"Phew, we finally made it."
"It's been so long since I last returned. The village is as peaceful as ever."
A 'young girl' with short black hair and dressed in black, holding a pink living supply pack, stood on the unchanging streets of Konoha and sighed with emotion.
"Hey, Tsunade-sama, why didn't we enter through the main gate?"
Shizune, holding Tonton, turned her head to look at Tsunade, who had altered her appearance with a Transformation Technique.
The 'girl' wearing blue civilian clothes with a mesh undershirt, a dark blue belt tied around her waist, and her hair tied into a single ponytail, rolled her eyes at her.
"Shiz... Kazune! You have to call me Mori-chan now!"
She stepped forward and gave the black-haired girl a punch, controlling the strength perfectly.
It was enough to make the other party feel pain without breaking the Transformation Technique.
"Besides, if we went through the main gate, that old fart would know I'm back!"
"We're here to watch Sakura's match this time. I don't want to see any of those annoying people!"
While Tsunade was still feeling proud of her superb infiltration skills and her familiarity with exploiting the vulnerabilities in the village's barrier seal...
In the Hokage's office, watching his crystal ball, Hiruzen, and the Anbu stationed throughout Konoha's streets: "..."
In fact, the moment Tsunade exploited the barrier's vulnerability to infiltrate, all security personnel had detected her presence.
However, when the older generation of Ninjas saw that blatant infiltrator using the Transformation Technique to look like her childhood self, they all smiled knowingly.
They tacitly agreed to let these two 'special' infiltrators pass.
As for whether the people she brought would harm Konoha?
Don't be ridiculous! Otherwise, they might get beaten up by her and still have to obediently go apologize to her later.
"Hey, Shiz... Kazune, what are you still spacing out for? Let's go find Sakura!"
Little Tsunade waved at Shizune behind her and pulled her into the crowd on the street.
…
Meanwhile, inside Konoha's library.
Established during the Second Hokage's era and continuously expanded by the Third Hokage and Fourth Hokage, the Konoha's library could be said to encompass the vast and myriad knowledge of the Ninja World.
More importantly, it had always been freely open to Konoha's villagers. Even in the original work, when Tsunade encountered problems needing solutions, she would come here to search for information.
And now, Sakura, with numerous books and Ninja scrolls piled in front of her, was preparing to secretly out-grind all her peers.
Thanks to her exceptional talent of photographic memory, Sakura could organize and summarize her own Ninjutsu while still finding extra energy to research her opponents' information.
As one of the additional tests for the third stage of the Chunin Exams, the examining party, Konoha, specifically left the candidates one month to understand their opponents and their techniques.
Although Sakura didn't believe any Genin could defeat her, she still understood the principle of a lion using its full force even to catch a rabbit.
"Puppetry, Kumogakure Sword Techniques, Heavy Rock Technique, Shadow Imitation Technique..."
Sakura propped her chin with one hand, while the other hand tapped a scroll with a pen.
'Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Genjutsu… all techniques circulating in the Ninja World shared a common point: they couldn't exist without Chakra, this fundamental energy.'
'What if... I used Haki to grab the Chakra within a technique? Would the technique be interrupted? Or would the grab fail?'
The flames of curiosity seemed to suddenly spiral out of control, burning fiercely within the girl's heart.
She raised one hand, using Armament Haki: Hardening, while the other hand glowed with the gentle light of the Mystical Palm Technique.
Then, she clasped her hands together.
The next instant... Boom!
A burst of air exploded out. The hand using the Mystical Palm Technique was sent flying.
When she raised it again, it was already covered in numerous fine cuts, blood continuously flowing out.
"Hey now, this move is kind of terrifying!"
Using the Mystical Palm Technique with her left hand, she healed the injuries her right hand had caused.
Sakura realized that the moment she used Haki to grab the Chakra, the structure of the technique had been disrupted.
Therefore, the technique, which should have been stably outputting and producing the desired effect for the Ninja, incompletely activated due to the missing portion of chakra, instantly turning into a bomb buried within the body.
'This is interesting. Haki and Chakra definitely need more research.'
Her eyes flowing with curiosity, Sakura picked up her pen and noted down this interesting discovery.
But she completely failed to notice the female librarian standing beside her, glaring at her angrily.
"Ah! Hehe..."
Sakura looked up and suddenly remembered where she was, giving the librarian an apologetic smile.
"Hmph!"
With a cold snort from the librarian...
Click!
Sakura, her single-shoulder bag filled with scrolls, was pushed out of the library, the heavy door slamming shut behind her.
"Oh well, I'll come back tomorrow after she's cooled down."
Sakura looked up at the now completely dark sky, shouldered her pack, and headed towards home.
Just as Sakura took a step forward, she collided with a 'steel plate' running towards her.
"Ouch!"
The girl who was sent flying by the collision clutched her head, looking up to complain.
But then she suddenly saw the figure of the pink-haired girl, and joy shone in her eyes.
"Sakura!"
"Tsunade-shi... Nee, what are you doing here?"
Seeing the girl's appearance, Sakura was stunned.
"Ahaha, I finally found you!"
Tsunade jumped up from the ground boldly and patted Sakura's shoulder.
Behind her, another black short-haired girl caught up, stopping in front of the two and leaning on her knees, panting.
"Mori-sama, you ran too fast!"
"Shizune-nee, you came back too?"
Sakura reached out to support the already swaying Shizune, leading the two to the side of the street.
"Don't use our real names now. I sneaked back, so I don't want the old man to know."
Tsunade raised a finger to her pursed lips.
"Tsunade-nee, you do know the old man, the Anbu, and the Barrier Team can monitor the entire village, right?"
Sakura let out a light sigh, shattering the self-deceiving fantasy of the girl in front of her.
"I don't care! Anyway, I didn't return as a Ninja. Right now, I'm a dignitary of the Land of Fire… Princess Tsunade!"
The exposed Tsunade began acting unreasonably.
Sakura and Shizune exchanged a look, both smiling helplessly.
"Yes, yes, my esteemed dignitary sister, could I invite you to stay at my humble abode?"
Sakura placed one hand on her chest and made a welcoming gesture.
"Hmph, since you've invited me so sincerely, I'll reluctantly agre..."
Before Tsunade could finish her sentence, a violent explosion sounded from above the street.
The rarely reunited teacher and disciples looked at each other speechlessly, falling into silence.
"Should we... go take a look?"
Finally, Sakura broke the silence, and the other two nodded in agreement.
The three of them headed towards the incident location at ninja speed.
On the rooftop of a shopping street, flames were spreading through a pile of collapsed debris, thick smoke rising straight into the sky.
Amidst this chaotic scene, Sakura's Observation Haki detected Gekko Hayate collapsed within the smoke.
"Vital signs are weakening. Tsunade-nee, let's act together!"
Sakura formed the Boar hand seal, Water Attribute Chakra gathering in her chest, and she instantly spat out a large amount of water.
Tsunade dispelled the Transformation Technique on herself, complaining:
"Really, since when do you make guests do the work? Don't think a princess isn't a dignitary!"