Panting and wiping sweat from her brow, the red head called it quits with one last, light jab to one of the wooden pads her partner was holding before pointing at the squad seven kunoichi. "Why don't you come up here and give it a try, pinky?"
"Huh?" Sakura pointed at herself, "Me?"
"Like they say, first time for anything right?" Tayuya breathed hard and wiped her arm across her forehead, moving over to where everyone else was sitting while Naruto waited in the clearing. When the redhead reached Sakura's spot, she helped pull the hesitant girl to her feet. "You want to become a strong ninja? Then put your back into it."
"Yeah, but-hey!" Sakura yelped as she was gently shoved forward by the winded red head, glaring back at her once and meeting Tayuya's wide grin. "Okay, okay, don't push. I'll give it a shot." The pink haired kunoichi then strolled over to Naruto, who held both arms up at the ready, while at the same time Tayuya plopped down beside Kaede to watch.
Sasuke and Shiho looked up when they heard the commotion, and paused for a moment to see Tayuya change out with Sakura.
"Don't worry, Sakura-chan. I promise you'll enjoy this training," Naruto promised brightly, beginning to pace on the spot and clapped the blocks together for good measure.
Giggling nervously, the kunoichi took a stance across from him and began to circle as well, "I doubt it. B-But I'll do my best."
She had to at least try… after all.
"Remember, Sasuke-kun is watching!" Inner-Sakura stated while throwing up a fist. "Show him what you're made of girl!"
Her voice of reason and conscience gave Sakura the encouragement she needed to buck up and face off against Naruto as firmly as she could. Even if it was in training, she'd seen how the boy performed in battle and how hard he'd been working with Tayuya. While part of her was confident that she would be able to do anything the tough-as-nails red head was able to do, Sakura's mind was also split with some negativity about actually being able to accomplish anything remotely impressive.
You could say she was worried.
She wasn't as fast as Naruto or Tayuya, her taijutsu wasn't as good, and she probably wasn't as strong. What exactly did she have going for her in this area?
Well… she was about to find out.
Before they could get started, Naruto began dashing left and right, circling his squad mate to encourage her to move as well and get a feel for her rhythm. The kunoichi started moving at her pace, not exactly using footwork like her teammate but still utilizing a more planted stance. While they were shuffling around one another and Naruto was just starting to get into it, the boy then noticed Sakura lagging behind him, and had to hop in place for a moment or so to allow her to catch up. After doing this a few more times and seeing the girl stumble, the jinchuriki looked at her in surprise.
"Are you okay, Sakura-chan? Your movement doesn't look so good," the boy asked.
Sakura glared at him and shook away the beads of sweat that had formed on her forehead. All they were doing right now was simply getting a sense of distance and timing, but she was already feeling a little bit warm under the collar.
Damn it. She needed to get some more stamina training into her routine. This was embarrassing.
"I'm fine," Sakura snapped.
Blinking, the blonde nodded in acknowledgement, "If you say so." He then held out the left block. "Let's start this with a few jabs. Give me your best ones."
Calculating her range, the kunoichi formed a tight fist with her forward facing hand and set herself comfortably on the ground. After a brief pause and a moment of careful consideration, Sakura then lunged straight at her 'opponent' as fast as she could.
Kicking up dust with her dash, Sakura's left swung in following a straight, hard motion. Before it could make impact, Naruto's eyes widened in shock when he picked up something dangerous and braced himself, a split second before the girl's fist suddenly exploded against the wooden block with a clap of thunder.
The shockwave that rang out was immediately followed by Naruto's body blasting back and the pad he was holding cracking from the impact. The jinchuriki actually had to hold his ground since he never expected to take a shot that strong right from the get-go. After sliding to a halt after a few feet of travel along the grass, the boy looked up from his cringing expression and switched to one of utter surprise when his eyes landed back on Sakura.
Not only did the training partner express amazement at the development, but Sasuke, Shiho, Tayuya and Kaede who had witnessed the whole thing play out were also looking utterly bewildered.
"Damn," Tayuya exclaimed. She didn't know the girl was a power type. That punch was superb.
Even Sakura appeared astonished at how far she managed to push the blonde back, "Huh. That was weird."
"That was one hell of a jab!" Naruto thought in alarm, looking down at the block to see a fist imprint in it before smirking and tilting back up. "Perfect feet to upper-body and shoulder rotation, transmission of energy, step in, timing, and flow... just like in the textbooks." She must have been frustrated too, since he could feel the emotion reverberating inside the blocker. Must have been from his comment from before.
Despite her appearance, Sakura really knew how to apply in-text knowledge to practice when she was motivated to, which explained why her punch had so much power based solely on execution of movement and driving momentum. It reminded Naruto of the power he had to rely on when all he had was motion to deliver a blow to take down much larger and physically stronger individuals. Her sense was good despite lacking in excess physical training and recently getting off of the habit of dieting.
However, it did reveal one other thing about Sakura; she had a talent for hard punching. Scary...
Naruto slammed the two blockers together with a thump before taking a stance again. "Nice shot. Let's see how long you can keep that power up, Sakura-chan. Come on."
Roused from her stupor, the kunoichi refocused on her objective and crouched low, before again launching herself at the boy.
Sasuke and the rest of the crew then proceeded to watch as Naruto began taking the swings thrown by his teammate combination after combination, with the Sakura showcasing brute force and power few knew she even had. The loud cracks and thumps that rang out echoed across the entire area and brought a new soundtrack to the environment, putting everyone in awe and bringing a smile to the initially bewildered Tayuya.
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