A Possible Future by Jason Corley

Chapter Twenty

Tsunade was sitting at her desk looking over a scroll when in came Sakura. Tsunade didn't even bother looking up. She knew that Sakura didn't really like working at the hospital that much right now because she wanted to learn more. But Sakura needed real experience not just training. She couldn't progress much further without refining the skills she already had. Tsunade was ready to explain this too her again but she was surprised when Sakura asked "Why won't you heal Sasuke? You'll take time out of your day to help with the others that have been critically wounded. So, why won't you help Sasuke? He's been there two weeks already. If you helped him he would be out tomorrow."

Tsunade's expression changed from that of surprised to that of annoyance. "I don't always have time to spare to go to the hospital. I help those that I can. But the rest of the staff there can take care of him. His life isn't in any danger."

"But..." Sakura started but was cut off by Tsunade saying "I don't want to hear it. If you are so concerned and have so much time to waste then you could be over there working on him."

Hinata looked into the village from atop the parapet. She looked in the direction of the hospital and wondered how much longer Sasuke would be there. For some reason visitors still were not allowed to see him. She assumed at his request but it bothered her that even she wasn't allowed to him. She knew she was where she was now because of him. Even if he didn't think highly of her, he still trained her for all that time. She never knew someone that was willing to train her that much. He gave her a home and even though he wasn't very good at it he still made her feel welcome. If it weren't for him she wouldn't be a Chuunin. She thought about what it meant to her to be a Chuunin. When she was younger she didn't really care about being a ninja. She was pushed into it because she was the heir of her clan. She did her best but she wasn't that good. Just like Naruto. But then she graduated the academy and became a Genin. She was happy because she thought then that her father would accept her but that wasn't the case. She still wasn't good enough. So she wanted to make Chuunin so her father and the rest of her family would accept her. But now she didn't care what they thought. So what good was being a Chuunin to her. She did like the jobs that a Chuunin does better than those that a Genin does but she still didn't know what she wanted to do. She wasn't even able to speak to Sasuke to see what he thought. She so wanted to see him. She wanted to be held by him again. She didn't even know if he was ok. She knew that Raion spent most of her days pestering the receptionist at the hospital. She knew that Tora only half held Raion back instead of stopping her like she usually did. That was how Hinata knew that Tora wanted to see Sasuke also. Hinata didn't like going on missions and thus hadn't signed up to go on any. She would always just pull guard duty. Sometimes she would go on patrol but that was rare for her. Hinata looked back to the forest around the village and saw Tenten walking back in from a mission. She wondered how long it would be before she made Jounin. She really did seem to like going on missions. Hinata knew that Neji was aiming to be a Jounin along with Lee. She knew that the three of them would make it. They were all good. She considered the rest of her class. Chouji, unlikely to make Chuunin but he did try hard. In the future he would probably make Chuunin. Kiba, would eventually make Chuunin since he was very skilled but a bit hot headed just like Naruto. She was sure that Naruto would also make Chuunin some day. She wanted to believe that he would eventually achieve his goal of being the hokage. Hinata knew that Naruto was training just as hard as ever. She watched him leave and return to the village each day. He often looked tired when returning. She also knew that Kiba would train while walking Akamaru which he did daily. She missed those days of training with Kiba and Shino. She thought about Shino and how she rarely saw him anymore. He seemed to like the night patrol. He seemed to be doing well as a Chuunin. He would probably make Jounin before too long. Shikamaru would pull guard duty most days and some days walk patrol. She would often times see him with Temari. Rumor had it they had been together for a while now and that they got along really well. She was glad for them. Even though she didn't think Shikamaru would advance to Jounin he could since he had advanced to Chuunin before the rest of them. She was pretty sure Temari would make Jounin. She was so strong. And she was smart. Hinata assumed that is why she and Shikamaru got along so well. She thought about herself and Sasuke. While Sasuke had told her that he loved her she also remember that he said that he also loved Raion and Tora. She couldn't help but feel jealous about that. She wondered if he also had feelings for all the girls that followed him. She remember that every girl liked him but two specifically. Ino and Sakura. Hinata thought that like most of the others Ino had given up on Sasuke. Ino seemed to have moved on. Rumor had it she was Chouji's boyfriend and that she had spent the night at his place a few times. Sakura on the other hand was dating Naruto but appeared to still be pursuing Sasuke. Hinata wasn't really that concerned about Ino or the others. She was only concerned about Sakura, Raion, and Tora. Even though she should be concerned most about Raion and Tora, she wasn't. She was more concerned about Sakura. She didn't want Sakura to have Sasuke. If someone else was going to get Sasuke she wanted it to be Raion or Tora. Hinata had also heard rumors about her and Sasuke. Whenever she heard them she would blush knowing what others thought they were doing. Hinata found many of the techniques Sasuke taught her useful. She sometimes wondered why she was able to learn so much so fast.

Lee once again found himself on the receiving end of Gaara's sand. He continued to strike but his attacks were still repelled by the sand. Lee considered taking the weights off again but he was determined to hit Gaara while still wearing the weights. And if he couldn't he would do 500 laps around the village of sand. Gaara just stood there looking bored. He had agreed to spare with Lee since no one else wanted to. Gaara felt a certain amount of respect for Lee's ability but it wasn't enough unless he went all out. Gaara considered killing him but that wouldn't be good for the treaty with Konoha. Even though he was still a Genin, a Chuunin wasn't able to defeat him.

Hanabi was looking at the grave marker next to her mother's "Neji, why does this say that sister died? She didn't die. She's a Chuunin."

Neji responded with "Hinata is no longer your sister. She is no longer with our clan. So as far as the clan is concerned she is dead."

Hanabi didn't understand so she asked "But whenever anyone else leaves the clan a marker isn't put up saying their dead."

Neji replied "That's because they are marrying into another clan. But they are still family. So they are still part of the clan."

Hanabi still didn't understand but didn't ask anymore questions.

"Why can't I use any of these techniques in the Chuunin exam? I'll never be able to show how much I've learned if I'm not allowed to do it! And that means I'll never make Chuunin!" Naruto yelled at Jiraiya.

Jiraiya commented "Then don't charge in."

Naruto screamed back "But that is my way of the Ninja."

Jiraiya stated "Then learn to control the Kyuubi."

Naruto argued "I already know how to control it."

Jiraiya calmly asked "Then why didn't you use its healing powers in your fight with Kabuto?"

Naruto was silent as he remembered trying to but not being able to.

Sakura walked into Sasuke's room and said with a smile "Time for your daily treatment." Sasuke took off his shirt and started removing the bandage wrappings himself. Sakura placed her hands over his wound then concentrated. After about an hour of working at straitening out Sasuke's side she stopped tired from the work. When she looked up she saw that Sasuke had his Sharingan activated. This unnerved her a little. But then he blinked and it wasn't active. Sakura said "You probably don't need the bandages anymore. It shouldn't be too long before you are out. It's just taking awhile to make sure everything is done right. It really does make a mess when you rush to make sure its working. You then have to go back and clean up the mess. Its kinda like a tare in a blanket. To get it back in working condition you sow it back together simply so that it will still work properly. But if you want it back the way it was or close to it you have to spend a lot of time mending it along with removing the simple solution."

Sasuke asked "So, technically I'm fine?"

Sakura didn't want to answer but did "Yes, but it's best if you stay and let us finish mending you."

Sasuke nodded.

Naruto focused inward trying to solve his problem. 'Ok, Kyuubi. I know you're here. You can't go anywhere.' Naruto received no response, so he continued 'Hey I'm talking to you. Show your ugly face. I want to know why you didn't help me. We could have died.'

Naruto saw a large eye appear as the Kyuubi responded 'I am not yours to command.'

Naruto in an irritated tone said 'But you are in my body. I thought we had an agreement. That you were going to let me use your power as rent for being in my body.'

The Kyuubi laughed then said 'If you just let me out, I wouldn't be in your body.'

Since this was Naruto's mind, his thoughts were not kept quiet. 'Let you out? But then you would destroy everything. And I wouldn't get to use your power.'

The Kyuubi laughed and replied 'That is why, I won't help you. You want to keep me prisoner here but you want the power yourself.'

Naruto yelled 'I can't just let you out. A lot of people died to put you in me. And even if I was willing to let you out I can't.'

The Kyuubi responded 'But its easy. All you have to do it unlock this gate.'

Naruto asked 'How would I do that? Someone else sealed you in me. And he's dead.'

The Kyuubi laughed as he said 'Who said he's dead?'

Naruto looked at the Kyuubi with a confused expression then asked 'But I thought the 4th gave his life to seal you inside me?'

The Kyuubi asked 'Would you say that I am dead?' Naruto looked thoughtful but didn't respond so the Kyuubi continued 'He's about as dead as I.'

Naruto's expression changed to excitement and said 'so that means he's in here too?' The Kyuubi smiled but didn't say anything. Naruto demanded 'Tell me where he is.'

The Kyuubi struck the gate with its claw making Naruto jump back and roared at him 'You do not command me.'

Naruto wasn't going to back down 'Tell me where he is.'

'Or what? You have nothing to offer that I want.' Stated the Kyuubi.

Naruto pushed on 'You're in my body. You have to do what I say. Tell me where he is.'

The Kyuubi's expression changed somewhat but Naruto couldn't read it. 'You've come to take the Kyuubi's power for granted.' Naruto then noticed a change around him. The red mist was no longer seeping from the gate like it had. Naruto felt weak all of a sudden. Naruto then heard the Kyuubi laughing again 'Don't bother again until you understand the situation.'

Naruto suddenly opened his eyes and fell backwards from his sitting position. He was lying on the ground breathing heavily. He felt exhausted. He didn't remember a time when he felt this exhausted.

Once Hinata's replacement arrived for guard duty she was finally able to head home. Her replacement was 3 hours late but she couldn't leave because that would leave the section unguarded. And it was more crucial at night. Hinata's feet brought her before the hospital. Most of the lights were off but the main hall was still lit. She walked in and the receptionist told her before she could ask that she wasn't allowed to see Sasuke. Hinata's expression dropped. She had hoped like everyday before that she would be allowed to see him. The receptionist all of a sudden said "The nurse that does the nightly rounds had to take the night off so I am covering for her. After doing the rounds I feel like taking a short break." Once that was said she walked down a hall. And it wasn't the hall that Sasuke's room was down. Hinata stood there a moment considering what to do. She wasn't suppose to go see Sasuke but there wasn't anyone to stop her now. A few weeks previous she would have left and gone home but right now she just had to see Sasuke. He walked quickly and silently down the hall to the room number she had memorized. She knew it was Sasuke's even though she had never been there. She opened placed her hand on the door and considered leaving. But then she decided that she had already come this far, a peek wouldn't hurt. She opened the door and once she slipped inside closed it behind her. She turned to see Sasuke lying in the bed. Hinata walked over to the bed and looked down at Sasuke's sleeping form. The words "What are you doing here?" coming from Sasuke's mouth startled her. Sasuke opened his eyes and stared at her.

Hinata responded "I wanted to see you. But the nurses said I couldn't see you."

Sasuke responded "I told them to say that." After hearing this Hinata looked like she had been slapped in the face. The two of them were silent for a few minutes. Hinata started fidgeting and here eyes started wandering the room. Her eyes fell upon the Chuunin jacket that was on the chair beside Sasuke's bed. His forehead protector was also there. She had often wondered why he kept that one instead of getting a new one. She didn't like that his had a slash through the Konoha symbol. Sasuke spoke again "I heard that you were the winner of the Chuunin exam." Hinata nodded. Sasuke continued "It's good that you won." The way that Sasuke said it didn't make Hinata feel any better. While it sounded sincere, it sounded so cold. They sat there a while longer in silence but that silence was broken when Sasuke said "You should leave." Hinata stood up and walked to the door. She opened the door and stepped out in the hall pulling the door shut behind her. She took a couple steps from the door then heard a loud crashing sound come from inside Sasuke's room. She rushed to the door and opened it to see the cursed seal covering half of Sasuke's body. The cart with medical equipment that was beside his bed was now in pieces across the floor. Sasuke his head to look at Hinata and said "I told you to leave." Hinata turned and ran down the hall as fast as she could. She passed the receptionist in the hall but kept running without pause on out into the streets of the village. The receptionist was worriedly checking Sasuke to see if he was fine. She then proceeded out of the room to get assistance. Sasuke sat there thinking 'Dammit, I'm weak. If I wasn't so weak I would have been able to beat Kabuto. Even now, I'm here in the hospital. That alone shows that I am weak. I need to be stronger. I have to hide that I am weak. No one can see me like this. Dammit, first Naruto, then Sakura, and now Hinata. Naruto was stabbed by Kabuto but because of my attack I was injured. After tending to me Sakura must think me weak. Hinata also. At least I was able to weaken Kabuto enough so he couldn't hurt Hinata. That's all that matters. If nothing else I want her to stay safe. I have to become stronger. I will become stronger. As soon as I get out of here.'

Hinata ran through the entranceway of the Uchiha manor and down the street. Once home she kicked off her footwear and ran down the hall to her room. She slammed the door closed and collapsed on the bed. Once there she was able to let the tears fall. Raion cracked the door open some so she and her sister could peek in to see what was wrong. Raion looked up at her sister and Tora shook her head. Raion nodded and slid the door back closed.

Tsunade sat at her desk considering something but was interrupted when Jiraiya entered with an apparently wasted Naruto. She asked what was wrong with him. Jiraiya told that was the reason they were there. Tsunade examined Naruto and told them that he was merely suffering from exhaustion probably due to the extensive training he was undergoing. Jiraiya informed her that the training hadn't been as intense as previously because Naruto didn't seem to be doing as well. Tsunade considered this and said it was probably due to his injury a couple weeks previous. She continued by telling Naruto to rest for a few days before resuming his training. Jiraiya knew she was hiding something from them but decided to leave it alone for the time being. He said "Hey, Naruto that's great news. You have to take a break which means I get to do some more research for my next book." His mirth lessened when Naruto didn't call him a pervert. He lead Naruto out the door and walked him home. Tsunade knew that Naruto was a strong Ninja always wanted to promote him to Chuunin but he really did have a tendency to just mass attack against his enemy which is a Genin level tactic. Even though something was nagging at her about Naruto's problem she went back to thinking about the problem at hand.

Normally if Naruto was going to take a week off from training he would go chasing after Sakura but she seemed to have become a workaholic. She didn't seem to have time for him. She was always working at the hospital. And when she wasn't working she was reading scrolls or sleeping. He also would have normally been put out by this a little but he too was too tired to do anything. He spent most of his time sleeping and the rest of the time hanging out at his favorite ramen shop. The day that Sasuke was released from the hospital Sakura more or less dragged him along to the ramen shop to try and rekindle their team spirit. Sakura sat down next to Naruto with Sasuke on the other side of her. Most of the time when the three of them were together things just happened to go back to normal but today was different. Naruto looked down and Sasuke, well Sasuke never really had high spirit but he looked more thoughtful this time. Sakura asked Naruto "Are you feeling ok? You don't seem like your usual self."

Naruto told her with a little enthusiasm in his voice "I'm just a little tired after training so hard. I'm just taking a little break. I'll be back to normal in no time." It hurt Sakura to see such a forced smile on his face. She thought that he must be really tired. She wanted to help anyway she could.

"Naruto...If you'd like to come by tonight, you can." Sakura said then blushed a little at the sudden brightening in Naruto's face.

"Really?" Naruto asked not believing what he was hearing.

Sakura nodded but then added "But I have to read over a few scrolls, so it would really just be sitting around doing nothing."

Naruto responded with gusto "That's ok. I haven't really been doing anything lately anyway."

Sakura looked over at Sasuke and worried because he still wasn't acting normal. But then again she didn't know if this was how he normally was now. She hadn't really seen him in almost 3 years. Sasuke glanced at her and sighed inwardly then said "Naruto, are you really such a dunce that you don't have any interests other than training." This elected an energetic response from Naruto. When Sakura saw Sasuke smirk she knew the were still team 7.

Author's Notes

Well it seems we are all in agreement. I don't write fight scenes too well. I did warn everyone though. And I think it would have been worse to just skip over the Chuunin exam and just say. "Ok, in general this is what happened." Hopefully I will write some better fight scenes in the future. And not crammed together either. I got sick or writing the fight scenes for the Chuunin exam. It has been implied that the characters are OOC. While I have to admit that they are a little OOC, I feel I did a fairly decent job explaining the character growth into the new personalities. Save for a few.

I hope I surprised everyone with having Hinata as the winner of the Chuunin exam. I was going to have Sasuke be the winner but that was too predictable and everyone would have seen it coming. So then I thought I would have Kabuto be the winner since he is suppose to be about as skilled as Shizune but I just couldn't bring myself to have him easily beat Sasuke. So instead I made it so that he was exhausted from the fight with Sasuke and was left open for a trick by Hinata. I only had Hinata beat Sakura for this. It actually took me awhile to consider how I wanted to do the finals. Which too pull off what I wanted to do meant screwing over some of the characters. But we are past this crap so "Omega Boost, it's all good."