Recovery Arc: Rebuild and Recover

Repairs to the village progressed quickly, and Naruto was the first to be discharged shortly, followed by Sasuke, both of whom were quickly sent to start helping the removal of debris and weapons left over from the fighting. Sakura cursed her luck that she would be the one to end up in the hospital the longest. Her team visited whenever they weren't busy helping repairs or taking on D rank missions they could complete without a full team. Ino visited as often as she could and always seemed a little annoyed, and after some time, Sakura decided Ino was going to be difficult and not tell her what was up.

"It's not like you to be so quiet when you're not happy about something. What's wrong?"

Ino fiddled with her hands before sighing, "You ran off on a mission during all of that and left me under a genjutsu. I get that I didn't have my equipment, but you could have at least woken me up. I came to, and all the fighting had stopped. I didn't even get a chance to try and help the fight. I was just a body that had to be protected."

Sakura flexed her hands, they were clean now, but she still remembers how the blood felt. She knew they would all eventually take their first kill. Sakura just never thought it'd be inside the village she lived in. They had been taught and desensitized to the idea of death and killing, but it was all talk and ideas until someone actually did it. She had felt proud for just a moment when she did it. She had aimed well enough that it was a clean stab and a quick death, but her pride turned to shock when she felt the blood and saw the dead eyes staring at her. "I-I'm sorry I didn't think about bringing you back. It was all going by so fast I broke the genjutsu and killed the shinobi that jumped at me, and then Kakashi-sensei was giving me a mission to get Naruto and assemble a team. I feel kinda like I had just gone on autopilot and grabbed whoever I saw when I got Naruto up. I know it's not an excuse, but that's all I got."

"So it's true you're probably the first of the rookies to actually kill someone. I get that things were moving fast, so how about you make it up to me and buy me some sweets when you're out of the hospital?"

"Pft, aren't you supposed to be the one getting me sweets once I'm out?"

"Normally I would, but you owe me, so that's that. Now get some rest, you're gonna be discharged soon, but you still need to recover. I'll be back next time I have time."

Sakura nodded, "Yes, yes, I know."

Once Ino was gone, Sakura laid back and closed her eyes. Everything had calmed down, but she was still worried. Her parents were days past when they were initially going to return, and no one had informed her about an update. A lot was going on, so she figured it was just lost in the paperwork if there was an update. It's not like missions don't get extended all the time, and she certainly is glad they were out of the village when this all happened. She just wished they would show up and start pestering her about whether she ate properly while they were gone and fussing over her in their usual annoying but loving way.

Another two days passed, and the hospital released Sakura; and she was slated to help with light repair work the next day with her teammates, but today she was on her way to get Ino and buy her apology sweets. Sakura was walking the streets when she saw Sasuke tearing across the rooftops. She jumped up and matched his pace, "Sasuke, what are you doing?"

He came to a sudden stop, "have you seen Naruto?"

Sakura saw the frantic look in his eyes but shook her head. "No, I haven't seen him at all in the- Hey!" she ran after him, "what's got you so on edge?"

He bit his lip and looked back. "My brother is back, and he's looking for Naruto. We need to get to him before Itachi does."

Sakura nodded shakily, "alright, I'll help you look." Sasuke hadn't told them much about his older brother other than that he was the one who killed his clan and that Sasuke had made it his life's goal to kill Itachi and avenge his people.

It took some time, but they met up, and Sasuke had found where they went. As they ran for the gate, Sakura stopped and looked at the chunin checking people in. "Tell Kakashi Hatake his student Naruto Uzumaki is in danger; the rest of Team Seven is heading out to help him!"

She had to pour on the chakra to get enough speed to catch up to Sasuke, who looked back, "Why'd you stop?"

"I had to tell someone we were leaving. I don't know if Kakashi-sensei will get the message in time, but it'll be better than no one knowing we left."

Sasuke turned away, "You think ahead more than that idiot or myself sometimes."

Sakura shrugged, "someone has to try and keep this team from jumping before they look."

They got to the town where Teuchi said Naruto and Jiraiya were headed. "Alright, let's split up and check everywhere," Sasuke said before dashing off into the crowd.

Sakura hopped on the roofs to get a better view of the streets and started looking for her teammate or Jiraiya. After about ten minutes, she spotted him with his arm around some woman and Naruto, not insight. Sakura jumped down, startling the people in the streets. "Jiraiya-sama! We've got trouble, Naruto is in danger!"

Jiraiya choked on his drink and looked over, "oh, it's you! Uh, Sakura-chan, right? What are you doing all the way out here." He placed his hand on the woman next to him and made the sign for releasing a genjutsu making her slump over in her chair.

Sakura looked shocked but shook it off. "Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto, and I's teammate heard his brother was back and looking for Naruto. Where is he?"

Jiraiya was out of his chair and had the unconscious woman over one shoulder while he grabbed Sakura and threw her over his other. She protested being picked up like that but stopped as he moved faster than she had ever seen before and burst in through the window of a hotel while summoning a toad and giving some speech that Sakura mostly ignored as she got off his shoulder.

Sakura took in the sight quickly, seeing Sasuke on the floor behind two cloaked figures, one of which had the Sharingan and a Konoha headband with a missing-nin mark. Naruto looked panicked as a toad kept the other cloaked figure from slamming a strange looking sword down onto Naruto.

Naruto looked back in surprise, "Pervy Sage! Sakura too, what are you doing here?"

"Sasuke and I came here together to find you and keep you safe, but we're too late."

Things moved quickly as Sasuke staggered back to his feet and tried to attack his brother, but it was over as fast as it started. Itachi completely demolished Sasuke dealing blow after blow to his younger brother, finally ending it with Sasuke being slammed into the wall as his brother whispered in his ear before making eye contact.

Sasuke's scream made Sakura freeze on the spot and watch as Naruto ran past the other cloaked figure to try and save Sasuke. She felt the floor get squish and looked down to see some kind of fleshy material coat the floor and everything else.

Kisame and Itachi made a run for it, not even trying to fight or grab Naruto. While Jiraiya and Naruto ran after them, Sakura stumbled over the fleshy floor and checked on Sasuke, who was sunk into the wall.

Sakura was able to catch him as the flesh receded, and she laid Sasuke down, doing her best to check his condition and do first aid. Once the others came back, she looked up. "He's not conscious, and he's got some pretty bad injuries-" a kunai thunked into the wall above her head, and a blur of green shot into the building, landing a solid kick on Jiraiya.

Guy-sensei apologized and put Sasuke on his back. "I'll get him back to the hospital. Sakura-chan, you come along as well. You two ran out of the village without warning."

Sakura nodded, "I'm sorry we were in a hurry."

They said their goodbyes and headed back to the village. Once they were back, Sasuke was admitted to the hospital. Sakura sat in the Hokage tower and was scolded Iruka-sensei; apparently, he was the best at reprimanding shinobi when they did something stupid like running out of the village without permission.

Along with Sasuke, she was put on suspension until the higher-ups could speak to Kakashi about his genin and would have the incident added to their records. Once they were done with her, Sakura was set free. She wandered around aimlessly as she thought about what had happened. Yet again, she felt like she should have done more and could have done more if she had been more serious from the start.

Her thoughts grinded to a halt as a purple outfit and platinum blonde hair filled her vision. "There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you."

Sakura focused on Ino "uh, I'm sorry I-I got distracted. Something came up with my team, and I just got back."

"Got back from what?"

"Let's go find somewhere to sit."

They found a small shop and ordered some tea and sweets while Sakura told Ino the gist. "So yeah, I'm on suspension till they can talk to Kakashi-sensei, but he's apparently out cold as well, so I have no idea when that will be."

"You're getting punished for trying to help your teammate that's messed up," Ino said, setting her tea down.

"It makes sense, though. There are rules for a reason, and it's honestly a miracle it wasn't worse. I just hope Naruto and Jiraya-sama's mission is successful, whatever it is."

Ino reached over and squeezed Sakura's hand, "Hey, come on, we'll keep training, and you'll keep getting better."

"I appreciate that, but I feel like I need more. I need someone who can teach me and help me get better. Kakashi-sensei has helped some. I know my taijutsu wouldn't be as good if it wasn't for him, but it's not enough, you know. I need something more."

"I think you should talk to your sensei then once he's back awake, and see what you can find. I'll be here whenever to help you out with whatever you need."

Sakura smiled, "thanks, Ino..." she scratched her neck "do you mind staying over tonight."

Ino smiled, "of course not. Your parents still aren't back, are they?"

Sakura shook her head as she paid, "No, and with the attack and trying to organize and recover, I haven't been able to get an update on their status."

Ino took her hand and pulled her along. "It'll be ok, don't worry. come on, I need to pack some stuff if I'm gonna go stay with you for a bit."

"Ino, I only asked about tonight."

"Yeah, but you're my best friend, and it's fun to sleep over at your place."

Sasuke woke up and almost screamed, but his throat felt raw and numb at the same time. He looked around and saw Kakashi sitting nearby reading. Kakashi snapped the book shut. "You're awake."

"Where-"

"Hospital, and before you ask your brother ran, we don't know where. Jiraya-sama sent us a messenger toad with the details."

Sasuke cursed and looked at his clenched fist feeling weaker than ever before. "You and Sakura are also being put on suspension for two weeks. This will go on your record. You left the village borders without permission."

"That's fair."

Kakashi just hummed and stood. "Once you're out, you and Sakura are going to be doing intensive training. Since you don't have anything better to do with your time now, be sure to get plenty of rest."

Sakura was informed of her fate for the next two weeks around dinner time, "Are you going to be the one training us, sensei?"

He nodded from his place in the doorway, "yes, I will be."

"What about Naruto? He's out on whatever mission with Jiraiya-sama."

"Jiraiya-sama is teaching Naruto and keeping him safe, so you don't need to worry. Be sure to eat well and get some rest. We start at five in the morning tomorrow." With that, he left her to run back inside and pick up Ino, who was cooking.

"Oh, wow, ok! What happened?"

"Kakashi-sensei came by and said since Sasuke and I can't do missions, we're doing two weeks of intensive training, and Kakashi-sensei is actually going to be the one to train us." Sakura set Ino down, who smiled and continued her cooking.

"That's great. You'll get the extra training you wanted, and maybe it'll help you find that missing piece that will help you catch up to your teammates."

Sakura couldn't stop smiling as she helped finish up dinner. "It's gonna be great, and with you staying here being the best friend ever, these two weeks are looking to be good."