Chapter 307: Assessment
After listening to Moegi's speech, Haruno Sakura clapped her hands.
"Very good! Your ideals and goals are very ambitious. I am very pleased," she said with a smile. "However, having high goals is not enough. You also need to be down-to-earth and move forward. But before that, you still need to pass my test before you can become my official students!"
"Sensei, I know!" Konohamaru raised his hand and shouted loudly. "It's a test of teamwork spirit, right? Naruto-niichan told me!"
"That's right, that's right!" Udon and Moegi also nodded their heads like chickens pecking at rice.
The smile on Sakura's face instantly froze.
"Ahem, you already know?" This kind of thing, it was like leaking the exam questions. Once it was said, she couldn't test their true sense of camaraderie.
The routine she had just come up with was instantly invalidated. She had wanted to give the students a little surprise!
Naruto, you idiot, to even tell them this kind of thing... Sakura held her forehead, feeling a bit of a headache. When Naruto comes back, I'll have another reason to teach him a lesson!
Haruno Sakura rubbed her temples and said, "Alright, I'm not like Kakashi. I won't use those tricks to scare you... I know you guys have been playing together since you were little, so you won't lack a sense of camaraderie and teamwork spirit."
No, no, no, the reason for not using tricks to scare them was simply because they already knew the answer, so she couldn't continue with her bad taste. Since she couldn't give them a surprise, she'd just use a conventional routine!
She walked to the center of the rooftop. "However, teamwork still needs to be tested... The three of you, attack me! As long as you can force me to take a step back, you pass. How about it!"
"Wait a minute, right here?" Konohamaru's acrophobia, which had just improved, suddenly acted up again. Standing at a height of several hundred meters to look at the scenery and to fight were two completely different things!
"That's right. So you must be careful. Falling from this height, you'll be smashed into blood plasma! There will definitely be no saving you on the spot... hehe," Haruno Sakura said, a malicious smile appearing on her face as she looked at the three pale faces.
"Surprised, aren't you?"
After laughing, Sakura said seriously, "A ninja must learn to overcome their fears! You may encounter even more disadvantageous situations at any time. The enemy won't let you off just because you're not used to the terrain!"
She pointed out the tips for fighting to the three of them. "Deep breaths. Suppress your negative emotions. Clear your minds. Then focus your attention on me. Circulate your chakra! Separate a part of your chakra and let it flow through the meridians in your brain. If you are confident in your chakra control, you can learn from me and stimulate your brain with a tiny amount of chakra. This can strengthen the brain's control over emotions and have a strong calming effect!"
(Note: The lower right frontal cortex of the brain is the center for integrating information, controlling emotions, and solving problems. Stimulating it with a weak electric current, or slightly enhancing it with chakra, can make a ninja very calm; of course, the best effect is still from the Ice Style chakra Sakura uses. Its auxiliary ability for the spirit is not just a calming effect.)
Under Sakura's guidance, Konohamaru and the other two soon calmed down properly. "I don't seem to be afraid anymore!" Konohamaru said with some surprise, looking at his no-longer-trembling palms.
His current feeling was very strange: the faint fear was slowly dissipating like the receding tide. The lake of his heart became calm, without a ripple. Negative emotions seemed to be unable to affect him anymore.
Turning his head to look at his companions beside him, Udon and Moegi had also completely calmed down.
"This little trick is very helpful for suppressing mild negative emotions, but it won't be as effective in a real life-or-death battle," Sakura said, looking at the three who had calmed down. "It seems you have mastered the basics... Then, let's begin!"
"Yes!"
The three nodded in response and immediately prepared to attack. Then, kunai, shuriken, and Moegi's Great Fireball attacked at the same time!
The layers of the attack are very strong, and the coordination is passable... Haruno Sakura nodded slightly, her hands slowly forming seals.
"Water Style: Water Formation Wall!"
The water flowing out from beside Sakura turned into a high wall, blocking the attacks of the three. At the same time, Konohamaru took the opportunity to appear behind Sakura and kicked out!
"Hn, the timing and coordination are well grasped!" Sakura revealed a faint smile. Udon and Moegi distract from the front, and then Konohamaru launches a surprise attack from behind. As expected of a trio who grew up together.
This kick even has a bit of a tiger-like wind! His taijutsu is not bad either...
The girl's hand seal gesture in front of her chest changed slightly. Two streams of water separated from the water of the Water Formation Wall, grabbed Konohamaru's body, blocked his attack, and then flung him fiercely!
"Ah!" Konohamaru screamed, flung out of the tower, and was about to fall and turn into a pile of meat paste!
Faced with the threat of life and death, the calming effect of stimulating the brain was useless. The little trick Haruno Sakura had just introduced lost its effect. Konohamaru waved his hands and feet in panic. Fortunately, Udon threw out a rope at this time. "Catch it, Boss!"
"Timely rescue!" Sakura commented. If Konohamaru had really fallen, she had ways to catch him, but the assessment of these three people would be hard to say...
"Did you forget to stay calm again, Konohamaru?" Haruno Sakura asked, looking at Konohamaru who was slumped on the ground, sweating profusely and unable to say a word after surviving the disaster.
Hearing Sakura's reminder, Konohamaru remembered her guidance just now. He hurriedly gathered his chakra and suppressed his panicked emotions.
"Although the three of you have been trained by Lord Third for a while, and your strength is not bad, there are still many problems when facing real combat," Haruno Sakura said, holding up an index finger. "Just now, Konohamaru was completely capable of climbing up by himself, but instead, he kept shouting and screaming in panic, completely failing to display his strength."
"Sorry, Sensei," Konohamaru said, blushing with shame after calming down and realizing that his performance just now had been a bit embarrassing.
However, although Sakura was criticizing them, she also knew very well that these small problems were caused by a lack of experience. Training for a period of time would quickly make up for it. Wasn't she like this back then? Rookies were all like this. No one could be born knowing these things.
On the contrary, the tacit cooperation and sense of camaraderie they had shown were the key points Sakura needed to assess this time.
After Konohamaru recovered, the three of them stood up again and prepared for battle.
Sakura nodded secretly.
"Very good. Then, start the second round of combat!"
In the second round of combat, the three of them fought decently. Konohamaru was not affected by what had happened just now, and his psychological quality was passable.
The division of labor among the three was very clear.
Udon took on more support tasks, genjutsu, ninja tool harassment, covering his comrades' attacks and retreats.
His chakra control was good, his spiritual power was strong, and he was talented in genjutsu, but his body was a bit weak, and his taijutsu was a weakness, so Moegi and Konohamaru kept protecting him behind them.
Moegi's Water Style ninjutsu and taijutsu were the main output points of the three.
Her chakra control was even stronger than Udon's, and her grasp of ninjutsu was very accurate. Her taijutsu was not bad either, and she could skillfully use chakra to enhance her body, so her speed was good, and her strength surprised Sakura a little—she also had a constitution suitable for using Monstrous Strength, which had already been vaguely shown in battle.
Konohamaru was the auxiliary attacker, relying on Fire Style and close-range taijutsu to attack.
He was best at taijutsu. His speed and skills were the top among the three, and he had a natural keen sense for battle, always able to find the most suitable time to attack! Therefore, although Moegi had the highest output among the three, Moegi was only responsible for confronting Sakura head-on, and when Sakura revealed an opening, the fatal blow would be initiated by Konohamaru!
Of course, this also meant that Konohamaru became the one who was hit the most.
"Ah—!"
A miserable scream came from the air. This was Konohamaru being thrown out of the tower again. He seemed unable to overcome this deep-seated fear for the time being, probably because he really was a little afraid of heights. But Konohamaru had learned to quickly recover from his fear, throw out a rope to tie to the ice tower to stop his fall, and then climb up.
"He's also learned the skill of climbing trees with his feet," Sakura thought to herself. "The water walking practice was probably also taught by Lord Third."
In terms of skills, the foundation of the three of them was already very solid. Even if Sakura didn't arrange special training and just simply sparred with them every day, these three could grow up very quickly.
It seemed that being their team leader would really be an easy task.
Sakura smiled, watching the three of them huddled together discussing the (N+1)th attack plan after the Nth failed battle.
Their indomitable spirit was quite good. However, Sakura had already seen their attack routine clearly. Although there was a little change each time, the core was still the same set. It seemed that the next attack wouldn't change much either.
Then let's end it here.
It was about time to announce that they had passed the assessment, although she had been standing still until now. But Haruno Sakura had never forgotten that what she wanted to test was their team spirit, and on this point, all three had passed.
"Ahem," Sakura-sensei cleared her throat, preparing to speak.
The three students suddenly scattered. "Sensei, take this! This time we will definitely succeed!"
How many times have I heard this sentence today? Sakura raised her eyebrows. Since they wanted to try again, she would let them!
The vanguard was still Udon's genjutsu: "Genjutsu: Hell Viewing Technique!"
This genjutsu, which could make the enemy see the image they feared the most and thus suffer a psychological blow, was a very common genjutsu. Udon used it very skillfully. For a newly graduated Genin, this was already quite good.
Haruno Sakura pretended to be stunned for half a second; genjutsu obviously couldn't affect Sakura, but as an assessment, she had to go easy on them appropriately...
After releasing the genjutsu, Udon exchanged a look with Moegi and Konohamaru—"My genjutsu can only interfere with Sensei for less than a second. Quickly take the opportunity to attack!"
His eyes conveyed this meaning.
Konohamaru nodded, and at the same time as Udon used the genjutsu, he tacitly threw out a huge fireball: "Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
Moegi also simultaneously took out a half-man-high Fūma Shuriken and shot it at Haruno Sakura!
Swish, swish—
The shuriken traced a huge arc, bypassing the fireball, and shot at Sakura from her rear flank!
In the instant of the genjutsu harassment, attacks were launched from the front and side at the same time. Their tacit cooperation allowed simple ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu to also display great power. What's more, their genjutsu, Fire Style, and ninja tools were used very brilliantly!
The power of this fireball is even greater than before...
"Not bad," Sakura said with a nod, using "Water Style: Water Formation Wall" to block the Great Fireball's attack, and then suddenly turned sideways, easily dodging the Fūma Shuriken's surprise attack.
She felt the familiar taste of chakra change. She seemed to have seen this tactic on someone often! The routine was not surprising, but in terms of details, they had done it to the extreme of a Genin. Both transformation jutsu were done very exquisitely!
"What's next?"
Then, POOF—! The Fūma Shuriken, in the instant it passed Sakura, suddenly transformed into Konohamaru's appearance: "Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
"Brilliant!"
Then, as a reward...
Haruno Sakura moved her steps and dodged the fireball's attack.
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