"Medusa Javelin"
By Nes Mikel
Acknowledgment;
I herby acknowledge that the work of fiction presented here is for my own personal amusement and entertainment purposes alone. Most of the story, characters, place names and other etc stuff in this fiction are copyright Naruto, Kishimoto Masashi, Weekly Shounen Jump, and any others I might have forgot.
For non up-to-date readers, this fiction contains characters and events introduced post-timeskip and spoilers up to Chapter 293. I also humbly suggest reading Garden of Sanctuary first before reading this fiction. Although not a requirement, many things in this fiction will not make sense unless that has been read beforehand. The link to Garden of Sanctuary is in my profile.
With that said, enjoy.
"Medusa Javelin"
"By what principles art thou driven?"
- Final Entry -
"Love"
Reign of the Eighth Hokage, Third year. March 28th.
74 years old.
Today was the last day of her life.
Not the most comforting thought to wake up to. Sakura thought when she first opened her eyes, seeing the dim lights of the morning sun shining through the open doorway. The rays of sun were slowly creeping in and steadily illuminating her previously dark master bedroom.
She sat up from her bed, now fully conscious, and lifted her right hand so it was right in front of her face. She once had hated looking at the hand scarred with the outlines of her dark veins, but to think, today she would be finally be rid of them, it gave her a false sense of comfort.
Pushing away the sheets off her body, she stretched out her arms over her head and stifled a yawn. Yesterday had been exhausting. Not only was she invited to the grand ceremonies of celebrating Hanabi's birthday, she had also witnessed the title of the Hyuuga heir passed down to her grandson, only to have the ceremony quickly interrupted when the wife of the said grandson's water broke and Sakura was chosen deliver the child, witnessing first hand the birth of the next generation heir of the Hyuuga clan and was subsequently named the godmother of said child. It had been a very emotional, but happy day.
It made today just that more unbearable.
Sakura got out of her bed and reached for her changes in clothes.
Thankfully, today was no different than the rest.
Business as usual, and busy, busy, busy.
However peaceful recent times may have seemed, there was always some conflict going off in some remote corner of the world, and here was no exception. Battles were fought daily, the classic struggle of life and death were weaved and grinded out in the same old way for the hundreds of medical professionals working night and day in Konoha Hospital.
Although Sakura had long since retired as the head of the Hospital, she was still considered one of, if not, the best med-nin on the entire continent. She felt a sense of duty here, and she owed her village one last day before her life finally drew to a close. The Konoha Hospital was like a second home to Sakura, it's staff her second family. Respected by everyone, she absolutely loved the place and everyone in it.
It was only fitting.
The first patient she saw today was a young civilian that went by the name of Mashiro. Wearing the standard white Hospital gown, she was sitting cross-legged on top of her sheetless bed, staring down at a dozen or so face down playing cards.
"Any luck with your shinkei suijyaku game?"
Looking up from her game of Concentration, Mashiro's previously serious face soon dissolved into that of a happy one. "Ah, Sakura-sama! Good morning!"
"Good morning Mashiro-chan. Did you sleep well?"
"Oh, absolutely! That needlepoint treatment you suggested seems to be doing wonders to my body! I don't think I've slept that comfortably in ages!"
Nodding, Sakura wrote down a few quick notes on the clipboard she carried, then looked up and stretched out her head a little to the side to get a better view of Mashiro's back the gown didn't cover. "Did the pains recede any from yesterday?"
The green-haired girl was about to open her mouth to answer but Sakura interrupted her. "And be honest."
Scratching her head, she sheepishly looked ashamed. "…It's really not much better. Only while I'm sleeping does it go away."
Putting on the cool mask of a medical professional, Sakura ticked off another box off the clipboard. "All right, just take it easy okay?"
"I will, Sakura-sama! See you tomorrow!"
She really wished she hadn't said that last part.
Mashiro was terminal.
Mashiro didn't know of it yet, and wouldn't be until her disease evolved into the more critical stages. Although she felt horrible inside, in a way Sakura was glad that she wouldn't be the one to tell her of the terrible news. She would already be dead herself before that happened.
Her second and third patients for the day were second-year Genins named Miyata and Hajime that came back from a successful but bloody mission and were rushed into Emergency yesterday night, the ops handled by one of Hanabi's many junior apprentices.
Sakura went inside their room and emerged out of it only a second later. Stopping a nearby nurse, she raised two fingers, made a swiping motion across her throat and made two quick tapping gestures with her still-outstretched fingers.
They were hand signals that conveyed great meaning.
'Two. Dead. Move them to the morgue.'
They hadn't made it through the night.
Sakura considered signaling the nurse 'Notify the doctor who operated them' but ultimately decided against it. She wanted to give Hanabi's apprentice a little more precious time – the precious time of ignorance, of not knowing that the doctor was unable to save the patient.
Her fourth patient was a Jounin named Kogorou. He was famous for accepting a lot of bodyguard jobs, and he had apparently contracted a disease while escorting a rich vineyard merchant and his daughter back to River Country. Sakura looked at his sleeping form for a moment and, seeing that no one else was present in the room, snorted.
Good-looking. Check. Womanizer reputation. Check. Got disease while escorting rich girl that looked rather loose. Check.
She couldn't shake the feeling that he so had it coming.
She scribbled down a few suggestions for his treatment, and, a side-note, wrote a letter of recommendation to the other nurses to notify and suggest the merchant's daughter to come to the Hospital for a checkup. Attaching the papers on the clipboard in front of the patient's bed, Sakura then moved on to the next room.
The fifth had no name. He was most likely a farmer from one of the many small towns that surrounded the Village of the Hidden Leaf, and probably a poor one at that. A Genin four-man cell on their way back from a mission picked the poor chap up when they saw him sprawled across a plowed field next to a dead cow, unconscious and barely alive. They brought him back to the Hidden Leaf for treatment since the village was only twenty minutes away from where they were. Sakura wrote down a quick note telling the others to commend the Genin team responsible for bringing the man back in here. They certainly deserved the praise.
The symptoms turned out to be a simple combination of dehydration and starvation. He would be up and running in no time.
Sakura only knew the sixth one by codename: Amamiya. He was of the ANBU, and was a physically robust individual like his work demanded, and, as such, originally tried to deny illness or discomfort of any sort. A man of his station in life simply did not want to admit to difficulty.
But when the discomfort didn't go away as he said he expected (although Amamiya did tell her off rather rudely that he already knew how all men were vulnerable to stomach problems) and when eventually blood came out of his mouth, even a man like he had to admit that something was wrong.
He had tried to hide it at first. He had told her that he believed the body isn't supposed to issue blood except from a shaving cut or a battle wound. Not in any case from moving one's bowels, and it was sort of indicator certain to shake any man; all the more so a strong and otherwise confident man like Amamiya.
Like many, he delayed somewhat, asking himself it might be a temporary problem that would go away, that the discomfort would peak and abate as flu symptoms always did. But it kept on getting worse, and finally his fear got the better of him and he came tumbling down into the hospital. Today was his third day in.
"Head?" She asked without prompt. They needed no introductions.
He understood the necessity of the suddenness. "Hurts."
"Throat?"
"Hurts."
"Chest?"
"Hurts."
"Stomach?"
"Hurts."
"Genitals?"
"…Do I really have to answer that?"
"Yes."
"…Hurts."
"Care to be a little more specific? And don't give me that glare, please. I'm not doing this for fun too, you know."
"…Itches more than it hurts."
"All right, that's all I needed to know."
"…Nanadaime-sama, am I going to be all right?"
"Of course you are."
"Is that the doctor speaking inside of you or is that the truth?"
Sharp kid. "A bit of both." She admitted.
"Which is it?"
She hesitated for only a fraction of a second. "…You'll be able to return to ANBU, but you won't be as robust as before. You came in contact with a paralyzing poison with recessive properties. From how long ago, I don't know, but it only started to integrate itself into your system just recently. I can dull the effects but I cannot remove the poison out of your body completely."
Amamiya cursed.
"…I also suggest you don't try to sire children if you don't want another carrying that same burden."
Amamiya cursed louder.
She didn't bother asking why.
Her next ten patients weren't exactly 'patients', but were captive criminals.
Looking at the group behind the reinforced glass, Sakura thought it hard to dislike them, with their sallow faces and fidgeting mannerisms. It was their expressions most of all. They indeed looked like criminals, never quite meeting her eyes, glancing this way and that. But they were afraid and nervous, their faces a combination of fear and resignation. Sakura had to tell herself over and over that she had to treat them less important than the other lives station within this hospital. Only the kunoichi within her kept her from reaching out to them with a sympathetic hand.
She coughed once for their attention. "As you may have noticed, all of you are now in Konoha Hospital, and we have many sick people here."
Some of them laughed as if she had just said the most stupid thing in the world. She did her best to ignore them.
"You have been assigned to look after some of them. If you do this job well, you will be trained as hospital aides for work at your prisons. If not, you will be returned to your cells and your sentences. If any of you misbehaves, your punishment will be immediate and severe. Understand?"
They all nodded. They all knew what she meant by severe treatment, especially so the brutal reputations of the Torture and Interrogation squad. It became even more notorious when Ino took over Morino Ibiki's position as the head of the squad some thirty or forty years ago. Konoha's prisons were certainly not known for their sympathies.
Nor for good prison food. Sakura thought as she studied the group before her. They all had pale skin and eyes filled with pain and exhaustion. Well, not like they deserved any. Every single one of them was guilty of known crimes, all of them serious, and was probably guilty of just as more. Sakura told herself again that whatever pity she felt for them was residual, a result of her medical training which compelled her to view them as human beings no matter what.
Sakura nodded to the head guard watching over the criminals inside the glass cell, giving him the go-ahead. Nodding back to tell her that he understood, he then shouted out several orders and compelled the prisoners to stand up and move along. The prisoners were then subjected through a 'processing' procedure – they were stripped, showered, shaved, disinfected, dressed in a simple hospital gown with single-digit numbers on the back, and as a final touch had thick black collars attached to their necks. The guards then led them outside of the glass prison and to the entrance of the airlock right next to the cell. Opening the airlock, each of the ten prisoners were then handed a plastic bucket with various simple tools inside and were told to go inside the new room. All of them did as were told. After the last one went in, the head guard then closed the airlock shut and a few simple hand seals later had completely sealed the room.
Sakura returned to the security room next door to watch the prisoners on the TV screens. On the black and white screen, she saw their eyes shifting left and right in curiosity, padding down the corridors as if searching for a way out. Additional commands were barked out of the PA system inside the room from the head guard, and the group finally moved past the corridors and into the 'treatment' room located further inside.
It was at the entrance of the 'treatment' room that they stopped. It must have been the smell, or perhaps the sight. Most of them were slow to pick up on the situation, but when one of their numbers had finally realized that whatever this was…
Sakura watched the head guard bark more commands at the man that froze at the sight through the PA system but it soon became apparent that his words had little effect. He hesitated at first but eventually the male prisoner threw his bucket down at the floor and started to shake his fist at the camera. The other prisoners backed off, mostly curious to see what would happen. They would not be disappointed. Sakura saw the irritated head guard then press one of the many red buttons on the control panel.
The black collar the prisoner wore then subsequently exploded and the body, now headless, fell wordlessly onto the tiled floor. It was all the motivation the others needed; they went straight into the 'treatment' rooms, thinking whatever awaited them was better than what that prisoner was fated into.
Sakura's eyes drifted towards another monitor. "Can you zoom in on Patient Three?" She asked the operator controlling the cameras.
He complied, and soon Sakura was treated a full view of a bed located in the corner of the airtight 'treatment' room. The new arrival with the number '3' on his back just stood there at the foot of the bed at first, bucket in his hand, not knowing what to make of the sight he beheld. Aide Three, as she decided to call him, continued to stand there for a minute or so, looking down at the whimpering and the moaning Patient Three. The patient had his ankle chained to a bed, and had been for a long time – so long, in fact, the shackles had worn away his skin and there was a red stain on the mattress from it. He was dying.
It only took a moment longer before Aide Three looked as if he finally remembered what he'd been told to do. He then donned his plastic gloves, wet his sponge, and rubbed it across the patient's forehead. Telling the operator to back the camera off, Sakura soon saw that the others were doing the same. It was all going as planned.
Sakura stifled a sigh. The treatments regime for the dying patients on the beds was not going to be a serious one. There was no point in it. The patients too were condemned criminals, and all of them had already been subjected to an experimental infectious poison Konoha med-nins recently developed. The purpose of those aides in the room was to monitor just how infectious the poisons were. They were essentially, in other words, expendable guinea pigs.
That's what shinobi are, Sakura. And us Medic-nins… heh, we are the most hypocritical of the bunch. You know how they say assassins sometimes make the best of doctors? Well, the opposite is true too, you know. Why, back in them golden ages, of the three Sannin I was the one who scored the highest number of kills…
Remembering her mentor's words from long ago, Sakura only confirmed what Tsunade already knew. She was right. We're a bunch of hypocrites indeed.
Medic-nins didn't just save lives.
They also took them away.
God, what she would give for a bottle of sake now…
Sakura had once told her staff that she was willing to work extra hours in the hospital, but ever since she had retired as Hokage they all treated her like an old lady and insisted that she get plenty of rest. Although she hated the fact that her staff was giving her special treatment, she never refused them as long as they weren't telling her to stop working. Thus it was still early in the evening when she came face to face with her final patient of the day, a woman by the name of Tokine. The Chuunin had broken almost all of her bones in her leg.
She had tried to commit suicide.
When Sakura asked why, Tokine shot her mouth off like a machinegun.
"You want to know why I tried to kill myself by jumping off the building? Do you take me for a fool, Sakura-sama? Of course I can explain why I tried to kill myself by jumping off the building, I'm not a bloody idiot. It's because my decision wasn't something idiotic; it was logical, the product of proper thought. My reasons for jumping isn't that complicated."
"Here, let me put it this way: say you were, I don't know, a Chuunin working as an assistant secretary doing administrative work in Hidden Leaf, and being the bright individual you are you've been thinking of moving to Hidden Sand for the sake of opportunity and wanting to see the world. And a few weeks later, bam! You were offered the job of assistant secretary in Hidden Sand, complete with better salaries! Well, even though it's a pretty straightforward decision, you'd still have to think for a bit, wouldn't you? You'd at least have to work out whether you could bear to move, whether you could leave your friends and colleagues behind. You might sit down with a bit of paper and draw up a list of pros and cons. Like example, cons: aged parents, friends, ramen. Pros: opportunity of a lifetime, more money, nice house, sunshine, scenic view, etc, etc…"
"It's no contest, is it? Regretting leaving the ramen behind? Give me a fucking break. Obviously your aged parents might give you pause for thought, but that's all it is – a pause, and a brief one at that too. Friends? You could always make new ones. Any sane person would be jumping at the opportunity without thinking it over twice."
"Well, that was me Sakura-sama, that was me. I realized that there simply weren't enough regrets, and lots and lots of reasons to jump. The only things on my 'cons' list were my kids, but I couldn't imagine Yoshimori letting me see them again anyway. I haven't got any aged parents, and I don't eat ramen. Suicide was my opportunity. You see now? I told you that my reasons weren't that complicated."
Sakura wasn't quite sure what to say to that.
What horrified her the most, however, was how she understood most of it.
The sky was just about darkening when Sakura finally left Konoha Hospital. Waving her goodbyes to her peers and aides, she left the front doors of the Hospital and out into the cool air of her village outside. Smiling beneath her veil, she waved back as best as she could as she started her trek back towards her residence.
A rather forced sigh escaped her lips. Inside, she was rather thankful that no one had offered to her walk her home today, because try as she might everyone was worried for her health. She always told them it was unnecessary, telling them she could take care of herself, but they never listened.
Well, this is what you wanted, right? Her inner self was telling her.
In reality, yes, it was. Today was the day she had chosen for herself to take the drug that turned herself temporarily back into her youthful form. But before she took the drug with its fatal side effects, she wanted to spend her final hours in relative quiet. Over the past eight months, she had managed to spend a lot of quality time with every friend and every family she made. She had already said her goodbyes. If possible, until the village retreated into the quiet depths of night, when she was to carry out her final secret rendezvous with Naruto's Garden, she wanted to be alone. Her already bleeding heart would only suffer more if she met anyone else tonight. This was for the best.
But it still hurt inside.
No one remembered that today was my birthday.
Walking along the quiet roads at a brisk place, Sakura finally spotted her house in the distance when she suddenly realized something wrong. The lights were turned on inside. She could've sworn she had turned them off when she left for the hospital for work this morning… so why were they turned on?
Thieves?
She quickened her pace as she considered the possibility in her mind. Although her house was famous for their deadly traps, they were also widely known for their overzealous rumors that spread as a result – about how she laced her house full with traps because she had a secret library of forbidden jutsus inside or how she kept a collection of sacred treasures and other obscure things. Even though the rumors were false (although the sacred treasures part was actually true when she still had the Twin Emeralds with her), her denials only served to attract the foolhardy and many attempts were made on her supposed treasures. Needless to say, none of them made it out in alive, but… there was her replica garden. If anyone trashed that… not only would they come out of the house not alive, but also be put to death in the most grueling way(s) possible.
Eager to extract her vengeance on whoever had dared to enter her house, she pulled open the door.
"SURPRISE!"
Crackers erupted and confetti were thrown in the air as soon as she stepped foot inside of her house, greeted by every one of her friends with wide, proud smiles on their faces.
"Happy 74th birthday Sakura!"
They had thrown a surprise birthday party for her on her last day of her life.
She couldn't keep her tears from overflowing as she collapsed on top of her doorway and cry tears of happiness and joy.
Inuzuka Kiba loved parties. Even 74 years old, the man still enjoyed and embraced celebrations of all kinds in its entirety. He was a firm believer in throwing events together for every special occasion, not just for himself, but also for the ones he cared. And this surprise birthday bash they threw together for Sakrua, it was one hellva party.
Well, that, and it was the perfect reason for him to get drunk on sake. He currently was doing just that, sitting on the front porch of the former Seventh Hokage's house, savoring the tastes of the alcohol made from rice. He was getting quite tipsy when he noticed a presence behind him. Grinning, the aged Dog Sennin turned around and greeted the newcomer with a friendly feral smile.
"'Ey, Shino!" He raised one of his sake cups. "Care to join me for a drink?"
His best friend only nodded as he sat down besides him on the steps and took the cup from Kiba's hand. Grinning widely, Kiba was more than happy to pour his friend a bottle. Finished, he sat the now empty bottle down to the side and raised his cup high into the night air. "To Sakura!" He toasted.
"To Sakura." Shino said as he mirrored his actions. They both then drank the alcohol down in one fell swoop.
"Ahhhh, damn. That's some good stuff. Sakura sure knows her sake."
The bug user besides him was silent but Kiba could literally smell Shino agreeing with him quietly. It was one of the perks for beings friends with someone with so few words for so long.
"So what's up?" Kiba asked as he put his cup down next to the bottle. "Inside the house too uncomfortable for you?"
"A little." Shino said, his voice still just above that of a whisper. "Like you, I prefer avoiding necessary contact with too many people."
Kiba's face flushed a little. "Naaah, it wasn't that I disliked being in there. Just the smell of so many people crowded into such a small place. I can take it for a while, but eventually, the smell just becomes too overwhelming. Especially the scents of those perfumes the kids wear nowadays, y'know?"
"I wanted to talk to you." Shino said directly.
He's just so blunt sometimes. Kiba thought as he picked up another bottle and poured himself another drink. He nodded back at Shino. "I kinda figured. What is it? Is it related to the ANBU guards discreetly watching over Sakura and her party tonight?"
"I was the one who assigned them."
Kiba raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"
"Kiba, do you remember the story you told me about the time you were in Grass Country six years ago?"
"Ah, you mean the one where I ran into that Chrysanthemum Guard guy while I was helping Cloud nins track down that A-Class criminal Kitano? Yeah I remember. Man, Kitano was a bitch to track down. He really had a scary face too, probably one of the scariest face I'd ever seen. Not counting Hinata's angry face of course, heheheh…"
"Do you remember the name of the sect that Chrysanthemum Guard belonged to?"
"The sect? Why?"
"Just answer me, Kiba."
"Sect huh…" Kiba's brow creased as he thought hard. "…I think he belonged to the sect of 'Dawn'."
"Do you remember the Chrysanthemum Guard's name and alias?"
"Ummmm… give me a sec." Kiba thought harder as he tried his best to recall the name of that powerful ally they temporarily joined forces with in order to track that A-class criminal down. "Kara… Kararu I think. No, wait… started with something like Kaku… ah, that's right! Kakuzu, name was Kakuzu! He said his chosen alias was Hoku, I think. Why, what's the matter?"
Shino retreated into his silence momentarily before he spoke again. "…It doesn't make any sense."
"Huh? Why? I mean, I'm pretty sure that's what his name was."
"Kiba, do you still remember what he looked like?"
Kiba shrugged his shoulders. "Well, yeah."
"Make an approximate guess on his age."
"His age? That's kinda hard, though. He was wearing that large red robe uniform those Chrysanthemum Guard guys wear and he had this, I dunno, facemask-ish thingy covering his mouth and a hood over his head. I remember his eyes being a strange color, though… pretty creepy, as if the color inside his eyes have been turned around inside and out-"
"His age, Kiba."
"Ah, sorry. But yeah, as I was saying, he was all covered up from head to toe so it's kinda hard to make an accurate guess on his age. But if I had to, I'd say he was somewhere around his mid-30s."
"That's the part that doesn't make sense."
Now Kiba was even more confused. "Huh?"
"One year ago, while I was serving my term as Diplomat in the Hidden Sand, I met a man who called himself a member of the Chrysanthemum Guard from the sect of 'Dawn'. He claimed his name was Deidara and his alias was Sei."
Kiba looked disappointed as he stopped just shy of brining the sake cup to his lips. "Awww man, you met one too? Dammit, now I can't brag that I met a member of the Chrysanthemum Guard! They're really elusive you know? They say that you have a better chance at winning the Konoha's Annual Jumbo lottery than running into one of those guys… anyway, your point?"
"Deidara was the name of an S-Class criminal from the Hidden Stone."
Kiba sputtered, almost spitting out his drink. "He's wha…! S-Class? From the Hidden Stone? Wait, if he's S-Class, why isn't that I haven't heard of him? I've never seen him in the latest Bingo Books."
"I said 'was', Kiba."
"Was?" Kiba narrowed his eyes. He was getting a tad annoyed with all this. "Dammit, Shino, stop talking cryptic talk and just spill!"
His best friend didn't seem to be fazed in the slightest. "Deidara was an S-Class criminal that once belonged to the Akatsuki organization." Shino explained. "He was removed from the Bingo Book list because he was killed by Sakura forty-nine years ago."
A pause. It took a moment for Kiba to process what Shino was saying. "Wait… so you're saying that some S-Class criminal that was killed by Sakura half a century ago all of a sudden decided to rise up from the grave and pay you a visit in the Hidden Sand?"
"Yes."
"Wow. Shino, I never expected you to be the type to crack jokes."
"Do you think I'm joking, Kiba?"
There was another pause as Kiba eyed Shino wearily. "…You aren't?"
"No. I checked the old records to confirm if the Deidara I met matched the description of Deidara from forty-nine years ago. They matched perfectly. And that Kakuzu character you just described to me, he also was an S-Class criminal, a missing-nin from the Village of the Hidden Waterfall, also a member of the Akatsuki. And he too was apparently killed forty-nine years ago, by Hidden Waterfall hunter-nins."
"…So the reports of their death were falsified? But wait, even if that's the case, they should all be pretty damn old by now. The Kakuzu I met only looked as if he were 30… 40 at most. There's no way they could be the same guy."
Kiba caught Shino breathing out the tiniest of sighs. "I know. The Deidara that I met looked no older than 30 as well. If the report of Deidara's death had indeed been falsified, he should be 80 or 90 years old by now. Not only that, these… young ex-Akatsuki members you and I both met claims to be members of the 'Dawn' sect of the Chrysanthemum Guards. That's what bothers me the most."
"Hmm? Why so?"
"What does the word 'Akatsuki' mean, Kiba?"
"Red moon, right?"
"No Kiba. I meant the kanji's meaning. The kanji."
"The kanji? Well, then it means… oh."
"Yes." Shino nodded. "The kanji for 'Akatsuki' means 'Dawn'."
"…So you're suggesting that the members of the Akatsuki organization are actually the 'Dawn' sect of the Chrysanthemum Guards in disguise?"
Shino nodded again.
Kiba looked doubtful. "Well okay, I mean, it's true that the ninjas of 'Twilight', 'Midnight', and 'Dawn' – the three different sects of the Chrysanthemum Guards – are rumored to be so strong they are said to be immortal in battle, and the myths say that they're bound by duty to protect the interests of the Capital and the Emperor until the end of time… but I mean, come on. It's just some stupid rumors and myths. Nothing in this world's immortal, right? What does this have to do with your ANBU guards watching over Sakura anyway?"
"I had originally planned to stay in the Hidden Sand for another term, but…"
"This young 'Deidara' fellow changed your mind." Kiba finished his sentence for him. "What did he say?" He leaned over slightly, a little curious.
"He said that I should be present during Sakura's 74th birthday. He claimed that… something 'important' was going to happen."
"Something 'important'…? Shino, is that supposedly intelligent mind of yours thinking that maybe the Emperor's going to send the Chrysanthemum Guards to assassinate Sakura? So that's why you assigned ANBU to watch over Sakura in case such attacks happen?" Kiba laughed. "That's the most absurd idea that I ever heard from you! Why would they even warn you about it even if that were the case?"
"One can never be too sure, Kiba."
Kiba dismissed Shino's comment with a wave of his hand. "Pfft, I'd say that young 'Deidara' guy was just messing with you man. Those Chrysanthemum Guard guys probably henge'd themselves after famous criminals or something just to keep their identity hidden. They're the most secretive group of ninjas after all. I kinda doubt that Kakuzu guy I met was telling me his real name anyway." Kiba poured himself another bottle of sake into his cup and offered the filled cup to Shino. "Want some more?"
Shino politely declined.
In the late and last remaining evenings of what seemed like a typical March day, a small group of travelers were crossing across the remote northwestern corners of Fire Country. They all were on foot, walking along the dirt road that was carved in the middle of a large stretch of open uncultivated land with low shrubs. The sky above them was overcast with a uniform gray; in the distance, an encompassing mist, and the day so far had been quite windless. The travelers' clothes were dark but with red accents, and an ominous aura of monotony hung about them. Their numbers totaled to ten, their faces and fit bodies indicating that even the eldest among them looked no older than someone in their mid-30s. They were all young.
They may have traveled in complete silence, but they do not go unnoticed. The air across the valley opposite of them, above where its steepness breaks into rocks and small cliffs, is noisy with deep and haunting voices, complaining of this intrusion into their domain. The sources of these threatening voices soon became apparent when a flock of ravens emerged from the forests of the nearby valley. Through the circle black specks stay away from the travelers at a safe distance, there is something foreboding in their alarm, their hostility. The group of ten that walked along the dirt road that night thought that despite their differences, they couldn't shake the feeling that these crows knew of their haunting reputation better than anyone else.
"…How amusing."
Rei.
"I know what you mean, yeah. They have good instincts, don't you think? Yeah."
Sei.
"…………"
Haku.
"Hn."
Shu.
"Can I eat them?"
Kai.
"You really should stop thinking of trying to eat everything you see, you know."
Ku.
"I could chase them away with my sword, if you wish."
Nan.
"Ignore them. They aren't worth the trouble."
Hoku.
"Well, I could use those birds for sacrifices in case I run out of offerings, through."
San.
"Am I the only one that thinks they're kinda pretty?"
Gyoku.
There was an awkward pause when the rest of the nine stopped walking to stare at the member with the orange mask covering the front of his face. Shaking his head, the blond man with the longest hair in the group and partner of said orange mask breathed out an excruciating sigh. "Tobi, you're the only idiot who would ever think ravens could be pretty, yeah." The bearer of the ring of Sei said, the visible half of face twitching from anger.
"But Deidara-senpai, they could be pretty if you put your mind into it!" The holder of Gyoku protested
"Mm, well, I'd say they could look pretty if they were covered in blood, through." The keeper of San commented dreamily. He was a man with slacked back silver hair that wore his robe in a way that revealed a large portion of his naked chest.
"…Tch, how tasteless." The shorter, blue-haired woman behind him said. She had been bestowed the ring of Haku.
It was the hulking man's turn to speak. "Only if they're worth money would I ever consider it even be worthy to be looked at." He held the ring of Hoku.
"Sheesh, Kakuzu, is money all you ever think about?"
"Just like how all you ever think about is your Jashinkyou sect of the Shinto religion, Hidan." The plant-like tall figure that wore the ring of Kai said.
"Hey, don't insult my religion like that!"
"Zetsu does have a point." A different female voice spoke, the color of her eyes strange, her right one a pale violet and the left one a tainted red. She wore the ring of Ku.
"For once." Agreed another, chuckling. A large man, he was, with an even larger sword strapped to his back, his sharp, toothy grin visible for everyone to see. On his ring, the inscription of Nan could be seen.
"Meh, whatever." The silver haired man shrugged at the poor display of support his team gave him. Not that he expected any, of course.
The blond man with long hair then turned his attention to the quiet one with dark hair standing next to him. "Well, what about you, red-eyes? You seem to use ravens in your genjutsu often, what do you think? Are they pretty, yeah?"
The holder of Shu eyed the blond man wearily. "…I thought I told you never to never call me by that name again, Deidara."
"Awww, but Uchiha-danna, that name suits your perfectly!"
The said red-eyed Uchiha glared back at him with visible hatred in its eyes. "…Or that name, either."
"Would you have preferred me calling you Uchiha-hime, then?" The playful man offered, his ever-happy smile never leaving his face. "With that feminine qualities you have, yeah, I guess it fits you better. Yeah."
Before the Uchiha could move in to teach the idiotic man a painful lesson in human anatomy, a tall man with auburn-colored hair wearing the ring of Rei stepped in between the pair and effectively put a halt to their hostile activities with a single glare. "That's enough. We don't have all day."
"…Hn."
"Fine, Leader-sama, whatever you say. Yeah."
"But was it really all right like this?" The woman with two strange eyes spoke after the fight was broken up.
Wielding different but still equally strange eyes, both of them a blazing red, the Leader of the group of ten turned back to look at the woman. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, with… you know."
"It's all for the preservation of the 'process'. You know that."
"…I wanted to see her one last time. The 'Haruno Sakura' before she… you know."
Eyes narrowing, the Leader edged over to the woman who was now casting him worried glances. "…Even if you could, do you really want to?"
The woman that carried the symbol of Ku momentarily remained silent, but eventually she shook her head. "…No, I guess not."
"At the very least, she is happy. Every one of her friends is sharing the last day of her life together with her. It's the most a person could wish for."
"I suppose so… but…"
"What's the matter, then?"
"…I'm just afraid of what the future holds. For once, my eyes cannot predict what will happen."
Silence reigned supreme as the ten wordlessly continued to trek through the grassy fields. Eventually, though, it was their Leader that broke the barrier of silence down.
"We'll worry about that once we return and submit our report to the Capital. When the life of 'Haruno Sakura' ends tonight, the dawn of a new age will begin. Not just for her, but for 'Uzumaki Naruto', for the Village of the Hidden Leaf, and us, for all of us here tonight. Let's go!"
At his command, the ten individuals then vanished into the fleeing darkness of night.
The Akatsuki.
Forever existing in the Shadows, they will not end.
They were the dawn, and forever will be.
Sakura wasn't naïve. She of course knew about the ANBU guards posted outside her house, watching over her every move like a hawk over their prey. She was at first worried that someone might have gotten a clue about what she was going to do that night and was going to tell her to stop her foolish plan… and a part of her wished that someone would come up and tell her just that. She knew what she was going to do was stupid, really. Who honestly would sacrifice the rest of his or her life away just to spend a few minutes of quality time with someone you haven't seen for twenty-four years?
Someone like me. She thought as she stared at the blue pill sitting innocently on top of her palm.
It was nearing midnight. Her birthday party had been broken up just about an hour ago upon her insistence that she had to get up early for Hospital work tomorrow. She just came back from her front door after waving goodbye to her last guest (she politely declined Lee's offer to stand guard in front of her house), she extracted the small pill from her pocket and stared at it intently. It was such a small thing, but in her hand it contained the ticket to her youthful body, the chrysalis of hard research, and the eventual instrument of her death.
ANBU guards were still keeping watch over her, she noticed. She retreated into the deeper rooms of her house and silently pulled out a bound scroll hidden behind her stocked medicine cabinet. Unrolling the scroll and spinning it around her, her hands flew through the seals of her secret technique. Well, even with or without the ANBU, she had to use this technique to reach Naruto's dungeon anyway, ever since she had sealed away the open entrance to prevent anyone from seeing the forbidden corridors. But before she did, she had burned an arcane circle into the ground of the basement floor, just in front of the sealed corridors in case she ever wanted to visit Naruto's garden again. And today was that day. She just hoped that she still had enough chakra and control to execute this jutsu…
"Ninpou: Kamikakushi no Jutsu!"
She flickered away.
"Ah…"
He saw a faint light, a sight that he hasn't seen for some time. Someone was coming through the corridors. It was Sakura.
"Been out of the village again?" He asked.
"Yea, another sudden conference between the Five Shadows. Been away at the Capital for a long time."
"Hmm, something big coming up?"
"…Yeah, sorta." She said dismissively as she stared at the pale flowers blossoming in the darkness.
"Sakura-chan, you don't look well."
She coughed once before she giggled at his concern. "Oh really? You haven't seen the sun in years now. I'll bet you'll look more worse for wear."
Naruto's concerned gaze never faltered. "No, but really, Sakura-chan. Be careful ok? Especially in the battlefield, don't be too reckless-"
"Oh come on, Naruto. I'm no longer the helpless little girl you once knew. I'll bet I can kick your ass a thousands times over."
Naruto took a step back. He was frightened if she was going to carry out her threat. "S-sorry…"
Sakura barked a loud "Hmph." before she returned her focus to the surrounding flowers.
"Hey, hey, Sakura-chan? What are you doing staring at those flowers for?" He asked as he approached her once he was sure that she wasn't out to kill him anymore. "It's not like it's anything new…"
Sakura turned away and looked at him in the eye. Then she did the most unexpected thing he ever thought she would do. She kissed him on the lips. It was just a light peck, but Naruto felt as if a thunderbolt had struck him on the spot. His hands immediately went for the lips, touching them as if to confirm it were still there. It was still warm. Looking at his reaction, Sakura giggled.
"Naruto, I really do love you."
His eyes were impossibly wide. "W-What's this all of a sudden?"
She slowly embraced him from behind and leaned her head over on his shoulders. She said nothing more. They shared in each other's comforting warmth for a moment longer before she let go.
"Are you going to leave?" He sounded disappointed.
"Yeah, it's real busy."
He sighed. "Alright, take good care of yourself, ok Sakura-chan?"
"Yeah… you too Naruto."
She picked up her lantern and turned away to leave. She was meters away from the corridor before she stopped.
"Naruto?" She said with her back still turned.
"Sakura-chan?"
"…I've always felt… that I belonged here. No matter what happens, I'll be back, ok?"
He didn't quite understand what she meant, but he nodded at her words. "Ok."
"Good night, Naruto."
"Good night, Sakura-chan."
He never knew then that it was last time he would ever see her again.
Still in her youthful body, she flickered back into the replica garden inside her house. She was breathing heavily. She knew that she didn't have that much time left in her.
So I couldn't even say goodbye properly in front of him. Pathetic.
Her eyelids were becoming heavy. She barely crawled back into her own room when she noticed her diary sitting absently on top of her wooden desk. Forcing her body to work one last time, she made her ways towards the desk and gripped her pen. Never before had she felt the thin sheets of paper and the feather-light fountain pen this heavy in her hands before.
She began to write.
It felt like eternity, but finally, the modifications to her will and her last diary entry was complete.
By now, she was barely keeping herself from drifting off into eternal sleep. Her time of death was near, and she could feel the cold rushing through her body like running water.
Goddamnit, I'm not going to die sitting on top of a desk! If I'm going to die, I'm going to die gracefully, my back on top of my bed, peaceful! Shannaro!
She almost laughed out loud at her Inner thought.
She felt her knees give away under her. She collapsed on top of the cold floors. No pain. She struggled to move her arms but her senses in them were escaping too.
Naruto…!
Forgive me… I…
I… I just…
Wanted to see you…
One last tim-
- Final Entry -
"Love"
Reign of the Eighth Hokage, Third year. March 28th.
74 years old. Year 59 of Imprisonment.
I turned 74 today. It wasn't really a cause for a celebration, but my students and old friends still threw a party for me anyway. Theirs sons and daughters; even their grandchildren all came and celebrated the birthday with me. It was one of the most recent happy days in my life.
Everyone, thank you. From the bottom of my heart.
After I saw them off, I made my way towards the Hokage Tower with the small pill in my pocket. It has been over twenty years since I last entered the sealed corridors. It will be the last time.
I took the drug, and it worked beautifully, I was the same 25-year-old woman I once was again.
Naruto was still the same. The flowers were still a breathtaking sight. He questioned why I was staring at the flowers so intensely. I couldn't tell him because it was the last time I would ever see them again. He even saw through my unease and asked if I was feeling unwell. I told him not to worry.
Now that my death was near, I was faced with a decision that had plagued me for over half a century: To tell him the truth, or not.
As I looked at the shadowmoon flowers, I came to the conclusion that the world was a beautiful place. But for Konoha, Naruto and his garden of sanctuary was a forgotten entity, a beauty never to be enjoyed and never appreciated. And Naruto… would he be able to live happy with the knowledge that he will be forever cursed to see his loved ones die around him while he aged ever so painfully slow?
In the end, I ran away. I couldn't tell him. So I was still the helpless little girl Sasuke-kun and Naruto once knew after all.
I had considered just going to sleep next to him and let the effects of the drug take over as it robbed me of my last breath. But I couldn't do even that. In desperation I had confessed my feelings, my love I felt for him. He seemed confused, and I doubt if he understood. It was so like him. Naruto was still the stupid hyperactive blonde haired blue-eyed kid I fell in love with.
I left the garden of sanctuary, with promises that I will someday return.
As I write these last words, I realize I do not have much time left. When I close my eyes, I know it will be the last. I changed my will to include specific instructions to give this diary to Naruto when the last survivor of the person Naruto knew before he was confined to this sanctuary expects his or her death is near.
Again, thank you everyone.
And thank you, Naruto.
I will always wish for your happiness.
- Haruno Sakura
-END-
Author's Notes:
Am I evil?
Even I hate myself for having to put the characters through such… such… misery. Damn. Rereading over 'Garden of Sanctuary' one last time as I wrote this last chapter, I was crying tears. Again. Sniff. Goddamnit.
Anyway… now that I've calmed myself down (somewhat), please do not despair, because this story has NOT ended yet. I mean, do you guys honestly think, with so many unrevealed mysteries surrounding this story (the identity of Hyuuga Setsuka, the Akatsuki's objectives and why the hell they aren't dead yet) I would let it end like this? Even I'm not that evil.
The epilogue will be up in a few days, and I think many of you will be pleasantly surprised – or angry, I don't know, depending on how you guys think of me taking my story into the direction I'm dragging it into. Let's just say… I'm really, really excited that this project is almost done and sooooo happy that I'll soon be working on Empyreal Paradox!
Until the epilogue! Ta!
And thanks again for reading!
- Nes Mikel