Members of the Anbu lay in heaps around them, unconscious, chakra cloaks gone. And yet, even though all of their subordinates had been defeated, neither Kido nor Magire showed the slightest sign of wavering.
“If we’re going to fight those two,” Sakura said, staring at the two men on the other side of the fallen Anbu, “I’ll take Kido and lure him into the woods over there. Ino and Sai, you take care of that Magire guy.”
“Don’t do anything reckless, Sakura. The three of us together—” Ino started, but Sakura shook her head.
“We don’t know what kind of tricks he has up his sleeve. But at the very least, Magire is a medical ninja, so he should have some kind of recovery jutsu. I think it makes more sense to get him away from Kido and out of his healer role.”
“In that case, I’ll take Kido,” Sai said, but Sakura shook her head at this too.
“Then we’d have two medical ninja here. It’s better if we don’t clump together, if we split up,” Sakura said, nodding to herself. “I can heal my own wounds, and Sai, you can get Ino to heal yours.”
Sai dipped his head slightly in agreement. “Got it. We’ll do it like you say, Sakura.”
Just as their brief meeting ended, Kido and Magire began to move.
Abruptly disappearing, they landed next to Sakura and her friends in the next instant.
“I know you must be tired, so I do apologize, but we’ll have you go up against us next,” Kido remarked.
“You know, if you’re disappointed at how weak your subordinates are, you could let it show in your face a little,” Sakura said.
Kido’s mouth twisted up slightly. “Although I have no real issue with provoking or being provoked in this manner, for now, let’s prioritize time.” He took his coat off to reveal a well-built body under his uniform.
He’s strong, Sakura thought.
Naturally, if he was going to rise to the upper ranks of the Anbu, this man—who spoke of nothing but money and profits—had to be strong first and foremost. His appearance made that strength quite obvious.
Magire, on the other hand, did not remove his white robe. He apparently intended to fight as he was.
Lightning Style! Thunder!
Immediately, Kido waved his arms and released countless tiny bolts of lightning.
Sakura and the others spread out to avoid them. Taking a hit from one bolt, Sai’s tiger splashed back into ink.
The moment Sakura landed, she started racing toward the forest that spread out to her right. The scenario where Kido did not take the bait did cross her mind, but if he had kidnapped Sakura in order to “refine” Sasuke’s eyes, then he likely wouldn’t let her out of his sight that easily.
And in the end, he did chase after her.
“So you intend to separate Magire and I? I suppose it would be nice if that went well, hmm?”
Sakura ignored him and ran ever faster.
Entering the forest of enormous trees, she raced up the trunk of one of these and leapt from branch to branch. Kido trailed after her, looking like he was simply trying to keep up rather than overtake her.
Seeing her moment, Sakura stopped on a branch.
She faced Kido.
Their eyes met.
A wind tore through the forest, making Sakura’s hair dance around her head.
“Well, then,” Kido said. “Shall we get started?”
Without responding, Sakura hit the palm of her left hand with the fist of her right. Whap! The sound echoed through the forest, the signal for the start of the fight.
Kido kicked at a branch and closed the distance between them. They came together, launching kicks and punches, before pulling apart momentarily.
Kido waved his arms. Lightning Style! Thunder!
Once again, the bolts of lightning he had showed off earlier came shooting toward her.
Dodging, Sakura bounded from branch to branch and pressed in on Kido.
Cherry Blossom Crash!
Her fist thrust out before her connected directly with her enemy’s chest.
Yes!
“Hrngh!” Kido let out a cry of pain, and then disappeared in a burst of crackling electricity.
Tch! Sakura clucked her mental tongue. He had used Lightning Style Shadow Clones.
The original Kido was behind Sakura, to her left. He wove signs, moving both hands as if drawing a circle in the air. “Take this!”
Lightning Style! Bear Trap!
An enormous circle of lightning in the shape of a bear trap, the sort they’d use to catch animals in the mountains, came whizzing through the air, ready to close tightly around her.
She wasn’t going to be able to dodge it.
Building up a thick concentration of chakra in the palms of her hands, she caught hold of the electric blades snapping in on her from both sides, an enormous mouth closing. She stopped their inward momentum for a moment, but the blades stubbornly continued to press down toward her.
“Haah!”
But Sakura was the winner of that contest. With a battle cry, she focused her strength and repelled the trap; it vanished.
“Ho!” She could see Kido laughing. “You repelled the bear trap, hmm? In that case…” He took a light purple capsule out of his pocket—Tailed Beast chakra.
Sakura gasped.
Still under her watchful gaze, Kido placed the capsule on his tongue.