No More Dead Heroes
Chapter 3: Desperation
It's war now, and yes, it's hell. Oh how the times have changed; there aren't many smiles in this hidden village anymore. People are being separated from their loved ones left and right, either by death or duty, and some are starting to lose what hope they had left. But some are still holding out for that better day, whether it's ever going to come or not.
Haruno Sakura had opened her door fairly quickly when she heard the knocking; everyone did nowadays, even if they were scared to see what lay on the other side. She hadn't been surprised to see Shino standing there, mission summons in one hand; by now it was a familiar sight, if not Shino, then another Konoha shinobi, wearing an equally grim face.
She noticed the unbroken seal on the scroll immediately, and wondered what Tsunade-sama wanted to keep hidden from the Aburame. She was so involved in this train of thought she didn't notice that the Chuunin's hands shook as he handed her the scroll.
Too bad, it probably would have clued her in that something was wrong.
As it was, she didn't notice until after she felt the sharp pain of a bug bite, followed by the sickly feeling of poison invading her bloodstream.
The dark haired shinobi had already gone by the time she thought to look up, leaving her leaning against her doorway, breathing heavily, and struggling to open the Godaime's scroll before she lost consciousness.
Cursing her fumbling fingers, Sakura finally managed to get a purchase on a corner, and ripped through the seal with difficulty.
It had to be important, or sensitive, or else Tsunade-sama wouldn't have bothered to seal it. It would probably also give her an idea of why there was currently poison working it's way towards her vitals, something she would really like to be in the know about.
Finally managing to unroll the stubborn thing, Sakura started reading, gasping in air frantically in an attempt to stay awake long enough to finish.
First she had to work her way through the mission details, nothing special or even note worthy. All they had to do was scout out a forest for a good location for a new Jounin camp (which either meant the Godaime would be promoting some Chuunins soon, as they were flat out of Jounins, or the camp was going to be a trap. It was most likely the first, considering how far from Konoha it was going to be).
She scowled at the paper in frustration, couldn't Tsunade-sama have been nice and put the important information at the top, where it would have been nice and easy to find and then read, even when poisoned (she was going to murder Shino if she ever got her hands on him, she had always had him pegged for a polite, if a bit quiet, boy. So much for that,huh?)?
Hang on a second, here it was.
"Sakura-chan, please keep an eye on Shino while on this mission. I fear he may do something drastic to get out of it, as he has already requested to be sent after the Chuunin team I sent out to catch that thief that was here from the Hidden Mist last week. As you may or may not be aware of, Inuzuka Kiba was placed on that team because of his superior tracking skills, making this the fourth time in as many months the two have missed each other by mere days. Obviously, there is no way to know for sure what he will do, or even if he will attempt anything at all, but keep a close eye on him for me. –Tsunade."
Sakura closed her eyes for a second. "Thanks a lot Tsunade-sama. I got your message just in time to be poisoned. I really think we need to work on your ti-…"
Her head slumped forward, the poison finally taking affect, and Sakura slid down the doorframe with a soft thump.
There was a war going on outside her office doors and all she could do was paper work.
That was not the point of being Hokage.
Or any ninja, of any level, for that matter.
Maybe she could pay Kotetsu and Izumo to do it for her…
Unfortunately, that was not the point of being Hokage either.
Tsunade sighed, this really wasn't fair. She had all this power, basically in the palm of her hand, but when push came to shove, she was stuck sitting in her office, watching her villagers die.
Of course, she occasionally got out to the Konoha Hospital where, in her opinion, she did infinitely more good, considering the lives she was saving.
Unfortunately, not all of the shinobi she healed would agree with her.
Especially not the enemy that they had captured who just needed to be fixed up before they were sent off to Ibiki.
The Godaime tapped her pen against the edge of her desk restlessly. She wondered what the advisors would say if she told them she wanted to lead a team… Ha, that was a joke. They would probably put her under constant ANBU watch, whether they could spare them or not, and/or chain her to her chair.
Of course, they had one more ANBU member now.
She couldn't help but wonder if that had been a mistake.
Sure, the Hyuuga wasn't emotional, but he was depressed, anyone could see that. And when shinobi got depressed, they got careless. Reckless even.
She didn't want a repeat of that incident.
Hopefully Shikamaru would be able to keep him in line; he usually had a calming affect on people. Unless, of course, their name was Naruto. No one had a calming affect on that idiot.
Tsunade wondered if Sakura had gotten the mission scroll from Shino yet, she had sent him off at least an hour ago now. Of course, it was getting late, and as they weren't due to leave for another day, he might have decided to wait until morning to visit the kunoichi.
The Godaime riffled through the list she kept on the top right hand corner of her desk, just in case. Sakura was on the fourth page. Actually, it was possible Shino had gone tonight after all, it wasn't like the girl would be doing anything; Lee, Ino, and Naruto were all on missions.
Come to think of it, the village was going to be rather empty for the next few days, until the next wave of people started returning.
They would probably only get a few days of rest before she had another job for them.
And some of them wouldn't come back at all…
Tsunade sighed. Maybe it was time for her to take a leaf out of Naruto's book and make good use of the Kage Bunshin…
She really wasn't cut out for this job.
There was something wrong with this picture.
Iruka paused for a moment, under the guise of catching his breath. It wasn't all that hard to believe, they had been running non stop for quite a while now. Of course, they were in hot pursuit of a thief…
Maybe 'hot' was the wrong word.
Not even Akamaru had caught so much as a whiff of the Hidden Mist shinobi since around noon.
But that wasn't the problem.
Not even close.
Hadn't Daiki's shuriken pouch been on the other leg last time they stopped for a break?
Iruka narrowed his eyes, trying valiantly to remember. Apparently all those years teaching at the academy had dulled his senses, which didn't make sense considering how often he had to be on the look out for cheaters and bullies.
Somehow not quite on the same level as thieves and murderers…
The ex-teacher sighed. What he wouldn't give to be back in his classroom right now. But no, the Hokage had subpoenaed him for this mission on account of his knowledge of the Hidden Mist and its fighters.
Why couldn't he have been born stupid and ignorant?
Oh right, because that would mean he would have already been on the battlefield, probably as soon as this war had started.
But back to the problem at hand.
They had last stopped around seven o'clock, and if the quickly setting sun was anything to judge by, it was around eight now. Which meant that the real Daiki was somewhere about ten or more miles back.
If he was still alive.
Considering, that wasn't very likely.
Iruka wracked his brain. He couldn't remember Tsunade-sama telling them about any enemies in this particular area, but by now that information was almost entirely worthless.
He hadn't seen anyone else, but that didn't mean much at all.
He hated this, he really did. He had known Daiki; he had been a fellow teacher at the Ninja Academy. He had had a family, a wife even. No children that he knew of, but a lot of friends, and most of the students adored him.
Thank god they hadn't gone after Kiba though.
He would not want to be the one to try and explain that to Shino.
Kakashi wanted to rip that senbon out of the other Jounin's mouth and just break it into tiny pieces.
Then stomp on it.
And maybe bury it, just in case.
If Genma clicked it between his teeth just one more time, he was going to have to face the consequences.
Once Kakashi could move again that is…
Damn this Sharingan and its side affects. The Uchihas didn't know how lucky they were. Kakashi blinked; either that clacking noise was getting to him more than he thought, or it was about time for him to have a nice long rest back in Konoha, preferably under the watchful eyes of the doctors and nurses still left at the hospital.
He groaned; if they ever managed to get out of the somewhat sticky situation they were in now, they still had to help Anko and some ANBU lay siege on the Hidden Sound. That was going to be interesting with him in this condition and Shizune practically incapacitated.
Tsunade was going to kill them when they got back.
Click…
Click…
Clack…
Kakashi squeezed his normal eye shut, trying to ignore the noise of the needle scraping against Genma's teeth.
Clack…
Click…
"Do you mind?" He growled, not even bothering to sit up. "Some of us are trying to rest here."
The other Jounin just stared at him.
Click…
Kakashi pulled himself up, bracing himself against the tree trunk with a shaky hand. He winced as his knees straightened; he had really over done it this time. It was a good thing Naruto was out keeping watch, or he'd never hear the end of it.
It took more willpower than he cared to admit not to just slide back to the ground.
To his credit he made it almost halfway across the clearing to the brunette before he gave in to his body's demands and just let his knees buckle.
Genma was at his side holding him up before Kakashi even had time to realize what had happened.
Thank god for fast reflexes.
"No no, we'll be able to take any survivors back to Konoha ourselves, this is our last fight, and then we're heading there." Gai assured the ANBU captain hastily. "We'll be fine with that, it's myself and two Chuunins, it's just that I think we may need some help, considering they've probably got all sorts of traps set up."
Really, if they had taken them on them selves they most likely would have won, but Tsunade-sama would have his head if he pushed Lee any harder than absolutely necessary. Even now, four years later, the genius of hard work's body still carried the scars from his fight with Gaara of the Sand.
At least the Kazekage had apologized profusely to Lee before he had gone and gotten himself killed.
Lee was less likely to forgive Gaara for that than for potentially crippling him.
What a twisted place this world had become.
The ANBU captain, dressed in the customary robe (black) and mask (boar, so far as he could tell), appeared to be considering his request. He wasn't quite sure what the big deal was, it would take them three hours tops to get there, help them dispose of the enemy, and return here.
It wasn't like he was even asking for a whole team, just one, maybe two, to help them make this fight go a little faster.
Besides, the ANBU were just sitting here, waiting for a messenger from the Godaime to give them their next set of orders, and there were two whole teams to boot.
He had to wonder if Lee had the right idea about the ANBU…
"If possible it would be nice if you speed up your decision making process, one of my Chuunins is sitting in a ditch about a mile away from the enemy camp, and it's probably not a good idea to leave him there much longer…"
The ANBU ignored him.
Or, at least, he thought he did. It was hard to tell with that damn mask covering his face.
"Alright, I'll send two back with you, but they are only to help you and your team dispose of the Sound-nins, then come directly back here, not help you with transportation of any prisoners." The ANBU finally said, as though he was doing Gai a great favor.
The Jounin scowled, hadn't they already been over this part already? He knew the shinobi had been ignoring him. "Fine, fine, could we go now though? I'd like to get this over with before dark…"
The boar mask bobbed once, in what Gai decided was a nod. "I'll go get them. Wait here."
Gai rolled his eyes, just where else was he going to go exactly?
a/n: Hopefully no one is too out of character, and I didn't make any glaring mistake, but I guess you guys will all just have to review and let me know wont you? –grins- I'll try to update again tomorrow, but I have to baby sit –sigh- so I might just post Chapter 4 on Saturday along with Chapter 5.
Night-Owl123: Soon enough for you?
AvaStar: Yay! You finally reviewed! –glomps- Now, there are two more for you to do the same for… And thanks!