Hey! Part 7! How cool is that! I finally had the time to finish it and thanks to you and your understanding, I was able to pass my exams!
I have to thank everybody who has read this story so far and extra kisses, hugs and little miniature Gamabuntas for those among you, who considered it worth their time to write a wonderful review!
This part is mainly a conclusion, so don't expect (too) much blood. But I think its pretty good, even without anybody killing off everybody... I really hope you all like it as much as my sis (who I greet on this way: Hoohoooo!). Comments in form of reviews are welcome and don't forget to read 'Author's notes II' at the end! VERY IMPORTANT!
Maren, I love ya! (she has a guest-appearance here! Guess who she is)
Kakashi, I wish you were mine! But Kishimoto Masashi-sensei just won't budge!
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"Sakura?"
Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, Sakura turned onto her side and buried her face deeper within the softness of the blanket that was tightly wrapped around her body. Through closed lids she registered a small light from the world beyond.
"Hey! Sakura!" The female voice insisted once more.
"Hmm...?" Came the muffled reply as the pink-haired kunoichi brought a hand up to rub the sleep out of her tired eyes.
"You awake?"
Making a face, Sakura sighed exaggeratedly and pushed herself up into a half sitting position. She hadn't opened her eyes yet, waiting for the intruder to give her a good reason.
And she hoped for Shizune's sake that there was one hell of an emergency!
"What time is it?" Sakura demanded to know, one hand combing through messy hair. A yawn threatened to escape her lips and Sakura tried unsuccessfully to stifle it with her other hand.
"Five in the morning... you slept 4 hours."
That gained at last a reaction from the other medic.
Raising an eyebrow, Sakura pried her eyelids apart and stared incredulously at the older woman.
"That a joke?"
"Nope..." Now it was Shizune's turn to yawn, tears springing to her eyes.
"This was actually not my idea..." She continued, watching Sakura swing her legs over the edge of the bed and rolling her head around on stiff shoulders. Shizune knew exactly how she was feeling, having had problems lifting her tired arms and keeping open burning eyes herself in the last few days.
"Naruto asked for you. He wouldn't leave me alone, so I"
"It's alright." Sakura muttered, pre-empting Shizune with a small smile. Stretching out her right arm, she reached for her pouch on a small table and opened it. Her fingers carefully closed around a white envelope and pulled it out. Finally she got up from where she had been lying for the last four hours and walked past the black-haired woman and out into the poorly illuminated hallway.
"Where's he"
"Last time I saw him, he was waiting in the large ICU-room for you." Shizune replied with a slightly bewildered frown. She didn't ask though what the letter was about.
Sighing again, Sakura nodded absently. An ANBU rushed past the two woman, greeting them fleetingly, before disappearing in a blur behind a corner.
"How 'bout I take over the rest of your shift? You catch some sleep and give me two extra hours of rest next time. How's that, huh?" Sakura suddenly asked, giving Shizune a cheeky grin.
"But don't come complaining later when Naruto and the gang destroy your last nerve cell!" Shizune warned, handing over the clipboard she had been carrying around with her.
"I'll give you a short briefing then." The tall woman said, increasing her tempo and falling in step beside Sakura. "Nurses have changed shift two hours ago, so I don't think there'll be any probs with them. I had to force another five medical nins to take at least one day off, which means that currently twelve are left. I divided them into groups of three and assigned them five or six rooms."
They rounded a corner and walked past a row of open doors. In each room uncountable beds, occupied by injured men and women, lined the walls. The smell of disinfectant and rotten flesh mingled together with the voices and moans of nurses and wounded, flooding the senses and penetrating every cell of the body.
A pained scream echoed through the confines of the hallway, making Sakura wince.
"The second 'hospital' is under control of sand. They're taking care of another two hundred ninjas and civilians. I heard, they had problems with water, but it seems somebody has taken care of that." Shizune paused only to inhale. "As for the patients, well, we have 50 critical cases. There isn't much hope for them, but we havn't given up yet. Twenty died within the last three hours. ANBU and civilians are bringing about five new patients per hour, most of them in very bad condition."
"What about sound nins?" Sakura suddenly asked, smiling gently at a young genin hopping by. The boy wasn't older than twelve, but he would never reach a rank higher than that. His left leg had been ripped off by one of Orochimaru's snakes and one of his eyes had been blinded by a light bomb.
"You'll have to ask Shikamaru. He's coordinating the forces outside the hospital and works closely together with the squad leader of suna." Shizune continued, forcing back another yawn. "There's something else... Jiraiya disappeared an hour ago. Nobody knows where he's gone and even ANBU can't find them. Maybe you could ask Naruto to..."
"I understand him..." For a short moment sadness flickered through Sakura's eyes, but when she looked up into Shizune's concerned face, the look was replaced by obviously forced cheerfulness. "Not a prob. I'm sure Naruto will look for Jiraiya."
"I guess there's only one thing left, but..." Shizune was pre-empted by Sakura's hand on her shoulder.
When the black-haired woman looked into Sakura's eyes, she found them staring at the floor, clouded with a mix of fear, self-reproach and desperation.
"I'll see for myself."
With that, Sakura averted her gaze from the ground and gave Shizune a half smile. Her hand slid down the other woman's shoulder and curled momentarily into a tight fist. "Go get some sleep. I'll wake you in eight hours." She said, waving 'bye' as she turned back around and headed to where she knew Naruto would be waiting for her.
----------
"No! You went last time!"
A frown crept up on Sakura's forehead when she rounded the final corner, appearing right behind a small crowd of five nurses. They were gathered in front of the largest ICU-room and with a sigh, Sakura waited for the inevitable to happen...
"The hell! No-one will prevent me from going in there and see"
"Then lets draw straws! Or play janken!" A third nurse offered, looking as determined as a woman could be.
Rolling her eyes, Sakura pushed through the row of heated women and folded her arms in front of her chest with an annoyed look on her face that silenced the nurses immediately.
"What's it this time?" She demanded to know, staring squarely at a chubby looking woman to her right.
"Miss Shizune asked for an urine sample of Hatake Kakashi and we were"
Lifting a hand in front of the baffled nurse, Sakura suppressed the need to chase them out of 'her' hospital. She was quite aware of who exactly was currently lying in the room behind the closed door. Sakura also knew of the dubious name the room had earned from the mostly single nurses, thanks to the ninjas occupying it.
'Six-Pack-Room', a small sheet of white paper read. It was stuck to the door and two hearts at the edges made it immediately clear why the nurses were fighting over 'who' would be the lucky one getting to be 'the' nurse.
'Urine sample...', Sakura thought and shook her head slightly.
"You..." She pointed at a young nurse walking past the gathering. She had light red hair and her face was sprinkled with freckles. "... come with me. The rest, scatter!" Sakura ordered, ignoring the glares and dark looks she was receiving from the other women in return.
Walking past them, she pushed open the door without bothering to knock and stepped into the ICU-room. She put on a bright smile, ignoring the startled yelp of Kiba. The young man, just having been in the process of getting dressed, dove for his bed, covering his mostly naked form with the white blanket.
"Morning!" She said cheerily, ignoring the flushed face of the Inuzuka.
Maybe she should have made herself known in the first place. Would have spared Kiba the embarrassment and given him some more time to get clothed.
Sakura was greeted by an ominous silence... it was obvious that the men had been doing something a 'woman' was not allowed to know. Especially her.
Probably talked about the 'hot chicks' and 'blah'... She wasn't particularly interested in any details!
A slight cough errupted from one of the shinobis and ever so slowly, they started talking again.
"Hey, Haruno!" One of them called and when Sakura turned towards the owner of the voice, she found Genma, the ever present senbon sticking out of one corner of his mouth, smiling cockily up at her. "Where's the blond nurse from earlier?"
Stopping dead, Sakura swivelled around and walked over to Genma's bed, pulling out the clipboard and studying it with a bit too much interest. Even for her.
"It seems you need a new cast..." Sakura gestured to the red-haired young woman, not older than herself,
to come over. "Would you?"
"But, Ma'am... I have never changed a cast before..." She stuttered, looking just as terrified as the man in the bed.
"He's a jounin. He won't object. He's endured worse, right?" Sakura asked with a sugar coated voice.
Jaws clenched, Genma's eyes stared transfixed at the white cast around his leg.
'If he has any dignity left', the pink-haired ninja thought with a lopsided grin, 'he will stifle the screams like a man.'
Turning around in a semi-circle, Sakura regarded every man in the room with a stern look, arms akimbo.
"You 'do' realize that I'm having nothing but trouble with you, don't you? My nurses behave like teeny fan-girls, mother-henning over some film beaus! I swear if you don't play good little patient, I'll personally see to a more needle-based treatment!"
There was a short silence and with much satisfactory, Sakura waited for the general gulping to cease.
"But, my dear Sakura! It isn't our fault, that the wonderful women are spellbound by our spirited minds and youthful bodies! They are mere slaves to their need to find men with..."
He was cut short in his speech, when his bed-neighbour cleared his throat soundly.
"Yo, Sakura. Would ya gimme a bucket?"
Fire gleaming in his bright eyes, Maito Gai raised his tightly clenched fist. His lips were trembling angrily as he gave Kakashi his best 'you-are-such-a-hip-rival'-look.
With a small smile, Sakura ignored the disgusted looks on the faces of the other shinobis and headed towards the bed in the far right corner of the large ICU-room.
Hatake Kakashi was lying there, his back slightly propped up on two cushions and his torso covered with the black cloth that also served as mask to hide his face. Underneath the black material, Sakura knew that his chest was still wrapped tightly into thick bandages, a large kunai wound lying beneath.
Even though there had been enough occasions when he would have been unable to dodge her, Sakura had never dared to reveal his face. Although she had to admit, she had been tempted to ignore her inner voices and take a look at what was lying under the damn mask.
With a twinge of pain, Sakura realized, that the day she or any other member of former team 7 would finally see his face, would be the day when either Kakashi or one of them died. Though she'd rather never see it than be forced to say goodbye to him.
Sighing, Sakura banished the dark thoughts into some far corner of her mind. Instead she regarded Kakashi with a somewhat bright smile, taking a closer look at what else had changed of his normal appearance ever since Konoha had been brought back under control.
Instead of his cherished forehead protector, a white bandage covered his left eye. It added to the impression of a mummy sitting happily in his sarcophagus and not for the first time, Sakura approached her sensei with a soft chuckle escaping her lips.
"Lemme see that eye." She said, her hands already busily unwrapping the bandage from around his head.
A slight blue hue already covered her fingers as she touched the closed lid gingerly.
"Anything I should know?"
Brows creased in concentration, Sakura examined the eye carefully as she waited for an answer. Though she already knew it just from having allowed her own chakra to enter the organ.
She had successfully healed the damaged chakra channels already yesterday, but it seemed there was still a little blood inside the vitreous body. She would have to disintegrate it now. So without further delay, she forced a minimal amount of chakra into the sharinganed eye, concentrating hard as she started breaking up the small clusters of blood.
Already she felt her arms sagging away tiredly.
Her chakra-reserves had only been minimally restored and even the slightest exertion of any kind resulted instantly in great fatigue. But in her mind, there existed not one plausible reason for her to stop treating her patients.
With Tsunade gone and half of the medical nins dead, she was the one driving the hospital on. Even with only one third of its original staff left to operate...
"Sakura"
Kakashi's soft voice startled her out of her internal revery and with a questioning look she stared down at him.
His right eye had wrinkled up into a smile. Well, at least the only thing resembling a smile on his mostly hidden features.
"How are you?"
If the question surprised her, Sakura didn't show. There hadn't been much time to think about herself and nobody had actually cared to ask before. Everybody had their own bundle of problems to carry and she wasn't about to complain to anybody about her childish fears or anger or grief or...
"Fine. Wounds still hurt a bit, but nothing some hours of sleep couldn't cure." She retorted almost automatically with an, what she hoped, assuring smile plastered on her lips.
"I wasn't talking 'bout that." The smile vanished from Kakashi's face within an eye's blink and Sakura had to gulp when he stared right into her eyes intensely.
"You seem to have forgotten that I've been your comrade 'and' friend for many years now and to be frank, you're even worse at faking smiles than Naruto."
Biting onto her lower lip, Sakura averted her gaze and watched instead her hands. She had already healed the last damage to Kakashi's eye, but because of some reason she was reluctant to withdraw her hand, yet.
Maybe Naruto had been right. Maybe Kakashi was able to read minds after all.
Or maybe it was really just his stunningly clear insight into the people he was close to.
Kakashi had been a companion in more ways than she would admit to herself. He was her sensei, one of her best and most trusted friends... and a loved father-substitute.
"I dunno." She inhaled deeply. Tiredly.
"It's pretty hard. And I'm not talking about the fact that we're low on staff." Sakura's voice lowered slightly when she heard the pained grunt of Genma some meters behind her.
"I haven't given myself time yet to think about Tsunade's... I mean, the Fifth Hokage's death..." She trailed off, her hand flying to her eyes and covering them, ashamed of the moisture slowly gathering in their corners. "It's so... I... "
With a shuddering breath, Sakura looked up again, finding Kakashi's eye watching her closely.
There was no pity in them and she appreciated his silent support more than any physical contact right now. He was just listening, being the first one since the end of the battle. The first one that didn't ask for 'her' help...
"It seems like Naruto has gone out of my way ever since 'then'. I guess he hates me for not having woken up earlier." Her jaws clenched together as she thought back to the moment when she had woken up on the floor of the Ichiraku. Naruto had been kneeling beside her, kyubi-fied eyes staring angrily down at her. When she had turned her head to her right, she had found the white face of Uchiha Sasuke facing towards her, his cheeks smeared with dried blood.
Pulling up her nose, Sakura was faintly aware of the silence that had suddenly descended upon the room.
A lone tear rolled down her cheek, but it seemed her hands were too tired to wipe it away.
"And Sasuke... he..."
Before she could continue, a hand appeared on her forearm, squeezing it slightly to gain her attention. Her words would have caught in her constricting throat anyway and so Sakura looked again into the eyes of her former sensei. And for a split second they were so clear, so translucent that Sakura had to gulp down another sob.
She had never seen so many emotions in those eyes.
Pain, exhaustion, grief.
Understanding.
Sakura had never gotten the chance to see further into his case, but she knew that if there was one person on the surface of this planet who knew what she was feeling right now, than it was Hatake Kakashi. A man who had eyes that seemed to be fighting the world in every waking hour.
"Believe me, Sakura. If there is one thing Naruto is not capable of, then it is hating you."
Suppressing another sob and hiccupping instead, Sakura bit her lip. A shaking smile spread out on her lips as she allowed Kakashi's words to sink in.
He was right.
There was nothing she could say against that.
Sakura had never seen or met 'anybody' in her life who had suffered as much as Naruto. And even though people had laughed and spit at him, had hurt him emotionally and physically. Even though he had never had anybody to go to when he was young, no warm arms engulfing him in safety, allowing him to cry. Even though he had been alone all his life, Naruto had never hated.
Neither her nor Sasuke nor Kakashi nor the Fourth.
"Sakura." Looking up tiredly into the eye of Kakashi, the emotions again hidden behind a wall of forced cheerfulness, she had to swallow hard.
"Don't make the mistake of walking down this path alone. There're people caring for you. People who love you." The silver-haired shinobi said, his gaze momentarily averting as he stared down at his right hand.
If he concentrated hard enough he could almost see the white light of the 'chidori' and hear the sound of the thousand birds flying up into the sky, chirping loudly and telling the clouds of their grief.
Suddenly two hands appeared on his shoulders, squeezing them lightly.
When he looked up again he was surprised to find Sakura leaning over slightly and giving his forehead a feather like kiss.
"Thanks." She whispered under her breath.
Straightening, Sakura gave him the first genuine smile she had been able to muster in the last days.
Turning around, she headed for the door, nodding approvingly to the red-haired nurse as she gave Genma's slightly messed cast a final (and probably painful) tug.
When she had finally reached the exit, a thought suddenly occurred to her.
With an evil grin, she turned around slighty and whistled into the silence. In answer the nurse looked up surprised.
"And I need an urine sample from Hatake Kakashi, bed 22, by noon, ok? Oh, and bandage his head again, please."
Pushing open the door, she didn't have to look in order to know that there was a desperate expression on the poor man's face.
----------
"Ohhhhhh, he's too cute!"
Frowning, Tenten stared at Lee for the longest second, before snickering and looking back down at the sleeping child in her arms.
Two IV-lines ran from her arms to a stand and several monitors were hooked up on her body, telling anybody who cared what her heart and lungs were doing, her brain functions (though she feared Lee and Neji were vitally helping in driving her nuts and therefor killing off what had been left inside her head) and probably even the status of her bladder.
"Pleeeeeeaseee!" Lee whined, pouting when Neji shoved him away some centimeters, feeling his personal space invaded. And personal space ment 'everything' to the Hyuga prodigy.
"Let me take this beautiful child to Gai-sensei! He surely wants to see for himself the testament of the wonderful love that has blossomed between you!" He said, fist raised and if she hadn't known better, Tenten could have sworn that the room had gained some notches of light.
"Later." Was all Neji offered as an answer.
With a heavy exasperated sigh, sounding like somebody had forbidden him to train (which was 'the' worst thing one could do to Lee...), the young slender man turned around, heading for the door.
Just when he reached for the door handle, it flew open. If it hadn't been for his remarkably fast reaction, it would have collided with his nose. Flipping back, he landed two meters away from the now open door, kneeling on the linoleum floor. As he looked up he couldn't prevent his eyebrows from shooting up into a bewildered frown.
"May I come in." Gaara asked.
He was standing in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest and an indifferent expression on his slightly pale features. The only thing out of the ordinary about his appearance was the absence of the large gourd.
"Of course, Lord Kazekage." Tenten said with the slightest hint of shock detectable in her voice.
With that, Gaara slowly walked across the small space towards the only bed occupying the small room. He nodded curtly down at Lee, who was still kneeling on the floor.
When the red-haired man finally reached the bed, an ominous silence spread out through the room, unnerving even Neji.
After a while, Gaara shifted almost imperceptible.
"Can I hold him?"
For what seemed like minutes, nothing happened. The only sound that could be heard was the rhythmic beeping and bleeping of monitors.
Surprised, Tenten slowly nodded, lifting the child up towards the waiting hands of Gaara.
With utmost care, the sand-nin slowly drew the still sleeping child up into his gentle embrace, allowing the baby's head to rest softly on his folded arms. A peaceful expression was on its round features, a bubble of saliva appearing at the corner of the small mouth.
"What name has he been given?"
Frowning at each other, Tenten and Neji remained silent.
Instead of their answer, the sound of Lee getting up from the ground and coming nearer to the scene could be heard. He cleared his throat soundly and anybody having known him longer than a few days could tell only by that, that he was smiling. Probably even grinning like a madman.
"He hasn't got a name, yet. So there's still room for suggestions!"
Again nothing was said to that and even Lee had to admit that it was getting more and more awkward. Maybe he could launch into a speech of how he had rescued Gai-sensei or what had happened when...
"I will think about a fitting name and let you know."
Brows knitted together in perplexity, Neji thought he saw the slightest glimmer of hope and maybe contentment in Gaara's black-rimmed eyes. With a small smile, he marvelled at Naruto's ability to change even those people, and give them back hope, who were caught inside a darkness even greater and more absolute than death.
"I would be honored, Lord Kazekage." He replied, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips.
----------
Walking down the long corridor, Sakura watched the room numbers passing by. Here in this part of the hospital, only few people were lying. Only those considered threats.
When she looked up, she could already see the end of her way.
A swinging door was leading to a small room behind. Not as much a room than a cell.
A prison cell, turned into a makeshift ICU.
One man was lying inside on a bed. Dozens of machines were monitoring everything from pulse and blood pressure to oxygen saturation and even the status of his chakra flow. Though there wasn't even enough chakra left inside his body to attempt a 'Henge'(transformation).
Five ANBU were stationed inside, each of them watching over every movement and development. Only herself and Shizune were allowed to send them outside.
Right now, Sakura knew a sixth person would be present.
Naruto was probably pacing around the small room, muttering incoherently and cursing every now and then at the lack of response he got from his silent companion.
As she neared her destination, Sakura stealed herself for what was lying ahead.
Her encounter with her best friend wouldn't be as easy as she would have liked. What she would tell him, Sakura still didn't know.
Suddenly the doors burst open, crashing into the walls. It sounded like they would crumble any second.
"That damn asshole!" An angry voice echoed through the corridor.
"N-Naruto?" In her ears, Sakura's voice sounded small and insecure. She wished she could try again.
But it seemed she had already gained the blond man's attention.
"Sakura!"
Within a second, he was right in front of her and before she could react, Naruto embraced her in a tight hug. Sakura felt his fingers digging into her shoulders, but the small pain the action was causing was comforting her more than any word he was muttering into her neck.
"Naruto..." Dammit, her voice was trembling again. "I'm so sorry"
With that the tears suddenly started cascading down her cheeks. Sakura couldn't prevent them even if she had wanted to. 'Ninjas are supposed to hide their true feelings under any circumstances'. She should have abandoned that rule a long time ago.
Suddenly, Naruto pulled away. He was frowning and his blue eyes had a moist gleam to them.
"Don't..." He muttered, a slight angry tone hovering at the edge of his voice. "Don't you ever dare and think there was something you have to be sorry about!"
"But... if I..."
The expression on Naruto's face changed. It was barely perceptible, but to Sakura it seemed like she was reading an open book. It silenced her immediately when she found her own feelings and thoughts mirrored in the normally bright blue orbs.
"I missed you so much, but... I... I always turned around and ran away when I felt you were near..." The sadness and self-reproach in Naruto's voice was almost too much for Sakura to bear. "I couldn't bring myself to face you."
A gentle hand appeared on his arm and when he looked up into Sakura's face he found her eyes bright with tears. She was smiling sadly up at him as she took a small step forward, almost bumping into his chest.
"There was nothing else you could have done, Naruto." She told him in a whispered voice, one hand flying up to cup his cheek. "If it wasn't for you, Sasuke would probably already be dead."
"Keh, that idiot is even too stupid to kick the bucket, ne"
Leave it to Naruto to make a comment that could change the mood within an eye's blink.
Despite the tears still pricking at the back of her eyes, Sakura chuckled softly at that. If only she could get herself to tell Naruto how much she loved him. The kind of love that kept friends and families together in deep trust. He was the brother she had never had.
"How's he?" Naruto suddenly asked, wiping the smile out of the kunoichi's face instantly.
"Well... Sasuke has lost a lot of blood, but we're working on that. I was able to heal most of his sever wounds and Shizune luckily helped with the rest, albeit reluctantly." Sakura winced inwardly when she remembered the argument she had had two days ago with the other woman.
"His chakra reserves are practically nonexistent and even if he had still some grain of energy left in his system, there is nothing he can do with his tenketsu (chakra holes) sealed by Hinata. I asked specifically for her to do it, 'cause I feared any other member of the Hyuga clan would kill him 'accidently"
A lopsided grin appeared on Naruto's lips when he listened to Sakura's words. He could imagine Neji or Hizashi grinning evilly at the prospect of getting their hands on the nuke-nin and last Uchiha...
"About his eyes..." For a moment it seemed Sakura wouldn't be able to continue, but then she looked right into the assuring eyes of her friend and all doubt that Naruto was making her responsible were gone.
"I didn't have and still don't have enough chakra to heal the damage done to them. I don't know what happened and to be honest, I don't know whether I 'want' to. But it seems every single chakra channel and blood vessel has literally exploded in his eyes, probably when he used the 'Mangekyou'. In addition to that the receptor cells of his eyes were damaged beyond my ability to heal them."
"He's a lucky bastard if he'll get outta this mess on his own legs. He's not a genius for nothing, Sakura. He'll learn to live with that handicap... Blind is not dead." Naruto said.
Sakura wasn't sure whether he had said it to assure her or himself.
Naruto looked like a mess and that was a mild understatement. He had black rims under his eyes, his features were pale and he was still dressed in the same clothes he had worn three days ago. Blood and dirt had already dried into the material and Sakura doubted he'd ever be able to get it clean again.
"What if he doesn't?" The kunoichi suddenly asked, staring across Naruto's shoulder at the closed doors.
"What if the council of elders decides to execute him?... Naruto, I don't think I could stand the thought that we lost him again. I... I would do anything to save Sasuke!" Sakura was breathing heavily by now. "Even if that would mean going against everything a shinobi of this village stands for..."
Listening to her voice trailing off, Naruto stared at the ground. He himself had practically thought about exactly that every second he had been awake within the last few days.
Sasuke was back. Finally, even if he wasn't what people called 'in one piece.
They had won. Not only the war against Akatsuki and Oto.
They had won against fate.
Nobody, save for himself, Sakura and Kakashi, had thought it possible that Sasuke would someday return home. And they hadn't been forced to drag him back by his hair or to break his arms and legs.
No. The Uchiha heir had come back to them on his own accord. And Naruto would be damned if anybody dared to take him away again! And if he had to beat the next Hokage into a pulp!
"Sakura... You said it yourself." A boyish grin spread out on his lips as he brought his fist up, his thumb pointing up at the ceiling. "We'll do it together!"
Sniffing soundly, Sakura closed the gap between them and hugged Naruto to her chest like her life depended on it. She had never been so sure that even the devil in person couldn't prevent them from doing whatever action they would have to take.
Suddenly something poked into her hip and with a start, Sakura remembered what she had put into the trouser pocket after Shizune had woken her up.
"Naruto." Pulling out the envelope, she held it right in front of the blond young man, watching as a bewildered frown creased his forehead. "Shikamaru gave me this letter during the battle. He said it was from Tsunade and that I should give it to you."
With mixed feelings, Naruto slowly took the white folded paper and opened it carefully.
'Yo, midget!'
Concerned, Sakura watched as Naruto started reading the letter that contained what were possibly Tsunade's last words. She couldn't deny that she was more than curious, but at the same time she was afraid of what her sensei had to tell Naruto.
As she watched her friend closely, the pink-haired woman found his facial expression suddenly going slack. But only a heartbeat later, a storm of emotions raged across his features. They changed so fast that she had problems grasping them all.
Surprise. Anger. Fear. Grief.
It wasn't often that he showed so much of what was going on inside his soul and heart that immediately a lump rose in Sakura's throat as she waited for him to finish reading the mysterious letter.
Suddenly, Naruto looked up, staring straight into her bright green eyes.
His gaze wasn't focused as he seemed to look into the distance.
"Sakura..." His voice sounded strangely small. Like he couldn't decide what emotion to paint it in this time.
"I have to find Jiraiya..."
Opening her mouth, Sakura was just about to ask what was going on. But before she had a chance to catch his hand, Naruto was already gone in a blur of orange and black.
----------
It felt strange.
No. 'Strange' was the wrong word.
He felt detached. From his body, his mind, the situation.
Jiraiya felt like he was floating high up in the sky, watching life go on without him.
His hand wandered across the rough structure of the rock he was sitting on, finding a small pebble on its journey. His fingers closed around the small stone and lifted it up towards his face. He held it close to his nose, scrutinizing it with eyes that reflected the anguish of his soul.
The image of his first student flashed through his vision and one particular moment played in his mind.
"So you made it, huh?" Jiraiya asked the young man with the spiky blond hair standing beside him. He was wearing the robe of a Hokage and a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he stared ahead. The two men were on top of the Hokage tower, surveying the village and the large monument in front of them.
"Yeah. I'm finally Hokage." There was no genuine happiness in his voice, just relief.
"You look like ya have a long way ahead, brat." The sannin replied with a smirk.
"Just enjoying the view." "Ha! I'd be pretty pissed off, if my ugly face would be chiseled into that giant heap of dirt for the rest of eternity!" The man with the white long hair barked, laughing and patting a fatherly hand onto the youngsters back.
"No. You're wrong." Bending down, he picked up a small stone and handed it over to his companion.
"That heap of dirt is a proud mountain. A wonderful creation of nature and it consists of uncountable stones. Every little stone is part of the hole massive monument and at the same time every single one is needed to keep it the way it is. Proud and strong."
Snorting, Jiraiya threw the stone away into the distance, hoping it wouldn't hit anybody.
"I guess, Konoha is this mountain and everyone here is a small stone. You and me included, just like all the previous Hokages. And as the Fourth I give the mountain a new face and a new protector. I'm the stone that keeps the mountain together in its core..." His voice trailed off as he turned his head to his mentor.
"If getting sentimental and cheesy is part of this job than I'll happily leave it to you and Sarutobi, that old geezer. You almost sound like you found his book of witty comments." Jiraiya replied with a grin, folding his arms across his chest as he watched the workers slowly forming a face out of the brown stone.
"Oh, just shut up, Ero Sennin..."
Anger flooded his senses as he tossed the stone far away, watching as it fell down into the village below.
But somehow, there was no satisfaction in this action at all. It just left a deeper hole inside his aching body.
"Dammit..." Jiraiya mumbled, covering his tired features with his hand and sighing heavily into his palm. "I swear, she did that on purpose..."
'Ya know that this is gonna end in hell for us, right?', he remembered Tsunade say, when they had sped through the streets of the village on their way to Orochimaru. Her words made him want to beat the crap out of her for that wise-ass comment. She had known from the start that she would be the only one going down. She had planned it right from the beginning!
Even though she hadn't died because of the genial jutsu she had developed in order to defeat Orochi, but with a forbidden technique to bring back a man from the dead whose life he himself had chosen to finish. 'He' had wanted to die instead of her! It had been his fate to save her and 'not' the other way round!
What a great knight in shining armor he was.
Couldn't even save the woman he loved more than his own damn life...
"You wanna stand around there all day, brat?" He suddenly asked into the silence, leaning with his elbows on his knees. He stared straight ahead, listening to the almost soundless footsteps of somebody approaching him from behind.
"Thought I'd wait until you noticed me. Didn't want to interrupt your perverted daydreams, old man"
"You're lucky my arms still hurt. Otherwise I'd be already sitting on your back with your face kissing the dirt."
Snorting, Naruto came to an halt to Jiraiya's right, hand jammed deep in his trouser pockets. His face was devoid of any emotion, the old man realized with a frown.
"You here for something, or did you just want to bug me? Did your pink heartthrob order you here?"
"Yeah, something like that..."
For a very long moment everything was silent. The only sounds came from the birds and the villagers working busily on repairing stores and houses, filling up holes and searching for dead shinobis.
It was unnerving for the last remaining sannin.
"Did you know?" Naruto's voice suddenly erupted. It startled a flock of birds out of their hiding place in a small bush nearby. With an angry chirping concert, they flew high up into the sky. The two men watched them for a while until they disappeared in the distance.
Finally, Jiraiya turned around slightly, facing Naruto.
"About what she decided you to become? Yes." He sighed tiredly, getting up from the stone and looking down into the valley. He could clearly make out the shape of the face of the Fifth Hokage from above the monument, chiseled into the hard stone. He had been sitting on top of the mountain for close to five hours now.
'Maybe it is time to go', he thought bitterly.
"How'd she get that through the council? There's not a chance in hell that they'd just accept that without a fight." Naruto said, pulling out the crumpled letter he had received two hours ago from Sakura. He handed it over to his sensei and closed his eyes, savouring the feel of a warm breeze washing over his features.
"You forgot, that there's no worse person to pick a fight with, than Tsunade." Jiraiya mumbled, absently taking the letter and inhaling deeply before he started to read it out loud.
"'Yo, midget! It is time. You've been getting on my nerves for God knows how long and to be frank I'm tired of all this complaining and crying! Be a man and finally face the consequences of your actions!
I hereby make you my rightful successor, the Sixth Hokage of Fire-country! You'll do fine, I'm sure of that. The world has finally acknowledged you, so show it your face proudly and with a smile! Start thinking about things more important than ramen or high-class missions!
Naruto, there is one last order I would like to entrust you with. Tell Sakura that she has to lead a whole hospital on her own from now on. I have never had so much faith in any other student before her. She's a proud kunoichi of this village now!
Jiraiya! I know you're reading this! Go and suck it up! There're people who need your perverted ass right now! I am honored to have been your companion and friend for all this time. The only thing I regret before leaving this world, is that I never said yes. Please forgive my stubbornness.
And now, Rukodaime. Go and make your father and everyone else, who has given you trust and love, proud!'" Jiraiya finished reading the letter with an unsteady voice.
His hand didn't seem to be able to hold the letter any longer. It fell out of trembling fingers onto the ground and lay still on the ground right in front of his feet.
Suddenly a salty tear dropped down onto the white sheet, the ink dispersing slowly in an irregular pattern.
Another drop landed on the letter, followed yet by another.
A lump rose in his throat as Naruto watched Jiraiya cry. He had never seen the man he admired such a great deal cry before. And it looked somehow out of place.
Not knowing what else to do, the blond stood back, leaving the other man room to grieve.
After some minutes, Jiraiya suddenly stopped. With what looked like a great effort, he straightened and turned around. He didn't even bother to conceal his tear stricken face, instead he smiled faintly through hazy eyes.
"I've survived three Hokages already. I hope I won't have to add a fourth name to the list, brat"
"Don't worry. There's tons fo stuff I have to do. No time to push up the daisies!" Naruto replied with what he hoped was a genuine smile.
"You 'do' realize that there's one hell of a decision waiting for you, right?" Jiraiya asked, waving his hand backwards where he assumed the hospital to be.
"That's actually the reason why I came..." Naruto didn't get the chance to finish his sentence when the older man lifted his hand and silenced him effectively.
"As the Rokudaime, 'you' decide. If you use your head, you'll come up with the right thing. I know you're smarter that you let on, especially when you're in a sticky situation. Trust your feelings, 'cause sometimes, they'll be the only thing you'll have..."
Looking down at the ground, Naruto listened as Jiraiya slowly started walking away from him.
He was alone.
"Trust my feelings?... What the hell..." He mumbled to no-one in particular.
What should he do?
Uchiha Sasuke.
He had run away on his own accord. Had followed Orochimaru. Had gone down the path of evil just to get his revenge on his brother. He was a nuke-nin and one of the most wanted in the history of Konoha.
Yes, he had come back and had saved not only him, but probably also a hell of a lot other people. If Akatsuki had gotten their filthy hands on the kyubi... Naruto decided that he didn't want to think about that.
Everybody in the council and many fellow shinobis would do anything to get Sasuke executed, but.
'I would do anything to save Sasuke!', Sakura's words echoed through Naruto's mind and he knew she meant it. And he had said it himself:'We'll do it together!'
He would have to make a decision.
One that would either be Sasuke's death or future...
----------
"Sakura!"
Turning around, the pink-haired kunoichi watched as a nurse she knew quite well ran down the corridor towards her. She was holding the ever present clipboard and was breathing heavily from the jog.
"I have the results!"
"And?" Sakura asked, frowning down at the smaller woman.
"Hatake Kakashi's urine sample came back negative. No blood or whatsoever in the sample."
"That's good... another thing I don't have to worry about. Thanks, see you!" Sakura said, waving a dismissive hand at the nurse. She was just about to turn around when her eyes caught a glimpse of orange and blond at the end of the corridor.
"Naruto?"
"Sakura!"
Gnawing at the inside of her cheek, Sakura waited for her friend to catch up to her. He was holding a crumpled sheet of paper in his hands and he was still as dirty as before, maybe even more...
"Naruto! Where have you been? What was that about earlier! I was so concerned!" Sakura was obviously angry as she stepped forward and glared dangerously up into Naruto's bright blue eyes. But when she found them tainted in anxiousness and uncertainty, she fell silent.
"Sakura... There's something I have to tell you..."
--------------------
FINIS?
Author's notes II:
Yeah! Hurray! I made it! Another wonderful (?) part! Watcha thinking about it? Will there be actually a 8 one? Could that even be possible? Depends on what YOU, my wonderful readers, are thinking so far and whether I should really dare it! n.n
I have two very important things to say! Open your eyes and read carefully:
1.: As you may have already found out, Neji's son still has no name (shame on me...). I have some waiting here, but I thought it would be cool if you guys would make some suggestions! Yes! It's a poll! What name could Gaara (aka you pals!) possibly suggest! The only condition is that the name has to have a deeper meaning, one that fits into the grand scheme. So think hard and write it down in your review! ( my mind link doesn't work right now, so telepathy won't be any help here...)
2.: Sasuke, dead or alive?
I have some ideas for both and I would like to know what 'you' think! Can't promise whether I'll actually take what the majority wants, but I'm open for anything! Try me! I mean it's hard enough for the poor Naruto and what would Sakura do? You see what I mean?
So now I leave you (nearly) alone! Go and write some nice (or not...) reviews, 'cause you make my day!
And now:
What really happened when Sakura selected somebody to take Kakashi's urine sample:
Sakura sighed exaggeratedly when the red haired young nurse fainted at the prospect of getting down on Kakashi.
Suddenly the door burst open and a young woman (ME, who else?) jumped inside, an insane look haunting her eyes. Her hands were twitching and saliva was dripping down her mouth as she grinned lopsidedly at Kakashi (who had 'the' most terrified expression on his face ever!).
"I'm the only one allowed to touch you, Kakashiiiiiiii"
With that she jumped across the room and landed on the copy-ninja's bed and...