Chapter 264: A Gathering Storm
The sky hung gray and heavy overhead.
The pink-haired girl soaked, entirely bare, in a crystal-clear hot spring pool.
This was Shikkotsu Forest's Sage Pool — a special place condensed from a thousand years' worth of natural energy accumulated by the Slug Sage herself.
The terrifying natural energy contained within made this an ideal site to transform even a complete novice, with zero sage-technique experience, into a fully-fledged Sage Mode user.
Assuming, of course, one could actually survive the process, without being dissolved into sludge by the Sage Pool itself.
Sakura soaked in the pool, while beside her, a tiny slug lay quietly perched on a rock.
"It's been a while since Sakura's come by."
Katsuyu's voice carried its usual gentle, sisterly warmth.
Sakura blew bubbles beneath the water's surface, then surfaced, poking her head out.
"Been dealing with a lot lately..."
Sakura sighed.
First Kakuzu and Hidan, then Mōryō, and now Mount Myōboku on top of everything else...
"Being Hokage really is exhausting work, isn't it."
"You've worked so hard, Sakura."
Katsuyu crawled closer, her voice soft and soothing.
"Yeah, really. So much has been such a pain lately."
Sakura agreed wholeheartedly.
Yeah. Lady Katsuyu really is the easiest to be around.
"Still, Sakura — there's a demonic aura clinging to you..."
Katsuyu spoke, a little hesitant.
A thousand years ago, aside from the handful of especially powerful demons, nearly all the others had been personally exterminated by the Sage of the Six Paths, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki himself.
And Katsuyu, having witnessed that era firsthand, naturally understood these things well.
"Huh?"
"Really?"
Sakura lifted her arm and sniffed at it, catching no scent whatsoever.
"You won't be able to smell it with your nose."
Katsuyu answered, faintly exasperated.
This contract holder is genuinely wonderful in every respect. Adorable in appearance, formidable in strength, unshakably resolute, and pure of heart.
Aside from being a little scatterbrained day-to-day, she was practically the ideal summoner.
"I see."
Sakura sank back beneath the water's surface, leaving only her head above it.
"Mōryō came back a while ago, so I took a squad over and cut him down."
She said it casually, as though describing some minor, unremarkable errand.
"Huh?"
"Sakura actually beat Mōryō?"
Katsuyu sounded genuinely stunned at that — clearly, she hadn't expected her own contract-holder to have actually defeated him.
"Yep, yep, yep!"
"Pretty impressive, right?"
Sakura floated in the water, grinning happily up at Katsuyu.
To Sakura, Katsuyu was practically a doting, dependable older sister figure.
Not only did she offer real help in combat, but she was endlessly accommodating in day-to-day matters too, with a genuinely wonderful temperament — nothing like that lot of toads at Mount Myōboku or those long serpents in Ryūchi Cave.
"Sakura really is impressive."
Katsuyu nodded.
She genuinely hadn't expected this little girl to actually beat Mōryō.
Which meant her own earlier assessment of this contract-holder's strength had been... a miscalculation.
"By the way, though — that old toad Gamabunta over at Mount Myōboku called me over yesterday. Said he'd prophesied about me."
Sakura brought up the Great Toad Sage from the day before.
"Gamabunta, hm?"
"You should really address him as the Great Toad Sage properly, Sakura."
Katsuyu gently corrected her.
"Eh, don't worry about it. I just don't like him."
Hearing that, Katsuyu didn't say much more.
Though both counted among the Three Great Sacred Realms, given the natural rivalry between toads and slugs, Katsuyu — while she'd never say it outright — didn't particularly care for that lot at Mount Myōboku either.
"So — what exactly did Gamabunta prophesy?"
Katsuyu asked, sounding perhaps a touch too casually curious.
At that, Sakura recounted the entire episode from Mount Myōboku, start to finish.
"Well, honestly. Trying to poach my own contract-holder."
Hearing the full account, Katsuyu sounded genuinely displeased — which caught Sakura mildly off guard.
Katsuyu's temperament was famously gentle. This was the first time Sakura had ever seen her show anything resembling displeasure at all.
"Still, Sakura, don't take it too much to heart. It's just Gamabunta's own prophecy."
"So-called prophecies are nothing more than that old toad's own ramblings. When someone faces a choice, other people's opinions certainly matter."
"But what matters far more is the meaning that person represents on their own terms."
"If a prophecy's outcome were truly destined to happen regardless, wouldn't that completely negate the value of the very person the prophecy speaks of?"
"And Sakura's value has never needed anyone else's prophecy to validate it."
"Because Sakura has already earned the recognition of countless people, and become Hokage on her own merit."
"None of that requires some so-called prophecy at all."
Katsuyu's voice stayed gentle and soft throughout — but the meaning underneath was an unmistakable, wholesale rejection of Gamabunta's prophetic abilities altogether.
"Yep, yep!"
"That's exactly how I see it too."
Sakura laughed softly, poking playfully at Katsuyu's soft body.
"Speaking of which, though — between you, that Gamabunta over at Mount Myōboku, and the White Snake Sage at Ryūchi Cave, who's actually the strongest?"
At that, Katsuyu simply gave an unbothered little laugh, her voice as gentle as ever:
"Hmm, now who knows~~~"
Hearing Katsuyu's answer, Sakura's smile widened, unconsciously, just a little more.
A thousand years had passed.
Katsuyu was still exactly the same Katsuyu she'd always been.
But Gamabunta and the White Snake Sage had both, clearly, grown old and frail.
The meaning was obvious enough, without needing to be spelled out.
—
Jiraiya gazed, wistful, at a building in the distance — one both familiar and strangely foreign to him.
The Haruno house.
Home to the Fifth Hokage.
The Great Toad Sage had asked him to bring Sakura's little sister along for a look — and something about that request left him deeply reluctant.
Mirai was still so young, after all.
Only three years old.
And as far as Jiraiya understood it, figures spoken of in prophecy always carried some great, weighty destiny on their shoulders.
That kind of burden — he could bear it. Sakura could bear it.
But it was absolutely not something a three-year-old child should ever be asked to carry.
But then again...
What if little Mirai wasn't actually the one the Great Toad Sage's prophecy referred to at all?
Someone with pink hair.
There weren't many people in the shinobi world who carried pink hair.
Among everyone Jiraiya personally knew, only Sakura and her little sister fit that description.
Which meant, as far as Jiraiya was concerned, Sakura herself had to be the true subject of the Great Toad Sage's latest prophecy.
After all, Sakura was simply too extraordinary.
There was no way Mirai, in the future, would ever surpass her own big sister.
So if it was really just a matter of bringing Mirai along to meet the Great Toad Sage once...
That should be...
...
Jiraiya left.
In the end, he simply sighed and walked away.
This wasn't a decision he could make.
Sakura's own attitude toward the Great Toad Sage yesterday had already made everything clear enough — she disliked Gamabunta, and clearly resented his prophecy just as much.
If he brought Sakura's own little sister to Mount Myōboku right now, there was a real chance that Sakura — already predisposed to dislike Gamabunta — might march straight up the mountain herself and lay waste to the place.
And besides, Jiraiya felt he had something far more important to attend to right now.
His own prophesied child. Nagato.
He needed to go find Nagato, bring him back from whatever path he'd lost his way onto.
Even though Sakura had already told him, in no uncertain terms, to settle down and retire peacefully within the village — Jiraiya's temperament had never once allowed him to sit quietly and heed good advice.
Now that Akatsuki had captured the Kazekage and Mizukage, he needed to go to Amegakure.
Get Nagato to stop, while there was still time.
If he could make it in time, there was still a chance to turn this all around.
So he left. Left without a shred of hesitation.
Setting off down the road toward Amegakure.
This was his responsibility.
His duty, as the teacher of the prophesied child.
But Jiraiya never noticed one thing — a single frog, sitting quietly in a corner, watching everything unfold.
"Ribbit~~~"
With a single croak, the frog vanished from the spot.
—
Sakura, having just returned from Shikkotsu Forest to the Hokage office, had barely dismissed the shadow clone that had been dozing at her desk while she was away, when a knock sounded at the door.
"Lord Hokage, here's today's transit records."
Izumo Kamizuki placed a report on her desk.
"Mm, understood."
Sakura glanced over the report — and one particular name on it caught her eye, her fine brows furrowing slightly.
"Jiraiya left the village?"
"Yes. About three hours ago."
Izumo answered respectfully.
Three hours...
"Where'd he go?"
At Sakura's question, Izumo looked visibly awkward.
How was he supposed to know what Jiraiya was up to?
"Never mind. You're dismissed."
Sakura recognized her own error immediately.
Jiraiya's actual purpose here wasn't something Izumo had any business knowing.
As Izumo bowed out, Sakura sat back in her chair, her expression complicated.
That old fool actually went and ran off, didn't he...
Does he think throwing his life away is fun?
At the thought, Sakura sighed, and was just about to assemble a team to bring him back, when the door was knocked again.
Deiwashi, head of the intelligence division, once more.
"Lord Hokage."
"Sunagakure and Kirigakure have made a move against Amegakure."
Before Sakura could even ask, Deiwashi had already laid the latest report out in front of her.
Sakura took it, scanning through the contents rapidly.
Just yesterday, both Sunagakure and Kirigakure had already dispatched troops to attack Amegakure.
Yesterday marked the fourth day since the shinobi coalition had disbanded.
Sunagakure had moved swiftly, sending five thousand shinobi to spearhead the assault on Amegakure.
Kirigakure had followed close behind, dispatching three thousand troops of their own.
But given Kirigakure's geographic position, their forces would need to cross the open sea, skirting around the Land of Fire, the Land of Iron, the Land of Whirlpools, and the Land of Lightning, before finally making landfall in the Land of Waterfalls and marching from there toward the Land of Rain.
Which meant their arrival would be significantly delayed.
That Sunagakure and Kirigakure had both known Akatsuki's headquarters was located in Amegakure wasn't especially surprising.
After all, Akatsuki's activities three years ago had caused quite a stir.
And given that Sunagakure had once had dealings with Akatsuki directly, knowing their base's location wasn't hard to explain either.
"When it rains, it pours."
Studying the report in her hands, Sakura rubbed her forehead, then looked up at Deiwashi.
"Get me Kakashi, Sasuke Uchiha, Karin Uzumaki, and Mei Terumi."
"Yes, ma'am."
Deiwashi's expression sharpened, and he hurried off to comply.
Watching him go, Sakura leaned back in her chair, turning everything over in her mind.
Jiraiya really had picked an excellent moment to head for Amegakure.
The Land of Rain bordered the Land of Wind directly — by now, Sunagakure's forces were probably already engaged in combat with Amegakure.
Sunagakure might be one of the Five Great Villages, but Sakura genuinely didn't rate that particular village's chances very highly here.
Right now, Akatsuki was presumably tied up extracting tailed-beast chakra — a process that would take roughly six days.
Four days had already passed since Gaara and Utakata's capture.
Which left only two days remaining.
There was no realistic way Sunagakure could conquer the Land of Rain in just two days.
And once those two days were up, that would mark the moment Sunagakure's army got wiped out entirely.
Jiraiya, heading toward Amegakure right now, would — given his own speed — likely arrive right around the time Akatsuki finished sealing the tailed beasts.
Facing down Pain, Konan, Obito Uchiha, Kisame, Sasori, and Itachi Uchiha all at once was practically a death wish.
Sure, Itachi was working as an inside asset — but Itachi probably couldn't withstand the fallout either.
If Itachi tried to rescue Jiraiya, both of them would likely end up dead.
And knowing Itachi's temperament, he probably wouldn't even step in and just watch Jiraiya die instead.
By now, Kakashi, Sasuke, Karin, and Mei Terumi had all arrived at the Hokage's office.
"I won't waste time on preamble."
"Single objective: bring Jiraiya back."
"Four-person squad. Kakashi, you're leading."
Sakura handed the freshly written mission scroll to Kakashi.
Kakashi took the scroll, scanned it quickly, his expression turning grave.
By now, Sunagakure and Amegakure were already actively fighting.
And Jiraiya, stubbornly determined to force his way into Amegakure, risked being treated outright as a spy the instant he was spotted — under these circumstances.
More critically — Jiraiya was Konoha's own.
One of Konoha's three Sannin, walking straight into Amegakure at a moment like this — what exactly would that signal to everyone watching?
Jiraiya's actions here wouldn't just provoke Amegakure's nerves — they'd set every one of the other four Great Villages on edge too.
One misstep, and this could easily spiral into another full-blown Great Ninja War.
"Understood."
Kakashi's voice was grave.
This mission had to succeed.
"Sasuke."
Sakura turned to the black-haired boy.
Sasuke looked up.
"If the opportunity presents itself, meet with Itachi Uchiha."
Sakura spoke, calm.
"Fine."
Sasuke answered.
Sasuke assumed Sakura meant for him to finish Itachi off.
After all, the massacre of their clan demanded a reckoning.
But what Sakura actually meant was that Itachi had, by this point, almost certainly reached the terminal stage of his illness — it was time for him to die anyway.
Time to make good use of those eyes of his, one last time.
Though the outcome would end up the same either way, the intent behind it was entirely different.
And given Itachi's own considerable intellect, he'd almost certainly understand exactly what Sakura meant by it.
And accept it, gladly, without resentment.
"One more thing."
Sakura turned to Kakashi.
"Whatever enemy you run into — don't hold back."
Kakashi's expression shifted slightly.
Was that a warning aimed at him specifically?
"Understood."
Kakashi answered, his tone heavy.
Watching the four of them vanish from the room, Sakura rubbed at her furrowed brow, then spoke up suddenly:
"Get me Tobirama Senju and Naruto Uzumaki."
Sakura had already decided — Naruto's tailed-beast training could wait no longer.
This time, she'd personally take Hikaru and go with Naruto to Turtle Island herself.
It had to succeed.
With Tobirama, Hikaru, and herself all present—
Even Madara Uchiha would get a couple of solid beatings out of her. Let alone a mere Nine-Tails.
Sakura had a growing feeling that something unexpected was coming — and right now, the smart move was to get every available piece of combat strength ready in advance.
As Yūgao slipped out to carry out her orders, the office fell silent once more...
(End of chapter)
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