Through Thick and Thin

As soon as the Union was in sight, Naruto screamed for help. The large doors of the front gate opened, though he bypassed any assistance to carry Sasuke. Instead, he followed the white-robed medical ninja as they guided him to the hospital wing.

Carefully, he laid him on a table, choking down more cries as he saw just how pale Sasuke was. "His chakra points are blocked," he informed them, holding on to Sasuke's hand and rubbing it, as though that'd bring back any signs of life. "Please…just save him."

At the diagnosis, the doctors had begun to quickly gather the supplies they'd need. Several medics had already begun using their chakra to sustain Sasuke until everything had been fully prepped. Once ready, the lead doctor turned to Naruto. "It'll be best if you wait outside. We'll let you know his progress once we're finished."

"No." He pulled Sasuke's hand closer to him.

There was an impatient grunt as the man took in Naruto's resolute expression. "You're in the way of my team. If they can't get to Sasuke, they can't help him."

Naruto still didn't move, closing his eyes as he shook. Everything in him said to stay by Sasuke. Sasuke was like this because he'd let him go. If he stayed by Sasuke, no one could hurt him again.

The thoughts swirled as a loop and he began to block out the voices of the others. While the lead doctor remained where he was, another person stepped forward, putting a hand on his shoulder. He only glanced at them, but then focused more securely on their face when he realized they were familiar. "Sakura?! What are you doing here?"

She gave a wry smile. "I've been working here off and on over the last few months, helping to train other medics. Nobody even told me you were here! Or for that matter, that Sasuke was in the Land of Iron as well…" She put her hand over Naruto's, which was still holding Sasuke's.

"I'll do absolutely everything I can for him, Naruto. But…he's in extremely bad shape." She bit her lip, moving her eyes to focus on Naruto's. "I know you love Sasuke. And…I still love him, too. I'm not going to let him die here." A tear slipped as she said it. "I won't. So please, believe in us." She put her forehead to Naruto's, cupping his cheek.

Naruto nodded against her. "…I will." He pulled away from her, leaning over to give a quick kiss to Sasuke's wrist. "You'll make it through this," he whispered to him.

Sakura gently guided him out the room but before closing the door, she informed him, "Shikamaru is here as well. He's Konoha's ambassador for the Union. Maybe…you might feel better if you two talk." She smiled a thin smile that threatened to break under her current duress, but reeled her emotions in with a deep breath. Closing the doors, she tightened her headband, focusing all her energy on the task ahead.

Sai had remained out in the hallway, not wanting to crowd the already crowded room. He watched as Naruto took a seat in the only chair available, which was nearly on the other end of the hallway. He put his face in his hands and felt something that'd been long-buried stir as he witnessed Naruto's shoulders shaking, only the faintest cries reaching his ears.

Grief, for him, was a muted thing, something he'd never had the chance to experience. When his "brother" had died, he'd felt a quiet hollowness inside, but his upbringing forbade him from exploring the emotion any further. It was rare for him to witness someone hurting in front of him, but seeing Naruto as he was right now had awoken something in him.

He pushed it back down, too scared to go down that path. Right now, he needed to be strong as Naruto was slowly unraveling at the seams. As a ninja passed by him that looked like they belonged perhaps in the research department, he asked, "Could you tell me where I could find Shikamaru Nara? He and I are both from Konoha and I have some information I'd like to pass to him." He threw in a smile, reading somewhere that it often helped in getting favors from people, though the happy gesture was the last thing he wanted to do right now.

The researcher thought about it for a moment before replying, "If he's who I think he is, he should be on the third floor. That's where all the main offices are."

"Very much appreciated," he smiled and bowed, turning to follow the signs on the wall that guided him upstairs to the administrative floor. He peeked in each room that had a window and listened for a moment outside the ones that didn't. Most of the rooms were quiet though, making him wonder where all the people were from the last time they'd visited.

As the thought crossed his mind, a door opened up, a familiar plume of spiky hair walking into the hall. Shikamaru yawned and rubbed the back of his neck before sensing he wasn't alone. Looking up, he gave Sai his infamous bored stare. "Did Tsunade send you here? I'm guessing it's about finding Sasuke."

"Odd that you know and yet Sakura doesn't," Sai said to him, walking forward.

"I intentionally asked that Sakura not be informed, actually," Shikamaru admitted. "She's better off here so that when Sasuke is found, if he needs medical treatment, she's at full energy."

Sai gave a thoughtful 'hmph'. "He's already here, all his chakra points blocked. We found him in an underground base. Naruto's already killed most of everyone that was there," he flinched, though wondered mildly why that would make him uneasy. Killing certainly wasn't anything new to him, though he'd noticed the change after the war. "Hinata and Yamato are still there though, looking for any clues about the people who did this."

Letting out a breath, Shikamaru put his head back against the wall, closing his eyes. "If these guys were able to take down Sasuke and all but kill him, then they've got to be someone pretty powerful. Damn, what a drag…we'll wait until the other two return and then send word to Tsunade about it."

"Hasn't word already been sent about Sasuke's initial disappearance? Mifune said he sent a message days ago."

Shikamaru nodded, breathing out another sigh. "Yeah, this place hasn't completely caught up with technology just yet. There's no phone lines and the constant blizzards makes it hard to build the infrastructure needed for them. The initial message had to be sent via bird but that's pretty much snail mail. The last thing we can try is to contact her with the sensory ninja. It's going to be rough though and I can't promise it'll work. Between here and Konoha is a massive distance and none of the people here are nearly as good with it as Ino's father, Inoichi, was."

Sai nodded in understanding. "It's better than nothing. Yamato asked for me to stay to keep an eye on Naruto but honestly…I'm probably not the best person for that," he shrugged, looking away. "You seemed to really help him when he'd lost his master, so maybe…"

"You want me to do the dirty work, huh?" Shikamaru didn't say it unkindly and was given an apologetic smile in return. "Alright. But what are you going to be doing?"

"I'll go back and help out Yamato and Hinata. That place might be quite big and maybe they could use an extra hand."

"Sounds good to me. I'll go let the sensory ninja know what's happening so that they can prepare." The two waved goodbye and went their separate ways, though Sai simply opened a window and disappeared into the howling winds beyond. Shikamaru clicked his teeth as he shut it behind him.

After informing the resident telepathy users of their upcoming role, he made his way downstairs to the hospital wing. Naruto had moved and was now seated on the floor beside the doors for the operating room. His arms were folded with his head buried away. Shikamaru gave yet another sigh; indeed, this was going to be a drag.

Quietly, he took a seat beside him but said nothing. Naruto was so still, he wondered if he was even awake. After a very long moment though, he heard a faint whisper: "Please leave me alone."

Shikamaru took a moment to consider that, but shook his head. "I won't talk if that's what you want, but I'm not leaving. Sai went to go help Hinata and Yamato and asked me to take his place. And besides, considering all the work I've been doing, I don't mind sitting in quiet for a bit."

'A bit' ended up being three hours. In that time, Naruto alternated between sitting as immovable as a rock and pacing as though he were caged. At times, Shikamaru heard him quietly talking to himself, gentle sounds on his lips as he folded his hands together, a prayer to anyone that Sasuke may make it. But true to form, Shikamaru never said a word.

As the fourth hour started, the doors opened and Sakura stepped out. Behind her, Shikamaru could see the man that should've been the lead surgeon straightening up the room. So they'd sent Sakura out to talk to them; that was probably for the best.

Naruto now looked at her with wide, ringed eyes, searching her face for the answer. Shikamaru braced himself, just in case it became ugly.

After a moment of silence, Sakura smiled. "He'll live," she announced with quiet pride. "It's going to be a long recovery though and it's best he doesn't try to use chakra anytime soon. We've also given him some sedatives to help him sleep since he's in a lot of pain so you probably won't be able to talk to him until tomorrow or the day after. But yes, he will make it."

From the moment she'd revealed Sasuke's status, Naruto had begun to shake, wrapping his arms around himself to keep from sinking to his knees. Sasuke was going to live. His Sasuke…the strong, arrogant, infuriating, beautiful young man that now made him feel so many confusing and wonderful things, there was no way he could name them all. He walked up to Sakura and pulled her to him, gripping her tightly. "Thank you. Thank you for saving him."

She wiped a few tears, nodding. "Did we really think this would stop Sasuke?"

She laughed, but Naruto knew she'd been terrified just as he was. Instead, he asked, "Are we allowed to see him? Even if he's sleeping?"

She was about to answer when they heard the sound of the double doors at the end of the hall opening. In strode Yamato, followed by Hinata and Sai, whose brow was furrowed. "How's Sasuke?" Yamato instantly asked once he'd drawn close enough.

Naruto was touched that his first concern was Sasuke instead of delving instantly into the information about the base. "He's going to make it," he told their captain. "Just needs a lot of rest."

The man's shoulders deflated in relief. "That's really good to hear. Hinata's told me some things that make it a miracle Sasuke is alive at all."

"Like what?" Shikamaru asked, feeling a tingle down his spine.

Without any hesitancy she announced, "Before going into the room where we found Sasuke, there was a man who spoke to me. He noticed my Byakugan but said something about…while they were seeking to destroy powerful kekkei genkai, since the Byakugan on its own cannot be used to hurt people, I and the Hyuga were going to be spared. Due to this, it seems their goal from Sasuke was to take his Sharingan and Rinnegan."

Naruto didn't even flinch upon hearing that. It wasn't anything new and he knew Sasuke would say the same. Until the day he died (may that not be for a very, very, very long time, he added), Sasuke would be hunted for those powers. Until today, he hadn't worried about anyone getting the upper hand on him considering the way his powers had grown exponentially within the last few years. But now, that confidence had been thoroughly shaken.

Hinata continued, though her voice began to creep with a fear she struggled to control. "This man also possessed a very strong chakra aura. In truth, I don't think it's stronger than Sasuke's and certainly not yours…but…he was no match for me." She hated having to admit that, feeling utterly weak. Sakura rubbed her back and she smiled at her faintly in gratitude.

Picking up for her, Yamato added, "Since they're brave enough to tackle those with strong blood limits, it's possible they're operating on a massive scale. Naruto, you alone took down at least twenty of them. We've already sealed their bodies in scrolls and will be taking them back with us to the Leaf so that their memories can be analyzed.

"I know Ino's going to have fun with that," Sakura could already guess.

Sai smiled with her, feeling warm at the idea of Ino's happiness. "There wasn't anything much else at the base except for multiple books on the subject of various Limits and their clans. But since there's so many, there's no way of knowing specifically where they'll strike next. If everything is ready with the sensory team, we can inform Tsunade and the other Kage about what we've found so that they can be on the lookout."

"They should be finished with setting everything up," Shikamaru told them, pushing off of the wall. "Too bad we don't have any deep mind divers on hand or else we could've gotten started on that here instead of waiting to get back to the village. C'mon, I'll lead you to the room." He turned and headed down to the opposite end of the hall, back towards the stairs and the upper offices.

As everyone headed there with him, Naruto kept his feet still. Noticing he hadn't moved, Shikamaru looked back at him. He already knew what Naruto was doing and was about to ready an admonition but opted to change his words. "I shouldn't be surprised that you'd want to stay behind. Well, we already have more than enough people to tell their side of things and what they saw so I guess it's fine if you want to stay here." There was probably no way he'd get Naruto to move either way it went anyways.

"Yeah, I'll catch up with you. I just…want to see him, that's all," Naruto said with a hint of a blush. "I'll be up there in a moment."

"That's really caring of you, Naruto," Hinata said, the words being spoken before she could catch them. She swallowed down a rise of emotions and felt another pat on the back from Sakura. She looked over and saw eyes that matched her own, eyes already experienced to her exact feelings. It was this that let Hinata know that even before her, Sakura had found out that Sasuke had been lost to her. Those green eyes shone with an empathetic sympathy, a thousand unspoken apologies which could fix nothing. She turned away, allowing herself to be guided down the hall.

Watching their receding backs only for a moment, Naruto took a deep breath and pushed open the doors.