"Well, how very good of you to join us in person at last, kunoichi from the Hidden Leaf."
Sakura jumped to her feet and looked up, her face turning as white as a sheet. There stood the man who had turned her Shadow Clone into a crepe with nothing more than a careless backhanded swipe, his massive, oiled muscles rippling as he flexed for no apparent reason.
"Amaru!" cried Sakura, catching sight of her battered figure hanging by the collar in Shinnō's hand.
"My precious disciple makes for a far better host for the Zero-Tails than you, I must admit," said Shinnō, chuckling to himself. "After all, the pain of betrayal is much sharper when you've known the other party for fourteen years…"
Since Sakura had freed the villagers from the chakra-draining prison, Shinnō had been forced to rouse Amaru earlier than intended and taunt her further in order to draw more dark chakra from her and keep the Ancor Vantian flying fortress afloat. He had planned to take his time with her, but Sakura's actions had pushed him to hasten his plans.
"Sakura…" croaked Amaru, a lone teardrop rolling down the side of her blood-caked face. "Something strange… happened to Shinnō-sensei… help… him…!"
Honestly, Sakura herself didn't want to believe the doctor was a bad person, yet the evidence against him was overwhelming by this point, even taking into consideration the unlikely possibility that he might be hypnotised.
The information in the Body Revival Jutsu scroll was damning, and Shinnō had clearly been planning this for years. In all likelihood, he had visited the Hidden Leaf Village sometime before Sakura's birth and bribed someone to take a look at the Scroll of Secrets, taking inspiration from Tsunade's Creation Rebirth and Might Dai's Eight Inner Gates to create his own jutsu.
Probably Orochimaru, before his own crimes were dragged into the light of day.
"By all means," said Shinnō mockingly, purposefully lowering his guard. "Please help me."
Sakura gritted her teeth.
As long as the Zero-Tails was lingering nearby, she could not afford to let her emotions run wild. As the doctor had clearly explained to her Shadow Clone, the pseudo-Tailed Beast fed upon the negative emotions in people's hearts to draw dark chakra from them. It was using Amaru as its host at the moment, but if Sakura were to feel a greater surge of distress, it would likely be tempted to possess her again…
"Everything's going to be all right, Amaru," said Sakura, taking a deep breath and clapping her hands together, making her heavy breasts bounce up and down hypnotically. "This will only take a moment… Manyū Assassination Genjutsu: Breast Illusion!"
Shinnō dropped Amaru.
…and a fraction of a second later, the floor beneath his feet shattered as he surged towards Sakura like a charging bull, his musclebound form slicing through the air like a bullet, but Sakura had already assumed the Gentle Fist's standard starting stance, having already guessed that her Genjutsu might fail outright.
"Useless, useless, useless!" roared Shinnō. "Genjutsu will not work on me in this form!"
Sakura's feet slid across the smooth stone floor, tracing the shape of the Tai'in Taikyokuzu, an illusory yin-yang symbol that seemed to shimmer at her feet. In the blink of an eye, she shifted to the side as Shinnō barrelled past, her hands describing a perfect circle as she pressed her palms to his left arm, gluing them to his skin with chakra.
"Shannarooo!" Sakura screamed.
Before Shinnō could even realise what had happened, Sakura kicked his legs from under him, borrowing his own massive strength to send him spinning violently in midair. Breathing out sharply, she then drove him headfirst into the unforgiving ground, carving a crater where he landed.
"So, you—"
Sakura allowed him no chance to recover.
"Chakra Enhanced Strength!"
She drove her foot into Shinnō's stomach with a snap kick, uprooting him from the ground and sending him spiralling into his stone throne, shattering the top of the backrest into a thousand fragments. He then slammed into the wall behind the throne and slid to the floor, yet to Sakura's dismay, he rose to his feet and brushed himself off, appearing none the worse for wear.
"You knew your genjutsu would fail ahead of time, didn't you?" said Shinnō impassively. "You took advantage of that to lure me into a trap."
"I've read your Body Revival Jutsu scroll," Sakura replied uneasily. "If it really allows you to open the Eight Inner Gates without consequence, then there would be no reason for you not to be using the First Gate constantly. Genjutsu cannot affect an opponent whose chakra is already running wild, so…"
Shinnō waggled his finger at her disapprovingly.
"Graverobbing, is it?" he said. "How very naughty, naughty…"
His muscles rippled uncannily underneath his skin as his body rapidly repaired himself. What little damage Sakura had inflicted on his armour of muscles was already a fading memory, and while she too could endlessly regenerate at the cost of her lifespan, she knew that was not an option against an opponent this durable.
Her gaze fell upon Amaru, lying helplessly on the floor. She had to sever his power at the source, cut off his supply of dark chakra… yet she doubted that Shinnō would grant her the chance to exorcise the Zero-Tails from Amaru's body using miko chakra. The simplest way to depower him would be to kill her, but that was a step Sakura could not bring herself to take.
"Taking your eyes off your opponent?" Shinnō's voice rang from behind her. "Not very wise… now, take my Super Revival Fist!"
Sakura's eyes widened in shock as she took the backshot. She'd only looked away for a fraction of a second, and Shinnō had already teleported behind her? Just how many Inner Gates had the man opened!? He wasn't showing any of the signs!
Sakura wordlessly screamed as pain tore through her very being.
She blacked out, only to be roused moments later by the same mind-numbing agony. Through bleary eyes, she saw that she was lying on the ground, but when she tried to move, nothing responded— her spine was shattered. She coughed, spitting blood, and judging by the fluid pooling in her lungs, one or more ribs had pierced them.
Her organs had been reduced to a mush. She was dying.
"How disappointing," said Shinnō, shaking his head. "I had thought that if it were the famous Tsunade's disciple, you might have entertained me a little longer, but I suppose that was far too much to ask."
Perhaps Naruto, with his body brimming with chakra equivalent to that of hundreds of Kakashis, could have withstood such an impact, since chakra is indestructible. But as a non-Jinchūriki, Sakura was fortunate not to have been bisected. She could only consider herself lucky to be conscious enough to activate the Creation Rebirth Jutsu, drawing upon her own sizeable chakra pool to fuel her cell division.
At that moment, a voice crackled through the intercom.
"Lord Sky Emperor, the Hidden Leaf Village is in sight! All prisoners have been returned to their cells! The laser cannon is ready to fire!"
"Good, good, good!" Shinnō said, laughing. "At last, the hour of revenge has come!"
'Come back here and fight me!' Sakura tried to say, but her lungs hadn't completely regenerated yet. She couldn't even produce a squeak. 'Come back here, you bastard!'
The tomoe in her Sharingan began to rotate rapidly as waves of dread, guilt, and powerlessness swept over her. Instinctively, her eyes knew what had to be done, even though she herself did not yet know the extent of her own capabilities.
Shinnō was walking away from her.
'Stop! Come back!'
Sakura had a sinking feeling that the instant Shinnō touched his throne, all would be lost… and in that moment, her vocal cords and lungs finished healing. The three black tomoe in her eyes spun faster and faster, until they seemed to coalesce into one…
"LOOK AT ME!" Sakura screamed.
Without quite knowing why, Shinnō stopped in his tracks.