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Chapter Thirteen – The Calm Before

With great effort, Sakura Haruno struggled up out of the dim, gummy twilight of unconsciousness.
The soft weight she felt pressing down upon her turned out to be the form of Hinata Hyuga, also out cold.

A few attempts to shift her friend's weight did no good, so Sakura called aloud, “Guard! Get in here!”

The Anbu ninja who'd been watching her hospital room's door responded at once, seeming to simply appear in the room, with his hand over his shoulder, on the hilt of his weapon. “What's amiss.... Her?!”

“First, get Hinata here into another room and have the doctors check her for drugs or other signs of tampering. I think she's been under the influence of an enemy shinobi for quite some time. Have them check me too.”

The guard took Hinata in his arms, already barking orders into his communications headset.

“And get word to Lady Tsunade immediately,” Sakura added sharply. “I need to see her as soon as possible!”

***

Distant miles away, Naruto Uzumaki fought for his life.

Ahead, another of the water-blob things was rising out of the ground, the soil turning to dust beneath it. Like all it's brethren, this thing was vaguely human shaped, nearly two meters tall, and damn-near impossible to destroy.

“What is it with these things!” he snarled. Focusing his chakra into the yet another spinning orb with the aid of several clones. He pounded the Rasengan into the thing's chest as it lurched for him.

The water monster exploded in a shower of droplets and Naruto continued on to where Rock Lee was swarmed under by more of them.

But Lee rescued himself with a powerful taijutstu attack, reducing several of the attacking enemy to gentle rain.

“Neji says to hold this flank!” Naruto barked to him. “He sent for reinforcements, they should be here soon!”

“They cannot come soon enough,” Lee panted before hurling himself into a another wall of enemies.

***

Tsunade entered Sakura's hospital room just as the doctors left. Her face was grim.

“They cleared me!” Sakura said excitedly. “I've got to go! My friends are being attacked!”

“We know. Neji sent word over an hour ago. Reinforcements are already en route.”

“If I hurry, “ Sakura began, reaching for her clothes and beginning to loosen her hospital gown, “I think I can still catch up!”

“You aren't going.”

The Jonin froze. “What?”

“You have nearly died, TWICE.” The Hokage said firmly. “And after the incident at the aquatic center... You'd be of no use in the field.”

“But... Lady Tsunade... Please!”

“NO, Sakura! You're on medical inactive status until I say otherwise. You will stay in the village and rest. I understand you've been discharged from the hospital, and cleared of that strange genjutsu-water?”

“Yes,” she said glumly.

“Then I recommend you go home and rest.” Tsunade said, trying to comfort her student after having to be so harsh. “We'll talk later, I promise.”

“Very well, Lady Tsunade.” Sakura bowed, and turned away to get dressed, eyes stinging with angry tears.

***

The wisp of cloud came to earth and coalesced into Yuki of the Depths. The strike leader looked about the concealed campsite, and found her sister, Ame sitting in a pose of utmost concentration, the effort generating so many water-soldiers apparent in the grim set of her mouth, and the sheen of sweat on her brow.

“How's the fight?” her sister managed to say behind gritted teeth.

“A splendid little furball. The Leaf are being overwhelmed. But don't worry, their reinforcements will be here soon. I saw them speeding through the trees.”

“Good, we get them all at once. The effort of not winning this outright is a bit of a strain...”

Yuki laughed. “Team Two is in position as well. When the signal is given, what happened to the sand ninja will look like a hiccup.”

“Good. Ah.... The Leaf's backup is here...”

Both Depths Jonin grinned viciously as the sounds of battle increased.

***

A watery hand latched around Naruto's left ankle and abruptly he was airborne, right into a tree.

With a puff of smoke, the shadow clone vanished.

“Damn!” The original Naruto swore. “That was my last one. If I make more, I'll be too low on chakra to fight much longer!”

“Then we stand proud here!” Lee exulted to the heavens, already he was flagging badly. The pair hadn't even seen most of the others in far too long.

“That we do, Bushy Brow!” Naruto agreed. “That we do! Come on you wet blankets! Step up and get some!”

Suddenly, the tail of a great serpent whipped in front of Naruto, exploding the several dozen water zombies lurching towards him like balloons.

“Get some?” Anko echoed from a tree branch high above him. “Get some?! Naruto, if you don't learn to say cooler things, you'll ALWAYS be a Genin.”

“Anko! Lee, we got help!”

Rock Lee looked stricken. “But then, we are deprived our glorious last stand!”

As Naruto laughed, Anko barked an order into her comset. “Ok, Depth Charge! We're up! Temten! Let `em have it! Neji, keep Temari and Tenten covered best as you can with what you've got left!”

“Depth Charge?” Naruto echoed. “What's goin on?”

“Just watch...” Anko purred as her snakes cleared away more enemies.

Out of the trees, Tenten and Temari landed, both armed with a pair of golden metal hand fans. The two girls rose swiftly and stood back to back. They began twirling around each other in a swift and precise dance. Suddenly, blue chakra outlined their forms, their fans, and then dispersed into the air.

Wind grew, and multiplied around them. Then, with a blast that stripped trees bare and flung mortal men to the ground, the chakra-infused wind lashed out, cleaving water zombies to mist, then to nothing.

Still the hurricane gusted out, focused and controlled. It tore into the throngs of the enemy and erased them from the field. Friends it left intact, if shaken. Allies it stepped over and around, but the liquid bodies of the Leaf's foes were chewed away like the erosion of eons in microseconds.

“Anything else?” Anko asked with a fair dose of swagger.

***

'What am I doing here?' Sakura asked herself, as she stared at the still surface of the Aquatic Center's artificial lake. 'I promised Lady Tsunade....'

What? That's she'd go home? No, she hadn't Just that she wouldn't go to the aid of the her friends.

Once again, Naruto went into danger while she stayed behind. Always the same view, of his back, as he strode to be her shield.

She felt so useless, so pathetic. But what could she do? Tsunade was right. She'd show herself more than vulnerable to the Depths ninja, she'd been weak.

Weakness, said her inner voice firmly, can be overcome.

She stepped out of her shoes and touched a bare toe to the water's surface. Her skin crawled.

Get over it! Prove it to Tsunade that you're not a failure! Prove it to Naruto that you're worthy of all he does! Prove it to yourself that you ARE a ninja!

With grim determination, she reached for the hem of her shirt. She stripped it off with an angry flair, her shorts followed. The center was deserted, except for her. But she wouldn't have done any different if the place were full. This was a battle between her and her fear.

And by the Leaf, she would win it.

Clad in bra and panties, Sakura found an overhang of the artificial lake that looked over a deep pocket of the pool, and jumped in.

Every instinct screamed at her. For an instant, she panicked. The water closed over her, came burning up into her nose and she nearly choked.

Just let go... the defeatist part of her said. One deep breath and it's all over.

NO!

But come on, what does this prove? That you're not afraid to strip in public?

NO!

What then?

That water does not have power over me! That I am not controlled by my fear, by YOU. I am a ninja! A kunoichi of the Hidden Leaf, and I am not afraid!

Bout damn time. Her inner voice, the REAL Sakura said admiringly. Now, maybe you're ready for this...

And suddenly, something that had been niggling at her since the attack in the waters of the Crescent Moon made perfect sense. It was so simple! But could she do it?

She bent her will into molding her chakra...

Ten minutes later, she surfaced, gasping. It wasn't right. It hadn't worked. Taking a fresh breath, she tried again, only to fail once more. She knew this was correct. That jutsu HAD to function this way... didn't it?

Suddenly, a vision of Naruto came to her mind. “Don't give up! Its all or nothing!' he seemed to shout to her.

“All or nothing...” she repeated and bounded out of the water and returned with a scuba weight belt, with nearly a hundred pounds of weight in it, and a cable lock. She passed one end of the cable though the belt, and walked along the edge of the lake, shivering at what she was about to do.

There. This section of the artificial lake shore, like the one before, went straight down, but here there were dozens of large metal handles on the floor. The idea was artificial rocks could be placed over those handles to simulate underwater terrain, but for now, the floor was empty and smooth aside from the metal loops.

This is insane... she thought. If she was wrong this time....

Then she was good as dead anyway.

Bending over, she loped the heavy belt to her feet, leaving the cable handy. The she took a deep breath, aimed herself, and jumped feet first into the lake.

It took only a moment to reach the bottom. She landed with a loud thud and shifted until she was sitting cross-legged on the bottom. Quickly, she looped the cable around the nearest handle, and closed it with a click of finality.

Sakura would succeed, or die.

Then, she completely relaxed her body, her will, her mind. She was close to the answer, she KNEW she was.

Moments ticked slowly by. With her chakra not focused on breath control, she would have only a few minutes at best, not the long term breath-holds shinobi were normally capable of. Already her lungs burned.

She extended her senses into the water, tried to make it a part of herself, her awareness. Her eyes shut of their own accord, Sakura released a few bubbles to ease the growing pressure. She felt their shape as they rose, dancing through the water.

Your going to drown... came her defeatist self. And when they find your body, they'll call it suicide. You were too weak to even endure life. You're pathetic.

Her lungs were on fire now, she could feel her stomach rippling with the effort of her diaphragm muscles to force her lungs to relent, force here mouth to open.

Any moment now... the voice cooed.

Sakura straightened her spine, and assumed a gesture of meditation, trying only to silence that inner voice.

The pressure grew, the effort escalated, the margin grew thinner, and thinner. Already, her scarlet cheeks were shading to purple and the spots danced in her head.

No! She could find the way, the trick of it!

A violent shaking spasm and bubbles erupted from her mouth. The pent volcano of fiery air forced her lips open wide and before she could slam them shut once more, her lungs instinctively puled in...

...on sweet, pure air.

Before her, over her nose an mouth, rode a ripple in the water, her spent breath pushing at the chakra-infused membrane. Fresh oxygen flooded her lungs and sped through her blood. She filled them again, and again.

She had mastered it. The same jutsu the Hidden Depths used, the same technique was her's. The deadly aspect of water, was now her friend. The enemy's greatest strength, was now her own.

And the secret was so beautiful. It wasn't something to be said in words, she doubted she could ever explain it, but the sheer beauty of it, of the life made her weep.

Releasing the hand sign did not halt the jutsu. So she reached for the cable binding her to the floor. It was stuck. She tugged at it and it wouldn't budge. She laughed then, for the first time since her return home, Sakura laughed and laughed, with sheerest joy. She waved a dismissive hand at the cable lashed to the iron loop in the floor.

..and it was smashed to ruin.

She stopped laughing and blinked in surprise.

THAT was unexpected. It felt like the technique she used to smash boulders, but she hadn't willed any chakra into it at all, it had just been a slight gesture.

Carefully, she extracted herself from her suicide rig. Bracing each foot under two more of the loop handles, she focused chakra into her right fist and delivered a straight punch at the far wall with all her might.

She wasn't sure what would happen, but was unprepared for it to blow most of the far wall of the complex into the street.

The aquatic complex was located midway along a hillside. The artificial lake drained out the hill and into the houses and fields down the road, leaving her standing in open air, still frozen in shock.

Above, in the observation gallery, a single person began to clap.

Sakura whirled to find the Hokage herself watching her, with an ear-to-ear grin.

“La...Lady Tsunade, Master.” Sakura was suddenly keenly aware she was wearing soaked underwear in the center of a Leaf Village training faculty she had just destroyed.

“I knew you had it in you, Sakura!” The head of the Leaf village vaulted the guard rail and dropped twenty feet to land next to her student.

“Lady... May I please go, and help my friends?”

“Well, about that. I'm afraid you can't just yet.”

Sakura's heart fell. “Why not?!”

“For one thing, your clothes are now six miles away...” Tsunade gestured at the gaping hole in the wall, from which rubble still fell disconcertingly often.

“But..!”

“So I guess these will have to do instead,” She whistled up to the observation deck and Shizune dropped a cloth wrapped bundle.

Tsunade caught it and handed it to Sakura with a wide smile.

Inside was a new duty uniform. It's cut and design was sort of a mix of her Chunnin and Gennin outfits, along with braced gloves and new boots. Beneath the cloth was a highly flexible mesh weave, so fine as to appear solid, but supple as cotton.

Sakura's mouth fell open. It had to cost more than her house.

“Go kick their butts, kid.” Tsunade said, putting a consoling hand on Sakura's shoulder. “I am so, so proud of you.”

Five minutes later, Sakura Haruno was girded for battle, and racing away into the new dawn.

“She sorted it all out on her own,” Shizune said from behind Tsunade as they watched the Jonin go. “That means that present comes out of your pocket. You lost the bet.”

In the distance Sakura hurtled over the Village's outer wall with a carrying whoop.

“Did I? Tsunade asked around a smile.

Description
Chapter Thirteen – The Calm Before

With great effort, Sakura Haruno struggled up out of the dim, gummy twilight of unconsciousness.
The soft weight she felt pressing down upon her turned out to be the form of Hinata Hyuga, also out cold.

A few attempts to shift her friend's weight did no good, so Sakura called aloud, “Guard! Get in here!”

The Anbu ninja who'd been watching her hospital room's door responded at once, seeming to simply appear in the room, with his hand over his shoulder, on the hilt of his weapon. “What's amiss.... Her?!”

“First, get Hinata here into another room and have the doctors check her for drugs or other signs of tampering. I think she's been under the influence of an enemy shinobi for quite some time. Have them check me too.”

The guard took Hinata in his arms, already barking orders into his communications headset.

“And get word to Lady Tsunade immediately,” Sakura added sharply. “I need to see her as soon as possible!”

***

Distant miles away, Naruto Uzumaki fought for his life.

Ahead, another of the water-blob things was rising out of the ground, the soil turning to dust beneath it. Like all it's brethren, this thing was vaguely human shaped, nearly two meters tall, and damn-near impossible to destroy.

“What is it with these things!” he snarled. Focusing his chakra into the yet another spinning orb with the aid of several clones. He pounded the Rasengan into the thing's chest as it lurched for him.

The water monster exploded in a shower of droplets and Naruto continued on to where Rock Lee was swarmed under by more of them.

But Lee rescued himself with a powerful taijutstu attack, reducing several of the attacking enemy to gentle rain.

“Neji says to hold this flank!” Naruto barked to him. “He sent for reinforcements, they should be here soon!”

“They cannot come soon enough,” Lee panted before hurling himself into a another wall of enemies.

***

Tsunade entered Sakura's hospital room just as the doctors left. Her face was grim.

“They cleared me!” Sakura said excitedly. “I've got to go! My friends are being attacked!”

“We know. Neji sent word over an hour ago. Reinforcements are already en route.”

“If I hurry, “ Sakura began, reaching for her clothes and beginning to loosen her hospital gown, “I think I can still catch up!”

“You aren't going.”

The Jonin froze. “What?”

“You have nearly died, TWICE.” The Hokage said firmly. “And after the incident at the aquatic center... You'd be of no use in the field.”

“But... Lady Tsunade... Please!”

“NO, Sakura! You're on medical inactive status until I say otherwise. You will stay in the village and rest. I understand you've been discharged from the hospital, and cleared of that strange genjutsu-water?”

“Yes,” she said glumly.

“Then I recommend you go home and rest.” Tsunade said, trying to comfort her student after having to be so harsh. “We'll talk later, I promise.”

“Very well, Lady Tsunade.” Sakura bowed, and turned away to get dressed, eyes stinging with angry tears.

***

The wisp of cloud came to earth and coalesced into Yuki of the Depths. The strike leader looked about the concealed campsite, and found her sister, Ame sitting in a pose of utmost concentration, the effort generating so many water-soldiers apparent in the grim set of her mouth, and the sheen of sweat on her brow.

“How's the fight?” her sister managed to say behind gritted teeth.

“A splendid little furball. The Leaf are being overwhelmed. But don't worry, their reinforcements will be here soon. I saw them speeding through the trees.”

“Good, we get them all at once. The effort of not winning this outright is a bit of a strain...”

Yuki laughed. “Team Two is in position as well. When the signal is given, what happened to the sand ninja will look like a hiccup.”

“Good. Ah.... The Leaf's backup is here...”

Both Depths Jonin grinned viciously as the sounds of battle increased.

***

A watery hand latched around Naruto's left ankle and abruptly he was airborne, right into a tree.

With a puff of smoke, the shadow clone vanished.

“Damn!” The original Naruto swore. “That was my last one. If I make more, I'll be too low on chakra to fight much longer!”

“Then we stand proud here!” Lee exulted to the heavens, already he was flagging badly. The pair hadn't even seen most of the others in far too long.

“That we do, Bushy Brow!” Naruto agreed. “That we do! Come on you wet blankets! Step up and get some!”

Suddenly, the tail of a great serpent whipped in front of Naruto, exploding the several dozen water zombies lurching towards him like balloons.

“Get some?” Anko echoed from a tree branch high above him. “Get some?! Naruto, if you don't learn to say cooler things, you'll ALWAYS be a Genin.”

“Anko! Lee, we got help!”

Rock Lee looked stricken. “But then, we are deprived our glorious last stand!”

As Naruto laughed, Anko barked an order into her comset. “Ok, Depth Charge! We're up! Temten! Let `em have it! Neji, keep Temari and Tenten covered best as you can with what you've got left!”

“Depth Charge?” Naruto echoed. “What's goin on?”

“Just watch...” Anko purred as her snakes cleared away more enemies.

Out of the trees, Tenten and Temari landed, both armed with a pair of golden metal hand fans. The two girls rose swiftly and stood back to back. They began twirling around each other in a swift and precise dance. Suddenly, blue chakra outlined their forms, their fans, and then dispersed into the air.

Wind grew, and multiplied around them. Then, with a blast that stripped trees bare and flung mortal men to the ground, the chakra-infused wind lashed out, cleaving water zombies to mist, then to nothing.

Still the hurricane gusted out, focused and controlled. It tore into the throngs of the enemy and erased them from the field. Friends it left intact, if shaken. Allies it stepped over and around, but the liquid bodies of the Leaf's foes were chewed away like the erosion of eons in microseconds.

“Anything else?” Anko asked with a fair dose of swagger.

***

'What am I doing here?' Sakura asked herself, as she stared at the still surface of the Aquatic Center's artificial lake. 'I promised Lady Tsunade....'

What? That's she'd go home? No, she hadn't Just that she wouldn't go to the aid of the her friends.

Once again, Naruto went into danger while she stayed behind. Always the same view, of his back, as he strode to be her shield.

She felt so useless, so pathetic. But what could she do? Tsunade was right. She'd show herself more than vulnerable to the Depths ninja, she'd been weak.

Weakness, said her inner voice firmly, can be overcome.

She stepped out of her shoes and touched a bare toe to the water's surface. Her skin crawled.

Get over it! Prove it to Tsunade that you're not a failure! Prove it to Naruto that you're worthy of all he does! Prove it to yourself that you ARE a ninja!

With grim determination, she reached for the hem of her shirt. She stripped it off with an angry flair, her shorts followed. The center was deserted, except for her. But she wouldn't have done any different if the place were full. This was a battle between her and her fear.

And by the Leaf, she would win it.

Clad in bra and panties, Sakura found an overhang of the artificial lake that looked over a deep pocket of the pool, and jumped in.

Every instinct screamed at her. For an instant, she panicked. The water closed over her, came burning up into her nose and she nearly choked.

Just let go... the defeatist part of her said. One deep breath and it's all over.

NO!

But come on, what does this prove? That you're not afraid to strip in public?

NO!

What then?

That water does not have power over me! That I am not controlled by my fear, by YOU. I am a ninja! A kunoichi of the Hidden Leaf, and I am not afraid!

Bout damn time. Her inner voice, the REAL Sakura said admiringly. Now, maybe you're ready for this...

And suddenly, something that had been niggling at her since the attack in the waters of the Crescent Moon made perfect sense. It was so simple! But could she do it?

She bent her will into molding her chakra...

Ten minutes later, she surfaced, gasping. It wasn't right. It hadn't worked. Taking a fresh breath, she tried again, only to fail once more. She knew this was correct. That jutsu HAD to function this way... didn't it?

Suddenly, a vision of Naruto came to her mind. “Don't give up! Its all or nothing!' he seemed to shout to her.

“All or nothing...” she repeated and bounded out of the water and returned with a scuba weight belt, with nearly a hundred pounds of weight in it, and a cable lock. She passed one end of the cable though the belt, and walked along the edge of the lake, shivering at what she was about to do.

There. This section of the artificial lake shore, like the one before, went straight down, but here there were dozens of large metal handles on the floor. The idea was artificial rocks could be placed over those handles to simulate underwater terrain, but for now, the floor was empty and smooth aside from the metal loops.

This is insane... she thought. If she was wrong this time....

Then she was good as dead anyway.

Bending over, she loped the heavy belt to her feet, leaving the cable handy. The she took a deep breath, aimed herself, and jumped feet first into the lake.

It took only a moment to reach the bottom. She landed with a loud thud and shifted until she was sitting cross-legged on the bottom. Quickly, she looped the cable around the nearest handle, and closed it with a click of finality.

Sakura would succeed, or die.

Then, she completely relaxed her body, her will, her mind. She was close to the answer, she KNEW she was.

Moments ticked slowly by. With her chakra not focused on breath control, she would have only a few minutes at best, not the long term breath-holds shinobi were normally capable of. Already her lungs burned.

She extended her senses into the water, tried to make it a part of herself, her awareness. Her eyes shut of their own accord, Sakura released a few bubbles to ease the growing pressure. She felt their shape as they rose, dancing through the water.

Your going to drown... came her defeatist self. And when they find your body, they'll call it suicide. You were too weak to even endure life. You're pathetic.

Her lungs were on fire now, she could feel her stomach rippling with the effort of her diaphragm muscles to force her lungs to relent, force here mouth to open.

Any moment now... the voice cooed.

Sakura straightened her spine, and assumed a gesture of meditation, trying only to silence that inner voice.

The pressure grew, the effort escalated, the margin grew thinner, and thinner. Already, her scarlet cheeks were shading to purple and the spots danced in her head.

No! She could find the way, the trick of it!

A violent shaking spasm and bubbles erupted from her mouth. The pent volcano of fiery air forced her lips open wide and before she could slam them shut once more, her lungs instinctively puled in...

...on sweet, pure air.

Before her, over her nose an mouth, rode a ripple in the water, her spent breath pushing at the chakra-infused membrane. Fresh oxygen flooded her lungs and sped through her blood. She filled them again, and again.

She had mastered it. The same jutsu the Hidden Depths used, the same technique was her's. The deadly aspect of water, was now her friend. The enemy's greatest strength, was now her own.

And the secret was so beautiful. It wasn't something to be said in words, she doubted she could ever explain it, but the sheer beauty of it, of the life made her weep.

Releasing the hand sign did not halt the jutsu. So she reached for the cable binding her to the floor. It was stuck. She tugged at it and it wouldn't budge. She laughed then, for the first time since her return home, Sakura laughed and laughed, with sheerest joy. She waved a dismissive hand at the cable lashed to the iron loop in the floor.

..and it was smashed to ruin.

She stopped laughing and blinked in surprise.

THAT was unexpected. It felt like the technique she used to smash boulders, but she hadn't willed any chakra into it at all, it had just been a slight gesture.

Carefully, she extracted herself from her suicide rig. Bracing each foot under two more of the loop handles, she focused chakra into her right fist and delivered a straight punch at the far wall with all her might.

She wasn't sure what would happen, but was unprepared for it to blow most of the far wall of the complex into the street.

The aquatic complex was located midway along a hillside. The artificial lake drained out the hill and into the houses and fields down the road, leaving her standing in open air, still frozen in shock.

Above, in the observation gallery, a single person began to clap.

Sakura whirled to find the Hokage herself watching her, with an ear-to-ear grin.

“La...Lady Tsunade, Master.” Sakura was suddenly keenly aware she was wearing soaked underwear in the center of a Leaf Village training faculty she had just destroyed.

“I knew you had it in you, Sakura!” The head of the Leaf village vaulted the guard rail and dropped twenty feet to land next to her student.

“Lady... May I please go, and help my friends?”

“Well, about that. I'm afraid you can't just yet.”

Sakura's heart fell. “Why not?!”

“For one thing, your clothes are now six miles away...” Tsunade gestured at the gaping hole in the wall, from which rubble still fell disconcertingly often.

“But..!”

“So I guess these will have to do instead,” She whistled up to the observation deck and Shizune dropped a cloth wrapped bundle.

Tsunade caught it and handed it to Sakura with a wide smile.

Inside was a new duty uniform. It's cut and design was sort of a mix of her Chunnin and Gennin outfits, along with braced gloves and new boots. Beneath the cloth was a highly flexible mesh weave, so fine as to appear solid, but supple as cotton.

Sakura's mouth fell open. It had to cost more than her house.

“Go kick their butts, kid.” Tsunade said, putting a consoling hand on Sakura's shoulder. “I am so, so proud of you.”

Five minutes later, Sakura Haruno was girded for battle, and racing away into the new dawn.

“She sorted it all out on her own,” Shizune said from behind Tsunade as they watched the Jonin go. “That means that present comes out of your pocket. You lost the bet.”

In the distance Sakura hurtled over the Village's outer wall with a carrying whoop.

“Did I? Tsunade asked around a smile.