"What's wrong? Can't handle it anymore?"
At Konoha's Third Training Ground, Jiraiya's teasing voice rang out.
"Don't look down on me! Summoning Technique!"
Naruto's indignant roar followed as he slammed his hands on the ground, channeling Chakra after forming hand seals.
In the resulting puff of smoke, a tiny tadpole wriggled and jumped.
"Ahahahaha! That's it? Just this?"
Jiraiya expertly employed the mocking tone he'd learned from a certain disciple, pushing the boy to squeeze out every drop of his potential.
"Damn it!"
Naruto kicked the tadpole into the stream, where it vanished in another puff of smoke.
Sakura sat with her feet dipped in the stream, using her Observation Haki to perceive the scene that had repeated countless times over the past two weeks behind her.
"So leisurely, and yet you were the one who said you wanted to consult me."
Jiraiya's voice, laced with sarcasm, reached Sakura's ears.
"This isn't like treating someone to a meal. How could something like this be finished in a single day?"
Sakura glanced at the approaching Jiraiya and rolled her eyes.
"Sigh, I never thought a genius like you would end up with the same troubles I had back in the day."
"Now you understand how correct your choice was to become my student back then!"
Jiraiya's eyebrows raised smugly as he sat down cross-legged beside Sakura.
Sakura's problem was actually quite simple: it concerned her path as a Ninja.
If she wanted to develop her own unique combat style and system, life-and-death battles were indeed one good method.
However, Sakura had two teachers who had built their own core combat systems and developed their personal fighting styles whom she could consult.
She couldn't just ignore these readily available resources and paths, forcing herself to feel her way across the river by groping for stones, could she?
"Never thought I'd one day be reduced to the same state as Jiraiya-sensei."
Unable to stand her teacher's tail wagging sky-high with pride, Sakura scooted away from him with a look of distaste.
"Watch your tongue! I am still one of the Legendary Sannin, you know!"
Jiraiya choked on her words, retorting in a fluster.
A week ago, when Sakura first brought this problem to Jiraiya, he was immediately reminded of his own past.
Back then, Jiraiya had also learned many Jutsu under Hiruzen's tutelage.
However, these techniques couldn't be linked together, preventing them from achieving their maximum effectiveness in combat.
Later, it was only after forming a contract with Mount Myoboku that Jiraiya finally settled on Summoning Technique as his foundation, connecting the techniques from his repertoire that could synergize with summoning, thus forming his current combat system.
"The Sannin who couldn't scrounge up flower money."
Sakura's lips curled upwards as she launched a secret history attack.
"Hey! We agreed to let that go, didn't we!"
Jiraiya alertly glanced around, ensuring no one was listening, then coughed and changed the subject.
"So, what kind of Jutsu have you decided to specialize in for the future?"
"Taijutsu!"
The pink-haired girl gave a very un-Ninja-like answer.
After all, in the eyes of many traditionalist Ninjas, flashy Ninjutsu was their ultimate destination; specializing in Taijutsu was like being an outsider coming to beg in their Ninja profession.
"An odd choice."
Jiraiya stroked his chin in surprise. He didn't understand her choice, but he respected it.
'Anyway, given this disciple's genius, she could probably make even Taijutsu bloom wonderfully.'
"It should be the path most suitable for me."
Sakura held out her fist, which turned jet-black under the infusion of Armament Haki.
With the power of the Giant Royalty and her Devil Fruit's abilities, the combat system most suitable for her was Taijutsu, which could encompass abilities from both worlds.
Moreover, compared to Genjutsu or Ninjutsu specialists, Taijutsu users had longer health bars, implying higher survival rates and error tolerance. Their fights didn't need to dance on a knife's edge like the other two types of Ninjas.
So, what Sakura needed to do next was integrate various techniques towards a Taijutsu direction, making other techniques serve Taijutsu.
"Planning to develop your own techniques?"
Jiraiya glanced at the shadow clone that Naruto had just popped nearby and created a new one to continue his training.
"I have some ideas for Nintaijutsu that can be extended from the Ninjutsu I learned before."
Sakura reached out towards the stream in front of her. A high-pressure water blade was pulled from the stream, but it disintegrated after a couple of swings due to the unstable structure of the technique.
The splashing water droplets shot out like bullets, piercing clean through a large rock in front of them.
Jiraiya: "…"
'Just turn off the hacks. This isn't fun.'
'Just moments ago, she told me it wasn't something that could be done overnight, and now she whips out a half-finished technique.'
'If this pink-haired overachiever secretly grinds a bit more somewhere out of my sight, wouldn't I, her teacher, soon be left in the dust?'
'-This kind of thing, please no!'
"Sorry about that. It was an oversight in our teaching for something like this to happen."
Jiraiya scratched his head apologetically. Back in the southwest of the Land of Fire, the two of them had only been focused on competing over who could teach more Jutsu, neglecting the instruction of fundamental Ninja knowledge.
Although this knowledge was usually something only Jonin would come into contact with, as Sakura's instructors, their failure to teach according to her aptitude was a dereliction of duty.
"It's fine. I was prepared for both my teachers' unreliability from the start anyway."
Sakura smiled and blinked at Jiraiya, wearing an expression that said she was used to it.
Besides, the process of learning a large number of Jutsu, whether done earlier or later, didn't make much difference to Sakura. Even if she took a detour, with her talent, it would only mean spending a little more time.
"Enough about me. Are you planning to take Naruto on as your disciple now?"
Sakura casually raised a small wall of water to block the splashes from the tadpole Naruto had summoned during a failed attempt, preventing it from landing in the stream.
If Naruto kept up this level of effort, the entire stream might soon be filled with the next generation of Mount Myoboku.
"Hmph, that idiot? I wouldn't take him as a disciple. I'm just teaching him temporarily."
A certain white-haired, nearly-fifty-year-old man insisted stubbornly.
But in reality, according to Sakura's Observation Haki perception, Jiraiya felt incredibly guilty towards Naruto internally, his mind filled with thoughts of making it up to him.
Furthermore, he'd already had Naruto sign the Mount Myoboku's summoning contract, his most core combat technique.
'Half your legacy was already passed on. And you still claimed you didn't want to take him as a student? Who are you trying to fool, a child?'
Then again, putting that aside, within Konoha currently, there really weren't many people besides Jiraiya suitable for teaching Naruto.
Leaving aside the fact that the kid's thought processes required more runtime, just like Jiraiya's...
The mere possibility of a Nine-Tails' Chakra rampage meant that any Ninja without sufficient strength who tried to teach Naruto might very well end up losing their life during training.
Perhaps Jiraiya saw this clearly, which was why he went along with Sakura's suggestion to bring Naruto along for training, incidentally wanting to compensate Naruto with some care on behalf of his disciple.
"Alright, you're the boss."
Sakura stood up and brushed the dust off her backside.
"Oh, right. Before we set off, the old man told me to tell you to go see him after you're done teaching Naruto."
"What about?"
"Probably needs to send someone with sufficient stature to receive the nobles and dignitaries from other countries."
"Sakura! Your master pleads...."
"Not possible. I'm an examinee, I can't help you. You're on your own, Jiraiya-sensei."
"No-!"