WHEREVER YOU ARE
Haruno Sakura, daughter to one of Konoha's heroes. Uchiha Sasuke, Chuunin, who might just be more of a disgrace to his Clan than his brother. Sakura knew going on this mission with him would be a mistake. That she would fall in love with him all over again, and the worst part was - she was right.
Road to Ninja Universe. SasuSaku.
Chapter 22 – Daylight
"There are so many lines that I've crossed, unforgiven.
I'll tell you truth, but never, "Goodbye".
I don't wanna look at anything else now that I saw you,
I don't wanna think of anything else now that I thought of you."
The purple barrier going up near the Hokage Tower had Sakura leaping up from the bench, her arm was mostly healed and she could move her fingers, although it caused her some pain. Kiba was at her side in an instant. "Is that for Menma?"
Kiba shook his head, sniffing the air. "No, Menma and Sasuke's mom are over by the village gate now."
Sakura looked over and sure enough, there was now a massive hole in the wall next to Konoha's main gate.
"Then who is the barrier for?" Judging by the colour, Sakura was sure it was an Ino-Shika-Cho barrier. Kiba sniffed the air again and then he seemed to hesitate, his face going blank.
"Kiba?"
"It's nothing." He looked away.
"Kiba." Sakura grabbed his arm and forced him to turn back to her. "What is it?"
Kiba blew out a heavy breath. "I smell blood, ok?"
Sakura took a step back as her heart sank. There was only one reason why Kiba would hesitate to tell her. "A lot?"
He shrugged. "Yeah." Kiba paused, "Sakura, I don't think it's a good idea for you to go back there righ-"
"Who is it? Say it."
"Sakura, please."
Sakura didn't wait for him to say anything more, she took off – back in the direction of the Hokage Tower. Kiba cursed loudly before taking off after her. "Sakura, wait!"
For Kiba to smell the blood this far... Sakura bit down on her lip to stop it from shaking, fear making her heart beat irregularly. Sakura felt suffocated. She needed to get there. She needed to heal whatever injuries he'd sustained.
You said you wouldn't die.
Sakura gave a strangled gasp as she rounded the corner. Kakashi was standing next to Sasuke supporting his weight. Blood was running down from underneath Sasuke's vest and his head hung low. Kakashi saw her first, his eyes widening. Sakura wasn't sure what he must've seen. Her arm still hanging a bit limply at her side, caked in blood. Kakashi's chin dipped and Sakura was sure he said something to Sasuke because he looked up. Eyes clashing with hers and Sakura couldn't take it, she took off, not stopping until she reached them. Her hands went to his face automatically, "What happened?" she breathed.
"This?" Sasuke's breathing was uneven. "I'm fine."
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Shut up." Her voice broke on the words.
Sakura's hands went to the zip of his vest and Sasuke wheezed a chuckle out. "Sakura, you know I don't mind you taking my clothes off, but here? Now?"
Kakashi elbowed his side and Sasuke grunted. "Thank you," Sakura told her sensei, zipping down Sasuke's vest. Her gaze went to Sasuke's, "I'll take your clothes off when this is done."
Sasuke's lids dropped a little. "Is that a promise?"
Sakura grinned and then slid her good hand down his chest to where she felt his biggest injury. Talking to him like this had managed to settle her heart a little. She began to do some first-aid on the wound, her chakra lighting the space between them.
Kakashi made a noise and sniffed. Both Sasuke and Sakura looked at him. "You two." He said, voice a little wobbly, "I just…I'm so happy."
"Don't overreact Kakashi, it's annoying." Sasuke said, but he did smile a little.
Sakura managed to stop the bleeding, but closing the wound would require both hands. "Put him down," she said to Kakashi and he slowly lowered Sasuke down, who grunted and hissed as they maneuvered him onto his back. Sakura used a kunai to cut open his shirt to reveal the wound on his chest. It was smaller than she assumed but would definitely scar since she couldn't do precise healing.
"Sasuke." She began eyes moving from the wound to his face.
"Yeah?"
"Because of my arm…I don't think I can close it perfectly."
"So what does that mean?"
"You'll most likely be left with a pretty nasty scar."
"Shit," Sasuke said looking away. "What the hell am I going to do now? It's already such a struggle for you to keep your hands off me."
Sakura huffed. "In your dreams." She forced her arm up and into place, hands together over his wound, gritting her teeth as she begun to heal him. Behind her, Kiba and Kakashi began to talk in low voices and Sakura closed her eyes, focusing on mending what she could. But she couldn't get over the nagging feeling that Sasuke was watching her though, so she tried to discreetly open one eye to peek at him – and yes, he was watching her. Sakura opened both eyes and looked at him. Sasuke's brows were creased and he had the most serious expression on his face.
"Sasuke?" Sakura whispered.
Sasuke cleared his throat, "I just….Thank you for being here for me, Sakura."
Sakura's eyes widened and she swallowed. "Always."
From behind them, Kiba grew louder and louder. "What? Are you serious?"
Sakura glanced back at them and Kakashi met her gaze. "Finish healing Sasuke. We'll talk after." He was unnaturally…serious and Sakura frowned, turning back to Sasuke. She closed his wound as best she could but it would most likely reopen if he did anything crazy. She warned him of that and he said he understood but she wasn't so sure he would take it easy. Not that she could expect him to, considering everything.
"Now." She said, helping Sasuke to his feet. "What the hell is going on?"
Kakashi began walking towards the Hokage Tower. "The best thing would be to show you."
"Kakashi-sensei-"
Sasuke slid his palm against hers, fingers gripping her. "Trust me. You need to see this, Sakura."
Kiba walked up ahead with Kakashi, refusing to look back.
"Sakura, the day you came in to ask Tsunade about leaving the village, do you remember what happened?" Kakashi asked and Sakura hesitated, frowning.
"Minato-san and Chouza-san were in the office when I arrived. Tsunade-sama seemed…troubled after they left." She recalled and Kakashi nodded. "You should know that Tsunade was aware of what the Uchiha Clan had been planning."
Was that why she let me leave the village so easily? Sakura glanced at Sasuke and as if he read her thoughts, he gave a small nod, squeezing her hand.
"Why are you telling me this?" Sakura asked.
"Because we're planning a counter-attack. And you are an important part of that." Kiba said, still not looking back at them.
"How am I-" Sakura froze. The barrier had come into view and a chill passed over her. "This isn't….this isn't real."
As if she'd sensed Sakura, Tsunade turned towards her. Sakura made a small sound at the back of her throat. Tsunade lifted a hand, pressing it to the barrier. Sakura nearly fell to her knees. This couldn't be real and it couldn't be fair. But it was really happening. She pushed herself up and took an unsteady step forward, and then another and then she was running, closing the distance between them, her cheeks wet with tears.
"Sakura." Tsunade said and Sakura's face crumbled, her shoulders shaking with tears. "I'm sorry."
Sakura shook her head, unable to form words. "If I'd trusted you," she looked over Sakura's shoulder at Sasuke who had just arrived. "Both of you. Things would have turned out differently."
Sasuke put a hand on Sakura's shoulder, a movement Tsunade didn't miss. To his surprise, her eyes softened. Tsunade looked at Sakura for a moment longer, almost as if she wanted to hug her, comfort her. But instead, she reigned it in, turning to the shinobi who were gathering around. The Akatsuki members, and Konoha shinobi. Most of the White Zetsu had gravitated towards where Mikoto and Menma were fighting, giving those here a chance to regroup. "Okay." Tsunade said, all business now. Sakura hiccupped, trying to stop her tears. "We have a few things to cover and not a lot of time." She indicated to Minato where he was supporting Kushina with an arm around her waist. "I've outlined the plan to Minato in case Black Zetsu decides to release edo tensei." Tsunade looked around. "Sakura, you did well recruiting Akatsuki. With them here, that makes what we need to accomplish so much easier."
Sakura managed a smile, nodding quickly.
"When I heard rumors of the Uchiha coup, I secretly had jounin I trust investigating it. When we discovered the experimentation, I asked Orochimaru to return to Konoha. What he found was much more complex than we first realized, dating back many years. In essence, mixing Uchiha and Senju blood resulted in the awakening of the Rinnegan. A rare and overly powerful doujutsu. The process was more complicated than just mixing the blood, of course and Mikoto was doing experimentation in secret to determine just how she could activate the Rinnegan. In herself." Tsunade glanced from Sasuke to Itachi. "As far as we know, she discovered how to do it. Which is why the coup happened when it did."
Sge then turned to Kakashi. "I leave Menma to you."
"Yes, Hokage-sama." And then he was gone. Tsunade briefly met Sasuke's eyes and then turned back to the rest of the shinobi. "It's unclear when or if Mikoto will awaken the Rinnegan, for now we proceed with the worst case scenario." She took a breath. "Chouji and Chouza have been developing this strategy for some time. Unfortunately, they didn't account for Menma. Despite the circumstances, Menma has been an asset in pushing Mikoto out of Konoha. So now, we can proceed to stage 2 of the plan."
"Kakashi-sensei said that I'm an important part of this. Why?" Sakura asked and Tsunade gave her a smile.
"I'm glad you asked. To summarize, we plan to seal Mikoto away, rather than killing her since there are too many unknowns. And then, Sakura, all of the shinobi loyal to Konoha will proceed with the acceptance that you are the Sixth Hokage."
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Thanks for the reviews!
Here is a teaser for chapter 23 – Everything I Wanted:
"I can't do this,"
"You were always meant for this."Thanks for reading!
- Zana-Lee