Behold, the revitalization of this story. I did a little bit of a soul-searching with myself, and I guess it's affecting me more than my own life. I'm seeing new ways to go through with it. Especially with my style of writing. I don't know why, but I guess I want to retry this story. In a different spectrum.
To tell you the truth, I gave up on this story. I completely gave up on this story because I didn't know where to go with it. I read through some of the messages and I have to agree: this is pretty much like House MD and Dr. Black Jack. I just felt like I was ripping this off.
Sasuke didn't have that much characterization, and I didn't know how to continue with it, so I was going to give up on this story. But something amazing happened. Something changed. I don't know how it did, but it just did.
In any case, I'm actually looking forward to rewriting this story. For those of you who enjoyed my original Runaway, I'm sorry, but I don't think I have the creative juice to continue with this story. However, I promise you this, my revitalized story is more better than the original in my opinion.
Oh and don't worry, I won't delete the original story. So if you guys wanna read that one too, then by all means go ahead.
Also, I need a Beta-Reader! So if anyone is interested, then please review or PM me.
With that out of the way, let's begin.
Amidst the abyss, a light shone out to me...
The dark sea flowed in the skies above with the clouds moving in motions; like waves, it swayed gently across the night. The stars were reminiscent of million of plankton's ability to illuminate underneath the dark sea. The stars twinkled as if someone was gently touching them with their fingertips. Pine trees rustled, and like a gentleman taking off a woman's winter fur coat, the cold breeze carried powdered snow off of the pines as some of them fell onto a figure. Animals watched on from afar, their bright yellow eyes piercing through the darkness. Most of the snow covered the body as if the snow was some sort of a blanket and the ground was it's bed.
So cold...
A twitch.
The animals reacted instantly. The snow owls were first as they flapped their wings and soared into the night sky. Their "hoots" instantly brought most of the animal's attention and they fled from the seen. The last creatures were the reindeers as the herd trampled around the snow before turning away from the anonymous being.
Where am I?
The blistering snow burned it's skin as the figure slowly emerged from the cold, powdery bed. A male. Rather, a very young boy. Nothing too ordinary with him at the very least. The first thing that people would notice is the garment that the boy was wearing. His clothing consisted nothing that would protect him from the cold. A blue, short-sleeved shirt with a high collar with some sort of crest on the back; a red and white traditional fan of some sort. The only thing that actually did provided him with warmth were two, white, arm warmers. For those with sane mind, they would question the boy's mentality when he decided to wear white shorts in the tundra.
Is this...snow?
Another thing that the townspeople would notice about this boy is that, compared to the folks that live here, he's rather fair-skinned instead of being tanned or burnt from the everyday UV Radiation of the sun. To continue this unusual appearance, his hair is dark and long with bangs that hung on both sides of his face to roughly frame his cheeks.
How did I get here?
Onyx colored eyes fluttered open as he struggled to get up from the snow. Suddenly pain shot up in his head as the teen clutched the side of his skull, when he realized he has something in his hand. Looking down, it was some sort of headband, with a strange insignia curved in it. His curiosity for the object was soon replaced with pain. His eyes shot open when he felt something of a liquid-like substance on his left temple. He tried to say something, anything for this situation. The moment he did, he garbled.
What..w-what's going on-
Then it happened. Whether it was from last dinner or earlier before, whatever the hell it was, it shot right out of his mouth. Retching violently, his body dropped escaped as his body suddenly began to convulse. It was too quick, it was happening too fast. Everything was slowly dimming away. "Heeeeee-" he tried to annunciate the world help, but his speech was beginning to slur as well.
His hands tried to grasp something, anything, to hold on to. For balance. For comfort. Something that can give him hope. Hope? Why did he need hope? What- wait, what's going on? Where - no, why is he here?
Sasuke!
Who was that? Who was that, screaming?
Oi! Bastard!
Bastard?
Team 7: Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha.
Who?
Hey Sasuke! What to hang out?
Is...is he Sasuke?
Sasuke! Come back!
Come back? Come back where? Where is he suppose to go- Wait.
That's strange, he can't feel his hands anymore. Are they frozen? No, no he can move them, but he can't feel them.
He can't feel anything...at all.
Sasuke!
He see's a white haired man. It flashes to a pink haired girl. Then to an orange haired boy. Then...
...
...
...
Sasuke Uchiha
Age 13
Date of Birth: July 23
Rank: Genin of the Hidden Leaf
Status: Critical
- In two hours, he'll die from an Acute Subdural Hemotama
- In four hours, he'll die from Hypothermia
...
...
...
Joshua Chung presents,
A Reboot Of A Rather Popular Story,
Runaway
"My name is Uatu. I am a Watcher, allowed only to observe and not interfere."
Two large stone statues of two great warriors from the past. A huge waterfall, that split the two from one another. It was as if the waterfall itself was the line of the battlefield. Two young boys, both giving off immense chakra. Neither moved, waiting for the other to initiate what would be the final attack for each of them.
"A year ago, the lives of these two were radically altered."
"Now is no longer the time for words, Naruto. Let's finish this! With one last shot!" Sasuke shouted, the chakra from his cursed seal flaring.
"I won't lose to you, Sasuke! I promised her! I promised Sakura! I promised her that I was going to bring you home!"
"The two you see here are none other than Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke. Naruto's father sacrificed himself in order to seal a wicked beast away into a small child. That child was none other than Naruto. Naruto was isolated from nearly most of the villagers due to the constant fear and paranoia of the beast escaping or taking over it's host.
Sasuke's case was equally tragic. His family was massacred by his own brother, who was ordered to execute everyone from the Uchiha clan as a mission to prevent a coup. Sasuke was the only one who was spared from this tragic incident.
Although different from one another, they shared a pain that only a few can- one of loss. Naruto had lost his mother and a very close friend, and Sasuke had lost his brother and now has a bitter relationship with his brother, Itachi."
With a red chakra tail swishing behind him, Naruto held out his right hand, the Kyuubi's chakra mixing with his own, forming the Rasengan. At the same time, Sasuke held out his right hand, letting a black Chidori form.
"I am told that I can not interfere, and I will not break that vow..."
Using his hand-like wings, Sasuke propelled himself into the air, Naruto using the Kyuubi's chakra to go towards Sasuke.
"Naruto!"
"Sasuke!"
The two attacks collided, surrounding the two shinobi.
"...However, I must test the bond of these two. Before this, Sasuke has called Naruto his 'close friend'. Naruto, I have no worries, but Sasuke tends to ignore his friendship with others without so much a second thought for one reason. Power."
In the next moments, Naruto did something. Something, that was quite unexpected of him and, in Sasuke's opinion, stupid of him to do.
"He fought many of his 'friends' in the past, Naruto included."
Pushing his Rasengan to the side, he hit Sasuke on the left side of his torso. It would knock out Sasuke and be a nonfatal hit. However, Sasuke took the opportunity presented to him, sliding the Chidori through his first Chidori's target.
Naruto's heart.
As the light faded from the collision of the two attacks, it wasn't clear what had occurred. Sasuke tumbled to the ground, head first. The dak haired ninja fell flat on his face with a groan. Dazed and confused at what had happen, Sasuke tried to stand. He looked around to see, to try and find out, what was going on.
One thing that registered in his head was where he was standing. Sasuke was at the edge of the river. Unable to stand any longer, he collapsed to his knees, coughing up a bit of blood. He looked around, trying to find Naruto. The only thing he could see was a cloud of red forming in the river.
He had killed Naruto Uzumaki.
His curse seal was receding and soon his fair-color skin was back as well as the hand-like wings. Now no longer looking like a demon, the boy slowly crawled to the corpse of his friend, whose body was now floating down the river. Sasuke stared in daze, as Naruto's body fell down into the ravine.
His fingers twitched.
"N-Naruto..." his lips were dried and his heart was beating wildly. Could it be?
Limping to the clearer colored water an unusual pair of eyes were staring back at him. The side of his temple was busted open, and blood was falling freely from his face. Dirt was smudge over his cheeks as he looked at his eyes. The eyes, that made his clans-people so famous over the years, were no longer there. His three pupil Sharingan now gone with a different looking Sharingan. It was more of a kaleidoscope like pattern.
Mangekyou.
"I...killed him." Sasuke murmured, the Sharingan was now disappearing, and onyx colored eyes stared back at the reflection. Hollowed, and haunted, Sasuke leaned up.
He began to laugh.
"I killed Naruto. I killed him! I KILLED HIM!"
"It was as I feared. Uchiha took no hesitation to eliminate anyone for power. Even to his closest friend..."
Uatu stopped however, when something caught his blank colored eyes. Something that stopped him finishing his statement. Something that made guilt slowly trench it's way up to his body and to his heart.
Sasuke was crying.
"I killed him! I-I killed...him..." the Uchiha sniffed as he looked at the blood that was slowly dissipating away. "I...I killed him."
Those words. Those three words. Sasuke couldn't describe it. When he said them, he didn't feel pride, he didn't feel proud that he accomplished something impossible. Those three words. Those three, haunting, words.
They hurt.
Memories of all the pain that he endured suddenly rushed into his head. The senbons that rained down on him back at the Wave. The burning sensation that he had to endure for five days from the curse seal. The rib crushing punches that Garra threw out during the Sound's invasion. The beat-down that he received from the Four. The pain from training with Kakashi. Everything.
They felt nothing compared to this.
"I-I killed him..." he choked out. "I-I killed Naruto...I killed my friend."
Those words, they cut deeper than any blade.
Was this how Zabuza felt? Was this how he felt when Naruto verbally bashed him for ignoring that guy's feeling?
Sasuke had killed off his only joy from the world. Sasuke had cut off the connection that made him hope. Sasuke killed Naruto. It was even hard to grasp the concept and the ridiculousness of that statement.
"Naruto." he cupped the pool of blood, only for it to slowly escape from his hands. "T-This is a joke right? You're going to climb out of that waterfall, you're going to come out and say 'dattebayo!' like an idiot." He laughs, only for it to sound like choked out sobs. "You're going to beat the crap out of me and drag my ass out of here..."
"Have I made a mistake?"
"...Naruto..." Uatu watched as Sasuke stood up. "...you dumbass..." he whispered. Uatu's felt his heart stop when he saw Sasuke's face.
Despair.
"WHO THE HELL SAID YOU CAN DIE?!" Sasuke screamed, "DIDN'T YOU PROMISE HER THAT YOU WERE GOING TO TAKE ME HOME!?" he roared. "YOU PROMISED HER THAT YOU WERE GOING TO TAKE ME HOME. SO WHY THE HELL DID YOU DIE?! YOU DUMBASS! YOU LIAR!"
Sasuke hurried to the edge of the cliff, "I'll stay here Naruto! I'll stay here forever. I won't go to the sound. I'll go back and confess for my crimes! I'll do anything! ANYTHING!" He trips and lands hard on the ground, blood was trickling down on his face as he slowly crawled. "I'll do anything...so come back. I'll trade my Sharingan, I'll rip them out! I'll abandon my name! I'll become a ronin! J-Just...just come back Naruto."
He stopped when he finally arrived at the edge. There was no sign of the blond.
"Didn't you say that you wouldn't go back on your words? Didn't you say that because that was your way as the ninja?" He croaked out as he looked down at the abyss. "You said you'd break every single part of my bones. You lied about that too."
"l'll surpass Hokage! And make everyone acknowledge my existence!"
"Hey, you eye-browless freak. Put this in your handbook. The man who will one day become Hokage of the Hidden Village of the Leaf: Uzumaki Naruto!"
"SCREW YOU! I'm not going to run away! I'll take this problem! Even if I become a Genin forever, I'm going to become Hokage! I'm not scared!"
"To become Hokage is my dream!"
"You said you were going to be Hokage? Then you better get up here and beat me up, you liar." He whispered. "You idiot, Tsunade would have probably pick out a sucessor when you get your slow ass out of there." A glint caught his eye. Sasuke looked over. His, as well as Uatu's, breath hitched. The forehead protector. The Leaf's hitai-ate. Sasuke's still had his on his head.
"Naruto." He picked it up and felt his tears stream down again. "Idiot, you forgot your hitai-ate." He bit his lip and lurched his arms back to throw it into the ravine, only to stop and sigh. "I should probably give this to you properly." He clenched the object with his hand and walked to the ravine. "You better not have moved from that spot." He whispered.
It's a long drop.
Better get going, that idiot isn't going to wait for him forever.
Uatu closed his eyes as Sasuke dove down.
"I was wrong to interfere. I had forgotten that while Sasuke's anger and desire is strong, his love, when awakened, is so much stronger." Uatu waved over his orb, "Sasuke Uchiha, you have proven my error. For that, I cannot allow you to die." His eyes opened once more, however instead of blank eyes, they were surging with power.
"This will be the last time I interfere with your life. Sasuke Uchiha, live!"
Sasuke moaned as he slowly came to.
What happened to him?
More importantly, who the hell was he?
...Sasuke? Was that his name? Sasuke Uchiha...
Yeah, that does have a familiar vibe to it.
The last thing he remembered was him freezing to death...and that was pretty much it. His whole summarization of that experience was him, surrounded by cold snow...
...and the soft thing beneath him was not cold like how it was outside. He slowly opened his eyes, and blinked; everything was dark. He touched where his eyes were and felt something soft.
'Bandages?' he muttered as he took them off and stared at his surroundings. The room was fairly well lit, that was the first thing he noticed, the second thing he noticed was the heavy smell of alcohol, especially the disinfectants used to clean off infected wounds. While glancing around, he also noticed how his head didn't feel like how it was before.
Also the wounds that he garnered from back at that cliff were, more or less, unnoticeable. Whoever treated him, must have been a master medic. Because he knows for a fact that he had a nasty wound that was pouring massive blood out from his head.
...this is either very good or very bad.
"Tsunade is the only medic, in the world, that could have proficiently treated me." Sasuke hastily looked around. It can't be that he wounded up in Konoha? Before he could examine the room further a wild, crackling, laugh made the weary Uchiha jump.
"Hey, Sleeping Beauty, think fast!" It was rather quick, but Sasuke was able to react. Years of being a target, in his youth, began to shine as the genin instinctively dropped, while his good hand flew to intercept the weapon - or not.
The said weapon was actually a bright, rose-red, apple.
"Your motor senses and sensory cortex look alright; and from how you caught that in matter of seconds while dodging gives me the impression that your motor reflexes are functioning alright." She pulled out a seat and sat down. "Good, looks like I made the right decision to ope up n your skull - oh don't give me that look, if I didn't you would have died."
Sasuke instinctively rubbed his head and felt a hollowness on one side of his forehead. "Y-You broke my s-skull-"
"Drilling it would be a better term." The woman ignored the boy's disbelief, "It's the only way to relieve the blood pressure being built up in your brain." A bottle was in her hand and in one swift motion the woman pulled the cork out with her teeth.
"Don't worry you little baby, your going to live; it's not like people haven't function properly with a hole in their cranium."
Sasuke glances at her before staring at the bed sheet, which were also thicker than normal. "And this?"
"Hypothermia, you were lying in the snow for almost an hour and a half now." She chugged the content from the bottle before slamming the alcoholic beverage onto the table. "I really don't give a shit why you were outside, freezing to death, but damn you must have some kind of luck to not only survive from that but also a subdural hematoma."
Sasuke sighed as he gently place his head onto the bedpost. "Thanks for saving me, but I don't have anything to pay you back with."
"You bet your ass you don't." The woman laughs, "Diuretics and corticosteroids, along with massive dosage of phenytoin, IV, and O blood transfusion, the amount of money you'll need to pay off the bill is equivalent to three East Blue bounties; oh and that's not including the emergency perforator and craniotome that I needed for the craniotomy; and let's not forget about the battery of CT's and MRI scans that was almost impossible to do under the conditions that you were in."
List of drugs and various of medical vocabulary began to make Sasuke confused. He's been in and out of the Konoha hospital for a while, so he would understand some of the treatment that they gave him. However this was the first time he had ever heard of such operation. Craniotomy? Emergency perforator and craniotome? Just what in the world was this woman talking about when she said CT and MRI?
"There were some bruisings and internal bleeding, but don't worry about that." Sasuke looked down. It took a moment for his eyes to dilate when the lesion that Naruto inflicted onto him, with the Rasengan, completely vanish. There wasn't a blemish to be found.
"Surprised? Well don't be, you're on an island where the level of medicine is far more advance then the rest of the world." Her laugh was demented, Sasuke thought when her witch-like laughter vibrated in the room. She picked up the bottle and swallowed a mouthful of the carbohydrated beverage down through her GI.
It's a wonder that she's not drunk yet. Maybe she is, that woman is probably just hiding it- oh god, did she operated him buzzed?! Sasuke shook his head as the woman finished the last drop of the bottled rum, which Sasuke discovered when he read the brand on the bottle.
"Mind if I asked you something?" Sasuke requested quietly. The woman chucked the bottle to the side, where it shattered on impact; Surprisingly it didn't even phase the genin.
"You want to know the secret to my youth?" that however made him falter.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I don't blame you. After all, considering how old I am, I do rather look beautiful for my age." Another chain of crackle escaped from her laugh while Sasuke rubbed his head-
"Doctor stop!" [1]
-only to yelp when a hard kick knocked his hand away from his head. "What-"
"You wanted to get that infected?" she still had that damn smirk on her face, but a tiny glint glistened when the woman asked the question. "I may have pumped you up with antibiotics to fight off the infection, but don't think for a second that you can't get a new infection up there. If you do, chances of saving you again is going to be slim to none."
Sasuke hastily placed his hands away, as far as possible, from the stitches; however he still glared at the woman for the initial attack. "Where am I?"
The female doctor simply pointed outside. Sasuke slowly turned to the window and double-take at the sight outside.
It was literally a winter wonderland: mountains that looked like set of drums and conifer trees covered in snow. The stars and the night sky strongly gave him the reminiscent of the cold Christmas feeling back at Konoha. The only difference between the two was the fact that the area that he was inhabiting currently made the idea somewhat a reality. The only things missing from the view was Santa Claus flying in the night sky, delivering presents to little children, with his team of reindeers.
"This is Drum Island, somewhere southeast the Grand Line." Sasuke reverted his attention back to the doctor with a bemuse expression. "Don't expect me to tell you the specifics, I'm a doctor not a cartographer; but it's not like you don't know that."
Actually it was quite the opposite, he needed to know that, because now there are some issues that he need to conquer.
The woman mentioned was an "Island". The Land of the Fire is actually one of the few countries that is reputable for it's naval trade. However, Konoha is a village right dab middle of the country. Meaning, if Tsunade sends more ninjas after him, it'll take a few days to get to the harbor. Not only that, but for those guys to find a ship to take them here, and getting here, will be time consuming. So it'll take them a while to come and pick him up - wait...
...pick him up? Did he want to be picked up by Konoha forces? Orochimaru promised him power and control over the curse seal. He promised him to make him strong. Strong enough to kill Itachi. His whole life was to, someday, avenge his clan. His goal was to find that psychopath and put him down six feet under. He abandoned the village just for that purpose.
So why? Why did he want to go back? Why did he want to go back now?
"I-I killed him. I killed Naruto..."
That's right. His friend. His best friend. He killed his best friend. He killed him for power. He killed him for the Mangekyou. He did it for his goal.
...if that what it took to get his power, then it sucked. The lingering thread of guilt, the ten ton weight of a broken and a contrite heart. Unconsciously, he rubbed his hands onto the thick blanket; imagining his friend's blood on his hands, and trying his best to wipe it away, but to no avail. No matter how hard he'll try to run away from it, the fact remains...
Sasuke had killed Naruto, and the dumbass of a blond was never coming back.
A drop. He felt something drop onto his hand. Looking down, Sasuke found a small droplet of water on his hand. He looked up at the ceiling, trying to find some sort of water escaping through the ceiling, only to find none -
"What the hell are you crying for?"
Crying?
He's crying?
Sasuke slowly reached up to his eyes, and lo-behold: tears. Tears were streaming down on his cheeks like waterfall. They were dribbling down onto the blanket and soaking most of his clothes. Dear god, he wasn't just crying, he was bawling.
Jesus Christ, he's crying over the death of his friend.
"Never would have thought a boy would cry over something about his whereabouts." Sniffing, the Uchiha hastily wiped his tears away. "Now there's the issue of your payment..."
Right, payment.
"Of course, considering how big the bill is, I don't expect you to have $300,000 Beli right up front."
Beli?
"I-I beg your pardon? I'm not too sure-" Sasuke began only to be cut off by the woman, as she began to laugh.
"Well, I guess it does make more sense when someone is crying for having the wrong currency," She waved a rather massive size wallet in front of him. A rather familiar looking wallet. His wallet.
"I looked through and you didn't have a single drop of Beli in here," The woman said as she threw the wallet onto Sasuke. The genin fleetly examined his wallet. 50,000 RyƵ, some business cards, and two pictures. His family on the left and...
...team 7.
Not realizing that he was doing it in the first place, Sasuke's thumb slowly rubbed the picture.
"So what's your plan?" Sasuke snapped his wallet closed. He can't go back there. Not Konoha, not even in the Fire Nation. He can't return. He won't return.
"Is there any way I can pay off the medical bill as fast as I can?" The woman's grin stretched even wider than before which was, in Sasuke's opinion, physiologically impossible to do. "You can work it off, but considering how much an average, hard-working, male makes, making 300,000 Beli will be damn near impossible to do."
"So what's there to do?" Sasuke, however, has a good grasp on what she wants from him; and if it's to work for her, then he'll do so. Only if he'll stay away from the Land of the Fire.
"It's quite simple," she leaned on her chair, "You'll be under my apprenticeship."
"...What?" Ok so he might have not a good grasp on what she actually wanted.
"300,000 is equivilant to the cost of one doctor's education plus the specialty that he or she would want to learn," The woman went in depth. "I can make you into a residential doctor in less than six years, without the college education. I can help you achieve your specialty in two years. In total, that's eight years. It doesn't sound much, but it's impressive considering that it takes one almost twelve to thirteen years to even get close to residency."
"Also," The woman continued, "I'm 125 years old. Although I have the apperance of a beautiful, young woman, my body continues to age."
Sasuke doesn't know if she was joking or not about the age.
"I'm at the age where stroke or a heart attack can happen. So before I die, I want to pass my knowledge, my skills, my legacy onto someone else so he or she will continue on with a part of my soul onto them."
How corny.
"Not only that, but I own your ass, so you can't say no; otherwise I'll just make you work for fifteen Belis an hour."
...he can leave-
"Oh and I own nearly 45% of the harbor here on this island, so I can cancel any shipping anytime I want to. In fact, I just might cancel my drug shipping that's due today..."
Oh fuck me.
"What's in it for me?" Sasuke demanded, "Why should I do this? What reason is there for me to become a doctor?" The elderly witch glanced at him for a few seconds, before responding his question with a rather...unusual answer.
"You never actually saved a life, have you?"
"What?"
"You didn't think I saw just your wallet have you? I saw them. Weapons. Sharp metal tools used for killing. Sharp enough to cut through or fracture bones. Smoke bombs, bombs, traps. I saw them in your little baggie that you carry around like as if your going out on a picnic."
"You..."
"I needed to know who you are. After all I need a profile of all my patients, Mr. Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke tensed as the woman crackeled. "I have no idea what you do, nor do I really give a rats ass about what it is that you do. All I need to know is this: what are you; from your reaction, reflexes, muscular and skeletal structure, as well as the arsenals that your carrying, I deduced that your an assassin. A pretty good one."
"So...have you saved a life before."
Saved a life?
"No."
The woman smirked. "Give me a year to make you into a hardcore intern, and then you'll understand why I did this for you."
...a year huh?
"I'll do it under one condition." She smirked, "Not sure if I'll fufill that condition, but go ahead. Say it."
"You said you control most of the harbor?" Sasuke turned to her. "If any ship from the land of the fire comes here, tell them to turn away." The old witch crackled.
"Land of the Fire? Boy, the only people that come here on this island are the marines, kings, and world nobles wanting for a plastic surgery. You have nothing to worry about, but if it makes you feel better, sure I'll block off the harbors from them."
Sasuke stared at her and slowly nodded his head.
"Alright, when do I start?"
"You start after you rest up." The woman pushed Sasuke back onto the bed, rather forcefully. "It wont do me any good if you were to die on me on the first day."
She got off the chair and was making an exit, only to stop and turn with a crackle.
"Oh and the names Dr. Kureha; and for the next eight years, welcome to hell."
