The Sakura Legend

Hokage's Office

"Old man, I'm going to go check out this genius you're so impressed with," Jiraiya said, and with that, he jumped out the window.

The Third Hokage, seeing that Jiraiya was unwilling to begin training Naruto in controlling the Nine-Tails' chakra at this time, could only give up. Perhaps Jiraiya was right; he was being too impatient. Naruto still needed more time to grow. He was getting old, after all. Sigh…

Leaving aside the Third Hokage's musings, Jiraiya had already arrived at the Ninja Academy, looking at Sakura Haruno's file.

"She's quite cute, isn't she? If Tsunade trains her, I have a feeling she'll end up just as violent," Jiraiya thought, recalling Tsunade's Chakra Enhanced Strength. He shuddered involuntarily.

He watched as the students gradually left the Ninja Academy, but Sakura still hadn't appeared. "I'll go take a look inside. The old man said she's a good student; she shouldn't be skipping class," Jiraiya thought, and he went inside to search.

At that moment, Sakura was sparring with Naruto and Sasuke in the training grounds. Actually, it was Sasuke who wanted to spar with Sakura. After the incident at the beginning of the year, Naruto wasn't playing pranks as much anymore. He wanted the power to protect Sakura, and that meant he needed to become stronger. So, when Sakura and Sasuke sparred, Naruto often joined in, even though he couldn't beat either of them. But it was a good thing, and Sakura was happy to guide Naruto.

Sasuke, after the events at the beginning of the year, also realized how weak he still was. Half a year had passed, and he had temporarily hidden the pain of his clan's massacre. After all, pain and the experience of death can make a person grow. The events of earlier in the year had caused all three of them to mature somewhat, not in terms of strength, but in terms of their mentalities. In addition, he was now alone, and Naruto was also alone, so for the past few months, the three of them had been sparring together after school.

Initially, Sasuke could hold his own against Sakura, but as Sakura mastered the techniques the Third had given her, Sasuke could no longer keep up. So, he had to team up with Naruto to fight Sakura. However, due to chakra limitations, if Sakura couldn't defeat them quickly, a prolonged battle would be disadvantageous for her.

"Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!" Sakura formed only the Snake seal and cast Swamp of the Underworld, trapping both Sasuke and Naruto.

"That's it for today," Sakura said, canceling the jutsu and addressing Sasuke and Naruto.

"Whew, Sakura-chan, can you teach me ninjutsu?" Naruto asked, lying exhausted on the ground. "I always feel so helpless when you use ninjutsu. The teachers at the academy don't teach any advanced techniques."

"I'd love to teach you, but the problem is you can't learn them. What can I do?" Sakura said with a shrug.

"Damn it! I've been practicing so hard, but I just can't seem to get it," Naruto said, frustrated.

"Maybe you're not suited to learning this ninjutsu. Don't rush to learn ninjutsu; the basics are key. Actually, I don't have as much chakra as you do. I have to use ninjutsu at crucial moments to deliver a decisive blow. Otherwise, if you miss, you're just wasting chakra. Just now, when I fought you two, I only used the Body Replacement Technique and Swamp of the Underworld. Mostly, I was just using taijutsu to spar with you," Sakura explained to Naruto.

Sakura knew Naruto had a Wind Release affinity, but she didn't know any Wind Release techniques. Moreover, Naruto's fundamentals were too weak. Even if she gave him techniques to learn, he wouldn't be able to master them; it would just be a waste of time. It was better for him to solidify his basics. Learning ninjutsu would be much smoother later on.

"Sakura, why can you use Swamp of the Underworld with only one hand seal?" Sasuke asked, puzzled. Although Sasuke didn't know Sakura's ninjutsu, he had some knowledge of them; the Uchiha clan's library didn't contain only Fire Release techniques.

"You mean the hand seals? Hand seals are just a way to guide the chakra in your body to use the corresponding ninjutsu. Chakra is created by combining spiritual energy and physical energy, and jutsu are the effects created by materializing chakra. Because it's difficult to precisely control chakra to materialize a jutsu, like Wind Release, Fire Release, Earth Release, Water Release, and Lightning Release, we use hand seals to guide the chakra and better manifest the jutsu. If your chakra control is extremely high, you can simplify these hand seals or even use seal-less ninjutsu, you understand? Of course, some jutsu are non-elemental ninjutsu. These jutsu can be used without seals because they're just chakra; you only need to control the chakra itself," Sakura explained.

Sakura thought of the Rasengan. The Rasengan was a prime example of a seal-less ninjutsu because it was just a ball of high-density chakra with no materialized elemental properties, so it didn't require seals. Her own Chakra Enhanced Strength was also a manifestation of chakra control, requiring no elemental change.

"Then... is there... any trick to controlling chakra?" Sasuke asked, his face slightly flushed.

"You want to know the trick, huh? Hehe, then you have to promise me something," Sakura said, smiling mischievously at Sasuke.

"What... thing?"

"It's not very difficult for you, but it's not time yet. Just promise me now, and I'll tell you when the time comes. Don't worry; it's nothing that will embarrass you," Sakura said, amused by Sasuke's reddening face.

"Fine... I promise," Sasuke thought for a moment. Ultimately, strength was most important, so he'd agree for now.

"Naruto, do you want to learn too? This is crucial for building your foundation," Sakura asked, turning to Naruto.

"Ah, I can learn too? I want to learn, I want to learn! Sakura-chan, teach me quickly!" Naruto, seeing that Sakura was also going to teach him, said eagerly.

Sasuke suddenly felt cheated. Naruto got to learn without doing anything, while he had to promise Sakura something. His gaze towards Sakura was filled with discontent.

"Haha... haha... Isn't this just finding you a sparring partner so you can learn faster?" Sakura laughed awkwardly at Sasuke.

"Alright, let's start. Watch carefully," Sakura said, walking towards a tree. She then walked straight up the tree to the top and then walked back down.

"See? Concentrate chakra in your feet, create a suction force, and maintain it. Now, practice like this."

"It's that simple? And that's how you practice?" Sasuke asked, somewhat incredulous.

"Hehe, simple? You try it first," Sakura said, seeing Sasuke's displeasure. "If you can succeed on your first try, then you don't have to do what you promised me."

"Hmph," Sasuke snorted and walked towards the tree.

Sakura watched as Sasuke fell off the tree before taking even two steps and said, "Practice slowly. Don't forget what you promised me. Naruto, you need to practice hard too. This is the first step to becoming Hokage. I won't stay with you; I'm leaving first."