Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
A/N:
This chapter complements the previous chapter and reveals how other significant characters react to the situation with Team 7.
"human speech"
'human thoughts'
"bijuu/summon speech"
'bijuu/summon thoughts'
...o0o...
Naruto: The Red Spiral
Chapter 3: A month without Naruto
...o0o...
After Naruto's surgery
Tsunade sat in the operation room to look after Naruto and listened to explanations of participants and witnesses of this incident.
"Sasuke-kun wanted to fight Naruto and they went to the roof," told Sakura, "I went up and saw... this..." she broke down crying. Sadly everyone here could see through her play, how she just wanted to save herself.
"Sasuke rushed with Chidori and Naruto rushed with Rasengan, Sakura distracted Naruto and... It happened." told Kakashi. Sakura glanced at her sensei as if he was a betrayer.
"Why didn't you intervene?" asked Hokage Team 7's sensei.
"I couldn't get in time," Hatake answered.
"Jounin couldn't match genin speed? Fine, maybe demotion could help you."
"Sorry, Tsunade-sama..." Kakashi was ashamed of himself.
"And you?" she asked Jiraiya.
"I felt the build-up of demonic chakra and came as fast as I could. It obviously was after... that." he sadly looked at his godson. Maybe if he would be in his life longer, this problem wouldn't exist? Who cares now? He failed. Again and again. And now only miracle saved Naruto's life. After many clinical deaths only luck, Tsunade's immense skills and injection of her life force let Naruto stay in the world of the living. But Tsunade was right, something was off with his chakra.
"Sasuke, what can you say?"
"Not guilty."
"Not guilty? Not guilty?! Where the hell are you not fucking guilty?!" anger boiled up inside Tsunade as she screamed at him, "unauthorized sparring with lethal injures."
"Fine, sparring was not authorized, I agree. Lethal injuries are not my fault." Sasuke shrugged as it was nothing. Like he didn't just bring his teammate to the death's door.
Tsunade gritted her teeth. 'Damn those idiots! Stupid village! What have I got myself into? Now I have to explain how we lost our only jinchuuriki and decide what to do next. Shit!' she cursed blond gaki that he made her Hokage, she cursed that stupid bet.
"Team seven," she calmed down and said in a serious tone, "Get lost! Your punishment will be decided tomorrow."
Sakura quickly fled the room, Kakashi shunshined to the memorial stone and Sasuke threw the last glance at the body of his rival and simply walked away.
"What to do now?" Tsunade asked Jiraiya.
"I have no idea, hime. At least we won't have troubles with Akatsuki."
Tsunade glared at him, "he is your godson for kami's sake!"
"I know, I know... I just wanted to lighten the mood. Let's go hime, council awaits."
...o0o...
Council chamber
Tsunade entered the room and collapsed into her chair. Jiraiya stood near her. Clan heads and elders were already present.
"What had happened, Tsunade?" asked Koharu.
"Oh, nothing special, just one Uchiha prick decided to fight to death our jinchuuriki, one pink-haired mockery of kunoichi decided to distract said jinchuuriki and succeded. Now we don't have a jinchuuriki, but I managed to somehow save Naruto," nonchalantly answered Hokage.
"What had really happened?" Koharu wasn't sure, was Tsunade joking or not, it looked too much like bullshit.
"What she said," said Jiraiya.
"I've told Hiruzen, that jinchuuriki must be trained," said Danzo, "but idealistic fool wanted to give him a normal life, to let him walk his path as usual shinobi do. Now we don't have a jinchuuriki, and Uzumaki Naruto is an untrained fool, whose mentality isn't one of true shinobi. How did he survive extraction by the way?"
"I have no idea," Fifth said honestly, "for ten hours I've kept him alive by medical means and by transferring my life force, I had almost lost hope, but suddenly his condition stabilized and became pretty good for a brat with a hole in his chest and bijuu ripped from him. His chakra became darker after that, it was really weird."
"It's great that he survived and all, but the question is," said Nara Shikaku, "what should we do with Team 7? They act like a very dysfunctional family. Lazy sensei, fangirl, avenger, and idiot, who tries to bring them all together. Something similar was with Minato's team, but Rin wasn't a fangirl despite her obvious crush on Kakashi, and Kakashi was just a man with a fear to repeat his father's fate, he pushed people away because of that fear and he had no secret desire to kill someone for Mangekyo. I vote for disbanding."
"And what new teams do you want to make?" asked Senju.
"Eh, Naruto will fit everywhere. He is friendly and really works for his team, his shinobi mindset may appear when he awakens, death is a good wake-up call after all. Sakura must be put on reserves or removed from shinobi forces completely. Her attitude is not for kunoichi. I doubt she will be good even for seduction missions. Sasuke is to have a mental evaluation, I have no idea how he managed to pass one after the massacre, but something really went wrong that day. If he passes, he will be punished in some way, if he doesn't," Shikaku sighed, "execution."
That was harsh, but it was a fair decision.
"I vote for Sasuke's execution," said Tsunade, "this guy is a flight risk, he is unstable shinobi, and Orochimaru is interested in him."
"I support, such people shouldn't be Konoha's shinobi," agreed Tsume. Inuzuka clan was based on partnership so something that had happened with Team 7 was unacceptable for them and was punished by death.
"While Uchiha Sasuke indeed committed a crime, punishment for which is execution, he is still last loyal Uchiha," stated Homura, "we can't just execute him on a place. Besides that, Uchiha is one of two founding clans, and despite consisting of just two members, one of which is a rogue shinobi, its name holds much weight in politics."
"What Homura wanted to say," explained Danzo, "Sasuke must have kids, after that he is expendable. But we won't have an Uchiha for another fourteen years or more, which brings another problem. Uchiha name alone gets us a lot of clients, without Sasuke we can lose a lot of money. I don't say, that he must be left unpunished, but his death has its disadvantages."
"Maybe give Team 7 another shot?" asked Inoichi, "punishment must be done for all of them, except for Naruto, of course, he got more than enough. But this tragedy can change team's dynamics for the best."
"Inoichi has a point, you know," said Jiraiya, "Kakashi changed for the better after Obito's sacrifice."
"Obito sacrificed himself, not was killed by Kakashi," reminded Tsunade.
"That's not what Kakashi thought. He blamed himself for Obito's death as if he did kill him."
"And what happened with him after he killed Rin? The boy became so messed up, he still can't figure himself out," all those years of killing himself in ANBU or his failing one genin team after another were proof to that.
"Well, that's true..." finally, agreed toad sannin, "so what do you want to do?"
"It will be easier to just kill the boy and forget about it, but Uchiha is really valuable, so we can't do anything now. Have Kakashi train him in something not too dangerous, so Uchiha forgets about defecting. It will allow Kakashi to look after him almost all the time and not allow him to plan something stupid. Tell him, he must leave his seed in case of his death on a mission, and make him be daily evaluated by Yamanaka under some false pretenses."
"Why not just put him in cell and take seed by force?" asked Hiashi.
"It may be a good choice, but he interests Orochimaru, the snake will find a way to take him and Sasuke for sure won't resist in that case."
"What makes you sure, that he won't resist otherwise?" it was a good question, Tsunade really wasn't sure if her decision was right.
"I'm not sure, but Kakashi has the sharingan, so his teaching must be more valuable than snake's. Also, Uchiha must always be under supervision by ANBU. When women who decided to bear his kids, will give birth, we will think, what to do with Sasuke. To kill or just punish," she summarized, "for now, let him pay money for Naruto's hospital and transfer a couple of billions Ryo on Naruto's account for Uzumaki's near-death experience."
"Fair enough," the council agreed.
"Sakura will be taken off duty for time and also must pay for Naruto's hospital stay and extra reparations. Her kunoichi abilities and desire to continue her career will be evaluated and then she will either redeem herself or will be forever prohibited from shinobi duty," Tsunade announced Sakura's punishment.
Everybody agreed.
"Kakashi is too powerful and important to be severely punished so he will just have to complete some missions without payment, he will never have a genin team after that," Tsunade sighed and returned to the most unpleasant for her topic, "what to do about Uzumaki Naruto and our loss of jinchuuriki? Any suggestions?"
"Didn't Jiraiya-sama take him as an apprentice?" asked Shikaku.
"I did, but now I don't have the time nor need to train him. Cause we somehow managed to lose jinchuuriki right inside of our village, Kumo and Iwa may try something funny. They are not stupid enough to start a war with people like I, Tsunade, Kakashi, or Guy in the village, but they can try to achieve something on our borders. Guy scares them most of all by the way. Shinobi still remember Might Duy's final battle, and he was just a genin. Also, there is Akatsuki threat. Akatsuki is an organization consisting of ten S-rank missing ninjas, their goal is to collect all bijuu for an unknown purpose. Now their plans are delayed because of the death of the Kyuubi, but who says they won't try something else? I don't have time for Naruto now, let him go his road as Konoha shinobi and later, when he will be high chuunin or jounin, I will finish his training," said Jiraiya.
"Agree. He is not jinchuuriki now, he is less valuable," told Hiashi.
"He is the last Uzumaki, we can't just disregard that," Tsunade didn't want to leave her favorite blond gaki without help, "he can get his heritage."
"No. He is not mature enough," opposed Danzo, "with Iwa and Kumo eager to act, we can't let a blabbermouth know about his parents. Let him become chuunin at first, then know about parents. And except for Jiraiya, no one can teach him seals. I don't believe he can learn them by himself."
Tsunade gritted her teeth but agreed. Naruto would blab it to someone, he was like that.
"What if Team 7 members will change for the better?" asked Inoichi. He knew it was unlikely, but he still hoped for the better.
"What do you mean?"
"This experience can change their mindsets, they can really want to bond, to be closer," he assumed.
"I have an idea," said Shikaku, "we will make a mock C-rank mission for them. Everything will be fake, but they mustn't know about it, all four of them. Isn't it the best way to test them? They will be watched by our best ANBU and later we will decide what to do with them. What do you think?"
Shikaku wasn't a genius for nothing, it was a really brilliant idea how to test them, so everybody agreed.
"I won't make a special announcement about loss of bijuu, everybody with a half brain had already understood it, just leak that we had lost Kyuubi. Don't go into details, tell them that an unfortunate accident happened with Naruto and he is not at fault. No details. We don't need to alienate the Uchiha prick for now or have people praise him for killing the demon," Tsunade commanded.
"People are not that stupid Tsunade. They were just afraid of seal's failure, that's why they weren't interacting with Naruto. He was ignored, not attacked like Suna jinchuuriki. Without Kyuubi his life will be better," said Koharu. "We will also need to regain it later."
"We will think about it when the time comes. It's nine years early," answered Jiraiya.
All topics were discussed, and now Tsunade could dream of nothing but shutting herself in her room and drinking sake.
"Phew," sighed Tsunade, "the meeting is over. Everybody can go except for Danzo."
When clan heads, Jiraiya, Koharu, and Homura left, Danzo stood in front of Tsunade.
"What am I needed for, Tsunade?" he asked. It was a really interesting question, but he could bet his whole ninja career and his love for Konoha, that it was about ROOT.
"I know, you haven't closed you little ANBU division," Danzo's lips twitched in a little smile when he heard her words,"I need it now. With Iwa and Kumo threat I don't want to leave any chances. But all operations must go through me or I will gut you. Understood?"
Danzo knew Tsunade hated him. She wouldn't act like Sarutobi and close her eyes on his actions, no, she would really kill him.
"Hai, Hokage-sama," he answered emotionlessly.
"If Uchiha Sasuke fails his mock mission test, I want you to take him into your ROOT with a cursed seal on his heart. Let him work for Konoha before he is finally brought to death," she said venomously. She knew Danzo was cruel in his training, and that was what she needed. For Sasuke to suffer.
Shimura Danzo already liked this day. He nodded and left with a smile.
...o0o...
"Can you imagine that? Naruto held a whole bijuu!" Ino was as loud as always.
"It was obvious since day one, Ino," muttered bothered Shikamaru. He knew it was obvious only for him and Shino... Maybe also Sasuke, but he doubted the prick really cared about anyone.
"Only for you, Shikamaru!" she cried back and tried to pummel him, but Nara escaped her wrath.
"Hey, Shika," Kiba greeted loudly, "did you hear what had happened with Team 7?"
"Naruto somehow nearly died, yes," Nara heir was already tired from this conversation.
"But do you know how?" a mischievous smile appeared on Inuzuka's face.
"How? How? Tell me!" Ino popped up in front of Kiba and started shaking him.
"Aaaaah, stop harassing me, woman," he tried to get rid of Ino's grasp.
"Fine. So? How was it?" she was eager to know.
"I came to visit Lee... I wanted to know how he became so fast, but he only told me about the power of YOUTH, so it was a waste of time. But on my way back I saw Tsunade carrying Naruto's body. I used my enhanced hearing to know what had happened. Turns out, it was Sasuke, who nearly killed Naruto. Right after Naruto had brought her, and she healed Sasuke. What an asshole!"
Ino was shocked. She wasn't interested in Sasuke as much as she was in Academy, but still. "I don't believe you! Sasuke-kun is nothing like that!" She opposed.
"Sasuke is exactly like that," said Shikamaru, "he was and is unstable. It was obvious even in Academy. Damn, he got in hospital when he left the village unauthorized. I believe you, Kiba, but I think, that's not the whole story."
After her teammate's reasoning, Ino considered that what Kiba had said was true. "Fine, to know everything we must find Sasuke-kun or forehead-girl and ask them."
"Good luck, I'm going home," Nara tried to save himself from troublesome activities, but Ino dragged him along.
"C'mon, Shika, it's fine. We will visit Naruto after all," said Choji after he finished his bag of chips.
'Yeah, that's right, where else can we find Naruto's teammates except his room in the hospital. I'm fine with visiting Naruto, but I can bet my week of cloud-watching, that they won't even appear there,' thought Shikamaru.
"Fine, fine, let's just gather some gifts for him," he said.
"Yeah, I will gather my team for this too," shouted Kiba and ran away.
...o0o...
"So... Where are Sasuke and Sakura?" asked Kiba obvious question, when he saw Naruto lying in his hospital bed in an empty room with no traces of his teammates.
'Just as I thought,' sighed Shikamaru.
"They don't care about him, don't you get it?" he asked.
"That's just... wrong," Ino was shocked. She needed to see Sakura, leaving teammate like that was just low.
"I hope, Naruto will be fine," said Kiba.
"I thought you hated him," Choji was surprised.
"No, I don't, it's just... He won me with a fart dammit. It's not fair. Then he wins Neji and Gaara," Kiba was simply jealous, "he, a deadlast, I was a bit better than him in Academy and I couldn't do half of it. I knew I would lose to Neji, I would die if I fight Gaara, but he stubbornly fought and won. It pisses me off. How can he, a loser, more loser than me, be better than all of us? He has no clan to back him up, nothing, and somehow he manages to outdo us."
"Don't be jealous, Kiba," said Ino.
"I will stop, when I will beat him," he was stubborn like that.
"What an idiot..." said Shikamaru and put a book on Naruto's bedside table.
"A book? You brought Naruto a book? And here I thought, I made the best prank bringing him vegetables," joked Inuzuka.
"It's a History book from Nara's library, it's different from the official one. I think Naruto can find it interesting," explained Shikamaru and left the room.
"Whatever you say," answered Kiba to himself, "Naruto and a book, huh? What's next? Naruto really becomes Hokage?"
"Good luck, Naruto, I hope you will feel better," said Choji and placed a few bags of chips near Shikamaru's book, "when you wake up, I will take you to Barbeque for a whole week for free," and he left.
"Wake up soon, Naruto, you are a significant member of our group," said Shino and placed a bag with sweets under the table.
"You don't deserve to die like that, Naruto," said Ino and put a vase with a bunch of flowers in it on the table.
"What she said..." quietly told Kiba and put a scroll with vegetables under his table. 'don't die yet, Naruto. We still have to fight...'
Everyone placed their gifts and left.
Except for Hinata. She was sad to see her love in such a state and she couldn't do anything to help him... He could die, from his teammate's hand nonetheless, and she didn't even tell him about her love. He must have thought of her as a weird girl, who blushed, stuttered, and fainted in his presence. He must have thought, she was scared of him because of Kyuubi, and she allowed it to happen. How can she say, she deserved his love after that? No, she needed to be better, braver. Only then she will find her happiness with him.
...o0o...
Kakashi came to the Uchiha compound. He was told, that his punishment was free missions, but only he knew the truth. His punishment was teaching Uchiha Sasuke, boy, who was his favorite, in whom he saw himself, he had even taught him his personal move only for him to kill Naruto. Yes, Kakashi knew Naruto survived eventually, but he was dead. Naruto died many times that day. And his punishment was teaching someone who nearly killed his sensei's son. Nothing unusual, if you think about it, he did the same when they were team, but now it was like a mockery. As if Naruto's death meant nothing as if everything was fine. He had failed. He had failed everyone. He heard Team 8 and 10 conversation, they were right, all his team was just... wrong.
He arrived at the training ground and saw that his pupil was already there.
"Hello, Sasuke," he said.
"What do you want, Kakashi?" asked Uchiha stopping his exercises.
"Oh, I'm not 'Kakashi-sensei' anymore?" Kakashi faked disappointment.
"Our team will be disbanded, I still wasn't told what will be my punishment."
"That's why I'm here. You have to pay a fine amount of money to Naruto, you will have to pass Inoichi's psychological evaluation and then, when Naruto wakes up, we will be reevaluated as a team," said Kakashi with an eye-smile.
"That's it?" Sasuke wasn't convinced, something was fishy.
"Pretty much. And I will train you personally until Naruto wakes up," he clapped his hand, "we will go through physical training, your knowledge of elemental countries, history, and other helpful stuff, then I will teach you some useful jutsu. Well, now run twenty circles around the training field. Chop-chop!"
Sasuke complied, he had nothing else to do anyway.
...o0o...
Ino had searched through all Konoha and finally found her former friend Sakura in one of the secluded training grounds in a depressed state.
"Forehead! What were you thinking?" screamed blonde, "your teammate is in hospital and you sit here?"
She heard sobbing and only then Ino realized, Sakura was crying. "I know he is, it's because of me, he nearly died!"
"What?" Ino was shocked. Kiba said it was Sasuke who had hurt the blond.
"I distracted him during his battle with Sasuke... I played on his feeling to distract him... Have you ever felt such guilt? He nearly died because of me!" Sakura was an emotional wreck, but Ino couldn't understand, was it because she was worried for him, or was it because she was just not ready for the consequences of her actions. It made Ino reevaluate Sakura as a person. Maybe they shouldn't be friends again?
"Why did you intervene in their battle in the first place?" Ino wanted to know.
"Their battle became dangerous," answered the pink-haired girl calming down, "Sasuke used Chidori, and Naruto used Rasengan. They could kill each other... I was so worried..."
"So worried that you distracted Naruto but not Sasuke?" Yamanaka was getting angry.
"It wasn't like that," Sakura tried to justify herself, "I haven't thought, that Sasuke wouldn't stop, I don't know, what would have happened if their attacks collided, but I'm sure, they would have died. Bith of them."
"So you've chosen your crush..." disappointment was an underestimation, "Do you care for Naruto?"
"Of course, I do!" Sakura answered honestly.
"Then why are you still here? How can you be here, when he is lying there alone? Why my team and team 8 were the first to visit him?" Ino told angrily.
"I can't see him, I don't deserve to see him... I had nearly caused his death and you want me to act as if nothing had happened?"
"Dumb forehead," muttered Ino.
'So it's a mix of guilt and being unprepared for consequences... She still can be redeemed. For the sake of our past friendship, I will try to help you,' thought blond girl.
"Sakura, let's go to my home, my mother runs a flower shop now, my dad is also working now, I will make us some tea and we will talk," she offered. For their friendship's sake, Ino wanted to fix her rival's mind.
"Fine," agreed Sakura and smiled. Someone was there for her despite all her faults.
And two girls left the clearing.
...o0o...
Sasuke was blindfolded and brought to one of the T&I chambers, where he was awaited by Yamanaka Inoichi.
"Hello, Sasuke-kun," he said in a gentle voice.
"Hn."
"If you will not cooperate, I may not be able to help you," Inoichi tried to get something out of Sasuke, "experience of nearly killing your teammate is not something shinobi should go through and can cause permanent damage to shinobi's psyche. I want to help you."
The silence was his answer.
"Sasuke, if you will fail my evaluation, you will never be returned to duty, do you understand it?"
"I will never be returned to duty anyway. I'm not stupid. I nearly killed Naruto and Tsunade favors him, I have no idea, why didn't she put me into jail yet," finally answered Sasuke.
"Tsunade may like Naruto, but she is still Hokage of the Leaf. She can forget about personal reasons when she must be professional. You have paid your price and now I will have to evaluate if you are fit to be Konoha shinobi."
"And if I won't compy?" Sasuke stepped on shaky ground.
"I don't know, maybe prison, maybe house arrest, maybe just ban on leaving the village. I'm not Hokage, I don't know," lied Inoichi, "if you want to continue our shinobi career, you should cooperate. If you will cooperate, you will be returned to duty, when Naruto wakes up."
"Fine," Sasuke decided to follow Inoichi's scheme and see where it gets him.
For a whole hour, Inoichi was playing with Sasuke Q&A, and the results were disturbing. Sandaime's inactivity really had bitten them badly. He was passive with Naruto, he was passive with Sasuke, he was passive with Academy, he failed to capture Orochimaru. Despite his strength, his losses took his will to fight, he stopped being the leader he was once. He was unfit to become Hokage again, but they had no choice at that moment. As result Sasuke became a flight risk, the level of civilian genins became lower than it had ever been, Naruto, the son of the previous Hokage, is nothing more than a village pariah, but he slowly manages to find his way to people's hearts. He got all horrors of jinchuuriki's life but got no advantages cause he lost his status before even got his training in bijuu powers. What a poor soul.
Since Kakashi told him his punishment, Sasuke knew, something was wrong. Not because Tsunade liked Naruto, despite what he said to Inoichi, no. He was branded by Orochimaru and now assaulted his comrade, this was punishable by death, he was sure in it. And when Inoichi told him about CRA, he finally understood. Sasuke wasn't rookie of the year for nothing, he knew, his days were numbered and he was going to be executed. The only question was when. He decided to play Inoichi's game, it will give him more time to find a way to escape the village. He still had to avenge his clan by killing Itachi, and it will be cold day in hell when he will allow Senju and her Konoha to own the future, the kids of the Uchiha clan. He didn't know, how could he escape, but he will find a way. Maybe Orochimaru can help him?
...o0o...
A week after the incident two last loyal sannins were sitting in a bar drinking. Tsunade had just finished Lee's surgery and wanted to relax. What was her surprise, when she saw, that Jiraiya hadn't left Konoha yet.
"Why did you decide to leave him?" asked Tsunade.
"I don't have time nor patience for babysitting," answered Jiraiya emptying another shot of sake.
"Damn, you chose him to be your successor, you apprentice. Don't you see? He won't be trained normally, it will take at least half a year to make a genin team for him and without that, he won't have sensei at all!" she told him loudly, "I can't assign him a private tutor because I need all shinobi for Iwa and Kumo problem."
"Let him relax, Tsunade-hime," Jiraiya answered calmly," he had to fight all his life, this half a year will be a good vacation from all the shit he got. Now the villagers aren't afraid of him, so he will feel better, maybe find himself new friends or a girlfriend."
"He is not you, Jiraiya," she shook his head, "you decide what you think is better for him, not what he wants."
"Brat is too young to understand, what I want for him. When he grows up, he will be thankful. Think, hime, Akatsuki won't be a problem for nine years. Nine years! It's a lot of time, he will be a good shinobi, jounin with his learning abilities and chakra reserves. Then I will finish his training and he will be on my level or even his," explained Jiraiya, "kids these days are too eager to become powerful shinobi, while in reality it only brings problems, especially problems here," he pointed at his head.
"Why don't you make Toads teach him?" asked Tsunade.
Jiraiya blinked. "You are genius, hime!" he exclaimed, but scowled suddenly, "he died, right?"
"Yeah, what's with it?" she asked.
"His contract was nullified because of it," he said.
"Can't you come back when he wakes up to make him sign it again?"
"Yeah, that's what I will do," agreed Jiraiya.
Tsunade picked up a shot glass filled with sake.
"For Naruto!" she said a toast.
"For Naruto!" Jiraiya repeated.
They clinked glasses and drank simultaneously.
...o0o...
Team 9 was on a simple mission, they could complete without Lee, for the past week and a half. What was their surprise, when they found out, Naruto was put in hospital by his own teammate. Even Neji during his 'fate period', as Tenten named it, was never so cruel to anyone for just a challenge. Sure he had held a grudge against Hinata, but it was different. Sasuke couldn't blame Naruto for his shortcomings... Or could he? It didn't matter anyway, what's done is done. Naruto is in hospital and Sasuke got almost no punishment, he even got private tutoring by Kakashi.
"Such a sad story," said Neji during their visit, "he was branded by fate with the most terrible mark, he had fought all his life to make people see him for who he is and got this as a reward. Truly tragic story."
Lee cried about Sasuke being unyouthful so hard, that even Tenten's usual bonking on the head didn't help, and he finally irritated Tsunade so hard, she knocked him through the wall.
...o0o...
Despite Naruto being ignored by most of the village populace, he was still noticed, his antics were something they got used to. He was so happy despite everything, he always smiled, he was a sun of Konoha in a way. His positivity was something that lit people's days up. And now, with Kyuubi gone people's minds were slowly changing. Before they had dreamed for 'demon child' to disappear, he had been dangerous, but now, when they saw their lives without him, his absence was something they didn't want anymore. Hypocritical? Yes, but it's human nature.
But most of all his absence affected his teammates. Kakashi spent all his free time in Naruto's room instead of Memorial stone. He took it harder than anyone, his sensei's son lying in bed because of his mistakes. He should have been Naruto's big brother, but who he was for him? Naruto could hardly call him sensei, they weren't close at all. He saw, that Sasuke and Sakura were affected too when he brought them to visit Naruto. They both were affected, but Sasuke could hide it better.
Sasuke finally accepted that he saw blond as something close to a brother. They were friends, they were rivals. What did it mean for Sasuke? It meant, Naruto was something, Sasuke didn't need. He had no time for friendship, he had no time for rivalry. Every new day that Itachi lived was a mockery of the entire Uchiha clan. He had to kill his brother, but his bond with Naruto slowed him down, limited him. He understood, he wasn't ready to achieve Mangekyo, he was too weak to kill someone close to him. No! He wasn't weak, he didn't want to be another Itachi. And to avoid it, he had to sever all his bonds.
Sakura still couldn't face Naruto. She spent as much time as she could with Ino, who mentally helped her, she spent her time with her parents, who also advised her, what to do and how. She vowed to herself, that she would make it up to Naruto, they would be a real team, if they would ever be united again, but she still couldn't face Naruto. Her sense of guilt racked her too strongly. She only could visit him with Kakashi-sensei, who somehow found words to calm her, but it wasn't enough. How could she make things right, if she couldn't even face Naruto when he is in a coma. How could she face him, when we will wake up?
...o0o...
The previous day Sakura got a message, that Naruto had awakened. They will get a mission. Before that incident, she would be happy, but now... She was scared. She was scared to face Naruto, she was scared of what he can tell her. Would Naruto trust his teammates now? She didn't want to know. She remembered, that Naruto had always come third, so she decided to come early to avoid meeting with him.
He was here. 'Shit,' she cursed internally, 'what should I do? What should I say?' Sakura was scared of what may come so she decided to do nothing. She averted her eyes and was nervously fidgeting.
"Hello, Sakura," she flinched at the lack of -chan in her name, not that she was surprised by it.
"H-hello Naruto," she greeted back.
"So, how was our team this month," Naruto wasn't beating around the bush, he hit where it hurts the most. It was obvious that he meant 'how was our team without me' but asked it more politely.
"Ehm... Not very good, Sasuke was only training with Kakashi sensei... I spent time with Ino when she had nothing to do. We managed to repair our friendship to an extent..." she trailed. She didn't want to tell, that she had spent a whole month trying to fix her attitude towards him.
"Well, fine," he replied.
No 'how was your day', nothing. He simply didn't care about her anymore. She knew she deserved it, but it was still painful. And she herself didn't know what to ask. 'How was your coma? you know, the one I'm at fault.' She couldn't say that, so she waited for something to happen, so they could start a conversation. But nothing happened and the next ten minutes were spent in silence.
Then came Sasuke. He saw both his teammates, he knew, he must keep his distance. They were not friends, they were nothing. He just had to do a minimum of teamwork, so he wouldn't be imprisoned. He just 'hn'-ed in greeting and stood aside.
"Say, teme, did you learn something new?" Naruto asked.
'Is he really interested? Despite what I did?' Sasuke thought. No, he won't open up to him!
"None of your business," Sasuke answered. He was ashamed of his interaction with his 'brother', but for his goal to be achieved, sacrifices had to be made. And his sacrifice was their friendship.
"What an asshole," Naruto said aloud. Sasuke knew, he was right, but it changed nothing.
Not even two hours later appeared Kakashi-sensei. He didn't show it, but he was terribly disappointed in his team's interaction, he watched them all this time and he felt like something was broken. They didn't act like friends, they didn't even act like acquaintances, they didn't act like teammates, they were just three people who got together in one place, like strangers that stood together in the line for food. 'Previous C-rank mission united them... Maybe a new one will make them open up to each other again?'
"Hello, my precious students," he said with an eye smile.
"Hello, Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto and Sakura while Sasuke 'hn'-ed as usual. And three genins followed their sensei to Hokage's office.
...o0o...
Tsunade was waiting for them in the office. She smiled when they entered, "Hello, Team 7, how are you?"
"Fine, Tsunade-sama."
"Better than ever."
"Hn. Fine."
"Just happy to see my cute little genins again."
'Yeah, right, things can get better, Inoichi said,' Hokage thought, 'what a load of bullshit.'
"I would like to get a C-rank mission for us. Do you have something?" asked Kakashi.
'I don't even have to play on their arrogance to give them one,' smiled Tsunade, 'is it my lucky day? If it is... then something will go wrong. Shit!'
"Yes, I do. Border patrol mission. We have an outpost near Kusa, you will have to be there for a week," She gave Kakashi a scroll, "Good luck. And Naruto, stay for a moment."
Three members of the team had left, Naruto froze near the door.
"Chakra was once united and it strives to be united again. People are connected with strings of chakra, you must find them, feel them," Indra instructed.
"Is it like Yamanaka techniques?" Naruto asked.
"Yamanaka create their own strings and move their consciousness through them, you have to use existing ones. Through them, you can sense people, their chakra nature, their emotions. If qualified enough, you can even read their past, their thoughts," Uchiha progenitor explained.
"Naruto, be careful and do your best," Tsunade wished him.
Love. Worry. Sadness.
What did it mean? He will find out later.
A/N:
And cut.
I have unintentionally made chakra and ninshu usage of it something like the Force from SW. Never saw that coming, it just did. So this is how Naruto's ninshu abilities will work. I don't know yet if he will be able to read thoughts, but all other powers he will have. The ability to see through memories of previous users of Indra's chakra will work in a similar way.
Time Parad0x wrote a good review to my previous chapter. This chapter answered some of the questions (about the consequences of the fight). The previous chapter was mostly from Naruto's perspective, now we can see, what he couldn't.
Another moment that I want to clarify. How works being a reincarnation in my fic. Indra/Asura looks through his descendants of some generation, chooses one they like the most, and he gets more potential than the usual shinobi. They get stronger chakra and a better subconscious understanding of it, in Indra's case it's special spiritual energy, in Asura's case it's special physical energy. Then you either realize your potential and become what is called God of Shinobi, or just become a simple guy, who wasted his potential. This descendant doesn't have to be Uchiha/Senju, just some descendant, he even shouldn't have a sharingan to be a descendant of Indra, but with sharingan spiritual energy can be used way more effectively. Naruto is exactly like that, he had no sharingan from birth, it was a dormant thing in him, but Kyuubi had created extra chakra pathways to his eyes (how else he could manifest himself through Naruto's body?) and Indra added his spiritual chakra. And you got a sharingan, voila.
No 'Child of prophecy' thing. Just no.
Why did I make those changes about 'child of prophecy' and reincarnations? It's simple. I don't like, how Shippuden changed the idea of 1st season. "Hard work beats talent," told us 1st season, "Hah, lol, I'm the reincarnation of a demigod and a child of prophecy with the ability to change people's hearts with words and with no concrete idea of how to do, what they want to do otherwise." I don't like it, so I won't use it.
Do you like what I did?
R&R
Till next time