Sakura was impossibly stuck.
An hour after falling asleep in bed with Gaara, her eyes blinked open, unable to rest a second longer. She was not used to mid-day naps, and it was only the result of their earlier activities that she was even tired enough to fall into slumber for so long.
In their sleep, she had somehow ended up as what was colloquially known as the "little spoon". Sakura had no idea who was the one turning her in her sleep - did she do it herself, or was she somehow manoeuvred by Gaara? As an only child, she had no sibling to share her bedroom with and therefore no one to remark on the state of her sleeping form. And on missions, her sleeping bag kept her confined to the position she went to sleep in.
Not that she needed to understand how she ended up in her current position.
However, she would like to get out of it so she could get on with her other tasks at hand. She had to file a daily report on the progress of his recovery with the War Council, which she had yet to write today and Baki was going to come for soon. There was also the matter of doing the laundry, followed by dinner preparations, and a million other domestic matters that came along with caring for a patient out in the wilderness. Baki had insisted that she could ask for help from him or the ANBU members with menial tasks, but all she would allow them to do was to fetch more firewood or supplies from the village, as those tasks took her away from her patient for longer than a few minutes.
Which made her current state a pleasant if troubling predicament to be caught in. Gaara had trapped her waist in his arms, his legs were woven around one of hers, and was that his lips pressed lightly against the crown of her head?
Sabaku no Gaara was a sleep hugger.
How was she going to get out of bed without waking him in the process, Sakura had no idea. She tried wiggling her leg to pull it free, but in the process, she ended up grinding against his thigh. That itself would have brought her a whole new set of problems, so she quickly gave up on that approach.
Next, she tried using her hands to pry his grip off her waist. For her troubles, Gaara's fingers somehow got entwined with hers and she ended up with her fingers on one hand being laced tightly between his instead.
She heaved a deep, silent sigh of resignation.
And just as suddenly, a bolt of realisation struck her.
"Gaara," she hissed accusingly, "I know you're awake."
The sensation of his teeth scraping delicately against the back of her neck sent goosebumps erupting on her arms.
"No, I'm not," came the deadpanned reply.
"Gaara."
She resisted channelling chakra into her arms to break free of his hold.
"Sakura."
He stubbornly pulled her even closer, a lingering kiss pressed against the nape of her neck as the heat from his bare chest transmitted beneath her shirt and right into her flesh. He delighted in sensing that her attempt at freeing herself was faltering against his affectionate gesture.
Several moments later, after deciding that it would be counter-productive to risk injury to her patient in order to free herself, Sakura allowed her shoulders to sag. Gaara took the opportunity to nuzzle against her exposed jawline, a deeply satisfied rumble emitting from his chest at her surrender.
"Did you sleep?" They asked each other at the exact same moment.
"Go ahead." They both burst into laughter when they responded at the same time one more.
Gaara was the first to calm down, and he hoisted Sakura into his arms before rolling her on top of himself before replying, "Yes, I did sleep for a little while. Your presence has been very soothing."
Registering her position now of being splayed out on top of her lover and still being caged in his arms, Sakura could only blush pink and stare at him. She shifted herself slightly so she rested more comfortably against his chest, then focused her gaze on his kanji.
"You mainly meditate, don't you?" There was no accusatory tone in her voice; it was more a question than anything else.
Gaara nodded, "Even though it has been three years since, sometimes, the silence without Shukaku is enough to keep me awake. Meditation gives me more control over the state of my mind, so my thoughts do not wander unbidden."
Sakura found herself drumming her fingers lightly against his chest, and the silence that hovered over them was a comfortable one as she pondered her next words.
"Do you think," she began, shyly looking away as she spoke, "That if you did not go to bed alone, you would find it easier to sleep?"
Jade-green eyes widened at the implication of her words, and Gaara lifted his head off the pillow to regard her with his full attention.
When his lips broke out into a teasing smile, she knew she had just awakened a different sort of beast within the Kazekage.
"If that is your way of offering to share my bed for the rest of the war…"
He did not want to imply she was asking to be by his side for any longer than the duration of the conflict, knowing it to be too much to seek from someone of her station within her village. But if she were to offer, he would be a fool to turn her down.
Sakura jabbed a finger into his chest, suddenly not quite able to meet his eyes as she replied, "Maybe? What kind of a personal medic am I if I don't see that you are at your full potential each day?"
Gaara placed both hands on her waist before he hoisted her further up his body so that she was now face-to-face with him, watching her eyes darken with emotions as he leaned forward to press their foreheads together. He didn't dare to give voice to his joy immediately, and instead used the moment to gather his thoughts.
"I think," he swallowed audibly, "That you have made the most strategic call in the entire war thus far. They should have named you my Proxy Commander instead."
Sakura's embarrassment was barely given a chance to rear its head when Gaara resumed, "Of course, I am not expecting anything more than sleep out of this arrangement. If that is all you are offering, I accept with all of my gratitude. We do not have the luxury of privacy in the camp, at any rate."
He did not know how much more private time they had left; Gaara was feeling very much like himself once again, and he both praised and cursed Sakura's prowess as a medic-nin for that fact.
Perhaps they can steal another day or two for themselves, but their duty to their people and nations was not a call they could ignore for much longer. And despite Sakura's earlier willingness to give all of herself to him, there was a part of the young man that wanted very much to only claim her after the shinobi world found peace once more.
Because he could not bear the thought of losing her after; such were the cruelties of war. He felt that he would surely go mad were such a fate to befall her, despite knowing that he would die in her place, as would Naruto.
Then where would that leave her instead? He felt too deeply to stand to lose her, and while he dared not assume how strongly she felt for him, he knew that she cared more than she let on.
And there was the matter that Sakura was an incredibly powerful shinobi, whether physically or in terms of her sway over both the Hokage and him. There were many who wanted to see her under their village's banner, and that included his own council through less than honourable means. If their liaisons were to lead to a child being conceived…
No, there was too much at stake to indulge in such cravings for now. He would not allow himself a bite of the fruit before then.
Sakura's hand cupping his cheek drew his thoughts back to the present, and Gaara blinked up at her in surprise at being caught.
"Where were you just now?" There was a teasing tone in her voice as she smiled, blissfully unaware of the absolute runaway train of thought tearing through him.
Not wanting to burden her with his own confusion, Gaara turned to kiss the palm of her hand. When she did not pull it away, his tongue darted out to lap hotly against her.
He couldn't eat that fruit, but that didn't mean that he would not stop himself from tasting it.
At the very unexpected contact, Sakura yelped and jerked her hand backwards. And she would have succeeded too, if it was not for Gaara's meddling hand reaching up quickly to pin it against his mouth. Keeping his eyes locked on hers, he continued to drag his tongue against the softness of her palm, tasting a hint of salt and the smoothness of her skin as he deliberately wound her up with his touch.
"Ahem."
Fortunately, Sakura's weight on his body kept Gaara pinned down to the bed, thereby preventing him from jerking right up and toppling her off in the process, though she did sit up rather abruptly. They both turned their heads towards the direction of the interruption, and were met with an extremely red-faced Baki.
Baki cleared his throat once more, and pointed weakly at the front door, "I've been knocking for over two minutes. I was concerned that something had happened, especially since I could feel Kazekage-sama's chakra acting… different."
Once the war was over, Gaara decided that his first act as the returning Kazekage would be to install chakra-based locks for his bedroom and his office, and those locks should be keyed only to his chakra signature, Baki and his siblings be damned.
"Kazekage-sama," Baki addressed the young man as he handed him a discarded shirt that he had retrieved from the ground, and Gaara took that as a sign to expect visitors. He only just managed to put both arms through the sleeves when the front door swung open once more.
Behind Baki came the sand-cat and Katsuyu, the slug having taken to the cat like it was now her designated mount (slime and snow did not work very well together). She tilted her head in greeting, then slithered up onto the bed where the two young lovers were now sitting cross-legged with a respectable distance between them.
"There was a minor disturbance about an hour and a half ago. All the sand that was around the ANBU's hideout shook and hovered for a few seconds before they all fell back down. Did something happen?" Katsuyu's voice sounded genuinely curious, "Baki told me it was nothing to be concerned about, but I just wanted to make sure."
Scratch that: Gaara's first act as the returning Kazekage would be to learn to exert more control over the extent of his sand's connection with him. The last thing he needed was for his villagers to figure out the schedule of his extracurricular activities with the Kazehime.
If someone had told him before the Fourth Shinobi World War that he would need to unlink his sand from any emotional and physical spikes, he would have deemed them an enemy seeking his downfall; That his sand reacted to disturbances in his physical state and would leap to his aid immediately was incredibly useful and had saved his skin more than once.
Sadly, his sand seemed to have trouble telling the difference between the activation of his limbic system during an orgasm versus during an intense battle situation.
Baki's sudden inability to look Gaara in the eyes told him that he needed to get both matters dealt with as soon as possible. The jonin had most likely figured out the explanation for the sand's reaction earlier, and was probably starting to put together a lot of things in his head.
"Is there a reason for your earlier than usual arrival?" Gaara decided that he needed to say something before Sakura fainted from how red she was. Clearly, there was no hiding from her how his sand worked - she must have figured it out the first time he physically bared himself to her.
The answer came in the form of a scroll that Baki held out, and Gaara took it at once. The older man's expression turned serious as he watched Gaara unseal the scroll to begin reading it.
"The War Council has summoned us back, Kazekage-sama," Gaara paused in his reading to look at Sakura, and saw how she seemed to sober up at Baki's words, "Sakura-san, your ink master teammate has sent transportation our way and they should be here by nightfall."
"What could possibly cause them to call us back so quickly? I was told that Kazekage-sama was to take all the time he needed to recover before returning," Sakura seemed at a loss at the abrupt turn of events.
Jade-green eyes scanned the writing on the scroll, and when he finally reached the end of the message, he swept his gaze at all the individuals in the room. Everyone in the room could be trusted for what he was about to reveal.
Gaara inhaled deeply, and then exhaled the news:
"Yamato is awake, thanks to Orochimaru."
Everyone in the room went completely still from a mixture of shock and confusion.
"It seems Orochimaru is seeking an alliance, and the Kage's have been asked to convene on this matter immediately."
Their private time was effectively over.
Nightfall was an hour away, but it was not just a matter of packing up their belongings; They had to wipe all previous traces of their presence from the area, lest Akatsuki tracked them down and the nearby civilians were to suffer the brunt of their wrath. Sakura was scurrying about, sealing their belongings into scrolls in a somewhat chaotic if organised manner - she had stopped Gaara from trying to put their dirty clothes in the same scroll as her untouched medical supplies.
"They don't actually touch each other in the scroll," Gaara argued back.
"It doesn't matter, you just don't do that."
There was no reasoning with Sakura when she was being obsessive about the state of her work environment, so Gaara busied himself with his own belongings instead.
"Your desk, Kazekage-sama," Baki held out the small scroll that Sakura handed to him a week ago, and Gaara took it immediately.
At the young man's somewhat suspicious glare towards the scroll, Baki reassured him, "It has not been disturbed, from what I can tell."
He received a nod in reply, and Gaara went outside to observe the ANBU team as they swept through the surrounding area, obliterating any signs of their presence. Extra effort was being made to clear out the area of their lingering chakra signatures, and that took more time than they had before Sai's ink birds were to arrive.
"Station an ANBU team here to finish the work if we must. We have to answer the summon without delay," said Gaara to Baki.
Baki nodded, and went off to select members of the ANBU team for the task. Soon after, Sakura emerged from the shack wearing her flak jacket over her standard-issue shinobi outfit. The green coat that she wore yesterday was draped loosely around her shoulders, and Gaara took note of how she pulled it a little closer as a chilly winter breeze blew past.
"You get cold very easily," he remarked.
"Winter is very lovely, but I was a spring baby. A few weeks in the snow and I always look forward to the cherry blossoms of spring afterwards," Sakura smiled wistfully at him as she surveyed the pristine whiteness around them.
Her offhand remark made a lightbulb go off in Gaara's head, and he wanted to smack himself for almost forgetting his own girlfriend's birthday that was just a few weeks away; He did read her personnel file soon after she was assigned to him.
In his defence, he had a war to oversee after all. However, he would make for a very poor lover to forget her birthday in their first year together.
"I am not good at giving gifts," he confessed, "Is there something you want for your birthday?"
Sakura turned towards him and tapped a finger to her chin, tilting her head as if thinking hard. Her playful appearance made Gaara chuckle softly.
"World peace," Sakura finally decided.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me, Gaara," she could be informal with him, as she felt no chakra signatures close enough to eavesdrop on them, "I want world peace. Gift-wrapped, if you please."
Gaara was torn between assuming that she was being absolutely serious and also that she was teasing him, "Are you certain I cannot tempt you with something else? Maybe some pink diamonds? Or perhaps bolts of mulberry silk?"
"Nope. What am I going to do with jewellery and silk when I'm elbow-deep in a shinobi's guts trying to stitch him back together?" The visual that she had painted made Gaara wince inwardly, and she resumed unaware of his mental discomfort, "You asked me what I wanted, and I want world peace. Is that beyond the abilities of a Kage to give to his girlfriend?"
Her coy smile and the way she gazed playfully up at him through her eyelashes drew a smile in return from Gaara.
"I'll strive to give you that, Sakura," he reached up to press a hand against her chilled, flushed cheek, "But the offer of pretty baubles stays on the table if you ever change your mind and realise that I can only do so much to move the war along."
Sakura clicked her tongue as if disappointed, but the hint of a smile on her lips gave her away as she conceded, "You know, just because I gave you something for your birthday, it doesn't mean you have to reciprocate. I understand that we are at war, and I can always collect double next year instead."
Next year.
A future together.
Sensing that Baki was approaching, Gaara had to fight against the grin threatening to break out across his face. He had made enough of a fool of himself in front of his former genin teacher and now trusted advisor for today.
"Baki, I'd like to request to travel alone with Haruno-san. I need to be briefed on the situation we are facing, and she no doubt has some insights into it that I would need before I confer with the Kage's."
"Of course, Kazekage-sama. I'll ride with the ANBU team instead," Baki nodded. With Gaara back in fighting form, there was no need for him to ride with him to keep him from falling off the ink bird's back anymore.
Speaking of which.
Sakura was the first to spot the approaching creatures, having ridden on them more than a dozen times on various missions. She resisted the urge to wave at them, knowing that their creator did not come with them today.
With a team of six ANBU members and two ink birds left behind, the rest of the group took to the skies.
Gaara waited until they were at cruising altitude and for the birds to spread out in their flight before turning to Sakura.
"Tell me everything you know about Orochimaru."
That Sakura did, starting with their first encounter with the Sannin as genin in the Forest of Death. Sasuke was liberally interwoven into her explanations, her teammate irrevocably tied to Orochimaru is almost all their encounters against him. Gaara watched her closely at each mention of the Uchiha, and noted with satisfaction that her tone did not change, nor did she falter at the painful memories of Sasuke.
As for Orochimaru?
Power-hungry.
That was the only term Gaara could use to describe him.
One did not crave immortality and infinite knowledge with the goal of becoming the ultimate being in existence unless he suffered from a god complex. And it was this lust for power that finally led to his downfall at the hands of Uchiha Itachi.
That was where Orochimaru should have ended up: banished as a relic of the past by the Uchiha clan killer. And somehow, against all odds, the man had returned to the world of the living and was now seeking an alliance with them against Akatsuki.
He should refuse Orochimaru on principle; the Sannin killed his father, after all.
However, this was a war, and he had to consider more than just his own misgivings against the man. Their numbers have dwindled drastically in the past half a year, and to add Orochimaru's powers to their forces would give them a considerable advantage against Madara.
"Are you receptive to it? The offer?" asked Sakura.
Gaara worried his lower lip as he faced forward, finally admitting, "It is an advantageous offer, if it is genuine. Orochimaru was a candidate for the Hokage title at one point, and he has access to terrible jutsu's that can help us seal away Madara for good. He can help turn the tides of war."
Sakura turned away from him, but in that brief moment, he could glimpse the disappointment in her eyes. There was no doubt that she continued to bear a grudge against Orochimaru for breaking up Team Seven and causing them all heartache and grief as he purposely led Sasuke astray from his honourable shinobi upbringing.
"This war concerns our entire world, civilians and shinobi alike. I will be remiss to throw away a chance to secure peace just because of my past grievances with that man." It was a pointed reminder of how he too, had lost someone important to the Legendary Sannin's schemes.
Chastised by his words, Sakura had the good sense to duck her head. She kept silent as the moon crept skywards, and eventually fell asleep against Gaara's shoulder while the redhead pondered quietly to himself, giving consideration to the various possible ways the other Kage's would vote on this matter.
When Sakura's breathing slowed down to indicate that she was no longer in the world of the waking, there was a brief struggle between Gaara and the sand-cat as they fought over who would secure Sakura to the ink bird.
In the end, the cat won by transforming itself into a blanket of sand to drape over Sakura's body and hold her tightly against the ink bird's back.
Gaara would later privately argue that he allowed the cat to win, because it would be ridiculous for him to be caught fighting against his own sand.
"Kazekage-sama, welcome back."
Shikamaru and his siblings were the first ones to greet him when they arrived at the camp. Dawn had just broken, and Gaara had not slept a wink. Sakura managed to sleep somewhat fitfully, tossing occasionally in her slumber, and her exhaustion from the long ride caused her to remain sleeping even as their ink bird landed with a bump.
Gaara shook her lightly to wake her, then slid off the ink bird. The watching trio displayed varying degrees of surprise when he held both arms out for Sakura as if helping a damsel to dismount from a horse. Were Sakura anymore awake, she might have been upset at the somewhat degrading if otherwise gentlemanly gesture.
As she was, she simply slipped herself into his hold and allowed him to carry her to the ground feet-first. Gaara didn't let go of her until he saw that she was awake and standing upright, and it was only then did he dare pull his arms back to his side.
"Go to our tent to rest for now, Haruno-san," Gaara then nodded to Shikamaru, "Shikamaru, you will accompany me to the War Council. I assume you are aware of what we are about to face?"
Shikamaru's response was a cross between a nod of accession and a frustrated sigh at the various twists and turns of the Fourth Shinobi World War. As the interim Regimental Commander, he had been one of the first to hear about Orochimaru's proposal, and his mind had been occupied with a thousand questions ever since.
"Kazekage-sama, if I may…" Sakura took a step forward.
Gaara turned to her and shook his head, "This is a matter to be dealt with only by the Kage's and the War Council, Haruno-san. I cannot bring you with me."
Of course. Her station as his personal medic only gave her so much privilege in terms of what meetings she had access to. Sakura gave a bitter nod and fell back into place.
"Sakura," Temari said suddenly, "Kankurou and I wish to be briefed on our brother's condition. If you will be so kind as to do that…"
Temari caught her youngest brother's eyes for a moment, and there was no mistaking the hint of gratitude he held in his gaze for her attempt to keep Sakura's attention away from the upcoming meeting with the Kage's.
"Of course, Temari."
"I'll see you soon, Sakura," Gaara whispered as she walked past him.
Even with his mind occupied by the thoughts of Orochimaru, Gaara noticed that she did not nod in acknowledgement to him. Shikamaru looked between the two of them as he walked up to Gaara, and all the pieces clicked into place just before his vision was clouded by a wave of sand.
This was about Team Seven.
Had she not bore witness to the damage that Madara's attack had done to their encampment, Sakura would have sworn that Gaara's tent had been moved untouched from its previous location; everything was identical down to the fresh linen that was laid out on his immaculately made bed.
The desk was missing, as was his wardrobe. But everything else was in place.
Temari and Kankurou had followed close behind her, entering the tent and watching Sakura as she placed both mini-Katsuyu and the sand-cat on her bed before she turned to face them.
Temari was the first to speak, "Is Gaara completely healed? I know he had to answer a summon from the War Council, but it has barely been a week since you all left. I wasn't expecting him back for a fortnight at the earliest."
"Temari, at least let her unpack before you start grilling her," Kankurou said from beside the blonde kunoichi, ignoring her dangerous glare as he made a gesture at Sakura to continue with what she was doing, "I'm sure Sakura wouldn't allow Gaara to leave if she didn't think he was well enough."
Sakura took the out that Kankurou gave her to begin pulling out her storage scrolls and emptying out their contents.
The sight of her hoisting Gaara's entire wardrobe and balancing it on the palm of one hand gave Kankurou pause and a small case of cold sweats before he reminded himself that he had done nothing to earn Sakura's wrath. Hopefully it would stay that way for the rest of his life.
It was about ten minutes later when Sakura was done with her unpacking, and she finally turned to Temari and Kankurou, her thoughts slightly more organised than when she first landed.
"Gaara has healed very nicely. His physical injuries no longer bother him, and the only thing left for him to do is to replenish his chakra."
"So, no long term damages? No head issues as well?" Temari tapped her own temple with her fingers, "You were used up a lot of chakra as well to heal both the army and the Kage's. You are both fine, right?"
There was no need to mention Gaara's strangeness of behaviour when he first stirred that was most likely due to a morphine high, nor was there the need to mention the spark of tenderness that was now constantly charged between them both; Especially not to his siblings. So Sakura gave a nod and tried to look occupied by busying herself with sorting through their dirty laundry, a task that could have waited until they were gone.
"You look really domestic, Sakura. I can see how you'd make Gaara a very happy husband," Kankurou commented off-handedly as she bustled around the tent.
When both Temari and Sakura turned to glare at him, Kankurou knew he had just committed a fatal error (so much for not stirring Sakura's displeasure). He quickly threw his hands up in front of him, his mouth racing ahead of his brain as he said, "What I meant to say was that earlier, you two looked like you are really in tune with each other! Like… taking care of each other's needs! Yes! That was what I meant!"
"Oh for heaven's sake, Kankurou, stop implying that Gaara got some action. They have been surrounded by ANBU and Baki 24-7!" Temari clicked her tongue, and gave Sakura a coy, side-eyed look for a brief moment.
"Wh… That's not what I was talking about at all! I was referring to the way he practically carried her off the ink bird earlier!"
Temari's words made Sakura's cheeks burst with colour without her consent; She had quite forgotten that because of the nature of her mission, Gaara had no doubt been closely monitored by his ANBU the entire time he was recuperating. The incident in the bathtub might have escaped their notice (spying on a Kage's bathtime was not within any ANBU's scope of duty, though rare exceptions applied), but they had embraced in the clearing and star-gazed in the open as well - there was no telling how many pairs of eyes and ears were on them at those points in time.
Getting caught engaging in shenanigans by Temari - whom Gaara trusted implicitly - was a very different situation compared to being caught by his faceless ANBU.
At Sakura's visible deflating, Temari and Kankurou exchanged confused looks.
Trust herself to forget the scrutiny that came with dating a Kage-level shinobi; Even if Gaara's ANBU knew to be discreet, they were loyal to their village first, not solely their Kage. That meant they reported to both the Kazekage and his council.
She reminded herself: there were still those in his village that continued to see him more as a monster than a man, and some of them sat on his council. How many of them went along with the Fourth Kazekage's plan to destroy Konohagakure and continued to hold onto their power, she had no idea. For them to learn that their young Kazekage was now involved with a kunoichi from the village that they had failed to annihilate…
Sakura could blame it on their hormones, or at their relief of finding each other alive after such a close call. But if she was being honest, there was really only herself to blame. After all, Gaara had been more than respectful towards her, never pushing her beyond what she was comfortable giving.
"I'm just exhausted from the trip, and healing Gaara," she smiled through her lie, "But I assure you both that Gaara has not been forced to return before he has fully recovered. If there is nothing else, I'll be going to the medic corps now."
Having no good reason to stop Sakura, Kankurou and Temari parted and let Sakura leave the tent.
Kankurou watched the tent flap fall back in place and mentally counted to twenty before asking, "What do you think is happening out there with the War Council? There is no way they summoned Gaara back so soon, and Shikamaru is acting all dodgy as well."
"Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe Naruto and Killer Bee secured a victory?"
"Naruto and Killer Bee are idiots."
Tsunade did not mince her words as she met Gaara in a room off the entrance of the headquarters, arms crossed under her bosom as she watched the redhead and his Proxy Commander close the door behind them.
"You are looking well, Hokage," Gaara greeted, his eyes lingering on her waist which he had only a week ago witnessed it cleaved clean into two halves.
He remembered being occupied by fending off Madara's clones, and it was Tsunade's scream that caught his attention. Gaara had looked up just in time to see her pierced right through with twin swords from Madara's Susanoo, his sand rushing forward too late to prevent them from bisecting her torso from her hips.
He was all but certain that the Fifth Hokage had forfeited her life, and his utter inability to prevent it had filled him with so much self-loathing and desperation that he sent the sand from his gourd away from himself and towards the remaining three Kage instead, dissolving his gourd in the process to use its granules as well. His Sand Armour would have to be his only means of defending himself, and it was seconds later when he felt one of the clone's Susanoo bury its sword right under his protective layer of sand.
Gaara didn't remember anything after that.
To his surprise, Tsunade stepped forward and clapped a hand on his shoulder. She was smiling tightly at him, and Gaara had no idea what could have caused her to bestow such an expression upon him.
"Shizune has healed me completely with Katsuyu's help. I have also been receiving detailed reports on the status of each Kage's healing, starting from when they were retrieved from the battlefield," Tsunade squeezed his shoulder harder, and Gaara could feel his Sand Armour starting to crack, "I know what you did with your Ultimate Defense, Kazekage. You gave it all away to protect the other Kage's.
"They are not ungrateful, and I am sure they'd remember your decision to do so when it comes to inter-village matters in the future.
"However," and this was the point when Tsunade reached up and boldly clasped a hand on top of Gaara's head, keeping her gripping hand in place as she leaned forward to glare right into his eyes, "You practically got yourself killed in the process, and if it weren't for my apprentice's skills and her devotion to her mission, you would be under a gravemarker right now."
Shikamaru had subtly edged off to the side of the room in the meantime, swallowing nervously at the pure anger his Hokage was radiating as she challenged her fellow Kage. Self-sacrifice seemed to be the mantra for the former Jinchuuriki-turned-Kage, and Tsunade was having none of that.
"We cannot afford to lose all the Kage's in one fell swoop, Hokage," replied Gaara placidly.
"And Sakura cannot afford to lose the one person she cares about more than anyone else in the world," Tsunade's nonchalant statement should not have made his heart skip a beat; Gaara knew his own feelings ran deep for the kunoichi, but Sakura's he always assumed was a little more measured, given her history with Sasuke.
"She went through enough with Sasuke's betrayal. There was a sense of abandonment that she had to overcome with not only his departure, but Naruto's as well when he left to train with Jiraiya. If you are stupid enough to hurt her by dying, I have promised -"
" - That you'll resurrect me and kill me with your own two hands," Gaara finished her threat for her, and he reached up to pull Tsunade's hand away from him, "We are in agreement then, Hokage. I will become stronger, so she will never have to worry about being left alone ever again."
The blonde Hokage drew her hand back to herself, huffing in annoyance. She finally nodded towards Shikamaru who was attempting to blend into the stonework, and proceeded to walk towards the main chamber.
Gaara waited for his Proxy Commander to return to his side before he followed Tsunade's footsteps, finally walking in tandem with her as he asked, "You have heard from Naruto?"
Tsunade did not look at Gaara as she replied, "Yes, and they were unsuccessful in their mission to free the Bijuu and their Jinchuuriki. In fact, the two of them may have just handed Madara victory on a silver platter."
He took note of Tsunade's emotions in her words, and deduced from her tone that she was mainly angry at his fellow Jinchuuriki's for the failure of their mission, and not that something had befallen them.
"Kakashi sent me a mission report that arrived just before dawn. All the Kage's have been briefed on it already. You are the last to arrive, as the War Council had sent you the furthest away."
"But Naruto and Killer Bee are well?"
A curt nod, "As well as two foolish Jinchuuriki who just gave Madara and Uchiha Obito the final piece of the puzzle they need to resurrect the Jyuubi. They are on their way back right now."
"Uchiha… Obito?" Shikamaru's eyes went wide with surprise. There was only supposed to be one mortal Uchiha left in their world. He glanced towards Gaara to read the Kazekage's expression, and saw that Gaara was just as taken aback as he was.
Tsunade strode past the doorway and into the main chamber, and she gestured towards the table where the three other Kage sat around.
"I will explain everything now that everyone is here: how Obito has returned to the world, how Madara had teamed up with him, and why the Jyuubi is about to be resurrected," Tsunade took her seat, then gestured for Gaara and Shikamaru to take their usual spots as well, "And only then will we summon Orochimaru to this chamber so we can consider his offer in light of all this new information."
Gaara glanced around the table, taking note of the physical appearance of each Kage. Each of them looked just as they did before Madara's attack, and he concluded that they were close to full strength like he was.
Nara Shikaku took to the front of the table, unfurling several scrolls and laying them out on the surface before he lifted his gaze to meet all the Kage's in turn.
"Honourable Kage's, here is what we know so far…"
"Yamato-taichou?"
Sakura slipped quietly into the tent where her former team leader was assigned to, having had to ask around to find where had been placed after their encampment had been destroyed. The tent was dimly lit, and the unnerving, dead-eyed stare from Yamato as he looked towards her made her take a step back on reflex.
"Sakura," Yamato greeted, his voice rough from months of disuse. He made to rise from his prone position on the bed, but his muscles had wasted away in the meantime and such a simple task was beyond him right now.
Sakura was by his side in an instant, the medic in her reacting to his physical distress. Yamato allowed himself to be helped into a sitting posture, and his back hunched over in exhaustion when she finally let go.
"Yamato-taichou, you gave us all a huge scare. We thought we had lost you for good when no one was able to find any trace of you months after Akatsuki took you," Sakura pressed her green chakra-filled hands to his chest and began probing his organs and muscles, checking for signs of problem aside from the obvious weakness of long-term unconsciousness.
Yamato smiled and allowed her to fuss over him as she scanned his form, knowing that it was simply Sakura's manner of showing she cared. As she grew into her medic-nin abilities, Sakura had taken to addressing the health of her friends as her main mode of expressing her concern.
"I am physically weak," admitted Yamato, "But I think your check-up will reveal in a bit that everything else is fully functional."
And he was right: but for the fog of fatigue in his mind and the physical wasting-away of his muscles, the rest of Yamato was hale and hearty, as if he had not been under a medically-induced coma for months.
Orochimaru had done this, and Sakura had no idea why the Snake Sannin chose to restore a shinobi that came from a village that had essentially ostracised him.
"Why would Orochimaru help us?" asked Sakura, even as she winced at the implication that she'd rather her former team leader stay comatose than for them to be indebted to Orochimaru.
"Because I'm useful to the Allied Shinobi Forces' war against Madara," Yamato smiled, unbothered as he lifted his hand face-up, and a tiny plant started sprouting from the middle of his palm.
That was all the pieces of the puzzle clicked together in Sakura's brain at last. Naruto had gone to retrieve the remaining Jinchuuriki and their Bijuu, and with the Uchiha clan existing only as one undead and one strayed from them still, only a Wood Release technique user like Yamato would have any hopes of controlling those monsters.
Did that mean that Naruto was successful in his mission? Or had he failed, and there was now a rampaging Kyuubi in their world?
She needed to be at that War Council meeting, now.