Sakura's face paled. She was strong enough to free her legs in a flash, but escaping wouldn't prevent Shizune from getting atomised… and there was no coming back from that! Even the Susano'o's defences couldn't take a hit from Ōnoki's particle beam cannon!
[Ding! Plasma Style: Absolute Extreme Poles Electro-Plasma Thunderclap Railburst: Super Sakura-Flavoured Dango Caster Mk. IV with Gold Leaf Sprinkles on Top Jutsu has been derived from available data! Please review the hand signs and internal chakra circulation method!]
The simultaneous activation of three different chakra natures of the Kekkei Tōta stood worlds apart from the Kekkei Genkai's mere two, making it comparatively infinitely closer to the all-encompassing Kekkei Mōra and the chakra of Truth-Seeking Balls, which could annihilate any lower-ranking forms of matter and chakra.
Only a Kekkei Tōta was capable of countering another Kekkei Tōta… but Sakura would be gambling her life to save Shizune that way. Crystal Style was a Kekkei Tōta, yet she doubted it could deflect Particle Style. So, what about Plasma Style?
If the two styles interacted the way she thought they would…
The white cube in Ōnoki's hands suddenly expanded to contain both Sakura and Shizune, and Sakura hastily weaved her hand signs.
"Particle Style: Boundary Dismantling Jutsu!"
"Plasma Style:Absolute Extreme Poles Electro-Plasma Thunderclap Railburst: Super Sakura-Flavoured Dango Caster Mk. IV with Gold Leaf Sprinkles on Top Jutsu!"
…
It's the Busty Kunoichi Sakura's Science Corner!
(Please imagine Sakura dressed as a sexy schoolteacher spilling out of a women's dress shirt and wearing a miniskirt and black stockings here. She'll slap your arses with her ruler if you don't pay attention in class! There will be a test at the end.)
In essence, Particle Style was the simultaneous activation of: Fire Style to excite the target's molecules, loosening their intermolecular forces (hydrogen bonds, ion-dipole, dipole-dipole, Van der Waals, etc.); Wind Style to slice through the weakened bonds; and finally Earth Style to then control the isolated molecules, scattering them… thus, effectively reducing the target to dust.
At any rate, Particle Style fell short of five-natured Kekkei Mōra such as the Truth-Seeking Orbs or Kaguya's All-Killing Ash Bones, which could shatter even intramolecular bonds (ionic, covalent) to reduce molecules to atoms, but it was still considered not too bad.
In any case, the application of Fire Style to its limits always results in the same phenomenon: in a super high temperature environment, electrons are stripped from atoms, resulting in a flowing soup of ions and free electrons, which is to say… plasma.
And what did Sakura's Plasma-Launching Railgun Jutsu do, exactly?
Well…
It launched plasma at her enemies, of course!
…
Sakura thrust her hands forwards, using her arms to simulate a railgun's rails… and the luminous cube in Ōnoki's hands wavered, its shape twisting and warping before inverting entirely, engulfing him and his two guards.
Ōnoki, Kurotsuchi, and Akatsuchi went pale.
"Where are you aiming at, Grandpa!?" Kurotsuchi screeched. "Have you gone completely senile!?"
"I'm not doing it on purpose!" Ōnoki yelped. "Damn it all, I can't hold my jutsu back much longerrrrr!"
Luckily for them, Sakura's jutsu was designed to work just like a real railgun. Her lightning chakra's voltage ramped up exponentially, and the electromagnetic field's intensity squashed the white cube's shape into that of a thin needle pointed towards Ōnoki. Seeing this, he let go of his chakra and fired the particle cannon, carving a coin-sized hole straight through his own body, just barely missing his own heart.
"I'm getting too old for this," he muttered, coughing up blood before falling over backwards into Akatsuchi's arms.
"Lava Style: Quicklime Jutsu!"
Before Sakura could summon her sword to transform Ōnoki into a woman, his granddaughter moved in between them and spat out a caustic cloud of calcium oxide, just as Shizune fired her arm-mounted dart launcher, turning her into a poisoned pincushion.
Sakura knew quicklime reacted violently with water, so she shut her eyes and held her breath, summoning chakra to free her legs— then Shizune's beside her, pulling her from the cloud. But by the time the white powder had settled, their opponents had vanished.
"Damn it!" Sakura cried, now pulling Shizune along. "I didn't get to steal anything!"
The Earth Style: Lightweight Boulder Jutsu would have made for a nice consolation prize, but she hadn't even seen them initiate the technique— and without knowing the hand signs, she might as well be flapping her arms and jumping off a cliff, hoping for the best.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Muffled sounds of momentous impacts originating from below echoed through the floor as they ran. From the sounds of it, Tsunade and A were striking each other with such incredible force in the basement that the entire building shook…
"There's the exit!" Shizune cried, as they turned a corner. "Up ahead!"
Sakura and Shizune skidded to a halt; the exit was choked with samurai. They ignited their katanas, wreathing them in sharpened chakra… but standing so close to each other only made them bigger targets, didn't it? It was an open invitation for an area-of-effect jutsu!
Sadly, before Sakura could choose whether to spit fire or syrup at them, the ground crumbled beneath their feet, and an enormous slug's head burst through the floor, its eyestalks swaying. The poor samurai could only fall helplessly onto Katsuyu's enormous body as she rose through the hole, and be absorbed into her fleshy bulk…
"Not so rough, Milady!" Katsuyu gasped.
Sakura's eyes widened in shock as she saw her mistress duelling the Raikage, Kazekage and Mizukage all at once atop Katsuyu's head. So that was why they hadn't met any of the other Kage along the way; Lady Tsunade was hogging them all!
"Hang on, we're coming to help!" Sakura cried.
"Run, you fools!" Tsunade croaked.
Sakura and Shizune stopped in their tracks.
Lady Tsunade had released her Yin Seal; black lines wound around her limbs and body from the diamond on her forehead, but despite the activation of her trump card, Shizune could sense that her mistress's chakra was weakening.
How many times had she revived? How many years had been taken from her in this short fight!?
"Lightning Style: Lariat!"
Taking advantage of her distraction, A charged at Tsunade like a bullet, left arm extended. His biceps struck her neck head-on, sending her head flying… but almost immediately, Tsunade reached up, grabbed her own head and slammed it back down onto her neck, before headbutting him. Despite his lightning armour's protection, A's chest caved in, and he stumbled back, coughing blood, before falling over backwards.
"Drink her blood and repair yourself, Kubikiribōchō," Zabuza said coldly, stabbing Tsunade in the back with what little remained of his blade. "Use as much chakra as you want, Hokage, but regeneration only works as long as you've got the building blocks to repair your body with…"
Pakura snapped her fingers, and Tsunade's body burst into flames. The black lines of the Yin Seal's release were now barely visible against her blackened skin; it sloughed off in patches, regrew, then fell away, again and again, as Pakura set her alight again and again, slowing her regeneration and cauterising her to death…
Sakura was vaguely aware that she was crying, and that Shizune was trying to pull her away… they would be surrounded by the samurai's reinforcements before long…
"Sa… kura…"
Perhaps it was just Sakura's imagination, but Tsunade's ancient, wizened face seemed to smile at her one last time, her dried up lips shaping soundless words. She had exhausted her chakra and endured unspeakable agony, just so she could speak with her one last time, even though she could have simply let go and ceased regenerating long ago, and drifted off to the Pure Land…
"I'm… sorry…" Tsunade croaked.
"You can't die, Lady Tsunade," Sakura sobbed. "You promised we'd go visit the Land of Medicine together… you promised…"
"Live…"
"YOU PROMISED!" Sakura screamed.
Still standing proudly, Tsunade's body began crumbling to dust. Her ashes gradually drifted away in the wind, until naught remained.
"Ah… ahh…" Sakura cried, bloody tears rolling down her cheeks.
…
Thus ended the life of Senju Tsunade.
In her long, prosperous career as a kunoichi, she would be known by many titles: Granddaughter of the First Hokage; Greatest Medic-nin in the World; Slug Princess of the Sannin's Three-Way Deadlock; the Legendary Sucker; the Lady Fifth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village…
But to Sakura, she would always simply be her mistress and teacher, Lady Tsunade.