Sorry for the long wait! School started back up and you know how that goes.
"Hinata, do you see anything?" Tsunade asked impatiently, her hands gripping each side of her hips.
Hinata squinted, straining to further the distance of her visual kekkei genkai.
"No, Lady Tsunade not yet, I'm sorry, but I'm sure everything is well and Naruto and the others are on their way back as we speak."she responded softly.
Tsunade was growing more worried with each hour that passed. It had been over a week since the ANBU and leaf ninja left the village on the retrieval mission. Tsunade had the village and hospital on standby for three days in a row now, Naruto and the others were scheduled to return home the day before yesterday.
Sakura I pray they found you and everyone is on their way home safe. I refuse to lose any more lives to Orochimaru.
"Lady Tsunade, I see…..a bird!?" Hinata's usual soft voice was raised an octave higher in anticipation.
"A bird?" Tsuande asked.
"Yes, a giant white bird with….Akatskui! No wait….I see Sakura she's with the Akatskui, two of them. She's injured badly. Oh! There's Naruto, Shikamaru and Kakashi on Gamakichi! They are okay! And there's -" Hinata pasued.
"There's who? Who else do you see? Where are the ANBU? Where's Ino?" Tsunade was frowning with concern.
"Saskue-kun! He has Ino and they are on a giant snake! The ANBU are following behind them." Hinata was almost breathless at the sight.
"Sakuke?!" Lady Tsunade's chakra flared automatically at the thought. Sasuke and a snake only meant one thing. Orochimaru must be with them.
"Where is Orochimaru?" Tsunade hissed.
"Oh…well….let me see…..he's not with them my lady. I don't see him at all, just Sasuke and Ino. Here they come!" Hinata deactivated her Byankugan.
"Everyone in positions! They have returned! Those who I assigned as messengers, go inform shizune to prepare the hospital staff for immediate action at once!" Tsunade barked out her orders.
Tsunade watched as a giant clay bird descended from the sky down in front of the gates of Konoha. Itachi Uchiha jumped down from the bird, holding a limp Sakura in his arms, and with him Sasori the puppet master of the red sand followed. As the approached the gate Tsunade summoned ANBU with the wave of a hand.
"You will not take another step Itachi Uchiha." Tsunade warned.
ANBU stood between Tsuande and the entrance at the gates.
"Godamine Hokage, it will serve you well to listen to me before you act hastily." Itachi responded.
"This is not a negotiation Ita-" he cut her off.
"Sakura is pregnant and dying, if she doesn't seek medical attention from you now she and my child will die." He said calmly.
"Preganant? You're child…..? WHAT?!" Tsunade froze.
"Princess Tsunade, for someone who is spoken so highly of throughout the nations you are slow to react. I told you this is an emergency." He said.
Tsunade glanced at the limp Sakura in his arms, observing Sasori. His hand was completely submerged into her chest and she sensed the flow of chakra he was pumping directly to her heart. Tsunade realized the seriousness of the situation and snapped herself out of her temporary moment of shock.
"Give her to me." Tsunade ordered.
"I will not leave her." Itachi responded.
"You sure as hell aren't coming into this village!" Tsunade snapped.
"This was my home once. I mean to harm to the village or anyone in it. I will not leave Sakura or my child. She doesn't leave my arms." Itachi refused to budge.
"Give her to me Itachi!" Tsuande balled her fists.
"Your stubbornness will be the cause of her death." Itachi was becoming impatient.
Sakura suddenly coughed, spitting blood all over the front of Itachi's cloak.
"M-m-m- lady….pl-please…..let him in…..the baby…..dying….." her voice was barely audible causing everyone to strain hear her.
As foolish as it was, Tsunade struggled on what to do. Sakura and her child were dying but she couldn't let a mass serial killer back into the village after everything that he had done.
Naruto and Gamakichi arrived at the gates. Naruto and Kakashi jumped down. Ino and Sauske followed behind shortly.
"Granny let him in! It's okay he's on our side!" Naruto shouted while running to the gates.
"Tsuande don't be foolish, you know she doesn't have much time. Let them all pass, including Sasuke." Kakashi said as Sasuke silently approached Kakashi's side.
"Have you lost your minds?!" Tsunade's voice was booming, echoing throughout the trees.
"Tsunade….now isn't the time. Trust me, I would never put the village in jeopardy." Kakashi approached her laying a hand on her shoulder.
"Lady Hokage!" the ANBU captain appeared suddenly before her. "They all speak truthfully, Sasuke and Itachi Uchiha saved Sakura and defeated Orochimaru. If it weren't for them she would be dead and we would have failed." he turned to Kakashi nodding.
"Thank you." Kakashi nodded back.
Take a few more moments to ponder, Tsunade sensed a second chakra signature coming from Sakura that caught her attention.
A baby….Sakura is having a baby….
Tsunade knew how precious this little life was to Sakura without even having to speak to Sakura herself. If Tsunade knew her student as well as he thought she did, she knew that Sakura had risked her life for this child's life as well as the life of her other comrades. She has risked everything to save everyone but herself. It was time for someone to take a risk to save Sakura.
"Come, and hurry we must get her to the hospital and perform an emergency surgery at once." Tsuande waved for Itachi and the others to follow.
Sakura
I was barely conscious when I arrived at the hospital in Itachi's arms.
Lady Tsunade immediately began to bark orders to shizune and her medical staff. I was too weak to open my eyes but I could hear Ino crying in the background and Naruto constantly asking Neji and Hinata if they could still see my heart beating.
I felt myself becoming weaker as a heavy sleepiness began to take me. Itachi must have sensed I was drifting off because he reacted immediately.
"Hokage, she is fighting the urge to sleep." He warned.
"Shizune! We cannot wait for the blood I must perform surgery now!" Tsunade yelled.
"M'Lady if we perform surgery now she may die, she's lost too much blood." Shizune responded.
"If we sit here waiting for your medical staff to come back with the blood bags she will die faster! I need to tend to her now!" she screamed.
I felt my body being taken away from Itachi's arms and set onto a surgical table.
"My baby…" I whispered.
All I cared about was the life of my daughter, mine was not valuable enough to save over hers.
"Sakura the baby is fine, hold on you hear me? Shizune channel your chakra into left valve!" she ordered.
I had lost too much blood I could tell that much and at this rate even a transfusion wouldn't replenish the amount I had lost fast enough. I was dying and Tsunade knew that, I could hear the panic in her voice.
Tsunade had said my daughter was fine, she would live. That's all I needed to hear. Naruto, Ino, sensai, sasuke, they would all be okay. They would mourn me for a while I'm sure but life would go on. My daughter would be loved by so many, protected by so many. I was saddened by the thought of not watching her grow but I would watch her from afar in another world. Itachi….he would….he will love her, he already does. Itachi may not be capable of loving me but I know he loves her. If I had to do all of this over again I would in a heartbeat. Naruto was able to keep his promise to Sasuke. Orochimaru is dead and Sasuke, for the moment at least is back home and that moment, right now is enough for me. Everyone is alive and safe and that is all I ever wanted; to protect them, and that is exactly what I did. Team 7 if back again for this moment while I am still alive, we are all home. All of the countless times that I've fought relentlessly to keep myself and my comrades alive...and now...I'm completely okay with dying. Everything I have ever done was all for them. My entire life...my entire existence...everyone in my village including my teammates and my own sensai underestimated my abilities as a Shinobi. I have always been the weak link of team 7, the burden...but...now...yes...maybe, just maybe Sakura Haruno will be recognized as more than just the aspiring shinobi with perfect chakra control. All I've ever wanted was to be able to protect them like they've protected me and now I can die knowing that I did just that. I...Sakura Haruno finally was able to protect the ones I loved the most. Naruto...Saskue...Kakashi Sensai...Kohona...and now my precious daughter, it was all for you.
Don't freak! There is one last chapter for this first book of the sequel! I can't wait for you guys to read what I have in store for the next part of this series! Stay tuned to meet the little Uchiha in the next and last chapter of this first part of the Crimson Met Jade series! Stay tuned for the final chapter of I will be posting tonight!