Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Brought Back ❯ One-Shot

Disclaimer - I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.

Brought Back

The look of surprise on Sasuke's face was perfectly understandable as his dead eyes remained focused on the arm that held the fist that was embedded in his chest. It was clear that both of his lungs would have been ruptured beyond repair and been the cause of his death had his heart obviously not been crushed by the assault.

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“We finally have him this time Sakura-chan.” Naruto said as he prepared for the assault on the base. Recon had revealed that the target was alone this time to do some personal training and that the only other Sound-nin near were the guards that had already been suppressed. “I won't let it happen this time Sakura-chan, I promise.” he vowed as he began to make his way into the base.

It only took about five minutes of searching empty corridors and rooms for Naruto to find his intended target trapped in a round training chamber with only the one exit. Picking the moment when the victim was turned away, Naruto charged into the room with a battle cry of, “SASUKE!”

Sasuke turned and dodged the Rasengan that had been aimed at his gut with no difficulty, even if the miss was only a near thing. Seeing the blond brought back memories of his life in Konoha, but he was glad that none of them seemed to stir anything that would distract him from crushing Naruto as he had planned so as to gain the final stage of his Sharingan eyes. He had made the plan of leaking his location to the right people so as to get Naruto to show up and then left all but a few guards well away from the compound. “Dobe, what kept you this time? I thought you would have been here a few days ago but I must have overestimated your skill.” Sasuke mocked to see the anger appear in his old teammate's eyes. Naruto always had been predictable and he would also become an easier target if he was mad.

Naruto was almost seeing red as Sasuke made fun of him. “I'm taking you back Sasuke. I promised Sakura I would bring you back and I never go back on my word.” Naruto said through gritted teeth. Charging the rather small distance between them, Naruto actually surprised Sasuke by punching with his left hand a successfully implementing a one handed Kage Bushin technique which surrounded the man.

Sasuke's smirk vanished upon finding that Naruto had more skill than he thought. Having blocked Naruto's original punch, Sasuke make quick work of dropping to the floor on his back to avoid the three simultaneous attacks made by the clones and kicking two of them in the chin to disperse them. Swinging himself onto his feet fast enough to still catch the remaining clone and Naruto off guard he punched them both in the chest to destroy the final clone and push Naruto back for a reassessment.

Swinging his body with the strike Naruto showed surprising agility and speed when he did a back-hand-spring to place his feet on a nearby wall and launch himself at Sasuke. “Gotcha!” he yelled just before Sasuke jumped into the air with a flip and used it to kick him in the back which caused him to skid across the room on the floor face first. Naruto groaned as he got to his feet in pure show… Sakura had been causing much more damage with her punches for the last two years so the tap Sasuke had given him was only effective because of the speed involved. “Damn teme, just come back with me… Sakura-chan wants you to come back.” Naruto was saying before trailing off at the pain he felt every time he thought about how Sakura only seemed to love the traitor. Looking up from the ground, and into the spinning red eyes of his old friend, Naruto begged, “Please just go back and make her happy.”

Sasuke actually raised an eyebrow as he watched Naruto actually ask him for something; this time was different from all those times Naruto had asked him to return before because this time seemed like the first time that Naruto was actually asking for himself. It was clear that the blond man was waiting for an answer because his body language showed that he was in a purely defensive posture with no hint of attack. Thinking over the request was yielding no answers as to what it was that was making Naruto seem more sincere now than any other time before. “No.” Sasuke said before springing from his position across the room to Naruto with one leap and outstretched kunai.

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Sakura was running as fast as she could while thinking about the message she had read from her blond teammate. His writing had been like most of his taking and was not understandable, but the one sentence at the end of the message telling her that he would bring Sasuke back this time had been loud and clear; only five minutes later had she been racing from her home village to try and catch the man who had stolen her heart. “I swear I am going to drag you back and this time you won't leave me ever again.” She vowed to the air that was whipping past her, still, short pink hair.

The trip to the compound had taken longer than she anticipated but she was confused as to how she had not managed to catch up to Naruto considering the short head-start he'd had. “I swear Naruto, if you…” Sakura mumbled to herself before cutting off the depressing thought that had been going through her head. She went charging into the underground complex at full speed and was quickly drawn to the echoes of Naruto screaming Sasuke's name.

The fight had been taking place in a room that wasn't to far from the entrance, but it was just as she entered the room to see Naruto and Sasuke in a staring contest that she heard Naruto say, “Please just go back and make her happy.”

Sakura was frozen as she registered the complete defeat in Naruto's voice at his plea. She only reacted after Sasuke responded and lunged at Naruto with a killer blow in mind. Sakura's mind blanked for a millisecond before pure rage consumed her at the sight of the kunai that had been plunged into Naruto's chest.

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The look of surprise on Sasuke's face was perfectly understandable as his dead eyes remained focused on the arm that held the fist that was embedded in his chest. It was clear that both of his lungs would have been ruptured beyond repair and been the cause of his death had his heart obviously not been crushed by the assault.

Sakura only allowed herself to glare at the corpse for a moment before removing her fist from the dead body and turning to run for Naruto. Kneeling at his side allowed her to see that the man was still alive but that he was quickly on his way to joining the other bleeding occupant of the room. Sakura watched as Naruto finally recognized her and then he began to cry as h reached for her hand. Taking it, Sakura was about to speak when Naruto's raspy voice cut her off.

“Sakura, I'm sorry I couldn't bring him back. Hurry, you still might be able to catch him.” Naruto blurted as his vision remained narrowed on the woman of his dreams. He had seen Sasuke turn after plunging in the knife but he hadn't been able to see him go because he had fallen back then but it had only bee a few moments before Sakura was there so that meant that the teme hadn't been able to get far. “Hurry, or he's gunna get away. I know you can get him back this time Sakura-chan.” He said as he felt his body convulse in weakness though there was no real pain.

Sakura couldn't even cry as Naruto tried to send her after Sasuke even though he would obviously die if she did; it was obvious he hadn't seen how she had killed the bastard before he could notice her attack was coming. It was easy to know how to beat the Sharingan eye because the Sharingan acted like a regular eye unless it was analyzing something which meant that when she had attacked from the side, he hadn't seen her coming in time to do anything about it. Reacting with the same instincts that she had perfected her hands began to glow a green color while she said, “Naruto, your hurt, I have to help you.”

Naruto could feel Sakura's chakra being forced into the wound in an attempt to mend the damage but he knew that she would loose her chance to catch Sasuke and be happy again if she stayed. “Don't worry about me Sakura-chan. As long as you get him back it was worth it.” Naruto said, oblivious to the blood that was leaking from the corner of his mouth as he spoke.

Sakura's tears and heart finally broke free as she felt her chakra doing nothing of significance to help Naruto. Giving up her attempt to heal him she flung herself down onto him with a hug and tears while saying, “I don't want him back, I want you ya idiot.” It had only been a few months after Naruto had returned from his training with Jiraiya a few years earlier that she realized her feelings for him. It had been after their first attempt to bring Sasuke in together and Naruto had walked away in as bad a shape as he had after his first attempt. Almost loosing Naruto at Sasuke's hand had been like freezing water clearing Sakura's head and heart of the garbage she had been deluding herself with and allowing her to see just how important, honest and loyal Naruto was. He was the one that was there for her; even if it meant standing aside for Sasuke to make her happy. After that it was only a matter of weeks before she could safely say that she was in love with Naruto but was to scared to say anything because of everything she had put him through; not to mention she wasn't being given the chance considering the reckless abandon with which Naruto began training.

Naruto was more than a little confused as his rapidly fogging mind tried to make sense of what Sakura had said. If he was thinking right then Sakura was saying that he, Naruto, was more important than Sasuke to her. Unfortunately, his mind wasn't going to let that little discrepancy pass and he weakly said, “But Sasuke…” before being cutoff both by Sakura and his failing voice.

“I don't want that bastard Naruto.” Sakura said as she looked into his cloudy eyes. “I love you.” she admitted before leaning down to place a light kiss to his lips. “You are the one I want brought back to me.”

Naruto had heard Sakura's words and felt the strangely far away kiss as his world kept fading inward so that she was all he could see; it was certainly the best thing he could think of to have as his last sight. “I love you too, Sakura-chan.” he whispered before his sight turned completely black.

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Sakura had been crying over Naruto's body for three days after having brought it back to Konoha along with Sasuke's eyes as proof of his death. The body had been placed on a table in the hospital morgue and was scheduled to be buried later in the day but Sakura was going to stay with him until that time; she owed him that much. In her head, Sakura kept thinking about all of the times that Naruto had confided in her about his greatest secrets over the last several years and then felt all the worse for never having confided in him about how she really felt at least about Sasuke if not for Naruto himself. She should have told him that she didn't want Sasuke back.

Sakura's sobs kept her from noticing anything other than her own misery and she easily missed the wide eyed stares of Tsunade, Shizune, Kakashi, Jiraiya and any number of hospital staff that had come barging into the room. They were all completely focused on the body that was radiating power at an alarming rate because for as far as any of then knew, the body was dead and the chakra felt demonic. It was then that Konoha received the greatest surprise ever conceived…

Sakura was still crying but looked back over her shoulder after feeling somebody place a hand over one of hers that was on the table next to Naruto. Looking through the tears that were blurring her vision she could see that a great many people were present but they were all over by the door and not close enough to be touching her hand. Looking down at the hand with a confused expression she followed the arm attached to the hand that was holding her until she came face to face with Naruto's smiling eyes.

Naruto didn't know why Sakura was crying so hard over him if he was fine but he placed his hand on hers after seeing that his movement hadn't caught her attention. He watched as she looked around until her confused face settled on his and her eyes quickly dried up while growing wider than he thought possible. “Remind me to thank whoever brought me back to you Sakura-chan.” He said before leaning down and planting a kiss right on her lips.

 

A/N - Yet another four page one-shot conceived at what some would consider an un-godly hour. At least this one has a happy ending… it happens to be my first. Review if you want but flames will only be a waste of time.