Chapter 173: Sasuke: The Uchiha Ultimate Weapon — Can I Borrow It for Two Days?
Hiruzen turned the reference over in his hands and stroked his beard.
Senju Tobirama. This was someone from several hundred years ago. He was seventy — a young old man, relatively speaking — and he had no personal knowledge of any ultimate weapon from that era.
"Tell you what — I'll clear your access level. Go check the Konoha Document Repository. That's where the historical records are kept."
Unlike the Senju family archive, the Repository held accounts of unusual events across the village's history, along with records pertaining to the major clans — Senju, Uchiha, Hyuga, the Ino-Shika-Cho formation, Inuzuka, Aburame, Kurama, all of them.
"Got it. I'll leave you to it, old man."
Sakura turned to go.
"Hold on. Stop rushing."
Hiruzen waved her back.
She paused, somewhat puzzled, and came over.
"Here. Take a look at this."
He opened the desk drawer and produced a scroll — small enough to fit in one hand.
"What's this?"
"Open it."
He stroked his beard with an air of deliberate inscrutability.
"You're being very mysterious about it."
Sakura gave him a look, but opened the scroll.
The first character, large and clear: Yang.
Her eyes went wide.
What followed was a thorough, precise breakdown of yang-release chakra — its properties, its characteristics, explained in terms that were genuinely clear rather than evasive. Not just theory, either. The scroll went on to explore practical applications: using yang chakra to stimulate the body's cells, drawing out speed and strength and sensory acuity beyond normal limits. Physical reaction time, chakra perception, every system that touched the body — all of it potentially upgradeable, simultaneously, through sustained yang application.
Hiruzen had spent a lifetime studying this. Tsunade was his student. His own yang-release foundations were not shallow, and this scroll represented everything he'd understood of it — distilled and committed to writing.
It was theoretical, yes. But for Sakura, theory with this level of precision was exactly what she needed.
"Getting old," Hiruzen said, placing his hand gently on her head. "Not much use in a fight anymore. This is about the limit of what I can contribute."
He paused.
"If there are things you still can't work out — you might consider asking Lord Tobirama directly."
...Huh?
Sakura blinked. Then it landed.
Impure World Reincarnation.
Of course. Hiruzen had never been rigid. The Wood Release experiments had been his project from the beginning — he'd shut them down only when the cost in Hashirama's cells became unsustainable and success looked impossible. When Orochimaru had used the technique against him, Hiruzen had publicly condemned it as desecration of the dead.
But if Konoha's survival ever genuinely required it—
Hiruzen met her eyes and nodded once. No words necessary.
Not just the Hokages. Sakumo Hatake. Kagami Uchiha. His own father, Sasuke Sarutobi. Anyone who could be called back — he wouldn't hesitate.
"Old man," Sakura said, and meant it, "you are genuinely incredible."
"When you retire, I'll look after you personally."
Hiruzen laughed despite himself, then patted her head again with a warm expression.
"I'll hold you to that. In the meantime — go find a death-row prisoner in the Konoha detention block. You'll want a vessel to practice with."
"Got it."
She was already moving. He'd given her more than she expected today, and she wasn't going to waste it.
"One more thing — old man, make sure Sasuke gets the Lightning Release Body Flicker Technique. Send it to him."
She paused at the door, looking back.
Turtle Island was arriving within the day or two. Once it did, Naruto would be escorted there for his jinchūriki training at the Falls of Truth. Sasuke had the Mangekyo now — Lightning Release Body Flicker on top of that would make his combat effectiveness difficult to overstate.
And Naruto, once he completed Nine-Tails Chakra Mode — that would be a genuine problem. She was honest about it. Her current speed was slightly below the Fourth Raikage's. Nine-Tails Chakra Mode Naruto was faster than the Raikage. Even now she couldn't beat that version of him.
Still a long road ahead.
Keeping pace with both of them was going to take work. But she hadn't lost confidence. Strength of a Hundred was already active. Yang-release taijutsu was within reach. After that, the Shikkotsu Forest sage mode — the logic was clear.
Strength of a Hundred plus yang-release plus Sage Mode. Why couldn't she sit on both of them with that stack?
Hiruzen watched her go and stroked his beard.
She's actively trying to develop Sasuke. Not a hint of concern that someone might outpace her. Was that arrogance, or genuine confidence?
He wasn't sure it mattered. Either way, he found himself smiling.
"Lady Sakura, here is everything you requested."
The Repository's administrator — a solidly built man with a reliable face — had produced a full table of materials in under thirty minutes.
Everything available on friction between the Senju and Uchiha clans, several hundred years back. Tobirama's personal history. And the records pertaining to the Uchiha ultimate weapon.
"Thank you."
"My job." The man was clearly not a conversationalist. Whatever someone needed, whatever their status, his function was to locate it and deliver it. The current hottest prodigy in the village was not a special case. He excused himself without fanfare.
Sakura didn't mind. She started reading.
The Senju, Uzumaki, Uchiha, and Sarutobi records all had the most material on the subject. That made sense — Uchiha Hikaru had been a weapon used against the Senju, and the Senju had coordinated with the Uzumaki and Sarutobi to contain her. All three families had been directly involved in the sealing.
The Senju records were careful to the point of evasiveness — Tobirama's habit. The Uzumaki records, characteristically, had not bothered with discretion at all.
A location. A gorge within the Land of Fire.
Crescent Moon Valley.
"Hm? Another mission, Sakura?"
She'd barely made it out the door.
"Not a mission. Something came up — I need to travel for a bit."
Naruto tilted his head, then spoke carefully.
"Sakura... I heard from the Pervy Sage the other day. About the turtle situation."
Turtle Island. Jiraiya had already briefed him.
"Then don't waste it. When you get to Turtle Island, put everything into mastering the Nine-Tails chakra. Don't hold back."
She moved to leave.
"Right — if it's not a mission..." He stopped himself. Started again. "Could I..."
"Come with us."
She read the hesitation immediately.
Since the war had started, everyone around him had been accelerating — herself, Sasuke, the others, all moving fast and in directions he couldn't follow. Naruto had been taking missions, staying active, but the gap between his track and theirs was visible. He wasn't sulking about it. He understood. But being left outside was its own kind of discomfort, separate from any competitive feeling.
And with Hinata — Hiashi wouldn't allow unsanctioned contact. That door was effectively closed from that direction.
"Really?"
His eyes lit up like someone had flipped a switch.
"Of course. But if you're coming—" she poked his shoulder "—you're bringing your cookware."
Naruto decoded this in about half a second.
"Yes! I will not let anyone go hungry, I swear it!"
"Good." She ruffled his hair once. "Not just me — Sasuke and Kushina too."
"Go pack. Half an hour, front gate."
"On it!"
"The Uchiha ultimate weapon?"
Sasuke looked up from training, genuinely puzzled.
"That's right." Sakura held his gaze. "Something powerful enough that it took the Senju, the Uzumaki, and the Sarutobi working together just to seal it — not destroy it. Seal it."
"Are you interested?"
Am I interested.
Sasuke stood up.
The Uchiha's ultimate weapon. Three of the era's great clans, at full strength, and they still couldn't eliminate it — only contain it. The gap between "sealed" and "destroyed" said everything about what they were dealing with.
My clan really did leave behind something incredible.
A thousand years of lineage behind him and every branch of it had delivered. Sasuke committed to attending immediately and without reservation.
With this weapon in hand — Itachi, Obito, both of the clan's stains — his confidence for those confrontations increased substantially.
He didn't know what form the weapon took. Some kind of legendary artifact, probably. The Yata Mirror, the Totsuka Blade — that category of thing. If it was something like that, Sasuke intended to sleep holding it, just in case some opportunist decided to help themselves.
He would also, in the spirit of generosity, lend it to Sakura for a day or two if she was curious.
Same offer to Kushina and Naruto. Two days each.
Well — Naruto was unpredictable, better to be safe. Maybe just let Naruto look at it.
The Uchiha ultimate weapon rightfully belonged to Sasuke. This was simply obvious.
Fortunately, Sakura has no idea what's going through his head right now. Because if she did, she would be standing here with her eye twitching, trying to decide how to respond to that.
Sasuke did not take long. He was back in two minutes with his equipment pouch and his sword.
Then Sakura arrived at the Senju residence, walked into the front room where Tsunade was apparently preparing to teach Kushina the Adamantine Sealing Chains, and removed Kushina from the premises without stopping to explain.
"Lady Tsunade — borrowing Kushina for two days!"
Tsunade blinked at the empty space where her student had been.
"...What."
Konoha Main Gate.
Sakura, Sasuke, Kushina, Naruto — all present.
Between Sakura and Sasuke, the safety margin on this trip was effectively infinite.
"All right. Everyone's here. Let's move."
Sakura looked at the assembled group with a smile.
Two of the four were visibly eager. One of those two had no idea what they were actually going to find, and the other's expectations were also entirely wrong in a different way.
Kushina was the only one who had no idea what was happening at all.
She'd been in the middle of training. Then she was at the front gate with a travel pack she didn't remember putting together.
Being with Sakura was always pleasant — and this was even Ino-free, which was a bonus. But Kushina was serious about catching up. Sensor ninjutsu, sealing techniques — those were her advantages, and she'd been working every day since returning to the village. Sleep, train, look after Lady Tsunade, train more. That was the schedule she'd set for herself.
Sakura did say I'd be on her team eventually. If that was going to happen, she needed to pull her weight.
But if Sakura needed her—
She looked at Sakura's face, the easy expression and the upward curve of the mouth, and found herself smiling back.
A long trip. She'd never taken one before.
The four of them stepped through the gate onto the road toward Crescent Moon Valley.
"Crescent Moon Valley?"
The daily report from the gate officer arrived on Hiruzen's desk, and he paused.
She actually found it.
He stood. His back was more curved than it used to be, the height he'd once carried now folding slightly inward.
He looked out the window at the village — the same rooftops and treelines he'd watched across decades, unchanged in shape, different in meaning.
He pressed his hand over his mouth as a cough worked its way up.
Not much time left.
Sakura. Become the light that everyone can see.
The sun was going down. The Hokage's office filled slowly with amber and then shadow, the light drawing back by degrees, and Hiruzen stood in it without reaching for the lamp.
Like an old fire in its last hour — giving out its remaining warmth to the last possible moment, and then going quiet.
Time passed.
The room went dark.
"Old man, why are you sitting in the dark?"
A click. Light returned.
Jiraiya stood in the doorway with his hand on the switch, looking at his teacher with an expression somewhere between concern and exasperation.
"Ha. Getting old." Hiruzen turned around with an easy smile. "Old men get lost in their thoughts sometimes. Pay it no mind. Just an old man rambling to himself."
"Well, ramble less. Young people don't have the patience for it."
Jiraiya crossed the room, and his face shifted into something more serious.
"The Kumogakure delegation delivered Turtle Island to the Land of Fire border..."
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