On the third day after the war had ended, those who could return to their own villages had done so. Even Naruto and Sasuke had returned to the Hidden Leaf as patient and prisoner. The only people left in the battlefield tents now were those too weak to be moved and the medical ninja who were staying to care for them. Kakashi had asked to stay with Tenzo and Gai, but truth be told he also didn't feel up to making the journey back just yet. He was still sleeping late into the day when he was startled awake by the sound of several medical ninja talking over each other.
"His chakra level is dropping," a nervous-sounding nurse said.
"We're losing him."
"Let me take a look." That voice was familiar—it was Sakura. Kakashi blinked to clear his sleepy vision.
"Captain?" Sakura continued; "can you hear me?"
Kakashi's heart skipped a beat.
"Beginning chakra infusion," Sakura said. Kakashi stood up as quickly as he could on his shaking legs. He watched in horror as Sakura placed her hands over Yamato's chest. He lay motionless.
"What's going on?" Kakashi couldn't help but ask.
"His chakra is dangerously low," one of the nurses said, not really explaining. Suddenly there was a cracking noise like the sound of branches breaking in a storm.
"What was that?" Asked one of the other medics. "Did you break his ribs?"
Before Sakura could answer, a tree began to grow out of the Yamato's chest, filling the room within seconds and lifting the tent out of the ground.
"What the hell?" One of the medics yelled.
"It's his kekke genkai!" The medics jumped back, but one of them was struck by a branch and fell to the ground. Kakashi ran over to Sakura and Yamato, accidentally pulling out his IV in the process.
"Captain, please wake up," Sakura begged. "Please stop your jutsu!" Yamato cried out in pain. Kakashi couldn't tell whether he was conscious or not.
"What did you do, Sakura-san?" The other medic yelled.
"You gave him too much!" Sakura ignored their criticism and tried to focus on how to stop the jutsu. The other medics had started to get the other patients out of the way. Kakashi wished he still had his kamui.
"Earth style: mud wall!" It was the best he could come up with to shield the other patients, and in his current state even that was exhausting. The branches of the growing tree bent against the mud wall and cracked. The growth of the tree had gotten slower. Eventually it slowed to a stop, but the tree remained. Sakura concentrated her chakra into a sharp blade and cut the trunk as close to Yamato's chest as she could without risking hurting him. Moving quickly, she caught the tree in both arms.
"Watch out! I'm putting the tree down here!" She called before tossing it down in a clearing where the war had created a desert. The other medics grumbled in disbelief, tending to the wounded medic and the patients who had been struck or knocked over by the sudden forest. The tent was in tatters on the ground several feet away from its original location, and medical supplies had been scattered and damaged. But while the other medics tended to the destruction, Sakura turned her attention immediately back to the captain. Even when he was well, a jutsu of that magnitude took a lot out of him. She had infused him with a high dose of chakra, but that was only because his was at the point that usually only a shock can save a patient with levels that low. Now she really feared for the worst. The trunk of the tree had withered away, and his chest was back to normal, except for the fact that his skin was unsettlingly pale and cold. His eyes were closed, his expression placid. She moved her hands tentatively over his body. She couldn't feel any chakra at all. She got a heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She glanced up at Kakashi. His eyes were glued to Yamato's face, his brows drawn up and together in worry. That morning when she had checked on them, they had both looked so peaceful in their sleep, their worn faces growing fresh and young again as they healed. But her sensei looked like he had aged ten years in the last ten minutes now.
Grunting in disapproval, she concentrated her energy back on her patient, closing her eyes and blocking out all external stimuli. Finally, she felt movement in his chakra network—a tiny spark, but a sure sign of life. Usually in this situation, she would infuse a bit of her own chakra into the patient to strengthen what little chakra they had, but infusion wasn't an option after what had just happened. Instead, she focused on not letting the small bit of chakra he had be used up.
"Someone bring me a few extra blankets and some hot water," she called. She used her own chakra to maintain his body temperature, steady his breathing, and even keep his heart beating. When the other medics returned with the blankets, she also asked for an oxygen mask. If she could automate these normal tasks, perhaps that small flame of chakra would be enough to last him until he could replenish it just a little. She kept monitoring his chakra level even after she had stabilized his condition. In the past, when she had treated him during missions, his chakra levels had replenished within minutes—he was almost like Naruto in that way. But after half an hour, the little spark of chakra was only a tiny bit bigger. Sakura's back hurt from standing hunched over.
"Kakashi-sensei? Would you pull that little chair closer to the bed for me?" He snapped out of his reverie and complied. Then he sat down himself on the edge of the bed next to Yamato's.
"How is he looking?"
"I'm keeping an eye on his chakra levels. Honestly they're not any better than they were when we tried to do an infusion."
"What do you think went wrong?"
"I've never seen anything like that. His levels have been low for days; I had assumed that it was a side-effect of the venom that Kabuto used. Lady Tsunade and I both thought it would just be a matter of time and rest—in similar cases, it has been. But his chakra levels aren't replenishing, they're getting worse. And it seems like when I tried the infusion, my chakra just went straight through him and he ended up even worse off than before."
"So . . . what does that mean?" Kakashi asked, feeling like a child. "Do you think . . . he'll be okay?"
Sakura sighed.
"I don't know, Sensei."
Author note:
I hope this chapter was not too dramatic for you guys; the next chapter will be . . . even more dramatic, though hopefully not in a predictable way! I hope to post it tomorrow or Thursday :)
