Preventing The Inevitable

Chapter 30

Year Zero, Day Two

The night air smelled of wet earth—usually a sign of incoming rain. She would surely welcome a drop in temperature. Heat had become trapped underneath her long-sleeved ninja attire and the thick flak jacket. Rain might also wash away some of the dirt in her hair.

And perhaps, it'd even purge the sharp, pungent smell of fear that was heavy in the air. Tension pressed against her skin, thick enough to make breathing feel deliberate.

The battlefield quaked as something impossibly heavy slammed into the ground. Tremors ran through the earth, and it shattered, huge chunks of debris flying through the air. The ground disappeared underneath her. She leaped away, joining Kakashi and Naruto on what appeared to be stable ground.

She'd never known that fear could have a smell. That might have been because it wasn't her own fear. It was that of the countless shinobi around her. The oppressive stench of terror clung to her skin even more so than the sweat gathering at the back of her neck. The soldiers of the Allied Shinobi Forces were panicked.

Because something had just changed. The moon had changed.

Before she could take her own look at it, Naruto began talking next to her. He started conjuring a Rasenshuriken.

Her attention was diverted again as suddenly, a mass of blazing, purple flames descended upon them. Sasuke? What is he—? He shouldn't be coming down here right now. Their powers needed to be spread out, not concentrated.

"Sasuke, don't head down here so suddenly!" Naruto shouted. "I could've hit you with the Rasen—!"

The Susanō landed on the ground with a loud thump, effectively cutting Naruto off. "Shut up and stay still!" Sasuke ordered. The Susanō crouched down, enveloping the four of them completely. Sound vanished, then returned in a loud tremor as something broke through the ground beyond their sight. Naruto moved to rush forward but was held back by Sasuke.

Sasuke explained just enough for Sakura to understand that the moon itself had become a trap—and that they'd escaped it by seconds. Only once he deemed it safe enough did Sasuke dispel his technique.

Outside, everyone had vanished. Her comrades hung from the giant tree's roots, trapped inside cocoon-like prisons.

Madara appeared before them, declared himself the savior of the world, and was struck down moments later. Black Zetsu revealed him to be nothing more than another pawn. Naruto froze as the name "Kaguya" was spoken. She heard Sasuke mutter something about the Sage of Six Paths.

Sakura sensed it before she saw it. The chakra in the cocoons twisted—folded in on itself—surging toward a single point.

Madara's chakra spiked violently—and then vanished, swallowed by something vast and alien. In his place stood an ethereal woman with long, flowing silver hair and horns rising from her temples.

–

"What is that woman?" She asked. Her breath formed white puffs in the air as she spoke.

A world of ice expanded around them. Sakura shuddered. She couldn't even use chakra to warm up her body—every bit of energy would be needed if they wanted to stand a fighting chance against that woman. They'd just barely escaped from one of her mass-scale attacks and regrouped here.

Sakura took an anxious look around. Kaguya hadn't found them yet—but it felt temporary.

Summoning dimensions? She hadn't even heard of a technique like that before.