Chapter 30: Sasuke Retrieval Mission: Part 4: Shikamaru's Regret

Naruto tackled Kabuto to the ground with no warning, sending them both tumbling to the ground below. The coffin rolled to a stop on a tree branch, the lid cracking open just an inch as purple chakra rose from it.

Kabuto flipped to his feet, sending him an irritated glare. "You're becoming a nuisance, Uzumaki."

"Thank you for the compliment."

Kabuto twitched.

Naruto slid out his tantō, channeling lightning chakra into it as he activated the Raijin no Ken. "Let's see you get in close enough to use those pesky chakra scalpels now, hmm?"

Kabuto gritted his teeth, eyeing the coffin. Naruto lunged, nearly taking his head off with the speed of his strike; Kabuto ducked behind a tree and watched Naruto slice it in half.

Even if his skills had been called on par with Kakashi's, taijutsu and close-range combat was Kabuto's weakest area. Naruto had predicted the fight correctly; he couldn't get in close enough to cut through any muscles or vital organs. He was, mostly, preoccupied with dodging the sizzling blades trying to carve a path through his flesh.

Two kage bunshin popped into existence a short distance away while Naruto had Kabuto occupied. "Ready?" the first asked the second, wearing a disturbing smile.

"Ready," the other replied, slithering into the trees.

"Ah, Kabuto-san~ You should be more thorough," Naruto said with a cheeky grin, making Kabuto's eyes narrow in suspicion.

"Just what do yo-"

"Nice to see you again," Sasuke whispered from directly behind him. Kabuto froze.

What he assumed to be Sasuke's fist slammed hard into the back of his head. Kabuto stumbled forward, straight into the middle of the formation Naruto had created with his two clones.

He got a sinking feeling in his stomach when he saw the area light up. "Fūinjutsu: Sanpō Fūin!" All three Naruto's yelled in unison.

Then the ground was suddenly getting very, very far away below him.

Sasuke reeled back slightly from the force of the chakra in front of him, steadying himself on a tree. A tetrahedral of light had appeared surrounding Kabuto, leaving a gaping hole in its wake as it catapulted him into the sky.

Naruto shaded his eyes and stared up at the sky. "Think he'll be coming down any time soon?"

"I'm not sticking around to find out." Sasuke glanced at the coffin, which had come apart mere moments before, with a grimace. "What's the situation?"

Naruto shared his expression. "Choji, Neji, Shikamaru, and Kiba and Karin were left fighting on their own. Go back that way and you'll find Lee finding a descendant of Kaguya who can use his bones as weapons. You?" He looked Sasuke over, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief.

"I'm short on chakra and a little worse for wear, but I'll manage."

Naruto nodded, one hand folding reflexively into a hand sign as he closed his eyes. He spread his senses out, finding his friends scattered about the forest; he felt two vaguely familiar chakras heading for a dangerously weak Karin and Kiba and Shikamaru, and he recognized Gaara's plain as day heading for Lee. All of them besides the Sand Siblings were low- almost too low to recognize.

"I need to head back to Choji, then Neji. I'll only be a minute," Naruto said, nodding his head towards Lee's direction. "Head back to Lee. Gaara will be there in a few moments." He reached over and planted a Hiraishin mark on his friend in a place no one would see it.

Sasuke nodded, but narrowed his eyes. "What are you going to do?"

Naruto gave him a thin smile and disappeared.

"Come on, Choji. Stay with me," Naruto begged, supporting the boy's head with one hand. "You've gotta hear me. Bite down."

A moan escaped Choji's lips, but the unnaturally-thin boy didn't respond. Naruto knew he couldn't heal him completely- it would take more than he had. He only needed to help him last until what he could feel as a medical team heading towards them reached him.

All around them, a sealing array spread out on the ground, impeachable but by those wearing a Leaf or Sand headband. "Choji," Naruto shouted, giving the boy a shake. "Bite. Down."

Apparently something in his tone got through to him; with a vague, slurred syllable slightly resembling his name, the boy bit down, barely breaking the surface of his skin. Naruto winced as his chakra funneled out through his arm.

After a few moments, he pulled his arm away, propping the Akimichi on his tree again. "Sorry, Choji. I should've stayed behind with you to help." He bit his thumb and smeared his blood on the seal underfoot to activate it, taking out a flare as he stood up. "Don't worry. Sakura's on her way."

He set the flare off and disappeared.

"Crap…" Naruto whispered, a cold pit in his chest. "Neji."

The Hyuuga was spread out on the ground in a pool of blood, face covered by his hair. Naruto brushed it aside and lifted his head from the ground, hands shaking the slightest bit. "Hey, Neji. I need you to be conscious right now."

"Ggh…Naruto?" Pale eyes stared up at him through squinted eyelids, unfocused and hazy. "What-"

"Don't be difficult, now. I need you to bite down."

"Bi…?"

Naruto held out his arm. The bite mark from Choji had already healed, leaving a scar in its wake. "Do it now. Don't ask questions. Bite down."

The firmness of his tone made a barely-conscious Neji obey without question, biting into his skin beside the mark already there. Naruto flinched minutely, forming a shadow clone while he still could. It reached into his pouch and pulled out a roll of bandages.

"Bandage him up when I'm done." The bunshin nodded obediently.

Neji promptly passed out.

"Dammit. I had enough, you idiot," Naruto hissed, wincing when he saw the gaping hole still making Neji's chest its home. The other cuts and another wound on Neji's shoulder had already healed, but only the edges of the worst one had started. "All right, get started."

He stepped back and let the clone bandage the Hyuuga, tossing it a flare and biting into his thumb to activate the fuin on the ground. Six minutes, he thought, since I left Sasuke. You better not have gotten kidnapped again, you moron.

He flashed back towards the Hiraishin mark on the underside of Sasuke's collar.

He only made it halfway, blood spurting from his nose as his vision went dark and hazy.

Kiba's arms were folded over Karin's shoulders as he huddled over her, eyes closed in a flinch as he waited for Ukon to strike. When nothing happened, he opened one eye, smirking when he saw a wall of black in front of him.

"Who the hell are you?" Ukon demanded, taking a leap back.

"Shinobi," Kankuro said, a wide grin stretching his face.

"Allies of the Leaf," Temari smirked, watching Tayuya recover from where her winds had violently tossed her into a tree.

"From the Sand." Lee gaped up at Gaara, watching the sand pour out of his gourd onto the grass as he stood across from Kimimaro. The two had been going at it quite viciously before the redhead had arrived; they'd matched each other in speed, with Kimimaro having the advantage due to his bloodline.

Kankuro flicked his fingers, sending the Black Ant to try and stab Ukon through the chest. Predictably, he dodged to the side, startled when the puppet's arms detached and shot after him with their blades extended.

"Careful!" Kiba yelled out as Ukon dodged the puppet's strikes, circling back around to try and get closer to Kankuro. "He can fuse with your body and when he does, it's over!"

"Fuse with my body?" Kankuro parroted, startled when Ukon made a mad lunge for his face.

"Damn!" Kiba winced when the Sound nin's claw stabbed Kankuro through the face, but grew incredulous when he didn't react. "The hell…?"

Sand crumbled from Kankuro's face, falling gently to the ground. The package on his back burst from its bandages, leaving Kankuro where Kiba had thought a puppet to be, while the puppet Ukon had struck shoved him back.

"W-what the he-" The Black Ant opened up behind him, leaving him to stumble inside. It slammed shut and locked securely while he banged on the insides, screaming. "Let me out of here!"

The Crow disassembled into various pieces, blades extending from each one. They shot forward like they'd been catapulted out of a cannon, skewering the Ant's abdomen.

A strangled shriek from inside, as well as the blood leaking from the bottom, told Kiba everything he needed to know.

"Am I glad you showed up," he muttered.

Kankuro smirked, drawing his puppets back in as he turned to face them. "Don't mention i-"

They both promptly passed out.

"Well, crap."

Naruto didn't so much as pass out as lay on the ground for several moments, lightheaded and hovering on the edges of consciousness as he struggled not to black out. Eventually, the wetness on his face roused him, and he lifted a hand to wipe at the blood and try and stop the flow coming from his nose.

Stumbling to his feet, he tried to regain his bearings, rubbing his forehead as he looked around. "Damn. I have no idea where I am."

Summon me outside. I'll track for you.

"Right."

He bit his thumb, preparing to summon his foxy companion outside the seal.

A moment later he leapt back onto a tree, narrowly avoiding the fuma shuriken that lodged itself in the ground where his left foot had been.

Naruto swayed, grabbing the branch above him and leaning on it as he surveyed the ground below. He knew Orochimaru wouldn't leave anything to chance; of course he would send reinforcements. Irritating as it was, he'd been expecting it; although the addition of Yoroi was particularly annoying.

"I thought you got a special home with the T&I Division."

The man's face was covered with a mask, eyes shielded by glasses, but Naruto could tell when his cheek spasmed. "I haven't forgotten those fingers and my ear, brat."

"Going to try and suck my chakra again? I'd like to see you try."

Frankly, Naruto was trying to bait the man into doing just that so he would absorb his senjutsu chakra. He'd already overexerted himself trying to get Choji and Neji into stable conditions; he'd only (unwillingly) used the technique once before and had no practice channeling his chakra effectively so the injured only took the minimum of what they needed to heal.

He watched the hand seals Yoroi was making, tensing when he breathed in. How do people with masks do fire techniques? he thought, dodging onto a different tree to avoid a haze of flames.

Yoroi snatched the fuma shuriken from the ground and threw it for his torso. Naruto ducked down and jumped towards him, meeting him halfway with a foot to the gut as he twisted around a punch.

Naruto landed on the ground in a handstand, faltering for a moment due to dizziness. He rolled to his feet and whipped around to face his opponent, ready to block the strike coming his way, when a voice broke the quietness of the forest.

"Kagerō Ninpō: Utakata!"

Dammit, turn around!

In an instant, Yoroi turned and fled like a man running for his life.

Naruto wheeled around, eyes going wide. Why the hell didn't I sense her?!

The girl floating in midair, glowing as bright as the sun, was the last thing he saw before a bright shaft of light shot towards him. He lunged to avoid it, hurriedly summoning a chakra shield in front of him, but there wasn't enough time.

The world didn't go black; no, it became engulfed in blinding white.

It was strangely quiet.

No, there was noise- as the pounding in his head decreased, he heard an odd sizzling. Kit? You need to wake up. Oi!

Oh, wait. That was his flesh.

Naruto's eyes creaked open. His vision was blurry. The grass around him was charred, hell, even the dirt looked charred. With a grimace, he surveyed his body- his skin was blackened from the shoulders down in an uneven pattern; he'd just barely managed to keep his head out of the line of fire and curl so his chest was mostly protected. The amount of chakra that blast took…she had to…and I even had a shield up.

The girl looked ready to faint in the air. A moment later, she zipped away in a flash of chakra.

Can you heal this?

You've got third degree burns everywhere. I can generate new skin, but not quick enough to help you.

A hand wrapped around his throat. "I'm going to enjoy this," Yoroi said, grinning in an alarming way.

What little chakra he had left began siphoning out of his body. Not good, Naruto yelled, twitching as he tried to pull away. Not good, not good, not good.

Red chakra leaked from his body, gradually spreading out until there wasn't an inch uncovered. With a scream, Yoroi ripped his hand away, holding his wrist as his flesh sizzled. Naruto eyed the one burn he'd managed to give him with envy, wishing he could switch their positions right about then.

"We'll just do this the old-fashioned way, then," Yoroi growled, slipping a katana from the sheath on his back.

Naruto narrowed his eyes into a glare, watching him raise the blade above his head. A smirk slithered onto his face.

"Why are you grinning, you dumbass?" Yoroi barked. "You're about to die!"

"Oh, I think that's a little over-exaggeration," a cheerful voice said from behind him. The Sound ninja froze in pure terror, a shiver crawling up his spine. "You know, somehow I feel like we've been in this situation before!"

A hand fell on his shoulder in a friendly way. Yoroi turned his head, slowly, jaw trembling when he saw the jubilant eye-smile of Kakashi.

"Hey doggy-senseiiii," Naruto slurred from the ground.

He promptly passed out.

"I'll give you a little tip," Kakashi whispered, leaning closer as his other hand lit up with a crackling aura. "Always keep track of your surroundings."

Yoroi's scream echoed through the whole forest.

Sasuke darted in between a pair of trees to avoid the pincer-like weapon following him like a tracker hound. While it was true he'd been able to retreat and reach the area Gaara and Lee were, he'd had to hold off on entering the clearing due to the tsunami of sand and bone taking place. While he'd been perching on a tree, two more Sound nin had found him and decided to try and make his day even worse.

"Jigumo, on the left!" One of them called out. It was the one with the pincer attached to the device on his arm.

The other- Jigumo- dropped down from the tree canopy, driving his heel into Sasuke's side. The Uchiha hissed, slashing with a kunai on reflex. He wasn't on top of his game- he'd spent the night before playing a sick game of cat and mouse when he was already exhausted, most of the previous day locked in a coffin that gave him claustrophobia, and now had two- in his own words- assholes on his case about going to become the new body for the sannin he was quickly coming to hate with every fiber of his being.

He kicked Jigumo hard in the jaw, sending him slamming into a tree. He whirled around and summoned a staff from the storage seal on his arm, driving it through the arms of the pincer weapon and into a tree to immobilize it. The nin attached to it stumbled and cried out in alarm, leaving his guard open for Sasuke to drive a kunai into his gut.

"Kamikiri!" Jigumo cried. Sasuke ducked, and the man went flying over his head, crashing into his partner.

Kamikiri gritted his teeth and jerked his arm hard to the right. Sasuke startled when the pincer came flying out of the tree, ducking to avoid his staff as it was sent flying.

Jigumo lunged for his feet. Sasuke leapt onto the side of a tree, narrowly avoiding the pincer's strike again; this time, Kamikiri was quicker about attacking him himself, taking out a dagger and going for his chest.

"Don't kill him, idiot!" Jigumo yelled.

"I know that!"

Sasuke scowled and kicked Kamikiri's feet out from under him. He was sent to the ground with a grunt of pain, the chain connecting his weapon falling slack. Sasuke twisted around Jigumo when the man tried to chop his neck, slipping through his guard and driving an elbow hard into his gut.

He flipped over so he was doing a handstand on the man's back, using him as a bouncing board to get to higher ground.

Unfortunately, he wasn't expecting Jigumo to snatch the chain and use the pincer even as Kamikiri yelled out, insulted.

It drove itself into his shoulder as he turned to orientate himself, making him nearly drop from the tree he'd landed on.

"Dammit," Sasuke growled, ripping the thing out and winding the chain around his hand. He pulled hard, bringing them both careening towards him.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" He didn't have Naruto's insane chakra, and he was already too low to be using the kage bunshin anyway. He knew this.

"Shishi Rendan!" The two cried in unison. With double the force, the two Sound nin crumpled under them like paper; the bunshin dispelled almost immediately, with no chakra to use. Sasuke was too low. He knew this.

The three of them fell to the grass below, slamming hard into the ground. Wincing, Sasuke pulled himself up and placed a hand over his wound, barely able to get to his knees. The two were unconscious- or dead, for all he knew- in a pile next to him, and didn't make a peep as he started to drag himself in the direction of Konoha, ending up in a crawl. He wouldn't make it on his own. He knew this.

He promptly passed out.

"All right, what do we have here?"

"Akimichi Choji. He used all three of his clan's Sanshoku no Gan'yaku. Severely emaciated, and his chakra's almost completely depleted."

"All right, take him in there. I want a team of five on him at all times."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama."

"Tsunade-sama, Squad Two reporting in. We've found Hyuuga Neji."

"Condition?"

"Severe stab injury to the upper portion of his chest. He was bandaged on arrival, but his condition is still critical."

"All right, take him through there. Shizune, help with him."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama!"

Ino swallowed heavily, keeping herself plastered to the wall as she watched a gurney roll by with Choji's thin body on it. A team of medic nin took him into a room labeled Intensive Care Unit 4 at the end of the hall, and the sign above it lit up immediately.

The jounin that had gone with the squad retrieving Choji, as well as the two chuunin who'd escorted the medic squad retrieving Neji, took a seat at the far end of the hall, far enough away that Shikamaru- who sat in a seat directly outside said room- had some privacy.

Another gurney carried Neji into a room across from her. "Intensive Care Unit 5" lit up red.

"Tsunade-sama!" They were at the end of the hall, and had to watch every squad come through. Sakura burst through the doors, pushing the gurney holding the redhead Ino recognized as Naruto's cousin. "Karin's critical. Severe chakra exhaustion."

"Take her through here. Oversee her personally."

"Yes ma'am."

Ino watched Sakura with wide eyes. She wheeled Karin into a smaller room, not faltering for a moment; she was confident in every movement, unwavering. Intensive Care Unit 6's sign activated.

Shikamaru's jaw trembled as they went past, Kiba following not a moment after and entering Unit 7 further down the hall.

Tsunade disappeared into Choji's room in a flurry of activity. Medics darted to and fro about the hall, slipping in and out of rooms in an organized chaos, as it seemed to Ino.

Gulping, she took a seat near Shikamaru, not looking the kunoichi across from her in the eye. Temari seemed cool as a cucumber even with the injured rolling past.

The doors opened. She saw Shikamaru go rigid. "Squad Four reporting in," the medic near the front yelled. "Uzumaki Naruto's been retrieved. Critical condition, severe chakra depletion, third degree burns all over his body. We're going to need skin grafts," he continued as they barreled down the hall to the end.

"-Squad Five reporting in. Uchiha Sasuke is in critical condition. We have a shoulder puncture wound and severe chakra exhaustion," a new medic said as she speed-walked down the hall, a gurney behind her with three more medics directing it.

"Where's Naruto?" Sasuke was barely conscious, voice little more than a whisper. He grasped at the sleeve of the medic to his right with a weak grip, turning his head as he raised his voice. "Naruto, where is he?"

"Akamaru!" A voice howled from one of the units. "Where's Akamaru? My ninken? Akamaru!"

Ino covered her mouth, sick to her stomach. Beside her, Shikamaru was pale, staring at the floor with a checked-out expression. All around them, signs lit up as everyone on the retrieval squad but Shikamaru himself was taken into the ICU.

"Relax, Uchiha-san." A needle was pressed into his arm; the tiled ceiling rolling by was the last thing Sasuke saw before slipping into unconsciousness.

"Why only me?" Ino jumped, turning to her teammate. She'd barely heard him.

"What?"

"Why only me? Why just me?" He stared at the splint on his finger- the only injury he'd received. "It all went so wrong…"

Temari raised an eyebrow at him. "What's the matter? Forget your shinobi training? Missions go wrong all the time, kid."

Ino shot her a glare. "Leave him alone, would ya? His whole team's hurt!"

"That's shinobi life, sweetie."

Shikamaru gritted his teeth. He reached up and rubbed his forehead, sighing deeply through his nose. "I don't think 'shinobi life' is for me. What kind of leader lands his whole squad in the intensive care unit?"

Ino bit her lip. She raised a hand to place on his shoulder, but stopped halfway. She had no idea what to say or do to help- she couldn't even help the medics.

Sakura poked her head out the door across from them. "Someone get me five units of dragon's bane!" she hollered, loud enough to be heard over the din.

"On it!" A nurse darted down the hall towards the herb storage.

Ino sunk into her seat. I don't even know what that does, she thought glumly. Or wait…doesn't that help the body produce more chakra?

It was one of the medicines mentioned in the booklets Sakura had given her. Given that Karin was in for chakra exhaustion, it made sense.

I will be in there helping them one day. I just have to work hard, she told herself firmly.

"So," a voice said beside them, deceptively casual, "you just going to give up, then?"

Ino and Shikamaru both jumped. Temari only rolled her eyes.

"W-what?" he looked up at Kakashi. The jounin had his book out, as usual, leaning against the wall beside their row of seats. His eyes were on the pages, but Ino was immediately thrown off by the dried blood saturating his flak vest.

"You just going to give up, then? I guarantee there'll be other missions where one of them or some or even all of them end up in the hospital, because you weren't there to lead them. You won't be there with them. Instead, you'll still be sitting there, while your friends die on the operating table, but the difference will be you'll have never been there to try and help them in the first place. You'll just be a bystander." Kakashi's eye lazily turned to look Shikamaru in the eye, half-lidded.

The chuunin looked away.

"Naruto trusted you, didn't he?"

"What?" Shikamaru's head snapped back up, expression startled.

"He put his faith in you to lead this squad."

Shikamaru was silent for several moments. He thought back to when he'd first stepped into Tsunade's office with a yawn; he had never expected this to happen mere days after.

"Get it through your brain! We have to assemble a team now. Who are we going for first?"

"Do you not realize someone's life is at stake?"

"Every single second we waste is a second Sasuke gets further away from the village."

"You're one of the strongest genin in the village…but this guy…he isn't using normal shinobi arts anymore."

"You sure this is the best strategy?"

"You sure we should wait until night has passed? That will only give Orochimaru time to send more shinobi."

"All right…it's your call."

"Shikamaru, move!"

"Don't die, all right?"

If the team had been comprised of shinobi on Naruto's level, none of them would have been injured. It was because of them- Shikamaru knew he'd been the one dragging Naruto down. Naruto wasn't the dead last. The rest of them were.

Even knowing this, Naruto had trusted his judgment. He trusted me to come through for him. I didn't.

"Yeah," he croaked. "Yeah, he did."

Naruto didn't deserve a lazy slouch. He deserved someone strong enough to walk by his side. His whole squad had deserved that. Choji deserved that.

"Then next time," Kakashi said, "don't let him down." He snapped his book shut and disappeared in a plume of smoke.

One of the overhead lights switched off. A door slid open. "Inuzuka Kiba's in stable condition!" The woman who'd stepped into the hall called out.

"You can tell him his dog's gonna be fine. Hana's takin' care of him," someone from the desk occupying the corner of the intersection of the hall and the one perpendicular to it called out.

Ino breathed a sigh of relief. "One down," she murmured.

Sakura leaned into the hall to address a medic Ino didn't recognize. "The chakra transfer was successful. She should regain consciousness within five hours. Get a nurse and move her into a room. Make sure it's close to a nurse's station."

The brunette she was talking to nodded and hurried away, heals clicking on the tile floor.

Sakura stepped out of the unit and pulled off the gloves she'd been wearing. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun, a few splotches of blood decorating the white apron tied around her abdomen. She dropped them into a bin and took the apron off, heading for Neji's room.

Ino watched her go, just a little bit in awe.

She didn't know how many hours they sat there, waiting in tense silence. Out the window at the end of the hall, she could see darkness had covered the village, although the inside of the hospital was still as bright as day due to the overhead lights- a stark white contrast to the black outside.

Kiba was the first to emerge. A nurse pushed him past to the elevator; he tossed and turned slightly, muttering under his breath for Akamaru with Karin's name occasionally making an appearance.

Sasuke came out next. He was unconscious and silent, even paler than usual, but his expression was twisted just slightly in a grimace, hands clutching the sheet covering him.

When the light flicked off above Neji's door, Ino stood up to watch them take him past. Out of the variety of gaping wounds she'd seen that day, his had to have been the worst.

The end doors swished open. Tsunade stepped out and took a deep breath, even as Shikamaru and Ino watched her with anticipation. A smile overtook her face. "Akimichi Choji will make a full recovery."

Ino held her chest, sighing in relief, and Shikamaru sagged into his chair. "Thank God," he murmured.

Tsunade nodded to Shikaku, as he was lurking around the corner. She stepped into Naruto's room without further conversation.

Several sets of eyes rose and settled on the sign above Naruto's door. Not one of them moved a muscle, waiting.

The minutes ticked by. Shikamaru was growing twitchy with nerves by the time the light turned off; when the doors opened, he stood from his seat, hands clenched at his sides from anxiety.

Naruto was wrapped neck to toe in bandages, the only exception being his mostly uninjured face, which still had a bandage taped to the cheek. Sakura was by his side, wheeling him down the hall with a soft expression on her face; Tsunade emerged after him, covered in splotches of blood and looking haggard.

She turned to the onlookers, shoulders slumping. "And that'll be all of them."

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama," Ino whispered, unable to take her eyes off Naruto's form as it got farther away. Sakura, with her back to her, shoulders square and strong, took him into an elevator, not looking back as she pressed a button.

"Hm?" she heard Temari make an inquiring noise; Shikamaru walked past her, head ducked down. Ino frowned and stood up again.

"Shikamaru…?"

"Next time," the boy bit out, shoulders shaking. Ino's eyes widened when she realized he was crying- not just a few tears, but sobbing- "Next time, the mission will go perfectly."