Title: What could've been
Author: Kurotsuki-Tenchi
Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: NaruXHina,
Genre: Action, Romance and a little bit of comedy.
Rated: M for Language, violence, and sexual content.
Disclaimer: All Naruto characters and stuff belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and therefore can only make make believe stories about them and dream about them being real. Sigh.
Authors Note: This chapter has no actual fighting in it but it is very informative on the group's structure. You also learn about a hidden ability that one of the group has. This chapter wasn't as fun to write as the others but it had to be done, well I hope you enjoy and I'll work on chapter 9 as quick as possible. Read and Review please! Enjoy!
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Chapter 8
Only one thing came to Naruto's mind as he felt himself start to wake, and that was "Ouch". He cringed as pain assaulted him from everywhere on his body, he felt as though he was used as a punching bag for all the Hokages'. Even the dead ones.
Light was mercilessly assaulted his eyes causing him to hiss and turn his head away from the pain, wanting the blinding light to go away. He pulled the covers over his head just as the door to his room opened.
"Ahh Naruto you're awake." Naruto reluctantly opened his eyes at the voice, easily recognizing who it was. As his vision cleared the form of Hiro Takahashi became visible. The doctor himself was only 21 years old but was one of the best in his field. He stood well above 6 ft with black hair that was long enough to partially cover his green eyes.
"Dr. Takahashi? What are you doing here?" Naruto was confused, what was the Hokage's personal physician doing here? He looked around and knew automatically where he was, the Hokage's personal hospital room.
"You were injured very badly on your mission," The doctor told him as he walked over to the blond. "So the Hokage sent you to me so I can heal you. I am the best in the village right now."
"My mission?" Naruto tried to figure out why it was that important. Than everything came back to him, the chakra training and the big battle that his friends were injured during. "Is Shino and Hinata okay!?" He jerked up in the bed and regretted it almost immediately as pain swamped his entire body.
"You shouldn't be moving around Naruto!" He scolded as he pushed Naruto gently back onto the mattress. "What part of badly injured do you not understand?"
"I don't care about me, is Shino and Hinata okay?" Naruto stared Dr. Takahashi strait in the eye, begging to be told what happened to his friends.
"If you'd just calm down I'd tell you that they are both okay and out of the hospital, right now though you need to stay still so your body can heal." The doctor scolded him.
Naruto laid down calmly, "Heh sorry." Dr. Takahashi who looked pleased that his patient wasn't moving anymore moved across the room to check on Naruto's health chart.
Naruto was glad that his teammates were ok, glad that he was able to protect them. He turned his head to look outside, but something on the desk beside his bed caught his eye.
There on the desk was a small vase, there were 4 flowers arranged neatly and each were pure white with a blackish purple center. He stared at them a bit before turning to Dr. Takahashi, "Hey what type of flowers are those?"
The doctor looked up to the flowers in question, "They're Peony's," He replied before going back to his reading, every now and again ruffling the papers around before continuing. "Evidently they mean good health."
"Who put them there?" Naruto asked clearly perplexed, who would give him flowers?
"I think it was your teammate Hinata," He said not looking up from the clipboard he was reading. "They were all very worried about you."
"Worried?" Naruto was confused, it wasn't that bad was it. Yeah it hurt a lot when he was fighting but he didn't think it was that bad.
"Well yeah they were worried," Dr. Takahashi told him putting down the clipboard. "They have every right to be worried after the condition you came in as." He moved over to the bed.
"It wasn't that bad was it?" Naruto looked at the doctor before looking down at his bandaged body. His entire torso was wrapped as well as both his arms and legs as well as his head.
"You almost died Naruto," His face dead serious, he laid his hand on Naruto's shoulder when he moved to protest. "You shouldn't even be alive, the chances of you surviving were slim to none. You've been unconscious and in the hospital for 4 days."
"But I'm alive..." Naruto pointed out, surprised that it's been 4 days he's been "Wait 4 days!?"
"Yes it's been that long. And I still haven't figured out how you survived yet, by all means you should be dead." He told Naruto before turning. "So don't underestimate what happened, your friends were worried and rightfully so."
Naruto looked down, he didn't know it was that bad. Now he felt kind of bad that he made his team worry that much, he really hope he didn't cause them too much trouble.
o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o
Flashback
3 Days ago
"Tell me Dr. Takashi, how is Naruto doing?" The third Hokage stood before his personal physician, his face set in serious lines. They were currently standing in the Hokage's office, both looking exhausted. An equally exhausted looking Kurenai stood off to the side, watching the meeting with a sad air.
"After working for 18 hours strait I've finally got his condition stabilized. I'm surprised that he's survived this far personally." Dr. Takahashi said, sitting down warily. He had been the Hokage's personal doctor since he was 14 and yet he has never had a case this bad.
Kurenai who was standing to the doctors left looked pained her face paler than
usual. If she hadn't delayed her battle than none of her team would've gotten hurt.
"Tell me what his injuries were." The Hokage said finally sitting down behind his desk, linking his fingers loosely on his desk.
"His wounds were extensive, his spine was broken in 2 places, and 8 of his ribs were broken while 3 others were fractured. His right lung was punctured," The Hokage actually cringed at hearing that one. "His left leg was broken in 2 places while his right was broken in 3. His right arm was broken once and his left had 2 breaks in it. He had extensive internal bleeding as well as 2 fractures to his skull." The doctor listed off the injuries with a cold and professional voice, but they could see the cringe in his eyes.
"And he survived that?" The Hokage's eyebrows were raised high on his forehead. "There is no way he could still be alive after all of that."
"That's what I though when I was working on him, and yet he's in his room sleeping peacefully. Even more surprising he's expected to make a full recovery." The doctor said with a smile.
Kurenai breathed out a sigh of relief after hearing the news, glad that he was going to be okay. The Hokage mirrored her reaction, he too relieved with what the doctor said.
"There was something else sir," He replied. They looked at him expectantly, "When I was operating on him I found a small blue charm he was wearing." He said getting curious looks from his audience. "It had the kanji 'protection' on it, I sensed chakra in the small metal. I think that helped him," The doctor replied.
"Interesting," The Hokage said before turning back to him. "Thank you Doctor Takahashi, if that is all than you are dismissed. Please go watch Naruto, we wouldn't want him relapsing." He stood and bowed and left, the door closing behind him. He turned to look at Kurenai. "Please have a seat."
She nodded, sitting in the abandoned chair and crossed her legs. She was nervous, worried and exhausted, the one thing she wanted to do right now was check on Naruto but she sat still.
"Now Kurenai can you tell me what happened on your mission?" The Hokage asked, his face looking older than usual.
"Sir," she bowed. "The first day we traveled, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Day 2 we stopped traveling to have a chakra training day..."
"Chakra training?" The Hokage asked bringing his elbows onto the table so he could rest his chin on his hands. "Don't you think it was a little soon to start them on that?"
"No sir and all three of them were able to perform walking up the tree successfully. Naruto even pushed Hinata all the way to the top of her tree." He smiled at that. "There was nothing unusual during the day but at night Hinata was more jumpy than
usual and she kept looking over her shoulder."
"Paranoia?" The Third asked. "Did she tell you what it was?"
"She couldn't figure it out, only that it felt as though we were being watched. She couldn't see anything with her Buyakugan so she dismissed it." She continued.
"Odd," he replied.
She nodded her agreement before going on. "Day 3 we were planning on traveling all day but I along with Shino and Hinata sensed a presence following us."
"Wait Naruto didn't notice anything off?" The Hokage asked, kind of surprised at that.
"Well he was training the whole day before then, he used up a lot of his chakra during that time." She reasoned with him.
"But as you said Hinata would've been depleted too and yet she sensed it before all of you." He shot back with a smile, his eyes closed happily.
"Well she is a Hyuga and they are trained from a young age to sense people, it would've been instinct by then." She defended.
"Give it up Kurenai, Naruto needs more training in sensing others. I hope you get right on that in the future." He said, smugly.
She sighed, knowing that. "Anyway, after we detected the presence of someone following I took the scroll and attempted to draw them away from my team. If they were strong enough to hide their presence than they would've been too strong for my team to handle. I told them an alternate course and we split, after a while I felt the presence follow me and I attempted to stall so my team could get away."
"Who was the ninja that you fought?" He asked, knowing she'd had already done her homework on who attacked them.
"The ninja I faced was Ame Chikiri, ranked Jounin. Missing ninja of Kiri, genjutsu expert. She was considered a defected ninja because she was convicted of killing 15 ninjas from her former village as well as 56 civilians." Kurenai spoke the facts with a
detached voice, cold and uncaring. The voice of a ninja.
"I'm guessing she is no longer alive?" The Hokage asked, eyeing Kurenai with a look that spoke it all.
"While we fought I thought to stall her but she was instead stalling me, unknown to me her partner was going after my team. When I found out about her partner I automatically dispatched of the ninja and went after my team." She continued emotionlessly.
"I'm guessing that you used that jutsu am I correct?" He asked her sternly, his tone slightly scolding. "You know the jutsu that makes you relive any death you bring upon an individual 10 times for every death you've caused until you go crazy and your mind literally shuts down on you.
She flinched a little at his tone, "I really didn't have a choice." She argued. "She would've dissipated any other genjutsu I used."
"You used that jutsu even though it has a potentially fatal drawback, you know that using that jutsu could cause you to go insane and die as well." He said, staring at her much like a parent would a child who done something dangerous.
"Yes I did, and I would do it again if my team was in the same situation." She said staring him strait in the eye, he sighed in defeat.
"Continue your report." He said, knowing nothing he said would changer her view on the matter. "What happened after you defeated her?"
"I ran to where I could sense my genin team, and came upon the second ninja just as he was about to hit Naruto." She said with a slight edge to her voice.
"Who was this second ninja?" He asked.
"Name: Mizuryu Keinami, ranked Jounin. Missing ninja of Kiri, taijutsu expert. He was defected from his village for an attempted assassination of the Mizukage." She replied in the same tone as the first one.
"I'm guessing he's no longer alive either." The Hokage replied, still watching Kurenai.
"When I came upon my team Hinata was unconscious with Shino crouched over her, and Naruto stood in front of them barely standing defending them. The Kiri ninja was about to land a blow on Naruto, Naruto himself looked badly beaten and could barely stand. So I quickly dispatched of him also." She replied, her tone still neutral.
"You used that jutsu again didn't you? Kurenai you were taking a big chance using it twice in such a short time." He said, watching the emotion in her eyes shift.
"I know but I had to, I didn't have much choice." She said with a slight sigh and
continued before the Hokage could interrupt. "So I grabbed Naruto while Shino got Hinata and we made our way to the village, it was the closest to our position. Naruto, Hinata and Shino were hospitalized and were treated in the village. Hinata and Shino recovered quickly but Naruto was still in critical. The doctors there were not equipped to handle such a critical case so the only way for Naruto to survive was to have care from the hospital here in Konoha. So after they stabilized him enough to travel we made a stretcher and carried him back to the village, I have some small abilities in medical jutsu and was able to keep him alive until we returned." She said finishing her report.
"You were able to keep him stable while he was in that condition all the way back to the village?" He asked skeptically. She squirmed a little in her seat, a nervous look on her face.
"He wouldn't have made it if it wasn't for Hinata," She said looking away slightly. He watched her suspiciously, she squirmed again like a child would after being caught stealing a cookie from the cookie jar. "Not even the Kyubi could heal him fast enough."
"And what do you mean by that?" He asked, she sighed deeply.
"Well while we were transporting Naruto back to the village he took a turn for the worse. I remember reading somewhere that chakra speeds up internal bleeding as well as bone mending. His bones hadn't been set correctly by then so I did what I thought would work. I ordered Hinata to hit all of his chakra points with her gentle fist."
"That was a big risk," He commented. He folded his hands on his desk, "That could've sent him into shock and his body would've shut down on itself. It would result in instant death." He said, staring at her critically.
She stared back at him with a determined face, "Sir I did what I thought was best in the given situation. If I hadn't done that than Naruto wouldn't have survived to even get to the village."
"Congratulations Kurenai, you made a choice in a sticky situation and followed through and were prepared to accept the consequences. That type of decision making makes you a superb sensei." He said, and smiled when Kurenai breathed out a sigh of
relief.
"There was something else Hokage sir," Kurenai spoke up. "It has to deal with when Hinata used her gentle fist on Naruto." His expression turned serious, anything dealing with the Hyuga's was a serious subject. "We've known that the gentle fist can block the chakra points, but when Hinata performed it on Naruto it somehow partially healed him."
"That's not possible," The Hokage said awed. "Is it?"
"While Dr. Takahashi was healing Naruto I looked into it, and I found something very interesting." She said, the Hokage leaned forward expectantly. "There are certain points on the body that when pressed correctly can speed up healing, much like pressure points. If they are hit expertly and precisely they can be very helpful to the body. I think Hinata might've hit a couple of them while blocking Naruto's chakra points. And coupled with the gentle fist it made the reaction more powerful, to the point where there was visible changes."
"But that's unheard of," The Hokage said seriously. "There is no evidence that the Hyuga's have that type of ability. The gentle fist has never been used in this fashion, I have seen it used in fighting but not healing."
"I know I was as shocked as you." she told him. "But there was no denying what I seen, Naruto would've died if it wasn't for that small boost of healing." She said seriously.
"This is very interesting indeed," The Hokage said suddenly. "Do you think Hinata was aware that she was doing this while she was blocking Naruto's Chakra points?"
"She had to be," Kurenai replied. "Those hits were not accidental, if she had only hit the chakra points like usual than there would be no way she would've hit the other points." At the news the Hokage's eyebrows raised. "That's why I suggest that she has some training in healing."
"Okay I will inform the Hyuga's as soon as possible." At that Kurenai shook her head no, he looked at her questioningly.
"I don't want the Hyuga's to know," She replied. "If they figure out she's healing instead of fighting than there is no question that they would bring a stop to it immediately. The Hyuga's have a very narrow minded view of their abilities, anything other than what they think is acceptable will be immediately rejected."
"I understand what your saying and I'll agree with you. But the Hyuga's have a right to know what their heiress is learning, they will demand it." The Hokage reasoned. "That is why I suggest she trains under you," Kurenai looked up in surprise.
"What?" She asked suddenly, "I have very little experience in healing." Kurenai said suddenly. "I am not equipped to teach Hinata how to heal using her gentle fist."
"By what you are saying no one has seen this before, meaning that no one is
equipped to teach her this. But a student studying under a sensei can have confidentiality," Her eyes widened in surprise. "Meaning that if you teach her than the Hyuga's won't be able to interfere."
"I understand Hokage sir," Kurenai said suddenly. "I will train her in healing to the best of my ability, which unfortunately isn't much." The Hokage nodded and she stood to boy. "Now if there isn't anything more than can I please be excused, I'd really like to check up on my students."
"Go on and give your students my regards, I'm glad that all of them are okay." The Hokage said and Kurenai nodded, "Goodbye than." She nodded again and left, going to check on her students.
o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o
Present Day
1 day after waking up
"Naruto," Dr. Takahashi nodded as he entered the blond boy's room. "How are you feeling today?" He asked as Naruto just glared at him slightly. "Still mad that I tied you to the bed?" He asked but Naruto's glare answered for him.
Naruto who was covered in bandages was also tied down with chakra ropes, a grumpy expression on his face. "You didn't have to use chakra ropes." He said grumpily.
"Yes I did," The doctor said with a smile. "You forgot I've treated you for years now, I know that normal ropes won't hold you down." He said happily, "If you just stay in
the hospital and heal normally than you wouldn't have to worry about being tied down."
"But this place is so boring!" Naruto said desperately. "And the food sucks!" He said complaining.
"I'm betting you were hoping to sneak out so you could go to Ichiraku ramen wasn't you?" He asked Naruto, the blond looked back at him with a solemn look.
"I can't eat ramen right now, I made a promise not to." He said sadly, that made Dr. Takahashi freeze. He looked as though Naruto had just told him that he was never wearing orange again gave up on pranks for the rest of his life.
"You mean you gave up ramen?!" He asked surprised, "For someone else!?" His face than went contemplative. "It must've been a girl, no normal man would give up something they love for anything other than a woman." At his words Naruto blushed slightly, "So it was a girl?!" He asked with a large smile, "Who?" He asked his smile morphing into a smirk.
"It's not like that!" Naruto shouted, his face flushing even more. "I made a bet with someone!" He said firmly, as if he just came up with a lie that he felt was believable. "That's all!"
"But it was a bet with a girl now wasn't it?" He asked devilishly, you could literally see the horns and tail sprout.
"Yes," Naruto said quietly shying away. "I bet Hinata that if she can climb to the top of the tree before I could using chakra than I'd start eating more healthy foods."
"Aw!" He said with another smile, "Our little Naruto is all grown up!" Then a smirk crossed his face again, "And is this a crush for your female teammate I detect?"
"No!" Naruto shouted his face tomato red. "It's not like that!" Dr. Takahashi smiled at his forceful reply, his expression saying it all.
"You have one of the larges cases of denial I've seen since the Hokage refused that he was a pervert," He said smugly. "All in good time my friend, you like Hinata whether you admit it or not."
"No I don't, sure I like her. But not in the way you're stating." Naruto said again, his voice quieter this time.
A knock on the door interrupted the doctor's reply however and he went over to answer it. "Ah Kurenai-sensei, Hinata, and Shino, come in. He's actually awake today!" He said with a smile.
"Guys!" Naruto said happily, only able to move his head.
"Tried to escape again Naruto?" Kurenai asked as she noticed his current condition. He chuckled sheepishly, "When will you learn that you have to heal completely before you can leave."
"I wouldn't try to escape if it wasn't for the fact that there is nothing to do!" He complained, "It's so boring here!"
"Suck it up Naruto," Dr. Takahashi said as he grabbed his coat. "Now that you guys are here I'll leave so you can have some quality time with Naruto here." He said checking the clipboard at the foot of the bed before heading out.
"You don't have to go doctor," Kurenai said. Shino and Hinata nodded in agreement, "We are just here to visit."
"Yeah well the Hokage has a physical due today, I have to prepare for the battle that's going to take place as I attempt to force him to comply." He said with a smile, "You know how old men are about going to the doctor. Well goodbye." He than walked out of the room, his shoulders braced and ready.
"Is it proper to call the Hokage an old man?" Hinata asked suddenly, her voice soft.
"What? I call him that all the time." Naruto replied but was ignored as Kurenai turned to them.
"Dr. Takahashi was practically raised by the Hokage, he's been training to be his physician for years. From what I hear the Hokage doesn't mind him calling him old." She said before turning to Naruto with a stern look, "It doesn't mean the rest of us are allowed the same privilege."
He merely shrugged, well as much as he could with being tethered to the bed. "What? He practically raised me as well." He said, "Well as much as he could without showing favorism between civilians."
"What do you mean?" Kurenai asked as she untied him, as he was freed he sat up and stretched. He hissed in pain but didn't stop until his back popped, he than sighed in contentment.
"Well all the villagers hate me enough, if he showed too much affection for me than everyone felt like he liked me more than the rest of the village. This would divide the village between those who supported him no matter what and those who felt shafted by him. The old man just showed me enough affection to show that I'm part of the village but not enough to show that he liked me more than the others." Naruto explained, surprising them with his speech.
"Wow Naruto I didn't know you knew diplomacy that much," Kurenai commented. Shino and Hinata were just as surprised staring at him shocked, he just shrugged.
"Yeah I've picked up a few things from listening to the old man preach at me," He said, before he remembered something. "Oh and Hinata, thanks for the flowers!" He said with a smile, "No ones ever brought me flowers before!"
She blushed, but smiled none the less. "Y-your welcome," She replied, "T-they mean good health so I hope y-you start feel better soon." She said quietly, with hardly any stuttering. That shocked Kurenai, Hinata's stuttering problem was almost gone now, telling her that Hinata was growing up.
"Thanks!" He said, a light blush crossing his face. Kurenai had to shake her head, she had just seen what she though she seen. She smiled devilishly, before closing her expression. She didn't want Naruto catching on to her scheming.
"Here," Shino said suddenly handing Naruto a letter out of his jacket. "This is for you," Naruto accepted the plain envelope with his name printed on the front.
He opened it while Kurenai and Hinata watched in curiosity, Shino already knew what it contained so he stood to the side. As he took out the paper he proceeded to read it, curious as to why he was getting a letter from Shino.
Dear Uzamaki Naruto,
My son has told me of the bravery and protectiveness you portrayed in your mission toward not only him but your other teammate and have to say that I am impressed. You protected my son and risked your own life in battle and I am grateful to you for the preservation of his life. If you ever find yourself in need of assistance than we are prepared to help you in any way possible. The whole of the Aburame clan will be behind you if you ever find yourself in need of us. And after your recovery you are invited to our clan for dinner, we would like to meet the boy who saved our son.
Shibi Abarame
Clan head of the Aburame
"Wow," Naruto said looking up at Shino. "Is this for real?" A small smile spread across Shino's face briefly before he nodded.
"Naruto," Kurenai said seriously. "You've just done something that every other clan in the entire village had been trying to do. You've just established good relations between yourself and the Aburame clan," She said in awe. "Not even my clan has done that."
"N-neither have the Hyugas'," Hinata spoke up from the side. Her tone was unbelieving as well, "A-and they have been trying for years to accomplish that task. N-not even father has managed it."
"There is only one clan that has managed that," Shino spoke up suddenly. "The Kunshu clan had managed to get on my families good side as well, not sure how though." Shino spoke up.
"Yeah but this is still hard to achieve," Kurenai said patting him on the back in congratulations. He cringed, "Sorry forgot." She said apologetically.
"Its okay sensei," Naruto said, but was interrupted by a shout from outside. They turned to look out the window just in time to see a red and white blur go past, followed by another white blur.
"Come back here you old man!" The shout shocked them all, especially because they recognized it. "You going to have your physical whether you want it or not!" The shouting came from the second blur, who was following close behind the first.
"Okay, I'm not the only one to see that now was I?" Naruto asked suddenly, everyone shook their head. "Good, I was afraid there for a second that I was seeing an hallucination."
"I saw it," Kurenai said. "Not entirely sure that my brain computes what I just saw, but I saw it."
"Was that the Hokage running away from Dr. Takahashi?" Shino asked Hinata, she activated her byuakugan before looking outside in the direction the 2 blurs' went.
"Y-yup, and it seems that the Doctor has cornered the Hokage and is using a jutsu on him." She replied, they all leaned in expectantly as if she was a radio giving news on a ballgame. "T-the Hokage's paralyzed!" Hinata said suddenly, her tone shocked.
"Yup, I know that move." Naruto replied sitting back in bed, he stretched out a little. They stared at him expectantly, he looked at them questioningly. "What?"
"What did he do?" Kurenai asked, "What move?"
"When he was first appointed the Hokage's physician I got hurt really badly, a prank gone wrong." Naruto explained sitting up again, he crossed his legs much like one would at a campfire. "The Hokage ordered him to heal me but back than Dr. Takahashi didn't like me, and I didn't like him." He smiled at the memory, "I escaped the hospital and he came after me."
"W-what happened next?" Hinata asked, all of them intent on the story.
"Evidently he came from a family of healers, he used one of his families jutsu on me." He cringed at the memory, "It paralyzes your entire body, it also completely numbs you from the neck down." He refused to tell them the position he was frozen in when Dr. Takahashi paralyzed him. He had to have some dignity, "They use it to perform surgery, I was stuck like that for an entire day." Naruto laughed, "The old man made fun of me about that, so today it's my turn to laugh at him."
"Wow, Naruto I think I just started to feel sorry for you." Kurenai said, "You have to put up with someone that scary, you certainly deserve my sympathy." Shino and Hinata nodded in agreement.
"It's not so bad when you get used to him," Naruto said with a nervous chuckle. They didn't look convinced and he just sighed, "Okay it is as bad as you guys think. But he is the best in Konoha," They still didn't look convinced.
"Anyway, Naruto while you recover the rest of the team will be performing D class missions so please get better as fast as you can." Kurenai said, looking as sad as them at the mention of D class missions. "When you get out we'll still be stuck with the annoying missions but not too long."
"I have so much to look forward to," Naruto said sarcastically. "I almost don't want to get better but than I'd be stuck here, and between this place and the D class missions than I'd choose the missions"
"Well just get better Naruto," They said as they prepared to leave. "We all hope for your speedy recovery," And after a few goodbyes they were gone. Leaving Naruto alone in the boring hospital room, he sighed as he got comfortable. Nothing better to do than sleep, as he dropped of into his dreams he wasn't aware of the eyes watching him.
End Chapter