The market was already a mess of shouting people and flying cabbage, but things were about to get much more ridiculous.
Sakura, Ino, and Karin started to move away from the crowd, trying to keep a low profile.
Above them, the 'Frozen Crane' hotel loomed tall, its roof covered in a thick layer of ice.
Suddenly, the snow on the roof shifted. Two Samurai in full, heavy armor vaulted over the ledge, their metal suits gleaming dully against the grey sky as they crashed towards the street.
A small child standing by a nearby stall tugged on his mother's sleeve, pointing up with wide, shimmering eyes. "Mommy, look! Flying birds! I want to fly just like them!"
The mother didn't have time to answer before a roar echoed through the market.
"SAKURA! MOVE!"
Sasuke shouted, his voice cutting through the wind like a blade.
The girls reacted instinctively. The place where they stood was narrow, forced between a stone wall and the open street. They had to leap away just to avoid being crushed. One Samurai came down like a falling boulder.
He landed exactly where the girls had been standing a second before, but the weight of his heavy metal helmet hit the frozen, rock-hard snow with a sickening CLANG.
The impact was so great that the warrior went instantly limp, knocked unconscious by his own armor.
The second Samurai wasn't much luckier. He hit a patch of slick ice, his boots sliding out from under him. He didn't just land; he became a ball.
He rolled and flipped across the street, gaining speed until he crashed—once again—directly into the poor shopkeeper's ruined stall.
The wood splintered, and the remaining cabbages flew into the air like green confetti. The shopkeeper, who had just started to wake up, looked at the armored man sitting in his lap and let out a sound that was half-scream, half-sob.
In the chaos of the 'flying birds' landing, the girls had been separated. Ino and Karin had tumbled toward the center of the street, but Sakura had dived into a dark, narrow corner behind a stone pillar.
She lay there, perfectly still, hidden from the main view of the market while she tried to catch her breath.
The wind whistled through the ruined stalls, and the small child looked disappointed.
"Mommy... the birds broke."
While the shopkeeper was busy dealing with the Samurais, Tenten was having a much rougher time on the other side of the street.
She was lying flat on her back in a thick drift of snow, her breath hitching as the cold seeped through her clothes. The fabric of her outfit was turning dark and heavy, soaking up the melted slush.
"Ow... my head," she muttered, squeezing her eyes shut. The drop from the fifth floor had left her brain feeling like it was rattling inside her skull. She reached up to rub her temple, feeling the sharp sting of the freezing air against her skin.
Suddenly, she felt a firm, warm grip close around her hand.
Tenten's eyes snapped open. The first thing she saw was the pale, winter sky, and then a familiar face leaned into her view. It was Neji.
His long hair was a bit messy, and his yukata was dusted with snow, but his expression was as intense and focused as ever.
Without saying a single word, Neji pulled. He used his strength to hoist her effortlessly off the frozen ground and onto her feet. Tenten stumbled for a second, her boots slipping on the ice, but he didn't let go.
He kept his hand clamped firmly around hers, his fingers steady and warm against her cold palm.
Neji glanced over his shoulder toward the chaos of the market and then back at the narrow, dark path ahead of them. He leaned in closer, his voice a low whisper that only she could hear.
"Don't fall behind," he said, his grip tightening just a fraction.
He stayed coiled like a spring, his body angled toward the shadows of the alleyway. He was ready to run at a second's notice, his eyes scanning for any more Samurais or angry locals, while Tenten stood there, still a little dazed, her hand locked in his.
Neji didn't wait. With a sharp tug on Tenten's hand, he pivoted on his heel and began to sprint toward the dark mouth of an alleyway.
"NEJI!!!"
The shout ripped through the air. It was Naruto. He was standing in the middle of the ruined market, his chest heaving as he watched one of his oldest friends turn his back on the group. "Where the hell are you going, leaving us behind?!"
Neji didn't slow down. He didn't even turn his head. "Run anywhere!" he screamed back over the whistling wind. "Just get out of here!"
Naruto's hands curled into tight fists. A hot, stinging anger started to bubble up in his chest.
'Is he serious?' Naruto thought, his heart sinking. 'After everything we've been through, he just grabs Tenten and runs alone dattebayo? No plan, no teamwork... just running away?'
He felt a sharp pang of betrayal. To Naruto, leaving a comrade behind was the ultimate sin, and seeing the 'most responsible person,' Neji do it so easily felt like a punch to the gut.
Then, Naruto's eyes darted to the side. Sasuke was adjusting his grip on Mini-Sasuke, his body already angled away from the center of the street.
"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, his voice cracking with emotion. "You too? Are you guys really going to leave us alone here?!"
Sasuke paused for only a heartbeat, his dark eyes meeting Naruto's for a split second. "Naruto, there is no time. Just run."
Sasuke took his first step forward, his pace quickening.
"But where?!" Naruto cried out, looking around at the hostile crowd and the chaos. "Where are we supposed to go dattebayo?!"
"Just anywhere!" Sasuke called back, his voice fading as he moved into the shadows. "We will regroup later!"
Naruto stood frozen in the snow. He watched as his friends—his 'team'—scattered like leaves in the wind. A cold, heavy feeling of loneliness settled in his stomach, worse than the freezing air of Tetsu no Kuni.
'So that's how it is,' Naruto thought bitterly. 'When things get real, everyone just looks out for themselves. Neji, Sasuke... they don't care about the group. They just want to save their own skins.'
A mocking, sad smile touched his lips. It was a lonely, hollow expression. He looked down at the snow, his vision blurring slightly.
"Shame on me," he muttered to himself, his voice barely a whisper.
"Shame on me for thinking this group was actually a team. I guess I'm still just that kid on the swing... all alone."
He felt like a fool for believing in them. He stood there, a bright orange target in a grey world, ready to give up.
"NARUTO!"
A soft, frantic voice called his name.
Naruto flinched. He slowly turned around, the tears finally spilling over and trailing down his cheeks, his eyes red with the pain of being left behind.
Through the blur of the falling snow, he saw Sakura stumbling toward him. Her face was pale, and she looked just as lost as he felt.
"Naruto! Sasuke-kun! Naruto!" she called out, her voice trembling.
Naruto's heart gave a small, painful throb. "Sakura-chan..." he choked out.
She reached him, breathless and shaking. "I'm so glad you're here," she whispered, clutching her arms. "I... I thought you left me too. Ino and Karin, either they left me or got swept away by the crowd... I thought I was all alone."
Naruto reached out and took her hand. His grip was firm, a desperate attempt to prove he was still there.
"Never," he said, his voice deep with an emotional promise. "I will never leave my comrade behind dattebayo. Especially not you. I'm not like Neji and Tenten."
Sakura's eyes widened. "What?! Tenten and Neji-san left us? I... I didn't expect that from Neji-san. He's usually so reliable."
Naruto looked away, his jaw tightening. "And you know, Sasuke also—"
"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura interrupted, her eyes suddenly searching the dark corners of the street with a frantic hope. "We have to find him! I'm sure he would never leave us behind. He must be waiting somewhere nearby!"
Naruto felt his hand go limp. He slowly let go of her fingers, his arm falling back to his side. She hadn't even let him finish. The sting of her words hurt worse than the betrayal of the others.
'It's always Sasuke,' he thought, a bitter, lonely ache spreading through his chest.
'No matter how far I go for her, no matter if I'm the only one standing by her side... she's still looking for him.'
"Sakura-chan," Naruto said, his voice flat and hollow. "That Usurantokachi... along with his younger self... they ran away too. They left us just like the others."
He watched the hope drain from her face, but even then, she didn't look at Naruto with the same intensity she had used to look for Sasuke.
Suddenly, a shadow loomed over them. A Samurai in gleaming, heavy armor vaulted from a balcony above, his blade drawn and catching the dull light.
"Look out!" Naruto roared.
In a flash of movement, he summoned a Shadow Clone. The two Narutos slammed into the Samurai mid-air, tackling him into a snowbank to keep him away from Sakura.
Sakura didn't wait. She grabbed Naruto's hand—the real Naruto—and began to pull him into a sprint.
"Too bad Sasuke-kun went away," she panted as they ran, her voice thick with a sadness that Naruto knew wasn't for him. "But if everyone is gone... then who is left? Who else is still back there?"
Naruto's mind suddenly felt like it had been hit by a bolt of lightning. His anger and sadness vanished, replaced by a cold, sharp realization that made his blood run cold.
"Hinata!" he gasped.
He looked back at the chaotic market, his heart hammering against his ribs. In the scramble to jump, in the anger of the desertion, he had forgotten the one person who would never have left him.
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📊 BATTLE REPORT: 67-IRON 📊
LOSER: Uzumaki Naruto 🍥🟠
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—With love, one forehead poke away from collapse,
Sakura Shinomiya 💫
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