Last Time ....
Kakashi laughed. He admitted that he was a bit wicked and always liked to tease Sakura on purpose. He even used the lure of seeing Sakura's true face to freeload several meals off his student. But this time, he was really prepared for Sakura to see his face. However, fate played a trick on him, and Sakura failed again.
Kakashi encouraged her, "Sakura, seeing your teacher's face is actually quite easy. You'll have many opportunities to see it in the future."
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Sakura puffed out her cheeks, completely disbelieving her unscrupulous teacher's words. "Kakashi Sensei, you're lying! I've failed so many times, I've never seen your face while eating!"
"Who said you can only see your face while eating? You can see your face while doing other things too." Kakashi said meaningfully, glancing at the girl's pink, moist, full lips, his eyes slightly deepening.
Sakura didn't understand, asking in confusion, "What other things can you see your face in?"
Kakashi's eyes curved into a smile without answering. Sakura looked at him strangely, but having spent 16 years in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, though ultimately still tragically a virgin, she had passively heard a lot of adult topics. So, Sakura suddenly realized Kakashi's meaning. Her face instantly turned bright red, and she screamed.
"Kakashi Sensei, you perverted teacher! How dare you flirt with me!"
Sakura also punched him without hesitation. This was how she always beat him up when Naruto was being inappropriate.
However, Kakashi wasn't Naruto, who would simply let himself be knocked away without resistance. In Sakura's presence, he was always the authoritative figure, making him the dominant one in their relationship. Even now, Kakashi merely sparred with Sakura, smilingly catching the girl's small punches, though the force was far from that of a small punch.
Kakashi kept glancing at Sakura's reaction out of the corner of his eye. He had done it on purpose; this was Kakashi's first test. He was nervous, afraid of seeing disgust and aversion in Sakura's eyes. Fortunately, there was none. So, at least deep down, Sakura wasn't entirely opposed to the possibility of this relationship.
After catching a few more small punches, Kakashi decided to stop, his tone lazy and soothing.
"Alright, alright, Sakura, I was just kidding. It's your curiosity that's so strong; I was just teasing you."
It's best not to alert her or reveal your intentions, and also to lower Sakura's guard so she doesn't feel uncomfortable and distance herself from you.
Sakura was indeed fooled. She gave a coquettish snort. "Kakashi Sensei, you big idiot! You're always glued to 'Make-Out Paradise,' your mind's become so dirty! You used to look at it in front of me all the time, don't you know that's sexual harassment?"
Kakashi had something to say about his "spiritual sustenance." "That's because you don't understand the appeal of Intimacy Paradise. And besides, is this sexual harassment?"
Hasn't he even done anything yet? Kakashi was really looking forward to trying out all the different positions on "Make-Out Paradise" with Sakura in the future.
"Hmph, I'm not talking to you anymore. Go ahead and look at your 'Make-Out Paradise' until you die!" Sakura rolled her eyes, completely unwilling to listen to her teacher's nonsense. She sat down and continued eating her curry rice. It was all the teacher's fault; the curry had gone cold.
Kakashi ate the meal with Sakura, and perhaps because of Kakashi's return, Sakura's emotions stabilized considerably afterward, no longer fluctuating between irritability and melancholy.
However, while her own condition improved, the external problems remained unresolved. The search for a way to break the invisible barrier was stalled, a heavy burden weighing on everyone's hearts.
Sakura had wondered, since the Divine Tree had given her power, and this Divine Tree was an evolution of the Ten-Tails, could it be assumed that she possessed the power of the Ten-Tails? Although she wasn't a descendant of the Otsutsuki clan, nor the reincarnation of Ashura and Indra, what if she, Hashirama, and Madara formed the hand seals together? Would that break the Infinite Tsukuyomi?
She suggested the idea to Hashirama and Kakashi, who both immediately gave her a "wow" look, as if they'd suddenly discovered a blind spot. However, after discussing it, they thought it might be worth a try, and Kakashi set off again to find Madara and the others.
Madara and the others returned quickly. Tobirama, Madara, and Minato had actually considered Sakura's idea, but four concerns prevented them from acting rashly.
First, Tobirama and his companions held a preconceived notion that only the reincarnations of Indra and Ashura could break the Infinite Tsukuyomi—this was a direct quote from the Sage of Six Paths.
Second, while Sakura stated that the Rinnegan and possessing the chakra of all the Tailed Beasts could break the Infinite Tsukuyomi, this was based on her experience within the Infinite Tsukuyomi. They couldn't be certain that this was the true method for breaking the Infinite Tsukuyomi in reality. Of course, this could be determined through experimentation.
Third, and most importantly, Tobirama and Minato weren't certain whether the chakra within Sakura's body was truly the power of the Ten-Tails. The God Tree, combined with Kaguya, constituted the complete Ten-Tails. Now that Kaguya was gone, was the power solely from the God Tree equivalent to the Ten-Tails? Tobirama also harbored an unspoken suspicion: he always felt that the chakra within Sakura's body didn't originate from the Tailed Beasts, but rather from the chakra of the ninjas trapped within the God Tree. However, this felt like absorbing other people's chakra and life force, and Tobirama didn't want Sakura to feel guilty or disgusted.
There was one last variable: the mysteriously appearing flower tree barrier around Sakura, the strange turmoil of the Divine Tree, and Kaguya's talk of transformation. All of these made Tobirama hesitant, unsure whether to let Sakura try.
But since Sakura had come up with the idea herself and openly discussed it with everyone, and they had indeed made no progress, they decided to give it a shot—what could possibly go wrong?
Therefore, Tobirama and Minato ultimately said nothing, simply agreeing to Sakura's attempt with Hashirama and Madara.
Witnessed by Tobirama, Izuna, Minato, Obito, Kakashi, and Itachi, Sakura stood facing Hashirama and Madara. Sakura activated the Hundred Healings Technique, black lines instantly flowing across her body. She swiftly formed the "Child" hand seal. Madara, activating his Rinnegan, also formed the "Child" hand seal, while Hashirama simply formed the "Child" hand seal. Then, all three hands pressed together simultaneously.
The next moment, all the Divine Trees scattered throughout the world suddenly trembled violently. But unlike the flashback in Tsukuyomi, where the branches of the Divine Trees drooped to the ground, withered rapidly, and released the people they had been carrying, the large white cocoons wrapped within the Divine Trees vanished one by one, while the Divine Trees themselves grew even thicker.
Tobirama and Minato released their chakra to sense the situation and their expressions changed drastically.
"Not good! The Divine Trees are absorbing everyone's chakra at an accelerated pace!"
In their perception, in just a few seconds, thousands upon thousands of ordinary people had their chakra completely drained in an instant—a rate of conversion exceeding the total amount absorbed in the past four months!
Sasori also noticed the changes in the numerous puppets he controlled, and he added. "The intravenous nutrient solution is also rapidly disappearing. It's probably because the ninjas' bodies are lacking energy and chakra, so they're quickly drawing nutrients from the outside. At this rate, the solution will soon be completely depleted."
"Look, even the White Zetsu are being devoured by the God Tree!" Obito looked up in shock. White Zetsu are byproducts of the God Tree absorbing a person's chakra. Kaguya's undead soldiers shouldn't be absorbed by the God Tree, but now, one by one, White Zetsu are gradually merging into it.
Seeing chakra, life, spiritual energy, physical energy—all the energy in the world—returning to the God Tree, this terrifying anomaly made Tobirama shout almost without hesitation.
"Stop the hand seals! This isn't the correct way to release the Infinite Tsukuyomi!"
Hashirama and Madara weren't blind; they also saw the strange change in the Divine Tree. However, they couldn't stop it. The instant the three hands clasped together, their chakra surged into Sakura's body like a whale swallowing water. They immediately sensed something was wrong and tried to break free, but found themselves unable to move. Even their ninjutsu and Rinnegan seemed to be imprisoned. They could do nothing but stand there, feeling the chakra continuously draining away!
"No, we can't stop! We're all being sucked in by this little girl! She's draining our chakra! Izuna, cut off our hands!" Madara roared.
"Sakura-chan, wake up! Wake up!" Hashirama shouted, trying to rouse Sakura.
Then everyone realized that besides the Divine Tree, Sakura's condition was even more worrying. Her eyes were unfocused, as if she were in a state of unconsciousness, completely unresponsive to the passive absorption of Madara and Hashirama's chakra. Behind her, a faintly visible pink flowering tree stood.
"Sakura!" Kakashi's expression changed drastically. He wanted to rush forward to pull Sakura away, but Minato immediately stopped him, his face serious. "Wait, Kakashi, you can't go now. We can't be sure if you'll also be sucked in by Sakura and have your chakra absorbed."
Kakashi wasn't like Madara or Hashirama, who had unlimited chakra and could withstand a few drains. In Minato's perception, Sakura was now like the God Tree—a terrifying chakra absorber. In a short time, the total amount of chakra she had absorbed from Madara and Hashirama was almost equivalent to that of a tailed beast with fewer tails.
Izuna and Tobirama, realizing their older brothers were immobilized, acted decisively, simultaneously drawing their swords and slashing at their arms. The two reanimated arms, bound by hand seals, snapped off, finally stopping the one-sided chakra drain.
Ignoring their slowly recovering arms, Madara and Hashirama simultaneously looked at Sakura, only to be shocked to find that the previously faintly visible pink flowering tree behind Sakura had become a clear, illusory image. Moreover, this flowering tree was no longer the small tree it had appeared before, roughly the same height as her; it was slowly growing larger, becoming as tall as a several-story building.
What shocked everyone even more was that the branches of the Divine Tree suddenly extended towards the flowering tree simultaneously. Despite one being real and the other illusory, they seemed to connect seamlessly. Then, Tobirama and Minato simultaneously sensed a massive amount of chakra continuously flowing from various parts of the Divine Tree, all of it being channeled into the pink flowering tree. As the chakra surged in, the flowering tree also rapidly grew larger, gradually approaching the size of the Divine Tree, blotting out the sky.
"What's going on? The Divine Tree is channeling all its chakra into that pink flowering tree!" Minato shouted solemnly.
"We must sever this link, or everyone in this world will die from the sucking!" Tobirama's face was extremely grim.
Everyone snapped out of their daze and moved simultaneously.
Hasshima, seeing that his severed arm hadn't healed, immediately formed a hand seal, "Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands!"
A colossal Buddha, seemingly blotting out the sky, appeared with a thunderous roar. Hundreds upon hundreds of arms lashed out, grabbing at the link between the Divine Tree and the Flower Tree, severing them one by one. The Buddha's giant hands swept across, tearing off countless branches.
Madara, not to be outdone, also released his Complete Susanoo, almost evenly matched with Hashirama's Buddha. With a gentle flap of his enormous wings, he soared into the sky. The two giant swords of Susanoo slashed forward simultaneously, severing countless Divine Trees. The residual force was undiminished, even splitting a distant mountain peak, causing large sections of rock to collapse with a deafening roar, stirring up dust as if an earthquake had struck.
"When did Madara become so strong?" Izuna had never seen Madara's complete Susanoo in battle before, and was momentarily speechless with shock. Madara hadn't even been able to summon Susanoo before his death.
Tobirama, watching their earth-shattering attacks, felt a sense of awe, like a mortal caught in the middle of a battle between gods.
However, he quickly recovered and shouted to the others, "Madara and the Divine Tree will fix the link between the Divine Tree and the Flower Tree, but we must find a way to wake Haruno; she's key! After she regained consciousness last time, the pink Flower Tree disappeared, and I reckon the Divine Tree's absorption of everyone's chakra will slow down too!"
He had just sensed the Divine Tree's condition again. It seemed that the more the link between the Divine Tree and the Flower Tree was broken, the slower the Divine Tree's chakra absorption would be, but it was still several times faster than usual. Tobirama suspected the pink Flower Tree was the culprit.
The others looked at Sakura. How to wake her? Clearly, shouting was useless, so the group could only try redirecting their attacks towards the illusory pink flowering tree, though they didn't know if physical or ninjutsu attacks would have any effect on an illusion.
Minato flicked his palm, "Wind Release: Rasengan!"
Tobirama formed hand seals, "Water Release: Water Severing Wave!"
Itachi's Sharingan widened, "Amaterasu!" Black flames appeared out of thin air.
Kakashi released Lightning Blade with one hand and charged towards the pink flowering tree.
Obito brought his index fingers together in a hand seal: "Fire Release: Explosive Wind Dance!" "
Sasori's chakra threads manipulated a dozen or so relatively powerful ninja puppets he had recently collected from the Fourth Shinobi World War, launching a physical attack.
Wind, water, lightning, and fire elemental ninjutsu attacks, along with a physical attack, simultaneously struck the pink flowering tree. However, the next moment, something astonishing happened: these attacks landed on the pink flowering tree, yet the tree remained completely unharmed. This wasn't because the attacks missed or penetrated; rather, the chakra contained within the attacks was directly extracted and absorbed by the flowering tree."