Chapter 121: Matatabi, You Absolute Menace
BOOM.
The blue-black figure slammed into the ground and threw up a wall of dust.
Sakura was through it before it settled.
"ROAR—"
The blast of sound scattered the dust cloud in every direction.
"Die."
The staff came down without a shred of restraint. The entire supply depot shuddered on impact.
Yugito wrenched herself clear at the last instant, and lunged back — catching Sakura between strikes, old momentum spent and new not yet gathered—
The staff shot out a metal fist and hit Yugito square in the face.
The blue-black figure rocketed backward and embedded itself in the far wall.
"Don't treat me like furniture," the staff said, in a muffled, resonant voice, retracting its fist.
Sakura was already moving. Never let up on a drowning— on a drowning cat.
"Damn you—!"
Yugito tore herself free from the wall and launched herself back at the oncoming pink-haired girl.
Sakura swung the staff in a spinning arc — then threw it straight at Yugito.
What is she—
Every instinct said dodge. Yugito dodged.
Poof.
White smoke. The staff became Enma.
"Hello, little cat."
Enma was already grinning as he and Yugito passed each other.
His tail moved.
It coiled around her ankle.
The tailed beast chakra blazing across Yugito's body meant nothing to his Adamantine form. He simply ignored it.
Balance gone. Yugito pitched sideways.
Enma swung her in a full revolution and hurled her at Sakura like a thrown weapon.
"MEOW—!"
Yugito nearly lost her grip on the tailed beast chakra in that moment — the indignity of it almost broke her concentration.
Sakura's brass knuckles were already on.
The look in her eyes was absolutely merciless.
One foot down. Ground cracks. Weight low. Watch her come in.
The force that detonated from Sakura's fist was obscene.
It connected with Yugito's midsection — and Yugito exploded into blue-black flame that rained across Sakura's body.
Another clone.
Without pausing, Sakura stripped off her vest and tossed it aside.
Her eyes found the wall where Yugito had been embedded. The blue-black figure had reappeared there, watching.
"Not bad," Sakura said.
Flat. Unimpressed.
"That's about where it ends for you, though."
Yugito was shrouded in tailed beast chakra thick enough to obscure her expression entirely. When she spoke, her voice had dropped to something hoarse and low.
"You think you've already won, little girl?"
Sakura's combat capability had blown past every estimate Yugito had made.
She had the unsettling feeling that she was the one who should be asking — between the two of them, which one was actually the jinchūriki?
The girl fought like a force of nature. Feral. Relentless. It felt like looking in a mirror.
Exhale.
Yugito walked slowly toward the center of the room, steadying her breathing.
She admitted it. She'd underestimated the girl.
But it wasn't too late.
Her clear eyes went vertical-pupiled in an instant.
Chakra detonated outward from her body in a wave that swept the entire room.
"All units — fall back."
The Kumogakure ninja who'd been chasing Kiba and Shino around the depot turned toward their jinchūriki's voice. Something like fear was visible on their faces.
They didn't need to be told twice. Every one of them found the nearest exit and moved through it like they had somewhere very important to be.
"Kiba. Shino."
Sakura's expression had gone very still.
Kumogakure had a place called Turtle Island. On it was a waterfall called the Falls of Truth — a site where jinchūriki could open genuine dialogue with their tailed beasts.
Which meant the woman in front of her—
A perfect jinchūriki.
"Sakura?"
Kiba could feel Akamaru's terror clearly. He understood exactly what kind of existence Sakura was facing.
"Shino. Get Kiba out."
Sakura reached up and unclipped her headband, tucking it into her pocket.
She rolled her neck. It cracked.
A shadow landed beside Yugito.
"Provide support from the perimeter," Yugito said, not taking her eyes off the pink-haired girl.
"Sure thing."
Darui was already gone before she finished the sentence — moving at a speed that had nothing to do with tactics.
"Tch."
Yugito clicked her tongue.
Sakura watched him go without comment. She spoke quietly to Shino, who was already preparing to forcibly drag Kiba out.
"Sasuke is on the corridor at the second floor, rear left."
A beat.
"He's hurt. More than a little."
"I'm counting on you."
"Wait for me."
Shino looked back once — at the figure standing with Enma, pink hair loose, headband gone. Something complicated moved through him. He had a dozen things to say and none of them came out right.
Two words.
"We'll wait."
Sakura and Yugito held each other's gaze, reading, measuring. The moment the last of their allies cleared the building—
Both of them moved.
The floor under Yugito's feet didn't just crack. It vaporized.
Sakura's own movement came from three things working in concert — the monstrous strength, the Heaven Concealment Array, and the Body Flicker woven together into something that shouldn't have been physically possible.
Yugito's was simpler. Purer.
Chakra. Just chakra — oceanic, crushing, undeniable.
"Matatabi! Rise!"
The roar tore through the building.
Tailed beast chakra materialized — a mountain of blue-black power taking shape — and from it emerged a colossal cat, fur burning with blue chakra flame, black stripes cutting through the fire.
"Lord Enma!"
Sakura was already moving. Light-footed, she leaped — one foot landing square in Enma's upturned palm.
"Ready!"
Enma's roar shook the walls. One hand cupped, he hurled her.
She became a streak of light.
The Yin Seal on her forehead ignited — soft violet luminescence bleeding outward, black lines spreading from the diamond mark down across her face, her neck, her arms, running the full length of her body.
Yin Seal — Release.
(Chapter End)
☆☆☆
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