Chapter 32: Soul Curtain

Chapter Summary: Aftermath of the search for Sasuke.

Words: 2,317

Published: 10/26/23

"Here you are, boy... In my own private Hell. Where your father has condemned me to neither die nor live, trapped within the confines of these insurmountable bars in this endless landscape of pure white. Here, where there is no perdition, nor salvation. The days no longer matter... "

Once again, Naruto found himself in the surreal zone of the seal on his belly.

"Stupid fox. What do you want?"

"I lent you my chakra... Again. You should act more grateful."

"I wasn't lent your chakra, I already got it flowin' within me."

Contrary to the boy's expectations, the fox hung its head in an expression of defeat.

"Dear God... You cannot imagine my pain. Every second of every day, I am left all alone with my thoughts. My thoughts, which spiral into their own thoughts, and I have nothing to think about anymore, besides more thinking about what I have already thought. If you possess a modicum of mercy, free me... Free me from this infernal Hell I have been condemned to. Free me, or kill me, whichever one is easiest... Please... "

Naruto pouted. "I dunno... None of that strikes me as a good idea."

In unprecedented fashion, Kurama's voice began to reek of despair. "Please... I cannot live like this..."

Naruto groaned. "All those people you killed can't live at all, so..."

"If I had only known this is where it would lead..."

"... You didn't? Isn't this like a holy parable? I mean, you basically said this is your own private Hell. All you're really missing out on is the endless boiling."

"..."

"Uh... You're freakin' me out, man. You're not supposed to be like... This."

Kurama gave no response.

Naruto continued, "Hey, what if Fuuka sees? Don't you have any shame in front of a woman? Well, I guess you don't, since you're just a demon and demons don't have sex..."

The boy turned around and faced Fuuka, who had been standing behind him all along.

She, too, sobbed, "The memories came back so fast... We had been forgetting how much time we spent in here every time you contacted us, but whatever you did yesterday shook something up...! The pain--..."

Naruto sighed. "You're still not getting any sympathy from me; I'm just glad I'm still alive."

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Hospital... Night?

When Naruto woke up, he was lying in a hospital bed, with a breathing mask and tubes regulating his blood flow stuck in his hand.

Sluggishness immediately ravaged him as soreness panged through his body. He could barely muster the strength to open his own eyes, which were assaulted with the fluorescent bulbs above his bed.

When his eyes finally opened properly, he analyzed the room around him. To his right was a window, whose view made it clear that he was in the Leaf General. Directly in front of him and a little bit to the left was the door to the room, and to his left were five beds - from closest to farthest, Anko, Lee, Neji, Shisui, and a fifth bed concealed with a veiled wall.

Looking at the clock above the door, he determined the time to be just about 5:00, but due to the changing season, was unable to determine if it was before or after noon, as the outside sky was black.

He turned his head just enough that it wouldn't be uncomfortable to watch the TV, which was rerunning old cartoons.

Silly cat...

With a smile, he painstakingly sat up and pressed the button to call a nurse.

As luck would have it, the assigned attending nurse was Shizune herself. She rushed over to the room, quietly making a beeline for Naruto.

She whispered as she checked him over, analyzing the data the machines displayed as well as checking his temperature.

"Naruto, how are you? Are you alright? Do you recognize me?"

Naruto pouted. "Yeah, I'm fine...! What happened to me?"

"Chakra exhaustion. Your coils are absolutely fried; we don't know how long your recovery's going to be."

"Jeez... How bad is it?"

"We normally only see this sort of degradation in cadavers."

"..."

Shizune assured, "You're a strong kid, you'll pull through."

Naruto blushed. "How's everyone else...?"

The woman smiled. "You already know about Anko, Shisui, and Sasuke - - Lee needed treatment for his chakra overload, and Neji was maimed in his fight against one of the enemy forces. Everyone else is fine."

Naruto shot her an inquisitive look. "Oh, yeah... What happened to all those guys? I know I killed Tayuya accidentally, but what about the others?"

Shizune winced. "Oooh... All I'll say is, Shisui took care of them. It's too brutal to recant what he did, but they're all deceased."

Naruto gulped. "He really did all that... For Sasuke?"

"I'm not exactly a firsthand source on this, but when Sasuke's family were murdered, Shisui took it upon himself to become his guardian. He was Itachi's closest friend, and even taught him so many things, including the methods he ultimately used to eliminate his own family. Shisui took a vow of nonviolence and dedicated his life to Sasuke."

Naruto peered over toward the man. "A vow of nonviolence? Sounds like he hasn't missed a beat, though."

"It's clear he values Sasuke more than himself."

Naruto sighed. "Ugh, what did that guy even do to deserve people like that?"

Shizune looked perplexed. "Naruto, you don't need to do anything to deserve people who care about you."

"What? I mean, I guess not, but I mean, you gotta do something to be worth dyin' over. Babies notwithstanding..."

"Naruto, you should really consider what you're saying. What about your sensei? He was ready to die for you from the moment you became his student. What did you do to deserve his devotion?"

Naruto sheepishly cleared his throat. "O-- okay, you got a point. Maybe you don't need to earn the respect of your caretakers, but isn't there a threshold? Like, a point where your sins are so egregious, that you're no longer worth defending?"

"Well, you'll have to ask Jiraiya about that."

"Pervy Sage? Why?"

"If he hasn't told you, I won't."

"Psh. Whatever. When can I leave?"

"After we're sure you're okay."

"Ugh."

Naruto lied back down as Shizune finished her check-up and left the room.

Minutes later, he felt as if he was being swarmed - Sakura, Tenten, Team 8, and Team 10 walked into the room and crowded his bed.

Naruto remarked, "You guys are actin' like you've seen a ghost...!"

Ino joked, "You probably were a ghost for a while - - when you came in, you looked paler than snow!"

The boy responded, "Really? I didn't feel pale."

Kiba scoffed. "You didn't look like you could feel anything."

Naruto winced. "Come on, was it really that bad?"

Finally, Sakura spoke up, albeit softly. "It was that bad, Naruto. We couldn't even tell if you were alive when you got here. It was... Frightening."

Ino added, now with gravity, "We're just glad you're safe, now. On that note, some of us have errands to run."

With that, every visitor except for Sakura left the room.

After a few minutes of silently staring at each other, Naruto struck conversation.

"You wanna take a seat, Sakura? I'm sure it'd be more comfortable..."

Sakura smiled, nodded, and sat beside him on a chair.

"We were all really worried about you, Naruto. You looked even worse off than Shisui, at first."

The more Naruto heard about his own condition, the more unease he felt. Shifting around in bed as he looked to the side, he muttered, "I, ah... I thought I was gonna die."

Sakura placed a cautionary hand on his, prompting him to look at her, curious for her response. She told him, "I'm glad it didn't come to that. I can't even put it into words."

Naruto continued to gaze at her, taking note of the weariness in her face - weariness that hadn't been there when he left the village to pursue Sasuke. A silent anger rose in the back of his throat, throbbing against his chest in such a manner that he understood nothing could diminish it for now.

So stupid... Nearly gave it all up just to help that emo freak.

He swallowed his anger and assured, "Sakura... I'm staying here from now on. By your side."

Sakura looked surprised. "Naruto, where's this coming from...?"

Naruto sighed. "It's coming from me, y'know? I mean, I just want you to know that no-one matters to me as much as you do. Our relationship is the only one I've got, or at least, the longest lasting, that isn't imposed on me. We choose to be near to each other, and there's usually some other people, like Sasuke, but I've always chosen to be with you for the sake of being with you, y'know?"

Sakura warmly smiled. "Yeah, yeah, I know... I get what you mean, and I agree with the sentiment of being with you just because it means I can be near you, but I don't want you to feel like our relationship's only special because it's the only one you've got that you have a real say in. That aside, imposed relationships don't always have that mark on them."

Naruto blushed. "I didn't mean to get you on a tangent, Sakura. I'm just yapping, even I don't know what I'm saying."

Sakura sighed. "I worry about you, Naruto. The things you say and do, they really make me worry that you're gonna hurt yourself somehow. It's nerve-wracking! But I'm willing to take that as long as I can be sure you're okay by going on these tangents."

Naruto's brow furrowed. "I don't want you to be worried about me all the time... Maybe I need some help? Like, professional help."

"Oh... Only if you really think it'll be good for you. And you better keep me posted...!"

The boy chuckled, "Yeah, maybe I'll leech some advice off Ebisu."

The girl snickered, "I thought you wanted professional help?"

Naruto shrugged. "Semi-professional."

The two quietly spoke and laughed with each other for a while longer before the elder had to return to her family.

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Naruto's Apartment, Night

As darkness entirely enveloped the cityscape and the artificial lights took over, Naruto disobeyed Shizune and snuck out of the hospital through the fire escape.

Wanting to be comfortable in his own home, he made the trek to his apartment, took a shower, and fixed up some ramen for an easy dinner.

His eye caught the computer in the living room, next to the window on the wide side of the wall, and he made his way toward it. He waited patiently as the electronic synapses in the box fired back and forth, slowly loading the operating system and projecting it through his monitor. He sat quietly as he opened up a search engine.

He absent-mindedly tapped on the mouse, thinking of something to search.

The boy cracked his knuckles as he prepared to type into the bulky contraption.

Specter

He clicked on a virtual encyclopedia and analyzed its contents.

A Specter, also known as a skinwalker, is a humanoid creature possessing the ability to shapeshift into any organic shape. Most discussion regarding their abilities and genetic makeup is regaled through folk tales and myths, many of which vary vastly in scope and limitation.

Some individuals, such as Jiraiya the Toad Sage, are known to hunt specters. Though none have been recovered yet, the quest to capture one is as old as knowledge of the creature itself.

Very few reports of real specter encounters exist. Fewer still are reliable sources, and none such exists in conjuction with an up-close encounter.

It is theorized among physicists that specters must follow the conservation of mass, meaning that their shape must always be the same mass before and after the shift. This theory has been employed in hunts to track specters, but has not produced any results.

Naruto pouted as he read through the article.

Conservation of mass? If that were the case, I'd weigh two or three times what I do now. It also doesn't account for their ability, or at least Fuuka's ability, to swap their own soul with that of a human being. I know their chakra must play a part in their ability, so maybe there's a way for their chakra to carry the mass without having an effect on the weight of whosever body is stolen. Displacement, maybe? Like the flying thunder technique?

Feeling more frustrated and helpless, he shut down the computer and returned to his couch, watching the TV without paying attention.

My chakra's completely shot. What if this is my chance to get rid of Fuuka? I could be missing it and not even know! Is this all I can do?! Just sit around and mope as larger forces play their part? Man... I killed Orochimaru, but that's not gonna help me get rid of Fuuka.

He had an epiphany.

Unless...

He hopped over to his room and got dressed, giggling to himself in excitement.

If this works...

As he was about to leave, he heard knocking on his door.

"Uh... Who is it?"

The muffled voice responded, "It's Shizune! You need to come back to the hospital, Naruto!"

Naruto smirked. "Not yet, Shizune! I don't have a lot of time!"

He used the fire escape to leave.