Author's Note: I am so so sorry for the incredibly delayed update. Life got in the way and then I found out I was locked out of my account lol. Took me a hot bit to actually deal with that and get everything situated (I think the site was just having some issues tbh) anyways, my apologizes again!
--
Sasuke let Itachi and Shisui crowd them into the Hokage tent, where Kakashi and Shizune were already. Neji took a look around the room, locked eyes with Itachi before he excused himself.
On his way out, he set a hand on both Sasuke and Naruto's shoulders.
"Sakura is a fine shinobi," Neji said in a low voice. "She's the apprentice of a Hokage. She won't go down without a fight."
"Get out," Sasuke growled, despite agreeing with him.
"Thanks, Neji," Naruto said, being much nicer as he smiled. "Sakura-chan will probably save herself and be back before we can do anything."
Sasuke wasn't exactly thrilled with the words, despite how comforting Neji obviously thought they were. The tent was filled with silence once he left, save for the sound of Shizune wringing water out of a towel to place it on Tsunade's forehead.
Sasuke's eyes zeroed in on his brother, who was currently being helped by Shisui to sit down.
"Sakura-chan was taken by Obito," Itachi said, thanking Shisui. "His visual prowess sends people or objects into a pocket dimension, most likely. He used it to take her and disappeared himself. We've been dealing with reanimations for the past 24 hours."
"We have as well," Kakashi said, his frown only evident through the slight narrowing of his eye. "Not for 24 hours, but we've faced reanimated Leaf shinobi for the better half of the day. I organized whoever I could, but half of the ANBU are dealing with Root operatives; the Hokage's guard as well."
"Root operatives are siding with the reanimations?" Shisui asked, his eyes sliding towards Itachi. "That's certainly a complication."
"Are we not going to talk about the biggest complication?" Sasuke asked in a harsh voice when Itachi opened his mouth to respond. "Sakura is in the hands of the enemy, who has plenty of mind jutsus in her arsenal. That's a lot worse than rogue ninja right now."
"The hell are you worried about mind jutsus?" Naruto said loudly.
Sasuke wanted to yell. Naruto always had the right way of phrasing and saying things that made him want to literally bash his head in until common sense stuck.
Then, he remembered that not everyone in this room was aware of Sakura's predicament.
"Her memories are sealed," Shisui said in a quiet voice. "Obito cannot penetrate her mind and Fugaku-san has already made the proper arrangements. That's not the biggest problem. We can't get to her where she is."
"But we can," Kakashi realized slowly, all eyes turning to him. He lifted his headband until his right eye was uncovered. "If Sakura is still in this pocket dimension, we have access to it. My right eye is Obito's. It should have the same visual prowess, correct?"
"It's a gamble," Shisui grumbled under his breath.
"Sakura-chan might not be in that pocket dimension," Itachi continued the thought. "Obito isn't stupid. He's intimately aware that you have the other key to his visual prowess, so it wouldn't make sense for him to keep her in a place we can get to once we realize what weapons are in our arsenal."
"Keeping her on the ground is dangerous too," Sasuke added, frowning as he looked at Naruto. "You wear your powers on your sleeve right next to your heart, you idiot. Everyone knows you've got a heightened Sage Mode. You've got no new tricks to fool a genin with, let alone an Uchiha with a specific grudge against Konoha."
Shisui said something under his breath, but Sasuke didn't quite catch it.
His cousin was admittedly in a mood that reeked of caution and warning signs not to cross him. But it was that faraway look in his eyes that grated on Sasuke's nerves-- it was a look Shisui only got when he was thinking about Sakura.
Maybe it was just the irreparable consequences Sakura's situation could have on the timeline. Maybe it was Shisui thinking through every choice he made leading up to Sakura being taken. Maybe he was stewing in his own self-hatred for screwing up and losing someone that could cost them everything.
And it annoyed the crap out of Sasuke.
"Care to add something?"
Shisui's cold state cut towards him, the look dissipating into something else, much more akin to icy rage than a fiery glare.
"Naruto's leaving," Shisui said after a few moments of tense silence. "You bring up a good point; Naruto's got nothing to surprise his enemies with. If he can't counter, he could be taken and that defeats the purpose of all of this."
"Wait, what?" Naruto protested immediately, waving his hands as if testing everyone's sight. "I'm not leaving when Sakura-chan is literally in the hands of the enemy. Do you think I'm crazy?"
"I think you understand the situation at hand," Itachi said calmly. "Sakura-chan is gone and she holds vital intel about our village due to her status and role. There are reanimated shinobi popping up throughout the great nations as we speak. A few Akatsuki members still live and their main goal is to hunt the last couple Jinchūriki: yourself and Bee. They'll go for the less experienced one first. You."
"Which is why we're sending you elsewhere for the time being," Shisui continued, pulling out a scroll and tossing it to Kakashi. "Pick his entourage. They leave as soon as preparations are made."
"What the hell," Naruto whispered, looking at each other in disbelief. "Sakura-chan is gone and you expect me to leave? To sit on the sidelines? The hell am I doing that."
"You're going so you can form a true bond with the Nine -Tailed Beast," Itachi said. "If you two are on the same page, for good, we can consider having you fight with us."
"What does the Council think of that?" Shizune piped up from her place by Tsunade's side. "I can't image they'd agree to have Naruto or Bee fight with everyone else. I don't think that's a good idea either."
Naruto whine Shizune's name and tried to say that he's be fine, but Itachi silenced him with a raised hand.
"Bee will be with Naruto helping with the process," Itachi informed them all. "It'll be a sound group with them. We just need to choose our people and get the reverse-summoning scrolls underway.
"I'm not going," Naruto said. "I'm not leaving Sasuke. And I'm definitely not leaving Sakura-chan hanging."
"We'll form our own team to get her back," Sasuke said, his attention on his brother and cousin. "We'll make sure it's strong enough that your absence won't even be noticed."
"Exactly," Naruto nodded, slapping a hand onto Sasuke's shoulder before the words actually dawned on him. "Wait, no. The hell? That is not happening."
"It was the last thing Sakura-chan told us to do," Itachi said. "We intend to abide by her intentions."
"No," Naruto denied. "Sakura-chan has been through too much already. I can't leave when she's been taken."
"And if you get caught, everything Sakura has done will be for nothing," Sasuke said in a tight voice. "You're right. She's done a lot, probably more than either of us have realized. You do something stupid like refusing to be sidelined for the moment and you might just kill all of us. Sakura included."
Sasuke only meant to glance at Naruto, but the anger and stubbornness radiating off the blonde was too much for him to ignore. He faced his best friend, locking eyes, but refused to say anything else.
"Not that this isn't wildly interesting," Kakashi started, raising his hand to his mouth and biting the pad of this thumb. He crouched slowly and did a few hand movements before summoning Pakkun. "I've got a few people I need you to gather."
The dog raised an eyebrow but nonetheless waited for Kakashi to list off a handful of names.
"Roger that," Pakkun said, trotting past the lot of them and only stopping to look at each of them one more time. "Isn't there usually a pink haired girl around?"
"Get out," Kakashi sighed. The dog shrugged and left the tent. "This is such a drag."
The phrase struck a cord in Sasuke's mind.
"We'll get Shikamaru to come with us," Sasuke said. "He knows the stakes. He's a decent strategist. We could use him."
"He's outside of the village fighting Asuma," Kakashi reminded them. "You'll have to wait for him to finish or you're going to earn yourself a grudge from half of the shinobi clans in the village."
"This is more important than them putting down their already dead sensei," Sasuke hissed, before he felt a fist again his cheek.
The blow took him back, the pain delayed for a moment before it came in full force, searing his cheek. Sasuke glared at Naruto.
"I'm going to kill you," Sasuke threatened, but Naruto's hard glare didn't let up.
"If I need to be sidelined, then you can wait," Naruto said, in a tone so serious that the words felt foreign coming from Naruto's mouth.
"So you're willing to be benched and to make us wait to go find Sakura?" Sasuke asked, raising his voice slightly.
"Sasuke, we can't leave immediately," Itachi said in a light tone. A fruitless attempt to diffuse the tension between Sasuke and his idiotic best friend. "We must get the village in order. Everyone is in disarray as it is. We formulate a plan, gather squadrons, and align ourself with the other hidden villages to face this enemy. As much as I'd like to go after Sakura-chan, she is a shinobi and this is a war. It is disrespectful for us to assume she needs to be saved immediately."
Sasuke blinked a few times, hoping his brother wasn't entirely serious. It was only then that Sasuke managed to actually see the state Itachi was in.
Shisui had helped him into a chair earlier, but Itachi sat with what looked to be a slump. The bags under his eyes seemed deeper, the lines on his face more prominent.
If Itachi didn't have a steady stream of chakra because it had been cut off, how well could he manage?
"Shisui," Sasuke said. "Tell me you don't agree with delaying a search team. Itachi looks like he's going to crumple into a heap at any moment. Sakura was the one keeping a line of healing chakra coursing through you constantly. Your body is going through a withdrawal, isn't it?"
"That's probably the correct deduction," Shizune answered instead, seeing as Shisui merely stared at him blankly. "Sakura-chan knew the risks when she decided to keep a fragment of Katsuyu with Itachi-san. This is the consequence of that choice."
"I have emergency medication for times like this," Itachi tried to assure them. "It's not ideal in the slightest but my illness could be considerably worse than it is now. I am not at Death's door just yet."
"Can't you just get Katsuyu back here?" Naruto asked. "She has some healing powers herself, right?"
"That's not how it-" Shizune started to answer, before she gasped.
They all turned to her and that's when Sasuke heard a feeble voice.
One that was asking for a drink. And food.
Shizune burst into tears and it got the rest of them moving.
Kakashi left the tent, asking for food and drink rations. He and Naruto moved closer to see what exactly was happening. Shisui helped Itachi up so he could greet the newly awakened Hokage.
One that was trying to speak a bit louder and managed to get a sentence out.
"Who the fuck is volunteering my summon for something?"