"I'm back!"
Sakura pushed open the door of her house and sat down at the entrance to take off her shoes. She couldn't help but think of her mother, who had been yelling at her for years to put her shoes away properly.
"Sakura, are you really okay?"
Karin, the pink-haired girl, looked at Sakura as she neatly placed her shoes in the shoe cabinet.
"It's fine, Karin. You can stay at my place for now. After the Chunin Exams are over, your residence permit should be ready."
Sakura reassured her friend not to worry.
Though this was something that was arranged with a word from Hiruzen Sarutobi, the necessary procedures had to be followed.
There would be ninja specifically assigned to investigate Karin, and even though Sakura was Hiruzen's disciple, no exceptions could be made.
"Alright."
Karin copied Sakura, putting her own shoes in the cabinet, and followed her inside.
As she looked around at the lively atmosphere of the house, Karin couldn't help but feel a bit disoriented.
No one knew what was going on in her mind, but what Sakura had promised her, she had already done.
"You didn't even tell me you were coming back, go out and buy some groceries."
Sakura's mother, Mebuki, called from the kitchen, clearly busy preparing dinner.
Currently, Sakura's father, Kizashi, was still working at the logistics department in Konoha, so it was just Mebuki at home.
"Mom, I have a friend staying at our place for now."
Sakura leaned against the kitchen doorframe and pointed at Karin, who was standing beside her.
"Hello, Auntie, I'm Karin..."
Karin nervously greeted Mebuki, who looked at her with a surprised expression.
"Eh?"
Since Sakura had become a ninja four years ago and apprenticed under the Third Hokage, she had never brought anyone home before.
This was the first time.
Karin looked nervously at Mebuki, who seemed a bit taken aback by the unexpected guest.
"Is Sakura causing you any trouble?"
Mebuki asked with a kind smile, looking at the well-behaved Karin.
"No, no, I should be the one causing Sakura trouble." Karin quickly waved her hands to deny it.
"Well, tonight we'll be having dinner for four then. Sakura, go out and buy more groceries. Make sure you go to Sanji's, his cooking is good."
Then Mebuki asked if Karin had any food preferences or things she couldn't eat, with a warm smile.
Sakura's mother was so enthusiastic that Karin couldn't quite handle it.
That night, after dinner, Sakura lay alone in bed, gazing at the stars outside the window.
Karin stayed in the guest room next door, and the Haruno family didn't seem to mind her staying.
In fact, since Sakura had always been very independent, her parents, Mebuki and Kizashi, sometimes joked about missing the joy of having a child to look after.
To this, Sakura could only roll her eyes slightly, showing a bit of respect.
"Sorry for being so independent..."
The next day, because Karin needed to stay in Konoha, she had to report to the relevant departments every day and undergo an investigation. So, she had left early on her own.
Meanwhile, Sakura, wearing pajamas and with slightly messy hair, sat at the dining table eating the breakfast her mother had prepared for her.
This was one of the rare quiet moments for Sakura.
Thinking about it, since Sakura graduated four years ago, she rarely had such leisurely days.
"Remember to wash the dishes after eating, sweep the floor, take out the trash, and when you come back, buy some ingredients. And don't just buy what you like to eat!"
Mebuki Haruno, hands on her hips, gave Sakura a scolding as she glanced at her daughter, who seemed indifferent.
"Got it~~"
"But I have something to do this afternoon, so I won't stay home."
Sakura lazily opened her mouth, still half asleep.
"Alright, alright."
Mebuki waved her hand, but then her gaze fell on the neatly arranged shoes in the shoe cabinet, and she fell silent.
After breakfast, Sakura quickly washed the dishes, swept the floor, threw out the trash, and bought the groceries. She even brought a box of strawberries that her mother liked.
This put a smile on her mother's face.
While grumbling that Sakura had grown up and become more thoughtful, Mei's expression softened significantly.
When it came to cooking, Sakura initially wanted to help, but Mebuki quickly shooed her out of the kitchen.
So, the pink-haired girl simply sprawled on the sofa and turned on the TV.
"The Princess of Wind and Snow – The Movie"
This was a movie recently popular in the Land of Fire, starring a famous celebrity named Fuji Fuyuki.
Sakura lay on the sofa, propping her head up as she watched the movie, waiting for dinner.
In the afternoon, she would go to the bathhouses around Konoha to wait for Jiraiya, that old pervert, to make an appearance.
Sakura now knew everything about her ninja training.
But despite having reached the standard of a typical ninja, she was still inferior to Tsunade. After all, Tsunade's grandfather was Senju Hashirama, and her grandmother was Uzumaki Mito.
With the Senju and Uzumaki bloodlines, Sakura, a regular ninja without any special bloodline, could never compare to Tsunade.
In this world that revolved around bloodlines, Sakura was starting to feel a bit speechless.
Her two teammates were from the Uzumaki and Uchiha clans, and even they couldn't compare to her.
Moreover, these two were reincarnations of the sons of the Sage of Six Paths, the main characters of destiny.
In just three years, they had risen from Genin to beings at the level of the Six Paths.
If Sakura wanted to maintain her advantage and not be surpassed by these two, she would have to take a different path.
Sakura had considered learning the Sage Mode of the Wet Bone Forest...
But that technique was terrifying.
In simple terms, learning the Sage Mode from the Wet Bone Forest was especially difficult.
The Wet Bone Forest had a pool of liquid filled with natural energy. Jump into it for a bath, and if you survive, you could gain Sage Mode.
This method was more extreme than the training methods of Mount Myoboku or the Ryūchi Cave.
The Sage of Wet Bone Forest seemed calm, but their training method was one of the roughest among the Three Great Sage Lands.
Tsunade couldn't learn Sage Mode, and that was evident from the fact that Hashirama's Sage Mode wasn't from Wet Bone Forest.
Would Tsunade want to possess Sage Mode like her grandfather?
Although the Sage of the Wet Bone Forest had said that Hashirama's Sage Mode wasn't from Wet Bone Forest, Sakura wasn't about to risk it. She had no confidence that she would survive that process.
Instead, she would focus on developing her Yang Release and enhancing her Byakugou technique.
Those methods were simpler. Once Tsunade returned to the village, Sakura could consult her, the medical expert of the ninja world, for some insights.
After all, there was no harm in asking, and she could even bring Jiraiya into the mix to study Yang Release. When Tsunade came back, they could look over the ancient texts from the Senju and Uzumaki clans...
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