Chapter 88 - Aftermath Of The Battle
When Orochimaru let loose his killing intent for the first time, Sakura was paralyzed for quite a long time.
She only got out of her stupor, when she heard Sasuke screaming in pain. She frantically looked around and found him not too far away from her, lying on the ground while clutching his shoulder and screaming in pain.
She was just about to ask what was wrong when a powerful explosion echoed through the forest.
She turned her head around just in time to see Yuna smashing her fist into Orochimaru.
'There is no way she can actually fight that monster! How could she possibly be that strong?'
Moments later, however, Sakura saw Hinata pierce her sword through Orochimaru's back which surprised her even more.
'Even that meek little Hinata is fighting?! How is that possible?!'
Next, she witnessed how Orochimaru healed his wound, which resulted in her almost emptying her stomach.
When he summoned the giant snake, however, she felt true despair.
'There is no way they can defeat a monster of that size.'
What happened next, though, truly changed how she saw the world. A single jutsu was used by only one person, yet it gouged out the ground creating a deep rift, sliced through the giant snake like it was made out of tofu and shot into the forest cutting through tree after tree.
"What power…"
She didn't even notice how the fight proceeded or that Kiba and Shino had also arrived. She simply looked at the destruction a single jutsu could cause and felt incredibly small.
'What have I even been doing all this time? Will Sasuke protect me? What a joke. Can he even protect himself against something of this scale? And even if he could, would he have the time to save a dead weight like me as well? If I want to be together with Sasuke, I need to get stronger! Much stronger! If only I had listened to Yuna when she scolded Ino a few years ago, then I wouldn't be as far behind as I am now.'
While Sakura was gathering her resolve, Yuna, Naruto, Hinata, and Anko were walking towards her, Kiba, and Shino.
Hinata was the first to speak.
"Sorry for dashing away like that, Kiba, Shino. Naruto was in trouble and I wanted to help him."
Shino shrugged his shoulders like it wasn't a big deal, while Kiba gave her an understanding nod.
"It's only natural that you want to protect members of your pack. I would do the same."
Hinata smiled at both of them and gave them a "Thank you" and after that was done, Yuna started speaking.
"I don't want to break your great mood or anything like that, but Sasuke seems to be suffering over there."
Everyone looked at the place Yuna was pointing at and noticed Sakura looking at the forest in a daze, while Sasuke was next to her on the ground, twitching around in pain.
The group quickly approached the duo and when they arrived, Yuna stomped her foot on the ground which caused a small earth platform to rise underneath Sasuke and lifted him up, to make it easier to examine him.
Although Sakura was startled by that, she kept quiet. She still hadn't fully digested what she had witnessed moments ago.
Chakra lit up on Yuna's finger as she pushed it onto the seal on Sasuke's shoulder. The seal expanded and covered about one-third of Sasuke's body. The seals were wiggling around and clearly tried to expand even further. Yuna and Naruto both frowned when they saw this.
"Nee-san, what in the world is this? I don't think this can even be considered sealing anymore."
Yuna nodded her head as a frown appeared on her face.
"This is significantly more complex than what Anko had. Looks like this is a mixture of sealing and biology. The seals are absorbing Nature Energy and are using it to constantly evolve themselves. The outcome seems to be pretty much random."
With a shake of her head, Yuna tapped her finger against the main seal again, which resulted in it returning to its normal form.
"C-can we do something to help Sasuke-kun?"
Yuna glanced at Sakura and shook her head.
"Currently, we can't. The curse seal is currently in a very unstable condition. Fiddling with it during this time is pretty much a death sentence for Sasuke. All we can do for now is wait until it calms down and then take another look at it."
Sakura, immediately, became slightly depressed when she heard that.
"How long will that take?"
"Around a day, I guess. I recommend putting a seal on it as soon as possible and only starting a proper treatment when we are back inside Konoha."
"I agree with nee-san. No need to worry, Sakura. I can seal it away as soon as possible."
Sakura nodded her head and felt relieved. She didn't understand much about seals, but she at least understood that Naruto is very good at using them.
"Well, now that this is over, I will be leaving. Still have to collect my second scroll, after all."
"I'm going as well. As the one responsible for the second test, I need to make a report to Hokage-sama about the intruder."
Naruto and Hinata both nodded their heads.
"Good luck, nee-san/Yuna, Anko."
Yuna gave Hinata and Anko a quick kiss, which caused Hinata to blush a little and Anko to smirk. Then, Yuna, quickly vanished into the depths of the forest while Anko started to run towards the exit of the forest and towards Konoha.
Kiba was the first to react to that.
"What the hell? Why did Yuna leave? Wouldn't it make more sense to work together? NO WAIT! Even more important, why did she kiss not only you but Anko as well? Aren't you, Yuna's girlfriend?"
"What are you saying Kiba-kun? Strictly speaking, we are enemies, right now. Not trying to snatch away our scroll is the most we should expect from fellow Konoha shinobi. As for the second matter, Anko and I are both Yuna's girlfriends.'
That being said, let's go as well. We still have a scroll to get. Naruto, Sakura-san, good luck."
"Haha, good luck you three, and see you at the next round."
Although Kiba was slightly dazed by that revelation, he still followed after Hinata she turned around and started to leave, while Shino did the same.
After seeing the trio leave, Naruto turned around and looked at Sakura, who seemed to be slightly dazed again.
"What's wrong, Sakura-chan? Is something bothering you?"
"D-Did Hinata just say that Yuna has two girlfriends?"
Naruto tilted his head in confusion when he heard that.
"Yeah, she did."
"I-Is that really alright? Aren't they jealous of each other?"
Naruto shrugged his shoulders before he answered.
"It seems like Hinata will occasionally get a bit jealous. Except for that, they get along really well. Too well if you ask me. They spent all day flirting with each other which is rather stressful for me."
"F-Flirting!? But isn't it really abnormal to have more than one girlfriend?"
Naruto could only chuckle at that.
"Abnormal? You almost make it sound like there is something normal about nee-san…I swear, if you tell her I said that you will regret it for the rest of your life."
Sakura chuckled at Naruto's antics.
'True, she is indeed abnormal.'
Sakura gave the aftermath of Yuna's jutsu another glance and then just shook her head.
'That level of power is probably impossible for me, but I won't be discouraged by that. I won't allow myself to be this helpless ever again.'
"Let's go, Naruto. We still have to find a good place to stay at, until Sasuke wakes up."
Naruto quickly picked up Sasuke and put him over his shoulder.
"Sure, let's go. If we can find a good place, I can secure it with some seals to make it harder to invade."
Sakura nodded in agreement and then started to walk deeper into the forest together with Naruto.
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