Hi. Sorry for not updating sooner, we all have to share one computer for the time being so it might take some time for me to update. Well, hope you enjoy.
The small hospital room felt slightly crowded as Sakura sat silently on one of the chairs in the room. She and Sasuke have been sitting there for a while now. It was the second day after they had first found that Naruto was still alive. It still felt strange to her, knowing that he was okay and all. To her surprise it was Sasuke that had suggested that they came to visit Naruto that day. She lifted her head slightly to look at Sasuke. He was sitting at the other side of the room, staring into empty space. She sighed and looked down again, her head resting in her palms.
The sudden sound of movement from the hospital bed got their attention. Naruto was rubbing his eyes and groaning slightly. Seeing that he was waking up both Sakura and Sasuke stood up and walked over to the side of the bed. Naruto blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted to the light of the room, then he gave one of the biggest yawns in history and sat slightly upright.
"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" He asked as he looked from Sasuke, to Sakura and back to Sasuke again.
"We came here to visit you of course" Sakura answered. "You're in the hospital."
"I am?" The blond ninja asked in confusion and then, remembering what happened, added a pretty loud "Oh yeah". This caused a small smile to creep up the corners of Sasuke's mouth, though it faded before anybody could realize. There was no mistake; the crazy, blond, knuckleheaded ninja was back.
"Where were you? We were worried sick. We thought you were dead." Sakura demanded answers.
Naruto sighed as he thought of all that happened since the fight at the cliff. "It's a long story. Wait, you really thought I was dead?!" Naruto asked, slightly shocked. By now he was sitting completely upright.
"Well, yeah." Sakura answered.
"Maybe it's a good thing that you were a little worried." Naruto said, crossing his arms and sitting cross-legged.
"WHAT!?" A few veins popped on Sakura's forehead. Sasuke just stared at them.
"Well, seeing as you guys left me behind, I think it's only fair that you worried a bit." Kakashi was right; they are going to hear about this for the next week, at least.
A few more veins popped on Sakura's forehead. She seriously considered knocking him hard over the head, and she would have if Sasuke hadn't interrupted.
"Just tell us what happened." He had that regular careless tone of voice.
Naruto turned his head again to look at his dark-haired comrade. He started telling them what happened, but soon stopped unexpectedly.
"Hey, where's Bara?" He asked out of the blue. Both Sasuke and Sakura stared at him in confusion.
"Who's Bara?" Sakura asked, wandering what he was talking about.
"Bara, she's a girl I met in the forest." He answered as he got out of bed and started searching for his clothes. This made both his comrades sweat drop.
"Um, Naruto, are you feeling okay?"
"Yeah-yeah, I'm fine. Darn, where are my clothes?" He said mostly to himself as he practically threw the pillow off the bed to search underneath it.
"Okay then. This Bara girl, why are you asking us about where she is?" Sakura asked, feeling a tad jealous that this girl seemed important to him, and also considering the fact that he might be hallucinating.
"I brought her here. She got badly injured in a fight and I was thinking that, since she is probably in the hospital, you might know where she is." Finally he found his, now clean, clothes and pulled on his pants under the hospital gown.
While they were talking, a new figure had appeared in the doorway.
"I thought I heard your voice." The dark haired girl said when she recognized Naruto. She was leaning slightly against the doorframe, trying to keep most of her weight off her left side. She was still dressed in a hospital gown, having been unable to find her clothes.
"Bara!" Naruto exclaimed happily as he pulled on his black shirt. "You're okay."
"Yeah, I guess so" She said uncertainly. Then, looking around, she noticed the other two teens in the room for the first time. "Oh, hello."
"So, you're Bara." Sasuke said as his eyes studied the new character. "She doesn't look like much of a fighter." He thought to himself.
Bara nodded. "You must be Sasuke. It's nice to finally meet you." She greeted with a smile. "And you must be the famous Sakura." She turned her head to look at the kunoichi. "So nice to meet you."
"You look familiar." Sakura said as she moved closer to inspect the new girl more closely.
"That's because we have met before, at my chief's house in the 'No Tsubomi' village." The dark haired girl explained.
Sakura clicked her fingers. "That's right, you were there when we delivered the package."
Bara only nodded. Thinking about her dad had made her miss him again. She slowly went over to the hospital bed and sat down.
"Hey, are you okay?" Naruto asked, sensing that his friend wasn't feeling good. "Is it your side? Is it hurting you?"
"No." She shook her head and looked up at him, smiling even with the gleam of tears in her eyes. "I guess, it's just. I can't believe we're finally here, in the hidden leaf village. After all that has happened, I can't believe we are somewhere safe."
"Well believe it. Nothing bad would happen again because of that package, I can promise you that." Naruto said, giving her a broad grin.
Bara nodded again, feeling happier than ever before.
"Package?" Sakura finally asked.
"The package we had to deliver. We brought it back." Naruto explained.
"You did WHAT!?" Sakura yelled furiously at him. "After all the trouble we went through the first time, you went and brought it all the way back here!?"
"Wait, Sakura, you don't understand." Naruto protested, without success. Sakura hit him hard over the head.
"Ouch! Come on, what was that for!?"
"That was for creating more work for us you idiot!"
"Sakura, just listen! If you just give me a chance to explain-"
"What is there to explain?!"
"Gee, I can hear the two of you yelling at each other from all the way down the hall."
The four teens in the room all turned to look at the new arrival.
"Grandma Tsunade." Naruto smiled
At the Bara no Tsubomi village:
Kakashi found himself wandering through the ruins that used to be part of the 'Bara no Tsubomi' village. The streets were abandoned, former houses lay as piles of rubble. The only building that had roughly remained standing was the village hospital. A small fortress had been built around the building, mostly out of pieces of wood scavenged from the rubble. There was only one small opening in the fortress walls and this was being guarded by two of the village guards. Seeing the masked ninja approach they both armed themselves with kunai. They weren't taking any chances.
"Who are you?" One of the guards called out to Kakashi.
"Calm down, I'm not here to hurt anybody." Kakashi lifted his hands, showing that he was unarmed.
Neither of the two men lowered their guard. "I asked you who you are, I'd appreciate it if you answer." The younger of the two called out again.
"It's okay Shinrai, I know this man." A woman said who had just come out of the fortress.
"But, lady Yukana." Shinrai was still unsure about this.
"He's a shinobi from the hidden leaf, he was among the group we requested to deliver the amulet." Yukana stepped away from the fortress walls to greet the leaf shinobi. "I apologize for the confusion. I trust you've come here to gather information about our current situation."
"Yes, and by the looks of it the village has suffered quite an invasion." Kakashi recognized the woman as one of the servants who worked for the chief.
"Indeed, but we should continue this conversation indoors." Yukana turned and lead Kakashi through the fortress and into the hospital.
The small building was filled with people. There were more ill or injured than there were people healthy enough to help them. People slept on the floors, leaving the beds for the critically ill. Yukana lead Kakashi through the building to a small office. Once they were inside she closed the office doors.
"There, now let's get to the point. I'm sure you have figured it out by now, but your village may be in great danger." The rather old woman sounded serious.
"That much we know, what we don't know is what kind of danger we are in."
"You see, Kakashi if I remember correctly, the package we had you deliver contained an amulet, an object of great power."
"Please, do tell."
"The amulet hold's within is a sacred crystal that has the ability to link chakras."
"What?" Kakashi was somewhat shocked, he had never heard of something like this before.
"Indeed, it is capable to create spiritual links between people. And if those links are made correctly the two linked would be depending on the other. If one dies, so does the other."
"This could be a problem" Kakashi thought. "With a power like that it would be no trouble for someone to kill the hokage, or all the ninja in the village for that matter." "Where is the amulet now?"
"I'm not sure. Before our chief was killed, he entrusted me with the safety of the village and his daughter. So, before the attack on the village began I gave her the amulet and helped her to escape. I told her to go to the hidden leaf and ask your hokage to help protect the amulet in till it was save to bring it back."
"His daughter?"
"Yes. She should have reached your village by now."
"But why entrust her to take it there on her own?"
"We needed every abled body man and woman to help defend the village. And besides, she is the only one who has even the slightest of a chance to understand its true power."
I hope you liked it. Sorry if I didn't use all the ideas given in the reviews. I'll try to update again ASAP (with a longer and better chapter if I can).