Fire raged across the Uzushio gardens.
Flames consumed the grass, faster than it could recover.
Ino saw Sakura flash through them, a blur of beige, pink and blue.
Obito disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Ino's eyes tightened, and she whirled around, just fast enough to prevent herself getting stabbed by the Uchiha who had suddenly appeared behind her.
Sakura held nothing back, her face set in a snarl.
She didn't fight like she did during training, pulling her strikes, testing and prodding. No, she fought to kill, never relenting; a true hellcat.
Her dagger hissed through the air, water edge extending and cutting through the top of the Uchiha's hair.
"Free bangs for you." She jeered, parrying his kick with her ghost hand. Sakura took the opportunity to siphon some of his chakra, too. Obito growled and tried to kick her away. He got a knee in his face for his trouble.
Ino knew better than most how hard it could be to get Sakura to let go of something, when she didn't want to. Her friend's dagger stabbed wherever she could reach, along Obito's shin, multiple times.
Ino thrust forward with her own weapon, aiming at his flank. She went through. Not the way she had hoped for, though.
He used Kamui again. She warned Sakura.
The poison should be gone from there, but…
Sakura gave it no more thought. And she answered Obito in consequence.
"Water Release: Piercing Coffin!"
Water bubbled in a dome around Obito. Blades erupted in a sudden burst from every direction around him. He maintained his intangibility — because he had to. Sakura held her jutsu. The blades continued shooting.
Sakura's left eye was closed.
'Kamui!' She thought.
Sakura used it on her own water jutsu.
Part of the dome vanished into the Kamui realm. Obito grunted in pain as multiple spears of water went through him from within his hiding place.
"Susanoo." He growled, coming back to the physical plane entirely.
"Oh no you don't!" Sakura grunted, using the Preta Path to suck away its chakra.
Obito slipped between her fingers again. Using the Susanoo as a shield, he was able to stop his intangibility and warp away instead. He whirled away, disappearing in the Kamui realm.
"Fuck!" Sakura cursed, smashing her fist against the tiled floor.
It blew apart under her strike. Ino noticed that her friend was starting to run low on chakra again, and she forced even more chakra through her body, drawing from her seal. This was getting more and more dangerous for her.
Guess we're going again. Ino sent.
Yeah.
How many times can you use Kamui, still…?
…
Sakura?
The eye seems close to its limit, honestly.
And you?
I'm good to go.
Ino recognized this thought pattern. Sakura was hiding something. Not lying outright, but still hiding.
Three or four times at most…?
…Hopefully. Sakura didn't sound too convinced.
Okay. Okay, then. Let's do things a bit differently, then. Ino offered.
Obito took a moment to breathe.
Half-Zetsu body or not, this pink-haired wretch had taken a lot of his chakra. For a moment, he considered simply leaving this fight—
No, why would he…? Nagato would never be as vulnerable as he would be today, after facing them.
Obito shook his head. With how powerful the man had become, he could not afford to let this opportunity slip between his fingers.
He really should have taken the Rinnegan back, before Nagato got it in his head to take most of the Nine-Tails' power within him. Once he had adapted to the power, he had become unreachable.
The fact that he felt safe healing Obito's eye showed how far above him he thought he was. And Obito had no doubt that Nagato would get rid of him, the moment he outlived his usefulness.
It felt like dealing with Madara's particular brand of bullshit and insanity, back when he had been a teenager. He tightened his fist. No more.
He was no one's puppet, now and he would—
"Hey there, lapdog!" Haruno Sakura chuckled angrily, whirling into the Kamui realm with the Yamanaka. "Come get your treats!"
Of the two, it was clear to Obito which one he needed to get rid of first.
Haruno Sakura knows my exact weaknesses and can counter them. Yamanaka Ino is nothing but a distraction.
The fact that the former was such an annoying pest would only make it more satisfying.
Sakura engaged in melee combat again, spinning and dancing amid a maelstrom of water. The Yamanaka spat fire toward him, and it met the Water jutsu. The chakra-laden mist that the impact released obscured his vision.
Yamanaka was gone.
Obito twisted in the air, avoiding both the daggers and the naginata strike that came from behind him.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball!"
He released the jutsu twice.
The fireballs that he hurled directly into their faces were hastily dodged by Ino, and absorbed by Sakura.
Obito wasted no time, he could not afford to anymore. His Sharingan told him how things would go.
The Haruno woman would extend her left stump. He could not read the pattern of the attack before the spectral hand extended, but it didn't matter.
The Yamanaka's naginata would arc upwards, and then slam into him… to cleave him in two.
Obito's left hand flashed, and from the hidden seal on his wrist, a blade erupted, headed for the pink-haired one. She dodged narrowly, losing some of her hair in the process, and throwing her next move off entirely.
Obito dodged the other's slower attack.
Haruno Sakura's Sharingan was likely too blind to notice the string wrapped around the weapon.
Obito pressed the seal on his wrist and the wire stiffened, the motion sending the kunai to the left. Then it became flexible again, looping and wrapping around Haruno's neck.
Obito pulled.
"Sakura!" The other screamed.
The weapon cut right through her neck, blood pearled—
She disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"What?!" Obito whirled around.
The Yamanaka was halfway through a seal sequence.
No time to waste.
His Susanoo erupted around him. Its spectral hand reached for the Yamanaka, as fast as he could make it, and without any hesitation, he crushed her.
She erupted in blood—
And smoke, too.
Now thoroughly infuriated, Obito left the Kamui realm. When he reappeared in the gardens, fleeing was not on his mind anymore, far from it. The two women were waiting for him to resurface, and sharing chakra again. Haruno was looking pale.
"What is it with you fuckers and my neck anyway…?" Haruno Sakura muttered. "First Kakashi, then you."
She was tired, despite whatever her chakra trick was. It was no wonder, she had used Kamui so many times he was beginning to wonder how blind her eye was. And if she continued to do so...
Obito charged in, dashing toward Haruno. Large scale jutsu like his Bomb Blast Blast Dance would be pointless as long as she was alive… and using the Mokuton's chakra heavy techniques was just as likely to help her recover.
He slid under her high-pressure water jet, and danced through the Yamanaka's earth jutsu.
His tanto was parried by Haruno's dagger. Obito noticed absentmindedly that the Yamanaka didn't summon her weapon.
Holding a half seal with his left hand and keeping Haruno Sakura at bay, Obito hurled spear-like branches toward the other woman.
He saw it before it happened, and resumed his focus on the one in front of him.
Haruno Sakura ducked under his first strike, struck back with her dagger, stepped back again to deflect the next one, grabbed his hand in the same movement.
Obito phased, and Sakura fell through him. His eye turned back to his left, where the Yamanaka was—
Was not. Only a plume of smoke.
Haruno was behind him, too close. If the Yamanaka was in Kamui, he couldn't risk phasing. The Susanoo rose…
And Haruno Sakura began to absorb it right away. He cursed and stopped.
Her dagger flashed, too close to his heart.
Kamui.
The real Ino had used the moment of distraction the mist had provided to hide in between two larger blocks in the Kamui realm.
She had then sent a shadow clone ahead, with her very real weapon.
The one she had recovered and held in her hands tensely, now.
Ino forced her chakra through her Naginata and held it there. It would act as a direct channel for her possession technique.
She waited with bated breath, her focus on anything that would appear in this realm. Her own chakra was running low. She was not supposed to be a frontline fighter, and keeping Obito convinced that staying in the fight was his best option had been taxing.
But she couldn't ask Sakura to refill her reserves. She had done that too much today already. And Ino's chakra network felt too strained anyway.
Focus.
It had been ten seconds. She breathed in.
Eleven seconds. She held it.
Twelve seconds. She breathed out.
Thirtee—
There. A glimmer of something that looked like Uchiha Obito's clothing.
"Extend!" She cried out.
The naginata flashed.
It shot forward with a rage.
It grazed the piece of Obito that had appeared… and missed entirely.
He had warped away again. Obito had been too fast.
And he may have understood what they were doing.
No way. Had she fucked it up…? Their best chance…? Ino's stomach dropped and for a second she thought her heart had stopped beating.
She hadn't been fast enough.
They were fucked.
If Obito escaped here, there was no way they rest of them would stand a chance, if they truly were fighting Nagato right now.
Ino's breathing became shallow, hurried. She might well have doomed them all.
Sakura had been wrong to bring her here. If she had taken Karin instead, then maybe…
How would they even manage now, with each of them on a different side o—
Focus.
Sixteen seconds. She breathed in.
Seventeen seconds.
There was a whirring sound and a light that Ino knew all too well.
And then, suddenly… Uchiha Obito was here again.
A portal lay under his feet.
The portals Sakura had not used at all during the fight, in order to ensure he would not expect it. A perfect trap, combining both the gateway and the Kamui's ability.
Sakura had warped him away… toward a portal, one that lay in the Kamui dimension. Or perhaps she had tricked him into falling through it. Whatever it was...
'You're the best!'
Despite her unraveling fear, Ino had not wavered in her focus.
"Extend!" Ino roared, putting everything she had into it.
When he heard her and turned around, his face was a mask of incredulity.
How did Sakura pull this kind of shit off…? Ino wondered, too.
A shimmer of blue chakra and—
Nothing. It had been too late for his defense.
The weapon stabbed through Obito's chest, and Ino established a link with his body.
Obito tried to break the link. He soon found that he couldn't. Not against this weapon.
He tried to move away from her naginata.
"Extend!" Ino howled. Her left hand began to weave seals.
The naginata stretched past its limits, losing its firmness. It bent completely, like rubber, and only Ino's focus made it keep some of its form. It stayed buried in Obito's chest.
And it flew up, with the man skewered on it.
The link was completed.
Ino forced him to stay physical.
"It's time to repent, Uchiha Obito!" Ino ordered.
She locked the naginata in between her elbow and her back and twisted.
Obito slammed into the ground.
She folded her left hand into one last sign, one that she was sure that Obito, even if he had seen it, would not recognize. Ino had crafted the jutsu and everything about it, after all. Something that she had used against Danzo, what felt like a long time ago, now.
Something she had refined.
"Mind Art: Sorrow Walk!"
The jutsu traveled through the weapon's length. It reached Obito quickly.
He stood up, snarling... and stumbled.
"What—" He began, looking horrified.
Ino forced him to face his worst demons. Every humiliating moment and all of his bitter feelings. His fears. Every single person he remembered killing. She brought it all back to the surface again.
For a man like the one she was sure he was… that would be enough.
Obito disappeared through the Kamui again, but it didn't matter anymore.
Sakura opened a Kamui portal for her. One that looked particularly unstable. Ino rushed out through it, and it almost took her leg.
When Ino came out, her friend looked pale. Her Sharingan eye was entirely blank. How much chakra had she expanded to force a last Kamui out of it, just to get Ino out…?
And the one before that, for that matter, the one that had been fast enough to catch him by surprise…? The one that powered a gateway to Kamui?
Her chakra levels were low, but Sakura just motioned for Ino to continue.
Are you sure?
I'll be just fine. I think I pushed myself a bit too hard. Too much chakra expended, too fast.
Obito was struggling on the floor. Drooling, too. It was an ugly sight.
He was alone in a dark universe. One of his own conception. Rolling out aimlessly.
"It's not… — Rin… — Oh no — It's not…" He muttered, half-coherent. "Sensei… That's not… — I didn't want this — Kushina, big sis…"
It was not a visual genjutsu. Or that much of an illusion, really. It was closer to turning a mind against itself. Something she had created, refined using her knowledge of the Human Path's workings… and would likely not teach anyone.
There were plenty of other ways of getting rid of someone without being needlessly cruel.
For this man, though… Ino's eyes hardened. Well, that was a different story. Ino was breathing hard, struggling to keep their connection up.
She held another seal and pushed the jutsu further.
"I — please! — Make it — I didn't… Help me... No!"
Tears…? Were those tears…?
They ran down Obito's face. Ino was not too interested in the specifics.
She came closer instead, and even in his dazed state, he could tell it was a bad thing waiting to happen. He was a strong shinobi. Chakra built up into his eye.
"Iza—" He began, trying to align the syllables.
Her hand was already upon him anyway, and something purple came out of him. Ino squeezed and he lost what little control he had over the jutsu.
"…Sakura was right. You really are a little bitch. Trying to escape reality again…?" Ino spat.
"Don't…" Obito rasped out, something terrified in his expression. "I need— The world—"
Ino paused. She chuckled.
"That's for killing Naruto's parents, you asshole." Ino growled.
She pulled.
Ino saw his childhood in Konoha, his "death", him being manipulated by Madara, every action he took later on—
She didn't care much and had no empathy to extend to him.
There were no more secrets to be found, nothing that Naruto hadn't told them already.
Uchiha Obito's dead body fell to the floor, like a broken puppet. Ino reached for Karin. With her remote cooperation, Ino would be able to stash the body into the King of Hell.
But Karin was busy fighting, apparently.
In the meantime, she couldn't heal Sakura or herself, though.
"…Pig, are you there?" Sakura asked weakly.
"Yes. I'm right here, Forehead." Ino muttered with a slight smile, slipping under Sakura to support her.
"Good, good…"
"Gods, you used way too much chakra. You're shivering." Ino said. What little Sakura still had looked thin, stretched out. Ino was running low, too. "Your chakra is running low. Don't pull any more from the seal, though."
Ino frowned, and her worry spiked.
She realized how low on chakra Sakura truly had been, now that she stopped pretending. But chakra exhaustion was not the only danger.
Pushing too much chakra out over short periods of time was strenuous, even more when you were not used to it. Naruto had encountered the problem a few times, and his Uzumaki bloodline meant that he got a particularly bad fever for a day or two.
Doing it several times in a row, on top of pulling chakra stored away…
And then she had drawn more, just to feed the eye's barely functioning jutsu, draining her chakra faster and faster with each use. And more.
And Sakura was not Naruto. There was a reason anyone not named Senju Tsunade stayed away from such chakra storage methods.
She needed to get Sakura out of here entirely. Or to Karin, even, depending on how bad it was.
Otherwise...
"…How much did you even pull from the seal already…?" She asked, hesitantly. Not that there was anything she could do, if Sakura was completely fried.
Sakura just chuckled weakly.
A lot, then.
"You did… well, too." Sakura muttered, ignoring her entirely. "We got this one… out of the way. Best we could do. Thanks… Ino."
She sounded exhausted. Ino tried to reach out to Karin. They were fighting, how the hell was she going to manage with Sakura…?
"...That's what friends are for." Ino answered, starting to feel really panicked. But she couldn't afford to show it. She had to keep her talking. "Isn't that right… Sakura…?"
No answer came.
"Sakura…?"
Sakura slipped, looking pale.
Pale.
Green and red eyes stared without seeing.
Ino heard the sound of shattering glass.
Or rather, it had felt like she herself had gone through a windowpane. Her breath caught in her throat.
It felt as though the world collapsed around her.
"Sakura!"
Haruno Sakura died.