Decision

We rested like that for a while.

Hinata recovered some Chakra and quickly located Sasuke and his group after activating her Byakugan.

They blocked Gaara companions' path, facing each other from a distance, a battle about to break out.

"Found them! No fighting yet! Let's go, Sakura, we need to speed things up!"

Hinata stood up and said, but found that Sakura did not move. Instead, she suddenly showed a conflicted expression, as if she wanted to say something but stopped herself.

To put it bluntly, it's not the kind of frustration you feel when you can't poop, but the kind of frustration you feel when you've finished pooping and realize you didn't bring any toilet paper.

"What's wrong?" Hinata asked cautiously.

He looked Sakura up and down. Her face had a strange expression, but he couldn't tell what it was. Her clothes were intact, so she seemed unharmed. Her feet...?

During the battle, Sakura used her Monstrous Strength Technique, and her foot broke through the soil and sank into a pit. She's been in that position ever since... Hinata's mind immediately conjured up some very unladylike and unpleasant images. Had she stepped on something disgusting?

He activated his Byakugan again.

Pfft—The girl Byakugan and laughed rather unkindly.

"Alright, alright, the shoes are broken." It should be that the shoes shattered. The pink-haired girl was wearing the issued ninja open-toed sandals, which were of very reliable quality. However, the pink-haired girl's Monstrous Strength Technique was too powerful, and unlike Tsunade, she didn't habitually use Chakra to protect her shoes. As a result, she shattered the shoes with a single kick.

Embarrassed, I pulled my feet out, washed the dust off my toes, and stood Ultra-Pure Water.

After being reborn as a girl, Sakura finds herself more shy. She even blushes and feels her cheeks heat when Hinata barefoot.

While feeling shy, Genin heart was also bleeding. The stipend and mission income for a genin were not high, and each person was only issued one pair of ninja shoes. Buying another pair would cost a lot of money. The poor girl Sakura Haruno (compared to the rich Sasuke) was already struggling to make ends meet just by buying ninja tools...

[Note: Frequent training will result in a high consumption of ninja tools.]

I'm usually quite careful when there's a combat mission, and sometimes I simply don't wear shoes. Using Ultra-Pure Water mat is actually much more convenient than wearing shoes. I was only dressed formally because of the Chunin Ninja Exams...

The only consolation is that the Monstrous Strength Technique only easily tears off shoes, not clothes—if that counts as a consolation.

The girl sighed, looking at her feet with a conflicted expression.

My left shoe is fine, but should I still wear it? Do shoe stores sell single shoes?

"Of course I'm not selling!" The pink-haired girl mocked herself, what a stupid question.

I bent down and deftly took off my left shoe, and for some reason, I thought of a certain beautiful woman from "Twin Dragons of the Tang Dynasty".

He exchanged a glance with Hinata —who looked at him like he was an idiot—and said, "Let's go!"

The girls leaped onto the tree branches and disappeared into the depths of the woods.

Hinata incomplete recovery: the battle hadn't even started before she set off; by the time she arrived, the battle was already over.

Sakura thought that the combination of Sasuke Naruto, and Shikamaru would be able to defeat the Sand shinobi trio, but unexpectedly, they ended up in a draw.

Shikamaru collapsed to the ground, Sasuke was exhausted, and Naruto was covered in wounds. However, their opponents weren't in much better shape either. Gaara was lying on the ground, Kankuro's puppets were all destroyed, and he and his sister were only able to stand. Considering Naruto's amazing recovery ability, the Konoha team ultimately prevailed.

Sakura first examined Shikamaru's injuries. His breathing was steady, and the injuries were not serious. There was a light blue coating on the wound, which was obviously a poison unique to the Sand shinobi. He had been poisoned and was unconscious.

Even the highest IQ cannot calculate everything perfectly.

Shikamaru was unaware of two pieces of information: Kankuro's poison and Gaara's Jinchūriki. He probably thought that even if he was injured and unable to fight, it wouldn't matter as long as he could command. He didn't anticipate that Kankuro's poison would turn his wounds into a fatal injury that would render him unconscious. Even so, if Gaara hadn't been Jinchūriki, his plan would likely have succeeded. In the end, Gaara's feigned Feigning Sleep Technique led to a mutually destructive outcome.

Of course, with the arrival of Sakura and the other two, the situation immediately changed from a draw to an overwhelming advantage for Konoha.

"Thank you for your hard work. I'll take over from here on out!"

Sakura looked around, first nodding to Naruto and Sasuke, then turning her gaze to the Sand shinobi trio.

Kankuro and Temari stood guard anxiously in front of Gaara, their brows furrowed and the bulging veins on their hands betraying their inner tension and unease. They clearly realized that at this moment, their fate was no longer in their own hands. Only Gaara, lying on the ground, though seriously injured, had an unusually calm expression, and the dark killing intent that had been buried deep in his eyes seemed to be gradually disappearing.

"Naruto's Talk no Jutsu is working again?" Sakura thought to herself.

In fact, she didn't know that this was Naruto's last convincing Talk no Jutsu in the entire Hokage story. Similar experiences made Gaara, agree with Naruto's words and beliefs and easily influenced by Naruto. However, in Shippuden, which Sakura hadn't watched much of, Naruto's Talk no Jutsu became something akin to forced brainwashing, or to put it bluntly, Kishimoto forcibly feeding her garbage. She criticized Naruto's Talk no Jutsu, unaware that this was already considered relatively mild.

Should we kill them?

In the original story, Gaara was able to leave because both sides were exhausted from fighting and had run out of power. There was no reason to kill each other, so there was no need to risk their lives to test if the other had any trump cards for mutual destruction. Besides, they were just a group of immature teenagers, so it's normal that they didn't think things through before making their decisions.

Now, the Konoha side is perfectly capable of easily killing the Sand shinobi.

Sakura knew Hinata's personality well; killing was definitely a last resort for her. She might suggest capturing the three people and taking them back to the village, or even releasing them.

However, Shikamaru was seriously injured and urgently needed medical attention, and the battle in the village was still ongoing. Therefore, even letting them go was more sensible than taking them back to Konoha; taking three prisoners was not as simple as taking three wounded soldiers.

Naruto and Sasuke haven't seen much bloodshed, and they also tend to prefer less bloody and cruel methods.

However, if Sakura felt it necessary to kill them, the remaining three were unlikely to object, since the Sand shinobi were the enemy. Being a ninja meant having the resolve of a ninja; naivety and innocence wouldn't get you far in the Hokage world.

Therefore, the lives of Gaara and the other two are actually in Sakura's hands.

As the captain of this temporary team, Sakura naturally took on the responsibility of making the decision.

From a broader strategic perspective, killing the Sand shinobi Jinchūriki has lost its Tailed Beast. Having just lost the Kazekage and now also losing its Tailed Beast, the balance of power between the major villages is disrupted. The Sand shinobi Village will face a very difficult future, with a greater than 90% chance of invasion, and even the possibility of its entire village being wiped out. In this scenario, Konoha would not only lose a loyal subordinate, but more importantly, suffer a devastating defeat at the hands of the Sand shinobi, only to have their victory stolen by another. This situation is somewhat reminiscent of the conflict between Britain and France during World War II. From this perspective, excessively weakening allies is not a good thing and could even be a burden.

Furthermore, Gaara will become the next Kazekage who is loyal to Konoha in the future, so killing him on the spot now would be a waste.

From a personal perspective, Sakura herself doesn't care what happens; she's confident she can be a pillar of strength in the future and has neither the need nor the interest to rely on others. Of course, for her and her friends, having another strong person as a friend isn't a bad thing.

The last reason is to maintain the original plot and preserve the "prophetic" advantage. However, with the butterfly effect, her disruption of the "plot" has become increasingly severe. Tsunade returned to the village early, the Chunin Ninja Exams changed drastically, and the so-called prophetic advantage has become weaker and weaker. Not to mention, she doesn't even know much about what Shippuden was about, so she didn't have much of a prophetic advantage to begin with. Moreover, considering that her strength has grown to this level, it would be really too "L" for her to still rely on the prophetic advantage.

So, has she made a decision? Sakura knew that her considerations in such a short time were definitely incomplete, and might even be completely wrong, but--

She has the right and the means to be willful, doesn't she?

Just like how the First arbitrarily distributed the Tailed Beast to various villages—regardless of whether this decision was extremely foolish or extremely wise, because he was confident that all the Tailed Beast combined could not defeat him—Sakura believed that if she was proven wrong in the future, she would have the ability to correct that mistake herself.

Sakura took a deep breath--

"Let them go... Sakura." Naruto suddenly spoke, though he was covered in wounds and looked exhausted, his expression was more resolute than anyone else's.

Everyone present— Kankuro and Temari, who were filled with trepidation; Temari, who calmly accepted the outcome Gaara, who was crouching on the ground watching the Sand shinobi Sasuke; Hinata, who was taking care of Shikamaru; and Sakura, who was deep in thought—all paused for a moment and turned to look at Naruto.

"Gaara... is suffering because he's alone, unwanted, and unappreciated... just like I used to be, so... I understand how he feels, but he'll change, I believe in him... Let them go..."

Naruto's words were weak yet full of power.

Sakura remained silent.

Teammates' opinions are certainly important. And it's even more important that Naruto's decision aligns with Sakura's.

After a long pause, she finally spoke, "Naruto... since you believe in him, then I believe in you too..."

Sakura turned around and helped Naruto up.

"You may leave."

He didn't even look back through the tunnel.

[I'm currently researching and writing this book simultaneously, so there may be occasional bugs. Please leave a message if you encounter any problems.]