The sight before her was one she had hoped to never see again.
Konoha's hospital was filled nearly to capacity with the villagers under her protection. Moans of discomfort came from every room, the children's ward housed the cries of the young. Tsunade's nails bit into her hands as she curled her fists in anger and self-loathing. Once again, she'd allowed those following her to become injured. The safety of the village had been compromised and the lives of both the civilians and shinobi alike were placed in danger.
"Tsunade-sama?"
The blond turned shadowed eyes onto her companion. Even Shizune hadn't escaped this unknown virus that had been quietly unleashed onto the village. The fevered flush that lit her skin and the dark circles under her eyes belied her condition though her voice stayed strong. "Any news?"
An apologetic smile turned the smaller woman's lips up briefly. "I'm sorry Tsunade-sama, but there's been no other progress on the antidote to report at this time."
Tsunade turned back to watch the nurses scrambling into each room, passing medicine and checking on the status of the ill. "Fatalities?"
"None, so far. We've been able to control everyone's fever with the medication, and for those unable to tolerate any food, they've been set up with intravenous fluids."
"Good," she paused to cover her mouth as a particularly bad coughing fit racked her body. She allowed Shizune to pass her a tissue and pat her back gently - she didn't have the strength to push her away as it was. When it passed, she took several slow, deep breaths and wiped the beading sweat from her brow as best she could. "How are our supply stores holding up?" Tsunade stood tall once more, ignoring the look of concern filling her subordinates face.
"We have enough to last a few weeks with no problems. Your orders to prepare medications and food for just this type of scenario was a very wise one indeed Tsunade-sama."
No, it had been nothing more than a forced realization on her part. While Konoha had always done its best to be as prepared as possible for any sort of attack, she had learned – the hard way – that it was not as secure as they liked to think. Pain's devastating attack to the village had made her more than a little wary. When she read the reports Sakura turned in after the attack on Suna, she immediately began preparations for a possible epidemic in Konoha. They had the medicines to work with and no one would starve during this quarantine she'd placed on the village, but that didn't make her feel any better.
She turned away from the depressing sight before her, making her way back to the lab. Shizune fell in step behind her, keeping her further comments to herself as she knew well the direction her hokage was headed. The near painful feeling of her clothes rubbing against the spreading rash up her torso irritated her with every step she took. Tsunade merely grit her teeth and dealt with the feeling. At least she was able to move around; hundreds of her villagers laid in the beds behind her, to weak to do very much for themselves.
The medics huddled around various microscopes and petri dishes gave her a subdued welcome as she pushed her way through the laboratory doors. Their tired bodies slumped over the workstations, but they continued to research this illness sweeping through Konoha. A nurse walked amongst them, passing out bottles of water and medication to stave off the fever afflicting everyone of them. They took it with a tired smile and quiet word of thanks before returning to their duty.
Before Tsunade could open the large medical volume she'd grabbed from one of the shelves, two pills were placed in her line of sight. With her own smile of thanks, she took them from Shizune's hand. The women shared resigned looks before each of them took a dose of the medication. Though she wanted to do nothing more than make her way to the comfortable bed awaiting her in her room, Tsunade drank from the cool water in front of her and opened the large book. Her life and the lives of her villagers were counting on the few people in this room to find a solution for whatever virus they'd been given.
No matter what it took, she would find a cure.
Silence stretched between the traveling shinobi for the past few hours as everyone was lost in their own thoughts and worries over Konoha's state. The tension flowing from most of them was easy to recognize, like Naruto and Neji's burning anger. Sakura's emotions varied from anger over the incident to extreme worry for her friends and family. Even Sai was being more silent than usual, though no one could tell what was going on behind that blank look of his. They were already far from Haru-san's village and, according to the information passed on by Katsuyu, should be nearing the camp set up by Yamato-taicho.
"Stupid fucking...just wait...kill that copying bastard..." Naruto's ramblings were nothing new to the group and, in a way, they helped keep the edge off the otherwise boiling tension they all felt. The tranquil surroundings they walked through did nothing to quell their anger. In fact, Sakura was having murderous thoughts to the poor birds chirping overhead.
"Naruto?"
"Yeah Sakura-chan?"
"Could you see if you can locate Yamato-taicho with your sage mode? We've been walking for a long time, we should be close to him already." If she couldn't head straight to Konoha, then the least she could do is find out if any of the other shinobi Tsunade-sama dispatched had found any new information on Kabuto.
"Sure." The group stilled beside the jinchuriki as he closed his eyes and began gathering the natural energy he required. The orange markings soon appeared around his eyes and she watched, once again amazed, as he stared unseeing into the distance – feeling the chakras of those in the vicinity. "He's just a couple of miles northeast of here with a few other people from Konoha." A crease drew down his eyebrows and he looked puzzled.
"What is it?" Neji asked.
"I feel another chakra; a shinobi, and one I don't recognize."
"I'm sure there's a lot of shinobi you don't know Naruto," Sakura added, just a touch of irritation filling her tone.
"Yeah, but..." With a slight shake of his head, he took off. Unfortunately, since he was already in sennin mode, only Sasuke was able to keep up with his speed. The others chased off after the impatient young man as fast as they were able to. They found him soon enough after clearing another patch of dense trees. The orange clad jinchuriki stood across from an unmarked shinobi, the both of them raising their voices as the 'conversation' Naruto began soon turn heated.
While Sakura had been the first one to dismiss Naruto's ignorance of the man's identity, actually seeing him had her warning bells going off. His fidgety demeanor, defensive stance, and the curious long glove covering only his left arm marked him as suspicious. Without warning, the man flew at Naruto with his chokuto bared. He was able to parry his attack with a quickly produced kunai and aimed a well placed kick to the unknown man's midsection. The rest of the team hurried to their positions to offer any assistance they could – unnecessary as it was seeing as how Sasuke was on the offensive before the shinobi could properly back away. The man found himself under the assault of Sasuke's kusunagi and was unable to block all of the dangerous slashes made by the Uchiha.
He jumped back, placing some much needed distance between himself and the two powerful young men. Blood poured from the large gash Sasuke made in his right shoulder. He panted heavily, fighting for the strength he would need to try and make it away from them alive.
"Who the hell are you and why did you attack me?" Naruto demanded of him.
The man said nothing, merely wiped the sweat from his brow and swept assessing eyes on his surroundings. The arrival of the last team members solidified some decision in his mind and the fingers on his left hand twitched once. He shoved his hand into the pouch on his left hip and threw something at the group. Neji and the others were still further back from him and were just out of harms way. Nevertheless, Sai had grabbed Sakura and leapt away with her in tow. She was just able to make out the fine mist of green powder covering Sasuke head to toe. Naruto lay several feet from him, the position he landed in when Sasuke pushed him aside.
A gleeful laugh erupted from the shinobi's throat as he watched the cloud overtake the Uchiha's body. "That's what you get you bastard! See what happens when you mess..."
Blood gurgled in his throat as the cool steel of Sasuke's blade made it's way through his chest. He watched with disinterested eyes as the man crumpled to his knees and finally collapsed to the forest floor, dead.
"Sasuke, what the hell was..."
"Stay back!" The raven haired man screamed at his best friend trying to walk towards him.
The blond's cerulean eyes crinkled in confusion. "What the hell?"
"Do as he says Naruto." Sakura made a wide berth around Sasuke to get closer to the dead man. All eyes were fixed on her as she swept her chakra covered hand along his body, paying particular attention to the powdery substance covering his fingers. "I'm not entirely sure what it is, but it's a topical poison of some sort. If we get this on our skin, it'll absorb through our pores quickly and possibly be fatal."
"Oh, is that why you pushed me out of the way teme?"
Sasuke merely crossed his arms and deadpanned a look on the hyperactive ninja.
Sakura sent a critical eye over Sasuke's body. She could see remnants of the powder clinging to his clothes and skin, but he showed no signs of becoming ill. "Are you having any problems Sasuke? Any difficulty breathing or pains in your body?"
He locked onto her green eyes, holding them a moment before he shook his head negatively. She tilted her head and looked up at him with a crooked grin. "I would have never thought I'd have even a moment's happiness about you training with Orochimaru." The rest of the group was confused by her statement, but Sasuke's almost amused look showed he understood. She could remember, even now, the words Kaka-sensei had said to her after she'd failed in her attempt to take Sasuke's life. He mentioned that Orochimaru had surely built Sasuke's resistance to poison's during the time he spent there. At least that did prove to be true.
"Looks like you kids are having fun."
They whipped around to find the copy-cat nin perched in a tree right behind them.
"Kaka-sensei!" Naruto and Sakura shouted at nearly the same time. His uncovered eye crinkled in greeting to his enthusiastic former students before turning to Sasuke's still form. They greeted each other with an almost imperceptible nod of the head.
"I take it you were informed of the current situation as well," Neji asked, walking towards the tree Kakashi was leaping down from.
"Yeah, I got the news yesterday."
"Is there anything more you can tell us?"
Kakashi glanced at the team before him. "There is information we should share, but not here. We'll talk back at camp." Kakashi walked over to the dead man, eyed him for a moment, before running through a familiar set of hand seals for a katon jutsu. They watched as he set the body and surrounding grass to blaze. "Sasuke, there's a pond 3 miles to the east. You need to wash the remainder of the poison from your clothes and skin before we can let you into camp."
"Come on teme, I'll go with you to look out for ya!" Naruto said, flashing his wide grin.
"So will I," Kakashi added. "It's a little disturbing to see how close this man came to what will be base camp. I'll do some more recon on the area while Sasuke gets all cleaned up."
Sasuke shot his former sensei a sharp glance at the sing song voice he'd adopted at the end of this sentence.
"Go ahead Kakashi-sensei, I'll wait here with the others to ensure everything burns properly before heading to the camp site."
"Thank you Neji. Well, shall we guys?"
"Naruto, Sasuke!" Sakura called after their retreating figures. "Please be careful!" Naruto gave her a thumbs up and bright smile for reassurance. As far as Sasuke, she was happy with the flippant toss of his hand. At least he'd acknowledged her words.
Sasuke started for the barest of moments as the two story wooden house came into view the moment they cleared the dense line of trees. Naruto caught the momentary look of shock that showed on his best friend's face. He draped one arm loosely around the Uchiha's shoulders.
"Welcome to camping out with Yamato-taicho," a large grin split his whiskered cheeks.
He still pouted when Sasuke shrugged his arm off and continued on towards the dwelling, though the reaction was expected. The boys kicked off their shoes, lining them up with the others already in place, and headed for the second floor where they heard their team mates voices coming from. A booming voice was the only warning they got before a blur of green shot out of the corner and landed directly in front of them.
"Sasuke!" Gai shouted in the man's face. "Are you truly not affected by the poison you encountered?"
The former avenger merely stared back at the overly enthusiastic old man. He briefly considered letting him meet his chidori as a return favor for the invasion of his personal space and the hot breath he'd had to endure with the question posed, but he didn't feel like expending the energy that would take. The man continued to talk, regardless of the lack of reply, so Sasuke merely walked around his wildly gesticulating hands. Whether Naruto intervened to help avoid the conflict that could arise, or if it was simply a case of his own boundless energy that pulled him into the conversation with Maito Gai, he didn't know nor care. At least for now, Kakashi's old friend was off his case. He took a seat by the fire between Sakura and Sai, warming himself after his forced bath in the cold pond.
He glanced around the rather spacious second floor room created by Yamato. This was a far cry from any 'camping' he done on missions as a genin or during his time spent with Hebi. Though the area was bare save for the fire pit in the middle, the floor plan was large affording ample space for them to lay out their sleeping mats. A balcony ran the length of the second story as well, making it much easier for the one keeping watch to still be near the warmth of the room. He fought a smirk; a shinobi could become quite accustomed to this.
"Where did Kakashi go?" he asked after the jonin's continued absence.
"With Yamato-taicho to get the ANBU members settled," Sakura replied. "They'll be in a separate building from us."
"It will be more efficient for security reasons," Sai explained. "Plus, we are still on a mission. They have to conduct themselves in a certain manner and would be uncomfortable around others."
Sakura nodded in understanding of his explanation. Having healed many of the ANBU members herself, she was well aware of their particular temperaments. They sat in comfortable silence, listening to the conversation continuing between Naruto and Gai, while they waited on the others. It was more than an hour before Yamato and Kakashi finally darkened their doorway.
"It's good to see everyone doing well," Yamato said with a weary smile as he sat across from former team seven.
"You too Yamato-taicho. How are the ANBU members?" the pinkette asked.
"There are some minor injuries I would like you to take care of later, but beyond that, I'd like you to give them an examination anyway."
"Any particular reason why?"
A heavy sigh past the former ANBU's lips and he shared a look with Kakashi as he reached into one of the pockets of his flack vest. He handed over a stack of photographs to her. "Things are much worse than we anticipated."
Sakura could not contain her gasp as she begin flipping through the pictures. The others grouped around her to see what shocked her so badly.
"Compiling all the information we were able to get, it seems there are dozens of villages over the five countries that have been effected by some form of illness."
"How is it possible that we did not hear of all these attacks?" Sai asked, his face showing only the barest of emotions as Sakura quickly flipped over the picture of a young pregnant woman, obviously dead.
"Most of the villages did not realize they'd been attacked," Kakashi answered. "Some of these areas simply thought they had a bad outbreak of a virus. ANBU only photographed those with external signs of disease."
"And not everyone is dying," Yamato added. "There are many villages that are simply burdened with being sick in some form or fashion but there have been no deaths in those areas. No one thought that they'd been attacked with a biochemical weapon."
Sakura bit into her lip as she passed yet another photo of a dead civilian, this time with large open sores covering his face. She didn't know whether to cry or scream her anger out at the blatant disregard for human life Kabuto had. "Did any of the ANBU members get infected?"
"Not that we are aware, but as I'm sure you can imagine, I'd like for you to double check all of their conditions."
"There's something else Sakura," Kakashi spoke, drawing her attention. "When possible, they took samples of the water, food, soil, or tissue to bring back to Tsunade-sama for analysis. I realize you don't have any equipment here, but you might want to look them over anyway. There could be a possibility you might learn something from it."
She simply nodded her head in agreement. The photo in her hand was of a young man, probably around 15 or 16, with a large amount of pink, frothy secretions spilling out of his nose and mouth. The sight made her heart clench in pain. He had drowned in his own body fluid. A painful, terrifying way to die and one that should never be experienced by anyone, much less an innocent teenage civilian. Yamato-taicho was right; this was much, much worse than she had expected.
"The only thing that we were unable to determine was how he was getting these poisons into the villages, but it seems you were able to discover that information for us."
"Oh, the shinobi from earlier!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Yes. With a network of rogue shinobi for hire, it is entirely possible for him to have attacked so many people over such a large area. They probably didn't even realize the immense danger they were placing themselves in."
"Has no one been able to identify him personally during all this time?" Neji asked.
"No. None of the villages who were affected saw anything out of the ordinary."
"How is that possible?"
Kakashi looked to Sasuke after hearing the disbelief in his voice. "Perhaps because nearly all of them were not shinobi villages."
"What?"
"Unfortunately, most all of the villages who were attacked were civilian."
"This is insane!" Naruto yelled, hoping up from his spot by the fire. "You're telling me that Kabuto is attacking civilian villages? Why? Why would he do that?"
Kakashi ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "I don't know. We've only just now gotten all of this information. We're going to need time to process it and see if we can find a pattern or something. And unfortunately, we have to do it without the help of our comrades. Kabuto has succeeded in separating us from Konoha."
It looked like the jinchuriki wanted to continue yelling about the subject, but a single, weak grasp on his hand stopped him. Sakura wouldn't lift her head to meet his eyes, but he could sense the tension and sadness making her shoulders shake. Reluctantly, he sat back down and kept his further questions to himself, though not without a great deal of show for it.
"Have you received any further word from Tsunade-sama?" her soft voice asked.
"No, but I wouldn't expect to so soon. If we don't hear anything from the village in a few days, we'll send a messanger hawk." Kakashi held up his hand to stop her as her mouth opened in protest. "I'm just as worried about everyone as you are Sakura, but you of all people should understand the position Tsunade-sama is in. What would happen if you went into the village right now?"
"There's a possibility that..."
"What would the most likely scenario be?" Kakashi asked her, his voice becoming sharper as he interrupted what would have been a pleading sentence.
She blew out a breath and looked away from him, her brows drawn down in reluctant defeat. "I would become infected just as the rest of them are."
He smiled at her from beneath his mask. "The best thing you can do to help the village right now is concentrate on the information we've collected. You are the only one here who can help us sort through this."
"Alright Neji, Sai," Kakashi called as he stood. "I want you to help me and Gai place some barriers around our position. We will probably be here for a while and we should make this area as secure as possible."
"Understood."
"Sasuke, Naruto. There are supplies we gathered on the way here just behind the building. I want you to bring them in and secure them on the first level."
"You got it Kaka-sensei." Naruto said and bounded out of the room.
"I'll go with you to the ANBU's quarters Sakura."
"Thank you Yamato-taicho." She placed the pictures of the victims on top of her belongings and stood to follow him with a heavy heart. No matter how many times she told herself this was the best course of action for them to take, she couldn't help feeling both powerless and guilty that she wasn't at her shishou's side during this harsh time in Konoha. The anger she felt at the suffering Kabuto had caused to so many was clashing with the heaviness already weighing down her heart. Her emotions were beginning to get to her.
It was only for a moment and so light she barely registered it. As Sasuke passed her, following their team mate, his hand rested on her shoulder, squeezing gently before it was gone and he left the room.
She lowered her head, trying to make sure no one could see the stupid grin on her face that they would no doubt question her about.
The owner of the hand currently stroking the bare flesh of her thigh no doubt thought he could entice her to another round. She rolled away from him, presenting her naked back to his eyes and batted away at the bothersome fingers tickling her skin.
"Aww, come on now," he whispered into her ear. "Don't be like that."
Her long hair slapped across his face as she whipped her head around to face him. "Don't you have something to do?" She never bothered to hide the irritation from her voice or features.
"Tch, now I know why they said you were a bitch," he muttered as he climbed from the bed, not caring of his nudity. Though his words had been hushed, they were not missed by the woman in the bed.
She didn't respond to his comment, simply watched him as he dressed then left the room without another glance in her direction. That suited her just fine. The shinobi had possessed a tight, fit body and he had pleased her during the short time she allowed him in her room. The fact that he had been satisfied as well simply meant her job was done for the moment. She had no doubt he would be reporting to her temporary partner and receiving his instructions for duty.
Her nose wrinkled at the lingering smell of sex filling the room. Long limbs slipped from between the rumpled sheets and goosebumps popped up along her flesh as her feet hit the cold floor. She wasted no time but hurried to the shower, eager to both warm herself and wash away the scent of her latest partner. The fragrant soap put only a temporary smile on her now world weary face.
This was not how things were supposed to turn out for her.
Hiding in an obscure base so far away from any outsiders, using not only her mind but now her body as well to make sure the goals they had set got accomplished.
She shut off the water and ripped the towel from its rack with more force than necessary. It wasn't how she envisioned things to be proceeding but she wouldn't allow herself to shed a single tear over her current predicament. There were so many other obstacles she had overcome in her life and this would simply be one more for her to concur. Let those bastards say what they wanted to about her, nobody's opinion mattered anymore. She would do what she must to make it to tomorrow.
As she rubbed the scented lotion over her now dry skin, she allowed herself to think of the turmoil the latest package they were sending out would cause. Things were going according to schedule and she knew by now, his temper would be riled. There was no way he wouldn't be investigating the cause of all this. She already knew he would have a primary suspect in mind and that he would come looking for him. When that happened, she would be ready with her own surprise for him.
While she wasn't one to search out trouble, there was no way she could allow his sins to be forgotten. Because of his actions, her world had been ripped out from beneath her...twice.
She had no choice but to return the favor.
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A/N:
What's this? An update? ON TIME? Shut the front door! And I went to a con this weekend? Look at me being all productive!
:)
Big love to all the new readers! Thanks for finding, reading, reviewing...etc!
Hope you enjoyed the chapter and, as always, reviews are much loved!