A/N: (Cackles madly) I finished it. I finished this chapter in a reasonable length of time! Hah…I'm so pathetic.

Disclaimer: I own no part of the Naruto franchise. Just this plot.

Five Kingdoms for the Dead

-Chapter 27-

Scorpion's Wake

"Neji,I--" Sakura began, but Neji shook his head sharply.

"If it doesn't affect the mission, it might be best left to later," he said softly. Sakura simply stared up at him for a moment, before her brain caught up to her moment of emotion.

That's right, Sakura thought, the mission isn't over yet.

The admiration she always carried with her for her dark-haired partner deepened. If this had been Naruto or Sasuke they would have demanded information right away, no matter what sort of audience was watching. Even last night, when they had questioned her, not for a moment did they think of the wisdom of talking while Chiyo was present. And as much as she admired the woman, Sakura knew she wouldn't hesitate in using the information she had gained if she thought it was for the good of Suna.

Both Sasuke and Naruto were unable to separate their emotions from the mission, which made for unstable ninja. In Naruto it was easy to see, but Sasuke too, when his emotions were roused, was unable to maintain that emotional distance that allowed a ninja to judge their next action. The middle of battle was just as good a place as anywhere else to air their grievances for them. Neji wasn't like that.

Sakura didn't doubt that Neji was equal parts concerned and intrigued, but he would wait patiently to be told, when the spread of information didn't pose a potential threat to the village. That alone made him a better ninja than either of the other members of Team Seven.

He would also never show open affection on a mission, but he radiated a warmth that was just as good as an over-enthusiastic hug from Naruto. Neji's pearlescent eyes were soft with emotion, in which Sakura read just how much Neji had worried for her safety. Usually those silver eyes were as reflective as a mirror the instant a mission began, not thawing until the mission ended.

When this mission ends, there will be no more secrets between us, Sakura vowed. Then quickly amended that thought. Well, maybe not. Orochimaru laughed softly at that.

Sakura could feel a spreading numbness from her crumpled wings, but they hadn't yet receded, which was worrying. Not the numbness, because she wasn't sure that demons perceived pain in the same way, but that even though the battle was over and there had been no bloodshed to entertain Amanozako, her chakra was still flowing steadily beneath and through Sakura's own.

Sakura had become talented at ignoring little irritations like that, so instead she returned her focus to the mission. "I understand," she said softly, feeling as her facial expression relaxed into the placid mask that was the result of so much training and the black feathers drifted off as fine dust. The mission isn't over until the objective is achieved.

Oh, my, you sound angry Sakura-chan. Be careful or this next battle might end explosively.

xxx

When Neji first saw the ruin of the cavern, he would have sworn his heart stopped for a moment. He knew his breath caught in his throat, his lungs clenched tight with an emotion he was nearly unfamiliar with. Hyuuga Neji didn't fear much in his life, but when he looked at that pile of rubble, black scorch marks scored on the rocks, for a little space he knew fear.

"Neji, see if you can locate them!" Gai ordered. Neji had briefly deactivated his Byakugan after the battle with his doppleganger to conserve chakra, but now he focused his chakra so sharply into his eyes it was almost painful.

"There! Lee, that boulder that's about twenty feet from where the entrance once was! Chiyo-sama is there."

Lee bounded over to where Neji directed him without question. He called back, "One of her arms is pinned and she's unconscious, but otherwise she looks unharmed!"

Neji nodded in acknowledgement as Tenten went to help their teammate, but he was already desperately scanning the rest of the disaster area.

"What happened here?" Gai pondered aloud by Neji's shoulder.

"Whatever it was, it left a lot of remnant chakra. It'll take time to locate Sakura," Neji said distractedly. "She doesn't appear to have been thrown outside the main impact point, so it's likely she was at the center when it collapsed."

Gai clasped him by the shoulder a little harder than was strictly necessary. "You'll find her. I have faith in the power of your youth!"

One part of Neji was intent on locating Sakura, but a small part of him was left free to wonder how Gai could say such a ridiculous statement so solemnly and with so much conviction.

"Chiyo-sama's coming to!" Tenten shouted, but all the noise from that quarter was reduced to a dull buzzing. His keen eyes had picked up the first movement from the earth, caused by an familiar chakra signature that was slightly distorted by something he couldn't quite see.

Leaping to area, he was there when the deceptively small hands with their long, delicate fingers broke the surface, saw the relief in those emerald eyes when he took hold of her an d pulled her from the earth. It was like plucking a flower, he thought giddily in his relief. He was so distracted, it took him a moment to notice the appendages that Sakura had not had the last time he'd seen her.

Crumpled and limp, the wings hung from her back, covered in great black feathers that were so tattered they should have been molted a season or two ago. But they didn't matter, not really. Because Sakura was alive. All problems could be handled in due time. Now he could just be grateful.

xxx

Sakura watched as Lee and Tenten fussed over Chiyo, insistent on examining her right arm until she finally revealed it was simply a replacement, intended for use alongside her puppetry. Sakura scowled in distaste, but she really had no room to criticize a person for modifying their own body.

Chiyo meanwhile, was busy staring at Sakura. Once Tenten and Lee had satisfied themselves and backed off, she started the questions Sakura knew would come.

"That was a much shorter battle than I anticipated. I wonder, how did you know to take the scroll?"

Sakura answered Chiyo truthfully. "As part of my training, I was familiarized with the strengths and weaknesses off all the major disciplines used in foreign villages. As the Puppet Corps is a major faction in Suna, I studied it as well. Because it is such a difficult discipline, ninja that utilize that style are rarely trained in any other style of combat. Without their puppets, many puppeteers are useless."

Chiyo grudgingly acknowledged the point. "But still, Sasori wasn't a pushover."

"No, but he was arrogant and underestimated us. He went too long without losing and forgot that he could lose. A ninja's greatest weapon is surprise. The match was decided in that split second that I tried for the scroll and he let it slip from his grasp. If he had been able to match my speed, the battle could have turned out very differently." Sakura tried not to dwell on just how differently. If she'd been affected by his poison, been slower, been a thousand different things, it was very possible that the battle could have went in Sasori's favor.

Chiyo sighed heavily and shook her head. "My cute, foolish grandchild. The lightning was a good idea on your part, but in any other battle, the handsigns and build-up are excessively long. Not to mention it was simply luck that it didn't go out of control and kill us both, along with Sasori."

Sakura had thought the area perfect, but given how it had turned out, she couldn't help but agree with Chiyo. "You're right. But the battle didn't last long enough for Sasori to get desperate."

"Not a good idea to wait to see the aces he had up his sleeve, eh?" Chiyo laughed. "Smart move. If you live long enough, you're going to be a power. I can see it now." Her gaze turned rather sadly on the ruins.

"Ah," Sakura said, pulling two scrolls that contained Sasori and his favorite puppet from her pack. "I have Sasori's body, if you'd like it. The lightning didn't damage it badly."

Chiyo's eyes lingered on the scrolls sadly, but then she waved her hand. "Keep it. Sasori was a traitor to the village. Only a traitor's burial awaits him. Do what you want with it. Keep the puppet scrolls, if you like, as well. You'll have to turn over any scrolls with information in them to Suna, but that can wait until we reach the village."

Sakura blinked. "Can you do that?"

"I'm Sasori's next-of-kin, so I inherit everything after his death. His puppets are mine to do with as I please, and I don't want corpse mannequins finding their way into Suna. That's trouble waiting to happen. Besides, I'm not going to teach you to use them," Chiyo smirked. "Take good care of my cute grandson, won't you?"

Sakura didn't have a response to that, so she turned to Gai, her senior. "Since Sasori has been eliminated, do we pursue his partner?"

Gai rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Kakashi has both Naruto and Sasuke with him, but it won't hurt to lend our support. Sakura, how much chakra do you have left?"

It took her a moment to access her chakra, given how much of Amanozako's was still weaving itself more tightly into her coils, but Sakura finally answered. "About 60%."

That gained Chiyo's attention. "Impossible. I saw that jutsu of yours. That shouldn't be possible without a massive chakra expenditure."

Team Gai turned inquiring gazes to Sakura, which she did her best to ignore. "My attack, 'Left Hand of the Thunder God', isn't a normal lightning ninjutsu. Typical ninjutsu uses the user's own chakra to produce an element, which is then utilized in an attack. Instead, I use the friction of extreme speeds to produce static electricity, build it to the amperage of natural lightning, then the hand sign gather and channel it. My chakra expense is minimal, but the jutsu itself is dangerous. After I release the lightning, I lose all control of it, which is why I couldn't use it if I had allies in the area or if we were in a less contained area. It's a single combat only technique." It also required perfect chakra control to harness, which was the reason Sakura wasn't afraid to reveal the secret of the technique. Once, that chakra control might have found Sakura in the medical field, but that was no longer an option.

There was a silence after her speech, but finally Gai snapped out of it. "All right. Then, with the fires of our youth burning brightly, let us advance!"

Lee punched his fist into the air. "Yosh! Let's go!"

They automatically fell into an offensive pattern as they started running. Neji took point, the others straggling themselves into a V that contained Gai and Lee as the front guard by Neji because their specialty was close combat, Tenten and Sakura on the edges as they could maintain distance combat. Chiyo was kept in the open end of the V so they could support her if it came to fighting. Even if she had volunteered for a combat mission, she was still a valuable elder of Suna.

Their pace was good, so it wasn't long until they reached Kakashi and the others. By her former sensei's stance, she knew that he was worried. Naruto was hunched over the Kazekage's body like a wounded animal and Sasuke was standing to one side attempting to look distant and failing.

Naruto wouldn't move, not even to let Chiyo better examine Gaara. Finally, she just smacked him in the back of the head.

"What was that for?!" Naruto demanded, tears of helplessness and rage pooling in the corners of his eyes.

"If you get out of my way, baka, I might be able to do something. He hasn't been dead long." Naruto shuffled off to one side, his animalistic features giving way to more human emotions. Once, Sakura might have tried to comfort him, might have cried with him, but just now she could only stand to one side and be as impassive as Sasuke was trying to look.

Tenten and Lee both hovered, Gai and Kakashi stood quietly, which left her and Neji to flank Sasuke. Everyone waited with a silent vigilance for Chiyo to make her pronouncement.

"Hey, kid," Chiyo said finally.

"Yeah?" Naruto asked miserably, not even protesting at being called 'kid'.

"What exactly is between you and the Kazekage? You only met him once. Why do you try so hard for him?"

Naruto was so quiet Sakura thought he wasn't going to answer. "I could have been him. I could have been just like him. When I met him, I told him I would become Hokage. I told him I would show him I could become someone. Someone who was admired. Loved. Then he went and became the Kazekage and doesn't even have the decency to wait for me to become Hokage? I can't accept that. I can't accept that."

As she watched, Sakura realized he was shaking, so intense was his emotion. Sakura tried to remember the last time she'd reacted like that. It was long ago, that was for certain. Here, in the midst of a tragedy, Sakura felt a little sadness for herself and felt ashamed.

"All right," Chiyo announced, "everyone but the kid, go."

That sparked a reaction. "What?" Naruto asked, verbalizing the question on everyone's minds.

"This is a forbidden technique. I'm not worried about this baka here copying it, but the copy-nin, the Uchiha brat, Sakura, and the white-eyes have to leave. I'll be generous and let the others stay, but the three of you, I want outside the Byakugan's range."

Kakashi and Gai exchanged a look, then nodded at each other. "All right," Kakashi said, running a hand through his hair lackadaisically. "Sasuke, Sakura, Neji, you're with me."

They waited at the ruin of the former Akatsuki base. Sakura drew Neji off a little from the members of Team Kakashi and told him, haltingly, of Amanozako. He listened patiently, rarely asking for clarification, watching her so piercingly Sakura thought he might be able to see down into her soul and perceive the demon. When she finished, Sakura lowered her gaze to the ground, somehow hesitant to see his reaction.

"Sakura," he said softly. Neji almost always spoke softly, but there was extra warmth in his voice, coaxing her to meet his gaze. His eyes were soft again. "Sakura, thank you for telling me."

"You're not angry?" Or astonished, or the other emotions Sakura was certain he should have been feeling, instead of quiet acceptance.

"You know me better than that," he chided. "And I know you better than that. These eyes of mine see everything." He brought his hand up and tucked fallen strands of candyfloss pink hair behind the curve of her ear.

"You've been my partner for three years. I see you more than your parents. Did you really think I didn't notice how strange your chakra was? It's been getting worse, slowly. Sometimes, when you came back from solo missions, your chakra didn't really look like yours at all."

"So you knew?" It wasn't quite an accusation, but it came close.

"I knew something. Not everything. I was waiting for you to tell me. I knew you would."

Sakura was torn between the urge to laugh and the urge to cry. A strangled chuckle was the result. The burden of that much trust was enormous. It was easier when no one expected anything of her. "Can your eyes see the future now?"

A smile, perfectly arrogant, flickered across Neji's face. "Of course. "

Sakura laughed, a peal of bells in the desolate landscape, trailing off into silence. "Thank you, Neji."

"You're welcome, Sakura." The arrogant smile softened, became something more approachable. "But I am a little disappointed."

"Why?" Sakura asked curiously.

"I thought you would trust me a little more. When you were telling me, you had a look like you thought I would hate you." He didn't say what was written in his eyes, that he had thought their friendship ran deeper than that. That wasn't in Neji's nature, but Sakura had a rapport with him built by long teamwork. More than with Sasuke or Naruto, who baffled her at every term, or Kakashi, who was purposefully opaque, Neji was someone she understood, and was understood in turn.

"Sorry," Sakura apologized. "I didn't...," she trailed off, unsure of how to explain. She hadn't hated Naruto when she discovered he contained the Kyuubi, so why had she expected Neji to react differently?

"It's difficult to trust in the understanding of others, isn't it?" Neji ruminated, like he was remembering his own experiences.

"Mm." Silent in mutual understanding, she and Neji stood watch, waiting for Naruto and the others to return.

xxx

Kakashi was watching his favorite pupil out of the corner of his eye. Watching Sasuke silently fume was better entertainment than Icha Icha Violence, which he'd read several times through. The reason for his silent temper tantrum was obvious, though if he asked Sasuke why, the boy probably wouldn't be able to answer.

As soon as they'd reached the hideout, which had been reduced to a ruin that made him raise an eyebrow but had drawn no explanation from his former student, Sakura had drawn Neji just out of hearing distance. No sound hadn't prevented their heart-to-heart from transmitting itself blatantly throughout the general area. If he didn't know better (and couldn't read lips) he might have thought they were over there confessing to one another.

He'd heard, both from Sakura and from the Godaime, that she and Neji had been working together, but their aura was formidable. Genin were assigned to groups of three for cohesive teamwork, but worked practically in a group of four with their jounin-sensei. Chunin were often sent out in groups of three, one of the teammates taking the lead. But jounin were often sent out in groups of two, if they were sent in groups at all.

Usually a gennin stayed with the same people over the entire foreseeable future of their career as ninja until they reached the very highest ranks, promoting a unity that was almost like mind-reading between them. Sakura and Neji acted and reacted to each other with a seamlessness, present even in mundane interaction, that spoke of a long, hard climb. It was no wonder Sasuke felt the pair unapproachable.

He strolled over to where his student was glowering and ruffled his hair, turning those dark eyes toward him. "What do you want, Kakashi?" While Naruto and Sakura might slip up and call him 'sensei' occasionally, once Sasuke had learned to quit the title, he'd dropped all semblance of respect.

"Nothing at all, but if you glare any harder, you're bound to set something on fire." Sasuke shoved the hand resting on his head off with violence.

"I'm not glaring. You're seeing things, old man." Kakashi was offended. Just how old did his students-turned-comrades think he was?

Deftly taking out his book and opening to his marked page with a single movement through long practice, Kakashi comforted the sulking Uchiha. "Don't worry. I'm sure she'll look behind her from time to time to see you and Naruto."

The glare intensified. Kakashi sighed. "You were her first teammates. She won't just forget you, you know."

"She promised," Sasuke retorted sullenly. "When she brought me back from Orochimaru, she promised. That we'd be teammates." His voice dropped lower and his aspect turned darker. "That she'd help me achieve my revenge. Now she's breaking that promise."

Kakashi wanted to sigh again, but then he might really start to sound like an old man. "Sasuke. You don't own her." When he opened his mouth to protest, Kakashi brought the spine of his book down on his head. "And she can't read your mind. If you have something to say, say it to her. You know there's a reason why she stopped you when we encountered Itachi."

"And what reason is that?"

Kakashi thought about it a while, ran a hand through his silver hair, then said, "I don't know. Why don't you ask her?"

Kakashi could almost see Sasuke's urge to smack himself in the forehead with his palm. A smile played behind his mask. Kakashi was curious as well, but mostly he simply thought that Sakura had been wise to stop Sasuke's headlong rush. Whatever she might know about Itachi might well be classified, but Kakashi had few doubts that he'd hear it eventually.

Looking at his most confused student, Kakashi softened a little. "She really won't forget you. She won't leave you behind, either."

Sasuke looked at Sakura with something longing and almost hungry in his eyes. "How can you be so sure?"

Kakashi opened his mouth to answer, but realized he had no answer for Sasuke. He didn't know this Sakura well enough to say. Three years was a vast gap of time for an active ninja. And this Sakura was nothing at all like the one he remembered. So he kept his silence and Sasuke's hopeful look dimmed to something sad, but resigned. Kakashi realized something at that moment.

As hungry and attention-starved as Naruto was, in his own way, Sasuke was equally dependent upon others. He might play cool, but he needed, in a desperate manner, someone to pay attention to him. In his youth, Kakashi remembered, he'd stood in the shadow of his brother, never receiving the attention and approval he needed from his father. At some level, that had undermined his confidence, leading him to look to his brother and mother.

After his brother's betrayal, Sasuke had lost those pillars of support. Teachers had filled in, but were unable to fill the gaping hole in the young child's psyche, the one that would have allowed him to recover from the horrific massacre. Instead, he was left still seeking his brothers approval and acknowledgement. Even if he had to kill him to receive it.

For a little while, it had looked like his teammates could be the support he needed. Then a disastrous series of events had almost doomed that as well, but with Sakura's intervention things had looked up. For the first time, Kakashi thought Sasuke might want to be saved. But now his feelings were wavering. Naruto was steadfast, an immovable obstacle of determined brotherhood, so there was no danger there. The danger was Sakura, Sasuke's sweet, gentle Sakura, who had turned into someone Sasuke didn't know. It would be she who determined how this ended.

xxx

When Naruto returned, it was with Gaara, but he carried Chiyo's body. The elder had sacrificed her life through her forbidden jutsu in order to return life to the Kazakage. Sakura felt a little grief for the elder who she'd known for so short a time, but mostly it was simply a simple awe that as a ninja she'd been able to do so much for her country.

It was at that point that the Sand delegation caught up to their party and the joyful reunion between siblings occurred. It was obvious that he was loved. Sakura caught Naruto looking at him, half in friendship, half in jealousy. The group, as a whole, traveled back to Suna, where Sakura rapidly inventoried the scrolls she'd obtained in the quiet of her hotel room. She was sharing a room with Tenten, but the other kunoichi was out enjoying the festival that the Kazekage's return had developed into.

Besides the scroll that Sakura had mentally labeled the 'Favorite', he'd been carrying one that made her blood run cold to see. Typically puppeteers sealed each puppet into separate scrolls, because they could not control more than a few puppets at a time, but Sasori had sealed hundreds of puppets into a single scroll.

Sakura ran her fingers over the inked surface of the scroll. He could use this?

Makes you shiver, doesn't it? All that power, squandered in an instant by a pathetic existence like yours.

Your support is appreciated, Sakura retorted sarcastically. But it was in that moment that she realized exactly how true what she'd said to Chiyo was. If she hadn't taken that scroll, if she hadn't finished him off while he was still confident he would win, there was no telling how the battle would have gone.

Sasori had only carried a few other scrolls with him, only one of which interested Sakura. It listed only the time and meeting place for an unnamed informant. Anything worded so vaguely was of interest to Sakura. As she was picking up the scroll to examine it more closely, a knock came at the door of her room.

"Yes?" Sakura called. The door opened, and Sakura had to smother a gasp when she saw who entered. "Kazekage-sama!"

A/N: As always, reviews are always appreciated. Thank you to all who reviewed the last chapter.

Also, thanks to stargazing-sweetie, who pointed out a misspelling in this chapter.