Chapter 100: When Apologizing... My Ass That's Common Sense!
"A Kekkei Genkai clone, we haven't seen one of those in a long time!" The Third's tone carried a hint of anticipation.
"As you command, Lord Hokage," Haruno Sakura said with a nod, walking to a more open area to the side.
Her hands quickly formed the hand seals: Ram - Snake - Tiger - Horse - Dog. "Ice Style - Ice Clone!"
Another Haruno Sakura, following the appearance of a puff of smoke, stood in the office.
She flexed her wrist joints. Her pair of emotionless, emerald eyes swept from left to right, indifferently looking over the three people in the office—lingering on Danzo for a moment longer.
The clone swayed her hips, took a step forward, and walked in front of Sakura. Two ice kunai quietly formed in her hands. One was held protectively in front of her chest, the other rested at her waist, ready for battle. Even in the absolutely safe Hokage's office, the ice clone maintained a high level of vigilance.
The people present saw this, and their hearts were stirred. The three Kage-level powerhouses were all battle-hardened ninja. Naturally, they could see the mystery of the ice clone.
The precise step she took had perfectly shielded the original Sakura behind her, faintly blocking the three's possible directions of attack.
The seemingly graceful and delicate twist of her waist was actually a highly skilled taijutsu movement. As her thighs moved, the entire line of her spine, from the hips, waist, ribs, shoulders, and head, swayed gently with the girl's graceful steps. Her center of gravity shifted slightly, not only to avoid being locked onto by an enemy but also to constantly adjust her posture for releasing force. It seemed that with any sign of trouble, she could immediately erupt and kill the enemy!
A strong flavor of the Gentle Fist.
The Third knew that Sakura had learned some knowledge of the Gentle Fist from Hinata, so it was not surprising that her taijutsu had a hint of its aura. But could a clone also perform such an exquisite taijutsu movement...? He took a drag of his water pipe, smacked his lips, and blew a puff of smoke towards the window, seemingly immersed in the wonderful taste of the tobacco.
On the other side, Tsunade rested her chin on her clasped hands on the desk, and gave an almost imperceptible nod.
And Danzo, who had just taken the scroll from the Third's hand and glanced at it a few times, just looked at the ice clone thoughtfully, his eyes narrowed, his right hand tapping his cane rhythmically, silent, as if he hadn't noticed the ice clone's faint hostility and vigilance towards him. His perpetually gloomy face made it impossible to see what he was thinking.
Glancing at the three's reactions out of the corner of her eye, Sakura said in a clear voice, "She is a Combat-type Ice Clone."
Next was the Reconnaissance-type. Sakura slowed down her hand seals: Ram - Snake - Tiger - Snake - Dog. "Ice Style - Ice Clone!"
Amidst the swirling smoke, another young girl with the exact same appearance as Sakura appeared on the scene.
She nodded slightly to the original and the other three present and said faintly, "I am a Reconnaissance-type Ice Clone." Then she began to carefully observe the office environment. Both were ice clones, with identical appearances, yet this one could be clearly distinguished from the combat clone—the combat clone gave one a feeling of being as cold and hard as an iceberg, while the reconnaissance clone's temperament was as cool and clear as a spring.
Finally was the Medical-type. This time, Sakura's hand seals were even slower and more careful: Ram - Snake - Tiger - Horse - Snake - Dog. "Ice Style - Ice—cough cough, cough cough!"
Just as the smoke had begun to appear, before the ice clone had started to take shape, Sakura suddenly stopped casting the jutsu and let out a few fake coughs to cover her embarrassment. "Ahem, my apologies, I made a mistake."
In fact, she had not made a mistake. She had just almost summoned the type of clone from the laboratory here...
It had to be said that Sakura had inadvertently saved the Third again.
Otherwise, in the subsequent memorial service, when mentioning the Third's cause of death, "died from excessive blood loss due to an unstoppable nosebleed," how awkward would that have been... The memorial service really wouldn't have been able to go on...
Hn, the gears of fate were unknowingly turned in another direction by the young girl!
The above is all nonsense... let's stop the idle talk.
The three of them, of course, did not know what kind of mistake Sakura had made, nor did they care. So they were still able to calmly watch Sakura form the hand seals again and summon the last type of ice clone—
She was a more exquisite clone. No, it should be said, she was... a living person.
Under the skin of her face, which was so fair it was almost transparent, her pale purple blood vessels were vaguely visible. Her small nostrils twitched slightly with each breath. Her chest rose and fell lightly with her breathing. Even the breath she exhaled carried a moist warmth.
She blinked her eyes, her emerald-like pupils as agile as a real person's. She stood lifelike next to Sakura, making the same hand seal gestures as Sakura, as if with just a blink, when one opened their eyes again, it would be impossible to tell who was the original and who was the clone.
—No, no, no, you could still tell. The prettier, more lifelike one was the clone.
From a combat perspective, the Medical-type Ice Clone was undoubtedly a useless ninjutsu unsuitable for the battlefield. But the three people present simultaneously realized its use.
"So these are the three types of ice clones?" After a moment of silence, the first one to speak was actually Danzo. "I remember that the village also took in another Yuki who had awakened the Ice Style Kekkei Genkai. It seems the Yuki and Haruno will be passed down in Konoha under the name of the Ice Style clan..."
"Hehe," the "hehe" in the Naruto world did not have the sarcastic connotation. This was a genuine smile from the Third. This man, who had once stood at the pinnacle of power for many years, at this moment, smiled like an old man seeing his many descendants. "Konoha's branches and leaves are flourishing!"
Sakura could not yet resonate with this emotion. She complained in her heart: For the Yuki to be passed down, doesn't that mean Haku has to marry a man into her family? Or have a child out of wedlock?
Why does it feel a bit like breeding a sow? A black line appeared on Sakura's forehead.
As for herself... this girl was still in the single camp. Hn, let's not consider these things for now!
That's right. If I marry a man, it's psychologically gay. If I'm in a relationship with a woman, it's physically lesbian. This kind of problem is a complete mess, with no way to start! So for the time being, it's better to be a noble single dog.
Oh right, I heard that online, in transmigration novels, there's also a genre of marrying oneself... Eek, isn't that perverted!
Strictly speaking, although autosexuality is rare, it is also one of the human sexual orientations: the fourth sexual orientation besides hetero/homo/bisexuality. It's just that people usually still treat autosexuality as a kind of illness. Hn, that is, a psychological perversion.
She was lost in thought all the way on her way out of the Hokage's office.
The next morning, the sunlight was faint, and the chirping of birds and insects was mixed with a few inharmonious shouts.
A sleepy-eyed Haruno Sakura was cornered at her home by a displeased-looking yellow-haired boy and a red-eyed boy.
"What do you want from me so early in the morning?" she said, rubbing her eyes, wearing pajamas and shorts, standing at the door.
"What do we want from you...?" The corner of the handsome, black-haired youth's mouth twitched. "You haven't forgotten the good deed you did yesterday, have you?"
"Haaah~~" Miss Sakura stretched her back, tilted her head up, and yawned, taking a deep breath. The fresh air rushed into her lungs, dispelling much of her sleepiness. "The good deed I did yesterday?"
She bent backward, stretching her soft body, her face directly facing the clean white ceiling above her head. Her still-sleepy brain tried hard to recall what she had done yesterday.
"What did I do yesterday? Yesterday, I was in the laboratory all day..."
She muttered, looking at the ceiling, her gaze lost in the decorative patterns on the doorframe.
"And before you went to the laboratory?" Sasuke said, leading her on, his face growing more and more displeased.
"Before?" Miss Sakura twisted her head, moving her neck, and shook her head, instantly waking up a lot more. "Oh, I was with you guys at the training ground..."
"You used a clone to pretend to be yourself to train with us, right!" the little yellow-haired fox interjected with dissatisfaction.
"Eh?!!" The girl's expression changed. "How did you know... ah, pfft, no, that's not it. Of course, the real me went yesterday!"
Huh, the ice clone shouldn't have been seen through by them, right? It should be no problem to handle two or three rounds of sparring!
"Still lying! We saw her turn into a block of ice with our own eyes!" Naruto shouted indignantly, waving his hand.
"Hmph, to actually use a clone to brush us off!" Sasuke crossed his arms and sneered. "And you even hid in a laboratory we didn't know about. We looked for you for half a day and couldn't find you!"
Ah ha~ The girl laughed awkwardly. Of course you couldn't find me. The clone I used for the experiment yesterday... could only be seen by Hinata. It couldn't be shown to you guys...
"Ahem, the clone was dispelled? That shouldn't be. The ice clone has high combat power and is very durable... ahem... to beatings!" She quickly used the great technique of changing the subject.
"No, she was sitting on the side the whole time, and then she suddenly turned into a block of ice!" Naruto was still too naive and fell for a certain someone's trick.
But Sasuke had been through many battles and had seen a lot. He wouldn't be so easily led astray. "Hmph~ don't think you can change the subject!"
"Tell us! What are you going to do about using a clone to brush us off!" the black-haired youth said with a cold face.
According to the unwritten rules of ninja, using a clone to spar with others without prior notice was actually quite disrespectful, with a hint of looking down on them, especially between ninja of the same rank—on the other hand, Kakashi, who had a teacher-student relationship with them, could use a shadow clone to fight them.
Sakura had just been promoted to Chunin, a rank higher than the Genin Sasuke and Naruto. According to this unwritten rule, it was no problem for her to use a clone to spar with them without notice. But if Haruno Sakura really did that to her comrades with whom she fought side by side, then her emotional intelligence would be explosive, and they wouldn't even be friends anymore.
It was precisely because of this that Sasuke was a little angry. On the contrary, Naruto didn't say much. This thick-skinned fellow was not so sensitive. He had just not been able to find Sakura yesterday and had come over today to check on her.
"Ah ah... um, I apologize!"
Sakura also sensed Sasuke's little mood. It was her fault in this matter, so she apologized cleanly and crisply, giving a very formal, ninety-degree bow.
However, wasn't there a saying that went something like "when apologizing, showing your chest is a kind of common sense"...? As she bent over, her hand pressed on the loose, revealing collar of her pajamas, and a sentence she had seen circulating on the internet suddenly came to mind.
Pfft, pfft, pfft, there's no such common sense!
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