As much as Sakura wanted to believe everyone wished for peace as much as she did, the methodology through which people achieved peace varied wildly between individuals, not to mention how their personal definitions of peace could differ. As such, trust, but verify was the dogma by which the Sixth Hokage lived, because one could never be too careful.
"Black Zetsu," Sakura murmured as she stepped out into the snow outside the venue, Shizune and Lee in tow. Night had already fallen, and the moon was out, casting its pale light down upon the snowy landscape of the Three Wolves Mountain Range. "Have the whiteys keep an eye on the chakra cannon, will you?"
There was no response, but she knew the creature had registered her orders. It was always listening, after all.
"That was unwise, Sakura, threatening war just like that," Shizune sternly said once they were out of earshot. "The entire world is looking our way, and the last thing we need is to make any more enemies before the Hidden Leaf Village is properly re-anchored in the real world…"
"I had to project strength back there, I couldn't let the other Kage think they could get away with ganging up on us again," Sakura explained. "Besides, diplomatic pressure shouldn't affect our relationship with the Daimyō and his people… they're the ones who need us to the most right now."
Shizune sighed.
Like master, like student… why did she always have to babysit these hot-headed types? Still, that was exactly why she followed Sakura, just as she had once followed Tsunade… it was their fiery protectiveness of their own that inspired her to be better… and temper their wilder impulses.
"So, now we'll have to be on the lookout for Tsuchigumo terrorists on top of foreign, state-sponsored saboteurs when the Hidden Leaf returns," Shizune said crossly. "We'll have to step up patrols, upgrade the Sensing Barrier…"
"Bah, you worry too much, Shizune," Sakura said lightly. "The entire world's preoccupied with the Moonfall, so we just need to hit their mountain hard before they realise the Land of Earth's abandoned them."
Of course, that would have to wait until after Toneri had been neutralised. Checking the doomsday clock countdown on her wrist, Sakura estimated that Naruto ought to be finishing kicking the Ōtsutsuki brat's skinny little butt, right about now. She glanced up at the moon, but it still seemed very much intact. There was no sign of a large-scale battle being held up there, even if she squinted.
"Miss Hokage, please wait! There's an urgent telegram for you!"
Sakura, Shizune and Lee turned around to see a samurai in full armour jogging towards them, holding a slip of paper.
"What is it now?" Sakura sighed as she snatched the telegram out of his hands and quickly skimmed through it. "…Shizune, Lee," she said a few seconds later, her eyes still riveted to the paper. "Change of plans. I'm going on ahead."
And before Shizune could react, Sakura vanished in a swirl of powder snow, leaving behind the telegram. The slip of paper slowly fluttered down, but Shizune snatched it out of the air and quickly read through the message:
Come back immediately STOP Konohagakure attacked by autonomous puppets STOP Secret path compromised STOP Several Hyūga clan members missing STOP Hyūga Hanabi missing STOP Last seen heading north STOP
"Let's go, Lee!" Shizune shouted. "We've got to… Lee?"
Shizune looked around wildly, but Rock Lee had vanished.
…
As strange as it might seem, the average human could cover as much ground in a single day as the average horse, perhaps even more. Running at a comfortable pace, a ninja could cover more than twenty times the distance an ordinary person could in the same amount of time without needing to worry about sleep or exhaustion. If they went all out, a shinobi could very easily reach supersonic speeds in short bursts, but they could just as easily run out of chakra mid-battle if they maintained a flickering pace similar to Shisui's.
Now, the distance between the Hidden Leaf Village and the Three Wolves Mountain Range was similar to the distance between the Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Sand, that is to say, about a three-day trip at a ninja's casual running pace with short breaks and no sleep, or around 2600 kilometres.
Assuming no obstacles, no incline and a perfectly straight line to travel in at supersonic speed, Sakura could expect to reach the Hidden Leaf Village in a little over two hours, but that was not realistic. There were trees and mountains in the way, and taking into account the dynamics of the human body, running was not actually the fastest way for ninjas to move… it was jumping like a grasshopper.
"Remember how Shisui moved… remember how Shisui cloaked himself in chakra!"
Snow billowed in Sakura's wake as she streaked across the white countryside. Her eyes turned scarlet as she clad herself in the Raikage's Lightning Style Chakra Mode, and little by little, the arcs of lightning that zapped at the surrounding motes of snow kicked up by her feet grew tamer, while the flow of her chakra became more streamlined…
This was the complete opposite of how Shira wrapped himself in chakra.
Monkey see, monkey do; after their battle, Sakura had obsessively studied Shira's techniques, using her eyes' memory of the dynamics of his chakra, until she could perfectly replicate his taijutsu and his chakra cloak, but this actually slowed her down. Silent movement came at the cost of higher drag, and it was only through burning his own lifespan that Shira had managed to outpace her during their duel.
In learning Shira's style, assuming it had to be stronger than Shisui's, Sakura had put aside her true taijutsu mentor's lessons, but now, what she needed was the speed to catch up to the puppets that had attacked the Hidden Leaf and kidnapped her people, not the ability to tiptoe around like a scared vole!
BOOM!
And just like that, Sakura turned into a bolt of lightning and vanished with a thunderclap, just as Lee was about to catch up with her.