Chapter 118: Yugito's Fishing Trip
Sakura spread the mission scroll flat on the cave floor and pointed to the marked position.
"We're not far now. At our pace, we can reach it before dawn."
Sasuke studied the route.
"That's assuming full speed," he said quietly.
They'd already been pushing through a long march in blizzard conditions. Arriving at the target with nothing left in the tank wasn't an option.
Sakura nodded — then reached into her pouch, produced a miniature scroll, and said "Release."
A small basket materialized in front of them.
Sasuke recognized it immediately. His eye twitched.
"These are my custom soldier pills. The taste is... hard to describe. But the effect is at least ten times stronger than standard issue." She glanced at Sasuke. "He can confirm."
"Twenty-four pills. Six each."
She demonstrated by putting two of the fist-sized pills away in quick succession without any change of expression.
"One before we move out. One more when we're close — take ten minutes to rest, then eat it. The remaining four are situational. That said, if your chakra drops below a third, you eat one immediately, no debate."
Kiba picked one up and sniffed it.
"Ugggh—"
His preternaturally sensitive nose nearly folded him in half on the spot.
But with everyone watching, he set his jaw, looked at the pill like a man staring down an executioner, and shoved it in his mouth.
It was like a lightning bolt to the top of his skull. His eyes started rolling back.
Sakura grabbed his head and pressed a glowing green hand to his temple.
You are not passing out without my permission. You will swallow that pill.
Shino, on the other hand, surprised her.
Sasuke she'd expected — he'd already made his peace with the pills. But Shino put his down with the same expression he used for everything else, chewed once, and swallowed. Like it was a rice cake.
"I've consumed worse. The Aburame clan sustains our insects through our own bodies, so—"
Sakura cut him off.
She had absolutely no interest in hearing how the Aburame clan fed their insects right now.
"Alright."
The pink-haired girl pulled her snow goggles down over her eyes and drew her hood forward over her hair.
"This is it."
She looked at the three of them. Her face was calm — not a trace of anxiety about a mission that was pushing past S-rank territory.
"When this is over, dinner's on me. Yakiniku."
"Now we're talking!" Kiba finally got the pill down and his eyes lit up at the word. "I'm holding you to that, Sakura!"
Akamaru barked his enthusiasm.
"Move out."
If Sakura was honest with herself, she'd had a knot in her stomach since the mission began and it hadn't loosened once.
But she had no grounds to refuse it. No argument that would hold.
So she'd squared her shoulders and carried on, hoping she was overthinking things.
The snow drove sideways in the wind, cutting at anything exposed. The novelty she'd felt the first day in the Land of Frost was a distant memory. Now the snow was just an irritant.
She glanced back at the three keeping pace behind her and pushed faster.
Time was the only resource that mattered right now. They had whatever window existed between the patrol going missing and Kumogakure noticing — and not a second more.
As they closed the distance, the sentries grew thicker. Visible posts, hidden posts, both multiplying.
Wind and snow didn't slow ninja — short of a genuine natural disaster, the elements barely registered. But the increasing density of guards forced their pace down regardless.
Toward the end, they covered three kilometers in a full hour.
Even so — they could see the target.
Find cover. Fifteen minutes. Check your gear.
Sakura signaled the halt and made her final preparations.
This was the hardest mission of her ninja career, and she knew it.
But the sheer density of the guard posts — sentries at every turn, hidden watchers layered between them — meant the target was real. That much she was sure of.
Fifteen minutes. Then all four of them shared a look and began their approach.
Sakura's eyes found the vast dark shape looming behind the supply depot, and her chest went cold.
The Land of Frost was defined by its endless snow. And within its borders, there was exactly one mountain.
In the dark, the snowcapped peak crouched over the surrounding terrain like something alive.
Kumogakure had built their supply depot at its base. The moment Sakura understood why, her blood chilled.
Avalanche.
If anyone came to raid the camp and they couldn't hold — they'd trigger the mountain. Bury the depot, bury the attackers, buy time for reinforcements. The supplies could be dug out later. The enemy couldn't.
There was certainly a Kumogakure team waiting at the peak right now, ready on a moment's notice.
We've come too far to turn back.
Sakura exhaled quietly. This was the mess she'd made for herself.
She shook it off and focused on finding a way in.
The depot itself was nothing like Konoha's fortified logistics infrastructure. If anything, the construction looked almost flimsy — most of it timber.
Which confirmed the avalanche theory completely. It wasn't built to last. It was built to be buried.
She gestured to Shino. Send one in first.
A single unremarkable black ladybug found a gap in the structure and slipped inside.
Silence. The wind. The snow.
Then it came back to Shino's palm.
"This is definitely Kumogakure's supply depot."
Those nine words sent relief flooding through Sakura's chest.
I was overthinking it.
"Go."
She sent the three of them in and followed immediately after — a clean, quiet flip over the perimeter.
She landed.
And the expression on her face went rigid.
"Well, well."
A tall woman with golden hair smiled at her, warm and easy, like they were meeting at a market stall.
"I was hoping to land something bigger. Thought maybe the Copy Ninja would bite." A small shrug. "But the Hokage's student is a fine catch too."
Sakura stared.
That's — the Two-Tails jinchūriki. Yugito Nii.
(Chapter End)
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