Chapter 242: Amegakure — Hanzō the Salamander Arrives
Walking down these streets she'd walked once before, Sakura let her gaze drift over her surroundings.
The scars of war from three years ago had vanished completely, and with Konoha and Iwagakure garrisons stationed here ever since, the village had actually grown even more prosperous than the original Kusagakure had ever been.
Still, there weren't many people out on the streets right now.
"To prepare for the Hokage and Tsuchikage's arrival, I discussed things with Iwagakure's officer in charge here — we're asking villagers to stay indoors as much as possible for the next couple of days."
Sensing the Hokage's unspoken question, Suzaku Nara stepped forward to explain.
Sakura didn't say much in response.
With all five Kage gathering in one place, trouble was always a risk. Keeping villagers off the streets helped avoid unnecessary complications.
"How many men did the Kazekage and Raikage bring?"
Sakura led her group to the garrison's headquarters, settled herself into the main seat with easy composure, and idly picked up a document off the table to flip through.
It was a report on Kusagakure's civilian affairs.
Suzaku Nara had handled it well.
Then again, any document that made it to her desk today was already vetted to be trouble-free.
"The Kazekage brought four hundred men. The Raikage brought three hundred."
"Scouts report that a hundred of the Kazekage's four hundred are a puppet corps."
"The Raikage's contingent, meanwhile, is entirely chūnin — with thirty jōnin mixed in."
Suzaku Nara's expression carried a note of concern.
The Kazekage's forces weren't much of an issue — cut the puppeteers' chakra threads, and the puppet corps became a non-factor.
The real trouble was those thirty jōnin under the Raikage.
Even a Kage-level fighter, faced with enough jōnin, could theoretically be worn down and killed through sheer attrition.
And thirty was clearly enough to make that a real threat.
Sakura's mouth curved into a faint, unreadable smile as she closed the document.
"Not a problem."
"Isn't that just how Kumogakure operates?"
Still, Suzaku Nara pressed, not entirely reassured:
"Should we perhaps—"
As he spoke, he drew a hand across his throat in a slicing motion.
As far as he was concerned, Kumogakure or no Kumogakure, the only good Kumogakure was a dead Kumogakure.
Right now, with all five Kage gathered here except the Mizukage, they could take advantage of the Land of Fire and Land of Grass being neighboring territories to quietly stage Konoha's elite here in ambush.
One decisive strike, and the Kazekage, Raikage, Tsuchikage, and Mizukage's absence notwithstanding, could all be eliminated in a single battle.
Then mobilize three armies — the Hokage, Lord Jiraiya, and Lady Tsunade each commanding one — to strike simultaneously against the Lands of Wind, Lightning, and Earth, and settle the whole matter in one decisive campaign!
Suzaku Nara was genuinely loyal to his own people, and so he had no hesitation laying this plan out to Sakura without holding anything back.
"..."
Listening to him, Sakura blinked, momentarily caught off guard.
This guy...
Is actually talented!
If the Akatsuki weren't a factor, Sakura genuinely might have done exactly that.
But not right now.
If she went through with it, setting aside her own credibility, using a coalition supposedly formed to fight Mōryō as cover to secretly assassinate the other four Kage was the kind of move that would draw endless condemnation.
Even if the whole world ultimately fell under Konoha's banner, unifying it through methods like that would never last.
Like the Jin dynasty, in her past life.
A just cause wasn't just a nice phrase for decoration.
Still — even though she had no intention of actually acting on Suzaku Nara's suggestion, the fact that he'd bring something like this to her at all showed real ability.
Might be worth keeping him in mind for certain... special assignments, later on.
"No need. Using the Mōryō situation as cover for that kind of thing isn't appropriate, on any level."
Sakura waved a hand, signaling him to drop the matter.
Suzaku Nara fell silent obediently.
His proposal had been shot down, but his real objective had been achieved.
He was confident he'd successfully caught this Hokage's eye.
All that was left now was to wait quietly for good news. Pressing further would be overplaying his hand.
Meanwhile, word of the Hokage's arrival in Kusagakure had already reached the Kazekage, Raikage, and Tsuchikage swiftly.
Sakura hadn't bothered concealing her movements the entire trip — she'd walked openly straight into the Konoha garrison, so it was only natural others would find out.
With the Five Kage Summit imminent, the Kazekage, Raikage, and Tsuchikage made no particular move in response to her arrival.
Iwagakure and Konoha had jointly held Kusagakure for three years now — any misstep at this point could easily throw tomorrow's summit into chaos.
So Killer Bee, Gaara, and Ōnoki, once they'd arrived, kept to themselves without incident, staying quietly at their lodgings.
Night
Sakura had just finished dinner and was lying in her quarters, flipping through a scroll on the Light and Heavy Rock techniques, when Hikaru Uchiha showed up at her door.
"Come on, let's go for a walk."
"Huh?"
"There's nothing worth looking at out there this late at night."
"Not going. No thanks."
Sakura shook her head, declining.
Never mind that Kusagakure was livelier than it used to be — with the summit imminent, the streets were nearly deserted.
What's even worth wandering around for?
What's the point of going out — catching a cold breeze?
"Come on, just keep me company."
Unexpectedly, Hikaru's manner wasn't her usual self at all.
There was something wistful in her expression instead.
"What's wrong?"
Noticing the shift in the Uchiha great-grandma's mood, Sakura looked at her a beat longer.
"...I used to live here, once."
"I want to walk around."
Hikaru's expression turned faintly awkward, a flush even rising in her cheeks — as if the invitation itself embarrassed her somehow.
"Used to live here?"
So this was home, once.
"Are you coming or not?!"
Apparently unable to bear Sakura's thoughtful stare any longer, Hikaru snapped, flustered.
"All right, let's go."
Sakura closed the scroll and got up off the bed.
Hikaru hadn't known beforehand that Sakura's current lodging happened to sit in what used to be her old home territory — because back when she'd lived here, there had been no such thing as "the Land of Grass" yet.
It was only after arriving and seeing that endless stretch of plain that those long-buried memories had slowly started resurfacing for her.
Sakura didn't quite understand why Hikaru would have lived here — by rights, hadn't the Uchiha clan been based in the Land of Lightning before joining Konoha? But considering that had all happened centuries ago, she didn't press for details.
Centuries were a long time. Plenty could have happened in between.
The two of them didn't wander through Kusagakure itself — just as Sakura had expected, the streets held almost no one, every house shut up tight.
They left the village outskirts and looked out over the endless plain stretching before them.
They found a hillside and sat, letting the evening breeze wash over them, and for a moment, the mood eased into something quietly pleasant.
The moon was lovely tonight — clear skies, a gentle wind.
Hikaru hugged her knees, her gaze distant, fixed on the familiar landscape before her.
Aside from the addition of Kusagakure itself, the view seemed hardly different from what she remembered as a child.
"You know..."
"I grew up here..."
Hikaru's voice reached Sakura on the evening wind.
"Back then, my father was here. My mother was here too..."
"I was here too..."
Sakura sat cross-legged, gazing out at the view, listening to Hikaru speak.
Then, suddenly —
"Did you like your mom or your dad more?"
Sakura blurted the question out of nowhere, cutting Hikaru's train of thought off cold.
"Has anyone ever told you you're kind of insufferable?"
Hikaru shot Sakura an irritated glare.
No one needs to tell me. I already know.
Sakura had nothing to say to that.
"Hmph. Never mind. Forget it."
"And here I thought we were actually having a moment."
Hikaru turned her head away, clearly annoyed.
"Hey, hey, hey, my bad, keep going, I promise I won't interrupt."
"I swear."
Facing Hikaru's obviously skeptical look, Sakura held up a finger and swore to the sky.
Even so, Hikaru still eyed her with plenty of distrust.
"Well then..."
Before the word "fine" could even leave her mouth, Hikaru's gaze drifted up toward the sky.
The clear night, blue and open just moments ago, had somehow been swallowed by a heavy stretch of shadow blotting out the moon.
A low rumble could already be heard in the distance.
Sakura: ...
Seriously? Even the sky's not giving me a break here?
"Tch..."
Hikaru pursed her lips, thoroughly unimpressed.
I finally feel like going out for once, and I had to pick THIS pink-haired menace to invite!
"Never mind. Let's head back."
Hikaru sighed.
I must have lost my mind, asking this idiot to come along.
"It's raining! Get inside, quick!"
Just as Sakura and Hikaru were turning to leave, a voice called out from the entrance to Kusagakure not far off.
By now, rain had already started falling in a light drizzle.
Sakura and Hikaru hadn't wandered far — they'd only lingered near the village outskirts — so they made it back to Kusagakure quickly. Even so, the sudden downpour had already soaked both of them through by the time they got there.
Just as Pinky and Great-Grandma reached the village gate, lightning split the sky, followed almost immediately by a deafening crack of thunder.
"I've got dry towels here."
The shinobi guarding the gate held out two clean white towels toward Sakura.
"Thanks."
Sakura took the towel with a nod of gratitude.
It was only then that she noticed the headband on his forehead — Iwagakure's insignia.
She didn't think much of it, though. She simply tossed the other towel to Hikaru and started drying off her damp hair.
"What were you two girls doing out at this hour? You really shouldn't be wandering outside these next couple of days."
The Iwa shinobi glanced carefully at the pink-haired girl toweling off her hair and couldn't help but speak up.
"The weather looked nice, so we wanted to go for a walk — who knew it'd start raining."
Sakura offered the Iwa shinobi a smile.
"Come to think of it, you two aren't from around here, are you?"
Sakura's brows lifted slightly in surprise at that.
This Iwagakure shinobi doesn't recognize me?
Sakura had assumed he was simply some unusually bold Iwa shinobi choosing to strike up conversation — she hadn't expected him to genuinely not know who she was.
"No, we're not. We're from Konoha."
Sakura shook her head, and once her hair was dry, made to take her leave.
"Konoha, huh?"
To her surprise, the Iwa shinobi's eyes lit up slightly.
"Iwagakure and Konoha are the best of friends and allies, you know!"
Sakura: ...
Thanks so much for that, "best friend."
"First time meeting you — I'm Dongyan!"
The Iwa shinobi extended a hand with a bright, friendly smile.
"I'm... Ino."
Sakura politely shook the hand of the shinobi who'd introduced himself as Dongyan.
Dongyan found it a little odd that a girl would go by a name meaning "Boar" — but he didn't dwell on it much.
Boar's a good name, though. Boars are fierce. Strong.
"I'm Hinata."
Hikaru shot Sakura a flat look before offering up the name "Hinata."
"Right, right, nice to meet you both."
Compared to how he'd greeted Sakura, Dongyan seemed noticeably less enthusiastic this time.
"Thanks for the towel — I think we should get going, or our friends will start worrying."
Sakura offered the Iwa shinobi a courteous farewell, then vanished into the curtain of rain alongside Hikaru.
Dongyan stared after the retreating figures in the rain, a little dazed.
That pink hair... it was really pretty.
"What are you staring at?"
A fellow Iwa shinobi, arriving to take over the shift, nudged Dongyan's arm, noticing his dazed expression.
"Yanta, I just met a girl from Konoha..."
Dongyan snapped back to attention, looking a bit sheepish toward his companion.
"Oho?"
"Well would you look at that — finally waking up, huh~~~"
Yanta immediately broke into a knowing grin.
"That Konoha girl — she had really pretty pink hair."
"And a gorgeous pair of green eyes."
"Looked like she was maybe sixteen, seventeen..."
At that, Yanta's expression turned distinctly strange. He hesitated, then asked carefully, almost gingerly:
"Was... was her name Sakura Haruno, by chance?"
Dongyan shook his head.
"No, she said her name was Ino."
"Sounds like a real strong, powerful name, too."
Phew.
Thank god. This kid hadn't fallen for Konoha's Fifth Hokage.
Otherwise, there wouldn't even be a place left for him to cry.
Yanta wiped away a bead of cold sweat that wasn't actually there, then clapped Dongyan on the shoulder with a grin.
"Well, what are you waiting for, then? With Konoha's people just arriving, make the most of these next couple of days and spend some time with that girl."
"Who knows — you might end up contributing to the Iwa-Konoha alliance yourself!"
His friend's words seemed to fill Dongyan with sudden resolve, and he straightened up, energized.
For the sake of Iwa-Konoha friendship — I'll do my best!
...
The moment Sakura returned to the Konoha garrison camp, she was met with news that genuinely surprised her.
The shinobi world's demigod — Hanzō the Salamander of Amegakure — had arrived.
"Hanzō the Salamander?"
The Hokage, hair hanging loose and undone, sat in the main seat, regarding the messenger with a peculiar expression.
"That's correct. Just ten minutes ago, Hanzō the Salamander arrived at the village's south gate."
"It seems the Tsuchikage's invitation, at your request, Lord Hokage, drew even this demigod out of retirement."
Suzaku Nara spoke with a grave expression.
Sakura, meanwhile, wore a distinctly odd little smile.
If her timeline was right, Hanzō the Salamander should have died at Pain's hands sixteen years ago.
And now, this long-dead demigod had suddenly turned up here — which made things rather interesting, as far as Sakura was concerned.
Well, it couldn't be a simple Transformation Technique, obviously — any halfway competent shinobi could see through that.
Which meant this was White Zetsu, playing the part.
Not bad, actually. This Five Kage Summit was starting to look a lot less dull.
Sakura had no intention of exposing him right now. Doing that immediately would ruin all the fun, wouldn't it?
Come on, then, Pain. Obito. Or Black Zetsu.
Let's see what you've got to entertain me with.
(End of chapter)
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