Seven Days from Konoha
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... …
The next morning found Itachi awake first in the group, something that he was relieved to get back to normal. After nudging Genma awake – he didn't need Anko's psychotic morning wrath this early – they got started on preparing a meal. Anko was soon awoke herself with the smell of cooking broth.
"Ugh." Anko fixed the soup with a bleary eye, nose wrinkling. "No thanks. Not Genma's cooking." She reached into her bag and began lazily scrounge around for a stick of dango she somehow had left. She huffed when Itachi snatched the bag away and thrust a bowl of soup into her hand.
"We're all eating the same thing. Besides, I helped make it too." Itachi stood as Anko rolled her eyes.
Itachi went to wake up the last remaining teammate, crouching over the small lump in the bed.
"Naruto." Itachi whispered, shaking the small boy awake. Naruto huffed a sleepy sigh and rolled over, covering his small eyes with the back of his hand. "Nugh, 'Tachi?" Naruto's' eyes were slitted and puffy.
Itachi smirked and hooked his arms under Naruto's armpits, hoisting him up and out of bed. Naruto immediately curled his legs up to Itachi's chest, disgruntled by the loss of the warmth. He was then carried over to the rest of the group, where he sat in Itachi's lap.
"Hn, 'Tachi, don't want that. I don't want savoury food right now." Naruto flopped back against Itachi's chest, looking away from the food, pouting.
Anko was delighted, snatching up a stick of dango from her pack. "How 'bout sweet, sweet dango, ey? Its sweet! Not savoury!" She proclaimed with an eye smile.
Naruto blinked, humming. "Un, do we have any bread?" He asked hopefully. Itachi sighed and handed him a slightly stale bread roll, which Naruto took happily and started to nibble on it.
By the time they were packed and ready, Naruto had discarded most of the remaining roll. Itachi and Genma packed up the camp, whilst Anko examined Naruto's arm.
Itachi looked up from rolling up a futon to find Anko kneeling beside a seated Naruto, her head in her hands. Naruto was placing an uncertain finger on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.
"Anko? What's wrong? Is it his wrist?" Itachi stood warily, fist clenching in apprehension. No one often sees Anko in such a vulnerable – or normal – state.
After a pause, Anko unburied herself from her hands and met Itachi's eyes, a crease between her own.
"It's not his wrist anymore." Anko ran a hand through her hair hysterically. She grasped Naruto's shoulders as Itachi rushed swiftly over.
Anko had taken Naruto's shirt up to his neck, and Itachi could see the green tint to his veins that had spread well past his elbow, almost to his shoulder. Even as he watched, Naruto scratched absently at his forearm, the only hint that he felt discomfort.
The bruising, too, had spread and deepened, and now most of Naruto's arm from elbow to wrist was a splotchy purple.
"It's the bruising I'm worried about." Anko brushed her fingers gently against the boys skin. "The green is just the start, but the bruising is the damage that the poison is doing, attacking muscle and tissue. Combined with the damage of the Kyuubi's chakra, it looks… well… bad."
There was a pregnant pause, and Naruto wrested a sympathetic hand on his subordinates' bowed, purple head.
Itachi looked away, lips twitching in a grimace. He ran a hand agitatedly through his trademark Uchiha locks, frowning. Feeling a tug at his sleeve he glanced down to find Naruto looking up at him questioningly.
Itachi just smiled reassuringly to the small boy, ruffling his soft locks. Anko pulled herself out of her stupor, drawing a breath. He reached silently into her pack to withdraw the cream she applied the day before.
The other Ninja could almost see the thoughts flashing through Anko's mind as she rubbed the ointment into Naruto's arm, her face contorting into a frown.
"Is it done?" Naruto with a slightly strangled voice. He tugged his tainted arm from her deathgrip, twitching his shoulder slightly.
"Shit – fuck, sorry Taichou." Anko gently rubbed his arm in apology.
"It's ok, Anko-chan." Smiling lightly.
Anko smiled gently back before heading over to Genma, slapping him in the back of the head as she demanded he hurry his packing.
Naruto sighed. "They're going to do it again, aren't they 'Tachi-kun. Act like I'm on my deathbed." He huffed, before turning wide blue eyes to Itachi's own. "You won't, will you 'Tachi? You'll treat me like normal, won't you?" He asked hopefully.
Itachi paused, surprised, then forced a smile to his face.
"Ah, sure, Naruto."
"Alright then!" Naruto beamed. "Let's go!"
The group took to the trees.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... …
They took less breaks from running than the days before.
Anko was clearly worried about the spread of the poison, and Itachi suspected her estimate had shortened at least a day. They were running out of time.
After Naruto reached to absently scratch his arm for the fourth time in the last ten minutes, Anko barked a command for him to start moving it around more to help keep the Kyuubi's Chakra flowing freely, doing some good for once in its' existence.
Naruto was slightly surprised at her tense demand, but acquiesced none the less.
By the time the sky had darkened and they stopped at a suitable camping spot.
"I'm not hungry." Naruto refused the food he was handed.
If asked, Itachi would swear blind that even the crickets stopped chirping, the resulting silence was that tense.
Anko frowned, and the three other ninja leapt on the small boy, spending the next half hour force-feeding their Captain, neglecting their own portions. He protested loudly, but finally ate enough for his group to be satisfied.
When he had been decently fed, the three ninja returned to their own portions.
Naruto sat in Itachi's lap, fiddling with a map of Fire Country.
Anko had gathered some healing herbs she had knowledge of from the surrounding forest, and was crushing them into paste to hopefully add an extra kick to her healing ointment. She had begun applying the ointment three times a day, but the bruises still stood out dark against his paling complection.
Genma was discussing with Naruto the easiest and fastest route to Konoha.
"If we had through the valley, it'll make a beeline for most the way." Reasoned Genma.
Naruto shook his head in disagreement.
"Maybe it would, but when you reach the end of the valley you have to go over the mountains to get there, and going around them would take even longer than the route past Grass country. Besides, the valley is thick forest and you can't see the sky well to navigate. It's flying blind. This way's the easiest."
"But bandits." Genma argued. "They're crawling through that whole area."
"Oh no!" Naruto gasped, bringing his tiny hands to his cheeks, eyes wide in mock terror. "Whatever will we do! Oh no guys watch out, I think one of these is a Genin."
Genma rolled his eyes, refraining from smacking the small boy across the head as he would have done if he wasn't injured.
"Excuse me interrupting the discussion," Anko butted in with an un-apologetic tone, hefting her jar of ointment "Move over."
Naruto relinquished his arm to the purple haired ninja, and she drew up his sleeve to see his arm. She had been checking on it more and more, keeping nervous track of how it was spreading.
It had already reached his shoulder, and the green webs perched menacingly on the boy's jutting collarbone, like green vultures awaiting a meal.
She elbowed Genma out of the way, who ended up lying disgruntled in the dirt.
The group was silent as she lathered his arm, noting the boy seemed to show relief as she worked the healing cream into his skin.
"How does your arm feel?" She asked when she had finished.
Naruto cocked his head, considering the question.
"It burns." He decided. "Like its burning but sore at the same time."
"Does it hurt badly?" Genma asked.
Naruto shook his head negatively.
"It's nothing too bad. Nothing I can't deal with." Smiled the boy happily. The tension in the group was lessened under the casual, comfortable conversation Naruto was holding.
Naruto wiggled in Itachi's arms. "I'm tired. Can I go to sleep now? I'll take last watch." He asked Anko.
"Sure," she smirked. "I'm all done with everything now. But why are you asking me? You're the captain, you should be running the show."
Naruto smiled back. "Yes, but I never interrupt a lady when she's working."
Itachi smiled while Genma scoffed something that sounded like 'You think Anko's a lady?' And was promptly met with a fist to the face.
"You're gonna make a good boyfriend one day, kid." Anko smirked, wiping the blood off her fist onto Genma's pants.
"Not for another at least three feet in height, I hope." Itachi commented, swinging the boy up into his arms.
Itachi tucked the boy into his fuuton, where his eyes almost instantly slipped closed and his breathing evened out as he drifted off to sleep.
Before Itachi even had a chance to enjoy the peaceful scene, his arm was almost wrenched from its socket as he was pulled towards their campfire.
"It's almost at his heart." Anko hissed out through clenched teeth. She tightened her grip on both of their arms, and Itachi could feel her palms sweating.
He blinked, now recognizing Anko's earlier calm façade for what it was.
Genma licked his lips.
"How bad will it be?" He asked quietly
Anko made a noise half between a grunt and a sigh.
"It'll take longer to eat into a dense organ than a vein, but once it reaches there I don't want him running anymore. He's being carried even if we have to tie him up." Her eyes unfocused as she contemplated scenarios.
"I'll keep using the cream. The Kyuubi's chakra is doing pretty damn well considering he should have been dead days ago, but it's not quite doing enough."
The two men nodded.
Without any further communication they settled in for restless sleep.
And so Itachi took the first watch, Anko the second, and Genma the third. The three refused to wake Naruto for his shift, and despite protests that he would wake himself up, the boy was too fast asleep to hold to his word.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... …
Checking my story stats (I totally forgot stories had stats!) there's a surprisingly diverse range of locations for my readers. I'm in Australia, but Aussies make up a surprisingly small percentage of my actual reader base.
I'm interested to see where all my readers are coming from. Tell me where you are from in a review!