Sakura sat in a chair outside of the critical care section and fought against the urge to cry. She had delivered Sasuke to the hospital, where it took only a moment for the medic on duty to rush him him off to the chakra illness ward. Nobody forbade her from entering… but nobody permitted it either, and Sakura knew well enough that getting in the way of a healer at the wrong time could cause disaster.
Since she had arrived, she had seen Kakashi, the woman with the purple hair from the exams, and the Hokage himself enter the ward, as well as several others she was not familiar with. But they were experienced, and she was not. She waited.
Nearly an hour later, a nurse stopped in her rounds to let Sakura know that she would be permitted to visit the next day, and encouraged her to go home. At a loss, feeling useless, she did so. She went home, had a very small meal, and then retired to a long and sleepless night.
The first light of dawn found her waiting patiently in the visitor's room. The same nurse from the other day, now wearing a light jacket as she headed for the front door, actually turned around the moment she saw Sakura and clocked back in to take the girl to her friend.
And yet, as early as she was, she was not the first to see Sasuke that day.
She jumped slightly, her hands heading for her kunai pouch, when she opened the door and saw the ANBU, Weasel, standing over Sasuke and watching him. The moment she arrived, he walked over to her and leaned in. "We're not sure how he is right now. Something tried to influence his mind, and something else got in the way, possibly that seal on his neck. Be on guard, just in case." He gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder, then with a final glance at Sasuke, left.
In hindsight, Sakura might have found it odd for an ANBU to be visiting in uniform. But that thought was brushed aside as she stepped over to the bedside and looked down on her teammate and friend.
He was not resting well. His arms and legs had been strapped to the bed, and periodically he would thrash slightly in his restraints before growing calm. He gritted his teeth periodically, as if in some unbearable pain.
Curious, Sakura carefully lifted his head to one side and looked at the seal on his neck. Each time he struggled, the seal would spin, eventually slowing to a stop when he ceased moving. She sat back, then jumped when someone laid a hand on her shoulder. She spun, instinctively lashing out at whoever had managed to sneak up on her, and then froze when the Hokage caught her fist. He did not look offended, and waved away her stammered apology to focus on the Uchiha.
"Tell me, Sakura, what do you think is happening?"
She took a moment to order her thoughts, then said, "I think the seal is hurting him, possibly mentally. Every time he pushes and fights, the seal starts to spin, and it stops when he does. "
The Hokage nodded to himself, then gently leaned over and turned Sasuke's head to show her the seal. "Watch closely," he said quietly, and together they stood quietly for a few minutes until Sasuke started to clench and strain again.
Sakura frowned.
The seal started spinning after Sasuke started to move.
The Hokage nodded when he saw her narrow her eyes, and he let Sasuke's head slump back into place. "Yes," he said, stepping back slightly. "The seal, according to everyone I have gathered and questioned about it, seems to be helping Sasuke. There is a foreign chakra flowing through his system that regularly triggers an episode. Every time it does, the seal starts up and absorbs some of the chakra until the effect ends. Every time this happens, the overall amount of foreign chakra goes down. We expect it to be gone some time tonight."
Sakura listened to his explanation with more and more confusion, until she finally blurted out, "But why is it doing that? That's the seal Orochimaru put on him, the one he attacked Ino to apply. Why would it be so... helpful?"
"I do not know," the Hokage replied, shaking his head. "There is little my former student does that makes sense to me any more. He leaves here in disgrace for doing terrible deeds, comes back as the leader of a hidden village, and is polite. Even friendly, at times. And I cannot imagine why he would do so. He gives Sasuke a seal that makes the boy better at resisting… well."
He must have noticed the look on Sakura's face, because he took a moment to give her a smile. "What matters for now, Sakura, is that Sasuke is slowly recovering from an attack that can leave permanent mental impairment, in a way that clearly indicates he will likely be fine. For now, let us focus on that. Just keep an eye on him, both for damage… and for danger. You understand?"
Sakura nodded, a grimace on her face. Sasuke had just suffered a mental attack that could make him dangerously unbalanced… and then started healing with the help of an unknown seal. He could come out of this dangerous to himself, to others… even her, and as much as it hurt to admit it, she knew her duty.
The Hokage nodded again, his own face grim, but he managed a small smile. "You've been cleared to stand by for his awakening. In many cases, victims of such effects need a calming and trusted influence when they come to." He gave one final glance at Sasuke, then turned and opened the door. "Goodnight, Sakura."
He didn't wait for her to reply, which suited her fine as she turned back to her fallen friend and watched him silently.
The first sign Sakura had that Sasuke had awoken was the sensation of cold steel pressed to her throat from where she sat, her upper torso resting on the bed where she had fallen asleep. Her eyes snapped open and immediately took in the empty bed, and she could feel the slight difference in the weight of her equipment pouch to explain the presence of a weapon.
She clamped down on her instinct to struggle and instead did her best to remain calm. She could hear his breathing, ragged and fast, and the weapon trembled slightly against her throat.
"Easy, Sasuke. Easy. It's okay. It's me."
A rough hand grabbed her hair and pressed down on her head slightly, restraining her. "That's what you always say. Then Itachi will detonate the tag, or stab through you to get to me… or control you to try to kill me. Either way, it always ends the same."
"I'd never kill you, Sasuke."
"You never had the chance," he replied coldly.
She felt the blade press slightly harder against her neck and acted. Her hand shot out and grabbed the kunai by the blade, hand clamping firmly in place. Sasuke pressed harder, and her fingers began to bleed, but without momentum, he was not strong enough to cut through against the strength of her chakra-enhanced grip.
"Sasuke, you need to stop," she said coldly. "I won't let you kill me, or anyone else, regardless what you went through. And if you do manage to kill me, Kieri already knows to hunt you down before you hurt anyone else."
She began to push the blade away from her neck, and was surprised to find no resistance to her efforts. She stood and whirled away, looking at her teammate in the meager light of the moon through the curtain. He was standing still, having already backed a few steps away, and while the blade was still in his hand, he held it to his side as if forgotten.
"Sakura… who is Kieri?" His voice trembled as he spoke.
She held her hands away from her body, palms up, not daring to move. "She's my cat, and my primary summon. I actually asked her not to be here to make sure she didn't over-react if this happened."
He dropped the knife and staggered over to the hospital bed, sitting on the edge with his back to her. "I want to believe you're real… The illusions of you never had Kieri with her, and never really fought back. I… I can't believe you would not fight back. Not even against me. Especially me."
Sakura slowly approached, and when Sasuke didn't react, she reached out and laid an arm across his shoulders, which caused him to flinch. She leaned against him slightly, then noticed something that made her wonder if she was in an illusion now.
Sasuke was crying. He didn't sob or gasp for air. In truth, he was eerily silent. But there was no mistake when the tears began to fall down his cheeks. He slumped even further, his head bowed down in exhaustion.
"He killed you," he said quietly, little more than a whisper filtered through his tears. "He killed you, and Kakashi… every civilian on the street, every shinobi that tried to help, the Hokage, the Council… everyone. He killed you all, right in front of me, over and over again. Everyone was powerless against him… Even me. Especially me." He took a deep shuddering breath, a gasp for air.
"He had me kill everyone. It… it was an accident… but that didn't make you any less dead. I'd stab him in the neck, and watch Kakashi struggle to hold back the blood. I stabbed him in the gut, then held you and watched you die a slow and painful death, forgiving me with your very last breath."
Then the tears stopped, and Sasuke lifted his head to look at Sakura, his sharingan activated. With his bright crimson eyes standing out in the dark his visage became more than a little terrifying, all the more so when she noticed that his eyes now had three tomoe each, fully activated for the first time. "And each time, he asked me the same question. Over and over again. 'Are you so sure the illusion isn't over already?' he'd ask. Every time I failed to save someone. Every time I killed the wrong person. Every. Time."
"How long were you in there?" she asked.
"Sixty-eight hours. I… I know a little of what he's done. I made sure to count down, once I caught on. Worst case, I've got four more hours to go."
Sakura nodded and quietly got up. After a quick search, she sat down next to him again, leaned over, and placed a small clock on the bedstand. "We'll wait five hours, just to be sure."
Hiruzen opened the door to the hospital room quietly to find the two genin sleeping, still leaning against each other. He smiled to himself and started to close the door.
"Hokage-sama," said Sasuke quietly.
Hiruzen opened the door a bit and looked at the young man.
"When I am released," Sasuke said, keeping his body perfectly still, even his head still slumped to one side, "I wish to speak to you about something."
"What about?"
Sasuke smirked, perfectly aware of what might sound like a return to form. "Training," he said quietly, before he shut his eyes again. Within moments, he began to breath deeply, in meditation or in sleep.
Hiruzen smiled and shut the door quietly.
Sasuke shut his eyes for a moment, breathing slowly, and then opened them again to glance at the clock. I remember hitting the five hour mark clearly, he thought to himself. Sakura kept me awake. Told stories. Gossip. Bad jokes. Whatever it took.
He didn't want to admit it, but her presence had been tolerable, and even pleasant. He still had no interest in the chattering gossip she still partook upon, and little in the way of a sense of humor… but she knew that, and adapted to it. Her gossip was less about who was dating whom, and more about what weird training Lee was doing nowadays, or how Ino was shaping up in her taijutsu, or whatever Tenten did that wrecked half of training ground nine in a hellish explosion that left bits of iron embedded in the ground for four hundred feet. Her jokes were less about punchlines, and more about Kakashi getting punched, which was often deserved as well as amusing.
The stories… those had been about her, and her family, and her old friends, and other drivel that Sasuke cared nothing about but still found himself listening to anyhow. He didn't feel angry at wasting his time listening to her talk, nor did he feel resentful that she had family where he did not. Just hearing her talk about the drab realities of her life was a comfort. Dead teammates don't tell stories.
Breathing quietly as he started to drift back into sleep, his mind drifted back to the textbook Kakashi had given him on genetics.
The genes for green eyes were recessive to the genes for black eyes.
It took several days before Sasuke was deemed fit to leave the hospital, but within a half hour of being discharged, he and Sakura were standing before the Hokage and Kakashi. Both stood strong, almost defiant in their body language, and while the Hokage had an impressive poker face, Kakashi looked aggrieved, at the very least.
"Say that again," said Kakashi.
"It's time to disband Team Seven," said Sakura.
Hiruzen leaned forward. "Explain," he said, his face still emotionless.
"We're down a man," said Sasuke, frowning slightly. "Gaara has become more stable since he and Naruto switched, but he is nowhere near ready for active duty, I think. This means we're short-handed, and we'll either get a new genin assigned to us, or be relegated to D-rank missions until who knows when."
"Besides," said Sakura with a smirk, glancing at the Hokage, "we've been seeing an increase in assignments. You could probably use Kakashi as something more than a glorified babysitter. At least he would not be getting paid to read on the job."
"Hey," said Kakashi, huffing theatrically as Hiruzen repressed a snort. "I'm right here, you know."
Sakura nodded and shot Kakashi a nasty grin. "And in the last week, I've seen you ejected from Asuma's house, ejected forcefully from Anko's, locked up twice by T&I, and been kneed in the groin by Kurani in an admittedly beatific manner. You're bored, sensei, and breaking in another genin will drive you and us both into madness." She looked back to the Hokage, and her grin faded. "Besides… Sasuke and I both know what we need to do next."
This got a look of surprise from Hiruzen, who glanced at Kakashi and noticed the man was just as surprised. So they didn't tell him this in advance. They must have spent Sasuke's time in the hospital discussing things. He focused on Sakura. "And what is that, Sakura?"
Sakura seemed to slump slightly, closing her eyes and letting out a long breath, but when she opened them again, her stare was as hard as iron. "I intend to begin training for T&I, and would like to gain your blessing and recommendation."
"Sakura," said Kakashi hesitantly, worry evident in his tone and face, "T&I means Torture and Interrogation. It is… not a gentle field of study, on the body or the mind. I would not wish that duty to fall to myself, never mind my student."
Sakura did not look offended, but instead gave Kakashi a warm smile. That warmth was somewhat ruined, however, by the fire in her eyes. "I understand and appreciate the warning, but someone will someday have to take on that duty, and I suspect I'll be better at it than most of the alternatives.
Hiruzen considered her words carefully, keeping his face still as he did so. Of her age group, only Nara Shikamaru is smarter, and he is certainly more suited to code breaking and organization. Aburame Shino might manage to have the right aura of disinterest, but once the shock of immediacy wears off, most of his techniques and skills are unsuited to long term interrogation. And while Yamanaka Ino might have her father's skill in mind jutsu, her nature does not seem fitting for the more... vigorous duties in T&I.
He sighed and nodded. "I will send word to Morino Ibiki and suggest your candidacy for T&I training. Passing the test he gives you will be your own concern." He ignored the angry glare Kakashi was aiming at him and turned to Sasuke. "And what do you intend to seek?"
Sasuke stepped forward, then dropped to his knees and pressed his head to the floor. "Teach me, Hokage-sama."
Hiruzen chuckled and told the boy to stand. "I'm not a young man," he said once Sasuke was facing him again. "I may not be able to teach you as much as you might think. Most of my techniques have been taught to others. They can teach you to fight as well as I could."
"You're still a strong warrior, and I would enjoy learning your skills, but that's not my only purpose," said Sasuke, his usual stern appearance firmly in place. "I want you to teach me to lead. Someday, I will have a clan, and I want to be prepared to avoid the pitfalls of my ancestors. Someday, I will likely have command over others, and I want to be prepared to guide them as well as I can. And someday, Kakashi will have to pass that hat."
"To you?" asked Kakashi, his tone playful.
"To… someone else, I think." Sasuke let a fond grin spread across his face, and found it felt good. "And when he gets it, he'll need someone to help make sense of the mess you'll leave him."
"What of your brother?" asked Hiruzen, watching closely, alert to any sudden change in manner, and surprised to find the boy almost unfazed by the question. "A leader cannot put himself first. It might well be that your brother might escape unpunished, if your duties prevent you from acting. What then?"
Sasuke's grin faded, but he did not become the surly boy Hiruzen expected. There was a hint of anger in his tone, but far less than Hiruzen had expected. "Kakashi once asked me, 'Why listen to your brother's advice, when he's nothing but a traitor?' My brother's message has always been the same. Get strong. Get revenge. Over and over again. But he tipped his hand this time. He wants me to kill him for some reason, but I'll be damned if I let him direct my life like that. If I get the chance, I'll gladly end his life… but I will not discard my own to find it, and I will not risk the deaths of others for something so small as vengance."
Hiruzen went quiet and looked at Kakashi, who was looking rather surprised, and a little pensive. He then stood and walked around his desk to stand before Sasuke, placing a hand on the young man's shoulder. "I will train you," he said quietly, looking at Sasuke sadly, "If that is what you truly want. But before you make that decision, there is something you must know…" He leaned in and whispered something in the boy's ear.
After a moment, Sasuke leaned back, anger and disappointment warring on his face. Sakura could see something else in her friend's face as well, a sort of acceptance, like preparing to take a bitter but vital medicine. She placed her hand on Sasuke's other shoulder and got a pained smile from him before he took a deep breath and let it out.
Hiruzen nodded carefully. "That is the price you pay, to be a leader. You often carry burdens so others do not have to. Is that still what you want?"
Sasuke felt like he should be angry, but found that his once-constant fury had deserted him. Even after Kakashi had pushed him away from his obsession, it simmered in the back of his mind, always present, counting down the seconds as get worked and struggled and fought to get that much closer to that final confrontation. And now…
My brother is not a traitor.
"I… I will want to know the full story," he finally said.
Hiruzen nodded, and it was not lost to Sasuke that the old man looked as sad as he felt.
A/N: Whew. Nothing kills one's efforts like a combination of 50+ hours a week on top of writer's block. I apologize if this chapter skips time frequently, but I found that I could not make the parts between interesting enough to write out. This is a short chapter, as I suspect I'll be covering all three members of Team Seven separately from here.
In general, the pre-timeskip era is drawing to a close. My intention is to do a series of "filler" adventures to show the characters training and growing, before we get back to significant plot.
Oh, and I've seen it pop up a few times, so I'll answer directly: Itachi is not female in this story. It was a henge.
Sorry this one is short. Wanted to get the set up out of the way so I can work on something actually interesting ^_^.
General Review Statement: If you need to say in your review, "I hope you don't take this personally," stop. Right there. Your ideas may be sound, but your delivery is going to be terrible, and if you type that or anything similar, you're self aware enough to know better. If you use a descriptor commonly used as an insult (Stupid, Ignorant, Moronic), you imply not that the work has some sort of inconsistency, but that the writer is incompetent.
Disagree with my writing? Sure. That's life. But when you say things like "that's stupid," you're demonstrating the assumption that you are absolutely correct. As in, you are correct as a matter of fact, impossible to contradict. If you believe your views to be and absolute truth on anything that is not based on mathematically definable science or recorded evidence, I have some bad news. Your ego is showing, and you might want to tuck it back in before we see it. Ghastly thing, wiggling in the breeze. Zip it up!
Kiara Benihime mentions that in canon, Sasuke unlocked his sharingan because of the massacre, but did not remember. I admit, I never saw that episode, wherever it was, but it reeks of "author's saving throw," to me. Either way, it's not directly relevant to the story as far as I can tell, so I'll pass on inserting it, but thanks for the information.
TiamatisObscure requested I broaden Shino's skill repertoire, as he kinda got shuffled into the "Bigger Jutsu" career path in canon. Rest assured, it'll (probably) happen.
Dude. Ackackackackackack.
Jatok comments about Naruto leaning about his parentage, but Sasuke not learning about Itachi. Umm… Tahdaaaaa! Just had to wait for the right time.
Um the Muse pointed out that the math is wrong way back in chapter 8. I could have sworn I fixed that literally years ago, but I guess not. I'll try to get that fixed.
Phunbaba mentioned it might have been interesting to see something really out of the blue, like Sasuke getting crippled fighting Lee. I considered such things a few times. Considered that scenario. Considered Ino getting murderhoboed during her failure in the forest. Considered having Neji scar Hinata, Zuko style, before he pulled his head out of his backside (that's actually the seed of their fight). Considered literally killing Naruto in the fight against Gaara, just to anger readers (but it didn't fit the rest of the plot.) In the end, horrible mutilation took my story in a far darker direction than I wanted to go, so I passed.
