Chapter 16

Operation

The day of the operation had finally arrived and Naruto couldn't be happier. He was tired of being in the hospital and the idea of getting his arm back sounded just too good to be true. It was pretty early when Sakura came in to wake him up.

"Naruto," she yelled out while she shook him "wake up, wake up."

"Wha?" he started, and he sat up in his bed. "Hey Sakura, I'm awake!" he yelled back.

"Good," she smiled, "I just wanted to let you know that someone will be in here soon to bring you into surgery."

"Okay," he said, "Thanks Sakura."

"I have to go wake up Sasuke so I'll see you soon Naruto." She half smiled as she began to walk out of the room.

"Sakura," Naruto called out

She turned around and looked back at him "Yes Naruto?" she asked.

"Are you okay? You seem like something's wrong."

She looked at him and gave him a reassuring look. "I'm helping in the surgery today and I'm just a little nervous, but I've been practicing…"

"I know you will do great Sakura. You have the best chakra control in team 7. I'm only here so far because of you healing me. I have faith in you Sakura." He added.

"N-naruto," she replied as her look of shock became replaced with a smile. She gave a curt nod and headed out the door.

After a few minutes a medic came in to take Naruto into the operation room. When they wheeled him in Sasuke was already there.

"Hey Naruto," Sasuke called out to him as they wheeled him closer. Although he'd never say it, it was a relief to see him.

"Sasuke," Naruto started to sit up, but a medic ninja pushed him lightly back down.

The 5th Hokage walked in, Sakura with her, and began explaining the procedure.

"I'm going to explain how this works so that you understand what you need to do during this operation. This is an experimental surgery that has never been tried before. It will take both Sakura and I to complete the juitsu required for this surgery." She continued…

"The next thing that you need to know is that I will be using regeneration cells from the 2nd Hokage's Juitsu and fusing them with your arms. However, because of the way the injuries occurred, we have to intertwine each of your body's own cells and furthermore, you will need to try to recreate a small version of the juitsu that caused the damage to ensure a chakra network connection and flow." She paused as she saw the look on Naruto's face.

"So you're saying…" Naruto hesitated

"She's saying that we have to be awake during the surgery," Sasuke cut in to finish.

"Grandma, is that right?" he asked in disbelief.

"I'm afraid it is. The surgery will also be lengthy, it might take between 12-16 hours to complete."

"I feel like I haven't heard these details before," Naruto announced

"Don't tell me you're getting cold feet now," Sasuke teased.

"If it means getting my arm back I will do it, it's just that…" he trailed off.

"Well what is it Naruto," Lady Tsunade pushed

"If we re-create that juitsu, even on a small scale, it could cause huge problems. It wouldn't be safe…" he added

"The re-creation is merely to open your chakra networks with the juitsus they recognize while stimulating this healing gene, it will take many weeks for your networks to actually wield the chakra or use it."

"Oh, I think I understand," Naruto said.

"I think I've told you everything you need to prepare yourselves for. Are there any questions before we begin," she asked while looking at both of them.

After no response she clapped her hands together and said "Okay then, here goes," and began the experimental juitsu.

Thanks everyone for reading so far and I hope you're enjoying the story! If you wouldn't mind, please leave me a review and let me know what you think of the story so far. There's plenty more to come!