Naruto's
SAGAWI
Little Japanime Girl
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Its quite obvious by my lack of story-telling skills.
A/N: Well, this chapter and any other future chapters to come, the link to the manga version will always be posted at the end of each chapter. That is, unless I change that later on hehe.
Oh! Due to the manga chapters' limit of 8 pages, the typed versions will most likely be short ones. Though the typed chapters are short, the manga art takes lots of time because I am practicing on doing it all by hand alone. So, please be generous with reviews and constructive input both here and on the manga. If you do not have a deviant art account for the manga, just leave a review here. Thank you all so much for your interest in this and I hope to hear from you!
Please, enjoy.
P.S: The story will disregard anything after manga chapter 355 for simplicity's sake and the rookie 9 are around 20-22.
UPDATED and REVISED.
Sakura Returns to Konoha
About one year and six months ago, Tsunade assigned Haruno Sakura as medic-nin of an ANBU squad–despite her rank as Special Jounin. The highly classified mission was frequently updated by a contact. Konoha's intel lost communication with the squad six months ago and by Naruto's insistence, the KIA declaration was held off. Five days ago, Konoha received Sakura's message stating her return. Konoha is anxious for her report.
The noon sun was high up in the bright sky as an unrecognizable person dragged her bloody, dirty, and bandaged feet toward Konoha's gates. The gates were opened as if expecting only her in her overdue arrival and the only thing heard in the quiet road was the scraping sound her bag made as she dragged it across the ground with her tightly clenched hand.
"Home," she coarsely whispered as she took a moment to look at the tremendous gates before her.
Her form staggered as it stilled and she ignored the dripping sound of her blood falling from her knuckles on her bag. She also disregarded the sticky feeling beneath her feet and the painful steps as she slowly continued to make toward the entrance. The squishy feeling between her toes with each step bothered her but the only thing that escaped her parched throat were quiet and heavy huffs.
"INO, GO AWAY! I'M SUPPOSED TO TELL HER!"
Naruto?
Sakura would never mistake that voice around the corner. She finally made it to the threshold and, in a swoon of dizziness, leaned against the right side wall of the gates. Sakura peeked around the corner.
What are they arguing about now?
Once her eyes found the arguing pair, she was shocked.
Pleased and proud too.
N-Naruto! He...
Sakura recognized the famous green vest and black turtle neck on her taller friend. She also wearily noted the shorter clothing on her other blond friend. Before she could speculate any further, Ino's loud words caught her attention.
"What do you know anyway?"
What?
She continued on, "We've been rivals and friends all our lives!"
Sakura heard an impatient huff from Naruto who had crossed his arms with a frown.
With a triumphant grin, Ino finished; "So that gives me seniority!"
Curiously, Sakura then looked over to Naruto, who then chose to tease, "That's sooo lame! Sakura-chan and I are family which is more than friends."
Ino frowned and clenched her fist, feeling ire. Naruto continued with a smirk, "And! This is a team issue. One that you're not a part of."
Ino scoffed, as if offended and that increased Naruto's smugness. A brief moment of Ino's shock and silence went between them before Naruto doubled over in laughter, hugging his midsection. Ino growled at his insensitivity.
"Hahaha! Got you there, Ino," bellowed a guffawing Naruto.
"Grr!"
Sakura bit her lip, knowing from experience what may come next. Uh oh.
"DON'T BE SO COCKY!"
Ino went rigid and saw that Naruto's laughter did not die down. Without preamble she punched him in the eye with all she had which sent Naruto flying with shock written all over his whiskered face.
Naruto instantly got up and raised his fist at the blonde, "Hey! You didn't have to hit me!"
Contrary to his fierce face, Naruto inwardly was vainly concerned that Sakura was going to see him with a black eye.
Seeing their interaction brought Sakura to forget what they were arguing about realized how much she missed their childishness while away on her mission. Naruto's new uniform brought proud tears to her eyes.
Naruto... He finally made full-
"Jounin,"
Naruto's keen ears picked up on her small whisper. He looked back to the source and finally saw her. His blood ran cold as he noted her appearance, "SAKURA-CHAN!"
Sakura felt guilty in seeing the panic in his eyes. Ino followed his line of sight and felt surprise as she noticed her state as well, "Sakura!"
Sakura was bent over against the wall and used her clenched hands to help her try and stand. She softly smiled greeted them with a scratchy, "Naruto. Ino."
Sakura was unrecognizable to the two blonds. Her tousled hair had grown out to her mid back and it was covering her dirty face. Her clothes were in shreds and her hitai-ate was not in sight. Her hands, forearms, right thigh, and both lower legs were bandaged, dirty, and bloody. In her clutched hand was a dirty, blood-stained bag.
Ino took a hesitant step forward, not believing her eyes. To see the great medic nin Sakura Haruno in such a disastrous state told her volumes about the mission her friend had been assigned to.
"...What the hell happened to you?"
The blond beauty looked her dear friend over, Your hair is long and in a mess... Bloody and bandaged hands? Where is the rest of your gear? And no shoes? Your feet must be... torn.
Ino raised her hand to her mouth and thought shakily, This is scaring me.
Pain and another wave of dizziness shot through Sakura as her last ounce of strength abandoned her.
"Unh..."
Her hands slid off the wall and she started to fall forward. Naruto and Ino both felt a cold sweat and called out, "SAKURA!"
Without hesitation, Naruto charged toward his best friend and screamed out, "I've got you!"
Just as her knees were close to hitting the ground, Naruto caught her and fell to his knees as with his arms around her. Ino reached the the pair just as Naruto pulled her close to him, wrapping one arm around her back and placed his other hand on the back of her head. He buried his face in her hair and soothingly spoke, "It's okay now, Sakura-chan. You're home."
'Home' hit something deep in Sakura and she rested her chin on his shoulder, unable to express any further. Ino stood by Naruto's side bent over with her palms on her knees. She looked over at Sakura's blank face and noticed the quiet tears that streamed down her cheeks.
Something is not right...
This quietness and stillness in Sakura evoked unease throughout Ino. Moving her round eyes from Sakura's visage was what made her noticed that Sakura had yet to relinquish her tight grip on the sack.
What's with the bag she wont let go?
Ino wondered why the Chuunin guards hadn't come down to assist Sakura whenever it was that she had arrived. Curiously, she looked up at the entrance to find the shock of her life.
"N-!" Ino could not believe her eyes and tried again. She had to tell him of Sakura's alarming trail; "NARUTO!"
Naruto frowned and turned his face to look up at Ino and scolded her, "Geez, Ino, don't scream so loud. I'm right here."
She looked back at him and knew he was oblivious, as usual. Tears formed in her eyes and in panic she screamed again, "Naruto, you idiot! She needs medical attention right away!"
Naruto sighed and closed his eyes as if he were speaking to a small child, "Well, duh, she just came from–"
Ino leaned into his face and angrily shouted, "IDIOT!" She then pushed his face to what she saw. Naruto was confused as she did this and his eyes slowly moved from her over toward the gates.
"Just look at all that blood, dammit," Ino harshly muttered with a tinge of panic in her voice.
And that's when he saw the true weight of Ino's words.
'S-Sakura-chan...'
The puddles and foot prints made of blood that Sakura left were as far as the eyes could see down the road. The bag she had been clutching all this time left small and light traces of blood as it was dragged. Naruto knew that blood was most likely from Sakura as well.
He couldn't hold it and childishly gave to panic; "DON'T DIE!"
Knowing what was best to do at the moment, Ino growled and brought a fist, "She won't if you shut up and hurry!"
He immediately stilled and with shocked round eyes he replied, "H-hai."
That was all he was able to utter out as his stupor would not leave. Her words sunk in again and he lowered his face til his eyes were not visible. A shadow fell over them as he suggested, "It's faster through rooftops."
Ino agreed with a nod.
Naruto set his lips in a thin line and roughly spoke, "...Let's go!"
In a whoosh, the pair jumped straight to the rooftops toward Konoha hospital.
Sakura finally came home but, barely alive.
TO BE CONTINUED...
A/N: That's all for episode one! The manga link is: h t t p / w w w . d e v i a n t a r t . c o m / d e v i a t i o n / 5 8 3 5 6 7 4 0 /
It's a direct link to episode one. If you dont normally read manga then know page one is normally the cover page so dont be confused if you dont see a labeled "page 1" after "cover".
Please please leave a review and tell me what you think of episode one and the manga too! Any suggestions? Then feel free to let me know! Its kinda weird doing this story cause I'm not just typing away to get the story written. I'm actually doing the manga first and then typing what I came up with I guess is best to describe it as. So I do apologize if things seemed confusing or quite dull.
Check my profile periodically for any updates or notes on this story and any others.
Thanks! See you next time!