Chapter 76

At the same age, if Sasuke learned about Yoruha's achievements tonight, he would likely cling to Yoruha, demanding to train together.

It was clear that in Sakura's eyes, Yoruha's strength had already surpassed Kakashi's.

While it hadn't been tested, Yoruha's current power did indeed make Kakashi feel somewhat inferior.

However, Yoruha didn't believe himself to be a match for Kakashi.

After all, Kakashi was famously known for his even-match nature—against almost anyone, the odds of victory were always fifty-fifty.

Many powerful shinobi with devastating jutsu far stronger than Kakashi's had still fallen victim to him in battle.

Yoruha understood well that the destructive power of jutsu didn't necessarily equate to overall strength.

A ninja's true strength depended on combat experience and battle intelligence.

And when it came to tactical intelligence, Kakashi was undoubtedly among the very best in the shinobi world.

Yoruha not only lacked much combat experience but also doubted he was as tactically intelligent as Kakashi.

Of course, this was just Yoruha being overly cautious.

In reality, with his current strength, Kakashi would no longer be a match for him in a fight.

This was even more apparent in Sakura's perspective.

To her, Yoruha's jutsu was astonishingly powerful, and as a young and impressionable shinobi, she naturally judged strength based on what she had seen.

At least, she had never witnessed Kakashi using any jutsu of such scale and destructive power.

The only notable exception was Kakashi's use of the Chidori against Zabuza earlier.

While the Chidori had considerable single-target destructive power, it was clearly far less overwhelming than Yoruha's large-scale jutsu.

Because of this, Sakura believed that Yoruha was already stronger than Kakashi.

Once Sasuke heard about this from Sakura, it was inevitable that he would set his sights on Yoruha as a new mentor.

Sasuke's drive to grow stronger was so intense that he was willing to seek guidance from Orochimaru; asking Yoruha, a fellow teammate, would hardly be an issue.

Hearing Yoruha's modest response, Kakashi smiled.

He was pleased to see that Yoruha showed no arrogance despite his incredible growth.

What Kakashi had feared most was Yoruha becoming overly prideful due to his rapid rise in strength at such a young age.

But it turned out Yoruha was grounded, which was a rare and valuable trait.

Even Kakashi himself had succumbed to arrogance in his youth after achieving some early successes.

Back then, Obito Uchiha and Rin Nohara were still alive, and Kakashi's personality was simply a little aloof.

When they brought Sasuke back to Naruto's side, Sakura grew worried upon seeing Sasuke covered in bandages.

"Yoruha, why is Sasuke so badly injured?" she asked anxiously.

Yoruha set Sasuke down and reassured her, "Don't worry, it's just injuries from ninja tools. He lost a lot of blood but didn't sustain any critical damage. His life isn't in danger."

"He just needs some time to rest and recover."

"Speaking of Sasuke's injuries, it reminded me of something. Sakura, you should consider learning medical ninjutsu. Naruto and Sasuke are both well-suited to becoming combat-focused ninja."

"But your chakra control is far superior to theirs, and it's clear you're not suited to the path of a combat ninja. Learning medical ninjutsu and becoming a medical ninja would be much more important for your team."

"What do you think, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi began to contemplate.

Previously, he had considered training Sakura to become a genjutsu specialist.

With his own expertise in genjutsu, he would have been able to guide her in that direction.

However, Yoruha's suggestion…

"Not bad," Kakashi said.

Their team indeed needed a medical ninja.

Back in Kakashi's old team, Rin Nohara was their medical ninja.

She was even capable of transplanting a Sharingan on the battlefield, which showed just how skilled she was in medical ninjutsu.

Sakura was indeed well-suited to learning medical ninjutsu, and their team truly needed one.

Sakura began to ponder this suggestion.

Looking at Sasuke and Naruto, Sakura said, "Hmm, it's actually a good idea."

Seeing Sakura agree, Kakashi added, "Once we return to the village, I'll introduce you to a few medical ninjas who can teach you medical ninjutsu."

If Kakashi could get someone like Ebisu—Konohamaru's personal tutor, personally assigned by the Third Hokage—to train Naruto, then finding a few medical ninjas to teach Sakura would be no issue at all.

Although Sakura had always wanted to develop as a combat ninja, she was aware of her limitations.

While her chakra control was far superior to Naruto's and Sasuke's, her overall chakra reserves were nowhere near as large as theirs.

Moreover, during this time, she had witnessed both Naruto and Sasuke grow significantly, leaving her far behind.

Not to mention Yoruha—comparing herself to him only emphasized how weak she was.

Since combat wasn't her strong suit, she decided it was better to focus on medical ninjutsu to provide healing support for her teammates.

Of course, Sakura wasn't aware that she did, in fact, possess combat potential.

She just hadn't yet encountered a teacher capable of developing it.

Yoruha, however, knew the truth, though Tsunade hadn't yet returned to the village. At this stage, learning medical ninjutsu would benefit Sakura the most.

During breaks in her medical ninjutsu training, she could even learn genjutsu from Kakashi.

Becoming a ninja proficient in both genjutsu and medical ninjutsu would make her exceptionally strong compared to ordinary shinobi.

Take Kurenai Yuhi, for example. While her performance against Itachi Uchiha left much to be desired, nearly anyone would fare poorly against Itachi.

Kurenai was no exception.

Still, her proficiency in genjutsu was exceptional among ordinary ninja, evident from her rank as a full-fledged jonin rather than a tokubetsu jonin.

Specialized skills at jonin level only qualified one for tokubetsu jonin, but to become a full jonin required proficiency in multiple areas.

So, with high aptitude in genjutsu, even an ordinary ninja could reach jonin-level expertise.

As for those with special bloodlines, like the Sharingan, that was another matter entirely.

From Yoruha's perspective, Sakura's talents were quite promising, making her well-suited for taijutsu, genjutsu, and medical ninjutsu.

In the original story, however, Kakashi paid little attention to her in the early stages, which meant that before meeting Tsunade, Sakura's combat skills had barely improved since her academy days.

If, prior to that, Sakura had mastered genjutsu and medical ninjutsu, achieving the rank of chunin would have been effortless for her, even if she didn't reach jonin.

Sakura smiled at Yoruha and said, "Then you'd better not make me angry in the future. Once I master medical ninjutsu, if you get injured in battle, you'll have to rely on me to heal you."

Yoruha was briefly stunned.

"But I'm not on the same team as you. Let's wait until Sasuke and Naruto wake up so they can hear this unfortunate news instead," Yoruha replied with a teasing tone.

"What are you talking about? You're definitely going to keep doing missions with us in the future. Kakashi-sensei is so biased; he's probably not planning to let you go back," Sakura said, glancing over at Kakashi.

Kakashi looked a bit embarrassed.

It was awkward having his little scheme exposed by Sakura.

Yoruha glanced at Kakashi and noticed his slightly awkward expression, his lips twitching slightly.

Could Sakura actually be right?

As it turned out, Kakashi really was thinking that way.

He intended to take Yoruha along on missions outside the village in the future.

One reason was to broaden Yoruha's horizons and help him gain real combat experience. The other reason was his concern that if Yoruha stayed in the village, the Third Hokage or Danzo might target him.

Though he believed the Third wouldn't act against his word, having promised otherwise before, who could say for sure?

What if?

Kakashi wasn't willing to take that gamble, especially knowing how easily the Third could compromise.

Who knew what schemes Danzo might use to force the Third into submission?

Kakashi had been in the ANBU for many years; he'd witnessed situations like this before.

If he didn't keep Yoruha by his side, he couldn't feel at ease.

And within the village, Kihon Toichi wasn't in a position to truly protect Yoruha.

Kihon Toichi's standing in Konoha wasn't remotely comparable to Kakashi's.

Additionally, Kakashi worried that Kihon Toichi might fall out with the village over Yoruha. If he ended up becoming a rogue ninja, it would be a disaster.

While Kakashi trusted Kihon Toichi's loyalty to Konoha, if the Third and Danzo pushed him into a corner, even he might consider defecting.

With Yoruha being innocent, Kihon Toichi's personality wouldn't allow him to stand by and let harm come to him.

Especially since Yoruha was his direct apprentice, even though he hadn't really taught him much.

But that bond was there, and it wasn't something he could ignore.

If Yoruha were left in Kihon Toichi's care, Kakashi worried he might take Yoruha with him and defect. That would be a mess.

Of course, all of this was just Kakashi's speculation. None of these worries had actually materialized yet.

His years in the ANBU had simply made him overly cautious, with a mindset that sometimes leaned toward darkness.

However, while Kakashi thought this way, Yoruha wasn't too keen on constantly going on missions with Kakashi.

After all, Kihon Toichi was his teacher, yet he had only been on one mission with him, Tanako, and Yamata Jumoku.

Yoruha worried that the three of them might feel unhappy about it.

Although Yoruha didn't have much ambition, he still considered the feelings of his teammates and teacher.

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