Standard disclaimers apply. I'm just borrowing these characters for a little while.
Author's note: Kishimoto-sensei's plan is to fit the entire 4th Shinobi War Arc into a matter of days in the Naruto timeline, but I'm taking the liberty of extending it since war is never so quick and clean-cut. Events from the manga will be added, removed or shifted around. Please pardon my impudence.
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Gaara was taken by surprise when two shinobis from the Intelligence Division requested an immediate audience with him. Unless there was something extremely urgent, he would only convene with the Intelligence Division each morning.
"Kazekage-sama, we have received news from the Intelligence Division at the war council. There have been an alarming number of assassinations among our shinobis in the past hour."
"What about our Division? I have not heard any reports of such occurrences from my men at all."
"As of now, Kazekage-sama, it appears that we have not yet been breached… excuse me, but there's something new coming in from the council."
The Intelligence Division shinobi with his elaborate communication headgear and backpack grew silent as he listened to the latest reports. A minute later, he turned to his companion and whispered something while peering discreetly at the Kazekage.
"Do not keep any information from me." Gaara's expression was harsh.
"I'm sorry, Kazekage-sama. It appears that Haruno Sakura-san from the medic base has discovered the cause behind these assassinations. She has reported that the White Zetsu clones that we have fought against have the ability to drain a person's chakra, then take on their form. In addition, they are able to mimic an individual's chakra signature so perfectly that our sensor shinobis are not able to tell them apart from the real shinobis."
Gaara rose from his table and walked towards the two shinobis, causing them to straighten their postures. Mun, which had been resting on an open scroll, looked up curiously.
"I want Nara-san summoned to my tent at once – send word out to the 4th Division's coastal defence team that…"
"Kazekage-sama!"
Sakura came bursting into the tent, then quickly covered her mouth with both hands as she blushed. Her sudden arrival caused one of the Intelligence Division shinobis to halfway pull out a kunai in surprise before he sheathed it once he realised that it was only the Regimental Leader's personal medic.
"Oh, I'm so sorry for interrupting! But I have important information for the Kazekage," apologised Sakura.
"It's quite alright, Haruno-san, I just received the intel from the war council as w…" Gaara did not have the chance to finish his sentence before the sand-cat suddenly stood up and bolted right past Sakura and out of the tent.
"Mun?" called out Gaara, perplexed by the sand-cat's actions.
The two shinobis looked to each other, then bowed to Gaara, "Kazekage-sama, we shall take our leave now to summon Nara-san."
Sakura shifted from one foot to another, looking extremely jumpy while the two shinobis walked out of the tent.
The moment they were gone, she walked closer to Gaara, but still maintained a respectful distance from him.
"Kazekage-sama, has there been any assassinations in the camp?"
"None, Haruno-san. I suppose it might be due to the fact that this segment of our Division has only been deployed as one-off backup a few times and returned within the same day – only Nara-san's half of the Division is currently fighting against the White Zetsu clones, and therefore there is a high chance that their security has been compromised."
Sakura heaved a sigh of relief, and Gaara held his tongue at her response: Sakura should be inquiring about Shikamaru right away, as was her nature to care for her friends. In addition, he had not seen Sakura since this morning, and with the news that there were doppelgangers among them, Gaara decided that he had to be on his guard.
Even against Sakura.
"Haruno-san?" asked Gaara, "Why do you suppose the enemy has chosen to attack at night? Wouldn't it be better to carry out the assassination amidst the chaos of the daytime battles?"
"It is in my senior medic's opinion that they wish to sow discord among the Allied Shinobi Forces at a time when they should be resting and recharging for the next day's battle, so they will be less efficient fighters," replied Sakura.
Sakura spoke with supreme self-confidence, as one would expect of a Kage's apprentice. That in itself was a problem, as Sakura was indeed a confident woman, but not one to boast of her position.
He had to test her to find out if she was really Sakura and not a White Zetsu clone, but what should he do or ask of her that would let him know without a doubt that she was for real?
The answer came so quickly and easily, that Gaara wanted to give himself a good beating.
If I took off my clothes, the real Sakura would go into a panic for some odd reason…
Gaara glowered, then started rubbing at his temples. Was that all his traitorous mind could come up with: the image of a flustered Sakura dropping his robes to the floor during their first night bunking together?
"Kazekage-sama?"
"This… all this is giving me a splitting headache, Haruno-san," Gaara turned to look at her, lifting his head slightly from his hand, "Can you give me a tension massage to help ease the pain?"
"Oh. Of course, Kazekage-sama. Please, take a seat."
"And my robes? Do I remove them as usual?" asked Gaara, inwardly bracing himself for a scream if this Sakura was for real.
Sakura nodded, and Gaara took off his outer robes to reveal his mesh shirt and shinobi pants. He cast his gaze to Sakura, who simply stood there serenely with her hands folded in front of her thighs.
She did not react as he had expected; a small part of him argued that since she just came off her shift of healing shinobis in various states of undress, the fact that he had removed only his robes might not have been enough to trigger a reaction. He had to be absolutely certain before he sent his sand at Sakura. Never mind that the sand-cat had just dashed out on them, or that Sakura was still addressing him using his formal title despite them being alone.
Gaara then tugged at his shirt, saying, "Should I get rid of the shirt too? It seemed to interfere with the efficiency of your healing."
Sakura nodded – "By all means, Kazekage-sama. We cannot have you entering the fray in a less-than-optimal physical condition."
The redhead pulled his shirt over and off effortlessly and placed it neatly on top of his discarded robes. He then sat down on the chair that Sakura usually occupied, his back presented to her.
Sakura did not go into hysterias about his state of undress, nor did she say a word about him sitting in another chair; these were bad news under present circumstances.
"You may begin, Haruno-san."
The woman claiming to be Sakura started walking towards Gaara.
And just like that, Gaara shot up from the chair and swiped his hand in Sakura's direction, immediately encasing her in a cocoon of sand. She was left exposed only from shoulders up.
Sakura blinked and started to struggle, "Kazekage-sama, what are you doing?"
Gaara approached the struggling kunoichi, hands now folded behind his back. His glare was nothing short of ferocious as he considered the unpleasant thoughts of the enemy wearing Sakura's skin so calmly and naturally.
"Drop your disguise, Zetsu," he commanded.
The game was up, and the struggling 'Sakura' ceased in his movements. The clone still did not change back to his original form, however.
"How did you know?" snarled Zetsu.
It was odd, addressing Zetsu while he wore Sakura's skin and voice, but Gaara went ahead anyway.
"First of all, Haruno-san and I don't address each other so formally all the time."
There was a commotion outside his tent, but Gaara recognised all the approaching chakra signatures. Despite the possible breach of the camp's security, he had one confirmed enemy right before him. There was no sense worrying about the may-be-clones.
The first two shinobis to enter were his own siblings, followed by Baki and a small group of night guards. The last one to arrive was the real Haruno Sakura, pushing her way forward and into the tent.
Just in time to hear Gaara blow up the rumour mill.
"Secondly, Haruno-san would never ask me to remove my shirt for a massage."
The rumour mill spontaneously combusted, scattering debris all over a hundred kilometers radius.
"You know, I'm going to reconsider running for the position of Kazekage. The perks are really… OUCH!" Kankurou yelped after Temari gave him a sound thwack upside his head.
"And finally," Gaara lit the proverbial fuse and heaved a very long string of explosive tags, "Haruno-san's skin smells like pomegranates. You smell only of death."
Oh God, the bits of the rumour mill? Just caught on fire and was burning everything to charred waste in a two hundred kilometers radius.
Everyone, including Zetsu, turned to look at a very stunned Sakura.
Sakura's first instinct was to punch a crater in the ground and jump right in; there were just far too many pair of ears listening in, and 'Death by a Suna Kunoichi Dogpile' seemed like the epitaph they would be writing on her gravestone.
Curse you, scented hand cream!
Sakura was a kunoichi, and she understood the dangers of wearing scented products – they might give her away if she were performing an ambush or tailing someone. The pomegranate-scented hand cream was her only indulgence after Tsunade explained that a medic's hand must not be scarred or calloused, lest it interferes with the precision of her chakra directing. Pinpoint accuracy was required, especially for surgeries and poison extraction, the latter of which Sakura was widely regarded as an expert in.
Shizune offered her a scentless hand cream, but Sakura found it too sticky. It took her two months to finally find the one hand cream that could be quickly absorbed and worked well for her skin. Because of its scent, Sakura made sure to use the hand cream only if she was not on missions. Her past few days were spent in the medic base, so she had been quite liberal with its application.
This blasted hand cream was probably what Gaara smelled whenever he kissed her hand. But the way he had phrased it made it sound as if Sakura wore it over her entire body and Oh, Stars, it made it sound like they were in a physical relationship.
Sakura steadied her breathing to prevent herself from hyperventilating.
"It seems I underestimated both you and your personal medic, Kazekage-sama," sneered Zetsu, "But it is of no matter now – we have taken out a substantial number of your forces already. Tonight, the lands run red with the blood of your shinobis."
Sakura forced herself to ignore all the eyes on her as she marched up to the encased White Zetsu clone, then demanded, "Dispel the chakra cloak, Zetsu. It's really creepy to hear myself saying all these."
"And what are you going to do about it, kunoichi?" challenged Zetsu.
"This."
Gaara released Zetsu from his sandy prison, dropping him within Sakura's punching range. With a roar and a blow so fast that she must have broken the sound barrier, Sakura struck Zetsu right in the back of his neck with a downwards punch that sent him so far underground, there was only pitch blackness when she looked in.
Every single person who just witnessed Sakura's rage became deathly silent. The sound of Zetsu's neck snapping still echoed in the tent. No one dared to move a muscle, except for Gaara who was calmly pulling back on his mesh shirt and robes.
Sakura peered down into the crater and made a snort of distain.
"How did it feel to hit yourself, Haruno-san?" asked Gaara as he finished tying his sash.
"You know, it was surprisingly cathartic. I've always wanted to beat up an evil twin."
Gaara smiled as if it was the most natural answer in the world. He then turned to the small congregation of shinobis.
"The malicious chakra detection field should have activated only after I caught that White Zetsu clone, yet I could sense all of you moving towards the tent long before that. Is there something I should be aware of?" asked Gaara.
All the shinobis present looked at one another, and it was obvious that no one knew who should speak up first.
Finally, it was Baki who stood forward and lifted his arm ninety-degrees from his body.
There, hanging onto the sleeve of his shirt by its teeth, was very familiar, angrily growling sand-cat.
"Mr. Fluffy-kins!" Sakura yelped in mortification as she rushed forward to grab the cat around its waist and started pulling.
Except the sand-cat was still growling, ears pulled back and apparently not interested in letting go of Baki anytime soon.
"Omygod omygod omygod. Mr. Fluffy-kins! Please let go of Baki-san!" pleaded Sakura.
Baki could only stoically allow his arm to be tugged along while Sakura tried to pry the sand-cat free. One of the shinobis began to snicker, and Baki subtly backhanded him into silence.
"Mun," commanded Gaara, "Let go. Your Mummy is here. The clone is gone."
The sand-cat gave a twitch of its ear and finally released its hold on Baki. It smacked its lips as it looked over its shoulder at Sakura and just as suddenly reverted back to his old self, purring and rubbing itself all over Sakura's neck.
"Baki-san, I'm so sorry about what Mr. Fluffy-kins did," apologised Sakura as the sand-cat proceeded to groom the top of her head.
"It's alright, Sakura-san. In fact, it was a good thing that I was summoned by the sand-cat. The Kazekage's life was being threatened, and somehow, the sand-cat knew ahead of time."
'Summoned' was a mild way of putting things. Baki was talking with Gaara's siblings over the campfire when the sand-cat appeared out of nowhere and leapt right for him, purring loudly.
And promptly attached itself to Baki's shielding arm by its fangs.
At first, no one knew what to do. Hitting the sand-cat was out of question, seeing how it was made of the Kazekage's sand, and therefore his property; one does not go around assaulting the Kazekage's possessions unless they were feeling particularly suicidal.
Sensing that no actions were going to be taken in spite of its efforts, the sand-cat started growling as it gnawed on Baki's sleeve.
It was Kankurou who remembered how the sand-cat had came rushing to Sakura's aid when she was poisoned, and he concluded that the sand-cat was trying to tell them that Sakura was in danger. A small group of night guards were quickly gathered and went charging towards Gaara's tent AKA Sakura's sleeping quarters. They were surprised when Sakura came running up from the distance, demanding that they needed to go to the Kazekage's tent right now as it was his life that was in danger instead.
They didn't need to be told twice.
None of them, however, were prepared for the sight of a shirtless Gaara standing in front of a sand-encased Sakura. Especially the real Sakura.
Gaara looked at the sand-cat, wondering if it was because it was able to detect the malicious chakra from the clone, or was it simply a case of it recognising that the clone was not the real Sakura, that caused it to rush out in search of help.
"Our security system has been compromised. I want all my ranking officers brought here at once, including Nara-san the moment he arrives," Gaara turned towards his siblings, "Baki-san, Kankurou, Temari and Haruno-san, stay here."
While the rest of the shinobis scrambled off to execute Gaara's orders, the four individuals that Gaara called out for walked further into the tent. Temari and Kankurou looked at each other, wondering what their younger brother was planning.
"I understand that Nara Shikaku-san is currently analysing the situation and trying to come up with a way of telling the clones from our own shinobis. However, we cannot afford to have mistrust amongst us, especially among my officers. I need to make sure that you are who you claim to be."
Gaara turned to Baki, "Baki-san, since Mun sought you out, it is clear that it knew you were not an enemy in disguise, so I need not test you."
Baki shook his head, "Kazekage-sama, I must insist on being tested. We still do not know how the sand-cat was able to tell that the Sakura-san clone was actually a White Zetsu in disguise."
Gaara inclined his head in agreement, "I am going to ask each of you a question that only the real person will know the answer to, so as to confirm your true identity."
Kankurou groaned, knowing exactly which question his brother was going to ask him.
"Kankurou, what is the name of the porcelain doll you keep at the headrest of your bed?"
Smacking his forehead, Kankurou replied in a long-suffering tone, "It's not a doll, Gaara – it's a collectible, antique, pre-Kage era human model."
A cricket perched on a blade of grass outside of the tent chirped twice.
"… And her name is Sarabella."
Gaara nodded, apparently satisfied with the answer. He turned to Temari and asked, "And what eventually happened to your pet ferret?"
Temari gave a little squeak of embarrassment, and quietly approached Gaara to whisper the answer in his ear. To that, Gaara nodded as well.
Kankurou didn't know what all the fuss was about; the ferret was there one day, and gone the next. At first, he was worried that it had gone and built a nest inside one of his puppets again, but after an exhaustive search during which he nearly tripped two of his own booby-traps, there was no sign of the ferret at all.
Good riddance.
Temari had been oddly quiet about it, and it was as though the ferret had never existed in the first place.
One day, Kankurou decided, he would ask Temari exactly what happened to the little rodent.
It would have to be the day that he was tired of living, of course.
"Baki-san, we have a rescue protocol for the possible event of me being kidnapped as a child by others seeking to use Shukaku for their own ends. Only you and my father know about it. What is the codename for that protocol?"
Baki glanced around the tent, wondering if it would be appropriate to give the answer aloud. Gaara gestured to him that it would be alright to do so.
"'Tanuki Retrieval'."
Sakura could see that Gaara's siblings were trying their best not to laugh out loud, but they seemed to be on the verge of bursting at the seams.
Gaara finally turned his attention to her. His eyes were on the sand-cat now perched on Sakura's shoulder, purring fondly and rubbing against Sakura's cheek.
"Haruno-san, the sand-cat's affections towards you is answer enough. You need not be tested."
"Hey, no fair!" protested Kankurou.
Shikamaru chose this exact moment to signal his arrival by flaring his chakra signature.
"You may enter, Nara-san." The sound barrier worked to protect the occupants of the tent from being overheard, but Gaara had been instructed on how to lower it at will in case of an emergency, or if he did not feel like walking to the tent flap to answer every chakra flare each time.
Shikamaru lifted the tent flap, taken aback to see so many people inside the Kazekage's tent at this hour. He took his place next to Sakura, and did his best to avoid acknowledging the daggers that Gaara was glaring his way.
Sakura, in the meantime, was blissfully clueless about the animosity between the two males.
"Nara-san, you must have heard the report from the Intelligence Division by now."
"Yes, Kazekage-sama. It does explain the number of mysterious deaths among those under my command. I understand that my father is trying to find a solution for us as we speak."
Gaara nodded, and said, "I need to ensure that my ranking officers are not wolves in sheep's clothing, so I am going to ask you a question that only you can answer, Nara-san."
Shikamaru cocked an eyebrow, wondering exactly what sort of a question Gaara was going to pose him. It was not as if they talked very much beyond military matters, and they could not even be called friends, so how much personal information could he have about Shikamaru to know he's dealing with the real one?
"Nara-san, on the day that Haruno-san was poisoned, you mentioned to me about her favourite…?" Gaara deliberately left the question hanging in mid-air.
Sakura did not make any movements towards Shikamaru, but he could almost feel her hands around his neck anyway.
Sighing, he decided to just get it over with – "Her favourite flower."
Gaara nodded just as Sakura burst out, "Shika-kun! So it was you who left that lily in my drinking flask! You could have found a vase, you know!"
Shikamaru gave her a look that implied she was barking up the wrong tree, but Sakura did not catch on until Gaara cleared his throat softly and replied, "It was me, actually, Haruno-san. I apologise, but there weren't any other vessels around for me to place the flower in."
Ignoring the startled expression on Sakura's face and Temari's mournful shaking of her head, Gaara turned to address all five individuals.
"I am going to place a few grains of my chakra-filled sand on each of you. It cannot be easily removed, and I will advise that none of you try doing so. Should any one of you approach me and I cannot sense my sand, I will treat you as I would an enemy," Gaara paused, "And that means I will kill you without hesitation."
With that, Gaara directed a small stream of sand from his gourd towards them, splitting it into four neat, small pinches that each attached to one individual.
Except for Sakura.
"What about me, Kazekage-sama?" she asked.
Not that she wanted grains of sand stuck on her body for the rest of the war, or until Shikaku-san came up with a plan, but it was odd that she was left out.
Gaara pointed at the sand-cat, saying, "Mun is proof enough that you are who you say you are."
"Stupid war," grumbled Kankurou, patting at the back of his neck where the sand grains decided to attached themselves, "We are all going to itch to death, and all Sakura needs is to walk around with a cat until we figure out who our allies are."
"Better to itch and scratch than be crushed by sand, little brother," intoned Temari sagely.
There was a flare of chakra from outside the tent, and Baki lifted the tent flap to see who it was. He then turned to Gaara and reported, "Kazekage-sama, your officers are here, including some shinobis from the Intelligence Division."
"Send them in. You are dismissed for now."
Sakura was about to leave with the others when Gaara stopped her just as the other officers began to enter the tent.
"Not you, Haruno-san. We still have our tea to drink. And you're staying for the night, as always."
The remaining bits of the rumour mill settled into the soil, and each grew into a gigantic rumour tree. They grouped together to form a forest as far as Sakura's eyes could see. Birds began to roost among the branches, and cute little critters scampered about the woodland. Everyone who came and stood in awe of the rumour forest would praise its bountiful foliage and abundance of chattering wildlife within and around it.
Sakura's life, as she knew it, was over.