In a makeshift medical tent in the Hidden Leaf Village, Sakura stretched with a bit of exhaustion.
"Done. For now, the hospital doesn't need me."
She'd pulled an all-nighter. Simple as that.
Her reputation wasn't as big as Tsunade's, but she had worked at the Leaf's hospital for years. Her medical skills weren't low either, so whenever Tsunade and Shizune were tied up with Hokage duties, she stepped in to handle things.
It wasn't just her, though. A few older medical ninja were helping out too, but they were more focused on training Sakura, so most of the time they just supported her.
"Morning already?" Sakura glanced outside through the tent's window. The sky was fully lit. She didn't know what time it was exactly, but the sun had clearly been up for a while.
She stood up, blew out the candle, stretched again, then headed out of the tent.
As she lifted the flap and looked at the busy medical team outside, she smiled without thinking. She was just about to greet them when the smile froze on her face.
"Good morning, Lady Sakura!" one of the medics greeted her out of habit. But before she could reply, he noticed the terror on her face.
His smile dropped instantly.
"Lady Sakura? What's wrong? Did you sense an enemy?!"
Without hesitation, he grabbed a flare from his med kit. His hands were shaking so badly it looked like he might fire it at any second.
But Sakura didn't care—how could she? What was she even supposed to do?
"Are those three trying to reach space or something?!" she muttered in horror, staring into the distance. She didn't even bother answering the question. Sage Mode activated instantly, and she formed the five hand signs for the Summoning Technique faster than she ever had in her life.
"Sage Art: Slug—Katsuyu Healing…"
Her plan was simple: get Katsuyu out there fast and try to shield everyone in the village from those three lunatics.
But honestly, judging by the chakra levels she was sensing, she wasn't sure even that would be enough. And why did she stop mid-sentence?
Because that overwhelming energy shot up into the sky at a speed Sakura couldn't even process—heading straight for space…
Sakura blinked blankly, unsure if she should even finish casting her jutsu.
The summoned—
Slug tilted its head cutely, sensing the chakra coming from Sakura. It was just about to split into clones and move out, but then suddenly stopped—like a car speeding at 200 km/h slamming on the brakes.
Forget about the car, the person would be in pieces already. M.I.
Two slugs the size of Kurama stood at the medical ninja gathering point, instantly drawing everyone's attention.
The slug carefully avoided the tents below it. Its two eye stalks bent downward, looking at the tiny Sakura under its body. "Sakura-chan~ Were you just about to use Tsunade's healing jutsu? Is there an enemy? Why did you suddenly stop? Did the enemy leave?"
Sakura stared blankly at the slug, then glanced at the distant chakra that had already calmed down. She finally dropped her hands from the hand seal, clearly annoyed. "No. I just ran into three maniacs."
"Maniacs?" The slug tilted its head in confusion.
"Yeah, three maniacs." Sakura clenched her fist angrily. "Seriously, using that much Six Paths power outside Konohagakure? If they made one wrong move, Konohagakure would be gone. What else do you call that but madness?"
The slug felt like it was starting to understand. Six Paths power. Three lunatics. Besides Sakura and those two plus a fox, who else in this village even had Six Paths power? A bit of simple reasoning and the picture became clear.
With that thought, it gave a polite smile. "So, Sakura-chan, you were going to use Tsunade's healing jutsu to protect Konohagakure?"
"Yeah." Sakura nodded.
Why does it feel like this has been happening way too often lately?
Shaking that strange thought out of her head, Sakura looked up at the slug. "It was just a reflex. Sorry to bother you, Lady Slug."
"No worries~ Sakura-chan, you were just trying to protect others." The slug happily wiggled its eye stalks. "Since everything's okay, I'll head back now. My body's too big—if I'm not careful, I might damage something around here."
True, Sakura hadn't controlled her chakra just now and had summoned a slug as big as two Kuramas by instinct. Good thing Konohagakure was already gone—otherwise it would've been gone again.
Was that a joke?
"Sorry to trouble you, Lady Slug," Sakura nodded.
With a puff of smoke, the slug's huge form disappeared.
Sakura watched the scene and let out a quiet sigh.
The medical ninja next to her, who had seen the whole thing, was stunned. Staring at the fading smoke where the slug had been, he forgot to even fire the signal flare in his hand.
Sakura didn't pay him any mind. She looked up at the sky and said helplessly, "Can't those three just take it easy for once…"
Almost at the same time as she finished speaking, a massive light burst out from the sky. Red flames mixed with blue chakra light, strange green glows, and black energy.
The colorful lights blew away all the clouds in the sky. The whole sky lit up with that blinding flash.
If that blast hit the ground, it wouldn't just be Konohagakure—half of the Land of Fire might be wiped out.
No sound. No chakra felt. But just seeing that light was enough to feel the overwhelming power.
Sakura took a deep breath and looked at the stunned medical ninja beside her. "Don't fire the signal flare. Tell everyone not to worry. I'll go check what's going on. The rest of you, just follow the original plan."
"Ah... okay... Take care..." the medical ninja replied blankly.
After that, Sakura gave a slight nod, didn't cancel Sage Mode, and immediately turned toward the direction where the chakra had exploded.
As she passed over the outer wall of Konoha and landed, she saw Kakashi rushing from another direction.
"Kakashi-sensei, you felt that chakra too, right?"
Kakashi followed her with a helpless look, clearly speechless.
"With chakra at that level, anyone with even a bit of sensory ability would notice it. Do you know what happened?"
Sakura shook her head.
"I only know that it was caused by three lunatics working together. I have no idea why though."
"Three..." Kakashi sighed.
"Looks like we'll need Lady Kushina and Mito-sama here too. We can't handle Kurama on our own."
In this world, the only person who could scare Kurama into silence was Uzumaki Mito.
No particular reason. It was mostly trauma.
Being locked away in a pitch-black room for decades without even a sliver of light—if it were you, you'd have psychological scars too.
Anyway, whatever the case... let's put up a memorial stone here first.
I already thought of the format.
Tragic Kurama.
Tragic Naruto.
Tragic Sasuke.
Pretty neat and tidy, don't you think?
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