CHAPTER 2

Naruto had managed to drag Kakashi into drinking sake for the evening, which ended by both men testing their drinking limits during the whole night.

If Kakashi was known for having an incredibly high alcohol tolerance, Naruto could hold his ground too. At first sight, they looked completely wasted. But if you knew them well you would know that they were only a little tipsy after drinking for five hours straight.

"Narutoooo! Do you hear this ruckus ?! It's..." Kakashi slurred, checking the clock hanging next to his barstool. "Nearly three in the morning! People don't know what holy sleep is ?!"

When the copy-nin had too many shots, he tended to become angry at every little thing, even the way birds passed by (If they were brave enough to come anywhere near a fuming drunk Kakashi). Naruto, on the other hand, was dead serious and turned into some weird spiritual philosopher. Many were the ones rethinking their life choices after drinking with the blond.

"Kakashi. Some people need to walk through the path of self-discovery before entering the sacred world of dreams."

"I guess you're right." The white haired jounin sighed, resting his chin on his hand. "Wait. What does that even mean ?!" Kakashi began searching his pockets frantically for something. When he got a hold of his beloved orange book, his expression turned into what seemed pure mortification.

"WHY DO I CARRY A BOOK THAT ISN'T A DICTIONARY ?!"

Naruto stood up, solemnly putting a hand on his sensei's shoulder. "Because the true meaning of words is hidden behind the speaker's eyes. Now, Kakashi, I think you are ready to go through the gates of Dreamland. Let's go to bed."

A stoic Naruto dragging a teary-eyed Kakashi wasn't an entirely uncommon sight for the neighborhood. The two, almost completely drunk by now, were heading out of the bar when a panicked woman ran towards them. She was out of breath, talking fast.

"Hatake-san, Uzumaki-san !". Both men chuckled at the honorifics, "I'm so glad I found you !"

As the out-of-breath woman continued speaking, both shinobi immediately and entirely sobered up as alarms rang in their respective heads. Kakashi's visible eye widened at first, then narrowed dangerously.

"Naruto," he ordered in a low, angry tone. "Go get Sasuke."

Sasuke was deep in his sleep when banging sounds woke him up instantly. Quieting his steps, he quickly grabbed a kunai and two shurikens sitting on his nightstand and swiftly approached his front door, all senses on alert. The sounds were getting louder, and he was about to open the door and stab the unknown jerk who had the guts to wake him up like this when a hurried voice accompanied the banging. "SASUKE ! OPEN UP !"

Said man immediately recognized his teammate's voice and slid the door open. Naruto paid no mind to the glare shooting daggers at him nor to the weapons still in a tight grip in Sasuke's hands. Instead, he grabbed the dark haired man by the collar and yanked him forward. The sudden move and its momentum crashed Sasuke against Naruto's chest, the impact making him let go of his weapons. Just like that, the blond sprinted towards the next street, still pulling the Uchiha by the front of his shirt.

"What the hell are you doing ?!" Sasuke was getting really pissed off. Nobody wakes him up in the middle of the night, especially not if it's for a fucking run. Sasuke had the strength to stop Naruto, but right now that strength was nothing compared to the white-knuckled iron grip dragging him somewhere unknown. Who does he think he is ?!

Naruto's answer made his teammate slightly calm down.

"Sakura's back."

Relief washed over the tense Uchiha. Good. She was here. It was then that Sasuke noticed that they were still running.

"Then we'll see her later ! It's fucking three AM, I need to sleep Dobe !!"

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks. His bangs were covering his darkened face, and his hold on Sasuke's shirt tightened. Looking up, the latter recognized their destination with shock.

"No, Sasuke."

Naruto's voice was strangely calm. He spoke again, this time his voice faltering.

"She's in the hospital..."

A sob racked his body, followed by another. Sasuke hadn't noticed his friend's tears when they were sprinting. Worry invaded him, his throat clenching as scenarios played in his head.

"And it's not scratches..."

Naruto's voice was now reduced to a weak whisper. "Not all of her came back."

Sasuke didn't know what that meant, but the look on his friend's face and the implication of those words were enough for him to understand the gravity of the situation.

Naruto finally looked up, his glassy eyes showing an emotion that Sasuke had never seen on Naruto before. Utter defeat. The ever energetic ninja was broken.

"She's in the ER, Sasuke."

...What ?

Sasuke's world stopped turning for a second. He was in a daze, his ears ringing loudly and erasing all the other sounds.

Emergency rooms were often occupied by ninjas. It wasn't uncommon for ninjas to require instant care after coming back from a particularly difficult mission, beaten up and heavily injured. But this was Sakura. She hardly ever ended up in the hospital as a patient, and never in the ER. She closed her wounds on her own and always came back safe and sound. She healed herself while being stabbed, dammit!

Sakura was going to make it. She had to.

Both men were standing quietly in the empty street leading to the hospital. Naruto let go of Sasuke as the woman who had warned Kakashi and him about Sakura's return crossed his mind. The description she gave them both about the kunoichi's state had horrified him to no end.

Sakura was back. Her limbs weren't.

But now wasn't the time to dwell. Sakura needed them.

Sasuke seemed to reach the same conclusion as he stomped towards the hospital, a resigned look on his face. "Let's go."

Her state was terrifying. So many tubes and machines were barely keeping her alive. The heart monitor was beeping faster than normal, and all Sasuke could do was helplessly watch Sakura die.

Because she was dying. After Naruto and Sasuke had arrived in the hospital, they had to wait for the rest of the night in the waiting room, only to be told in the morning that Sakura couldn't afford visits. Not that she would wake up, but medics and surgeons were taking all her time. When Team 7's sensei rushed into the white building, Tsunade had finished checking up on her pupil for the nineteenth time. The Hokage kept a stern mask on, but the men could clearly see that she was deeply agitated. Tsunade told them all she knew about Sakura's condition : she needed to stay in an artificial coma for an unknown amount of time, otherwise a mysterious injection -not yet identified- would spread further towards her vital organs and kill her. Konoha's best medics didn't know anything about the poison, how it worked or how to stop it, but one thing was sure. If they did not get the antidote in three weeks time, Sakura would die. The problem was, nobody knew the antidote's recipe nor who injected the poison in the kunoichi. Tsunade had sent an ANBU squad to track down anyone who had any piece of information about the poison, but all of their reports were still negative.

On top of that, the pink-haired kunoichi's mind was trapped inside a memory loop jutsu. Said jutsu hid all the happy memories from the girl's mind and constantly replayed her all the unpleasant ones. The only countering technique known in Leaf for this type of jutsu had a high risk of permanently erasing all of Sakura's good memories.

Medics and jutsu specialists from all countries had been asked for help, but none had managed to do anything more than detect the poison or tell the Hokage that no jutsu could counter this incredibly powerful mind trap.

Days had passed, with no signs of progress, only worsening. Sakura's lungs were the first target of the poison. Her pale blue face was scaring every single person who saw her, and nobody could deny that they were all losing hope. Team 7 was in Sakura's room along with Tsunade, the visits being finally permitted.

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto spoke softly, tiredness and angst lacing his voice, "we'll save her, right ?"

They had to. Otherwise... Sasuke couldn't bring himself to think about what would happen then. His blond teammate voiced it for him.

"B-because... we can't... we can't lose her !!" Naruto was crying at this point. And Kakashi wasn't far from it.

"She's far too precious !! Without her... what would we do ? W-what would we be ?"

At that question, Kakashi painfully closed his eyes, Tsunade shakily sighed, Naruto broke into loud sobs and Sasuke balled his fists.

"TSUNADE-SAMA !!"

Four heads jerked towards the door, which was flung open by two ANBUs accompanying a hatted man.

"We found him !" One of the ANBUs exclaimed, hope and relief making his voice raise an octave. As he said that, he politely but steadily pushed forward the hatted man standing next to him. Said man took off his hat and nervously bowed. "L-Lady Tsunade ! My name is Yaiwaka Hizoshi, medic-nin as well as member of the Sound Council Apprentices !! I was the one who brought in Haruno-san after I found her heavily injured !! How is..."

Hizoshi's voice died in his throat when he noticed the pink-haired woman lying on the bed, on the verge of death. His face drained from its color, and a hand shot up to cover his mouth as he started trembling uncontrollably. The ANBU who spoke earlier cleared his throat and explained why the frail foreigner was here.

"He doesn't know anything about the poison ; on the other hand his abilities are incredible, and we thought that you could be quite interested."

"Explain." Tsunade ordered, curiosity and hope rising in her eyes.

"Y-yes! Right away," Hizoshi found his voice back and shakily started detailing his abilities. "I'm the guardian of a secret Sound jutsu that allows me to transfer myself a-and what is next to me in a sleeping person's mind. I-I can recall that person's memories, living them. But o-only as a spectator. Whatever I do or say, it... it will not be registered by the mind's owner. It gives me the ability to s-scan everything that h-happened, even what that person thought at a precise moment. The fact that the memories are stored in the unconscious makes them all i-intact and p-perfectly chronological."

Tsunade's eyes widened. She looked at him, then at Sakura, as an idea formed in her head.

"If I were to teach you a memory loop counter jutsu, would you be able to cross it over with your secret Sound technique and free Sakura's mind without any damage made to her memory ?"

"It might work. But I would have to enter Haruno-san's mind with at least two other people, for the chakra support. This technique uses a different amount of chakra considering the chakra levels of the asleep. Haruno-san's mind will undoubtedly drain me in forty seconds if I go alone."

Before Tsunade could answer, three resolute voices declared at the same time, "I volunteer."

The Hokage smirked at the men of Team 7. "Count me in." There was no way in hell she would let them dig in her student's mind without her. Sakura would kill her for sure.

That is, if she survived.

"If it works," Kakashi never forgave when someone hurt his family. "then we'll be able to identify the culprit, maybe even the poison," He was going to make them pay.

And so the plan was set. The only idea they could muster. Hizoshi had five days to master the counter jutsu, while Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke had to mentally prepare to violate Sakura's privacy.

Unfortunately, none of them where prepared to see what was really constituting Sakura's memory.