Ch. 42

Hikan quickly stretched out his arms and yelled, "Universal Pull!"

All at once, the control station started caving in on itself. The area between them and Hikan completely caved in separating them. Hikan gave a small smirk then ran out of a back door.

Naruto said, "He's trying to escape!" He activated his SPSM then quickly formed a Kurama avatar and blew the building apart. He looked towards the cliff and saw Hikan running towards the forest. Naruto threw a tagged kunai at him then teleported to it and punched Hikan square in the face.

Hikan staggered backwards onto the ground then tried to regain his footing. Before he had time to recover, Naruto was already on top of him. The two started to engage in intense hand-to-hand combat. Hikan would block the occasional blow here and there, but he was fighting an uphill battle. Naruto completely outclassed him in terms of power, speed and skill. He noticed that he was quickly losing the fight and thought to himself, 'I can't beat him hand-to-hand.'

In the middle of the fight, he stretched out his hand and used his Rinnegan to push them apart. He flew towards the cliff while Naruto flew towards the forest. Hikan found his footing then decided to try to catch his breath. Before he could even do that, he looked to the side and heard, "CCCCHHHHAAAAA!"

He found himself on the receiving end of one of Sakura's brute force punches. The punch sent him flying across the top of the valley and left him with a broken jaw. As he rolled across the terrain, he tried to regain his footing, but before he could, he saw Kakashi run up with a fist of lightning. "CHIDORI!"

He tried to block it, but it ended up seriously injuring his left arm instead. As he let out an annoyed grunt, he saw a yellow flash flying towards him. He had enough. He pushed out his hands and said, "ALMIGHTY PUSH!"

The three nin were blasted back about 50 feet. Hikan had meant to blast them back a lot further. He let out an annoyed grunt then looked at his arm and said, "I'm running out of chakra..."

He looked up and saw that the three nin had already recovered and were now headed straight for him. He knew that trying to actually fight them was a bad idea, especially with him running out of chakra. What he needed to do was escape. Unfortunately for him, they had no intention of letting him get away.

As he prepared for combat, he saw Naruto start forming a Rasenshuriken. Hikan grunted and said under his breath, "I am not about to deal with that." He stretched out his right arm towards Sakura and said, "This should keep them busy..."

He made a grasping motion then Sakura stopped dead in her tracks. Suddenly all of the rocks in the area started flying towards her. She tried to destroy what she could, but there was too much stuff coming from too many directions. On top of that, the debris from the broken building was also flying towards her. As a sharp piece of debris jammed into her leg, she let out a yell of pain. Naruto turned to Kakashi and yelled, "Make him drop his hand!" He stopped making the Rasenshuriken then flew over to Sakura and covered both of them in orange chakra. He looked at her with a worried look and said, "You're gonna be ok..." She painfully nodded and decided to try to remove the piece of debris that had gone through her leg.

Kakashi tried to use his kamui to rip off Hikan's arm, but Hikan made sure to keep moving. Kakashi decided to close the gap so that he could finally make Hikan drop the arm that was affecting Sakura. As soon as he got close, Hikan switched from defensive to offensive in an attempt to catch Kakashi off guard. He quickly let his hand drop, then landed a blow directly to Kakashi's core. Kakashi found himself floating away from his body which had now fallen to the ground. He looked at his astral form with a confused look then looked down to his body. As he realized what had happened, he said, "So he can do this to other people too..."

Hikan looked at Kakashi's body then said, "I gotta get outta here..."

He turned his hands towards the ground, then looked towards the forest and said, "Almighty Push!" He immediately flew off the ground and started flying towards the forest.

Naruto noticed that Sakura was no longer pulling things towards her so he looked over to Kakashi. He saw his lifeless body and noticed that he could sense Kakashi the same way he had been able to sense Hikan in his astral form. He looked at Kakashi's body and said, "What the hell?..."

As he started to make sense of Hikan's abilities, Sakura nodded towards Hikan and said in a pained voice, "He's getting away."

Naruto looked towards the forest and saw that Hikan was now flying over it. He squinted and said, "Not on my watch..."

While Hikan was flying towards the forest, Naruto suddenly appeared at his side and kicked him so hard that he flew back down onto the cliff of the valley.

Hikan let out a loud cough as he lay in the pile of rubble. He let his eyes open then let out a weary sigh. Not only was he almost out of chakra, his face was worn, his jaw was broken, his left arm was close to being out of commision, and he was pretty sure that he now had a series of broken ribs.

Hikan groaned and thought to himself, 'There was no marked kunai…' He slowly rose to his feet, then looked all around on his body. He picked up a reflective piece of metal from the debris of the building and looked at his neck area. There it was. A formula...undoubtedly from the Flying Thunder God Technique. Naruto must've marked him while they were fighting hand-to-hand. He looked up then let out a small sigh and silently said, "No chance I'm getting away now..."

He looked around and saw that Kakashi was a considerable distance away and was just now starting to wake up. He looked to his other side and saw that Sakura was also a considerable distance away tending to her leg. He wore a small smirk and said, "If I can't get away, then I'll just have to cause as much damage as possible..." He reached into his pouch and grabbed a kunai. He kept it hidden, then, after a short pause, sprang to his feet and started running towards Sakura.

Naruto was flying over the forest and said, "Oh no you don't." and immediately teleported to his side. Hikan waited until Naruto had teleported to his side, then immediately threw the kunai at Sakura. He grabbed Naruto by the neck and said, "I've got no chance at getting away, but I can still hurt you..." He activated his Rinnegan then stretched out his hand to stop Sakura from avoiding the kunai.

Naruto elbowed Hikan in the face then broke free of his grasp. As Naruto started flying towards Sakura, Hikan stretched out the hand that Naruto had freed himself from and said, "Univers-" He let out a yell of pain as blood started forming under his Rinnegan.

He looked up and let out one last determined yell. "UNIVERSAL PULL!"

As blood started flowing out of Hikan's Rinnegan, Naruto flew back into his hand. Hikan smiled through bloodied teeth and said, "I may not have won how I wanted to, but I still win..." Naruto watched in horror as the kunai flew straight towards Sakura's chest.

Just then, the two heard a loud shout, "KAMUI!"

Hikan watched as a distorted space-time started forming around the arm he had been using to keep Sakura in place. He let out a yell of pain as his arm was cut off from the elbow down. Just before the kunai reached Sakura, she noticed she could move and was able to move a little to the side before it struck her.

Naruto yelled out, "Sakura!"

After Hikan saw that the kunai had struck her, he laid back on the ground and started laughing. Naruto turned to him and punched his head into the ground so hard that it knocked him out cold.

Naruto flew over to Sakura and pulled out the kunai. As Kakashi joined him, he placed his hand over where the kunai had stabbed her and said, "Come on..." He was trying to use his Six Paths powers to heal her, but he had no idea what he was doing or if it would work.

After she hadn't responded for a little, he said in a more desperate voice, "Come on..."

Naruto was giving it everything he had, but there was still no response. He kept focusing on trying to heal the wound and said in a semi-irate voice, "Come on, Sakura, I'm not losing you!..."

Kakashi could do nothing but watch. He hoped that everything would be ok, but he was starting to prepare for the worst, just in case.

After a few more moments of tense anticipation, the two let out a collective sigh of relief as Sakura started coughing up a little bit of blood. Naruto looked at her and said, "Sakura..." She opened her eyes slightly and started trying to sit up. Naruto looked at her and said, "Don't move..."

She was still out of it so she looked around to get ahold of her surroundings. She looked up and saw that Naruto was kneeling over her with his hands over her chest as he was trying to heal her. She examined him and Kakashi and noticed that they looked beyond relieved. She looked at them and softly said, "How long was I out?..."

Naruto remained serious while Kakashi answered, "Too long..."

She looked at the wound and weakly said, "I tried to move to the side, but it still felt like the kunai hit my heart... How am I still alive?..."

Naruto softly said, "I just tried to use Six Paths power to fix whatever felt wrong..."

She studied Naruto for a second and realized that he looked seriously shaken. His expression was solemn and he was breathing a little harder than he usually did. Despite how things were between them, she could tell he still really cared about her. His reaction to her near-death experience was a testament to that. After a short pause, she let out a small smile and said, "I'm fine now…"

Naruto remained silent as he continued to tend to her wound. She looked at him and noticed that her words had no effect. His face hadn't changed at all and he was still very obviously unnerved. After examining him, she decided that it would be best to just leave him alone for a bit.

...

As everything started to calm down, Kakashi walked over to Hikan and started placing a seal he had been carrying over his eyes.

After Naruto had been healing Sakura for a while, she slowly sat up said, "I can take care of the rest..."

Naruto kept his gaze on the wound to avoid looking at her and firmly said, "No."

Her body was still in shock so she was breathing a little faster than usual; however, she wore a pained smile and managed to say, "So you're a better medic-nin than me?..."

He continued to look at the wound and said, "Whatever I'm doing is working..."

She reached up and lifted his face so that he would look at her. She said in a soft voice, "I'll be fine."

He looked at her for a little then looked at her leg and said, "What about your leg?..."

She let out a small, pained smile and said, "I can take care of that too..."

He paused for a moment as he thought about it. After a while, he finally sat down next to her and said, "Fine, but I'm gonna stay here to make sure you can actually take care of yourself..."

She forced herself to sit up straight so she could tend to her wounds, then let out a pained smile and softly asked, "All that for a comrade?..."

Naruto remained silent as he continued to look out over the valley. He had heard her, but he wasn't sure what to say, so he just sat there and continued to look out into the valley.

Sakura studied his face and noticed that he had once again put up his guard. She followed his gaze and noticed that he was looking at the Madara statue. Normally, she would just drop the subject, but maybe it was time to finally settle this thing between them.

After a short pause, she let out a sad smile and said, "I didn't want things to be like this between us..."

Naruto continued to look out over the valley with a noticeable sadness. After a moment of silence, he wore a sad smile and said, "Me neither..."

Sakura looked at those deep blue eyes of his and saw that same pain she had seen before. She wanted to look away so badly, to just forget that she had caused him such pain, but she knew she had to face him.

She looked at his pain-ridden eyes and said in a soft voice, "I saw you both hanging over that cliff. While I ran up that statue, I saw the rock starting to crack and I knew I'd have to make a choice..."

She looked towards the Madara statue and said in a solemn voice, "I was scared..."

After she said that, Naruto finally stopped looking into the valley and slowly turned to face her.

She looked at him with slightly watery eyes and said, "I don't know why, but for some reason, I just went back to being that scared girl I was so long ago... As soon as I grabbed Sasuke, I knew I'd made a horrible mistake..."

She paused for a second, then said, "As you fell off of that cliff, I still remember that look in your eyes...and it haunts me to this day..."

As Naruto thought back to that moment, a small tear started forming under his eye. He had tried with everything he had to forget that day, but now he had to face it. He had to remember that feeling that he had tried so hard to escape from. That feeling of raw pain.

Sakura felt a wave of guilt hit her as she saw the tear form in his eyes. The pain that he had felt was no longer subdued. He didn't have a cold demeanor to hide it or a joyful one to mask it. She looked into his deep blue eyes and saw a pain she'd only seen on the day she betrayed him. It just looked like he was wearing his heart on his sleeve...and it had been crushed. She couldn't bear to look at him any longer so she looked down and softly said, "I did a terrible thing to you that day...and I've spent every night since then wishing I could take it back. Wishing that I could somehow have the chance to live that day again..."

After a short pause, she looked at him and said, "I know I broke your heart that day...and I'm very sorry for that..."

After a moment of silence, Naruto let out a small smile and said, "I guess that's the price of having a heart, it can get broken..."

She thought about it for a moment, then wore a sad smile and softly said, "Yeah...I guess it is."

After a short pause, she turned to him and said, "Naruto, I'm not asking you to forgive me..." She looked into the valley as a tear ran down her face, then said, "I just want you to understand..."

As Naruto sat there with tears in his eyes, he said in a soft voice, "I've had to make some tough choices too..."

Sakura thought about recent events then looked down and said, "Yeah, I guess you have..."

After another moment of silence, she turned to him and said in a soft voice, "I wish things weren't like this..." She turned and looked in the direction of Konoha and said, "...but the truth is, the only thing connecting us now is Konoha..."

As a tear ran down her face, she wore a sad smile and said, "And I can live with that... If I get to see that wide smile you have because we're comrades, or catch sight of that blonde hair every now and then..." She paused then let out a small smile and said, "Or maybe even catch a glimpse of those whiskers of yours...I'll be ok."

She scooted closer to him so that they were only inches from each other, then said in a soft voice, "I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry...for everything..."

She looked into his eyes for a few more seconds, then said in a silent whisper, "I needed you to know that..."

After she said that, there was a moment of silence between the two. Sakura was sitting just inches from him, but she felt like she was miles away. The two were so different now. She didn't know much about what he was like now and he didn't know much about her either. It felt like they were just two nin connected by Konoha.

She gave Naruto a sad smile, then started to get ready to tend to her wounds. It felt like the easiest way to get rid of the awkward atmosphere.

As she turned away, she felt an arm wrap around her back and pull her closer. As she looked up, she saw those whiskers she had grown so accustomed to. Naruto now had his head resting against hers while her head was resting around the top of his chest. After a few seconds, Naruto looked down to her with a small smile and said, "I forgive you, Sakura-chan."

As she realized what he was saying, she looked away as she started fighting tears. She didn't even feel like she could look at him. She knew she didn't deserve his forgiveness, but he was giving it anyway. She let her head rest on his shoulder as a tear started running down her cheek. Naruto watched her affectionately then lifted her head and wiped away the tear. He let out a sad smile and said, "You don't need to cry anymore Sakura-chan...we're ok now."

She let out a tear-filled chuckle then softly said, "I'm crying because I'm happy. I don't deserve this...You..." Naruto paused for a moment then let out a small smile and said, "If you deserve it, it's not really forgiveness is it?..."

She let out a small sniffle then said, "I guess not..."

After a few more seconds, all of the tears she had been holding back finally bubbled to the surface. She burst into tears then buried her head into his chest and whispered, "I missed you so much...so much....."

Naruto wore a small smile and said, "Me too..."

After a short pause, he looked down at her then said, "I missed that pink hair..." After he said that, Sakura let out a small smile. He continued in a softer voice and said, "Those green eyes..." to which Sakura wore a larger smile. He paused for a second, then let out a small chuckle and said, "That huge forehead..."

Sakura let out another tear-filled chuckle as she kept her head buried between his chest and shoulder. She gave him a small nudge and said, "Baka..." (Idiot)

Naruto smiled and said, "Maybe...but I'm your baka..."

Sakura smiled as she dug her head into his chest and said, "You're my baka..."

Kakashi smiled then dropped his headband back down over his Sharingan and said, "Finally..."

The two had been sitting next to each other for a little when Naruto said, "I think I completely failed to do my job..."

Sakura let out a small sniffle then looked at him inquisitively and said, "What job?"

Naruto looked at her leg then started laughing and said, "You still haven't healed yourself..."

She looked at her leg then started giggling and said, "I didn't even notice..." She was so happy that the two of them were finally back on good terms that she forgot why he'd originally sat down by her.

After the two had finished laughing, she placed her hands over the wound and started healing it. Her chest was already in much better shape than earlier. Whatever Naruto did had considerably sped up the healing process.

After she had been healing herself for a few minutes, Naruto helped her to her feet. As she rose to her feet, Naruto noticed that she had a very noticeable limp. He looked at her with a little concern and said, "Are you gonna be ok to walk?..."

She wore a pained smile and said, "Yeah, I'll be fine..."

Naruto paused for a second then smiled and stepped in front of her. He cast her one of his trademark grins and said, "Why don't we try this." as he lifted her onto his back.

Sakura's cheeks turned a light pink as she let out a small giggle at his brazen attitude. It was Naruto alright. She rested her head on his shoulder and said, "I probably shouldn't walk on it anyway..."

Kakashi let out a small smile as he looked at the two, then said, "Let's not forget him..." as he looked down to Hikan.

Naruto looked at him and said, "Right..." After a short pause, he looked over his back to Sakura then back to Kakashi and said, "My back is taken..."

Kakashi dropped his eyes and said, "No."

Naruto looked back to Sakura then the two of them started giggling. Naruto turned back to Kakashi and said, "I'm just kidding Sensei...I got him." He walked over to them and used a chakra arm to grab hold of Hikan, then created a Kurama avatar and started taking them back to Konoha.

As the group arrived at Konoha's main gate, Naruto's Kurama avatar slowly started to disappear. Tsunade, Sasuke, Sai, Konohamaru and the other members of the Konoha 11 were standing there waiting for them to return.

As the Kurama avatar fully disappeared, Kakashi stepped onto solid ground, followed by Naruto who was still carrying Sakura. Naruto used the chakra arm to hold an unconscious Hikan in front of Tsunade. He let out a content smirk and said, "We got him."

Tsunade wore a satisfied smile and said, "Good."

After examining Hikan for a moment, she looked at Naruto then cast him and Sakura an inquisitive glance as she raised an eyebrow.

Naruto sheepishly said, "Sakura-chan was injured...She couldn't really walk so I just carried her. Don't worry, she'll be fine..." Tsunade looked at Sakura who was now carefully avoiding her gaze. She smirked and said, "I'm sure she will..." She examined Sakura and noticed the healing wound just below her chest. It had been patched up, but she needed more proper care. She looked at her and said, "You'll definitely have to get that taken care of..." She turned to Naruto and said, "Since you've brought her this far, I assume you can also bring her to the hospital..."

Naruto smiled and said, "No sweat."

Tsunade looked at Hikan and said, "And when you're done, bring him to the police HQ that wasn't destroyed. We'll hold him there until the Shinobi Union figures out what to do with him."

Naruto nodded and said, "Got it."

Sasuke walked up to him and said, "Looks like you were right after all." He nodded towards Hikan and said, "We saw his broadcast."

Naruto smiled and said, "So you saw his plan fail miserably..."

Sasuke smirked and said, "Every second of it..."

After a moment had passed, Sasuke looked at Sakura as she was on Naruto's back. She was avoiding looking at him too. He looked back at Naruto and gave a small eye squint. Naruto dropped his eyes and said, "Shut up, Teme..."

Sasuke wore a small smirk then shrugged and said, "I didn't say anything..." as he turned around.

Naruto turned around and silently said, "He doesn't even have to say anything to get on my nerves..." Sakura smiled and said, "That's why he's Sasuke." Naruto thought about it for a second then shrugged and said, "I guess you're right..." He decided to at least greet everyone else present before going to the hospital and Konoha P.D.

As Naruto started talking to everyone else, they all made crafty remarks about how close him and Sakura were. Everyone except for Sai, who was a lot more direct. It was all in good fun though.

As Sasuke watched them he stepped over to Kakashi and Tsunade then said, "Something Orochimaru used to say comes to mind..."

Kakashi turned to him and said, "What was it?"

Sasuke said, "It's human nature not to realize the true value of something-"

Tsunade smirked and said, "-unless they lose it..."

Sasuke nodded and said, "Yeah...I think that's true for both of them..."

Kakashi looked at Naruto and everyone else then said, "I think that's one of the few places where I'd agree with him..."

Author's Note

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