Chapter Twenty-Two
The King Over a City of Ruin

Kemuri's hooves clopped against the wet cobblestone, his movements jostling Sakura as she leaned into him and held onto his mane. Without a saddle, Sakura dug her knees into his shoulders and let him carry her through the rain-soaked city as they raced towards the palace. Another explosion had gone off somewhere up ahead. Sakura hadn't seen it happen, but she'd heard the cataclysmic resounding boom, and was met with a wall of thick, green smoke just moments after the detonation. Kemuri reared back, causing Sakura to scramble to hold her seat. Another building was on fire – glass was blown out of the store front and glittering in the street among the piles of heavy rubble.

Amegakure was an industrialized city with high towers made of stone and concrete. Buildings were practically on top of one another; their stacked structures giving the appearance of an impenetrable fortress… With so much stone, surely the fires wouldn't last, especially in the rain.

Or that should have been the case… if the fires had been normal.

Green and orange flame licked at the concrete, sweeping over the stone surface, and holding shape as it burned and bloomed up and up the towers, lighting up the sky like a neon firework. From where Sakura sat atop Kemuri, she could feel the heat… but it was a cold heat, born of chemical compounds that were designed by an alchemist to keep the flames burning. She had once read about synthetic fire in a research tome in the Hokage's archives. They were invented by an alchemist with the purpose of lighting beacons in watch towers – an eternal flame meant to guide lost travelers into safety. Sakura recalled reading a passage about how the magic fires were stolen by enemies and used in the old wars before her time. According to the tome, only the tailed beasts' chakra powers could put out the flames, but it had been at least a century since the last fires were put out and supposedly the magical formulas with them…

The windows in the building to her left blew out in a sweeping motion, spraying the ground at her feet with shards of sharp debris. Sakura tugged on Kemuri's mane, pulling him in the opposite direction and guided him down a narrow alley. At the mouth of the alley, Sakura spotted movement, and strained her eyes to make out the shapes of the fighters in the dark. She spotted some of her ANBU teammates by their porcelain masks, and heard the sharp singing of metal clashing in the night.

"At my signal, I'm going to need you to make a run for it," Sakura said to her borrowed steed. She didn't think the horse was a trained war horse by any standards, but Kemuri had been dependable and bore her safely and surely to the heart of the chaos… right where Kakashi had expected the fight would be taken – to the Amekage's doorstep.

Light from the palace pooled onto the street, making it easier for Sakura to identify the Amekage's soldiers and the enemy they were fighting against. Metal clashed against metal, and battle cries rose above the sound of the splattering rain on the concrete. Sakura unsheathed her short sword, her fingers tightening around the hilt as she gathered her feet below her and stood up on Kemuri's back. "Now!" she shouted at her horse, and Kemuri leapt from the alley and into the throng of fighters. Sakura sprang from his back, twisting in a flawless arc through the air. The world slowed around her as she honed her focus on the enemy and slammed her sword down in the curve of a rebel nin's neck. He fell in a heap at her feet, leaving her to face the masked operative the rebel had been facing.

"No one can say you don't know how to make an entrance," Sasuke said in greeting.

"You're welcome," Sakura retorted.

"Duck!"

Sakura did as she was told, dropping low as Sasuke jabbed out with a kunai and disarmed and executed an enemy in one fell swoop.

"Doesn't this sort of go against ANBU tactics?" Sakura said as she popped back up and elbowed another nin square in the chest with a chakra-charged blow. The enemy dropped like a sack of rotten potatoes and didn't move again.

"ANBU adapts quickly," Sasuke retorted. "Looks like your horse ran off."

"Good," Sakura said. "He's going back home." She sidestepped and threw a knee into another enemy's gut and heard the air vacating his lungs. "Where's Kakashi?"

"Inside the palace, protecting the Amekage." Sasuke grunted as he withdrew his sword from someone's chest.

"They're using the Eternal Flames," Sakura told him as she disarmed a big burly man to her left. "We'll need one of the tailed beasts to put out the fires around the city or the whole place is going to burn."

"Hattori wouldn't let that happen." Sasuke kicked the ankles of a rebel nin and watched him go down before delivering a fatal blow to the base of his skull. "He wants to rule of Ame, he won't let it be destroyed."

"A king over a city of ruin," Sakura murmured under her breath. "Has anyone been poisoned?"

"Not that I can tell. Hattori's fighters are not very skilled."

"They'll come in waves," Sakura said, thinking back to what Kakashi had told her. "This group is probably just part of the initial distraction."

"The real players are watching to see what happens," Sasuke attributed, following Sakura's line of thought.

"Right," Sakura said… "So let's beat them at their own game."

Sakura and Sasuke slipped from the throng of fighting and headed for the palace through the warriors' barracks. They were drenched to the bone, but Sakura channeled her chakra into 'wraith mode' and refused to make nary a sound on the marble flooring as they creeped into the dark palace halls. It was too quiet… All the soldiers had been called to the courtyard where Hattori's rebels had attacked. If there had been any civilians wandering the palace prior to the explosions, they were gone now. Sakura hoped that meant they were somewhere safe, preferably in a warm bed sleeping and unaware the city was in the midst of an undertaking…

Sakura tried not to think about that, and instead focused on finding Kakashi. If Hattori had rebels stationed on the inside with diversions meant to draw their attention – chances were that Hattori was already inside. He needed a simple game of smoke and mirrors to distract Ame's forces so he could move in and strike where it would hurt the most… They'd banked on that happening, but the ANBU unit could only be spread so thin. Kakashi's brilliant mind had undoubtedly been a step or two ahead, which explained his absence from the battle outside. But where was he now?

Sasuke drew up tightly to the doorframe outside of the council room, his hand brushing against the back of Sakura's as he motioned for her to stay put and stay quiet. Outside, thunder barreled across the stormy sky, and a bolt of electric blue light sparked across the windowpanes – briefly lighting up the room. A man sat at the head of the table; his narrow frame was backlit by the storm outside. There was a scratching sound from within – ZIP– and a ball of green light flared brightly, blooming and shrinking as it danced at the tip of a candlewick.

"The Eternal Flame," a man's voice said with faux ominousness. "Of course, the formulas were wiped out decades ago and the knowledge of how to make the flame was lost forever."

Sakura and Sasuke didn't budge. An icy chill swept the length of Sakura's spine at the sound of the man's voice. Like it was born from the depths of hell and stitched together with silt and sulfur.

"If the powers that be really wanted the knowledge lost forever, they should have redacted the history tomes and made it so the things they so desperately wanted forgotten couldn't be found… You see," the man said, voice like the devil, "Anything made can always be remade… isn't that right, Sakura of the Hidden Leaf?"

Sakura shivered. How did the man sitting in that room know that it was her outside that door?

"Go ahead," the man said again, "take a seat and join me."

"Why, so you can kill me?" Her voice came out surprisingly steady – with an air of sarcasm that was customary of the nin. "Think I'll pass, Salamander Prince."

The voice inside the room laughed. "If you mean to wound me with insults, we'll never get anywhere, Sakura. Now, come inside please."

Sasuke wrapped his fingers around Sakura's forearm and squeezed in warning. Sakura quickly summed up the facts: Hattori was inside, presumably alone, and had no idea (she hoped) that anyone was with her. How he'd guessed who she was was still in question, but Sakura still wasn't a master of wraith mode and her chakra was waning… perhaps she'd let it slip just enough to let the enemy detect her chakra signature. She didn't think so, but that wasn't out of the realm of possibilities. Secondly, Hattori could walk out into the hallway at any given time and he hadn't.

"I just want to chat, Sakura. We have a common interest."

Sakura swallowed. "Gonna go out on a limb and say it has something to do with, oh, say, I don't know – a little antidote, perhaps?"

Hattori laughed again. "Yes, that is an inconvenience." He sighed. "I can't rule over Rain in my father's stead comfortably knowing that Konoha ninja are walking around with the formula to counteract my poison now, can I?"

"That's putting the cart before the horse, don't you think?" Sakura tsked.

"They told me you were a fiery little thing…" Hattori said.

Sakura tried to ignore the 'they' part of that statement but something about it wasn't sitting right in her gut.

Hattori continued, "We were suspicious of Konoha's involvement when we found our outpost building entirely abandoned, but those suspicions were confirmed when your spy team infiltrated our campsite and stole… something… from us. Tell me, how are your ninjas fairing after being struck down by my poison?"

"Oh, come on, Hattori… I think you already know the answer to that," Sakura said in a falsely-placating tone. "The jar of Belladonna was a nice trick." She wasn't about to fess up to making the antidote from the piece of metal she'd fished from Tenzo's wound… for all she knew, Hattori was still none the wiser to her successful creation.

"I hoped you would appreciate the… message," Hattori said. "I'm not particularly fond of interruptions to my plans."

"How did you find out I was the one working on the antidote?" Sakura countered out of mere curiosity. Her back was still pressed against the wall, a puddle of rainwater gathering at her feet.

"You're not the only one with spies, Sakura." Hattori sighed again. "Quit toying around, I'm growing tired of this back and forth and would appreciate it if you would come in and sit down." His voice boomed with the demand, sending another shiver down Sakura's spine.

Sakura wrenched her wrist away from Sasuke and rounded the corner into the council room. It was a bold thing to do, but Sakura was a warrior, and at the end of the day, her bravery would always conquer her fear. She walked slowly as thunder boomed outside the walls of the palace, rattling the panes of glass. The flickering green flame gave off just enough light to illuminate the sharp contours of Hattori's face, coloring the hollows of his eyes in eerie shadows. He wasn't an unattractive man, but his skin was too tightly stretched over bone – lending an appearance to suggest the hard life he'd led. The most startling thing about his appearance; however, was the mechanical apparatus strapped to his shoulders and the long thin tubes that stretched the length of his arms. Sakura guessed that's how he channeled his poison supply… how he could still be around humans without infecting them. Unless of course he wanted to, that is.

Sakura pulled out the chair at the opposite end of the table, and slowly sank into the seat, keeping her back straight and her petite shoulders squared. Hattori tilted his head as if to study her, the dancing green light reflecting in his irises. "You're frightfully small," he commented.

"Surprising things come in small packages," Sakura returned flatly.

Hattori cracked a smile. "Have you made the antidote to my poison, Sakura of the Hidden Leaf? It was terribly brave of you to walk in here if you haven't."

For a moment, Sakura feared that Hattori had bested her, but she had years of practicing her poker face and made sure her expression was schooled before she answered. "You could try to engage in a fight with me, sure… but the fact that you haven't yet tells me you're aware I'm the better fighter in spite of your poison." Sakura made a show of examining her nails in a bored manner.

A humorless laugh resounded from Hattori as he sat back in his chair. "You didn't answer the question."

"No," Sakura lied. "I haven't made the antidote."

"So that's what you came here for, isn't it? Still on a mission to save your friends…"

"I will always try to save my friends," Sakura said.

Hattori's mouth slid up into a crooked smile. "I was counting on that," he told her. "I hoped that you would be foolish enough to embark on a mission against me for the betterment of your companions. But you see, Sakura, you're the only one who has ever come close to creating an antidote… Your existence is a thorn in my side. Unless I could persuade you to join my cause, as your skill and smarts would be an invaluable asset, I'm afraid you will leave me no choice but to kill you."

Sakura hoped that Sasuke was still outside, listening to every word and somehow concocting a brilliant plan to get her out of this hellhole. "Killing me won't ensure that someone else won't be smart enough to invent an antidote," Sakura said. "Our great Hokage, for example, would take vengeance on you like no one ever before should something happen to me…"

"I heard you were the Slug Queen's favorite little prodigy…" Hattori steepled his hands, resting his chin upon his fingertips in thought. "My father faced her once… I recall that he let her live and named her one of the three Sannin."

"He didn't let her live," Sakura snapped. "She survived him. Naming her Sannin may have been the only honorable thing your father ever did."

Hattori clenched his jaw, his nostrils flaring at Sakura's words. He tilted his head at an angle, popping the tense vertebrae. "I propose an alliance with Konoha when I become the Ame King," Hattori said. "I think you will find that I can be a reasonable man…"

While Hattori spoke, a brief glimmer of warmth filled the back of Sakura's mind – a gentle essence that was not her own, but as familiar to her as if it were.

"…I will keep trade routes open to Konoha for supplies, as long as you stay out of my business, I'll stay out of yours."

Sakura slowly shook her head. "You mean to weaken the rest of the continent so that Rain becomes the most powerful nation. We are already allied with Ame, and we won't let you harm the citizens or its leadership because you grew up with the misfortune of never knowing your father. Sorry, but we don't cater to the sob-story whims of whiny man children."

"You know nothing of what my family endured, Sakura… I am taking back my country for them."

"Killing innocent people in the process and forcing them to bow to you is the exact definition of autocracy… The fact that you see nothing morally wrong with that is abhorrent."

A loud clap of thunder shook the building, and at its resounding boom, Kakashi dropped from the rafters and landed deftly atop the table, swinging his blade in a deadly arc towards Hattori. But Hattori moved at the last second, throwing himself so hard into the back of the chair that he was knocked over from the sheer force of it. Kakashi's blade met the chair leg instead, neatly splitting the wood in-two.

Sasuke chose that moment to make an entrance, with Tora and Shino on his heels. "You're outmatched and outranked, Sanshouo no Hattori… Think wisely before you make your next move."

"Think wisely before you make yours," Hattori said in a deadly tone, all the false niceties having leaked from his voice. The door behind Hattori's fallen chair banged open, and in the doorway stood a woman with dark sienna hair, holding the Amekage with a kunai pressed to her jugular.

Even in the dim green lighting, Sakura could see the fear in the Kage's eyes, and the glimmer of wicked delight in the eyes of the woman that was holding her hostage.

"Allow me," Hattori said as he picked himself up from the ground and dusted his pants, "to introduce you to the future queen of Rain Country, my betrothed, Karina."

"I'm sorry, Kakashi… I know you told me to stay put, but I just wanted to hel–" the Amekage's words were cut short as Karina pushed the tip of the kunai a little tighter against her skin and drew blood.

"Leverage and negotiations," Hattori said in a bored manner, as if it were bothersome to be having this discussion in place of him just getting his way. "We have the most important figurehead of Ame in our grasp, and you," Hattori paused, looking at each Konoha ninja in the room, "have a decision to make."

"We'll give you the Amekage if you give us Sakura," Karina said.

"Done," Sakura said at once. Kakashi's neck snapped in her direction, his gaze drawn tight as he looked at her in total disbelief. But Sakura had a plan… perhaps not her best organized plan, but she was good at thinking on her feet and improvising in tricky situations – she'd learned from the best, after all. It was an interesting exchange, she thought… that they would even allow Kimika to walk away when she was the one person Hattori needed removed if he wanted to rule Rain. Was Sakura's antidote really that much more of a threat to him? No… the whole thing had to be part of an even bigger scheme.

If Hattori was willing to make this exchange, it must mean that he had total confidence he'd be able to dispose of both of them…

"Send the others away. How are we to trust that you won't attack the minute we release the Amekage?"

Sakura nodded. "Wait in the hall," she said to the others. "Kakashi can stay to receive the Amekage and ensure she is safe."

"Deal," Hattori said.

Sakura turned to face Kakashi, stepping up on the tips of her toes to wrap her arms around his neck in what looked like a goodbye-hug. "It's a trap," she whispered in his ear. Kakashi's fingertips pressed into the small of her back to let her know that he understood. She glanced at Sasuke, willing him to understand what was happening as he and the others slowly backed out into the hall. Trap or not, they were still Konoha – still ANBU, and they would best their enemy.

Or die trying…

Sakura lifted her chin and took two measured steps towards Hattori. "Let the Amekage go–"

Karina shoved the Amekage hard, causing her to stumble as she stood next to Sakura in the council chamber. In the dull lighting, Sakura could see the dark trail of blood snaking down the Amekage's neck from where Karina had wounded her with the kunai. Sakura barely caught the glassy-eyed expression and saw the beads of sweat starting to form on the Amekage's temple… It didn't take her long to realize that the blade Karina used was coated in black salamander poison.

"Trade no good, assholes." In a move as swift as the lightning flashing outside, Sakura pulled a kunai from her hip pouch and flung it straight towards Karina. Karina shifted, but not quick enough to totally avoid the blow, and the blade sliced across her upper arm before sinking into the wood panel behind her. Kakashi flash-stepped out of the room with the poisoned Amekage in his arms, and ninja from both sides began rushing into the council room through the open doorways.

"Take no prisoners, Konoha doesn't get out of here alive!" Hattori shouted above the din, his words fading quickly into the sound of clashing weapons.

Oof - my apologies for the long intermission. I promise I'm going to finish this story.
Enjoy the cliffhanger.

XOXO,
~SPARROW