I am alive and doing fine, things could be better. I just had the urge to finish this chapter, it has been a bit of a slog to write and I am sorry if this comes across in my writing too. I am also about halfway through the next chapter which will be a lot shorter than this one.

Thank you for reading this monstrosity and bearing with me through all my extended breaks. Not long left until the end.

PS Sorry for the story getting dark, just preparing you guys. Remember no one is safe.

Thank you for the all the follow, favourites, alerts, and reviews.

Also no beta we die like men.

Naruto= flash back

'Naruto' is thoughts/thinking

"Naruto"signing/sign language

"Naruto" speaking.

"Naruto" Demon

" Naruto"is demon enhanced.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto just some DVDs and games.

Chapter 54 – The price of being a ninja.

Konoha general hospital had seen a lot more patients since the failed invasion. They were accustomed to shinobi being brought in, patched up and escaping out of a window.

There were two wings of the hospital shinobi and civilian. Nearly all the medics in the hospital were shinobi so when something major happened their resources were often pulled away to deal with the shinobi side of the hospital. It was a point of contention for the civilian doctors. Especially if one Naruto Uzumaki was involved.

Doctor Yori Takumi was one of the civilian doctors and the only doctor who was willing to heal Naruto. He had developed quite a bond with his young patient and would often be called out at the oddest times to deal with Naruto's injuries, not that there were usually many. Not after Lady Sarutobi had all but adopted the young boy that was.

And yet he was getting old, now that Lady Tsunade was back in the village he hoped the hospital would flourish, he knew Naruto had wanted to make changes and improvements, something about a trauma centre to help those that could no longer continue in their ninja duties.

It had been only a few days ago that the young man called Rock Lee had been in that category. Then Tsunade had found a way to increase the odds of success. He recalled some of the younger medics being in awe of her prowess. He had walked past the room the young man had been moved to after his appointment and spotted the bottle of sake left next to the bed. He had frowned at that if the patient mistook the bottle for their medication. He suppressed a cough as he left the hospital the cool evening air causing him discomfort.

(Line)

Kotetsu and Izumo had been there when the Sasuke retrieval team embarked, they had watched as Naruto had promised his recently scarred teammate that he would try to bring Sasuke back. They had been the ones that had brought it to Tsunade's attention. They had also seen the grim look on Naruto's face as he stood there with a chuunin flak jacket and listened intently to Shikamaru. They had also been on duty when Kakashi appeared summoning his hounds and raced after Naruto. They had been there at the beginning it was only fitting that they were there at the end.

It had been early morning when the team had set out, early evening when Kakashi had jumped the gates and almost half an hour after him the two teams of medics had been dispatched. Now it was late in the evening and members of the medic teams were returning, some were covered in more blood than others. The Sand siblings had arrived separately, each attached to a medic team after the first rather clean medic team had arrived.

In fact, the first medic team had been rather clean but their chakra had been spiking dangerously as they rushed past a scarf trailing behind them. The next medic team had a lot of blood covering their uniforms and they could just make out the long brown hair as they guessed Neji Hyuuga was brought back into the village. They next to appear was a medic team escorting Kiba, Akamaru and Kankuro, they rushed past with a lot less blood than the previous team. Eventually, Shikamaru and Temari where escorted into the village with clearly no blood loose at all. An hour later Gaara, who was floating on a cloud of sand, was escorted by more medic ninjas, he looked exhausted which was an odd look to see on his face. They were not sure if someone was with him on that cloud, but the medics seemed overly angry at someone. That left Naruto and Kakashi.

It began to rain, rain was not usually a good thing, it washed away scent and tracks. But it often reflected the mood of the village. It had rained at Cat's funeral, and had not stopped for days after that, the same torrential downpour that had broken a young blonde's heart. It had rained when Lady Sarutobi had died too. The sky had grown bleaker the closer it had come to the third's funeral before finally the sky had opened as though it too was in mourning with the village. An ominous feeling settled over the front desk.

(Line)

Tsunade was knee deep in research, she had not expected the team to come back quite like how it had and as far as she knew Naruto was still not back. Choji was in bad shape, no Akimichi had taken all three pills and lived. His body weight had more than halved in the space of a few minutes. The strain on his chakra system was immense. They had managed to keep him in a somewhat stable condition which had allowed Tsunade the time to research the ingredients and effects of the pill. She called out for a Nara deer antler and began making an antidote.

Shizune had taken a team of twelve medics with her when Neji Hyuuga was brought in, the gapping hole in his chest had just missed his heart but the superior venae cavae had been nicked. He had lost nearly forty percent of his blood. The medics that had brought him in had managed to slow the spread of shock that his body was falling into.

Neji was in the centre of a very large seal. It was a single circle of seals, with a large square inside littered with seals. There were more circles inside the square a few triangles and a huge four-pointed star that bisected the square. Each piece of the seal was drawn inwards and was the only thing keeping Neji alive. His long hair was sprawled behind him on the floor. A chunk of hair had been cut and was lying just above the gaping hole in his shoulder. The team of medics had been working for hours to maintain the flow of chakra. The medics had been switching in and out to preserve chakra. A switch was occurring as Shizune chose to speak.

"Although we are using this child's hair as a medium, please don't make a mistake in the cell ratio of the damaged part! Every strand must be affected by the chakra control!"

"Yes!" each medic agreed.

Slowly the hair entangled with the gaping wound in Neji's shoulder, a small sound escapes him as the wound begins to bind with the strands of hair, added by the precision of the seal.

(Line)

The walls outside the operating rooms are lined with benches. Shikamaru sits facing Temari but his eyes are vacant. They had been sat here since they were escorted into the hospital. He was still dirty and roughed up from his battle. His index finger wrapped into a splint. He had found out very quickly that Neji and Choji were already at the hospital, they were alive but both were in critical condition, his hands shook when he heard that. "Come back safe," echoed in his mind. They were alive but were they safe is this what Naruto meant? He barely glanced up as Kankuro joined his sister on the bench. He overheard that Kiba and Akamaru are being treated in the hospital, that Kiba was wrapped up in bandages like a mummy. He lets a heavy sigh escape him as his knee begins to bounce. Only Naruto is left to come back. His hands twitch.

Temari snorts, pulling Shikamaru away from his inner thoughts. "There's no use in fidgeting. What will be will be." She sighs, "sacrifice is an inevitable part of missions; didn't you receive emotion training?"

"I know that, it was my first mission as leader, he had so much faith in me, and I feel like I let him down." He dropped his head into his hands.

Kankuro and Temari shared a look.

"Let who down?" Kankuro asked.

"Naruto." Shikamaru replied. "The team. Everybody. They trusted me. I didn't have enough strength, its all my fault." He gripped his head tighter.

"Are you afraid of being hurt?" Temari asked

"No, getting hurt is part of life. But he always tells us to come back safe. Is this safe? Is this what he means? To come back alive, even barely? Is that safe?" Shikamaru struggled through his emotions.

Shikaku felt torn listening to his son's turmoil. It was not what he expected to be going through his mind. He stepped out from around the corner as the rain started to pelt against the windows. He walked over steadily and crouched in front of his son.

"Naruto hates the thought of losing people when he means safe. He means for you to come home. Naruto trusted you, every member of your team trusted you. Think of this as a learning experience, without you, your teammates might have had a completely different outcome." Shikaku looked up at his son from his crouched position.

"But I wasn't strong enough." Shikamaru whimpered tears flowing down his face.

"Then you get stronger, and you don't let this happen again." Shikaku reached a hand out to his son.

"You guys spend far too much time around that blonde." Temari huffed a smirk in place as she looked at Kankuro.

Suddenly the door opened and Tsunade stepped out. She flopped down onto the bench next to Shikamaru. All eyes flickered to her.

"It's alright. The continuous cell destruction effect of the pills were stopped by an antidote that I put together. This time he was saved, and it was a success. I used a special drug mixing manual from the Nara clan. There were some serious things in that. The result of continual study?" she questioned the elder Nara.

"Tsunade sama!"

All eyes turned down the hallway were Shizune appeared.

"Hyuuga Neji. His wound has been reduced and he is in a stable condition. Also, I was informed that Gaara has returned with Rock Lee and both have sustained no injuries. Lee is resting in his room and has taken his medicine."

Gaara walked around the corner a frown on his face as he pushed a hand to his head. The two sand siblings rose to meet him.

"We should head back home," Temari commented.

Gaara shook his head, "We need to wait until Naruto arrives. I need to know he's okay."

The corridor fell into a sombre mood.

The sombre mood was shattered when two ANBU, wearing an ox and boar mask, appeared in the corridor, they walked over to Tsunade and kneeled, heads bowed. She stood and summoned them and Shikaku into a vacant room. When the door closed the ox masked ANBU held out a blood-stained raccoon ANBU mask.

"Where's Konohamaru?" Tsunade asked.

"This was all that was left in the room Lady Fifth," Boar answered.

The door banged open.

"Lady Tsunade come quick! Kakashi has returned with Naruto! It doesn't look good!" Shizune barged into the room.

"Shikaku…" Tsunade turned her head to the head jounin.

"We'll find Konohamaru," he nodded.

She darted out of the room, following the frantic Shizune. His eyes darted to the young shinobi stood outside the two operating theatres. Where was Shikamaru?

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