Yuan watched the white, viscous shell gradually contract into a tight ball, a flicker of regret in her eyes. It seemed she wouldn't be getting any more information out of the girl after all. Once touched by that solution, her victim would be dissolved completely, leaving not even bone fragments behind.
She didn't know where this ninja had come from or what her objective was, but with Kirigakure currently in such turmoil, it was better to eliminate potential threats than risk letting one escape. Unlucky for you, girl, Yuan thought coldly.
As the shell shrank into a compact sphere, Yuan finally allowed herself to relax slightly. All that remained was to clean up the excess solution; leaving it here would pose a danger to the civilians living in the Land of Water.
Just as Yuan turned to deal with the aftermath, a strange, unsettling sound emanated from the contracting ball of white goo behind her. She spun around sharply, her pupils constricting in shock. Staring in disbelief, she watched as the solidified sphere began to tremble violently. One side of the sphere started to bulge outwards, pushing against the hardened shell.
The bulge became more distinct, gradually taking on a humanoid shape.
"No... impossible!" Yuan muttered aloud, her face pale with shock. "That solution dissolves even metal!"
Regardless of Yuan's astonishment, the humanoid shape continued to push outwards. The shell wall in that area grew visibly thinner, stretching taut, until finally, with a wet pop, it ruptured. A figure stumbled out from within the dissolving sphere, heavily injured but alive.
Sakura gasped for breath, instinctively crossing her arms protectively in front of her face. Her clothes were shredded and steaming where the corrosive liquid had touched them. Her body was covered in blood, raw burns marking her shoulders, abdomen, and legs to varying degrees. Her arms had taken the worst of it; the flesh had been corroded away so deeply that the white of bone was clearly visible beneath the raw, bleeding tissue.
Yuan stared, momentarily stunned by Sakura's horrific state. Then, her expression shifted subtly, a faint, chilling smile touching her lips. "So, you didn't die after all," she remarked lightly. "I was just regretting losing the chance to interrogate you. But looking at you now... you can't possibly fight anymore, can you? Come along quietly, and perhaps you can still keep your life. What do you say? Consider my offer."
"Hmph. Heh heh," Sakura responded with a low, cold chuckle, slowly lowering her arms despite the obvious pain.
Yuan paid Sakura's chilling laughter no mind. "It seems you're not planning to come quietly, then."
"When exactly did you decide I couldn't fight anymore?!" Sakura countered, her eyes, previously wide with pain and shock, now fixing on Yuan with a ferocious glare. "Let me return that sentiment! You have successfully pissed me off!"
As she spoke, steam began to rise intensely from Sakura's body, enveloping her in a hazy mist. Yuan's pupils shrank again. "This is...!!!"
Before Yuan's eyes, Sakura's gruesome injuries began to heal at an astonishing, visible rate. Cuts sealed, burns faded, torn flesh knitted itself back together. In mere moments, all the wounds across her body vanished without a trace. Even her arms, moments ago corroded down to the bone, were completely restored, smooth and unblemished as if they had never been injured.
Yuan stared, utterly speechless with shock at the incredible display of regeneration.
"Wh-what kind of jutsu is that?!!" The sight defied Yuan's understanding of ninjutsu. "Medical ninjutsu? No, impossible! No medical technique could possibly heal damage like that, especially not so quickly!"
Yuan knew the potency of her corrosive jutsu. It wasn't like a clean cut from a blade; it caused corrosive trauma, directly destroying bodily tissues. Sakura's arms had lost significant muscle and tissue mass. Normally, even with immediate, expert medical attention, saving the limbs would be difficult, let alone restoring them completely. Yet, this girl had regenerated the lost tissue almost instantly. This... this was far beyond the scope of conventional medical ninjutsu.
This kid... could she actually be Kage-level?! Yuan thought, a chill running down her spine. When did such a young, powerful shinobi appear? Kirigakure truly has been too isolated... our intelligence is severely lacking.
A strong urge to retreat welled up within Yuan. She still had other techniques she hadn't used, but this girl's healing ability seemed to directly counter her most potent offensive jutsu. Continuing this fight might very well lead to her defeat. It would be wiser to withdraw temporarily, return to the village, and gather reinforcements. But... letting a powerhouse like this escape meant they might never track her down again.
Making a quick decision, Yuan attempted diplomacy one last time. "Sister Mikoto," she began, forcing a pleasant tone, "this must all be a misunderstanding. Weren't you asking for directions to Kirigakure earlier? How about this? I'll take you there myself." If she could just lure the girl back to Kiri, even with the village in turmoil, the combined forces there could surely overwhelm her, no matter how strong she was.
"'Misunderstanding'?!" The word seemed to snap something within Sakura. Her expression twisted into a mask of pure rage. "Drugging me was a 'misunderstanding'?!!"
All thoughts of strategy or escape vanished from Sakura's mind, replaced by a singular, burning desire: kill this woman. The memory of the agony inside that corrosive shell flooded back – pain far worse than any injury she had ever endured before. Watching her own arms dissolve, feeling the flesh being eaten away down to the bone... it wasn't just the psychological terror, but the physical torment had been unbearable, like millions of claws relentlessly scraping away at her nerves.
Yuan opened her mouth to say something more, perhaps sensing the shift, but Sakura gave her no opportunity. Eyes blazing crimson, Sakura clenched her fist, drew back her arm, and vanished in a flash step, reappearing instantly directly in front of Yuan.
"So fast!" Yuan barely had time to register the thought before an overwhelming sense of crisis flooded her senses.
"Sage Art: Cherry Blossom Clash!!!" Sakura roared, unleashing the full, unrestrained power coursing through her.
An earth-shattering BOOM ripped through the air as Sakura's fist impacted. The ground beneath them trembled violently. Yuan, reacting with incredible speed honed by instinct, had managed to dodge the direct blow by a hair's breadth at the very last instant. Moving too fast to halt her momentum, Sakura's fist slammed into the ground where Yuan had been standing.
The earth buckled and shattered. Cracks spiderwebbed outwards from the point of impact, spreading with terrifying speed. Then, the ground itself seemed to explode upwards, torn apart by the sheer force channeled into it. Huge chunks of rock and debris were launched skyward by the force of the recoil.
The shockwave radiated outwards in concentric circles, obliterating everything in its path. The small town, moments before merely damaged, was now utterly annihilated, reduced to nothing more than a field of rubble. The very landscape was altered, the formerly flat ground sinking rapidly into a wide, shallow basin. The destruction continued to spread outwards, far beyond the initial point of impact.
Although the immediate vicinity of their fight had been clear of civilians, the town itself had not been entirely evacuated. People had fled the initial skirmish, assuming it was a typical ninja conflict confined to one area. They could never have anticipated this level of devastation. Now, cries of pain, fear, and despair rose from the ruins, echoing through the rain-filled air as survivors mistook the cataclysm for a massive earthquake.
Yuan, having narrowly dodged the blow and now deflecting chunks of flying debris, stared dumbly at the utter devastation surrounding her. The entire town was gone, replaced by a cratered ruin. Such power... Even if we got her back to Kirigakure... could we truly defeat someone like this?
Sakura stood at the epicenter of the destruction, seemingly unfazed by the cries of the unseen victims around her. She slowly turned her gaze towards Yuan, her expression chillingly cold. "I've changed my mind," she stated, her voice devoid of its earlier heat, replaced by something far more menacing. "Killing you now would be too easy, too merciful. So... I'm going to torture you thoroughly!"
Yuan bit her lip, forcing herself to meet Sakura's terrifying gaze. "I don't know who you are," she tried again, desperation creeping into her voice. "Perhaps this truly was a mistake from the start! I am a ninja of Kirigakure. I only drugged you because you were asking about the village!"
"That doesn't matter anymore," Sakura scoffed dismissively. "Now, this is just a personal grudge between you and me."
"You're wrong!" Yuan corrected sharply, her own expression turning ice-cold as she gathered her resolve. "Now, it is Kirigakure that will eliminate you! Did you truly think you could wreak such havoc in the Land of Water and simply walk away?!"
"Oh?" Sakura stared back, a dark, sinister smile spreading across her face. "Then let's just see about that!"
Yuan looked at Sakura's menacing expression and felt a deep, primal chill. The young girl standing amidst the ruins seemed like a completely different person from the one she had encountered earlier – transformed, utterly changed from the inside out. The feeling was profoundly unsettling.