Leaving the Hokage's office, Sakura felt a wave of relief. Things had finally been resolved.
With the Third Hokage taking charge of the matter, it seemed like everything would work out. Karin would stay in Konoha. Moreover, as a member of the Uzumaki clan, Karin's chakra-based Adamantine Sealing Chains could effectively suppress the Nine-Tails' chakra, helping Naruto control his Tailed Beast's power.
Although Naruto's strength would eventually skyrocket, Sakura didn't mind helping him gain access to the Nine-Tails' power sooner. Sakura didn't have any grand ambitions of dominating the entire ninja world. She was content with protecting her own little corner of it.
She'd told Hinata that her dream was world peace, but she hadn't said she was the one who had to achieve it.
If Hinata knew what Sakura was really thinking, she'd probably give her a good, hard Byakugan glare. And here Hinata thought her own dreams were small compared to Sakura's.
Anyway, there was nothing else to do for now. Hinata was slowly recovering, and Karin's monitoring would last until after the Chunin Exams. That meant Sakura had some time to train.
Her battle with Gaara had made Sakura realize she lacked ninjutsu with high penetrating power. Her Water Cutter and Water Bullet techniques were fine against ninjas with average defenses, but they were insufficient against defense-oriented ninjas like Gaara.
Lightning Release... She should ask Kakashi-sensei. He was probably teaching Sasuke the Chidori right now.
"Yo, Sakura!"
Sakura had just left the Hokage Building when she saw Might Guy heading inside.
"Ah, hello, Guy-sensei," Sakura greeted him. Even though he wasn't her team leader, she respectfully called him "sensei."
"Haha, Sakura, are you here to see the Hokage too?" Guy asked.
"Yes, the Hokage summoned me," Sakura replied.
"Oh, I see! Haha, don't be discouraged! One defeat doesn't mean anything! This is the power of youth!" Guy gave Sakura a thumbs-up.
Hearing Guy's words, Sakura's lips twitched. It wasn't Guy's appearance that bothered her; it was his words that made her realize she'd completely forgotten to mention the preliminaries to the Third Hokage.
Oh well, she'd bring it up next time. For now, she needed to focus on improving her strength.
"Guy-sensei, do you know where Kakashi-sensei is? I can't seem to find him anywhere," Sakura asked, seeking Kakashi's location. In all these years, Sakura still hadn't explored all of Konoha.
"Hmm? Kakashi... He should be in the mountain area behind the Hokage Rock. I think I heard him say he was going to train Sasuke for the third exam," Guy recalled, stroking his chin.
"Thank you, Guy-sensei. I'll be going now," Sakura said. Having obtained Kakashi's location, she bid farewell to Guy and quickly disappeared.
"Hehe, such a spirited girl. This is youth!" Guy said, watching Sakura's retreating figure. "Uh, I should hurry up. I wonder what urgent matter the Hokage has summoned me for."
When Sakura arrived at the mountain area, she found Kakashi explaining the nature transformation of Lightning Release to Sasuke.
"...Yeah, that's it. Try completing the first stage of training," Kakashi instructed Sasuke. "Once you complete this stage, you'll have speed comparable to Sakura's... At the same time, the first stage is also to enhance the power of the jutsu I'm going to teach you..."
"Is that so? Then I'll be able to defeat her," Sasuke said. His entire body was crackling with electricity, his muscles twitching from the stimulation.
"I'm looking forward to you defeating me," a voice said from behind Sasuke.
Sasuke stiffened instantly. He turned his head to find Sakura standing behind him, and he hadn't even sensed her approach.
"Yo, Sakura, you're here. Are you looking for Sasuke?" Kakashi greeted her with his usual listless gaze.
"No, I'm looking for you, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura replied.
"Hmm? Me?" Kakashi was surprised.
"I heard from Guy-sensei that you were here. I want to learn the nature transformation of Lightning Release," Sakura stated earnestly.
"Hmm? Lightning Release nature transformation?" Kakashi was a little taken aback.
"Yes. My current ninjutsu lacks a powerful offensive method. In the preliminaries, if I hadn't found a small opening against Gaara, I would have lost miserably." Sakura would have lost to Gaara regardless, but she wanted to lose with a bit more dignity.
"Hmm~~~ I see. Have you tested your chakra affinities?" Kakashi asked.
"Yes, Earth and Water," Sakura answered.
"Earth and Water... Your Water Release is already quite strong, and you have Earth Release for support. As your team leader, my advice is to focus on mastering your inherent affinities. A ninja can, at most, specialize in one affinity in their lifetime. Developing a second or third affinity would only waste training time," Kakashi said.
"But Kakashi-sensei, Water Release's offensive power is limited. It's not very effective against ninjutsu with high defense. And I'm only planning to use Lightning Release as a supplement, to increase the power of my ninjutsu," Sakura explained.
Kakashi looked at Sakura silently for a moment, then sighed. "Alright, I hope you can control yourself and not waste your talent."
"First, you need to understand that ninjutsu released by chakra is a manifestation of spiritual energy," Kakashi continued. "Because of your inherent chakra affinities, it's easier to release ninjutsu of corresponding elements."
"If you don't have that affinity, the effectiveness of the ninjutsu will be greatly reduced, or you might not even be able to release it at all," Kakashi explained. "Chakra affinities can be acquired through training. Most ninjas can only master one affinity, after all, what suits you best is the best."
"But Kakashi-sensei, you have all five affinities, and you use them well," Sakura said, listening intently to Kakashi's explanation. Sakura had forgotten most of these details; she only knew that affinities could be acquired through hard work, but she was unsure how to acquire an affinity she didn't have.
"Yes, although I can use ninjutsu of other affinities, that's thanks to the Sharingan's ability. My main affinity is still Lightning Release," Kakashi said. "As I mentioned earlier, chakra affinities are the manifestation of spiritual energy. Therefore, to train in Lightning Release, you need to imagine the characteristics of lightning. Use your spiritual energy to imagine your chakra as lightning."
"Uh..." Sakura suddenly understood a little better why chakra was a combination of spiritual and physical energy.
Simply put, spiritual energy guided physical energy to manifest various ninjutsu. But if one was lacking, this energy couldn't be formed. Yin Release was the ultimate form of spiritual energy, and Yang Release was the ultimate form of physical energy. Combine the two, and one could create anything according to their will.
The ninjutsu and chakra that ninjas used now were just lower forms of Yin-Yang Release. Once Yin-Yang Release was mastered, the five basic nature transformations could be simulated at will. But mastering Yin-Yang Release wasn't something that could be achieved through effort alone; it required the support of hardware (the body).
Thinking of this, Sakura suddenly felt that the ninja world was indeed laughable from Black Zetsu's perspective. It turned out that ninjas were using only incomplete forms of energy, yet they were still so smug about it.
"Sakura... Sakura..." Kakashi called out, seeing Sakura spacing out after listening to his explanation.
"Ah... Kakashi-sensei, I'm listening," Sakura quickly snapped back to attention.
Kakashi looked at Sakura's expression and said, "Extend your hand. I'll let you feel lightning first, and then you can try to simulate that feeling with your chakra."
"...Okay... Kakashi-sensei..." Sakura extended a small hand and placed it on Kakashi's, wondering how he was going to make her feel lightning. Was he going to electrocute her?
Sakura's guess was correct. A bright light emanated from Kakashi's hand, and Sakura instantly felt a tingling sensation throughout her body. Her limbs twitched, and her hair stood on end from the electricity.
"......." Sakura was pretty sure Kakashi was doing this on purpose.
"Hmm, very good. Now, try to use your chakra to simulate the Lightning affinity based on the feeling you just experienced. Here's a scroll on the Lightning Release: Earth Flash technique. Practice this for now," Kakashi said, tossing a scroll to Sakura. "I'll be going now. Don't overdo it."
Naturally, Kakashi wouldn't actually leave; he would just be protecting Sasuke from the shadows.
Sakura smoothed down her electrified hair and opened the scroll Kakashi had left, beginning to study it.
Finally, she was going to develop a third affinity.
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