Warning/Disclaimer: No...I don't own Naruto

Come What May

[Gunslinger]

Yeah, you've been alone

I've been gone for far too long

But with all we've been through

After all this time I'm coming home to you

~Gunslinger by Avenged Sevenfold

He felt sick. He felt disgusting. He felt…violated. He opened his mouth to scream out for help, begging for someone to make Kabuto stop jamming needles into his body, but not even a yelp escaped from his throat. He found himself muted, thrashing in physical and mental pain. Stop…Stop...STOP!

Naruto's eyes flew open, sweat trickling down his face. His blue eyes darted from right to left, trying to remember where he was. A relived sigh soon slipped past his lips- he was safe at base. It took two days of wondering through a forest, dodging enemies, until they finally flagged down a helicopter that brought them back to their base. For the first time in months he was finally able to lie down on a comfortable bed. To his dismay though, he still suffered from nightmares and he prayed that he would soon be able to regain a normal sleep cycle.

"How are you feeling this morning, Uzumaki?" A nurse asked, checking his IV drip.

"Sore for the most part," He replied, not wanting to delve any further from his physical pain.

The nurse looked at him skeptically, but said nothing. She knew he was more than sore, but knew that most soldiers didn't opening express their pain.

"How's Nara?" Naruto asked, worried about his wounded friend.

"Recovering from surgery," The nurse replied, writing on his chart. "They removed the bullet from his leg safely."

Good, one less thing to think about, Naruto thought, leaning back on his pillow. "When can I leave?"

"That's something I can't answer. The head doctor will be around soon to give you a final report," She replied.

Once she was gone, Naruto was left to his thoughts again. He wanted nothing more than to go home and forget he was ever deployed. He wanted to be in his classroom with the teens that looked up to him. His day dreaming was interrupted by the door of his small room sliding open- Kakashi Hatake and Neji Hyuuga walking in with a thick bundle of letters in each of their hands.

"Those are a lot of letter," Naruto commented with a small smile. The letters were from various people that were close to him- his wife, his students, his family. It almost brought tears to his eyes as he began to read through the letters. 'The sub sucks! Come back ASAP!' was scrawled across a piece of paper by his favorite student Konohamaru (he knew he wasn't supposed to have favorites but he couldn't help it- the kid was hilarious). "Have they informed Sakura that I'm not dead?"

"Yes they have. Luckily she had not spent any money on funeral preparations," Kakashi replied.

Naruto didn't know what to think about what Kakashi had told him. Had Sakura somehow known he was alive? Or was she simply in denial? Either way he felt relieved that his wife hadn't given up on him. He wanted to get home to her as soon as possible.

"I'm curious Uzumaki," Kakashi began, helping Naruto move his letters to the night stand. "I know it's soon but…are you going to leave the military?"

Naruto sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm not sure…"

"Take your time. There's no hurry for you to decide," Kakashi replied. He stood up along with Neji. "We will take our leave now. Rest up Uzumaki."

Naruto saluted his superiors, watching them head towards the door.

"Uzumaki," Neji started, pausing at the door. "As your captain I apologize for letting this happen to you."

Naruto shook his head. "It's not your fault. There was nothing you could have done."

"You were still under my command, so the blame is on me."

"Well, don't let it keep you up at night. I don't blame you."

Neji's clear eyes reflected his relief before he took his leave- leaving Naruto alone. A chill went up his spine at the thought of being by himself; the feeling of not knowing when he would have contact with someone- anyone. His mind went back to his cell with the dampness that always hung in the air and the distant cries from other inmates. He didn't notice the pace of his heart speed up or this breaths quickening and becoming shallow. He wasn't safe back at his base camp; he was behind enemy lines with Kabuto setting up his next round of experiments. Suddenly he felt a cool hand on his arm and a voice calling his name repeatedly- effectively jolting him out of his trance.

A busty blond stared down at him with piercing brown eye, waiting for him to catch his breath. She busied herself by checking his vitals and making sure his IV drip was full.

"Who are you?" Naruto finally questioned after five minutes. His breathing returned to normal as did his heat rate when he finally grasped onto the fact that he was safe.

"Head medic of this base and the military, Tsunade," She replied, slipping her hands into the pockets of her white coat. "Tell me Uzumaki…where were you just now?"

He confused for a second, what did she mean? He was on the hospital wing of the base of course; but his mind quickly caught onto what she really meant. Yes, he was physically in the hospital; however his mind was miles away into enemy territory. "I was…I was back in the cell I was kept in while I was I prisoner."

Tsunade pulled a chair from the corner over to his bed side, sitting down with her eyes focused on him. "What triggered this memory?" She noticed him flinch and his eyes harden. "Uzumaki, I'm not doing this to be nosey, I'm doing this because you could- and probably will, have lasting mental scars. The quicker we know what your triggers are the faster I can help you learn how to cope with them."

Naruto frowned and looked away from her. He didn't want to break down and tell her everything that was on his mind and how he felt. All he wanted was for her to clear him to go home. He wanted normalcy back- his wife, his pesky high school students, his family.

"The faster we get through the process the faster you can go home to your wife. I can already tell you have post-traumatic stress disorder- we just need to help you deal with it. You wouldn't want to harm your wife during one of your episodes would you? It's been done before, by many soldiers who have gone home not properly treated. They get cleared to go home because their physical injuries are healed, but their mind was still very damaged. They go into a trance, think their wives or children are the enemy, and accidents happen," Tsunade explained.

Naruto's heart clenched at the thought. He couldn't fathom putting Sakura in danger like that. He didn't realize how serious of a problem his mental scars could be. He knew he would have trouble sleeping and nightmares here and there, but hurting Sakura? He couldn't do it. So he gave in and told her the reason for his sudden vision. He told her about the ambush, the cell, the experiments- everything. The blond doctor stayed silent throughout his story, making mental notes.

"Solitude, confined spaces, and possibly gun fire are triggers for you. You most likely can't avoid these triggers however you can learn to control your reaction to them. The more you learn to cope the more your mind will heal and the less dangerous you will be."

"Am I really that dangerous?" Naruto questioned wearily.

"Honestly, no. You don't have temper issues like many other soldiers I have tried to counsel and your body locks down while you're having a vision instead of reacting to it which means you won't suddenly start throwing punches or running," Tsunade explained. "However, I'm not going to say it's not possible. I would like to observe you more."

"For how long?"

"As long as needed, I control if you get discarded or not."

"But my wife. I need to see her soon," Naruto tried to explain, cursing inwardly at caving in and telling the woman about his time in the internment camp.

Tsunade's hard, no nonsense expression softened. "You think I wouldn't let you speak to her? That would do much more harm than good. You will be able to have contact with her many times a week. She can even visit you when I transfer you off the base and closer to your home."

"Am I going to an insane asylum or something?"

Tsunade shook her head. "Let me continue to explain. You will be taken off base to Soldier House, a place where soldiers can safely heal their minds and bodies without the risks of harming others or themselves. When I'm not here at this base, I am personally evaluating and helping the soldiers that are housed there. Many are able to check out a month after they arrive, however in serious cases it could be almost a year until their minds heal. Only time will tell how long you will be in there, however you must be honest with yourself. I understand you want to see your wife, but you need to heal your mind beforehand."

Naruto shoulders hunched from the sudden information he was given. He didn't want to go to Soldier House; he simply wanted to be with Sakura- was that so hard? But, was it worth convincing Tsunade, a highly qualified doctor, that he was mentally fine? What if his body didn't lock down during a sudden vision and he did scare, or worse, hurt his wife? What if the episode occurred while he was at work?

"Alright," He finally said, clutching the white sheets in his sweaty hands. "I'll go and get better…so I can go home."

A small smile graced the doctor's face. "Good, thank you for making it easier on me."

"Well, did I have the choice to say no?" He asked curiously.

Tsunade shrugged. "Well, you could have opted to challenge my decision by asking another high rank military doctor to evaluate you; however that could take weeks to go through- weeks you could have spent getting better."

Naruto silently agreed with her- he'd rather get better. Another question suddenly came to mind, a question he should have asked at the beginning of their conversation an hour ago: "Does my wife know I am going to Solider House?"

"Yes, she will be there to greet you next week when you move there. Until then," She stood up, retrieved the cordless phone on the other side of the room, and handed it to Naruto. "Give her a call. I'm sure she would love to hear your voice." She smiled as unshed tears began to fill Naruto's blue eyes. "I'll be back later so you can answer any other questions you have."

Naruto barely heard her after she had given him the phone, hell he didn't even hear her leave the room. His fingers shook as he dialed her cellphone number.

"Sakura Uzumaki speaking," She answered professionally.

"S-Sakura," He whispered. "Babe, it's me."

Silence went through the phone for a moment, before he could hear sniffling and a muffled sob. "Naruto?"

He smiled, clutching the phone in one hand and her picture in her picture in the other. "Sakura, I love you."

For so many months Sakura wanted to hear him say that phrase to her. "I love you too! I miss you so much, please come back, I have so much to tell you!"

Tears of happiness rolled down his face, but he didn't bother to brush them away. He finally heard the voice he had been dying to hear. "I can't wait to see you, next week."

Sakura said other things along the lines of "I love you so much" and "We'll get through this" however her sobbing made the sentences run together. Naruto didn't care though- he just sat back and listened to the sound of his wife's voice.

[Author's Corner]

~Yep...that happened...at freakin 3 in the morning what the eff? And I do think this is a pretty decent sized chapter.

~Anywho, I hope all you read enjoyed this latest installment and I really hope to get another chapter out in the next week or two (no promises...just a hope), because guess what guys...I GO TO COLLEGE IN A LITTLE OVER TWO WEEKS! And then you can see my excuses of homework, classes, and such -_-'. But, I really hope I can get organized and set times to work on fanfiction.

~Well, enough about my boring life, have a cookie and a nice day (or night...what ever).