The Third Match!

When the smoke cleared, Jiraiya stood unharmed behind a gigantic Iron-Arm Toad. The toad had blocked the Water Clone's fist with its arm... but the iron plates covering that arm had been completely shattered, and the arm itself was bent into a crooked V!

Bang!

Badly injured, the Iron-Arm Toad reverse-summoned itself back to Mount Myōboku!

"What a... incredibly dangerous technique! Even an Iron-Arm Toad, whose specialty is defense, ended up like that!" Jiraiya couldn't help wiping the cold sweat from his face!

"That's because the water I used to make the Water Clone wasn't ordinary water... Ninjutsu itself can generate tremendous force, but it needs a hard physical body to transmit that force. Ordinary clones usually have structures that are too loose and weak, like tofu. They can't withstand too much force, or they'll simply break apart... The water used in Azure Water Release is a thousand times stronger than steel, so it can easily withstand tremendous force." I proudly explained my Ninjutsu to Jiraiya. "This Water Clone I made is even stronger than my original body!"

Without warning, my clone sprang into action, locking both hands tightly around Jiraiya's shoulders and driving a vicious side kick at his waist!

Bang! Jiraiya's body burst into a cloud of smoke!

"You're pretty good on the attack, but what about defense?" Jiraiya's voice came from behind me, accompanied by a gigantic tongue! It seemed Jiraiya had used a Shadow Clone while the dust was still in the air!

Smack! The enormous tongue quickly wrapped around me, only to be held firmly at bay by a thin film of water, unable to advance an inch!

"Azure Water Release: Water Binding Technique!"

Driven by Chakra, large quantities of ultrapure water extended along the tongue's path like several ropes, moving as if alive to bind the toad Jiraiya had summoned. The tough surface of the ultrapure water didn't break apart and splash as easily as ordinary water, nor did it make the sound of splashing. As it moved, it looked more like a transparent tentacle waving through the air, an exceptionally eerie sight!

Under the crushing pressure of the water binding, Jiraiya's summoned toad convulsed. Its tongue, which had wrapped around my water shield, drooped limply, and it collapsed on the ground.

I turned around and clawed at the air with my right hand. "Hey!"

Bang!

After a puff of smoke, this toad, too, could no longer bear the strain and reverse-summoned itself away.

Jiraiya landed on the ground from above. "That's enough! If we keep going, the techniques we'd have to use will start getting dangerous!"

"I understand now! You're right. With your techniques, even if Naruto learns to use the Rasengan and the Nine-Tails' Chakra, he won't be your match... Your Water Release really is powerful! Is it because of that special water?"

"Phew!" I let out a soft breath. "That's right. I call this special water Blue Water. It's incredibly strong, and it takes a special method to make it..."

"But its shortcomings are obvious too. For one thing, it's quite difficult to produce. I only recently found a method that barely works, but as you can see, what I'm using now is already a considerable portion of what I've stored!"

"The other shortcoming, which I only just confirmed, is that it's extremely difficult to control. Because it's so strong, changing its shape is hard, even though it's still essentially a mass of liquid... Right now, I control its movement by using the water's Nature Transformation, [flow], to make it change shape and move. In other words, every movement the Water Clone makes consumes Chakra! It doesn't use much, but the amount isn't negligible for me..."

"Tch! I thought that after completing the second stage of Azure Water Release, I was already a little invincible! But I'm still limited by Chakra!"

Jiraiya thought carefully for a moment, then said to me, "Although I don't really understand your Ninjutsu, from what you've said, if a technique like your Water Clone has trouble moving... why does it have to be made in layers, with the whole clone moving together? Why not just have the joints move, like a human body? And if you imitate the human body, wouldn't it be easier to control too?"

"Huh?" I froze, then gave it some serious thought. "I designed it like an onion so that if the surface broke, the whole mass of Blue Water wouldn't be ruined... But that would work too! Looks like I was stuck on one way of doing things! Thanks, Uncle Jiraiya!"

"Haha, it's nothing, nothing!" Jiraiya laughed, then turned serious. "Sakura, you'll be fighting Naruto soon in the third exam. I have a favor to ask..."

"Do you want me to go easy on Naruto?" I tilted my head and looked at Jiraiya with an innocent expression.

"No, quite the opposite!" Jiraiya held up an index finger toward me. "I hope you won't deliberately go easy on Naruto to hide your strength..."

Jiraiya looked at me seriously. "I know you probably don't want to display your secret technique in front of a crowd... This request may be sudden and rude, so please forgive me... I just hope Naruto can see the true gap between himself and the strong, so he'll have a clear goal to chase!"

"Uh... Uncle Jiraiya, I'm a little pleased that you'd flatter me by calling me strong," I said, a little unsure what Jiraiya meant, "but you want me to beat Naruto, right? I could do that in our usual sparring matches too! It's true that my Azure Water Release's weaknesses are just as obvious as its strengths... So unless it's necessary, I'd rather not show it to outsiders, especially foreign ninja..."

"Sakura, a private sparring match and a match on a formal occasion like this have completely different meanings... You and Naruto aren't enemies. Only in a duel like this will you truly give it your all, and that's completely different from sparring! I hope you'll show him as much of your superior strength as you can, so he'll have a clear goal in mind! Besides, even without Azure Water Release, you wouldn't be that much weaker, would you? If I remember right, didn't you create another S-rank Water Release technique?"

I sighed silently. The third exam was when the Konoha Collapse Operation would begin. Unless it was necessary, I really hadn't planned to reveal my strength in front of the Sand shinobi and Sound Ninja I'd soon be fighting to the death. I wouldn't even have minded going easy and losing to Naruto for that. None of my Water Release techniques gave away how powerful they were to Chakra sensing, making them perfect for catching people off guard! If I revealed them during the match, they wouldn't be nearly as effective.

But Uncle Jiraiya had gone this far to ask...

"All right, I won't lose to Naruto...!"

"Then I'm counting on you!" Jiraiya said to me with great solemnity!

After Jiraiya said those things to me, he took Naruto off to who knew what remote corner to practice using the Nine-Tails Chakra. I didn't see him again before the third exam arrived.

In the original story, Naruto trained for three weeks without making any substantial progress. In the end, Jiraiya threw him off a cliff, and only when his life was in danger did Naruto manage to call on the Nine-Tails' Chakra and save himself. That wasn't to say the preceding three weeks had been a waste of time. After all, that training had built up to his breakthrough at that moment, but those three weeks could undoubtedly have been compressed into a shorter period, say, one week...

When Naruto was suddenly found unconscious outside the hospital a week before the exam, I knew Jiraiya's patience really did change as the exam drew closer!

Haku's return finally spared me the predicament of having nothing to do before the match. Haku was still under observation, and with tensions in the village running high, Haku couldn't become an official Konoha Ninja for the time being. Haku had plenty of free time each day, so I promptly enlisted Haku as my Ice Release teacher.

Unfortunately, there were quite a few Ninjutsu and special skills of Haku's that I coveted but couldn't learn.

Some were Ninjutsu unique to the Yuki, usable only by those with Yuki blood, such as the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals.

Others were because Haku's ideas about Ninjutsu were completely different from mine. His one-handed Hand Seals, for instance, were something I simply couldn't accept.

Hand Seals weren't just a matter of putting your hands into special shapes. Otherwise, plenty of people in my previous life with nimble, dexterous hands could have made seven or eight seals a second. Wouldn't ninja who studied Hand Seals be worse than them? That wasn't how it worked at all!

The essence of Hand Seals lay in mobilizing Chakra. Every seal represented a unique way of circulating it, and several seals combined to form a Ninjutsu. In essence, Hand Seals mobilized the Chakra within the body to form a Ninjutsu! What was the point of making seals with your hands if your Chakra didn't move with them? I could easily make eight of those "seals" a second myself!

The key factor limiting the speed of Hand Seals was the speed at which Chakra circulated after each seal. Hand Seals were a little like the knee-jerk reflex: every time a seal was made, the body involuntarily mobilized Chakra and set it circulating. This conditioned reflex could be reinforced and accelerated through years of practice. Strong Chakra control didn't necessarily mean a person could make Hand Seals quickly, just as intelligent people didn't necessarily have quick physical reactions. The nerves responsible for thinking in an intelligent person's brain reacted quickly, but that didn't mean the nerves in their body reacted quickly too. It was said that Itachi was the fastest at Hand Seals, able to make six in a second, but that didn't mean he was the fastest at activating Ninjutsu!

Most ninja had experienced this: if they practiced and used a technique often enough, they no longer needed to rely entirely on Hand Seals to circulate their Chakra! Take the Substitution Technique, for example. It had five seals, but who had ever seen a ninja make all five when life and death were on the line? Someone like Kakashi could perform the Substitution Technique with a single thought.

As for me, my Hand Seal speed topped out at four seals a second at best (actually around five to seven seals), but I'd never bothered spending time practicing them. I could perform many low-rank and D-rank Water Release techniques with a single thought. As long as my Chakra control was good enough, what did it matter whether my Hand Seals were fast?

But all the seals that formed a Ninjutsu were performed with both hands, because only both hands could achieve that balance and mobilize Chakra throughout the body. With one-handed seals, either the seal had a simple function, like extracting Chakra, or it could only mobilize Chakra on one side of the body! Only someone like Haku, who had learned through unconventional methods, would think of an approach like that, and she had actually managed to make it work... She was a genius!

As for me, forget it. I wasn't confident I could use Ninjutsu while mobilizing Chakra from only one side of my body.

Apart from those things, I made rapid progress with other Ice Release Ninjutsu, just as I'd expected! And although Haku had never received a formal education at the Ninja Academy and all of Haku's Ninjutsu had been learned through unconventional methods, some of Haku's ingenious ideas gave me plenty of inspiration.

After studying more closely the Water Clone I'd used while sparring with Jiraiya, I discovered that my design was not only overly complicated, but also not very useful in actual combat. After taking Jiraiya's and Haku's advice, I decided to imitate an insect's exoskeleton and use the ultrapure water as armor for the Water Clone. That way, it no longer consumed Chakra constantly. Azure Water Release: Blue Water Clone had taken its initial form and become useful in actual combat.

The setbacks in developing the Blue Water Clone made me understand that I'd only be fooling myself if I assumed I could create an exceptionally powerful Ninjutsu just by replacing the water used in other Water Release techniques with ultrapure water!

In short, the time before the third exam passed peacefully.

August sixth, the day of the third exam.

Early morning.

I woke up early. Thinking that today was the day of the Konoha Collapse Operation, I felt a little uneasy and hadn't slept well all night. The match wouldn't start until ten, and with nothing to do for the moment, I went to my usual spot atop Hokage Rock to enjoy the view.

"Water Release: Telescope Technique!"

What Jiraiya had said about Transparent Release last time had inspired me. Since I knew how a telescope worked, making a simple one with Water Release wasn't actually very difficult. As long as I could precisely control the shape and distance of two convex lenses made of water, I could easily see things far away. From the height of Hokage Rock, I could see all of Konoha clearly. Standing there gave me the illusion that I had the whole situation in hand, leaving me utterly absorbed.

Sometimes, from this angle, I could even see secrets hidden behind high walls or in secluded places... For example, right now I could see Naruto and Hinata talking beneath the three wooden posts at Training Ground Seven, where we often went.

...Were they on a date?

9:45 a.m. The venue for the third exam.

"Contestants, please stand behind me and face the audience-" Genma Shiranui spoke clearly despite the Senbon clenched between his teeth, looking very cool. "Relax! Your official matches are about to begin!"

Naruto, Shikamaru, Shino, and I stood on either side of Genma Shiranui along with three Sand shinobi, facing the Konoha High Command, dignitaries from various countries, and daimyō in the stands without moving. Although I had defeated Neji in this Chunin match, the other Konoha contestants hadn't advanced as a result. Ino, who had originally fought me in the original story, had faced Choji instead. The two knew each other too well and neither could get the better of the other, so their drawn-out fight had actually ended in a tie. Hinata had fought Dosu instead. Although she had fought with great determination, her Taijutsu had been at a disadvantage against Dosu, and she had lost as well. The others' fights had gone much as they did in the original story, leaving only those of us here to advance.

"Sakura, why isn't Sasuke here yet?" Naruto grew impatient after standing there for a while and carefully turned his head to ask me.

"How should I know? Just like you, I haven't seen them in a whole month! Kakashi, the king of lateness, has to be late even for a match this important. Honestly, what can you do with him?" I quietly turned my head toward Naruto.

"If Sasuke doesn't show up soon, he'll be disqualified for forfeiting, won't he? What do we do, Sakura? Think of something!"

"He probably won't be, Naruto. More than half the spectators in the stands only know the Uchiha name, and they only came here to watch Sasuke fight, so as long as Sasuke shows up, they'll definitely let him compete! Wait, Naruto!" Seeing the Third Hokage suddenly stand up, I hurriedly stopped Naruto, who still wanted to speak. "Be quiet! It's starting!"

"...Next, the eight contestants who passed the preliminaries will take part in the official selection matches," the Third Hokage said as he walked onto the platform with his hands behind his back. "The third stage of the Chunin Ninja Exams officially begins!"

As soon as the Third Hokage finished speaking, Genma Shiranui turned around and looked at us. "I've already explained the rules of the exam. I'll emphasize this one last time: a match will only stop when one side dies or admits defeat... However, if I decide the outcome is settled, I'll step in and stop the match myself! Is that clear?"

"Now, let the matches begin!"

"First round: Naruto Uzumaki versus-"

"Sakura Haruno!"

The others all made their way up to the stands, leaving only Naruto and me facing each other in the arena with the examiner.

"Naruto... I never thought you'd be the one standing here to fight me!" I stared intently into Naruto's azure eyes!

"Sakura, did you know? You've always been the person I wanted to challenge most! We've sparred lots of times, but... I've never seen your true strength! Today, show me everything you've got! Because after my special training, I'm really strong, so don't let your guard down and lose to me!"

He wasn't bluffing! Naruto's eyes were full of confidence!

"Is that so... I'm looking forward to it too!" I suddenly smiled. "Let me see how strong you've gotten after your special training!"

Just how strong was Naruto now that he'd learned the Rasengan and mastered the Nine-Tails Chakra? I really wanted to find out!

My body was trembling slightly! It seemed I was thrilled by the battle ahead!

The Chakra within me was already eager to burst forth!

"First round..."

"Begin!"