Deviation Actions
Literature Text
*******
Of course there was a triage area already set up in the Akimichi stronghold. It was easiest to move their whole operation over there. It didn’t take much persuading for Choza Akimichi to let Sakura set up a small field hospital in a little used wing of the main meeting house. Word had gotten around that she and Team Three were the heroes of the evening.
“One of these days, someone will have to teach that Aburame kid to be more eloquent in his reports,” Jiro grumbled in the doorway. He was keeping one eye on the shed that had been appropriated as a makeshift cell for Sasuke. There had been quite a bit of debate as to whether or not or not he should be marched back to the secure holding facility and put back in the chakra cells, but after much arguing amongst the clan heads, it was determined that it could wait, at least until Tsunade returned.
Despite the recent battle, there was an eager air floating over the Akimichi fortress. It was the anticipatory feeling that once Tsunade returned everything would be alright. Everyone kept looking longingly at the main gates, waiting for them to open.
Sakura herself was feeling more than a little bit of that. She was tired of leading. She was tired of having to constantly be on edge, trying to be aware of all the minutia that applied to every decision that she made. She was tired of being blamed constantly for every little thing that went wrong, tired of being the one who was yelled at when someone was unhappy with an outcome.
But most of all she was tired that she just couldn’t be herself.
She realized that the ANBU commander was looking at her, awaiting a response. “You can’t hold that against Shino, he’s doing the best he can… I think it’s pretty darn remarkable his insects found me at all, considering that they had to cover the whole village and its surrounding area… all in the middle of a battle.”
Jiro grunted and went back to staring at the shed. “What?” Sakura asked, stepping slightly towards him. “Do you want me to talk to Sasuke again?” The Uchiha had not been happy about being sealed and restrained again, but he let Sakura do it with a minimum of grumbling. He did after all have a healing fractured skull. He probably appreciated sitting somewhere quiet for a while as the painkillers wore off, nursing what would have to be a killer headache.
The dog mask didn’t waver from its view of the shed. “Your friend... the kunoichi who was running around sealing up every scrap of the monsters she could lay her hands on… In her report, she said that the Uchiha stated that ‘if Kabuto Yakushi could summon one of these things, he could summon others… and that it wouldn’t take that many to awaken the Ten tails’…”
Sakura nodded. “He did say that… and?”
“And it appears that he was telling the truth about the whole eye thing… Or at least the Hyuga insist he was.”
“He is… He was the one who showed Neji what to look for. Right before we went off after the Mother monster,” Sakura said primly.
“And attacked it head on,” Jiro said with just a hint of grudging admiration in his voice. “I tried to lead a platoon of my best ANBU in a ground assault on her… We couldn’t make it past the fields full of her children.”
Sakura studied the ANBU commander out of the corner of her eye. “Does all of this mean that you might be… changing your mind about one Sasuke Uchiha?”
Jiro slowly turned his head and stared at her. “I’ll never forgive that boy for what he did during the Fourth war… But if what, you, and Choji Akimichi, and the rest of Team Three insists happened is true… he did save several of my kin this morning.” The dog mask turned back to the shed and stared at it for the longest time. Finally the Commander shrugged. “The final decision will still be completely up to the Hokage… but I’ll grant you that the boy might have some strategic uses… if he can be properly led.”
Sakura was about to ask, ‘Lead Sasuke? Who could you assign to that duty that he might actually listen to?’ when a shout went up from the wall. A few minutes later a familiar orange jumpsuit crested the top of the palisade and leapt down into the courtyard. “Sakura-chan!” Naruto bellowed, skidding to stop in front of her. “Great! Is this what we’re using for the hospital? Can we take Granny-Tsunade here?” He tilted his head this way and that, an expression of concern written plain on his face. “I gotta tell you Sakura, I don’t think this is going to work…”
“How is it not going to work boy?” Growled Jiro through his mask. “Sakura here is the best medical-nin we’ve got!”
“Oh! Um… Hi there!” said Naruto slowly, giving the ANBU commander a wide nervous smile and a little wave. “I didn’t see you there Inu-san… How are you today?”
“Far too tired to waste my time exchanging pleasantries!” he snapped. “Where in the seven hells is the Hokage! You said you had her! We’ve got to figure out what to do with the Uchiha!”
Naruto brightened a little at that. “So you finally decided to let Sasuke out! Great! I was hoping that the huge pile of burned out juggernaut bits was a sign of his handiwork… Is he around?”
Wordlessly, Jiro turned and jabbed a finger at the shed. Naruto spent a moment taking in all the ANBU guards ready to strike at a moment’s warning, and very slowly turned back to Jiro Inuzuka. “Umm… Would you mind if I talked to Sakura-chan for a second?”
“Go ahead,” said the ANBU commander sternly.
Naruto quickly tugged on Sakura’s arm and pulled her off to a more secluded corner of the Akimichi compound. “What did Sasuke do?” he hissed. “He didn’t kill anyone did he?”
Sakura shook her head. “No… I just had to break him out of prison to help in the fight… The ANBU weren’t happy about that.” Naruto breathed a rather obvious sigh of relief, instantly triggering a deep itching sense of unease. “Wait… Why did you just ask me if Sasuke killed anyone? Weren’t you insisting that he was ‘fine’ now?” Sakura asked suspiciously.
“What? Oh… Yeah… He’s totally reformed.” Naruto said radiating a little too much confidence. He thought for a moment and a concerned expression passed over his face. “But Inu-san wants to see Tsunade and expects her to get back into things right away? That’s not going to work…”
Sakura felt a sudden shock of worry pass through her. “Not work? What happened Naruto? How bad is she?!?”
Naruto opened his mouth and shut it again quickly. “You know… I have no idea.”
“Idiot!” Sakura yelled, reaching out to shake him by the front of his jacket. “How can you have no idea!?! What is the point of telling me to have a field hospital set up, if you have no idea if she’s injured or not?!?”
“Woah! Careful!” shouted Naruto, dodging her hands. “I’m just a clone! I got sent on ahead to scout the location and make sure that everything was all set up properly!” He quickly stepped out of her reach. “Stop trying to hit me… I don’t know what’s wrong! I’m not a medical nin remember? Look, she’s not bleeding and nothing’s broken, but there’s something really wrong with her!”
“Wrong with her how?” snapped Sakura. “You don’t have to be a medical nin to give a basic description!”
“She’s not herself.”
“Not herself how?” She did her best to force her frustration away
The clone shrugged. “She’s just… Different. Like really different. Like how she was when I first met her… only a lot more so.” He groaned and ran his fingers through his hair. “Look… the fact of the matter is, when we found her, she was being really difficult, then Hinata said it looked like someone was doing something to her, so we caught the guy and put a stop to that, but she’s still acting completely weird!” He looked up at her, his face a mess of apprehensiveness. “I’m sorry… I don’t know how else to explain it… it’s like she’s… forgotten everything that happened over the last six years… Well, not forgotten... she sort of remembers bits of it… and she’s confused about other parts… like she’s had a bump on the head… only there’s no bump, you know?”
“No,” said Sakura, trying to hide her confusion with a stern frown.
The clone sighed. “Look… I’m almost out of chakra… we’ll bring her here if this is the best place to bring her… but you might want to send some of these people away, she doesn't do so well with crowds…” He took a step closer and dropped his voice down to a whisper. “And when we do come in, you definitely don’t want any Hyuga around… Trust me on this… I’m in enough trouble with Hinata already.” There was a dull explosion and the clone vanished.
Jiro waved the smoke clouds away from his mask as he walked towards her. “Please tell me that Uzumaki said something along the lines of ‘Oh, don’t worry… Tsunade will be here in a few moments all set to step back into her place.”
Sakura shook her head. “No… No, he most certainly did not.” She quickly gave him a rundown of what Naruto’s clone had said.
The ANBU commander reached under his mask to scratch at his beard with a dull rasping sound. “Well... that was a report guaranteed to leave a commanding officer brimming full of confidence… Tell me girl… Are you the only one on your team that isn’t a complete idiot?”
Sakura shot him a cold look, and shrugged. “I wouldn’t go ruling the rest of us out of the idiot camp… after all… we were all banking that everything would be fine once Tsunade reappeared.”
******
Sakura did her best to clear out the area closest to the main gate. She spread some story about how there was some rumor of an unspecified threat against the Hokage. The gathered Akimichi, Hyuga, and Inuzuka weren’t happy about being sent away, but Sakura had insisted, and remarkably they had listened to her. She really hoped that Naruto knew what he was talking about.
Eight figures and a dog made their way across the dusty ruined fields under the bright midday sun. Three were Naruto… well, Naruto and two of his clones. She also recognized Shino, Kiba and Hinata right away… although Hinata seemed to be trying to stay as far away from Naruto as possible. Akamaru brought up the rear.
It was much harder for her to pick out the other two people. One of them was approximately Shizune’s height and stature, but she was limping so heavily that Sakura couldn’t positively identify her until she got close enough to see her face. Sakura breathed a sigh of relief to see her old senpai… She felt guilty that she hadn’t thought much of Shizune in the chaos that occurred after her disappearance, but was very glad to see that she was safe.
The last figure… If Sakura hadn’t previously seen Tsunade without that low level transformation jutsu she used to preserve her youthful good looks, she might have never been able to recognize her master. She looked so old… much older than she should… older than even her natural fifty eight years. She was stooped over, her face was thin and wan and lined with deep set wrinkles. She shuffled as she walked and seemed to be pulling against Naruto and one of his clones as they tried to guide her towards the Akimichi holdfast.
Naruto was right… something was really wrong.
Sakura put on her best medical-nin face and trotted out the gate to meet them. As she approached, Hinata broke away from the group making a beeline for the gate. “You found her!” Sakura called out brightly to the Hyuga girl. “Thank you so much Hinata!”
Hinata didn’t say anything. A curt nod was her only reply as she walked right on past. Sakura watched her go and wondered what could have upset her so. She was tempted to ask, but the Hyuga kunoichi was already out of sight. With a shrug she turned back to her mentor.
Sakura felt a little twinge of unease as she approached. “Tsunade-sama,” she called out as politely as she could. “I am so happy to see you safe and sound.”
The Hokage stopped in her tracks and stared dumbly at Sakura, as if she couldn’t quite put a name to her face. Then the look of confusion was suddenly replaced by one of terror. “Keep her away from me!” she screamed. “Keep her away! Away I tell you!” Tsunade said, frantically waving her arms as if she could shoo Sakura away. “She said she’ll kill me! She’ll kill me!”
Sakura stood there her mouth hanging open as Naruto and the two clones tried to gently restrain her and keep her from running away. Sakura was so stunned that she didn’t even notice that Shino had approached her. “Sakura-san… could you... move back please? he asked quietly. “She is... obviously quite uncomfortable in your presence.”
“Shino,” she heard herself gasp. “What is going on? I would never hurt her!”
The young Aburame man shrugged. “Do not take it too personally Sakura, she has been reacting this way to a lot of people.”
*******
“She has been really going down hill,” said Shizune wearily, wincing as Sakura worked on the torn ligaments in her ankle with gentle pressure and a green healing glow. “Ever since we left Konoha… It’s like she’s just been losing more and more of her self control… It took all I had just to minimize the trouble she got into!”
“Did she… Did the Hokage do this to you?” Sakura asked slowly. It had taken more of Naruto’s clones to subdue Tsunade, who had made it quite clear that she wanted nothing to do with Sakura, so a slew of other medical-nin were tending to her. Sakura figured that was the best way to get some information about what had happened to the pair of them.
Shizune shook her head. “No… That... was the local crime syndicate. The story of our life really.”
Sakura nodded at the injured ankle and moved on to some of Shizune’s larger bruises. Her Senpai looked like she had suffered multiple beatings at multiple times. Her time in captivity was obviously not a peaceful one. “Well,” Sakura said, trying to give her some comfort, “That crime syndicate must have had a lot of high level shinobi on the payroll to send after you.”
Shizune gave her an affronted look. “Excuse me?”
“Oh. I was just trying to suggest that given your skills that there must have been at least three or four jonin level shinobi to… to…” Sakura gestured vaguely at Shizune’s wounds, not sure why the older medical-nin was so upset. “What? she asked finally. “Was it something I said?”
The was a long pregnant pause before the older medical-nin responded. “Sakura… You know very well that I don’t have any combat training beyond what Tsunade-sama taught me,” Shizune said in a slow awkward voice.
“Of course! I mean, I know that Tsunade has been training you since you were a genin… but what about all the missions you went on? What about the time you went head to head with Kabuto? I heard about that fight of yours from Naruto! What about the Fourth War?”
“Okay! Stop!” shouted Shizune. “I don’t need to you to be sitting there reminding me that you are so very much better than me at everything again! We both know it! Okay Sakura?!? You don’t have to come up with new and clever ways to make fun of me!” She shoved Sakura’s hands away, and shuffled back. “You’re always doing this! Lording it over me!”
Sakura stared at her dumbfounded. “Wh-what? I don’t… I never…”
“You know that I was never sent on any missions!” Shizune yelled, jabbing an accusing finger in her face. “You know very well that my fight with Kabuto was a bumbling mess! And you know damn well that both Tsunade and I were driven from Konoha long before the Fourth Shinobi war… in no small part, thanks to you!” she spat.
Sakura had no response to that. She had no idea where to even begin. It was such a blatant untruth… but told with such conviction…
“It was your dallying with the Uchiha that got us into this mess!” ranted Shizune. “It was your stupid selfish mistake that cost Tsunade the Hokage position! What else could she have done after you let that traitor kill the Sixth Hokage right in front of you? And then you had the gall to manipulate things… turn them around so that all of the blame and suspicion of your hesitation fell on us! Making it look like it you were some poor innocent girl who got all tangled up in the foul machinations of her superiors!”
Shizune was panting now. She took a stumbling step forward. Sakura couldn’t help but flinch back. “And right when we were being banished… you dared to threaten Tsunade-sama one last time… telling her how she was lucky she was only being banished… and then you swore to her that if she ever made the truth of your relationship with the Uchiha public… that you’d kill her in the most horrible ways imaginable!”
Shizune shot her the most venomous glare. “And here I was thinking that maybe you had sent your lackey Naruto to find us because you were trying to make amends… that maybe you felt the merest spark of guilt for how you destroyed your old Master!” Tsunade-sama’s first student’s face was a mask of pure disgust. “I should have known better!”
Sakura’s hands went up in a defensive gesture as she heard the contempt and loathing in Shizune’s voice. If she wasn’t so bewildered by this unexpected assault, she probably would have asked a dozen other questions, all of which would probably have been more useful than the one she did ask… as it was all she could stutter out was a mumbled, “The Sixth Hokage?”
Shizune scoffed at her. “The Sixth Hokage… Danzo Shimura? Have you forgotten him already? He was the consummate politician... leading Konoha to prosperity and Glory… And you stood by and did nothing while Sasuke Uchiha treacherously murdered him in cold blood!”
“Ahh, Sakura-san,” asked Jiro from behind the pulled screen of the examination room. “I was wondering if you had finished up yet… there’s a few… very urgent things I’d like to discuss with you?”
Sakura jumped at the sound of his voice. “Well, I’m just about…”
“She’s finished,” announced Shizune gleefully, apparently overjoyed that the head of the ANBU had been listening in to their whole conversation.“You can take her away for whatever questioning you need Inu-san,” her voice twisted into a vindictive snarl.
Sakura just wordlessly turned and walked out of the makeshift treatment room. She strode right past Jiro Inuzuka and out into the muggy afternoon air. She found a secluded spot next to an old goat shed and sat down on some nameless pile of rusting farm junk.
The Commander of the ANBU sat next to her. After a long moment he scratched his beard under his mask, and spoke. “At least they left Shizune-san some of her dignity… Tsunade-chan doesn’t even have that,” he muttered.
Sakura nodded without really listening. She was still too upset. “Why would she lie to me like that?” she asked in a small voice.
“That’s the thing,” Jiro said in a deep rumble, tapping the side of his nose. “She doesn’t believe she’s lying… When I heard what Tsunade was spouting off… how she wasn’t the Hokage anymore, how she shamed herself and her village… all that nonsense about the Sixth Hokage… I decided to wander on over here.” He looked up at her. “Lo and behold, Shizune is saying the same thing.”
“The Shimura clan… They did something to them… I don’t know how they did it, but they rewrote their personalities,” Sakura whispered.
Jiro shrugged. “She’s acting like she’s under a genjutsu… or that she’s been brainwashed.” He shook his head. “And since they didn’t have her long enough to actually physically brainwash her… that means they've probably hit her with some sort of psychic jutsu.”
Sakura perked up at that. “Can you get one of the interrogation corps to take a look at her? See if they can do anything?”
The dog mask shook again. “I asked Ibiki-san to take a quick look inside the Hokage’s head, even though his specialty is information retrieval, not mind repair… He says it’s an unbelievable mess in there. He doesn’t dare even try to touch anything for fear he’d leave her a drooling vegetable. He says we’d need a true expert in psychic jutsu just to identify what was real and what was fake.”
Sakura nodded slowly. “Okay… so what you’re telling me is that we’ll need to find a Yamanaka.”
“Except that all the Yamanaka are completely under the Shimura clan’s thumb... and if you think about that for a moment girl, we should probably be very thankful that they are… In the game of politics, a player who wants to win isn’t very likely to leave a potential threat hanging around.” He slapped his hands on his thighs in a very tired way. “We’ve run out of viable options my girl… We may have the Hokage back, but it’s clear Tsunade’s not going to be much help. The more immediate issue is the one huge unified appeal that the Shimura clan and their allies on the council are making to the Daimyo…”
“They’re not unified,” Sakura said turning suddenly.
“They're not?”
Sakura shook her head. “There is a power struggle going on between Eri and Eiji. Eri resents Eiji for seizing the combined authority of the head of the council, the Clan head seat, and the Commander of the Civilian ANBU, all for himself.”
The ceramic dog mask tilted thoughtfully for a second. “Interesting,” Jiro conceded. “There’s bound to be some advantage we could take in there… if we had the time… and the allies, but those things… we do not have.” The ANBU commander stood and faced her. “I’ll need you to do something for me Sakura-san… I need you to have a talk with…”
“Sasuke again… I should have guessed that…”
“Actually… I was going to suggest that you have a chat with Naruto Uzumaki… It might be a good idea for you to quietly tell him he should take a vacation… a long one.” Jiro took a step back from her. “It’s only a three hour flight by hawk to get word from the capital to Konoha. It didn’t take very long for me to get a very sternly worded message back from the Daimyo…” he sighed sadly. “I’m afraid that the charming little mentorship we’ve had here is coming to an end, my girl.”
Sakura felt herself shiver a little bit, but kept her voice calm. “Does this mean you are going to arrest me?”
The ANBU commander shrugged nonchalantly. “That depends on whether or not I can find you… After all, the Shimura has painted you as such a crafty, dangerous adversary, they would look like such liars if you failed to escape the grasping hand of the ANBU. I couldn’t besmirch the head of the council in such a public manner.”
“So… You’re suggesting I run?”
Jiro shrugged a second time. “If you can see any other options, you’re better at this political game than I am… Eiji Shimura has been publicly calling you a traitor, for what, a month now? Imagine what would happen if he brought Tsunade and Shizune as they are now to the stand! Listen to me carefully girl, I would focus on getting yourself and as many of your friends as you can, especially the Jinchuriki, out of Konoha and away from the grasp of the Shimura clan. I hear that Suna is nice this time of year…” He smiled grimly. “And from what I’ve seen of him, I doubt that there is much that could sway the young Kazekage to give up the few people he would call friends.”
Sakura shook her head. “What about Tsunade?”
“If they didn’t kill her because she wasn’t a threat then, I doubt they’d trouble themselves now… Your mentor will be fine… if you can call the mess she’s been turned into ‘fine’.”
Sakura glanced once towards the small shed where Sasuke was being held. “What about Sasuke?” she asked quietly.
The ceramic dog mask leaned forward. “Let him go girl,” Jiro muttered. “He’s a criminal and a traitor and a murderer… And you’ve got plenty of your own worries. Once word of the Daimyo’s pronouncement gets out… do you honestly think that there is any clan in Konoha that would stand up for you? I know that my own clan has practically adopted you, and if I know my niece, she’ll never turn anyone out on their ear… But to expect support from any of the others?” He snorted deep in his chest. “They can read the writing on the wall. They’ll just as soon hand you over to curry favor with the Daimyo and this new Hokage.” Jiro Inuzuka shook his head. “Some of them just might be grateful enough to look the other way if you were to run… but if you were to take the Uchiha with you?” he shook his head slowly. “Go find the Uzumaki…You can’t afford to let the Kyubi fall into the council’s hands.Tell your friends it’s time you were leaving.”
“I’m not leaving without Sasuke… I’m convinced that he is necessary to ensure a victory in the upcoming fight against Kabuto!” snapped Sakura. “I’ve got my friends and I’ve got my supporters! Maybe I should just stay! Keep trying to help! There are lots of people who appreciate it. I’m sure that after people hear how he helped in this invasion of monsters, I’ll be able to rally people around the idea that he is a necessary ally.” She tried to be commanding and imperious, but somehow, it just wasn’t in her any more… To have Shizune herself turn against her like that was eating away at her very bones.
She had been banking on Tsunade fixing everything, she had been hoping so hard that once the Hokage returned, everything would be alright again… and it was clear that it just wouldn’t be easily happening. She needed the Hokage back! Sure, there was a chance that she would be able to figure out whatever was affecting Tsunade, but to work on that, with so many other factors turned against her…
There was a whisper as inner Sakura stirred in the back of her mind. Maybe it is time to call it quits? her inner self murmured. Maybe Jiro has a point? It was only a long shot chance from the start.
She could see the ANBU commander’s eyes narrow skeptically through the holes in his mask. “Please tell me you’re not going to try to start a civil war now, just so you can be ready for when the boogeyman attacks Konoha?” He leaned forward more, the mask’s dog’s nose was almost touching hers. “For a whole month you did your best to keep the Leaf from falling apart into bloodshed and murder…and for that month, you did an exceptional job. What I want you to do now is to think long and hard about what sort of a place you want your home village to be… I know you’re in the right, and yes, Eiji Shimura as Hokage would not be the best thing for Konoha… but you need to ask yourself a question girl… Is fighting him worth the all the blood you will spill?”
*******
She was searching the Akimichi compound, trying to figure out where Naruto and Hinata had gotten off to, when Choji called out to her. “Hey Sakura,” he said, dropping out of his jog. “I just came from an impromptu clan meeting. There was a motion put forth by my father to make you an honorary Akimichi!” he said with a grin.
Sakura shrugged. “Great! Now I’ll be an honorary member of two clans… It’s a pity my own clan still wants nothing to do with me.”
“Hey! Come on! Look on the bright side! You'll get invited to every clan banquet! That’s an honor reserved for a very select few!” Choji had a large, round honest face. Every emotion he had was writ plainly upon it. Right now, he was nervous as hell. “Come here!” he said loudly. “I’ll show you the banquet hall!” He grabbed her arm and started to pull her off to the left.
“Sorry,” he whispered, once they had ducked into a low building set with row after row of tables and benches. “Father said we needed to have this discussion somewhere in private… He’s afraid that someone will be watching… and you’ll have to use the utmost discretion… if they figure out what we’re doing, it will go very badly for her.”
“What? Badly for who?” Sakura looked at him totally confused. “Choji… what are you talking about?”
The young Akimichi man took a deep breath. “Sakura, the Akimichi owe you a debt… two debts really… the little one is when you dug that tunnel that opened us up to the outside again… The big one… well… is when you fought off the those creatures… You brought us the allies we needed, you showed us their weaknesses… You really saved my home, and my family…”
“That wasn't all me,” Sakura pointed out. “That was Team Three… and Sasuke too.”
Choji nodded, more than a little uncomfortably. “I know… That’s why… I talked to my parents… I told them what you said… My father wanted you to have this,” he said in a faint whisper, handing her a much folded piece of grubby paper.
Sakura unfolded it. On the page was written a crude address. ‘Lot number 243. South farm holding’ it read in thick block letters.
Sakura looked up at Choji. “It’s the address you were looking for,” he hissed.
“Chizu is there?” Sakura asked, feeling a short tingle of excitement.
Choji shushed a warning and looked furtively about. “No. Nobody knows where Chizu is... remember? This is her Grandmother’s house.” He leaned forward. “Look, my father asked me to deliver her a message that you should be coming, but you should be careful anyway. I’ve heard that she doesn’t like strangers.”
Sakura looked from the paper, to Choji, and back to the paper again. The answer to the mystery was finally in her grasp… potentially at least… she finally had a clue, something to follow up on regarding the Uchiha massacre… only everything else in her life was all falling apart… what was the point? “Well, thanks Choji… but I’m not so sure what good it’s going to do you see, I’ve…”
“Yeah, there’s a warrant being put out for your arrest,” interrupted Choji. “Look this clan meeting… the Inuzuka and the Hyuga were invited to it too… I don’t think you realize just how much support you’ve got in this town right now…”
Sakura shook her head. “Support… I appreciate the sentiment Choji… but don’t pledge your clan’s support for my sake... I screwed up… I thought I could make things better… keep things going… and I’ve been outfoxed at every turn.” She sighed. “Speaking of foxes… and support… I’ve been looking for Naruto. Do you have any idea where I might be able to find him?”
*******
