Chapter 125: A Real Man's Fight, Blow for Blow
He was tall. Bronze skin. In this biting cold he wore nothing but a white sleeveless shirt, the muscle beneath it clearly defined. Thick metal bracers locked around both forearms.
The Fourth Raikage.
Here. On the Fire-Frost front.
"Sakura, what's—"
Sasuke tried to lift his head to see, but Sakura had already handed him off to Shino.
"Go ahead. I'll catch up."
She clapped Kiba on the shoulder, keeping her voice easy.
"Who is that?" Kiba was watching the enormous man walking toward them with growing unease.
"Stop talking and move."
Kiba opened his mouth again — and Shino grabbed his arm and pulled.
Both of them ran. One carrying Sasuke on his back, the other with the still-unconscious Yugito, moving fast.
Then a dark shape lunged from the side — fast as a leopard, angling straight for Kiba.
Darui.
Sakura's eyes went cold. Snow scattered around her feet as she launched herself forward.
"What—?!"
Even Darui, who had faced plenty of dangerous opponents, wasn't ready for the reality of it. One punch. She hit him with one punch and he was airborne.
As fast as he'd come in, that was how fast he went out.
He looked down at his blade while the snow was still rising around him. Four neat cat-face impressions pressed into the metal.
He drew a slow breath.
No wonder she beat Yugito. If he hadn't pulled the blade up in time, that punch would have taken him apart.
"Boss," Darui said, with the tone of a man recalibrating his threat assessment. "This one's not easy."
"If she were easy, Yugito wouldn't have lost." The Raikage's eyes settled on the pink-haired girl standing alone in the snow. "Go get the other two. I'll handle her."
"Got it."
With the Raikage in the field and Yugito already captured, Darui wasn't in a position to drag his feet. He moved immediately, breaking toward Kiba and Shino's direction.
This time Sakura didn't chase him.
She was already running seals.
"Summoning Jutsu — Great Monkey King."
Before Enma could react to being called again so soon—
"Block the dark-skinned one."
Enma felt a sinking sensation. He'd barely made it back. Now this.
Another enemy. Of course.
He turned and drove himself at Darui.
"Hm. You've got some moves."
The Raikage's eyes fixed on Sakura. His body vanished.
Fast.
Sakura's pupils snapped tight. Her arm came up on pure reflex—
The impact hit like a boulder. She was sent flying.
Before she landed, he was already in her path — fist coming down.
She twisted mid-air, planted one hand against the snow, pushed off the ground, and vaulted upward. The Raikage's fist cratered the earth beneath her.
She used it. One foot landed on his forearm bracer and she drove a kick at his head.
He was quick — faster than he had any right to be for his size. He bent sharply and the kick passed over him.
Sakura was already landing. She spun and drove a heel into his chest.
Crack-crack-crack—
"Ha."
Lightning arced across him. He didn't move. He took it, planted like a mountain, and his arms came in — going for a bear hug.
Sakura used the foot still in contact with his chest, shoved off, and created distance.
"Tsunade's monstrous strength." He glanced at the footprint pressed into his shirt. "The Hokage's summons. I suppose it shouldn't be surprising — you are his student."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
Sakura looked at the massive man across from her, something sharp and deliberate in her expression.
"Konoha uses resource leverage to hold back other nations, yet somehow keeps producing talents like this. It really isn't fair."
His voice carried something almost wistful. He was reminded of a flash of brilliance that had burned out too soon — Minato Namikaze.
No.
The girl in front of him was more talented than Minato. Minato hadn't beaten the Two-Tails at twelve.
"Hold on." Sakura held up one finger. "The resource strategy only started four years ago. It wasn't always like that. Don't misrepresent the timeline."
His eyes focused.
"You seem very well-informed."
"But knowing won't save you from the same fate as Minato Namikaze."
He grinned — something hard and savage in it — and moved.
Lightning fast. One step and the distance was gone.
BOOM.
Snow erupted outward. The shockwave cleared the area around them in an instant.
Sakura caught his fist with one hand. Enormous bronze knuckles against small pale ones.
"How could I not know?"
Her own smile came up — all sharp edges.
"It was my plan."
"Idiot."
The Raikage stared at her.
That smile was infuriating. It burrowed under his skin and stayed there.
"What did you just say."
Because of what Fire Country had done, how many people in the Land of Lightning had gone hungry? How many had been reduced to digging for roots, stripping bark off trees? If it had continued much longer, the things written about famines in history books would have stopped being metaphors.
"I said," Sakura's forehead seal began to spread, black lines unfurling from the diamond mark, green eyes steady and predatory, "this was all my plan."
"You die for this—!"
"Lightning Oppression Horizontal Push!"
Lightning blazed. Electricity screamed. He swung like a man who had decided the fight was over.
"Oh, please."
"Kumogakure threw the first stone. Why is it surprising that we threw back?"
She met him head-on.
Blow for blow. Fist for fist.
It was exactly what she needed — keeping the Raikage locked onto her, hands full, buying every second she could for Kiba and Shino to get clear.
If he decided she wasn't worth his time and went after Sasuke's group instead, she had a real problem. Her speed with the Heaven Concealment Array and Body Flicker combined was formidable — but against his Lightning Release Chakra Mode, it came up short.
That margin was small.
Against Sasuke and the others in their current state, small was more than enough.
(Chapter End)
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