Naruto's Betrayal: "You Thought Sasuke Was Bad?"

Ino P.O.V.

I was in my office nestled atop the Hokage's estate, putting most of my effort into looking like I was busy so nobody knew I was actually deep in a fit of sorrow. Lee. I should have known better than to send him alone... Especially so soon after Naruto's attack on Sasuke. I had been crying for over 3 hours when a panicked knock suddenly hit my door. I quickly wiped my eyes, taking in a deep breath before I spoke.

"Come in."

In came Konohamaru. His hair matted with dirt and sweat, and his mouth bleeding slowly. I must've looked as terribly as I felt, because he frowned a bit.

"Lady Hokage... Are you okay? Is... Is now a bad time?"

I shook my head, forcing the world's fakest smile to my face.

"Of course not. How are you? You look a little banged up. D-did something else happen?"

He nodded, running a hand through his hair and looking at the floor. He didn't want to say what he was thinking... Did I even want to know at this point? I walked over to him, putting my hand on his shoulder.

"You can tell me. I can... I can take it."

While I wasn't entirely sure that would be true, depending on what he was about to tell me, what came next was not something I was expecting. His voice was shaky, and his hands clenched into fists as he spoke at a volume that was barely a whisper.

"I... I had to fight... Sakura... She... She and Itachi..."

He couldn't fight back sobs as he hugged me tightly, obviously having held this in for a while. I, on the other hand, was too in shock to react to any of what he had just said... Especially her name.

"D-did you say... Sakura? She's... She's alive?"

All I heard him say in response was "barely" and "infirmary" before I went bolting out of the door and through the front of the Hokage Estate. I sprinted to the infirmary, bursting through the door and asking the front desk where she was. They gave me her room number and suddenly I couldn't move. Should I even be there? Would she see me and try and kill me? Or... would she maybe... I shook the indecision out of my head, nodding politely to the man at the desk before slowly beginning my trek down the hallway. Counting the doors on both sides, the rhythm of my sandals on the floor putting me into an almost trance-like state, barely even realizing I had the handle to Sakura's door in my hand. My eyes were glued to the floor, my free hand shaking like a leaf in the breeze as I gently opened the door. I stepped inside, slowly closing the door behind me, my eyes still too afraid to look up and see her. I stood there frozen, listening to the beeping of the machines for at least a minute before I lifted my head from the floor. I didn't know what I expected to see when I first saw her... But it could never have prepared me for what was there. She was laying on the bed with cuts all over her face. Her lips, her neck, nothing was left untouched. The cut on her left eye was the deepest of them all. I took a few steps closer, noticing the eye had been completely removed by a surgeon before I got there. Her breathing was almost completely unnoticeable. The only way I noticed it was when her breath would push a loose strand of her hair up from her lips. Tears sat in my eyes as I stared in silence, not wanting to risk waking her with my childish meltdown. I fell to the floor, taking her hand into mine. Judging by the fact that her hand was also covered in cuts, I couldn't imagine what the rest of her body looked like.

"Sakura... I... I'm so..."

I choked on my words before the rest would come out, the sins of my youth keeping me from atoning in such a haphazard manner. I squeezed her hand gently, my tears falling to the floor as a nurse knocked on the door. I couldn't compose myself in enough time to pretend like I was okay, but I at least managed to rise to my feet. She spoke to me as if I was a child who had just fallen and scraped their knee. I was inconsolable. A mess.

"Lady Hokage I... I was told I could find you in here... They wanted me to brief you on Ms. Haruno's condition."

I nodded, refusing to let go of Sakura's hand as I spoke.

"Alright. H-how bad is it exactly?"

She walked further into the room, checking the monitors, and Sakura's pulse before looking back to me.

"She has lost a significant amount of blood... More than I have ever seen anyone come back from. We're trying to put a donor list together but it could take some time before we..."

"I'LL..."

I cleared my throat, only just realizing how loudly I was speaking.

"I'll donate. If I'm a compatible donor. Can you tell if I am?"

Before she could answer, another voice interjected into the conversation, faint... but obviously angry.

"S-save it Ino-P-pig... I'd rather die than have your blood coursing through my veins."