Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Road to Recovery ❯ Chapter 8

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

For the first time in weeks, Naruto had a good night’s rest. Surprisingly, he felt pretty good for someone who was stabbed in the gut. Although a voice occasionally penetrated through the hazy darkness, he continued to ignore it.

Making it his mission to yell at this annoying voice to shut up, he tried to open his heavy eyelids. Failing at this, he attempted to utter, “Shut the hell up!”All that came out of his mouth was an incoherent jumble of consonants and vowels.

“The drugs will wear off in a few minutes, Naruto-kun.”Naruto grumpily viewed the darkness grow lighter and lighter by the passing minute. Eventually, he was able to open his eyes and see the fuzzy outlines of a pink blob that was Sakura’s hair.

“You’ve been sleeping for the past couple of hours.” She whispered with an apologetic frown.

“What the-” Naruto slurred, finally gaining the use of his tongue. “Why did you wake me up?”

“I’m so sorry, Naruto,” She apologized, shaking her head. “But I had to wake you up. The village demands to know how you’re going to deal with Kumo, and they’re starting to get pretty raucous.”

Oh! Kumo!

The memories of his rather unpleasant meeting with the Raikage flooded through his mind, successfully piercing through is heavily drugged thoughts. He winced at the image of the sword going straight through Chouza’s back, its tip ending at Naruto’s stomach.

Crap, what am I going to say to the rest of Konoha?

Although a hot surge of hate pulsed through his limbs, he struggled to think clearly about the situation presented before him. The Raikage of Kumo attacked him and his ninjas over the disappearance of his brother. He wanted Sasuke, and sooner or later, probably wanted him dead.

Start a war against those fools! One voice shouted angrily. Nobody should be able to attack the Hokage of Konoha and get away with it!

Are you dumb or something? Another voice argued. Seven ninjas are missing from the village right now! You can’t afford to lose anyone else!

So that’s why you should be getting ready for war! Anyway, you have Suna on your side.

Still…maybe you should find the Raikage’s brother first.

Naruto’s thoughts immediately turned to the raven currently located in a prison not too far away. Forgetting the fact that he was injured, he shot up in a sitting position.

“Ouch.” He groaned, placing a hand on his throbbing stomach.

“Naruto!” The pink-haired kunoichi shouted, angrily pulling away his hand. “You can’t be flailing around in your current condition!”Looking down, he noticed the red that was forming on his previously white bandages.

“You’re obviously in no condition to be going anywhere,” She stated as she changed Naruto’s bloody bandages. “Do you want me to tell the village that you’re still sleeping?”“No,” The blonde said with a defeated sigh. “Bring them to me.”

With a small nod, she quietly left Naruto alone to his still hazy thoughts. He had no idea what he was going to say, but felt that he might as well say something while he was awake. Anyway, the sooner he informed the village of what happened, the sooner he would be able to get some sleep. At least, that’s what he figured.

Observing the dozens of mostly empty cots surrounding him, he saw an unconscious Chouza laying in a cot to the far right. A wave of guilt washed through his being at the worse for wear sight of his savior.

God, I’m such an idiot! If I thought out a plan beforehand, then I wouldn’t have created this mess. If I was just a little more careful, then Chouji’s father wouldn’t be dying!

“Naruto-kun,” Sakura said, placing her hand on his shoulder. “They’re here.”With a small sigh, Naruto turned his gaze to the anxious villagers before him. Most of them looked worried, while a few regarded him with glares and grim frowns. Noticing Chouji in the crowd, he felt ashamed to see an emotionless expression plastered on his face. Naruto averted his gaze from Chouji to a bird’s nest sitting on a branch just above his head.

He briefly wondered whether there were eggs in the nest or not before starting his speech.

“A few days ago, I was requested by the Raikage of Kumo to speak with him in his own village,” Naruto’s mouth became dry, and he drank from a nearby glass of water before continuing. “The Raikage’s brother is missing. He is a Jinchuriki just like I am, and he was kidnapped by the Akatsuki.”An uproar of angry voices from the crowd interrupted Naruto’s speech.

“He tried to kill you! He can’t get away with this!”“Yeah!”“We should go to war with Kumo!“Yeah!”“No, no, no!” Naruto shouted over the overlapping conversations, frantically waving his arms. “Think about it! We can’t afford to start a war with Kumo.”“Well, we have to do something!”“We are going to do something about this! We just need to consider all of our options before we do anything else. You’ve already seen the consequences of my thoughtless actions!”

Everybody grew quiet as their Hokage’s words sunk in.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been a very good Hokage so far. I swear to all of you that I will fix my mistakes. Now please leave me alone so I can think.”

The silence continued to thicken as the villagers respectfully obeyed his wishes and left.

Just as Naruto was about to get some sleep, Kakashi approached him.

“Hey Naruto,” He greeted with a somber gaze. “I need to talk to you, if you don’t mind.”“Fire away.” The blonde said, his face buried in his hands.

“Please do not hesitate to go to me if you ever need my help,” He began. “I also want you to know that Sai and I planned the ambush back in Kumo. He and the others followed us through out the entire journey.”

Looking up from his hands, Naruto gave him a tired smile. “Thanks, Kakashi-sensei.”

“Also…” Kakashi hesitated.

Naruto had to hide his shock behind his hands once more. He had never seen the grey-haired man hesitate like this before.

Well, this is a first…

You’ve been experiencing a lot of ‘firsts’ lately. A voice observed with a snort.

“I know you’re trying to protect Sasuke from the village.”“What are you talking about?” Naruto shot back, deciding to play dumb.

“I’m not trying to criticize you,” Kakashi said, shaking his head. “I accidentally overheard your argument with Sasuke. From the look on your face during your speech, I figured he had something to do with the Raikage’s brother’s disappearance. Don’t give up on Sasuke.”Still in shock, Naruto stayed silent.

“You are the only person I believe that has the power to change Sasuke for the better. You have that kind of gift, Naruto. I will keep this secret from the rest of the village, but only because it’s you. Remember, you’re not alone in this.”“I…”“You and Sakura have been wanting to chase him down for years now. He still has some good in him, and you’re the only one he has ever responded to.”
Although his throat choked up, Naruto replied in a steady voice, “Thank you, Kakashi.”

“Is there anything I can do before I leave?”“Yes, thank you. Assign more guards to the gate and inform the village of what the Kumo ninjas look like.”

For the rest of the afternoon, Naruto was able to rest in peace. During dinner, Sakura took time out of her schedule to quietly chat with him.

“It’s a miracle you managed to survive this wound,” She said with an exasperated sigh. “Especially after re-opening it like you did earlier today.”

“Jeez, Sakura-chan, how many more times do you want me to apologize?” He said with a good-natured grin. “Anyways, you’re a great medic-nin. You’ll be able to fix me up again.”

“There’s only so much medicine can do,” She remarked, rolling her eyes. “I wouldn’t plan on repeating another episode like that for another week or two, if I were you.”

Naruto’s grin faded a little as he poked at his food with his chop sticks. He wondered if things would ever be the same in Konoha again. Despite his wish for peace, he knew deep down that war against Kumo would be inevitable. He could see the fiery glints of shock and vengeance burning in the villagers’ eyes during his earlier speech. It was obvious that neither Konoha nor the Raikage would be backing down any time soon.

“How is Chouza?”“I…can’t say,” Sakura replied, averting her gaze from his. “All we can do now is to wait and see.”“I let Tsunade-sama down,” He whispered mostly to himself. “All of my actions have led up to this. I will make it up to you, even if it’s the last thing I do.”“Naruto-kun…”Just as she was about to reach out to comfort him, Sai appeared in front of Naruto’s cot with a scroll in his hand.

“Naruto-sama,” The teen handed Naruto the scroll. “It was just delivered by a ninja from the village of Kumo.”“Thank you, Sai. Is the ninja still here?”“No.”

Naruto dismissed Sai with a small nod. Turning to the plain scroll in his hands, he quickly unfurled it.

I find it quite unfortunate that our meeting was cut so short. However, I will present to you a new proposition that will be impossible for you to escape from.

Now, you have two options. Either give me back my brother or give me Sasuke. If you fail to cooperate, then my ninjas and I will appear at the gates of Konoha.

You have one day. We will arrive the day after tomorrow at sun rise.

Choose wisely, Naruto Uzumaki.

Sincerely,
The Raikage of Kumo.

Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse…

“What is it?” Sakura asked.

“Could you please be quiet for a few minutes?”Biting back a response, she left Naruto to check on her other patients.

Oh Christ, what am I going to do?!Closing his eyes and rubbing small circles on his temple, Naruto did his best to keep his cool.

I can do this. I can and will solve this problem without compromising the safety of the village.

Taking a sip of water from his glass, he tried to ignore the headache that was slowly forming behind his skull.

I have three options. I can either find the Raikage’s brother, give up Sasuke, or start a war with Kumo.

Naruto gave a small, hysterical giggle at the absurdity of all three of his options.

I don’t know where the hell the Raikage’s brother is! I can’t give away Sasuke, and it would mean the end of Konoha is I started a war!

Think calmly, Naruto! Now, what would Tsunade-sama do?
His thoughts immediately turned to Sasuke, and a plan began to form in his mind.

I should’ve thought of this before the scroll was delivered!

“Sakura-chan,” Naruto called with a determined glint in his eye. “Bring me Ibiki.”A few minutes later, she returned with the tall and quite intimidating ninja.

“Yes?”“I need you to interrogate Sasuke and find out where the Raikage’s brother is.”“All right. I will notify you of the results as soon as possible.”“Thank you, Ibiki-san.”Now that he would be attempting to tackle down the first option, all Naruto could do now was wait. He wasn’t sure how long it would take Ibiki to interrogate Sasuke, so he wanted to get some more sleep until then.

In a few minutes, Naruto fell into a relatively light doze. As the sun began to set from the sky, his subconscious pulled his mind further and further into the depths of the darkness.

Under the full moon, Naruto was once again sitting outside of Sasuke’s prison. He silently inched near the sandy bars, curiosity burning through his limbs.

Instead of shaking and groaning like he usually did, the raven was sleeping with a calm expression plastered on his face.

Naruto’s heart thumped wildly in his chest as he wondered how it would be like to touch the raven-haired teen. What would it be like to caress his soft, pale skin, to run his hands through his black, silky hair? To have his own lips press ever so gently against the raven’s currently vulnerable lips…?

Holding his breath, the blonde placed a shaky hand through the gaps of the bars. His heart skipped a beat as a pale hand grabbed his wrist and roughly pulled it forwards.

“I know you want me, Naruto. I’ve known the entire time.”

With a seductive smirk, Sasuke used his other hand to grab the blonde’s shirt collar.

“Naruto, I have the information you asked for.” Ibiki stated loudly.

Naruto’s eyelids flew open and he jerked upright from his cot, accidentally knocking away his sheets to the ground.

“Huh?”“It’s been confirmed. The Raikage’s brother escaped the Akatsuki’s grasp. He was never successfully kidnapped.”