"Let me go, Sakura!" Sasuke howled, uselessly pounding his fists against the inner curve of her Susano'o's breastplate in despair. "This is my vengeance! I trained my entire life for this! He's mine to kill!"
He could see his older brother; he was right there, right in front of him…
Itachi was so close, and yet Sasuke had never felt further from him. Itachi piloted a gigantic suit of chakra armour, leaving his little brother to rage and despair at the cruel truth: were it not for Sakura and the second suit standing between them, he would already lie dead at his feet.
"Sakura…" Sasuke whimpered. "Please… this is all I have…"
Sakura ignored him. Despite knowing deep down that Itachi would never take Sasuke's life… she couldn't risk it. She would rather have him alive and hating her than cold and dead.
"You should not have pushed yourself so," Itachi remarked. "Your Susano'o is looking rather frail…"
If an Uchiha unlocked the Mangekyō Sharingan but never activated it, the power would still enhance their three-tomoe Sharingan beyond the norm. The shift in brain chemistry altered their chakra's quality for the better, and the light would not fade from their eyes for decades, perhaps even for their entire lives.
If an Uchiha used their Mangekyō Sharingan regularly but never its unique abilities, their eyes would serve them their entire careers, with a bit of luck. Using their eyes' unique powers sparingly might stretch their lifespan to a few years… but activating Susano'o, which demanded both eyes, would burn through their pupil power at an unimaginable rate. After a few activations, the Susano'o's form would reach its zenith: first a ribcage, then the rest of the bones, then muscles and tissue, then armour, and finally, wings… and then the light would fade from their users' eyes for ever.
Sakura had already used the first and second activations when she was forced to jump into the lake surrounding Hōzuki Castle… and now, she had forcefully pushed her Susano'o to its penultimate incarnation…
"You're one to talk," Sakura rasped. "You look ready to drop dead at any moment, Itachi."
Itachi hesitated to draw his Susano'o's blade, a spiritual weapon that had come to him in a dream. His beloved little brother was suspended within his opponent's Susano'o, which meant that if he landed a direct strike with the Totsuka Sword, they would both be sucked into a genjutsu world of drunken dreams for eternity…
"You won't attack?" Sakura called out. "Then, I'll make the first move!"
Sakura's pink Susano'o drew its naginata and took up a stance, while Itachi's orange Susano'o raised its shield. Honestly, Sakura had no idea why her Susano'o wielded a pole weapon when she usually used a sword, but at this point, she had no clue how to change it.
Still, its moveset came instinctively to her.
"Tonbokiri: Dragonfly Cutter!"
"Yata no Kagami: Eightfold Mirror Shield!"
What happens when an unstoppable spear met an unbreakable shield? The answer, it seems, is a colossal explosion.
The instant the tip of Sakura's naginata touched Itachi's shield, their chakra constructs shattered with devastating force, obliterating the remnants of the Uchiha hideout and hurling stones, bricks, and mortar outwards, flattening the trees around them across several kilometres as a shockwave rippled across the forest.
The two Susano'o reeled apart; Itachi's sprouted wings for the first time, beating them to regain balance, while Sakura's was hurled even further back, carving deep furrows in the earth as it planted its hands and feet in the ground to brace itself.
Sakura looked around wildly; the last thing she wanted was to crush Naruto or Kakashi underfoot by accident, yet they were nowhere to be seen… or rather, she couldn't see anything but darkness out of her left eye, and she could see nothing but vague blobs of colour from her right. Her senjutsu chakra had long since been used up, leaving her unable to sense either Kakashi's or Kisame's chakra signatures.
"I can't see you," Sakura murmured. "But can you can see me…?"
Drawing on the last of her pupil power, Sakura unleashed an indiscriminate assault in all directions. She spun and twirled, her naginata tracing breathtaking arcs through a spear dance. Her Susano'o's feet drummed the earth in a relentless rhythm, shaking the ground as her limbs, weapon, and robes wove hypnotic circles around her; sometimes slowing to a crawl, then accelerating to a fevered pitch.
"Ame-no-Uzume!"
For hundreds of kilometres around, every forest animal, every hunter and shinobi, every spy and Zetsu turned towards the Susano'o's beautiful yet deadly dance, transfixed. They could not tear their gazes away, so fascinated with the performance that they forgot to breathe.
Even Itachi could not escape unscathed. As he stared at her blurry form through bleary eyes, his Susano'o began growing translucent; its armour gradually faded away, then its skin and muscles, until only a ribcage remained. It collapsed soon after, and he fell to the ground, coughing up blood, but smiling.
Sakura's terrifying eye power was gone, so she was no longer a threat to the village, no longer able to change people with her Kotoamatsukami… Sasuke would need someone to care for once his big brother was gone, after all… perhaps Sakura living was for the best.
"Ugh…"
Sakura's pink Susano'o dissolved around her, and gravity retook its hold on her. She closed her unseeing eyes; hitting the ground was going to hurt, but luckily, Sasuke's warm embrace was waiting…
"I've got you!"
Against all expectations, it was not Sasuke's voice she heard as arms wrapped around her in freefall, but Naruto's. The ground rushed up moments later; Naruto cradled her neck in his hand, holding her fiercely as they struck the ground hard, rolling together to shed the momentum.
"Sasuke, you bastard!" she heard Naruto roar. "How could you just leave Sakura to fall!? She could have broken her neck!"
"I can't see," Sakura murmured, eyelids fluttering. "I can't see anything…"
Naruto squeezed Sakura tightly against him, tears rolling down his cheeks. Sakura's once-beautiful emerald eyes had turned glassy and white...
"So, the rumours in the underworld were true, the Hidden Leaf really did send an assassination team against Itachi… I see we've arrived just in time to claim the spoils of battle!"
A chill ran down Sakura's back. That eerie voice, that teasing cadence…
"Orochimaru, you bastard!" Naruto roared. "I won't let you touch either Sakura or Sasuke!"
There was a loud pop, followed by a low hum. Naruto had doubtlessly just summoned a Rasengan into his palm. But what could he do at this point, besides raging out of control by going into Demon Fox mode with four or more tails? It seemed as though history was doomed to repeat itself; even Orochimaru had joined the party, just like in the original timeline…
"Kabuto, would you kindly take care of…"
Orochimaru's voice trailed off.
"How boring, bullying the Hidden Leaf is no fun any more," he said, clicking his forked tongue. "I've already obtained the ultimate vessel, I have no need for any further samples from this one. Come, Neji, Kabuto. We're leaving. I've changed my mind."
"Lord Orochimaru!?" Kabuto cried in shock.
"Don't absorb any more bloodlines!" Sakura suddenly blurted out. "Your body will explode!"
She might as well fulfil her promise now!
"I am well aware, Miss Sakura~ I've done my research," Orochimaru's voice slithered in reply. "Thank you for the warning anyway..."
And just like that, Orochimaru and his goons turned on their heels and walked away. Scarcely believing her ears, Sakura could only lie there helplessly in Naruto's arms, listening as their footsteps faded away. What in the world had just happened!?