Standing Guard

The trees in the Forest of Death were massive. While they obviously couldn't hold a candle to the Great Dorīmudasuto Tree, each one was easily big enough to dwarf a building and sported a wide crown. And so, when the sun rose on the second day, it brightened up only slightly at first. However, those slight changes were still enough to tell Sakura that she had gone through the night.

Her eyelids were heavy. While she hadn't moved much, what she had done over the last few hours could hardly be called resting. While she had been able to drag the two unconscious boys to a place with more cover, they were still somewhat in the open. If she had more chakra left, she could've used her newly learned Earth Release to improve their position. But placing the seal on Sasuke had drained her, leaving her with just barely enough to avoid chakra exhaustion.

When Tanya-sensei had announced that she would teach her a rudimentary chakra sense, she had believed it to be a waste of time. Now, she wished hers was on the same level as her sensei's. Because then she could be meditating now, being vigilant through the chakra sense while recovering. Alas, she could only sense chakra a few meters in each direction, so she had to put all her focus on her surroundings. And while she had gotten a bit of chakra back by now, it wasn't much. Combined with her tiredness, the situation wasn't optimal.

In the corner of her eye, she could see something move close to the ground. By the time her brain fully registered it, her kunai had already found its target. A startled Squeak! was the response, and as she turned her head, she saw a dead squirrel, lying impaled a couple dozen meters away. A barely conscious part of her sleep-deprived brain told her that she should feel sorry for the poor creature. And yet, she didn't.

Sakura sighed. At least there was no one actually attacking them. Like she had done often during the night, she checked the vital signs of her teammates. Both's breaths were calm and their heart rates were normal. She just needed to keep it up until the two regained consciousness, and then they could-

boom

Startled by the sudden explosion, the tiredness was temporarily forgotten and she jumped to her feet. Sakura drew another kunai, just in time to deflect an incoming set of senbon. In the smoke of the explosion, she spotted three silhouettes.

"Pretty observant. Not bad for someone who was up all night," a female voice taunted as the figures stepped out into the light.

The one who had spoken was a girl with long black hair, maybe one or two years older than Sakura. The others were two boys, one with spiky black hair and one covered in bandages who stood hunched over. Unifying feature among the trio were their snake-patterned pants and their headbands sporting the music note.

"And here I went through all the trouble to make sure the bomb tag on that tree rat had the right color," she continued.

They used the squirrel as a living bomb? It didn't seem to be a summon though. In that case, they would've needed a way to direct its movement to me. A Genjutsu, maybe? If so, I must be careful!

The biggest question was how she should play this. She was tired and hadn't been able to recover much chakra, so taking them head-on likely wasn't a good idea. While she could power through the tiredness for a while - that had been part of her training after all - Ninjutsu was pretty much off the table. Genjutsu wasn't very costly, so that would be an option, but it wasn't a great tool one versus three. There was also the issue that outside of some speculations, she didn't really know much about their abilities, and they were still too far away for her chakra sense.

Stalling for time was another option, though she couldn't be sure Naruto and Sasuke would be ready for combat the moment they woke up.

Escaping, on the other hand, would require her to carry both of her teammates, and there was no way she could get away from three pursuers doing that, and definitely not in her current state. She could tell them they already lost their scroll, but would they believe that?

Hang on, I think Naruto still has his dupe!

"Alright, you win!" she called and lowered her Kunai. The bandaged boy leaned forward in his hunched stance and fixated his one visible eye on her.

"Cute," he deadpanned. "Now wake up Sasuke, I want to fight him!"

"He is in no condition to fight you," Sakura countered. Without breaking eye contact she made a step backward, crouched down, and pulled the fake scroll out of Naruto's satchel.

"There! Take it!"

She threw it over, but rather than catching it, the bandaged boy merely swatted it aside.

"I don't care about this stupid test. I am here for Sasuke. Now step aside."

They don't care about the test? Why are they so fixated on Sasuke? It's just like- wait, those headbands…

"Are you with Orochimaru?"

The trio flinched upon hearing the name, staring at her with widened eyes. The reaction told her everything she needed to know.

"So you are."

The spiky-haired boy cracked his knuckles.

"You know what, girl? I don't know where you heard that name, but Dosu's offer is off the table. I'll kill you, and then those two."

Sakura didn't answer and merely went back into her fighting stance. The girl and the spiky-haired boy immediately charged at her. The bandaged boy, Dosu, quickly grabbed his teammates by the collar and pulled them back, saving them from the explosion that blew up the ground at the spot where the two had been not a moment earlier.

"You are free to try," Sakura finally said, smirking at the trio. Now that it was clear that a confrontation was unavoidable, the pinkette recalled one of the many lessons Tanya-sensei had instilled into them.

"The perception of someone's strength can be at least as decisive as their actual strength. Therefore, appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak," the golden-haired girl would say to them. The way she said it sounded like she was quoting someone, but Sakura wasn't able to find any records of someone saying that. Either way, Sakura was currently tired, outnumbered, and lacked information about her enemy. She wasn't out of options and she also still had her traps, but her current positions probably still counted as 'weak'. In other words, time to pull out some acting skills.

"You laughed earlier that I was up all night, but it looks like you didn't consider what that means. I literally had the entire night to prepare this battleground. So, congratulations on being able to dodge the first one… Although, to be precise - Dosu, right? - you were the only one to actually notice it. I wonder if you can save them quick enough next time again."

The trio stared at her with visible surprise on their faces, but after a couple of seconds, they returned her smirk back at her.

"Oh?" the girl asked. "Zaku, I think someone is getting cocky."

"Seems like it, yeah."

Sakura raised an eyebrow as the boy - Zaku - crouched down and stuck his hands into the ground. Did he maybe have an earth-based sensory skill that would allow him to find her booby traps?

'Zankūha!' [Decapitating Airwaves]

Like a balloon filled with too much air, the forest floor between Sakura and the Sound Trio bulged up and then burst open. Chunks of soil got blasted into the air, together with all the explosive traps she had laid out. A couple of them got triggered by this and detonated, but no one was close enough to get hit by the blast.

"Hate to break it to you, but we're not like the weaklings you can find in your sorry excuse of a village," Zaku kept going from behind the smoke cloud. As the trio then jumped over the crater Sakura threw her kunai up, hitting the trigger on one of the tree traps she had originally prepared for ambushes from above. Explosions echoed through the treetops and the Sound Ninja, realizing what was happening, hectically scattered in order to avoid getting crushed by the massive branches that fell down on them. Sakura could see Zaku fire more blasts of air to protect himself, while Dosu somehow made one of the wood pieces burst into splinters. But the important part was that each of them had dodged in a different direction, and the girl was now pretty close to her. Even better, she was currently with her back to Sakura, so pinkette quickly closed the distance to seize her chance.

"Kin, look out!" Dosu warned his teammate - ah so that was her name. But it was too late, and while his path was still obstructed by branches, Sakura had reached her opponent, grabbed long, black hair before she could turn around, yanked her backward, raised her left foot, and dug her heel into Kin's stomach.

Aside from all the new things Sakura had learned in the past two months, Taijutsu had also been a big part of her training. But Tanya-sensei didn't just teach her her Imperial Fist style, no, one of the more basic lessons, ironically, was when to not use Taijutsu.

"Having mastered a fighting style allows you to be more decisive when exchanging blows. But it's a guideline, not a rulebook. Finesse is good, but sometimes you just need plain old brutality. So should you manage to get a hold of your opponent, forget all form, stances, and whatnot. Just do whatever you can to beat the crap out of them."

Kin had only been able to let out a rasping wheeze before Sakura stood in front of her, grabbed her head with both hands, pulled her down, and smashed her knee into her face with as much strength as she could muster without wasting precious chakra.

"If you get your opponent into a daze, then you created an opportunity you must quickly capitalize on. Keep them stunned by aiming for the head. If their resilience isn't high enough, you don't have to worry about their arms, they won't be able to use them against you. Focus on the head. Either as long as you can or until they stop moving."

Without hesitation, Sakura brought her knee up again. Two times, three times, four times. It was then that she saw movement in the corner of her eye and shortly after felt someone else enter her sensory range. When her knee connected for the fifth time she let go of Kin's head, causing the Sound Kunoichi the get knocked back and fall to the ground. She then quickly turned to focus on the new arrival, blood that wasn't hers running down her leg.

Dosu reached her, but he wasn't particularly fast and performed a wide overswing with his gauntleted arm that was rather easy to dodge. She leaned her head back to evade the amateurish-looking move and was about to counter when she suddenly noticed a lot of chakra gather in the gauntlet which then moved towards her. Sakura hastily changed her trajectory and managed to graze the underside of the arm with her hand in the same moment the gathered chakra got expelled through the gauntlet's holes.

Ejecting chakra through her palm she caused Dosu's wrist to get knocked upwards. The move was expensive for her drained reserves but caused most of the strange attack to miss her. She unfortunately lost her balance, but before she fell backward she managed one more kick, forcing Dosu to dodge and create some distance between them. By the time she hit the ground, her eardrums hurt like hell and her head was spinning.

"So you noticed the sound at the last moment," she barely heard Dosu musing through the ringing in her ears. "I must admit I underestimated you. As will Kin when she wakes up."

Sound? So that's what he was doing with his chakra there. If that had it me full force, my eardrums probably wouldn't have survived that.

Finally getting around the fallen branches, Zaku stepped next to him.

"Meh, her fault for letting herself get caught," he shrugged as he pointed his palm forward, and Sakura could see a hole in the skin of his hand. Not wanting to give him the initiative, she threw some shuriken at him.

'Zankūha!' [Decapitating Airwaves]

A windblast burst from his palm. As it hit the shuriken, its trajectory got reversed and it shot back at her. Realizing she wouldn't get up in time, Sakura braced herself for the impact of both the blast and the blade, but instead, something grabbed her and pulled her away at the last moment.

"And who are you now?" She heard Dosu ask almost annoyed. Sakura scrambled to her feet as soon as she touched the ground again and was surprised as she recognized the newcomer.

"I am the Beautiful Green Beast of the Hidden Leaf, Rock Lee!" He then glanced at Sakura. "I was wondering what all these explosions were about. Sorry that I'm late!"

"Late?" Sakura asked slightly confused.

"Well, as I said, I will come to your aid whenever you are in trouble! I may have been talking to an illusion at the time, but the words still left my mouth! And a real man stands to his word!"

Sakura wasn't sure if that line was supposed to sound cool, but right now she didn't care. The break in the flow of the battle had made her body calm down a bit, and now her suppressed fatigue hit her with full force. With heavy eyes, she sunk to the ground.

"Thanks, Lee. Sorry about the Genjutsu by the way."

"I hold no grudge. I let myself get caught up in the moment and acted without thinking, which wasn't very cool. I realize that now," the older Genin assured her as he stared down the Sound Ninja, ready to move as soon as they did.

"In that case, can you buy me… I don't know, twenty seconds or so?"

Lee smiled and gave her a thumbs-up before loosening the bandages around his arms.

"I'm sure I can do more than that, don't worry."

"Okay, but be careful. The guy with the gauntlet attacks with sound, so don't just try to dodge his punches. And the other can shoot air blasts."

"Noted. Do whatever you're planning, I'll protect you with my life!"

Without waiting any further, Lee attacked the two remaining Sound Genin, the bandages from his arms fluttering behind him as he attacked. Sakura meanwhile closed her eyes, went into a meditative pose, and did her best to ignore the sound of Lee fighting for her sake. She then guided chakra into both her brain and her central nervous system.

Something rumbled loudly and the ground vibrated, but she couldn't let herself get distracted from it.

After the earlier exchange, her chakra levels were now pretty dire, but if she wanted to keep fighting, she couldn't avoid spending some. The technique she was preparing thankfully didn't require much, almost nothing in fact. But the application needed to be precise.

'Omote Renge!' [Front Lotus]

A loud swishing sound, followed by a dull impact. She ignored it.

A mistake in performing this technique might cause her to mess up her body, so it wasn't a good idea to perform in combat. Hopefully, Lee could handle those two until she was ready.

"You better thank me, Dosu!" she heard Zaku shout.

"Yeah, that still hurt like hell despite the air pocket. What a terrifying technique. But now it's my turn!"

On that, Sakura could agree.

'Jikogen: Kakakusei!' [Self Illusion: Hyperarousal]

Artificially forcing her brain into action, all tiredness was blown away as Sakura's body got flooded with adrenalin. Her eyes shot open and she jumped to her feet, just in time to see Lee stumble backward, narrowly avoiding Dosu's punch. The result was just as bad as she had feared; blood started to run out of his left ear and he fell to the ground, puking out his breakfast. Dosu raised his arm for a finishing blow. Sakura quickly threw two shuriken at him, and while he noticed and blocked them, it at least distracted him from Lee. She ran towards him, and he reciprocated.

"Up again, huh?" Zaku taunted her from the side and raised his hand. "Want me to deal with her?"

His teammate didn't answer. Meanwhile, Sakura and Dosu had almost reached each other, and the Sound Ninja stretched out his arm ready to swing. His tactic was simple yet effective.

Once opponents know of the threat his gauntlet poses, they would naturally become cautious of it. And since near misses are still hits for him, a cautious opponent is probably the easiest to deal with for him. Time to throw caution in the wind then!

Not that she had many other options, drawing out this fight wasn't in her interest. The artificial adrenalin rush wouldn't last forever, and the suppressed fatigue would soon catch up to her. Sakura then recalled how Tanya-sensei had dealt with multiple opponents during their bell test and got an idea.

They two entered each other's reach. Without stopping or turning, Sakura threw another shuriken at Zaku. Dosu swung. Zaku, as predicted since he already had his hand aimed at her, fired another air blast at her to return the shuriken back to the sender with interest. Sakura, deciding to spend another portion of her limited resources, ejected chakra out of her soles, accelerating her forward rather than backward. Now inside of his swing, much closer than Dosu had likely anticipated, she grabbed his collar and threw him to the left before he could redirect his soundwaves. The windblast plus shuriken meant for her now instead struck the Sound Genin in the back, catapulting him away with a pained groan while shielding her from the brunt of it.

Capitalizing on the moment of confusion, Sakura quickly charged at Zaku. The vestiges from his attack threw her off slightly, but he didn't seem able to use his technique in rapid succession, plus he was still stumped from what had just happened. When he finally managed to pull himself together and raised his arms again she already was in front of him. Grabbing both his wrists she pulled him into a headbutt, adjusting the angle so the metal of the headband she wore like an Alice band hit him in the chin.

He was unfortunately a bit shorter than she had estimated, so she hit his mouth instead. Well, good enough. She let go of his arms for a follow-up attack, but right at that moment, three senbon came from the side and she had to dodge.

Damn it, letting go of his arms was a mistake! I could've used him as a shield!

Well, her primary mistake was that she hadn't noticed Kin regaining consciousness.

"You bitch, you broke my nose!" the Sound Kunoichi screamed with a stuffy voice, her blood-smeared face twisted in anger. More senbon - with bells tied to them? - came flying her way, forcing Sakura to retreat. Zaku spit out some blood and also locked eyes with her again.

"Lee, how are you doing?" she asked as she noticed her ally shakingly standing up.

"Not great if I'm honest. I feel like the whole forest is spinning. Sorry, I thought I could take one of them out, but his teammate saved him."

"It's fine. You wouldn't happen to have a spare kunai? I'm out."

He nodded and tossed one over, a bit off since his sense of balance was still disturbed, but she still managed to catch it just in time as more senbon came flying her. As she blocked, she noticed Kin actually thrown two sets. The first had once again bells tied to them, the second hiding in the first's shadow. Twisting her body she barely managed to dodge, but her shoulder still got grazed.

Damn it! I hope they aren't poisoned. Wait, why am I still hearing bells?

Kin wasn't throwing any new senbon, it was the previous ones that were still ringing. Looking around Sakura noticed thin threads tied to each little bell. The ringing created a continuous sound, and slowly, she could feel the entire area fill with chakra.

Shit!

Realizing too late what was happening, Sakura's head started to painfully throb. As she looked, both Kin and Zaku seemed to suddenly stand everywhere. She quickly formed the 'Ram' sign.

'Kai!' [Release]

Nothing changed. Her opponents still seemed to be everywhere, and robbed of her sense of direction, she couldn't dodge as another pressure wave crashed into her side and threw her across the forest floor. Not only that, it also felt like her entire skeleton rattled and shook as she got hit.

Why can't I break out? I could always break out of Genjutsu during training!

"Hurts, huh?" she heard Zaku taunt her from seemingly everywhere. "I can not only use pressure but also soundwaves, and the result changes with the ratio of the two. That one could've shattered your bones if you had been closer."

"But by all means, keep trying to break out," Kin added, though she could barely hear her as the ringing of the bells kept piercing her ears. "Makes it all the more satisfying."

Sakura gritted her teeth and stood up again, and a stinging pain shot through her calf as a senbon pierced it.

"It won't work though. Want to know why?"

Instinctively, Sakura jumped to the side, dodging something that impacted the ground at her previous position.

"Because the sound of my bells isn't attacking the chakra flow in your nerves, it's causing a blur between your associative cortices. In other words, this isn't really an illusion, it's more akin to a hallucination. You can't break that!"

So that's why the release isn't working. But that also means she can't really control what I see. In other words, one of them is real!

"Well, in that case, thanks for not obscuring the view to my triggers!" she shouted and threw Lee's kunai up. She didn't actually have another trap ready up there, but they didn't know that. And considering what had happened the first time, she was sure they wouldn't ignore it. Her expectations were fulfilled and all the Kins and Zakus looked up in panic - but only one pair actually looked at the kunai. Knowing her target, Sakura started running, but the piercing ring of the bells and the resulting headache threw her off and she stumbled. No, she had almost reached them, she couldn't fall down now!

'Konoha Shōfū!' [Leaf Rising Wind]

The ground shook and for a moment, the sound of the bells was distorted. Sakura regained her sense of balance and managed to catch herself. Kin noticed her, but while she was still too far away to attack her, Sakura managed to grab the barely visible bell strings and pulled, forcing Kin to let go of them. The ringing stopped.

Turning to her ally, she realized that Lee had seemingly dug his leg into the soil and then, in an impressive feat of strength, had kicked a large chunk of the forest floor into the air. The resulting air current had disturbed the soundwaves, temporarily weakening Kin's jutsu.

Unfortunately, Dosu had also recovered, and the fingers of his gauntlet were grasping Lee's head. The older Genin's expression went blank and his body crumpled to the floor. He probably would've been able to fend Dosu off, but had chosen to sacrifice himself so she could stop Kin.

"I'll protect you with my life!" he had said. And he had done so. Thankfully, she could see he was still breathing.

Dosu rejoined his team, pulling the shuriken out of his back. There wasn't much blood on it. The thick fur cape he wore had likely prevented it from penetrating deep. The four stared each other down.

Okay, what now? I'm close to my limit, I have to decide this quickly. I may have enough chakra left to use one Ninjutsu, but I'd need to get lucky to take out all three at once with that. They are pretty beaten up though, there has to be a way to do this! Come on, think!

However, the Sound Trio had no plans of letting her think, Zaku already pointing his hand at her.

"Look out!"

Dumbfounded by the unexpected attack, Zaku couldn't react in time as his own teammate punched him in the side.

"Dosu, what the hell?!", he wheezed.

"I'm not doing this, I can't control my body!"

"Well, then don't blame me!"

'Zankūyowaha!' [Weak Decapitating Airwaves]

The weakened, but at close-range still strong blast hit Dosu and he was flung backward. Mirroring his trajectory, a boy with a spiky, black ponytail and a Leaf Headband on his arm came flying out of the bushes in the opposite direction, hitting the floor at the same time as the Sound Ninja.

"Shikamaru?" Sakura recognized her former classmate. "What are you doing here?"

"Don't ask me," he coughed as he stood up, forcing Dosu through their connected shadow to do the same. "Ino said something about not letting you be the only one who looks good in front of Sasuke, and then we kinda had to follow. How troublesome…"

"Ino? That means…"

'Nikudan Sensha!'[Human Bullet Tank]

Inflated into a huge ball due to his family's secret jutsu, Chijo came rolling out of the undergrowth and barreled toward the Sound Trio. Shikamaru quickly brought Dosu into position so he couldn't dodge the attack. Kin and Zaku attempted to stop the human boulder but soon noticed that his size and fast rolling motion made him close to impervious to their attacks. The pressure wave just glided around him, and Kin's senbon simply bounced off. Hectically, they jumped to the sides, leaving Dosu to his fate. At the last moment, Shikamaru canceled his Shadow Imitation so the attack wouldn't hit him as well. Too beaten up by now to be able to dodge in time, all Dosu could do with his regained freedom was raise his gauntlet.

Choji crashed into him, but Dosu still managed to shoot his sound attack through his body. His expansion technique was forcefully canceled after the impact and he tumbled over the ground into the pile of branches from Sakura's trap. Dosu laid flat on his back, clearly having taken a lot of damage despite managing to somewhat weaken Choji's attack. He seemed still conscious, but together with the two air blasts that Zaku had hit him with earlier, it was hard for Sakura to picture him putting up much of a fight anymore, or even just standing up. Only two left.

"Great," Zaku grumbled as he stood up. "More weirdos have appeared."

"Yes…," Kin agreed, and Sakura noticed that her tone had changed. Despite her blood-smeared face, the smirk she wore was unmistakable to Sakura. The Sound Kunoichi knelt down next to her fallen teammate and held a senbon at his throat.

"So how about you give up as well so we can wrap this up?"

A dumbfounded Zaku stared at her, and her smirk grew wider.

"Surprised? The Hidden Leaf's legendary Ino-Shika-Cho Formation is unbeatable! Shit, that hurts, did you have to bash her face in this badly, Sakura?"

Sakura was about to answer when she noticed that Dosu's arm had moved slightly, the gauntlet now touching Kin's leg.

"Ino! Get out of there!" she screamed, but it was too late. Dosu sent a sound attack through her and Kin's body crumpled to the ground. From the thicket, Sakura could hear someone throw up.

"You assholes!" Ino spat as she stood up. Blood was running out of her own ear as well, and she had to lean against a tree to not fall over. "Is that your idea of helping your comrade?"

"Argh, what the hell just happened?! Dosu, did you do that?!" the real Kin chimed in, holding her ear.

"Don't… get caught… idiot."

"Oh? Right back at you!" She tried to stand up but instantly fell down again.

Okay, Dosu is out, but so are Choji and Lee. Kin and Ino are in roughly the same state, Kin is likely a bit worse from earlier. Shikamaru is standing, but he got hurt by Zaku's attack. Zaku is more or less fine besides a busted lip. And my adrenalin rush…

…had just run out. Sakura went down to her knees as her suppressed tiredness resurfaced, combined with the new exhaustion from the fight. She was panting heavily and barely managed to keep her eyes open. Zaku looked at her with disdain and pointed his palm at her.

'Kagemane no Jutsu!' [Shadow Imitation Jutsu]

Trying to save her, Shikamaru's shadow shot forward, but Zaku noticed the attack and was faster. He spun around, and the pressure wave meant for Sakura hit the Nara heir instead, sending him crashing into a tree.

"All of you are starting to royally piss me off!" Zaku spat and now aimed with both his arms. Sakura could feel an immense amount of chakra gather in them, much more than before. His range so far had been limited, but with this much chakra, both the range and the power of his technique would likely increase greatly. Her eyes widened as she realized: if her assumption about the higher strength and distance were correct and he fired in this direction, he would hit Shikamaru, Ino, Lee, and maybe even Naruto and Sasuke! She had to stop him!

Sakura cursed herself as her legs refused to listen to her. If she had just been rested, she could have done more! Or should she have played it differently? Had she been too stingy with her chakra? Should she have used more? Or should she have maybe acted more decisively in the earlier stages of the fight? Would it have been worth the risk despite not knowing her opponents' abilities?

"Now die!"

Come on, body, move! MOVE!

Somehow, through sheer force of will, she managed to muster her last reserves and jumped forward, grabbing Zaku's shoulder with her left hand at the same moment the chakra in his arms surged.

'Zankūkyokuha!' [Extreme Decapitating Airwaves]

Sakura pulled Zaku back, causing his attack to go up a bit. The massive attack spread at a wide angle and tore bark and branches to shreds, but was just slightly too far above the ground to hit his targets. Time seemed to slow down for Sakura as she took note of the destruction he caused. The effect was not too dissimilar from Tanya-senseis's shrapnel jutsu, and she could only imagine what would've happened if he had hit her friends. No doubt it would've been lethal. Just like earlier, her sensei's words echoed through her mind.

"Recognize when it is necessary, and then do so without hesitation."

The fingers of her right hand straightened and chakra burst out along the circumference of her palm. Using a jutsu now would likely bring her to chakra exhaustion, but that was fine now that only one opponent was left.

Frequency three hundred hertz. Amplitude point six millimeters repeating. Width point one millimeter.

Just like during her training, Sakura thrust her hand forward. Except this time, her target wasn't just a balloon.

'Mahōha!'[Magic Blade]

It was one of Tanya-sensei's original Ninjutsu. Or rather, an incomplete version of one. The complete version added wind release, creating a blade that could cleave through metal like butter and even penetrate many barrier jutsu. Sakura couldn't do that, one because she had no affinity for wind release, so learning it would've taken a lot of time that had been needed for other things, and two because adding any form of nature transformation to this technique was extremely complicated, and also consumed a lot more chakra. But the incomplete version was still very sharp, easily strong enough to cut through solid rock. And it was definitely strong enough to cut through flesh and bone.

In one swift motion, Sakura's incorporeal blade glided through her opponent's neck. For a moment, the battlefield grew quiet.

Then, Zaku's body collapsed, his severed head rolling from his shoulders.


A/N: Tanya originally had a scene as well, but the chapter grew longer than expected so I moved it to the next one. Which unfortunately means no Tanya in this chapter, sorry about that, but her part was the easiest to postpone as the rest was basically a single scene. At least you had a bit of Echo-Tanya ;)

Also, I know my explanation of Kin's sound illusion isn't canon, but the technique was anime only in the first place and only classified as Genjutsu in Naruto Mobile. So since there is no real explanation of how it works, what she says in this chapter is my personal interpretation of how the jutsu appears to work.