Chapter 111: I'll Find You a Good Burial Spot
Night. Senju clan archive.
Sakura sat at a desk in the quiet of the library, working through the texts in front of her.
The stack beside her was entirely Yang Release material.
Tobirama's personal notes on Yang Release theory. Records from Senju clan leaders across multiple generations. One document signed with the name Butsuma Senju — Hashirama and Tobirama's father.
Conspicuously absent: anything by Hashirama himself.
Most shinobi knew the basic rule — medical ninjutsu performed with Yang Release affinity produced better results. What fewer understood was the underlying mechanics.
Yang Release, properly defined, was energy acting on physical form. The source was the body's vital energy. It imbued matter with life force, enhanced existing physical structure, elevated what already existed into something more resilient. The Akimichi clan's calorie expansion technique was Yang Release expressed in one of its most practical forms. At the far end of the scale was Naruto's Yang chakra during the war — the version that pulled Might Guy back from the absolute edge of death after the Eight Inner Gates had already consumed him.
Beyond that lay the Tailed Beasts themselves — Hagoromo's work, Yin and Yang combined with the Ten-Tails' chakra, the original act of creation.
All of that was impossibly far away.
Sakura's actual near-term target was considerably smaller: use Yang Release to survive the Shikkotsu Forest's sacred pool.
The Three Sacred Lands for the summon contracts — Mount Myōboku for toads, Ryūchi Cave for snakes — had both produced documented Sage Mode. Shikkotsu Forest had no documented cases. The fact that the sacred pool existed and was available suggested the potential was real. The fact that no one had survived it long enough to tell the story suggested the difficulty was extreme.
Karin's regenerative ability. Her own Strength of a Hundred. Medical ninjutsu. And Yang Release taijutsu as the stabilizing layer — if she could build it.
She was working through Tobirama's notes when the archive door opened quietly.
"Karin?"
"Why aren't you sleeping?"
Karin set a bowl of steaming porridge carefully on the desk beside the lamp and smiled.
"Sakura's been here so late. I thought you might be hungry."
Sakura leaned over and inhaled. Meat and salt and something fragrant.
"Thank you. Is Lady Tsunade asleep?"
She took the spoon Karin offered and tasted it. The flavor was better than expected.
"I finally got her onto the bed. She'd had quite a bit."
Karin settled beside her and continued, half to herself: "Lady Tsunade is genuinely beautiful, though. I didn't expect her to be like that. So... approachable."
She was complaining and clearly didn't mean it as a complaint.
"Sounds like Karin got along with her well."
Sakura stirred the porridge, watching her.
"I mean — sort of. I just didn't expect her to be so easy to talk to."
Karin scratched the back of her head.
"If Karin likes her that much," Sakura said, still stirring, "maybe she could become Lady Tsunade's student."
"Huh?"
Karin looked at her, genuinely startled.
Leaving Grass Village and coming to Konoha — not living the way she'd been living anymore — that was already beyond what she'd let herself hope for. Passing the genin exam and getting placed on Sakura's team was the dream. That was enough.
A student of Tsunade's.
Tsunade — granddaughter of the First Hokage. The finest female shinobi in recorded history. Her value as a teacher was greater than some sitting Kages.
She hadn't let herself think about things at that scale.
Night air, cool and quiet. The moon full and pale overhead.
A woman with pale gold hair sat alone on the archive rooftop, looking up.
Her brown eyes were perfectly clear. Not a trace of the drunk she'd claimed to be.
Tsunade sat with her hair loose around her shoulders, the evening wind moving through it. She lifted the bottle and took a long pull — clean and sharp down her throat.
She wiped the corner of her mouth.
Then she lay back against the roof tiles and looked at the moon.
Half somewhere else, she thought she saw a woman with red hair. Someone who used to hold her face in both hands and call her a troublemaker.
"...Mito-grandma."
She pressed two fingers to the corner of her eye, where there were no crow's feet, because she didn't age visibly anymore.
Her fingers came away damp.
"...Is it raining."
Next morning. Clear sky.
Konoha village gate.
"Be safe out there!"
Karin waved with her whole arm until the departing group was almost out of sight.
"Head home, Karin."
"Pass your exam while I'm gone."
Sakura glanced back, smiled, and waved her off.
She turned back to the road. Ahead: Kakashi, Kurenai, Sasuke, Kiba.
And Shino.
"Hey — when we get to the front, that's when your boy here makes his name!"
Kiba, at least, was enthusiastic. Everyone else in the group was quieter than usual.
"Woof!"
Akamaru agreed from the top of his head.
"Kiba." Kurenai's voice was flat. "The battlefield isn't a game. People who talk like that are usually the first to die."
"Kurenai-sensei is right," Shino said, which was already more words than his usual rate. "Speaking from a bug's perspective—"
He paused.
"An attitude like that. The consequences are severe."
Even Shino, characteristically composed, had something heavier than usual around him.
"Ugh..."
Kiba deflated. He looked at Sasuke, who said nothing. Then he turned to Sakura as his last viable option — hopeful, seeking any kind of support.
"Sakura, come on — someone like me, this talented, I'm definitely going to make a name for myself in this war, right?"
Sakura scratched her head and considered this with visible sincerity.
"Don't worry, Kiba. When you die, I'll find you a really good burial spot."
Kurenai made a sound that was definitely not a laugh, covered it quickly, and ruffled Kiba's hair.
"See? Keep your head down. Coming home alive is enough."
Kiba looked at the assembled group in betrayed silence.
Even Sakura.
(End of Chapter)
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