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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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21. The Chase
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THIRTY THOUSAND troops were impossible to deploy in stealth, particularly when the enemy knew the Allies now housed most of their forces on the border between Frost and Lightning. Lightning was the safest country to retreat to and defend geographically, but there was only a single path inland. It'd be immediately apparent if the Allies tried to move from their position.
So the Kage needed to devise a distraction to cover the movement.
As the second day ticked towards its end, Sakura swallowed her pride and reentered the command tent to help devise the strategy. They had less than twelve hours to deploy before they'd lose their original attack timeline.
Tsunade's gaze landed on her countless times during the meeting. Sakura looked anywhere but toward her mentor's chair.
Too many cooks were in the kitchen with the top strategists from all five countries arguing over the best course of action. It started with 33, though as tempers rose and ideas were shot down, only 20 commanders and the Kage were present to agree on the plan four hours later.
A group of 2,000 would move in from the southeast and launch an attack on the coordinate. It was a small enough number that they could probably get to the enemy base without being noticed. Most importantly, it was a small enough group that Madara wouldn't have any reason to respond to it personally. He'd assume his 14,000 Zetsu and shinobi could easily handle such a small force.
Sakura tried not to dwell on the fact that the scale of this war had bulged so quickly in the past half year that 2,000 shinobi could be considered stealth.
Barely ten months ago, Madara attacked Sangosho with a force of 2,000 and restarted the offensive. It'd felt like such a massive battle at the time when the Allies were coming off over a year of relative reprieve. The fighting since then had wholly shattered her mind's concept of size.
The commanders packed into the command tent threw around numbers of troops in the thousands and deemed them small. As if losing 2,000 shinobi would be a small loss of life. And Sakura nodded along with them as they did it, agreeing that 2,000 would be a small enough number to move covertly—that 2,000 lives were an acceptable risk.
To make the undersized attack seem credible, it would be led by Kakashi. The Kage hoped that by sending in such a high-ranking and prominent commander, Madara would assume the Allies were making an honest attempt to stealthily destroy the coordinate.
Kakashi's division would time their attack to when the rest of the troops were precisely two hours away.
It was a potential suicide mission for anyone in the Diversion Division, as it'd been dubbed. They'd be significantly outnumbered and out-positioned. The plan was for them to engage once then fall back to the south, kiting enemy troops off the point. They'd hold out on defense in retreat until the whole army arrived from the north. For this reason, all the top gatherers and defense-oriented shinobi were asked to join Kakashi's division.
Projected losses proved too severe for conscription; not a single shinobi declined the request despite it being just that.
Even so, there was only one way for such a small force to survive long enough for their backup to arrive. Tsunade had remained tight-lipped and scowling when Sakura stood to volunteer herself and her technique. The consensus was split on whether to allow it since such a noticeable and tide-turning technique increased the chances of Madara opting to respond to the diversion.
Sakura convinced the skeptics by detailing how she'd successfully used the technique secretly for weeks in Lightning. So long as she kept herself hidden, Katsuyu remained covered under clothing, and shinobi pretended to be struck down when hit with anything obviously fatal, it was possible to hide her presence. Not indefinitely, since the enemies would eventually catch on—but at least an hour or two, surely.
Tsunade only made a single request once the group agreed to place her on Kakashi's squad: that Sakura remain in the back of the division with a three-man jonin guard and that she not fight under any circumstance. Her student was still medical commander, Tsunade argued. Sakura needed to be healthy and able to go to field medical as soon as the full army arrived.
The Hokage finished with, I'll run medical until she arrives, but it's Sakura's position to command, like the official passing of a torch.
Sakura begrudgingly agreed to the terms. Privately, she prepared for the slot of time spent reporting back to field medical to include her somehow entering the Uchiha compound.
If she could shake her jonin guard and convince Katsuyu to keep the secret.
The Kage also hoped that with Kakashi there, Obito's pride might be lured out. The Tsuchikage and Gaara thought that Obito might go so far as to challenge Kakashi one-on-one, removing him from the fight entirely. Having seen how Obito conducted himself within Madara's base, Sakura couldn't see him doing such a thing. But Kakashi quietly agreed to handle it should the chance present itself.
Sakura offered a second point of the diversion plan. Uzushiogakure. She knew the coordinates to at least one teleport tag Sasuke left there and could place many more on the island for the Diversion Division to port to. They could then move in on the coordinate from an angle Madara's troops wouldn't be prepared for.
No one asked her how she had a tag already placed in the abandoned city. The Hokage, Kakashi, and Shikamaru all kept their thoughts to themselves when she mentioned it, though she felt the questions in their gazes.
She'd have to tell them not to say anything to Naruto. It was something that she needed to tell him personally—something to discuss outside the flurry of battle preparation.
As for the remaining 28,000 troops, they'd move into position underground.
The Tsuchikage was adamant that Iwa shinobi could dig the army from the battle base to the coordinate as fast as they would've traveled above ground. Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi agreed. They assured the group that so long as a Zetsu didn't unknowingly dig right into their cave, their Earth Release users were so skilled they could completely hide the whole army's presence underground as they moved.
Besides the Iwa shinobi, no one was comfortable staying below ground for so long. It'd be a day-and-a-half journey if they made time as planned. And if they were caught, almost three-quarters of the Allies' entire army would be trapped like moles.
None offered but the Tsuchikage's suggestion was viable for such a large army.
The plan was finalized.
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The owl-masked ANBU was on her guard. A genjutsu encased the four of them, shrouding over their presence a mile east of the skirmish. They'd move if the fight made its way to them, but Kakashi's team was already retreating to the south.
The Diversion Division attacked an hour ago; the entire army was still an hour out. Older generations claimed it was bad luck to comment on an ongoing battle's success, but the plan so far was going smooth as butter.
Sakura pushed Hundred Healings into Katsuyu every 45 seconds for five seconds.
An arbitrary interval—she needed only to pick an amount of time less than three minutes, the average time it took someone to bleed out beyond repair. She held it for five seconds because that was how long her own body took to fix some of the most time-consuming injuries that came to mind.
And in the intervening 45 seconds, she focused on feeding and drawing chakra from portions of Katsuyu where needed through Immense Network Healing. She'd ensured her chakra reserve was filled before the battle, but the technique wasn't draining her as much as she'd anticipated.
Regardless, this was only 2,000. Soon she and Tsunade would be responsible for 15 times that number of shinobi—so she needed to conserve as much chakra as she could here.
"What's the update?" asked her head guard, the owl.
All three stood before her in the direction of the fight. Owl-mask was rigid, ready for attack. The other two were more relaxed, one leaning on a leafless tree to her left and the other sitting with his legs crossed directly in front of her summon circle.
"We've lost a little over a hundred," answered the sitting guard.
She knew from their masks that all three were from Konoha's ANBU. In briefly traveling with them, she'd deduced that one was probably a Hyuuga and suspected the other was a Sarutobi. Without seeing the second one fight, though, there was no way to pin it down.
The lead guard nodded. "Not bad, all things considered. Good work, Haruno."
Black markings slunk down her cheeks as Hundred Healings flooded into the summoning link again. "Thank you."
Not bad was an understatement. It was amazing how well Kakashi's small force was doing despite being massively outnumbered. They'd easily last until the army arrived, at this rate.
"How many enemies remain on the coordinate?" pressed the leader.
The sitting guard's head shifted to stare into a distance none other than him could see. "Seems they've dispatched about half of their forces to chase the diversion. It's hard to get a read on exact numbers when they're so bunched up."
Owl-mask sighed and tapped his foot. "Can you do it or not?"
Since she'd only ever conversed with him on the verge of battle or as a superior, she'd never heard such exasperation from the man. Her brows raised as she watched the two shinobi before her with only a minuscule amount of attention, brain elsewhere.
"I can." The had-to-be Hyuuga shrugged, turning his head back to the kunai he was sharpening in his lap. "I just don't feel like it. Half is a good enough estimate. None are heading here, that's what matters."
She'd also realized that the two other ANBU weren't too happy about getting guard duty. Sakura understood their frustration—ANBU weren't ANBU for cowering from a fight. What she didn't understand was the added petulance. As if she or the owl-masked leader had hand-picked them to be here specifically so they couldn't fight.
Well, perhaps the leader had, but she certainly hadn't.
The two were probably some less-experienced ANBU, eager to test their might and prove their skill. Skilled enough to be trusted to this position but not so vital that the battlefield would feel their absence.
She scoffed as the byakugou released down her forehead again. The only thing war proves is that we all bleed the same, is what she wished to say to these sulky children.
War proved everything, and then it proved nothing.
There was no glory in these battles. No honor was found on that bloody, cruel battlefield—just devastating survival. Only a hopeless suffering. A graveyard that would haunt anyone who stepped on it until their dying day.
But what would be the point in saying such a thing to a loyal fighter? In the beginning, even Sakura had felt the righteousness of the Allies' cause. Even she'd been willing to sacrifice anything to stop Madara and Obito and their Infinite Tsukuyomi.
But when the sacrifices were actually imposed, she'd quickly realized how childish that feeling was.
These guards would, too—one day. One day they'd lose one thing too many. One day their losses would accumulate to tip the scales, and these battles would morph into the eternal punishment they were.
The next hour passed without any excitement beyond that. Diversion Division managed to keep its losses below 300. Although Obito responded, Katsuyu reported that he didn't seem interested in singling out Kakashi. There was no sign of Sasuke yet.
A calm before the storm. Even the lead guard, usually so stoic, seemed to bounce on his heels in anticipation.
Fire Country winter wrapped around their tiny squad like a homecoming. Their breaths puffed into the air. Every shift of a body crunched against the frozen ground. It was a drier kind of winter than what she'd acclimated to in Lightning. Familiar, homesickening cold coated her lungs in aching nostalgia with every inhale.
When the rest of the army rose from beneath the earth north of the coordinate, the whole world seemed to quake beneath her. A fireball, so hot it burned blue, shot up into the sky. Despite the bright, ten-in-the-morning sun, the flame was visible for miles.
It was Diversion Division's signal to split, swinging east and west, and curve north to rejoin with the main army. For her, it signaled to flood the summoning connection so Tsunade could summon a large enough portion of Katsuyu on her own for the newly-arrived 28,000.
She did so.
A moment later, she felt a massive Katsuyu arrive miles to the northeast—behind the main army, where field medical was based. The drain on her chakra was immediate. She gritted her teeth against the aggressive pull, feeding it indiscriminately. Such a large army would drain her too quickly without managing the flow, but she could handle it at least a few minutes until she could get to field medical to concentrate.
"We'll move you to field medical, Haruno," said the lead guard. The other two were alert now, facing her.
How was she going to shake them? "You three go ahead. I have quick orders to complete, then I'll head there myself."
The owl mask bobbed in a nod. "Then we'll escort you through your orders."
Think, Sakura!
"...They're Classed orders. A solo mission. It won't take me longer than a few minutes. I'll be in and out. Help the flanking Diversion Division get to their positions, and I'll meet with you three again in medical."
She said it with all the confidence and authority in the world. In reality, she could order these three to leave—she had rank on all of them. The two younger ones would be more than happy to follow her command, but the owl-masked ANBU's frame seemed unnaturally stiff.
He probably knew she was lying.
And though he'd be obligated to leave if she ordered him to, she felt he'd only keep this between them if he pretended to believe the story she was feeding them. She'd need to give him something more palatable.
"...Five minutes," he said, voice strained.
She was eight minutes from the edge of Konoha. It'd take another two to reach the Uchiha compound. At least a few more to get inside and rub the slab. After that, she could ask Lady Katsuyu for coordinates and port to field medical in no additional time.
"Fifteen," she countered.
He sighed, his broad shoulders slouching into himself. For the countless time, Sakura wondered who this ANBU man was that always found himself on her guard. Who undoubtedly volunteered for this position each time.
"I need fifteen minutes. Please," she stressed. "Trust me."
The seconds that passed between them felt like minutes. Finally, the guard straightened.
"Fine. Fifteen. But if you aren't in medical in exactly fifteen minutes, I'll have to report to the Hokage."
"Thank you," she breathed out.
"I'll...keep these two quiet." He paused, then turned on his heel, motioning for the other two guards to head out. The younger ones jumped away before he glanced at her over his shoulder, fiddling with his mask with tight fingers. "See you at the next battle."
She smiled at him. "See you."
The man nodded once before leaping away after his teammates.
She turned in the opposite direction and sprinted towards her home. It'd been over four years since she stepped foot in Konoha. Like the other large cities across the world, it was destroyed early in the war.
She used to think about her hometown—the uneven rooftops of myriad colors, the street markets with ramen and dango, the Academy steps, the administration building, the hospital, the training grounds, the neighborhood her parents had lived in, the huge front gates, green wood hinged onto the flaking-orange stone—and cry.
Now she thought of those things and felt nothing.
It was just a place. Just buildings. It could all be rebuilt, one day. Things could always be remade—but people could never be brought back.
Now when she thought of her hometown, she thought of her dead family and friends. How none of them would ever be buried in Konoha soil. How they'd never make it home to see those things again.
How maybe it might be better to never return to that place filled with the absence of them all.
It was a dangerous train of thought. Shadows cast by trees in her periphery flickered unnaturally; phantoms seemed to jump between the branches all around. A homecoming procession.
Sakura shook her head to clear her mind—Not now.
There was another problem that still needed to be dealt with. A certain slug.
She could've dispelled her summon without a warning, but that'd be overly suspicious. And when she wasn't in the summoning circle, it was easier to maintain Immense Healing Network if she was physically in contact with Katsuyu. Vanishing her was inefficient.
"Lady Katsuyu, what I'm about to do must remain between us. I beg you. I'll owe you forever. Anything you ask, I'll do it. But you can't tell Tsunade about this."
Katsuyu chuckled near her ear, high and bright. "Sakura, child...that's rather rebellious. I haven't seen this side of you before."
"Please."
"Are you betraying Tsunade-sama?"
Sakura stumbled. "O-of course not! I'd never, I swear! Tsunade and I may not be on the best terms right now, but she's still my mentor. I wouldn't in a hundred—"
"I was teasing." If slugs could smile, Sakura was sure Katsuyu would be. "We can keep this between us, but if you come under attack I'll alert command right away."
It hadn't been a difficult convincing, and Sakura hadn't suspected it would be. She and Lady Katsuyu had grown quite close through the war.
Sakura was the one most frequently calling on her contract. Sakura was the one most frequently in battle. Lady Katsuyu spent far more time watching over the student in the past almost-five years than the mentor.
"I understand. Thank you, Lady Katsuyu."
Everything was working out better than expected.
Half a minute faster than anticipated, she hopped over the crumbling city wall. She masked her chakra and searched for enemy signatures, finding none. The place was ransacked rubble; in contrast, the Uchiha compound remained eerily intact and was easily navigated.
She never came to the compound when she lived here. Her parents were low-ranking shinobi with no desire for power or fame, preferring to take citizen-request missions within the city walls. As such, their family lived a civilian-like life in her early childhood. They'd no reason to interact with the Uchiha beyond formalities.
By the time she got close enough to Sasuke to perhaps be invited, his clan was dead. He avoided this district like the plague, refusing to even go near it.
Then he was a nukenin and Sakura never dared think of entering his family's legacy.
It was easy enough to find the shrine, its pointed tip standing above the residential rooftops. Even easier to find the seventh tatami mat and perform the seals she'd memorized over the sharingan slab. The room beneath was covered in a thick layer of dust. She only had to brush off three stone monuments before finding the one marked with a crow.
It took a minute to roll a clean scroll over it and brush the whole thing with a pencil. The same strange letters that Sasuke said were a language only his clan could read bloomed across the page. She could immediately tell that at least part of it was instructions for a jutsu.
For as nervous as she'd been in the days leading up to this, her side mission was moving along without a hitch. She finished the rubbing with three minutes to spare.
Sakura carefully rolled the parchment back up and resealed it in the sealing scroll wrapped tight around her wrist. Her chakra was pouring out of her into Immense Network Healing like a cracked dam. It felt unnatural now that she'd become accustomed to controlling the individual portions within the jutsu. Amateurish and wasteful.
Time to get to field medical, she thought.
"Updates, Lady Katsuyu?" she asked, exiting back up the narrow steps.
When she entered the main room, she pulled the slab back to cover the hidden staircase. Just in case.
"Madara's full army moved out to meet the Allies. Naruto and his platoon are engaging Sasuke and a group of enemies."
She couldn't worry about her teammates fighting. She had to trust that Sasuke wouldn't harm Naruto...and that Naruto wouldn't hurt Sasuke.
"Anyone asking for me?"
"Not yet," replied the slug. "They believe you're being escorted in a wide arc to avoid enemies."
"Good. Thank you." And thank you, owl-mask, she mentally added, brushing her hands off on her pants and making for the exit. "Do you know the coordinates for field—"
"Well, well, battle medic. You're a bit far from your base, aren't you?"
Her blood froze over. She stilled in the shrine's doorframe, feet glued to the ground under her.
An orange-masked, Akatsuki-robed man stood on the rooftop of a house across the dirt road, twirling a shuriken around his finger. An oddly familiar action to watch. Eye slits filled with purple and red pinned her to the spot.
"When a sensor said they felt Sakura Haruno moving alone towards Konoha, I thought it couldn't be true." Obito laughed, and it felt like she might faint.
She'd concealed her chakra...but she wasn't as proficient as Sasuke. She couldn't make herself disappear—she thought she'd been careful, though—she hadn't felt anyone within miles of her—
"I almost didn't even come myself, but, well... Lucky me that I did, hmm?" He jumped from the rooftop and landed 15 yards away, the dirt of the path billowing around his feet. "A Konoha kunoichi trespassing on Uchiha land in the middle of a battle. I'm so very curious what you're doing here."
Without thinking, she flared the seal on her neck. I'm in trouble!
"I've alerted command," Katsuyu whispered into her ear.
It startled her that her first instinct was to call for Sasuke and not for Shikamaru.
Obito took a step forward. "Cat got your tongue?"
She swallowed against her dry throat and leaned into the adrenalin swamping her veins, willing her body and mind to unthaw from the shock.
"You know..." He stilled and crossed his arms. "I think it was the eyes."
"Shikamaru says to run north now," said Katsuyu softly. "He's sending Kakashi."
Creeping slowly out of the doorway, she placed her back against the shrine's front wall to the left of the frame. She'd have to run in Obito's direction to follow that order.
"That shade, so uncommon. And so full of contempt and anger when you looked at me. Now, the chakra signature..." He chuckled and shrugged. "I admit that threw me off, but there were too many odd things about you. You looked like a Nohara, and you were familiar enough with chidori to know it was a unique jutsu without many users. You were staying in Orochimaru's lab, even though he's refused any new students since his return. And somehow, you knew exactly where we'd attack in Wind and knew to target Suigetsu to get in. Then I investigated the base where Suigetsu typically stays, and he tells me that you aren't around. Two separate times, Rei was conveniently not around. Rei, with those strangely familiar eyes so full of hatred for her army's top commander. Suigetsu may be too stupid to think much of it, but it got me thinking."
Katsuyu's voice was quiet as night. "He's on the way."
She bent into a defensive stance and released Hundred Healings, careful not to let it seep into Katsuyu. After hours of training with Sasuke, she was sufficiently familiarized with how Uchiha fought. She'd need a miracle to win a battle against someone like Obito, who was on par or perhaps even stronger than Sasuke one-on-one. But she was confident she could defend until her team arrived.
"And now you're here, tiptoeing out of a shrine that holds some of the most important secrets of my clan… How would you even know to come here? How would you know how to enter it?"
"Do you really want me to answer that?" she asked, careful to keep her eyes away from the slits of his mask—away from the Rinnegan.
If Sasuke's sharingan was essentially ineffective on her, Obito's likely was, too.
"Ha! Look at that…" His voice was edged with a biting amusement. "Such an impressive transformation jutsu, but you didn't bother to conceal your voice? How did Orochimaru sneak you in under Sasuke's nose? I can't tell whether he's betrayed us or trapped you…"
Sakura clamped down on the surprise fast enough that it never crossed her face. Did he trust Sasuke so much that he didn't even suspect him?
Obito paused, as if honestly waiting for an answer this time. When none came he pressed his fingers against his wrist and a long, spiked chain popped from the scroll hidden beneath his gloves. Resuming his slow advance, the chain dragged behind his feet.
"No matter. Whatever the methods, that snake managed to pull you out of field medical."
Her mind stalled on his words, too many emotions battling against one another within her. Had Orochimaru given her up?
"Eleven minutes out," advised Katsuyu. "Naruto's with him."
She felt the air shift on her back and ducked down, lurching forward in the same movement; flash-stepping into the now-empty space in front of her. Obito had portaled through the wall behind her, hand grasping at air where the nape of her neck had been. Hopping onto the roof he'd abandoned, she took off faster than she'd ever run before. North, where Naruto and Kakashi were coming from.
Obito threw shuriken, kunai, and balls of fire in pursuit, slowing her sprint as she zigzagged between houses to dodge the dangers. She outpaced him until they leaped over the city walls. He caught her in a clearing before she reached the leafless forest by the neckline of her green vest and yanked, slamming her into the ground.
Wrapping his wrist in an enhanced strength fist, she broke his grip when he was forced to kamui his own hand away or risk it being crushed. Sakura took the opportunity to swipe his legs out and jump up to face him.
Then it was pure taijutsu combat. With Immense Healing Network pulling from her chakra constantly, it was difficult to focus on the fight. Her mind was two places at once. She ducked and weaved his attacks, not bothering with an attempt to go on the offensive in such a state.
Her only goal was to keep it close range, where she could best defend. Having never been ordered to the battlefield against him, she knew little of his fighting style beyond reports—though she assumed that like his cousin, Obito probably out-classed her at mid- and long-range fighting.
But unlike his cousin who knew Sakura's strengths outside medical, Obito didn't try to create space. She danced around him light and lithe as a feather.
Obito wasn't as fast as Sasuke, but he wasn't holding back like Sasuke did, either. He used the chain like a whip one second, then snatched it from the air and used it like a net the next. The chain wrapped around her leg and pulled her in, and she shredded her own muscles to the bone to free herself.
Hundred Healings patched it back together in seconds but the pain of it still seared through her nerves.
Naruto and Kakashi were nearing. Kyuubi chakra was vicious and potent, only a minute out. Sakura cast a replacement jutsu for a quick exit and ran to meet them again. Obito gave chase, though he had to know who she was sprinting for.
A moment later, Naruto barrelled into her, arms enfolding her and lifting her up. Twisting their bodies, he set her down behind him, placing himself between her and Obito. His eyes searched her face as she let go of Hundred Healings and laid a hand on his cheek.
"I'm okay. I'm okay, thank you for coming," she murmured, answering the question in his gaze.
Without a word, Kakashi stepped forward to meet Obito. Naruto gave her one more once-over before nodding and turning to the Uchiha, too. She slid to Naruto's side, carefully covering Kakashi's back.
"Your student was a little far from her position, Kakashi," Obito yelled over the distance. He'd stopped 20 meters away, nothing but sparse, dead trees between them.
"You two get out of here," Kakashi ordered quietly. "Go west towards Wind Country. East is blocked, and north is into their army."
Naruto shook his head. "We're not leaving y—"
"You are leaving. He's already alerted his army. There's at least two thousand that peeled off to—"
"To follow you two here!" Obito laughed. "That's right. I ordered a division off the point. To think they'd send a jinchuriki to rescue a single medic! How stupid!"
The truth and danger of his words sunk in like a dull blade.
Obito had chased her right into backup when he could've easily run away—she should've known right then that something wasn't right.
This was a trap.
Why had Naruto come? Who'd let that happen? Shikamaru would never permit something so reckless. And without a guard, what—
"I came on my own!" Naruto shouted back. "She's my teammate—"
The earth shook violently the next second. Naruto clutched her for balance.
Ino's voice cut into her mind. The coordinate has been destroyed. Everyone move northwest to Earth as planned.
Obito tugged his mask off and flung it to the ground, face twisted into a mad grin. "It's worth losing that room to capture the Nine Tails."
Instinctively, she shifted in front of Naruto, shielding him. Her hands found his wrists behind her, holding him there.
They'd capture him over her dead body.
"Sakura, get Naruto out of here. West. Now." Kakashi flash-stepped across the distance after he spoke the command, grabbing Obito's shoulder from behind. His sharingan spun as he looked between his two students, stunned in their places. "It's my duty to take care of my teammate."
Their teacher's eyes crinkled in a covered smile. Time seemed to freeze like the winter crunch under Sakura's feet, her lungs constricting into nothing. Kakashi's gaze swept the both of them once more as if drinking them in. As if committing his students to memory.
Then he nodded once. "Start running."
The two men vanished into a swirl of kamui. Panic swelled in her chest in the same second that she swallowed it back with practiced force. Kakashi would be okay. Kakashi was strong.
Fear couldn't break her right now—not when Naruto was so out of position.
Naruto roared, reaching to stop their teacher as if he was still right beside them. She tugged him back forcefully. Even from this distance, she could feel the massive number of signatures headed their way. They'd be fighting on their own if they stayed here.
"Naruto, let's—"
"No!" He ripped his arm from her, turning on her with wild eyes. "I won't leave everyone again!"
"We're all alone right now!"
"I won't abandon the army again, Sakura," he growled, making to move north. Turning to face the enemy. "I won't run away."
She jumped into his path. At least a platoon was headed their way—likely many more than that. Obito had claimed a whole division.
She reached out to Naruto a second time. "Well I won't let you get caught! If I have to knock you out and run with you over my shoulder, I will!" There was no way she could knock him out. They both knew it. "And I have something important that I can't get caught with, either. Please. Kakashi gave us our orders. We need to run before they reach us."
Her fingers clasped around his elbow and dug in. She held his gaze, pleading with her own.
"Please, Naruto. There's too many... We'll meet back with the army later, we aren't running forever. Once we're in Wind we can swing north and meet them at the last coordinate in Earth. Please."
His stare was all fire and anger, and Sakura knew him well enough to know why. Over four years he'd been running from this fight. Over four years they'd herded him away from the battle.
She squeezed his arm harder. What's one more time? she thought. Once more to keep you safe. Only once more.
"Please," she begged. "It came from Kakashi."
Naruto shut his eyes and lifted his head towards the sky. "DAMMIT! God dammit all—Fuck, okay—" Abruptly, he turned west and took off like he feared his mind would change if he didn't move fast, shouting over his shoulder, "Fucking come on then!"
She was on his heel a second later. They leapt into the familiar Fire Country trees, where he stayed uncharacteristically quiet.
The further away they got, the fewer portions of Katsuyu she could funnel into. Especially the portions on shinobi who'd started retreating first.
While Sakura could manage far more of Katsuyu than Tsunade, Tsunade's range was vastly superior after many years of only being able to help remotely. Unless they swung around to meet the army in the next hour, she'd fully lose her connection with Immense Healing Network. It'd leave the Hokage on her own, with a number she wasn't capable of maintaining alone.
"Lady Katsuyu, tell the Hok—"
Madara spotted. Stay calm. Sakura missed the next branch, slamming into a trunk so hard the whole tree cracked. Do not engage. Continue to retreat.
Naruto swooped down and dragged her up by both arms—"Fuck, shit, hurry, Sakura! Get up! Get up!"
"Ho—how did he get there so fast?!" she shrieked, back on her feet.
They resumed their run. It was a lung-searing sprint, and Sakura had to release her Hundred Healings to keep up with Naruto's pace. The earth rumbled again, shaking the barren trees from their bases. Stronger than when the Allied army arrived even though she and Naruto were so far away.
ABANDON SECOND ATTACK PLANS. RETREAT TO LIGHTNING. DO NOT ENGAGE. Sakura tried to ignore the panic in Ino's voice. RETREAT TO LIGHTNING.
"Lightning?! We're running in the opposite direction!" cried Naruto.
"La-Lady Katsuyu—" she huffed, still adjusting to the speed, "can—you report—anything?"
"Madara has the Allies pinned between him and his forces. Might Guy and the Tsuchikage are preparing to face Madara so the rest of the army can retreat back to the battle base."
"Naruto, check how—many pursuers—we have," ordered Sakura.
His chakra flared briefly. "Over one thousand, less than two."
Over 1,000 troops for two people. For the Kyuubi.
Naruto could likely fight this number all at once skill-wise, but she knew he couldn't stomach killing so many people. Even on the battlefield Naruto rarely killed anyone except Zetsu. He preferred to knock enemies out, forcing his teammates to murder those he left unconscious. And Sakura was willing to kill, but she'd never be able to take on such a number—and Naruto probably couldn't handle watching her sweep up behind him.
"What do we do, Sakura?" Naruto asked.
What else could they do? With just the two of them, one without the proper conviction to kill and the other without proper power to fight, their only option was to run.
"Are they keeping—Madara there?" she asked. "Is he coming after us?"
"He's still nearer to the coordinate," answered Lady Katsuyu.
"Where are Kakashi and—Obito?"
"My portion on Kakashi disappeared as soon as he entered the other dimension."
"Do you have a plan?" Naruto yelled again like he thought Sakura hadn't heard him the first time. They flew through the frozen forest, everything a blur around them. "Can you get Sasuke's help?!"
She flared her seal instantly at the suggestion, signaling for Sasuke. "I'll try."
Obito's earlier words worried her, certainly. Had she been betrayed? Did her sources intend to give her up? Was it Sasuke's betrayal or Orochimaru's? Were they aware that Obito knew she was Rei?
But it didn't matter.
She pressed her chakra against the seal rhythmically, continuing to call for him as her breath caught up with their momentum. Those questions couldn't be answered by worrying, nor would they help get her and Naruto to safety. If Sasuke betrayed her, then he wouldn't come. If he truly betrayed her, it wouldn't matter whether she asked for his aid now or iced him out.
He already had enough evidence to bury her.
We need help, Sasuke! Please! Sakura fed into the seal.
She'd no idea how close he was anymore, or if the thought would pass to him over such a distance. She knew at least he'd feel the flare. And—maybe—he still wouldn't come.
Maybe Sasuke truly betrayed her. Maybe this was his plan all along.
Maybe.
But until she knew for sure, she would trust in Team Seven like Naruto always did. She wanted to believe that Sasuke would come for them.
She wanted to believe that he'd come for her.
"Can command send backup, Lady Katsuyu?"
The summon was quiet for a moment. "Things aren't going well. The Kazekage asks that you two continue leading as many of them as you can away from the main enemy force." The news had Sakura cursing under her breath. "He tells you both, Sorry and, Thank you."
Both shinobi knew intuitively what Gaara meant was, We're losing.
There was no help coming to them from the Allies.
"...What should we do, Sakura?"
She clenched her jaw. What else could they do?
"We should keep running until backup comes or our pursuers' numbers fall off. We can't take on this many by ourselves."
Naruto glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "Okay. You got some soldier pills?"
"Plenty."
"Then let's see how long they plan to chase."
.
.
They ran nonstop for three days before help arrived. Sakura kept her portion of Katsuyu summoned the whole time for updates.
Command was never able to send backup, though she knew Shikamaru pled with every Kage and every commander to do so. Leadership believed the jinchuriki was quick enough to outrun the enemy and safe enough with the army's top medic to survive an attack from those pursuing them. In a different context, Sakura might've been flattered; alone in the stinging December gale of the desert, it rang only of sophistry.
The retreat had been chaos. Their army's original path to Earth Country was blocked early by enemy reinforcements. After Ino gave the order to retreat to Lightning, Allied forces were chased there from behind.
Since the Allies had relocated all their troops into Lightning, no bases could be dispatched from Wind or Earth to assist the two of them. They were on their own.
The good news was that Madara didn't seem to be sending additional shinobi to hunt them down.
The bad news was that there was nothing to do but keep running.
By the morning of the third day, the surviving Allied army finally made it to the battle base in Lightning. Lady Katsuyu said they hadn't started the count. She didn't bring it up again, and neither Sakura nor Naruto asked for an update on it.
Both understood what it meant to delay a count.
But they did ask about the most important people.
Tsunade was alive. So were Ino, Shikamaru, Shizune, and Killer B. No one had heard from Kakashi...though there was no news about Obito, either. Gaara and Hinata hadn't been deployed, and the enemies didn't counter-attack the base while the army was in Fire.
Small condolences.
Lady Katsuyu reported that Madara wiped out three whole divisions in his first ten minutes on the battlefield. Sakura knew that meant he'd killed at least 6,000 people.
In ten minutes. Ten.
Six thousand people.
That was 600 deaths a minute. Six deaths every second.
Would some have lived if she hadn't run? If she'd paid more attention to funneling her summoning link, or released Hundred Healings into it for just a moment while he attacked? Were they dead because she'd chosen to rub a rock over moving into position?
Did she sentence them to battlefield graves for putting Sasuke above her army?
Without a count it was impossible to know the full extent of the battle's loss, but reading between Lady Katsuyu's briefings was easy enough. The Kage were bracing to face a considerable loss of life, despite the fact they'd completed their mission. Her summon refused to give an estimate even though the slug likely knew from having been in contact with most of those who died.
The Tsuchikage and Guy had successfully confronted Madara, blocking his path to the withdrawing Allies. They took Madara completely out of the fight—a feat none managed before. Madara was forced to port off the battlefield severely injured from their joint attack. They alone saved the army from total annihilation.
The Tsuchikage and Guy were both dead for it.
To her surprise, Naruto didn't react to that news. It was a strange thing for her to witness. Death usually knocked the wind from his lungs—doubled him over in tears or shouts. But he simply ran quietly beside her as Katsuyu reported their departure from this world, his dim eyes focused on the uneven sand before him.
Hour after hour without pause they ran, rushing towards the coast of Wind. She flared her seal every 30 minutes...or when she remembered. It was quiet in response.
The idea she'd been betrayed grew every mile she and Naruto crossed while the concealed chakra on her neck remained dormant.
The Allies couldn't come for at least another day, and it seemed Sasuke had abandoned her, too.
Though by the third day, she could form no ideas at all. Her whole body shrieked with the need to halt. Her legs were on fire, her eyes were out-of-focus, and her brain couldn't process anything but her next step.
They'd managed to outlast all but a few hundred enemies, steady around four miles behind them. Naruto eventually slowed his pace to a speed she didn't need Hundred Healings to maintain. They hadn't discussed how long they'd keep running or what they'd do if they hit the ocean. Didn't talk about the fight they'd have to face if no one came to help. Kept silent on how dangerous the battle would be for them, exhausted and outnumbered.
It didn't matter what happened, though. Naruto had to live. Naruto must survive over anything else. If it came to sacrificing herself so he could escape, she'd do so with a smile.
The desert was deep into the night when he finally came; no warning of it but the sudden throbbing of the seal. Her neck burst into lava that spread up her face and down her chest and she knew—
"Sasuke's...here," she wheezed.
"Finally," Naruto gasped back.
Turn south, flit through her mind. Conceal your chakra.
"Hide your...c-chakra and follow..." She turned left and swallowed her signature.
She felt Naruto's disappear behind her. Sakura wasn't nearly as adept at concealment as Naruto and Sasuke. The pursuing shinobi may be slowed in the search for their trail, but they'd sensor her out quickly enough.
Two minutes later Sasuke appeared in the distance, sprinting towards them with another cloaked figure. Sakura felt such strong relief wash over her she nearly crumpled to her knees. When the two groups merged, it took everything in her not to reach out and hug him.
He came.
They were safe. She felt like she could cry; her body had no extra hydration to afford it.
She and Naruto stumbled to a stop. He lifted his hands over his head, drawing in deep gasps. Sakura keeled over, hands on her knees, huffing as sweat dripped into her eyes.
"That...you...bastard?" Naruto asked between breaths.
Two figures before them were expertly concealed and clothed in plain black cloaks, Suna ANBU masks protecting their faces.
The second, smaller-framed figure stepped forward, patting Sakura on the back. "You good, kid? Need water? I got a lot you can drink from." A hand in water form waved in front of her bowed face. He chuckled when she leaned away, too tired to banter with him.
"Who're you?" Naruto was suddenly between her and the man, shoving him away. "Don't touch her."
"Man, what's up with you Konoha guys? So overprotective. I was joking around. She didn't complain, did she? Chill out." The cloaked man reformed his hand, turning to face the taller masked figure. "We came to save you two, so act a little more grateful, foxboy. What's the plan, bossman?"
"Wh-foxboy? Why is he bossman and I'm fox—"
"Shut up, they're coming our way already. Can you two help with the attack at all?" Sasuke's voice fell upon the group like that of a commander.
Naruto rolled his neck. "Probably. They've gotta be just as tired as we are, so..." His breaths were still quick and heavy, but his voice had already evened out.
Even under the mask, she felt Sasuke's gaze slide over her. "Sakura?"
She grimaced and shook her head, still bent over and wheezing. She had plenty of chakra, but hadn't slept in close to 90 hours. Her mind could barely focus on the question. She didn't have half of Naruto's enhanced stamina.
"Stay here with her then, Naruto. We'll finish them off and come back."
Naruto didn't argue. Instead, he rested a hand on her back, rubbing it in slow circles.
"Got it. But who's the pervert you brought, Sasuke? Can we trust him?"
Said pervert bit out a laugh. "Pervert?"
"Let's go, Suigetsu. Take care of any that get past us, Naruto." Sasuke sprinted toward the buzzing swarm of chakra to the north without waiting for a reply.
"See ya." Suigetsu threw a peace sign at Naruto before taking off after Sasuke.
"That was Suigetsu?" Naruto scoffed. "You said he wasn't that bad...he sucks!"
Sakura laughed until it turned into a cough. The desert sand was frosty and biting as she collapsed onto it, rolling to lie on her back. Stars twinkled brightly above, serene.
Help finally came. Sasuke came. It was overwhelming—the sting of tears still pressed on the back of her eyes.
"Don't fall asleep," Naruto warned. "We still need to get back to base."
The night air was ice in her lungs. "I won't. Did you report to Tsunade that we got back up, Lady Katsuyu?"
The slug moved onto the ground by Naruto's feet. "Do you want me to?"
"Please. And…if you can, see if she has an update."
"No updates yet."
Sakura squeezed her eyes shut. "Okay. Thank you."
"He's fine," assured Naruto, knowing immediately what it was that Sakura wanted to know. He stood by her hip, head tilted back to stare at the stars, too. "He's probably in the other dimension resting. He'll come back. Sensei's strong."
Sakura couldn't reply. She focused on a single thought, Stay awake, and let the vast expanse of space above diminish her into nothing.
.
.
Sasuke returned when the sun crested the horizon. Day four.
Did more of their army die? Had they started the count? Was it her fault?
What did it matter?
In the end, it wasn't the army who came to her aid.
Only Naruto and Kakashi rushed to help her.
Only Sasuke came for her and Naruto.
It had only been Team Seven.
"What took ya so long?!" Naruto half greeted, half shouted. His voice lulled her back into the world. He was sitting beside her now, legs crossed and hands positioned for meditation.
Sasuke walked towards them with measured steps. "We backtracked a bit and finished off the ones that fell behind."
"Where's waterboy?"
"He's going further back."
"How can we trust him to do that? What if he—"
"He'll do what I say."
"But how can—"
"Just shut up," Sasuke growled. "You're always so damn loud." She felt him step to her other side and kneel. The scent of sweaty hemlock swept across her. "Can you get up, Sakura?"
She blinked, letting the question circle around her vacant mind. Why would she want to get up? It'd be better to lie here forever. Eventually the stars would come back, and she could lose herself all over again.
"She needs sleep," said Naruto. "We ran for three days straight, and she was part of the first attack."
The backside of long, familiar fingers pressed on her forehead as if checking her temperature. "I know."
Sakura let her eyes move to Sasuke's face. It was still covered with the Suna ANBU mask, now splashed with dried blood. Seemingly satisfied that she didn't have a fever, he withdrew his hand from her head and propped it on his bent knee. The other knee rested against the sand.
A familiar pose. One that prompted her to Come. The corner of her mouth lifted. She wanted to—it'd be better to shield herself inside his quiet comfort where there was no carnage or cries of pain or endless running from an inescapable battlefield.
A cold wind blew between the three of them. The only three people in the whole world sharing this morning sky. They could be anyone in this wilderness. They could go anywhere, do anything—just forget the war, and who would ever find them? Who could stand against Team Seven?
Who could force them back into that purgatory of war if they simply refused to return? Even Madara could be brought to his knees if they stood together.
"It's like we're a team again." The words spilled out as soon as she thought them without filter. "Us against everyone. No one else cares about us—no one but those we grew up with really cares about me. I dreamed of us all being together again so many times." It was the ramblings of a mind unhinged, crazed with a lack of sleep. "Why did it take a war? Was this really the only way? Sasuke, we missed you, can't you just come ba—"
"Shush." He paused as she obeyed, his head tilting to the side slightly before it shifted up. "Naruto, do you have enough chakra to port back to Lightning?"
"Yeah, but I don't know if Sakura can make it like this..."
"She's fine, just cover the teleport for her, idiot."
"Oh, right. Hey! Don't call me—"
A thought came to her. "O-Obito knew I was Rei." She reached out to fist her hand in Sasuke's cloak, bunched around his feet. "Obito figured it out. Madara probably—he probably reported to Madara. Did you..." Tell him? Did you betray me?
She couldn't even finish the thought. Didn't want to put the words out into the world. Wanted to believe he was true to her. To them. To their Team.
Sasuke shook his head, pulling the mask off with blood-caked fingers, hair slick on his forehead and temples. Purple and onyx bore into her.
"He didn't report to Madara. They were never on good terms," he replied. "He reported it to me. The only other person who knows is Orochimaru since he was suspected."
Sakura blinked. "He'll surely tell now, though..."
"He's dead."
She blinked again.
With a gasp, Naruto leaned forward. "Obito is?! How do you know?"
"Because I opened a portal and saw it."
"When did—"
"What about Kakashi-sensei?!" Sakura blurted quickly before Naruto could ask anything more.
Sasuke's eyes flicked back to hers. "...I pulled him out. He was wounded, but he should recover event—"
Sakura pushed up and flung herself against him before he could stop it. Arms wrapped tight around him, chin rested on his shoulder. She breathed in the musk on the crook of his neck as painfully thin tears leaked out.
"Thank you, Sasuke."
He tensed under her. The covenant's seal pulsed as strong as a heartbeat rippling across her chest. Then he was fidgeting out of her embrace and nudging her back away, not meeting her eye. Looking over her shoulder to Naruto instead.
"Do you know the coordinates to your base?"
"We're not allowed to keep ports on base anymore...too risky." Naruto's voice was tinged in surprise.
Sasuke glanced down at her with a raised brow, probably wondering how she always ported back to her base from Uzushiogakure. Of course she'd never admit that she broke policy and tagged her own tent every visit. Technically she'd been granted an exemption from that rule ever since Tsunade let her set up ports in Konoha Division's base when the agreement started, all those long months ago, right?
"Tell your master to place a tag for them, slug."
"Don't talk to her like that," Sakura chastised. No one was allowed to talk out of place to Lady Katsuyu. No one. Not even Sasuke. She sat rested against his knee; his hand still lightly gripped her shoulder.
"Tsunade-sama says it's too high risk at the moment. She says to port to the room in Yugakure and run from there. It's only a few hours. The enemies are cleared from the path."
Sakura wondered why they hadn't gone there in the first place. The only reason the Hokage wouldn't have offered sooner was if she wasn't sure of its security. Had the enemies chased their army down that far again? Even so outnumbered?
"And she says thank you for helping Naruto and Sakura, Uchiha-san."
A surprised laugh escaped Naruto. "C'mon Lady Katsuyu, what'd Granny really call him?"
Her summon tutted. "I won't repeat it."
Naruto laughed harder. Like he hadn't run for three days or been abandoned by the side that claimed to want to protect him at all costs. Like they weren't in the middle of a freezing desert, a trail of lifeless enemies behind them. Like thousands of people weren't dead.
How did he stay so damn optimistic? How could he pretend things were okay in this moment? Why—
Why is he laughing? What's there to laugh about? How can he smile so easily?! A brewing storm, the thoughts clouded up and tumbled until she was glaring at her jovial best friend.
"Relax, Sakura," Sasuke mutterer. His fingers flexed on her shoulder. Red briefly flashed in his right eye when her head whipped back to him, scanning her. The low rumble of his voice dispelled her spiraling—the order in his tone triggered a rush of hormones as her mind cleared. "Can you make it a few more hours?"
Hearing that from his mouth was odd. She couldn't make heads or tails of it; not in this state. From Kakashi or Naruto it'd be asked out of kindness. She knew Sasuke wasn't one to care in such a way though, so the question settled like sour milk.
She reached into the pack on her thigh and fished for a soldier pill. Snagged two and offered one to Naruto, who plucked it from her palm. Nodding, she popped the other in her mouth.
Sakura wasn't that weak genin girl anymore. It was only a few days of running—a few days without rest. Naruto could handle it. Sasuke had taken care of hundreds of shinobi with only Suigetsu's help. Did he think she wasn't strong enough? Was that it?
That had to be why he asked, right?
"Yes. I can make it."
.
hey to all the new readers!
it was nice reading comments from those who stumbled upon this story recently.
but it's always nice seeing those who've been around since I started this story over the summer!
thank you for reading and have a great week!
please review and sub if you enjoy!
AND THANKS TO THE BETA-READER LEECH! as always :)