Chapter 127: Wise Words from sakura
Shi finally committed from his position in the snow — he raised his hand and released his strongest technique.
"Lightning Illusion — Lightning Column!"
Brilliant gold light swept over Sakura and swallowed her vision entirely.
"Good work!"
The Raikage's savage grin widened. He moved immediately.
Sakura broke free of his grip and landed a short distance away.
In the same motion, Shi pulled a kunai from his pouch and launched it.
Sakura seemed completely unaware of the throw. Her ear twitched — she twisted to dodge — and the kunai grazed her cheek.
Crimson against white skin. A thin line of blood in the middle of a blizzard.
"So you're not the sensor in this team." The Raikage's grin was ugly with satisfaction.
"Who knows?"
Sakura's face showed exactly what it was supposed to show — one part unease, two parts hesitation, three parts stubborn defiance, four parts shock, five parts resigned to dying, six parts gambling on a last throw.
"Talking big right up until the end."
He charged.
Fast as lightning, hits like a storm.
Sakura's arms crossed in front of her on reflex — and the blow connected and sent her flying.
He didn't let her land. He was already there, moving behind her before she hit the ground.
"Lightning Oppression Horizontal Push!"
The full weight of the strike. She was thrown like a ragdoll — directly toward Shi.
"Shi — finish her!"
The Raikage's harsh face broke into a cruel, certain smile.
Nobody survived a direct Lightning Oppression Horizontal Push. It was a fact. Even if she had the Yin Seal, it couldn't regenerate that fast — there was no way she'd already activated it.
But the girl tumbling through the air had her pink hair across her face.
And under that hair, her mouth had curved into a small, satisfied smile.
He was right that the Strength of a Hundred couldn't regenerate that quickly.
But what if she'd started focusing chakra to reinforce and heal the targeted area before the hit landed?
In essence: preemptive medical healing of the impact zone — what she'd privately started calling the Yin Healing Wound Destruction.
The idea had come to her from watching Kabuto Yakushi. The insight was his; she'd developed the application.
Predicting where the Raikage would hit? Simpler than it sounded. She had far more chakra than Kabuto, and taijutsu specialists didn't spend much of it — with the Yin Seal on top of that, she could simply blanket her entire body. No prediction needed.
And her medical ninjutsu was in an entirely different class from Kabuto's. The technique worked far better in her hands than it ever would in his.
"Yes, Lord Raikage!"
Something lit up in Shi's eyes. He pulled another kunai from his pouch and rushed toward the incoming girl.
Then Sakura raised her head.
Her eyes were unfocused.
And they were pointed straight at him.
Shi felt it — the precise, physical sensation of something enormous locking onto him as prey.
Impossible.
She was clearly under the genjutsu. The unfocused eyes were proof.
"Gotcha, little mouse."
The words hit him like cold water down the back of his spine.
She was never under it.
Or — the intelligence was wrong. She was also a sensor-type.
The genjutsu, taking the Raikage's hit without dodging — it was all deliberate. She'd played along and used it.
Her target had never been the Raikage.
It was me.
Every self-preservation instinct he had screamed run.
He didn't get the chance to act on it. She'd leveraged the Raikage's force plus her own momentum, and at that combined speed there was simply no closing the gap.
A pale hand pressed onto his shoulder.
A medical ninjutsu specialist. One precise touch. His shoulder dislocated instantly.
"Ahh—!"
One kick knocked the kunai from his hand. She caught it on the way down and pressed it flat against his throat.
"YOU—!"
"Vile, underhanded—!"
The Raikage's eyes blazed.
"Underhanded." Sakura was entirely unbothered. She could have gone at this Raikage for three days and never repeated herself — and his chosen vocabulary wasn't even registering as an insult.
"You're the Hokage's student and you're taking hostages?! Let him go, now!"
His chest heaved. His hands were shaking with the effort of not moving.
"Lord Raikage!" Shi forced the words out through his teeth, arm burning. "Don't — don't worry about me — just kill her!"
"Be quiet."
Sakura's eyes went flat. She reached over and dislocated his jaw.
" Ahh—hrk—! "
His mouth hung open. He had things he wanted to say. Nothing came out but the sound of cold wind filling the gap, and saliva freezing on his chin before it could fall.
Sakura looked at the Raikage across from her — rage barely contained, weapon hand idle, not willing to risk it.
Funny how the oldest con in the book still works, Sakura thought. Never trust a pretty face — the more innocent someone looks, the more dangerous they probably are. And while you're at it, don't trust the honest-looking ones either.
Both of those, apparently, described her perfectly.
She exhaled.
The intelligence gap had done its work. Orochimaru had sold her file to Kumogakure — but that file was from before she'd learned the Heaven Concealment Array. He didn't know about it. They'd expected a sensor who wasn't her, and they'd been wrong.
Next time she saw that man, she was going to make it count.
"Name your terms." The Raikage's eyes were locked on her. His knuckles were white. "What do you want in exchange for Shi."
"Simple. You leave. Right now."
Sakura kept most of herself behind Shi, one green eye visible past his shoulder.
"The moment I reach Konoha's perimeter, I'll release him."
"Absolutely not—!"
The second word was barely out.
Shi's other arm dislocated.
" Ahhh—! Hrk—! "
The sounds he made with a dislocated jaw were not language. Cold air poured into his open mouth. The saliva froze faster now.
The Raikage's jaw set. His fist ground against itself.
"Fine. But I don't leave your sight."
Sakura considered.
Even when baiting a cat you had to know your limits. This was not a cat.
"Agreed."
"Stay at least a hundred meters back."
Fifty meters was standard safety margin for most ninja. For the Raikage — a hundred meters wasn't her escape distance.
It was Shi's survival distance.
(Chapter End)
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