Just at that moment a silver haired ninja came leaping through the air and caught the golden haired boy. It was a miracle she thought to herself before she crashed into the ground and slid to his feet. She looked up as he began to place Naruto against the tough terrain and stared down at the pink, or at least what he could assume used to be pink, haired kunoichi.
"Need some help?"
She smiled as she slowly faded into unconsciousness. It was peaceful; before she completely lost sight of the world around her she saw two or three more bodies appear. They had been rescued, the last of her chakra shield gave out and she laid there helpless at the feet of her savior.
Morning had finally come and the day had begun on a typical note. The birds were chirping fiercely amongst one another and circling the sky above. The sun was shining and the sky held a serene sense of calmness to it. The morning was rather quiet to be honest and although she would never admit it to anyone, she missed the loud mouth, rambunctious blond who seemed to make any day a good day.
She felt horridly responsible for the events of the so called "spar" that took place not too long ago. Was she really that helpless that she couldn't have intervened? Whatever it may have been she couldn't let herself be distracted. She was on her way to visit the two boys who seemed to have beaten themselves into the hospital; again. She needed to see them for her sake as well as theirs. From what she heard from Tsunade, the two boys should be fine. If it wasn't for the intense durability of them both she felt that she may not have been able to save either of them.
Naruto's uncanny healing factor served as a vital tool to his recovering process. It seemed that at the instant the injuries began the fox's chakra had immediately begun the healing process. As she recalled more of the things the fifth hokage had mentioned about the recovery process she saw the hospital in the distance. It was a fairly large building considering the state of everything that it had endured. The building had been destroyed multiple times and rebuilt just as many. She felt relief wash over her body as she saw the godaime waiting outside of the pale white construct. It looked majestic in a sense, when the sun beamed on it from this angle. The blinding white paint and the multiple large windows seemed to give it a mirror like quality amidst the morning sky. The clouds were stunning when they seemed to pass by so closely.
"Well Sakura are you ready? You seem a bit distracted."
"I'm fine lady Tsunade honestly. It's just scary thinking of what could have happened if Kakashi-sensei hadn't shown up when he did. By the way where is Kakashi?" she said inquisitively
"He showed up ten minutes before you did. He's upstairs already talking to Sasuke and Naruto. He seemed interested in the jutsu that they were using. Besides no one's heard the full story yet and we're all dying to know what happened out there."
Sakura looked at Tsunade with a pained expression and proceeded through the door quietly. As she glanced back she could see the understanding in her eyes. She walked through the halls with the comforting feeling that none would pressure her into telling the story. She felt a gentle hand drop on her shoulder. She could only assume that it had been for reassurance as the two searched the hospital for the new patients.
As they rounded a corner they heard a familiar voice.
"What the hell do you mean I can't get in? Lady, Do you know who I am?"
"Sir please calm down." There seemed to be an underlying edge in her voice as she stumbled over her words. "I-I I really don't-t-think that y-you're sup-p-posed to be in her right now."
"My friends are in there now let me through!" his voice echoed down the long corridor.
"Calm down Kiba you won't solve anything by threatening a nurse. It would prove more efficient if you targeted someone with more authority. Like a doctor… or him."
"Hey that's not a bad idea Shino. I should have asked you sooner. Hey doc! Get over here and open this door right now!"
The two kunoichi stood there in awe as they witnessed the massive dog scowl at the frail nurse clinging to the door for dear life. The look on her face seemed to hold all the built up fear in her body. It was amazing she made her voice sound so calm. As they looked around the hall for the remaining group they noticed Shino and Kiba scaring a doctor into submission for his keys to the room that contained their friends. He was being hoisted off the ground by what appeared to be a cloud of poison. While the two of them frantically searched the man's coat for some type of device that would permit them the entrance they sought.
At that moment Sakura's forehead seemed to develop an abnormally large amount of veins as the blood rushed to her head in record speed. She was beginning to turn a bright fiery crimson color from the embarrassment of the two uncivilized apes in front of her. Before she could even take a step forward the two boys were sent crashing through a set of empty rooms.
She looked at the fog of debris that was left where they had been standing to see a very pissed of Tsunade. She was still clenching her fist and growling something about idiots under her breath. The first to surface from the ocean of glass, metal, rubble, and plastic was Shino who starred in shock through the broken shades that dangled from his face. He looked at the two standing where he had been and smiled slightly pushing the shattered remnants of shades back on the bridge of his nose.
"It seems I have upheld myself in an unmannerly fashion." He said coolly before losing consciousness and falling limply to one side.
As Kiba crawled through to the top of the massive junk pile on top of him he shrieked out.
"What the hell was that for?" When his vision finally focused he eyed the two skeptically then shuddered at the thought. He stood up and spoke slowly.
"Well if it had been a few seconds later I would have had the key. Then you hags show up and ruin every-t…" that was all he could get out before he was sent crashing to the floor.
Before Sakura could stand up fully a click echoed through the now silent space that the group was standing in.
"Geeze you guys sure are noisy" called a tall slender boy as he crept from his room. He looked as if he had been sleeping and stumbled lightly through the small destruction down the hall and towards the bathroom.
Tsunade dropped her head and laughed lightly. "Well at least he's up and about. I'm not sure what I would have done if he had been hospitalized any longer."
Sakura removed her fist from the top of the dog ninja's head as his friend Akamaru strolled lazily by. Licking his face and jolting him awake simultaneously. The dog proceeded to do the same for the bug user as the two kunoichi passed the door into the room to check on the solemn Uchiha. He was lying in his bed as he had been doing since he was brought to the hospital. The only noticeable difference was that for once he was actually conscious.
Tsunade immediately hurried to his bed side to check his vitals and make sure he was perfectly fine before allowing him to sit up. The recovery process had been slightly more complex for him than it had been for Naruto. Sasuke still held many burn marks and multiple gashes all over his body. His head was bandaged due to the violent tendrils that lashed at him mercilessly. Moreover he had been in better condition than they had imagined, far better than Naruto was and yet he still wasn't nearly as healed as the blonde was.
Sakura eyed his bandaged body for a minute before speaking. She noticed his bandages on his torso had red tinges and was sure that after Tsunade left she would tend to his broken body. She traced her hand across his chest and felt the deep scratches that now outlined his upper body. If she hadn't traced them all she would have assumed that they were beautiful designs marked across his smooth chest. Like carvings on cavern walls.
"So how are you holding up?" she asked hesitantly Not sure if what she said might offend him in his current condition.
He looked up and smiled through a pained face and spoke in a low tone that sounded like a hushed rumble, just barely loud enough for her to hear.
"I'm fine Sakura-Chan maybe not as well as Naruto but I'll be fine."
She smiled back and handed him the flowers she was clutching at her feet. She could feel the emotions of pity and regret coming back as she watched him struggle to move his bandaged body to grasp the flowers. It was a horrible feeling to watch the one you love struggle and to know you couldn't possibly help them in any way. She turned around and reached for the pillows that were placed at his feet and put one under his back for support. He seemed to be needing a bit of extra help now that he was going to be conscious.
Naruto had finally come back to the room when he paused in the door way. A shocked expression claimed his face as he watched the insect and canine ninja scramble to their feet from all of the debris around them.
"Just what the hell did you guys do? This entire area looks like a war zone. Tsunade is going to kill you for wrecking her hospital."
"Idiot did you notice anything when you came out of that room? I swear a murder could have happened here and you wouldn't notice a thing. You're hopeless Naruto. Anyway let's go see how Sasuke's doing."
"Yes Naruto you appear to be in good health. I hope your say in the hospital was a respectable one. When you are fully recovered maybe we could practice together. Yes? Although I would hope it would not lead to something quite this severe."
In the end the two comments only made Naruto feel even more pathetic. He couldn't believe he was actually in the hospital over what was supposed to be a practice match. He would probably never hear the end of it from Sasuke. The constant reminder of how he went overboard. Then again wasn't this all Sasuke's fault? Hadn't he been the one who used the technique that put them here? I mean of course he had pushed harder than normal but that's to be expected from rivals, but Sasuke may have went a bit too far with the fire technique.
Now he couldn't help but laugh at how the plan to prove his strength back fired. Naruto was more or less ok. If not for the constant itch that seemed to cover every inch of his once burned body. He could only imagine that it would be due to all the new skin the demons chakra had to replace his old charred version. He ushered the boys through the door quickly to avoid standing on his sore feet any longer before turning and jumping into his bed.
The room was abnormally large for the average hospital patient. It was at least twice the size of any normal room and could house at least six or seven patients if the need ever occurred. There was a small table in the middle of the room that had three or four chairs around it. Kakashi and Tsunade were sitting playing a quiet game of shogi as they discussed what was to be done about the destroyed training field. Kiba and Shino were taking a seat in between Sasuke and Naruto so they could great them both at the same time. The large window at the back of the room gave a very nice view of the village below. Just as Naruto was getting comfortable the door flew open again and in jumped two small blurs of green. They halted just in front of the table and paused looking at the boys in the beds inquisitively.
"Well Naruto you seem to be doing alright. Your flames of youth must have been ignited yesterday along with the training ground you were using."
"Ahoy Naruto!" came lee's booming voice from beside guy. The two were almost exact clones the hair, the eyebrows, and even those serious yet goofy eyes were exactly the same. It had been amazingly uncanny at how much they resembled each other and for Naruto he had a bit of difficulty figuring out which one was which.
"Hey Gai-sensei hey lee; Sorry about the training field Baa-Chan I kind of forgot about that."
She broke off her conversation with Kakashi and interjected quickly.
"Oh don't worry about it brat. Whenever you start feeling better we already have a way you can pay for the damages done to the training field. You too Sasuke, I'm just not sure if I should punish the two you equally or one more severely considering the situation but that will all come later. Right now we're just glad the both of you are ok."
He smiled and then stared at her confused. Repeating what she had just said to him as if it were a riddle. "Hey wait a minute why do I have to pay for the damages it was Sasuke's fault in the first place for shooting the giant fire ball thing."
"Can it twerp! You should have known better than to throw a bunch of wind at it. Besides what were the two of you thinking? You could have killed each other. More importantly you idiots could have killed me. You're lucky I'm being so nice to you two."
Everyone laughed at the sudden outburst of the fuming Sakura. The mood was mellow and everyone seemed to just be happy that things hadn't headed in a bad direction. All things considered this is one of the more appreciated out comes. As the day wore on people began to leave bit by bit. First Gai and Lee left followed out by Kiba and Shino. Kakashi followed suit just as it began to get dark. Sakura stayed most of the evening along with the fifth hokage who was performing regular checkups until ten o'clock came around. As they left out Sasuke felt a wave of relief wash over him. He had been struggling to stay awake since six and kept dozing off on Sakura. She didn't seem to mind it much but it bothered him how she would watch him attentively like a small child. Not to mention she would stroke his hair every now and again.
Naruto remained woke until the two left and finally lay back in his bed to relax. It had been a fun day. Most of his friends stopped by for at least a visit to say hello and see how the two of them were doing. No one was really surprised to see the Naruto had most of his wounds healed with the exception of a few scratches and bruises that remained. More or less Sasuke was the focus of everyone's concern. As he collected his thoughts and stared at the ceiling he remembered that he was supposed to be fighting Anko the other night.
Oh crap! I how could I forget? Damn it! Now she's probably never going to train me. I wonder if I find her and explain what happened will she forgive me. I hope I get a chance to make this up to her. If she's anything like what Ero-sensei told me she's going to be pissed.
He hoped out of bed and peered out the door to his room. The hallway still looked rather destroyed but a majority of the debris had been cleared and a few holes patched up. As he eyed the dark corridor he saw a nurse transporting a medical cart full of pills to the rooms further away. He closed the door and grabbed his spare clothes laying on the night stand next to his bed. He turned for the large window and slid it open slowly to avoid waking the Uchiha from his peaceful rest.
"Just where do you think you're going?"
Naruto froze. He was sure that he hadn't made a single sound during his crawl around the room. He turned towards the beds and saw two bright red eyes eyeing him as he attempted to slide into the shadows o the corner.
"I'm not stupid Naruto, I can see you."
"Fine you busted me. I'm leaving be back later." He called from the window pane
"What for? Are you that eager to be out of the hospital?" he questioned sarcastically
"No it's nothing like. I was supposed to meet Anko just outside the city that night we were put in the hospital. By the way though this is your fault." He snickered lightly to himself. The sound seemed to annoy Sasuke that much more since the Uchiha knew that he may very well be right.
"Shut up. If you hadn't tried to negate it with wind the jutsu would have simply vanished into the atmosphere." He shot back
"Why would I do that? I'm not that dumb the heat would have triggered a large amount of clouds to gather and possibly thunder which would give you the advantage with your element. I may have over done it with the wind but I was already charging the elemental chakra and I needed a quick defense."
Sasuke scoffed lightly at what he heard. It was slightly unusual considering he was the dead last. Not only that but he seemed to always have this cluelessness about him. It seemed that ever since the training trip he took with Jiraiya he's been better. Smarter, faster, stronger, cunning, he just seemed to be a more improved shinobi and it was beginning to show in the way he lived life. Well at least it did now, as far as everything else it may just be his imagination running rampant due to the drugs he was on in the hospital.
"Fine then, I'm coming with you." He said coolly as he sat up right
"What! What do you mean you're coming with me? You're still injured, besides I'll be back by morning. You won't miss me will you?" tease Naruto in a child like manner
"Shut up dobe. I'm not coming because I'll miss you; in fact I could care less if you came back at all. I just want to see if all the healing Lady Tsunade and Sakura did made it easier to move around." Barked Sasuke as he sat up and began to stretch his aching body
He slowly crawled out of bed and staggered to his feet. From Naruto's position, at a glance; he seemed to be just fine. He was standing straight, his eyes didn't drop the cold, lifeless red glare they had and he looked as if he had completely finished healing.
"Wow they must have done quite a bit of work on you. Aside from the bandages you look like you're perfectly fine." He said grinning his usual fox like grin
Sasuke had just remained standing there and didn't respond for a minute. Naruto eyed him carefully; something seemed off now that he was actually paying attention he noticed something. Sasuke was shaking not enough to cause concern but he was definitely shaking. He also seemed to be getting paler, if he had stepped into the moons light he would look like a ghost.
"Hey Sasuke you ok? You don't look so well. Sasuke?"
As he finished his sentence Sasuke slowly tipped forward and his legs gave out from under him. Naruto moved at an incredible speed to keep him from hitting the floor too hard. He managed to catch him just before he made contact with the smooth cerulean tile that covered the floor. Naruto hoisted him up and dropped him on his bed and did a light inspection of Sasuke to see if he could figure out what was wrong. He noticed the bandages were becoming a vibrant scarlet color. He saw that a few other wounds on his chest had opened lightly too.
He figured that Sasuke must have torn some stitching while he was stretching. He dashed into the hallway and grabbed the nurse as she was turning the corner.
"Hey lady my friend got up and tore a few stitches. He looks like he lost a little blood but he needs to be treated quickly."
The nurse looked at Naruto's bright white robe that was dyed red and gasped. He looked down and saw how much blood was on his hospital garments. He was sort of surprised he didn't see it when he was watching Sasuke. He shrugged it off and headed back to the room to clean up whatever may need it. As he dashed to the room the nurse hurried after him. She treated Sasuke and he finally came to. Naruto guessed he must have fallen unconscious while standing, which would explain why he fell over. When she was done she assured him that he would be fine as long as he rested for the next couple of days while the stitches held him together.
He smiled at the nurse and bound out the window so he could get home and change. He noticed that the bag he grabbed didn't have his usual outfit in it. On the bag there was a note that read Sakura in big bold letters. He unfolded the letter and read what was inside. The note read
Naruto,
I'm sure I've told you how much I hate the horrible orange jump suit you wear. Instead I figured I'd get you something a little more fitting. Hope you aren't mad at me.
Love Sakura
He starred at the bag in his hand confused. The wind blew lightly and the bag rustled in his hand. He stopped on the roof across from his apartment. He opened the bag and smiled at the gift Sakura had bought him. He hoped down on the walk way n front of his door and hurried in to view his new outfit. There were a pair of black cargo pants the fit him perfectly and were still slightly baggy. The shirt was black, short sleeved and tight. It hugged his torso gently, outlining his defined muscles. His jacket was fairly simple. Holding closely to his torso and sporting no sleeves it looked more like a zip up vest with a hood. This was a dark gray and had a reasonably sized hood that hid his entire head within it. There were two pockets on the outside and one on the inside.
The jacket was black with white outlines that trace along the trimming and pockets of the jacket. On the back it has the Uzumaki symbol in a vivid red and underling it are nine faded tails that sway around the symbol. As Naruto tried it on and looked at himself in the mirror he began beaming with excitement. He couldn't wait to show it off when everyone else woke up.
He headed towards the kitchen to get a few cups of instant ramen so he would have something to snack on while he was in the hospital. As he passed his bedroom he heard the sound of the shower and froze. He peered cautiously into the darkness that clung to the room. He waited patiently as the water was shut off and the door clicked open. He tossed several shuriken at the doorway to the bathroom attempting to pin the culprit who violated his shower to the frame of the door. As the silhouette stepped into the doorway they immediately dropped to their knees and slid in the dark room. The only light was coming from behind Naruto and only touched a small portion of the room. The silhouette dipped quickly around the room and suddenly vanished all together. Naruto stepped back cautiously preparing for the worst. He took several steps back and bumped into something soft.
Good thing I ran into this soft thing… wait this is my house and I know for a fact that I don't have anything soft in this hallway. So what the hell did I hit?
He turned around slowly as to avoid causing and disruption. He feared that he would let the intruder know he wasn't paying attention. Just as he began to turn he was immediately sent crashing into his wall and being hoisted up off the ground with a kunai at his throat.
"Who the hell are you and why the hell did you throw shuriken at me?" she hissed through gritted teeth
"What do you mean who am I? This isn't your house so why are you in it threatening me?"
The intruder, still hidden amongst the shadows of the hall way, remained silent and then dropped the blonde to his feet. When he landed he now noticed what the soft thing he ran into was. A pair of firmly fit breasts were barely being covered be a white towel. She was a light tan color with a curved figure and somehow she seemed highly attractive and completely scary. The woman was 5'6" with smooth flawless skin. Her voice was soft yet carried a menacing feeling towards it. He felt calmed yet completely terrified. He thought on how such a beautiful woman could become such a paradox. She smiled and began explaining why she was in his house.
"Well it's about time you came home. You missed our date." She said in a playful voice teasing him lightly.
"What date?" shouted Naruto frantically. He seemed to be missing the concept all together her and it only furthered her annoyance.
"You really are just a dumb kid aren't you? The third used to speak of you so highly. I figured you might have actually been something special."
"What?!" he shrieked causing her to wince at the sound.
"I can't believe you asked me to train you and you bailed on me. I mean what the hell. If it wasn't for the giant explosion I would have immediately came to kill you. By the way just what the hell happened out there anyway?"
She was eyeing him closely and leaned in close to stare into his eyes. It made Naruto feel squeamish for many reasons. First this was about as close as he had ever been to any girl before especially one who was barely dressed. He could feel the heat radiating off of her body as she took a step closer still eyeing him in a curious manner. Finally she took a step back and Naruto began feeling normal again. He dropped his guard and caught a full kick to his abdomen sending him flying into the darkened room.
"Pathetic, is this all you have? You wanted me to be your instructor and you can't even dodge a simple kick? You are just pathetic."
As Naruto picked himself up he stumbled into the hallway looking for revenge. He studied the hall carefully and finally leapt to the wall and crawled into the kitchen. When he rounded the corner he watched Anko as she put on the last of her clothing, her jacket and forehead protector, and then jumped down. He watched her movements carefully and sat at the table and waited. She noticed him studying her intently and sat across from him.
"So kid I need a favor." She demanded more than asked.
"Uh ok sure what is it?" he said confused by the tone of the question.
"I need a place to crash for a few nights? Mind if I stay here for a while? I can pay if you need it but it won't be much."
"Well I guess I don't mind if you stay here since I'm going back to the hospital tonight. How long will you be here?"
"Till I don't have to be anymore."
"Fine you can sleep here under one condition."
"…" She just looked at him blankly before sighing. She had known where this would go and decided it wouldn't be that bad teaching a brat like him. She thought it over a few times and spoke. "Yeah ok fine I'll take you on as a pupil of mine, but you have to promise me something as well.
"Sure what's that he said?" he shouted enthusiastically.
"If I train you I can stay here as long as I need. Deal?"
"Deal"
"Fine I'll train you. We'll start as soon as you are released from the hospital. I'll stop by tomorrow and check in to see you so you better be there and not blow me off again."
"Heh of course not." He said in a high pitch tone while waving his hands in front of him defensively
She seemed to be getting tired. She was yawning and heading towards the couch as she rose from the table. Naruto stood up and waved bye to her as she fell to the couch in comfort. The large sofa sighed as she nestled into a comfortable position. Naruto opened the door and left the house just as quiet as it was when he arrived. He smiled at his new clothes and leapt onto the roof across from his house.
I really should thank Sakura for the new clothes. They're comfortable and easy to move around in. They even have room to breathe; she sure can pick out clothes. I'll be sure to thank her in the morning for all the good things she has done for me.
As he approached the hospital he dove into the room and slid across the floor testing the durability of the new clothes. They seemed to hold up fine to the stress of a hyper Naruto. He smiled and hoped into bed and was off to sleep when his head connected with the pillow.