Chapter 57 - Arc VIII: Death of the Flesh- Chapter 7

Naruto and Sakura had several days to themselves. They wandered around, separately and together. Meaningless ambles that they filled with conversation. It was a typical way to get to know someone. Typical of shinobi, they also sparred each other, both physically and verbally. Their increases in strength stunned them- when had it happened? They couldn’t recall doing anything to grow this much so quickly.

All the same, things still felt a bit empty. Each harbored guilt that they had been the one to drive Yuji away.
Sakura blamed herself for loving Naruto. Naruto blamed himself for ‘taking’ Sakura. It felt so incredibly right to them both that it was hard to fathom that was the problem. Was it, as Yuji had said, not really about them? The situation wasn’t fair to him; that much was evident.
--
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In the shadow of a tree, two eyes peered up. Lashing out quickly, two hands snagged Naruto and Sakura and dragged them down into the shadows.
-
--

Azami waited patiently for the two to wake up. This kind of travel was both taxing and unsettling to someone who’d never experienced it before.

Eats up less chakra than outright summoning. Besides, I’m still not well liked in the Leaf.

Chewing thoughtfully on her lip, Azami spared a thought for Yuji. She had received his message, asking her to train these two in a similar way she had trained him. But she’d yet to see hide or hair of him. He wasn’t angry with her (his letter had expressed that much), but he didn’t say what he was doing or where he was. Or why he hadn’t visited her yet.

Still thinking about that, Azami wandered down the stairs from her loft and into the kitchen. It was a brightly lit room with plenty of windows that overlooked the water. It was so relaxing here; the people were accepting and very welcoming to a powerful savior who helped them build a civilian defense force. It seemed like it was ages ago that Azami operated in the shadows as a bounty hunter.

Again, she found herself thinking about the bounty that did her in. Yuji hadn’t really won, per say. But he had forced Azami to think in a way she hadn’t for years. And he had forgiven her, all the while lamenting that it wasn’t his place to do so. The fun they’d had- the good-natured teasing; the harsh training in which they each pushed each other to their limits…it was a relationship Azami cherished.

And yet she did not deserve him. That was her feeling. Yuji had all but admitted feelings for her, and she had turned him away. Maybe once she’d suffered enough to feel like she’ made reparations for her horrible crimes…then maybe…

Shaking her head, she left the kitchen and stood out on the deck. From there, the white sands of a beach were just below her. A light breeze tossed her long, black hair about, making for a stunningly gorgeous picture that could charm any man. Her figure wouldn’t fail to do that, either. But Azami was no one’s ‘catch of the day’- she had made THAT perfectly clear to the drooling sleazebags that had hit on her already. Now, she was met with a kind of reverence.

At age nineteen, Azami wasn’t too old yet to stop frolicking on the beach. All the same, she was old enough to wish there was a boy with her. She held on to fantasies of running through the sand, playfully splashing each other with water, and staring appreciatively at one another in rather revealing swimsuits. It was a part of growing up she had missed out on because she had been scarred by the rape attempt.
She knew someone else who had missed such a childhood. His reasons were less clear-cut, but not any less valid. She knew that much for sure.

Hearing a muffled sound, Azami smirked. Her two new charges were awake and demanded to know what was going on.

Fair enough. ‘Suppose I’d better indulge them. I’d be pissed if I was kidnapped, too, I suppose. Wonder what they‘ll say when I tell them that Yuji told me to? Well, okay, he didn’t say ‘kidnap‘, just ‘train‘. But still, he should know better than to assume I‘ll do things by the book.

--

Naruto and Sakura had woken up in a comfortable bed, unrestrained, with food right in front of them. But being kidnapped at their skill level didn’t exactly make them feel great about themselves. Their first question was ‘who’; their second was ‘where’?

“Who would kidnap us without hurting us, and where would they take us?”

Sakura was already calmly climbing down the small staircase (which was closer to a ladder, really), a Chakra Scalpel ready, pressed against her chest. She peered around a corner, saw a target, and attacked.
-

Azami spun deftly out of the way, landing on the other side of the room, her arms in the air.

“Relax, relax! I had orders to pick you two up!”

Clearly that seemed to be a lie to Sakura, as she took exception and attacked again. This time Azami grabbed her arm, spun her around, and held her in a headlock.

“NOW are we done? Will you hear me-!”

Azami ducked as Sakura’s glowing hand cut hard at her neck. She let go of the log she had been holding hostage, spun, and kicked low, barely nicking Sakura’s shin as she skipped backward. Naruto roared in from the other side, in the opening stages of a Shadow Clone Jutsu. Azami reached out one hand and snatched one of his hands, prying back the fingers until he released the hand sign. Using those two fingers, she flung him at Sakura.

“NOW will you listen, please? I was ASKED to bring you here for training. If you don’t like it, take it up with Yuji!”

That earned silence from the two Leaf Shinobi. They still didn’t fully trust Azami. Sakura had an additional problem with Azami. She knew two things: They needed training, and she had a very important question for Azami.

“Answer this, then,” Sakura challenged, drawing herself up to her full height. “Were you ever serious about Yuji? Or was he just a plaything for you?”

Azami spun quickly, but Sakura could see the hurt look in her eyes. The solid black pools of her eyes had shimmered briefly with sorrow.
“I was serious,” Azami told them after a moment. “And so was he. But…I don’t know how else to say it…Yuji is more than I deserve.”

Sakura didn’t expect that. Neither had Naruto. His face was screwed up in confusion as he tried to wrap his mind around the ‘why’ part of Azami’s befuddling statement.

“His heart and soul are pure, but his mind is dark. He needs a light to his darkness. But I myself am a ‘darkness’. Not to get too deep, but Yuji would have been a perfect compliment to me despite that, and I to him. But it came down to one thing…”

“And that is?” Sakura prompted. If she had just returned his love…then would he have come so close to self-destructing?

Azami bowed her head, her voice barely audible despite the conviction behind it.
“He was willing to look past my dark days as a bounty hunter and murderer-for-hire. He told me that ‘I was only surviving the only way I could’, and that survival wasn’t evil. I only ever killed scum, true. But I still killed. And Yuji…he’s never stained his hands with another’s death.”

Azami beckoned the two out onto her deck, overlooking the majestic water of the Land of Waves. The breeze tossed her jet-black hair, leaving a tantalizing image to any male, and a vision of beauty that even the most jealous female could behold without envy.

“…He told me how he felt, and I turned him down. All because I don’t feel like I deserve him. I kill; he doesn’t. I’ve connived, stolen, cheated, and done everything but sleep with men to get what I needed to survive. Yuji saw past that and saw the true me. A girl who genuinely wants to be accepted and loved. A warrior who needs a place to swear allegiance to. And a human being who needs companionship.”

Sakura sputtered “Then-then why? Why tell him no? If he saw through all that, he must really like you…”

“Yes. He does. He admitted love, even,” Azami admitted, blushing at the memory. “And he gave me three chances to accept that love. But the burden of my guilt- of my own conscience- wouldn’t allow me to accept. I need to suffer longer before I can accept any love. It‘s my penance for my crimes, and I will never be content until I‘ve accepted my punishment.”

Azami clearly wanted to end the conversation there. Naruto started to speak up, but Sakura put an arm on his, shaking her head to ward off his comments. They had heard a lot of personal things in that statement, and hopefully helped Azami get all that off her chest. Maybe they could help her save herself.
--
After a week’s worth of training, Sakura and Naruto had trimmed almost all the excess movement away from their attacks and defenses. When they punched or kicked, they achieved an amazing amount of force with much less energy and effort. When they blocked, their bodies hardly moved, but their blocks became more effective. Those were Kakashi level skills. And they hadn’t even gotten to chakra use yet!

Azami had told them a few things. How to summon chakra in advance and keep it close to the surface for an instant use. She had them perform their usual jutsus, but with fewer and fewer handsigns (in Sakura’s case) through greater chakra precision- something Sakura was surprised to realize she had more to learn about. Her master, Tsunade, was as powerful as she was because of her chakra control. After that, it was time to learn genjutsu and put her natural abilities to use.

Naruto learned how to use less chakra in his jutsu. Azam had him visualize that his tenketsu were barely wider than a needle, and he needed to ‘thread’ chakra through them. It took him a while, but after a few days he found that he doubled the number of Shadow Clones he could produce. That meant more chakra for Rasengans, enabling him to make more of them or to add to their density, making the move that much more deadly. He could control the power behind the move, too, creating both a ‘kill Rasengan’ and a ‘stun Rasengan’.

Each night, the three ate together. They talked, joked, and had a good time. Azami made sure that the other two had time to frolic on the beach in their swimsuits. They played and splashed, swam and sunned. And as she watched, Azami could only think of herself out there, with Yuji beside her.

Is this what you live with, Yuji? Do you see the future you wish you could have lived out by others? Is this what has taken such a horrible toll on your body?

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