The Dawn of Azure Water Release!

In the end, everyone was happy.

Sasuke was fine, and the little rascal Inari had led a group of villagers armed with crossbows and fishing spears to drive off that bunch of ** with my Shadow Clone. The people of the Land of Waves had finally regained a little of their manly spirit.

But when I saw my Shadow Clone fooling around with Inari, I was furious. We were fighting for our lives over here, and she was playing house with a kid!

At the thought, I reflexively gave her a knock on the head! Naruto and Zabuza must have spent too long tugging at our heartstrings earlier and turned me into a lovable idiot. I'd hit my own Shadow Clone! Was there anyone in the world more ridiculous than me?!

My Shadow Clone cried, "That hurts!" Then she dispelled herself, sending the pain right back to me!

"Pfft!" Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei, who were watching nearby, couldn't help bursting out laughing!

"Ahhh! My hand slipped, that's all!! Naruto, what right do you have to laugh at me?! Don't you fight your Shadow Clones for the bathroom too?!"

After the initial pain and confusion, the kind and beautiful young Haku gradually emerged from the shadow of wanting to die and resolved to live on, as Zabuza had asked in his final wishes.

Well... young Haku was actually a girl...!

A light drizzle was falling outside.

A girl with black hair and black eyes, dressed in white, sat quietly beneath the eaves, gazing at the rain. A trace of deeply buried sorrow showed on her beautiful face... My heart ached a little for her. I walked quietly behind her, rested my chin on her shoulder, and held her in my arms-

"Haku, can you tell me what you're thinking about?"

"...When I was pinned down, I was actually almost awake... Listening to what Mr. Zabuza said, hearing him say those things about caring for me... I was so happy, so happy... Why was I the only one who woke up in the end? Why couldn't I have followed Mr. Zabuza to hell then and there...? If I could be with him, I would have been willing to go to hell with him... Why... why was I the only one left behind...?" Tears of bewilderment flowed from her eyes. Haku still couldn't let go of the fact that she was alive alone!

"...When Mr. Zabuza found out you were still alive, he smiled happily. Maybe it was the only time in his life he ever did! Even though his dream and his life were about to end, he still smiled because of you. Then he entrusted all his hopes to you, hoping you would live on, ordering you to live well. Because he entrusted his share to you too, he ordered you to live enough for two people from now on and find enough happiness for two..."

"Live on for Mr. Zabuza's sake too...?" Haku repeated the words quietly, completely unaware that I had already taken off her top.

"Your wound is healing nicely." I removed the bandages, exposing the mounds of her chest to the air. There was a red mark beneath one nipple, and a faint fragrance gradually filled the air. "Does it hurt?"

"A little," Haku finally came back to her senses. "W-wait, Sister Sakura Haruno! Please don't do that... someone might see!"

"This is a necessary medical examination... My Shadow Clone is guarding the door, Haku. You're too shy! Well, I'm sorry... To make it up to you, let me rub it for you. It'll stop hurting in no time!"

The new bridge in the Land of Waves was ultimately named the Great Bridge of Courage, marking the country's rebirth.

We stayed in the Land of Waves for three weeks. When it was time to leave, the little rascal Inari was reluctant to part with Naruto, but he was also a little reluctant to part with me. It was all my Shadow Clone's fault!

Haku also joined us on the journey back to Konoha, where a new life awaited her.

After our long mission outside the village, life returned to what it had been just after graduation, with simple missions or training every day. During the two weeks following the battle in the Land of Waves, the danger was gone and I was able to study my Azure Water Release carefully every day, but I made little progress. Kakashi had said that the nature transformations of wind and ice might help me with purification. Now that I thought about it, that irresponsible teacher had been spouting nonsense!

"Sakura, don't be so impatient. That attitude will only make it harder for you to find new ideas!" One evening, after training, Kakashi tried to console me when I had once again come away empty-handed.

"Oh, even the all-capable genius girl Sakura gets stumped sometimes?" Sasuke added a taunt.

"Yeah, Sakura! Don't be so down! Let's go eat at Ichiraku Ramen together!" Naruto, you were the last person I wanted consolation from!

In any case, after they made fun of me, I reflected on my impatience. I was actually used to having no ideas and making no progress on development back at the Ninja Academy. Even the Water Blade Technique series, which I'd had a clear idea and direction for from the start, had taken me a year. How much more so for Azure Water Release, when I had neither ideas nor guidance? Instead of rushing to create ultra-pure water, I began studying the nature transformation of wind Chakra in depth.

In the Land of Waves, the moment I completed the nature transformations of wind and ice, I'd actually had a flash of inspiration for making ultra-pure water, an idea I instinctively felt was extremely important. But it had passed in an instant. I only remembered that it had something to do with Wind Release and Ice Release; none of the other details had stayed with me.

Because of that inspiration, as soon as I'd achieved the basic nature transformations of wind and ice, I'd impatiently tried to use them to purify water... Naturally, I'd gotten half the results for twice the effort! Even a genius like me, who could learn the nature transformation of elements that weren't my own in three days, hadn't necessarily mastered them completely. At the very least, I couldn't use them as freely as I could water nature transformation!

"-So that's why you've been practicing this Wind Release: Rasengan these past few days?" Kakashi stared at the Chakra sphere in my hand, so calm that not a ripple stirred on its surface, and a drop of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

"That's right! I was too impatient before. I tried to develop a new technique before I'd fully mastered wind nature transformation," I explained to Kakashi as I fed Chakra into the Rasengan. "I should lay a solid foundation before thinking about building the upper floors! That was my mistake before: I thought I could take a shortcut with my talent!"

"I'm glad you think that way... but isn't there a better, safer way to practice this?"

"Kakashi-sensei, Fourth Lord Hokage took Chakra shape transformation to its limit and completed the Rasengan," I said, looking at Kakashi seriously. "So I have to take Chakra nature transformation to its limit. Only then can I surpass the Fourth Lord, and only then will it count as the Wind Release: Rasengan I completed!"

"You could say all my techniques became as powerful as they are now because I took some aspect of them to its limit. The Water Blade Technique took water pressure to its limit, and Azure Water Release took water purity to its limit. So what would taking wind nature transformation to its limit look like?"

"I have a feeling that when I take wind nature transformation to its limit, the answer I've been looking for will be right in front of me!"

"All right, all right, if that's how you feel." Kakashi sounded a little helpless. "But haven't you overdone your training a bit? After extracting that much Chakra, in my experience, you should be completely out of strength! It's a miracle you're still standing! Don't forget, you have a mission this afternoon!"

"Don't underestimate me, Kakashi-sensei! My Chakra reserves have been growing quickly too! Just, just standing up is nothing! I can still manage!" Kakashi-sensei's eye was sharp. My whole body really had gone weak, and this Wind Release consumed a terrifying amount of Chakra...

"Screee-" A long cry rang out.

I looked up and saw a Ninja Hawk flying overhead.

"Never mind, I have something else to do today. You can train on your own this afternoon!" Kakashi glanced up at the Ninja Hawk too. "Dismissed!" With that, he left using the Body Flicker Technique.

"Naruto, Sasuke! A new izakaya opened near my house. Let's go try it! It's been ages since we ate together!"

"Tch, not interested!" Sasuke was the first to object. "I'm eating at home!"

Sasuke had been acting awkward ever since the Land of Waves mission, always keeping to himself and training! Seeing a ninja as young and powerful as Haku seemed to have dealt him quite a blow!

"I've gained some insights from my recent training, so I won't join you this afternoon! I'm off!" With that, Sasuke left without looking back.

"Then I'll go with you!" Naruto was a decent enough friend, though he was too stupid!

"Idiot! People will get the wrong idea if the two of us go to an izakaya together! Let's go to Ichiraku Ramen instead..."

Then I looked at Naruto pitifully. "Naruto, um... could you give me a hand? I can't walk anymore!"

"Tch, what a troublesome girl!" Naruto sounded as though he'd practiced that line many times!

"Hey, don't go copying Sasuke's way of talking!"

"Sakura! That's dangerous! Don't wave your hand around when you're holding a Rasengan!"

"Haha! I caught you, Naruto!" Just as we were fooling around, a little rascal suddenly rushed out from around the corner and lunged at Naruto. Naruto reflexively dodged to the side, and I, leaning against him, immediately stumbled forward and collided with the rascal. The Chakra sphere in my hand fell straight toward his face!

Boom! A cloud of dust rose from the ground!

"Konohamaru-!"

"Cough, cough, Konohamaru's okay..."

The dust cleared, revealing Konohamaru lying on the ground, dazed from the fall, and a perfectly round crater only a few centimeters from his face.

"You two-do you know what you did wrong?!"

Naruto and Konohamaru obediently squatted in a row, each with a big bump on his head from my blows, receiving a lesson in love from me!

"What's the big deal?! It's just a little Chakra sphere! What would happen if it touched me anyway?!" Konohamaru muttered indignantly!

"I told you, this is a super-dangerous Rasengan with wind nature transformation added! It's not an ordinary Chakra sphere!" Seeing that even Naruto looked baffled, I was running out of patience to explain. "Forget it. Since you don't believe me, I'll show you! Watch closely!"

I picked up a brick and slowly brought it toward the Wind Release: Rasengan. The moment the edge touched the Rasengan, it silently turned into countless tiny particles of dust! When I pulled the brick away, the once-square brick had a perfect curved surface carved into it!

"Heh! See that?! This is the power of the Rasengan! After adding intensely transformed wind-nature Chakra, it can pulverize anything it touches into particles too fine to see: stone, steel, and even-" I glared at Konohamaru. "Even your bones! And I haven't taken this technique to its limit yet. Once I've completed it, it will..."

"What will it do?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"I know, I know!" Konohamaru rushed to answer. "It can smash everything into even finer pieces, as fine as, as fine as this, this much-"

Watching Konohamaru gesture anxiously to show the size, I couldn't help laughing. "All right, any finer and you'd get molecules! Well, molecules are the basic units that make up matter, like building blocks! You wouldn't understand if I explained anything else. If you break molecules down further, their covalent and ionic bonds are severed, and they become atoms. Take this brick, for example. It's made of silicon dioxide molecules. If I took wind nature transformation to its limit, maybe I could directly sever the covalent bonds between silicon and oxygen..."

As I said that, something suddenly seemed to occur to me...

Take wind nature transformation to its limit and directly sever molecular bonds...?

I got it! I finally remembered the inspiration I'd had in the Land of Waves! First, I could use wind nature transformation to "sever" the hydrogen-oxygen covalent bonds in water, forming hydrogen and oxygen gas, then combine them back into water!

"Naruto, Konohamaru, stop talking for a moment and watch this!" I decided to try it right then. Though I hadn't taken the nature transformation to its limit, it would just about do!

First, I used Chakra to keep the air out, then guided a stream of distilled water into the Wind Release: Rasengan. Most of the water was immediately broken into mist, spinning rapidly inside the sphere, but some emerged as hydrogen and oxygen gas! The rest was simple: I carefully controlled the resulting gas as it burned and collected the liquid produced. Finally, before the Rasengan ran out of energy, I obtained a perfectly round drop of water the size of a ping-pong ball!

I squeezed it hard, but the surface of the drop didn't budge. It looked like I'd succeeded!

"Sakura, is that water?" Naruto looked at the transparent sphere of water in confusion.

"That's right, but this isn't ordinary water. It's something I've been trying to make for ages without success. Anyway, I've made a huge breakthrough with my Ninjutsu! Heh heh-"

I could hardly put my joy into words. All I wanted now was to let it out by running at full speed!

"Naruto, Konohamaru, Ichiraku Ramen's on me today! Let's go!" Then, at the next corner-

Bang!

I collided with a young boy whose face was covered in paint!

"Ow! I... Are all you Konoha ninja this clumsy?!" He grabbed me by the collar and demanded arrogantly.

I froze for a moment. This strange-looking person... was Kankuro!

"Let her go!" Two stones struck Kankuro's hand, traveling along ingenious curves. I knew only one person who could make throwing stones look that cool-

"You're ninja from Sunagakure, aren't you?" Sasuke appeared behind me and pointed at Kankuro's Forehead Protector. "What business do you have in Konoha?"

"Hmph, even your own people don't know! If you want to find out, let me beat you up first!"

"Stop, Kankuro!"

I spun around. The one who had spoken was Gaara, who had appeared behind us in an instant! So fast!

"Don't go stirring up trouble in someone else's village!" Gaara first reprimanded Kankuro, then explained to us, "We came here for-"

"The Chunin Ninja Exams, right?" I cut in. "At this time every year, Konoha invites outstanding Genin from its allied nations who hope to be promoted to Chunin to take the exams here. So you're candidates from Sunagakure, right?"

"That's right..." Gaara passed us and joined Kankuro. As he brushed past me, I sensed the vast, blood-soaked Chakra hidden within him!

"Let's go!"

"Wait, you with the gourd on your back, what's your name?!"

"Gaara of the Sand Waterfall..." Gaara looked back at Sasuke. "And you?"

"My name is Sasuke!" Sasuke smiled faintly!

"Hey, wait! Why aren't you asking my name?! I'm stronger than Sasuke! Really! Hey! Turn around!"

"Me too, me too!" That was Naruto.

"I'm not interested in reckless women!" Without looking back, Gaara led Kankuro and Temari away.

"Sakura, what are the Chunin Ninja Exams?" After watching Gaara leave, Sasuke turned back to ask me.

"Simply put, it's an exam that's generally divided into team matches and individual matches! People who perform well can be promoted to Chunin! I hear the individual matches are usually a knockout tournament!"

"Individual matches...?" Sasuke mused-

"That means I'm bound to face you, right, Sakura?"

"I'll finally get to see just how strong you are..."

"I've wanted to have a serious fight with you for a long time now!"

Sasuke's eyes stared intently at me!

[Sorry this chapter is a little late...]