Never Too Late
A/N: This was a challenge from gof22! It will be a NaruSakuIno. Thank you to whoever reads this, don't forget to leave a review. 8D
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Chapter 1: Gone
Naruto sighed letting out some of the pain that coursed through his body. Finally defeating Orochimaru with Sasuke and after defeating the Akatsuki with the help of Kakashi and the rest of the Konoha 12, Sasuke returned home, and strangely with his own wife. Naruto coughed and some blood came out from his mouth. Sakura who was by his bedside wiped away the blood and turned to the door seeing the door knob turn.
"Chihiro-san," Sakura muttered as Sasuke's wife entered. She was beautiful and one year older than them. She had dark purple hair, and right now it was let loose reaching up to her forearm. She let out a soft welcoming smile towards Sakura and turned her head to Naruto. Her pale skinned hand stroked the bandages on Naruto's head and she looked at her contently.
"How's Naruto-san?" she asked looking at him as he closed his eyes. He didn't feel like speaking and he wanted to rest. Chihiro looked at Sakura and waited for an answer.
"He's fine, his demon within him is helping the healing process, but he's tired." Sakura looked tired as well, having to take care of Naruto. Her heart ached slightly, she wokred hard to find Sasuke with Naruto, and the day he leaves on his own, he finds success, 'He doesn't need me...' She told herself. For a long while now she had been growing attached to Naruto. It had been a year since he had returned, they deafeted the Akatsuki, she herself helped beat Sasori and Tobi. She even delivered the last blow to the leader. Taht was, after Naruto launched a Rasenshuriken. She looked at his pained face and changed his bandages again and threw out the bloody ones
"I'm weak..." muttered a weak Naruto right after Chihiro left, "How's Sasuke? I barely was able to protect him."
"You know Sasuke," Sakura replied trying to cheer up Naruto, "Wanting to do things on his own, it's only natural that he's beat up."
"Thanks for trying to cheer me up Sakura-chan," Naruto responded looking at her, "But it's my fault I couldn't keep him still. I couldn't even keep still..." his voice became quieter at the end of that sentence, "I need to learn how to control Kyuubi."
"Then learn how to Naruto, we all know that you're going to become the Hokage one day. Just keep training, you're even more powerful than Sasuke." She backed away a bit as Naruto got up. His wounds suddenly enclosed themselves and she let out a sigh of relief. There was a bit of pain in his eyes, and he winced as she wiped a bit more medice on the blood and small scrapes. He then looked up at her with a slight smile and stood out of bed.
Sakura gasped a little as he continued walking out of the room. Her temple throbbed and she grabbed his shoulder, focusing her chakra there to use her strength to pull him back down. But she felt a bit guilty when he winced in pain once more and turned to her with dark eyes.
"Let me go Sakura-chan," he muttered, lifting her hand off. She was surprised since she was still doing her best to hold on to him. he lifted her hand off and she fell to the floor. Using her careful chakra control she let the chakra flow loose so she wouldn't make a hole in the ground. She stared as he continued to walk, the open and close the door.
"Naruto-kun..." she muttered, slightly in a daze.
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"Sorry everyone..." Naruto muttered, at the gates of Konoha, "But I need to leave again...I'm just not strong enough." The guards looked at him and commanded that he stop. Naruto let Kyuubi's chakra pulsate from his palms, knocking down the guards, "Sorry," he muttered before running out, not coming back until at least a year.
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"Damnit," Tsunade growled as Shizune told her of what happened at the gate, "He was actually serious about going." Her fist slammed onto the desk, a mass amount of papers falling to the ground. Shizune sighed and Tonton whinned.
"Should I list him as a missing nin?" Shizune finally asked, not liking the aura Tsunade was spreading.
"No," Tsunade replied, "He shouldnt be gone for too long. Find Sakura and tell her the news, then tell her to report it to the rest of his friends so they won't worry."
Shizune simply nodded and immediately left to find the other apprentice.
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Sakura wiped the final tear from her eye, Ino stroked her hair lightly, "He'll be back Sakura, don't worry." Ino tried to comfort her friend, she was the last to know of Naruto's leaving and she was surprised that he would leave again so early. Sakura hugged her friend again and stood up, walking to the door, "It'll be okay Sakura, you have better things to do, he has been away before."
Sakura simply nodded and walked out, "It's strange how you don't know how I feel about him Ino..."
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"I think I know why he left..." Sakura began, while organizing the flowers along with Ino. Ino sighed at this and looked at her friend.
"Don't tell me that you're going to blame yourself..."
Sakura frowned, "But it must be my fault, maybe he's angry at me, maybe it's because I was so weak he thinks he needs to get even stronger..."
Ino looked at her friend again, 'Naruto...What have you done to my friend?' Taking in a deep breath she put her hand on Sakura's shoulder, "Sakura it's not your fault..."
Sakura then burst into tears, pounding her fists onto the ground she yelled, "I'm a horrible friend!" She wiped some of her tears, "Both of my team mates have run off..."
Ino hugged her friend, "Sakura..."
From that day on, Sakura had come to Ino for comfort about Naruto. Every once in a while she would think of new reasons to why she caused for him to leave. Ino couldn't bear to see her friend in so much pain. She turned to Tsunade and she convinced her to get Sakura to take a 6 month vacation.
"She needs to get her mind off of him," Ino muttered, "I can't believe I haven't noticed that she liked him so much."
Tsunade nodded slightly, "I'll tell her. I swear that Naruto is surprising, even when he isn't here..."
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"I'm back..." His outfit had changed once more. Sakura had gone to Ino for comfort for that one year and she left the day before Naruto had come back. Will this vacation really help her out?
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A/N: Hey everyone, there it is. Sorry if the first chapter was a little rushed. It's only to set things up. Next chapter will be longer I promise.
What happens when Naruto returns to a broken home? Who takes him in? What happens then? How will things be when Sakura returns to a new Naruto?