Medic

By Autumn's Wind

Summary: This time a different war approaches and its attack will be of two stages: 1. kill all the medics to disable Konoha's ability to heal; 2. destroy Konoha.

3. Chapter three

The Hokage's office was filled with tension, as the great leader of Konoha read the numerous scrolls on her desk again, trying to understand an enemy's movements. Message has been received from Kakashi's team recently, stating that the unknown army was nowhere to be seen, which didn't help her temper.

An army roaming around the country freely was a great danger to the village, especially when no one knew of their intentions and interests.

Sakura was there too, trying her best to help her mentor. And her company did in a way help said mentor. Now that there was a second mind trying to see through the mystery and also a company, Tsunade was much more able to do her job.

"I'm afraid we don't have enough information, Tsunade-sama. I mean…all we know is that someone gathers ninja and that they have been spotted two times near two villages in the north. We can't find an algorithm to their movement and this makes it nearly impossible to prevent a possible threat. I don't know…" Sakura placed the scroll she looked through on the desk and looked into the woman's eyes "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault…" Tsunade released a sigh and leaned back in her chair, looking outside the large windows behind her. The view she had over the village was astounding, though not as great as that from the mountain. "I'm sorrier for not being able to get more information. Maybe I should have made more contacts outside. Apparently the ones I have are not enough in a situation like this…" She turned her back to Sakura, to face the village she was the leader of. Even the fact that she was its leader made it hard for her.

"Team 8 hadn't sent anything, right?" The green-eyed woman asked, though it was a useless question. When she didn't get any response she turned grimmer and moved towards the door to silently leave the room and her Hokage in her contemplation. When she opened the door she said one last thing "I'll ask for Shizune to come here…"
But her offer was rejected by Tsunade who asked to be left alone. Sakura didn't oppose to her decision.

-x-

Night came slower than usual. But when it came it didn't make things easier. There was no calm before the storm. It was the tension and feeling of inability that everyone who was aware of the danger felt. It was the incapacity…

Even sleep was coming slower than usual. Before she was finally able to fall asleep, Sakura twisted and crumbled the sheets on the bed. Unfortunately, her sleep was interrupted by Sasuke who puffed in her room. The instant he appeared, Sakura lifted her torso and turned to look at him, having already had her guard up.

"They are here." He merely stated the facts. The green-eyed woman stared at him in confusion around two seconds, before realizing the meaning of his words. Not bothering to change her clothes, she merely grabbed a light coat, and after putting it on she went next to Sasuke.

"Hokage Tower?"

He nodded, before disappearing from sight, followed closely by Sakura.

By reaching Tsunade's office, she saw Naruto was already there, together with a few jounin, one or two of which she knew.

"An unknown person was caught placing an explosive tag on the back of a house. Unfortunately, it was just a clone and we couldn't get anything from him. This is why I'll have you patrol around the village. I've already sent some ninja patrolling, but I want to raise vigilance." Tsunade spoke, as soon as the ninja in her office were finished with their greetings.

But, just as she was about to say more, a summoning appeared next to her desk, carrying a scroll.

"There has been an unknown ninja near the hospital, with explosive tags in their hands. Another one was spotted near the market, and apparently a civilian was killed."

"They're too silent…" Sakura whispered.

"Yes. That's why you need to be very alert. Search in any alley and corner of the streets. They cannot escape now. Pay attention to the civilians…"

As everyone understood their mission, they departed and spread around the village.

Of course, the search would be easier for someone like Sasuke, who had a bloodline limit perfect for seeing the flow of chakra in one person, and therefore could notice if there was a chakra nearby.

But as Sakura had to follow her instructions she had to do her best, without having a special technique.

All she had to do was concentrate on her surroundings, in order to see if there was anything suspicious out there. The quiet streets were helping her a lot, though she would have preferred to have either Naruto or Sasuke by her side.

She kept walking for a good ten minutes, pushing away all thoughts, but the ones regarding her mission.

"Naruto, Sasuke." she eventually called through her radio a few minutes later "Did you find something?"

"Nope." the blonde's voice was heard followed by a low "no" from Sasuke.

"Me neither…" she replied, ending the short conversation.

She didn't know exactly what happened, but to her the village looked as normal as it always did. There was, of course, a certain tension going around the ninja but that was normal too, considering the threat that could be looming over them.

Reaching a crossroad, she turned left, which unfortunately for her lead her to a trap. Kunai and shuriken emerged, apparently, out of nowhere but thanks to her medical ninja training she easily ducked them all.

Now she was even tenser.

"I came across a trap." she communicated through her radio, as she eyed her surroundings warily.

"What?"

"Where?"

Her two teammates demanded of her, one incredulous, the other furious.

"I am near the area held by the Nara clan. Stick to your mission. If something else happens I'll call you." she responded.

"Okay. Take care Sakura-chan."

"You heard him."

A smile tugged on her lips.

She put her gloves on and grabbing a kunai from her pouch she resumed her patrol, but not before taking a kunai and a shuriken for later examination and examining the trap itself.

She was slightly startled when a fellow jounin, a Hyuuga, appeared next to her, looking around as well.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded, still staring at him as she couldn't recognize him. But there were many Hyuuga she couldn't recognize.

"The nin went this way." he said as he made a sign with his head for her to follow him. She understood his action. He wanted assistance in pursuing the ninja, maybe even fighting him.

"Byakugan!" he said, pushing his senses like only a Hyuuga could. The two of them sped through the streets of Konoha, reaching no sooner one of the training grounds on the edge of the village. That was when she saw someone disappearing through the bushes too.

The foreign ninja had his escape path blocked as the two leaf ninjas appeared in front of him.

"What are you doing here?" the Hyuuga asked. The nin carried on being silent.

"If you don't want to speak to us, perhaps you would love a little interrogation with one of our best…"

Seeing as they received no replies, Sakura ran towards him with a fist ready. He was able to dodge at the last moment, disappearing in the shadows once again.

"This way." the Hyuuga said, going after the nin. She followed closely behind him and they caught up with the nin once again. This time, he wasn't able to run away again.

After being immobilized, Sakura and the Hyuuga knelt down next to the ninja.

"Who is behind all this." her companion asked.

The ninja turned into a log.

"Another one?" Sakura incredulously asked, as she stood up.

"This was a replacement, but still.." the Hyuuga replied, standing up as well.

"All the ninjas we've encountered so far were clones…we never came across the original…" Sakura said "this only leads me to conclude they only sent their clones to do their job here, whatever their job may be…"

"Yeah…you're right. Report this to the Hokage; I'll continue patrolling."

She nodded, fleeing towards the Tower, where her mentor was most likely discussing the plans. In less than a minute she was standing in front of her office's door, with a thumping heart. Taking a deep breath she knocked on the door and slowly opened it.

"Haruno Sakura here to report." she stated, once she closed the door. Inside Tsunade's office she saw Shikamaru and two other tacticians, whose names she couldn't remember, Tsunade herself and lots of papers sprawled on her desk.

"What news do you have Sakura?"

"The enemy has only sent clones in the village. Everytime we try to subdue the ninja we encounter they simply disappear. But the originals must be somewhere around the village."

"Very good, Sakura. Go find Naruto and Sasuke and come back here with them."

Once she went outside she tried to locate her teammates through the radio, but she had to go further into the village for that. She tried once again and this time she managed to connect with their radios.

"Naruto, Sasuke."

"I'm right here, Sakura-chan."

"Yes?"

"We need to go to the Hokage Tower. Tsunade requires our presence. Come to the hospital, I'll be waiting for you."

"Got it."

And so she was left to wait all alone. But as she looked at one of the hospital's windows she saw a suspicious sight. She just saw a suspiciously sharp object flying across the room, passing by the window. Wasting no time she made a quick jump towards the window and upon reaching there she saw one of the nurses in the hospital in a pool of blood. She gasped as soon as she came across the sight and knelt down next to the young medic to take her pulse. Unfortunately the hit was perfectly landed and the medic instantaneously died.

Sakura released a shaky sigh and rose to her feet, all the while looking around her. The kunai she saw flying came from the entrance of the hospital and she assumed the killer was just getting inside the hospital.

"Sakura. You said you'll be waiting for us."

Sasuke's voice broke her concentration.

"Oh. I'm sorry guys. I'm in the hospital. A nurse got killed…"

"What? We're coming straight there!"

The conversation ended with Naruto's promise. Knowing that they will catch up before she could blink twice she resumed walking down the hallway and checking every room she came across. One or two rooms had their patients resting on the beds, with a continuous beeping filling the silence of the room. The hospital was being a bit too silent.

Going to the receptionist desk she saw no one standing there, but something led her around the desk until she saw the lifeless body under it.

"What is going on?"

The thought that there might not be any personal in the whole hospital made her insides turn to ice for a long second. If that was the case it was a smart move coming from the enemy, to disable any medical services.

She turned around, studying the empty hallway with her eyes and her body immediately tensed when she saw someone approaching her fast and silently.

"Sakura-san" hearing her name being whispered by one of the medics she worked with a few times calmed her body as she moved to meet him.

"What is happening?"

The fellow medic seemed panted and continuously looked behind him.

"They are killing all the medics and personal in the hospital. I've seen it with my own eyes…"

The feeling of dread encompassed Sakura once again. She began throwing glances around her again.

"B-but….Are you alright?" she asked him placing a hand on his shoulder. He smiled at her shaking his head.

"I'm fine. I escaped just in time. But we shouldn't stay here any longer. We should tell the others and…."

"Don't worry. That's why I'm here. My teammates will arrive shortly and…just get out of here…"

The male medic moved to the exit just as the form of Sasuke, then Naruto appeared, bewildered at seeing the dead bodies. Sakura motioned them to come towards her faster but as silent as possible.

"Somebody is killing all the medics." she whispered "Come." She went off before seeing the expressions her teammates wore, one of anger and concern and the other hard to classify.

"I'll take the lead from here." Sasuke said before going in front of them, eyes red from his Sharingan. Neither of his teammates said anything else, seeing and sensing that he was more than serious about this matter. It wasn't long before he whispered back at them the location of the ones they tracked "One on the second floor and another one is trying to escape…" the rest was left unspoken as he suddenly ran to catch the fugitive ninja. Naruto and Sakura understood it was their task to catch the other one on the second floor. The pink haired kunoichi had an additional task: healing any survivors.

In less than a minute they reached the second floor and their target who was just about to target someone else, who seemed oblivious to the threat.

"Move out of the way!" a masculine yell broke the silence making the young nurse shriek and stick herself to the wall farthest away from her assailant. Sakura immediately reached her to check if she was alright, as Naruto engaged in a fight with the unknown ninja who was desperately trying to defend himself and find a way out too.

Throwing another glance at her teammate who seemed to be winning, she then looked around to see if there were any losses among the hospital staff. They were lucky it was night and not day, as the staff was reduced during nightshift. If her count was correct the number of victims reached ten by now and she hoped it would stay that way.

But she didn't consider the fact that she might be the next victim and the kunai that grazed her arm made sure to put that in her mind. She was lucky she had sensed it approaching as the damage could have been worse than that. She quickly turned around to face her opponent but saw no one else but Naruto and the, finally, captured nin. The blond had an apologetic smile on his face and that was all she needed to conclude that the kunai came from the nin as a last strike in a moment Naruto was concentrating on the two of them only.

Sakura wanted to call him idiot but changed her mind thinking that her friend was already feeling guilty.

"Sorry…" he said as he came towards her with the unconscious nin. In that moment Sasuke appeared next to them as well.

"These two were apparently the only ones." he said to them as his red eyes checked the flow of the enemy nin.

"Where is the other one?" Sakura asked. "He's being taken to the Hokage tower." he replied looking over Sakura and taking note of the cut on her arm.

Then, as he moved towards the exit he stopped next to Sakura, leaning a bit towards her ear. "You may want to watch your back from now on. You're a medic too." At that she turned her head to look up at him in confusion "Most of them only concentrate on their training as medics. That doesn't mean I…I…"

She stopped talking when seeing the look of irritation that crossed Sasuke's face.

"You're a lot more skilled than most medics. You should know that if they are targeted, the strongest ones will need stronger ninja to defeat them…"

And with that he departed leaving her glued to the ground with feelings she could not comprehend. Naruto, having witnessed the whole strange exchange went to her, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"I don't know what he said to you, but looking at your face I can see that…Nevermind…whatever bad things he said to you don't forget that, even if he's a bit of a jerk when it comes to other people's feelings, he cares for us."

In fact, he hadn't insulted her at all. Naruto's words only strengthened her belief that he merely warned her of the possible dangers awaiting her. She understood that her level of defense and combat skills was higher than most of the medics' in Konoha, as she is mostly a field medic. Tsunade herself had taught her how to defend herself and fight back when there is need to and that has increased her combat level. So, if someone planned to leave Konoha without medics, they had to use ninja with a level high enough to defeat herself, even Tsunade, though she couldn't quite imagine the busty blonde being defeated in a battle.

Naruto was right. Sasuke cared for them despite how his way of addressing them may show the contrary.

Looking back at Naruto she offered him one of her brightest smile and thanked him for not letting her forget.

A/N: I apologize it's been two months since my last update but I didn't have much inspiration for the next chapter.

I want to thank everyone who stuck with this story. I love your reviews and I hope I will still receive some ^^

My story may contain some grammatical errors because English is not my mother language, so I apologize for those too. I don't have a beta but if anyone wants to take this job I will agree, as long as he or she knows English better than me.

I'll try to update sooner this time.