Aye, I'm kinda meh about this chapter but overall I don't hate it. Got some good stuff going here.

Anywho, this chapter involves self harm and homophobia so if that's not your thing don't read.

Also in this chapter 'Kakas-sensei' isn't a typo, I prefer the dub of the original series and it honest to gods sounds like that's how they say his name and it's adorable. Got a bit of Kakashi's pov in this too, which I was trying to avoid as not to butcher his character but I feel like his cameo is brief enough that I didn't fuck him up too badly.

Also not going to lie, I didn't proofread this fr fr so if there's any grammatical issues just let me know and I'll fix them.

Also thank you to the cool cucumbers that left reviews, you the real mvp.

The stuff in fancy bold are flashbacks and regular bold is just emphasis.

You like to give me strength

To face the daily dirt

(Two)

You fill my hollow heart

With fake self worth

(Three)

You like to let me know

I cannot break the spell

Drag Me To Hell by Lord of the Lost

Their little sparring session continued in much the same fashion, Genma's lightning fast reflexes keeping him from taking any hits from the girl's chakra strengthened limbs and his battle experience meaning he saw through any tricks she tried to pull, though that wasn't really her forte regardless. She liked the straight forward approach. Usually when they spared she could at least get a few shots in on him, but this time either she was off her game or Genma didn't want to get hit. Either way he was making this much harder on her than he usually did. And he was being smug about it too, the jackass. She knew he was just trying to egg her on to distract her but that didn't mean it wasn't pissing her off.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kakashi on the edge of the training field, Make Out Tactics in its usual position, held between his slim fingers, though she could tell he was watching them over the top of the white pages.

Genma noticed too. He dodged another of Sakura's attacks and grabbed onto her arm and jabbed two fingers into the pressure points on her shoulder, rendering her arm temporarily useless. Her angry expression was the only thing he saw before she let out an exasperated scream and promptly headbutted him directly in the nose.

To her credit it was a good reaction, in an actual battle it probably would have caught even a seasoned shinobi off guard. Which was why Genma could only smile at her proudly even though blood was pouring out of his nose.

"Good job kid. I sure as hell wasn't expecting that."

Sakura's eyes lit up and she looked elated that she'd finally hit him. "Cha, I'm getting pretty good at this! That's the first time I've hit you hard enough to draw blood isn't it?" Genma nodded and swiped his hand under his nose, smearing blood all over his hand and the side of his face.

Kakashi was glad he had decided to take his little detour around training ground 10 on his way back from his daily visit to the Memorial Stone (variety was the spice of life after all) as it had lead him to a rather surprising but entertaining scene. From his position leaning against one of the trees lining the open field he had a perfect view of his (former) student as she tried her hardest to land a hit on Genma Shiranui.

Smiling as he watched her bounce around the jonin he couldn't help the pang of guilt that coursed through him. He knew he should have been more proactive in the development of the girl's shinobi abilities, but he would be the first to admit he'd gotten tunnel vision with Sasuke. It wasn't fair to her or Naruto but at the time he thought he was doing what was best.

And look where that landed you.

If someone had asked the Copy Ninja two years ago if he would ever feel guilt over the loss of genin students, he probably would have shrugged and brushed them off. For years his armor of indifference had been solid, impenetrable; he didn't let anyone get close to avoid the pain when they inevitably left (got killed). But then the Third had foisted those three brats on him and he'd be damned if they hadn't wormed their way into his heart. They had looked up to him, even though he was sporadic and inconsistent nearly every step of the way. Tough love and all that.

But then again, had the events of the past year not transpired, Naruto wouldn't be studying with Jiraiya, and Sakura wouldn't be training under Tsunade to become one of the best medical ninja the world had ever seen and Kakashi couldn't decide if it was worth the loss of the last member of Team 7.

"Kakas-sensei! What did you think of that!?" The pinkette said running over to him looking smug as Genma trailed behind her lazily, and hands in his pockets and senbon bobbing back and forth in his mouth.

He couldn't help smiling at her beneath his mask, deciding that in this moment looking at the kid's proud expression that yes, he wouldn't trade the girls happiness and accomplishments even for their former teammate.

"Very well done Sakura, you've been busy working on your skills haven't you?" He said, mimicking Genma's relaxed pose as he listened to her give him a brief explanation of what she'd been up to the past few months.

"She's damned tough, that's for sure." The tokujo remarked as he glanced at the Chunin who smiled at his compliment and stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh you're just a big baby!"

"Hey that's not nice! Isn't it bad enough you hit me with that big ass forehead of yours?" Genma mock pouted then yelped when Sakura kicked him in the shin. "WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT MY FOREHEAD?!"

"Nothing nothing!"

Crossing her arms and looking indignant Sakura glared the brunette down before spinning back around and launching herself into Kakashi's torso, hugging him tightly. The Copy Ninja froze for a moment, not expecting her display of affection but placing his hand on her head after a moment, enjoying the contact. The girl looked up at him smiling, reminding him so much of that innocent kid she'd been when they'd embarked on their mission to Wave. "It was good to see you sensei, try to come by the hospital more often. I miss your antics." She'd said it jokingly but he could hear the sadness in her voice and wondered idly of she missed him or the way things used to be before they'd gravitated away from each other.

Smiling behind his mask he nodded minutely.

"I'll see what I can do."

Sakura grinned again before releasing him from her hold, instead grabbing Shiranui by the hand and pulling him away.

"Later Kakashi." The tokujo said with a wave of his hand as he let the pinkette drag him away.

Raidō was at his apartment when he and Sakura returned, lounged in his usual spot on the couch and lazily flipping through channels on tv. Sakura smiled and bounced over to him, flipping over the back of the couch and landing on top of the scarred man. "Raidō guess what I did!"

He put his arm around her shoulders and glanced between her and his partner. "Well it looks to me like you busted his nose. Good job kid!" She high fived him as Genma made a show of being pseudo-offended as he walked into the kitchen to wash the blood off of his face. "I'm bleeding over here and you two are just laughing at me. Worst friends ever." Pulling his bandanna off and setting it on the counter he walked back into the living room and nearly ran into Sakura who was standing next to the couch.

"Come here you big baby, I'll fix your nose."

Genma crossed his arms and stood in front of the girl and crossed his arms, flicking his senbon in the direction of her outstretched hand. She only huffed and popped him on the cheek before the only thing he could see was her glowing hand. After a few seconds she pulled her hand back and looked pleased with herself.

"There, good as new. I guess I need to head home, Tsunade wants me at the Hokage tower at 4 a.m. tomorrow. I'll see you guys in the morning!" She said, giving Genma a quick hug before making her way to the door, closing it softly behind her as she left.

"She's got a crush on you dude." Raidō said lightly as Genma made his way over to the couch and laid on top of his friend, sighing.

"She'll learn better. How's Yugao? I saw you guys were having fun last night." Genma asked as he closed his eyes and listened to Rai's heartbeat quicken.

The scarred man didn't really feel guilty about fucking their dead friend's fiance because Yugao had approached him claiming that she was feeling lonely and she just wanted to be close to someone for a bit, someone she could trust. They'd had this arrangement for a while actually, when they just needed to decompress or some company they'd take a tumble between the sheets. While Yugao's reasons for doing so were a way for her to stay connected to humanity without Hayate, so she could feel like something other than another gear in the war machine, Raidō's reasons were drastically different.

He slept with the violet haired girl because he couldn't have Genma.

"Aunt Yuna! Aunt Yuna! Guess what?!"

A young boy with shaggy brown hair and golden skin yelled as he ran inside the home where he'd lived with his aunt Yuna and uncle Touma since his parents had died a few years earlier. His aunt smiled as she placed the kunai she was cleaning on the towel she had laid out on the dining table, looking up at her nephew's widely smiling face. The 15 year old proudly presented the paperwork in his hands to her, placing his hands on his hips smugly as she skimmed over the front cover of the file.

Dear Raidō Namashi,

Your recent field promotion to Tokubetsu Jonin has brought to our attention your exemplary skills at team work, situational assessment and loyalty to your village. The Hokage would like to offer you a position as a part of his Elite Guard Platoon. This position will…

She didn't bother to continue reading before she reached out and hugged him happily. "Congratulations Rai! I'm so proud of you! This is a huge honour, to protect the Hokage during times of conflict." While she couldn't be happier for him she was also worried for his safety; he was a very capable shinobi but he was still just a kid and they were in the middle of a war.

"Don't worry Aunt Yuna, Genma will be with me! He got a letter too!" She looked at him, surprised before she noticed the shorter boy behind him, hands in his pockets and chewing on a throwing needle. Her smile faltered a little but Raidō didn't seem to notice as he backed up and threw his arm around the other boy's shoulders. She stood from her chair and picked up her kunai. "Well why don't you two have a seat and tell me about this promotion you failed to mention?" Walking back into the kitchen she only half listened as her nephew told her about the last mission they had been on, lost in her own thoughts.

She had noticed over the past few years that her nephew had grown VERY close to the Shiranui boy. While she had no problem with the boy's parents she did not like the influence he was having on her sister's son. While most ninja had no hang ups about physical contact with comrades, the two boys were constantly in contact in some way, whether it was standing shoulder to shoulder, limbs splayed across the others, or Raidō constantly carrying Genma around everywhere. It bothered her, though not nearly as much and the looks the two boys had started sharing. It had been recent, the first time she'd noticed the way Raidō had looked at the other boy like he was the 8th wonder of the world, the way he should have been looking at girls. She nearly slammed down the cup in her hand. It was unacceptable for her nephew to be interested in the company of homosexuals. She was not going to allow that boy to taint the last thing she had left of her sister.

"Aunt Yuna?" A small voice from behind her said. She turned and upon seeing the two boys, hands clasped innocently, she threw the glass in her hand at the wall directly between the two boy's heads. "Raidō! Genma leaves. Now!" Her nephew looked at her, and hurt and confused, before he could utter a response Genma released his hand and backed away.

"Wait, no I don't understand! Why does he have to leave?" The short haired boy asked desperately, he was looking between his best friend and his only living family member. "Because that boy is not right and I'm not going to stand for it in this house!"

Genma's flat expression didn't change but he did back farther away, hunching his shoulders to make himself smaller. "What do you mean?"

"Don't think I haven't noticed the way you two have been acting. He's gotten it into your head that it's ok for two boys to be together like a man and a woman!" Raidō's face contorted in confusion.

"Why does it matter?! He's-"

"He's abnormal and I will not have him taint you, not while you live in this house, not ever! I am your guardian and you will do as I say!"

That was the last and only time he hand ever held his friend's hand.

"Rai will you snap the fu-" Genma didn't get to finish his sentence before Raidō shoved the younger man off of him; Genma who was half asleep and not expecting the sudden aggression yelped as he fell, slamming his head against the coffee table on his way down.

"The hell's that supposed to mean?" the short haired man said angrily, sitting up and glaring down at his friend. Later he would realize that he had really overreacted, his rage more from the memory than anything Genma had done.

"Fuck man what what was that for? Shit…"

"You have something against me fucking her?" Genma looked up at him like he'd grown another head. "What? No, why the hell would I care what you're sticking your dick in?"

"Sure sounded like you had something to say." Raidō said as he stood up, towering over the other tokujo and feeling a twinge of guilt at the hurt that flashed across Genma's face.

"What are we even arguing about dude? I was just-...You know what, nevermind." The smaller man sighed and rubbed the back of his head exhaustedly. His social battery was already drained from entertaining Sakura all day, not to mention he was still tired from his mission and the shit quality of sleep he'd gotten the past few days. He didn't have the energy to argue, hell he didn't have the energy to care about whatever stupid shit Raidō felt insulted about. Standing up and brushing himself off he leveled an expressionless gaze at the scarred man. "Maybe you should just go home huh? We have to be at the tower early in the morning."

Raidō blinked and sounded almost insulted. "Are you kicking me out of your apartment?"

"No, I'm telling you to go home because I'm tired."

Gods he was so tired.

"Fine, whatever. I'll see you in the morning." Raidō huffed giving his friend one last glance before he walked out the door, slamming it behind him.

Genma stared at the door after his friend left and a part of him suddenly felt like crying. The last thing he had meant to do was piss Rai off. Like he always did. And now here he was, standing alone in his living room like a jackass.

Stripping off his uniform right there, Genma layed on the couch, cushions still warm from his friend's body heat and closed his eyes against the moisture he could feel starting to gather on his lashes.

Got a natural talent for fucking up don't you Shiranui...How bad will it have to be before Rai won't want anything to do with you anymore?

The intrusive thoughts crossed his subconscious and try as he might he couldn't ignore them as well as he usually could.

Bad enough you're the reason a quarter of him looks like melted plastic. You're the reason Yuna and Touma nearly disowned him. Couldn't content yourself with fucking up your own life, had to fuck up his too, huh?

Pressing his face farther into the couch, his fingers brushed over the senbon he'd dropped when Raidō had shoved him away. Plucking the thin piece of metal from the floor he stared at it for a moment, mind wandering.

There's no one to spar with, it's too late…..It would be a good stress reliever...a distraction...after all, what good have tears ever done you?

Rolling onto his back and pulling up the fabric of his boxers a little, he ran his fingers over the faded rows of scars that rested there, starting about two inches above his knee and running all the way up the top of his thigh to just below his hip. Some had left raised scar tissue while others were barely visible anymore but Genma knew they were there. There was a matching set on his bicep.

What's a few more? Not like anyone will notice right?

Holding the sharp weapon tightly he placed the tip on the soft skin just above where his boxers ended and slowly drug the pointed edge across his skin, applying just enough pressure to make a thin slice that it took a few seconds for blood to well up from. Closing his eyes he felt disconnected from his body as he felt himself drag the weapon across his skin again, then again, and again until there was a crooked row of 10 cuts in his skin, blood slowly beading on the wounds.

It didn't stop the tears.

He threw the senbon angrily, lodging it halfway into the wall with the force he'd thrown it with and curled up on his side as he choked down a sob.

Stop crying, it's never fixed anything before and it won't now!

He lay there for nearly an hour before he finally fell into an uneasy sleep.

Raidō yawned as he made his way to the Hokage tower that morning, not having time to stop by Genma's apartment because he'd overslept and was only just going to make it there by the skin of his teeth. Running up the stairs that twisted around the outside of the tower two at a time he spotted Genma leaning on the railing looking out over the village. Stopping next to his partner, the older man put his hands in his pockets to ward off the early morning chill and began somewhat sheepishly, "About last night, I'm sorry...I know you didn't mean anything by it, I guess I just expected you to be mad and read it the wrong way."

Genma just shrugged in his usual unaffected way, pushing himself off the railing. "It's cool, I think we were both just in a shitty mood last night. I wasn't trying to give you flak for nailing her. We're good." He turned to look at Raidō and the other man immediately frowned.

"Fuck Gen you look like hell. Did you get any sleep last night?"

"Damn you really know how to make a guy feel good about himself, huh?"

Raidō couldn't even pretend to be amused by Genma's wisecracking, when he'd said the other tokubetsu looked bad, he'd meant it. He could tell Genma hadn't bothered to shower that morning, hair looking slightly greasy even with his bandanna covering most of it. His normally lightly tanned skin was pale, making the dark bags under his eyes look even darker, and he was wearing the same uniform he'd worn yesterday; it was still spotted with dust and a few drops of blood near the collar.

"Stop making that face, I'm fine. Just couldn't sleep for shit." Genma said opening the door to walk into Tsunde's office. Raidō wasn't convinced.

Thankfully, Tsunade was in a far better mood than she normally was, which meant the tokujo's weren't running around like headless chickens, but instead lounging on the ugly green couch and reading transcripts from old council meetings regarding the housing budgets for orphaned or destitute shinobi. Riveting stuff.

To be more precise, Raidō was reading the transcripts, Genma had fallen asleep on him about an hour ago. He'd slid down on the couch until it was practically just his upper body on the seat cushions, legs splayed open in front of him, shins braced against the coffee table. It looked super fucking uncomfortable but he wasn't about to wake the other man up, he looked like he needed all the sleep he could get.

Tsunade looked up at the two over the file she was holding and thought about the conversation she'd had with Inoichi Yamanaka.

The blonde haired man placed a thick file on her desk. "Lady Hokage, I think you need to have a look at this."

"What is 'this'?" The Sanin asked, picking up the folder up and opening it thoughtfully.

"Shiranui's most recent psychological evaluation. It's rather worrisome." He watched as she flipped through the old information until she found the newest evaluation report.

Name: Shiranui, GENMA

D.O.B: 17th November (Age:30)

Height: 5 '11'

Weight: 144 lbs

Rank:Tokubetsu Jonin

Position:Hokage Guard Platoon, (REDACTED)

Status:Active Duty

Observations:

S., GENMA has undergone annual psychological evaluation and has been found to be fit for ACTIVE DUTY for the purpose of defence the Hokage and the village of Konoha. Testing has found there to be no obvious signs of psychological disturbance which would impair the abilities of this shinobi to perform duties as required….

"It says he's been cleared for active duty. What is the problem Yamanaka?"

"While he did pass the evaluation itself, we have reason to believe he lied, he has before. There were some inconsistencies on the control questions."

"Anything to indicate that he isn't fit to perform his duties as needed?" Yamanaka didn't like the sound of that. He knew he was toeing the line with this, not having any hard evidence, but he'd known the Shiranui kid for a while and he knew something wasn't right.

"Not as such…I do think that he needs to be kept under supervision to watch for any changes in his mental state." Tsunade snapped the file closed and placed it in an inner drawer of her desk and nodded. "I trust your judgement on these things Inoichi. Thank you for informing me about this."

While she didn't doubt that Shiranui had lied on his eval., there wasn't much she could do right now. They needed every able bodied ninja and he had been granted active status so her hands were somewhat tied unless he fucked up. And she was praying that wouldn't happen. Especially with the mission she was about to send them on.

"Boys! I have a mission for you!" The pair looked up at her and she pulled a folder from the stack on her desk.

"It's going to be a very delicate escort mission through Grass Country, Sakura will be going with you. The gentleman you'll be escorting is one of Konoha's biggest benefactors so naturally our enemies will be wanting to scatter across the Fire Country in an effort to defund us. You'll be meeting up with his personal guard once you reach the Earth Country. After that you'll return. This is an A Rank mission so I'd like you to prepare accordingly. It should take about two weeks."

They both nodded and Tsunade handed Raidō the file. "One more thing. Bear will be shadowing you for this."

When neither of them raised any arguments she shoo'd them away to prepare.

Five hours later they were at the gate, chatting with Izumo and Kotetsu while they waited for Sakura and the guy they were supposed to escort to show up.

"Man I'm so jealous, we haven't been on a mission outside the village in forever!" Kotetsu complained as he balanced his chair on the back legs, looking for all the world like he was going to die of boredom. Izumo rolled his eyes at his boyfriend's antics but didn't comment.

Raidō laughed and ruffled the kid's hair, "Don't worry, I'm sure you two will get the chance soon."

A shout from afar pulled his attention from the Elite Chunin, looking up to see Sakura waving at him enthusiastically, and a tall well dressed man with a shock of bright red hair following behind her. That must the the guy they were supposed to escort then. Hazuka Jiro. He and Genma shared a look as the pair walked up to them. Jiro nodded to the tokujos politely.

"Genma and Raidō I presume?"

"Hazuka-sama." Raidō said with a nod. Genma was silent, sizing the man up before turning on his heel and walking towards the gates, Sakura running to catch up with him.

"I'm surprised you bothered to learn our names, Hazuka-sama. No offence, however it seems a bit out of the ordinary." The scarred man said as they began their journey. Jiro only laughed softly, pulling a pack of fancy cigarettes out of some hidden inner pocket and pulling one out.

"I usually like to make a point to be friendly to those who may eventually hold my life in their hands. Seems reasonable, no?" Lighting the cigarette he looked up at the taller man with empty brown eyes, a fake smile plastered on his face.

The shinobi turned his attention to the two in front, watching amusedly as Sakura tried to get Genma to give her one of his senbon for some reason or another.

"Come on pleeeaassee? Genma, you know you're my favorite right?" Genma snorted and looked at the pink haired girl out of the corner of his eye as he bit down on the metal needle in his mouth.

"Keep pestering me and I'll give you this one." Sakura frowned and made an 'ew' face. "For real kid, don't touch any of my weapons if I'm not there."

"Buzzkill." The girl said, crossing her arms behind her back and looking up at the sky. They'd been walking for a good two hours now and she was starting to get bored already.

"Let's play a game! You can answer for Rai too since you guys are kinda one person at this point."

"Ehh?"

"Ok so I'll go first, how old were you when you graduated from the academy?" Placing her hands behind her head she smiled up at him. "Come on, it will help kill time."

Genma knew that, it was just that he was a private person and he didn't want some rando listening to them. Glancing back he saw the young diplomat engrossed in something on his phone, oblivious to everything around him.

Sighing the brunette decided to indulge the girl a little.

"Well it was during war time so Rai and I both graduated the academy when we were 10."

"That makes since, from what Kakas-sensei said things were different back then. I didn't graduate till I was 12."

"First weapon you ever used?" Genma asked as he caught a glimpse of Taka's shadow out of the corner of his eye.

Laughing a little Sakura thought for a moment. "A katana actually, I wasn't any good though." The tokujo gave a surprised hum. "Well I can't say they're easy to master, though Hayate made it seem that way sometimes." She looked up at him and asked softly, "He was the second exam proctor, right? He was your friend?"

"He was." The girl got the hint that he didn't want to wander down that particular path of memory lane and changed the subject quickly. "What's something you're really good at that people don't know about?"

Lying.

Chewing on his senbon he thought about her question. "Nothing I guess. I'm not really good at anything besides being a shinobi…" She just rolled her eyes at him. "Oh come on Mr. Humble there has to be something."

Shaking his head he looked out at the skyline. "I mean Raidō is always trying to get me to sing but I don't think that means I'm any good at it."

"Gen-"

"Don't even think about it kid, you'll hear me sing the day you see Hatake's face."

"Awwwww.."

For whatever it was worth, the first half of their mission went smoothly but the second half completely shit the bed. They had just gotten out of the Grass Country borders when they were ambushed. Genma and Raidō instinctively got on each side of Sakura as the smoke from some jutsu clouded their vision. He heard the distinct 'zip' of tightening ninja wire and pushed Sakura to the ground before she could finish the hand signs for the wind jutsu she was about to perform. Before she had even fully impacted the ground she was already finishing the last seal and Genma felt the wire against his arms and across his chest before he was yanked back harshly into the tree behind him, pinned there as the smoke was cleared by Sakura's jutsu and Raidō deflected a kunai aimed at his heart. Quickly using a summoning jutsu Raidō had has favorite katana in his hand while Sakura sent multiple kunai with explosive tags into the trees around them. It did nothing but anger their attackers who jumped from the trees in a uniformed attack.

A masked shinobi appeared before Genma and lunged at him, kunai in hand.

A poor choice really, mostly because his legs were still free and he used that to his advantage, kicking the kunai out his attackers hand and before planting both feet in the guys chest, knocking him back a good 15 feet into the fray of ninja surrounding his teammates. Reaching into his weapons pouch he pulled a shuriken free and threw it hard enough to cut one of the loops of wire pinning him to the tree, loosening the rest so he could get free.

Pulling out a few senbon, he jumped into the tree and began picking them off one by one while he still had the element of surprise. The last two were apparently smarter than the rest though as they pulled their attacks and both jumped out of Raidō and Sakura's range to go after Genma.

Leaping from the branch he'd been perched on seconds before it shattered under the heavy assault of one of the masked ninja he was unable to dodge the second one's attack mid-air. Bringing his arms up to take as much of the damage as possible the other ninja slammed into him, shoulder first and Genma felt the bite of a blade rip into the flesh of his stomach. Growling he grabbed the back of the guys shirt he kept a hold on him as they both crashed into the ground hard.

Somewhere to his left he heard Sakura scream his name he quickly rolled out of the way of the shuriken that impaled the ground where he'd landed. Rolling back into a handstand he kicked one of the masked ninja in the face only to have the guy grab his ankle and drive his knee into Genma's spine and throw him a few feet away. Genma twisted in mid air to throw two poison tipped senbon at the enemy, landing on his feet and pulling out a kunai before lunging at him as the guy dodged to the right.

Using the kunai to deflect the shuriken thrown at him, he dropped low to swipe the masked man's feet from under him. The guy jumped over his leg but wasn't able to dodge the chakra enhanced punch to the stomach that sent him flying into his comrade that was about to roundhouse kick Raidō in the face. Both ninja vanished in a puff of smoke upon impact and before any of the Konoha ninja could react the two unknown ninja broke through the earth on opposite sides of Sakura and Raidō, a coil of ninja wire tightening around the two as each enemy pulled the other end, trapping the two back to back.

Sakura let out a yelp as she slammed into Raidō, the metal wire cutting into her bare arms. Raidō growled and pulled against the wire pinning them together and found no give to it.

Ah shit, this is bad.

The masked ninja lunged at them.

Genma stared in horror, knowing he wouldn't make it in time to save them and Raidō braced himself for their attack.

Sakura, on the other hand…

Sakura screamed angrily and pulled against the wire, blood streaming down her arms from where it was slicing into her flesh. The wire tightened even more, nearly pushing all the air from Raidō's lungs, then snapped as Sakura channeled a massive amount of chakra into her arms and shoulders. The enemy stopped feet from the two in shock of the girl's strength and she delivered an earth shattering punch to the man's face, blood and bone spraying everywhere while Raidō grabbed his fallen katana and neatly sliced off the others head in one clean move.

"Fuck…"

Raidō and Genma both appeared at Sakura's side as she kneeled down. Blood was pouring from the torn flesh of her arms where the wire had cut her, bits of skin and muscle scraped away from tendon and bone. "I..I can't move my arms to heal this…" she gasped out between panting breaths.

"Don't worry kid." Raidō said as he looked at the wounds on her arms and frowned; neither he or Genma knew any kind of medical ninjutsu and she was losing blood fast. Digging through his pack he pulled out a few rolls of gauze and tossed one to Gen and the started to bandage her arms as best the could. Sakura was quiet through the whole ordeal but both men could see the tears welling up in her eyes but they didn't say anything.

"We need to get moving soon, there might be more of those bastards after us and she needs those wounds taken care of." Raidō uttered quietly as the finished patching her up as well as they could, it wasn't perfect but hopefully it would keep her from bleeding out before they got back to the village. Genma nodded and picked Sakura up, careful not to jostle her too much.

"We can make it back in 3 days if we go all out."

"Sounds good to me. Race you to the gates!" Genma said as he jumped up into the trees, an amused Raidō following after him.