Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing "Scroll." ^ v ^ I'm reading a lot of theories about what's going on in the story. And I see that a lot of them are close to what's happening. I'm glad you're enjoying the plot so far!
Here's the chapter for Scroll this week. Don't hesitate to tell me what you think about it! ^ v *
note: I'm not that sure with some of the facts here. If you ever get to notice it, do tell me :) Thanks!
"Let me take Haru-chan," the doctor said as he kept his eyes away from Sasuke's glare.
Sasuke handed the child to Kaitaro but kept his glare at the doctor.
Haru stared at the doctor before she glanced innocently back at Sasuke.
Kaitaro smiled at Haru. "This room is protected so I guess it's alright," he said. "How much have you uncovered from her notes?"
"Symptoms, time frames, victims," Sasuke answered.
Kaitaro smirked. "You haven't read enough about the disease then."
"You're all afraid you'll get infected if you talk about it," he said.
Kaitaro nodded. "You know it's controlled by someone."
"Houren and his men," Sasuke answered.
Kaitaro looked up at Sasuke and chuckled. "Just Houren," he said.
"How is it possible?" Sasuke asked. "How was he able to control who would be infected and who wouldn't."
"I'm afraid only Sakura-san knows the answer to that," the doctor said.
Sasuke stiffened.
That was why Houren hated anyone who sided with Sakura. That was why whoever showed a connection to Sakura became Houren's enemy.
Sakura knew how he controlled the disease…probably even how he made it.
And she hid in the woods with only Kaitaro and Keiko knowing where she was.
…THE SCROLL.
Could Houren know something about the scroll?
… And the Anbu ninjas…those who got infected with the new strain of the disease… They knew something about it, didn't they?
They might even be the ones who discovered it.
That's why they fell ill and died.
But to be able to pinpoint who in the village would get sick…was similar to using a ninjutsu against an enemy.
Could Houren be conjuring chakra? Could he have used chakra signatures to identify who got sick and died?
If that was the case, where would he get such knowledge? They said the villagers had secluded themselves for so many years.
They weren't even supposed to be aware of ninjas until a couple of years ago – when Sakura and the team of Anbu ninjas came to help them in the plague.
Where did Houren learn such a devastating technique?
Could he have spoken with Orochimaru about it?
No. Sasuke would have known about it.
And he didn't recall any chakra technique that caused such illness.
Kaitaro smiled and offered Sasuke to sit down. He himself took a seat in the living room with Haru on his lap.
The others seemed to have understood that he and the doctor were having a serious conversation. They didn't seem bothered that Sasuke and the doctor weren't in the dining area with them.
"You are most aware of how energy or chakra affects the building blocks of the human body," Kaitaro said. "We doctors might be able to give humans medicines, or perform surgery, but we do not have the ability to control how a patient's energy flows and works throughout their body. You and your fellow ninjas do, and I think, most especially your medic ninjas like Sakura-san."
Sasuke kept a straight face.
Sakura used her chakra to heal her patients. It must have been how she healed the people from the illness.
But he didn't know that a medic ninja leaves some of his/her chakra in her patient.
Medic ninjas use their chakra to control someone else's body cells - at least that was what he knew. Once they were done with healing someone, the chakra they used get's absorbed by their patients, like in cases where they replenish a patient's chakra with their own.
It loses the signature to the receiver of the chakra – the medic ninja's donated chakra becomes part of the patient's own chakra.
So why sense the chakra on the infant?
The only logical explanation was that the chakra Sakura placed in the infant wasn't just to replenish the baby's weakened chakra.
It had another function…a function where it kept Sakura's signature despite being inside another body.
It seemed to resemble the case of the nine-tailed fox in Naruto's body - it was alive.
"Haru-chan here was her first human test subject," Kaitaro said. "But she never took Haru's death as a possible outcome of the cure she came up with. The first treatments Sakura-san gave her partially improved her condition. But several days later, Haru-chan's body began to drastically deteriorate. She was already hooked in several make-shift medical equipments when Sakura-san found the best treatment for her."
Kaitaro could still remember how relieved Sakura was when she examined Haru-chan that morning and realized that her treatment worked…and how angry Jirotaiku was when he first held the sleeping Haru in his hands.
Haru-chan's condition greatly improved after a week. She no longer needed to be hooked up in a set of complicated machines to breathe. So Sakura decided to move her into a different room.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?" he heard Jirotaiku say.
Kaitaro was on his way to one of the rooms in the hospital when he walked by Haru's room.
Curious, he decided to take a look at what was going on.
"What do you mean?" he heard Sakura ask.
He soon noticed that Jirotaiku had the sleeping Haru-chan in his arms. He was glaring angrily at Sakura while Sakura only stared apathetically at him.
"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about!" Jirotaiku said. "Why did you put some of your chakra in this child? Are you really out of your mind? How long are you planning to keep your chakra here, huh?"
Sakura turned away from Jirotaiku. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't you DARE turn your back at me when I'm talking to you!" Jirotaiku said. "What are you planning to do to help these people? Give ALL of them some of your chakra? Are you AWARE of how MANY of them are out there? YOU'LL DIE BEFORE YOU CURE LESS THAN HALF OF THEM!"
Kaitaro stiffened.
He didn't think the ninjas they sought help from would risk their lives that way to help people they didn't know.
Kaitaro watched Sakura sigh. "If this is of any help to you," she began. "She's the only one I'll give part of my chakra to."
Jirotaiku's face softened.
"I just wanted to see if that technique would work," Sakura said. "I know I'll die before I save less than half of them if I apply this technique to all of them."
Kaitaro watched Jirotaiku sigh. "What are you planning to do then?"
"The disease," Kaitaro told Sasuke. "As you may already know by observation, is an energy that is causing the cells of the body to develop a peculiar illness with several fatal complications. And since it's a form of energy, even if we give our patients medicines to stop the cells from deteriorating, the cells will only go back to its ill state due to the energy controlling it."
"Sakura used her chakra to suppress the energy causing the illness," Sasuke said.
Kaitaro nodded. "She used a similar method to help the other villagers," he said. "What that method was exactly, I don't know. What I'm sure of though, is that only Haru-chan here has a part of her chakra."
Sasuke looked at the infant on Kaitaro's lap.
She had pulled off one of her socks and found her plump big toe tempting enough to bite.
Haru-chan was two years old, but other than her chubby physique, she didn't look like she was that old.
Kaitaro smiled down at Haru-chan. He tried to stop Haru-chan from biting her big toe but her head shakily followed her big toe whenever he gently pulled it away from her face.
"The illness had damaged some of her brain cells," Kaitaro said. "But she's slowly recovering. She still hasn't learned how to crawl or speak though, as you can see. It's normal for children to learn those a bit later than the others so we're sure she'll still grow up as healthy as an average child does in a few years or so."
Sasuke watched Haru stare up at him innocently.
She couldn't bite her toe anymore because the doctor had to put her socks back on her foot.
Sasuke saw Haru stretch her hands up toward him – her tiny hands stretching her fingers wide and curling themselves into fists several times.
Kaitaro chuckled. "She likes you," he said.
Sasuke frowned at Haru.
…Great…Another fan girl in the making.
Haru's eyes looked pleadingly at Sasuke – her lips pouting into an 'o.'
Kaitaro chuckled. "Will you carry her to the dining room?" he asked Sasuke.
Sasuke suddenly felt…scared…
It was odd – feeling Sakura's chakra and seeing a different face.
Sasuke lifted Haru up from the doctor's lap and held her close to his chest. Haru buried her head into the crook of his neck.
Kaitaro chuckled. "Let's go have dinner."
Sakura tried her best to stand up.
Explosions and crackling sounds echoed everywhere. The storm wasn't helping. The dark clouds and the cold pouring rain made the gloomy landscape more depressing.
It was supposed to be a great day despite how horrible everything looked like.
Madara had been defeated. The war was finished.
But Sasuke had to be selfish and evil enough to continue his duel with Naruto. And Naruto had to be idiot enough to accept it.
"Should we do something?" Sakura heard Kiba as she tried to stand up from the muddy ground.
She had used much of her chakra fighting enemies and healing wounded ninjas. She had several scrapes and bruises all over her body.
Sakura shakingly looked up to see the blinding blasts on the vast barren plain below the hill where she and the others stood.
She could barely see the two of them, but they were there. She could feel them. And every minute or so, they would see gusts of smoke on the ground, crackling lightining, whirls of wind...
And they knew where on the dead plain Sasuke and Naruto were.
"There's nothing we can do," Shikamaru said as he sat on the hill – his eyes watching how the two made gigantic holes on the rocky plain.
Ino sat beside him – her arms on his shoulders. "But they're going to kill themselves!" she cried.
"If we go anywhere near them, they'll kill us," Shikamaru said. "Or at least Sasuke will."
Sakura stared blankly at the sight.
She didn't want it to happen. She didn't expect it to happen.
Sasuke and Naruto were just working together to kill Madara several hours ago.
But at that moment…they were doing what she didn't want them to do.
She knew it was possible to happen.
NO.
It was bound to happen.
Naruto told her so, and Kakashi-sensei warned her about it.
But it still hurt to see it happening…To watch them killing each other.
Sakura suddenly felt someone hug her tight.
"Sakura," she heard Ino whisper into her ear.
It was then that she realized that tears were streaming down her face.
"It's not your fault," she heard Tenten say as she sat close to her.
"Naruto-kun will save him," she heard Hinata say as she sat down and held one of her muddy hands. "I just know he will."
Sakura stared at everyone for a moment and realized that the other ninjas also had their eyes on her – Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji, Shino, Neji who was half carrying an unconscious Rock Lee, Gaara, Temari and Kankuro…Even Sai who was standing behind her watched her with what seemed like empathy in his eyes.
Everyone was as soiled, wounded, and bloody as her but they stood strong around her.
She knew she should feel grateful at everyone's efforts to comfort her, but she felt more ashamed of herself.
She was still weak.
…Too weak…Extremely weak.
She wasn't fit to be there in their midst.
She was a disgrace to every ninja in the world.
Sakura looked away from them and kept her eyes on the clashing chakras on the plain below.
She didn't speak. She was too angry at herself to say anything.
She soon felt everyone's comforting glances turn into glances of pity.
She looked pitiful – face blank, tears streaming down her cheeks, mute…
She knew that everyone thought she was in a state of shock.
"Foolish little brother," Sakura heard Itachi's voice echo inside her head. "If you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me. And yet survive in an unsightly way."
Sakura's vision turned blurry.
She suddenly found herself in the village – in the ghost town residence of the Uchiha clan where bloody bodies were splayed out on the ground.
Itachi stood in front of her – his red eyes boring holes into her eyes.
She felt her limbs shiver, her heart beat faster…
Fear…devouring her.
"Run," she heard him say. "Run and cling to life, and when you have the same eyes as mine, come to me."
She then heard deafening screams behind her.
She turned her head and found herself running down the white dark hospital corridors. She saw the door she was looking for at the end of the hallway and pushed it open to see Sasuke…
…Sasuke standing on his bed as the Anbu ninjas that were supposed to guard him lay lifeless and bloody on the white-tiled floor.
There was nothing but savagery in his face as currents of electricity ran danced in the air.
Sakura froze.
She watched his eternal mangekyo sharingan stare into her green eyes.
He smirked. "Sa-ku-ra," he said. "You do love me, don't you?"
She suddenly saw him standing just a few steps in front of her.
"I hate to break it to you though," he said as he lifted the katana he took from one of the Anbu ninjas he killed. Electric currents crackled as it surrounded the blade.
Sakura gasped, suddenly feeling Sasuke's breath against her lips.
"I have no use for weaklings like you," he whispered before a burning pain surged into her chest.
Sakura opened her eyes and saw the open door of the house she had stayed in for the past two years.
Her heart was still beating painfully against her chest and her limbs were shivering.
"It's all coming back," she heard a familiar voice say.
"It should," she said weakly as she forced herself to sit up. "You put me to sleep?"
"No," he answered as he sat across her on the floor. "You were unconscious when I found you. I lent you some of my chakra."
Sakura sighed. "Thank you," she said. "I owe you a lot already."
"Don't thank me yet," he said. "I'm planning on going against your plan."
Sakura chuckled. "You've always been planning to go against my plan," she said, smiling at him. "What is it this time?"
"Houren is after him," he said.
Sakura looked away.
"He knows who he is and his connection to you. I'm afraid if I don't do something, your village will lose its existence," he said. "You know I owe them greatly for making you."
Sakura sighed. "When do you plan to move?"
"About that," he said. "The flower is wilting."
Sakura looked up at him. "How long would it take?"
"One…Two weeks at the most," he answered. "And his traps will be of no use. Houren has made an agreement with the Oto ninjas who are, by the way, the latest group of ninjas to show interest in the plague. They are allowed to search the other part of the woods but not this one. Houren's legion of puppets will be patrolling in this part of the forest. I believe Houren knows you're hiding somewhere here. How exactly, I am yet to find out."
"He'll kill you if you continue this double agent act you're doing," Sakura said smirking.
"It's not like anyone's paying me to do it," he said. "I personally want him down his throne. And there is no way he can kill me. I'm an immortal for a reason, you know."
Sakura chuckled. "Of course," she said. "In that case, I don't think there's anything else I can say to stop you."
The man stood up and lightly dusted his white fur coat.
"Can I ask you a favour, though," Sakura said looking down at her messy table.
She noticed the diagonal black line that ran across the paper – a line she probably made when she lost grip on the quill.
The man looked down at Sakura. "That depends," he said.
Sakura scowled and looked up at him. "This is the first time that I'll actually ask you one," she said. "And you're restricting me?"
The man frowned. "This has something to do with suicide, yes?" he said. He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine. What do you want?"
"Keep him away from me a day before the flower wanes."
The man stared incredulously at Sakura. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" he asked.
"Maybe," Sakura said, yawning.
The man watched her for a moment and noticed how much paler she was. Her eyes were drooping again.
"If that is what you wish," the man said before he turned away from her and vanished out the door.
Sakura chuckled.
Everything would end soon.