Late Time ...
Hashirama and Hiruzen were speechless, and Itachi also realized he had been too naive. Life shouldn't be compared in terms of value, but in this situation, they could only abandon those ordinary people who seemed to have less value.
Finally, they tacitly agreed to prioritize saving the shinobi first.
-------------------------------------------------------
Everyone temporarily dedicated themselves to the task of attaching life support devices to the ninjas trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, contributing their strength and intelligence.
Hashirama's Wood Style jutsu proved invaluable in producing the injection puppets; with a single clap of his hands, he could create hundreds of identical wooden puppets, greatly reducing Sasori's workload.
Tobirama and Minato then marked the partially completed puppets with the Flying Thunder God Technique, and then teleported them to various locations. Each wooden puppet could support approximately 5 or 6 adjacent ninjas simultaneously.
Izuna, Kakashi, and Itachi learned how to prepare the nutrient solution, working overtime to mass-produce it. Tobirama, ever the diligent one, even took the time to consider how to use ninjutsu to automate small-scale nutrient solution production.
Hiruzen, Madara, and Obito, along with their clones, followed Sasori and his clones around. Their job was to cut open the large cocoons, allowing Sasori or his clones to then insert the injection needles into the ninjas' veins to deliver nutrients. The Divine Tree would then re-encase the people, but without removing the needles. By subsequently pouring nutrient solution into the injection sacs of the puppets, a continuous supply of nutrients could be delivered to the ninjas.
Today was another day of repetition. Hiruzen and his clones continuously destroyed the cocoons, while one of Sasori's clones stood in the center, chakra threads extending everywhere, connecting to the puppets in all directions. As soon as a cocoon was destroyed by Hiruzen, Sasori would manipulate the injection needle to pierce it.
At that moment, another sound of something breaking free from a cocoon echoed, and Sasori instinctively thrust a needle forward, but it was directly knocked away by a fist.
He grunted, looking over with a hint of surprise, only to see Hiruzen Sarutobi excitedly rushing over, calling out a familiar name.
"Sakura, is that you?"
Sasori looked closely and realized it was indeed Sakura Haruno. She was tearing at the white cocoon covering her body, her face filled with pain and bewilderment.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had already reached Sakura. This wasn't his clone, but his actual Edo Tensei body. He was too excited to wait a moment longer. Hiruzen tried to help Sakura up, asking questions incessantly.
"Sakura, how did you get here? Kakashi said Kaguya took you away, but how are you in the Infinite Tsukuyomi? Wait, did you break free from the Infinite Tsukuyomi yourself? How did you do it?"
Sakura was dizzy and disoriented, still seemingly trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi. She couldn't answer the Third Hokage's questions, finally only managing to ask in a low, questioning voice,
"Hokage-sama?"
Sasori, watching from a distance, his lips slightly curved, a look of joy he himself didn't realize was on his face.
"Interesting, she actually broke free from the Infinite Tsukuyomi herself?"
Sasori had naturally seen how much effort Tobirama and the others had put into dispelling the Infinite Tsukuyomi, but now, Sakura Haruno had managed to break free from it on her own. As someone she had defeated, Sasori suddenly felt a sense of pride.
Sasori formed a hand seal, dispelling his clone. He needed to inform everyone of this news as quickly as possible.
Sasori usually spent most of his time at the main base preparing medicines. At this moment, one of his clones suddenly disappeared. Before Sasori could frown in confusion about what had happened, the clone's memories returned to him. His handsome eyes widened in surprise, and then, he slowly smiled.
"What's wrong?" Kakashi asked, finding it strange. Why was he laughing for no reason?
Sasori looked back at Kakashi, and a single sentence left Kakashi bewildered. "Your information is wrong."
"What's wrong with my information?" Kakashi hadn't even finished thinking about what wrong information he had given Sasori when he heard Sasori speak calmly.
"Sakura Haruno isn't with Kaguya; she's in the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Just now, she broke free from the Infinite Tsukuyomi herself, and she's now forty kilometers from here. The Third Hokage is with her."
"What? What did you say?"
Kakashi was stunned at first, then, as if he couldn't understand what Sasori was saying, he repeatedly asked, his body trembling slightly. Was Sakura here? Hadn't she been taken away by Kaguya? And she had even broken free from the Infinite Tsukuyomi?
Uchiha Itachi, usually composed, suddenly stood up. "You said Sakura Haruno broke free from the Infinite Tsukuyomi? Is that true?"
Izuna didn't know Sakura Haruno, but the fact that the Infinite Tsukuyomi couldn't be broken was common knowledge. Now, hearing that someone had actually done it, he became very interested. He chuckled.
"Whether it's true or not, we'll know when we go and see."
Sasori conveyed this message to Tobirama, Hashirama, Madara, Obito, and Minato in other locations via his bunshin (clone). Everyone began to rush towards that direction.
Minato and Tobirama had the Flying Thunder God Technique, and almost as soon as Sasori clearly described the location, they directly used the Flying Thunder God Technique to arrive at Sakura's location. There was a slight deviation, so they were a little far from Hiruzen and Sakura, but it didn't prevent them from clearly seeing that the person next to Hiruzen was indeed Sakura Haruno.
Surprise and joy flickered across their faces, but the next moment, Tobirama narrowed his eyes slightly, and Minato's eyes widened, blurting out,
"Danger!"
Both of them activated the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Behind Sakura Haruno, in a flash of lightning, huge, thick branches suddenly extended from the Divine Tree. But this time, it was clearly not to wrap around Sakura and pull her back into the Infinite Tsukuyomi, but to pierce her body directly. If it hit, not only would her body be destroyed, but her brain would be gone as well. But Sakura was completely stunned at this moment, unable to react at all. However, Hiruzen Sarutobi saw it, and he used all his strength to push Sakura Haruno away. He himself was impaled by a tree branch, and unlike those resurrected by the Edo Tensei jutsu who would slowly regenerate, Hiruzen Sarutobi withered away as if all his life force had been sucked out, becoming a thin, papery husk of a man. In an instant, he completely crumbled, disintegrated, and vanished into scattered dust.
Sakura's eyes widened in shock. "Third Hokage!"
Tobirama's expression also changed slightly. "Monkey!"
The divine tree branch, having missed its target, didn't stop, but relentlessly attacked Sakura again. Fortunately, Minato had arrived by then, and he picked up Sakura and used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport them to a distant location.
But at this moment, as if a unified signal had been given, all the surrounding divine trees went berserk. One after another, huge, thick branches extended out, all attacking Sakura.
Tobirama quickly followed to defend them. He used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport to Minato's side, swinging his Raijin Sword to desperately block the incoming branches. These branches were too thick; each was the size of a man's embrace, making it impossible to cut them with a sword.
Minato continuously used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport away from the attack range, while also searching for areas where the divine trees were less dense. Tobirama followed closely behind, covering their retreat. However, the place where they had initially set up their Flying Thunder God markers was near the divine trees, and even after moving dozens of kilometers away, as long as Sakura was present, the divine trees in the new location would also go berserk.
Sakura, still in Minato's arms, was in immense pain. Her memories were jumbled; she remembered dying, didn't she? Dying to protect Sarada, dying for the daughter she hadn't given birth to but had raised herself. But now, what she saw was a nightmare from sixteen years ago—the Divine Tree, and the man holding her, whose shattered face couldn't hide his extremely handsome features.
Sakura hesitantly asked, "Fourth Hokage-sama?"
Minato looked down at her and smiled slightly, his cobalt-blue eyes still conveying gentleness even in the darkness of his eye sockets.
"Yes, Sakura-chan, don't worry, we'll be out of danger soon."
He used the same affectionate term for her as his son Naruto, "Sakura-chan," not just "Sakura."
Tobirama caught up with them, running alongside them, and said concisely,
"Fourth Hokage, the Divine Trees are too dense here. Hand her over to me. I left a Flying Thunder God mark in the underground room where we were resurrected during the Fourth Great Ninja War. I'll take her there first, and you can teleport over after you find the others."
Minato didn't hesitate, handing Sakura over directly, "I'm counting on you, Second Hokage-sama."
During the Fourth Great Ninja War, Minato and Tobirama had left Flying Thunder God marks on each other, so finding each other was easy.
Tobirama activated the Flying Thunder God Technique and left, and without Sakura, the Divine Tree's attacks gradually slowed down and finally ceased completely.
To Be Continue ....