Chapter 83: Sand Princess vs. Stone Empress
"Thank you for your business — that'll be fifty ryō."
The dango shop owner handed the neatly wrapped skewers to the pink-haired girl with a warm smile.
"Thanks."
Sakura took the bag, pulled out one skewer, and started eating as she walked toward the exam arena.
Chewing the soft, pillowy dango, Sakura ran through the checklist.
Against Orochimaru, Rasa, and Ōnoki combined — she was confident she'd deployed everything available.
Jiraiya was concealed somewhere in the spectator stands. Tsunade had disguised herself as ANBU and was positioned close to Hiruzen. Genma Shiranui had been assigned patrol routes inside the village. Even Hayate Gekkō had been recalled early from his border posting.
Troop deployments had been arranged along the borders facing the Wind, Earth, and Lightning Countries.
The border was thin on top-tier fighters for now, but if those three nations moved, they'd have to take the Grass, River, and Frost Countries first. That would buy Konoha enough time to stabilize internally and mount a counter.
Most importantly — at this moment, no number of shinobi could replace Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Not just his combat power. His reputation. The trust people placed in him. What he meant to this village.
He'd been Hokage for decades. For many people alive today, Hiruzen had been Hokage since before they were born, and he was still Hokage now.
His significance to Konoha was something even a revived Tobirama Senju couldn't replicate. Only Hashirama himself might come close. Minato Namikaze wasn't even in the conversation.
If Hiruzen died to one of Orochimaru's schemes — with war breaking out at the same time — that would be a blow Konoha might not recover from cleanly. Even if Tsunade could eventually hold the village together in the aftermath, the fact would remain: they'd lost a Hokage to an assassination plot.
No one in Konoha wanted to see that.
The dango skewer in her hand snapped forward, silent and precise, pinning a small green snake in the grass.
Sakura's eyes went cold as she looked at it.
People die when they're killed. Orochimaru has escape routes for everything...
But if he actually kills Hiruzen...
A faint edge of killing intent crept into those green eyes.
She didn't care whether Orochimaru ultimately harbored some absurd intention of being the "turning wind" for Konoha's windmill.
If he killed Hiruzen Sarutobi, Sakura would chase him to the ends of the earth and rip out every last Curse Mark he'd ever planted.
Wind blades tore across the arena, slicing through stone pillars and scattering them in all directions, crashing down around the blond girl in a cloud of churning dust.
Temari was breathing hard, staring up at the dark-haired girl hovering in the sky above her, something like helplessness flickering in her eyes.
She finally understood, viscerally, how Kankurō must have felt.
This girl had just been flying the entire match. And from the look of it, maintaining that technique barely cost her any chakra at all — she could just stay up there at a safe distance indefinitely.
Meanwhile Temari's fan swings were huge and telegraphed. One glance was all you needed to read her attack vector.
If she was going to use that move...
Temari glanced at the spectator stands, pressed her lips together, and then looked over at Genma Shiranui — the referee, a senbon lazily held between his teeth.
"If my attack reaches the spectator stands, that's not on me, right?"
Genma blinked, then shrugged.
"Go ahead. There's a barrier team on-site. They'll handle it."
His words went out over the radio clipped to his collar. Across the arena, the security personnel readied themselves for what was looking like an imminent large-scale attack.
"Good."
Temari exhaled, bit her thumb, and her expression sharpened to a blade's edge.
Up in the air, Kurotsuchi felt a cold instinct light up in her chest.
"Earth Release: Rock Hardening!"
It was Kurotsuchi's strongest Earth Release — an offensive and defensive technique in one. In the original war, Ōnoki had used it in conjunction with Gaara's sand to deflect Madara Uchiha's Yasaka Magatama.
Kurotsuchi's version was nowhere near as powerful as her grandfather's — not even close. But it was more than enough for right now.
A massive stone giant erupted from the ground. One step, and the earth shook. Seven, eight meters tall, it began its lumbering advance toward Temari.
At the same time, Kurotsuchi dove — trying to interrupt whatever Temari was preparing.
But—
"Summoning Technique!"
Too late. Temari's seals were already complete. A white weasel appeared beside her, scythe in hand.
"Dance of the Crescent Moon!"
Temari raised the Three-Star Fan, gathered chakra, and unleashed her ultimate combination technique alongside the summoned Kamatari!
In that moment, Temari earned every bit of the title Kazekage's Daughter.
An infinite storm of wind and blades detonated outward — no blind spots, no cover. Ground level, air level, every angle, every direction, all of it inside her kill zone.
She hadn't planned to use this. But her father was watching from the platform above. Kankurō had already lost to Kurotsuchi. And Gaara was watching too.
If she lost as well, both of Rasa's children would have been defeated by the same girl. That would basically be a public announcement that Sand couldn't hold a candle to Stone.
Even with Gaara still in the tournament — his next opponent wasn't a free win either.
Sasuke Uchiha was dangerous. And looming over all of it was Hiruzen's personal disciple, Sakura Haruno, waiting in the wings.
Temari had already written off Lee. To her mind, that match was a gift — a stage Hiruzen had built for Sakura's promotion, nothing more.
She had every reason in the world not to lose.
So she gave it everything.
A translucent pale-blue barrier shimmered into existence around the arena's perimeter, bracing for impact.
"NANI—"
Kurotsuchi saw the storm coming from every direction at once and felt the blood drain from her face. She was still a distance away from Temari — and she'd flown too high earlier trying to dodge, which meant retreating behind the Rock Hardening giant now was completely out of the question.
Damn it.
She cursed Rasa's name internally. You told me she was a genin? This girl?
A Special Jōnin would be insulted to be compared to her.
(Kurotsuchi had entirely forgotten that she herself was a Special Jōnin who'd been rank-suppressed by Ōnoki for exactly this kind of fishing expedition.)
Her hands flashed through seals.
"Lava Release: Magma Pillars!"
She spat a torrent of thick grey fluid in front of herself. It hardened on contact with air, crystallizing in seconds into a solid stone wall.
The makeshift barrier clearly wasn't going to stop those blades — but it didn't need to. She just needed enough time to get behind the rock giant. And even as the wall formed, her hands were already moving again:
"Earth Release: Rising Earth Excavation!"
(End of Chapter)