Chapter 6
Sasuke's POV
The next few days felt like a complete blur to Sasuke. Kakashi and Shikamaru attended prolonged meetings every day, which meant that he had more work to do. Kakashi even granted him temporary power to assign any missions to teams using his best judgement. He was honored that Kakashi trusted him, but he wanted to participate in the meetings too.
He had asked initially if he could join, but some of the elders shut that down immediately. They didn't trust him at all. He didn't argue; he wasn't going to push his limits and have more people hate him.
Today was day four of the council meetings. Sasuke had already finished all the work a few hours ago, and now he was waiting for the session to end. He finally heard the doors open from down the hall and watched people pass by the office door. Soon Kakashi and Shikamaru entered in. They looked absolutely drained.
"Any progress?" he asked.
"Unfortunately not." Kakashi said collapsing into his chair. "Thankfully the other four villages have all confirmed they are not joining sides with either country. But there's dispute whether we should interfere at all."
"What are they saying?"
"They're worried about the small details. They want to know how we plan to rescue the villagers without fighting ourselves. If we're attacked, do we fight back? Does that count as picking a side? Once we rescue the villagers, how do we split them up among the five villages? What do we do if villagers refuse to leave? It's all troublesome." Shikamaru sighed.
"Plus, all five villages need to come to the same consensus before we take action." Kakashi added.
The whole situation was complicated. He could understand why it was taking forever to decide what to do.
"Anyways, I'm headed home. I'm exhausted." Kakashi said getting up.
He nodded. He waited till they left, locked the doors, and headed home too.
Today was the official opening of the children's hospital. Sasuke was glad to be out of the office for half the day. He had made sure to finish any work before so nothing would pile up. He made breakfast and then got dressed. Even though most of his outfits looked identical, he wanted to dress up a little nicer today.
Sakura had said the ceremony would be small and intimate, but he wanted to show her that this was a big deal to him too and that he was proud.
He left his apartment and met Naruto outside the hospital.
"Hey Sasuke."
He nodded back.
"Has there been any change with the whole war situation?" Naruto asked.
"No. Everyone's having trouble deciding how to approach the rescue mission." He responded.
"Well, they better figure it out quick. We're wasting so much time."
He could understand Naruto's frustration. If it were up to the blond, there would be nothing to discuss; they would already be out on the field.
They headed inside and walked over to the new building. Sai and Ino were already there waiting for them. He had found it strange that they were dating; in his mind, they didn't seem like a match, but to each their own.
He looked around for Sakura and found her talking with another doctor. She was in a simple dress with her hair neatly pulled back in a low bun. She looked so professional. He caught her eye and gave a small wave. She grinned back at him.
A few minutes later, everyone gathered around in a semi-circle in front of a small red ribbon that had been tied across the hallway. He felt a presence appear behind him and turned. Kakashi was standing in a corner, a little farther back.
"Barely made it." Naruto whispered.
Sakura then stepped out to speak. "Good morning everyone. Thank you all for being here today. I am extremely thrilled to be opening this sector of the hospital. This addition has been over a year in the making. I want to quickly share the vision behind this hospital. The majority of us here are shinobi and we've seen and encountered tremendous hardships in missions, battles, and wars. Even after victories are declared, we tend to forget about the harmful impacts of these fights, especially to the majority of children. While this hospital is dedicated to the healing of every child, I wanted to particularly focus on the mental health of children of war. We've all heard from our mentors and sensei's about the importance of the Will of Fire, and I think it's only best that we try and help pass this down to the new generation of children. With that being said…" She turned around and cut the ribbon. "… I officially open Konoha's Children's Hospital!"
Everyone clapped and cheered. Ino ran up and gave her a hug, then Naruto jumped in and tried to get everyone to do a group hug. He stood aside patiently waiting to congratulate her when he saw Kenji handing her a bouquet of roses.
Shit. I should have bought her a gift too. He watched them hug and start talking. He felt a piercing bitterness and jealously inside him as he clenched his fist. He didn't even have time to process it because Kakashi came up behind him and tapped his shoulder.
"Grab Naruto and Sakura and meet me in her office." Kakashi said quietly.
He nodded. He looked over to the pinkette; she was still talking with Naruto and two others. He made his way over to them.
"Sasuke! I want you to meet two of my coworkers. This is Ami; she's also a senior doctor like me. And this is Ichiro; he was a student intern, but now he's a doctor in training. He's going to be working in the children's hospital."
"It's nice to meet you both." He said politely.
He waited till they finished talking and it was just the three of them.
"Kakashi is waiting for us in your office." He said.
They nodded and started walking. When they reached her office, they found Kakashi laying on the couch.
"Congratulations Sakura." He said getting up and giving her a hug.
"Thank you Kakashi." She said smiling.
He went over and locked the door and then perform the same hand signs Sakura did during his physical. "I wanted to talk to you three privately first about what's happening." His tone was completely serious now.
They nodded.
"The council decided this morning that a rescue mission will be executed."
Sasuke waited for Naruto to cheer or speak out but he was surprisingly quiet.
"We still have some major details to smooth over this afternoon, but you three, as well as some others, will be a part of this mission. We need to decide how we're splitting up the villagers among the five nations." Kakashi said crossing his arms.
"Well, we have to send the injured here. Konoha has by far the best hospital and team of doctors. And we're right in the middle. Then one country can be split between Iwa and Suna, and the other country can be split by Kumo and Kiri." Sakura said.
Kakashi nodded. "I think that's best. I'm just not sure how everyone will react to that."
"Let me talk during the meeting. I'm confident I can shift their views." She said assuredly.
"Okay, I'll let the elders know. Naruto come with me; I need you to gather some jounins with your shadow clones." Kakashi said undoing the sound proof barrier. "Meet in my office in two hours." He said leaving with the blond.
Sasuke turned to the pinkette. "You have a plan." He was stating this not asking.
She nodded. She started pacing back and forth. He could see many thoughts going through her head.
"I'm going to go home and change real quick and I'll meet you at the tower?" she asked looking up.
"Aa. I'll see you soon." He started walking out but then stopped. He turned around. "Sakura."
She looked up.
"I didn't get to say this before but congratulations. I'm really proud of you."
She smiled. "Thank you Sasuke."
When Sasuke got to the tower, it was complete chaos. Elders were fighting amongst themselves, jounins were pacing around confused at all the madness, Kakashi's ninken dogs were scattered everywhere but Kakashi himself was nowhere to be seen. Shikamaru was struggling to connect with the four villages; Kiri kept losing signal because of a storm and Iwa was getting impatient. And occasionally a messenger would burst through the door with an urgent letter for Kakashi.
He didn't know where to place himself. He just stood to the side and waited for the mess to end. A few minutes later, Sakura walked in just as confused. He could see her looking around trying to process what was happening. All of a sudden, a fight erupted in the corner and the ninken dogs ran into the crowd.
Sasuke quickly grabbed Sakura's hand and pulled her to the side before she was ran down by the mass of people.
"What the hell is going on?" She asked bewildered.
"I have no idea. It was like this when I got here."
They could only stand back and watch. The dogs were able to break apart the fight right as Kakashi and Naruto walked in. This of course didn't matter and people continued in disarray.
Naruto stomped over to Kakashi's desk and climbed on top. "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS?!"
Everything and everyone stopped. He could tell Naruto was pissed off.
"There is a literal war going on and you guys are acting like idiots! Can we calm down and act like fucking shinobi?!"
Kakashi cleared his throat. "Um, thank you Naruto. The meeting will begin in ten minutes." He turned to Shikamaru. "Go into the conference room and make sure signals from all four nations are set up." He looked back at everyone. "In a few minutes, we will start moving everyone into the conference room. There are seats labeled for everyone. Until then, please refrain from arguing. All questions and concerns will be addressed." With that, he turned and left the room.
The dogs disappeared with a poof and people started walking towards the conference room. Naruto jumped down and joined him and Sakura. She patted his back and he gave Naruto a nod of approval.
Together they walked inside and found their seats.
"What are you doing here?!"
Sasuke looked up to see the annoying elder from before.
"You're not allowed in here!" he hissed.
He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off.
"The hokage has specifically asked Sasuke to take part in this meeting. Not only is he a citizen of Konoha, but he is also a critical asset of this rescue mission. I don't care about your sentiments towards him, just sit back and shut up. Time is crucial right now, and we won't waste it listening to you." Sakura snarled to the old man.
Damn she can be scary sometimes.
He whispered thanks to her and sat down in between her and Naruto.
Once everyone was seated, Kakashi walked up to the podium.
"Based off the majority consensus, it has been decided to conduct a rescue mission for the villagers of the waring countries. I would like you all to listen to a plan that has been created and then we can discuss any necessary changes." He looked at Sakura. "Sakura Haruno is the medical director here at Konoha. Not only was she my student, but also the Godiame's student. I believe she has created the most effective plan that can be used to carry out this mission."
Sakura walked up to the podium. "One of the first decisions we must agree on is dividing the villagers among the five great nations. I believe we should first prioritize the weak and injured individuals first. Being the village with the most advanced medical team, I would like to place that responsibility on Konoha."
"I disagree!" Someone shouted from the Suna telecom. "Suna has the largest greenhouse with a larger supply of medications."
"This is true, however, Konoha has more advance equipment, a larger staff of medical professionals, and the largest capacity to hold half of a village. Now we are 100% open to aid from other villages and we would be honored to have access to your greenhouse." She responded back calmly.
This seemed to satisfy the Suna representative. She went on to discuss which portions of the countries should be allocated to which nation. Sasuke was amazed watching her. She didn't falter once; she confidently spoke to this large crowd of higher authority with solid composure. Thankfully no one was opposed to the division of countries.
"Now to get to the details of the rescue. My plan is revolved around two key players: Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha." She said pointing to them. "Naruto is one of the only people I know that possesses sage mode. This will be useful for locating hidden villagers in bunkers or trapped or unconscious villagers. Once the villagers are found, I would like to direct them all to Sasuke where he can immediately transport them to the base where the medical team will be waiting. We should first transport the injured civilians and direct the non-injured to jounin captains from each nation." She paused. "Both of them are my teammates and I trust them with my life. I hope you all can trust them to execute this mission."
Sakura came and sat down and Kakashi went back up.
"We shall now take a vote on this plan. Those in favor please raise your hands. Representatives in telecom, please take a count of approvals." Kakashi said.
He raised his hand as well as several others in the room. Even the annoying elder had his hand up. Kakashi started counting and listening for tallies from the telecom.
"By majority vote, Sakura's plan shall be in effect for this rescue operation."
Naruto turned and gave her a thumbs up.
"Now let's discuss details."
They continued the meeting for about two more hours ironing out the flaws in the mission. After much discussion and debate, everything was ready.
All five nations would meet in the mountain pass just above the two countries. They would set up a medical base there for all the injured civilians. Each nation knew what portion they would be rescuing. They also had full authority to pick out which jounin captains would be in charge. For Konoha, Shikamaru, Shino, and Rock lee were the designated captains.
The meeting ended and everyone started filing out of the room except him, Naruto, and Sakura.
"It's been a while since we've all been on a mission together." Naruto said leaning back in his chair.
"We should all go home, pack up, and rest." Sakura said.
"Are you going home too?" he asked.
She shook her head no. "I'm going to the hospital and picking out medics for the mission."
"Make sure you get rest too."
"I will." She reassured him.
They left the tower and parted ways. This week was long and brutal with the endless meetings, but he was glad that something finally got accomplished. Tomorrow morning, they would be heading out.