Naruto: Reborn as Sakura with Manyuu Chifusa Template Chapter 326: Once Again We Meet at Last, Yomi!

A deep sense of foreboding washed over Sakura as she descended the dark tunnel leading into the bowels of the earth. The further she went along the rocky path, the brighter the ominous red glow at the far end beca, and the sweltering heat pressed in more heavily, until it looked as though her and Shion's sweat-slicked faces were bathed in blood.

"Just a bit further," said Sakura uneasily, feeling the tremble in Shion's hand as it clutched the hem of her top. "Focus on your job. I'll handle the demon."

As much as Sakura and Shion would have preferred to be anywhere else in the world, they both knew there was no turning back. For one, Katsuyu's rather sizeable bulky posterior blocked the exit; and for another, they knew the world would be dood if they abandoned their quest now.

Eventually, they reached the tunnel's exit and erged into a vast cavern. The ground was split by deep fissures, belching brimstone and puffs of grey smoke tinged with flickers of red and orange light. A quick glance into one told Sakura that far below, a river of magma flowed— and if she fell in, there'd be no regenerating her way back to life.

"The sealing array should be at the back of the cave," said Shion in a tremulous voice, clutching her precious bell tightly in one hand. "I just need to get… over there," she added, gesturing vaguely towards the heart of the Sealing Shrine with the other.

Emboldened by the nearness of the goal she had spent her whole life preparing for, Shion stepped forwards— but Sakura stuck out an arm and caught her by the chest, stopping her from going any further. Her sharp eyes had caught a humanlike silhouette slumped near the area Shion had pointed out.

"There's soone there," said Sakura, resisting the urge to squeeze the softness filling her palm. "On my signal, run to the shrine and start the ceremony. Got it?"

Shion nodded quickly.

Recognising the cavern as the place she had seen in her vision— the place where she was fated to die— Sakura grit her teeth and began hopping between footholds over the crevices spewing brimstone, making her way towards the heart of the Sealing Shrine.

Had she not been underground, standing on such shaky ground, Sakura would have already fired a senbon at the speed of sound straight at the still figure— but she dared not risk unleashing any dangerous ninjutsu so close to the Sealing Shrine, which teetered precariously above the sea of magma.

"So, you've co," a raspy man's voice echoed through the cavern as Sakura approached the sealing array. "My, how you've grown…eh?"

The voice trailed off.

"Wait, you're not the shrine maiden? Who are you…?"

So, this was the big bad Sakura had been so scared of!?

The shadow behind the scenes controlling the Four Elentals, the man who'd singlehandedly scared the Five Great Nations into uniting, the monster who would have deprived the world of her amazing chest? A gaunt, emaciated man with sallow skin that looked like lted candle wax?

He looked like he was on his deathbed!

"GO!" shouted Sakura, and Shion started running as fast as she could manage.

Two stone n, concealed within the rocky face of the cave, suddenly rumbled to life, their glowing green eyes fixed on Sakura as they stepped between her and her foe.

"That's not possible," the sickly-looking man muttered. "Two cannot possibly hold Miroku's power at once…"

Sakura's figure blurred as chakra accumulated under her sandals, her form flickering as she seed to teleport behind the two golems. Chakra gathered into pinpricks in her palms, and she unleashed two swift strikes with a sharp "Sha!", shattering both terracotta soldiers to pieces.

Shion was now halfway to the shrine's heart.

"Unfortunately for the two of you, you were quicker than I expected, so there is still so strength left in this withered flesh of mine," the man chuckled, the loose skin around his mouth twisting eerily as he forced a grin. "I, Yomi, have waited a long ti to give this speech to Miroku's daughter… and I will not let it fall on the wrong ears!"

Purple streams of energy, twisting like snakes, burst from his palms, forcing Sakura to pirouette out of the way. The crackling power sailed past her, striking the cave ceiling and sending a shower of rocks tumbling onto one of the rocky bridges suspended over the sea of magma— shaking it loose and sending the entire thing plumting into the molten depths below.

"Ten years ago, we had resurrected Mōryō, and the Thousand-Year Kingdom was finally in our grasp," growled Yomi, aiming his palms towards Sakura. "If it hadn't been for that cursed shrine maiden…!"

Sakura ducked beneath his arms before he could strike and drove a hard punch into his chest. Yomi's body stretched in an almost comical way as her fist sank into his ribs, then he was hurled violently into the wall behind him, sending another shower of pebbles and dust tumbling from the ceiling.

"He…he…he…"

Sakura frowned.

Sothing was wrong. Yomi was not even trying to stop Shion from reaching the Sealing Shrine's heart. He was focused entirely on drawing Sakura's attention, just like the Gang of Elental Four had attempted to draw Team 7 away from Shion.

"What's the matter, girl?" Yomi taunted Shion as she stopped to look at Sakura's fight. She had almost reached the sealing formation engraved on the platform at the heart of the cave. "You've trained all your life for this, haven't you? morised all those spells? Honed your sealing technique to perfection? Well, go on, what are you waiting for!?"

Sakura rushed forwards and drove her fist through Yomi's chest once again, embedding him deeply into the rock face, before drawing back her hand, as if stung. There was sothing boiling hot deep within him!

"Hatsu, Jin, Kai!" Shion chanted.

"Go ahead and try, shrine maiden!" Yomi roared, coughing up black blood. "Why do you think your mother kept alive all these thousand years, even knowing that humans would return, ti and ti again, to unseal , unable to resist the lure of power? You cannot kill , just as I cannot kill you! For you and I were once a single entity!"

Sakura raised her fist once again, unsure as to what to do. Yomi and the Mōryō within him were as good as dead, and Shion had already started up the Sealing Shrine. They had to be bluffing to avoid getting sealed, right?

And yet…

Katsuyu had once told Sakura that the first shrine maiden to descend upon the Land of Demons was nad Miroku. She'd also learnt during her ti at the priestess's compound that Shion's mother had borne the sa na. And Yomi/Mōryō had seed genuinely confused to find the shrine maiden's holy power divided between two girls...

"Yin and Yang," muttered Sakura. "There can exist no shadow without light…"

When evil descended upon the land, good would inevitably rise up to et it. Opposite yet equal forces— so could it be that Yomi was actually telling the truth…? Shion was clearly a human, a teenage girl born from a woman just like Sakura, but what about Shion's mother?

Sakura rembered hearing from Taruho that Miroku had forbidden Shion from following in her footsteps, forcing the girl to study her mother's techniques in secret. But she'd never managed to produce any results— at least, not until after her mother had died sealing the Mōryō ten years ago…