Naruto didn't get the chance to have that word with the Fifth before explosion and siren sounds met his ears. The room filled with ANBU awaiting orders and to protect the Hokage and his family.
"Report!" barked Naruto as he got to his feet. His baby started to cry from the sudden noise. Sakura comforted her telling her it was her daddy's responsibly to take care of the village. He was glad she wasn't angry with him for frightening their daughter but his heart ached to listen to her cry. Right now he had to be a leader.
"They are attacking from the South, Hokage-sama," a fox mask reported.
"I want all available ninja to report for duty. I want to know where the Fifth is. I am going to the tower first then to the front lines. Demon stay here and protect my family," he ordered.
The girl wanted to protest but it was a high honor to be entrusted with something so important to the man. She would follow his commands without complaint. Sakura waited for the room to clear of ANBU except Demon before she would start to make her move.
"Demon will you fetch me a nurse or two?" she asked the ANBU nicely.
"Is something wrong?" the little ninja worried.
"No, I just want them here in case the excitement gets too much for me," Sakura lied.
"Alright," the masked girl consented and went to find some nurses.
Once the nurses came Sakura handed off her baby asking them to take her to the nursery so she could rest. The nurses didn't think anything about it, it was common practice for them to keep the babies in a different room so mothers could get some sleep. Only bringing the baby back to feed. Haruko fidgeted as she tried to stand guard by the door. She was eager to go fight the invaders but she had to follow orders. Sakura still lay in the bed plotting. Pulling a fast one on the student wasn't going to be difficult but she wanted to do it right. She moved to get out of the bed and had to readjust her plan to factor in her soreness.
"Where are you going?" questioned the jumpy guard, she didn't trust the seasoned ninja to sit quiet.
"Can't a girl go pee without getting the third degree?" inquired the guarded.
The girl grumbled something unintelligible and looked away. That what the medical ninja's opening. She moved as fast has her tortured body would allow and hit the girl in two spots knocking her unconscious. Sakura would have to monitor herself to make sure she didn't hemorrhage. That small sprint across the room left her feeling weak. She knew she was being stupid but she would not leave this alone. She would stand and if she couldn't stand she would crawl, along with Team Seven. Making it to the rooftop with no problems she was ready to head South to the front lines.
"I figured you wouldn't stay here and behave yourself," scolded Nine. She had been back to duty for some time, leaving poor Jun to wrangle all the kids on her own.
"You would do the same thing if it were you in my shoes," Sakura replied.
"I don't know about that, less than 24 hours ago you gave birth, that's not a small feat," reminded the mother of six.
"Tomo, I have to protect my village. I've been a ninja way longer than I've been a wife and mother," Sakura pleaded for understanding.
"Fine, but we're doing this together," consented the other woman who held the same titles as her, wife, mother, and ninja.
She practically carried the wife of the Hokage to the front lines. Once there, they summed up their the aggressors and all that they had summoned to do battle before them. Three large monster cats where reeking havoc on the South wall. Women with Petal bands were everywhere.
"Are you insane? What the hell do you think you're doing out here?" barked out Snake as he landed beside his wife.
"I'm going to stop all of them," spoke his teammate, her tone was that of warning not to try and stop her.
"You're going to get yourself killed," predicted the man.
"You can either help me or stay the hell out of my way," growled the determined rosette.
"Damn it, Sakura, I'm going to kill you when this is all over," stated the masked man.
"You're welcome to try," grinned the medic.
Nine didn't understand their strange relationship but she didn't feel like she needed to. Her own ANBU teammates and her old team from her days of learning to become a ninja all had special ways of talking to each other. Nothing like near death experiences to make you strong friends.
"What can I do?" Nine asked.
"I need one minute," Sakura stated taking her arm from the other woman's shoulder and kneeling, she made a hand sign and focused her chakra.
Snake and Nine prepared to defend her by any means necessary. Then her husband showed up on the front lines.
"What the hell, Sakura!" he barked.
"Forty-five seconds, Nine, put your hand on my shoulder, we can do this together," Sakura offered.
Nine hesitantly placed a hand on her friends shoulder. Most people didn't know how Nine killed, the people she was after always ended up dead before they ever knew she was there. Of her team or any of the other members of ANBU she was one of the smartest, and besides Sakura, had the best chakra control in the village. She had never honed any skills in the medical line though. She was a genjutsu master, she could trick the mind into seeing whatever she wanted them to see, whether it be their most hideous nightmare or a lovely dream, she could do it all.
"Don't be an idiot. Get back to the hospital now," growled the Hokage.
"Thirty seconds, Nine, you hit the right side and I'll take the left," instructed the medic.
Sasuke moved to her left and put his hand on her free shoulder, "I got left, you take middle," he ordered.
"You can't your eyes," she warned.
"You're not the only one who can use genjutsu without the use of special eyes," he quipped at his teammate, he had learned a couple tricks from his wife while Sakura was off seeing the world.
For what she had planned he didn't even have to activate his eyes but when you spend more time worrying for others than yourself, old habits die hard.
"Damn it, you three, what are you trying to pull?" demanded the odd man out.
"Fifteen seconds, follow my lead," she ordered beginning her combination of hand signs. The two followed with their free hand doing half the sign but it was enough with their level of skill.
"Hokage-sama, please stay back, or you might get caught in it," cautioned Nine, she didn't want him to see the hell she could produce in a person's mind.
Sakura was well known for her medical prowess, but her sensei had told her she had the disposition to be a master of genjutsu. In her travels she had honed those skills along with her medical side making her a dangerous opponent but she rarely used the genjutsu, feeling that it took too much of her chakra when she needed to save it for medical stuff.
"Twisted Dance of Blooming Nightmares," yelled out the three connected ninja.
Sakura coursed her chakra through the ninja connected to her, mixing it together with their charka. The mixture swirled out to all the enemy ninja and disturbed the charka in their brains. Everywhere their eyes looked people were ensnared in their mind trap.
Naruto didn't listen, he moved to stop his wife from whatever stunt she was trying to pull. The morning sun began to peek over the mountains. His vision filled with cherry blossom petals dancing on the wind. Glowing green eyes, caught his attention coming from a dark corner. The irises were slit like that of a predator. A large beast charged forward ready to devour him and his body was frozen in place. It was seconds from crashing down on him with fangs and teeth when he was jolted out of the dream. His wife was standing there looking annoyed at him and being supported by Nine.
"She told you to stay back," she scolded. His wife's tone was not appreciated, like she had any room to talk about not listening. He hadn't specifically told her to stay in the hospital but he had felt he didn't need to state the obvious.
"Well, you," he started but was cut off by her turning her attention to Nine.
"I think you guys can handle it from here, its a hard genjutsu to break. You can pick them off at your leisure. I'm going back to the hospital to check on Takara," she told the woman supporting her.
"Takara?" smiled her husband.
"She is golden like her daddy, might as well call her our little treasure," she grinned as she reached out to ruffle some of his unruly hair. She grabbed a fist full of it and pulled his face down to hers, crashing their lips together. Nine had a front row seat but she found it sweet unlike her husband who found it bothersome in the middle of battle. Naruto moved to support her and waved off his most devoted ANBU so he could hold his wife. He would take her back to their daughter, letting the other deal with the Petal nuance.
Carrying his wife bridal style, they were making their way back to the hospital by rooftop they were intercepted by two Petal ninja who were not caught up in the illusionary technique.
"Reika and Yuriko, still chasing after the Queen," Sakura taunted, she really shouldn't provoke the two dark princesses but they had always butted heads when she was down in the Petal.
One woman with dark eyes and equally dark hair sneered at the couple, her hand lazily tapping her long sword by her side, while a bubbly dirty blond with light eyes smiled with delight at seeing the woman whose blood called to her to be spilled. She pulled two short swords that were strapped to her back, ready to kill whoever got in the way of finding her Queen. It was normal for the main force to attack one spot and draw the attention of the defenders then small two to four man squads to enter the place from different areas.
Naruto's dark glare met them both, daring them to make a move. His charka oozed out in an intimidating fashion. Yuriko's light eyes brightened, fear tickled her heart but excitement danced across the features of her face, she was the type who loved a challenge and this man's aura screamed challenge. Without putting his wife down he used his shadow clone technique and had two clones, with weaponry, for each woman. The clones were defeated faster than expected and the Hokage had to put his wife down to fight these two.
He attacked without reserve, one kunai in each hand. Their team work was flawless, the years of their training together showed as they seemed to even match each others breath. A yin and yang style swirled around him. When one pushed him, the other pulled. They were dangerous but Naurto was having fun participating in this dance of bladed death. One of Yuriko's blades sliced open one of his cheeks. The sight of his blood sent her into a frenzy and Reika had to calm her down. It was just a small scratch, but even a small trickle was enought to drive her to the edge of sanity. A four man Petal team had found them and were threatening his wife. Nine and Ino swept in to protect her.
"Ino what are you doing here?" Sakura asked surprised to see her out of the house of interrogation.
"Running an errand for the Fifth," Ino answered, blocking flying blades.
Nine took off dealing with two that pulled her away from the roof top they were occupying. One of the woman Ino was battling got behind her and held her while the one that had her attention stabbed her three times. Screams echoed in Naruto's ears, Sakura pleading out for Ino, Ino's cry of pain and seconds later the two ninja who had ganged up on Ino choking to death on shadows. Once the Petals who harmed Ino were dealt with Shikamaru was by his teammates side.
"Bring her to me," Sakura ordered.
"You don't look like you're in any condition to help her," he judged by her appearance.
"I have enough to make sure her life isn't in danger. Bring her to me or I will crawl to her!" demanded the medic.
He brought the blond to her but he didn't let her out of his arms. Sakura made it so her life was no longer in danger but she couldn't make her combat ready. Shikamaru's calculating eyes watched all around them. Making sure to keep them safe. The medic noticed a thumb casually rubbing Ino's arm as its owner scanned for danger.
"When this is over you should tell her how you feel," Sakura noted.
"That sounds troublesome," he grinned staring at the girl in his arms for a moment.
Naruto's body was now decorated with flesh wounds, the women he was battling were equally as battered. The Reika woman looked annoyed by the progression of the fight while the Yuriko was enjoying not only the sight of the Hokage's blood but that of her partner and her own. Before another battle between the three could erupt two summonings towered in the village. One a giant slug, the other a chimera sizing about the same as the slug. This chimera was covered in blue black scales over its whole body and its three heads. It was hard to tell what the different heads were. It let out a deafening roar.
"Hear me, ninjas of the village Hidden in the Petal. I, Kamiko, your Queen, order you back to the South wall outside of the village to await further orders," a woman on top of the chimera's head yelled out to the entire village.
"I, Tsunade, Fifth Hokage of the Hidden in the Leaf, order all Leaf ninja back into the village and to allow the Petals to leave," barked out Tsunade from the head of her slug.
Both women spotted Naruto and joined him on the roof top he was fighting on.
"My Queen," Reika knelt down to her superior.
"Mother," smiled Yuriko as she bowed to the redhead.
"What the hell is going on?" Naruto demanded an answer.
"The Fifth and I have made a treaty, you just need to sign to make official," answered the Queen.
"My Queen you can't," the dark haired woman protested.
"Silence," she handed a document to the bloodied man, "I think you will find it rather in your favor. The Petal leaves here and never comes back or bothers any of the other five countries. You let all the ninja of the Petal go that you've captured up to this point with one exception."
"Who's the exception?" asked the lighter Petal ninja.
"I am," answered the Queen.
