"I told you not to come over!"
"I thought you were drowning!"
Ino sighed and shook her head helplessly.
Naruto and Sasuke had managed to hold in their frustration for the duration of the long walk over the sea to Mother Island, but the moment Anko-sensei had gone to meet their clients, her temporary teammates had begun loudly bickering with each other.
"I had everything under control, until you jumped feet first into my trap!"
"Maybe if you'd said something, I would've known you were okay!"
"Wouldn't have been much of a trap if I had, now would it!?"
"What's going on out here!?" shouted Anko, as she stormed out of the inn where she had gone to meet their clients, the rest of the Land of the Sea's protection detail. "I could hear you two screaming from inside the building!"
Sakura and Naruto turned away from each other and crossed their arms in a huff.
"Whatever, I don't care," snapped Anko, as she glowered at them. "Now listen up, you three! The date of the collection ships' departure to the Land of Water has been pushed forward to tomorrow morning, which means our guard duty detail officially starts then. You're dismissed for now, but make sure to be at the harbour by 5 o'clock sharp!"
And with that, Anko flickered away, leaving her three charges unsupervised.
"Jeez, there she goes again!" said Ino in exasperation, putting her hands on her hips. She then turned around, adding, "well, nothing we can do about it. What should we do in the meantime, Saku— eh? Where did that girl go?"
"She went that way," said Naruto irritably, pointing towards the beach.
…
Sakura did feel a little bad for shouting at Naruto.
If their roles had been reversed, and he had been the one in danger and telling her to run for it, she would have done exactly what he did… not that she'd ever admit she was in the wrong.
Truthfully, Sakura was more upset at herself than she was at Naruto, because her pride had taken a hit. While she and her teammates had not exactly lost against the Tsurugi and Akadō pair, they hadn't exactly won a brilliant victory, either. Even though those two had ambushed them and had the terrain advantage, she had taken down an Akatsuki member before— surely she could have done a little better!
One way or another, Sakura was going to even the score, which is why she was currently heading to the house of the so-called sea monster terrifying the region, whose true identity was that of Isaribi, the bandaged female diver from the fish market.
In the original timeline, the girl would have saved Naruto from drowning right after the ambush, but if Sakura's guess was correct, then Akadō should have taken his place, as she had left him to drown in her syrup.
Which meant that once Sakura found Isaribi's hut, she would just have to:
First: subdue the girl before she transformed.
Second: incapacitate Akadō, if necessary.
From there, it would be a simple matter of putting Akadō under a Genjutsu to force him to spill the beans: his masters had no intention of curing Isaribi's monstrous condition! Armed with this information, she would easily be able to convince Isaribi to switch sides, and then it would be a simple matter of taking down Orochimaru's pet scientist.
This happened to be one of the rare few filler episodes Sakura somewhat vaguely remembered, so she was determined to put her knowledge to good use! It's not as if she needed that idiot's help for a mere filler episode!
…
After running half a lap around the island, Sakura finally arrived at her destination, a dilapidated fishing hut covered in graffiti built on a gravel beach. The graffiti read, 'keep out!' and 'a monster lives here!' among other nasty things, which good boys and girls shouldn't repeat. Sighing, Sakura knocked at the door, but to her surprise, the wood was so rotten and weathered that it fell apart under her fist.
"This is my own private domicile!" came a girl's muffled voice from the inside. "And I will not be harassed!"
"Sorry about your door!" Sakura called out helplessly. "Mind if I come in, seeing as, er… the door's already opened?"
No response came, so Sakura took the silence as an invitation and squeezed through the narrow doorway. It was awfully dark inside the house— the windows were boarded up and the cooking fire at the centre of the room was unlit. Given Isaribi's disfigurements, Sakura supposed it made sense she might want to avoid looking at herself as much as possible…
"Did a man happen to wash up on the beach near your house?" asked Sakura tentatively, peering through the darkness in search of Isaribi. "Wearing sunglasses? Sunglasses, and, er…"
Sakura was drawing a blank about his other distinguishing features.
Surely a man was worth more than his glasses? It wasn't her fault if he wasn't memorable— up 'till now, Akadō's only real purpose in life had been to get his teeth kicked in by Sasuke. Not to mention that she had never actually seen his real face— if he was indeed in there, resting, she doubted she'd be able to recognise him with his mask off…
"…there is such a person under this roof," the female voice suddenly said. "What do you want with him?"
The voice was coming from farther back, in another room.
"Akadō Yoroi is a missing-nin from the Leaf," answered Sakura succinctly. "I'll interrogate him, and then I'll bring him back to the village."
"And then?" the voice prompted.
Sakura ventured into the dark corridor without answering, silently weaving hand signs. She then placed her palms on the floor, sending out a pulse of her chakra like a radar. Two human-shaped life signs— one tall male, lying on the floor unconscious, and one average-sized female, unarmed.
"And then… I suppose he'll be sent to jail for desertion," said Sakura, floorboards creaking beneath her as she made her way towards the room where the voice was coming from. "Either the Konoha Strict Correctional Facility or Hōzuki Castle, the ninja prison…"
The girl laughed harshly.
"As expected, even after all these years, the true nature of shinobi hasn't changed," she hissed. "Sealed and imprisoned, only to be let out to fight when convenient… hateful."
Sakura peeked through the final doorway at the end of the hall, where a shadowy figure stood in the darkness, looming over an unconscious body.
"Isaribi…?" Sakura called out uncertainly.
And then the shadowy figure opened her eyes. The most ominous and sinister pair of eyes Sakura had ever laid eyes on, glowing faintly in the darkness.
"Sasuke!?"
The three tomoe etched into the shadowy figure's irises began orbiting rapidly around her pitch-black pupils, causing Sakura's entire world to start spinning into a blur around her…