Three hours passed.
Sakura found it necessary to treat her own needs if she was to continue treating the patients. She'd found one particular brand of medicine and chakra healing that was proving valuable in slowing down the plague, but it sapped her strength quickly. So it was she ate, she rested. Didn't sleep though. No time for such a luxury. She now made her way to the center of town to get a drink, leaving Lee behind to tend to the patients (protected by gloves and a mask). As she walked along, she ran through her mind again what she knew, hoping to find a pattern, a clue... anything.
"The plague is spread by... no it can't just be touch," she surmised aloud. "Naruto's an idiot but he wouldn't have been infected, he was protected from the virus. So there must be more to it. .Okay, it's spread however..." she waved her hand vaguely, thinking to come back to that point. "Then it attacks the chakra system... wears the victim out, causing collapse... red lesions... fever... burns them up from the inside."
She sighed heavily as she reached the well, dropping down the barrel.
"Takes out the medic-nin first... it's almost like..."
She paused.
"... almost like it was deliberate."
Her hand quickly snapped out, catching the rope before she dropped the barrel back down, and she took another view of the whole Takaki situation, examining not as a medic-nin, but as a shinobi proper.
"... if I was a shinobi and I wanted to attack a village... a plague is ideal... no one can be blamed for it... it spreads quickly, kills everybody... they move in and occupy a village that offers virtually no resistance."
It was a horrifying possibility. She felt herself go numb. To think all this pain, all this suffering... so many dead... was all engineered by someone. She barely even noticed as she lifted up the cup to her lips, full of water...
... and paused...
"I'll have to go and get some water from the well later."
"Oh there's no need for that, I've have a barrel sent down here."
"There's really no need..."
"I insist.
"Hey Sakura have we got any water to boil?"
"Not for a bit, just go to the well, Naruto!"
She dashed the cup aside like it was a serpent, scattering the water everywhere. The pink-haired Sakura breathed heavily, aware of how close she'd been to poisoning herself. Naruto had come to the well but she and Lee had drank from the barrel Lord Tekka had sent them. That must've been how everyone all over got sick, virtually everyone used this well, it was the center of the village life. Worse, it was completely unprotected, anyone could stroll by and drop anything into the well to start the plague going.
"If that's how it's transmitted... if it's deliberate... they... whoever -they- are... must have a cure," she realized with a start. That was the answer.
Suddenly, an explosion split the near silence of the afternoon. Smoke and fire billowed up at the western end of the village, and she shielded her eyes in momentary surprise. Whoever -they- were... they were attacking. And the village was virtually defenseless.
"Oh god..."
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Outside of the Eastern Gates of Takaki, where the Konoha team had first entered.
Ten minutes ago.
Two shinobi guards, chuunin rank and quite bored, had been placed on guard duty here to protect the plague town. Orders were to kill anyone entering or leaving without the proper papers. No exceptions. The plague had to be contained at all costs or hundreds upon thousands of people would be at risk, including their families (one was a grizzled veteran with a surviving son, the other had a wife and a kid on the way). They would not fail to stop the plague.
However, neither of them was able to deal with more mundane threats.
As the explosion at the west gates went off, both instinctively turned towards the source of it, leaving their backs exposed. As any Academy student could tell you, this was usually a fatal mistake.
Nine shuriken whizzed through the air with deadly precision, imbedding themselves into the backs of both guards and sending them crashing to the ground, dead within seconds. Their obstacles defeated, the team dropped down and crawled out from their hiding places.
It was a mix-matched group, dressed in shinobi fashion, wearing earthy browns and grays, and armed to the teeth with kunai and shuriken and all manner of assorted weapons. Axes and halberds and a chain-scythe, all of different shapes and sizes but with one universal... deadly... function. There were seven total. And each one was wearing a forehead protector, bearing the symbol of a small, jagged rock broken by a jagged line. They were from the Village Hidden in the Rocks, from the Earth Country.
As one, they turned to the shadowy figure standing by the now open East Gate.
"You're late," he stated.
One of the shinobi, a bald individual with a number of scrolls lying at his waist, stepped forward. "Trouble setting up the explosives at the west gate."
"Mmm, at least they went off," replied the shadowy figure, as he stepped into the light.
Light that broke through shadow to reveal black hair, pale skin, dark eyes. Gone were the dark blue garments befitting a nobleman, replaced by the dull gray's and brown garments of a shinobi, accompanied by a flak jacket.
Lord of Takaki and secret Chuunin of Hidden Rock, Tekka.
"You have your orders," he stated, arms folded across his flak jacket. It was good to finally step out of the lie he'd been living the past year or so.
They grinned wickedly.
"Wipe out the villagers, take what spoils you want... but spare the pink-haired girl. She's mine."
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Sakura ran blindly, not entirely sure where she was going. The village had a number of twists and turns that it was easy to get lost. She was about to leap up onto the rooftops to run more easily when she spotted a welcome flash of green, and turned her steps towards Kononha's Beautiful Green Beast.
"Lee-san!"
"Sakuran-san!" he replied, skidding to a halt in front of her. "What has happened? I heard the explosions..."
"It's an attack. Some enemy village is trying to destroy Takaki," she replied breathlessly. "Lee... this plague... I think it was a pre-emptive strike. I think someone put it here deliberately!"
His bushy eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Are you sure?"
"Positive," she replied, assuming command of the situation. "Head to the west gate, they're going to need back-up."
He nodded. "What of you?" he asked, his concern as always first and foremost on his teammates.
"I need to go back to the infirmary... I might have something that can help... it's a long shot..."
"Go," he said. "They won't get past me... that's a promise," he said, striking a nice guy pose and flashing his teeth. Sakura smiled... in the midst of all the death and destruction, Lee would always be Lee.
It was comforting to know some things never changed.
Sakura and Lee parted ways, and from then on she just ran flat out as fast as she could back to the make shift infirmary and to her patients. If she let up her ministrations for more than an hour some of them would die. She had to trust that Lee and the other shinobi would be able to hold off the attackers.
And even if they didn't, the sick needed a last line of defense. She might've been trained a medic-nin but Sakura was also a ninja. She'd studied under the Fifth Hokage, the Legendary Healer Tsunade herself, and she would not lose.
Not with so much at stake.
Fortunately she'd had something of a revelation when she'd figured out about the plague being a deliberate ninja trap. Now she had some idea of how to counter it. If Neji had been here, she would've asked him to try and seal tenketsu points to see if it slowed down the progress of the disease. Alas, she would have to try and do the same herself, and her precision was far from perfect. She might not have practiced gentle fist but she knew how to manipulate a person's chakra from her training with Tsunade.
She arrived back at the infirmary with moments to spare, or so it seemed. No sooner had she reached the building then she came under attack from above. A flurry of shurikens rained down at her, but she gracefully leapt forward and rolled, dodging out of the line of fire. Instantly she was on her feet, kunai in hand.
Two shinobi came charging. She barely got a glimpse before she had to leap out of the way, but she saw enough. Hidden Rock flunkies, probably just Genin. Still, there'd be more where they came from, so she had to end this quick.
Three shuriken slammed into her unprotected back, and Sakura gave out a cry, even as the two shinobi below gave hollers of delight. Hollers which changed to gasps of shock as she puffed out of existence, replaced by a tree log which crashed onto the ground with shuriken inbedded into it.
"Kawamiri no Jutsu!" they roared, tricked.
Now it was her turn.
Two kunai shot down from a nearby rooftop, and the first shinobi leapt backwards and out of the way, but the second wasn't fast enough as the sharp blades imbedded themselves at his feet. Normally that wouldn't have bothered him at all, but both of these kunai had exploding tags attached to the bottom. They blew up in a most spectacular way, sending the shinobi flying through the air to crash against a nearby wall. He wouldn't be getting up again anytime soon.
The second Rock ninja hurled a storm of shuriken at her, and this time Sakura wasn't able to dodge aside in time quickly enough. Two shuriken tore along the edge of her leg, and she stumbled, crashing down to the ground.
"Heh, gotcha you stupid bitch," grunted the shinobi in question, reaching behind his back to draw out a heavy duty kunai, one more easily used as a short sword than as a throwing dagger. Idly he spun the blade upon two fingers as he advanced upon her.
"Now... you're gonna die!" he raised the blade up high. Sakura covered her head...
A shuriken spun through the air, and hit the Rock ninja right in the back of his hand. He gave a most undignified (almost girlish) screech and dropped his weapon, clutching at his injured hand. Sakura glanced up in surprise, wondering who on earth could've come to save her.
"Lee...?"
As her vision cleared, she spotted her savior as he emerged from the shadows of a nearby building. Light that broke through shadow to reveal black hair, pale skin, dark eyes. Gone were the dark blue garments befitting a nobleman, replaced by the dull gray's and brown garments of a shinobi, accompanied by a flak jacket.
Lord Tekka had saved her. Sakura was overjoyed.
"Lord Tekka!"
He smiled gently. "Sakura-chan... glad to see you're alright," he said... but then his smile turned to a smirk as he glanced over at the Rock Ninja.
Now he was going to rip him apart, she realized, with more than a little girlish glee. He was going to pound him into dust. No wonder he was so cool, he was a ninja. He was...!
And then her eyes came to rest on his forehead protector, and she saw the symbol. A jagged, broken rock.
"I thought I told you the pink-haired girl was mine. Am I not making myself perfectly clear?" asked Tekka, as he strolled over to the other Rock ninja and hit him full across the face, sending him crashing to the ground. "Idiot!"
"L-lord Tekka... how... how could... no..."
He smirked, glancing back over at her. "The real lord Tekka never came to Takaki. The Damiyo's nephew was ambushed and replaced long before then... by me. With the proper papers, anyone could've strolled in and claimed to be a noble. All I had to do was fake sick if 'uncle dearest' happened to come by for a visit. That or maybe a Henge no Jutsu. I was told back at the Academy I was quite good at deception... what do you think, Sakura-chan?"
"You... bastard..." she said, infusing the word with hatred. "Everything you told me was a lie."
He chuckled. "Nothing so mundane... anyone can lie... I told you nothing but the truth. I said I thought you were pretty... and you are. I told you it'd be better if you drank barrel water instead of from the well, and it is. I also told you your comrades are a freak and an idiot... and they are. I wonder if they're not dead already?"
"I'll stop you," said Sakura, palming another kunai and pushing herself to her feet. Her one bad leg gave out, however, and she dropped down onto one knee. "I'll save them!"
"Heh."
"You… insufferable… bastard," she growled up at him.
He frowned faintly. "I did what was necessary for the mission, like any shinobi would've," he replied darkly. "I'd kill you for the mission, if I had to… thankfully that won't be necessary. But if it was, I would do so without so much as a backwards glance, my beloved little Sa-ku-ra," he stated, drawing out her name slowly, as if addressing a child.
Lord Tekka raised up his hand, and from the shadows dropped down his five shinobi henchmen, the Rock ninja who'd come as part of the team to wipe out Takaki village. Against such odds, Sakura was hopelessly outnumbered and likely outclassed as well, but she grimly held her ground. They would not frighten her.
"You two... go inside..." he ordered, pointing at the building past Sakura. "Slay everyone. You five... bring me the girl. Undamaged, if you can."
Two shinobi immediately broke off from the main group and shot past them, even before Sakura could halt their advance, slipping past her and running towards the infirmary. Helpless to stop them, she could only watch in terror as the other three began to advance upon her, and she realized she couldn't save them. Not if she didn't save herself first.
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Inside of the infirmary, at the far end of the rows of cots, lay an orange-clad shinobi by the name of Uzumaki Naruto. His breathing came labored, his body was blood red, as if he'd been through a great battle, and lesions covered his skin. No one even needed to touch his forehead now to check if he had a fever, the heat from his body was evident to all present within a few feet of his body.
It was if a raging, terrible fire burned just beneath his skin.
However, his breathing came more quickly, and he thrashed about weakly, caught in some terrible nightmare. And then his breathing slowed... and came to a stop.
His eyes snapped open, and they were as crimson as his flesh.
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Author's Notes:
Cliche, I know, but yet another person has infiltrated Konoha by posing as someone they're not.