Final part.

Hiruzen sat in his office late at night, the time closely approaching midnight. It had been nearly a week since he had had his conversation or rather argument with Tsunade and still, the old Hokage found himself still horribly pissed off. But in that week between their last meet and now, the old Sarutobi man was starting to slowly doubt taking the woman's citizenship away. She was a key player in the power Konohagakure presented to the rest of the word. Once that gets out, countries might try to sway the woman towards their ranks which would turn Tsunade into the worse enemy they ever faced.

Actually, scratch that. Tsunade would die before she ever selflessly helped another village heal anyone other than herself. Hiruzen sunk in his chair, an angry expression crossing his features – he was just so furious at her. What forced Tsunade off into the deep-end with the selfish need to do no more than raising a finger at an issue? What made her outweigh her own hopeless, alcoholic lifestyle with that of the next prosperous generation? Was he the cause of this? Had he not been the best teacher he could be for her?

Well, that was definitely probable; he admits that he hadn't exactly paid the same attention towards either Tsunade and Jiraiya during his time as their teacher. Though, you couldn't really fault him. She'd taught herself most everything and had a mind that could outweigh Hiruzen's own on most days. The old Sarutobi man had often felt that he hadn't needed to teach her more than discipline and ninja basics. Maybe he was the cause for her selfishness, the need for attention that he never gave her.

Hiruzen reached for his pipe hidden amongst old papers and candy wrappers he hid around every now and then, using a simple fire jutsu over his fingertip to light the pipe. He drags in a desperate breath of cloudy air, letting it sink into the pores of his lungs before exhaling the cancerous smog. For good measure, he did it another two more times before letting himself think back to a conversation he and Jiraiya had once they left Tanzaku Quarters, left Tsunade.

He had been angrily ranting to his former student about Tsunade's behavior and his fear over what will become of Naruto when Jiraiya had started to speak.

"Hey, I don't mean to interrupt whatever this," Jiraiya made a circle motion with his hand, pointer finger sticking out towards his former teacher, "but I think now would probably be a good time to talk with you about something important." His voice was sheepish, a grin on his face with both of his large hands placed behind his neck. An aura of relaxation.

The eldest of the two whipped his face towards the man, dark narrowed eyes giving a murderous glare. "Oh?" His words held a dangerous tone, one that told anyone with any common sense not to say the wrong thing to him at this very moment in time.

The white-haired man sighed heavily, stopping in the middle of the forest. His eyes found a log on the ground, motioning with his head towards the large thing. "I think you might want to sit down for this," Jiraiya suggested.

Hiruzen crossed his arms, anger wafting off him in waves. "No thanks." He responded stubbornly, "I'll stand."

"Suit yourself." Jiraiya murmured before shaking himself a bit. His relaxed demeanor dropped instantly as if a switch had been flipped. His hands fell to his sides in a thump, dark eyes narrowing seriously with a gleam of something dangerous. His broad shoulders that were usually hunched a bit suddenly became straighter, back tightening with something that Hiruzen couldn't recognize.

In return, the Hokage's face fell, eyes taking in the posture and stance before him. His anger dissipated slightly, head cocking to the side with concern, "What is troubling you, Jiraiya?"

"I wasn't sure how to bring this up initially." He huffed out a chuckle, shaking his head, "When you had requested my presence for a little 'side-quest', I thought that, on the off-chance, we were going to discuss the new information that has suddenly come to life. Both were about Naruto so, I was almost positive that I wouldn't have to break the news like this, but I was wrong." Jiraiya sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he collected his next words. "Your's entitled something with Tsunade and war, but mine?" His eyes darkened a degree, "Mine is far worse compared to that."

"What is it?" Hiruzen asked slowly, the mention of Naruto making his back straighten completely. The older man's face hardened into one of resolve, one that wanted to get to the bottom of this.

"Well, as of the last six months, I've started to center a good eighty percent of my spy network in Amegakure." He explained loosely.

The graying-haired man furrowed his bushy eyebrows, "What for? That country is incredibly small. There isn't much there if I'm correct."

"Guess you're wrong then." Jiraiya shrugged slightly before proceeding, "Six months ago, a spy of mine came across what, at first, appeared to be a cult gathering. It actually turned out to be a large quantity of the country suddenly starting to praise a new kind of God and his angel of death arising from the rain and floods to protect Amegakure."

"What?!"

"Yeah, I know, crazy right?" The white-haired man scoffed out a laugh, looking into the forest, eyes glazing over a bit, "I told the spy to investigate some more and, as it turns out, there's no 'new God', only an incredibly powerful and incredibly dangerous criminal organization."

"What?!" All of the man's breath seemed to have suddenly left the Hokage as if someone had punched his lower abdomen. His voice became hushed with a certain kind of urgency in them, "Why did you not tell me of this sooner, Jiraiya?!"

He shook his head, looking back to his former teacher, "I was all the way across the country, Hiruzen, and I didn't trust any written word just in case one of those members found out that someone knew of their existence." His words seemed to have bothered the man, a grimace appeared on Jiraiya's face. "Look, I'm not trying to selfishly endanger the lives of my spies over this. The organization is dangerous, Hiruzen. And by that, I mean that they are out for world domination and... they might actually succeed in getting it if they're not stopped sooner rather than later."

The old Sarutobi man took a deep breath in, "What do you call them?"

"They call themselves the Akatsuki." Jiraiya stated solemnly, a serious gleam filling his dark eyes to the brim, "So far, from what I've gathered, they about a dozen members? I've heard that there is a chance that there might be more, but a dozen is a definite number." He suddenly sighed, rubbing the back of his neck in frustration. "I haven't exactly had much time to investigate further because, Hiruzen, when I say that they can disappear without a trace, I mean it."

"Really?"

"Yes." He nodded slowly, crossing his arms in frustration, "They are incredibly hard to track and getting any good insight on any of the individual members is harder than it seems."

"Well, do you have any insight at all?" Hiruzen raised an eyebrow, a hopeful gleam in his eye.

"Other than that, and that all members are bingo-book-listed S-Ranked criminals that once fell off the face of the Earth only to pop up in this very organization, then no, sorry." The white-haired man responded, sighing heavily as he leaned up against a tree, "But, that's only scratching the surface."

Hiruzen moved to sit down on the log, looking exasperated by this knowledge, "What else is there to go over?"

He eyed his former teacher for a moment before clearing his throat and continuing, "Three weeks ago, the head of the Amegakure Spy Unit I have over there was killed for investigating the Akatsuki. Before he was found out about and promptly killed, she wrote a coded message that could only be deciphered by myself and her assistant."

"And the message was... what?" Hiruzen motioned for his former student to get on with it.

Jiraiya looked directly into the older man's eyes, a serious tone flowing through his next words. "It was how the Akatsuki was going to take over the world," He held the stare, "and it doesn't look too good for Jinchuriki."

"It involves Naruto..." All the oxygen in the old man's lungs left him in a punch, throat clenching at the mere thought of the boy's life being endangered, "How?" His words wavered at the end, the man swallowing thickly around a clogged throat.

Jiraiya's face had a mixture of annoyance and frustration, the white-haired man crossing his arms over his chest, "Well, apparently, they have somehow created something that has the ability to extract a Bijuu out of a jailer. My spy said that the Akatsuki was going to use the nine different tailed-beast to somehow take over the world."

"How do they plan to do that?" Hiruzen ushered out quickly.

"Their plan is to kidnap all of the nine Jinchuriki scattered across the world and take their tailed-beasts. If I am to assume correctly, they should be going in order from one to nine – Naruto would be the last one taken, but that still means that he's in danger so long as the Akatsuki is out there." He looked up at the darkening sky – they would need to return to Konoha soon or risk staying overnight in the forest, "One thing I can almost guarantee is that the minute the Akatsuki start to go after the Jinchuriki, the entire world will suddenly know of their existence and villages are going to start keeping their Jinchuriki inside their walls. The Akatsuki is going to have a hard time getting to them."

Hiruzen was silent for quite some time before standing up abruptly, nearing startling his former student. "Jiraiya!" His face was fueled with anger, "You should have brought this up the minute the organization came to your attention!" He chastises, his face starting to pale minute by minute.

"You have to under that I didn't have enough information to give you." He belted out, "If I had told you immediately upon finding out about the Akatsuki without gathering any other bit of research, I could have misled you towards going after some petty criminal organization that was just selling drugs or weapons." The words seemed to have toned down Hiruzen's anger. "Instead," Jiraiya continued, "by waiting to say something, I found out that the Akatsuki is actually an organization that's wanting world domination by using the strongest creatures in the entire world."

"I see..." The older man mumbled out, "I understand you wanting to wait now and I apologize for being so... aggressive."

"Yeah." Jiraiya crossed his arms, giving his former teacher a good look, "I need more information about the Akatsuki if we ever hope to do anything damaging against them."

"Jiraiya, are you asking if you can leave the village again?" Hiruzen quirked his eyebrow up.

"Yes."

"Three months, Jiraiya." He held up three digits for emphasis, waggling his fingers a bit, "I want a report in three months about whatever you find, even if it's something completely mundane."

"Of course."

Hiruzen exhaled, watching with interest as the cloud of smoke dissipated in the air. "Life sure is shitty, isn't it?" No one was in the room to comment on that and he didn't expect anyone to. It was just another day in the life of a Hokage.

:::^^^^^:::

It was late when Sasuke had woken up with the urge to go to the bathroom. He had figured that he would quickly go pee and then head straight back to bed but, after finishing with his business, the Uchiha boy didn't feel as tired as he knew that should be. It had to be about two in the morning as he made his way towards the kitchen with the thought to have a cup of coffee to stir something in him if he really was about to stay up. Sasuke tried to keep quiet, being wary of the creaky stairs that would be sure to make lots of noise. Still, he had a mission and that was to get to the stove for some stove-heated coffee.

He had barely even touched the stove when he heard an odd scratching. The teenager's head spun in different directions, eyes wide and searching. He stiffened when the sound came again, this time from outside the door. Sasuke made sure to have a kunai in his palms as he crept over to the window, peeking behind the tattered, discolored curtains for anything or anyone. The boy furrowed his eyebrows in curiosity – there was no one. With some arrogance and reassurance behind his motions, the Uchiha opened the door without haste and almost instantly regretted it.

Had it not been for the quivering body reaching out with a hand towards the door, Sasuke might have marveled at the fact that it had snowed last night without his knowledge. His eyes moved away from the winter precipitation down to the small person soaked from head to toe, quivering from the icy breeze the Uchiha could feel from just standing in the doorway. However, under the two inches of snow that stuck to the person's body, there was a hint of blond hair.

He didn't even realize who it was until their head lifted up, dull blue eyes exposing themselves to Sasuke. His breath caught in his chest, hand coming to clamp over his mouth in gut-wrenching shock. "N-Naruto..." The boy's voice was that of a squeak, just barely above a whisper. Sasuke fell to his knees, shaky hands reaching for his teammate.

Naruto didn't look like he had registered the other boy's words. Instead, the medic's eyes rolled to the back of his head. He wheezed out a painful breath before a broken voice resembling that of a whisper drifted out of his mouth, "Help... me..." With that, Naruto's head lolled to the side, falling unconscious on the tattered and broken porch steps.

Sasuke felt a powerful emotion come over him, a tugging at his chest and a wet feeling in his eyes. Tears pricked his eyelids, the boy desperately trying to blink them away as he desperately tried to tug his fallen teammate into the house where it was warm and would protect the medic from the icy winter outside. Sasuke's hand shook uncontrollably as they hovered over the boy's body, hopelessly trying to find something to do that would help the situation. Help... Help, Naruto needed help. He whipped his head to the stairs, "Kakashi-sensei!" His voice cracked with an urgency he hadn't felt since he was about eight, since...

The wheezy breath underneath him palms pulled the Uchiha back to the unconscious body. "Naruto." Sasuke tried weakly, shaking the medic once, twice, three more times than it was necessary to tell that the blond-haired boy wasn't going to be waking up anytime soon. A swell of tears rose in his eyes once more, an overwhelming feeling crashing into his gut. Sasuke's chin wavered uncontrollably as the first few drops of water dripped down his chin. "C' mon, wake up, you've got to wake up!" Sasuke's voice was desperate, mind barely registering the sound of a door opening and the creaking of the stairs. His wet eyes were still homed in on his best friend lying unconscious with no clear sign of waking up. The Uchiha was grossly sobbing by this point, the sound clogging his throat.

Shocked fueled his shaking fingers, the lithe things pressing into his friend's skin harder, shake the boy faster, wake him up. Naruto had to wake up, he needed him to wake up. "Naruto, please..." Sasuke sobbed aloud, pulling the boy's head into his lap. Salty tears dripped off his nose and fell silently onto the medic's face, the sound of singular drip drop noises filling the air between the two. "You have to wake up." He sniffled, trying to wipe away the tears that still kept coming.

Sasuke wasn't even sure why he was crying. It was possible that the shock at seeing his best friend in such a state made him sob like this. Or maybe it was just the underlying bout of relief he could feel welling up in his chest after Naruto's two days of disappearance that brought him to tears. No... no, it was something else. He knew it to be something else. It was the same something that left him traumatized.

He had run home, excited to tell his parents of some good news that no longer held any semblance anymore in the grand scheme of things. The eight-year-old boy had barely turned the corner when the smell of metal hit him. Scrunching his nose and making a disgusted noise, Sasuke had walked into the compound only to find horrors that a child should never have had to go through.

Bodies littered their clan compound, the blood of his family filling the streets with the stench of sorrow and death. Tears had filled his eyes with a panic and a shock, heart pumping adrenaline through his veins. He had shouted out, pained by the deaths of those who had been so close to him when a realization forced him running towards his home. Sasuke had begged Kami, pleaded with them not to make it true, to promise that his parents and brother had not been taken as well.

What he found was worse than any nightmare the boy could have ever conjured then.

His parents lay in a heap of their limbs and blood, tangled together in the middle of the room. They looked at peace, eyes shut with an acceptance that Sasuke himself couldn't let slide. The boy screeched as if pained by the sight, his sobs bringing him to his knees. And then, a lone figure in the corner, a tall teenager with red swirling eyes.

His brother... he was the one who did this, the one to traumatize Sasuke.

And he cried, not because of the shock, but because Naruto looked dead... dead like his clan, like his parents, like his brother's eyes.

"Sasuke!" Kakashi's voice filled the stiflingly quiet room with a hiss of panic. It was concealed well with the low volume in which the words were spoken in as if he was worried he'd wake something up. "Are you okay?!" The man quickly ushered out, "I heard-" The man's words died off, eyeing the scene forming in front of the front door. Ever so slowly, Kakashi hobbled his way over to his two students, his lone eye wide with surprise. "Oh Kami..." The silver-haired Jonin whispered out as he finally reached them.

"I... there was a n-noise outside and-" Sasuke shuddered out a sob, choking on the liquid that dripped down his face like a faucet, "And he was j-just there!" The Uchiha boy could feel his teacher start to rub soothing circles into his back slowly, the motion quietly encouraging Sasuke to continue. "I found h-him like this. I... Kakashi-sensei, he won't w-wake up!" Dark watery eyes peered up, finding the man's own thoughtful one. Sasuke wordlessly begged for his teacher to fix his best friend, help Naruto.

Kakashi leaned forward, an almost invisible furrow appearing in his brow as a sudden bout of pain filled his leg from the odd position he was slowly putting himself into. Still, the man continued to move until his fingertips found the crease underneath Naruto's neck. He shut his eyes, listening and checking for a pulse for a few seconds. The silver-haired Jonin sighed out, relieved to no end after finding a quiet thrum of pumping blood underneath the boy's skin.

No, Naruto was not dead, but he certainly looked to be tipping on the edge of it if the frantic, stuttering heartbeat was anything to go by.

"I," Kakashi started, feeling his student's wide eyes move towards him, "I think I know what's wrong with him."

Sasuke's hand shook, moving out towards his teacher, desperate for some kind of reassurance. His teacher wordlessly responded by taking the boy's hand in his own, squeezing it for good measure. "What is it? What's wrong with him?" The Uchiha's voice was shot, little wavers lacing the whispered words.

"It's chakra poisoning." The man finally managed to force out. He grimaced at his own words, his lone eye showing an underlying bout of pain brewing within it. Kakashi squeezed the boy's hand once more before releasing it, moving to go back to rubbing shapes in Sasuke's back, "I'm sorry, kid. There's not much we can do for him until he wakes up."

The raven-haired boy's head whipped back to stare at his teammate, "What do you mean?!" His voice wavered with panic so unlike him. Shaky fingers found Naruto's blond hair, carding through it as if it would coax a reaction. It did not. Anxiety thrummed through his body, extremities started to shake with an effort to control it. His eyes became distant, the dark things searching frantically, longing for anything to yield to his search whatever that search was.

Then something struck him about Kakashi's words.

"What's chakra poisoning?" The dark-haired teenager quickly swiped the tears off his face, moving his head to stare up at the Jonin who was still leaning over both him and Naruto. Both student and teacher stayed silent for a moment.

"Chakra poisoning is... well, exactly what it sounds like." Kakashi groaned quietly as he moved to stand up straight, leaning heavily against his crutches. A wave of exhaustion and worry seemed to simultaneously cross his features as he continued, "It happens when a person's body uses too much chakra over a short amount of time. Usually, this would result in chakra exhaustion which is actually pretty easy to cure. People with chakra exhaustion just need to sleep it off and they'll be set."

"But...?" Sasuke motioned for him to get on with it, sniffling quietly.

"But, with chakra poisoning, people are left on empty for who-knows-how-long." The man rubs the back of his neck, "Once your body is ready to finally start to fill its chakra reserves again, the antibodies that once thought of your chakra as an ally now think that the new chakra starting to fester is actually an invasive enemy." He heaved a sigh, dragging a hand slowly down his face. A wave of grief poured into his eyes, "It's a continuous loop – the body losing chakra at a rapidly increasing pace, the body attacking itself due to a 'foreign enemy', loss of chakra, a self-attack, and so on and so forth."

"Which means what?"

"There is no telling when... or if Naruto will wake up."

The words left a bitter taste in Sasuke's mouth, stomach dropping as if there was a cold, sinking feeling weighing it down. He could feel his eyes watering once more, bottom lip quivering. His nostrils flared several times, the Uchiha desperately trying to get a hold over his emotions. ...if Naruto wakes up. Sasuke basked for breath as a wave of nausea flowed over him. His mouth was dry and every time he looked down at his unconscious teammate, he couldn't stop the overwhelming urge to cry.

So, he didn't stop it.

Quivering hands found themselves on the medic again, cupping the boy's face in his palms as a new wave of tears trekked through the pores on his face. Sasuke coughed on a sob, the tears running down his face without stopping. "Wake up, please, you've got to wake up." The Uchiha's mind ushered out, soggy eyes staring at the furrow in Naruto's eyebrows and the clear grown of the pain of the medic's face.

This shouldn't be happening to Naruto. The medic should be at the table with a cup of coffee in his hands, spouting off some random fact that no one had ever had the chance of hearing before. He should be chastising his team for doing something stupid that could have gotten them hurt. He should be pulling his team into a tight hug, eyes glimmering with a wide smile that pulled at his cheeks. Naruto shouldn't be like this.

"Sasuke." The hand that was on his back moved to rest of his shoulder, squeezing it slightly, "He needs to rest. Let's get him to a bed, okay?"

The Uchiha shuddered, swallowing thickly. He swiped his eyes of the tears once more, sniffling back the gross snot that had started to pile up in his nose. The teenager pulled his fallen teammate closer to him as he nodded slowly, "Okay." If his voice wavered and cracked at the end with strain, Kakashi didn't say anything.

His teacher let go of his student's shoulder, sighing slightly as he did so. The man eyed the stairs with a strange trepidation filling his posture, shoulders tightening. Kakashi moved to rub the back of his neck, practically reeking with guilt by this point. "I can't pick him up and carry him up the stairs like this." He motioned to his injured leg, wiggling it for good measure, "Think you can do it?"

On any other day of the week, Sasuke might have felt insulted at having his own teacher doubt his strength – a testament of his pride and ego – however, at this very moment, all the teenager could manage was a curt nod. He moved slowly as if afraid he might hurt Naruto if he moved any faster. Kakashi waited patiently, shifting from one foot to another as his student started to wrap his hands around the medic's back and up underneath the boy's knees. Sasuke could already feel his forearms start to shake as he slowly moved to stand up, knees shaking in protest. The Uchiha took deep breaths, starting to feel a bit of strain on his back as Sasuke straightened up completely. He started to make his way to the stairs but quickly glanced behind him, "Which room?" The words were rushed, teeth grinding against one another.

How Naruto's clone managed to carry him for miles and miles when they were on their way to Wave, Sasuke would never know.

And he doubts he'd ever get to ask...

"...if Naruto will wake up."

"Take him to my room." Kakashi informed quickly, moving to hobbled back up the stairs, "All of Naruto's medical stuff is already there in case we need to use something." There was a furrow in his brow, desperately trying to follow Sasuke up the stairs as fast as he could. "Stupid crutches, stupid injuries." His mind managed to sound out in his irritation.

Sasuke didn't respond to the man's words and instead continued to move up the stairs, shaking arms desperate to relieve themselves of the unconscious body in his arms. Dead weight. He's dead weight in your arms. Naruto was dead... dead weight. He pushed the thoughts away, pushing the ajar door open all the way with his foot. The teenager shimmed into the room sideways as a means of making sure that Naruto would hit his head against the wall or doorway on their way in. The Uchiha unceremoniously dropped his unconscious teammate onto his teacher's bed, instantly regretful of the decision as his friend now laid awkwardly on his arm. As Kakashi made his way up the stairs, the boy busied himself with moving Naruto until the blond-haired medic was laying on his back with both of his arms by his side.

Kakashi came tumbling into the room, nearly tripping over his own feet in his haste. Sasuke's head lifted up, staring at his teacher with dull eyes. "What now?" The Uchiha asked quietly.

"Well," The man started, limping over to the medic's traveling backpack, "Naruto should have an IV kit somewhere in his bag. I remember that the old medics from my day used to have them."

"IV?" The black-haired teenager tilted his head in curiosity before blinking owlishly, mouth quirked in discontent, "Do you even know how to put one of those needle-things in? You're not exactly a doctor."

"Yeah, but I once went to war." Kakashi huffed weakly, waving a dismissive hand towards his student, "That has to count for something, right?"

Sasuke shrugged, quirking an eyebrow up, "Like what?"

"Well, for starters, we can say that I've had my fair share of allies succumbing to chakra poisoning during wartimes which forces a young gennin like myself to learn where veins in arms and legs were so that my allies don't die." The silver-haired man sent his student a dark look, one that Sasuke recognized very well. It was one that said, "Drop the subject because this is a very sensitive topic for me or else." In response to such a look, the Uchiha simply raised his hands up in the air, a mock of surrender.

His hands fell down to his side after another moment of silence between the two of them. "What's the IV for anyway," Sasuke asked, derailing for wartimes from before he was born. His eyes found his unconscious friend again, "I thought you said that there wasn't anything we could do for him until he wakes up."

"I did, but," Kakashi raised the IV bag in his hand, shaking it for emphasis, "this helps to keep a person's body pumped with fluids so that they don't shrivel up like a raisin, especially if someone is unconscious and can't get the fluids themselves."

The Uchiha blinked in surprise, glancing between the IV bag and the blond-haired medic on the bed. "Can bodies even do that, shrivel up like raisins?" He found himself thinking to himself before shaking his head in slight amusement, "I'll have to ask Naruto when he wakes up." The thought forces a grimace onto his face, a cringe on his mouth and a worry pillaging his eyes.

"...if Naruto will wake up."

"Sasuke, little help over here?" Kakashi's voice pierced the black-haired boy's thoughts, pulling his attention back over to the teacher. The man shook the bag once again, a slight smile on his face, "Can't really do much when I have two hands occupied." For good measure, the Jonin tapped his crutches against the hardwood floor.

Sasuke shook his head as if shaking away his thoughts, "Yeah, of course." He quickly stepped over to the older man, reaching out to grab both the medium-sized plastic bag and a stand Kakashi had managed to put together even if he struggled to do it the entire time the Uchiha had been distracted by his thoughts. The tall, silver contraption had been an accidental find on the teacher's part – the IV stand had apparently been folded quite neatly and placed into one of the side pockets on Naruto's medic bag. Mirroring what he had seen in hospitals, Sasuke set the stand just behind the head of the bed, straightening it out before placing the IV bag on the hook. He let it hang by itself before turning to his teacher, "What do we do now?"

The man waved a hand, "I've got it." Kakashi's response was quick, raising his right crutch into the air before pushing a stool that was near him halfway across the room so that it was near the side of the bed. The silver-haired Jonin then rummaged through the medic's bag again, pulling out a green tourniquet that simply looked like a wide rubber band that had been cut in half to Sasuke. The man hobbled over to Naruto, taking a seat on the stool and settling down with a small needle with two plastic tubes connected to it – it was shaped like a butterfly, Sasuke mused to himself.

Kakashi wasted no time in wrapping the colored tourniquet around the upper part of Naruto's arm, watching like a hawk as the small thing slowly started to apply pressure, stopping the flow of blood. He pressed against his student's sickly pale skin, watching with a furrow in his eyebrow as the boy's veins started to slowly pop up with strain. The man hummed in discontent. "He's dehydrated," Kakashi stated allowed, the words more for himself than for his other student behind him watching intently. The silver-haired Jonin found a vein that looking promising before moving to press the small butterfly needle up against the skin.

Before the small thing even touches the skin, Sasuke quickly twisted his body to stare at the opposite wall. He tried not to feel the minute pin-prick sensation against his skin from the brief glimpse of Kakashi pushing the needle into Naruto's skin. "Stupid needle phobia." The Uchiha's mind managed to grumble out through the sick feeling taking over his brain. It wasn't until he heard the slosh of the IV bag that he finally managed to turn back around. Within an instant, his eyes found Naruto's face first, dark orbs slowly trailing down to his arm – the tourniquet was removed by this point – to where the IV was secured with only a bit of medical tape in the inside of his teammate's elbow – antecubital space, his mind corrected with the voice of Naruto.

Kakashi clapped his hands against one another as if they were dirty with dust before grimacing a bit, "Oh, Naruto would have a field day with this one."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows, trying to figure out what his teacher was going on about.

"I kind of, well, I forgot to wear gloves... and disinfect the area before putting the needle in." The teacher sighed wearily, rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish gleam in his eyes. Both he and his students gave the IV bag a worried look before glancing at each other.

"Well, what Naruto doesn't know..." The dark-haired teenager's voice died, the second part of the saying clogging his throat with an unknown emotion.

What Naruto doesn't know won't kill him.

Sasuke took a deep breath, sighing it out with a sarcastic chuckle, "I want to ask 'what now', but, correct me if I'm wrong, this is all we can do for him, right?"

"Yeah, you're right." Kakashi leaned forward, still propped up on the stool, "He may be like this for a while. Why don't you go back to bed? I'll keep an eye on him for the night."

Sasuke shook his head almost immediately, making a shooing motion with his hand, "No, you're the injured one here. I'll stay up and you can have my bed. You need more rest than I do."

The silver-haired Jonin fell silent before a smile crept up on his face. There was a familiar gleam in his one eye, a warm and kind look. Kakashi sighed happily, "You're a good kid, Sasuke."

The boy's eyes almost instantaneously landed on his unconscious teammate – how many times have they done that already? Way too many to count. Sasuke wants to tell the older man sitting hunched on the stool in front of him that he wasn't always a good kid. There was a point in time not too long ago when he had been a bully, someone who constantly pushed people away – both figuratively and literally. The kid then had never given anyone the chance to help him and he never went out of his way to others, a selfish, egotistical part of him that grew and festered into something unhealthy. He had once been a selfish brat on all levels, but something changed him or, rather, someone had changed him, showed that selfish Uchiha child a new way. He became that good kid that his parents always envisioned in him.

Instead of saying any of this, Sasuke's eyes found his teacher's, a small crinkle of a smile spreading across his face slowly, "Thanks."

Kakashi shared the smile, moving to get up from the stool. He moved with his crutches to stand beside his student. The man clapped a hand against the boy's shoulder, squeezing it once, "Don't stay up too late, kiddo, okay?"

"Okay."

"And Sasuke?"

"Hm?"

"I'll break the news to Sakura that Naruto's back, okay?" The silver-haired Jonin's face scrunched up, eyebrows raised in question as if he was possibly wondering if the Uchiha would go against his word.

He paused, taking in the words before nodding slowly, "Okay."

"Good night, kiddo." Kakashi gave one last eye-smile before disappearing into the hallway. Sasuke listened to the minute sounds of the man's crutches creaking against the wooden floor before the sound of a door opening and closing filled the quiet house.

He raised a hand in the air, "Night..." The words were that of a whisper, moving to sit on the stool his teacher had previously inhabited. Sasuke's eyes found Naruto's face again, a crinkle of a smile appearing on his face. "Wake up soon, Naruto, okay?" Tears welled up in his eyes, "I don't like to do things without you."

Please wake up.

It had been early in the morning when Sakura was awoken with a soft shake to her shoulder by her teacher. She sluggishly opened her eyes, sliding into a sitting position. The kunoichi yawned widely, rubbing her eyes, "Kakashi-sensei?" Green eyes looked around the room, focus honing on the window – it was still dark outside. She would have guessed that the time was nearly two in the morning, but the time didn't matter right now. Her attention was back on her teacher as the man took a seat on the edge of her bed with a slight hiss of pain. His face was taut with tension, eyes dark with an emotion she could not pinpoint.

He looked sick.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura tried again, moving closer to him a bit.

"Naruto came back," Kakashi stated.

Those three words created a pit in her stomach and knocked the wind out of her. The words echoed in her ears and muddied her mind, amplifying the meaning and ferocity of it. The pink-haired kunoichi curled in on herself, hands shaking in the sheets, gripping for any sense of reality. Her mind battled itself. On one hand, Sakura was absolutely relieved that her teammate had it back to the house, but on the other... She was absolutely sick with herself, sick and tired and upset about the events that led to this point. Plus, with the way her teacher phrased his words, she could only assume the worst.

Kakashi looked up, sighing heavily, exhaustion plaguing his eyes. "Sakura," He started, laying a hand on her shoulder, "He's not doing too well."

"...what?" She could feel her eyes burning, her nose itching with the urge to cry. She could feel the small pools of tears rising up little by little as the words truly sank in. Sakura sniffled, sucking in a sharp breath while doing so. The clouds that had once covered the moon hours into the night had somewhat cleared now, the edges of moonlight finally shining through the open curtains. It made the room full of shades of blue and white, a battle for dominance for the strongest color. Now illuminated in light, Sakura could clearly see the stress marks marring into her teacher's skin. A strain in his eyebrows and the frown on his lips also accompanied the look.

Sakura swiped her eyes – she would not cry – but she could not stop the bile threatening to spill out of her mouth. The kunoichi gulped it back as much as possible, trying to soothe the ball of anxiety filling her stomach. "I..." Her eyes burned again, and her throat hurt with tension, "I'm sorry..." It was all she could manage out, clutching the blankets pooling over her knees. Sakura could stop her teeth from chattering against each other.

Naruto's not doing great because of her. It's her fault he's in whatever condition he is in now and Sakura can never forgive herself for it.

"I..." Her head shot up, staring at her teacher with wide green eyes. She could see it. There was just this look, a look that signaled that Kakashi wanted to agree with her. Sakura could almost see his mouth trying to form the words 'I know', but the strain in his frown kept the words hidden under a tight lip. Instead, Kakashi made himself look away, eyeing the bedroom door with narrowed eyes. Just beyond that door, Sakura knew that Naruto was there. "Sakura."

"Yes, sir?"

"When we get back to Konoha, I'm going to the Hokage and requesting that you be suspended from any ninja activities for some time." The silver-haired Jonin's words were stiff and painful, hand clenching into a tight fist on his lap, "I cannot, and I will not tolerate such actions again, especially when those such actions have put a teammate in... mortal danger."

"I... I understand, Kakashi-sensei. I'll take a-any punishment." The teenager sniffled, wiping her eyes once again, "W-What I did to Naruto... that... I... it was wrong of me a-and I let my emotions get the better of me. I have no excuses."

At this, Kakashi finally raised his head and looked her in the eye. She was frozen in his line of sight, like a deer in headlights. Her eyes jumped around on his face, unsure if she could truly look the man in the eyes. Sakura watched the strained smile forming from underneath her teacher's mask. "Any punishment might be too cruel," He struggled to say, "but I know you'll take anything I give you. I... I'm glad that you understand the consequences of your actions."

Silence left them in an awkward position. The clouds had since flowed back over the moon, shrouding them in deep, black darkness. Sakura sniffled, coughing into her hand. "I'm really sorry." She managed to say, struggling on her words, "I'm... I'm so sorry."

Kakashi nodded slowly, "Sakura, this cannot happen again, do you understand?" The whispered words were stern, unwavering.

"Yes."

"You fucked up big time and because of that, I have to wonder if your decision to leave Naruto in such a vulnerable position could have gotten him killed." He continued, a voice of anger bubbling underneath his words, "He's not doing so well and that's your fault, you know that, right?"

"I..." Sakura's eyes burned, staring at her shaking hands. She could have killed Naruto... Her chest aches with a pain she's never felt before. "I..." She sucked in a breath, "Y-Yes..."

"If he dies... I don't think anyone on this team could ever forgive you. I doubt you'd ever be able to forgive yourself for something like this." The silver-haired teacher raised an eyebrow as if to challenge her to go against his word, "I... I have to be honest about this."

She looked up, tears still pooling in her eyes.

"I don't trust you, not with my life." Kakashi stated, "You've lost that privilege."

A single tear fell off her chin, "I know..."

"Listen," The older man sighed heavily, laying his hand on her shoulder again, "you are still my student, and, because of that, I hope that I can teach you to get your emotions under control so that something like this does not ever happen again."

Sakura choked on a strangled cry, covering her mouth as to not make that much noise – there were still people sleeping. "I'm sorry..." She couldn't manage anything else besides the apology.

Another sigh permitted the air, "Maybe this is partially my fault."

Her head shot up in shock, "Kakashi-sensei, n-no, that-" A raised hand stopped her.

"No. I never taught you three about dealing with your emotions – the mental and physical aspects of being a ninja, I had down pact... but emotions?" He shook his eyes, "I guess growing up during wartimes forced me to keep my emotions in check. In some way, I unconsciously thought you there would be the same."

"I-"

"You kids, though." At this, he huffed out a laugh, completely cutting his student off, "You didn't know any better, and I'm trying to remember that." He rubbed his eyes several times, a wide yawn leaving his mouth. "Your anger after an extremely stressful situation, Sasuke's untapped aggression, and Naruto's... sadness..." Kakashi looked away, eyes shining with unshed tears, "I didn't teach you three how to handle it. I left you to the wolves."

Sakura nodded, "I'm sorry."

Kakashi didn't say anything this time. There was nothing in his eyes that told her that he was going to accept her apology and Sakura was okay with that. Her teacher, instead, got up and moved to the other side of the room with a considerable limp. "I hope you don't mind me sleeping here tonight." He gave his student a look, "Naruto's taking my bed until he's recovered and Sasuke's going to keep an eye on him for the night."

"It's fine." She whispered out slowly, "Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hm?"

"...is he going to be okay?" Her voice was soft.

The silver-haired man was still messing with the sheets when he responded, "He's in a coma, Sakura – chakra poisoning."

"But, is he going to be okay?" Sakura pressed, hands tightening in her sheets again, unable to bring her eyes to look at her teacher.

Kakashi sighed, flipping the pillow over before finally moving to lie down, "You know I can't answer that for certainty." He got comfortable underneath the sheets before turning away from her, facing the wall.

The pink-haired kunoichi's eyes watered, falling back onto her pillows. She struggled to breathe under the overbearing pressure building on her chest. Her throat stung, the teenager desperately trying to suppress her tears so that she wouldn't bother her already exhausted teacher. Sakura rolled over onto her side and squeezed her eyes shut, gritting her teeth as a wave of anger flew over her. She should have just kept her dumb mouth shut, let Naruto do his own thing and just leave it alone.

"We need to talk." She had no right to be so mean, so cruel to her teammate – she should have just kept walking.

"I said that we'd talk later." Sakura knew that he was tired and pulled taut on all sides, unable to relax and take the time to heal... but the way he looked completely at ease when he said those words. She ran a hand through her hair; it pissed her off at that time – she'd been too involved in herself to see the physical and mental exhaustion bleeding into his features or the anxious twitches in his hands.

"No!" A single tear drained out of her eye, face turning pink with strain. "We need to talk now!" She should have never laid a hand on him, shouldn't have ever turned him around – she should have kept walking.

"Fine. Talk." He was annoyed; she had pushed him too far.

"I am so disappointed in you, Naruto. How could you?!" It was his job. "That's the man who attacked us – put Kakashi-sensei into a fucking coma and hurt me – and you just go ahead and heal him-" She should have kept her mouth shut; she let her anger get the best of her. Of course, it was too late for her, realizing her problem only after meeting those hateful stares in the comfort of a warm home while her teammate wandered around in the snowy depths of the forest. Even if she had tried to justify her words and actions, it still left a sour taste in her mouth afterward.

"I didn't use medical ninjutsu on him, Sakura. You're being irrational." He was right. And she didn't listen to him. Now, look where we are.

"YOU STILL HELPED HIM!" Sakura furiously scrubbed at her face, trying to desperately rub away the creeping exhaustion and sadness making themselves known deep within her. "Why did you do it?" He was just trying to help someone. "Why do it if you know that they are just going to come after us?" She opened her eyes, tears streaming out of the corners of her eyes. Because... The kunoichi sniffled, sucking up a stuttered breath. Because...

Because...

"It was my job."

A loud snore coming from the other side of the room startled her, interrupting her painful thoughts. Sakura rolled over, swiping at her tears again. She sniffled, simply staring at her teacher. The pink-haired kunoichi can see the bandages poking out from underneath the man's shirt, a reminder of the torture he'd had to experience because she wasn't strong enough. Sakura took a deep breath. She can't get it out of her head, can't get that look out of her mind.

"Sakura!" His words were rough and strained, moving to take the brunt of an attack that Zabuza had tried directing at her earlier, "Take Tazuna-san and get the hell out of here!"

She grit her teeth and stood strong, a multitude of cuts and bruises already showing up underneath her tattered clothes. "I'm not just going to leave you here!" Sakura declared, readying a kunai in front of her face as a means of protecting herself from the monster sword her enemy held.

"Pitiful." Zabuza grinned, taking the conversation as a means of distraction, using it to land a hit on her teacher. The force pushed the man back a few yards, Kakashi tumbling towards the sandy beach and the salty waves.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" The words were out of her mouth within an instant, body sending her towards the man. She moved without actually realizing she had done such a thing.

The swordsman growled, lowering her body slightly, readying himself for her attack. "How many times do I have to keep knocking you down for you to stay down?" There was irritation in the tanned man's words, sharp teeth barring themselves in a wide grin – she had found that he enjoyed the fight. Zabuza met the pink-haired kunoichi hallway, easily side-stepping her attack and slamming the backside of his large sword into her abdomen. Blood and bile filled her mouth, breath caught in her chest as she struggled to breathe.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" Tazuna's voice was loud in her head, worried and fearful of her health. He had a right to be scared.

There were black spots slowly filling her vision, invading her sight and making her head spin. A dizzy feeling came over her, forcing the pink-haired kunoichi to fall to her knees. Sakura grit her teeth, breathing heavily with a hand coming to wrap around her waist. The teenager had barely lifted her head up only to see the handle of Zabuza's sword coming towards her face. Instinct pulled her into a sluggish roll, tumbling over onto her hurting side. "Fuck..." She whispered out.

"SAKURA!" Her teacher's voice filled her ears.

The kunoichi had barely gotten her bearings, the voice pulling her into a crouch as a foot came into her vision. This time, Sakura was not lucky enough to dodge it. She tumbled from the kick to her side, body tight as she used the momentum to get into a half stance, mirroring Sasuke during their practice spars back in Konohagakure. Sakura breathed heavily, panting out harshly, each breath more painful than the last.

Zabuza was grinning down at her, eyes like one of decrepit and demonic nightmares hidden away in the fog. It made her stomach drop, a thought of foreboding filling her mind – she was going to die here. "Does it hurt, young one?" The voice was mocking, echoing in her ears as the teenager struggled to make out the man in her blurry vision and the disappearing fog.

"No." Sakura managed to hiss out, staggering from side to side as she tried her best to stand up straight. She can feel her bones protesting, her abdomen screaming by now. It does hurt, it hurts a lot. It hurts worse than the bruises she used to get from the bullies in the academy when she was young and naïve. It hurts worse than anything Kakashi had thrown at her during their spars and training. It hurts worse than anything she's ever experienced.

For Kakashi, her teacher, someone she cares for and trusts – she would hurt for him. "No, it doesn't." The pink-haired teenager repeated as if trying to believe it herself. For Kakashi, her teacher, someone she cares for and trusts – she would hurt for him.

Zabuza hefted his sword onto his shoulder, already sauntering over to her quivering form, "You're a horrible liar. How will you ever make it in the ninja world?"

Sakura took a deep breath, holding up a kunai in a quivering hand. She gave it a look, nearly gagging – it's probably broken. Instead of dwelling on the wrist, green eyes found the man. "You don't scare me." She tried.

The tanned man simply grinned widely, "Really, now? We'll see about that." He was getting closer.

"Leave her out of this!" Kakashi's voice filled the area once more. The pink-haired girl quickly looked to her left where she could see her teacher finally standing back up, a kunai in each of his hands. From where she stood, Sakura could somewhat make out the blood pouring down his forehead – she was astonished that Kakashi barely looked fazed by it. He squatted in a fighting stance, "This fight is between me and you."

"Ah, yes, how could we ever forget the poor Copy Cat Ninja." The missing-nins dark, narrow eyes found Sakura's, a devilish grin on his face, "However, I find that it's more fun going after something so precious to someone."

"What-" Sakura had no time to think. In a single second, Zabuza was rushing at her, sword held high in the air. Her heart lurched, stomach falling as her body moved in slow motion, taking in the man's form standing in front of her. It was Kakashi. "NO!" Her voice left her, tears pricking her eyes. His upper body was shaking, ragged breaths leaving him.

Zabuza laughed, voice hoarse with it, "That's going to scar, don'tchu think, Hatake?" He hopped backward when the silver-haired Jonnin lashed out with a kunai. "Hmph, since you really seem to want to take the hits for your precious little gennin, let me put you through what I would have done to her."

She was too young, too inexperienced to see the speed at which the two adults fought at. Shock coursed through her body, a sick feeling in her heart. Sakura barely caught glimpses of the fight happening in front of her but, it didn't look too good for her teacher. At many times, when the fight slowed for her eyes to adjust, she could see Kakashi using his forearms as a shield against the attacks and the slashes aimed at him. There was one point where Zabuza had caught her teacher off guard, managing to get the Jonnin to take a knee. However, the force at which is happen shattered the poor before her very eyes, making her sick from the sound.

She wasn't useless, she wasn't. She knew she could be helpful, but she was young and inexperienced. What more could she do expect to take a stance beside her client? There was nothing she could do to help her teacher. All Sakura could do was watch in despair.

That is... until Zabuza dragged the broken and battered man into the ocean current by his bloodied hair. With a shattered kneecap and blood loss, Kakashi didn't look to be fairing well and was easily overtaken by the enemy. To make sure that he wasn't disturbed in effectively drowning her teacher in a water bubble, Zabuza let a water clone of his to keep Kakashi down under. The real Zabuza kept himself preoccupied with trying to beat down both Sakura and Tazuna, effectively doing it with a hand behind his back, a taunt of sorts.

The world blurred around her – she can't remember what happened during that time, memories and pain merging together or disappearing altogether – but there's a peal of constant laughter filling her ears, the splashing of water as her teacher trashed in it. She's completely useless. Sakura sobbed out, desperate on her attempts to save her teacher as he struggled to breathe, drowning.

She rolled over onto her back, eying the ceiling in sudden revelation. It was Sasuke that have indirectly saved her teacher, not her nor her actions as a useless member of the team. It was the move of using a larger shuriken that broke into smaller ones as a means of attack. She had just borrowed it from a training session – she chuckled; she'd forgotten to give it back to the other boy.

Sakura had made her move, shoving Tazuna out of the range of attack in which a water bullet had sped at her. She knew it would be her only chance, summoning the large shuriken from a scroll and throwing it towards her enemy. Zabuza easily dodged it, about to mouth off about her terrible aim. When the attack had struck the water clone, Sakura didn't see anything, face smashed in by a fist.

An annoyed sound escaped Zabuza's mouth, a snarl just on his lips as he turned towards the ocean's shore. He only had a second to spare the look, only barely noticing Kakashi running up to him with an intensity he'd never seen on his face before. Granted, Sakura had never seen it either until then. He was determined to win that battle.

"ZABUZA!" Kakashi screamed out, the man's hand glowing blue with lighting sparking from it. The swordsman scrambled to dodge before Sakura's teacher slammed his fist into the man's chest or, at least, that was the plan of action. Neither ninja was sure how, but Zabuza's body twisted in a way that moved him out of the path of the lightning aiming to shoot right through his chest, effectively killing him had the shot actually placed.

It was ninja wire. Sakura knows that the boy from before – Haku, if she remembered correctly – was probably watching from the background, making damn sure that nothing happened to his teacher. She should have suspected that there was someone else on the scene, no one truly works alone these days.

Sakura had taken a rather nasty hit to her hand, recognized as somewhat broken – a small price to pay when you're protecting your client, she reminded herself – and it was already starting to make her feel woozy. Her pain tolerance was weird, and it seems that broken bones are her breaking point. Tazuna huddled behind her, intent on not dying this day or the next.

The clone of Zabuza was gone from the attack done to the man's real body. Zabuza fell hard on the ground, a scream bubbling in his throat. Sakura's face hardened, readying a kunai, intent on killing the man right then and there. Only...

Kakashi fell to his knees, exhausting his chakra completely and with the amount of blood he'd lost during the fight, it's a surprise he had lasted this long. "Kakashi, oh shit..." Tazuna's voice was tight, limping over to the fallen man. Sakura twisted her head between her teacher and her enemy, unsure of what to do. There was blood everywhere. He wasn't... He couldn't be dead... He just had to be alive – t-there's no way. No! Help, he needs help.

Naruto...

Sakura shuddered out a breath, the first glimpses of light filling her room. Naruto... "You're our medic a-and... you're not a bad guy so why heal the enemy? Why help them at all?" She turned back to the wall, unable to see her teacher's slumbering form anymore. She failed him, after all. The pink-haired teenager covered her face with her pillow, desperate to not cry again.

"No, I don't want to hear it!"

"Sakura, please-"

"Leave me alone, Naruto. I don't want to see you right now or ever." That was a lie. She wants nothing more than to see him, to make sure he's okay. She nearly lost one important person, she can't do it again.

"Where's Naruto?"

"I'm sorry, Sasuke..."

"I..."

"Sakura, where's Naruto?!"

"I left him. I... I was angry and-" She was worse than trash.

"After everything he's done for you... you leave him because you were angry?" Yes, she takes full responsibility for it and she's so, so sorry.

"I'm sorry, Kakashi-sensei."

"Sakura, what did you do?" She was a bad friend, a horrible teammate. She is worse than trash.

"She left him."

"I'm sorry..."

"...know this Sakura, as of right now, you are worse than trash." She knows that. You're right, Kakashi-sensei. "And Sakura?"

"Y-Yes, sir?"

"Next time you decide to abandon your teammate, I'm kicking you off this team."

Any punishment, any at all... she'll take whatever punishment is out there.

"Naruto came back. He's not doing too well, Sakura."

"That's on me..." Sakura whispered out, fingers clutched desperately in her fingers, "I'm so sorry..."

Sakura didn't appear at breakfast that following morning, still holed up in her bed. Kakashi had assured everyone that she was going to need a little bit of time to herself and would see herself to something to eat later in the day and, if she didn't, he would force her to. Not another child is going to starve now with him awake and moving around – he can't go through that pain again.

And if Sasuke was still mad with her... "After what she did to Naruto..." The fire in his eyes, the venom he spat with every syllable... Sakura would accept it.