Chapter Text
Kakashi stares at his former genin team with curiosity. He knew they were quite accident prone, but this was quite ridiculous.
“Care to explain?” He asks the most sensible one of the bunch.
“These two knuckleheads decided it was a good idea to crash one of my research sessions.” Sakura grumbled, clearly infuriated. The new streaks donning her cheeks shifted along with her grimace. “How did you guys even find me in the first place!”
“We just wanted to hang out as a group again.” Naruto whined, looking defeated but pointedly ignoring Sasuke’s hiss on ‘not lumping them two together’. “You’re like— always studying or hauled up in the hospital nowadays. I almost see Sasuke more than you!”
“Maybe if you would actually take your own studies seriously then you wouldn’t be so pissy about it.” Sasuke rolled his eyes. Kakashi noted the lack of purple on his left eye, along with the distinctive diamond seal on his forehead.
Kakashi was aware of Sakura’s intense study sessions. Mainly because a lot of the time, she had to talk to him personally to gain access to certain scrolls and books. He always allowed her the information, knowing they would be in safe hands with her. What he didn’t account for was her old teammate’s ability to find her wherever she was and cause chaos in their wake.
When the report came in that the three were found in the (normally very hidden) library (that technically wasn’t even a library, but rather a storage safe for old high security intel), Kakashi wasn’t even surprised. To put things simply, they had somehow accidentally triggered an old forbidden jutsu that had swapped their chakra around. He hadn’t been too worried at first since the ANBU personnel who reported the incident didn’t say anything about them being injured in any way, however it was clear that this was most likely going to be a lot harder to deal with than expected.
The ninjutsu hadn’t just swapped their chakra natures like he thought, but also seemed to exchange… well— everything about their chakra.
Somehow, it was powerful enough to change their chakra reserves, their kekkei genkai, and seals too, as shown with the Byakugou seal on Sasuke’s forehead, the telltale whisker marks of the nine-tails on Sakura’s cheeks, and Naruto’s left eye being a Rinnegan. Thankfully, none of them showed any signs of any damage, which was extremely surprising, but Kakashi couldn’t help but worry all the same.
“Has Tsunade looked over you guys yet?” He decided on asking out of the thousands of questions running around in his aching brain.
“Not yet. She’s busy with an intense surgery I think.” The pink haired kunoichi replied with a sigh. “I’ve tried to do a rough checkup myself, but…” Her words trail off as she stares down at her own hands in frustration.
“What’s wrong?”
“My chakra feels so different. It’s kinda hard for me to control at the moment.” She informs, before demonstrating by attempting to form a small chakra scalpel at her fingertips. What would normally be a perfectly small blade of green at the end of her nails is instead a flickering blaze of visible chakra that clearly struggles to maintain its shape. Its colour occasionally blinks red at times and it ends up looking similar to an out of control blowtorch.
“You have access to the nine-tails chakra?” Kakashi’s eyes widen as soon as he catches a glimpse of red.
“I…” Sakura pauses. Naruto seems to freeze by her side, looking suddenly extremely uncomfortable. “I think so.” She mutters, then jumps with a yelp, scaring the two beside her. They all look at her with concern, but she remains quiet, her eyes wide.
“Sakura?” Kakashi prompts.
“Uh. Yeah. I can definitely access the nine-tails.” She replies robotically, eyes still wide.
“Is- is he talking to you?” Naruto speaks up, also looking quite on edge.
“Yep.”
“What’s he saying?”
“Uh…” Sakura gulps, squeezing her eyes shut and shaking her head, an attempt to ground herself. “He-he seems to be confused as well.”
Naruto exhales a sigh of relief. Kakashi wonders just what he was worried about.
“Is he always this loud? In your head?” Sakura almost whispers, turning to Naruto with a wince.
“I guess so? I kind of grew up with it though so I never really thought about it.” He shrugs lightly. “Hey Kurama! Don’t be a pain to Sakura-chan alright! She’s a good girl!” He points with a glare directly at the kunoichi, who’s taken aback at the switch.
To all of their surprise, Sakura’s green eyes suddenly shift to crimson, and a deep chuckle erupts from her lips.
“You brat. I know that already.” Kurama huffs through Sakura’s voice, catching the three boys off guard. It’s certainly strange. Kakashi’s heard the beast speak before, both through Naruto and through his beast form, but with Sakura it sounds unsettling. “This is certainly an odd predicament, but I assure you I won’t be doing anything to harm your little friend here.” Kurama assures, crossing their arms.
“You better not.” Naruto replies by sticking out his tongue.
“How’s your seal?” Kakashi once again shoves away the unnecessary questions in his head and gets to the important parts.
Kurama turns to look at the Hokage and he has to resist the urge to raise his guard, then without warning he raises Sakura’s shirt up to reveal her navel, not at all caring about how Naruto squaks beside them. Sasuke looks murderous all of a sudden, and Kakashi feels like he’s aged fifty years.
On her stomach however, sits the seal that Naruto has worn his entire life. It looks as stable as ever, as though Sakura had been the one to bear the nine-tails all her life.
“Looks good to me.” Kurama huffs.
“You can’t just do that!” Naruto yells, forcibly turning Sakura’s body around to face him. “Sakura’s a girl! You gotta be more considerate!”
“Don’t forget that the two previous jinchuriki before you were also women, you dimwit.” Kurama rolls his eyes, but obliges and lowers her shirt. “There does not seem to be any issues with the switch. Whatever you guys managed to accomplish was successful in its entirety. Who knows, maybe little Sakura-chan here will be stuck with me from now on.” He laughs.
“Wait- does that mean Sakura’s a jinchuriki now?”
“Only up until we can reverse whatever you guys did.” Kakashi sighs, watching the crimson fade from the kunoichi’s eyes. Sakura stumbles as she returns and looks about as purplexed as Kakashi feels.
“That…” She stutters, shaking her head once more. “That was so weird.” Naruto is quick to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder, offering her quiet reassurances.
“I have the scroll here.” Sasuke finally speaks up, stepping up to the desk to place the said scroll on the table.
The three of them walk over as Kakashi opens the old document, peeking at its contents despite knowing its contents.
On the parchment was an intricate forbidden jutsu that had Kakashi shaking his head in disbelief. It was clear this was intended for theft and power, which wasn’t an uncommon theme among the many forbidden scrolls they had locked away. Still, it was a ridiculously risky jutsu to create. While it was a stable one, Kakashi didn’t miss the detail that indicated that if there were a significant power difference between the chakras that were being switched, the technique would most likely crumble and overwhelm all parties involved. Whoever crafted such a technique was both a genius and an utter moron.
If it were anyone else in this situation, Kakashi would have probably been given a report of spontaneous human combustion rather than a break-in.
“Alright, first thing’s first. Who casted the scroll?” Kakashi sighed, looking up at his old team, suddenly feeling his age catching up to him.
Sakura and Sasuke both glanced at their blonde teammate with a look of ‘who else?’ written all over their face, while Naruto simply deflated.
“Me.” He replied, defeated.
“That adds up.” Kakashi hummed, looking down at the scroll once again. “It says here that this was intended for just two people. The person casting the jutsu and stealing the chakra, and another person who gets their own taken and replaced with the caster. It relies on a ton of chakra by itself, but with Naruto’s reserves, it makes sense that you somehow managed to get it done with all three of you.”
Naruto nodded thoughtfully as his old sensei explained, then paused.
“Now that I think of it, my reserves feel completely drained.” He mumbled.
“Actually, your reserves were switched along with your nature and the nine-tails.” Kakashi explained, glancing at Sakura who still seemed rather uncomfortable. “Judging by your eyes, you’ve most likely got Sasuke’s now.”
The revelation washed over the three as gently as a tsunami wave.
“I have your puny reserves?! What the hell?!” Naruto squawked, shoving a finger towards his best friend.
“Watch yourself, dobe.” Sasuke hissed. “Not everyone was born with chakra reserves the size of the fucking ocean with a tailed beast who’s literally made of chakra.”
“This can’t be real. I have to be dreaming! Yes! That's what this is! Just a dream.” Sakura laughed stiffly. She looks about ready to faint, a look Kakashi hasn’t seen in a long time.
He knows the three of them aren’t malicious towards the village in any way (anymore at least), but that doesn’t mean that this won’t cause accidents along the way. Especially with how much power each of them possess.
“I’m going to need you three to attempt to test out your new chakra systems as soon as possible. Preferably, outside the village walls.” Kakashi speaks up, gathering their attention to him once again. “Before we can figure out a way to reverse this situation, you all will be stuck with each other’s chakra natures, reserves, and kekkei genkai. It would be best that you guys can at the very least get yourselves acquainted with these new systems before doing anything else to avoid any accidents or catastrophic events.” He sighs.
“Y-yeah, right.” Sakura breaths, still reeling from all the information. “Sasuke, I need to tell you some things about my own seal. It won’t be great if you activate it unintentionally.”
Sasuke nods in agreement. He doesn’t know much about the Byakugou seal, but he has picked up that it’s usually only reserved for those who have absolute control over their own systems. With a seal needing that much attention, he’s probably going to need to be weary on what he can/can’t do.
“At least Kurama isn’t like— evil anymore. He’s probably just going to treat this like a vacation if anything.” Naruto muttered.
“Thank sages for that.” The pink kunoichi sighs, remembering all the times Naruto had lost control of the Kyuubi when they were kids.
“Alright. You three will be excused from missions until further notice. If possible, try to avoid using chakra altogether within the village.”
With that, the team were dismissed, leaving Kakashi to mull over the possible reports he was going to receive very soon about each of his cute but troublesome little team.
.
“Sasuke, why do you have like- no chakra at all.” Naruto pants, laying in the middle of the grass clearing they had settled at outside the village.
“Again, my reserves are completely fine.” Sasuke bit back, also feeling worn by his side.
They had left the main gates not too long ago to follow their old sensei’s instructions to try and get the hang of their new chakra systems as best they could, and it was proving to be quite the challenge.
Naruto had already burned down a couple trees on the way using Amaterasu, Sasuke had snapped his beloved sword in half as soon as he gripped it too hard, and Sakura keeps accidentally tapping into Kurama’s chakra whenever she lashes out at the two.
The blonde also forgot about the swapped reserves, and immediately attempted his multi-shadow clone jutsu, only to run out of chakra within seconds.
All in all, not so great.
“This is hell.” Naruto mutters, watching Sakura in the distance as she keeps attempting to pull off her usual earth style moves on boulders and trees with varying success. Her targets are shattering under her fists and legs as they always do, but it’s clear that it’s taking a toll on her body when it normally wouldn’t. Naruto can vaguely sense Kurama’s chakra subtly healing her injuries each time.
That’s another thing Naruto’s noticed. His sensing isn’t as good as it was before. As soon as he realised that fact, he started feeling uneasy. He’s not used to not being able to sense anyone and everyone at will. It’s like suddenly becoming blind!
“CHANDARO!” Sakura wails again, crushing a particularly large tree.
“Sasuke, can you stop her before Kurama throws a fit.” Naruto sighs. “Her natural element isn’t earth style anymore, she needs to calm down before she shatters her bones.”
“Hn.” His best friend sighs, standing up to make his way to their pink teammate.
As soon as he reaches her, he notices she’s not even out of breath despite the destruction all around her.
“Sakura.” He calls out, catching her attention. When she turns, he pauses at the red eyes that stare back at him.
“What?” She seethes. It’s not the voice he heard in the office, so it’s not Kurama talking, but she’s clearly infuriated.
“You need to calm yourself. Remember what Kakashi-sensei said, we don't have our normal systems in place.” He reminds her, walking closer before taking one of her arms up to show the damage she’s been doing to herself to prove his point. Her fingers are beginning to bruise, and her skin is covered in dirt and cuts up to her shoulders.
Sakura sighs and Sasuke watches as the red recede from her eyes.
“Sorry, this is just a lot. These reserves… I can’t control them as well as I can with my own.” She glares at the floor.
Over the years of being a student of Kakashi and Tsunade, she’s prided herself with her chakra control specifically. She’s worked tirelessly to memorise and use techniques that require nothing but absolute authority over her own power. Hell- she’s even managed to get the Byakugou seal all by herself, which only Tsunade has accomplished previously. But now that a main variable has been changed, it’s like all the equations and calculations she’s ingrained into her head has been scrapped.
Naruto’s chakra is powerful, she can feel it. But it’s almost wild compared to her carefully constructed systems. Trying to hone it into techniques has been painful.
“The Kyuubi has been healing you.” Sasuke notes, letting go of her hand. Her face goes sour.
Healing.
She can’t even do that properly anymore.
She was a damn medic, for fucks sake! What kind of medic can’t even heal themselves?
Sakura closes her eyes and breathes, willing away the self deprecating thoughts she thought she left behind years ago. Instead, she turns her energy to the man in front of her. If she can’t do this, she might as well leave it be and help Sasuke out with her own systems instead.
Ignoring the odd expression that Sakura catches Sasuke sending her, she plants a smile on her face and takes his hand, beginning to drag him back to Naruto.
“Come on then, let’s start to work on your chakra instead before you accidentally drain your life force.” Sakura speaks easily, dropping the information like it was just another day.
Naruto’s still sprawled out on the grass when they sit beside him.
“What was that about ‘draining your life force’?” Naruto asks, not moving an inch.
“My seal amplifies ninjutsu and taijutsu. It’s sort of like a self built up powerhouse. I’ve been building it up ever since Tsunade took me in, but it requires extreme chakra control to use.” She explains simply, automatically bringing up a hand to Sasuke’s body to scan, but reels back, as though burned.
Sasuke tilts his head slightly in question.
“Sorry, I was going to examine the seal but… I think I should avoid doing that. At least until I can use this chakra with confidence.” She speaks sadly, recalling when she accidentally cooked the fish she tried to scan over the first time Tsunade instructed her.
Sasuke simply nodded.
“First thing’s first, you’re going to need to get a hold of that strength of yours.” She winced, looking down at his shattered sword by Naruto’s side, lying in a million pieces pathetically.
-
Sasuke, out of the three of them, was taking the situation a lot better. Her chakra reserves seemed similar enough to his, so using basic ninjutsu was actually quite easy.
He should've expected that it wouldn’t always be sunshine and rainbows however.
Shattering his sword was the first sign that he should probably be putting more effort into adjusting. The second sign was when he almost obliterated Sakura during their spar session.
They had been fighting without chakra as a warm up, then switched to slowly easing into concentrated chakra kicks and punches. With Sakura’s power, it was a lot easier to crush earth beneath his feet and hands. What would normally crack the ground with his hits, would now send shockwaves throughout the forest.
He must have been too caught up in his awe at the power as the moment he had Sakura pinned underneath him on the grass, he reeled back to send one last hit as a counter to one of her strikes. A millisecond after he had committed to the action however, her body flared to life with blinding yellow chakra, and a sort of protective bubble formed around her as his fist barreled down. Kurama had protected her.
Before Sasuke could question it, his split second confusion was answered as he looked up and noticed that they were now in the middle of a gigantic crater so deep that the trees surrounding them were barely peeking over its edges.
“Sakura!” He snapped out of his puzzled daze as he looked down to see Sakura still beneath him, and sighed a breath of relief to see the odd bubble of chakra had successfully shielded her from injury. Her eyes red again, and were wide in surprise.
“I think I get why Naruto calls me scary sometimes now.” She squeaked, the blazing chakra fading around her.
Sasuke hummed in agreement as he stood, lending a hand for her to rise too. Even as they stood, they couldn’t peek over the edges of the crater.
“Seems like we need to work on your chakra control a little more than I thought.” She mused, looking around with a smirk. Distantly, Sasuke could recount the beginnings of when Sakura began to hone her earth style techniques. She had broken an arm one time as she blasted through a boulder blocking their path. Back then, their chakra had been weaker, yet somehow her strength was monstrous, even as a child.
“You’re putting too much chakra into your punches. In a fight, you need to even it out more. Earth style hits are slower, but heavy hitters, so you need to limit each strike or you’ll end up running through it all in one go.” She explained as they hopped out of the hole.
He knew this, but putting it into practice seemed to be a different story.
“Got it.” He sighed, feeling the proof through the drain on his reserves. As they walked back to Naruto however, he noticed that his empty pool was filling up a lot quicker than usual.
“Sakura?” He piped up, earning her attention. “Your chakra recovery. It's quick.” He pointed out.
“That’s the seal helping you.” Sakura hummed, stopping to inspect his face, or rather his forehead. “As I said, part of it is like a reservoir of chakra. When I’m drained completely, it’s quick to refill my normal reserves with the pool automatically. It helps avoid chakra exhaustion mid battle.” She shrugged, turning to continue to walk.
“It’s not something to rely on though. It’s not an infinite source of power. Ah! You’re going to have to practice meditating every night to refill the main reservoir. I need to show you how to do that.”
Meditation. Sasuke can do that.
“It’s a little hard to get the hang of at first, and it always leaves me super tired afterwards, but hey, it makes falling asleep easier!” She beamed. Sasuke paused at that.
If Sakura ‘master of chakra control’ had trouble with it, he had a feeling this might not be as easy as he initially thought.
“Ha! Sucks to be you!” Naruto yelled out, clearly having overheard Sakura’s informative rant.
This was going to be a long couple days.