Small Town BBQ Joint
"Delicious... munch munch... so good, so good..." Sakura stuffed her mouth with grilled meat while talking, "...Naruto, you should eat too! You carried me all the way here, aren't you hungry? Mmm~~~ delicious...."
This time, Sakura finally wasn't dreaming.
"Agh~~~ Damn it~~~ Why won't it work?!" Naruto had been practicing the Rasengan for a while now, but aside from stirring up a bit of wind, he wasn't making any progress.
"Gulp gulp~~~ Ah~~~ Refreshing~~~" Jiraiya took a large swig of beer and teased Naruto, "You won't learn it like that. If you don't eat something, how will you have the energy to learn ninjutsu...?"
"I'm about to get it, just you wait and see, Pervy Sage..." Naruto ignored Jiraiya and continued his relentless efforts.
Jiraiya didn't bother Naruto further; that kind of perseverance was a good thing. Sakura, after her initial feeding frenzy, finally began to slow down. Her thoughts turned to the matter of combining chakra natures for a Kekkei Genkai. She had a veteran ninja right here, might as well ask.
"Jiraiya-sama, do you know how to combine chakra natures to create a Kekkei Genkai?" Sakura asked between bites.
"Kekkei Genkai?" Jiraiya was a little surprised. "You want to create a Kekkei Genkai?"
"Yes. My current ninjutsu attacks are too weak, and high-powered ninjutsu consume too much chakra. So I want to give it a try," Sakura explained.
"Hmm~~~ A ninja's battles aren't just about ninjutsu. Ninjutsu is only for delivering the final blow. It's more about accumulated experience. It's not like having a Kekkei Genkai automatically makes you strong. Honestly, what you lack right now isn't ninjutsu, but experience fighting against other ninja. So, I think what you need to do is accumulate combat experience," Jiraiya offered after a moment of thought.
"Thank you, Jiraiya-sama. But I still want to try. To supplement my current attack options." Sakura genuinely appreciated Jiraiya's guidance. He wasn't her teacher, yet he was still willing to offer such instruction. Even when teaching Naruto the Rasengan, he hadn't excluded her. In the world of Naruto, mentorship was incredibly important.
"Haha... There's no harm in trying. Who knows, with your talent, you might actually succeed," Jiraiya chuckled. "So, tell me, what have you been doing?"
Jiraiya wouldn't believe for a second that Sakura hadn't already tried something before coming to him.
Sakura then described her method in detail, including her theories about Kekkei Genkai.
"Hmm..." Jiraiya furrowed his brow and closed his eyes in thought. "It seems you've already planned out the path you want to take. I didn't realize you'd researched Kekkei Genkai so thoroughly."
Jiraiya was actually quite surprised. Some of the information Sakura had about Kekkei Genkai was new even to him. Although Sakura kept saying they were "theories," she couldn't have come up with them without a solid foundation of knowledge.
"I don't have a choice. I just want to protect my family and friends. Until this world achieves true peace, I have to keep getting stronger," Sakura said with a helpless shrug.
Looking at the young girl in front of him, Jiraiya saw a reflection of Minato. Both were childhood prodigies, both yearning for peace in their hearts.
Jiraiya had reviewed Sakura's record and read Kakashi's evaluations of her. He knew about the incident from Sakura's childhood and her performance during the mission in the Land of Waves. He had to admit, she was the most outstanding of the new generation he'd seen in the village in recent years.
Could she... be the next Hokage...?
"I don't know if the method you described is correct, since I don't have a Kekkei Genkai myself," Jiraiya said. "But aside from those that are based on physical organs, Kekkei Genkai are essentially the fusion of two chakra nature transformations. So, what you're saying has some merit."
Sakura's mouth twitched. It was like she hadn't asked anything at all. She had hoped Jiraiya could offer some real help.
"Haha~~~~ Don't be discouraged. Kekkei Genkai alter your genes; they're definitely not easy to develop. Let me think," Jiraiya stroked his chin. "Why not try to simulate two nature transformations within a single stream of chakra, instead of trying to fuse two separate streams? Of course, I doubt anyone could actually do that."
It was a true eureka moment. Sakura's mind instantly cleared. Because of the strawberry milkshake analogy, she had gotten stuck in a mental rut, stubbornly trying to collide and fuse two different chakra natures.
But that way, whether inside or outside her body, she would always end up with a combination ninjutsu. Only by using a single chakra stream and evolving two nature transformations within it could she transform it into a new element. Truly, old ginger was spicier than young ginger.
The look in Sakura's eyes as she gazed at Jiraiya changed completely. Her expression was filled with excitement. She stood up and gave Jiraiya a huge hug.
"Hey, hey, let go," Jiraiya said, a little embarrassed. The surrounding customers were pointing and whispering, and he could occasionally hear words like "pervert" and "lolicon."
"Jiraiya-sensei, thank you so much!" Sakura was so thrilled that she even changed how she addressed him.
It was impossible not to be excited. If not for Jiraiya's offhand suggestion, Sakura probably never would have been able to create a Kekkei Genkai. Without a Kekkei Genkai, her planned path would have hit a dead end.
"Cough, cough. What I said was just a guess, and it's almost impossible to succeed that way," Jiraiya said, not correcting Sakura's form of address.
"It's because it's almost impossible to succeed that it's likely the method for creating a Kekkei Genkai," Sakura countered. "If it were easy, there would be countless Kekkei Genkai clans."
"That's true," Jiraiya conceded after a moment's thought.
As everyone knew, ninjutsu was derived from chakra. When releasing ninjutsu, the user formed hand seals to release the corresponding elemental ninjutsu.
Generally, combination ninjutsu required another person, or a clone, to assist. The fact that Sakura could perform combination ninjutsu on her own already demonstrated her strong control.
But to manifest two nature transformations within a single chakra stream, causing a qualitative change, that was pushing chakra control to its absolute limit.
On a chakra nature test paper, a multi-element ninja's chakra would show distinct signs of multiple elements. But what Sakura was trying to do was blend those elements together. A chakra test paper would only show the resulting blended element.
"What are your current chakra natures?" Jiraiya asked.
"Water, Earth, and Lightning. But I developed Lightning later," Sakura replied.
"And which two are you planning to combine?" Jiraiya poured himself another cup of sake.
"Water and Lightning, I think," Sakura said, taking a bite of grilled meat.
"Oh, Storm Release, huh? That's a good element," Jiraiya said. He'd certainly seen Storm Release before; there weren't many things in the ninja world that Jiraiya hadn't seen.
"Actually, I'm used to using my water blades, but they don't have the piercing power of Lightning Release. I wanted to increase the power of my water blades," Sakura explained.
"That's a good idea too. But if you fail, you shouldn't get too caught up in it. It would be a waste of your time," Jiraiya cautioned.
"I understand, Jiraiya-sensei," Sakura nodded seriously.
Seeing that Sakura had taken his advice to heart, Jiraiya didn't say anything more. She was a smart girl; she understood the balance of gain and loss.
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