Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Allies
Sakura's eyes widened and froze as she continued to doubt her sanity.
"What the hell" Inner Sakura said in disbelief.
"I second that", Sakura thought weakly. She was pretty sure that her eyes looked like they were sticking out of their eyes sockets.
"SEE…he does…he does lo – look like -" Naruto tried to get the words out, but found his breathing was constricted. He felt faint. He truly thought it was Sasuke he taken a hold of. He never imagined it would be a child he caught instead.
But then something occurred to him. He looked closely at the child – boy - to be more precise. He did have raven colored hair with that odd shape at the back and light colored skin just like in his childhood memories of him…maybe he did capture Sasuke after all.
Now that he thought about it, strange events did tend to happen where he lived. So it was possible.
Suddenly, Naruto's body felt lighter. Hope raced throughout his veins like a wildfire in a forest. Theories of what occurred began to take shape in his mind, but, before he could vocalize them to Sakura, his legs gave out, taking the boy down with him.
"Naruto!" Sakura move forward, stretching out her hands to catch her teammate and landing on her knees with both boys in arms.
"Naruto, are you hurt?" Sakura scrutinized every inch of his body. Naruto was not looking at her though. He had his cerulean eyes fixed on the unconscious child resting soundlessly in Sakura's arm.
"It was the light, Sakura", Naruto said slowly as though in a trance. "The strange light coming from the tree transformed Sasuke. We can take him…back."
Sakura shifted her glance to the boy and considered what Naruto had said. The boy did look like Sasuke, explaining her initial reaction, but now that she looked at him closely…she was not too convinced it was him. There was something off, but she could not pinpoint it, and it had nothing to do with his eyes being covered by oil.
"Oil?"
Frowning, she touched it. It felt thick and slimy. She brought it to her nose and smelled it. There was no distinctive smell to it. Some of it had slipped down his round cheek. Sakura touched the soft skin. It was cold and wet like he had been crying. A piece of the puzzle that was boy's identity was discovered.
"Naruto, I'm sorry. But this boy is not Uchiha." The Uchiha Sasuke they both knew would never cry in public, especially in front of Naruto and in the midst of an invasion. It was just not the Uchiha style.
"But Sakura look at him" Naruto protested, getting up from her arms. He had not noticed the traces of tears in the boy's cheek. He was so enveloped with hope; he was ignoring the obvious.
"Listen Naruto, this boy should not be here. It's too dangerous for him. We should find Neji and Sai instead of wasting time arguing whether this boy is or is not Uchiha", Sakura said while moving her mystic palm over the boy. Her frown deepened as the substance covering the boy's eyes refused to dissolve.
"Naruto?" she looked to him when she didn't hear his objections.
"I am stupid aren't I?" Naruto asked quietly. Sakura softened her eyes, understanding where Naruto was going with his question.
"No, you aren't. You are just too optimistic. Don't be ashamed for wanting to believe in what is impossible."
Naruto shook his head, guilt engulfing him and making him want to sink to the floor. "I made a commitment to kill Sasuke, Sakura. But here I am, wishing this boy was him, so we can be friends again."
"Sakura, do something!"
Sakura beckoned Naruto to come closer and when he did, she reached for his chin and looked at him pointedly. Naruto's cheeks turned red at the contact. "Answer me this. When you fought him, did you hesitate for a second?"
"No", Naruto replied.
"Neither did I", Sakura suddenly grinned, proud of herself and Naruto. "These things take time, but I think we are getting better. Don't you think?"
Naruto lowered his head and nodded. "What is that?" asked pointing at the boy's eyes.
"I don't know", Sakura admitted. "Another reason why we need to go. He needs proper medical attention."
As Sakura stood up, the boy in her arms stirred. She thought for a moment that he was waking up, but the boy only snuggled closer to Sakura. Sakura looked down at the boy with a hint of red on her cheeks. She was not really good with children. For some reason or another, they did not like her too much. It probably had to do with her temper and witnessing Naruto get beat up by her around the village.
The leaves of the forest rustled. Units of medical-nin began arrive and wasted no time to heal those who could be saved and direct other shinobi to take the dead.
One group of medical-nin caught her attention. They were a couple of feet from them and surrounding an ANBU operative. Sakura felt drawn to the group and made her way to them with the boy still in her arms.
"Sakura, wait. Where are you going?" Naruto trailed after her.
"It's not working. She is losing too much blood! " they heard one medical-nin hissed in frustration.
"Her wounds are too deep. The chakra needed…I don't think even Tsunade could save her", at the mention of her teacher's name Sakura spoke.
"Let me try", the medical-nin parted as Sakura handed the boy to Naruto. The blonde received the boy as if he was a precious artifact that could be broken.
Sakura got on her knees and surveyed her patient. The ANBU operative was a woman. The medic-nin was right she was losing too much blood. Most of it came from a slice in her abdomen.
"They are right, you know. Look at the wounds and where they are located."
"That is not helpful", Sakura snapped. This was no good. She needed to calm herself.
Sakura inhale and exhale deeply. Her concentration was transported into one place. All thoughts of Sasuke were erased. She only thought of saving the woman's life. Her hand began to glow green.
She looked closely at the woman. She appeared to be in her early twenties. As she pressed her mystic palm to the most critical wound, Sakura could not shake off the feeling that she knew her.
"Who is she?" Sakura asked the closest medic-nin.
"I don't have her in the roaster given to us by the Hokage", the Medic-nin replied slowly as he looked at a clipboard.
Sakura tried to match the level of chakra transported to the woman with the severity of her injury. But her chakra was not making a difference. The woman's natural healing process was not accelerating as it should. Sakura released more chakra and commanded the other medic-nin that had remained with her to do the same.
"S-stop", a weak hand seized Sakura's arm. She looked to the owner and was surprised to see two pair of golden eyes staring back at her.
"It's of no use", the woman's voice sounded ragged. She was so pale Sakura thought she looked already looked like a corpse. An unsettling feeling formed at the pit of Sakura's stomach.
"What is your name?" Sakura asked camly, trying to help the woman focus on something other then the pain she was in.
"The children?" the woman asked instead, gasping for air.
"Children?"
Sakura's eye brows contracted. She discreetly looked around the field. As far as she could tell, there was only one child.
"They are here. My teammate has them." Sakura lied, praying the woman could not see Naruto.
"Are they…are they hurt?" the woman asked without making a move to see if Sakura was telling her the truth.
"Don't worry about them. What unit do you belong to?"
"Answer me!" the woman coughed up blood. Seeing the sight of it, made Sakura panicked.
"They are. They are unconscious at the moment, but safe".
This seemed to calm the woman. She focused her eyes on Sakura and despite the pain she was in, a small smile formed in her face. A smile that was only reserved for friends.
Suddenly, her smile froze as she realized something. She tightened her grip on Sakura's arm. She moved her body an attempt to sit up, but the pain of the effort send her back to the ground.
"The children – they need to get out."
"What?" That was unexpected.
"Save…save Itachi and-"
Itachi? The image of the Sasuke's older brother flashed in Sakura's mind. But as far as she knew, he was dead. Didn't the woman know?
"What does he have to do with this?"
The woman shut her eyes as the deteriorating pain inside her body became unbearable.
"ARGH!" she screamed. Sakura summoned more chakra and pressed it to the woman's wound.
"Stay with me!" Sakura commanded.
"Listen to me", the woman tugged Sakura's hand to bring her closer and when their faces were mere inches from each other, to the point where Sakura feel her breath on her face, she whispered: "Those children they n-need–", the woman gasped again.
"Don't strain yourself", Sakura said and wondered where this sudden strength had come from.
"Protection. Don't let him get to them", she pleaded.
Sakura was extremely confused.
"Who are you?"
"Promise me" the woman pleaded again, her grip already weakening.
Sakura held her gaze, searching for something that would let her know what the hell was going on. The golden eyes held no hint of fear. There was only determination. A small flame burning against the encroaching darkness. Sakura's throat tightened. This woman was near death, yet the she was not afraid for herself or death.
Fine. Sakura could not save the woman's life, but she could fulfill her dying wish.
"I promise."
The woman closed her eyes, finally getting what she desperately wanted. The medics around Sakura stopped their flow of chakra, understanding what was going to happen and moved onto other injured shinobi.
The sun started to gradually slide away from the center of the sky. It was not long before the woman's heart stopped beating, and she exhaled her last breath.
Sakura gently laid the woman's head on the ground and looked at her. She looked so peaceful. Like she was sleeping. Death was something Sakura always saw in her line of profession. She rarely cried when she lost a patient because she realized there was no use in crying. But without realizing it, a single tear rolled down Sakura's cheek and landed on top of the woman's hand.
"Who were you?"
Sakura waited along with her recently-bandaged team on the bench outside the Hokage's office. No one was talking, not even Naruto. He was sitting quietly next to Sakura, twirling his ANBU mask around his finger. Neji did not even bother to escold Naruto. The shame and guilt that was consuming their team was too much for them to bear and talking only made it worse.
After the death of the ANBU, Sai appeared with Neji leaning against him for support. Not one minute passed before they sighted the little boy in Naruto's arms. At first, Sakura thought that Neji was going to attack, seeing as he activated his byakugan, and was ready to throw herself in between Neji and the boy.
"It's not him", was all Neji said before ordering his team to head back to the village. This is where things went more downhill then they already had.
Sakura could not forget her promise to the woman. She promised to help the children, but how could she help them when one of them was missing? So naturally, she could not leave without scouting the place for the missing child. She tried to explain this to her leader, but it didn't matter to Neji. His main priority was to promptly report to the Hokage. So an argument with the Hyuga ensued.
Personally, Sakura liked Neji. She found him to be incredibly skillful as a Shinobi and understanding. She was certain he would agree to search for a child who had been trapped in a battlefield. It appeared that Madara hit Neji in the head because he was acting like jerk.
This is when the name calling and blame started. Needless to say, her team was nowhere near to getting the team unity award. But in the end, her argument with Neji and her search were futile. There was not a single trace of the other child. It did not help Sakura that she had no idea what the child looked like and what she was suppose to look for.
Sakura then got more on Neji's bad side when she suggested taking the child she did have to the hospital. It was not entirely her fault. Despite the boy not being Sasuke and the former being unconscious, Naruto felt a sense of attachment towards the boy and had refused to hand him over to any medic-nin. He would be the one to take him.
Sensing the murderous aura that Neji was emanating, Sai intervened by pointing out to Neji that while they were checking-in the boy, Neji could be examined by a "real" doctor because he doubted Sakura would treat him properly now that he upset her. This earned Sai a good smack on the head from Sakura.
The door to the Hokage's office opened and Kakashi's head poked out from behind it. His hair looked disheveled and sleep deprived.
"Alright, I'm ready for you guys."
Sakura and her team filed in and aligned themselves before the new Hokage. Since the last time they had been here – which was just a couple of hours ago – the Hokage's office had become a mess. There were piles upon piles of paperwork on Kakashi's desk and on the surrounding floor. No doubt they were reports from the Shinobi that had been out in the field with Akatsuki.
Kakashi went around the desk, sat on the chair, and moved some of the papers to get a better view of the team. He nodded at Neji to begin with the briefing.
"The mission was failure."
Sakura tried hard to not feel ashame of herself, but failed miserably. What she wanted the most right now was to go the nearest mountain she could find, dig a hole, and hide inside it.
There was a pause before Kakashi spoke. "Explain yourself."
"It was my fault, sir." Both Naruto and Sakura stiffened as Neji took the blame. But only one remained quiet.
"That is not true!" Naruto intervened. Sakura closed his eyes. Neji would not be happy.
"Naruto!" Neji exclaimed just as Sakura expected. "I am your team leader. Every mistake that you make is my mistake. Now, be quiet or I will have to throw you out of the room."
"If it wasn't for me, we wouldn't have failed."
"He is right, Naruto", Kakashi calmly said as he brought his hands before him and placed his chin over them.
"Every mistake you guys make falls on Neji as team leader. Team Ten failed its mission to kill Sasuke but don't be too hard on yourselves. I didn't expect you to succeed on killing Sasuke on your first day. I just wanted you to delay him."
"Huh?" They all gaped at Kakashi.
"He does know we could have been killed, right?" Inner-Sakura shook her fist.
"You four just got promoted. Despite how talented this team is, it would be a mistake to think you would complete this mission in one day. Instead of feeling ashame or irritated, you four should feel proud."
"Of what?" Naruto asked blankly.
They could all see that behind his mask, the Hokage was grinning at them. His visible eye tinkled with approval.
"You prevented the village from been invaded, and now I don't have to worry about reconstructing the village. That is one less task for me take care of and more time to focus on other things." Team Ten did not miss how Kakashi looked longingly at the nearest drawer in his desk.
"He will never change. Will he?" Naruto whispered to Sakura with a deadpanned face, both knowing there was a certain book hidden inside the drawer. Sakura hung her head, wearing the same expression as Naruto. Was this man really supposed to be the Hokage? She shuddered to think what Kakahi and Tsunade's predecessors were like.
"Now that this matter is settled, I do want to talk about the child and the ANBU operative I heard your team found. Tell me everything you know about them."
"Sakura", Neji said at once since he didn't know all the details.
Sakura stepped forward and recounted every moment from when the light radiated from the tree to when the ANBU woman drew her last breath. She made sure to include the promise she made to the woman and the mentioned of Itachi's name.
"Itachi? Uchiha Itachi?"
"I don't think there is anyone else we know with that name, and even if there is, the coincidence of it and a child looking like Sasuke is too much, sir", Sakura said.
There was a pause. Kakashi leaned back against the chair. The sun was already hidden behind the mountains, allowing a couple of stars to become visible in the sky.
"Sakura, do clarify this. The ANBU operative told you to look after the children, but there was only one child?"
"Yes, sir."
"She did not specify the number of children?"
"No", Sakura responded slowly and then procedeed to mentally kick herself for not considering that there could be more than one missing child. She had just assumed that there was just one child. Surely, the woman could not carry more than two children in her arms.
"Did she mentioned or gave any indication as to why she was in the area?"
"No, sir. But she did suggest they were in danger from a man", Sakura stated as she recalled the ANBU mentioning a "him."
"Sakura, when you scouted the area did you find anything?"
"No, sir."
Another paused proceeded. There was clearly something bothering Kakashi. Sakura could tell from the pensive expression on his face. The only time Kakashi looked like that was when he knew something serious was going on.
Sakura was about to ask the Hokage what he was thinking about but then-
"What are you going to do about the little guy, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto blurted loudly as though he had been refraining from asking the question this whole time.
Kakashi considered Naruto for a moment. He knew the boy would not like the answer, so he braced himself for his reaction. "For the mean time, I am having a squad of ANBU operatives guard him."
"But he is just a kid! Surely someone else less frightning can look after him", Naruto said, thinking about how porcelain masks were creepy to children. The thought came mostly from his childhood experience. "How about Iruka- sensei? He is great with kids."
"Calm now, Naruto. I'm not sending him to prison. But until we know more about the boy, we need to keep a close eye on him. I agree with Sakura. The coincidence that there is a boy that looks like Sasuke and the mentioned of Itachi's named is just too great to ignore."
"Sir, has the identity of that ANBU woman been found?" Sakura needed to know who she was. She needed to know to whom she made a promise.
But Kakashi shook his head, "No. There are no traces of her identity in the registries we have of all the ANBU operatives."
"What?"
"It is like she has never existed."
"Eight"
"Nine"
"TEN"
Sakura threw another shuriken at the practice target she nailed to the door. She was currently inside the office she shared with shizune in the hospital, trying to relieve the stress she was feeling.
Of course, what she actually needed was sleep. She was exhausted, but she doubted she would get any with everything that had occurred during the day. And her meeting with Sasuke would surely inspire nightmares she would rather not have.
No, it was best to stay up and release her frustration in some way that was not treating patients. It would not be helpful for her career if she killed someone because of her lack of sleep. Thankfully for Sakura, Kakashi decided to not send her team on the hunt for Sasuke for another day or two. His decision had something to do with visitors coming to the village and he needed ANBU operatives in the village.
Sakura sighed. She was becoming restless with having nothing to do besides throwing shuriken. And that was becoming dull, especially when there was room for only two or three more.
"I know what you are thinking", her inner said playfully.
"If you know, then why tell me?" Sakura replied irratibly. She was not in the mood to humor anyone, much less her inner self.
"You are spooked."
"Huh?" Sakura halted in the middle of throwing a shuriken and listened to her inner self.
"You heard Kakashi. There are no traces of that woman's identity. It was as if she never existed. And you know what that means."
"No, I don't know what it means", replied quickly as she tried to shrug off the unsettling feeling she was getting. Was it her or was the room getting cold?
"Don't play dumb with me. You know as well as I do that the woman was a…ghost."
A chill run down Sakura's spine. The hairs in her arms stood up like spines. The woman could not have been a ghost. She was definitely solid. Sakura held her hand for at least half an hour.
But there were no files on her.
What about the head-band protector Sakura found on the woman? It was proof she was from the Leaf, or maybe she stole the uniform from an operative.
"Or she is a ghost", Inner-Sakura whispered.
The sound of the office door opening startled Sakura. Acting on instincts, Sakura quickly threw a shuriken at the intruder.
"Hey, Sakura. Kakashi-sensei said to-" Naruto stopped talking the moment he saw the blur that was the shuriken fly past him. Turning pale, he slid down the floor.
"Sa-Sakura, wh-what was that fo-for?"
"Naruto" Sakura brought her hand to her mouth in horror. "I am so sorry", Sakura began bowing and apologizing to the boy. "I thought you were an enemy."
"No, you thought he was a ghost", her inner-self corrected.
"So you were saying something about Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura tugged her hair behind her ear nervously.
Naruto tried to remember why he was there in the first place. "Oh, he said to report to the chambers below the Hokage's tower", Naurto said as he got up from the floor.
"Is it about the second child? He found him?" Sakura asked hopefully. Kakashi agreed to send scouts to the forest to find the boy.
"No. Not yet."
"Oh, Ok", Sakura said in dissapointment. "Let me get my gear and then we can head out to get yours."
"I gave my bag to Sai. I ran into him when I was coming for you."
As Sakura got her ANBU uniform from a nearby locker, Naruto looked around her office to entertained himself. The office was small and bright. He could not say that it was neat, for there were clothes everywhere and mountains of books against the wall. Just by looking at them, Naruto got sleepy.
"I didn't know you had your own office, Sakura", naruto yawned.
"I share it with Shizune, but she hardly comes here. She spends most of her time with patients or with Tsunade."
"That's nice", Naruto commented. His eyes threatened to close, but before they did, he recognized something in taped to the door.
"Sakura."
"Yes?" Sakura responded absent minded. She was trying to decide if she still needed to wear her headband protector. She wore it during the attempted-invasion, but it was uncomfortable behind the mask.
"Why do you have my drawing of Sasuke?" Naruto pointed to a badly drawn picture of Sasuke, taped on all four corners to the office door. There were ten shuriken piercing through it.
Sakura decided that she could just carry her protector in her pouch. "Oh, that. I went to your house while you were gone with Yamato and saw it. I thought it would be helpful for shuriken practice", Sakura said without feeling any embarrassment at all.
Naruto did not reply. Instead he looked at it thoughtfully. He was not the brightest guy in his class or in the village for that matter, but it did not mean he was stupid. He knew that Sakura's resentment towards Sasuke was because she still had feelings for him. True, she hated him, but Naruto thought, this hate came from the fact that she still loved him.
It hurt to admit it because Naruto still found himself drawn to Sakura. He liked everything about her, including her tempter. But there was no point in denying the truth about who held Sakura's heart. If he did, he knew it would just hurt him more in the end. There was a bright side however. He could sometimes feel Sakura looking at him as more than a friend.
"Naruto", Sakura's voice rung through his ears. "I'm ready." She hoisted a gym bag on her shoulder and slid her dark gloves on.
"Before we go, can we check on little guy?"
"Little guy?" Sakura repeated.
"Yeah, the Sasuke look-alike. I bet he is awake now."
Sakura also wanted to check on the boy. She had been worried about him since they checked him in to the hospital. She wanted to see him, but she felt nervous. Of what? She wasn't too sure just yet.
"Come. I will show you the way", she said.
They knew there was something wrong as soon as they heard the screams coming from the room. Naruto and Sakura raced through the hall and kicked the door open. Naruto had been right. The boy had awakened. But it was doubtful that he predicted the scene that lay before the two of them.
The boy, whose eyes were bandaged, was standing on his bed and pressed his back against the wall. In his hand, he was holding a shard from a broken vase and threatening two nurses not to come close to him.
"Come here boy! Before you get yourself hurt", said one of the nurses.
"No! I want to know where the others are", the boy snapped at them. Sakura was impressed the boy knew where the nurses were. He was probably following their voices.
"If you don't come here, you will get in trouble."
"Don't come near me, or you will be the one getting hurt."
Sakura took noticed of the boy stance. He was holding the shard like it was a kunai and was positioned in a well-practice stance. The boy could not be more than five years old, yet Sakura could tell he already had shinobi training. Of course, the perfection of his stance did not matter when he did not have the strength to back it up. In a match between two grown women and a child, there plainly clear who would win.
One nurse finally got fed up with the boy's antics and approached him just as he jumped forward to attack. Sakura made her move. She lunged for the boy's waist, wrapt one hand around it, and brought him against her chest. With her free hand, she took away the shard without hurting the boy and dropped it to the floor.
"You should listened to your elders", Sakura told him. She tried to sound firm, but the surprise look on the boy's face was just too adorable for her.
"Miss Haruno, thank goodness you're here", one of the nurses said in relief.
"What happened?" Sakura asked while not releasing the boy from her arms.
"We don't know. When we got here, we saw the broken vase and the boy on top of the bed threatening us. We tried to calm him down, but that just got him more rattle up. He kept asking for his companions." The pity in their faces let Sakura know they knew about the woman's death.
"We will take it from here. Thank you", she dismissed them.
The nurses excused themselves and left Sakura and Naruto with the boy. This whole time the boy had been silent. With concern printed on his face, Naruto got closer and poked one of the boy's chubby little cheeks. This seemed to bring the boy back from wherever he was in his thoughts because he began to struggle in Sakura's arms.
"You are going to hurt yourself if you keep struggling."
"Then let me go", the little boy countered.
"If I let you go, then promise to be good. Understood?" The boy took a moment to consider his options before he nodded. Sakura released him. As soon as his little feet landed on the bed, the boy scurried to the other side of the bed where he sat on top of his knees.
"Where are my friends?" the boy asked quietly.
"Should I tell him?" Sakura asked her inner-self. She really did not want to lie to the boy, but she didn't have the heart to tell him that the woman was dead and the other child was missing, probably dead.
"Why are his eyes bandaged?" Naruto whispered.
Without answering the boy's question, Sakura walked to the front of the bed and took the chart hanging there. She hoped that the state of his health would concern him enough to make him forget about his own question. Besides, he was a child. Children got easily distracted.
"It seems I was right. The substance on his eyes was oil. It says here it burned some of the skin around his eyes."
"Really? Ah! Wait…. Is he going to be blind?" Naruto panicked, looking from the boy to the chart.
"No, but his skin and eyes need time to heal." Sakura continue to read the chart, looking for the boy's name. There was no name listed for him or his parents. But she did find something interesting. The oil on the boy's eyes was one used by grass shinobi.
Were they the ones who wounded the woman? Sakura put the chart down.
"What is your name?" She asked, making her voice sweet.
"…"
"Well…" Sakura pressed on trough clenched teeth. Attachment or no attachment, the boy was starting to get on her nerves.
The boy did not waver. He remained silent. His lips pursed together in a form of defiance.
"Hey, little boy, why aren't you answering?" Naruto asked impatiently. This got a reaction. Turning red, the boy swung his feet off the bed. If his eyes were not bandaged, the boy would have glared shards at them.
"I am not a little boy", told them as though he had been fatally insulted.
"Good little boy's answer when they are asked questions", Naruto tried to bait him.
"No, good boys don't talk to strangers", the boy turned his back on them again and added, "and you didn't answer my question first. That's rude."
Sakura looked to Naruto for help. Surely, they could not break the news to the boy. He was just a child. But Naruto too was at lost about what they should do.
"Why aren't you answering?" the boy's quiet voice made Sakura's ears turned red, a reaction of she got whenever she was under pressure.
The boy spun with frustration. "ANSWER ME. WHY AREN'T YOU TALKING?"
Dead silence was the answer the boy got, but it seemed the boy realized the reason for their hesitation, for blood began to drain from his face.
"No. No", they boy muttered to himself, shaking his head in disbelief. "NO!"
He tried to run towards them with another shard he had hidden. But he tripped and fell to the floor. The shard flew out of his hand, landing somewhere under his bed.
The boy didn't get up. He remained where he was; his arms hugging his head. This time he let his emotions fly freely.
"NO! NO!" he painfully screamed as Sakura stood there not knowing what to do. She never experienced the lost of someone she cared about. She knew an "I know how it feels" would sound superficial coming from her. Before Sakura could stop him, Naruto knelt before the boy and placed his hand on his shoulder. The boy flinched and slapped his hand.
"GET AWAY FROM ME", he yelled furiously, pulling away. "DON'T' TOUCH ME!"
The scene before Sakura was breaking her heart. A child should not have to experience something so horrible at such an early age.
"Sakura, can't we do something?" Naruto looked at the boy with pity in his eyes, understanding loss the boy was going through.
Sakura moved towards the boy; her hand glowing green. The moment it made contact with the boy's neck, the crying stopped. His body was limp with sleep. Sakura picked the boy in her arms and carried him to his bed.
"Sakura", Naruto asked as she laid the boy down in the bed. "Can we stay with him?"
"I wish we could, Naruto. But we are late as it is. We could come back later."
Naruto nodded with understanding and headed to the door. Before following her teammate, Sakura made sure that there were no vases or scapels the boy could use to harm himself or others. Her eyes flicker to the boy. She wished she could do more than force sleep on him and, so, before she knew it, she found her lips touching his forhead.
"I am sorry."
A tattoo. The reason why Kakashi had summoned team ten was because of a tattoo. But it was not just any regular marking on their skin. The mark the new ANBU team was going to get engrave on their skin was the signature spiral all ANBU operatives received as proof of their status.
"Come on already. I'm ready for this", Naruto said.
"You won't be feeling so eager in a couple of minutes", Kakashi heard the tattooist muttered darkly.
"Naruto will you be quiet already", Sakura, who was sitting on the chair next to Naruto, snapped. She was already getting the tattoo on her right shoulder as it was customary for the woman. Kakashi saw that his former student tried to indure the pain by biting her lip and looking anywhere except her shoulder. Next to her was Neji. He too was already getting tattooed but on his left shoulder. He was his usual quiet and reserved self, but he too was in pain. The stiffness of his body and the vain popping from his forhead was proof enough. As for the last member of the team, he was sitting in the corner of the chamber. He already had his tattoo. There was nothing for him to do except to read a tattered copy of Great Leaders of the Shinobi World.
"OW!"
"Hold still kid", the tattooist said as he tried to push Naruto back to his chair.
"What you are doing, old man. That hurt…OW!"
"Naruto, what did you expect that needle to feel like?" Kakashi sighed, recalling his own experience at getting the tattoo.
"Kakashi", a voice called from the shadows of the chamber. Kakashi turned slightly.
"So you're here? I didn't expect you so soon", he lied. Truth be told, he knew they were on their way. Konoha's spies were efficient like that.
"We were already on our way when we intercepted your letter."
"Is that so?" Kakashi narrowed his single eye.
"Come on Kakashi, don't take it that way. I'm sure a message was send to you, but it probably got lost. You know Gaara likes you", the voice said as it stepped from the shadows and into the dim light of the chamber. A boy with purple markings on his face and a puppet on his back was revealed.
"I don't think that can be said of the other kages", Kakashi replied. More figures stepped from the shadows. It was a total of five shinobi. Four men and one woman. Each one selected to be part of this team by their respective Kages.
"So Kakashi, who have you chosen as Konoha's representative?" Kankuro looked straight at Naruto, who had passed out from the pain.
"Not Naruto", Kakashi answered automatically. "If you follow me, I will introduce you to the person I've chosen."
"So Naruto and Sakura are ANBU now", Kankuro remarked as he and his companions followed the Hokage to his office.
Kakashi smiled beneath his mask, "They just did. Ah, here we are", the group stopped in front of his office. He opened the door and revealed a man standing in the middle of the room with his back to them.
"Lady and gentlemen, may I introduce to you to your new teammate: Yamato."
Yamato turned to faced them. "Hey", he raised his arm in greeting.
"Someone is crying" a voice stated softly.
"Who could be crying?" the voice wondered and listened carefully. There were loud bangs on the wall. The cries became louder and louder.
"Who is there?" the voice called.
"WHO IS THERE", Sasuke woke up screaming. He looked around the room for the source of the cries and found Madara sitting in a chair in the far corner. His sharingan was shining brightly in the dark.
"Nightmare?" the masked man asked casually.
Sasuke panted. He was covered in cold sweat. He could not hear the person crying anymore, but he was sure he had heard it. He tried to move from his bed but as soon as he did, a sharp pain paralyzed him.
"Argh", Sasuke looked to his side. His torso was bandaged tightly. He could see a blood stain forming in the side of where he was wounded.
"Orochimaru did well in making you resistant to poison. That little teammate of yours could have killed you."
Sasuke remembered getting stabbed by Sakura. The mere memory of it made him swell with anger. But it was not just because his former teammate managed to injure him. His plans to conquer Konoha were foiled.
"Leave me alone", Sasuke hissed.
"I will, but before I do, we need to talk."
Sasuke looked expectantly at Madara. He knew the man would not leave until he had his say. The sooner he spoke, the sooner the young Uchiha could agonize over his unsuccessful plan to invade.
"I think it's time for you to reconsider Itachi's eyes", Madara said simply.
With nothing to lose, there is nothing to fear and nothing to look forward to. A life with nothing is one full of loneliness and slow suffering. Until the day comes, when one cannot feel anymore.
Next time on Hidden Leaf Revelations:
An Uchiha Decision
A/N:
Hello, there. Happy New Year! It was been months, sorry! School has been extremely busy. Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter and please review. Please look forward to the next chapter. It will be mainly about Sasuke, and there will be a little, fluffy Sasusaku moment. I know I am lacking on those. But it is the nature of the story ;)
P.S. The next chapters will deviate from the manga for various reasons. But it is mainly that reading the manga distracts me from my studies. Seriously, the story is so addicting that I can't concentrate on my duties because I spend most of my time thinking about how life sucks for the people in Naruto. Am I the only one this happens to?