"Heaven Scroll... Heaven Scroll... Found it! Achoo!"
The blond boy held up a scroll engraved with the character for [Heaven], then sneezed in the cold wind.
Pushing aside the ice shards covering the ground, Naruto hurriedly ran out of the frozen area.
"A Jutsu that can even change the weather... Were you just playing with me during our previous sparring sessions?"
Sasuke exhaled a white mist and reached out to catch the snowflakes falling from the sky.
Under the force of Sakura's recent ability outburst, this area of the Forest of Death had actually started to snow.
"Well, not exactly. I've just gotten a lot stronger recently."
Twirling a strand of pink hair around her finger, Sakura's tone was uncertain.
Ever since she learned Armament Haki and further developed her abilities by combining Chakra with her Devil Fruit's Ability, the weather changes achievable in her low-temperature mode had become increasingly terrifying, even showing a trend towards absolute zero.
Perhaps soon, her [Snow White Body] could be renamed [White Haze Body].
"A monster of a woman. As long as I catch up to you, I'll be able to defeat that guy, right?"
Sasuke didn't show disappointment… instead, his fighting spirit burned even more fiercely under Sakura's stimulation.
"Hahaha, that's for sure!"
Sakura slapped Sasuke on the back, making him stumble.
Then, she took the Heaven Scroll from Naruto and stuffed it into Sasuke's arms.
"Yosh! Next, barring any accidents, we just need to reach the central tower to complete the exam!"
Naruto raised his fist excitedly, but his innate [Talk-no-Jutsu] took effect.
A rainbow light swept over the eyes of all three, making Naruto and Sasuke simultaneously look at Sakura.
"Scatter!"
Sensing the killing intent through Observation Haki, they immediately jumped, avoiding the whistling attack.
A gale of Chakra surged like a giant pillar, rapidly expanding and carving a deep mark on the ground.
After the violent wind passed, the large amount of dust it kicked up obscured everyone's vision.
Behind Sakura, a hand reached out from a spiraling vortex in the void, grabbed her arm, and pulled her away from Naruto and Sasuke.
"Sakura!"
The two boys in mid-air were startled and cried out in alarm.
However, they were powerless to rescue her now. A woman wearing a bamboo hat, with snake-like pupils, blocked their path.
Intense killing intent was released, causing Naruto and Sasuke to see visions of themselves being killed.
However, having experienced Sakura's Conqueror's Haki clashes for so long, they quickly snapped out of it, drew their ninja tools, and confronted the strange and disgusting woman.
…
On the other side, the rippling spiral pulled Sakura into a strange space.
The sky here was dark and gloomy… the ground was entirely made of square stone pillars of varying heights, with bottomless abysses between the gaps.
"Space-Time Ninjutsu. It's you."
A trace of reminiscence appeared in Sakura's emerald-green eyes.
Having traveled between two worlds for almost fourteen years, she had almost forgotten that guy who was tricked by Fugaku on the night of the Uchiha Rebellion.
Uchiha Obito!
"Did you collaborate with Orochimaru?"
Sakura reached out her hand. With a skilled weapon-twirling gesture, a massive ice axe condensed in her hand.
"There's no need for such hostility towards me. Let's talk, Haruno Sakura!"
Wearing a spiral-patterned mask and a black robe, Obito sat casually on the edge of a taller stone pillar, holding one knee.
"My name is Uchiha Madara. Having grown up in Konoha, you must have heard of me."
Obito lowered his voice, his Three-Tomoe Sharingan looking at the girl with interest.
"Haruno Sakura, civilian, born in Konoha in Year 51 of the Konoha Calendar."
"Showed talent at the Ninja Academy 7 years ago, completed studies in just two years, joined the Anbu, suppressed the Uchiha."
"The only current user of the Flying Thunder God Technique, and also a student of two of the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya and Tsunade."
He spilled information about Sakura's life in the shinobi world from birth to the present like pouring beans from a bag, so detailed it was as if Danzo had personally handed the village's files over to him.
"So, you, this skulking rat, what instructions do you have regarding my life?"
Sakura's face was expressionless, the tip of her axe already pointing at him.
"Then, I'll be direct. Join us, Haruno Sakura!"
Obito spread his arms wide, as if sincerely inviting Sakura to join.
"With your experience in Anbu, you must have already touched upon the darkness of this corrupt and decaying world, right?"
Confidently, Obito began his speech, his tone impassioned, his delivery full of emotion: "The current Ninja World is filled with killing and chaos. The great nations war with each other, the small nations struggle to survive. This world is wrong!"
Having lost his beloved, he now saw through everything in the world.
It wasn't the war between one or two Ninja Villages that killed what he cherished. What truly killed Rin was this world built upon a vortex of hatred!
So he would take revenge, revenge against this world that devours the mediocre as bait!!!
"Haruno Sakura, you who were willing to step into the vortex to save the Uchiha must know the weight and preciousness of life. Ninja's lives shouldn't be wasted in meaningless slaughter. So join us, let's create eternal peace together!"
Listening to Obito's speech, Sakura silently yawned.
'Eternal peace? Don't make me laugh!'
'How could humans, creatures born with struggle written in their genes, create permanent peace?'
From a conclusion standpoint, entropy increase is irreversible. Any system will inevitably move from order to disorder and even chaos. So-called peace is inevitably fleeting, or preparing for greater war and chaos.
Long ago, a member of the Allied Forces who stole energy from the Kingdom of Gods and fled to the sea created the Odo Odo no Mi Sakura now ate.
What they wanted to do, Sakura knew all too well.
But in the end, the will residing on this fruit, entrusted with hopes and beautiful prayers, chose someone like her… a chaotic being by nature who enjoyed battle.
Wasn't this also an embodiment of the inevitable trend of all things towards chaos, towards heat death?
"Moreover, you are mistaken."
Sakura's Conqueror's Haki roared wantonly around her. A rebellious will manifested with extreme clarity in every corner of this space.
From beginning to end, pirates were happy practitioners of self-denial, scoundrels who defied rules and were unbound.
'Asking such people to create eternal peace? Oh~ my Captain Roger, what kind of hellish joke is this?'
"From the very start, I fully recognized the chaotic nature of the world, and I wholeheartedly feel genuine… joy, at being able to adventure within such chaos!"
Sakura nodded her head towards the dreamer speaking so glibly before her. A malicious smile appeared on her exquisite face.
Obito's breath hitched. Some indescribable, sinister outline was being revealed to him through the girl before his eyes.
And then, the girl carrying a fierce and malevolent aura, holding the frost giant axe, walked towards him.
At that moment, Obito, feeling regretful, began to think.
'Why didn't I bring Pain here with me…?'