Everyday Life at the Ninja Academy

After Sasuke's provocation backfired, whether Chakra could be used to cheat became a popular topic at school, and which of us was stronger became a perennial subject of debate in our year. Honestly, I wasn't happy about being compared to Sasuke. What was the fun in competing with a little kid? Fame was dangerous, just as a fat pig was headed for slaughter. After that, some people knew how hard it was and didn't believe it, while others refused to accept it and wanted to take me on, but overall, few acted on it. I didn't receive three challenge letters and four love letters every day, either. The truly capable wouldn't bother with such superficial comparisons, and the ones who actually came looking for trouble were all half-baked. A few words easily dealt with them, and those words couldn't deal with were dealt with in a quiet corner.

The days afterward passed peacefully. Even Itachi, who had been somewhat interested, didn't pay much attention to an ordinary human like me without a bloodline. He just glanced at me from a distance one day when he brought Sasuke to school, and that was it. Maybe, in his mind, no matter how strong a human of my level became, I could never reach their peak?

The school lessons felt a little novel at first, but the material was all too simple. Worse, they went over such simple things again and again, making sure everyone understood before moving on. I'd learned all of it just by looking through books at home. School was practically a waste of life. Fortunately, when I was bored, I could still train my Chakra control. I covered the surface of my body with water transformed from Chakra, then used my body to feel the water while using the water to feel my body. That subtle sensation was tremendously beneficial to my understanding of both my body and Chakra. These days, I looked like I was sitting in class, but I was actually hovering a centimeter above my chair. In other words, I could already fly for about an hour, and as my brain and mind continued to develop, that time would keep increasing.

Then the massacre of Sasuke's family happened unexpectedly. The village's atmosphere was strange all day, and Father was assigned an extra shift at short notice and didn't come home until midnight. I still hadn't realized what had happened then. The next day, everyone on the street wore solemn expressions, as though they knew a huge secret but couldn't tell anyone. Then someone mysteriously told me about it. Honestly, having forgotten much of Naruto, I might not have known as much as those people spreading gossip everywhere. The only thing I was probably sure of was that Uchiha Itachi wasn't a madman, and that the Uchiha seemed to have wanted to rebel, so the village wiped them out.

Sasuke didn't come to school for a full month afterward. When I saw him again, he had completely changed. Before, he had simply been awkward and tsundere, but afterward, he became sinister, gloomy, and full of hatred. Paired with his rather handsome face, though, that only made him more attractive to the girls.

None of us knew exactly what had happened. The village had imposed a gag order, and no one dared discuss it openly. Even in private, people were deeply guarded about it. We were full of sympathy for Sasuke, but that sympathy actually hurt him a second time. Before, when we looked at him, we saw the pride of the Uchiha Clan. Now we all looked at him with pity. Sometimes, when they were talking in private and saw Sasuke approaching, they immediately stopped, which instead stirred up his painful memories. Many people unconsciously distanced themselves from Sasuke. Some did so because he seemed even more arrogant, cold, and unapproachable after the massacre. Some didn't want to approach someone at the center of a storm, for fear of getting into trouble. Others were simply ignorant and thought being near Sasuke brought bad luck. After returning to school following the massacre, Sasuke Uchiha became very lonely there.

Fortunately, not everyone was so worldly or snobbish, nor had every classmate been told by their family to avoid Sasuke. Naruto, that troublemaker and dead last, had picked up a certain logic from who knew where: he thought that as long as he beat the number one student, he would become number one himself. He began tirelessly challenging Sasuke, seeking him out specifically to spar in Taijutsu class, for example. Naruto seemed carefree on the outside, but his feelings were actually very sensitive. He instinctively noticed the loneliness in Sasuke's heart after he lost his family, a loneliness Naruto himself knew all too well! It was this shared feeling that drew the two of them to each other, and their bond formed without either noticing.

At first, I was relieved when Naruto picked Sasuke, because Naruto had previously challenged me. I was very likely his first friend, being the first person to show him kindness and not reject playing with him-Hinata only watched from afar. In many activities that required a partner, such as Taijutsu sparring, he came straight to me. I'd beaten him so often I was sick of it. The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's biggest problem was his one-track mind, while my Taijutsu training emphasized technique and flexibility. As a result, he couldn't bring his strength to bear whenever we sparred, and it gave both of us a headache.

I actually preferred sparring with Hinata. Gentle Fist was very inspiring to me. I hadn't understood martial arts in my previous life; I'd only attended a Wing Chun class as a child and watched plenty of martial arts movies. Unfortunately, I couldn't be sure what I'd seen in movies would be very useful in a world with Chakra. Besides, the movies didn't explain how to train, so I didn't know how to develop those skills. The martial arts I'd learned as a child were only superficial, and progress was too slow. I couldn't find a good teacher for Taijutsu, either. Don't mention Guy—a Jonin wasn't someone I could meet whenever I wanted, much less ask for Taijutsu lessons. My dad was a half-baked Taijutsu practitioner and didn't want to mislead a student, so I'd always been feeling my own way forward in Taijutsu. That made Hinata, who had received proper training at home, incredibly useful to me. I wasn't trying to secretly learn her family's Gentle Fist, but even a casual remark or two from her was very helpful to someone still figuring things out alone like me. It might even save me from taking a major detour!

Soon afterward, I realized I'd been too naive. Sasuke quickly grew fed up with Naruto pestering him, and to get rid of him, he actually came looking for me!

That day, in Taijutsu class.

"Next is free practice. Please form your own groups." As soon as the Taijutsu teacher finished speaking, Naruto went straight to Sasuke, just as expected. "Sasuke, Sasu-!" Then he spotted a pair he'd never seen before: Sasuke and me.

"I've wanted to practice with you for a long time, Sakura Haruno. Practical Taijutsu isn't like ninja tools class or academic lessons. Being clever won't get you anywhere! Let me show you the gap between first and second place!" Sasuke formed the confrontation seal, a rare, serious light shining in his eyes.

"Then tell me with your fists!" I raised an eyebrow!

My left foot drove hard against the ground, and I shot forward like an arrow, swinging my right fist with all my strength!

Sasuke extended his left arm and blocked it firmly, then thrust his right fist out from his waist, aiming straight for the opening on my left side!

Though I'd left an opening, I was more agile. The moment he blocked me, I pulled my center of gravity back and covered the gap, chopping his right fist aside with my left hand. Our fists and feet flew, and we exchanged several rounds in no time!

As expected of a young master from a major clan, he'd received professional training at home. Every move was textbook-perfect, putting tremendous pressure on someone self-taught like me! His punches and kicks were far more orthodox than mine, with both sharp force and tricky angles. He was nothing like Naruto, and facing him for the first time, I was completely on the back foot. My usual practice had focused on strength and speed, leaving plenty of openings instead! But I was more agile and flexible. Though self-taught, I had techniques of my own. After holding out for the first few rounds, I quickly adapted to the rhythm of the fight and caught Sasuke's slightly rigid weakness!

"Hey!" In the heat of battle, I quickly saw through Sasuke's somewhat stiff fighting style. I blocked his arm with my right hand, then, as he drew his fist back, followed it with that same hand and lightly struck his ribs!

Although Sasuke did his best to dodge and the blow wasn't heavy, the palm strike still threw him off balance. While he was unsteady, I stepped in with my right foot between his legs and deflected his feeble counterattack, leaving his centerline wide open! My left fist struck him squarely in the face and withdrew. My right arm drove forward from the elbow, punching swiftly along the centerline. Left and right fists alternated in a flurry-Chain Sun Punches!

Smack, smack, smack, smack! A barrage of fists landed on Sasuke's face!

Though I held back my strength and avoided his vital points, I'd landed more than a dozen punches in just two seconds! With Chakra's help, I could easily perform moves that only master martial artists could have managed in my previous life! On the final punch, I released force at close range! It struck Sasuke hard in the chest and knocked him to the ground!

Huff, huff! Sasuke and I stood facing each other, gasping for breath. The red marks and blood on his face made his expression look a little fierce!

My unexpectedly powerful Taijutsu was a little hard for Sasuke to accept at first. He felt both disappointed and somewhat annoyed! But he was, after all, a future "Kage"-level powerhouse. Sasuke had the capacity to admit defeat, learn from it, and improve further.

"Nice moves!" Sasuke said to me after calming down and forming the Seal of Reconciliation.

"Do you mean the Chain Sun Punches?" Unlike after fighting Naruto, I really felt I'd gained a lot from fighting Sasuke. What I'd practiced before—which parts were useful, which were useless, and which I'd learned wrong-had suddenly become much clearer. Knowing some things only on the surface was useless; you had to practice them yourself! I was in a great mood, so I didn't mind explaining a little to Sasuke.

"No, not that one. It was powerful, but I'm more interested in the footwork you used just now."

"Hmm... I call that move Entering Stance."

"Entering Stance?"

"That's right. Horse stance—I call the stance you usually stand in the horse stance. That forward step of mine stopped you from regaining your balance." To explain Wing Chun footwork in detail, I'd probably have to explain its entire theoretical system and fighting methods thoroughly. But since words couldn't make it clear, we could just put it into practice.

"Shall we go again?"

"Yeah!"

After getting to know Sasuke better, I gradually developed my image of him from a two-dimensional character in a manga into a real person of flesh and blood. When I was in college in my previous life, my roommate was a Sasuke hater who often cursed him for showing off and acting impulsively without thinking, only to be manipulated by Madara and the others. So at first, I hadn't had much of a favorable impression of Sasuke.

But once the name "Sasuke" was no longer a manga character or the target of my roommate's elaborate ridicule, but a real person I saw every day and often fought, I realized how superficial my previous understanding had been.

Imagine this: before you're even ten years old, your older brother suddenly and brutally murders all your relatives and clansmen, sparing you alone. Then you live in this world by yourself, without even a relative to look after you and depend on. What kind of person would you become?

What's more, Sasuke's situation was a little more complicated. In fact, news of the Uchiha's planned rebellion hadn't been completely suppressed. On the contrary, to establish the justice of its actions, the village had informed its higher-ranking ninja-mainly Jonin and other relevant personnel, as Jonin held a very high political standing in the village. This showed that the village wouldn't wipe out a clan for no reason; only when that clan had become the common enemy of everyone else would the village be forced to use the most drastic means against them.

By rights, an operation like that shouldn't have left any survivors. But Uchiha Itachi, an important double agent deeply trusted by the Hokage, had saved Sasuke, leaving the operation in an awkward position.

On one hand, Konoha's Uchiha had been a very powerful and important armed force, and wiping them out was like cutting off one's own arm. Leaving a bloodline meant the Uchiha Clan might someday be rebuilt, and there was no shortage of people in Konoha who wanted a share of that bloodline's power. On the other hand, it was also meant to keep the powerful Uchiha Itachi in check. He had already gone so far for the village, and if he couldn't even save the innocent Sasuke, it might disillusion the others who knew the truth and have a very damaging effect. By leaving that bond intact, Uchiha Itachi became someone who could be controlled.

But to ordinary people, the Uchiha surname had undoubtedly become synonymous with traitors and backstabbers. All sorts of incidents, from the time of their ancestors to the present, pointed to that. Approaching an Uchiha had thus undoubtedly become a serious political mistake, much like an entertainer in my previous life meeting with a separatist and causing a public backlash. Although the young Sasuke Uchiha himself was innocent, his surname had become his greatest stain. At school, this showed itself in the fact that, once many parents had thought it through, they all tacitly told their children not to befriend an Uchiha.

For quite some time afterward, Sasuke Uchiha's only friends were Naruto and me. Of course, the proud Sasuke wouldn't admit it. Naruto had come to him of his own accord, and Sasuke didn't want to pay him any attention! As for me, I was a strong rival, so it was perfectly normal for us to provoke and compete with each other all the time!

My school days passed like that, one day after another. Nothing major happened again after that. Taijutsu, which had always been my weak point, improved by leaps and bounds under Sasuke's challenges, along with the occasional opportunity to exchange pointers and spar with Hinata. My next idea was to use Chakra water in Taijutsu as well. As my body grew further, the force I could withstand increased, and my original idea slowly stopped being a flashy but impractical trick and became a move with considerable power.

My practice and understanding of elemental release techniques also progressed faster and faster as the amount of Chakra at my disposal increased. By fourth or fifth grade, my family no longer restricted my Chakra extraction, though they still told me to stay within my limits to avoid damaging my foundation. Chakra generally surged only after puberty began, when the body's foundation had already been established and cultivating Chakra no longer came with so many risks.

I also began looking for information to complete two new Water Release techniques I had conceived. The first was simpler; the key was to put the water under tremendous pressure. Similar effects were more common in Earth Release. Water Release also had techniques that generated heavy pressure, but they generally produced large amounts of water and supplemented it with Chakra to create water pressure. I ruled that out. The water pressure I wanted to create had to be at least 100 megapascals, which meant I'd need a column of water ten thousand meters high. I'd better stop dreaming. My father in this life also had a Water Release affinity, so I could at least ask him a little about Water Release techniques. As for Earth Release, I couldn't remember who in the original story was particularly skilled at it, so I could only turn to Iruka-sensei with any questions.

When Iruka heard that I was developing a Ninjutsu technique with tremendous power, low consumption, and extremely high requirements for Chakra control, he was astonished. He immediately promised to find me an Earth Release expert to answer my questions.

But no one, Iruka included, had expected this so-called Earth Release expert to be that person...