บท 72: Hidden Side Quest!?

One of the perks about being a shinobi was that you could just entirely avoid the traffic— by literally rising above it. Running on rooftops certainly beat walking among the plebeians below, since it wasn't as if the current shinobi world had anything like cars yet.

Indeed, the shinobi world's technology tree was extremely skewed, for some reason. On one hand, most land-based modes of transportation were barely more advanced than ox-drawn carts, but on the other, the people of this land could also accomplish incredible feats of technology when they really wanted to; such as the railway in the Land of Snow, and the Land of the Sky's submarines and flying contraptions.

Long story short, even a Genin like Sakura could travel the entire length of the Leaf Village in under ten minutes, so Kakashi really had no excuses for being constantly late. But once again, that was beside the point! The important thing was that Sakura, who was currently sitting on the ledge of a random roof in the city centre, now had a bit of time to kill before Asuma's BBQ party started.

"System," Sakura called out. "Redeem the Breast-Refining Medicinal Recipe."

In the Manyuu Hikenchou anime, Chifusa's attendant Kaede would constantly try to grope Chifusa's breasts (under the pretext of performing Breast Refinement on her, of course), but Sakura had always remained doubtful about the cream's efficacy.

After losing her breasts, no amount of magic cream had allowed Kaede to regain any semblance of curves…

In any case, this is how Breast Refinement usually went:

A servant girl would slather your breasts with a special cream (which sort of looked like pink sauce), and knead the cream into your breast flesh with her bare hands; massaging and moisturizing the skin, promoting the secretion of female hormones, preventing the appearance of stretch marks, and delaying the signs of ageing; among other vaguely defined health benefits.

There was also a special variant known as Breast-on-Breast Refinement, but that technique was forbidden by the Manyuu clan, since it could lead some of their more sensitive members down the terrible path of yuri. After all, in a feudal society dominated by men, there was no use for lesbian honeypots…

…and of course, if you had no friends, you could always apply the cream to yourself, but apparently, this method was less effective.

Ding! Congratulations to the Host for finally collecting the Breast-Refining Medicinal Recipe (E-grade)! One of the empty scrolls in the Host's possession has been modified; please verify its contents.

Sakura rummaged around her various utility pouches, and quickly found that one of her blank scrolls was no longer quite as blank as it used to be…

"Manyuu Toyo-jutsu Hiden-sho?" Sakura read out loud, dumbfounded. "The Manyuu Book of Secret Techniques for Magical and Abundant Breasts!? System, this isn't just the recipe for the refining cream— this is the entire Manyuu scroll of secrets you've just given me!"

According to the System's initial analysis of the Host's personality, the System judged that of all of the scroll's secrets, the Host would only be interested by the enhancing cream, so that is how it was initially presented to the Host.

That had certainly been true when Sakura had first transmigrated here, when her mentality and her biases from her past life as a teenage boy had still been fresh in her mind. However, Sakura had been occupying a girl's body for a little under four months now, which had exacted a certain toll on her, so to speak.

Indeed, Sakura was now a little more conscious of the various struggles that women had to face in their daily lives. Thus, a lot of the information held within the Manyuu Secret Scroll was much more appealing to her now than it would have previously been months ago.

"How to manufacture rudimentary brassieres, how to concoct birth control medicine, how to brew poisons and antidotes, how to be better in bed, how to grow big and beautiful breasts, how to induce lactation without pregnancy…" Sakura continued reading out loud. "Advanced sword techniques, assassination techniques, seduction techniques… breast feeding techniques???"

'It would have been nice to know how to make birth control medicine from the start,' said Inner Sakura miserably. "I hate periods…"

The first time that the new Sakura had experienced her period, she had screamed bloody murder.

…

In any case, the Breast Refining cream's recipe was also included in the scroll, just as advertised. The ingredients were fairly easy to find, too. In the Manyuu Hikenchou anime, Kaede had been able to make some on the fly while on the run from the Manyuu clan's pursuit, so Sakura had always had a feeling that it'd be easy to make.

"Let's see — Ginkgo nuts, that's easy, Ginkgo trees grow everywhere in the village— Oysters, I can buy those at the fish market— soy milk, that's also easy, there's some in the fridge— peaches and red grapes, we've also got those in the fridge…"

Sakura had never thought about it before, but the shinobi continent shared much of its fauna and flora with the Earth's. The animals and humans were pretty much the same, and there were even prehistoric species of trees like the Ginkgo Biloba. It was all very peculiar…

And so, Sakura jumped off the ledge that she had been sitting on and set off for the fish market, inspecting the ground underneath each Ginkgo tree that she came across, to verify if they were female. However, after checking her fifth tree, Sakura finally realized that she had made a slight miscalculation…

"Wait, I'm an idiot," said Sakura, slapping her forehead. "Ginkgo trees only bear fruit in autumn, and it's still early July…"

'Unripe fruits might still work,' Inner Sakura suggested. 'Besides, we only need the nut inside, not the fruit's flesh, which is a bit toxic, anyway…'

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Fifteen minutes later, Sakura was hiding away from her parents in her room, crushing the harder ingredients into a paste by using a pestle and mortar. It was a shame that Naruto hadn't learned the Rasengan yet, or she could have used him as a human blender…

'Which reminds me,' said Inner Sakura. 'If I'm not mistaken, by now, Jiraiya should have already taken Naruto out the village to "sightsee," and to teach him the Summoning Jutsu…'

Naruto would only be learning the Rasengan on his second time out of the village with Jiraiya, during their mission to recruit Tsunade as the Fifth Hokage.

The day that Naruto would finally master Rasengan would mark the very last time that he would ever learn an original Jutsu; on that day, Naruto would decide that two-and-a-half Jutsu would be enough to last him for the rest of his career as a ninja!

And so, from that day onwards, Naruto would nevermore learn a single Ninjutsu that wasn't some variant of a Jutsu that he already knew— and no, Sage Mode didn't count!

"For the sake of Naruto's education, I cannot in good conscience allow him learn the Rasengan!" Sakura declared to no one in particular, as she furiously mashed her ingredients into a fine pink paste. "…and now, to mix in the soy milk…"

The finished product smelled vaguely of fish and of sweet fruit, and had a smooth texture. Sakura had washed the Ginkgo nuts well, so in theory, there would be nothing dangerous in the pink sauce-looking mixture that she was about to apply to her prized assets…

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained," Sakura muttered to herself, as she removed her dress and her chest bindings. "Here goes nothing…"

Sakura poured a bit of the pink cream onto her hands, before rubbing the slime all over her voluminous breasts. It then turned out that she had underestimated her chest's sheer surface area, so a few seconds later, she had to reapply some more of the cream for a thick and uniform coating.

…

At first, Sakura didn't feel anything in particular, but after a few seconds, she began experiencing a prickling sensation on her skin— a strange one, like hot and cold at the same time. The feeling began growing stronger, and Sakura's nipples started lengthening and hardening, her areola puffing up and her breasts bloating outwards slightly.

Soon, Sakura's cheeks were flushed pink, and she was panting hard; she couldn't keep her hands off of her breasts, which bobbed to the rhythm of her breathing. The stinging sensations all over her skin weren't painful, but rather pleasant, actually; like thousands of tiny hands massaging her flesh at the same time.

Congratulations to the Host for completing the side quest: Breast Refinement. Accept rewards?

"Accept!" Sakura moaned.

Congratulations to the Host for obtaining 1x White Lace Brassiere (F-Grade)! The item will be sealed within one of the Host's empty scrolls; please verify its contents.

It was at that precise moment that the last bastion of Sakura's remaining masculinity fell.

In Sakura's opinion, there was nothing unmanlier than cross-dressing and women's underwear. So far, she had made do with a sarashi for her top and a fundoshi for her bottom, and yet… Sakura knew that with such heavy boulders attached to her chest, she would eventually have to give them proper support—

Which meant that she would have to wear this bra sooner or later!

"Damn it," Sakura sobbed. "I've lost something important, again!"