NOVEL NEXT Chapter 319: Final Deathstination
The priestess of the Land of Demons was a beautiful girl with blond hair, dressed in a lavender-coloured kimono, and a pink hagoromo draped loosely over her shoulders like a shawl. Much to Sakura's regret, she couldn't presently determine the size of the priestess's breasts, as the latter was clinging to her attendant's back in a piggyback ride.
The attendant was a strapping young lad, wearing a tall, black archer's eboshi hat perched atop his head and fashionable glasses balanced on the bridge of his nose. Over his ceremonial olive robes, he bore nothing but an archer's breastplate for protection.
No wonder so many of his comrades had died.
"Yes?" asked Sakura tentatively, noticing the strange look the priestess was giving her over her attendant's shoulder. "Is there something wrong with my face?"
Rather than answering, the priestess looked away and closed her eyes, pretending as if she hadn't heard. What a strange girl she was!
…
A few minutes later, once it was confirmed the perimeter was secure and all enemies had been routed, Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata joined Sakura in the shrine's main hall and brought her up to speed on the enemy's distinguishing traits.
In total— counting the pink-haired man Sakura had fought— there were four enemies, each dressed in white robes embroidered with a trigram representing a different element, though the symbol didn't necessarily reflect the elemental natures they could wield, which was rather confusing.
"Ahem," coughed the priestess's attendant. "Honoured shinobi, the priestess is now ready to receive you. If you would be so kind…"
It turned out the priestess had only just woken up when the attack occurred and had still been rather drowsy by the time Sakura saved her. Given a few minutes to freshen up and get her clothes on the right way around, she'd made herself presentable and was now waiting to receive her guests on a dais behind a transparent screen made of thin reeds.
Following the custom of being granted an audience with important figures, Sakura and the others sat in seiza before the dais, while the attendant kowtowed to one side. Through some unseen mechanism— no doubt operated behind the scenes by survivors of the attack— the wooden curtain began to rise, revealing the full beauty of the priestess behind it.
Though, annoyingly, the thickness of the priestess's clothes still prevented Sakura's expert eye from discerning her cup size.
"Behold," said the attendant, "Shion, the shrine maiden of the Land of Demons."
He glanced at them, prompting each member of Team 7 to offer Shion their usual introductions. As was to be expected, Naruto behaved far too casually considering there had just been a massacre, and Hinata's introduction was basically inaudible.
Once everyone was introduced, the attendant named Taruho launched into a long, rambling speech about what would be expected of Team 7 during the escort mission. He mixed in vague thanks for the lives Sakura had helped save, while slipping in humble brags about the priestess's ability to see the future.
"And just as Lady Shion predicted," he droned on, "Susuki was among those who died in her defence."
"Wait, the shrine maiden can see the future!?" Sakura interjected.
If the shrine maiden's future sight was actually real, and if Sakura could get her hands on it, it would be a game changer.
Even so, she would have to tread carefully— abilities that dealt with time were notoriously difficult to counter. If Shion could foresee her breasts being stolen before the very idea had even begun to take root in Sakura's mind, it would spell no end of trouble for her.
After all, the entire shinobi continent was now temporarily united against the menace of Mōryō, so it would reflect terribly on the Hidden Leaf if the priestess's own escort jeopardised the mission and the world itself by attempting to steal her powers.
"Indeed," said Shion haughtily. "Thanks to his sacrifice, and that of many others, I stand before you unharmed. They must surely harbour no regrets in the Land of Bliss."
Naruto bristled. So many had given up their lives for her, and she couldn't even muster the effort to look even the slightest bit sad!?
"Oi!" he roared, leaping onto the dais and seizing the shrine maiden by the collar. "Is that all you have to say? Those people died for your sake! Sakura-chan nearly drained herself dry trying to save your people!"
Meanwhile, Sakura was deep in thought, trying to devise a method to bypass the priestess's foresight. The future was always in flux, so what if each night, she tossed a ryō coin? Heads, she would sneak into the priestess's bed and massage her breasts; tails, she would do nothing.
Ha! Her actions couldn't be predicted if she didn't even know what she was about to do herself!
"Er… Sakura-chan," said Hinata timidly, tugging at her sleeve. "Shouldn't you… maybe try to stop Naruto-kun…? Before he strangles Shion-sama…?"
"Hm?" said Sakura distractedly. "Oh, right— Naruto, give it a rest, would you?"
However, Naruto was no whipped dog. Sakura very rarely hit him, so a light warning didn't carry the same weight as the domestic violence the original Sakura had inflicted on him time and again.
"The pink-haired girl is going to die," Shion said calmly, glancing at Sakura with dead eyes, as Naruto continued throttling her in the hopes of extracting some proper condolences for her dead guards. "She is going to be pierced through the chest, right… here."
She tapped her sternum.
"Hah? What was that?" Naruto growled. "I know I didn't just hear you threaten Sakura-chan!"
Things were starting to get a little out of hand, so Sakura finally stood up, nearly tripping as her legs had gone numb from sitting in seiza for too long, then dragged a protesting Naruto by the collar into a side room. The attendant and Hinata dutifully followed, leaving Sasuke behind to keep an eye on the shrine maiden.
"Please forgive her," said Taruho, bowing. "Lady Shion often has premonitions of other people's deaths."
"Is… is that all she can do?" asked Sakura uneasily.
Taruho nodded blissfully.
Sakura didn't know whether she ought to celebrate, since she no longer had to worry about Shion discovering her plans in advance; or cry and roll on the ground and throw a tantrum, because she was going to die soon anyway.
"But please," the attendant added, "you should not let Lady Shion's predictions bother you."
"I knew it, this sort of fortune-telling stuff is all scam, ya know," Naruto scoffed. "She's gotta get it wrong all the time."
Taruho shook his head.
"No, that isn't the case," he corrected him. "Lady Shion's predictions, so far, have been 100% accurate. What I meant is that there is no point tormenting yourself over something that is fated to happen."
Naruto gaped at him.
"Doesn't that mean that one hundred percent of the time, she's correct every time, you know?"
"That's okay, Naruto, I've already died once before, and it wasn't so bad," said Sakura dizzily, ruffling his blond hair. "Besides, I'm the main female love interest of this story, so there's no way I'm going to die in a mere filler episode."
Naruto immediately noticed how badly Sakura's hand was shaking. He twisted, grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her, causing her heavy chest to jostle up and down violently.
"Female love interest? What are you talking about, Sakura-chan!?" he wailed. "Did you finally read so many of Pervy Sage's stupid books that your brain started rotting? This is real life! You could at least be the main female lead of your own life, you know!?"
He spun towards the attendant, glowering at him.
"Now look what you and your stupid shrine maiden have done!" he yelled, his voice cracking with anguish. "Sakura's so spooked she's lost her grip on reality!"
Whipping back around, he grabbed Sakura by the shoulders and shook her even harder.
"Hang in there, Sakura-chan!" he cried, slobbering all over her cute top. "I'm not going to let you die, ya know!!"
Now, Sakura definitely had to obtain the shrine maiden's foresight… because it was a matter of life and death!
It was finally time to class change from shinobi… to miko.