Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Road to Recovery ❯ Chapter 1

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Naruto gave a weary sigh as he observed the rubble of what was left of Konoha. Although he was extremely grateful of what Pein had done, rebuilding the village was one of the last things on his mind at the current moment. All he wanted to do now was to crawl under the shade of the nearest boulder and sleep.

“Kakashi is alive.” Katsuya informed him, sounding relieved.

As soon as Katsuya had finished speaking, Naruto bolted towards the growing group of ninjas that surrounded a dazed Kakashi. The surprised grey-haired nin had just gotten to his feet when he toppled over the unexpected weight of his energetic, former pupil.

“Kakashi-sensei, you’re back!” Naruto blubbered, refusing to loosen his hold on Kakashi’s neck.

“Yes, yes, I’m back.” Kakashi replied nonchalantly, figuring he would ask questions once Naruto let go.

“Get off of him!” Sakura shouted with an amused smile. She and Kiba both had to pry Kakashi from Naruto’s steel grasp.

The small slug on Kakashi’s shoulder now suddenly appeared on the top of Naruto’s head.

“Tsunade wants all of Konoha’s remaining ninjas and villagers to meet her at the base of the Hokage shrine.”

The exhausted ninjas looked at one another, wondering which issue their fifth Hokage would address first. As soon as they began to trek through the remnants of the village, the slugs disappeared with a poof.

With an awkward smile plastered on his face, Naruto joined Hinata.

“Hi Hinata,” He greeted, not sure of what he should say next. He was certainly shocked, but not repulsed by Hinata’s sudden confession. He was just relieved that she hadn’t been terrified of him or anything of that sort.

“H-hello Naruto-kun,” Hinata stuttered, her face glowing red. “I-I’m sorry about what I said earlier. To tell you the truth, I didn’t expect t-to even survive.”

“That’s all right,” Naruto chuckled. “I’m just glad to know that you aren’t horrified by me. I always wondered why you would faint when I would talk to you.”

Naruto’s grin faded as Hinata, staying silent, averted her gaze from his. Silently cursing himself for his lack of tact, he allowed the awkward silence to deepen. He quickly snapped out of his wallowing once they reached the base of the mountain.

Tsunade, now showing her true form, appeared sheepish once the village rested their eyes upon her. Although she had definite wrinkled all over her body and bags under her eyes, her aura continued to emanate the same fiery strength from before.

“Citizens of Konoha,” She began, her voice weak with strain. “We are a long ways a way from rebuilding the beloved village our forefathers had created. However, it does not mean that it will be impossible to accomplish. From viewing the state of most of you, I think it would be best I shortened my speech and get to the point. Which of you feel you still have the strength to help me out?”

To her surprise, all of the ninjas raised their hands.

“I will break you into teams of three. Once you do this, you will await for further instruction.”

“Do you want to join our group, or…?” Sakura nodded sympathetically towards Hinata.

“I’ll join you.” Naruto replied a little too quickly, not wanting to further screw things up between him and Hinata.

Once the groups were formed, they reported back to Tsunade.

“The sun will be setting soon enough, so I require a few groups to create make-shift tree houses in the nearest forest.”“We’ll go.” Kakashi offered, surrounded by Naruto and Sakura.

“So will we.” Yamato stated.

“As well as our team!” Gai yelled.

“Good. Now, for the rest of the teams, I will need you to guard what’s left of our village. I will also need a few of you to dig through the rubble and find any remaining survivors.”

Naruto was unusually quiet as he, Sakura, and Kakashi made their way to the forest. Letting loose a silent sigh, Sakura left Kakashi’s side to join Naruto.

“Hey Naruto,” Sakura greeted softly.

“Hey Sakura,” Naruto continued to stare dejectedly at his feet.

“I won’t push you any further if you don’t want to talk about it, but…” Sakura hesitated. “Are you okay? You and Hinata talked…um…”

“It’s okay Sakura,” Naruto didn’t even bother to conjure a fake smile. “I spoke with Hinata a few minutes ago and I think I must’ve said something wrong. She didn’t really seem like she wanted to talk.”

“Just give her a little time,” Sakura suggested. “She’s a shy girl, but she’ll find a way to speak with you again.”

“Thanks, Sakura-chan.” A hint of his former smile returned.

“It’s no problem at all.”

Just as Tsunade had predicted, the fading sun was on the purple-tinged horizon by the time they reached the forest. The three chosen teams were quick to create tree houses suitable for sleeping in while they still had the light. Naruto had attempted to create a human-sized hole in a tree using Rasengan, which had ended quite miserably with at least a quarter of the entire forest wiped clean of trees. Kakashi and the others were just grateful that Naruto had used one of his smaller Rasengans this time.

Naruto was now resting comfortably on one of the thicker branches of a tree. Since the “Rasengan incident,” he wasn’t allowed to help out anymore.

“Anyway, you need the rest after fighting with Pein.” Sakura had said with a badly concealed smirk.

“Rest, my butt.” Naruto mumbled, still stung by Sakura’s remark.

He personally hoped he’d be able to control his chakra well enough to prevent anything disastrous from happening again. Perhaps it wouldn’t be such a difficult task to achieve, since his father re-sealed Kyuubi’s chakra. His spine tingled at the memories of his conversation with his father; he, Uzumaki Naruto, was the son of the fourth Hokage! Although their meeting was brief, it was one that he was able to replay in his mind over and over again…

As Naruto was nodding off to sleep, a rustling from the bushes and hushed whispers followed by a series of groans. He landed on the forest floor with a light thump, and froze at what he saw. Kurenai, clutching her swollen stomach with one hand, was in the arms of Gai. Shikamaru was holding her free hand, whispering to her words of encouragement.

“I found her under the rubble of the hospital,” Shikamaru explained. “Will she be okay? Is her baby okay?”Sakura stepped towards Gai, placing a hand on Kurenai’s belly. Everyone held their breath as Sakura’s brow furrowed with deep concentration.

“The baby is perfectly fine. Do you feel you are having contractions?”“I’m not even due for another four weeks,” Kurenai replied, biting her lip.

“I think they’re probably just false pains,” Sakura reassured, her brow still furrowed. “You just need to rest somewhere for a while. If the pain continues for another hour, then please notify me at once.”“Thank you, Sakura.”“You’re welcome. Gai, please follow me.”Sakura slowly waved Gai in, leading him deeper into the dark woods. Feeling completely useless, Naruto took it to himself to guard the forest from any unwelcome intruders. After an hour or two, Kakashi appeared next to Naruto with his hand on his shoulder.

“Naruto, you look dead on your feet,” Kakashi whispered. “Go get some sleep.”

Naruto, already half-asleep, mumbled something about it being his duty to protect the forest. He continued to mumble nonsensical things as Kakashi led him to the nearest tree. However, Naruto stubbornly refused to climb up said tree. Kakashi, quickly becoming impatient by his lack of progress, decided to leave him sleeping on the wide base of the tree.

“Naruto’s gonna kill me if his spine is crooked tomorrow…” Kakashi murmured with his arms crossed. “Ah well.”Naruto woke up early that morning with a horrible crick in his neck. He gave a loud yawn as he stretched out his stiff limbs. He gave a satisfied sigh once all the bones in his body were cracked. He even cracked his knuckles just for good measure. His stomach growled at the new scent of a strange, yet salty meat being cooked somewhere.

“Good morning, Naruto!” Lee yelled with a huge grin on his face. “The sun is shining brightly, and it is therefore the perfect day to go training! I’ve already run 400 laps around the forest, but you can still join me if you’d like!”Naruto nearly had a heart attack at the sight of Lee’s bushy eyebrows, especially so early in the morning.

“Lee, please get out of my face.”

“Sure thing! I’ll see you around later, then.”“Good morning, Naruto.” Sakura greeted, handing him a plate of the mystery meat he smelled earlier.

“’Morning, Sakura-chan.”

Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he finally noticed that their make-shift tree houses were completely occupied. While a few of the ninjas were out and about grabbing a bite to eat, a few others were still snoozing away. He hesitantly took his wooden fork, stabbed at the white meat, and placed it in his mouth. To his surprise, the meat was quite tasty.

“Is Kurenai-senpai all right?”Sakura looked up tiredly from her meal, trying to muster up a smile.

“Yeah, she’s fine.”“Are you okay? You look really worn out.”“It’s nothing, really. Staying up all night is one of the things a medic-nin is expected to do when needed. Anyway, I’ll be taking this afternoon off, so please don’t go off and destroy any more trees.”Naruto chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.
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As Naruto and Sakura continued to converse with one another, a pair of Sharingan eyes were staring hatefully upon the battle-torn village.

“Do you still want to go to Konoha?” Juugo asked, sounding curious.

“Yes. As long as the elders of Konoha are still breathing, I will continue to return until I get my revenge.

“When will we attack?” Karin asked, inching towards Sasuke’s rigid figure.

“Tonight.”