Chapter 452: Searching
The night in the ancient city of Roran was very cold.
After the young Konoha ninja walked out of the hall, they found an intact house. Sasuke built a fire, and they went to sleep separately.
Haruno Sakura had tough nerves; even after encountering such a thing, she could still sleep peacefully. Lying on her sleeping mat, faint snores were heard within a few minutes.
Sasuke, full of worries, tossed and turned, finding it hard to sleep for a long time.
As soon as he closed his eyes, the image of the destroyed Konoha and the other self who defected from the village appeared in his mind.
He simply opened his eyes, sat in the corner, looked at the blazing fire in the middle of the house, and stared blankly in silence.
Then he quietly looked at Haruno Sakura, who was sleeping soundly nearby, for a long time.
The girl in a sweet dream still had a faint smile on her lips. The graceful and heroic girl during the day seemed to become quiet, gentle, and delicate at this moment. Under the illumination of the bright bonfire, that calm face was as clear as jade, glowing like a new moon, reflecting a soft light.
Maybe the Haruno Sakura of this world looks like this?
Thinking this way, his mood suddenly calmed down a lot.
"Really can sleep..."
Sasuke poked the bonfire and suddenly laughed.
He turned over and lay down again, his bright eyes looking at the roof, silently thinking about something unknown, and then unknowingly fell asleep.
When Sasuke woke up, Haruno Sakura's bedding had been packed away.
The early morning was freezing cold.
He shook his head, rising chakra drove the chill out of his body, and he turned over and jumped up.
Walking out of the house quickly, he saw Haruno Sakura standing silently with closed eyes at the highest point of the ruins. Her face had ornate purple patterns of unknown purpose, and delicate makeup-like purple eyeshadow around her eyes. The chakra aura on her body became strange and powerful.
Adding a mysterious and fascinating charm to her.
It was the first time Sasuke saw that appearance.
"Ah, you're awake." She opened her eyes and greeted Sasuke calmly.
"Is this Sage Mode?"
Sasuke jumped up in a few steps, stood beside Haruno Sakura, and asked with interest.
"Hn... I'm searching for our chakra in this world." Sakura nodded and replied, "But didn't find it."
She sighed.
In Sage Mode, Haruno Sakura theoretically possessed wide-range chakra sensing ability, but the first attempt ended without result, making her seriously doubt if she cultivated a fake Sage Mode.
"Katsuyu said the last time Sakura summoned it was in Konoha..." Haruno Sakura rubbed her temples, looking puzzled, "But I searched in the direction of Konoha for a long time and didn't sense her and Naruto's chakra."
Katsuyu didn't know much.
The Slug Sage was different from the toads of Mount Myoboku. It liked to stay in Shikkotsu Forest, never showing its main body, nor caring about trivial matters happening in the ninja world... Tsunade and Sakura didn't specifically tell it everything that happened recently, so the intelligence obtained from it was quite limited.
The key to the problem was still finding Sakura and the others first, or at least finding acquaintances.
Sasuke frowned and helped her think: "Can you distinguish your chakra in this world? Maybe this world's Sakura has slightly different chakra from yours, or it's too weak, so you didn't recognize it."
"Then Naruto's chakra shouldn't be undetectable, right? I remember that strong smell of the Nine-Tails clearly, and Naruto's chakra fluctuation is so large..."
Sasuke fell silent, unable to think of a better method for a moment.
"Could they be not in Konoha?" He suddenly thought.
"If not in Konoha, where did they go?" Haruno Sakura bit her soft lower lip, murmured, and turned the search direction from due east to north.
After a while, her expression suddenly became strange.
"I seem to sense something..."
She glanced at Sasuke and said hesitantly.
"What did you find?"
"It's you..." Haruno Sakura said with a straight face, "I sensed the chakra of Uchiha Sasuke of this world."
"Very strong!"
"And... engaging in a fierce battle."
"With whom?" Sasuke was slightly stunned.
"I sensed the existence of Kazekage Gaara, Mizukage Terumi Mei, and two unknown powerful ninja, probably the Raikage and Tsuchikage... Have to say, you really know how to pick opponents, Sasuke!"
After speaking, Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other, immediately released Sage Mode, and started running without hesitation.
Rushing towards the direction of that Sasuke!
Sprinting at full speed, Haruno Sakura and Sasuke were astonishingly fast. Leaving the Roran ruins, passing through the Land of Rain, crossing a small part of the Land of Fire's territory, in just a morning's time, the two arrived at the border of the Land of Iron, north of the Land of Fire, a place with cold climate and covered by ice and snow all year round.
Here, Haruno Sakura stopped abruptly.
"Damn it! Your chakra disappeared!" She frowned tightly, her beautiful eyebrows knitting together, speaking a bit irritably.
Sasuke, who was fighting earlier, had quite obvious chakra fluctuations. Even without entering Sage Mode, Haruno Sakura's sensing ability could detect his existence, but now... suddenly disappeared.
"What's going on?" Sasuke braked following her and asked.
"Not clear... the battle has stopped, maybe you are injured."
As Haruno Sakura spoke, she quickly formed seals with her hands and summoned Katsuyu again: "Trouble you again, I need to enter Sage Mode to search once more."
Katsuyu familiarly transformed into an elbow guard, sticking to her left forearm, sucking natural energy into its body.
Vigorous and tyrannical Senjutsu Chakra rose from the girl. Complex and beautiful Sage Markings and eyeshadow appeared instantly on Haruno Sakura's face, entering the mysterious Sage Mode.
The color of her eyes deepened in this state, the dark green eyes becoming deeper than usual, like a bottomless pool.
She looked coldly in the direction she sensed just now.
"Still can't find your chakra fluctuation. Only the chakra of other Kage is there."
"Possibly dead."
Haruno Sakura in Sage Mode seemed more indifferent and cold than usual.
Sasuke's face sank instantly.
"Is that so...?"
Although he didn't like himself in this world very much, learning that he might be dead, Sasuke's mood was inevitably affected.
"Sakura-nee, Sasuke-nii! I smell Naruto-nii's scent! He is nearby!" Yoru suddenly poked its head out of Sasuke's arms.
This fat cat, because Naruto fed it dried fish a few times, had been obsessing over his scent. Yoru possessed the best olfactory ability of the cat clan (see Chapter 282), theoretically an excellent support ninja cat; only this seemed to be the first time it played its role.
"Well done, Yoru!" Sasuke stroked Yoru's furry head which felt excellent to touch, his mood improved a lot, and turned to Sakura, "Then let's go find Naruto first, how about it?"
Previously when using Demon Form in panic, he summoned Yoru by mistake. Didn't expect the mistake to be fortuitous, Yoru actually played an important role at this time! Things seemed to have become simpler.
Haruno Sakura pondered for a moment.
"No," she patted Yoru's head and said, "You go find Naruto, I'll go check the situation of Sasuke in this world. You also have search ability now, so don't be afraid of getting separated."
"We must confirm his life or death."
Sasuke hesitated for a moment and nodded: "Alright, can't just leave him be..."
"By the way, take note, when you meet Naruto... observe secretly first, don't expose our existence and identity for now, wait until we figure out what happened here!"
Before parting, Haruno Sakura instructed.
Sasuke understood her meaning and nodded solemnly.
She suddenly stepped forward and patted Sasuke's shoulder.
"Stay safe."
Haruno Sakura smiled beautifully, looking at him and said.
"You too."
For a moment Sasuke thought she would come over to hold his hand... He smiled, turned around, and disappeared into the snow with Body Flicker Jutsu.
Haruno Sakura's gaze turned back to the previous direction, changing from gentle to extremely cold instantly.
Extremely murderous.
"Is it you causing trouble again?"
What Haruno Sakura didn't tell Sasuke was that she also sensed another person's chakra this time.
"The guy who calls himself Madara Uchiha..."
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