Shinri "Truth"
Chapter Eleven – Into the Fire
Truth - actuality or actual existence.
The pea came to a steady halt halfway squished against the wall's stony surface. Tiny particles of pea guts had begun to radiate from the point of impact, but they too were slowed to what Sakura perceived to be a stop in mid air.
To her relief, Sakura found that moving around regularly in altered time did not take any extra chakra, since simply maintaining the jutsu was slowly but steadily draining her low chakra reserves. The meal and rest had done their job, but it still wasn't enough to bring her back to the condition a real night's worth of sleep and an actually respectable meal would have.
Sakura pulled out the key Tsunade had snuck to her, and easily opened the door. She tucked the key back into her shirt, so she wouldn't leave behind any evidence as to the nature of her escape. Without wasting any more time, she tore off running down the prison's halls towards the exit, carefully avoiding any chakra signatures in the building.
Just as Tsunade had promised, the guards on duty were scarce, and Sakura made it to the only exit without a chakra seal without incident. Outside, however, there were still several guards hanging around in the open field between the jail and the Hokage's tower. There was no way Sakura would be able to find cover in the dirt clearing. Her only chance of escape was to simply run past them, and hope that the time jutsu would make her fast enough so they wouldn't notice.
The guards were barely moving, as if they were being held back by a thick viscous element which invisibly surrounded them. They could have been swimming in clear goo for all appearances. The closest ANBU guard, only about twenty feet from the entrance of the jail where Sakura was concealed, had his back to her, though he seemed to be in the act of turning around based on the awkward placement of his feet. Sakura took a deep breath, and bolted.
Without a backward glance, Sakura leapt over the buildings at the edge of the clearing and continued running until sheer exhaustion forced her to stop and release the time jutsu. With the jutsu released, Sakura could maintain a slow jog easily enough, and continued through the back alleys and over the roof tops on the familiar path to her home. A hurried glance with her chakra reassured her that her escape had gone unnoticed, for now. It likely would only be a matter of minutes before they realized her cell was empty, and began the pursuit.
Sakura risked lingering in Konoha for a few extra minutes for the sake of the few precious items she absolutely couldn't leave without. The first of them was still in her room at home, which unfortunately was not on the way to the training field where she had hidden the scrolls. It didn't matter. It was worth it to her.
She slipped silently into her open bedroom window. Her mother's chakra was in the kitchen, busy and chaotic. News of Sakura's arrest must have reached her, keeping her awake and worried. There wouldn't be time for a proper good bye. Guilt flooded over Sakura as she snuck over to the closet and pulled out her rain cloak. The heavy fabric would be an added burden, but a welcome one when prolonged exposure to the elements meant certain death, escape or no.
Silently, Sakura crept over to her bed. She gently plucked the picture of team seven from her bedside table. She hesitated for a second, running her fingers over the cool metal of the frame. They seemed so young back then, but only a few years had passed in reality. So young, so full of hope, and most importantly, together. Would they ever be together again? A tear threatened to escape from the edge of her lashes, and she hurriedly removed the picture from the glass and tucked it safely in the pocket of her rain coat.
Sakura's luck had run out it seemed, when several searching chakra reached her senses. They had already noticed she was missing. Several squads had been sent out, about a dozen ANBU in all. They were concentrated at the edges of the village, anticipating Sakura's appearance. She couldn't waste anymore time, she had already wasted too much. She could have been out of the village by now, but as it was she still had to stop at the training field. Without the scrolls, all of her effort would have been for nothing.
Concealing her chakra, Sakura slipped back out of her home, and giving it one last backward glance, began to sneak as fast as she could towards the training field. Her progress was promising, as she flew through the streets and in a matter of minutes entered the training field.
As she ran through the open area of the training field heading directly for the scrolls, several kunai flew with startling accuracy out of the adjacent tree line. Most missed, but one grazed Sakura in the shoulder, and another hit her squarely in the back of her left leg.
"Shit!" Sakura cursed to herself but ignored the pain, and picked up speed. Her leg protested and nearly froze up, but she couldn't stop. She wouldn't stop. She was almost there.
Three ANBU materialized in front of her. When had they entered the field? Sakura hadn't even noticed them. She realized with a sinking dread that she was in way over her head. There was no way she was going to be able to fight her way through them. All she had on her side was what little she could surprise them with, since few of them likely appreciated what a pink haired petite Chuunin medic was capable of.
Sakura let out a frightened gasp, which was her instinct, only she didn't suppress it. She needed to distract them, make them underestimate her, even if just a little, as she charged her good leg with chakra. She opened the first gate again, and found the flow of chakra released to be much smaller than normal, but continued charging her leg as she stepped backwards, as if retreating. They didn't follow her movement, since another ANBU team was moving into position to cut her off. When Sakura's right foot landed on the ground milliseconds later, instead of turning to run, she shot skywards. The force of the impact split the dry earth asunder, and like a gaping monstrous mouth, it belched out a choking cloud of dust which surrounded the ANBU still standing in the field.
"Fifth's! Apprentice!" she heard one of them cough out to his team mates as the dust filled his lungs.
Sakura smirked a little smugly, "It's about time they took me seriously."
Though considering the situation, every bit they underestimated her was also appreciated. While airborne over the ANBU's heads, Sakura surveyed the situation below. As the dust settled, she realized how incredibly outnumbered she was. Six ANBU were visible in the field below, and at least six more were rapidly approaching, alerted to the conflict by Sakura's massive strength. Her only hope was to use the time jutsu again, but even with the first chakra gate was open, she had no chakra reserves left. She was dead in the water.
Several ANBU had regrouped, and they began to volley kunai at her again before Sakura had even gotten the chance to hit the ground. She took a rare opportunity as a kunai zipped past her head. She focused on the object and formed the hand seals with blinding speed as more kunai began to rain down on her. The second volley hit only metal, as Sakura replaced herself with the earlier kunai. The replacement jutsu had allowed her to reach the tree line without any additional injuries. She nearly gave her position away with a cheer as she located the hollow tree concealing the scrolls. To her relief, the bag was still where she had left it. Sakura was about to reach into the tree when she was forced to jump aside to dodge yet another volley of thrown weapons. The ANBU had found her again.
"Gods, they're fast," she groaned in frustration. Sakura scanned the area for an out, but to her dismay, they already had her surrounded. She was done.
"No!" Sakura yelled angrily at herself, "It isn't going to end here!"
Sakura concentrated her focus, and searched within herself for her last chance of escape. The second chakra gate. Kyuumon, the Gate of Rest. She found it near the first gate, and with just as little effort, opened it just as she had opened the first gate. Her chakra flared, faintly visible in the darkness and it snaked around her menacingly as she struggled to control it. It took a little more concentration for her to tame the refreshed flow of chakra, but after a few hard seconds, she managed.
One nearby ANBU noticed the change in her chakra and took a step back. The surrounding ANBU echoed his motion, and Sakura didn't hesitate to capitalize on their surprise. She performed the time jutsu again, and with time slowed to a crawl Sakura snatched up her pack with the scrolls and leapt into the trees. She ran at top speed, trying to put as much distance between her and Konoha as her rejuvenated chakra reserves would allow. Unfortunately, the second gate was proving to be harder to control, and her chakra was getting low again much more quickly than with the first gate.
"Maybe they call it the Gate of Rest because that's what you're going to need after you use it," Sakura thought cynically.
The forest was quickly becoming less familiar as Sakura ran, giving her confidence in the distance. She had decided early on to head in a southerly direction, simply because there was nothing there. The endless woods of Fire country stretched towards the coast and a huge crescent shaped peninsula, where Wave and Tea country bordered Fire country. It was a no-mans land of untouched wilderness and the odd tiny town, all ungoverned by no particular Shinobi nation. Sakura hoped it would greatly reduce her chances of running into anyone, especially Shinobi. Surviving in the wilderness, going days or weeks without seeing a town, was going to be hard, but Sakura knew she could rely on her survival training, and scratch out a living day by day.
But then what? What after that? Would she be spending too much time surviving to train and become capable of helping her village like she had planned? Would the daily grind wear her down to nothingness? If she tried to train, would she just end up killing herself? Hunted, alone, and balancing on a knife edge. It seemed no matter which step she took, she could easily fall to her death. Sakura was beginning to regret her decisions. But in Konoha, she absolutely would have been killed. Out here, at least, she was still alive. For now.
After what felt like hours of running, Sakura couldn't take another step. Satisfied that it would be a little while before her pursuers had gathered their wits, she hunkered down in a small crevice between two huge tree trunks for as much rest as her stressful situation would allow. Her chakra reserves were completely drained. She shivered from the cold night and from the symptoms of chakra exhaustion. Unable to keep her eyelids open, Sakura slowly fell into an unwelcome sleep bordering on unconsciousness, hoping that nothing dangerous lurked in the shadows beyond her meager shelter.
The next instant, it was dawn. Sakura's eyes snapped open as the first rays of the sun pierced the thick canopy and shot her in the face. She groaned, and tried to remove herself from her sleeping crevice. It was nearly impossible for her to move. Her joints were stiff and her body felt like it was made of iron. She felt sick and cold, and knew that it was all a side effect of overusing her chakra. The second gate, at this point, was definitely for emergency use only.
On the bright side, her injuries from the conflict with the ANBU should have healed almost completely when she opened the second gate. But her left leg was still very sore, and Sakura realized that it was still injured when she reached down and felt it with her hand. Running with the injury had been a mistake, and now Sakura wasn't sure if any amount of medical jutsu would make the muscle heal properly. At least it wasn't bleeding anymore. In any case, she was in no condition to do anything about it now.
After several painful minutes, Sakura pried herself from between the trees and stood shakily to her feet. The visible area of woods was peaceful enough, and the birds were waking and chirping normally, which told her that there was no pressing danger.
Standing was proving to be entirely too much effort, so Sakura slumped to the ground and began to rummage through her things to whet out a plan of action. In her possession, she had her rain cloak, the team seven photograph, the cell key, her ancestor's scrolls, Lee's book and Tsunade's corpse scroll. That was it. Laid out in front of her, the objects brought no comfort, only the cold harshness of Sakura's new reality. She had no food, no weapons, no supplies of any sort to speak of. She had no money. She had no idea where the nearest town was. She suddenly noticed the birds stop singing.
She wasn't alone anymore. She slung her rain coat over her shoulders and began to stuff her things back in it. Her photograph, Lee's book, the key- Her dulled senses took far too long to detect the ANBU only a few feet from her, calmly walking through the forest in her direction.
"There she is," one commented to the other offhandedly.
"What, the!? How the hell did she get all the way out here?" the other asked incredulously when they stopped confidently right in front of Sakura.
She looked up at them, still sitting on the ground, with the rest of her meager possessions still strewn around her.
"That's unimportant. You know the mission."
Sakura's eyes narrowed when the calmer ANBU drew his short sword. She clutched nervously for the nearest object and held it up in front of her as if the tiny paper scroll would be able to stop his shinken.
The sword whistled as it sliced through the air and easily tore through the hapless scroll. It sliced Sakura's cheek as it continued through its arc towards her unguarded throat, splashing blood across her cloak and the outstretched scroll .
Suddenly, the scroll pulsed and exploded in a burst of smoke that filled the woods. The attacking ANBU and Sakura were blown away from each other, his sword avoiding Sakura's neck by millimeters. In the confusion, Sakura stumbled into the woods and hid as well as she could manage. Running would just give her position away in her condition.
"What the hell was that?" the younger ANBU demanded as he helped the one that had been thrown by the blast to his feet. The smoke cleared, and thrown back in a prone position, with the cut explosives tag still clutched in her hand, was the body of the pink haired medic they had been chasing. Sakura bit back a gasp at how well the body resembled her. She noticed with morbid fascination that the body had taken both the blow from the sword and the brunt of the blast, creating fatal wounds. It was incredibly believable. Or unbelievable. Either way, Sakura had to hand it to Tsunade-shishou.
"Nice try," the ANBU checked for her pulse and confirmed her identity, "But not good enough. Sorry, kid." He ran his hand over the fake Sakura's face, closing her eyes.
And luck, it seemed, was on her side again.
"What about these scrolls?"
Or maybe not. The other ANBU began to collect the body, and Sakura's scrolls, which she had stupidly left behind in her scurry to safety.
"Everything goes to the Hokage."
The next instant, the ANBU, the fake Sakura, and Miharu's priceless scrolls were gone.
Sakura had no idea how long she had simply laid on the ground in the underbrush, fighting back tears of anger and frustration. She was devastated. She was near breaking. She had lost the scrolls, everything she had worked for. It was all gone. What was the point anymore? How was she going to learn the jutsu now? How would she use them to help her precious people, like her ancestor had asked her to? What would happen when the council read them? Would they use them for the wrong reasons? Maybe they would destroy them. It was the best outcome Sakura could hope for now.
She poured through her mind, trying to remember what the scrolls had in them. To her credit, she remembered most of what was in them, the important information at least. Maybe they weren't completely lost after all. Sakura had a propensity for recalling information she had read, even if just once. If she could write down the information before she forgot, it would be almost as good as having the scrolls themselves. That way, at least, she could still work on the jutsu.
The path had been made for her. She needed to find a village, or someone who had paper that she could use. She had no idea where she was in the forest, she had no idea which way to go to find a village, but at least she knew what she had to do when she got there.
It was about midday, so Sakura was confident that the ANBU had been long gone, since they believed their mission to be successful. She assessed her injuries, and while bloodied, dirty and exhausted, she found herself to be in no immediate danger of death or infection. With a determined grimace, she pushed herself to her feet and limped off towards the south, to no particular destination.
It was nearing evening, and Sakura decided that she was better off resting, since she was at least no longer being hunted. The forest seemed completely empty, and she had only stumbled across the occasional squirrel, or spied the movement of birds in the canopy all day. She was completely alone. It was both comforting and alarming. No one to hurt her, but also no one to hold her. She found it odd to be both yearning for and fleeing from human contact.
A rocky outcrop worn down by years of weather and the roots of trees offered a small bit of shelter. The sky was cloudy, but didn't threaten with rain, so Sakura figured that continuing to search for better cover would be a waste of energy. She painstakingly began to gather wood and deposit it on the stony ground on the leeward side of the rock.
After an hour of slow aching toil, Sakura had gathered a sufficient pile of wood.
The sun was beginning to set, so she summoned up the chakra for a pathetically small fire jutsu, just enough to light the kindling and start the fire. Once it began burning well on its own, Sakura slouched back against the rock face and draped her cloak around her.
With the warmth and security the fire offered, Sakura began to succumb to her drowsiness. She managed to keep her mind awake long enough to repeat to herself the contents of all four of Miharu's scrolls. She absolutely could not forget a single word. On the second round of repetition, utterly exhausted, she collapsed into sleep.
Sakura startled awake to the sound of a horse whinny. She bolted upright as quickly as her exhaustion would let her. It was still the dead of night, and her fire hadn't burnt down far. Ahead of the rock she was sleeping by, in the nearby clearing, stood a horse drawn cart. Four horses were harnessed to the front of the covered cart, but it looked unmanned.
"Merchants?" Sakura wondered to herself, "Maybe they have paper!"
In her excitement, she began to stumble sleepily towards the cart, hoping to find someone inside.
"Hello?" she called out, not wanting to be rude or startle anyone.
"Hello, to you, girlie," Sakura spun around at the man's voice, but she was too slow. The next instant a bag was shoved over her head and Sakura felt a heavy weapon crash down on her skull.
A/N: I know! I know! I leave you for... I forget even how long, and then I dump you with a short chapter with a freaking cliff hanger! I'm evil, now you all have proof. I really didn't mean to go so long between updates, but I got stuck with several days of 10-15 hour shifts at work, which make me too exhausted to write, then I got kidnapped by my boyfriend for more than a week (to a place with NO INTERNETZ DDDX) for fun in the sun while we still have any sun left. But I'm back, and while I'll be working a good deal, and classes start in a few weeks, I promise that I won't go so long without so much as a howdy doodie ever again! OK? I still love you!!
