AN: Note that I do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or any of the characters from either Anime. This work is a fanfiction written out of my love for the series and not in any attempt to make a profit.
Proofread by: Author
I wish to let people know that I've done a small edit to the previous chapter after a review pointed out the absence of Sakura's consideration to use summons. It was a reasonable review, and I realized I had neglected to include anything about the summons, while it at least deserved a mention as being considered, as I did actually consider Sakura using summons in both the fight and when trying to reach Sasuke. So, an edit was made. Not that it changes things all that much.
I completely rewrote this chapter after my first draft, yet somehow, finished it all about an hour faster than I usually do… Oh well.
Chapter 93: The same, yet on center stage
Even while unconscious, Sakura wasn't thrown into a dreamless sleep. While she had overexerted her body, her mind was merely shaken. As such, as her body fell unconscious, she opened her eyes to the blackness of her mindscape, Heikō already there to meet her.
"Sakura… I'm sorry." Heikō told her with remorse while hanging her head in shame. Sakura could understand why Heikō felt that way but shrugged it off. It wasn't as important at that moment as the onslaught of thoughts and memories it had caused.
Sakura could barely focus on Heikō, as the day replayed through her mind since the beginning of the attack. Each and every decision taken, influenced by their twisted nature felt like a blow to her conscience and mind. Sakura couldn't do anything but scream in pain and frustration as she tried to come to terms with what she had done. Yet, despite it all, she didn't blame Heikō.
Heikō might not be her, but they were still part of the same being, and Sakura could understand that Heikō merely acted with the best of intentions. Certainly, she had caused them to act in a manner that contradicted their nature, but the decision had been born from the conflict of morals and interest. Sakura wanted to be able to fight and protect Konohagakure as the Shinobi she aspired to be, and thanks to Heikō's decision, that was exactly what they had accomplished. However, now that the moment was over, all Sakura could do was feel sick over what she had become during that time. Not to mention, how Heikō's manipulation of who they were, had begun to slip and affect their decision making in ways Heikō hadn't expected.
The removal of their hesitation to kill. It was an important step to take as a Shinobi as one fought other Shinobi, or went on missions where death was an important step of said mission. However, Sakura had been born and raised as a civilian, and like many civilian born children, she struggled with the idea. Her morals told her that killing was wrong. It was a reasonable way to think, and the laws of Konohagakure supported the idea. Yet, at the same time, the rule only applied partly to Shinobi.
Enemies were supposed to be captured or killed. However, the boundary of when it was ideal to kill or capture was blurred in the best of cases, much like how it was when it came to the legal system of Konohagakure. The death penalty existed but was discouraged, as it was considered more humane to allow someone to live and atone for their sins instead. When defeating an enemy, at what point should one kill, and at what point should one show mercy? For a given definition of mercy, as a captured enemy would undoubtedly end up with the Torture and Interrogation department. Reasonably, a living prisoner was more useful, but also more dangerous, so while bringing enemies in alive was preferable, in the heat of battle, when fighting multiple opponents, or when you were unable to retrieve the defeated enemy, killing them made more sense, which was where Sakura's morals began to clash with her reason.
Sakura had thought that she had come to terms with the idea of killing back in the Forest of death. She had killed an Otogakure Shinobi after all, and while she had struggled with it at first, she was now over it. Yet, here she was, again, struggling with it, and it didn't make sense!
"It's because, in the Forest of death, we rationalized it as an accident. In some ways, it was better for us, in others, worse." Heikō spoke up, explaining, as she had been able to read Sakura's thoughts like an open book.
Brought out of her frantic thoughts as Heikō spoke up, Sakura glared in Heikō's direction, only to soften her gaze as Heikō flinched back as if struck. "And this time, it was deliberate, yet not entirely what I would have done." Sakura accused, a bit surprised by the hostility in her own voice. Heikō nodded sadly in response.
"It wasn't ideal. But it was for our survival, for the village." Heikō reasoned, making Sakura sigh as she forced herself to relax. She understood Heikō's reasoning, but her emotions just wouldn't go away. She felt angry, scared, confused, regretful, and even betrayed, yet she understood Heikō's decision as a rational one, if risky and stupid. She still trusted Heikō.
Stuffing her thoughts away to be dealt with later, Sakura reached out to sense their surroundings and noted how she was laying down next to Sasuke, while Naruto stood nearby, while Hinata was looking her over for injuries together with a dog.
Naruto was looking worriedly at Karin, who was being held up against the trunk of a tree by Gaara's sand arm, while he seemed to be experiencing some kind of mental pain, keeping distracted enough that he didn't simply crush Karin.
The scene worried Sakura greatly, as she began struggling in an attempt to wake up, until Heikō stopped her, by putting a hand on her shoulder.
"It's no use. Our body isn't in a state where we can wake up with our own power right now. We're recovering thanks to our Senjutsu chakra, but that's about it." Heikō informed her, and Sakura felt useless again.
Sasuke had been the one fighting Gaara head-on. He had managed to actually hurt Gaara while fighting him all on his own, while all she had been able to do was irritate and distract Gaara. And now that she and Sasuke were down, Naruto was the one there to take over. Once again, Sakura felt like she wasn't contributing.
"Dammit, why is it like this? Why aren't we strong enough to help, to protect them?!" Sakura demanded to know, but Heikō didn't have an answer for her. For a moment, they simply sat in complete silence, until something drew Heikō's attention.
"What is she doing?" Heikō asked, prompting Sakura to pay attention and notice that Hinata looked ready to attack them using the Hyuuga clan's taijutsu.
Unable to protect themselves, Sakura tried to figure out what the hell might be going on as Hinata struck their body multiple times. It stung and hurt as she felt Hinata's chakra pierce their body, helpless to stop it. However, as Hinata seemed to be finishing whatever it was she had been doing, Sakura and Heikō suddenly both felt a significant change.
Suddenly, the Senjutsu chakra that had been slowly flowing through their chakra system began to accelerate, distributing itself evenly across their body and restoring them faster.
Comprehension dawned on Sakura and Heikō as they felt Hinata smile at her handiwork, panting lightly from exertion after having opened all of their three-hundred and sixty-one chakra nodes.
"Well, I think that will do it," Heikō told Sakura with a chuckle, before slapping her on the back. Before Sakura could even realize what Heikō meant, she found herself jerking up into a sitting position, while taking a deep breath. She could feel her blood flowing at an accelerated rate, making her own body feel uncomfortably warm. Blinking in surprise for a moment, Sakura then nodded at the surprised Hinata in thanks.
"Thank you, Hinata," Sakura told her, before immediately standing up, knowing the situation was dire. Hinata nodded in acceptance before turning to look over Sasuke's injuries. Fortunately, Gaara was still trembling in pain, holding his head, while still holding Karin hostage.
"He hasn't enveloped her in his sand. She's merely being pinned to the tree. If we can take down the tree, she could escape." Heikō suggested, giving Sakura something to focus on besides the bad memories that had overwhelmed her a few moments earlier.
"Naruto, Hinata. We need to free Karin. Can either of you make the tree she's pinned against fall? Preferably quickly, in a way that doesn't give Gaara time to react?" Sakura asked in a whisper, only for Hinata to shake her head, and Naruto about to follow suit, only to stop himself.
"I can use the Rasengan, but it takes too long for me to make it. And I need a clone to do it as well." He told them, making Sakura frown. She had seen the destruction the Rasengan could cause, but she couldn't understand why Naruto needed a clone to perform it. Jiraiya had never implied it to be impossible to perform on your own. Unfortunately, it was neither the time nor place to question Naruto about his new technique.
"Either of you has an explosive tag then? Karin and I used all of ours up, but we should be able to use one to blow the base of the tree." Sakura suggested, chiding herself for having used all of her explosives tags earlier. Although, the idea had been that it was better to go overkill, than waste all their tags on something that might turn out to be too weak.
"No, sorry." Hinata apologized, hanging her head for a moment, before correcting herself and instead resumed looking over Sasuke, while Gaara continued to tremble and hold his head.
"Me neither. Sorry." Naruto apologized, without turning to look at Sakura, staring intently at Gaara, too scared to move, as it might trigger Gaara to hurt Karin.
Without any explosive tags to help them, the most reasonable backup would be Naruto's Rasengan. Unfortunately, Naruto couldn't perform it out in the open and risk drawing Gaara's attention. Deciding to try an idea, Sakura carefully, slowly walked up behind Naruto, only to startle as Gaara suddenly looked up in their direction.
"What's the matter? Weren't you gonna run away?" Gaara teased them knowing full well that he had them on the ropes while holding Karin hostage.
While Sakura had come up with a plan, she found her progress now impeded by Gaara, as he would be able to see her attempting to coordinate with Naruto as he now looked straight at them. Something he would likely try and prevent if he realized what Sakura was trying to do.
"Sakura… Naruto…" Karin managed to whisper weakly, despite seemingly having been knocked unconscious. The whisper being barely loud enough for them to hear in the dead silence that had settled after all the nearby wildlife had scattered from the earlier fighting going on.
"What is she to you?" Gaara suddenly demanded of Naruto, glaring at him intently, unclear of what exactly he was trying to get out of Naruto with the question. However, the question prompted Naruto to suddenly stop trembling in fear and respond in confidence.
"S-she's my friend! We're all friends! Try laying as much as a finger on her, and we'll clobber you!" Naruto declared, pointing at Gaara dramatically with his declaration. Unfortunately, his response only seemed to anger Gaara, prompting him to press his sand arm onto Karin, which made her scream out in pain as he began crushing her for a moment, before stopping, leaving Karin unconscious again.
"So… what's the matter?! Weren't you going to clobber me?" Gaara demanded to know, aggravated. "Hurry up and come at me!" Gaara taunted Naruto.
Sakura saw Naruto's hands clench. She tried to reach out in horror, to stop him from making a mistake, but already felt that she was too late as Naruto jumped towards Gaara, with a shout. "Damn it!"
Horrified, Sakura decided that she needed to act, and shot forward herself, although, not towards Gaara, but towards Karin, as she once again, reached inwardly for the Natural energy, and her connection to the surrounding, seemingly endless source of it, before channeling a small, seemingly insignificant amount of it that she felt she could handle without harming herself, and channeled it into her arm, punching at Gaara's sand arm, before attempting to grab Karin, and bring her with her as she jumped back towards Hinata.
Fortunately, Karin came loose from the sand gripping her, as it lost its form, falling apart as the sand where Sakura had hit the arm had turned into gravel and lost coercion, allowing Sakura to pull Karin out, while Gaara turned towards her with a murderous look, batting Naruto away with his tail, almost like an afterthought, and Sakura realized that Gaara had now set his eyes on her as his primary opponent.
AN: Heh, so Sakura didn't stay down for long… Well, it's largely thanks to Hinata. Essentially, Hinata did the opposite of what Neji did to Naruto during the Chūnin exams in canon. Instead of completely closing all the chakra nodes in the body, Hinata opened them all and allowed Sakura's chakra to flow more freely, revitalizing, and stimulating her body to recover faster. Something only a Hyuuga would be able to do, due to their Kekkei Genkai and unique fighting style.
Also, yes, Sakura had a mini-freak-out that she managed to suppress, but it is not forgotten, and will likely have a far more severe reaction later on, where Sakura doesn't have an immediate threat looming over her and her friends to distract her.
