Hi everybody. Before you read the next chapter there are a few things I'd like to report. First of all, we have net connection again so I'll be able to publish (Yay! But I don't know how long it'll last so don't be surprized if I suddenly stop updating for a while). Also we have now moved out of our old house and we're living in a 3 room apartment (I have to sleep in the kitchen). And finally, I'm kind of stuck at the moment with this fic. I know where I want to go with the story but I don't know how I'm going to get there. So if any of you have suggestions on what should happen next, feel free to send a review.

Also thanks for all the reviews, I love reading them .

Okay, I'm done. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 12:

Previously:

Tsunade had been sitting at her desk when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Nothing happened. There only came another knock, not wanting to have any trouble she stood up and walked over to the door. Opening it she got the shock of her live. There stood Naruto, with a girl in his arms.

"Hi grandma."

Present time:

Tsunade felt torn between feelings. Part of her wanted to knock him over for calling her "grandma", part of her wanted to cry with the joy of seeing him alive and most of her felt convinced that she was hallucinating. She didn't have time to choose between her feelings though as the boy's exhaustion and the pain in his arm became too much for him and he lost consciousness. She stepped forward, stopping both the teens' falls and laying them gently on the floor. A few tears of happiness escaped her eyes as she fully realized that this was reality and not a hallucination.

"No time for this." She thought as she hastily wiped the tears off her face with her arm and turned her attention to the teens' wounds. Naruto's wounds didn't seem too serious except for his right arm, which was badly discoloured. The mystery girl's injuries were a lot worse. She had turned pale from the blood loss and the weapon that had most probably caused the wound in her side seemed to still be imbedded in the wound.

"Shizune!" Tsunade called for her apprentice. Her hands glowed a slight blue-green colour as she concentrated her chakra in the palms of her hands. She wouldn't be able to heal the girl's wound because the shuriken was in the way, but she could at least try to stop the bleeding.

"Shizune!" She called louder this time. Shizune's footsteps could be heard coming down the hall at a running pace.

"Get me medic crops." Tsunade ordered her as soon as she came into few. She didn't even have time to ask what's going on before she was sent off to go get some of the medical ninja from the Konoha hospital.

Later:

Tsunade was waiting restlessly outside the emergency room. She could go in if she wanted because she was a medical-nin herself, but she had decided to stay outside and had been trying hard to process the information that had been crammed into her mind. First Naruto comes back after he had been presumed dead for weeks, bringing an unknown, critically injured girl with him. And then there was the situation with the other village that had been attacked. All of these events, it just didn't make sense. She sat down on a bench which stood next to one of the white coloured walls and rested her head on her hands.

"I guess we'll just have to wait till they wake up to hear their side of the story." She thought with a sigh.

The next day:

Sakura walked slowly through the hospital halls, searching for the next room on her list. She had asked if she could help out at the hospital in her free time to give her some medical experience, which would help her a lot in her medical-nin training. So far things haven't been very interesting. Her first patient had been Ino of all people. She had gotten second-degree burns on her hands in a cooking accident. Why she had been cooking in the first place was a mystery, but with her cooking skills it was no surprize to Sakura that the food had committed suicide by setting itself on fire. She ran her finger down the list, stopping at the first room number that hadn't been crossed out yet. Room 207 was the next one on the list. She sighed as she started heading up the stairs towards the second floor. When she had decided to do this she hadn't expected it to take this long.

She checked the numbers at the top of the doors. 201; 202; 203… She walked on in till she finally came to the room where she had to be. Sighing again she started to open the door.

"Only five more to go for today." She told herself as she took a deep breath and looked down at the file that contained all the tasks she had to complete for every room.

"Redressing wounds, this doesn't sound so bad." She thought as she stepped into the room, still looking down at the file. Finally looking up she nearly dropped the files she was carrying as she recognized the shock of spiky blond hair that were sticking out in all directions, belonging to the whisker faced boy who's head was sticking out beneath the covers of the hospital bed. She stood there for a moment, too shocked to move. Slowly she regained control of herself, stepping forward towards the hospital bed. She placed the files on the bedside table and stared at the unconscious boy. He wasn't wearing his headband and his right arm was bandaged up.

"I guess that's the wound I need to redress." She started unwrapping the bandages. She felt numb, like her body was moving by itself. She felt confused, shocked and happy all at once. It was a feeling that was hard to describe. Quite honestly she wasn't sure exactly how she felt. She didn't know how to react to the situation, so she just continued with her task of redressing his arm wound. It wasn't in till she finished that she realized her vision was misty and her cheeks were wet. For a second she was convinced that she was dreaming. But the coolness of her tears that rolled down her smiling face proved her wrong.

"Naruto." She whispered in disbelief. Then, suddenly realizing something, she turned around and ran out of the room and down the hall, nearly bumping into one of the nurses in the process and forgetting her files on the bedside table.

"I've got to tell Sasuke."

In the hukage's office, Tsunade was sitting at her desk, head rested on her hands. Smiling, she wondered if Sakura had found her little surprize yet.

Yes, I know it's short. My dad gave me a deadline. I'll update again as soon as possible. Hope to see you all again soon.