Metamorphosis

I want to thank all those people who waited patiently for Meta! *Hugs to you all* Ripples needs a little more work. I realized that my last upload was very short. Going to reward those patient people with a long update. But read on people!

Chapter 8: Giving Into The Pressure

Gai raised an eyebrow at the pink haired kunoichi in front of him.

"So you tried training last night, am I correct?"

Sakura nodded her head as she buried her nose into the coffee cup. She didn't hear Gai say anything but she knew that he was thinking along the lines of I told you so. He leaned back in his chair and propped an elbow on his armrest.

"Tell me about it."

A pink eyebrow twitched remembering the previous night.

Sakura felt the wind flutter across her cheek as she breathed in the cool night air. It had been about three months since she set foot onto that training ground. It had been three months since she took up her Kunoichi skills.

The night air seemed to feed her anxiety as the soon approaching adrenaline and stamina would soon course through her veins.

Jade orbs swept over the clearing, noticing the silence that she commanded on the training grounds.

Sakura closed her eyes and felt the power within her rumble slightly due to it being in the confides of her body for far too long. She allowed her chakra to sweep through her. Sakura gasped at the sudden flux of power, never before had she have this much chakra within her. Her breathing hitched in the back of her throat as she tried to get used to this new foreign feeling. She lessened the amount of chakra going through her so she could become more sync with herself.

Sakura took an intake of breath as she refocused her power. She could feel the chakra within her fighting against itself as she held it back. Sakura clenched her fist slightly feeling how uncomfortable it felt within her; she let go of the building pressure so she could recalculate her plan of initiation.

"Allow the chakra to flow, feel the pulse within you…don't hold back." Sakura thought as she remembered what her teacher had taught her.

Sakura narrowed her eyes to allow her concentration to be more focused. She focused on the pathways again, feeling that they held more untamed chakra within her.

"Breath…that is the key…breath and don't fight it."

Inside her the power pulsed like a beating heartbeat but it just did not want to be controlled by anyone. It wanted freedom and the ability to expand past its prison within her body.

Sakura tapped into the line again, instantly feeling the constricting power that the chakra did to her when she wrapped herself around it. Her breathing hitched in her throat and her breathing became sharp and shallow.

But instead of letting it go, Sakura focused the chakra into her right fist to try to accomplish the one thing that she was known for doing.

Mustering all the chakra into her fist, Sakura swiftly executed her move by slamming her fist into the very ground she was standing on. Dust exploded around her as the sound of cracking earth filled her ears. Sakura smirked slightly through the dust and dirt, loving the sound that the earth made. The silence around her reminded her of the many hours she spend training with her Shishou.

As the dust settled around her, Sakura's green eyes narrowed at the spectacle about her. Instead of the ground being decimated into large chunks of earth, only large cracks littered the ground.

Sakura straightened up to survey the extent of her attack. The power she commanded those many months ago was gone, she was now back to square one.

For the next couple of hours Sakura went back through the various techniques in training that Tsunade and Kakashi had taught her, but only found that each move she executed was sloppy and uncontrolled.

Sakura rested her palms onto her knees to catch her breath and view the scene before her. The ground only held cracks and dips, not to the familiar craters and fissures. She straightened up and wiped the growing sweat from her brow.

"He was right…."

Gai raised a fuzzy eyebrow after hearing the tale from the pink haired woman in front of him. Sakura sunk a little further down into her seat, feeling a bit nerved by the ongoing stare.

"Your chakra felt like it wanted to 'escape'?"

Sakura nodded her head to the question. Gai pursed his lips slightly as she nodded to the question.

"It seems that when you had the sudden 'growth spurt' that your chakra adapted as well by increasing."

Sakura gave him a look of 'no-really?' as she reburied her nose back into her cup.

"It just felt like when I was trying to control it felt that it was overflowing the grips of my control….it…"

Sakura leaned a little more back into her seat trying to come up with a better way in explaining her training 'experience' last night.

"No, it makes sense Sakura." Gia offered. "You wanted control but your chakra fought against you."

"What am I doing wrong then? I'm doing all the methods that my teachers have taught me. Why is my chakra fighting against me now?"

Gai narrowed his eyebrows in thought of the question. He remained silent for a bit before he answered her.

"I really can not answer that," He finally said. "But I think due to the sudden jump, your body is doing a natural fight-or-flight response."

Sakura slumped a little in her seat. Her thoughts went over Gai's last comment.

"So my body is reacting to my chakra like its some antigen while at the same time my body is trying to adapt to the sudden chakra change." Sakura said with a medical tone of voice.

Gai's eyebrows rose hearing his exact thoughts.

"Exactly said."

Sakura sunk a little lower into her seat thinking over what she just heard. She didn't want to admit it but she needed to be retrained. Her jade gaze unwillingly floated over the table and landed on the man before her. And Gai was the one that was willing to train her. She was at a dilemma and Gai knew this.

At the present moment she could not ask any of the instructors that she already knew due to having previous engagements or having present complications in the matters of friendships.

Sakura weighted her options. She could take up training with Gai and be ridiculed for being with the "Green Beast" of Konoha or she could not take his offer and figure out her problem on her own.

Her pride wanted to refuse the offer but another part of her wanted his help. The part of her tried to reason with her other half saying that she had come too far to not get any help from someone.

A memory floated to her mind. In an old conversation with TenTen, she said that Gai was able to match the abilities and skill of the Akatsuki member Kisame. Gai, in return, released Four Gates in order to defeat the missing-nin. Gai's skill as a shinobi can be considered extraordinary and amazing, but his taste in style is quiet lacking.

Sakura took a breath to further weigh her options.

She needed to be trained.

A sigh escaped Sakura.

"Fine."

Gai lifted a shaggy eyebrow.

"Pardon?" he asked. Sakura's gaze went to the contents of her teacup, which she found suddenly interesting.

"I accept in you training me."

It grew silent between the both of them. Sakura slowly raised her gaze to meet Gai's. She found his lip quivering and tears running down his face. Sakura suddenly felt awkward having a grown man start crying in front of her.

"But I want one condition," she quickly added before Gai collected himself. "No green spandex."

Gai swallowed and returned a sparkling grin in her direction.

"Alright, meet me tomorrow morning at nine o'clock in training field five and we will start from there."

He got up from his chair and stretched his arms above his head. Sakura allowed a small grin to leak onto her lips as she took another drink from her cup.

"But Sakura," Gai started. Sakura looked up noticing the sudden switch of tone in her soon to be 'sensei'. "I might want to warn you that, not many people finish their training with me."

Sakura suddenly had a chill go down her spine.

"The last time I had an individual like yourself ask me to train them, they never returned…"

There was another lengthy pause between the both of them. Sakura's coffee suddenly got cold from Gai's looming comment.

Sakura swallowed trying to shake off Gai's impressive imitation of Yamato-sensei's scary face.

"That's still not going to prevent me from training with you. Let me remind you that I survived Tsunade-shishou's training when I was a genin."

Gai's back straightened at the mention of her name.

"Then I see nothing holding you back." Gai enthusiastically saluted. Sakura couldn't help but stare at him in disbelief. The 'Green Beast' was going to her sensei and she couldn't do anything about it.

Sakura watched Gai, no her Sensei walk down the street after giving her an enthusiastic wave.

I hope you are ready for a day of hell tomorrow morning Inner Sakura stated.

"Believe me, my hell has not even started yet."

"I hope you are ready for a excellent day of training!"

Sakura blinked at her 'sensei'. He was wearing the same thing he wore yesterday, flak jacket and infamous green full body spandex. He was giving her his trademark grin with extended thumbs up.

Currently she didn't know what to make of the situation.

"I'll be ready as I'll ever be." she muttered as she adjusted her elbow guards.

Gai gave her an appraising look. She still decided to wear her traditional sleeveless vest sporting the trademark white hollow circle on her back. A double compartment hip pack encircled her waist so she was able to carry her needed medic supplies while being on the field. Over her black spandex shorts, a kunai pack hugged her right upper thigh, which sat on top of tightly wrapped bandages. Her outfit was similar to the outfit she previously wore before the incident with a few minor added adjustments like the short sleeve fishnet under armor she wore under her sleeveless vest.

He nodded approving her choice of garment. She had a hankering he was wondering what she did with the shin guards he persuaded her to buy.

"You can discard your hip pack for now. You won't be needing your medical supplies for a while."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at the remark as she silently removed her hip pack.
"Before we even start your special training, I am afraid you are going to have to get back into shape before we begin strenuous training."

A huffed escaped Sakura. Gai only gave her a flashy smile.

"For two weeks straight, I want you to complete 100 sets of 100 of crunches, pull ups, push ups, and squats."

Sakura again raised both eyebrows.

"I also want you to wear these." Gai said.

A scroll appeared in his hand, after a couple of seals a pair of wrist and ankle weights appeared in his hands. He extended the weights for her to take; once Sakura took them she nearly fell over due to how heavy they were.

"For two weeks do 100 sets of 100?" she asked confirming what she just was told.

Sakura quickly settled the weights next to pack to relieve herself of the weight. Gai settled himself in a lotus position not far from her.

"Yes. But Sakura I want you to complete all those sets in a single day while wearing those weights."

Sakura's jaw dropped as she watched her sensei settle into a comfortable yoga position.

"But it will take more than two weeks of training in order for me to do all of them." she stuttered.

"I know, until you are able to wear those weights without actually feeling their presence will you then be able to complete all those sets in a single day."

"But Gai-sensei—"

"Tut, Tut Sakura-chan. Think about your training later. Come over here, there is something I want to show you."

Sakura swallowed her pride and crossed over to her sensei and sat down in the same position he was sitting in.

She was sitting cross-legged on the ground with the bottoms of her feet were facing up toward the sky; this was called the Lotus position in yoga.

"Sakura what do you know of chakras?" Gai asked. Sakura gave him a mystified look.

"I know that chakra is in all of us living things. It's an energy system that lives through us. I know that Shinobi use the chakra elements as their lifeline and basis of their specialty attacks."

He nodded his head agreeing with her brief analysis.

"You are partially correct but it seems you don't know the full description of what is chakra.

"You are correct when you say that Shinobi use the chakra elements to ground their style of attacking but there are more than the four basic elements. Like you said, chakra resides within all living organisms. In total there are seven different chakras that reside within a human body. They start at the crown of your head to all the way down to the tip of your spinal column.

"As you are training, I want you to become in sync with your body and chakras. In order for you to do that, you need to become aware of all the chakra systems within you.

Sakura gave him a perplexed look trying to understand where this conversation was going.

"In addition to your physical training, I want you to come to this training ground at dawn to go through some yoga and tai chi exercises."

Sakura opened her mouth to respond to his remark.

"I know I am putting a lot on you Sakura, but you need to become in sync with your body. As a Shinobi, it is imperative that your chakra flow not be obstructed from its natural flow."

Gai paused in his explaining to see her reaction.

Everything made sense but then a great deal of it did not. Sakura was beginning to question Gai's training methods.

"But for now, I want to teach you how to breathe."

Sakura blinked.

"How to breathe?" Sakura repeated.

"Yes. As I said earlier your body needs to become in sync with itself once more and one way of doing that is to breath."

Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Now I want you to relax and close your eyes."

Sakura stared at him.

"Would you please."

Sakura obliged him and closed them.

"Now focus on nothing but my voice and the natural sounds around you.

Sakura took a breath and began blocking out the sounds of the streets, the sounds of vendors, children, and city life.

"Take a slow breath in. Hold it for seven seconds. Release for another seven. Breath in for seven…

The morning carried on like this. The breathing exercise caused Sakura's mind to clear and relax. But at the same time her senses seemed to heighten because all she could hear was the sound of the wind, the birds, the trees, the animal life about her.

After what seemed like hours Gai had her open her eyes.

"Now how do you feel?"

Sakura took a breath and analyzed what happened.

"Amazingly refreshed. Are you supposed to hear nothing but the sounds of life around you?"

Gai nodded.

"Sometimes human beings surround themselves with the everyday noises of the city and don't take the time to break apart and reconnect with the earth." The Green Beast stated.

Sakura rose an eyebrow and quirked her lips. Gai must have saw the skepticism in her expression.

"I know this sounds rather far fetched and unrealistic but as a Shinobi, one must know what the earth sounds like and know what is real and what is not. You will find yourself in a place where you can't rely on your sight or ninja like senses. Listening to the earth and the natural sounds from the earth will alert you of danger and potentially save your life."

Sakura silently took in his words. Gai gave her a small smile.

"Now I want you to repeat that breathing pattern and follow me in some Zen like exercise."

Her morning ended off in a good note, minus the aggravation of finding that a man double her age can be more flexible than she can. But she was finding Gai's teaching positive and damn right hard. The breathing pattern Gai had her practice had to be maintained while she performed the various yoga and tai chi maneuvers.

Gai told her that she would start breathing like what she was practicing once her body gets used to it. He also said that after a while her breathing will be calmer and more controlled once she starts her training.

Her training left her in a very good mood due to the fact that she was able to breath. A part of her was not looking forward to the rigorous training schedule Gai pushed upon on her, but another part of her wanted it. It was about time she put aside her concerns and worries and take a step as a woman.

Sakura returned to work that following Monday, refreshed and sore. All she did was Tai chi and yoga but it still left her feeling sore. She hadn't done any rigorous exercise in weeks and her body was taking a toll. It was only going to get worse once she started conditioning that day. That mornings Tai chi lessons were frustrating but she was determined. After her lessons with Gai, she went back home to change and get ready for work. Oddly enough, Sakura still had enough time to get ready for work after her morning lessons. Add a couple of points in her Responsibility Chart.

Work was busy and troublesome. Many of the interns and nurses came to her for help when something went terribly wrong. Even though she was Head Floor Nurse, she still was new to the position. Not to mention the medical terminology. Some of the older nurses and doctors did not appreciate her sudden rise in the ranks. She could only suspect they thought it was due to her being the apprentice to the Hokage. She gave them credit, she did not know a lot but that did not prevent her to showing authority. On her spare time, Sakura was still studying and cracking the books.

Sakura sighed as she went through a list of patients to assign to the various nurses. It was a Monday and already at least twenty patients were assigned to her floor. Each patient ranged in ailments but their ages gave each patient their specific need. She glanced at the clock, noticing that it was barely noon.

"Well time to get to work."

Three hours later, she was done assigning tasks to the various nurse stations and finished checking patient rooms. She wanted to make sure that all her patients on her floor were well taken cared of. Even though she may be not the nurse in charge of a patient, she was in charge of the nurse taking care of the patient. It is her job to know if her nurses are doing their jobs and that their patients are comfortable.

She walked back into her office and threw herself into her desk chair while kicking off her heels in the process. The chair swiveled side to side, which she allowed in her tired state. It was past her lunch break and she was starving. She heard someone move and Sakura moved her eyes in the direction of the noise.

Jade orbs moved over toward the couch and sitting on her couch was Hinata Hyuga.

The girl looked in her direction and then quickly drew her attention back down to her hands clasped in her lap.

"Sakura-chan." she whispered.

Sakura sat up, not really deciding how to make of this interaction.

"Hinata what brings you here?" she asked.

She couldn't help but see the almost pained like expression on the girls face when she spoke. Did she truly not sound like the Sakura she grew up with? There was another pause of silence.

"Sakura-chan." Hinata began again. "I need your help."