Author's Note: Before you read any further, I feel I should give you all a fair warning that this one-shot contains spoilers for current manga chapters. If you are not caught up on the manga and you do not want to be spoiled, I suggest you turn back now. But if you are caught up on events or you don't mind being spoiled, please, continue.
This is a reposting of this fic, revised to be more compliant with chapter 663. Why? Because I can, that's why. And because Sakura is seriously amazing in that chapter. Some things are still different from the manga though, for creative purposes and also in trying to stay loyal to the challenge itself. I have also upped the rating, on account of an extreme medical procedure that more squeamish readers may find disturbing. If you have read 663, you'll know what I'm referring to.
Naruto wasn't going to make it at this rate. Her chakra was too low and he was fading too fast. Logically, Sakura knew his chances were not good – and his overall prognosis poor – but emotionally she refused to acknowledge it. Naruto was strong. He was too stubborn to give up now.
Pressing her hands to Naruto's chest as she knelt on the fast moving mound of Gaara's sand, Sakura concentrated her healing on his feebly beating heart, fluttering against her palms like a moth's wings. She had never seen Naruto look so pale; his ashy, hollowed out face covered with dirt and sweat and his jaw slack. He was barely breathing at this point and each breath he took seemed shallower than the last.
"Just hang on, Naruto," she said, pleading to his unconscious form on the very unlikely chance he might hear her.
Gaara hadn't told her what it was that Madara had done to Naruto, focused as he was on taking them wherever it was he had in mind, but Sakura could guess. She could think of nothing else that would bring Naruto to this state, especially when she could find no serious injuries on his body. His system was simply failing, no longer able to sustain itself.
If the bijuu is removed, the jinchuuriki will die.
The green glow around her hands sputtered as her already near exhausted chakra reserves drained lower, and Sakura felt her heart clench in a surge of panic. In a desperate effort, she reached deep within herself to dredge up the last stores of her remaining chakra. She poured every ounce of her energy into the healing chakra surrounding her hands, willing Naruto's heart to pick up a normal rhythm.
"Come on," Sakura said through gritted teeth.
Beads of perspiration formed on her forehead and she began to breathe heavily with her useless efforts, telling herself over and over that it would work. It had to work.
Her stomach gave a flip when she glanced at Naruto's face and saw his eyes were partway open. However, the hope Sakura felt rising within her was short-lived, fading once she noticed the hazy film over his eyes. She saw no recognition for her in his eyes, and knew that he was not lucid and probably unaware of what was going on.
Naruto's lips started to move, although they didn't seem to form any words Sakura recognized and she wouldn't have been able to hear him over the howl of the wind whipping around her anyway.
"Hold on. You can't lose. You're strong, you– you'll make it," she said to him.
Sakura searched Naruto's half-open eyes for any small indication that her words might have reached him, but he showed no sign of understanding before his eyelids fell closed again. At that moment, his chest stilled under Sakura's hands. The rise and fall chest as his lungs struggled for each breath came to an abrupt halt, and his slowing heartbeat faltered to a stop.
Sakura's eyes filled with tears and she quickly blinked them away, ignoring the momentary blurring of her vision. She knew she could not afford to lose her composure when Naruto needed her to keep herself together, but her hand still shook as she took hold of his wrist to check his pulse. Nothing.
She bent over to lay her ear to his chest, listening for any small sound even as the sinking sense of dread settled like a stone in her gut. But just like with his pulse, there was nothing.
No heartbeat. No pulse.
"It's not working!" she cried, sitting back to look over at Gaara.
"It's because Madara removed the Kyuubi from him," he said, confirming Sakura's suspicions.
She knew her healing had only been a delaying of the inevitable. Medical ninjutsu could only do so much, and without the Kyuubi, there was very little she could do for Naruto.
"Do you have a plan, something that might save him?" she said, yelling to be heard over the wind.
"Yes, there's something that might work, but it's still a few kilometers before we get there," Gaara said.
In that case, there was still one thing Sakura could do. The only thing she could do with the little chakra she had left. At the very least, she would be able to save Naruto's brain from permanent damage, and while she had never performed this procedure on the field, she'd studied and practiced enough to know she could do it.
If I can't do something to save him, what's even the point of all the power I've gained? She thought to herself, forming a small blade of chakra around two of her fingers.
With her other hand, Sakura quickly unzipped Naruto's jacket and pulled his shirt up out of her way and used the chakra blade to make an incision in Naruto's side. She knew she could afford to lose her nerve, so Sakura didn't pause to think about what she was doing as she slipped hand into the cavity of his chest until she held his heart in her hand.
"As long as I'm here, I won't let you die so easily," she said, compressing Naruto's heart in her grip.
After repeating thirty compressions to his heart, she tilted Naruto's head back and lifted his chin, pinching his nose between her thumb and fingers. Leaning down, Sakura sealed her mouth over his, breathing into his mouth deeply enough to make his chest rise as air filled his lungs. She breathed once more into his mouth, and then gave another thirty compressions to his heart. And she repeated the process again.
Between breaths, Sakura looked at his face, white and lifeless and almost unrecognizable from the person she knew. She remembered him vibrantly alive, smiling and determined, telling everyone, "Just watch, I'll become Hokage one day."
Naruto had so much left to offer the world, as a Hokage and as a person. People needed him, they believed in him. He'd worked so hard for everything he had.
Your stupid dream, now it's… Sakura thought, bending in to deliver two more breaths to his lungs. I won't let you die. I can't!
There was still so much she wanted to say to Naruto and she couldn't imagine what life would be like without him. She didn't want to know.
If she could go back, knowing all she did now, Sakura wondered what she would want to change most. Would she have been nicer to Naruto when they were younger? Or would she have made more of an effort to rein in her temper and put aside her pride to show him that she appreciated him and cared about him more than even she could understand? Would she have made sure she meant it when she told Naruto she loved him?
She would change a lot of things, Sakura realized. If only she could start over. But it didn't have to be too late.
Naruto was strong – Kyuubi or no Kyuubi. He didn't just give up, and neither would she. And if she was granted another chance, Sakura wasn't going to waste it. She would see Naruto become Hokage, standing right there beside him.
Hold on. Just a little bit longer.
A.N. I'm always a little bit nervous about posting things. I always think that I should wait, go over it later, because maybe there was something I missed. But I went over this twice, and it seems pretty smooth overall, and I don't think there is a whole lot more I can do with it. LOL. However, if there is anything I should fix, I don't mind having it pointed out. Anyways, please drop a review down below. No review is unappreciated and I read every one of them, all I'm looking for is for you to share your thoughts. Thank you :)