Sasuke Retsuden: Star Lines

The guards beat Sasuke for trying to trap Zansuru in genjutsu, and he takes the punishment without a flicker of reaction. Cellmates Jiji and Penjira look in on him, with Jiji nudging him toward the infirmary partly to get another look at the attractive new doctor. That night Sasuke sneaks out again and clashes with Meno, unsure whether it is the same beast healed or a fresh one, and a claw wound to his cheek begins to sting with spreading poison. A doctor arrives in time to calm the creature and send it off, and Sasuke passes out.

He wakes in the infirmary to find that the doctor is Sakura. She has brought word, relayed by Kakashi, about the sickness that once struck the Sage of Six Paths and how it was cured using what came to be called polar particles, which the Sage then hid, scattering clues to their location. Surprised the poison affected him, she draws his blood. Sasuke, wary of whatever Zansuru is doing with creatures thought extinct, urges her to leave, but she refuses, pleased that he worries for her. When Jiji eavesdrops and learns the two are married, Sakura explains she took the job to see Sasuke, and Jiji, engaged himself, is stunned they spend years apart and advises Sasuke to get her a ring.

Steered by Jiji toward the librarian Penjira, Sakura wins a card game called Hoshinarabe against him for the key to a restricted basement, later revealing she memorized each card's wear, a habit she formed to always win against Tsunade. Sasuke crafts her a wedding ring, and they find a book of ink paintings tied to the Hoshinarabe cards, depicting constellations. Recognizing several as Tailed Beasts, they deduce the last two show Janmaru-Tataru and the Sage himself. An unseen eavesdropper slips away, and Sakura notes that a capital messenger will meet Zansuru the next day, a chance she means to seize by impersonating him.