BSWS CH-21 Final Preparations

Sakura was watching over Tazuna today. They each took a day to stay with him while the other would practice. Sakura ended up taking more shifts than others as she needed less guidance from Kakashi as compared to them.

Once UTS scanned Kakashi's and Sasuke's spars against her, she had gained all moves contained in Uchiha style Taijutsu and Leaf village's other basic styles. Now, most of her days were spent in meditation, trying to improve her chakra amount as fast as possible.

"So you really don't have to train along with that blond idiot and that black-haired one with all the attitude?" Tazuna asked Sakura as he worked.

"I have already mastered the stuff Kakashi sensei is teaching them," Sakura explained to Tazuna. She was meditating on the side while two of her water clones helped out Tazuna do various odd jobs.

"Huh, I would never have guessed that you were so good." Tazuna said while straightening his spine.

"Compared to the other two, you are kind of normal. Except for your eye-catching hair. I thought one of the others would be more suited for this guarding business." Tazuna commented lazily while observing her from head to toe.

"Looks can be deceiving." Sakura said calmly with her eyes closed "Out of the four of us, I am actually the one with the most attuned senses. So Kakashi sensei might be the better fighter amongst us, but when it comes to helping you escape I am the best choice."

"Moreover, you saw me fighting last time. in the worst case scenario, I am more than capable of stalling Zabuza while my clones help you escape. So be assured Mr. Bridge Builder. While I am alive, no one can harm you."

"I will be counting on you then, missy," Tazuna said as he continued his work. However, he couldn't work peacefully for long. A little before lunchtime, another one of his workers came to quit.

Tazuna was angered by his cowardly words as he gave up in response to Gato's threats. However, Tazuna was helpless too. All he could do was put up a strong front as he told the worker to go away.

"You know, I can help out a bit," Sakura said as they started packing to go home. Tazuna looked at her in surprise.

"You missy? What do you even know about bridge-building anyway?" Tazuna said with a scoff.

Sakura raised her eyebrow at his comment and generated four water clones, the most she could produce currently. Meanwhile, she instructed UTS to send all the information on how Tazuna's subordinates were using the bridge-building tools.

Tazuna watched in surprise as Sakura's clones moved with impeccable coordination and planning. Moving steel beams, mixing and applying cement, shaping the bridge according to the given plans, and so on. With their coordination, four of Sakura's clones did work of ten of Tazuna's employees.

"So? Still think I can't help?" Sakura asked Tazuna who was looking at her clones with his mouth open.

"You? how? what ?" Tazuna fumbled to get the correct question out.

"It's no big deal. I just watched you and your workers build the bridge these past few days and learned from you." Sakura said with a shrug.

"If all shinobi can do things like you, then civilians like me should just give up on ever becoming great at anything," Tazuna mumbled.

There was a reason Sakura was helping out Tazuna. The first reason was that she needed to keep an eye on him so that her introduced changes don't end up taking Tazuna's life.

Secondly, she wanted the meeting between Naruto and Haku to happen. Haku had been Naruto's first wake-up call in the Shinobi world. Without him, it was possible Naruto would never acknowledge the Darkness of the Shinobi world, which may end up harming him in the future.

Thirdly, She had been helping out Sasuke and Naruto too much ever since they began working as a team. Too much help and she would become their crutch. She had already provided all the help she could give to make them strong in the short term. Now they had to follow their own paths and grow.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Time passed similar to how it happened in Canon. Naruto and Sasuke competed with each other to grow faster. Naruto and Sasuke had initial success with water walking and then began focusing on the training methods Sakura provided them with.

Sasuke mastered chakra control better than Naruto and started training his eyes for Sharingan. He had slight success from the very first day, just as Sakura had suspected. Although he had not unleashed them completely, he could easily use them in a partial way to improve his visual acumen and spatial perception.

Similarly, Naruto had begun rapidly mastering the Chakra Push. The reason for that was experience gained from the sparring sessions with Sakura. Repeated sparring had made Naruto realize the hidden effect of Shadow Clones, the training multiplier.

Spamming the clones excessively, Naruto gained proficiency in Chakra Push rapidly. After gaining initial success in using Chakra push from the soles of his feet, Naruto started training to use them from every major attack point on his body, including palms, elbows, knees, heels, etc.

The argument between Naruto and Inari, Tazuna's grandson, took place just as per canon. Naruto was fueled by the need to prove to Inari the continued existence of heroes and started training even harder. Seeing him train hard fueled Sasuke to put more effort too, which in turn fueled Naruto. This was a constant loop that Kakashi was only too pleased to see.

Meanwhile, Sakura had started preparing a few trump cards for the inevitable fight against Zabuza. She had knowledge about certain Water Style techniques that existed, but she could not ask about them from Kakashi without appearing suspicious. Hence she decided to Experiment on her own.

The first Water Style technique she created on her own was called Water Needle. This was made by a combination of her Chakra Needle technique along with the infusion of Water Style chakra. This had increased the attack power and durability of the needles formed more than twice.

Sakura was very proud of this technique because of various reasons. First of all, it was the first Elemental Ninjutsu she created by herself instead of copying.

Some might say she had still copied as she had used her knowledge of the future to get the idea for it. But then again, was not every Ninjutsu inspired by something or the other.

Secondly, in this Ninjutsu she had successfully employed both shape and nature transformation of chakra. This was much harder than a jutsu like a fireball technique with simply was a collection of fire chakra being pushed aggressively in a certain direction.

Building upon the experience of her first Elemental Ninjutsu creation, Sakura turned her eyes to her Chakra Strings. Similar to Water Needle, she infused her Chakra Strings with concentrated Water Chakra. As a result, she got a string of compressed Water chakra, which used properly could easily cut through rock and even metal.

She named this jutsu Water Severance Strings. She knew that Tobirama Senju had invented a similar jutsu, but that was more of an S-Rank Area of Effect type jutsu. In comparison, hers was a cost-effective version that focused more on one-on-one combat.

With two new Elemental Ninjutsu in her arsenal that she invented, Sakura was feeling especially confident. It was mostly because they were practically customized for her and would work excellently in the Hiding in Mist jutsu along with her Chakra Sensing ability.

Now all that was remaining was to keep her mind and body at their peak and improve her Chakra as much as possible so that she can wreak some havoc on the battlefield.