Chapter 92: Yang Release Taijutsu
Tsunade moved like lightning. One punch, and half of Tobirama's body detonated into confetti.
His technique collapsed mid-seal.
"Well done, Tsunade."
Tobirama looked at the woman she'd become — a real shinobi, the kind she'd grown into while he wasn't there to see it — and smiled with something that looked very much like pride.
"Shut up."
"I'm not a little girl anymore."
Tsunade watched him regenerating, jaw set, and ran through seals.
"Summoning Technique!"
POOF.
Two slugs materialized — each two or three meters tall — landing on either side of her.
"Lady Tsunade! Oh, and little Sakura's here too~~~"
While Tobirama was still pulling himself back together, Tsunade grabbed him and stuffed him into one of the slugs, leaving only his head sticking out.
"Stay in there. I'll go deal with Great-great-grandfather."
Hashirama watched Tsunade dispatch Tobirama with the efficiency of someone sorting laundry, and something moved across his face — part nostalgia, part quiet satisfaction.
The moment Tobirama went down, the Dark Heartbeat dissolved.
Sakura blinked. The world came back.
She looked at Tsunade and let out a long breath.
Worth it. All of it.
Under the words of someone Tsunade actually loved — someone whose voice could reach her in a place no one else could — the hemophobia had finally loosened its grip, at least enough to move.
"This should be fine now."
Hashirama said it with something like relief. Then, without any change in expression, he threw a punch at Sakura.
Sakura's eyes sharpened. Her hands were faster.
She caught the wrist of the God of Shinobi — the wrist, not the fist, which was doing something to Hashirama's expression — grabbed the collar of his armor with her other hand, and threw him.
He left a Hashirama-shaped impression in the Rashōmon gate.
But she wasn't done.
The ground thundered under her feet as she launched upward. Right hand cocked. Chakra blazed around the fist in coils of blue flame, physical and real, the way it looked when you pushed everything you had into a single point.
Every drop of chakra she had, all of it, right now.
Hashirama, embedded in the gate, stopped fighting. He let himself be still and watched the girl coming toward him with something that had moved past assessment into genuine wonder.
He'd heard it, earlier. This girl — Sakura — telling the old monkey she was counting on him to teach her how to be Hokage someday.
If Konoha's future looked like this...
That's really something.
BOOM.
Full-force, full-chakra, Enhanced Strength fist — straight through Hashirama's chest, straight into the Rashōmon behind him.
The demon-faced iron gate cracked, lurched, and fell.
Hashirama, dimly, thought he saw cherry blossoms in the aftermath of that punch. Probably an artifact of having half his torso caved in.
"That technique," he said, his voice dissolving into the ringing silence after the impact, "what would you call it? Falling Cherry Blossom?"
His ruined body dropped from the gate and landed on the rubble below, regenerating slowly.
Sakura touched back down.
Falling Cherry Blossom?
That's literally just what my combination move looks like. Don't name my techniques for me.
Tsunade arrived with both slugs in tow, assessed the situation, and without ceremony stuffed Hashirama into the second slug alongside his brother.
Two former Hokages, each with only a head protruding from a giant gastropod.
They looked about as dignified as the situation warranted.
"Tsunade. I'm sorry for all the trouble we caused you."
Hashirama said it from inside the slug, the words carrying a weight that had nothing to do with the current absurdity of his situation.
"Tch. Stop calling me that."
Tsunade stared at her great-grandfather's disembodied head and pointedly did not look moved.
"Right. Sakura — watch these two. I'm going to help the old man."
She turned to the pink-haired girl beside her, and something in her expression went briefly soft. She reached out and ruffled Sakura's hair.
"Leave it to me!"
Sakura blinked, then thumped her chest once in affirmation.
"Good. I'll see you on the other side."
Tsunade left.
Sakura watched her go, then reached into her pouch and produced a small notebook and a pencil.
She walked to where Tobirama's head was sticking out of the slug.
Tobirama looked at her, puzzled.
"Lord Tobirama." Sakura squared her shoulders and launched straight into it. "I've heard that you are one of the most accomplished forbidden technique scholars in shinobi history — that your understanding of jutsu mechanics and principles is essentially unparalleled."
Flattery first. Always flattery first.
"Mm. That is accurate."
Tobirama agreed without a trace of false modesty.
Next to him, Hashirama's expression curdled slightly.
"Then — I wanted to ask your thoughts on Yang Release."
Sakura wasn't hiding her intentions. These two had already decided she was Konoha's future. Whether as Hokage or something adjacent to it — she was theirs. No reason to be coy.
"Yang Release?"
Tobirama's brow furrowed slightly.
"Yes. Specifically — is it possible to complete a Yang Release body technique? Something like the Lightning Release Chakra Mode. Offensive and defensive simultaneously."
The slug spoke before Tobirama could answer.
"Sakura... is this still about completing my sage mode?"
The goal wasn't hard to read. Yang Release — the attribute most naturally suited to medical ninjutsu, with the strongest restorative properties of all seven chakra natures. Even in the war, when Might Guy had opened the Eight Inner Gates and was dying on the battlefield, Naruto with his mastery of Yang chakra had pulled him back from the edge of death.
Sakura wasn't aiming for that level. Not yet.
She just needed Yang Release, combined with the Strength of a Hundred and her medical ninjutsu, to be enough to survive what Shikkotsu Forest's sacred pool would put her through.
"Shikkotsu Forest — did Sakura also sign a contract with the slugs, like little Tsunade?"
Hashirama tried to scratch his head and remembered he only had a head.
"Brother. Quiet."
Tobirama's irritation at having his train of thought derailed was immediate and complete.
"..."
Hashirama's expression went subtly wounded.
"Yang Release chakra is an attribute rooted in physical energy — it reinforces the body or imbues matter with vitality. The Senju clan has historically been the most capable lineage in the shinobi world at this, but Yin and Yang Release operate on fundamentally different principles than the five elemental natures. It's not something that can be summarized in a few sentences."
"When this is over — Sakura, you can visit the Senju clan archive. The clan library will have what you're looking for."
"My own notes on Yang Release are there as well."
Tobirama said it without hesitation.
He'd understood, a few exchanges back, who she was. The monkey's student. Which made her his and his brother's grandstudent. Family, by any reckoning that mattered.
The library was open.
(End of Chapter)