Night, Day and Sunrise

Chapter 21 - Broken Doors and Shattered Dreams



The huge double doors were completely out of place in the cliff face, or at least they were once the illusion over them had been repelled. The jutsu was ridiculously easy to break, however. Sasuke wasn't entirely sure how he felt about that, but the dogs were certain. Naruto's path lead behind those doors, and he was still alive when he crossed the threshold.



A quick scan with the byakughan and sharinghan proved that the entrance was booby-trapped, and plans were hurriedly made to deal with the obstacles. It was decided that Temari would have the first go.



The wind jutsu that issued forth from her fan was strong enough to crack some of the surrounding stone, but the only response from the door was a volley of shuriken flung in all directions. One Suna nin, who hadn't been paying attention to the door, suffered a slice to the arm, but no one else was injured.



Next, Sasuke sized up what he could see with his kekei genkai and carefully aimed the strongest blast of his kaiton jutsu he could manage at the focal point of one door hinge. The metal didn't even warm up, but the fuses to several bombs and exploding tags did. Before he could catch a breath to warn the others, they went off.



The ensuing explosion rocked the ground and caused a landslide nearby, which Team Gai narrowly avoided, Tenten acquiring a mildly sprained ankle. It took several minutes for the dust to settle, but when it did, the doors still stood, as impenetrable as before.



From where she was, crouched beside the injured Suna shinobi, Sakura could clearly see the frustration etched in every line of Sasuke's posture, though she doubted it would be so obvious to anyone else. As the debris cleared from the air, she took her hand away from where it sat, covering the wound. With a small burst of chakra, the medic healed the small incision, then went to her teammate, assessing the obstacle in front of them.



After a minute, she spoke, but her voice was hardly the strained, encouraging tone he expected. Nor were her words.



"Get everyone back, at least half a mile."



The oddity of the request struck Sasuke like a blow, and he stared at her. "What?"



"Back. Now. At least half a mile, because I can bet they have even more traps that won't go off until that door's open."



"But, what about you..." he was cut off by a hand on his shoulder.



Looking up, he saw that it was Kakashi standing behind him, looking at the doors as if measuring them. "Trust your teammate, Uchiha. This is her area of expertise."



That vote of confidence hardly inspired Sasuke, but he knew it would be better to let her have her way now, before anyone else got involved in the argument. It would undermine his authority as captain, and wouldn't change the outcome one bit. Sakura would do what Sakura would do, whether or not he moved everyone else back to a safe distance. Her request was simply a safety precaution, and she was right to ask for it.



"Fine," he capitulated, "but we're not going that far. We need to be able to assist you against whatever or whoever is inside there."



"Just make sure that anyone who can't dodge quickly is in the rear. This isn't going to be pretty."



And with that, she reached into her pouch, pulling out a pair of black gloves. Sasuke, on the other hand, turned and began barking orders for everyone to fall back to what they felt was a safe distance, leaving it up to each individual to decide for themselves the exact measurement that entailed. He himself went only a hundred yards or so into the trees before stopping and readying himself.



Sakura gave them all five minutes or so to get situated, and then gathered in her chakra, channeling it to her fist. Aiming her strike with the same precision she used in the operating room, the medic landed a blow right on the locking mechanism of the door.



A huge explosion sent tremors through the forest floor that Sasuke could feel even before the blast actually hit him. Then he was too busy dodging debris to worry about anything else. Once the air was empty of it's deadly projectiles, however, he dashed forward, frightened of what he might find.



The dust at the base of the cliff was only just starting to clear when Sasuke leapt over the last fallen tree trunk. At first he saw nothing, but then a flash of pink peeped through the swirling cloud of debris.



Her hair was still flying with the wind caused by the explosion, but Sakura herself was completely unscathed. Before her captain could reach her, she was already stalking into the recesses of the cave, leaving Sasuke no choice but to follow.



A statue very similar to the one in the cave where Gaara had been taken stood against the far wall. Two of the ten fingers held people, while a few were empty and the rest were topped only by images of the Akatsuki members not physically present. Beyond the stone hands, Sakura could see a limp body vaguely outlined in the darkness by a glowing blue mist that seeped forth from it's mouth.



"Naruto!" she screamed, pulling up her fists and readying herself for the fight to come.



Much to her surprise, however, her presence was ignored. They seemed to be concentrating on the ritual, rather than it's interruption, a thing she could not allow.



Running forward, Sakura again channeled her chakra into her fist, slamming it into the finger holding the one Akatsuki member she recognized on sight and knew by name. "Kisame!"



Before the stone had a chance to crumble with him still atop it, the missing-nin of Hidden Mist leapt off his pedestal, landing in a crouch a little ways away from the seething kunoichi. Chuckling in his own mad way, the swordsman began unwrapping the cloth from his blade, all the while mumbling to it under his breath.



Sakura refused to give him the time needed to prepare himself, rushing him in a desperate move to keep him off his guard. He dodged her blow, but was unable to make a return attack before she was out of his reach again.



A feral smile crossed his face as he recognized his attacker at last; the very same pink-haired chit who had been the end of Sasori. "Well, well. Sakura- chan, isn't it?"



Rolling her eyes, the medic drew back her fist for another go. "That's Haruno-san to you, fish breath."



The insult did not go unnoticed, but the effect was not exactly what she had intended. Her opponent started chuckling again as he stepped out of the way of her attack, seemingly without moving.



"Get away from her, Kisame!" Sasuke's voice rang through the cavern, echoing loudly.



With a carnivorous grin, the shark ninja looked up at the figure standing on a pile of rubble that had been a pair of granite doors. "Ah," he laughed, "the Uchiha brat. So, you've murdered your brother, and now you're back to finish off his friends? I don't think it's going to work."



The mention of Sasuke's late brother boiled his blood, but he refused to allow himself to be distracted. "No, I'm here for the Kyuubi. Killing you is just a bonus."



"Sorry, Sakura-chan," the samahade's wielder smirked, "it looks like I've got another appointment. Maybe next time."



Before she could get a word in edgewise, the battle joined between fire and mist. Had she the time to watch it, Sakura was sure she'd have found the fight to be a thing of beauty. But she had another obstacle standing between her and her target: Zetsu.



His split face - and personality - made Sakura more than a little uncomfortable, and she didn't dare try to land a blow on his head or neck. The gapping maw that surmounted his shoulders made her leery of being bitten. Without any proper medical facilities nearby, she didn’t dare risk the possibility that those points might be poisoned. After all, if she were in his position, she certainly would have coated them liberally in the stuff.



Instead, she concentrated on dodging his main attacks, learning his fighting style and patterns while waiting for an opening.



On the other side of the cave, red and black swirls narrowed as Sasuke focused in on his enemy. The Akatsuki member formed a complex series of hand seals which seemed vaguely familiar to Sasuke, though he couldn't put his finger on where he'd seen them before. The obscuring mist which sprang up jogged his memory. Zabuza had used the same jutsu in the fight for the Great Naruto Bridge, a name that still made Sasuke smile inside.



Using the Uchiha's fire techniques, Sasuke counteracted the jutsu with ease, earning him another laugh from his foe.



"Your brother always used to threaten me with that," Kisame informed him good-humoredly. "Said it would serve me right to be boiled in my own steam, and he'd always wondered what shark fin soup tasted like."



Ignoring the ploy for distraction, Sasuke fired off several volleys of shuriken, rushing in behind them. Samehada made an effective shield from the smaller blades before being brought around to block Sasuke's strike, it's teeth digging into the younger man's leg.



Growling, the Uchiha heir flipped back. With Sakura in the room and the rest of his team who knew how close to the entrance, he was handicapped, unable to use his truly big jutsus. Normally, if he'd come across an opponent who was stupid enough to use water jutsus against him, Sasuke would just electrocute the offender. But with his own teammates in the danger zone, Sasuke simply couldn't risk it. He had to take Kisame down the old fashioned way.



By the time Kakashi and the rest of the squad entered the fray, little had changed. Sakura and Sasuke both had a few minor wounds, but neither seemed badly injured. Both were also moving a little slower than normal, Sakura because she was using chakra far too quickly and Sasuke because of the draining effect of Samehada.



"Sasuke!" the copynin called out. "His sword eats chakra. Don't let it touch you, if you can help it!"



Nodding his thanks for the reminder, their captain reentered the fray, palm crackling with the chidori. His opponent dodged easily, laughing all the while.



Kankuro led his half of the Suna nin to assist Sakura, with Team Kurenai following close behind. His sister and Team Gai moved to the other fight. Not even wasting time with the minor jutsus of a partially closed fan, Temari opened her weapon completely.



"Taichou, Kaiton no jutsu, now!" she screamed, readying her strongest wind technique and praying she timed everything just right.



An understanding between the two ninja had developed into trust and respect over the last few weeks of working together, and Sasuke obeyed without question. Shoving every ounce of chakra he could muster into the jutsu, he released the largest fireball he was capable of.



Like a wildfire in a strong wind, Temari's weapon fanned the flames as they flew toward Kisame, engulfing the missingnin in a firestorm so large there was no escape.



Meanwhile, Kankuro had made excellent use of his puppets, and while the others distracted Zetsu, he got him in a hold from behind. Kakashi dashed in to finish the job with a well-placed chidori. Though he was usually against killing an opponent unless there was no other option, with Akatsuki, the copynin saw no reason to be so lenient. They certainly would not spare him nor his if their positions were reversed.



But to his shock, Zetsu disappeared in a puff of smoke just as Kakashi's crackling palm met his chest. Mismatched eyes went wide as the masked man realized what must have happened.



When at last the deluge of flame near the entrance died down to a bearable level, Sasuke dashed forward, but there was nothing to be seen. Even that upscaled combination jutsu couldn't have burned hot enough to destroy bone that quickly. And yet, there was no trace of Kisame. Sasuke had seen him writhing in pain before the flames grew too bright to watch, so he had not escaped the attack. Unless...



The two sharinghan users stared at each other across the room. A silent understanding was reached and Kakashi instantly bit down on his thumb, crouching to summon his dogs.



Meanwhile, Sakura darted over to her blonde teammate's limp form, which had fallen to the ground. Kneeling over him, she hesitantly touched his shoulder.



"Naruto," she called, her voice trembling on the brink of tears. "Answer me, damnit! Naruto!"



Suddenly a cloud of smoke exploded into existence and when it cleared, the jinchuriki's body was nowhere to be seen.



While everyone else broke into a babble of voices, some crying out with indignation and surprise and others with confusion, Sakura just knelt where she was, frozen. As the others bustled about, she ignored the commotion, even when someone stopped to talk to her. After a few seconds without a response, they always moved on.



Sasuke, Kakashi and Kiba were busy communing with animals, and most of the other ninja congregated around them, waiting anxiously for any word of what went wrong and where to go.



Kankuro, as he still was putting his puppets away, did not join them. When the last fabric strap was in place, instead of slinging it upon his back, the puppet master set his tool of the trade aside, moving over to stand next to the pink-haired woman kneeling on the floor. She stared at the spot where her teammate had been, trembling with some suppressed feeling.



Hoping to draw her out of the shock, Kankuro knelt and put a friendly arm around her shoulder. "Don't worry, Haruno-san. We'll find him."



Snapping out of her trance at last, Sakura looked up to see a strange sight. Most people found Kankuro's face frightening, but having seen him without the war paint, Sakura could see the expressions behind the markings. He was genuinely concerned, and not only for Naruto. Strangely enough, most of his worry seemed directed toward her.



Smiling brightly, though she really felt like doing anything but, the medic nodded. "I know we will. It's only a matter of time. I just hate the uncertainty of waiting, that's all."



"Doesn't everyone," her comrade countered, shaking his head. "And you don't have to smile if you don't want to. I certainly wasn't smiling when Gaara was missing."



She managed to hold it a few seconds longer before the cheerful expression slipped off her face. It left her countenance blank, yet vaguely sorrowful. "No, though you did have other things to worry about as well."



"True. Getting poisoned doesn't exactly ease the mind," he tried to tease her out of her depression, but it didn't seem to be working. "I never did get a chance to thank you."



"Huh?" Sakura wasn't entirely sure what he was talking about. Her mind was racing through every possible scenario for her lover's absence, causing her to zone out on parts of the conversation.



"For saving my life," he clarified. "If you had come even a few hours later, I might not have made it."



Recognizing now what he was referring to, the corners of her lips turned up briefly. "I've got news for you, Kankuro-san. If I'd shown up ten minutes later, you wouldn't have made it."



A low whistle came from his pursed lips as he mulled that one over for a few seconds. "I had no idea it was that close. I mean, yeah, I felt like crap, but it was kind of hard to judge what was going on from the inside."



"Isn't it always." Something about that state resonating with the present situation, and she filed the truism away to contemplate at her leisure. Shaking away her despair, she forced herself to actually focus on the present conversation. "I'm just glad I could help. I have a knack for those sorts of things, I guess."



"I'll say you do. Though I probably didn't help. From what little I remember, it took four people to hold me down so you could work. Sorry about that."



Blinking, Sakura was a little taken aback. "I should be the one apologizing. I've seen grown men - Anbu, even - cry like babies when undergoing that same treatment. You did very well, especially considering the amount of damage you'd already sustained. And you're certainly a better patient than any of my teammates."



"Oh?"



The question sparked a quiet giggle as the medic nodded. "You have no idea. All ninja hate hospitals, for one reason or another, but they take the phobia to a whole new level. Kakashi-sensei won't even go into a hospital unless he's dragged in there bodily. And Sasuke-kun goes even more stoic and silent than usual, if you can believe it."



"I can," the puppet master replied with a near-silent chuckle of his own. "Gaara doesn't particularly care for them, either. Ninety percent of the time, even if we could get him to go, the sand wouldn't let the doctors lay a finger on him. Though, we were never sure how much of that was the sand and how much was Gaara himself."



"Naruto kept trying to sneak out of the place to continue training, especially before we'd managed to drag Sasuke's sorry ass back to Konoha. He'd always be back in time for visiting hours, though."



"Must have been some pretty important visitors, then."



"Just me and Kakashi-sensei. Sometimes Iruka-sensei - you remember him, don't you? He's one of our Academy instructors, and he helps run the chuunin exam. Black hair, pony-tail, scar across the bridge of his nose?"



"Oh, yeah," Kankuro nodded, making the connection after that last descriptor. "He seemed nice. A little intense, but nice."



"Hinata-chan used to come and see him religiously, though she'd usually just stutter a bit, blush a lot, give him something to help speed the healing, and leave."



"I'd come back for visiting hours, too, if I had those visitors," his voice was firm, but jolly. "Two concerned teachers, and a pair of pretty girls? Yeah, I'd sneak back in."



The beginnings of a real laugh bubbled out of the medic's throat, and the Suna nin congratulated himself on managing to cheer her up, even for a bit.



"Boys," she muttered with a sigh. "Always thinking with their... "



"Hey!"



"...hormones," she finished smoothly, without batting an eye. "And you can get your filthy mind out of the gutter."



"No thanks," the retort was so ingrained from dealing with his sister, it was almost second nature. "I kinda like it there. All dark, wet, and dirty."



"As opposed to your normal environment, which is bright, dry and sandy," pink hair was tossed over her shoulder with a smile as she replied.



"Yup. Just looking for a change."



"That's it!" Suddenly, she started forming hand seals, concentrating so hard, it almost made his head hurt.



"What's it?" he asked, though he didn't really expect a response.



A few moments later, she dropped her hands into her lap, smiling broad as day. "A change."



"'Fraid I don't follow."



"You were there when I burst into the command tent. A change in the chakra of the blood. There's blood on the floor beneath the spot where Naruto's clone was suspended, and it's his. What's more, it came directly from him. He was here, and he was alive. There was a slight change to his chakra, but that came from the jutsu they were using to attempt to extract the Kyuubi."



"Attempt?" Kankuro was a little confused. "If they performed the jutsu, doesn't that mean they were successful?"



Sakura shook her head gleefully. "It gets successively harder with each demon. Shuukaku only took them three or four days to extract. While I'm not certain exactly what procedure they're using, that time frame gave us something to go off of in our research, and believe me, we've been studying. It seems as though the number of days required goes up with each tailed beast."



"So, you mean..."



"The extraction process alone will take them at least two weeks, and if they are interrupted at all, it will take longer."



"But they've had him longer than that."



"I know," she tried to explain it to him clearly, but was so excited, she was having trouble finding the words. "However, they had further to transport him to get to the necessary spot - here. And while Shuukaku protected Gaara by not letting anything touch him, dangerous or not, the Kyuubi takes a different tack. He's given Naruto conscious access to his chakra, which also enables him to heal any wounds his jinchuuriki might sustain far faster than he could on his own.



"Let me see if I've got this right. The Kyuubi normally heals Naruto, but he's still bleeding. And this is a good thing?"



"It's a different wound," she replied confidently, still scanning the area.



"How do you figure?"



With great patience, at least from her point of view, she explained. "The blood I found in the forest was only a few drops. This is a great deal more, and was dropped recently enough to still be sticky. If it was the same wound, he'd have bled out at that rate. This one has to be new, and it was probably done on purpose, by Naruto, so we'd know he was here. Don't you see? He's alive! And he's conscious enough to leave a trail, which means we were right about the Kyuubi taking longer to extract."



In her exuberant glee, she hugged him. The feeling of a beautiful female pressing up against him was too much for him to resist, and he returned the embrace, wrapping his arms tightly around her. He hadn't been hugged in... years, he realized. Not since before he and Temari entered the academy.



He'd always admired Sakura, ever since he'd first met her on the street in Konoha all those years ago. Granted, at the time he'd thought she was annoying, but her spunk - not to mention her cuteness - had been quite endearing. Now, however, time had added curves to her figure and experience to broaden her mind. Information was something she'd always had, but now she had knowledge, earned the hard way. He had to admit, she was one of the most attractive women he'd ever met, and after they found her missing teammate, he would ask his brother to extend to her an offer to teach in Suna. She was certainly qualified enough, and her hunger for learning would only help her to unearth that same need in others.



Hidden as they were from view by the ruins of the statue, no one saw the embrace that lasted far longer than it should have. Sakura didn't let go because she was trying not to cry, and didn't want Kankuro to see her face and possibly think less of her as a ninja. Kankuro, however, was simply wrapped up in the fact that a pretty girl was hugging him.



She saved my life, he mused, and she's not afraid of me. I wonder if she and I could ever...



His thoughts were interrupted by his sister calling out to them. "Kankuro, Haruno-san! The dogs have a scent."



They broke apart instantly, Sakura leaving without a word to go confer with her teammates. Before he could take more than a few steps to follow, however, his sister reached out and stopped him with a hand on his arm.



She searched his face for a long moment, and then shook her head. "Kankuro, I know you don't want to hear this, but you really shouldn't pursue Haruno-san."



The war paint he wore only furthered to deepen his scowl. "I don't know what you're talking about."



"Yeah, right," her voice was quiet, but confirmed that she'd seen right through him. "I'm your sister, idiot, and this is not the first time I've watched you mooning over a girl. But the others were frightened away - and by Gaara, not you - so stop feeling sorry for yourself!"



"Haruno-san is not afraid," he pointed out stubbornly.



"Because she's literally held your life in her hands! And Gaara's too, for that matter. But she's not interested."



"What do you know?"



His words were bitter, but she knew he was not truly anger at her, just at being held back from something he wanted. As he stalked away from her, she turned to call after him. "We'll talk later, little brother."



He ignored her, snatching up his puppets, rejoining the rest of the group and putting a steadying hand on Sakura's shoulder. Temari shook her head, wishing there was some way to get the point home without hurting her brother, but knowing at the same time that there were only two ways to get through granite: constant persistence and brute force. She just hoped his heart was capable of handling the later.



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Yay, another chapter is up! I hope you all are enjoying this story. It's certainly been an adventure to write so far, and it only looks to be more intriguing as I go.

I have new-found sympathy and respect for Iruka-sensei these last few weeks. Students are evil, especially freshmen boys. I'm TAing for an English professor this semester, and there's this one boy in my class who reminds me so much of Naruto! He's loud, hyperactive, blonde and way too charming for his own good. It's probably a good thing the professor isn't teaching this class; she's such a softy!

Anyway, wish me luck, and please - for the love of god and all that is holy - be nice to your teachers. You'd be surprised how many of them write fanfics.

Have a great day, and good reading!



Crimson Iris