Commentary

Watching two tiny people fight on the field is actually quite interesting.

Ninjutsu they used, which should have been earth-shattering, became exquisite and delicate after being scaled down.

For example, the Manda she simulated Water Release, although copied exactly, were no longer so ferocious and terrifying after being shrunk a hundred times in size; they were just ordinary pythons a few meters long.

Even the "Water Release: Leviathan's Wrath" technique, which was supposed to create a gigantic monster hundreds of meters long, with overwhelming and awe-inspiring power, has now become a monster only a few meters long, looking rather cute and docile...

However, once they saw how big the people in the arena were, and imagined themselves as those people, the three students in Sakura Haruno's Team realized just how enormous and terrifying these tiny Ninjutsu in that battle!

"Teacher, were the Ninjutsu you used during the battle really this powerful?" After watching for a while, Udon pushed up his glasses and asked in astonishment.

Moegi and Konohamaru looked at her with the same surprise.

"Of course! I'm doing this strictly according to the proportions."

The battle had now replayed the moment when Orochimaru used his Great Fire Annihilation for the second time. Sakura Haruno Hand Seals to help those on the field use a miniature version of the Ninjutsu. She then explained, "Let's not get sidetracked yet. Look at this scene. The Second Hokage and Orochimaru's attacks were perfectly coordinated! Before the Second Hokage even charged in with his Water Body Flicker, Orochimaru had already begun preparing this Ninjutsu..."

"Watch carefully when the Ninjutsu is completed!" Sakura said, pointing to the battle on the field.

Three students crowded around to watch intently; the battlefield, completely controlled by Sakura Haruno, could be fast-forwarded, replayed, and paused at any time. The three on the field, following the girl's gestures, recreated their previous attack:

The Second Hokage, Shunsui, circled behind him and launched a surprise attack. Sakura shattered his right wrist with an elbow strike, while the Second Hokage left Flying Thunder God Mark on her elbow. Sakura then turned and kicked off his left hand, allowing the Second Hokage to escape in Body Flicker Technique: this was the Second Hokage's offensive phase.

Next came Orochimaru's Fire Style attack.

Sakura Haruno stopped there: she snapped her fingers, and the fireball shot upwards and dispersed into the air, freezing the three people on the field.

"After completing his Ninjutsu, he didn't release it immediately. Instead, he waited an extra second, timing it perfectly so that the fireball would come rushing in right after the Second Hokage used the Flying Thunder God to leave. You all need to learn this kind of cooperative combat awareness; that's one point," Sakura explained.

She paused for a moment, then said to the three students, "Furthermore, if you were me back then, what would you have done?"

"Jump away!" Konohamaru was the first to raise his hand. "Or we can use Water Formation Wall to block it!"

Then Moegi smacked him on the head. "Idiot! How could you possibly jump that far? It's Fire Style with such a wide range!"

Sakura Haruno laughed and said, "There's not enough time to perform this Ninjutsu!"

"If I were the teacher... would Substitution Technique? If I were the teacher, I could definitely cast Substitution Technique in such a short time," Udon said, adjusting his glasses.

"While I can indeed use the Substitution Technique in such a short time... my answer is still wrong! The Substitution Technique isn't as versatile as you think. It's very useful and effective in low-level battles, but against large-scale, area-of-effect Ninjutsu like this, its movement range is too short, and it's impossible to dodge such a powerful attack!" Sakura Haruno laughed.

In battles below the Jonin, the Substitution Technique is undoubtedly a god-tier technique; however, in high-level battles, offensive Ninjutsu often covers all the usable areas of the Substitution Technique, because this technique is not used very often.

Sakura then turned her gaze to Moegi, the last one who had not yet given an answer.

Moegi pouted with a pained expression, thought for a moment, and said, "Should we use that Ice Body Flicker Technique? I remember that Master's Ice Body Flicker Technique is faster than the Substitution Technique, and it has a wider range of movement, so we can hide behind the Ice Giant!"

"Hmm, that's a passable answer..." Sakura-sensei stroked her chin and said, "But it's not the best answer yet. Let's see how I choose in actual combat!"

She continued her demonstration: Orochimaru used Fire Style, and the ice giant behind Sakura stepped forward to block the fireball.

"Oh, right!" "And the Ice Man Technique can block fireballs!" The three students, who had been focused on dodging Ninjutsu, quickly realized what was going on.

"Yes, in battle, you must learn to utilize all available resources around you. This is another combat tip I'm going to teach you today!" Sakura nodded and said, "Especially Moegi, since you're Water Release ninja, you need to pay even more attention to making good use of the water resources on the field! Because relying solely on Chakra to mimic water is too exhausting."

"Secondly, we must always be prepared to retaliate. Let's see what happens next."

The battle escalated to the point where Sakura unleashed five water dragons to bombard Orochimaru.

Orochimaru only managed to stop three of them, while the remaining two were chasing after him. On the other side of the battlefield, the Second Hokage had recovered his body and Body Flicker Technique teleported in front of Sakura to launch a surprise attack. After a fierce battle and an explosion, Sakura Haruno was covered in wounds, and the Second Hokage was blasted into pieces!

The girl on the field meticulously simulated the injuries she had sustained; the large patch of blood on her chest caused all three students to gasp in surprise.

"It didn't hit the heart, just a regular penetrating wound!" Looking at the worried looks on the three people's faces, Sakura couldn't help but find it a little funny. If she had really been seriously injured, would she still be standing here now?

But it also warmed my heart.

Sakura Haruno cleared her throat and got back to business. "Um, what are your thoughts after watching this part?"

The three stared at each other wide-eyed. Konohamaru scratched his head and said, "The Second Hokage's movements were so fast, but the teacher's reaction was also incredibly quick. It was over in an instant; I couldn't even see what happened!"

After Sakura played the video in slow motion and explained a few more sentences, the three of them finally understood what had happened in the blink of an eye.

"The Second Hokage's Flying Thunder God Body Flicker Technique is amazing! And when his first attack missed, he immediately used the Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags!" Konohamaru exclaimed in amazement.

"The Second left the Flying Thunder God Mark at the moment of his attack just now, that was so cool!" Udon also said.

"Teacher is the best!" Moegi shouted at the two of them, "The Flying Thunder God Technique is an unavoidable move, but Teacher still managed to break it!"

"Teacher is amazing!" Konohamaru echoed her, then asked Sakura earnestly, "But how did you dodge that attack, teacher? Isn't it impossible to dodge an attack like the Flying Thunder God Technique?"

It's rare to see Konohamaru asking such a serious question.

Sakura Haruno smiled slightly, "It's not that you can't dodge it. Back when the Yellow Flash faced the Cloud Ninja A–B Combination, who are now the Raikage brothers, he didn't kill them either. As long as you react quickly enough, you can still dodge it."

"Furthermore, the Second Hokage's Body Flicker Technique is slower than the Fourth Hokage's, and the Impure World Reincarnation version of him wasn't able to unleash his full power, so it's not surprising that I was able to dodge this attack."

"Back to the main topic."

"This section on the Second Hokage's fighting style is something you should all learn from. The moment his attack was thwarted, he already planned his next attack. When his first Body Flicker Technique failed, he immediately left behind the Flying Thunder God Formula. When the second Flying Thunder God Technique failed to kill me instantly, he immediately used the Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags. His attacks came one after another!" Sakura Haruno said seriously.

"Your biggest problem right now is that your attacks aren't well-coordinated; each move is disjointed."

"Take Konohamaru for example. Every time you use Great Fireball, you just stand there like an idiot waiting for the result," she said, shaking her head with a headache. "Do you think Great Fireball is some kind of ultimate move that guarantees a result just by using it! Statistically, the hit rate of Great Fireball the battlefield is less than one in ten. You only hit someone once out of ten!"

"Teacher, I know I was wrong!" Konohamaru lowered his head and accepted the lesson.

"It's not enough to just say 'I understand,' you have to put it into action and make changes!" Sakura Haruno patted his head. "I'll pay special attention to that during our practice later."

Glancing at the two snickering beside her, Ying raised an eyebrow. "You two too! You play quite well as a team, but you always make these kinds of mistakes when you're fighting alone! I'll keep a close eye on you during practice later!"

Moegi and Udon immediately straightened their faces. "Yes, teacher!"

The girl looked around at the three people who stood solemnly, behaving like obedient children. Udon was still holding a pen and taking notes. She nodded in satisfaction.

Although her three students were a bit mischievous, they were quite obedient as long as she put on a stern face.

After completing a batch of low-level tasks and laying a solid foundation, Sakura Haruno is gradually increasing the proportion of time she spends on training, preparing to reduce the amount of tasks she has to do.

We need to start intensifying their combat training!

Because the Chunin Ninja Exams are coming soon.

"Finally, there's the issue of taking the initiative in battle. I sacrificed the Ice Giant to block the fireball just now to buy time to unleash Ninjutsu counterattack and gain the upper hand," Sakura explained. "This concept is still too abstract for you to grasp yet. You can memorize it for now, and after each battle, remember to reflect on it from the perspective of taking the initiative. Gradually, it will become a concept."

The three students nodded repeatedly, like chickens pecking at rice.

They then watched the rest of the battle, completely absorbed in the exciting fight, as if they had forgotten to breathe.

Even after the demonstration ended, he remained engrossed in the battle, remaining silent for a long time.

"Alright!" Sakura clapped her hands and said with a smile, "That's all for the debriefing for now! Today's tactics lesson also incorporated examples and covered a lot of material. Remember to review it several times when you get home!"

"That battle was pretty exciting, wasn't it? Later, when we have time, I can give you a recap of my battles with other fighters." She opened her right palm, counting on her fingers one by one. "Let me think... Besides this battle, there were also the battles against 'Kage' level fighters: the battles against Sasori of the Red Sand and Deidara, and the battles against Kakuzu and Hidan."

"A weaker enemy would be the one against Kimimaro and the Sound Four. Well, let's skip the one from the Land of Snow. The battle against Kabuto Chunin Ninja Exams would count as half of that."

As Sakura counted, she felt she didn't have enough fingers, so she decided to skip the rest. "Ahead of that, it's all battles, let's skip that!"

"These were all life-or-death battles where there was no holding back," Sakura Haruno extended her left hand again. "The slightly more formal sparring matches, the Jonin Exams with Might Guy, the Chunin Ninja Exams with your brother Naruto, a few Anbu Exams, and I even fought Sasuke; and finally, the daily training matches—the number of those is countless! I won't go into those!"

She meticulously completed the calculations, only to realize that the past two years had truly been a series of... major battles.

If Sakura hadn't gone through so many brutal life-or-death battles, how could she have grown to her current level so quickly?

Her growth was achieved step by step through countless hardships and obstacles.

(Fourth update! Bonus chapter for [Sang Wenqijian]! Finally made it! Today's update is 1K!)

(I'll be updating at least 10,000 words every three times during this period!)

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