Review Responses:
MK loves NaruSaku: Ok I thought so. Just had to make sure. Also I see what you did there lol. Very nice. Oh and yes it is very bad. He can hold his own but currently there's no way he could beat him. Maybe...
Drums4life: No, no. The plot twist is late- I mean I don't know what you're talking about. Glad you like the new path I'm taking. Hope you enjoy the rest of the arc.
kidloco: Well death would solve the problem but then how would Naruto keep his promise to Sakura? There would be a way but I'm not going to take that troublesome route. Lol. Also who is this other person you speak of?
Naruto held Sakura bridle style in his arms. She had insisted on helping treat the other wounded and had made it 3/4 of the way before she passed out from chakra depletion and her own wounds. The caravan had lost about 13 percent of the total members but through those sacrifices they were able to save all of the supplies except from the first wagon. Kazuki was surprisingly understanding of the losses.
"I know who Sasuke Uchiha is so I'm actually quite happy. We didn't lose nearly as much as we could have." That was what he said when Naruto questioned him about his attitude. He was surprised that Sasuke was quite infamous but was happy at the logical decision Kazuki had come to. Naruto had to admit that Sasuke had indeed become strong. He felt Sakura shift in his arms and clench her arm in pain. She had torn several muscles in her arm but still followed the code of the medic-nin: "The team comes before you." Basically that meant that unless your injuries impeded your work, your comrades were to be healed first then you could heal yourself. He heard her laboured breath that signified the pain each bump brought but he couldn't do anything about it. Or could he?
Naruto began to sift through the Sage's memories looking for any technique his eyes may hold for healing. They were within sight of the town when he stopped. He remembered something that Nagato had done when using the Six Paths of Pain technique. If one of the Pains were destroyed then the one that always remained in the back would come forward and summon up something that Naruto couldn't see. The injured Pain would disappear before emerging completely healed. Naruto figured hey if Nagato could do it then so can I. He began to concentrate on healing Sakura. He committed everything, mind, body, and soul, to the task. He suddenly felt a strange sense of recognition and spoke without meaning to.
"Jigokudo."
He was startled when a circle of purple flames lit up the ground from which a head emerged. The head possessed a set of Rinnegan and Naruto was thrown off wen he found that he was looking at both the head and himself.
'This must be the shared vision that Nagato was talking about.' He could only imagine the benefits an extra pair of eyes would be on the battlefield. The mouth suddenly opened and a tendril-like arm emerged and pulled Sakura from his arms. To his horror the arm pulled Sakura into the open mouth and the head began to chew. Naruto's stomach dropped and his heart felt like it was being constricted. He could only watch as the head continued to chew Sakura like a piece of food. After several minutes the mouth opened and Sakura stumbled out looking completely bewildered. And healed. Naruto nearly jumped for joy and silently thanked his abilities. He felt a huge grin appear on his face and embraced Sakura in a tight, yet careful, hug.
"Naruto what just happened?" Sakura just remembered having a bright light hit her face and se followed it. It took her out onto the bridge with Naruto waiting for her.
"I summoned some sort of head to heal you because the sight of you in pain hurt. I hate seeing you in pain. Anyways, the head began to chew on you which scared the shit out of me when you suddenly fell out perfectly healed." Naruto shrugged it off like being munched on was a common occurrence to him. Before se could scold him for turning her into a snack he took her anger away with a deep kiss.
"So you two finally got together huh?" They both turned to see a grinning Tazuna. The last wagon was just disappearing around the corner into town. Naruto grinned and nodded while Sakura gave a small, yet honest, smile and nodded. They both had just the smallest amount of pink gracing their cheeks. Tazuna laughed and patted Naruto on the back. "I figured you would get her sooner or later! Congrats kid!"
The mood was dampened when Inari came sprinting back from the hospital with news on a more somber series of events.
"Hey Naruto I got good news for you!" The boy was panting slightly from his long sprint across the now thriving town.
"Well lets hear it!" Naruto was anxious to know what was going on with his team.
"They were able to treat the injuries thanks to Sakura. Your team should be ready to go by noon tomorrow!" Naruto was shocked at the recovery time.
"How is that possible?!" His flabbergasted expression would have been priceless if the situation was different.
"Well kid thanks to the bridge here we became quite prosperous. We used that money to revamp our hospital and purchased top of the line medicine. And it's all thanks to a bunch of kids." Tazuna laughed at the irony of his words. He had said the same words when he first meet them but with such a different tone. Now his entire country was in debt to those three genin.
"Well should we go check on our team Naruto?" He looked down at the sound of her voice and smiled.
"Yeah Sakura-chan. Lets go."
It had been two days since they arrived and checked into the hotel room Tazuna had reserved for them. It was quickly apparent that the locals still remembered them considering they had to fight through a crowd of fans that had quickly congregated around them. It looked like they were wading through a river of hands which, if you think about it, was exactly what they were doing. At one point during their "swim" a man accidentally hit Sakura in the face. The group of people around him started shouting but it was Naruto who reacted the worst.
"Get back! We've had a long ass journey here and we just want to rest!" When Sakura got hit Naruto's eyes flickered to red briefly. In a deeper voice he shouted once more. "I said GET THE FUCK AWAY!" A shockwave shot out in all directions and carried the crowd with it. In those three seconds the group of shinobi vanished.
Naruto opened the 8th story window, otherwise known as the top floor and Naruto and Sakura's temporary abode, and slid into the room. He could hear his genin one floor below and groaned at how loud they were. He carried Sakura to the bed and gently lay her down.
"I could have walked. You know that right?" She said while still smiling at his kind gesture.
"Yeah," Naruto said with a shrug of his shoulders, "but I like having you in my arms where I know I can protect you." The words caused Sakura's smile to grow softer as he took off his stained robe. Beneath his usual robe he took to wearing a secondary set of clothing in case of the slight chance that the robe may get forcefully removed during a fight. He wore a white short sleeved shirt that had the same pattern as the robe on its back. The nine tomoe with the Rinnegan-like pattern had practically become Naruto's new symbol although he did still wear the Uzumaki swirl on both shoulders. The magatama around his neck could be seen clearly due to the fact that the shirt had been cut open by Naruto himself for the very purpose of showing off the markings. His pants were a pair of black shinobi pants with a strange series of symbols ran up the outside of each leg before circling around the waist. Naruto would always tell people that the meaning of the markings would be revealed in due time.
Naruto slid his shirt off of his shoulders and on his back were six of the nine tomoe except they were arranged like his eye where the tomoe were located on the Rinnegan. The magatama on his chest gave off a very dim blue glow. The glow was natural which fascinated Sakura that his skin would actually glow. He moved towards the door to make sure it was locked before shedding his pants and climbing into bed in nothing but his orange boxers. Orange. Seriously leave it to Naruto to always have orange somewhere on him. She felt his arms encircle her and pull her close. She rested her head against his chest and, between the heat he gave off and his steady heart beat, she soon fell asleep.
Naruto woke up to an empty bed and found himself frowning instantly. He hated waking up without Sakura in his arms. He glanced at the clock and his frown turned into a look of confusion when he noticed it was 2:00 A.M. He sat up when he heard a noise and seen a ray of light shining beneath the bathroom door. He heard the noise again and got up to make his way towards the bathroom. Just as he was reaching for the handle the door opened and Sakura jumped in surprise. She looked much paler than usual and seemed drained of her energy.
"Hey Sakura-chan are you ok?" He asked while continuing to take in her state.
"Yeah I'm fine. Why do you ask?" He noticed the tiny quiver in her voice and instantly knew she was lying. Before he called her out on it he looked into her eyes and seen the almost pleading look that basically said "just drop it please" and his plan dissolved into thin air.
"Ok Sakura-chan. Lets go back to bed." He turned around and missed the pensive look on her face.
'I should've covered up on the trip during that storm. Now I'm sick. Great.'
Naruto woke up at the usual 6:00 AM and heard Sakura in the bathroom again. He frowned and this time he came into the bathroom to see her leaning against the wall looking absolutely exhausted.
"How long have you been in here?" Naruto stated it as a question that she WOULD answer.
"Since 4 in the morning. Guess I'm pretty sick huh?" She gave him a tired smile before she felt her stomach launch again. Naruto knealt beside her and held her hair behind her head as she retched into the toilet. After flushing it she collapsed back against the wall.
"I told you to cover up Sakura-chan." He spoke softly as he gently rubbed her back. The soothing sensation made her close her eyes and lean her head back.
"Well isn't this a pretty sight. She's sick and you're still looking after her. Pathetic." Naruto tensed and adjusted ever so slightly from a relaxed position to being ready to strike. The cold chuckle from the doorway finally forced the blonde's gaze up. He gazed into the blood red triple tomoe of the Sharingan.
"Sasuke." Naruto growled the name and stood in front of Sakura who was too drained to do anything. She could just watch as her boyfriend confronted one of the very few men that could actually fight him and hold their own. Sasuke's Sharingan locked onto Sakura and he laughed.
"Ohhh I get it. The dobe finally got the girl huh? Well I'll make sure to kill her next time. Right now I've come to give you a simple word of advice: Don't leave your clients unprotected." The boy smirked and vanished. Naruto felt his stomach begin to twist at what Sasuke implied.
"Sakura I need to go check. Wil you-"
"Go on. I'll be fine."
Naruto quickly got his shirt and pants, leaving the robe on the table, and sprinted out the window. It took only two minutes for Naruto to see a crowd of people gathered around something. When he arrived Naruto found himself looking upon the scene of a massacre. Almost every member of the caravan was dead while others were screaming in pain. Naruto noticed four Sound ninja were taken down during the fight. All that was left was the bone guy and Sasuke.
"Oi Naruto!" The call came from none other then an injured Kazuki.
"Kazuki-san I'm deeply sorry. We failed the mission and-"
"Yeah yeah the mission blah blah blah. I have a favor to ask." Naruto lifted his head in surprise and nodded for Kazuki to continue. "I have training as a shinobi so I was thinking that you could put in a word to Hokage-sama for me? Never really cared for this job anyways. I feel bad for the poor bakas but they chose to continue fighting even after he gave us the option to run. I don't know how I survived the deep slash to the chest but Kami must've been watching over me today. So what do you say?" Kazuki held out his massive hand. Naruto smiled and bumped fists with him.
"Kazuki go to the hospital. We'll talk more later ok?"
"Got it."
After getting Tsunade's approval Naruto had went to work getting Kazuki back to shinobi standards. It didn't take much considering the brute kept his shinobi skills in peak shape. Today was the day before the newly dubbed "Team Uzumaki" had to return home. Sakura's condition had not improved and every morning Naruto would be in the bathroom holding back her shoulder length pink hair. She began sleeping in later and eating more but Naruto didn't know what to think. He was still pondering the situation on the roof when a messenger hawk arrived. The note was from Tsunade to him.
To Naruto
Naruto as soon as you are done reading this you must leave the Wave country. Konoha was attacked by Orochimaru, Sasuke, and a man claiming to be Madara along with the entire Sound village army. We have been forced to retreat to Suna but that is not all. During the invasion, Sasuke confronted and killed Itachi Uchiha. Afterwards he removed Itachi's eyes and is most likely having them transplanted as you read this. Sasori has also fallen by Sasuke's hands. Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga, and Choji Akimichi have all been captured...along with Kakashi Hatake. I'm sorry Naruto.
You must get to Suna as soon as possible but be weary. ROOT has been turned against us by that bastard Danzo so watch out for Konoha shinobi too.
Get here safe gaki.
Tsunade
"That bastard! That fucking BASTARD" Naruto burned the letter in his hand and went into their room.
"Is everything ok Naruto?"
"No. We must leave. Now!" He already had the robe on and his things packed. He sent out Kage Bunshin to gather the genin and Kazuki. Everyone arrived packed and ready just as Sakura shouldered her bag.
"Lets go." The blonde leapt out the window with his team following close behind. Sakura finally caught up with him and turned her worried gaze on him.
"What's going on Naruto?" She waited patiently while Naruto mentally condensed everything down to three words: "Konoha has fallen."
AN: Here's your plot twist Drums! I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. I'm catching a break with little homework so I'm writing as much as I can. Hopefully I can put up another chapter tomorrow. As always please Read, Review, and Enjoy!