A/N: Sorry this took so long I've just been very busy and I kinda ran out of ideas, if you have an idea for a plot twist or anything like that I'd like to hear it :-P but hopefully all of you who read my stories could please stay patient and enjoy! 3
Orochimaru is gone… still alive unfortunately, but gone… However, it is far from peaceful in the village. Some homes and buildings have been badly damaged so everyone in the village gathered in the streets to help clean up the rubble, the fallen threes and walls and to help the wounded. Among them was Lord Third as well. He was lying in the hospital surrounded by multiple medics who were desperately trying to save his life. He was clinging on by a thread.
On the other side of the hospital, Naruto was limping down the hallway in his hospital clothes and a bandage around his forehead. He was desperately looking around and panting in fear.
"Naruto, why aren't you in your room?" A familiar voice scolded him.
He turned around to face the owner of the voice. "Iruka-sensei, where's the Old Man?!" Naruto asked quickly swallowing audibly.
Iruka's expression softened as he walked up to his favorite genin and ruffled his blonde hair. "Look, the medics are doing their best to save him as we speak, you need to go back to your room, there's nothing we can do but wait."
"T-to save him? Is it really that bad?" Naruto's voice cracked and his eyes got watery.
"Naruto…" Iruka sighed. "Lord Hokage performed a forbidden jutsu on Orochimaru to disable him so he could no longer use his arms. The jutsu was successful but it takes the life of the caster. It's a miracle that he's still alive."
"Naruto's eyes widened in shock. "Do… do you think he'll…"
"I'm sure he'll make it, we have to believe in him, don't we? That's all we can do right now." He said gently, rubbing Naruto's shoulder to comfort him.
Naruto nodded and swallowed again. "Are you ok, sensei?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a couple of scratches. How are you recovering?"
"I'm fine, I don't understand why I have to just lay in bed and do nothing!"
"At least stay for just a bit longer until the nurses are sure you can go. Why don't you go and be with Hinata?"
Naruto closed his eyes and a tear threatened to escape. "I can't… she's in surgery… I heard the doctor say that it's worse than it looks…"
Iruka blinked and sighed sadly. "I'm sure she'll be fine, she has you to believe in her."
"… I couldn't do anything…" Naruto mumbled.
"Huh?" Iruka kneeled down to hear him better.
"I couldn't get her out of that stupid sand! I got her hurt and I promised to protect her!" He yelled angrily, the tears finally came.
"This isn't your fault Naruto, you stopped Gaara from doing any damage to the Leaf, you protected the Village. You, Hinata and Sasuke did it together. You should be proud of yourself. I am, and I know that Hinata and Hiruzen are too."
"You are?"
Iruka nodded and smiled. "Now go and rest, ok?"
Naruto nodded hesitantly. "I'll see you later, sensei."
He slowly dragged himself back towards his room. That unsettling feeling was still creating a hard lump in his stomach. He could only wait to see if the Hokage will make it and if Hinata will be ok.
But a few steps later the feeling became too much. He slapped his hand over his mouth and rushed to the bathroom. Walking in he looked at himself in the mirror and the urge to throw up stopped but sweat still trickled down his face. He started to remove the bandage wrapped around his forehead. Finally managing to take it off, he pulled up his bangs revealing his bloody forehead. Turning on the sink and washing his face he looked in the mirror again to discover that the patch of blood was the only thing on his forehead.
"Well, of course there's nothing there, idiots!" He threw the bloody bandage on the floor and sighed. Why did they bandage him anyway? They know that his wounds heal fast, don't they?
Taking a deep breath, he ran his finger through his hair and tried to calm himself down before slowly walking out of the bathroom. But on his way back towards his room he saw someone he definitely wasn't expecting to see… Hinata's father talking to the doctor. He ran up to them and they looked at him in surprise.
"Is she ok?" He quickly asked.
"Yes, her right lower leg is broken along with a couple of the ribs, but she is expected to make a full recovery in a month or so." The doctor answered.
"Ribs?!" Naruto looked at him in shock.
"Do not worry, the damage is minimal."
Naruto loudly sighed in relief. "Can I see her now?"
"Yes, I had left her bedside just a few minutes before." Hiashi spoke.
Naruto nodded but just as he was to bolt into her room he stopped and turned towards Hiashi with a determined look on his face. "Look, she was awesome, ok? She might have lost the preliminaries but she fought well. She's tougher and stronger than you think and the only reason she's this injured is because she tried to protect me. She's brave and you should be proud of her."
Hiashi looked at him before nodding.
Naruto turned to go but he was stopped when the doctor spoke. "Try and be quiet. She's still unconscious and she needs rest."
Naruto nodded and finally opened the door of her room. Peeking inside he felt like crying when he saw her motionlessly laying there, the covers up to her neck with tubes all around her. He walked up next to her and quietly looked at the thin tube going under her nose. The beeping of her heart monitor was the only sound in the room.
He quietly pulled a chair up next to her and sat down gently rubbing her arm through the covers. If felt like he was sitting there forever but it had probably been just minutes before a soft knock was heard on the door. He walked up to the door and opened it to reveal Sasuke standing there with a serious expression on his face.
"How is she?" He asked.
"Fine, I guess." Naruto replied in a rusty tone.
"You guess?" Sasuke frowned.
"Her leg's broken and some of her ribs are too. Doc says it's nothing serious but she probably won't be able to walk for a while… and I don't know when she'll wake up…" Naruto looked down sadly.
"We'll have to wait and see." Sasuke replied. "And by the way… the Hokage's out of surgery. He's critical so you can't see him but he made it."
Naruto quickly looked up at his teammate. His jaw fell down along with him as his legs gave out. He sighed deeply and put his hands over his face. "Thank God… Old Man…"
Sasuke looked at him for a moment before speaking. "So when can you get out of here? The Village needs to get fixed."
Naruto exhaled deeply and getting up he walked up to Hinata and placed a kiss on her forehead before turning back towards Sasuke. "Let's go."
As the two walked down the noisy streets people ran left and right cleaning up the mess, they wasted no time wanting to vent out their frustrations. Naruto walked up to one of the shopkeepers who struggled with a large wooden crate.
"Here, let me help."
"I don't need your help." The shopkeeper groaned as he tried to lift the crate once again.
"Sure looks like you do." Naruto added quietly.
The man panted and let the crate drop to the ground before growling in frustration and spitting onto the ground.
Naruto smiled and summoned a clone, lifting the crate no problem. "Where to?"
The man blinked in shock before pointing to his shop on the left.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow before turning his gaze towards a few short women who were trying to reach a stain on the top of the window. "Hn."
Hinata's eyelids slowly parted but they closed again as she was blinded by the lights above her. After her eyes finally adjusted to the brightness they gazed around the room trying to figure out where she was. She recognized it as the hospital as soon as the sharp smell of disinfectants hit her nostrils. She wiggled her nose feeling the tube uncomfortably scratching the inside of her nose. Her hands slowly moved to her sides as she attempted to sit up but a sudden pain in her abdomen caused her to drop back down on her pillow as she let out a soft cough. The pain made the room spin and her hands went numb and she gave up on trying to move. Why did it hurt so much? Why was she all alone? What was happening around her?
"Naruto… where are you… please… I need you…"
Naruto's head snapped up towards the sky, his hand gripped the piece of glass he was about to throw into a bin.
"This feeling… Hinata?"
He threw the glass away before turning towards his clones. "You guys keep working, I'll be right back." And with that he dashed away towards the hospital.
Getting there in a heartbeat he ran through the hallway towards Hinata's room and after getting briefly scolded by a nurse for running in the hospital he finally got to her room. He held his breath and closed his eyes as he lightly knocked on the door. Hearing a familiar voice quietly say: "Yes?" his eyes snapped open and he quickly opened the door. Walking in, his blue eyes met Hinata's tired and slightly red ones and time seemed to stop for a moment.
"Oh, Naruto." She muttered out.
"Hinata… you're awake, thank God." He walked up to her bed and held her hand as he sat on the edge of it. "How are you feeling?"
"Sore… what happened to me?" She gripped his hand.
"Gaara's sand hurt you… you have a broken leg and a few of your ribs have cracks in them…" He seemed to shrink as he said that.
"Oh…" She merely choked out but she didn't think she'd be that badly injured. "What happened to Gaara… and Orochimaru… did he…?"
"Gaara and his team went back to their village along with everybody else…"
"So you beat him?" She interrupted quietly.
"Yeah, I managed… but the Leaf is badly damaged… everyone is helping to repair it… and the Old Man…" He looked down sadly and gripped her hand tighter.
"Lord Hokage? Is he alright?" She rubbed her thumb over his knuckles.
"He made it but he's not doing well… He's being monitored constantly and Iruka-sensei said that it's a miracle that he's alive after the jutsu he performed to disable Orochimaru…"
"Oh, Godness… and Orochimaru?"
"He's gone… he got away…" He responded almost angrily, grinding his teeth.
"It's ok Naruto… I will all be alright, I know it."
"Yeah… I hope so." He lifted her hand towards his lips placing a gentle kiss on it before he placed one on her lips.
And just like last time they were interrupted by a nurse walking into the room. "I'm sorry, but we have to give you a check up so your companion must leave."
Naruto nodded before turning back towards his girlfriend. "I'm going back to repairs, Sasuke's probably annoyed at this point, I'll come by later, ok?"
"Mm-hm, I love you." She whispered.
"I love you too." He whispered back. "Now rest."
Not far away from the hospital some jonin and a certain chunin were sitting in the scroll room at the Hokage building.
"What is it, Ibiki?" Kurenai asked. "You wouldn't have called us all here if it wasn't important."
"I have some bad news and some good news." Ibiki sighed.
"I'll prefer the bad news first." Kakashi added.
"Kabuto's escaped."
"What?!" Iruka and Kurenai said simultaneously.
"Him being under Orochimaru, it is not a wonder that he managed to disable the guards and escape out of the cell, but the good news is that we managed to get some answers out of him beforehand. Turns out that Lord Kazekage had been tricked with a genjutsu to get his genin to collaborate with Orochimaru on this vicious attack, the genjutsu dispersed the moment Lord Hokage performed his jutsu on Orochimaru. He took advantage of the beast Gaara posses in order to destroy the village. Gaara's nature made him seek blood but his siblings didn't have a choice, while their sensei was in it for the power Orochimaru promised him… obviously, he won't be getting it."
"Iruka massaged his forehead. "What a mess…"
"Well, I hope they learned their lesson." Kurenai shook her head.
"Iruka, go back to keeping watch on Lord Hokage and tell him this exact information as soon as he wakes up." Ibiki left the room.
"Yes." Along with Iruka.
Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long as just a few minutes after Iruka got back to the hospital and sat by his side, the Hokage finally came to.
"Iruka… I'm… alive…?" He looked at the chunin next to him.
"Yes, Hiruzen… you're still here." Iruka smiled dropping the honorific.
"Where is Jiraiya?" He choked out.
"Huh? I… I don't know… he's outside somewhere helping with the repairs, why?" Iruka was surprised at his sudden request.
"I need you to bring him to me… immediately…"
"Right away, sir."
Naruto sat on a roof of a building, collecting the broken roof tiles in the setting sun, but the sunrays were suddenly replaced by a large shadow. Naruto looked up to see who it was and he blinked in surprise. "Pervy Sage."
"Go home and pack some gear, we have a mission to complete." Jiraiya grinned.
"What? A mission? Now?!"
"Yeah, now. Hokage's orders."
"Hokage's?!" Naruto abruptly got up causing the pile of tiles to collapse. "He's awake? Can I see him?!"
"Yes, you can. Then pack some stuff and meet me at the main gate as soon as possible." Jiraiya disappeared in a blaze of leaves.
Naruto wasted no time getting to the hospital where he ran into Iruka and begged him to let him in the room, and after scolding him for being too loud Iruka finally let him in. Seeing the Almighty Hokage laying in bed covered in bandages and tubes and for once looking his age, made Naruto's heart ache.
"Old Man…"
"Ahh, Naruto… I heard about your battle, well done." Hiruzen smiled ignoring the pain from his bruised cheek.
"Forget about that Old Man, I'm worried about you!" He wiped his tears before they dripped down his face.
The Third chuckled. "Do not worry about me, but I assume that Jiraiya has told you about the mission?"
"Yeah, but he didn't tell me what it is."
"Well, I will tell you then." Hiruzen cleared his throat. "You will be going on a quest to search for an important person whom I must see as soon as possible and bring her back to the Leaf."
"Ok but… how long could this take?" Naruto asked.
"Maybe around a month." Iruka chimed in.
"A month?!" Naruto's eyes widened. "But… Hinata…"
"This is important to me I so I have faith in you."
"No worries, Old Man! I'll bring her to you for sure! That's a promise, believe it!" He pumped his fist. "Alright, I'm off. Hang in there, ok?"
"Of course." Hiruzen smiled again.
Hinata sat in her room looking out the window. She had finally managed to sit up somewhat but it was still a bit uncomfortable. She couldn't remain in a laying position anymore, she wanted to hug Naruto so bad… but where is he?
Her question was about to be answered as he leaped onto the roof in front of her window. She squeaked in surprise and scrambled to open the window.
"Naruto! Where… why do you have a backpack?"
"I'm going on a mission, Hinata… and it might take a while so I came to tell you before I leave."
"You are leaving… but… but…" She sighed sadly.
He cupped her chin with his hand. "Don't worry, I'll be back as soon I can. Pervy Sage and I just need to find someone and bring him to the village. You focus on recovering, ok?"
"Ok, good luck and be careful." Her eyes became watery.
He wiped her tears away with his thumbs before leaning through the window and giving her a deep kiss which she gladly returned. "I'll see you soon." He winked at her before leaping away.
She closed the window slowly and put her hand over her aching ribs. "Naruto… I'll recover before you get back so we can finally be with each other again…"
"…I promise…"