A/N: Hey guys, here's chapter 5! I tend to incorporate Japanese words like baka and baa-chan in my work a lot, like many other authors, so if you still haven't got a scooby doo of what they mean, then make your way to Google ASAP. lol enjoy folks.
Naruto began to made his way back to his apartment in the center of town, while practically buzzing with excitement at recent events. He decided it best to take a network of alleyways to get home faster so he could get as much 'beauty sleep' as possible - he definitely didn't want to look tired for his date tomorrow.
Naruto whistled while quickly strolling through the set of alleys, still thinking about what clothes he should wear, his hairstyle and how he should act around Kiba on the date. He was just generally over thinking, as always. He continued on through the alleys until he saw the apartment complex.
"Finally we're almost back. I don't know if I can sleep though with all this excitement!"
'I know you're excited but pipe down kit, it's giving me a headache!'
'Ok sorry kyu... it's just that I want this to work, so perhaps I'm getting a bit to over-
'Kit watch out!'
An explosion blasted through the alley, most probably a paper-bomb, causing Naruto to go cascading into a wall.
Darkness enveloped him.
Deep blue eyes slowly opened taking in the surrounding area, unsure of what happened. A flash of platinum blonde and emerald-green dazzling them.
Footsteps became increasingly louder as he laid there, not sure what was happening. The sound of footsteps eventually stopped right before his head. The boy managed to work out that the Platinum blonde colour that assaulted his eyes were in fact part of something, of somebody... He couldn't quite work out who it was as his eyes were still blurred.
"As I said before, Uzumaki, you seem to think that you can get who you want when you want - like Kiba." the voice hissed, sounding familiar yet different at the same time, probably as it was so venomous.
"W-who are you?" Naruto tried struggling back on to his feet but fell back down to the dirty concrete, still dazed and weakened by the bomb.
"You really think I'd tell you? You must think I'm an idiot! Always thinking you can get your way, even while you're on the dirty ground." the increasingly feminine voice snarled, clearly hateful of Naruto even speaking.
"Y-You must be The M-"
"Well obviously, you stupid child!"
'I'll make this bitch pay, kit!' Kyuubi desperately wanted to attack the horrid woman, but the seal was still locked.
Naruto clenched his jaw while trying to get up again to show this rogue that he weren't going down that easily. He got on to his knees and began trying to get a good balance while holding on to the wall for support.
"Not so fast." the now definitely female voice shouted, kicking Naruto in the stomach both knocking the wind out of him and sending him back to the floor.
"D-Damn it!..."
She walked towards the incapacitated teen and knelt condescendingly in front of him, relishing in the moment of her victory. The Manipulator seemed very sadistic, almost as much as Orochimaru. She proved this by slowly searching for something in her coat pocket, eventually pulling out a sharp kunai with a hint of purple. She brought it over to Naruto's whiskered cheek and lightly run it across each whisker.
"Imagine if those whiskers were to look all scarred over, you'd stick out even more than." malice soaking every foul word she spoke.
Naruto's eyes were now fully adjusted, he looked up with deep resentment for the rogue while taking in her appearance. She was covered in a black cloak, wore a facial bandanna which had a gold outline and some of her platinum hair stuck out of her hood. She had piercing green eyes as well, which maybe explained why the possessed Kiba had a hint of green in his eyes too.
She grabbed him by his hair to prevent him moving, and attacked him with her kunai across the face. She obviously had a deep loathing for Naruto and she planned on making that clear for the word to see.
"Uhhh! P-Please, stop it!" He couldn't move the rest of his body as she had him bound to the floor by a Jutsu of some kind, controlling his body. She was almost like a puppet master, except she clearly controlled humans instead. Naruto had no way of fighting back as the Jutsu he was under had all his muscles locked down, something which Kyuubi couldn't help with due to the seal recently being strengthened.
"Ahaha!" she laughed heartily, clearly enjoying her little game. "I plan on making you suffer for your arrogance. You think that being the Hero of the leaf will win you over anyone you please? Well here's a proposition for you, if you go on that date tomorrow I'll make sure to finish the job!" She growled, malice shining in her green eyes.
She went to attack his left cheek and whiskers, planning on making the injury deeper then the rest so it stood out even more. She quickly lifted the kunai from his cheek and poured a purple substance on it that she got from her other pocket. It returned to Naruto's face and he howled with pain.
"Naruto!"
The rogue attacker shot a gaze towards a figure at the other end of the alley. She knew her time was up so she quickly wall-ran up towards the top of the building and made a hasty escape, almost supernaturally so.
The other figure ran towards the tortured blonde, gasping at the sight of his wounded face and trauma from being hit by the explosion. Naruto's eventually managed to look up to his savior, it was Sakura.
"S-Sakura? I-Is that you?" he muttered, struggling to even speak.
"Oh Kami, what happened to you?!" Sakura asked. The wounded blonde tried to reply but was becoming increasingly weaker.
"Naruto, we need to get you to the hospital right away." Sakura tried her best not to sound frantic and scare Naruto, but his bleeding face was making it hard for her.
She saw a Kunai on the floor by Naruto with a purple liquid dripping from it. She lifted the kunai near her eyes to closely look at it, shocked to find out it may have been a poison of some kind. Sakura placed the kunai in a plastic seal-bag cautious not to accidentally poison herself. I'll get this analysed when we get to the hospital, by Kami I hope it's not fatal. She worried, remembering the deadly poison of Sasori that almost killed her and Lady Chiyo before.
She cautiously lifted him up while being extra careful not to hurt him even more. As she was a medical ninja she began to apply her green healing chakra to Naruto's head to try to quell the bleeding. She picked him up and traveled to the hospital as fast as possible without making Naruto's condition worse. Along the way she thought about who could do this to him, the first thought being The Manipulator, who she now assumed was a sadistic man like Orochimaru or Kabuto.
"I guess he doesn't stick to just hiding behind the scenes then, we gotta be extra careful how we deal with this guy..." Sakura was surprised that The Manipulator would openly attack Naruto without getting someone else to do it for them. But considering it was the middle of the night and in a secluded alley, it shouldn't be unexpected.
"Naruto you idiot... why did you take an alleyway at midnight when you know that The Manipulator is still out there?!" She felt like punching the blonde as she always did with her anger issues, but they quickly submerged after seeing the injured blondes bruised and wounded face.
"You really scare me sometimes Naruto... I might have to ask Tsunade for you to have a bodyguard, whether you like it or not!" she continued talking and telling off the blonde who had passed out from the pain a while back. They were near the entrance of the Hospital which was thankfully near the alleyway they came from.
Sakura kicked the main doors open of the hospital warranting gasps from the main lobby.
"Move outta my way, we got a wounded Shinobi here!" she shouted trying to alert the staff that they need an ER quickly. Medical staff began to stream out and placed Naruto on a stretcher to take him to his treatment room in a separate department for Shinobi.
"He may have experienced trauma to the skull, brain and spine. He could also be poisoned so get him on the primary antidote IV quickly!" Sakura barked, informing the medical staff of his ailments.
"Got it!" they affirmed, completely confident in Sakura's judgement, as she was an esteemed member of staff there.
I guess that leaves me with the poison to figure out.
Sakura rushed to the experimental medical lab on the basement level of the building hoping to crack the poison quickly so that Naruto could get the most efficient antidote. The general antidote was (as the name implies) an antidote that could fight most forms of poison, but for all she knew the poison could be very complex and perhaps fatal, like Sasori's.
She reached the lab and begun to extract the purple, viscous liquid from the kunai and placed it on a medical tray to first test the form of the poison, to see how fast it could spread through the anatomy. Her findings were worrying as the poison seemed to spread rapidly. She next wanted to test the most important attributes of it: If it could kill him.
She infused the liquid with her chakra to help show the makeup of it. It was unlike any other poison she had come across, as it had been infused with someone elses chakra and what seemed like... a Jutsu of some kind. She was shocked by this discovery, as it could potentially help track down The Manipulator, along with how he controls his victims. However she had to figure out how to erase the poison's affects though, as she was worried that the Jutsu would in fact cause Naruto to become possessed while in the hospital.
Kami, hang in there for a while longer Naruto...
Unlike other forms of controlling Genjutsu, this was obviously applied and activated inside the body, so a simple 'release' couldn't work as it has become part of the victim's body. It did however work with Kiba during the spar that the both teens had. Sakura theorized that this was because the Poison only had a time-limit to its effectiveness in the body, so Naruto had released the Genjutu as it had already been weakened by Kiba's antibodies over time.
Sakura continued to work hard on examining the poison's properties, trying to work out how to make a suitable antidote as soon as possible.
Meanwhile higher up in the Hospital, Naruto was just now put on the IV drip containing the general antidote, which Sakura still worried wouldn't be enough to prevent the possible Genjutsu from taking hold.
She found a breakthrough, however, as she discovered that she could cultivate special antibodies containing an Releasing Jutsu for destroying the other controlling Jutsu by draining the foreign chakra, allowing it to be safe for use by Naruto without draining all of his own chakra.
She extracted antibodies from a cultivator in a small container on her lab desk, then proceeded with infusing it with the special Jutsu she had crafted through her medical-ninjutsu. She then placed the special anti-bodies within another IV bag filled with other body-regenerating fluids. She also placed some within an injecting-needle, just if the IV tubes somehow didn't work; she weren't going to take any chances with Naruto's life on the line.
"It's done! Now I gotta get back to Naruto." Sakura praised Kami that the special antidote was formed so quickly, but also thanks to her not planning on seeing her best friend being possessed or killed.
She rushed out of the lab and into the Elevator, pushing the "4" button with enough vigor to almost break it. The elevator slowly moved up through the hospital, much to the pinkette's annoyance at its tortoise-like speed.
"Cha! Hurry up you slow bastard!" She screamed profanities at the elevator, desperately wanting to smash the box of metal to pieces if it weren't for her needing to use it. It finally stopped moving and *bing* it opened with a pink blur speeding out of it with lightning speed. Sakura entered the Shinobi ER department of Konoha Hospital. It was large as over half of the village populace was Shinobi, and Shinobi needed more resources as they often sustained severe battle injuries.
She ran to the reception desk, "I need to find Naruto Uzumaki, which room is he in?!" she panted, nearly exhausted from all the running around she's partaking in, at 1.a.m in the morning.
"I'm sorry Sakura but there's been a safety breach in his room and the ANBU are dealing with it, no one is allowed in or they could be harmed." the receptionist explained, however becoming scared that he will in fact get harmed after seeing the fire in her eyes.
'Oh crap, he's probably already being possessed!'
"Look, Iyashi. I have the antidote for Naruto and that could stop his rampage, so you give me the room location then I'll leave you be." She said with threatening menace. Iyashi was surprised that Sakura knew who was rampaging, as he didn't say who it was, but he was also scared that she would attack him if he didn't tell her where he was.
"O-Ok, Ok the room is #17!" He pleaded.
"Thanks Iyashi, you might of just helped saved lives." She smiled at him. She turned on her heels to run towards room 17, but was stopped by Iyashi still talking.
"I-It's fine, just be careful, would ya'?" He quietly pleaded, worrying about Sakura's safety above all else.
She turned back around and reached over the desk to peck him on the cheek, turning him turn as red as a rose.
"Don't worry about me." She smiled, then ran towards room #17 not wanting to waste any more time.
She was running through the labyrinthine corridors of the Hospital, trying to find the room, but it turned more into a sprint when she heard fighting and screaming coming from a room down the next corridor.
'Just hang in there Naruto, I'm on my way!'
She reached room #17 and tried opening in it but to no avail: It was barred from the inside.
However to any apprentice of Tsunade this wasn't a problem at all, as Sakura used her Almighty Fists of Retribution to destroy the door handle, sending the door crashing open with a dynamic entrance.
She was shocked with what she saw: Naruto was stood on his bed and had injured an ANBU Black Op to the point where there was a pool of blood on the floor, as well as two other ANBU Ops' performing an assortment of hand signs at the back of the room, which were strangely familiar.
By Kami, It can't be that Jutsu!
The jutsu was called "Lion Closing Roar", and was an A-Rank sealing technique that Sakura used against Sasori, which effectively shuts off all Chakra of the victim. She knew it could kill Naruto, so she had to intervene.
"Stop! You don't have to use that Jutsu!"
"It's the most effective way to stop him from destroying this hospital and killing innocent civilians, so please step back and let us do our jobs."
"No! He's being possessed you Idiots! We can stop this without killing him!"
Her cries were to no avail as they continued on with the hand signs, meaning that Sakura had to act quickly to pacify Naruto if he was to live.
She turned around and charged towards the blonde with her injector in hand, ready to release the antidote by some means.
I can't afford to miss, If I do they'll kill him!
She tried landing punches on him to knock the teen out, with the aim of making her job easier. But Naruto just laughed at her efforts while mocking her, "You're as slow as ever forehead! Ahahaha!"
Grrr who ever is controlling him is gonna get a beating when I find them!
He dodged her punches with relative ease, while having a mischievous smile adorn his features. The Manipulator really did get a kick out of her sadistic actions, as the fight within the hospital seemed to be just as she planned.
But while the controller of Naruto was thinking of how successful her plans were going, she didn't realize that Sakura had a shadow clone restrain Naruto from behind, preventing him from dodging her any longer.
"H-How did you learn that technique?!" The Manipulated Naruto hissed, clearly not expecting Sakura to have pulled off such an effective diversion.
Sakura readied her injector, testing that it could effectively expel the antidote and release Naruto from his possession. "You seem to have a tendency of underestimating people, don't you?" She said while walking towards the boy. "Why don't you just show yourself, tell us who you are!" She shouted, wanting answers here and now.
The boy guffawed at her question, "I'll tell you one thing forehead. I will have Kiba." the controller snarled through Naruto.
Sakura stabbed Naruto in the arm with the injector, slowly releasing the Antidote into his system.
"He... will be mine..." Naruto muttered as the Genjutsu was already beginning to wear off.
Sakura began to turn back around to the ANBU Ops after placing the passed out Naruto on the hospital bed. "I've done it, you can both stop!"
The two ANBU members had in fact stopped a while back when Sakura first engaged Naruto in combat, as they were fascinated to see if she was right about the Jinchuriki actually being possessed and needing the antidote.
"We must alert Lady Tsunade of the situation, stay with him and make sure he doesn't become possessed again." One of the ANBU member said.
"He won't be possessed anytime soon, but I'll stay by him anyway."
Sakura had begun to heal the other injured ANBU Op in the room who was hurt by Naruto before. She continued healing him until she heard running outside the door and then saw Tsunade appear within the room with a face like thunder.
"Sakura, is Naruto wearing an Amulet?!" Tsunade roared, demanding answers from her.
"N-No Lady Tsunade! I don't think so."
"Well that explains it then! Naruto you baka..." Tsunade knelt beside Naruto and began to heal him as he still had trauma from the situation in the alleyway.
"L-Lady Tsunade?" Sakura asked apprehensively, trying not to invoke her masters wrath.
"What is it Sakura?" She turned around to look her in the eyes. Worry was clearly eminent in Tsunade's features.
"You said about Naruto wearing an Amulet and you looked like you realized something when I told you he didn't have it... does it have anything to do with his possession?" She asked inquisitively.
"Yes, it does... The Amulet I gave him protects against Genjutsu controlling the body and mind, but Naruto must have given it to Kiba." she explained.
"Oh, that'd make sense considering he was possessed before..."
"Naruto must of thought the Kyuubi could have protected him from this Genjutsu, that kid is a dobe sometimes."
Sakura reached for something in her pocket, gaining the attention of the Hokage. "What's that Sakura?"
"It's something you'll want to look at Lady Tsunade." She gave Tsunade a sheet of the results of the poison that Naruto was possessed by: containing the make-up, properties and the crucial part of it actually having Chakra lined with a Genjutsu.
"So this is how he was possessed..." Tsunade said to herself, quite amazed that her student cracked the poison so efficiently yet so quickly.
"I brought Naruto here after he was incapacitated in an alleyway by the complex," - Sakura had Tsunade's full attention by now -"there was a poison-laced kunai left in the alley by the culprit, who I think is The Manipulator." Tsunade looked focused as she was trying to fit the pieces together.
"Thank you Sakura, you've been an invaluable asset in all of this, and you just saved Naruto's life." Her mentor said with the up most pride in her student, seeing a reflection of herself already in the making.
Sakura smiled humbly back, not wanting to appear arrogant.
"I'm glad to be of help Lady Tsunade, especially if it means I can protect the ones who matter to me!"
"That'a girl" she patted the other kunoichi on the shoulder.
"W-Where am I-"
Both women turned around in a flash to see that Naruto began to arise.
"Lay back down Naruto, you need to rest or your recovery will be slower." Tsunade ordered.
"Baa-chan? W-Where the hell am I? And where's that bitch!" He said getting more angry the further he spoke.
"Naruto! Calm down. You need to tell us what happened in the alley." Sakura intervened, not allowing profanities around Lady Tsunade, which is ironic as she had a mouth like a sewer.
"W-Well I was walking back to my apartment and then a bomb went off, I think?" Kyuubi was helping Naruto fill in the gaps as he had concussion from the blast.
"Go on." Sakura encouraged.
"I remember seeing blonde hair and something green, but she had covered the rest of her face and wore a black cloak."
"She then got out a purple-looking kunai and..." Naruto realized that his face must have been badly damaged after recalling what she done.
He began to feel around his face and felt bandages, he couldn't believe what was happening. He was at the top of the world after being asked out on a date with Kiba, but now his face is badly injured and will probably scar over. He thought he was going to look hideous for the date, If he was even discharged from hospital that is. He turned the other way from the women and hid his face under his arms.
"N-Naruto, are you alright?"
Sakura moved to the other side of the bed and sat down next to him, as she lifted his arms from his face she saw that he was crying.
"W-Why now?" he sobbed, hating the manipulator with every fiber of his being the more he thought about what she done.
"I bet my face looks awful, Kiba won't want to be with me after this!" Naruto emotionally yielded. He now couldn't care less about the secret of liking his best friend being heard; he was too distressed to care about anything at that point.
"Naruto, Kiba will accept you no matter what happens, that much I'm sure of." Sakura comforted.
"But my face..."
Tsunade intervened "Naruto, if we work on the injury with specialized medical-ninjutsu then you won't have scar tissue. And even if you did, plastic surgery is always available."
"I g-guess you're right... But are you guys Ok with me and Kiba... ya know..." He said worriedly, hoping that they, pretty much his family, would still accept him after his emotional outburst of his secret.
"If he treats you well, then I'm fine with you both having a relationship together." Tsunade said truthfully.
"And If it saves me from you perving on me at the hot spa, I'm perfectly Ok with it." Sakura winked at the blonde, trying to lighten the situation.
"Heh... thanks guys" a small smile appeared on his wounded face, cheering both of the women up instantly.
"Enough of this mushy crap."
Tsunade breaking the atmosphere was her specialty it seems, but she continued. "You'll be pleased to hear that we can put you through a fast-track recovery treatment with me being the head-medical director of the team assigned to you. You could be released tomorrow if all goes well." She smiled at seeing Naruto's jaw attempt to drop to the floor, as this could mean he could in fact get to go on the date tomorrow.
"Y-You'd really do that Baa-Chan?"
"I'm not as much as a dragon as I seem Naruto. I want you to be happy -" she knelt beside him -"and if I have to spend all night fixing you up to do that, than I'm more than willing to help."
"Baa-Chan!" He started crying on her shoulder, overwhelmed at all the support he's receiving in his biggest time of need. Tsunade patted him on the head while surprisingly not wanting to break the moment suddenly as she always did. Maybe Naruto was getting to her...
"Right enough of this you cry-baby!"
Or maybe not.
"I'll go set up the fast-track facility in the next ward." Tsunade said as she began to walk to the door. "Oh, and Sakura, make sure to tell Naruto of everything that's happened in the meanwhile." She left the room while dragging the almost forgotten and now unconscious ANBU member out and closed to door to allow the Teens some privacy.
"Naruto, as you just saw there was an unconscious ANBU Op and some blood on the floor." she pointed at the splatter trying to make the explanation as easy as possible. "You remember that Kunai that had purple liquid on it?" He nodded, trying to fit the pieces together while she was explaining. "Well it was a poison, and I found out that the poison had the mind controlling Jutsu inside of it." Naruto's eyes went as big as saucers, shocked to think that he could have been the one who caused the blood splatter on the floor.
"A-Are you saying that I was Possessed?!" He howled with disbelief.
"Yes, but I created an Antidote and stopped the possession before you could do any real damage so don't worry. And the reason you still got possessed was because you weren't wearing your Amulet!"
"But I thought Kyuubi could snap me out of Genjutsu? Right Kyu?"
'This wasn't a normal kind of Genjutsu kit, listen to Pinky over there and you'll learn why.' Kyuubi already knew that it weren't normal as she would have been able to snap him out of it if it were.
"I told you it was a poison baka! It directly flowed into your bloodstream and brain so it weren't just in your chakra network like ordinary Genjutsu."
"But how did I release Kiba from it then?"
"He was possessed probably before the spar to set it all up; my estimates suggest that the poison has a time-limit of an hour or so before it is weak enough to be dispelled though an ordinary chakra burst."
All the pieces finally started to fit in Naruto's head, making him realize that The Manipulator planned for Naruto to go on a rampage in the hospital, to stain his reputation and name as the Hero of Konoha, or even get him killed.
"I think she wanted to ruin my reputation or get me killed, either way it would have worked without you intervening, Sakura." He looked up with the utmost sincerity in his Cerulean eyes "Thank you, I probably wouldn't be here without you."
She smiled and gave her best friend a hug, taking solace in the fact that they now have a stronger bond than ever.
The door burst open and Tsunade appeared with a small medical team, ready to wheel Naruto into his special fast-track recovery room with Tsunade taking the helm. Sakura was ordered to tell Kiba tomorrow about the nights events and that Naruto may not be able to go on the date, as although Tsunade was the best medical-nin in the world, recovery can be a tricky business.
A/N: Hmm surprising developments eh? Leave a review, I order you ;) question: Which jutsu do you think the poison was tainted with? I'd be interested to hear your answers! Anyhow 'til next time ^_^