Flash of Red and Black
Chapter XII
"Get Shikaku back here, now! Call Neji to my office. Shikamaru! You update him. I'll hear the report at the hospital. Tell Ino to meet me there. Everyone is to be there within the next five minutes!" I called out my rapid-fire orders before vanishing to the hospital.
"Where is Akimichi Choji? And Haruno Sakura?" I demanded from the first staff member I saw sitting at the front desk.
"She just rushed him to surgery. Tsunade-sama was with them. Shizune-san and Hojo-san are on the second floor with the rest of the teams. If you need a report, please see Shizune-san. Akimichi-san's surgery must not be disturbed," she said. She seemed a little nervous to ban me from bothering Sakura, but I understood.
Just then, Ino appeared, looking panicked.
"Choji's in surgery with Sakura. I'm going upstairs to see the rest of the team," I said once she rushed over. Her face went pale at Choji's name but she gave a nod.
"I'll go with you. Who's up there?"
"Shizune and Hojo-san," I said, and she gave a nod before we both dashed upstairs, finding the two med-nin quickly.
"Shizune-san! Where should I help?" Ino instantly asked once we entered one of the rooms. Shizune was poised over one of the team members, green light flowing from her hands as she healed a shallow-looking (though no less bloody) wound that went from the shinobi's shoulder to his hip.
"Ino, Sakura and Tsunade are taking care of Choji right now. We all still have plenty of chakra, so don't worry about him. For now, go to room 202 and help Hojo-san," Shizune said, not taking her eyes off of her patient. Ino nodded and immediately did as she was told.
"Are you sure you all still have enough chakra for this? I know you've been working hard on the autopsies and—"
"We're fine, Naruto-kun. We aren't the ones you need to be worrying about right now. Konohamaru's in room 201. He's already patched up. Have him give you the report," she said, gritting her teeth when her chakra flickered. I knew that they were running low, but they were determined to make sure everyone would be safe. I was glad, but I worried about them.
"Once you finish here, take the rest of today and tomorrow off. If I hear that you don't, you'll be taking up Kotetsu and Izumo's position at the village gates for the next month," I said, staring hard at her until she gave a nod, and then I left to find Konohamaru.
"Konohamaru?"
"Naruto-niichan," Konohamaru said, giving me a weak smile. He didn't look too beaten-up even though his arms and torso were covered in bandages.
"What happened?" I asked, and instantly Konohamaru glared down and stared at his clenched fists.
"The tunnels were full of curse-marked freaks. Frost had layers and layers of tunnels, some probably made during the war, others were definitely made more recently. The recent ones were more like what Orochimaru's other bases were described as in the mission assignment. It was a complete maze. We mapped what we could, but eventually it was too much to handle when we were being attacked at the same time. We grabbed what we could from the rooms in the new tunnels, but we didn't have much time. What we were able to map may be useless now too since Choji basically destroyed the place trying to get us all out," he said, and paused, glaring at his fists more while they white-knuckled. I felt for him, but I needed to know more to make sure that the other teams still out there would be able to have some more preparation. That is, if they weren't already engulfed in a fight.
"I need you team's report, Konohamaru, and right now you're in the best shape to give it," I said, urging him to continue. He closed his eyes for a moment before looking up at me, his resolve intact, though the emotions swimming just beneath were plain to see.
"The new tunnels were filled with rooms, each with either more curse-marked enemies or with what looked like equipment for experiments. The enemies were just as endless as the tunnels. Eventually, we all started to get worn down and low on chakra. Then Choji used his body expansion jutsu to break through the levels and tear the structures down so that we could make our escape. We were able to escape the tunnels with minimal injuries, but then more enemy-nin showed up, attracted to the explosion, in addition to all those who survived the tunnel collapse. We tried to fight our way out, but then one of them…" he paused, gritting his teeth for a moment before snapping himself out of it.
"One of the curse-marked shinobi had a Sharingan. It was only in one eye, and it was weak—wasn't fully activated—but combined with the stronger curse mark, it was more than we were prepared to deal with when our chakra was so low," he said, and I had to force myself to not gasp in both surprise and horror, but he continued before I could say anything.
"Choji acted as the distraction so that we could temporarily bock the Sharingan. Then we placed him under a genjutsu. We captured him. We knew that it was against orders, but we decided that he would be more help alive. We handed him over to the ANBU with the medical team when we met up with them. I had a clone make an explosion elsewhere as a distraction while we all escaped in the dust," he said, finally finishing. I paused, staring at my own fists for a moment before standing again.
"Good job getting out of there, Konohamaru. Don't worry about Choji. Sakura and Baa-chan are both working on him right now, so he'll probably recover even faster than you. Rest up. Let me know if you think of anything else," I said, giving him a nod before vanishing back to my office.
In my office, I spoke up before anyone could start shooting off questions.
"Everyone will be fine. Choji is the worst and he's in surgery with Sakura and Tsunade-baachan. More importantly, get Kakashi. Konohamaru gave me the report. Shikamaru, you may want to hear it from him yourself, but the main point is that there was an enemy shinobi with a super curse mark and a partially-activated Sharingan," I said, and the room's atmosphere turned to ice. After a few moments, Shikamaru spoke up.
"They're sure?"
"They captured him and handed him over to the ANBU with the med-team. He should be at T&I now. Shikaku, I want you to go and see for yourself. It'll be a while before anyone will do a medical evaluation of him, so in the meantime get Inoichi and Ibiki to get everything that they can. Tell them not to bother with being gentle, but don't let him die. Neji, get the ANBU ready. If I don't get reports from the remaining teams in the next six hours, they will be sent out for retrieval and, hopefully, rescue," I said, and my gut felt like a block of ice, and I was sure that everyone else in the room felt the same.
We all paused silently for a moment, but Shikaku and Neji gave short nods before disappearing.
"Do Sakura and Tsunade have enough energy to get through the surgery?" Shikamaru asked quietly once everyone else was gone. I felt for him, his best friend hurt, again, and there was nothing Shikamaru could do about it.
"They'll get it done, but that will be their limit for a while. Shizune too."
"Ino?"
"She's got the chakra, but unti—unless there's another emergency, she'll be off for a while too."
Shikamaru gave a weak nod, staring at the floor with eyes full of worry, but then he suddenly looked back up at me.
"I'm going to see Konohamaru and hear the report from him," he said, his eyes blazing with what only could have been the Will of Fire. I just gave a nod and he vanished just before Kakashi appeared.
"Orochimaru created a Sharingan," I said the moment I felt his chakra at my window. The room was silent for another moment, but then I heard his feet hitting the ground.
"How is it compared to a real Sharingan?"
"According to Konohamaru, weaker, and not fully activated. He's at T&I."
"They captured him?"
"And barely kept their lives in the proces," I said through a clenched jaw. Kakashi was standing next to me then and I heard him give a little sigh.
"We can't let Orochimaru get any farther with his experiments, Naruto."
"No shit."
"Where is Shikamaru?"
"Getting the report from Konohamaru."
"Bring him back. He can hear that later, first we need a plan."
"Doesn't he need to hear the report to make a plan?"
"Not since I already have one," he said before ordering an ANBU to retrieve Shikamaru. I just stared at him, confused, until Shikamaru showed up again. He looked at me first, but I just shrugged and he moved his gaze to Kakashi.
"Well? Why does Konohamaru's report not matter?"
"I never said that it doesn't matter, but taking down Orochimaru is more important," Kakashi said, and Shikamaru looked at him like he'd grown a second head.
"We all realize that, Kakashi-san. So why—"
"Use me as bait."
Again, the room was filled with an icy silence until my desk made a loud snap. Even though I didn't have Sakura's super-strength, a wooden desk stood no chance against my emotions at that moment.
"The hell are you talking about, deba," I nearly growled. Had I not befriended Kurama, I probably would've had two tails swaying behind me.
"Shikamaru-kun, you understand, right? The only way to lure the guards from the King is to bribe them with a good enough piece," Kakashi said, his back to me as he stared Shikamaru down. My chakra flowed darkly as I watched. I could see Shikamaru run through every idea and every possibility at his disposal, but finally he sighed and closed his eyes while a grimace formed on his face.
"Kakashi-san, we still don't know—"
"This won't be like it was with Asuma. Even if there are more variables than with Hidan and Kakuzu, you will be able to make the best plan possible, and we've retrieved plenty of data to fill in at least some of the gaps."
"Kakash—"
"You're Hokage now, Naruto," he said, finally turning to look at me. "Are you going to take Orochimaru down now while there's still a chance and risk the life of one shinobi? Or are you going to go after him once he has all the power he wants and risk the lives of all of your shinobi and the shinobi of the other nations?" he asked, staring at me hard. I kept eye contact, but instead of feeling rage towards Kakashi for suggesting that he sacrifice himself, I felt my own Will of Fire flare up.
Finally, I pulled my eyes from Kakashi to look at Shikamaru.
"Well?" I demanded.
"I hate to say it, but he's right, Naruto," he said, sighing and readying himself to start arguing with me.
"Then start making your plans. Whoever you need, whatever you need, it's yours. You have two weeks," I said, staring at him before calling another ANBU. "Bring Neji and Shikaku," I ordered, before turning to the slightly surprised pair in the room. "Be damned the six-hour deadline. Those teams are getting rescued now. And Kakashi, like hell are you going to be a sacrifice. Orochimaru and his thugs are the only ones dying this time around, dattebayo."
Kakashi's visible eye widened before a small smile appeared on his face, and Shikamaru sported a smirk of his own.
"I expect nothing less of the Hokage to surpass all others," Kakashi said, and my heart warmed, but I just gave a short nod before Neji and Shikaku arrived again.
"Neji, send your teams to rescue everyone immediately. Shikaku-san, you're working with Shikamaru. He'll get you up to speed," I said, effectively dismissing them. The three left then and I turned to Kakashi.
"Until Shikamaru's plans go into action, you're either going to be with me, Shikamaru and Shikaku, or resting. I need you to have all your energy," I ordered and Kakashi nodded, and immediately I sighed and let myself collapse against my splintered desk. "Seriously, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" I mumbled. I was glad to not feel guilty about keeping him confined, but replacing that with the possibility of sending him to his death was worse.
I heard a chuckle from him and then felt a warm hand on my head.
"I have no intention of doing something like that. And I'm not going to just roll over and die either, Naruto."
"Like hell would I let you," I growled at him, and he smiled at me.
"I have no doubt. But right now you're the one who looks like death, so let's go."
"I'm fi—"
"Naruto," Kakashi said with that smile that read, "Finish that statement and you'll be as dead as you look." "I didn't mean that you had a choice in the matter. You've only slept for four hours in over five days. We're going home."
I considered arguing for a moment, but I decided against it. Even if I didn't end up falling asleep, I couldn't resist wanting to be alone with him at home, especially with what was coming.
Soon, I collapsed onto the bed at home and Kakashi slid in next to me. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I could feel myself nodding off.
"Kakashi, if you die because of this, I'll never, ever forgive you," I mumbled, but really I knew that I'd never be able to forgive myself. Just before my conscious faded, I felt his lips in my hair and his hand squeezing my shoulder.
"I'd never forgive myself either."
Sorry for making this one shorter, and sorry for being slow too. It might be a little while before I can get the next one out too, but I'll try my best.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. I also hope you'll be looking forward to the next chapter.