Chapter 18: Shadows
Sakura climbed the stairs to the Hokage's office under the watchful eyes of the two gate guards.
"Must be nice…"
"Looks like the village is about to get another exceptional ninja."
The guard who'd spoken with Sakura smiled as he watched her go. The identification code on that scroll had been seriously high-clearance.
Receiving a technique of that caliber from the Hokage himself at that age — what it meant was self-evident.
"Hm? Isn't your kid only two or three years older than her?"
His partner elbowed him with a smirk.
The first guard's mouth twitched. He thought of his own son, and his face darkened.
"Don't get me started. That little punk has been driving me insane."
"He smeared hair-removal cream on the Inuzuka clan's ninken."
"Now a dozen of their dogs are completely bald, and every time they see the brat they chase him halfway across the village…"
Sakura reached the second floor and looked around at the aging interior. She had to wonder if she'd really arrived at the nerve center of Konoha's government.
The place looked like it leaked every time it rained.
The Hokage's office was easy to find — it had a sign right on the door.
The door was slightly ajar. She knocked, and it swung open on its own.
"Sakura?"
"Come in."
Hiruzen's voice — aged but resonant — called out.
She stepped inside. There he sat behind his desk in full ceremonial robes — the red-and-white Hokage vestments, the pointed hat — looking every bit the leader of the strongest village in the shinobi world.
"Lord Hokage."
Sakura bowed respectfully and reached for the scroll, but Hiruzen rose from his desk and came to her with a warm smile.
"No need to be so formal. Just call me Grandpa Hokage."
"Sure thing, Grandpa Hokage!"
Sakura latched onto that offer without a millisecond of hesitation.
"Ha ha ha! So, Sakura — what brings you here today?"
Hiruzen guided her to the couch and sat beside her.
He'd expected the girl to show up within a day or two of receiving the scroll. Instead, she'd waited a full two weeks.
Curious. Had the Enhanced Strength training posed no challenge at all?
Sakura unrolled the scroll across the coffee table and pointed to the final section — the methodology for streamlining chakra flow through the body.
Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. She'd skipped everything about the technique itself and gone straight to the underlying chakra theory.
Had she already mastered Enhanced Strength in just two weeks?
He set his doubts aside and began explaining in detail.
As the "Professor" — a man who'd mastered all five nature transformations and every form of shape manipulation — Hiruzen's grasp of jutsu mechanics was among the finest in the shinobi world. On the battlefield, his masterful ninjutsu and the Monkey King Enma's Adamantine Staff had earned him the title of the God of Shinobi.
When it came to understanding how techniques worked, even among the absolute elite, he was in a class of his own.
"So you see, Sakura — you're still quite young. Once you've grown a bit and your chakra pathways have strengthened, the flow will become much more efficient on its own."
He explained patiently, then addressed the question nagging at him.
"Sakura — the reason you're asking about this… have you already learned Enhanced Strength?"
A note of anticipation crept into his voice. If she'd mastered it in two weeks, that would be truly—
"Yep."
Sakura said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Her green eyes swept the room, and her gaze landed on the tea set sitting on the coffee table.
Under Hiruzen's stunned gaze, a plain dark teacup crumbled to dust between her small fingers.
The old man was momentarily speechless.
Enhanced Strength — Tsunade's signature creation. A technique with near-S-rank difficulty. Among A-rank jutsu, its learning curve was absolutely top-tier.
And this child had done it in two weeks.
He'd given her the scroll because her raw power and chakra precision reminded him of Tsunade. But this… this was beyond anything he'd anticipated.
Though he did mourn his antique teacup.
Sakura noticed the old man had gone quiet and tilted her head. Maybe he thought crushing a teacup wasn't impressive enough?
She reached for the teapot. Crack. Another antique, destroyed.
"W-wait — stop!"
Hiruzen's heart ached as he stared at the remains of his antique teapot. Too late.
"Hm?"
"Was my form off, Grandpa Hokage?"
Sakura's eyes started scanning his desk, hunting for more things to demonstrate on.
"No — it was good. Very good."
"You've exceeded my expectations, Sakura."
Hiruzen hastily blocked her line of sight before she could dismantle anything else. One more second and who knew what she'd demolish next.
At that moment, the office door flew open without so much as a knock. Two elderly figures strode in — a man and a woman, both around Hiruzen's age.
"Hiruzen—"
The old man started to speak, then noticed Sakura and caught himself.
Sakura glanced at them and solved a small mystery. So that's why Hiruzen knew she was coming right away.
Nobody else bothered to knock.
"If you're busy, Grandpa Hokage, I can come back another time."
Sakura recognized the two fossils — Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane. Half their bodies might be in the grave, but they'd easily keep kicking for decades. Their presence meant business she had no part in.
"Sakura — wait. I have something for you."
Hiruzen ignored his two old teammates entirely, walked to his desk, rummaged through a drawer, and produced another scroll.
"Here. When you've learned this one, come find me again."
He patted her head with a smile.
"Thank you, Grandpa Hokage!"
Sakura's eyes lit up at the sight of another scroll. She clutched it to her chest and vanished from the room before the three elders could blink.
Watching the pink-haired girl disappear down the stairs, Homura turned to Hiruzen with a curious look.
"Saru — who was that child?"
He'd been watching Sakura from the moment he walked in. His old friend seemed unusually patient with this girl.
"The future of Konoha."
Hiruzen gazed through the window at Sakura's retreating figure, something wistful in his expression.
"Isn't that a bit much, Hiruzen?"
Koharu frowned slightly.
"Not at all. In that child… I see the shadows of Tsunade and Minato."