Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Road to Recovery ❯ Chapter 3

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

The panicked commotion between ninjas and villagers alike came to an abrupt halt once they saw a defeated-looking Sakura with Tsunade’s still figure on her back. A few of them let loose screams of horror once they noticed Tsunade’s glassy eyes and the gaping wound in her stomach. One or two villagers even fainted at the sight of Shikamaru and Naruto carrying the dead elders in their arms. The ninjas’ eyes narrowed in distaste once they saw the unconscious figure of Sasuke on Naruto’s back.

“Sakura-san!” A villager cried. “Danzou’s been injured, and he isn’t breathing!”

Sakura carefully handed Tsunade’s body to Kakashi and shuffled tiredly towards where Danzou was located. She placed two fingers on his neck and waited for a pulse. After checking his vital organs, she officially pronounced him dead.

“Internal bleeding,” She explained warily to the worried villager.

“Is he the one responsible for their deaths?” Chouza asked with a hard glint in his eye.

Everyone, excluding Sakura and Shikamaru, turned their focus to Naruto.

“Yes, Sasuke and his comrades are responsible for Tsunade, the elders, and probably Danzou’s deaths,” Naruto explained, somewhat hesitantly. “Tsunade said she wanted me to become the next Hokage, but…”

“But what?” A voice called from the crowd.

“I-I don’t really know if it’s my decision to make,” He said with a slight stutter. “Wouldn’t someone older and wiser be picked for the job?”“I’m sure I speak for a number of people when I say that Naruto should be the sixth Hokage.” Shikamaru spoke up. “Kakashi, Shizune, and Chouza wouldn’t still be here if it weren’t for Naruto’s exceptional communication skills.”

A mixture of voices agreed and disagreed.

“He’s got a point!”“We can’t let a monster become our leader!”“If Tsunade chose Naruto to be Hokage, then we should respect her wishes,” Shino replied quietly, capturing everyone’s attention. “She wouldn’t choose him if she didn’t think he wasn’t capable of securing the safety of the village.”

“Well, if it’s true Tsunade said that…”

“It is true,” Sakura stated. “I swear it on her grave she wanted Naruto to become Hokage.”

“Sasuke should be killed!” An angry voice shouted in the crowd.

“Yeah!”“No!” Naruto yelled impulsively, placing Sasuke down on a boulder.

Both ninjas and villagers alike looked extremely shocked, and even outraged by Naruto’s refusal. They waited silently to hear his explanation.

“We need to keep him alive so we can interrogate him,” Naruto explained, making up the most logical response he could think of. “He may have connections with others that would want to harm Konoha.”

Although most of the ninjas nodded in agreement, a few others, like Chouza, clearly weren’t convinced. They decided that they would let it go, at least, for the moment.

“Where’s Neji?” Hinata asked in a panicked tone. “I haven’t seen him since he last chased after Sasuke into the forest.”

“I don’t know…” Naruto replied with a concerned frown. “Maybe we should look for him?”“I highly doubt he’d lose his way through the forest,” Lee said, shaking his head. “I don’t want to seem pessimistic, but something could’ve happened to him.”

“Well…” Naruto hesitated, wondering what Tsunade would do in his position. “I’ll send out a team to go searching for him in the forest.”

“I would like to go,” Gai offered. “If it’s all right with you, Naruto-sama.”

“Sure,” Naruto agreed. “I’ll send out another team into the forest if you’re not back in five days.”

After discussing it with his group for a minute or two, Gai spoke up.

“We would like to leave immediately.”“All right. Good luck, Gai, Tenten, and Lee.”

With a short, yet respectful nod, Gai and his team disappeared into the pitch black forest.

“So…” Naruto said with a sheepish smile. “Does anybody here know anything about architecture? We might as well get to work today.”

“I may be able to provide some assistance with the rebuilding of the village.” Yamato offered.

“Awesome. Anybody else?”A few more people volunteered, and promised to go to work as soon as possible.

“Let’s have breakfast first.” Chouji suggested, rubbing his hands together.

“Agreed,” Naruto replied with a famished sigh. “Let’s figure out the rebuilding issue once we’ve eaten.”

To Naruto’s relief, things began to settle down a bit more once everybody hunted for their food and gathered into small groups.

“Come sit with us,” Sakura offered, waving her hand to catch Naruto’s attention.

As Naruto was walking past the boulder he left Sasuke at, a hand shot out and grabbed his ankle.

“You…!” Sasuke growled, his onyx-colored eyes glaring daggers into Naruto’s own cerulean ones.

Without warning, several dozen roots shot out from the ground and wrapped themselves around Sasuke’s arms and legs. Yamato approached Naruto with a grim frown. He even had a root cover Sasuke’s eyes, just in case he decided to use genjutsu against them.

“Thanks Yamato,” Naruto said, still surprised that Sasuke had recovered so quickly. “I’ll bring you some food, Sasuke.”

“I don’t want any of your filthy food!” Sasuke hissed.

“Fine,” Naruto replied curtly, turning to Yamato. “Keep him restrained until I return with Sakura.”With a nod, Yamato followed his orders and kept Sasuke under a watchful eye. Naruto returned to Sakura’s still occupied group with a grim frown.

“Sakura, can I speak with you in private?”“Yes, of course.”

The blonde and pink-haired nins exited the rowdy forest and entered the fringes of the rubble of Konoha. Taking a seat on the edge of a brick wall, Naruto kneaded his fingers together with a frustrated sigh.

“What’s wrong?” Sakura asked softly, resisting the temptation to physically comfort him.

“Sasuke woke up,” He whispered through clenched teeth. “And he refuses to eat.”

“Is there something you want me to do about it?”“Well…yeah,” He replied sheepishly. “You know how stubborn he is. Could you give him medicine or something?”As much as he hated to admit it, he was a little worried about the raven-haired jerk. They were, after all, former friends and rivals. Although he desperately wanted to unconditionally hate Sasuke with all of his heart, there was a part of him that just couldn’t do it. Of course, it didn’t mean he would forgive Sasuke for what he had done.

He can’t be properly interrogated if he’s starving, A voice in his mind reasoned.

“I think I may be able to help you,” She replied hesitantly. “But it depends on if I can find the correct medicine. Excuse me while I dig through the hospital.”

Sakura disappeared without a trace, leaving Naruto behind with his confusing thoughts.

It’s like he can’t survive like a normal person would, or at least try to, He thought angrily. Pushing away his friends like that…humph. I should be worrying about the village, not that heartless, cold -

Sakura returned with her arms crossed and an apologetic frown on her face.

“Most of my medicine was destroyed,” She reported. “Fortunately, the particular herb I need for Sasuke isn’t located too far from here.”

“Awesome,” Naruto replied with a relieved grin. “Where is it? I could go get it right now.”

“It grows right along the gates of Konoha,” She explained. “It’s a fairly small, green herb. It is also very smooth in texture.”

“Thanks, Sakura-chan! Tell the others where I am while I’m gone!”Swiftly trekking through the wreckage, it didn’t take Naruto long to reach the gate. After searching carefully through the vegetation for a few minutes, he finally discovered the light green herb Sakura had requested. It was pretty difficult to find, and he could only find a couple of the leaves. Gently placing them into his pockets, Naruto hoped it was enough to serve its purpose.

“Naruto-san?” A quiet, yet familiar voice from behind questioned.

Whipping around with a kunai in his hand, Naruto was surprised to see Garaa, Temari, and Kankurou.

“Hey Garaa,” Naruto greeted with a shaky sigh. “Kankurou, Temari. I’m sorry about that.”“No harm done,” Kankurou replied. “At least you have good reason to be a little paranoid.”Seeing the puzzled look on Naruto’s face, Garaa intervened.

“We know about the destruction of your village,” He explained. “We came to offer our condolences, and our help not only as Suna, but as friends.”“Thank you for coming down here,” Naruto said with a grateful smile. “Unfortunately, Tsunade-sama and our council elders passed away very recently.”“I am extremely sorry to hear this. Who is your new Hokage?”“Me.”

“Congratulations on your accomplishment of becoming Hokage, then.”

“Thank you,” Naruto said with a polite nod. “Would you three like to come with me back to our temporary village?”“Would you mind if we rest first for a little while?” Temari asked while they approached closer to the forest.

“Of course not.”

While Garaa, Kankurou, and Temari were busy creating a fire to prepare their meals with, Naruto returned to the village. While most of the people were busy talking amongst themselves, a few others approached Naruto.

“When will Tsunade, Danzou, Homura, and Koharu’s funeral be held?”

“Oh…” Naruto had completely forgot to plan the date of their funeral! “It’ll be in an hour or so.”

“Do you have the herb?” Sakura appeared as the group left.

“Yes,” Naruto replied, following her to where Sasuke was being held. “I hope it’ll be enough.”

He handed her the scarce leaves.

“It’s more than enough,” She reassured. “With the right mixture, it’ll be enough to last Sasuke for a month and a half. This herb will be in season by then.”

“You can let him see now,” Naruto told Yamato.

With some hesitation, Yamato allowed the root covering Sasuke’s eyes to retreat back into the ground.

Shyly avoiding his angry glare, Naruto averted his gaze to Sakura, who was grinding a mixture of leaves and a grey, unknown substance into a thick paste. After performing a few hand signs, the paste disappeared, and a milky-looking liquid replaced it. She took a nearby needle and slowly filled it up with the white liquid.

“Hold out your arm.” Sakura requested.

Sasuke continued to glare at Naruto, seemingly oblivious to her altogether.

With the brief exchange of glances, Yamato made one of the roots curl tightly around Sasuke’s left wrist. Sakura stepped towards him with an unusually emotionless expression.

Before she knew what was happening, the ground below her began to crumble into a rapidly growing pit. Dropping the needle in her hand, she made a run for it into the forest.

“Sakura!”She gave a gasp of horror as she turned around to see Naruto hanging on the edges of the pit, his fingers starting to slip.

“Naruto-kun!”Naruto fell into the pitch-black pit with a shocked “O” on his lips, just as she plunged her arm into the blackness. She let out a terrified scream as her extended arm burst into black flames. Tripping over her feet, she fell into the fiery pit of endless darkness, the flames licking up her arms and quickly enveloping her entire body.

Closing her eyes, she cursed Sasuke Uchiha with every fiber of her being. How dare he leave Konoha for all of these years, just to return and kill her mentor and her best friend? The excruciating pain soon lulled into a numb feeling which soothed her scorched skin.

Is this what dying feels like?

With much hesitation, Sakura opened her eyes to discover that she was still in the forest. Looking down at her arms, she was relieved to find them pale without a single blemish. Her gaze quickly turned from her arms to her surroundings. A large, sand coffin hung in the air, with a furious looking Sasuke in it. Garaa was nearby, his open hand threatening to close.

“Use the Sharingan once more, and I will kill you without a second thought,” He threatened with his unusually cool, green glare. “Sakura-san, come here with the needle.”

With a shaky sigh, she found the needle in the grass and shuffled timidly towards the sand coffin.

It slowly hovered down, and extended a few inches to cover the Uchiha’s deadly glare. The sand surrounding his left arm creeped slowly back into Garaa’s gourd, exposing the skin of his forearm and elbow. She placed the needle into the crook of his elbow, and placed the liquid into his bloodstream.

“What will the medicine do?” Naruto asked, standing near Yamato.

“It’s a special mixture that will give him energy continuously for a month,” She explained. “Basically, it’s food. We won’t have to do this again for a while, fortunately.”

“Thank you, Garaa-san.”

“It’s not a problem,” He replied. “To keep the rest of your village safe, I will create a secured prison to place Sasuke in.”

A few minutes later, a relatively small, cavern-type of prison made entirely of sand was created in the middle of where they were. It had unusually skinny bars standing vertically at the mouth of the entrance.

“How will it keep Sasuke from escaping?” Sakura asked with a quizzical frown.

“This a unique kind of sand that will slowly feed on Sasuke’s chakra,” Garaa explained. “It won’t harm him at all. It will merely stop him from using the Sharingan or any other of his deadly jutsus ever again.”

After easily placing Sasuke into the cavern, Kakashi appeared from the bushes, with a crowd of villagers following behind.

“The funeral will begin as soon as you are ready, Naruto-sama.”