[Kakashi]
I opened my eyes and frowned at my condition immediately. I didn't seem to be all that injured...The only thing I could physically feel was fatigue.
I looked out of the window and saw that it was night time. The village was peaceful as a soft blanket of fog covered the grounds. I wonder if the others are still out searching for Sakura.
I frowned further before a sigh escaped my lips.
"Hey, Kakashi." Temari spoke as she opened the door to my room. I could tell that she has sustained quite a bit of damage as she was visibly wincing at the pain that occurred in her body as she walked.
"I apologise for not getting to you in time." I responded automatically. Temari sat down on the seat next to my bed before shaking her head.
"If you saw the hit that knocked you out, I don't think you'd be saying that." Temari laughed softly. My eyes crinkled as I noticed an unusually happy aura that surrounded her.
"Is Sakura back?" I asked hopefully. The small smile that Temari wore instantly formed into a frown.
"No...But Shikamaru, Naruto, Yamato and Jiraiya are still out searching for her."
As if on queue, Jiraiya had entered the room and stood next to Temari.
"It's good that you're awake, Kakashi." Jiraiya greeted while pulling up a seat. "I have good news...and bad news."
"Bad news first." I decided. Jiraiya looked at me with pain consuming his eyes before briefly looking away as he spoke.
"I attacked Sakura and she's in a very critical condition...she had a gaping hole through her body." Jiraiya's voice quavered as he spoke. My heart dropped.
"W-Where is she?" I questioned instantly. Jiraiya looked back in my direction.
"She's with Shikamaru, Naruto and Yamato...Her orders." Jiraiya spoke, filling my mind with confusion. Nevertheless, I wanted to know the good news.
"Why would you attack Sak-" Temari started as she glared at Jiraiya.
"Good news?" I interrupted, earning Temari's glare.
"We found Sakura?" Jiraiya offered. Just as I was about to scold him for a situation I didn't know fully, I saw a pink haired Kunoichi speed past the door to my room.
"Sakura!" I instinctively got out of the bed to follow her.
"Wait, You've not recovered fully!" Temari said, chasing after me. I didn't have to travel for long as I reached Sai's room. Sakura looked over Sai's body wildly and I could see her whole body tense. I didn't see any injury on Sakura whatsoever. There was no hole in her stomach. The only sign of injury she could have sustained had dried as red streaks on her face near her nose and mouth. Was Jiraiya lying?
"Sakura?" I spoke. Sakura looked over to me and widened her eyes like she suddenly got an idea.
"Kakashi-Sensei! Sai...Deidara said he placed his clay inside of Sai." Sakura informed. I nodded before walking over to Sai's side. He looked too damaged to have even the smallest amount of lightning pass through his body.
"He's too injured." I stated. Sakura gave me a dangerous look.
"I was threatened with Sai's life if I disobeyed the Akatsuki...I'm not with them now...They'll know that I've escaped." Sakura muttered darkly. I furrowed my eyebrows and tried to assess the situation for myself.
"Alright." I agreed reluctantly as I infused my hand with a small amount of my lightning jutsu. Just as I was about to touch Sai's chest, his hand raced up and grabbed a tight hold of my wrist.
"What do you think you're doing?" His voice cracked as he slowly opened his eyes. I released my jutsu to let him take in his surroundings. "S-Sakura?" Sai questioned as his eyes reached her.
"Don't you worry." I heard Tsunade's voice say. I turned around to face her after grabbing my arm away from Sai's grip. "I've already removed the detonation clay from Sai's system. I stored it away in a safe container...But I came straight here when it exploded."
I heard a thump from my left, so I looked over at Sakura. She fell to her knees.
"He really could have died." Sakura muttered to herself.
"But he didn't." Tsunade replied as she walked to Sakura. She held her hand out and help Sakura to her feet. "Come, I need to talk to you." Sakura nodded.
"Sai...Thank you for coming after me." Sakura said as she followed Tsunade out of the room.
Sai and I stood in silence for a few minutes.
"Sakura seems different." Sai finally spoke. I nodded.
"If the herbs Jiraiya and Tsunade spoke about actually exist..." I trailed off.
Before Sai could question me further, Naruto and Shikamaru entered the room alongside Temari and Yamato.
"Shikamaru." I stated, grabbing his attention. "What happened?"
"Well," Shikamaru started before rubbing the back of his head. "Jiraiya and I thought we encountered Sasori of the Red sand." I wanted to interrupt Shikamaru, but I patiently waited for him to finish his sentence. "It turned out that it was Sakura. I guess she wanted to grab our attention quickly or something. I held her in place as Jiraiya's rasengan took a direct hit to Sakura's stomach. She wouldn't have survived if we returned her to the hospital...She was bleeding out really heavily and we were fifteen minutes away from the village."
I furrowed my eyebrows as I took the information in.
"She barely managed to communicate to us that she wanted boiled water. So I took her back to the cabin where Yamato and Naruto were and uh..." Shikamaru nervously looked at Yamato. "I put all the herbs she collected into the boiled water like she asked...She healed faster than I've ever seen anyone heal. But she later told me that there were nine portions in that one vial I used. I did find it off how the herbs instantly dissolved into a deep red substance."
My eyes widened slightly as I looked from him to Yamato.
"So...the herb really does grant immortality?" I question gingerly. Yamato nodded. "What's going to happen to her? She took 9 portions of the stuff?"
"As with any other medicine, I can only assume the effects are just stronger..." Shikamaru spoke out loud.
"Well, In all due respect, given the condition Sakura was in I would have done the exact same as Shikamaru did." Yamato stated as if to reassure me.
"At least she's still alive. She may have intelligence on the Akatsuki too." I spoke. A wide grin spread across Naruto's face.
"We brought Sakura back!" He exclaimed. Shikamaru sighed deeply.
"Sakura brought herself back." Shikamaru corrected, although Naruto wasn't listening to him at all. "What a drag." He turned to face Temari. "You should still be in your bed."
Temari smiled at him sweetly before taking Shikamaru's arm. A light coat of pink coloured Shikamaru's face as he lead Temari out of the room.
I guess that's why Temari had a happy aura around her...They must have finally realised their love of each other...I wonder if I will ever find someone like that.
"I guess things turned out okay in the end...But does that mean all of the herbs Sakura collected have been used up?" Sai spoke up. I shrugged slightly while Yamato nodded.
"Sakura explained to us on our way back that those herbs in the vial were the last of them...Although she also told us that one other person has ingested the medicine."
My heart started beating irregularly. If she's given any member of the Akatsuki immortality...It would be devastating.
"Itachi." Yamato continued. My heart dropped yet again. Of all the people to have ingested that medicine.
"That's not good." Sai spoke.
The room filled with silence.
"What do we do now?" Naruto hesitantly broke the silence.
"Just continue on with missions to aid our village as usual. Nothing can be done. You should go to Tsunade's office, Naruto." Yamato advised. Naruto nodded before racing off to the Hokage tower.
"So I guess Sakura told you something else that you don't want Naruto to know." I analysed Yamatos previous action. He straightened his stance and sighed.
"Yeah..." He started before pulling up a chair next to Sai's bed. "Sakura also encountered Sasuke while she was with the Akatsuki. Sasuke had spot Sakura when she was visiting Zabuza's grave. She thinks she was followed when the Akatsuki knocked her out and took her to their hideout in the mist." I looked down for a moment while I reminisced the past.
"So is Sasuke aware of the herb that gives immortality?" I questioned as I looked back up to Yamato. He nodded. "This could be a pain. I assume that Sakura has a big red target on her head, both from the Akatsuki and from Sasuke." I stated out loud while running my hand through my hair.
Things are going to be utterly stressful from now on.
A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed