Ino's two bodies looked to Sakura for guidance as they flattened themselves against the wall on either side of a rice-paper sliding door. Beyond it lay the courtyard, where Sakura had earlier glimpsed the silhouette of the person she assumed to be the Grass Flower Group's leader through her Byakugan.
"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me at this late hour, Lady Magami."
Sakura silently raised a fist to signal for Ino to stay where she was, then pressed her ear against the wall. Unless something was wrong with them, people did not usually raise their voices unless they were speaking to someone else… but if there really was a second person in the courtyard with the leader, how had she failed to notice their presence until now?
"Spare me the pleasantries, Kitsuchi-dono," came a woman's stern voice through the thin paper door. "I only agreed to receive you because you told me you had news of the Box of Ultimate Bliss."
Kitsuchi… that was a Land of Earth sort of name, wasn't it?
Without warning, a smouldering sensation flared across the back of Sakura's head, as though someone's gaze were boring into her skin, filling her with the distinct impression that she was being spied upon. Though it was risky to mould chakra in such close proximity to two seasoned shinobi, Sakura activated her Byakugan, focusing her sight on the origin of the sensation…
…and saw that Hinata was staring straight at her; Neji and Tenten stood at her side, but Shikamaru and Sasuke were nowhere in sight.
"Quite," replied Kitsuchi. "But before that, there is the matter…"
Kitsuchi's voice trailed off as his gaze drifted towards the house.
"…of the three rats hiding on the other side of that door. Shall I take care of them for you?"
Magami's head abruptly turned to follow his gaze. "Show yourselves," she snarled. "You have until the count of…"
The sliding door opened, and out came two of her disciples, looking very contrite.
"Kazami, Muyami," Magami said sternly, placing her hands on her hips. "I am fairly certain I dismissed you already. What exactly do you think you're doing back here, spying on your sensei? And where is Burami?"
Kitsuchi observed the tall man rocking a towering pompadour and Frieza Force-style shoulder pads, alongside the dwarf wearing old Shanghai-style round sunglasses in the dead of night. They were a strange blast from the past, the former seeming plucked from the seventies and the latter from the twenties, but beyond that, there was nothing to suggest they were impostors using Transformation Jutsu to disguise themselves.
Any jōnin worth their salt could easily discern the telltale signs of the Transformation Jutsu, unless the impostor was using a special variant of the technique. Otherwise, there would be no such thing as masters of disguise in this world.
"Sorry, sensei," Ino said apologetically through Muyami's mouth. "We came back because Burami had forgotten something, but we accidentally eavesdropped on you…"
Magami frowned.
The Muyami she knew was extremely shy around strangers, and yet he had spoken clearly and without hesitation, even acknowledging her secret visitor's presence with a nod of the head.
"There was another person back there with you," Kitsuchi said abruptly. "About 80 kg, on the heavier side for a female…"
A vein popped on Sakura's forehead. How dare he accuse her of being fat? Her BMI wasn't at all representative of her physical condition! She had a very healthy hourglass physique, barely any abdominal fat!
Without warning, Magami attacked, expelling a powerful gale from her lips.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
Crimson flowers of blood bloomed across the two thralls' clothing as Ino tried to make them resist the wind pressure, but the nasty cuts forming across their fronts quickly multiplied in number. Worried about the state of her own body as the cold wind continued slicing into the two men she had possessed, she quickly released her jutsu, and they were sent tumbling away in the hurricane's gale-force winds.
The winds tore through the thin rice-paper door, revealing the curvy silhouette concealed behind…
"You!" Kitsuchi shouted angrily, immediately recognising Sakura's pink hair. "You're the woman who took my daughter's precious chest!"
"Wind Style: Gale Palm!"
Sakura struck out with her palm. The air before her rippled, disrupting the hurricane spewing from Magami's mouth, and the resulting air blast from the clashing winds hurled her into the courtyard's inner wall, sending her crumpling to the ground in a heap.
"Earth Style: Sandwich Jutsu!"
Kitsuchi rapidly wove through a series of hand signs before slamming his palms against the ground. Two great masses of compacted earth rose up on either side of Sakura, but before they could crash together and crush her between them, wind burst from her palms as she leapt, propelling her into the sky.
"Sasuke…?"
A great fireball lit up the night in the distance, visible even from dozens of kilometres away, but Sakura could not afford to look away from her own fight.
"Earth Style: Stone Fist Jutsu!"
Kitsuchi plunged his arms into the gravel at his feet, and when he pulled them out, two great stone fists encased his hands and forearms. He shifted into a boxer's stance, waiting for Sakura to fall into his punching range… after all, as an Earth Style specialist, he was better off waiting for her on the ground rather than jumping up and down like a jackrabbit.
"SHANNARO!" Sakura shouted as she punched.
Her bare fist crashed into Kitsuchi's armoured fist…
"Explosion Style: Landmine Fist!"
BOOM!
The pinpoint detonation erupting from Sakura's knuckles ruptured Kitsuchi's stone fist, shattering it back into rubble along with every bone in his arm. Like the detonation of a shaped charge, the jutsu channelled the explosion's force in a single direction, minimising harm to the user while maximising damage to the target!
"Ugh."
The explosion sent him crashing into the wall beside Magami, who was struggling to her feet after being struck by Sakura's Gale Palm.
"So much for stealth…" Sakura said glumly. "I thought he'd be stronger than this, I could have gone easier on him with a quieter technique…"
Without realising it, Sakura had already surpassed the level of a jōnin. Whereas before, she had been able to punch above her weight class by relying on cheats, special modes and powerful jutsu, her basics had finally caught up to the rest of her. With only her base strength, speed and chakra, she was now capable of easily suppressing a 'normal' elite jōnin such as Kitsuchi.
Sakura turned her gaze towards Magami.
Thankfully, she had the perfect helper who would be able to justify her presence here in the dead of night… After all, if it hadn't been for her timely intervention, the big bad ninja from Iwagakure would have surely succeeded in assassinating the Grass Flower Group's leader…
"No…" Magami mumbled as Sakura approached, her sinister eyes gleaming scarlet even as her face remained shrouded in shadow. "Get away…" she cried, drowning in sheer terror as Sakura's triple-tomoe Sharingan spiralled into its Mangekyō form. "Get away… get away!"