All's Fair in Love and War
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
IV
"Somebody please help us!"
Sakura and Shizune looked up from their hushed conversation to the tent flap, where Tobiko and his two underlings were already rushing outside. After sharing a significant look, the two women followed the robust Akimichi guard outside, already steeling themselves to whatever gruesome sight might be awaiting them.
What they found made their hearts wrench.
"Please, he can still make it if he gets medical attention right now!" implored a pale woman who looked like she'd seen better days.
She supported an unconscious young man on her shoulder. Sakura's mind immediately switched gears as she assessed the superficial damage to the shinobi's battered body. He looked like he'd been chewed up and spit out.
"Stop!" Tobiko boomed, placing his large body between the limping shinobi and the entrance to the tent. "Don't come any closer!"
"But he'll die if he doesn't get treatment!" the woman begged, desperation evident in her voice.
"How can you prove you're not the enemy?" Tobiko challenged.
"What happened?" Shizune said, her tone laced with worry as she surveyed the unconscious man. She remained rooted to her spot safely behind Tobiko, however.
The unknown woman turned to Sakura and Shizune, only now noticing that there were two medics listening in. Her eyes widened. "Please help him, I'm begging you! Don't let my husband die in my arms."
Sakura clenched a fist. Ever since Zetsu had successfully infiltrated the camp disguised as Neji and assassinated five Jounin medical ninja, the camp had been on red alert. No one was allowed inside without proper screening from a sensor and either an official escort or knowledge of the most up-to-date password, which changed every three hours now. But regular field soldiers probably wouldn't always know the password, much less remember a new one every three hours. They were more concerned with surviving the fight of their lives.
It was at that moment that Hina and Shī joined them, drawn by the injured kunoichi's pleadings.
"What's going on?" Shī whispered.
"That man needs treatment," Shizune explained when Sakura didn't. She let her response trail off uncertainly.
Hina covered her mouth, saddened by the sight. Shī turned hard dark eyes on the pair. Silently, he brought his hands together in a seal that Sakura recognized to be the trigger for a sensory scan. After a moment he released the jutsu, an unreadable look in his eyes. "They could be Zetsu clones in disguise."
"But we can't turn away a dying ally," Shizune said.
No one responded to that one. No one knew how.
"If you can't trust me, then I'll kill myself now to prove my allegiance! Just please save him!"
Hina gasped. Sakura was just as shocked as her older colleague. To make such a bold statement... Surely this person could not be the enemy. Green eyes glanced at the unconscious shinobi leaning on his wife. He looked like he wouldn't last much longer like that. Sakura let out a distressed sigh, which drew Shī's attention. He shot her a reproachful look.
"Sakura—"
"Come inside," Sakura said, cutting him off and gesturing to the injured pair.
To emphasize her point, she pulled back the tent flap in invitation. The woman seemed to melt with relief.
"Oh, thank you!"
"No, wait! They could be the enemy..." Tobiko protested.
A firm hand grabbed Sakura's wrist and yanked it away from the tent flap. Startled, she turned to find Shī glaring at her.
"I can't analyze their chakra for identification. We can't be sure if they're on our side."
"So we just let them die?" Sakura hissed. "I can't just stand here and do nothing. Can you?"
He looked torn, like he wanted to believe that these people were just injured allies, but he couldn't dismiss the very real possibility that they were just the opposite. They stared each other down for a moment, neither sure what to say to rectify the situation. In the end, they didn't have to.
A grunt of shock from Tobiko was the only warning as Sakura and Shī whipped around to see the two supposedly dying shinobi suddenly rushing them, their injuries forgotten. Green eyes widened as understanding dawned, followed by fear. Somewhere to Sakura's left, Shizune screamed out a warning as the two prepared to attack.
Crunch!
It happened so quickly that Sakura wasn't sure she'd seen correctly. One minute the imposters were lunging toward her, kunai at the ready, and the next they were face-down in the ground, two glowing Rasengan pushing their bodies into an early grave.
"You okay, Sakura?"
Sakura blinked, dazzled by the bright light he was emitting.
"Naruto!" Shizune exclaimed.
The glowing blond looked up from the thorough bludgeoning he'd dealt to the now reverted Zetsu clones and grinned. Sakura's mouth dropped a veritable foot at the sight of him. It had been ages since she'd last seen him, but the old saying that time changes people seemed like the understatement of the century. He was literally swathed in golden light with strange swirl markings across his collarbone and navel. What kind of power was this?
"Naruto..."
His smile widened and cerulean met jade. "Didya miss me?"
For reasons unknown, Sakura felt the overwhelming urge to cry. Uncaring of who saw, she ran at Naruto and flung her arms around his neck. "Idiot. You're supposed to be hiding."
She felt him relax a little under her embrace and readily returned it, holding her close. "And miss out on all the action? Nah."
Sakura had to laugh a little through tears that threatened to fall. She couldn't remember being so happy to see her blond teammate since he showed up to take on the leader of Akatsuki. It seemed he had a knack for turning up just when he was most needed.
"Naruto," Shizune said again, drawing up to the embracing pair.
Sakura took that as her cue to release Naruto and take a step back. Shizune smiled at him, obviously relieved to see him safe and sound. He flashed her a cheesy grin.
"Heya, Shizune. Just thought I'd drop in and see how things are going. I heard there's some asshole running around pretending to be our friends."
Shizune's expression turned grim. "Yes, that's right. Zetsu of Akatsuki is able to replicate other people's chakra signatures perfectly. Not even our best sensors can detect the difference."
"Uzumaki Naruto? The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki?" Hina said from behind them.
Everyone turned to look at her. Naruto puffed out his chest in a show of faux bravado. "In the flesh."
Hina looked a bit stunned. Sakura didn't blame her; she was still trying to get used to Naruto's new look too. She couldn't imagine what seeing him for the first time looking like this must be like.
"How were you able to sense them?" Shī demanded.
His posture was tense as he studied Naruto like a chemist would a puzzling lab report. She wondered if he was scanning him with his sensitive chakra. Then his words registered in her head and Sakura found herself wondering the same thing.
"Yeah, you sensed them," she said. "How is that possible?"
Naruto adopted a more serious expression as he looked between the medics and a pissed off Tobiko, clearly not pleased that he hadn't been able to preempt the attack on Sakura.
"It's hard to explain. I just knew they wanted Sakura dead. They didn't feel like everyone else here."
Well that makes no sense at all...
"I'm a sensor type, and even I can't tell the difference. How can you?" Shī pressed.
Naruto scratched the back of his head, trying to find an answer that might appease the Cloud nin. "I guess...it's like they're incomplete or something. Man, I just got this new ability to sense chakra and emotions, and I'm not sure how it all works. It kinda just does. I'm just glad I got here in time."
Tobiko grunted his approval and barked at his underlings to get back into position in case more imposters showed up. Shī just continued to scrutinize Naruto, as though he might be able to divine a more concrete answer this way. Sakura didn't blame him; she was dying to find a way to discern the enemy too.
"Sorry, but I can't stay. I already scanned the area and it looks like you're in the clear. No more baddies around here," Naruto said.
"You're leaving already?" Shizune said.
"Looks like there's trouble with the First Division. I'm just a clone. I'll report what happened here."
Sakura smiled a little sadly. She didn't know how he'd done it, but Naruto was now stronger than he'd ever been. If anyone could turn the tide of this war, it was definitely him. She reached for his hand. "Be safe. I better not see you here again unless it's to take out more clones, got it?"
They shared a meaningful look, a thousand and one words passing between them in an instant. Naruto was a good guy, and she hoped that whatever hurt or misunderstanding lingered between them after her strategic confession was gone. Looking at him now, he was still the same Naruto she'd grown to love like a brother.
"You got it," he whispered, squeezing her hand.
That gesture brought more relief and reassurance to Sakura than she could say.
"Well, see ya!" Naruto said, waving to everyone.
He poofed into smoke after that, leaving no trace of his ever having been there except for two dead Zetsu clones with dirt halfway down their throats. Sakura ran a hand through her bangs, a little shaken from the encounter. Seeing Naruto again like that was a gift, but having him save her from rampaging Zetsu clones posing as injured allies was not how she'd envisioned their reunion. More importantly, if Naruto was joining the war effort then what the hell was going on out there now?
"Sakura, we should get back to our rounds," Shizune said. "That goes for everyone."
Sakura nodded, but her attention was drawn by the two Zetsu clones half buried in the earth.
I almost let them into the camp. Anyone they killed would be on my conscience.
She was angry with herself, as irrational as it was. No one could have sensed the difference, but she decided to let her compassion get the better of her. There was no way to properly reconcile the situation. It made her furious to feel so defenseless like this.
"Sakura."
Shī's voice snapped her out of her self-loathing inner torment. She'd forgotten he was still there after the others disappeared inside the tent. He was also staring at the two dead clones.
"Yeah?"
"I want to finish the autopsy."
Sakura studied him, trying to get a read on him. He seemed...upset. "Shī, what's wrong?"
He blinked, dark eyes locking with hers. "If the Jinchuuriki can do it, then there must be a way to distinguish the clones."
"That Jinchuuriki has a name, you know," she countered.
Sakura sensed a spat brewing. They hadn't spoken much since the night they'd clashed in the mess hall. She had nothing to say to him and clearly the feeling was mutual, so they stuck to a strictly professional interaction. More than once Sakura had told herself that this was silly and she should just say something to him. He'd obviously been pretty messed up about having to amputate his friend's leg, and that probably led him to say things he didn't mean. Then again, he wouldn't have said them if he didn't believe them to be true. And why should she be the one to cave? If anything he should be asking her forgiveness for trashing Konoha and taking his grievances out on her.
He pursed his lips together before saying, "Right. Naruto."
Sakura was mildly surprised by his easy amendment. She expected him to say blue whenever she said red, but it seemed he was disinclined to fight her on this. Unsure whether to be suspicious or optimistic, she settled for ignoring it completely.
"Anyway, you're right. We should get back to the autopsy. The sooner we can figure this out, the better."
Decided, they made their way to the lab without another word.
It turned out that they were more urgently needed in the emergency room than in the lab to complete the autopsy. Shī was not happy about this in the least, but Shizune was in charge and he was obligated to adhere to her authority. Sakura shot him an apologetic look when their examination was cut short, which he didn't know how to interpret. They parted ways before he could find the words to question her though, so he was forced to dismiss it.
Surgery was hard. Shī had always been rather gifted with medical ninjutsu. He'd been promoted to Jounin at the green age of fifteen, the most promising student of his class. But Cloud shinobi were trained for the battlefield, not the laboratory. In a way, he felt like he was learning formal medical ninjutsu procedures all over again like this, which was frustrating. But he wouldn't give up.
"On my count," Shizune said. "Use your chakra to keep the blood pumping while I shock the heart. Ready?"
Shī nodded numbly.
"One, two, three."
Excellent chakra control could only get him far enough to block out the paranoid pounding in his head as he counted in time to the beat of his own heart, willing lightning-infused chakra to set a rhythmic pace for the patient's failing heart while Shizune worked. It was one thing to stop the overflow of blood out of a severed artery on the battlefield; it was another thing entirely to circulate about five liters of blood through the human body at a steady pace. Sweat beaded on Shī's forehead as he willed his energy to move evenly and forcefully.
"Clear!" Shizune hissed, pumping a jolt of chakra into the heart.
Shī felt the shock but ignored the quick burst of burning pain up his arms as he worked to regulate the patient's circulation. A sweat droplet fell onto his white knuckles and fizzled into vapor, evaporated by the buzzing electrical energy he was emitting. Vaguely, he tasted blood on his tongue.
It required unfathomable control to revive damaged internal organs. On the field Shī was used to patching up even the nastiest injuries, but there was never time for things like open heart surgery and delicate organ transplants. Here there was more time, but there was also compounded pressure. He wasn't sure which was worse. Instead of dwelling on it, he concentrated the flow of his medical chakra and acted as an artificial pacemaker while Shizune fixed the real thing. There was no room for self-doubt in the OR.
"Again!"
It took them four tries to get the heart pumping again, and weakly at that. Shizune immediately tore into the patient's chest with a chakra scalpel, searching for the shrapnel they'd detected earlier as the cause of the problem. Shī shifted his chakra output to control the bleeding from the incision as Shizune worked to remove the foreign objects without doing further damage to the heart. The entire operation ended up taking the better part of an hour, and the patient, a middle-aged Iwa nin, nearly died twice.
"That was good work," Shizune said tiredly after they were done. "He'll live."
"Yeah," Shī said, wiping the sweat from his brow.
"Doctor," one of the nurses addressed Shizune. "We have a ruptured intestine in bed thirty-seven."
Shizune sighed wearily. "Right, let's get to it. Shī," she nodded, pulling herself up.
"Right, I'll just—"
"Doctor!" a young Genin helper shouted. "She hit her head real bad! There's a lot of blood!"
Shī turned to the source of the cry, cringing at the sight of a young kunoichi with her head bashed in and bleeding a waterfall all over her bedding. He didn't even bother bidding Shizune goodbye as he shifted his focus entirely to the new patient.
As he staunched the bleeding and sewed the kunoichi's head back together, Shī tried not to think about the fact that Sakura and Shizune were Konoha. It was easier to think of this as just another job, and of them simply as talented colleagues. But every time he walked by Hiroki's sick bed, he was reminded that this was a war. There were no favorites or mercy, and everyone had to look out for number one. Make a mistake here and that was the end of the line. He couldn't help it. No matter how he looked at it, he could not completely forget his resentment of Konoha for its part in starting this war.
"Hey stranger."
Hours later, Shī looked up from his tea to see Akari standing over him. He was taking a short break to clear his mind before getting ready for the next surgery, but it seemed that he'd get no peace here.
"What's up? You look like somebody died."
At the dark look from the blond Cloud nin, Akari cringed. "Sorry, that came out shitty."
The mess hall boasted a handful of patrons at this hour of the afternoon, mostly medical staff hoping to grab a quick bite to eat between emergencies. There was never a quiet moment in this place.
"Have you ever been in a war before?" he found himself asking.
Akari took a seat across from him at his empty table, taking in his haggard appearance. "Yeah, the last one that happened. Fucking blows, right?"
"Understatement," Shī grumbled, cupping his steaming mug.
She smirked at him, her dark blue eyes lighting up under the fluorescent overhead lamp. "Least you got someone to take the sting off, Casanova."
The color drained from Shī's already ashen face as he glowered at the Falls nin. "What are you insinuating."
Her smirk widened. "I saw you getting cozy with Pinky the other day. She's cute."
Shī didn't know Akari very well, but they'd made the journey to the medical camps together from headquarters, and she'd talked his ear off the whole time. She was nice enough, definitely too chatty for his tastes, but she meant well. He suspected she was the type to use humor to make light of otherwise deplorable situations. He could appreciate it under the right circumstances, but right now was not one of them.
"If you're referring to Haruno Sakura, then you've got the wrong idea."
"Mm, I don't think so."
"I'm serious. It's not what you think."
She didn't look convinced in the least. "But you think she's cute, right? I mean, if you ignore the insomnia and chakra drain that kinda comes with this job."
Shī opened his mouth to protest but caught himself. Truthfully, he hadn't really given the topic much thought. He supposed Sakura could be considered attractive, but it was the last thing on his mind in this prison they called a hospital. Everyone looked like zombies from overwork.
What the hell am I thinking?
"I don't see how that's relevant."
Akari's expression suddenly turned severe. It was eerie, but Shī immediately thought of Uzumaki Naruto in that moment and the way he'd gone from cheerful and goofy to dead serious. It was unnerving.
"Listen, kiddo. You've never been in a war, and you're lucky. But this is where the shit hits the fan and believe me, everyone starts to stink. You see people dying in there, and they're gonna keep kickin' it in ways you can't even imagine. You gotta make the best of your situation while you can."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
She leaned forward, as though they were co-conspirators with some underhanded purpose. "It means take advantage of what you got. War's got a way of taking what we love the most. It's stingy like that. Take it from me. You don't wanna lose what you don't even have yet."
Shī stared at the older kunoichi, puzzled by her words. He had a sense that she was somehow cheering on some make-believe relationship between Sakura and himself, but as far as he was concerned that was the furthest thing from his mind. And not just because he didn't much like Sakura, but because this was war and he had a duty to do. Anything else would have to wait until after.
If I even make it out of here alive.
"Just think about it, 'kay? A serious guy like you could use some smiles in his life," Akari said, standing.
Shī glared at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"
She waved him off. "Don't get your panties in a twist. See you back in there."
Shī had a mind to call after her, but he refrained. There were other patrons in the dining hall and he didn't want to draw unnecessary attention to himself. The chamomile tea he'd been nursing was tepid by now. Scowling, he got up and dumped it in the trash. The last thing he wanted to do right now was actually think about what the Falls nin had said to him. Suddenly, his upcoming lung transplant operation was looking very appealing.
Author's note: Oh my god you guys, everyone go check out this AMAZING fanart by Secretie right this second. She is super indcredibly talented. Check out the link on my profile under the "Fanart" section. :D
Anyway, thanks to all the wonderful people who left logged out reviews: anonymous, dude (YOU'RE WELCOME), and Shayz. Everyone who reviewed, thank you so much! The ShīSaku ship has set sail guys. I AM SO PSYCHED.