Main World.
Year 24 of Konoha, winter.
British Continent, New Capital.
Imperial Palace, Training Room.
Winter sunlight streamed through the high windows, casting faint patterns of light and shadow across the bluestone floor. The Training Room was vast and empty, its four walls covered in energy-absorbing runes. Sakura Haruno stood in the center, dressed in a dark gray training outfit, her long pink hair tied in a high ponytail that exposed her slender neck. Her breathing was steady, her gaze calm.
It had been a long time since she had stood like this. Pregnancy, childbirth, caring for a child-for over a year, her body had barely undergone any proper training. But her foundation remained. A Peak Kage foundation was not something she could lose after a year without training. Besides, she had been waiting all along. Waiting for the fruit Toyotomi Yinglang had mentioned.
Toyotomi Yinglang stood before her with his hands behind his back, his moon-white kariginu giving off a soft sheen in the sunlight. A faint smile rested on his lips, his gaze on Sakura Haruno as though he were looking at a nearly finished work.
"Ready?" His voice was calm.
"Ready." Sakura Haruno nodded.
Toyotomi Yinglang took a deep blue fruit from inside his robes and held it in his palm. Node-shaped patterns covered its surface, each glowing faintly like countless connection points. At its top was a deep blue, star-shaped leaf. The entire fruit gave off a mysterious aura, like space itself.
"Paramecia-Node Devil Fruit," Toyotomi Yinglang said calmly. "Eat it, and you'll become the hub of the battlefield."
Sakura Haruno took the fruit and bit into it without hesitation. It melted in her mouth, and a warm sensation like an electric current spread from her stomach throughout her body. Her body began to glow-not with