"Wh-what?" Sasuke, his eyes blazing with anger, watched as the image of Sakura pierced by his Chidori vanished like a wisp of blue smoke.
"Hey, where are you aiming? I'm over here!"
Below the large tree, Sakura Haruno waved at Sasuke, who was still in the treetop. A teasing, mocking smile played on her face as she looked at him. Let's just try it, she thought. If he can actually awaken the Mangekyo, it will save me a lot of trouble.
Sasuke, perched in the treetop, was still bewildered by what had just happened. But seeing Sakura's mischievous grin, fury instantly surged within him. Betrayal was the one thing Sasuke was most unwilling to face; all his suffering stemmed from betrayal.
Especially after Sakura Haruno had experienced something similar to what he had, he had thought he might finally find a comrade with whom he could truly open up.
When Sasuke had witnessed Sakura's parents die, he had even felt a strange sense of gladness. Not because he was happy about their deaths, but because he was happy that he finally had a companion on his path of revenge, that he was no longer alone. But fate, it seemed, had not shown him mercy. Her words had made him realize that he was still alone on this path.
"Arghhh, why!!!" Sasuke roared, his Chidori once again striking Sakura's form. But, just like before, she slowly evaporated like blue smoke, vanishing completely.
"I say, are your Sharingan blind? I'm over here!"
Her clear voice came from behind Sasuke. Instantly, a cold sweat broke out on Sasuke's back. He whirled around and, sure enough, saw Sakura Haruno standing there, completely unharmed.
"Are you angry? Furious? If you don't know how to use your Sharingan, you might as well give them to me." Sakura Haruno, having produced a kunai from somewhere, leisurely trimmed her nails, watching Sasuke's helpless expression.
Sakura Haruno knew that to awaken the Mangekyo, she had to provoke him to an extreme degree. The best way was to thoroughly trample his pride. Sasuke would definitely not be able to stand it. However, to what extent he needed to be pushed to awaken the Mangekyo, that was impossible to judge.
Sasuke warily watched her. It was too bizarre. This was neither a shadow clone nor a genjutsu; otherwise, his Sharingan would definitely have detected it. That figure was undoubtedly Sakura, and the sensation when his Chidori pierced her was also unmistakably that of a real person.
But after being hit, she would dissipate like smoke – not instantly vanishing into smoke, but gradually turning into blue wisps. And his Sharingan couldn't see anything abnormal, as if she were made of blue smoke to begin with.
After experiencing such a strange phenomenon twice in a row, Sasuke gradually calmed down. He looked at Sakura with a somber gaze, analyzing this technique.
The sensation of impact was real, which proves I really did hit her. Then she turned into blue smoke. The key problem should be with that smoke. If I'm not mistaken, she should be able to turn her body into blue smoke to avoid damage. If that's the case, Chidori is indeed useless against her.
"Shadow Clone Technique!" Sasuke formed seals, creating a solid clone. The Shadow Clone Technique was one of the essential ninjutsu for ANBU members.
Seeing Sasuke seemingly less furious and calmly creating a shadow clone, Sakura Haruno pouted. Time to wrap this up. Continuing like this probably won't yield any results.
However, Sasuke didn't give Sakura a chance to speak. He immediately activated Chidori again, and one of his forms simultaneously activated its curse mark.
Sakura Haruno only heard a series of "whoosh-whoosh" sounds by her ears, and then found herself tightly bound by steel wires.
So that's it. That clone using Chidori was to attract my attention? Compared to Chidori, the Shuriken Manipulation Technique is less conspicuous.
While Sakura was pondering, the clone, wielding Chidori, once again pierced her shoulder.
Watching the Sakura who was about to turn into blue smoke, Sasuke, holding the steel wires in his mouth, formed hand seals. "Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!"
Since it's smoke, then I'll use fire to deal with it. Actually, Water Release would have been the best choice, but Sasuke didn't know any Water Release jutsu.
The fire dragon traveled swiftly along the steel wires towards Sakura. Following a miserable scream from her, her entire body was engulfed in flames. Sasuke watched Sakura struggling painfully in the fire, and his earlier anger suddenly vanished without a trace. His heart tightened, and he hastily flew towards her.
Seeing Sakura on the ground, burned and writhing in agony, Sasuke frantically dug up handfuls of earth and threw them onto her body. After a long while, the fire on Sakura Haruno was finally extinguished.
Sasuke cradled her in his lap, looking at her pitiful state. Her skin was charred black, her hair burned into a matted mess. Her whole body exuded the faint smell of cooked meat.
"You, why... why didn't you dodge..." Sasuke looked at the figure in his arms, his words incoherent. He had never imagined things would turn out like this. After hearing he had been deceived, Sasuke's heart was in extreme turmoil. He wasn't willing to let it go so easily.
But he hadn't wanted to kill her either. Perhaps he just wanted to beat her up to vent his anger. But seeing Sakura on the verge of death, Sasuke was filled with regret. Why was I so reckless... An unprecedented sense of remorse flooded Sasuke's heart. If he could do it all over again, he definitely wouldn't have been so impulsive...
"Right... right... the Fifth Hokage... she can definitely heal you..." Sasuke wiped away a tear that had escaped the corner of his eye. He picked up Sakura and was about to rush towards the Hokage's office, but his arm was suddenly grabbed.
Sakura Haruno's eyelids, burned like charcoal, slowly fluttered open. She looked at Sasuke and rasped, "Wait..."
"Wh-what? What do you want to say?" Sasuke quickly leaned closer to Sakura Haruno's mouth, listening to her words.
"Wait... don't go... You... you... look up there..." Sakura managed to force out, then raised her charcoal-like arm and pointed towards the treetop.
"Up... up there?" Sasuke was stunned. He blankly raised his head and looked at the treetop. Then, Sasuke felt the blood rush to his head, his breathing becoming incredibly heavy.
There, on a tree branch, Sakura Haruno was dangling her little feet, an amused expression on her face as she looked at Sasuke below. When she saw Sasuke look up at her, her composure finally broke, and a peal of bell-like laughter reached Sasuke's ears.
"Hahahahaha.... Sasuke, when did you ever think you could defeat me? Hahahaha....." Sakura Haruno laughed so hard she was bent over, nearly falling off the branch.
Sasuke's Sharingan, which had just deactivated, instantly flared to life again. The charred Sakura Haruno in his arms gradually turned into a wisp of blue smoke and disappeared. Staring with crimson eyes at the Sakura Haruno who was laughing so hard she almost sounded like a pig, Sasuke stood up, clenched his fists, took a deep breath, and deactivated his curse mark state.
"Huh?" Sakura Haruno, seeing Sasuke deactivate his curse mark state, was somewhat surprised. Isn't he angry enough to want to pummel me? After being teased like this, he's actually less angry than before.
"Hey, Sasuke, don't you want to beat me up?" Sakura Haruno stopped laughing and asked curiously.
Sasuke shook his head, and his Sharingan deactivated as well. He said slowly, "I can't win against you."
Then, without looking back, Sasuke turned and walked away. A bad premonition instantly struck Sakura Haruno. Did I go too far? She quickly called out, "Where are you going?"
Sasuke stopped, turned his head sideways, and said, "To find Orochimaru!"
"Hey, don't go!" Sakura Haruno said urgently. "I'm doing this to help you improve your strength." Hearing Sasuke say this, Sakura Haruno instinctively felt anxious, but then, thinking of something else, she somewhat regretted her hasty words.
It might be good for Sasuke to go to Orochimaru like this. Orochimaru has quite a few good things. If I go to him myself, he might not be willing to make a deal honestly. If Sasuke goes, he might be able to get a lot of things I need.
After hearing Sakura Haruno's words, Sasuke's entire demeanor changed. His previous gloominess seemed to have vanished completely. He turned around, looked at her, and raised an eyebrow. "So it really was like that!"
"Uh!" Sakura Haruno gave an embarrassed smile. "So you already knew."
"The true power of the Uchiha clan, obtained by killing someone important to you..." Sasuke paused, then continued, "That man told me. So, just now, you..."
"Mm, that's right. But it seems it was a failure," Sakura Haruno interrupted him.
Hearing Sakura's words, Sasuke's heart was slightly moved. So, she thinks I'm important to her? Is that why she did this?
"It's not necessary," Sasuke said in a low voice. "I will obtain this power in my own way. I won't do it his way."
"Alright then," Sakura Haruno said after a moment of silence. "But I can't wait any longer. I need your help."
A silence fell between them. Sasuke was the first to break it. "What do you want to do?"
"Tailed Beasts!" Sakura Haruno uttered two words. "I need your help to capture the Tailed Beasts."
Sakura Haruno now had to race against time to snatch the Tailed Beasts from Akatsuki. As for letting Akatsuki capture them all and then taking them for herself – she had considered it, but after careful analysis, she felt the risk was too great.
Firstly, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was an unavoidable obstacle. After Akatsuki captured the Tailed Beasts, they would directly seal them into the Demonic Statue. And she had no idea where the Demonic Statue even was.
Moreover, Tobi could summon the Demonic Statue. Even if she found it, it would be summoned away. And with her current abilities, she had no way to counter Tobi's space-time ninjutsu. Then there was Kaguya.
The revival of the Ten-Tails would inevitably be accompanied by the awakening of Kaguya's will. In her current state, she couldn't contend with Kaguya. Although she didn't know if she could in the future, for now, she couldn't. Therefore, the Tailed Beasts could not be sealed into the Demonic Statue.
As for a sealing medium, Sakura Haruno already had some ideas. The most urgent thing now was to assemble a team. Capturing Tailed Beasts wasn't that easy.
Her own actions in capturing Tailed Beasts would be even more troublesome and dangerous than Akatsuki's. Even if Akatsuki didn't try to stop her, as the Hokage's disciple, such actions would be enough to make the other four great ninja villages direct their spears at Konoha.
And at that time, if she didn't possess more than half of the Tailed Beasts, she would probably have to stop there.