The next Gaurdian
Chapter 3
Gaurdian Awakened
Disclaimer: Hardly know what Naruto is, let alone own it.
Author note: Hello readers!
Sorry I haven't been doing notes, kinda forgot. Anyway after uncle begged me to continue I decided to read up a little on this magna and actually learn a thing or two, so hopefully this is a little better. So please read on and enjoy! P.s. Please if you have any questions, comment, suggestions, or MINIMAL FLAME, then review it to me! I LOVE REVIEWS PEOPLE!
Please read on and enjoy!
Previously~
" Sakura! Sakura answer me! Please Sakura!" He said again, realizing his voice was cracked he reached up and felt water slowly rolling down his cheeks. He turned to his friend, and quickly scooped her limp body up bridal style wincing at the warm rush of blood as it flowed freely over his hands. He looked in horror as he saw how pale she was, and how cold her body felt.
"She's not dead yet Naruto." A voice said from behind the blond haired boy, he quickly spun around to see Captain Yamato looking sadly upon the painful form of the pink-haired medic who didn't even have enough strength left to heal her. The brown haired ANBU captain reached out lightly to take a pulse, and was shocked when he managed to find the lightest little thump every so often. He then looked up to the stricken face of Naruto, who was crying softly over his friend.
"How did I let this happen! Who did this to her? I swear when I find out who caused Sakura this I'll-" Captain Yamato held up a hand to the traumatized shinobi face.
"Naruto, right now if you want to save Sakura's life we are going to have to get her back to Tsunade right now! It's amazing she's still alive and I don't know how much longer she can hold on, she is very weak." Yamato said coldly, trying his hardest not to show the sadness in his voice.
"No! don't say it! She is going to be fine all right! She has to be fine!" Naruto wailed, beside himself with rage toward his own body for not protecting her.
Before Captain Yamato could say anything in protest of Naruto he had disappeared, a blond streak in the trees. Naruto was pushing all of his chakra to his feet, pushing himself faster and faster while looking down at the limp, seemingly lifeless form in his arms that couldn't even be felt breathing. He felt the anger well up in his chest and allowed the nine-tails chakra to flow, causing his eyes to turn red.
"d-don't." whispered a weak voice so quietly Naruto was amazed he could hear it. He looked down shocked at the cherry blossom in his arms that had somehow come back to life. She began to cough violently causing blood to rush to her mouth, dribbling out the corners of her weak smile as she attempted to make her teammate feel better.
"Sakura don't." Naruto said, panicking at the blood that spilled from sakura as she tried to smile for him. "Don't move, just hang in there ok? Don't fall asleep!" he said, the confidence in his voice wavering as his eyes resumed their normal blue color.
"I- do-o- nt-t thi-n-nk I-" Sakura felt the darkness closing in as she tried in vain to complete the sentence, fighting it would be useless so she just allowed it to consume her and take away her pains.
"Sakura? Sakura!" Naruto cried, shaking the once again limp body of sakura somewhat violently.
"Naruto she isn't dead, just focus on getting her to tsunade as fast as you can!" Captain Yamato said, looking equally worried as he looked down at the paling Kionochi's face wondering what Kakashi would do to him when he found out.
"Grandma Tsunade! Grandma Tsunade!" came a voice that rattled around in the Hokage's slightly fuzzy mind. Lady Tsunade groaned and lifted her head slowly up off of her desk, her mind was still numb from the exorbitant amount of sake she had consumed the prior night.
"Grandma Tsunade!" came the desperate voice again, its frequency growing louder much to Tsuande's dismay. She rubbed her sore temples with her fingers, desperately trying to block out the boys constant yelling.
"Ugh, Naruto aren't you supposed to be out on a mission?" She mumbled quietly to herself while using her healing powers to wash away the severe hangover that refused to part ways with her.
"Grandma Tsunade! Grandma Tsunade Open up!" Naruto yelled, his voice was heavy with anxiety for some reason. Tsunade reluctantly opened her eyes, allowing them to naturally adjust to the light before bracing against another onslaught of fierce hammering on her double doors.
"Naruto! I swear if you haven't captured Sasuke I'll"
"Please! Please help me! Please Tsunade!" came his desperate voice again, the tone of it suddenly made Tsunade snap to it and she nodded to her assistant Shizune signaling her to allow the crazy blond entrance.
"OH MY GOD!" Shizune and Tsunade cried in unison, Shizune looking wide-eyed at her master as the Hokage stood leaning on the desk her legs shook weakly under her. The constant 'plop' could be heard about every 10 seconds as a few droplets of liquid fell to the floor. Naruto happened to be covered in said liquid; his whole body was smeared in the crimson paint making him look like he had just participated in a war. But it wasn't him that caused the slug princess to shudder violently without knowing it; a result of her natural fear of blood and seeing her student completely covered in it came close to killing her.
"Please Tsunade-Sama! You have to help her please!" cried Naruto begging the Hokage to help Sakura, although they both knew the answer to that question already.
"La-Lady Tsunade? I-I think that's-s Sakura…" Whispered Shizune, her voice trembling as she was on the brink of an emotional meltdown. Suddenly everything clicked in Tsuande's mind and she rushed forward, her robes billowing out behind her.
"Naruto? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?" She screamed causing several ANBU to come rushing to her room, especially with the trial of blood that led through the whole building up to the Hokage's room. Tsunade felt her heart drop when she looked over the limp, seemingly lifeless form of her pink-haired apprentice that was draped over Naruto's shivering arms. Sakura looked all but dead as she lay there, the slow and painful rise and fall of her chest along with the occasional involuntary contort of her face due to the pain was all that showed life.
"Please Lady Tsunade! You got to help her, please?" Naruto begged, looking into the Hokage eyes she could see that he wanted this more than just about anything. But the slug princess just stood there, paralyzed with fear at the growing puddle of blood that rested on her floor. She just stood there; her jaw clenched tightly, tears running from her eyes as she looked upon her apprentice with a broken heart.
"Plop" the little droplet of blood went as it rolled off of Naruto's arm. He looked even harder at the Hokage, wondering why she wasn't doing anything.
"Plop" The entire room was silent, but even when the drop of a pin could be heard the sound of Sakura's breathing was only slightly louder, and much more pained.
"Tsu-u-na-ade Se-" *cough* "Sensei." *cough* Came a voice so hoarse it was hardly recognizable. Tsunade suddenly snapped out of her blood-induced shock, staring with disbelief at the bleeding cherry blossom.
"Sakura?" She whispered softly, still finding herself unable to move. Sakura managed a weak smile, wheezing softly as she did.
"I-It's" *cough* "Okay-y. I'm fi-" *cough* "fine." Sakura breathed silently, and managed to open her eyes a little revealing the same sparkling shamrock eyes that Tsunade had witnessed before their mission had started. Tsunade felt a gasp escape her throat as something warm and wet weakly enclosed her dangling hand, daring her to look. And look she did, Tsunade looked down at her hand and was overwhelmed to find Sakura's limply grasping her own.
"Sakura! Sakura!" Naruto yelled, trying desperately to stay in control of his emotions but finding the task near impossible with his friends dying body in his arms.
"e-every th-thin-g is g-going to b-be alri-right." Sakura murmured, grasping as tightly as she could on her sensei's hand. She knew that Tsunade had a natural fear of blood and sakura guessed that she was probably staining the floor with the amount she was loosing. But despite that Sakura found the last little inkling of chakra that remained in her body, and forced it out through her hand, momentarily smothering Tsuande's own hand in a cool green light.
"I-It's O-ok-a-ay." She whispered weakly before conciseness slipped her grasp once again. Her head fell back heavily, lolling to the side in an awkward way as a new trickle of blood escaped her mouth. Tsunade suddenly snapped back out of her blood-induced trance and felt her student's bloody hand slipping from her own.
"Sakura!" She yelled quietly, grasping the Kionochi's hand firmly before it could escape, holding it to her heart. A new fire blazed in the Hokage's eyes as she began to bark out orders.
"Shizune! Go get a medical room prepared stat!" she yelled, whipping around to point a finger at her assistant who jumped at her superiors orders.
"Naruto, we have to get sakura to the hospital now!" She yelled, already jumping out the window barreling toward the hospital. Naruto stood there for a moment, feelings of confusion, relief, and more worry bombarded his system. He then looked down at his teammates paling form; the blood had all but stopped flowing- not a good sign. He smiled sickly and brushed a few hairs from her face, allowing a small tear to fall onto hers and become one with her.
"Sakura, please don't go. Your all I have left, and Sasuke- well you know." He mumbled sadly before bursting through the window running as fast as he could to the Konoha Hospital pleading that he was not to late.
Naruto paced endlessly back and forth in front of operating room A-12, his head was pounding rapidly under the pressure of an incoming headache and a broken heart. He had rushed Sakura to the hospital as Tsunade had instructed and upon arriving learned that Sakura had been heavily poisoned by the blade of Orochimaru- a poison that no one had ever lived with for more than two hours. And that was ten hours ago, they had been in that operating room for ten hours. Naruto could only hope for the best and fear the worst but found that his optimistic side was missing in action.
"Naruto! Naruto!" Came a party of voices accompanied by thundering footsteps that boomed throughout the otherwise quiet hospital. Naruto turned to see the rest of the Konoha 11 charging toward him, worried and concerned expressions plastered to every face.
"Naruto! Where's Sakura!" yelled Ino, her eyes were already red and her mouth curved down. Naruto could only hang his head, he didn't know what to say, and he finally felt beaten for the first time in his life.
"She isn't- no she cant be." Cried Ten Ten, looking feverishly between the blond ninja and the door he poorly guarded. Naruto looked down, not wanting the rest of the Konoha 11- or possible Konoha 10 to see his red, bloodshot eyes.
"I-I." he stuttered, trembling under the weight of restricted sobs.
"Spit it out would ya! How is Sakura!"? Ino yelled again, viscously grabbing Naruto's color and attempting to hold him at eye level. He glanced up, only to see that the rest of the ninjas seemed to be as worried as he was. Or almost all of them, Neji was smug and happy in the corner apparently oblivious to the current situation. Naruto felt his face heat up at the sight of the so-called prodigy.
"Why you!" he yelled wrenching himself free of Ino's death grip and charging at Neji, pinning the Byakugan user to the wall.
"What's with the smug look on your face huh? Are you happy about this Hyuuga!" Naruto screamed, his eyes were slowly fading to red as his body shook from anger. Neji just stood there, un-impressed by Naruto's little outburst.
"Answer me! Are you happy that Sakura's in pain! Are you happy that she could be dead right now as far as I know!" Naruto yelled, his anger slowly turning to fear and sadness. He quickly released Neji, turning swiftly to go sit in one of the small, sad little chairs. He put his head in his hands, hiding his watery eyes from view. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked up and it was none other than Neji, smiling sadly down on him.
"Wha-" Naruto began.
"Byakugan, remember." Neji replied calmly, squeezing Naruto's shoulder lightly before returning to the group who were now giggling slightly among themselves. He turned to Neji, a weak smile lit across his face before scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.
"So, you don't know how sakura is huh?" Ino mumbled quietly, her typically energetic blue eyes had faded slightly. Hinata was standing sadly between the two girls, trying her best to squelch the sobs she felt coming.
"Sa-sakura." She whispered, capturing the attention of the two other Kunoichi beside her. Ino and Ten Ten looked to their forlorn friend, realizing that this was probably hitting her the hardest out of all of them and hugged her trying to comfort the unstable Hyuuga.
"Tch, Troublesome." Muttered Shikamaru, earning himself a slap in the head from Ino who then stalked back to her position in comforting a very depressed Hyuuga. Naruto and the rest of the gang glared daggers at Shikamaru who shrunk back under the force of their intimidating eyes.
"So, Naruto. How exactly did this happen?" questioned Kiba, narrowing his eyes at the truly heartbroken blond ninja.
"Ya, all they ever told us was that sakura was badly injured and we needed to come to the hospital right away." Commented Shino, muttering into his high-collared attire. Naruto looked up, unsure of what to say because he didn't really know what had happened himself.
"I-I" suddenly a very bloody and exhausted Tsunade stepped out of the room, dark bags hung beneath her reddened eyes as she silently closed the door behind her. The entire Konoha 11 whirled around, tentatively awaiting the Hokage's answer.
"Well?" Naruto asked, desperate to know of his pink-haired teammates condition. His heart was beating prolifically despite the fact he held his breath in anticipation of her answer, much like the rest of his team. Tsunade turned her head up a little, letting her bangs hide her tired eyes the best she could.
"Go in, but I warn you might not like what you see." She muttered in a voice that gave no hint to her emotions. Naruto nodded in understanding before rushing over to the heavy door, catching it and peaking in ever so slightly.
"Beep-Beep-Beep." Came the endless sound of a heart monitor, assuring the nervous blond that Sakura was indeed still alive, but not necessarily well.
"Sa-Sakura" he whispered cautiously, allowing his cerulean eyes to peek open and view the room for the first time. There she was, his cherry blossom was laying calmly on a large white bed, not stirring in the slightest sense. Her pink hair was splayed out around her head; her face was void of any emotion including comfort.
"Sakura!" he shouted, rushing up to her side as quick as he possibly could without stumbling over the hundreds of wires that snaked their way across the floor. Upon getting closer he could see her face, it had an almost- daresay soothing effect to the eye and it filled Naruto with a temporary sense of calm that was pushed away all to quickly and replaced by the sense of guilt.
"Sakura, I- I'm I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I let this happen to you, I should've been there to protect you, but I wasn't!" muttered Naruto as he found her pale hand and clasp it in his own. The rest of the Konoha 11 shuffled up and surrounded her bed, each looking on with saddened eyes at the still form resting there.
"Heh, I never guessed-" started Shikamaru.
"That it would be sakura sitting here." Finished ten ten, who was thinking the exact same thing as everyone else in the room was.
"What do you mean?" He asked, his eyes momentarily diverting away to meet the nine other ninja's eyes.
"You know, I guess it's just that no one ever thought it would be sakura lying here in the hospital." Kiba commented, his gaze set and stone on the sleeping form of sakura.
"Ya, she was always the one treating us in this place. Never the one that was hurt." Chooji added, he sounded more confused than sad over the whole ordeal. The words only brought Naruto further into his realization that Sakura, the quiet one, Sakura, the one that never fought her battles, and that sakura, the one who even he saw as a little bit weaker had the strength to not only save him, beat Orochimaru's sorry ass, and take the damage for two fellow ninja. Everyone took a minute or two of silence for their fallen friend, bowing their heads as if the Kionochi's was already long gone. The silence quickly grew awkward though and thankfully Shizune stepped in to break it relieving everyone of their muted state.
"Naruto, Kakashi is still in his room and he has not yet been informed of team seven's – Umm – troubles yet. We decided that it be best if you went and broke the ice to him, and please be gentle. Bring him back will you and either Tsunade or myself will be here to give you a full report on what we did on sakura." She stated coolly, nodding from the Jinjuriki to the door ever so slightly.
"Alright then." Mumbled Naruto, dragging his feet reluctantly away from the bland hospital room to visit another.
"Good luck." Whispered Ino who happened to be standing right next to Naruto on the right side of Sakura's bed. He managed to smile a little, much to his immediate relief.
"It'll be room K-2 on the second floor." Shizune whispered as she slowly closed the door behind him, leaving only her and the remains of the Konoha 11 in private.
"Shizune How is Sakura?" Ino immediately asked, practically lunging at the Hokage's assistant to grab the clipboard, which presumably held her answers.
"Y-Yes, I-is s-she all-all right?" Hinata asked, the look on her face and the sorrow in her voice all but broke her cousin's heart, he had never-ever seen her like this before. Maybe they had been much closer than Neji had ever imagined.
Shizune sighed; knowing that her troubles had just began. "Alright, but you ninja might want to hold onto something." Everyone immediately grasped onto one of the rails that guarded sakura and barred her inside her bed, all except for the Hyuuga heiress who instead let her hands fly up to her face, protecting it from the degrading pitied stares of her fellow ninja.
"Sakura Haruno is in a coma currently, we believe at earliest it will be a month before she wakes- if we are lucky." The medic ninja said, her voice sounded sorry as if to say 'I told you weren't going to like this.'. Everyone had the same, distressed look on their faces easily showing the guilt they all felt about the current situation. All but Lee who had a strange, twisted look to him that looked like something between mourning the loss of a friend, and extreme happiness that she wasn't dead.
Shizune rolled her eyes, attempting to ignore lee's somewhat disturbing expression. "Moving on, Sakura suffered multiple deep lacerations in several different areas of her body none of which were life threatening. She had only a small trace of Chakra in her system, causing her to fall into a coma as an attempt at quickly regenerating Chakra. Minor abrasions covered her whole body along with 1st and 2nd degree burns, making it seem almost as if she was set completely on fire for a moment." The skin of all ten ninjas was an alabaster white, the damage toll on their friend seemed almost unbearable to their hearts but it seemed that Shizune wasn't finished with her torture yet.
"But worst of all we found a large four inch stab wound that entered right under her armpit, puncturing one lung and narrowly missing the heart and her left lung, exiting just before her last two ribs on the left side. This stab wound proved to be fatal as it not only caused severe blood loss but also was laced with the poison that was identified as one exclusive to the S-ranked criminal Orochimaru." Gasps could be heard from around the room along with the muffled sobs of Ino and a slight gasp from Hinata as she passed out from guilt. Neji rolled his eyes and silently walked over and relieved ten ten of her Hyuuga duties.
"Orochimaru's poison? But there is no cure for that, did you find one?" Ino asked, lifting her slightly puffy eyes to meet the sorrowful ones of Shizune's.
The medic-nin shook her head slowly, "No, but sakura seems to somehow have developed an immunity toward this kind of poison. Not a very strong one as it was only able to deter the life threatening side-effects, but that coupled with her natural medical skills were the deciding factors for her in survival." Shizune glanced at the clock that read 8:12 a.m. realizing that she had an operation to attend at 8:15. "You all should be proud to have such a strong friend, I know I certainly am." She added re-assuringly, satisfied with the slightly happier mood that suddenly graced the room.
"Troublesome women." Muttered Shikamaru - again, and the next thing he knew one irritated blond, a fed up brunette, and a very angry medic were slapping him to the ground. Shizune winked and headed back out the door for real, catching it and poking her head through for a few final words.
"Oh and I suggest that you guys get out of here before Kakashi comes, no telling how that old ninja is going to react to this." She warned before winking and letting the door close again. The seven ninjas exchanged nervous glances, wondering what Kakashi was going to do when he found out.
"Kakashi Sensei? Kakashi sensei are you in here?" Naruto glanced around, spotting the familiar shock of silver hair before allowing himself to enter. Kakashi smiled and sat up when he saw the crazy Jinjuriki come in, glad to finally have someone to talk to.
"Naruto! Your back? Did you guys finish your mission with Captain Yamato and Sai already?" Naruto glanced nervously between the ground and his sensei's bed, unable to meet Kakashi's excited eyes. The copy-ninja immediately knew something was up when one- the familiar strawberry haired Kionochi wasn't accompanying Naruto, and two- Naruto was actually nervous! That almost scared Kakashi, the look on Naruto's face.
"Well, you see Sensei-" Naruto started, finally bringing his eyes up to meet his masters own. Kakashi frowned under the protection of his mask, sighing at his student's sketchy behavior that was a tad out of character for him.
"Alright Naruto, what's wrong?" He asked, cocking his eyebrows in a quirky sort of manor. Naruto sighed heavily, knowing this wasn't going to be easy for either of them. He turned and motioned back to his sensei, encouraging him to follow.
"You had better come with me Kakashi-Sensei." Kakashi was caught surprised for a moment, confused with what was going on but decided that whatever it was serious and he needed to go right away- and he had a bad gut feeling this had something to do with Sakura.
"Naruto, what's this about? Where's Sakura?" Kakashi questioned, catching Naruto on the shoulder and spinning him around so they were face to face. Naruto hid behind his sagging blond bangs, desperately trying to hide his emotions as he felt the subtle tears begin to rack his body, causing him to tremble slightly. Even the tiniest tremble didn't go unnoticed by Kakashi who was a bit scared at his student's reaction to his question; he gripped Naruto's shoulder tighter, shaking him a little for emphasis.
"Naruto! Where is Sakura? What happened to her?" The startling anxiety Naruto detected in the copy-ninja's voice forced Naruto to raise his unsettling eyes up, the fierce amount of water that was leaking from them threatened to spill over as the cries became harsher causing his body to shake a little more.
"Kakashi-Sensei, She-She." Naruto sucked in a big breath of air, attempting to ease his edgy nerves. "She got hurt, Sakura she was injured. While we were fighting Orochimaru, and I blacked out and she- she saved me." He stuttered, casting his glance away in shame. Kakashi released his grip on Naruto's shoulders, allowing the reality of those words to come to him.
"Where is she?" he said coldly, his eyes suddenly taking on a strange, murderous sense to them. Naruto nodded, brushing his eyes with the back of his sleeve before charging out the door, closely followed by a very distressed Kakashi. The scene that haunted his childhood was playing over and over again in his head, reminding him of the pain of loosing a teammate.
After running through two levels of the sanitized hospital, being yelled at by several nurses and having the occasional clipboard thrown at them (to which Naruto snickered slightly) they finally arrived at the room- her room. Naruto drew a sharp breath and held it as he cautiously opened the door, revealing the room empty of all but one person.
"Oh, Sakura." Whispered Kakashi, feeling the horrors of loosing a teammate play through him again only this time it was loosing someone who was like a daughter to him. She had always been and that was why he had been so protective of her, always trying to keep her out of harms way even at the occasional cost of her training. The silver haired Ninja walked slowly up to her bedside, kneeling at the ground in front of her to get a good look at her serene face. He then quickly realized that this was Sakura's first trip to the hospital, the first time as far as he knew that she had been injured bad enough to be in the emergency room, it was the first time that he was hovering over her instead of the other way around. And truth be told, the copy ninja felt terribly guilty about it.
"Hello boys, it's been a rough day hasn't it?" Both the student and his master turned to see the fifth Hokage tiredly entering the room; a single clipboard clung to her hands. Both immediately scrambled to their feet, bowing in respect to their leader before guiltily casting glances down at the pink-haired Kionochi.
"Granny Tsunade-" The Hokage immediately began to glare at him, as if to say ' just because your friends hurt doesn't mean you get any slack kid.'. Kakashi rolled his eyes and slumped into the blue upholstered chair that was next to Sakura's bed, studying the heart monitor she was hooked up to.
"Save it Naruto." She spat, glaring at him with such force that the blond ninja was forced to sit down in one of the other chairs identical to the one Kakashi had seated himself upon.
"Well, let me just put it this way. I am completely and utterly amazed that Sakura survived any one of her multiple injuries, let alone the poison." Tsunade started, giving them both somewhat sympathetic looks. Kakashi and Naruto both flung their heads up in unison, staring wide-eyed at the Hokage.
"Poison?" Naruto glared at Kakashi for stealing his question, and then returned his attention to the Hokage.
"Yes, Poison. Among various other things we found that Sakura's worst and most life-threatening injury was coated in poison. Orochimaru's signature poison." Both men sucked in a bit of air, they knew the death penalty that settled on anyone who was unlucky enough to meet the Snake's blade.
"But Tsunade, Orochimaru's poison is deadly. If I am correct those who encounter it die within two hours!" Kakashi stated, his voice was the same as always yet the hint of anxiety could be sensed by both the medic and the Chunin. Naruto only widened his eyes before rushing over to Sakura's side and feverishly checking all the various machines she was hooked up to, suddenly afraid that his best friend was going to die on him at any moment.
Tsunade snickered a little, walking over to the young Chunin who was still dismayed by the whole experience, resting a hand lightly on his shoulder. "Don't worry you two, Sakura will be fine." Her tired but warm eyes re-assured the two on-edge ninjas and they felt a little weight lifted of his shoulders.
"But Tsunade-" The medic-nin glared at Naruto for a moment before reminding herself they were still slightly in the dark about this.
"Yes, I know. Let me explain all right?" The ninjas nodded timidly, both still had many questions on their friend's health.
"Sakura arrived here with Naruto, she was bleeding heavily and had been completely drained of her Chakra yet somehow was still stable enough to gain conciseness momentarily when they first arrived. When I finally was able to begin healing her we found that her whole body was covered in 1st-2nd degree burns but she had been using a concealation Juutsu to hide it from you Naruto. We also found around 6 minor lacerations on her body, her knees, wrists, elbows, ankles, left femur, pelvis, three ribs, and five vertebrae were lightly bruised, she had a 1st degree concussion, and a life-threatening stab wound that entered just under her armpit, grazing her right lung causing a slight hole in it and narrowly missing her heart. It proceeded through her body, severing parts of her spinal cord and passed just in front of her left lung, breaking three of her ribs on the left side as it exited. And to top it off the whole wound was coated with the poison which, as the operation went on was seemingly absorbed by Sakura's body and dissipated into the blood stream where it was neutralized. That just about sums it up." Tsunade stated, finally glancing around to see the two ninja's somewhat hysterical faces. Naruto's jaw was resting on the ground, his eyes were somewhat glazed over and a look of sheer disbelief was plastered on his face. While Kakashi's reaction was dulled by the fact that half his face was covered in cloth, but the one eye that peeked out completely wide and white was satisfactory enough for the Hokage.
"So what your saying is sakura was burned, cut, stabbed, bruised, broken, and poisoned and she is still alive!" blubbered Naruto, waving his arms about in an over- dramatic manor. Tsunade nodded solemnly, anticipating the next painful question about to emerge from the blond's mouth.
"And before you ask Naruto, Sakura wont be waking up very soon. She is in a coma." Naruto only turned around, and began to slowly bang his head against the wall, trying to punish himself for allowing sakura to get injured this badly. How could he have been so weak? He promised to protect her, and he failed!
"How long?" he mumbled, resting his aching head for a moment.
"If we are lucky, only a month or two. But given the damage, it could be up to a year." Tsunade said seriously, hoping for Naruto's sake that her apprentice would wake up sooner rather than later. Kakashi rose to his feet, glancing toward the Hokage exchanging silent words of leave as they both exited the room. The relentless chirp of the heart monitor could be heard in the presence of silence, only the ragged breaths of a frustrated young ninja and the slow, even breaths of his pink-haired teammate challenged the beat of her heart.
"Ah!" I screamed, sitting straight up as my mind and body found one another.
"Whe-Where am I?" I whispered, finally taking in the full effect of my surroundings. It was bloody warfare again, the sickening smell of rotting flesh fused with that of burning flesh and death, everywhere I looked blood was flying, falling, pooling. People were stumbling around, collapsing, dying.
"You are in but a dream of the past sakura." Came an eerily familiar voice, I whipped my head around to see a women, her body shrouded by darkness so I couldn't see her face. This was the same voice of the dragon that granted me access to my true form before!
"Who are you?" I demanded, getting to my feet in a defensive stance without hesitation. The woman sighed, waving me off as a sign of peace.
"I am your conscience sakura." She stated simply, walking forward on the dusty trail that was littered with blood and bodies. I took off briskly after her, gazing around in horror at the blood that covered the ground I was walking.
"So, your like my inner?" I questioned, remembering the strange alter ego that Naruto had dubbed 'inner sakura' during my battle with Ino. My conscience-person stopped, turning around and giving me an incredulous look.
"Hell no! I kicked that bitch out of here years ago!" she said with a slightly humorous tone in her voice, or as humorous as you can get when you are surrounded by a blood bath of innocent people. I nodded in a slightly confused manor, reaching her side and matching her pace as I took in my surroundings. I recognized this scene somehow; the eerily familiar cries of death rang through my skull like an illness. Only one thing brushed my mind at the moment.
"Is this the Uchiha Massacre?" I questioned hesitantly, wanting to shrink under the intimidatingly blank glare of my conscience but finding the action silly. She slowly shook her head back and forth, sighing slightly.
"No child, The Uchiha massacre was quiet merciful compared to what is happening here. At least Itachi was kind enough to spare them a quick death, the ninja here were not so lucky." I gasped and looked around, cringing at the sight of injured family being forced to watch the torture of their loved ones. This was brutal, completely and utterly brutal. The way a sword was drawn slowly across a child's body just enough so that they felt excruciating pain, but not enough to let them die in peace. And then dropped far enough away from his bleeding parents so that neither had enough energy to reach the other and at least die together.
"Then, what war is this? What's happening here? Why am I here?" Conscience looked up at me, her blank eyes that were filled with light managed to portray the deepest emotions of sorrow.
"Poor girl, you don't remember do you?" I was so confused, it seemed as if my own conscience didn't make sense anymore.
"Remember wha-" Suddenly memories attacked my mind, branding my mind with the pain of long-lost thoughts.
-Flashback-
She could suddenly feel a magic surround her creating a sort of bubble effect and she watched as the young woman cried and smiled at the same time. "You will be destined for greatness one day Sakura, I promise you that. And remember that no matter what you must remember your comrades and your family, and be true to yourself." The young woman whispered, Sakura suddenly felt the cold water of a stream on her back, soaking through her blankets. She watched as the woman charged into battle, changing into a silver dragon with a white mane and pale, lavender eyes that looked like innocence themselves.
"Ma-ma? Da-da?" Sakura wailed softly as she slowly floated down the river that was dyed crimson with the blood of both sound and dragon alike. She watched as these two dragons fought together perfectly in harmony, but both were weakened with old wounds and new ones.
"And now I can end you disgusting creatures once and for all!" the man named Orochimaru spat, and then did a flurry of hand signals grinning evilly at the staggering beasts of the sky with vengeance.
"Sword of Kusanagi: Long sword of the Sky!" he called extending his hand to reveal a long sword that glistened with the blood of its previous prizes, he lowered it and advanced upon the two dragons who had been forced to change back to human form and were sitting weakly on their knees rendered helpless by the venom that coursed through their veins.
"And now you die!" he hissed, and Sakura found to her horror that she could not tear her eyes away from the alabaster man. The infant girl who's hair proudly bore a pastel shade of pink and peeked out from underneath her soaking blankets, could only watch as the snake-man raised his sword and as her parents glanced at her with sorry expressions in their eyes. She could only watch as her parents used the last of their strength to intertwine their fingers weakly and watch the glint of silver metal. She could only watch as Orochimaru's face flickered with delight as he brought his sharpened sword down upon the necks of the two people. And She could only watch as the bodies of her parents fell limply to the ground with blood spraying and showing in every direction, as her parents – the only things she had time to learn to love – were murdered right in front of her eyes. Sakura was innocent to this world and had learned only a few things in her time there, love, compassion, loyalty, bravery, strength, power, wits was forced to learn the harshest lesson of life at the age of an infant- the lesson of malice, mercilessness, cruelty, abuse, hatred, evil, bloodshed and murder.
-Flashback be gone-
"Oh no, this isn't. No!" I screamed, my temper slowly rising threatening to get the better of me, but more than that were the tears that overflowed me. This was my massacre, the bloodiest massacre in the history of ninja's, the Ryuu massacre.
"I'm sorry, Sakura. You were very young when this happened, and now your past is catching up to you. Let's walk, shall we?" I glared repulsively at my conscience, not caring whether I flooded the whole dream realm with my tears or not. I looked around again, suddenly noticing that the bodies were not only of ninjas, but of dragons as well!
"Why?" I asked darkly, anger and revenge swelling inside of me.
"What do you mean?" she asked suddenly, swiftly turning around to place a cold hand on my shoulder.
"Why didn't they just fight back with everything they had? This was the dragon clan, and from what I've experienced dragons could kick any ninjas sorry ass!" I sobbed, leaning into conscience as I hid myself from the massacre that was unfolding before me. Conscience hugged me tightly, rubbing my back in a comforting way.
"Oh sakura, I'm sorry. You see there is one important thing you don't quite understand yet." She mumbled into my head, her words sounded painful. I lifted my weary eyes to meet her blank ones.
"Sakura, there were many dragon clans before the time of the first Hokage. All of them fought and quarreled with each other over land and territory and who had the strongest ninja and such. But one clan was special, the Ryuu clan was the only one that swore to follow the guardian ways." She explained, and I widened my eyes.
"Guardians? You mean like how there are Guardians, Avengers, and Immorals?" I questioned eagerly, earning a re-approving head nod from my conscience.
"You see sakura, as you may know all three of those traits are bestowed upon a child at a young age or chosen if possible. Your friend Sasuke chose to be an avenger or someone who insists on taking revenge on another who inflicted pain upon them or a loved one. In Sasuke's case, he wont stop until Itachi is brought to justice." I felt my eyes water up again and figured that no one else but my conscience and I were here so what did it matter if I cried?
"Then there are Immorals, those who choose to follow the path of betrayal and join the sound, Akatski, or become rouge ninjas. Immorals are the most common out of the three. But Gaurdians sakura, are all to rare." I nodded in agreement, having the strangest inkling that I had something to do with the guardian's.
"Guardians are chosen and then are bestowed upon with the rinnegan eye, and from they're urged in the direction of becoming a true guardian. But Sakura, no one has yet to follow the path of a true guardian, corruption settles in the hearts of the chosen ones and often steers them in the direction of an immoral. But you are different, you were chosen because in your heart you possessed the true traits of a guardian. Strength, honesty, compassion, bravery, and instinct. Yes Sakura, you are a guardian- you have the possibility to change the whole world, and all you had to do was promise." Conscience said proudly, almost in a motherly way. My brain worked hard to process all the information, and then it clicked!
"Wait, the Ryuu clan followed the way of the guardians but they were always powerful beings and chose to use their power for piece correct?" she gently nodded her head.
"And so I have been chosen as the next Guardian in hopes of bringing peace to the death of the Ryuu clan and help bring the wars to an end?" Again she slowly nodded, I felt my whole heart swell with pride at this honor.
"Yes sakura, your clan is a remarkable one. The Ryuu clan was arguably the most powerful clan of its time yet they were one of the only clans that resisted pointless bloodshed and found other ways to rise in the ranks. Your mother and father ruled this clan; they were the most powerful dragons in existence-" I felt my heart crush as I looked to my left, forced to watch the horrifying scene all over again.
"And they gave it all up for me." I whispered, my legs trembling under me as I fought to tear my eyes away from the glint of the bloodied blade before it was brought down upon the necks of the great dragon leaders.
"Yes, but their sacrifice was not in vein sakura. Now you have the chance to make their wishes come true, all they wanted was for you to grow up and posses your true dragon nature and become the first successful guardian." She stated blankly, and I finally felt the meaning of this whole thing sink in. I realized that was the gut urge I had been feeling back when I was protecting Naruto, it was because I was a guardian. One who protects with their life and will fight till the bitter end alongside those who can be trusted.
"I sware to breathe a guardian,
To fight among my friends,
I sware to live a guardian,
To protect loved ones until the bitter end,
I swear to fight a guardian,
To be honest and strong in the face of battle,
I swear to die a guardian,
To fall protecting the noble and true,
I swear to be a guardian,
And die by this promise too." My conscience smiled and nodded proudly at me as I finished the oath. An oath I immediately recognized to be the oath of the guardians, an initiation that showed your loyalty to the mission.
"Now sakura, you are officially a guardian. Please, protect what matters in life and protect your power from those who may want to use it against your cause." I nodded earnestly, watching as conscience placed a hand on my left shoulder blade. Suddenly I felt a searing pain on my shoulder blade, like her hand was burning but before I got the chance to turn around and ask what the hell she was doing I blacked out, falling into a tranquil sleep once again.
Sakura allowed her tired eyes to cautiously flutter open, snapping them shut again after the bright light she saw caused them to sting.
'Whe-Where am I? Wait, is that alcohol I smell? Oh great." She thought, forcing her heavy eyelids opens enduring the bright artificial lighting of the hospital room. Sakura felt like she had just been hit by a truck several times and then thrown in a ditch at the side of the road and left to die.
'Ugh, what happened?' sakura asked mentally, closing her eyes attempting to put the throbbing pain in her head to rest. She let her head loll comfortably to the side, enjoying the cool of the pillows fabric on her slightly burning check.
'Huh? Oh, Naruto.' The pink Kionochi smiled as she exposed her emerald eyes to the white walls of the hospital room and a shock of blond hair. Sakura laughed inwardly at her teammate who had his head comfortably rested on the edge of her bed, his mouth was hanging wide open and there was a noodle draped across his upper lip.
'Of course, Naruto would have gotten to-go ramen before visiting me.' Sakura snorted internally, shifting around slightly trying to wake up her sleeping limbs. Suddenly a burning sensation scorched across her left shoulder blade, causing sakura to hiss in pain, clenching her jaw tightly and balling her fists as the un-bearable heat flashed through her body. Sakura quickly found her arm and brought it up to her shoulder, clutching it tightly in an attempt to soothe herself.
'Wait, medic-nin. Duh' she thought while mentally punishing herself before activating the chakra and allowing it to flow from her hand creating a cool, green light that calmed her angry nerves, allowing her body to slouch back against the pillows.
"Ouch, wh-what was that?" she mumbled silently, wincing at her hoarse, under-used voice. Her eyes wandered yet again to Naruto, still sleeping peacefully with that noodle on his face.
"Ha, Naruto of course." Sakura croaked, smiling weakly at his predictable personality before painfully reaching over to shake him awake.
"Naruto, Naruto! Naruto get up." She coed softly, trying her best to wake him as nicely as possible. The blond ninja continued on in his blissful sleep, apparently oblivious to Sakura's tender grasp on his shoulder.
"Huh…. No-no! No-not my noodles!" he babbled hysterically in his sleep, flinging the noodle straight at sakura's pink hair narrowly missing it. Sakura thought she felt a vein-pop.
"Naruto Wake up!" she huffed, flicking him in the forehead with a well aimed tongue depressor.
"Huh- Wha- What?" Naruto shouted, flailing about like a fish out of water as he fell from the edge of his bed, hitting the floor with a loud *thunk*. Sakura couldn't help but giggle at his clumsy nature, ignoring the persistent pain that nipped at her lungs and ribs as she did.
"Ugh, wait a minute?" He said, finally getting to his feet while rubbing his head, allowing his eyes to roam and then settle on Sakura's form.
"Morning sleepyhead." She teased in a still slightly scratchy voice, giving the blond her best 'Sai smile' because she knew it irritated him. The next thing Sakura knew was that there was a pair of strong-arms around her strangling her in a death-hug.
"SAKURA! SAKURA! Sakura your awake! I can't believe it your awake! Thank god!" Naruto rambled hysterically, trapping her in his signature death-squeeze.
"Naruto! Air!" she gasped, giving the blond a good punch in the shoulder sending him flying into the wall. Only to find he was immediately at her bedside again, his face held the expression of a completely ecstatic boy that she had always seen him as.
"Sakura I cant believe it! You're awake! I thought I had lost you!" he choked, his voice slowly trailing to a slight sob as he remembered how she had basically cheated death. Sakura sighed, forcing herself to give her highly distressed teammate a comforting hug, which he eagerly returned.
"Well, I'm fine now Naruto. Please, care to tell me what the heck happened!" Sakura commanded, breaking their hug and giving him a good glare. But the next thing she knew the blond ninja wasn't telling her what had happened while she was asleep, no!
"I've got to go tell everyone your awake sakura! Ill be right back!" he shouted energetically while bolting out the door, a blond flash in a white room. Sakura sighed, rolling her eyes at her distracted teammate.
"Oh Naruto, what am I going to do with you?" Sakura said sarcastically, a bit surprised when she found a smile peeking out on her face. Despite the completely confusing situation, she felt that from then on things were going to be a lot different.