Disclaimers: Naruto's not mine.
Isn't that dandy... -.-
Yay! On to chapter two! Thank you sooo much to everyone who reviews! Seriously, I loves you guys!
Chapter 2: Revelation
The dedicated team of Kakashi, Shizune, Shino, and Anko, accompanied by several ANBU and Hunter-Nin, arrived at the explosion site several days later with the sole purpose of retrieving the bodies of the former Team 7 and Orochimaru.
"Are you sure your okay with this, Shino-kun?" Shizune asked sensitively.
"What do you mean?"
"Coming with us to find bodies…"
"My clan's insect techniques are equally vital to finding the bodies as Kakashi's dogs are. I'm merely filling in for my father, who is out on another mission."
"That's not what I meant." Shino descended casually into the ash and brimstone remnants of the complex.
"It's just death, Shizune-san. I'm not scared of death."
"Strange kid." Anko scoffed as she began to follow after him, then turned sharply to Kakashi. "but it's you I'm most concerned about."
Kakashi gave her a cold stare.
"Are you sure you need to be here? Are sure you want to be here?"
Kakashi pulled a scroll from his vest pocket.
"There's nowhere else I'd rather be." He began the rhythmic motions of the hand seals.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Out of nowhere sprang eight dogs, all of various breeds.
"Spread out and search for the sent of Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, or Orochimaru. Call out if you find anything, but don't touch it!" With a bark, Kakashi's minions scattered.
Within seconds, a reply echoed from the deep reaches of the ruin.
"Anko, Shizune, we have work to do."
The three followed the barking to a collapsed wall. A few ANBU and Hunter-Nin were already there, ready to push the wall up.
"1… 2…"
The three jounin braced themselves for what they were about to see; the crushed forms of people they'd come to love, missing limbs, burnt and mangled. Blood, violence, the horrors of war, this was everyday for such high-ranking soldiers; and somehow, they never got use to it.
"3!"
The wall section rose like the dead and fell to the side, sending ash billowing into the air. Shizune covered her eyes. Anko bit her lip. Kakashi glared and leaned in closer, expecting to see the rotting corpses of his students staring back at him.
For a few minutes, there was silence as the group took in the scene.
"What the hell…?" One of the ANBU exclaimed, as she bent down and pulled Naruto's signature orange jacket from the dusty heap.
"… It's just their clothes…"
Sure enough, lying there on the ground was a pile of clothes, Sasuke's blue tunic and wrist warmers, Sakura's red and white over-dress and green capris, Naruto's complete orange set, but no sign of their owners. The laundry was dusty and covered with significant amounts of blood; blood which Kakashi's dogs confirmed to belonging to the three. Shizune bent down and started shifting the clothes around.
"Shizune," Anko protested. "What are you doing?"
"It's not here." She replied.
"What's not?"
"Shodaime's necklace. I told Tsunade-sama I'd bring it back."
"No forehead protectors either." Kakashi pointed out.
A gust of wind tossed Anko's hair around like a child.
"This is so bizarre."
"Oiiii!" The grouped turned to find Shino waving at them.
"What you find, Shino?" Anko called as the three sprinted over.
"Take a look at this." He pointed to several dead Sound ninja sprawled on the ground. They looked like all the other corpses in the area, except for one major flaw.
"They're naked…" Anko said. Well, not entirely, only the outer stuff was gone. The undergarments were less scorched then their skin, telling the spectators the clothing didn't burn off.
"Another thing," Shino said, "I couldn't find anything connecting to Orochimaru. Not even anything from his right-hand man, what's-his-name."
"Kabuto." Kakashi answered as he knelt near the dead.
Shizune pulled a pen and scroll from her vest.
"We'd better report this to Tsunade-sama."
In the end, the report filed by Kakashi, Shizune, Anko and Shino listed 48 dead, all Sound ninja, with the absence of their given targets. A considerable amount of Team 7 blood, particularly Sasuke's, was found all over the exploded compound, enough of which to constitute them as dead. As for Orochimaru, although there were signs that he'd been in the area, the salvage team found nothing tying him to death. It was assumed that Orochimaru, and his side-kick Kabuto, ran off with the bodies of Team 7, in disguise, and Godaime was forced to label them as Still-At-Large.
An immense field of flowers… Where am I exactly? It stretches on for miles and miles… I can smell ramen. Who is that? She's just standing there… waiting for me? What a pretty white dress. She's like an angel. Now she's holding out her hand…
"Yes Sakura-chan, let's cross over together!"
"Wake up, Dumb-ass!"
THWACK
The tranquil vision disappeared in a swirl of nausea and pain. Something tasted funny. Naruto opened his eyes to find his face buried in a hole.
"Owwww…."
The lump on his head explained it all. He picked himself up, spat out the dirt in his mouth and looked around. The makeshift campground wasn't perfect, but no one was complaining. A small fire burned in the center of petite circle of trees, upon which a bubbling pot rested. Across from Naruto, Sakura knelt over a still form. Her disheveled hair fell abstractly over her neck and the back of her mesh undershirt. The knit texture arched down to the small of her back and connected neatly with the standard Sound Village pants, pulled tight over her firm, rounded…
"Naruto!" She glared at him over her shoulder, face red, and shook her fist. "Do you want another pounding!?"
Damn, she's good…
"WELL!?"
"N-No, leave me alone!"
"Then get off your ass and find us some food!"
Naruto stared at the boiling pot on the fire.
"Then what's that?!"
"I'm disinfecting needles and string. Sasuke's stitches are coming out."
Naruto leaned in closer to look at his comrade. Sasuke lay on a bed of dry leaves, covered in bandages. His breathing dragged heavily through his chest and his skin was paler than normal. Sakura unwrapped a bloody strip from his left leg, revealing a mass of neatly lined stitches, tracing the full circumference of his calf. She smiled. Not a bad job, considering how hard it was to reattach.
In the aftermath of the explosion, Sakura was surprised to see that they were still alive, in pieces, but alive nether less. She, herself, was in the best shape, no more than a couple fractured ribs and some bruising. Seconds before detonation, Naruto and Sasuke had flung themselves over her (male instinct, she guessed) protecting her from the blast. She assessed their condition as she pulled the two boys from the rubble. Naruto was conscious, but was missing his right hand, and his right shoulder was dislocated. Sasuke, who was worst off, was slowly dying without his right arm and half of his leg. Sakura shoved blood stopping pills at both, and, ignoring their own wounds, she and Naruto went on an Easter egg hunt for their missing limbs.
After three days straight of chugging soldier pills, Sakura had managed to reattach all the missing parts correctly and sew up all the vital wounds. Even, after all that trauma, Naruto healed within hours, making Sakura all the more confused, but was too sleep deprived to care. She was just happy to be alive.
"You think he'll wake up soon?" Naruto wondered aloud.
Sakura sighed.
"I hope so." Her stomach growled loudly and she blushed again. Naruto groaned.
"Alright. Alright. I'm on it." Naruto grabbed a kunai and walked off into the woods.
"Don't get lost, you idiot!" Sakura hollered at his back.
-
Perfect spot.Naruto approached the stream, bent over to roll up his pants, and grimaced. Stupid Sound pants. Once Sasuke had stabilized, Sakura suggested that they ditch their original clothes; it would make them harder to find, especially when it came to Kakashi-sensei's dogs. So, they ripped clothes off some dead guys and stuck their old stuff under a fallen wall. Naruto cursed as he rolled the dark slacks up his legs; he hated them. They had a tendency to ride up.
Naruto stepped gingerly into a stream and glared at the rocks below him, kunai in hand. What really made him sick wasn't the injuries they sustained and it wasn't the pants either; what made him angriest was that their efforts had been in vain. Naruto could still see Orochimaru, as the structure engulfed in flames, laughing that menacing chuckle and disappearing into the ground, Kabuto at his side. It made Naruto's stomach churn.
Something slimy brushed against his leg. Naruto stared down at the fish and smiled evilly.
You're mine, fishy.
With one swift movement, Naruto flung the kunai at his prey, impaling the creature with killer accuracy.
He chuckled slightly and broke out into a full guffaw. And they say Sasuke has the best aim. Take that, pretty boy! Now to collect the goods…
Naruto bent down to retrieve the fruits of his labor, but the fish was gone. With no life to propel it, the creature meandered away downstream.
"GEH! Wait, Dinner-san! Come back!"
-
Soaked and tired, Naruto waddled back to camp. He had underestimated the velocity at which a dead fish could travel downstream. Three times he'd gone on the mad chase and the meals-to-be now dangled lifelessly in his hand. Naruto stepped sleepily through the trees into the campground."Naruto! Look! Sasuke's awake!" Naruto looked up to see Sakura gleaming with joy, still kneeling next to Sasuke, who wasn't just awake, but sitting up.
"Yo." Sasuke sneered, eyeing Naruto's soaking clothes. "What happened to you? Decide to swim with those fishes before you killed them?"
"Shaddap!" Naruto pouted and stuck his nose in the air momentarily before moving closer, where he paused before his friend. In unspoken agreement, the two clasped hands.
"It's good to see you alive." Naruto smiled.
"It's good to be alive." Sasuke grinned back.
"May I sleep now?" Sakura whined.
-
An hour later (after Sakura's nap and Naruto filling Sasuke in on the events up until now), the three sat down to eat. Sasuke looked at his fish, as though sympathetic for its sacrifice."What's wrong, Sasuke?" Sakura asked over the sound of Naruto's chowing down.
"Nothing. It's just something that's been weighing on my mind."
"Well, we've left Konoha, now what…?"
Naruto stopped eating to listen.
"First off," Sakura swallowed some fish, "you need to get better. You may be awake, but your arm and leg haven't completely healed yet."
"But we need to keep moving or we'll be found and forced to return to Konoha." Sasuke pointed out.
"What about Wave Country?" Naruto chipped in. "That's not to far away."
"That's true." Sakura seconded. "And not much fighting either. We can stock up on supplies and Sasuke can rest."
"It'll be good to see Tazuna-jisan too." Naruto grinned.
"No way."
"Huh?"
"Sakura's right." Sasuke interjected, "If he finds out who we are, all our efforts will be in vain. If we tell Tazuna-san, he'll probably tell Inari, and, remember, Inari attends the Konoha Ninja Academy now. We can't let him know it's us. We'll have to use aliases."
"Awwww…" Naruto pouted.
"Sakura," Sasuke rubbed a hand over the stitches on his leg and grimaced at the sickly, unnatural feel, "how long do you think it'll take before I fully heal?"
Sakura bit her fish, thinking.
"Mmm…" She swallowed her mouthful, "Well, if you were an average ninja and I was an average medic-nin, I'd say about a month."
"A month!?" Naruto exclaimed.
"Yes, but that's not the case, is it?""So… How long then?" Sasuke asked again.
"One week tops." She chewed on her fish proudly as the boys gawked at her.
"Alright, it's settled." Naruto announced, "We're going back to Wave Country!"
Author Rambles: I told you chapter 2 would be longer and less interesting. Anyway, I don't have much to say besides thanks. See you next chapter!