Miss Sakura Haruno Was a Little Frustrated

After the height of summer, the wind gradually turns cool.

The restless heat in the air gradually cooled down as the days passed. The breeze blowing on the face no longer caused unpleasant heat—especially for Water Release and Ice Release ninjas.

The noisy cicada chirping gradually faded away. As if having exhausted all their energy throughout the summer, the cicadas began to disappear, quietly waiting for the next breeding season.

But the passion of Konoha Ninjas and civilians to rebuild their homes remains as fervent as ever.

A normal great power and its people, when they experience various disasters—whether natural disasters or foreign invasions—will never become decadent or degenerate. On the contrary, they can use these experiences to unite people's hearts, unleash strong patriotic sentiments, and eagerly participate in the reconstruction and defense of the motherland.

Even in a country where patriotism was ridiculed and insulted in a past life, and where criticizing and hating one's country was considered politically correct, this is still the case.

Konoha... is no exception, of course.

After all, based on Sakura Haruno's own experiences over the years, Konoha, despite its many dark aspects, is still generally worthy of love and respect.

In stark contrast, the girl herself seemed rather downcast or depressed.

Yes, it's not the kind of low mood that happens once a month.

One reason she couldn't share with others was that the girl realized, for various reasons, she could no longer predict the future based on the "plots" she had seen before.

The reason is obvious.

She did so much, and it wasn't a trivial matter; it far exceeded the so-called butterfly effect. She changed so much— Tsunade returned ahead of schedule, the Third Hokage didn't die—so how could events unfold as they did in the original story?

For example, Sakura can almost certainly say that Sasuke's defection won't happen. It's simple: Orochimaru wasn't seriously injured by the Third's suicide attack, so he didn't have an urgent need to turn back immediately. Konoha wasn't severely damaged as in the original story either. If Orochimaru wanted to forcibly abduct Sasuke from Konoha, he probably couldn't do it even if he lost himself.

Aside from that, she hadn't watched much of Shippuden, so she was completely clueless about what happened later in the Hokage, or which BSS they fought. Just like the natives of this world, she had no idea.

The only certainty is that even stronger villains will appear later, after all, this is a common trope in shonen manga.

Oh, right, I've heard that one of the major villains is Obito Kakashi's former teammate. But isn't that just some analysis circulating online? Sakura thinks it's best to just listen to that kind of thing and not take it as fact.

Sometimes she would let her thoughts wander, wondering if, besides herself, there were other time travelers, they would probably fall into two main camps. One camp would diligently maintain the plot and preserve their precognitive advantage; the other would drastically change the plot without hesitation, thinking, what's the point of time travel if nothing changes? Just be a DIA moviegoer?

Sakura felt she belonged to the unconventional third faction: she was completely clueless about the plot, where the final villain was hiding, and what world-destroying conspiracy they were plotting. As a transmigrator from a well-known shonen manga, she couldn't use her advantage of having more information to feel superior to the natives of this world; she also couldn't predict the future developments, which was quite rare.

Compared to the first two factions, they are utterly weaklings.

This is the consequence of not catching up on past episodes, so touching.

If I could have another chance... Sakura sometimes fantasizes like that, but she doesn't actually think it's that hard to understand the plot.

The future is unpredictable; isn't that how life is for most people? So what if we don't have any special abilities or know the future "plot"? Does that mean we should just give up?

If someone can't survive without these two huge advantages, then it only proves that the so-called time traveler is a useless person.

Therefore, a person's fate depends not only on their own efforts but also on the development of history.

Sakura never imagined that she would be transported to the unfamiliar world of Hokage and become a ninja. But since the course of events is unpredictable, she can only rely on her own efforts to control her destiny.

Besides, what good is knowing more about the plot? Transmigrating into a decorative character in the original story—Sakura doesn't know that according to the later plot, her combat power is actually quite good—even if she knew the plot, without strength, it wouldn't change anything. Who told her she didn't have Red Eyes, or a perpetual motion machine hidden inside her? Without any birth cheat codes, improving her strength and continuously growing can only rely on her own efforts.

So far, Sakura has been doing quite well. She has worked very hard to figure out what her strengths are, then developed powerful Ninjutsu that suits her, and then practiced relentlessly to make up for her weaknesses and hone her strengths to the fullest.

Although she couldn't reach the level of Kakashi becoming Jonin at the age of twelve, as a ninja who graduated in peacetime, the girl had already done her best.

That being said, aside from practical experience, my strength has already surpassed Kakashi's back then, right? -- Of course, I can't compare to the transmigrators who were Chunin Jonin eight years old, and Kage Level at twelve years old.

But that's not enough. Far from enough. That's how the girl felt about herself.

With her powerful Ninjutsu developed by herself and the Ice Release she had just begun to learn, Sakura quickly Jonin. Although she was stronger than Naruto and Sasuke, who had cheat codes, she felt more and more clearly that the natural limits of Sakura Haruno's body were not very high, while the potential of her two teammates was still unfathomable.

If things are left to their own devices, she'll probably be overtaken by the two of them in a few years, and then surpassed in another two years, right? If you replaced Sakura Haruno from the original work with her, that would definitely be the case.

An ordinary ninja without any Kekkei Genkai would probably only Jonin in their lifetime. Sakura has two Ninjutsu she developed herself, Ice Release, and Chakra manipulation skills that surpass those of her predecessors, so perhaps she can go a little higher. For example, she could reach the level of Elite Jonin a few years after graduation. If everything goes smoothly, she could train hard and reach the Kage Level by the time she is in her twenties. That would be her limit, and after that, she could only maintain her peak at most.

In contrast, Naruto and Sasuke, with diligent training, will almost naturally reach Kage Level; surpassing Sakura is only a matter of time. Kage Level is not their limit, and even Super Kage Level it is within their reach. The gap is so vast it's speechless. This world is so unfair, so biased—how can Sakura accept this? How can such a setting not make people—especially the supporting characters—cold-blooded?

This is the main reason why the girl felt depressed.

It's always unpleasant to be overtaken by someone who came from behind, especially for someone like Sakura, who appears easygoing but is actually quite arrogant.

It wasn't jealousy of their progress; on the contrary, as a true friend, Sakura was happy for them. However, comparing her own slow progress to her teammates' rapid advancement always made her feel frustrated and anxious.

Since returning from the Land of Waves, Sasuke and Naruto have made tremendous progress in the Senri Chunin Ninja Exams. The upgrade of their Sharingan and the mastery of the Lightning Blade have transformed them from being completely overwhelmed by Sakura to posing a threat to her. As for Naruto, with his power-ups unlocked, his Chakra is as deep as an abyss, and he has even learned Jiraiya's Summoning Technique, allowing him to summon Gamabunta. His combat power has skyrocketed.

After her battle against Naruto Chunin Ninja Exams, she admitted that defeating Naruto without going all out would be extremely difficult.

What about Sakura herself?

Having learned Ice Release, developed numerous Ninjutsu, and significantly improved his combat experience, he has made great strides in combat.

But those are all minor details. In reality, her two core Water Release are still the most useful. Water Release? The Legion Water Clone Technique is fine for sparring, but its application in actual combat is too narrow, just like the other Water Release she's learned. With Sakura's Water Release proficiency, would she be any worse than others at using standard Ninjutsu like the Great Waterfall Technique and Water Formation Wall? She can now confidently say that she's at least in the top ten in Konoha when it comes to Water Release.

But she never uses such Ninjutsu. The reason is simple: it's not cost-effective.

If she had Naruto's Chakra reserves, hmph, when they met in battle, she'd start with a Great Waterfall, then casually unleash Water Dragon Bullets, spread out her Legion Water Clones, maintain her Water Needle Wall from beginning to end, and throw Ninjutsu like it's free!

Tsk tsk, my mouth is watering.

Unfortunately, such dreams can only be realized in dreams. She knows her own Chakra reserves, and in this respect she is several times stronger than Sakura in the original work, but she is still not considered to have a particularly rich Chakra reserves, especially since she is Ninjutsu- type ninja. As we all know, Ninjutsu consumes more Chakra Taijutsu.

As for Ice Release, there's only one Ninjutsu she's currently interested in: Ice Release: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals. The problem is, this Ninjutsu is more suitable for speed-type ninjas—meaning, Sakura's reaction speed isn't quite up to par...

That's really awkward!

On another note, Sakura recently discovered something unexpected and delightful: her physical abilities have been slowly improving since learning Ice Release. This makes sense in calling Ice Release Ninjutsu Kekkei Genkai. Chakra is a combination of physical and mental strength, and high-level Chakra like Ice Release can actually affect both the body and mind, enhancing the user's physical attributes and altering their bloodline. Over time, this could create a heritable Kekkei Genkai: if Sakura has children in ten years, the probability of them being born as Ice Release ninjas is very high!

However, this effect is long-term and slow, and will not lead to significant progress in the short term. Only through long-term, in-depth study and mastery of Ice Release will there be a major change, which can substantially compensate for Sakura's lack of physical prowess.