With a sense of impending finality looming over her, Sakura didn't react immediately when Utatane Koharu took her by the arm and drew her away from her team. Two Manyū kunoichi fell in beside them as they descended the castle keep's narrow stairs, eventually leading her to a secluded room on the ground floor.
"Do we really have to go through with this, Lady Utatane?" asked Sakura numbly, as the kunoichi started gently undressing her, exposing her enormous, pale breasts to the brisk morning air. "All of this could be easily resolved if—"
"Not another word, foolish girl," snapped the old woman. "Besides, I don't see what's got you so bothered. Judging by your ridiculous appearance—" she sneered, her lip curling slightly as her gaze dropped to Sakura's chest, "— it's not as if you've held back from using your powers against your own comrades… am I wrong?"
When she had first transmigrated, Sakura had convinced herself she had no choice but to steal her fellow villagers' breast chakra, for the life of a mission ninja is one of constant peril. Even now, the ever-present shadow of death still loomed over her, but as her strength and confidence had swollen, her fear of dying had gradually faded, and the quiet voice of her conscience had grown in its stead.
"Lady Utatane…" said Sakura hesitantly.
Those old women from the baths, Kurama Yakumo, Senju Tsunade, Yamanaka Ino, that disgusting Aburame lady with the poisonous micro-insects… Sakura felt no guilt taking breasts from the enemy, but these women were her comrades, the very people she was meant to protect…
"There is nothing more to be said," Koharu said drily. "You've been given an order, and you will carry it out, or there will be consequences. It is the will of Konoha."
A ninja is a political tool, nothing more, nothing less.
Shinobi must forsake the three prohibitions— indulgence in alcohol, women, and money— and must hold the shinobi code close to their heart at all times. Koharu had just invoked the fourth tenet, 'A shinobi must always put the mission first,' but, as the number four implied, three preceded it:
#1 Loyalty to the end.
Obey the Hokage (and the Council of Elders, by extension).
#2 Love your country.
Be prepared to give up your life to defend the Daimyō and the Land of Fire (and its interests).
#3 A shinobi must kill their heart.
For shinobi, there is no right or wrong, only completing the mission… but even though there is no place for a conscience on the battlefield, shinobi are still human, at the end of the day. Rules exist to be bent, if not broken— because a good shinobi always knows to read between the lines.
Sakura knew that stealing breasts was wrong, but now that she was being asked, even encouraged to do what she had always done, she couldn't help but feel…
"COLD!" Sakura yelped. "What was that for!?"
SPLASH!
The two Manyū kunoichi had just poured a rather sobering bucket of icy water over her head, drenching her to the bone. Shivering, Sakura allowed them to slip a pure white kimono over her, grateful for what little warmth it offered. The white linen turned transparent almost instantly due to the water covering her body, allowing her stiffening pink nipples to be seen through the thin fabric.
"You didn't react when we started stripping you," said the first kunoichi bemusedly, "but getting wet is what set you off?"
"We're ritually cleansing you with water from the Holy Right Nipple Mound," explained the second woman, tilting her head towards the easternmost peak of the twin hills that sandwiched the village. "It doesn't really do anything, but it's traditional for a Breast Execution, apparently."
Sakura snorted. What was this stupid tradition, a wet T-shirt contest?
With Sakura squeaky clean and the pointless ceremony concluded, she was led to the compound's courtyard, where a large crowd had gathered in front of the castle keep. Most of the attendees were kunoichi of fighting age, with a few important-looking men interspersed among them, but Sakura also spotted many girls her age and younger, including those Naruto and his companions had managed to rescue from the Root.
The crowd parted as Sakura and the two kunoichi escorting her made their way forward to the wooden stage that had been hastily erected in the plaza before the castle keep. Three blindfolded women stood upon it, confined in a strange pillory that held their bulging breasts in place, rather than their heads or wrists. Two guardswomen armed with naginata stood on either side of the wooden contraption.
"Oi!" Naruto's voice rang over the murmur of the crowd. "Over here, Sakura-chan!"
Sakura's head swivelled as she searched for the source of the voice, and she soon spotted Naruto straining to get a better view of the Breast Execution, perched on a Shadow Clone's shoulders next to Kakashi and Sasuke. The gravity of the three women's plight seemed to have finally made it through his thick skull, for he looked considerably less enthusiastic than when she had last seen him.
"Your blade."
One Manyū clanswoman pressed Sakura's sword into her hands as she ascended the steps. Sakura found herself wishing a lightning bolt would fall from the sky and free the three women, much like Luffy at Loguetown, but no such luck— the sky above was as brilliantly blue as in Naruto Shippūden's third opening, Blue Bird.
One by one, she climbed up the steps until at last, she stood before the pillory.
Sakura lifted her sword over her head and slowly unsheathed it, the pink-hued blade gleaming brilliantly in the morning sunlight. She cast one last glance over the crowd as she raised her sword even higher over the three pairs of breasts sticking out of the wooden pillory… and hang on, where had Lady Utatane gone?
Everyone was staring at her, some expectant, others solemn, and yet, Sakura couldn't shake a deep sense of apprehension. Partly because she knew she would grow enormously after taking six breasts of such size, and partly… well, women's intuition.
But it was too late to change her mind. She was here, and that little male voice at the back of her head was still urging her to grow even bigger. After all, she had already become a demon when she had turned her magic fingers against her fellow villagers, so why not go all the way…?
"SHA!" Sakura shouted, grasping her sword's hilt tightly in both hands. "Manyū Style Kenjutsu: Breast Execution!"
Sakura's sword flashed, tracing an arc of light and illusory pink cherry blossoms as it cleaved through all three pairs of breasts simultaneously.