A Ninja's Path (Kakashi X Reader)

Chapter Seventy Six

"Prepare yourself, Sakura! I won't go easy on you." You warned your student as your team found a clearing in the forest on the outskirts of camp.

"Yay. I'm so excited...." Your pink haired student responded unenthusiastically.

You ignored her and started stretching, trying to loosen all the tightness in your muscles. Somebody had gotten you all in a twist last night and now you were sore.

Sakura dragged herself towards the tree line and drew a kunai, falling into a defensive stance as she waited for you to attack. Her eyes were bright in focus. Good.

Without warning, you flashed in front of her, bringing your beloved dagger down on your student. She deflected it and you both jumped back to re-examine the situation. You started to circle each other and out of the corner of your eye you saw the male members of your team sitting around watching.

"Hey! Go spar with each other!" You yelled.

Kakashi shook his head. "I said they could watch your fight. Maybe they can learn a thing or two."

Glancing at Naruto and Sasuke made your eyebrow raise as you determined that they were hardly paying attention. Sasuke was brooding over god-knows-what at this point, and Naruto still looked dazed from seeing Kakashi's face.

You rolled your eyes at how ridiculous they were acting. Well, you could actually empathize with Naruto a bit more than Sasuke.

Something pink flashed in your peripheral and you acted just in time to block a roundhouse kick from your student. She pulled back only to attack with a flurry of stabs and punches- Sakura was on the offensive.

You smiled in satisfaction. Even if her moves were too predictable and you blocked them with ease, her fighting style was far more aggressive and backed with strength. Just to test it out, you grabbed her fist as she threw another punch.

You grunted in effort to keep her from jerking away. Her eyes narrowed in concentration. Rather than trying to pull away, she folded into your grip, dropping down to her knees. She threw her body upward, into your elbow. You were forced to let her go or risk having your arm broken from the momentum of her body being thrown into your joint.

Immediately you retaliated and pushed Sakura onto defense. She was forced to draw two kunai to shield herself from your attacks. The zinging of blades filled the clearing as you forced Sakura toward the tree line.

She flipped back onto a tree, moving her chakra to her feet as she ran up the side of the trunk and pushed herself off- landing behind you.

You whirled around, ducking out of the way just as a blade was thrust toward your face. You noticed how Sakura was leaning too far into the attack and ducked under her arm. Taking advantage of her weakness, you knocked out the back of her knees, forcing her to fall.

She tried to roll away but you stepped on her wrist, pinning her down. You pressed your knee onto her other arm and held a kunai to her throat.

You chuckled at the anger in her green eyes. "Still can't beat me." You got off her and sheathed your dagger, holding out a hand. "But you've grown."

She blew out a long breath, wisps of pink hair floating off her face. She grabbed your hand and you hoisted her to her feet. "I'll beat you one day."

You grinned. "I'm looking forward to it."

Naruto started clapping. "Encore! Encore!'

Sasuke elbowed him in the side. "It isn't a show you idiot."

"I would say I've helped her improve, but she's really done it all by herself." Kakashi pushed off the tree he was leaning on. "She spent hours after training improving her taijutsu, mostly alone. Sakura's entirely responsible for becoming a stronger kunoichi."