By the time Konohamaru made it back they all knew it was too late. What had been a simple trip to Wave Country to visit some friends, which should have only taken three or four days, had lasted seven days.
The genin stumbled past the gate on wobbly legs, dried blood from a blow caked to the side of his head. His news was grim, and as he gave his report to the hokage the woman felt her heart sink.
Three members of Akatsuki had attacked them suddenly on their way back home. Naruto had ordered his little shadow to run and get help, but he hadn't gone two steps when the blue skinned nukenin grabbed him. Naruto had done his best, but in the end they overwhelmed him. The last Konohamaru had seen of him, before being tossed back through a tree, was as Itachi invaded the young man's mind, making him fall to the ground.
Every free Chunnin was ordered to find them. Kakashi led them as they raced out of the gate back towards where the battle had been. Another was sent to the outlying villages to find Jiraiya. If they wanted to have any chance to save their blonde annoyance they would need his help.
Staring out the window Tsunade lamented her duties to the village that kept her from going out herself. But she had hope that if they found him alive Sakura could keep him that way long enough to get him back to her. She just hoped that his luck would hold up a bit longer against that cursed necklace.
They ran in almost complete silence, no one daring to voice fears or hope. They knew how careful Akatsuki planned their attacks, and after the lapse of a few days the best they could reasonably hope for was to find their friends body to give him a proper funeral.
Hinata's heart was racing, and not just from the forced run. All she could think about was a night, barely a week ago.
It had taken her a year to finally get up the courage to tell him how she felt, then another week for him to realize what she meant. The look on his face had been priceless; he hadn't even noticed when the flash from Ino's camera went off. Not that he could tell the difference between that and the stars in his eyes.
'Was it really only a week ago?' she mused, pale eyes framed by worry wrinkles as she moved through the trees. Up until half a day ago time had sped up. But now she felt like she was pushing through glue, trying desperately to move faster. They had to get there in time!
The only sounds came from the soft thuds of their feet and the occasional bark from a summon dog, guiding them after their target. They felt little need to move as quietly as they could. It was far more important at the moment to move quickly.
It had been a tense first day when they came upon the area of the ambush. Kakashi was impressed with the amount of damage to the scenery. They had plenty of time to admire it while the dogs picked up the real trail again. The gigantic trees in the area were all but blown to pieces, and several large craters pointed to Naruto's rasengan. There was evidence of several high level jutsu's and judging by the burn marks everywhere at some point their hyperactive ninja must had been pushed into using some of the kyuubi's chakra.
But even that hadn't been enough. Fear for Konohamaru must have held him back. If he'd let too much of the fox's power out it would likely have killed everyone in the area. He'd obviously hesitated a moment, but even one moment is a moment too long when you're facing Uchiha Itachi.
They were all anxious to get moving again, and the moment a summon barked they were off. The silver haired jonin glanced over their little group and was not comforted. While they were all strong ninja's in their own right, it would still be a battle stacked heavily in the favor of their enemies. He only hoped Jiraiya would be able to catch up quickly to them.
His head snapped up as ahead of them one of the summons' stopped and howled loudly. They all converged on the spot and he looked the Chuunins over once again as he pulled up his forehead protector. "Watch your step, this is strictly smash and grab. Do not engage in battle if at all possible." They all nodded and got ready. Bloodlines were activated, weapons grasped in hands, and Sakura tugged on her gloves to prepare. They ran towards the cave entrance ready to tear their way inside.
Only to find that they shouldn't have bothered.
Almost as if to mock them the entrance was open, the rock already pushed to the side as if to invite them in. The cautious ninjas might have assumed a trick of some kind, but the seals on the entrance had been broken and smudged. Their job was done; there was nothing to protect inside anymore.
"Hinata, take a look inside. Check for any enemies." The CopyCat Ninja kept a sharp eye out as he gave the order. As if realizing they'd been standing there the rest of the group spread out just in case they were attacked. It would be bad if they were all caught in the same attack. The young woman nodded and activated her clans bloodline limit. For several tense seconds she stood still before beginning to frown.
"…I don't see anyone. N-no one is inside."
Kakashi frowned, his brows coming together, "Are you sure?" After a firm nod he tried to mask his uneasiness.
"What about Naruto?" Sakura, green eyes blazing with anger waited for an answer as the other kunoichi looked again. With a gasp Hinata ran towards the cave, ignoring her superiors' command to stop. He ordered Neji and Shikamaru to stand watch as the rest of the group ran after her.
He couldn't relax, even when it was becoming clear that the cave was abandoned. It was too easy. The only reason it would be this easy to sneak in here would be if they were done. If they were done then Naruto was probably dead.
He prepared himself for what they might see. Death was a more constant companion than any ninja wished for, but it was never something he got used to. He came to a halt, along with the rest of the group to take in the scene of their orange clad friend.
The blood that turned his hair red and coated most of his left side was dry now, caked on. There were a few small splatters of it on the floor near him and it had soaked his jacket. Hinata didn't seem to notice the gore she was kneeling in as she held one of his hands to her cheek. Sakura waited with baited breath as her friend turned slowly to look up at her. Tears began to stream silently down her pale cheeks and a choked laugh forced it's way past her lips as she cried and tried not to grin. Rubbing his hands she smiled.
"He's alive."
He started to wake as a soft murmur of voices filled the air around him. He tried to make sense of them, but his head was pounding and he felt so heavy. It would be so easy to just fall back asleep. In fact that sounded really nice right now. His thoughts were muddled as a few words made it past the fog in his mind.
"…put your….him warm…."
He frowned. That voice sounded so familiar. He felt like he should recognize it but all he could come up with was a memory of trees and the color pink. He wanted to try and figure it out but the cloud over his thoughts made it difficult.
"…need to assess….could be broken…."
There was a feather light touch on his collarbone. He allowed it since he didn't have the strength to even try and bat the hand away. That hand trailed down his chest but when it passed over his ribs he let out a pained whimper as a new wave of agony rolled over his mind, pushing him back towards blessed oblivion.
The hand jerked away in surprise and that voice that was pink...or maybe it was a petal?…softly, incredulously whispered, "Naruto?"
It had taken Sakura all of two seconds to be kneeling next to Hinata, the soft glow of chakra surrounding her palms. "Put your jacket over him, we need to keep him warm."
She used a chakra blade to carefully cut off the ragged remains of his jacket and placed a glowing hand over his collarbone. Hinata listened carefully, to help memorize Sakura's diagnosis.
"We need to assess the extent of the damage. Drat, his arm could be broken; we'll need to set that before we move him. Heart, weak but working. He's had lots of blood loss." He hand moved down, checking out his lungs and ribs. "There's fluid in the left lung I think this rib hit it when it broke-" there was a soft whimper of pain and she froze before jerking her hand away from a nasty purple blotch on his side. "Naruto?"
She couldn't believe it. Even if he was alive he shouldn't be conscious right now. The medic nin shook her head to snap out of it, she should be used to him surprising her by now. Hinata gently rubbed his hand to comfort him and bit her lip. She wanted him to open his eyes right now. He'd blink, look around, then grin at her. Then he'd say something really silly to try and get them all to stop worrying about him.
Running a hand over his face Sakura grimaced, "Concussion too. We need to get him back to Konoha. I can stabilize him for now." She lifted an eyelid and swore quietly, "I think some if the veins in his eye burst too." Focusing now she got to work getting him travel ready. After that one whimper it didn't look like he was going to be coming around anytime soon.
In less than five minutes they had strapped him to a makeshift stretcher and were quickly making their way back towards home. To say their steps and hearts were lighterl would be like saying Naruto ate ramen once in a while. Their hyperactive friend was coming back with them. It was a little bittersweet, knowing that Akatsuki was one demon closer to their goal, but at least no one had to die today.
He knew something was wrong the moment he began to wake up. To start, he hurt. He was sore everywhere he could think of, and a few places he hadn't known were capable of the feeling. Then there was the fact that he was lying on something soft that, admittedly, did help to ease some of the bruises. But that didn't match up with any of his recent memories. Last he remembered they had been-
His eyes shot open and he glanced around the room quickly. His confusion and unease only grew when he looked over the simple white hospital room. The steady drip in the background of an IV and the whirring of machines assaulted his senses. His eyes narrowed as he picked up the scent of medicines.
This was wrong, this was all wrong! He was sure that those robe wearers had killed him. But besides that, it was impossible for him to be here, lying in a bed, in a hospital.
With a wince he slowly sat up, one bandaged hand going to his side to support ribs that protested the movement. The heart monitor attached to his finger began to beep frantically as his heart rate sped up.
Now a little more upright he slowly brought his hands out in front of them and stared at them as if he'd never seen them before. "I-impossible!" he ground out from a throat too raw from screaming. He was still staring in shock when the door opened and a pink haired woman glared at him.
" .to! You stubborn idiot! Do not make me strap you to the bed! I just got your ribs to settle and I will NOT-!" She choked off in the middle of her tirade when her teammate whipped his head around to growl at her.
A chart fell limply from her fingers as eyes the color of fresh blood glared at her from her teammates' face. Pupils contracted into thin slits as he warned her off. Even though she knew that it would be physically impossible for him at the moment she couldn't help the feeling that he was about to lunge for her throat with the impressively long canines he was barring at her.
Satisfied she wouldn't come closer for the moment he went back to scowling at his hands and muttered darkly to himself.
"Naruto…you fool."AN:
Reviews are to writers what manure is to tulips. So thank you TigrezzTail and Maskedgirl08! Although I've gotta say I was cackling evilly when I read your comment TigrezzTail. You were right on!
The downside is now the buffer is gone and the next update may take a while. The upside is now we can get to the good stuff. *rubs hands together whilst laughing evilly*