Chapter 24: Nature Transformation of Water

Chapter 24: Nature Transformation of Water

Kakashi led Sakura to another clearing in the forest.

Looking at the girl standing quietly before him, Kakashi suddenly didn't know where to begin.

For Kakashi, being Sakura's teacher was indeed a rather troublesome matter. Perhaps some would envy him for having a genius disciple, but for Kakashi, a disciple with too much talent also left him, the teacher, at a loss for what to teach.

Her superb chakra control ability allowed her to master new ninjutsu with ease. The jutsu Kakashi taught her were mastered in an hour at the slowest. More importantly, with the brilliant precedent of the two water jutsu she had created, Kakashi couldn't just pad the time with boring standard water jutsu. As the man who had copied a thousand ninjutsu, Kakashi had never thought the day he would have no new jutsu to teach his disciple would come so soon.

Help Sakura perfect her ninjutsu development? Kakashi was even more willing but unable to help.

Kakashi had seen many so-called geniuses, but this was the first time he had seen a genius whose talent was her wild imagination. Having been Sakura's team leader for several months, Kakashi had already witnessed too many of Sakura's strange ideas. Some were foolish, some were childish, some made one not know whether to laugh or cry, but there were also some that were effective, very profound, and even immensely powerful.

Kakashi now completely understood why Sakura could develop two super-powerful water jutsu at such a young age. It was because that girl's imagination could probably fit the moon inside it!

On this point, Kakashi admitted defeat and admired her with all his being.

After hesitating for a moment, Kakashi finally spoke.

"Actually, regarding your training... I don't have any better ideas either. In terms of ninjutsu and taijutsu, there isn't much new I can teach you. You already have your own path. The rest will require your own effort."

Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the forest, casting dappled light and shadows on the clearing, illuminating the dust motes dancing in the beams of light. It made the skin on Sakura's face and arms look like white jade. Years of contact with clear water had given her skin a delicacy rarely seen among ninja, so smooth it was almost translucent. Her clean, emerald eyes reflected Kakashi's figure, and her thin, pink lips trembled slightly, as if she wanted to speak but stopped herself, not interrupting Kakashi's words.

Kakashi discovered that this girl, who acted so cheerful and jumpy in front of Naruto and Sasuke, possessed a different, quiet and gentle temperament when she was alone. She hid her strength and confidence beneath this calm surface, just like an iceberg floating on the sea. Only those familiar with her could see through to this.

Gazing at Sakura, Kakashi continued, "Currently, the only way to quickly and effectively improve your combat power is to perfect your other set of water jutsu, the one concerning ultrapure water. Your problem now is that it's difficult to produce a large amount of ultrapure water, so you can't bring out the full power of that jutsu, right? Tell me in detail, what stage are you at now, and what problems are you encountering? Perhaps I can help you think of a solution."

"I'm not good at using your way of thinking to solve problems, but perhaps I can inspire you from another angle."

"Hmm... how should I put it," Sakura subconsciously tapped her lower lip with her index finger. "The so-called ultrapure water is water of extremely high purity. It's very difficult to produce this kind of water, which is much purer than distilled water. I've tried many methods and failed. The current method I'm using is a brute-force one: first, I distill it multiple times, and then I use ultra-high pressure to force it through a special chakra filter membrane to get usable ultrapure water."

Sakura took out several sealing scrolls, opened them, and took out the water masses sealed within, wrapping them in chakra to prevent air from seeping in. "This is repeatedly distilled water. It still contains trace amounts of volatile ions and soluble gases." She then took out a transparent filter membrane and demonstrated the process of creating ultrapure water for Kakashi. Just as Sakura had said, this method was time-consuming and labor-intensive. It was difficult to produce even one liter of ultrapure water in an hour.

Although Kakashi was impressed by the few professional terms Sakura occasionally threw out, he still roughly understood her situation. He thought for a moment and had an idea.

"I can't give you any useful advice on the research of this ultrapure water. However, your approach seems to be closer to that of an ordinary person. As a ninja, you should try to find solutions from the perspective of ninjutsu more often."

"You've already completed the nature transformation of the water-property chakra. Everyone has their own understanding of nature transformation. So, what are your thoughts on the nature transformation of water?"

This was a question that seemed simple but was actually extremely complex. It was simple enough to be answered in one sentence, yet complex enough that a lengthy dissertation couldn't explain it clearly even in three days and nights. Sakura was silent for a long while before she spoke.

"Because of the five nature transformations, many people confuse them with the five elements. I believe this is completely wrong. If one thinks that the elements of fire, earth, wind, lightning, and water come from nature transformation, and that if these elements exist naturally in the environment, then nature transformation is not needed to use ninjutsu. This is a complete misunderstanding."

"This is just chakra mimicry, mimicking chakra into the elements we commonly see. In fact, they are only similar in properties to the elements that exist in nature; their essence is completely different. It's very obvious that there is no essential difference between chakra mimicking the five elements and chakra mimicking oil, poison, snakes, and various weapons. So, on what basis can one say that oil comes from the transformation of chakra, while water comes from nature transformation?"

"The nature transformation of Wind Style is 'cutting,' not 'forming wind.' The nature transformation of Fire Style is 'high temperature and combustion,' not 'forming fire.' By the same logic, the nature transformation of Water Style is, of course, not 'forming water,' but 'flow'."

Sakura spoke eloquently.

This was knowledge that normally only Chunin or even Jonin would come into contact with, but with the Third Hokage's special permission, Sakura had begun studying it long ago. However, the written records were not systematic. The insights left by the water style masters and ninjutsu experts were not only inconsistent but could even be said to be diametrically opposed and self-contradictory.

The Third Hokage explained that this was because everyone had their own understanding of ninjutsu, but Sakura felt more that it was simply a case of everyone being blind men touching an elephant. The existence of vastly different interpretations showed that the true nature of chakra, this giant elephant, was still far from being clearly understood by ninja.

Accustomed to the precise mathematical language used in the science of her previous life to describe the truth hidden beneath the world's surface, Sakura was very dissatisfied with the sensory and vague terms ninja used to describe the properties of chakra. Ambiguous statements were of no benefit to discovering the world's truth. The Third Hokage had once worried that exposing her to these things too early would be counterproductive and affect Sakura's own understanding of Water Style, but he was surprised to find that Sakura had already mentally dismissed them as narrow-minded views.

Of course, Sakura's current level was merely having her own understanding of Water Style; she was still ten thousand Galileos away from writing a Principia Mathematica of chakra.

"Flow?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura nodded. "That's right. Isn't it because of this characteristic, this nature transformation, that it's called 'Water'? It is precisely because of 'flow' that there is impact and a defensive buffer. That's why water clones are highly mobile but have low defense, and in a water environment, such as a lake or river, the weakness of dispersing after one hit is compensated for, which is why a ninjutsu like the Five Hungry Sharks becomes particularly troublesome."

Water Style: Five Hungry Sharks is a powerful B-rank water jutsu where five sharks are released from the user's five fingers to devour the enemy in the water. In the water, if a shark is attacked and destroyed, it will automatically repair itself. In the original story, Hoshigaki Kisame used this move and its super-advanced version, the Thousand Hungry Sharks, which was very difficult to deal with.

"It is precisely because the environment has a huge impact on Water Style that it is very necessary to first expend a large amount of chakra to create a favorable combat environment when a battle starts. This is why many people believe that a good water style ninja must first have a large amount of chakra. If you think about it carefully, water is just the medium for Water Style to form a physical ninjutsu. Admittedly, it is the most convenient and best medium to use, but this does not mean that the water nature transformation cannot be used in other ways. In short, I believe that the nature transformation of water is 'flow'."

The Water Cutter series of ninjutsu used chakra-mimicked water to achieve high-pressure cutting and did not involve much of water's nature transformation.

Sakura had gained her insights into the nature transformation of water while practicing the water jutsu that used ultrapure water as a medium. The excessively strong surface tension of ultrapure water made it difficult to change its shape according to the user's will, which was why Sakura generally only turned it into simple shapes like water shields and water pads in actual combat. Manipulating ultrapure water could only be done by using the water nature transformation of 'flow' to deform it. A ninja without a strong foundation in Water Style wouldn't be able to use ultrapure water even if it were given to them. Even the current Sakura, who could be called a master of Water Style, sometimes found it very strenuous.

Kakashi had initially asked this question just to test Sakura, but he hadn't expected her to give such a lengthy dissertation. Even among the Jonin Kakashi had come into contact with, few could reach such a level of understanding. Kakashi really didn't know whether to feel sorry for those muscle-brained Jonin or to be shocked by Sakura. As an aside, the first person Kakashi thought of here was Might Gai.