Well, we told you it would take a while. We honestly didn't expect this much time to pass. Since things are starting to wrap up, we've got to make sure we don't screw up so...

Not much to say this time. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Just Enough

Almost 3 Years Ago
Hokage Tower

"Name the six cranial bones and give me two antidotes to cholinergics type poison."

"Parietal, temporal, frontal, occipital, ethmoid, sphenoid; two possible antidotes are Atropine and Pralodixime in Organophosphate Overdose."

Tsunade looked up from her scroll and a faint smile tugged at her mouth. "Better. You didn't hesitate this time."

Sakura tried to smile back and stifled the instinct to bounce on her toes. "I've been reading."

"I can see." Tsunade agreed before turning her attention back to her scroll. Sakura stifled a sigh of relief.

The worst part about being a mednin was that even the slightest margin of error could equal in the death of someone she cared about. As a team, as a genin, there had been room to make mistakes because her team had been there to fill in. Not here. Never here. At least her stomach no longer knotted up until she felt sick when she approached a new situation. Over the last few months, she had even started to enjoy the challenges that Tsunade had started to give her. She liked knowing what she was doing and she liked being the one who could solve problems that only a limited number of shinobi had the ability to fix. One day, she was going to be able to kick death in the teeth. She daredNaruto and Sasuke to leave her behind then.

"Since you are excelling at your reading, you won't mind taking a few more scrolls home with you tonight. Tomorrow, Shizune will test you on the list of poisons and how they affect the human nervous system that I gave you this morning."

"Yes, sensei."

Standing on tiptoe, she pushed the last scroll into place. Today was one of the rare days Shizune had actually managed to pin Tsunade to her desk before dark to work on paperwork. Those days she found herself working in the hospital, chasing various mednin around to observe or shut up in the library reading through dusty scrolls. But today Tsunade had decided to reorganize her own personal library and Sakura had spent the afternoon dusting and alphabetizing. Reaching up, she stretched her spine and sighed as the lower vertebrae popped. She was looking forward to her sparring session with Lee. After a long day of cleaning, a good work out and fresh air was just what she needed.

"You may go Sakura."

Startled, she looked out the window. No, she hadn't lost track of time. Turning her gaze to her sensei, she found Tsunade staring out the window, chin propped up on her knuckles. Hesitating just long enough for Tsunade to glance back over her, she simple bowed her thanks and slipped out the door. No need to tempt her into finding some other task for her to. Pausing on the stairwell, she took the time to stretch one more time and pondered the possibility of a light snack before her sparing session. Lunch seemed a long time ago. Almost skipping down the stairs, Sakura turned the corner to head back to the front doors when a glimpse of bright blonde hair froze her in place. What was Ino doing here?

Before Sakura had a chance to decide if she would walk passed her like she hadn't even seen her or sneak out a back exit, she had been spotted. "Sakura," Ino said.

She blinked, and then nodded hesitantly, "Ino." A nod and greet – she could do that. She'd have to. The village wasn't that large.

The blonde hesitated before marching forward, a determined expression on her face. "Are you hungry?"

"Huh?"

Ino crossed her arms and stared down at her, lips pressing together for a moment before she tried again. "I wondered if you wanted to go get something to eat."

What was Ino doing here? The last time she had seen her had been when Shikamaru had broken his leg months ago and things had hardly gone well. Ino had been openly hostile – even taking into considering the girl's surprise at seeing her, her dislike of hospitals and concern over her teammate, there had been undercurrents that went far deeper than just her being uncomfortable. Squaring her shoulders, Sakura took a deep breath.

"Is there something you need?"

Ino put one hand on her hip and jutted it towards her, "Look, do you want to go out to eat with me or not? I'm buying. One-time offer."

What was making Ino so determined for her company? They'd gone for months without seeing each other after Team Seven broke up, and now Ino not only showed up and wanted to take her to lunch, but she wanted to pay? Sakura had half a mind to turn on her heel and just walk away. But she had been trained by masters in the art of cheapskate and found the offer of a free meal hard to turn down. "Fine. I've got some time. Where are we going?"

Ino openly relaxed at her response and tossed her hair, chin tilting up. "I bet you don't remember what real food tastes like, working here all the time. You'll thank me for this later."

'Real food' ended being one of the Akimichi Clan's outdoor stands. Ino was greeted by name and Sakura found herself tucked onto one of the benches while Ino went and collected the food. She returned with a plate filled with steaming Kushiyaki and was balancing two jars of what might have been tea.

"Here. Meat and vegetables."

Sakura picked up one of the skewers and refused to comment about the salt. Instead, she took a careful bite and had to admit that the quality was far superior to the same food offered at the hospital. Ino seemed content to ignore her while she worked through several of the skewers. Finally she tilted her head over at her and frowned.

"I thought you were going to eat, not just stare at my superior manners and flawless technique."

Sakura put her second skewer down and curled her fingers around her tea. "I'm meeting Lee soon to spar."

Ino pulled back, her frown becoming more pronounced. She crossed her arms under her ample chest and stared at Sakura as if she was attempting to get inside her mind. Sakura met her gaze, her eyes narrowing. The long silence was enough to make her grind her teeth.

"What are you doing with Lee, Sakura? He's a freak. He can't even sense chakra."

Sakura clenched her fingers. Why? She knew that Lee was a bit… exuberant. But he'd been the only one to consistently stick by her. She wasn't just going to sit here and let him be insulted. She took a deep breath, "Lee is on his way to becoming a taijutsu expert, and he offered to train with me. Because he's my friend."

Ino's flinch was barely perceptible and Sakura blinked when she looked away. "Oh."

'Oh?' What was that supposed to mean? "Ino…" Sakura stopped and then tried again. "Ino, why did you… invite me here?"

Ino shifted, reluctant to meet her gaze. Sakura waited, picking up her skewer and picking at the remaining meat. Finally, Ino sighed. "I wanted to know what was going on."

Sakura looked up, baffled. "What do you mean?"

Ino waved a hand in the air before curling her fingers into a knot. "You're not you!"

"You're… playing mednin with Tsunade-sama," She leaned forward, both hands curled into fists, her voice dropping into a hiss. "This isn't you! Acting all professional and disconnected – are you doing this for Sasuke-kun? Trying to prove that you're good enough, because I've got news for you Sakura, no one in the Uchiha Clan is going to care how good a medic you are. You're never going to be good enough. Who do you think you are?"

Sakura automatically shifted her weight on the bench, fingers tightening on the skewer – her most obvious weapon – and then forced herself to relax. Ino's eyes were narrowed and she would not, could not allow herself to brawl here. Deliberately she popped a piece of meat into her mouth and chewed until she had her temper under control. Swallowing, she set the rest of the meal aside.

"Thank you for lunch, Yamanaka-san."

Ino narrowed her eyes. "What do you think you are doing?"

"It is time for me to spar with Lee and I make a point not to be late."

Ino tossed her hair and frowned darkly at the stranger staring back at her. The Sakura who had been her friend would have picked up the food and thrown it at her, screaming that Sasuke was hers. This… this Sakura was watching her with a closed off expression, as if she was too good to answer her accusations. This was the girl who had developed from the cry baby she had protected.

"I don't know you anymore."

Sakura hesitated, biting her lip before slowly shaking her head. "No. You don't. You didn't ask."

"Ask what?"

Sakura bowed. "Good bye, Ino."

Ino crossed her arms as she turned away. "This isn't over."

Sakura didn't turn and Ino glared at her as she walked away before picking up the last skewer and biting down. No, it wasn't over. It was becoming clear that Sakura had aspirations that were still above her head. Ino didn't care how she managed to get into Tsunade's good graces, but the Sakura she had once called a friend would never had handled the pressure of life and death.

No, there was something else going on here and she, Ino, was going to find out.

X

Present Day
Konoha Village

Itachi moved just fast enough that she had to push to keep up with him. Sakura didn't know who he had locked in on, but finding Naruto was easy – he was pulsing with red-hot chakra; enough of it that it was starting to blur the signatures around him. Sakura cursed under her breath. Odds were he was sprouting tails and dammit, Sasuke should have gotten a handle on him.

Unless Sasuke was dealing with something else.

She heard Naruto's howls before she saw him. The tree line opened into a familiar clearing and she had just a moment to examine the scene before she threw herself straight into it. Itachi would go straight to Orochimaru and Sasuke which left her with Naruto – and Kabuto. Then chakra-winds whipped through the clearing at hurricane force and she drove her feet into the ground with chakra and caught Naruto's fox-red eyes with her own.

"Naruto!"

He bared his fangs and snarled. His eyes cut over her shoulder and he howled, uncaring of the winds threatening to rip him off his feet and lunged. Sakura swore again and rolled; letting the dying jutsu carry her away from whatever had set Naruto off again. Twisting around she cursed when she caught sight of Kabuto moving to engage Naruto.

Ripping his head off was effective but an unlikely tactic when dealing with the crazed mednin. There was very little chance that that was the real Kabuto and she couldn't pull him out into the open yet; not with Naruto in this state. Snapping off a few more expletives she grabbed the sharp edge of her kunai and sliced it against her thumb. Snapping through a jutsu that had become as familiar to her as the most basic medical jutsu – Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram – she slammed both hands on the ground, using the force to push her forward into a roll; pulling a tagged kunai from her thigh pouch and throwing it straight forward at the fighting pair.

The chakra surge hit her system like an anvil but the earlier use of the soldier pill swallowed the exhaustive summons. Kabuto disappeared as expected just before the flash of the tag and a screaming, tail-sprouting Naruto disappeared under the full weight of a medium sized snail. She hadn't dared to use the energy required to summon Katsuyu, there would have been no way she could have directed the Slug Bosses weight to drop on top of Naruto in battle. Skidding to a stop she caught her breath and allowed herself a moment to glance at the surging of chakra that was the Sasuke-Itachi-Orochimaru battle.

The colorful, furious cursing coming from under the snail was a relief. Naruto only cursed like that when he was Naruto. The snail wiggled its eyestalks at her and she gave it a faint, congratulatory grin. She could already imagine Sasuke's expression when he realized her idea of dropping a summons on Naruto had actually worked.

"Well, well, Sakura-chan – that was unexpected."

Sakura twisted around and left her back to the snail, searching out the mocking tones. Biting the inside of her cheek to keep from snarling out a reply, she instead deliberately reached for another kunai as she stared Kabuto down.

"I'm partners with Konoha's most surprising shinobi, Kabuto-kun," she spat the honorific at him with a feral smile. His betrayal had been the first Team Seven had ever known – he'd sought to set Sasuke up like a dango on a stick for Orochimaru and that was something that she would never, ever forgive. "I'm bound to pick up a few tricks."

Kabuto's pleasant expression did not falter even as his eyes flickered to Naruto. "'Most surprising,' indeed. Most surprising that he's lived this long with such a sad lack of control. Or do you keep a steady supply of slugs on hand, Sakura-chan?"

Naruto snarled from somewhere behind her, but Sakura didn't take her eyes off Kabuto, even as she threw out a hand, warning Naruto back. "You're a medic, Kabuto-kun, or you were once. How do you live with yourself?"

Kabuto's eyes disappeared completely with his smile, "I'm a shinobi, Sakura-chan. I live the same way you do, the same way Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-kun live. One day at a time."

Sakura's eyes narrowed, "Not for much longer, Kabuto-kun."

Naruto moved to stand next to her, hands clenched into fists. "I'm going to rip your fucking head off."

The quality of Kabuto's smile changed and Sakura readied herself for anything.

"Not today, Naruto-kun."

The world exploded under her feet.

X

Sasuke split his attention between Itachi and Orochimaru, muscles tense as he kept watch for another trap. The wind storm would have ripped out any of the traps that had been left uncovered, but Orochimaru would have planned for that. There had to be more hidden, under the earth. He just had to find them. With Itachi here, Orochimaru would be forced to split his attention and the growing heat and pressure in the air was giving him an idea. With Sakura handling Naruto, he no longer had to be as concerned about the Kyuubi. He just had to concentrate on ending this as quickly as possible so that his idiot teammates didn't get themselves killed because he wasn't free to watch them.

His body tightened as an explosion rocked through the clearing and Sasuke stifled his gut reaction to turn and look for his team. The day Sakura and Naruto couldn't deal with a simple explosion was the day they'd all end up dead. The disgusting smile curling around Orochimaru's fangs told him who had set up that trap and he pushed his anger into fuel for the fight that would break loose at any moment. Out of the corner of his eye he watched his brother move.

Itachi, the bastard, glided forward, and even with the wind from the explosion going full strength his hair managed to fall perfectly in place. Sasuke didn't spare the time or effort to grit his teeth and kept the main focus of his attention on Orochimaru, but now that Itachi had entered the game the rules had changed… his brother wouldn't have just stepped in without a trap. That just wasn't the way he worked – he always worked in layers. Where was it?

Sasuke refused to just let his brother step in and take control of the situation, even though Orochimaru's attention was very obviously now focused more on Itachi. He just had to understand what Itachi had planned… so that he could take advantage of their distraction. He was not a child anymore. He did not need to be rescued. His eyes narrowed slightly as he made his own preparations.

Orochimaru ran his tongue along his lips, teeth glittering. "You do have the most tiresome timing, Itachi-kun. I was all dressed up for a play date with your brother. Why don't you just run along?"

The expression on Itachi's face remained blank, even to the whirls of the sharingan. His voice was equally unaffected, "We've been through this, Orochimaru. Your persistent unoriginality grows dull."

Mentally calculating the time he would need, Sasuke carefully moved to flank the sannin. Orochimaru would run given the chance now that he was facing both of them and he didn't intend to give him the chance. This ended today.

Shifting as if he was looking for something with his feet, Orochimaru lashed out with his tongue. As he moved there was an explosion of chakra from the dirt and a perfect copy sprang up and out. Sasuke cursed and met the Tsuchi Bunshin no Jutsu head on, leaving the real Orochimaru for his brother. Snapping through a taijutsu, he bought himself room to think. The problem with this sort of clone was the amount of energy it took to pull them apart. Ducking a wide swipe of the tongue followed by an exploding Kunai he deliberately stumbled, letting the clone get close.

"Chidori Senbon."

Orochimaru's overconfidence held true in his clone and the Chidori erupted from his fingers and he forced it to his will, reshaping the jagged lightening into thousands of sharp, electric needles. They cut into the clone with deadly accuracy, ripping it apart. The heat of the lightening baked the mud, freezing its joints. Screaming, the clone exploded outwards in spray of dirt and mud. Grimacing, Sasuke wiped his face to insure that his vision would remain clear before turning to find the fight his brother was engaged in.

Orochimaru was moving fast, Itachi easily matching his speed hit for hit. Using his tongue, he was trying to buy himself the room he needed to maneuver. Instead of cutting it off, Itachi ducked underneath a strike – straight into Nagi's path.

Disbelieving awe distracted him for a heartbeat as Sasuke watched his brother nimbly move away from those sharp, protruding fangs and he bared his teeth. Only Itachi. Shaking off the familiar feeling of being outclassed, Sasuke was all the more determined to leave his own mark in this fight. He did not need his Aniki's protection – he wasn't scared of the dark anymore. Moving forward, Sasuke flung a tagged kunai straight at Orochimaru's head, and moved to intercept the Sannin's attempt to escape with a well placed kick. His foot met air and Sasuke used the motion to spin around, his body positioned so that he was between Orochimaru and any escape routes.

"So you've finally decided to come to me on your own, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru's tongue flicked out and wet his lips, the light of insanity in his gleaming yellow eyes. "We will do marvelous things together, you and me."

"Dream on," Sasuke snarled. "Katon Gour-Yuuka No Jutsu!"

The three dragon-shaped fireballs leapt straight at Orochimaru who flung himself backwards – they brushed close enough to singe the front of his shirt. Snarling, he raised his hands and had just started another jutsu when Nagi's jaws locked around Itachi's chest – his brother exploded. Clone. His brother had been a clone and he hadn't noticed! Gritting his teeth together, he twisted around to see Itachi drop from a tree, his face set into familiar bored lines as the force of the explosion settled in the open glade.

He had been blocking the escape route from the beginning, probably waiting to see how Sasuke reacted to the fight. Hands fisting, he scowled.

"As short-sighted as ever, Orochimaru."

The sannin hadn't made it out of the blast unscathed and was holding an arm, eyes glittering. Sasuke allowed himself a faint smirk as he felt the clearing noticeably cool thanks to the updraft from both his fireballs and Itachi's explosion. He didn't dare look up to see but he did begin the motions for the jutsu.

"Itachi," Orochimaru hissed. "I've had enough of your interference. You die today."

Itachi's mouth twitch upwards in a barely perceptible movement. "You could not kill me with two hands. If you had any wisdom, you would run."

"No," Sasuke said. His words were an unexpected interference in their usual exchange, and both Itachi and Orochimaru turned to give him their full attention. He stood impassively under the weight of the gaze of two of the most dangerous shinobi in the world, his fingers snapping through the end of his jutsu too quickly for a normal eye to follow. "If he had any wisdom, he would not have come after an Uchiha at all." A smirk tugged at Sasuke's mouth. "I call this Kirin."

X

Sakura crouched on a branch, using the tiniest amount of chakra she dared to deal with the eardrum that was ringing thanks to the explosion. Her face and arms stung from the debris it had kicked up, but she had managed to dodge the worst of it. Mouth set, she grimly took stock of the area as the smoke cleared and gritted her teeth at the smiling visage of Kabuto. She didn't see Naruto. He had been just far enough from the point of impact that he might have been thrown with the debris if he hadn't caught himself. Several of the missing-nin who had been fighting Naruto had been killed and the ground was littered with remains. She would have to watch to make sure all of them were dead. The few remaining shinobi were circling under her tree with smiles on their faces. She'd have to do something about them before she could get to Kabuto. Dammit, with an explosion like that she was going to need to find a way to prove that Kabuto was real and not a clone. It would have been easy to disappear in those few seconds.

Fuck.

"Did you like my little explosion? I usually don't care for such messy disposals of my enemies but I have decided to make an exception in your case, Sakura-chan."

"Worried that I'm getting to close, Kabuto?"

"Hardly, but it has allowed me to deal with some of the trash. A pity, there were some excellent specimens I would have enjoyed taking a closer look at."

Bullshit… he was hiding something. Well, a clone could fake chakra but it couldn't fake a heartbeat. Not the clones that Kabuto produced. Snapping her fingers through a familiar jutsu, she allowed the weave of chakra threads to surround them both and smiled sharply as they began to thrum in tune with his heart. She let it expand a hair and made a note that none of the bodies appeared to be alive.

"You're heart is beating awfully fast, Kabuto. Scared?"

Naruto exploded out of a large bolder, hurling himself straight into the few remaining shinobi. She didn't do more than spare him a quick glance. The rest of her attention stayed on Kabuto. Most of the fox-red had faded from Naruto's eyes and the tails had disappeared. Sakura sighed in relief. At least her teammate would be thinking clearly now.

And then there were no more nuke-nin to worry about. That simplified the problem if not the solution. Killing Kabuto was not going to be easy… but she was looking forward to it.

"Sakura, is he real?" The words were bit out between clenched teeth as he yanked a kunai from the chest cavity of one of the bodies.

"Yes. He has a heartbeat and he doesn't have the skill level necessary to create one for a clone."

Kabuto's smile was mocking. "You can't beat me. You have no skill."

Naruto grinned. "Wanna bet?"

The explosion of Kage Bushin was done without hand signals, which meant that Naruto must have used the explosion as a cover earlier. Rushing forward, the group of clones was hit with a barrage of needles. Ducking, Sakura slapped at the ground, rattling the earth and the trees to shove Kabuto off balance, giving Naruto a chance to hit him. Her blonde friend closed the distance fast, fingers snapping through another Kage Bushin as he hit.

Kabuto ducked under the attack and a used second series of needles to pop the clones before reaching up and hitting Naruto in the chest. Kabuto was going after Naruto's pressure points. If he got a good hit in he could stop his heart. Naruto snarled, rolling into the blow and aiming a kunai for the back of Kabuto's neck. Sakura was there to meet him as Kabuto twisted away from Naruto's attack.

Her fist missed his face by inches and she twisted around, following the original strike with a taijutsu combination. Kabuto sneered as he met her assault, flicking his wrist to launch a series of needles at her face. Ducking, she lashed out with a kick, clipping him in the thigh. He slide away from her and smiled.

"You've improved."

Her eyes glittered and she twisted as the slug everyone had forgotten about belched a lungful of acid. Kabuto twisted around and disappeared into a puff of smoke seconds before the acid slammed into the tree behind him. The snail looked sad as she wiggled her eyestalks goodbye, disappearing into a puff of smoke and Sakura circled slowly, carefully.

"Up here."

Kunai and needles rained down on her head and she disappeared under the earth for two heartbeats before reappearing several feet away from the barrage. Naruto was engaged in another furious round of taijutsu, several clones working to hit Kabuto's week side. The nuke-nin twisted his way out of the assault and kicked Naruto in the back of the head. Naruto dropped out of the trees with a grunt.

Baring her teeth, she slammed her fist into the ground, showering the air with debris to block any attempt to stop her as she lunged. A flicker of yellow told her that Naruto had picked himself back up and was following her in. Kabuto was smiling so wide, his eyes were hidden and he lunged to meet her, fingers curled around a black kunai. Sakura deliberately let Kabuto in close. The sharp edge of pain in her side told her his kunai had caught her and she used his closeness to drive her fist into his throat. He jerked at the last moment and the force of her blow caught him in the clavicle. The sound of bone cracking mingled with a sudden roaring explosion from the field to her left and she was forced backwards by the pressure of the explosion.

Kabuto took the time to jump onto a branch, his face twisted with pain as he held a hand below his throat, face pale. His fingers were already a dark green with chakra as he worked to stabilize the extremely painful break.

"Such a pity, little Sakura-chan, I didn't have time to poison it."

Slapping a hand over her own wound, she immediately pushed chakra into the cut to check it for poison, showing her teeth as Naruto landed at her side. Claws were jagged points over the edges of his fingers but he wasn't showing tails. To her relief, there was no sign of poison in the cut and she made sure the bleeding would stop until she had the time to heal it.

"I have enjoyed out little sparring match but now it is time for me to go."

He disappeared in a puff of smoke before either could move and Sakura snarled in frustration before turning her attention to the battle in the glade. Naruto was already moving forward, chakra twisting around him in bands of red. Before Sakura could catch him and force him to calm down, Sasuke called the name of a jutsu she hadn't heard before.

She made it half a dozen steps, almost drawing even with Naruto when the air screamed. Dropping into a defensive crouch, she stared in disbelief at the giant Chidori that slammed into the ground, booming with thunder and leaving her momentarily deaf. The air smelled like ozone and smoke and when the ground cleared there was a blackened crater several dozen yards wide. Naruto was stock still, body loose with surprise as he stared at a scowling Sasuke.

The crater was empty.

"That would have been far more impressive, baby brother, if you had managed to hit him."

The sound of Itachi's voice jarred her back to life and Naruto stalked forward, fingers curling into fists.

"You missed! He was right there and you fucking missed!"

"Shut up!" Sasuke snapped, mouth set in what might have been a sulk if it had been anyone else.

"I'm not the one who had Oro-fucking-maru right there and had a huge ass lightning bolt that isn't worth shit because I can't aim!"

"At least I'm not covered in shit."

"Sakura dropped a fucking snail on me!"

Sakura tilted her head back and looked up at the clouds still boiling above them. Since Itachi was unconcerned it meant that Orochimaru had somehow disappeared into the forest and wasn't inclined to chase him. Gaze moving to Itachi, she swallowed when she caught him watching her, eyes lowering down her body. Heat flushed through her and she mentally shook herself. She didn't have time for this. Reaching out, she caught Naruto by the back of his shirt and pulled him out of the way of Sasuke's fist.

"Are you two finished yet?"

Naruto bared his teeth at Sasuke and she shook him hard enough to rattle his teeth.

"Yes."

"Are either of your injured somewhere besides your brains?"

Sasuke shot her a look. "No."

"We need to get back to Tsunade and figure out if they've dissipated that dome. You two idiots can bitch later."

"Sakura is right," Itachi said smoothly, lips curled into a smile that was edged.

"We didn't ask your opinion!" Naruto snarled.

Rolling her eyes, and wondering again what she had done to deserve this, she allowed herself once more quick glance at Itachi. His eyes hadn't left her and she swallowed before spinning around and making the jump into the trees to bolt back to the walls of the village. The sounds of cursing told her she was being followed.

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