Early December, Konoha Year 60 – Konoha Village
After dinner that evening, Haruno Sakura collapsed onto the sofa, letting out a satisfied burp. Her father, Kizashi, watched her utterly unladylike display and shook his head helplessly. Karin and Junko sat primly on either side of Sakura.
"Sakura, could you please show a little decorum…" Mebuki emerged from the kitchen, scolding her daughter for sprawling on the furniture.
"What's decorum for? Can you eat it? Burp…" Sakura punctuated her reply with another loud belch.
A sudden chill prickled Sakura's skin. Glancing up, she saw her mother's face darkening ominously. Sakura scrambled upright, grabbing Karin and Junko. "Right! Post-dinner exercise time! Let's go check on your recent progress!"
Karin and Junko quickly bowed to Mebuki before following Sakura out the door.
Mebuki glared after Sakura, then turned to Kizashi. "You spoil her far too much!" she admonished him.
"Eh?" Kizashi scratched his head awkwardly.
"If only our Sakura could be more like Karin," Mebuki sighed, pressing her fingers to her forehead.
Various villagers strolled along the streets; Konoha was quite lively in the evenings. Lacking other entertainment, many people took a walk after dinner, leading to a bustling scene of small street stalls and vendors popping up along the roadsides.
Sakura led the two younger girls through the crowded streets, making her way under the moonlight to one of Konoha's training grounds. "Training ground" was perhaps generous; it was mostly just a designated empty lot, not even cleared of weeds or bushes. Kakashi-sensei claimed this was to help ninja adapt to various terrains.
Standing before the two girls, Sakura looked at Junko. "So, how's school?"
Junko hadn't wanted to attend the Academy, but Tsunade had insisted on enrolling her. Sakura admitted it saved her the trouble of teaching foundational knowledge, and perhaps the school environment could help shift Junko's grim disposition.
However, at eleven years old, Junko was significantly older than the typical starting age. She had been placed directly into the graduating class. Since it was already December, the graduation exam was looming in March. Time was tight. If Junko didn't pass, she'd have to wait another year.
Hearing Sakura's question, Junko replied concisely, "It's okay."
"Are you keeping up with the lessons?" Sakura asked, feeling slightly awkward. Junko's terse manner made Sakura feel like an adult interrogating a child, a dynamic she wasn't used to.
"Keeping up," Junko answered, just as briefly.
"Ahem. Junko, you could try making some friends at school."
"I understand," Junko said after a moment's silence.
"…" "…"
An awkward silence fell. Sakura sighed and turned to Karin. "And you? How has your training been going lately?"
Seeing Karin's blank look, Sakura quickly added, "Your sealing techniques, I mean."
"In sealing techniques, I only know the One-Thread Light Formation…" Karin admitted, looking slightly embarrassed.
"One-Thread Light Formation?" Sakura echoed curiously. "Show me."
"Okay," Karin agreed, stepping forward and forming hand seals. "Ninja Art: One-Thread Light Formation!"
Instantly, centering on Karin, intricate lines of complex sealing formulae spread rapidly outwards from her feet across the ground. The innermost circle of seals encompassed Sakura's position.
Sakura felt her body suddenly grow heavy. She tried lifting an arm, finding it sluggish, then attempted to step out of the formation. Her legs felt even heavier than her arms; the attempt failed.
"Hm, not bad. This technique seems quite effective for trapping enemies," Sakura commented, observing the glowing array on the ground around her.
Then, activating her own chakra to enhance her strength, Sakura pushed off forcefully, leaping backward and tearing free from Karin's sealing formation.
As Sakura broke the seal, beads of sweat appeared on Karin's forehead. Clearly, maintaining the formation against Sakura's escape attempt had cost her considerable chakra.
"However, the technique's weaknesses are also obvious," Sakura mused, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "First, the caster can't be too far from the target, which is why you deliberately moved closer to me just now. Second, if the caster's own strength is insufficient, the target can break free forcefully. Correct, Karin?"
"That's right," Karin nodded. "It's the simplest sealing technique, but… it still took me a long time to learn."
"Don't say that. Fuinjutsu is genuinely difficult to master. I don't mind if you focus primarily on medical ninjutsu, but don't neglect your sealing practice entirely," Sakura advised.
"Okay," Karin nodded again. Since Sakura's somewhat stern reprimand the other day, Karin had suppressed her desire to learn combat techniques.
"Alright then, next I'll teach you a medical ninjutsu technique that can be used during combat," Sakura paused dramatically. "It's called the Yin Healing Wound Destruction."
"Mystical Palm Technique?" Karin repeated the name softly.
Sakura had already tested the technique herself. There were no flaws in the instructions Kabuto provided. However, Sakura felt frustratingly certain she couldn't utilize it to its maximum potential.
It wasn't that the healing effect was poor; for Sakura, the technique itself wasn't overly complex, being fundamentally an advanced application of the standard Mystic Palm Technique. Its core function involved preemptively infusing a body part with healing chakra before impact, accurately predicting where an attack would land, and beginning the healing process fractionally before the damage occurred to minimize injury.
Learning the technique wasn't hard. The difficulty lay in the prediction – accurately calculating the point of impact based on the opponent's gaze, movements, the jutsu's trajectory, range, and power. That was exceptionally difficult, especially since one's instinct is always to dodge an incoming attack unless it's unavoidable or completely unseen (and if unseen, the technique couldn't be used anyway).
Therefore, only two types of ninja could truly maximize this technique's potential: those with incredibly sharp observational skills honed through countless battles, and those with exceptionally powerful sensory abilities. The first could be cultivated over time; the second required innate talent.
Considering her own abilities, Sakura felt she didn't fit neatly into either category. Perhaps after several more years of combat experience, she might approach the first type. Achieving the second would require sophisticated sensory ninjutsu, ideally ones that didn't impede combat performance.
Ultimately, perfectly utilizing this jutsu required a certain talent. Truly a technique worthy of Kabuto's invention; ordinary people really can't master it.
However, Karin was perfectly suited for it. Her innate sensory abilities were extraordinary, almost as if the jutsu was tailor-made for her. This left Sakura feeling quite vexed – she'd gone through fear and trickery to obtain an A-rank jutsu, only for it to be ill-suited for herself. It was almost enough to make her cry.
"Here's the training scroll. This technique is perfect for you. It took me a lot of effort to get it," Sakura said, tossing Karin the scroll.
"Sakura…" Karin caught the scroll, her heart swelling with emotion, her eyes unexpectedly misting over.
"Eh? Why are you crying?" Sakura asked, bewildered by the tears welling in Karin's eyes. She hadn't scolded her, had she? Even if she had, Karin wasn't usually one to cry easily.
"N-nothing…" Karin took off her glasses, vigorously wiping her eyes before putting them back on. "Thank you, Sakura. You're so good to me. Thank you for the ninjutsu."
Seeing Karin so moved, Sakura decided against telling her she was basically getting a hand-me-down jutsu that Sakura couldn't use optimally. The guilt was bad enough already, tricking tears out of an innocent little lolita.
"Junko," Sakura turned to the other girl. "Your class has graduation exams next March. To help you catch up, whenever I'm home in the evening, I'll conduct practical combat training with you. Understand?"
She couldn't just let Junko face the exam after only a few months of standard schooling. Since Sakura wasn't busy for now, evenings would be dedicated to Junko's special training. She had a responsibility for her future safety.
"Understood," Junko nodded.
"Put some feeling into it! Now, attack me. You must attack with the intent to kill," Sakura instructed, drawing a kunai and looking seriously at Junko.
Junko wasted no words. Gripping her own kunai, the look in her eyes shifted as she faced Sakura.
"Very good," Sakura nodded. "Come on. Show me what you've learned these past couple of days."
The words barely left her mouth before Junko lunged, kunai flashing…
The moon had climbed to its zenith, bathing Junko's face in milky light.
She lay flat on her back on the training ground, chest rising and falling shallowly. For the entire evening, Junko had done essentially one thing: charge forward, get sent flying backward.
Her shuriken and kunai throws were poor. Against a stationary target, she was adequate, but she couldn't hit a moving opponent reliably. Recognizing this, Junko had focused entirely on close-quarters combat.
Sakura knelt beside Junko, healing her injuries. She hadn't held back at all during the spar. Firstly, she wanted to test Junko's perseverance. Secondly, she needed Junko to understand the true power gap between herself and trained ninja, hoping it would prevent her from acting recklessly out of hatred.
Based on Sakura's observations, Junko's willpower was impressive. Towards the end, even when beaten so badly she could barely move, she forced herself to stand up again. However, the flash of raw hatred in Junko's eyes during those moments made Sakura uneasy; she was likely recalling the Kusa-nin again.
"Am I… useless?" Junko whispered, staring up at the sky.
"How could you say that?" Sakura replied, surprised. "You have real talent for being a ninja. What you lack right now is time."
"…" Junko fell silent for a long moment, then asked again, "Sakura-senpai, when… when will I be able to achieve my goal?"
The evening's training had driven home the vast difference in their abilities. Junko hadn't slacked off; she trained diligently every day on what she learned at the Academy, striving for perfection. But the spar with Sakura showed her current progress meant achieving her goal would take a very long time.
"Letting go of hatred is impossible for you now, and frankly, I couldn't ask you to," Sakura began slowly. "But I don't want you to be consumed by it, to become nothing more than an avenger. Do you understand? You said you'd dedicate your life to achieving your goal. A lifetime is long. While pursuing revenge, perhaps stopping to look at the scenery around you might help you reach that goal sooner."
Looking at Junko, Sakura thought of Sasuke. Another avenger, willing to abandon everything for revenge. But Sasuke had been trapped in constant pain. Now, because Sakura had shown him a different path, revenge had become secondary for him.
But Junko was different. She didn't just want lost loved ones back; she wanted a revolution – to overthrow the corrupt system of Kusagakure, fueled by revenge. Her starting point was revolution.
From that perspective, Junko's motivation for revenge was arguably deeper than Sasuke's initial desire.
And it was precisely this depth, this complexity, that troubled Sakura so deeply…
"Come on, let's go back and rest. You have school tomorrow," Sakura said, standing up. She called out to Karin nearby, "Karin, time to go…"
"I want to train a little longer. You two go ahead," Junko replied, clearly not having absorbed Sakura's earlier words. She pushed herself up, wiping a smear of blood from her mouth.
"Combining work and rest is the fastest way to improve your strength," Sakura countered, then playfully waved a small fist at Junko, baring her teeth in a mock threat. "Besides, you've only been in school a few days; planning on being late already?"
"...… Understood, Sakura-senpai." Staring at that seemingly delicate fist, Junko instantly recalled the terrifying feeling of being sent flying earlier.
"Let's go! Home for sleepy time…" Sakura took each girl's hand and started walking, her earlier troubled mood vanishing into the night air.