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Covenant
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Synopsis: Everyone is dead or hunted. The Allies lost. The war is over.
Treacherous seal marring her neck as a collar, Madara parades her like a victory trophy.
And though he gave her to his patriarch—betrayed her in the worst of ways—
Here, in The End, Sasuke Uchiha is all Sakura has left.
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2:9. Tonight
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"TONIGHT, SASUKE!"
"The plan isn't ready—"
"TONIGHT!" she shrieked.
Pushing into her personal space, he herded her into a corner of their bedroom beside the desk. "Quiet down." Attempting to muffle her voice with his body, apparently. "Once we start traveling—"
"Sasuke Uchiha, I swear to you, I swear to you, so help me God—you get her out tonight—or I'm done."
"Sakura—"
"OR I AM FUCKING DONE! I'M DONE! Do you hear me?! She leaves TONIGHT! And if she doesn't, Sasuke, on everything that I love, I will finish you—"
"Calm down and stop screaming—"
"And not just you. I'll bring down everyone—your slimy shishou, your shitty little nukenin lackey. All three of you are dead by tomorrow night if you don't get Ino out right fucking now, Sasuke. Right. Now. I'll tell Madara exactly where he can look for people who know what you did—where he can search for Tsunade's private documents that I'm certain have your name in them. So if you wanna keep fucking breathing, you'll get her the hell out of here tonight!"
"Be quiet—"
"Don't tell me to be quiet when you aren't fucking listening!"
His sharingan flared to life, spun once, and they were in the seal. Surrounded by its inky darkness. The strange, unfitting brown box was to their right, still mysterious and incongruous. Ignoring it, her glare cut back into him.
"You're being too loud," he said lowly. "There's ears all over this—"
"I'm loud because it seems like you won't hear what I'm saying. So listen closely—Ino. Leaves. Tonight," growled Sakura, stepping into him with a finger to his chest. He must've let her approach as it made contact with him immediately. "I don't care what you have to do. I don't give a damn about what plan you're waiting for. Rework your stupid fucking plan."
Even in this calming, chilling abyss, her skin was hot. Her cheeks flushed with raging blood. She dug her fingertip into him with as much strength as she could muster, hoping it'd impart some sense of urgency.
She'd do it.
The dubious glint in Sasuke's scrutiny announced he didn't believe her, but he was dangerously mistaken. He'd get Ino on a lifeboat immediately, or this ship would sink the next time Sakura entered that interrogation room.
In the short term, it might make things infinitely worse for her. For Ino, too. They'd been living in the pits of hell ever since the Allies lost, however; so what did it really matter?
Another few hours of pain. Another few hours of torture. Madara already took so much from the both of them—bearing a bit more misery would be worth taking down the men who'd let it all happen. Who refused to get Ino out in spite of Sakura's months-long cooperation.
A snake eating its own tail—since once those three were gone, so were Ino's chances of escape. All that was left after assuring their downfall was finding a way to kill Ino and herself.
If she couldn't get Ino out alive, she'd get Ino out dead.
The time for planning and waiting was over. Ino would leave now.
"...Give me one more week," said Sasuke.
"No. Your time's up. It's been almost three months since you promised to help her if I kept you safe!" Tears she hadn't felt form dripped off her lashes.
"What's another few days, then?" The tone he took was wind to her burning resentment.
"You'll get her out tonight, or I'll ensure all five of us are dead in a few days."
"It's too soon for the plan I've already set in motion." His mouth downturned in a scowl. "I can't do it tonight. It's not feasible."
"You're Sasuke fucking Uchiha," she enunciated, jabbing his chest on every syllable. "I know you can do it."
"Mocking me won't make it any more possible than it already isn't," he cracked back, expression firm.
Sakura's jaw flexed and hinged on a retort, but the words stopped short in her lungs. An order from one Sannin unexpectedly jingled in her memory. A suggestion from another whispered in on its heels, agreeing.
Tsunade had sworn the seal would make Sasuke loyal to her; Orochimaru had said just as much. That he ultimately betrayed her by choosing Madara convinced her both Sannin were wrong, but—
Faced with his unwavering refusal, an ephemeral thought crossed her mind, faint enough to hide.
What if they were right?
What if the seal would make him loyal to her? What if it hadn't done so before because she'd never completed her mission? What if she could use this?
Could she use the chains Orochimaru wrapped around her neck to free Ino from the shackles binding her?
She still lacked the tools and the training for this sort of mission. She still had no where to hunt, no means to skin whatever prey she caught. No material to build or light a fire. No way to start a fire without giving away her position.
But she had a bit of food to begin cooking with this time.
This time the nerves of never having been so close to Sasuke were long gone. Now she knew he wasn't completely immune to her.
Sakura gazed at him through her lashes in a way she'd used successfully in Uzushiogakure more than a few times. "For you, anything is possible. You can do anything you want. Go anywhere, say anything." In this space, she had to keep her thoughts hushed or they'd telegraph it all. "Help anyone, betray anyone, kill anyone." She wet her lips. "Have anyone."
Eyes narrowing, his hand wrapped tightly around hers still on his chest. "...What are you doing?"
"Nothing you dislike. I felt what you were trying to hide last night when you were—"
His fingers flinched. "Enough. That was just to appease Madara. Don't be vulgar."
"If you hadn't scared me, it could've been to appease the two of us."
"Have you finally gone and lost it?" Regarding her with gravity, he chided, "You were yelling and crying not half a minute ago."
It was true. She was acting mental.
No sane person would entertain this idea—offering herself to her captor. A captor who'd left her bruised just 24 hours ago. A captor who stood by and watched as her best friend was abused in front of his leader. Offering herself in the hopes it might sway him to her wishes.
For Ino, it appeared she'd go insane.
Sakura shrugged with feigned indifference. "I've been here for months, Sasuke. Months. Anyone is bound to go a little crazy when it's all torture and no comfort. Even you must want some comfort, now and then." Shoving her hand through his grasp, she laid her palm flat against his chest. "You used to enjoy my comfort."
"The seal enjoyed it."
"And the seal still exists." Debating over the seal was a losing argument—a fact she knew from experience. If she was going to win Sasuke over, she'd have to use logic he couldn't That's-Just-The-Covenant his way out of. "I've been doing exactly as you asked. I haven't given away anything that might endanger you, so can't you give me something? If you won't get Ino out tonight, give me something else."
As soon as the words left her lips, the abyss around them warmed.
"Sakura, surely, after what you just witnessed an hour ago…" His irises darted between hers as if searching for the truth. "You aren't suggesting I make good on Madara's wishes with you?"
He spoke as if talking to a cornered animal, but she'd already blocked out the contents of her last interrogation. Boxed it away. Filed what had happened earlier into the furthest corners of her mind, where all the corpses were buried and the names of those she couldn't save and the aching memories of her loved ones that were gone forever. So deep underneath that the calmative swept over the rest. So far away it felt like she hadn't been there. Like she'd overheard a stranger on the street in passing telling a friend about an awful show from the night before.
She'd detached from it so immediately that even his blatant reference drew out nothing but an urgency to get Ino out.
"This and that are different things," she snapped, meaning for it to come out less stilted than it did.
"Look where you are. Look where she is." His uncaring facade abruptly fell back into place; he must've caught something in her stare that eased his concerns that she'd well and truly cracked. "There's little difference between your positions."
She was losing him—losing this opportunity.
"You know, if you thought that, and you cared about it, you wouldn't have let me touch you while we're in this space that you control."
Surprise flitted across his face. "What?"
"Or you could've pushed me away by now. Or ended this jutsu and left. You're an Uchiha. You can do anything you want. You don't have to stay sealed to me anymore—you didn't have to keep me in your room, or sleep beside me, or be here right now talking this over with me. So you know what I think?" He blinked slowly as she trailed her fingers down between the ridges of his abs. "Whether it's the seal or not, I think you want this."
His eyes flashed, dark and deadly. "Is this what you want? To be taken like the rest of them? Have you forgotten your place?" Reaching up, he encased her throat less firmly than last night. "I'd be more cautious with my words and actions if I were you. You're a prisoner."
"I'm a woman."
"...You're going crazy, is what you are." He sighed, grip loosening into something less threatening that she wouldn't venture to name. He tapped her byakugou softly with his free hand, an odd gesture she'd always meant to inquire about but never found the nerve to in Uzushiogakure. "It's true that you're doing what I asked you to well, Sakura. Keep it together just a bit longer, and forget playing any more of this game."
Near as they were, his words fanned her cheeks. His earthy, woody scent bathed her senses even in this jutsu. It'd been so long since she looked at him—really looked at him. Since she'd allowed herself to see him as something beyond that of a terrible human being. She'd forgotten how painful his beauty was—how infuriatingly perfect the curves of his face were—how mesmerizing the purple of the Rinnegan was as it did nothing. The warmth of his hands and the steadiness of his gaze and the fullness of his lips.
She'd forgotten that sometimes, in the silent stillness that settled around them like a truce, they were just a man and a woman with a history. With a secret between them. The only two people in the whole world to ever step foot in this strange, unnatural space. They could be anyone in this abyss. They could do anything—just stay here and forget that the world was ending, and who would ever stop them?
"I'm not playing any games," she breathed, thoughts spiraling away. "I mean it. If you won't give me Ino's evacuation, give me your comfort. It's the least you could do." The seal boiled under his palm, seeping down her chest and into her stomach. Confirming what she suspected: She was closer to winning this battle of wills than he was showing.
His fingers tightened. "That's a fire you'll regret lighting."
"I'm grown. I can make my own choices."
His sights drifted to the right—to the box. "I know."
Perhaps she ought to change tactics? "How long do you think faking bruises will trick Madara? One day, it'll have to happen. At least this way, I'm choosing it."
The abyss fell away, and they were back in the corner of the room. Sasuke leaned closer; she fell back without thinking, slightly off-balance from the unexpected change in venue. Her shoulder blades dug into the wall.
"Not so confident back in reality, hm? You'd do well to remember that I'm still a man, Sakura." His fingers grabbed her chin, tilting her head back. "And you aren't the only one inside this cage you trapped yourself in. You aren't the only one holding it all in. Keeping it together. Don't boldly start something you're unprepared to finish, as I won't be so kind as to warn you off next time you want to freely offer your services."
But his right eye was still red as death and she knew—
She'd won.
Kiss me, she thought with added mirth.
"Who's unprepared?" she said, victory seeding itself in the heat pooling in her gut.
Despite knowing that it was coming, a sinking feeling of loss doused her whole when his lips descended onto hers. Suddenly—as if he couldn't help himself. As if his good sense had momentarily abandoned him. And there, for a moment—
His kiss felt like a punishment. Impossibly unbearable. Too wild to know whether he sought to punish her or himself with it.
But only for a moment.
Because then she closed her eyes, and he moved against her, and it felt like even the Gods might've paused to watch.
What had possessed her to think she could out-maneuver Sasuke? That using the seal in such a way was a good idea? That her firm determination to no longer care about him could withstand...this?
The kiss swept through her like water that made her bones liquid. One of his arms hooked around her waist, catching her to him as her knees shook. His teeth nipped her bottom lip. His tongue rolled across it before slipping into her mouth.
It was insufferable. It was heavenly. It was too much and not enough. She'd missed him, she hated him, she wanted him, she wished they'd never met.
She was being torn to pieces and woven back together.
His arm on her waist was traveling down, grazing her hip. Then he lifted her up by the back of her thigh and wedged her into the wall. Something hard pressed at the juncture of her legs as he dug himself into her, fingers flexing into her ass forcefully enough that something animal crawled from her throat.
Sasuke ground into her. Their teeth knocked. Her heart clamored so hard it might've shaken the room.
"You aren't the only one with a covenant," he murmured into the kiss. Sakura's lids fluttered open as he suddenly pulled away, and she found him studying her face. He rubbed into her again, slowly—her heels dug into his back, inviting it. "Do you see now? I've been reticent out of mercy, but there's only so much of your prodding I'll endure. The seal would've had me take you months ago. Don't proposition me any more than this when you'll regret it."
An unbalanced shadow lurked behind his heated gaze. A warning.
He was offering her one last out. As if she'd shoved them to the edge of a cliff and he was behind her, urging her not to jump. Like he was the reasoned one here, contrary to what the feral aura oozing off him suggested.
Something was happening here. Something very different from what happened in the Land of Tea or her tent in Lightning or Uzushiogakure. Something less inhibited. Less restrained—less sensible. A starting or an ending to something alighting in the inches separating them.
A crossroad that need not be taken. A realization that could be forgotten by morning if he stepped back right now, or she pushed him away.
And she should push him away.
This wasn't right.
Whatever they found themselves on the brink of was surely damnation itself. An alter she'd laid them upon without considering any implications of such a sacrifice beyond weaponizing it in Ino's favor.
Sasuke held all the power—she merely hoped to use him. There was no equality in this action. No understanding or trust or fairness. Nothing about this was good.
She'd always felt a shame surrounding this…wanting of him, whom she could never have. When they were children, she hadn't known enough to name the feeling. After he left when they were teenagers, it was easy to ignore. During the war, it was a constant thing—an emotion to hide when she needed to defend him.
Now was no different. A familiar ache to claim him scoured her. The corresponding shame of it sullied her no sooner after.
Her body was betraying her. She was beholden to it. Blood pounded through her, warm and needy. Her joints shivered in the pause between them. Her eyes found deliverance in his crimson birthright.
It was love.
So much love. What else could she possibly call this? How could she have ever smothered this into nonexistence? It was enough to consume her.
What they were doing now wasn't right. She shouldn't have crossed this line. Not when she'd be the only one reeling from it when the dust settled.
She should push him away.
As soon as she'd decided, his head dipped into her neck, impeding her thoughts.
"Too late," he murmured before sucking on her skin, tipping them both into the bottomless cavern below like he'd intended to jump all along. One of his hands gripped her thigh while the other slunk lower, teasing the hem of her underwear on her ass. "Is this what you were asking for?" His middle finger skimmed over her covered cunt.
What was happening? Shuddering, her arms wrapped around his shoulders.
Things were moving too fast. They'd never gone this far before. He'd never let it get this far. She hadn't expected it to be this easy. Just a second ago, she nearly put an end to this thoughtless madness she'd stirred up.
The situation was quickly escalating beyond her control.
His finger slid over her again and she bit her lip on the moan that threatened to slip out, mind blanking.
"This is what you wanted, right?" His tongue swiped possessively over the spot he'd most certainly left on her neck. "Say it, Sakura."
"Y-yes," she stammered, squeezing her eyes shut.
His finger tucked into her underwear. "Say what you want."
Her breath hitched as his fingertip nudged the soft skin beside her opening—what was it she'd asked for? "Comfort."
His lips found hers, silencing her gasp as he lightly dipped his middle finger into her, up to his first knuckle, then withdrawing. "Be specific."
She'd touched herself there, but this was entirely different. This was sitting in the damp forest treetops, witnessing a falltime Fire sunset in person—her work had been a novice's butchered painting of it.
Bearing down on the hunger flaring through her blood, she rolled her hips, desperate for him to soothe it. "This!" she cried. "I want this."
Digit reentering her shallowly, he watched her with mismatched bloodlines spinning. "Not specific enough."
"Please, Sasuke—"
"Please what."
"Put it inside!"
"It?"
"Sasuke—! Your finger. Stop messing—"
"That's it, Sakura." His long finger sunk into her, deeper than she'd ever been able to reach with her own. She crashed her lips onto his when he curled it inside her. "Say it straight just like that," he said onto her whimpering mouth.
As his finger worked in and out of her, his clothed erection kneaded against her clit, building something up within her that had her breathless, legs shaking and nails clawing into his back. He kept her wrapped around his hips like she was light as a feather. Her spine trembled on the wall behind her.
It was too much. She was gasping nonsense on his lips. His ring finger plunged in beside his middle, filling her more thoroughly, and her head tilted back. Nothing in the living world should've felt like this.
This was sacrilegious. Godless. No one but the Maker ought to have such power over her.
"Yes, Sasuke, please—"
"Hmm? You want to cum?"
Her toes curled. "Fuck, yes, I'm—"
"Go on then."
The world stopped turning.
Time slowed. A universe birthed and exploded within her. Someone was screaming and someone else was saying she was doing a good job and Sasuke was staring into her soul and her neck was on fire and—
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The world recolored itself when something damp tapped on her lower lip.
"Clean these for me." The two fingers that'd just been inside her pressed between her teeth, onto her tongue. "...If you want."
Her vision swam into focus as she mindlessly sucked on them. Sasuke watched, smirking.
A shiver shot across her skin. The man before her was suddenly someone she'd never met. Stunned, Sakura drank in the rare unguarded expression he was allowing her to see as if she'd gone without water her whole life.
It was satisfaction on the turn of his mouth.
Satisfaction. She's on the verge of 22, and he's pleased that he's made her feel good. She felt the memory sear itself into her brain, beside all the other memories of him she'd never been able to sever.
Then he withdrew from her mouth, hooked under her chin with those same fingers, tilted her head back, and kissed her swollen lips.
As soon as her mind understood what he was doing, he pulled away. Forehead falling into the crook of her neck, Sasuke let himself rest there as his chest heaved once.
"We shouldn't go further than this," he said. "...This was too far, already."
Over his shoulder, her sights locked onto the door across the room, wondering whether or not she was hallucinating; whether she should agree or disagree with his sentiment. Wondering how she ought to take the fact that it sounded like he already wished he hadn't touched her.
"Regret sinking in yet, medic?" asked Sasuke quietly, hot air puffing over her collarbone.
Was it regret pooling below her navel?
"N-no. It was..." Incredible? Not enough? Ending too soon? "We don't have to stop," she whispered instead. After all, she was the only one who'd gotten anything from this exchange. It didn't feel fair.
It didn't seem like it'd be enough for him. For her.
…To successfully complete the mission.
His hands—now both innocently supporting under her ass, keeping her legs wrapped around him—twitched. Sasuke pushed her more firmly into the wall. His member pulsed against her behind his pants.
"You're not stable tonight, and I wouldn't be gentle." With every movement, his lips brushed the base of her neck.
A threat or a promise, Sakura didn't know which Sasuke meant to instill, but she was sure her stomach rolling in starved anticipation at his words would bar her from salvation forever. She had no coherent nor honorable thoughts spawning in response, so she shut her eyes and let herself bask in the warmth he wasn't taking away.
Muted minutes rolled by.
As the air around them lost its crazed tint, his breathing evened out, and her logical mind crawled back to her.
What were they doing?
She'd started this for something. There'd been a reason for this. They couldn't hole up in the corner of this bedroom all night.
Had this been enough to get him on Ino's side?
Would she need to make this continue?
Arms tightening on his shoulders so he couldn't back away without resistance, she steeled herself. "Ino… She gets out tonight."
"Of course that's what you're thinking about right now." Sasuke scoffed darkly, though he didn't attempt to let go of her.
"It's not—" Except it was—and they both knew it.
In another setting, it wouldn't be. In another life, maybe things wouldn't have to be this way. Maybe somewhere in the universe two different versions of them were having an entirely different conversation. One where they were childhood lovers, and there was no shinobi or massacre or war, and they were laying in a bed somewhere nice, laughing about something trivial, happy and normal and—not here.
But that wasn't the reality they'd gotten.
"Please, Sasuke. You promised."
He sighed. "If you give me another week, two at most, I'll have a plan that endangers all of us far less."
"No more week or two," she said with a shake of her head.
Straightening out of her neck, he caught her gaze. "It'll really be no more than two weeks this time."
"Make it happen tonight."
A breath later and his face lost all emotion; he became the man she was familiar with again. "...Aa."
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It was Orochimaru who came to her in the middle of the night.
He let his signature fill the room, revealing himself. She'd spent so much time with him over the past months that she could glean its taste in the air, despite her lack of chakra to scan for it.
Yawning, she flipped away from the wallflowers she'd been adding to, to look at him. "Where's Sasuke?"
"Hello to you, too."
"...Hello. And Sasuke?"
"He's taking care of some last-minute things for Madara. He'll be back in the morning. Don't fret."
With a roll of her eyes, she told him, "I don't need a guard if he's the one who sent you here." But internally, she turned his words over, trying to see underneath the underneath; hoping that Sasuke was really out there securing Ino's escape.
"How sweet of you to assume Sasuke would want you guarded. What an interesting improvement?" He sat in the desk chair, chuckling. "His chakra was a bit...muddled when he came to me this evening. Granted, it felt calmer than it's been in months. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
Even though there was no way the Sannin could see it in the dark, Sakura fought the heat on her cheeks. "I don't, nor do I care."
Orochimaru smiled, white teeth gleaming. "Right. How silly of me to ask."
"Did you need something? In case you missed it," she pointed to the sheets covering her lower body, "I was sleeping."
"Your conversation skills are as direct as always! And just as astute—I do need something, Sakura Haruno. I've come to collect on that future promise you owe me."
Her thoughts stalled briefly. "Future promise?"
"I told you about Madara's failing body in exchange for a favor. By now, I believe I've explained far more about it than was initially expected. The time has come to pay the debt."
"Oh." She'd forgotten all about that. How long had it been since then? Eight months? Nine? It felt like a lifetime ago. "Well, what is it then?"
His fingers drummed the desk. "When the time comes, I want you to promise you'll find someone with a cursed seal and resurrect me. If Anko's still alive, she'll suffice. Sasuke knows others if she isn't. He also knows the necessary jutsu, though I don't trust he'd do it for me on his own."
Her brow furrowed. "When the time comes? What does that mean?"
"You'll know," he said with a shrug.
Sakura sat up, blankets falling to her waist. "What's this about?" It sounded an awful lot like—"Resurrect you? You're—alive."
"We're all alive until we aren't, Sakura Haruno. Life is a fickle thing."
"Yes, but… You're—do you think you'll die soon?" she asked slowly, hating how heavy her heart felt when this was the same man who'd once been the bane of her existence.
Orochimaru smirked. "That does appear to be the plan tonight. But we'll see each other soon enough. Don't be saddened. Konoha shinobi always keep their word, after all, so I've no doubt you'll fulfill this owed favor."
His enunciation was a clue. "Is this about Ino?"
"All that medication, and you're still just as fast on the pickup. Quite respectable, really," he mused. Her heartbeat skipped, then skidded off in a frenzy at his implications as he leaned forward in the chair, lowering his voice. "Now, there are other serious matters to discuss before I offer myself as a sacrifice for your bleeding heart."
"Anything. If you get her out, I'll do anything, Orochimaru."
"Precisely what I wanted to hear. Because if I do this for you, Sakura Haruno, not only will you agree to resurrect me when Sasuke wins."
He pulled a scroll out from under his cloak, unfurling it in the space between them. She leaned forward to discern it in the dark. His prim handwriting sprawled over its face—
I, Sakura Haruno, will not reveal any information that might endanger Sasuke Uchiha.
I will not attempt to kill him or have him killed.
Should he be imprisoned, I will speak on his behalf.
Should he be captured, I will attempt to free him.
If someone tries to harm his life, no matter who it may be, I will guard him.
I will cooperate with Madara Uchiha and disobey my superiors to the extent it protects his life.
Signed on this day, the 5th of March.
"You'll also swear to me with your blood that you'll protect him until he does," the Sannin finished.
"He's already won." Touching the parchment, she pushed what little chakra she had into it. "...And this is just a normal piece of paper," she concluded with a frown.
"Not just a piece of paper. A contract."
"But like the promise to resurrect you, nothing's binding me to honor it." Sakura glanced at him. "So—normal paper."
"I believe you'd find the seal will work wonders towards all of my terms, regardless of your explicitly agreeing to them or not. However, your word as a kunoichi that you'll accept is enough. You and I will know that you've signed it and agreed. That's all the binding necessary," he stated.
Sakura skimmed the words a second time. That the seal would likely encourage all of these things listed on its own accord was probably true. What did she have to lose by signing?
If he was being honest about the plan, he wouldn't be around to supervise her compliance, anyway.
"To be clear. If I agree to resurrect you at some indeterminate time in the future, and sign this nonbinding contract right now, you'll get Ino out tonight?"
"It's binding on your honor as a shinobi of Konoha. But yes, I will free her tonight, as I've promised Sasuke."
She nodded. "Give me a pen."
"Sign it with your fingerprint."
Sights narrowing, she bit her left thumb without hesitation, smeared the blood onto her right, and pressed her print under the date.
Nothing happened.
She breathed a sigh of relief—she'd been vaguely worried that her lack of chakra might've let her miss a jutsu he'd hidden.
"There you go."
Orochimaru rolled the paper back up and tucked it away. "And finally, I'd be remiss not to give some warnings about this hastily laid plan you're enforcing on the lot of us."
"I had no part in the plan," she disputed, waving his accusation away. "It's not my fault Sasuke was taking too long."
"Mm. Yes. Well, that's neither here nor there, medic. The fact is, Madara may soon find himself without a trusted doctor to mend his failing body."
The unspoken suggestion was loud. "I will not."
"You wouldn't have—past tense. But seeing as Sasuke's finally gotten on with Madara's orders, word is that you're starting to act a bit more loyal to him. Aren't you?"
"You know we didn't—"
"Notwithstanding that you hate Madara," he resumed, interrupting her, "if it were Sasuke asking you to help his dear uncle, surely you might refuse in the beginning. But soon enough, you wouldn't be able to say no to him. You've got a marriage seal working against you. Right?"
"Wrong," she snapped. "In no world would I ever—"
"Because if you did repeatedly say no to Sasuke, hypothetically of course, it would look an awful lot like Sasuke's being inexcusably insubordinate." Orochimaru held out his hand, numbering off his next words. "Be it that he's lying about fulfilling his duties, he isn't using the seal in the way he ought to, or that he's giving you entirely different orders behind Madara's back. All of these hypotheticals could very quickly end with one less Uchiha in the world, Sakura Haruno."
After wiggling his three fingers, he tapped the scroll on his wrist and summoned a small bandage, handing it to her. "And you've just sworn in blood to cooperate to the extent that it protects his life."
Her lip curled at the trap his words laid out. It was just a piece of paper she'd bloodied to indulge him, yet his confidence that she'd satisfy all his requests felt like a mantle of unshakeable responsibility.
"For such a hastily laid plan, as you deemed it, you've given all of this such ample thought," Sakura sneered.
"It's best to be prepared for any scenario."
"Is this the reason you've been dragging me into your lab day after day? So you could corner me into helping my enemy stay healthy?"
Orochimaru clicked his tongue. "Now who's cornering who? And I never once told you how to make Madara healthy. What I've shown is how to keep him alive."
The Sannin was always moves ahead. It made it difficult to converse with him, as she could never deduce his motives. Even now, she'd no idea whether he was planning two days in the future or two years. If he truly meant to die. If he was being literal or metaphorical about his resurrection.
She'd always considered herself gifted—but Orochimaru was in a league of his own. Arguing intricate plans and semantics with a snake of his breed was a hopeless endeavor.
"...If you get Ino out, I'll do as you say."
"Good. But, well, you'll do as Sasuke says, really, since I won't be around to sweep up after either of your blunders anymore." His tone was so casual, glossing over his supposed imminent death sentence with such ease, that it was harder to believe him the more he spoke. "So as Suigetsu might eloquently phrase it, do try your best to get your shit together. Like I've said on numerous occasions, Tsunade's worst trait was how she let loss lord over her. Students should aim to be better than their shishous."
Glowering at his slight against her mentor, she intoned, "Is that all, then? The night is running out if you intend to follow through by morning."
"One final warning, dearest student of my dearest teammate."
"Has anyone ever told you the way you talk is infuriating?"
"Certainly. And are you aware that Madara's caught a sizeable number of Allies in the past month?"
She shook her head.
"The sheer volume suggests one of the higher-ranked captives was successfully cracked. A Kiri shinobi, if I were to guess. Madara's been rather tight-lipped about it all."
Although she hadn't heard until now, it didn't shock her as it might've in December or January. The Allies lost the war—and like this news, that fact didn't cut her to pieces as it did months ago. They'd lost. It was only a matter of time before Madara broke someone.
Even if every captive kept their silence, the Uchiha patriarch had nothing but time and power to search for the remaining hideouts.
"...He was bound to find some eventually," conceded Sakura.
"I'm merely relaying my suspicions. And within the week, you're scheduled to start traveling. Originally, the Yamanaka was to travel with you so the interrogations could persist. Many places you're set to appear are the same places the new captives are currently housed."
"Are you saying I might see someone that I know?" Sakura leaned forward, eyes wide. "Do you know something? Does he have someone else from Konoha?"
"They've caught shinobi from every village. I don't know anyone specifically." He hummed, sounding distinctly disappointed. "You missed the point."
She fell back into the wall, equally disappointed. "...Then what is your point?"
"After I've gotten your Yamanaka her freedom and Madara loses his quality leverage over you, what's left for him?"
"He's got the seal tying me to Sasuke. And to him, in turn."
"More fundamental than that. At his core, Madara is a simple man. If he can't have quality, he'll settle for quantity, and he's aware from your state after Lightning how affected you are by the murder of your defenseless comrades."
She stared at his strangely unsettling tattooed face. "So people will die?"
"Yes, people will die. Potentially many people." Orochimaru rested his chin carefully on the heel of his hand. "Potentially all people who would otherwise live if you traveled with the Yamanaka instead of spiriting her away into the unknown."
"Those people were dead the moment Madara caught them. I can't do anything for them. I've never been able to do anything for them," she added under her breath. "But I can do something for Ino."
"Yet, I'm telling you that they aren't dead. That they're unlikely to be killed if you have some patience."
Was he trying to make her feel bad? Did he want her racked with guilt?
What could she do? A prisoner with no chakra under the most powerful men alive's careful guard was no savior for the horde of strangers Madara had allegedly caught. Her influence was small; it had to be used selectively.
And for all she knew, all of her family and friends were dead. There was only Ino—and maybe Shikamaru. Maybe.
But Ino was the one here. Ino was the one who needed her. Ino was the only one who mattered anymore. She couldn't save anyone else.
Sakura wasn't even confident she could truly save Ino.
"I've no patience left, Orochimaru. Ino gets out tonight and that's all there is to it. I've given you all plenty of time and warning. If those people's deaths are on anyone, they're on all of you for starting the war."
"Now that the war is five years old, however, I'd posit it's your actions that have a stronger causation over this particular matter."
"Think what you'd like. If Ino escapes, I don't care either way." She swallowed down how his accusations made her slightly nauseous.
Really—what could she do? What did he expect her to do? Sentence Ino to further torture and rape because maybe they'd get her out in two weeks?
No. She was done waiting. Done going along blindly with their future possibilities. If she gave any more inches on this issue, they'd just take more and more ground.
"How many are you willing to sacrifice for her?"
"Does it matter?"
His gaze picked her apart in the darkness. "I suppose not. But I am curious. Humor a dying man, won't you?"
How many? Was there a limit?
For Ino, the last precious person she had left to protect, who wouldn't she sacrifice?
Rather than answer with such irredeemable candor, she retorted with, "How many are you willing to sacrifice for Sasuke?"
"Ah, yes, our cherished Sasuke." Orochimaru grinned, all secrets and knowledge. "I'm curious about that as well—for him, how many are you?"
I somehow cranked this chapter out in a day when I thought I couldn't.
so...surprise! :)
but don't expect the other off-weeks to yield the same frenzied results haha.
there's a DISCORD for this story, if anyone wants to join to chat about it,
or just wants to chat about sasusaku in general!
the invite code is: WV62DCrCqM
.
thanks for reading, as always.
and thanks to Leech for beta-reading