Disclaimer: Naruto's not mine.

Warnings: CHARACTER DEATH. And NO it's not Naruto or Sakura before anyone asks!

Moving On

Chapter Six

By Michiru's Mirror

The problem with Jiraiya was that he was an ass.

Tsunade knew this, and hadn't wanted to bring him along on such a vitally important diplomatic mission, but she knew it was better to keep him close. He was determined to seize the unprecedented chance to observe the ladies of Sunagakure and Iwagakure in a peaceful setting, and Tsunade knew that if she didn't include him in her retinue he would go by himself. Having an Iwagakure diplomat discover one of Konoha's prize ninja peeking at her from behind a bush was not how Tsunade wanted to open relations.

So, she had labeled Jiraiya her "head advisor" and planned on keeping him within her sight at all times until the negotiations were concluded.

They had barely been on the road for an hour and Tsunade was already considering knocking him out and hiding him in her bag. It wasn't enough that he had to leer at all three of the unmarried women in her retinue, no, he had to leer at the four married ones too. Two of whose husbands were also present.

Some days she thought he was trying to piss her off.

To be fair, it wasn't like he was actually going to do anything. One of the reasons Tsunade had never had any attraction to her former teammate was how pathetic she thought he was when it came to other people. If he wasn't paying a woman for her attentions and she wasn't under the age of twenty, he didn't have the guts to do any more than ogle her and write porn with her as the subject. She hadn't been even remotely surprised when he'd told her over drinks that she was too old for him to be attracted to any longer. It didn't matter that she was beautiful. She was old enough to remind Jiraiya of his own age, and he would do anything to avoid that revelation.

For him, if a woman was not a plaything, she was an object of fear. He could see her as a comrade, or a friend, or a co-worker but a lover? She challenged him too much for that.

Tsunade sighed. She had long ago stopped asking herself just why she was so attached to him. She thanked whatever Gods were listening that her feelings weren't romantic but they were strong nevertheless; Jiraiya was a brother, a friend, and a trusted comrade.

But he was still an ass, damn it!

Aside from Jiraiya, Tsunade had picked a team of twenty jounin to accompany her. Most were in their twenties and thirties and acting as security, but a few were in their fifties and sixties, there to give her perspective and the force of their experience. It had been almost a full day since the group had set out from Konoha, and the terrain was turning dusty and dry already. Everyone was relieved to see a patch of forest only about half an hour's walk ahead; it would be nice to get under some cover. It was autumn, but walking with the sun beating down directly on their heads was still uncomfortable.

As though he knew she was thinking about him, Jiraiya came weaving his way over to Tsunade with a bunch of new sketches of various asses in his hand. "Tsunade, you picked this crew with great skill!" he announced in a voice that carried at least three miles down the road.

"Yes I did," Tsunade agreed. "They're all skilled ninja who know excellent genjutsu to escape from you if you get funny."

"You know what your problem is, Tsunade? You need to lighten up." Jiraiya flung his huge arm around her shoulder, making her grunt and catch her balance. "It's a beautiful day, and we're surrounded by beautiful women. How could it get better?"

"You moron, what are beautiful women supposed to do for me?"

"Well, you can still enjoy the day." Jiraiya fumbled around his left hip to find the flask attached to it. Tsunade guessed it wasn't water. "Did I tell you I have another book being published when we get back? Icha Icha Perfect. I'll have to give you a copy."

"Right. How many women does the hero get to sleep with this time?"

"Oh, I lost count somewhere along the way, but I think you'll like this one. Do you know why? There's an older woman for a heroine!" Jiraiya leaned his head down to Tsunade and whispered into her ear, "She's twenty-seven."

"Practically pushing for a pension," said Tsunade. "Now give me some of that sake."

Jiraiya turned wide innocent eyes onto her, which looked kind of creepy. "Sake?" He hastily put the flask back onto his thigh. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh come on!" Tsunade threw Jiraiya's arm off of her shoulders and rounded on him. "I think this is the first time in about thirty years that Shizune hasn't been at my shoulder. I can finally enjoy my sake in peace, and you're holding out on me? That's just cruel."

Jiraiya began to desperately look around for something to change the subject—he knew full well that Shizune would murder him when he got back if he gave Tsunade any alcohol. He finally resorted to mumbling about having to use the bathroom, scooted past some heartily chortling jounin and ducked behind some very poisonous looking shrubs.

Tsunade grinned. She'd heal the rashes—if he gave her some sake in return.

Sakura stared from Momoko to Sasuke, examining the hostility in their expressions and body language. She had an uneasy feeling that asking them to not fight in her office would be completely ineffectual; this was a confrontation that had been building up for two years and nothing could stop it now. The best she could do was keep herself out of the line of fire and make sure they didn't hurt each other—or that Sasuke didn't hurt Momoko, anyway.

Sakura chewed her lip. That could be a problem. She was justifiably proud of her skills as a medic, and her abilities as a warrior weren't too shabby either. But compared to Sasuke she might as well be a rank genin, and if Sasuke really got violent there wasn't much she could do.

Sakura's mind immediately began to gather ideas together, thinking of ways to get between the two without getting herself killed. She couldn't think of many, and what she did come up with was questionable at best.

So she did her best to remain invisible behind her desk. This was not difficult, as Sasuke and Momoko both seemed to have forgotten that she was in the room.

"Don't be childish," Sasuke snapped at his wife. "Do you know how much shame you'd bring to us both if you instigated a divorce?"

"Shame, shame, shame, it's all about your shame!" Momoko's body shook violently, making the chair beneath her rattle against the wooden floor. Her eyes were wide, her pupils dilated and her breath came in pants. "People don't matter to the mighty Uchiha, right? People are pieces of…of tissue paper, there to wipe filth on and be thrown away! All that matters is the Uchiha pride!"

"Not pride, duty." Sasuke was getting angry. His lips had thinned into a black slash across his face, and his voice held a threat in every quiet word he spoke. "Any decent Hyuuga would understand the importance of duty to his clan."

"Don't you lecture me about duty! I've done my duty for seventeen years and where am I now? I'm a fat, useless lump under the thumb of a lunatic! My duty has done nothing to make me happy!" Momoko shrieked.

"Happy?" Sasuke was incredulous. "What does being happy have to do with anything? I've never been happy once in my whole life."

Momoko let out a scream that Sasuke and Sakura belatedly realized was a derisive laugh. "Oh that's right, you're a noble suffering saint, aren't you? You and your tragic life lead you to become a great man whom nobody likes!"

"How pitiful," said Sasuke, a sneer marring his handsome face. "Happiness? Friendship? A woman raised by a clan as noble as the Hyuuga shouldn't be worrying about trivialities like that!"

"Pitiful?" Momoko yelled, knocking her chair back and drawing herself to her full height. She was too short for this to be a particularly impressive move, but the idea was there. "Which one of us is pitiful?

"How much time do you spend on your looks, Sasuke-san? How careful are you to apply sun block on your beautiful porcelain skin every morning? How long does it take you to arrange your hair perfectly and pick out clothes that just happen to accentuate your muscles so well?"

Sasuke's complexion had gone the color of rotting porridge. "Don't try and paint that the wrong way, Momoko. I don't want to get cancer, do I? Sun block is important…and my clothes are functional."

Momoko gave another one of her laughs that was more a scream, and Sakura began to sink lower and lower in her chair.

"When will it be enough? When will you have enough attention and admiration? When will you stop obsessing about being perfect? You've spent your life surrounding yourself with admirers and rejecting anyone who challenges your pathetic ego!"

Momoko turned her head to Sakura with a snap. It looked like she was remembered after all. "Let me guess. When you two were paired on the same team, he made a point of telling you how irritating and useless you were, while somehow managing to constantly be around you and protect you from harm. It's brilliant: He keeps you under control with insults and abuse while keeping you close by so you can feed his self-confidence with your adoration and worship!"

Sasuke's face was looking more and more enraged with every word she spoke. "Shut up, shut up, just shut your mouth and stop talkin--k"

"I will NOT!" Momoko screamed. Her hands went to her hair and began to pull, creating horrible stretching and ripping noises that made Sakura wince. "You have no excuse! And I won't let you run away from the truth like this anymore! You don't deserve it!

"Why did you choose me, huh? Of all the girls worshipping at your feet, I wasn't the prettiest or the richest or the youngest or the strongest. I was just the most admiring, and the stupidest! You're so pathetic you had to take a little girl dumb enough to think you were anything other than a loser to feed your pride!"

"Don't you dare blame me," Sasuke stood up now, and he towered over his wife. "I told you right from the beginning what this was about, I told you I didn't have any feelings for you—"

"Yeah, so I'm an idiot! We both know that by now. That doesn't explain why you didn't choose…say, Takahashi Noriko. She was young, gorgeous, powerful, and a gold digger! She would have given you all the kids you wanted and understood it was a business arrangement. But she didn't kiss your feet properly, did she? She saw you as a financial opportunity, and even though you see everyone as nothing more than things for your use, you can't stand the thought of anyone seeing you that way!

"So you make sure you're the best, the most beautiful, the most driven so that everyone is fooled about just how disgusting you really are! But it's not enough for you, is it?"

"Shut up," said Sasuke, now looking as murderous as he had when facing off against Itachi. "I'm warning you…"

But Momoko advanced on Sasuke with an insane smirk on her face that made her somehow inhuman and menacing. "You know whose approval you're really looking for, don't you? But you know what, Sasuke-san?

"Even if he was still alive, you still wouldn't be good enough for your father."

It happened so fast that Sakura didn't even see it clearly. Sasuke's fist smashed into Momoko's face with all the force he could muster. She went flying over her chair and into the wall behind her, screeching as her leg was bent into an angle it shouldn't have gone. Her head hit the wall with a sickening thud, and she slid to the ground with blood pouring over her face and chest.

Sakura was between them in a flash, frightened but understanding her duty as a medic and a conscientious human being.

Sasuke's fists were raised and his eyes were red with the tomoe swirling so quickly that Sakura almost got vertigo. "Move out of the way," he growled, and Sakura understood that if she didn't obey she was going to get hurt.

Oh, I'm really going to earn my paycheck today.

"No," she said calmly, with all the authority she could muster. After years of staring at gruesomely mauled bodies and facing the deaths of her loved ones countless times, she had become quite brilliant at hiding fear. "You need to calm down, Sasuke-kun. You don't—"

"I'll tell everyone." Momoko's cut in. Her voice was weak but clear. Even violence, it seemed, was not enough to shut her up now. "You'll give me my divorce or I'll tell everyone you're impotent."

Sasuke froze.

Momoko could barely raise her head, but the look on her face was as determined as she could make it. "This is a good offer, Sasuke-san. Give me my divorce with no hassle, and I'll take all the blame for neglecting my duty as a wife and Hyuuga. All you have to do to save face is not give me any trouble.

"But if you try and stop me I'll tell everyone in Konoha about you, and there goes your reputation for good!"

Sasuke's face was thunderous, and Sakura knew he was angry enough to murder right now. She badly wanted to call on her chakra or grab Momoko and teleport out of the office. But she knew any sudden move on her part might provoke Sasuke into hurting or even killing her.

"Sasuke-kun," she said quietly. "Don't do this. If divorce is shameful, think of the scandal that will come from murdering your wife!"

To her relief, Sakura saw Sasuke pause. His rage was in no way appeased, but oh that Uchiha pride—even now it was the driving force behind his every decision.

Abruptly, Sasuke turned and stormed from Sakura's office. It was a wise decision; Sakura knew that he was putting distance between them so he would not lose his temper.

Sakura let her body sag and let out all the breath she'd been holding in one dramatic whoosh.

Thank goodness, for a minute there I really thought he was going to…

Oh, Sasuke-kun! I know you're better then this. If only you knew it too.

But Sakura knew better then to stand still for more than a second. Momoko was behind her bleeding and hurt, in need of immediate medical attention.

Kneeling down, Sakura slowly moved towards the cowering girl as though she were a wounded animal. Momoko flinched like one but let the older woman examine her anyway.

Broken nose, dislocated shoulder, broken leg, internal bleeding, more bruises then Sakura could count. There was no way she could heal all of this in one go—poor Momoko was going to have to walk around looking like raw hamburger for at least a few days.

What a day.

Sakura wasn't sure when Naruto entered her head. Was it when Sasuke had showed such satisfaction at the idea of babies without the "hassle" of sex? Was it when he punched Momoko over a chair and into a wall? Or was it when she began to fear for her own life?

She didn't know. As she began to patch Momoko up Sakura realized that she had been thinking of Naruto for some time, the image of his whiskered face and messy hair floating around along with all the other jumbled thoughts in her mind. She thought of how much she loved him. She thought of how he would never treat her the way Sasuke treated Momoko, and of how glad she was that she had chosen him. But most of all she thought of him and all the challenges and changes in his life.

He was obviously in pain, and had been for months now. But Sakura didn't have the slightest clue of what could be causing it. This total blackout was a new experience; while Naruto hadn't always told her how he was feeling about everything, she had rarely had any problem reading the comments he made and his body language.

Really, their whole relationship was built on reading each other. They spent their early and mid-teens figuring each other out, and from there went on to form a relationship built more on understanding then words.

They had dated other people throughout their mid teens, and Sakura was glad that she had done so (though of course the thought of Naruto with another woman didn't make her all that happy). Seeing other men had shown her that no matter how strong they were, no matter how cool, no matter how handsome, they just weren't him and thus they weren't good enough. Sakura knew that if she hadn't had the chance to date anyone but Naruto, she would have spent her whole life wondering if he was the one for her. The way things had turned out, she knew absolutely for certain.

She wondered when Naruto had the same revelation she had, that she was The One. All she knew for sure was that sometime in their late teens they just stopped seeing other people, and started hanging out together more and more often.

She thus can't remember the exact date that they became an item, because though she considered the day of the Great Snow Fight to be their anniversary (and God help Naruto if he forgets it), she knew that for weeks before that it would have been cheating if she'd started dating someone else.

The Great Snow Fight happened on December 19th, and was exactly what it sounded like. Naruto had gone to Konoha Hospital to pick Sakura up (which he had been doing an awful lot lately), and they had begun walking towards Sakura's house. The air was freezing but clear, and snow piled along the road almost up to their knees.

Sakura remembered that they were still blocks away from her home when Naruto put his arm around her. She let him do it, and leaned her head against his shoulder.

Totally relaxed and comfortable, Sakura let Naruto lead her towards her house. For the first time in awhile she didn't think about anything at all.

When something cold and wet hit the back of her neck, Sakura was taken totally unawares. She flew apart from Naruto and one hand went to the back of her neck to find cold snow dripping down her collar. "W-what?"

She belatedly realized that Naruto was pointing at her and laughing so hard he was sliding around on the icy path. His hair was in disarray and his eyes closed, his mouth open so wide with mirth that Sakura could probably have fit her whole fist inside of it.

"You—you—jerk!" And Sakura really was a little irritated; she had been forced back to reality so abruptly when she had been so comfortable!

Momentarily seeing red, Sakura grabbed a huge lump of snow and threw, hitting Naruto in his open mouth.

Naruto began to splutter and cough, and Sakura felt her anger vanish completely at the sight. It was her turn to point and laugh—and have snow thrown at her while doing so.

The next ten minutes were devoted to flinging and dodging flying white projectiles, which became more and more difficult as both combatants began to laugh harder and harder. The snowball fight finally degenerated into Naruto and Sakura collapsing all over each other giggling and shoving snow into each other's faces.

Lying on the ground breathless, Sakura felt Naruto's arms wrap around her from behind, and again she allowed it.

Moron. If he tries to throw any more snow at me now I'll really be pissed.

But he didn't.

They never really said to each other aloud that they were an item, and it was years before any "I love you's" were exchanged. It was just understood.

Naruto was easy to understand because he had always understood himself, in Sakura's opinion. He had known what he wanted and gone after it without caring who knew about it. Did his sudden silence mean that he was unsure of something?

If Sakura was being honest, she was scared that he was unsure of her. She wasn't too worried about marriage, and she meant what she'd said to Naruto weeks ago—she didn't really want the added responsibilities of marriage just yet herself. But did the fact that he didn't want it mean that he didn't like her any more?

She didn't think so. She hoped not. She trusted that Naruto loved her, and she knew she loved him back. It just hurt so badly that the only thing she could do for him now was wait.

But if that was what he needed, that was what she'd do.

Sakura sighed and helped Momoko to her feet.

Tsunade and her retinue decided to break for the night when rain clouds began to threaten overhead. Everyone was happy to find a small inn at the edge of the forest; cramped and dirty, it was still far preferable to sleeping outside in a full blown storm.

Tsunade left the others to settle the bill while she ran to the bathroom to take care of the roiling indigestion that had been bothering her for the past few hours. She didn't care how unhygienic this place was, it was fifty times better then sitting on a log all night in the pouring rain while Jiraiya snickered at her from behind a rock.

Tsunade spent the better part of an hour in the bathroom, her self-control just barely keeping her from groaning aloud. She couldn't fight the truth any longer, she was old and her body just wasn't working as well as it used to.

Nor were her instincts quite as honed as they had once been. Tsunade had always been a formidable warrior but she had not seen battle in decades, as her talents were put towards training and diplomacy instead. Given her body's discomfort, it was easy to miss some of the signs of danger around her.

She finally left the bathroom and headed for the inn's tavern. To hell with her digestive system, if she couldn't enjoy a little sake now and again life wasn't worth living anyway.

She found Jiraiya sitting at the bar, his ass sketches lying ignored beside him, his expression oddly serious. In an attempt to cheer him up, Tsunade began to tease: "If you actually publish any of those things you realize I won't try and stop the victims from burning down your house."

Jiraiya looked a bit taken aback, and then his gaze turned serious again. "Tsunade, you've really been off the battlefield for too long. Look around you."

Tsunade recognized the seriousness in his tone. He wasn't teasing but actually scolding, and his words were quiet but harsh. She responded immediately and glanced at her surroundings. What she saw was three-fourths of her entourage unconscious over drinks, their heads resting on their arms and their bodies awkwardly arranged on uncomfortable wooden chairs.

"Ah," said Tsunade. She might have been out of practice but she was still far too experienced to be easily shocked or panicked. "This is a trap, of course."

She sat down smoothly and spoke as quietly as she could. She didn't feel any chakra signatures nearby, but given that about fifteen jounin had just been poisoned without any of them noticing she guessed that her opponent was quite skilled.

"Of course," Jiraiya echoed. "I tried to wake them up, but no one has so much as stirred. And the others upstairs are just gone—I can't find bodies or even blood."

"And you just left me in the bathroom?"

"I didn't realize you were rusty enough to need help," said Jiraiya, and Tsunade couldn't help but feel a bit ashamed. "I didn't think they'd take you out so easily, so I came back to keep an eye on our host."

Tsunade nodded. It was most likely him who had poisoned the drinks, after all. "Has he done anything?"

"Not that I've heard from out here. I didn't want to corner him 'till you got back, though. I'll need cover in case whoever took out the jounin upstairs comes barging in."

Tsunade nodded again and stood. "Let's do it the other way. I'll question and you keep watch—if you're in such great shape that's best, right?" It was a petty jab, but she couldn't help it. His words had been a serious blow to her pride, especially because they were true.

Quietly, keeping all their senses open, the two sannin crept into the kitchen. It was tiny and messy, with pots piled up as high as a person on every surface and plates left soaking in filthy water in the sink.

They were ready for traps but there were none, and no people save for the old innkeeper who sat crying in the corner of the room.

Tsunade knelt down next to his crouched and shivering form and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I take it you were coerced?"

The innkeeper didn't insult her intelligence by pretending he didn't know what she meant. He nodded miserably and sniffled out, "I'm sorry."

"What did you give them?"

He gestured towards a bottle tipped over nearby. "They…they told me to give you poison but…I-I couldn't. I just gave them some of the barbiturates my wife used to use before she passed on instead."

Tsunade smiled and said, "You're very brave." She meant it—if this man had been threatened with death, defying the orders he'd been given had taken a lot of guts. He wasn't very smart, of course….It would have been a much better idea to tell the people who could help him about the way he was being threatened instead of knocking them out but Tsunade knew that panicking, terrified people rarely thought clearly or acted rationally.

"Did you see who threatened you?" She asked, keeping her voice gentle.

The man flinched as though he'd been struck and looked quickly around the kitchen as though expecting an attacker to come flying at him from out of the wall. Tsunade held her temper in check and waited for him to collect himself.

Finally, trembling, he gestured for her to come closer. Licking his dry lips he whispered:

"Iwagakure."

Tsunade and Jiraiya exchanged grim looks. They needed no words to help each other understand the seriousness of the situation. It seemed they had been lured out into a poorly defended position with promises of diplomacy in order to become victims. And once they took care of Konoha's leader and best jounin out here in the middle of nowhere, Iwagakure could move on to attack a leaderless, defenseless Konoha with impunity.

Tsunade stood and said, "I want you to stay inside the inn, all right? My friend and I will go out and take care of the threat, but I need you to wake up your other customers and get them ready to run if worst comes to worst."

Behind her, Jiraiya nodded.

"B-but—" The innkeeper's eyes were as wide as the dinner plates soaking behind him in the sink. "Why go outside? They're outside!"

Jiraiya smiled grimly. "We know, and they know we know. They're waiting us out for now, but once they get impatient they'll come in after us with poison gasses and projectile weapons. That will put everyone in this inn at risk, and they know we won't do that if we can avoid it."

It was Tsunade's turn to nod. She had told Naruto years ago that sometimes protecting your own people meant letting others suffer. But letting others suffer for no reason other than to save your own skin? Tsunade never wanted to become someone that low, and for all of Jiraiya's faults, she knew he didn't either.

"With luck, you won't have to worry about it," said Tsunade as she headed for the door with Jiraiya. "We'll fight them outside, and we'll take care of them there if we can. But…be prepared."

She nodded to the poor, terrified old man one last time and walked out.

She and Jiraiya walked slowly through the tavern and out into the hallway, heading side by side for the door. They were silent for a moment, until it seemed Jiraiya couldn't take it any more.

"Y'know, I wrote Icha Icha Perfect as an end to the series? I tried to write it as a cliffhanger like all the others, but somehow it just wouldn't work that way."

"Don't get morbid, old man. We don't know we're going to die here."

Jiraiya smiled wanly. "Don't be ridiculous, old lady. These ninja are being more cautious then I've ever seen an enemy be: Luring us out into the middle of nowhere, knocking out our security, using civilians as hostages. They know goddamn well who we are and are obviously very, very prepared for our abilities.

"We're not walking away from this one, Tsunade."

Tsunade stopped, and felt a cold wave wash over her, making her shiver and forcing her to clench her hands into fists to keep control. Had she known her time was nearing too? Was that why she'd left Shizune behind and given Naruto time off, so he'd be rested when it was time for him to take over?

She pulled herself under control and walked with Jiraiya the rest of the way to the door. They looked out through the window, and saw no one.

"They're waiting for us to come out," Jiraiya said.

"Yeah." Tsunade grinned and raised her thumb. "Let's see if they're waiting for Katsuya."

Jiraiya grinned back and raised his own thumb, biting into it. When she saw his smile Tsunade felt a wave of affection so strong it almost brought her to her knees. She would not outlive another loved one, not this time. And if it really was the end, she could not think of anyone she'd rather be fighting beside. Naruto had proven he was ready to be Hokage, and Shizune was safe in Konoha.

It was a good day to die.

Jiraiya's expression changed, just a little, and his hand reached out to squeeze her own for the first time. They only stayed that way for a second, a second of grinning like fools and sharing warmth and the weight of six decades of friendship but it was enough. Neither was afraid to die any longer.

They unlinked their hands and turned back to the outside.

"Ready?" Jiraiya asked.

"Ready. Let's see if you can keep up with me, old man."

Jiraiya decided that just this once, he'd let her get the last word in.

He took the inn doorknob, nodded to Tsunade, and flung it open.

Tsunade and Jiraiya ran outside, roaring their final challenge to the world to come and take them on.

A/N

What I thought was gonna be one chapter looks like it's gonna be two or three, so Naruto playing poker and his reunion with Sakura will be next.

I'll be out of town for about five days, so the next chapter will be in about two weeks.

As ever, I'd love to hear what you think! Review please, with praise or criticism!