Chapter 9 - Sacrifice 9: The Leaf's Split

Sakura felt her back being tapped. The world had light again. And she saw only one horrific thing:

A man she didn’t know slit Ryouko’s throat.

A roar of rage escaped Sakura’s throat. She swung her fist as hard as she could. But the intruder disappeared, dropping Ryouko to the ground.

Sakura hit the floor next to Ryouko, putting her hands on his neck to stop the bleeding. All her training left her as the panic set in.

The cut is shallow because Ryouko pushed against him at the last second. But that’s not going to mean much if I don’t do something!

“You idiot! Did you forget everything I taught you?!”

Tsunade dragged herself across the floor. She had been crouching behind Ibikki, healing him blindly in the darkness. He would recover, but at the moment, it wasn’t the major concern. Ibikki himself would have insisted that Ryouko be treated first.

“Hold his neck in place. I’m going to close the wound. Then we’ve got to get him out of here. That’s not the last of the assassins.”

As she fixed Ryouko, Tsunade turned and showed her hip to Sakura by mistake. Sakura noticed a cut. The cut began at the hip and continued up to her shoulder. Blood gathered in Tsunade’s ample cleavage.

Sakura’s training came back, and she healed Tsunade. This took ten minutes or so.

Ryouko was still in critical condition. Sakura was alone, and looked to Tsunade for advice. Tsunade’s face was grim as she said:

“We have to retreat. ANBU isn’t under our control. We don’t know who to trust. All we can do is back away and try to counter.”

“But that means giving up control of the village!” Sakura protested. “Ryouko would never-”

“Ryouko is in no state to argue. Do you honestly believe there’s a better option?! While his life hangs in the balance?!”

Sakura bit her lip, but hefted her barely-living boyfriend onto her shoulders.
“Let’s go. Destroy what you can on the way out,”

Sakura spoke her first order to her former master. Tsunade gave a small smirk out of pride, then set about the task of getting the Hokage’s office ready to detonate.
--

The next morning, the people of Konoha all stood in the center of the village. The gates to the outside had been closed and locked. The citizens had been hustled out of their homes in the middle of the night. No one had been hurt so far, but with ANBU being the enemy, no one knew who to trust.

A shinobi, tan and with tight-cropped black hair, stood in front of the still-burning Hokage mansion. He was a counselor, and generally very popular. His ideas were in direct opposition to Danzou’s ‘war first’ attitude’.

“I want you all to know that this fire was set by your previous leaders. Violence is not something I will tolerate. You will all be protected under our rule. The rule of the Kaichou party.”

The crowd muttered, but didn’t dare speak out. The fate of two Hokage’s was unknown, and the entire council had been demolished.

“Now then, immediately- all shinobi, turn in your weapons! Anyone caught with a weapon will be arrested and sent for ‘reform’. Jutsus are hereby prohibited. There will be no more instruction at ninjutsu. Instead, there will be peace. A utopian society in which everyone is equal.”

In the crowd, one shinobi couldn’t take it anymore.

“That’s it? That’s what you say? Just like that we’re supposed to stop our lives? Give up our military power? Roll over and die, our heritage shattered? What if we don’t want this?!”

Immediately, three ANBU agents were standing around the man.

“Believe me. This ruling party, Kaichou, knows better. Give it time- you’ll understand why you need us to think for you.”

That was it. With that, the Leaf Village had been taken over.

“I’d like to thank your previous leader. Lord Sixth Hokage made this easy for me by eliminating that troublesome warmonger, Elder Danzou. Really, what do we need war for?”

“To keep some kind of balance of power!” came a shout.

“Oh dear. You must be ‘reformed’. ANBU, please deal with that.”

The Village’s darkest hour had come. One man sweet-talked his way to power, hiding his deception amongst kind words. In a military world, in a time of war, he tried to preach peace. That was suicide, and most of the Leaf Village knew it.
--

Kakashi, Gai, Asuma, and Kurenai stood near the burnt Hokage building. Kakashi’s Sharingan eye scanned for signs of life, finding none. But he did find something interesting.

On a small board, in very tiny letters written with blood, there was a message. The handwriting was Sakura’s; the blood Ryouko’s.

“Seek us out, allies of the true leaf”

“They’re alive!” Gai said, shocked.

“At least Sakura is…” Kakashi added. “If I know Ryouko, he protected her with his life. Maybe literally…”

“Then we’ve got to find them! This guy will destroy us!” Asuma exclaimed. But Kurenai hesitated.

“I’m not sure… I mean, his idea makes sense. Peace breads peace if war breeds war, right? Maybe we DO need someone to tell us how we should think. Who’s to say we know best?”

“Who’s to say this guy does?” Asuma shot back. “Are you serious, Kurenai? This guy’s taken our freedom! He wants to make us a joke! We’re supposed to be the most powerful village! If this guy get’s his way, we’ll be a laughingstock!”

“Everyone deserves to be equal! We all work hard! We should be taken care of!” Kurenai protested.

Kakashi finally stepped in, being the most level-headed.
“Kurenai, I’m seeking them out. Lord and Lady Hokage. If you won’t come with us, can you at least promise to stay out of the way? If you get involved, you endanger yourself and Asuma.”

Kurenai’s deep red eyes met Kakashi’s eyes. After a moment of trepidation, she gave a single, firm nod.

“I can give you that. But don’t expect my help.”
--
--

Under the academy there was a meeting room. It was usually for teachers. But in a crisis, it became a vital meeting area. The council was generally too busy to congregate here. In fact, it was a good bet that none of them even knew about the spot.

In the center of the room was a great tree. Built around the tree were the various teacher’s desks.

Right now, laying on the desk was Ryouko. He had a fever, though it would pass. Save for the trauma of such an injury, he would live.

Sakura laid a cold washcloth on his forehead, a checking his neck for blood for the thousandth time that hour. She had kept a constant vigil by his side.

“Do you think anyone will understand the message? I wrote it in English…”

Tsunade was doubtful about that. Not capitalizing the ‘L’ in leaf, if anyone could even read it… Even if they did, there were thousands of trees in the Leaf Village. The note could have referred to any tree in the Fire Nation.
“…No. But I think that someone will show up down here eventually. Through them, we can spread the word. And it has to happen sooner rather than later if we’re to fight back.”

“Mm…”

Tsunade put her arm on Sakura’s shoulder.

“Be grateful you can do something for him, Sakura. It was more than I could do for Dan and Nowaki. You’re there for him, and he’ll live because of you. And if I know him…when he wakes up, it’ll be you that’ll be on his mind.”

Sakura was silent for a moment. But she had to confide to someone.

“I love him. I really love him, Master Tsunade. I want him to be mine, and I want to be his.”

Tsunade gave a small chuckle. “You know, he’s been in love with you for more than four years. He never felt deserving. Maybe he was afraid of rejection, or maybe he’s just girl shy, but he couldn’t tell you. But it showed on his face.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t notice. It’s so obvious now…” Sakura gave a reserved smile, moving Ryouko’s bangs aside and flipping his washcloth over.

“You need some privacy. Maybe to lower his fever. I’ll erect a barrier jutsu. You just…do your thing.”
--

Once the barrier was set up, Sakura laid on top of Ryouko. She took off his shirt, then hers. Just like before, her skin contact would ease his fever. And when he woke up, the first thing he saw and felt would be her.
--

One by one, some true Leaf’s came. It started with Iruka coming to collect his textbooks. Soon, the teachers followed. Then the exam proctors. Then more jonin. But not everyone came, and that was a point of worry.

“Some people actually believe this nutcase is the right thing for us? I can’t believe anyone would be that dense.”

“His plan is ludicrous! To just shove this down our throats…”

“I know, it’s ridiculous!”

Those were the general comments. There were plenty of masses willing to fight, but there was no leader. Not until someone stepped up.

“Are we gonna let him do this?! Our Hokages fell to this bastard’s assassin’s! We all bought into his crap! We’ve got to organize and fight back!”

This voice belonged to Naruto. If there was ever a pure essence of a true Leaf shinobi, this was it. Backed by Jiraiya and Tsunade, he took charge in Ryouko’s absence.
--

Sakura willed Ryouko to wake up. It wasn’t just that he was needed to spearhead this revolution- she had her own selfish reasons as well. Not least of all was that she missed his love.

Please…wake up, Ryouko! I need you! You’re mine! Do you understand? Wake up!

Sakura felt the familiar arms of her lover around her. He tugged her in close, feeling her warmth. He drank it in, clutching desperately- as if he would never let go.

Neither said a word. They didn’t need to. Their lips met, and that moment spoke volumes.

“Right…we’ve got a war to win,” Ryouko said, panting a little. “Time to take back our home. The thought of that idiot defiling it…”

“I know. But he has followers,” Sakura told him, biting her lip. “We’ve got to be careful if we’re going to liberate everyone without a huge war.”

“But now we know who the enemies are. We’re not working blind. And we WILL win.”

Sakura pulled him in close to her again. He just tried to relax and enjoy the moment. God only knew when they would get time like this again.

“Wait…you knew about the takeover?” Sakura questioned. She was sure he had been unconscious.

“Well, I saw him, but I couldn’t warn you. It was all I could do to break the genjutsu on you. That, and apparently I can hear when I’m unconscious. What you said…about wanting to be mine, and vice versa…it was a lot easier to wake up after hearing that.”
--

“He has to have made some kind of deal. Naruto, you’re likely involved, since the deal was with the Akatsuki. That means you’ll be with Masters Tsunade and Jiraiya. Sakura and I are likely targets as well. Asuma, you’ll be with us. That leaves Gai and Kakashi to head up another strike force.”

“What’s the plan?”

“We’re going to attack one spot, break through their defenses, and shatter their leadership. We can’t afford to spread out and hit multiple targets. But that’s the main attack. First, we’re going to deal damage to ANBU and this ‘Kaichou’ party with espionage.”

“How’s that again?”

“This party has mostly women and soft-spoken supporters. So we’ll need someone who fits that bill…”

Hinata Hyuuga’s shy hand raised up.

“I-I can do it, L-Lord Hokage!”

Out of the corner of his eye, Ryouko noticed Naruto’s expression twinge.

Glad it’s not unrequited love.

“That’s fine. But we need to establish our own leadership here and now. (Groan)” Ryouko got up. While his body was still recovering, his mind was already working on a solution to the problem at hand.

“Well, we can help, can’t we?” Kenichi asked. He had learned loads from Sakura, and would be a big help if things got violent.

“We need strategy. There’s seven of us, and all your advisors…almost all your advisors are dead,” added Daisuke.

“So let us help…please,” Makoto chimed in, remembering her manners this time.

One by one, the rest of the ‘Hokage Seven’ added their support. Ryouko and Sakura nodded, already beginning to plan.

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