Not Sick Ch 11
Repetition
Another afternoon in the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
Which of course, meant another couple piles of the paperwork that the village inevitably generated.
Tsunade sighed, leaning back in her somewhat beaten chair and massaging her forehead.
She wished she knew where Shizune had hidden her sake this week. Her former apprentice we just too damn clever when it came to hiding places: it had been almost a month since Tsunade had seen a drop of the stuff.
Though maybe that was for the best…
The Hokage snorted, pressing herself back into the mass of minutiae. She must have been really far gone, to start to consider a lack of alcohol a good thing.
It wasn't all bad, she reflected as she perused an academy initiative, headed by a certain Iruka Umino, to teach dispelling genjutsu to the more advanced students: Tsunade didn't remember much about the man besides his distinctive scar, but he certainly seemed like one of the more levelheaded of his colleagues.
She signed off her approval.
The village hadn't experienced a crisis in a while: always a good thing.
Both Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha were no longer missing-nin.
Danzō's surgery had gone off without a hitch. In addition, about twenty Sharingan had been turned over to the village: Tsunade couldn't believe how many that Danzo had been hiding away.
Shizune was now in the possession of the doujutsu. She was the only person Tsunade trusted to be able to hide them effectively enough while the Hokage decided exactly what to do with them.
ROOT's leader had been quiet lately. Tsunade couldn't decide if he had decided to bide his time and plan a revenge for a suitable moment…
No, that was definitely what he was doing. It would be naïve to believe anything else.
It was a pity that Danzō directly controlled a decent portion of the villages ANBU: Tsunade would have seriously considered decommissioning the elder man and forcing him into retirement if that weren't the case.
But while Tsunade didn't enjoy the political game, that didn't mean she was exempt from it. And such a drastic move on her part would merit an equally drastic response from him.
So for now, it was Danzō's turn to make a move. Hopefully, he wouldn't be too petty about it.
Tsunade gazed at her desk, groaning under the stacks of forms, and amended her thought.
If there was any justice in the world, Danzō's revenge wouldn't create more thrice-damned paperwork.
How had her grandfather gotten anything-
No. That was also a naïve thought. Hashirama had been a wartime Hokage for the length of his time in office. He wouldn't have had to worry about such things.
Probably just as well, Tsunade considered. She wouldn't have put it past her grandfather to turn official forms into potted plants. His attention span had never been the most impressive.
At least it was a nice day outside, despite an unusual heat wave. The sun shining down, leaves gracefully filling the streets, birds distantly chirping-
Her office exploded.
Not into fire and rubble, thankfully. There was a loud pop, and white smoke rapidly obscured everything as a mild wind swept through the small space.
When the smoke drifted away, three things became clear.
One, that there were some new arrivals in the Hokage's office.
Two, that the new arrivals were, respectively, a small green toad, a small purple toad, Jiraiya of the Sannin, and Naruto Uzumaki, who was wearing a rather bright red coat with a low-lying black flame decoration.
Three, that the mild wind that had come with all the air being sucked out of several meters of space had upset the precarious piles of paperwork on Tsunade's desk, sending several pounds of the stuff to the floor in various states of disarray.
Tsunade stared at the new arrivals. Jiraiya and Naruto stared back, the first grinning proudly and the second almost smirking.
Both realized that Tsunade wasn't exactly thrilled at about the same time: when a vein in her forehead began to pulse violently.
"Jiraiya…" she muttered, burying her head in her hands, "Do you always have to have a dramatic entrance?"
The older sage shrugged. "Comes with the territory, princess."
"Yes… yes it does," Tsunade muttered to herself, before looking up and meeting her teammates gaze. "Just like my paperwork."
The man turned nearly as white as his hair. "Ah… well, you see…"
The Hokage snorted. "Doesn't matter. So, you really are back so soon. I thought you might have been kidding when I got that message yesterday."
"Hey!" the youngest person in the room interjected. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Tsunade turned to the younger man, her face turning from fierce to friendly. "Nothing, Naruto. It's impressive. A sage in less than two weeks? Practically unheard of. You should be proud."
"Oh trust me, he is," Jiraiya murmured.
"Ha! You're just jealous!" Naruto declared.
"Jealous?" Jiraiya shouted, acting grievously offended. "Of what? Your manners, or your fashion sense?"
"What?! At least I-"
Whatever Naruto's doubtlessly clever rebuttal was, it never managed to escape him. The sound of a toad slamming its face into its hands was somewhat loud, almost like a solid clap, and it stopped both he and his master in their tracks.
"Honestly," Shima said, patting her husband on the back as he shook his head, at a loss for words. "Jiraiya, you become more and more childish every day. And you! Naruto! You're a sage now: try to have a little decorum, if you please! We've had this buffoon representing us for years: a change of pace might be nice!"
Now, it was Jiraiya who let out a strangled, "Hey!"
"Enough!" Tsunade's hand went up, and both the toads and the sages went silent. "You're spooking the ANBU."
Darkly dressed men in simple animal masks, all of which somewhat resented being referred to as "spooked", slunk back into the shadows. They had been drawn by the noise, and stayed for the show.
"Pfft," Jiraiya pffted. "What doesn't spook the ANBU?"
"I know what does," Tsunade said. "Teleporting into my office without warning and ruining my paperwork."
"…Okay, fine," Jiraiya acquiesced. "No more unexpected teleportation."
"Thank you," Tsunade said.
Naruto looked back and forth between the two of them, blinking. His brow furrowed.
"This isn't the first time this has happened, is it?"
Tsunade sighed. Jiraiya just looked uncomfortable.
"Okay then." Naruto decided that it was none of his business.
"So! I'm back!" he declared, trying to change the topic.
"Yes, Naruto, I can see that," Tsunade said. She turned to the more diminutive arrivals. "But if you don't mind me asking, why are the elders here?"
Fukasaku shrugged. "We're just here to see him off."
Jiraiya chuckled. Tsunade looked to him, but he just waved her off.
Nothing," he laughed.
"What?" Shima croaked. "An old woman can't say goodbye to her newest sage?"
Jiraiya just laughed again. "It's not that, and you know it."
Fukasaku chuckled as well. "He's just remembering his own return, Shima."
"Oh, yes!" Shima turned to Tsunade. "Did you ever get the blood out of your blouse, dear? It looked like it was terribly stained…"
"It was fine." Tsunade waved off the old toad's concern. "I'm rather good at getting blood off my clothes, you know."
Jiraiya snorted. Naruto just tried to look like he knew what they were talking about.
He didn't, of course. It was just as well. If he'd known all the details of his master's return to Konoha after his own sage training, he likely would have lost what little reverence he had for the man.
Particularly if he heard about the bit with the funnel cake.
"Anyway," Jiraiya said, trying and failing to look serious. "Tsunade, I can officially say that Naruto has finished his training."
Tsunade just shrugged. "I can see that for myself. Were there any complications? Finishing so quickly…"
"Err…" Naruto looked slightly uncomfortable turning to Jiraiya. The older man just pursed his mouth and shrugged, and so the blonde turned back to the Hokage.
"Well…" Naruto slowly said. "I had a little problem. But it's not really that bad. I figured out a way around it."
"Oh?" Tsunade leaned forward. It was pretty much what she had expected from the Jinchūriki: Naruto wasn't the type to back away from problems. He'd spent his whole life fighting them, after all.
"It's the damn fox's fault, actually." Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "There's enough of its chakra in my system to keep grandpa and grandma here," he gestured at Shima and Fukasaku, who smiled at the appellation, "from fusing with me to take in natural energy."
Tsunade sat back, a question obvious in her raised eyebrows.
"It's no big deal, though!" Naruto assured her, quickly bringing his hands up. "The only thing is I can't take in energy while moving. So I just use shadow clones to get the job done instead."
"Hmm." Tsunade didn't look skeptical: just curious. "So you can't stay in Sage Mode forever then, if you can only gather as much energy as your clones can."
It sounded like a question, but it wasn't, and Naruto knew it.
He paused before responding. "Yeah," he admitted, looking a little embarrassed. Inevitably, he perked up, lighting up the office with he gleaming teeth. "But I'm working on it! Soon, my clones'll get so efficient it'll barely matter!"
"I wasn't doubting you, Naruto," Tsunade said good-naturedly. "I just needed to be sure."
There was a momentary pause as a mollified Naruto opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, and settled for grinning.
"Okay," he said, before looking around.
The gesture didn't go unnoticed.
"Eager to be somewhere?" Tsunade asked with a small smile.
"Eh?" Naruto turned to her again, fidgeting slightly. "What? No! I mean-"
The Hokage chuckled. "Naruto, if you want to go, just go. I'm sure Sakura will be happy to see you."
"Sakura? But-"
"She's with him. She's barely left his side since you did."
Naruto smiled. "That's good. That's good for him."
Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. Naruto saw it in his peripheral vision, and rolled his eyes.
"Don't start that again, Ero-sennin. Just 'cause you're handicapped, doesn't mean I won't beat the crap out of you."
"What?" the white-haired man said, bringing his hand up in an eerie imitation of his student's earlier movement. "I didn't say anything!"
"Yeah, but you were thinking it!"
The tall man snorted. "I get no respect around here. And you know I'm right."
Naruto's face went red, but he didn't say anything more to his master.
Tsunade laughed. "Just go, Naruto. We can get the other stuff out of the way later."
"Other stuff?" Naruto asked innocently.
Tsunade glanced meaningfully at one of the many stacks of paper on her desk.
Now that the Jinchūriki was back in the village, he'd have to finally fill out the forms he'd been dodging ever since he'd returned from the pursuit assignment.
Naruto had never left a room as quickly as he did then. The window banged shut, the wind of his passage slamming it closed.
The Hokage laughed again.
Shima just chuckled. "If that's everything, I think we'll get going too."
Fukasaku bowed slightly to the Hokage, his diminutive frame shrinking even more, and then turned to his older student. "Just remember, Jiraiya. Keep an eye on that kid."
Jiraiya nodded respectfully, and the elder toads vanished from the office in a flash of smoke and another, smaller rush of wind.
There was a moment of quiet as the two Sannin stared at each other.
"He's gotten a lot faster," Tsunade said, bringing one hand up to cup her chin. "I barely saw him leave."
"I think Naruto will surprise you, hime," Jiraiya said seriously. Tsunade perked up, suddenly paying much more attention to her former teammate's words. Jiraiya rarely sounded so sincere.
The sage continued. "He's grown a lot. More than either of us realized, I think." He paused. "He reminds me more of him every day."
Tsunade stiffened slightly. "Really?"
There was no question who he was.
Jiraiya nodded. "Really. It's eerie. Sometimes, I have to remind myself that he's gone."
"Huh." Tsunade rested her head on one of her hands. "That's…"
She laughed. "That's good. That's fantastic, actually. Maybe I can pass of this hat sooner than I thought."
"He's got a ways to go," Jiraiya cautioned, though he sounded like he barely believed himself. "He's still missing something."
Tsunade made a dismissive sound. "How long do you think, then?"
Jiraiya blinked and shifted. Tsunade stared at him.
"Honestly," she repeated. "How long do you think?"
"A year. Probably two," Jiraiya said slowly. "Assuming that this business with Akatsuki gets sorted out before then. He'll be ready then."
"Hmm." Tsunade grinned. "Well, we'll just have to make sure it, then."
Jiraiya smiled back. "You sound so confident. I mean-"
"Of course there's something we don't know," Tsunade interrupted. "There always is. I just get the feeling…"
She frowned slightly, leaning back and crossing her arms. "I just get the feeling it won't matter this time."
"I wish I had your confidence, princess." Jiraiya sounded subdued.
"I'm surprised you don't." Tsunade stood up, walking around her desk. "What's wrong, Jiraiya? I didn't want to say anything while Naruto was here, but you look…"
Wrong was on the tip of her tongue, but it was too strong for her to use, and so she waited for the other Sannin to fill in the gap himself.
The large man didn't answer her question immediately, but when he did, it was in a quiet voice, completely unlike his usual boasting tone.
"I've been thinking a lot," he murmured.
"About?" Tsunade pressed. She finished rounding her desk, and walked slowly towards Jiraiya.
"Nagato." A moment of hesitation, completely unlike him. "Pain."
"It wasn't your fault." It wasn't supposed to be a comforting platitude: Tsunade spoke flatly, making it a crushing statement.
"How can you know?" Jiraiya, however, didn't seem to care. He tilted his head up, looking away from her.
Tsunade reached him, and grabbed hold of his remaining hand, gently holding it in both of hers. "What could you possibly have done that caused him to become what he did?"
Jiraiya was silent, staring at the ceiling, unwilling to look at her. His hand was cold.
"I don't know. That's what worries me." He finally looked down at her, expressionless. "I should have stayed with them. None of this would have happened. Nagato wouldn't be walking around in Yahiko's body, using him as some sort of… some sort of puppet. Akatsuki probably wouldn't even exist."
"Maybe." Tsunade didn't sound anything but understanding. "But you can't change the past. There's no point in agonizing over what you could have done."
"But don't you see?" Jiraiya rebutted quietly. "Nagato and Naruto… they're the same." He took a deep breath. "I put all my hope in Nagato, thinking he would be the one to save this world. And now… I don't know what happened to him, but I don't think he'll ever be saving anything, no matter what he says."
Another breath, this one shuddering. Tsunade just listened. "I did the same with Minato. But it didn't matter. He died." He closed his eyes slowly, heavily. "And now… with his son…"
"Jiraiya."
Tsunade's voice, strong and clear, sliced through Jiraiya like cold steel. He jerked his head down, meeting her hard amber eyes.
"You're being an idiot."
"…Hey," he said weakly, trying to muster up some offense.
Tsunade snorted. "Don't 'hey' me if it's true." She poked him in the chest: somewhat like she had Danzō a week earlier, but with a lot less nerve damage. With each word, she repeated the action.
"You. Are. Being. Dumb." Each poke was more violent than the last. Jiraiya winced at the last one: he couldn't tell if it was the words or the feeling of his ribs straining.
"Nagato was Nagato. Minato was Minato. And Naruto is Naruto," Tsunade said warmly.
She smiled. "Don't worry about him. You haven't done anything wrong. And if you really are that concerned, don't be. You said it yourself. Soon enough, he'll be the one teaching us new tricks."
Jiraiya stared.
"He's really rubbed off on you, huh?"
Tsunade's smile didn't fade. "As if the same hasn't happened to you. You're just getting too wrapped up in the past to notice."
"I'm pretty sure I take offense to that." His lone arm freed itself from the hand that had remained on it, and snaked itself around the Hokage, drawing her into a close hug.
"I never did have the best bedside manners," Tsunade chuckled.
"Oh?" She could hear Jiraiya's eyebrows go up. "So I'm a patient now?"
"Only if you want to be," she said.
Jiraiya laughed.
About a kilometer away, Naruto was being faced with the hardest decision of his young life.
He'd reached a midpoint.
If he went west, he'd be at the hospital Sasuke was recovering at in five minutes or so.
But if he went east… he'd be at Ichiraku's in about three.
He was frozen on a rooftop, indecision nailing his feet to the wood.
Ramen or Sasuke?
If he went to Ichiraku's first, then he could eat on the go. But if he were eating on the go, he'd be a lot slower. Plus, who knew what Sasuke could get up to in the ten minutes the detour would take from him.
Cold sweat ran down Naruto's face as he considered the consequences of his craving for sweet, sweet noodles.
Knowing the Uchiha, he might burn down the building just as Naruto got there. It would be just his luck. And then Tsunade would banish him for property damage and Naruto would have to go chasing after him again and Sakura would be so-
"Naruto?"
Huh.
As if summoned by his thoughts, Sakura's voice rung out from the street below him. He looked down and found her standing there, staring up at him with an expression somewhere between perplexed and amused.
A couple people walked by, mostly ignoring the scene: in Konoha, seeing shinobi shout at others on rooftops wasn't exactly uncommon.
Particularly when they were teenagers of the opposite sex.
"You're back? What are you doing up there?"
"Uh…" Naruto blinked, quickly trying to come up with an incredibly solid lie, one that would convince Sakura he had been certainly not been trying to decide between visiting his recovering friend or his favorite food.
He failed.
"Nothing."
Sakura tilted her head. "Nothing?"
"Nothing," Naruto confirmed with an incredibly sincere expression.
"You look like you're sweating," she said curiously. She shifted a bag in her left hand, moving her fingers into a more comfortable grip.
What was with the bag? Also: he was actually sweating? Jeez, he hadn't thought he was that nervous…
"Well… this coat's… pretty warm?" Naruto said, crossing his arms and wishing that there were a gust of wind to show off the bright red outfit. It was the kind of clothing that deserved to billow dramatically when worn.
Unfortunately, today Konoha was rather warm, and there wasn't a single breeze to cool the streets. It was part of the reason there were so few passerby: most of the civilians had elected to stay in, away from the dry heat.
So instead of billowing dramatically, Naruto's coat just hung around his body like a drape. Pretty to look at, but not especially conductive to looking nice… or keeping him from overheating.
"It's pretty nice," Sakura noted. "Where'd you get it?"
"The toads gave it to me!" Naruto said. "They made the same kinda thing for the Yondaime! Pretty cool, huh?"
Sakura blinked. How did toads make clothing? They didn't even have thumbs. "That is pretty cool, Naruto. Come on down here, okay? I don't want to shout all day."
Naruto nodded and leapt off the roof silently, landing in front of Sakura and kicking up a very small cloud of dust. He rose to his feet with a questioning look.
"What's with the bag?" he asked guilelessly, angling his head as if trying to get a look inside.
"Oh!" Sakura exclaimed, holding it up. "I got takeout!" She reached in and withdrew something wonderful.
Naruto stared. "Is that…?" He thought he could feel a single tear trying to escape one of his eyes.
Sakura stared at him, cocking an eyebrow. For a moment, she looked scarily like Tsunade. "Are you okay?"
"That's… ramen," Naruto whispered reverentially.
"Err… yeah? I knew you were coming back today, and I figured you would come see Sasuke first thing, so I got some cup ramen so that-" Sakura suddenly stopped talking. She squinted.
"Naruto, are you… crying?"
Naruto sniffed, wiping away a rogue tear. "Sakura… you don't get it. I've been eating snails and bugs for weeks. Everyday, it just got slimier and… and wrigglier… Pervy Sage looked like he enjoyed it… I can't even…"
He rushed forward, pulling Sakura into an enthusiastic hug. "You're the best!"
"Whoa!" Sakura tried to back away, but Naruto's grip was like iron. "Hey! Let go of me, you idiot! It's just some noodles!"
"Just noodles!?" Naruto pulled back, grinning widely. "Sakura, I think you just saved my life. Don't say they're 'just noodles'!"
Despite herself, Sakura couldn't help but smile back. "Okay, fine. They're not just noodles."
Then, her smile grew sharp. "But if you don't let go of me, fancy new coat or no, I'll snap you in half."
Naruto stiffened and carefully released his grip on the pink-haired girl, backing away a foot or two to be safe.
"Anyway!" Sakura said brightly, tossing him the ramen pack. Naruto snatched it out of the air with the beginnings of a glazed smile forming on his face. "How've you been? Besides the… food."
The way she said it made it clear that giving what Naruto had been eating the title of 'food' was a questionable decision at best.
"Great!" Naruto said enthusiastically. "I learned a ton!"
Sakura slowly began walking, and Naruto followed her. She was headed in the direction of the hospital, where she'd originally been going.
"Yeah?" she asked. "I didn't get much out of shishou about what you were up to. I know it was studying 'Sage Mode', whatever that is, but she didn't really explain the specifics."
And just like that, Sakura managed to keep Naruto jabbering happily about his training all the way to the hospital.
By the time they had reached their destination, Sakura knew all she would ever want to (and more) about the sights, sounds, and 'delicacies' of Mount Myōboko, Jiraiya's extremely questionable teaching methods, and how 'awesome' Naruto's new technique was.
"So wait," she asked, pushing open the door and giving the receptionist a friendly nod. The woman didn't nod back: she looked like she hadn't slept in a long time. "Go back a little. If you mess up, you turn to stone?"
"Yep!" Naruto said cheerfully. "There're a bunch of statues around up there; Ero-sennin told me that they were people who'd messed up taking in natural energy."
"And you weren't worried that would happen to you?" Sasuke was on the fourth floor: Sakura reached the stairwell that went up through the whole of the building as she said 'happen', and carefully pulled the old metal door open, wincing at the creak.
"Nah." Naruto followed her through the open door. "Ero-sennin thought of that, at least: he was super careful to make sure I was real good at concentrating before he let me take in energy or anything like that."
"Well, that was responsible of him."
There was a stretch of silence as they walked up the stairs.
When they finally reached their floor, Naruto was the one to open the door, motioning Sakura through.
His coat was almost caught in the door as it closed behind him.
"So, how's he been?" he asked as he fell in besides his teammate, finally bringing to the fore what had been on both their minds.
Sakura hesitated. "Moody."
Naruto just snorted. "What else is new?"
"He's… he doesn't really know what he's going to do, Naruto," Sakura said carefully. "I've never seen Sasuke so… unsure. Not since..."
She trailed off, but Naruto already knew what she was going to say.
'Since the last time Itachi came to Konoha.'
"Don't worry about it!" the blonde said cheerfully, doing his best to dispel the sudden silence. "He'll be able to see any day now, right? Like, less than a week? Once he's got his eyes back, he'll cheer up. You'll see!"
Then, he grinned. "Plus, I'm here now. If he doesn't do it himself, I'm gonna beat that moodiness out of him!"
All of Naruto's boasts didn't do a damn thing to conceal his own uncertainty from Sakura. But she didn't comment on it.
How could she? The whole situation was completely… she didn't even know what to call it.
Sometimes, it just felt so… hopeless.
She pulled ahead of Naruto. They were close to Sasuke's room now. It was just around the corner.
"I swear, Sakura," he said.
Sakura turned the corner. Sasuke's door was just ahead. She reached out and grabbed hold of the handle, hesitating. She turned back to Naruto.
He just smiled. "It'll all turn out okay."
He spoke with such conviction that for a moment, Sakura allowed herself to believe him.
She opened the door and stepped through, Naruto right behind her.
Sasuke was asleep. His whole body was relaxed in a way it never was while he was conscious.
There was a flash of disappointment… and then a sudden burst of undeniable wariness. Sakura's whole body tingled with danger sense.
Something was wrong. He'd been awake when she'd left.
She turned, and found Juugo slumped in a chair set in the corner, apparently dozing.
"Sakura." She heard Naruto behind her. He sounded the same way she felt.
"Do you-"
His words were suddenly cut off, and he gasped quietly. Something hit the floor with a flat sound: Naruto had dropped his ramen.
He was choking. It was the unmistakable sound of someone being strangled.
Sakura's eyes went wide. She began to turn around.
She caught a flash of something starkly white hanging from the ceiling, its arms wrapped around Naruto's throat.
"Well. You're here sooner than I thought you'd be."
The voice stopped her from completing her turn. She slowly shifted her head back towards Juugo.
Juugo was gone. Instead, there was another man there, who hadn't been there before.
A man wearing a distinctive orange mask.
Sakura let go of her bag.
"No matter," Tobi said casually. "I was just about to be on my way."
Sakura didn't think. She just charged.
If she had her way, Tobi would have both set a new airspeed record within Konoha, and accrued several hundred-thousand ryo's worth of property damage as he smashed through several dozen walls.
Sakura didn't get her way.
The man in the Akatsuki cloak didn't even flinch, and Sakura's straight-arm went right through his chest without a hint of resistance. He stared down at her, his head cocked to the side.
"You seem angry," he said calmly.
Then he twisted back.
Sakura's eyes went wide. She jumped back, bringing her arms up into a protective position.
One of Tobi's legs leapt forward and kicked under her guard, sending both of her arms up.
Then the other shot out and buried itself in her face.
It was like getting hit by a falling tree.
Sakura flew back, spinning. The world was spinning. Everything had suddenly gotten a lot darker. Her vision flashed red and black.
She hit the ground with a muffled thud, rolled back to her feet, and immediately staggered sideways.
For a moment, she considered passing out. She was pretty sure that kick had given her a concussion.
Sakura fell, her balance lost, and sunk down on one knee, giving up on keeping her feet. She breathed heavily, furious, and glared at Tobi. One of her eyes was swelling shut already.
The world was getting blurry.
She forced it back into focus. She couldn't afford for it not to be.
Naruto was behind her, struggling with something. After a moment, he gave a roar of effort, and a pale thing bounced past Sakura, making a liquid sounding thud as it hit the floor. It slid to a stop at Tobi's feet, before slowly pulling itself up.
It was the plant man, Zetsu. Unmistakably. But the flytrap was gone, and he was completely white: the black half had vanished.
"Ow!" it whined. "Jeez! A little rough, don't you think?"
Naruto just wheezed: the heavy, uncertain breathing of a man whose windpipe had been recently constricted.
"Who're you calling… rough?" he panted, sounding borderline enraged. "You're lucky I didn't tear your head off!"
If it were possible, Zetsu grew paler.
Tobi made an unconcerned 'tsk' noise, and slowly walked over to Sasuke. A kunai flipped out of his sleeve.
He came to a stop next to the bed.
There was a moment of heavy silence.
"Get away from him." Naruto was hissing. Sakura had never heard him sound so angry.
Tobi didn't visibly react.
Sakura couldn't see past the mask, but she knew the man was wearing a mocking smile under it. Her head pulsed, a burning ache swelling through it, and she closed her eyes tightly for a moment.
"I don't believe I will."
Sakura gritted her teeth, the sound unnaturally loud in her head. She could feel a pounding there: everything above the neck felt thick, hypersensitive. A monster of headache was forming.
She couldn't tell if it was because worry, or rage, or because of that vicious kick.
Behind her, Naruto took a step forward.
"Ah." Tobi raised the kunai in his left hand, bringing it against Sasuke's neck. The Uchiha didn't react, completely unconscious.
"Don't be so hasty," the man said, almost merrily. "Let's talk a little, shall we?"
Sakura slowly rose from the floor, pulling herself to her feet. She idly rubbed at the impressive yellow bruise on her cheek: it immediately began to fade.
Her headache didn't. In fact, it just got worse.
"You won't hurt him," she snarled. Every word tasted like copper.
Tobi cocked his head.
"And who will stop me?"
"Who do you think?" Naruto took a step forward. The air in the room began feeling heavy. His urge to do violence was palatable. Sakura took a deep breath, steadying herself, and finished standing up… only to stagger as the world spun once more.
Tobi chuckled. "So dramatic." He pressed the kunai forward, into Sasuke's throat. A drop of blood leaked over the shining steel point. Sakura blinked.
Everything seemed to be moving so slowly.
"Don't worry!" the man said carelessly, lifting his other hand high, even as the knife drew another drop of blood from Sasuke. "I'm not here to hurt him."
Naruto took another step forward. Sakura stayed rooted where she was. The world was still spinning. Just staying on her feet was an ordeal.
Her head ached. She brought a palm up and pressed it against her temple, soothing green chakra playing over it. The side of her head was wet.
Fighting was out of the question for now.
Until she could heal herself, all she could do was watch.
The masked man dropped his open palm, the one unoccupied by the knife, to Sasuke's forehead. He brushed the bandages there.
"I'm just here to take him."
There was a pause. The sounds of the outside world faded away.
Sakura sucked in a breath. The pounding grew more intense. It seemed to fill the world: Konoha resonated with her unsteady heartbeat.
'No.'
'He can't leave again.'
"Like hell-"
Naruto rushed forward, fist cocked back.
"-are you going to take him!"
His hand sailed straight through the orange mask. Tobi cocked his head to the side.
Naruto didn't care about the man's apparent intangibility. He just kept swinging. Punching away at nothing.
And punching.
And punching.
Before there was a moment where he overextended, where his body fell just a little bit forward, and his fist cleared Tobi's body-
And the masked man rocketed forward and headbutted him in the face in a single violent motion, not moving either of his hands the entire time.
There was a harsh grunt, and Naruto fell back, an ugly bruise already marring his forehead.
Zetsu laughed.
'Useless. You're being useless. DO SOMETHING.'
Sakura took a trembling step forward. The pounding grew worse.
Tobi looked away from the reeling Naruto, and towards her. She could see a single dark Sharingan staring out of his mask.
It slowly spun, regarding her impassively: like she was a bug at the bottom of a jar.
"Oh?" its owner said curiously. "You're still up? I thought you'd at least be taking a nap."
Sakura's lip curled back into a snarl. She couldn't help it. This man…
"Why?" she asked, spitting blood.
"Why?" Tobi aped back in a high-pitched voice.
Sakura's snarl grew. "Why are you taking him?" She took another unsteady step forward. "Are you stupid? Do you think we'll just let you? That you can just walk into and Konoha and-"
The masked man laughed. "You think Konoha will stop me?" He laughed again, lower. He took a step forward, away from Sasuke. The knife stayed in his hand. "You think Konoha will step in to help your poor little Sasuke?"
Naruto pulled himself back to his feet. "Of course! Why wouldn't Baa-chan-"
"Oh! Your Hokage?" The man chuckled, raising his hand and cupping the lower half of his mask. "You think the decision would be hers to make?"
"Of course!"
"Then you are naïve." The man's voice lost all trace of humor. He stood ramrod straight, glaring at Naruto. His Sharingan lazily rotated.
Naruto froze. The pinwheel eye transfixed him. Sakura watched, her eyes boring into the sides of Zetsu's grinning head. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, and the smile shrunk slightly.
If she could have seen herself in a mirror, Sakura likely would have terrified herself. 'Murder' was too light a term for what she looked ready for: 'burning down the continent' would have better suited the expression on her face.
"This village killed the Uchiha. Slaughtered them down to the last man, woman, and child. I know: I helped them do it." The man laughed. "Itachi was so brave, taking the sins of his family onto himself. Voluntarily accepting exile, even. But even he needed help, and that's why he came to me."
Tobi chuckled darkly. "What a hypocrite."
"Hypocrite…?" Naruto couldn't look away.
"He says he will bear the Uchiha's burdens, and then he passes responsibility for them onto me? He says he will exterminate our clan… and then he leaves his brother behind?" The masked man slowly shook his head.
"He was never willing to go all the way. That's why he will fail."
Sakura shook her head: the pounding was getting louder and louder.
"Even if... even if you think that..." Her words weren't coming to her easily: the world seemed to be moving like it was underwater. "He's Itachi. He won't just let you... he cares about Sasuke..."
She barely agreed with herself, but it was the truth. Itachi did care about Sasuke.
Even if he didn't deserve to.
The man chuckled. "Oh, I know. I'm counting on it. He and I have unfinished business, after all."
Sakura shook her head: the pounding was getting louder and louder. Sasuke was bait? That couldn't be it. Just for Itachi...
"But… that's got nothing to do with-" Naruto closed his eyes.
"Konoha not helping Sasuke?" The darkly humorous tone was back. Tobi slowly shook his head. "You think this village won't leap at the chance to finally be rid of the Uchiha for good?"
He laughed lowly. "Face it: we're a dangerous breed. Don't you see what we've done? Sasuke killed Orochimaru. Itachi killed his whole family. I founded this village-"
"Liar," Sakura spat.
"Oh?" Tobi glanced at her. "Jiraiya's been sharing his insipid theories then?" He shrugged. "It doesn't matter. I am Madara Uchiha. Believe me, or don't… it will have no effect on what is coming."
"Which is?" Naruto growled.
Tobi laughed again: a real laugh, not the low chuckles he'd let out before.
"As if I'd just tell you. That would ruin the surprise!" He laughed again. "Honestly: wouldn't you rather not know? It's far more exciting that way."
Naruto had nothing to say to that. Sakura did.
"I don't care about any of that," she said, taking another shaking step forward. Tobi refocused on her. "I just want to know why you're taking Sasuke."
The masked man reared back, cartoonishly shocked. "Who wouldn't want him?" he exclaimed. "Sasuke here has great potential. So young, and already he will have the Eternal Mangekyō…"
And now, Sakura swore she could hear his grim smile. "And of course, there's that hatred of his. He and that other one," he gestured vaguely with the kunai to where Juugo had been lying, "they make fantastic weapons. You just give them a target, set them loose…"
His tone became almost gloating. "It happened with Orochimaru. It happened with Deidara… it almost happened with Itachi. Sasuke will be a powerful tool for the Akatsuki. The next time you see him, I doubt you'll even recognize him. Amegakure changes people, you know."
Sakura's eyes went wide.
It was like Orochimaru all over again.
This man was going to take Sasuke away, twist him, turn him against the village…
And, she realized as Tobi took a step back, she couldn't do a thing about it. She still had trouble standing.
But Naruto…
Naruto had been still the entire time Tobi had been talking. Completely motionless.
His eyes were still closed.
Tobi reached out, and once more his hand was on Sasuke's forehead. The knife stayed at his side.
'No!'
Sakura lurched forward, and fell to her knees.
"Naruto." Her voice sounded hollow. "Stop him."
Tobi began twisting. Sasuke began twisting. The room was going dark. Sakura could barely keep her head up.
Naruto looked up, and his eyes opened.
They were gold.
He didn't speak. He just moved.
Sakura saw the Sharingan widen, and the masked man jerked his head to the side. The kunai came up.
Naruto swung.
His fist missed, grazing the Akatsuki member's face. Tobi had been too quick. The knife struck Naruto's shoulder... and then cleanly broke, the handle ripping itself away from the masked man's hand.
Then, there was a pause, a surge of unseen energy...
And a fourth of Tobi's mask shattered: the lower right side, just under his eye.
Naruto completed his punch.
The masked man reeled.
Sasuke vanished.
He was gone. Tobi hadn't taken his hand off him the whole time.
'No.'
Pale white fluid dripped from under the shattered part of the mask. Tobi slowly turned his head back towards them.
Half of his jaw was gone: torn away, leaving behind a pale, unnatural looking goop. It clearly wasn't skin.
Sakura couldn't look away. Whoever… whatever Tobi claimed he was, he certainly wasn't Madara.
She doubted he was even really human.
Somehow, even with almost half of his mouth gone, he spoke. Sakura could see his tongue moving through the gap in his jaw. It looked so ordinary compared to the ruin of his lower face.
"Well," he said, staring Naruto in the eye. The Jinchūriki glared back, shocked and enraged.
"Nice try."
Then, he swirled out of existence. Zetsu, eyes wide and mouth open, fell back into the floor and vanished.
Sakura saw something black flit across the corner of her vision, and then vanish in a flash of gleaming feathers. She couldn't say if it was real or not.
But it would have been strange to have hallucinated a crow.
Naruto's eyes faded to blue, and he slumped, gritting his teeth and balling his fists. Sakura thought she saw blood leaking from underneath his fingers.
Then he looked over at her.
His suddenly familiar eyes grew large.
"Sakura! Are you-"
Sakura gave up the battle, and allowed her head to drop. She could feel herself slipping away.
Sasuke was gone.
AN: Shortish chapter, huh? It was originally going to be just one... pacing was a little weird, though, so now it's two. This is the first half.
Drinking game. Take a shot for every time a character's eyes go wide in this chapter.
Actually, don't. I wouldn't want to be responsible for your alcohol poisoning.
Oh, also: a couple of you saw this coming. Hopefully, the ones who didn't are appropriately shocked. To the ones who did: yes, you were right. Give yourself a pat on the back.
Now try to predict what's next. Should be fun. (Dance! Dance for me!)
Next chapter should be out sooner than later (still, was less than a month! I think that's pretty good!). I hope you enjoyed this one.
Fun fact: the real fun begins now.
Serendipity, out.