Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto it belongs to Kishimoto
Chapter 5
The sound of wood classing filled the back yard of the Haruno household.
Naruto watched as Sakura and Kakashi sparred with wooden swords in the back yard, well Sakura attacked while Kakashi defended while reading his little orange book while giving Sakura pointers
"Left, above, right, block, look up at that cloud" Sakura following her sensei's advice looked up at the clouds without a second thought
Only for Kakashi to swipe his sword at her legs, knocking her to the ground.
"You need to be able to concentrate on multiple things in a battle. It was you concentrating on what I was saying that ended up with you being on the ground. If this had been a real fight you would have been dead" Kakashi said as Sakura pulled herself up and took a stance to show that she was ready again.
Kakashi raised his eyebrow in question
"I can still move so I can still fight!" Sakura said
Kakashi couldn't help but smile at his student
'She really has matured, before Naruto got injured she never would have trained this hard or pushed herself to her limits, she'll make a fine kunoichi someday'
So Kakashi held up his sword as Sakura came at him again
Naruto couldn't help but smile seeing them training and improving
"Naruto" Naruto turned towards the person who was sitting across the table from him on the back porch.
"Yeah Shikamaru, what's up?"
"It's your turn"
Naruto looked down at his board, it had been over 2 months since he had gotten here and many of their friends would drop by everyone and then to see how Naruto was doing, the most common being Jiraiya, Kakashi, Iruka, the Konohamaru corps, Grandma Tsunade, Nejii, Lee and Shikamaru and his team.
And when Shikamaru first came he brought Naruto a shoji game that they would play when he came over. Normally this is a game Naruto would have no interest in playing but he was touched that Shikamaru took time out of his schedule to come over and teach him how to play.
Naruto reached for a piece with his left arm only for Shikamaru to slap his hand, he gave Shikamaru the evil eye.
"You and Sakura both are out to get me aren't you"
"We're trying to help you idiot"
Naruto 'hmphd' like a child before lifting his right hand to move the piece to his chosen location on the board.
Sakura had began making Naruto use his right arm more for everyday tasks, saying that if he didn't start using his arm more then when he recovered he would have a hard time using it, saying that he couldn't just build up strength in it but needed skill.
Shikamaru was now apparently on the bandwagon as well.
Across the yard seeing that his other student was distracted Kakashi asked Sakura a question he had been waiting for
"What's his progress like so far?"
Sakura paused for a moment to catch her breath
"He can walk around the house without any problem now, and Lady Hokage was thinking that I should take him out walking around the village soon"
Kakashi nodded his head, still Naruto walking around town worried him, Naruto had rarely been attacked in his youth as no one believed that they could actually kill Naruto, but now with Naruto so injured one of those idiots might feel like they have a chance.
"Let me know when you decide to take him out" Kakashi said before moving onto his next question knowing this one would make her uncomfortable.
He casually leaned against his wooden sword and in a 'nice weather today' voice he said
"Have you spoken to Hinata Lately?"
Sakura's shoulders tensed and her eyes widened
That was one thing she did not want to talk about
She hadn't even told Naruto
The short end of it was that when Naruto was still in a coma Hinata had come to visit him. Sakura had been there, of course as this had been early on of his comatose state, and Sakura had said a greeting to Hinata. Hinata didn't answer back at first but then began to talk to Sakura about how Naruto was hurt so badly because of her and that it was Sakura's fault, Sakura felt this way already, but seeing a lack of reaction from Sakura hit a nerve in Hinata and the normally quiet girl began to yell at Sakura. So Sakura finally said something back and told Hinata to be quiet because she might disturb Naruto.
This sent Hinata over the deep end, because she tried to attack Sakura. Luckily Jiraiya had just walked in the room and proceeded to take Hinata out who was then banned from the room until further notice by Shizune as she could have seriously injured Naruto further if her attack had gone further.
" Yeah I've seen her, we haven't talked though" Sakura said with a saddened expression remembering the things the normally shy and sweet Hinata had said.
Kakashi shook his head knowingly
"I understand, still you'll have to confront her and settle things between you two sooner than later and it would be better to do it here in the village than when your out on a mission in enemy territory"
Sakura looked over at Naruto who had that face he had when he was concentrating that looked like a cross between someone needing to go to the bathroom and someone with a bad headache as he tried to beat an amused Shikamaru at his favorite game
"I know Sensei but with Hinata-" she paused before rephrasing "No, with everything, everythings changed and they'll never be the way they were before." She said before looking Kakashi in the eye
"I definintely do not want to be the way I was before, my relationship with Naruto has changed and I now see Sasuke for how he really is. I may never have a friendly relationship with Hinata again, but I know that even as things change I can still do what I can to protect what I do have"
Kakashi looked at his student, proud that he was her sensei. Naruto and Sasuke had dark pasts and had been forced to mature in certain ways that normal people their ages shouldn't. Naruto had persevered and fought to make a better life for himself while Sasuke had become a psychopath.
Sakura however had not lost anyone yet, nor faced the darkness her teammates had and yet she is maturing on her own as a person incredibly
Kakashi's thoughts were interrupted as Mibune, Sakura's mother, brought out some lemonade and snacks for her daughter and guests
Looking at Sakura he ruffled her hair and placed an arm around her shoulder pulling a confused Sakura along to the back porch
Naruto looked at Kakashi in confusion
"Why are you so happy, Kakashi Sensei?" he asked
Kakashi just let out a chuckle
"I'm just glad I was lucky enough to get you two as my student"
Kakashi just looked at the sky
'If only Sasuke hadn't decided to walk the path shrouded in darkness'
Elsewhere in the Land of Water
Itachi Uchiha looked at the piece of paper that contained some information that he had found important
It was about his younger brother, Sasuke, who had tried to kill his teammate and the 9 tails Jinchuriki, and nearly succeeded
Itachi closed his eyes in thought
Could he have done something to steer Sasuke clear of this path that would have saved his younger brother?
Looking back on the events of the Uchiha clan massacre there wasn't anything he could have done different without putting the village and Sasuke at risk
Still if his little brother was found guilty, as he would be, at his trial then he would either be given life imprisonment or the death penalty
"Oooooh" said Kisame reading the same information he was "give your brother a few more years and I think he would be a bonified mass murderer like the rest of us"
He gave Itachi a toothy grin
"I guess you two really are brothers"
Itachi gave him a seriously look
To save his brother there was only one thing Itachi could do
Itach stood up and began walking
Kisame seeing his partner leaving hurredly gathered his thing and his sword and ran to catch up
"And where are you going?"
Itachi turned with a Sharingan blazing in his eye
"We're going back to the Leaf village" and with like that they began moving
Hidden Sound village
Orochimaru looked at the information that his spies that remained in the Leaf had sent him
It was the time and routes of Sasuke being transported to the Land of Fire's capitol to have his case heard before the Damiyo. This would most likely be the last chance Orochimaru would have to aquire Sasuke and the Sharingan
"Kabuto!" Orochimaru yelled out, having Kabuto appear almost out of thin air
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru"
"Go through our men and find those we can use for an anbush in this area" he said handing Kabuto the information and a map of the path the leaf ninja would use to transport the Uchiha
Kabuto looked at the papers curiously
"May I ask what all of this is for?"
Orochimaru smiled and while this smile would look kind on most faces it looked completely different on Orochimaru
It looked pure evil
"Why, Kabuto" he said as though he was amused "We are going to liberate poor Sasuke from those mean Leaf ninja"
Kabuto smiled right back
"Of course, how kind of you, I'll get right on preparing for the following mission"
Okay another chapter done
I told you all I would try to have one a week out!
Now onto other stuff, as you probably noticed this chapter was more focused on Sakura rather than Naruto and Sakura. This was intentional, Sakura is one of my favorite characters as she probably showed the most development out of all the Naruto characters and I didn't like how she was treated at the end of the series being left all alone and in debt and raising a daughter who is implied to not even be her biological daughter but the daughter of someone Sasuke had an affair with likely after he was already married to Sakura, and we are never told whether or not Sakura is her biological mother or not, so in short her husband cheated on her and then dropped his child by another woman on Sakura to raise while he disappeared and didn't see them for 12 years.
This was horrible! She had matured into a great character and now had one of the worst endings for a main character. I was thinking of this before I wrote this chapter and decided to make this chapter mainly focus on Sakura.
Now for Hinata, I actually just realized before I wrote this chapter that I hadn't really mentioned Hinata in previous chapters and originally I was going to have her lock herself in her room until she heard Naruto was better and then changed my mind as I think she would at least visit Naruto in the Hospital and with Sakura there the normally shy Hinata could become angry and erupt in violence, I may have this incident be a flashback later. Now, I want to make this clear I do not like/dislike Hinata, to me she was just like Choji and Shino, she was just kinda there and didn't contribute a whole lot to the overall story and I always believed that she more admired Naruto than loved him as the way she talked about him was the way people talk about other people they admire/ admired like Abraham Lincoln or Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King. So I think she confused admiration and love and here is some more proof that she admired him instead of loved him, remember how throughout her appearances she talked about how she wanted to be just like Naruto? When you love someone you don't want to be them, you want to be with them.
Sorry for the rant J
Next up is Itachi finally appearing! I wanted to show him learning about Sasuke and all that Jazz, what do you think Itachi is going to do?
And let's not forget everyone's least favorite snake that has plans in motion
Evil is coming to the Leaf Village
Now for everyone's favorite parts of these Author Notes (DRUM ROLL)
REVIEWS! YAY
TimothyB: Thanks! I'm glad you liked the story and you'll start to see some of the stuff he'll learn next chapter! As for the clones, for the moment I have no intention of letting him use any as it was a main thing that he had originally and I wanted to have Naruto learn how to do things differently than he did before and I just feel that if I allowed him to use clones then there wouldn't be a big enough difference.
Thedarkpokemaster: as you can see Kakashi refers to Sasuke as a Psychopath in this chapter which I think is accurate of this Sasuke and Sakura will be there for Naruto even after he recovers, I hope it will be interesting for you all to read!
Nidhua123: Thanks for the complements I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Geraze90: Who knows why Sasuke was let go I think Kishimoto did it just because he wanted to and I think the ending was a bit rushed. I hadn't thought about how Sage Mode would affect his condition, so congrats on giving me something to think about, but here's what I've thought up, by the time Naruto learns Sage Mode he'll probably have been used to fighting without ninjutsu for a while so he still likely wouldn't think about it and even if he did the more chakra you use the less time in Sage Mode he has. Hope this answered your question.
Guest007: Chakra chains were not a bloodline they were a hiden which is a jutsu that only people in a clan can do like Ino-Shika-Cho clans are a good example of this they use hiden instead of blood lines, another example of how they are different is hiden need to be learned while bloodlines can just show up one day. So Naruto may learn it but he would need an Uzumaki to teach him and speaking of Uzumaki and bloodlines the Uzumaki actually do have a bloodline even though it isn't given a fancy name. The Uzumaki clan had incredible life spans and healing abilities so it isn't really Kurama intentionally healing him but his Uzumaki blood that is taking his chakra and healing him. As for the other thing I won't give it to Naruto as I do not want him to be OP and I want him to beat the odds.
Thanks for reading and please review
Have a nice day!
