TH: Welp, this is the second to last chapter in tPoS! We've come a ways, haven't we? I thank you all kindly for sticking with me as the time between chapters has gotten longer and longer... I apologize for that. I'll do my best to make sure the last chapter comes out in the next week or two. In the meantime, please read and enjoy, and if you could see your way to reviewing, I'd take it as a kindness!
beta: Icescim
The Philosophy of Self
Chapter Nineteen
Sakura came to staring at the bright sky and white clouds framed by jagged, broken stone. She blinked lazily, slowly coming up out of unconsciousness. Dimly, she realized something elsewhere in the room was howling. It was an inhuman, rage-filled sound. She also thought someone was shouting, but she couldn't quite hear the words.
She groaned as the ache in her head pounded its way to the front of her awareness. :Oh, yeah… Ow.:
Smashing into walls, it turned out, hurt a bit.
Her healing chakra automatically pooled in her head, healing most of the concussion before it sputtered out. She was spent. Hopefully, that wasn't going to prove a problem.
Sakura flinched as several somethings flashed across the piece of sky in her vision. Then, as her mind caught up with her eyes, she gasped and struggled upright. "Naruto!"
The creature that was her Teammate shrieked its fury as it chased Itachi around the room. Nothing could be seen of Naruto's own features—where there was once blond hair, blue eyes and orange fabric there was now a shifting, writhing cowl of red and black. His eyes and mouth were glowing slashes against his face, and he was bent onto all fours with a distinctly inhuman grace.
Naruto wasn't home—the Kyuubi was in charge. And the Kyuubi evidently wanted Itachi dead. The Uchiha was making a pretty good showing, evading the Jinchuuriki's four-tailed form for the most part. Sakura could see, however, that he had raw wounds from the Kyuubi's caustic chakra, and that his strength was flagging.
Kakashi was doing his best to help Itachi, but to do so he had to get into close to Naruto, close enough to touch so he could set the restraining seal on Naruto's belly. Getting that close obviously meant danger. Sakura remembered that day, with Yamato-taicho, and Orochimaru; she remembered how the Kyuubi's chakra had burned.
Sakura wished, with a painful earnestness, that Yamato was with them. His ability to use the Mokuton to restrain Naruto would be invaluable right about now.
Ignoring her still-throbbing head, Sakura staggered to her feet, taking stock of the situation more fully.
What had happened to Madara? The last she remembered, he had been blasted by the Kyuubi's chakra, just like Sakura. But he was nowhere to be seen…
:Wait. Oh… oh.: Sakura's eyes widened and she couldn't help but raise one hand to her mouth in disgust. Madara was nowhere to be seen, but pieces of him were. There. And there… and there…
The Kyuubi, through Naruto, had ripped the ancient Uchiha into little bits and strewn them about the room. A mostly-intact arm dangled from a jagged bit of broken ceiling by a scrap of flesh. Bits of blood-sodden cloth were plastered wetly against every surface, and right next to Sakura were two sticky-wet smears on the wall, blood and something else that was clear and wet. They were what was left of Madara's eyes, if the optic nerve stuck in the midst of the mess was anything to go by.
:The Kyuubi is a wild thing, a force of nature; he does not like to be controlled. The Sharingan is a leash, a method of control,: Sakura thought. :He did this. The Kyuubi. He splattered Madara's Sharingan against the wall from fury.:
Her eyes went to the tableau before her, Naruto-Kyuubi chasing Itachi with full intent to kill. Chasing Uchiha Itachi, who also possessed the Sharingan, the ability to enthrall the Fox.
:Why not chase Kakashi? He also has a Sharingan, but the Kyuubi is almost ignoring him.: Maybe it was because Kakashi only had one Sharingan eye, or because it was a transplant. Maybe Kakashi, as a non-Uchiha, didn't have the ability to completely control the Kyuubi. After all, Kakashi did resort to using seals to restrain the beast when it surfaced. He'd never used his left eye. Maybe when he'd joined the battle of wills with Madara and Itachi earlier, he'd only been fighting Madara, not trying to grip the Kyuubi.
Sakura's eyes narrowed, then. :And why isn't Itachi using his Sharingan to subdue the Fox? Is he out of chakra?:
It seemed entirely possible; the fight with Madara had been strenuous, and Itachi was now having to put everything he had into avoiding the Kyuubi. He couldn't really strike back, because he didn't want to hurt Naruto.
Sakura cast about, and finally spotted their packs. They'd dropped them unceremoniously as soon as they'd entered the chamber and seen Madara waiting for them. Through all the jutsu flying about and the small explosion from the Kyuubi's chakra manifesting, the packs had shifted somewhat, but Sakura managed to locate the one she needed quickly.
She scrambled to it, pain from her partially healed wounds dogging each step she took. Finally, teeth gritted, she got to it, ripped it open, and snatched out a small packet.
"Itachi!" she cried, spinning. Without waiting for an answer, she pitched the ANBU Stimpack she held at her Teammate.
Itachi had swift reflexes, even if he wasn't using the Sharingan. He caught the packet, tearing it open and crunching down on the two pills inside without a second thought.
Almost immediately, Sakura felt his weakened chakra pulse with sudden strength. Itachi stopped in his tracks, and his head snapped around to pin Naruto-Kyuubi with a level stare. His Sharingan was bright in his face once more.
"Stop," he said. His voice was gentle, but the tone of command was unmistakable.
The Kyuubi shrieked once more, then the glaring red chakra twisted and disappeared, drawing back into Naruto like water down a drain. Left bare, burned, and dazed, Naruto lifted his blurred blue eyes to them.
"Wha—?" he managed, and then his consciousness fled like a switch had been flipped. Kakashi was at his side in an instant, rolling the collapsed Jinchuuriki over to check the seal on his belly. The lines of it were bold against his skin, but they faded when Kakashi touched the seal carefully with chakra-encased fingertips.
"He'll be alright," Kakashi said, when he looked up. Sakura let out her breath, and looked toward Itachi.
The Uchiha had moved close, and was looking down at Naruto with weary relief. He was streaked with sweat, blood, soot, and pulverized stone dust.
"Are you alright?" Sakura asked. He nodded slightly.
"As well as can be expected," he said in a voice rough with exhaustion, relief, and a thousand other emotions. Madara was dead, but so was Sasuke. Yes, Sakura could see how Itachi would have mixed feelings.
"We did it," she said, the victory just beginning to fully dawn on her. "Madara's dead. We did it."
Her own exhaustion, and adrenalin, and pain, and relief, and grief all mixed together in a hysteric bubble in her chest, which rose into her throat and erupted in a slightly manic giggle.
Sakura sat down hard, still giggling.
"Well," Kakashi said, his eyes curving shut with his smile. "That's good then."
Then he collapsed, like he had after his fight with Zabuza, having used his Sharingan too much and pushed himself too hard. The whump he made and the dust cloud that rose around him as he hit the floor made Sakura giggle more.
Her head snapped to the side and her cheek stung, and Sakura blinked in surprise, her laughter cut off. She turned her head back around and met Itachi's grim eyes.
"Forgive me," he said, lowering his hand. "You were becoming hysterical."
He'd slapped her. Sakura took a couple deep, shaky breathes, feeling the wild edge of her feelings dim. "It's alright. It's fine; I needed that."
She paused and looked at her Teammates. Naruto was unconscious, so was Kakashi. Neither had wounds that were life-threatening, fortunately. Sakura, herself, was pretty much out of chakra and didn't even have the energy to want to try to stand.
Itachi fetched another ANBU Stimpack and pressed it into her hand. "We still need to get out of here and get back to Konoha. Take this, then help Naruto. Try to get him to wake, and help him heal up. At least enough that he can travel. We'll put Kakashi on a stretcher; his wounds aren't bad, so we'll just bandage him."
"I'll have enough chakra to heal him, once I take this," she said as she ripped the Stimpack open. But Itachi shook his head.
"No. You'll need most of your energy for travel. Just get Naruto conscious; he'll recover quickly with the Kyuubi's energy, and then he can carry Kakashi's stretcher. You and I, we'll need to travel light; we're probably going to crash from the Stims before we reach Konoha as it is."
Sakura frowned. "Fine, I won't heal Kakashi yet. But you, I insist on treating your wounds, otherwise you won't even reach Konoha at all."
"Fine," he said. "Get to work."
The ANBU Stimpacks worked much like Soldier Pills, but unlike the normal Pills, they were strictly controlled and given only to ANBU. Tsunade had bent some rules in giving them to Team Seven, even if Itachi and Kakashi were 'ex'-ANBU. The reason was that the Stimpacks were much stronger than normal Pills, stronger and more dangerous. Simply put, they increased chakra and energy and awareness in those who took them, but they did so by accelerating the body's natural processes and increasing adrenal activity. And all that came at a price. The energy had to come from somewhere, and in this case it was the ninja's body. Ninja generally took stimulants when their energy was flagging, which meant the levels of free glucose in their bodies were low, which meant the body turned to stored energy—fat was broken down first, and then muscle—to fuel its increased metabolism. The Stimpacks also increase adrenalin production, which in turn increases heart-rate and respiration. All of the increases in bodily functions cause strain on the body, which can be dangerous if said body is not fit enough.
Sakura felt the effects almost immediately after taking the pills, and went quickly to work on Naruto. For all their strength, the Stimpacks didn't last forever. When it wore off, Sakura knew she was going crash, hard. Itachi was right, it would be best if they got going as soon as possible.
Naruto's inherently quick healing made the job a little easier for Sakura. She helped the inflammation and rawness caused by the massive amount of the Kyuubi's chakra that had cycled through Naruto's chakra network, and gave the re-growth of the outer layers of his skin a little nudge. It wasn't long before his eyes were moving under the lids, and he started stirring.
"Guh," he said, eyes fluttering open. "Sakura-chan? What happened?"
"Madara pissed Kyuubi off," Sakura said succinctly.
"Oh no!" Naruto said, looking around with a wild sort of worry. In his experience, nothing good came of the Kyuubi getting angry. He saw Kakashi sprawled on the floor, and his eyes went wide. "I didn't do that, did I?"
"No…" Sakura said. "I mean, not directly…"
"Kyuubi tore Madara limb from limb," Itachi put in. "Then he attempted to do the same with me. Kakashi merely exhausted himself helping me stay alive."
"I…I'm sorry," Naruto whispered, shrinking into himself. Itachi shook his head, giving a vague gesture.
"Madara is dead, and we are alive," he said. "That is well worth any discomfort."
"Speaking of," Sakura said, "let me look at your wounds now."
Itachi gave Naruto an order to scrounge up materials to make a stretcher for Kakashi before he submitted readily to Sakura's care. Sakura worked on healing him for a while in silence before she murmured: "Madara died without knowing the truth about you. Is that alright?"
"He is dead," Itachi replied. "Whether he believed I was Sasuke or not doesn't matter."
"I suppose that's true. But didn't you… I don't know… want to rub it in his face?"
"I am just… so weary," Itachi said, so quietly it was like he wasn't really talking to anybody but himself. "It is hard to care."
Sakura's chest tightened as the soft words reached her straining ears, but she couldn't really find anything to say. She had no words of reassurance. So she was silent, smoothing her hand over the last of his worst wounds.
"There," she said finally. "That should keep you going until we reach Konoha. You'll need some hospital care to fully recover, though."
"I see," he said, rotating his shoulders. "Thank you."
She hesitated like she wanted to add something else, but at that moment Naruto returned with some sturdy, straight branches. "Here! We can sling some of the bedrolls together with these."
"Good," Itachi said. "Then let's do so. We need to get moving."
It was nearing dawn when the gate guards at Konoha's main gate noticed a small group approaching the Village. Two were leaning on each other, which the third was dragging a stretcher behind him.
The gate guards stood in unison, recognizing the Team approaching. They stared, and then traded looks.
"Go retrieve a medical team from the hospital, and alert the Hokage," the senior guard ordered. His partner rushed off, and he waited for the Team to reach the gates. According to his orders, he was not allowed to leave his post if his partner wasn't there, no matter what. He had to wait until Team Seven reached the gate themselves.
The medical team, and the Hokage herself, arrived before they did. Tsunade crossed her arms and waited with an apparent air of impatience. When Team Seven reached the threshold of the gate, Sakura looked up from under Itachi's arm and gave her teacher a weary grin.
"We're home," she said. Tsunade's bearing softened, and she allowed her apprentice a slight smile.
"Welcome home."
Sakura, Itachi, and Kakashi were hospitalized. Kakashi was still in a healing coma from reaching too far beyond his limits. Itachi and Sakura were in for their wounds as well as the strain the ANBU Stimpacks had put on their bodies. The worst of their wounds were healed with chakra, but many of the non-life-threatening ones were left to heal naturally. They were wrapped and splinted to immobilize broken and cracked bones, and they were placed on glucose drips.
Naruto, of course, was completely healed by the time they'd reached Konoha, so he escaped a hospital stay. He did visit them, however, which was a nice distraction from the monotony of convalescence. And he made them promise to go with him to get ramen when they got out.
When Tsunade released them, she told them that Team Seven's report was postponed until their leader, Kakashi, recovered from his coma. She'd already gotten the unofficial summary of what had happened, anyway.
"For the time being, you are all on leave. Use this time to fully recuperate. Sakura, that means no shifts in the hospital. Naruto, don't even think about whining to me for a mission," Tsunade leveled narrowed eyes at Itachi. "And you, Uchiha. I've just barely managed to get the mess with Danzo and the Council cleaned up. I haven't had the time to even consider how to approach the matter of your real identity."
"The Village can go on believing that I am Sasuke," he said quietly. "There is no reason why Uchiha Itachi cannot simply remain dead."
"What!" Naruto bleated. "But you're Itachi! Why would you want to pretend you're Sasuke? You'd have to lie for the rest of your life!"
Sakura was staring at Itachi, confused. "But this entire time you kept adamantly denying that you were Sasuke. Why fake it now?"
"And everybody believed that to be the talk of a sick man," Itachi returned placidly. "Aside from Team Seven and you, Tsunade-sama, nobody believes it."
"But…" Sakura said, "But, your name—Itachi's name is cleared now. You're not a nukenin anymore. You're not a criminal. There's—"
"There would still be hate, and fear," Itachi interrupted her. "For so long my name was one to be reviled, like Orochimaru's—see, you flinch at his name. You can't imagine that he might be innocent. People have been taught to hate my name, fear my name. That isn't going to change easily, even with the Hokage's endorsement."
"But Sasuke was also a nukenin," Naruto said. "So you'll still get the hate and fear."
"It was never the same," Itachi said. "My crimes and Sasuke's are very different. You kept trying to bring Sasuke back, kept believing in him. There was always forgiveness for him, if he only reached out for it."
"Itachi…" Sakura trailed off.
"Well," Tsunade said, drawing their attention to her. "I won't force you to make a decision right now. Take a week, think about it. And I mean really think about it, Uchiha."
"Yes, Hokage-sama. Understood," he said.
"Alright. You're dismissed," she said, and Itachi left. Tsunade stared at Naruto and Sakura a moment, and then asked: "So. Your thoughts?"
"On?" Sakura asked. Tsunade lifted a brow.
"On Itachi. How did he behave on the mission? What did you think of working with him?"
Sakura hesitated, but Naruto didn't.
"I trust him. I like him," he said candidly. Tsunade nodded, and looked at Sakura.
"He saved my life," she said. "So either he's trustworthy, or he's playing a broader game than we might think."
"Do you think he's playing a game?"
"I…" Sakura hesitated. "I want to think he isn't."
"Mmm," Tsunade said. "Well. Thank you for sharing your perspectives. I'm not going to make any decisions until I've heard the official mission report and heard Itachi's own decision. You're dismissed."
"Understood," they said, leaving.
Outside the door, Naruto looked around and frowned. "Where'd he go?"
It was obvious who 'he' was. Sakura also looked around, and frowned. "I don't know. Maybe…um…" she trailed off, uncertain just what she could suggest. Maybe he went home? But he didn't have one; the apartment he'd been staying in during his amnesia (or whatever it was) had only been temporary and was no longer open to him. And she did not think he'd have returned to the Uchiha Compound, considering how Kakashi had said he'd reacted to it last time. He didn't have anyone to visit either, unless perhaps he had gone to pay his respects at the Memorial…
"I was going to ask if all three of us wanted to get ramen," Naruto lamented, unaware of Sakura's concern.
"What, without Kakashi?" she asked absently. :Tsunade has ANBU watching him, just in case, so probably nothing bad will happen…:
"We can go again when he wakes up," Naruto allowed magnanimously.
"WHAT?" Tsuande's voice rang out loudly from behind the closed door at their backs, making them both jump in surprise. A few stomping footsteps tracked up to the door, and Naruto and Sakura turned as Tsunade wrenched the door open and glared out at them. She snapped: "Get in here."
They obeyed with alacrity. Tsunade slammed the door shut behind them, stalked to her desk, and slammed her palm down onto the key seal for the secrecy Fuuinjutsu that had been built into the office. The veils of sound-proofing chakra swept up the walls, and then Tsunade said, with absolute fury: "Uchiha Itachi has slipped his ANBU guards and disappeared."
Sakura's jaw dropped.