"H-Hey... what do you mean by that?!" Naruto demands.

"I-It was just a guess," I insist, frowning all the same. "The way things are, it's obvious this guy doesn't agree with it. And if this is really the case, then..." My stomach twists in a great knot at the thought. "... then Lady Tsunade could be in danger."

"Lady Tsunade?!" Sakura repeats angrily.

Captain Yamato glances away from us. "You're right," he says.

"But that doesn't make sense!" Naruto says. "I know Sai's boss was the old man's rival and all, but why do they have to destroy the Leaf or do something to Granny Tsunade?"

"Did you forget already?" Sakura asks him. "Lady Tsunade used to be the Third Hokage's favourite student."

"Besides that, the way the things are run in the Leaf by Lady Tsunade obviously complies with the wishes of the Third Hokage," Captain Yamato reminds us. "Undoubtedly, Danzo probably isn't happy about it, but most of the people in the village support the current regime, so things can't be changed so easily."

"And obviously what Danzo's thinking of is causing a traumatic event to sway it," I murmur. "That must be why he's tasked Sai to speak to Orochimaru. He wants his help so Danzo can replace Lady Tsunade without looking like the bad guy... something that snake-bastard has no problem with."

From beside my, Naruto audibly grits his teeth. "The destruction of the Hidden Leaf Village," he growls through them, "just because of that?!"

I nod. "Yeah."

"... the reason why Danzo went into action so late in the game..." "... is because it's been three years since the last attack," Sakura goes on to say, "so there's been enough time for Orochimaru to fully regain his forces."

"I agree," Captain Yamato says. "Or, he may have thought Orochimaru is more cautious now because the last attack failed. If he acts now, he thinks the negotiations with Orochimaru... will go more smoothly."

"That means he's going to propose cooperation from the village, right?"

"Yes."

"Wait a minute... you mean Sai's secret mission is..." Naruto swallows.

"To gain Orochimaru's trust and favour, most likely," I finish. "He'll be a liaison between him and Danzo. And Danzo probably thought the chances of meeting Orochimaru again would be higher if he was put with us." I groan at this. "I really hate to admit it, but this Danzo is dangerously smart."

"If what you said is the case... then we might have to get rid of Sai."

"... yeah," I whisper.

"Right now, I have my clone following them, but there's no way of knowing what's going to happen. We're going to go after them right away."

"But—""Alright!" Naruto says, cutting across Sakura. "Let's get go... going..."

"N-Naruto?" All of a sudden, the colour in his face drains, and his eyes grow dark. I sense it before he hits the ground; I reach out and grab him at the last second, and carefully lower him to the ground in my arms. I only just notice, but he's wincing at my touch. "N-Naruto, come on... Sakura, what's going on with him?"

The expression on her face only reflects the conclusion I'd come up with. He's obviously still not fully recovered. Even Medical Ninjutsu can't completely heal something as extreme as what had happened. And then he goes and overexerts himself by helping me along...

"... Captain Yamato, Sakura... you guys should go and catch up to Sai," I say.

"But Kari, you know with his condition being like this...!" "I do know!" I say loudly. "And that's why I'm the best person to help him pull through."

"In that case, we'll leave him to you," Captain Yamato says, before Sakura can argue. "By the time you've finished, you should both have enough strength to make it back to the Leaf."

"Whoa, that's not where I was going with that," I quickly point out, raising an eyebrow at our captain. "... and I'm not so sure Kakashi-sensei would say something like that, either," I add quietly.

"K-Kari..." My frown still glued onto my face, I look back down at Naruto, and note that his own has grown much, much paler. Shakily, he reaches for my arm, and grabs it tight. "R-Really... I-I'm okay..."

"You dummy, you're far from it," I say, my voice cracking. "H-Hey, don't—" Despite my hand, he forces himself into a sitting position, still gasping.

"I know, Kari," he says. "On top of that, Kakashi and I have teamed up in the Anbu Black Ops Unit before. I also know the kind of person he is. It's true that I'm filling in for him, but I'm not Kakashi. I'm sorry, but I'm not the kind of person who can say, "I won't let you get hurt," with a laugh.

"You're no longer apprentice Ninja in need of protection, but Shinobi shouldering the future of the Leaf Village... who will have to eventually surpass Kakashi. Compassion and co-dependence aren't the same thing. If we give up now, it'll end in failure. If we don't go now, we're never going to catch Orochimaru. There's no second chance here."

"Sakura, please," I say, turning to look at her. "Please go. Go," I insist. "I promise... I'll take care of things here... and we'll find you when I'm finished."

Captain Yamato turns to him. "Naruto?"

To my great concern, albeit extremely shakily, he pushes himself onto his feet. "... of course, I'm going! I'm fine," he insists, steadying himself, as I'd reached forward to keep him from falling over again. "If I went back to the village now... there'd be no point to me coming this far." My lips part to speak... but nothing comes out. "Trust me," he tells me. And with that, I sigh.

"You already know that I do," I mumble, still worried. "But only if Captain Yamato gives the O.K.," I add at the suddenly bright expression on his face.

"Fine, but if you slow us down, we'll have to leave you behind," he says. "Do you understand?"

"Yeah!"

"Then let's go!"

-

The whole time, I'm on edge. Not because of the situation with Sai and Orochimaru, although perhaps it does play some role in my anxiety. Why wouldn't it? All my hunches up until this point have been correct; if there's one thing I hate about myself, it's that they're typically pretty accurate. So, if Danzo plans on coercing Orochimaru into cooperation somehow, that means a lot more trouble for the village, trouble that we really don't need right now. No, the reason I'm on edge, is because of Naruto's condition.

It's always so difficult to take him at face-value. Whenever he tries acting so tough, he only makes his case worse for himself. Watching him struggle to keep up with our speed, running through the winding trees like this, I'm surprised he's been able to do this much. My heart leaps when he almost runs into one of the branches. At the last second, he regains control of his speed and avoids it.

The anxiety doesn't move. It's stagnant within me, to the point where it's starting to physically hurt now. I don't know how to stop it. And, it only intensifies when Naruto yells from ahead of me.

"Sakura!"

She's slipped from the branch, her eyes shut, unconscious. I watch in horror, my body too in shock to react in time to go after her. Naruto tries, but he's a second behind. Thankfully, Captain Yamato, in his good health, manages to catch her in time before she hits the forest floor. I'm the last to reach them between me and Naruto.

"Sakura," I pant, following behind our captain as he moves toward one of the trees. He carefully sets her down against it. We crowd around her from a slight distance, watching; waiting. Is it that injury? I wonder nervously. To confirm my suspicion, she suddenly snaps awake, grimacing and gripping the same arm with her opposite hand. I thought Kabuto healed it...?

"That wound," Naruto says. And then, it hits me. Chakra-inflicted wounds aren't easily healable with Medical Ninjutsu. I recall Sakura, herself, told me that once. So, even though Kabuto healed the injury, Naruto's Nine-Tail chakra that she'd been attacked with, remains. With such a small amount to cause the injury to be able to do this to Sakura... just how is Naruto managing?

"This... Orochimaru did it," Sakura suddenly announces. "It only hurts a bit; really, I'm okay." I'm not sure if he notices, but to me, her expression doesn't agree with her statement.

"Just take it easy, Sakura," Naruto tells her. She smiles thinly as a response. Sighing, Captain Yamato stands up from his kneeling position.

"Let's take a little break," he says. "Sakura is our team's only Medical Ninja. In other words, she is a key cog in the success of this mission. In the meantime, Kari, do what you can."

"Of course," I say.

"I'm all right!" Sakura insists. "If we don't leave now—" she winces, hard. "E-Even you said..."

"I know what I said," he interrupts, "but there's no need for us to rush and take greater risks. I mean, there's a big difference between hurrying and recklessness."

"I agree!" Naruto pipes. "Captain Yamato's right!" Sakura flushes red. "You're the only Medical Ninja in our group, and with monstrous strength—""I told you to stop making comments about it!!" she snaps, using her good arm to reach for him, to no luck.

"But I was just complimenting your—""Shut it, shut it!" "Okay, okay! I'm sorry!"

"Naruto," Captain Yamato says. Sakura ceases in her onslaught. "Since Sai's gone, you'll be my partner for the battle. Let's decide on our collaboration patterns while we have time. Can you come over here for a bit?"

"Got it." Naruto stands, and joins him on his walk away from us.

My chest welled up with stress, I let out a great breath of relief when they're out of earshot.

"You two really are something," I say, maneuvering myself in front of Sakura's bad arm. Sakura chuckles, though it comes out broken. "I knew it was too soon to be moving again. We could've avoided all this trouble if—""Sorry," she says quietly. "I know... how much you worry about us. I'm grateful."

Carefully pressing my fingertips against her skin – even still, at the slightest touch, it still hurts her – they begin to glow white. She flinches again, biting down on her lip and clenching her other fist to distract from the pain.

"Y-Yeah, well, who else is going to, you know," I mumble. Taking a deep breath, I begin to extract the Nine Tails' chakra from the wound and replace it with my own, instantly breaking out into a sweat. "Jeez, I can never get used to this stuff... it's so hot..."

"Kari, you don't—""Shush," I say. "It's all I can do. So, I have to. I have to endure it for you." I grit my teeth, the heat from the foreign chakra singeing my skin. "Just sit tight, Sakura. It'll take a bit to remove and replace and convert everything, but I just hope there's enough time."

"... thank you, Kari," she pants. "Ha... you know, I've never actually said it out loud..."

"Said what?" I ask at her hesitation.

"... I'm really glad you ended up coming to the Hidden Leaf. It's... it's nice, having a friend that doesn't always want to compete with you. It's nice just having a friend like you that cares so much."

My heart instantly flutters. No, she's right; she's never said that. No one has. I've worked so hard to be recognized as a Hidden Leaf citizen, to no longer be viewed as an outsider. Lord Third helped make that a reality for me.

Suddenly, Sakura's face goes bright with recollection. She reaches into one of her pouches on her hip and pulls out a small book. "It's Sai's," she tells me.

"Oh, yeah," I say, "he had it on him back at that inn."

"I'd found it back in that crater, but it seemed so important... it wouldn't be like him to just leave it behind."

"I doubt he'd meant to," I reason. "His encounter with Orochimaru must've been the cause." While I continue to draw out the Nine Tails' chakra, she reads silently. Before long, she's frowning at one of the pages.

"What's the deal... with this book?" she says aloud. "Hey, you guys!" she shouts over me. "Come over here for a second. Hurry!"

And they do, quickly jogging to us.

"Hey, what's going on?" Naruto asks, and the two of them kneel in front of us.

"Look at this."

"Oh!" Naruto exclaims. "That's Sai's."

"That's the picture book we picked up that Sai drew, huh?" Captain Yamato says. "What's in it? If we figure it out, we might be able to understand him a little more."

"Right," Sakura agrees. "That's what I was thinking, so I tried reading it, but..."

"What kind of story's in it?" Naruto asks her. Sakura shakes her head.

"Actually... I don't really know."

"What do you mean?" I nervously ask. She flips it open to the first page. On it, a boy in a black outfit, reminiscent to Sai, himself, stands with his fists raised, in the middle of a forest. On the second page: a man wielding a kunai, wearing an unkind appearance. "Oh... there aren't any words."

"You're right," Naruto says. Sakura takes the book and flips it so the covers are exposed to us.

"It... looks like a story about the two boys on the front and back cover," Sakura points out. "And... it's got the story of the two boys starting from both title pages of the book that progress to the middle." She flips back to the page of the boy and the man. "When you look at the book starting with this boy with black hair, the next page—" and she flips it "—always has the same boy on the right page."

"But there's someone different each time on the left page," I also realize.

"Huh?" I catch Naruto blink at the book. "That's—go back!" Sakura takes up the third page and flips it, back and forth against the second. "This kid... looks a little different on each page."

"You're right," Sakura says, and she flips to the fourth page, where the boy on the right side wears a new outfit and wields a new weapon.

"And look," Naruto says, point at the boy. "He has the same weapon as the guy drawn on the last page."

"... it's a journey," I say. "Each page you flip to reveal the new image, it's like a new chapter. These men are the boy's enemies, and each time he defeats them... It's almost like... a catalogue of kills..." I take the corner of the next page with my free hand and flip it. "Like I thought," I breathe, flipping it once more. "Oh, wait—what about the other boys' side?"

Sakura switches sides and opens it to the pale-haired boy's end. "It's reversed, but this boy with the white hair is the same, too."

"So, it's a story where these boys grow by battling enemies, huh?" Captain Yamato says.

"Wait a minute," Naruto says. "If they're defeating enemies from both sides... then what happens at the end?!"

My lips part in surprise. "If it keeps going like it is, then the two of them would ultimately... fight each other... right?" I say, unsure.

Sakura sighs. "That's the problem," she says, and she carefully flips to the center of the book. "Look."

I frown at the drawing. On the one side, on the black-haired boys' side, is a drawing of him, his one arm extended toward the spine of the book. He wears the Konoha headband and flak jacket, and wields two katanas on his back, which is fine and all, but... but there's no drawing on the left page, where the white-haired boy should be. It's completely empty.

"This is a strange story," Naruto murmurs.

"In this picture book... only the facing pages in the middle are incomplete," Sakura says.

"It's a little eerie," I admit, "even though he did say it wasn't finished yet, right?"

"Yes, but... why isn't there a face drawn on the boy already there?" she wonders aloud.

"I know... but the fact that this boy that Sai's been drawing looks so much like him is a little creepy to me."

"Oh, you're right!" Naruto says.

"Did he draw himself?" Captain Yamato ponders.

Sakura shuts the book. "Then who is this boy... with the white hair?" she says.

"It has to be someone he knows," I guess. "But I've never seen anyone like that back in the village?"

Sakura suddenly gasps. "Could it be...? It's Sai's... older brother? Then these..." She opens the book to the center again. "These facing pages in the center... It's Sai and his older brother."

"Don't tell me," Naruto starts, his voice shaky. But it doesn't have to be told.

Captain Yamato raises a hand to his ear.

"It appears my clone has located the hideout," he announces.

I sigh deeply, and release Sakura from my extraction technique. "Good timing, too," I tell her. "I've finished." Brushing my knees off, I stand. "Well, let's get going."

We're coming to save you, Sasuke.

This time... I won't let you just walk away.