Scars
Chapter 13
All the characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto
He's coming. And Sakura was injured badly. She couldn't keep up with Sasuke's speed. That's why running was not an option. She had to keep on fighting him face-to-face.
Their fight have been lasting for some time now and they were both tired, but, as expected, Sasuke was keeping Sakura busy even dodging his attacks. And he was enjoying it.
'I have to keep on defending myself for a few more minutes, then it will be ready' thought the kunoichi 'it's either I die or I defeat him'
Meanwhile Kakashi was getting closer every minute. He kept on thinking that Sakura might be dead by now. Well, she was fighting the ninja that even Naruto couldn't defeat.
"How far away from here, Pakkun?"
"We should be there in about fifteen minutes. And, Kakashi, be ready to face the Uchiha brat"
Kakashi didn't answer, he just sped up even more.
'I'll save you, Sakura' thought the Copy ninja.
The time that they spent running seemed to stretch out for Kakashi. And when they finally reached the Anbu camp he saw corpses all around, but thankfully, they were all corpses of rogue ninjas. On his way Kakashi got attacked by the few still alive rogues and finished them off only to keep on running in the direction Pakkun was going.
And then he saw her. Her fragile looking body with clothes all torn was lying on the ground. He came up to Sakura and picked her up. Their comrades came up to him and one of them said:
"She has been fighting the Uchiha. I think he's lying unconscious over there"
Kakashi looked in that direction and understood that Sakura must have defeated him at the cost of her life.
"No, Kakashi, she's still alive" said Pakkun and that was enough for him to start running back to Konoha to get Sakura medical help.
"You bring back the captives and I will head back sooner to save Sakura" said Kakashi over his shoulder already running through the forest.
Someone barged in through the door without even knocking and Tsunade was about to start screaming, but then she saw who it was. It was Kakashi with a bundle of human flesh with pink hair in his arms.
"Shizune! Call out for Ino and come here right now"
"Put her down, Kakashi" said the Hokage and pushed everything off her desk.
After analyzing her apprentices status, Tsunade realized what happened. She knew Sakura have been perfecting a genjutsu with the help of Kurenai which affected anyone, even the ones using Sharingan or other vision prowess. But it was not perfect yet and in order to cast this jutsu Sakura had to use a huge amount of chakra. And in a fight with Sasuke she must have used a lot of chakra even before being able to cast this genjutsu.
So the thing that happened was that Sakura used too much chakra and now she needed emergent help. But it was good that Tsunade was the one that Kakashi brought her to. She will recover fully.
Bright light, white rough sheets. And a person sitting in the corner of the room. That were the things that Sakura noticed right after she opened her heavy eyelids. The person in a slouched position and a bright orange book in his hand.
"Kaka.." Sakura tried talking with her sore throat.
"It's okay, Sakura, I'm here" he was by her side in a moment.
Sakura took his hand with her weak fingers and drifted back to sleep, happy that he was here, he was with her and to her it didn't matter anymore if she was dead or alive as long as they were together.
"How is she?" asked the blond Hokage after entering the room.
"She woke up a few minutes ago, but drifted back to sleep" answered Kakashi.
"It's a good sign that she woke up, it seems she's recovering even faster than we expected. But now you will have to leave her. You know you have to be there in case Sasuke tries to escape"
"Yes, I know. I will be there in a few minutes"
"Thank you, Kakashi"
Hokage was sitting at the end of the room with both elders to her right. Anbu members were standing by the walls all around the room and the captive was chained in the center of the room. And then Kakashi came and stood behind the Uchiha.
The Interogation Unit have already reported what intel they have been able to extract from the captive and then it was time to decide what to do with him. It was either he will be terminated or he will be imprisoned for the rest of his life for betraying Konoha village.
Tsunade and the elders have obviously already decided because if they weren't they would be arguing about it right now. But now, the room was silent and you could almost feel the tension. And then Tsunade spoke:
"Our desicion for betraying your village and harming your fellow ninjas from the Hidden Leaf village is... imprisonment for a lifetime"
Everybody stayed silent like they didn't dare to do anything. And then they heard some noise from the corridor. Naruto barged through the door shouting:
"Ba-chan, no. You can't put him in prison. Not like that. You got to give him another chance"
"No, I don't, Naruto. He had enough chances, but didn't do anything to come back to the village"
"But, but, you can't. I won't let you!"
"NARUTO! Stop this nonsense at once! You know yourself what he did to Sakura. If it wasn't for them..." Tsunade looked at the elders "... he would be dead by now"
"But I know I can help him if only you gave me a chance"
"And what if he tries to escape? Will you stop him?"
"Of course, I will"
"More importantly, will you be able to stop him? You weren't able to bring him back. Isn't that right?"
"Then maybe someone else would help me look after him. I need to do this. I promised not only Sakura all those years ago, but to myself too that I will bring him back and he will stay here. That's what I have to do no matter what"
"Even if I agreed, who will help you? Who would be so stupid as to want to help you with this criminal?"
Kakashi, who stood silent throughout all the conversation, looked up and said:
"I will probably regret doing this, but I will help him"