A/N - Before we start, I just want to say that I'm super happy with the comments that you guys wrote and the likes and bookmarks. This is my first fanfic so I'm still experiencing a little. Don't hesitate to give me feedback if there's something you'd like to say!

The bold parts are the things that real Tsunade says during the memory (if that makes sense haha)

Well then hope you enjoy reading!

CHAPTER 3 - POISON

Naruto took a deep breath. Today was the day when he would invade Sakura's memory. Her condition had only worsened over those strenuous five long days, and Naruto was clinging to that tiny hope that entering her mind would somehow solve everything so desperately that it made him sick. Sick of forcing a smile on his face when strangers asked him about his best friend's health. Sick of having to see her, of all people, barely hanging on to life each time Naruto stepped inside her hospital room. Sick of helplessly watching Sasuke breaking nearly every object of his apartment from afar. Sick of constantly being reminded by Hizoshi that his mind was too weak to absorb the power of the Sound technique.

He trained all day long, even during the night, and slept more in a week than he had in a month. His mind apparently needed to be reinforced to accept the transition between reality and Sakura's memory. Therefore Naruto did the two things that were recommended to him : sleep and train. If his mind could not bare the smashing power of Sakura's, his chakra could be completely sucked out of him and his energy could stay permanently low. Naruto wanted to help his childhood friend more than anything, wanted to see her smile again, say she was okay, spar with him and punch him for saying something stupid. Naruto missed her. So much.

He only ever saw Sasuke when they were both training with Kakashi and Hizoshi. Aside from that, Naruto never spoke to the Uchiha, only observing him from the distance when he passed next to the dark-haired boy's apartment. Things were getting weird, and most of all Naruto was sick of that.

Tightly gripping the handle, the blond slid open the door to Sakura's hospital room. Everyone was already here.

"Naruto." Tsunade stated calmly, although said boy could faintly hear an edge to her voice.

Kakashi was standing next to his student's bed, looking out the window. The crease of his brows betrayed his worry. Sasuke was trying to seem detached, but the fact that he was glaring at the floor like it had highly offended him was rather comical. Naruto held back a tiny smile, feeling some sort of comfort at the sight of his friend that he had learned to treat as a brother.

Hizoshi, on the other hand, was far from relieved ; his hands were wrung, knuckles white, and the wrinkles straying his face rendered him ten years older. You didn't need to be a genius to know that he was deeply anxious.

"Sooooo..." Naruto trailed off. What now ? Would they perform the counter jutsu right here and now and save Sakura ?

"First of all, there are some things you need to know..." Hizoshi's shaky voice resonated in the tense silence of the room. "I... I didn't tell you everything about the Sound technique..."

Tsunade suspiciously gazed at the man. In contrast to this contained warning, Sasuke didn't even try to hide his murderous stare.

"B-but don't worry! It's not going to change anything to our initial plan other than the time that it will take." Hizoshi was wavering under those imposant pairs of eyes. "Since the technique is quite arduous, we will not be able to observe more than three memories per day, and--"

"WHAT ?! BUT THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF MEMORIES TO CHECK !!"

"Shut it, Naruto!" Tsunade commanded with a clipped voice. Still, the loud blond was right. It would take them days and weeks, even months to decipher the mystery of Sakura's condition, and they only had two weeks. Hoping this wasn't a hopeless task they had given themselves, the Hokage made a gesture towards the now completely sweating Sound ninja so that he continued what he was saying before being interrupted.

"Y-yes, so, er, as I was saying, we can sort of do a pre-selection of all those memories." Upon seeing the look of utter confusion on the others' faces, Hizoshi went on more confidently. "We know that we can evince some categories of memories, for example everything that isn't linked with either poison, memory-loop jutsus, her last mission and such. By saying a word preferably, or a small phrase, I can channel the force of the technique towards memories that have any type of link with what I just said. Of course, I will need to say it at the right time, otherwise it'll be too late and we'll be stuck in a memory... because, once we enter a memory, we have to watch its entirety, we cannot leave it halfway."

Tsunade sighed. There was a lot of things about the technique that Hizoshi hadn't told them. But she let it slide for once, knowing that they didn't have the time to divagate in rebukes. "Then we'll have to choose a lead. Who has a valid one ?"

As nobody found better than 'poison', the ninjas decided to start with this first. They called the nurse that was supposed to watch over their bodies while their spirits would be in Sakura's head. Said nurse was chosen for her good secrecy criteria. As everyone positioned themselves around the bed, with Hizoshi's hands grazing over Sakura's temples and the rest of the crew laying a hand somewhere on the Sound nin, Hizoshi spoke up. "This will feel unsettling. It will be fast. The first memory that will appear will be the most vivid one that Haruno-san has, linked to poison. Please try not to voice anything, even a cry, as it might disturb my focusing on 'poison'." Everyone nodded and took a deep breath. "Well then, let us begin."

Dancing galaxies would be the only appropriate term for what Naruto was witnessing. Every color he could only dream of was twirling around him. Dimension and time didn't have a place in this world. Was it even a world ? He didn't know. All that he was certain of was that he needed to close his eyes. His insides were churning, his head was throbbing, mind blank, he couldn't think, not even blink. But everything, everything told him that he had to close his eyes, and simply let go of anything bounding him to his reality.

When he reopened his sore eyes, Naruto was blinded at first. Pure, white light blurred all of his surroundings, and he could just groggily make out the figures of two men, who appeared to be Sasuke and Kakashi. Naruto didn't know were the rest of them was, but that strange feeling that had instructed him to close his eyes earlier was now assuring him that they were nearby. Slowly but surely, Naruto became acutely aware of every little detail surrounding him, both visibly and noisily.

Then all hell broke loose.

His ears were assaulted by heart splitting screams while his sight was filled with a faded shade of yellow. A strong scent of death filled Naruto's nose. He faintly remembered Hizoshi mentioning that some memories could be linked to odors and sensations. The horrible stench wasn't what the blond ninja was prepared for though. He wanted to cough, but strangely his body hadn't reacted to that thought. Thinking twice, he realized that the need to cough was only a reflex, not an actual need.

The screams hadn't stopped, instead growing more and more distinct. There were two different voices. One was high-pitched, loaded in pain, and clearly belonged to a young girl. The other resonated in a lower tone, although not low enough to be a man's, belonging to an older woman. That second scream was heavy with fear, relentlessly repeating one single word : Sakura.

The yellow form blocking Naruto's view moved, and steadily started to define itself as a blond woman non other than Tsunade. As Naruto lifted his hand to reach out to her, his fingers closed into nothingness. Blinking rapidly in confusion, he noticed another blond woman standing next to him. Another Tsunade. This one, Naruto realized as she grasped his wrist, was real, or at least as real as she could be in someone else's head. Looking back, he saw that the first Tsunade was indeed a product of Sakura's mind. It was Tsunade, albeit younger, screaming at the top of her lungs and belonging to a memory.

"It's not the memory we're looking for."

Real Tsunade's voice was filled with austere sadness. The sound echoed surprisingly clearly when she spoke, a stark contrast with the screams that had faded out to sound like they were underwater. As Team 7 and Hizoshi approached the Hokage, they could see the grimace twisting her features and the tears of an old pain threatening to roll down her cheeks. "This was six years ago. Sakura really scared me that time. She was thirteen and could have died. Look."

Younger Tsunade was hunched over a tern pink convulsing form. Sakura. She wasn't much smaller than the one that Team 7 was used to have around nowadays, but her hair was considerably longer and she had bruises and scratches everywhere. Her face was contorted in pain itself, her agonizing screams and unstoppable tears tearing Naruto apart. It felt so real. The sounds were back on full volume now, and the sight of a terrified helpless Tsunade crying over a trembling Sakura punching and kicking and scratching herself to just stop the pain was heartbreaking.

"She had experienced having her first patient dying under her care little over a week before. He died of poison. I thought Sakura was handling it well, as she kept smiling and taking on as much patients as normally. That's until I noticed that some of my medical books treating poisons were missing. At first I did nothing of it, as Sakura often borrows my books. But then one night a nurse came barging into my office asking if I knew where the deadly poisons still in need of an antidote were. I immediately understood and rushed to where Sakura would be most likely to use them. When I arrived at our deserted underground labs, I was too late. Sakura had already drank five of the toxins. At the time, we didn't have the antidotes to cure any of them. I was helpless. I was persuaded that Sakura was going to die. And then she did this. "

As the men turned around to look at the scene unfolding before them, a proud smile was replacing the Hokage's tortured expression. Green light was glowing from Sakura's palms.

Naruto let out a stunned gasp. "She's... healing herself!"

The fox boy couldn't believe it. He had seriously thought that his beloved teammate had tried to commit suicide. But then again, this was Sakura. She always used extreme ways to do things, and she could heal anything anywhere.

Naruto flinched as a tired, pained, small but recognizable voice spoke up in between pants. "Ricin."

Sakura was looking at the Tsunade from the memory, struggling to hold her screams in. "Takeshi. He died of ricin."

The real Tsunade opened her mouth again. "I was incredibly shocked, scared, worried, anxious, but all of it was washed away by the fact that I was so, so proud. She had managed to identify poisons that I still couldn't even uncover, and she was treating herself after swallowing five doses of different toxins in a row. And do you know what the most impressive part was ? It worked. She was getting better and better by the minute."

Indeed, Sakura was starting to breathe more normally and she wasn't convulsing anymore. In fact, she was smiling. A cocky smile, that is. "Admit it. I did more than just surpass all of your expectations." Younger Tsunade let out an unbelieving laugh.

"A lot of medics grieve when they experience their first death. They understand the boundary between life and death, and respect the fact that when a patient has crossed this line, there's no turning back. But Sakura is different. She never accepted her first patient's death. She still hasn't. She risked her own life to understand why that man was dead, to feel the boundary. Instead of respecting the line, Sakura pushes it. Even when a patient has crossed it, she stays there and keeps trying to save their life. Sakura is a gift to medicine."

Younger Tsunade was hugging Sakura tightly, repeatingly telling her to never do something as reckless as that again. "For the antidotes, I think I found one for all of the poisons. From now on, at least ricin can be cured."

"It was true. She'd found a cure for each of the five poisons that she had swallowed. And they weren't antidotes ; they were healing techniques. Only very few modifications needed to be done for them to be perfect. Nobody has ever died of those poisons afterwards."

The Hokage paused to throw a fond look at the younger versions of her genius student and herself before continuing.

"Ricin comes from castor beans. A dose the size of a single grain of sand is enough to kill. The toxin works by inactivating ribosomes and halting protein production, which is ultimately a lethal problem. Sakura had survived that, toppled with four other toxins. No one has ever impressed me more than her."

As the memory continued with Tsunade helping a limping Sakura out of the laboratory, Hizoshi took the time to closely observe each of the four people accompanying him. The first transition between reality and Sakura's memory had shocked most of them, and all were clearly exhausted. They needed a break. Unfortunately, the first memory they encountered had a traumatic side.

The Sound nin warned his companions that they were going back and interrupted the connection with Sakura's mind. Immediately, each of them plunged into a short slumber where reality was tearing them apart until their minds safely lodged themselves back into their respective bodies.

The nurse jumped as the five people she was supposed to watch over fell to the floor, their bodies limp and breathing even, all taking a much-needed nap.

A/N - hope this was clear enough...

The next chapters will be longer, and I'll try to publish more often.

~Yuki