Title: Not This Time.
Series: Naruto: Shippuuden.
Rating: R(M)
Genres: Action-Adventure, Angst, Drama, Romance, Family-Friendship, uhh...I dunno?
Warnings: Swearing, violence (when is this new?), sexual-themes? The author creating a weird love triangle? Uh...the author throwing the canon to the wind...? Yeah...
DHC: So I finally update! I've got not one, but three chapters for you my friends. It's cause I luff you all so much! -hearts-
Sasuke, Shikamaru and Taka had left a night after Shikamaru sent his summoned bird off to their destination area and it was three days later that the bird returned to them. It was approximately ten more hours before the Hokage and her two proteges arrived.
"You're fast," Sasuke commented softly.
Tsunade smirked faintly. "I can still keep up with you young people."
The slightest of smirks cracked at Sasuke's expression for a moment before he became serious once more and turned. "This is my team, Taka. Karin, Juugo, and Suigetsu."
The Godaime looked the three members over, not judging any of them by their appearance, brows raising after a moment. "I suppose if you handpicked them, then they're all formidable." she responded, watching as the three seemed to take pride in her assessment.
"You're the Godaime?" Karin asked, brows raising. "I thought you said she was older, Sasuke-kun."
Tsunade's brow ticked.
Sasuke snorted. "It's a special-type of henge, Karin. She just likes to stroke her own ego," He responded, a teasing smirk there on his lips.
"If you're going to insult me in my own presense, Uchiha, maybe I won't bargain with you after all," She responded, voice just as teasing, but there was a seriousness in her eyes that said there was no more beating around the bush. "I'm sure you're aware of my two chosen, Sakura, and Shizune."
Sasuke nodded, and Taka looked the two women over for a moment. Karin and Sakura's eyes met. Immediately there was a tension between them. Karin's eyes had narrowed behind her glasses and Sakura's fists clenched subtly. It didn't go unnoticed by Sasuke or Tsunade, but they ignored it for the moment.
Shikamaru took a drag from his cigarette, speaking for the first time from where he was sitting high in a branch, petting his summoned crow on his shoulder. "I suppose we should start with the reasonings as to why we contacted you in the first place," He began lazily.
Tsunade looked up at him, brows raising. "You? I thought that summon was an Uchiha-only summon, given that Itachi used it all the time."
Shikamaru blew out some smoke as he sighed. "Long story. In a nut shell: Itachi saved me when Sasuke nearly killed me, I trained with him for a long while, saved Sasuke after their battle, and here we are. This is one of the jutsus he had me learn."
"I...see." Tsunade blinked before looking back over at Sasuke.
"Here's the reason: I need your help. In exchange, I will provide you with information about the Akatsuki."
Shizune tilted her head. "What kind of help?"
Sasuke shifted a little hesitantly, eyes flickering up to Shikamaru before moving them to stare straight into Tsunade's. "I'm going blind."
The was a soft gasp from a couple of the people there.
"How can I help with that?" Tsunade asked confusedly.
"I am going blind as a result of having the Mangekyou Sharingan. In order to stop it, I need the eyes of another Uchiha. In this case..."
Sasuke took out a jar and held it up. In some kind of sealed solution was a pair of eyes and Tsunade gasped. "Those are...!"
"Yes. I removed them from my brother's body before I sent it to you. That is why I requested that you not do an autopsy."
"I... I see." Tsunade replied. "So you want your eyes to be transplanted with your brothers and that will restore your sight?"
"Basically, yes. It also gives me a few extra bonuses... I will have a new, heightened power from my doujutsu and my eyes will no longer dim because of using them. It is called the Eternal Mangekyou."
He frowned when he saw the looks Shizune and Tsunade had on. "Do not be so naive as to think I'm only doing this for the power, I am not so shallow anymore. I'm doing it because my brother wished it and If I'm to destroy those that provoked my revenge, then I will need these eyes to last me."
Tsunade frowned. "Kakashi mentioned to me that you were going to come to Konoha to 'purge' it."
"And we will, in due time." Shikamaru mumbled from where he was sitting.
Sasuke nodded. "There are those...who have corrupted Konoha. There are those who whispered the destruction of my clan, I would see every last one of them killed by my own katana."
"Who?" Shizune asked.
"Three members of your council, maybe more, but I've confirmed three so far..." Shikamaru mumbled.
"I have a guess at who one of them is," Tsunade muttered lowly, expression dark.
Sakura spoke up for the first time. "Who, shishou?"
"Danzou..." She spoke.
Immediately, Sasuke and Shikamaru tensed and for a moment, she saw the Sharingan flicker in the Uchiha's eyes.
"I'm guessing I'm right," she added.
Shikamaru nodded tensely. "Yes."
"But...isn't Danzou ROOT's leader? The one Sai is from?" Sakura asked.
"The very same," Tsunade responded.
"That traitor... I will kill him with my own hands." Sasuke muttered venomously, sharingan swirling to life, the star pattern of the Mangekyou coming into plain view.
"Not that I'm against you doing so," Tsunade replied, "But who are the other two?"
"The Sandaime's teammates. Utane and..." Shikamaru began.
"...Say no more," Tsunade replied, frowning deeply.
Shizune looked a little more than surprised to say the least. "Tsunade-sama?"
"I should have known... But I guess I can see their involvement."
Sasuke looked a little hesitant. "I've more information for you, but... Before I tell you, I need your decision about my eyes."
Tsunade tapped her fingers against her arm, a contemplative expression on her face. Shizune and Sakura shifted a little anxiously. After a long moment of silence, Tsunade slowly sighed.
"Alright, you have my word. I will transplant your eyes." She answered slowly after a moment.
Sasuke's eyes flickered with relief. "Thank you. Now, as promised, the information. Shikamaru,"
Shikamaru nodded to his summon and the crow took off before he lept down from the branch and dusted himself off.
"The intellegence we've gathered so far is quite immense, but if all this data is correct, it should benefit you well." He mumbled, taking out a cigarette and lit it up, taking a long drag from it, blowing the smoke out lazily, all with a bored expression on.
Tsunade nodded slowly. "Start from the beginning and we'll sift our way through it."
Sasuke nodded. "First of all, it begins during the great ninja wars..." He began.
By the time Sasuke and Shikamaru were finished with their information, Tsunade, Shizune, and Sakura were in shock.
"So, you're saying, that Uchiha, Madara is the true leader of the Akatsuki, he wants the tailed demons for some unknown reason, and in a matter of time, is going to be sending this...Pein, was it? To assault Konoha to take Naruto?" Tsunade asked.
Both Sasuke and Shikamaru nodded. "Correct," Shikamaru replied wearily.
"That's..." Shizune started quietly.
"That's terrible!" Sakura finished.
Tsunade's expression was grave. "You're sacrificing alot of information just for your eyes, aren't you, Sasuke?"
Sasuke snorted quietly. "I don't care about the Akastuki one way or another, I've my own agenda. My eyes are more important to me than what's going on with them. But if it benefits you enough, then so be it."
Tsunade clicked her tongue, but nodded in understanding. "Yes, I suppose that's acceptable enough. Shizune, set up our medical tent and get my equipment ready."
Shizune nodded. "Hai!" She turned and set her pack down, beginning to delve into it for the necessary equipment.
"Sakura, you will be assisting me with the transplant, you'll be in charge of stabillizing Sasuke once I remove and transplant his eyes."
The Haruno woman looked a little shaky, glancing to Sasuke who stared impassively back at her, almost imploringly, as if judging what her reaction would be. She looked back to her mentor and gave a sharp nod. "Hai, shishou. I will perform to the best of my abilities."
The Hokage smiled a little in pride. "Very well."
Sasuke turned to Shikamaru. "Take care of things while I'm out," He said softly.
Shikamaru nodded. Sasuke then turned to the rest of Taka and smirked. "If any of you step out of line, I'll kill you, got it?" Though he said it all with a straight face, there was an undertone to it that only Taka could understand from being so close to the Uchiha for so long, for they all smirked back in their own ways and nodded.
Suigetsu even had the nerve to sass back at the other. "That is, if you survive the blood loss, Uchiha. Hopefully you'll be too weak to stand for a month."
Karin snorted, elbowing the kiri-nin in the stomach. "Shut up, Suigetsu. Sasuke-kun could kill you blindfolded."
Juugo merely chuckled quietly and Shikamaru rolled his eyes while Sasuke cracked the slightest of smiles.
Tsunade and Sakura watched in slight fascination at the different responses and reactions to Sasuke's words.
"I've finished, Tsunade-sama." Shizune responded after half an hour of setting up and getting all the equipment ready.
"Very good, Shizune. You may rest for now. Go, Sakura. Go scrub and get prepared for the surgery."
The girl nodded before walking off to the tent to prepare.
"I can't promise immediate results, Sasuke. You may be temporarily blind for a short while afterwards and may experience many symptoms afterwards for up to a month, and your doujutsu may not properly work until your eyes completely heal. Are you sure the risk is worth it?" Tsunade asked, a finalty in her voice that said that this was his last chance to turn back if he wanted.
Sasuke merely stared right back at her before replying. "I don't care. My brother wanted me to have his eyes and I will exact his wishes."
She nodded. "Good. Let us begin." She turned and motioned for him to follow as she walked towards the tent.
Sasuke took one last look at Shikamaru and nodded before following after the woman and entered the tent behind her.
There was silence for a long while between everyone save the faint murmurs that came from the tent of Tsunade's voice instructing Sakura.
Six hours later found the surgery a success with Sasuke sleeping peacefully in his own tent with Sakura and Tsunade cleaning their instruments thoroughly, it was sunset by then.
Shikamaru turned to Taka. "Juugo, start a fire, Karin, go collect water and any vegetation salvageable enough to eat. Suigetsu, go hunting, since I know you've the urge to kill something, your twitching says it all." He ordered.
Suigetsu merely grinned his shark-like grin before taking off at a fast pace, leaving Karin to roll her eyes before nodding to Shikamaru and taking off in the opposite direction with Juugo ambling off slowly to collect some deadwood for the fire.
Shizune watched their effeciency with a little awe. "You've gained even more leadership qualities, Shikamaru-kun," She praised quietly.
"Not really... It's a pain, but it's all Sasuke's doing. He brought Taka together, I just help manage it when he's out of commission." He muttered back, crouching down and scratching the back of his head, glancing back at Sasuke's tent before reaching for his pack and digging through it to take out some pots and other ingredients they had stocked up on before coming out here.
"I see," Shizune replied, frowning a little, wondering why Shikamaru never took the credit when it was given.
By then, Tsunade and Sakura had finished cleaning everything and had returned. Tsunade's brows rose when she found the camp mostly deserted, but that changed about twenty minutes later when Juugo had a roaring fire started and Karin returned with three large containers filled with water and two knapsacks filled with harvested vegetation.
"Good girl, Karin." Shikamaru praised with a wry grin. She merely grinned back, setting the supplies down before taking her weights out of another bag and putting them back on. "It got kind of hard to move with them so I took 'em off. But I thought this would last us a while."
"Effeciently done," Shikamaru remarked, nodding in approval.
Juugo was stoking the fire, and soon Shikamaru had three pots of boiling water over the fire by the time Suigetsu came back twenty more minutes later with a small doe slung over his shoulders.
"Jeez, Suigetsu," Karin complained, but it was all for the sake of bantering since they'd worked around their animosity due to Sasuke and Shikamaru's constant teamwork survival tests. Now they argued for the sake of arguing.
"Shut it, flatchest." Suigetsu snapped back before setting the doe down. Shikamaru sighed, before taking out a skinning knife and murmured a silent prayer to nature and the life Suigetsu had taken before skinning and gutting it. It wasn't long until large steaks were cooking over the fire with rice and some of the vegetation Karin found while the rest was made into a salad The third pot of water was taken off and set to cool to become distilled water for cooking the next day.
Once everything was cooked and prepared, did they eat. Tsunade was silently surprised at how well the four mismatched people managed to work so effeciently. All the while while they were eating Sakura and Karin kept glaring back and forth at one another between their bites.
None of the others said anything about it, for fear of evoking either of the women's anger.
"...Shikamaru?" Came a quiet voice, startling everyone.
Shikamaru was immediately up and turned in the direction of the voice. Sasuke was standing weakly a few feet away, bandages wrapped around his eyes and he was pale from regenerating the blood he'd lost from the surgery.
"Surprise, surprise. The sleeping Prince awakens." Suigetsu snarked.
"Shut up, Suigetsu. Sasuke-kun, are you okay?" Karin asked concernedly, breaking her gaze from Sakura's to look the teen over worriedly.
"I'll live." Came the dry response.
"I didn't think you'd awaken so fast, Sasuke." Tsunade responded, sounding surprised.
"I have an accelerated healing system thanks to a couple of experiments Orochimaru performed on me." Sasuke spat darkly.
Shikamaru went over and all but guided Sasuke over and pushed him to sit. "If you've energy to bitch about the snake, you've energy to eat. Here," Shikamaru all but shoved his bowl into Sasuke's hand and handed him a pair of chopsticks.
Tsunade, Sakura, and Shizune watched, surprised, as the Uchiha didn't complain and began eating, just as effeciently as if he were seeing what he was doing.
"How can you eat without seeing, Sasuke-kun?" Shizune asked.
"...Practice." Sasuke replied wryly with a dry laugh.
"Lots of it," Shikamaru added on before he got himself another bowl and sat himself down next to the Uchiha.
"Does it hurt, Sasuke-kun?" Karin asked.
"I can't really tell yet, the numbing jutsu hasn't completely worn off yet." Sasuke responded, taking a bite of the venison.
"I suspect you'll be feeling it in a while," Tsunade responded.
Sasuke snorted in response.
Once they'd finished, everyone began to settle in for the night.
TBC