Konohamaru was not prepared for what awaited them once they arrived in Kirigakure. Immediately as soon as they appeared, they were ambushed. The air was filled with hostility and though they weren’t expecting a warm welcome, there was a strong force of enmity that oozed from the shinobi stationed near them.
“The enemy is back! Attack!”
A rain of paper bombs was sent their way and Konohamaru had to react in time. He took out a small belt of kunai and quickly distributed the battlefield with it, instantly transporting Shino and himself out of the way. He then flashed past the shinobi,picking up a kunai at a time and safely aiming for non-vital attacks that emphasized flooring the enemy, taking down enough of the small force before him before finally stopping to catch his breath. He then inhaled and shouted at the top of his lungs.
“We’re Konoha shinobi! We mean you no harm!”
That was enough to get their attention.
“What are Konoha shinobi doing here? Explain yourselves before we retaliate.” There was a lot of fear in their hearts but Konohamaru could tell it wasn’t anything to do with his Flying Raijin. He’d been in enough missions recently that most major villages knew he had the ability. Something bad had happened here and though he was sure he could go on until they were level headed enough to hear him out, he could not afford to waste any more chakra.
“If I’m right, we may have the same problem on our hands that you do. One of our own was attacked as well. He sent an emergency message and we wanted to do the same to other villages. We were here to warn you of a Five Kage meeting. You have to believe us.”
One of the shinobi approached them. “I think I have heard of you. You are the one I hear of who has taken over from the Yellow Flash of the Leaf.” Konohamaru nodded. “Mizukage-sama, I mean Mei, she was attacked. They took her Tailed Beast. She…she is dead.” Shino remained stoic while Konohamaru felt drained as he sunk to the floor.
“Are…are you sure?”
“What do you mean, are you sure? Are you trying to make fun of us?”
“Naruto survived having his Tailed Beast taken from him once. I was just asking to make sure she isn’t in some critical state.”
“Are you saying there’s a chance Mei-sama is not dead?”
“I am. It’s very minimal but there’s a chance. And if that’s the case, I think I can help her. Where is she?”
The shinobi were confused. Their leader nodded and led them towards Mei’s house. Shino took some time to observe the collateral and realized that the enemy Mei faced might have been really powerful. Once there, Konohamaru was shocked to see something he’d never thought was possible before.
“Shino, please tell me that I’m not the only one who sees this.”
“This is very odd, indeed.”
Before the shinobi was Mei all right, but she was considerably younger. It was as though half of her age was instantly erased and she was even younger than when she was during the 4th Shinobi War. She was cold and there was no pulse but Konohamaru decided to enter into Sage Mode and in it, he could sense a fading, dying spark of chakra in her heart. That was more than enough. Konohamaru decided to exert himself. He explained his plan to Shino and Shino agreed. Konohamaru took a deep breath and activated Flying Raijin, teleporting back to Konoha. He was really pushing himself at this point, with his immediate reaction of coughing blood. But he had no time to be weak. He rushed to the door and knocked in desperation. She would be furious but every second count.
“Aah, jeez! Could you not try to damage my door in the name of knocking?” Sakura furiously opened the door and saw an exhausted Konohamaru kneeling and gasping for air. She was lucky to have been dressed in her Jounin uniform. “Where have you been?”
“N-no time, Sakura-senpai. We need to head to Kirigakure now.”
“Huh? What are you on? How…” She then remembered that Konohamaru had mastered Flying Raijin as the Fourth Hokage once had. She then saw a small stream of blood pouring from Konohamaru’s mouth. He had overexerted himself. “We have to check up on you, first.”
“We can’t. If we don’t go now, Mei-sama could die.” Konohamaru lifted his arm, offering a scroll to Sakura. “Just keep feeding that scroll chakra and come with me. We can worry about my state after that.” Sakura was willing to be defiant but realized that Konohamaru was basically as stubborn as Naruto was when it came to making decisions and thus chose to honor his wishes. She held the scroll and fed it chakra and immediately the two were transported to Kirigakure. Konohamaru collapsed on the spot, unable to move further.
Shino was there, ready to lead her to Mei. Sakura too was shocked to see the phenomenon before her eyes but decided just as quickly to put it aside and summoned Katsuyu. She was not prepared with her kit so she decided to go old school, using Katsuyu for most of the process. Normally, something like this would take hours but Sakura had committed the human anatomy and the chakra network to memory, knowing exactly which areas affected what. A few minutes in, she began to realize that she had attracted a crowd of nervous villagers and it was not long before Chojuro, the 6th Mizukage, arrived.
“I can tell everyone is worried, but the crowd here is not going to make my work easier. I’d appreciate it if everyone except my colleagues and the Mizukage left the room,” Sakura said, her tone slightly more raspy than she expected. They followed her command and she went on. Every few minutes, she would close her eyes to try to recall either the procedures she had trained over and over again with Tsunade or the mountains of books she had covered over the years and she would continue. The network was slowly starting to help Mei’s weak heart pump and chakra began to trickle in her system. Sakura began to then heal the areas where her network was once intertwined with that of Matatabi, slowly restoring it back to the central network and allowing it to be fully functional and independent. By the end of the hour, chakra was flowing steadily. Now all that was left was to restore her original chakra base.
Sakura took out a Summoning scroll.
“Kuchiyose: Chakura Dai Kaifuku (Summing Technique: Great Chakra Restoration)”
This wasn’t originally part of her training but ever since the end of the war when the scroll was made for chakra restoration, she was able to find a way to make a small-scale version for individual shinobi in case Sasuke or any other shinobi were to need instant recovery. Unlike the great restoration that Naruto had to do for the village, this one in comparison needed a lot less chakra, so much so that any one of her colleagues would be able to use it. But training them to create a scroll from scratch had proved somewhat difficult for those who were unable to have great recollection like Sakura and thus she had to make a good portion of them herself. It took time but she was able to finish and she had enough help. Shizune, Ino and a new recruit had later on gotten so good at repeating the patterns that they too could make one from scratch and thus Sakura felt relieved.
“How is she?” Chojuro asked, nervously.
“A lot better than she would have been if we arrived even a few hours later. If we were not here by afternoon, she might have…” Sakura turned to Konohamaru and gave a smile of appreciation. Were it not for him, Mei would probably not have survived.
Chojuro shed a few tears of joy, unable to hold himself. Sakura was moved by the display. Shino remained stoic. Sakura then turned to Konohamaru. “Now, as promised, we have to deal with you. Since we need to be back in time for the meeting, I have a selfish request.”
“I think I understand what you are about to ask. Minor fixes so I can get us home and then you can take your time at the clinic.” Sakura nodded.
“I am also going to advise you against using Flying Raijin the way you did today. You nearly killed yourself and while that paid off greatly, I don’t want for us to have trusted you to be Hokage only for you to make judgment calls that are this risky.”
“I understand, Sakura-senpai.”
“That’s a relief. At least you aren’t as stubborn as Naruto was. I suspect it is not easy to transport two people, right?”
“You can leave me here. I can return later,” Shino said.
“No. Since I’m headed to the clinic after this, I’d rather make sure both of you are home. After that, I think I’d be out for a while but I want to personally finish this.” Konohamaru finally rose up and gave both of them scrolls. “Besides, someone who is going to be the Hokage ought to go all out once in a while.”
Sakura hit Konohamaru in the head. “Did you just forget what I said to you? Geez, it’s like that title goes to your head or something.”
“Forgive my selfishness, Sakura-senpai.”
“What about her look? Is that going to be permanent?” Chojuro asked.
“I don’t think it is something to worry about, Mizukage. It doesn’t seem to affect her at all. In fact, her new found youth might be the real reason she was able to survive long enough for us to save her. It might be a blessing of sorts. As long as she has plenty of rest, she should be fine.”
Chojuro didn’t seem very convinced by this but agreed all the same.
“It’s going to be alright,” Sakura reiterated. The two, along with Konohamaru then disappeared. Chojuro stared at the broken house, the moonlight slowly headed towards the clouds, but for a moment giving a warm glow to Mei as she slept. He called for any shinobi with Earth Release affinity and they created a temporary shelter for her/ He then gave orders for them to protect her for the night and chose to sleep in what was once her living room. They’d think about their next move in the morning.
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