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Not So Simple After All
Chapter 9
Naruto climbed to the top of the wall all the while keeping a close eye on the unconscious man below. Peering over, Naruto viewed the battle scene. She was here. He motioned to one of his many clones to come over. And suddenly there were two Narutos peering over the south gate wall.
"Hey you!" said Naruto.
"What?" asked the clone.
"Go find Sakura-chan. Tell her I need her help now!"
"I'm on it!"
"Hurry!"
The clone vaulted himself back over the wall and began searching the area for Sakura. Naruto jumped down next to his old teammate, Sasuke Uchiha. 'She better hurry. He's not going to hold out much longer.'
Just as those thoughts ran through his head, he heard the distinctive 'zing' of a kunai whooshing through the air right next to his ear. He was lucky he had taken a step forward right then, or else he would have been a goner. Naruto's eyes quickly searched the surrounding area, depicting his enemies and their locations. He could take them, but that would leave an opening for them to get to Sasuke. They would kill him for sure! After all, he had burnt down their village. Naruto would have to ensure Sasuke's safety before he could fight. But how?
Naruto slung Sasuke over his shoulder and began contemplating an escape plan. He drew out two kunai and prepared for the inevitable onslaught. His enemies began charging at him, all of them forming chakra seals. Naruto readjusted Sasuke and was about to call up more kage bunshins.
But before any of them could finish their seals and activate their jutsus, a voice was heard calling out—from on top of the wall—and suddenly Naruto felt another person's hand wrap around his wrist and pull him backwards so that he slammed into the wall behind him.
"Suiton: Suishouha no Jutsu!"
Water was everywhere—raining on him from above and pouring down in front. But where had it come from? If Naruto remembered correctly, the river was still half a mile from here. The water thrashed all over the place, drowning the fires but destroying what was left of the front part of the Sound Village. The water then proceeded to flood the town and wash away the attacking Sound nin. The fire had been put out, but now there was a flood at least a 5 inches high.
Naruto looked up when the water began slowing down. The Sound nin who was standing on the wall before was lying there, unconscious. Kakashi was standing just beside him, his visible eye concentrated on Naruto—or rather, the person slung over Naruto's shoulder.
"Naruto?"
It was Sakura. She was standing right beside him, gripping his wrist tightly. She, too, was staring at the missing nin.
"Is that really…Sasuke-kun?"
Naruto adjusted the body on his shoulder to get a better look at his face. "Yep, that's definitely Sasuke-teme. Ne, Sakura-chan, do you think you can save him?"
The pause following his question didn't help to settle his nerves. Sakura was analyzing his injuries. It didn't look good at all. He had more stab wounds on his torso than Ino had in piercings (that's a lot).
"I'll do what I can here, but we really need to get him to a hospital."
Naruto nodded his head before heaving Sasuke back onto his shoulder. "We should move him to a safer location first, away from the fighting."
The newly soaked town looked impossibly barren. Buildings had burned and collapsed, anything that still standing was burned black and wet. "Any ideas?"
Kakashi dropped down to the ground beside them. "I saw a place. It's on the other side of this town, so the fires haven't completely destroyed it. It still has a few walls standing."
---------------------------------------That Place------------------------------------------
To be exact, it had two and a half walls still standing. The roof was long gone. No clean water could be obtained; the sink was barely recognizable. On the plus side, the smoke had cleared and no one was in the vicinity. Perhaps the only useful things found were half a pack of soldier pills that had survived the flames and a burnt-but-soaked futon.
As Sakura finished examining the small house, (or what was left of it, whichever is preferable) she called out to Naruto. "Set him down right there," she said, pointing to the futon, "Search the rest of the house and see if there is any usable medical tape or cloth."
"Sure thing, Sakura-chan."
Naruto laid the Uchiha down on the futon before disappearing into one of the other rooms. Hopefully, he would find something useful.
Sakura immediately began her work. She channeled her chakra into Sasuke's body. He had a hole in his left lung, so she started there first. Using her refined chakra, she began regenerating his cells and tissue. Ever so slowly, the hole in his lung disappeared, replaced by rapidly-grown chakra-infused cells.
Next, she moved on to his ribs. A few of them were broken and cracked. Adjusting his ribs back into their proper positions, she called on her chakra again to seal the cracks and holes. Soon, the bones were mended as well.
It happened when she was reconnecting the muscle tissue to his ribs and spine. She wasn't sure what had happened exactly, but the shock wore off in a flash. This was the Uchiha prodigy after all…
He stirred.
Okay, maybe he wasn't waking up or anything, but this was definitely a positive sign. He had shifted his body just a bit. He was still in pain, he even winced. Sakura sighed as she noticed his brows knitted together. She should do something about this; he must be in incredible pain.
After fishing around in her bag, she finally pulled out a little tube of anesthetics and an injector. Sasuke let out a low, soft growl. She filled the injector with the anesthetic, careful to put the right amount. Over dosing him could be disastrous.
Suddenly, Sasuke clenched his fist. He was waking up after all. But Sakura couldn't allow that, not yet, anyway. It would disrupt the healing processes and might increase his injuries. Also, knowing Sasuke, he'd protest her treatment and try to escape or…never mind, he was in no condition to fight, not even with Sakura.
With one quick, fluent motion, she injected the anesthetics through a vein in his arm. Just then, his eyes snapped open and locked with hers a second time that day, a seemingly impossible feat. The only difference from then was that this time, Sasuke would be the one going to sleep and Sakura would remain awake.
She whispered, "Don't worry Sasuke-kun, everything will be fine. Just go back to sleep now."
"Sakura…" he tried to speak, but his words came out as a barely audible, hoarse whisper. "Sakura…How…?" Sasuke tried to sit up, but the pain immediately increased and coursed through him. Sakura gingerly pushed him back down so he wouldn't strain himself.
"None of that matters, Sasuke-kun. Just rest. You'll be fine."
"Sakura…no…" but then, he drifted off, eyes closing and his breath evening out. The anesthetics had done their job excellently. Now Sakura could continue her work in peace, and Sasuke wouldn't feel a glimpse of pain…more importantly, he couldn't try to revolt or escape.
As she continued re-attaching his muscle tissue, she heard Naruto stumble through a what-used-to-be doorway. He was carrying several stacks of clothing. He peeked around the massive load and said, "Hey Sakura-chan, do you think this will do?"
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Yay! I updated! I know this took awhile, but it was worth it right? If you say wrong, then let me let you know: I've worked on this! Trying to make time for writing fics is impossible. The only time I can find is like, late at night and such or on Sundays. You are lucky I could find time to wrtie this considereing how much science homework I have! Not to mention all my other subjects, but science is the motherload.
I could have updated sooner actually, but with a different chapter. Originally, this chapter had much more Naruto and a bit more Norikazu, but I trashed it. I needed a way to include more sasusaku. So I had to rewrite this with less Naruto, more sasusaku, and I just completely threw out Norikazu. Oh well, it's not like he's an important character.
Next chapter is the last! WOOHOO!
Now review, little sasusaku fans! Make me proud!