A week had passed since Sakura reached the second path. For the entire week, no strenuous excercises were made. Most of the time was dedicated to teaching Sakura the basics of chakra. While Chizuki’s elemental attribute was water, Sakura’s was fire. Compared to other elements, she could use fire at will and was very creative with it.

Uehara took her through a course on all the elements, which element complimented which element and how to combine her fire with other elements. Although she couldn’t do such advanced techniques so soon, what was important was that the foundation had been set.

And to further add to motivation, Sakura was surprised and jealous to see how Chizuki combined water and earth to create wood and how her mastery in the elements allowed her to hide within the trees. But the scene that effected her the most was when she saw Chizuki make a gentle snow fall around them while she had Uehara asleep on her lap.

The scene was so beautiful that the girl walked away in a fit of anger and began practicing diligently with her fire element so that she could make ‘flame-snow’ for when Uehara rests on her lap one day.

Although the week was not as progressive, it was a rest that was appreciated. When the week ended, the first thing that happened was that at the crack of dawn, Uehara dragged Sakura out of bed and brought her to an island sixty kilometres from Aokigahara called Training Ground 1.

Hovering in the sky with a slightly drowsy Sakura, he put a finger coated in a burning flame to her head. Her eyes instantly widened.

“Ouchie!”

Watching the sixteen-year old furiously rub her forehead while her braided-red hair flung around, a small smile came to his face.

“Are you awake now.”

She looked at him with teary eyes.

“Yes…Aoki-sama.”

“Good.”

He pointed to the island below them littered with ice-filled craters.

“I want you to melt all of this ice that Chizuki worked so hard to create until all those craters are filled with warm spring-water before the end of today.”

Her eyes that were now dry became teary again as she looked at Uehara with a begging expression. Unfortunately, all she got as an answer was the small finger of a long-haired five-year old pointing at the ground.

“Begin.”

Seeing his trademark neutral expression, Sakura flew down. Landing on the ice, Uehara landed besides her.

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“For this crater,I want you to place your palm and evenly spread your fire chakra all over the ice with absolutely no leakage. The ice must melt at an equal rate. If the surface becomes uneven by a millimetre, I will freeze the entire area again.”

Sakura’s brain stopped functioning. Looking at the twenty-metre deep crater with a radius of fifty metres, she felt like crying. Looking at Uehara, she wished he would say he was joking but seeing his serious expression, she knew he wouldn’t accept any grievances from her.

She swallowed all her displeasure and walked to the centre of the crater and crouched down.

[Come on Sakura. You asked for strength and he’s giving you a chance to earn that strength. Don’t waste this chance like before.]

Thinking back to how she lazed away while Chizuki was training extensively with Uehara, she decisively put both her hands on the ground and began channeling her chakra.

[Never again!]

Bright yellow flames with no heat spread out in a straight line from the centre, forming a sort of wheel with Sakura as the centre. Then, the lines of those flames started to slowly increase in width, inching close and close to the other line.

When the lines connected with each other, the yellow flames now gained their reddish tinge, emanating a blazing heat that melted Chizuki’s ice.

Layers and layers of ice directly melted into mist, not even getting the chance to become liquid. But within that mist, glowing yellow eyes could be seen through it.

Although he couldn’t explain it, Uehara felt an inexplicable sense of pride after seeing how Sakura was taking training seriously and had actually used such an ingenious method to melt the ice. By spreading out condensed lines of cold flames, she reduced the pressure and chakra expenditure she would have to endure if she were to have spread out the cold-flame like a blanket. By then slowly expanding the flame lanes towards each other like a fan, she made sure to cover all the bases with the outmost efficiency.

[Like how an army would surround the enemy and then attack from the sides. The pressure is lessened.]

Not wishing to disturb Sakura, he continued to calmly watch her. With her supreme focus, she managed to completely melt the ice with absolutely no mistake. Jumping out of the crater, she wiped the sweat off her forehead before looking up and giving Uehara a bright smile.

“I did it Aoki-sa-ouch!”

Before she could celebrate any further, she felt a cold flick to her forehead.

“I told you that I wanted a warm spring-water to be left behind..”

Looking at the barren crater behind her, Sakura revealed a sheepish smile.

“Um…I’ll find Chizuki-nee to fill it up-ow!”

He flicked her forehead again.

“Go melt the next one. This time, finish in under thirty-minutes.”

Looking at the next one, it was nearly twice as big and the ice looked thicker. Sighing in defeat, she resolved herself to melt the next one. Although she wanted to cry, she knew tears wouldn’t work on Uehara.

The day went on with Sakura going to melt all the ice within several of the craters, leaving beautiful lakes behind. Uehara was there with her every step of the way and would occasionally offer some advice to improve her efficiency.

When the sun was about to set, he waited for Sakura to finish the last crater before speaking.

“Your control over fire is satisfactory. Tomorrow, I will teach you how to use your chakra to control earth.”

A dark swirl covered him and as he was about to disappear, he stopped his technique and looked at Sakura intently.

“I’ve noticed you barely sleep anymore. Although you can survive without sleep, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. Just like how a builder has to rest if they want to build a great house, you also have to sleep if you want to build a great foundation.”

Sakura felt touched when she heard his words and nodded.

“Yes, Aoki-sama.”