J A D E

Chapter Thirty-Five

"I can patrol." I raise my hand as I step forward in Hokage's office. I can feel several pairs of eyes on me. "I don't have to train as tomorrow it the final round. So, I can patrol until late." I shrug my shoulders and smile at Third and Shikaku next to him.

"I don't think it would be a good idea, Sakura-chan." Third tells me with smiley face. "You need to rest. And you are participant it would not look good." He adds and looks around once again.

"Can I do it unofficially then?" I smirk, catching on what he meant. He looks at me and smiles, nodding his head.

"Just be careful, Sakura-chan."

***

It would be so much easier, if I knew where Hayate was killed.

I sigh as I jump from roof to roof, trying to catch anything suspicious. But nothing. As if Konoha has never been more serene. Suddenly, I hear a sound nearby and without thinking twice, I start running towards the source of it.

As I get here, I see Hayate's sword stuck in somebody's shoulder. I jump in front of him without hesitation, concentrating my chakra in my hands and stomach. I manage to push Hayate out of the harm's way, but Sand nin's attack manages to scratch me. I look down at it with click of my tongue, annoyed.

"You okay, Hayate-san?" I ask concerned. He nods, shocked, not expecting to see me here.

"Just run, they are going to kill both of us." He whispers and nudges me, but I don't move. I have promised myself and his lover. I have to save his life, no matter what.

"No. I don't leave comrades behind." I say confidently and stand up. I look over at the two ninjas. Hayate is injured next to me already and is bleeding.

"What can you do, girlie?" The sand nin sneers at me. "Put genjutsu over us?" He laughs at his own useless joke. I flare my chakra, hoping that someone would come to our rescue. "You will die here today." He sneers again. Kabuto says nothing, he just hops away, leaving us to the sand nin, confident that he will manage to take care of us.

"Can you hold longer, Hayate-san?" I whisper to the older man, who nods to me, but winces from pain. I grunt my teeth and look back at sand nin.

Snake. Rat.

"Hell Viewing Technique." I whisper, intensifying the genjutsu. I enhance my limbs with chakra and pick up Hayate-san in bridal style. He looks at me shocked, but makes no comment as I start jumping from roof to roof, holding him and carrying him away from shrieking sand nin.

"The jutsu won't last long." I whisper to him as I land on the ground, when I sense the approaching sand nin. I turn around, standing in front of Hayate-san in protection.

"You did good, girlie." Sand nin chuckles. "But not good enough."

Not good enough.

Not good enough.

Not good enough.

Tiger. Hare. Boar. Dog.

I slam my hand on the ground, letting enormous mud wall take his attack. The wall shatters, but it did protect us.

Dog.

I have to save him.

Snake.

I have promised to her.

Horse.

Not good enough.

Tiger.

Not good enough.

Snake.

Not good enough.

Dog.

Not. Good. Enough.

Tiger.

"Earth Release: Fissure!" I slam my hands together for the last hand seal and watch in satisfaction as jutsu is carried out perfectly. The ground beneath the Sand nin shatters, taking him down with the rocks.

I pick up Hayate and start running towards Hokage's Tower, not checking if the man is alive or not. The man in my hands is already paling by every passing second. I jump in Hokage's window, breaking the glass and letting it cut my leg.

"Sakura?!" Third asks me confused, sobered up from his dizziness. "H-Hayate?"

"Call medics!" I call out, putting the man on the ground, kneeling besides him. Without thinking much, I put my hands over his wound, letting my chakra flow out in medical ninjutsu. Soon the office fills with different ANBU members and elite Jonins. I spot Ibiki, Genma, Shisui, Itachi and several others among the crowd.

When medics arrive, they make way for them and they kneel in front of me, shocked at my knowledge of medical ninjutsu.

"Y-You are doing great." One of the medics mumbles as he watches me, sweat running down my forehead.

"Please take over." I whisper the words out. "I can't do it anymore." I whisper again, dizzily, barely able to hold my eyes open.

They nod and usher me away, continuing just where I stopped. Ibiki picks me up and seats me down on one of the armchairs. I know that they are waiting for information, but I can't talk about future. And I arrived too late to know what exactly they were talking about.

"I-I d-don't know w-what they were talking about." I manage to get over my stutter. I breath in and clench the handlers of the armchair. "When I arrived the man, I think he was a sand nin, was about to make final blow on Hayate-san." I whisper and look down. My stomach and leg is bleeding.

But I don't say anything, as all medics are hovering over Hayate-san trying to save his life.

"H-Hayate-san heard everything." I whisper and look away, ashamed. "I... I could not heard it. When I arrived, he tried to tell me, but I dismissed him, focused on other things." I whisper once again. People nod.

"How are you, brat?" Ibiki kneels in front of me, looking at my wounds. "I will tell medics to look over at you as soon as they are done with Hayate." I nod, and watch as Ibiki tears the cloth of his shirt and starts wrapping my wounds.

"What happened to the Sand nin?" Genma is the one, who breaks the silence. His eyes are frozen on me, calculating gaze in them. "And when you learned Medical Ninjutsu?"

"I used Fissure on him." I look down at black cloth around my stomach and leg. "I did not stay to check if he died or not..." I add and close my eyes. "I know that I should have made sure, but he was losing too much blood and..." My voice is broken with a sob. Ibiki pats my head and waits until I calm down. "I don't know medical ninjutsu." I look at them with wide eyes, playing fool.

"What do you mean, you don't know, Sakura-chan?" Shisui asks me as he kneels in front of me with worried gaze. "You just used it on Hayate-senpai."

"I-I don't know it." I mumble once again, staring directly in his eyes. "I have read about it, though. I know some of the basics." I whisper and look down in shame once again. "I know that I should not have experimented it on Hayate-san, but he was paling and I don't know what took over me. I am sorry." I look down, guiltily.

I know that I have not harmed him in any way. If anything I got half-way through his healing.

"You did good, Sakura-chan." Shisui hugs me, too. Ignoring mud and blood caked up on me. "You did good." And with his words, everything turns black.