Not Again [Sakura]

[Kumataka]

;;The Gentile Surgeon

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---

The soft chirping of birds was a beautiful background to the peaceful day, and it could have possibly been one of the most perfect afternoons in a long while. The sun was shining brightly, filtering down through the leaves of nearby trees, casting the forest in a shifting, dappling light that was incredibly beautiful, and it was just the type of day that one would love to spend sitting around just enjoying the weather.

Except that Kuma couldn’t see a damn thing.

A while back, he had managed to catch his foot on an unearthed root, and had ate dirt most spectacularly, complete with copious amounts of flailing and distressed noises. If the wounds to his pride hadn’t been enough, the delicate wire frames that were always perched atop the bridge of his nose had gone skittering away, and now he was unable to see his own hands, let alone his surrounding. Why did things like this keep happening? He whined in the back of his throat, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes at the sheer unfairness of the situation. Twice in less then a week, he had bee nin this situation twice in less then a week, and even though the first time had turned out rather well, he flushed at the memory, he wasn’t thrilled to be repeating the scene.

He had decided to leave Konohagakure for a while, if only to steady his worried mind, but he hadn’t made it far outside of the borders before he had managed to get himself in the predicament, so he hoped that someone would come along quickly. Currently he was on his hands and knees, pawing and scratching at the ground in a fruitless attempt to find his lost glasses before something could happen to them, but he had no idea where they had flown off to, and without his vision, it was almost damn near impossible to make out anything at all. Fleetingly he wondered if the Hoshi-nin would manage to materialize again, if only to lend a hand, but he knew it was useless. He was stuck until fate decided that it had had enough of his antics and allowed him to find his eyes once again.

[/blockquote]

[Haruno Sakura]

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"This time, everyone, get a good look at my back."
✿❀✿ ♡нαяυησ×ѕαкυяα♡ ✿❀✿
She's Good For One Day Of Comfort, Only Because She Has Suffered

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For the rose-haired Konoha-nin to be out today wasn't an abnormal thing, especially not in this forest that she often wandered in. They didn't always sell what she was looking for in the shops around the place, not even at the Yamanaka Flower Shop - which she still visited on occasion, if only to bug Ino about having to work - and as a result, Sakura was sometimes forced to go search for her own herbs. Nonetheless, it wasn't that big of a deal; she had gotten rather used to it now, and finding such interesting plants and making all sorts of herbal remedies for some of the smallest things came in handy at times. She wasn't quite the botanist that Ino seemed to be, but Ino already had a lot more background knowledge in plants, too. Everyone had their strengths, after all.

What she found, however, was a little more than just a patch to pick herbs. If it hadn't been so mean to do so, Sakura would have probably fallen over laughing at the poor man who seemed to be skittering around looking for something. Glancing near her feet, she could see a pair of black frames; it looked like the man might be looking for his glasses. Well, that was surely a predicament. He probably couldn't see her, but nonetheless, he would hear her for sure. Leaning over, she picked up the glasses with her gloved hands and walked towards the man with a bit of a giggle.

"You all right?" Sakura asked as she handed the man the pair of glasses. "I believe these belong to you," she said as she knelt down to look the poor man in the face. "What brings you out so close to Konohagakure? I don't think I recognize you from anywhere," she said, cocking her head to the side slightly. No, she was sure she didn't recognize this man anywhere, but the dark hair and maroon eyes reminded her almost instantly of Kogitsune, the Hoshi-nin she'd been set to help as a medical aid. Of course, while Kogitsune spent most of his time being so confused out of his mind and rather formal, this man seemed simply jittery to her. The fact that she didn't know who she was would bother her for a little while, however... Perhaps she could at least get a name out of him.

"I'm Sakura. Haruno Sakura. And who might you be?"

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[Kumataka]

;;The Gentile Surgeon

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---

Why was it every time he was laid so low by unfortunate events, someone was always drawn to his suffering? First it had been the gorgeous Hoshi-nin, but now soft footfalls heralded another figure coming his way, and he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be so lucky a second time. He was about to shout a warning to whomever was crossing his path, but the blurry form had stopped, moved, then come closer. He squinted, trying to make out what was going on, but suddenly an object was thrust into his face rather abruptly. For a moment Kuma was confused as to what was going on, but his befuddled brain suddenly put two and two together and realized what the most obvious situation would be.

“Ahn, thank you, thank you very much.” He pawed at the air for a moment before his fingertips finally grazed across the cold metal. He took the glasses back, making sure to wipe the lenses off on his sleeve before replacing them upon the bridge of his nose, then blinked, taking in the newly-in-focus world. The first thing he registered was that there was an awful lot of pink standing in front of him; whether or not it was intentional was debatable. Still,

“Ahn,” he smiled sheepishly, doing his best to put on a non-hostile air, “I’m just in town checking up on a patient of mine.”

After a second, his brow furrowed, and then he laughed embarrassedly, “sorry, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Kuma, I’m a doctor.”

It wasn’t a complete lie, he supposed, and so that made it all right; after all, the younger girl had helped him out, and so he at least owed her the courtesy of a polite introduction. Really, it seemed that she had gone out of her way to help him, and he was quite grateful, but she was asking a few too many questions for his liking. Then again, it could have just been childish curiosity, so he tried to dismiss the feelings of worry that were gripping his chest.

Rose to his feet, brushing off his jacket and pants in order to rid himself of the dust and dirt that had accumulated on them during his frantic searching. The situation was awkward, and he found himself unable to diffuse it, much to his chagrin, and so he merely shrugged, not trying to hide his tension and inability to come up with an appropriate way to carry on after the pleasantries.

[Haruno Sakura]

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"This time, everyone, get a good look at my back."
✿❀✿ ♡нαяυησ×ѕαкυяα♡ ✿❀✿
She's Good For One Day Of Comfort, Only Because She Has Suffered

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A doctor? That seemed a little odd. And a patient in town..? Sakura wondered a little bit. The only new patients there really were - and she wasn't sure she could consider him such, really, because his condition didn't have him bedridden yet - was Kogitsune, amongst a few others. She'd been at the hospital yesterday to fill in a couple of empty spots there were on the staff, and she wondered who this patient of his might be.

"Nice to meet you, Kuma," Sakura replied in a bright, friendly manner, the usual manner she had when talking to most people. Her more violent manner was usually reserved for Naruto or anyone else that got on her nerves. "And a doctor, too? Hmm, how ironic, almost," she said with a laugh. It was sort of odd that he - who obviously wasn't from Konoha, as far as she could tell - was a doctor and she herself was a medical nin in training, in a sense.

"I find it a little funny that you don't see many 'doctors' out there anymore... Most of the people that work at the hospital - myself included - are medical nins... If you don't mind my asking, who's your patient? Chances are I've probably looked at his or her chart at least once," she said, trying to be genuine. She didn't want to make it seem as if she were prying, because she didn't want to seem like a nosy little snot or something. Reaching back, she brought out her gloves, gasping as she saw a small little herb she'd been looking for. Quickly she rushed over and picked it, pulling out a small sack that she'd been carrying, and shoved it inside. Replacing it back in the pack that was on her hip, she turned to the man, slightly in a bit of realization.

"That's funny... I can recall twice now that I've helped people just because I've been out picking herbs. Shishou-sama - er, Tsunade-sama - always seems to need more and more for her stash..."

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[Kumataka]

;;The Gentile Surgeon

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---

It was always nice to meet new people, and a kind word was always appreciated; it wasn’t often that the nuke-nin was treated as anything more then an escaped animal, and he relished the times when he was able to relax and enjoy life as it was supposed to be enjoyed. This Sakura girl…if his initial impression was correct, she was much too kind to be a kunoichi, though the hitai-ate suggested otherwise. Konohagakure no Sato must have been lax in their standards for shinobi, he surmised. Strange, but not anything too worrisome. As he was about to ask her to elaborate on her statement about irony, the words died in his throat as the phrase “medical nins” was uttered. Lightning shot through to his core, and though he managed to keep his perfect composure, inside a whirlwind of emotion was running amok through his brain.

No, no, no, no, don’t tell me that, please don’t, say you were joking, take it back, don’t let me know, oh gods, please don’t say anything more, just get away-far away, leave, run, don’t let me see you go, please, please

Despite his mental protests and internal panic attack, Kuma’s expression hadn’t changed, and he merely smiled at the pink-haired kunoichi. His outward demeanor was entirely non-hostile, and even his actions were still awkward and hesitant as they had been before. However, there was something cold taking control of his limbs, and despite his best intentions, the logical part of the nuke-nin’s brain had long since been buried by irrational and demanding emotion. “Ah, forgive me, but patient records are confidential, but you know that don’t you? I‘m not sure if they would want their information given out wantonly, though I can say that I‘ve had a devil of a time trying to work with this particular one.”

He laughed, then smiled apologetically; it would be so simple to dispose of the body in the surrounding area. After all, there was enough growth in some of the thicker underbrush to hide the bits, as long as he cut them small enough. Just the thought of such an act revolted him, but a strange, sick sense of elation was filling his chest, and he found himself anticipating the struggle, the meticulous work of destroying the evidence…it was rather addicting. “Herbs? Perhaps I could help? What sort of ingredients have you been sent to find?”

[/blockquote]

[Haruno Sakura]

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"This time, everyone, get a good look at my back."
✿❀✿ ♡нαяυησ×ѕαкυяα♡ ✿❀✿
She's Good For One Day Of Comfort, Only Because She Has Suffered

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"Right, yes, that makes sense. Forgot about that," Sakura said with a sheepish laugh. "There have been a few interesting ones come in lately... One with a condition due to a past happening in his village. Unpredictably comes up in the most dire of situations," she said, squatting down to pick a small herb with her gloves.

"As for what I'm searching for... Mostly just simplistic stuff, like cloves, clovers, et cetera et cetera, but there was one she wanted me to look for. It was called camphor... She wanted to make an antidote for it and teach me to use a few poisons," Sakura said, turning to Kuma. This man seemed fairly... Strange, in some records, probably because you don't usually see male medical personnel, at least to her experience. Sakura knew quite a number of medical staff, herself included, and for the most part they were female. Even the local veterinarian, Kiba's older sister Hana, was female.

"So if you're here to see a patient, then you must know Shi-- Tsunade-sama, correct? One of the most legendary medical shinobi there are out there..." Sakura said, with pure truth behind her words. "It's an honor to be her student, really. Though, with what she's got up her sleeve every single day, I'm surprised I'm still alive after all of that... It's really not fun to have hard inanimate objects - sometimes rocks, of all things - pelted at you with insane speed, and then trying to avoid them... Oh, the life of a med-nin," she said in a bit of a sarcastic tone, frowning and glancing upon the ground.

"She said the camphor was here somewhere... Or she's just sending me out on some errand to get out of her hair, one of the two... Tch, if that was the case, I'd just go find Naruto or someone to beat the snot out of," she said dryly. "Of course, the little idiot would bring it upon himself anyways..." she muttered, walking around the back of the tree. A small gasp escaped her lips as she saw the plant she was looking for, or at least, she assumed it was camphor. Coming out from behind the tree with her back to Kuma, she bent down and tried to pull the plant as best as she could to preserve it, but sadly it seemed quite strongly rooted down. Groaning, she pulled out a kunai and began to gently dig around the base of the plant, tugging slowly to at least preserve some of the roots. She'd have to ask Ino someday to lend her a little shovel she could use for her herb digging...

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[Kumataka]

;;The Gentile Surgeon

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---

“I know of her, correct, though I haven’t had the pleasure of actually meeting such an esteemed figure,” came the quiet reply. Kuma’s eyes scanned the ground, looking for any of the before mentioned plants as if he was actually interested in the petty mission. Nothing could have been further from the truth, but it was easier to lull the other medic into a sense of relaxation before he struck in order to prevent any unwanted mishaps. So the legendary Tsunade herself had taught this one, eh? Perhaps it would have been more beneficial for the girl to have learned how to sense motives like any proper shinobi, but the sable-eyed man wasn’t complaining. No, it was good fortune indeed that she was s trusting; it would make things easier in just a few moments…

There, there was the chance, it was too perfect; the back of the neck was exposed so nicely, it was almost as if she was purposely tempting him. One little touch, a small bit of chakra…that would be all it would take to sever the spinal cord. After that, just a quick cut to the kidney, and she would bleed out within seconds, simple really. His chest was tight in anticipation, and it took all of the nuke-nin’s willpower to steady his breathing; it was always so exciting right before a spectacular kill, and he was prone to loosing control in such beautiful situations. “Ah, beating people is hardly the work of a healer, and it usually behooves the medic or caretaker to create more injuries.”

The chiding was hypocritical down to the very last word, and as her attention became focused on uprooting the small plant, he decided that there would be no better opportunity. Humming softly under his breath, he bent down behind her, as if to look over the kunoichi’s shoulder as she worked. His right hand hung lifelessly by his side, fingertips brushing the dirt languidly as chakra began to subtly build in the slender digits. It was a simple task, one that he had utilized many times before, though generally for less brutal purposes, but as the energy coalesced into a sharpened form around his hand, he was reminded of how utterly depraved his next acts were going to be.

Ah well, life went on.

With little flourish or warning, his arm shot out, a spade-strike aimed at the back of the girl’s neck, quiet and precise. There had been no previous indication of hostility, and so he knew that things would go well, as they always did. After all, he was a doctor; it was his job to make sure things ran smoothly and without error.

[/size]

[Haruno Sakura]

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"This time, everyone, get a good look at my back."
✿❀✿ ♡нαяυησ×ѕαкυяα♡ ✿❀✿
She's Good For One Day Of Comfort, Only Because She Has Suffered

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It was only pure luck that saved her from her trusting ways with this man, as something very unexpected came up. As she began to tug on the root a little more, she found that even though it was deeply rooted, it was slowly coming loose. She was lucky the root had released when it had, because as the man's hand shot past her face, her senses told her to get out of there as soon as she possibly could. If one could've thanked a simple plant without sounding like an idiot, Sakura surely would have.

"The hell?!" She snapped, immediately pushing upwards and landing out behind Kuma. "The hell did that come from?!" Her voice snapped again, anger coming. No, she could see it in his eyes, almost. Such a murdeorus intent. It hit her deep, but... For what reason would he want to do that? Well, whatever. She should've known better than to trust some randoms stranger who seemed so mysterious! Nonetheless... If she could get close enough and perhaps knock the glasses off of his face, he might be fairly useless by then.

Of course, that would be different if it was all an act. Sakura's eyes flashed reason towards the man, and questioning as well. It wasn't hard to see her question behind her jade eyes, and they seemed to burn straight into the man with a pure, unadultered anguish as to why. Why target her, the proficient student of the Hokage herself, a medical shinobi, and a woman who could kill you with a single hit from her fist, easily.

"Why the hell did you try to kill me?" she asked, a pure confusion behind her eyes, but now that he'd tried something like that, she wasn't going to let him slide by so easily. She was watching his every move now, like she'd been taught, and was ready to predict whatever ones might've come of it. "If that's the sort of game you want to play, then fine," she snapped, cracking her knuckles.

"Then I'll gladly play it." Chances were that this wouldn't do any damage to Kuma, but nonetheless it would probably scare the snot out of him. Anyone in their right mind would be scared if someone they didn't know too well could do that with a single hit. Gathering up the chakra into her fist, Sakura pulled it back, past her side, and brought it even further behind her as she turned her torso a bit sideways. Her fist came in a semicircle-type attack as her body followed the momentum, and within half a second, her fist had crashed into the ground, and a shockwave rocked the area as the ground towards and soon to be underneath Kuma's feet cracked as if there'd been a terrible earthquake. One could easily tell that such strength was not normal, and Sakura hoped it would get the message across.

Don't screw with me.

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[Kumataka]

;;The Gentile Surgeon

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---

Too much talking, how barbaric; what a misfortune it had been to miss…it was something that needed to be remedied as soon as possible. Surgeons were not supposed to make mistakes; no, everything had to be perfect the first time around, or unwanted and devastating consequences could arise. It had been foolish to be so overconfident beforehand, and now he had to deal with the consequences, which was never fun. Normally medical shinobi were supposed to be docile creatures, and he had unwittingly allowed himself to fall into a more relaxed pattern of thought when it came to dealing with them. Now he was paying for his ignorant and lazy ways, though hopefully it wouldn’t be too much of a setback; the longer he spent trying to figure things out, the more chance there was that someone would come across the scene. No, the time to act was now.

Suddenly there was a jolt, and the ground gave way, startling the nuke-nin for a split second; he wasn’t entirely sure as to where the tremors had come from until his cold gaze fell upon the pink haired kunoichi. Her…fist….lovely, just lovely. Yet another unknown factor that had to be added into the equation, it seemed. He vaguely remembered stories of the legendary Tsunade’s strength, but to think that the woman would have passed it down to her pupil…it was almost unimaginable. Medic-nin that could fight…it would have been unheard of back in Kumogakure no Sato, against every taboo that was ever whispered. Even he had had to teach himself some of the more basic ninjutsu, if only because the village hadn’t wanted their medics to possess the ability to rise up against the establishment.

Feh.

She was still only a child though, and Kuma was confident in his own abilities; the self-assured glint in her eyes was only a byproduct of inexperience. After all, he had been perpetrating these types of crimes for the better part of six months now, gotten it down to an art, so there was no conceivable way that things would run foul. With no expression betraying his thoughts, he rushed forward again, nimbly leaping and winding through the hazardous crevices in the ground with a grace born of years of shinobi training. Indeed, it was no different then the practice exercises that he had been forced to run back when he was still new to the job, back when he had still been innocent and naïve about life. The chakra still encircled his hand, just as deadly as it had been before, and within seconds he had closed the gap between the two combatants, jabbing out once again. One scratch, that would be all it would take, and then she would disappear, just like the rest of them.

[/size]

[Haruno Sakura]

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"This time, everyone, get a good look at my back."
✿❀✿ ♡нαяυησ×ѕαкυяα♡ ✿❀✿
She's Good For One Day Of Comfort, Only Because She Has Suffered

______________________________________________________________________________________

Was this man really so daring as to come at a woman who could possibly kill you with one single hit? Well, if that was the game he wanted to play, then surely she would play it. Watching the movements and the way his muscles tensed, she saw the hit coming, and instinctively leaped to the side as his hand shot past her. Neraer to the treeline now, she thought she might just use that factor to her advantage. Nonetheless, the confusion and his motive rattled her mind; she had to figure this out.

"Why the sudden change, huh? Is this some way of showing your sick respect to someone who bore you no hostility?" She was more than just a little confused, and she hoped and wished there was some way to send out a message to Tsunade. If she could get a clear message, then perhaps the duo could subdue the suddenly violent man.

Without waiting for a response to come from him, Sakura swiftly moved behind the tree. If she could do this properly, surely it would surprise him. Deftly she punched a fist at the tree, the force from the chakra cleanly splitting it in half. Leaping upwards, she aimed an airborne axe kick directly at the center of the severed trunk, her chakra becoming more of a pushing force than destructive. The moment her foot connected, the tree was sent hurtling dangerously through the air towards Kuma, now a dangerous projectile. To ensure she could perhaps get a hit, she sent three shuriken to either side of the airborne tree, followed by two kunai to fly above and past the tree; two explosive tags, already burning, were attached to the kunai; hopefully something would catch the man off guard. If not, Sakura still had a few more tricks up her sleeve, but she knew now that she had to avoid those hands of his. If she got into close-ranged combat, she'd have to end things fast, because whatever jutsu he was using on them - the blue chakra telling her quite a bit and yet very little at the same time - it was most likely deadly in one form or another. The way he was acting, he didn't seem to be playing any games, and Sakura didn't like that one bit...

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[Kumataka]

;;The Gentile Surgeon

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---

Brute strength was not something he had been expecting, and thus the subsequent explosion of dirt and wood was entirely surprising. Kuma had not been prepared to deal with a taijutsu user at all; hell, he hadn’t been prepared to murder someone, for that matter, but here he was, and despite his previous protests, he was becoming more and more elated at the combat. It had been such a long time since he had managed to properly utilize the training that he had undergone so long ago as a shinobi, it was a surprise he wasn’t more out of shape, but he supposed that having to constantly run from malicious hunter-nin was reason enough to keep himself up in decent condition. Logs however…logs were rarely a threat to the traveling medic, and thus he was entirely unprepared to deal with the projectile as it came hurtling towards him.

Acting more on instinct than anything else, he twisted and shot to the right, his figure a blur as he bounded along the ground, as low to the earth as he could comfortably manage. It was a risky maneuver, that much he was sure of, but the nuke-nin didn’t trust his reflexes to be as sharp in the air. The hunk of wood came sailing towards him, and he turned sharply, throwing his body under it, wincing as rough bark caught his jacket and tore straight through the expensive material and into his back. The sensation was mitigated, however, as healing chakra began to pour into the wounds, forcing dirt and scraps of fabric out and burning away any infection that possibly could have taken root.

The force of the near-hit through him back, and he skidded in the dirt for a moment, toppling forward only to catch himself with one hand in order to prevent himself from falling over. His glasses slipped momentarily, but remarkably he was able to catch them as they were about to fall off of his nose, slipping the entire accessory back up so that he could keep a close eye on his intended target.

With all the attention that the tree had drawn, Kuma had failed to notice the other projectiles that had been launched, and so a split second after he had stabilized himself, the force of not one, but two explosions sent him careening backwards. He was already braced against the first assault, so the damage was not as severe as if he had been caught flat footed, but he was thoroughly shaken from the ordeal, unused to dealing with such crude, yet effective, tactics. It appeared that he couldn’t underestimate the kunoichi anymore than he already had, lest it be the death of him.

Infused with a bit more caution, he shot forward, weaving from side to side at high speed as to prevent another full frontal assault like the previous, closing the distance between himself and the Konoha-nin in record time. He might have forsaken his training to become a medical shinobi, but everything learned in his genin and chuunin years was still ingrained within his memory, his body acting on rarely used reflexes. Damn, but this had taken long enough, he needed to finish it quickly before someone wandered along and ruined everything.

As he drew close, he suddenly threw one foot out, pivoting and swinging to the side to strafe around the smaller form as quick as the lightning from his homeland. His hand shot out once again, this time not aimed for the neck, but instead to her back, attempting to damage any of the main internal organs, if only to slow her down a bit before an actual killing blow could be formulated.

[/blockquote]

[Haruno Sakura]

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"This time, everyone, get a good look at my back."
✿❀✿ ♡нαяυησ×ѕαкυяα♡ ✿❀✿
She's Good For One Day Of Comfort, Only Because She Has Suffered

______________________________________________________________________________________

Yes! Her strategy had been rather foolproof; the tree itself had caught him a little unexpectedly it seemed, and the explosions from the tags seemed to have rattled him a little. Obviously this man hadn't been trained as a medical shinobi, let alone a regular one; while his movements were shinobi-like, he also seemed slightly sloppy. She wasn't going to get caught by his moves, or so she hoped.

As she heard movement behind her, Sakura instantly turned around to see his hand shooting towards her. As if she would let him sever her vital organs so easily! Tsunade had tried that once, and Sakura wasn't about to have a repeat incident. She instinctively got low and to the side as his attack hit her in the arm, almost instanly turning purple as the blood vessels were severed. Paying no mind to the pain in her arm as she released green chakra from the points around it, she began to take care of it as quickly as she could.

However, this put the man in a bad position against her. She was in perfect Taijutsu range for an attack, but it also meant that she was at risk for a vital hit as well. Besides, she had other ideas up her sleeve. Leaping back, she unleashed a torrent of special kunai, ones with pinkish-looking pouches filled with tiny explosive notes all around and towards the man with flurrying speed; some intentionally flew overhead and past him, some to either side, some short and in front, and a few embedded themselves above him in the tree to shower him in the notes. As a finale, she sent three kunai with full explosive tags on them and began to scurry her way back. Once out of range, she ignited the tags, which would cause the area to rock in a large explosion, hopefully around him, as they ignited the shower of small explosive notes around him to cause a sort of chain reaction.

"Shannaro... Sakura Fubuki no Jutsu," she muttered, smiling. She was sure it wouldn't be over quite so fast, but hopefully she could put him in enough of a position to drag him to Tsunade and allow her to deal with him. He would surely have to be frightened if that time ever came upon him. Tsunade could be quite scary when she wanted to. Now it was time for Sakura to concentrate on fixing the damage he'd done to her arm... Because as of now, it was beginning to throb quite horribly.

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[Kumataka]

;;The Gentile Surgeon

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---

A hit finally, though the resulting wound was less than satisfactory; he really had fallen out of practice during the last few months, and Kuma made a mental promise that he would not allow himself to become so frail and squishy during his next stretch of downtime. Playing the healer was wonderful, yes, but oh, how he had sorely missed the thrill of the hunt. The little pink-haired kunoichi was good sport, she was, and he applauded her audacity and reflexes; of course he wasn’t at full strength, but her skill was impressive nonetheless.

Now that he was close, the medic knew that it was only a matter of time before he was able to strike a vital organ, or the child would eventually bleed out from the smaller wounds he would undoubtedly inflict upon her. As he was preparing to strike again, however, she leapt back, and suddenly custom kunai filled the air. Really. Really? Did she really think that thrown weapons would work upon him, especially with her aim? He would have been tempted to merely dismiss the attack as foolish, but there was an inkling in the back of his mind that something just wasn’t right. Even a genin would have had the ability to hit a target with at least one. No, something was definitely not right. As he pondered, more kunai flew past, and those he definitely realized the explosion tags tied to them. With a small twist of his body, he made an attempt to follow the retreating kunoichi, but suddenly…

That was…

Any other thoughts that the nuke-nin could have possibly formulated were jarred away as the world around him blew apart, and he felt his body being lifted with the force of the explosions. Bones broke, they healed again, skin was shredded, it knit itself together, but even the powerful healing energies circulating throughout his body weren’t enough to keep Kuma entirely uninjured. Quite the contrary, it seemed, as agony ripped through his form, sharp and dagger-like and entirely unrelenting. He couldn’t remember the last time that he had been injured on the battlefield even, but as even more explosives ignited, the thought was null and void. Force threw him across the clearing, and there was a distinct thunk and the sound of shattering glass as he landed. Healing chakra was working overtime to try to reject the bits and pieces of his lenses that had shattered into his face, and his modified Kumo hitai-ate had fallen from his pocket, now slightly charred. The world had gone fuzzy, and though he struggled to overcome the effects of the trauma, he felt himself slipping away, away, away…

Gone.

[/size]

[Haruno Sakura]

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"This time, everyone, get a good look at my back."
✿❀✿ ♡нαяυησ×ѕαкυяα♡ ✿❀✿
She's Good For One Day Of Comfort, Only Because She Has Suffered

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It had worked a little better than she had thought; the last time she'd used that was back in Yukigakure no Sato, and even then, the chakra armour it'd been up against hadn't given her much to work with. Nonetheless, this man didn't have anything of that sort to protect him, and as a result, he was thrown far, probably as far as Sakura could've punted him with her foot. The thought made her giggle, but now wasn't the time to be silly like that.

Had she been a more cold-hearted woman, Sakura would have killed him there, as he lay unconscious, but there had to be reasons behind his actions, in her opinion. She still had her basic shinobi tools with her, and wire tended to work well for ropes when one really needed it. He wouldn't be escaping any time soon, and Sakura would see to that. It wouldn't be too hard to keep him out cold.

As she came closer, she grimaced at the situation. Blood spattered the area, little bits and pieces dripping down his face from the glass of his lenses that had shattered. Picking up the shattered frames - strangely enough, the frames themselves were in rather good condition, aside from being a little charred - and pocketed them; he would most likely want them back after he was questioned. Noting the blood, she thought it best to at least take care of those wounds... Broken bones could stay, yes, but any blood wouldn't be very good to bring into Tsunade's office. Sakura knew the woman had a bit of a fear of blood, as exploited in one of their little training sessions.

But first came her subduing him. She pulled out the thin roll of wire she always carried and carefully - using the charred bits of fabric to keep it from chafing his skin, at least; she was nice enough to do that - wrapped them tightly around his wrists, ankles, knees, and around his upper body to keep his arms tight to him. She wasn't about to allow for any stupid mistakes, that was for sure. Once he was tied, she pulled off her own glove, removing the chakra that was still trying to take care of her internally-bleeding shoulder, and with careful hands removed as much of the glass as she could from the man's face, her own chakra taking care of whatever could be. She used her glove to wipe away as much of the blood as she could, and once that was all said and done, she replaced the glove onto her hand and thought a little.

"How am I supposed to carry him..? I'll probably have to drag him," she muttered, moaning a little. Nonetheless, it would be an interesting theory to test... She managed to hook her hands underneath his armpits - with much hassle and groans, of course - and dragged him through the makeshift natural paths in the underbrush and eventually back into Konoha, at the stares of many. She was dragging him with her back facing to her direction, so as to avoid perhaps even being attacked from behind should the man regain consciousness. However, from the state he seemed to be in, Sakura was sure she could safely assume that he wouldn't be wakening anytime soon.

Someone who seemed to be strolling along, noting her distress, came over and offered to lend a hand. It was none other than Tenten, and Sakura was thoroughly relieved that the weapons mistress had come over to help her. She knew Tenten's physical strength was probably a lot more than her own, and it would help greatly if the two could carry the man together. Hoisting him up, they hauled him to Tsunade's office, where he would obviously meet the wrath of the Hokage herself.

THREAD CLOSED.

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