Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. But once I take over the world, I will! Muwahahhahahahhaha! Ahum, please excuse me.
Wow guys and girls. I haven't expected this story to get so popular. It amazes me that you guys have favourited this fanfic… Thank you sooo much! Reviews are always welcome!
Why did it take so long to update? It's not that hard to write a damn fanfic chapter! You're so dumb, taking this long to write this piece of (PIZZA)! I'm going to kill you for making me wait!
Sasori-san, is that you? Maybe not. Anyway… Please have mercy! I'm currently undergoing a (not-as-harsh-as-Sakura's) training called 'exams' – not the Chuunin ones. They're hard. Please re-kill the one who came up with the concept of exams instead… V for vendetta! E for exa-… EXTERMINATION.
The Fifth Hokage let out yet another grumpy sigh out of the countless ones with her sharp gaze fixated on the floor, making the worried Shizune's attempts to evade Tsunade's provoked anger easier. Maybe she should have gotten Tsunade sake after all… A tiny sip wouldn't have hurt any of them. But knowing Tsunade's definition of 'tiny sip', she shrugged and nearly shook her head. She's not an alcoholic, but she acts like a toddler whose candy has been taken away when she can't have sake… the dark brown haired medic nin thought, looking at Sakura instead. Hopefully Sakura won't turn out like her when it comes to temper…
Although, the differences between the two of them disappeared a tad more each year they spent together. Shizune could state the obvious without having to think about it twice just to make sure, the thought came to her completely naturally; Sakura was a younger version of Tsunade. The two of them shared many similarities, both in skills and personality. Even a similar past, actually… Sasuke resembled Orochimaru and had been his disciple before he killed the creepy snake obsessed sannin. He had been the first one to rise above his teacher. Naruto was training under Jiraiya's supervision and Sakura was Tsunade's best apprentice. History repeats itself, doesn't it? a smile crept over Shizune's lips.
The wait had been boring. Tsunade felt tempted to show her - currently hidden - cards and offer to play poker with the two kunoichis in the meantime. She always carried those around to play against herself when she had to do paperwork, but she got bored with that quickly, as playing poker against oneself was kind of against the original point of the game itself. You weren't supposed to know your opponent's cards… It took away the suspense and made her want to make a neat little pile of her annoying paperwork and take a beauty nap after drinking some nice, warm sake… And then randomly wake up three hours later, scream from the shock once having noticed the time and start stamping her hokage seal all over the place to avoid being scolded by a very angry Shizune who'd get her revenge by hiding her precious sake bottles in crazy places, like in under the copy machine where Tsunade would never look anyway as she was a slacker and stayed away from work for as long as possible. How cruel…
They waited for three hours straight while checking on Itachi every five minutes to make sure that his status didn't worsen. The wounds inside his lungs had opened up thrice, so they had to heal him a few times. Otherwise, nothing worth mentioning happened…
Sakura stood up to peek into the plastic box through its thin, transparent lid. The pinkette stared at it for a short while and then turned towards her two teachers - Shizune had assisted to her training too -, "The cells have split often enough. I think that we can begin the procedure."
The hokage got up from her chair and inspected the box as well, being glad that the annoying wait was finally over, "You're right. Let's get started, then!"
All three of them started working – it was going to take a very long while too, but it wouldn't be boring at all... Plus Sakura's chakra wouldn't be enough… They needed a huge quantity of chakra. Together, it was less risky, too. They could keep an eye on their current teammates' work to make sure that they didn't mess up. They would be able to correct each other before it was too late in case the worst scenario happened.
The trio summoned their own floating chakra blobs and bowed over the missing nin. They directed the liquid to hover over his chest.
"Good luck," Sakura sent her colleagues encouraging smiles, her full, cherry blossom coloured lips curling upwards.
Tsunade grinned in response, "The one who messes up has to buy me two bottles of sake!"
Shizune was about to nod back towards Sakura politely when she heard the hokage's words. She rolled her eyes, "Agreed… But if you mess up, then you buy all of Tonton's food for a whole week."
Sakura stared at her two teachers blankly and sighed. She'd just tag along with the joke… The youngest kunoichi didn't feel like being the combo breaker. Even those two could be immature once in a while… "I want to be taught an awesome new jutsu," she added the priority of her wishlist to the conversation.
Tsunade sent the two miniature glares, "I'm the Fifth Hokage! I don't make mistakes! But whatever. I accept your challenge! Deal!"
That's when the three of them finally started working after their pointless but somehow motivational blabbering. They extracted the infected cores of the cells and replaced them by the healthy ones. Once all of them had been switched, they had to look their work over to make sure that they hadn't missed anything infected. Only after that could their heal him properly. This surgery took four hours long for the three… No, eventually, two of them.
Sakura felt her eyelids close once in a while. She couldn't help it – a feeling a sleepiness mixed with weariness overcame her. The pink haired medic nin struggled to stay awake. She kept it up for fifteen minutes, but her teachers had already noticed. That was as long as they were able to put up with her sudden incompetence.
"Sakura, you barely have any chakra left. You've already done a lot before we started the main part. You successfully readied the preparations; you should be content with that. Shizune and I both know that you've done this once before and excelled, so we won't look down on you if you quit now. You should rest and let your chakra recover. At this rate, you're going to faint due to chakra deprivedness," Tsunade spoke.
Sakura gasped in protest, "But this is my work…!"
"Yes, and you'll mess it up really badly if you continue to work on it without a clear mind, stupid. Then it will be all in vain. If only one infected cell core is skimmed over, then…" the blonde haired D-cup warned her.
She didn't even have to finish her sentence; Sakura bowed her head down in defeat and retreated from the surgical chair. "Okay… I'll see you tomorrow morning, then…" she mumbled and dragged herself towards the door, where she collapsed all of sudden while trying to open it. She fell on the cold floor and curled up on her side.
"Well, it's better than collapsing during work at least," Tsunade sighed. "Sakura still has things to learn. Keeping an eye on her own chakra level is one of them…" she chuckled.
Shizune couldn't help it but laugh along, "Silly Sakura-chan… She has a fantastic chakra control, but to overlook the basics like that? Far from perfect."
Suddenly, a serious expression appeared on the Fifth's face. "You know, Shizune, I think that she's aiming for the sky, if you get what I mean. She doesn't want to be left behind by Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun. Sakura-san decided to change, remember? She doesn't want to watch from the sidelines anymore. But she has to understand it that she has to keep her two feet on the ground and keep her head out of the clouds. Perfectionism can destroy lives," she spoke, watching the pink pile.
Shizune nodded in agreement, "Tsunade-sama, I'm going to get Sakura a bed. Can you continue the surgery alone?"
The strong kunoichi resumed her work without a word. Shizune took that as a yes. She directed some chakra into her arms and picked Sakura up, She sure has gotten heavier since I first met her. Actually, she has grown a lot. This wasn't the first time that she carried Sakura's unconscious body around – Tsunade's training was a harsh one, possibly one of the hardest ones of the Hidden Leaf. Training under a sannin certainly took its toll… She carried the pinkette to the next prison room and put her in the wooden bed and covered her by its red striped brown blanket. Shizune didn't close the door, obviously. "Night-night, Sakura-chan," she said, smiling warmly.
Shizune hurried back to Itachi Uchiha's room and started working again. They would be finished soon if no unexpected complications came up.