Her Experience

by Tiny.Dncer

Sakura has been taking care of her sick civilian mother alone since she was 8. But now a full fledged ninja placed on team 7, she must learn how to stop holding herself back and let her team in, although, that proves challenging when her teammates are the wild and childish Naruto Uzumaki and her cold closed off long time crush, Sasuke Uchiha. (Better explanation inside.)

33. Search for Sasuke

A/N: Sorry it took so long! Once again work and several other writing projects have been whittling down my time. Also looking for a new job which is also stressful and taking up my time. Anyways, on with the chapter!

"Inner Sakura..."

"Sakura's thoughts..."

Memory...

Standard disclaimers apply. TW for blood later in the chapter.

---

The two teams ran through the woods until they reached they reached a Temple on the border of the Land of Fire. Sakura followed Kakashi and the group as they leapt up on to the high roof of the building.

"Ok." Kakashi said, as the group gathered around. "We'll use this as our center point and search a 5 Kilometer radius in all directions. If we don't find anything, we'll move the center point and search the next 5 kilometer radius, and so on and so forth."

"5km? If we spread that far, we won't be able to use our comms, and splitting up's too dangerous! The Akatsuki are actively hunting Naruto! Splitting up will leave more openings for them!"

"Standard shinobi procedure dictates that there must be a minimum of two-person cells for patrols, incase of enemy encounter." Sai stated blankly. He'd worked solo missions for Root before and it never really bothered him, but now he found that he wanted to have a team. Even if he wasn't skilled in socializing and teamwork yet, he thought it preferable to being alone. Also with how the Akatsuki were after Jinchuriki, it seemed unwise to leave Naruto without some form of protection, and he'd rather not lose the teammate-working-toward-friend who reminded him so much of his lost brother just yet.

Kakashi bit his thumb and slammed his palm into the ground, summoning a hoard of ninja-hounds, though Sakura only recognized two of them, one of them being Pakkun.

"That's what we're here for!" One of them barked. "Our noses can detect danger faster and we can assist you in battles."

"Pakkun!" Naruto greeted.

"All right, let me explain the team rosters for our patrols. To be safe, I'm assigning each person two ninja dogs. So please play nice, ok?"

"Was that to us, or the dogs? Wait a minute…Two each? I only counted 8 of them. There's 8 of us. So that would leave 4 without a ninja hound, although I suppose Kiba doesn't need one…still…"

Immediately two of the smaller dogs started circling her. One a bit more wild looking with an unruly tuft of black hair on its head, the other a bit smaller with long drooping ears.

"Nice to meet you, Sakura!" The wild looking one barked cheerfully.

"You smell pretty but also a bit like a hospital." The droopy eared one informed her.

"…Yeah, that makes sense…"

Other dogs were partnering up and claiming members of the group. Sai and Shino both having two dogs as well.

"Hey! What about me?!" Naruto demanded, when no dogs immediately came up to him.

"You're a jinchuriki and thus a target. To protect you from potential Akatsuki attack, you'll be escorted by Yamato, Hinata—who will be acting as a sensory scout—and Big Bark Bull." Kakashi explained, nodding to the large bull dog—the largest of the pack. It gave an affirmative loud bark.

"W-We'll be working together, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata said, flushing a little.

"Yup! I'm in good hands!" Naruto beamed, feeling a little warm suddenly, despite the cool rainy air.

"And Kiba and I, who are used to working with Ninja-hounds, will only have one each."

"We're ready to go!" Kiba agreed, Akamaru seconding the statement with an excited bark.

"Listen up, everyone. Our first priority is finding and tracking Sasuke's scent. Then next is the Akatsuki. Either way, if you find someone, confirm their location and come back to this spot. Go!"

Everyone leapt off, but before Sakura could, Kakashi's voice stopped her. "Sakura. You've been unusually quiet. It almost feels like the Land of Waves mission again. What's wrong?"

Sakura turned to face her Sensei, her mind calculating rapidly. "I can't tell him I'm doubting and against this whole mission—there's no point. I should have turned it down earlier, and hesitation on a mission will only get you killed. I don't need that lecture, I know I messed up already. So…maybe more of a half-truth."

"I'm sorry, I'm fine. I just…I'm a little worried about seeing Sasuke-kun again…last time didn't really…if he turns away again, I…" It wasn't what she was worried about. She was worried about how trying to trick Sasuke back to the Leaf felt like it would definitely backfire horribly. Although, when she said it, the thought did hurt—not that she would expect any less before he got his closure with Itachi. But seeing him walk away again…no matter how prepared for it she was, still felt like a stab in the heart. Even just imagining it hurt.

A warm hand settled on her head, making her look up. "I know this has all been very hard on you, and that you've probably been hiding just how hard it's been for Naruto's sake, so he won't blame himself or worry about you too much. Whatever happens on this mission, don't hold it in. If this mission is a failure, and you feel you can't let out your feelings in front of Naruto, pull me aside and let it out there. And if the mission is a success, but things are tense and uncomfortable, vent to me about it. Let's worry about that when it happens though. For now, let's just get through this mission, alright?"

"R-Right. Thank you, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura answered, grateful as well as a little guilty for not being totally honest.

"Let's get going."

Sakura nodded, before taking off, her two assigned Ninken flanking her sides.

---

"Kakashi really cares about you, even though he says his students are one big headache." The droopy eared dog informed her as they leapt through the trees.

"Bisuke!" The older dog with the black tuft barked in admonishment.

Sakura chuckled a little dryly. "We're one big headache cause he cares about us, and in all fairness, we are a bit of a problem team. Your name's Bisuke?"

"Yup! You smell good!" The dog yipped excitedly.

"I'm glad. It would suck if you were stuck with someone who smelled bad, with how strong your noses are. It's nice to meet you Bisuke! And…" She turned to the other dog who blinked at her once before answering.

"Shiba…You talk to us a lot like Kakashi does."

"Is that a good thing?"

"Yes." The dog didn't elaborate further, so Sakura decided not to press for more information.

"I know we're heading this way because it was our assigned direction, but do you happen to smell anything?"

"There's a town 3 Kilometers away." Bisuke informed her.

"A town, huh?"

"I doubt Itachi would be there, but Sasuke-kun might…if he needed supplies, and the best place to gather intel would be a bar or tavern…the Akatsuki's sure to cause some rumors, even if it's just in the form of an urban legend."

"It's within our 5 kilometer range…let's check it out. Even if there's no trace of Sasuke-kun, there might be some scrap of information on the Akatsuki."

"Got it!" The dogs picked up the pace to lead her to the town they were smelling.

As they drew nearer to the town, the path before them became more defined, and they leapt down from the trees to walk on the road, not wanting to draw too much attention to themselves. Small duos and trios of people—parents and children, friends, couples—were walking in both directions along the road, giving the impression that the town was larger than Sakura had initially guessed. That also meant it was more likely to have somewhere shady that may have intel on the criminal underground.

Shiba suddenly lowered his head, sniffing the ground intensely.

"What do you smell?"

"It's faint, but I detect a trace of Sasuke's scent."

Sakura's eyes widened, as her heart rate picked up. Despite her conviction that trying to force or trick Sasuke to come home was a bad idea, she also couldn't shake her ever present desire to see him.

"Lead the way, Shiba."

"Right! Bisuke, come here." The smaller dog joined Shiba by the spot he was smelling, also leaning in to sniff it.

"Got it." Bisuke confirmed after a few sniffs.

Both dogs started forward, noses to the ground as they lead the way into the town.

They wandered through the street, fairly bustling though not over-crowded by any means.

"Is it getting any stronger?" Sakura asked quietly, glancing down at the two dogs.

"Well…not exactly but…" Bisuke murmured, sniffing carefully.

"I can't quite pin point it, but it's moving towards us." Shiba explained, continuing to smell around.

Sakura's eyes scanned all those walking in the opposite direction to them, trying to pick up any indication of Sasuke.

"Since it's only a trace of him, that means it's probably not him but either it's someone currently traveling with him, or someone who encountered him just recently. If it's the latter, then odds are Sasuke-kun's near here still, in which case his scent would probably be stronger…so more likely, it's option one. That means…That means…he's traveling with someone. He…rejected my offer to go with him, threw away team 7, but found someone else…"

"Ow…" She muttered quietly.

"Hm? You say somethin' Sakura?" Bisuke asked.

"It's nothing. Just thinking. Is the scent still coming towards us?"

"Yeah—It's close!"

Sakura's eyes swept over the people passing her. There were three guys on her right, and one woman and four other guys on her left, though the four guys were closer to the line of restaurants than they were to her.

"It's no good. Now the scent's receding."

"So it has to be one of them…"

Sakura paused before turning to face the opposite direction, studying the line of people who passed her.

"Just standing here, as well as talking to two dogs looks suspicious."

Sakura knelt next to Bisuke and began to pet him and scratch behind his ears.

"H-Hey! What—"

"Sorry Bisuke, I look too suspicious just standing like that, and I need some cover for talking to you."

"Makes sense!" Bisuke yipped excitedly. They were dogs. Petting and ear scratches felt good…he just hadn't been ready for it.

"Shiba," Sakura asked, drawing the other dog towards her to pet as well, "how far can you track the scent from? I know it's only a trace of it."

"About 900 meters. If it were a bit stronger, I could go farther than that."

"That should be fine…we're going to go farther into the town, but once you estimate it to be about 890 meters away, we're going to start following it."

"Even if it takes us out of the 5 kilometer radius?" Bisuke questioned, while continuing to "play" the part of a cute, overly excited dog being showered with attention.

Sakura bit her lip before nodding. "The whole point of this is to find either Sasuke-kun or the Akatsuki. This is a lead, and we're supposed to secure a location before reporting back, so that's what we're going to do. If we're too far, one of you will run back at top speed to act as messenger."

"Good plan." Shiba agreed.

Sakura continued to play with the dogs a little longer, while studying her four people of interest. Her eyes lingered on the back of the one woman, who had long red hair and was wearing a black cloak, with an ugly feeling that both bubbled and sunk heavily into the pit of her stomach. She'd felt jealousy before, usually over other's financial situations, freedoms, and lack of stress. She'd rarely felt truly jealous of another woman in regards to Sasuke before.

"He'd only be traveling with a woman if he thought she had a useful skillset that could aid him in finding and beating Itachi, or…or if he truly grew to care about her, and couldn't bring himself to leave her behind…the way he left me…Please…please don't let his scent be coming from her…please don't tell me there's a woman traveling with him now…whether it's the first reason or the second…it means he thinks her more useful and helpful than I could have been…or he cares so much for her that he couldn't leave her behind, the way…he did with me…I…Please don't let the scent be coming from her…"

The plummeting of her chest and tightening feeling in her throat told her she was very close to crying, and she couldn't have that. Not in the middle of a mission. She took a deep breath, swallowing hard, before stowing her growing dread, self doubt, and misery away to come exploding out of her later.

She straightened and lead the two dogs further into the town wandering down the main road while keeping her ears peeled for any whispers of insanely powerful rogue ninja in black cloaks with red clouds.

Unfortunately she couldn't catch anything about them—no whispers or rumors or urban legends. Leaving them only with the unsettling lead of Sasuke's trace amount of scent.

"Coming up on 890 meters." Bisuke reported after a little while.

"Alright, let's follow it. We need to keep our distance though. If Sasuke-kun's partnered with someone or built a team, it'll be because he thinks they'll be useful in either finding or fighting Itachi, so there's a chance the person we're tailing is some sort of sensory or tracking expertise."

"Presences concealed, don't get too close." Shiba agreed, and then they were off again.

---

Sakura's heart sank when they caught a passing glimpse of their target in the distance. It was the red haired woman. The idea that Sasuke had grown to love and care for this woman, and that being the reason she had a trace of his scent on her, hurt way too much for her to entertain, so she fixated on this woman being useful in Sasuke's hunt for Itachi.

"I can't imagine that he'd want to fight Itachi in a team—he probably wants that battle to be one on one. So anyone else involved is probably for finding him or keeping Kisame busy…that means there's a very good chance she's a sensor. Alright, I'm good at hiding my chakra—I've been doing it by default since starting to work on my seal but I can't keep it concealed if I need to actively use my chakra…so no healing or punching while tailing…Still we need to be really careful. If Sasuke-kun…if he really chose to rely on her, it's because he deemed her skills more necessary than anything anyone in Konoha could have offered…If she's a sensor, she'll be abnormally skilled. And if she was picked for offensive combat, she's incredibly strong. Either way, we can't let ourselves get caught."

---

Karin glanced behind her briefly, her eyes narrowing. There were two dogs and a human behind her, a little less than a Kilometer away. They were traveling a little to her left and while they were heading in the same direction as her, they weren't gaining in any particular way, making her unsure if they were truly following her, or just happened to be heading in the same direction. From what she could sense, the human's chakra was incredibly weak—barely there. Either someone was very skilled at concealing it, or they were pathetically weak—potentially not a ninja at all, though she doubted that with the presence of two ninja dogs with them. What she could detect of the chakra though, was interesting. From what little chakra she could sense, it was incredibly soothing—like a cold mountain stream that tasted of mint leaves and lemons. A refreshing, burning, crispness, that made Karin almost wish to feel more. She wanted their chakra concealment to slip, or if they were just that weak, she wanted them to get stronger, so she could sense their chakra more fully.

Part of her extreme (unhealthy, really) attraction to Sasuke was because of his chakra signature. It was so strong, it was almost dizzying—intoxicating—like standing in the center of a thunder storm. But there was a warmth and stability to it that also filled her and made her feel secure. Add to that how physically hot Sasuke was and really no one could blame her for wanting to bang him senseless every time she was in his presence.

It was probably a bad decision on her part, but she decided to ignore the human and two dogs. They didn't seem like a threat if the chakra signatures were anything to go by, and she sort of liked the human one. With how weak it was, if the three did turn out to be a problem, she had no doubt that even slimy Suigetsu would be able to take care of them.

---

They continued to follow the woman at as far a distance as they could, until a very sudden and humongous explosion several kilometers northwest of them.

"What the hell was that?!" Shiba barked, his ears drooping a little from the volume.

"That's a lot of chakra in that explosion." Bisuke muttered sniffing and wrinkling his nose.

"There's chakra in the explosion?" Sakura's mind immediately put forth an image of Deidara. "That…might be from an Akatsuki member…there's one that forms and detonates explosives with his chakra."

"Sasuke's scent is heading farther west away from it—the course adjustment was sharp."

"Which should we follow? We should check out the explosion, right?" Bisuke asked sniffing in its direction. He could tell the rest of the team was moving towards it as well.

"No. Let's keep tailing Sasuke's scent, unless we're called back." Sakura decided. If her hunch was right and that explosion was caused by Deidera, that gave them an Akatsuki member, though not the one they were specifically targeting, and if it was someone else, unrelated to the Akatsuki, they'd lose their lead on Sasuke, who was the ultimate mission goal here.

The two dogs glanced at each other, unsure of what Kakashi's preference would have been, but her reasoning sounded like something Kakashi would say, so they kept their heading until Bisuke suddenly jolted.

"That's Sasuke right? His full scent? And blood."

"Yeah. His I think. And a person that smells like low-tide. There's another scent converging as well—more mossy."

"His blood? He's hurt…was it in that explosion?" Sakura tried to shake off her worry in favor of the rest of the information she'd received. "One with him and two heading towards him…so he has assembled a team...were we replaceable? At least he's not totally alone, but why not just take us…why not let me come with him? Was it to protect me—keep me away from Itachi? That's what I want to believe, but…if I'm deluding myself…did he just think I was too weak to be of value, and not attacking me back at Orochimaru's hideout wasn't because he didn't want to hurt me, it was just because I was too far beneath him to be worth his time? UGH, STOP! You know that's not true, so why are you even entertaining the idea?!" She was too confused, her own insecurities over her self worth eating away at and warping her faith in Sasuke.

"What's the scent we've been following smell like, other than trace amounts of Sasuke-kun?" She asked, in an attempt to distract herself from her downward spiral.

"Berry shampoo—really sweet."

"Well, at least that lowers the odds of him being into her…Sasuke-kun hates sweet things—unless his preferences changed with his hormones—HOLY SHIT SAKURA, STOP IT!"

"Are they moving at all?" She asked, fighting her instinct to run to him and check his condition.

"No, not right now."

"Ok, let's go report ba—"

"Now they're on the move." Bisuke cut in.

"You want to follow them?" Shiba asked.

"…Yeah, until we figure out what they're using as a base." Both dogs nodded and after giving it a few minutes, shifted their course and took off again, Sakura following silently, drowning in her own insecurities.

---

Sakura, Shiba, and Bisuke stood in a small town, staring at the inn Sasuke and his team were in. According to Bisuke, they were on the third floor, and Shiba reported that only one of the other scents remained with Sasuke, and they were in a different room. The other two had just left for other locations in the town—gathering supplies if Sakura had to guess.

"Now that we know their location, we should report back." Shiba said.

Sakura stared at the building for a long moment before making up her mind. "Wait here."

"What? Hey where are you—?"

"I wanna get a closer look."

"But that's—"

"Don't worry, I won't get caught. I'll be back within fifteen minutes."

Sakura took off before they could argue further, making sure her chakra was fully suppressed and hidden. Once she reached the Inn, she leapt lightly up onto the third floor balcony, creeping along the wall as she peaked through sliding glass doors until she found him. The door had been left open a little to give him some air, while he lay asleep on a futon, alone in the room. She saw the door inside the room was closed, and assumed the other scent that Bisuke and Shiba warned her about was behind it.

She scanned for traps but saw no evidence of any and didn't sense any area-based genjutsu. She supposed Sasuke didn't need those, with his power and a handpicked team he trusted to aid him in his hunt for Itachi. Taking a deep breath, her senses on high alert, Sakura crept into the room and knelt next to Sasuke. A quick chakra scan revealed extensive impact damage and near total chakra exhaustion. There were also quite a few burns—consistent with the kind of damage one might take being too close to an explosion.

"So that explosion earlier…Sasuke-kun was on the receiving end of it."

The same compulsion that had her sneaking in—to see him, to make sure he was ok—continued to drive her as she brought her hands over his chest and began healing him. She knew this was a huge risk. To use her chakra, she had to stop hiding it, which meant if he had a sensor on his team, as she suspected, she was now waving a neon flag over her head. It was asking to get caught. Not to mention how she was breaking mission parameters…but from the second Shiba had told her he was bleeding, she couldn't leave it alone. She couldn't help noting that Sasuke seemed to be recovering quicker than he used to, even with medical ninjutsu's aid…it wasn't quite as fast as Naruto, but it was similar to how fast he healed with the aid of medical ninjutsu.

Her body was tense, her senses on high alert, for any sign of others approaching. She was so focused on the idea of a third party walking in, that she jumped when a hand curled lightly around her wrist. Her wide eyes flew to Sasuke's, hazy and half open.

"Sa…Sakura?" His voice was heavy—it was clear he wasn't fully awake, not that she could blame him with his level of injury and chakra exhaustion. Really, he shouldn't have been awake at all, the fact that he was, was a testament to either how strong he was or how badly Sasuke slept.

Sakura made a small sound in the back of her throat, scared to wake him up fully and worried what he would say if he did. Plus she didn't want anyone to hear her and come in.

Sasuke felt his tension drop under her touch. It was his first time experiencing medical ninjutsu wielded by Sakura—he assumed his head had added that detail now that he had seen her use medical ninjutsu in reality. In his dream, it felt different than when Kabuto healed him. Kabuto's medical ninjutsu had felt…uncomfortable. It had drawn disconcerting awareness to the feel of his blood in his veins, the weight of his muscles against his bones, and his skin against his muscles…things no one should ever be hyper aware of. Sakura's medical ninjutsu felt…like her. Soothing, calming, yet refreshing and energizing, like green tea with mint. He wondered if it was really like that, or if it was just this dream he was having…although, while his dreams of Sakura had always been intensely realistic, enough so that he could have sworn he felt her touch, he had yet to feel her chakra so acutely in a dream the way he was now. His hand tightened just a little on her wrist.

"Thank you, Sakura…but please…until I've killed him, stop visiting me…you're annoying." He murmured tiredly, feeling frustrated with himself. He hadn't dreamed of her, thought of her, since before he killed Orochimaru. He needed it to stay that way for just a little longer. Once he found and killed Itachi, assuming he survived the encounter, he could go back to her, beg her forgiveness, and if he received it, be with her…and whether he did or didn't get it, he could dream of her as much as he wanted. But he had to kill Itachi first. Until then, she made him waver too much, her care and kindness was too distracting.

Sakura sat, wide eyed, staring down at Sasuke as she continued to heal him.

"Stop visiting him? What does that…? Does he think he's dreaming? That would make sense, given the state he's in…does that mean he's dreamed of me visiting him before? I wonder if it's anything like mine are of him…it seems like…like it would be, given our currant situation."

"Until?" She asked, her voice hushed, barely a whisper. "Does that mean I can after, Sasuke-kun?"

"After you won't need to…" Sasuke murmured, letting his name roll through him soothingly in the way it only could coming from her lips. His eyes blinked slowly, his hold on her wrist loosening, still very much half asleep. Didn't dream-her get that if he made it, he'd be returning to real-her as soon as it was safe to?

There was suddenly shouting outside the door. Sasuke's eyes drifted begrudgingly away from her, glaring tiredly in the direction of the noise. Why the hell were they so damn loud?

The door banged open as he pushed himself up, annoyed that they woke him—and were interrupting a dream of Sakura.

"Sasuke-kun!" Karin shouted, her eyes widening at seeing him sitting up, alone. The signature she sensed had suppressed itself again, and was on the run—fast. Sasuke didn't seem to be stressed or injured (any more than before), So…had he known that person with the remarkably pleasant and refreshing (though not particularly strong) chakra signature? "You're…you're up?" She asked, uncertainly. If he was up, then what was that person doing here? She thought they had to be attempting to assassinate him in his sleep, but Sasuke looked fine—in fact, he looked a lot better than before, though still exhausted.

"Why the hell are you shouting?" Sasuke grunted, fully ready to collapse again.

"Sasuke-kun, were you—"

Why did he hate it when she said his name? It was the honorific, it had to be. He'd always hated it when girls called him that, all overly affectionate despite not even knowing him. The only time he liked the sound of it was when it came from Sakura.

Karin stepped in further, heading to the cracked door. She'd left it open on purpose, since Sasuke seemed to run hotter rather than colder, she wanted to let some air in—not imagining anyone would dare sneak in, and if they did, she figured that slimy water freak, Suigetsu would at least pick up on it if someone had come in while she was out getting medical supplies.

"So you freaked out over nothing? Damn Banshee." Suigestsu muttered, appearing in the door behind her.

Jugo also joined them, stepping into the room quietly and leaning against the window.

"Shut up, you shark-toothed freak!"

Suigetsu opened his mouth to respond but Sasuke cut him off before he could.

"Be quiet! So…do you have any leads on Itachi?" If he wasn't so tired, he may have registered that Karin had actually sensed something, and wasn't just being her typical clingy self. But with his almost total chakra exhaustion things that would have been painfully obvious to him simply weren't registering.

"Shouldn't you be resting? You're in no shape for that!" Karin protested, though she had to admit he looked better than he did thirty minutes ago.

Sasuke thought that was a dumb argument. He felt better than he probably should have—surely just residual feelings from dream-Sakura, but whether he was injured or exhausted beyond belief, he'd still hunt Itachi down. His condition didn't matter so long as Itachi paid for his crimes.

Suigetsu walked fully into the room, plopping down a little away from Sasuke's futon. "We were able to track down some general intel on the akatsuki, but nothing pertaining directly to Itachi."

Karin simply shrugged, her eyes drifting to the slider door, still thinking of the pleasant chakra signature.

"Seems they're targeting specific individuals who possess special chakra."

"Special chakra?"

"I've been conversing with animals and have pinpointed a few of their hideouts. They say they sense powerful unpleasant chakra emanating from those places." Jugo's voice was quiet and low, probably his favorite out of the three of them, only in so far as it didn't annoy the ever-loving shit out of him.

"Wow…so now even lowly animals can sense chakra, eh? Just like Karin." Suigetsu teased.

His head exploded in a splash of water, as Karin's foot came slamming into it.

"What did you say?!"

"Gah!"

Sasuke's eyes drifted away from the pairs chaotic wrestling, watching the way Jugo stiffened. Something was wrong.

"That's it Suigetsu! I have had it with you!"

"Hey wai—wait a sec, will ya!"

"Kill…I want to kill you. I don't care which one of you…"

Suigetsu and Karin froze mid-tussle, staring at Jugo.

Sasuke blinked. Jugo's voice was the least grating unless his murderous instincts triggered—then just like Jugo's mental state, his voice seemed to snap, becoming higher, brittle, and crazed.

Jugo let out a screeching roar, dark bruise-like marks spreading across his shoulder, neck and face…the origin of Orochimaru's cursed mark of Heaven. Immediately, Karin and Suigetsu jumped into action, Karin holding him from the front in her attempt to restrain him, while Suigetsu grabbed him from behind.

"Shit! Jugo's killing impulses have been awakened!" Suigetsu shouted.

"Sasuke-kun, hurry up!"

Sasuke's sharingan swirled to life, causing a wave of pain to surge in his head. He didn't have the chakra for this right now, but he'd rather not himself and his whole team killed by Jugo, so this was the only option. "Calm down, Jugo."

Jugo's marks began to recede as he stared into Sasuke's red irises. Soon the impulse faded entirely. He fell to his knees, breathing hard.

"S-So sorry…" He murmured, his voice low and quiet again, but Sasuke didn't say anything.

All of them turned to their leader, but he'd fallen asleep, still sitting up. He really did need to rest. Karin eased him back down onto the futon, and closed the cracked slider door.

"Let's take shifts keeping watch."

"Scared of that "gentle" chakra you supposedly sensed?" Suigetsu teased.

"I'm not scared you ass—"

"Shhh…" Jugo murmured. "I'll watch first." He sat on the floor, sighing heavily.

Suigetsu and Karin exchanged a look before both leaving the room, Karin casting one last look out the door over her shoulder—that pleasant chakra was long gone.

---

"What was that about?" Bisuke barked as they raced toward the site of the explosion. It seemed the others had gathered there to investigate.

"Intel. Looks like Sasuke-kun was definitely in a battle. One of his team has some basic medical knowledge, although they don't seem to know any Jutsu based on the state he was in."

"That's it?"

"Yeah…"

"Big risk you took with very little payoff." Shiba admonished.

"…I know." Sakura murmured, her brow furrowing. Her left wrist still felt warm from where Sasuke had held her.

"He must have thought he was dreaming…he had to have, or I don't think he would have…"

Thank you, Sakura…but please…until I've killed him, stop visiting me…you're annoying.

Does that mean I can after, Sasuke-kun?

After you won't need to…

Sakura shook her head, trying to clear out the complex swirl of feelings unsuccessfully.

"Does that mean Sasuke-kun will definitely come back to me? Or does that mean he's planning to die? Both interpretations could be accurate…I know which I want it to be but…is that the one he means? Focus on the mission Sakura. We have a location to report, as well as the fact that Sasuke-kun has a…a team now. But…is that betraying him?"

She wrestled with her doubt all the way to the sight of the explosion, finding everyone gathered there.

"There you are, Sakura-chan! Where've you been?" Naruto shouted, turning to look at her. "Sasuke was here!"

"There's a trace of his scent here, as well as a few others—one belonging to the Akatsuki Naruto and I faced in Suna." Kakashi informed her. "But the trail goes cold here."

"He either died or used some sort of teleportation ninjutsu." Yamato agreed.

"My money's on the latter. My nose is sharper than a dog's, and I found his scent." Kiba said staring at Sakura. Her eyes locked with his brown ones. He didn't continue speaking throughout their staring contest, reading her expression carefully. He may not have been as close with Sakura as Shikamaru, Lee, or the girls, but they were friends who still occasionally trained and raced together. And he was loyal to his friends. He could smell Sasuke on her, and was giving her a choice. She could tell them, or he could.

Kakashi's eyes widened, impressed. A nose sharper than a hound's…? Kiba was truly living up to the Inuzuka name. He hadn't picked up on anything past this point.

She hesitated. "The mission, or Sasuke-kun?…But I came on this mission…and I already betrayed it once…I…I have to…"

"I found Sasuke-kun." She heard herself say, feeling like the words were coming from someone else.

All eyes shot to her, shocked.

"You found him?" Sai asked blankly. He had a hard time believing Sakura would have been able to maintain emotional distance if she had.

"We were investigating a town when someone carrying traces of his scent passed by us. I thought it might be a lead so we followed. Sasuke-kun's…traveling with three others. He's staying at an inn west of here."

"She's right. I can smell him." Kiba agreed.

"Well, Sakura-chan, Kiba, lead the way!" Naruto prompted.

Sakura felt her muscles tense. She'd heard it from Sasuke's own mouth. Once he achieved his goal, he'd come back to her—at least, that's how she wanted to interpret it…even more than before, her gut was telling her to leave him be, let him accomplish his goal and come back of his own free will. She couldn't seem to make her body turn and lead the way.

"I'm carrying out the mission like I'm supposed to, so why do I feel so wrong about it?"

"Sakura's a medic. We can't have her in front incase of enemy attack. I'll take point here. Besides, I'll be able to smell it if they go on the move, so we can track them better if I lead." Kiba said, setting his hand on Sakura's shoulder reassuringly. He may not have been a fan of Sasuke at all, but he could tell Sakura was struggling. He remembered how she broke down and begged Naruto to bring Sasuke back three years before. Naruto had made her a bold and risky promise back then, one that he hadn't been able to keep yet. He still hadn't forgotten Sakura's distressed and broken expression. It made him royally hate Sasuke. More than that, Kiba just never wanted to see his friend make that sort of face again. In that moment, Sakura looked so lost and conflicted, and his instincts told him she needed to be out of the line of fire for now. He could take over from here.

"That's a good point." Kakashi agreed, eyeing Sakura. "Lead the way, Kiba."

---

"You know, I have a pretty good nose too, and now that I'm closer, I can smell him on you." Kakashi stated as he traveled next to Sakura, trying to sound casual but unable to keep the stern note from his voice, though he kept his volume low so no one else would overhear.

Sakura didn't say anything, her face remaining neutral, trying to pretend he hadn't spoken.

"You made contact, didn't you?"

"He didn't see me."

"I should send you back to Konoha right now." Kakashi growled, all pretense dropping. "Do you realize how reckless that was? You endangered the whole mission!"

"So are you going to?" Sakura challenged. "I wasn't caught—He was unconscious." She conveniently left out the part where he'd actually woken up, since he'd been convinced she was a dream anyway. "But he was hurt and I couldn't leave him like that. Not as a medic, his former teammate, or his…his friend. Those who abandon their friends are worse than scum, right sensei?"

"I'm glad you've take that lesson so deeply to heart, although it doesn't really apply here. Your actions have endangered the rest of the team—your friends." Kakashi said sternly, still glaring at her.

"Are you going to send me back to the village? I won't argue…I know I…I know it was reckless and endangered the mission…I…I wasn't thinking about teamwork…"

"I was only thinking of Sasuke-kun. Actually…"

"Actually I did think about the team and the mission…I knew what I was doing was a risk, but I did it anyway. And…I can't say I won't make the same choice again. If you want to send me back, I'll understand."

Kakashi studied his student's profile as they leapt from branch to branch. Her eyes looked sad—she always looked a little sad, but it was usually well masked. She wasn't masking it at the moment. He should have seen this coming, it was his own fault really. Sakura had been hesitant about this mission from the start.

"We require a medic for this mission so against my better judgment, I won't be sending you back. But if we ever get a mission of this nature again, not only will I refuse to take you, I will actively campaign against you being included on the roster."

It was fair, and she knew she deserved it, but it still hurt. Kakashi was always doing his best to look out for her. He taught her when and what he could, even if they both knew he wasn't the right teacher for her. He made sure she ate and tried to remind her to take a break occasionally. He was always checking in with her about how she was feeling and making sure she was alright. She'd argued with him and talked back to him before, but she'd always been fully confident in those choices, knowing that the only party she was endangering 98% of the time was herself. This time, she knew she risked her friends, and while she knew she'd make the same choice again if the situation arose, she also felt conflicted about her choice even now.

"I understand…Kakashi-sensei, I'm sorry."

"If you were, then you'd stop making me worry." Kakashi glanced at her openly sad and uncertain expression and sighed. "I'm not mad at you as a member of Team 7 and the former sensei of you, Naruto, and Sasuke. In fact, I fully get it. I'm mad at you as a member and leader of this team now. If you were experiencing this level of doubt and internal conflict, you should have spoken to me about it first." Kakashi took in Sakura's silence and sighed. "You've gotten a little better at sharing your emotions and thoughts, but only sometimes. You mostly still try carrying everything on your own. Even if you're not carrying the weight of your mother's illness and finances by yourself anymore, you've still managed to find eighty other heavy things to take it upon yourself to carry."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Share some of the weight."

"I'm the one carrying weight?" She couldn't help how her eyes found the bright orange of Naruto's track suit jumping in the lead. "He's the one with the target on his back from the Akatsuki, burdened by that unfair promise I dumped on him, housing a demon he can't control and being forced to face the damage he never wanted to cause when he manages to come back…I'm carrying my seal and curse, and some pain and loneliness, but that's nothing. He's the one who needs support, not me." Sakura nodded a little, but gave no verbal response to Kakashi's admonishment, simply letting it hang between them.

Kakashi was right in his observations. Sakura had made great strides from where she'd been at 13. But there was 13 years of ingrained habit and trauma lodged in her that hadn't been undone in 3 years. Especially not when the people she'd be most willing to share with and open up to had left her, whether it was temporary or permanent. She was more open about her anger and challenging friends or enemies alike when they pushed her or rubbed her the wrong way. She was also more forthcoming about when or why she felt sad or confused or hurt—but it wasn't total openness, and she'd replaced one weighty responsibility with twenty others. Of course she'd fallen back on hiding and burying. It was the way she knew how to cope and deal with all the stress and responsibility: compartmentalizing and avoiding. And of course the recent revelations about the level of danger Naruto was in, and the meeting with Sasuke would bring things up or set her on a backslide. Kakashi just wished he knew how he was supposed to handle that, because he was out of his element. He'd already told her to come to him with her feelings on this missions outcome, no matter what they may be. Trying to force her to open up didn't seem like the right way to go about things, and he wasn't sure what more he could do than reiterate that she could come to him about her worries—and if not, direct her towards Kurenai, Shizune, or Tsunade. Kurenai had told him that Sakura had come to her for an honest talk about hormones, and a desire to learn genjutsu, so at least there was that. But he couldn't help the feeling that he wasn't doing enough, though he had no idea what more he could do. They now had team dinners once a week, which were much more full and lively with the inclusion of Naruto and Sai, although it did mean a decrease in the one on one interactions he had with Sakura, which may have been making it harder for her to speak with him if there was something on her mind. She still held to her ritual of cleaning the Uchiha graves once a month, which he joined her in, though they didn't speak much during it—maybe by nature of the activity or reverence to the fallen clan. Not sure what else to do, he resolved to find time to catch her one on one to check in more frequently, maybe during a lunch break, or after a shift.

Ahead of them, Kiba jolted, drawing both Kakashi and Sakura's attention.

"What's wrong Kiba?" Naruto asked, having seen his reaction from also being right in the lead.

"Shit! Sasuke's on the move!"

Kakashi side-eyed Sakura, who refused to look at him.

"Then we better hurry! He's probably going after Itachi!" Naruto shouted.

Sakura's eyes widened. "He better not be! I wasn't able to heal him fully and his chakra was completely exhausted! He's in no condition to fight Itachi now!"

"Wait, that's weird…Sasuke's scent is scattering! It's all over the place now! Going all different directions at once!?"

"They must have sensed our approach and are now trying to fool us into splitting up." Kakashi explained, once again casting a quick glare towards Sakura, who had the decency to keep her eyes downcast. They could have been tracking her chakra signature since her visit to Sasuke, although, Sakura kept her chakra suppressed at all times, right up until she used a jutsu, and then her signature went right back to being hidden again, so for them to have tracked Sakura, they had to be one hell of a strong sensor. And if that was the case, there was no reason they wouldn't have felt the group moving toward them, no matter what Sakura's actions had been.

"So they did have a sensor…It only makes sense. He'd need one to track Itachi. But what were the other two for? Additional muscle? To handle Kisame while Sasuke-kun takes Itachi?"

"They sensed us? How?" Naruto asked.

"Th-they must have a sensory-type w-with them, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata explained, causing Naruto to look over at her confused.

"Sensory type?"

"The Byakugan and Kiba-kun's sense of smell are c-categorized as s-sensory skills, because they h-heighten the senses, and allow distance tr-tracking or 360 awareness. But there are other k-kinds of sensory skills that don't buff the ph-physical senses. Ino-chan has p-proprioception—she can sense auras and ch-chakra signatures."

"Right. If I had to guess, it's more along those lines, but we don't know anything for certain. One thing's for sure, though. They definitely need to have a very skilled sensory-type to be able to sense us from this distance." Kakashi agreed.

"More importantly, what do we do about it?" Kiba barked. "Our comms aren't long range! If we split up, they'll be useless! I'm the only one who can track him, but I don't know which scent to follow!"

Naruto closed his eyes in concentration, before reaching the most obvious conclusion. His fingers came up to form a hand sign. "Then there's only one thing to do: follow all the scents! Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

The Naruto clones scattered while they continued to move forward on their original heading. After a little while, she saw Naruto stiffen. "Itachi…" He growled.

Her eyes widened. "Where?" She demanded.

"West of here, around 3ish kilometers."

Sakura immediately shifted, but Kakashi's stern voice stopped her.

"Sakura." While he spoke so only she could hear, the warning was evident. She was not to go after him, and she was already on thin ice. Disobeying now may as well be throwing away her ninja career. But she couldn't let it go that easily.

"Isn't he technically the mission?" She challenged, her voice heated but quiet, so only Kakashi could hear her dissent.

"He is. But if Naruto can pinpoint his whereabouts, it's because his clones were already discovered, which means he'll be on high alert. A group this large will be unable to effectively sneak up and ambush him. He will either get away or we'll be drawn into a fight at a disadvantage. Sasuke has a skilled tracker with him, and is actively targeting Itachi. By tailing Sasuke, we're tailing Itachi as well, while giving ourselves a better chance at success."

"Damnit…that's a really good argument. Alright…I need to calm down. Regardless of my feelings, I've already put this mission and my friends at risk once. I can't run off on some impulsive hunt for answers and endanger them again. Not to mention Kakashi-sensei and Shishou both will bench me for life if I do…"

Sakura said nothing, her tense demeanor voicing the disagreement she was keeping in, which Kakashi keenly observed, but at least she wasn't trying to make a break for it.

It wasn't much longer before Naruto jolted again. "Found him!" He could only be talking about Sasuke. A clone must have had a run in.

"Good job! Which way?" Kiba asked.

"This way!" Naruto's pace sped up, taking the lead. He wasn't going to let Sasuke get away this time.

Naruto's accelerated pace made the group accelerate as well, though Kakashi couldn't help but notice Sakura only speeding up to maintain her positioning in the middle of the group, as her position and their strategy dictated. She wasn't speeding up out of desire to reach Sasuke, which as far as Kakashi was concerned, was a whole manifesto about her mental state and feelings towards this mission.

They raced through the trees and overgrown terrain before Kiba tensed. "Someone's up ahead."

"And they're wearing a black cloak with red c-clouds." Hinata supplied, years of teamwork with Kiba, having her activate her Byakugan the second his nose picked up something unforeseen.

"Akatsuki!" Naruto growled.

"Is it…it can't be Itachi. This isn't the direction Naruto said he was, and if he dispelled Naruto's clones before, there's no reason he wouldn't have come after us right then. The timing's off for it to be him. So…Kisame? Itachi wants to fight Sasuke-kun. He's been baiting him this whole time, and wants to do it alone, or he wouldn't have told Kisame to stay out of it. So he could be here to hold us off from intervening…but Sasuke-kun has a team too. It would make more sense for Kisame to hold them off. So who…?"

The tree pattern forced them to take to the ground, and they soon slowed to a stop. Standing above them on the large elevated roots of a strangely bent tree, stood a figure in a black cloak with red clouds, wearing an orange mask that spiraled around the single space for his right eye.

"Oh my, I can't believe I bumped into you Konoha folk here. And eight against one to boot. What bad luck…haha." The Akatsuki said, scratching lightly at the back of his head in a mannerism similar to Naruto.

"So this is the Akatsuki." Yamato murmured.

"Though, he wasn't on the roster Kabuto gave us." Kakashi noted. That meant either the information had been purposely faulty from the start, or this was a new recruit, rendering that information outdated. Still, if it was the latter, this had to be a pretty recent addition.

Sakura had no idea they had received a roster from Kabuto or when that happened, although she mentally acknowledged that her tailing Sasuke's sensor, and healing Sasuke had taken a good amount of time. She'd been late to their meetup at the explosion sight, and it could have been an encounter that happened then, or even while they had all split up. Either way, she hated the idea of that slimy medic just wandering around these woods.

"I'm kinda new. Nice to meet ya!"

"He's…different. That's for sure. What's with the friendly act?"

Kiba had a similar thought, though he was far more prone to externalizing them. "Feh! Give me a break! Drop the act!" Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Don't be rash…" Kakashi chided. "We need to wait and see. There are so few of us after all." He was being sarcastic, but truly it was worrisome. There were eight of them, and for a single Akatsuki member to be standing in front of them so boldly meant that he was confident he could handle all eight of them at once.

"Oh dear…mocking me?" The Akatsuki bantered back.

"He's very…playful. What's someone like him doing in the Akatsuki? Everyone else so far has been more gleefully murderous…not to say that this one isn't…"

Sakura's eyes widened when she saw Naruto's shadow clone dropping down from behind the Akatsuki, rasengan in hand.

"Get outta our way!"

"Idiot! If you're going for a sneak attack, then stay quiet, shannaro! Plus you're who he's after! Why are you the one charging in—whether it's a clone or not!"

"A shadow clone?! Aargh!" The Akatsuki shouted as Naruto made contact, but then…Naruto went right through him, as if he was just an illusion. "Just kidding…"

"What the hell was that? Naruto went right through him! I'm not sensing any genjutsu though."

"What can a child like you do, eh? You're so full of yourself!" The Akatsuki jeered, kicking the clone hard in the face. The real Naruto jumped to intercept for reasons Sakura couldn't fathom, and ended up getting slammed into by his own clone, redirecting his course into a small lake behind them as his clone vanished.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata cried, taking a worried step toward the lake.

Sakura couldn't help but think of all the times Naruto had been sent flying into the water before—in their first bell test, and their first time facing Zabuza in The Land of Waves.

"Naruto's fine, trust in him! Don't take your eyes off of the enemy, Hinata-chan! I need your observations." Sakura instructed, her voice calm and reassuring.

"If this Akatsuki is after Naruto, he just missed the perfect time to snatch him, so why didn't he? Could he be…intentionally stalling us from getting to Sasuke-kun and Itachi? But why? Did Itachi rope him into it? Or is he acting on his own prerogative? The Akastuki works in partners though, so where is his?"

"None of Naruto's jutsu are even connecting." Yamato stated.

"He's toying with us…but why?"

Sakura's eyes narrowed.

"Now it's about time—"

The small lake exploded in a huge splash of water, leaving a soaked and fuming Naruto standing at the center.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata cried in relief, though she'd taken Sakura's request to heart, her eyes trained on her their enemy, relying on her expanded peripheral vision to check on the state of the boy she loved.

"Now what shall we play next, Konoha folk?" The Akatsuki asked, his tone light and playful.

"We don't have time to play with you…" Naruto growled, as each of their party members affirmed their desire to go after Sasuke and complete their mission.

"Where's Kisame?" Sakura asked boldly, drawing the masked enemy's attention to her.

Kakashi would have been annoyed, except she made a good point. This was why Sakura was such a valuable team member, medical skills aside. If you had prior knowledge of the enemy, their skills, the terrain, and time to plan, Shikamaru was the best person to have. But if you had none of that, there was no one better than Sakura. Her skills in real-time analysis were invaluable.

"Hm…not sure. Up ahead, I guess?"

"Holding off Sasuke-kun's team. But he's guessing, which means this wasn't some previously discussed plan between Itachi, Kisame, and him. He's acting on his own. He wouldn't do that without his own motives."

"So you have a vested interest in the outcome of their battle. Why?"

The masked Akatsuki cocked his head. "What makes you say that?" His tone was light, but internally he was tensing. What a frighteningly clever girl…

"Whatever the full extent of that ability is, you're only using it to toy with us…in other words, to stall us. You'd only be doing that if you didn't want us to reach them and get in the way of their fight. But you don't know where Kisame is, so this wasn't something Itachi asked you to do. You just are, which means you want them to fight, and want to see the outcome."

Frighteningly clever indeed. She was quite dangerous. Maybe he should take her out now before she could figure him out entirely…although there was no way she could know of his full plan. She wouldn't even be able to deduce it. Still, better safe than sorry.

Despite the mask, Kakashi could see the enemy's guard rising, his aura shifting as if to attack.

"I'd say you sufficiently shook him, Sakura. Stand back and don't take your eyes off him."

She didn't want to stand back. She wanted to get to the bottom of this, and carry her own weight. But she'd disobeyed too much already, and she knew Kakashi was saying it because she'd definitely just placed a very large target on herself. So far, he'd been on the defensive, just toying with them, but if Kakashi was worried, it was because he was likely about to go on the attack. Sakura took a step back placing her body only slightly behind Kakashi's, her eyes still trained unblinkingly on her enemy.

"Formation B, folks." Yamato ordered. There was a chorus of affirmatives.

Before the masked Akatsuki could make a move, weaving wood pillars came flying at him, as did Naruto, Kiba, and Akamaru. But every attack they tried simply failed to connect, no matter how direct the hit should have been.

"What is this? Genjutsu?" Naruto demanded in aggravation.

"Definitely not. Shino, Hinata, and I are all team Kurenai. If there's one thing our sensei made sure we knew, it was how to detect and break genjutsu! Besides, Sakura's better at it than even us, and she didn't say anything about it." Kiba grunted, equally annoyed.

"It's definitely not genjutsu." Sakura affirmed. Even Sharingan strengthened genjutsu didn't fully work on her at this point. She'd have been able to tell immediately if that's what was up.

They ran through formation after formation but not a single attack connected.

"This formation's no good either, huh…I can't believe he's been able to to dodge all of our attacks." Yamato muttered.

"K-Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan…"

"What are you seeing, Hinata-chan?"

"Nothing's wrong with Kiba-kun or N-Naruto-kun's timing. They are connecting but…"

"He caused Naruto and Kiba's jutsu to pass through him." Shino finished. It was the only conclusion he'd been able to reach as well.

"Oh…huh? Er…" Naruto didn't get it.

"C'mon Shino! Quit speaking in riddles!" Neither did Kiba.

"Hinata-chan, can you tell if this is some sort of clone?" Sakura asked, her eyes staring unblinkingly at their enemy.

"I-I thought that might be the case too, so I expanded the range of my Byakugan and surveyed the area for other chakra but there's only one of him, and it's r-right there."

"So it's not a clone or a genjutsu. Maybe some sort of kekkei genkai? But what would allow biological phasing like—wait…when summoning an animal summons, you pull them from one place to another instantaneously. Tsunade-sama even did it with me when she summoned Lady Katsuyu while I was inside her." She wished she could close her eyes to shut out all the stimulus around her and better her focus, but she couldn't do that while facing an enemy, especially not after making herself stand out to him. "Summoning ninjutsu falls under the category of spacial ninjutsu…ugh I wish Ten-Ten was here! That's her specialty! Ok, ok, focus Sakura. Summoning typically requires some sort of jutsu formula. Maybe he's got them directly on his body? But this isn't quite summoning, and he's not weaving hand signs or anything." She bit the nail of her thumb in thought.

"What do you think senpai? It's definitely some type of jutsu unique to him." Yamato said, glancing over at Kakashi who was watching with his sharingan.

"Which makes it a real bother…"

"Sensei…do you have anyway to test if the jutsu he's using is some sort of spacial ninjutsu?" Sakura asked quietly, keeping her voice too low for their enemy to overhear.

"Spacial ninjutsu? Hm…" Kakashi eyed their enemy, and could practically hear Sakura's mind churning next to him. He wished he could hear her whole thought process, but it would give too much away. There was a test they could pull though. "Shino?"

The insect user already had a mass of bugs swirling in the air around him. "I know."

"Under these circumstances, secret techniques such as Shino's are real helpful." Kakashi stated, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Whoa! You're of the Aburame clan! All wriggly and gross, man!" The Akatsuki whined.

"You're rarin' to go for once." Kiba smirked.

"Of course. It's because I was left behind last time." Even in this situation, Shino remained unruffled and enigmatic. "Go." The bugs surged forward towards the Akatsuki.

"Wah! Gross!" The Akatsuki leapt out of the way.

"Hey what's up with that?! He dodged that easy!" Naruto shouted in annoyance.

"The Aburame clan doesn't specialize in pinpoint, narrowly focused attacks, but rather on wide range sweep-type assaults."

"Naruto, you haven't worked closely with Shino much, but relax! Just sit back and watch! And whatever you do, stay out of the bugs way." Kiba both warned and placated.

"Disperse." Shino ordered.

The bugs parted and then swarmed again surrounding the masked Akatsuki in a thick cloud.

"Woah!" Naruto gasped.

Now they would be able to tell whether he was just evading or letting the jutsu pass through him. "Do it." Shino ordered. "Secret art! Beetle sphere!"

The bugs converged on the Akatsuki, swarming over him.

"Nice! Awesome Shino!" Naruto cheered.

"I'll settle this. Since I've been assigned to this mission, I must try to be useful." Shino murmured.

"Yeesh, someone's still bitter." Kiba muttered.

"It's impressive how Shino can manipulate so many beetles so easily…even if it is kinda gross…"

Soon they weren't even able to see the Akatsuki anymore. All there was, was a writhing mass of bugs in the vague shape of a person.

"Well Hinata?"

"Y-Yes sir! Confirming the target's chakra! He's definitely inside the swarm of Shino's beetles."

"Yamato!" Kakashi ordered.

"Roger!" Yamato's wood beams wove their way to the bug-incased body. "Ready to go whenever you are!"

"Well Shino?"

"I definitely sense him in there…the parasitic beetles are feeding on his chakra."

"All right! Just suck him dry, then!" Naruto cheered.

Shino jolted as the bugs began to lose shape. They dispersed a little no longer looking like a mass of bugs surrounding a human.

"What the?!" Shino gasped. "The beetles lost track of him and his chakra! But that's impossible!"

"And it's not teleportation jutsu?" Sakura clarified.

"No. It's not the art of teleportation. It it were, the beetles would have reacted to the reappearance of his chakra and headed towards his new position. They wouldn't lose him entirely."

"He suddenly…just vanished…" Hinata verified, her byakugan trained on the space where the bug covered person had formerly been.

Kakashi also hadn't so much as blinked. He traveled through space without weaving hand signs, summoning or using marks? That would be a ninjutsu that surpassed the fourth Hokage's abilities.

"It's not teleportation, but it still has to fall in the purview of spacial ninjutsu…"

"He erased his whole body…he can erase his entire presence?" Yamato gasped. To think there was a ninjutsu capable of erasing oneself so completely that it could beat both the Byakugan and the Aburame's secret technique.

Sakura was in rapid calculation mode. "If we suppose that he can erase his entire body at will, then it follows that he can probably voluntarily erase parts of his body as well…in which case, ha can erase the parts that are targeted and would be struck by external attacks, thereby making it appear as if the attack just passed right through him."

"So he didn't evade them, the attacks just don't hit…" Kakashi murmured.

"But how…a jutsu like that has to take incredible skill or control…maybe even be linked to a kekkei genkai, but I've never heard of—"

Him and the explosion…I sent them to another dimension…

"Kakashi-sensei has a jutsu like that…and it's because of a kekkei genkai. He can do it because of the mangekyo sharingan. But that isn't his kekkei genkai, he got it from someone else. Did someone else survive the massacre? Is that a skill all mangekyo have? Or only that specific mangekyo? Sensei only has one…could an enemy have gotten the other somehow? The only feature on his mask is an eye hole…if he somehow possesses a sharingan, be it the same as Kakashi-sensei's or his own natural one, it could explain his interest in Itachi and Sasuke-kun's battle."

"Kakashi-sensei…" Sakura kept her voice very quiet so the enemy couldn't hear her…but the sharingan could read lips, and whenever he reappeared, she didn't want him to know what she was saying. Sakura brought her hand to her mouth to cover her lips, as Kakashi took a half step closer to her.

"You're sharingan…it can send people and things to another dimension…do you know if any other jutsu that exist like that?"

Kakashi nearly stopped breathing. What was she implying? There was no way Obito could have survived. But somehow, could his other eye have? Could an enemy have gotten their hands on it? But it had been crushed! How was the possible?! No. It couldn't be Obito's eye. It had to be something else. Just because he had never come across another spacial ninjutsu of that power, didn't mean there wasn't one out there.

"Whatever you're thinking, it can't be that, Sakura. It's not possible. Although the fact that I have this sort of ninjutsu means the existence of others like it is more than likely."

"Of course he would be sensitive about it…it was one of his closest friends…one he blames himself for killing…"

Akamaru barked, at the same time as Hinata jerked.

"F-Found him!…There!" Hinata pointed up at a tree behind them, where the masked figure stood on a thick branch.

"Hi! Sorry, sorry." The Akatsuki waved.

"So assuming he does transport himself into a different dimension temporarily, he doesn't have to reappear in the same place. He can return to this dimension in a different location than where he left. There has to be some sort of limitation—on the time frame, or range…he was gone for roughly 72 seconds…but we don't know if that was a result of jutsu parameters or his choice…"

Kiba, acting on his noses impulse, immediately went on the attack. "Fang over Fang!"

"Kiba! Don't act on your own!" Sakura yelled, frustrated. They were wasting time. As much as she wanted to let Sasuke and Itachi have their fight and closure, the fact that this Akatsuki also wanted that and was stalling them from getting there put her on edge. Whether she was right about the Akatsuki haven stolen the other Sharingan from Kakashi's friend or not, his interest was concerning and if he was trying to get there before them, he might try and steal Sasuke or Itachi's. No matter the outcome of the battle, no matter her was victor, they would no doubt be left too exhausted to fight further. Their Sharingan would be ripe for the stealing. And if this guy could jump through dimensions and come out wherever he wanted, they needed to get there this second, or they'd be too late.

The Akatsuki easily side stepped. Kiba skimmed the branch and slammed painfully into the ground. "Passed through again, huh? He gasped dizzily.

"Kiba…I believe this time he just dodged it." Shino informed him.

Next to the Akatuski, something began to rise out of the tree branch. Something that looked almost like jaws, or teeth.

"Well?" The Akatsuki asked, turning to the…thing.

"It's over." A voice answered from inside the cage of, what was it? Bone? Teeth? The prongs loosened a little, revealing…something—a person?—inside. Certainly unlike any other person she'd ever seen. One half was completely white, their complexion more akin to a paper cut out, or clay—certainly not normal for the average person, even Sai had more color than this…being. The other half of their face, by contrast was completely black with no discernible features aside from one singular round white eye. As if entirely made of shadows.

"What is that?" Sakura murmured.

"Him, he was on that Akatsuki roster Kabuto left us…" Kakashi answered.

"So are the…prongs, I guess—part of the body that the brain could move? What is this? Some sort of Orochimaru type experiment? He did have Akatsuki affiliation after all."

"Sasuke won! Uchiha Itachi has died."

All of the party stiffened. Sakura felt several emotions crash over her like a tsunami. Relief that Sasuke had won, followed by more relief on his behalf that he'd gotten his closure, followed by some giddy hope that he would come back to them now of his own volition—he'd come back to her, and then concern—the battle had to have been brutally hard. He had to be completely exhausted of all his chakra and likely very injured. Not to mention the blow it would do to his psyche…murderer or not, Itachi had still been his last remaining family. And then dread, if Sasuke was severely exhausted or hurt or both, he was wide open to whatever this Akatsuki wanted with him.

"Woah! No way!" The masked Akatsuki gasped, before dropping the disingenuous act. "Just kidding. It's as I expected."

"He was monitoring that whole battle via this other guy…shit. We need to go. Now!"

"Kakashi-sensei, we need to get to Sasuke-kun…now!" Sakura hissed.

"Sasuke's down too. So what next? I think he's in pretty bad shape." The bone-caged akatsuki asked.

Fear, care, and medical instinct all wrestled for dominance in Sakura's head.

"Hey! You there, spiky aloe guy! Where is Sasuke?!" Naruto demanded, pointing at the newest arrival.

"Aloe?"

"Ignore him…" another voice answered, also coming from inside the spiked cage, but the white side's mouth hadn't moved.

"Sorry, I'll have to continue this some other time." The masked Akatsuki said, his gaze focusing on the group again.

Kakashi's eyes shot wide. "That's a sharingan?!" Sakura had been right. Again. But it couldn't have been Obito's. That wasn't possible, there was absolutely no way. Just who the hell was he?

"Shit! He's gonna go to Sasuke-kun! We'll never be able to beat him!"

Her hand flew to her hair grasping it so tightly, some strands pulled out. She let her hand drop, the strands of pink falling to the ground.

"Later!" The masked Akatsuki raised an arm.

"Sorry sensei, shishou…"

"Wait! Take me!" She yelled. "I'm a medic. A damn good one! That…guy, said Sasuke-kun is in bad shape! Take me with you."

"I'm such a hypocrite…to think I just yelled at Kiba about acting alone and then I pull this shit?!…but what other moves do we have?"

"What the hell are you doing Sakura-chan?!" Naruto shouted.

"Sakura…" Kakashi growled at the same time.

She tapped the toe of her heeled boot slightly on the ground where the strands of her hair had fallen before stepping forward, maintaining eye contact with the masked Akatsuki.

"Whatever you need Sasuke-kun for, it's no good if he succumbs to his injuries. Take me with you and let me heal him for you."

The masked Akatsuki considered her carefully. So she was a medic. Like Rin. His blood boiled at the thought, though she made a valid point with Sasuke.

"C'mon now, I'm not that stupid. You'll turn around and attack me the second he's alright."

"I can't. I'm a medic…we're not really trained for combat. It's not allowed anyway. We're never supposed to stand on the front lines…we only are there to support and heal our comrades. I have no fighting skill—why do you think Kakashi-sensei warned me to stand back earlier?"

So medics weren't allowed on the front lines now, huh? Where was that rule when Rin was alive?

"Sakura-chan, what are you talking about? You—"

"Could be putting yourself in d-danger, Sakura-chan! You shouldn't be going w-with the enemy if you c-can't defend y-yourself!" Hinata cut Naruto off quickly, catching onto her friend's play and immediately moving to back her up.

"This was our mission, right, Sensei?" She asked quietly, turning to Kakashi.

He was staring at her sternly, his mask making it difficult to decipher his expression. He knew what she was doing too, and it was a solid plan. If it wasn't Sakura, and they had discussed it ahead of time, he would have readily given his agreement. Given that it was Sakura, and an impulsive decision, his instinct was to say no. But things were more complicated now. Their enemy had a sharingan, and spacial ninjutsu. There would be no hope of reaching Sasuke before this guy did. And based on the hairs Sakura had dropped, they'd have a strong source of her scent to follow, plus the dogs were more familiar with her scent to begin with. Her bluff ensured that she could surprise attack once she'd secured Sasuke. So long as they followed, it was a risk—a big one, but it could work.

Sakura took his lack of response as permission, turning towards the Akatsuki again. "Please! Please just let me help him!" She begged desperately.

"Hm…" The masked Akatsuki pondered the idea. He predicted Sasuke would be in bad shape, but if it was somehow worse than he expected, he wasn't a medic and didn't have access to proper healing abilities. And for his plan, he needed Sasuke healthy and functioning. Maybe this girl had a point. Even if she did try attacking him, he could always dimension phase and be fine. Once Sasuke was healed enough, he'd just kill her, or knock her out if he was feeling generous. The danger was in how smart the girl was. Taking her through his jutsu may reveal too much…hell, anything he did might reveal too much. Still, that problem could be remedied by killing her if need be. A dead Sasuke, though…he'd be up the creek without a paddle.

"Alrighty."

Sakura leapt up to his branch, trying to keep her heart calm and her breathing even. She was scared of how wrong this could go, but even still, that felt better than relinquishing Sasuke to this guy without even trying.

The Akatsuki's cloaked arm wrapped around her, and she was met with the feeling of having the air physically squeeze her, while refusing to fill her lungs, as the forest spiraled away.

---

The grayness around her only lasted a millisecond before unfolding into a ruin of rock, as rain pelted down on her. She gasped in relief at no longer feeling the press of air. And then all sense of her former discomfort was lost at the sight of the two unconscious bodies below her. The masked Akatsuki hadn't even released her yet, but she was already moving, pulling from his grasp and dropping down right in-between the two brothers.

Sakura knelt next to Sasuke, did a quick chakra scan and nearly screamed at the results. He wasn't just in bad shape, if she didn't act fast, he could die. There was severe internal bleeding and blood was beginning to pool where it shouldn't be. She quickly rested her hand on his forehead and did a quick scan to ascertain mental damage, and delicately wove her chakra in to ease the pain, soothe his nervous system and rebalance some of his hormones.

Sasuke's eyes fluttered, barely cracking open. "Sa…Ku…"

"I want nothing more than to talk with you too, Sasuke-kun, but it'll have to wait for now." She said gently, carefully shifting his melatonin levels so he fell back into unconsciousness. She'd need to operate and the last thing she wanted was for him to be awake suffering through a surgical procedure.

Before he fell back into total unconsciousness, he managed to slur out, "really…here?"

"It's real. I'm really here." She answered, a small smile on her face, but he was already out before he could have heard her answer. Even if he had, she doubted he'd have been able to process it.

With Sasuke soundly unconscious, she got to work, three quarters of her mind focused on the procedure, the other quarter trying to figure out her next move. Typically she'd have a jutsu formula which would allow her to repair the source of the internal bleeding while draining the blood pool simultaneously, but she didn't have the time or resources for that—she'd have to manage manually. She brought her hands to his lower abdomen where the blood was pooling, forming a chakra scalpel to sanitize and make a small incision for drainage. She hovered one hand over it, channeling her chakra into his blood to control the rate of loss, while bringing her other hand over to where the site of the internal bleeding was, and using her chakra to weave the cells back together. It was much more difficult to simultaneously heal two different locations at once on someone else's body, than it was on her own, where she was easily able to manipulate her chakra within. On someone else, there was so much more to balance and manage. And between managing Sasuke's body in two different spots, her own chakra levels and output, and maintaining her seal, she very soon had to abandon trying to plot out next moves in favor of focusing solely on the procedure. If Sasuke lost too much blood, she was a universal donor, but trying to rig a transfusion here under enemy watch would be a nightmare.

The masked Akatsuki watched her procedure in thought. The girl hadn't been lying when she said she was a damn good medic. From what he remembered Rin telling him, it was incredibly hard to heal two separate spots on the body even in a hospital—on the field it was next to impossible. He supposed he shouldn't give the girl too much credit yet though, after all, she hadn't succeeded yet. Still, so far this seemed like the right call. Sasuke's injuries would have far exceeded his ability to treat. The concerning thing was their relationship. He hadn't accounted for that. It didn't matter what she felt for him—obviously Sasuke was a looker and probably had hoards of girls after him. She was just another one among the hoards. But if Sasuke loved her…that could be an issue. And given the fact that he barely had his eyes cracked open and was attempting to say her name, that was a real possibility. He may have to kill her, although if Sasuke discovered that it was his doing, that wouldn't work either. This girl really was dangerous.

Sakura let out a small huff of relief as she finished healing the internal bleeding. She still needed to manage draining the build up while keeping him from losing too much blood, but it freed up one hand and a bit of mental space. Not for very long though…she brought her free hand to the broken rib threatening to puncture a lung and got to work there. Luckily, this was a procedure she was far more at ease with, courtesy of being on the receiving end of Tsunade's fists for the majority of her training, so it wouldn't require as much focus as internal bleeding. Sasuke's blood coated her hand and spilled onto her knees and skirt. She could understand Tsunade's stint with hemophobia. The feel, smell, amount, and knowing what that all meant made her stomach turn.

"Your Sharingan…is it an implant?" She asked quietly, in an attempt to gather information, as well as take her mind off of how her pink skirt was steadily becoming red.

"How rude, asking such a personal question."

"Sorry. I'm not in the practice of extending much courtesy to enemies." Sakura bit back, her temper flaring.

"Well? How's his condition?"

Bad. Very bad. But definitely downgraded from the potentially fatal it had been before. With his internal bleeding healed and the ribs in danger of threatening a lung set, the only potentially fatal thing now was handling the blood drainage. Everything else was bad and may have long term repercussions if not handled soon, but they could wait. She brought her other hand over to help manage the drainage, feeling it get soaked in seconds. She could already feel her arms growing rubbery. Managing all three procedures at once, without any jutsu formula conduits, had really taxed her chakra levels. Her face was beaded with sweat, her breathing grew labored.

"How am I supposed to secure Sasuke-kun and buy time for the others now? If I draw this out much longer, I'll be out of chakra and unable to defend myself or Sasuke-kun, and if I finish off the procedure now, Sasuke-kun won't be out of the woods, I'll still have practically nothing to work with, and two Akatsuki to fend off…"

"Well?"

"Almost done with this part of the procedure." She focused her chakra into her hand to pull the remaining blood build-up out, while pulling out a syringe of epinephrin from her pouch and injecting him with it. The acceleration to his heart rate would help speed up his blood production—not enough to be safe or satisfied with—but enough to keep him from dying. "He's still in bad shape and needs a lot more medical attention, but he won't die."

"Well then, it's time we get going." She heard the Akatsuki jump from the piece of wall he'd been on and land behind her. Whirling around, she hurled the ball of Sasuke's blood at the eyehole of his mask, and slammed her fist into the ground, focusing her chakra into the earth to send a cloud of dirt and debris around them.

"Aaugh!"

Sakura slung Sasuke's arm over her shoulder and leapt away from the debris cloud, landing among the stone wreckage and immediately jumping away again when the spiky aloe guy, as Naruto had referred to them, landed in front of her. She barely touched down on a boulder when a voice from behind her had her jumping again.

"No combat ability at all, huh? You're one hell of a liar. I actually believed you." The mask had apparently kept most of Sasuke's blood out of his eye, unfortunately.

"Shit! I'm so screwed!"

"You really are dangerous." He appeared behind her again, this time while in midair.

She quickly twisted—made all the more difficult with Sasuke's unconscious weight—and pushed off of him with her foot—grateful that it actually made contact but unable to fully process what that said about his jutsu in that moment. If she had thought she could make contact in the first place, she would have charged a kick, but she was only dodging, following desperate instinct. She'd redirected them towards the ground back first, and once again had to contend with maneuvering both herself and Sasuke in midair so they could land on their feet. She immediately made to jump again, determined to keep them in motion as evading was truly the only idea she could conjure at the moment, but a hand locked around her ankle bruisingly, as spiky aloe guy rose partially from the ground. She would have pitched forward and fell flat on her face if it weren't for her impeccable balance.

"Shit. Shit. Shit! I forgot about him! I should never have landed on the ground in the first place!" She looked up frantically to see no sign of the masked Akatsuki, which meant…

"Damnit!"

"I guess I have no choice but to kill you—" He was behind her of course.

"Sasuke! Sakura-chan!"

"Shoot." The Akatsuki grumbled, pulling out a kunai and stabbing it into Sakura, who twisted toward the blade last minute, forcing its entry to hit non-vital points, something the Akatsuki thankfully didn't clock. Her hand loosened around Sasuke's arm in a pain reflex, and the Akatsuki took advantage of that second to wrench Sasuke's arm from her.

"No! Stop! Please stop!"

"No! Please! Please don't! Please don't take him from me! Please!" He was already gone.

The pressure on her ankle vanished as spiky aloe guy melted into the earth.

The pain in her lower back was nothing next to the searing pain of losing Sasuke again…and this time, it was entirely her fault. The rain continued to thunder down, but even that couldn't camouflage her tears. She fell to her knees, sobbing.

"Sakura!"

"Sakura-chan! Sasuke!"

"S-Sakura-chan!"

The Konoha squad came pounding into view, slowing to a stop to take in the ruined scene. Hinata was the first to run to Sakura, and kneel next to her.

Sakura stared down at her red soaked hands…she was covered in so much blood, not even the rain could wash it away.

"I…failed…I'm sorry…Naruto…I…"

"I'm sorry." She choked out. "I'm so sorry…I had him but I…I'm so sorry…" She murmured, again and again, on repeat. It was the only thing her mind seemed able to process—how badly she failed.

"This whole mission…I did nothing but make the wrong choices…over and over…I failed…I failed…I couldn't save mom…I couldn't save Lady Chiyo…I couldn't save Sasuke-kun…I can't save Naruto…I'm a failure…"

"Sakura-chan. Sakura-chan!" Hinata was calling her, but she sounded so far away. "Sakura-chan! Look at me!"

"H-Hinata-chan?" Sakura brought her eyes up to Hinata who was staring at her unwaveringly. "This k-kunai. Do I t-take it out, or leave it in?"

"Kunai…?" Sakura glanced numbly over her shoulder, at the kunai lodged in her lower back. "Leave it…" Her gaze fell to where she'd operated on Sasuke. The puddle of blood still bright against the wet stone. Itachi was gone too.

"I failed…"

"The scent's strong here, but there's no trail." Kiba said seriously, fighting the urge to cover his nose from the overwhelming scent of blood.

"We're too late…" Kakashi murmured. He should have listened to Sakura's concerns about their enemy having a sharingan. He should have been faster. He shouldn't have let them waste all that time. He shouldn't have let Sakura go with the Akatsuki—not because it wasn't a good plan, or she wasn't capable, but because of this…seeing her break down so openly. She rarely did that. He shouldn't have let this be a pain she would have to face—the guilt and self blame.

"Hag, Naruto…" Sai could see how devastated they were, but his go-to person to coach him through these situations was sobbing on the ground-she hadn't even done that at Orochimaru's lair- Naruto looked as depressed and angry as he was at the end of their mission with Orochimaru, and the only other person he would have turned to for advice was back in Konoha. Was this what helplessness felt like? How unpleasant.

"Sakura. What happened?" Kakashi asked, kneeling at her other side, a hand resting lightly on her shoulder.

"I failed…"

"Tell me what happened. This is Sasuke's blood. Is he ok?" Kakashi prodded, his voice gentle.

She gave a short nod. "…He needed surgery. I had to operate without a jutsu formula. The blood needed to be drained…" Reporting facts helped. Just step by step what happened.

"Were you able to finish the procedure?"

"Yes."

"So he'll live?"

"I don't know what he wants from him…" Sakura whispered, the tears mixing with rain water.

Kakashi silently cursed himself for that one. "He won't die from his injuries." He tried again.

"No. He won't."

"How much chakra did you use on the procedure?"

"Most of it."

"What happened when you finished?"

"He wanted to take him. The Masked one. I threw the blood in his face—to blind him—and punched the ground…for a dust cloud. To give us some cover…and then…"

"And then what?"

"…I was out of ideas. I didn't have enough chakra and hadn't worked out his jutsu enough to stand a chance—plus there was the other one, and I knew you were coming so…I just tried to evade and buy time but…there were two of them and the masked one could pop up anywhere, and apparently the aloe-one can move through the ground like it's nothing, and evasion with an additional person is harder and they…out maneuvered me. I was so worried about the masked one popping up out of nowhere, I forgot the other one could just come out of the ground and…they got me…and took…he took Sasuke-kun…I'm so sorry! Naruto, I'm so so sorry…"

Kakashi closed his eyes and sighed. He really hated it when Sakura cried. It made him feel pitiful and useless. Equally unnerving was the fact that Naruto had yet to say anything. Typically he would be the first to comfort or forgive.

"Why would you go off alone?" Naruto asked finally, his voice dark and horse.

Tension settled thickly around all of them.

"If I didn't we would have definitely lost him right then and there without so much as a fight. By going with them, there was at least a chance…however small."

"Even if it meant the fault would be mine alone…"

"Then you should have taken one of us with you!"

"That wouldn't have worked!"

"She's right Naruto. If you want to blame someone for this call, blame me. I'm the one that let Sakura go. But she's right. If she hadn't gone with them, we would have lost Sasuke no matter what, and he might have died as well. If she had tried to take someone with her, the Akatsuki wouldn't have considered it."

Naruto fell silent again. He could see it, he understood. He really did. But the frustration and pain of losing Sasuke again, was clouding everything.

"Let's just go home." He finally muttered, turning away and feeling his chest squeeze.

"Yeah. This missions over. Let's go back." Kakashi agreed. Everyone nodded sadly, eyeing Naruto and Sakura with wary concern.

Sai kept looking between them both, rather lost on what to do or who to attempt to give solace to first. Knowing he was not particularly skilled in the art of comforting, he decided to observe how the others responded to them and base his actions from there.

Sakura sniffled taking a deep breath, as she watched Naruto walk away. "Hey…Hinata-chan? Can you go cheer him up? I don't think he'll want to talk to me much right now."

"M-Me?" Hinata squeaked. "Uhm…I…I can try…" She straightened, only managing a single step before turning back to Sakura. "W-What about you, Sakura-chan? Are you sure you want me to go? I can stay…"

"Yeah. I'll be…I'm ok. Go talk to him. Sai won't know what to say." Sakura answered thickly, sniffling again. Hinata stared her down in compassionate concern, before nodding and turning to catch up with Naruto.

---

"N-Naruto-kun!"

Naruto slowed only marginally as Hinata drew up beside him. "Are…" She struggled to complete the question. Obviously, he wasn't alright.

"I'm fine, Hinata."

"That would be more convincing if you actually bothered to look at me."

Naruto jerked, his head swiveling in her direction. He'd never heard Hinata talk like that before. It felt like being slapped in the face.

"Naruto-kun…Sasuke-kun is alive…h-he's not with O-Orochimaru anymore, so…he's n-not in danger of being t-taken over. Whatever that A-Akatsuki wants with Sasuke-kun, he wants him alive. And S-Sasuke-kun was strong enough t-to defeat Itachi-san. His r-revenge is done now. Once he g-get's away from the Akatsuki, he'll c-come home."

Naruto stared at her silently for a long time, his eyes serious and desperate when he finally spoke. "Do you really think so, Hinata?"

"Y-yes. So cheer up. If…If he doesn't come b-back on his own, we'll find him and bring him back. A-and if it doesn't work then…w-we'll keep trying." Hinata smiled, her cheeks reddening. "A-after all, N-Naruto-kun, you're a really strong p-person. And you n-never go back on your word. That's your ninja way."

Naruto blinked, before looking forward slowly, a small smile pulling at his lips. "Thank you, Hinata. For reminding me of that." No matter what Itachi or Jiraya or Tsunade, or anyone else said, he would keep trying no matter what. He would bring Sasuke back. He promised Sakura. And as he was just reminded, he never went back on his word. That didn't mean losing him again didn't hurt…

---

Kakashi stayed with Sakura. "Can you stand up?"

"Yeah. I'm not hurt."

"You have a kunai in your back, Sakura."

She blinked, as if just remembering that fact, turning over her shoulder to glance at it again. She took a deep breath, sending what was left of her chakra to the kunai in her back. A green glow emitted from the wound around the kunai.

"Can you pull the kunai out? It has to be straight."

"Yeah." Kakashi carefully and slowly pulled the kunai from her back.

"I'm sorry sensei…I'm such a failure…everything I've done this mission has just been one reckless mistake after another. Why did I think I could do this? I can't help anyone! All I do is—"

"Sakura. That's enough."

"But—"

"You completed a surgery in the middle of the field without a jutsu formula. Even if I didn't agree with it, every action you took this mission was to help Sasuke and Naruto. And you've done all of it without having a reaction—even in an emotionally devastating situation. You're not useless or a failure…I can't argue with reckless though." He said, giving her a small smile through his mask.

"I'm so sorry."

"You don't have to apologize for this." Kakashi pressed, gently, but he knew the sort of guilt spiral she was in, and it would take a lot to break her out of it. Still, he'd be there for her wherever he could.

After doing traditional first aid on what remained of the wound on her back, he helped her to stand, and trailed the rest of the group back to Konoha.

---

Author's Note: This chapter was messy, but I actually really like it. Ok, so a lot is different in this from the canon-mainly added scenes. It seemed ridiculous to me that when Sakura and the two dogs locate the trace of Sasuke's scent moving toward them and then walking away, they didn't try to follow it. That's the whole mission. Why wouldn't they follow it? So that was added, as well as Sakura sneaking in to heal Sasuke. Once again, he thought he was dreaming, so he's not aware she was actually there. The manga/anime imply that Karin judges and is attracted to people based on the feel of their chakra, so I like the idea that she actually likes Sakura's chakra signature-I've always liked that the two became friends in the future, and I think it's a nice set up for that. Yeah, I know it's unlikely she wouldn't have reported she was being followed, but Naruto as source material has a bunch of plot holes, so can we overlook this one, please? Thanks. Other addition, Sakura making the connection to Kakashi's sharingan and offering to go to heal Sasuke. Again, it was right there, and given how quick this Sakura is to make connections, as well as how reckless she can be, there was no way she wouldn't have made the connection or that offer. Tobi/Obito actually taking her is a bit of a stretch maybe, but I think the argument of Sasuke being useless to him dead would be convincing enough. Sasuke's injuries were supposed to be severe and there's no indication that Tobi/Obito actually knows medical jutsu, so rather than cheapen the medical field with everyone able to offer passable first aid no matter how severe the injury, I wanted to keep it this entirely other difficult and useful skillset. I also wanted Hinata and Naruto to have another moment, if they're together, they should. It's not that hard and it doesn't take much. It was right there for him to do.

Sakura has a lot of internal conflict in this chapter and keeps backsliding in her confidence, choices, and openness. I think that's very human and very fair given the whole situation. She's also 16. No matter how mature she is, she's gonna be riddled with self doubt, make impulsive arguably selfish decisions, and mess up. I think that fully tracks and I stand by the strides forward she makes as well as the frequent back slides. Progress and growth aren't linear. It'd be kinda boring if it was. I also really wanted to play up the growing sort of parental-ish relationship between Sakura and Kakashi. Hope that came across!

Thanks so much for all the lovely reviews! Please keep them coming, they help me keep writing! And as always, thank you for reading this far! :)