Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto


Chapter 45: Awakening

Flashback

She gently bounced the fussing newborn in her arm. Her leg on the same side was folded under her as the other shook against the ground. Her hair had not been washed in as many days that Naruto had been alive, it was piled up in a messy bun on top of her head. The house was even messier. There were dishes piling up in the sink. They would run out of things to eat off of soon. She somehow through the grace of Kami had managed to get a load of laundry in the machine. She could hear it turning as it washed.

She was drowning in paperwork. Sakura flipped through the various requests for money, time off, equipment, and everything in between. She had made a small dent in the stack but she still had a long way to go. She heard the floorboards creak. She looked up. A frown marred her expression.

"Why aren't you dressed for work?" She asked him with more testiness than she intended, the full-body soreness, the lack of sleep coupled with feeling like a dairy cow were all affecting her. He was still in a pair of gray sweatpants and an old T-shirt.

"I don't feel like going in today." He admitted sheepishly. He rubbed the back of his neck as he looked at her sharp eyes, her frown deepened considerably.

"Is your head still bothering you?" She asked in a softer tone. "Let me see." She beckoned him over.

Minato shook his head. He remained rooted in place. "It's not the concussion. I want to stay and help."

Sakura sighed. "You've already missed three days of work." She said in a level voice. Three whole days; the day leading up to Naruto's birth and two to the concussion.

"So what's one more? Shikaku has everything handled." He argued. He looked at the stacks of paperwork in front of her. "You're on leave." He reminded her.

Sakura scoffed. "That may be true but Tsunade-sama is not going to do any paperwork from now to when I get back. This is just from missing four days." She looked at him pointedly. "Someone needs to keep the lights on."

He shook his head. She would never get out from underneath it if she did not keep up with it.

"You're making me look bad, Sakura." He said glumly.

"That's not my intention, Darling. I'm just trying to stay useful." Sakura sighed deeply. She looked at his dejected form and the state of things. "One more day can't hurt." She looked back at him softly.

Minato's face lit up. He reached for Naruto. He took him into his arms, with careful hands. He looked at the slumbering face of his son with tender eyes. He did not look up from his small face.

"Go shower, take a nap, whatever. We'll be fine. Leave the dishes to me."

She had to admit that did sound tempting. She would feel more human after a shower. She could start another load when she got back. Maybe she could muster enough energy to summon a handful of clones to help with the cleaning. She was already looking at items three and four on her metal ToDo list. She got up.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Minato come to sit on the couch with Naruto. She turned her head. Naruto wrapped his hand around Minato's finger. She thought her heart would explode in her chest. She lingered just before in the hallway.

It was then and there that she promised herself that they needed to be protected at all costs.

End of Flashback


"Thank you, Mai," Sakura said as she took the stack of files from the Yamanaka's desk. "I'll take a look and give my recommendations."

"Take your time," Mai pushed her glasses up to her head so that she could rub her eyes.

"I'm not overworking you, am I?" Sakura asked her with a small smile.

"That feels like a trap question." Mai joked. "It's alright. We might want to look into bringing on another person. Or maybe two. I'm okay with the kids I have right now and I should be able to handle your load as well while you're on leave…."

"It would be nice to have a few more hands. I get it." Sakura bought the hand not holding the files to her chest to her hip. "I'll have some candidates for you to interview on your desk by the end of next week. Narrow it down to your top three or four and we can take it from there."

"That would be great. Sorry to create more work for you." Mai's face was equal parts sympathetic and apologetic.

"Not at all. Besides, it will be good for both of us in the long run." Her expression turned solemn. "I'll read the report but what are your thoughts on Karin? Tukiko?"

Mai leaned back in her caramel leather chair. She swung it side to side slightly.

"Karin has some tendencies to become overly attached. Too quickly and too much. It can be obsessive if the signs are not spotted and the behavior is not corrected. She wants to please. She wants to feel safe. She just wants love, badly. Any form of acknowledgment big or small means the world to her. I'm worried she will adopt any personality that she thinks someone wants from her. "

Sakura sighed deeply. It should not have been so surprising. She had held people hostage. She had helped Orochimaru with his experiments. She was obsessed with Sasuke. It all tracked with the Karin she knew. It still was not pleasant to hear,

"And the program?" Sakura asked Mai with guarded expectation.

"I think it's helping and I think it will continue to help. Stability will go a long way in shedding some of the coping mechanisms she developed for her trauma. She's in a really good environment with Kushina." She cracked her fingers as she spoke. "We can add a couple more months and revisit in the new year?"

"Sounds like a plan." Sakura nodded her head. Her eyes implored Mai to continue. She shuffled her weight on her feet a little in an attempt to alleviate the pressure on her back and legs. The hand on her hip migrated to the small of her back.

"Tukiko," Mai's eyes darted to the ceiling. They were slow in coming back down to Sakura. "I'm cautiously optimistic."

Sakura's brow shot up. She was not expecting that.

"She's becoming increasingly more engaged in the sessions. She's eager to do and try the homework I give her. The change is subtle but she does not look so terrified all the time. She is interacting with the world more. She is observant. Incredibly so. She's naturally more withdrawn than Karin. I'm starting to see and differentiate what parts of her behavior are her versus her defense mechanism." Mai ran her fingers through her asymmetrical cut.

"That's good to hear." Sakura failed to keep the surprise from her voice. "What?" She asked in response to seeing something she did not care for in Mai's eyes.

"At the risk of spoiling everything in the reports, it's compulsive, Tukiko's need to watch over and protect her sister. To the point, it is detrimental to her development as her own person. That is a huge part of who she sees herself as, Karin's protector."

"I see," Sakura rubbed her forehead. None of this came as a surprise. "Is she still having her dreams? The one with the man?"

"She hasn't mentioned it in the last couple of sessions. But I think he is the biggest motivator behind her wanting to train and learn to defend herself and Karin." Mai studied the medic closely. "Do you know who he is?" She asked in a measured tone.

"No clue," Sakura held her gaze and lied through her teeth.

Mai's lips dipped into a frown. "Shame. It could be helpful to know. To help her get past her deep-rooted fear of him."

"Yeah," Sakura looked down at her watch. "I need to go soon. Thank you for the reports. I'll read them and we can revisit the conversation. I think it might be helpful if we came together to explore more approaches on how to handle this."

"I agree."

"And I'll look into getting us more hands." She paused as if following a sudden train of thought. "Do you have any travel plans, Mai?" Sakura asked her casually.

"No. Why?" Mai asked her clear intrigue. "You're not thinking of sending me off to Suna again for eight months are you?"

The rumors about her in her clan had been rampant. They were pretty creative, everything from a secret pregnancy to a rehab program to kick a drug habit. It was all very entertaining.

Sakura flashed her a grin. "Who knows? The Kazekage did send over correspondence showing interest in refreshing the training of the mental health experts in their clinics. Probably won't be more than three months or so."

"Don't tempt me." Mai put her hands on her head. Her eyes took on a far-off gaze. "Suna is fun. Great nightlife." Her blue eyes landed on Sakura's stomach. "Pity that you didn't get to set up the clinic. It was a blast. I met some really good people there."

Sakura rubbed her stomach. "Yeah. The timing didn't work out then either." The Kazekage seemed to need her only when she was pregnant. It was a real shame. A trip to Suna sounded like just what she needed. "If the stars align, maybe you'll get to go back for a bit. I'm sure they'd all be really excited to see you."

Mai nodded her head. "Then we really need to get people brought on and onboarded. And you need to hurry up and have that baby."

"Working on it," Sakura said with a small laugh. She held up the files. "Thanks again, Mai."

"Anytime, Sakura." Mai smiled at her.

Sakura closed the door on her way out. Tukiko dreaming about Madara - regardless of past or present - weighed heavily on her. It was just another thing that connected the two of them. She just hoped that he continued to visit Tukiko far less frequently than he did her.


Guy sighed loudly in satisfaction. He fell onto his back with his head cradled in his hands. "Everything hurts so good." He stressed each word. The grin on his face did not waver throughout the session.

"If you say so," Obito plopped down next to him. Everything ached dully. He rested his arms on his knees. He would definitely feel it all again tomorrow and it would be amplified.

Kakashi looked down at them, literally. He was sitting up in a tree with a leg bent at the knee and the other dangling from the branch.

"That wasn't bad." He added. His mind was back in Hokage Tower where his sensei was being guarded by Spider. Ox and Owl were there hidden away in the wings.

Guy turned his head so that he could use his arm to wipe the sweat from his brows.

"I put in my application for genin instructor."

Obito looked at him in surprise. He frowned. "That was fast. Did the Kurama kid improve already?" It did not take a genius to put two and two together. Guy never said who his pupil was but there was only one person in the whole village that fit the description of the circumstances.

"She'll be enrolled in the academy by next year. You have my guarantee on that." He grinned. "And I'll be ready for my first team."

"I'm impressed," Obito said offhandedly.

"It's a miracle." Kakashi mused. She was a frail little thing when he had last seen her.

"It's not a miracle, Kakashi," Guy said firmly. "It is hard work. Plain and simple." He looked up at the early evening sky. "Hard work trumps luck. It trumps talent. Every time." His voice held conviction.

Obito stared at Guy's determined face intently. His own face suddenly broke into a grin.

"That settles it. I'm going to get serious about the road to Hokage. I'm going to go on all kinds of missions! I'm going to learn diplomacy from Fugaku. It's going to be a good year." He clenched at the fabric around his heart. "I can feel it."

"Pigs must be flying," Kakashi said dryly.

Guy closed his eyes. The two of them were so predictable.

Obito glared back at Kakashi. "Hey Bastard, you'll regret all the jokes when I give you the worst of tasks, Mr. ANBU," Obito promised retribution for all the years Kakashi picked on him. "I'm going to get even."

Kakashi scoffed. He ignored the look on Obito's face. "I'm retiring when sensei does. Find someone else to harass." He said impassively.

Guy sat up. Obito and the man exchanged looks. They looked up at Kakashi. He was donning a reflective look on his face.

"What will you do?" Guy asked Kakashi. For the longest time, all Kakashi cared about was getting stronger, moving up the ranks, and making a name for himself.

"I haven't given it much thought. I have time. Sensei isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Obito's nowhere near ready to take over." He threw a small twig as far as he could.

Obito frowned. Kakashi was not exactly wrong but he did not need to put him on blast like that.

"You don't have that much time." He grumbled.

"Maybe I'll throw my hat in the ring for Hokage." Kakashi threw out the idea casually.

Obito shot up to his feet. "Come down here and say that to my face, Bastard!" Obito hollered at him to the full extent of his lung capacity.

The mask hid his smile. Kakashi shrugged dismissively. "Was just an idea."

"Competition is a good thing, Obito," Guy said sagely.

Obito scowled at him. "Not you too, Guy!" The betrayal in his voice was almost palpable. He grabbed his head in agitation.

"Relax," Kakashi said blandly. "I was kidding." He threw a twig at Obito. It just skimmed over the top of his hair.

Obito narrowed his eyes. "Joke like that again and I'll kick your ass!" He wagged his finger at Kakashi.

The Hatake scoffed. "Keep dreaming." It was an outright taunt.

Guy's eyes glittered with excitement. "Round two?" He asked them eagerly.

Kakashi and Obito vanished in response. "All right!" Guy pumped his fist in the air. He dodged fire from his left and Kakashi from his right. His grin widened. They would all sleep like the dead tonight.


He ignored the eyes as he walked. It seemed there was no reprieve anywhere. There was more animosity. It was not in his head. He had noticed the way the voices completely stopped talking altogether the minute he stepped into the room. They were not bothering with being subtle.

He wove through the hall toward the breakroom. He had woken with a stiff neck. It set the mood for the rest of his day. A medic had taken care of a laceration he had gained across his palm. The antibiotics that rattled in his pocket reminded him that the alliteration with a suspect had taken place.

Fugaku rubbed the back of his neck. He turned his head. He should have asked the medic to fix that too. Maybe it had been the head medic or even her student he would have. Or rather, if it had been either of them he would not have had to. They would have fixed it wordlessly. Without making him feel bad or uncomfortable for having asked.

He let out a grunt when his frame collided with something bony and solid, a shoulder. Fugaku's hand went to his chest. He rubbed the aching spot.

"Sorry, Chief. I didn't see you in my way." Shunsuke's head dipped a fraction. If Fugaku had blinked he would have missed it. "I didn't hurt you, did it?" The concern was not genuine in the slightest.

"I'm fine." He said curtly. Fugaku's hand lowered down to his side. "It's like I tell Sasuke," he said in a low tone. "You should be more aware of your surroundings, and situation at all times."

"I am," Shunsuke nodded his head. "I will be." He added solemnly.

Fugaku spared him one last long look before he nodded his head curtly and turned his back on Shunsuke, denoting the end of their conversation.


Heavy.

Everything was heavy. His breath. His eyelids. His arms. He did not know why it felt as if he was being weighed down. His throat was dry, as was his mouth. It felt like someone had taken sandpaper to it. He swallowed. He regretted it instantly. He was in pain. He blinked his eyes open. He had to shut them, again. It was too bright. He commanded his arm to move to shield his eyes. He needed to see where he was. He did not remember. He waited. Nothing happened. His arm would not move.

He peeled open one yellow eye. Everything was blurry. There was this rhythmic beeping, he registered once the buzzing in his ears dyed down. He opened the other eye. He blinked a couple of times. His vision was coming back. That was something at least.

He looked around the room, unable to seemingly focus on one thing. There was too much to look at. His eyes did not know where to settle. They kept darting around. His brain was in a fog. He forced himself to look at the thing in the corner. The name for it escaped his mind. It was gray. And it was used for sitting. But that was all he would manage.

Panic started to overtake him. He did not recognize where he was. He was unable to remember anything. He did not even remember what the thing in the corner was. He tore his eyes from it. It was making his panic worse. The machine beeped louder and more frequently. It was too loud. He covered his ears.

He blinked. He looked at his hands. They were working. That was something. He felt a resistance in his right arm. He looked at the wires. His eyes widened. He pulled out the needle from the back of his hand. He pulled the ones out of his arm too. It hurt.

He pulled off the covers. He felt his legs. He forced himself to curl his toes. The machine was beeping rapidly as he waited for the toes on his left foot to curl. He let out a relieved breath when it did. He needed to get out of this place. He did not know where he was. He pinched his calves. He felt that too. He tore off the wires that were on his chest. The beeping mercifully stopped. He grabbed his left leg. He swung it toward the edge of the bed. He grabbed his right leg and did the same. He pressed both feet on the ground. He pushed off the bed. He stood still.

His knees buckled. He landed painfully on his face. He groaned. He curled into a ball. He brought a shaky hand to his mouth. He pulled it back. It was red.

'Blood.' He remembered that word. He pushed onto his side. He looked around the room frantically. He was too exposed. He needed to get behind the thing he was just in. 'Bed.' He needed to get behind the bed.

He dragged himself with his arms across the white tile floor. He was panting from the expenditure of energy. This should have been nothing. He did not understand what was happening to him. He grunted as he turned around the foot of the bed. He passed by the object in the corner of the room. He curled into a ball next to the machine that was beeping. Sweat pooled from his forehead to the floor. It joined the blood. He kept his eyes open. He could just make out the bottom of the door from the gaps in the bed. He would be able to see feet if they approached.

Ban huddled in the corner waiting for whoever had captured him.


"Can you fix it?" He asked with unconcealed hope in his eyes. His little face was painted in concern.

Her jade eyes narrowed as she focused on the problem in front of her. She poked her fingers through the navy fabric. She could fit up to three in the hole. She looked back up at the face of Naruto.

"Naruto, you could just get new pants." She pointed out in what she hoped was a convincing tone.

"No!" He looked scandalized by the suggestion. "They're my favorite, Mama! I need to wear them tomorrow."

"Okay," she said with a sigh. "Can you help Mama? Can you get Mama's sewing kit?" She was comfortably warm in a blanket on the couch. She really did not want to get up.

"Yes!" He ran off in a blur of yellow and forest green.

"You doing all right, Itachi-kun?" Sakura asked the quiet teen who was sitting to the left of her on the loveseat.

"Fine," he did not look up from the scroll he was reading.

Sakura turned her attention back to the pants. One of these days she would learn. Maybe.

"I found it!" Naruto bounded back into the room holding the kit over his head with both hands. "Here!" He held it out for her.

Sakura reached over to turn on the lamp on the end table. Sakura opened the plastic cover of the kit. She ran her finger along the spools of thread organized by color. She pulled out a dark blue one. She held it up to the fabric.

"It's not the same!" Naruto lamented. He was holding onto her knee, leaning forward.

"We might not be able to get the same color, Naruto. Sometimes close is good enough." She put it back as she said the words. She pulled out the spool right next to the one she had just put back. She held it against the fabric. "How's that?" She looked at him.

"Better," he said with a nod.

Sakura threaded the needle. She turned the pants inside out. She saw all the places she had repaired them before. "Naruto, we might have to turn your favorite pants into your favorite shorts if you keep being so rough with your clothes." It only got worse since he joined the academy.

"I can't help it," he climbed onto the couch. He sat next to her. His eyes did not leave his pants. "I like having fun."

Sakura smiled. "You can have fun and still be careful."

"It's not the same." He frowned.

"True. But then your pants pay the price." She kissed his temple.

His face fell as he contemplated the reality of it all. "Okay. I'll try." He said with a nod.

She stretched her hand. It was starting to cramp up on her. She clenched and unclenched her fist.

"What's wrong?" He asked her.

"Nothing. Mama's just been doing a lot of stitches at work too, lately. My hands aren't used to it yet." She dug the thumb of her left hand into the palm of her right. She flailed her hand. She picked up the pants and quickly finished up the stitches.

"You're so fast!" Naruto gushed in amazement.

"Speed comes with practice and repetition, Naruto. If you work hard at something long enough you become good at it. You become faster." She turned the pants right side out. "Just like you with your swimming."

Naruto nodded his head emphatically. "I remember I wasn't very good at the start."

"But you didn't give up and improved so much." She could not help but grin.

"Yeah! I'm going to train really hard. I'm going to practice all the time when I get chakra." Naruto held up two fists. His eyes glittered with determination.

Sakura chuckled. "I don't doubt it. Just remember to make time for plenty of rest and food. They are both really important in staying healthy which goes a long way in getting stronger." She tapped his nose.

"I will! Are they ready?" He pressed his face against her arm and looked up at her with sparkling eyes.

"Yes." She folded them. "Can you put Mama's sewing kit back? Exactly where you found it?"

"Yes!" He took the closed kit and his pants. "Thank you, Mama." He smiled at her before he ran off.

She and Itachi turned their heads when the door opened. Minato appeared holding two bags in his hands. "I'm home," he announced.

"Welcome home," Sakura called from the couch. She was rubbing her palm again. Minato set the first bag, plastic, on the dining table. It was to be their dinner.

"Itachi," Minato called for the teen's attention, he was holding out the second bag. "This is for you."

The Uchiha furrowed his brow. He looked at Sakura first before looking at Minato. She smiled reassuringly at him.

He rose to his feet and took it from the outstretched hand of Minato. The man busied himself with pulling out the various containers from the plastic bag all the while Itachi stared at the paper bag in his hands.

"Let me know if there are any problems with them." She stated as she stood up. She supported the bottom of her bump with her hand as she padded over to the table. "Dinner, Naruto." She called out into the hall.

"Yay!" The blond was the first one to pull a chair and sit at the table after he rushed to wash his hands.

Itachi peered inside the bag. His expression did not change as he looked at the contents. His fingers glided over the fabric. Shirts. All in black. The four that his mother had brought from home were starting to fade and wear out from the sparring sessions and being washed and worn so frequently. He lifted his eyes to the family at the table.

The dark orbs landed on her face. She was making Naruto a plate. She must have noticed. Itachi lowered the bag onto the end table. He turned off the lamp and pulled out a chair to sit down. No sooner had he done so did a plate come to sit in front of him.

He lifted his head from the food. He found himself looking into a pair of green eyes. He only saw warmth in their depths. He grabbed his utensils and started to eat.


Kakashi rolled his neck. A couple of popping sounds greeted his ears. It had been a mistake, the second round and the third round even more so. Had he not promised Bat yesterday that he would be back today, they probably would have gone into the night with their sparring session. Everything was stiff and sore.

He stretched his arms as far back as they would go. He let out a soft sigh. He looked at the book in his hand: The Night Thief. It was one of his favorites. It was about a little boy who lost his way from home. He found himself in a world that did not make sense to him. He had to navigate it all on his own. He found family along the way, a connection that was forged through circumstance and not blood.

It was fiction. He did not think Bat would mind. The books on space and stars were getting a little dense for night reading. It was not as if Bat complained about the sudden change in reading matter. Kakashi nodded to Salamander before he turned the door knob.

It took him a second to process what he was seeing, or rather what he was not seeing. The door clicked close behind him. The bed was empty. There was blood smeared across the floor. Not enough to indicate a fatal injury but it was alarming, to say the least.

He took a breath. He leaned towards his instincts and not the feelings of panic. Bat was in the room. He could feel his chakra signature. It meant that he was alive. Kakashi took slow and measured steps toward the medical bed. He saw Bat curled in the corner. His eyes were wide with panic. He was in an obvious state of distress.

He let out a terrified sound and covered his head when he saw Kakashi. Kakashi held his hands up. Bat looked more like a wounded animal than a human. He looked feral. His hair was wild. Blood was dripping down his neck. His pupils were dilated.

Kakashi backed away until he bumped into the stool. It rattled as it regained balance. Bat inhaled sharply. Kakashi slowly sat down. He thumbed through until he found the page they had left off on. He began to read in a calm and steady voice.

He narrated how the boy had just emerged from the manhole cover and looked around him at the city. The city was built up and not out. Beams connected buildings. He was overwhelmed. He was scared. He did not know how he could possibly survive in such a place where no one seemed to care about anyone else. All they were interested in was climbing to the top of the towers, and living in the higher-income spaces. They rained their insults and trash on the people of the lower levels. He was on ground zero. He was worse than trash in their eyes. At least trash had a purpose in its previous life or form. The boy did not.

Bat listened. Slowly, slowly he felt the tense muscles of his body begin to relax. He knew that voice. He recognized that voice. He rocked back and forth. That was the voice of a friend. He looked at the gray and metal contraption.

'Chair.' It was a chair.

Kakashi turned the page. Bat was no longer breathing heavily. Kakashi kept going.

The boy made his first friend a cat. It was a scrawny thing that could barely take down a cockroach. The boy shooed it away at first. He went as far as to kick rocks at it. But the cat kept coming back. It kept taking from the meager scraps the boy managed to scrounge together. The boy was so fed up that one day he led the cat to the edge of the city, right before the water began. He threw the scraps over the ledge. The cat went after it. It landed in the water.

Kakashi cleared his throat. Bat was actively looking at him. He figured it was as good a place as any to try to gauge his state of mind. Kakashi closed the book, he kept a finger on the page.

"Bat?" He called out cautiously, not moving from his spot.

Bat blinked at him. His yellow eyes were less wild. They looked more human. Bat frowned.

"Wh-w-w." He made a frustrated sound. "C-c-c-ca-t-t-t." He managed out.

Kakashi raised a brow. "You want to know what happened to the cat?" He asked in a neutral tone despite finding the request ridiculous, given the circumstances.

Bat nodded. "C-c-ca-at-t." He repeated.

Kakashi opened the page. He described how the cat was yowling trying to climb the stone wall but he kept slipping because he no longer had his claws. His previous family had him declawed as a kitten. They dumped him when he was no longer cute. The boy tried to ignore the anguished sounds. But the cat was struggling. He wanted to live. This made the boy think about how he wanted to live too. So he jumped over the ledge and grabbed the cat. The cat clung to his head desperately as they both made it to shore.

He looked up at Bat. "Happy?" He asked him.

Bat nodded. "H-h-hh-ap-py." Bat pointed to Kakashi. "W-ww-wo-l-lf."

Kakashi nodded. "I'm really glad you're awake. We've been waiting for you." He said in a calm voice.

Bat looked at him confused. "H-h-hh-aa-pp-pen?"

Kakashi's expression became strained. "I think it's best we wait for Tsunade-sama to explain."

Bat frowned. That name was vaguely familiar. "P-p-pp-ree-tt-y l-ll-a-dy."

Kakashi nodded. "Yes, the pretty lady." He looked to his right. He pulled the phone from the base. He dialed the number. "Tsunade-sama? He's awake." He hung the phone back in place.

He looked at Bat. He did not envy him at all. He was in for a rude reality check and from the looks of it the wake-up call was not all that great either.


"C-c-o-ma?" Bat asked in a state of shock. His eyes darted from Tsunade's and Kakashi's faces.

Tsunade nodded her head slowly. She had patched up his busted lip, his tooth had gone completely through it.

"You've been out for quite a while now. That's why your body was not reacting the way you expected it to. It's going to take some time before you're up and about."

Bat was at a loss for what to think. Nothing was making sense. He looked at his hands. He turned them a couple of times.

"We're so glad that you're okay, Ban." Sakura smiled at him gently. There was relief in her eyes. Her stomach was all the proof he needed regarding the passing of time. That and weight loss. He felt weaker than he felt in a long time.

He nodded his head numbly.

"Do you remember who did this to you?" Tsunade asked the question slowly.

Sakura studied his face. It would be the piece of definitive proof that Tsunade and Kakashi could not refute. It was what she was looking for this whole time.

Bat shook his head. He looked disappointed in himself. "D-d-don-t re-re-mem-m-ber."

Tsunade kept her own disappointment off her face.

"It's okay. You'll get your memory back." Sakura gave him a reassuring smile before she looked at Kakashi and Tsunade.

"Does anyone else know?" Sakura asked with a sense of urgency.

"No", Kakashi answered. "Because of the soundproofing, even Salamander and Crane are unaware."

"Minato and Shikaku need to know but we can't tell them with anyone else in the room. Anyone," Sakura stressed.

Tsunade clicked her tongue. "I agree." She was not convinced it was Spider but she could not rule her out. She looked at Bat. "You'll need to stay in the room for your own safety while we figure this out."

"H-h-he-l-l-p." Bat said with determination in his eyes.

"We're counting on it," Tsunade said. "Inoichi will be here in the morning. Hopefully, we can finally get the proof needed to arrest the culprit."

Sakura said nothing. She already knew but she understood that the process was different for them. She studied Bat. He was jumpier and shakier than what she was used to but she was not ready to blame the poison for that. He was also spacey. There were moments when he did not look to be all there. It was too soon to tell what was a result of the poison or just the disorientation of waking up after so long.

"I need to get back." Sakura looked at the occupants of the room. Spider would definitely get suspicious of a prolonged absence.

Kakashi nodded. "I'll walk you back."

"You don't have to, Kakashi." She said quickly. He looked exhausted.

"I want to." He said firmly.

Tsunade looked at Bat. She pulled up a chair. "You and I are going to have a long night ahead of us."

Sakura looked at Tsunade in surprise. "Tsunade-sama?"

Tsunade pulled out a stack of cards from her coat's pocket. "No one is getting the better of me twice. I'm listening to my gut this time." Her almond-colored eyes glinted with unwavering determination. "I'm not going anywhere."

Sakura shot Bat a look of pity. Poor guy was out of the pan and straight into the fire.

"Good night, Ban. I'll come to see you in the morning. I'll bring baked goods."

He smiled at her. It was small and hesitant like he did not recall how to do the gesture.

"Good night, Tsunade-shishou." Sakura looked at the blonde.

"Get out of here. I have money to win." She grinned at Bat in a predatory manner.

Sakura mouthed the words 'she is terrible' at Bat when the blonde was not looking. He still did not look confident. She looked over her shoulder at them one more time. Bat was sitting in bed while Tsunade quickly went over the rules of the game. She was doing a lot of hand waving and glossing over important parts. Bat would be fine, Sakura told herself. He was in good hands with Tsunade. She would keep him safe even if he ended up cleaning her out.


The air was cool. She shivered. She had rushed back - relatively speaking - to the hospital once she got the news via Kakashi. She had barely had time to give a half-baked excuse, much less grab a jacket. She was paying for her haste now. She rubbed her arms. She felt the goosebumps on her skin.

"I would offer you my jacket but it's pretty stinky from the sweat." Kakashi broke the silence. Both had been content to this point to be with their own thoughts.

"Thanks, Kakashi." She muttered. She wondered if her teeth would start chattering soon. Life without chakra was not easy. She hated it. She nearly jumped out of her skin when he rested an arm across her shoulders. "You are stinky." She commented as she scrunched her nose. She breathed through her mouth.

"Sorry," he muttered. He made to move back but she leaned in. He was warm.

"Have you been reading Jiraiya's garbage again?" Sakura asked in a disapproving tone.

"No." Technically it was not a lie. He was reading Jiraiya's masterpiece. It was far from garbage. He sighed. "You seem to be doing better, sensei." He noted lightly.

"I'm relieved that Ban is awake and seems to be more or less himself." She said truthfully. She looked at the stars overhead. They kept their voices low. They were walking through empty streets pretty late. She did not want to add disrupting the peace to her long list of oversights.

"I still don't believe it fully." He ran his hand through his hair. A trait that he had picked up from Minato, Sakura noted to herself.

"I know what you mean. It doesn't feel real yet." Her voice had a far-off note to it.

"Do you really think it's her?" Kakashi asked her in a quiet voice.

She stopped. Sakura met his eyes unwaveringly. "It's her." She knew it in her bones.

Kakashi regarded her for a long while. It was like he was trying to read her mind just from her eyes alone.

"Okay. I believe you." He said slowly.

She let out a breath that she did not know she was holding. First Shikaku and now Kakashi. Even Tsunade seemed to be warming to the idea. She felt the weight on her chest lighten.

"What do you need, sensei?" Kakashi asked her with extreme seriousness.

"I need you to keep him safe." It felt wrong to ask that of Kakashi. He was Minato's student. He was her student. It was a lot to put on him.

"I won't let anything happen to sensei." He promised.

Sakura shook her head. He misunderstood.

"I need you to keep Naruto safe." She said in a voice thick with emotion.

Kakashi furrowed his brow. "Sensei?"

"Naruto. He's the one you save. There is no choice to make. Don't hesitate." A tear trailed down her face. "No matter what."

He looked at her. His throat closed up on him. He could not force sound through it.

"That's what I need, Kakashi. And I understand it is a lot to ask. It's too much to ask -"

"I can do it." He cut her off.

"Thank you, Kakashi." She smiled at him.

He nodded his head numbly. He told himself that nothing would happen to them. They would be alright. The rest of the walk to the house was just like how it started, quiet.


She looked up. The sky was black. The darkness was descending onto them. Her eyes fluttered closed as something landed on her cheek. She brought her finger to it. It burned her skin. She looked at her hand. She rubbed the black substance between her fingers before she brought it to her nose to smell it.

Soot.

She whirled around, her long pink locks were free and untamed as they moved with her. Fire. The village was on fire. Adrenaline fueled her. She needed to get to the hospital. She ran as fast as her legs could move. She was flying. She looked down confused. Her stomach was mostly flat, there was just some residual flab. She did not have to stop and think about where the baby was.

'This is not happening.' A small voice in the back of her mind spoke. It was quickly drowned out by the sound of the earth shifting.

She had to keep moving. She had to go to the hospital. There were people that needed her help. She moved through the decimated landscape. She came to a screeching halt. Her boots kicked up dust and ash. She covered her face. She coughed.

A pale emaciated face looked at her with cold eyes. The red hair was dull. His skin was pasty.

'This is not real.' The voice called out again.

"Nagato." She breathed. Her eyes were wide.

"I let you live!" Nagato bellowed. The ground rumbled. The sky started to fall around her. The pieces hit her heavily. She tried to move but her feet were stuck. She frantically looked down. She was sinking into the earth.

"You were supposed to end the cycle of hate!" He snarled at her. She pushed chakra into her fists. The boulder that fell from the sky smashed into dust. It covered every inch of her. She coughed. She swiped at her eyes.

"I'm trying!" She shouted over the roar of the fire. "I'm trying my best, Nagato!"

"You lie to me now like you lied to me then!" He looked at her so, so disappointed.

"I'm trying." She repeated frantically. She pooled chakra into her feet to break away. She lurched forward. The earth rose up to swallow her hands up to half of her forearms.

"You lost focus. You forgot the mission. You got complacent." He said with contempt. His purple eyes held unbridled hatred. It froze her insides. "You became selfish."

"Nagato." She begged. She sank deeper. An ember burned her shoulder. She barely registered the pain. She was completely focused on his sullen face.

"I died for you." He was all teeth and eyes. "I see now that was a mistake."

"If you'd just listen," she covered her face. Another ember landed on her shoulder. She patted it out quickly with her hands. They burned. "Nagato, please, give me some more time. I need more time. I'll do better. I'll do more."

"I brought back those I took from you." Nagato wheezed, completely ignoring her words. She noticed the spikes. "I will take them again."

'Wake up!'

Her eyes widened in panic. "No! Wait, Nagato. Don't do this." She pleaded with a broken voice.

"You failed me, Sakura. You failed them." He said with a blank face with no emotion in his eyes.

She struggled against the ground. "No!" She was pulled in deeper. Everything from the shoulders down was trapped. She could not feel her limbs.

The faces of those killed in the Pain invasion lined up behind Nagato. There were so many. So many faces she did not recognize. Like dominos, they fell. They crumbled to the ground like marionettes whose strings were cut.

"No!" She roared. "Stop!" She saw the light leave Shikaku's eyes. The first face she recognized. "You need to stop." She screamed.

'It's not real! Calm down!'

Nagato looked at her. "You were supposed to end the cycle." He snapped his fingers and ten more people went down.

She could see the faces at the end, Jiraiya and Minato. "No, please."

"You could not even end the hatred in your own house, your own family." Nagato narrowed his eyes. His nostrils flared. The flames were getting closer.

'Remain calm. It's not real!'

"Stop!" She released her Yin Seal. The earth split open. She ran towards him. Her fist cocked back. She slammed it right into his torso. "I said stop!"

He flew backward. His body hit a boulder. It exploded. She looked back, Jiraiya and Minato were standing there unmoving, their eyes flat. She ran to them. She framed Minato's face with her hands.

'He's not real.'

"Minato," she called out to him. He blinked slowly. He looked past her, without recognition.

'Get a hold of yourself!' The voice was practically screaming.

"Your blood is tainted." She heard from behind her before she was yanked backward at an alarming speed. She landed on her back with a thud. She was seeing stars.

She could not breathe. Her lungs were being crushed. She could not move her arms. She felt her seal begin to recede. She let out a wet breath. Her lungs filled with blood. She was dying. Her forehead burned. She saw a familiar white light.

'Calm down!' The voice was faint, almost indiscernible.

"Akemi," she tried to call her name. "Help me," she begged her.

"You failed, Flower-chan." Akemi looked at her sadly. "It's over."

She closed her eyes. "No." Her lip trembled. "I'm sorry."

"He still dies," Akemi said in a cold voice. "Nothing changed."

Her eyes snapped open just in time to see Madara rip his hand through Minato's chest. He held his still-beating heart. Madara smiled at her. She watched in horror as he squeezed it. Minato screamed. It stopped beating in his hand. She could not even muster a sound. She stared at the dark sky. Tears streamed down her face, her jaw clenched tightly to keep the screams in.

"Sakura," the voice was gentle as were the hands on her face. She blinked slowly.

"Sakura," the voice said with more force. The hands were tapping her face now. Her jaw locked.

"Sakura!" The voice was now forceful. Her chin was being grabbed. She was forced to look at a pair of stormy eyes.

She furrowed her brow. He was dead. She watched him die. She shook her head slightly. She winced. There was a sudden jab in her abdomen. Her stomach was back to being inflated. She was not on the bed anymore. She was on the couch. He was hovering over her. Her jaw was still clenched. She could not loosen it.

She looked at his eyes. They were not dull, not like the dream. It was too much. She closed her eyes. She lowered her head. She turned around. She blinked. All she could see was dark. She was shutting down. She just needed a minute. She curled as small as she could go. She wrapped her arms around herself. Her teeth were pressed up against each other.

Minato watched with a pinched expression as she turned her back to him. He grabbed the throw from the back of the couch and covered her. She did not move. She continued to blink at a lethargic rate as tears fell down her face. She was completely unaware of it all.

He sank to the floor. He leaned his head back against the arm of the couch. He stared at the ceiling. He listened to her breathe. He would wait for her to fall asleep before he moved her back into bed. She would not remember in the morning but he never forgot.


She was livid.

"How could you be so irresponsible?" She asked the cowering medic with flared nostrils. This was not how she wanted to start her work day.

"I'm sorry, Haruno-sama." She apologized meekly. Her gray eyes were fixed on the floor. She was convinced she would turn to dust if she looked Sakura in the eye.

"You're banned from seeing patients. Go back to working on the fundamentals." Her words were dripping from the excess of disgust in her tone.

"For how long?" She stammered out. She pulled at the ends of her white hair.

"As long as it takes to make sure you don't do anything remotely close to what happened today." Sakura spat out. "You're lucky someone was there to stop you before you killed your patient."

The teen flinched. "Yes, Haruno-sama." She bowed deeply before she fled out of the room. She closed the office door as quietly as possible.

Sakura wanted to punch something. She flexed her hands. She was practically shaking. She paced behind her desk. She needed to go back and put the fear in Kami in the trainees. If one had the gall to think that they could do procedures on their own without supervision, there had to be more. She needed to nip this in the bud. Maybe she could have Tsunade scream at them for her. She quickly shot down the idea. If anyone earned the right to scream it was her.

"Bad time?" A voice that she really resented called out.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. She wondered if Spider would stand still long enough for her to clobber her.

"Not now, Spider." Sakura rummaged through the files on her desk. Mostly to appear busy, and also to give her hands something to do other than punch Spider in what she could only assume was her perfect face.

"We haven't talked in a while. I wanted to check in on you." Spider carried on as if Sakura had not spoken.

Sakura exhaled loudly through her nose. "I said not now." She did not look up. Her eyes were now focused on setting fire to the patient intake numbers for the month. There was an uptick in admissions. She frowned.

"Did I do something wrong?" Spider asked in a voice that was entirely too innocent to be believable.

One corner of Sakura's mouth twitched. "Not at all." She said in a forced level tone. She looked up at Spider. "I just don't have time right now. Thanks for checking in." She said tersely.

"If this is about Hokage-sama I was -"

"It's not," Sakura said firmly. She found herself to be rather believable.

"Sakura," Spider's voice was closer. "I never meant to get involved. It was just too difficult to watch him struggle all alone. I did not mean to overstep."

'Great. I'm being gaslighted by Spider now.'

Sakura ignored her entirely in favor of writing down some patient notes in the margins. Spider had all the power. Spider knew that. Sakura knew that.

"But I know what it must look like," Spider sighed. "Especially with all the things I told you about my mother. I did not mean it in that way. I'm nothing like her." Spider was good. She had managed to disarm Sakura once. Sakura would sooner shave off her hair than let Spider do that again. "I hope you can forgive me for causing any problems or misunderstandings between you and Hokage-sama."

"There's nothing to forgive. Like you said, you were just trying to help." Sakura's expression and tone were hard. "That was what you were doing, right?" She crossed her arms.

"Of course," Spider answered smoothly.

"Then you have nothing to worry about," She turned her attention back to her desk. Her eyes focused on the cactus. She wondered if she could throw it at Spider and actually hit her. She used to be fast. Maybe all that training with Guy was still in her muscle memory somewhere.

"Did Tsunade-sama tell you she saw me a few days ago?" Spider asked in a conversational tone. She seemed to get a kick out of pushing all of Sakura's buttons.

"No," Sakura answered. "It must have slipped her mind." She put a hand on her hip. "Listen Spider, I'm really busy." She pinned the ANBU with a no-nonsense look. The longer this went on the greater the possibility that she really did put hands on the woman.

"I understand. I just wanted to tell you that Hokage-sama doesn't look so good. You should keep an eye on him." Spider's voice had shades of concern.

Sakura ran the back of her hand under her chin. She visualized ripping her limb from limb. It made her feel better.

"I thought you came to check on me?" She raised a pink brow.

"Both," Spider said breezily. "I care about you both."

Sakura forced herself not to clench her jaw. It was sore enough this morning already as is.

"How lucky we are to have you, Spider." The words burned her throat as she forced them out. "We'll be fine. Minato will be fine." She assured the woman. "Thank you for your concern." She plastered on a smile so fake that her stomach turned.

"Anytime, Sakura," Spider said smoothly. "I'll get out of your hair."

Sakura counted to a hundred. She unlocked the top drawer of her desk. She counted the pill bottles. They were all still there. She put them into her white canvas tote bag. They were not safe here. She threw her jacket over the bag. She folded both under her arm. Both her mind and heart raced as she walked as quickly as her body would allow down the hall.


He dug the heels of his palms into his eyelids. The pressure was helping to alleviate the buildup. The vitamins or supplements or whatever Shikakau was calling them that day were not working. He was three days in and there was no change but he kept with them if only it was to humor Shikaku.

Bat was awake. A fact that he was keeping known to a small group. Not even the Elders knew. Until Bat remembered and his memories were corroborated by a Yamanaka, it would stay that way. Second chances did not come by often and he would make sure that Bat did not pay for his mistakes twice. For this reason, Minato had not gone to see him with his own two eyes. That was what he told himself at least. The other reason was he did not know how he would look him in the eye. He had failed him badly.

With regard to his failures, true to his prediction Sakura had not said anything about her night terror. He should not have been surprised. She barely looked at him since he had asked her the question. Any and all communication she did with him was either through writing - like the note she had sent about picking up Itachi's shirts and dinner- or only when they were not alone. She minimized any and all chance of them being alone together. He did not blame her. He probably would have done the same if she accused him of anything remotely in that area.

Still, he found himself with budding hope when he received her note. It was a small request. A small thing he could go to help. He thought maybe it would set them down the right path somehow. But the more he thought about it, another possibility came to mind. She had sent him out on an errand not to be a help to her but to keep him out of the house longer. She was putting both space and as many bodies as she could find between. The revolving door of Team Minato - or some combination of them - coming over for dinner not so irregularly should have been all the clue he needed.

She was going to handle the nightmares and sleep paralysis just like everything else, on her own. It had been a while since she experienced one that bad. He had been woken by the sudden temperature dropping in the room. When he went to check on her, after checking on Naruto, he found her staring at the ceiling with tears streaming down her face and her jaw clenched so tight that he could hear her teeth grinding together. He had worried she would start screaming. That was why he moved her. He did not want her to wake Naruto. There was only one of him. He could not comfort the two of them at once. Maybe he should not have bothered. She did not want his comfort. That much was clear from last night.

He wondered not for the first time if she had any idea how jarring her sleep paralysis was. She was caught between worlds. She was no longer dreaming, she was conscious but she was still seeing and feeling what the nightmare had pulled her into. The first time he had seen it he was seconds away from appearing at Tsuande's doorstep, he had been convinced that her heart would give out.

He was ready to wake the Sannin in the middle of the night over it. It would have cost him dearly he was sure but he was frantic.

So he spent time reading up on it. Thanks to her, he had become somewhat of an expert in dealing with one of these episodes. He knew more about sleep paralysis, PTSD, and nightmares than he would like. But what else could he do? It was the only way to not feel completely useless. The more he knew, the calmer he was.

He had a system and it worked fairly well. For Sakura at least. She never seemed worse for wear the next day. He was another story. It would take him days to not feel anxious to fall asleep just in case he missed the next episode. Just when he was starting to get reintroduced with the concept of sleep.

Maybe it was not the vitamin's fault. Maybe he was just asking too much from anything. He could just be too far gone. He felt like a madman. What Tsume said to him was lingering with him. It was beyond him how she got the idea that he would be the one to leave in any scenario. He could never do that. The Inuzuka got her wires crossed somewhere. If anyone left it would be Sakura. She always needed him less than he needed her.

He lifted his head. He furrowed his brow and closed his eyes. When he opened them again he was at the top of Hokage Tower. He looked at the tall frame of his sensei. Whatever was on Jiraiya's mind was serious. Minato took several steps until he was standing next to him. He followed Jiraiya's gaze.

"I've been sitting with this for a few days. I was hoping I would cool off some." Jiraiya cleared his throat. "Bad luck, kid. It didn't work."

Minato said nothing. He peered down at Konoha as he listened intently.

"I kept my mouth shut." Jiraiya's tone was cold, unfamiliar. He had heard it before on missions when Jiraiya referred to others. Never had that tone been directed at him before. The Sannin was gripping the railing tight. There was a fury behind his actions.

"I kept my mouth shut when you said you did not want to tell her about the attack or anything related to it. Even though I did not agree. I told myself you knew better than anyone what was best for her, best for your family." He narrowed his eyes. He leaned his elbows on the railing. "I trusted your judgment."

Minato rolled his head. It seemed like his day was not going to get any better. "Jiraiya-sen-"

"I'm not done." The Saninin held up a hand as he cut him off. "I'm not staying silent now." The man frowned. "You're making a mistake, Minato."

"I'm well aware the investigation could have been handled in better ways, sensei," Minato said levelly.

"That's not why I'm here." Jiraiya sighed in frustration. "Sakura is struggling, Minato."

Minato frowned. "It is a stressful time for all of us right now. Everything will work out once this is behind us." He said adamantly.

"You don't get it, do you?" Jiraiya's dark eyes searched Minato's puzzled face. "She's struggling right now. She won't stay that way forever. She's resilient. She'll adapt. She'll get used to doing things on her own. She'll get used to doing this without you if you keep letting her."

"She's at her lowest point right now, and she's managing without you. What do you think will happen when the baby is here and she no longer has physical limitations? Do you honestly think for a second she will look to you?"

"Are you prepared for what that might look like for you? Have you thought about it at all?" His lips were pressed into a thin line. His insides were seething, the heat was rising and he felt it in his face. It colored his tone.

"There's only so much a person can take, Minato, before they decide enough is enough. If you keep going down this path she will make the hard choice and it would be the right one. You're running out of time to prevent that from happening."

Being a single parent and doing everything alone was better than being attached to deadweight. Jiraiya's own mother had made that call when she left his good-for-nothing father when he was just seven years old.

It was better to die once than slowly every day. That was what Minato was doing to her. He was killing her slowly, chipping away at her little by little. Perhaps neither of them noticed what was taking place. He could only hope that he was not too late in opening Minato's eyes. He needed a reality check, badly.

"Wake up, Minato." His eyes glistened. "Get your head on straight. There is no excuse. Fight whatever you need to fight to be the man you should be. The man you're supposed to be. The man you once were."

Minato felt something rise in him as he regarded his teacher's assessment.

"With all due respect, you don't know what you're talking about, sensei." He said firmly.

Jiraiya shook his head. "I don't know how you're not seeing this, Minato. If you'd just stop and listen for one second instead of getting defensive -"

"We're fine," Minato said tightly. His frame was wrought with tension. "We'll be fine."

Jiraiya scoffed. "I hope you're right. Because from where I'm standing everything is not fine. You're on your way to losing everything. And when you finally come to your senses you'll regret it. Just don't say I didn't try to warn you."

Minato held his tongue. He was tired of everyone painting him to be the problem.

"Everything is under control." He said smoothly. "I know what I'm doing."

"Okay." Jiraiya took a step towards him. He looked like he was measuring his words. "I have one more thing to say and then I'm done." Something he was not accustomed to seeing flashed across Jiraiya's eyes. It was fleeting; it came and went too fast for Minato to place it.

"Kami forbid, if anything happens to her or the baby it won't be the investigation that I blame."

The wind howled. His yellow hair obstructed his vision. His presence was gone. Minato was left alone on the roof of Hokage Tower. Alone to face the weight of what Jiraiya had just said to him.


Gold eyes snapped open in the otherwise expanse of white. The three green seals on her forehead pulsed, the color was muted and dim. Akemi pushed herself onto her hands. She was conscious again. She looked down. She was still coated in the poison. The poison that was dampening her powers. She would need to filter it off of her before she was at full strength. She closed her eyes. She assessed the damage. The chakra was all still there but like her it was contaminated.

It was unusable in its current form. She needed time to purify it and herself. She folded her legs under her. She took in deep, steady breaths. She brought her palms together. She began the labor-intensive process of destroying the remnants of the invasive poison. The left orb on her forehead glowed intensely. She would have to go slow.

She would need to expend energy, chakra, and her life force to gain more of each of those things. It was a razor's edge. If she lost consciousness now in her weakened state there was no telling when she'd regain it. Time moved slower up here. Hours could translate to days out there. Sakura could not afford that. Akemi set her lips into a firm line. She had to work within her limitations. Something she had not had to consider in many lifetimes.

She focused. She visualized the spots where the poison, the infection, was still festering. She attacked it. She converted it. She was mindful of the dizziness she felt. She opened her eyes. She blinked back the black spots in her vision. She needed a break. It was maddening. At full strength or even half, the current task at hand would be nothing for her. She would not even have to think about it.

But now, it was nearly insurmountable. She looked at the tacky purple substance all over her clothes and hair. She had her work cut out for her. She brought her hands back together. Her eyes fluttered closed. The emerald orb pulsed. She visualized the enemy, the purple particles in the corner of her white robe. It was no bigger in size than a penny. She targeted it with the meager chakra she had.

She visualized her chakra eating the venom, overwhelming it until it was so diluted that it was essentially the same as her chakra. She panted. She was still so weak. Her vision swam as she blinked. Her long white hair slipped past her shoulder and pooled around her.

"Damn it," she cursed. She slammed her fist against the floor. She let out a frustrated growl. It did not help the situation but she felt marginally better. She took calming breaths. She felt for the residual chakra she had spent in the air around her. She pulled it back into herself. She closed her eyes once again. She took her stance. She tried again. She focused. She felt her chakra go after it. Light versus dark. Slowly by slowly the purple lifted from the corner of her robe. It dissipated in the air. She felt a rush of strength. It was something.

The more she cleaned the stronger she would feel. She gritted her teeth. She would not lose, not like this. She had to keep going. It was much too soon to die.


Her stomach dropped when her brain processed what she was smelling. Smoke and lots of it. She looked to her right, Naruto was still sleeping soundly. She scrambled to her feet. She looked at the window in the room. It was closed. She had opened it before going to bed. That must have been how the smoke smell got in. Her heart stammered in her chest. She could just make the orange flames in the sky off in the distance, as she pushed aside the curtains. The balcony was vacant.

She moved to the kitchen. She peered out the window. She saw Minato and Itachi standing in the street watching. There were others who had come out of their homes and they too were watching everything unfold. She pinched her arm. She felt that. It was happening. She tapped the window. Minato turned around. She opened it slightly.

"What's going on?" She finally found her voice to ask the question that was at the forefront of her mind.

"Just a structure fire," Minato answered her. "They are working to put it out."

"Do you know if anyone was inside?" The medic in her needed to know. "I can be ready to go in ten minutes."

He shook his head. "The situation is under control, Sakura." There was an unexplained edge to his voice. "Go back to bed." He added in a gentler tone.

She hesitated. "Are you sure?"

"I'll let you know if anything changes." There was sincerity in his eyes.

She could not help but look at the orange lashes of the fire. There was more smoke in the air than there was before.

"Mama?" Naruto called out to her with a voice heavy with sleep.

Sakura turned to look at him. He was clutching his blanket to him.

"It's smokey." He complained as he rubbed his eyes.

She looked back. Minato was back to standing next to Itachi. She closed the window.

"It'll get better." She said apologetically. She walked to him. "You have another busy day at school tomorrow. You need your sleep. Let's go." She led him by the shoulders.

"Is Dada at work?" Naruto asked.

"He's right outside, Baby." She answered. She lifted the covers so that he could slip inside. He climbed over her pillow. There was an eerie orange glow to everything. She tucked Naruto in.

"Story?" Naruto asked her as he yawned.

She smiled. She began to sing to him softly. She rhythmically patted him on the chest. His eyelids eventually became too heavy to keep open. He was back asleep within minutes. She kept singing, it was helping calm her and the anxious kicks of the baby down.

Her mind raced.


Itachi looked at Minato. They exchanged a look. Minato nodded. Itachi broke out into a run. He ran towards the fire. He covered his nose and mouth with the crook of his elbow as he got closer. He squinted his eyes. They were starting to water.

He focused on his surroundings and his breathing to keep his thoughts tethered to reality. He narrated every step and action in his mind to keep it from wandering. His heart was pounding in his ears.

Soot rained down around him as a large plume of smoke erupted in the sky. He watched as the officials fought to put out the fire with water hoses and jutsus. He came to a stop a safe distance away. The wooden structure was all but consumed by the fire. Owners of neighboring establishments frantically threw buckets of water to keep it from spreading to their structures. One man was spraying it with his garden hose. There was desperation on his face.

It was the bar. There would be nothing left of it. It had gone up in flames, taking all the evidence along with it. The flames eating through the wooden planks reflected back on his eyes. He turned his head. He saw Shun looking at him. The flames gave his face a warm glow. Shun nodded slowly at him before he disappeared into the crowd.

He could not help but think it was a signal of some kind.