Arriving at the forest, wild mushrooms were visible everywhere, especially clustered in thick bunches around the knotted, sturdy tree roots.
Sakura didn’t want to keep Ino and the others waiting too long, so she bent over and kept picking as she moved toward the east.
After a short while, she had picked a large handful of wild mushrooms and leafy greens.
Because her body was so small, Sakura had to hold them tightly against her chest.
“Alright, this much is definitely enough!” The girl looked at her harvest, nodded with satisfaction, and turned around, ready to head back.
But suddenly, she heard a “bang” from not far away.
The sound was loud, somewhat similar to an Explosive Tag.
The sound piqued the girl’s curiosity, and she walked in the direction of the noise, passing all the way through the forest.
Parting the grass, Sakura knelt in front of a bush and poked her head out.
Before her eyes was a clearing, and there were actually two people in it.
It seemed the sound from earlier had come from them.
“Sasuke, did you see that?
This is the power of an Explosive Tag.
When combined with Shurikenjutsu, it can defeat an enemy in an instant.” The tall boy looked at the astonished boy beside him and said softly.
The boy was clearly shocked by the power of the Explosive Tag as well.
He looked up at his older brother: “So a tiny Explosive Tag is actually this powerful!
Brother, can you teach me how to use it?” The older boy paused for a moment, then looked at his younger brother with a doting expression, the tear troughs at the corners of his eyes slightly raised: “Not yet.
This is too dangerous for you!” After saying this, the boy extended his index finger and tapped his younger brother on the forehead.
Sakura watched, slightly mesmerized.
From how they addressed each other and those iconic tear troughs, she knew that the two brothers before her were Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke.
The older brother was wearing the green tactical vest that only Konoha Jonin wore.
To have become a Jonin at only ten-something years old—who else could it be but Uchiha Itachi?
“Hmph!
Brother, you’re being unfair.
You have powerful Ninjutsu but won’t teach me.
I want to become a Jonin just like you.” The boy muttered, pouting in dissatisfaction, looking rather persistent.
Uchiha Itachi narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at his younger brother: “At your age, you should only try practicing with Shuriken.” As he spoke, the boy pulled three Shuriken from his pocket and threw them with a swoosh toward the tree opposite them.
The speed was so fast that Sakura couldn’t even clearly see the movement of the boy’s fingertips.
The Shuriken pierced through three falling leaves and nailed themselves into three separate trees, and the height at which they struck the trunks was identical.
“Wow, that’s amazing!” Sasuke clapped in pleasant surprise.
“Do you want to learn?” “Mm-hmm, yes!” The boy nodded repeatedly.
Itachi touched Sasuke’s forehead, took out some Shuriken, and began to explain the techniques of using Shuriken to Sasuke, including how to move his fingertips, how to apply force accurately, and how to aim.
Sakura listened intently from the side as well.
Itachi was definitely a genius student.
Although Sakura had practiced Shurikenjutsu many times, Itachi’s teaching today instantly made things clear to her.
Sure enough, having a good teacher was truly important.
“Alright, Sasuke, you give it a try now.” After speaking, Itachi let Sasuke demonstrate for him.
Sasuke pursed his little lips, looking slightly nervous, and stared motionlessly at the tree in front of him.
“Starting now!” After Itachi said this, he picked up a stone from the ground, flicked his finger slightly to send it toward the tree, and a few leaves fell down as a result.
Sasuke seized the opportunity, puffed out his cheeks, raised his small hand abruptly, and threw toward the target.
“Thwack!
Thwack!
Thwack!” The three Shuriken struck the wooden posts, but only one hit a leaf; the other two missed.
“Argh!
So frustrating!” The boy was somewhat annoyed.
“That was not bad, Sasuke.” Itachi said, looking at his younger brother.
“It’s not enough.
At my age, you were already an official Genin.
I still have a long way to go.” Sasuke knew his brother was much better than him.
“At your age, you should make more friends.
That might be helpful for your future growth.” Itachi didn’t actually care how powerful his younger brother was; his brother had been introverted since he was young and didn’t want to play with other children.
He hoped his younger brother could have a happy childhood.
As he said this, Itachi couldn’t help but look at the bushes in the distance, exactly in Sakura’s direction.
Sakura was hiding behind the bushes, panting awkwardly.
Peeking at others training was not exactly a glorious thing to do.
Obviously, Itachi had discovered her from the very beginning.
“Come out, little one.” Itachi was not angry and spoke in the same gentle tone.
Sakura knew she couldn’t hide anymore, so she parted the grass and walked out slowly.
“You actually dared to peek at our training!” Sasuke looked at Sakura, somewhat angry.
The boy believed his brother’s teaching was for him alone to hear.
“Ah—well, um, sorry.
I was passing by while picking wild vegetables; I didn’t mean to peek at you.” Sakura scratched her head and muttered to herself: This little Sasuke is really annoying.
“It’s fine.
You watched the entire practice just now.
May I see how much you’ve learned?” Itachi looked at Sakura before him.
He was somewhat puzzled: why did this girl, who was about the same age as Sasuke, have an amount of Chakra in her body that surpassed her age?
“Ah?
Let’s forget it.
I shouldn’t make a fool of myself in front of an expert.” Sakura knew that with her current abilities, she was just a small fry in front of Itachi.
Itachi could kill her with just a glance.
“What?
You dared to steal the technique but don’t dare to demonstrate it?
I think you’re just too stupid.
You watched it but didn’t learn it.
Blehh!” Sasuke mocked, and after finishing, he didn’t forget to make a face at Sakura.
Sasuke in his childhood was really cheeky and such a chuunibyou.
Who could connect him with that cold, black-bellied second male lead?
Sure enough, hatred could completely change a person’s personality.
“Alright, then I’ll give it a try.” With that, Sakura slowly stepped forward.
She looked at Uchiha Itachi beside her.
Standing this close to Itachi for the first time, this feeling was quite wondrous.
The girl steadied herself and pulled three Kunai from her pocket.
Itachi also cooperated by flicking a stone.
The moment the leaves fell.
The girl’s eyes sharpened.
The three Shuriken shot out rapidly, striking the three wooden posts in front of her respectively, and the falling leaves were pinned firmly in place.
“She actually hit all three!” Sasuke was stunned.
He looked at the wooden posts, then at Sakura, and for a moment, he didn’t know what to say.
The boy’s face turned red in a flash.
The sense of shame after being slapped in the face made Sakura find it funny.
“Hmm, you are better than Sasuke.” Itachi said in a flat tone, as if he had expected it.
“Haha—I just got lucky!” Sakura waved her hands and said.
She didn’t dare to be blindly confident in front of Itachi.
“Alright, I admit you are better than me.
My name is Uchiha Sasuke, what is your name?” Sasuke reached out his hand toward Sakura.
In a child’s world, there is no jealousy.
“Sakura Haruno, nice to meet you.” Sakura extended her hand and said.
“My friends and I are having a picnic by the river on the other side.
Would you like to come along?” Sakura picked up the wild vegetables from the ground again and invited Sasuke.
Sasuke was a bit tempted after hearing this.
Because of his brother’s overprotection, the boy had relatively few friends.
After school, he basically played at home alone or accompanied his brother in training.
He looked at his brother with some anticipation.
Uchiha Itachi smiled and nodded: “Go ahead, just make sure to come back early in the evening.” “Okay, Brother.” Sasuke was very happy to have made a new friend.
“Then we’re off, Big Brother Itachi.” Sakura looked up at Itachi.
She took Sasuke, the little follower, and left in the opposite direction.
The wind in the mountain forest gently brushed through the boy’s hair.
Watching the backs of the girl and his younger brother as they left, a flash of astonishment crossed the boy’s pupils: How did this girl know his name?
On the other side, Sakura introduced Sasuke to Ino and the others.
The young children soon hit it off and became close friends who shared everything with each other.
In the time that followed, whenever she was free, Sakura would go out to play with these companions.
Of course, as a transmigrator with a cheat, Sakura enjoyed a happy childhood on one hand, while on the other, she reminded herself from time to time to work hard on her cultivation.
Only in this way could she survive better in the war-torn Ninja world, and only then could she better protect the people she wanted to protect.