Hey there everyone, welcome to the next chapter of Darkness Rejected. I appreciate the feedback given to me so far, and I'm glad those of you who are sticking with this story have been enjoying what I've got so far. It's not the strongest number wise, but meh. Long as people are here for it I am. I've always been a bit of a workaholic with my fanfictions, as you can tell by the fact, I haven't even been back three months and I have 5-6 stories and I have tons more in the works, and that's JUST for Naruto. There's lots of other properties I have ideas for. Luck for me I got plenty of free time lol. Anyway! Enough rambling, let us begin.
Chapter 4: Awakened
Naruto awoke with a start, feeling cold all over and hearing a faint rumbling in the distance. Glancing around, he could see that the cold was from laying flat on his back in water, not quite deep enough to submerge him but enough that it almost came up over his torso. Sitting up, he took in more of his surroundings. And he felt his gut twist uncomfortably when he realized where he was. He was in the long, dark corridors that were the manifestation of his mindscape. And that also explained why he could hear some rumbling from further down the hall. That was no doubt where the nine-tailed fox resided. His burden, curse, however you wanted to name it, had become a lot more active recently. He was getting used to the feel of the monster's chakra, in a way. He'd used it to take down Neji and to stop Gaara over the course of the chunin exams. But that was when he called upon it willingly. Other times, when it was starting to slip and affect his mind, it was harder to get a grip on it. While he couldn't stop it, being able to recognize it was a big deal when before he wasn't able to do even that much. Jiraiya had left before he could ask any further questions, but he'd always intended to do so when he showed up again.
It wasn't like he'd sat on his hands and done nothing, though. From what little bits he was able to figure out with further training, a certain portion of the tailed beasts chakra was naturally apart of him. It had leaked from the seal slowly over time. It was why he could heal a bit quicker than others, and why he had so much energy all the time. But, once that certain reservoir was used up, trying to tap further into it was when he risked the monster taking control. He still wasn't sure where that line was between using the power and going too far, but he'd have to figure it out and learn to either work within the limit he had on it or expand it somehow.
Why was he here though? Typically, he only wound up here when he was unconscious but-his eyes widened with recognition as little flashes ran through him. The mission, the kunai he'd felt lodge in his back, the faint voice of Sakura assuring him…what had happened after that? He couldn't recount even a flash of anything, so he'd likely been knocked out fully. That wasn't good. He stood, somewhat shakily to his feet and, as much as he didn't want to face the fox, he had to. It was his only 'link' to the outside world when he was in this state. The monster was able to see outward even when Naruto himself was out of it. He reached the room where the fox was locked away and a cold tremor ran down his spine, even colder than what he'd felt from the icy water. A pair of slitted, bright crimson eyes stared back at him from the darkness as he approached. The glowing orbs were the only visible part of the fox, the rest of it's being shrouded in shadows. Naruto didn't know if that was his mind subconsciously blocking it out, or the fox doing so. Either way, it wasn't important right at this moment. The beast laughed; a deep gravelly chuckle that made him shiver.
"I was just beginning to wonder if you were going to awaken any time soon."
"Spare me the laughing, would ya? Not really in the mood," Naruto said sourly.
"Watch your tongue, boy. I may be sealed within you, but I will tolerate that." Naruto wanted to say so, SO much more to the monster than just giving him a little 'attitude'. But he knew that pushing too far in an already weakened state might not be the best course of action. "If anyone has a right to be angered in this situation, it is I. You being my vessel has been a constant revolving door of annoyance. Using my chakra as a crutch to get you through your battles. I allowed it only because it amused me for a while, but now I grow weary of it. And this was just the latest in a long, long line of screwups on your part. Your senses are so dull you could not detect a simple kunai attack and now you've allowed yourself to be poisoned. I can feel it running through you even now, trying to destroy your internal organs. What a pitiful vessel you are. I hope you know, I won't be doing a damned thing about the poison. Consider it punishment for failing again."
Naruto felt his jaw clench so tightly his teeth hurt. "Okay you overgrown furball, firstly? I didn't ALLOW anything! The sneaky bastards got the jump on me, it could happen to anyone! And second? you've got a lot of gall, complaining about me using your chakra. I never asked for you to be here, but since were stuck together, you might as well contribute. You forget that you die if I do? It almost happened when we went to get Granny so she could become the Hokage," he said. The fox chuckled again at this, this time its teeth flashed into view and Naruto took a small step backwards. The fangs of the nine-tails were massive. The looked like they could rip him into nothing with a single motion.
"Perhaps. Perhaps not. I am a being of pure chakra, you little fool. Chakra cannot be destroyed, it can only ever be moved about, perhaps stored or scattered. But never destroyed."
"You want to just let me die then? Maybe test your little theory?" Naruto snapped. A growl erupted from the cage and a burst of chakra knocked him away. "Touched a nerve eh? If you were so fearless about not being able to be destroyed if I die, you'd have let me kick off ages ago, and you know it." The chakra began to build around the cage, whipping at him, stinging his face. "Hey, If you're so sick of seeing me, help me wake up! I'd rather talk to Sakura and Sasuke than your big ugly mug anyway," he muttered. There was another vicious roar and this time, whether the fox intended for it to happen or not, the chakra that surged forward towards him made his vision go black and when his eyes opened this time, he was staring up at the roof of a building he didn't recognize. His body felt numb all over and he could tell without even waking fully he was suffering a fever. A cold cloth had been placed against his forehead, soothing the throbbing headache he was starting to feel. Was he back in the Leaf? No…this wasn't one of their medical centers. For one, the bed was far too comfortable. As he tried to piece together where he was, he could hear voices coming from another, adjacent room to…wherever he was.
"Sir, please try to understand. We can't move my student in his condition." That was Kakashi's voice. And from the more than a little exasperated tone, he could guess that the current conversation was probably dragging on just a bit too much.
"Frankly, I don't care about that kid. The idiot has already cost us enough," Came another, gruffer voice.
"Hey! You better watch yourself." Naruto's eyes widened at Sakura's indignant reply. He wasn't used to that from her…that was the type of heated tone she usually reserved for anyone who made snide remarks to Sasuke. Or at least it used to be.
"Sakura's right. Watch your mouth when you're talking about our teammate," came Sasuke's voice
"I'm sorry, but at this point I'll say whatever I damn well please. We already had to rush until our people were exhausted because you lot couldn't keep yourselves from getting hurt. And now you're telling me that we have to delay the deliveries we have again because he's sick?!" Now Naruto recognized who the strangers voice belonged to. That was the caravan's leader who had put in the request for squad sevens protection. Naruto hadn't liked the man much anyway, and now he cared even less for him. "We hired you people to get us to Kuchinashi within a certain time frame. And were only one town over from it now. If it's this important to you to let the kid rest, leave him here and come back when were done." Yeah, like that was going to happen. This guy clearly didn't understand how shinobi like Kakashi operated, or if he did, he was just so lost in his own little world that he didn't give a damn. He'd never just left a comrade behind in the care of strangers, no matter what.
"This discussion is closed," Kakashi said coldly after a long silence. "We'll move when Naruto is healthy enough to do so. If you want to us to abandon the mission and have different shinobi sent out, your welcome to send a request. But that will be an even longer wait." No response came to that. "Not taking that option, then. Good. Now, in the meantime, your people will be cared for, and you can send the bill for any late fees to the Hokage, and I'll be responsible for it from there. Sakura, go check on Naruto again. Sasuke, go contact the local authorities and tell them to keep an eye out for anyone suspicious. I'll send word back to the village with one of my hounds and then go out on patrol." A series of footsteps filled the new silence and a beat later, Sakura was in the doorway, her eyes widening when she saw Naruto's cloudy blue eyes looking at her.
"Naruto!" she said, hurrying over and taking a seat in a chair that had been pulled up already. Had she been in here a lot checking on him? She reached up and lifted the cloth from his forehead, wincing at the heat that was against her hand. "Still burning up…" she said softly. "Do you feel any better other than that?"
"My whole body feels numb," he mumbled. "And my throat is really scratchy, but other than that, I guess I'm alright." Sakura reached over to the small end table and, supporting the back of his head with her forearm, she helped him take a small sip of water from a cup she'd gotten earlier. Of course, that small sip only reminded him just how parched he really was, and he polished off the rest in no time. "Thanks, Sakura. You're the best," he said softly. "I owe you one." He tried to manage a grin for her, but it came off more as a pained grimace. She sighed, setting the cup off on the end table, making a mental note to refill it in a moment. He owed her one, he says. Even if she did expect any sort of repayment, which she didn't, taking care of him like this was the least she could do. And it didn't come close to making them even after everything he had done for her, let alone put him in any sort of debt. It was something she'd been thinking of a lot, ever since Sasuke had come back. Naruto had said there was nothing to forgive when she'd tried to apologize for having him promise what he did, but she didn't agree.
She'd promised herself so many times that she'd be stronger for her team, to try and make up for being a weight around their ankles in so many instances. And, for a brief time during the chunin exams, she'd believed she was doing that. But ultimately it had amounted to nothing. She'd been swept aside like nothing before Gaara's power, once again needing her team to save her, and she'd been helpless to try and save Sasuke from the darkness that had threatened to take him away from the Leaf. Again, that had been her relying on Naruto to get something done. She'd never even offered to come with him, she'd just blubbered like a sad little victim. Now, once again, even though she had a plan to try and be stronger once more she was stuck here, doing only the bare minimum she could because she hadn't learned even basic medical ninjutsu yet. It was frustrating beyond words. Yet…Naruto never seemed to care. Even if the things she did for him was something so small as helping him get a drink, he always thanked her like she was the best person in the room.
The thought made her smile a little. That was Naruto for you…always putting others before himself if they needed him.
"Sakura…what exactly happened after I got knocked out? Last thing I remember is the knives in my back," he mumbled.
Sakura took a breath before quickly recapping what had happened. After Kakashi and Sasuke had dealt with the attackers, they'd hurried as fast as possible to the next town on the route. And after arriving to Higanbana, Naruto had been ushered into the nearest medical building they had. Though their access to advanced medicines wasn't even close to the Leaf in terms of overall stock, the head medic had known a thing or two about poisons and had devised an antidote rather quickly. Now they were stuck in place while the medicine did its work. With the rogue ninja still out there, and no doubt furious over the death of several of their people, Kakashi didn't want to take the risk of going in under strength. Naruto's injury at the very start of the fight would've been even worse if the enemy that had been sent to fight them initially had been taking them seriously right from the start. They'd gotten lucky that the rogues had gone into the fight not really taking any of them seriously. "Over confidence leads to disaster," Sakura mumbled, reciting one of the shinobi principles absentmindedly. She looked up and saw that Naruto had forced himself into a sitting position. "Naruto you really shouldn't move too much, you need rest-"she frowned seeing his fists balled into fists and his jaw clenched tightly. "Naruto?"
"I can't believe I let those jokers get the jump on me! If something had happened to any of you because of that I don't know what I'd do." He felt a burning anger in his gut as he thought of the rogues, still out there and still plotting to try and hurt the ones he cared about. Sakura could almost feel the anger radiating off him, and her frown deepened. He didn't need this right now, he needed to focus on getting his strength back. She slowly reached out, hesitating for a beat before she placed her hand over his. His eyes flickered in surprise, breaking from his thoughts at the contact. He looked down, his gaze going from her hand to her eyes, the faintest hint of red rushing to his cheeks. She offered him a smile, a little more nervous than before, and he returned it.
"It's okay, Naruto. None of us noticed until it was too late…not even Kakashi-Sensei. It's not a reflection of you. And we turned out just fine, so…don't beat yourself up over it. We're all just glad your safe," she said softly. 'Me especially.' The thought made her eyes widen. Where did that come from?
"It won't happen again, Sakura. Next time they decide to make a move, I'll be there," he said. "Besides, I can't let Sasuke hog all the glory twice!" he said, throwing his arm up, then immediately regretting it as a stab of pain ran through him and he winced, holding it with his other. What's more, his vision blurred for a moment, and he had to blink a few times to clear it. "Okay…I think you were right. I gotta lay back down," he mumbled. She sighed softly, helping to lower him back down back to where he had been before he sat up, his head resting on the pillow once more. "I should listen to you more," he said. She scoffed.
"You're just now reaching that brilliant conclusion? You know, I might not be as good a fighter as you and Sasuke, but I do know SOME stuff." Naruto chuckled. "I'm going to get you some more water, okay?" she said, standing up and taking the empty cup. He nodded, closing his eyes to try and rest them a bit. By the time Sakura returned, he was out of it again. She smiled, placing the water on the counter, and sitting back down just in case he woke up again. Time ticked by slowly, and Sakura almost fell asleep once or twice on her own. She was stirred however, when the door slid open and Sasuke walked in. "Oh, hey," she mumbled, rubbing her eyes to clear them up.
"Hey. So, how's he doing?" he said.
"He was awake earlier, but he fell back asleep. I think the poison really took a lot out of him. It's…. weird to see him like this. Naruto's always bounced back so quick from wounds worse than this before. But it seems like whatever happened this time really got to him," she said. Sasuke nodded, his sharingan flaring up for a moment to read his friends chakra. He didn't detect anything abnormal. And that was what stuck out. Anytime Naruto was hurt or pushed to a limit, he'd had a strange chakra that Sasuke couldn't identify. He'd only seen little glimpses of it in the past. When he'd reawakened after the fight with Haku, when Naruto had stopped Gaara...but recent memories were even more vivid. Back in the valley when they fought, and Sasuke had shoved a Chidori through Naruto's shoulder, it had roared into life with such ferocity that it had made him shiver just to look upon it. But now, that chakra was nowhere to be found. "Sasuke? You alright?" Sakura's voice pulled him from his thoughts and back to the present.
"I'm fine," he said. He was thankful, really. If he dwelled on the fight with Naruto too long, it brought that feeing of disgust that gnawed at him back, and he didn't need that right now. "He's as stubborn as an ox, Sakura you know that. It might be taking longer than were used too, but I'm sure he'll be up and annoying us again in no time." Sakura nodded, though she didn't smile or seem overly reassured. "What about you, Sakura? You've been watching him since we got here, if you want to take a break, get some food or something I don't care to sit in. Although I doubt, he'd be as happy waking up to me being here rather than you," he said, smirking ever so slightly when he saw Sakura's face redden.
"What's that mean?" she asked
"C'mon, you know what it means," he said in a deadpan voice that betrayed how amused he was to see her reaction. She huffed and stood up from the chair.
"If your offering, I won't say no to some food. I'll be right back, alright?" she said, completely side stepping any further talk of whatever Sasuke was saying. She brushed by him and left in a bit of a hurry, closing the door behind her. She left the building in a hurry, not even really knowing where she was going to eat, just needing to get some air. "Stupid…. I know what it means. No, I don't, Sasuke so how about you just tell me? But oh no, he always must be Mr. Cryptic. He'll never change." Deep down though, her inner self was facepalming, and hard. After she was gone, Sasuke chuckled, taking the seat she'd occupied and glanced at Naruto.
"Just hang in there, Naruto. We're going to need you for whatever comes next," he said. And Sasuke was right. Because as Naruto rested and the other two members of squad seven went about their next task, the remains of the ninja who attacked them were reporting back to their leader about what had gone on, and soon would be mobilizing again. Bringing an even bigger force to bear. After all, as the saying went...if you want something done right, you do it yourself.
Chapter four is completed! You know, the hardest part for me is trying to force myself to take Naruto and Sakura's build up slowly. I'm such a sucker for this pair, and I want to get to the fluff but I also know I need to at least TRY to be a slow burner on this one. UGH. The struggle. Anyways, sorry I've taken some time on this one, guys but…y'know the real world is an asshole at the best of times. If you enjoyed it, I'd love to hear from you guys, so please consider leaving a review. If your new here, follow, fave all that good stuff and feel free to check out my other works!
Till next time,
-Elise
