Chapter 567: Light
The following evening, in the desert between the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire.
Haruno Sakura's lone figure was trekking through the sand dunes.
No, that's not right—using the word "trekking" gives a heavy and difficult feeling; the reality was that she was using extremely brilliant chakra manipulation skills to stroll leisurely through the sand that covered the ground.
Her footsteps were light and agile, showing not the slightest bit of the hardship and difficulty of trekking through the desert, leaving only a series of afterimages.
When the silver moon hung high and the stars first rose.
Sakura received a message transmitted by a ninja hawk.
The Fifth Hokage and the examinees had already entered Konoha's defense perimeter; the escort mission had ended successfully.
The Anbu who were bringing up the rear could return to the village on their own.
"Return to the village on my own?" Reading the brief report in her hands by the frost-like moonlight, Sakura muttered to herself, "That means I don't have to rush so much, I can head back leisurely."
Looking at the sky, it was probably around seven or eight in the evening.
If she were at home, at this time she would have already eaten dinner, taken a bath, and would be doing her evening ninjutsu training; carrying out missions outside was not that convenient. Especially Anbu missions, which generally required concealed execution, so at night she could only eat some cold dry rations, and sleep fully clothed in a simple bed and a house created by ninjutsu.
However, since the mission was completed and it was now her leisure time, she didn't have to act according to Anbu rules; lighting a fire, eating a hot meal, then taking a bath and building a comfortable house to sleep in—this was the way she liked to camp in the wild.
But...
"How am I supposed to start a fire without anything to burn?"
Haruno Sakura was not a Fire Release ninja and couldn't use chakra to create a bonfire that could burn all night; there was even less firewood to burn in the desert.
This was her first time sleeping out in the wild alone.
In the past, these trivial matters were always solved by the captain or someone else. Now she found that even a "quasi-Kage" level powerhouse like her could be stumped by some small problems.
Tsk tsk, strength doesn't mean everything.
My Ice Release is already developed pretty well, I can spend some thought on other elements in the future, she thought to herself. If I knew a little bit of Fire Release, I wouldn't be in such a difficult position right now.
It was a good thought.
With her current strength, mastering another basic element wouldn't be a big problem. She could learn it in a few days of effort, just treating it as an extra minor skill, since Sakura didn't plan to study it deeply anyway.
But, those were matters for the future. Distant water cannot quench an immediate thirst.
She still had to find a way to solve the problem herself.
The girl stood at the top of the sand dune and looked as far as her eyes could see. There was nothing but sand all around, without any usable combustible materials.
She rummaged through the scrolls she carried on her.
"Spare clothes, the map Temari gave me..." Her luggage was very simple, and she looked through it all in two seconds. "Even if I took it all to burn, it wouldn't burn for long."
She looked at the map.
"There doesn't seem to be an oasis nearby either!" Sakura unrolled the map and looked through it carefully. Soon, a place name that Temari had just outlined with an eyebrow pencil caught her eye—
"Ruins of the Ancient Kingdom of Rouran"
"Ancient city ruins? It's not far from here..." Haruno Sakura thought for a moment and made a decision. "Let's go take a look!"
Moving at high speed in the direction indicated by the map, the yellow sand under her feet gradually turned into hardened mud clods, and the desert transitioned into a Gobi landscape; the distance of about a hundred kilometers was quickly reduced to zero under Sakura's pace, and the ruins of the ancient city soon unfolded before Sakura.
Sakura used the Body Flicker technique to appear inside the ruins.
The collapsed and broken walls had weathered severely, and the sand and soil piled in the corners were about to submerge the low buildings; it looked like there had been no human presence here for at least several decades. Under the night sky, the unmaintained ruins gave off a terrifyingly gloomy feeling.
She walked towards the depths of the ruins, her footsteps abruptly stopping.
"Strange, there seems to be a faint, looming energy?"
It didn't feel like a biological creature's chakra. This was Sakura's first time sensing this kind of energy; it had no signs of life, stiff as a solid rock.
Her curiosity was suddenly piqued.
It shouldn't be ghosts, right?
No matter what it was, with her strength, protecting herself shouldn't be a problem; if it really didn't work out, she could still use Reverse Summoning to go to the Shikkotsu Forest to lay low.
Although she was just scaring herself, the girl still activated Sakura Dash... She looked around curiously, followed the direction she sensed, and with a few swift leaps, she soon penetrated deep into the interior of the city.
"If I came to look during the day, it would still have quite the artistic conception," Sakura muttered to herself. She was standing in a large hall, and as soon as she spoke, echoes were produced all around; the energy Haruno Sakura sensed was right beneath her feet, directly below.
The energy surged up...
Sakura's delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly, and she made preparations to use Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals to dodge with Body Flicker at any time.
The feeling was getting stronger and stronger!
She looked down. This inexplicable energy seemed to be able to resonate with her to some extent. It was a very complicated feeling. Although this energy didn't belong to her, but—
White light suddenly rose!
The intense light enveloped her within it in an instant, and that inexplicable energy wrapped around the girl. Then, she felt a sudden loss of gravity under her feet, the sky spun and the earth went round, giving her the feeling of performing a super long-distance space-time ninjutsu!
No, that's not right, it seemed completely different from the feeling of spatial movement, but rather another more ancient, familiar scent!
Strangely, Sakura subconsciously felt that there was no danger inside, so she didn't use Ice Body Flicker to escape the place at the first moment. Instead, she stood quietly, letting the white light swallow her, waiting for the further development of the situation...
Smack!
The white light dissipated, Haruno Sakura landed on the ground, swayed her body slightly, and stood firm.
"What happened?"
It was pitch black all around, and the girl's clear, cold voice faintly stirred up echoes around her, echoing faintly.
Sakura blinked and found herself still standing in her original spot, in that large hall from just now, without moving a single step.
Obviously, the feeling of spatial movement just now was an illusion...
She touched her face and hands; there were no changes. She sensed her chakra, and there was no movement either.
No, that's not right. A strange energy had appeared inside the Yin Seal—cold, stiff, and completely unable to be mobilized; it was just that this energy had absolutely no contact or interaction with her, without any influence at all.
Other than that, she just felt uncomfortable and out of sorts all over, always feeling like something was pulling at her. Besides this, no other changes had occurred.
It was as if the white light just popped up for a second, and then there was no "and then".
"That's it?"
Haruno Sakura was a bit stunned. This was like, well, all the foreplay before a battle was done, the trash talk was spewed, and then the other side of the battle chickened out and ran away...
What's the meaning of leaving her hanging like this! Weren't this white light and this energy the prelude to a sudden change in the situation? At least have something happen!
It was just the addition of an inexplicable energy, and one that was completely impossible to mobilize at that.
"Forget it, I'll ignore this."
Haruno Sakura walked out of the hall. The outdoor moonlight was as clear and cold as water, and the night scenery was extremely beautiful.
She found an intact house and blasted its roof open.
Then she split off a few Ice Clones: "Numbers one through five are responsible for starting the fire, cooking, cleaning, and other trivial matters. Number six, stay behind."
Next, Sakura took off her clothes and checked herself carefully again under the moonlight, but found absolutely nothing.
"I've looked everywhere. No abnormalities were found on your back either," Ice Clone Number Six said.
Sakura immediately frowned, always feeling a bit uneasy.
"Strange, could it really be that I'm overthinking it?" the girl muttered to herself while washing her body with Water Release.
Was I too reckless just now? Sakura thought to herself.
She quickly finished her bath. Over there, the Ice Clones had already prepared a simple meal and cleaned up a tidy room and bed.
She simply made do with dinner and lay down on the bed.
I still feel like something is wrong... I'll head back early tomorrow to have Master check my body and the Yin Seal!
Thinking like this, she fell into a shallow sleep.
The next day, Sakura woke up in the faint light of the early morning dawn.