Chapter 128 - Arc 8 - Forest of Quest: Rally The Forces

As always, writing this arc is fun.

I contemplated switching the order of the scenes because the timeline is off a little bit and it feels a little awkward having the Gaara alert scene right after the Sakura scene, it would have definitely felt better the other way around.
But uh, the ending scene only functions in the comedic intent if it's the final bit of the chapter so... Maybe I'll decide otherwise in the public release, for now it's this way.

Anyway, enjoy!

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The problem with any situation in which she can use the replacement technique to get out of danger, is that her opponent can also do that and can likely do that faster. So when she transports herself on the first bite trying to go through her to get to him, she expects to suddenly have Orochimaru bearing down on her like nothing happened while her summons tear themselves apart down below. It was a gamble, one in which she hoped the spectacle would make it hard to see her and distract him for a few moments while she got her bearings. At best she imagined she might manage to look in Sasuke’s direction and make sure he’s okay from the live tracker.

That’s not what happens at all. Sakura watches as three giant beasts are torn in half in one second, followed by another set so quickly she can’t even make out the movement among all the blood and decaying flesh flying through the air like discarded trash. She hasn’t had the mana to preserve any of them, so they’ve just kept rotting while she’s accrued a bigger army. The smell is terrible, but that might be a good thing since he’s now covered in what they shed while clashing against each-other in their bid to get through each-other to eat him. The smell will make him easier to detect when he gets bored and comes after her again, and it’ll make her harder to detect because she’ll just be another rotting creature in the horde.

The slash of a blade through bone, flesh, and cartilage is almost silent because of just how sharp his sword is. She has no idea when he pulled out a weapon but she is sure that she’s glad he didn’t do it when they were fighting. Its raw cutting power is much greater than Hunger’s despite the fact that by all appearances it looks like a normal uchigatana. It’s ripping through undead creatures in a way she never could. These beasts were somewhat difficult to take down one by one for her, and that was before Umbrella Intern raised their stats by fifty percent.

Using her skills to observe the weapon in his hand further reveals just how out of his league she is, and why this looks like a dance to her.

[The Sword of Kusanagi

Rarity: Bullshit

Description: Able to cut through anything head on, the Sword of Kusanagi can be used telekinetically, remotely, in hand and even be made to spin while inside of you, turning your insides into a slushy without its owner even having to lift a finger. The only limiting factor of this weapon in this world is its user.]

She’s glad her system agrees with her on the rarity of the equipment at least. That’s just absurd, it’s so absurd that she almost forgets why she made distance in the first place while watching the display of certain death before her. She doesn’t forget though, she won’t repeat earlier mistakes.

A mythical spray can enters her hand before she’s finished taking a breath. She watches Orochimaru move like lightning and cut through half a day’s work like it’s nothing, before she presses the top down and unleashes the magic onto herself. Its contents feel like a powerful wave of heat on her flesh, showing her that there’s variety to the healing spray and how it feels from can to can. She wonders how Tenten felt with so many of them on her flesh. Did it burn? Did it matter?

She feels internal wounds she didn’t know about patch themselves up, flesh knit together, and can even feel her stance get sturdier. At some point her leg was injured, she didn’t even notice that. The lack of pain effect from her traits definitely has a few downsides, maybe she should figure out if she can turn it off for important fights in the future? That is if she has a future.

That leaves her with six sprays, she can make that work. She doesn’t bother checking her HP as it works its magic, and she didn’t before she used it. She knows her limits well enough, the spray can overheal her with her first-aid skill and she probably couldn’t take more than one more hit from him without needing to be saved. She couldn’t take a hit from him at all if he hit her as hard as he is her ferocious legion of monsters down below. She’d be torn in half and shredded just for daring to stand in his way. He’s playing with her, that much is clear, and that comment about the world’s chosen leads her to believe it has to do with the system. Something about whatever makes her special has really pissed off this man and he is out for blood like nothing else.

She’s less sure about whatever Minato’s chosen means. He’s probably talking about Minato Namikaze, but she never met the man, he died before she was born. Is the system somehow his fault? She doubts it, she’s gotten the impression that this is a lot more complicated than that. At one point she figured she was just lucky, like this was probably some random intervention from reality having a bug or maybe enough magical energy amassed that some deity thought it’d be funny. She didn’t share Kakashi’s obvious skepticism and she doubted she was that important.

Now she’s not sure, she wants to believe she’s special. Maybe it’s the months with Ino and all the action and results she’s had making her self worth a little higher, but she would like to believe she’s chosen somehow. Like she’s a protagonist who’ll get thrown difficult challenges but ones she can always get through. She’d give anything for this to be something she has a clear answer to, but she’s lost and every second she wastes thinking about it is one less she has to live. That’s enough stalling. Naruto clones and beasts alike are getting butchered and they won’t stall for even a full minute if she uses them like this. She has to get involved, but how does she do that without dying horrifically?

“He’s going to finish soon.” Sasuke’s voice by her side creates an emotional effect she’s not sure how to categorize even while it flows through her, it creates a surge of shocks that agitate her spine. Rage? Relief? Bliss? She wants to cry and hug him and promise him she’ll never get him hurt again, but she also wants to yell at him for coming out of the damn hole. It took her a very long time to convince him to get in the hole in the first place, and then he left it less than two minutes into the fight! Was he ever in there in the first place or did he trick her with some kind of clone jutsu?

“I know.” She grumbles, “and he’s going to kill you if you’re still here. He’s refusing to kill me for some reason… None of us stand a chance, anyone but me will die.”

“He already tried to kill you so I think your theory may be off, regardless, I’m not leaving you. Not again.” She’s not sure when the first time was, but then she’s also not sure he’s talking to her in the first place. There’s a far away look in his eyes, one of equal parts resolve and terror. She doesn’t spend long looking at his gaze, instead she does her best to take him in and dredge up his state with her First-Aid skill. Sasuke looks a little charred, his clothes are torn and burnt but he’s otherwise fine. After a second there’s still no notice that he’s lying to her despite focusing hard on his form, in fact…

[Sasuke Uchiha is feeling adamant about staying by your side.]

There’s no convincing him either. Ino could probably do it, but Ino’s not here and she’s socially deficient in comparison. Her team's lives are in her hands and she can’t even talk well enough to resolve the situation. Charm truly is the cheat stat. “I have to change my plans then.” She says mournfully, standing up on the branch and leaning against the trunk while she gets her bearings. The sight below is only getting messier by the second, a whirlwind of death is splashing the ground and permanently ruining the land with a battlefield unlike anything she’s ever imagined before. Even the Resident Evil inspired mansion part of Fierro’s dungeon didn’t amount to nearly this much mess, and she was using a giant hammer. She needs to think of something quickly or this is only going to get worse. “If you won’t let me stall, then I’ll need to try and win.”

“You think we can do it?” Sasuke asks, glaring down at the field of blood and guts and torn apart corpses getting cut up even more with every slash. The bastard below shows off the mystical aspect of his sword, making it spin around him without even moving his hands and creating a constant flurry of slashes that splashes all her hard work around like jello. “I don’t think we can run from that.”

“No. But… Hero trait activate, connect me to Gaara.” Sakura says with a deep breath, following her teaching and taking her air deep before she makes a big decision like this. Getting Gaara involved might be sacrificing him, can she risk a friend to save herself? Not a chance. If it was just her and Orochimaru, she would die pinned to a tree, blood filling her lungs and choking her while the sadistic prick watches with glee. An image flashes through her head, of the woman from that Inn, pinned by a table leg. She did that, would it be any different?

She couldn’t call Gaara here for herself, there’s not even a slight chance, but for Sasuke? She can put others on the table for her family. She’ll probably hate herself tomorrow for this, but hopefully she’ll be alive to do it, and if the sacrifice works out, so will Gaara and Sasuke.

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[Quest Alert: Save Sakura

All forces head to the giant plume of smoke rising into the sky and be prepared for battle.]

Gaara’ stands still while his siblings poke and prod the notice in front of them. Roars erupt inside of him, and something visceral works its way up his entire body that he’s never truly felt before now.

Doubt and fear swirl around his energies in a sandstorm of uncertainty. “What do we do?” He asks, earning a very big blink and momentary taken aback expression on his sister’s normally confident face.

“You tried to kill me for her like a week ago, what do you mean ‘what do we do?” Temari asks. “The entire reason we’re even in this forest still is you were worried about her, we could have been done on the first day.”

“First hour, actually.” Kankura chimes in weirdly excitedly from behind them, counting a truly ridiculous amount of balls for the fifth time today.

“I know.” Gaara says, his hands feel the cool touch of the almost metallic yet ephemeral box floating in front of him with great interest as well as great hesitance. “But mother’s saying not to go.”

“What?” Temari looks in the direction of the plume. They’re about two minutes away, they should start moving now but…

“Mother is begging me not to go, but she likes Sakura. I don’t understand, she sounds afraid.” Gaara says, looking out towards the chaos himself. “She’s never sounded afraid before, and she’s been nice recently so maybe she has my best interest in mind for once…” He’s not sure, and he sounds it. A childish innocence shines through in his tone, one even a stranger could pick up on let alone his siblings. He’s worried, unsure, he might even be vulnerable.

“Well that’s the most terrifying thing I’ve heard in my entire life, and you threaten to kill me seven times a week.” Temari grumbles, mostly under her breath, giving her brother a look of anxiety, her own insecurities tempt her to tell him to run. But is that what’s best for them? A good sister would want what’s best for him.

“Sorry,” Gaara gives her a nod, and places his hands together placatingly, “I would like to stop doing that.”

“Somehow that’s worse.” Temari remarks-

Only to get smacked upside the side of her head by Kankuro.

“Shut up, that’s so much better.” The boy’s voice makes her shake her head a lot more than the measly force he can put into a smack does.

“Gaara… the Ichibi Isn't important, you should do what you want to. We’ll be by your side whatever you pick.” Temari reaches out and does something she hasn’t ever been able to do before, she rubs the redhead’s ragged hair.

Stranger yet, he lets her. The protective shield made with love, or possibly wrath she’s never quite been able to figure it out, simply doesn’t appear. Instead her fingers sink into a rough texture. It feels like he needs conditioner, like a lot of conditioner. Grains of sand try to cut her which is not what one would expect to find in anyone’s hair in the middle of Konoha. Even still, he’s absolutely covered in sand, revealing that his sand defense might not come from just his gourd.

In all her years, she’s never been able to touch Gaara before. Just who is this Sakura chick to change this much in such a short time? What is this mystical box in front of them, and why isn’t Gaara phased by it?

What is her life again?

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[Quest Alert: Save Sakura

Do Not head towards the giant plume of smoke rising into the sky. Doing so will result in distracting Sakura with your death, and starting the Bad End Route]

“Um…” Ino’s voice cracks a little, she can’t even keep the grief and shock at that message out of her voice for one single syllable. Shikamaru’s tries to place his hand on her shoulder comfortingly, only to think better of it when their movement angle makes it a bit too much effort. Choji does a comically wet spit take, because why wouldn’t be he drinking something while they dart through the trees? “That hurts.” She holds back something from deep within her throat.

“We failed,” Shikamaru reminds her, “all we can do now is find this guy she needs us to find.”

“Pointless.” The fully garbed and impeccably covered teen gliding through the air beside them says with a desert dry tone, eliciting glares from the trio even as the bugs inside of him buzz in agitation. His sunglasses gleam a little bit in the light from above, and his puffy hair is knocked around by the force of their movements. “No one that could help is missing that fight. He is already on his way.”

“It’s all we can do to help.” Ino growls at him like a wounded animal, something deep inside bubbling to the surface. “If there’s even a slight chance he hasn’t noticed, we need to go alert him.”

“Alert who?” It’s not Shino’s voice that asks, or Shikamaru, or even Chouji’s, it’s decidedly masculine though. Her gaze moves faster than her brain, but only barely. She doesn’t have to stop to know who just appeared beside them, but she does have questions. “Asuma?” Ino’s eyes widen in full alert. Did someone henge into their leader? No, that’s unreasonable, but why is he here? Who-

“You were sent here because the Hokage expected what’s going on.” Shikamaru says, looking his teacher over mid jump through branches. Despite their movements being leagues faster and more calculated than they could have been even a month prior, Asuma Sarutobi flows beside them as effortlessly as he breathes in full combat gear and looking ready for war. He makes it look like they haven’t even improved, and that just sinks in how weak they were before. If she’d taken getting stronger seriously before a quest had to shove the desire for power down her throat, would her quest message have told her to go towards Sakura? Is there even a reality in which she stands by Sakura’s side, or is weakness a foregone conclusion and mistake she makes again and again with endless opportunity?

“If the Hokage expected what’s currently going on he would have come himself,” Asuma corrects him with a shake of his head, “we expected trouble not whatever that is. Who are we heading towards?” There’s a shake in his tone, and that sets Ino on edge but also makes her a little relieved. Yes, it’s terrifying that Sakura’s facing something that is scaring her team’s private Jonin, but doesn’t that mean it’s not her own weakness that cost her this opportunity but an unreasonable ask? She could never have been scary to a Jonin, but then working together allows people to overcome insurmountable obstacles.

Lessons clash and spin around inside her head, making her have to resist crying out in pain from the headache wracking her emotional frame. Sakura’s in danger though, and her core is shrieking because of it. She doesn’t want to follow orders, she wants to run back towards the explosions and beg for any opportunity she can get her hands on.

“I don’t know, Sakura just said to go get him, and that Shino would know where he is because she was there for a while yesterday.” Ino pouts pitifully, looking between her teacher and Shino for help.

“Jiraiya of the Sannin,” Shino helpfully explains, “some of my hive will lead you the rest of the way, it will be faster that way.”

With a wave of his hand, a hundred fluttering wings leave the boy’s gray sleeve and dart forward. A single set of hand seals is all it takes before an identical Asuma spawns into existence and that races after them instantly. The clone and the insects disappear into the distance and leave them behind like nothing happened. The real Asuma turns on a ryo and darts away from them too, though they find he’s heading towards the smoke rising into the sky. Not a word of command passes between them, the situation is too urgent for their teacher to think of them for even a second. He seems more worried than before, mentioning a Sannin’s involvement in this has him firmly shaken in a way they simply can’t grasp. They’ve never seen something that powerful on the field before, and they likely won’t before they die. At least Ino hopes they don’t. Not understanding the moment is a luxury for her, and she grabs hold of it with grateful arms.

“What do we do now?” Ino asks, her feet leading her to a sudden stop along with the others. The message that their journey is now pointless clicking in everyone’s minds simultaneously. “The quest said we shouldn’t go.”

“The quest said you shouldn’t.” Shino says, poking the air in front of him, where something they can’t see undoubtedly floats.

“I don’t think you’re stronger than us, you might die.” Ino points out, and her eyes catch an almost imperceptible downward twitch of his lips. She is sure if his eyes weren’t covered by sunglasses that they would undoubtedly show doubts.

“In passing or not, Sakura has always been kind to me. I will not throw my life away, but I will not abandon a friend.” The bug boy says from behind his collar, thick and hiding his features to his advantage.

Ino can sense the slightest waver in him, but, well, she can’t let that stand. “Friend? Shino, Sakura might have learned your name a few days ago.” Ino finds herself desperately arguing. Despite everything in her body telling her to just let him go, that his arrival could be the difference between Sakura living and dying, throwing away their comrades to give her a few seconds isn’t something Sakura would want and it’s not something she’ll accept.

“You would be surprised how low the bar is for outsiders of the Aburame clan to be considered friendly,” Shino says almost tonelessly, “she once fell on her face to not step on a Kikaichu of mine.”

“... Just don’t die pointlessly.” Ino doesn’t have the heart to tell him that she probably just tripped, that moment was probably huge for him. She waves the boy off and lets the guilt simmer inside instead.

“What are you doing?” Ino asks a moment later when she sees Shikamaru start to move to follow Shino.

“If Asuma is here then the odds are high Kurenai and Kakashi are too.” Shikamaru explains, “I have a plan.”

That’s all Ino needs to ignore the stupid box and follow her team leader.

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[Quest Alert: Save Sakura

All forces head to the giant plume of smoke rising into the sky and be prepared for battle.]

“Shino’s not here, we should wait to vote.” Hinata suggests, poking the box, then resting her hand against it at the realization that it feels like cold steel. It’s a nice feeling for some sort of otherworldly illusion. It’s not a genjutsu, of that she’s sure, even if she didn’t have the Byakugan she’s become keenly aware of what genjutsu feels like from having Kurenai as a teacher. Neji said magic is real, that Sakura confirmed it and showed him a different world. She believed him, now she doesn’t have to believe him, magic is at her fingertips and floats in the air in a way no Ninja technique ever could, effortlessly. There’s no chakra or essence she can see, her eyes can’t see through it, it’s a blockage in the middle of the world begging for everyone around to pay attention to it and demanding tribute in her focus.

“You can wait, I’m going.” Rough tattooed cheeks puff a little at the very thought of staying put, a calloused thumb outstretches to point towards her teammate’s toothy grin of confidence. “Sakura’s practically my sister with all the time she’s spent with my mom and the clan, I can’t ignore information saying she needs me, even if it is a floating game display.” The fluffy white pup on his head barks in agreement, cementing his point.

Purple pupiless eyes tilt towards him, a meaningful gesture entirely orchestrated for his comfort, since her Byakugan has been active since the box appeared. “Neji will be on his way too, can we even help if he’s not enough?” She reveals her real thought process, vulnerability worn on her sleeve more openly than a thousand still bleeding cuts. Someone hurt her, proved to her that she’s worthless, and now it once again shows itself when it matters.

“Only one way to find out, let’s go!” He shouts, and she doesn’t wait, her feet take her after Kiba the moment he moves, insecurities once again flowing away at the beat of her teammate’s drum.

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[Quest Alert: Save Sakura

All forces head to the giant plume of smoke rising into the sky and be prepared for battle.]

“We going?” Neji asks, barely glancing at the floating box in front of him.

“We going.” Tenten nods, already moving without even stopping to do anymore than a skim.

“I’m already halfway there!” Lee’s shout echoes through the forest, his trail kicking up dirt from just how fast he’s moving.