Chapter 139: Taking Action Again
"One two! One two! One two! Pick up the pace! Don't drag your feet! Don't stop!"
On the training ground's track, Sakura was running at the front, already drenched in sweat with her chest heaving violently, but she didn't dare slow down, much less stop.
Not far behind her, Naruto was running at the same steady pace, but his breathing was obviously much more stable. His sharp gaze locked onto Sakura's retreating figure as he continuously issued commands, urging her on.
It seemed Naruto's earlier statement that "my training is quite strict" wasn't just politeness, but unvarnished reality.
Naruto understood very clearly that in the first part of the Naruto story, Sakura's combat ability was almost negligible. It wasn't until the Shippuden period when she became Tsunade's disciple that she truly transformed into a powerful medical ninja and combatant.
Since Sakura's future path was to learn Tsunade's incomparably fierce superhuman strength, then an absolutely solid taijutsu foundation and precise control over bodily power were essential prerequisites.
Therefore, Naruto mercilessly decided that starting now, he would ruthlessly train Sakura's stamina and taijutsu fundamentals.
After finally completing the prescribed number of laps, Sakura nearly collapsed to the ground. She only got a brief rest, barely managing to drink a few sips of water and catch her breath.
Immediately after, Naruto ruthlessly directed her to begin the next round of physical training—sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups... a series of basic yet extremely stamina-draining exercises followed one after another, each requiring her to do her utmost to meet the standards.
On the other side, Satsuki's training was completely different. She was focused on practicing higher-level jutsu in an open area. Blazing flames and hissing lightning alternately flashed.
For example: Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique, Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson, Lightning Style: Thunderbolt, Lightning Style: Ground Walk, Lightning Style: False Darkness, Lightning Style: Gratitude Wave.
Besides hammering these jutsu, her Sharingan training never slackened either.
Additionally, she had already learned the principles and basics of the Body Flicker Technique from her father Fugaku. Though she currently couldn't achieve Kakashi's instantaneous teleportation-like movement—her range and speed were still limited—she was repeatedly practicing to become faster and more skilled.
As for Naruto himself, he chose a quiet corner farther away from the two. He sat cross-legged and carefully unrolled that massive sealed scroll. Since the Third had truly felt comfortable letting him keep this thing, he naturally wouldn't just learn the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique and return it.
His gaze swept over the forbidden techniques on the scroll whose names alone were heart-stopping.
Multiple Shadow Clone Technique... Flying Thunder God Technique... Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags... Dead Demon Consuming Seal... Impure World Reincarnation...
Naruto currently didn't have the kind of desperate resolve to die together with an enemy, so he directly chose to skip the Dead Demon Consuming Seal which required sacrificing one's soul. His attention was now focused on another technique whose very principle made one's hair stand on end—
Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags.
This forbidden technique developed by the Second Hokage's core lay in using one explosive tag to infinitely summon more explosive tags, forming endless continuous targeted explosions theoretically capable of completely blasting any target and its surrounding area into nothingness.
Of course, Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags wasn't a jutsu that created explosive tags from nothing. Its core mechanism lay in using pre-set special summoning jutsu formulas to continuously summon large quantities of pre-prepared explosive tags marked with corresponding summoning coordinates at extremely high speed, almost infinitely, to a single point where the target was located, conducting relentless overlapping bombardment until the target was completely reduced to ash.
If the stockpiled explosive tags were exhausted, the technique would naturally stop as well.
This jutsu was similarly regarded as a mutual destruction forbidden technique. Because it required the caster to first physically attach the initial "fuse" explosive tag to the target's body at close range. The moment the technique activated, that initial violent explosion would almost inevitably consume the caster at the explosion's center as well.
However, Naruto had conceived an extremely bold and dangerous idea—he wanted to try whether he could use the Flying Thunder God Technique's spatial jump to escape the scene in the final instant before the explosion affected him, just as the Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags activated and the fuse was about to burn out.
Based on Naruto's talents, the extremely high-level summoning technique mastery and space-time jutsu sensitivity required by Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags weren't insurmountable obstacles for Naruto, who had completely mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Naruto had even already calculated in his heart that once he initially grasped this forbidden technique, he would immediately go to the Ember organization to get money from Kakuzu to purchase massive quantities of explosive tags for combat reserves.
The feeling of having someone else make money for him... was really quite nice.
However, during his research, another question also surfaced in Naruto's mind.
Speaking of which... if even the Flying Thunder God's ultra-high-speed spatial jumping couldn't react in time to escape the initial explosion of Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags... how exactly had the Second Hokage tested and perfected this technique back then?
Moreover, using this technique didn't necessarily require an Impure World Reincarnation body.
Didn't this world have a jutsu called Shadow Clone Technique?
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The next day, Kakashi finally brought Team 7's three members to the mission assignment office to begin taking their first official mission after becoming ninja. Watching the excited and eager Sakura, and Satsuki who appeared calm on the surface but whose eyes held hidden anticipation, Naruto's heart actually felt rather unenthusiastic. He knew the Genin routine all too well.
Sure enough, the missions they received were uniformly the lowest D-rank level—finding lost cats, helping busy merchants transport goods, even babysitting noisy children...
After consecutively completing several missions like "Find Pet Tora," "Harvest Vegetables from Fields," and "Help Library Organize Old Books," even the initially energetic Sakura couldn't help showing obvious disappointment on her face, her shoulders drooping.
Though Satsuki beside her said nothing, she now also appeared somewhat listless, her slightly furrowed brow expressing her dissatisfaction and boredom.
As expected... it's still these things.
While mechanically digging sweet potatoes in the field, Naruto silently sighed in his heart. For newly graduated Genin squads, they had no right to choose missions and could only dutifully start with these most basic odd jobs, euphemistically called "accumulating experience" and "cultivating teamwork."
However, just as Naruto's main body was living through bland mission routines in Konoha Village—catching cats, walking dogs, babysitting, and cleaning—
In some hidden corner far from Konoha, one of Naruto's shadow clones, or rather, the one who had donned that detection-blocking fox mask and used Transformation Technique to completely alter his form and chakra fluctuations—Menma—began taking action once again.
His reason for activating this dangerous identity again at this time was because Hiashi had brought him a noteworthy piece of information circulating in the underground black market.
Not long ago, a significant disturbance had occurred in Iwagakure in the Land of Earth. A youth named Deidara, disciple of the Third Tsuchikage Onoki, due to his extreme obsession with "explosive art" and unrestrained practice, had repeatedly conducted dangerous explosive jutsu experiments inside and outside the village. The enormous noise and destruction had left villagers complaining bitterly and suffering greatly.
Even as the Tsuchikage's disciple, to quell the villagers' complaints, Onoki had still expelled the incorrigible Deidara from Iwagakure.