Chapter 59 Choices
Ino and the rest of the humans which had tried to escape where marched back toward almost the same spot where they had split off from Sakura, Naruto and Fuu. Not that any of them where giving away that bit of information.
"Where is Sakura?" inquired Mrs. Haruno almost in tears as she got right up into her face. She just kept looking forward. "Please Ino, I can't count how many times I baby sat you when you and Sakura where babies? How many times did you and Sakura have sleep overs at our house? Your mother and I raised the two of you like sisters and now you aren't going to help us find her."
Ino lowered her head a bit as she looked at the tears running down Mrs. Haruno's face, the memories of all the time she and Sakura had spent at Sakura's house filled her mind. How Mrs. Haruno always seamed to have cookies or some kind of treat ready for them. When she was seven she ripped her favorite dress it was the woman before her who had fixed it so she wouldn't have to tell her mother she had ripped it when she wasn't suppose to be playing in it. She was basically a second mother to her, just like Sakura had been a second daughter to her mother. Her thoughts turned to her mother, her mother who had died from the flu.
Flashback
Smoke filled the air as Ino beside a roaring fire which was putting out thick smoke, the scent of burning meat filled the air as well making her stomach lurch because she was so hungry, but she knew where the smell came from. It came from the burning flesh of the mass of bodies, people where burning, and she thought it smelled like BBQ. It would have made her sick however she was too grief stricken, lying multiple trash bags which severed duty as a body bag was her mother. She looked like she had stepped out a horror film, her face was pot marked from where the boils had burst and tried puss and blood covered her face. Her cloths where stained with blood and puss as well but at least she wasn't screaming in pain anymore.
Across from her, her father with tears in his eyes wanted nothing more then to give the love of his life one last kiss however like Ino he wore a face mask and gloves. Both had made it through the flu, she hadn't. Instead he pulled out a purple flower, maybe it was the last flower from their flower shop that was in the isolated zone and was likely ransacked in search for supplies. Gently her father placed the purple flower behind the love of his life's ear and then he covered her face with the bag. He moved to pick her up to carry her toward the flames, instead her hand shot out and together she helped her father and carried her mother toward the flames. They tossed her into the flames and moved back and watched as she was consumed by fire.
She didn't know how long she and her father watched her body burn away but when she finally turned back she saw Sakura standing there. She had a mask on as well and had her head bowed.
"I am sorry, I got caught up in work..." Said Sakura with tears in her eyes as well. "I should have been here."
"Not your fault Sakura, she would have wanted you to be working on saving everyone." Explained Mr. Yamamaka placing a reassuring hand on Sakura's shoulder, before placing the other one on her own daughter's. "The two of you, she always called you her second daughter Sakura and as long as the two of you stick together you can do anything. As long as the two of you work together you can cure this plague, I know that."
End Flashback
Ino looked down at the water, all around her where demons and her captured friends. She took a deep breath before raising her head to looked Mrs. Haruno straight in her now silted cat like eyes.
"I don't know where Sakura is but I know wherever she is she is safe." reassured Ino
"How do you know that." countered Mr. Haruno "You have seen what the world is like now and she is a human and that means she will get sick with the flu again. She needs to become a demon and get back home."
"Because if anyone will keep her safe no matter the cost it is Naruto." reassured Ino as she kept walking back toward the remains of the village of Nysha, the place she had been running from since before dawn.
At that moment Naruto couldn't fight against an untrained civilian and win, yet alone keep anyone safe. He was flat on his back passed out as Sakura used her own chakra to heal his chakra network. She knelt on a submerged bench in the hot springs while Naruto lied on the headrest area. It was just enough to keep his entire body aside from his head, which was kept above water by all his cloths minus boxers along with her own top kept his head above water. The natural mineral waters helped with healing and the heat helped with blood flow and that was needed to help heal his chakra network. Finally she pulled her hands back and let out a deep sigh, it had taken a lot of her own chakra but as far as she could tell Naruto was out of death's reach but not out of the woods.
"Sakura-chan?" whispered Naruto as he tried to sit up only to have a hand shoot out and hold him down.
"Naruto-kun, I just had to basically support your entire chakra network while your body replaced chakra. Don't do anything more than talk." Ordered Sakura as Naruto nodded his head slightly. He opened those blue eyes and her heart rate picked up at the sight of them.
"Where are we?" inquired Naruto
"The Hot springs on the island, it was the best place we could find to heal you up." explained Sakura as she leaned down and kissed him on the lips before moving up and kissing him on the forehead. "Don't worry, we are safe for the moment. Whatever you did to the demons on the mainland will keep them busy for a while. Rest Naruto-kun."
"Alright Sakura-chan." said Naruto as his eyes closed a bit. With a smile Sakura leaned back a bit and almost lost her balance which wouldn't have been too bad considering behind her was nothing more then the deeper end of the hot springs. Instead she moved to the side of Naruto and found a sunken bench, high enough so her head upper torso was out of the water but the rest was still submerged.
"What is our next move?" inquired a half-asleep Naruto
"Well the rest of our gang, minus Fuu and the two of us should be across the lake by now and heading to a hospital to get supplies. Hopefully we will follow suit and one of us will find a way to end this terrible nightmare." said Sakura as she leaned her head back onto a head's rest, the back of her head was now submerged in water as well as she looked up at the titled ceiling noticing for the first time the beautiful mosaic of a night sky above them. She closed her eyes for a moment and for a brief moment she thought she fell asleep but then Naruto spoke up.
"So what happens next?" inquired Naruto in a tired voice.
"What do you mean, we get you up and going and then find a cure and set the world right?" inquired Sakura but it sounded halfhearted even to herself.
"The world after this will never be the same." explained Naruto "Too many people died it will take generations to recover from that alone."
"Maybe not as long as you think." countered Sakura "I remember looking at medical records after a war populations tend to boom since people are happy to be alive. I don't see why a plague would be much different."
"I can see that." admitted Naruto with a chuckle as the steam filled the room to the point where an automatic fan kicked in to vent some of it. "So Sakura-chan say we get back to the Leaf what do you want to do?"
"After this I will need a long and I mean a long nap." stated Sakura
"I'll join you on the nap for sure." admitted Naruto
"You better, I sleep better beside you." confirmed Sakura laughing. "After the nap, find a place to stay I think my place is gone and get the hospital going again. People will need doctors, they always do."
"I am not sure what I will do." admitted Naruto causing Sakura to lift her head up and look at him in confusion. "Kind of killed the dream of being Hokage back there."
"What do you mean?" inquired Sakura
"Most of the demons back there where turned humans from the Leaf and land of lightning." explained Naruto "They will not want a Hokage who almost killed them, hell I expect to be kicked out of the ninja core after that."
"Not going to happen Naruto-kun, you will be the Hokage and I will be head medical ninja of the Leaf." Said Sakura "Believe it."
Naruto chuckled at her turning that catch phrase at him.
"God, I haven't said believe it in a long time." chuckled Naruto wincing at the pain it caused. "Yes, the two of us will stand on top of the Hokage monument when this is done."
"I like the image." sighed Sakura as the mental image of the two of them standing on top of the mountain watching the sunset formed in her mind. Her own day dream began to play games with her ageing both of them up and adding children into the image. One, a boy or a girl her mind couldn't decide sitting on top of Naruto's shoulders pointing at something in the distance. An older child standing beside her watching the sun set in the distance. Once again her mind couldn't settle on the image her and Naruto's child would take. For a second it was a boy with blonde hair of Naruto and her green eyes, or a girl with her own pink hair, a girl which looked like herself only with Naruto's hair and eyes or a boy with reddish pink hair and her eyes but with Naruto's face. She didn't care, but for a brief moment all of their faces where as real as the room around her.
Then the image changed, it was no longer her and Naruto standing there with their children as humans, it was the two of them standing there as demons. Their kids where demons as well and they too where as real to her as the human kids she had just daydreamed. She shook her head and sat up a bit.
"Something wrong Sakura-chan?" inquired Naruto
"Nothing, not really." Said Sakura pausing for a moment, wondering if she wanted to ask the question but felt it was needed. "Naruto-kun, question and answer me truthfully when you are daydreaming this are you a human or a demon?"
"Both." admitted Naruto as he answered her truthfully. "And you?"
"Same." confirmed Sakura as she let out a sigh. "We are in a tough position, we are all but trapped and have no good options before us."
"I know." confirmed Naruto "I see three options and only one of them is really good."
"Find a cure and set everything right, that's the good one." stated Sakura as Naruto nodded his head. "Option 2, is turned ourselves in and become demons."
"I am already one." corrected Naruto as he touched the necklace of the 1st Hokage, that held the illusion in tact that hid his demon form from view. Sakura of coarse had seen it, so had Fuu but Sakura had been the first to see his demon form. "And the third Option is death."
"That one is out, there is however a forth option." offered Sakura as she took a deep breath. "Once you are well, you drop that illusion and turn me in. I become a demon and then we disappear, with all the death and destruction we can find a place where no one would mess with us."
Naruto gave a little laugh at the idea.
"Sakura-chan who would benefit from that? No one." said Naruto "All it would do is separate us from our friends and family, not worth the pain we would cause them doing that. Your parents and mine are doing what they are doing because they love us. I am not ready to give up until all other doors are closed."
"You give up? I never heard of that before and I never will." Laughed Sakura "So we push on and find a cure."
"I'll settle for a nap first." said Naruto as he closed his eyes and let sleep take him. Sakura leaned her head back and let sleep take her as well as the warm water worked healing her own wounds.
Standing by a window which looked out over the lake stood Fuu, she stood there in her demon form well her true form now. She had gone over to the window to grab the cleanest looking of the dust covered chairs in the world famous hot spring spa she, Sakura and Naruto where using as a rest point only to spot a large group of demons moving a smaller group of humans back toward the city. At this distance it was hard for her to see who was all there, but she quickly spotted the purple outfit of Ino and what looked to be Karui red hair. At the sight of this her heart began to break, another chance to save man kind had been cut off. The last best chance was the three of them and only one of them was still human.
She looked down at herself, she could attempt a rescue but then she noticed moving along the side shoreline a massive convoy of people, demons she couldn't tell. Judging from the fact that they seamed to be coming from the same direction as the demons which had captured Ino and her group the odds where they where demons.
"Well Naruto destroyed one army only to have another army arrive." sighed Fuu as she mentally looked at the map. The Leaf and everything to the east of their position was lost to the demons as far as they knew. They had hoped to find safety in the west maybe in the countless little valleys in the Land of Earth where the mountains would provide great hiding spots even if the demons took all the valleys. If this army was coming from the west which it seamed to be coming from then it meant that the west had fallen as well. "Where do we go from here?"
Kurenai Yuhi held her young child, Mirai Sarutobi to her chest as she walked among the dead and wounded demons. Maybe it was because the demons where in so much pain or maybe it was because she held a new born to her chest and wasn't a threat, but they paid her no mind. She stepped around the dead and dying, some of them the more human looking demons she recognized as people she knew from the Leaf. All around the two of them where death and destruction a light rain began to fall not hard just a gentle mist. She passed by a demon closing the eyes of a demon which who had lost her life.
"My God what happened here?" inquired Kurenai to herself.
"My Brother." Answered a voice from behind a half standing brick wall, Kurenai walked forward to find Meiko Namikaze sitting on the ground with her knees pulled up to her chest. "My Dad and brother where fighting and then Naruto used some justu. He started to kill everyone and when my Dad broke the justu it went out of control and caused all this."
Kurenai took in the sight of the destruction all around them and in the distance, she could make out where a large mass grave was already being filled with the dead. She had seen a lot of mass graves in the Leaf village after the red flu hit the village. Once the parks had been filled with mass graves they had started to burn the dead, this was a smaller town without walls so there was more room for mass graves.
"So much death when will it end?" inquired Kurenai
"And we…the demons caused the whole thing." Stated Meiko shaking her head. "We made the flu, we killed millions of people to filter out who would survive the turn into a demon and then in the end what do we gain from it? Nothing. The council says it is about perverting demon culture but how can that happen when part of the plan is to have the pure blood demon blend into the population of turned humans. In the end it will be human society with demon bodies. What is the point."
"Revenge." came another voice as Kurenai turned to see another Kitsune, this one an almost spitting image of Meiko only with darker red fur and being an adult. "It was all about revenge against the humans for crimes committed so long ago that no one even remembers what really happened to begin with."
"Mom, any sign of Naruto?" inquired Meiko as she jumped to her feet.
"No." said Kushina with a sigh as she looked at Kurenai with her demon eyes, she looked down at baby in her arms. She reached out and placed a black clawed tipped a hand on top of her daughter's head, she rubbed her head and looked down sadly. She looked back up. "Where is her father?"
"He died, never got to see her." answered Kurenai sadly. "He never even knew he was going to be a father."
"Hold her close." Advised Kushina to a young mother, before reaching over and pulled her own daughter close to her.
"I am…" said Kurenai "What happens now?"
"Ah…they turn the two of you and then likely send you back to the Leaf." answered Kushina
"But…what if we are turned into different demons?" inquired Kurenai
"How old is she?" inquired Kushina
"four months." answered Kurenai as Kushina smiled, showing her sharpened teeth but Kurenai didn't feel threatened by the display.
"Then don't worry, at that babies under 6 months are turned with their mothers." explained Kushina "You two will be the same, even then the odds are good that you two would be the same. She shares half the DNA of you. Meiko here is a Kitsune, so is Minato and as we found out Naruto is a kitsune as well."
"Wait…Naruto is a demon?" inquired Kurenai
"Sorry I forgot to tell you that." apologized Meiko
"Kushina…Meiko…" yelled a person at the top of their lungs, it was so load that it could be heard over the moans and cries of the wounded and dying. "Come here, now."
Kushina and Meiko took off running with hope in their hearts that somehow their prayers had been answered and that Naruto had somehow been found. As they got closer to the voice they recognized it as coming from Shizune. Finally, when they reached Shizune in her makeshift hospital area, all around her where the wounded and dying which she and other medical demons where trying to heal. When they arrived, they saw another group of demons had arrived. Then they noticed in the middle of the demons was a small group of humans, it was Naruto's friends minus Naruto, Sakura and Fuu. Instant took over as she scanned the area to see if she could spot her brother, Sakura and Fuu near the back. She even looked at the face of a Kitsune in case it was her brother. She had never seen her brother's new demon form only his shadow which told her he was kitsune but this one was much shorter then her brother on top of wrong eye colors and his face was different too.
"Where is Naruto and Sakura?" inquired Meiko
"With Fuu, we have no idea where." answered Kiba
"And that is a good thing." confirmed Karui as she glared at the demons around them.
"Well maybe after they change they will tell us what is going on?" stated a demon in a red robe.
"We will change them first, with all the humans coming in the convoy from the Land of Earth to be saved from the flu we will be busy." said another demon in a matching red robe only with multiple strips on her sleeve.
"But by the time they turn and wake up then our daughter could be long gone." said Mrs. Haruno, everyone who had been turned into a demon generally wanted to do nothing more then sleep once the turn was done.
"Nothing that can be done about that." said the Priest as she walked forward. "We will turn them first and then start on the convoy of humans coming to be saved. We have our work cut out of us and we will only have more work since your group got your asses handed to you by a single person."
The smile that crossed all the human's faces was only matched by the glares which the demons gave the Priest.
"Your mission was to sweep the area for human survivors while giving support to our efforts." Stated the Priest "Instead we have to work to heal you instead of working to save the humans and add to our overall population."
"No." said Shizune as the demons looked at her. "I need Ino to stay human."
"Why?" inquired the Priest as Ino looked at Shizune, the woman who designed the virus that whipped out millions of people. Shizune took a deep breath as she moved forward toward Ino who glared into the deer like face of her former friend.
"Ino…you may hate me." started Shizune
"No may about it." countered Ino with pure hate in his voice.
"Ok…you hate me, you hate demons but look around you." advised Shizune as Ino's eyes scanned over all the death and destruction around her. The air was filled with the smell of bodies beginning to rot in death and it likely wasn't going to get better. "Please you're a medical ninja the same as me and others around here. We need your help, please help us save lives."
"Ino…" said Shikamaru as Ino turned her gaze toward her long-time teammate and basically a brother. "Lives are lives and there is no way out of this."
"Besides under the laws of war Medical ninjas are supposed to help heal the wounded of both sides." Added Temari "Even after if the medical ninja is captured they are supposed to help heal the wounded on both sides."
Ino still glaring at Shizune let out a resigned sigh.
"Alright." Said Ino
"Thank you." Started Shizune
"Before I do anything I want to see my Dad and Sai-kun." ordered Ino "If you don't do that you can go fuck yourselves."
"You can do that already in my view." added Kauri spitting at the feet of Tsume
"I like her." laughed Tsume only to get a death glare from Karui, instead of getting angry Tsume only smiled a toothy smile with her wolf like face. She leaned a bit to look past Kauri toward her son. "I really like her."
"And I really hate you." countered Karui as Tsume smiled even more at how this young woman was standing up to her. For their part Shikamaru and Temari seamed focused on studying everything around them in the hopes for finding a way out. So far they hadn't, Hana was out cold and was no help.
"Follow me." said Shizune as she lead them toward a what remained of a some kind of warehouse. The warehouse had been blown away, but the concrete floor remained. At one end there was at least a dozen of those plant things, there where more of those priests tending to them and guiding people up toward it. To their horror the people in line weren't even guarded and they looked happy. Some of them had visible tears of joy on their faces. The only armed demons nearby where those helping the recently turned humans away from the plants that had stolen their humanity.
Before their eyes they saw the process of the demons taking away their humanity, humans willing taking off their cloths stripping down to their underwear and handing over their cloths and personal items to one of the guards. Then they would gladly move toward the plants that would swallow them up and turn them into demons. They went in covered with boils and bloody puss from the red flu but they where human, they came out free of the flu and no longer human. They seamed almost as weak barely able to stand, they where then helped away by the guards to a place where they could rest. They would place their items, the remains of their human life beside them. Placing remains of cloths to cover the nude bodies as they rested. They could see parents hugging children as they went in first or as whole families moved toward different plants at the same time and where turned as once.
"It's a damn assembly line." growled Kiba
"Efficient." said Temari as she looked at the people being turned. "People giving up their humanity to save their lives."
"Traitors." growled Karui
"We are doing the same thing." countered Shikamaru as Kiba and Karui glared at him, Shikamaru only lowered his head and shook his head. "We were trapped and then we surrender. How are we that different than them, only difference is that they are civilians while we are ninjas. By any extent we should have held out longer then untrained and scared civilians."
"You held out a lot longer then most, you should have some pride in that. We already have taken out every major city, ninja city and almost every town." explained Shizune as she lead them down toward the remains of a private house. "This was going to be our base for a final sweep. We moved your friends and family into this place."
"The VIP section if you will." Added Kane
Sitting outside the door of the in what remained of a dinning room chair sat a demon with a mask covering the lower part of his face. He looked up and jumped to his feet as he saw them coming.
"Kakashi." said Shizune as he looked past her toward the younger generation behind them. They had a look which mixed rage and anger with despair and regret and more anger at themselves for failing. The younger generation didn't respond to Kakashi only glared at him as they passed.
"Tsume, why don't you take our daughter to be turned." said Kane as Tsume looked at him and then back at her daughter who was knocked out and being supported by two guards. "I'll stay with our son."
"Alright." said Tsume as she and the guards lead the still knocked out Hana toward the plants.
When they entered the mostly destroyed house Ino pushed past Shizune as she saw her father lying down on what remained of a chair. She grabbed her father's hand and studied his face, he looked almost the same until she noticed that his blonde hair had turned to feathers. This took her aback until she noticed that coming out from either side of the chair where two angle or bird like wings. The wings where in a shade of dark blonde and darker brown. He was also shirtless but thankfully his privates where covered with a blanket, however his feet where not. His feet had been transformed into something more like bird Talons with three toes facing forward with thick sharp claws on them and one to the rear.
"Daddy…Daddy do you hear me?" inquired Ino as Inoichi's eyes opened for a moment and Ino was taken aback at how big her father's eyes seamed to be now.
"Ino…is that you?" inquired Inoichi
"Yes, they caught me." explained Ino as Inoichi raised his hand to his daughter's cheek.
"That is too bad…but at least you are safe." admitted Inoichi as his eyes closed and sleep retook him. For a second, she wonder if she would turn out a bird like demon like her father, Meiko had said that kids tended to become the same as their parents. She forced the image of herself with bird wings and talon feet out of her mind and back toward finding Sai.
Ino turned her gaze around the room, Guy was nearby looking like a horse from the waist down and his normal self from the waist up. She had never seen a demon like that before. Then she spotted a male figure lying on his side, his black frame caused her to rush over toward him. She flipped in back on his back only to find himself looking down at Neji. He had changed as well gone was the perfectly clean face and pale skin only to be replaced with black fur with lighter but still black shaded spots on his legs and arms. The fur around his neck seamed thicker like a lion mane's. Even on his back he had a regale form with whiskers coming out of the side of his cat like face. He never opened his eyes, he was out like a light. Beside him lying was a female figure judging from the frame this had to be Tenten, maybe it was fait, but she had become one of those cat demons as well only she had strips on all over her body, deep black strips over lighter brown fur.
Her eyes scanned the room and spotted Anko lying on the remains of a couch, she looked remarkably human aside from the skin tone and her extra set of arms. Once again, a demon type she had never seen before. She turned her head to see Shikamaru and Temari going into the next room only to find his parents lying on what remained of a bed, both of them appeared to be those deer like demons like Shizune herself, she could actually see the start of antlers growing in on Mr. Nara and she couldn't tell if Mrs. Nara had antlers, Shizune had short antlers herself. Maybe it was a gender thing, males had larger antlers while females had short ones.
"Where is Sai?" inquired Ino as Shizune pointed toward the room where the two Naras where. Ino didn't want to leave her father's side but she had to see what happened with Sai. She entered the room to find Sai lying on the ground, instantly she sucked in a breath and looked down at him. He looked as if he had dropped at least 20 pounds but had gained six inches in height. It gave him a thin looking frame but judging from his muscles still visible on his chest he still had strength within him. His neck was longer, and his black hair had grown out a bit until it was long enough that he could have worn it in a ponytail. His skin was almost bleach white but was giving off a kind of warm glow. She knelt beside him and looked at him, then she noticed that on the ground behind his back folded up in a resting position where a pair of dragon fly like wings, they weren't the same as the fairy like wings she had seen other demons have. They were black panels not multiple different colors it was as if he had become a monochrome with only black and white.
"What is he?" inquired Ino
"He is a special kind of Yoseis, a subgroup that hasn't been seen since before the fall of the demon villages." Explained Shizune "A Dark Yoseis, in human legends they brought both life and death. They flew at night and where so quiet that they could pass over sleeping animals by inches and not wake them."
At that moment Tsume came back in with a couple guards, they carried a stretcher with a female wolf like demon with deep rich brown fur, which was smooth looking even though it was covered with some kind of slim. The left over juices from the transformation, luckly she was covered somewhat by remains of clothing. They gently placed her down as Kane moved to his daughter side and checked her.
"Well another part of our pack is back together." said Kane as his son just glared at him.
"How can there be more demons? I though…." Started Temari who overheard them but without leaving the side of Shikamaru's parents.
"We believe that somehow if a human is left unturned with the flu for a longer time the more likely they will become a lost subgroup of demons." explained Shizune
"Samui became an Ice Rhyuu, could that be why she became that." offered Karui
"Who is Samui?" inquired Shizune
"My teammate, she was turned into a demon when we got here and then well I don't know what happened to her once we left." Explained Karui "She was locked up in the bunker."
"And Kakashi let her out." answered Kurenai as she rocked her daughter a bit. "I don't know what happened after that."
"If she got out she got caught in that blast." said a demon guard behind Shizune as Karui lowered her head a bit and Kiba reached out and as best as he could with restrained hands placed an hand on her shoulder. While behind them his father grinned at the sight.
"Now only is Hana would get a boyfriend." Said Kane only to have his son and Karui turn from looking into each other's eyes to glaring at him.
"Hana had a boyfriend, Kane but he died in a riot caused by the flu." Snapped Kiba before going in almost a beast like growl. "So shut…the fuck…up!"
"Now, Ino lets go save some people and once this is done we can all go home." said Shizune
"Home, what do we have to go home to? You demons destroyed it all." Hissed Ino before she leaned down to kiss Sai only to have Shizune's hand shot down and caught her by her pony tail and yanking her backwards onto her ass.
"What the hell!" yelled Ino "I was going to help you so why do that?"
"Because of this." Explained Shizune as she moved forward and carefully lifted Sai's upper lip to show four needle like teeth where his canine teeth had been. She then pulled back his bottom lip to show another set of four. "See Dark Yosies are blood suckers, he could have attacked you on pure animal instinct and that would have been bad everyone."
"So he is a vampire?" inquired Ino
"Yes and no, he doesn't need human blood animal blood is just as good and he can eat everything he did in the past only he will have to drink blood like anyone else would drink water. He will not drink demon blood so when you're a demon you will be fine." explained Shizune "He is still Sai, still the man you love just like everyone here is still your friends and your family. We have only changed our outer appearance."
Instead of going in to kiss her love's lips she lifted a thin hand and for the first time noticed that his finger nails had turned black in nature. She bent down and kissed his hand before standing back up.
"Alright, lets do this." stated Ino
"And it's time to get you all turned." stated Kane as he looked at his son, without another word more guards came in and took all but Ino and lead them out of the room. Another guard moved to Ino's side but made no attempt to drag her from the room. Instead they undid her restraints and guided her out a back door which had no supporting wall to make the other side of the door. She twisted her head trying to get a look at her friends as they where moved to toward the things that would take away their humanity.
She was lead toward the medical area where thousands of wounded where lying under makeshift cover most of them wouldn't see the end of the day. Their chakra networks where breaking down and even if they had every medical ninja in the world it would be impossible to save them all and they didn't have all the medical ninjas in the world. More had shown up with the group of civilians but there was still 1 doctor for every 50 wounded and in a case of even mild chakra network breakdown you needed a single doctor per patient. The demons before her had very advanced cases and if the survival rate was above 10% she would be amazed. She moved toward her first patient and with a glance recognized her as a girl only a few years older then she was. She couldn't remember her name but she would get flowers every other week to give to her grandmother in the nursing home. She had filled out her orders more time then she could count but yet she couldn't remember her name. She had become a demon now and now her life was in her hand, like so many others. She looked around at the demon faces before her and spotted more people she knew from the Leaf. These demons, her enemies where her neighbors and fellow citizens of the Leaf. She let out a sigh and got to work healing her until she was somewhat stable before moving on to the person beside her only to see he had died while she was saving the person beside him. She covered the body and closed the scale covered eyelids of the demon before moving on to the next person.
A light rain was beginning to fall as late afternoon came over what remained of the city of Nysha, Mieko Namikaze sat outside the house in which her brother's friends and she hoped they considered her a friend as well rested. A few people where missing, one was Hinata but Meiko didn't miss her at all. The three people she missed where Fuu and most of all Sakura and her brother Naruto. She didn't have any medical training, so she was next to useless, so she sat her and watched the process as thousands of humans from almost every country to the west of their location. Sitting beside her serving as a kind of guard for the people behind them, was Kakashi Hatake. Neither of them had any cover from the rain, anything that could be used as cover has being used to shield the wounded. Already caravans of the wounded where being sent back to the Leaf, anyone who could be moved was being sent back to the Leaf and their hospital.
"Kakashi, can I ask you a question." Inquired Meiko as Kakashi looked at her. "How far can you think my brother and Sakura can get from this location. You are their sensei you must know how fast they can run?"
"In a dead sprint, they can make under 4 minutes a mile." started Kakashi as the light rain kept coming down.
"But they wouldn't be doing that." said a voice as Meiko looked up to see her father standing there, his cloths where soaked to the bone. He had been out on the body filled lake trying to find survivors still floating in lake. They where also removing the bodies and bringing them back to be buried. "They wouldn't even be running, they would be walking at a steady pace. They can't afford to be caught dead tired."
"Agreed, Minato-sensei I would bet they are walking no more then 10 minute to the mile, with a 10 minute rest every hour. That is 5 miles an hour that was the pace we set when we were on missions when we were genin." explained Kakashi as Meiko lowered her head, her brother had been gone for five hours and that meant they could be anywhere within a 25 miles radius of this city. If she remember her math correctly that would place them somewhere with a 78 mile area. It would be next to impossible to find them before they could get out of the area.
"Don't worry Meiko we will find them, don't you worry." Reassured Minato as he saw his wife coming toward them. She up to him and gave him a kiss before wrapping him up in his arms.
"Glad your back." said Kushina
"Come on lets sit down and eat." said Minato he didn't add the words "As a family" but he wanted to but he knew it would break his wife's heart. He wanted nothing more to sit down as a family, the four of them. Given what he knew about his son's relationship with Sakura Haruno it may be five of them not four either way it will be the happiest dinner in her entire life for his wife and for him as well.
Night was beginning to fall in the spa as Sakura slipped back into the water for a fifth treatment of Naruto's wound. Her body was soared then it ever had been, she had taken four blood pills to keep going and taking more then 3 was risky, any more then six would cause long term damage to her organs and if she broke 8 blood pills she might as well fill out her own death certificate. She didn't care she had pushed herself and the results where showing, Naruto's chakra network was now self-sustaining and once again going fully on it's own. It was moving slowly but it was moving to every part of his body supporting his cells however it was moving at the rate akin to a something like jelly. It was moving and moving on it's own, that was key. Slowly she slipped back into the hot steamy water and moved back to her standing position and went back to work. Her hands began to glow with healing chakra as she went back to healing Naruto. When the door opened and she lifted her head to see a demon standing there.
"Fuu." Said Sakura as she walked into the room.
"Sakura, how is he doing?" inquired Fuu as she looked at the two of them.
"Better." admitted Sakura "He is out of the wood…."
"Good, we better get going soon." stated Fuu "I will not be surprised if they come this way by tomorrow. They are organizing their camp and it is only a matter of time."
"I see." said Sakura without looking up instead keeping her focus on Naruto.
"You did hear me right?" inquired Fuu as Sakura nodded her head.
"Alright, when will be ready to move?" inquired Fuu
"Move…he can move now but." Said Sakura hiding the answer from Fuu.
"But what?" inquired Fuu
"Naruto-kun is out of the fight." explained Sakura as Fuu let out a sigh.
"I feared that." admitted Fuu "How long is he out? A day or two?"
"He may be ready in three months." explained Sakura as Fuu's eyes widened at the news. "His chakra network was at the point of total failure; any normal person wouldn't be able to fight for over a year. But Naruto-kun is Naruto-kun and he will be out there much sooner then he should."
"But not for months." Said Fuu as she looked around at their situation, Sakura looked to be at her breaking point, Naruto was out of the fight for months and it was only a matter of hours at best until they came to this position.
"At least Ino and the others are safe." said Sakura ", maybe we can holdoff on moving until I finish Naruto-kun's next round of treatment."
"How long will that take?" inquired Fuu
"Three hours or so." answered Sakura as Fuu let out a sigh.
"Sakura, the thing is we likely don't have that time." explained Fuu
"The demons got their asses handed to them by Naruto-kun's attack, it will take them more then a day to recover from that." countered Sakura as she began her work.
"They got reinforcements a couple of hours ago." explained Fuu as Sakura looked up at the woman who stood at the edge of the hot springs. "Thousands of more demons arrived and I saw that they captured Ino and the others. We are all that is left."
"Just fucking perfect…." cursed Sakura with tears in her eyes.
"We have lost haven't we?" inquired Fuu
"Naruto-kun will never quit…" explained Sakura as suddenly a smile crossed her face. "I love that about him, he never quiets anyone else would have given up on me loving him but not him. He held out until I realized that I do love him and Sasuke was a snake. Sad thing is, I think part of him wants to surrender, wants to be with his family, he never had one until he got a ninja team and now he can have one but it would require him to do something he will never do, surrender. That is part of his nature and I will never surrender either, if we go down it will be figh…"
Sakura never had a chance to finish before a Fuu brought her foot up and kicked her hard in the face. The sudden attack caused her to stumble backwards in the water, she started to straighten up only to have Fuu fly over her and kneeing her in the face. That in combination with the tiredness and Chakra exhaustion from healing Naruto caused her vision to blur. Fuu flew over the water and delivered a third hit to Sakura, this was the finishing blow as Sakura fell into the water. Still hovering in the air, Fuu grabbed Sakura and dragged her up to the passed out Naruto. She lied her on top of him before moving toward a small stain glass window which was built into the side of the room. She busted open the window letting in the night air. From the location she could see the still smoking remains of the city in the distance. She turned back and looked at Naruto and Sakura, both of them passed out with Sakura's head on Naruto's chest she hit her radio and changed to the public channel.
"This is Fuu calling Minato Namikaze." said Fuu over the radio as she waited for a moment.
"This is Minato Namikaze." said a voice over the radio, it did sound a lot like Naruto to her ears. "Fuu my daughter has told me about you."
"It's over, Naruto and Sakura are knocked out, I did it myself if you want them come and get them." reported Fuu as an audible pause followed.
"Where are you?" inquired Minato his voice filled with hope as Fuu reached into her pouch and pulled a flare. She put an arm out the window before she sent it flying up into the darkening sky exploding above the building like a firework, the glow of the flare filled the night sky above the building.
"Do you see that?" inquired Fuu
"Yes." confirmed Minato "I will be there soon."
"Alright, we will be here." Said Fuu as she ended the call and looked back and Naruto. Naruto eyes where open and he seemed like he was struggling to roll over and get up. He was about halfway rolled over, Sakura still passed out when a walking Fuu reached him. He looked up eyes filled with anger and sadness. "Sorry, but it is over."
With that she delivered a kick that knocked him out.
"I am sorry." Repeated Fuu with tears in her eyes as she prepared Naruto, Sakura and herself for what happened.
Well this took me a lot longer then I thought either way I hope you liked it, the story is sadly about over. Now until next time Thanks Wilkins75.