Chapter 269: Cleanup
Jiraiya looked at Orochimaru's figure and shook his head.
Naruto was still a little confused, so Sakura picked up two broken blades from the ground and threw them over there.
The broken swords flew over weakly. Naruto was about to say that such an attack was completely ineffective, but he saw Orochimaru and Kabuto stand motionless, watching with their own eyes as they were inserted into their vital points.
Then they turned into mud.
"They were earth clones that lost their control," Sakura said faintly.
This is what happens when an earth clone gets too far from its main body—it can be understood as being too far away to have a WIFI signal. Unable to receive the main body's commands, it can only stand in place on standby.
This was the case for this type of relatively low-level elemental clone. Depending on the user's mental strength, this "signal loss" distance varied from person to person.
Only high-level Kekkei Genkai clones, like wood clones and ice clones, had the ability to act independently at long distances.
Judging from Orochimaru's spiritual power, he was already far from the battlefield.
Sakura pouted, complaining in her heart: That guy, he talks a big game, acting like he's going to fight and kill, but in the end, he runs faster than anyone!
"Sasori and Orochimaru are long gone," Jiraiya said faintly.
Haruno Sakura sensed that the atmosphere between Jiraiya and Orochimaru didn't seem as tense as in the original story, just more wary. He didn't say anything about Orochimaru's departure.
That's right. It's because of the Third Hokage.
The old man had only lost an arm, he hadn't been killed by Orochimaru. Konoha had not suffered any devastating damage in that operation either. So... although Orochimaru and Konoha were hostile, it wasn't a relationship of mutual hatred and mortal enmity.
Between the Sannin, there was still a final bit of lingering sentiment.
It was probably at the level of "Give me a clean death!" "Okay."... Sakura guessed wildly.
In any case, the battle this time was finally over...
She had actually emptied most of the chakra she had saved up over the past few months. Sakura dispelled her ice clones, retracted all her chakra, and reverted them to spiritual and physical power, minimizing the burden on her meridians as much as possible.
She sat down on a large rock nearby with a plop.
After this great battle, the terrain here had almost completely changed. The several craters, hundreds of meters in radius, created by Deidara's bombs were particularly eye-catching. In addition, there were the caves left by the giant scorpion, and the traces of the acid lake and acid corrosion, which had left ugly brown scars on the land.
The dam that Sasori had created earlier to cut off the water flow had been washed away by the water. The clear river water had flowed over. The riverbed here had been completely destroyed in the battle, and the water had accumulated in those few deep pits, forming small lakes.
This was an uninhabited area of the Land of Rivers, so no outsiders were injured from the fighting. It was just that the originally beautiful environment of green mountains and clear waters had become pitted and a complete mess.
When the Akatsuki members had left, apart from Deidara's body, they hadn't taken anything with them. Human puppets had living tissue and could produce their own chakra, so after they were killed, they had no recovery value. Countless broken blades and swords, and puppet mechanisms were scattered all over the ground.
Shino and the others soon arrived here as well.
It wasn't just the two of them who had come. It was a group—Shino had met up with Gaara and his team.
When he saw Haruno Sakura, Shino was a little ashamed.
"Sakura, sorry..." Shino said, scratching the back of his head, slightly embarrassed. His side had only faced a small part of Sasori's puppets, while Sakura here had fought against one or two hundred.
"Ha, what are you talking about, Captain!" Sakura quickly laughed it off, brushing the matter aside with a smile. "If you hadn't tied down Sasori's attention and a portion of his elite puppets, I might have already become a puppet in his hands by now!"
Thinking of the scene of herself becoming a human puppet, she couldn't help but shudder.
Sakura's words were not to make excuses for Shino. Sasori's attention had indeed been diverted by Shino. If not for that, she was afraid she wouldn't have been able to hold out until Naruto arrived.
"In any case, it's good that you're alright!" Shino said with a smile, relieved. After greeting her, he walked over to Jiraiya's side, awaiting his orders.
Sakura and Yūzuki exchanged a few more words, then turned her gaze to the others.
The other group that had come with Shino had clearly been running all the way. By the time they had arrived here, they were almost all out of breath.
Only Gaara was still dry, without a drop of sweat on his body.
He was standing with Naruto. The two of them were talking about something. The gloomy and melancholic youth in Sakura's impression now had a very calm and gentle expression.
Naruto had once said that his relationship with Gaara was like that of brothers. Sakura had been dismissive of it at first, but this time, seeing the two of them standing together, their hair color, features, and temperament were completely different, but the warmth in their eyes was as sincere as if they were real brothers.
After talking for a while, Gaara even revealed a faint smile.
Although it was fleeting, it was still caught by Haruno Sakura's eyes.
"I never thought this little panda could smile..." Sakura was a little surprised. At that moment, Gaara happened to notice her looking at him. He nodded at her and walked over with Naruto.
"Thank you for your support," Sakura said, taking two steps forward to meet Gaara, speaking first.
She smiled and extended her hand, shaking Gaara's. His palm was dry and warm, just like that fleeting smile just now.
"We've already met... but I'll reintroduce myself again," Gaara said, withdrawing his hand and looking at the pink-haired girl's eyes calmly.
That pair of light green eyes, as clear as water, had not changed at all in the past year. Looking into them, there was a reassuring, cold and clear feeling, as if just by looking, one could obtain peace.
Perhaps it was the influence of the Ice Style chakra. Or perhaps it was the girl's unique temperament—speaking of which, weren't these two the same thing to some extent?
"I am Gaara of the Sand. My dream is..." he turned his head and looked at Naruto beside him, the corners of his mouth curling up almost imperceptibly, "to become the Kazekage and gain everyone's recognition."
"You've changed a lot," Sakura said faintly, pursing her lips.
"He's not the same as before!" Naruto said, casually patting his shoulder and saying loudly to Sakura. "Gaara is no longer a lonely person!"
Haruno Sakura then smiled, winked at Gaara, and turned her head to Naruto. "That's because he has a brother like you now."
"And an outstanding friend like me," she said, boasting about herself, and then she laughed again.
Sakura was just joking, but Gaara took it very seriously. "Hn, you are one of the very few."
He paused for a moment and said seriously, "But I will work hard to gain everyone's recognition and change their impression of me... I will have more and more friends!"
"Hn, good luck... You definitely will!"
At this time, under Jiraiya's orders, the respective team captains began to arrange the cleanup: tidying up the ground, seeing if there was any valuable intelligence or items, and by the way, trying to repair the damaged environment as much as possible.
For example, reshaping the riverbed and leveling the terrain.
And cleaning up the trash.
"Gaara, I'll have to trouble you to collect all the scattered parts on the ground, as well as the residual acid and iron sand, and then sink them into the ground," the Sand captain said, walking over politely. "We've already collected the valuable things. The rest can be discarded."
Gaara's sand and Sand Style were perfect for completing such a job.
Gaara nodded politely and accepted the task. His sand was as flexible as a hand and could be divided into countless parts. The task was completed very quickly.
"Gaara, please wait a moment," just as Gaara was about to sink the collected items, a Sand-nin suddenly interrupted him. "Um... can I take a few things from there? My brother is also a puppet master. Sasori of the Red Sand's works, even if they're broken, are still very valuable to him! Please!"
He looked at Gaara cautiously.
It was rumored that this person was capricious, bloodthirsty, and had even attacked his own comrades. If not for his brother, this Sand-nin would absolutely not have dared to walk up to Gaara and make a request.
Gaara looked at the somewhat apprehensive comrade in front of him faintly.
This person has this kind of courage to face the legendary villain, all for his brother. Gaara understood this point in his heart.
Being misunderstood, Gaara was not angry. On the contrary, he felt a faint joy.
The other party, seeing that Gaara was silent for a while, was getting a little scared, when he suddenly heard Gaara's calm voice, "Go ahead. You can take as much as you like."
He was somewhat stunned, not expecting the rumored villain to be so gentle and easy to talk to. The remaining few Sand-nin looked over. They had the same intention, but had been afraid of Gaara's bad reputation and had not dared to act. Now, finding that Gaara was not as difficult to approach as they had imagined, but was instead an easygoing person, they all felt a little regretful.
Gaara looked around and knew their thoughts.
"If you need anything, you can come and pick as well," the dark-circled youth said, nodding at the crowd. "It's fine."
He made way for them. The remaining few Sand-nin looked at each other. The first person had already excitedly shouted to them, "Come on, there are actually a lot of good things here!"
For an ordinary ninja, even just looking at the ideas of Sasori of the Red Sand's works was a very helpful thing.
Even the Sand captain came over and picked two pieces.
At the end, the very first Sand-nin even specially stuffed a few exquisite gadgets into Gaara's hands. "Isn't your brother Kankuro also a puppet master? You can take these and give them to him. They are definitely high-quality goods. It took me a long time to find these few that aren't broken! Take them!"
Gaara was slightly stunned. This was the first time he had received a gift from a comrade.
"Thank you!" For the third time today... he revealed a smile.
Then, he took out a scroll from his pocket. Inside it were the puppet parts that he had picked out for Kankuro himself just now.
He compared them back and forth, blinked, and pondered for a moment.
He decisively threw the pile of scrap metal he had picked into the trash heap.
The remaining few people had also finished picking their things. They walked past Gaara, hesitated for a moment, and then nodded to him in thanks.
Sakura and Naruto both saw the scene over there and smiled at each other.
"See? His friends... will become more and more numerous," Sakura said with a smile, faintly.
Very quickly, the matter here was concluded. The ninja from Konoha and the Sand bade each other farewell and returned to their respective villages.
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