I'm sorry I couldn't publish my chapter on the 27th because everyone in my house and I had gotten the flu. I couldn't, for the life of me, get behind my laptop and work on my chapter due to a headache. I'm sorry, and to make it up to you, I did something special for my readers.

For now, enjoy!

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Meanwhile, in the war, the Ten-Tails fired its enormous Tailed Beast Ball at the Allied shinobi forces. With Naruto currently out of breath and injured, and Shizune busy healing him, Shikamaru, with the help of Ino's Mind Body Transmission Jutsu, devised a last-minute plan to counter the powerful attack. He aimed to create a barrier while at the same time having Bee shoot Tailed Beast Balls to change the trajectory of the Ten-Tails' attack.

However, the ball managed to pierce through the barriers created by the Alliance, and B quickly blocked the ball on his own. Despite his efforts, the Ten-Tails Beast Ball was about to reach them until it suddenly disappeared.

"It... disappeared?" one of the shinobi mumbled in disbelief, his eyes wide with confusion.

"Am I late?" Minato arrived, telling everyone that he had teleported the ball to the sea.

"Nope... right on time, Dad!" Naruto answered, a relieved grin spreading across his face, "and Sakura..."

"Easy; it must be hard for you. Try to regain your balance," Minato explained softly as he carefully placed Sakura on her feet, having dragged her along with his teleportation as he appeared on the battlefield.

"W-wow! We really are here...so fast..." Sakura exclaimed in awe, still trying to process everything that had just happened as Minato released his grip on her. Trying to regain her balance, she stumbled toward Naruto.

"Let me take over for a minute, Shizune," Sakura offered.

"S-Sakura... that seal on your forehead... the Strength of a Hundred Seal... you actually succeeded?" Shizune exclaimed, shocked, her eyes widening as she took in the transformation of her master's former pupil.

Sakura nodded, her heart fluttering with the realization of how far she had come. The Strength of a Hundred Seal flourished with vibrant energy on her forehead, a token of years of training, sacrifice, and sheer determination.

Shizune hesitated at first, but since Sakura had upheld her bargain last time they saw each other and woke Tsunade up from her coma in exchange for Danzo's location, and now Sakura even succeeded in obtaining the Strength of a Hundred Seal, Shizune slowly backed away from Naruto, granting Sakura permission to take charge.

"You don't seem surprised to see me, nor your dad, Naruto," Sakura observed, her brow slightly raised as she readied herself to heal. Her hands glowed a radiant green as she focused on healing Naruto. The fatigue and injuries he had accumulated faded under her touch, the healing chakra weaving through his body.

"I felt your chakra while I was in Tailed Beast Mode... the others aren't far behind," Naruto answered, and right on time, the revived Hokage arrived, shocking everyone on the battlefield.

With their arrival, both Tobirama and Hiruzen praised Minato for his speed. Madara, excited to see his rival once more, shouted to Hashirama that he had been waiting for him, to which Hashirama noted that he would take care of him later after stopping the Ten-Tails.

"You really held your own, Naruto. Rest up for a bit," Minato encouraged, giving his son a look filled with warmth and concern, "your other friend should be here shortly. Don't worry; just like her, he's on our side too..."

Everything already set, Minato tapped into his own Tailed Beast Mode, much to the others' shock. With the Hokage all positioned in a square formation, they performed the Four Red Yang Formation Jutsu, erecting a large red-colored barrier that trapped the beast. Just for reassurance, Hashirama added Sage Art: Gate of the Great God sealing jutsu while in Sage Mode, pinning down the beast's tails and arms with a select number of massive red torii.

"W-what are you doing here, Sakura?" Ino asked nervously as she approached her old friend, worry etched across her face. Seeing the Hokage pinning down the beast, Ino knew this was maybe the only little opportunity to question her old friend before their focus had to return to the war at hand.

"Believe it or not, we came to help," Sakura replied, her voice steady despite the chaos surrounding them.

"We?"Ino's brow furrowed in confusion as the remaining members of the Hidden Leaf 11 surrounded her and Naruto, some in disbelief, others on the defensive.

"You have some nerve showing your face here!" Kiba shouted, glaring at Sakura as he tried to catch his breath. "You left the village, and now you think you can just come back?"

"Hmpf, do you really think this is the time for this crap?" Sakura snapped back, her patience wearing thin. Before anyone could continue arguing with Sakura, Sasuke arrived with Jugo.

"Eh! S-Sasuke-kun?!" Ino exclaimed and tried to get even closer to him.

"Ino! Stop! They are our enemies now!" Shikamaru shouted defensively.

"Ino... you need to keep a safe distance from him!" Choji interjected, his eyes wary as he stood protectively in front of Ino.

"You guys are as boisterous as ever..." Sasuke mumbled and proceeded to tell them that he didn't care what they thought of him and that he had decided to protect the village.

"Thank you for healing me, Sakura," Naruto, now fully healed, thanked her sincerely as he stood to the right of Sasuke.

"I thought I told you not to leave my side, Sakura," Sasuke glanced at Sakura, who also proceeded to stand to the left of Sasuke, "did you really just rush over here to heal this idiot?"

"His father must have sensed it or something. He asked me if I could join him to enter the battlefield first and heal Naruto," Sakura answered, "I'm right here, Sasuke. Nothing happened."

"Hmpf, whatever. Let's go!" Sasuke commanded as he, along with Sakura, moved to the battlefield.

"Sakura, are you sure about this?" Naruto asked, concerned as he followed as well, "It's okay to-"

"Don't take this the wrong way, Naruto, but we are not friends," Sakura interrupted him, her voice firm but tinged with an underlying warmth. "As much as I appreciate your concern for me, right now, I don't need it. I'm not gonna just sit back and watch you two fight. I'm not the same girl from the village."

Naruto nodded, a mix of admiration and a hint of resignation in his expression. He always respected Sakura's decisions, even when they sometimes took him by surprise.

"You are right. Okay! Team Seven reunited, better than ever!" Naruto announced proudly as he slammed his hands together, the energy in the air crackling with anticipation. Sasuke smirked slightly at the sentimentality, but deep down he knew this was only temporary.

After adding one more seal, Hashirama created five wood clones, four to make an opening for the allied shinobis and one to confront Madara, who decided to stand down until the original was ready to face him.

"I can finally release my full strength; I had been storing up for the past three years," Sakura said happily, feeling an invigorating rush of adrenaline coursing through her as she stretched her arms up in the air.

"Now that you mentioned it, you did say something like that when we were fighting Danzo," Sasuke commented, recalling that moment when he saw the seal appearing on her forehead, "does it have anything to do with that seal of yours?"

"Right... you've only seen me heal myself..." Sakura mumbled in realization, "let's just say that I've been fighting this whole time with 70% of my true strength."

Before Naruto could join in on the conversation, Hashirama momentarily opened the barrier, commenting to everyone that they needed to charge in right this second. Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and various other shinobi charged in to face the restrained Tailed Beast.

Seeing no way to defend itself, the Tailed Beast extruded pieces of its body to create smaller entities that resembled itself as a defensive maneuver.

Upon entering, Sakura recalled her previous mission, remembering the last time she had been together with Sasuke and Naruto as Team Seven and contemplated the times she was always protected by her teammates and her resolve to walk side by side with them.

However, as time went by, she had accepted the fact that she might never walk side by side with them. She could never compare herself with Sasuke, who had the Sharingan and belonged to the Uchiha Clan, nor with Naruto, whom she had learned from Orochimaru was the son of the Fourth Hokage and also had the Nine-Tails sealed inside him. Both had extraordinary power, and here she was, having normal parents, no Kekkei Genkai in her family, and no Tailed Beast sealed inside of her.

Truth be told, she was okay with it. With difficulty, she accepted herself for who she was and stopped comparing herself to Sasuke and Naruto and stopped thinking about what she didn't have. Instead, she started thinking about what she did have; she had excellent chakra control, was good with Medical Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, was strong against Genjutsu, and she completed the Strength of a Hundred Seal.

Her training with Tsunade, even if it was short, and after that with Orochimaru and Kabuto made her stronger and helped her learn a lot over the years. Just because she could never walk side by side with Sasuke and Naruto didn't mean she wanted them to protect her all the time. No, she had trained over the years, defeated Sasori, cured herself from his poison, and became strong enough to protect herself from anything while storing up enough chakra for her seal; aside from getting kidnapped by Itachi, so far she had done well.

As the first wave of Tailed Beast clones surged towards them, Sakura felt adrenaline spike through her system. One of the monsters charged towards her, an enormous maw snapping open with a vicious roar that echoed across the battlefield. But this time, she wasn't just a bystander; she was ready to fight.

"Watch out!" Naruto yelled, lunging forward, but Sakura was already prepared. Launching herself forward, clenching her right hand into a fist, she punched the monster with immense power, enhanced by the Strength of a Hundred Seal. The impact resonated through the air, sending shockwaves across the battlefield as the clone flew backward, crashing into several of its fellow beasts, the sound reminiscent of thunder. Not done, she jumped up and twisted in mid-air, channeling her energy as she drove her fist into the same clone.

"SHANNNAROOOOOO!" Sakura yelled, creating a massive crack in the ground beneath her landing to wipe out some of the creatures, much to her teammates' shock.

'Ne-never again! I can't poke fun at Sakura-chan again! Otherwise she'll kill me!' Naruto thought nervously as he watched her powers unfold before him.

"Hn," Sasuke smirked, an impressed glimmer in his eye despite his usual stoic demeanor, "that's what she meant by not holding back anymore."

"T-that's Sakura?" Ino whispered incredulously, her eyes wide as she witnessed the strength and determination emanating from her former rival.

"What raw power! It might even be stronger than Tsuna's!" Hashirama commented, surprised to see such a feat.

'All this time she's been constantly storing part of her chakra into that seal... the pinnacle of chakra control...' Shizune thought, 'the Strength of a Hundred Seal... something that even I couldn't master!'

"Whew, that felt good," Sakura murmured, momentarily letting her guard down; another monster appeared in front of her, ready to attack her from the left.

Both rushed in hopes of saving her, but before they could make their move, Sakura quickly drew out her katana. With a swift, powerful slash of her chakra-infused blade, she sliced through the beast with a ferocity that startled even herself. With both teammates by her side, Sakura happily noted that she didn't need to be saved.

"I could have saved you, Sakura..." Naruto mumbled slightly disappointed before quickly turning into his Tailed Beast Form and throwing his Wind Jutsu, Rasenshuriken, towards one of the two monsters approaching them.

"Stay on guard, Sakura," Sasuke warned her as he used Inferno Style: Flame Control Jutsu, a technique that applied shape transformation to the black flames of Amaterasu, allowing Sasuke to manipulate them into his sword and launch spike-shaped projectiles as he swung it towards the other monster.

As they stood together, Naruto examined Sasuke's Fire Style and Internal Mangekyō Sharingan while Sasuke examined Naruto's Tailed Beast Form.

Sai, who noted that he was also part of Team Seven and determined to become capable and stronger, made an attempt at the main body while flying on his ink bird, but he was unsuccessful and was saved by Naruto.

"Sai! Are you alright?!" Naruto asked worriedly as he landed beside him, the wind whipping through their hair.

"This fight is pointless," Sakura mumbled as she scanned the battlefield. "The clones continue to multiply and grow."

Sai suggested that it would be best to defeat the largest of the clones and slip close enough to beat the Ten-Tails itself, but the attempt was risky and fatal without Naruto's chakra.

"I can't right now," Naruto answered. "Kurama's still trying to mold enough chakra!"

"Without your chakra... things could get really ugly..." Sai responded, concern etched on his face. "We don't have the luxury of closing the distance in just one go, and furthermore, it'll take some time to seal the enemy's attacks..."

"And you guys can't afford to bring the medical squad onto the front lines," Sakura finished, her brows knitting together in concern.

"Sakura, stay with me; I'm going to summon Aoda," Sasuke commented, his expression steely as he surveyed the battlefield, already formulating a plan.

"I know I promised you I would stay by your side, but I need to do something first," Sakura gave him an apologetic expression. "After I'm done with this, I promise I will be by your side. Trust me."

"Hmpf, whatever." Sasuke replied, his gaze serious yet laced with concern. He knew she had grown stronger and trusted her capabilities, but the war was chaotic, and he wanted her close by.

"Just be careful," he added, a rare hint of vulnerability breaking through his usual stoic demeanor.

Sakura nodded, determination shining in her emerald eyes. "You too, Sasuke."

With that, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke simultaneously used the Summoning Jutsu.

"Jump in and close the distance in one go! This guy's got the power to seal the deal!" Naruto announced.

"Picking them off, then slipping through... not gonna be a problem," Sasuke announced.

"Can't believe I'm actually going to use this summoning jutsu," Sakura mumbled before she too bit her thumb for blood for this jutsu. "With me, they'll get treated in no time. In my current state... it's something I can easily accomplish!"

"Summoning Jutsu!" All three of them yelled at the same time.

~To Be Continued~

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