Author's Note: I'm really going to try and stay on track, so as a cookie, here's an early chapter. Heads up: this is the chapter that makes up for a little woopsie in the earlier 20s where I did two Sakura chapters back to back, so it will switch perspectives in the middle ish. Thanks for all the reviews. Let's get this train back on track. Once again, thanks to Spike Dee, mikeytron, Lola Lot, and everyone I bug regularly about this.
Murakami Yumiya left for Sound a proud man, his goatee curled to perfection and his formal dress impeccable.
He returned in rags, adorned with the severed heads of his comrades instead of finery. His goatee was now an untamed beard and his eyes darted around wildly, not seeing the gate guards as they shouted for him to stop before he panicked the civilians.
It was too late. The rumor was out in hours.
It was almost a day later before the city was called together for an announcement. Once again, Danzou stood on the top of the hospital to address the citizens of Konohagakure. This time, however, the much talked about severed heads were nowhere to be seen.
"Otogakure has committed a grave sin. We lost three of our finest men. Sound accepted our diplomacy, engaged in peace talks, and then turned on us, conspiring with the enemy. There have been whispers that Sound has won a victory over us."
Danzou paused.
"That is not true. They tried to demoralize us, to send us a survivor in order that we suspect a traitor in our midst, to turn us against each other. Sound can only be victorious if we allow it. We will not. We will remain strong. We will stand together."
The crowd broke into a deafening cheer.
"And make no mistake!" Danzou's chakra-amplified voice still had to shout to be heard over the crowd's noise. "We will teach Sound regret!"
The cheer grew to a roar. Kakashi slipped out of the teeming crowd of people, not joining in with the shouts. No one should cheer for death.
Later that day, funerals were held for the three dead mean. Two of them, Kakashi didn't know. The third – the captain of the unfortunate squad – was Mimura Hamaki.
Letting the eulogies wash over him, Kakashi thought of the first time he'd met Mimura, the mission of Obito's death. Mimura had been cornered, but Minato had shown up to overcome an impossible situation, as he was so well-known for doing.
Mimura's wife was now speaking of his victories, his numerous exploits over the years, and his heroism in the last Rock War. Behind her, a young woman sobbed, holding a tiny baby to her chest. A stoic man – presumably the father – had a protective arm around her shoulders.
Looking at the pained faces of the grieving families became too much, so Kakashi scanned the crowd. Of course, his eyes fell on Sakura where she stood with Naruto, her eyes bright with unshed tears. As uncanny as she ever was, noticing when eyes were on her, she looked back at him, new emotions on her face. Kakashi looked away, a hard pit balling in his stomach.
When the funeral was over and the crowd began to disperse, several men with the distinct look of Root began discreetly handing out scrolls. Kakashi got one, but waited until he was well away to open it.
He was being summoned for a meeting.
The meeting room was crowded. Besides Danzou and his guards, the usual council was there – Utatane, Koharu, Kawasie, Toriichi, and Iwashi – but so were Naruto, Kakashi, Gai, Ibiki, Hyuuga Hiashi, Shizune, Sakura, and some other medic Kakashi recognized but whose name he did not recall.
"As you know, all but one of Mimura Hamaki's team was killed on a diplomatic mission to Sound," Danzou said, looking around the room.
"Sound sent us a survivor, Murakami Yumiya, as an attempt to spread disinformation. Sound would have us believe that Rock secretly murdered the squad as retaliation for the death of the Earth Daimyo. They placed a deep genjutsu on Murakami to make him believe he barely escaped from the ambush. No doubt they hoped to convince us they were outraged by Rock's actions and were ready to join the alliance, or barring that, that Murakami had defected and was lying. However, they gravely miscalculated."
"Three of you in this room –" Danzou looked at Ibiki, Sakura, and Shizune in turn. "—served Konoha well by breaking the genjutsu on our countryman. In this way, we learned that our men did not die by Rock's hand. They were beheaded by the hands of the leader of Sound himself."
Danzou paused, bowing his head.
"Some time during their stay in Otogakure, Mimura realized that the Sound officials had stopped treating them well. They no longer had the same politeness towards our men and no longer upheld the basic expectations of a parley. Upon investigation, Mimura found that an envoy from Rock had arrived at roughly the same time that Sound had changed behavior. Knowing that if Sound decided to turn on Konoha his men's lives would be forfeit, Mimura went on the offensive. He set upon Rock's men during the night, slaughtering them all and bringing the heads to the leader of Sound."
Danzou looked up. "It was Mimura's hope that Sound would take the gesture as one of solidarity, but…"
Calculated emotion crept into Danzou's voice. "It wasn't to be so."
Danzou went around the room, meeting the eyes of each person in it.
"Most of you may have gathered by now that we plan to launch an offensive on Otogakure. You are here because you have been deemed valuable to the coming campaign in some way, either in Konoha or away. They will expect us to attack from the border between Fire Country and Rice Field Country. We will meet their expectations with a battalion led by Iwashi Kunio."
The man with the scarred throat nodded.
"This battalion's second in command will be Uzumaki Naruto. Sound will not expect him and will fear him. He will distract Sound's troops from our true intentions of leading a three-pronged assault."
Danzou turned to Hinata's father. "Hyuuga, you will lead your forces through Waterfall for an attack at the borders of No Man's Land and Rice Field Country with Maito as your second in command."
Danzou turned to Kakashi. "Hatake, your troops will march through Hot Springs Country to attack from the east with Kawasie as your second in command."
Kakashi nodded, hoping his face showed none of his surprise.
"Though this is a short campaign and most logistics will be handled from here, Morino will be in charge of all support on the ground. He will travel with the largest group attacking from Fire Country and his second in command there will be Shizune."
Danzou scrutinized the medical nin. "Haruno, you will be Morino's extension with Hyuuga's unit. Oyone, you're with Hatake. It goes without saying that you will oversee the field hospitals on your respective front lines, along with any other duties Morino assigns you. You two are relatively untested. Don't disappoint me."
Danzou's gaze lingered on Sakura, but she kept her features schooled into a blank mask.
One of Danzou's lackeys began passing out maps with all of Sound's known hideouts marked on it.
"They will expect us to concentrate on their main village," Danzou said. "But if we don't rout their scattered bases, it will be a hollow victory. Hyuuga, this underground structure to the west is key."
Kakashi listened with one ear as he looked at the projected movements of his unit on the map. War had finally arrived.
Kakashi spent the next week split between the meeting room, embroiled in long arguments over tactics and which quadrant to attack first, and a field just outside of Konoha, drilling his troops in various formations they probably wouldn't need.
He was there now, overseeing them practice various exercises in discipline.
It was strange, appointing people like Kiba and Genma over others, being in a position of power over people he'd grown up with. Being a squad captain was different; you were the temporary superior of a few others for the duration of a mission, and that was it.
Never was Kakashi so grateful that he hadn't been made Hokage.
Kakashi let Kawasie bark the commands as much as possible, preferring to walk among the ninja, particularly the greener ones that were most scared. He tried his best to bolster their confidences, giving a few tips along the way.
Kawasie didn't mind taking a more forward role; he was pompous, though less overblown than Kakashi had first thought. Defying Kakashi's expectations, Kawasie annoyed Kakashi only slightly more than the average person.
Kakashi watched Yoshikazu, the young boy whose teammate and genin sensei had been killed a while back. At the time, Kakashi sought him out to give him some pointers, remembering all too well what it was like to have to relearn all of your skills after your field of vision shifted drastically.
He glanced at Tamiko, Yoshikazu's remaining teammate. He hadn't done the same for her, having no advice to give to rape victims. Maybe Sakura had talked to them about that.
The sudden reminder put Kakashi in a foul mood. He shouted out, ending the current exercise abruptly, and dismissed everyone.
Today was Honda Shin's execution, after all. If Konoha insisted on treating it like a spectator sport, Kakashi would not stop his soldiers from participating if they chose.
The unit re-entered Konoha through the front gate, marching proudly. The whole process took entirely too long for Kakashi's liking, but those were his orders. It was supposed to be a display of power to the other citizens of Konoha.
Some joined the growing crowd in the square, and despite Kakashi's disgust, he found the rooftop of a nearby building to watch from.
On the hanging platform, Danzou gave a spirited speech about traitors and the lives they choose, turning their backs on their brethren. He didn't say that all Shin had done was doctor some books, of course. Danzou framed it as a victory for Konoha, an omen of more to come. It was all engineered to raise morale before the troops marched out the next day.
Though he had no wish to see a man die as nothing more than a symbol, Kakashi felt obligated to stay out of respect. His team had been the one to turn Honda in, after all.
Honda dutifully stepped into the noose. He said something, but Kakashi couldn't make it out.
After the rope grew taught, Kakashi left, obligation fulfilled.
Sakura did not participate in the chant of "Ko - no - ha!" that spread after Danzou's speech. Instead, she watched Root members point a kunai at Honda Shin's back as motivation to step onto the hanging block. They lowered the rope around his neck, and he looked straight forward, stoic.
"I love you, Hanako," he said right before they kicked the block out from under him.
Sakura watched Honda Shin dangle from the noose, dying slowly, and was revolted by the cheer that came up from the crowd as he struggled for breath.
A woman screamed when he dropped, hysterically calling his name over and over again. Sakura saw Danzou's guards slip into the crowd and work their way towards the noise.
When Sakura spotted the source, she rushed towards it. With a bit of luck, Sakura reached the screaming woman before Danzou's goons.
It was Honda Shin's wife, and in her arms was a small baby, another child tugging at her skirts.
"Please, be quiet," Sakura said. "If you don't, they'll make you leave."
The woman nodded, biting down on the webbing between her thumb and forefinger to calm herself, though her body was still shaking with silent sobs.
Danzou's guards finally reached them, shoving through the crowd.
"Ma'am, we're going to have to ask you to leave the premises," one said stiffly. "Allow us to escort you somewhere safe."
"They're fine now," Sakura said, picking up the boy child and trying to quiet his tears. She thought he might balk, being a bit old for such a thing, but he clung to her and buried his face in her neck. "They have every right to be here. More than you."
"They're causing a disturbance," the right guard said. "We must ask them to leave."
"They refuse, and so do I," Sakura said.
"We'll be required to revert to force," the left guard said. "You know the protocol."
"Is it protocol to deny a widow the right to grieve? Honda Shin was a citizen of Konoha."
"He was a traitor," the right guard said, clenching his fists.
"What do you know about it?" Sakura said, glaring at him as she patted the boy on the back. "If you don't leave them be, I'll go public with the exact circumstances of this execution. We'll see how long this crowd stays happy."
"Danzou-sama will hear about this, Haruno, make no mistake," the right guard said, showing uncharacteristic signs of anger, despite his mask.
"Let him," Sakura said, sneering.
The guards melted back into the crowd.
"Thank you," Honda's wife whispered.
Sakura nodded and they turned back to the execution, watching silently as the last of Honda Shin's life left him.
His death was so senseless: a man's life, reduced to being a prop used to propel soldiers to march faster. Soon after the disastrous debriefing, Sakura had gone to Ibiki and suggested that they turn Honda into a double agent to feed Rock misinformation. It was fairly standard; a man that could be bought once could be bought twice. Ibiki said the way Honda had been apprehended would have tipped Rock off, defeating the purpose. Sakura knew better than to argue.
But still, Honda didn't deserve to die this way. There were hundreds of less painful and cruel ways he could have been executed, and Sakura had argued for them when the hanging was announced, hoping that her new and unexpected position of authority would make a difference. It hadn't, of course, even though Kakashi openly agreed with her, the first time since this began that he'd spoken about her in her presence, let alone to her.
Sakura and the dead man's family stayed there long after Honda was cut from the noose, the rest of the crowd trickling away until only they remained.
"Did you know him?" the woman said, finally breaking the silence.
Sakura didn't answer. If Danzou found out she told Honda's wife anything she might not have known otherwise, he would be more than annoyed.
"It's all right. I understand," Honda's wife said.
The baby began to cry.
"It's getting cold out here," Sakura said. "Where are you staying?"
The boy unburied his head from Sakura's neck. Sakura ignored the uncomfortable sensation of snot coating her shoulder.
"Ninja lady," he said. "Do you have any food? I'm hungry."
Sakura's mother was caught up in a whirlwind of activity, chopping and sautéing while chatting with Honda Hanako. Despite having strangers thrust upon her, Riko seemed comfortable. It was the most Sakura could remember Riko doing in months.
Sakura was entertaining the children in the living room. It wasn't exactly a hard job; the baby had finally cried itself to sleep and the boy was watching cartoons.
"What's your sister's name, Shinichi-kun?"
Sakura asked because she felt awkward since she was essentially doing nothing. Children always made her uncomfortable.
Shinichi scowled. "She doesn't have one, dummy."
"Why not?"
"No one gets a name until they turn a year old," he explained impatiently, one eye still on the tv, as if she were the child and he the adult.
"Oh. Well, in Konoha, we name babies at birth."
"That's stupid."
He turned back to his program. She didn't try to speak to him again.
When dinner was ready, he seemed to have forgotten his hunger, pouting when Sakura turned the television off – that is, until he saw the table, spread with delicious-looking food.
As they sat down to eat, Hanako began to tear up. "I can't even begin to thank you."
"Don't mention it," Riko said. "That hotel always seems to be full."
Hanako blushed. "To be honest, we didn't try the hotel. I looked when I first came, but it was far too expensive. I'm sorry if I misled you. I didn't –"
Riko waved her hand dismissively. "Their prices are outrageous. I won't hear another thing about it. It won't do to have little children out in the cold."
"They – Konoha – put us up in some sort of diplomatic suite last night, but they made it clear that after –" Hanako choked back a sob. "— after it happened, the accommodations were no longer available."
"That place was nice," the boy said, his mouth full. "We should stay there instead."
"Shinichi," Hanako scolded. "Where are your manners?"
"So how will you get back to Waterfall?" Sakura asked. It was a shame, really, since Hanako would have to hire some sort of caravan to take her when Sakura was leaving for Waterfall tomorrow.
"I'm not," Hanako said flatly. "There's nothing left for me there. My parents are dead, and my sister – she understands. She's going to try and sell my house, even though it won't fetch much, being so small. Until then, we'll get by somehow. She's going to send us our things when we get settled somewhere."
"Will you stay in Konoha, then?" Riko asked. "Houses are still expensive, but small apartments are somewhat reasonable, nowadays. If you can get one, of course."
Hanako shook her head. "Not here, where everyone looks at me like – no."
"Where will you go?" Sakura asked.
"I don't know," Hanako said. "Until the house sells, our funds are –"
She pursed her lips. "We'll manage."
Like Konoha, Waterfall was embroiled in war at the moment – but unlike Konoha, Waterfall's country shared border with Rock's country. It was unlikely real estate was in high demand there.
Riko met Sakura's eyes. Sakura nodded.
"You must stay with us until you have a plan," Riko said.
Hanako dropped her chopsticks. "I couldn't possibly – you're too kind – I can't –"
"Please stay," Sakura said. "I'm leaving tomorrow. There will be plenty of room, and you'll keep my mother company."
Riko froze at the reminder, the cheer leaving her eyes. "Yes, that's right. Sakura is going off to war to —"
She blinked back tears. "There will be a whole extra room. It's no trouble."
Hanako was speechless, and glum little Shinichi just twiddled his chopsticks.
The baby began to cry and Hanako excused herself. Confused, Shinichi ran after her.
"Thanks, Mom," Sakura said, finishing the last bite of her meal. "This was really good. And thanks for taking care of this. I would explain, but…"
"You can't," Riko said wearily. "It doesn't matter. She has children. I've been in her shoes, or a pair that looked something like them. I won't have her starve."
"I'm tired. Should I go to my room, or –"
"Yes, yours. I don't want that boy finding a stray knife or whatever other dangerous things you keep in there."
Thinking of the refrigerated safe full of poison in her closet, Sakura nodded.
"I thought we'd put them in my room. I'll stay downstairs for the night and then move up to yours later," Riko said. "If you don't mind me sleeping in your bed while you're gone, that is."
"Of course not."
"You don't have a meeting tonight, then?"
Sakura shook her head. "Not tonight."
And Sakura was grateful. This could be the first night in a week she didn't go to bed with a headache. That many people in a room could never agree upon anything.
"Will your friend Naruto be going tomorrow?"
"Yes, but not with me," Sakura said, frowning.
It was hard to think she was going into battle without Naruto at her side.
"He's second in command of the main unit. It's a great honor."
"And what of Ino?"
"I've seen the rosters and she's not on them. Her dad says she's not around, so she must be on a mission."
Was it the same mission Ino had been on for a while, the scroll she'd received at Kurenai's? Sakura hoped not, but tried instead to focus on how Ino would be angry to miss the action. Maybe it would console her Hinata wasn't going either.
"Most of my other schoolmates will be there, though. Even some of them that didn't make it to a team, like Ami. Remember her, with the purple hair?"
"I remember her. She was always a little snot, wasn't she?" Riko smiled weakly, and Sakura knew she was fighting off the sadness for Sakura's sake.
Sakura smiled in return. "Yeah, she was. But she's with Kiba now. I think she grew out of it. Mostly."
"And Hatake-san? Is he going as well?" Riko was so careful to be respectful, but Sakura knew this was what she'd been aiming at all along.
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Of course he is. He's a battle commander, the very top. Not my unit, though."
"I see. So you won't see him while you're gone either."
Riko tried to look nonchalant, inspecting a vegetable from her plate.
"There's no one you want to visit on your last night in the village? I wouldn't mind, you know."
"No," Sakura mumbled, trying to pretend she didn't know what her mother was implying, though heat was rising to her face. "I told you, I'm tired. I'm going to bed."
"Take a shower first. You're filthy from crawling under the house, opening the door or whatever you did."
"I was temporarily releasing the seals so they could stay here."
"Which you won't do when I want you to."
Sakura sighed. "It's dangerous and a pain in the – you know what, never mind. I'm going to bed. Really."
"Wake me when you go," Riko said as Sakura left. "I mean it."
Sakura didn't answer, nodding distractedly at Hanako, who was nursing the baby. Shinichi didn't even notice Sakura, glued to cartoons once more.
Riko was curious about Kakashi. Sakura was hardly going to tell her the circumstances, so what else could she say? That Kakashi hadn't talked to her since the confrontation with her father? She'd stopped by his apartment to bring by clean clothes and pick up her dirty ones, but he'd left as soon as she got there, claiming to be busy.
She wasn't sure then, but after seeing him every day of the last week for war preparations, watching him ignore her as actively as possible, she knew something was up.
He must be mad at her for telling her parents they'd slept together, and she didn't blame him; she used him to get back at her father. She hadn't expected Kakashi to care, after their conversation about fathers and forgiveness…
Sakura got halfway up the stairs before turning back. She reached into her medical pack and dug out the thing she'd been hiding there for safekeeping for months: the last piece of chakra diagnostic paper.
Sakura handed it to Hanako. "I want you to have this. He gave it – well, rightfully, it's yours."
Hanako took it, looking at her in wonder. "If this is what I think it is, then I can't accept that. Please, keep it – as payment for our lodging, if you insist on giving it to me."
"Please. I feel as if I owe him a debt. He was – he was kind to me, and I –" Sakura couldn't go on, or she would break more laws than even she was willing to risk.
"Please," Sakura repeated. "I don't need it. You do. It will sell for quite a bit, especially here in Konoha. Tell them he gave it to you, if they ask. It will check out. And besides, I'm not supposed to have it. I can't sell it myself."
Slowly, Hanako reached out to take the paper. Sakura had to tamp down the urge to grab it back, once it was gone. She had been waiting for the right time to use it, but something always held her back – usually worries over money. Having it in her pouch was a safety net.
But now that her father had paid off the house, that excuse was gone. Sakura could never live with herself knowing she kept Shin's lavish gift while his family suffered.
She would just have to save up to buy chakra paper of her own, that was all.
"I don't know how to thank you," Hanako whispered. "You've given the most impossible gift. You've given us hope."
Sakura smiled. Somehow, on the eve of war when she least expected it, some small spark within herself flickered where she thought it had gone out.
With her newfound sense of peace, Sakura fell into a deep sleep with relative ease. Unfortunately, her rest didn't last for long. The first to wake her was the baby, crying for food or a diaper change or whatever it was babies cried for. Sakura pulled her pillow over her head, trying to block out the noise.
"Stupid babies," she muttered.
Shizune liked to go coo at babies in the maternity ward in her spare time, but Sakura had never seen the charm. Her least favorite lessons were almost exclusively from the time Tsunade had ordered her to babysit the maternity ward for two weeks and absorb the very basics of midwifery and infant care, just in case. Sakura was pretty sure this was actually a punishment for conspiring with Shizune to steal Tsunade's sake stash.
Sakura had never seen the practicality in wasting her valuable time this way. Sure, she had witnessed two horrifying childbirths that were slightly traumatizing, and could now theoretically birth a baby as long as nothing unexpected happened – but something unexpected always happens. How many kunoichi gave birth in the field anyway?
Definitely a punishment, Sakura decided, listening to Honda Shin's baby squeal as if it was on fire.
And babies were ugly. Even Masako had looked like a tiny red alien for several months, and if there was any baby Sakura was fond of, it was surely her.
Sakura growled into her mattress, pressing the pillow tighter over her ears. Would it never end?
Sakura didn't remember falling asleep again, but when she woke, it was in a flurry of movement. Before she processed what was happening, Sakura had filled her fists with shuriken from the holster hung on her bed frame at all times and was hurtling down the hall.
Someone was screaming again, but it was not only the baby. She burst into the master bedroom to find Hanako trying to hush a red-faced, wailing Shinichi when Sakura's mind finally caught up with her.
Riko wasn't far behind, though she moved at a leisurely pace.
"Did the little fellow have a nightmare?" she said with a yawn, moving to comfort the grumpy woken baby. "Sakura, for the Lord's sake, put away your weapons. Don't you get enough of that when you're gone? You're scaring the children."
Sheepish, Sakura set her shuriken in a neat pile on the dresser and held her splayed hands up to show they were empty. "Habit. I don't feel safe with my seals down..."
In fact, that was the purpose of the seals. Before placing them, Sakura had woken most nights just as Shinichi had, if she slept at all. The dreams were more persistent then.
"The rope monster was chasing me," Shinichi said, sniffling.
"There's no such thing as rope monsters," Hanako said, petting his brow.
Shinichi jutted his little chin. "There is. It killed Daddy."
"It was just a dream, Shini-chan," Hanako said, smoothing back his hair soothingly.
"It is not! I saw it!"
"You heard Haruno-san. It was just a nightmare."
Shinichi broke away from his mother. "Don't lie! I know you saw it too."
Hanako reached for her son but he shrugged her off.
"The rope monster got him and Daddy is a traitor so he's in hell now."
Hanako turned away, choking back tears.
Shinichi's big brown eyes swam with tears when his mother turned from him, though it was what he was aiming for all along. Riko handed the baby to Hanako, her eyes trained on the boy, but Sakura beat her there.
Sakura sat on the floor in front of him, legs crossed. "So, you guys believe in that heaven and hell stuff, huh?"
Shinichi looked at her suspiciously. "What's it to you?"
"My mom and dad do too, but I don't. In fact, most citizens of Konoha don't, and your daddy was one of those too, so I was just wondering."
The hardness slowly melted off Shinichi's little face, replaced with reluctant curiosity. "Daddy said... He said he believed in something else, but that I wouldn't understand until I was older."
"Your daddy was a ninja of Konoha, like me, so he believed in the Will of Fire. Do you know what that means?"
Shinichi shook his head.
"It means a lot of things, but one of them is that love is peace. And what were your daddy's last words?"
"That he loved Mommy."
"That's right. And I know he loved you and your sister. He told me all about you, you know, and I only knew him for a little while. The Will of Fire is about giving your all to protect the village that you love."
Shinichi frowned. "But Daddy was a traitor. Everyone says so."
"Some people might think so, and if you ever decide to become a Konoha ninja when you're old enough, people will remind you, and it will be hard. But you know better, don't you?"
Shinichi looked at her glumly, brows knit. "I do?"
"Your daddy didn't really live in Konoha, did he? And I bet Waterfall didn't really treat him as one of their own either, did they?"
Shinichi shook his head. "They were nice, I guess, but..."
"So who was your daddy's village? Who did he love? Who did he protect?"
Shinichi's mouth fell open in dawning wonder. "Me. Mommy."
"Exactly. You might not ever get to know the full story, but I can tell you that he was always thinking of you in everything he did. Your father lived and died by the Will of Fire, and don't you ever forget it. Not everyone will understand that, but do you?"
"I think so..." The little boy looked down, thoughtful.
Sakura smiled. "You're quite the little man, aren't you? How old are you?"
"Five," he said, a hint of petulance creeping back into his voice.
"That's pretty old, don't you think? Since you're old enough, I'm going to tell you something else, too."
Shinichi looked up.
"You were right. The rope monster is real. Everyone has a monster that's coming for them, whether it's rope, or blade, or illness, or old age. We all die one day. Your daddy died today, and I could die tomorrow. But that's okay. Want to know why?"
Shinichi nodded.
"Because the Will of Fire says that death is peace, and that the next generation carries on our determination. So you get to carry on your daddy's will. You get to love your mommy and your sister for him. You can do that, can't you?"
All of a sudden, Shinichi threw his arms around her, holding tight.
"How about you get to sleep now?" Riko said gently. "Your sister's tuckered herself out with all this crying."
Shinichi nodded into Sakura's shoulder and with one last squeeze, crawled into bed. Quietly, Sakura and Riko crept out of the room. Hanako followed.
"Again, I don't know how to thank you... He used to be such a happy little boy, before all this happened. I think you helped him."
"Did I?" Sakura wondered.
Would Shinichi trust her word and grow up proud of his father? Even if he did, would it come back to haunt him? Maybe she had placed a burden on him. What if he grew up like Kakashi, rejecting everything his father believed in because she had offered it up this way? Kakashi was a grown man now, and still, Sakura saw how he reacted to her father. She wasn't under the delusion that the sudden solidarity he'd shown was anything but his own issues coming to the surface, still unresolved despite the tight lid he kept on them. Would Shinichi, too, struggle with it his whole life? Maybe she should have just let him come to terms with it now, at an early age...
Belatedly, Sakura realized Hanako had continued speaking. "I heard about a caravan leaving for River Country later this week, so I think we'll go with them. Are you sure it's fine if we stay that long?"
"Nonsense," Riko said. "Stay longer, if you like."
Hanako pressed a hastily scribbled note into Riko's hands. "This is my sister's address. If you need to reach me for anything, write to us there and we'll get news eventually. We'll be gone before Sakura-san returns, and I know my son would appreciate news of her. I would, too."
"Of course," Riko said. "Now, take advantage of this time when they're tired out. Get some rest."
Hanako turned to Sakura. "Good luck."
Sakura nodded, unable to summon a smile as she caught sight of grey light peeking through the curtains.
It was dawn. The time had come.
Her unit didn't leave for several hours, but she wanted to see Naruto off, so she hurried through the last regular morning routine she'd have for a while.
Afterwards, Sakura woke her mother dozing on the couch. Riko gestured for Sakura to turn around and Sakura handed Riko a hair band. Without needing to speak, Sakura sat still on the couch as her mother braided her hair into a tight plait starting at the top of her skull.
Sakura hugged her mother, grabbed her pack from where it sat by the door, and was gone.
When she arrived at the gate, Naruto's battalion was already in loose formation, and he was standing in front of it next to Iwashi and Ibiki.
Suddenly overwhelmed, she ran up to Naruto and embarrassed him with a huge hug.
"You be careful, you idiot," she whispered, ignoring the catcalls that rose from the soldiers.
"You too, Sakura-chan."
Iwashi cleared his mangled throat, glaring at her. Getting the picture, Sakura released Naruto and with a nod to Ibiki, scrambled back to the sidelines.
Searching the crowd, she caught Shizune's eye. Shizune smiled at her, tapping Kumatori on the shoulder. Kumatori waved at Sakura, wearing a smile of his own.
She looked for Yamato, but when she found him, he didn't acknowledge her. Before she got the chance to get his attention, Naruto called the group to formation, presumably because Iwashi's voice wouldn't carry.
Sakura watched what seemed like half of Konoha's population file past her as they left.
"'Bye, Sakura-sensei!" called some of the genin who had been Sakura's students not long ago. They were immediately hushed by the nearest superior.
She waved to them, and to anyone she recognized. There were so many: a boy she went to Academy with, Chouji and his family, Anko, coworkers from the hospital, people she'd been on missions with before, former patients, and people she'd just seen around town.
How many would return?
As the long procession proceeded out of the narrow gate, members of Kakashi's unit began to arrive, mingling with their friends and a few distraught loved ones.
Sai found her first. Surprisingly, he actually looked worried, biting his lip as he watched the ninja pass. She slipped her hand into his and he squeezed; they stayed like that even as the others began gathering there too. Shino stoically stood to Sai's left. Then Kiba showed up, Ami clinging to him as if she was surgically implanted to his side. Tenten and Neji were next, then Lee.
Even a few of Sakura's other classmates showed up. They were the first to break the silence.
"So we're the same, finally," a boy with long brown hair said, thin lips set.
Sakura forgot his name.
"Shut up, Minoru," snapped another, elbowing Minoru in the ribs.
Sakura remembered this boy, with a slim, bladed nose and black hair trimmed nearly to the quick, as Tobio. "Isn't Sakura a Lieutenant in your unit? She outranks my dad! And Kiba is my captain."
"Is rank important? No, it is not. You are our classmates. We serve Konoha. We have always been the same," Shino said.
Ami smiled. "That's right."
"Good luck," Kiba said gruffly. "Don't act like we won't go for a drink when this is all over."
He and Ami left, going to join the Inuzuka clan. The others with family peeled off, finding the other groups they belonged to, until only Sakura, Sai, Lee, and Tenten remained.
And then she saw him. Kakashi and Gai grasped each other's forearms in a silent goodbye, and then Kakashi turned, calling his unit to order.
Kakashi nodded at Sai, who broke from her and walked towards him. Kakashi did not nod at Sakura, but his gaze lingered on her. Sakura wanted to go to him, to say something, but she didn't know what to say – don't die? He knew that already.
Preoccupied with his duty, Kakashi turned from her. Just like before, Sakura watched the procession go by, acknowledging those she knew. Kiba, Shino, Tobio, Sai, Inoichi, and a whole bevy of others passed by her.
Unable to stop herself, Sakura watched Kakashi until he was no longer visible beyond the gates, though Lee and Tenten had already left to get in formation.
Before long, it was Sakura's turn to march to war.
Sakura sat in front of the fire, staring into it. She had a meal in front of her – a proper one, even – and she wasn't touching it. No food would ease the growing ache in her belly.
"Are you all right, Sakura-taichou?" Michio asked, his full, bowed lips pinched.
"I'm fine, Tsukada," she said, making a show of taking a bite of her beef.
"You've been quiet all day."
"Tomorrow is the day," she said. "All week, we've been going at this maddeningly slow pace, and this is it. Tomorrow we leave our supplies here and run across No Man's Land, striking."
One of the young medics-in-training sent to act as a nurse tugged Tanaka Kito's sleeve. "Well, we don't, right, Uncle?"
"No, Fumiko-chan. We will leave earlier than everyone, but stop a safe ways from the border to set up our field hospital."
In the hospital, Tanaka Kito was the brunt of many jokes for his occasional squeamishness, but to his little niece, he was a hero.
"So we're not in danger, right, Ugai-senpai?" said another of the trainees, giggling and blushing to the roots of her wild chestnut curls.
She had a hopeless crush on the poor man, who was twelve years her elder.
"It's war," Yamaguchi Ugai said, ignoring her batting eyelashes. "There will always be danger. But relatively speaking, we're safe. Our job is to help the ninja who will actually fight."
A third girl, hiding shyly behind her sandy blonde bangs, said, "I know they've said so many times that we won't have to fight, but I'm scared. It could happen, right?"
"If the fight reaches our camp, then we'll be dead, little girl," Tobitake Tonbo said, turning to look at her even though bandages and his forehead protector covered his eyes, "so it's nothing to worry about."
The girl looked back at her lap, trembling.
The boy next to her put his arms around her shoulders. "That's not going to happen, Emi-chan."
"I know, Yuuma-kun," she sniffed. "I'm being silly."
"Tonbo-san, can I speak to you privately?" Sakura said, standing.
He met her off to the side, just out of earshot of the others.
"Stop scaring them," she said. "They're just children. I've worked hard these past weeks getting them to work like a team, and you're going to ruin it the night before the battle."
Below his bandages, his mouth was tight around the edges. "They're ninja, not children. If they're not strong enough to hear the truth, then –"
"Don't be ridiculous. Emi and Yuuma are twelve years old, fresh out of the Academy. Fumiko and Beniko are thirteen. Besides that, the likelihood of Konoha losing this battle is almost nothing. You're doing nothing but fear mongering. Stop it."
"Is that an order, Sakura-taichou?" Tonbo said, face souring.
"Yes."
Sakura didn't hesitate. She couldn't afford to jeopardize her already tenuous authority. Tonbo was much older than her and her superior in their branch of the Intelligence Department, Torture and Interrogation.
Here, though he was captain of the four man squad that was to double as the medical squad's guard and the interrogators for any future prisoners or enemy patients, he ultimately answered to Sakura and he wasn't happy about it. He had never liked her, but he used to at least tolerate her without hostility.
Tonbo crossed his arms over his chest. "Am I dismissed?"
Sakura nodded and returned to the fire behind him.
She looked around at the group that was supposedly hers to command. Besides herself, there were three medics with enough skill to handle cases on their own and four trainees to assist. It would have been more ideal to bring actual nurses with the requisite experience, but they were almost exclusively civilians. Sakura had been drilling with these seven as much as possible, and as much as they could be with the time given, they were a team.
The other three, the interrogation squad, were huddled near Tonbo. They looked to him as their leader, that much was clear, though they didn't balk at her orders. Sakura wasn't sure what to hope for with them: that they'd be useless precautions, or be busier than they could handle. After all, what was better – no prisoners or many?
Sakura refused to think about the other part of their potential duties that dealt with disposal of corpses. She'd been forced to cover it in the preparation period, at Ibiki's insistence, but she did it as quickly as possible and pushed it from her mind.
Eleven direct inferiors. Last year, this would have been Sakura's dream come true. Now, she'd give almost anything to have someone else be in charge, giving her orders that she could follow mindlessly.
Someone else should be responsible for wiping the fear off the children's faces. Not Sakura. No platitudes about love and the Will of Fire would work this time.
"I heard there are a lot of bandits in this country," Yuuma said, his piercing grey eyes searching hers for reassurance. "This place doesn't have any ninja, right?"
"Don't worry about bandits," Sakura said, affecting a smile. "Do you think any bandits could stand up to the might of Konoha? Look around you."
Yuuma glanced at the fires surrounding them; their little camp was only one of many. He smiled.
"Hyuuga-sama would kick the butts of any bandits."
"That's right," Sakura said. "He would. You have nothing to worry about."
Yuuma relaxed his tensed shoulders, kicking some dirt into the fire to watch it hiss.
In another camp, a lute began to play, followed quickly by raucous singing. Emi began to tap her feet in time to the music.
"Go on," Sakura said. "Go join the festivities. I bet people are dancing."
"O- oh no, I couldn't possibly dance," the girl said, shrinking into herself. "I just like to hear the music, that's all."
"So go listen."
"Can we go, Sakura-taichou?" Fumiko asked, bouncing up and down and clutching her friend's arm. "Please?"
"It's fine by me, but maybe you should ask your uncle."
Fumiko turned to Kito, eyes wide and pleading, and twirled a lock of her raven black hair around her index finger. Her hair certainly wasn't the only thing she had wrapped around her finger.
Tanaka sighed, rubbing the bridge of his crooked nose. "I suppose."
Already tittering with excitement, the girls leaped up. Fumiko grabbed Emi's hand as well.
"Come on. It'll be fun."
Emi let herself be dragged along, looking pleased.
Tanaka turned to Yuuma, offering him a hand up. Clearly, Kito meant to chaperone his niece. There were bound to be as many teenage boys as teenage girls there, and from the sounds of it, many people were already halfway drunk.
"Ugai-senpai, aren't you coming?" Beniko asked, blushing.
He began to shake his head, but at a sharp look from Tanaka, turned it into a nod, stretching as he got up. "Might as well. Can't leave poor Kito-kun alone with you girls, eh? He'd go crazy."
Tonbo and his lads got up and left without a word to the others.
"Just be careful to get a good night's sleep. We leave far before first light," Sakura said, making sure to speak loud enough that Tonbo and the others could still hear as they retreated.
"Aren't you coming, Sakura-taichou?" Michio asked, the last to get up. "You can't stay here by yourself."
Actually, that was exactly what Sakura wanted, to stay here by herself, but she didn't want to appear unsociable, so she allowed Michio to give her a hand up and followed them all to the party.
There were people dancing to the music everywhere and the alcohol was flowing freely. It seems many people had thought to bring along their own and someone had snuck a couple of kegs onto the supply wagons.
That was supposed to be partly Sakura's responsibility to oversee, so she should probably investigate. Instead, she filled her own canteen with ale.
Even in the darkness and the crowd, Sakura managed to spot someone she knew – Neji – and settled beside him.
"Where's your team?" she asked.
He grunted and pointed near the lute player, where Tenten and Lee were dancing. Tenten's face was flushed with alcohol, but Lee's natural merriness matched hers as they danced and sang spiritedly.
"And Gai-sensei? This seems like the type of thing he'd enjoy."
"Planning with Uncle Hiashi. Rehashing, really."
"Didn't you tell me once that Hyuuga leaders retire upon promotion to jounin?"
"There are exceptions. This is one of them. Hyuuga still fight for their village."
Hyuuga must remind everyone of their superiority, of course. Sakura hid a smirk by taking a swig from her canteen, wincing at the bitterness of the ale.
"It's poor quality," Neji said, looking down at his own canteen.
"Didn't stop you, did it?"
Neji's mouth twitched in the beginnings of a rare smile. "I suppose not."
"Go on. Spend time with your team. You never know. This could be your last night together."
Sakura gave Neji a little shove in the direction of Tenten and Lee, and to Sakura's surprise, he went to them.
They received him happily, cheering and throwing arms over his shoulders to form a misshapen dance line. He looked vaguely embarrassed, but allowed himself to be corralled into joining in the chorus of the next drinking song.
Seeing them together made something ache in Sakura's stomach even more than it did before. They were so lucky to be together tonight. The others were all split in some fashion, though Kiba and Shino were together, at least.
Everyone in her team had someone except Sakura. Naruto and Yamato were together, and they'd always had a closeness Sakura envied. For a while, during the restoration, she saw an opportunity to get to know Yamato better, and she thought it had worked.
Yamato was always overworked, and she relieved the pangs of chakra exhaustion as best she could, gave him any extra food she could scrounge to keep up his energy, and he had repaid her with the seals and balcony on her house. But then something changed. Since it was around the time of that mission, what changed was probably Sakura herself, she realized with a sigh.
Kakashi had Sai. Knowing them, they wouldn't talk much, but they still had the comfort of knowing they would watch out for one another.
Sakura wasn't going into battle, an annoyance in and of itself, but she still missed that feeling.
Sakura was torn out of her melancholy by Minoru bumping into her.
"Sakura-chan," he said, dragging out the last syllable. "This could be our last night alive."
"Don't be silly. Sound is outnumbered three to one," Sakura said, trying to scoot away from him, but he hung on her arm.
His long hair was mussed and he blew a strand out of his face before straightening, puffing out his chest. "It could be our last night. Wanna fuck?"
"That's disgusting." Sakura twisted her arm out of his grip, making him stumble.
He pouted. "Come on! I know I'm not ugly. Or do you only go for –"
Sakura was spared by Ami barreling over.
"Minoru, there you are!" Ami supported her friend, turning to Sakura. "Sorry if he said anything. He's really drunk. He's already hit on me three times."
"Don't worry about it. You better get him to bed so he can sleep it off, though. The last thing he'll need tomorrow is a hangover."
"Yeah, you're right." Ami hesitated before leaving. "Good luck tomorrow."
"I better not see you on one of my tables tomorrow. Kiba would never forgive me."
Ami smiled. "You got it. Come on, Minoru. Beddy-bye time!"
Well, maybe Sakura wasn't totally alone.
Sakura sat there, finishing her ale and watching the festivities go on around her. She spotted Yamaguchi running from Beniko, which was only mildly less amusing than witnessing what was probably Yuuma and Emi's first kiss, after which they both turned red as beets and ran back to camp.
A man that had been standing next to Emi and Yuuma came up to Sakura.
"Can I help you?" Sakura asked, assuming he had some sort of question about the supply train.
"I saw you looking, girl." He refilled his ale. "Don't even think about it. I like my women with a little more meat on their bones."
"Pity," Sakura said, letting him have his fantasy for this one night.
"Yeah, it is," he said and stumbled off.
After a few minutes, Michio came to sit next to her. He was a nice guy, only a couple of years older than her and overall talented, both as a ninja and as a medic, though cripplingly shy in spite of it.
"D-do you want to – would you dance with me, Sakura-taichou?" Michio eventually asked, unable to look at her.
Her instinct was to reject him, just like with anyone else – but him especially, as she tried not to interact with him more than was necessary lest he recognize some part of Chiyoko in her, even though she had known him casually for years. But she thought of what it must have cost him to ask her to dance and nodded.
Just one dance couldn't hurt.
The song changed to a faster paced tune and Sakura immediately regretted her decision. She stepped on poor Michio's feet at least ten times, but he didn't seem to mind. His awkwardness belied his grace in dance.
"You must be good at taijutsu, to move like that," she said when the song was done.
"I've never spent much time with taijutsu," he admitted with a blush. "My genin sensei noticed I was good with chakra, so he taught me more manipulation jutsu… That's how I ended up getting trained at the hospital."
"You have good chakra control, so it makes sense. But I bet you'd like taijutsu if you tried."
He squirmed.
"Do you want to dance again?" he said, rushing his words like he was eager to change the subject.
Sakura put her hand on her belly. "No, I'm not feeling well, but thank you."
She hesitated. "I don't want you to get the wrong impression… I'm not looking to spend the night before the battle in someone else's bed."
He stared at her blankly.
"I'm gay," he said, then started, seemingly shocked by his own frankness. "I just thought… You look so sad and lonely all the time. I was trying to cheer you up."
Sakura could feel the tips of her ears heating up. "I'm sorry. That was nice of you."
How typical; when someone was actually interested in her, she was clueless, and when someone wasn't, she had to go put a foot in it.
"Don't worry about it," he said, but she fled the scene anyway.
She made her way to the latrines. What she had first thought was just pre-battle jitters was shaping into something more.
Sakura pulled down her underwear and confirmed her fears.
She was on her period.
The next day began in a haze. Her bones ached with a deep, familiar weariness despite going to sleep before anyone else.
She had stopped taking her birth control pills that week, as scheduled, but thought that her period would have come and gone by now. It was late, though, and the war had made her forget it was coming at all. It seemed impossible that something as mundane as a menstrual cycle could still happen on today of all days.
She ate her ration bar in silence, both savoring and trying not to dwell on the miso flavor. It made her think of Kakashi, and then Naruto, and how they were preparing for battle just as she was. Commanders were always the first targets.
With an order that came out more like a bark than she intended, they set off in the darkness, still bound to the plodding pace of the oxen pulling their medical equipment.
Sakura didn't speak during the journey and it seemed her mood was infectious. They reached a small bridge, barely wide enough for the wagon. Sakura ordered the ninja across first and then the wagon. It seemed to be going smoothly until the team got half way across. The oxen balked, threatening to break a yolk or topple their supplies into the river.
Sakura ran to the animals in an effort to calm them, images of vile red chakra and a destroyed bridge far away rising unbidden in her mind. Her panic spread to the oxen, making one rear up, the whites of his eyes showing.
Michio jumped down from the seat of the wagon and the oxen's eyes began to roll in their heads.
Though Michio's wiry frame was so much smaller than the panicking beasts' before him, he did not back away. A low and soothing song fell from his barely moving lips.
"The shepherd in the mossy woods protects his lambs from harm."
Michio spread his arms wide in a supplicating gesture.
"The farmer with his axe and arms makes way for his herd."
Michio moved one foot forward.
"Quiet, sleepy oxen graze beneath the stars."
He took another step. The oxen were no longer bucking, their eyes no longer rolling.
"Spring brings rain and all new life as ewes begin to birth."
He closed the gap and began to stroke the oxen's necks until the whites of their eyes no longer showed.
Slowly, Michio began to lead the oxen across the bridge. Sakura jumped from the bridge to get out of the way, lighting upon the water with ease.
Once the wagon was safely on the other side of the river, Sakura breathed a sigh of relief.
Michio turned to her, still stroking the animals, ignoring the lather now coating his hands. "They can sense the tension. It's getting to them. They need to rest soon."
Sakura nodded and made the hand signal that told everyone to get back in formation. She took her spot as lead just ahead of Tonbo.
"Have you heard anything?" she asked.
She felt a chakra spike from him as he extended his senses. It was intimidating for some to see Tonbo, with eyes entirely covered, still behave as if he could see everything around him – and he could.
Those of the Tobitake clan lucky enough to be born without eyes were granted extraordinary senses. Tonbo's hearing was such that he needed no sight. He was one of Konoha's best scouts.
"No," he said. "No humans I can hear except the small village to the northeast."
Sakura nodded and the group set off once again. Before long, they came to another bridge.
"Not again," Fumiko groaned. "Sakura-taichou, isn't there another way we can go?"
Sakura consulted her map. Yes, this was the place, at the fork of two rivers. It was an easy line of defense and would provide them with all the water they needed.
"We're here. Tonbo-san, organize your men for a thorough scouting of the area and then return to assist with construction. Michio, tend to the oxen. The rest of you, please help me get everything ready."
Everyone busied themselves with their assigned tasks. Her medics began unloading equipment from the wagon, naturally organizing them into like piles: medicine on the left, tents to the right, cots to the far right, and so on.
Finally all that was left was the pallet of wood they were to construct the operating room with. It was supposed to be ready made, only needing to be seamed together, but Sakura had her doubts, quashing jealousy of Shizune, who had Yamato to build her proper houses for her patients.
"Sakura-taichou, should we wait for Tonbo-senpai to return to help us lift that?" Emi said, standing on tiptoe to peer into the wagon.
"No, I'll get it," Sakura said, pulling the pallet out without a second thought.
"Whoa," Yuuma said breathlessly behind her. "How did you do that, Sakura-taichou?"
Sakura sighed, not at all in the mood to entertain him. Her headache was fierce, not to mention the ceaseless, pervading pain radiating from her abdomen to every muscle in her body. It was only the beginning of a very long day.
It was now mid-afternoon and the platoons had been slinking by for hours now, setting out to achieve whatever objectives they had, one by one.
So far, Sakura's camp was quiet. No patients. No prisoners.
Such quiet could not last for long. Sakura re-organized a rack of medications for the tenth time, unable to sit still.
Michio reached out a hand to stop her. "You should relax."
Sakura flushed at being chastised by her junior, though she knew he was right.
"That was clever, with the oxen on the bridge," she said, eager to change the subject. "I'm not very good with animals."
Ton-Ton was the closest thing to a pet Sakura had ever had and the little pig vastly preferred Tsunade, Shizune, and even Naruto to Sakura.
"My parents are farmers," Michio said, his face turning a deep red and his prominent Adam's apple showing a gulp. "Animals are easy."
"Why aren't you a farmer then? You'd clearly make an excellent one."
"I'm the fifth son, and I was never much good at any sort of farming except the animals. And my brother Ichiro puts me to shame even there. There was no place for me at the farm, so they sent me to Konoha for some extra money. There was an incentive program."
"Did you live on your own when you were little?"
"No. Konoha provided group housing for the orphans and the others like me that nobody wanted, until we graduated."
"Well, you're wanted now," Sakura said, feeling awkward for prying. "I'm happy to have you on the team."
Michio smiled, the first one she'd seen reach his blue eyes that were usually plagued with uncertainty.
Just then, Tonbo burst into the tent.
"Five approaching from the north. Get two beds ready. They're carrying at least one."
It had begun.
After that, there was an endless onslaught of injured nin, both Konoha and Sound. Prisoners came as well, and they were bound and given over to the care of the Torture and Interrogation squad. Some were drugged to incapacitation; some were questioned first.
The wounded Sound were the most problematic. As planned, shinobi that had completed their objectives were eligible for commandeering to guard duty, and Sakura exercised that right freely.
Sakura had almost lost herself in the steady rhythm of it all when two men carried Tenten in, bleeding from a gaping hole in her stomach.
No. No. Not her. Sakura dove in, stealing the case from Tanaka, ignoring his hurt look and concentrating on assessing Tenten's wound.
She would not let Tenten die.
Stabilizing Tenten took Sakura hours. The wooziness that had been plaguing her all day suspended during Tenten's critical time, but it was now returning in full force. Sakura had already expended so much chakra that it left her weak-kneed.
"You spent too much time on her," Tanaka snapped from the next bed over. "You could have treated two more –"
Sakura almost buckled, splashing her gloved hand down into a pool of blood on the bed – Tenten's blood. "Are you questioning me?"
Sakura's nostrils flared as she cursed herself – stupid question. Of course he was questioning her. Even saying it made her look weak.
"Change these sheets," Sakura said too Emi, perhaps too harshly, but the girl scrambled to obey.
Furiously, Sakura scrubbed herself clean. Looking down at the soap and not at Tanaka, she said, "The time was necessary. She would have been horribly scarred otherwise."
He scoffed. "So what? She'd be alive, and maybe so would that last Sound nin that came in on his last legs. Cosmetics don't matter. Not today."
Sakura whirled around. "Cosmetics? Is that what you think?"
"What else would I think? I –"
"Should keep your nose out of shinobi affairs," Sakura snarled, and then immediately felt guilty. More calmly, she said, "Scars like that mark her as a fighter and could kill her in the field. For kunoichi, there are certain standards –"
Tanaka drew his shaking hands away from his patient. "So I'm not qualified to treat women now, is that it? That's why you broke the protocol you put in place?"
Sakura's stomach sunk. So that's what this was about: Tanaka was angry she took his case from him. He perceived it as a slight, a reflection on his abilities. The worst part was that she had no good answer for him. She had treated Tenten for personal reasons, the exact reasons she should not have treated Tenten.
"Kito," Sakura said, voice gentle. "You're qualified to treat anyone. I just didn't have time to explain about the scars."
"How long would that have taken?"
"It happened so fast. I'm sorry."
At the apology, his shoulders relaxed and he nodded. "We're all tired."
So she was a terrible leader – as if that wasn't news – but at least Tanaka would probably forgive her, eventually. Sakura fell into a seat, accepting the ration bar that Emi offered without a word, thanking whomever was watching over her and Tenten that it wasn't miso-flavored. Her moment of peace did not last long. Michio cried out, thumping the chest of a patient.
The room went silent as any medics and guards that could spare their eyes watched Michio shock the chest of the man on his table, pumping his palms into the patient again and again. After what seemed like an eternity, Michio stopped moving, bowing his head.
"He's dead."
The words spurred Sakura into action, and she sprinted over to the dead patient. She released the breath she was holding when she realized he was a Sound nin. Hoisting the corpse over her shoulder, she brought it outside.
"I'll put him with the others."
She lay the body among the others from Sound, a few other lost patients and bodies recovered from battles for the disposal of Konoha's choice. It seemed Tonbo's team would have to exercise the other part of their duties after all.
Miraculously, there were no casualties from Konoha yet.
As if Sakura's thoughts had summoned her, Ami approached with a body slung over her back, both of them hard to identify for a layer of mud coating them. The dirt clearly showed tear tracks down Ami's cheeks and Sakura's stomach sunk.
"I tried, Sakura. I saw them ambush him – I ran, but – I killed them all, Sakura. Every single one. But it doesn't matter."
Ami handed Sakura the body as carefully as if it was a newborn baby.
"It's Minoru, Sakura. They killed him."