Chapter 115: The Sky-Delivery Technique
Sakura watched Sasuke's retreating back and scratched her head.
Did I knock his confidence too hard?
She understood it, though. Respected it, even. Someone carrying a blood debt that deep needed a drive that never quit.
Sasuke ducked back into his tent to find Kakashi sprawled on his bed, reading Make-Out Paradise with the unhurried ease of a man who had nowhere better to be.
Wartime logistics being what they were, most soldiers shared four to a tent. Given the teacher-student relationship — and Kakashi's rank — the two of them had been given a tent to themselves.
"So." Kakashi didn't look up from the page. "How bad was it?"
Sasuke sat down on the opposite bunk and didn't answer the question.
"How strong is Sakura?" he asked, his voice quieter than usual. "What level has she actually reached?"
Kakashi's visible eye slid over to the boy sitting across from him.
"Sakura isn't like other people."
He turned a page.
"I wasn't going to say this — didn't want to discourage you. But since you asked, I'll be straight with you."
He closed the book and sat up, fixing Sasuke with a more serious look than he usually wore.
"Do you know where Sakura went after she graduated? Those four years?"
Silence.
"ANBU."
"And she made squad captain in four years."
"She was twelve years old."
"If the Hokage hadn't deliberately held her back from advancing too quickly, she'd be a full jōnin right now — not a tokubetsu jōnin."
Sasuke listened without a word. Whatever was passing through his mind, his face gave Kakashi nothing.
"Even that man—"
Kakashi's eye narrowed slightly, his voice measured, careful, testing the edges of something.
"Your brother. Uchiha—"
"He's not my brother."
Flat. Sudden. But not unhinged — strangely, almost coldly composed.
"Even Uchiha Itachi didn't make ANBU captain until he was thirteen."
Sasuke's head came up slowly. Crimson eyes settled on the white-haired man across from him.
A thin, vicious smile crossed his mouth. Something flared in his voice — hot and sharp and controlled all at once.
"Is that so. Even him. Even he has a day when someone leaves him behind."
Kakashi studied the boy.
This wasn't the reaction he'd expected. He'd braced for something rawer — more unraveling. Instead what he saw was fury on a leash, hatred held down by deliberate force.
"Well. That's how it is."
Kakashi's eye curved.
"Even I look pretty underwhelming next to Sakura."
"Naturally," Sasuke said. A real smile now — small, but there. "If you could keep up with her, she wouldn't be Sakura."
He met Kakashi's gaze.
"I need to get stronger."
"Kakashi. Teach me."
Kakashi let out a quiet breath. The boy in front of him hadn't crumbled at the weight of Sakura's talent. Hadn't turned inward or given up. The fire was still there — pointed outward, aimed forward.
Good.
"Of course. You're my student."
He reached into his vest and produced a scroll, holding it out.
"My own research into Lightning Release. And before you assume — no, I'm not just Chidori and copy-paste."
He tapped his temple, a hint of amusement in his voice.
"I made jōnin at twelve. Created Chidori at twelve. That was an S-rank technique. If I'd spent the twelve years since standing still, I'd deserve to be embarrassed."
His tone was light. But every word of it landed with the quiet confidence of someone who meant it completely.
"Then you—"
Sasuke hesitated. He still remembered the Land of Waves. Kakashi getting pinned down in just a few exchanges with Zabuza.
Kakashi seemed to read his mind.
"Sakura was there, wasn't she."
Did you really think I was going to admit I got caught slipping?
Sasuke let it go. He opened the scroll.
Lightning Release: Thunder Tiger Massacre. Lightning Release: Thunder Transmission. Lightning Release: Thunder Clone...
The rest of the scroll was dense with Kakashi's own notes — observations on Lightning Release theory, avenues of research, principles the techniques were built on.
"Honestly, more than having you inherit my techniques," Kakashi said, watching the boy, "what I'd really like is for you to develop something of your own."
He saw something of himself in Sasuke — the version of himself that had sat down one day and decided to build Chidori from scratch.
While the Frost Country front held an unsettling quiet, the River Country front was burning.
The day Danzō Shimura's forces arrived, they ran headlong into a Suna assault.
Whatever one might say about Danzō as a person, his military mind was another matter entirely — his tactical deployments bore out the reputation of a student of the Second Hokage without apology. His formations were like the roots of an ancient tree: interlocking, adaptive, suffocating. From the moment he engaged, he had Sunagakure pinned inside River Country and unable to advance a single step.
Inside the Sunagakure field command tent —
A white-haired old woman sat at the head of the table, her face composed and unreadable. Flanking her were the officers responsible for this theater of the war.
"Elder Chiyo — what do we do next?"
Someone spoke up carefully, watching her.
Chiyo's eyelids rose slowly.
"Any word from Kumogakure?"
The officer who'd asked immediately grew agitated.
"Elder Chiyo, we can't stake everything on Kumogakure! They've always been wolves — the timing alone makes it obvious they had their own agenda long before they 'came to help' us after we picked a fight with Konoha!"
"Mm?"
The faintest elevation of her voice. The officer's mouth snapped shut.
Chiyo's expression softened slightly as she looked at his poorly-hidden resentment.
"Do you think I don't know Kumogakure is full of wolves? But those wolves field the largest army outside of Konoha. If they're not panicking yet, why should we be?"
"Pass the order: stand down for the next two days. Rest in place, increase patrols."
"We wait for word from Kumogakure."
The last syllable had barely left her mouth when a column of white light split the sky and slammed down into the center of the command tent.
The Sky-Delivery Technique. Kumogakure's.
Chiyo looked at the iron box that had just materialized in front of her and gave a short, dry laugh.
"What did I tell you. Look at that — they couldn't even wait two days."
(Chapter End)
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