Haruno

Disputes And Resolutions

The next day, Sakura glanced around the training grounds nervously, twitching at all the minute sounds and movements around her. She had her back up against a tree and fiddled with the frayed strings of her mesh shirt. A no-show from Shiro who had promised to turn up a little after ten in the morning, when it had just gone past noon according to the sun in the sky. He wasn't usually late, she knew, so she supposed he must've been called out on a mission? No - that didn't sit right with her. If he'd known he would miss today's session, he would've sent a clone to tell her.

But, it wasn't like she could do anything about it. Inoichi, earlier at yesterday's eight o'clock meeting, had said to lay off the chakra use and training and had forced her to put on a chakra restrictive tag so she couldn't use her sensory field to locate him. Her best bet was waiting. That also meant she couldn't practise genjutsu or her newfound ability to punch with chakra, so she could only really practise taijutsu; but, Sakura found it increasingly difficult to motivate herself to run in the summer heat, so no, that would not be happening today. After reaching that conclusion, naturally, her mind drifted to weapons practice.

Sakura detached the pouch from herself and tipped out the contents onto the grass. Thirty kunai - dull or dirty - eleven shuriken, and two smoke bombs that she was almost certain were incapable of going off. She picked a shuriken up and threw it half-heartedly at a tree some distance away. Although her aim was dead on, it bounced off of the tree and landed at its base. How awful.

But it wasn't like she could go out and buy more.

The check for the C-rank had been scrapped considering their failure. It wasn't shocking to any of team seven but it wasn't like they needed the money; she did. Sakura pretended she hadn't noticed the overdue bills lying on the table on the way out this morning, and she had graciously accepted the hospital bill from the Yamanaka Center's receptionist. Sakura was only thankful that she had her mother check up her injuries rather than the hospital themselves.

So, if her pockets were light, and her weapons now scraps, how could she get new ones?

She could steal them.

Now, wasn't that a thought.

She felt herself grimace at the thought. To be frank, she wasn't above being sneaky - it was literally in a shinobi's job description - but the thought of stealing something made her think of Naruto. What if he found out about this? Stuck between a rock and a hard place, it seemed like.

Or, she could ask Shiro for help.

She removed that thought right away.

Sakura moved swiftly to hurry past the gates of the training grounds into the civilian market. It was strangely sparse that day but the sun beating down on her told her that it was more to do with their fear for their skin's health. The civilian market was located on the main road for easy access for travellers, however, the closer she got to the Hokage's tower at the end of the road, the more restricted the access was. Only, Sakura had never been up here if not to accompany Shiro; her price range was more in the range of the one nearer to the akasen - the one with the letters falling off the sign and doors which threatened to give her tetanus. This one was for the more well-off.

A bandaged arm blocked her path.

"Sakura," she said, undoubtedly sarcastic. "Funny seeing you here."

"Same to you too, Ino." Sakura sighed. Now wasn't the time to explain things to Ino - she'd been hoping to save that for a less stressful day. "Let me get through."

"Why should I? We both know you can't afford anything from here," Ino said, ever the brutally honest person. "Unless..." And it seemed Ino knew her better than she knew herself because she grabbed Sakura's pouch and scoured it. "Really? What were you going to get, hm?"
"Ino, don't. Please," Sakura pleaded.