As explained, the much shorter half of the what was supposed to be a full chapter. Sorry they vary so much, it's what I was able to manage. Hope you enjoy either way.

Sakura coughed as she sat up. Smoke was prevalent even though the fire itself was above them and made she to duck her head to get below the worst of it. With a grunt, she made her way painfully over to where Itachi had landed, not far from her, but she had landed wrong. Her hip caught in a way that made her think she tore a muscle.

But that was far from her mind as Itachi intercepting the brunt of the fire attack flooded into her mind. He was laying unconscious, face hidden from her. She could see that the back of his clothes were charred, but he was lucky to have the Katana strapped to his back, because it plus the armor she recognized as his old ANBU specs had saved almost his entire back. The same could not be said about his neck and the back of his head to a point, which were both burned badly. Feeling the weight of panic slowing creeping into her skull at the smell of burnt hair and flesh, Sakura turned over Itachi with a grunt. Her breath caught at the burns that covered almost half of his face from his jaw to his nose and up past an eye in patterns that resembled the licking tongues of flames. Sakura peered closer as she heard Naruto groan from his place on the ground and eyed him holding his head as he looked around, confused.

"What happened?" he asked. Sakura spared him a quick glance as well as one around the room.

"The house could only take so much abuse. We fell down a floor, but we're gonna have to find a way out." Naruto nodded emphatically and automatically moved to her side.

"Are you hurt? I can help you," he offered. Sakura examined the singed nose hairs with trepidation and answered not without a cough, "I'm fine, but I may need you to help me move Itachi somewhere safer. I think he has an inhalation injury."

Naruto picked up one of Itachi's arms and draped it over his shoulders while he put his gingerly around his ribs to steady him. "What? Like he inhaled fire?"

"Sort of," Sakura said as she took Itachi's other arm and helped Naruto lift him. "Fire, extremely hot air." Naruto was still silent as she peered through the dim home, only lit by the glow of the fire above and made worse by the haze, a silence Sakura knew meant "…..k".

"Basically the heat was really high, which injured his mucous membranes...uh...the slimy parts of your nose and airway. That'll lead to edema..." she trailed off as she realized they were moving their way into the kitchen, where there were quite a few windows, and the large sliding glass door. These could be great or really bad. Sasuke could see them a mile away and come down on them hard, especially with the injured person beside them.

Sakura motioned for them to lay him down, keeping her voice low knowing it would be absorbed by the wood of the house. She continued her train of thought, "swelling, basically, that will make it so he can't breath. Even if he didn't get hot air in there, smoke could do that as well, which is why we all need to be careful for the next 36 hours in case we show signs of chemical inflammatory responses."

Sakura risked cracking the window above the sink, and the sliding glass door to let some of the smoke out so they didn't die while she attempted to treat him.

"It accounts for the highest rate of fire-related mortality, eight percent, which is second only to carbon monoxide poisoning, hence the reason we need to get out of here kind of in a hurry, but I'm letting in some air from the windows so we should be okay for a few minutes." Sakura knew she was sounding like a text book, but reverting to this knowledge made her feel comfortable, like she was lecturing a brand new intern, not in a fight for her life against one of her oldest friends (if you could even call him that anymore) in a burning house.

"He looks fine," Naruto said, giving her a hard and wary look, like he wasn't sure where her judgement was at the moment. "Why can't we move him outside? How long before you think this house collapses? And didn't you just say it was dangerous for us to be in here for the same reason?"

Sakura understood his concern, though she let out a curse when she couldn't rightly see the extent of his injuries.

"Well, if we have to we will, but we don't know what exactly is going on out there. It may be more dangerous than in here." She would just have to do her best. Chakra is fucking great and everything and it can do amazing stuff, especially with internal injuries to her own body, but sometimes you just can't replace or compete with good, old-fashioned medical equipment, like an intubation tube, which was exactly what she needed. If only there was a hospital nearby….oh wait.

"Naruto, we've got to get back down to that hospital," Sakura said urgently. Naruto raised a finger and it drooped as his face showed his mind short-circuiting. "But I thought you just said-"

"I know what I said, just trust me. We are gonna have to move fast. I'll piggy back, you cover me, got it?"

"Uh okay, you think we can make it?" Naruto helped haul the elder Uchiha onto Sakura's back. Sakura considered this for a moment before swiping her still bleeding finger across the ground, summoning more cats, a cheetah named Kyuusoku, as well as a bobcat, a tiger, and a mountain lion. Sakura did not wait for them to address her before she gave them orders. "Go help Kossori, stop Sasuke from getting us by any means necessary...except death. Don't kill him, understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," they replied. Sakura nodded curtly first to her summons and then to Naruto before taking the handle of the sliding glass door and throwing it open. Unlucky for them Kossori and Sasuke had separated for the moment and were circling one another on the grass near the treeline. Sasuke sported some impressive claw marks dragging from his shoulders across his chest, while Sakura couldn't see much in the state of the big cat. Sakura just knew she would never in a million years mess with Kossori, lest she wanted to get her face eaten off. The rose-haired nin pushed off into a run with Naruto ahead of her and the cats shadowing behind in their own formation. Sasuke spotted them and abandoned the fight with the cat using his positioning closer to the trio as an advantage, but she took off with him, determined to not let him catch up.

The lean cheetah, who caught site of the initiation of pursuit, began to lope alongside and quickly gained ground on the man as she picked up immense speed. Soon Kyuusoku was right behind him, though she tried to shake her off, her rudder-like tail kept her on track as she reached out paw after paw at his legs. Kyuusoku needed to end this quickly before she got burnt out, she could only keep such a speed for long.

She successfully caught his heel as they rounded the front porch. Their speed caused his trip to throw him headlong, though he tried to catch himself by twisting his body. As he rolled, Sasuke turned and chucked kunai at the cheetah, who flattened to the ground in avoidance. Her pause gave Sasuke time to get to his feet again to follow Sakura and his brother. In front of him hid the two ambush predators hid, the mountain lio on the overhang and the tiger in the tall grass. He didn't realize he was stepping into a proverbial wasp's nest until it was too late.

"I think we are clear," Naruto yelled to Sakura, having not encountered anyone from the front and hearing the cacophony of feline roars and Sasuke's shout behind them. "Good, how about everyone else?" Sakura had zero means of communication with the rest of the team, had no idea how it was all going.

Naruto narrowed his eyes to try and see them, but failed. He clicked his tongue, and yelled to her, "I can't tell. I can't see them, but it sounds like it's quieted down."

"I need you to go to them and see if they need help. We will most likely have injuries and the best place is the hospital, as long as we're not trailing Hebi jerk-wipes behind us, it should be safe."

Her teammate leveled her with a look that meant he clearly wasn't comfortable leaving her, but she insisted, "Naruto, they'll need a strong hand to help, I'll meet you down there. Go, I'll be fine."

"And I got 'er, friend," drawled the bobcat, who Naruto had completely not realized was still running with them, bounding as well as they did. His voice was deep and flowed like honey, relaxing over vowels despite the tense situation "I c'n take down prey six times m'size. She'll be safe with me." Still looking uncertain, Naruto nodded and changed directions, sending up a silent prayer to whatever Kami that they would keep Sakura safe. He couldn't bear to lose her again.

Sakura did her best to pump some extra chakra into her legs to keep her upright. She was exhausted, emotionally and physically, her hip hurt, her lungs burned, but the end was so close. She just wanted it to be done. But Sasuke was wild card, and she carried her mentor's luck when it came to gambling. Wild cards just weren't her thing.

Sakura reached the automatic doors, and cursed as she shifted her weight so she wouldn't drop Itachi, but could somehow also fish her name badge out from her pocket. She spared a nervous glance over her shoulder, and locked eyes with Bob, who reminder her he had her back. Sakura let out a sigh, trying to shake her unease as she re-entered the hospital. She didn't even bother with the unit secretary or the nurses or Dr. Kenji who was still floating on a cloud as she strode past. She went back to the room that Sasuke had escaped from and gently lowered Itachi onto the bed. She opened the cabinets and set out everything for an intubation on the tray. The tube, the laryngoscope, sedatives—shit, she needed to start an IV. She changed gears and pulled out an IV kit, along with a bag of saline. Really it would take her two seconds to get an intravenous line going, feeling out the vein with her chakra was really nifty.

She got the IV in, and before she applied the induction drugs that she had drawn into their respective syringes, she tried her best to apply cool chakra to the insides of his nose and mouth, around his eyes, and throat. The burns receded, giving him less of a chance of swelling, but the important part was the trachea and lungs. Like applying chakra to a weapon, she would push it down the tube and hopefully it would come into contact with all of those surfaces. At the same time she could try from above, but she wanted to get to the very heart of the problem and have a tube in place in case his airway did fail.

The door squeaked as it swung open, and Sakura felt the icy coldness of dread thrum through her veins.

So, a bigger than normal thank you to those of you that slog through the first few chapters of my fanfiction. I had a very long, thoughtful, but generally negative review about Sakura's characterization and questions about the validity of her being alive after such an attack, and I know….I started this fanfiction ten years ago, when I was 17, with the intentions of having a one shot that left us all pondering.

Those of you who have followed it since the beginning requested more, and I've tried to build what I hope to be a thoughtful and interesting story. But in case more of you hold the same reservations, I will answer the big ones:

1. "How can Sakura move on so easily, and even check out a man who is a member of the Akatsuki (Deidara)? Obviously love means nothing (sarcasm, I'm assuming)": Well, the love of a 12 year old…...yeah…..there's that. It's like sharknado...NUFF SAID. She is nineteen in this fic, and also, I'm in love currently, and that's not gonna stop me from going "that is a good looking guy." And as we all currently know now, Sakura is on a very complicated and convoluted red scroll mission. She could stand to endear more than just one man to her, in fact, that could create unrest and conflict within a group she's trying to infiltrate/destroy, so, I definitely let her wander around that way. Does that mean what she has with Itachi is all an act?….I donno...guess we will have to find out. And find out what he, Deidara, and Kisame think of her after her mission, if they ever see each other again, that is. SPOILER Also, when it comes to her and Sasuke in canon-Naruto, SPOILER I am a little disappointed that Kishi face doesn't really ever let her hold him responsible for his actions which have put her, Naruto, and their village in mortal danger. I feel like it detracts from all of her amazing growth as a character and it sucks ass, and SPOILER their marriage should never have happened.

2. "She should NOT be alive after an attack like that. She would be dead": More SPOILERS

I like to think that with all the maturing she did, that applied also to her medical jutsu. She could immediately apply healing to herself, not to mention secretly summoning a slug to assist. As for the chidori as an attack, Kakashi SPOOOOILER hit Obito with one that went all the way through him—spinal cord included—with the aid of a kunai, and that dude still had a good sixty seconds of standing, stumbling, pained laughter, talking, and then pulled a jutsu that takes a SHIT TON of chakra (if I understand how it all works), so I can say that Sasuke already having fought his brother for a time and with any emotions he may be feeling, coupled with his lack of experience that Kakashi has with the technique and with ninjutsu in general, I say that his wasn't as good or lethal. Also, for a while a lot of his power came from the curse seal, and I made it clear that his ties with Orochimaru were gone in the assumption that he is dead.

3. "Itachi is the reason why Sasuke is the way he is, she wouldn't fall for him" SPOILER

Again, I hold Sasuke responsible for his choices. Everything he has done was a choice. Was he lead to believe something that wasn't true? Yes. BUT he made choices that lead him to some horrible shit. Almost all of the characters have some sort of history in their backstory that could make them be not such great people, and they don't defect from their village. Shit, even Gaara didn't defect from his village, and his father tried to have him killed….so…

And no he's not. Itachi is the reason he is alive. Period.

I think that's it.

As for things I THINK people will maybe question or have issues with from this chapter: I totally think it's plausible for Obito to be killed that way. The show has a history of high level people being beaten by lower level people purely because of little instances like that, where someone has an idea, one quick gamble, and boom, someone's dead. I also think Kakashi would know from years of high level ninja-ing that he would not be the choice to battle Obito on an emotional standpoint. I donno, I just picture him doing that, SPOILER which isn't what happened in the canon at all.

Sakura has more than one summon. You see Sasuke with more than one, so yup, why the hell not?

Also, inhalation injuries are super scary and really serious. I've seen them in the ED, if you ever have something explodes or flares in your face and you have singed nose hairs, eye brow hairs, or burns in or around your mouth, seek emergency medical attention (I'm not a physician).

Anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying it. That was a super long author's note, but I don't often hit you guys with one. I would consider going back and rewriting the old stuff, updating it, making it more reader friendly, but I also think keeping it the way it is preserves the integrity of the story and my development as a writer. Lemme know what you guys think :D