A few days later, Konoha Gate stood between two enormous wooden pillars, each more than a man's embrace in diameter. An iron plaque engraved with Konoha's symbol hung above the entrance.
Tall gray-white walls stretched out from either side of the pillars, their roof tiles dark green from years of rain.
Jiraiya stood at the gate with a sealed scroll nearly as big as his upper body strapped to his back. At his feet crouched a green-skinned messenger toad he'd just brought over from Mount Myoboku.
Then he saw Sakura standing beside Naruto and Sasuke, a travel pack on her back.
Jiraiya's yawn caught halfway through. His mouth was still open as his brows furrowed.
He reached up to scratch the back of his head, then pointed at Sakura.
"Sasuke, what's she doing here?" Jiraiya's voice echoed through the empty gate.
Sasuke adjusted the strap on his backpack. "Sakura's coming with us."
"Give me a reason. Taking two brats is already a hassle. Three will be worse."
Precise chakra control meant separating physical and mental energy within the body's chakra pathways, then gathering it at a single point and releasing it in a burst.
Sakura had developed a technique like that on her own in just a few months. Her intuition and understanding of chakra control far surpassed those of an ordinary ninja.
Sasuke planned to keep studying how to separate and extract mental energy to produce Cursed Energy along the way. Having someone like Sakura, who excelled at precise chakra manipulation, work with him and observe would save him a lot of trial and error.
"Sakura's chakra control is excellent." Sasuke turned his gaze back to Jiraiya. "She can help me with some things."
Jiraiya was about to say something, but Anko emerged from beside one of the stone pillars at the gate. "I've seen what Sakura can do, too. She's good."
"I taught her, so what's the problem? You're taking two, so taking three won't make a difference. Lord Jiraiya, stop fussing."
Anko turned to Sasuke and bent down to lean closer. The sweet scent of dango syrup drifted over.
"How's the mark?"
"Round Deer is treating it continuously. The recovery's stable," Sasuke said.
Anko nodded.
"Good. Remember to bring your teacher something tasty when you get back. Don't think you can leave the village and stop bringing me gifts."
She straightened and stepped back, then waved to Sakura and the others.
Then her gaze moved from Sasuke to Naruto, then to Sakura, and finally to Jiraiya.
"Lord Jiraiya, I'm leaving these three brats in your hands."
"Who said I'd take three..." Jiraiya muttered. "All right, all right. Let's go. If we dawdle any longer, it'll be dark."
Jiraiya turned and strode out through Konoha Gate, the huge scroll on his back. Naruto immediately dashed after him.
Sasuke followed, with Sakura close behind.
Two rows of pine trees stood outside Konoha Gate. A dirt road wound between them and stretched toward a series of overlapping green hills in the distance.
The sun had climbed overhead. Thin clouds spread across the sky, filtering the sunlight into a bright, hazy glare.
About half a day after they left the village walls behind, the main road had long since petered out at the foot of the mountains.
The canopy overhead grew denser and denser. Trees crowded in from both sides, leaving only a narrow strip of sky above.
Naruto had already run back and forth at least ten times. He kicked stones by the roadside, chased beetles that flew past, or suddenly sprinted ahead to the next bend before running back to ask how much farther they had to go.
This time, he set his sights directly on Jiraiya.
"Pervy Sage! When are you finally going to teach me the Summoning Technique?"
Walking backward, Naruto blocked Jiraiya's path and shouted as he moved.
Jiraiya's eye twitched. He rubbed his temples, his voice lazy, as if he wanted to skip past the subject.
"You can't learn the Summoning Technique in a day or two. Get familiar with the area first. Go scout ahead and run a couple of laps to burn off some of that excess energy."
"You're fobbing me off again!" Naruto pointed at Jiraiya's nose.
"You said you'd teach me at the training ground last time! And what happened? I summoned a toad that couldn't even talk! How's that a Summoning Technique?"
"Didn't I teach you the Hand Seals that day? Have you learned them? If you haven't, then stop whining." Jiraiya snorted and quickened his pace.
Naruto kept asking questions as his voice came from up ahead, gradually muffled by the trees until it faded into an indistinct racket.
Sasuke walked at the back of the group. He paid no attention to Naruto's noise, instead quickening his pace until he was walking beside Sakura.
"Sakura," Sasuke suddenly called from her right.
"Huh? What is it, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura turned her head, her ponytail brushing her shoulder as she looked at him in confusion.
"That move you used at the training ground, the one where you concentrated chakra in your fist. Could you demonstrate it up ahead?"
Sakura's steps faltered for a moment.
Sasuke wasn't the type to strike up a conversation with just anyone. At the training ground, he usually only spoke to point out a problem.
It was rare for him to ask her to discuss a technique.
Her fingers unconsciously tightened around her backpack, and she grew nervous.
I have to give it my best!
"Of course!" Sakura nodded emphatically. "Where should I do it?"
"That tree up ahead will do." Sasuke pointed to a sturdy oak beside the road.
Sakura took off her backpack and set it by her feet. Then she walked up to the oak, planted her feet shoulder-width apart, and drew her right fist back to her waist.
"I haven't thought of a name for this move yet, but the principle is—"
She took a deep breath. Her fist rested at her waist as chakra flowed slowly through it.
Before long, energy began to surge around her knuckles.
"Concentrate chakra over the surface of your fist, then release it all at the instant you hit your target."
Sakura's voice grew much calmer than usual, her eyes fixed intently on the trunk.
"Unlike ordinary Taijutsu, you concentrate the energy at a very small point and make it all burst out on contact."
She planted her right foot forward. The strength of her hips and legs traveled up her spine to her shoulder, then down her arm.
Sasuke could feel the chakra inside her being refined and drawn out.
Her fist glowed with blue chakra as she slammed it into the trunk.
"Bang!"
A heavy boom rang out. The tree canopy shook violently, and countless leaves fluttered down.
A hole the size of a bowl appeared in the trunk. Its center was smooth, while the edges looked as if they had been blasted apart.
"How was that?" Sakura turned to look at him.
Sasuke stepped closer to the tree trunk and examined the mark she'd left.
She could extract and refine chakra, then use it as a means of attack...
That was beyond the ability of an ordinary ninja.
And Sakura was good at controlling the direction of the energy's flow, too. If Itadori had been able to control Cursed Energy well from the start, he wouldn't have invented Divergent Fist...
"You've got a real talent. I think someone who knows how to use their strength is much stronger than someone who has strength but doesn't know how to use it." Sasuke looked into Sakura's eyes, lost in thought.
Should I try teaching her how to extract Cursed Energy? Could she land a Black Flash?
Under his gaze, Sakura suddenly felt awkward. She blinked, her face growing redder and redder.
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