Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Konoha Nights ❯ The Gain and The Loss ( Chapter 14 )

Konoha Nights

GaaxSaku

The Gain and The Loss

 

Disclaimer: I own nada…

 

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The world was spinning as Hinata's words rang through her ears. There had to be some kind of mistake, Akatsuki wasn't suppose to go after Naruto until after they had her. Damn, what the fuck was going on!

 

“Tenten, explain now,” Sakura managed through grit teeth.

 

Tenten looked down at Hinata for approval “NOW TENTEN!” She shouted and the other girl jumped while Hinata resumed crying.

 

“I don't exactly know all the details, but from what the ABNU told us, two Akatsuki members encountered Naruto outside of the Hokage tower and they talked-

 

“Talked,” Sakura parroted.

 

“Yes, and then he just followed them and ANBU reported here,” the weapons mistress finished flinching at the other woman's rage.

 

“WHAT?” Sakura punched the floor causing most of it to collapse under her deadly fist, “You mean to tell me that there was an ANBU on duty and didn't do anything to help him? What a fucking coward, I want his name and I want his head! Tell me who's been alerted and what has been done.”

 

Tenten cradled the pregnant woman protectively, “Jiraiya-san has already been informed as well as all the main families, we have them gathering at a designated location and awaiting orders.”

 

“Good, have a squad of six worthless ANBU escort Hinata to the Hyuuga manor, I'm sure Neji is expecting her. Then join the rest of the forces and I will send a message whenever we require back up, I'm sure Jiraiya is already headed there.”

 

“Right.”

 

“And if Shizune is with the main families, tell her to go to Hinata, this stress can do a lot of damage to the baby and she needs a sedative immediately.”

 

“Right,” Tenten affirmed again and began picking up the sobbing woman.

 

Two men in ANBU uniform came running through the door and immediately bowed, but Sakura wasn't in the mood, “Rise. I need you to gather a squad of six and escort Hinata to the manor. Should anything happen to her, I just want you to know that she is the future Hokage's wife and he will be very pissed off to discover that the ANBU are not doing their duty. If any of you hesitate to put yourself in danger again for the lives of this family I will make sure you will never be a shinobi again.”

 

Synchronized `yes mam' met her ears and she nodded to Tenten before running out of the house again and taking to the rooftops. Gaara's soft landings from behind reminded her that she wasn't quite alone. She wasn't thinking straight and it was getting harder and harder to focus. The new adrenaline rush only made her increase her speed. “You don't have to come with me; this isn't what we agreed on.”

 

“I know.”

 

Akatsuki headquarters was already insight; the looming main tower had once been used as a lighthouse. The main compound around it was mostly full of traps and for the most part remained unoccupied. She'd only been here twice, but she was confident she could navigate them to where they would probably have Naruto held. Reaching the large soil wall that surrounded it, she turned back towards Gaara.

 

“Are you sure you want to do this?” `Please don't back out on me I'm going to need all the help I can get,' she thought growing anxious.

 

“I will not tell you again,” he replied eyes fierce as he reached for the cork; “I don't do anything, that I do want to.”

 

Nodding she turned back towards the wall and gathered her chakra, it was only a 30ft wall, most likely 6ft thick so not too much was necessary. It was an `escape by soil' jutsu that was cast by Sir Leader and as long as he was alive, he would continue to feed charka too it to and ensure no one would trespass. She closed her eyes, punched the wall with her charka infused hand, and felt some of the wall give. Waving the dirt in the air away from her face, she could faintly see Gaara's silhouette behind her.

 

Her blow went all the way through and was about 8ft high, there was no one on watch but chakra traps were everywhere alerting the first defense. Heh, their leader was sure to have felt that, she though smugly before walking through and hearing her partner behind. They entered the open building swiftly and the large empty room contained several Akatsuki wannabes that served them in hopes of one day joining. It was a large empty warehouse looking room and after scanning the room twice, she estimated 40.

 

“Go,” Gaara told her from behind. Nodding once, she put chakra in her legs before jumping and landing behind the majority of them. Using only her fists, she disposed of the remaining lackeys around her. Opening the large metal doors, she ran down the large impeding corridor with many doors, some of which would lead to illusion jutsus. Entering a smaller adjoining room that would lead to the heart of the compound, she was surprised to see two burning carcasses and the room in ruins. Upon closer inspection, she was relived to see that it was not anyone on her side, but Tobi and Zetsu, two of the ten Akatsuki members. No loss here, those two were annoying and creepy as hell. The crackling of the fire consuming their bodies gave away their killer; the smell of oil that belonged to Jiraiya signified that he was already here.

 

Jiraiya hadn't been in battle for quite sometime, but Sakura suspected that when he was allowed to fight again, he would vent out all the frustration of being tranquil. Two gone, plus the one that had been tortured and killed by Konoha families three months ago, only left seven. Not very good odds but it did mean that they would have to take longer to extract the Kyuubi. Running through the still opened door she barely managed to dodge the kunai shot at her in the dark.

 

She knew these kunai that were bound by chakra strings, only a master puppeteer could fathom such a deadly technique. A hundred torches came to life, lighting the dome center. On the middle of the stone floor stood Hiruko, the hunchback looking puppet with his poisoned tail swaying behind him, the Akatsuki cloak dragging. She could make out a body behind him also in a traditional black Akatsuki robe with blonde hair.

 

`No; Deidara.'

 

“You bastard, how could you kill your own partner,” she grounded out and he only pissed her off more by laughing.

 

“Why? Or how? Why? Because he was a traitor to our organization, I always thought he was far to smitten with you. If you want to know how I ended his pathetic life I'll tell you.”

“Fuck off.”

 

“Watch your language you whore!” he yelled before calming his tone, “Besides we should be celebrating our reunion, no?” the puppet spoke in an all too familiar voice, but no quite its master's. “Don't look so gloom, dearest cherry blossom, that only gives you wrinkles,” he chided.

 

“Not all of us have puppet bodies Sasori, I know that my wrinkles just mean I'm human.”

 

“Human? You?” he chuckled darkly, “Oh dear, who have you been associating yourself with now days, honestly you of all people should know you're not human.”

 

“Shut the hell up Sasori, my patience is wearing thin right now,” she threatened slipping her hand back into her pouch and grabbing hold of several kunai. “Tell me why they took Naruto.”

 

The puppet dropped its jaw and several needles of poison came spiraling out, she shot out her kunai, reflecting them all and jumping up over the gas that she knew would come after. Turning in the air, she jumped over Hiruko and landed behind him raising her fist, a scythe swiped at her from below and she dodged it, aiming for his back again. His tail swung fast and pierced her shoulder causing her to wince and land.

 

“Well, I must admit you aren't too bad,” he complimented pushing the tail blade deeper into her shoulder joint. “But you're going to have to do much better than that if-

 

Sand began covering her entire body and Sasori was forced to retrieve his tail or lose it. The sand sphere teleported back towards its wielder standing at the open doorway, and then disbanding showing the pink haired woman healing her shoulder.

 

“Gaara,” she breathed, “I need you to go through the door behind Sasori and stay straight down the hall taking the last door on the left. It's a stairwell, go all the way down and there you'll find Naruto.” The green chakra on her hand ceased and she turned to look at the sand shinobi who was torturing the puppeteer with his eyes.

 

Hiruko's tail began swaying again, “Gaara? What lovely presents you bring us Sakura, Sir Leader will be pleased.”

 

“The only thing I bring him is a kunai that I'm going to stick right between his eyes,” she shot back before taking a fighting stance. “Go.”

 

“I can handle Sasori of the red sand; he is a traitor to my village.”

 

Well, this wasn't good, she hadn't planned on Gaara of all people to question her. “I know his techniques from all the years of his fun he put my body through,” she reasoned and she smiled when Hiruko tail stopped swaying.

 

“What's wrong Sasori? Did you think I was letting you do all that shit to me without learning your styles and weapons?” the puppet growled before sending another wave of kunai at the two. A wall of hardened sand stopped them from reaching their goal, behind the wall Sakura turned to him. “Please go, I know that I can kill him and besides I owe him one.”

 

“Fine, if you don't show up within half an hour I'm coming back up here,” he said before letting his sand drop. “Thanks Gaara,” she whispered as she jumped to the wall with chakra on her feet and ran straight up.

 

Gaara watched her go before heading towards the door behind the missing nin. “If you kill her I'll make your life a living hell,” he told the overbearing puppet as he passed him and then went through the door. The torch lit hallway was narrow and dank with many turns but no doors. Seeing a still body up ahead on the floor he dispatched his sand to inspect and found the man was dead. He was dressed in a black with a single red cloud stitched to he left arm signifying allegiance to Akatsuki, just another mindless servant he thought distastefully before stepping over him.

 

Continuing to follow the hall, he turned the corner and saw more and more dead bodies as he went, all with poisoned darts sticking out of their necks or hearts. When he reached the door, he found it already open, it didn't feel like trap but he was still hesitant when he reached the stair well.

 

There were more dead bodies in the stairwell, only this time their cause of death was also by the crushing of skulls and ribcages, blows that probably targeted the heart. A great amount of strength was needed for this kind of attack and he wondered who else was here besides Jiraiya. Descending many levels, he reached the bottom with an illusion cast on the doorway, much like the flower shop. The ground shook suddenly and he could hear yelling on the other side. The words were muffled but they were definitely feminine.

 

Dispelling the jutsu he watched in the intense battle raging inside. A man with platinum hair swung an oversized scythe at a woman in a green jacket with `gamble' written on the back. Tsunade, one of the `Three' was here and very much alive. “Fuck! Shizune get the hell out of the way!” she yelled and Gaara noticed that Shizune was limping on her left leg and loosing large amounts of blood from her torso. She leaned against the closest wall and the Akatsuki chasing her came out of the shadows. His cloak flowed behind his as he began forming another sign with his hand. His high collar hid most of his face besides for a flash of bluish skin, and the waterfall hiate-ate on his forehead reflected the excessive lighting from above.

 

Looking around he didn't see Naruto or anyone else for that matter, scanned the rest of the room for another door, and found none. Tsunade made a dash for the fallen woman and managed to get her out of the way before a tidal wave of water hit her. Another loud explosion shook the entire facility and more than half of the southern wall collapsed. A familiar head of white abundant hair flew in through the hole with an orange clothed body tossed over his shoulder.

 

“It's about damn time you lecher, what the hell were you doing in there? Find a woman to grope?!” Tsunade yelled towards him while dodging the scythe again.

 

Gaara had never seen him in such a weak condition and looked ready to collapse, “Stop your blabbing woman, I got Naruto can't you see?”

 

“Well don't just stand there come over here and take Shizune so I can finish off this trash,” she told him this time grabbing the scythe pole and swinging the man into a wall.

 

“Damnit Tsunade, does it look like I can do that?! I got all of my charka sucked out of me by a damn shark who interfered in my battle, we need to retreat now not play around!” he told her again and locked eyes with Gaara who had walked out of the stairwell and towards him. With his sand, he took Naruto off his shoulder and deposited him on his own. “Is he alive?” he asked, wondering why Jiraiya's eyes had widened so much.

 

“Um, yeah……yeah kid, Naruto's alive just unconscious, poisoned and drained of charka,” he told him with a smile patting his shoulder as he went towards Tsunade.

 

Tsunade who was fighting off the pissed off platinum haired man with Shizune on her shoulder turned to acknowledge Gaara for the first time, “Who's the brat lecher?”

 

Jiraiya took the body, “Now's not the time Tsunade do that jutsu and let's get out of here.”

 

She shrugged and punched the man sending him into the same wall. “Fine, get out of here I'll be right behind you.”

 

“I'm going after Sakura,” Gaara informed them heading back into the stair well.

 

“The hell you will!” The pigtailed woman yelled, “You heard the pervert, we leave now brat, she can take care of herself.”

 

Gaara glared at the woman and felt the bujii within start releasing his chakra. Jiraiya intervened, “Calm down Gaara, if we find Sakura on the way out you can help her but it's not wise to go looking around the vicinity. I have three pissed off Akatsuki that are about to escape my jutsu and come through that large hole right there and one of them is the Sir Leader. We need to go and get these two medical attention or they'll either die or lose limbs. I'm sure this is what she would have wanted anyway,” he told him his eyes downcast.

 

“Will you two get going damnit, I'm having a hard time over here. If it makes that much of a difference I'll look for the girl on my way out alright?” Tsunade called over her shoulder performing a summoning technique.

 

Biting his tongue Gaara took a deep breath before going back up the stairs jumping through the flights, Jiraiya not too far behind. Going back through the same hallways, he reached the door that would lead to the dome room and the silence was a bad sign. Opening the door, he found pieces of the puppet he'd seen last scattered everywhere, some even pinned to the wall with kunai. Most of the walls cracked and the floor was in no condition to be walked on. There was only one body and it wasn't Sakura's, it was Sasori's, the body however didn't even look human, instead that of a puppet with the likeness of a man no older than 20.

 

The pieces fell into place quickly after remembering why Sasori had angered the Suna council; he was a firm believer in turning the puppeteers into puppets and had apparently experimented on his own body. “She's not here.”

 

“No I don't see her, but that just means she won, maybe she retreated,” Jiraiya offered.

“No, she wouldn't have left until she knew that Uzumaki was safe,” he told him and began walking towards the door.

 

“Gaara do me a favor and use your sand to locate the left hand of Sasori. He should have a ring on his left thumb and we need to take it with us.”

 

Sending his sand out quickly he found the hand and slid the said ring off his finger, “Let's go.”

 

They met no resistance upon leaving the compound and it was troubling. Akatsuki had more soldiers at their disposal, they could have sent some, but instead the compound resembled an empty cemetery. Reaching the large wall, they walked through the large hole still there and took to the rooftops.

 

“Will that woman be able to make it out alive?” Gaara asked, she had annoyed him to no end and it wouldn't make much of a difference if she lived or died.

 

“Ah, she should be able to handle herself, if we had stayed she would have been beyond pissed that we thought she needed our help,” he replied before turning right sharply. They reached the Hyuuga manor quickly after more shortcuts and a squad of ANBU medical team hurried to attend to the wounded.

 

Gaara moved back towards the exit and Jiraiya's voice stopped him, “She wouldn't want you to go after her.”

 

“That woman isn't going to bring her back is she?”

 

Jiraiya hung his head, “Don't go back there, they would have strengthened their guard by the time you show up. Wait with us and we'll come up with a strategy to get her back.”

 

He said nothing but began walking towards the gate, “Gaara, if you go-

 

“Send me a message whenever you've come up with a solution to this,” he called over his shoulder and the old man nodded letting the medic usher him into the house.

 

Walking into the street Tsunade landed in front of him and looked him square in the eye. “Do you always question orders?”

 

“I take orders from no one. I am not of Konoha and do not fall under your jurisdiction,” he retorted not backing down from her glare.

 

Tsunade sighed deeply running a hand over her face, “Geez, generation after generation the brats seem to have less and less respect for their elders,” dropping her hand she shrugged, “Oh well, wanna go get a drink?”

 

He blinked, and then blinked again. He'd hoped that at least one of the Sannin had turned out sane but apparently they were all equally weird. “I decline your offer,” he said turning and walking away.

 

“Shizune filled me in on who you were, it took a while my memory is a bit bad, but I have a few questions I'd like to ask you.”

 

He stopped and turned, “You were the ones at the Hokage Tower earlier today weren't you?”

 

She smiled, “So you sensed us did you, you are a good as they say. Tell you what, you answer a few of my questions and I'll answer yours,” she offered and Gaara shook his head.

 

“It is of no consequence to me if you were there or not, therefore you have no bargaining potential,” he calmly stated before turning and continuing back to the other side of the city. He could hear her growling behind him and smirked.

 

“Don't you want to know why I left her?”

 

Gaara's smirk fell and stopped.

 

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The bar wasn't crowded considering it was nearing closing time. He never thought he would see another person consume more sake, or be more possessive of their sake than Sakura. Apparently, there was a first time for everything. The woman, who in his opinion had a hairstyle not suitable for someone her age, swirled the bottle of sake around before taking another drink straight from the bottle. Was that genetic?

 

They had already been sitting in the secluded booth for half an hour just drinking, or this case she was drinking, he was content with looking at the wall coming up with strategies and remembering the layout of the building.

 

“We were at the Hokage Tower to inform Jiraiya about Naruto's capture,” she said suddenly, “We were visiting Hinata when the dark soldier came to notify us, and I demoted that pitiful ANBU,” looking very amused, she continued to look out the booth's window.

 

“I was never meant to be a mother Gaara,” she said solemnly and he caught the incredulous change in mood.

 

Taking another drink, she set the now empty bottle down and waved to the waitress for another finally looking at him. “I knew it was a mistake to help Orochimaru, I knew he wouldn't fulfill his promise. I was a stupid woman clinging to my past and made a mistake I paid for greatly,” her eyes shifted to the window again and propped up her leg on the remaining seat. “You see Orochimaru restored my dead lover and brother.”

 

Was that even possible? He didn't doubt that Orochimaru was capable of using forbid jutsus, but even that one had limits. “I had lost them a few years prior, I was depressed and that bastard used it to his advantage. I knew it was too good to be true but I thought why not? Why not bring them back to me?”

 

The waitress arrived placing two bottles of sake this time on the table and looked shyly towards him. Tsunade's booming voice shocked her, “Do you mind? We're trying to have a conversation here?” and caused her to juggle her tray before hightailing it out of there.

 

“So what happened,” he heard himself say.

 

She hmphed, “Bastard brought back two dead bodies that looked like them but had no souls. I ended up having to kill them to end their misery. The only condolence I found was that I screwed up his perfect child before I left.”

 

“How so?”

 

She took another drink and continued to swirl it on the table. “I played a major role in the genetic creation of the child. You may or may not know but she wasn't born, she was simply created in a generation tank. I kept him away from the project and it wasn't until she was completely developed that I allowed him to see her. He wasn't exactly too thrilled with the finished product but he took her anyway.”

 

“I fail to see how this was really your victory,” Gaara remaked, “Even if he won't inhabit her body, he can simply use her to pass on his genes to create another body.”

 

The old woman tossed her head back laughing, and he wasn't too pleased, but more confused than pissed. “Well, yes I can see how you and even he could think that. But before I handed her over I tweaked her reproductive genes so that they would fail at the age of 12, before she could even become fertile. I couldn't have done it right away you see, or his medical staff would have caught onto it early.”

 

“He could just heal them,” he countered.

 

“Not quite, you see by making sure that her organs would fail on their own at an early age, her body naturally begin to shut them down permanently before he even thought of using her in that way. Only a medical-nin genius could figure out how to repair something of that magnitude, and to my knowledge there is no one that can fix what I've done.”

 

They both said nothing for a while and the owner and waitress ushered everybody remaining out of the bar. “I left her because I couldn't stand to look at my sins everyday. I could offer her nothing, I wasn't mother material, and I was selfish, crude and a horrible person. I still am.”

 

“I couldn't exactly kill her either,” she mumbled polishing off one of the bottles. “Don't get me wrong, I didn't love her or nothing,” she sighed dramatically, “I have a problem when it comes to work, I like putting everything into it and making everything turn out perfect. In regards to her, I made her damn near immortal and even I would have a problem killing her.”

 

If one of the three legendary shinobi was sitting here telling him how she would have a hard time, he would have had a hell of a time fulfilling his mission. She may not have been able, but she also wasn't a bujii vessel, and if Gaara had fought her, he probably would have had to resort to using Shukaku. It was odd how things worked out they way they did.

 

With both elbows on the table she put her head in her palms, “Thank you for your time Gaara, I'm glad she found someone she at least showed interest in during her last days. I was beginning to think that she would never recover from Sasuke.”

 

He uncrossed his arms, clenching his fists tightly, “She's not dead yet, so refrain yourself from talking about her that way,” he managed through clenched teeth and she looked over her clasped hands confusion in her dazed drunken eyes. “Just how long have you been here anyway? From what she told me that incident happened years ago,” he questioned ignoring her `found someone' bullshit.

 

Her eyes focused a bit more before answering, “Shizune had been Kakashi's lover for sometime, and after his death I made sure Shizune became her guardian, bringing her back to Konoha. Shizune is my apprentice and she would send reports to me weekly telling me what was going on with her. I moved back here when the girl started working at the brothel and Sasuke appeared. I knew Orochimaru was going to make his move and I wanted to be around when he found out the truth.”

 

There were many things he wanted to say to her, lash out and put her in her place, but all the rest he'd gained over the last week aided him in keeping his rage subdued. He wisely bit his tongue literally trying to contain the sand threatening to leak out of the gourd. It was time to go.

 

Sliding out of the booth he nodded once, only in respect to Jiraiya's and walked out of the bar, ignoring her thank you as he slipped into the lonely night.

 

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AN: Okay, so finishing this story by Monday is not going to happen. I drafted some stuff up and there's still four more chapters to go. Considering it takes me two days a piece it's going to be a while -_-

 

So sorry Deidara! I didn't mean to kill you, truly I do love your character but I figured it best to die by your Danna's hand than by someone else. Oh and the puppet Sakura fault is the one she fought in the manga : ) if you want to know what it looks like go to wikipedia and look up sasori.

 

Does Tsunade seem heartless to anyone else besides me? I'm finding it incredibly difficult to write her any other way. *shrug* oh well! Getting pretty stressed over here with school starting back and there's still SO MUCH MORE TO REVIEL in this damn story *cries* Why won't the plot bunnies leave me?

 

loveshinobi4eva- thanks for your review doll, they keep me going! And I could listen to the Japanese voices of Sasuke and Itachi forever! Neji's working on getting up there too.*sigh*

 

I'm up to 40 reviews *dances around* Most reviews on a story yet!