❝ it's getting nearer. ❞

to realize her feelings toward him. And it's not something easy. She will repeatedly mutter how ridiculous it was before thinking about it again and again.

Sounds pathetic, she knows.

And it got worse when she was in the same room with Naruto. It felt like she wanted to just run away. Not to mention the shame and her big ego that made her did not dare to apologize first.

Love really makes her sound pathetic and a coward.

But she doesn't regret it. It was better for her to admit it than to have to reject those feelings to the point where she would stress herself out. And what Shizuka needed was to stay calm and try to think of a way to improve her relationship with Naruto.

Talking about Naruto, now he is going with Yamato, Gai, and some other ninja for their S class mission. Of course, that was just the Hokage's trick. Actually, Naruto was sent to the island belonging to the village of Cloud to train with the eight tailed jinchuriki and to hide from Akatsuki.

Shizuka didn't come. Because first, her relationship was still not good with Naruto. Second, Shizuka was needed in the medical department. The herbs belonging to the Midorima clan were indispensable for this war.

In Naruto's absence, at least her mind had become clearer. No one's gonna distract her. And it is necessary for the heart and makes her think more about this feeling. Oh, how much she always denies it before.

Geez, only one person but it really made Midorima Shizuka go insane.

"So, you were telling me that you can get information from the trees and you don't even telling me?!" Tsunade exclaimed in front of Shizuka who looks stoic as ever.

"I thought you already know," she answered honestly.

"Huh?"

"Tsunade-sama knows more about the Midorima clan than I do. So I guess you already know about it," reasoned Shizuka. Shizuka's grandmother was Tsunade's teacher. She was the one who taught her medical ninjutsu, poison, and herbal medicine. "And besides, not all trees are sided with me."

"Sided?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, if someone is one with nature and can communicate with trees. The tree can tell the information they hear from other trees," Shizuka explained. "The tree is alive. They can choose which side they want to connect to. Usually, the one who can do that is the Midorima clan or someone who can use mokuton."

"So that's why you could easily detect Uchiha Itachi back then," Kakashi mumbled to himself.

"But that is only if they are around the tree."

"Wait, you said the one who could make the connection was the Midorima clan and the Mokuton user, right?" Shikaku asked and after getting a nod from Shizuka, he continued. "I'm sure Yamato can't do it, so is it possible that there are other Midorima who are still alive out there?"

Everyone fell silent and turned to look at Shizuka. "It could be. But I have a suspect."

"Who?"

"Zetsu."

Kakashi nodded in understanding. "I see. He seems to have the power to join the ground or other surfaces. Like a larva."

"And I also can feel the natural energy inside him. He's like a mokuton user, but on a small scale, " added Shizuka.

Tsunade leaned her body towards her desk. Eyebrows furrowed as she was thinking about something. "Shikaku, any ideas?"

The said man straightened his back. "Shizuka, how about you marked where the part of the forest is on your radar. Maybe from there, we can predict their location."

The greennette nodded. "Alright. I'll give you the map next week."

○○○

"War huh, it's getting nearer..."

Shizuka who was not far behind her hummed. Her eyes were still focused on counting the number of herbs in the box. Every now and then she scribbled the paper next to her, ticking off the list she had written down.

"Even though the five great nations have joined now, I can't help but be nervous about this war, " Sakura let out a rough sigh. Her finger flicked back her bangs behind her ear.

"It's okay to be nervous, it means you want to do well," said Shizuka, closing the box and lifting it up. "even though it's our first big war."

"You don't look nervous, Shizuka," Sakura also lifted the box, turned to her while waiting for Shizuka to approach her to deliver the boxes together. "Ah, are you going to depend on your Oha Asa?"

"Don't you know the saying 'Man proposes; God disposes'?" before Sakura opened her mouth, Shizuka immediately continued. "First, you do your best and then fate will decide how it will turn out."

Sakura grinned. "You're right!"

"To be honest, I, too was nervous," she pushes up her glasses. "It just I'm not showing it."

The two of them walked out of the tent carrying the boxes in their hands. From her point of view, several ninjas were jumping from building to building, mail delivery birds flying through the air. Because of this war, all shinobi were very busy. Everyone prepares for war. But luckily the villagers looked calm, even though Shizuka was sure they were scared.

At least no one panicked.

"Shizuka, do you know where you will be in this war?" Asked Sakura after they arrived and gave them to the ninja who made energy pills.

Wiping off the dust and the dirt from the plants, she answered. "Tsunade-sama still hasn't decided."

"Hmm, You're good at long-range combat, you're also good at extracting enemies' information, and don't forget Midorima's medical ninjutsu!" Sakura listed, sounding more frunstrated than Shizuka herself. "Which division do you want yourself to be?"

"I don't really care―" she stopped when she felt something familiar. Shizuka pressed her palm against the tree and her breath hitched suddenly. Her eyes widened and her body trembled.

Sakura, who had been observing Shizuka's strange behavior, started to feel anxious. "Shizuka, what's wrong?" she watched her friend's movements with furrowed brows. And she made her voice soft so as not to startle her.

"Shizuka?" asked Sakura again after she didn't answer.

"Large... Ground... Corpses...white...trees," her words sounded absurd to Sakura. But Shizuka wasn't that kind of person. It must be something important.

Madara...

"Shizuka, please calm yourself down first," Sakura said carefully. "Take a breath and let it out slowly. After that, you can tell what the―"

Sakura's words were interrupted when something like a shoot came out from around Shizuka. The shoot then grows tall and turns into flower petals. The petals were enlarging, splitting in half, and cupping towards Shizuka.

"Shizuka!" the said girl didn't answer, she didn't even react. It's like she's not aware of what happened. Her eyes were blank as if they were being controlled by something.

Sakura automatically ran forward. Her hand was ready to punch the petal so as not to swallow her friend. But the petals easily pushed her roughly against another tree. Creating a loud thud from the impact.

The pink haired girl stood up quickly, took out a kunai, and ran towards the petals again. "Let go of Shizuka!" she shouted when the other petals had folded toward Shizuka, forming a cage.

Sakura slashed the kunai, but it had no effect on the petals. The petals were much thicker and stronger than she thought.

She tried again and again, even using her fists. Desperately trying to free her friend. But it sounds impossible. Sakura had thought about asking other people for help. But she didn't after seeing how fast the petals acted.

"No!!!" the last petal managed to completely enclose Shizuka and Sakura was standing alone in front of a giant 2-meter flower bud.

Frustrated and panicked, Sakura immediately ran to the Hokage's office. Opened it roughly which of course surprised the ninja inside. "Sakura? What's wrong?" Asked Tsunade, raising an eyebrow for her interruption.

"Shizuka..." she panted.

"What's wrong with Shizuka?" Kakashi furrowed his eyebrows. He had a bad feeling.

"Shizuka has been captured!" she shouted, clearly panicked. She immediately took Tsunade, Shizune, Kakashi, and Shikaku to where she had been.

"What the-" Shizuna gasped at the biggest flower bud she had ever seen. The bud is pink and there are no leaves or stems around it. Just flower buds.

"Is she in there?" Asked Tsunade.

Sakura nodded. "Yes. Suddenly the flower came out and locked Shizuka in."

"Step back," Kakashi rushed forward with the kunai, but it couldn't cut the petals.

"Let me," Tsunade walked calmly then punched the flower with her strength. The bud did not react, it just shook slowly.

Kakashi stepped forward once more. Now using his chidori. And it succeeded in cutting off one petal from the dozens of petals that locked Shizuka in. "Did it work?"

It hasn't been a second yet and new petals appear and fill the empty space of the old petals.

"It has a fast regeneration."

"Sakura," Tsunade turned her head towards Sakura. "what Shizuka did before?"

"Eh? That, she was putting her hand on the tree, then she looked scared, terrified, like seeing something terrible," she explained, observing how everyone listened carefully. "And she said something about ... large? Like something big, or a lot? I don't know. Then she said ground, corpses, white, trees ... I don't really understand what she says."

"Tsunade-sama, it looks like one of the trees managed to see something about the Akatsuki," said Shizune.

"But that's didn't make any sense. We need Shizuka to explain what she means and saw," Shikaku replied, "and why is she suddenly locked up like that?"

"And didn't Shizuka have any connections to trees?"

"It's like the trees protecting her from something," muttered Sakura unconsciously.

"If it's true like that," Kakashi trailed off.

"Tsunade-sama..."

The Hokage snapped her head towards Kakashi. "Kakashi! Go tell Guy!"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Kakashi immediately body flickered away.

"What do you mean, Tsunade-sama?" asked Shizune, confused.

"We have to protect Yamato."