Space to Breathe - [ Sakura Haruno ]

CHAPTER 11

Genma sighed, chewing on the metal senbon between his teeth as he jumped from tree to tree. His decision to leave a genin to fight a fully-fledged jonin aside, he was nervous. The match between Sakura and the Suna nin proved he was a Jinchuriki, and they were notoriously dangerous.

He was almost glad to have caught up to the genin also going after Gaara, totalling four of them.

Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru, Uchiha Sasuke and Funai Nanako accompanied by one of Hatake Kakashi's ninken were out alone, chasing after what was likely the most deadly shinobi Suna had sent. Sasuke however was charging further ahead, and Genma was struggling to care. If the rumours he'd heard from some friends who were still active ANBU members were true, the kid had attempted to use an incredibly potent Ninjutsu on a comrade. Not someone he wanted on any team he was in charge of.

Genma groaned when he saw them and quickly took charge as team leader. The dog, Pakkun, was easy enough to convince, and the genin followed suit.

When Genma sensed a group of almost ten Oto nin, he groaned.

"Everyone stop," he said, causing the three genin not actively rushing to pause, as well as the ninken. Pakkun nodded in understanding when he did, and Genma was glad he wasn't imagining it. His years outside of ANBU, spent mostly guarding the Hokage, were not kind to his sensing abilities after all.

"There's an ambush waiting for us up ahead," he explained, leaving a thoughtful look on Shikamaru's face, and a worried one on Naruto's. Nanako was hard to read. "We don't have the time to all get caught up in it, but we can't leave them to catch us from behind either."

Shikamaru nodded in understanding, "so one of us will have to stay behind," he assumed, before elaborating, "it should be me."

Genma was shocked then. The lazy Nara didn't seem one to volunteer for anything.

"I'm low on chakra, so fighting against Gaara is out of the question," he explained, "my shadows should be able to stall some regular shinobi for a while, though. At least until backup arrives."

Genma hesitated to allow the boy to remain alone, but in the end he had to. His reasoning was sound, but he also knew this could be an act of self sacrifice by the Nara, too.

"You have the highest chance of survival, out of the three genin present," Pakkun agreed, "but be careful."

Shikamaru likely wanted to make a sarcastic remark, but he held his tongue and nodded.

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"You didn't show this much power against that Tenten girl, or even against Shikamaru," Nanako remarked, holding tightly on to a deep gash in her arm, surrounded by a number of fallen trees, courtesy of Temari's fan.

"Of course not." She scoffed, "that girl wasn't worth the effort, and the Nara was too smart for such direct tactics."

"So you're saying I'm the first one to warrant you going all out?" Nanako smirked, an expression that looked unnatural on her face. "I'm almost flattered."

Temari scowled at that and folded her fan back up. She'd used a lot of chakra, so was charging forward in an attempt at close combat.

Nanako was ready though. Despite the damage to her left arm she pulled out her ninja wire and met Temari's assault head on.

It was a battle of Nanako's finesse with wire versus Temari's closed fan's brute force. Nanako was not winning.

Much of her Taijutsu revolved around flexibility and dexterity with her arms, one of which had been badly hurt, only worsening as blood slipped out of the open wound.

It was as her wire held the bludgeon of a fan an inch away from her face that Nanako was prepared for death. Temari was someone who's brute force with either Ninjutsu or Taijutsu could beat Nanako, especially as she knew all of the Konoha girl's tricks. Ginmaru had been so beat up he had to return to the summoned animal realm.

It was as the wire was seconds from snapping she heard a loud roar, a voice she vaguely recognised as that of Inuzuka Kiba.

"Fang over Fang!" He shouted, a vortex of limbs, both his and his ninken's, charging into Temari and pushing her back from Nanako.

And right into another person she recognised, a usually shy girl who looked in that moment out for blood. Hyuga Hinata with the terrifying eyes of her clan bore down the might of the gentle fist onto the shocked Suna girl, pushing a number of her tenketsu and knocking her into unconsciousness within moments.

"Holy fuck," Nanako muttered, "I thought I was dead."

Then, the third member of that team arrived and began speaking orders, quietly but without room for question. "Hinata, Kiba, get her to the hospital," he said simply, "my allies have sensed another battle ahead. I will go and assist as best I can."

The pair agreed easily and hoisted Nanako to her feet.

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Shiranui Genma was not known for his prowess on the front lines. He was at first an assassin in ANBU, a stealthy killer not used to prolonged combat. Then, he joined the Hokage's guard under the fourth, continuing on into the Third's tenure back out of retirement.

Most of his career had been spent hiding in the dark, waiting to strike or for someone else to.

In that moment, facing a Suna puppet master genin, he was regretting that decision. A stupid mistake had cost him so dearly. His breathing was laboured and he struggled to stand. The genin was on deaths doorstep himself, however.

It was as Genma fell to the ground, a good ten meters away from his opponents place on the dirt, that he saw a familiar face.

"I'll have my allies extract the poison," Aburame Shino said, wary of the barely conscious Suna nin not a few meters away, "it will hurt, though."

And holy fuck did it hurt, but by the end, he felt well enough to stand.

"Thank you," Genma nodded, glancing over to the downed genin, now seeming fully unconscious. "We will transport him to T&I, now. Then we'll assist at the battle in the village proper."

Shino nodded at that, not one to question orders from his, currently, direct superior.

So, he walked forward to pick up the boy, but found him rattling like...

"A puppet," the Aburame revealed, "he must have substituted himself when I was focused on removing the poison."

Genma nodded, a frown on his face, "despite the annoyance, I doubt he's in any condition to fight, even if he catches up to Naruto and Sasuke. His goal is to get Gaara into the village, for their plan."

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The invasion lasted a number of hours, but by the end, Konoha had defended their village well. Casualties were not low, however, and once the chaos died down, anyone well enough was tasked with clean-up.

Masato, who's ears had been healed after his match, was one such person, and he was struggling not to throw up at the sight.

He'd already collected dozens of Konoha shinobi, and a number of the enemy too, bodies and was starting to hate it. Dozens had died, and for what? The sick and twisted desires of one of Konoha's own rogue nin?

It made him sick.