Chapter 69

"Something's different, Sakura. Did you change your hair or something?"

Sakura was standing over the bloodied pulp that was barely recognizable as Rock Lee and trying desperately to apply medical attention to his person. "Now's not the time for jokes, Haru," she snapped at me.

"Humor is how I deal with pain. And I'm in a lot of pain," I complained. I was pretty sure that most of my body was mangled and it was only a cruel irony that I was conscious at the moment. I didn't try to move out of fear of making it hurt more, if that was even possible.

"I'll get to you in a minute. I'm almost done with Lee," Sakura said, exasperated and disheveled. Her dress was torn in the back and the rest of her clothes didn't seem that much better off. I guess that's to be expected when you suddenly turn grey and sprout bat wings and claws. At least she had managed to turn back to normal before she killed Lee. At least I assumed Lee was still alive.

"You know this guy? How do you know him? Do you realize he almost killed me?" Oh, god, it hurt so much.

"Well, he kept asking me out but I rejected him because...you know...Sasuke. He wouldn't stop bugging me so I told him that I was too busy training with you and that he should talk to you. Just to get him off my back. I guess he got the wrong message or something?" she offered casually.

"Do you realize he almost killed me?!"

"Yeah...well...I saved you, didn't I?" she retorted. "Now, where are you hurt?"

I first explained which bones felt like they needed to be set and where the major contusions were. And then I began to explain the dangers of what Sakura had just experienced. Curse seals were called that for a reason.

"But I felt so powerful..."

"It's tainted power, Sakura. It's a bastardized senjutsu that isn't going to do you any favors in the long run. One day, I might teach you how to use natural energy properly but for now, remember, your curse form is going to eat at your soul if you continue to use it. I won't tell you not to use it but...just be careful. I suppose I'm going to have this talk with Sasuke later too, aren't I?" I sat against a large tree, double checking Sakura's work on my injuries. Lee looked like he'd survive too, the jerk.

Sakura looked mostly okay, if only needing a new outfit. "How do you know about what happened to me and Sasuke?"

"Let's just say that I'm familiar with Orochimaru's work. You met him, right?"

Sakura put her hand over her neck, rubbing at the seal. "Yeah..."

"I only had time to stabilize your chakra. Sasuke's probably still having a rough time of it, especially since his reserves are larger than yours. You have to take care of him for now." I reached into my sleeve and tapped a storage seal. "Here, this is the second scroll we need. Just keep us alive until the end of the test. Okay, Girly?" I handed her the scroll I took from the sound team.

"When did you...?" Sakura started to ask, looking at the scroll.

I rubbed my finger into one of the yet bleeding scraped I had on my leg. I smeared the half-dried blood into a rough circle on the tree and rested my palm over it. Light began to glow under my hand and when I moved my hand, a couple dozen crows flew out of the tree through a gleaming portal.

"Wake me up if they start to caw. I need to rest. Take care of us, Sakura."

She was already bounding away to retrieve Sasuke by the time I finished the summoning. I finally gave in to the exhaustion of being healed with medical chakra and sank into the crook of the tree roots to fall into darkness.