Chapter 98: Miss Sakura's Heartfelt Words
"As expected, a new jutsu won't succeed that easily."
When Sakura said this, she pursed her lips and shrugged, trying to feign a cool and magnanimous display of helplessness.
Hinata had long since discovered that her good friend Sakura liked to make some boyish gestures. Perhaps back in the Ninja Academy, she was still a bit of a tomboy? Before they developed, little boys and little girls weren't that different.
However, after graduating from the academy, Sakura's features had gradually matured. Like a flower bud about to bloom, she quietly blossomed, beginning to reveal a budding, girlish charm. When she inadvertently made these small movements now, it no longer gave people the feeling of a tomboy, but rather revealed a girl's heroic and playful spirit.
Hinata smiled to herself but didn't point it out.
She just said, "Setbacks are to be expected. Good things take time and effort!"
Indeed, the development of a new ninjutsu was originally expected to consume a lot of time. It might succeed at that moment, it might take ten days or eight months, or it might even take two or three years. It was all possible.
Sakura sighed. Hinata patted her on the shoulder and said no more. Everything was understood without words.
They repeated the experiment like this many times. It wasn't until Sakura had exhausted her stamina that she stopped.
Retracting the last ice clone, Sakura wiped the sweat from her forehead. Looking out the window, the sun was already hanging high in the sky. Without realizing it, a whole morning had passed, and it was now approaching noon.
"Shall we go get something to eat?" Sakura touch her nearly concave stomach, feeling as if her front and back were about to stick together.
"You go ahead," Hinata said, shaking her head. "Do you have any plans for the afternoon?"
"Hmm..." Sakura bit her finger and thought for a moment. "I won't rush to continue the experiment after eating. I'll write up the report on the ice clone and submit it first, and by the way, ask Master for some answers to the problems I just encountered. As for the afternoon's experiment... I can do it myself. I'm already very proficient with the ice clone, so I don't need to trouble you to help me check. You can go about your own business."
"Alright then. In that case, be careful. I'll be going now~" Hinata waved goodbye. "Bye~!"
Poof! After speaking, Hinata's figure dissipated into a cloud of smoke.
Sakura blinked, a little dumbfounded. "Uh... it was actually a shadow clone!"
The people of the Hyuga clan, of course, also had chakra with affinities. For example, Hinata's natural affinities were Fire and Lightning (as written in the databooks), so in principle, Hinata could also use Fire Style and Lightning Style, it was just that the cost-performance ratio was too low. But for ninjutsu like the Three Basic Academy Techniques and the Shadow Clone Jutsu, the Hyuga clan would still use them from time to time. Especially since Hinata had long since broken free from the shackles of the family's inherited Gentle Fist, she would certainly not refuse a practical ninjutsu like the Shadow Clone.
After lunch, Haruno Sakura returned to the laboratory, took out a few sheets of white paper and a scroll, and began to write her ninjutsu report.
"Regarding the report on the successful development of 'Ice Style - Ice Clone' (Combat-type, Reconnaissance-type, and Medical Research-type)..." She pondered for a moment and wrote this title at the top.
After all, she had attended university in that world and had also gone to the Ninja Academy for several years in this world. Writing this kind of document was effortless for her and could be done in one go.
"Author: Haruno Sakura."
"Assisted in R&D: Konoha Confidential Archives, Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen, Fifth Hokage Princess Tsunade, Haku Yuki, Hyuga Hinata."
"Abstract: The Ice Style - Ice Clone is a clone jutsu based on the Kekkei Genkai—Ice Style chakra. It was developed with reference to the characteristics of the Water Clone, Shadow Clone, and Wood Clone. It is divided into three slightly different types of clone jutsu according to their use, namely the Combat-type, Reconnaissance-type, and Medical Research-type. As a Kekkei Genkai clone jutsu, compared to the First Hokage Hashirama Senju's Wood Clone Jutsu, it can be inferred that the Ice Clone has the characteristics of low chakra consumption, high combat power, high damage tolerance, and high casting difficulty."
"Casting Requirements: The Ice Clone requires the caster to have mastered the Ice Style Kekkei Genkai, be proficient in the regular Clone, Water Clone (Combat-type requires mastery), and Shadow Clone Jutsu (Recon-type requires mastery), have knowledge of the Wood Clone Jutsu, and possess high chakra control (Medical Research-type requires extremely high control)."
"Hand Seal Sequence: Ram - Snake - Tiger - Horse - Dog (Combat-type).
Ram - Snake - Tiger - Snake - Dog (Recon-type).
Ram - Snake - Tiger - Horse - Snake - Dog (Medical Research-type)."
"Description: ..."
She paused here, rubbed her temples, organized her thoughts, and then continued to write furiously.
"...The Combat-type Ice Clone is actually an advanced version of the Water Clone and an Ice Style version of the Wood Clone. Due to the naturally high solidity of Ice Style, the Ice Clone can withstand more damage than the Water Clone, and its combat power is comparable to the Wood Clone. At the same time, the Combat-type Ice Clone does not feed back its experience to the original body upon termination, in order to avoid interfering with the original's mind and distracting them. Based on the Combat-type Ice Clone, advanced ninjutsu such as the Multi-Ice Clone and Legion Ice Clone can be further developed, with great potential and extraordinary power.
The key points for casting this jutsu are as follows...
Note: With further proficiency, by infusing more chakra into the Combat-type Ice Clone, it can be made to self-destruct upon release, turning into countless ice sabers and blades to attack the enemy..."
The Combat-type Ice Clone was very simple, practical, and powerful. It would likely become one of the girl's main ninjutsu in the future. Writing up to this point, Sakura paused her pen, made sure that she had written everything she needed to, and then turned to write about the remaining two types.
"...The Recon-type Ice Clone is actually an Ice Style version of the Shadow Clone. It will be dispelled upon receiving a light attack, and it will return its memories to the original body upon release. Compared to an ordinary shadow clone, the Ice Clone has a larger range of activity, can maintain its mobility even from several kilometers away from the original body, has a longer duration, and has stronger combat power, making it a more reliable reconnaissance unit than the Shadow Clone...
...The Medical Research-type Ice Clone is a combination of the Combat-type and Recon-type. It replicates all the characteristics of the original body with almost 100% accuracy, and therefore has extremely high resistance to damage, only being dispelled when it suffers a fatal injury. The Medical Research-type will accurately return all its memories to the original's mind upon release.
Due to the above characteristics, this type of ice clone must absolutely not be used in battle, but it is very suitable for medical research and ninjutsu development.
A ninja casting this jutsu needs to have rich knowledge of human anatomy and extremely superb chakra control.
Due to the extremely high difficulty, it is recommended to practice under the guidance of someone who has already mastered this jutsu. When casting it for the first time, it is recommended that the caster dissect the clone to test its stability and check whether its internal organs have been completely replicated. If possible, it is recommended to invite a ninja from the Hyuga clan with an activated Byakugan to help with the inspection for higher efficiency.
The following are the difficulties and key points of casting the jutsu, divided into three main points and fifteen sub-points...
Note: The effect of the Medical Research-type Ice Clone can replace most human experiments...
Summary... Similar to the Wood Clone, all three types of ice clones can use most of the caster's ninjutsu and all of their Ice Style jutsu, and possess high combat power..."
Writing up to this point, the report was almost at its end. Sakura paused, considered the phrase "human experiments," and then blacked it out.
Sakura tried to write as detailed and comprehensive as possible, including all the insights and experiences she had gained while developing this ninjutsu, in order to facilitate learning for those who came after and to pass the ninjutsu down.
But this was probably not an easy matter—the Ice Clone Jutsu required the caster to have mastered Ice Style. This condition alone would screen out almost everyone. Currently, the only ones in Konoha who met the condition were she and Haku Yuki. One was the developer of the jutsu, and the other was the developer's good friend. If they wanted to learn, they didn't need a scroll at all; they would have a specialist to teach them personally.
The higher the difficulty of a ninjutsu, the harder it is to learn it just through a ninjutsu scroll, because many important things simply cannot be explained clearly in words. For example, how exactly to circulate the chakra—how can that be explained clearly with words without a live demonstration and teaching? One can only grope around on their own, which is extremely difficult. Many ninjutsu were lost because of this.
Sakura read the report from beginning to end again, carefully revising and polishing it.
Then she thought for a moment and put emphasis marks on words like "high combat power" and "dissection."
Hn, this is definitely not a suggestion for others to go and get themselves killed!
"These are absolutely my heartfelt words, words of experience!" she said, patting her chest and smiling with relief, as if she could see someone falling into a pit.
She checked it one last time, then put the white paper back into the scroll. Then she took out a second sheet of white paper and wrote the title in large characters: "Progress Report on the Development of a Ninjutsu to Accelerate Reaction Speed."
Unlike the completed report on the Ice Clone development, the one Sakura was writing now was for Tsunade to see, a private communication between master and disciple. The Fifth Hokage, Lady Tsunade, was extremely busy with a thousand different things and rarely had time to specifically explain and guide Sakura in ninjutsu. Therefore, she had told Sakura to write down any problems she encountered in a scroll and give it to her, so that she could use her fragmented time to answer Sakura's questions.
So Sakura wrote this report more casually, without being bound by format. With a few quick strokes, she filled in the author, assisted in R&D, and other items, then wrote down the problems she had encountered in the morning. In a flash, another report was produced.
However, Haruno Sakura had trouble with the ending of the report. There was a sentence she didn't know if she should say or not: If this ninjutsu could be supported by data from human experiments, the development progress would be greatly accelerated.
However, as everyone knew, Konoha had already had a so-called genius ninja who had defected because of conducting human experiments. This had made anything related to the words "human experiments" particularly sensitive and very tricky.
Sakura didn't know what the impact would be if she wrote this sentence.
There were indeed voices in the village that compared her to Orochimaru, far-fetchedly drawing parallels: the same humble origins, the same brilliant talent, and perhaps the same rebellious nature—although as far as Haruno Sakura was concerned, those ignorant country bumpkins would compare any genius ninja they saw to Orochimaru. Gossiping is the nature of the mediocre. They say strange things for no other reason than jealousy.
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