The Heart of the Demon
Chapter 22
Raiden
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters
Authors Note: Sorry for taking so long to post, I have no excuse. Anyway I'm gonna try to start posting on a regular scheduled, hopefully it will help my lazy ass to have a set time to release chapters. My plan is to post a chapter every two weeks probably on Saturday or Sunday I will also be starting a new story and posting for it on the alternating weeks so one week I'll post a chapter for this and the next I'll post one for the new story. I will post the first chapter of the new story soon, it might well be out before anyone reads this, it's going to be called crimson roses so go and check it out. I will update another chapter for this story next week and then start alternating. Anyway enjoy the chapter, sorry again for taking so long with it.
Naruto's eyes blinked open and she sighed deeply before dragging herself out of bed. She shifted to the edge of the bed and grabbed the crutches leaning against the wall pushing herself up onto her one good leg. She worked her way out of her room toward the kitchen where she could smell breakfast. She arrived in the kitchen to find Sasuke standing at the stove "Morning Sasuke, where's Itachi?"
Sasuke turned and smiled at her "Morning Naruto, Itachi already left, you slept in again." Sasuke said pointing to the clock on the wall which read a quarter after ten.
Naruto sighed and made her way to the table where Sasuke pulled a chair out for her and helped her into it "You'd sleep in too if you were literally incapable of doing anything."
Sasuke frowned as he helped her into the seat, he was conflicted about this whole thing, he hated that Naruto was hurt and she had been moping around for the entire two weeks since she left the hospital but on the other hand now he got to spend all of his time with her. "Come on it's not that bad is it?"
She scoffed at him "Are you kidding me? It's worse, I feel so fucking useless, I can't even sit in a chair without your help."
Sasuke sighed as he got her food and set the plate down in front of her before taking his seat across from her. "Well look at the bright side, it's only a few more weeks before you can get the leg cast off."
Naruto groaned "That's a few weeks too many" she gave him a serious look "This stupid cast could come off now and I would be fine, the Kyuubi gives me a crazy healing rate two weeks is plenty enough for my leg to be healed."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow "Is that so? Well if you want we can stop by the hospital today and see if the doctors agree."
Her face lit up, she could deal with the arm cast but not having use of her leg was more than she could handle "Really?"
"Of course."
She happily and quickly finished her breakfast eager to get to the hospital to remove the cast "I'm done let's go I need this thing off." She bounced slightly as Sasuke helped her out of the seat and made her way to the door as fast as she could once she was to her feet.
Sasuke chuckled at her excitement before quickly moving past her to open the door. She went through the open door and prepared for the slow process of descending the front steps. "Eek!" she yelped in surprise as Sasuke suddenly picked her up bridal style causing her to drop her crutches. Sasuke laughed and kicked the crutches so they were lying by the door.
"I didn't know the demon of the leaf was capable of making a noise like that." Sasuke said through a grin.
Naruto blushed deeply crossed her arms and looked away "Shut up, you surprised me."
Sasuke chuckled again "I figured this would be a better way to travel seeing as you're so excited to get there." He said as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop on his way to the hospital. True to his ninja profession they made it to the hospital quickly and soon found themselves waiting in a hospital room for a doctor.
Naruto sat on the edge of the bed swinging her one good leg back and forth as Sasuke leaned against the nearby wall. It didn't take long for the doctor to arrive Naruto being made a top priority by the Hokage. "Naruto, I wasn't expecting you back so soon, is there something wrong?"
"Yeah this stupid fucking cast." She pointed to her leg cast "I want it off."
The doctor raised an eyebrow "Naruto you're supposed to wear that cast for another month still."
"It's ready to come off, I know my body and I know my leg is healed, all this cast is doing now is making my life hell."
"I'm sorry Naruto…"
"Damn it my healing rate is absurd and I'm telling you my leg is fine, either you take it off or I do."
The doctor sighed "Fine we'll have a Hyuga take a look at it and see if it's healed enough to remove the cast but if he says it's still healing than the cast stays." He gave her a stern look.
"Alright." Naruto said confident that the Hyuga would agree with her.
The doctor left and after a few minutes came back in with a Hyuga and a small electronic hand saw in case it was decided that the cast could be removed. "Alright, do your thing."
The stoic Hyuga nodded and activated his Byakugan and after a few moments deactivated it "Her leg is mostly healed, removing the cast should be fine, the arm is still healing though, given then rate at which her leg healed I would say the arm should stay in the cast for at least another week or two."
The doctor shrugged "Alright Naruto, hold still and I'll remove the cast." He turned to the Hyuga "Thank you, you're free to leave now." The Hyuga nodded and left without another word.
Naruto beamed and forcefully made herself sit still as the doctor removed the cast. The cast dropped to the ground in two pieces and Naruto quickly slid off the bed and tested out her healed leg. "Be careful, the leg was healed enough to come out of the cast but it's still delicate, try to take it easy for a while."
Naruto laughed "I can't promise anything." She waved and darted out of the room with Sasuke quickly following after. The doctor sighed and shook his head before getting back to work.
"Naruto the doctor just said to take it easy!" Sasuke shouted after Naruto as they jumped across the rooves of the village.
Naruto laughed loudly "No can do! Life is too short to take it easy.
Temari walked down a dark hallway surrounded by a dozen elite ANBU guards. In her hands she carried a large black kettle. They entered a large room through a barred gate and she placed the kettle delicately on a pedestal in the middle of the room. She nodded to the ANBU who took up positions around the room to stand guard.
She exited the room and walked alone through the dark hallways of the dungeon until she met up with her brother who was waiting by the exit. "Is all of this really necessary?" he asked as he they made their way back to the Kazekage tower.
"I don't know, better safe than sorry I guess, the tailed beasts are powerful weapons."
Kankuro sighed "I don't even know if it's worth it, do you really want another Gaara?"
"It's not our decision, we will do what father says, even if we don't agree with it."
Shukaku had finally reformed after years and Suna had been quick to recapture him. The fourth Kazekage's gold dust as effective as it had always been in subduing the beast it took only a few days after his reformation for Suna to find and capture him. For years they had waited keeping ninja out day and night searching for Shukaku's possible reformation and now they were finally in possession of their tailed beast again.
Naruto wore a huge smile and stretched her arms as she stepped out of the shower. After having the cast removed she ran back to the house to take a quick shower before going out to celebrate. She applied her favorite make up before getting dressed in her usual outfit minus her gauntlets seeing as she couldn't wear the right one due to the cast. "Alright Sasuke I'm ready" she called as she walked out into the main room.
Sasuke stood from his spot on the couch when he heard her call and smiled as she walked around the corner. He smiled and silently stared at her when she walked around the corner. She raised an eyebrow at him after he just stared at her for a few moments "Uh Sasuke are you okay?"
He came out of his thoughts "Yeah I was just admiring how beautiful you are."
She blushed slightly "Oh" She walked past him to the door and pushed it open "come on, let's go." Sasuke fell into step with her as they walked down the streets of the Uchiha district.
"So what do you want to do to celebrate?"
"You can probably guess." She said with a small smile
Sasuke raised an eyebrow and thought for a moment "Ichiraku's"
She widened her smile "You know me so well. I want to do some shopping first though, I need to buy something."
"What?"
She shrugged "I don't know yet."
They made their way to the shops and Naruto began poking around looking for whatever it was that she was looking for. After half an hour of searching around random shops her face lit up and she made her way to a toy shop down the street from the jewelry shop they were just in. Sasuke looked at her questioningly as he followed her into the toy shop. "What would you want from here?"
She looked back at him before perusing the shelf of toys in front of her "I never said I was looking for something for me."
"Then who are you buying this for?"
She shrugged "No one you know." He sighed at her vagueness knowing that she would never elaborate. She looked through the store for what seemed like an eternity to Sasuke, he never knew she could be so into shopping. Finally she picked out a plushy fox and set of practice kunai and shuriken. "Alright these should do." She said as she made her way to the cashier.
The cashier gave her a look of mixed disgust and fear as he quickly rang her up. Naruto was happier with this than when she was a child, now they knew that she could rip them apart in a second so they dare not refuse her service. Not that she would actually kill them, too much hassle having to deal with the consequences that would come with it but they completely believed she would if they irritated her and that's all that mattered.
They walked out of the shop "Alright let's go to Ichiraku's now."
"Finally I'm starving."
"Naruto!" she turned to look who had shouted her name and found Hinata and Shikamaru approaching.
"Hinata!" she called back and they gave each other a big hug when they got close enough.
"What are you doing?" Hinata questioned happily.
"Just some shopping."
Hinata looked to the store the just exited "At a toy store?"
"Yeah, there was someone I had to buy a gift for."
"who?" as far as Hinata knew there was no Naruto knew that would want a gift from a toy store.
"No one you would know."
"She wouldn't tell me either." Sasuke added
"Anyway what are you two up to, are you on a date?" Naruto asked giving Hinata a suspecting face that caused her to blush.
"Actually yes" Shikamaru said "Hinata saw you guys and wanted to ask if you guys wanted to make it a double."
It was Naruto's turn to blush at the insinuation "Sure, we were just going to Ichiraku's anyway." Sasuke interjected knowing it would only make Naruto blush harder.
"What a coincidence" Shikamaru said clearly not surprised.
They made their way to Ichiraku's chatting idly as they did. They got their quickly and were ushered to a booth, Naruto and Hinata sat in the middle with Sasuke and Shikamaru sitting next to them respectively.
"So Naruto, how have you been?" Shikamaru asked with a wary look knowing it might be a sensitive subject.
"Okay, I guess, my leg's finally out of the cast which is nice."
He nodded slowly "I still don't understand how it happened, you're the last person I would think could get jumped like that."
Naruto frowned "Like I told Jariya, the guy was faster than anyone I've ever seen, he could give the Raikage a run for his money."
"Still speed isn't everything, and you're pretty damn fast yourself, I'd think you and your squad would have fared better."
"Well we didn't, can we change the subject now the massacre of my friends isn't something I like to talk about." Sasuke gave Shikamaru a wary glare and Hinata gave him a worried one.
"Sorry sorry, I won't bring it up again." He put his hands up in a placating gesture.
Hinata looked around as an awkward silence grew over the group "So I've noticed you two have been spending a lot of time together…" She said changing the subject, giving Naruto a questioning look.
Naruto easily put together what Hinata was asking "It's not like that-"
"I've been assigned as her personal body guard." Sasuke interrupted her
"Really? Is that all?" Hinata looked at Naruto with suspicion in her eyes "I heard that you and Sakura broke up and assumed-"
"Yeah, I think we know what you assumed" Naruto interrupted with a slight blush on her face that made Hinata giggle.
The rest of the night went by quickly with the group making lighthearted conversation and jokes allowing them all to momentarily forget about everything that had happened.
A cloaked figure walked down the same dark hallway in the depths of Suna that Temari had only a few days prior. The flickering light from the sparse candles causing their shadow to jump around sporadically reveling a small trail of blood.
The alarm had been raised, someone had broken into dungeon where Shukaku was being held and Temari had been dispatched with a squad of eight other elite ANBU as backup for those already stationed there. Their response time was impressive as they arrived at the entrance to the dungeon only five minutes after the alarm had been tripped. The two ANBU that were guarding the entrance had been brutally cut down, one having disemboweled and the other having had his throat torn out, it looked like a wild animal attack.
Temari warily led the squad down the twisting hallways of the dungeon motioning for them be cautious as they approached the room that served as Shukaku's cell. They had come across several more guards, all having been cut down like those at the entrance, Temari was on edge, she had a horrible feeling about this. They finally arrived at the cell and on Temari's signal entered the room.
The intruder stood a few steps from the pedestal their clawed hand wrapped tightly around the throat of the last remaining guard, the others corpses decorated the room several having been torn apart one was pinned to the wall with what appeared to be his own sword protruding though his chest. The guard being held was already bleeding badly from dozens of lacerations all over her body she stared desperately into Temari's eyes when she burst in, begging her for salvation from the demon that had rampaged through the dungeon. Her pleading eyes widened for a second before fading as the intruder impaled the poor woman's chest with their free hand.
Temari didn't like the look of this, this one enemy had easily slaughter over a dozen elite ANBU with little effort and it all seemed terrifyingly familiar though she prayed to kami that she was wrong. "Stop, Surrender now and your death will be quick." She bit out effectively hiding how scared she was.
The figure tossed the rapidly cooling body aside and took the last few steps to the pedestal and wrapped their clawed hand around the handle before letting out a very famine laugh. She turned fully toward the group revealing her face "Now that's funny, you threatening my death." Naruto smirked devilishly at her.
Temari cursed her fear had been confirmed it was her and she couldn't help the terror that ran though her. She motioned and the eight ANBU with her sprang into action. It all happened in a flash, two additional Naruto's shot out from behind support pillars on either side of the room and combined and fire and wind attack that left the four ANBU in back screaming in pain as the flesh melted away. The front four engaged the real Naruto in close combat but even with one had occupied with holding the kettle she easily took them all down.
She shot a bolt of lightning from her hand right into the chest of one; they dropped to the floor their heart being stopped from the attack. She deflected the sword one tried to use against her right into another and then back handed him with a wind infused claw ripping away the front half of his skull. The final one attempted to use a jutsu but she was behind him before he could get through half of the hand signs, her hand dug into his back and wrapped tightly around his spinal cord before she crushed it with her chakra infused grip.
Temari stood frozen in her place eyes wide with terror sweat dripping down her face, in a matter of seconds Naruto had dispatched her entire squad and hadn't even broken a sweat. Naruto turned to the now lone ninja ignoring the agonized cries of several victims that hadn't quite died. The Naruto clones dispersed as she slowly approached the frozen Temari with a demented smirk. Temari closed her eyes tightly and waited for death her heart pounding loudly in her ears, and then she felt the heat of breath on her ear "Not yet." After what felt like an eternity she opened her eyes and Naruto was gone. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and collapsed to her knees, the room went completely silent as the final agonized moans from her squad died out.
Naruto slid out of her clothes and removed her gauntlets after meticulously cleaning them of all the blood that stained them. She rubbed her arm, it was still sore even after flooding her body with Kurama's chakra to heal it. She sighed and stepped into the bathroom to take a shower hoping not to wake either Uchiha in the process.
She stepped out of the shower and brushed her hair before wrapping herself in a towel and heading back to her room. She stepped out into the hallway to find Sasuke waiting for her. He looked to her arm and rose an eyebrow at the lack of a cast "It's a little late for a shower, didn't you go to bed hours ago? And what happened to your cast? the doctor just told you that it needed another week or two to heal."
"The cast got in the way so I removed it, it's fine see." She waved her arm around to show it was fine "As for the shower I don't see how it's your business when I take a shower but if you must know I was having trouble sleeping and thought a shower would help ease the tension in my muscles."
Sasuke nodded slowly before giving her a small smile "Alright just don't try to go anywhere without me, I'd hate to have to tell the Hokage."
She stuck her tongue out childishly at him and he chuckled before saying good night again and going back to bed. She followed suit and threw on a tank top and some panties before flopping into bed.
Naruto Stretched and sat up in her bed, she smiled as she thought about the day to come. She got up and quietly got ready before grabbing the gifts she had purchased a few days prior and sneaking to the door.
"Naruto? Where do you think you're going without me?" Sasuke questioned as he walked around the corner.
Naruto froze with her hand on the door handle before looking over her shoulder at him "Um, I just have somewhere I need to go today, don't worry I'll be fine."
Sasuke raised his eyebrows at her "I'm sorry Naruto but you're not going anywhere without me, it's literally my job."
"Really Sasuke, there's no need it's only for today I'll be back tonight, no one will even know I was gone."
"So not only are you trying to leave without me but you're planning on leaving the village? The Hokage specifically ordered you not to leave the village under any circumstances; it's for your own safety."
"Jariya doesn't need to know, please Sasuke this is really important to me." She walked up to him and looked into his eyes pleadingly and for a second red smoke flashed over her eyes.
Sasuke sighed "Alright Naruto, I'll let you go." Naruto smiled inwardly "But I'm coming with you, that's the only way this is going to work."
Naruto stammered not having expected that, the Ayatsuru should have gotten him to let her leave without issue, she must have underestimated how set he was on protecting her. She sighed "Alright Sasuke but we have to go now; I want to get there as soon as possible."
Sasuke smiled and quickly got ready so they could leave, he was pleased that Naruto hadn't tried to leave without him again as he rounded the corner of the hallway to see her waiting impatiently by the door. They exited the house and waved to Itachi who was sitting on the front deck drinking coffee, Itachi was surprised to see them leaving the house so early but happy to see Naruto seemed a lot happier now that her casts were off.
Naruto was annoyed that Sasuke had forced himself along with her because it meant she couldn't just teleport there as she didn't want to reveal that ability to anyone within the village yet. Still Sasuke was important to her plans and would eventually have to meet him anyway, now was as good a time as any. They slipped out of the village and made their way toward their destination which Naruto refused to tell Sasuke what was.
Naruto wanted to get there as fast as possible and was pleased that Sasuke was able to keep up with her pace; they managed to arrive after only a couple hours which was still a couple hours longer than she had wanted but much better than it could have been. Naruto landed on the forest floor and walked toward an isolated house a couple of miles from a small village they passed on the way. Sasuke landed next to her and gave her a questioning look having no idea why they were there.
Naruto walked quickly to the door of the house, clearly eager to get there, and opened the door and walked in as if she owned the place, Sasuke hesitantly followed.
Naruto walked in with a wide smile as a small child looked over for where he was sitting at a table his face lit up "Mommy!" he shouted and ran over and jumped into her waiting arms.
Naruto hugged him tightly "I've missed you so much baby." She cooed at the small boy in her arms.
Tsunade smiled at the scene from her spot at the table "It's about time you got here; he's been bouncing with excitement all day."
"I was held up a bit." She gave a quick look around "Where's Shizune?"
"She went to town to get some things for dinner tonight. If I had known you'd been bringing someone with you I would have told her to get more."
Naruto looked at her confused for a second before remembering that Sasuke had in fact come with her "Oh, yeah Sasuke kind of insisted." She finally turned back to Sasuke the child happily bouncing in her arms. Sasuke stared at her slack jawed with a stunned look on his face. Naruto cocked her head slightly "Sasuke?" she walked up to him and poked him bringing him out of his stupor.
"Uh, I.. um.." Naruto laughed at his very unuchiha display. Sasuke blushed slightly at the laughter and regained his composure "So you have a son?"
Naruto quieted down and smiled softly "Yes, Sasuke I would like you to meet Raiden." She looked down to the boy in her arms who stared shyly at Sasuke "Rai, this is my good friend Sasuke."
Sasuke gave the child a small smile "Hello Raiden, it's nice to meet you." Sasuke's head was a whirlwind of thoughts, Naruto had a child, it wasn't hard for him to figure out who the father was, the boy was practically the spitting image of his father. Raiden had short spiky red hair and the same raccoon like markings around his eyes which were the same ocean blue as Naruto's, he also had two whisker marks on each of his cheeks like Naruto, it was clear that this was Naruto and Gaara's son.
Raiden shyly waved to Sasuke before burying his face into Naruto's shirt. Naruto chuckled softly "He's kind of shy, don't worry he'll warm up to you." She assured Sasuke.
A large fox walked through the door and yipped happily; dropping a bag of groceries from its mouth and running up to Naruto with a wagging tail "Naruto you're here!"
"Hey kit" Naruto smiled and patted the overgrown fox on the head.
"Wait a minute, kit?" Sasuke asked causing the fox to look to him.
"Oh, hey Sasuke long time no see, what are you doing here?"
"He's here for Rai's birthday or course." Naruto quickly replied before Sasuke could say anything.
"Yeah, of course." Sasuke confirmed.
"Kit, why'd you run off like that?" Shizune called as she entered the house "Oh, Naruto you're here." She smiled brightly at her and set the groceries down on the table "I didn't realize you'd be bringing company."
"It was kind of a last minute thing." Naruto gently placed Raiden on the ground and gave Tsunade and Shizune hugs "It's good to see you guys, thanks again for taking care of Rai."
"Don't mention it." Tsunade knew how much Naruto had been through and was happy to take care of Raiden while Naruto got everything settled in Konaha, though she was wondering what was taking so long.
"Anyway we have to get everything ready for tonight, why don't you two take Rai into town for the day?" Shizune suggested to allow Naruto spend some time with her son.
"If you guys don't need any help." Naruto said with a questioning look.
"We're fine go, have fun." Tsunade reassured.
Naruto smiled brightly at them "Alright, we'll be back in a few hours okay." Naruto walked back over to Raiden who was happily playing with kit, stopping to say something to Sasuke first. "Sasuke please, don't tell them about what happened, I don't want them to worry."
Sasuke gave a curt nod, he could understand her wish even if he didn't entirely agree with it, but he wouldn't tell them if she didn't want him to.
Naruto knelt down beside Rai "Mommy I missed you so much." He cheered happily jumping back into her arms.
"I missed you too honey."
"Are you here to stay now?" he questioned with an eager look on his face.
Naruto frowned slightly "I'm sorry, there are still some things I need to do."
Raiden pouted "Can I come with you?"
"You have no idea how much I wish you could, but you can't yet." At his frown she tried to cheer him up "But soon I'll be done with what I have to do and we can be together every day."
"Every day?!" he questioned excitedly
"Yep, every day." She smiled brightly and lifted him up in her arms "Okay we're going now, see you guys in a few hours." She waved to Shizune and Tsunade and walked up to the patiently waiting Sasuke "you ready?"
He nodded, it was weird watching Naruto with her son, she was good with him but he still couldn't get over the fact that she was mother; it wasn't something he would thought of the demon of the leaf. He walked with her and kit trotted alongside.
Raiden bounced happily in his mothers' arms as he told her everything that had happened since he had last seen her seeming to have forgotten Sasuke's presence and his shyness along with it. Naruto listened intently to everything he said a small and genuine smile on her face. She hated having to be away from him, especially for so long, and was happy to know everything that happened while she was away, no matter how insignificant.
Sasuke watched them as they walked toward the village marveling at how different and, motherly Naruto was; it was a side of her he had never known existed. He noted how well Raiden spoke despite only being four; he was very smart for his age. Sasuke looked down to kit who trotted alongside him, he had wondered where the fox had gone, Naruto had summoned kit nearly constantly when they were younger she had been as much a part of the team as any of them but she hadn't summoned the now not so small fox since she had been back in the village. "So is this why Naruto hasn't summoned you kit? You've been here with Rai?"
"Naruto wanted Rai to have me with him, it was like there was always a part of her with him, also if anything happened I could get a hold of Naruto faster than any bird could deliver a message."
Sasuke liked the idea, kit was Raiden's constant companion just like she had been Naruto's when they were kids, it felt like the start of a new generation.