somehow I managed to control myself enough not to use any of Anko’s techniques. Slow down there, girl. We wanted real relationships, remember? If we rush this we’ll ruin it.
Oh, alright. But you’re bringing Naruto into this too. I want my Gang Bang no Jutsu action!
There was a lot more kissing and cuddling as the last two weeks of that loop played out, but I held fast to my self-control and let things develop slowly. There were things I needed to tell them both before we got too serious, and I suspected I’d need a lot of proof. So we trained and played until the day of the tournament, and went down fighting the invasion yet again. The next day Naruto and Hinata sat with me atop the Hokage monument, looking down at the intact town in amazement. As usual Naruto just accepted my explanation of the time loop. Hinata was more skeptical, but the view and her Byakugan’s ability to pierce genjutsu ruled out just about any normal explanation.