Sakura woke up shortly afterward to a sweating Saul healing her with the Mystical Palm. He stopped the Jutsu with a sigh as soon as she woke up, breathing heavily from exhaustion.
"Sakura, are you ok?"
She felt a faint headache at the mont. It was a slow, pulsing one, that made her feel woozy. Yet the pain she felt was mostly a phantom. She presud it was because he had been hard at work healing her. She also felt a lingering heat and slight pain from her chest, but Sakura didn't think anything of it. She rembered hitting the ground pretty hard after all. His healing sent a soothing energy throughout her body, making her feel better.
"Yes... I think so."
"That's great! I'm sorry, I think I used too much strength. I didn't expect you to get knocked out from just one attack!"
Normally Sakura would have gotten angry from the casual dismissal in her words, but right now she felt too out of it to really care. Plus, he had been right all along. She could see the truth now. She was so weak compared to him - his attitude towards her wasn't an unfair dismissal. Just an acknowledgent of how it really was.
"Mmmn. Don't worry about it..."
She slowly reached up and rubbed her aching forehead. A fluid of so kind coated her palm. Her hand went back down as she gazed at the sar of blood dazedly.
"Here, let help you with that."
Saul had been, in all honesty, more focused on healing her chest as she woke up than anything else. He had only done the bare minimum on her forehead to stop the bleeding, so her careless rubbing had already broken the clot.
As Saul wrapped her forehead in so gauze, Sakura pursed her lips. Why did he hit her so hard?
"You can forget about the extra 5,000 ryo, though..."
Saul smiled. "I'm just glad you're ok."
The pink haired woman slowly sat up with a groan. The mories of their fight ca rushing back to her as she rembered seeing nothing but his fist before blackness...
"So... How exactly did you end up above ? I don't recall seeing you jump above . Did you cheat by using the body flicker Jutsu?"
"Did you see using any hand signs?"
Sakura was starting to get his point. "No, I didn't see you at all actually. I ford clones to attack you first."
Saul nodded. "That was a smart move, to make the clones midair, so I couldn't tell which was which. However, blocking your vision of your opponent is never a good thing. I rely jumped."
"Jumped!?"
Saul leapt up, standing from the bottom of the tree branch he had jumped off earlier.
"Like so. You are too used to two dinsional combat, Sakura, so you didn't even think to look for up here."
"I see..."
Walking along the tree branch while upside down, he noted the way her eyes followed him warily from the ground. He jumped back down. With a swish, his sandals landed back on the forest floor.
"Regardless though, you wouldn't have stood a chance against the way you are now. Your movents were too slow for to even consider you as a threat. Have you been keeping up your training?"
Sakura stared blankly. The way the man moved was sowhat srizing. She could still feel the overwhelming strength of his, pounding in her head. And yet even with such strength he moved with the grace of a cat. Also, Saul had a cold, casual air of superiority that she'd only previously seen in Sasuke. She had previously found it annoying, but now she realized it was not arrogance. It was simply the truth.
"Sakura?"
"Ah... Sorry. I must still be a little out of it. You asked about my training?"
Saul nodded.
Sakura had asked the question again to give herself a little more ti to think about her response. She couldn't just tell him the truth, right? That she had mostly stopped training. After all, none of their missions really required sothing like that from her. And Kakashi was too chill. He left them to their own devices, most of the ti.
"Sotis..."
"Sotis...? How many tis a week do you train?"
She wasn't getting away that easily, huh.
"Maybe once or twice a month...?"
"...That's no good. Sasuke will never accept you at this rate."
His assessnt stabbed into her like another knife. This ti however, she didn't react with denial or anger. He himself was a living example of what dedicated training could do. Saul had even taken the ti to prove it to her with this duel of his. Now, as she sat there with her back to a tree, with her head pounding from his earlier knockout blow, Sakura couldn't deny it anymore. Rather than anger, she lowered her head in depression.
"What am I supposed to do then...? I could never train every day like you seem to want to. Plus, I'd never be able to catch up with Sasuke-kun even if I did!"
Saul kneeled down now, putting himself at eye level with the depressed woman.
"Don't worry. Aside from getting stronger... There are certain other ways that a woman like you might win Sasuke's heart."
This man was attempting to treat her like a donkey, leading her on with a carrot tied to a stick. The promise of reward was always ahead of her. He tantalized her with it constantly. Yet Saul was always vague, never truly letting her take a bite. Unfortunately for her, no one else had the carrot she was looking for. She had no choice but to play his gas... Saul must want sothing from her first.
Sakura took a deep breath, trying to compose herself. If it was money he wanted, she'd give it to him.
"Look, I'm sorry about trying to renege on our bet. I was just a little out of it after being knocked out. I wouldn't seriously go back on my word like that, you know? The 20,000 ryo I still owe is yours, along with the 5000 ryo I just gave you previously."
Saul smiled. "That's good then. However, I'm disappointed we had to fight in the first place. Didn't you say you ca to apologize, earlier, about your previous attitude? Yet again, I found myself challenged to the point where it was necessary to prove my words. Were your apologies just excuses? Or did you actually an them?"
"I..." Sakura paused. "I ant them... I'm sorry..."
"And why should I trust your word now?" Saul continued to question.
Why couldn't she just control her temper? This was her only hope. And yet, she constantly let her ego get in the way. Sakura lowered her head.
"I'm sorry..." She whispered more to herself than anything, "I'm just useless. Nothing but a failure..."
Saul wasn't interested in making another Hinata.
"Get up." He voiced coldly.
Sakura shakily obeyed, even though she wasn't exactly sure why.
"Regardless of how useless you are, since you've already paid a little, treat this as your first lesson. Do not overestimate yourself or your worth. Such things will blind you to the truth of what you need to do in order to accomplish your goals. Understand? The very first step towards attracting Sasuke is recognizing your flaws. After all, how could you know where to improve if you do not know where you are going wrong?"
That actually made sense. Sakura felt a small hope building inside her chest. The derogatory implication of his words seed to fly over her head now. His earlier suggestions while she was under hypnosis were clearly at work.
"Yes..."
"And that will be all for now. I'm already exhausted from my prior training, and then you wanted a duel on top of that. If you want more help, co find next week. Make sure to bring the 20,000 ryo you owe, along with an extra 20,000 for that day's lesson. I'm not doing any of this for free, after all."
"Thank you..."
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