Chapter 36: Training
The essence of ninjutsu lay in one's own chakra — in the flow of chakra through the body's tenketsu network, shaped by hand seals, and released in a particular form.
Wind Release. Lightning Release. Fire Release. Even kekkei genkai — all of it came back to that same fundamental principle.
Chakra's shape transformations and nature transformations were no exception.
Even the Sharingan, when you got down to it, was really just a visible expression of Yin Release.
That was Hiruzen Sarutobi's understanding. Every ninjutsu, every genjutsu, was built on the foundation of how chakra was used.
"Sakura. Your chakra affinities are Yang, Yin, Water, and Earth."
"It's a very fine combination. But taken as a whole, it leans toward the support, medical, and genjutsu archetypes."
At Training Ground Three, Hiruzen had carved out time from his duties to personally tutor his final disciple.
In addition to Hiruzen and Sakura, Asuma Sarutobi was sitting off to the side.
A few years back, Asuma had gotten into a fight with his father and stormed off to serve a five-year stint as one of the Fire Daimyō's Twelve Guardian Ninja. But enough time had passed that his resentment had long since cooled. He'd come to understand what it actually meant for his father to shoulder the weight of the Hokage's office.
"But I don't really feel like a support-type ninja?"
Sakura raised a hand.
By this point, she was a terrifying package of strength and speed. Combine that with Enma's Adamantine body and Katsuyu's healing, and you got a genuinely formidable taijutsu-type shinobi. She hit hard, she took hits, she healed, and she moved fast. A tank that could also revive itself.
If she had one clear weakness, it was genjutsu. But even that was manageable — all she had to do was have a little Katsuyu perched on her shoulder before any fight, and the issue was solved.
At her current level, Sakura was comfortably the ceiling among her generation. Unless her opponent was a jinchūriki who could unleash a full Tailed Beast, there was basically no one around her age she couldn't beat.
"That's because you're excellent, Sakura."
Hiruzen ruffled her cherry-pink hair and smiled.
"Your solo combat ability is first-rate. But if your opponent is the type who uses large-scale ninjutsu, or who specializes in locking you down at range, Sakura, you don't yet have a great answer for that."
Sakura paused.
He wasn't wrong. Unless she summoned a genuinely large Katsuyu to unleash acid spray — she really didn't have a clean answer. And summoning a Katsuyu of that size ate enough chakra to seriously limit her sustainability in a long fight.
"These two are my personal techniques."
Hiruzen slowly drew two scrolls from his sleeve and handed them to her.
The Shuriken Giantification Technique, and the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique.
The old man had just dropped a combo set into her lap.
Sakura looked up from the scrolls, blinked, and said:
"If I used Enhanced Strength to throw a giantified shuriken, and then combined it with the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique — would that be absurdly strong?"
Hiruzen didn't even need her to finish the sentence. He already knew what she was thinking.
In fact, that was exactly what he had been planning. The three techniques, stacked together, produced a power curve that went well beyond what you'd reasonably expect.
"Yes. Go practice."
Watching the little girl run off to pore over the scrolls, Hiruzen's face relaxed into a soft smile.
Asuma hadn't said a word through any of it. He had simply watched, taking it all in.
From that short exchange alone, he'd gathered that this little girl had already mastered Tsunade's Enhanced Strength. That was — honestly — staggering. He knew perfectly well how brutal the learning curve on that technique was.
And yet from the casual way his father and this kid were discussing it, it sounded like she had picked it up without strain, and was already folding it into other techniques.
"Old man. So this is your jewel?"
Asuma nodded toward the small figure now studying a scroll in intense concentration.
"Not just Sakura. Every child in this village is my jewel."
Hiruzen stood up, stretching his stiff old back, and turned to his son, his voice quiet.
"You've been back for a while now. You still haven't gone to see Konohamaru."
At the mention of Konohamaru, Asuma's face visibly tensed.
He was, at the best of times, not great with kids. Especially not with one under the age of five who was also, by all accounts, a little terror.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll go, I'll go..."
He waved a dismissive hand.
Hiruzen looked at his son, and his eyes softened.
When you got old, what you wanted most in the world was to have your children close.
Asuma was home. The grandson he'd placed all his hopes on was growing up strong. The old wounds of past wars felt, for the first time in a long while, like they were finally starting to close. The old man couldn't help the smile that surfaced.
"All right, old man. I'll head out. I've got things to do. I'll go see Konohamaru tonight."
Asuma stood up and dusted himself off.
"Is it about the Yūhi girl?"
Hiruzen's face slid into a distinctly mischievous smile.
"Ah — wh—"
"Nosy old man, what's it to you?"
Asuma's face went bright red. He stammered, then stuffed his hands in his pockets and strode off in a hurry.
Hiruzen watched him go, still smiling. Through those aged, clouded eyes, he could already see Konoha's next generation taking shape.
And when he turned his gaze back to Sakura, he found his disciple had already lifted a massive shuriken over her head and was calling over to him excitedly.
His smile only grew wider.
The techniques he'd given her weren't particularly complex. What they were was practical. But mastering the Shuriken Giantification Technique in such a short window was, quite simply, extraordinary.
Sakura's capacity for learning left him genuinely in awe. That kind of absorption rate was something very few people could match. Even Hiruzen himself, at her age, couldn't have kept pace with this pink-haired child.
"Master, I did it!"
Sakura came jogging over carrying a giant shuriken that was, honestly, about half her body size, grinning up at him.
"Sakura, you really are something."
Hiruzen chuckled and patted her on the head.
This kind of learning speed — he had only ever seen it in one other student. Orochimaru.
It was as though he were catching a glimpse of that former disciple's shadow through Sakura.
But Sakura was not Orochimaru. She had things Orochimaru had never had. And Hiruzen was going to do the work, this time, of guiding this child properly.
Until she had grown to a certain height, he had no intention of letting go.
"Sakura. Let's try the Shuriken Shadow Clone now."
At his words, Sakura's face lit up in a beaming smile.
She had genuinely come to think of him as her master. These past few years, the old man had sheltered her so carefully — even a stone would have warmed up by now.