Military Chapter 4, a naruto fanfic

A/N: Waaaaaaaahhhh...I finished the rewrite for this chapter! I'm so freakin happy! (the only downside is I'm suppose to be studying now...) Alrighty then, this is the real last chapter. Some parts might be similiar, but hey, I tried to make it better. Please review!!! I'm deleting the chapter that I rewrote, err...review again? xD

And I must say, the chimeras are not from FMA/Full Metal Alchemist, it's from Resistance:Fall of Man fo Ps3. I might not have made them...sound correctly and stuff, but I tried! xD Enjoy this last chapter for Military!!

Military

Chapter 4

Fight for honor.

Fight for your life.

Fight for your country.

He was reluctant on accepting the mission.

He didn't want to leave her.

But he had his duty.

And he knew; it was always duty before anything else.

Especially emotions.

Fear.

That was all that occupied her mind.

Haruno Sakura was scared. Scared of loosing someone precious to her. She had lost enough in her life, she thinks. Her parents, her friends, even her cat. She came to the military, given a chance for a fresh start. She thought she could be strong now, strong enough to protect what was dear to her.

How utterly depressing it was when she couldn't follow the one she loved to battle.

Her level wasn't high enough. Not yet.

Tsunade had assigned higher ranking medics to accompany Sasuke's team.

Sasuke forbade her from following him.

Bastard.

She would have protested when he said that, but he was called to the Marshal's office almost immediately after that.

"Don't follow me."

Those were the only words he told her.

She let the tears in her eyes drop, freezing on her face. It stung, but it was just a small pain. It would not compare to the pain of loosing someone important.

The river was frozen as it was winter. White was the only thing you could see no matter where you turn. Sakura hated the cold, but she hated being weak more. She let out a sigh, rubbing her hands together to keep warm. Sitting on the ground without a coat was clearly stupid, but she couldn't bring herself to bother. Not now.

"Kami…"

She bit her lip, not wanting anymore tears to fall. She would fail again.

"I can't even protect what's dear to me…"

Burying her face into her hands, she started to cry. She didn't realize a presence behind the boulder where she stood, carrying a sorrowful look on his face. His blue eyes silently bidding his friend a farewell, before walking away.

"So it's basically not a plan, is it?"

Everyone sweat dropped but nodded. Indeed, just going to the check point and shooting any chimeras they saw was…not counted as a battle plan.

Shikamaru sighed. "There's not much we can do. We don't really know what they're capable of, so I can't formulate a proper plan."

Sasuke nodded. "Right. So we think up of one on the battlefield?"

"That's the best we can do right now." Tsunade said, scribbling something down. "We're only sending you as an advance team to buy time."

"How utterly bitter, isn't it?" Neji questioned. "We're sacrifices?"

Tsunade glared at him. "As much as I hate using my soldiers as tools, I have no choice. We need time."

Everyone in the room went silent. It was awkward. They just needed to buy time, retreat and help out the main base. But there was no need to question the obvious, many would not return from this mission.

"We will return."

All eyes landed on the Uchiha. He seemed confident and somehow, his words held so much determination that it calmed everyone's nerves. Tsunade smiled.

Naruto was right. The young Uchiha was going to make it to the top, despite the challenges ahead.

"You're right. I expect everyone single one of you to be back here after this mission,alive."

Sakura still sat by the river of their first meeting, reminiscing all that had passed. The cold winter wind bit her skin, but she ignored it. She wanted to remember it all, before he had to leave.

"Oi."

She lifted her head slowly and found herself gazing into a pair of deep, dark eyes. She smiled softly.

"Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke nodded in response, draping his jacket around her. "You're gonna catch a cold."

He didn't realize that she had been sitting out here for a while. He settled down beside her, touching her hands. They were as cold as ice.

"…How long have you been out here?"

His tone held concern, but also a hint of annoyance. What was she thinking, sitting in the cold without proper clothing?

"A couple of hours I suppose…" she replied, cuddling into the warmth of his jacket.

He sighed, taking both her hands into his. He rubbed her hands and blew on it, willing some warmth back to her hands. She blushed, but otherwise said nothing. After repeating his actions for a few minutes, he leaned back against the boulder behind them.

"…I'm leaving soon."

Sakura nodded hesitantly. It hurt her to know she would not follow him to battle this time, like all the times when they were a team. Naruto was going too, and she would be left to stare at their backs.

Sasuke observed his girlfriend silently, wishing she would be more talkative for once. It was uncomfortable, the silence. Most of the time, Sakura would be doing the talking. At times, he would try to tune her out and earned another earful of scolding, but now he wished she would talk.

"…You'll come back…" she voiced, making him turn to her. "…right?"

He looked surprised at her sorrowful expression, tears were threatening to fall from her jade green eyes. His expression soften, and he nodded.

"Aa…of course."

She leaned up to kiss him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Sasuke pulled her closer to him, running a hand through her soft pink hair.

"I'll definitely come back…no matter what it takes."

A week had gone by since Sasuke's team was dispatched.

All the soldiers were on high alert, tensed and waiting. There had been no report from the advance team sent out, and that worried Tsunade. It wasn't how they planned it.

"It's worrying me…" she muttered, rubbing her temples. They were supposed to have submitted a report on how they were holding up three days ago.

Kakashi sat in front of her, frowning. The preparations at the base was complete, and they were suppose to be expecting Sasuke's team back any day, but without any report, they couldn't be certain what had happened.

"Marshal…" Kakashi said, catching the blond's attention. "Perhaps it's time to send out a search and rescue team…" he suggested.

The Marshal frowned. "I don't know about that…it would be risky, if the chimeras suddenly appear."

Kakashi nodded, but he would not back down. "Please just allow me to take a few soldiers out there to search. It could be that they're stranded…"

"…I know."

"Then grant me the permission Marshal!" Kakashi exclaimed, shocking Tsunade. He had never showed this side of him before. He was always cool and collected, never one to show his temper no matter what the situation. But, Tsunade knows that he is also human, and his concern for his underlings were touching, not that she would admit it.

"Very well." She said. "I'll issue a-"

"Tsunade-sama!"

Her door burst open before she completed her sentence, and the two occupants in the room turned to see who had interrupted their discussion.

"Please…allow me to follow Kakashi-sensei…"

Sakura stood there, holding the door open. Her eyes held determination and Tsunade sighed because she knew Sakura was stubborn. She would pester her until she was allowed to go out with the search and rescue team. Forbidding her from following Sasuke worked only because Sasuke himself told her not to follow. She shook her head slightly, many were willing to place themselves in danger for the sake of others they love.

"Alright already!" Tsuande said, throwing her hands up. "One week, that's all I'll give. You guys better be back by then."

Sakura smiled happily while Kakashi chuckled. They both saluted. "Yes Madam!"

"Fuck."

Sasuke lay beneath a pile of rubble, silently reloading his guns while listening for anything that moved around him. Things had not worked out the way they expected it to. Shikamaru thought he could come up with an effective plan as soon as they saw what their enemies were capable of, but apparently he was wrong. Dead wrong.

"Sasuke, where-"

"Shut up dobe." Sasuke hissed, trying to concentrate when he saw something moved from the corner of his eyes. He held his breath when he saw a Howler, which were something like wolves on steroids. He would have muttered a string of curses had he not been afraid that the creature would hear him.

He waited patiently until the Howler made its way pass him, before rolling out from his hiding place and started shooting the back of the creature. Unfortunately, it did not kill it but rather angered it. It hissed and darted towards Sasuke, who slid out a knife from his back pocket and brought it down on the creature's head.

"Stupid chimeras…" Sasuke muttered, wincing when he pulled out his knife. Apparently, the Howler managed to strike his arm before it went down, so Sasuke now had a problem.

"Dobe."

"…What? And I'm not a dobe!"

Sasuke sighed. "Whatever. I need the medical kit, who's got it?"

He could picture Naruto looking around and scratching his head before giving a long sigh. "I think Shikamaru has it, have you tried contacting him?"

"No shit dobe, all I get is static from those three."

Naruto went silent. They were the only five remaining out of the twenty soldiers dispatched. The chimeras showed no mercy and slaughtered their comrades before they even had a chance to know what was happening.

"I'll try to locate Shikamaru." Naruto responded. "Maybe you can try finding Neji or Sai."

The Uchiha nodded, but remembered that he was communicating through the ear piece and that Naruto could not see him. "Aa, we'll try to meet up somewhere then."

"Roger that!"

Sasuke turned his head to glance at his surroundings. The chimeras had stopped at their post, meaning they had succeeded in the first part of the mission, which was to buy time for their main base to be prepared for battle. But they failed the second part, which was to eliminate their enemies once and for all.

Oh how Sasuke hated failure.

Then again, he mused, he was already part failure since he had allowed his emotions to run. "And I was supposed to be emotionless…" he chuckled.

Snapping out of it, he walked around cautiously and quietly, making sure he didn't attract any unwanted attention. All five of them had been separated since the third day of the mission, in which by then they were the only five left. Shikamaru had suggested they head back to base, and that since they were separated, they had no choice but to communicate via radio.

Which lead him to hate static, because static meant there were problems, and Sasuke hated problems. If he were to list the things he hated down, he would need the all the time in the world, but that really isn't the issue right now.

Unfortunately, while he was deep in thought, he failed to notice a Menial coming from behind him, dragging one of those blasted explosives.

He was stupid to be caught off guard, no doubt.

Sasuke was hit before he had any chance to parry the attack, and the creature started chewing on his arm. He swore loudly and tried to pull his hand loose from the creature's sharp teeth, but he only manage in tearing more skin and letting more blood flow out.

"DAMN!" he shouted, taking out his shotgun, he pointed it at its brain before pressing the trigger. The Menial went dead, but its razor fangs were still imbedded into Sasuke's arm.

"Fuck them and their stupid head…only knowing how to bite…" Sasuke muttered angrily while he tried to pry the dead creature off his arm. Little did he know, biting was not all that the creature does. It apparently took a liking to explosives, and the one he was dragging around was one of those timer ones, which was slowly ticking...

Troublesome.

That was all he said, when he noticed he had lost contact with his teammates. Sighing, he mentally calculated the estimated time they needed to escape and head back to base. The only problem now was that he was alone, without them.

"Ah…I guess I'll need to think of something else then…"

He sighed, staying alive was such a troublesome job.

Despite that, Shikamaru picked himself up, dusting away the sand and dirt from his uniform. He had been in battle a few minutes ago, thankfully not injured. He was slightly thankful that the chimeras weren't smart. Otherwise, it would be harder to deal with them when you're alone.

"Tch…" he tapped his communicator on his ear, getting static again. "Troublesome…I should have brought the ones I made instead…"

He checked his surroundings, making sure there were no chimeras in sight before sitting down and opening his pack. His shotgun, a rifle, first aid kit and some water. He needed to find the others fast, they would run out of supplies soon, and would need to restock.

"Why can't someone just find me instead of the other way around?"

And, as if Fate decided to give him just that, an explosion was heard behind him. His eyes widened, before ducking behind a bush. He stared through the leaves, wondering what happened. Seeing a flash of yellow, he chuckled to himself.

"Ahhhh!!" Someone yelled. "That freakin hurt, dattebayo!!!"

Gun shots could be heard after that, and a loud hissing before everything calmed. Shikamaru stood up, walking over to where he heard the yelling was.

"Naruto?"

Said blonde glanced from the corpse of the creature to the lazy genius. He grinned. "Hey! I was looking for you!"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "So was I."

Naruto laughed, rubbing the back of his head before wincing. He brought his hand to his face and frowned. There was a fairly large amount of blood on it. Then again, why wouldn't there be? He did fly a few hundred feet maybe and crash into a pile of something because of the damn explosive thingy that Menial or something was dragging around.

A roll of bandage was held in front of Naruto when he noticed. "Oh…" he grabbed it and hastily wrapped it around his head. He was getting a little light headed. "Thanks Shikamaru."

The genius nodded, waiting for Naruto to finish his treatment before turning to the matter at hand. "Can your communicator work? Somehow all I get is static…"

Naruto nodded. "Sasuke needed the first aid kit, I think he got injured a little more than usual, or he wouldn't ask for it."

Shikamaru opened his mouth to reply, but sounds of continuos hissing caught their attention. They both stared at each other, before noticing a lot of ugly creatures of different shape and sizes closing in on the area they were standing in. Naruto sweat dropped.

"Hey Shikamaru…you don't think…?"

He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. "Tch…it's so troublesome…yes, they were attracted to the sound the blast made…"

Naruto chuckled nervously. "Well then, let's get outta here, shall we?"

The lazy genius couldn't have had a better plan himself.

Onyx eyes blinked tiredly, trying his best to stay awake. He tried to move, but his muscles ached and he suppressed a groan.

What happened?

Oh yeah, that explosive the Menial was carrying, it was a timer bomb. Joy. It blew up when he was within ten feet of the damn thing. Why did that creature carry such a dangerous thing?

Sasuke snorted. Right, it was stupid. And he had to pay for its stupidity.

He rolled onto his back, staring at the sun, which was high in the sky right now, the heat seeping into his uniform. He was covered in wounds, he imagines, wondering how he managed to survive the blast.

Ah…the chimera's body was a suitable shield. Thank the gods.

He grimaced when he remembered the body flying apart from the impact of the blast, splattering him with more blood. Not just the creature's blood, but his own as well. Sighing and gritting his teeth in pain, he forced himself to crawl towards what looked to be a tree to support himself in standing.

When he was propped up against the tree, he reached up to his ear to check if his communicator was still there.

It was.

He tapped on it slowly, for his fingers felt stiff. He heard some noises, before feeling the relief of hearing someone's voice.

"…Uchiha?"

Sasuke grunted. "Hyuuga…"

His voice was hoarse, probably due to lack of water. How long had he been out?

"I heard a blast about ten minutes ago, was it you?"

Sasuke smirked. "I think so. I don't know how long I've been out."

He could practically see Neji's smirk now. "I see. Don't die yet, there are people waiting."

The Uchiha chuckled. "Aa, same to you."

"Have you seen-"

His voice was drowned out by gun shots. Sasuke's eyes widened a bit.

"Hyuuga?!"

"Damn…No, just damn- Sai!"

Sasuke just stood his ground, holding his breath as he listened to the battle on the other side. He assumed that Sai was with Neji, since he did call out to him. A chimera must have ambushed them. Before he could voice out another word, the connection was cut. He cursed.

"Sasuke?!"

Sasuke shook his head a bit, immediately regretting it when a wave of dizziness hit him. "Wha…dobe?"

"Sasuke! Where in seven hells are you!?"

Sasuke blinked. "…By a tree."

"…"

"Moron. I can't even tell which way is where, how am I suppose to give you a location?"

He heard another voice. "Troublesome, but it is true."

"You found Shikamaru?"

Naruto laughed. "Yeah! He's got the first aid kit, so we're trying to locate you right now."

Sasuke grunted. "Neji and Sai were ambushed I think, since the connection was cut off."

"Eh?! Where are they?"

"Not with me…"

"…Right. Well, try to stay alive won't cha? I don't wanna drag your dead ass back to base and get hanged by Sakura-chan for not keeping you alive."

"…Shut up."

Naruto laughed again. "Oh, by the way Sasuke, if you were near any explosion or blast that had loud noises, I suggest you start fleeing." Shikamaru said, taking the ear piece from Naruto. "It attracts them, the sound."

Slowly, Sasuke began to notice the amount of shadows around him. "…No shit."

"…I said it too late, didn't I?"

Sasuke slipped the machine gun from his back to his hands. Despite the pain his body felt, he stood straight, eyeing the creatures closing in on him. "Aa…they're here."

He tried to look for a way out, if there was any. It seemed like the creatures already sensed him, for they were coming faster now.

"Shit."

Shikamaru swore. "Sasuke, make as much noise as you can. Naruto and I will try to get to you as soon as possible." He paused. "It shouldn't be too far, since we're still in the area where the post was set up."

Sasuke could only get out the words 'okay' before the first chimera flung itself at him, and he started firing. The weaker ones died when he shot their front, but the more evolved ones kept coming at him. And then he noticed to his right, a Titan coming at him.

"Oh hell…"

He barely had time to duck before the Titan swung his arm at him, hitting and smashing the tree that Sasuke had used for a support. He cursed again, after seeing the damage the Titan could do and took out his rifle that hung behind him by his belt. It was amazing how his weapons were still intact after all the damage he went through.

Almost dropping his rifle, he managed to stuff it into the creature's mouth before firing, blowing its brain to pieces. Eww…

But Sasuke had no time to think about that, he quickly turned and unhook a grenade, throwing it to the middle of the chimeras. Then he ran, as fast as he could before the blast came. He was still within the damage range and was blown a few ten feet, landing on rough dirt.

"Ow…fuck…" he swore, pushing himself up. He knew this was the only mission where he cursed a lot. Ah well, whatever gets him through it, right?

As he struggle to stand up, a velvet box fell from his pocket, and he took a second to remember what it held plus the reason he bought it.

It had been a year since they got together, Sasuke and Sakura were walking the streets of town on their rare day off. He smiled slightly when he saw her happily skipping down the road, stopping occasionally to stare into the windows of the shops.

"Oh!"

He followed her line of sight and saw what had caught her attention.

The jewelry store.

His sharp eyes however, noticed a particular ring that she let her eyes rest on. It was a plain silver ring, with a blood red ruby on top if it. Plain, yet elegant, Sasuke mused. It glimmered in the sunlight and Sakura thought it was the most beautiful ring she saw. She smiled and eventually turns away, resuming her walk down the road, humming to herself.

Sasuke lingered behind, looking at the ring. He planned to buy the ring as an engagement ring for her, one day.

After that little memory, Sasuke got up, despite how tired and wounded he was. His eyes held newfound determination as he turned to face the remaining chimeras that were coming towards him.

"…You'll come back…" she voiced, making him turn to her. "…right?"

Sakura was waiting.

She was waiting for him.

He smirked, pulling out the machine gun with one hand, and holding his shotgun in the other. He gave out a battle cry, launching into the battle, firing his enemies and making sure they stayed down and dead.

"Aa…of course."

No matter what, he would survive.

He would return.

And he would ask Sakura to marry him.

Kakashi's face scrunched up in disgust as he walked through the corpse of the dead chimeras. The bodies were decaying now, and they left a horrible stench in the air. The heat of the sun was not helping either.

He swears he even sees bits and pieces of bodies everywhere.

The search and rescue team had reached the post ten minutes ago, and they had set off to find any survivors. They were moving in pairs, in case of any ambush. He was currently walking around with Sakura, who looked more anxious to find Sasuke than disgusted at her surroundings.

Bodies of their dead comrades were also found, some missing limbs but otherwise still very much recognizable. At some point, he was happy that Sasuke and Naruto weren't among those bodies, even though it was cruel of him to think like that, he was still glad there was hope that they were alive.

"Get down!"

Kakashi and Sakura turned to the voice in surprised and was soon tackled to the ground, before gun shots were heard. Shikamaru was the one who tackled them, and he sat up after regaining his breath.

"Oh…Kakashi, Sakura."

Naruto came up from behind, wiping sweat off his forehead. "Eh? Sakura-chan! Kakashi-sensei!"

"Naruto!" Both of them exclaimed, before the younger one launched herself at him, hugging him tightly.

"Thank god you're alive!" she exclaimed, her hands clutching his uniform tightly. Naruto patted her back awkwardly, while Shikamaru reported to Kakashi on their situation.

"Sasuke is currently somewhere, since we were supposed to locate him. I haven't manage to contact Neji but-"

"General!"

Kakashi held up his hand, signaling for Shikamaru to stop. He spoke into the ear piece. "Yes?"

"We found him sir! Uchiha Sasuke. He seems unconscious, but he needs medical attention right away!"

Sakura was by Kakashi's side in an instant. "Where is he!?"

"…We're by the rubble of what used to be the office or something…just west of where we arrived."

"I'm on my way." Sakura said firmly. She looked at Kakashi, silently asking his approval. He nodded.

"Naruto, follow Sakura. It's safer to move in pairs now." Naruto grinned, taking off with Sakura, despite his wounds.

Shikamaru sighed, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "I guess it's time to hunt for Neji and Sai?"

Kakashi smiled behind that mask of his. "Of course."

Staying alive was troublesome, but Shikamaru decided it was worth it after all.

White.

How long had it been since he woke up to white ceiling? Possibly around more than two weeks, Sasuke decided. His eyes were half open, his vision blurring and his eyes hurt due to the sunlight pouring into the room.

He's alive.

He registers that fact and sat up, ignoring the searing pain in his whole body. Sasuke just wanted to see her. Now.

A choking sound catches his attention, and he turns to the left.

"…Baka."

And he knows that someone is holding him tight now, crying, because he feels the front of his shirt getting damp. He smiled softly, stroking her hair as he tried to decipher the words she was saying. His shirt muffled her words, but eventually he gets it.

"I'm fine…Sakura…"

She didn't reply, merely cried somemore. After a while however, Sasuke was struck with a thought. He glanced around the room for his uniform, and finds it in the chair beside him. He loosens his hold on the girl for a while as he rummaged through the pockets, searching frantically for the velvet box he knows is there.

"Sasuke-kun?"

Sakura tilted her head to the side, clearly confused as she wiped the trail of tears from her face.

"Just a sec, gaki."

She pouted at the nickname, but was curious at what Sasuke was doing. She was even more confused when he pulled out a velvet box, slightly damaged.

He cleared his throat, staring her straight in the eyes.

"Sakura."

She could sense the nervousness in his voice, and was confused. The Uchiha Sasuke, nervous?

"If I could, I'd kneel, but I suppose I can't, cause my leg is numb right now…"

No way.

Sakura could feel the heat rushing to her face and her heartbeat speeding up as Sasuke struggled for words to say.

"So I guess I have to sit and ask but…" Sasuke coughed, trying to push down the nervousness he felt. In attempts to calm down his nerves, he failed to notice Sakura's face getting redder and redder by the second.

"Haruno Sakura." He finally said. "Will you marry me?"

Sakura sat there, speechless. Inside, she was bursting with happiness, but on the outside, she was just surprise he asked her, much less now when they were going to war soon.

Whatever, she thought.

Before she could open her mouth to reply though, a loud crash was heard. Almost the whole military unit were on the ground of the doorway, groaning and complaining at each other to get off. Apparently, they had been eavesdropping outside, but leaned too much on the door, thus resulting in the crashing.

Kakashi swears he sees twitching in his pupil's eyes. "Yo." He says casually.

"K-Kakashi-sensei…Naruto…everyone!" Sakura is clearly shock and embarrassed, thogh there was nothing to be embarrassed of.

Before anything happened again though, Naruto grinned cheekily. "Sakura-chan! Hurry up and answer Sasuke-teme!"

Sakura turned back to Sasuke, who never took his eyes off her. She smiled happily and tackled him, mindful of his wounds.

"Baka! Of course I'll marry you!"

The 'crowd' burst into applause and cat whistles after her reply, making the couple laugh. Sasuke slipped the ring onto her finger, catching her lips in a passionate kiss in front of everyone, which earned them more cat whistles and cheers.

"So…" Kakashi said, after the cheering had died down and snapping everyone's attention to him. "When are we gonna see little Uchihas running around?"

Oops. Kakashi tends to forget, no testing the temper of a certain Uchiha...

Needless to say, Kakashi was going to be absent from his job as General for a very, very long time, courtesy of a certain fuming, and embarrassed Uchiha Sasuke.

Did I meantion Kakashi was warded right beside Sasuke?

Yep, he would be absent for a while.

-END-

dark: I hope this battle scene and stuff is better than the previous one... (took it down already tho)

Sasuke: ...Okay so it might be a little better...

dark: ... ... I spent two hours on this.

Sasuke: Hn.

dark: And I was listening to Avenge Sevenfold: MIA all the time...ahhh..the inspiration...xD

Sakura: Hehe...Thanks for the proposing dark!

dark: Yo...CrAzY-SiLLy-Me's idea, so we thank her ye?

Sakura: Yep! And thank you reviewers, so much for sticking with us through this story!! See ya around soon!

dark: ((goes off to study)) Reviewwww!! xD ((glomps Shadow-chan))