Standard disclaimers apply. I'm just borrowing these characters for a little while.
Author's note: Kishimoto-sensei's plan is to fit the entire 4th Shinobi War Arc into a matter of days in the Naruto timeline, but I'm taking the liberty of extending it since war is never so quick and clean-cut. Events from the manga will be added, removed or shifted around. Please pardon my impudence.
For those who are wondering why I had Shikamaru and Sakura date in the past, it was mainly to serve as a contrast for Sakura's current feelings towards Gaara.
Plus, I think ShikaSaku is quite plausible. I have this whole side story in my head about them during the manga timeskip period. But let's focus on The Duty; that, and I really don't have time to do another fanfic.
Did you know that The Duty was meant to only be a distraction while I write a huge GaaSaku AU? Apparently, it took on a life of its own and the AU is now on the sidelines instead.
Sakura's next few days at the medic base passed without much fanfare. Everything fell into a routine, and the only reminders of the ongoing war for her were the number of injured being brought in. Otherwise, nothing else has changed.
Except that now, every once in a while, Gaara would reach for her hand and press his lips softly to her fingers before allowing her to depart; but only when they were alone.
On her end, Sakura did not kiss Gaara on the cheek ever since the first night. She was, in fact, questioning her boldness for doing so that time. But she would always smile softly at him just before she left the tent each morning.
They still had tea together every night, with Gaara making his occasional appearance at the medic base whenever Sakura failed to arrive at their tent at ten o'clock on the dot. Sakura would brew the chakra tea, and they would partake in discussions over the latest developments on the warfront.
Sakura once asked him about why he was willing to discuss military strategies with her. His reply was that he needed a fresh pair of eyes to look over their plans; his ranking officers were too closely involved in the war and might have missed the bigger picture.
Secretly, Sakura was flattered that he valued her opinion, and trusted her enough to disclose the otherwise guarded plans.
Sometimes, they would talk about other things.
"Favourite colour?"
Sakura sighed, "You know, everyone assumes that it's pink just because I have pink hair. Well, guess what – it's red. Everyone sees the pink hair and completely misses the fact that I wear a red forehead protector and a red top."
She took another sip of her tea, and asked, "What about yours, Gaara?"
"People assume it is red because of my hair colour," began Gaara, "And they are correct."
"Oh." Sakura grinned, "Well, at least one of us is happy with their natural hair colour."
"You don't like your hair colour?"
"I like it; I just don't like what other people assume because of it. I've met enough enemy shinobi who think I'm some meek little girl because of my pink hair to last me a lifetime."
Gaara propped his chin on one hand and smirked at her, "Then you proceed to destroy all their assumptions by splitting the earth with just your pointer finger."
They laughed often; Sakura was grateful for the sound barrier around Gaara's tent. Even if she was Gaara's personal medic, it would unseemly for her to be so casual around him.
She was not sure if they had ventured past the point of being just friends; she was perfectly comfortable with their current standing… whatever it might be. Gaara kissing her hand? A gentlemanly gesture, she told herself. She didn't think she could deal with the action being of romantic persuasions, seeing how life was just nice and ordinary for now. To become involved with a political figure, especially one of Gaara's status, had enormous consequences on the entire shinobi world. It would mean too many changes to her life.
Yes, normalcy. That was all she wanted.
The only trouble was that when things seemed a little too normal, Fate would always step in to throw a twist into Sakura's life.
Today would be her last day of consecutive medic base duties, and Sakura was looking forward to the end of her shift – she would be able to request placement as a field medic even if Gaara had made his feelings known about her being on the frontlines.
As the day progressed, Sakura found herself humming. Softly at first, then a little louder until her civilian colleagues shot her a look that implied she was starting to make a fool of herself. That quickly sobered her up, and just in time for her subsequent visitor.
"Next patient!" Sakura called out.
Her next patient turned out to be none other than Hyuuga Neji.
"Neji-san!" She exclaimed, surprised to see him at the medic base.
She was truly flabbergasted to see Neji; in all her years at the hospital, she had never seen him there for treatment. Initially, she assumed that the Hyuuga clan might have their own doctors, until Hinata – the clan heiress herself – turned up at the hospital one day with a bad cough.
Then she recalled the chat with Ten Ten and Ino a little over a week ago. Ten Ten had told them about a particularly amusing idiosyncrasy of Neji's – apparently, Neji had this macho-male thing going on that rendered him mute when it came to seeking medical attention. The last time Neji came down with a sneezing fit that went on for days, he still insisted that he did not need to go to the hospital. It took a pack of bubble gum, six pairs of fishnet stockings, a very determined Lee and a tiny bit of luck to subdue the stubborn Hyuuga male and drag his sorry, sneezing butt to the nearest clinic.
She gave him the once-over quickly – Neji seemed to be suffering from external injuries, but nothing life-threatening. The Neji that Ten Ten had described would have to be carried in on stretchers; that is if the other shinobi managed to load him onto it without getting their chakra points sealed off.
"Please take a seat here, Neji-san," Sakura gestured to a chair next to her workstation.
Neji sat down without any protests, causing Sakura to raise an eyebrow.
She decided she needed to check if the medic base had been breached, so she stated quite plainly, "Neji-san, I'm going to perform a little chakra test, if you don't mind."
Neji simply nodded, and Sakura injected a small amount of chakra into his system. Her goal was to locate the unique chakra signature given off by the Byakugan, and she was surprised when she managed to find it. She had never come across a technique that could duplicate another person's unique kekkei genkai before, so this Neji should be who he claimed he was.
Maybe the war changed people; maybe Neji realised how important it was to stay in top fighting condition at all times, and was thus seeking treatment for his non-lethal injuries.
Plus, she still had other patients to see, so she concluded that she was just being overly-suspicious and promptly began to clean his wounds.
Sakura did not notice the sneer that was slowly spreading across Neji's lips.
It should never have happened, but it did.
The enemy had infiltrated the medic base, and had struck down three jonin medics within half an hour. Civilian doctors have not been attacked, so it was clear that the enemy was trying to wipe out as many shinobi medics as possible. It was a good plan, seeing how many of the injured required medical attention that was beyond the expertise of civilian doctors.
With Shizune currently indisposed, Sakura was automatically promoted to the highest ranking officer at the medic base, and it was her that the guards sought out once the murders were discovered.
The notion that the enemy had slipped in using genjutsu was quickly dismissed; the sensor shinobi would have caught onto it no matter how well-crafted their masks were.
Since the only patients allowed into the base were from the Allied Shinobi Forces, Sakura was forced to draw only one distasteful conclusion – Kabuto must have used an advanced mind-control technique to take over one of their own and was pulling the puppet strings right now.
Anyone here could be the enemy.
"What is going on?" A masculine voice said.
"Ah, Neji-san," Sakura nodded to him, "It's like this…"
Neji listened as Sakura and the sensor shinobi recounted how the three dead medics were found and their theories on how the enemy might have broken past their security system. His face took on a thoughtful expression as he began to analyse the situation aloud, echoing Sakura's conclusion that the enemy had to be one of their own.
In all her years, Sakura had never heard Neji being so talkative before. She had gone on several missions with Neji leading the team, and Neji had always been more of a listener than a talker – allowing the rest of the team to voice their opinions before he would utter his one-sentence conclusion that usually meant the end of all discussions.
The war really does change people, Sakura mused.
"We need to inform Shizune-san about this. Jonin medics, please travel in pairs from now onwards, so there is at least someone you can trust," Sakura ordered, "Bring the deceased medics to the autopsy tent – we may be able to glean some clues about who the culprit is."
When the other shinobi left to carry out her orders, and Neji went on his own hunt for the killer, Sakura heaved a sigh. This was not how she expected the day to go at all.
She returned to her tent, determined not to be too bothered by the events that had just occurred – there was the task of sending out requests for more medical supplies that Shizune that 'thoughtfully' left for her to complete.
And the materials were all in tent three.
Sakura left for tent three, unaware that she was being tailed.
It should never have happened, but it did. Again.
Haruno Sakura, chunin-level medic and respected apprentice of the Hokage, was standing in front of a love-struck male shinobi that she had earlier treated. He had been following her around for the better part of the night, working up the nerve to confront her.
And he was now professing his love for her; in the form of a written confession no less.
"Oh, I…" Sakura flushed, scrambling for words that she knew would deter him, then threw him the oldest line in the book, "I'm really sorry, but there is someone that I…"
She could not finish her sentence. A man with red hair, his bearing aristocratic and bordering on regal, started to form in her mind.
Oh.
Sakura wondered if she had really lied to her admirer.
The image in her mind's eye was interrupted, however, by her confessor wishing her success with her chosen beau before he retreated with more grace than a just-rejected shinobi should have.
This war against Akatsuki was complicated enough already; she did not need to be fending off romantic propositions too, dammit!
For just one absurd moment, Sakura considered if she should adopt brusque bedside manners when treating the injured, just to avoid a repeat of this scenario.
"Sakura?"
Inwardly, Sakura cursed herself for having been distracted enough to not notice that Neji had entered the tent. She quickly pushed aside the forms that she was filling out and turned to face him.
"I don't blame you for being upset," began Neji, "After all, we have an unknown enemy sneaking around in our midst."
This time, Sakura knew something was off about Neji.
It was not that Neji was usually cold and distant towards his teammates. On the contrary, he was ever-alert to their needs and would see that they were met – to ensure success of their mission, naturally.
Last year, she had travelled with Neji to the Land of Iron, and some native shrubs had caught her eyes. They appeared to be silver poinsettia-like plants – something that Sakura had never seen before. She really wanted to stop to take a sample home for study, but she knew that Neji would not indulge such frivolous activities when there was a mission to complete.
So she was taken by surprise when upon conclusion of their mission, Neji called her aside and quietly gave her a clay plant pot with a specimen of said plant growing in it. He had not said a single word about the plant, and Sakura was convinced that she did not stare that long at them, but Neji had noticed her interest in them and decided to do something about it.
Neither of them spoke openly about the flowering shrub, not even when her teammates started wondering aloud about when Sakura practically skipped all the way back to Konohagakure with the freshly-potted plant. And that suited Neji just fine.
Neji would look out for his comrades, but he would never openly talk about it.
And 'Neji' right now was expressing concern vocally like it was going out of style.
But Sakura needed to be sure – she did not want to pummel Ten Ten's crush into oblivion without being absolutely certain that he was the enemy in disguise.
"Can you direct me to Shizune-san's tent, Sakura?" asked 'Neji'.
"Did you discover something important? What is it?"
'Neji' turned his head slightly to look at Sakura over his shoulder, "I discovered something. It may not be important, but you can never know. It is better to be on the safe side, so I need to relay that information to Shizune-san."
Now Sakura was one hundred and one percent convinced that something was amiss. Neji never did things by half – either he had discovered the whole truth, or else he would not even be here. He was not one to go around reporting small bits of hearsay or clues that might lead to nothing.
"I believe Shizune nee-san is in tent B-2. However, she is busy treating Tonton for a twisted leg from transporting too many medical supplies."
"Well, that is better than a twisted hand, isn't it?" said 'Neji'.
Gotcha.
"It definitely is – can you imagine a shinobi going onto the battlefield and not being able to form hand seals?" Sakura smiled as if she was sharing a joke.
"Indeed," nodded 'Neji', then he lifted one arm towards her, "Sakura, can I trouble you to look at my arm again? I'm still feeling some pain in it."
Oh, stars. This guy doesn't even have Neji-san down right! Neji would sooner die than admit his injuries are bothering him.
Fighting the urge to roll her eyes, Sakura waved to the empty seat, indicating that 'Neji' should take it. She pretended to take out some medical equipment, and the sudden burst of killing intent that emitted from 'Neji' was all she needed to make her move.
Sakura squarely rammed her elbow between his shoulder blades, slamming him face-down into a small crater that the impact of her blow had created. She made sure to hit a few pressure points along the way – specifically, those that would trigger unbearable pain.
'Neji' gasped, spitting out blood as he muttered, "What… how did you know…?"
"Since when did piglets have hands, 'Neji-san'?"
Sakura watched as the form of Neji melted away to reveal one of the White Zetsu clones, reminiscent of the one that she had obliterated on her first scouting mission with Kakashi.
This time, she had no need to hold back as she rained blow after blow on the enemy's increasingly limp body.
Only when Sakura was certain that Zetsu no longer posed any threat that she lifted him up deftly and demanded to know how he had managed to sneak into the camp under the guise of Hyuuga Neji.
What she learnt next disturbed her so much that she almost lost her grip on Zetsu.
Zetsu might not have been forthcoming about how he was able to mimic Neji down to his chakra signature, but one memory jumped to the front of Sakura's mind. She recalled reading Yamato-taichou's reports about the attack at the Kage Summit by one of the White Zetsu clones, and how he was able to drain chakra from his opponents.
It would not be too far-fetched to conclude that Zetsu was able to take the form of the chakra bearer that he had drained, and used that to fuel his outwards appearance and fool even the sharpest of sensor shinobi.
"You use other shinobi's chakra as more than a mere facade – you are able to change your body to completely mimic the chakra owner's, am I correct?" Sakura stated more than she asked.
"I'm not telling you anything," the White Zetsu replied, sneering.
Sakura mirrored his sneer, and said, "That just confirmed it for me."
Then something occurred to her – when she had obliterated that White Zetsu clone with just one punch on her first (and only) scouting mission, she had felt a pinprick along her skin, as if someone had slipped a needle under her skin to drain away her chakra. Now, she was positive that it had not been her imagination.
Gaara.
It was no secret that Haruno Sakura had been assigned to the Regimental Commander as his personal medic, and if there was a White Zetsu clone posing as her right now and entering the Kazekage's tent, no one would bat an eyelid.
Gaara's life could be in danger at this very moment.
Irrationally, she wanted to rush to his side first, but her logical self gave her a sound mental slap.
Sakura had to report her findings to the War Council first; the White Zetsu army was enormous, and there was no telling how many secret assassinations might have already happened because of his ability to steal and use chakra to walk among their numbers.
Handing the half-dead Zetsu off to some guards, Sakura dashed off to locate the nearest shinobi from the Intelligence Division.
She prayed that her fears for Gaara's safety would be unfounded, but she knew at the same time that the price on his head was immense. If the enemy were to take out their field leader, this war was as good as lost.
Gaara, you better not die before I get to you!