Author's Notes: Woah man, that most recent chapter of Legacy of Heroes was a doozy. I think I must have written 15 pages worth of content in one 12 hour sitting just to get it published. I don't mind though, it is such a pleasure to write with someone you can work with. I can share in the glory by reading all the reviews posted and watching the story stats go up. Now comes the point where I tell you guys to go read Legacy of Heroes if you want to read the rest of what I wrote, but to tell you the truth it is mostly action and suspense based. And I know you guys don't want that. No, action and suspense are for dumb jocks and little girls, we're here to get our romantic undertone on.
So here is the juicy bits from the Tenchi bridge, a narusaku moment very near and dear to my heart.
Back at the ruins of the Tenchi bridge, Kakashi had been playing the most intense game of keep away in his life.
Naruto had gone completely ballistic, the Kyuubi had poisoned his mind and he could no longer tell friend from foe. He attacked anything that moved, yet he seemed especially drawn to Sakura. What especially wasn't helping matters was that Sakura had chosen that exact moment to go into a daze. Forcing Kakashi to have to jump around her daydreaming ass weighing him down.
Meanwhile Yamato was attempting to seal away the Kyuubi chakra in Naruto, but it was proving impossible. Naruto would just break free of any restraints Yamato put on him and the wood user was starting to run low on chakra.
Inside Sakura's mind, memories were flashing all around her.
"My dream is to one day be the greatest Hokage ever. Then the villagers will stop hating me and treat me like I'm somebody. Somebody important."
"Nice to see you're back, Master!"
"But I can do it! I'm awesome!"
"Hey, Sakura-chan. Can you help me get the hang of this?"
"DON'T EVER UNDERESTIMATE ME! I DON'T QUIT AND I DON'T RUN!"
"Don't worry Sakura-chan, this'll be a piece of cake."
"Sakura-chan, wha-what happened to your hair?"
"If you let yourself lose that crazy Sasuke-chaser you'll be a disgrace to all women!"
"I vow to win…"
"Hey Sakura-chan!"
"Hey Sakura-chan!"
"Sakura-chan…"
"Don't you worry one bit! I'll bring Sasuke back to you in no time! It's a promise of a lifetime!"
"I never go back on my word. Cause that is my shinobi way."
"Hey Sakura-chan."
"God do I love you…"
With every flash of her memories, Sakura tried to fill the image of Naruto with this new image of the demon he had become, it just didn't add up.
This…this isn't Naruto! Sakura thought as she felt her mental projection being twirled around to face her inner self.
No shit! Now get out there! Naruto needs you! Her inner self screamed.
Sakura was snapped back into reality where she was being held in Kakashi's arms while he dodged another one of Kyuubi Naruto's slash attacks. She untangled herself from her sensei's arms and stood up.
"Is your head back in the game, Sakura?" Kakashi demanded. There was no time for niceties.
"Yeah, I'm good." Sakura replied, not taking her eyes off of Naruto as he tried to dislodge his arm which had gotten stuck after that last attack hit the ground.
"Good, then heal up Yamato. He's the only one that can seal the Kyuubi's chakra. I'll keep Naruto distracted." Before Sakura could say a word in reply, Kakashi had already sprinted towards the Jinchuriki. His Sharingan uncovered and working overtime to anticipate the raging Jinchuriki's movements. He fired off the appropriate signs to active his Lightning Blade technique. Although instead of thrusting his fingertips into the Kyuubi vessels flesh, he struck him with his open palm, sending an electric shock pulsing through the Kyuubi host. It wasn't enough though, as the boy simply grew angrier. Kakashi jumped over his target as the vessel thrashed about. Kakashi struck again, this time hitting the boy's lower back and then his thigh, still no effect. Three pulses of electric current through a target's nervous system was always more than enough to incapacitate them. Either the Fox's chakra was nullifying Kakashi's lightning jutsu or the demon chakra itself was controlling Naruto's movements.
While Kakashi played tag with the mini demon fox, Sakura was hard at work restoring Yamato's chakra.
"We need a plan." Yamato spoke in between grunts of pain. His muscles felt incredibly sore after just a short time dodging Naruto's attacks.
"I thought Kakashi said you could seal away the Kyuubi's chakra?" Sakura asked, forcing herself to focus on her patient instead of her boyfriend.
"I can, but it takes time to drain the Kyuubi's chakra away and I can't pin Naruto down. It's all that damn gravity training he does. It increased his base strength to unimaginable levels and the Kyuubi chakra only enhanced that so my wood isn't enough to hold him still." Yamato explained. That set a light bulb off in Sakura's head.
"Captain Yamato, do you think you have enough chakra to seal the Kyuubi chakra away?"
"Yeah, but only to seal it away. That things are going I'd need the chakra of two other Jounin to be able to hold Naruto down." Sakura stopped her mystic palm technique midway through healing Yamato. "What are you-
"Alright, get ready to seal him." Sakura tightened her black gloves, a habit she developed whenever getting ready for a tough fight.
"Sakrua, you're not planning on fighting Naruto are you? Me and Kakashi can handle this, we just need to wait for Kakashi to wear Naruto down so that- Sakura, wait!" Yamato shouted as Sakura made a bee line for Naruto at speeds barely visible to the human eye.
Kakashi was on his last leg fighting against Naruto, literally, one of Naruto's swipes had cut into one of his leg tendons and he was finding it difficult to put any weight on his right leg. Soon adrenaline would wear off and that would be it. He'd have to try something lethal if things didn't improve.
Naruto lunged at Kakashi who was preparing his chakra for another quick leap when the enraged Jinchuriki found himself yanked back down to the ground by his tail.
On the other end was Sakura holding the end of one of his tail. The bloody chakra smeared across her shirt as the actual Kyuubi chakra burned her skin. Tears were streaking down her cheeks yet a look of pure determination could be seen in her green eyes.
"Sakura, are you crazy? Get back!" Kakashi screamed, but it was too late. Kyuubi Naruto got over the shock of the girl's boldness of grabbing his tail and lunged at her. Instead of dodging back, she stepped into the Jinchuriki's path, managing to pin the boy's arms into an iron grip hug.
The Kyuubi vessel thrashed about with all his strength, but Sakura had been training in the gravity room as well. Which her chakra enhancing her already impressive base strength, the most the Jinchuriki could do was dig his claws into her backside. Every slash felt like hot iron nails being dragged across her back, but Sakura refused to yield. Naruto was in there somewhere and if enduring this pain meant bring him back then she would endure it for as long as it took. She rested her cheek on her boyfriend's shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Shhhhh, be still Naruto, be quiet. It'll all be over soon." The Jinchuriki continued to fight against her, but could not break free.
Neither Kakashi nor Yamato could believe what they were seeing. They also couldn't decide which was more unbelievable; that Sakura thought she could hold down a raging Kyuubi chakra enhanced Naruto or that it was working. Either way Yamato wasted no time in raised the necessary pillars to begin the sealing. He had never attempted this jutsu on the real thing before, and especially never when there was a third party involved. This could kill Sakura by sucking out her own chakra along with the Kyuubi's. Not that it mattered, they were out of options. Yamato slammed his palms down onto the ground.
"SEAL!" He shouted, twelve pillars release tentacles of chakra that wrapped around the forms of Sakura and Naruto. The two of them were wrapped in a cocoon of glowing green chakra before the chakra extended a sign arm to meet Yamato's outstretched arm. Slowly, ever so slowly, the chakra receded until it came from a single point on Naruto's chest. Dragging along with it the bloody Kyuubi chakra that had been covering him. Soon Kakashi and Yamato could see the blond's golden locks again, then his face with skin colored an angry red to match the look of overwhelming pain upon his face. The poor boy moaned in pain, just barely conscious. All the while he was held in place by the pink haired medic who refused to let go.
Once all the evil chakra had been absorbed, Naruto slumped against Sakura's embrace. She didn't even recoil when the young man's entire weight was brought down against her. She was prepared to endear all that and more.
"Sakura…" Kakashi called out when Sakura went a few moments without moving.
The girl shifted her weight and lowered her boyfriend gently down to the ground. Making extra sure not to agitate his burned skin more than necessary and that he was comfortable while laying down. Once she was satisfied that he was comfortable, she unzipped his jacket and got to work healing Naruto's burns.
Neither men said a word. Neither dared to break the tranquil silence. Although each secretly wished that they too would be lucky enough to find a girlfriend as gentle and caring as Sakura.
The moment was ruined when Yamato received radio chatter from his clone.
"Kakashi." He whispered, not wanting to break Sakura's concentration. "My wood clone reports that Orochimaru and Kabuto are retreating back to their hideout. My wood clone is pursuing but…"
"But?" Kakashi whispered back, his patience long since spent.
"He believes that Videl has been kidnapped by them. No idea what they plan on doing with her." The wood user reported.
"Shit…" Kakashi whispered. His gaze fell upon his two former Genin students. Unknown to him, Sakura had heard them but continued to focus on healing Naruto.
One crisis at a time…
Author's Note: And scene!
What did you think? I hope I added enough intensity to the hug, really emphasize Sakura's feelings behind it. I'll probably have her be even more blatant about it next chapter. Until then, leave a review telling me what you liked, what you disliked, what you were iffy about, whatever. Thanks to everyone who keeps reviewing, favoriting, and following. Getting those little emails in the middle of a long day at college always puts a smile on my face. Plus they usually lead me to new profiles that can be counted on to have interesting narusaku stories listed that I haven't read yet.
See you next time.