“So, we’re in this time loop with you now.” Hinata finally asked.
“I wish.” I replied. “Unfortunately I can’t actually pull people into the loop. When I pulled you out of the fight at the arena to treat your injuries I made a copy of your memories from the last loop, and then I snuck into your room this morning and gave them back to you. Same thing with you, Naruto.”
“Oh, ok. Does that mean we have to take that stupid test again?” Naruto was never one to sweat the details.
Hinata, on the other hand, knew enough about medical jutsu to have some idea how difficult a feat copying memories would be. She turned to stare at me, her Byakugan still active.
“Sakura, how long have you been trapped in this loop?”
I sighed. “A long time, Hinata. Two hundred and seventy-eight loops, so far. I didn’t think to count days at the beginning, but I think I’ve lived about fifteen years since it started. That’s part of why I did this. I’m afraid I might go crazy, if I have to spend decades surrounded by people who just repeat the same month over and over.”
“Don’t worry, Sakura, you’ll always have us. Right, Hinata?”
Hinata’s eyes flicked from me to Naruto and back, and I could practically see the wheels turning. I know I wouldn’t like being in a position where someone else had that kind of power over me.
“Sakura, I understand why you would do this with Naruto. But why am I here?” She finally asked.
“Because there’s another Naruto who’s stuck in his own time loop, and every once in awhile we share a loop together. But he’s in love with you, and he lives every loop with the old me. So I figured I’d better find out if we can be friends now.”
She stopped to think about that one, and Naruto interrupted. “Hey, cool! So when you figure this loop thing out I’ll be a super badass ninja just like you, right Sakura?”
I smiled. “You bet, Naruto. You’d love some of the moves the other Naruto showed me last time we met. Hey, maybe I could teach you some of them.”
“Yeah, that’d be fun. Only…” His face took on an unusually serious expression. “What I really need you to do is take care of Hinata. If she’s still a genin when we’re both super-ninja she won’t be able to keep up, and that would suck. So, since I can’t do it I need you to promise me you’ll make sure she’s ready when this thing is over. Can you do that?”
I stared at him. Since when did Naruto of all people think that far ahead? Well, ok, when it comes to people he cares about he can be pretty perceptive sometimes. But, wait, was he assuming we’d still be together, as in all three of us?
Of course that’s what he’s hoping for dummy, he’s a guy. You know ‘little Naruto’ is hoping for some hot three-way action somewhere down the line. Considering what a sweet little hottie Hinata is I’m all for it, but I’ve got this sinking suspicion that she’s straight.
Well, yeah. Probably. But still…
I looked Hinata’s way, and realized from her expression that she was considering the same issue. “Hinata, are you ok with this?”
She gave me a speculative look. “A-are you?”
“Yeah, I think I am. Partners?”
“Y-yes! I think I’d l-like that. Please take good care of me.”
6. Rivals
The next few loops were almost like a vacation for me. With Naruto clued in on the loops getting past Orochimaru was a breeze, and Hinata could just take a dive against Neji so she’d be healthy enough to train with us afterwards. I had fun showing off my ability to kick ass against most of the other genin, and Naruto quickly reached the point where he could get past the preliminary round without relying on that incredible luck of his.
I did, however, finally notice the fact that Hinata always ended up facing Neji. Naruto and me faced a more varied selection of opponents, depending on the details of who made it through the forest and how, but the only way Hinata ever avoided that beating from her cousin was if I took him out myself beforehand.
Having finally noticed what was right under my nose, it didn’t take long to discover that the ‘random’ selection for those preliminary matches in the forest was rigged. Honestly, considering that we’re all ninja I don’t know why I expected anything else. Not only did the Hokage personally select the matches, but half the foreigners in the room were trying various schemes to cheat the system. Naruto was less than thrilled by this discovery.
“I can’t believe the old man is doing this!” He growled as he punched the wall. The forest arena was all concrete, but the blow still left a noticeable impression. “There’s got to be some way we can keep Hinata from getting beat up every time.”
“It’s not so bad, Naruto.” The girl in question commented softly. “Disappointing father is actually worse. But now he’s handed me off to a less skilled teacher, so I don’t know how I’ll ever surpass Neji at this rate.”
“That’s easy, Hinata. We’re going to train you in something besides the Gentle Fist. Then when you kick Neji’s ass using ‘vulgar, unrefined techniques not worthy of a Hyuuga’, you can tell him you’d love to do it with the family style instead if he’ll arrange for some real training.”
Naruto chortled. “That’s great! Hey, maybe you can show me some stuff too.”
“Sure thing, Naruto,” I replied. “I’ll show you Rasengan, and we’ll test Hinata’s elemental affinity and see what we can come up with for her.”
I stuck with Ebisu loops, since he was good for basics and I figured Hinata was too shy to handle Jiraiya properly. A couple of loops was enough time for Naruto to learn Rasengan and make some real progress on his crappy taijutsu, so I didn’t have to protect him so much in the forest. Hinata turned out to have a water affinity, and impressed me by developing it to a useable level in only a few weeks. Unfortunately I didn’t have any water techniques to teach her, having spent my own ninjutsu training time on my own element. But there were plenty of angles I could work there.
“Anko, is there some kind of village repository for genin-level techniques? Not the secret clan stuff obviously, but the basic elemental jutsu any genin with a different affinity than her jounin-sensei might need?” We were two days into my ‘get Anko to teach me more seduction techniques’ pattern, so I was hoping she’d actually give me a straight answer.
“Nah, the old men are way too paranoid to let something like that exist. Usually you’d get referred to a different sensei for technique training, though if Kakashi’s in a hurry I guess he could always raid the ANBU stash. Why? Don’t tell me I’m not keeping you busy enough?”
Once I would have been terrified at the thought of Anko looking for ways to keep me busy, but now I just laughed. “Obviously I don’t mean right now. But after the exams I want to badger him into getting me some technique training, and convincing everyone I’m an elemental type would be a good cover for my real skills.”
“What skills would those be? The kickass taijutsu, or that trick you figured out with the Elastic Tongue technique?” She leered at me playfully.
“Depends on the opponent, sensei.”
Unfortunately none of the current jounin sensei seemed to have a water affinity, which left me with the mention of an ANBU stash. No doubt the elite unit’s headquarters would be an impenetrable fortress, guarded by layers of traps and wards that would take dozens of loops to unravel…
On my first try I replaced the cleaning lady and walked right in. No one noticed a thing.
“God, sometimes I’m embarrassed to even be a member of this village.” I muttered to myself as I walked through the basement archive, scanning the labels in hopes of figuring out how the small mountain of paperwork was organized. “I know they were checking for illusions, but there are a million ways to impersonate or control a civilian. Shouldn’t there be code phrases, or security seals, or something?”