Tazuna's new home sat hidden inside a coastal forest, masked by tall, dense branches. In the mornings a thin mist always rose around it, making the place even harder to spot.
Normally, almost no one could find this location. That was why Kakashi felt safe leaving Sakura behind to guard the house.
After watching the others set out, Inari cautiously pushed the door open and came outside. He tugged lightly at Sakura's sleeve.
"Big sis… are they going to wipe out the enemies?"
Sakura turned to him, her gaze softening. "Yeah. They're going to get rid of the bad guys."
These past few days, Sakura had been the only one who kept checking on Inari. She'd go to his room sometimes, talk with him, or at least chat a bit even if it wasn't anything deep.
"But…" Inari looked conflicted. "Will they end up like my dad?"
"They might," Sakura answered bluntly.
Inari froze.
Sakura said calmly, "A hero isn't someone who can do anything. A hero is someone who knows it's impossible—and still does it anyway."
Inari nodded vaguely, but clearly didn't get it.
They'd had versions of this conversation many times. To Inari, if heroes could die, then heroes were fake—they didn't exist. Sakura always patiently corrected him, telling him that "hero" was a kind of spirit.
Spirit? What did that even mean? It was too abstract for him to grasp.
"Wait—" Sakura suddenly felt something off. The mist around them seemed thicker than usual.
"Inari, go back to your room," Sakura's expression tightened as she checked the strings hung with tiny bells nearby.
The strings stretched in different directions: some linked to traps, others were just laid through grass. If anything moved, the bells would chime.
Sakura looked. No chimes. None of the strings had shifted.
Maybe I'm overthinking…
Inari crept closer anyway. "Big sis, what is it?" Being near Sakura made him a little braver.
"Nothing. I probably—" Sakura didn't finish. She stared into the mist ahead, pupils snapping tight.
Shapes were forming inside the fog—one shadow after another. The air wasn't still either; sharp whistling sounds kept slicing through it.
At first they were faint, but the noise soon swelled, like stepping into a crowded market.
Tazuna and his family were startled into coming outside. When they saw a sea of black silhouettes, they sucked in cold breaths.
"You all get inside. Barricade the doors with cabinets, whatever you can. Grab anything you can use to defend yourselves." Sakura shoved Inari back toward the doorway.
"But big sis—what about you?!" Inari's voice trembled, tears threatening.
Sakura patted his head. "It's okay." She urged Tazuna's family to shut the door quickly.
Bang!
Sakura exhaled hard and turned to face the mass of people.
The crowd didn't advance. Instead, the people in the center slowly parted to form a narrow path. A tall man in samurai garb strode out.
The sides and back of his head were shaved, leaving a topknot in the middle. A long bow was strapped across his back.
With every step he took, the temperature around them climbed.
Sakura's face went grim. Another NPC she'd never seen.
The tall man spoke slowly. "No wonder we couldn't find you after searching so long. So you were hiding here."
"Please have Mr. Tazuna come out. Mr. Gato would like to invite him over for a talk."
Boom! A violent surge of chakra exploded around the man!
Sakura's hair whipped in the wind. She said coldly, "You call that a 'talk'? Just say it's a threat."
"If you want to call it that, sure." The man drew his long katana and pointed it at her. "Miss, don't make this harder on yourself."
Someone nearby snickered. "That woman's pretty hot. After we're done, let the boys have some fun?"
"Rip the cheongsam first, then the panties. Shoes, socks, ribbons—we can keep those."
"Got style, hahaha!"
Listening to their filthy words, Sakura's legs shook instinctively.
She was scared.
It wasn't like she'd never fought outnumbered before. But then she'd had Naruto and Sasuke at her side, Kakashi covering the rear, and if all else failed—Naruto's Nine-Tails cheat.
Nothing couldn't be solved by a single Tailed Beast Bomb. If there was—fire another one.
But now, she had to fight an endless wave by herself. And their leader clearly had something special.
No system. No Nine-Tails. No teammates. No margin for error.
"Afraid?" the tall man asked lightly. "How about we take a step back? You bring out Mr. Tazuna, and I'll let my men spare your life. Deal?"
Sakura didn't answer.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Her heartbeat thundered in her ears.
She bit down hard on her lower lip until blood seeped out. The pain steadied her. She pulled gloves from her tool pack and slid them on, then tied her pink ponytail high.
She thought of what she'd told Inari.
What makes a hero?
Heroes aren't fearless. Heroes are afraid—and still choose to do it anyway.
"Though ten thousand stand in the way, I go." Sakura whispered.
Then she charged into the crowd like Uchiha Madara storming the Allied Shinobi Forces.
Bam! Bam! Her fists smashed into vital points. She used bodies in front of her as shields against arrows from behind, weaving through the mob.
"Watch her punches!" a burly man shouted—and a heartbeat later Sakura was on him, a single blow shattering his front teeth.
Her strikes were savage and clean, unstoppable like a tide.
She didn't even use ninjutsu—just raw, straightforward taijutsu.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a massive arrow tore through the air straight at her. Sakura's breath hitched. She yanked out a kunai to deflect—
Thud! Thud! The arrow punched through several men and still flew at her, slamming her aside along with the corpses.
She rolled several times to bleed off the impact, then rose and looked ahead. The tall samurai had already drawn his bow again, pulling it into a ridiculous arc.
"Cough… so you're Lu Bu now, huh?" Sakura wiped blood from her mouth and dodged another huge arrow. The tip buried into the earth with a boom.
Sweat plastered strands of hair to her face. She switched to a more energy-saving method, then simply punched the ground, cracking it wide and trapping enemy feet in the fissures.
She was still a genin. Her stamina was fading.
And the crowd began to go feral. They hadn't expected a "weak woman" to be this terrifying.
"Gh—!" At last, someone drove a spear into Sakura's body, hollering in triumph—
Only for her to dissolve into water.
A heartbeat later her real body appeared behind him and launched him away with a punch.
Water Style: Water Clone Jutsu!
Seeing this, the samurai finally stopped waiting in the rear. He stormed forward in person.
He was going to kill Sakura himself.
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