Chapter 18
Though Sakura had tried her best to hide it back then, even Shisui, whom she had met once, had noticed her abnormally small chakra reserves.
That was why he had made Sakura train her stamina—that was also bad as fuck—instead of teaching her the Body Flicker, as she had suggested.
Her tests from the Day of Endless Misfortune—as she had taken to call it—also showed that her chakra pool was exhausted after only twenty minutes of tree-walking and nearly empty after a half-baked Shadow Clone that immediately disappeared even though she had made sure to meditate and use her chakra sparingly.
Even so, wasn't it strange that it had worked in the first place? Her reserves weren't big enough for that; it shouldn't have been poss—)
Using up whatever she had left to push Shisui on various occasions turned out to have drawbacks she didn't want to have in the middle of a fight. Well, she'd probably die with her current abilities before she could get anywhere close to using up her meager chakra reserves.
So that was why she was heading to the library. Meditating to expand her chakra pool was not an option because of another problem she had encountered that was way too troublesome and headache-inducing to be on her mind right now.
Sakura, as a medic, concentrated more on maintaining the body's condition at an efficiently functioning level, not growing abilities or making people any stronger than they needed to live a long and healthy life. She didn't know any other techniques that would help her in being able to use more than six consecutive E-Rank jutsu.
Walking around the village felt... different in a way Sakura couldn't quite place. Maybe it was because this place had been almost fully decimated once.
The Village had been rebuilt after Pain's invasion, but even then, the places and buildings that had been painstakingly reconstructed by everyone had never truly felt like a home to her, and the Konoha of her childhood had existed only in her slowly fading memory. At least that was the case during the few years before Konoha was fully destroyed this time.
As Sakura entered the market, swarming with people she had fought alongside on the battlefield, people she had once treated at the hospital, people whose graves she had probably walked past at the graveyard after the attack at the Chūnin Exams, people she had never gotten to meet because either she or they had died before she had had the chance to get to know them—
Oh.
And it suddenly struck her—like leaving the eye of a tornado she had been standing in the whole time, like being hit by the full force of a tsunami she had seen coming from miles away—that she was back.
This was home.
Sakura didn't even notice how she had gone along with the flow of the crowd and come to a stop in front of a stand.
The market was bustling with people, as was usual for Konoha, a place widely favored by merchants and travelers.
"Hey, you in the green coat! Interested in a chance to win two thousand ryō?"
The brown-haired man stopped in his tracks and eyed the middle-aged man standing behind a stand. Boldly colored lettering on a poster in front of him said, 'Solve the puzzle, win a prize!'.
Huh.
The man wasn't a local, as was apparent by the build of the stand, made to be easily portable. He stood in front of a large board depicting a diagram of a large rectangle, divided into five areas. Rooms, probably. There were doors between the rooms and also ones leading 'outside'.
The man, seeing he had attracted a large enough crowd—he had been calling out to random passersby for some time now—pointed at one of the people standing around his stand.
"You, good sir, may be the first contestant. If you pay the small fee of two hundred ryō, you will be given the chance to get tenfold of that back." he started.
Apparently, the prospect of winning money was appealing to many. Quite a few people had gathered around. The 'man in the green coat', as he had been referred to, himself didn't resonate that, though he couldn't say he wasn't curious to see what kind of puzzle was supposedly challenging enough for the man to declare such a high prize money.
And it was an excuse to stall some more time before inevitably heading towards the Hokage tower. Grey eyes watched the events unfolding before him with mild interest.
The traveler proceeded to give the contestant a black marker and explained the conditions for solving the puzzle. The rules were simple, albeit a little unique. The man was to draw a line that would pass through each of the doors depicted in the building on the sketch. The catch was that each opening could only be passed through exactly once. All five rooms had at least two doors to accommodate that rule.
"To give the other contestants a chance, you will have only one try to complete the task. Good luck!" The man stepped back to let the challenger see the board in full view.
The contestant, a red-haired man, thoughtfully tapped the marker against the board for some moments before starting a line at the center of the upper left room.
The crowd watched in anticipation as the line grew longer and longer, passing through four of the five rooms, top left to bottom left to bottom right, before it—
The marker stopped. The man lifted his head and looked at the path he had drawn, realization dawning upon him. He had made a mistake.
The brown-haired man sighed, having seen the blunder as it had happened. It was clear that winning wasn't possible anymore.
"Shouldn't have rushed through it like that. If only he had taken that corner..." someone next to him murmured. He couldn't help but agree.
The gamemaster, wearing a sympathetic expression, clapped his hands. "Time's up! I see you didn't manage to pass through every door! Sadly, that means you, sir, are out. Good try, however!"
"There was a time limit?" The same voice beside him—quite a high-pitched one—mumbled this time. "He can't just leave that part out."
True.
Another contestant was chosen from the crowd after the man asked for further challengers. This contestant, a young woman wearing a flowy dress, was faced with an entirely new puzzle. She, knowing about the time limit, spent only a few seconds thinking and got to work right after.
A minute later, the puzzle was solved. The crowd cheered, while some sighed in disappointment and envy. The woman, smiling victoriously, was handed a package that apparently contained the promised two thousand ryō.
Seeing someone actually winning, even more people flocked together, the bubble around the stand growing in size. Many were eager to be the next contestants.
He didn't raise his hand, of course. 2000 was easily covered by three A-rank missions. Maybe even two, considering people would pay extra to get him on the job.
Should he leave now? He couldn't stall much longer. The Hokage was sure to send someone to come fetch him if he didn't show up soon. But then again, he was in a Henge right now. A really good one at that. Maybe he could just walk around some more, delaying the conversation that was to come.
Currently, contestant number five was taking on a new puzzle. The rules remained the same, though the levels would get harder.
The contestant nervously shifted, lifting the marker, then lowering it again, unsure what to do. There was only one chance, after all. In the end, he hastily attempted to draw a line that didn't earn him a win.
"This one is quite difficult, so the next contestant will be given the same puzzle again!" the merchant exclaimed, encouraging the crowd. Some had become reluctant due to the continued losses of the last three people.
Another person was picked. They went up to the board and narrowly failed to solve the problem, leaving just one door untouched. New person, same puzzle. They failed, panicking because of the quickly passing time, now displayed by an hourglass standing next to the board.
Why hadn't the man taken it out sooner?
The tenth contestant. Another fail.
How strange. Was it because the puzzles were getting harder? Nobody was winning.
He analyzed the sketch, the one that had been newly changed to after three failed attempts at the other one. Five rooms, two of them with five doors and three rooms with four. Entering and leaving a room twice made up for foor doors. What about the other rooms?
There's five doors. Starting and ending the line in the room were two more, but there were three—
Ah.
No wonder no one was solving it.
"It's not possible," the person next to him murmured, voicing out the conclusion he had just come to.
"Oh really?" he asked, keeping his eyes on the current contestant who was attempting the puzzle. If only he knew that it was unsolvable.
There was a short pause, and he wondered if the person had heard him.
Then,
"Yes. It can't be solved. For the rooms with five passages, the solution line must either start inside the room or end in it. There's three rooms with five doors, but a line can only start and end once, meaning one room is unaccounted for.
"It's not possible. The same goes for the last puzzle. Oh, and the one they're changing it to now."
Contestant fifteen watched with wary eyes as a new diagram was placed in front of him. Six rooms. Three of them had three doors, the other three four. It wasn't possible.
The person—a female?—was correct. Interesting how nobody was catching on to the scam. Besides the two of them.
Who was this person? He turned his head to see who exactly was figuring out things that no person other than him here had realized.
And there she stood.
Rose-colored hair. A small figure, barely reaching the height of his hips. A youthful face, maybe five years of age.
The girl raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong, mister?"
"You are quite smart for your age, aren't you?" He smiled.
The girl's expression didn't change, yet she exuded an air of annoyance at his words. Hm. Weren't children usually happy about compliments?
She shook her head. "Not really. It's quite obvious once you figure out the core problem." She nodded towards the man standing behind the board, cheerfully encouraging the contestant. "Ever since the second contestant, the woman who won, all puzzles have been like this. They just vary in the number of rooms and doors."
"Since when did you know?"
Even he hadn't noticed it until just now. Granted, he had been preoccupied with handling the dilemma that was picking between fulfilling his duty and forgoing it for now.
She shrugged. "Ever since the guy announced that the puzzles would be reused for the next challengers. It felt like too much of a risk to give people even more time to think. So he must've had some kind of backup plan."
"Why aren't you calling him out for it?"
"Why would I? It's the people's choice. They should be able to see for themselves that this whole thing is fishy."
Fair enough. He wouldn't step in either.
But he couldn't say that. The Henge he was keeping up, the persona he had created, was supposed to be kind and righteous. "I wouldn't agree with that. But I can't force you, can I?" He smiled again, eyes crinkling. "What do you mean by 'fishy', though?"
"Everything. It's all set up to manipulate the crowd." she vaguely answered.
This was getting interesting. She even caught on to that, huh?
"How so?"
The girl seemed to take notice of his continuous questions. However, she didn't refute them but simply answered.
"The first two contestants were actors. They're on the same team as the man. They act as an encouragement to the crowd, emphasizing that winning is possible, even though some may fail." She paused, thinking.
Seeing the girl not say anything more, he added thoughtfully, "By adding the time limit, they keep the contestants on edge and make them act rashly. The hourglass was added for that, too."
"Right. That too. These people—they can simply do this kind of stuff a few times in Konoha and..."
"And pack up and leave for the next location. There they set up the same situations again and profit." he finished.
"That's... a clever tactic." The girl didn't look angry at the fraud. Just interested.
What an intriguing person.
He extended a hand towards her. "What's your name, smart girly?"
"Shouldn't you introduce yourself first? You're being a bit suspicious, mister. Are the purple stripes gang symbols?" The girl asked skeptically. Yet she took his hand. "Sakura."
Kakashi chuckled and this time, it wasn't faked. He shook their hands. "Sukea."