Recap: Sasuke returns and is placed in the Konoha Hospital where Naruto and he talk. Meanwhile, Shikamaru returns from a mission with a scroll that he has found. The scroll turns out to be a curse meant for Sasuke, and Naruto accidentally activates it. Monsters attack Sasuke at the hospital. Naruto shows up at the hospital and is knocked out.
Today's Date 06.10.06
Day 3 Part II
Naruto recovered from his fall and jumped into action, head first. Four years or training and he still acted like a reckless bull, if somewhat more organized. He and his shadows copies fought off the rotting corpses and before long, Tsunade sealed them all again, back into whatever hell they'd crawled out of.
"Looks like something the Snake Man would do," Naruto commented as he knelt beside Sasuke. "Shikamaru brought a scroll back from his mission. I saw it on your desk so I opened it. It has Sasuke's name on it."
After freeing the raven-haired boy from his restraints, Naruto simply stood beside the bed, looking at the remains of the corpses uncertainly. Now that they were gone, everyone could see the carnage. Sakura approached, since she volunteered to work at the hospital part time, and she winced at the sight.
Tsunade blinked. "I doubt Shikamaru would've done it on purpose."
"I don't think so either. According to his report, the scroll had been found just outside the facility they'd infiltrated and he thought you might be interested."
Naruto looked at Sasuke and offered a reassuring sort of smile. Sasuke rose and looked down at the monsters' remains. They could've hurt his friend and badly. Things could've been much, much worse. Today they'd all gotten lucky, but what about tomorrow?
"I'll go back and look at that spell," the old woman said quietly. "Take Sasuke home and get him some normal clothes, please. Sasuke, hospital gowns are not your style."
"Yes, Granny."
"Yes, ma'am."
Sakura blushed but said, "I'm coming, too. We need to talk to the others about this. If Orochimaru is going to send people after Sasuke we need to be prepared for the worst."
For once Naruto applied three brain cells to the task. "He will want Sasuke alive, since he is planning to transfer his mind into the Uchha's body."
"How far will he go?" Sakura asked.
Sasuke cringed. "As far as he needs to. The village may be better off if I go back."
Tsunade shook her head. "This time we make a stand. Orochimaru will not stop after he gets his hands on you. Whatever his plans, he will not simply stop at this. I hate to say this against a fellow ninja, but this has got to stop. Across the land, we've been getting reports of him crushing opposing clans and worse. When did the shy boy turn into a madman?"
"Shy boy?" This from Sakura.
"Yeah, he was once."
Turning away, she walked purposefully down the hall.
Kakashi showed up late to Naruto's place, as usual. This time, though, he had no fancy excuse, no half-assed explanation. He had been busy with missions on top of the duty of training another team, and to add to it, he had been one of the team to find Sasuke. Honestly, he would rather forget the boy's screaming that night.
He knocked and was let in by Sakura.
"Hello, sensei," she said.
Naruto and Sasuke were sitting by the window. As usual, Naruto had a bowl of ramen in his hands, but then so did his teammate. The raven was staring out the window, enjoying the feel of the sunlight on his pale face. Nearly four years of darkness total had been too much.
"Where's your book, Kakashi? Or has the Old Man been too busy with girls to write another novel?"
Kakashi laughed. "I left it at home for this."
Which showed just how shaken up their teacher really was. The four stared at each other for a moment before Naruto shrugged.
"So, now we rest and relax?" he said.
"Not with Orochimaru out there," Sakura protested.
She was trying not to cling to Sasuke, not to check up on him every couple of seconds. He looked pale and tired, but with only sunburn in the way injuries. Currently he was dressed in a pair of black pants and white shirt, devoid of his usual symbol. Naruto had shirts that fit the raven but nothing with his family crest on them.
"You three are not allowed out of the village until this is over," Kakashi warned them.
Naruto nodded. "We know."
Sasuke spoke, for the first time since arriving at Naruto's home. "Can we afford to just sit here?"
"Sasuke-kun, you're not well enough yet to do anything!"
Naruto and Sasuke both gave their female team mate the Look. For once, they actually agreed, not that they'd have much to disagree on nowadays. Sasuke was glad to be back in the village, among people he at least knew, and hell, he thought he might actually get to like Naruto one day. At least he wasn't going to tease anymore. That was one thing he had grown out of.
For now, it was peaceful and quiet. For now.
"What? As a medic, I'm right."
Naruto sighed. "In this case, being well is not the end of the story. Regardless of how Sasuke is feeling today, tomorrow he could be Snake Man's puppet. Think about it."
"Yeah, I know. I keep wishing..."
"We all do," Kakashi said. "We all wish can just forget the past and move on, but from experience, that's not how it works. Orochimaru will not leave us alone until he has what he wants. And we have no do everything to protect both Sasuke and this village. Surrendering either one is not an option. That's why we're ninja, not merchants or farmers. We are a team, team seven. Bot beyond that, all the nin are a team. Even apart, we work together."
Sasuke nodded. "For Tsunade to succeed in keeping this village safe--and everyone in it--safe, she is going to need the best from all of us. Our physical and emotional problems are going to have to wait."
"We're all in this mess together, Sakura. All of us." Naruto grinned. "We'll win. You know it."
"And if we don't?"
"We will. I promised you once to bring Sasuke back, but turns out he came all on his own. Now we promise each other that we will survive and we will."
"All right." Sakura bowed. "All right."
After that, everyone but Sasuke left. They had homes to go to, people they loved. The Uchiha compound still existed, but Sasuke didn't want to go there. He hadn't abandoned his dreams of growing stronger than his brother, but he had left the horror behind. His family had died, but he lived on and he wanted to preserve their memories, the happy ones.
Naruto finished his ramen and put the bowl into the sink. "Want to talk?" he asked.
Sasuke blinked and nodded. "Hai. Yes. I want to show you a technique."
"Really? What kind?"
Sasuke laughed and said, "It's not really all that good for battle, but you might like it."
The rest of the night was spent with the two of them sitting on pillows on the floor and creating little, tiny burns in the low-set table with Sasuke's new trick. Like his flame attack, this used fire, but the point was precision, something Naruto still struggled with. How strange it was to see, two boys who had been rivals, sitting together as friends.
Orochimaru had sent his spies and they knew what had happened in the village. Problem was that the village was on alert and that the best of the best were guarding both Naruto and Sasuke. The best of the best rarely made mistakes, and one could sit for months waiting for any of them to falter.
Meanwhile, somewhere totally different Itachi was just about ready to get his hands on the demon fox that rested not so peacefully inside Naruto. He had plans, grand plans. He was also planning a strike on Orochimaru.
Okay, so that's this chapter. Sorry it took me ages to get it out, but it's here now. I know that the manga takes a totally different approach, but keep in mind that I started this story before I knew what was going to happen, so this will diverge from that. Sorry.
