Chapter 8

Naruto felt like someone had emptied his insides with a vacuum wind jutsu. He felt empty, physically, mentally and emotionally. The slow but steady drip of blood that was falling to the ground from the katana protruding from Akane's back was the only indication he had that time had not, in fact, stopped. He felt strangely at peace in his shocked state, like he couldn't believe he hadn't anihilated every living thing around him and redesigned the landscape yet.

Yet.

He didn't even notice Lady chiyo trapping and killing Sasori, he couldn't remember falling to his knees and starting to treat his sister's wound, he didn't remember when he had started crying. Uzumaki Naruto was on autopilot. The only thing he remembered was praying to any god that would hear that his training had been enough. Praying that he had in fact learned it all and was able to save Akane. He prayed his sister didn't die in his arms, because of his lack of knowledge.

Naruto prayed and healed and prayed some more. What would Kakashi-sensei say? How would he feel? How would he himself feel if Akane died because of him? He was sure he'd never forgive himself. Could Kakashi forgive him?

He wasn't sure he wanted to find out. So Naruto wiped his tears away with his sleeve and pushed forward. Like his shishou had taught him, like he always had and always would.

Kurama was strangely silent, Naruto would have thought that the gigant furrball would have taken a chance like this one to rampage when it presented itself, but apparently, he hadn't. If Nee-san survived this, and if he helt in the mood, he'd have to ask Kurama about it.

But at least Sasori was dead, which brought no small amount of relief. And his sister had stopped bleeding so profusely. He would have to take the blade out soon, and that would not be something either of them would enjoy. But Naruto had no other choice, Uchiha Akane would live. That was Naruto's promise right then. His sister would live and anyone who attempted to harm her again would simply have to die. No questions asked.

Long past were the days where Naruto believed there was good in everybody. Some people were just evil, and some were following orders, but it didn't really matter. If anyone ever touched a hair on his family members' heads, Naruto would kill them all without a second thought. He had learned to treasure and protect his loved ones over anything else. Even over Konoha.

Naruto might have seemed to many like an airhead and a fool, but he was not stupid. Not even close. Uzumaki Naruto had watched his sister struggle to protect her loved ones even at the expense of her own mental, physical and emotional health. And it was that that had motivated Naruto more than any Will Of Fire speech he had ever heard. Akane did what was expected of her, what she knew to be right; but she was not scared to tread into the darkness if it meant saving someone she loved. She had done it for Shisui-san, she had done it for Itachi-san, she had done it for Sasuke. There was no doubt in Naruto's heart she would do it for Kakashi and himself too.

And if there had ever been a shadow of a doubt, it had been completely obliterated by the bleeding image of his sister in front of him.

Naruto decided he needed to be better, stronger, smarter, faster.

Uchiha Akane would survive her wounds, and Uzumaki Naruto would learn to protect her as she had protected him. She would not throw away her life for him, not again, he would not let her.

And then, once she was somewhat stable, the boy had no time to recover, because the rest of their team was arriving with a prisoner and a corpse. And that corpse happened to be Naruto's friend, the only other jinchuriki he had ever met. The only one who truly understood.

Gaara was dead.

…

Lady Chiyo had lived a long life full of regrets. The biggest reason she had continued to live on was pride, but it had taken one single mission and two Konoha shinobi to make her realize it was her pride that had taken it all from her. She was a shinobi, a strong moral compass was not something their kind were known for, but even when the bar was set so low, Lady Chiyo had done terrible things.

She had been the reason Sasori had turned out the way he had. She had been the reason countless shinobi had been sent to their deaths. She had been the reason the puppet brigade was so fearsome. To some it was a reason to be proud, but Chiyo knew better.

Now, after watching a girl from an outcast, almost extinct clan, jump in front of a no name orphan to save his life, after watching them both fight, sweat and bleed together to keep eachother and herself alive, she knew her life had been wasted. She had had small ambitions, selfish ambitions that had separated her from the people who were truly precious to her. She was the living image of the Bloody Sand, and she needed to go.

She needed to go because there was a new Sand to be found under the rule of a young man who had suffered at the hands of his own people and learned to forgive them. There was a new Sand to be found in the near future, one that was an ally to the hidden Leaf and who prospered because of it.

Lady Chiyo decided it was time to put her most forbidden jutsu to work, she decided that the time was right, and that there was more to be gained from Gaara's survival than hers.

...

Sakura watched all the interactions happening around her carefully. She suspected there would be more information in the way people acted rather than the words they spoke, and she would catalogue and compartmentalize every detail. She expected nothing out of the ordinary to happen next, not with Sasori dead and Deidara captured, but after three years with the Toad Sannin she had forgotten one crucial piece of advice Kakashi had given them long ago. Expect the unexpected, look underneath the underneath.

Sakura had never been a particularly spiritual person, she simply believed in the things she could experience with either one of her senses. She of course knew people had souls if only because the spiritual energy of chakra had to come from somewhere, but she never really thought of what it meant beyond that. What was a soul? What was it made of? where did it come from and where did it go when someone died? She had no answer for these questions, but what she saw next made her think that maybe, just maybe, she should try harder to find them.

Sakura was no medic, but she could tell that whatever Lady Chiyo was attempting to do was no iryo-ninjutsu. She had always been more sensitive to chakra than her teammates, she couldn't see it like dojutsu users, but she could definitely feel it. Sakura could feel the life being drained out of Lady Chiyo and be transferred to Gaara's body. Even with Naruto's help, the procedure was sure to kill her, and they all knew it, she knew it.

The pink haired spy wondered if it was her soul that Chiyo was transfering to Gaara or simply her life force. Had Gaara's soul left him behind already? Would the young Kazekkage be the same should he come back to the land of the living? Would he have a piece of Chiyo's soul with him for the rest of his life?

Sakura decided these questions would be of no real use to her, she would have to ponder these things when she wasn't in enemy territory. She looked around at the crowd that had gathered. Suna shinobi had arrived to assist their Kage and were all looking at their elder's last heroic act. There were people crying, people clutching their partners' arms for dear life, people who looked bored but whose chakra was the most unstable. There was Team Gai, solemnly bearing witness to Chiyo's last act.

And then there were her teammates.

Kakashi had not left Akane's side since they had left the cave. He had a hand carefully wrapped around her waist to keep her upright. Her stab wound had not been completely healed, and she was still a little weak in the knees. But it wasn't the fact that they were holding one other that called her attention, it was the fact that they both looked like it was the natural thing for them to do.

They were at ease in each other's company. Even when wounded and weak, Akane-san was at complete ease simply because Kakashi-sensei was next to her. They trusted each other, they cherished each other, and they had been by each other's side long enough for them to feel like they belonged there. There was a strength in their bond that Sakura had never seen before, not even in Naruto's with Sasuke.

She knew Naruto would do anything for his best friend, but this was different. Sakura doubted Naruto could inflict as much damage to the world if something happened to Sasuke, he didn't have it in him.

These two were on a different level. She had realized that in the way they got protective of each other when Lady Chiyo had aimed her contempt at them. She had realized the tension in Kakashi-sensei when he got separated from Akane-san. She had noticed the way his chakra had flared when she told him Akane had been wounded. She had noticed in the familiar way they spoke to one other, the way they moved together, in sync.

It was a bond that had been forged with years and companionship, with time and care, with both respect and affection. Sakura wondered if she would ever get to experience something like that.