Summary/Disclaimer: Time for another chapter of the Merc and the Medic. Enjoy the 2000-word chapter. I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto and a few others do.

(Land of Waves.)

Marmora questioned which caused him to ponder the next move. He knew for a fact that things were going to be weird. He looked at Sakura who was quite busy with rubbing at her temples.

"Hmm…" Marmora stated while he cracked his back, his bandages moving while he shook his head. "So, what do you think a good idea is?" Marmora asked, his fingers clenching and unclenching.

Sakura was silent which didn't tell him anything. He nodded to himself while closing his eyes to think about what the Otsutsuki clan planned on doing. They NEEDED this scroll, but it was quite clear that they couldn't simply take it. Marmora wanted to get Naruto, wanted someone who was FAR more powerful than him.

"The Otsutsuki isn't impossible to defeat." Sakura said as Marmora hummed. "If they get that scroll? Then it won't matter if we win or lose. We still need to make an attempt to try." Sakura stated and watched Marmora slowly drum his fingers on his legs.

"Well, if things are going to be like that?" Kuraokami questioned while he shook his head, slowly pulling himself out of Marmora's body. "We have to move quickly. You don't have to defeat him to get the scroll out of there, kid. You know for a fact that there's no shame in running." Kuraokami stated which caused Sakura to glare at Marmora with a look.

He said nothing. Marmora was quite unsure of IF they could steal the scroll from the man. He was FAR stronger than he had any right to be when he thought about it. There were far more worse things when it came down to it. Marmora was going to question just HOW they defeated this.

"Kura? Mind if I ask a question?" Marmora questioned with raised eyebrow.

"Sure." Kuraokami said as Marmora shook his head and then turned to the side.

"Am I the only one who can break the seal on the scroll?" Marmora questioned the spirt who simply nodded a moment later. "Then I know what we do next… Sakura? I hate to ask, but can you occupy Otsutsuki for… Kura, how many minutes is it going to take to get the scroll free?" Marmora asked, raising an eyebrow at this as he reflected upon the plan on his mind.

"A few minutes… You're planning a raid?" Kuraokami questioned as he looked between the duo.

"Yes, if we can simply give them a minute of pause?" Marmora asked, looking at Sakura a moment later. "Then their back down and we can push them back. We don't need to beat him; we just need to give him pause for even a few minutes." Marmora stated while he cracked his fingers.

"Then we can take the scroll and head back to town in the confusion." Sakura stated while she nodded a moment later.

"Yes, I'm taking a plan from your playbook." Marmora stated as he smirked a moment later. "That still doesn't answer my question. I need you to stop him for even a few minutes. I know your stronger than me in a fight." Marmora said before crossing his arms.

"I can, but I can't guarantee it will be more than 2 or 3 minutes at worst and maybe 5 at best." Sakura said as Marmora stated as he paused while he cracked his fingers. "You know he'll go after you a moment later than that. I doubt we're be able to stop him then." Sakura added, an angry tone seeping into her voice as she did so.

Marmora could only sigh and look at her with a resigned sigh. There was nothing really stopping him from arguing, but he was well aware that Sakura had a point. He wanted Naruto to face him, and there was only a LITTLE part of him that wanted to stay, that pride was going to end up getting himself killed if he listened to it and he wanted NO end of constantly fighting unless he had a way to stop this.

"Ok, I think we've ironed out the details, but we need to cover one more thing." Marmora said which Sakura nodded as she could tell what he was referring to.

"We need an escape route." Sakura said which got a nod as Marmora hummed. "We can escape along the river. Doing it by train would put people in danger and would get them killed." Sakura added while Marmora hummed and nodded to himself.

"Yeah, that might work, but how do we get away from him?" Marmora questioned as he turned to look at Sakura. "He's stronger than both of us, remember? He'd kill both of us by then. We'd be dealing with being low on chakra and it would also deal us a big advantage considering how strong he is." Marmora stated before he sighed and paused to rub at his temples.

"I'm sure that we can handle that, but we're going to need time…" Sakura said as Kuraokami started to manifest once more. "Kuraokami? He can't breathe that vault, yes?" Sakura questioned which got a nod.

"It would only be opened by someone great at signs and such." Kuraokami said while he cracked his fingers after a moment of thinking. "But to answer your question? Indeed, unless their someone like that would be someone like the Hokage." Kuraokami said as he shook his head as he hummed and nodded to himself.

Kuraokami was going to be curious as to how this would play out. He was confident that the Otsutsuki clan could be defeated in the end. Things were going to be hard; they would be nasty in the end… But Kuraokami was going to be interested in how they pulled it off. Something like this? Sure, it would be difficult, but if it wasn't? Then nobody would learn anything and it wasn't like he could tell the direct outcome of everything, even his power had its limits.

"Kuraokami?" Marmora said as he paused to start drawing in the mud. "Is there going to be a bigger fight at the end of the day? I don't want to have to think about what was going to be done." Marmora said and shook his head and hummed.

"And how is this going if I tell you?" Kuraokami stated while he thought to himself. "Do you want me to explain how each fight would occur? I can't predict things down to the next second. I know if Sakura is the only reason, you still have a head on your head." Kuraokami said which got a smirk from Sakura at the moment.

Kuraokami watched the duo share a look as Marmora stated to think about the next move. There was a bigger play at the end of the day. Sakura might not have the power which the rest of the others of her team at the rest of the day.

"Ok, there's a plan at the end of the day." Marmora said while brushing back his hair. "We do something stupid? He'll kill both us." Marmora said as he started to walk back and forth.

Sakura was silent, aware of just HOW bad things would go if there was going to be a fight. She couldn't beat a Otsutsuki, or maybe she could and it would take EVERYTHING Sakura had at the moment to defeat him, but it was STILL a good idea.

"You're going to need an easier way then just trying to coast through this on sheer power. I will say that much, you know." Sakura heard from Kuraokami. "Whatever happened? You know power isn't everything. He WILL go for your throat and if you even hesitate to try and take him down? He'll kill BOTH of you guys and I do NOT want that blood on my hands." Kuraokami said as he looked between the duo.

Marmora sighed as Sakura nodded and thought about every detail of the upcoming fight. There would ALWAYS be details she had missed, had failed to overcome at the last second when it countered… Still? She had a duty as a ninja to really deal with things like this. Walking away? That was NOT an option.

"Sakura?" Marmora asked a moment later as he dusted off his hands and started to look around. "You know we're going to need a fallback plan if this goes sideways. I don't exactly have a lot of practice with fighting people this tough, I'm guessing you might?" Marmora asked as he turned towards her.

"She's smart, kid, but she didn't exactly beat an Otsutsuki." Kuraokami stated which led to him rolling his eyes at the moment while shaking his head a second later.

"You know, we don't exactly have plenty of options." Marmora said as he motioned towards the warrior in question. "If they get that scroll? Everyone dies, literally EVERYONE, I doubt either of us want that. I'm a simple mercenary, not a military genius. Fighting someone this powerful without any reinforcements, real plan? That's NOT what I'm used to." Marmora stated while he cracked his fingers.

"Well, if this one is as strong as Kaguya?" Sakura asked as she stood next to Marmora. "Then we can't let him get to the train station… He'd kill almost everyone at the station or use them as hostages." Sakura stated which got Marmora to nod.

"Then we need to draw him off before we catch a ride back to Konoha." Marmora stated before handing a stick to Marmora. "You said you could distract him a few minutes? Then maybe we could draw him away from the estate, make it so they'd have to chase us. If we make it to a secluded area? We can vanish into the crowd, then we simply slip back to the train." Marmora said before Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"I doubt they'd be unwilling to attack the people to draw us out." Sakura said before Marmora held up a hand.

"There's a slight flaw in that." Marmora stated as he started to draw in the sand. "If these guys are SO powerful? Then I doubt they'd be unaware of what went on here. They probably know about Naruto and such, they're the strongest shinobi on the planet. They make too much damage? They're going to be going up against stronger enemies." Marmora said which garnered a reaction from Kuraokami.

"Kid, Naruto never defeated Kaguya, he just sealed her." Kuraokami stated while Marmora sighed.

"What makes you think every Otsutsuki member is as strong as Kaguya?" Marmora questioned before turning to the sand. "If this one hasn't tried anything large scale? My guess is he's trying to keep a low profile, steal the scroll without alerting anyone. We keep low? Then he'll be forced to readjust his tactics, if we get the scroll to Naruto? I have a bit of a feeling that getting the scroll to him is going to screw up his goal a LOT more than you might think. He'd have to go emptyhanded home; doubt he'd be willing to come out when he knows we have what he wants." Marmora added with a small smirk.

The inkling of a plan was all they had, but it still something that both knew could work.

Both started to walk towards the remains of the estate, Marmora turned as Sakura grabbed his hand, interacting their fingers as they walked forward.

Marmora questioned HOW this war with the Otsutsuki would end, however.

Author Notes

Phew. Another chapter done! I want to point out that next chapter will be in 2-10 months and will be longer. It will show both Marmora and Sakura enacting their plan to try and strike at the Otsutsuki and get the scroll and such. Until then, Lighting Wolf out!

P.S: Next chapter will be 900-3500 or so words, Ino 900-1500 words, Tsunade 900-6500, Delta 900-5000, Kurotsuchi 1500 words, Sadara 900-6500 words, Konan and Karin is 900-6500 words and such.