Chapter 517: Trust (2)
Hearing Karui's narration, the expressions of the people on both sides looked terrible.
Karui was still chattering away: "You can know a person's face but not their heart! Who knows if your Haruno Sakura is gentle and amiable on the surface, pretending to be a cute girl with soft skin and tender flesh, but behind our backs, is preparing some vicious plan!"
Haruno Sakura's face immediately twitched. Looking a bit more pleasing to the eye is always better than looking like the Raikage, a rough man with a face full of fierce flesh, right?
She didn't speak, but someone on Konoha's side couldn't hold back: "Shut up! You bastard, on what grounds are you slandering Haruno Sakura-sama!"
The girl turned her head to look. The one speaking was the Jonin from the combat group named Kenichi Shiranui, who could be considered an acquaintance she had met a few times before.
This guy had been a background extra in the delegation for many chapters, and now he finally had some lines, so let's introduce him briefly: He is Genma Shiranui's younger cousin, about eighteen or nineteen years old, tall and robust, and likes to comb his hair into an exaggerated broom shape. When Haruno Sakura went to eat skewers with Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji, she had seen him a few times in Genma's barbecue shop.
"Don't just talk about us, aren't you Cloud Ninja the same?" Kenichi said agitatedly. "In the genjutsu we fell into, the things you did were equally detestable!"
Saying this, the other people from Konoha also joined in, talking all at once. Driven by indignation, the ninja from both sides immediately started arguing loudly face-to-face.
"That's enough, Kenichi, all of you!" Looking at the furious Konoha ninja, Haruno Sakura stopped them with a cold face: "Stop talking. What is there to argue about over fake things in a genjutsu?"
Haruno Sakura still hadn't exited Sage Mode at this time. Just a slight leak of her chakra caused a monstrous momentum to overflow, which was very frightening.
The girl just turned her head and glared at the Konoha ninja, and in an instant, even the ninja on the Cloud's side were scared into silence.
The Raikage's expression shifted, and he asked thoughtfully: "It seems we both fell into different genjutsu worlds?"
"Why don't you tell us, what happened in the genjutsu your side encountered?"
His eyes were bright and piercing in the night as he looked calmly at Haruno Sakura.
"Alright," the girl sighed and gave Kenichi a look. "Since the Raikage wants to know, Kenichi, why don't you tell him."
Kenichi's face still held a bit of indignation, but for Haruno Sakura's sake, he kept a straight face and nodded.
Then he recounted, one by one, the events in the genjutsu world where they were ambushed in their sleep by Cloud Ninja Anbu and subsequently brutally abused.
The events that happened after their deaths were filled in by Haruno Sakura. She didn't go into detail on this part, only mentioning that she fought a massive battle with the Raikage and the others, and then the genjutsu was suddenly dispelled.
"The genjutsu being broken should be related to a secret technique I used," Haruno Sakura stated.
The Raikage and his people naturally wouldn't inquire about Haruno Sakura's secret technique. After hearing the story from this side, their expressions were a bit weird.
In the genjutsu world on Konoha's side, they had actually gone from victims to perpetrators. No wonder the Konoha people were so agitated.
Killer B finally understood why the Konoha people had been secretly glaring at him, especially that Shizune, whose gaze towards him always carried a hint of gnashing teeth.
What he did in the genjutsu... truly made the Jinchuriki feel a bit too ashamed to show his face.
"Our village does not have a Falls of Truth." He scratched his head, speechless for a moment. Not knowing what to say, he just silently offered this explanation.
"There is, however, a Waterfall of Truth on the Turtle Island where I undergo my Jinchuriki training."
"The effect isn't implanting a fake personality either. On the contrary, the Waterfall of Truth is meant to let people clearly see their dark side and help them find their true selves. This is extremely important for a Jinchuriki and their Tailed Beast."
Oh. Important for a Jinchuriki? Haruno Sakura silently noted this down.
"Um..." Killer B paused, his face stiffening as he looked at Shizune and gave an awkward smile. "Miss Shizune, I'm very sorry."
"You don't need to apologize; that wasn't your fault." Shizune's mood had calmed down, and she said with a straight face, "It was just a genjutsu."
Glancing at Shizune's calm expression, Haruno Sakura silently lowered her eyelids.
"Looking at it this way," the Raikage finally said, "that mysterious masked man probably wanted to do something while taking advantage of the time we were trapped in the genjutsu."
"But because the genjutsu was broken by Haruno Sakura, the conspiracy was defeated before it could even begin."
As the Raikage, A could roughly imagine what kind of storm would have brewed if people from the Konoha delegation and Cloud Ninja had bizarrely died tonight...
Haruno Sakura nodded: "He should have left. I didn't sense his chakra."
The Raikage waved his large hand and said: "In short, it was just a false alarm."
"No matter what, even if the genjutsu world looked incredibly real, it was still fake. I hope that the events that happened tonight will not affect the cooperation between our two villages."
"I hope we can still trust each other!"
A slowly walked over and extended his hand.
Haruno Sakura looked at him steadily, gazing into the Fourth Raikage's open and candid eyes.
Although the things that happened in the genjutsu world were fake, was there truly not a single element of truth in them? At the very least, Haruno Sakura believed that the Cloud Ninja had more or less entertained similar thoughts. Presumably, the Raikage also had similar thoughts right now.
So, did the Raikage sincerely want to shake hands right now, or was he secretly hiding a sealing jutsu in his hand to scheme against her? The genjutsu world had reminded Haruno Sakura of the latter possibility.
And trust, sometimes once broken, is very difficult to rebuild. Just like Fugaku and Konoha back then, just like A and Haruno Sakura now.
So, what should she do? Risk trusting the Raikage, or cautiously refuse the handshake, causing a rift between Konoha and the Cloud Ninja?
Silence stretched for a long time.
Haruno Sakura smiled faintly, walked over, and firmly grasped the Raikage's hand.
The Raikage's hand was large and rough; there was no hidden trap.
"Of course, Raikage-sama."
Haruno Sakura's capacity was not so narrow that she wouldn't even dare to accept an olive branch extended by someone else.
The two looked at each other and both laughed.
At least at this moment, there was mutual trust between the Raikage and Haruno Sakura.
However, trust existing solely among leaders is far from enough. Just as Fugaku didn't believe the Third Hokage would lay a deadly hand on the Uchiha back then, and the Third Hokage was also always seeking a path to peacefully resolve the issue; but the others didn't trust each other, and so in the end, the Uchiha clan was still annihilated.
—Among the ninja who had just argued, Haruno Sakura saw their distrust of one another.
The seed of doubt seemed to have already been planted; to prevent it from growing and expanding, more effort would be required.
The next day, Cloud Ninja Village held a lively farewell ceremony as if nothing had happened.
Along the way, the delegation group didn't encounter any more danger.
A few days later, the entire delegation safely returned to Konoha.
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