Sakura's mind had gone completely blank.
There were no cute, quippy comebacks or clever retorts on the tip of her tongue, nor were there any curses. All she could think was to keep her legs moving, one before the other, as fast as she could. She had no idea where she was going; only that she couldn't dare slow down.
The alternative was unthinkable.
A wall loomed up ahead, closing in fast. Without thinking, she leapt away from her pursuers, soaring nearly ten metres into the air. She hit the battlements hard, tumbling across the wet, slippery stone and crashing into a wall. Barely had she caught her breath than a searing pain blossomed in her chest, as the Celestial Prison Seal flared to life, punishing her attempt to mould chakra by turning her own powers against her, cooking her from within.
With a soundless scream, Sakura curled into a ball, hugging her knees to her chest.
She could hear the waves crashing against the rocks below. Freedom and cool, refreshing water capable of removing this stupid seal were just eighty metres below, but in that moment, her fevered mind couldn't calculate if falling from that height into water without the ability to use chakra would be lethal. That is, unless she dashed herself on the rocks first.
Several sets of footsteps echoed in Sakura's ears, drawing steadily nearer.
"You should have taken the stairs, girl."
Sakura couldn't tell whether to count herself lucky that the agony would spare her from feeling what came next, or to curse Mui and his blasted Celestial Prison Seal for putting her in this mess to begin with… probably the latter.
The ground started to shake, and a distant roar echoed across the prison island.
"I hear gunshots, boss."
"Probably suppressing another riot."
"What the fuck? Is that a giant octopus!?"
Sakura screwed her eyes shut, bracing for the worst as she heard the rustle of clothing being tugged down… followed by a chorus of grunts of discomfort. She sincerely wished they'd caught their important bits in their zips.
"It… burns!"
"What… the hell…? The… seal's… activating…? But… we're still… within bounds!"
Sakura opened her eyes. Her would-be aggressors were either doubled over in pain or writhing on the stone floor of the battlements in agony… and her own searing pain was worsening by the second. But this phenomenon was not unique to them; all over the island, many of the rioting prisoners were bursting into flame one by one, until their bodies were consumed to ashes.
On the other side of the island, Maroi was dragging Mui's limp body onto a launch, a small, motorised boat. He was getting Kumo's prize away from the fighting at the gates, and in doing so, he was accidentally triggering the Celestial Prison Seals of the prisoners furthest from them.
The prison master was just as much of a prisoner as the inmates themselves; because his charges would die the instant they strayed too far from him, his job prevented him from ever leaving Hōzuki Castle and the island it stood on!
"Come… on…!"
With a supreme effort, Sakura pushed herself to her feet and crawled onto the battlement's ledge. The seal's activation had forced her hand; if any more of her chakra was forcefully converted into heat, she would spontaneously combust, leaving behind nothing more than a black stain on the pavement as proof that a girl named Sakura had once lived.
Sakura rolled off the ledge.
Weightlessness swept over her as she plummeted, wind howling past her ears. The dark lake surged up to meet her, and though her lungs burned as if they had been set aflame, Sakura drew one last, ragged breath… and then came the impact. Pain ripped through her chest, forcing the air she had just sucked in from her lungs, and before she could grasp which way was up, a whirlpool pulled her down into the depths, slamming her into the lakebed and shattering her ribcage.
Sakura let out a soundless cry, bubbles escaping from her nose and mouth. The waters of the lake were freezing cold, dulling the burning pain in her chest, but before she could gather her spirits, the current swept her away. But being submerged was indeed doing the trick— the Celestial Prison Seal branded on her chest was fading away rapidly.
Even so, she was drowning faster than her strength was recovering. She was surrounded by cold, oppressive darkness, and she couldn't breathe. She was at the mercy of the lake's underwater currents, and it was only a matter of time before she was flung back onto the lakebed, either knocking her unconscious and leaving her to drown, or killing her instantly.
"Susano'o!"
Instinctively, Sakura activated the power lying dormant in her eyes, hard‑coded into her Uchiha genetics.
An indistinct pink shimmer gathered around Sakura, slowly condensing into bones that shaped themselves into a ribcage and a pair of arms. She hung suspended in a sea of her own chakra, the energy driving back the frigid water that had been freezing and crushing her moments before.
Though it had been so long ago that they no longer remembered it, the Ōtsutsuki had once been mortal, originating from a star where life was exceedingly harsh. Facing annihilation at the hands of the beings who stalked them at night and preyed upon them, they had cultivated their chakra and developed many strange abilities to protect themselves.
One such technique was the Susano'o, a lingering echo of an ability the Ōtsutsuki had once evolved to combat gigantic enemies in any environment, no matter how hostile— that is, before they became the space‑faring parasites they were now, their bare bodies strong enough to defeat monsters the size of mountains without needing to rely on such things.
Instinctively, Sakura knew that wherever she fought, the Susano'o would sustain her like a spaceship's life support systems— keeping her warm, purifying the air of toxins, drawing oxygen from water, and even maintaining her air supply if she ever strayed into outer space. The true nature of the Susano'o was that of a Gund*m, a giant environmental chakra suit that allowed her to punch gigantic monsters in the face!
Sakura willed herself upwards, and the pink Susano'o began doggy paddling towards the surface.