Carrying a scroll and in high spirits, Sakura dashed home.
A day of training had left her sweaty, with salt stains on her clothes, making her feel gross and uncomfortable.
"Sakura, why're you so late…?"
"Hey, take off your shoes! Dummy daughter!"
Mebuki Haruno's voice rang out as she watched her daughter storm in, leaving muddy footprints on the floor.
"Okay, Mom, got it!"
The sound of running water came from the bathroom as Mebuki sighed, picking up Sakura's discarded clothes.
"You're such a wild kid, always acting like a boy. Be careful, or you'll never get married!"
Mebuki grabbed a cloth, rinsed it, and wiped away the muddy prints.
Passing by the bathroom, she teased her daughter with a playful tone.
"Then I'll just stay with you forever!"
Freshly showered and wrapped in a towel, Sakura stepped out and hugged her mother's arm.
"Hmph, who wants to spend their life with a messy little gremlin like you? Go dry your hair!"
Mebuki affectionately tapped Sakura's forehead, gently pushing her away.
"It's late, so get ready and rest!"
"Alright~"
After drying her hair and changing into pajamas, Sakura sank into a deep sleep.
Her summer days settled into a routine: training chakra and swordsmanship, plus studying the illusion techniques sent by Hiruzen Sarutobi.
After spending 100 Achievement Points to record two techniques, Sakura realized something.
These two D-rank illusions represented the two branches of Konoha's illusion system.
The Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique stirred fear in its target's heart, using chakra's inherent connection to disrupt their mind. Sakura dubbed it the "mental type."
The Mist Servant Technique, on the other hand, manipulated the environment, creating nonexistent shadows to confuse the enemy. Sakura called this the "environmental type."
Illusions had great potential in the ninja system, but the Sharingan's Mirror Heaven and Earth Change rendered mental-type illusions useless.
It also turned decades of Konoha ninja research into mental illusions into a stepping stone for the Sharingan.
"Still, environmental illusions have solid development potential. Might be worth digging into," Sakura mused.
Dragon-Rat-Ox-Tiger-Monkey
"Ninja Art: Mist Servant Technique!"
Sakura's massive chakra surged, guided by her hand signs, channeling Yin Release chakra.
From the surrounding trees and rocks, black phantoms rose, lining up like soldiers under her control.
"Yin Release… my mental strength's gotten stronger, and it's boosting my Haki too?"
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Sitting on a boulder, surrounded by phantoms, Sakura's face lit up with surprise.
The boost was subtle, but she clearly felt her Observation Haki's range expand.
Within that range, she picked up more details—and caught a pair of prying eyes from a kilometer and ten meters away.
Sakura looked up, her gaze piercing through the trees to spot an ANBU in a crow mask crouched on a branch.
'What? It's only been a few days, and her range has grown again?!'
The crow-masked ANBU flinched as their eyes met, accidentally letting their presence slip in their shock.
"Come out!"
Sakura's crisp voice echoed through the forest, and the exposed ANBU, with no choice, leapt down to stand before her.
—No helping it; they'd been caught spying.
"Sorry for interrupting your training. I came to see you about my brother," the ANBU said.
Beneath the crow mask, Itachi Uchiha studied the girl before him.
He'd first learned of her when assigned by the Third Hokage to investigate her and her family.
The second time was from his little brother, Sasuke, who mentioned her.
Though Sasuke had ended up in the hospital after their fight, he'd provoked it and awakened his Sharingan, so Itachi held no grudges.
In fact, he was glad his brother had a goal to chase. Naturally, he grew curious about her.
So, on his day off, he'd followed her to see how she trained.
And… got caught. Again.
"Your brother? Who? Sarutobi, Shimura, Fuma…?"
Sakura thought back, counting on her fingers the "little brothers" she'd beaten up lately.
This girl was something else, beating up so many kids and still walking around unscathed.
But that was normal—ninja clan adults rarely got involved in kids' fights.
Lose a fight at school? Tough luck. You'd probably get another beating at home.
"So, you're here to stick up for your brother?"
Sakura eyed Itachi with interest, her pink fists clenching, her immense strength ready to erupt.
A rare three-tomoe Sharingan user and a genius? Perfect for testing her environmental illusions.
"Wait, I'm not—"
"No point talking—let's go!"
With Sakura at the center, the rocks within dozens of meters shattered under her step, kicking up a massive cloud of dust that blocked Itachi's view.
'This kid… she knows about the Sharingan?'
A surreal feeling hit Itachi.
Her attack seemed reckless, but she'd dodged his strengths in an instant.
Itachi flung a kunai at her original position.
But the next moment, a burst of chakra-coated blade energy tore through the dust like a storm.
"!!!"
The sharp blade aura raged, and Itachi's eyelid twitched. He quickly formed hand signs, using the Body Flicker to escape its range.
Clang—!
A crisp blade hum exploded like thunder through the forest.
Four or five sturdy trees were sliced clean through, their cuts perfectly smooth.
'A wooden sword did that?'
Perched on a branch, sweat dripped down Itachi's forehead.
"Body Flicker, huh? Ninja techniques are such a pain," Sakura muttered, spinning her wooden sword and spitting out some dust-tainted saliva.
"You can't use swordsmanship like that on a village comrade!"
Still reeling, Itachi called her out.
"Huh? I didn't even go all out. Besides, isn't this just play-fighting?"
Sakura held her sword in her left hand, forming signs with her right.
Phantoms summoned by her chakra surged forward.
"Release!"
Itachi formed a Dragon sign, his chakra sweeping away the illusions.
He removed his mask, his three-tomoe Sharingan spinning.
—Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique.
Sakura, charging forward, felt her body pinned by massive iron stakes, crashing to the ground.
"How? I didn't even look at you!"
Surprised, Sakura's black eyes lifted toward Itachi.
Despite being trapped in his illusion and locked in the Sharingan's mental space, she still pinpointed his location.
"Are you some kind of monster?"
Itachi felt the strain.
In the illusion space, Sakura thrashed violently, her overwhelming aura hammering his mind, threatening to shatter the Shackling Stakes Technique.
'Do I have to use the Mangekyo against her?'
The absurdity hit him again. In less than ten minutes of meeting Sakura, she'd shocked him twice.
She was like a box of surprises—open one layer, and there's always another waiting.
The girl on the ground gritted her teeth, lowering her head.
Then…
BOOM—!