Author's Note: Who are you and what have you done with MizukiYukiko? Updating within a month? I know, I'm proud of me too. So nobody got the Grey's Anatomy reference, so here's a hint: it's a very small reference, and has nothing to do with Sakura's healing but in an exchange between Kisame and Megumi. So that's all I'm giving you. Snowrose65was the 400th reviewer, so you should expect a one-shot soon. I've already began it!
Also, I'm looking for prompts for my 50-shinobi theme challenge. Either a quote, a song, a song lyric, and poem, or just a simple word/phrase. So please comment with some of those. Thanks!
Enjoy. Only one more chapter after this!
The First Time
Chapter 14: What is Ours
"You come home from work, and you kiss me on the eye
You curse the dog, you say that I should never feed them what is ours"
Streaking rivulets of sweat poured down her face and neck and into the collar of her red shirt, sticking and matting into the worn cotton as she sprinted through the training grounds, racing for an unmarked goal at the end of the large, expansive field. Her swift footsteps never faltered as her arms pumped back and forth to move her faster, increase her momentum. The man following her was right on her heals, she knew. She could feel his jubilant, excited aura pressing against her, forcing her onward and to push harder.
When she finally passed past the large oak tree that was on the border of training ground 10, Sakura let out a whoop and slowed down until her body stopped. Panting hard, she continued to jog in place so that her muscles could cool down properly without locking up. Her competitor came in right behind her with a large, flashing grin on his face.
"Your speed has improved immeasurably since we began training, Sakura-san," Lee complimented. "It is a testament to your youthful spirit and desire for recovery."
Sakura grinned at the panting Lee. To be able to make the great Blue Beast of Konoha lose his breath during a race is something to be proud of in itself. The weights holding her legs down were getting uncomfortable, so she bent down and pulled the heavy weights off, listening to the large thud they made when they hit the ground next to her feet with satisfaction. Flexing the sore, overused muscles in her previously crippled leg, Sakura began to stretch to complete the cooling down process. Lee joined her, grasping her arms and pulling her body more completely over her legs to increase her flexibility.
"I'm still sore, though. I haven't built the muscle back up enough," Sakura grouched, wiggling her toes. Lee backed up and Sakura pulled his arms so he could stretch in the same manner.
There was a soft whistle to announce a new presence to the field, but Sakura didn't flinch or move.
"Sakura-chan," the newcomer greeted reproachfully.
"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura replied flippantly. There was a soft exhale of exasperation from the man looming above her, casting a shadow over her relatively small form that was curled on the ground. With mock innocence, she asked, "What brings you here today?"
"You are supposed to be taking it easy, Sakura-chan," Kakashi reprimanded seriously. "You've only been out of the hospital for a month. Tsunade-sama said it could take a full year before you were completely healed. I don't think sprinting one-hundred laps around the training grounds with weights is taking it easy."
Sakura rolled her eyes and collapsed on her back onto the ground beneath her, gazing up at the shadow-Kakashi as the sun streaked behind her. Lee, for his part, kept mostly quiet. His sensei's rival had shot him a dirty look when he had arrived, and Lee knew that Kakashi-senpai blamed him for helping Sakura push herself.
"I'm a medic, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura replied with a stubborn glint in her eye. "I know when I'm pushing myself too hard."
Kakashi squatted down next to her so she could see the real anxiety in his lone visible eye. He was truly worried about his favorite student, for she was not the one who had to sit by and do nothing when she was writhing in the hospital bed like she was being torn from the inside out.
When Kakashi had returned from his mission, Sakura had been in the hospital for a week.
Apparently, two days into her recovery, her thrashing had gotten so intense that they had to confine her using restraints fortified with the Godaime's chakra. Two days later, he heart gave out twice and they had to put Sakura in a medically induced coma. Kakashi had arrived three days later, after her seventh day in the hospital and third day unconscious. Two days after that, Tsunade reduced the drugs and brought Sakura out of her coma. The next three days were the worst of Kakashi's entire life. Sakura thrashed in pain, screaming out with eyes clenched and teeth gritted until her throat was so raw that it started to bleed.
Finally, one day, she seemed to snap out of it. Her jerking came to a halt and she laid in the hospital bed whimpering for 24 hours until her eyes opened slowly, bleary and wet with tears. The pain subsided, as Tsunade predicted, a few days after Sakura's ascent to consciousness, around two weeks after Sakura's hospitalization.
To Kakashi's eternal consternation, Uchiha Itachi had not left Sakura's side for more than a moment, but Kakashi couldn't find the strength to kill the Uchiha heir for fornicating with his surrogate daughter. Itachi had been a loyal and continuing presence at the side of Sakura's prone and broken form for the entirety of the stay, and his loyalty to the injured kunoichi was a testament to his commitment to her.
The spare hospital bed in the room was Itachi's to sleep on whenever Sakura's screaming would subside. Once a day, he would shower in the attached bathroom and shave, only to take a seat by her side again, doing paperwork for ANBU, reading, or just staring at the prone kunoichi suffering in the bed.
Naruto and Sasuke were sent on a mission with Yamato and Sai in order to distract them soon after Kakashi's arrival. The two were rather underfoot, fretting over Sakura – more like mother bears than like mother hens – bearing their teeth and running off almost anyone who came to visit their debilitated teammate. Itachi and Shisui were allowed, of course, and after some not-so-idle threats, the two allowed a panicking Ino to spend time with her unconscious friend, who had not mentioned to the blonde kunoichi that she was even going to be doing this insane procedure to herself. The mind-switch ninja cried for two hours straight, hugging her struggling friend for the entire time.
No, Sakura knew none of this. Of course, her friends and family had told her what the horrible two weeks was like, but once she had woken, the positivity returned for the procedure had been a success.
The muscle in her leg had weakened tremendously in the time that Sakura had been bound to a cane and crutches, and the arduous task of rebuilding her leg so she could continue her life as a ninja began.
Enter: Rock Lee.
The Blue Beast of Konoha was more than happy to help Sakura when she asked him if he would aid her physical therapy. Not only had Lee been through a debilitating injury in the past that should have ended his career as a shinobi, but Sakura knew that he would push her to her limits and get her back on her feet faster than anybody.
Kakashi did not approve.
"Your leg will die sooner the harder you push it now," Kakashi reprimanded again, but his initial anger at his surrogate daughter for pushing her recover was quickly fizzling out to be replaced with worry.
Sakura sat up and patted him on his crouching knee. She tried to be sympathetic to her fretting sensei, for she could only imagine how emotionally taxing her hospitalization had been for her friends and family. They all cared for her so much and became a family to her when her parents had died. Knowing from experience whenever one of her own boys would land in the hospital, Sakura did feel sorry for making them all worry like that, especially since it was so fast and unexpected.
"I know Kakashi-sensei," Sakura replied with a sigh, leaning her cheek against his knee. Kakashi's gloved hands patted her head. "I'll take it easier, I promise. I just want to get back to where I was a year ago. I was supposed to start my ANBU training."
Kakashi's hands stilled over her hair. "You will, Sakura-chan. Just give it time," he consoled. "But for now, come on. We have a meeting with the Akatsuki attack team."
Sakura perked up at this, and jumped to her feet with a fist pump. "I have more information on the ring for this one, too!"
Kakashi chuckled at her exuberance. Sakura had truly blossomed in the month after her hospital stay, as she was truly appreciative and excited to have her chance at being a kunoichi again restored.
After bidding goodbye to Rock Lee, the duo set off for the Hokage tower with some urgency. Sakura was sure that they were late since Kakashi had been the one to retrieve her. When the duo crouched through the window of the top floor a few minutes later, they found they were the last to arrive.
Kakashi could see the throbbing vein in Tsunade's forehead.
"The meeting was supposed to start an hour ago, Kakashi! I sent you off to find Sakura two hours ago," she scolded.
Sakura sent Kakashi a disbelieving look, but his eye just crinkled at her to show his amusement in return. Itachi was standing across from Tsunade's desk, along with Kisame. Shiranui Genma gave Sakura a small wave and a smile over his senbon from the corner of the room where he was trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, or else face the wrath of the Hokage. Shisui's wave from next to Genma was much more enthusiastic.
Shikamaru was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, looking utterly bored. Shino was standing next to him quietly, while Naruto and Sasuke were standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. The dynamic duo had never been included in an Akatsuki attack meeting before, but since they were going to be on the assault team, it made sense for them to be a part of the more recent meetings.
"Alright," Tsunade sighed. "We are in the final stages of planning this attack, so let's get to it. The Akatsuki base is located in a neutral country to the north on a peninsula. We will attack them from three sides. Suna will send a team of twenty ninja from the west, Kumo will send a team of twenty from the east, and we will attack from the south.
"We will send two ANBU Squads along with Team Kakashi and another squad of medics to aid in the attack. What we need now is a jutsu that will jam the use of the rings that will block off the chakra reserves that the Akatsuki have stored in the rings and block their communication."
Sakura nodded and pulled a small cloth bag from her medic pouch and dumped it onto the desk. Six rings fell out. Three of the rings were from the Akatsuki. After much persuading, Itachi had finally relented his hold on Orochimaru's ring for research purposes. Sakura had pulled out Sasori's ring, and then there was Kisame's reconstructed ring. The other three rings, however, were very thick, wide simple looking silver bands with engraved seals etched into them. A simple red stone stood on top of each.
"These are replicas of the Akatsuki rings, roughly, that Tenten, Ino, and I made. Naruto, Sasuke, and I will develop a jutsu that will block the use of these rings. We would just use the original Akatsuki rings, but we don't know if they are connected to the leader of the organization in some way, so we don't want to risk letting them in on our plans," Sakura explained.
Tsunade picked up one of the knock-off rings and studied it closely.
"You were able to recreate the rings?" Kisame said disbelievingly. He walked up to the desk and picked up another one of the replicas. "Amazing."
His genuine, reverent tone shocked Sakura to some extent. Hearing the former Akatsuki give such a genuine compliment was odd to her, but things with Kisame had been relatively civil since their meeting a few months ago. Blushing a bit, she blinked at him a few times in disbelief before nodding slightly. Picking up the last of the replicas, she slipped it onto the ring finger of her right hand. Tsunade tossed Sasuke one, and Kisame gave Naruto the third.
"Let your chakra build in that for a few days. Until then, we will figure out a jutsu conceptually before we try it," Sakura ordered her boys. Sasuke and Naruto nodded. For the next hour, the group discussed possible jutsu that could be used to seal away chakra or block the power of the Akatsuki's rings. Overall, the meeting proved fruitful, and hours later, the assembly of shinobi emerged from the Hokage's office mentally exhausted and ready for dinner.
"Come Sasuke, Shisui. We have a clan meeting," Itachi ordered before leaning down to give Sakura a lingering kiss on her mouth and walking away with his kin. Sakura and Naruto decided on ramen, and Kakashi tagged along, undoubtedly looking for a free meal.
X
A few weeks after the meeting, seemingly every Konoha shinobi was packed into a large bar in celebration of Haruno Sakura's nineteenth birthday. Like her eighteenth birthday, the entire group of the Konoha 12 was present, along with many medics from the hospital and patients that had previously been in her care. All of the sand siblings could not attend, but Temari had made the trip out to Konoha anyway for more planning of the Akatsuki strike, so she brought the well wishes – and an impressive pile of presents – from her brothers in Suna.
Even Kisame and his fiancé had been invited, and although awkward at first, the large shark-nin had begun a drinking competition with Genma and seemed to be fitting in well with the Konoha ninja. Megumi had become fast friends with some of the other nurses and medics who were present, so she was also having a lovely time chatting about patients and differences of working at the civilian clinics compared to the rush of the hospital.
Times had been tense in Konoha of late. It was no secret that they were under a cold-war assault of the Akatsuki. Konoha and the other nations were in a pissing contest with the rogue group, and it was all slowly coming to a head. Everybody knew this and had been on constant edge the past few weeks, but the celebration of one of their most beloved kunoichi's birthdays seemed to have lightened the mood of everyone present.
Itachi watched quietly as his lover gripped the hand of Inuzuka Kiba seemingly loosely. He was not fooled, however, and when Naruto called "Go!" and the arm wrestling matched commenced, he watched as the firm muscles in his girlfriend's arm flexed and began the fight to beat the dog master in another competition. Unfortunately for the powerful kunoichi, no chakra was allowed. But she was still physically stronger than most without her chakra and it was a close battle between the two ninja.
The room seemed to go quiet as the focus of everybody shifted to the dog-nin and the kunoichi with a plastic tiara on her head and a sash that said "birthday girl" wrapped loosely around her torso. This birthday was much less formal than her eighteenth. The alcohol was pouring much more freely, and this led to a much more relaxed atmosphere for the ninja involved. Suddenly, Kiba yelled out a curse as Sakura's arm gained a momentum of strength and she pushed his hand into the table with such force that it dented.
Cheers erupted from over the entire bar and Sakura pumped her arms in the air in victory. Kiba made a show of being ashamed at first but then smiled a canine grin and took the shot he was forced into because of his loss with much vigor. A rare, small smile curled Itachi's lips as he watched his lover's friends pat her on the back and hand her another drink. Yamanaka Ino was quite plastered and hanging all over a seemingly confused Sai, who did not know how to respond to the flirtatiously drunk blonde's antics.
Tsunade-sama and Kakashi were sitting at the bar on the other end of the establishment. A flask of sake was pouring freely between the two as they played a round of cards. Itachi stood up from the table where he was sitting with Shiranui Genma and Shisui. He made his way through the crowd of people relatively easily, slinking in and out of the hordes of people.
"Hokage-sama, Kakashi-san," Itachi greeted quietly. Kakshi's single eyed gaze rose to meet him and nodded slightly in response.
"Uchiha," Tsunade greeted him, not taking her eyes off of her cards. With one look, Itachi could tell that she was going to lose, and judging by the coins tossed between them, she was going to lose quite a bit of money when this was concluded.
"I would like to speak with you two in private if you have a moment," he asked politely. Kakashi slid him another suspicious glance before revealing his hand to Tsunade.
"Shit!" the Hokage groaned loudly before downing another shot of sake. Once Kakashi began collecting his winnings, she slid her eyes to the patiently waiting Itachi. "We will meet in my office in ten minutes."
Itachi nodded and went to where Sakura was chatting happily with a completely sober Rock Lee, who was no longer allowed to imbibe alcohol, as he continued to chatter amiably with the pink-haired focus of his constant affections. Itachi slid into the seat next to her and leaned close to her ear.
"I need to meet with Tsunade-sama and Kakashi-san for a short time. I will return soon," he said in a breathy whisper into her ear. Sakura pinked a bit at his close contact, but the sound of Naruto fake-gagging at their proximity brought them apart. Sakura gave Itachi a saucy smile.
"You better hurry," she murmured back to him, sliding a covert glance towards Lee, who was waiting eagerly for Sakura to return her attention to him. "I may be wooed away from you by the charming Blue Beast of Konoha if you don't come back soon."
Itachi smirked and stood back up, but not before caressing the soft inner skin of Sakura's exposed thigh. He heard a hitched breath and the kunoichi shot him a look before he stood completely and slipped out one of the side doors. Downtown Konoha was alive with the nightlife of civilians and ninja alike. It was just past midnight, and many of the popular bars of Konoha were just beginning to fill.
Sakura's friends (Itachi included) had pitched in and rented the bar where her birthday party was for the entire night and have even hired two chuunin to stand at the door and only allow in the invited guests. Making his way through the downtown district, Itachi could see the Hokage tower looming above him when he rounded onto the main street. A soft light glowed from the Hokage's opened office window, but he was not surprised. Kakashi and Tsunade had left the bar right away.
Not feeling like jumping through the windows, Itachi took a sedate pace through the main door and up the winding stairs. The door had been left cracked for him, so with a light tap on the door, he let himself in without being greeted. Kakashi was leaning against the far window, slouched and staring out at the village. Tsunade's fingers were laced in front of her, and despite the copious amounts of sake she had drunk earlier in the evening, she seemed to be perfectly sober now.
"Alright Uchiha," she said sternly. "Please tell me why you've dragged me back to work on the one night off I've given myself in over two months."
Itachi said nothing, but instead pulled something out of his pocket and set it in front of Tsunade on her desk. Kakashi pulled off his perch by the window and took a look at the offending object.
It was a black jewelry box adorned elaborately with the Uchiha crest in diamonds and rubies. Itachi opened it lightly to reveal a white gold engagement ring to the two. A large red ruby sat in the center of white clustered diamonds. Smaller diamonds were set in the band around the rest of the ring. Tsunade raised a single eyebrow but did not move, nor did Kakashi, choosing to wait for an explanation although it was rather obvious at the moment.
"You two are Sakura's parents," Itachi stated calm, not at all revealing the discomfiture he was feeling at the moment. In this moment, he had to humble himself. Uchiha pride had been taught to him since birth; to never show weakness was the Uchiha way, but in this moment, he had to pull down the layers of pride he possessed in order to ask the two powerful shinobi in front of him this question.
"I am in love with your daughter," he continued quietly. "This ring has been in the Uchiha family for many generations. My mother gave me it several weeks ago and told me to use it when I was ready. After all that has happened the past two months, I know that I am ready to spend the rest of my life with Haruno Sakura. I humbly ask your permission to take her hand in marriage."
The room was dead quiet for several moments as Kakashi and Tsunade stared at him. Neither of them seemed too surprised by his question, but the shock came from the sincerity of his voice when he had asked it. Tsunade leaned back in her chair and stared down the Uchiha, who met her gaze unflinchingly.
"You have mine," Tsunade replied as she tried to keep her voice from shaking with emotion, but Itachi could hear the emotions that were rolling in his leader's voice. After a moment, Itachi averted his eyes to look at Kakashi. The shinobi had taken the time to move over to the large window and stare out at the village once again. He did not speak for several minutes.
"No."
The rejection was resolute, and Itachi would be lying to himself if he denied being disappointed. Kakashi's approval meant the world to Sakura, and to have him reject this irritated the Uchiha heir. Kakashi turned to look at him, but his eye was surprisingly creased, meaning he was smiling under his mask. Tsunade looked surprised by Kakashi's stark rejection and was about to scold him when he spoke again.
"That came out harsher than I meant it," he said. "I didn't mean 'no' outright. I meant more of a 'not yet.'"
Itachi didn't understand, and the blank look he gave Kakashi was enough to tell him so. "Sakura has just healed her leg. Her career is back on track, and I do not want her to slow it down because she is engaged. I know you will not stop her from being a kunoichi outright, but I do believe an engagement and marriage would slow her down."
Tsunade seemed to understand and nodded in agreement. "Sakura is younger than you by almost five years. She is in a different place in her life as you, as her career is just truly starting to blossom," she added. Then clapping her hands once, she seemed to smile a bit. Itachi recognized it as the smile she took on when she figured out a particularly perplexing issue. "Let's compromise, ne? You can propose to Sakura whenever you want, as long as you agree not to be married until she has, let's say, one full year in ANBU under her belt. That should be enough for her to get her hands dirty and you two can decide what you would like to do from there. Does that sound agreeable?"
Itachi nodded, understanding that Sakura's surrogate parents were just looking after their daughter. "That is acceptable," he replied. Kakashi nodded his agreement as well.
That's when a bright light caught Itachi's attention from the window. Kakashi stood straighter, having seen that as well. Shining like a beacon behind the Hokage Monument, a bright light bathed around them for a moment, taking up everything around them in a flash. Itachi went rigid , and after a slight intake of breath, the emergency attack sirens went off over the entire village.
Crash.
A huge explosion rocked the village, wobbling the Hokage Tower and the remaining buildings. Tsunade went into action in less than a moment, flying up to look at the window.
"Kakashi, go back to the bar. Tell Sakura and Shizune to run the blood flush jutsu that will flush the alcohol out of the systems of the drunken shinobi. Itachi, scramble the ANBU forces. I want you all prepared for battle less than ten minutes."
"Hokage-sama."
X
Lungs filled with chakra, Sakura circled her hands inches from her face and blew out a large gust of wind that spiraled towards their airborne opponent. Sasuke was next to her in an instant, his giant fireball joining the whirling wind heading at rapid speeds towards their opponent. Naruto was hidden within the flaming wind disguised as shuriken, projected by chakra. Just like their fight against Team Gai over a year ago, Deidara of the Akatsuki dodged the first round of projectiles, just to be caught off guard by the Naruto clones changing back into their normal form and aiming a barrage of the spinning projectiles towards the flying Akatsuki member.
Silently to herself, Sakura thanked her lucky stars that Squad Seven's teamwork had not waned since she was sidelined because of her leg injury. The sudden attack on Konoha had taken them all by surprise, and when the village had been rocked by an explosion from behind the Hokage Monument, the shinobi attending Sakura's birthday bash had sobered quickly.
Luckily, she, Shizune and many of the other medics present knew a jutsu that flushed alcohol through the blood quickly that, while not a hundred percent effective, was able to get the shinobi in the bar ready for battle. Kakashi had arrived not soon after to command their troops in order. Squad Seven had been ordered to the front lines, Sakura to set up a medical triage center closer to the battle, and Sasuke and Naruto to help the shinobi push back the hordes of rogue ninja that had invaded the village.
From what Kakashi had gleaned and imparted onto the shinobi at the bar, the Akatsuki along with an unknown number of rogue ninja from all of the villages, had attacked suddenly and in the middle of the night, using a large-scale transportation jutsu to get past border patrols and take Konoha by surprise. Tsunade had already closed the gates off to the village and sent out every range fighter to the walls to keep the rogue ninja at bay. The main force of the Akatsuki had already infiltrated the village, though, and had held up the progress to the front lines of not only Squad Seven, but of many other shinobi trying to get to the wall.
Which was exactly why Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke were in the middle of a battle of Deidara of the Akatsuki. Naruto was ready to take on the explosives artist ninja because of his participation in the capture and (almost permanent) death of Gaara four years prior.
The surprise of the weapon attack from behind forced the blond bomb-nin to jump off of his giant bird and onto the ground, where Team Seven sprinted towards him from three separate directions. The Iwa nukenin opened his arms, and dozens of clay spiders fell from his sleeves and scurried out towards his opponents.
Neutralizing them with several senbon, Sakura jumped over the small clay spiders to throw a kick towards Deidara. The nukenin tossed out a bomb to keep her far from him, but a Naruto clone jumped to grab the flying projectile out of Sakura's path.
Her kick hit home, chakra laden and ready to kill, on the nukenin. Deidara flew into a nearby building, shattering the concrete and flying through what was a popular boutique for Konoha's wealthier inhabitants. Luckily, teams of chuunin had already scoured and evacuated the civilians on these blocks and brought them to the further end of the city where the Akatsuki and rogue-nin would have trouble reaching them.
Just as Team Seven was prepared to go into the building to finish off Deidara, a group of ANBU appeared in front of them, halting their forward assault.
"Squad Seven is needed on the frontlines. Please continue on your way. We will finish off the nukenin," the captain ordered. Nodding in acquiescence, Team Seven streaked forward through the battle-laden city. Trying to ignore some of the other battles going on so they could get where they were ordered, Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto finally broke apart from the shuttering buildings to grass.
The wall was coming into view, and Sakura could see Tenten, Genma, Sai, and other ninja who specialized in weaponry and long-ranged attacks standing on top of the wall sending a barrage of metal and jutsu towards the advancing rogue ninja. Temari was even standing on the wall, blowing wind jutsu down onto the army to beat them back.
It wasn't a surprise to see Kakashi and Itachi at the base of the wall commanding the troops. Team Seven ran up to them as a cohesive unit, prepared to take orders. For as much trouble as Sasuke and Naruto caused, and Sakura by association, when push came to shove, they could be perfect soldiers in a time of need.
Itachi's eyes slid to his brother's team, finally landing on Sakura. Since his mother had given him the ring a few weeks ago, it had been a heavy weight in his pocket, but because of Kakashi and Tsunade's approval of his suit, it seemed to feel a little lighter. He wanted to give it to her right now, but seeing as the village was under attack, it was not the right time. After, he told himself.
"Haruno," he commanded impersonally. His strict tone did not seem to bother her, and he appreciated her for it. "You will set up and run a triage center for wounded ninja one hundred yards from the wall."
Itachi pointed to a group of medics closer to the village, who were already beginning to erect a tent and fill it with the supplies they would need in the coming hours. Sakura nodded and ran over to them and began barking out orders. Itachi slid a glance to the two remaining junior members of Squad Seven.
"It will be your responsibility to retrieve wounded ninja from the wall and bring them to the medics. You will also be responsible for defending the medics and the wounded," Itachi commanded with an air of unarguable authority. Unsurprisingly, Sasuke's eyes thinned and Naruto began to sputter in protest at being sidelined. Itachi held up his hand, but it was Kakashi who spoke.
"Naruto, you are still a prime target for the Akatsuki. Both of you specialize in close combat, and you two work seamlessly with Sakura. You will serve no purpose but to get in the way over the wall," he reprimanded harshly. "Do as you are ordered."
With reluctant nods, the duo moved on to stand closer to the tents that were being erected for the triage center. They were on guard and ready to jump towards the wall to bring injured shinobi to the medical tent. Kakashi looked at Itachi with his lone eye.
"I am going to find Hokage-sama and aid the battle inside the city," he told Itachi. "You will handle the wall?"
Itachi nodded and turned away from the area where Kakashi had just disappeared from. He used chakra to scale the wall where the long-ranged shinobi were battling the rogues who were still attempting to the scale the wall since they had closed, sealed, and fortified the gates. Walking up to Genma, Itachi watched him throw barrage after barrage of senbon down upon the random rogues, hitting the ones who were not skilled enough to dodge or block in critical points.
"Status report," Itachi commanded. Genma sent him a grin.
"Keeping them off of the wall, Taichou," Genma stated with certainty.
"Good," Itachi replied. "Reinforcements will be here soon in case they get over."
Genma's face straightened as he gave Itachi a critical look, and with a surprisingly genuine promise, said, "They won't get over."
Itachi dipped his head down once and scaled back down the wall. Pulling his cloak over his shoulders a little more soundly, he quelled a shiver. The spring night air was chilling rapidly, and Itachi surmised it was likely about half passed one in the morning. The medical tent was now fully erected, and Itachi walked over briskly and pulled the flap to the side, letting himself in.
The tent was large enough to fit six transportable medical gurneys and a supply station for the medics. There were two medics assigned to each cot. Generally, one medic would transport a patient to the hospital after he or she was stable enough while the other medic would work on the next patient. This also allowed the medic to regenerate some chakra in the time that he transports the patient to the hospital. Another entrance at the back of the tent was used as a running flap to take patients to and from the hospital. The pathway there had been cleared of debris and there were shinobi standing guard, prepared to defend any patients that needed protection during their transport.
"Remember," Sakura yelled from her place by the supply station holding up a booklet of multicolored tags, "Green tags mean they can go back to battle after receiving care. We do not use chakra to heal these wounds. Simple check-ups, stitches, sprains, minor wounds. I know it seems easy to just swipe your hands over a gash to heal it, but we need to retain our chakra for yellow and red tags.
"Yellow tags mean that the shinobi cannot return to battle unless healed completely – broken bones, concussions, chakra exhaustion. If a minor amount of chakra can be used to heal the shinobi and get them back on the battlefield, do it. If it requires extensive chakra, do not use your chakra. Send them to the hospital where there are more medics and chakra replenishment pills.
"Red tags are critical. We only do enough to keep them stable for transport to the hospital. It is unsanitary to keep them here longer. Black tags are DOA. Pack the deceased in black bags and transport them out back until they can be run to the morgue."
A silent air washed across them. Sakura looked at her team of twelve medics. "We are here to keep our brothers and sisters alive. Try your best!"
Cries and shouts of "Yes, Sensei!" echoed through the tent. Itachi made his way up to Sakura.
"You are prepared?" he asked quietly. Sakura gave him a strained smile.
"As prepared as we can be," she replied with a nod. Lifting his hand to her cheek in what little affection he could display at the moment, Itachi stroked the soft skin under her clear green eyes with the pad of this thumb.
"Stay safe," he told her seriously. Sakura leaned in to his touch and gave him a soft smile.
"You too," she murmured. Their quiet moment was cut off when the first patient was rushed through the tent flap by Sasuke. It was Sai with a large cut down his leg that seemed to be bleeding profusely.
"Takehiko, Yoshito, Sai is your patient!" Sakura barked. Sasuke deposited the placid artwork-nin before running back out. Itachi watched Sakura begin barking orders as another patient was carried in by Naruto with another patient with a more minor injury limped in behind him. A few long strides were all it took for Itachi to leave the tent and make his way to the wall.
"Itachi-taichou!"
Itachi looked around and saw Shikamaru, Neji, Rock Lee, Ino, Hinata, and Chouji making their way to him followed by another group of chuunin and jounin who specialized in close quartered combat.
"Shisui-taichou needs your help at the Uchiha compound. The Akatsuki member Tobi attacked them claiming to be…" Neji told him before trailing off, "Uchiha Madara…"
Itachi's eyes narrowed. "Neji, you are in charge of the wall."
He was gone.
X
"For fuck's sake," Shisui cursed as the Akatsuki member with an orange mask, a man who claimed to be the founder of the Uchiha clan, seemed to appear magically into view not far from where he had disappeared moments ago.
"You are all weak. You are all disappointments," he hissed in a rage-filled voice. Shisui flickered out of sight to attack while two of his cousins stood prepared to defend the clan holding's and the family. Mikoto-sama had worked with some of the younger, less advanced members of the clan to get the children and elderly into the bunker underneath the compound, leaving the jounin and ANBU level members of the Uchiha clan to face an incredibly powerful opponent.
Tobi – Uchiha Madara – whatever, Shisui thought, was a powerful opponent who could seemingly bed reality. Shisui was the fastest ninja in the entire village, and this Madara fellow was able to disappear each time he thought he would land a hit. He had sent Hyuuga Neji to find Itachi over half an hour ago, and he wondered if the Hyuuga prodigy had perished in a battle elsewhere. It was unlikely, but their opponents were very strong and could take down some of their most powerful ninja.
"You have brought shame to the Uchiha clan by allowing the Senju to rule you like you are slaves," the man spat angrily at them again. "You all deserve to perish along with this disgusting village."
"You are the shame of the Uchiha clan!" one of his cousins yelled as the surrounded the elder Uchiha.
Three siblings of the same family began to gather chakra into their lungs and brought their circled fingers to their mouth, simultaneously spewing out impressive fireball jutsu towards their opponent. Madara dodged, but Shisui came from behind to throw a kick at him. It did not land.
"Shit!" he cursed before landing back onto the ground silently.
More cousins, uncles, and aunts arrived to help, but it wasn't who they needed. Shisui looked towards the ground to see several of his dead and incapacitated family members scattered across the ground. This man was out to annihilate the entire clan, and the only person Shisui thought was strong enough to beat him was their clan heir.
Madara lodged a kunai into the throat of one of Shisui's younger cousins, a sweet, quiet, yet strong girl named Kaori. Shisui moved to aid his kin, but Madara was already moving onto the next of his family. This time, his intended victim was an older uncle named Tsuyoshi who had fought through two wars.
Madara's weapon never landed, though, for his hand was caught in the steely grip of a menacing Uchiha Itachi.
Shisui had never felt anger or killing intent radiating off of his younger cousin and best friend like it was right now. Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan, something nobody in their family even knew he possessed besides Shisui, was spinning rapidly. Slicing upwards with his own kunai, Itachi went to launch an attack at Madara, but the eldest Uchiha had managed to get himself away just in time.
Itachi stared at him coldly.
"Shisui," Itachi said in a way that made all of the hairs on Shisui's body stand up. "Divide everyone in half. Half of the Uchiha clan is to protect the children and elderly at the bunker. The other half should head to the wall to aid the shinobi there. It is unlikely that they will be able to hold off the army off all night. Any of our injured comrades should be brought to the hospital."
Shisui faltered. Itachi was going to take on this monster by himself? Itachi could feel Shisui's hesitance.
"Shisui," Itachi commanded. "Go."
Shisui did, pulling up his injured kin along with other family members.
"Stay alive, Itachi."
"Stay safe."
X
Shisui ran up to Hyuuga Neji who was standing on the wall. He was watching carefully as close-combat shinobi jumped from their side of the wall into the enemy fray in order to kill as many as possible. Long-ranged fighters were still supporting their friends on the ground, but they were getting wary. The battle had been going on for many hours, and the number of rogues seemed endless. Neji himself was about to join the fray when Shisui arrived.
"Tsunade-sama is fighting one of the bodies of the leader and Kakashi-senpai is fighting another. They both need help," he told Neji restlessly. Neji's eyes thinned in annoyance at the situation. Things were getting difficult.
"Send Uzumaki to the Hokage and Uchiha Sasuke to Hatake-senpai," Neji decided. The two members of Squad Seven were getting antsy doing nothing but carrying injured shinobi from the frontlines to the triage center.
Neji looked down in time to see a group of the opposing force plant large explosive tags onto the wall.
"Move!" he commanded. The group on the wall jumped out of the way just in time, and the Leaf forces on the ground moved to take out the enemies who had been close enough to plan the exploding tags. Neji looked to Shikamaru, who was trapping shinobi in his shadow jutsu, which allowed Ino and Chouji on the ground to take out opponents.
"Shikamaru," Neji commanded. "Take your teammates and guard the medical tent."
Shikamaru nodded and called for his two companions to come up. Ino and Chouji were up the wall in a moment and the trio headed to relieve Sasuke and Naruto of their posts. Neji and Shisui looked at each other then and nodded in unison. Together, they jumped off the wall and into the heated battle below.
X
Sakura felt the ground around her shake as she pushed another patient out of the tent in the care of the medic Usagi. The patient had been a red tag, and Sakura had to do emergency surgery to keep the shinobi from bleeding out. Now, her chakra was getting low, and she commanded Usagi to bring back chakra replenishment pills for the medics and other shinobi so they could continue working through the night. It had been hours since the battle began, and the gray light of the sun still under the horizon was beginning to light the landscape.
Another explosion racked the medical tent, and the medics had to hold onto the gurneys to keep them from toppling over. The wall was crumbling. She could feel it. Popping her head out of the tent, she saw a large piece of the wall fall on the ground, nearly crushing a group of chuunin who had been trying to fortify it.
Watching carefully, Sakura saw something that made her heart stop. In the middle of the fray was Ito Megumi, Kisame's fiancé, trying to get a patient away from danger and bring him to the tent. Megumi had been sent to help transport patients from the triage center to the hospital, but she had disappeared a few minutes ago to help move the corpses to the morgue. She must have seen an injured shinobi and gone to help.
Torn between being angry at Megumi for jumping into the fray and impressed by her courage, Sakura made a beeline for the tiny nurse in order to help. Another blast from the wall rocked her center of gravity, and Sakura regained it just in time to see a large chunk of concrete heading down straight for Kisame's fiancé.
"Megumi-san!" she cried. The large doe eyed woman looked up just in time to see the slab of rock falling onto her.
Sakura was there in an instant, thanking Kami for the chakra-control and speed to get there, knocking Megumi to the ground over the patient she was trying to rescue. The stone was still heading directly for them, though. Spreading what little chakra she had over her back, Sakura waited for just the right moment. Just as the large chunk of wall was about to crush her, Megumi, and the injured shinobi, Sakura allowed the last of her chakra to burst from her back in her own explosion, knocking the wall to the side.
Breathing hard, Sakura glared at Megumi for a moment. But she could not reprimand the woman just yet. Detonation after detonation occurred, and the ground rumbled beneath them once again.
"Get to the medical tent," Sakura bit out, standing up and throwing the patient over her back. Megumi just stared at her, shaking in fear. "Now! We need to evacuate. The wall is coming down and it will crush the tent if we don't go now!"
Megumi snapped into action, not even taking the time to acknowledge Sakura. The two healers sprinted for the medical tent. Sakura could tell, though, that they were too late. The wall was crumbling as a rain of rock, concrete, and other stones began to fall down upon them. Sakura threw her charge onto a gurney and began screaming orders to evacuate. The medics reacted quickly and began pushing their patients out of the tent, some of them still healing as they rode atop their patients as other nurses pushed the gurneys to safety. Sakura left the tent and looked towards the wall, only to see it crumbling down and throwing large chunks of debris at them.
Sakura took a deep breath and began making seals. She looked down at the thick replica of the Akatsuki ring that she had been wearing for several weeks. It had just enough chakra in it to do what she needed. Making seals quickly, she released the chakra from the ring and throughout her body. The chakra was forcibly pushed by the pinkette into the palms of her hands, and rapidly making another series of seals, Sakura held her hands up to the rocks that were raining down, coming ever closer. Her chakra dispersed, creating a canopy over her head and the head of the tent.
Lashes fluttered shut in concentration, and Sakura held her hands steady as the barrage of stone began to hit her chakra barrier persistently.
"Sakura!" Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji were running towards her. Sakura looked at them and smiled.
"Get the patients out," she ordered quietly.
"But—" Ino began. Sakura shot her a glare.
"It wasn't a question, Ino," she gritted out. She was losing control over her chakra, so she turned away from them again to concentrate on keeping her patients and fellow medics safe. The Ino-Shika-Cho group ran for the tent and helped the evacuees out as quickly as possible. It only took a few minutes, and Sakura could feel everyone rushing for safety towards the hospital.
Ino turned around just in time to see Sakura glance back at the tent and then to her. With a soft smile, Sakura let the barrier go as the last of her chakra fizzled out and the rocks rained down, completely burying the prone kunoichi.
"Sakura!"
X
Itachi stilled as he watched the north side of the wall crumbled. Panting, he stood up and tried to quell the fear that had stilled his heart for a beat.
"Worried about your little girlfriend, Itachi-kun?" Madara asked. He had shed the mask a while ago, allowing his dark black hair to fall shaggy around his face. The eldest of the Uchiha was not unaffected by their fight, though. Shisui was right – Itachi was the only one who could defeat this behemoth of an opponent.
She'll be fine. Itachi told himself. Turning his attention back towards Madara, Itachi began to make hand signs and prepared to take down the founder of his clan once and for all.
"Susanoo."
Author's Note: How angry would you be with me if I killed off Sakura? Mwahahahah. Don't think I'm above it. I hate writing battle scenes. How did I do?