A/N: Hi friends!
I had an urge to write Pein/Sakura since good, long fanfictions about them are very rare. Just a warning, English is not my first language, so if you see something weird in the writing, that's why. Please have patience and let me know of any mistakes so I can hopefully fix it.
Another important point to know before starting: in this AU, Pein (or the Deva path) is a real person; there is no Nagato controlling him. My idea was that Nagato was the one who died and Yahiko turned God. There are no other changes besides that and the Konoha's eleven (plus Sasuke) age. They're a bit older here.
I hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 1: Crossroads
Halfway through to Shikamaru, a small static noise sounded close to her neck. Sakura looked briefly at Sai, who nodded, and promptly put the transmitter in her ear.
It was Yamato's deep voice who immediately greeted her.
"Kakuzu has fallen. Waiting for information on Hidan."
Sakura breathed in deeply, feeling her chest lightened up with relief. Naruto did it. It was one less Akatsuki.
Now to find Shikamaru.
One year later.
An enormous shadow appeared in the space she was standing, completely engulfing her. There was a sound of shuffling leaves as some branches shook and a little more than half a dozen red mangos fell to the still humid ground to join the ones, and the dry leaves, already there. Sakura came closer to the trees and looked up, reaching a hand to her forehead to shield her eyes from the light seeping through the branches.
"I think this is enough, Chouji."
The shadow disappeared slowly as he went back to his normal size and after a moment, Chouji came from behind the trees to stand close to her. They eyed the fruits on the ground critically, then crouched down to retrieve it.
"These were the only ones ready to fall," he said somewhat regretfully.
In Sakura's opinion, they were lucky to find those trees in their way, even out of season and when they were starting to diminish the closer they got to the border with River Country. They had spent the day before taking shelter in a small cave, still on the border with Rain, because of an unexpected storm. Their entire food for the trip was over because the missing day was supposed to be the last day on the road. There was no river or lake close by and they couldn't afford to go looking for one when they were already late, so fruits would have to be enough until the end of the day, which was the time they expected to arrive at Fushimi.
At least they still had enough water.
Sakura sighed tiredly, standing up with part of the mangos in her arms when Ino entered the small clearing again. This mission, her first being team leader, didn't have a great start; she could only hope they would be able to finish it and go back to Konoha without any more problems.
"The area is clear. I didn't sense any chakra signature around," Ino said, eyeing the fruits for a moment. Then she reached out for her backpack and retrieved a small portion of bread from the day before. When Chouji stared at it longingly, Ino pursed her lips in a severe way. "We will share. It'd probably be enough until we arrive at Fushimi."
"It'll have to be," Sakura answered, getting settled in the trunk of one of the mango trees. "We're already late as it is."
"Sure, taichou," Ino said teasingly, with one corner of her lips lifting up in a smirk.
Sakura rolled her eyes and reached for a kunai to start cutting the fruits as the others joined her on the ground to eat their meager food.
Four days ago, Tsunade received a request for help from a merchant's village in the outskirts of River Country–Fushimi. They were having problems with a band of bandits robbing civilians and threatening to break into the village. Lately, almost everyone she knew, especially the other integrants of team seven, seemed to be busy with some sort of mission already, which left Chouji, Ino and herself, since they also asked for a medic–especifically her. They were supposed to dismantle the group and escort them to Tanigakure, where they would be imprisoned.
Those types of missions where the ones hiring Konoha asked specifically for her had been more and more frequent in the last few months, though she wasn't allowed to go in most of them. She tried to not seem too proud of herself. Some word had spread out after she had been successful in saving Kankuro from Sasori's terrible poison. Suna had been immensely grateful and the medics there seemed to have grown to respect her after that. The alliance with the hidden village of Wind Country was stronger than ever and now Haruno Sakura was being the most requested medic-nin in all Fire Country.
Still, Tsunade liked to say that she was too trusting and being widely known wasn't always a good thing. Sakura didn't exactly understand her reasoning for not allowing her to go on those missions, but she also didn't complain.
After the small break, they quickly resumed their travel. It was early in the morning and they still had an entire day of pushing themselves to arrive on time.
They finally arrived in the village when the sun was almost completely out.
Sakura's feet hurt and she could barely keep her eyes open. The other two weren't better than her either. Every now and then she could hear Chouji's stomach making loud noises and Ino was always cranky when she was hungry. When they saw the roofs of some houses at a small distance, surrounded by an extensive wall, none of them could keep their relieved expressions from showing.
Fushimi, much like what she had read of Tani, was located in the space between high valleys–although smaller and, consequently, less populated. To reach the gates, they had to follow a descending earth path traced in the grass, between smaller and more sparse trees. Luckily the one they had to descend wasn't nearly as steep as the ones towering over the village on other sides, like earth shields. Two young men, clearly civilians, received them on the gates. They shared a rather anxious look between them before approaching.
"You're the Konoha group Kazuo-sama hired?" The blond one, who seemed to be the youngest, questioned in a tone of voice that was haughty, but nervous at the same time.
The name they received was Kazuo. Sakura could feel Ino and Chouji's eyes on her. Tsunade defined her as the leader of their small group; she was supposed to do the talking.
She took a firm step forward. The tall brunette watched her warily, a line forming between his eyebrows. "Yes, we are." She smiled politely and extended a hand in their general direction. "I'm Haruno Sakura."
They watched her hand for more time than it was necessary or polite, letting her know that they were considering something. Out of the corner of her eye Sakura could see Ino and Chouji exchanging a suspicious look before Ino stepped up beside her.
She arched an inquisitive blond eyebrow. "Your leader hired us. There's no need to be this hesitant."
Afraid would be a more fitting word.
The blond opened his mouth to reply, but his companion was quicker. He grasped Sakura's still extended hand and shook it briefly. Sakura felt his clammy skin on hers for a second before he let go entirely. "I apologize for our behavior. We're not used to receiving shinobi in our village, much less from a foreign country. My name is Yamamoto Akira. It's nice to meet you, Sakura-san. You are all welcome in Fushimi."
"Kazuo-sama will want to talk to you guys before you settle for the night," the blond man said without bothering to present himself, taking a look behind them instead, up to the top of the way they came in. He seemed to be the brusque one out of the two. His honey eyes looked at Ino's bare arms and stomach with a disbelieving furrow of his thin brows. "We should get inside. It gets pretty cold out here at night."
"Let's go then," Chouji agreed pleasantly, guiding them lightly by the shoulders after the blond man, going in the direction of the village's more populated areas. To Sakura and Ino he said, in a quiet voice, "I hope they give us food. I'm crazy hungry right now!" To each Ino agreed with an impatient nod.
They had given three steps when Sakura stopped, looking behind her, towards the gates. The others continued walking without her. The brunette man, Akira, was still standing there, looking intently towards the sparse trees on the ascending path. There was no sunlight on the horizon now.
"There was nothing out of normal in the forest when we came," Sakura said to him, who turned to look at her suddenly, as if he expected to be alone already. Wisps of brown hair fell to his youthful face, making him appear even more young. "You can sleep peacefully tonight."
She smiled gently. He only nodded back, still serious. "Thank you, Sakura-san." And went back to watch the trees as if she hadn't said anything in the first place.
Sakura turned and went back to walking. Even though she had tried to reassure the man, a prickling sensation passed by in the back of her neck, making the fine hairs on her arms stand on end. She frowned, but didn't give it any more thought as she ran to catch up with the group.
The leader's residence was a two-store, large house with high windows and a door leading to a balcony on the second floor. The blond man, who Ino discovered was called Riki, one of the guards of the gates and son of one of the merchants in the village, led them through the door where they were welcomed in by Kazuo's wife called Mei; a small, kind woman with long blond hair in a braid and big brown eyes. She almost forced them to a small table in the kitchen and served several servings of food on it, with a great variety of vegetables and fruits, and then left them alone to go find her husband.
"You're going to eat that?" Chouji asked around a mouthful of rice, pointing at Sakura's half full bowl with one of his chopsticks. It was her third helping already.
Sakura leaned back on the chair, rubbing her stomach contendly. She pushed the bowl away. "You can have it. It feels like I ate enough for the next three days."
"No, that's not possible," Ino replied at the same time Chouji pulled her bowl closer and said, "Food is never enough." And then they continued on their food.
After dinner, the man called Kazuo met with them in his small office. He was a middle aged man, perhaps some years older than her father, dressed in a dark haori loose enough to conceal his physical appearance, with light brown hair already turning grey in some parts, and dark eyes. His movements were economic and seemed calculated, but he moved with a certain grace worthy of a shinobi. When they passed through the door, he only nodded in greeting.
Ino extended her hand in his direction and it was her turn to stay with it suspended in mid-air. Kazuo made no movement to take it and Chouji's eyes narrowed. In fact, he seemed strangely unaware he was being rude in the first place. Ino quickly retreated her hand and Sakura discreetly squeezed Chouji's arm in reassurance.
"Kazuo-sama, we had a delay in our way; that's why it took longer to arrive here," Sakura calmly explained instead, trying to diffuse the tense air between them.
"It's fine." His deep, velvety voice sounded curtly, like he didn't want to speak much. He sat behind the desk in the room and interlaced his fingers together, making the very picture of calm and impassive. "You can start tomorrow. Have you had any idea of what you're going to do to help us?"
Even though they were talking about his village, his tone seemed impersonal and a little cold. Sakura frowned, but ignored it all the same.
"We're going to do a perimeter around the village. If they try to approach, they won't pass without being seen." She watched his face for some reaction to her plan, but there was nothing. "Can you tell us at what time they usually appear?"
Kazuo frowned minimally "At any time."
"We're spending the entire day watching then," Chouji guaranteed with a nod. "And Ino is a sensor; she can track them by their chakra signature." It seemed he only mentioned her in the first place because of the little situation that happened earlier.
"Yeah," Ino agreed. "If there's someone hidden out there, I'll know."
"Also," Sakura started, gaining his undivided attention again. "You specifically asked for me as a medic. I'm assuming these attacks get violent and end up leaving wounded as a result."
This topic seemed to interest him for he looked at her more intently. "Sometimes it happens. I heard quite a bit about you, Haruno-san. What can be trusted from the rumors?" He scrutinized her face closely. "You are one of Tsunade-hime's apprentices, correct?"
"I am," Sakura answered truthfully, though she felt a little weird about the sudden attention. She thought about what he had asked and what she had heard about herself. "And what it's said is the truth. I am proficient in healing, whatever it may be, and find that perfect chakra control comes very easily to me."
"I don't understand part of it, least of all Medicine, but I did hear good things about you. I expect everything will work out as planned." He got up from the chair and nodded again. "I'll let you go to rest."
Once they were outside the door, Kazuo's wife, Mei, took them to the second floor, where she showed them their rooms. Sakura and Ino were together in one as Chouji got one for himself right beside them.
The relief she felt after only taking her leg guards and sandals was so much she almost didn't keep a groan at bay. Later, after taking a barely long hot shower, Sakura closed her eyes and stretched in her designed bed, laying down for a moment to relieve her back. A moment of silence followed in the room before a weight settled close to her feet. She opened one eye to see Ino looking at the ceiling, seemingly lost in thought, her long blond hair down and humid from the earlier shower.
"Forehead."
Sakura looked at her friend fully. "Yes, Ino-pig?"
Ino suddenly frowned, whispering, "Don't you think their reception of us was a little weird?"
Sakura thought back to when they arrived. Sure enough, the guards at the gates were acting unnecessarily nervous and touchy, but hadn't they said it was because they were not used to dealing with shinobi? She went up on her forearms and said all that to Ino.
"Yeah, but that's another thing," she said, eyebrows furrowing. Ino gave her a long look. "Don't tell me you didn't think it suspicious that they didn't hire Tani shinobi to do this mission, choosing instead to go to a foreign country." She seemed to deliberate on this for a moment. "Or even Ame, which is closer."
It was weird, but not unheard of. Actually, there were several explanations for it. Tanigakure's prices could be higher than they could afford; perhaps Fushimi had a disagreement with their hidden village; it could be because they wanted someone in particular…
And it was well known that Amegakure wasn't exactly the most peaceful of villages to foreigners, even for the ones going to hire their services.
"I don't think it's suspicious at all, actually." She laid back down and stared at the ceiling. There was a fine crack crossing from one end to the other. "That is more common than you think. There's no reason to mistrust them."
Ino seemed to barely keep herself from rolling her eyes. "Well, what about the guy, Kazuo. He was a weird fellow. And not only because he didn't shake my hand."
Now that settled in a good point. Analysing the facts that he opened up his house, offered a great amount of food and was letting them stay in his rooms for the night, then no, he wasn't a weird fellow. But she couldn't deny his strange behavior toward them, how he was a little aloof about details or seemed to want to finish their conversation as soon as possible, and his lack of reaction to everything…
But still, it was nothing serious; nothing that would make her want to run off without doing the job they were hired for. It may be that he simply didn't speak much, maybe there weren't a lot of details that he could give in the first place.
She sat down on the bed, looking seriously into Ino's baby blue eyes. "It could be, but why would they trick us into coming here? Don't you think that that is a little weird also? Maybe the guy is just like that. Hell, we know shinobi are nothing like normal."
When Ino begrudgingly went back to her bed, Sakura got more comfortable. With how tired she was, sleep came quickly after, without thoughts of civilians and their strange behaviour meaning something obscure.
Something woke her suddenly.
Her blurred eyes opened to the wall in front of the bed, where she could see the open window's outline created by the moonlight. In the dark, she thought she had caught another shadow, as if someone was passing across it. Sakura sat up on the bed and looked around the room. Ino slept soundly a few paces away; besides her breathing noises, the room was silent and empty.
She frowned, but lay back down again, covering her body further. It must have been a dream.
The next morning, they were all on their feet at first light. Sakura already felt fully recovered from the day before and ready to finish her job so they could go back home.
Breakfast was simple and quick. Kazuo wasn't present, but he let Mei to warn them that Riki, the blond guard guy, was coming to the house to escort them to the gates. It wasn't really necessary, but they weren't about to argue something so small. When they were about to leave out the door, the blond woman rushed up to them.
"Sakura-san, could you stay behind for a moment? Kazuo wishes to speak to you."
"Only her?" Ino asked.
Mei smiled gently. "Yes, dear."
Sakura turned to watch her friends. Despite the fact that Kazuo's wife seemed to mean good, Ino had a worried expression on her face that made her remember their conversation last night. Chouji seemed uncertain, leaning just outside the door. He was feeling their strange mood.
She nodded to them reassuringly. "You can go ahead. I'll meet you all at the gates."
Sakura didn't wait for an answer only because if she lingered around them for one moment long, it was a certainty that she wouldn't go back into the house. Ino's worries were getting to her head. There was nothing going on in this civilian village, much less some sort of plot against them. Ino was just too mistrustful.
Or you are too trusting for your own good, she couldn't help but imagine what Ino's response would be.
Before Sakura knew it, Mei was gone and she was standing alone in front of Kazuo's office door. She knocked and he answered immediately.
When she opened the door, Kazuo was sitting behind his desk, seemingly doing nothing except waiting for her. Sakura nodded and closed the door. He nodded back.
"You wanted to see me, sir?"
Kazuo got up and walked to lean in front of the desk, crossing his legs at the ankles. He seemed a little worn out today, as if he didn't sleep well. "Yes. I just wanted to clarify some details that I still find myself confused about."
Sakura couldn't keep the frown out of her face. "About medical ninjutsu?" It had to be. He only called for her.
"Yes." Watching her face for a moment, he explained, "It's not a problem with you, Haruno-san. It just so happens that I don't understand much about chakra in general and…" A beat of silence. "Well, I guess it's something with you as well. I do understand that Medicine is an extensive and complicated subject and you seem so young…"
He trailed off, probably expecting some explanation from her. Sakura felt more annoyed than before, but tried her hardest not to show. She was dealing with a civilian here; it was to be expected.
"I'm eighteen, sir. And despite my age, I actually started practicing with medical ninjutsu very young."
Kazuo nodded briefly. "Could you do a demonstration on how you heal?"
"Of course." Sakura came closer to the desk by his side and looked around. "Where should I do it?"
He calmly lifted himself from his position on the desk and extended a tan arm in her direction, turning the palm of his hand up where a shallow looking cut was embedded on the skin. "I cut myself earlier," he said as a form of explanation when Sakura stared at it curiously. He didn't exactly towered over her, but he was taller, making her tilt her head up to look at his face.
The entire time since Sakura entered the room, he had no particular expression on his face. Now it wasn't different.
Sakura removed one of her gloves and placed a glowing hand on top of his, close but not exactly touching, maintaining her normal flux of chakra. The cut was healed seconds after. Kazuo observed his smooth palm critically. There was no scar left behind. It was flawless. He didn't seem surprised at all.
"I hope this was enough to demonstrate what I can do. Mind you, medical ninjutsu goes deeper than this, but I can guarantee I'm very good at what I do." Sakura smiled reassuringly, hoping it would convince him further.
"I do apologize if I'm being too insistent."
But he was still scrutinizing his hand, his dark eyebrows furrowing, as if there was something wrong. Sakura frowned and leaned closer to see what he was seeing, but his eyes snapped to hers suddenly; big, dark brown orbs devoid of any warmth. He tilted his head to the side lightly and Sakura thought she saw a silver glint in his dark eyes–
There were three knocks on the door, followed by Chouji's muffled voice, "Sakura! We're waiting!"
Sakura backed away several steps, her eyes wide and surprised by Chouji's daring. She observed Kazuo for a second. His features were schooled as if nothing had happened in the first place, but she didn't miss the displeased twist of his mouth.
How could she, after that strange thing that had just happened?
"I must go, sir," she said instead, a little shaky, with goosebumps on her arms, opening the door to see her friend's mane of brown hair right outside. "I hope the little of my abilities I could show you were appealing." She nodded and closed the door behind her, without waiting for a response and without looking back, feeling somewhat unsettled.
"It was Ino, wasn't it?" she accused immediately once the door was closed, in a low voice.
Chouji had his eyes wide, but he didn't try to deny it. "She refused to leave the house until you were back, but didn't explain what was going on. Riki was with us, though."
He was looking at her expectantly so she explained very briefly.
Chouji looked doubtful.
Sakura smiled knowingly. "Yeah, I know." But then she remembered Kazuo and the thing that she thought she saw...
They were almost on the door when she cautioned, in a low voice, "Still, let's stick together for the entirety of the mission, just in case."
Let's stick together. Yeah, right.
How could they stick together while patrolling the borders of an entire village? And now her mind was too caught up with things that she wasn't certain it really happened.
You're imagining things, she told herself firmly for what must have been the tenth time that morning before jumping up a nearby tree, settling in a branch and adjusting the transmitter to her right ear. It was already midday and she had no sign of anything out of normal. If anything, there was no movement at all in these parts apart from small animals. Ino and Chouji exchanged reports with her from time to time, and they also hadn't caught anything of relevance.
From where she was, north of the gates, the village was in full view, down the land, in between the valleys. Sakura sat down on the branch and removed her pouch, looking through it for one of the snacks they got from Mei before leaving. She removed an apple and a small bundle of onigiri and set for lunch.
Sunlight was starting to fade much later in the day when she opened her eyes startled, looking down and around. Everything was still. The village seemed to be ending its activities as the sunset approached. There were no birds chirping, no leaves moving with the wind, no small rodents walking around. No human activities at all, just like the rest of the day.
It was too quiet.
Sakura felt a prickling sensation in the back of her neck as soon as she had that thought, the same feeling she had when they first arrived. But that first time she didn't realise what it was. Now it was different.
Someone was watching her. Closely.
This conclusion made her pulse escalate. She looked behind her rigidly, through branches and leaves, and drew chakra to her hand almost reflexively. Still, there was nothing to see. The forest was deathly silent, as if waiting for something to happen with bated breath.
Green eyes went back to look at Fushimi. There was nothing out of the ordinary. From where she was, the two guards at the gates looked almost like two dots with arms and legs. Sakura quickly went back to observe behind her, up and down, left and right, with narrowed eyes.
With the way the trees were sparse in these areas, there would be very little she wouldn't be able to see. Still, there was nothing.
"Sakura!"
Her heart gave a lurch and Sakura almost jumped off the branch. It was Chouji again. She placed a hand on the transmitter by her ear, with nervous eyes still focusing on her surroundings.
"What is it?" She couldn't help but answer a little gruffly.
"Ino felt something. A chakra signature," Chouji stated anxiously. "What should we do?"
Her eyes, ever alert now, didn't leave the place at her back, almost willing whatever was hidden there to appear. After a beat, everything was still deceptively calm. Sakura frowned. She had a mission to complete rather than stay here waiting.
"Don't do anything. I'm on my way."
She jumped, staying on the trees. Thoughts of being watched fleeing from her mind as soon as she moved.
When Sakura finally found Ino and Chouji, they were standing below the cover of a great mango tree, closer to the village than she was previously. She thought it was fitting.
"So?" Sakura questioned as soon as she jumped down beside them.
Ino turned brusquely towards her, her face in a frown. "It appeared in a flash. Too fast as if it was an accident. I only caught it because I was focusing around. It was a dense one, like the person had a lot of chakra."
Sakura's eyes narrowed. "A lot how?"
She could tell Ino was worried. Some wisps of blond hair had escaped her hair tie to land on her face in her agitation. Chouji was wringing his hands together, looking a little more pale than normal. "Like a jinchūriki."
Before Sakura could think about it fully and discuss the possibilities with her teammates, a terrible anguished scream reached them. It was coming from the village.
They ran out of the forest, in the direction of one of the valleys that protected Fushimi. Ino gasped loudly by her side. From where they were, at the top of the hill that led to the village, they could already see what was happening.
A house was catching fire.
But how was this possible? No one had passed them in the forest...
Sakura quickly debated what she should do, seeing only one available option… then turned to the others, who each had a degree of shock in their features.
She didn't want to have to do this initially, but there was no choice now.
"I will go down there to help; you two will stay here and guard the perimeter."
Immediately Ino opened her mouth to protest. Surprisingly, it was Chouji who held her back, taking one of her hands in his bigger ones.
"We can't all go. This could be a trap. Someone needs to stay alert in case the band tries to attack," Chouji explained patiently and Sakura was glad that at least one of them shared her ideas. "We can't spare you now."
"Even more now that you actually felt someone," Sakura agreed. Then, she looked Ino in the eyes seriously. "Just do as I said. And If you sense someone again, don't engage unless it's clear that they intend to invade Fushimi."
"You don't understand," Ino replied and Sakura was surprised to hear the panic in her voice. "There's something sketchy going on here. I don't think we should split up now. Sakura, please, listen to me."
Sakura shared a disbelieving look with Chouji, who also thought Ino was exaggerating. They didn't have time for something ridiculous as this suspicion without reason. She hated what she was about to do, but it seemed it was necessary right now. They didn't have time to keep arguing.
"I'm the leader of this team. I'll go to the village to make sure no one is in danger and you will stay and guard the perimeter." Her voice was cold and authoritative. She ignored Ino's stricken expression and Chouji's wide eyes and turned her back on them. "If you fail to do as I said, I will report you to Tsunade-sama."
After that, she took off in a blur, letting them by the forest, her heart in her throat. The guards weren't at the gates so she pushed through them and ran with all her might to where she saw the house burning.
The flames, even though still contained inside, were illuminating the dark path now. Sakura pushed through the crowd forming around the house, muttering rushed apologies along the way, and looking out for Kazuo and Mei, but they didn't seem to be around.
She stopped beside a brunette, tall man, who was clearly fretting while trying to support a young woman by his side. One of the guards. His face was stricken and pale, as if he had seen a ghost. The woman cried helplessly.
"What's happening?" Sakura elevated her voice in an attempt to be heard over the sound of voices from the others gathered around, looking. "Did you take everyone out?"
Akira looked back at her as if she was a God sent, forgetting all about the woman, who kneeled on the floor without his aid, to take a not entirely comfortable hold of her shoulders.
"Our daughter is still in there," he said, clearly in panic, with eyes wide and frantic, even glistening a little. "She's a baby…" his voice cracked. Sakura felt herself blanch, all the blood draining from her face. A baby. A baby was inside a house catching fire. The thought made a shiver run down her spine.
"I'm going in," she told him firmly, unattaching her pouch and handing it to him. "Take care of this for me and don't let anyone get closer than this. Do you have any idea where your baby is?"
He swallowed as if trying to regain in his panic. Sakura was pretty shaken herself; she could only imagine what a father could be feeling. She spared a quick glance at the pitiful figure of the woman on the floor. And a mother.
"She was in her crib, in one of the rooms on the second floor." Akira frowned, thinking a little more. "The smallest one, at the back."
The furthest one.
Sakura breathed in deeply, thinking. There was no way she could go in there to save a baby unprepared like this. She would get herself, and the baby, burned by the time they left the house. If they didn't die by smoke inhalation first.
The second floor wasn't lit up yet, so she could tell the fire had started on the first floor. But it was only a matter of time. There was no way. She would have to use the seal.
It wasn't formed yet, but it was close. By using it now, it would take even longer to finish than normal… but she had no other choice.
Turning to Akira, she told him again, because he didn't seem to hear her the first time, "Make sure no one gets closer than this, no matter what."
This time he nodded anxiously. She ignored it. Her fingers formed a tiger seal and she closed her eyes, concentrating the best of her abilities on the separated, ever growing pool of chakra in her mind's eye, acutely aware she had never done this before.
"Ninpō: Sōzō Saisei!"
Immediately a warm feeling spread from the center of her forehead to all over her body, making her feel stronger and whole. It was an amazing feeling. This chakra was different for some reason, dense and powerful, like nothing she had ever felt before. It must be her clue the technique worked. Sakura ran up to the porch, pushing the door open and feeling the heat coming from the inside. Already there was a lot of smoke coming from the back, which she deduced was the kitchen. She covered her mouth and nose with a hand. The stairs' first wooden steps were already on fire; an indicator that she didn't have much time at all.
Coming closer to the flames, an otherwise crazy idea struck her. Sakura removed one of her gloves and reached a hand to the fire until she could touch it. It was warm, uncomfortably warm, but didn't burn how it should. The thought that she could feel her body immediately repair itself on a cellular level, even before she was wounded, seemed impossible, but it was true somehow. Sakura smiled in awe as she retreated her unburned, smooth hand. It was definitely working.
She took to the stairs then, two steps at a time, and ignored the first couple of doors, running all the way to the last door on the corridor. From outside she could hear the cries coming from the other side of the door. The door opened with a loud screech after being forced to a very simple baby room, with a closed small window and a wooden wardrobe. The space was quickly filling up with black smoke from downstairs. Inside the crib, an almost hairless little girl cried at the top of her little lungs, her small blanket was wrapped around her leg. She wasn't wearing much and the blanket was too thin; it would definitely burn very quickly. Sakura took off her red vest instead and struggled for a moment to enclose it around the baby's small body. After that was done, she hugged her to her mesh clad chest tightly enough while being careful not to hurt her or cut out her breathing.
Now for the hardest part.
She quickly left the room, noticing that beads of sweat had already started to form on her brow. The baby's crying didn't stop as she was doing her way back to the inferior level of the house, it only worsened with the loud crackling noise. At the top landing, Sakura stopped and cursed; the fire had consumed most of the steps. In fact, it was covering almost everything downstairs, the door in the center of the front wall was also partly covered. She looked around, wishing for inspiration. Smoke clouded her vision and burned her eyes and the baby started coughing, making Sakura cover more of her with her arms, an helpless feeling starting to creep into her mind. There was no way to leave from where she came.
Sakura ran back to the baby's room, all the while very aware she would have to act quickly as the amount of smoke was growing. She disentangled one arm from the baby and pushed the window open. It was about five meters to the ground and there was no leverage whatsoever, but her other option was facing the fire. While she would be okay facing a certain amount of flames, she wasn't sure she could do the same for the girl in her arms. Making up her mind, she concentrated chakra on her feet and jumped on the windowsill. There was a sudden loud crash inside the house and that was what made her jump instead of walking down the wall.
Sakura twisted quickly in mid-air and felt the cold breeze rush up around them, creating goosebumps across her clammy skin, until her back hit the ground. But before she could even feel the pain, her jutsu was already alleviating any sort of wound. The baby was crying away in her arms, but still uninjured. A sigh of relief left her lips while she looked from the girl's watery dark blue eyes to the starry night sky. Sakura couldn't even begin to imagine what she would feel if something had happened to that baby on her watch.
When she came over the front of the house, the little girl's father rushed to their side, frantically fussing over both of them, with the mother right behind him, crying in relief. Curious people formed a circle around them, whispering among themselves. Only with Akira's worried and confused look over her did she realise that she managed to get the hem of her shorts and the tops of her leg guards burned. The crazy part was that she hadn't even felt anything.
Sakura finished her jutsu after handing the baby girl to the father and getting her pouch and vest back, gaining a surprisingly fierce hug from the woman after they realised the girl was unscathed. She put her things on and looked around. The villagers were already trying to put the fire out. Then, with a pang of apprehension in her chest, she remembered that Ino felt a chakra signature to rival a jinchūriki's.
"Listen, I need to go back to my friends to continue patrolling. You'll be okay to deal with this?" she asked him urgently.
"Yeah," Akira responded, with an awed look in his eyes, the same one other people around were still giving her.
Then, he reached a hand and smudged what she thought was ash on her cheek. His look turned guilty and sad all of a sudden, and Sakura frowned. He quickly dropped his eyes from hers. "You'd better get back to them. Thank you so much for saving my daughter, Sakura-san. I don't know what I would do if it wasn't for you."
Sakura smiled, betraying the fear she felt, and observed around one more time to make sure everything was okay, then nodded and left.
She was by the deserted gates when she felt it again. That prickling sensation. Before she could so much as turn to have a look around, an unsettling feeling of being drained took over her body and the warmth she had felt earlier was gone in a blink of an eye, only a thought.
Everything happened in an instant. The edges of her vision blackened, then a hard and heavy something collided with the back of her head and the world transformed into complete darkness.