Through the Looking Glass (Magi x Naruto) (Sinbad x Sakura) crossover

SALUTATIONS EVERYONE!

Time for the first new posts of the new year! I know 2025 has just begun but there has hardly been a moments rest since. I am always looking forward to curl up and read to relax and I hope these chapters bring you some tranqulity in the chaos of life.

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CHAPTER 28: The price of Freedom

The flames of chaos had been lit not only in the headquarters of the Mariadel Company but the arena not too short a distance as well. Crowds of people ran, screaming through the streets long after they managed to push and stumble and shove their way through the exits (which they thought were not enough at this point), they spread their panic like a plague to those in the streets and everyone near had joined them in evacuating the area not even sure what was happening but certain if it was coming from the arena that it was nothing good. 

Within the circle of the arena stood several gladiator slaves (children still) their weapons all with only one target, the guards attempting to subdue them, they were not as many in the headquarters though, and were outnumbered in comparison to the adults but there was a looming advantage that the slaves had over them and they knew that after baring witness to what she did to the archers that had been surrounding the arena-now all lying unconscious, about a dozen of them.

The only one standing within the spectators-or what used to be the spectator's circle to watch the fight was Sakura, as she watched the guards attempting to round up the slave children, something that Masrur was not allowing as he broke through another group of guards and sending them into the air while the gladiatorial beast he had freed set towards the inner making of the coliseum which would keep most of the reinforcements at bay but that left Masrur now alone to deal with the men surrounding him and the children.

She jumped, and the leap looked as though she had the ability to fly, going into the air with little strain but then coming down like a bullet, she crashed to the ground; she landed in an isolated part of the arena but all of the eyes that fell on her made her feel surrounded.

"W-What the hell?"

"GET HER."

"Yes, I did it!" Sakura cheered glancing down at her full djinn equip of Beleth, it had taken so long to perfect it, and while she had become skilled with using her magoi with her metal vessel weapon, the djinn equip was on another level unlike anything she had experienced, it felt as though the energy flow of magoi had filled her completely-and then another thought occurred to her, she quickly switched back in alarm.

"What is wrong my king?"

"Oh no, oh no, oh no." she kept muttering, she had been careless, this thought didn't ever occur to her until she finally felt it.

Sakura breathed out in relief as she felt the familiar flow within her, something that she had grown accustomed to, something that was once an alien feeling to her as any new sensation was but this one she had been with for nearly two years now.

"Thank goodness, I haven't stopped."

"Stopped what?" Sitri asked

Sakura looked up at the clear sky through the trees, like hands attempting to cover her eyes from the view.

"It would have been so bad if I had stopped without realizing."

"Stopped what?" Sitri repeated, "You're not making any sense."

A single pointed finger landed on her forehead right in the middle. "Listen while I appreciate all this new power, I do not want to rely on it all the time. I am a ninja which means I use chakra and what's more, I am…."

As some of the men went to attack her, their footsteps growing closer, Sakura leaned forward arms behind her, throwing herself to the side to spin around quickly, her foot extending to reach out, coming into contact with a metal chest plate that gave an audible shift, sending a man flying far, extremely far, he crashed straight through the coliseum walls.

"A kunoichi!"

Sakura smirked, she couldn't see it but she could feel it, what she had been worried she lost before she even had, it was there. She knew what it looked like, an image of her mentor and village leader's mark came to mind, the purple rhombus on her forehead, barely the width of a fingertip.

"I finally reached full capacity and can unleash it, perfect timing!"

Sakura made several hand signs, her hair reverted to its normal or rather abnormal color, and then in a puff of smoke appeared a clone, she only wanted to use two to reserve her chakra for a very specific reason, things were without a doubt going to get dangerous fast and she wanted to avoid as many casualties as possible and to do that she was going to need to keep the adults away from the children with everything she had.

The strength of 100 seal, a seal that required the pinnacle of chakra control, something Sakura thought she was begging to lack because she had started using magoi, tampering with two energies simultaneously was no easy task and while she has never really attempted to use chakra while already using her magoi she had worried that during her mastery of this new form of power that she had temporarily somehow lost contact with the first but lucky for her that had not been the case.

This particular jutsu required Sakura to store up chakra for the past three years before the seal could be unleashed and its power activated which would increase all of her abilities, but she had been growing at an incredible rate since she had started using magoi, somehow her chakra had been altered and the process sped up barely a fraction but over time it was enough to make a difference.

'And hopefully enough for this,' Sakura thought biting her nail off. Rebellion, she did not want for it to end in loss of lives, she wanted to prevent that, she wanted to believe she could prevent it even though it was considered unavoidable.

"You stay here, I'm heading to the coliseum," Sakura instructed her clone who nodded compliantly.

"Got it."

Madaura had never seen anything like this before, children fighting against adults, using their weapons to pierce through whatever vulnerable point they could find, neck, head, eyes, whatever wasn't covered in armor and Sakura (the clone) was channeling all of her energy into protecting the children from the guard's assaults. Everything Madaura had, was being taken from her right before her eyes.

'This is…this is…' she clenched her teeth tightly, eyes shifting between closing and widening. 

Sakura continued fighting but the guards were becoming more focused on the children who were having more trouble defending themselves even when armed, they were struck down but Sakura did her best to move, though a single clone was not able to be everywhere at once and the children were beginning to scatter from their tight group of defense each was aiming to make it to Madaura but the number of guards was more than anticipated. This was odd because given the state of the children that Madaura brought it did not seem necessary to have this many guards but it seemed that Madaura was not completely careless.

A young boy slammed his spear straight through the neck of a guard, only to have one strike him from behind, slashing against his back, blood scattered across the floor but before the final blow could be dealt to the back of the agonized child, Sakura appeared, the guard grabbed by his wrist so hard the snapping was heard throughout the room and then flung across into two other men, straight through the wall.

The Sakura clone bit her bottom lip, eyes darting around for signs of more trouble happening all at once due to the chaos around her, which made it even harder to keep track of where to go first, the original had finally unleashed the seal and would not have enhancement of her current abilities and she was half expecting reinforcements by now because despite her abilities, numbers mattered in this case, she could not be everywhere at once and the children were all running around after the adults, the walls and floors were being stained with red-and she was certain that due to her increase in strength, she was responsible for some of those stains but she couldn't think about something like that now-not when there was still a lot for her to do now.

Looking up, at the top level she saw Madaura, making her way with her slave Kil towards the door, attempting to escape.

'DAMMIT'

Sakura looked around her, there were still a dozen guards and then there were those children with fatal injuries she hadn't had the time to heal yet, she was going to have to stay here and continue to protect as many of the children as she could even if it meant leaving that women to go free. It gave her the most unsettling, disgusted feeling she could safely say she had ever felt in her entire life!

"FUCK-

A moment distraction from overwhelming emotions was all that was needed for a single nearly dead guard to take his spear and ram it into the clone from behind, he saw as she vanished in a puff of smoke, nothing remaining, he smirked as he collapsed on the ground drowning in a puddle of his blood. It also brought a new sense of relief to the men who now realized that they were truly fighting only children now….

..

..

"Oh no." Sakura gasped, and the memories of her clones came to her, there weren't that many guards remaining but a number of the children were injured and already or on the verge of dying. Then there was still Madaura who was trying to escape!

'I will not allow that to happen!'

There was still a battle waging on in the coliseum and it was very similar to what was happening back at the Mariadel headquarters. Masrur was taking most of the initiative next to her, fighting with everything he had, his strength unrivaled by any of the men but there were still numbers to take into account. He could not be everywhere at once, the other children were getting their fair share of bloodshed on both ends and it was a gruesome sight.

'Madaura….' Sakura shook, a familiar feeling entering her, a fire of fury that set her entire body aflame, she could not allow that woman to get away with what she had done, unscathed and alive. 'You won't get far….She formed a single-hand sign, creating another clone.

'Because I'm going to kill you.'

"You know what to do." Her clone was off, speeding towards the guards.

Sakura turned around, her back facing the chaos, her feet began with swift movements and then in an instant, she was gone. 

...

…

…

"You are a pathetic coward." A sneer filled the empty streets.

Every building was vacant after news had spread of what had happened in the coliseum. Madaura was crouched over, fatigued from having fled her own home, Kil helping to keep her up but they had encountered some furious children lurking at the exit with weapons ready but Kil had managed to keep them at bay before managing to get away.

However they were not counting on Sakura's appearance in the middle of the streets with a blade held up, the end pointing right at Madaura.

"You thought to escape?" Sakura asked, her voice seemed calloused. "After everything you have done, I will never allow you to get away."

Madaura's eyes shone with burning hate as if in hopes to set Sakura alight but of course that did not happen instead, the girl appeared naturally calmed though in contrast, it was obvious she was furious.

"I will not allow all those children's deaths….." Sakura gritted out, her steps moving close towards the pair, the weapons held in an airtight grip before she set it free aiming directly for Maduara's heart. "TO BE IN VAIN."

The strike was swift, the blade moved so fast it was hard to identify the sharp end of it, In barely half a second it had embedded itself in flesh, but it was not the blood of the person she wanted.

"Lady Madaura…..you….have to get...-away."

"Kil…." Madaura trailed, watching as the last slave still loyal to her, the only one she could have still used was now on the ground, drowning in a puddle of his blood, eyes already dimmed, lifeless.

Sakura-now awakened from her state of passive hysteria, stared down at Kil, the resolve to kill dissipated before it grew once again, her eyes looked back to Madaura; who was futilely attempting to bring the child back to life. Sakura's hands began shaking, she had killed him. It was a bitter settling. 

"At least you won't be a slave anymore."

Madaura's head snapped up at Sakura, disbelief, and rage evident in her expression. "IT WAS YOU. YOU WERE THE ONE WHO SET THESE CHILDREN AGAINST ME. YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME."

Instead of responding with words, Sakura closed the distance between them in an instant, causing Maduara to look at her like some kind of phantom. She raised her bare fist into the air.

"Start anew in hell."

Before she delivered the final strike though, a larger hand grasped her wrist and she was pulled back, colliding with something from behind. Sakura knew who it was without having to turn because of the hardness that came from this grasp…

"Sinbad…"

"That's enough Sakura," Sinbad instructed gently.

Madaura gasped in surprise, "Sinbad! What are you doing here?" there was relief in her voice as if she was going to be saved but then the next few words from the dungeon conqueror's mouth caused her entire world to come crashing down.

"Thanks for the help Sakura, everything went according to plan," Sinbad said, he shifted Sakura around, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, one hand moving to her head to lean her onto his chest.

"Sin-

"You've done enough, rest."

Pointing an accusing finger at the duo Madaura screamed in a hoarse voice "WAIT WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS? SINBAD, WAS IT ACTUALLY YOU WHO MANIPULATED MY CHILDREN AND CAUSED THIS REBELLION?"

Sinbad gave a meaningless smile in turn, "I just followed your example and did the same thing you did, or rather 'we' followed your example."

"So the two of you were working together the entire time!?" Madaura hissed, narrowing her eyes at them.

"That's right, my partner disguised herself and went through all this trouble just to save me. She helped end your brainwashing and then we ended the other children's as well by implementing the same tactics you had. A heart drowning in misery, with just a touch of motherly love from someone who seeks no benefit from it, made it easy. The children will only listen to us now, you should know how effective those methods are."

Madaura's mouth was hanging open wide for the pure shock of having understood Sinbad's plans, everything came together with a brief explanation.

Sinbad held his sword up towards Madaura's figure, "Now then, will you die here or will you give up everything and run away with your misery? Choose."

..

..

..

Sakura watched the pathetic sight before her without any sense of satisfaction.

Sinbad had dragged Madaura back to the Coliseum. He was going to make her sign over everything to Sindria Company, it was the only way to ensure the rebelled slaves' safety and to make sure Madaura would lose absolutely everything, so she would have nothing to grasp on in hopes of pulling herself back to the top.

What they saw now was Madaura, sweating, scribbling on many different scattered pieces of paper, surrounding her in a tight-knit circle, all of the slave children, spears and knives in hand in case of any resistance.

Sinbad held out a scroll "And finally…sign this document to relinquish the ownership of all your slaves."

Madaura reached for the document with a shaking hand brought her pen down to sign it and then handed it back to Sinbad. He held up the document and gave a loud call.

"As of day, all the slaves here…ARE FREE."

There was an eruption of cheers that went on throughout the coliseum but Sakura knew it would not last long for there were still those departed now to deal with and it was going to be the hardest part of this plan as it came to a close.

Sakura watched as Madaura left, with nothing but the clothes on her back and the kunoichi gave a silent hope that it would be the last they ever saw of that woman. She and Sinbad may have taken away her company and everything she worked to build but she had taken much away from the two of them as well. The remains of the 'children' within them.

In a way, Sakura wondered if she should be grateful to have chosen the path of a ninja.

..

..

..

Bodies were being piled together in the coliseum, preparing for a large pyre. It was then that the children abandoned their roles as rebels ready to fight and kill and reverted to the vulnerable youth who had suffered a great loss. That was the price they were all apparently paying. While Sinbad and Sakura had paid the price of their integrity and morals, the children had paid with their innocence lost due to bloodshed.

Sakura watched as they continued to move bodies, the cries of the children seemed to grow louder and she could not bring herself to say anything to respond as she normally would. She knew this was going to happen even with the promise to keep them safe, it was still no guarantee. She knew this but they may have thought otherwise.

"Don't cry guys," Sinbad said, his voice sounding strong as well as his expression. "To grasp the future they fought with determination and regrettably lost their lives. If those of us who are left don't carry on to fulfill their wishes then who will?! We have to live for their sake."

 The children relished in Sinbad's words of reassurance but Sakura on the other hand was just happy he finally shut up.

Looking at her hands, she saw they were trembling. 'Can I still use these hands to bring you back Sasuke?'

It would be an ironic thing to do now, tainted hands reaching out, wanting to prevent others from tainting theirs. Was such a thing possible?

"So Sinbad was telling the truth, you were here Sakura."

Of course, it wasn't much of a surprise that he of all people should be here to get Sinbad. There was a bit of twisted irony in the situation. 

"Ja'far." Sakura acknowledged the young boy but did not turn to face him, still staring at her hands. Just by saying nothing it was as if he was speaking volumes to her, portraying everything he felt in this moment for both her and Sinbad and she did not enjoy it despite knowing she deserved it.

"Is that disdain I see?" Sinbad's voice cut it, it was jokingly dry.

"For what?" Ja'far asked, his voice blank.

"For all of this….I manipulated those children." Sinbad trailed

Sakura immediately thought he should have said 'we' instead of 'I', it was much more fitting but she could not move her mouth, it was as if Ja'far's stony silence had inflicted her own. She was to blame as well, she thought more so about it as Sinbad excluded her further from his accusations as he admitted to knowing that this would have been the result if the children rebelled and admitting still to encouraging it but Sakura knew that she was the one who helped him with this, it wasn't fair that he was the one taking on all of the blame. He refused to share the burden with her.

"It's ironic, isn't it? A man who hates everything unreasonable in the world and wants to create a country to stop future wars. Has used the weak to suit his purposes and stole all the power that he could. In the end, I'm no different from them, Madaura and even Parthevia, for my own sake I am willing to use someone even if it costs them their life. That makes me the worst kind of person." Sinbad turned to now face Ja'far, titling his head down to see the boy's face in shame.

"You're disappointed, aren't you? That such an unsightly, corrupt person thinks he can change the world. It's almost laughable isn't it?"

Something flashed in Ja'far's eyes and taken up with their self-pity made it nearly impossible to react as Sinbad fell to the ground with a heavy thud, a bright mark on the side of his face, blood dripped from his nose.

"THIS ISN'T A FUCKING JOKE SINBAD!" Ja'far screamed, his jaw clenched tightly.

Sakura gave a timid step forward, "Ja'far…"

"But I disappointed you didn't I?" Sinbad asked

Drawing his fist back again Sakura shut her eyes, she winced, her sense of hearing heightened due to loss of sight and she could hear the pain of Ja'far's punch. He was not as light-handed as he appeared but when it repeated, once, twice, thrice, and after ten, Sakura decided that enough was enough, as if every hit gave her a fragment of energy to move again, quickly stepping in and pulling Ja'far away from Sinbad, his face badly beaten with large bruises and blood over his face.

"Ja'far calm down!" even as she said this Sakura couldn't help but note the weakness in her voice, it sounded more like she was beginning than firmly requesting. They had also attracted the attention of most of the children who turned away from the pyre to see what was happening during their time of mourning. Sinbad lay on his back, arms sprawled out with no coordination, head to the side, on the ground was blood splattered that he had coughed up. "IT WASN'T SINBAD, I WAS THE ONE WHO-

"NO" Ja'far shouted, shoving Sakura away from him which she allowed, knowing he would not have been able to do so if she kept a grip intentionally. "DON'T DEFEND HIM SAKURA, NOT THIS TIME."

Ja'far turned back to Sinbad "You're right, you disappointed me, you're letting yourself sink into despair and giving up, on top of that, having the nerve to act like it's all over….IT'S YOUR NAIVETY THAT DISAPPOINTS ME THE MOST. ARE YOU CALLING YOURSELF A CORRUPT PERSON? WE RISKED THE COMPANY YOU WERE DESPERATELY TRYING TO PROTECT AND GOT OUR HANDS DIRTY PULLING OFF THE WORST SORT SCAM!"

"Ja'far please!" Sakura attempted again, "This is my fault as well! It wasn't just Sinbad! I knew about his plans and what would happen but I also promised those children that I would protect them…I lied, I knew I wasn't going to be able to save them all but I still promised them that I would."

After you admit to something you feel relatively better but that wasn't the case for Sakura, when she looked back to the pyre filled to the brim with bodies burning of adults and children, everything she had said to them came back to her, and then looking down at her hands she shook.

"I wanted him to be free again, I even killed to make sure it happened." Sakura looked into Ja'far's eyes "If anyone has become corrupted here…

A quick slap echoed across the coliseum, Sakura's face was profiled now to the right, a red mark blotched on her pale skin; her eyes were as wide as they could go as she landed on the ground. It was not the first time she experienced a slap, despite how weak it was compared to the punches she received there was a stinging pain it caused within.

"Don't you start too Sakura, if the two of you conducted this together you cannot simply drown in your sorrow, that's not taking responsibility for anything?"

Of course, there was no other way to put this and it was stating the obvious yet they refused to believe that they were doing anything but taking responsibility by enduring all of these feelings of guilt, allowing it to consume them but what else could be done in this situation? With minds that have only recently been tainted?

The looks full of despair only seemed to set Ja'far off further when he looked at Sinbad and Sakura.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE TWO OF YOU?" he yelled, "Think about that dream Sinbad, that dream that reeled all of us in, towards you! Are you honestly going to give that up just because you got your hands dirty?" Ja'far then turned to Sakura "And you! What the hell is up?! You fucking abandoned us yet you keep coming back! Why?! We were all so convinced that you were going to stay by Sinbad's side and help him build a country and NOW you're saying you are corrupted? All because you came back to help him? You know I think you need to get your priorities straight!"

Sinbad and Sakura were struck speechless, allowing themselves to get scolded by a child several years their junior, but they were hanging on his every word.

When Ja'far spoke again, his voice was far more calmed. "You two…honestly, there's no time to waste complaining anymore; if you want to realise your goals. So get up. Because the next time you two whine, I am going to kill you both."

Sinbad and Sakura didn't realize that they were crying, the tears that were streaming down their faces in large streaks, soft sobs escaping them.

"I'm sorry, Ja'far," Sinbad said wiping his face, his skin burned from the open wounds mixed with fresh tears but the real pain had begun to fade.

Sakura however was not as quick to recover, still something she always seemed to do at the worst of times, when she felt especially hopeless and once she started it was hard to stop. She kept her face covered, even when she felt a presence in front of her and a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Sakura," Sinbad called, but still she refused to look at him.

"I….I can't do this, I just can't!" Sakura cried, shaking her head.

How could she? After all she did just massacred so many today, the guards who had fallen victim to her strength, and those children who had fallen victim to her sweet words. 

How could she go home like this? How could she face her friends the way she was now? How could she save Sasuke like this?

'Even though I said I could handle the consequences,' Sakura felt her head now resting against Sinbad's shoulder. She didn't wonder how Sinbad was able to overcome an ordeal like this one, it was because he was strong, strong enough to push through anything, the road to success was not an easy one and apparently, it wasn't clean either.

"Let's go home."

THAT'S ALL FOLKS! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and Remember to stay strong!

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-Commission: Demon slayer x My hero academia

 Kunoichi amongst Benders (Avatar x Naruto crossover) ( 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)

-Kunoichi amongst Heroes chapter (76, 77, 78)

-Kunoichi amongst Heroes WHAT IF SPIN OFF: Dorms and Exams

-Kunoichi amongst Pirates chapter ( 30, 31, 32)

-Crossroads of Fate chapter 22, 23, 24, 25

-Through the Looking Glass chapter 28, 29, 30, 31, 32. 33,

-(SEQUEL) Through the Spyglass chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,6

-SPECIAL HALLOWEEN CHAPTER: Shinigami amongst Shinobi

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