Title: Blind To It Before
Rating: R (for now)
Warnings: None yet
Notes: Well, after a year of sitting on the back burner, I've decided to overhaul this one. I had a moment of clarity and realized that I was planning on making lemons out of a bunch of 12 year olds, and I value the fact that I'm not going THAT far into hell. Likewise, when this was started, we were only as far as the whole "they just kidnapped Sasuke" debacle, and I had no clue how the advancements would go. So, now that we're all a little more seasoned in the world of Naruto, and I've aged the characters properly (therefore avoiding the loli/shota circle of hell)...let us revisit and continue the tale, shall we?
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Chapter 1 - Darkest Just Before Dawn
For decades upon decades, Konoha's livelihood had depended on the success of their shinobi and the contractual "strength for hire" program that brought in not only revenue, but respect as well.
...at least until the Sound Village showed up.
After Orochimaru's unsuccessful attack on Konoha, and the rash of smaller wars that had broken out among other villages, Konoha's forces were stretched thin, causing them to turn out ranks of more experienced ninja quicker than in the past. The next Chuunin exams could never come fast enough, as Jounin were constantly in short staff. It was soon that mission classifications started to become lax, letting less experienced shinobi take on tougher jobs. Normally, this would cause quite a few problems, but this was no ordinary village of shinobi, this was Konohagakure, the hidden pride and strength of Fire Country. There was no village that opposed them in power, until that damned Sound showed up.
With the new outbreaks of violence and the rise in shinobi service requests, Konoha had its hands full with missions that often spanned far beyond its own borders, causing their teams to travel several additional days to complete a job. It was during these times that a cell could be found most vulnerable, especially on the journey home. Successful missions often meant fatigued shinobi, or overly confident ones, and in the worse cases, both. It was always then that the Sound decided to strike. Easy pickings, they would assume, and take out a member or two, at times even the whole team was wiped out. The Chuunin causalities were high in this area, and the Jounin were not without their losses. At first it seemed just like a few inexperienced Chuunin were the ones to meet this sad fate, but when a pair of Jounin showed up dead at the gates one day, Konoha knew that the Sound was starting to get desperate to carve their niche in the ninja villages.
Seeing the fallen Jounin carried through the streets on medical stretchers wasn't enough to deter one Uzamaki Naruto from rushing to the city gates in anticipation of his next mission. He greeted the other members of his cell, Hinata, Shikamaru and Lee, who had already assembled there twenty minutes prior. It seemed as if Naruto had picked up a bit of Kakashi's habit during their early years.
"Oi! Shikamaru! Let's get going!" he yelled. Apparently two and a half years of training in what was assumed to be solitude, save Jiraiya of course, did little to quiet the boisterous ninja.
"Tch. You're 20 minutes late and you're yelling at me to get started? Remember who's the captain here, Genin." Shikamaru retorted, already troubled by his late arriving teammate.
"Aw jeez, do you have to bring that up again?" Naruto whined, scratching the back of his head as they walked through the gates. "As soon as that next exam is here I'll be a Chuunin in no time, then we'll see who's captaining squads!"
Hinata giggled a bit as Lee launched into a dramatic dialogue on the wonders of youth and ambition, a pep talk Naruto didn't need and Shikamaru didn't want to hear for the billionth time. The team walked off at a leisurely pace until the gates of Konoha were out of sight, then broke into a full on run toward their destination of Grass Country where they would be escorting a diplomat back to Konoha. It had become a ritual of sorts for their generation, to walk slowly until Konoha was out of sight, then switch into travel speed. No one ever mentioned why, but they all knew the longer they could still see their beloved village, the better, as any mission they left it for could very well be their last.
It was evening when they reached the halfway point, and it was evening when they struck. None of the four-man team had expected being attacked by the Sound assassins while they were on their way to the mission, their pattern so far had been to strike on the return trip when the team was noticeably weaker and more careless after a mission completed. It was during Hinata's watch that their presence was sensed, thanks to the Byakugan. How long they had been following was a mystery, but it was a detail forgotten as tents shuffled, kunai were tossed, and the battle began.
Lee was the first out, having just given his watch up and being the most alert of the three. He launched himself into a nearby tree and within moments a Sound ninja fell from the same spot he had disappeared to. Shikamaru, at a marked disadvantage due to the lack of moonlight to cast shadows for him to work with, decided to secure the fallen Sound-nin rather than risk a fresh fight. Naruto finally was rousted from his tent through the commotion and came out to see Hinata in the Juuken stance, facing off against two Sound-nin, while Lee had his hands full with another one. Shikamaru had secured his captive and was running off to assist Hinata when another Sound-nin ambushed him from above, sending him into a fight of his own. Naruto was about to rush out and help them when he heard the low sound of a tin bell, clanging just above and behind him.
Whirling around, there sat a solitary Sound-nin, holding a small bell on a string much like Kakashi had used during their first training sessions. She giggled, swinging it back and forth as she watched her comrades attack the Konoha ninja and fall one by one. Naruto yelled up at her, but her attention never wavered from the battle beyond, and that annoyed him to no end. He vaulted up into the tree and crouched next to her,
"Hey, you realize I'm part of that team you're attacking, right? Aren't you gonna fight me too?"
She laughed, shrill and piercing, "You don't concern me...none of you do."
He growled, flipping back into an adjacent tree and creating two clones. He launched one at her in a normal taijutsu assault while the second worked with him to perform a rasengan charge when she was caught off guard. What he didn't expect was to be caught off guard himself, as the bell suddenly got louder and more rapid in its ringing. The clones dissipated before they could even be of any use and Naruto fell to the ground clutching his ears. She approached slowly, standing a branch away, swinging the bell until it was a blur in the air. The pain and pressure between his ears was becoming unbearable and he clawed at them in an attempt to open them and relieve it, but only injured himself further. His eyes clamped shut as the pressure moved from his ears to deeper within his skull, creating an intense heat. Breath came in pants, and suddenly, there was nothing.
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A not uncommon sight was to see teams return from missions carrying one of their own. Naruto was carried in on the shoulders of a rather exhausted Shikamaru and Lee and placed in the hospital's receiving area. It didn't take long for the medical staff to place him on a stretcher and take him into the triage room for examination, and moments later he was being restrained to a bed for analysis. A nurse approached the bed and watched as his eyes remained clamped shut, teeth gritted in a scowl as he fought his restraints. She moved her hands over his chest and slowly up to his temples where she began to form the seals for an illusionary jutsu. Suddenly, his body relaxed as the technique wove its way into his mind and calmed his thoughts and pain.
With her patient sedated, Sakura could work without fear of further injury to him or herself. Her hands fumbled in her nurses' apron for the small pen light she kept on hand and flicked it on. Prying an eyelid open, she aimed the beam into his eye to find the sky blue pupil clouded over with a blank white-ish cloud. The pupil, if it was even there anymore, made no reaction to the bright light being shone on it. Her fingers released the lid and turned off the light, flipping it over to scribble a few notes on her chart. As she moved on to clean the blood and dirt from the familiar blonde hair, she couldn't help but worry about the trouble he must have gone through during the mission.
She stood to leave, having dressed his wounds, set a broken leg back in place, and cleaned away the traces of battle. Her departure was cut short by his escape from her illusionary technique and the faint whisper of her name.
"Sakura-chan..."
She turned back, giving him one of her best false smiles, "Naruto-kun, you're awake I see. Are you in any pain?"
He shifted a bit, eyes still clamped shut, "Where am I?"
"In the hospital, open your eyes, silly," she replied, giggling slightly in relief that he was still mentally stable.
"It won't do any good, but..." he trailed off as blank pupils stared up at her, reacting to nothing. "Shikamaru and Lee had to carry me back here. I...they, the Sound Nin...some kind of nerve melting technique he said."
She sat back down beside him, hand wavering before his listless eyes. "Naruto-kun, can you see me at all?" He shook his head in reply. "I'm going to report this to Tsunade-sama, don't worry about it for now. If anyone can fix it, she can. You just rest now and we can talk later. What can I bring you back to eat? You must be hungry, right?"
He blinked unseeing eyes up at her and then managed a grin, "Ramen!" he yelled, regaining a bit of his trademark loudness. All she could do was offer him a genuine smile unseen by his eyes, a slight squeeze of a hand, and the faint smell of her perfume as she walked out of the room.
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Just setting the tone for now, I'm only going to label this one R as I'm not sure how strong I'll go on the eventual lemon. I'll try to update as diligently as I can, promise! Reviews are highly welcomed; they're the fuel to my writing fire.