And if you think about it carefully, the difficulty of a Genin promoting to Chunin isn’t that high.
Especially after the Konoha Crush plan launched by Orochimaru’s Otogakure and Sunagakure a few years later—that incident, which even led to the fall of the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen, caused a severe shortage of Konoha’s combat power.
Konoha needed to replenish a large number of grassroots cadre Ninja at the Chunin level.
At that time, even if the official assessment standards for Genin to Chunin weren’t explicitly stated, they would definitely be relaxed in private.
The Konoha 11 from the original story almost all promoted to Chunin during that period, and Neji even became a Jonin directly as an exception.
But Neji was a very special case; after that, the difficulty of a normal Chunin promoting to Jonin would likely become even harder.
After the number of Chunin was replenished like pulling up sprouts to help them grow, the comprehensive strength assessment for new Jonin would definitely filter out as many Ninja as possible who even struggled being Chunin.
After all, the importance of a Jonin to a Ninja Village is something that Genin and Chunin combined cannot make up for.
If she wanted to save up enough money to realize her dream…
After Sakura graduates from the Ninja Academy, she must promote to Chunin the first time Team 7 participates in the Chunin Exams, just like in the original story!
Wait!!!
Sakura’s eyes suddenly widened.
Coupled with her currently pale face and lips, she scared Ino into thinking she had burned out and was experiencing the final rally before the end of her life.
“Sakura… are you okay?”
Ino asked worriedly.
“I’m fine.”
Sakura slightly restrained her excited emotions and smiled to show Ino not to worry.
Her pale face combined with that gentle smile actually had a hint of a stubborn, sickly beauty (the pre-growth version).
“I was just thinking about the future…”
“The future?”
“I realized that people who can truly be slackers are actually those who seem to have no ambition and are weak, but are actually incredibly strong with unwavering willpower!”
“A slacker? Wait, Sakura! The ‘slacker’ you’re talking about isn’t literal, is it?”
“slackers… are quite terrifying, Ino.”
Sakura looked up, her gaze locking onto another part of the school playground: the solitary Naruto and Sasuke, who was surrounded by girls.
The details of the ‘Retire at 20’ plan needed to be changed.
In the original story, the Konoha 11 belonged to Team Guy, Team 7, Team 8, and Team 10.
She had originally planned to do just okay at the Ninja Academy so she could avoid joining Team 7.
After all, judging by the team numbers, Sakura’s graduating class should have other students who weren’t mentioned in the original story but still successfully graduated to become Ninja.
Sakura had initially prepared to blend into those teams, not wanting to get involved in the troublesome main events of the original story and affect her happy early retirement as a slacker.
But now, after experiencing the terrifying twenty-lap run, Sakura realized the cruelty of the Ninja World for the first time!
Survival of the fittest is the unchanging rule of this world!
The intensity of other teams certainly wouldn’t match those of the Konoha 11.
If she wanted to become a Chunin early, her team didn’t have to be the strongest, but at least it shouldn’t hold her back.
After all, the assessment standards for Chunin promotion in the joint Chunin Exams a few years later didn’t just value a Ninja’s individual ability; solid team strength was also necessary.
Otherwise, it would be impossible to last until the final exam.
Joining a ‘background character’ team couldn’t guarantee strength—besides, did those ‘extra’ teams from the same graduating class even participate in the joint Chunin Exams years later?
In her memory, besides Team 7, Team 8, and Team 10, who participated in the Chunin Exams about six months after graduation, and Team Guy, who participated a year after becoming Genin, the other background Ninja from Konoha depicted in the joint exams were all guys who had failed several times.
Even Yakushi Kabuto, in order to make the’strength’ he exposed before the Konoha examiners more reasonable, disguised himself as a senior candidate who was still just a Genin after taking the Chunin Exams seven times.
As expected, sticking with these ‘protagonists’ is the safest bet.
Then the only choice left for Sakura was Team 7.
Team 10, led by Asuma Sarutobi in the future, would be the new, immature ‘Ino–Shika–Chō’ of Konoha—Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji.
The three of them were very special.
Although they would also take the graduation exam according to the Ninja Academy rules, once they became Ninja, they would inevitably be assigned to the same team.
The reason for this was related to the three great Ninja Clans behind them.
The ‘Ino–Shika–Chō’ formed by the Yamanaka Clan, Nara Clan, and Akimichi Clan was a combination that had existed since the founding of Konoha.
It was an unspoken rule in Konoha for the descendants of these clans to work together in the same team.
Moreover, these three clans had cooperated closely for decades, having already developed a unique set of tactical thinking and combat styles based on their respective family Secret Techniques.
This ensured that once each generation of ‘Ino–Shika–Chō’ grew up, they would certainly leave their mark on the Ninja World.
Breaking up the ‘Ino–Shika–Chō’ would instead lower their individual strengths.
Team 8, composed of Inuzuka Kiba, Shino, and Hinata, also had a special situation.
Among the three of them, two were from Konoha’s Secret Technique clans, and one was from a Bloodline Limit clan.
Team 8, like Team 10, was a team composed of clan descendants.
However, the relationship between the Inuzuka Clan, Aburame Clan, and Hyuga Clan wasn’t like that of the ‘Ino–Shika–Chō’; there wasn’t a reason strong enough to mandate they be on the same team.
The reason why the three of them were merged together could be guessed from the choice of their Jonin leader.
Konoha’s Genjutsu Ninja—Kurenai.
The reason Kurenai taught Team 8 was, of course, not what the conspiracy theories of her past life suggested—that the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi was increasing political capital for his so-called daughter-in-law, and along with his son leading Team 10, was currying favor with six families at once to pave the way for Asuma Sarutobi to become Hokage.
In reality, the status of Kurenai, who was arranged by the Third Hokage to be the leader of Team 8, was more like a figurehead thrown out by the Third Hokage to act as a temporary guardian.
Among the four teams where the Konoha 11 were located, only Kurenai was a newly promoted Jonin.
By rights, the team leaders should have been veteran Jonin.
After all, only veteran Jonin with enough vision and experience could allow the green Genin fresh out of the academy to grow rapidly.
But Kurenai’s responsibility was merely to ensure that the three clan-born Genin under her could return alive from various Ninja missions before they fully matured.
The Aburame Clan’s Insect Jamming Secret Technique and the Inuzuka Clan’s combination Ninjutsu of Ninja and Ninja Hound were both unique cultivation-type Secret Techniques.
They had studied the Secret Techniques passed down in their clans since childhood, growing up with the insects or Ninja Hounds that were the carriers of their techniques.
Their styles as Ninja were already fixed, leaving no room for an ‘outsider’ like Kurenai to intervene and teach them.
Regarding Ninjutsu study alone, the Ninja Academy was meaningless to them.
They entered the academy more to express their family’s political inclination to stand on the same side as Konoha.
And while Kurenai might still be able to pass on some common Ninja combat experience to Inuzuka Kiba and Shino, she could not fulfill the duties of a ‘teacher’ at all for Hinata, who possessed the Byakugan Bloodline Limit.
In the original story, there was a plot where Kurenai went to the Hyuga Clan territory but was completely unable to interfere with Hinata’s Ninjutsu practice.
The Ninjutsu learning systems of the three members of Team 8 were fundamentally different from the usual Ninjutsu curriculum.
If they were merged into other teams, there would be a disparity in strength among teammates due to differentiated learning.
The secrecy of Secret Techniques and Bloodline Limits also meant that a Jonin leader could not intervene to help integrate or balance the team.
Such a result would eventually lead to the team being reorganized anyway.
So, merging the three of them into the same team from the start, with Kurenai representing Konoha as the nominal leader while Ninjutsu study was handled by their respective families, was actually the most reasonable distribution.
As for Team Guy, which also had a member of the Hyuga Clan…
it was just a Taijutsu specialty team.
Moreover, Neji of the Branch House was himself a product of the political maneuvering between the Hyuga and Konoha.
Konoha protected the Hyuga’s eyes from being stolen by other nations.
The Hyuga, in turn, handed over the Byakugan of the Branch House to the Village, allowing the Hyuga Clan to integrate into Konoha’s Ninja ranks.
Even if a Branch House member unfortunately died on a Ninja mission, the powerful Caged Bird Curse Seal placed on their forehead by the Main House would destroy the Byakugan, protecting the Hyuga Clan’s most fundamental secret.
The only team Sakura could slot into was Team 7, which was her team in the original story anyway.
As expected, opportunities and risks coexist.
Sakura understood this principle deeply.
If she wanted to save money and retire as a slacker at 20, she still had to let Naruto and Sasuke carry her to boost her score…
As they kept grinding, wouldn’t they become the ‘New Three Sannin’?
They were all teammates in the same team; it didn’t matter who got the high score!!
However, while leeching points was great, the ‘jail time’ she’d have to serve during the process was just as real.
For example, the Uchiha Clan Downfall that would happen in about a year;
The Land of Waves incident, which triggered a high-difficulty dungeon right after Team 7 was formed;
All the trouble of the joint Chunin Exams…
and Uchiha Itachi’s return to his hometown in the mist…
If she left these things alone, they wouldn’t actually affect Sakura’s safety too much.
But if these events were linked together, it would trigger a debuff that forcibly locked her team’s Jungler carry in the enemy jungle…
If she let Sasuke defect, based on the original story, Sakura would have to spend at least three years leeching off everyone else to get by…
In the original story, Sakura even leeched off Team 10’s score for the second Chunin Exams!
The mechanical-god Jungler is AFK in the enemy jungle, and the stat-monster Top Laner is typing in all-chat saying his ping is so bad he’s floating outside the map—throughout the early and mid-game, Sakura would be pinned under the mid tower unable to get any gold, only able to spam a heal on cooldown to look like she’s doing something, only to be asked in the end why the Mid Laner has no damage in the late game, right?
Because there’s no money!
A Mid Laner with no money can’t buy equipment.
Sakura with no money can’t be a slacker!
So Sakura felt that since she had already chosen the high-risk, high-reward playstyle that gets the most comments, she might as well wait for the waves to get bigger before pulling in the fish.
As the saying goes, the bigger the wind and waves, the more expensive the fish.
If she could utilize the three years wasted by Team 7 in the original story and keep Sasuke and Naruto on the same path to trigger a hero bond effect and stack buffs like crazy, Sakura felt she might even promote to Jonin before the Fourth Great Ninja War arrived.
The maximum mission reward for a Chunin is only two hundred thousand Ryo, and it has to be split with teammates.
The maximum mission reward for a Jonin has no limit; extracting a million per mission would no longer be a dream!
And depending on the nature of certain missions, Jonin even support solo runs!
“The future of a Jonin is truly bright!”
This was the strongest thought in Sakura’s mind at this moment.
Her gaze shifted between Naruto and Sasuke.
With the three of us in Team 7 working together, we’ll be invincible in the Ninja World!
The more Sakura thought about it, the more she felt it was doable.
Contact with Naruto could be pushed back for now since the Third Hokage was watching.
She had to farm some Uchiha friendship points before the imminent Uchiha Clan Downfall, while Sasuke hadn’t closed off his heart yet!
That way, when the joint Chunin Exams came in the future, Sakura would have the chance to trade friendship points for rewards!
After all, that’s just how the Uchiha mechanics work.
Sasuke just needs to gain friendship points while condensing a Chidori in his hand and shouting, ‘Don’t underestimate the bond between us!’ Sakura, on the other hand, had much more to consider.
But the matter of gaining friendship points could wait a moment.
“Sakura?”
Ino looked in confusion at Sakura, who had suddenly slumped onto the ground.
“Ran twenty laps, my legs are weak. I’m taking a breather.”
That was Sakura’s answer.