Chapter 6

Nine days… nine horrible, long, and heart breaking days. Shikamaru hadn't heard or seen Sasuke or Asuma in nine days. That night Shikamaru had ran over to Neji's place and told him what had happened. They had immediately ran and gathered the rest of the group to inform them of what happened. The problem that was quickly becoming was that they couldn't do anything. Asuma and Sasuke were in jail and they had no one they could turn to, to help them get them out. Kakashi and the squad was too far away they couldn't track their scents and they had no idea where they went. Everyone that had any form of authority in the village was gone on this mission. They had tried to get close to the jail, but each time they failed. It was surrounded by ANBU and guards. There were too many of them for the group to even try and get inside. They couldn't turn to other ninja in the village, because they didn't know who they could even trust to help. Shikamaru had spent the past nine days standing by the Gates just waiting for the others to return.

It was on day nine that Shikamaru had finally seen the squad walking down the road. Shikamaru started to run towards them and after a few minutes he was in front of the squad. He took a second to look around at them and was thrilled to see that everyone made it back alive. They all had scrapes and bruises though.

"Shikamaru what are you doing?" Kakashi asked.

"Sasuke and Asuma are in jail."

"What?" Tsunade and Kakashi asked at the same time.

"They're in jail."

"What happened? How long have they been in jail for?" Jiraiya asked.

"Since the night you guys left. Everything was fine; we ate dinner, played cards, and then went to bed. It was some time in the middle of the night when Sasuke's place was attacked by ANBU. Sasuke and I were upstairs in his room asleep and Asuma was downstairs. We fought, but they dragged me out of the room and down the stairs. Asuma had chakra restraints on and was being held by ANBU. An ANBU grabbed me from behind and I couldn't fight him off. Danzou was there downstairs just watching everything. Sasuke was still upstairs and we could hear the banging. Eventually he came out fighting them and he broke one of the masks. That ANBU lost it on Sasuke and he punched him and threw him down the stairs. They put chakra restraints on him and a blindfold. He couldn't even sit up. He started coughing up blood and they broke his jaw. Danzou said that he wasn't allowed to have anyone in the Compound at night. Asuma told him that he gave us permission to be there, but Danzou said he didn't have it in writing so it didn't count. He said that Asuma would be in jail for a week and then he would be released but he hasn't yet. Danzou said Sasuke would be kept in jail until he earned the right to be out in Konoha. That was nine days ago and we haven't been able to get to them."

"We need to hurry there's no telling what could have happened to them." Tsunade said.

The squad and Shikamaru ran towards the village. Once inside Shikamaru, Tsunade, Kakashi, Jiraiya and Shikaku headed off towards the Jail. Tsunade was going to get to the bottom of this and she was going to get her ninja free. Tsunade was furious at Danzou for pulling something like this. She had believed him when he told her that he wouldn't punish Sasuke for having Asuma and Shikamaru over at his house. It was for Sasuke's safety and if Tsunade thought that no one would go after Sasuke she would have left it alone. Sasuke needed someone to protect him from the ANBU and villagers, which is why she had Asuma stay with Sasuke. Tsunade was not going to tolerate this any longer. It was bad enough that they had failed to kill Orochimaru now she had to deal with Danzou and his men putting her ninjas in jail.

They reached the jail and you could see the tension in the guards' body. They had all been waiting for this to happen and now that it was they didn't know what was going to happen. Tsunade went up to the main guard that was responsible for all prisoners' whereabouts.

"Where are they?" Tsunade growled out.

"I only know where Asuma is. Danzou had brought him in nine days ago and he has been held in cell block A cell number nineteen. I don't know where Sasuke is he was not brought in here with Asuma." The guard said.

"Give me the keys." Tsunade ordered.

The guard handed here the keys and spoke before she left.

"My Lady he is fine. We did not want to hold him, but Danzou gave us orders and we cannot disobey them. My apologies for this situation and for not knowing where Sasuke is."

"Who brought Asuma in?"

"He was with Danzou and eight other ANBU. His cell is being guarded by two of those ANBU. One of them might know where the young one is being held."

Tsunade didn't say anything to the guard she just walked through the main gate and went into the heart of the jail. Kakashi followed behind her with Jiraiya, Shikamaru and his father behind them. They kept Shikamaru close to them just in case something happened. Shikamaru shouldn't have been in here, but they knew he wasn't going to just walk away from this. He had been waiting nine days to help Asuma and Sasuke and he was going to see this through. They walked through the corroders and went into Block A and searched for cell number nineteen. Once they arrived there were two ANBU guards one with a snake mask and the other with a wolf mask. They stood in front of them and kept them from getting to the cell. Tsunade was not in the mood to deal with any of these ANBU and she could feel Kakashi's rage vibrating off from him.

"Move now." Tsunade said with rage filling her voice.

The ANBU still did not move.

"Our orders come from Danzou." The one in the snake mask said.

"I out rank Danzou. I am the leader of this village and if you do not move you will be killed where you stand. Decide." Tsunade ordered.

They still did not move and Tsunade stepped aside and Kakashi knew that it was his turn. Before either could even blink the man in the snake mask was killed and Kakashi had the other one pressed against the wall. Tsunade moved past the dead ANBU's body on the ground and went over to the cell. She unlocked it and opened it to find Asuma standing leaning against the wall. He was uninjured except for a few straps and bruises from the night he was arrested. Asuma turned when he heard the cell door opening and was relieved to see Tsunade. Asuma walked out of the cell as he spoke.

"Where's Sasuke?"

"We don't know." Tsunade answered.

Shikamaru went over to Asuma and Asuma gave him a hug.

"Are you alright?" Shikamaru asked.

"I'm fine are you?"

"Ya"

Kakashi had a kunai to the ANBU's throat and had him pressed up against the wall.

"Where is Sasuke?" He growled out.

"You will pay for what you did to my teammate."

Asuma went over to the ANBU and grabbed the mask from his face and smashed it into the ground. He was not in the mood to deal with idiots and this ANBU was breaking all of his control.

"Where is he?" Asuma asked.

The ANBU still refused to answer so Kakashi punched him as hard as he could. He wasn't in the mood for this and he didn't think they had the time to waste. Sasuke was in danger and he could have already been killed for all they knew. It took thirty minutes for the ANBU to break and finally tell them where Sasuke was. Thirty minutes of Tsunade beating it out of him.

"He's in the forest just outside of the jail. You're too late though he's already dead. We buried him alive when we heard you were back in the village. He's been buried for over half an hour now. That piece of shit is dead." The ANBU chocked out of laugh before he passed out.

The others didn't even register anything that was going on around them. They all ran out of the jail and into the woods. They had to find Sasuke even if he was dead they had to find him. They ran like crazy people just trying to find where Sasuke would be buried. They found a freshly dug grave by a tree just outside of the prison. Kakashi ran over to it and started to dig with his hands at the fresh dirt. The others joined him and started digging with their own hands. Shikamaru felt Sasuke's hand through the dirt.

"I got his hand."

They all dug faster and Kakashi and Asuma grabbed his arms and started to pull him out of the remaining dirt. They were able to get him out, but he was covered in dirt and Kakashi checked to see if he was breathing.

"He's not breathing."

Kakashi started doing CPR as Tsunade went to look at his wounds to see if she could save his life. They couldn't believe how injured he was. Even through the dirt they could see the bruising and cuts that littered his skin. He had stab wounds that were bound to be infected from the dirt. He had a broken rib sticking through his skin. Tsunade couldn't believe the level of damage done to his body. He had internal bleeding among other problems that Tsunade was concerned about. Kakashi was able to get Sasuke to breath, but it was laboured and weak.

"Get him to the hospital now Kakashi." Tsunade said.

Kakashi picked Sasuke up bridal style and took off for the hospital. Tsunade and everyone else followed behind them. Kakashi was the fastest of the group and he would be able to get Sasuke to the hospital before the rest of them. Once Sasuke was there the nurses would be able to help Sasuke until Tsunade arrived. Once they were at the hospital Tsunade disappeared into a room with Sasuke and eight other nurses. They were all told to wait in the waiting room for Tsunade to give them information when she could. Shikamaru was sitting down in the chair with his father next to him. Jiraiya, Asuma and Kakashi were standing unable to sit still any longer. Shikamaru was the one to break the silence that had overtaken the room.

"Did you kill Orochimaru?"

"No we didn't." Kakashi answered.

"It's going to take someone stronger than us to do it." Jiraiya said.

"Who would that be?" Shikamaru asked.

"I don't know." Jiraiya said.

Silence fell back over the room. The problem was they really didn't know anyone that would be able to kill Orochimaru. Kakashi knew one person, but he wasn't exactly on their side so he was out. They needed to figure out how to handle Orochimaru. They needed a new plan, but right now all Kakashi could think of was how bad Sasuke looked. Even through all the dirt they could tell he was seriously injured. Kakashi didn't know if Sasuke was going to live through this, this time.

"He's going to die isn't he?" Shikamaru whispered.

His father put an arm around his shoulders and pulled him close to him.

"He's a fighter and he will survive this. You just have to have some faith." Shikaku said.

"He looked so horrible. They buried him alive how could they do that to him? He's just thirteen."

"There are a lot of cruel people in this world Shikamaru. Those ANBU follow orders like mindless dogs. They don't care about the pain they put Sasuke through or how old he is." Kakashi said.

"The ANBU follow Danzou's orders. He needs to be dealt with before Sasuke does get killed." Asuma said.

"Assuming he even lives." Shikamaru said.

"You need to have faith Shikamaru. Sasuke has survived a lot in his life and the fact that Tsunade isn't out here means that he is still fighting." Jiraiya said.

The room fell silent once again and it was a long six hours before Tsunade entered the room. She looked exhausted and worried. It did nothing to ease the others' fear. Tsunade went over to the group of exhausted ninja and started to explain the situation.

"He's alive, but he has a very long road ahead of him. I have healed his stab wounds and the internal bleeding. He has a bad infection from the dirt in his wounds. I have him on an anti-biotic IV right now, a very powerful one. His fever is high so I have some cooling blankets on him to help bring it down. He's covered in small cuts and deep bruising. He has a skull fracture that will make him disorientated, confused and dizzy at times. It will take a good six weeks to heal. During that time he could have a few short term memory problems."

"Like what?" Shikamaru asked.

"Like he forgot where he put something or asking a question he could ask you the same question five minutes later. It's temporary and will go away once his skull is healed. He had ten broken ribs some of which had punctured his lungs. I have healed them and repaired the damage they have done. He will be in a lot of pain regardless of the healing I have done. His jaw was broken and I have been able to heal it; however, the pain will be there for a few weeks. It'll hurt to move his jaw at all so talking will be difficult until the pain has died down. The worst of it is the damage done to his spine. He had a few pinched nerves along his C9 vertebra. I have healed them, but he will need to teach his body how to walk again."

"He's paralyzed?" Shikamaru asked with shock.

"He's not paralyzed he does have feeling in his legs, but the nerves that control them were damaged. He will need physical therapy to reteach those nerves to work fully again. He will gain full function of those nerves, but it will be a frustrating and painful process for him to go through. The important thing to remember is that he will make a full recovery as long as we can get ahead of this infection."

"What happens if the infection gets worse?" Kakashi asked.

"If the infection gets worse it will attack his organs and eventually his brain. Once the infection reaches his brain there is nothing I can do about it. It will kill him within forty-eight hours. It's important you all understand that the infection has not gone to his other organs. He is on a very powerful anti-biotic IV and we are doing everything we can to bring his fever down. I'm confident we can beat this infection before it gets to the extreme. He will be in a great deal of pain and exhausted. He's also dehydrated and on an IV to help fix that. He has bruising on his hands so for what it's worth he fought back as best as he could."

"What's important to remember is that Sasuke is alive. I think we all need to focus on that." Asuma said.

"But he can't walk. He has to learn how to do that all over again." Shikamaru still sounded shocked and the adults could tell that this was getting to be too much for him.

"Sasuke is strong he survived all of this. Yes he will be frustrated with having to go through the physical therapy, but he will be able to walk again." Shikaku said to his son.

"We're all exhausted I think we should get home and get some sleep." Jiraiya said.

"I think that would be best for everyone including you Kakashi." Tsunade said.

"I'm not leaving him." Kakashi said with a sternness to his voice.

"I figured as much, but I thought I would try. I put in a cot in the room for you so you can rest while he is asleep."

"I need to see him." Shikamaru said.

"You need sleep Shikamaru." Kakashi said.

"I've been worried for nine days not knowing if he was alive or dead. Please just a few minutes and then I'll go home."

"Okay, but just for a few minutes." Shikaku said to his son.

"He's in the ICU right now room 5. I'm going to my office here in the hospital and try to get some sleep. I want to be here in case something happens and his condition worsens."

"Do you expect it to?" Kakashi asked.

"No I don't, but I would prefer to be close by just in case. He will not be waking up tonight or in the next few days I would imagine. Rest is the best thing for him right now."

"Let's go see him and then get you home son." Shikaku said to Shikamaru.

Tsunade left to go to her office so she could rest up herself while the others went to see Sasuke. They couldn't believe how bad he looked. He had an oxygen mask on to help him breathe after the abuse his lungs took. He was covered in black bruises and angry red cuts. The important thing Shikamaru had forced himself to remember was that Sasuke was alive. Even though he had a long road ahead of him he was alive. Shikamaru went over to Sasuke and grabbed his hand in his. Shikaku placed a supportive hand on his son's shoulders. He could see the pain in his son's eyes and he knew that these past nine days must have been hell for him. After a few minutes they were able to get Shikamaru to leave and go home. Shikamaru told Kakashi that he would be back tomorrow and Kakashi told him that he was more than welcome to. Once everyone was gone Kakashi sat down on the cot and looked at Sasuke. He knew that it was going to be difficult for Sasuke, but he was going to be there the whole way with him. His body was beyond exhausted so he laid down on the cot and let the darkness take over him