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Covenant
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Synopsis: Four years into the Fourth Shinobi War, Orochimaru offers to turn.
He all but requests Sakura by name to be the contact.
It is, quite clearly, a trap—least of all because he's supposed to be dead.
But what is a losing side to do except take the hand that's offered?
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9. The Trees
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THE BATTLE base was in subdued disorder.
Blood-soaked, silent shinobi scattered everywhere, staring at the ground and into the distance as if watching for ghosts. There were ninja screaming at their comrades, shaking, saying nothing and everything at once. Jonin scrambled about, pretending to have some sort of control—pretending to do something useful. It was the dead of night and a thick misery settled upon the encampment like rot.
Iwa hadn't been in battle for almost two years. They hadn't been forced to retreat in just as long.
Sakura pressed forward, tuning out the overwhelming fragility that pressed on her from every direction. She was unsure what to do with herself. In Konoha, after a loss, she'd console her loved ones and be comforted by them in turn. But she had no loved ones in Iwa and no one that would appreciate her consolation.
She didn't know anyone here. Perhaps Sasuke had been right after all.
The most useful place for her to be was base medical, but she had no clue where to find it. This base was only erected in the hours following the battle, organized in a pattern she wasn't familiar with. Sakura hoped that if she wandered long enough she'd eventually stumble across it.
"Haruno!"
The exclamation came from yards away. Her brows raised at the relief laced in it—a towering man awaited when she turned to answer. It took a second and was more difficult in the dark, but his name finally came to her.
"Kitsuchi." She nodded in recognition. "Where am I needed?"
"Where have you been? Are you injured? Konoha is asking—"
"I'm fine." Sakura had no interest in disclosing anything beyond that. "I'll contact Konoha directly. Where's medical? I'll help with the wounded for now."
He scrutinized her. Whether to test the truth of her words or find the answers she'd neglected to provide, she couldn't tell. His eyes slid back to hers after some seconds, narrowing slightly.
It seemed to be the latter, then.
"We've needed help for the last two hours. Your team arrived back without you over an hour ago. Where were you?"
Racking her brain for an answer that might appease him, she settled on, "Classified," face practiced-blank.
She knew this man held a high position in Iwa, but she didn't know how much he knew about her role in the army. Wasn't sure if he knew of the agreement or its direct members. In the open of a battle base was no place to discern such information, either.
"Our medical commander disobeyed orders to withdraw then disappeared without notice!" The man's voice wasn't loud, but it might as well have been shouted for its tone. "You ought to know that it reeks of treason."
Sakura hesitated. Actually, she hadn't considered that possibility at all.
She'd never been accused of anything remotely close to treason in her life. Only once had she offered it, in private—to one who denied it for her anyway. But there were no answers she could give to the shinobi before her that would satisfy him. Not here, at least. And anything she could offer here was likely to only upset him further.
So instead, she bit her thumb and kneeled to the ground, summoning a small portion of Katsuyu.
"Sakura! Are you okay? I'm still with Tsunade-sama. We've been worried sick! Where have you—"
"I'm sorry for interrupting you, Lady Katsuyu, but I promise I'm fine. Tell Tsunade—"
"You'll not show me such disrespect here, medic. Not while you remain under the protection and order of Iwa Division." Kitsuchi stepped closer, glaring down at her from overhead. "You've been accused of treason and choose to ignore the allegation to contact Konoha? Perhaps Konoha would like to explain how their top medic came to learn such insubordination and insolence. Go tell that to the Hokage, slug."
Sakura's back straightened as she met the challenge in his gaze. "Don't speak to Lady Katsuyu in such a manner again. She's the reason your losses were mitigated so heavily today. Take me to the Tsuchikage. I'll speak with him about the Classed matters. But not with you," she added.
Their eyes battled in the silence that followed. Under his burning anger, Sakura caught a barely-buried grief. Briefly, she wondered if he'd lost someone in the battle. Wondered if someone he loved had died on the field today, or maybe even in medical. Someone she wasn't able to save.
Her gaze dropped to the ground at the thought; the sudden retreat seemed to initiate a concession as he stepped away a moment later.
"Come," said Kitsuchi, turning to lead them through the tent base.
It'd been a long time since she faced the aftermath of a loss. Stuck in it now, walking through the tents of Iwa Division, she realized that winning a battle might not feel like winning, but it certainly felt nothing like losing. The depression that clung to the very earth under her feet was thick enough to pull her in like quicksand.
No bustle of count was happening; no rush to name the dead. Just a collective submission to despair. The people here had already accepted their fate. Sakura wondered just how bad the losses were.
It brought a rotten thought to her mind.
Turning her head to the summon on her shoulder, she asked, "Was Tsunade able to maintain the Healing Ground for those injured that we tagged out?"
"No, she was too far away."
Sakura had already known that was probably the case, but it still twisted her stomach and pricked her eyes to hear it confirmed. How had it felt for those people too injured to move, teleported onto heaps of dead bodies while still alive? Were they forced to look upon any familiar, lifeless faces as they waited for certain death to take them? Was it a mistake trying to save them instead of killing them out of mercy?
They arrived at what looked to be the temporary Kage Tent. Kitsuchi lifted the opening for her and she ducked in. A single sleeping mat was in the corner, a table for six in the middle, and in stark contrast to outside, at least eight shinobi shouted at one another in various parts of the room. It seemed there was still life at the top of the army, at least. Still fight left in them.
It fell silent as she stepped into the tent. She placed her hands behind her back and set her feet firm.
"Haruno. Just the woman we've been looking for." The Tsuchikage's eyes roamed across her body. "You seem perfectly unharmed. Yet, you abandoned your squad and disobeyed direct orders to withdraw."
Sakura lifted her chin and stared at a space above Onoki's head. "I did neither of those things, Tsuchikage. My squad did withdraw and I did not abandon them. I was pulled away at the end of the last fight, but it's my understanding that my team largely survived."
"Your guard reported that you commanded your team to stay an additional ten minutes after the withdraw order was issued."
"There were too many inju—"
"Tsuchikage, with all due respect, Haruno-sama did right by our patients and by Iwa. As I've been trying to explain, she saved many more of your troops' lives by keeping medical open only a bit longer. All the medics agreed with her decision. She's telling the truth that we did try to withdraw after ten minutes."
Sakura glanced at where the voice had come from. The second-in-command Iwa medic stood in a back corner with a stern grimace, arms crossed. She smiled softly at him in appreciation when she caught his eye; he nodded back.
"And yet," the Tsuchikage continued, ignoring the man, "we lost huge numbers of shinobi and one of our top medics today, despite Konoha's assurances that you're the best battle medic in the whole army. And the medic died after your insubordinate Call, despite you knowing that Iwa can hardly afford to lose any more medics. You'd already be detained for treason if you were from my army. As it stands, I'll have to consult with the Hokage before charging you, but do understand that I have every intention of—"
"The Hokage kindly asks that you refrain from making any more accusations against a Konoha shinobi. She's on her way to this base as we speak to clear up the matter," said Katsuyu from Sakura's shoulder. "She'll be here in under one hour."
The Tsuchikage scoffed. "I'll make any accusation I wish. The Hokage has no right to order me around. Explain yourself immediately Haruno, or I'll detain you until she arrives."
Sakura reigned in her nerves. These events were beyond what she'd prepared herself for. No one in Konoha would dare accuse her of treason, even if she disappeared after the battle. Even if she Called against their battle command.
She suspected this was less about her specifically and more about Iwa's loss.
It was easier to burden a foreigner with failure than to introspect so soon after defeat. The Tsuchikage, alongside everyone else in the room, wanted a scapegoat. They wanted the outsider's choices to shoulder the loss so their strategy wouldn't invite their people's ire. So the ghosts their Calls birthed wouldn't haunt them at night.
They didn't care about her. Even though she'd given everything to protect them—would've fought to her death for them if it came to it.
Sasuke had been right.
The realization settled like rancid meat.
She surveyed the room. There was Kurotsuchi, who was sure to become the next Tsuchikage. Akatsuchi, who was always next to Onoki. Sagan, a man who worked with Ino when Iwa and Konoha collaborated. Her second-in-command. Kitsuchi. The others she didn't recognize.
But she had nothing to hide, really, so what did it matter? There was nothing she needed to protect in this situation. Any Kage and their trusted were privy to the agreement's intelligence. Anyone ranked high enough should already know that she was working with Sasuke. Or, rather, that Sasuke was working for them.
"Dismiss those below Classed 7 and I'll share everything," Sakura declared.
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Except, she realized, maybe she had one thing to protect. Something small.
So she didn't share everything; she shared only what she must.
But Sakura kept for herself the dim light of the stars, his dark gaze on her, the breeze that touched both their bodies. That feeling of near escape. The unbearable want that seized her navel when she'd first looked upon him. The breathless way her memory recalled the forest, his presence, the crickets. The pale of his skin reflecting the moon. How meticulously the rope was tied around her hips, tight enough to keep her safe but loose enough to leave no trace. His body leaned quietly behind her. Protective. Waiting.
That wasn't for the Allies. Sakura could give every part of herself to this war if it asked that of her, but she wouldn't give it him.
That was hers to keep.
She gave the rest. The Tsuchikage was aware of her position in the agreement, but he wanted to know more than Sakura could answer. Why did Sasuke pull her from the battlefield? Why did he knock her out? Why did he place everyone around her under a genjutsu?
Why did he fight so murderously against the Allies if he truly worked against Madara?
They were questions that Sakura also wanted answers to if she were being honest. She'd barely appeased the Tsuchikage with the slim information she could provide.
He killed the rest of Madara's men. He slayed only one medic who regrettably saw his face. She was knocked out along with her team and awoke some distance away. He disappeared with instructions to meet for additional information.
But she kept the rest. It wasn't for the army.
The Tsuchikage eventually dismissed her to base medical.
Even though the debrief had successfully secured her release from the tent, it was clear that her credibility was probably irrevocably damaged in Iwa Division. She read it in the accusatory gaze of all four shinobi left in the tent. Heard it in Onoki's questions. Felt it in the tense atmosphere.
Kurotsuchi wouldn't even look at her as she exited.
Sakura could understand their feelings. She'd been told the battle's casualty rate was over 50 percent. Probably over 60. Sasuke and Tobi led Madara's forces and they'd been devastatingly victorious. If Konoha's army was in Iwa's position, Sakura would feel the same resentment for an outsider connected to her people's butcher.
Now Iwa, like Suna, wasn't happy with the agreement. The teleport tag to Orochimaru's base burned in her back pouch.
Things were a bit different in medical. When she turned the corner that led into an open field housing temporary base medical, three Iwa medics approached immediately.
"It was an honor to be in the field with you, Haruno-sama," said her second-in-command. He'd been dismissed before her debrief. He gave her a slight bow, as did the other two. He was an older man, huge in stature like many other Iwa shinobi. "Your medical skill is impressive to witness. I want you to know that none of us here agree with the Tsuchikage. Without you we would've lost much sooner, and we all wanted to stay and evacuate the injured. It's part of the oath we take to become medics. Of course the fighters wouldn't understand that. So, whatever happened during our fight…" He seemed to want to choose his words carefully. "Well, our enemies were taken out, and most of us made it back alive. What I mean to say is, whatever happened after—we don't care."
"That means a lot. Thank you." A smile flitted across her face—but she had to know. Dread drew her expression thankless. "Did...has anyone gone to check on those we tagged out?"
The Iwa medics shared a look.
The youngest shook her head. "We haven't had time to go check on them. There's too many here that needed our attention."
Sakura nodded. "...Understood."
They were probably dead, anyway. How long had it been now? Three hours? Without any medical care, when they were already so wounded they couldn't escape the pit?
It was a decision that draped across her like a death shaw. The kind of choice that might plague her long after the war ended. If the war ended. A regret that might find her in the peaceful quiet of old age, dragging her back onto that battlefield, a middle-aged man's blood coating her hands and body with a defeated acceptance that she could never leave this place.
She would be here forever. They'd all be here forever.
What was the point in any of this fighting? There was no winning even when they won—something more than losing when they lost, why even—
"I'm glad you've come, though," her second-in-command cut in, rousing her from the spiral. "We need all the help we can get. We're overrun and running low on soldier pills."
Sakura got to work. There existed no better distraction than to move without thinking. Healing, mending, soothing the aches of others, ignoring anything within herself that might require the same. On the medical field, there was never enough time for a mind to wander beyond the immediacies. There were tasks to complete, people to help, and things to pour herself into that would drain her of intrusive thoughts.
But even the injured here were somber enough that it was hard to ignore.
It was all muted tears and forlorn stares, but no screaming—no panicked rush that usually overtook base medical after a battle. As if these people had prepared themselves to die and weren't sure how to cope with the life that wasn't taken.
She kept her head down, reciting the injuries and cures her green hands scanned. Broken bones needed set. A punctured kidney needed regenerated. A severed finger needed regrown. A senbon wound needed additional checks for poison.
She was nothing more than a medic. No mind to pay to anything else.
When Tsunade arrived, she came to Sakura first. The other medics bowed as the Hokage stepped through bodies to get to her student. To Sakura's shock, Tsunade wrapped her in a warm embrace in front of every shinobi in the field.
"I knew you weren't dead, but I was so worried," said the Hokage, pulling away to examine Sakura for injury. "Don't ever leave yourself without Katsuyu in battle when we don't have another access to you. I don't know what—if something were to happen—"
"Yes, Hokage. I'm sorry."
"Don't be. You did nothing wrong. I just thought…" Tsunade held Sakura's gaze like she wanted to impart something lost to her. Sakura smiled, cocking her head in a question. Sighing, her mentor stepped away, the mantle of responsibility instantly falling back on the Hokage's shoulders. In the blink of an eye, Tsunade was that hard, cold woman she had to be again. "Regardless, these claims the Tsuchikage is leveling against you. They're without merit, of course."
Tsunade said it with finality, but her eyes betrayed her.
Sakura nodded. "They are. I made a Call to save more patients, and that's it. None of my medics were against it."
"Mm... It was a Call I would've made too. The Tsuchikage is laying blame where he can, but I won't allow him to speak against you. Don't worry." Tsunade motioned to follow and the two women walked to the edge of the clearing. Away from listening ears. "And what of his accusation that you abandoned your team and allowed one to be killed?"
"When Sasuke arrived, he knocked everyone out, including me. I was out for two hours and returned to base as soon as I came to. He killed all of Madara's men attacking my team, as well as one of my medics that saw him. I had no choice in the matter. He pulled me out against my will—I would've fought to the last, Hokage."
"I know you would." But Tsunade scrutinized her like there was something left unsaid.
The look had Sakura feeling that familiar need to defend Sasuke.
"He didn't harm me. I just want to clarify that I didn't abandon the fight willingly. He wanted to ask me to meet for more information. That's all there is. I did nothing treasonous…I would never."
But she wouldn't give the rest to Tsunade, either.
Sasuke's approach in a sea of sleeping bodies, slow and bitter like that of a predator on prey. The warm, rigid brush of his soft fingers on the nape of her neck. His black-dyed outfit loose enough for a glimpse of pale, striking muscles. The peppery scent of sweat and blood clinging to him. The relaxed way his body leaned back on that tree.
The seal on her neck pulsed twice with heat, and she blinked herself out of the memory.
"I would never," Sakura repeated.
Tsunade's regard still held something that Sakura couldn't decipher, but her teacher dropped it nonetheless. "I thought as much. I'll handle the Tsuchikage. You'll not have any claims spoken against you again."
"Thank you, shishou."
"When are you to make contact for the new information?"
Sakura glanced at the moon. "In an hour."
"The talk amongst the Kage that Sasuke can't be trusted is growing louder. He's causing too much death in battle." Tsunade lowered her voice, "This loss was staggering on the heels of what he did in Wind Country."
"He can be trusted." It was an instinctive response for Sakura.
Though she had yet to discern his motivation or intentions, and she had her concerns about the three turncoats' loyalties, she wouldn't allow others to question Sasuke. Even now—especially now.
Tsunade sighed as if she'd expected it. "Get some explanation that I can report back to the Kages to support your blind belief, then."
"...Yes, Hokage."
"Now go rest until you leave. Your active chakra is low and you'll need enough for the teleport. I'll cover your spot here once I speak with Onoki." Tsunade placed a hand on Sakura's head. "You did well today. The loss isn't on you, so don't take it to heart. You might be the only reason Iwa Division still exists."
Sakura hadn't realized the weight of that worry until it vanished with Tsunade's reassurance.
"Thank you, shishou," she repeated.
But the legless man was in her periphery, on the edge of base medical. He sat alone, his stumps bleeding out and puddling around him atop the hard rock. There was no soft ground to absorb it—it just puddled and puddled and grew as a lake beneath him. His life overflowing from his body. The injuries effortlessly healed if she reached out to him. An easily avoidable death. But he stared at her with a knowing look that said, You'll leave me here to die.
And she stared back at him without any words to argue.
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Sasuke was at his desk when she popped into his cave-like bedroom.
The distance between the battle base in Earth Country and Orochimaru's base in Water caused her chakra to dip dangerously low from the teleport. The seal on her neck warmed from his presence as soon as her feet touched the stone floor. Her eyes found him before the room even focused, traveled down his side profile, committing his magisterial posture to memory. The heat of the seal bloomed across her cheeks.
She cast her stare away from him. Anywhere but his unmasked face.
It was the first time they were completely alone in this room since he'd dropped all concealments. A 20-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman, together in a dimmed room, by themselves, no one around to—
Her eyes landed on a sleeping body prone across Sasuke's sleeping mat, her usual sanctuary. The additional presence shocked her mind away from where it had almost strayed. Away from the thought that had her gaze slipping toward the sleeping mat in the first place.
She was just a gatherer, and he was just a source. We're nothing, she reminded herself.
As they always had been, as they would always remain. Just like he'd said.
The sleeper was someone with white hair. It had to be Suigetsu Hozuki.
Sakura had only seen the man from a distance in battle many years ago. But she knew he had long, white hair, and she knew that there couldn't be anyone else in Madara's base that Sasuke would allow in his room, knowing Sakura would arrive. Besides Orochimaru, and this certainly wasn't the Sannin.
Suigetsu snored softly. Sasuke seemed transfixed on a scroll laid across the stone table, not acknowledging her presence in the slightest. What was the point in calling her here to ignore her?
Assured she wouldn't receive a greeting after a few minutes of silence, she moved into the open bathroom. She could use Earth Release techniques, but she didn't know the exact jutsu to close the opening and didn't want to bring the cave down in a faulty attempt.
Sakura stood before the sink. A young, brunette teenager looked back at her, fiddling with her hair. She was pretty. Smooth and delicate, with rounder cheeks and thicker eyebrows.
But she appeared a child. The more she stared at herself, the more she wanted to remove the transformation. Sakura wanted Sasuke to see her. Really see her. She wanted to know what he thought of her—if looking at her would make him as nervous as he made her.
It was a silly thought.
Ridiculous in context. Underground in an enemy base, with two only-just non-enemies, gathering intelligence for a war that would probably kill them all. Every day was a gamble on her life, on her loved ones' lives, on the fate of the world. And what she wanted to know at this moment was whether she was pretty in the eyes of a man.
But it wasn't so silly, right? After all, everyone told her she'd matured very beautifully. Might Guy said she was the top flower of all Konoha base. Even Shino warned her not to smile too brightly at her patients with significant blood loss.
Suddenly, no other opinion mattered in the least; what Sasuke thought mattered—his view alone.
She wanted him to think she was beautiful, or she wanted no one to ever think it again. Green eyes glared at themselves in the mirror. Why wouldn't he find her attractive? What was she lacking?
The transformation dropped away.
Sasuke was in the doorway in a second. "What are you doing? Transform back immediately," he commanded.
Without arguing, she fit the transformation back into place without turning to him. The seal hummed with compliance while her body wrung with shame. What was she doing? How absurd was that?
It didn't matter what Sasuke thought of her appearance. It didn't matter what he thought of her at all. She was here to do a job—she was only his contact. And he hadn't even wanted it to be her in the first place.
Her gut clenched with embarrassment. She scowled to hide it.
"Don't order me around."
"Then don't be foolish. What was that?"
Her scowl deepened. "Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Yeah, nothing."
His chakra flashed briefly under its suppression. "...If you're so chakra depleted that you can't maintain your appearance, then start bringing soldier pills for the longer teleports."
She didn't bother correcting him. Better he thought that than think she removed it purposefully...which she had. Sakura peeked at him leaned in the doorway. His gaze was clinically flitting down her body, visible eye red, decoding something. Probably the novel transformation jutsu, if she had to guess.
"It's a transformation that works well with the byakugou seal," she answered the unvoiced question. "I could teach it to you if you want. It may be beyond your chakra control, though."
He pivoted without a reaction and walked back to his desk. She looked once more at her smirking reflection, a stranger again, before following him back into the room.
Suigetsu was awake now, yawning. "Hey kid, long time no see."
"I was hoping it would be longer," she muttered.
"It was nearly shorter. What was with that grave they had you medics stuck in? And why were you so close to the battlefield? I was working myself to the bone keeping our troops away from—"
Though Sasuke was engrossed in the scroll again, he still bit out a quick, "Enough."
Sakura casually stepped nearer, peering down at it. It looked like a jutsu scroll, but it was written in a language she didn't know. Her interest peaked, fingers itching to take the scroll and study it. What language could Sasuke read that she couldn't?
"What do you mean enough? You wanted to know, too," said Suigetsu. "The Allies' strategy this battle was shit."
Sakura bristled, but it wasn't really her fight. "It was Iwa's strategy, not the Allies'."
A crease formed between Suigetsu's brows. "Isn't Iwa part of the Allies?"
"Yeah, sure. But they have their own style and rules just like all the other divisions. Most of the five armies rarely work together." Sakura shrugged. "I didn't agree with parts of their strategy either, but since I'm not stationed with Iwa Division, I couldn't do anything about it."
Sasuke's finger tapped once on the table. "What's your position in the Allied army?"
She was surprised he'd asked her something personal. "Battle medic. Medical commander. Depends on my orders and who else is around, but with Tsunade stuck in base I'm nearly always a commander."
"I like a woman with power," Suigetsu teased.
"Doesn't sound like much power at all," Sasuke briskly disputed. "A commander who can't do anything about battle strategy is hardly a commander."
Annoyance surged as her eyes narrowed at the back of his head. "Iwa isn't my division, like I said. I was only there to help them."
"What position were you given to help them?"
"...Medical commander."
Sasuke scoffed and resumed reading the scroll. Sakura glared.
Suigetsu chuckled. "That underground box was dangerous, though. Seriously, you all would've been pancakes if I wasn't picking off the squads that kept getting dispatched to deal with you."
Something in there intrigued her. She wanted to explore that statement more.
"How many squads?"
"At least six." Suigetsu sighed dramatically. "It's hard using Silent Killing on such an open field. But," he shot her a pointy grin, "couldn't have our contact getting killed, could we? Right, Sasuke?"
Sakura examined the Kiri nukenin, now that he sat unmasked and bare-faced before her. He wore a deep-cut, black-collared shirt. Dark purple eyes set against his shaggy white hair quite nicely. But...the teeth. And the slightly-off look in his gaze, as if he was waiting for her to show her back. He could be handsome, maybe—to someone else.
She cocked her hip, dismissing the observations. "Who was dispatching them?"
"Obito and Sasuke. Who else?"
Her glare landed on the back of Sasuke's head again, though she didn't feel as shocked as she perhaps should've.
"Why would you dispatch troops to kill me if we're working together, Sasuke?"
"Oh, don't worry," Suigetsu answered for him. "He's actually a nice guy, you know. After sending some people to murder you and all of your friends, he sent me to rescue you! Sweet, right?"
"Hardly." She paused, crossing her arms. It was a decent opening for Tsunade's request. "Seriously, Sasuke. What gives? If you're working with the Allies, you can't keep sending people to take out our medics, and you can't keep destroying our troops in battle. The Kage won't continue with this agreement if you do."
Sasuke shrugged. "That's fine. Tell them to stop sending you."
A flash of panic struck her. "That's not what I meant. We want to continue the agreement, but it looks bad when you don't seem to be our ally anywhere outside this lab."
"No. What looks bad is the Allies who can't win a battle even when they know the enemy's tactics in advance."
"But you and Madara's troops are—"
"Madara's troops are under my command because Madara trusts me." He turned slowly in his chair to face her. "Do you think he'll trust me if I suddenly stop killing Allies? If I stop sending people to take out medical like he's ordered his generals to do? Should I tell him I don't feel like fighting anymore?"
Her mouth pressed into a firm line. "I'm only trying to tell you that some of the Kage are doubtful."
"Remind your Kage that they have this intelligence only because I behave the way I do in battle. That they're completely incompetent in utilizing it isn't my fault. I'll continue slaughtering your army if the Allies can't fight it even with notice."
Her stomach turned with anxiety. His explanation was logical, but it didn't make it any less painful to hear the ruthless way he spoke of it. The Allies needed Sasuke Uchiha, and he knew it. They knew it. Anything he offered them as an answer would be swallowed—even this bold disdain.
She shoved down the fight in her that begged to be let out.
"That's a bit harsh. They can't help how weak they are," said Suigetsu.
At that, her control snapped. She stepped toward the man on the sleeping mat, raising her chakra.
"We aren't—"
"Do the Allies not have enough fighters?" Sasuke cut in.
She seethed, her eyes still on Suigetsu. "We have enough."
"Then they always expect their medics to fight?" Sasuke asked.
"Some medics are permitted to fight." She tried her hardest to keep her voice level. "Those with a high enough rank can get cleared."
Suigetsu snickered in the silence that followed, raising his hand to inspect his nails. Pretending not to care about the lethal look she threw his way. The room felt much smaller than it had seconds ago.
"And you're always sent to battle?"
"Yes, Sasuke!" The shout of the words stung in her throat. "I'm the highest-ranking medic in the Allied forces besides the Hokage. My presence in battle keeps casualty rates lower than when I'm in base. I'm damn good at my job. I am not incompetent, despite your insults suggesting otherwise!"
"You were present this battle and the casualty rates still looked high," he intoned.
It was a sword to the gut. Sakura felt as if she was newly graduated again. A 12-year-old girl imploring a boy to acknowledge her—a boy who thought she was the weakest link. Who thought she was annoying.
Nothing had changed between them, just like he'd said.
Was this really where they were still stuck eight years later?
Sasuke's head rested in his palm, arm propped up by the desk. His visible eye was dark and watching her. The seal buzzed on her throat when she met his gaze.
His countenance lacked the cruelty his words held. There was something there, though. Maybe it was a factual look, like it was expected that he might demean her. A warmth crept down her chest from the seal. Perhaps it was casual, as a spectator might regard a rock. Or challenging, like he hoped she'd argue so he could lay it on thicker.
The warmness pooled in her navel.
She ignored it with disgust. How could she feel such a way after his blatant criticism?
"Yes," she responded, voice stony. "You did a better job at killing my people than I did at saving them. Congratulations."
He let silence take the room for a few seconds.
And then, glancing away as he spoke, "You should consider staying out of battle if the Allies can't hold themselves in a fight. I'll kill even you if we meet on the battlefield."
She felt her eyes burn with tears. Willing the water to disappear, Sakura turned away and drilled holes into the weapon grinder with her stare.
Of course.
Of course he would kill her.
"Again, that was harsh." Suigetsu laughed. "You know, not everyone understands the way you express yourself."
Sakura ignored the laughter. "What's your endgame here?" she whispered at the far wall. "What are you hoping to achieve? Threatening and killing those you call allies—turning on those you once followed. What's your goal, Sasuke?" Her seal pounded like a second heartbeat.
"To win," he answered smoothly.
"How is this winning?" His cruelty made her bolder. "You still behave like a traitor," she accused.
She felt his heavy sights on her back. "This is how we win. Someone has to play this part."
"But so many people will die. No one will believe you're on our side at this rate. Your part will become what everyone thinks you truly are. There's no peace at the end of this road."
"Peace?" Sasuke snorted. "I don't care about peace. I only care about winning."
"What's winning without peace?"
It was the question she'd been struggling with all along. What was the point of this fighting? How could they ever leave this battlefield? Why did they struggle so much if no peace was waiting for them in the end?
What was everyone dying for? There had to be something more than just winning. Some deeper meaning, some higher good, something to justify all the people who'd never make it home.
"That was always the problem with you and Naruto." Naruto's name in Sasuke's voice spun her around. "You two never saw the bigger picture. You never looked past the trees. There was always something more than what you two wanted to focus on, but neither of you would see it."
Her mind stuttered. Sasuke brought up Naruto. Sakura hadn't mentioned Naruto once, but Sasuke did. Did it mean something? Was she missing something?
Why Naruto? Why now? Why about this?
No, she thought, blinking back into the cool, damp bedroom. She wasn't missing anything—she was trying to hear something she wanted to hear. He was telling her exactly what he planned, what he wanted. It wasn't what Sakura wanted, so her mind was trying to push meaning into meaningless words.
She snapped her mouth shut. It'd been hanging open.
Then, after a pause, she mumbled, "You talk so much now..."
And it was true. This Sasuke looked the part, but he behaved so differently. There was something in the way he spoke, some unnamed discrepancy in his demeanor. Something had changed. It was like looking at a version of who Sasuke might've been if he'd never left Konoha.
"If you'd always shared your thoughts like this, maybe we could've seen things your way," she persisted. "But, as it is...you know what? I think you're the one who focused on the wrong things, Sasuke."
His head swung back to face her, an air of anger growing around him. Younger Sakura would've backed down, but War Sakura sneered. Finally, she'd struck a nerve. That callous attitude of his made her sick. But this—this angry boy—this was the Sasuke she knew. The one she could read like a book.
The seal reignited.
"Alright, alright. You two are pretty entertaining, not gonna lie, but we should let the woman rest until Orochimaru is free," Suigetsu interjected. "And I'd like some healing."
The mention of healing had Sakura moving for Suigetsu instinctively, other thoughts on pause.
Sasuke stood in an instant and partly blocked her path. "You can heal him later."
She peeked at him through her lashes and noticed his anger was already gone. Controlled. She kept probing, trying to catch his left eye. The one he kept hidden. The one with the strange chakra signature.
She told herself that she was doing this, and she was definitely not memorizing the curve of his cheek and the shade of slight stubble on his chin. The bow of his mouth. He was only a foot away. She wrapped his concealed chakra in her seal with her own, squeezing it, ordering it to return to its owner and force him to reveal something.
Sasuke exposed nothing. "Come, Suigetsu. We'll move to the lab."
Then he was walking away from her, toward the door.
Suigetsu pushed himself up with a deep groan. "Sleep well, kid." He lowered his voice to a whisper as he passed by her. "But one part about that was true. Try looking at the forest a bit."
So happy more people are enjoying it!
But especially those who've stuck around since the beginning!
tatutu, MagicalReader, ASasuSakuShipper, jessicacresta38123,
saekuto (thanks for all the consecutive comments, very sweet!), Lunatic9289,
and the guests! Make accounts! :p
bigfeelings, I read a TON of war-type fanfics, mostly from other fandoms on AO3!
But I also recently reread the Broken Earth trilogy and Red Rising
which both have tactical-type elements to them
Although, I'm really not that great at it myself,
which is why I'm happy that Sakura is delegated into medical mostly ... lol
.
and big thanks to the great beta-reader Leech!