A/N: So I saw a recurring comment about Sakura's insecurity and self blaming, and since I don't know how to reply to comments directly on this platform, I'm gonna do it here. Yes, my Sakura is very insecure and prone to self blaming. Kishimoto wrote her to be the most realistic and human character, and I wanted to keep that-also in the manga and anime, she is VERY insecure, almost any character focused internal monologue she has is about feeling so far behind Naruto and Sasuke, and doubting her own strength and ability. So I kept that. The reason it doesn't feel like a lot in the anime and manga is because she isn't given much focus as a character, which is the whole reason I wrote this. My Sakura is supposed to be very realistic: the age range she's in is 12-16, puberty, which in my experience was my confidence sky rocketing or crashing at any given moment, sometimes within the span of seconds. This Sakura has canon Sakura's hang ups about weakness and not being strong enough to protect her team, and her insecurity is rampant, unless she's in her place of power. Sakura never doubts herself post Tsunade training in any hospital or emergency situations, and the moments where she does, it's not so much self doubt as it is hyper awareness of her limits because of her seal formation and how much of a handicap that is. Yes, she is prone to self-blame because this Sakura is a parentified-child. Because she grew up having to take care of so many things by herself, when something went wrong, if she failed, that meant it was all on her. Yes, that's no longer her situation, but it's still a little bit her situation-she still carries a LOT of responsibility, and if she fails, people could die. It's not like therapy exists in this world yet to help her move past holding herself responsible for everything. And also, Naruto also blames himself (in this and in canon) for Sasuke leaving and not being able to keep his promise to Sakura, and it's the same for her. That's canon, it's a whole canon arc which we're almost at in this story as well. So yeah, it might feel like a lot for this Sakura to be experiencing so much insecurity and self blame, but it is a huge part of her character in both this and canon, and honestly if I didn't write her like that, if I wrote her more self assured and fair towards herself, she'd be a Mary Sue. And that's not interesting. She's gonna get better, especially after the next arc, where it'll probably be at it's worst. In the war arc she's gonna get way better about it, when she unlocks her seal. But overcoming low self confidence and self blame are really hard, and two years seems like a lot of time, but a lot of things have changed or continued to go wrong in those two years that only reinforce the low self confidence and self blame, nor in the scheme of things is two years all that much time. I'm trying to write her real, and a lot of realistic internal self growth is one step forward and two steps back, it's not linear, and while she has a support system, none of them are trained in helping her move past her problems. Sakura has to do that for herself. And that takes time and a lot or bench marks and self assessment. That being said, this chapter is one where Sakura is probably at her most self confident, so definitely give it a read. Also, about Sakura not dreaming of Sasuke last chapter, the idea is that their souls are out of sync. The darker Sasuke slips, the harder a time they have connecting in dream space, and it doesn't help that Sasuke thinks Sakura's dead, so he's not reaching or subconsciously trying to connect the way he did before.
"Inner Sakura..."
"Sakura's thoughts..."
memory...
Standard disclaimers apply.
Sakura and Shikamaru parted ways almost the second they were out the window. The streets were in chaos. Fire, dust, and shrapnel rained from every direction. Civilians and ninja alike were running around in chaos, screams and shouts to run filled the streets. Ahead of her to her left a building exploded as a massive centipede burst out from under it.
"Ah fuck that!"
She heard a piercing scream from ahead of her, and saw a child laid out on the ground, having tripped.
"Tam!" Someone called, panicked looking back at the child.
The centipede lurched towards the child, and that's where Sakura drew the line. She leapt up and flipped, using the centipedes head as a spring board, the force of it grounding the monstrous bugs head into the earth. She landed between the centipede and child, pivoting on her landing and pulling out her fan.
"Go back to hell where you belong, shannaro!" Sakura shouted, as she cut her fan across the ground, sending her chakra out in a wave that uprooted the earth and slammed into the centipede, pushing it several meters back and burying it in a pile of dirt. The hellish monstrosity stopped moving.
"Huh. That was the fist time that worked! That was so cool!"
Sakura tossed what remained of her shattered fan at the lifeless monster in a fit of centipede-hating petulance, before kneeling next to the child.
"Are you okay?"
"U-Uh-huh…" Tam sniffled.
"Thank you so very much!" An old woman, cried, coming over and kneeling next to her granddaughter. She'd been the one to shout the child's name earlier.
The child let out a gasp of pain, her knee bleeding profusely.
"Oh good," Sakura said with a kind smile, "this wounds not too bad." She hovered her hand over the child's knee healing it in an instant.
"Thank you…" the child murmured, feeling relaxed and safe in the presence of the older girl, despite the chaos around them.
Sakura hadn't realized she had an audience. But a group of older ninja had seen the whole thing and couldn't believe their eyes. "It's down! That girl took it down in one shot!"
"Sakura!" She looked over in surprised to see Iruka jumping down and running towards her. "Are you alright?"
"Iruka-sensei! What's the situation?"
"The Akatsuki is attacking Konoha! They want Naruto!"
"The Akatsuki…"
"Damn…I knew we were short on time but I didn't think it'd be this soon…"
"I've already alerted Hokage-sama. The alarm should sound soon."
"To think they'd attack us this directly…"
Another explosion sounded from behind them, making the kid shriek again.
"Hey, it'll be okay. This is a ninja village. This is what we're here for. We're going to protect you, so pretend this is just a bad dream, and when you wake up, everything will be just fine."
"B-But…if it's a bad dream, I still have to wait 'til it ends."
"Yeah, but in your dream, you're the strongest one there is. So you can handle this. It's scary, but that doesn't have to stop you." Sakura said gently.
Tam closed her eyes tightly and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes, the look in them was determined.
"That's better. Can you stand?"
"Yeah, Nee-chan!" The child said pushing up from the ground and taking her grandmother's hand.
"Great, take your grandmother and head to the shelter, okay."
"Right!" Tam chirped, still full of brave determination.
"Thank you!" The grandmother said, giving Sakura and sincere and meaningful look, before following the child away.
"Iruka! We need to go!" One of the older ninja called from behind them.
"You're headed to the hospital, right?" Iruka asked.
"Yes."
"You're gonna have you work cut out for you, healing all the injured."
"I'll manage, but try to avoid paying me a visit sensei."
"Right!"
The two took off.
Getting to the hospital without being drawn into a battle turned out to be far more challenging than expected, but she finally managed to reach the building which was luckily still intact.
She ran in and was immediately greeted by the sight of a lobby overflowing with unattended injured. Cries of pain filled the air and medic and nurses were running around haphazardly, doing what they could but without any sort of organization or system, meaning that resources were being wasted and some patients were being attended to twice while others not at all.
"What the hell is going on here?!" Sakura bellowed, drawing the attention of all the medics and nurses, and several patients.
"Sakura-chan! Thank goodness your back!" One of the nurses cried in relief. "What do we do?"
"Who's in charge? Where's Shizune-senpai?"
"She went to deliver a message to Tsunade-sama and hasn't come back yet."
"Shit. I…really don't want to be in charge right now…"
Sakura's eyes swept over the bleak scene. The lobby was filled with mats occupied by screaming and crying ninja and civilians. Some were missing limbs, others had debris and shrapnel embedded in limbs, others still had parts that were completely crushed. A few had injuries that were less severe, but none of it was good. She knew outside wasn't much better. Anyone else would have curled into a ball under the pressure just dropped on them. But Sakura wasn't anyone. She worked best under pressure, and this was her place of power. This was what every skill and experience she had was suited for.
"Okay. All medical staff gather around now!" In no time at all, all the medics and nurses had gathered around her. "This is an emergency situation so we need to remain organized and calm, but act with urgency—"
"And who put you in charge?" Sneered the one doctor apparently determined to contradict her at every turn. Chinen. "You have the least seniority of any of us. Are we really gonna listen to a treasonous monster lover like her? This whole attack is because of your jinchuriki teammate! He's who they're after!"
"Are you a medic, or a judge?" Sakura snapped. "Yes, the Akatsuki are after Naruto. That changes nothing about the situation. As for seniority, I have been in here for a total of two minutes and eighteen seconds, and it is evident that no one has bothered to take charge. Two nurses asked me what to do the second I walked in. You were more than welcome to take charge, but you didn't. More than that, it's on Tsunade-sama's authority—she ordered me to take over hospital oversight while Shizune-sensei focused on the autopsy. Clearly, if you truly cared about being a medic, you wouldn't be doing this right now, and I don't have time for your ego to bruise. If I could fire you right now, I would. But we're already spread thin and it's only going to get worse, so unfortunately your job's safe right now. Now are you going to do it? Cause if you're only going to get in the way and waste time, then walk away now."
Chinen's mouth was pursed tightly, his eyes glaring. But he said nothing, backing down. She took that as a sign of submission, and continued with what she had planned to say prior to his interruption.
"Kamiya-sensei, Hori-sensei, Iida-sensei," she said, locating three medics, "Gather any long term patients who are stable and can walk and get them to the nearest shelter. Once there, re-stabilize them, and act as medic for the shelter, you'll be getting a lot of injured in. Use manual non-jutsu based treatment whenever possible."
"Yes Ma'am!" One of them answered, before the three took off.
"As for the rest of you, we're going to be using the triage system. Green tags mean the patient is stable and safe without further treatment for now. Yellow is stable but in need of further treatment. Red is critical and in need of immediate treatment. Black is unable to be helped. No medical ninjutsu is to be used on green or yellow tags. We can not waste our chakra here, red should be the only tag you utilize medical ninjutsu for! Aside from the three bringing patients to the shelter, one medic should be in each safety shelter, so we'll need three more volunteers who are willing to attempt the run to the west, south, and north shelters."
A slug suddenly crawled into the hospital and up Sakura's body on to her shoulder, startling several of the medics.
"Lady Katsuyu!"
"Sakura-chan! Thank goodness you're alright. Tsunade-chan deployed me to reach everyone in the village, but she said I'd only need to send one of myself here for you, and that you'd take care of the rest."
"Actually, we'll need six more, I'm sending some medics out to the shelters, along with stable patients."
"I see. I'll be waiting outside for them, then."
"Thank you Lady Katsuyu!" She turned back to the medics. "This is good, this means we'll be able to remain in contact with each other through Lady Katsuyu. She'll be able to relay messages between us for situational updates. Is anyone willing to go to the shelters?"
Three hands went into the air. "Thank you. Stay low, do not engage in any combat. If you come across the enemy, run. And if you come across any comrades, have one escort you."
"Understood." The three chorused, taking off.
"Because of the situation, we can only spare two medics to cover standard rounds, for any long term patients not stable enough to be moved. Chinen-sensei, Maekawa-sensei, I'm going to have you two take care of that."
"You've got it, Sakura-chan!"
"…Fine." Chinen muttered. They didn't have time for the argument his tone was trying to pick.
"The rest of us will be handling this situation here. Whenever you tag someone with a red tag, call over senior medical staff and have them take over. The second they get there, move on. Any green tags, dismiss to the nearest shelter. Yellow tags, move to the west wing. Black tags to the south wing. Red tags stay here until cleared by senior medical staff to be moved. Once they're cleared, move them to the ICU or ER and follow any further instruction given by senior medical staff, unless their condition's been down graded to yellow. Are we all clear?"
There was a chorus of "yes ma'am's," "understood's," "Hai Sakura-chan's," and then everyone was off and moving.
"Is Tsunade-sama alright? Sending you to everyone would take a lot of chakra." She asked Katsuyu.
"She's alright for now, although she's currently facing an Akatsuki member."
"Can you relay to her that whoever she's facing is a puppet. The real one is remotely controlling them and using his chakra and jutsu through them."
Katsuyu was quiet for a moment before speaking again. "I've relayed the message."
"Thank you, Lady Katsuyu."
"You're handling this well, Sakura-chan."
"Thanks…this sort of situation is what I'm used to." Sakura said, kneeling next to the mat closest to the door, to aid in the triage.
The medics and evacuated patients had reached the shelter safely, and Sakura's triage system had the dire situation managed with some level of efficiency. At the very least, no one was being looked at twice while others were forgotten in the chaos. Sakura was sweating, her arms burning as she brought yet another red tag out of critical condition, and downgraded to a yellow tag.
Sakura huffed.
"Damn…there's so many still left…"
"Sakura-chan!" The slug summons cried, a usually unheard note of urgency in her voice.
"Lady Katsuyu? What's wrong?"
"Gather everyone here, now! Something's coming!"
"Shit!"
"All patients and medics to the lobby, now!" Sakura bellowed, leaping up and sprinting through the wings to bring the patients back to the lobby. Everyone reacted with confusion, but luckily didn't question it, most gathering into the lobby, where Katsuyu had grown massive, absorbing all of them. Sakura was absorbed into Katsuyu, along with the patient she was supporting, apparently at the very last minute.
Sakura had spent three days inside Katsuyu before, but this was different. This was more like being stuck right under the membrane. It was a strange feeling. Dark, goopy, and pressed so tightly against her skin that it was a little suffocating.
There was a shaking and rumbling, and then Sakura and the rest of the medics, nurses and patients who had managed to make it to the hospital lobby were passed through the slugs membrane back into the light of day. And the sight was absolutely horrible.
For a millisecond, Sakura thought they may have teleported. But the Hokage mount left it unquestionable as to where they were. They were still in the village, but it was unrecognizable. Everything was destroyed. Every single building had been leveled. There was a haze of dust fogging the air, from wrecked stone and wood. There was barely any road visible, too many collapsed buildings covering what used to be the streets. The only spot that seemed clear and level was in the center, where Sakura had no doubt Pain was.
As she took it all in, the sight began to blur as tears distorted the destruction. There was something vaguely familiar about it. The last time there had been ruin even an eighth as bad as this, her mother had died. Her heart began to hammer, her breathing growing uneven at the thought of what may have become of all of her friends. Where there was wreckage like this, there were victims: injured, dying, dead.
"Lady Katsuyu…were you…able to protect anyone else?" She murmured, her voice rough.
"Yes. Several, thanks to Tsunade-sama's seal. But she's used it all up to save everyone in the village, so I'm afraid I haven't been able to heal many of them, only save them from death."
Sakura's fists tightened, her arms shaking as she took a deep breath. "That's all I needed to know." Sakura stood up, facing the medics and nurses who had been saved. All of them looked shell shocked at the scene around them. Many, both medics and patients, were crying or screaming. Some were just obscenely pale, paralyzed by the horror. She took another deep breath and forced strength into her voice. "Alright, listen up! Thanks to Tsunade-sama's efforts, many are still alive. But that means that they're likely injured. Our job hasn't changed. If anything it's become even more crucial. We're now operating as field medics. The plan remains the same. Emergency triage rules. Any yellow or green tags, bring back here and dispense manual first aid. Red tags, attempt to stabilize with jutsu and return them here. Black tags…are unfortunately beyond our aid. This will be our base of operations. Four medics and all nurses will remain here, the rest will go on search and rescue in pairs."
"How will we keep in contact?" A medic asked, genuinely awed by her ability to remain level headed and focused in this situation.
Sakura turned to Katsuyu. "Lady Katsuyu, I know it wasn't me who summoned you, but if I give you my chakra now, can you utilize it?"
"Yes, since I've absorbed your chakra already and we're already bound by contract, but Sakura-chan you don't have enough unless you—"
"I know."
"You can't really—"
"I'll do what I have to, just like Shishou did. Lady Katsuyu, when I share my chakra with you, can you split so all the medics here can keep in contact, and use my chakra to heal anyone your other parts have contact with?"
"It's possible, but Sakura-chan, I'm only a medium, you're going to need to act as the primary medic for everyone I heal, and keep your chakra well controlled."
"I can do it." Sakura stated. It wasn't like there was any other option here. She had to do it. That's all there was to it. It was no different then when her mom got sick. She'd do what she needed to do, and she would make it work. That's who she was. She grabbed her mother's necklace and took another deep breath, turning back to the gathering of medics. "Lady Katsuyu will keep us in contact with each other. Chinen-sensei, Maekawa-sensei, Tsuda-sensei, and Kaneko-sensei. You four take care of the injured here with the help of the nurses. Everyone else, remember the four cardinal rules of medical ninja. Do not engage with the enemy under any circumstances. Right now, what the village needs are medics. Do not, under any circumstances, let yourselves die. Are we clear?"
Just as with earlier, another, far shakier chorus of affirmatives sounded out.
Sakura turned to face the wreckage of the village and thought of her friends. How many of them were critically injured and fighting for their lives? What if Pain found information on Naruto and went after him once he was done destroying what remained of the village? What if they got Naruto? What if he showed up but wasn't strong enough to take on the Akatsuki?
With each question, her heart rate accelerated more and more, allowing herself to feel all of the sheer terror and panic of the situation. And then the ruthlessly agonizing and tragically familiar pain tore through her as her chakra exploded.
The second she felt it, she grabbed onto Katsuyu, channeling as much of the chakra as she could into her. Katsuyu began splitting, a smaller piece of her attaching herself to each of the medics, who were all staring wide eye'd and jaw dropped.
Sakura's jaw clenched against the pain and chakra tearing her arm apart, but she was funneling it into Katsuyu almost as quickly as she was producing it, so it luckily didn't overwhelm her mind too much, allowing her to stay focused in the moment. Katsuyu was now small enough to crawl up her arm and ride on her shoulder, though Sakura still had to keep her hand on her to pour her chakra into her.
"I have to get moving…if I stay here too long, my chakra may attract the enemy to this camp…"
"S-Sakura-chan…?!" One of the medics gasped.
"Alright…Let's get moving. Go!"
"R-Right!"
The medics took off in different directions, Sakura leaping forward, her leaking chakra pushing her much further than usual.
"Lady Katsuyu, please begin healing!"
"Ok Sakura-chan."
She was suddenly overwhelmed with the flood of chakra scans from the injured. There were so many, some in truly critical condition. Her heart constricted when she recognized two of them as Kakashi and Shizune. The brief moment of panic flared her reaction again, causing her to bite back a shriek of pain, her forehead feeling like it was burning. If another medic came across them, they'd be considered black tags—beyond help. But at the moment, her chakra was the definition of disposable, and she was the one calling the shots. For those two, it didn't matter that they were black tags.
"Not on my watch, shannaro!"
It was unfathomably hard, holding this many conditions in her mind. She didn't need to treat each of them, Katsuyu handled that. But she still needed to process and hold all of the conditions and what she would do to treat them, to pass the correct amount of chakra to Katsuyu to handle each one. And doing that all simultaneously while maintaining the seal, handling the pain, searching for injured, and keeping her awareness lest she attract an enemy too her, was pushing her to a limit she never knew she'd have to approach.
"Mother fuck, this is so damn hard!"
Sakura came across someone injured stuck under a huge piece of stone. She kicked it, the stone shattering into a rain of pebbles under the force of her chakra. She knelt, raising the one hand she had free, not glued to Katsuyu, and laying it against his chest.
Grinding her teeth, she managed a chakra scan, and began healing him until his eyes fluttered open.
"You…You're a Hyuga." She grunted, seeing his pale pupil-less irises.
"Y-Yeah. Hyuga Kō…You—what the hell is happening to your chakra?!"
"How are you f-feeling?"
"Fine, now, thanks to you, but are you—"
"Can you walk?"
"Y-Yes."
"I…I need you to come with me. You…You need to use your byakugan to help me find more injured…and keep me updated about the s-situation with the Akatsuki."
"…You're a friend of Hinata-sama, and Neji-san…right? Haruno Sakura-san?" The idea of Hinata being close with someone clanless hadn't gone over well with the Hyuga clan on the whole. It was less a problem for Neji, being from a side branch, and given that the two clanless shinobi he was close with were his teammates—when it was your team it was inevitable. But Sakura wasn't Hinata's teammate. In an uncommon feat of bravery, Hinata had actually talked back to her father, telling him she understood the clan came first but until Sakura posed an active threat to the clan, Hinata was going to continue being friends with her, no matter what he or the rest of them thought. He still wasn't sure how he felt about her choice of friends yet, still more in line with the head of the clan's thoughts.
"What gave it away? The hair?" Sakura grunted, standing up and staggering a little.
"It is distinct—are you okay?!"
Sakura let out a painful breath, funneling more chakra into Katsuyu. "I'm fine…we need to get going."
"…I understand. I'll lead the way, Sakura-san."
"Thanks."
Kō lead her from body to body, looking out towards the center of the village while she worked on healing. At several anxiety inducing points, it looked like the enemy glanced their way. And truly he couldn't blame them…Sakura's chakra was insane and flooding the area. It was impossible not to notice. But whether it was their luck or the enemy's arrogance, they had yet to make an attempt to come towards them.
Balancing healing the person in front of her with the remote healings she was overseeing and her chakra reaction truly made her head want to explode. Luckily she didn't need to be aware of her surroundings anymore, as Kō removed that concern from her.
"That's…!"
"What is it?" Sakura asked, her voice horse.
"It's Naruto!" The Hyuga informed her.
Another shock of unbridled panic shot through her, again spiking her chakra reaction and making her bite back a scream as she funneled more chakra into Katsuyu, while beginning to heal her next red tag patient.
"What's going on? I can't see from here!" Sakura demanded. She knew she had twelve other things to focus on, but she needed to know.
"It's incredible…He took down one of the Pains with a single blow…"
"Naruto…you really did your best on that training, huh?"
"He's defending Hokage-sama!"
"Shit! Lady Katsuyu said Shishou's seal was used up protecting the villagers from that last attack. She can't use her creation rebirth: mitotic regeneration. She's more vulnerable now than she's ever been. She needs to get out of there!"
"Naruto's looking over this way! He must sense your chakra, Sakura-san."
"Damn…I can't stay in one place too long or everyone around will become a target…that's what happened with Dad's team."
Before Sakura could get moving, a giant frog landed next to her, causing a small cloud of dust to bloom into the air. The frog set down Tsunade, who was aging in front of her eyes.
"Shishou!" Sakura gasped, finishing with the patient she was working on so they were now in yellow tag condition, before running to her master, her body shaking in pain.
"Sakura…" Tsunade murmured, her breathing ragged. But she was so relieved, to see the girl had survived. "It's all right now…" The poor girl's right arm was wrecked, funneling chakra into Katsuyu. The slug had informed her that Sakura had more or less hijacked her summons and was now performing the immense network healing without any sort of instruction, or even having unlocked her seal—using her kekkei genkai to power it. She'd raised a fine apprentice. Sakura finally reached her, throwing her arm around her in a one armed hug. Tsunade leaned her wrinkling forehead against her apprentices, feeling how hot it was. How Sakura was maintaining the seal formation, performing the immense network healing, healing those physically in front of her, and doing all that through a chakra reaction was a feat of chakra control never before seen.
"Yes…you protected everyone…" Sakura sniffled, watching her master wither before her. "Here! Take some of my chakra!"
"No Sakura. You…are what's keeping everyone alive…right now. It requires an…incredible amount of chakra…which your reaction is supplying…all of your chakra needs to be…allocated to that…your body can't sustain a…reaction forever…and the second either your body gives out…or your reaction calms…you will no longer be able to…continue. So you…need all of your chakra not being sealed…going to the network healing. Save as many…as you can, while you…can…" Tsunade gasped out.
"Dammit. I know she's right…but…her chakra's completely depleted. She's going to die without even a little bit…and I can't let that happen."
"You…aren't allowed to die on me, shishou. I know you're right, so I…won't give you much…just enough to make sure you don't die…but you're taking some of my chakra, shannaro!"
There wasn't enough of her chakra flowing to match, but Sakura had scanned and healed Tsunade enough to have her flow converted to memory. True to her word, she barely gave her master anything, just enough to take her flow from nonexistent to sense-able. The woman still looked decrepitly old and withered, and she still went unconscious, but instead of dying, as was the definite prognosis before, she went comatose. Which meant there was a good chance she'd wake up once her body replenished enough of her chakra on her own.
"Thank you for everything, Shishou…I won't let your efforts go to waste…I'll keep everyone alive…"
"Is…Hokage-sama dead?" Kō asked, his voice a whisper.
"No. She's comatose. She'll wake up after she builds back enough chakra." Sakura answered.
The Hyuga squinted at the ancient looking woman again, seeing a small trickle of chakra where he was previously sure there'd been none. "…You saved her, didn't you?"
"Yeah. I did…as much as I could for now." Sakura turned to address the frog, her voice trembling with the pain she was feeling. "We have a medical base set up 73 meters west…please take her and these two there." Sakura requested, nodding to the two now yellow-tag patients lying not far.
The frog studied her, blinking with its nictitating membrane before agreeing. "Naruto kept glancin' ova here. I thinks he's worried 'bout ya. Your chakra's crazy."
"I know. I'll be fine."
The frog said nothing more, taking the two injured men and Tsunade and leaping off towards their medical camp. Sakura watched them go, but doubled over as they receded, curling up as a fresh wave of pain ripped through her. She'd taken too much of a break. The constant moving, while exacerbating it, had kept her mind from focusing too much everything hurt. But the ten seconds she'd been standing there watching them go, only focusing on the network healing and her seal, the pain of it had taken the opportunity to remind her of its presence.
Kō ran over and crouched next to her in concern, his hand resting unsurely on her back. He could feel her burning hot skin even through her shirt.
"A-Are you okay?"
Sakura took a shaky breath. "No…" she ground out, "but we need to get moving. Where's the next person?" She rose but only managed three shaky steps before sinking to her knees again.
"Damn…my body can't give out yet. Too many people are still in critical condition. I need to make sure they're stable first! Shannaro!"
The Hyuga knelt in front of her, facing away from her. "Hop on. I'll piggy back you."
Not the ideal situation, but at this point, fucking ideal was three days away in Suna. Sakura would work with whatever was there in that moment.
"…Right. Thank you." She clambered onto his back, holding on with one hand while the other remained in contact with Katsuyu, and he took off towards the next injured person in his line of sight. He could feel her muscles twitching against his back. He couldn't fathom how she was still going with how much pain she was in.
"Lady Katsuyu…aside from Kakashi-sensei and Shizune-senpai…I'm having a hard time keeping track of whose condition is whose…Can you please give me a report?"
"Of course Sakura-chan." The mark of true mastery of the art of immense network healing was being able to track everyone's condition, but it wasn't surprising that Sakura hadn't mastered it. She shouldn't have even been able to pull off such a skill without the strength of one hundred, or naturally possessing as much chakra as Senju Hashirama. For the first time she was using it, without her seal, channeling her legendarily uncontrollable kekkei genkai that put her through immense pain, while still forming her seal, she was already pulling off an impossible feat. Katsuyu had no doubt that the next time Sakura attempted this skill with her seal, she'd have it mastered then and there.
"Shikamaru's broken leg has been taken care of. He sustained no further injuries. Kotetsu and Izumo are both injured but stable. Choza is still in critical condition, but he's been stabilized enough to be moved. Choji remains uninjured. Ino-chan only had minor injuries, and has been fully healed. Inoichi sustained no injuries. Iruka and his squad sustained severe injuries, but remain stable. Several members of the Aburame, Hyuga, Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi, and Inuzuka members are severely injured. Some are in critical condition, but most are stable. Shizune-chan and Kakashi-san are both in critical condition."
"…What about civilians?"
"There are many non-life threatening injuries. Only a few are severe, though even then, they're not critical. It seems most of the non-ninja population made it to the bunkers."
"Are those still intact?" Kō asked.
"Yes."
"And Kurenai-sensei? Is she injured?" Sakura pressed.
"I'm not connected to her, but the medic at the east bunker said she was there. He says she's fine and handling things very well, and that both she, and the baby she's carrying are uninjured and okay."
"Good…I don't know how much longer…my body can sustain an active reaction…once someone in the network he-healing is stable…please alert the c-closest medic…or whoever's around, who's uninjured…to bring them to med-base, and remove them from the network healing."
"Of course, Sakura-chan. A small part of me is with Naruto-kun as well. Would you like me to add him."
"Y-you're with him?! Yes! Add him…and can you…relay this message: the last theory…the decoding team had…is that these Pain's are puppets…being fed the puppet master's chakra and utilizing his jutsu…so the real one—the puppet master…has to be somewhere…nearby…"
"I've told him, and that the message is from you. He asked how you're doing and about the reaction, but I told him you're fine and to stay focused."
"Thank you…"
Kō set her down next to the next injured person they found, and Sakura's heart sank. It was Ikehara. She wasted no time in healing. He was in pretty bad condition, having sustained a major concussion, and several broken ribs, one of which was at risk of puncturing a lung.
"What's he even doing here?! He should have evacuated!…Don't worry, Ikehara-san…you're gonna be fine…I promise! I won't let you die!"
"Ino-chan and Inoichi-san have converged with Shikamaru's group, and they've got Shizune-chan with them. They're discussing pin-pointing the location of the master Pain."
"No wonder…I haven't been able to stabilize senpai yet. They moved her before it was safe to do so…Tell Ino-chan to keep Shizune-senpai on…the most stable ground she can so…I can get her out of critical."
There was a pause from Katsuyu while Sakura focused on setting the rib that was at risk of puncturing Ikehara's lung.
"She wants to help." Katsuyu informed her.
"No…she needs to worry about…tracking the master Pain…She needs…to save her chakra for…that."
"Both she and Shikamaru are very worried about you."
"Tell them…I'm not great…but I'm managing…I'll take care of…the healing…they need to find the master Pain…or this'll never be over…"
"Would you like me to keep you in the loop?"
Sakura's chest was burning, her head boiling, her body twitching and shaking. It was all she could do to stay focused on the network healing and the seal.
"Not…unless they need me…I need to f-focus on this…"
"They understand. They say they'll take care of this, and to keep it up. Ino-chan's very worried about you though. She says after this ends, they'll need you so you can't die, but also can't be unconscious for several days."
"I don't think…I will be…just a few hours…"
"But Sakura-chan, the stress you're—"
"From the millisecond…the reaction started, I was…off-putting all of it to you…I've been constantly…getting rid of it…so…it should be fine…just a few hours…but…Ino-chan will need to…heal my arm."
Ikehara shifted, eyes fluttering open. "That…you, kid?"
"Ah…Ikehara-san, do you recognize me? You have a concussion, and five broken ribs…"
"You're my niece."
Sakura's brow furrowed. "You have the wrong person…it's me, Haruno Sakura…"
"I can tell. I don't have a niece."
"Probably disorientation from the concussion…"
"You're the closest thing to a niece I've got, kid."
"Wait…what? Is it disorientation…or is he being really sweet?"
"You think of me…like a niece?"
"Isn't that what I just said?" Ikehara answered gruffly, wincing at the pain in his ribs.
Despite how her body hated her at the moment, and the bleakness of their surroundings, Sakura cracked a weak smile. "Ah, good. It's not disorientation…You'll make a full recovery…why didn't you evacuate?"
"When the attack started…I thought you might need some…extra supplies…" with a grunt, he shifted lightly patting the belt pouch at his waist. Sakura opened it, trying to hide her grimace at the feel of her chakra slicing through her. Inside was a bag of food pills, multiple jars of her ointments, serums, sedatives, antidotes, and remedies, along with some small phials of herbs, jars and pouches of various medicinal herbs, and a few bandages.
"Thank you, Ikehara-ojisan…these'll help a lot…you're gonna be okay now…another medic will come and take you to the med-base…give the supplies to the doctors there…"
Ikehara grunted an affirmation, his body relaxing. "Be safe, kid."
"I will…Katsuyu-sama?"
"I've let them know." The slug affirmed.
They moved on, Kō carried them to the next injured ninja, but a shout from him a second later made Sakura's focus on the patient slip.
"What?"
"Naruto's down."
Sakura stared down at her shaking hands where they hovered over the patient.
"Don't lose focus…you aren't allowed to die…you can't go to the front lines…"
She took a shaky breath and healed the patient. "This patient's stable as well. Hyuga-san, please take me towards the front line."
"If…if I push my reaction and release all the chakra at once in a wave, like I do with fan dancing…It may act like a targeted bomb…that much concentrated energy may be enough to at least take down one of them…I've only managed to do it once correctly against the centipede…but I should be able to do it again."
Kō looked unsure, very much not fond of the idea of bringing the most valuable member of the medical team to the front lines where even Naruto was struggling.
"On behalf of Tsunade-sama, belay that order." Katsuyu cut in. "Sakura-chan. You are acting as the life support for the majority of the village. You are not to put yourself at greater risk than you currently are."
"I know…" Sakura growled. She understood what was at risk, but when it was her team…she never had been able to be fully rational when team 7 was involved.
They sat in the rubble for a long second, Sakura's concern for Naruto turning to seething at the situation. Her hands were tied. She couldn't help Naruto right now, but she be damned if she let any member of Team 7 die. So she turned her focus on Kakashi's condition to distract herself from how reckless she longed to be. Kakashi was her sensei, the captain of team 7, and as such her dedication to the team clearly extended to him as well. He'd looked out for her, protected her, worried and cared for her. Kakashi was the older brother, or uncle she never had. She couldn't let him die. Not under any circumstances. She had to save him, for him, Naruto, and for herself. He was in such bad shape.
"This level of damage…must have been one hell of a fight…"
"Lady Katsuyu…I'm going to spike my reaction again…please make sure Kakashi-sensei and Shizune-Senpai stabilize."
"Sakura-chan your body—"
"Will be fine…with this…I know my limits more than…anyone."
"It hurts a fuck ton…and my arm will…need serious healing…but, none of the chakra's lingering in my body…I'm getting rid of it as soon as it comes…so it'll be fine. I think…"
"Alright. Let's do it Sakura-chan."
It wasn't hard. All she had to do were think about the words, "Naruto's down."
Her reaction surged again and this time she didn't fight her urge to scream. The pain was too much. But immediately, all the chakra not going to her seal went straight to Katsuyu, and thus, straight to Shizune and Kakashi. She focused on the scan feedback she was receiving from Katsuyu monitoring first how Kakashi's most life threatening injuries healed a bit. It was slow going, but she managed to get him from being a black tag to a red tag, and after more focus than she ever thought herself capable of, finally managed to bring him out of critical condition. Once seeing that he was stable, she switched her focus to Shizune, slowly bringing her out of critical as well.
Sakura fell forward, catching herself on her one available arm, her breathing ragged.
"Damn that takes a fuck ton of focus…shit…ow…to think shishou can actually monitor all of these patients simultaneously…and not just keep them out of critical…but fully heal them…that's incredible!"
"Sakura-chan! Are you alright?!" Katsuyu asked. Immense network healing required the user to be able to handle multiple streams of thought at once, for however large the network was. It meant taking in several inputs of information, processing all of it, and responding correctly to all of it at once. It was impossible to do that while having to focus on maintaining the strength of a hundred seal formation, as well as not dying from a chakra reaction. Katsuyu hadn't been wrong when she said Sakura was acting as life support. For the most critically injured in the network, unless Sakura focused on them individually it wasn't that they were actually being healed, she was just keeping them alive. That in and of itself shouldn't have been possible. No one should have been able to do what Sakura was currently doing. But then isolating someone in critical condition in the network and diverting focus to heal them remotely also took an incredible amount of focus—and given her seal and reaction, the poor girl probably felt like her head was milliseconds from exploding. And she wasn't wrong. If she slipped even a little, she would die.
Sakura gulped in air, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. After dry swallowing a few times, she finally gave a small nod. "I'm…f-fine. We need to get moving…"
"Shizune-chan and Kakashi-san are both stable. You did it Sakura-chan! I've alerted Ino-chan and the medics closest to Kakashi-san."
"Thank gods…There are too many in critical…condition though…I won't be able to heal…all of them…Is there a skilled medic…close to any of them…you can send to them? We really need…to get moving…"
Kō didn't respond. He was staring at the center of the village where Naruto was apparently down—something she couldn't afford to let herself dwell on.
"Hy-Hyuga-san?"
"Hinata-sama?! She can't be there!"
"…Hinata-chan's over there?!"
Kō didn't respond, rising to go to her defense, but Sakura grabbed his ankle in a vice-like grip, stopping him from moving further.
"Trust me…I know you want to go to her…but you can't…"
Kō turned to her, face drawn in desperation. "I'm not the same as you! You are keeping everyone in the village alive! I'm not doing anything, and she's the daughter of my clan chief! She was placed under my guardianship as a child! I need to—"
"I can barely move on my own right now…you are both my legs…my primary source of information…and the one finding the people I need to heal…I need you…You can't go…"
The Hyuga considered her for less then a second before turning back to the battle too far for her to see.
"I'm sorry Sakura-san. This is a clan matter. I have to go."
"Then…you're taking me…with you…"
"But—"
"There are people…that will need to be healed…along the way, and where the battle is…you're taking me…Now…tell me what's happening."
Kō said nothing for another moment, before kneeling so she could climb onto his back. "Hinata-sama is trying to defend Naruto, who's pinned down by Pain…it's not going well. She's only landed a single hit on him, and it didn't seem to do much. Meanwhile…he's throwing her around…she keeps getting up, but…she doesn't look good. She's hurt…"
"I don't care what that bastard does…Hinata-chan will not die…I won't let her die…" Sakura's twitching arm tightened around Kō in pained determination.
"She'll be alright…"
"You've seen what he's done. How can you say that?" Kō growled in fear and frustration.
"Cause I'm here." She'd never been more certain of anything in her life. She was the life support right now. Katsuyu even said so. That was her job. And she was gonna do her job, no matter what.
Now typically, the Hyuga wasn't in the habit of taking a clanless shinobi very seriously, especially if that clanless shinobi was barely able to move at the moment, because her chakra was, for lack of a better word, fucked. But this was the girl who hijacked the fifth Hokage's summoning and was currently single handedly keeping the entire village alive, courtesy of that fucked chakra. This was the apprentice of the fifth Hokage, who had only trained under her directly for less than two years. Honestly, he was a little afraid of her—just how skilled was this girl? So if she said she would save Hinata…yeah. She would.
The Hyuga dodged and leapt through ruins of what was once their village. What used to be shops, apartments, and facilities were reduced to piles of splintering wood and heaps of cracked stone, many stained red with the blood from the injured and dead. Sakura did her best not to look. The scene of ruined buildings and blood streaked stone was a little too familiar. It reminded her too much of how her mom died, and right now, she couldn't afford a downer emotion. She couldn't let herself get depressed and distracted. She needed to stay right there in the terrifying moment she was in, with all the fear, anger, desperation, and anxiety it brought. And she needed to be focused. If her focused slipped for even a second. It was all over. Katsuyu would return to the Shikkotsu forest. The healing and communication network would break. Everyone being sustained by the network healing would die. And she probably would lose control of her reaction and it would kill her. So if she lost focus, it would literally be the end.
Sakura was discovering just how hard it was to manage the pain of the reaction without calming herself down too much. She wanted to deep breathe and focus on the breath to help with pain management, but breath was a huge part of her grounding and calming techniques, and she associated deep breathing with calming down. And for the first time ever, calming down was actually more deleterious than staying in an emotional extreme. Kō suddenly jerking to a total stop caused a sharp wave of pain, as well as a slight spike in chakra.
"W-What's wrong?"
"H-Hinata-sama…I think…he's killed her…"
"Run."
"What?"
"Lateness…means the loss of…a patient that could…have otherwise been saved." Sakura quoted the very first lesson Tsunade gave her the day she became her apprentice. "The faster I get to her…the more likely she'll live. Run."
Kō blinked and swallowed hard. "Right." And he took off as fast as he could.
"Lady Katsuyu…do you have a piece of…yourself anywhere near her?"
"Only the piece of me that's with Naruto-kun."
"Do I ask her to…pull from Naruto and lose my connection to him…for Hinata-chan…If we could…get there in the next…thirty seconds it'd be fine…but it'll probably…be more like…three minutes minimum…"
Before she had to make the choice, apparently the the choice was unknowingly made for her. There was an explosion of malicious orange chakra.
"W-What is that?!" Kō asked, hesitating.
Sakura's arm tightened against him, her worry once again spiking her chakra, which in turn was immediately funneled into Katsuyu. "The Kyubi…Keep going."
"But—"
"His focus will be elsewhere…we need to get to Hinata-chan…" While it was true, the kyubi/Naruto's focus would definitely be on Pain, there was still a good chance they were headed straight into becoming collateral damage. She knew that. But no matter what, they were heading into a dangerous situation. If anything, it just became safer for them to approach. Before, Pain definitely would have tried to stop them, but now, they actually had a shot of getting in and extracting Hinata. "Lady Katsuyu…can you tell what's happening?"
"Naruto's been overtaken by the nine-tails. I can't remain on him much longer. The malicious chakra's too intense."
"I thought so…can you get to Hinata-chan?"
"I'll try. Give me a moment."
Sakura began counting in her head. Since Hinata didn't have Katsuyu with or near her yet, she wasn't within the network healing, which meant Sakura didn't know whether she was alive or not. Kō said he thought she was dead, but with the chaos, panic, and lack of medical knowledge, he could be wrong. The problem was she couldn't confirm. Assuming Hinata was indeed dead, they had maximum five minutes before brain death started and she'd be impossible to revive.
"Assuming she died fifteen seconds after Ko said he thought she was dead, we only have two minutes and fifty seconds."
"You need to get me there now…" Sakura growled, trying to get him to move faster. It worked, as Kō picked up speed. "How…many tails does Naruto…have?"
"Six."
"Shit…last time it was just four…and Naruto's body was so damaged after…and the level of destruction then…"
"Lady Katsuyu…you need to tell…everyone stable to evacuate the area…Let med-base know, they need to…fall back and set up camp…somewhere else…the woods…at least 700 meters from here. Someone needs to…get in touch with Yamato-taichou…he and Sai were out on…a mission to hunt down…Kabuto with Anko-san. He's the only…one who can seal the Kyubi…"
"I've passed the message along. Everyone's evacuating, though Shikamaru and Ino-chan are still looking for the Master Pain. They have an idea he may be in the highest point in Konoha."
Sakura bit down hard on her lip. There was too much to focus on: the network, Naruto in six-tail Kyubi form, evacuating everyone, securing Hinata, finding the Master Pain, her seal, keeping her reaction going while also not dying from her reaction…Sakura was honestly convinced her head was seconds from just splitting open entirely.
"Is the risk of staying to find the Master Pain…worth the risk of casualty…mmm…fuck it!…it's Shikamaru's call…I've got my own problems…to deal with…"
"It'd have to be the highest spot that's safe…from his own attacks…so…maybe the Hokage monument?…Ugh…I can't think about this…Lady Katsuyu, have you managed to reach Hinata-chan yet?" They were loosing time fast. They were down to two minutes exactly. The good news was they were getting closer, Sakura could somewhat see what was happening, and strangely, it looked like the Akatsuki was running away, with Naruto in his six-tails Kyubi form in hot pursuit.
"I don't know if that's good or bad…we won't be able to keep tabs on the situation or help Naruto…not that there was anything, any of us could have done…but this moves the threat away…and gives us all a chance to…get to safety."
Another slight strain was added to Sakura's mind when a new connection tied itself into the network healing. The tiny Katsuyu that had been with Naruto had finally managed to reach Hinata, and Sakura could now see her friend's physical condition. The good news was that Hinata wasn't dead yet, and now being added to the network, she wouldn't die. The bad news was she was in critical condition and needed healing now.
Kō and Sakura reached Hinata a two minutes after Team Gai did. They'd been out on a mission at the time of attack and had missed everything, only alerted to the fact that something was wrong by an injured summoning toad deep in the woods on their way back to the village.
"Saku…ra…" Neji was kneeling next to Hinata, an abnormal amount of concern showing through his normally stoic exterior. He'd clearly been about to demand she heal his cousin, but stopped short when he caught the state she was in. Something was very wrong with her chakra—it was practically all he could sense, her arm was covered in blood, she was sweating, her breathing was labored, her muscles were twitching and spasming, her skin glowing with the chakra flooding her body, the fact that she was being piggy backed by one of his clan members…he'd never seen anything like this before. He was fairly certain Sakura was dying. Apparently, it wasn't just him.
"Holy shit, Sakura! What the hell's going on?! Are you okay?!" TenTen gasped, as the small pink haired girl slid off of Kō's back, her normally graceful movements, jerky and disjointed. TenTen had never seen her like this, but a memory was tugging at the back of her head…how bad Sakura had looked when they came across team 7 and the sound trio in that clearing during their first chunin exams. Had that been from the aftermath of whatever this was? TenTen's stomach churned uncomfortably. She had no idea what was going on with Sakura right now, but it was clearly absolutely horrible, and back then, she'd been so angry and dismissive of whatever Sakura had been struggling with. She thought that while she didn't look to be in good shape, surely she couldn't have come to the chunin exams so weak and ill prepared. But, if Sakura had been like that because she was going through whatever this was…TenTen had been unfair. She'd judged too harshly. 'Cause just looking at Sakura right now, she was pretty sure she'd rather die than deal with whatever excruciatingly painful thing was happening to Sakura's body.
"Sakura-san! You're overflowing with the power of youth—perhaps too much! This…have you learned to unlock the eight gates?!" That's what it seemed like…but, that put huge strain on the body, especially if the body wasn't prepared for it. And while Sakura was one of the strongest most radiant flowers in Konoha, her body hadn't gone through the training his had.
Gai was wondering the same. But this wasn't the eight gates. Whatever was happening to Sakura held similarities to opening the eight gates, but it wasn't the same. For one, it required extensive training to open the eight gates. For another, that training coupled with the fact that it was the users choice gave the user full control while in that state, and while it could cause grievous bodily harm, the effects were usually felt after or when the body finally gave out, not during. Additionally, the eight gates were typically used to enhance the body's physical strength and surpass the limits placed by the brain to self regulate, making it a technique utilized for taijutsu. He'd never seen anyone open it for any sort of ninjutsu or genjutsu purposes. And he had a very distinct feeling that Sakura hadn't chosen to open the eight gates. Whatever this was, was happening without her conscious effort or desire. And that, he felt immense pity for, because that meant it very likely hurt more than opening the eight gates, and with an unequipped body, that was a pain he wouldn't wish on his most hated enemy.
"Please give me some space…" That was about all she could say without retching from the movement, reaction, and focus. Her synapses felt like they were being simultaneously burned, flooded, electrocuted, and crushed. She placed her good hand lightly on Hinata's chest, and moved the piece of Katsuyu who'd been stationed on her shoulder to Hinata's stomach to aid her more in the healing without breaking her chakra feed to the slug.
"The damage really is severe…Hinata-chan…you must really love Naruto to have put yourself through all this…"
"How…how is she?" Neji asked. It was the most unsure he ever sounded, and he didn't even realize that he reached out and grabbed TenTen's hand in apprehension of the answer. Though when he felt her fingers squeeze his reassuringly, he found he inhaled a touch easier. Why had Hinata done something so reckless?
Katsuyu removed the burden of answering from Sakura, who was now positive her "good" arm was on fire…or was it freezing? Hard to say. It hurt.
"She's in critical condition. She suffered several broken bones that have punctured organs and caused some major internal bleeding, but by some miracle, none of the punctured organs are vitals, so Sakura-chan should have her stabilized in a few minutes, and she'll be safe to return to med-base for further observation and treatment."
Neji didn't know how to feel about hearing that report from Katsuyu rather than Sakura. It sounded like under Sakura's care, Hinata would be fine very soon, but the fact that Sakura didn't have the strength to answer was unnerving. He activated his byakugan, watching Sakura's chakra. How she was maneuvering and utilizing any of it was beyond him—that much chakra moving that quickly with no sign of stopping. It wasn't just the eight gates—he could see that those…well they weren't quite open, but they weren't entirely closed either. He wasn't sure how that could be the case, but past that, this wasn't her body's natural chakra that was just blocked off for the sake of limiting and self preservation. Because she was actively producing it. Her body was making the chakra at a rate he'd never seen before, and passing it through her network faster than he'd ever seen chakra cycle through a person. The force and pressure of the chakra almost seemed to sharpen it, causing it to lacerate her skin. The fact that she wasn't just managing to harness that chakra, but apply it to something as delicate as medical ninjutsu was astounding.
"Since you're handling this Sakura, Lee and I will go back up Naruto!" Gai declared.
"Don't…" Sakura said quickly.
"Why not?!" Lee was shocked Sakura would try to stop them. No one was quicker to rush to someone's aid than Sakura. And she loved team 7 more than anything. So why would she try to stop them from helping Naruto with a dangerous enemy?
"Naruto's been taken over…by the Kyubi…up to six tails…he can't distinguish between…friends and enemies…you go, you'll die…Yamato-taichou's the only one…who can help him now."
"But—" Lee was about to protest, but Gai held his arm out, shaking his head.
"Enough Lee. Sakura's right. If the kyubi's taken over, than there's nothing for us to do there."
"You can help with…evacuation and getting…everyone to med-base…or help Shikamaru locate…the Master Pain."
"Agreed. Lee, you and I will join Shikamaru's group. TenTen, Neji, you to help with search and rescue."
"Right!" TenTen agreed.
"Yes sir!" Lee saluted.
Neji just nodded.
"Take my smaller part with you so we can keep in contact." Katsuyu said, the smaller half crawling towards them. Lee scooped her up and set her on his shoulder before the two took off.
After a few more moments, Hinata let out a small groan, her eyes fluttering open.
"Hinata-sama! Thank goodness!" Kō cried in relief.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" Neji demanded.
"Kō-san, Nii-san?" Hinata groaned. "When did you—where's Naruto-kun?" She tried to bolt upright, but Sakura's hand pressed lightly against her chest, stopping her.
"Sit up slow…the damage is healed…but your body still went through…a trauma, so you need to…take things slow…"
Hinata's gaze locked on Sakura, the target of her worry shifting. "Sakura-chan, you're chakra reaction…!" Hinata sat up, slower this time, with Sakura's arm supporting her back. "It's leaving you as fast as you're producing it, so you should be okay, but—"
Sakura let out a small whimper of agreement. She couldn't hold out much longer, she had maybe seconds before she passed out from the pain and exhaustion.
"…Lady Katsuyu…Has everyone in critical been found…by other medics?"
"I've directed all of them to the necessary locations…"
"I can't…"
"I know Sakura-chan. I won't be able to maintain the network healing, but I won't leave, and I'll still be able to keep everyone in connection. I'll stay until you wake up."
"Thank…s."
"You've done really well. Get some rest, Sakura-chan."
"I—kay…" That was the last thing she managed to say. She heard her name shouted from who she assumed were TenTen and Hinata, as the world darkened around her. And then she listed to the side. She wasn't even aware of TenTen catching her. She was already unconscious.
Sakura felt arms around her, and when she looked, they were her mothers.
"Sakura-chan, I'm so proud of you!"
"Mom…!" Immediately, Sakura was hugging her back. It felt like forever since she dreamed of her mother.
"I don't get everything about how chakra and ninjutsu work, but I know what you managed to do was incredible! You carried on Tsunade-sama's work and saved everyone! I really did entrust my daughter to the right person—you two are amazing!"
Sakura let out a small giggle in her mother's arms before pulling away a little. "Thanks mom! I don't suppose you know how Naruto's doing?"
Mebuki let out a sad sigh. "I wish I could keep an eye on all your teammates. They're family after all. But unfortunately, I can only see and hear what you see and hear."
"…Yeah it was a long shot." Sakura sighed. She jolted when she felt a hand rest on her head.
"Lighten up kiddo! I'm sure Naruto's just fine! That kid's a tough one, y'know? Think he learned it from you?"
She turned her head to look up at her dad smiling warmly down at her. "Please, Naruto learned to be tough on his own."
"I don't know Sakura-chan, you have smacked him around a good amount."
"He deserved it at the time!" Sakura protested, her dad laughing. She paused looking between her father and mother. "Whoa…"
"What's up?"
"N-Nothing…I just…this is the first time in a long time we've all been together."
Mebuki and Kizashi exchanged a look over her head before both hugging her tightly.
"I don't know what you're talking about. We've always been together." Mebuki smiled fondly. "I don't know how many times I have to keep telling you that."
"Yeah kiddo, it's not just your mom who's with you always. I am too. We're both always watchin' over you." Her dad's eyes grew uncharacteristically serious. "I really don't get how you control and harness all that chakra, Sakura-chan, but it's gotta hurt."
"Yeah…a fuck ton…"
"Language!" Mebuki scolded.
"Well it's true!" Sakura whined, making Mebuki have to fight the smile attempting to break across her face.
"Yeah, it's true!" Kizashi seconded, mimicking Sakura's tone, as he stared down his wife with an identical expression to Sakura.
Mebuki couldn't hold it anymore, cracking up, shortly followed by Sakura, while Kizashi smiled proudly at having been the one to get his serious girls to laugh.
Mebuki looked at her daughter with overwhelming fondness, but her smile slowly faded to a look of concern. "It's going to be hard for you when you wake up, Sakura-chan. A lot of people were hurt, Hokage-sama and Shizune-san being two of them. You're going to feel alone, and you're not going to get much time to rest. Too many people will be looking to you and relying on you."
"So on the bright side, it won't be that different from what you're used to." Her dad said, bracingly, while Mebuki shot him an unimpressed look.
"I won't tell you to not let it weigh one you or ware you down, because it will be impossible for it not to. Just don't forget Kizashi and I are here for you."
"Thanks mom, dad…I probably need to wake up, don't I."
"Eh. Take five more minutes. They can wait, after all that heavy lifting you did." Kizashi smiled giving her hair another tussle.
"So this is what it would have been like, huh?" Sakura said affectionately, leaning her head on her dad's shoulder.
"You probably would have turned out a lot more balanced than you are now, instead of so wildly responsible and serious all the time. You wouldn't have felt the need to carry everything, and blame yourself so much when that turned out to be impossible, either." Her mother said sadly.
"But that's probably better than how you'd have turned out if it was just me raising you." Her dad countered. "Gods, can you imagine how irresponsible, undriven, and careless you'd be?"
"So if it had been both of you, I'd be perfect." Sakura laughed, tears blurring at her eyes.
"You'd be too powerful." Kizashi said seriously.
"And flawless." Mebuki agreed nodding sagely.
"The gods would be jealous."
"And in turn, that would make you insufferable to the rest of us humans." Mebuki finished.
Sakura burst out laughing. How she wished she could have grown up with this. She felt so light when they were both next to her, like the pressure and responsibility couldn't touch her.
"I love you…both of you, so so much!"
"We love you too, kiddo!"
"I have to wake up now." Sakura sighed.
"See, too responsible." Her dad tsked, shaking his head.
"Better than her lazing about." Her mom countered dryly. "Go on Sakura-chan, we're right there with you."
"I know. Thank you both."
Sakura's eyes opened to find herself on TenTen's back, amid a crowed of people surrounding Naruto, crowding and cheering for him. Sakura shifted on TenTen's back, blinking in confusion.
"What…happened?"
"You're awake! You've been out for about two hours. Can you stand?"
"Yeah…I think?" TenTen carefully set Sakura down, and the girl confirmed that while she could indeed stand without much pain at all, moving her arms was excruciating. Taking an actual look at her limbs, she noted that both her arms were covered in blood and cuts, there were muscle tears and bone fractures—pretty rough shape. So by the looks of it, no one had even attempted to heal her, which meant they either hadn't made it to med-base, or their hadn't been an available medic with enough chakra. "What happened? What's going on?"
"Naruto did it! He defeated Pain! Everyone who's survived gathered to welcome back the village hero." TenTen explained, turning towards the front of the crowd to look at the absolutely befuddled and overwhelmed Naruto. "Although, none of them would be here without you and Tsuande-sama, Sakura!" TenTen turned back to Sakura, only to find that the pink haired girl wasn't there.
Sakura wove through the crowd until she finally reached the front, where Naruto stood, being supported by Shikamaru.
"Sakura-chan! Are you alright?! I sensed your reaction and —holy shit your arms! Why ha—"
"What the hell were you thinking taking a risk like that?! That was so reckless! Taking them on alone?! Are you nuts?!"
Naruto Preemptively flinched, half expecting her to hit him—she usually did whenever he did something stupid, reckless, and self-endangering.
"No, Sakura-chan, I had to—" Two hands clamped down hard on his shoulders, again making him flinch, but no impact came. He cracked an eye to see Sakura examining him thoroughly, the next words she said so quiet that only he and maybe Shikamaru could hear her.
"The Kyubi took over up to six tails, but…you don't seem too hurt. No chakra burns…let me do a chakra scan and—"
"Sakura-chan, I'm okay! It actually got to eight tails, but I was able to suppress it thanks to…well, it's a long story—I promise I'll tell you when it's just team 7. You should really take care of your arms first." Naruto countered. Currently, her blood was getting on his jacket, so who was really the more injured one here?
Suddenly Naruto found himself in a borderline painful hug. "…Thank you. You saved the village."
Naruto looked over the villagers, their friends, teachers, acquaintances, and citizens they'd never spoken to were all looking at them, beaming. Naruto glanced down at Sakura, her absolutely wrecked arms still squeezing him. "Thank you. You saved the village." Naruto repeated back to her, one arm coming up around her. "Katsuyu told me. You kept everyone alive."
"And you beat an unbeatable enemy."
"Yeah! Team 7's the best, believe it!"
Sakura finally let go, taking a step back and smiling.
Suddenly, as if given clearance by her stepping away, the crowd surged forward sweeping Naruto up and into the air, holding him above their heads by his back, cheering.
While the crowd cheered for Naruto, Ino grabbed Sakura, and lead her away, sitting her down on a stable pile of rubble and plopping down next to her.
Ino got to work healing her, her face saddening at the mess her friend's arms had become. "And you were yelling at Naruto for being reckless and taking risks…"
"Must of really worried you, huh?"
"Of course, Forehead! The second your reaction started I sensed it and when it didn't start calming at any point, I was so worried you would…You weren't gonna…"
"…Sorry Ino-chan. I didn't mean to worry you…"
"I knew what you were doing. Katsuyu-sama explained it too. If you hadn't done it, half of that crowd would be dead or severely injured. Shizune-senpai and Kakshi-sensei would be dead. Choji's dad would be dead. Almost everyone would be dead or dying. Honestly you should be up there with him." Ino muttered. "Only a few of us know that it was you who saved everyone. Most think it was just Tsunade-sama."
"Well Tsunade-sama did protect everyone, so they're not wrong."
"But they're not fully right either. You should take more credit. You were taking as big a risk as Naruto."
"I know, Pig. But others don't know that, and the ones who do, are giving me the credit I deserve. If others knew I was responsible, the question of how would come up, and I don't want too many to know about my curse. Besides, being the center of attention is weird. I don't know why you like it so much."
"Well, why not? You can control it, clearly!" Ino demanded. She was tired of Sakura feeling like she needed to hide because of her kekkei genkai. Doing that only made her put more pressure on herself not to have a reaction. And it was unfair, that she felt she didn't have license to panic or be terrified or enraged in terrible situations, or overjoyed or horny if that's what the situation called for. It was unfair having to just swallow all of it back.
"Because it's not just that I get more chakra, Pig. It's impossible to hide. We lucked out that none or the Pain puppets bothered to look, but it turns me into a bright red bull's eye, along with everyone around me. And someone like Orochimaru might want to try and harness the chakra from my reactions for something, which would also royally suck. Someone who hates me may attempt to trigger a reaction just to torture me. It's just better, the less people know about it. As it is, too many people already know about it—you, Naruto, Sasuke-kun, Kakashi-sensei, Sai, Tsunade-sama, Shikamaru, Hinata-chan, Kurenai-sensei, Gaara-kun, All of Team Gai just found out about it, all of the medics and patients in med-base at the start of the attack, and Hyuga Kō…odds are it won't be a secret much longer…" She hadn't realized how many people she'd revealed her secret to in the last few hours, and now that she was saying it out loud, she couldn't help the trace of anxiety creeping in. She hoped because of the context she used her reaction in, no one would say too much against it, but she knew there'd be someone who'd argue that it was a threat to the village.
Ino sighed sadly. When Sakura put it that way, it was hard to argue with. Not wanting to dwell on the thought of someone trying to purposefully trigger her best friend's reactions to harvest her chakra, Ino decided to change the subject back to how amazing Sakura was. "We brought Shizune-senpai to med-base before we set out to look for the Master Pain. Dad, and Shikaku-ojisan were impressed with how smoothly med-base was running and how organized and calm the medics and nurses were. With the exception of one asshole, they all unanimously said it was thanks to you."
"Oh good, so it was running smoothly?"
"Of course that's what you fixate on." Ino sighed, looking down at Sakura's arms. "I've managed to heal the cuts and most of the muscle tears, but not all of them, and there's still some bone fractures."
"I'll take care of that la—" Ino's arms were suddenly crushing her in a tight hug.
"I'm so proud of you Forehead!"
Sakura wasted no time in hugging her back. "Thank you, Pig! You have no idea how relieved I was to hear you were okay." Sakura looked around, but saw Ino didn't have Katsuyu with her. "Did Lady Katsuyu go back?"
"Yeah, just a few minutes ago. Probably right after you woke up."
"Oh damn, I wanted to thank her."
"She told me to tell you she's proud of you, and that when she sees you next, it'll be because you're the one that summoned her—can you not summon her yet?" Ino asked.
Sakura stood, stretching her arms and wincing at the slight ache in them. "Yeah not yet. It's related to the training Shishou's putting me through. Speaking of, Pig, I need to get to med-base and check on Shishou, sensei, and senpai. And everyone else."
"Gods I wish you knew how to bask in glory like a normal person." Ino muttered, before standing as well. She knew Sakura was right. The village survived with far less casualties than anyone would have guessed thanks to Tsunade and Sakura, but there was still an army of severely injured, that needed tending to. Sakura's ingrained responsibility and upbringing made it impossible for her to bask in her accomplishments when there was still so much to be done. It was part of what made her best friend so incredibly admirable.
"Yeah. We've got work to do. Let's go."
Ino lead her off to med-base.
Author's note: this may be the shortest chapter I've written, and the fastest turn around I think. It's just the Pain attack (I know I've seen spelling's of it as Pein, but in the manga translation I was using, it was Pain, so I went with that. I think both are right though?). This is one of the moments where Sakura get's the most flack for doing "nothing" when she canonically takes out a whole summons and goes to the hospital, where they don't show the situation but we all know it's bad. So this was Sakura's side of it. Biggest change: Rinne-rebirth. I fuckin' hate that. Way to just completely devalue everything Tsunade did to save the village, and medical ninjutsu on the whole. So in this, that doesn't happen. Nagato still has his turn around courtesy of Naruto. He still dies, because dude was not doin' well throughout the whole attack, and I think it's totally reasonable given how canonically, Nagato's like, barely holding up, to say that he used up too much chakra during the attack. He still leaves Jiraya's will and dreams of peace to Naruto. Also through out all of this, I didn't show Sasuke, but he's doing what he does in the manga-he's going after the eight tails, so anyway, pretty much everything in that Naruto/Nagato moment stays the same except for him using Rinne-rebirth. There are deaths that happened in this attack (Fukasaku and other nameless shinobi). Not Shizune or Kakashi. They don't die in their respective battles, but they come seriously close, thus putting more weight and value on Tsunade's sacrifice and Sakura's efforts, as they're the reason those two survive. And the rest of the village for that matter. So the network healing move. There's not a lot written about it. Canonically you need to be able to summon Katsuyu, and Katsuyu connects everyone and passes along the users chakra to heal anyone they're in contact with. And that's about where information on the jutsu ends. Typically a medic needs to diagnose and treat the patient in front of them, so assuming Katsuyu's not doing that, that means the medic using her has to for everyone involved in the network. Tsunade has a line where she makes a comment about the level of devastation and damage to everyone (namely Kakahi?) when she starts using the network healing, and is also aware that Choza is still alive. So I'm making the jump that the medic needs to actively treat each person in the network-that they need to diagnose and allocate the proper amount of chakra to each person, which Katsuyu takes and uses, and if they aren't actively doing that, then they are life support, just keeping the vitals going, but not necessarily healing them past that. So the network healing does require mastery, which Sakura achieves in the war, where she's able to hold, make all the necessary diagnosis and divey up the necessary chakra for treatment for the entire allied forces. But for now, contending with her reaction and seal formation, she's not able to hold all that information and has to isolate individuals to treat them. As for her successfully using the fan-based taijutsu against the centipede, that was like a sink or swim moment thing. She hasn't mastered it-she kinda got lucky this time, but now she knows she's done it once properly and will be able to do it again. Pretty sure the next main arc is the kage summit/the infamous bridge scene so...uh, buckle up?
Anyway thank you so much for the reviews! They keep me writing, so please keep them coming! And thanks for reading this far :)