Ino's Victory
A new day, Friday.
On the artificial lake of the Ninja School, a tense atmosphere simmered between Ino and Sakura. Kitazawa could almost see sparks flying from their eye contact.
"Sakura." Ino placed her hands on her hips and declared confidently, "Your homework is going to be doubled tonight!"
"What nonsense are you saying?" Sakura clenched her fists, proudly retorting, "You've never beaten me, not even once!"
"I'll beat you today!" Ino stepped onto the water and called out, "Come on!"
Sakura instantly drew a wooden kunai while her small face tensed as she grew serious.
Ino walked cautiously across the lake, her eyes alert. Suddenly, the sound of rushing wind came from her left.
Without looking, she bent down, smoothly dodging Sakura's wooden kunai. She had undergone special training with Kitazawa's guidance, and it was finally paying off.
"That was just luck!" Sakura's face shifted slightly. She drew another wooden kunai.
As Ino stood and took two steps, she suddenly hurled her kunai at a sharp angle, aiming at Sakura's back.
"What?!" Sakura saw Ino dodge again and felt a sinking feeling. Before, during training, Ino would often forget to maintain her footing on the water while dodging—leading to a fall.
"I don't believe this!" With a frustrated shout, Sakura spread her arms and threw two kunai.
Ino spun midair, avoiding both kunai and landed with grace. She brushed the hair behind her ear and smiled, bright and dazzling.
"Damn it!" Sakura felt mocked. She kept throwing kunai without speaking.
But today, Ino was in peak condition—none of the kunai landed a hit.
"Great!" Ino reached the end, jumped ashore, raised her arms, and shouted excitedly. It was a decisive victory for Miss Ino.
"..." Sakura froze in place, gripping her kunai, weighed down by frustration.
"Now it's your turn, Sakura." Ino approached and said, "If I hit you even once, your homework's doubled tonight!"
"Not a chance!" Sakura gritted her teeth. But things rarely go as planned—the more anxious you are, the more mistakes you make.
After the water-walking exercise, Sakura was hit three times.
"I won!" Ino jumped in place, overjoyed as though she'd just conquered the world.
Sakura fell silent. She felt like someone had stuffed a lemon into her mouth—sour and bitter.
Kitazawa looked at the radiant Ino and smiled unconsciously. At the same time, words appeared before his eyes:
[Current mission: Help Yamanaka Ino defeat Haruno Sakura in the water-walking training.
Task reward: Master-level chakra control.]
[Mission complete. Reward issued.]
A surge of information flooded Kitazawa, leaving him momentarily dazed. The master-level chakra control far exceeded his expectations.
He even felt confident he could form a Rasengan. More importantly, Kitazawa believed this ability would help him achieve his goal.
He planned to approach Tsunade, showcase his talent as a medical ninja, and try to become her student. Though older, becoming a medical ninja is difficult, and late bloomers aren't rare.
But faking talent in medical ninjutsu wasn't easy. First, he needed the Yang attribute.
Second, he had to learn various medical techniques through the system to fake rapid progress.
Third was master-level chakra control.
Kitazawa's gaze turned to Sakura. After all, his only medical jutsu—Blood Coagulation—came from her.
"Sakura." Ino smiled and extended a hand. "Admit defeat?"
"No way!" Sakura grabbed her hand and huffed, "That was your first win. Don't get too cocky!"
"I've been getting special training from Mr. Kitazawa!" Ino declared proudly.
"No wonder…" Sakura suddenly understood, then shouted, "Mr. Kitazawa! I want special training too!"
[Current mission: Help Haruno Sakura complete water-walking special training.
Task reward: Healing Jutsu.]
[Do you accept?]
Kitazawa paused, surprised. Nice one, Ino.
Ask and you shall receive.
The Healing Jutsu—a C-rank jutsu that accelerates wound healing—was like a weaker version of the Mystical Palm Technique.
"No problem." Kitazawa smiled. "You can train with Ino."
One more student didn't matter. What mattered was that he saw a path to mastering more medical jutsu. As long as Ino and Sakura kept up their frenemy routine.
"Thank you, Mr. Kitazawa!" Sakura looked at Ino, snorted, and said, "This competition isn't over! Just wait!"
"Alright." Ino agreed instantly.
She had done it on purpose—winning once thanks to Kitazawa was fine. But winning every time wouldn't be fair to Sakura. They were best friends, after all. They should share Kitazawa's guidance equally.
"You two, come with me to the training field." Kitazawa walked toward the nearby training ground.
Flames burst into the air—it was Uchiha Sasuke, practicing the Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Technique.
From the power, it was clear he had mastered it. After all, both Phoenix Fire and Great Fireball were C-rank fire techniques.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura immediately brightened.
Startled, Sasuke lost control, black smoke puffing from his mouth as he coughed violently.
"I didn't mean to!" Sakura apologized awkwardly.
"Let's go—time to train." Ino patted her shoulder. "Let's see if you can last three minutes."
"Three minutes?" Sakura scowled. "I'll last longer than you!"
Class ended before they knew it.
---
After school, Sasuke returned home. To his surprise, his brother Uchiha Itachi was there.
"I've got two days off," Itachi said. "Tomorrow's Saturday, so I'll be here to help you train with Fire Style."
"Watch this, brother!" Sasuke eagerly showed off the Phoenix Fire Technique.
"Not bad. You've learned your second Fire Jutsu already?" Itachi was impressed. "Did Father teach you?"
"Kitazawa-Sensei did!" Sasuke smiled proudly.
"Sensei Kitazawa?" Itachi froze briefly, then frowned. "That's a bit inappropriate."
"Huh?" Sasuke looked confused.
"Technically, Ninja School teachers are only supposed to teach the three basic jutsu: Clone, Transformation, and Substitution. Anything beyond that—like ninjutsu—should be taught by the family or your assigned Jonin."
Itachi ruffled his head and said, "Learning Fire Style from Kitazawa technically breaks the rules."
"Then what should I do?" Sasuke asked quickly.