What Is a Ninja?

I couldn't stop thinking about the dream I'd had during my nap.

Why... did I dream about kissing Haku? Could I have yuri tendencies?

It had been a year since I came to this world, and I'd gradually grown used to a girl's body and a woman's identity... So why was I still having dreams like that? Was the man's heart I'd once had still beating inside this young girl's body?

Common knowledge from my past life told me that a person's thoughts were influenced to a large extent by their hormones. Even the initial attraction between men and women was caused by testosterone and estrogen. So-called "love at first sight" and "sage time" amounted to nothing more than that. Having become Sakura Haruno and fallen under the influence of estrogen, shouldn't I have started finding handsome men attractive?

But the science of my previous life had never addressed anything like the soul... In other words, it wasn't certain whether emotions came before hormones or the other way around. After all, humanity's understanding of itself was actually very limited.

In any case, so far, I hadn't felt anything beyond friendship for any man... So what about Yuki Haku?

Apparently not, either.

Haku had been one of my favorite Naruto characters in my previous life, but the moment I attacked her with the Water Gun Technique, the manga girl as pure and white as snow had become separate from the real, flesh-and-blood girl before me. From that moment on, I'd decided to set aside the feelings I'd had while reading the manga in my previous life when dealing with the people and things here. They were no longer people in a manga, but real people I could reach out and touch!

I'd approached her at first only to get on good terms with her so I could learn Ice Release from her. Later, after spending more time with Haku in the Land of Waves and growing closer to her, I'd come to accept this kind and beautiful Yuki Haku from the bottom of my heart, seeing her as a friend rather than a tool to use.

But... she was only a friend. Just a friend who was cute inside and out. Although I often got handsy with Haku when she wasn't paying attention, taking advantage of her because I was a girl, I'd lost certain necessary equipment and could no longer take any meaningful action with a girl. Besides, falling for a girl would be a betrayal of **, while liking boys felt strange on a mental level... Whenever I thought about it, I felt more conflicted than ever.

I sat atop Hokage Rock, the highest point in Konoha. The houses beneath my feet were no bigger than my fingertips, and the village stretched all the way to the distant horizon. The sun, gradually sinking westward, painted the view before me gold.

Thinking about such troubling things in the face of such a beautiful view made me irritable, and I couldn't help shouting down at Konoha below.

"Aah, this is so frustrating! So frustrating!"

"So many worries at your age?" a voice suddenly spoke behind me. "You'll age before your time!"

"I'm not the one who needs to worry about that," I said without looking back. "Worry about yourself first, Uncle Jiraiya!"

Jiraiya didn't mind at all. Carrying a bottle of sake, he sat down beside me.

"Weren't you training Naruto? Has he finished learning the Rasengan?"

"He's just one step away! He still needs one last Shadow Clone, but he can already barely use it in a real fight! The kid's been training so hard he couldn't keep going and went to rest! He'll finish the last step tomorrow and complete his training ahead of schedule!" Jiraiya said as he drank.

"Hmph... Nice work, Naruto!"

"What about you, then?" Jiraiya turned to look at me. "What's troubling you?"

"Tch, nothing more than how short life is and how time waits for no one..." I brushed Jiraiya off and changed the subject abruptly. "Anyway, I'll leave the next stage of Naruto's training to you. It's time he learned to make good use of that enormous power inside him!"

"Of course, leave it to me! With me, the Toad Sage, here, Naruto will give you a real surprise when the time comes! Speaking of which..." Jiraiya dropped his usual flippant, ** facade, and the serious look in his eyes was intimidating. "You already know that power inside Naruto is the Nine-Tails, don't you? So why did you befriend someone with the Nine-Tails sealed inside him?"

As I thought, Jiraiya cared a great deal about Naruto. I'd taught Naruto such powerful Ninjutsu, and Naruto's identity was sensitive, so it was only natural that Jiraiya wanted to find out whether I had ulterior motives. Still, I'd thought he would only investigate me in secret. I hadn't expected Jiraiya to ask me directly! In a way, that meant he trusted me too, didn't it?

"Uncle Jiraiya, let's get one thing straight..." I glanced at Jiraiya, then looked back at the ground below, swinging my legs in a relaxed manner. "I befriended Naruto Uzumaki because he's my teammate. He just happens to be the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki as well..."

"Naruto's lived alone since he was little, and he often doesn't know how to take care of himself. He doesn't have many friends, either... So if I didn't look after him, he'd definitely make a mess of things all by himself!"

"What about you, Uncle Jiraiya? As one of the Sannin, it's only natural for you to care about the village and an important Jinchūriki, but I can tell your concern for Naruto goes far beyond that. Is Naruto someone important to you?"

Jiraiya took a long swig of sake, then gazed into the distance and spoke with a hint of nostalgia. "That has to do with Naruto's father. He was my prized student, a genius ninja. Unfortunately, he died fighting the Nine-Tails when it attacked... Naruto is my student's son, his only blood descendant..."

"Your prized student, a genius ninja..." I carefully sought confirmation from Jiraiya. "Don't tell me..."

"...it was the Fourth Hokage?"

In my previous life, I'd already learned from my roommate that Naruto was the Fourth's son, but I still had to check something like this carefully before saying anything! What if Kishimoto threw in another incredible plot twist later on?

"That's right... It was him! But don't tell anyone. It's still a secret for now!"

"If it's a secret, why tell me?"

"The first reason is that you're his teammate and someone who cares about him, so I think you have a right to know..." Jiraiya didn't go on to give the second reason, instead asking me, "Sakura, you're a genius at Ninjutsu. What does being a ninja... mean to you? Have you ever thought about learning every Ninjutsu in the world?"

What a stupid question! I frowned at Jiraiya. "Learn every Ninjutsu? Why would I have such a pointless idea? Never mind that there are plenty of techniques I can't learn at all. Just take Water Release: there are dozens, even hundreds of named techniques, not including all the Ninjutsu people have created themselves. But more than half of them were created by mediocrities. They lack power and use up too much Chakra! I can tell how most Ninjutsu work after seeing them once. Rather than waste time learning things like that, I'd be better off studying my own Water Release!"

"Then how do you see ninjas?"

I suddenly understood what Jiraiya wanted to ask. Jiraiya had answered those two questions himself and had heard Orochimaru answer them too, so he wanted to use those two questions to find out what kind of person I was, didn't he?

"I think that ideally, being a ninja should just be a profession." After considering my words for a moment, I decided to share some of what was on my mind. "Like teaching, farming, or blacksmithing, being a ninja is just a rather unusual profession. Chakra and Ninjutsu are wondrous and capable of anything. If humans only use them to fight and kill each other, then they must be utterly foolish!"

"During my mission in the Land of Waves, I saw how hard life was for its people. Because their country had no ninjas and no power, they were oppressed by the wealthy Gato, because Gato could afford to hire ninjas! Is bullying these weak countries and their people all we ninjas can do?"

"Admittedly, most ninjas are now bound by the rules of their villages and don't do whatever they please. But the ninja villages themselves are precisely why this world suffers so much! It's been a mere sixty years since the one-country, one-village system was established, and there have already been three world wars! Each one lasted nearly ten years!"

"In other words, it's only been sixty years since order was established in the Shinobi World, and nearly half that time has been spent at war! And we ninjas are the ones who started those wars and the main force fighting them!"

"I can say without hesitation that this world has already shed too much blood. Everyone longs for peace, but past hatred, present conflicts of interest, and room for future development keep pushing ninjas onto the battlefield to slaughter one another!"

"Being a ninja shouldn't be like this..."

I stopped speaking and closed my eyes. I didn't know whether I'd spoken too frankly when we weren't that close, but the gallant Jiraiya probably wouldn't pay too much attention to details like that...

"To have such an understanding at your age is truly surprising!" Jiraiya smiled faintly. I didn't know why, but Jiraiya had been so sleazy and ** in the manga, while he often seemed very serious when talking to me. Perhaps the Jiraiya in the manga only showed his true nature to those close to him!

"Do you know? When I first heard about you, I thought you were a lot like Orochimaru. You were both exceptionally confident and gifted, and even the pride you revealed inadvertently was so similar!" Jiraiya said, looking at me.

"Is that so..."

"But now, you seem more like my genius student, Minato Namikaze! You have one thing in common: you both like to pursue a technique to its utmost. Take Minato, for example. The Rasengan pursued the ultimate in Chakra shape transformation, while Flying Thunder God was the ultimate in speed and space. That's what earned him the name Yellow Flash..." Jiraiya spoke with emotion. "Your Water Release is also pursuing water to its utmost. Your Water Release has already come into its own. Given time, perhaps you'll be given a title like Water Release King!"

"Water Release King...?" I repeated it silently. What a nice-sounding title!

"Uncle Jiraiya, you think too highly of me... The Fourth was the real genius. No one has mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique since him, while my Water Release only demands a relatively high level of Chakra control! Besides, he had a good teacher who taught a genius to become Hokage. My Kakashi-sensei only ever focuses on Sasuke and Naruto!"

"Ahaha." Jiraiya scratched his head and gave a sleazy laugh. "I didn't teach him much. I can't use Flying Thunder God either; I only gave him a few pointers! Minato started a family early, so I never got to teach him the most essential thing!"

Something that had to do with starting a family, and what Jiraiya called the most essential thing... Could he mean the Transparent Release Technique? That was a technique for peeping, hey! Jiraiya really was a fine student of the Third!

I held back the urge to retort and silently swallowed the words.

"But, Sakura... In the upcoming Chunin Ninja Exams, your fight with Naruto is first. Are you sure it's all right to take it so easy? Naruto's training with everything he's got to beat you!"

"I'm not taking it as easy as you say... I'm using Shadow Clones to practice right now too. It's just practice that doesn't take much thinking and is only meant to improve my proficiency, so Shadow Clones are enough. Naturally, the original has to do some more serious thinking! As for Naruto, at his level, even if he learns the Rasengan and manages to use some of the Nine-Tails' power, he's still no match for my Water Release!"

"You're a little too confident..." Jiraiya frowned slightly. "Do you really have that much faith in your Ninjutsu? Then you'd better be careful. Once Naruto finishes his training, he'll definitely give you a real surprise!"

"Uncle Jiraiya, you're only saying that because you haven't seen my techniques, right?" I got to my feet and crossed my arms, looking down at Jiraiya. "How strong can Naruto be? I've already mastered the Wind Release: Rasengan, which is stronger than the Rasengan. No matter how strong Naruto's techniques are, can they be stronger than that?"

From what I'd just observed, Jiraiya thought quite highly of me, so he probably wouldn't refuse a request like this, right?

"Words alone prove nothing. How about seeing it for yourself?" I smiled slightly. "I've just completed the second stage of my Azure Water Release, and I wanted to find someone to test its power on! Even Orochimaru suffered at the hands of my Ninjutsu during the second exam!"

"Is that so? Now I'm really interested in trying it!"

A secluded, spacious clearing somewhere in Konoha.

Just like cities in my previous life, "Konoha" had two different meanings. In the broader sense, Konoha included the central urban area and the larger surrounding suburbs and satellite towns, such as Kikyo Castle. In the narrower sense, it referred only to Konoha's urban area. Just as I'd lived in the suburbs of Guangzhou in my previous life and would still tell people, "I'm going to Guangzhou today," people from Konoha's suburbs or satellite towns often called going into the city "going to Konoha." It sounded as though they lived somewhere else, but that was just a misunderstanding.

The place where Jiraiya and I sparred was also far from the city center. Though it was far away, for ninjas, the trip was only a twenty-minute walk.

Since we'd agreed he would see the power of my Ninjutsu, Jiraiya didn't take the initiative to attack. Instead, he stood quietly a dozen or so meters away, waiting for me to use a Ninjutsu first.

"Azure Water Release: Water Clone!"

For a Ninjutsu like the Water Clone, I normally only needed to circulate my Chakra and never had to make Hand Seals. But for this special Water Clone, I made the unusual choice to use Hand Seals, and they were different from the ones for an ordinary Water Clone!

The Water Clone first condensed into a core, then layers of ultra-pure water wrapped around it like an onion until it had completely taken my form-

"A very complex clone! That structure is so the clone can discard damaged parts and keep moving after it's attacked, right? That way, it won't be so easy to destroy!" Jiraiya analyzed as he watched my clone.

"Unfortunately, Uncle Jiraiya, your guess is-" I gave Jiraiya a cold smile. "Completely wrong!"

The Water Clone stomped hard, the powerful force unleashed in an instant smashing a large crater into the ground! The tremendous reaction force accelerated the clone in a fraction of a second until it was moving too fast for the naked eye to see!

The Water Clone's fist blasted toward Jiraiya with immense force!

Boom-

Countless clouds of dust immediately rose from the ground where Jiraiya stood!

The dust gradually settled, revealing the Water Clone and Jiraiya-

"Looks like... he withstood it!"