*This is the last present chapter for now. The next one takes us back to Lee and Neji in the past. God. Can you imagine if this was a oneshot? It's so fucking long! Ridiculous, right? This one also takes place where the last chapter left off. Well, I hope you enjoy!
Notes: The little interlude with Lee and Hinata was just something that crossed my mind as I was writing. If it offends you in any way, please pay it no mind. It's really of no consequence. Still, it is something I've always wondered about. Also, I figured that Shino is a pretty good strategist, at least from what I've seen of him.
WARNING: Any medical knowledge that Kaiser attempts to portray is actually butchered information that she received from high school level Anatomy, high school level Psychology, and the Discovery Channel.
I sincerely apologize to any med students out there who spend this time laughing their asses off.
Chapter 11: Present—Gaara Takes the Reins
Shikamaru fell to the ground, completely limp. His auburn eyes were blank, his expression empty.
Gaara felt his stomach drop. He seemed as though he had been punched in the gut. Slowly, he crawled over to the Nara. He began shaking him. "Shikamaru-kun?" he called gently. "Shikamaru-kun, can you hear me? Please, say something. Anything." Shikamaru did not even blink. "…Haruno-san?" Sakura walked over, placing a comforting hand on the Kazekage's shoulder.
"He'll be all right," she soothed. "Shishou can help him." Sakura could not see Gaara's face from the angle she was facing, but she had a feeling that the redhead was the closest he had ever been to tears in a long time.
"What's…what's wrong with him?" She squeezed his shoulder.
"His keirakukei's collapsed. It's nothing fatal, but in this particular case it caused his psychosis to worsen to this point. I'm no psychologist, but I believe that he's completely withdrawn from reality. He's in his own world now." Sakura took a deep breath, but suddenly, she flashed the Kazekage a warm smile. "I don't know where he is right now, but I'd bet anything you're there with him." A small smile in return was all Gaara needed to respond. Naruto walked over, Sai by his side. Lee was tending to Neji along with Hinata. The brunette was conscious, but unable to truly respond to anything.
"Hey," Naruto called, gently placing his hand on Gaara's shoulder. "What's the situation here?"
"Well, looks like you're going to have to carry Shikamaru-kun after all," replied Sakura. The blonde nodded.
Meanwhile, Lee gently brushed a stray lock of hair out of Neji's face. He had laid the brunette in Hinata's lap instead of his own, knowing that the jounin found Neji's presence extremely comforting, and vice versa. Hinata did not stutter when Neji was near. "Lee-nii-san?" she called. She had adopted the honorific after he and her cousin (practically her older brother) had gotten married. The taijutsu-specialist nodded in response. "I sometimes wonder if Sakura-chan and Naruto-kun…if they would have been happier had Gaara-sama been born in Konoha."
"What do you mean, Hinata-imouto-chan?" Lee had begun calling Hinata his "younger sister" by habit. Neji was the only person whose name he could bear to call without an honorific.
"Well, look at them. Imagine if Gaara-sama had gone to the academy with us. Both Naruto-kun and he would have a friend to love them unconditionally. Or imagine if Naruto-kun and Sakura-chan had been put on a team with Gaara-sama. I don't mean to disrespect Sasuke-kun, but sometimes I just can't help but think that they would be happier, freer, without him always bearing down on them…"
Lee watched as, Naruto wrapped an arm around Gaara, while Sakura smiled genially, helping Shikamaru into a sitting position. "Yes," he murmured softly. "I think that I understand what you mean."
"Oi, Hinata! Geji-mayu!" called Naruto. "We should try and find everyone else!" Lee glanced at Hinata, who nodded with a determined expression. Lee gathered Neji into his arms and walked over to Naruto and the others, Hinata by his side. "Okay, so who needs to be carried?"
"Shikamaru-kun," answered Sakura. "Naruto, you can handle that." The blonde nodded, as Sai helped the Nara onto his back. "I need to save my chakra for the others, so I can't really heal myself yet. Hinata-chan, would you mind lending me your shoulder again?" The violet-haired Hyuuga nodded.
"Y-yes, of course, S-Sakura-chan…"
"Lee, I gather you're carrying Neji?" The black-haired man smiled and nodded. "Right, so that just leaves Gaara-sama—"
"I'll be all right on my own, Haruno-san. I've already made it this far."
"Please, Gaara-sama, Sai has a free shoulder. I'd feel much better if I knew that you were saving your strength." The Kazekage just shook his head.
"I can't," he murmured. "I can't let myself relax until I see that Temari and Kankuro are all right." Sakura bit her lip but, in the end, gave in.
"All right. Let's go then—"
"Wait," began Gaara, softly but at the same time powerfully. "We can't just go like this. We need a plan, or at least a formation to be on the safe side. We don't know who's out there. There could still be enemies waiting to ambush us. And we have some very important targets here: Haruno-san, you're one of the best medic-nin's in the Five Great Shinobi Nations; Sai-san was one of Danzou's best men; Naruto is the successor to Tsunade-dono; Shikamaru-kun is one of the best strategists of Ho no Kuni, advisor to the current Hokage, and chief advisor to Naruto after his inauguration; and of course, I am the current Kazekage."
"Ano sa, Gaara," cut in Naruto, "Shika's down for the count. So is Neji. Who can come up with a plan for us? Plus, don't you trust everyone? They all probably won their battles."
"It's the probably he's worried about, baka!" cried Sakura. "Well let's think here. Shikamaru-kun was our team leader, but…with him incapacitated, we need to elect a new leader, and I think the choice is clear." Next to Sakura, Lee nodded.
"Yes, I agree."
"Oi, who? What're you guys talking about!"
"Well, Gaara-sama of course," explained Sakura.
"What?" the redhead exclaimed, genuinely surprised. "I'm no strategist; that's more of Temari's thing."
"Think about it, Gaara-kun," cut in Lee. "The only reason that you are not leading this mission in the first place is because you and Hokage-sama thought it was in the team's best interest if there was only one team leader. In other words, you thought it best if you deferred to Shikamaru-kun's authority." Gaara met Lee's eyes for a moment, and in that one brief instant, they seemed to come to a mutual understanding. Gaara sighed standing up.
"All right, from here until we reach Konoha again, I will be the team leader. Our objective is to return safely, with as many lives as we can. Though we have taken out both Uchiha Madara and Kabuto…Orochimaru…whoever he is—"
"Hey, Gaara," Naruto called, laughing, "Kabutochimaru." Gaara let out a sigh, but was unable to hide his own smile.
"Yes, Uchiha Madara and Kabutochimaru. Anyway, there may still be Akatsuki and Oto-nin who were either called in for back-up, or who have been here the whole time, waiting for some sort of signal. I'm guessing that their orders were to take out whoever was pursuing their leaders. The fact that we have some very significant targets in our team will only heighten the danger of ambush. But, our most important goal is to find Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Akimichi Choji, Yamanaka Ino, and Temari and Kankuro, heal the injured as much as possible, and return to Konoha to tend to the critically ill. Is that understood?" Everyone nodded, but most in the group seemed absolutely shocked. Since there were no Suna-nin among them, no one had ever seen Gaara play the role of Kazekage, the leader of an entire village. Even Naruto, who understood Gaara on a level that no one else ever could, seemed surprised.
Though Lee, having worked with Gaara on several occasions, just smiled.
"Let's look at our assets," Gaara continued. "We have a phenomenal medic-nin." He nodded at Sakura. "Haruno-san, should we get into a fight, I want you to heal yourself. Forget about saving your chakra. Above all, we need you alive, so you must be prepared to stay on the sidelines should I ask you to, yes?"
"Hai, Gaara-sama," Sakura agreed, though surprised, not many people (medic-nin's excluded) knew that the primary objective of a medic was to stay alive in order to heal the team.
"Right, we also have Konoha's Yellow Hurricane. Naruto, if we get into a fight, give Shikamaru-kun to Haruno-san. You're on the frontlines."
"You know me too well," Naruto replied with a grin.
"And we have two taijutsu specialists…goken and jyuuken, am I right?" Hinata and Lee both nodded.
"Lee, I want you to stay by Haruno-san; the two of you will guard Shikamaru-kun and Neji-san. Lee, if at all possible, I want you to make sure that Haruno-san doesn't have to fight. I know that she is perfectly capable, but I want her uninjured. Also, any shock at all to Neji-san could be lethal at this point. He is critically ill, am I right, Haruno-san?" The pink-haired woman nodded. "It is probably best if Shikamaru-kun is treated in the same respect. Both of them are unresponsive and have no means of defending themselves. Above all, I want both you and Haruno-san to keep them out of the fight." This time, both of the addressed nodded.
"Hyuuga-san, you are an ANBU level Jounin, correct?" The shy woman nodded. "Perfect. You will be up front with Naruto. Naruto's offensive and defensive patterns are very unpredictable and dependent on the maneuvers of the other shinobi; however, you have your jyuuken, so under any circumstance you have the ability to disable an opponent if you are close enough. Naruto, you must work to get Hyuuga-san as close to the enemy as possible. We need to finish any battles quickly and as long as Hyuuga-san is within range, her abilities will work best."
"Then, we have Sai-san. Sai-san, you will be with me. Your attacks are both mid-range and long-range, yes? You and I will be behind Naruto and Hyuuga-san, but in front of Lee and Haruno-san. With your abilities, you should be able to support Naruto and Hyuuga-san from farther away, and in this position, I will be able to give orders to the entire group as the situation warrants them. That will be our battle formation.
"The traveling formation will be a bit different. Hyuuga-san, I want you to let Sai-san carry Haruno-san, all right? Since I have no one to carry, I will be up front. This impairs me from giving orders to the back of the formation, but I should be able to compensate for that by using my sand as a signal. Next, Naruto, you are behind me. You are carrying Shikamaru-kun, but since he is not very injured, you do have some leeway to jog him a bit, understand me? You can fight using kage bunshins, without having to worry as much about injuring him further. Lee you will be behind Naruto. Above all, you must not fight until you put Neji-san down. Any shock at all to his body could kill him. Naruto, if the fight comes to Lee, you are to protect him until he finds a place to put Neji-san down. Then, Sai-san, you and Haruno-san are behind Lee. You also have some leeway to move around. If an ambush occurs, you must protect Haruno-san while she heals herself, after which, you are free to move into your battle formation. Finally, Hyuuga-san, you will be in back. I need you to be checking for traps or signs of enemy shinobi with your Byakugan. So, does everyone understand?"
"Wow," said Naruto, shocked. Sakura grinned.
"I suppose you are the Kazekage for a reason, Gaara-sama." It was true. Gaara had managed to come up with two amazing formations on the spot, while improving moral by reminding everyone of their strengths. Just as well, he seemed to remember every little details about the group member's fighting styles even though he was from a different country entirely. There was no question as to how Gaara managed to rise up in the ranks when he was this talented as a leader.
Naruto ran over and pulled Gaara into a hug, roughly tousling his hair.
"Look at you! Being all, 'I'm not as good as my sister.' God if you keep being so modest, I'll have to…do something incredibly mean!"
"Naruto! Cut it out!"
"Never!" Sakura finally pulled Naruto off of the Kazekage. Gaara shook his head, quickly putting his hair back into place.
"Right, so as we go along, we should start finding our friends, so we'll change our formations accordingly, understood?"
"Sure thing, chief," answered Naruto.
"All right," continued the redhead. "Let's go." Everyone began packing up their stuff, grabbing whomever they had to carry, and getting into formation. In the fuss, Naruto was able to pull Gaara aside.
"Okay," the blonde began, "No lies, are you sure you can do this?" It took the redhead a moment to process the question.
"What do you mean?"
"Gaara, I've never seen you like this…okay, I've seen you like this once, but that was when you'd just been brought back from the dead; and what does that tell you?"
"Like what, Naruto?"
"You're pale and shaking, and exhausted. You can barely stand, can you? And what about Orochimaru? When Sasuke activated his chakra, the curse mark reacted. What if your eye does something similar?"
"I know, Naruto," the redhead conceded finally. "I know. I'm not gonna last much longer at this rate, but I have no choice. We have no choice. Once we find Temari or Aburame-san, I'll stand down, but until then—"
"Let me carry you. I can get you, Sai can carry Shikamaru, and Hinata can get Sakura-chan." Gaara frowned. For a moment, he actually considered it. Then, he looked to Shikamaru, with that blank expression, resting limply on Naruto's back. If Gaara was being carried, no one could protect Shikamaru while Naruto was placing him somewhere safe. No, there had to be at least one person who was not carrying an injured comrade. And if Gaara had to keep himself moving on no chakra reserves, with Orochimaru's cells digging into his brain, while exhausted as hell…so be it.
"I'll be okay, Naruto," he reassured. Naruto simply stared at him for a moment before reaching out and pinching his cheeks none-to-lightly. "Ow!" The blonde grinned.
"'Kay, I guess I can let you be stupid just this one time, but I've got a free shoulder whenever you need it." Gaara just smiled in return.
"Gaara-sama!" called Sakura. "We're all ready. Shall we?" Gaara gave a curt nod.
"All right," he agreed loudly enough for the entire group to hear. "Let's go." No later than the moment Gaara finished the order, the group was off.
*I rather enjoy seeing Gaara act like the Kazekage, yeah? Haha! Entertaining. Hope everyone liked! I'd love some reviews if you have the time. Just so I know that people are actually reading this! Lol, it's okay if you can't though. I do that all the time. It'd be hypocritical of me to criticize you for it!
