Chapter 21: An Unexpected Return

Weeks after the events at the royal palace, Naruto opened his eyes as he felt a burning across his entire body. He awoke inside a familiar room with white curtains and white sheets.

Back in the hospital…? How many times have I been here? He thought. The door to his room clicked as it opened; from the opening emerged the one woman that he loved.

"Naruto!" Sakura said as she rushed over to him and took hold of his hand. "You're awake!" she shouted with joy.

"I'm…I'm awake." He replied drowsily. "What happened?"

Sakura's expression sunk as he asked his question. "Something happened to you while we were on our mission…You were knocked unconscious, and when you woke up, the nine-tails' chakra had taken over your body."

"D-Did I hurt you?" Naruto asked.

"No, nothing happened." Sakura replied while grapsing her ribs. "Nothing serious happened." She continued to lie. "But we have some good news."

"What's that?"

"We know a way to stop your transformation into the nine-tails."

"How?" he questioned.

"Like this." She grabbed his arms and pulled him closer into an embrace. His expression softened as he felt her body warmth against him. He lowered his head and buried his face into her shoulder.

"I always knew that I'd be fine as long as you're with me." He said with a smile.

Another knock came from the door, Shikamaru entered the room just as Sakura let go of Naruto..

"Yo, Naruto, how are you feeling?" He asked.

"Better." Naruto replied with a smile. "What are you doing here, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru approached the two and sat down on a vacant chair next to Sakura.

"I'm here to check up on you, after all, I was the Jounin on our mission, the well-being of my team is something that I need to be concerned with." Shikamaru leaned back into the chair. "How have you been?" he asked Sakura.

"I was just worried about Naruto, it's better now that he's feeling better, but the medics say that he'll need another day of rest before he's made a full recovery." She replied.

"I see, well, rest up, you don't know when something will come up again." Shikamaru stated while he turned and began to walk out of the room.

"Wait, Shikamaru?" Shikamaru turned to Naruto. "What happened during our mission?"

Shikamaru sighed deeply as he turned his head. "You don't have to worry about it, Since those events, the High Council will be overlooking the affairs of the Land of Fire. Don't worry yourself." Shikamaru finally said as he walked out the door, closing it behind him.

"Sakura-chan…What happened?" he desperately asked her. Sakura looked at him with worry.

"I'll-I'll tell you some other time, but for now, you'll need to get some rest." She said with a tight grip on his hand. He nodded his head and leaned back deeper into his bed.

Sakura stood up and turned around. "I'll be here if anything happens to you."

…

Naruto awoke the next day to a similar scene. A knock came at the door, and a woman with blonde hair entered the room.

"Uzumaki Naruto?" she asked. Naruto nodded. "We have you scheduled for discharge today, are you feeling well enough to leave?"

"I'm feeling great. Thank you." Naruto replied. The nurse helped him out of the bed into a wheelchair and pushed him down towards the main desk. There, he stood on his own feet and stretched. He gave a wave goodbye to the nurse that helped him and walked onto the main street of Konoha.

He slowly walked through the streets, and while passing through the stores and stalls, came across Yamanaka Flowers.

"Naruto!" Ino greeted him. "How are you feeling?" she asked him.

"Better, thanks." She replied while reaching into his pocket for his wallet. "I'm stopping by to get some flowers for Sakura-chan, do you know what she likes?"

Ino sat in silence for a few moments as she scanned the inventory. She moved into the greenhouse and soon emerged with a pink flower with overlapping petals.

"Pink, just like Sakura's hair, perfect, right?" Ino said with a smile. Naruto smiled and nodded. He opened his frog wallet and began to sort through the currency.

"How much do I owe you?" he asked.

"This bouquet is on me." Ino insisted while handing him the collection of flowers. "I've known for a while now about you and Sakura." She said while leaning over the counter. Naruto smiled nervously and nodded.

"T-Thank you." He said with appreciation. Ino nodded and waved as he walked out the door.

"Take care of Sakura." Ino said to him as he closed the door behind him. He turned and smiled at her.

"I will."

…

Naruto walked over to Sakura's house and knocked on the door. He stood silently by the door, waiting for it to open. He could hear footsteps behind the door while he waited.

The door opened as he saw Sakura's mother staring at him. Nervously, he spoke.

"Uh…H-Hello, Mebuki-san, is Sakura-chan here?"

"She's not here at the moment. She's actually in the training field, honing her technique that she created a few months ago."

"O-Oh, okay, T-Thank you. It was nice seeing you…again…?" he said nervously, those odd events that happened were still fresh in his mind.

"Is something wrong…?" she asked him.

"N-No, nothing's wrong. Well, I need to go." He stated as he turned around and made his way towards Konoha's gate.

"Take care." Were her last words to him as he walked away.

…

Sakura stood in a ready position, her right fist clenched tightly; before him a tree was deeply rooted in the ground. For this technique, she didn't mold any chakra, it relied more on dexterity than it did strength.

She drew back her arm and struck the tree with her knuckles, almost immediately after the first strike, she bent her hand and struck the tree again. The tree turned into dust at the impact.

She took a deep breath as the wind blew the dust away from her. She opened her eyes and looked across the horizon.

"Sakura." A voice echoed behind her.

Sakura turned to face the disembodied voice.

Her heart nearly stopped as she laid her eyes upon him.

"S-Sasuke-kun…"