Age 16, Inside Konoha 1 week after Wave mission.
Therapy has become an oddly comforting time for me, my therapist having become a trusted individual who I know won't shame me for feeling burdened by my emotions or afraid of the responsibilities that I have. My arm is tucked into a sling, and I'm scheduled for a full healer session later this week to get the bones mended before I head into physical therapy to make sure I don't lose any feeling or range of movement.
The moment we arrived in the village Sakura and I were pulled away and put into a small, well furnished, room with hot meals and water. Sensei drove us hard the whole way home, barely any time to camp. Sakura never even had the time to change clothes and we didn't go back to Tazuna's house for our bags, Sensei said someone would be sent for them. As a result she still had dried vomit on her and didn't smell good by any meaning of the word, not that I would be informing her of it. Not only am I certain that I didn't look great myself, but it was more so due to the look on her face.
Sakura was pissed, and has been pissed ever since the bridge. Not a word had been said the entire time we traveled other than Sensei telling us to get up or go faster. His Sharingan eye screwed closed as he didn't even bother to look for his lost headband.
"What happened in that fight?" I blink a bit, running my good hand through my hair. Its greasy and unkempt, and my hand is shaking a bit. I haven't had coffee in a few days and I'm feeling like shit. I don't dare try and hold off on giving her an answer though.
"Me and Naruto engaged them, they were good." an understatement to be honest, if it wasn't for Naruto's jacket providing ample cover we would've both been pin cushions. "Naruto took off an arm and things just started to go downhill for us. He got me on the ground, began to strangle me and all I could feel was an overwhelming cold as his arm was… literally made of ice." I shake my head a bit, trying to rub at my eyes. I can feel her hand rub in between my shoulder blades to try and calm me down.
"Take your time. Seems like we have plenty of it.. wherever they shoved us off to." I glance back up, moving over to sit on the plush maroon couch.
"It's my therapist's office. Likely a new mandatory session." Her eyes shine with a dangerous light that sends a chill up my spine I can't quite understand. "Naruto managed a drop kick to get him off me, but the tumble and ice broke my arm. Naruto went after him, running him through right before the suicide technique. At point blank range like that, and combining the blood line limit. If Naruto didn't have his healing factor there would have only been a 16% percent chance of survival." I don't know why I told her that. Something in me felt numb at the numbers, a number I'd been playing around in my head since I first saw it happen. Knowing that if I'd been hit with that at point blank range that would've been my chance at survival. It would've been Sakura's chance at survival.
She makes a small sound with the back of her throat but doesn't actually say anything. Wiping a bit at her eyes, before moving around and beginning to rifle through the desk in the room. I should scold her, tell her not to but I'm exhausted.
She eventually comes up with a small first aid kit and pulls out the bottle of rubbing alcohol. Ripping off part of her flannel shirt to use a rag she soaks it liberally finally beginning to process of cleaning off some of the caked on grime, vomit, piss, and sweat on her.
"Would've been nice if they'd at least let me take a shower first." I nod a bit, turning away as she tries to stand against the wall to get a decent bit of privacy. The door handle clicks as it turns, drawing both of our attention. I don't even fully realize as I grab the kunai I hid inside of the sling I got upon entering the village, reaching to draw it if the person on the other end proves to be hostile.
Inside steps my therapist, a woman built like a bird. Long gangly legs, large oval glasses, and clothing that seems to hang off her frame. Not someone that could ever become a shinobi herself, but insisted on helping her village all the same. Mrs. Yamanaka glances over the situation behind her glasses before smiling, though even I can tell it doesn't quite reach her eyes.
"Haruno-San, would you be willing to sit down on the sofa next to Sasuke-San." My eye twitches a bit, I've insisted she uses my last name but she feels that it creates a more 'personal connection' to use my first. It's one of my only complaints about her methods. Sakura glares her down for a moment before coming over and sitting next to me, taking great care to dump more of the rubbing alcohol on the rag and laying it in her lap. I'm silently thankful for the kindness, as I'd rather the smell of that than any of the others hanging on us.
Mrs. Yamanaka's usually rather serene expression is hard for once. Gripping her clipboard so tight that her fingers are turning pale, her big owlish eyes darting between the 2 of us. I don't much care for the silent accusation in her eyes, and even less for the fact that I'm unsure what we're being accused of. Sakura shifts forward, her elbows on her knees and propping up her head with balled up fists.
"So why am I here rather than taking a shower?" I think both of us are kind of stunned, my teammate skipping all the social niceties that usually have to come with one such meeting. Mrs. Yamanaka's grip on her clipboard shifts as her knuckles pop a bit, a scowl working its way onto her face.
"Well, young lady, we are here to determine just what exactly happened on this mission. And how we shall have to move forward." I quirk an eyebrow, pulling my good hand out of the sling and resting it in on the arm rest as I cross one leg over the other. Sakura's jaw is shifting ever so slightly as she grinds her teeth, I need to interject before tempers become frayed.
"Our mission report should contain everything that we saw and did on the mission, we did have to spend our few hours resting writing it up on the return trip." She turns her eyes back on me but quickly abandons that avenue as I hardly blink, being used to much fiercer eyes from the clan elders. Sakura glances between the two of us, seeming to come to a conclusion about us that she's not liking if I'm reading her eyes right.
"The mission report was encompassing of all the expected information." She draws herself up, slowly forcing herself to down the clipboard. I give it a glance over doing my best to read it upside down. The main words printed in big bold leaders 'Silence required' and that's all I'm really able to work out before flipping it over. Trying once more to stifle me down with a glare that I frankly find insulting if it was meant to be intimidating. "However it was rather lacking in how you felt emotionally about the matters on the bridge." Me and Sakura share a glance, her brow furrowed as my head moves hardly an inch towards the clipboard.
"Well yeah, that kinda stuff isn't meant to go in the mission report." I leaned back on the plush sofa as Sakura took the lead. I have a great many skills but I've never really had a skill for manipulating people. With great practice I seem to almost fade to the background of the room as they stare at one another. Sakura is an angry ball of manic energy, and my therapist was surprisingly hot-tempered for once.
"Well, young lady-" she's leaning over, grabbing a pen and paper but nearly drops it as she's cut off.
"My name is Haruno Sakura, please use it." Sakura's words are like kunai through the thick air, my therapist seeming unsure how to deal with the already livid girl. Her pen begins to scribble across the pad of paper as she slowly nods. Taking a deep breath and picking up a small dish that I know from personal experience is always filled to the brim.
"I think perhaps we may have started off on the wrong foot. Piece of fudge?" Sakura kind of blinks, a hand twitching from its place holding up her face. She likely wants to slap it to the floor, but doesn't want to be seen as the bad person here. I've slid up onto the arm rest, carefully keeping just to the corner of both of their visions as I try to sidle along the wall.
"No thank you, what I'd really prefer is a shower." she nods, a sympathetic sigh coming forth before she sets the small tin of store bought fudge onto the coffee table separating the couch from her chair.
"That's understandable, but it was of great importance I spoke with the two of you as soon as possible." I quirked an eyebrow and would've made a comment if I wasn't behind her at this point. Sakura's forehead scrunches up as she shifts back, forcing Mrs. Yamanaka to lean forward just a hair to keep the same distance between them. It was just enough for me to get my fingers on the clipboard and pull it behind her.
"And what could be so important that it couldn't wait literally five minutes." Sakura's leg is bouncing, and the conversation begins to fade to the background for me as I look upon the papers in growing horror. Listed on the clipboard are two NDFs, or Non-Disclosure Forms. The kind a shinobi has to sign when they come back from a mission they're not allowed to tell anyone about, not even their wives and kids. The only things listed on them however are what happened to Naruto, his change in demeanor and how he killed nearly 100 bandits with ease.
How he's something called a Jinchūriki.
I don't know what that means, but something about the word itself makes me feel ill. Like it's unnatural or wrong, as though I'm staring at something alien. My very second thought was worry that I'd begin to look at Naruto like that, but I quickly disregarded it.
"Sasuke? What are you doing?" I blink, looking up from them to realize she's now turned partially in her chair and realized I'm not sitting on the couch. I only have mere seconds before she looks directly behind her. I slip the forms out and into my sling, leaving the top page all alone and place the clipboard on her desk. Grabbing the good dish of fudge.
"Merely wanted the strawberry. Sorry." She blinks a bit, her owlish eyes trying to burrow holes in me as I take a bite of the home made chocolate.
"That's alright I suppose. Go ahead and sit back down please." Her voice is tense, and Sakura is glancing at me, her eyes full of worry. I'm guessing I didn't disguise my horror upon seeing the forms particularly well. Now however my face is a smooth mask as I offer Sakura the strawberry fudge. She waves her hand in a dismissive motion, my therapist turning around to grab the clipboard. She has to look around for a few moments as to where I moved it but she just kind of sighs a bit, mumbling about misplacing things.
She takes it, holding it tightly again as she looks over us again. There's still the accusation in her eyes, but I'm beginning to see a bit of sadness as well.
"I must apologize for this children, but before we speak of what we are scheduled to today." We glance at one another, Sakura raising her eyebrow in a question. I don't even dare shake my head. "I'll need to have you both sign… these." she kind of trails off, lifting the paper on the top to look for the forms. Her skin turning a rather unhealthy paper color as she realizes they're missing. I move my head hardly a few inches, jerking my chin first towards her and then the door.
"Mrs. Yamanaka, is everything alright?" she slowly shakes her head, standing up and checking over her desk.
"N-no, not quite. Merely missing some papers with very important information on it." I nod a bit, careful not to move the sling lest the papers crinkle.
"Perhaps you never had them? I didn't see anything fall off of the clipboard." her head snaps up to me as she nods with an almost desperate fervor.
"Yes of course, that must be it." She's already grabbing the clipboard and her pad of paper. "I'll return in a few short minutes children, don't you worry too much." with that the door nearly slammed closed, and the click of a lock could be heard. Telling us only one thing, we were sealed in. Sakura's voice is a hiss, as she leans into me.
"What the fuck did you swipe?" I shrug a bit, pulling one out and offering it to her.
"Non-Disclosure Forms. They don't want us talking to anyone about anything that happened to Naruto on this mission." she gives a growl that would give an Inuzuka a run for their money as her eyes run over it.
"I'm not fucking signing this." I just kind of stare at her for a moment before my hand grabs her by the shoulder.
"Sakura, we don't have a choice in the matter." her eyes match mine, and it feels like the world slowly crawls to a stand still. I begin to think about our team, about how Naruto would handle having to deal with something like this. The answer to that question is simple, he'd tell them to fuck off.
"We have to tell him" So much anger in her eyes, in the very fiber of her being at the idea of this. Of the idea that we keep all this from him. I don't have the words, I physically can't have the words. Instead I merely nod, getting up and beginning to rifle through my kunai pouch. They thought to take our more obvious equipment, but our kunai pouches they didn't bother with. A few minutes later, several bobby pins, and lockpicking kit later the door clicked open.
The two of us slipped out and began to work our way down the hall. Normally this building always has people, whether it's patients coming and going from their appointments or if it's just nurses and aides waiting to help the shrinks with unruly patients. Now it feels like a ghost town, the only people around being the Chunin we're ducking by hiding in different offices.
"Hey, who unlocked their door?" That shout is the cue that we need to start moving. I wedge a kunai underneath a window, uncaring about the damage that I'm doing to the frame as I get leverage to wrench it open. Sakura slips through first using wall climbing to get down to the ground. I use chakra to enhance my leap, jumping over to the next roof. A glance back reveals a Chunin sticking his head out the window as he shouts back to the others. I start running, not sure what entirely is happening. Sakura moving on the ground and me on the rooftops above her. It's about mid day now, the lunch crowds moving through the streets.
"Sakura, head left. Hide in the crowds." she gives me a thumbs up, bolting down an alley as Chunin hit the street she was on. I find myself giving an ear piercing whistle, a small wave being a parting shot as I leap to the next rooftop. Naruto was always better at knowing how to lose people, but he taught me enough for a distraction. After several rooftops I hit a set of training grounds and bury myself into the foliage. I use a small jutsu on myself to make my footsteps faint as a whisper as I bounce between trees, trying to spread my scent out in case Inuzuka join in the hunt.
I can hear three sets of feet, clearly having abandoned stealth for speed to try and catch up to me. The high neck on my shirt serves me well, being used to hide my pale skin in the shadows of the bush I'm in. I can't hear the words exchanged between the Chunin but they all split up and begin to comb through the training yard in question.
A few moments later another two joined them. I don't have a lot of options here. They'll find me sooner or later, and I can't keep ducking them forever.
My decision is made hard, fast, and nearly subconsciously as I dart forward. One of the women has a wakizashi drawn as she looks for me. My footsteps are silent as I fly through the air and drop kick her head from behind. She goes crashing to the ground and doesn't try to get up. I swipe the glorified letter opener, strapping the scabbard to my hip even as I raid her kunai pouch for things of use to me.
A few smoke pellets, a soldier pill, a ration bar, two tampons, and 20 kunai.
I can hear a shout as someone hears the commotion, their feet kicking up dirt and leaves as they approach us. I drop smoke pellets letting the cloud envelope me, chakra flowing up from my core and into my eyes.
Even through the smoke I can see relatively well, more than enough to see two Chunin standing on the edges of the cloud and waiting for me. I do a backflip and land on the branch above us, silent as a moth. As it clears they begin to approach, both having kunai drawn, as one of them leans down to try and wake her up.
I drop hard and fast, my knee connecting with the back of his skull as I throw a fan of kunai to force the other one to dodge. I have to roll off of him before I twist an ankle but I'm on my feet within half a second and pursuing.
He's stumbled back, having to catch himself on a tree trunk to avoid falling. I don't get the drop on him like I did the other two. A snap kick is avoided by pirouetting 17° to the left, I can see the look of shock on his face.
The air feels thick around me, as though I were trying to run in syrup. The Chunin seems like he's slowed to a crawl, his body moving as though it's a slide show as he reaches for his own wakizashi. This must be my Sharingan, incredible to have my birthright.
I use my good shoulder to body check him, the back of his head crashing into a tree. The flow of chakra to my eyes tapering off as I feel nauseous. Planting my good hand on my knees as I wretch onto the ground.
"Over here!" I wipe my mouth off, beginning to stumble off. Using it is going to be harder than I thought. A light step over the unconscious figure and I'm leaving the training grounds within minutes. The Chunin were too busy with getting assistance for their companions to continue to chase, frankly I was surprised it was that easy for me. They were likely underestimating me for being a genin though.
I worked my way back into the city properly, stopping at an open air market and bought a shawl as well as some tokoyami, balancing it on the sling as I scarfed it down.
Now that the Chunin weren't on my tail, and I can only assume that Sakura lost hers, it's a game of finding one another and then finding Naruto. Fortunately Sakura is a paranoid team captain, so I already know where to meet her.
I work my way through the mid day crowds, the shawl wrapping over the top of my head to hide my hair from any curious Shinobi on rooftops. My steps are measured but casual, after all I'm just another person going where I need to.
"Sasuke!" Her voice is a hiss from a nearby alley, the restaurant we set as our meeting point across the street. My movements don't change as I smoothly turn down the thin walkway which was then ruined by my surprise, which made me trip over a bit of trash and crash into two full cans.
I was not expecting to see Sakura tucked against the wall dripping wet with a towel wrapped around her.
"What in the fuck?" I'm careful to pitch my voice low, even as I'm trying to both claw my way out of the pile of trash and calm my heart before I have a stroke.
"I stopped at a bathhouse, told them I just got back from a mission-" I can't quite explain the sound I made, only that it came from the back of my throat as I just waved my hands a bit.
"And what does that have to do with you being naked?" She glares at me, but her blush makes it lack the usual heat it carries.
"If you'd let me finish?" I sigh, nodding even as I pinch the bridge of my nose. "A pair of Chunin showed up and I had to sneak out a window."
"Ok… fine, I just-" I pace a moment before turning back to the entrance of the alley, "wait here. I'll buy you a… dress?"
"If you get me a dress I'll kill you myself" I silently nod, feeling very small compared to the weight of anger those words carried.
I'm back and gone in 5 minutes, having grabbed a few options. Most of it is civilian clothes but it'll have to do. Soon she's in a pair of leggings, sandals, and a loose fitting T-shirt. My eyes carefully pointed upwards as I held the white Shinobi tape for her to spin herself and tie her breasts down.
"Ok, I'm decent. Now where do we think Naruto is?" I shrug a bit, pulling the shawl off and ignoring the dampness of it from my sweat.
"He could be in the hospital, they usually see him instantly" she nods slowly. I've never really seen her hair before. Jagged spikes of pink cotton candy that seem to have a mind of their own. Feels like she cut it with a kunai, though I wouldn't put it past her.
As we leave the alley I tug the shawl back on, making our way closer to the city's center. Important targets are always spread out, meaning that the Hospital, Academy, Kage Tower, and Shinobi Library are nowhere near one another. Of course ANBU HQ, T&I, and Communications aren't publicly known so it's impossible to know where those are.
We don't bother entering the lobby, already certain that there were Chunin waiting there for us. What we weren't expecting was for Kakashi-Sensei to be waiting on the fire escape for us. He looks tired, his mask still stained with blood. He has a new headband on over Sharingan eye, the normal one pinning us to the ground.
"The two of you have been making all kinds of problems today, you know that?" We glance at one another, a silent conversation of how we're going to get out of this being cut short as he claps a hand on each of our shoulders. Beginning to guide us towards the lobby of the hospital. Sakura id able to recover much quicker than I.
"Are we going to be able see him?" Sensei nods, his grip on our shoulders iron clad as we enter the air conditioned room. Several Chunin begin to approach us, I recognize the woman I ambushed from the tree. Her nose now in a splint where I must've broke it.
"My sword you little cunt?" If she had asked for it nicely, I wouldn't have had a problem giving it back.
"Finders keepers, bill it to my account." There's a chuckle from the ones that didn't fight me, clearly surprised at my boldness. She looks ready to try and fight me over it, but takes a carefully measured step back as she glances between us. Kakashi Sensei has clearly decided that enough has been enough. We're carefully steered into the visitor elevator, not being let go until the doors shut and it begins to move.
We're going to the top floor, probably right up to Naruto's room. Why they have a room made special for him I gave up asking, but it has just about anything and everything that you could need. I once even saw they have organs in suspended animation for him at all times. The sealwork for that doesn't come cheaply, even if the sealmaster isn't paid for. The materials needed for it are complicated to say the least.
Sakura gives me a small glare, likely over making trouble with the Chunin. She looks temped to crack me over the head but is restraining herself. I lean back against the wall, staring at the doors as the metal box moves at a crawl. I force a yawn to give an excuse to rub at my eyes, a small burning ache beginning to start. It reminds me of the time I got flour in them carrying groceries during a D-rank.
"That's a normal sensation, at least for the first month or so." I forced them open, despite feeling like I'm opening them into sand as Kakashi-Sensei chuckles at me. I scowl a bit, Sakura now looking between us before focusing more firmly on me. She doesn't get the chance to open my mouth before I begin to wave her off.
"I'm fine, just a bit of backlash where my bloodline unlocked." she's scowling at me now, but we don't get much of a chance to get into it. The elevator letting out a chipper ding before the doors slide open and we find ourselves at spear point.
The two ANBU wielding the weapons have markings on their masks that's only vaguely familiar to me. I see Bird, he's stopped by the house once or twice. An unnerving woman, the long hair and armor seeming to only accentuate her curves. Her smooth ANBU mask painted in the visage of a robin, and two eyes seeming to burn holes through it to get to me. The second is a large burly man, built akin to a brick shithouse. His mask is painted to be a boar, even going as far as to have small tusks sticking out of it. Skin dark as a piece of chocolate, and his hair nearly shaved. The spear he wields looks more akin to a lance as Sakura takes a cautious step away from it. Kakashi-Sensei gently moves both away from us with his pointer fingers.
"Cool it you two, before you waste even more of my genin." Boar gives a scoff, a hand blurring as he attempts to grab Kakashi. He instead finds himself laid out on the floor, my and Sakura carefully choosing to stay towards the back of the elevator.
"What are they doing here?" Bird has taken a step back as she tries to fish for information, trying to get out of Kakashi's range. I think we all knew how futile that idea was, but it counted for something. Kakashi-Sensei doesn't bother to answer, motioning us forward and into the room. Daring Bird to try something the whole while.
The room doesn't feel like a hospital room at the moment, machines all crammed into the corner other than a single heart monitor that's working at a steady, even, rhythm. Naruto himself is lying shirtless on the bed underneath the sheets, his face and head unable to be seen as it's currently underneath a cloth marred with a pattern that's hard to look at. Seals are weird like that, some claim them to be the building block of the world as we know. Painted on the walls are more seals, these ones more bearable to study. Simple reinforcement seals for the most part, although I swear I'd recognize one or two from the clan vault.
Seals to ward off evil, specifically demons.
A mountain of a man standing on wooden geta sandals, essentially sandals on miniature stilts, stands over Naruto at the moment. He's wearing a red vest of some kind, over simple cotton clothing. His large fluffy white hair goes crashing down his back like sea foam up a beach. A large scrolls sits across his back hips, the handle of a tanto sticking out of one end of the center of the scroll. His headband appears custom made, and rather than the symbol of the Lead it's a kanji. A glance reveals it as the word for oil.
"They shouldn't be here." He doesn't look up from his work, holding a scroll open with one hand as a small brush only a little thicker than a needle drawing on the paper. I notice a line of what looks like salt on the floor, my eyes following that it's an exactly 1 meter circle away from the bed at all times.
"You're Jiraya, the toad sage." Sakura looks ready to rip the spear from Boar, and run it through the man. While I don't really want to speak I need to run a bit of damage control here. He looks up for the first time, giving me a glance. His face is oddly plain, but I can almost feel the thrum of my chakra within my chest to break the illusion. I don't give in.
"So I am, an incredibly astute observation. They shouldn't be here." I have to grab Sakura by the arm, I'm glad I don't have the gauntlets otherwise I'd be shredding her skin. She looks ready to try and crack him in the nose, Kage level shinobi or not.
"What's wrong with him?" he doesn't bother to look at her, instead going back to the scroll he's writing in.
"I think that's something I'll need you to answer. After of course you sign those papers he has crammed-"
"Fuck your forms! What happened to him!" She cuts him off hard and fast, killing intent being wielded sharp as a blade. Her chakra weighs heavy as it begins to seep into the air to try and unconsciously make them bend the knee. Kakashi-Sensei's eye is wide in shock, nearly taking a step back before collecting himself enough to plant a hand on her shoulder.
I didn't realize that I broke his nose until after I'm nursing the broken finger. The two of us back to back, my mostly good hand in a loose boxers stance. Sakura's hands curled into tight fists, her hands up and guarding her face as she squares off. Blood weeps through our sensei's mask as he goes stumbling, I caught him off guard with that. Doubt I'll ever get as clean a shot as they ever again.
Neither of us have the time to respond before something pink and stronger than steel is wrapping around us, our arms trapped against our torsos. My broken arm cinched tight, the cry of pain involuntary. I can hear the sound of wood on sterile tile as he leaves the scroll he was working on to stand in front of her.
Sakura throws herself backwards, trusting me to hold her weight. I go down on one knee to provide the needed support, her foot lashing out with the sudden extra reach, the only response being a chuckle before we're both sent crashing into the ground. I can see Jiraya now, a small black void on the palm of his hand that what I can only guess is a tongue of some kind sticking out of, as it's wrapped around us. I can see the boot scuff on his pants as she had tried to aim for his nuts.
"The two of you have impressed me, Brat. Go get that nose looked at by one of the nurses, leave them." Kakashi bows a bit, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. I mouth an apology at him, not really having intended to break his nose. He gives me a small eye smile, waving it off as he steps back into the elevator. It's an odd sense of pride that I pick up from him there. "You two, out as well." The ANBU pause for a moment, kind of pointing at themselves before stepping into the elevator as well.
I can feel Bird's eyes burrowing into me as though I were some kind of criminal awaiting execution. The doors slide shut, and the tongue begins to uncurl from around us. It retracts back up and into his palm. All that's left is a simple set of seals that he's clearly tattooed onto himself. I can catch a similar one on his other palm, which makes me wonder what else he has. Sakura works her way to her feet, more hauling me up than helping.
"What-"
"Happened to Naruto, yes-yes. I get it." He waves a hand in her direction, going back over and working once more on the scroll. Naruto seems to stir a bit before the cloth over his head glows an angry red color and he stills once more. She goes to move forward, but his eyes snap over pinning her in place. "Don't cross that salt."
She looks ready to put her hand through the heart monitor. Her fingers twitch a bit as if seeking to do something, anything to be able to help.
"If you would be willing to explain, Sanin Jiraya, we would be very grateful." He gives a non-committal hum, taking a moment to finish the line he's on.
"It's hard y'know. Watching your teammates fade away to something you didn't know they could be." We glance at one another, unsure as to where this is going. "I'm one of 4 people allowed to talk about this. If either of you does you'll die. Understand?"
"Yes, now tell us" Sakura takes another step forward, her words chasing after his. The only sound in the room was ragged breathing, and the heart monitor. His eyes rest on her for what seem like seconds that stretch throughout the eternity of time. Then they move over to me, Zabuza was a power house. A brute that wielded his chakra well enough to make it feel like it was locking up my muscles. This is cold killing intent, not a threat but merely a warning. I am nowhere near his level, and I won't be for a long time. I slowly nod, unwilling to take even a single step backwards.
"Naruto is a Jinchūriki, which is a fancy word for 'Power of Human Sacrifice'" I couldn't name the sound that came out of Sakura's throat, it was inhuman and full of fury, fear, and betrayal. I have to wrap my good arm around her torso, heaving her backwards before she rushes over the line of salt. Killing herself via superior won't get us anywhere. He watches us for a few minutes, sprawled on the ground like kittens as I try to get her to a state of coherency, finally I glance up at him to try and get more of an answer.
"What does that mean? Are you going to kill him?" He chuckles a bit, shaking his head and moving out of the line of salt. In the corner of the room is a small box also surrounded by a circle of salt. It looks as though it's made of wrought iron. He opens it up to reveal the black reflective mask that Naruto had been wearing at the very end of the massacre.
"Naruto has the nine tailed fox sealed within him. It enhanced his Bloodline limit, as well as seeming to corrupt him slowly but surely if this event is to be believed." Sakura is crying now, trying desperately to get out of my grip. Even with one less arm though I know how she'll try and can use a knee to pin her down.
"We can't know that for sure, there's seal work that keeps it trapped right? Check it, see if it's doing the things you think it is." He places the mask back, closing the box before he moves back over to Naruto. I likely don't hide the desperation in my voice as well as I hope I do. I hadn't realized it until now, but the idea of losing him, her, either of them. It's like a kunai to the heart, having to go back to balancing the clan and politics without anything positive in my life is a nightmare to me.
"What do you think I've been doing? This seal was the true masterpiece of the fourth Hokage, even with my own skill level I can hardly make heads or tails of it…. Well, that's not quite true. I can understand it, just not why he designed it how he did." I blink a bit, Sakura finally seeming to register that Naruto won't be sacrificed at the drop of a hat.
"Wh-what does that mean?" Her voice is small sounding in the room, and Jiraya gives a groan as he runs a hand over his disguised face. I help her get to her feet, the two of us standing a fair bit away from the salt circles now. A finger taps his chin slowly as he seems to look from Naruto to us.
"I have to do even more studying, but to be frank. Him being unconscious helps no one." He moves over, taking the cloth off of his head. He begins to stir almost instantly, his crimson eyes opening blearily. "I'll speak with the two of you later, inform him of what you wish. You'll likely have a meeting with the Hokage later." With that he heads for the elevator, leaving the three of us in the room alone.
Sakura moves first, crossing the salt circle without a care in the world as she throws her arms around him. I follow behind, only hesitating a moment before I cross the salt. Something about this whole situation doesn't sit right with me, but I stand next to the head of the bed watching the room as a whole. Sakura promising to explain once we're back at the house, Naruto being his stupid cute self as he practically rams his head into her hand.
This may not have been a good first mission, but we lived. We will become better for it, and I have a lot of research on the Tailed Beasts to do.
