Naruto: Reborn as Sakura with Manyuu Chifusa Template Chapter 569 569: Frozen

Four days after the disastrous Gokage Summit that had set off the Fourth Shinobi World War, a woman's desperate cries abruptly shattered the peacefulness of the early hours of the morning.

"Please, let through, I beg you! My son needs dical attention!"

A stunningly beautiful woman with long, silky black hair had appeared at the village's An gates, carrying a small child's body in her arms. So captivated by her beauty were the two slack-jawed gate guardians that it took them several seconds to realise she was speaking to them.

"Er, listen here, lady," said Hagane Kotetsu, coughing in his fist as he stepped into her path. "We can't just let anyone in because they ask, now, can we?"

The Hidden Leaf had once again returned to a state of martial law, which ant all missions had been suspended and any shinobi still out in the field were being recalled to the village to be dispatched to the front lines. Naturally, this also ant no strangers were allowed in, save for a few exceptions... but unfortunately for the woman carrying the child in her arms, those who had unlocked the ability to mould chakra were not amongst them.

"Co on, Kotetsu," said Kamizuki Izumo, recognising her as the woman who often lingered by the gates while Tazuna and his n worked to repair the outer walls. "Isn't she that kunoichi those Land of Waves artisans hired as their bodyguard? Can't we just let her in, just this once? Her kid doesn't look like he's doing too well."

"Please, at least take my child," the woman begged them. "I think he was stung or bitten by so kind of venomous insect while he was out playing in the forest…"

Kotetsu frowned.

Sothing had been bugging him ever since the woman had shown up at the gates, but he had finally put his finger on it. What kind of incompetent shinobi brings their seven-year-old brat along on a mission?

"You know, the Abura clan's insects usually don't bother visitors unless they're trying to get into places they're not supposed to," said Izumo, slowly reaching for a kunai behind his back. "Why don't you start over from the beginning—"

The crackle of his radio transceiver cut him off mid-sentence.

"Heads up, you're talking to soone with a fairly powerful chakra signature," said the person on the other end of the line, a Barrier Team officer. "Is everything all right? Need any backup?"

Upon hearing this, Kotetsu and Izumo froze.

"…!?"

…as in, they literally froze into solid blocks of ice.

"Ice Style: Chains of Earthen Ice."

The woman strode past the two frozen gate guardians, clutching her child tightly in her arms. Hoarfrost spread slowly from beneath her feet as she advanced, covering the road and gate in a blanket of thin, almost featherlike white shards of ice.

Without wasting any ti, she leapt onto a nearby roof, searching for anything that might even remotely resemble a hospital. Most of the village lay in ruins, and a colossal tree at its centre obscured much of what remained from view… she would have to ask for directions.

"Stop right there, evildoer!"

Three young teenagers, perhaps six or seven years older than her child, flickered onto the roof before her, cutting off her path forwards. One was a spiky-haired brat with a long scarf trailing behind him in the wind like a hero from a super sentai series; the second, an orange-haired, twin-tailed girl with rosy cheeks; and the last, a bespectacled kid sporting a curtains hairstyle.

They would do nicely.

"Most of the adults might be gone," declared Kazamatsuri Moegi, "but that doesn't an you can run about doing what you please!"

"That's right, kore!' shouted Sarutobi Konohamaru. "The village's under OUR protection while the others are out to war, so you'd better stand down unless you want a beating, kore!"

"Yeah!" Ise Udon added empathically. "…but how are we going to do that? I don't think our ultimate technique is going to work on a pretty lady…"

"Ice Style: Chains of Earthen Ice."

The woman freed a hand and perford several swift, one-handed seals.

"What the heck, kore!?"

Icy thorns exploded at the three teenagers' feet. They hastily leapt into the air to avoid them, but the ice spikes shot upwards after them, trapping them inside cages of ice. They imdiately set upon the bars with their kunai, producing a series of lodious and tallic pinging sounds, but they were unable to make so much as a single dent in the hard, translucent ice.

"I'm looking for the hospital," the woman said coldly. "Answer quickly, and I suggest you answer truthfully… I only need one of you as a hostage."

She could feel the life ebbing away from her child's weakened body. He was growing weaker by the minute, so she could not afford to waste any more ti on these brats.

"As if we'd tell you anything, kore!"

The spiky-haired brat suddenly vanished from his cage in a puff of white smoke.

Hearing footsteps behind her and the sound of chakra tearing at the air, the woman whirled around to see the sa brat running towards her, holding a sphere of spiralling yellow chakra in his palm.

Dark ice spread from her feet across the rooftop, but the boy had already coated the soles of his sandals with chakra to sneakily scale the building behind her while she had been preoccupied with his Shadow Clone and his friends, allowing him to keep his footing!

"Rasengan!"

Konohamaru thrust out the spinning ball of chakra at her, but the woman nimbly pirouetted out of the way and seized his arm, causing the jutsu to sputter out. In response, Konohamaru bent his knees and sprang, launching himself into the air to twist himself out of her iron grip, when…

"Gah!" Konohamaru scread, his breath condensing into white fog before him.

A terrible chill spread out from the woman's hand across his arm, as his blood froze in his veins, turning into a myriad frozen thorns that ruptured his blood vessels.

"Unless you want to lose this arm," she said nacingly, "you'll tell what I want to know."

"N-Never!" Konohamaru gasped through chattering teeth. "Y-You're planning sothing bad, aren't you, ko-ko-kore!"

The pain was quickly turning into numbness. He couldn't even feel his fingers any more, everything was frozen solid, even the tears of pain in his eyes… and then the woman suddenly let go, and he reeled backwards, clutching his arm.

"Sakura-oneechan!" Moegi exclaid.

Konohamaru looked up with bleary eyes as soone appeared before him in a red blur of motion. That curvy silhouette, that charming back, those breasts so large they could even be seen from behind, sticking out on either side of her trim torso…

"What do you think you're doing to the village's treasures?" Sakura said, fury blazing in her eyes. "I'm in a bit of a hurry here, so if I were you, I'd put down that child so that he doesn't get in the way when I smash your face in!"