After Tsukikaze's back vanished beyond the edge of her vision, disappearing into the horizon where heaven and earth met, Sarada slowly climbed to her feet.
She looked sadly at the new clothes she had bought, now stained all over with blood and mud.
"It's all your fault. You could've just used Mangekyō Genjutsu to control him directly. Did you really have to waste time talking nonsense with him?"
"See? You didn't even get the answers you wanted, and I got hurt for nothing."
Sarada pouted, venting her dissatisfaction.
"No. What I wanted to know, and what I had planned, have basically been accomplished. And that's all thanks to you!"
The White-Robed Man helped Sarada up, gently washing the bloodstains from her clothes with Water Release before quickly drying the soaked fabric with Wind Release.
"Tsk, tsk. Since when did you get so good at taking care of people?" Sarada turned her head away shyly and murmured softly.
The White-Robed Man merely rolled his eyes at her, then casually pulled the blade from her back.
"Ah~!" Sarada groaned in pain and shoved him away irritably. "Why can't you take a compliment?"
The White-Robed Man silently stabbed the blade back in.
"...Urgh!!" Sarada cried out in pain. She could feel another hole in her back, fresh blood trickling down.
Aggrieved tears slid from the corners of her eyes as she stared at the White-Robed Man in confusion, as though questioning him.
"..." The White-Robed Man was speechless.
He could not be bothered to waste words on her. His tone returned to its usual indifference. "You have one minute to recover. Then we leave for the Land of Water."
"...Yes." Sarada was dejected.
The cool night breeze brushed past the moonlit silhouettes. The lush grass rolled like ocean waves, while the White-Robed Man