Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
RE-WRITE: 4/15/12
Haunted Past
Three weeks, four villages, sixteen taverns and countless casinos later and the group had yet to locate their target. Apart from the amusing spats between Jiraiya and Naruto, it had been a relatively uneventful journey.
"I don't wanna drink tea," groaned the blonde, reacting to the small teahouse they had just arrived at. "I know we've been walking all day trying to get to the next town, but this break's only interrupting my training. I'm so close to getting the second step down." The genin rolled the rubber ball in his hands back and forth atop the table. "I nearly exploded it last time. I know I can finish it today if I get enough practice in."
"Then by all means," sighed the sannin, accustomed to his pupil's impatience. "But no biscuits for you if you're not even going to sit with us."
The blonde was unperturbed, grinning from ear to ear as he raced out of the shack.
"That Naruto sure is an interesting guy isn't he?" he sniggered. "I've never met anyone with more guts than him."
Sakura's gaze lingered on the exit Naruto had just taken, her lips pursed to a line.
"Itachi won't attack him, not when we're so close by." The girl's eyes snapped to his, the man chuckling as he took a sip of the tea that had just been served. "The reason you were so adamant on coming with us, it's the same reason you two've been attached to the hip this whole trip. You want to be there in case they come after him again."
Sakura's fingers enclosed over the teacup before her, her head low. "I, I know I'll be next to useless if they showed up but it's just, I mean I..."
"You were worried about him," finished Jiraiya, smiling. "It looks like Naruto isn't the only one around here who's got guts. To willingly stand up to the Akatsuki for him...the kid's lucky to have a friend like you."
"I'm not that great," she exhaled, sipping her tea.
"You sure this trip isn't too much for you?" he asked casually, his narrowed eyes catching the shakiness of her cup as she pulled it to her lips. "You've been watching him train every day and night he's out there. I'm no medic, but pushing yourself so hard without allowing a resting period after that genjutsu probably isn't the best thing for you right now."
"I-I promise I'm fine," she stammered. "Really I am. I get plenty of rest just sitting around watching Naruto."
Jiraiya gave a sympathetic nod, dropping the topic. "The kid really is lucky," he murmured. "You know if you were up to full health, I wouldn't have minded teaching you a jutsu or two, Sakura."
The girl watched him blankly, failing to compute what he was saying right away. The great Toad Sage, Jiraiya, one of the legendary sannin – he couldn't have just offered to train her?
"Kakashi tells me you got a knack for water jutsu," he continued, fishing in his bag. "Quite rare for a ninja so young to already use nature-based techniques. And if I can't help cultivate that talent right away, this might keep you busy in the meantime." The man handed Sakura an aged roll of parchment. "That scroll contains a technique invented by the second Hokage himself. It may come in handy some day."
"You're really giving this to me? It's really mine?"
"This is but a piece of the legacy of the second Hokage. I know he would have wanted you to have it. Use it well."
She abruptly got to her feet, arching into a bow of gratitude. "Thank you, Jiraiya-sama. I'll take good care of it."
"I'm sure you will," he laughed. "Now let's finish up here and move on. Next stop, Tanzaku town."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Her breathing was ragged, fingers clawing against the grass beneath her as she faced the illusory foes of her slumber. The flashes of color and sound dissipated with a flicker of her eyelids, overhanging tree branches coming into view. She rested her palm on her forehead, reeling from the images that had just flitted out of her mind.
"You were having another nightmare weren't you, Sakura-chan."
She looked up at the figure seated next to her. So Naruto had been watching. "I don't really remember them after I wake up so it's no big deal."
"But it's been happening a lot, more than before it feels like. And they've been getting worse. You woke up screaming the other night."
"I'm fine," she maintained, sparing her friend a weak smile. "I used to get nightmares all the time when I was younger. This isn't new for me."
"But it's making you so tired."
"They'll go away eventually, just like they did before. I'm telling you I'm fine. You should focus more on your training, Naruto. I'm not here as a distraction."
"I guess," he sighed, flopping next to her beneath the tree. The late afternoon breeze was cool against his sweaty forehead as he inhaled deeply, stretching his aching muscles against the dirt. How long had it been since he relaxed like this? Was he wrong for wasting time in this way?
"I'm never gonna get this jutsu." He examined his shaky hand against the sky, burns etched onto his palms where he had been condensing his spinning ball of chakra. Completing the third and final step of the Rasengan was so near, and yet so beyond his reach. "We've been in Tanzaku for a week now and I still can't get it. My hands hurt all the time and I'm so exhausted. But I'm no closer to getting it. I just can't do it." His hand dropped to the ground between them, still twitching in discomfort.
"Does this help?" she asked, spreading her hand across his.
"Y-Yeah," he breathed, glancing at their linked hands as if needing confirmation for what was happening. "Yeah it helps a lot. You're real warm, b-but not in a painful kind of way or anything. It's a really nice way. My hand feels a lot less hurt now and-"
"You're rambling," she chuckled, gently tightening her hold on him. "And I'm glad. By the way, don't ever let me hear you talk about yourself like that. I don't like it when people lie."
"B-But I'm not..."
"Do you remember that fight with Gaara-san? You were absolutely incredible, taking him down and protecting all of us. Don't you know how much I admire you for that?"
"You, you really admire me?"
"Of course I do," she answered matter-of-factly. "You did the impossible then, and you'll do it again. I can just feel how close you are to getting the Rasengan, Naruto. If there's any one person who can do this it's you."
"I really wish I could feel the same as you," he said after a pause. "I know I act like I'm so awesome and everything, but look what happened with that Itachi guy. I let him hurt you and Sasuke, and he was after me all along."
"You're really going to guilt about not taking down an S-ranked criminal?"
"You're one to talk about guilt trips, Sakura-chan," he grinned. "You feel guilty about everything."
"Doesn't mean you have to follow my bad example," she pouted. "I guilt about the necessary things. Itachi wasn't your fault."
The blonde exhaled slowly, eyes gliding shut. "I will get this jutsu down, believe it. And with it I'll make sure...I'll make sure he...never h-hurts...you...ever...agai- ..."
His words slurred into snores, Sakura suppressing a giggle before releasing his hand and sitting up. Naruto was never one to dwell on failure, always moving forward. It was something so intrinsically difficult for her to do. She couldn't let this intensive training shatter his spirit. She knew it was too precious for such a fate. And as she watched the ramen-loving ninja snoozing under the tree, she was struck with an idea for the perfect pick-me-up.
The girl rose to a stance before unsteadily grasping onto the trunk beside her. Her head pounded in a sharp explosion of pain, and she desperately pressed against her temple to soothe it. The mental wave dissipated as quickly as it had struck, her fingers immediately brushing above her upper lip, meeting blood.
She swept at the telltale crimson of her nosebleed, eyes nervously flickering to Naruto. She exhaled in relief, finding him still asleep. The girl had been lucky thus far. Her teammate was not the most observant person in the world, bless his heart, and she was able to keep her symptoms from his detection. But it was getting harder, her nosebleeds increasing in frequency over the last week.
After a few moments of deep breathing, the pinkette made her way to the center of Tanzaku. Her objective – find the best ramen in town and surprise Naruto with it.
The town center was like a beehive, the crowd bustling about under the dimming sky. Sakura used her small size to her advantage, squeezing through the filter of people. But she was also easily pushed back, shoved back and forth like a pinball. One particularly hard push knocked her cleanly off her feet, her fingers reflexively scraping against forest green cloth before her body finally plummeted to the ground.
She rubbed the side of her hip with a groan, emerald eyes scanning the mob surrounding her. Her would-be assailant was no place in sight. Her gaze strayed to the floor as she scrambled to her feet, grabbing two curious slips of paper from the ground. She examined the sheets in her hands, quickly realizing they were actually photographs. The same blonde woman stood in both photos, each with a different person – one with a young boy, and the other a young man.
The roughened edges of the pictures showed they were well worn. Someone – the blonde woman probably – had been freighting these with her for a long time it seemed. They must have meant a lot to her, like mementos.
Sakura's hands trailed to the small maroon pouch slung on her hip, giving its contents a tight squeeze. She knew how meaningful those kinds of objects were to a person. Gaara's letters had been lost to her after their battle, and she was not about to let someone else go through the same thing.
The pinkette abruptly abandoned her ramen-finding mission, racing through the crowds in search of this blonde woman with the ponytails.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
It was an exhausting search, and after the first half hour Sakura was beginning to doubt she would ever find her illusive target. Just how far could a person she had just bumped into get anyway? She realized her trail was growing colder by the minute, as she marched down a less-crowded street to scan more of the spaces. As luck would have it, she spared a glance at the small hill just outside the village, spotting it at last.
It was a forest green coat, the kanji for gamble written in a red circle on the back.
The girl raced toward the hilltop before the blonde could evade her sights, gasping and yelling as she caught up to the woman. "Ma'am! Ma'am, hey wait!" Her body gave way and she was forced to halt her advance, head bowed as she held her knees, fighting for breath.
"What do you want, kid?" came a voice above her. "I don't have time for games."
Sakura presented the photographs without explanation, still huffing. The pictures soon left her hands, the woman gazing at the panting girl beneath her. "You ran all the way over here just to get these to me?"
"Well I thought they were important," she wheezed, straightening to face her. Their gazes locked, the woman's honey eyes frozen on the Leaf-nin. Sakura watched her curiously before recoiling, the sharp pain in her temple striking again.
"There you are! We've been lookin' all over for you! Where've you been?"
Sakura swept at the subsequent blood beneath her nose quickly before shifting her sights to the familiar boy dashing up the hill behind her, their white-haired travelling companion striding after him. "Naruto."
The man stopped in his tracks when he found them, eyes fixed on the woman, her shock mirroring his. "Tsunade! It's you!" He pointed dumbly. "You have any idea how long I've been trying to find you?"
"Jiraiya? What on earth are you doing here?"
"Like I said, I've been lookin' for you. Care to grab some dinner with us? We have some very important matters to discuss."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sakura awoke with a start, confusion blaring through her cloudy mind when she realized where she was. Her flailing nearly cost her a fall out of the tree she was cuddled in, bringing on more bewilderment. Why was she asleep outside, and in a tree no less?
The snarling which had alarmed her to wakefulness resounded again, drawing her gaze to the ground where a blonde boy lay sprawled across the dirt, the wreckage of branches and rocks littering his surroundings. She exhaled steadily, her awareness and memory sharpening.
Naruto was training all night and she had stayed out with him.
It appeared both of them had been claimed by sleep at some point during the night, evidenced by the snoring boy in the center of the field. He must have been training until sheer exhaustion wrested his consciousness. It was about time that happened too. This was the second consecutive night he had forgone sleep to master the Rasengan.
And all because of that bet...
Two nights ago marked the deal struck between Naruto and the wayward medical genius, Tsunade. It proved to be a catastrophic evening, beginning with Jiraiya's proclamation that the woman was selected to become Konoha's next Hokage. Her decline of the offer wasn't the worst of it, but the troubling sentiments that came after.
"It's one thing to gamble for money. But risking your own life against all the odds to protect the village as Hokage? That's a sucker's bet not even I'm foolish enough to make. History is full of examples of Hokage that should have known better."
"Watch what you say, lady," seethed Naruto, his tensed body shaking in his seat.
"All the Hokage are remembered with honor, Tsunade," said Jiraiya. "Do you realize what you're saying?"
"I'm tellin' it like it is," she sighed in indifference. "My grandfather and great uncle were both so willing to die for the sake of the village. And they did, yet Konoha is no safer than it ever was. Your own student, Minato, was a brilliant ninja but that didn't save him from dying young. And Sarutobi-sensei was worst of all, taking on Orochimaru at his old age. What did he expect would happen after that?"
It was such a disappointment, witnessing how far such an admirable woman had fallen. She was the granddaughter of the First Hokage, and a renowned healer whose involvement in the Second Shinobi World War was paramount in Konoha's victory. Even Jiraiya seemed surprised at how the years had hardened his former teammate. But there was something else behind her cynicism, something about her statements Sakura could not place.
It was strange and unsettling, but then she had never heard anyone blatantly disrespecting a kage before, much less an entire line of them. Naruto had taken her declaration exponentially worse, catapulting himself over the table to "teach her a lesson."
His yelling culminated into a brawl outside the tavern between the two. Although the genin worked his hardest to defeat her, even chancing the use of his incomplete Rasengan, the sannin easily subdued him with no more than a finger as her only weapon of combat. That was when things got dicey.
"One question before yuh pass out. What makes you so touchy about Hokage anyway?"
With Sakura's help, Naruto made it to his feet, huffing angrily. "Because unlike you, that's my goal. To be Hokage is my dream, and I won't stop until I do it."
The woman's blank gaze lingered on the boy, tsking shortly after. "You won't be able to master the Rasengan, and you certainly won't make it to Hokage. I can't believe you'd do this to a talentless kid, Jiraiya, filling his head with false hopes like that."
"I will become Hokage," yelled Naruto, forcing out of his teammate's hold. "Just you wait, I'll have that jutsu down flat in three days."
"Humph watch what you say kid, I might just hold you to it."
"Go ahead. I said it and I never go back on my word. That's my ninja way."
"All right then, I'll give you exactly one week to master that Rasengan of yours. If you win I'll admit I'm wrong and that you're worthy of being Hokage. And if you don't, you admit I was right."
"Tsunade," sighed Jiraiya, shaking his head, "what about my proposition? And healing those ninja in Konoha?"
"I gave you my answer on the first," she grunted. "I will not be Hokage. And I won't be healing anyone either. I haven't practiced medical ninjutsu in years and I'm not about to start."
"Then let's raise the stakes," said Naruto. "If you win, you gotta come with us to the Leaf Village too, and heal Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei."
The blonde woman smirked. "Well since you're giving me more to lose, if I win I'll also get all the money you have on you. How's that?"
"It's a bet," agreed the genin, turning on his heels.
"Hey where are you going?" piped Sakura.
"Training. If I'm gonna win I gotta get as much practice in as I can."
"B-But it's so late," she mumbled, looking to Jiraiya imploringly. He shrugged. Apparently there was nothing he could do. Sakura rested her pained gaze on the woman instead, their eyes meeting before the pinkette's eyes dipped to the ground.
"Naruto, wait up! I'm coming with you!"
It was hard, watching one of her best friends tear himself apart to win some silly wager. But she understood what he was fighting for – if he didn't win the bet, Sasuke and Kakashi would remain in their comatose states indefinitely. Naruto had been working himself like a pack mule trying to prevent that. But to master a jutsu the Fourth Hokage took three years to perfect – it seemed like a hopeless cause. Still, Naruto had never let her down before. Perhaps he really could pull through...assuming he didn't run himself to the grave first.
She wrapped herself tighter in the blanket covering her, shielding herself from the chilling midnight air. The perfumed scent she inhaled seized her attention. Someone had placed a blanket on her, and another on Naruto, at some point that night. She had assumed it was Jiraiya when she first noticed it, but the feminine aroma of the sheet...
Sakura closed her eyes, sniffing deeply into the fabric. The thing that came to mind first was her mother, but she didn't recognize it as her perfume. Perhaps it was similar. There had to be something linking the scents. But the question remained: who would have cared enough to blanket her and her teammate through the night? It had to have been a woman. Then again...Jiraiya did have an unhealthy fascination with the female species. Would it be that surprising for him to have blankets that smelled like them?
The girl shuddered under the covers, though this time it wasn't from the cold. At times, it really was best to just let sleeping dogs lie. So she curled beneath the covers without another thought on the scented blanket and reentered her world of sleep.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"I forgot how much of a bad influence you are on me," said Jiraiya, taking another swig of sake. "I only end up drinking this much when you're in town."
"Don't blame your indiscretions on me," she retorted, refilling his emptied cup. "You're the one who asked me to this tavern."
"Well I figured while the kids are out, mom and dad should capitalize on the opportunity. It would be irresponsible to drink in front of them, wouldn't you say?"
She kept her eyes on her drink, the din of the bar failing to overpower her swimming thoughts. "They've been out all these nights, haven't they? With his training."
"Naruto's only got three days left before he has to make good on your little wager. Gotta say, bettin' against a genin probably wasn't your finest moment."
"The kid asked for it." Tsunade slurped down another shot. "That night you found me, it felt like I was relivin' a day from my past, all the old faces comin' back all at once."
"Like Orochimaru." The woman stiffened at his words, but remained silent. "I know he was here, Tsunade, and I can only imagine it was to meet with you. What kind of deal is he trying to strike?"
The blonde poured herself another generous portion of sake.
"I urge you to think carefully before accepting anything he may offer. Remember the Hokage before you and all they've done to ensure the safety of the Leaf Village. Anything jeopardizing that would be a betrayal of them and all they've strived for. Hah, but what am I saying? You know all of this. If I thought for one moment you were capable of such a thing, I would stop you right here."
"He has nothing to do with me anymore," she hissed, "enough with the lecture. I still decline at Hokage."
Jiraiya eyed her beside him, sizing her up. "There was no one who cared more about the village or felt its pain more deeply than you. Am I expected to believe all of that is gone?"
She took another swig, a silent pause nestling between them.
"So many of the same old faces creeping up again," she continued wistfully. "With some new ones that aren't so new. Why did you have to bring them here?"
"They're a lot alike," he grinned. "They must be the same age, Naruto and Nawaki. Didn't your little brother want to be Hokage as well?"
"He was impatient, just like that dumb kid."
"Impatience can be a loveable quality," laughed Jiraiya. "Those boys kinda look alike too, though the resemblance between Sakura and her mother is uncanny, don't you think? I mean, save for the hair color."
Tsunade only traced her finger against the timber of the bar counter.
"Hmm, she certainly doesn't take after her in personality though," he mused. "Maya was a firecracker when she was young, as I would recall. Sakura is far too reserved."
"She's like her father then," she said finally. "I wasn't even aware she survived the civil war of Iwa."
"Well she did, had to grow up on her own in Konoha after that. And to think all this time, she could have had her-"
"Don't even breathe it, Jiraiya," snapped Tsunade. "I will have nothing to do with this child."
"You should at least use the short time we have left to get to know her. She's a good kid, Tsunade."
"Why did you even drag her out here in the first place? To make me more open to returning to the village? That's a low blow, using her like that."
"Oh, and what business is that of yours? I thought you didn't care about her."
"I-I don't," she gritted. "She isn't physically well. The girl belongs in a hospital, not on the road."
"I'm aware, though she's been doin' a pretty decent job of hiding it from Naruto. I'd bet she'd go to the ends of the world for that knucklehead."
"I could see it too, the way she looked at me after I clobbered him and he stormed off. It reminded me so much of Maya. But what does any of it matter anyway? She's dead, just Nawaki, just like Dan, just like all the others."
Glugging a shot of sake for the road, Tsunade rose from her barstool. She couldn't afford to entertain more of Jiraiya's reminiscing. He was always so apt at bringing up useless things from the past she stopped caring about, the intrusive oaf.
"She uses water-style jutsu too," he said offhandedly. "From what I hear, quite excellently in fact."
His statement froze her momentarily before she exhaled, continuing promptly out the bar.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The torches hissed against the dank underground corridors as he made his way to the rusted door. The agonizing roar of his master bounced through the walls once again, ushering him quicker still. His face did not betray the annoyance hidden beneath his blank mask as he entered, obligingly playing the role of personal nurse. It was what made him useful. For now it would have to do.
"I have prepared a new concoction, Orochimaru-sama. Perhaps this will help you fair better than the last."
The howling man inhaled the pills, downing a fountain of water until it spilled over his bed sheets. His bandaged arms continued to jitter as he ground his teeth against the burning.
"I can't do much more in such an old hideout. The facilities are far too outdated. You won't be able to continue for much longer like this, my Lord. Something must be done."
"Something is being done," he gritted. "Her week is almost up, and we will hear of Tsunade's decision in a day's time. If she wishes for me to bring back her lover and her little brother from the dead, she will heal my arms."
"Are you certain this course of action is wise, sir?" cautioned Kabuto, working on changing the dressings of his master's arms. "You were confident she would not turn down your deal, and I trust your judgment, but what of the appearance of Jiraiya? He is one of the sannin, like yourself. His presence is...an unfortunate complication."
"It will force us to play our hand differently," conceded the snake-summoner.
"Wouldn't the shrewder course of action be to escape now, before they decide to hunt us down? At the very least I'd have better equipment to work with. And I'm afraid in this weakened state, facing even one sannin could be disastrous."
"You worry she will turn on me," he concluded, almost in amusement. "Don't forget, I am the one person in the world who knows Tsunade best. I am aware of exactly how this will turn out, especially given her recently acquired company. As long as you are certain of what you saw, Kabuto."
"I am. There was no doubt about it."
"Then we forgo one for the other. Should we meet resistance, I trust you will be able to act accordingly."
"My skills are at your service, my Lord. But are you sure that's the same person they want?"
His snake-like pupils glinted in glee under the glow of the torches. "We have much preparations to make, Kabuto. Best not to waste any more time."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
It was the night before his deadline, Naruto's last opportunity to master his jutsu. He had reduced his training area to unrecognizable ruin without much to show for it. He just couldn't get that ball of chakra to adequately condense while maintaining enough spin. It was impossible.
"You shouldn't keep going," said Sakura, heaving him to his feet after another collapse. "Please, Naruto. We'll find another way to help Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei."
"I won't stop," he panted. "I gotta keep goin'...gotta get this down."
"But..."
He rotated another orb of blue energy, charging for an already-mangled tree trunk. The pinkette exhaled, pinching the bridge of her nose as she retook her place on the margins of the plain. She had to placate this persistent migraine. Not even her nosebleeds relieved the pressure that kept building in her head these days.
"That boy isn't the only one who needs to quit this."
Sakura turned to the blonde woman coming behind her, fighting to keep her eyes to hers. "Please break this deal you have with him, Tsunade-hime, please. I, I know it's not my place to ask but he's ripping himself apart with all this training."
"And what about you?" she asked critically. "I can see it clear as day. Your condition is worsening, the aftereffects of a genjutsu I'd bet. It's a miracle you're still functional after having it go untreated for so long. You need to get to a hospital."
"I promise I will, but after all this is over and we get to Konoha."
"Just what exactly do you think you're accomplishing, sitting out here in the cold all week? You aren't doing a thing that would actually help him."
"I'm-I'm making sure he's safe."
"He chose to stay out here alone in the dark. You're wasting what little energy you have to be no more than a spectator of his foolishness. Be smart and go home."
Her teary emerald eyes drifted from the woman, resting on the huffing boy in the center of the field. "I know I can't do a lot. Staying out here, letting him know I'm there for him, it's such a small thing. As hard as I try, I can only do the small things."
"Finally you're seeing reason. It's time you got back to your hotel room."
The girl shook her head, turning back to the sannin. "Once you're doing all you can for someone important to you, it doesn't matter how big or small it is. The feelings behind them, the hard work you put in – that's what matters most."
Tsunade tsked. "An idealized notion from a child."
"The ideals of the woman I admire most," she corrected. "She may be dead, but I'll believe what she believed."
"Maya," whispered Tsunade, before rounding with another brash of statements. "What's the point of it all? She's long gone from this world, kid. "
"Just because a person dies doesn't mean their beliefs have to die with them," Sakura answered hotly. "I'll carry with me what my parents left behind. Going against that...it's just an insult to their memory."
"It's pointless," said Tsunade, almost defeatedly. "There's nothing left after a loved one passes. They're just dead, and everything good just falls away."
There it was again, that unsettling feeling. The sannin's words were striking the same anxious cord in Sakura that she could not place. Why was it back now? What could it possibly mean? It made her body feel so strange. The only feeling comparable to it was when she sensed a lie, but what she felt now wasn't as strong. It was almost an...an awkward halfway-point.
"Of course," said the pinkette, grinning through her revelation. "That was it all along."
"What are you talking about?" asked the blonde gruffly, brow raised in suspicion.
"All this time, what you said about the Hokage, about not caring about the village, about not having anything good after a person is gone...you don't really mean any of it do you."
Her eyebrows contorted together at her statement, eyes narrowed. "What do you know about my feelings?" she dared.
The girl took a shy step backwards. Adults were intimidating enough, but this medic was in a league of her own. She refused to remove her eyes from hers though. "It-It almost felt like you were lying the whole time, b-but not really. It was a half-lie, or...I don't know. I think you're just, well, maybe wondering what to believe? Or you don't truly buy what you're saying? Um..."
Her body tensed under the woman's penetrating gaze, though she couldn't discern her feelings. Did she feel insulted? Had Sakura just insulted the most renowned medic in the entire ninja world? She, a lowly genin...uh, no a chuunin. That's right she was a chuunin now. Recently made, not that that made much of a difference. She was still a pathetic novice in comparison. Why did she have to go and blurt that out? If the sannin wasn't going to kill her for it now then the panic-attack she was having certainly would. Her head already felt so heavy...
"Sakura."
The girl winced in preparation for what was to come, only to register a brush of cloth above her lip. Her eyelids slid open in time to catch the crimson painted on the handkerchief Tsunade had just used. She was having another nosebleed, but the swimming sensation in her head only seemed to worsen.
The girl clutched at her forehead, struggling to steady herself through her doubling vision. Her skin felt hot under her fingertips but she plowed through, leaning against a tree as the crashing wave of pressure ebbed away. With a few minutes of breathing and it was over, her migraine finally dispersing.
"I'm okay," she huffed, not daring to straighten her stance without the support of the tree. "The pain's all gone now."
"Only to come back later," warned the medic, "with increasing ferocity. It'll take more and more for your body to relieve the pressure before it just crumbles under it. Rest will at least delay that, until you get back to Konoha."
"I can't leave him," she maintained. "I'm sorry, but I just can't. If the Akatsuki show up, I have to-"
"To what? Spill your own blood on them? Even without your illness, you don't stand a chance against them."
"He's worth it. He's worth trying to protect. I'd lay down my life for that."
Tsunade watched the tired girl under her gaze, a small smirk stretching across her lips despite herself. That stubbornness, that burning need to protect someone precious – it was so nostalgically familiar.
"You take after her in more than just looks after all."
With a concentrated strike to her neck's pressure-point and Sakura collapsed into the woman's arms. She cradled the child to her chest, carrying her limp body to where it belonged.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The radiating green hummed through the dark room, almost like a lullaby as it rhythmically danced over the unconscious girl's forehead. Her practiced skill withstood the test of time even through its misuse, and she could sense the slow restoration of the girl's health. Her current actions should have come as no surprise given the identity of this child. Still, even she was amazed at how quickly she had relinquished her chakra's vow of medical silence.
The slender fingers pulled away shortly after, the healing energy fading after it had done its work. As the woman pulled the bed covers over the child, she sensed the approach of another.
"He collapsed too ay?"
The man sauntered to the next bed, resting the boy there. "It was only a matter of time I suppose. The kid's had it. He may not even wake up tomorrow to make good on your bet, or fail doing it anyway."
Tsunade didn't answer, tucking in the girl's sheets.
"I'd think you'd be a little happier, having your win being such a sure thing. Why so glum?"
"Who's glum," she answered dispassionately, making her way to the door.
"Tsunade, that was a good thing you did for her."
"Don't act like you weren't expecting it," she spat back. "As if I could leave Maya's only daughter to suffer like that. You can be really manipulative when you want to be. Don't think I don't realize that."
"It still felt good didn't it? Using your skills and gifts to help another person. I know you as well as you know me, remember that much."
"She seemed to know something too," relented Tsunade, her temper dying. "And that boy...I've been watching him train. His spirit is so much like Nawaki's. He believes so hard in all his dreams, even when he knows the odds are against him. Why did you have to bring those two here? It's making everything so difficult..."
"Are you rethinking your position as Hokage?"
She shook her head. "There's something even more pressing. Something that must be decided before tomorrow."
"Well don't beat around the bush, what is it?"
"Jiraiya, there's something I need to tell you...about an old friend of ours."
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