Take me to your Leader!

"Oi," Sakura blurted out uncomfortably, as the mysterious blonde boy's gaze shifted a few centimetres lower. "My eyes are up here."

It had become somewhat of an automatism for Sakura to tell off those whose gazes lingered overlong on her plump bust. Most of her cleavage was out for the world to see for that exact purpose, as she was quite proud of her looks, but there was such a thing as staring for too long.

Besides, weren't they supposed to be in the middle of a fight?

"It's faint," said the boy, his cheeks flushing slightly. "But I can definitely feel Gelel energy from… that area."

The boy goggled at Sakura as her ripe breasts suddenly began shaking and jiggling, seemingly all on their own. To his surprise, a small, triangular furry head popped out from between the sweater puppies, its scarlet eyes staring at him— was there an animal stuffed down the girl's shirt? Suddenly, the creature turned into a blur, and before he knew it, there was a ferret running happy circles around his feet.

"He likes you," said Sakura dumbly.

'If we're going by Naruto logic, then this person can't be a bad person, because the ferret likes him,' said Inner Sakura. 'If we're going by real world logic, then he's probably hiding some ham on his person, and the reason the ferret likes him so much is because it's hungry and it can smell meat on him.'

Then again, Sakura's opponent being a good or a bad person didn't really have an impact on whether he'd try to kill her again. After all, Obito had once been a kind child who helped old grannies cross the road, and Haku had tried to kill her more than one time.

"I'll only ask this once more," said the mysterious boy, interrupting Sakura's musings. "Come with me— Master Hyde will surely be interested to learn about your power, and how you came upon Gelel energy."

"My power?" echoed Sakura. "You mean my chakra?"

The boy nodded.

To be perfectly honest, Sakura wasn't inclined to accept the boy's offer in the slightest.

He might not be a shinobi or possess any chakra, but he vastly surpassed the average Genin's specs with his curious cultivation that was unrelated to chakra, which was supposedly this world's only power system. Sakura was dying to know more about that power, but it wasn't worth her life— there would doubtlessly be many more like him, were she to follow him into the tiger's lair.

Suddenly, Sakura's earpiece crackled to life.

"You should say yes, for the time being," Sasuke's voice rang out in her ear. "I can't explain any more without getting into too many details right now, but Naruto and I will be shadowing you from a distance— there's a good chance we might find the missing villagers and farmers if you do."

When Sasuke had reached the top of the mountain to begin his reconnaissance, a certain gigantic machine had caught his eye. Like a slug leaving behind a trail of slime, the machine had left in its wake a trail of devastation from the Land of Fire's southern shores. It devoured forests and flattened mountains alike, making a beeline for the centre of the country…

Its progress was slow but steady, meaning that at its current rate of advance, the infernal contraption had to have been slowly advancing for months— but somehow, no reports of invasion had ever reached either the Hokage or the Daimyō, despite the egregious breach of the country's borders by a hostile force…

"All right, then," Sakura told the boy. "Take me to your leader."

"Good," the boy simply said, before turning on his heel and walking away at a brisk pace.

Sakura trotted after the boy and overtook him.

"So, what's your story?" asked Sakura, leaning forward slightly to show off her cleavage and holding her hands behind her back coquettishly as she walked backwards. "What's your name?"

"My name is Temujin," the boy declared. "I follow Master Hyde, a great man— he will tell you more when you meet him."

Hyde— that name didn't sound very Japanese.

"Hyde, Haido… Strange name," commented Sakura. "How do you write that? The Kanji for Hai, as in ashes? Then the Kanji for Do, as in door, maybe?"

Temujin declined to answer.

Apart from the -jin part, his name didn't sound very Japanese, either— if Sakura was remembering her history classes correctly, wasn't Temujin Genghis Khan's birth name?

They continued walking together in silence. Sakura continued to ply Temujin with questions, but the boy wasn't very talkative, so she wasn't able to extract much meaningful information out of him— apart from the fact that he came from overseas, respected Hyde greatly, and had come here to create a utopia.

"A utopia, eh?" said Sakura sympathetically. "Good luck with that— your leader's not the only one here who's trying to remake the world in their image."

This Hyde had no idea how deeply the shinobi continent's waters ran. If he wanted to make this part of the world a better place, then he'd quickly run into the Akatsuki. If he managed to overcome them, then he'd have to face the two maniacs of the Uchiha clan, followed by a literal goddess…

"Are there many others like you?" asked Temujin hesitantly. "With… chakra?"

"Honestly, your master couldn't have started his world betterment plan in a worse place than here," said Sakura sardonically. "I don't know how bad things were where you came from, but there are tens of thousands of people like me, just in the five great villages alone."

Temujin gulped.

His master had sailed to the shinobi continent in search of more Gelel power sources to fuel his grand plan, but perhaps that would be easier said than done. If Sakura's words were true, then he and his companions stood no chance in hell of accomplishing their mission— unless they found what they were looking for.

"Why don't you start with your own homeland?" asked Sakura. "Anywhere but here would have been a better starting point, to be honest."

Temujin had come to accept that there would be necessary sacrifices for the creation of his master's utopia, but to minimise casualties, the plan hinged on overwhelming military dominance doctrine. So far, Temujin and his companions hadn't met much resistance from the inhabitants of the Land of Fire, but if there were many more fighters like the pink-haired girl… both sides would be evenly matched in the supernatural powers department, which meant that the war would certainly be bloody.

"Master Hyde will explain," said Temujin stubbornly, refusing to reveal any more information.

The truth was that Master Hyde and his band couldn't have started from their homeland, even if they had wanted to— they had started with the shinobi continent because they thought they'd be pushovers, and because they knew for a fact that they'd find a Gelel vein there.

The Gelel vein had to be found, no matter what, because it was a shortcut to mass-producing the superpowers cultivated on the continent Temujin hailed from. The Sage of Six Paths had never been to that side of the world, which meant that the people there had been introduced to chakra— instead, they had maintained the old ways, the ways of the sages… the manipulation of pure, natural energy itself!

While Hyde and knights weren't weak, there were only five of them in total including himself, and Hyde only had the one Gelel stone divided among them in fragments— fighting even a single sage among the thousands on his continent with only these numbers was suicide, which is why he needed more knights! More Gelel energy sources! More power!