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This chapter contains some fan art I drew up attached. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter and like the drawing! Give me your thoughts!

Ch. 27

Naruto woke up and quickly sat up in his bed. He looked to his right out of the window and noticed that there wasn't much sunshine coming through. It must be approaching nighttime. He looked at his right arm and noticed he had an IV in it. He must be in the hospital. As he turned to his left, he noticed that Sakura was the only other person in the room. She was sitting in a chair fast asleep with her head resting on the side of his bed. She was around the same area as his upper arm and she looked like she had been resting there for a while. He was a little shocked but didn't mind the company.

As a small smile crept onto his face, he looked at her and examined her silky pink hair. It was being held up by two hairsticks and was wrapped into a neat bun. He also noticed that he could smell a faint scent of the perfume she usually wore. As he took in the sight of her, he felt a little bit of that same curiosity to get to know her. To find out how she had changed. To get to know her for who she was now, not for who she had been. But those thoughts were accompanied by thoughts reminding him of why he couldn't bring himself to do any of those things. His smile slowly faded into a contemplative half-smile.

After a few moments, he looked at her outfit and noticed that she wasn't wearing her ANBU gear. She had on an outfit similar to the one she used to wear when they were younger. Naruto smiled at the fond memories then decided he better ask for some answers. He had no idea what was going on or how long he'd been out for.

He looked out the window, then turned to Sakura and slightly shook her right shoulder. After a few seconds, she lifted her head and opened her eyes. Her eyes widened a little, then she said in a low voice, "You're awake…" As her emerald green eyes met his cerulean blue eyes, she realized she was a little close to him and rapidly blinked before sitting up straight in the chair.

As they looked into each other eyes, Naruto knew she just wanted to hug him and welcome him back, but he could see that she was controlling herself. Probably because Naruto had so clearly stated that they were just comrades.

Naruto felt a small pang of guilt. He felt even worse as he watched her settle for just half-smiling at him.

He decided to suck it up and push past the pain. He leaned towards her and gave her a small hug. She was taken by surprise, but found herself hugging him tightly as soon as he touched her. Naruto wore an uneven smile then said in a quiet voice, "Comrades can hug right?..." Sakura smiled then nodded with her head on his shoulder.

After a few moments, the two let go then Naruto decided to start asking questions as he laid his head back on the pillow, "How long was I out?"

Sakura said in a grave voice, "It's been two days since Hikan attacked the village." Naruto's eyes widened, then he replied, "I must've been really low on chakra…" Sakura nodded and said, "That and the fact that Tsunade's been keeping you sedated…" Naruto looked over to Sakura and said in an inquisitive voice, "Why?..." Sakura replied, "When you gave Sasuke your chakra, you came dangerously close to emptying your reserve. The only reason you're recovering so fast is because of your healing factor. You almost died Naruto…"

As Naruto looked up at the ceiling, Sakura continued, "Tsunade knew if you woke up you wouldn't let yourself rest, so she kept you sedated. If she didn't sedate you, you probably would've woke up yesterday…"

After a short pause, Naruto decided to ask the question that was lingering in his mind. "How's Sasuke?..." Sakura let out a small sigh. "We don't know…" Naruto sat back up in the bed and said in a more worried voice, "What does that mean?..." Sakura looked down as she continued. "He's been out of it ever since he did the Rinne Rebirth..." As Naruto sat there in shock, Sakura continued, "We don't know what's wrong. Physically he's in near perfect condition, but he just isn't waking up…"

Naruto dropped his head, then said in an inquisitive voice, "So he's in a coma?…" Sakura shook her head. "I've seen a coma before, I don't know what this is and Tsunade doesn't either…" Naruto removed the IV from his arm then started to get up. Sakura looked at him wide eyed. "What are you doing?..." Naruto threw the bedsheets off his legs then said, "I'm gonna go see if there's anything I can do." Sakura said in a curious voice, "Like what?..." Naruto shrugged then said, "I don't know, but maybe I can use Yin Yang release to fix whatever's wrong. That's what I tried before, maybe it'll help now."

Sakura thought about it, then smiled. She knew there was nothing she could say to change his mind. Whenever he made up his mind to help someone, there was no stopping him. As he stood up, the two heard a voice at the door. "Glad to see you're up and about." They turned their heads to see none other than Kakashi.

Naruto said in a semi-surprised voice, "Kakashi-Sensei…" Kakashi walked into the room and said, "Tsunade's in a council meeting. She said you'd probably wake up sometime soon so she sent me to tell you not to overexert yourself… Which I can see you're already preparing to do…" Naruto replied, "I'm fine. I already feel like I'm back to normal because of my healing factor."

Kakashi took a moment to examine him, then concluded that he did look like he was back to his normal self… except for the hospital clothes he was in.

Kakashi said, "So, if I heard correctly, you think your Yin Yang Release can possibly wake up Sasuke?" Naruto looked down and said, "I'm not sure, but I have to try."

Kakashi paused for a second, then said in a firm voice, "Fine, but if you're gonna see Sasuke, at least change into some regular clothes first… or would you prefer to walk around in your hospital clothes?..." Naruto resigned himself and said, "Fine, I'll change…"

Kakashi motioned to a small dresser at one corner of the room. "Your gear and your clothes are in the top drawer."

Naruto nodded then walked over to the drawer and opened it. He thought it would be his ANBU uniform, but instead it was a black and orange jumpsuit. It wasn't very similar to the ones he used to wear, but it had traces of his old uniforms.

Sakura turned to Kakashi and glared at him. Kakashi pretended not to notice and continued looking in Naruto's direction. At least she couldn't hit him at the moment.

Naruto examined the jumpsuit for a little then turned to Kakashi, "Where did this come from?..." Kakashi replied in a simple voice, "Someone in the village made it for you. It's no secret that you like orange and you haven't worn your old outfit in a long time, so they decided to give that to you…as a gift."

Naruto tightened his upper lip. He could tell Kakashi was hiding something and he was pretty sure he knew what, or rather, who it was. After he returned from the war, a lot of people had given him gifts. Mostly girls that were lobbying for his attention, but his closed off attitude had chased off anyone who had tried to get close to him. He hadn't received a gift from anyone in years, except for a few trinkets people had given him on his birthdays or at special festivals. No one just gave him gifts anymore, except for Hinata every now and then.

Naruto squinted his eyes, the only two people who would consider making something like this for him were Sakura and Hinata. If it were Hinata who made the jumpsuit, she would've delivered it in person, so that only left one option. It had to be Sakura.

As he examined it, he started wondering what other skills Sakura had picked up over the years. He turned to Kakashi and said with a small eye squint, "This person have a name…" Kakashi gave one of his trademark smiles, then said, "Nope! They wanted to remain completely anonymous."

Naruto let out a small sigh, then decided to just drop the subject since he wanted to check on Sasuke. He said in a low voice, "It's cool." not wanting to show how cool he thought the jumpsuit actually was. He looked at Kakashi then said, "Tell them I said thanks." as he cast a glance at Sakura. Sakura tried her best to act like she was clueless, but she wasn't doing a very good job.

Kakashi smiled then gave a nod. He knew he wasn't supposed to be meddling, but he couldn't help himself this one time. Sakura was still looking at him, although not as menacingly.

Naruto picked up the gear, then closed the drawer and headed over to the bathroom. As soon as he closed the door, Sakura walked out of the room into the hallway, then motioned for Kakashi to step outside. Kakashi thought he was about to get yelled at enough to last a lifetime, but to his surprise, Sakura looked a little more reserved. She said in a calm voice that showed she really needed an answer, "Why did you give him that?... You know I've been working on it for a while now…"

Kakashi smiled, then replied in a simple voice, "Well, you made it for him didn't you?" Sakura slightly dropped her head. "Yeah but-" Kakashi interrupted. "And it's been finished for some time now, right?" Sakura slowly shook her head in agreement. Kakashi smiled then said, "I think the real question is why DIDN'T you give him that?" Sakura kept her head down as she replied in a soft voice, "You know why…" Kakashi smiled then said, "Exactly! That's why I gave you a helping hand..." Sakura raised her head a little, then smiled and said, "Thanks Sensei." Kakashi smiled then pulled out his copy of Ichi Ichi Paradise as they waited for Naruto to finish.

Naruto looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. He found himself liking the new outfit more and more by the second. He hadn't even put on the top portion, and it already looked even better than when he hadn't put it on. It was mostly black, but had some orange stripes running down the arms and the legs. On the back was a Uzumaki clan sign. The clan sign had orange coming from the back to the front in the form of six sharp edges. They coiled around to the front and gave an obvious nod to Naruto's whiskers. Not only that, the collar was a pale gray color alluding to Naruto's first jumpsuit. Naruto gave a small smile as he thought about how Sakura knew him so well. He looked down for a second as he thought about how things were between them, then knocked himself out of it and finished putting on the jumpsuit.

To see my sketch of Naruto in the jumpsuit, you'll have to go to my Deviant Art page. Fanfic won't let me post any links to any other websites, so just follow the short instructions below.

Instructions:

1) Search DeviantArt through Google and click on their main page.

2) After you're on their website, add /one1022 to the end of the website link.

3) You should be at my page! (Be sure to read the description below the drawing!)

Be sure to leave a review letting me know if you liked the new outfit!

As Naruto walked out of the bathroom, Kakashi said in a silent voice, "It looks pretty good." Naruto nodded in agreement, and noticed that Sakura was examining him. She must be wondering if it fit ok. It was the outfit she had made after all. Naruto said in a hushed voice, "It fits fine Sakura…" Sakura froze for a second before turning away to hide a slight blush that had crept up to her cheeks. She knew that by now he had to have figured out that she had made it.

Naruto gave a small smile then said in a firm voice, "Now where's Sasuke?"

As the three walked into the hospital room, they noticed that Shizune was the only one there. She noticed Naruto was not only back on his feet, but that he was sporting a new jumpsuit. She looked at him and said, "Already back in action, huh?" Naruto smiled and nodded.

Shizune squinted her eyes and said with a dubious smile, "So where'd you get that jumpsuit from?" She already had her suspicions, but she couldn't be sure. Naruto replied with a barely noticeable grin. "From a comrade." Kakashi gave a slight grin as Sakura tried to keep her face neutral.

Shizune gave a small smile. She was satisfied with the answer so she decided to get to what they had all came for. She turned to Sasuke who was lying on the hospital bed in his normal clothes. She said in a soft voice, "We don't know what to do. He seems to be in great physical condition, but he just…won't wake up…"

Naruto looked at Sasuke's body and said, "It's probably because of the jutsu he used. The Rinne Rebirth jutsu reverses death. We still don't understand it fully. All I know is that the first time I saw it used, Nagato used it to bring everyone who had died in the village back to life, kinda like what Sasuke did…" An eerie silence fell over the room. Naruto looked around at everyone and asked in an inquisitive voice, "What is it?..."

Kakashi said in a solemn voice, "Unfortunately, Sasuke wasn't able to bring everyone back." Naruto's eyes widened as Kakashi continued. "We think he accidentally stopped the jutsu early due to exhaustion…"

Naruto was left spechless. After a few moments, he said, "How many didn't come back?…" Kakashi replied, "50 people. A few shinobi, mostly civilians though. The funeral was held yesterday." As Naruto stood there thinking about what had happened, he balled up his fist in anger.

After a short pause, Kakashi broke into the silence and said, "We can't do anything for them now. Let's try to save the life that still has a chance." Sakura and Shizune nodded, then after a short pause, Naruto nodded as well.

He walked over to Sasuke then activated his SoSP mode and placed one hand on Sasuke's chest. He turned to the other three in the room, then said, "Let's hope this works…"

Author's Note

PLEASE feel free to leave reviews on this story. I do enjoy reading reviews and if I see good ideas as to where the story can go, I do listen to them. Reviews are not only very encouraging but they also help me get better. Be sure to drop a follow and a favorite because I will be updating this story consistently. This story will be completed. Believe it!