Naruto wastes no time dragging Tsunade to the hospital once they arrive back in the Leaf. The sun is going down and they have been travelling all day.
In the hospital foyer, near the cafeteria, a woman with short red hair is eating at an alarming rate. Piles of plates and bowls are stacked up around her, and people are rushing left and right to keep her fed. Naruto runs straight up to the woman. "Mrs. Karin's Mum," he says. "Is Sasuke alright?"
"If by alright you mean alive, yes," says the woman, slurping up an entire bowl of ramen in one mouthful.
"I have Granny Tsunade!" says Naruto.
"Oi!" says Tsunade, still not entirely okay with being called Granny, even though she is kinda pleased. "Stop calling me Granny!"
"You're Tsunade?" asks the woman, ignoring Naruto.
"Yes."
"I am Okami Uzumaki. You may call me Kami."
"Are you in charge of this Sasuke kid's treatment?"
"Yes, I assume you want to examine her right away?"
"Lead on."
Okami stands up and leads Tsunade to the intensive care wards. "She's in here," says Okami, leading Tsunade into a room where a girl with red hair is treating a girl with blue hair. "Karin!" says Okami, rushing over to the red haired girl. "What are you doing, you silly girl!" She pulls Karin's arm out of the blue haired girl's mouth. "You don't have enough chakra for this!" Then Okami hugs the girl. "I'm so proud of you. You have the heart of a medic!"
Tsunade, assuming the blue haired girl is Sasuke based on the lack of other patients in the room, steps up beside the comatose girl's bed and examines her injuries. As Tsunade's healing jutsu passes over Sasuke, Tsunade's face grows much, much grimmer.
"Naruto," Okami is saying. "Take Karin to the kitchen and get her to eat lots of food. That's lots by your standards, not hers, by the way."
"Okay!" says Naruto. "Come on Karin!" Naruto drags Karin out of the ward.
Once the two genin are gone, Tsunade turns to Okami. "This girl should be dead," she says.
"She was for a few seconds," says Okami.
"What possessed you to try and save her?" demands Tsunade. "Even I can't fix this!"
Okami frowns, a look of annoyance on her face. "Maybe you would have tried too, if you had seen the look on her father's face when he thought she died. He looked so...pitiful and forlorn."
Tsunade sighs. "I lost a bet, so I have to try and save this kid," she tells Okami. "But the chance the surgery will kill her is exponentially high. And even if she does make it, there's still the matter of her arm and leg. I can't do it all in one go, I don't have that kind of chakra."
"What if I helped you?" asks Okami. "I am the Uzumaki Queen after all. I can keep her alive while you fix her up. I can even speed the healing process in surgery so you don't have to bother with stitches and pins and the like. Together, we might be able to save her."
Tsunade looks at Sasuke. The poor child looks like a bundle of bandages. "We need to begin right away," she says, straightening her shoulders. "Get us an operating theatre while I get her ready. Every second counts."
Naruto is tempted to tie Karin to her chair.
"But why do I have to eat so much?" whines Karin. "I'll get fat!"
"No you won't!" says Naruto. "Your mum just ate more than most people eat in a month, and she's still super skinny. I do the same sometimes, and I'm still skinny as anything! Where do you think all the extra food goes? It becomes chakra. It's a secret kekkei genkai that no one's allowed to know about except the Uzumaki royal bloodline and the Umino clan. Iruka-nii told me about it cause he thought there weren't any other Uzumakis left." Naruto whispers the last few sentences so that only Karin can hear. "Now start eating."
Karin starts eating, slowly at first. Then she picks up speed and starts shovelling her food down so fast that Naruto has to order more after ten minutes.
Pervy Sage and Shizune appear and rush over to where Naruto is passing Karin full plates of food. It seems those two slowpokes finally caught up.
"Granny Tsunade's already with Sasuke," says Naruto, smiling. "Everything's gonna be alright, 'tebayo."
"That Tsunade better be a miracle worker," says Karin, pausing in her eating. "Sasuke is pretty messed up."
"I'll go and see how they are getting on," says Shizune. "Where do I need to go?"
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto makes a couple of clones. "You, take Shizune to Sasuke and Grandma Tsunade." He tells one. "And you go get Mr. Nice Police Chief, 'tebayo."
"Yes, boss!" say the clones. One drags off Shizune and the other flies off to find Mr. Nice Police Chief. Naruto decides it doesn't matter that the clones did each other's tasks, so long as both tasks get done.
Karin goes back to shovelling food into her mouth faster than even Naruto can manage.
Pervy Sage stands around looking baffled (Naruto learned that word from Hinata).
Eizo is dragging Sasuke's green dinosaur around the kitchen for no apparent reason. Fugaku is not sure if it is cute, funny or annoying. Eizo will get dizzy soon anyway, so Fugaku carries on washing the dinner dishes.
Sure enough, Eizo sits down with a plop and says, "Dizzy."
Fugaku smiles.
"Orange!" says Eizo, jumping up and pulling on Fugaku's pants. "Orange! Orange here!"
Fugaku turns and looks down at Eizo, who is pointing towards the front door. "Orange? Who do you mean?" Eizo has taken to calling people by whatever stands out to him the most about them.
"Orange!" repeats Eizo, a frown on his chubby little face.
A moment later, Naruto bursts in. Of course he means Naruto. Duh!
"So you're back then?" asks Fugaku, trying to keep his cool.
"Yep!" grins Naruto. "I made a bet with Granny Tsunade, and she lost so she had to come back to the Leaf and fix up Sasuke. That's what she's doing right now."
"Fix Pretty Big Sister?" asks Eizo hopefully. "No more broken?"
Fugaku scoops up Eizo and heads out the door, abandoning the dishes. His hands are still wet and soapy, but he does not care. Mikoto is out with Itachi doing something to do with having a healthy pregnancy. Itachi hates these constant check ups and social groups. If she didn't hate them, Mikoto would not be dragging her to them. They are part of her punishment.
Naruto vanishes in a puff of smoke. A shadow clone, huh?
Fugaku grabs Eizo's jacket on the way out and locks the door behind him. He wraps Eizo in his jacket and shunshins to the hospital as fast as he can.
"WEEE!" laughs Eizo. He is still giggling when Fugaku enters the hospital.
Fugaku sees Naruto, Karin and Lord Jiraiya sitting at a table outside the hospital cafeteria. Karin is scoffing down every plate of food Naruto hands her in record time. Jiraiya is staring like he's never seen anything like it.
"Mr. Nice Police Chief!" grins Naruto. "You came!" Then he frowns. "I remember going to your house and talking to you, why is that?"
"Naruto, when a shadow clone dispels the jutsu caster gains all the clone's memories," explains Fugaku.
Naruto's eyes turn wide. "That sounds awesome, 'tebayo!"
Karin swipes the plate of food Naruto is holding and empties it into her mouth.
Naruto slaps his hand together in a handsign and says, "Release!" Naruto frowns in concentration, then he says, "Granny Tsunade and Mrs. Karin's Mum are fixing Sasuke."
"Where?" asks Fugaku.
"Follow me!" says Naruto, handing Karin another plate of food. "Keep eating, Karin!"
"Om, nom, nom," Karin keeps eating.
Naruto runs off, heading for the emergency section of the hospital. Fugaku follows, with Eizo tucked under his arm. There is a young man Fugaku vaguely recognizes pacing outside an operating theatre. Above the operating theatre is a red light forbidding entry to all.
"Sasuke's in there," says Naruto, pointing at the operating theatre.
Fugaku sits down on the bench near the door to the theatre and waits.
And waits.
Hours pass: Eizo falls asleep and Naruto plops down beside Fugaku. Karin and Jiraiya appear after a while and sit down too. The young man stops pacing and joins them on the, now very full, bench. Fugaku notices the pig the young man is holding, but decides not to question it. He's seen odder things.
Sparky flies into the hospital and lands on Naruto's shoulder.
"Oh, hey Sparky," says Naruto. "Where've you been? I thought you woulda' followed me again."
Sparky ruffles his feathers and tucks his beak under his wing.
Eizo shifts his head and sighs in his sleep.
Finally, after about three hours, the light above the door turns green and the doors open. Tsunade and Okami wheel out Sasuke, who is lying unconscious on a hospital bed, wrapped in fresh bandages and a clean hospital gown.
Fugaku stands up and nearly runs to Sasuke's side. "Will she be alright?" he asks. She doesn't look any different, and she is still wearing a breathing mask.
"She is going to need two more operations," says Tsunade. "One on her leg and one on her arm. We'll do the arm first, since it is more damaged, but we need to recover our chakra first."
"Okay," says Fugaku, relieved. "So long as she'll be alright."
"See what I mean?" says Okami. "Like a half drowned, kicked puppy."
Tsunade laughs. "I see your point."
"What are you talking about?" asks Fugaku, suspicious they are making fun of him.
The two women grin at each other.
"Should we tell him?" asks Tsunade.
"Fugaku, you look like a half-drowned, kicked puppy whenever someone mentions Sasuke nowadays," says Okami mercilessly. "It's pitiful. You're supposed to be the stoic Chief of Police, not a wet dishrag."
Fugaku droops.
Naruto yawns. "I'm going home now that Sasuke is alright. Pervy Sage, I'm too tired to walk." Naruto falls across Jiraiya and is instantly asleep.
"Great," says Jiraiya. "Just great."