"Two hundred and sixteen."
"One hundred and twenty-seven."
"One hundred and twen—"
"..."
Yakumo stared at the pretty boy who had suddenly been added to her training and felt an inexplicable urge to beat him to death.
When Sakura had distracted her, at least she had done it in order. This pretty boy's interference was completely random, and the constant smile on his face was incredibly grating.
But Yakumo knew this training was important for her. Even though she was mentally pummeling Sai, she had no choice but to patiently endure and continue.
After handing Yakumo over to Sai, Sakura had gone off to study the Yin Seal on her own. She wasn't a genius, however; at best, she just had some extra knowledge from another world.
But that extra knowledge couldn't help her gain more power in this world. The laws of physics were completely different. At most, she could use her old world's knowledge as inspiration for ninjutsu.
For example, the Water Style: Water Sword she had developed, and its later variation, Water Style: Sandstone Water Sword, which added Earth Style nature transformation to the water flow to increase its cutting power.
That was the kind of inspiration her old world provided. But these were, at best, just techniques. If she truly wanted a qualitative change, she had to find the answers in this world.
Now, Sakura was staring at the man-high scroll detailing the Yin Seal formula, completely at a loss. Although she had once successfully inscribed this formula onto her own body, looking at it now, she couldn't understand it at all.
When she first became Tsunade's apprentice, Sakura knew what she lacked compared to the real Sakura Haruno: a brain.
She wasn't trying to insult herself; it was just a fact. The original Sakura was an academic prodigy, through and through.
But now, with her in this body, her grades had been disastrous after her first year at the Academy, which was the only time they had been decent. She had come dangerously close to being on Naruto's level.
So, after becoming Tsunade's student, Sakura's goal had been clear: the Yin Seal. Everything else was secondary.
And through sheer persistence over time, Sakura had finally managed to successfully inscribe the Yin Seal on her body.
But the thing about the Yin Seal was that it was incredibly difficult to learn at first. Once you succeeded, all you needed to do was use the corresponding hand seal.
In the years since, Sakura had barely glanced at the original formula. Now, looking at it again, it was like reading a heavenly script.
Improving it was out of the question. The only reason Sakura had been able to use the Yin Seal in reverse before was by forcing it with hand seals.
But that method conflicted with the original formula and wasn't very effective. If she wanted to truly reverse the Yin Seal, she had to work from the foundational structure.
"That's not right..."
"Is it like this...?"
"That doesn't seem right either..."
"Then it must be this way..."
"...Still not right."
Sakura was on the verge of a breakdown. Before she had learned the Yin Seal, she could study it for days on end without getting bored.
But now, just looking at the characters made her scalp tingle. She really wasn't a top student. Her main task now wasn't to modify the Yin Seal formula, but to straighten out its principles in her mind all over again.
Still, it was something she had studied before, so it wasn't as foreign as when she had first encountered it. Just as Sakura was concentrating on deciphering the Yin Seal scroll, a loud crash came from outside the window, followed by a tremor that shook the ground.
"So this is where you were!" a familiar voice called from outside.
Sakura's mouth twitched. She got up and looked out the window. Sure enough, it was the Pervy Sage, Jiraiya. Sakura was confused. What was he doing here? Wasn't he supposed to be training with Naruto?
Sakura went over and opened the window. Looking at Jiraiya standing on a toad's head, she asked, "Pervy Sage, what are you doing here? Aren't you training with Naruto?"
"Well..." Jiraiya closed his eyes and nodded. "I saw how much Naruto missed you, so I brought him back to see you and ease his lovesickness, hehe..."
He finished with a lecherous grin. "It's only been half a year, but you've, uh, developed quite nicely."
The moment Jiraiya's words fell, a beam of blue-white light shot past his head, shearing off a few strands of his silver-white hair.
"If you have something to say, say it. If not, don't bother me." Being teased by Jiraiya always made Sakura feel awkward. But he wasn't wrong; her body was indeed starting to mature, and secondary sexual characteristics were beginning to show.
"Haha, let's talk this out, no need to get violent." Jiraiya had a grin on his face as he regretfully touched the notch Sakura's attack had cut into his hair. Inwardly, however, he was shocked by that Storm Release laser.
He hadn't seen her in such a short time, but Sakura's skills had already reached a level where even he felt a sense of danger. Her reaction speed, the speed at which she gathered her chakra, and the time it took her to cast a jutsu had all improved significantly. Jiraiya suddenly had a new understanding of what Tsunade had described. This power was too dangerous; he had to find out where it came from.
Actually, Sakura was a little surprised herself. She hadn't meant to hit him. Or rather, she had assumed he would dodge. She never expected him to just stand there. Although she knew she had gotten stronger, she didn't think she was that much weaker than Jiraiya, who could also use natural energy.
They were both in their normal states, and in her normal state, Sakura wasn't much different from an ordinary ninja. Only when she was in her Seijutsu state did her power skyrocket. In other words, in her normal state, Sakura didn't think she could beat Jiraiya.
How strange. But Sakura didn't want to dwell on things she couldn't figure out. She looked at Jiraiya and said coldly, "Do you have something to say or not? I'm very busy right now."
"Well..." Jiraiya scratched his head. "It's nothing, really. I just heard that a lot has happened to you while I was gone, so I thought I'd come and see how you were doing."
The atmosphere instantly froze. Sakura stared at Jiraiya strangely for a long moment. "Well, you've seen me now. You can go."
"Er," Jiraiya said awkwardly. "No need to chase me away so quickly. After all, I'm kind of your teacher, too. I was the one who taught you the Rasengan."
Sakura was speechless. He wasn't wrong, technically. But she had known the Rasengan all along; she had just used Jiraiya teaching Naruto as a reasonable excuse for why she knew it.
At the time, Sakura was from a civilian family with no ninjutsu inheritance. If she had just come up with a jutsu like that on her own, she would have been seen as a monster. Geniuses could be tolerated, but monsters had to be eliminated. Sakura understood the principle of a tall tree catching the wind. It was fine to show a little talent from time to time, but showing too much would make her a monster.
"I'm really busy. If you just came to see me, I'm fine now. It's all in the past. You don't need to worry about me. Is that good enough?" Sakura said impatiently. She had a mountain of things to do and had to make a breakthrough before she went to capture the first Tailed Beast.
"What are you busy with?" Jiraiya pressed on, completely oblivious.
Jiraiya's relentless pestering made Sakura laugh in exasperation. She turned, picked up the man-high scroll covered in the Yin Seal formula, and said irritably, "I'm studying the Yin Seal. Do you want to take a look?"
Jiraiya's pupils contracted slightly as he looked at the scroll, which was labeled "Forbidden: Yin Seal." This was Tsunade's signature technique. Stealing a look would earn him a severe beating.
"H-how do you have that?" Jiraiya asked, his voice a bit strained.
"My master gave it to me. Why do you think I have it?" Sakura retorted.
She wasn't lying. Tsunade had indeed given her the scroll, but only after she became Hokage. It was one of those things where those who knew it didn't need to look, and those who looked wouldn't know it. But since Sakura had already mastered the Yin Seal, Tsunade had given her the scroll to review.
Before, Sakura hadn't understood why she needed to look at this esoteric stuff after she had already learned the seal. But today, she really wanted to go back in time and slap herself a couple of times. It was a perfect example of regretting not studying when you need the knowledge most.
Sealing jutsu was different from ninjutsu. To successfully perform a sealing jutsu, you had to understand it thoroughly. While not all sealing jutsu were like this, most were. Some even required the formula to be written on the spot. If you didn't have a complete understanding, being off by a single character could lead to disaster.
The Yin Seal was a one-time application with lifelong benefits. If it were any other type, Sakura would have definitely had a meltdown. That was why every sealing master was a precious talent. They didn't need to be incredibly powerful, but their intelligence had to be top-notch.
Perhaps Tsunade felt that although Sakura had successfully learned the Yin Seal, she still didn't understand it well enough. And now that she was Hokage, she didn't have time to teach her personally, so she had given her the scroll. But it was too late for regrets now. The scroll had been gathering dust ever since she got it.
"Do you dare to look?" Sakura asked, looking at Jiraiya provocatively.
Jiraiya gritted his teeth in frustration at her smug expression. Finally, he clenched his jaw and said, "If you dare to give it to me, I dare to look."
Right. Sakura was genuinely amused. She turned and said, "Come on, then. But let me warn you first. After you leave, I'm definitely going to report this to Master. I'll say you used force to coerce me, and I had no way to protect the scroll."
_______
+200 chapters on: patreon.com/Shinobi_Scrolls