Chapter 300: Change
In the Hokage's Office.
The master and disciple sat quietly for a moment.
"So, are there any other problems?" Tsunade asked, twirling a pen.
"Yes, there are, Master!" Haruno Sakura asked, a worried expression on her face. "Master, you've always advised me not to devote myself entirely to training, but to train while doing missions. Why this time..."
"That's right. To just bury your head in training without testing the results of that training through battle is equivalent to building a cart behind closed doors! The things trained that way are usually far from the requirements of actual combat. Moreover, battle itself is a very good form of training. Every time you've encountered someone from the Akatsuki, your strength has taken a small leap forward... That's why I stuffed you into the Anbu before," Tsunade admitted with a nod.
"The situation is different now. The training you'll be doing next will take a relatively long time to bear fruit. That's the first reason. Secondly, the Anbu missions now are not of much training significance to you. Thirdly, this may be the last period of peaceful life. I'll leave it for you to train as much as possible, to improve your strength as much as possible before the great war..."
Tsunade's tone was a bit heavy.
"Is the situation that serious, Master?" Sakura frowned.
"It's much worse than expected. The things I'm about to tell you, once you leave this room, you must forget them, understand?" Tsunade looked at her disciple, who nodded solemnly, before she continued, "Those few missions related to the Akatsuki that you carried out before, combined with the intelligence we've obtained from other channels, it's now confirmed that the Akatsuki has indeed entered a dormant state."
"But this is only part of the truth. In the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind and the surrounding areas, the Akatsuki has indeed ceased most of its activities and has gone into hiding. But in other countries and regions, traces of the Akatsuki are still heard of from time to time..."
"You should still remember, the Akatsuki's plan is to capture the Tailed Beasts. Their various actions before were to collect intelligence by various means. So, why have they become dormant in some areas, but are still active in others?"
Haruno Sakura's heart skipped a beat. She opened her mouth slightly, as if to say something, but then hesitated.
"You've already thought of it, haven't you," Tsunade said, noticing her expression.
Sakura took a deep breath and said slowly, "In the active areas, it means they haven't yet found out the intelligence on the Tailed Beasts or the Jinchuriki. On the contrary, on our side, they've already found out that the Jinchuriki are Naruto and Gaara. It's very likely that they've already obtained a large amount of intelligence on the two of them..."
"That's right. And the more areas they become dormant in, the closer they are to their final plan..." Tsunade said heavily. "This organization has so many dangerous and powerful members. If they are allowed to obtain so many Tailed Beasts, then the consequences are unimaginable... What's even more terrifying is that we only know that they want to capture the Tailed Beasts, but we don't know what they want to do with them!"
"It's not like they're going to capture them and walk them every day..." Sakura sneered. "So, how much time is left before their final plan?"
"It's hard to say! What we can be sure of is the situation in the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire. The intelligence from other countries is not necessarily accurate. I've written to the other three great ninja villages, hoping to share intelligence on the Akatsuki. Unfortunately, no one has responded! However, the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, of Iwagakure, mentioned in his reply that there were signs of unidentified personnel carrying out intelligence activities there before, but it has now stopped."
"The Tailed Beasts of Iwagakure are the Four-Tails and the Five-Tails, right?" Haruno Sakura asked faintly.
"Yes. It seems at least four Tailed Beasts are being targeted by them. Kumogakure hasn't responded to us. Kirigakure has always been mysterious, so it's not clear. And there's still the Seven-Tails, which is kept in a small country, it should be the Land of Waterfalls..." Tsunade said, taking out a scroll and flipping through it.
"The intelligence on these areas is unclear. Some of the intelligence is even from the scroll you brought back from that underground bounty station you raided, so its credibility can't be verified," Tsunade said, pursing her lips and continuing, "But the Akatsuki has been active in these areas for a long time. Judging from the fact that the Akatsuki has become active in the last one or two years, they should be close to completion, which is why they are so excited!"
"They won't have the chance to complete it... Naruto will never be caught by them!" Sakura said coldly.
"I will protect Naruto."
Haruno Sakura said resolutely, clenching her fists.
Tsunade looked at Sakura steadily, for a long time.
"Hn... I believe you, Sakura."
The conversation thus came to an end.
Haruno Sakura, by the way, received her Jonin registration form and new uniform.
The Jonin vest, compared to the Tokujō and Chunin vests, didn't have many changes in style. Only the color was slightly different.
It was still green, but it was a light green, closer to the color of her eyes.
She liked it very much.
On the new certificate, it was written:
Name: Haruno Sakura. Gender: Female. Rank: Jonin.
Personal Bio: Interests are researching ninjutsu and exploring the world. Favorite things are pure water and a peaceful life.
There was a slight difference from the text on her Tokujō certificate from half a year ago.
People, they all change slowly.
The photo on her personal front page was a new one she had taken yesterday.
The girl in the picture had delicate features, her childishness gradually fading, and a pair of clear, bright eyes.
Haruno Sakura placed her Chunin, Tokujō, and Jonin certificate photos side by side, and she could see the changes in herself over the past year and a half.
At the very beginning, she was smiling serenely.
Later, she had grown up a bit, wasn't smiling, just quietly looking at the person outside the photo.
And now, not only was she not smiling, but her gaze was even a little sharp. She was just standing quietly, and was captured by the photographer. The her in the photo naturally had a dignified presence, and her aura had gradually emerged.
"The things I've encountered recently..." Haruno Sakura put away her Chunin and Tokujō registration forms and sighed.
She held out her hand.
Because of her habit of always circulating a stream of water on her body, Sakura's hands were always clean and spotless, as fair as jade, slender and long. "A very beautiful pair of hands, but they're stained with a lot of blood," she muttered to herself.
In those previous missions, she had killed many people. Maybe dozens, maybe hundreds. When the photo was taken, that killing intent had not yet faded and had been faithfully recorded by the camera.
The girl in the photo, whose childishness was gradually fading, was not smiling. She pursed her lips, her brow faintly furrowed, and her features carried a chilling coldness.
The world was becoming more and more cruel. She could no longer smile.
Konoha 61, September 2nd.
Haruno Sakura was officially promoted to Jonin.
She was thirteen and a half years old.
The mission, which was nominally to "search for clues about the Akatsuki," but was actually to go to the Land of Snow to "train," was issued by Tsunade two days later.
During these two days, Haruno Sakura had spent almost all of it socializing. Sasuke, Hinata, Ino, Shikamaru, Neji, Lee, and others had met with her one after another to celebrate her promotion to Jonin.
So much so that when Haruno Sakura left Konoha to carry out the so-called "search for the Akatsuki" mission, her breath still smelled of alcohol.
She couldn't refuse their kindness, so she had drunk a lot, but fortunately, she hadn't gotten drunk.
Her wish to fight Lee had actually been inexplicably fulfilled—Lee had drunk a little, and then he had started to perform the Drunken Fist on the spot.
Lee hadn't discovered that the Drunken Fist, which he had never trained in, that he had used when he was in a daze, was actually at a higher level than his usual taijutsu. Who knows what he would think after he learned of this. He had worked so hard to improve himself, but in the end, his Strong Fist was not as good as his natural Drunken Fist. Who knows what Lee's reaction would be, whether he would be at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
In order not to let Lee demolish someone else's shop, Haruno Sakura had no choice but to use a ninjutsu on him—it was that binding jutsu she had used when she had captured people in the Land of Wind.
Lee, who had been drinking, was incredibly strong, but he still couldn't withstand the stronger and more resilient water snakes formed by Sakura's shape transformation. He was quickly bound tightly by her, unable to move.
And so, Haruno Sakura's first match with Lee had ended in a complete victory for the girl.
On the morning of the third day, Haruno Sakura set out on the road to the Land of Snow.
This time, she still took the water route, but because she was going alone, there was no need to build an ice boat like last time.
Haruno Sakura dived directly into the water.
The undercurrent surging in the sea, under her control, formed a giant water dragon, which enveloped her.
She stood inside the dragon's head, riding the water dragon, and swam in the ocean at an extremely fast speed.
A day later, Haruno Sakura's figure appeared on the streets of Asakusa.
She did not alert anyone, disguised herself as an ordinary passerby, passed through this city, and went straight to the base she had established in the Land of Snow.
The former castle of the Snow Ninja.
That place had already been usurped by Sakura and had become her secret base.
The Gothic-style ice castle, due to the severe cold weather here, showed no signs of melting at all and had perfectly preserved its original appearance.
The effect of Sasuke's genjutsu had already faded a lot, but it was still working. From the traces outside, it seemed that since she had left, not even an animal had approached this place.
She walked into the empty base. The inside of the ice castle was deep, empty, and silent. Walking in the corridor alone, the atmosphere was a bit creepy.
"Let's begin..." she said, taking out the prepared materials from the scroll. Her voice echoed endlessly in the empty hall. She summoned several ice clones to help, and the movement of the figures brought a bit of life to the base. Although the so-called "people" were all her clones, it was still better than being empty.
After tidying up this place, Haruno Sakura, accompanied by her clones, finished dinner and rested. She would be staying here for more than four months, until February of next year, before returning to Konoha.
During this period, her training tasks were to develop Phase Three of Sakura Rush and Phase Two of the Yin Seal. But before that, the first thing she had to do was to complete her cloning technology...
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