Chapter 15

Everything happened so fast. After the loud blast in the eastern forest, Naruto's bloodlust was so intense Sakura got the chills from it. Then he run off and jumped towards where the blast came from…where he could sense Sasuke. Both girls tried to run after him but suddenly found out they couldn't move. They confirmed that they were both held by Shikamaru's shadow manipulation technique, and Neji's with him. Neji told the girls that all of them were being summoned by the Hokage as soon as possible, much to Sakura's dismay and protest that they should run after Naruto first. Shikamaru wouldn't budge, and told them that it's orders. With gritted teeth, Sakura went towards the Hokage tower.

Upon arriving in the tower, platoons and divisions have already been assembled, and Tsunade had already been giving orders. When she saw her apprentice, she barked about the whereabouts of Naruto. Sakura told her that he went where they could sense him. Tsunade bit her nails and utter a series of curses. Then, just as Sakura was about to ask that she too must go where Sasuke was, to finish the business with him once and for all, an ANBU appeared before them telling that something weird was going on around the village…not a single person could get out from the village! This brought confusion to Tsunade as well as all the people around there. It was confirmed when Kakashi arrived, that he couldn't set foot outside the village's perimeter, and that some kind of invisible force field or barrier was around the whole village. He had tried to use possible techniques to dispel or destroy the barrier, but nothing seems to work. Two cloaked-men arrived and they reported that they found weird markings on strategic places around the barrier, and when they analyzed it, they hypothesized that the whole village was sitting like a duck. Those markings are bombs and they could go off anytime. Enraged, Tsunade marched off towards the village's south main gate and indeed, she found out that the reports were true. She saw the markings, rather, they are ancient runes, analyzed it and with her vast knowledge and expertise, found out that what she saw was a Lost Technique…a ninjutsu so old and dangerous that it was forgotten by time itself. How on earth did that brat find this technique? Was this the one he was seeking in the impregnable prison in the Land of Grass? How did he get that information in the first place?

Then they heard loud noises followed by tremors. They could even see smoke rising up in the air, estimating that the enraging battle must be around two miles from the village. All of them have concluded one thing…Sasuke and Naruto have finally met and are engaged in the death match of powerful techniques, skills and abilities. With all the frustration building up because they can't do anything, a lot of question was in Sakura's mind. Why did Sasuke confine all of them inside the village? Did he really think that he could held all of them as hostage or was this his way of destroying the village in a manner of putting a challenge towards Naruto?

The loud sound from two powerful shinobi fighting was so unnerving it brought chills down on Sakura's spine. All of them could feel the immense power those two possessed. It was like the heat of the sun. Sasuke and Naruto were now fighting farther and farther (maybe, it's an effort from Naruto to bring the duel far from the village as possible), but they could still feel the heat of their battle. She could feel her knees becoming weak, but she must hold her ground. Fear was slowly creeping up on her. It was intimidating as well as it brought excitement in her. She so wanted to see both of them, but she knows too well that she could endanger her life. No, she knows that anyone who'll attempt to be near the two now will endanger their lives. Her heart won't stop pounding on her chest so she held her hand close to them. Sasuke is here…he was so close. She bit her lip and swallowed the lump on her throat. All she could do now was to pray that none of the two will die in this decisive battle.

Tsunade was still giving orders here and there. A group had already been assembled to analyze and dispel the technique that held the whole village immovable. Genins and Chuunins were tasked to support and help with the evacuation of the civilians, while Jounins are told to prepare for counter measures and preemptive attacks. ANBU's were told to be on stand-by. While Sakura was still unable to move, and was just glancing on the direction where she knows the two were fighting, Tsunade called out to her and told her to follow her. The two of them, together with Shizune end up in a place Sakura was unfamiliar with. A facility located in the west part of the Hokage Tower where four ANBU greeted them and immediately stood on guard. When Sakura asked where they were, just as Shizune opened two heavy metal doors, Tsunade told her in a stern expression that this is where they'll wait for Naruto and Sasuke. It's a medical facility, complete with all the possible equipments they might need. Two large beds are in the middle of all the equipments. Tsunade told her that, she knows that this time might come but prayed that she won't have to wear a black dress on this occasion. Sakura felt the murkiness of those words that all the tension she held while standing at the South Gate drained all the remaining strength from her legs that she moved towards the chair to sit down. This room will determine the fate of those two she held so dearly in her heart.

Minutes have gone to hours. The tension was so high that every cells of her body was in high alert. This was probably the longest day of her life. Tsunade gave her soldier pills as well as other supplements for her condition. Although pregnancy was considered to cause the fluctuation flow of her chakra, Tsunade understands and knows she won't be stop no matter what. This was her team, her friends. That's why Shizune was there to assist them.

As time goes by, even how far the two have fought, they could still feel large tremors and quakes. Tsunade even commented with a grin, as she stared outside through the only window in that room, that she can't wait to see the place of their fight, ground zero, and that the 'brat' was holding good in this battle. Sakura didn't understand who she was referring to, but she nodded nonetheless as worry crept into her with the ticking of the clock. Shizune reprimanded Tsunade and told her this was not the time for a joke and that she should worry as the whole village was literally sitting on a bomb that might go off anytime. Tsunade answered in a serious but smiling face…that she knows what Sasuke's plans, and added that he's still a 'brat', much to Shizune and Sakura's query looks.

A few hours passed by, they can barely feel tremors now. Had the battle been on its final stage? How were Naruto and Sasuke? These were in Sakura's mind when an ANBU appeared in front of them and reported that the barrier had suddenly diffused on its own and disappeared. With that, Tsunade, Shizune, and Sakura run outside the facility and Tsunade summoned Katsuyu. She ordered her to make two small versions of her and should follow them. Small versions of Katsuyu attached themselves to Shizune and Sakura. Then Tsunade told them to run towards where the two men held their battle.

While jumping from one branch to another, pushing her best and adding chakra unto her feet so she can cope up with her Shishou's pace, her heart was pounding so fast, she knows she was shivering. Her mind was enchanting repeatedly that both of them are alive, but there was also that fear on her heart. Sakura tried to shake-off that feeling but wasn't able to when she saw they were nearing the clearing and confirmed the devastating scene in front of her eyes. A great area was flattened, and the vast forest that was supposed to be stretching a thousand miles more was nowhere to be found. All she could see now is a barren land, with huge boulders that stood hundreds of meters tall and was obviously being unearthed from this intense battle. All of them struck and gasped in shock by what unfolded in front of them, when Kakashi, Guy, as well as the other elites came and saw the same scenery. On the ground, Sakura heard the voices of her friends, Shikamaru, Lee and Kiba, utter words of shock. She didn't have to see but she knows a lot of Konoha shinobi already arrived in the ground zero.

Tsunade commanded that no one should go near without her permission. She called Neji among the people who arrived and he activated his Byakugan, scanning the whole area. Sakura's ears strained for any information from Neji. Although shocked and she could still feel the jittering of her teeth, she held her mouth still. It took Neji a full five minutes before he spoke that he saw Naruto lying in the ground. He didn't know if he's still alive though. Before Tsunade could shout about Sasuke, Sakura already asked about Sasuke in her shaky voice. Neji answered her in a scowled face and a shake on his head. She knew she whimpered in dismay, but Hinata's voice stir something inside her. She said she saw another person, lying just hundred of meters from Naruto. Then Tsunade commanded everyone to scout the area while the three of them, Tsunade, Shizune and Sakura go to where the Byakugan users saw the two people.

And at that moment, they saw Naruto's condition. He was shirtless, and his orange pants were tattered, his face and torso were covered in blood. His skin was peeled off in some places, much like when he was in his 4-tails mode before. There were 3 scars, it was so large flesh can be seen from it and it run across his chest that stretched from upper right shoulder down to his left abdomen. Sakura was so shocked to see Naruto she didn't even notice that tears were already falling down on her cheeks. Tsunade immediately checked Naruto and declare he was not breathing. Tsunade performed resuscitation, forced air into his mouth and pumping his chest, careful not to touch the open wounds. She performed it a few times, unable to receive a response from Naruto. Tsunade was almost shouting obscenities to him, when he suddenly gasped to breathe. Tsunade sighed in relief, but saw that Naruto was having hard time breathing. She performed the Mystical Palm Technique to be able to determine the damage in him and saw that he had damaged lungs as well as broken ribs and some of his insides were ruptured. She performed the necessary first aid. It's a miracle that he was still alive. Sakura heard Tsunade saying that Sasuke had done great damage to Naruto. Then they heard Naruto's voice, even though so faint, they could still distinguish what he was saying. He was saying about Sasuke… to 'save him'.

Immediately, Sakura run off to where the 'second' person was located according to Hinata. And there he was, lying on his back, the Sword of Kusanagi just a few meters from him, the tip of the blade firmly buried on the ground. Sasuke was shirtless too, his pants were tattered and his left footwear was nowhere to be found. The most noticeable thing on him was the burn on his whole left arm. It was so nasty that flesh and skin were peeled off from it. Wait, was that a protruding bone on his chest? He was also covered in blood and his eyes were bleeding. There was a flesh hole on his left shoulder and she saw that Sasuke was coughing blood.

Indeed, the two of them really aimed to kill each other.

He was alive. But not in a good condition either, same as Naruto. He might also have been suffering from internal ruptures and broken bones.

Sakura fell into her knees. Both of her friends were alive. She didn't know how the battle ended up like this, but just by looking at her surroundings, it was massive and intense, and she couldn't understand how they were able to survive. But nonetheless, they're alive and that made her feel relieved. Medic teams, who have brought stretchers, have finally come and picked up the two men. Sakura still couldn't move so Tsunade have to shout at her and commanded her to follow her back to the facility.

Tsunade immediately sealed the whole facility and ANBU were tightly guarding around the vicinity as soon as they arrived. Her order was to never let anyone in! She tends Naruto, put all the possible paraphernalia on him while shouting to Sakura to tend to Sasuke. She wanted to protest but Tsunade gave her a scowl and that she can't leave Naruto now, because she had already started healing and repairing his internal organs. Shizune was there to support both of them. With determined face, she went to Sasuke's bed and started checking his damage. She found out his lungs was punctured with one of his ribs, and that she had to repair the 5 broken ribs first, before she could heal his lungs. She knows this would consume a lot of chakra but Tsunade relied on her for this! Shizune gave her a reassuring look before she started the grueling hours of repairing and healing.

It was a painstaking hour of healing, but she was finally able to repair his punctured lungs but found out his breathing was not stabilized yet. The hole on his left shoulder needs to be closed but it was a delicate surgery to perform. By the size of it, she concluded that it must have been from Naruto's Rasengan attack. The miracle of it was, Sasuke's body was able to absorb the attack and it didn't push through his back which could deem more damage to him. On the other hand, she finally noticed the scar on Naruto's chest was probably from Sasuke's Chidori attack. Shizune tends the burn on Sasuke's arm and told Sakura she will perform the surgery. She nodded just as she heard Naruto's moan. Sakura's head whipped towards the other bed and saw that Tsunade was still performing the healing and repairing session on him. She heard him utter Sasuke's name, and Tsunade barked at him to shut up. She saw that most of Naruto's injuries were now healed, thanks to Tsunade and Naruto's fast healing ability, because of the Kyuubi.

Now she needs to focus on the man before him. He's still not looking good. He was lying so still, and if not because of his labored breathing, you can mistake him to be dead already. He was so pale so she forced two blood pills unto his mouth. His eyes were still bleeding though. After Shizune performed healing on his burnt arm, she only did it halfway, as to give the body its own way to heal itself, she told Sakura to hold down Sasuke. She's going to close the hole on his shoulder and it would take painful hours to perform. The patient will undergo a painful break-and-repair of his tissue which would make him trash violently. They can't give an anesthesia as it could affect the effectiveness of the healing ability of the surgery they'll perform. After all, the surgery was of a ninja technique performed by elite medical expert like Tsunade and Shizune. Sakura nodded so she went up the bed and straddled Sasuke and hold down both his arms. Then Shizune started the surgery. Sasuke screamed and began to trash violently, but Sakura held him steady. She saw him contorted his face because of pain, and it hurts her. Shizune told her to hold her ground, so she chose to close her eyes while holding Sasuke down. It went on for a two hours, until they saw that the wound had closed. After that session, Sasuke didn't move so Sakura asked Shizune what happened. Shizune told her that he just passed out from exhaustion, they too should rest a bit. Shizune went to Tsunade and found out she too was almost done with Naruto.

Sakura want to check the status of Sasuke's eyes as she can see that it's bleeding, so she put her two hands near his temple and her hands began to glow. Nothing seemed wrong on his eyes so she closed her own eyes to concentrate more. Aside from broken sensitive nerves around the retina which caused the bleeding, she also found out that the connecting muscles and tissues around the eyes have 'scars' indicating he had undergo eye surgery before. That puzzled her a bit. Did this mean, Sasuke had implanted different eyes on him? What for? She can't find an answer unless she asked him that directly but for now, she will heal the damage around his eyes…for she knows how important his eyes to him.

After 8 hours of healing, repairing and tending to the two, they finally stabilized and were out of danger. Sakura finally managed to walk outside the facility and noticed it's already dark. The whole Konoha was still alive with all the commotion that happened but was reassured that everyone was safe. She was tired and exhausted, she was hungry, but most of all she have this feeling she can't describe. Sasuke's finally in Konoha but what now? What will happen to him? What will happen to them? She was so occupied with that thought that she didn't notice Ino called her. But when she saw her bestfriend-rival, she burst into tears. All that pent-up tension just flowed out to her like a dam, unable to stopped, unable to control. And then she told Ino, she was too determined to totally forget Sasuke, to finally erase him from her mind. But she realized just as they went to where the battle had occurred, that she still wants him, she still loved him, and that she wants him alive…and that she wants her child to have a father. But then, she didn't want him to know that either. She laughed when she told Ino how complicated she thought about this things, Ino told her to why not just tell him everything then. Sakura quietly said to her, between sobs 'this was my fault, I don't want to put him in a situation where it could involve as sensitive as 'family'. You know how sensitive he was because of what happened to his clan, and I know a child would be something unacceptable right now. It would be the last thing on his mind. I know he don't want this, and everything that happened between us was…was just a heat of the moment. I don't want to burden him with more responsibilities now that he's back in Konoha. I'll go, and I'll let Naruto deal with this. God, I never imagined I wanted him to survive this bad. I'm just sad…and guilty and I don't want to hold him because of this…but I'm happy, that finally, he's back…and he's alive'.

A rustle woke her up. At first she was confused on where she was but suddenly remembered that she was on the training area and went here every five in the morning for her daily training. She had lay down to the soft ground after an hour of self-training to rest a bit but maybe had fallen asleep instead. She sighed.

The sun was finally rising in the eastern sky and the wintry chill of the September air were seeping through her skin. She started to walk towards that part of the town.

She must have been tired lately, but what she didn't get was why she had to dream about that event now. She wasn't thinking about anything that involves that day or something in that line.

Afterall...

It had happened so long, that nearly five years ago had passed already after that incident. And it was five years ago since she last saw him.

TBC. 021013. 619

Yay~ time skip to five years! I leave you with that..hohoho~

Not much to report except that I bought 2 novels written by Anne Rice. Happy Chinese New Year everyone!~

XoXo