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chapter twenty

"Don't ever make decisions based on fear. Make decisions based on hope and possibility. Make decisions on what should happen, not what shouldn't."

- Michelle Obama

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True to his word, Kakashi gave Itachi the training schedule that he'd made for his students.

They did actual training, contrary to popular belief. Sakura's body had a natural affinity for Water Style and Earth Style, so Kakashi wanted to play on that, during her fight with Temari. The girl was a Wind user, so Sakura would need a strong defense until she got close enough to engage in taijutsu. Sakura had never really felt the need to learn Earth and Water style, since she was always so proficient in the Yin type, medical ninjutsu, and her Destructive Fist technique. In reality, Kakashi spent a lot of time training her, putting her up against Naruto and Sasuke. Sometimes both. They were only allowed to use jutsu of their respective chakra natures- Wind for Naruto, and Lightning and Fire for Sasuke. Once Sakura was strong enough to beat both of her teammates with only Earth Style and Water Style, Kakashi moved on to working with Naruto and Sasuke.

Sasuke's Raiton jutsu were impressive, to say the least. Naruto had learned a couple other tricks with his Rasengan, as well. Giant Rasengan, and Rasenshuriken, as some of them. He even had combination jutsu with Sasuke's Amaterasu, which was even more impressive. It was reminiscent of the war time. Kakashi made Sakura work together with Naruto to develop a combo of her Water Style, and his Wind Style called the Typhoon Water Vortex, just in case the two of them were in a bind and needed a quick way out. Naruto had performed the jutsu with Captain Yamato before, when they were fighting an Akatsuki member named Kakuzu. Sakura and Sasuke worked together to combine her Water Style with his Lightning Style, creating a jutsu not unlike Izumo and Kotetsu's trademark. Sakura would drench the opponent or opponents in water and make them utterly delirious with her incredibly strong Water Dragon Jutsu, and Sasuke would electrocute them using his Chidori spear when he and Sakura were both far, FAR away from the water.

The four of them worked on team combo attacks during the time, and then they tried out Sasuke's Rinnegan. They saw that he'd retained a few of Pain- Nagato's abilities, such as the Almighty Push, the Shinra Tensei. He could still use Amaterasu, but he also had other abilities now, like the Amenotejikara.

"So Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked curiously as Sasuke meditated on a rock. Sakura was sharpening her kunai behind him, her feet in the river.

"Yeah, Naruto?"

"Is Sasuke's Rinnegan really a Rinnegan, or is it a Rinne-Sharingan?" Naruto asked, pointing at Sasuke, who now peeked his right eye open at this. "'Cause it has all the tomoe, and everything, and Madara said something last time about the Rinne-Sharingan..."

Kakashi frowned. "I'd been thinking about it, Naruto, and I think that it's both." His three students lifted their heads at that, confusion and curiosity evident in their faces. "Because the Rinnegan is usually created by blending the Sage of the Six Paths chakra, like Madara did. The Rinne-Sharingan, based off the vague description we got from Madara on the battlefield, is a dojutsu acquired by directly eating a God Fruit from the tree, or from being the Ten Tails Jinchuriki. That's the way that you get things like the Infinite Tsukuyomi." Kakashi pointed to Sasuke. "You got some of Hashirama's cells implanted in you from Kabuto, who got them from Orochimaru. That, and the chakra of the Sage made it possible for you to get the Rinnegan. I have a theory that since the Sage's chakra consists of both Indra and Ashura's chakra, that enabled you to activate it. The Uchiha eyes and the Senju body, is what he said was necessary. You would technically have that. I was thinking that maybe the purple eye meant you got the Sage's chakra, and the tomoe on it signified the Sharingan's abilities." Kakashi looked closer at his student. "It's truly intriguing. I'll have to study up more on it later. For now, we should start by figuring out what you can do with it."