The Last Day of Training

"Thanks again for helping with my training today, Kakashi-sensei," said Sakura gratefully, shivering slightly as she gingerly lowered herself into the water barrel. "This must be dreadfully dull for you."

"I don't mind," said Kakashi, his eye never leaving the pages of his book. "It gives me a chance to catch up on my reading."

The air was thick with the cries of cicadas droning contentedly in the trees and of the buzzing of other insects. It was now late August, and even here in the Third Training Ground, far from the hustle and bustle of the village centre, the heat was nearly stifling.

It had been a few weeks since Obito had approached Sakura and Sasuke, offering only a cryptic promise that he'd be returning before long. Against her better judgement, she'd agreed to Sasuke's request that they keep the matter between the two of them. Nothing had come of the visit as of yet, but only time would tell whether she'd been right to keep Obito's quiet return to the village under wraps.

At any rate, she hadn't been murdered in her sleep yet, so she must have done something right…

"Sakura…"

"Yes?" Sakura yelped, just as she was beginning to circulate her chakra.

Startled by Kakashi's voice, Sakura was jolted out of her thoughts and momentarily lost control of the chakra coating her skin. A few drops of the precious chakra-metal water sloshed over the rim of the barrel. Fortunately, she hadn't begun nature transformation yet, or she'd have given herself a nasty shock.

"I was wondering," said Kakashi, peering over the top of his book at Sakura, whose head was just visible above the rim of the barrel. "Have you spoken to Lady Tsunade lately?"

Sakura's heart skipped a beat. Had Tsunade found out something?

"Not lately," Sakura replied, keeping her tone as casual as she could manage. "Did she say something about me?"

Naturally, Sakura felt more than a little guilty over what most would see as a blatant betrayal of trust. After all, Tsunade had chosen her above all others and taught her everything she knew— down to her most secret techniques, like the Yin Seal and the Creation Rebirth Hundred Healings Jutsu— effectively grooming her as her successor.

In Kakashi's words, even the lowest of scum would feel even the slightest of compunctions to repay a debt of gratitude— for Sakura to abandon her critical role at the hospital and return to the life of a common mission ninja was little short of spitting in Tsunade's face. And to make matters worse, she hadn't even taken a single request in over a month to focus on her training…

"I know I've disappointed Lady Tsunade," said Sakura stubbornly, "but I know I can serve the village better as a field medic."

That was objectively untrue, and both Sakura and Kakashi knew it.

Despite everything, the Hidden Leaf was not at war, and Sakura was a rare talent in Medical Ninjutsu. Being overwhelmingly strong wouldn't help her accomplish missions any better than an average ninja (unless it was an S-rank mission), so her skills were better put to use treating as many injured as possible, rather than focusing solely on the three other men in her squad— a squad that, as of yet, hadn't even materialised, since Naruto hadn't even returned from his time-skip journey yet.

In the end, it all came down to what Sakura herself wanted.

Tsunade couldn't revoke her rank without good cause, so until further notice, Sakura remained one of the village's rare Jōnin. She was a first-class citizen, with a right to vote in the Jōnin assembly and everything. In other words, with or without her Hokage disciple title, her voice still held some weight.

All that to say, unless Tsunade herself or the Jōnin Commander Nara Shikaku ordered her to move out, there was no force in the world that could dictate what Sakura could or couldn't do. In that way, she was following in Jiraiya's footsteps, of all people!

…

And then minutes of training later…

"GYAAAHHH!"

Inevitably, the prickling pain skittering across Sakura's skin became too much to bear, and she fainted. Determined or not, her body had reached its limit. She was not physically capable of enduring any more pain, and no amount of willpower could change that, however much she wished otherwise— she would either faint or lose control long before the two hours were up.

When she came to a few minutes later, she found herself wrapped in her pink towel, propped against the trunk of a tree in the shade.

She had failed, once again…

"It's not shameful to give up," Kakashi said gently, giving her hair a rough tousle. "Not every Jutsu is for everyone."

The number of people who had mastered Lightning Style Chakra Mode could be counted on one hand, and they were the toughest of the tough. Even if Kumogakure wasn't the richest of villages, they still had the means to raise many more than just one user… it's just that nobody could endure the harsh training.

"If I gave up," said Sakura, her bottom lip quivering, "would you give it a try, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Not everyone is as blessed by the heavens as you are, Sakura," said Kakashi wryly. "I would run out of chakra long before I reached the entry level."

Naturally, the same went for Sasuke— and neither would he ever be able to master Sage Mode in his lifetime even if he wanted to, since he didn't have nearly enough chakra. He would be instantly consumed by natural energy the instant he tried, so the only way he could wield Senjutsu was through Orochimaru's Cursed Seal of Heaven.

"Wait, that's it…" Sakura muttered to herself. "Who says I need to master the original version, when I can just make an easier Lightning Style Chakra Mode?"

The first thing that popped into Sakura's mind was using Shadow Clones to max out her lightning proficiency, but then she quickly realised it wouldn't work— the feedback from the clones' combined pain would likely give her a heart attack, and besides, printing chakra metal onto their skin wasn't going to help the main body achieve her own body modification.

 "System?" Sakura whispered into her hand. "Any ideas?"

[Beep! Searching for candidates! Ringo Ameyuri… Deceased. Tōu… Deceased. Fūka… Incompatible with Manyuu bloodline. Karui… Calculating... Calculating… Calculating…]

The System appeared to have frozen. Surely Sakura's request hadn't been that complicated?

As a reminder, Sakura had stolen Samui's massive breasts three years ago during the Hinata rescue mission to Kumogakure, in order to fulfil the requirements for unlocking a certain Jujutsu from the System. She was now only lacking Hidan's scythe and one deep-seated grudge to unlock the cursed technique.

However, O-cups' weight and sheer volume at the time would have left a younger Sakura more-or-less immobilised, so to maintain her mobility and flee the Hidden Cloud, she had been forced to use certain dubious means to keep the bare minimum of breast chakra and transfer the rest to Karui, leaving Samui as flat as a washboard and Karui with massive honkers!

[Ding! Swift Style: Godspeed Jutsu has been derived! Requirements:

Swift Style breast chakra (0/1)

Karui's breast chakra (0/1)

This technique grants greater speed than Lightning Style Chakra Mode and the reflexes to use Swift Style to its fullest extent, but the armour's protection is minimal at best. Half of the original technique's chakra metal is required to cultivate this technique.]

"You mean I have to go back to Kumogakure?" Sakura groaned. "But I was just there, three years ago! I could have stolen her A-cups then if I'd known! This isn't fair, damn it! And why isn't there a name attached to Swift Style? I don't even know who to target, you stupid System!"

Sakura chewed angrily on her thumbnail, lost in thought.

Tracking down Karui wouldn't be too difficult since she too was a mission ninja, but if she wasn't careful, it might very well trigger harsh retribution from the Hidden Cloud. As for Swift Style… she'd never even heard of it, in either of her two lives. Where exactly was she supposed to find a female user?

In any case, with Lightning Style Chakra Mode's schedule now pushed back, she'd have to shift her focus to the far more treacherous Shikkotsu Forest Sage Mode. One mistake during training, and she'd turn into a slug permanently— and unlike the toads' Sage Mode, there was nothing Katsuyu could do to reverse the transformation once it started.

Which meant she had to guarantee success before even attempting it for the first time… but how would she know if she was ready? A Shadow Clone's chakra would return to the original upon death, which meant that approach was a no-go…

"Is everything all right?" Kakashi asked, concern creeping into his voice as he noticed Sakura muttering darkly to herself. He laid the back of his hand against her forehead. "Do you have a fever?"