empathy (rewritten 2019)

chapter twenty-five

The wooden scroll was real. Sakura realized that once brewing a cup of tea after returning home. She set the tea down and took off the necklace, first admiring the detail of the scroll before curiously twisting the nubs as if it were any other scroll she'd stumbled upon. And, upon further twisting, the wooden scroll separated and a roll of paper (merely a hand's width) fell before her feet.

She picked it up and moved to her bathroom, locking the door and the window before sitting down against the wall.

She rolled it open:

Sakura,

I lied to you about my mission. The Hokage sent me on a mission to Otogakure, posing as an abandoned genin in pursuit of revenge and power. She needed an inside person to infiltrate Orochimaru's base and relay her information of the layout and the experiments he kept. I coincidentally ended up in the same base as your teammate Sasuke Uchiha and once reporting the information, the Hokage wanted me to keep an eye on him and report back the progress of his Curse Mark. And upon looking through his office, I found some dangerous information that I couldn't send back through my messager. I needed you to deliver it.

I stitched to the bottom a shred of the document I found in his office. It's a letter he meant to send to his partners. He was mapping out the jinchuuriki and their tailed beasts inhabitants and their location. He knows Naruto is in Konoha and, as you may know, there was a past attempt to apprehend him by the Akatsuki. You need to keep him safe; I'm worried that they plan on collecting all the tailed beasts for a huge attack on a certain village. I can only predict that such an attack will bring the same devastation to all surrounding land.

Have the Hokage bring Naruto back from his training at once. It is far too dangerous for him to be out.

As for Sasuke Uchiha, he seems like a lost cause. Bringing him back is wasted effort that can be used on preparing for a future attack. Sasuke Uchiha is no longer loyal to the Leaf and will do whatever it takes to get his revenge, maybe even destroy the ones he fought alongside with.

I need to go. Orochimaru will find out I stole that letter so I need you to work fast. I'm coming home soon.

Stay safe.

Sakura forgot the tea and ran to the office, shoving the letter before the Hokage's nose with a desperate cry. "Tsunade-sama, this is a letter from your spy in Orochimaru's base. We must act quickly."

Tsunade spent a few minutes scanning the letter and the document attached to the bottom below. Sakura rolled up the letter and tucked it back inside the wooden charm, once more hanging the necklace around her neck. She stood, watching the Sannin think, hoping for a plan.

Tsunade sighed and returned to her paperwork. "No action taken, Sakura. We'll wait until we have proof that there is such a conspiracy surrounding the jinchuuriki."

"What?" Sakura nearly yelled. "We need--we need to act now, Tsunade, before they can attack! Naruto needs--"

"Naruto was given the training to protect himself from such enemies." She eyed the medic in between her paperwork. "And he is safe in Konoha now, so there is no further action needed."

"But--can't we, I don't know, confront the Akatsuki and Orochimaru before they can attack?" Sakura was desperate for any option. The faster they came up with a plan, the faster they could act, and the faster Keiko could get out of there. "We have proof right here, Keiko has been there for a year, Tsunade!"

The blonde narrowed her eyes. "Sakura, Keiko was unresponsive for weeks. We were made to believe she was apprehended and severed the connection we had with her. We took her messenger out of the area. We have no idea how she got this information. This shred of paper serves no evidence at all. We--"

"Wait, you mean, you just left her there?"

Tsunade scratched the side of her neck as she watched Sakura, cautious. "We--yes. But we had reason to believe--"

"You left Keiko there?" Sakura spoke less with inquisition and more with a demand. She stared down the Hokage, angry and alone. "You mean, she was supposed to return, but you just left her there?"

"Sakura--"

"I spent months waiting for another letter and when I meet her, she tells me she's been sending letter after letter but somehow, they weren't delivered? Not a single one of them?" Her voice was frail and so she paused and blinked back a torn tear and continued, "And you sit here, telling me that you just, what, left her for dead?"

"It was for the mission, Sakura. What more did you want me to do?" Tsunade eyed her student, warning.

"I want you to get her out of there. Act on the goddamn letter, please!" Her angry lips parted, she itched to continue, but she held herself down. "I can't do this anymore, Tsunade-shishou. I can't eat, I can't sleep, I can't work--Keiko has been gone for a year and you don't expect me to just, explode, when I hear that you were the reason why?"

"Sakura, you need to control yourself--"

"I've been controlling myself since she left, and I am sick and tired now!" Sakura clenched and released her fist, feeling the chakra surge. "I need Keiko here, please, because I can't deal with this anymore."

"Deal with what?" Tsunade spoke, exasperated, and stood to control her student. "Sakura, calm down."

"I can't calm down! All this change happening, the team, Naruto, everyone--I need Keiko because I need to know she'll be here. She needs to be here, with me."

"Sakura, why don't you go home, and--"

"No, you don't get it?" She breathed hard. "I have no one now. I used to have a family, a team, friends! Now my parents don't want me to be a kunoichi, Ino doesn't even talk to me anymore over some stupid rivalry, Team Seven is gone, and now Keiko is too! And I see Ino and everyone else everyday wherever I look, they're laughing together with their friends and their families and I'm just a medic stuck at the hospital all the time, waiting for Keiko to walk past those goddamn gates and pick me up because if not then who do I have?"

She took a breath and Tsunade stood, hands hesitant. Sakura sighed. "She's the only one who believes in me, Tsunade. Out of all of them, she's the only one who makes me know I'm strong."

Sakura left and Tsunade was left to wonder how she took away Sakura's last hope from her tight, wavering hands.