One of the quickest updates ever! Ah, so the time has come to enter the final stages of the first plot has it? Well, time to come up with some new ideas so I can surprise even those who've read the first one. It took a while for me to do this revision, for the simple fact that it was so annoying to change.
Chapter 7: His final promise
Shizune placed Ino on the couch as Kurenai tried to get Tsunade off of the floor. She teared up for Naruto, but her thoughts were on Kakashi. She didn't understand why he kissed her. They had never had any type of relations besides some missions and them both being jounin.
'I'll ask him when he gets back. I won't accept his death.' With this thought, she prayed that he was okay.
Shizune looked at her hokage and then at Kurenai. She realized that what was happening was tearing the entire village apart. She had never seen Tsunade cry like that before. Sure, she cried when she thought about the loved ones she lost, but never like now. It brought a new pain to Shizune's heart knowing that if Naruto was ever caught, Tsunade would lose another person that she held dear. Not just Tsunade, but her as well.
Shizune turned when she heard a groan come from the couch. She walked over to Ino and felt her head. She didn't have a fever but she didn't look too good either.
"Ino, are you okay?" Kurenai looked over with tears still in her eyes but Tsunade still cried for Naruto.
"Na…Naruto…" Ino jolted up straight. She was breathing heavily and sweat matted her hair to her head. She looked around the room and saw Tsunade weeping.
"Where's Naruto?" Ino shouted at Shizune. Tsunade had hence looked up. She would have to pull herself together in front of one of her students. Although she tried, she couldn't pull herself up to talk.
As Ino began to ask again a shinobi from the Anbu black ops burst through the door.
"Lord Hokage, the Otogakure ninja are retreating but there seems to be a powerful red chakra not too far from here." Ino's eyes widened in horror. The only person she had seen with red chakra was Naruto at the chuunin exams. Tsunade stood wiping the tears from her face. She realized the urgency of the situation now.
"You, find Jiraiya. I have to stop him. This has gone way too far." Before she could say another word, Ino had darted from the room again.
"Damn it! Why does she keep doing that. Shizune, Kurenai, stop her before she gets herself killed!" Tsunade yelled. Shizune stepped forward.
"Lady Tsunade, Ino was getting through to Naruto the first time. I think we should give it a shot."
"No you fool!" Tsunade shouted in anger. Tears covered her face again.
"Naruto is using the nine tailed demons chakra. There is no way for her to get throuh to him now. Even if there were, he still…" She didn't finish. She bit her lip and sat down in her chair. Shizune knew the ending. She nodded to Kurenai and they darted after Ino once again.
In the hospital…
Sakura wakes up and right away smells medicine and rubbing alcohol. She tries to move but a stitch in her side prevents her. She slowly rolls to her side and sees that she is in the hospital. The first thing that comes to mind was Naruto. She teared up at the fact that this was all her fault, that she brought this on herself. Then she remembered what had happened in the hokage's office.
"I didn't deserve that. No matter what I said to Naruto, that was uncalled for." She felt a slap against the back of her head.
She rolled over to see Shikamaru standing by her bed with his fist clenched. He looked pissed for a second and then his calm stature returned. He took a deep breath. Sakura rubbed the back of her head. She didn't dare ask why he had hit her fearing that another hit would be thrown. Instead she asked a more reasonable question.
"What are you doing here?"
"Trust me, I don't want to be. Tsunade asked me to bring you here. Boy do I regret saying alright though. You are just full of shit today aren't you?"
Sakura looked away sadly. Shikamaru saw that she had nothing to say and continued.
"About the comment you just made, that's even more B.S. It would have been uncalled for if someone like Neji or Kiba said what you did. Naruto thought that you were the one person that could understand him. He thought that you would be the person to stand by him at all times. Then you go around and tell him that you hate him and you smash his dream, the dream that has been keeping him alive, into pieces." He chuckled. "You're lucky. If it was me, I would have killed you on the spot. Because of you, Naruto's lost all morale on life. The only upside to this is that when you die, Kami let it be soon, you will burn in hell for this." Shikamaru left Sakura. She stared blankly at the ceiling.
'Naruto's sad because of me? What I said? I would never had said those things if he had just got Sasuke back like he promised. All he did was go play ninja for three years and then returned empty handed. Why can't anyone else see that? I don't even know why I'm worrying. Sasuke can take on Naruto easily.' She smiled at the thought of Naruto being put in his place by an over buff Sasuke. 'After I recover, I'll go find Sasuke and we'll get married. We can make them pay for how they treated me in this shit hole of a village.' Sakura smiled at the picture of her and Sasuke's wedding as she began to close her eyes for sleep. However, sleep did not come completely as someone else entered her room.
"What now?" She spat at the intruder. However, this was yet another mistake made by the rose haired kunoichi. She gasped as she felt a sharp pain in her chest, knocking the air out of her lungs, and making it hard for her to breathe.
"How dare you?" A soft, yet deadly, voice spoke to the gasping girl. Sakura looked up in fear into the silvery gray eyes of Hinata Hyuga. Having recovered from the genjutstu, she had brought Neji to the hospital, and learned from Shikamaru everything that had happened.
"Everything that's happening right now…it's all because of you! Naruto-kun…my Naruto-kun is betraying the village because of you and your damned Uchiha. You hurt Naruto-kun, worse than anyone has before!"
Sakura was shaking at the amount of KI coming from the Hyuga girl, and her fear only grew when she activated her bloodline.
"You took away my light! The one thing that has given me the strength and courage to make it this far in life! And what did Naruto do to deserve this? NOTHING!" Hinata was slightly crying now, and using all her will power not to kill the girl in front of her.
"Hi-Hinata-san! C-calm down!" Sakura stuttered, sounding much like the Hyuga princess used to. But she didn't calm down. She grew even angrier.
"Why the hell should I calm down? Because you're scared? You're feeling hurt? YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HURT IS!!! You don't know pain, or sorrow! All you know is fake love! False affection! And when someone gives you the real thing, the real thing that everyone wants, you turn it away in the most disgraceful manner that your heart could think of. Tell me, Sakura, do you even care that Naruto will have to be killed now? Because of you?"
Sakura hesitated. She didn't know that. She didn't know about anything that was going.
"What? What did he do-"
She was cut off again as Hinata struck her chest with a jyuuken strike. Sakura was coughing again, and this time coughed up blood.
"He's killed shinobi from both Konoha and Suna! He, is doing this to get back at you!" Hinata spoke with venom. Then she grabbed Sakura by her throat.
"You evil bitch! How could you do that to him? To your own teammate?" Now Hinata was beyond words. Tears streamed down her face in torrents, and her grasp of Sakura's neck only tightened. The girls face began to grow pale, as her eyes stared off into the distance of the ceiling. Her hold of Hinata's hand began to slowly grow weaker, as her struggling did so as well. Hinata didn't loosen her grip, even as Sakura's eyes began to roll to the back of her head.
"Hinata-chan, stop!" She heard as she felt herself forcefully pulled away from the sputtering bitch. She turned her head, angrily glaring into the eyes of her cousin.
"Onii-san…Naruto-kun…" Was all she could say before all of the days events broke her, and she wept into Neji's shoulder. Neji looked from his cousin to Sakura. She lay in bed trembling, and tears in her eyes. Excess blood in the corner of her mouth, and her eyes staring blankly into the ceiling. She was just about dead, but not quite. He sighed, seeing as he could do nothing more to the girl without killing her, so decided to just leave instead. He picked Hinata up and carried her as she began to cry herself to sleep. Begrudgingly, he told a nurse of Sakura's fatal condition.
Miles away from the village…
The shakaku Gaara stared down at the glowing red Naruto.
'I don't have enough chakra to sustain this form for long. I'll have to stop him quickly.' As Gaara looked upon his foe, he felt a slash in the right arm of the sand monster. The giant sand arm crashed to the ground as he saw another Naruto, glowing red also floating at his side.
'A shadow clone?! He didn't even do any hand signs!' As Gaara realized that it was a clone, several more started slashing at the sand beast. They all landed next to the real Naruto. There were eight Naruto's, but only the real one had tails.
"Come on Gaara, are you even going to fight back?" All the Naruto's taunted demonically. The beast drew in sand towards it's abdominal and began to fire large sand bullets at Naruto. The clones dodged the bullets, save for three that didn't have enough chakra to move fast enough, and soared straight for Gaara. They all slammed into the monster and burst through, creating five holes in the monster. Gaara felt his chakra diminishing quickly as the holes were repaired. He knew it would be a matter of minutes before all his chakra would be depleted.
"Naruto!" He swung a giant arm through the air destroying all of the clones. Then he smashed his fist into the ground were Naruto should have been. Naruto had leapt into the air and was now running up Gaara's arm. Gaara began making sand spikes pop up in Naruto's path, and streams of sand try to capture him. Naruto dodged every one and slammed into the shakaku's face with his twin tails. Gaara fell over but instantly made a wave of sand soar into the air at Naruto. Naruto dodged the sand in the air, but it kept coming, darting at him like a viper. Finally the sand grabbed Naruto by the left leg and slammed him into the ground. Shakaku Gaara stood and slammed one of his sand fist into Naruto. Sand covered Naruto to a point where he couldn't breathe.
The arm that covered Naruto burst, as he howled, making the sand dissipate. Naruto was about to charge towards his face again, which he had denounced was Gaara's weak point. However, the piercing feeling of thousands of sand needles stopped his plan. Gaara swung a giant arm, smashing Naruto through several trees, before smashing another giant sand hand on top of him.
'Dammit…I underestimated him. He's stronger than the last time we fought.'
Naruto began to think of a way to beat Gaara with out using too much chakra. As he thought, another conversation was going on in his mind.
"So, it seems that both of us are now truly captives inside these hellish human bodies." The raspy feminine voice of the Shakaku spoke out.
"Leave me be, you old witch." Kyuubi growled angrily, throwing himself against his cage in a wild fit of rage.
"Now, now. What's wrong little kitty? Your little boy turning into a real monster? Or did he forget to clean your litter box?"
"You are lucky this seal prevents me from escaping, because you are still on my death list."
"Seal or none, you couldn't kill me. You love me."
"Loved. That was in the past, until you tried to hurt her."
The Shakaku chuckled. "Her? You mean your pathetic Kitsune? I didn't try to hurt her! She just happened to be in the way while I was trying to hurt you."
"SILENCE!" The kyuubi roared, this time making the Shakaku flinch.
"You will leave me alone, for your own sake. Just because I am sealed here does not mean I can not harm you. All I have to do is feed more of my chakra into this boy and he will kill the sand shinobi. And once he is dead, so are you."
The fox stopped, waiting for a reply. However, when no reply came, he turned chuckling and strode back into the dark depths of its cell.
On the outside…
'I know this will not kill you, but it will stop you.' Gaara put both sand hands on the sand covered ground.
"Giant Sand Burial" The sand made a loud crush against the ground. Gaara panted heavily.
'I did it. I stopped him.' He let his guard down for a split second.
A red beam burst out of the sand and into the sky. It floated in front of Gaara.
"Impossible!" Gaara yelled.
Naruto didn't speak. All he did was wipe blood from the corner of his mouth. He now had three tails activated, but only for a split second. It was like the kyuubi had given him more power of his own free will. Once the third tail had disappeared again, Naruto darted at Gaara.
"If I could not stop you, then all hope is lost. You and me were truly the same Naruto. You let what others did get to your heart and now it has corrupted you, just like it had me. Finish me now."
Naruto slammed into Gaara, not stopping. He drug the giant sand monster by its face across the land for almost a mile before spinning and slamming it. The sand poured to the ground off of Gaara. When all the sand was gone, Naruto held Gaara up with one of his tails around his neck.
Gaara gasped for air and began wheezing. Naruto looked down disgusted. "I wanted to see your face one more time before I wiped it from this planet." Naruto prepared to finish Gaara.
"Naruto, NO!" Naruto looked up startled. To his right Ino stood with tears pouring down her face.
"Naruto…please don't do it. Don't hurt anyone else."
"Ino…you're crying…" A memory hit Naruto like a train. It was him and Jiraiya three years back taking a break and talking.
-Flashback-
"Hey, pervy sage, how come you let grandma Tsunade walk all over you?" Jiraiya ignored the insult and answered his question.
"It's because I don't want to hurt her. Listen Naruto, there is nothing worse than making an innocent woman cry. Not just sobbing, but truly crying. It's the worst thing anyone could do in this world."
"Ah, whatever. I don't get. I'll never let anyone walk over me!"
"You idiot listen to me for once! Oh, just forget it, you're to young to understand."
-End Flashback-
"Ino's crying…because of me…" Naruto let his guard down completely. The chakra disappeared from around his body. His blue eyes returned. What he had done hit him full throttle. He winced in pain and held his head. Ino ran to him.
"Stay back!" Naruto growled, tears in his eyes, but anger on his face. He had let her get to him. Something that he was trying to avoid, something that he knew he couldn't let happen, was him creating another bond. A bond that he just couldn't break.
"Naruto-kun…" He expected her to ask why he was doing this. Or to accuse him being just like Sasuke. But instead…
"I'll never let you go!" Was the light blondes words. Naruto looked up at Ino, a flash of something entering his eyes that hadn't entered the boy for a long time. Compassion.
Ino walked to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He looked at her surprised and confused. He opened his mouth to say something but was silenced. Ino kissed him. No warning, no nothing. She rose herself up and kissed Naruto flat on the lips. He didn't attempt to brake the kiss. He pulled her closer and held her in his arms. After several seconds, she unlocked her lips from his.
"Ino I-"
"No. Don't say anything. I love you Naruto and that's all that matters. I want to be with you and I'll never treat you like how Sakura did. I'll do whatever I can to be with you. Even if…the village says I can't. The only thing that I want is the old you back. The sunshine of Konoha, the real Naruto Uzamaki." Naruto looked down away from her. He held her close, not wanting to let go, but he knew he would have to. He couldn't take her words. They clung to his mind, even reaching the kyuubi.
"Ino, after what I've done…I can't-"
"Lady Tsunade can pull some strings Naruto. She will! She cried over you too." Naruto's heart sank even more knowing that he made more than one woman cry.
Shizune and Kurenai burst towards the two and come to a complete halt.
"Kazekage… is he-" Kurenai started.
"He's still alive." Naruto said sadly. Shizune looked at Naruto holding Ino in his arms. She frowned slightly, but felt reliefe in knowing that she had stopped him.
Just then, Tsunade ran towards them. She didn't stop and ran straight for Naruto. She hugged him tightly, making him reluctantly release his hold on Ino.
"Naruto. Damn you." He reframed from hugging her back. He thought he wasn't worthy of it anymore. She looked down at Gaara.
"Shizune, Kurenai, you are dismissed. Take Gaara to the hospital. Kakashi was found and sent there also by medical nins. He is barely hanging on." Kurenai seemed to brighten as she heard that Kakashi was alive. She quickly got Gaara and returned to the village. As they left, Jiraiya entered the waste land.
"Naruto…" He could find nothing to say to his pupil.
"Sorry Jiraiya-sama."
"You have nothing to apologize for Naruto. At least…not to me." He said, having a hard time forgetting the fact that Naruto had killed so many people over something so petty. His conversation with Naruto from when they first returned to the village entered his mind. A pang of guilt entered him as he felt that he should have been there with Naruto, instead of leaving the village. Even a mission as important as the one Tsunade had assigned him wasn't more important than what had happened to the blonde shinobi. Naruto turned back to Tsunade.
"Lord Hokage, I never go back on my word." She began to tear again. She wiped her eyes and stood up straight.
"Alright. Complete your mission." Ino looked away. She knew Naruto had a good reason for going after Sasuke but she didn't want him to kill anymore. She wanted to just take his hand and return to the village like nothing ever happened.
Naruto whispered in Tsunade's ear.
"I accept the charges for my actions and will take on the punishment for it. I decided that before I even left the village."
"Naruto you-"
He nodded. "I knew that I would lose control, and had already accepted the fact that there would be consequences. Don't let Ino know! You can't fight it either. You know as hokage you must enforce the laws of Konaha. I know. It used to be my dream remember?" Tsunade began to sob again.
"Fine. When you are done with this mission..."
Naruto walked over to Ino and kissed her again. He held her for seconds before reluctantly pulling apart.
"I love you." He said gently. Ino heard the Naruto she had known from years back.
"Promise me you'll return to the village tonight. No matter what." He frowned slightly.
"I promise. Believe it."
Before he left, he turned to Tsunade and handed her his hitai-ate. She frowned at the gesture, as he bowed and got on his knees.
"This is to save your butt right now Tsunade." He said monotonously. Tsunade only nodded, before taking a kunai and slashing the leaf symbol on the head band.
"Naruto Uzamaki…you are hereby…ba…banished from Konohagakure! Please leave at once, and if you ever return you will be, unquestioningly, put to death." Tsunade stammered over almost every word as she tried her hardest not to cry.
Not only did she just banish her god son, but sentenced him to death also. She knew that he had done this so that the council couldn't say that she had let the blonde go without a punishment. And she also knew that Naruto would come back, to keep his promise to Sakura and Ino.
"Wait…if Naruto-kun is banished, then how will he…" She trailed off as she understood exactly what the Naruto had just done.
"NO! Naruto-kun, you can't!" She cried and was about to run to him once more. However, Jiraiya chopped the back of her neck, effectively knocking her unconscious. He nodded to Naruto, and turned to carry Ino back to the village. Tsunade looked at the retreating back of Naruto, as he walked away from them, having officially lost his dream to be Hokage.
And that's all she wrote!
Okay, I feel obligated to say this. I pull no punches. The summary says SAKURA BASHING. Which means, you will get SAKURA BASHING. No watered down crap, like her only getting a few hits and emotionally hurt. I will push it to the extreme, and make sure that said character suffers until I think she's had enough. (How long has it been? Twelve years? Nah, she still hasn't had enough.) I don't false advertise. What you see is what you get.
