The cool breeze filtering in through the open windows was a welcome relief to Sakura's heated skin. She lifted her pink tresses, allowing the wind to caress the back of her neck, resulting in a pleasurable sigh slipping from her lips. What she truly longed for was a relaxing bath, but there was no time for such a luxury. Her team had been placed in this room to wait for Haru-san's arrival. As soon as they were able to speak to him in detail about the condition of the village, she needed to begin searching for the possible point of contamination in the water source.
Sakura needed to speak with the doctor in this village as well, but that could wait until later on in the evening. After all, she practically dumped a new mother and her baby on him; not to mention, four men who had injuries that needed attending to. She had already examined the men herself and found their injuries to be minor in nature. Knowing she needed to conserve her chakra for any unforeseen problems in dealing with the village's poisoning, she simply bandaged their wounds and - with her team mates help - escorted them to the town's doctor. Thankfully, the woman and her baby were doing very well. Sakura did stay with the physician long enough for him to examine them and get his opinion on their condition. While her work looked good to her eyes, she felt much better after someone experienced in deliveries had looked the patient over.
The sliding of a door caught everyone's attention in the room; they turned to watch a middle aged man with hair graying at the temples walk in. He was not exactly what Sakura had been expecting. He stood rather tall and was larger than she anticipated. His broad shoulders filled the doorway and his short sleeves showed a muscular build. His large hands were covered in fresh cuts and old scars; the hands of a man used to hard work. It was his face that made her lips turn up in a smile automatically when she saw him. Deep laugh lines creased his face, surrounding a pair of light brown eyes that spoke of a kind heart.
"Forgive me for keeping you all waiting," he said with a smile as he came to sit near the small group of shinobi.
"Not at all," Neji easily replied. "We appreciate the opportunity to rest. I take it you are Haru-san?"
"That's correct. I am Murusaki Haru and I thank you very much for coming." He turned to Sakura, smiling as his eyes fell upon her. "You must be Haruno Sakura. Kenichi-san, the physician you met earlier, told me about the situation you ran into on the way here. I apologize for the difficulties you faced on your journey, but thank you so much for helping Riko-san and his family. They're actually good friends of mine. Their child was delivered safely thanks to you."
"O-of course," she stammered, a blush highlighting her face at the unexpected compliment. "I was glad to be of help to them."
Intelligent eyes watched the expressions flitter across her face. "I must say, I was very surprised when Tsunade mentioned in her letter that she would be sending her apprentice to help my village with our problem." The group of shinobi focused on his words a little closer, noting the serious and inquisitive tone filling his voice. "Tsunade and I are old friends, but for her to send someone so talented all the way out here speaks of something a little more complicated than a problem with a tiny towns drinking water."
The group regarded each other in silence before a smirk grew on Neji's face. He turned pearlescent eyes onto the burly, older man. "You're rather shrewd aren't you?"
"I like to think so," Haru replied with a smile of his own. The grin soon faded, replaced by his fears for the people of his town. "Tell me, what kind of danger is my village in?"
"That's what we're here to determine."
"If this were just some sort of natural contamination, I don't believe Tsunade would have sent a team of shinobi all the way out here. I heard what happened in Suna recently." His tawny eyes flickered amongst them, gauging their reactions to his words. "This is a small community, not associated with any of the larger, more powerful villages around here. Surely this couldn't be connected with what happened there, could it?"
Neji met his gaze head on. "Again, that's what we're here to determine."
The men held their stare for a moment before Haru sighed in resignation, his hand rubbing the tense lines of his face. "Alright, I understand. Tell me what you need."
"I'll need to examine the villagers who are ill first. I'd like to see what needs to be done to help speed their recovery before we begin investigating."
"As soon as I sent the first letter to Tsunade, I instructed everyone to boil their water thoroughly before consuming it. We're doing our best to keep all the animals away from the river and the children have been forbidden to play in any of the water for the time being. Though a few people are still sick, no new cases have appeared since then."
"That was a very smart thing for you to do Haru-san."
"Thank you Sakura-san. Though we mostly gambled and drank together, I do still remember a few things your Hokage taught me ages ago." Sakura pinched Naruto's thigh for his snort of laughter at Tsunade's bad habits.
Ignoring the intense frown from the jinchuriki, Sakura continued to smile fondly at her shishou's friend. "The villagers who are still sick, how is their condition?"
His shoulders slumped and a frown took root on his weathered face. "Unfortunately, they're getting worse. What started out as vomiting, diarrhea, and an inability to eat has turned into problems with their breathing and difficulty moving. Kenichi-san is stumped; he's been trying his best to treat them, but nothing seems to be working."
"I can help him with that. We've already determined what particular poison was used and I have the antidote with me."
"Wha..." Stumped, Haru could do little more than stare at the young woman with his mouth slack in shock.
"That was actually pretty easy; the more difficult problem lies in finding out where the poisoning took place and if there's still a danger to the villagers. I'll go back and speak with Kenichi-san about treating those still affected. As soon as I'm done there, I'd like you to take us to your main water supply please."
"O-of course," he replied, somehow regaining his wits about him.
Sakura stood, stretching her cramped body and grabbing her medics' pack from the floor. "I'll be back shortly you guys."
"Actually, I believe we should gather what information we can from the villagers while your back with the other physician. I'll limit our time to two hours so we can meet you back here. Will that be enough time?"
"It shouldn't take that long. If I get through before you do, I'll simply wait here until you get back," she replied to her captain.
"Understood."
She ignored the giddy feeling she got once again as she watched Sasuke walk out with the others, the dark blue bands of his hitai-ate laying against his raven hair. The support he had given her the day before, during her minor breakdown after the delivery, still weighed heavily in her mind. Even in their childhood, Sasuke would have never sat with her as she cried her frustrations out. His actions were utterly confusing to her, though not unwelcome. Just the mere thought that he'd been there for her was enough to bring color flaring to life in her cheeks.
While she'd like to keep thinking about it, perhaps try to understand why he did it, she had a job to do. She squinted against the blinding sun as she stepped out of Haru-san's house and headed for the town's doctor.
"Well Sakura-chan, how does it look?"
Sakura pulled back from the microscope she'd borrowed in the village's small clinic. She was thankful they'd had one handy. The process for determining the level of poisoning without taking a physical look at a water sample was rather long and tedious. With this, she'd been able to determine everything after one glance. The sample they'd pulled up from the pump house of the town's water supply was just what she'd been expecting.
"The water's definitely been contaminated with amygdalin. The levels are still fairly high though Haru-san stated the first signs of poisoning happened over two weeks ago now." As Sakura verbalized her thoughts, her brows drew down as the meaning behind them solidified in her mind.
"Isn't that a long time for it to still be so contaminated?" Sai asked.
"Yeah," she absently replied, her mind still working through the material she'd gathered. "The pump house showed no signs of being tampered with. The only access to the particular supply of groundwater they use is through that house as well, but this doesn't make sense. With the amount of water consumed by the villagers on a daily basis, any initial poisoning should have already lessened greatly."
"Haru-san, have you noticed anyone strange in the village lately? Not just around the pump house, but in the village in general?" Neji asked.
"No. As I said before, we're a small village; if we had a visitor of any kind practically everyone would know about it."
"So there has to be another way the substance was introduced to the water supply."
Sasuke pondered over Sai's statement before turning once more to the older man. "You said you were keeping the animals away from the river. Has anyone gotten ill from that water?"
"Not that we know of; at least, none of the animals have gotten sick. It would be hard to tell with the villagers, since they were drinking the water piped throughout the town. I warned everyone away from the river mainly because of all of the aquifers around here."
"The what?" Naruto asked, his face scrunched up in confusion.
Sakura rolled her eyes at his usual lack of knowledge, but Sai clarified the term for their team mate.
"It is an underground current of sorts. An area in which water can flow through."
"Right, and around here, there are dozens of them connecting the rivers as well as the underground water pockets. That's why I settled here; it makes for great farmland."
"So basically, there's no way of telling where the poison was originally deposited," Sakura said, despair lacing her tone.
"Not true," Sasuke interjected.
"What do you mean?"
"We just need to look above this area." At the confusion still showing on her face, he frowned slightly but continued to explain. "This is a low lying region. Water always flows downward so we need to look at the areas above this town."
"When did you get smart teme?"
Sasuke chose not to respond to the dobe's question.
"The next town above here crosses the border into the Land of Hot Water. Unfortunately, I'm afraid they won't be much help to you."
"Why do you say that Haru-san?"
The older man turned his eye's onto the Hyuuga. "That village doesn't trust outsiders, at all. They've built a wall around their village and the only gate in or out is the main one which they keep guarded at all times. They aren't a shinobi village, but there are a few people there who've been trained to some degree. They don't allow travelers in and they're completely self-sufficient. They've been like that since the last great shinobi war."
"So you've not heard any rumors about their villagers getting sick as well?"
"I'm sorry Sakura-san, but no. If they are getting sick, they haven't told anyone about it nor asked for any help."
"An isolated village that cut off it's own ties with the world?"
"A perfect spot to unleash a silent killing agent." Sasuke and Neji both wore the same knowing expressions as they spoke their thoughts aloud.
"I'm going to check on everyone you gave the antidote to if there's nothing else Sakura-san."
"No, thank you for all your help Haru-san."
The kind, older man left the group alone in the small room Kenichi had given Sakura to work in. Sasuke lounged along the wall, his arms crossed as he regarded his comrades. The Hyuuga's lips were drawn down slightly as thoughts flew through his mind. "Any ideas?" he asked the silent captain.
The branch son's eyes met the Uchiha's. "It's out of Fire Country."
"Kabuto's been there."
"We don't know that for certain."
"It makes sense."
"There's no evidence to prove that; there's not even any rumors to base that hypothesis on."
"We should at least check it out," Sakura interjected in the midst of the two's conversation. "If that is where he unloaded the original dose of the amygdalin, then the levels of it present in the water source have to be much higher than they are here. If that's the case, I can almost guarantee people are dying from the exposure."
Neji's facial expression did not change, he gave no indication he was moved by her speech at all. "We were not instructed to cross the borders of the Land of Hot Water."
"Heh, then we just don't get caught." Naruto grinned to the rest of the group; Sakura smiled in thanks to his support.
"Nor do we have permission or an invitation from this village. If Haru-san's words are true, any interference from us would only be taken as hostile movement. Do you really want the damiyo of another country angry at Konoha for us trespassing where we aren't wanted!"
For the first time since they began speaking, Neji's calm demeanor slipped. Sakura could feel her other team mates bristling in response to his anger, but she forced herself not to rise to it. Neji was right; doing this could potentially place them in a lot of trouble. He was making his decisions based on what he knew to be right for his team and for his village. It was the way a captain should look at the mission. In that, she respected his decision.
However, she knew how many lives could be on the line from Kabuto's actions.
"Neji," she called out to him calmly, her earnest eyes asking him to listen. "I understand your reasons for being against going to this village, but I need to remind you of something. If Kabuto has indeed poisoned this place, then the potential danger doesn't stop in the Land of Hot Water. Just like it already has, the amygdalin will continue to flow downstream and infect the underground water as well as the rivers and streams around here. If we don't remove the source of the poisoning, all of this area – and the lands below us – will continue to get infected. People, wildlife, all of it is in danger."
Neji walked to the window, keeping his back on the group. Sakura watched his tense frame as the minutes ticked by. Naruto, thankfully, kept silent during this time. From the expression on the jinchuriki's face, he wanted nothing more than to yell and scream his opinions on the matter until their captain caved in. After a few minutes more, the young Hyuuga turned around, his face still holding that deep frown that was seemingly carved onto it now.
"You will follow my orders to the letter," he forced the words through his tightly locked jaw. "Especially you Naruto."
"Eh? Why me?"
A harsh glare was his only response.
"I'm not saying we will venture into the village, but we can observe the terrain between the two areas...see if there is another point of origin. Should we meet anyone we could ask some questions about the place; perhaps we can learn something useful."
"Thank you so much Neji!" Sakura exclaimed.
The branch member simply shook his head and ventured out of the room, muttering to himself. "I know I'm going to regret this."
The appetizing smell of roasting fish seemed to mock Sakura's empty stomach. She busied herself with re-organizing her medic's pack while the rest of her team mates sat about the clearing sharpening their weapons or resting after the long day of searching they'd conducted. The village Haru-san mentioned – Okoppe they'd learned was its name – was not very far into the Land of Hot Water. In fact, they were only a little over a days travel from Haru-san's village. During their journey across the border, they'd been unable to locate any area that seemed available for Kabuto to release the poison into. So as they traveled, the group made sure to question any traveler they came across.
While most of the questioning only pointed back to Haru-san's village as having a strange illness flowing through it, there were some vague rumors they came across. As he had mentioned, it was true enough that no one went into Okoppe. The village was fiercely protective of its borders and welcomed no one. However, a few people claimed to have heard of a sudden number of deaths occurring in the village. It was little to go on, but the Konoha team had no other leads to pursue.
Sakura glanced over to Sai. The former Root member was sitting quietly, resting against a large tree near the fire. She knew his jutsu was rather unique yet it seemed to require little of his chakra to send out the small group of mice to scour the village. An earlier survey of the area from atop one of his large ink hawks showed that though there was a large wall encircling the moderate size town, it was not impenetrable. There were many areas they could visualize from even that distance that would prove to be little trouble for them to enter. It resided in a relatively peaceful country and showed the lack of shinobi training in its defenses. However, they had no desire to force their way in or to even be seen. Neji's warning from the previous day still weighed heavily in their minds.
A rustling in the bushes had each team member drawing their weapons free and awaiting whatever would be intruder to break through their midst. Sai simply held up his hand, stalling their movements. He withdrew the scroll at his side and unfurled it, allowing the dozen or so mice to phase back with the paper.
"Well?" Naruto asked eagerly.
"Apparently there are a large number of fresh graves within the village. Also, the small hospital they have is quite full."
"Sounds like the place we've been looking for," Naruto responded, his grin displaying his readiness to carry on with the mission.
Sakura was relieved to know they now had a definitive place to search for the amygdalin, but the contemplative frown developing on Neji's face gave her pause. She rose from her seat and crossed the short distance to stand before her captain. "Neji..."
He wouldn't allow her to complete her hesitant sentence. "I won't allow you to enter that hospital Sakura."
The tone of finality his voice carried rendered her momentarily speechless. "I...Neji, if I could just tell them the antidote to use..."
"You can't do that without revealing who you are."
Again, her pleas were rebutted. "I could just leave a sample of it on one of the physician's desks, or a note telling them what their patients are suffering from!"
"That would do nothing but alert them to the fact that someone had been in the village. It would be very simple for them to ask a few questions of outsiders and find out we had been in the area. I'm sorry, but there's no way to help those who are already sick at this moment without revealing ourselves in some manner."
Her hands curled into fists at her sides as she fought against the outrage her body demanded to show. The shinobi in her understood his reasoning, but the medic wanted nothing more than to help the people she knew she could save. How was she supposed to just overlook an entire group of people that she had the means to help? "Neji, please..."
"Sakura, yesterday you agreed to follow my orders if we crossed that border. Has that changed?"
She clenched her jaw as the fine shiver of anger passed through her body. There would be no convincing him, of that she was now certain. If she pressed the issue to hard, she suspected he would call off the venture into Okoppe altogether. They had no time to waste; if they didn't find out where the poison was leaking into the water supply, many more people in the Land of Fire would become affected. She drew her body to full attention, though her eyes narrowed at the jonin across from her.
"No Taicho, I haven't forgotten our agreement."
With that remark spit out through clenched teeth, she returned to her former spot by the fire. Tears of anger and frustration burned the corners of her eyes, but she wouldn't allow them to fall. She was a good kunoichi and would follow her orders, no matter how much she disliked them. His call wasn't endangering anyone on their team and it would be helping a lot of people. It was those lying in pain that she couldn't take her mind off of. She racked her brain, searching for any alternative way to inform the doctors of Okoppe what they would be dealing with.
"I understand your frustrations with my decision Sakura." She didn't turn around to face the Hyuuga as he spoke. "However, I also believe you know why I made it and on some level, agree with me. That doesn't mean we have to abandon them. I will inform Tsunade-sama of the situation once we confirm it and she can contact their damiyo. We will be able to pass along what information we have about their illness at that point."
"By then, many of them will already be dead."
She never turned around to face him, but her other team mates saw the look of regret that quickly passed through his eyes. They'd been following their conversation closely, intrigued and somewhat uneasy by the high tension flowing between the two.
Neji walked over to the fire, removing one of the ready fish before once more taking his place on a moss covered log. "Eat, we'll discuss our plans for tomorrow once everyone's done."
Though he looked wary, Naruto grabbed his portion and started up a conversation with Sai – hoping to dispel some of the tension filling the area.
Sasuke watched the medic as he ate. The angry lines of Sakura's face were clear to him in the firelight. Her body remained tensed, ready to fight a battle that would not happen. Though her demeanor had changed somewhat over the years, the soft heart she possessed still beat firmly in her chest. It would do no good, but the words fell from his mouth as they registered in his brain.
"You can't save everyone Sakura."
Her shoulders tensed with his words and she turned burning green eyes onto him. "I know that," she spat. "But that doesn't mean I don't want to try to help those I can."
He didn't speak again as she snatched her fish up and ate with her back still facing the group. He shouldn't have made such an obvious statement to begin with, but for some inexplicable reason, he'd felt compelled to do so. He abandoned any further thought on the subject and turned his gaze elsewhere. There were more important things to worry about than the woman across from him.
Bereft of energy, Tsunade rested her weary head on her large oak desk, cursing herself for feeling so weak after having used a jutsu she mastered years ago. Katsuyu stared back at her, the smaller version of her form perched just beyond the blond's locks.
"Tsunade-sama?"
Slow, deep breaths passed through her mouth as she fought the wave of exhaustion causing her muscles to tremble. She could feel the sweat dampening the fabric of her clothes and she shuddered under the chill it caused. Her head rolled, her chin now resting on the polished wood, as she eyed her summons.
"I'm fine Katsuyu, more importantly, do you remember the instructions I gave you?" The weak voice coming out of her only riled her anger once more. She would show that snake-copying bastard just who the best medic around here was. She had forgotten more about medicine than he would ever know!
And just as soon as she could get up out of that chair she would prove it.
"Yes ma'am. I understand your instructions perfectly."
"Good," she suppressed the moan that threatened to escape. No matter if she was sick or not, she wouldn't allow such a weakness to be shown on the Hokage's face. With feeble movements, she lifted her hand to scratch at the ever-growing red area on her left arm. She used the pads of her fingertips to rub the irritated skin, knowing that should she use too much force, the blisters would open up once more. "Yamato is closer, make sure you go to him first."
"Hai, Tsunade-sama."
"Dismissed."
The small plume of smoke indicating Katsuyu had left dissipated quickly. The last living sannin leaned back in her chair, reaching for the large window panes behind her. Though she struggled, she managed to open it, allowing a fresh breeze to blow through her office. It would do good for the high fever racking her body, but she felt immensely better as the wind hit her heated skin.
The loud voice of the gate guards traveled in through the open window. She couldn't see it properly, but she knew her order was being carried out.
Konoha was now under quarantine.
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A/N:
Well long time no see!
Okay, well maybe not THAT long, but definitely longer than my self-imposed deadline.
I can't help it. Perhaps I should just say I was in a walking coma after squealing too hard over the last few Naruto mangas. Itachi fans of the world unite!
I know we're all a little uneasy about the status of this site, but I will continue to post my stories here. I am searching for an alternate site to post my stories, but for now nothing seems to be acceptable. If you have any ideas, I'd be glad to hear them. Should I actually find one, I will post it on my page as well as each fic I'm working on.
Enjoy the chapter and reviews are whole heartedly welcomed!