"The Raikage's calling for an emergency Gokage Summit? The nerve of that man!" said Sakura, scowling at Shikamaru from behind her desk. "Does he honestly think I'll attend after what his predecessor and the others did to Lady Tsunade?"
"It seems the other Great Nations have finally noticed that these meteor showers are the result of the moon falling out of orbit," Shikamaru replied, shrugging helplessly. "The end of the world as we know it is a matter that concerns everyone, after all…"
Originally, Sakura's only dilemma for the month had been the matter of shunting Hidden Leaf Village back into its original dimension, but with the world-ending threat of the moon literally looming overhead, she was not especially in a hurry to put the village back in harm's way.
"Troublesome…" Sakura muttered to herself. "This means they'll be meeting in the Land of Iron, but that's exactly where the Moon Cave is located…"
"Pardon?" Shikamaru said, confused.
Sakura had initially intended to mobilise all of the Hidden Leaf's heavy hitters to pre-emptively strike at Toneri, the moon-dwelling Ōtsutsuki clan member she knew was responsible for the satellite's fall, but this changed things.
Naturally, the Land of Fire moving against the Land of Iron would certainly be cause for alarm for the surrounding countries, but at the end of the day, the strongest fist dictated how they would react: the Hidden Leaf had the invincible Team 7, so minor acts of aggression against neutral powers that didn't threaten the other Great Elemental Nations' bottom line wouldn't result in an escalation to all-out war.
However, if the Gokage assembled in the Land of Iron and the Hidden Leaf then moved out in force, it would certainly look as though Konoha's Hokage wanted to start the Fifth Shinobi World War…
"…did they mention any new rules in particular?" Sakura asked, steepling her fingers as she leaned over her desk. "For instance, who I'm allowed to bring?"
"As the Land of Iron now considers Jinchūriki to be weapons of mass destruction, Naruto and Killer B are barred from entering the country," Shikamaru recited. "Bringing Naruto as your guard would be tantamount to declaring war."
Sakura snorted.
Although this new rule sounded fair in theory, the reality was that it only really affected the Hidden Leaf. Obito had vanished two years ago with the first seven Tailed Beasts sealed inside the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, so Konoha and Kumo were the only ones to have conserved their Bijū…
However, it was a well-known fact that Killer B had grown completely disillusioned with his village. He now spent most of his time touring the Land of Lightning in perpetual holiday, doing nothing particularly productive for the Hidden Cloud.
On the other hand, Naruto was known to occasionally appear within the Land of Fire's borders, using his awesome might to root out bandit nests and repel invaders who believed the country to be defenceless. The world at large might believe that Konoha was no more, but the Gokage knew better than that!
"Shikamaru, try to put yourself in the Gokage's sandals…" Sakura said slowly. "If I were to show up to the Gokage Summit claiming I knew of a magical cave that led to the moon, where we would find the culprit behind the Moonfall living in a magical princess castle, how would you react?"
Shikamaru gaped at her, stricken momentarily speechless.
"With all due respect," he spluttered, "I would think you had gone crazy, Milady…"
He gulped nervously. Had he gone too far?
"…with all due respect," he repeated, for safe measure. "At least, if I were in their position, that's what I would think… with all due respect."
The sound of Sakura drumming her fingers on her desk filled the awkward silence that followed.
"…is there really one?" Shikamaru tentatively asked, a few seconds later. "A magical cave that leads to a magical castle on the moon, I mean?"
As expected, it was too much to ask the Gokage to follow her to an undisclosed location away from the summit's venue to show them the Moon Cave. It would also invite a number of uncomfortable questions:
1. How do you know all this?
2. How did you learn about this cave?
3. Are you spying on your neighbours?
4. Are you secretly behind the Moonfall?
And the answers would be equally awkward to give.
Respectively:
1. I saw it on DVD.
1.1 A DVD is kind of like a VHS tape, but on a compact disc.
2. Black Zetsu told me.
2.1 Yes, that Black Zetsu from the Akatsuki.
2.11. No, the Hidden Leaf is not affiliated with the Akatsuki.
3. Yes, but so are you. We're just better at it.
4. Nope, pinky swear!
"Why are things always so complicated?" Sakura sighed, reclining back in her chair. "We should have just conquered the world last time… is it too late to unify the shinobi continent now?"
A droplet of cold sweat trickled down Shikamaru's temple.
"You're joking, right?" he said nervously. "If so… hahaha…"
Sakura chewed on her lip thoughtfully.
They had retrieved Ao's Byakugan during the Fourth Shinobi World War, and both of Hinata's eyes were accounted for. Since most Hyūga clan members had had their Caged Bird Seals removed, Sakura had taken special care to keep them confined to the village as the Moonfall progressed, so she really couldn't conceive of a way Toneri might acquire a pair of Byakugan to evolve into Tenseigan…
As for Sakura's Byakugan (Kekkei Genkai ver.), they had already evolved into Byakugan (Kekkei Tōta ver.) the moment she gained her half-Ōtsutsuki physique. Her eyes had already grown into Six Paths-level organs; in other words, they were already maxed out, so they couldn't be evolved further, even if she wanted to… and due to the strange nature of the Tenseigan, she wasn't even sure if stealing Hinata's breast chakra would even give her the dōjutsu.
The Kekkei Tōta Version of the Byakugan, the Rinnegan and the Tenseigan were all evolutionary paths that branched out from the base Byakugan, parallel and equal. The only reason Sakura possessed the first two was because she had evolved her Rinnegan from the Sharingan. To begin with, possessing both the Sharingan and the base Byakugan was already only possible due to her System's arrangements.
"Ah well, whatever," Sakura told herself. "I'll go beat up the culprit and save the world all by myself on the way to the Gokage Summit… as long as that bloke doesn't have the Tenseigan, it should be easy enough."
"I have no idea what you're talking about, but if you say so, Milady," Shikamaru said dutifully.