Sakura looked around at the devastation, a thousand ice-cold needles pricking her back. It felt as if she had inadvertently torn her own home apart. This wasn't some small town in the Land of Water or the Land of the Sea. This was Konoha. Her village.
With a rustle, a mound of earth bulged from the flat ground behind her. It then split open, revealing a figure within.
Jiraiya patted the dirt from his clothes and stood up, his eyes fixed on Sakura like a hawk, his face clouded over.
When… when exactly did I start to think there was something wrong with her? Right, it was when he learned she had killed so many Anbu who weren't part of Danzo's faction. Jiraiya had never imagined things would turn out this way.
She wasn't like this before. She used to care about Naruto, about that Uchiha kid. She would strive and fight for her comrades. But now, she had become inscrutable. On the surface, she was the same as ever, but beneath that smile was a profound, chilling indifference.
Her actions, her words—they all revealed this coldness. Yet Tsunade, burdened by her guilt over Sakura's parents' deaths, had been covering for her all this time, oblivious to the fact that she had already fallen into darkness. Orochimaru had been like this, and so was she…
Jiraiya didn't fully understand the process of Orochimaru's descent, but in Sakura, he saw Orochimaru's shadow. If this continued, she would become a second Orochimaru. No, someone even more terrifying…
"Lord Jiraiya?" Sakura called out softly, noticing his grim expression.
"Mm, Sakura. What happened to the enemy?" Jiraiya's expression shifted as he asked.
At Jiraiya's question, Sakura turned to look in the direction Shuying had been sent flying. Her face fell. In the brief moment she had turned away, Shuying had vanished. The trail of blood was still there, but at the end of it, there was no sign of her.
"She escaped," Sakura murmured.
Just then, Tsunade also burst from the ground, along with several other battered Jonin, some of whom were injured.
"Where is Shuying?" Tsunade asked as she approached Jiraiya and Sakura.
"She probably got away," Jiraiya said in a low voice.
A few more Jonin emerged from the rubble, supporting one another. Tsunade gritted her teeth. "Jiraiya, you pursue the enemy. Sakura, you stay here with me and treat the wounded."
"No. Sakura comes with me to pursue the enemy," Jiraiya said, unexpectedly objecting.
"Mm, alright." Tsunade pondered for a moment. "Sakura, you go with Jiraiya to track the enemy."
"Yes, ma'am." Sakura had actually been quite displeased when Tsunade told her to stay. Shuying was injured, seemingly quite badly. Now was the perfect time to unmask her, and she didn't want to miss the opportunity.
Tsunade, on the other hand, was considering Jiraiya's safety. Shuying's strength was at least on their level, and she could seemingly use Sage Art. She was genuinely worried about letting Jiraiya pursue such an enemy alone. Telling Sakura to stay had just been for the convenience of cleaning up the battlefield. After weighing the options, she decided to send Sakura on the pursuit as well.
"Let's go. Follow me," Jiraiya said, walking ahead with his back to Sakura. "Tracking is my specialty. Just keep up."
"Right." Sakura was happy to save herself the effort. She had faith in Jiraiya's tracking and reconnaissance skills.
"My vision is getting blurry…"
"Heh… is it from the blood loss?"
"In that case… I'll have to use that… even with the side effects…"
Shuying was a mess. Her kimono was torn in several places, the mask on her face was scraped and battered, and the wooden geta on her feet were long gone. She was running barefoot through the forest.
She would have loved to use the Super Light-Weight Rock Technique to fly, but that would have made her a living target and exposed her escape route. Besides, the technique wasn't actually that fast. If she needed to hide her tracks while retreating, it was undoubtedly unsuitable.
Shuying would never admit that she was currently in a state of flight. That idiot Sakura had certainly inflicted a fair amount of damage. Although she knew she couldn't win in the end, she could at least make Sakura suffer for a while.
"Heh… this is just a strategic retreat."
Shuying stopped in the forest. After gently removing her mask, another one was revealed beneath it. The broken mask was tossed to the ground, where it burst into flames and burned to ashes.
She slowly shed her tattered kimono, revealing the graceful figure in a black combat suit underneath. With a few deft movements of her fair hands, she gathered her black hair, which was draped over her shoulders, tied it into a ponytail, and then coiled it into a bun with a clean-stripped twig.
Her ragged breathing had already steadied. It was as if she had never been injured at all. With an agile leap, Shuying landed atop a large tree and gazed into the distance.
"What's taking so long… Can't the Konoha ninja find such an obvious trail?"
That's right. Shuying had never intended to escape. It truly was a strategic retreat, a chance to treat her injuries and change her appearance…
"I'm waiting for you… Sakura. Don't disappoint me…"
Honestly, although Sakura hadn't paid much attention in her classes at the Academy and hadn't focused on the finer details during her time with Tsunade, it didn't mean she knew nothing at all.
Since leaving the village with Jiraiya, Sakura had been following behind him. Because of her trust in the Jiraiya she knew, she had completely abandoned her own reconnaissance, leaving it all to him.
But as the surrounding scenery gradually opened up into a wide, empty clearing, even Sakura, with her lack of tracking knowledge, knew that a fleeing person would never choose such terrain as an escape route.
"I say, Lord Jiraiya," Sakura called out from behind. "Did you take a wrong turn? It's so open here. Why would she come this way?"
Jiraiya continued to race forward, not answering her question.
"Lord Jiraiya?" Sakura raised her voice.
"Hah… this should be far enough," Jiraiya stopped, sighing as if to himself.
"What are you trying to do?" Sakura was now on high alert. It seemed Jiraiya had never intended to pursue Shuying from the start. He had brought her here. What did he mean by this?
Jiraiya slowly turned to face Sakura, his expression so dark it looked as if you could wring water from it. In a low voice, he said, "There are some things I want to ask you about, so I brought you here. I've already shaken off the Anbu who were following us. No one will disturb us."
"Oh, heh… is that so? Well then…" Sakura's eyes sharpened, her voice devoid of any emotion as she asked coldly, "What is it that you wish to know from me, Lord Jiraiya?"