Special Training

Sakura has many creative ideas, but very few of them actually come to fruition. (￡∝Top Says)

For example, Sakura once asked Kakashi if soaking her hands in vinegar to soften the bones could improve her hand Hand Seals speed. Kakashi immediately berated her, saying that Sakura's idea was completely wrong from start to finish and terribly unprofessional!

First, soaking your hands in vinegar won't soften your hand bones because vinegar simply can't penetrate the body. Even if it did, the body needs to maintain its acid-base balance, so the vinegar will eventually be neutralized and wouldn't reach the bones. Finally, if there really were enough vinegar to soften your hand bones, you'd be in the hospital!

Secondly, softening hand bones does not increase the speed of hand Hand Seals. The function of bones is to support the body; what truly affects hand speed are ligaments and muscles. Reducing bone strength will actually hinder Hand Seals!

Ultimately, the speed at which Ninjutsu is executed is determined by Chakra, not Hand Seals! Hand Seals merely aid in Chakra manipulation. Many Ninjutsu, once mastered, don't require complete Hand Seals at all, because your body has already memorized how the Ninjutsu mobilizes Chakra. For example, Naruto's Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu requires about ten hand seals to Hand Seals completely, but Naruto only practiced for a few months and can now complete the Ninjutsu with just one hand seal! Elite ninjas like Kakashi can perform most of their common low-level Ninjutsu without hand seals or with only one hand seal!

In other words, claims about having the fastest hand speed in the Shinobi World or six hand seals per second are just for bragging to people who don't understand. Please, any Earthling can do six hand seals per second! Moreover, Hand Seals speed is almost entirely dependent on Hand Seals to a certain level—usually two years of practice—you reach your limit, and further training can only improve it to a limited extent.

In short, Sakura got a good scolding from Kakashi that time!

Besides these utterly absurd ideas, there are also some ideas that fail to work for various reasons.

For example, the Shadow Clone cheat. This method is ineffective against Sakura, at least not until her Chakra reaches a certain level. Ironically, Sakura told Kakashi about this method, hoping to create a cheat code for Naruto, only to find that Naruto hardly ever uses it!

The reason is as follows.

After the Shadow Clone dissipates, the clone's memories return to the original body. Through experiments, Sakura discovered that this so-called "memory" only includes cortical recollections and lacks bodily memories—more precisely, motor memories—which are stored in the brain. This is because the Shadow Clone does not completely simulate the human body; it only replicates the main functions, omitting the details. Unless you can project the brain tissue and nerves within the original body into the Shadow Clone, the corresponding memories will not be projected into the original body's nervous system after the Shadow Clone dissipates.

We know that Taijutsu training involves two aspects: first, building muscle; and second, through countless repetitions, memorizing the power generation techniques for punches and kicks into the body. This type of memory is the most profound and fastest-responding. However, this memory does not pass through the cerebral cortex; it only travels through the body's neural circuits and is stored in the brain!

Therefore, using Shadow Clone to train Taijutsu is ineffective! It neither trains muscles nor allows you to collect bodily memories!

Shadow Clone can only be used to train specific Ninjutsu, such as to comprehend the Nature Transformation of Chakra, because these processes are accomplished by the brain!

So, the question is, does Naruto like practicing Ninjutsu this way?

"Damn it... I went through so much trouble to persuade Naruto to learn a few Ninjutsu!" Sakura roared inwardly. "Naruto has wasted all my good intentions!"

There were also things like internal energy cultivation techniques, which Sakura had once fantasized about using to train her Chakra. Kakashi was noncommittal about this, even thinking the idea was good, but added, "Don't come looking for me if you ruin yourself by practicing something no one has ever tried before!"

Sakura immediately chickened out.

Come to think of it, Earth before Sakura's transmigration was a perfectly normal, materialistic world. All these internal energy cultivation techniques were fabricated fakes. How could Sakura possibly expect something fabricated to become real in another world? Besides, Sakura didn't remember any internal energy cultivation methods at all!

The entire text of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic is already publicly available online; how many people will actually memorize it?

Of course, setting aside specific internal techniques, the philosophical reflections within this are quite meaningful. After all, the Hokage world is full of strategists, schemers, and politicians, but thinkers and philosophers are a luxury in a ninja world where peace is so rare. Kakashi believes that with the efforts of a dozen generations, they might actually create an effective Chakra training method, instead of the current methods that rely on exploiting the body and have ridiculously large side effects.

The Eight Gates Forbidden Technique is said to have originated from a Chakra training method that extremely pushes the body's potential. Of course, the amount of Chakra expanded by this forbidden technique is only temporary, thus minimizing permanent damage to the body.

The journey was smooth sailing from then on.

The next day, Sakura and her friends arrived at their destination: the Land of Waves, at Tazuna's house.

After a night's rest, the next morning...

"Zabuza might attack again... To protect Tazuna's family, we need to be prepared," Kakashi led Sakura and the others to a forest. "I've arranged some special training for you!"

"But Zabuza could come back at any time. How are we supposed to train under those circumstances?" Sasuke asked.

"Don't worry, the injuries Sakura inflicted on him will take at least a week to heal!" Kakashi held up one finger. "That's enough time for you to complete your special training and be able to fight back if more enemies attack. During this time, I'll take care of protecting them!"

"Before we begin training, let me give you a brief explanation of Chakra-- "

"Chakra--? What's that? I think I've heard of it, but I don't think I've ever heard of it before." Naruto looked confused.

"Idiot!! Where have you remembered all the Chakra explanations I've given you?! You better memorize them!" Sakura rolled her eyes helplessly, then gave Naruto a sharp rap on the head!

Kakashi was quite annoyed. How could a ninja not even know what Chakra was? That was incredibly stupid!

Kakashi sighed weakly, "Alright, alright, then please have Sakura explain it in detail!"

"Listen up! Chakra is a type of energy produced by the perfect fusion of spiritual and physical energy, and it's essential for using Ninjutsu. Physical energy is the energy absorbed from each of the 10 trillion cells in the human body. The other type of energy is spiritual energy, cultivated through extensive training and accumulated experience."

Naruto adopted a listening expression. "It seems complicated, but even if I don't know it, my body can just remember it!"

"That's right, you can use Ninjutsu just the same way even if you don't know!" Sasuke also indicated that he didn't care.

Kakashi shook his head and said, "You're wrong! That's not enough to fully control Chakra! To truly control Chakra perfectly, you need to be like Sakura! In that respect, Sakura is already better than me!"

Sakura continued, "So, you finally understand that all those Chakra manipulation exercises I did weren't just for fun!"

After much persuasion, Kakashi and Sakura finally made it clear to the two of them the importance of Chakra manipulation.

However, it seems that neither of them really understands.

Sakura, who understood both of them very well, knew that Naruto seemed silly and didn't know anything, and Sasuke, despite his cool appearance, wasn't much better than Naruto. He had high grades in school, but he was completely clueless about things that weren't taught in school!

For these two guys, actions speak louder than words.

"You just need to practice with me. Watch carefully!" Sakura solemnly Hand Seals, the kind used to gather Chakra. Many Ninjutsu are simplified to a single seal, leaving only this one. "Like this, gather the Chakra the base of your feet, creating an adhesive force..."

Sakura lightly stepped onto the tree, as if gravity had changed direction, and walked vertically up using only her feet, finally standing upside down on a horizontal tree trunk.

"To maintain a consistent and even pace, you must concentrate fully during practice!"

"Okay, that's about it. Did you understand? You can try it out too!"

Naruto and Sasuke, standing under the tree, were stunned. They hadn't known it could be done like that! Then, each of them chose a tree, gathered their Chakra, and rushed over.

Bang! Naruto hadn't even taken two steps when, due to overusing his Chakra, he broke through a tree trunk and fell to the ground.

Sasuke's Chakra control is slightly better than Naruto's, but only by a limited margin. Sakura had reminded them of the importance of Chakra control before, but they didn't see the use in this basic training and never practiced it seriously, and now they're suffering the consequences.

Kakashi created a clone to guide the two in their training, then turned to Sakura:

"Well then, let's discuss your training over there, Sakura."

P. S.: I've ranted about so many fanfics in one go...