Although she had some uncertain deductions about the changes in herself, because they were uncertain, she couldn't find a specific remedy. Since that was the case, Sakura Haruno decided not to waste any more time on it and to head to the Land of Grass first.
The Land of Tea was not very wide horizontally. Leading Terumi Mei, it only took a day's journey to see the inland sea. There were quite a few ships here. To avoid attracting attention, Sakura disguised both herself and Mei. She didn't use the Transformation Technique; for ninjas with strong sensory abilities, although they couldn't see through the transformation's true appearance, they could sense the chakra used to maintain it.
Since she already knew Kirigakure was hunting them, Sakura had to be careful. Katsuyu hadn't responded to her yet, and she didn't know if something had happened. Although her current chakra level was enough to sustain a high-intensity battle, the emptiness in her Yin Seal made her feel a little insecure.
Ever since the cellular modification from her kekkei genkai, coupled with several rounds of Lightning Release body tempering, her chakra limit had shown gratifying growth. However, even so, Sakura was still an ordinary ninja, and she was still a long way from reaching the ceiling for ordinary ninjas.
Natural energy, however, allowed Sakura to directly bypass this ceiling. Even if the current Sakura hadn't reached the peak for ordinary ninjas, the dimension of her power system was vastly different. If she fought a ninja of equal strength, Sakura could dominate them after using natural energy.
But the unfortunate thing now was that Sakura couldn't refine natural energy on her own. The natural energy in her Yin Seal had been inexplicably squandered, and the only stone that could replenish natural energy was still in the village.
"We're here!" Terumi Mei tugged on Sakura's sleeve and said.
"Ah, we've arrived. Let's go too!" Sakura said, snapping back to reality.
"Mhm." Terumi Mei looked at Sakura with some worry. These past few days, she often saw her "little sister" spacing out. Mei wanted to ask, but she currently had amnesia and needed Sakura's help to recall her memories. Mei was afraid that saying the wrong thing would lead to even worse problems.
Thanks to Sakura's relentless efforts, and under the influence of her brain's auto-completion function, Terumi Mei was now thoroughly convinced that she was Sakura's older sister. With her "little sister's" help, Mei's mind was already filled with happy memories of their time together. Occasional jumbled memories were dismissed by Mei as a result of her amnesia.
Mei didn't feel any aversion to Sakura's rampage where she killed many people; this further solidified her belief in the past Sakura had fabricated for her. Seeing Sakura like this now, Mei was very worried.
"If there's anything I can do to help you, I hope you'll tell me," Terumi Mei said hesitantly. "No matter what, I'm your older sister. We're the only family each other has in this world."
Hm? Sakura looked with surprise at Terumi Mei's somewhat dejected expression and her touching words. Her heart inexplicably skipped a beat.
Could it be... that I've gone too far? She doesn't know anything from beginning to end, yet I've put her in this situation.
Then she shook her head again. No, she's from Kirigakure. Even if she hadn't met me, she would have hunted me down. But... if I hadn't met her, would Mangetsu have discovered me while I was healing her in that cave, leading to a misunderstanding?
Sakura scratched her head. Whatever. It's already like this. Why think so much?
Sakura was now in the Land of Waves. The Land of Waves was located to the north of the Land of Rivers' lower section. It was originally an island belonging to the Land of Rivers, but due to internal strife in the Land of Rivers, the Land of Waves had become independent.
However, being an island nation, it was severely lacking in resources and relied entirely on maritime transport to supplement its domestic goods. Previously, a merchant named Gato controlled the shipping resources here.
The Daimyo of the Land of Waves had no interest in governing the country. Due to Gato's bribes, he turned a blind eye to Gato's actions. As a result, apart from the Daimyo and the upper class, the country was extremely impoverished.
Sakura walked through the streets of the Land of Waves, noticing that it was vastly different from the last time she had seen it. Back then, beggars in ragged clothes were everywhere, the streets were filthy, and even the people walking on the streets had no vitality in their eyes.
But now, looking around, there were no ragged beggars in the town, the streets had become much cleaner, and various shops had sprung up. The eyes of the people walking on the streets were filled with hope for life.
The reason for this was simply that Team 7 had taken care of Gato, not only breaking the Gato Group's monopoly on shipping but also allowing the bridge connecting to the Land of Rivers to be completed.
Indeed, the saying "to get rich, first build a road" is an eternal truth, applicable in any world.
Sakura wandered around with Terumi Mei for a while, then found a hot spring inn to stay at. It wasn't that she wasn't in a hurry to travel, but she needed to replenish some supplies.
Things like Blood Replenishing Pills and Military Ration Pills all needed to be restocked. Although these items seemed insignificant, they could play a significant role, whether for daily sustenance or in battle.
As a ninja, Sakura didn't trust buying ready-made items outside the village, so she had to make them herself. If she bought the materials today and worked quickly, she should be able to make a lot overnight.
Right, I also need to replenish my ninja tools. But I don't know if there's a weapon shop here. I'll look around on the street. The Land of Waves is in a state of revival; weapon merchants should be coming here to seek business opportunities.
"If you're hungry, ask the innkeeper to prepare some food for you. I'm going out to buy some things," Sakura said to Terumi Mei, who had plopped down as soon as she entered the room.
"Hm?" Terumi Mei quickly sat up, looking tired. "What are you buying? I'll go with you. I can help you carry things."
"No need. I can see you're quite tired from the journey. Rest well here," Sakura said, then added, "You remember the code phrase, right? If they don't get the code phrase right, don't open the door. If they try to force their way in, use the jutsu I taught you to deal with them, understand?"
"I... I understand," Terumi Mei nodded in disappointment. "I'll have the owner prepare some food first. I'll wait for you to come back."
"Alright," Sakura nodded. "I'm going now. Don't wander off."
Then Sakura left the hot spring inn. She didn't let Mei follow, not because she was worried Mei was tired, but because she was afraid Mei would be recognized. It was possible Kirigakure had already tracked them here. Mei was from Kirigakure, and even in disguise, she was more recognizable than Sakura. To avoid unnecessary trouble, it was better not to let her wander around.
After strolling around the streets for a while, Sakura's hands were full of bags. Making Military Ration Pills required tools. The ingredients were easy enough to find, but the stone mortar and pestle were incredibly heavy.
Although Sakura's monstrous strength had great destructive power, that was with the enhancement of chakra. In her normal state, Sakura's strength wasn't that outrageous.
"Looks like I should have brought Mei along," Sakura said, looking at the large stone mortar with some regret.
Sakura had obtained a considerable amount of money from Doctor Tenchi. After all, how could researchers be short of money? Without money, research couldn't be done. So, Sakura was currently quite well-off.
When passing by the hot spring inn where they were staying, Sakura first dropped off all her things in the lobby and asked the front desk staff to keep them for a while. They weren't anything important anyway, just common items. If they were lost, they were lost.
Then Sakura went to a cutlery shop she had seen on the street earlier. She had only glanced at it before because her hands were full. Hopefully, they had ninja tools there.
For ninjas, blades were somewhat more difficult to handle compared to kunai and shuriken. Kunai and shuriken were relatively easier to master.
Firstly, blades were suitable for close combat and couldn't be thrown. For ninja battles, the initial phase wasn't direct ninjutsu clashes but rather probing. Kunai and shuriken perfectly met this need.
For a novice, directly engaging in close combat with a blade was undoubtedly a very dangerous thing.
Secondly, besides long-range attacks, kunai could also be used in close combat. Although their reach wasn't as extensive as blades in close-quarters combat, they were convenient to carry and allowed for flexible and versatile fighting styles.
For these reasons, when training ninjas, the first weapons were invariably kunai and shuriken.
However, although blades didn't have as quick an entry curve as kunai, the potential of blades was much higher than that of kunai.
Kunai were widely used among cannon-fodder ninjas. Most genin who had advanced to chunin based on the number of missions completed were particularly fond of using kunai.
But it couldn't be said that ninjas who used blades were necessarily stronger than those who used kunai. Weapons were ultimately inanimate objects; it still depended on the user's skill. Kunai and blades were just choices for a ninja. Sakura, for example, never used either of these two weapons.
Arriving at the cutlery shop, Sakura looked at the walls covered with various blades and felt a bit overwhelmed. Is this really just a cutlery shop, without kunai or other ninja tools?
"Boss, do you have kunai and shuriken here?" Sakura asked the shrewd-looking owner behind the counter.
"Kunai?" The cutlery shop owner paused, his small eyes narrowing. "No, we only sell blades here."
"Oh, I see!" Sakura was somewhat disappointed. She had never used a blade before and wasn't sure if she could handle one well. Besides, what she needed was a throwable weapon for probing.
"Little sister, why not buy a sword? Are you buying it for a family member? Although the Land of Waves is more prosperous than before, public safety isn't as good as it used to be," the cutlery shop owner said, seemingly enthusiastically promoting his goods.
"I don't know how to use a blade. Never mind," Sakura shook her head.
"Huh? You're using it yourself? Are you a ninja?" The cutlery shop owner's small eyes narrowed as he looked at Sakura.
The people browsing for blades in the shop all turned to look at Sakura upon hearing the owner's words. Some were even whispering amongst themselves.
Sakura wasn't stupid. Hearing the owner's question and feeling the gazes of the people around her, she instinctively felt that something was fishy.
"I'm not a ninja. Why do you ask, boss?" Sakura said calmly.
"Haha, it's nothing. I was just a bit surprised to see someone so young buying kunai for their own use," the owner said, laughing it off.
"After all, the Land of Waves has no hidden village and no ninjas. If someone wants to buy kunai, they're either a samurai or a ninja," the cutlery shop owner said, staring at Sakura.
Samurai using kunai? Sakura had never seen that before. Then again, she hadn't seen many samurai either, so she didn't know if the owner was telling the truth.
However, the owner's words put Sakura on alert. That's right, the Land of Waves has no hidden village, so why would they sell kunai? Thinking back, it seems the owner was trying to get information out of me when he was promoting his blades.
"Since you don't have any, then never mind," Sakura said and hurriedly left the cutlery shop.
After Sakura left, the cutlery shop owner took out a piece of paper from a drawer. On it was a drawing of a young girl. Looking at the girl's likeness, the cutlery shop owner fell into thought.
And the customers who had been whispering just moments ago suddenly became louder.
"Is it her?"
"Doesn't quite look like her."
"But the age matches, and she came to buy ninja tools. She's probably disguised."
"Heh, what do you say, brothers? Want to go for a big score?"
"Forget it, she's mine. Don't you dare compete with me."
"Come on, she's a ninja. Let's all go together and split the bounty."
"Even if she's a ninja, she's just a kid. How strong can she be? Besides, she doesn't even have a weapon."
Hearing the people in the shop chattering, the cutlery shop owner suddenly spoke up, "Everyone, everyone, the shop is closing. Please leave."
"Tch, boss, I've already picked out this sword. Let me pay first," a tall, thin man said.
"Everyone, the weapons you've chosen are on the house!" the cutlery shop owner said. "Please, go back now!"
"Well, well, look at this! The old miser is actually being generous today. That's rare!" a man with a sharp chin and shifty eyes quipped.
"Hmph, we're bounty hunters, not robbers. How could we take advantage of you? You have to take this money today, whether you want to or not!" a burly man with a fierce face said.
"That's right, that's right! Are you looking down on us?!"
"Exactly, exactly!"
Seeing this, the cutlery shop owner was helpless and could only say, "Alright, alright, thank you all for your righteousness. Please hurry."
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