Chapter 15
Just a reviewer I need to explain a few things to.
Perverted-senin: I appreciate your comment but I think I need to explain a few things so you can have a more appropriate understanding of the story. First, your comment made me believe that I haven't fully explained Janus's drive in the previous chapters. That is my mistake, and I apologize. So, I would like to explain it now then. He has been in Naruto's shadow his entire life. Naruto has always given him a hand up in everything. So, as such, he has a similar struggle to be recognized by Naruto as Naruto is to Sasuke. It happens when you are the younger brother of twins. Oh, at least that's how everyone knows him as. Until he joined Team 8, the only person who recognized Janus for the person he is the Third because of the Third finding him in the ruins of the battle with the Kyubi. Everyone else, even Iruka saw him as only Naruto's little brother. And, as such, not as important as him and as the brother to the Kyubi, someone to pity. This is why the Third didn't kill him strait off when he read the Scroll of Seals or in giving him a collection of the fuuinjutsus that he knows. It was because it was something that set him aside from Naruto, made him special and unique.
Next, his chakra amount and ability to open the gates. Before he was retrieved back to the world of Naruto, his real father left him with a shinobi caretaker who taught him taijutsu and only taijutsu because it could be mistaken for a simple martial art. When his uncle came to the dimension he was staying in with a bloodline limit that Janus didn't inherit, which is why he was sent away instead of kept around, he fought him because he threatened his friends in that world. Being taught only taijutsu by his sensei in that dimension, opening the first gate would give him the ability to defeat anyone else in that chakra less dimension to protect the people he cared for. Which is also why, because his friends were threatened, he was able to open all eight to defeat his uncle. The bloodline limit, which I will probably mention in more detail later in the stories, when you travel between dimensions you have been before, you return the age you arrived in that world. Since Janus left Naruto's dimension as an infant, he returned as an infant. But imagine the effect of returning being an infant with all eight of the Celestial gates open? Infants are known to be susceptible to more viruses and bacterial, but they also don't last as long as when older and they also heal faster with the proper care. So, I assumed the reason no one can open all eight gates is at the time you should be able to open then, your body has developed too much to be able to repair the damage it causes to your system. But, as an infant, with the proper care, it is possible to survive and even adapt to using the eight gates which is why he can open them now that he knows about them. Janus didn't know about the gates before because Forbidden Jutsus are only passed by word of mouth or ancient scrolls that are kept in secret places, protected by powerful people. And Janus isn't going to be able even be able to spin the chakra correctly for years, like the Third and Jiraiya. Naruto's mind is so random he can grasp and control his chakra randomly that way. How else can he control thousands of clones at the same time?
Also, have you noticed that everyone in the series in one way or another seems to powerful for their own good? The Third was powerful but loses because of being old and out of practice. Kakashi is powerful but loses because of the Sharingan drain and more powerful Sharingan users. Orochimaru is powerful but loses because he is too proud and overconfident in his own abilities. Naruto is powerful but loses because if trying to hard. Itachi is powerful but loses because of the high level Sharingan abilities drain too much. Janus is powerful but he loses by over judging his opponents (using too much chakra). Yes, the Deflection Shield no Jutsu is powerful because it looks intimidating and deflects normal weapons but only one person hasn't judged in as so week to not use anything but normal weapons against it. Zaku has been the only one to use ninjutsu against it and he was weak because of having broken arms. That and after the first blow, Janus tried everything he could to avoid it. Genjutsu that affects multiple senses would affect Janus while the Deflection Shield is up. Ninjutsu pummeling the shield will drain Janus's chakra to fast and weaken him quickly. Taijutsu is the only skills that the Deflection Shield is super strong against. It's just that nobody up to now has thought he was worth the effort of actually wasting chakra on. That is why he was so afraid when he heard Kabuto mention a weapon that could penetrate his shield. So, if this all isn't enough of an explanation, then you don't have to read my story. It's your choice. The only reason I believe I'm killing the Naruto story is because I'm only telling the story from the first person view of someone not originally in the story. Try to write a story from the first person and explain all of this stuff at the same time and you will understand how hard it is to explain it and keep how everyone sees your character in your mind. If you have any other criticisms on how I'm writing my story, mention them in specifics and I will try to explain them or if they are justified, I will go and change them. Thank you.
This is my story and even though no one else might like reading it, I'm enjoying writing it.
I opened my eyes. I saw a familiar ceiling above me. I'm in the Konoha hospital. I turned my head to the left side. The door out was open. I turned it to my right side and saw a figure staring out the window. I recognized the dark hair and jacket immediately.
"What brings you here, Hinata?" I asked. She turned around shocked.
"Janus-kun!" She ran over next to my bed. "You're away, I'm glad." She said relieved. She pushed a call nurse button. "Are you feeling alright? Can I get you anything?" I chuckled, feeling the muscles in my chest ache a little.
"I'm fine, just a little sore. How long have I been out?" A team of nurses came in the door followed by a doctor. I turned to look at them and they all nodded. Everyone left but a doctor and a nurse who came up to my left side.
"Good afternoon, Janus-san. I was afraid that you had past the point of no return on us." I looked at him confused. "You've been in a coma for three weeks. We were afraid that we didn't get you into treatment in time. Luckily for you that Tsunade-sama was traveling with you." He checked my pulse as the nurse went around to the right side of the bed to check my blood pressure. I tried to lift my arm but it was weighted down with something.
"Allow me, Janus-kun." Hinata lifted up my arm supporting my wrist and my elbow. I sighed. I've never felt this helpless before. Then I saw what was weighting my hand down.
"I'm still holding onto Orochimaru's sword?" All three of them looked at me.
"According to Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama, you've never let it go and they couldn't pry it out of your hand." The doctor said, putting down my left arm. He started checking my eyes out. "You're eyes are slightly dilated. Hinata-chan, please close the curtain and dim the lights." Hinata nodded and proceeded to follow the doctor's direction.
"Tell me, what of Naruto? Is he alright? And Sasuke and Kakashi? Was Tsunade able to heal them?" The nurse and the doctor looked at each other.
"I think it's better for Tsunade-sama to tell you. She finished with Rock Lee's operation a few hours ago and should be rested enough by now. She asked to be summoned as soon as you showed up." At that moment, Tsunade walked through the door. The doctor and nurse stood up, bowed, and handed her a clipboard.
"Thank you." The nurse and the doctor left. Hinata had returned to my bedside and Tsunade came up next to her.
"Hinata-chan, would you mind waiting outside for a little bit? There are some things I need to talk to Janus about."
"Alright, Hokage-sama." Hinata bowed and left.
"So, I see you took the job after all, Tsunade." I chuckled but quickly stopped to groan from pain.
"I see that you still haven't fully healed, I guess that's understandable. I was surprised you survived impact." I opened my mouth to speak but was blocked by Tsunade's hand. "I know you have questions and I think I know what most of them are. I will try to explain all of the ones I know of and you can ask any others when I'm finished." I nodded.
"First, we did win the fight. Orochimaru and Kabuto got away, but they were both injured severely. Orochimaru was quite angry at you for taking Kusanagi from him." I tilted my head, curiously. "The sword, Janus. Anyways somehow we prevailed against them and headed back. I was so relieved to find you alive after you impacted in the ground, even only barely. I assume it was because of your Deflection Shield absorbing a majority of the impact. We rushed back to Konoha as fast as we could to get you proper treatment. Jiraiya carried you until Naruto healed enough to carry you himself. We actually had to tell him to stop to rest he was in so much of a rush.
"When we returned, we put you in this room and got you round the clock medical attention until you stabilized. Also, as soon as Hinata heard about your injuries, she has come here everyday to help take care of you. She is going to be quite a good medical nin someday. Another thing, it might be my own personal thoughts on the matter but I think something might be developing between Hinata and Naruto." I smiled at that comment.
"I'm glad that my getting injured this badly finally gave them the opportunity to get to know each other better." Tsunade looked at me slyly.
"You knew they liked each other?"
"Well, I knew that Hinata liked Naruto and that Naruto would really enjoy being with someone like Hinata. In the past, I've so wanted to go and hit him and tell him that Sakura wouldn't ever feel that way about him Hinata feels but Hinata always stopped me. I guess she just had to wait until she was ready herself."
"I understand. Speaking of Naruto, he left this morning on a mission with Shikamaru, Neji, Kiba, and Chouji."
"What? A new chuunin leaving on a mission with an all-star team of genin? Why wasn't Sasuke picked on that mission as well?" Tsunade lowered her head.
"They are pursuing Sasuke, that's why." I gasped. "His Cursed Seal has drawn him to Orochimaru. Shikamaru and his team were the only people who I could spare for the mission." I struggled to sit up. "No, you're in no condition to go and help them. If I had my choice then I would have restrained Lee so that he couldn't go and follow them. And yes, before you asked, I preformed an operation on Lee earlier today and was able to fix his arm and leg. He won't be back to one hundred percent for a few months, but he will be able to recover."
"So, Sasuke betrayed us. How come nobody told me about this Cursed Seal of his? I saw it before the preliminaries but that was it."
"We talked about it but Sasuke would never let you look at it. We do know that you are the most likely person to find a way to remove it but it would take years of study and Sasuke wouldn't put up with that."
"Let me guess, getting beat by Itachi pushed it over the edge, right?" Tsunade nodded. "So, when do I start my rehabilitation?"
"Right away, if you'd like. If you take it slowly I'm sure you can handle it. Why?"
"Because I want to meet them at the gate when they get back." Tsunade looked at me and nodded. She helped me stand up. I release put the Kusanagi into a sheath she provided me and slung it over my shoulders once I was dressed. I took the crunches she offered me and slowly walking towards the gate.
I spotted some figures approaching in the distance. A handful of ANBU were sent off after them around four o'clock when they had returned from their mission. It was approaching dusk. I stood up from the chair I was sitting in. Hinata, Sakura, Ino, Tsunade, and a good number of the family members of the team stood up as well. Tsunade ran towards them and a collection of medical nins followed. Hinata rushed up to and I slowly limped forward on my crunches. Everyone else followed to see if their family members were alright. I watched as Neji, Chouji, and Kiba were quickly rushed by the medical nins into town. I kept walking. I noticed that Sakura and Ino were flanking me as I slowly walked towards the approaching ninjas. Three of the figures separated themselves from the group. I noticed that they all had something unusual strapped to their backs. I recognized the one in the middle because of her blond hair and the fan on her back.
"Temari-chan..." I stopped for a second as she came over with her brothers. She kissed me gently on the cheek.
"We can talk later. There is someone else you need to see." I nodded and continued walking. I saw Shikamaru slowly walked away from the group, his hand bandaged. Ino walked over to him and offered to help him inside. He accepted without his normal lack of enthusiasm. Lee came out next, smiling upon seeing Sakura but that smile quickly faded. He moved over and walked inside with Gai and Ten Ten. I kept walking towards the last two stretchers. The ANBU stood were guarding the one to the left. That's probably Sasuke.
Tsunade stood up from the checking him up and the ANBU picked the stretcher up and headed inside. Sakura moved to follow him but I shifted my weight and stuck my crutch in front of her path. She looked at me and I just shook my head. She her eyes dropped to the ground. I looked at the battle wounds on Sasuke. He had cuts streaming across his body, a majority of his clothing was shredded and he had a few charred marks on his limbs. From what I saw of him, his body was covered in strange black markings. So that's what the Cursed Seal does.
I continued walking towards the stretcher that I knew held Naruto. Hinata was hunched over him next to Tsunade. They had picked up the stretcher by the time I made it over to him.
"Naruto..." I looked down at him. He had a hole in his left lung with singe marks surrounding it. He turned weakly and looked at me.
"I see you've awakened. I wanted to tell you I mastered the Rasengan." He cringed in pain.
"I knew you would, Naruto. And if you did what I think you did, I will never be able to beat you now. I guess I'm doomed to be in your shadow forever then." Naruto opened his eyes wide.
"Is that how you've thought you were to me? You're my little brother. It's my job to protect you and teach you. I know I'm not much older but I've never seen you in my shadow, Janus." Tears started swelling in our eyes. "I know that if left to your own devices, you would do nothing but read. I think I must have pushed you into the life of a shinobi to hard. You never wanted to be one. I just wanted to two of us to be able to stand up proud and protect the people we love together, but I guess I..."
"Just stop, Naruto, stop. I was the one at fault. I thought I could experience the world as much as I ever wanted by simply reading books. But I was wrong. You pushed me to be a shinobi and I don't regret it now. I know that I will never be as talented as you. I just wanted to be able to proudly fight beside you. I've never done that. I've seen you try so hard to fulfill your dreams and all I've ever done is getting in your way and get myself hurt in the process."
"I guess we both have our own problems. Want to work them out together?" I smiled and slowly grabbed his hand by the wrist as he grabbed mine.
"It's a deal, brother." With that, we slowly walked into town, Naruto in his stretcher and me on my crutches.
I woke up the next day back in my hospital bed. I slowly sat up and looked around the room. The sky was still dark outside. I slid my legs over and tried to stand up. After a couple of minutes of trying, I grabbed my churches and used them. I walked out of the room into the hall. The walls were silent. I seemed to be moving faster than I was the day before, which I felt was a good sign. I passed the nurses station and waved. The started to stand up to help me but I waved them off. They sighed and sat back down. A few minutes latter I was on top of the hospital, sitting on a bench, waiting for the sun to crest over the horizon.
"Do you watch sunrises now?" I turned to see Gaara standing next to the bench. I looked him curiously. "I've followed Temari and seen your standing, watching the sunset around the Chuunin Exam. At the time, I could do all I could not to kill you at that moment. However, I'm not sure why I had that urge instead of just doing it and I don't know what stopped me too." I laughed.
"It's because Temari's your sister." Gaara turned towards me. "I guess that, even though you seemed so cold hearted, you are human after all."
"I don't understand. How..."
"Don't worry yourself to much about it. Nobody ever knows how to interpret their feelings about siblings. I know that quite often I hate Naruto so much I want to bash his face through three or four buildings. Other times, I have nothing but pride for him and his accomplishments. It's just something you have to learn to live with, Gaara. Now quiet, it's about to happen." We both turned in time to watch the sun rise over the Hokage Monument, casting shadows across the town. I sighed.
"I still don't understand why seeing the sunrise and sunset can be such an emotional thing for people."
"Well, I'm not sure either but one way to look at it is metaphorically. The sun sets every day, either ushering in painful or harsh times on life, yet it raises every morning, meaning that no matter how bad something is, the sun always returns." I stopped there and looked over at Gaara. In the morning light, he looked kind of like a lost soul who finally found his place in the light of the new day.
"Interesting. I will think on this. Thank you, Janus. Tell you brother that I wish to speak with him later, alright?" I nodded, accepting Gaara's assignment. His body blew away in the slight wind of the morning.
"Ok, I wish I could turn my body to sand and do that; that just looked awesome!" I stood up and took a deep breath. I slowly walked back into the hospital. It was still early, so I started wandering the halls. I walked by the critical care wing and saw a room with Neji still inside. The walls outside were covered with sleeping, worried members of the Hyuuga clan. I guess they want to support the pride of their clan.
I continued walking. I soon heard an unfamiliar growl followed by a very familiar bark. I walked around the corner to be greeted by Akamaru. I sat in a nearby chair to rest for a bit as he jumped up onto my lap and I started to pet him. He wasn't favoring his left front leg but other than that he seemed fine. The door to Kiba's room opened revealing his mother. I looked up and smiled towards her. She smiled back, mouthing the words 'thank you' before returning inside. I stayed there for a couple minutes longer before I got back up to continue my walk.
The hospital had started to get busier, nurses running around giving some patients their early morning medicines before their shifts ended and the like. I left the critical ward. I had been told Chouji had been moved after giving him some emergency nutrient supplements. I into his room. I saw his parents in the corner cuddled up next to each other. I smiled at that as I walked up next to Chouji. Wow, I would have never imagined that Chouji would look like that after turning all the fat in his body into chakra. I left quietly and moved next door to check on Shikamaru.
I walked inside to see that Shikamaru was awake and was playing shoji with his dad. I chuckled slightly until Shikamaru looked at me sternly and shushed me. It was then that I noticed the sleeping form of Ino curled up next to him. I had to struggle to maintain my laughter.
"How troublesome..." I heard Shikamaru whisper as I quickly closed the door and left the room. I walked through a lobby as I was changing floors and I saw Lee and Gai outside. I looked out the window as Gai looked up at me. He gave me his 'big grin, thumbs up' pose and I sighed and ducked my head. Well, Lee has the best guy he can for his rehabilitation. I walked into the elevator and went up another floor.
I walked into Naruto's room three sit down and rest breaks later. Why did Naruto have to have his room so far away from everyone else? I looked at the room. Most of the rooms I had seen so far had several baskets of flowers or more around the room. This one only had one small sunflower and a daffodil in a small vase on a table by Naruto's head. At least those two flowers had more meaning than all the rest of the flowers in the rest of the guys' rooms. The daffodil was from Sakura thanking him for bringing Sasuke back. The sunflower was from Hinata. Speaking of Hinata, I looked down at her. She was sitting in a chair next to Naruto's bed, holding his hand and using his chest for a pillow. That has got to be the most uncomfortable way to sleep ever. She then turned her head towards me with the most content smile I had ever seen on her. I wrote a quick note to Naruto about Gaara wanting to see him and left.
I made it back to my room at about eight thirty. I was tired. But the walk was good for me. I had gone from using two crutches to barely needing one. My legs were more tired than after tree climbing with Naruto but the ache also felt good. I dropped my crutches and hap-hazardly fell onto my bed. I heard an 'eep' coming from the bed below me and something soft I was pushing into on my left side. I looked up at the pillow to see Temari glaring at me.
"Pervert," She said, hitting me with a pillow. "Couldn't you look before flopping into bed?"
"I never needed to before. So, are you telling me that I'm going to start to find you in my bed from now on, Temari-chan?" I'm going it for that one.
"Pervert, pervert, pervert!" She said, beating me with the pillow blushing crimson. I smiled to myself. It was so perfect I couldn't not. Eventually she stopped and I looked back up from my fetal position to receive another pillow blow to my face. "And that is for not being here when I came by this morning."
"I needed to go take a walk. Besides, after you sleep for three weeks strait you can't really sleep for as much as you normally do. That and I also haven't had any solid food during that time." I took off my new sword.
"You've been sleeping for the past three weeks? Naruto mentioned something about it after we took and tied Sasuke up yesterday but nothing more than that. And where did you get that sword?"
"Yeah, I was involved in a fight with Kabuto and Orochimaru. I stole the sword from him and fell into a coma from damage to my body. I only just woke up yesterday. So, what have you been up to since our fight?" Temari dropped her head.
"I'm sorry I didn't stay behind. Kankuro found me and broke seal on your net and I was able to get away. He wanted to kill you but I wouldn't let him. We rescued Gaara and retreated back to our village. A few days later we found out that Orochimaru had killed my father and taken his place before the finals. Gaara was actually kind of pleased. He had never had a good relationship with daddy." A tear fell onto the bed. "Anyways, we did some training and went out on a few patrols while the council was choosing a new Kazekage. Once they did we immediately filed for peace with Konoha and declared war on Sound. We assumed that Jiraiya would be named the next Hokage. But we were surprised to find out that Tsunade was found and appointed the new Hokage. So, as part of the new peace, Sand decided to send some of is shinobi to help Konoha deal with some of its missions and rebuilding process. Kankuro, Gaara, and I were the first team to come due to the fact that Gaara had something to talk to Naruto about and nobody wanted to tell him no. And that's how we're here, after a quick stop helping your friends defeat some Sound Nins that were helping Sasuke escape."
"Sounds like you've had a pretty boring time the last six weeks. But I would have liked to have that instead." She giggled as we rearranged how we were laying on the bed. We ended up sitting up on the bed with our backs to the wall.
"I'm just glad that things will be getting back to normal now, Janus- kun." My mind quickly flashed to the looks on Sasuke's, Orochimaru's, and Itachi's faces. I shuddered.
"No, you're wrong. Things won't ever be the same again."
Just a reviewer I need to explain a few things to.
Perverted-senin: I appreciate your comment but I think I need to explain a few things so you can have a more appropriate understanding of the story. First, your comment made me believe that I haven't fully explained Janus's drive in the previous chapters. That is my mistake, and I apologize. So, I would like to explain it now then. He has been in Naruto's shadow his entire life. Naruto has always given him a hand up in everything. So, as such, he has a similar struggle to be recognized by Naruto as Naruto is to Sasuke. It happens when you are the younger brother of twins. Oh, at least that's how everyone knows him as. Until he joined Team 8, the only person who recognized Janus for the person he is the Third because of the Third finding him in the ruins of the battle with the Kyubi. Everyone else, even Iruka saw him as only Naruto's little brother. And, as such, not as important as him and as the brother to the Kyubi, someone to pity. This is why the Third didn't kill him strait off when he read the Scroll of Seals or in giving him a collection of the fuuinjutsus that he knows. It was because it was something that set him aside from Naruto, made him special and unique.
Next, his chakra amount and ability to open the gates. Before he was retrieved back to the world of Naruto, his real father left him with a shinobi caretaker who taught him taijutsu and only taijutsu because it could be mistaken for a simple martial art. When his uncle came to the dimension he was staying in with a bloodline limit that Janus didn't inherit, which is why he was sent away instead of kept around, he fought him because he threatened his friends in that world. Being taught only taijutsu by his sensei in that dimension, opening the first gate would give him the ability to defeat anyone else in that chakra less dimension to protect the people he cared for. Which is also why, because his friends were threatened, he was able to open all eight to defeat his uncle. The bloodline limit, which I will probably mention in more detail later in the stories, when you travel between dimensions you have been before, you return the age you arrived in that world. Since Janus left Naruto's dimension as an infant, he returned as an infant. But imagine the effect of returning being an infant with all eight of the Celestial gates open? Infants are known to be susceptible to more viruses and bacterial, but they also don't last as long as when older and they also heal faster with the proper care. So, I assumed the reason no one can open all eight gates is at the time you should be able to open then, your body has developed too much to be able to repair the damage it causes to your system. But, as an infant, with the proper care, it is possible to survive and even adapt to using the eight gates which is why he can open them now that he knows about them. Janus didn't know about the gates before because Forbidden Jutsus are only passed by word of mouth or ancient scrolls that are kept in secret places, protected by powerful people. And Janus isn't going to be able even be able to spin the chakra correctly for years, like the Third and Jiraiya. Naruto's mind is so random he can grasp and control his chakra randomly that way. How else can he control thousands of clones at the same time?
Also, have you noticed that everyone in the series in one way or another seems to powerful for their own good? The Third was powerful but loses because of being old and out of practice. Kakashi is powerful but loses because of the Sharingan drain and more powerful Sharingan users. Orochimaru is powerful but loses because he is too proud and overconfident in his own abilities. Naruto is powerful but loses because if trying to hard. Itachi is powerful but loses because of the high level Sharingan abilities drain too much. Janus is powerful but he loses by over judging his opponents (using too much chakra). Yes, the Deflection Shield no Jutsu is powerful because it looks intimidating and deflects normal weapons but only one person hasn't judged in as so week to not use anything but normal weapons against it. Zaku has been the only one to use ninjutsu against it and he was weak because of having broken arms. That and after the first blow, Janus tried everything he could to avoid it. Genjutsu that affects multiple senses would affect Janus while the Deflection Shield is up. Ninjutsu pummeling the shield will drain Janus's chakra to fast and weaken him quickly. Taijutsu is the only skills that the Deflection Shield is super strong against. It's just that nobody up to now has thought he was worth the effort of actually wasting chakra on. That is why he was so afraid when he heard Kabuto mention a weapon that could penetrate his shield. So, if this all isn't enough of an explanation, then you don't have to read my story. It's your choice. The only reason I believe I'm killing the Naruto story is because I'm only telling the story from the first person view of someone not originally in the story. Try to write a story from the first person and explain all of this stuff at the same time and you will understand how hard it is to explain it and keep how everyone sees your character in your mind. If you have any other criticisms on how I'm writing my story, mention them in specifics and I will try to explain them or if they are justified, I will go and change them. Thank you.
This is my story and even though no one else might like reading it, I'm enjoying writing it.
I opened my eyes. I saw a familiar ceiling above me. I'm in the Konoha hospital. I turned my head to the left side. The door out was open. I turned it to my right side and saw a figure staring out the window. I recognized the dark hair and jacket immediately.
"What brings you here, Hinata?" I asked. She turned around shocked.
"Janus-kun!" She ran over next to my bed. "You're away, I'm glad." She said relieved. She pushed a call nurse button. "Are you feeling alright? Can I get you anything?" I chuckled, feeling the muscles in my chest ache a little.
"I'm fine, just a little sore. How long have I been out?" A team of nurses came in the door followed by a doctor. I turned to look at them and they all nodded. Everyone left but a doctor and a nurse who came up to my left side.
"Good afternoon, Janus-san. I was afraid that you had past the point of no return on us." I looked at him confused. "You've been in a coma for three weeks. We were afraid that we didn't get you into treatment in time. Luckily for you that Tsunade-sama was traveling with you." He checked my pulse as the nurse went around to the right side of the bed to check my blood pressure. I tried to lift my arm but it was weighted down with something.
"Allow me, Janus-kun." Hinata lifted up my arm supporting my wrist and my elbow. I sighed. I've never felt this helpless before. Then I saw what was weighting my hand down.
"I'm still holding onto Orochimaru's sword?" All three of them looked at me.
"According to Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama, you've never let it go and they couldn't pry it out of your hand." The doctor said, putting down my left arm. He started checking my eyes out. "You're eyes are slightly dilated. Hinata-chan, please close the curtain and dim the lights." Hinata nodded and proceeded to follow the doctor's direction.
"Tell me, what of Naruto? Is he alright? And Sasuke and Kakashi? Was Tsunade able to heal them?" The nurse and the doctor looked at each other.
"I think it's better for Tsunade-sama to tell you. She finished with Rock Lee's operation a few hours ago and should be rested enough by now. She asked to be summoned as soon as you showed up." At that moment, Tsunade walked through the door. The doctor and nurse stood up, bowed, and handed her a clipboard.
"Thank you." The nurse and the doctor left. Hinata had returned to my bedside and Tsunade came up next to her.
"Hinata-chan, would you mind waiting outside for a little bit? There are some things I need to talk to Janus about."
"Alright, Hokage-sama." Hinata bowed and left.
"So, I see you took the job after all, Tsunade." I chuckled but quickly stopped to groan from pain.
"I see that you still haven't fully healed, I guess that's understandable. I was surprised you survived impact." I opened my mouth to speak but was blocked by Tsunade's hand. "I know you have questions and I think I know what most of them are. I will try to explain all of the ones I know of and you can ask any others when I'm finished." I nodded.
"First, we did win the fight. Orochimaru and Kabuto got away, but they were both injured severely. Orochimaru was quite angry at you for taking Kusanagi from him." I tilted my head, curiously. "The sword, Janus. Anyways somehow we prevailed against them and headed back. I was so relieved to find you alive after you impacted in the ground, even only barely. I assume it was because of your Deflection Shield absorbing a majority of the impact. We rushed back to Konoha as fast as we could to get you proper treatment. Jiraiya carried you until Naruto healed enough to carry you himself. We actually had to tell him to stop to rest he was in so much of a rush.
"When we returned, we put you in this room and got you round the clock medical attention until you stabilized. Also, as soon as Hinata heard about your injuries, she has come here everyday to help take care of you. She is going to be quite a good medical nin someday. Another thing, it might be my own personal thoughts on the matter but I think something might be developing between Hinata and Naruto." I smiled at that comment.
"I'm glad that my getting injured this badly finally gave them the opportunity to get to know each other better." Tsunade looked at me slyly.
"You knew they liked each other?"
"Well, I knew that Hinata liked Naruto and that Naruto would really enjoy being with someone like Hinata. In the past, I've so wanted to go and hit him and tell him that Sakura wouldn't ever feel that way about him Hinata feels but Hinata always stopped me. I guess she just had to wait until she was ready herself."
"I understand. Speaking of Naruto, he left this morning on a mission with Shikamaru, Neji, Kiba, and Chouji."
"What? A new chuunin leaving on a mission with an all-star team of genin? Why wasn't Sasuke picked on that mission as well?" Tsunade lowered her head.
"They are pursuing Sasuke, that's why." I gasped. "His Cursed Seal has drawn him to Orochimaru. Shikamaru and his team were the only people who I could spare for the mission." I struggled to sit up. "No, you're in no condition to go and help them. If I had my choice then I would have restrained Lee so that he couldn't go and follow them. And yes, before you asked, I preformed an operation on Lee earlier today and was able to fix his arm and leg. He won't be back to one hundred percent for a few months, but he will be able to recover."
"So, Sasuke betrayed us. How come nobody told me about this Cursed Seal of his? I saw it before the preliminaries but that was it."
"We talked about it but Sasuke would never let you look at it. We do know that you are the most likely person to find a way to remove it but it would take years of study and Sasuke wouldn't put up with that."
"Let me guess, getting beat by Itachi pushed it over the edge, right?" Tsunade nodded. "So, when do I start my rehabilitation?"
"Right away, if you'd like. If you take it slowly I'm sure you can handle it. Why?"
"Because I want to meet them at the gate when they get back." Tsunade looked at me and nodded. She helped me stand up. I release put the Kusanagi into a sheath she provided me and slung it over my shoulders once I was dressed. I took the crunches she offered me and slowly walking towards the gate.
I spotted some figures approaching in the distance. A handful of ANBU were sent off after them around four o'clock when they had returned from their mission. It was approaching dusk. I stood up from the chair I was sitting in. Hinata, Sakura, Ino, Tsunade, and a good number of the family members of the team stood up as well. Tsunade ran towards them and a collection of medical nins followed. Hinata rushed up to and I slowly limped forward on my crunches. Everyone else followed to see if their family members were alright. I watched as Neji, Chouji, and Kiba were quickly rushed by the medical nins into town. I kept walking. I noticed that Sakura and Ino were flanking me as I slowly walked towards the approaching ninjas. Three of the figures separated themselves from the group. I noticed that they all had something unusual strapped to their backs. I recognized the one in the middle because of her blond hair and the fan on her back.
"Temari-chan..." I stopped for a second as she came over with her brothers. She kissed me gently on the cheek.
"We can talk later. There is someone else you need to see." I nodded and continued walking. I saw Shikamaru slowly walked away from the group, his hand bandaged. Ino walked over to him and offered to help him inside. He accepted without his normal lack of enthusiasm. Lee came out next, smiling upon seeing Sakura but that smile quickly faded. He moved over and walked inside with Gai and Ten Ten. I kept walking towards the last two stretchers. The ANBU stood were guarding the one to the left. That's probably Sasuke.
Tsunade stood up from the checking him up and the ANBU picked the stretcher up and headed inside. Sakura moved to follow him but I shifted my weight and stuck my crutch in front of her path. She looked at me and I just shook my head. She her eyes dropped to the ground. I looked at the battle wounds on Sasuke. He had cuts streaming across his body, a majority of his clothing was shredded and he had a few charred marks on his limbs. From what I saw of him, his body was covered in strange black markings. So that's what the Cursed Seal does.
I continued walking towards the stretcher that I knew held Naruto. Hinata was hunched over him next to Tsunade. They had picked up the stretcher by the time I made it over to him.
"Naruto..." I looked down at him. He had a hole in his left lung with singe marks surrounding it. He turned weakly and looked at me.
"I see you've awakened. I wanted to tell you I mastered the Rasengan." He cringed in pain.
"I knew you would, Naruto. And if you did what I think you did, I will never be able to beat you now. I guess I'm doomed to be in your shadow forever then." Naruto opened his eyes wide.
"Is that how you've thought you were to me? You're my little brother. It's my job to protect you and teach you. I know I'm not much older but I've never seen you in my shadow, Janus." Tears started swelling in our eyes. "I know that if left to your own devices, you would do nothing but read. I think I must have pushed you into the life of a shinobi to hard. You never wanted to be one. I just wanted to two of us to be able to stand up proud and protect the people we love together, but I guess I..."
"Just stop, Naruto, stop. I was the one at fault. I thought I could experience the world as much as I ever wanted by simply reading books. But I was wrong. You pushed me to be a shinobi and I don't regret it now. I know that I will never be as talented as you. I just wanted to be able to proudly fight beside you. I've never done that. I've seen you try so hard to fulfill your dreams and all I've ever done is getting in your way and get myself hurt in the process."
"I guess we both have our own problems. Want to work them out together?" I smiled and slowly grabbed his hand by the wrist as he grabbed mine.
"It's a deal, brother." With that, we slowly walked into town, Naruto in his stretcher and me on my crutches.
I woke up the next day back in my hospital bed. I slowly sat up and looked around the room. The sky was still dark outside. I slid my legs over and tried to stand up. After a couple of minutes of trying, I grabbed my churches and used them. I walked out of the room into the hall. The walls were silent. I seemed to be moving faster than I was the day before, which I felt was a good sign. I passed the nurses station and waved. The started to stand up to help me but I waved them off. They sighed and sat back down. A few minutes latter I was on top of the hospital, sitting on a bench, waiting for the sun to crest over the horizon.
"Do you watch sunrises now?" I turned to see Gaara standing next to the bench. I looked him curiously. "I've followed Temari and seen your standing, watching the sunset around the Chuunin Exam. At the time, I could do all I could not to kill you at that moment. However, I'm not sure why I had that urge instead of just doing it and I don't know what stopped me too." I laughed.
"It's because Temari's your sister." Gaara turned towards me. "I guess that, even though you seemed so cold hearted, you are human after all."
"I don't understand. How..."
"Don't worry yourself to much about it. Nobody ever knows how to interpret their feelings about siblings. I know that quite often I hate Naruto so much I want to bash his face through three or four buildings. Other times, I have nothing but pride for him and his accomplishments. It's just something you have to learn to live with, Gaara. Now quiet, it's about to happen." We both turned in time to watch the sun rise over the Hokage Monument, casting shadows across the town. I sighed.
"I still don't understand why seeing the sunrise and sunset can be such an emotional thing for people."
"Well, I'm not sure either but one way to look at it is metaphorically. The sun sets every day, either ushering in painful or harsh times on life, yet it raises every morning, meaning that no matter how bad something is, the sun always returns." I stopped there and looked over at Gaara. In the morning light, he looked kind of like a lost soul who finally found his place in the light of the new day.
"Interesting. I will think on this. Thank you, Janus. Tell you brother that I wish to speak with him later, alright?" I nodded, accepting Gaara's assignment. His body blew away in the slight wind of the morning.
"Ok, I wish I could turn my body to sand and do that; that just looked awesome!" I stood up and took a deep breath. I slowly walked back into the hospital. It was still early, so I started wandering the halls. I walked by the critical care wing and saw a room with Neji still inside. The walls outside were covered with sleeping, worried members of the Hyuuga clan. I guess they want to support the pride of their clan.
I continued walking. I soon heard an unfamiliar growl followed by a very familiar bark. I walked around the corner to be greeted by Akamaru. I sat in a nearby chair to rest for a bit as he jumped up onto my lap and I started to pet him. He wasn't favoring his left front leg but other than that he seemed fine. The door to Kiba's room opened revealing his mother. I looked up and smiled towards her. She smiled back, mouthing the words 'thank you' before returning inside. I stayed there for a couple minutes longer before I got back up to continue my walk.
The hospital had started to get busier, nurses running around giving some patients their early morning medicines before their shifts ended and the like. I left the critical ward. I had been told Chouji had been moved after giving him some emergency nutrient supplements. I into his room. I saw his parents in the corner cuddled up next to each other. I smiled at that as I walked up next to Chouji. Wow, I would have never imagined that Chouji would look like that after turning all the fat in his body into chakra. I left quietly and moved next door to check on Shikamaru.
I walked inside to see that Shikamaru was awake and was playing shoji with his dad. I chuckled slightly until Shikamaru looked at me sternly and shushed me. It was then that I noticed the sleeping form of Ino curled up next to him. I had to struggle to maintain my laughter.
"How troublesome..." I heard Shikamaru whisper as I quickly closed the door and left the room. I walked through a lobby as I was changing floors and I saw Lee and Gai outside. I looked out the window as Gai looked up at me. He gave me his 'big grin, thumbs up' pose and I sighed and ducked my head. Well, Lee has the best guy he can for his rehabilitation. I walked into the elevator and went up another floor.
I walked into Naruto's room three sit down and rest breaks later. Why did Naruto have to have his room so far away from everyone else? I looked at the room. Most of the rooms I had seen so far had several baskets of flowers or more around the room. This one only had one small sunflower and a daffodil in a small vase on a table by Naruto's head. At least those two flowers had more meaning than all the rest of the flowers in the rest of the guys' rooms. The daffodil was from Sakura thanking him for bringing Sasuke back. The sunflower was from Hinata. Speaking of Hinata, I looked down at her. She was sitting in a chair next to Naruto's bed, holding his hand and using his chest for a pillow. That has got to be the most uncomfortable way to sleep ever. She then turned her head towards me with the most content smile I had ever seen on her. I wrote a quick note to Naruto about Gaara wanting to see him and left.
I made it back to my room at about eight thirty. I was tired. But the walk was good for me. I had gone from using two crutches to barely needing one. My legs were more tired than after tree climbing with Naruto but the ache also felt good. I dropped my crutches and hap-hazardly fell onto my bed. I heard an 'eep' coming from the bed below me and something soft I was pushing into on my left side. I looked up at the pillow to see Temari glaring at me.
"Pervert," She said, hitting me with a pillow. "Couldn't you look before flopping into bed?"
"I never needed to before. So, are you telling me that I'm going to start to find you in my bed from now on, Temari-chan?" I'm going it for that one.
"Pervert, pervert, pervert!" She said, beating me with the pillow blushing crimson. I smiled to myself. It was so perfect I couldn't not. Eventually she stopped and I looked back up from my fetal position to receive another pillow blow to my face. "And that is for not being here when I came by this morning."
"I needed to go take a walk. Besides, after you sleep for three weeks strait you can't really sleep for as much as you normally do. That and I also haven't had any solid food during that time." I took off my new sword.
"You've been sleeping for the past three weeks? Naruto mentioned something about it after we took and tied Sasuke up yesterday but nothing more than that. And where did you get that sword?"
"Yeah, I was involved in a fight with Kabuto and Orochimaru. I stole the sword from him and fell into a coma from damage to my body. I only just woke up yesterday. So, what have you been up to since our fight?" Temari dropped her head.
"I'm sorry I didn't stay behind. Kankuro found me and broke seal on your net and I was able to get away. He wanted to kill you but I wouldn't let him. We rescued Gaara and retreated back to our village. A few days later we found out that Orochimaru had killed my father and taken his place before the finals. Gaara was actually kind of pleased. He had never had a good relationship with daddy." A tear fell onto the bed. "Anyways, we did some training and went out on a few patrols while the council was choosing a new Kazekage. Once they did we immediately filed for peace with Konoha and declared war on Sound. We assumed that Jiraiya would be named the next Hokage. But we were surprised to find out that Tsunade was found and appointed the new Hokage. So, as part of the new peace, Sand decided to send some of is shinobi to help Konoha deal with some of its missions and rebuilding process. Kankuro, Gaara, and I were the first team to come due to the fact that Gaara had something to talk to Naruto about and nobody wanted to tell him no. And that's how we're here, after a quick stop helping your friends defeat some Sound Nins that were helping Sasuke escape."
"Sounds like you've had a pretty boring time the last six weeks. But I would have liked to have that instead." She giggled as we rearranged how we were laying on the bed. We ended up sitting up on the bed with our backs to the wall.
"I'm just glad that things will be getting back to normal now, Janus- kun." My mind quickly flashed to the looks on Sasuke's, Orochimaru's, and Itachi's faces. I shuddered.
"No, you're wrong. Things won't ever be the same again."