Rain pattered against the terra-cotta rooftop of Sakura’s apartment. The moonlight shone brightly through the slits of the shutter of the window. She laid in bed after a long day’s work at the hospital, attempting to fall asleep but failing so far.
She couldn’t help but wonder about a patient she had treated earlier in the day.
“Haruno-sama, I need you to take a look at the man in room one-fifteen. There is something highly unusual about his injuries,” A short blond nurse said, looking up from her clipboard as she tapped her pen against it anxiously.
“I’ll be right down.” Sakura answered, taking a deep breath. This day had already been long enough, and now that she was ready to leave, something exciting just had to happen.
She made her way down the hall to the patient’s room, turning the handle to enter. She moved to stand at the bedside where a small fluorescent light hung overhead, the first thing she noticed was the unconscious man’s bandaged arms and torso.
Carefully, she began removing the bandage on his left arm, just to take a look. As the ribbonlike bandage loosened, she pulled it off to reveal a series of pinprick markings nearly covering his arm.
‘What in the world?’ Sakura thought to herself, carefully poking a gloved fingertip against the inner bend of his elbow. She felt hard lumps beneath the surface of his skin, like small marbles right under the markings. She placed her palm against his chest, sending chakra into his body, finding small traces of a rare poison in his heart and joints; undoubtedly what caused him to fall unconscious.
‘What an unusual toxin. Looks like it was administered in an even more unusual manner,’ She regarded the markings, chewing her lip as she tried to make sense of the man’s condition. The poison wasn’t killing him, and removing it might make things worse judging by the amount he had obviously been repeatedly given.
His system most likely depended on it to some degree now.
Withdrawing her hand, she made a mental note to herself. ‘I’ll have to speak with Lady Tsunade about this.’
She considered removing the bandages on his torso, but decided to wait until the following day.
She exited the room and started towards the hospital’s exit to head for the Hokage’s tower.
“I’ve never seen markings like those, it almost seems like he wasn’t attacked… But underwent this - whatever it may be, willingly.” Sakura explained, her brow furrowing slightly.
Tsunade clasped her hands in front of her, her eyes moving around the room in deep thought, until they fixed on Sakura’s.
“I was unsure if I should tell you this, given your circumstances - ANBU found that man on the border of Otogakure. And if that doesn’t tell you anything about his condition, I don’t know what will,” She said grimly, her lips in a pronounced frown. She knew that Sakura was almost at her limit with the amount of work she had on her plate to begin with… Now this.
“Sound? Of course, I should have known, given the overall strangeness.” Sakura answered, trailing off in thought. She could feel how tired her body was and how badly it needed to rest, but now her mind was going to wrack itself for an answer to this.
The slight sway of Sakura’s stance did not go unnoticed by her mentor.
“Sakura, go home and get some rest tonight. I want you to be at your best tomorrow when we dig a little deeper into this issue.”
“Understood.” Sakura replied, and with that she made for an exit back onto the street.
She walked at a slow pace through the narrow path leading up to her apartment, kicking a small rock along in front of her.
‘Sound… The secondhand work of Orochimaru, no doubt. What are they doing with these poor people?’ Sakura took the key to her apartment from a pocket in her skirt as she reached the front door, unlocking it and stepping inside. She kicked off her boots.
She didn’t bother to cook anything, even though she was hungry; instead she opted for some cold leftover rice and pork.
As she was eating, it occurred to her that there was one man who knew just as much if not more than herself about medical procedures, poisons and such; particularly one of this dark sort. His signature smirking face immediately coming to mind - Kabuto Yakushi.
This was slowly starting to piece together, Sakura thought, but it was time to rest and worry about this mess tomorrow.
Putting her empty bowl and chopsticks in the sink, she turned and went to her bedroom, not bothering to change out of her clothes; only removing her medic skirt and tool bag. She crawled into bed just as it started to rain, her mind clouded with thoughts before she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
