Chapter 15
The Feeling of Death
You know I didn't get any reviews. That's gotta prove I don't care anymore. Anyways, thank god this is almost over so I can start working on the Third Book and my other stories! But I wonder...do you guys want to read the third book?I don't know anymore...
DISCLAIMER: ...I still don't feel like putting one.
"NARUTO!" Sakura continued shouting, desperately trying to get him to wake up. "Please, don't die! Don't die! Don't die!" Quickly, she made her hand signs, and put them over Naruto's wound. "Naruto, don't die on me! Please don't die!" she cried as she healed the wound. "Whatever you do…DO. NOT. DIE!" Now, Sakura was completely trembling, doing everything in her power to stop the bleeding. It…it's just like what happened with Tsunade-shishou… she thought in her head, recalling the incident with Dan. His bleeding wouldn't stop, and he died. Now the same thing was happening to Naruto.
I will not die. Not until I become Hokage…
More tears kept coming out as she kept remembering everything about Naruto, as if his life were flashing before her eyes.
Sakura-chan! I'm keeping my promise! I told you it was a promise of a lifetime!
He had fulfilled that promise, his lifetime promise. But then, one specific conversation came into her head, one that had only happened a while ago, when he had developed a new jutsu…
"Your arm is fractured in many places. Your body can't handle that jutsu. Only use your new jutsu when you know you'll make a hit! You can't keep on using it!" Sakura scolded Naruto as she healed his arm, which had been severely injured in the battle with Kakazu.
Naruto just smiled and laughed. "Haha! I'll be fine as long as you're here to heal me!" he told her, and kept smiling.
Sakura only frowned, and sighed in exasperation. "You aren't listening to what I'm saying! You can't heal everything back to the way it was with medical jutsu you know!"
Despite the entire lecture, Naruto still smiled. "I'm actually kind of enjoying this though…" he said to Sakura, who looked at him with a perplexed expression. "It's like you and me are getting closer to Sasuke."
"Baka!" Sakura shouted through her sobs. "I told you that you can't completely heal everything with medical jutsu!" The green chakra ball she had under her hands died out, leaving her frozen stiff. "No…" Again, Sakura tried to heal, but it soon died away. "No, not yet. I-I can't be out of chakra yet!" she cried, making her hand signs again, but this time, nothing happened. "NO!"
Orochimaru, all this time, has just been watching in total silent happiness. Slowly, he turned around and began hunting down his next target, Sasuke.
Sakura didn't even notice him leave, her being too busy with Naruto. No matter what she tried, she couldn't get that chakra to come out. "No! Naruto, please. Don't die on me!" she sobbed, and fell onto his bloody torso. "DON'T DIE!"
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"Hello, Kyuubi." Naruto said as he walked up to the cage of the demon that was imprisoned inside of him. "So, how does it feel again? Death I mean?"
Kyuubi growled. "Aren't you afraid of dying?" he asked him in a harsh tone. "Don't you think it's too early for you to die?"
Naruto shook his head. "No, I don't. As long as everyone else is safe, then I don't care. Besides, I'm getting rid of a certain someone."
"You mean Kuroki?" the fox implied, and Naruto nodded his head. "You have no idea how this is going to impact others. You're not the only one who will feel death, Naruto."
"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked. "The only ones who will die here will be Kuroki, you, and me."
"What about the impact on the others? Sometime's a death of another can cause the same amount of pain to their loved ones." Naruto froze at Kyuubi's words. "Take that girl you love so much."
Naruto choked. "S-Sakura-chan?"
"Yeah, her. You can't even see the trauma she's in right now. You see the drops of water coming off the ceiling? Those are her tears."
"Sakura-chan's…tears?" Naruto repeated, and felt his own tears well up. "…so, why aren't you healing me?"
Kyuubi just shook his head from behind the gate. "That wound of yours is way too damn deep for me to heal quickly." He sighed, obviously stumped. "Got anything so that we don't die here?"
Naruto thought and thought about what he could do, feeling the life force being drained out of him very quickly. "I got it!" he said triumphantly. "I can use my life force in place of chakra to close the wound!"
Kyuubi stared at him blankly. "Use your…life force? And by yours you mean mine?"
"No, I mean my own." Naruto retorted. "I'm not gonna use your life to sustain mine. Demon or not, you're still a living creature."
Kyuubi grunted. "You're still way too soft."
Naruto stuck his tongue out at the demon, and then formed a single hand sign, but spoke no words. Suddenly, a pure white glow began to leak from the Hokage's body, surrounding the area where the Kyuubi was. The wound had been right around that area, so his life force's "chakra" headed towards that spot. This is really gonna shorten my life span, but as long as I can stay alive…
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Sakura continued to sob on Naruto's chest, feelings completely useless. There was nothing she could do to stop the bleeding. This time, she could have done something, but in the end it was in vain. "I'm sorry, Naruto…I'm so sorry…" she sobbed.
"Sakura?" a voice asked from afar. Sakura looked up to see Sasuke standing there, frozen stiff. "Sakura, what happened to Naruto?"
All Sakura could do was stare at him, tears still streaming down her face. "S-Sasuke-kun…Naruto is…" she stuttered, trying to get the words out. "Naruto is d-dying…and I can't do anything!"
Sasuke now too felt tears brimming behind his eyes as the thought of Naruto dying yet again entered his mind. The first time was bad enough, but he was brought back. But this time there was no one to bring him back. "Y-You sure?" Sasuke stuttered, and approached the bloody body of Naruto. "You can't do anything?"
"I ran out of chakra…" Sakura sobbed, showing Sasuke when she tried to do a medical jutsu, and the green aura failed to show.
Sasuke looked at Naruto's pale face, and bent down next to him. "Damn it, don't you die again…" he cursed, slamming his fist into the ground. "You can't die Naruto! You just can't!" Suddenly, both Sasuke and Sakura began to back away as a bright white light engulfed Naruto's body, and shot into the air. "W-What is that?" Sasuke asked, terrified.
Sakura just shook her head, and watched as the light pounded harshly back into Naruto's body. It looked like Kami was giving him his life back, as if saying "You are not to die yet". Even so, the light was just barely glowing off of his body, and it soon died away. "Naruto!" Sakura screamed as she ran over and held his head in her arms. "Naruto, please open your eyes!"
Slowly, as a single tear fell from Sakura's eyes, a little bit of sapphire was seen under his eyelids. "S-Sakura…chan?" Naruto's voice huskily coughed out. "I-Is that you?"
"Naruto!" The kunoichi cried as she held the revived Hokage. "You're alive! I was sure you were going to die!"
Naruto stared at Sakura with a pleading look. "Sakura-chan, listen to me…" he said, and the medic looked down at him. "Promise me, to never throw your life away…okay, Sakura-chan?"
"Naruto…" Sakura muttered.
"Because, the feeling of death…" he continued. "It's a scary thing."
More tears fell from Sakura's eyes. "Yeah…" she whispered. "I promise."
"Heh…good." Naruto replied, and closed his eyes, muttering out one last word. "Home…"
"Home…" Sakura repeated, and looked at Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun, help me take him back to our apartment."
Sasuke slowly nodded his head, and continued staring at Naruto's body. The feeling of death… he thought in his head. It really is a scary thing, for everyone.
Okay, that's over and done with...(wow, I really DON'T care anymore, do I?)
And please leave some feedback this time, okay? Please review!
Yamahato Yokimoko-san