Chapter 504: Haruno Sakura's Scroll
Sasuke stood in front of the scroll, gazing at it for a long time.
After a long while, he took a step forward and picked up the scroll.
Patted the dust off the scroll, Sasuke rubbed the unfamiliar tadpole-like sealing formula on it, lost in thought.
The scroll was left by Haruno Sakura.
Sasuke still remembered the scene that day.
The night before she left—
"This scroll," Haruno Sakura specially went to Sasuke's home, knocked on the door, and handed him a scroll, "Keep it with you before I come back."
"Eh?"
Sasuke in his pajamas was a bit astonished at the time.
"Why leave it with me..." He walked out of the door, took the scroll, looked at it carefully, and said in surprise, "Wait, isn't this the scroll you use to store the clone?"
"Yes." Haruno Sakura nodded.
"I want to leave that most special clone with the Sharingan with you..."
"Why?" Sasuke frowned, looking at her puzzledly, "You should keep this thing yourself!"
"This is your most important combat item!"
"Take it back quickly!"
Saying that, he pushed the scroll back hard, wanting to return it to Sakura.
How could Haruno Sakura take it?
"Don't get excited," she pressed Sasuke's shoulder, her clear and firm eyes staring intently at Sasuke, and said in a deep voice, "Listen to me, Sasuke!"
Sasuke looked at her blankly and quieted down.
"As for the clone, I have another scroll in my hand, it just doesn't have the Sharingan, an ordinary clone. To be honest, the ability of the Mangekyo cannot fundamentally enhance my combat power."
"I carefully considered the risks of this operation. It's unlikely that Cloud Ninja will attack us, but Akatsuki has enough motive and strength to intercept and kill us halfway." She said calmly, "If I encounter an enemy so powerful that I can't even escape, then having an extra clone with a Mangekyo around won't mean much."
The worst situation was that her hatred value was too high, and Akatsuki's Pain, the masked man, and others all came out in full force. Then she really wouldn't have a chance to escape alive...
"If that situation really happens..."
Haruno Sakura paused, pointing at the scroll in Sasuke's hand: "This is my retreat."
Sasuke was stunned.
He thought for a moment, suddenly startled, and asked: "You can use it to resurrect?"
"Hn, resurrect..."
Haruno Sakura shrugged and said: "Resurrection to some extent, I guess. I sealed a part of my spiritual power into the scroll along with the clone. In case... in case that 'in case' really happens, another Haruno Sakura will wake up from here."
Sasuke gritted his teeth, pondered for a while, and said: "But is such Haruno Sakura still you?"
The girl sighed.
"That depends on how you define the person 'Haruno Sakura'..."
She said faintly.
"She will have a part of my memory, and will treat you as friends and companions... she looks the same as me, her personality won't differ much, her strength won't be much worse than mine, her taijutsu might be relatively poor, the energy stored in the Yin Seal is gone too, but it can be trained back soon."
"Although she is only one year old and hasn't experienced those things we experienced together... but you will create new memories." Haruno Sakura said, took a step back, looked out from the courtyard, her gaze passing over Konoha in the twilight, resting on the night sky.
The moonlight was exceptionally gentle.
"She is me, yet not me."
Haruno Sakura's voice was a bit melancholy.
Sasuke clenched his fists.
No, if that was the case, he wouldn't admit that the new Haruno Sakura was the girl in front of him.
The so-called Haruno Sakura was his teammate in Team 7, his friend in the ninja academy, and even more the girl who cultivated with him, grew with him, completed missions with him, faced Kisame and Itachi with him, and experienced so many life-and-death battles with him.
Every detail of those experiences was vivid in his mind!
Sasuke opened his mouth, wanted to say something, but was speechless again.
"You won't die." After a long while, he said forcefully, "You can definitely come back."
The boy looked at the girl in front of him with his bright eyes.
"I have a piece of advice for you."
Don't die.
Sasuke didn't speak these two words, but Haruno Sakura tacitly understood his meaning.
No need to say it out loud.
The advice is, don't die.
This was a secret signal belonging only to the two of them.
"I understand." Haruno Sakura narrowed her eyes and laughed, "Alright, don't say it like I'm going to die right away! How could I die so easily."
If Akatsuki really listed her as a target that must be killed no matter the cost, then her trip would indeed be quite dangerous; but Haruno Sakura felt this possibility was not high.
For some reason, she laughed for a long time at a not-so-funny joke.
When she stopped, she said seriously: "There is another situation where you also have to open the scroll."
"Hm?"
"If the village is attacked and I haven't rushed back yet."
Haruno Sakura said solemnly.
This possibility also existed—it should be said, this possibility always existed. No one could say what that group of lunatics in Akatsuki would do. Destroying the entire Konoha alone just to catch the Nine-Tails is something only Akatsuki could do.
And during the time Haruno Sakura was out, Konoha was missing a top combat power, so the possibility of being attacked obviously increased significantly.
"This clone of mine, you already know her very well. Although just a clone, she can enter Sage Mode, has the Mangekyo Sharingan, her combat power is unambiguous, not much worse than myself. So, when necessary, just open this scroll."
This was not an exaggeration.
Except for Jiraiya and her main body, placing Haruno Sakura's clone in the whole Konoha, not many people dared to boast they could steadily win against her...
Sasuke finally accepted this scroll.
He wasn't persuaded, but he couldn't refuse Haruno Sakura's sincere request either.
Sasuke put the scroll in a corner of the living room. Sometimes when returning home, seeing the scroll would remind him of Haruno Sakura far away in the Land of Lightning.
Didn't know how her mission was completed.
Didn't know if she encountered enemies.
Also missing Haruno Sakura's safety, besides Sasuke, were Tsunade, Sakura's parents, Hinata, Kakashi and others.
However, the Land of Lightning was thousands of miles away. Carrier pigeons and war hawks couldn't fly such a long distance; on the Cloud Ninja side, even summoning Katsuyu to report safety had to be reported to the Cloud Ninja in advance, which was also quite troublesome.
So Tsunade only knew from Haruno Sakura's brief communications and few words that her disciple's trip went very smoothly, Cloud Ninja didn't dwell too much on the details of the agreement, and the negotiation progressed quickly.
In just two days, the mission of this trip was roughly completed successfully.
Haruno Sakura didn't plan to drag things out. She arranged for her subordinates to rest well, and after participating in the final farewell ceremony of Cloud Ninja tomorrow, they would embark on the return journey.
On the night before leaving.
Twilight enveloped Cloud Ninja Village.
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