Chapter 229: Haruno Sakura's Little Secret
Haruno Sakura still remembered the feeling of watching Jurassic Park for the first time when she was a child in her previous life.
The realistic and massive ancient beasts, just from behind the screen, could make her tremble with fear and unable to sleep well for days.
As her age, experience, and courage grew, she gradually stopped fearing these monsters. However, when she had faced the giant snake and Gamabunta during the Chunin Exams, the behemoths, dozens of meters in size, appearing before her, their huge bodies, imposing presence, and the surging, sea-like chakra sensation had still deeply shocked her.
Even an ugly and shabby toad, after growing to this size, had a valiant and fierce presence that made one's heart yearn, fantasizing about standing on the head of such a ferocious ninja beast in battle.
However, at this moment, facing the several-thousand-meter-sized Slug Sage, giant creatures like Gamabunta and Manda were nothing.
Just the action of turning its head to speak, even though she knew that the Slug Sage was her summoning contract partner, even though she knew it had no ill intentions, Haruno Sakura's heart still pounded wildly. This was the subconscious panic one feels when encountering an unbeatable creature.
The gap in their size and strength was too large. The Slug Sage didn't even need to make a hostile move. Just a moment of carelessness, for example, a fold forming in its body when it bent over, could crush a person to death on the spot.
Faced with such an enemy, the girl suddenly felt that her recent, inexplicable arrogance was a bit ridiculous.
Ever since the fight with Kakuzu, she had begun to consider herself to be at the "quasi-Kage" level of strength, believing that after developing so many powerful ninjutsu, she had already established a foothold in the ninja world.
Only now did she realize that she had also begun to be as arrogant as the King of Yelang.
If her opponent were this Slug Sage before her, what would she do?
Of the many ninjutsu that Sakura had developed, apart from the Yin Seal in combination with Ice Style, which could freeze a negligible part of the Slug Sage to death, the other ninjutsu could not threaten it at all.
Even the girl's most proud Wind Blade Raging Stream, perhaps it could open a large gash on its body, but a cutting wound was meaningless to a slug with extraordinary recovery power.
As for the other ninjutsu, using them probably wasn't even enough to scratch an itch for the slug.
"Leviathan's Wrath?" Perhaps the genuine Leviathan was even larger than the Slug Sage. But when used from her hands, it was only a little longer than the Sage's tentacles.
She was completely no match for it.
How ridiculous. Facing such a majestic creature, it was the first time Sakura had felt her own insignificance!
So much so that the Slug Sage didn't even need to use force. Just the acidic mist around it was enough to defeat Haruno Sakura without a fight.
Therefore, after the initial shock, the gaze Haruno Sakura directed at the Slug Sage also gradually became complicated.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you..." Sensing Sakura's apprehension, the Slug Sage "softly" comforted her, expressing the meaning of "although I'm very big, I'm very gentle."
Alright, considering its size, this thunderous, explosive voice was indeed already very gentle.
Sakura sighed. Although the slug's comfort was completely off the mark with her emotions, after this interruption, the girl had finally recovered from her gloomy mood.
In the end, her current strength was also something she had achieved step by step. Even if she couldn't beat the slug, there was nothing to feel inferior about. Sakura was, in the end, a proud person. Even if she encountered a small setback and felt down for a while, she would not be dejected forever.
And the Slug Sage was not her enemy... The ones she would have to deal with in the future were still those members of the "Akatsuki" hidden in the shadows, or other chuunibyou bosses who, according to the formula of shonen manga, would sooner or later jump out and declare their intention to destroy the world.
She shook her head, shaking off the negative emotions, and a gentle smile reappeared on her face.
"Slug Sage, let's get back to the main topic. After all, even with this child's Ice Style protection, we can't last too long..." Tsunade said, crossing her arms—or rather, supporting her chest—and looking up at the slug. "You've also been observing for a long time. Does Haruno Sakura have the talent for Senjutsu?"
"Little Tsunade, little Sakura, I'll just use my clone to talk to you. It's too tiring for you to keep your heads tilted up like this..." The Slug Sage's thunderous voice gradually faded.
Sakura looked up and saw that it had retracted its head, sinking most of its body back into the acidic soup. Very considerately, it switched to a less oppressive clone to talk to them—
"Lady Tsunade, you know that the training of Senjutsu is only suitable for people with a large amount of chakra to practice, because only those who are born with a large amount of chakra have enough power to tame natural energy. Otherwise, even if you learn Senjutsu, it will be meaningless," the small slug on the side said—although it was a full three stories high, Sakura already felt that it should be called a "small slug."
"Lady Haruno Sakura's chakra amount may be outstanding for her age, but it is still not enough to control such a huge amount of natural energy. Even with the Yin Seal, it won't work. It must be the chakra contained within the body to be able to resist the erosion of natural energy," the small slug said, stating the facts calmly. "However, if you, Lady Tsunade, want to learn Senjutsu, with your current conditions, you can give it a try..."
"I am already the Hokage. I don't have that much time to spend on training. And without Sakura's ice armor, I can't stay in this environment for too long... It's a pity, Slug. This idea lacks feasibility," Tsunade said, shaking her head.
She looked back at her disciple. "As for the problem of Sakura's chakra amount, in fact, she has only just mastered the Ice Style Kekkei Genkai for less than a year. She is not a natural-born possessor of the Kekkei Genkai. The Ice Style Kekkei Genkai has only just begun to improve her constitution. Although her chakra is not much now, it will become much more in the future."
"She actually mastered a Kekkei Genkai on her own, the original source of the bloodline. No wonder!" the small slug exclaimed in amazement. "My main body has just observed Lady Sakura in detail... Lady Sakura's spirit has two, or possibly three, cores. Perhaps this is the reason why Lady Sakura can develop a Kekkei Genkai at this age!"
Two, or even three, spiritual cores?
Haruno Sakura was dumbfounded as she listened from the side. One is myself, and the other is the original Sakura, right?
So the reason I can easily use the skill of being able to do two things at once and master Ice Style is also a benefit of transmigration...
She felt a little complicated. Although her biggest secret of transmigration had not been discovered, in front of the Slug Sage's main body, she felt as if she were naked. Her entire body, inside and out, had been seen through completely. There were no secrets to speak of...
Besides being purely powerful, the Sage actually had such divine abilities.
However, Haruno Sakura felt that even if the secret of her transmigration was exposed, it wouldn't matter.
She had always been open and sincere. From her birth until now, having lived in Konoha for so many years, she was already the "real" Haruno Sakura. So what if she was exposed? Her family, friends, teachers, and so on, the one they acknowledged in their hearts was herself as a transmigrator. That was enough.
"Pardon my presumptuousness, but does Lady Sakura have schizophrenia?" The small slug was clearly not as smart or as powerful as the main body. It should have known this at a glance.
"Of course not!" Sakura's face stiffened. Although there were two cores, there was only one will. She did not have a mental illness.
"Uh... my apologies. The main body just told me that the connection between your two cores and your spirit is very harmonious and natural," the small slug said, waving its feelers vigorously, as if expressing a sincere apology. It continued, "Lady Sakura's spiritual power is many times stronger than an ordinary person's, but it's a pity that her physical power is relatively weak, which has dragged down your chakra amount. But don't worry, after your body is fully developed and the enhancement of your physical fitness from Ice Style has come to an end, your chakra amount will be more than ten times what it is now."
"At that time, you will be about qualified to practice Senjutsu."
The prerequisite for using Senjutsu training was to have a sufficient amount of chakra... With Sakura's current chakra amount, she was still far from being able to train in Senjutsu.
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