1Disclaimer- Naruto . . . yeah, I don't own it.
Chapter Victory at a Price
Naruto had awoken from his sleep to find himself wrapped in bandages. He sat up looking around and he noticed he was in the hospital. As he wondered where he was, memories suddenly plagued his mind from his fight with Sasuke. He remembered leaping at Sasuke with his Rasengan as his friend was rushing at him with his Chidori. The images flashed and he could remember the two attacks inching closer. He seemed to be reliving the ending of the fight as they connected. Naruto remembered feeling his Rasengan fading as his chakra was being consumed. But then, more power came to him as the Kyubi gave him yet more chakra. But even with the added power, Naruto felt himself fall into unconsciousness as he saw a look of surprise as the Rasengan grew to almost twice it's original size . . .
Naruto looked to the window and saw that it was night. Shadows fell across the room in the moonlight and Naruto jumped out of bed gingerly. He was sore, but not severely to where he needed the bandages. He quickly took them off and saw that the fox was at least doing its job, noticing that there were no scars, not even where Sasuke had rammed his Chidori through his chest. Naruto jumped into his orange jump suit and left the hospital via the balcony, not wanting to be held up by pesky nurses.
He leaped across the rooftops toward Hokage Tower, and was outside Tsunade's office in minutes. He banged on the door three times and he heard a voice call "Enter." Naruto opened the door and walked straight up to the desk.
"Naruto!" Tsunade cried in anger. "You should be in bed, who said you could leave?"
"Ano . . . hi oba-chan," was all that Naruto could say after that. He knew full well that she expected him to be in that bed for at least a week.
"Well," she said. "You sure went to great lengths to finish your mission, didn't you?"
"What do you mean, oba-chan?" Naruto said, scratching the back of his head.
Tsunade sighed and raised from her chair. "Come on," she said as she walked through the doors of her office. Naruto followed her, thinking about where she would possibly take him. I n a few minutes they were back at the hospital. Naruto groaned, 'She's probably going to strap me onto the bed and make me sit there for a month now' but he was surprised when they entered a room and there sat Sasuke lying on the bed. Naruto's eyes opened wide as he saw there was a stump where his arm used to be.
"Wh-what happened?" Naruto asked walking slowly to the bedside.
"I don't know," Tsunade said. "Kakashi arrived at the Valley of the End to find you passed out and Sasuke like this."
Naruto knew what she meant. He looked back at Tsunade.
"But, I didn't mean to," Naruto told himself more than the women standing next to him. "It was accident, I had to or else he would kill me." He looked up pleadingly at Tsunade, and she just looked back emotionlessly.
"The council has met, and they have come to a decision about what should happen."
Several minutes passed before Naruto decided to break the silence.
"And what have they decided oba-chan?" Naruto asked tensely.
"Nothing," said the Hokage.
Naruto stared at her blankly, wondering why the council had given him no punishment. But before he could voice his question, Tsunade answered it for him.
"The council was undecided. Half wanted you to die, the other half saw this as a successful mission. So, in the end, they just dropped it."
Tsunade shrugged her shoulders and left Naruto in the room, muttering about earning herself a drink. Naruto just walked forward and sat in the chair next to the bed. He looked at the figure in the bed, the person who considered him their best friend. The person who tried to kill him...
"The hell I'm staying here when he wakes up!" Naruto yelled, jumping up. "I wonder if Ichiraku is still open?" he said to himself, walking out of the room and leaving the hospital discreetly.
The Next Day
Naruto awoke in his own bed, groaning and holding his stomach as it rumbled loudly. He left his apartment and headed down to the ramen stand, nearly dying of hunger.
"Twenty bowls of ramen!" Naruto yelled, slamming his hand on the counter.
47 Bowls Later
Naruto left Ichiraku's sated for the moment and decided to visit the hospital. He entered the large building and found Sasuke's room easily to see Ino and Sakura fighting outside of his door along with Kakashi reading as usual. Ino and Sakura didn't pay attention to him as he stood next to Kakashi to watch the fight continue.
"So," said Kakashi as he looked at Naruto from the corner of his eye. "You beat Sasuke."
Naruto was about to answer when Sakura, finally noticing him, grabbed the front of his shirt and pinned him to the wall.
"Why did you do that to Sasuke-kun," she screamed in Naruto's face with tears in her eyes.
"Ano... he was going to kill me," Naruto replied lamely, shocked by her behavior. Naruto tried to pull her into a hug, but she pulled away.
"I can never forgive you for this Naruto," Sakura said, turning away with a sob. She walked over to the opposite wall and leaned on it, bowing her head. Naruto saw the tears fall freely on the floor as he walked up to her.
"Sakura, I'm sorry, but I had to-" he tried to explain, but Sakura cut him off as she looked into his eyes with hatred and rage. She pulled her hand back and slapped Naruto across the face.
"Don't ever speak to me again," Sakura said, turning away from a stunned Naruto and leaving the hospital.
The three remaining people were silent, not knowing what to say. Kakashi went back to reading his book while Naruto leaned back against the wall, feeling as empty as he had that morning. Ino looked at both of them and walked over to Naruto and stood next to him.
"Don't worry about her," Ino said, trying to brighten the mood. "She'll come around eventually."
But Ino's attempts were in vain and she herself fell into a deep silence, leaning against the wall next to Naruto.
It was nearly four hours latter before several medical-nin walked out of Sasuke's room. They payed no attention to Naruto or Ino as they walked straight up to Kakashi.
"Is he going to be okay?" Kakashi asked, putting the his book away.
"We've managed to get his condition stable, but he's still weak," the ninja on the right said. "But without his arm, we don't know how well he'll be able to preform jutsu."
"So," Naruto said, speaking for the first time in hours. "He might not ever be a ninja?"
"I'm afraid not," said the other medic-nin without turning around. "He was crippled by you, you little demon brat."
Naruto flinched as if the words had hit him. He was so sick of people saying that to him. He looked over to Kakashi as he just stood there, not coming to his defense or anything. But before Naruto could say anything back, someone, for once, came to his defense.
"Hey back off you jerk!" Ino yelled at the guy, walking up to the man as he turned around to look at the blonde girl. "What the hell gives you the right to call him names."
The medic seemed to be in shock by the young girl coming up to him, nagging his ear off.
"Naruto is nicer than you'll ever be, and stronger at that-" but before she could get any farther, the man back handed her, causing Ino to fall to the floor. Kakashi watched blandly as usual and the other medic-nin just ignored it. But Naruto's anger flared as his eyes flashed red.
"You have know idea what he's done," the medic said, staring at Ino as she looked back in anger.
"But you don't know what I'm going to do to you," yelled Naruto as he leapt forward, Kyubi's chakra adding into his own, increasing his power. Naruto grabbed the man by the front of his shirt, pulling his fist back and punching the man in the face. The medic flew down the hall, landing on the floor twenty feet away. Naruto started walking towards the man sprawled on the ground as a hand grabbed his shoulder.
"That's enough Naruto," Kakashi said, looking down at the boy. Naruto looked at him with such hatred that Kakashi's hand twitched slightly. Naruto grabbed Kakashi's hand and bent it backwards until it gave a satisfying crack.
"I'll know when its enough," Naruto said as he continued on towards his original target. He reached the medical-nin and grabbed him, pulling him to his feet before grabbing him by the throat.
"How dare you touch her," He said darkly as the medic grabbed at Naruto's hand as he struggled for air. Naruto squeezed harder as he slammed the medic into the wall, leaving a crack. The medic started to turn blue and Naruto considered holding on until he died before a pair of hands grabbed him from behind. Naruto looked behind him and saw Ino grabbing onto him.
"Let him go," Ino said quietly into Naruto's ear. "He isn't worth it."
Naruto's grip slackened and the medic saw his chance and tore away from his attacker gasping for breath.
"Get out of here demon, and take your little girlfriend with you!" the man yelled and Naruto grabbed Ino's hand and led her away from the three men and out of the hospital.
They ran for several minutes before Ino finally tore away from Naruto, making him stop.
"Where were you planing on taking me?" Ino asked as she sat down on a nearby bench.
"I don't know, but anywhere's better that there," Naruto said, sitting down next to her.
They sat in silence for several minutes, not looking at each other before Ino decided to break the silence once again.
"Thanks Naruto-kun," she said, smiling at Naruto, making him blush slightly. "You really stood up for me there."
"It-it was nothing," Naruto said smiling back. "I'm not gonna sit back and let one of my friends get pushed around like that."
Ino smiled even bigger and moved closer to Naruto. Naruto looked back at her and saw how close she was getting. Before either one of them knew what was going on, both Ino and Naruto were making out on the bench, oblivious to the people walking past. Naruto broke the kiss and looked Ino in the eyes before saying the only thing he could think of.
"Wanna go get some ramen, my treat?"
"Sure," Ino said, kissing him again before jumping off the bench and leading Naruto off to Ichiraku's ramen.