"It's so simple it's stupid." Sakura said, sitting behind Gaara with her hand against his back. "I've been looking for something new, something complicated, when it was so simple. Sometimes I'm too smart for my own good."
"For my good either." Gaara muttered. Sakura ignored him; she was in too good of a mood now to be bothered. When she had told him she knew what was wrong with her he hadn't given her a smile as he had in her dream – he was his usual stony self. She found herself feeling disappointed.
"It's not a seal." She repeated, having physically confirmed her suspicions. "It is many seals. I don't know how they managed to do this to you in one night, but that hardly matters now. What matters is that it can be fixed."
Gaara nodded. "Good."
Sakura tapped her lip, thinking. "It's not as simple as that though... I mean, basically, it's very simple; to use several seals on top of each other. But to unseal them, we'll have to unravel them, one by one. It's not going to be easy."
"But you can handle it right?" Gaara asked doubtfully.
Sakura nodded absently. "Oh yes, I can do it. It's not me I'm worried about."
"You're worried about me?" Gaara asked, sounding almost a little miffed.
Sakura looked at him. Would he be insulted she wondered. It didn't matter either way; she had to tell him. "You're going to have to build up your chakra again yourself, for the most part. As if you were beginning all over again. The problem is that there are several physical barriers, as well as the symbols. I can remove one seal, but then you will have to work up your chakra to your limit then, and then I can unseal the next, and so on and so forth."
Gaara rubbed his chin for a moment in silence. At last he asked. "How many seals are there, in total?"
Sakura took a deep breath to steady her nerves. She was afraid of Gaara's reaction to her news, wondering if he would be angry, wondering if he would feel anything at all. "I'm not sure but... it seems like there are dozens, possibly up to a hundred."
Gaara was silent another moment. Sakura waited. If it was her, she would have wanted to cry. How long would it take, to unseal a hundred seals? How terrible the wait.
Finally Gaara nodded. "We'd best get started then."