To celebrate, the complete recovery of Sasuke's summoned hawk, thanks to the expert ministrations of Sakura and Miss Inuzuka Hana, the temporary medical encampment's resident veterinarian, Team 7 decided to take Garuda on a little joyride to the northern reaches of the continent.
"So, how did you find out the location of Madara's secret base?" Kakashi asked Sakura as they soared above the frozen landscape of the Land of Iron on Garuda's back. "I'm on the Konoha Council, so my clearance level is fairly high, and I think I would have remembered seeing a report about something that important…"
Down below, the Land of Iron's samurai milled about like panicked ants. There was nothing they could do but watch helplessly as Team 7 flew over their heads ever northwards, utterly powerless to shoot down the trespassers.
"Oh, you know," Sakura said vaguely, pretending to examine her perfectly trimmed nails. "Six Paths… stuff… it's difficult to explain… you probably wouldn't get it even if I tried..."
The truth was that, after racking her brains, Sakura had finally remembered a few brief scenes from the anime that revealed the approximate location of Madara's hideout. After mentally cross-referencing those memories with Lady Tsunade's geography and geopolitics lessons, she had determined that the only place matching a graveyard filled with gigantic bones was the Land of Iron's northern peninsula.
"They're following us on foot," Naruto remarked, scooting over to Garuda's rear and peering over its tail feathers at the samurai jogging through the snow below in hot pursuit. "They're going to get hurt if there's a fight, y'know?"
They were about to go knocking on Madara's front door, and they had brought out the big guns. If Madara was home, the samurai would undoubtedly be caught in the crossfire… but seeing as their general, Mifune, was partly responsible for Lady Tsunade's death, Sakura couldn't have cared less if the samurai came to grief.
"You're so kind, Naruto-kun… do you want me to scare them away…?"
The dark, snow-laden storm clouds glowed with cyan light as Hinata pierced through the overcast heavens and levelled with Garuda the hawk, flying alongside Team 7. She was the reason the samurai had detected them in the first place, since Garuda couldn't carry all of them at once. Even without entering Tenseigan Chakra Mode, her innate flying ability was still perceptible by sensors, even though she shared the Ōtsutsuki clan's ability to conceal their own chakra signature.
"Oh yeah, good idea, Hinata-chan!" Naruto said brightly. "I'll go with you, ya know!"
Naruto leaned back, allowing himself to fall from Garuda's back and plummet into the void below. Midway through his fall, golden flames shrouded his silhouette as he entered Sage of Six Paths Mode, and with a newfound burst of speed, he swooped down towards the samurai with Hinata at his side.
"Even though it's quite rewarding to know I raised such strong disciples, I must admit it's a bit lonely watching you grow so much," Kakashi said with a small, rueful laugh as he watched the twin comets, one cyan and one golden, crash into the snow below, raising a tidal wave of white powder that slammed into their pursuers. "It seems like just yesterday I was still teaching you little brats how to be shinobi, but now I have nothing more to teach you… At least I'm not the only one who can't fly, eh…?"
"Oh, Sasuke and I can both fly with the Perfect Susano'o, and I can float for a few seconds even without it," Sakura said glumly, hugging her knees to her plump chest. "It's just that maintaining the Mangekyō Sharingan is painful even at the EMS stage, so we don't do it casually…"
Hearing that all three of his students could fly, how else could Kakashi react but by laughing it off?
"Ha… haha…"
Kakashi cast imperceptible glances at Sakura and Sasuke, noting the dark circles beneath their eyes. He could not help worrying about the two disciples who had remained on Garuda's back with him.
In them, Kakashi saw the old Team 7, his own cell under Minato-sensei: Kakashi, Rin, and Obito, all rolled into one, traumatised by war, buckling beneath unbearable pressure, and broken in their own different ways. They plainly were not sleeping well, and their fragile state of mind troubled him.
Kakashi knew all too well from Obito's example that for an Uchiha, it often only took one bad day to send them over the edge. Sasuke might appear defeated, but Kakashi could tell that a formidable storm was brewing behind his dull eyes. And though Sakura had always been more mentally resilient than Sasuke, that only meant that, when the dam finally broke, the aftermath would be all the more terrible…
Sakura clenched her fists. "That white-eyed bitch…" she murmured to herself with a frenzied look in her bloodshot eyes. "Is history correcting itself…?"
Kakashi had noticed the jealous, envious looks Sakura had been directing at the well-endowed Hyūga princess ever since they had set out north. However much he berated himself for entertaining such dark thoughts, he could not shake the feeling that, given the chance, Sakura would gladly attack Hinata to seize her Six Paths-level powers, despite Hinata being one of the Hidden Leaf's citizens whom she was sworn to protect…
"Looks like they're backing off," Kakashi said, swallowing hard as he watched Naruto and Hinata jointly unleash a flashy display of chakra fireworks that harmlessly blasted a group of samurai into a snowbank, sending the rest scrambling away in a panic. "Faced with this much firepower, I doubt they'll be inclined to follow us any further…"
They watched as Naruto and Hinata blasted off from the ground in a spray of powdered snow and streaked towards them, catching up to Garuda in no time. Naruto was the first to arrive, followed closely by Hinata, who dutifully kept three paces behind her future husband, like the perfect, submissive Japanese wife she wanted to be.
"Yo, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said, leisurely floating up to her eye level and hovering on his side as though he were lying on a couch. He extended a hand towards her. "Wanna try flying for a bit, ya know?"
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather keep flying with Hinata-chan?" Sakura said spitefully. "I can't really fly without the Susano'o, so I'd just get in your way."
Naruto was confused.
Why was Sakura angry at him, again? Was it that time of the month already? Wasn't she taking those little pills that stopped her monthlies so she wouldn't get pregnant when they had sex? He could sense tremendous malice from her, but the signal was all jumbled up, as though multiple sources of negative spiritual energy had stacked up on top of one another, interfering with each other…
"But you're the one I want to take flying," Naruto said insistently, wanting nothing more than to cheer her up. "Hinata-chan can already fly by herself, ya know? She doesn't need my help…"
Hinata's face fell.
With Sasuke present, the ghostly Urashiki did not dare reveal herself to encourage Hinata to bite off her love rival's head, then force herself upon the yellow-haired monkey and bear his children… but Naruto could still sense her killing intent emanating from Hinata's body.
Seriously, what in the world was going on with everyone today, Naruto wondered?
Whenever he entered Kurama Chakra Mode or Six Paths Sage Mode, Kurama's chakra would grant him the ability to detect negative emotions, but today, his passive was going on the fritz all the time for seemingly no reason, going off on Hinata and all his teammates… it was getting rather confusing. Had he done something to upset them?
"Maybe after the war ends," Sakura pouted. "I did want to visit Howling Wolf Village one day… we can make it a date, I s'pose… but just the two of us, got it?"
Before her untimely death, Lady Tsunade had expressed a wish to visit the Land of Iron's holy land of pharmacology once the times grew more peaceful. Although Sakura had made peace with her teacher's passing and had even been given the chance to say goodbye after her death, she still wished to keep honouring Tsunade's memory.
"Sure, that'd be great, ya know!" Naruto said in relief. "It's a date, believe it!"
The dark aura clouding Sakura slowly ebbed away, but it did not completely vanish, instead concentrating at her feet.