Manicherryblossom33
Active member
Awards
Enjoy this weeks chapter!
Naruto fanfic A future without you chapter 35: out of season
SASUKES POV:
Naruto stepped through the "doorway" in the trunk, and was gone.
Kiba immediately panicked and tried to rush in after him, only to find his palms hitting bark no matter where he pat the tree. Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, and Akamaru waited, holding their breath, but Naruto did not return.
"Where'd he go?! What did you do?" Kiba accused, staring pointedly at Anna who sat on the thick root with her back against the trunk.
"Quit you're barking. I did nothing." She replied cooly. "More importantly, you lot should prepare yourselves. As soon as he returns, we'll need to make a run for it."
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked as Sasuke approached the edge, peering into the gorge. What was this he felt...? An eery, stomach turning feeling. The darkness of the void seemed ever darker, and more ominous.
It was the creatures, he realized. The guardians and the monsters were stirring, becoming more hostile.
Were they about to--
"--Attack? Yes." Anna answered, earning a blank stare from Sasuke. "Stampede would be a better way of putting it. They'll spill out of this hole and flood the land with their numerous bodies. We'll be killed a thousand different ways unless we use the exit."
"What?!" Kiba pushed off the tree with one arm in a way that did not hide his surprise.
"What about Naruto?" Hinata asked, approaching Anna.
"He'll return shortly. The time within Kairi's 'bedroom' and the real world flow differently. Hours in there are mere moments out here. He should finish his conversation fairly quickly."
"What's she telling him?" Sasuke asked.
They all stumbled, with Sasuke himself leaping as far away from the edge as possible. The ground supporting the sacred tree shook and plummeted 100 feet, with the creatures below roaring all at once to create a cacophonic harmony. Sasuke grabbed Sakura and looped his free arm around the tree root, gripping it. Kiba and Akamaru shielded Hinata with their bodies, as the Sacred Trees many leaves all turned sickly yellow in an instant and fell. The great limbs, some of which were so long they had scraped the opposite walls of the gorge as the rocky hill dropped, cracked and splinted, raining wood chips and bark before splitting and falling into the great void. Sasuke's ears rang to the point of temporary deafness as the beasts roared once more, but he felt the violent vibrations in his shoulder as the now bald trunk cracked down the middle.
He gasped, whipping his head up. But Naruto leapt out milliseconds before the trunk split, it's roots shriveling up before it fell away into the gorge.
Anna, now deprived of her seat, had one thing to say:
"RUN!"
Naruto flung his arm up, red chakra pouring through his palm in copious amounts. It attached itself to the edge of the rocky cliff, which was crumbling away from the inside out, and became solid, shrinking into a thin bridge.
Naruto reached back, taking Hinata's hands. One by one, the group took hands again, with Sasuke being the one to take Anna's. Naruto crouched and took off in a blinding, wind-screeching sprint up the bridge with Akamaru leaping after them.
Another roar told them the monsters had started climbing up the gorge as the sound became more and more clear. Thanks to Naruto's speed (and everyone else's grip) they reached the other side before the monsters were even halfway up.
Anna took the lead, with Naruto absorbing the chakra bridge back into his palm. Sasuke vaguely wondered why he wasn't exhausted from that, and where his coat had gone. But these thoughts were pushed aside as the first of the monsters exploded in a black geyser that reached through the clouds and exploded against the barrier seal.
They took off, with Naruto clapping his hands together before returning his hand to Hinata. It was nostalgic to see the yellow-white glow and the full-body jinchuuriki seal of the biju mode. Naruto acted as a guiding light for the others, using their connected hands to transfer a cloak of Kyuubi chakra to each member of the group.
This set off little alarm bells in Sasuke's head, but there was no time to sit there analyzing the situation when there were monsters on his heels.
"This way! Hurry!" Anna called, pulling them to the left. "Watch out for the rocks!"
They entered the village ruins gritting their teeth and gripping each other's hands tight. It was there that Sasuke saw Juugo and Suigetsu, who were watching the sky in both surprise and uncharacteristic horror. Jumping over rocks and dodging rubble, Sasuke, the last link in the chain, grabbed them both by their sleeves and forced them to follow. They made their way to an old building where Anna kicked the rickety, mildewed door in and led them down a flight of stairs.
Halfway down, the building shook, and it was either jump or tumble down.
Going with the former, they landed in a huge underground room. It was completely empty, with a large seal drawn on the floor that touched all four distant walls. It seemed ancient, with symbols worked into the formula that resembled those on the Uchiha clans stone tablet, and a few more that resembled the ones in Naruto's Tetragram seal.
Naruto seemed to read Anna's mind and grabbed her hand before leading the group to the center of the room. He released Hinata's hand and began weaving seals at blinding speed, as did Anna.
"Seal!" They shouted in unison, and a solid barrier formed over them, as smooth and clear as glass. It was perhaps the most high level barrier jutsu Sasuke had ever seen. It surpassed Konoha's and the other great ninja villages security measures by leaps and bounds. And Naruto and Anna had formed it without breaking a sweat!
He clenched his fists, earnestly reminding himself this wasn't the time. No sooner than he did, the monsters came in great winds down the stairs, surrounding their barrier and beating against it with all of their strength. They formed one great, evil circular glob, able to stretch and mold parts of their body into the shape of moaning human faces and hands that clawed at the barrier. The ice monsters attacked with their limbs, and the guardians flew about, lashing out and scratching the barrier. Hot magma hit the barrier like water on a rocky shore, and horrible smells filled the room. Blood, urine, gore. Sasuke didn't want to name the others.
Kiba was the first to gag, but Sakura leaned over and threw up. Akamaru shuddered from his spot on the ground, and Hinata shuddered but stood her ground. Suigetsu held out his sword eagerly, wanting the monsters to break through, and Jugo stood calmly watching Sasuke, probably trying to think of a way to get him out even if the others had to die.
"I'll hold the barrier! Use the exit, quickly!" Anna shouted to Naruto.
"Where is it?!" Naruto shouted back over the moaning, banging, and slashing.
"THIS is IT! Activate it now!" Anna stomped her foot, indicating that the seal on the ground was their only way out.
Naruto took a quick glance at the ground and glared.
"Heck no!" He replied defiantly, earning curious, impatient, and irritated looks from all those present. "This isn't supposed to be used on people!"
"Do it now!" Anna repeated.
"No! We just met you! You could be working for Mami or anybody! You could be after me or Sasuke's sharingan or Hinata's byakugan! If I do this, everyone here will be weakened!"
"I will be weakened too!" Anna argued.
"That doesn't matter! I'm not doing it! Forget it! We'll have to find another way out of here!"
"THERE IS NO OTHER WAY!" Anna clarified angrily. "This barrier takes too much chakra! We won't be able to hold it up forever! Now activate the teleportation jutsu!"
As if on cue, the top of the dome barrier caved slightly, creating a cracked depression in the barrier which the monsters began attack unanimously. The cracks became larger and larger with every hit, and were gradually extending to other parts of the barrier.
This seemed to convince Naruto, who angrily dropped his hands and moved to the exact center of the seal.
"Keep your guard up!" He warned them, to which they nodded.
Sasuke eyed Anna suspiciously while Naruto locked his fingers together and increased the amount of chakra of everyone's Kyuubi cloak, strengthening and refining it before drawing a kunai across his palm and letting the blood drip to the floor.
It took only a few drops, and they watched him weave signs as the sealing formula and chains lit up brighter and brighter red. The multiple circles began turning like stacked gears and glowed bright enough to light up the whole room.
Naruto clapped his hands together, and the whole world disappeared.
GAARA'S POV [KUMOGAKURE GOKAGE ANNUAL SUMMIT]
"Place your headpieces before you." Mifune politely ordered. "You the gokage gather here in response to Lady Hokage's request."
Gaara did so and gripped his knuckles under his chin.
"The summit shall begin now." Mifune continued. "Lady Hokage, would you like to begin?"
"Yes, thank you." Tsunade sat proudly. "An apology is in order I suppose. This is the wrong time of year for the summit, but we have an emergency and I wanted to reveal it to all of you as soon as possible."
"How ironic that a blizzard is going on outside as we speak." Enoki interrupted with an old smirk. "Just like with our first gathering."
"Yes that's also out of season." Mei noted with a kind smile. "Kumo is in the middle of summer. How strange."
"None of that matters! In any case, I have a question for the hokage!" Ay declared, earning looks from the other kage that said he was as impatient and wily as ever.
Nonetheless, he didn't beat around the bush.
"Why did you call off the search parties?" He questioned, making Gaara look up. Tsunade's expression became defensive, yet steady.
"It's out of character, Tsunade! To suddenly stop looking for him when he has such a price on his head in the black market!" Ay shouted. "The other biju have all been locked up on turtle island until suitable new hosts can be found, so Bee and Naruto are invaluable to us dead or alive! That was why we all poured time, money, and numerous shinobi into searching for him! We lost quite a few lives too! And now you trample on all of that by calling off the search parties! Explain yourself!"
"Watch your mouth, Raikage!" Tsunade shouted, insulted. "I was just about to do that when I was interrupted!"
She leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms in a huff.
"I've called you all here to tell you he's alive."
Gaara was the only one to understand this immediately, straightening up ever so slightly that nobody but he would notice. Mifune looked at Tsunade, as did the others with sympathy.
"Lady fifth, I understand you're not eager to mourn your successor, but without sufficient proof--"
"I have proof! That's why I asked everyone to leave their guards outside!" Tsunade rebuked. "We located him shortly before the Chunin exam finals. He's alive."
This announcement stunned the group. Their expressions changed from prolonged shock to cautious hope.
"Wonderful." Mei smiled. "I knew he was alive. Where is he? Can we see him?"
Tsunade frowned at this, earning strange looks from the others.
"What sort of state is he in?" Mifune asked, seeming to strike the nail on the head as Tsunade gripped her elbows.
She slowly opened her eyes, biting her lip as she broke the news.
"He has amnesia. And was apparently comatose for two months." She said, going on to explain everything that had happened to him, including his descent into the space, his resurfacing in the land of waves, his time spent with a man named Uri Uzumaki, who cared for him until they located a group of other Uzumaki clan survivors/descendants and joined them in their underground residence located in Ame. She continued with how they had found him during the attack on Ame, and how a man named Seto, the head of the Uzumaki clan had been responsible for it. How it was Naruto who appeared and defeated Seto, and watched Mami Uzumaki finish him off and how she had been about to do the same to an exhausted Naruto who was saved by Kakashi's and Neji's teams. They had carted him back to Konoha in secret, already aware that he had amnesia thanks to Sasuke's report. She finished with her explanation of where he was currently, who he was with, and why.
"There's more though." She continued. "Uri turned himself in, and we interrogated him. Apparently, that mess with the ex-Akatsuki members two years ago was a trap."
Everyone's mouths fell open as Tsunade dropped a thick file on the desk in front of her.
"It was a plot made by Seto, Mami, and Mako Uzumaki." She explained. "Their clan has been living in poverty and on the brink of extinction for generations now, ever since the massacre. When they heard about Naruto gaining influence and a reputation, they acknowledged his power despite their classification of him as a hybrid. They located the strongest remaining Akatsuki remnants and paid them to cause trouble for the five great nations. They knew that if there was a problem affecting the five of us we would send Naruto to take care of it.
"As you all remember, Sakura, Sasuke, and Hinata reported after the incident that they'd run into numerous fuinjutsu traps while tailing the enemy. They appeared to have no effect, but Uri has told me that they were actually minor Jinchuuriki torture seals with a delayed side effect of causing the chakra within a Jinchuuriki to fluctuate unnaturally making it hard to control. This occurs subtly, so the jinchuuriki will not notice until it's too late. On top of that, Mami has the ability to predict where the space would appear, and had ordered the rogues to avoid that spot so that Naruto's team would deduce that it was unsafe for their enemy and presumably lead them into a trap. Mako poured poison into the ground so that it would crumble more easily, and Seto hid within the walls of the void and pulled Naruto in once he was too weak to hold on any longer."
Gaara curled his fingers, gripping his knuckles as his eyes gleamed silver. So... It had been a trap. For Naruto. And they had walked right into it. How foolish of them. Of course the Akatsuki wouldn't be the only ones who would want the power of a jinchuuriki.
Ay slammed his fist down on the desk.
"THOSE BASTARDS! I'LL KILL THEM ALL!"
"Calm down, lord Raikage!" Mei insisted, holding her hands up.
"What a devious trap. But if he was pulled down, why didn't he say anything?" Enoki asked.
"Sasuke said his chakra levels were too low, way past the danger zone." Tsunade reminded. "And he'd held onto that ledge for over eighteen hours. Then there were his injuries. He'd lost too much blood. He probably wanted to speak up, but couldn't."
"So even the great 'orange spark' can be weakened to that degree, eh?"
"I'll kill them!" Ay shouted.
"Enough!" Tsunade snapped. "We all feel the same way! But I have more to say to you."
Gnashing his teeth together, Ay slowly sat back down.
"As I said before," Tsunade continued, "Even after Uri found him, it took him two months to wake up. And once he did, all three of the conspirators approached him in different ways. Seto didn't have to explain to Naruto that their clan was starving, he could see that with his own eyes. On top of that, the clan veterans were on edge after one of the children was taken by a rogue from the arena."
"Hold on. You don't mean the illegal shinobi arena?" Enoki asked incredulously.
"That's right. The gathering place for the most infamous s-class criminals from every hidden shinobi village in existence. Gangsters and ex-samurai are among them." Mei added.
Tsunade nodded. "When Naruto first came to them, they'd had seventy clan members, including eleven children. However, the human trafficking system of the black market pays extraordinarily high sums for the members of rare, near extinct clans like the Uzumaki."
"That's true. Sasuke's bounty trumps that of anyone present here. He's the sole surviving Uchiha and he has the sharingan. Those criminals would love to capture him." Mifune stated.
"In between the points of Naruto's arrival and awakening, infamous and legendary rogues managed to defeat and capture nineteen veterans and one child." Tsunade continued. "Most of which were highly trained, fuinjutsu masters. Apparently when Naruto heard about this he felt he couldn't just sit back and do nothing. So he confronted Seto, who gave him the profiles of those responsible for the kidnapping, along with those in charge of the arena and those who funded it."
Opening the file, Tsunade slid out over two dozen blown up bingo book profiles. Gaara recognized a few: Akado Komui, former supporter of Orochimaru. He'd earned a special place in the international bingo books after defeating over two hundred high ranking jounin, 2/3 of which were from Suna, in less than a minute. He would slit the throats and wrists of his victims and wait for them to bleed to death; Fūma Aoi, another former Orochimaru supporter who was known for his savagery. His body count, mainly women and children, numbered in the thousands; Hagoromo Haruo, a former Akatsuki nomadic spy who'd discovered and leaked the defense set ups of the five great hidden villages; Hozuki Kiyoshi, a relative of Suigetsu who'd stolen powerful forbidden jutsu from every smaller nation and used it to annihilate entire villages; Kohaku Makoto, a builder and creator of shinobi tools who'd purposely sold self-detonating timed paper bombs to Iwa and destroyed their entire arsenal in a single night; Shirogane Masayoshi, who'd defected just before Gaara was made Kazekage, and had been the main suspect in a series of bizarre disappearances within various hidden villages. Yuki Nao, Sora Rokuro, Yota Satoshi, and so on.
There were many more. S-class criminals who'd been at the top of the united gokage's to-do list since the end of the war. However they'd been unable to find the rumored shinobi arena, as all supposed trails led to dead ends, and thus unable to find the rogues.
It seemed Naruto had found them. There was a black X over every photo.
"He defeated them...?" Mei's hand hovered over her mouth in shock.
"You doubt him?." Mifune said casually. "Did you think he was incapable?"
"No it isn't that." She shook her head. "It's just that he's such a sweet, kind hearted boy. It surprises me..."
"Hah! I'm not surprised at all." Enoki stated. "It's true he's gentle, but he's no pushover. He's a shinobi! He has the makings of a kage!"
"Yes, well, what surprises me is that he was able to move so well." Tsunade said, capturing their attention. "Post-comatose patients have difficulty moving even their toes. Naruto has always been full of surprises, and has the nine tails. But as I discovered upon examining him, the accelerated healing he usually receives from the Kyuubi had stopped, so that only means that Uri must have been telling the truth."
"What truth?" Ay asked.
Tsunade put the photos away and closed the file. "Uzushiogakure was once called the land of longevity and medicine. Because many of the Uzumaki clansmen who lived there studied the copious amounts of rare and extraordinary herbs that grew in the islands forests. Their chakra control was phenomenal, using less than one percent of their chakra to perform jutsu that would take ten ninja from any of our villages. Uri claims he is an Uzushio medic ninja, meaning his abilities trump my tenfold. Apparently, as he took care of Naruto, he was able to heal him so any stiffness or numbness would be gone by the time he woke."
Mei smiled. "How generous."
"Why would he go to the trouble?" Enoki questioned. "Is he in league with the other three?"
"No, he's not." Tsunade replied.
"How can you be certain?" Mifune asked.
"Because he's--"
BOOM!
Their chairs swayed, rocking from side to side. Gaara got to his feet and leaned over the table while the Tsuchikage fell back. Sending his sand over to the old man, Gaara was able to catch him. The doors were thrown open by Darui, who tripped and caught himself amidst the prolonged shuddering of the walls, floor, and ceiling. The light hung from the ceiling via a thick wire, and swung back and forth, casting its light on each kages face as the other escorts attempted to enter the room by hugging the doorway.
The shaking came to an abrupt stop, the light flickering off then coming to life moments later.
Darui lifted his head up. "What was that?"
"The blizzard, possibly...?" Chojuro suggested.
"No way." Ao argued. "Lady Mizukage, Lord Raikage, permission to investigate?"
"Do what you want!" Ay barked.
"I suppose we should suspend the meeting until we discover the source?" Enoki asked.
"Kakashi, Guy, the two of you help search." Tsunade ordered.
"Roger!" Guy gave a thumbs up.
"What about him?" Kakashi pointed at a third man dressed in red jounin attire and armor, with an Uzushio headband. His jaw length red hair swayed a little when he jerked to bring Kakashi and the other escorts into view.
"He stays put." Tsunade decided.
"But who shall guard you?"
"Get moving!"
Guy and Kakashi gave the third man wary looks before bowing and heading out with Cee and Ao.
"Oy, Tsunade." Enoki said. "I know we're all on friendly relations now, but isn't it a mutual rule to bring only two retainers?"
"He's not a retainer!" Tsunade snapped. "He's currently a prisoner. And I only brought him because he said he wouldn't explain himself unless he could speak to all of us at once."
"Hmph! I hope you placed restraint fuinjutsu on him like you did with Sasuke!" Ay bellowed.
"Well of course I did!"
Gaara watched the man in question turn away, looking east.
GAARA!
Gaara shot to his feet, his chair toppling over behind him. The other kage and Mifune stared at him expectantly, but he looked over his shoulder stunned.
"Kazekage? Something wrong?" Enoki asked.
"You haven't spoken at all." Mei pointed out.
"Gaara?" Temari called out, with Kankuro on her heels.
Blinking away the stunned gleam in his eyes, he relaxed.
"It's nothing." He said
It had to have been his imagination.
NARUTO'S POV
He fell head first through the bitter cold blizzard winds, numb and dazed from his too-high temperature that made steam spout from his limbs, torso, and skull. His eyes were open a crack, watching the upside down world pass before his eyes as he mad his way too the snow buried ground.
Blinking, he wondered why it was taking so long. The fall, the snow, the world itself was so unbearably SLOW and HOT when it should have been bite cold.
Closing his eyes, he felt nostalgia fill him. Yes, this was familiar. He'd fallen through the air like this before. He'd known then if he did nothing he would die, and he'd been unable to act.
How stupid...
He hit the comfortable plush pillow of snow and fell through two feet. Even when every inch of him was buried in snow like this, he was still burning up.
The others...? Where were they...?
They had to be nearby. Teleportation jutsu always sent people to roughly the same location. If he didn't look for them in this blizzard, in the condition they were probably in, they just might die.
Grunting, he pushed himself to his knees and focused his chakra. Calm, stay calm. The chakra fluctuations would stop as long as he relaxed.
Feeling his heart rate slow and his head stop throbbing, the steam disappeared as his chakra went back to flowing normally.
Knowing what he had to do next, he took note of how low on chakra he was. Yes, very, very low. He'd used most of Kurama's chakra too. Best not to use that jutsu again.
What kind of exit was that?! The mass emergency teleportation jutsu was meant for ancient ruins, emergency food and water supplies, and forbidden sacred ninjutsu among other things. NOT PEOPLE! When he saw Anna, he was gonna--
Cold!
Hugging himself, he sneezed and frowned. Freezing! It was freezing! Maybe he shouldn't have stopped the chakra fluctuations after all, even though they could have killed him easily.
"Quit whining and get moving!" Kurama ordered.
"Shut up! I'm not used to the cold!"
"That doesn't matter! Your group will be in big trouble if they get buried under all this snow! No one will be able to find them then."
Gritting his teeth, he agreed with a nod and focused his remaining chakra in his ears. He flinched when all he heard at first was screeching, followed by the rapid heartbeats of sleeping forest life. Hearing what he knew was a human heart, he started trudging through the thick snow at top speed, wishing he had even a little more chakra to spare so his feet weren't numb.
Something was off about this blizzard though. The trees still had all their leaves on them. So did the bushes and the shrubs. Heck there were little flowers poking out of the snow where it was most shallow, and moss on the rocks.
"Something's not right here." Kurama said.
Naruto nodded. This snow felt just like normal snow, but it didn't belong here. He was certain of it.
Gasping at the sight of a human hand poking out of the snow, he ran, knelt and dug through the icy cold with his fingers. The hand was barely visible, but it was so slender and small it had to be a woman's.
Hinata?
He pulled her free and lifted her into the air, keeping her close.
However it wasn't Hinata. It was Sakura. And she looked awful. Pale as a sheet, blue lips, ice in her hair.
Gasping, he held her closer and checked her heartbeat. She was still alive, but she needed warmth NOW.
Spotting a rocky cave, he ran inside and held her up with one hand while he pulled scrolls from his pocket, producing firewood, stolen fire style, and blankets.
With the fire started and Sakura trapped in a cocoon of blankets, he decided he had to head back out to get Sasuke, Hinata, Kiba, Anna, Akamaru, Jugo, and Suigetsu.
He knelt in the dirt next to Sakura and bowed his head so they were on the same eye level. She blinked open her puffy, frozen eyes.
"I'm gonna go find the others." He told her with a grin. "You stay warm until I get back okay? Then we can go home."
Her eyes widened at this but he didn't have anymore time to talk. Reinvigorated, he braved the storm once, this time sprinting as he sought after the second closest person. Some hopeful voice in his head was jumping for joy at the thought of rescuing Hinata from the blizzard and having to sit with her JUST RIGHT to keep her warm. Another part of him, namely Kurama, was chewing him out for having disgusting fantasies that HE was unfortunate enough to have to listen to. And a third part was saying "shut up I'll think what I want with my own head!"
But regardless, he reached the second persons location a little late. He or she was already buried, because he couldn't see them at all.
Focusing on the sound of their beating heart, he started digging through the snow. Ignoring his screaming, numb fingers, he pushed through scooping up heaping snowballs and tossing them overhead. He saw a pinky nail, and and index finger, and finally a complete hand and reached down, trying to find some part of it to grip. It was frozen, wet, and slippery, and Naruto's own hands were shaking, but he nonetheless half yanked, half dragged his friend out of the snow.
Sasuke coughed up slush and sleet, and reached around in the snow blindly for something to grip, something that wasn't shifty or frozen. Naruto helped him up, slinging one arm over his shoulders and turning to head back to the cave.
Sasuke muttered something unintelligible, and Naruto quickened his pace. He had to hurry to find the others, and get everyone to he cave.
He stopped, panting as he noticed somebody in the distance. Somebody who was crouching in the snow, half bent over, having died the surrounding snow red with blood. Somebody who was half-dead already.
"TSUNA?!!"
Horrified and confused, Naruto set Sasuke down under the short ledge of a nearby rock formation and took off running. It WAS Tsuna, and he was in bad shape. Fatal shape. But this was the same route he'd taken FROM the cave! How had he not seen him before? Unless!
Skidding to a stop, he focused on Tsuna for a moment. His chakra... The nature energy of he area... The snow, the air, the scene before him itself...
Everything was flowing normal! It wasn't a genjutsu!
He took off again, crouching in front of Tsuna and checking him for injuries. Most of the blood seemed to be coming from the center of his chest.
Yuuki! Yuuki's medicine! That's right, Yuuki showed Sakura all her tricks...
FLASHBACK STARTS HERE
NARUTOS POV [THE SHIP]
"We should reach the island tomorrow." Sasuke reported as he shut the door behind him.
"Awesome!" Naruto shouted.
"Wait!" Sakura yelled, getting the attention of the entire group.
They waited expectantly as she pulled six small palm sized compact tubs from her shuriken holster and held them out, three in each hand.
"What are those?" Hinata asked.
"Elixir." Sakura answered as Sasuke took one. "Yuuki gave me all the right herbs. It will heal any injury and restore any organ except--"
"The heart and the brain." Naruto remembered as Kiba took one.
"Yes. It took me hours! But I was very careful to follow her exact instructions." Sakura said with pride. "It should be perfect."
Naruto shuddered. Elixir, yeah right. If this was the same stuff he remembered, then he'd sooner carve out his kidney with a pair of chopsticks than use it again. Taking one of the compacts and popping it open, he immediately clicked it shut.
"This stuff is green." Sasuke complained, looking like he might hurl.
"It's moving!" Kiba pointed at his, which was stretching out to grab him.
Hinata clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Quit complaining!" Sakura ordered.
Sasuke put his away, looking disgusted. "You have my word I'll only use it in case of emergencies."
"Same here." Naruto promised.
FLASHBACK ENDS HERE
"Sorry, Tsuna!" Naruto apologized as he revealed the compact and clicked it open. The disgusting green paste shot out, attaching itself to Tsuna's chest wound and fizzing away through his clothes, repairing skin and bone and tissue.
Naruto waited, his face lighting up when he saw Tsuna blink his eyes open and look up.
"Partner...?"
Naruto sighed in relief through a big grin. "You're okay!"
Tsuna's gaze shifted while his head and body remained motionless.
"Where am I...?"
"Don't worry, you're gonna be okay! I don't really know where we are, but you're okay!" Naruto reassured him as he helped him to his feet and gripped his shoulders. He seemed steady, but it was important to keep an eye in him. The elixir had some weird after effects like hallucinations.
He slowly loosened his grip and stepped back. Seeing how Tsuna wasn't falling over, it was safe to assume he could stand on his own for the moment.
Naruto whirled, glancing about.
"Who did this to you?" He asked. "Where'd they go?"
"... It's no good, partner..."
Naruto smirked at him. "Don't worry! We'll take them down, just like the others."
He returned to glancing around. Remembering Sasuke, he looked at him to see he was standing up, though hugging the wall. He was also glaring murderously in Naruto's direction.
"Sasuke?! What's wrong?!" He called.
"Partner..."
I'M SORRY
Naruto jerked, blacking out as red hot pain filled him, starting at the center of his chest and snaking over his shoulders, skull, and knees. His toes and fingers went numb as something warm and runny dripped from the corners of his mouth.
Shocked beyond all imagining, his eyes slowly trailed downward, his pupils shrinking as his mouth formed a wide, unbelieving grimace of pain from various origins.
There was an arm through his chest.
Right where his heart was.
Tsuna's arm.
And this wasn't a genjutsu.
Feeling his knees become heavy, Naruto raised his arms with difficulty, cupping his hands over his mouth. He coughed up a waterfall of blood that seeped through the spaces between his fingers and died his hands red.
His surrounding vision turned blurry, and black as he looked over his shoulder at Tsuna, who met his gaze without flinching.
Tsuna's eyes blinked, narrowing into crescent moons.
"I'm sorry..." He repeated, raising two fingers to focus his chakra.
His vision all but gone, Naruto blinked slowly. He could hear voices calling out to him desperately. Sasuke, Kurama, others too...
And as much as he wanted to stay conscious, his body wouldn't listen to him. His thoughts drifted to Sakura, alone in the cave, and Sasuke who'd looked so angry, and Kiba, Akamaru, jugo, Suigetsu and Hinata who were still lost in the blizzard somewhere.
Especially Hinata.
Her voice was the loudest of all.
I WILL SCOLD YOU! I WILL!
He could remember that time at the inn, after the seal stone had shown him and Sasuke that vision of the past. It was just before he'd gone after Hinata.
That's right... He heard her... And he could hear her now...
'NIGHT, LOVE YOU.'
The past...
Naruto fanfic A future without you chapter 35: out of season
SASUKES POV:
Naruto stepped through the "doorway" in the trunk, and was gone.
Kiba immediately panicked and tried to rush in after him, only to find his palms hitting bark no matter where he pat the tree. Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, and Akamaru waited, holding their breath, but Naruto did not return.
"Where'd he go?! What did you do?" Kiba accused, staring pointedly at Anna who sat on the thick root with her back against the trunk.
"Quit you're barking. I did nothing." She replied cooly. "More importantly, you lot should prepare yourselves. As soon as he returns, we'll need to make a run for it."
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked as Sasuke approached the edge, peering into the gorge. What was this he felt...? An eery, stomach turning feeling. The darkness of the void seemed ever darker, and more ominous.
It was the creatures, he realized. The guardians and the monsters were stirring, becoming more hostile.
Were they about to--
"--Attack? Yes." Anna answered, earning a blank stare from Sasuke. "Stampede would be a better way of putting it. They'll spill out of this hole and flood the land with their numerous bodies. We'll be killed a thousand different ways unless we use the exit."
"What?!" Kiba pushed off the tree with one arm in a way that did not hide his surprise.
"What about Naruto?" Hinata asked, approaching Anna.
"He'll return shortly. The time within Kairi's 'bedroom' and the real world flow differently. Hours in there are mere moments out here. He should finish his conversation fairly quickly."
"What's she telling him?" Sasuke asked.
They all stumbled, with Sasuke himself leaping as far away from the edge as possible. The ground supporting the sacred tree shook and plummeted 100 feet, with the creatures below roaring all at once to create a cacophonic harmony. Sasuke grabbed Sakura and looped his free arm around the tree root, gripping it. Kiba and Akamaru shielded Hinata with their bodies, as the Sacred Trees many leaves all turned sickly yellow in an instant and fell. The great limbs, some of which were so long they had scraped the opposite walls of the gorge as the rocky hill dropped, cracked and splinted, raining wood chips and bark before splitting and falling into the great void. Sasuke's ears rang to the point of temporary deafness as the beasts roared once more, but he felt the violent vibrations in his shoulder as the now bald trunk cracked down the middle.
He gasped, whipping his head up. But Naruto leapt out milliseconds before the trunk split, it's roots shriveling up before it fell away into the gorge.
Anna, now deprived of her seat, had one thing to say:
"RUN!"
Naruto flung his arm up, red chakra pouring through his palm in copious amounts. It attached itself to the edge of the rocky cliff, which was crumbling away from the inside out, and became solid, shrinking into a thin bridge.
Naruto reached back, taking Hinata's hands. One by one, the group took hands again, with Sasuke being the one to take Anna's. Naruto crouched and took off in a blinding, wind-screeching sprint up the bridge with Akamaru leaping after them.
Another roar told them the monsters had started climbing up the gorge as the sound became more and more clear. Thanks to Naruto's speed (and everyone else's grip) they reached the other side before the monsters were even halfway up.
Anna took the lead, with Naruto absorbing the chakra bridge back into his palm. Sasuke vaguely wondered why he wasn't exhausted from that, and where his coat had gone. But these thoughts were pushed aside as the first of the monsters exploded in a black geyser that reached through the clouds and exploded against the barrier seal.
They took off, with Naruto clapping his hands together before returning his hand to Hinata. It was nostalgic to see the yellow-white glow and the full-body jinchuuriki seal of the biju mode. Naruto acted as a guiding light for the others, using their connected hands to transfer a cloak of Kyuubi chakra to each member of the group.
This set off little alarm bells in Sasuke's head, but there was no time to sit there analyzing the situation when there were monsters on his heels.
"This way! Hurry!" Anna called, pulling them to the left. "Watch out for the rocks!"
They entered the village ruins gritting their teeth and gripping each other's hands tight. It was there that Sasuke saw Juugo and Suigetsu, who were watching the sky in both surprise and uncharacteristic horror. Jumping over rocks and dodging rubble, Sasuke, the last link in the chain, grabbed them both by their sleeves and forced them to follow. They made their way to an old building where Anna kicked the rickety, mildewed door in and led them down a flight of stairs.
Halfway down, the building shook, and it was either jump or tumble down.
Going with the former, they landed in a huge underground room. It was completely empty, with a large seal drawn on the floor that touched all four distant walls. It seemed ancient, with symbols worked into the formula that resembled those on the Uchiha clans stone tablet, and a few more that resembled the ones in Naruto's Tetragram seal.
Naruto seemed to read Anna's mind and grabbed her hand before leading the group to the center of the room. He released Hinata's hand and began weaving seals at blinding speed, as did Anna.
"Seal!" They shouted in unison, and a solid barrier formed over them, as smooth and clear as glass. It was perhaps the most high level barrier jutsu Sasuke had ever seen. It surpassed Konoha's and the other great ninja villages security measures by leaps and bounds. And Naruto and Anna had formed it without breaking a sweat!
He clenched his fists, earnestly reminding himself this wasn't the time. No sooner than he did, the monsters came in great winds down the stairs, surrounding their barrier and beating against it with all of their strength. They formed one great, evil circular glob, able to stretch and mold parts of their body into the shape of moaning human faces and hands that clawed at the barrier. The ice monsters attacked with their limbs, and the guardians flew about, lashing out and scratching the barrier. Hot magma hit the barrier like water on a rocky shore, and horrible smells filled the room. Blood, urine, gore. Sasuke didn't want to name the others.
Kiba was the first to gag, but Sakura leaned over and threw up. Akamaru shuddered from his spot on the ground, and Hinata shuddered but stood her ground. Suigetsu held out his sword eagerly, wanting the monsters to break through, and Jugo stood calmly watching Sasuke, probably trying to think of a way to get him out even if the others had to die.
"I'll hold the barrier! Use the exit, quickly!" Anna shouted to Naruto.
"Where is it?!" Naruto shouted back over the moaning, banging, and slashing.
"THIS is IT! Activate it now!" Anna stomped her foot, indicating that the seal on the ground was their only way out.
Naruto took a quick glance at the ground and glared.
"Heck no!" He replied defiantly, earning curious, impatient, and irritated looks from all those present. "This isn't supposed to be used on people!"
"Do it now!" Anna repeated.
"No! We just met you! You could be working for Mami or anybody! You could be after me or Sasuke's sharingan or Hinata's byakugan! If I do this, everyone here will be weakened!"
"I will be weakened too!" Anna argued.
"That doesn't matter! I'm not doing it! Forget it! We'll have to find another way out of here!"
"THERE IS NO OTHER WAY!" Anna clarified angrily. "This barrier takes too much chakra! We won't be able to hold it up forever! Now activate the teleportation jutsu!"
As if on cue, the top of the dome barrier caved slightly, creating a cracked depression in the barrier which the monsters began attack unanimously. The cracks became larger and larger with every hit, and were gradually extending to other parts of the barrier.
This seemed to convince Naruto, who angrily dropped his hands and moved to the exact center of the seal.
"Keep your guard up!" He warned them, to which they nodded.
Sasuke eyed Anna suspiciously while Naruto locked his fingers together and increased the amount of chakra of everyone's Kyuubi cloak, strengthening and refining it before drawing a kunai across his palm and letting the blood drip to the floor.
It took only a few drops, and they watched him weave signs as the sealing formula and chains lit up brighter and brighter red. The multiple circles began turning like stacked gears and glowed bright enough to light up the whole room.
Naruto clapped his hands together, and the whole world disappeared.
GAARA'S POV [KUMOGAKURE GOKAGE ANNUAL SUMMIT]
"Place your headpieces before you." Mifune politely ordered. "You the gokage gather here in response to Lady Hokage's request."
Gaara did so and gripped his knuckles under his chin.
"The summit shall begin now." Mifune continued. "Lady Hokage, would you like to begin?"
"Yes, thank you." Tsunade sat proudly. "An apology is in order I suppose. This is the wrong time of year for the summit, but we have an emergency and I wanted to reveal it to all of you as soon as possible."
"How ironic that a blizzard is going on outside as we speak." Enoki interrupted with an old smirk. "Just like with our first gathering."
"Yes that's also out of season." Mei noted with a kind smile. "Kumo is in the middle of summer. How strange."
"None of that matters! In any case, I have a question for the hokage!" Ay declared, earning looks from the other kage that said he was as impatient and wily as ever.
Nonetheless, he didn't beat around the bush.
"Why did you call off the search parties?" He questioned, making Gaara look up. Tsunade's expression became defensive, yet steady.
"It's out of character, Tsunade! To suddenly stop looking for him when he has such a price on his head in the black market!" Ay shouted. "The other biju have all been locked up on turtle island until suitable new hosts can be found, so Bee and Naruto are invaluable to us dead or alive! That was why we all poured time, money, and numerous shinobi into searching for him! We lost quite a few lives too! And now you trample on all of that by calling off the search parties! Explain yourself!"
"Watch your mouth, Raikage!" Tsunade shouted, insulted. "I was just about to do that when I was interrupted!"
She leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms in a huff.
"I've called you all here to tell you he's alive."
Gaara was the only one to understand this immediately, straightening up ever so slightly that nobody but he would notice. Mifune looked at Tsunade, as did the others with sympathy.
"Lady fifth, I understand you're not eager to mourn your successor, but without sufficient proof--"
"I have proof! That's why I asked everyone to leave their guards outside!" Tsunade rebuked. "We located him shortly before the Chunin exam finals. He's alive."
This announcement stunned the group. Their expressions changed from prolonged shock to cautious hope.
"Wonderful." Mei smiled. "I knew he was alive. Where is he? Can we see him?"
Tsunade frowned at this, earning strange looks from the others.
"What sort of state is he in?" Mifune asked, seeming to strike the nail on the head as Tsunade gripped her elbows.
She slowly opened her eyes, biting her lip as she broke the news.
"He has amnesia. And was apparently comatose for two months." She said, going on to explain everything that had happened to him, including his descent into the space, his resurfacing in the land of waves, his time spent with a man named Uri Uzumaki, who cared for him until they located a group of other Uzumaki clan survivors/descendants and joined them in their underground residence located in Ame. She continued with how they had found him during the attack on Ame, and how a man named Seto, the head of the Uzumaki clan had been responsible for it. How it was Naruto who appeared and defeated Seto, and watched Mami Uzumaki finish him off and how she had been about to do the same to an exhausted Naruto who was saved by Kakashi's and Neji's teams. They had carted him back to Konoha in secret, already aware that he had amnesia thanks to Sasuke's report. She finished with her explanation of where he was currently, who he was with, and why.
"There's more though." She continued. "Uri turned himself in, and we interrogated him. Apparently, that mess with the ex-Akatsuki members two years ago was a trap."
Everyone's mouths fell open as Tsunade dropped a thick file on the desk in front of her.
"It was a plot made by Seto, Mami, and Mako Uzumaki." She explained. "Their clan has been living in poverty and on the brink of extinction for generations now, ever since the massacre. When they heard about Naruto gaining influence and a reputation, they acknowledged his power despite their classification of him as a hybrid. They located the strongest remaining Akatsuki remnants and paid them to cause trouble for the five great nations. They knew that if there was a problem affecting the five of us we would send Naruto to take care of it.
"As you all remember, Sakura, Sasuke, and Hinata reported after the incident that they'd run into numerous fuinjutsu traps while tailing the enemy. They appeared to have no effect, but Uri has told me that they were actually minor Jinchuuriki torture seals with a delayed side effect of causing the chakra within a Jinchuuriki to fluctuate unnaturally making it hard to control. This occurs subtly, so the jinchuuriki will not notice until it's too late. On top of that, Mami has the ability to predict where the space would appear, and had ordered the rogues to avoid that spot so that Naruto's team would deduce that it was unsafe for their enemy and presumably lead them into a trap. Mako poured poison into the ground so that it would crumble more easily, and Seto hid within the walls of the void and pulled Naruto in once he was too weak to hold on any longer."
Gaara curled his fingers, gripping his knuckles as his eyes gleamed silver. So... It had been a trap. For Naruto. And they had walked right into it. How foolish of them. Of course the Akatsuki wouldn't be the only ones who would want the power of a jinchuuriki.
Ay slammed his fist down on the desk.
"THOSE BASTARDS! I'LL KILL THEM ALL!"
"Calm down, lord Raikage!" Mei insisted, holding her hands up.
"What a devious trap. But if he was pulled down, why didn't he say anything?" Enoki asked.
"Sasuke said his chakra levels were too low, way past the danger zone." Tsunade reminded. "And he'd held onto that ledge for over eighteen hours. Then there were his injuries. He'd lost too much blood. He probably wanted to speak up, but couldn't."
"So even the great 'orange spark' can be weakened to that degree, eh?"
"I'll kill them!" Ay shouted.
"Enough!" Tsunade snapped. "We all feel the same way! But I have more to say to you."
Gnashing his teeth together, Ay slowly sat back down.
"As I said before," Tsunade continued, "Even after Uri found him, it took him two months to wake up. And once he did, all three of the conspirators approached him in different ways. Seto didn't have to explain to Naruto that their clan was starving, he could see that with his own eyes. On top of that, the clan veterans were on edge after one of the children was taken by a rogue from the arena."
"Hold on. You don't mean the illegal shinobi arena?" Enoki asked incredulously.
"That's right. The gathering place for the most infamous s-class criminals from every hidden shinobi village in existence. Gangsters and ex-samurai are among them." Mei added.
Tsunade nodded. "When Naruto first came to them, they'd had seventy clan members, including eleven children. However, the human trafficking system of the black market pays extraordinarily high sums for the members of rare, near extinct clans like the Uzumaki."
"That's true. Sasuke's bounty trumps that of anyone present here. He's the sole surviving Uchiha and he has the sharingan. Those criminals would love to capture him." Mifune stated.
"In between the points of Naruto's arrival and awakening, infamous and legendary rogues managed to defeat and capture nineteen veterans and one child." Tsunade continued. "Most of which were highly trained, fuinjutsu masters. Apparently when Naruto heard about this he felt he couldn't just sit back and do nothing. So he confronted Seto, who gave him the profiles of those responsible for the kidnapping, along with those in charge of the arena and those who funded it."
Opening the file, Tsunade slid out over two dozen blown up bingo book profiles. Gaara recognized a few: Akado Komui, former supporter of Orochimaru. He'd earned a special place in the international bingo books after defeating over two hundred high ranking jounin, 2/3 of which were from Suna, in less than a minute. He would slit the throats and wrists of his victims and wait for them to bleed to death; Fūma Aoi, another former Orochimaru supporter who was known for his savagery. His body count, mainly women and children, numbered in the thousands; Hagoromo Haruo, a former Akatsuki nomadic spy who'd discovered and leaked the defense set ups of the five great hidden villages; Hozuki Kiyoshi, a relative of Suigetsu who'd stolen powerful forbidden jutsu from every smaller nation and used it to annihilate entire villages; Kohaku Makoto, a builder and creator of shinobi tools who'd purposely sold self-detonating timed paper bombs to Iwa and destroyed their entire arsenal in a single night; Shirogane Masayoshi, who'd defected just before Gaara was made Kazekage, and had been the main suspect in a series of bizarre disappearances within various hidden villages. Yuki Nao, Sora Rokuro, Yota Satoshi, and so on.
There were many more. S-class criminals who'd been at the top of the united gokage's to-do list since the end of the war. However they'd been unable to find the rumored shinobi arena, as all supposed trails led to dead ends, and thus unable to find the rogues.
It seemed Naruto had found them. There was a black X over every photo.
"He defeated them...?" Mei's hand hovered over her mouth in shock.
"You doubt him?." Mifune said casually. "Did you think he was incapable?"
"No it isn't that." She shook her head. "It's just that he's such a sweet, kind hearted boy. It surprises me..."
"Hah! I'm not surprised at all." Enoki stated. "It's true he's gentle, but he's no pushover. He's a shinobi! He has the makings of a kage!"
"Yes, well, what surprises me is that he was able to move so well." Tsunade said, capturing their attention. "Post-comatose patients have difficulty moving even their toes. Naruto has always been full of surprises, and has the nine tails. But as I discovered upon examining him, the accelerated healing he usually receives from the Kyuubi had stopped, so that only means that Uri must have been telling the truth."
"What truth?" Ay asked.
Tsunade put the photos away and closed the file. "Uzushiogakure was once called the land of longevity and medicine. Because many of the Uzumaki clansmen who lived there studied the copious amounts of rare and extraordinary herbs that grew in the islands forests. Their chakra control was phenomenal, using less than one percent of their chakra to perform jutsu that would take ten ninja from any of our villages. Uri claims he is an Uzushio medic ninja, meaning his abilities trump my tenfold. Apparently, as he took care of Naruto, he was able to heal him so any stiffness or numbness would be gone by the time he woke."
Mei smiled. "How generous."
"Why would he go to the trouble?" Enoki questioned. "Is he in league with the other three?"
"No, he's not." Tsunade replied.
"How can you be certain?" Mifune asked.
"Because he's--"
BOOM!
Their chairs swayed, rocking from side to side. Gaara got to his feet and leaned over the table while the Tsuchikage fell back. Sending his sand over to the old man, Gaara was able to catch him. The doors were thrown open by Darui, who tripped and caught himself amidst the prolonged shuddering of the walls, floor, and ceiling. The light hung from the ceiling via a thick wire, and swung back and forth, casting its light on each kages face as the other escorts attempted to enter the room by hugging the doorway.
The shaking came to an abrupt stop, the light flickering off then coming to life moments later.
Darui lifted his head up. "What was that?"
"The blizzard, possibly...?" Chojuro suggested.
"No way." Ao argued. "Lady Mizukage, Lord Raikage, permission to investigate?"
"Do what you want!" Ay barked.
"I suppose we should suspend the meeting until we discover the source?" Enoki asked.
"Kakashi, Guy, the two of you help search." Tsunade ordered.
"Roger!" Guy gave a thumbs up.
"What about him?" Kakashi pointed at a third man dressed in red jounin attire and armor, with an Uzushio headband. His jaw length red hair swayed a little when he jerked to bring Kakashi and the other escorts into view.
"He stays put." Tsunade decided.
"But who shall guard you?"
"Get moving!"
Guy and Kakashi gave the third man wary looks before bowing and heading out with Cee and Ao.
"Oy, Tsunade." Enoki said. "I know we're all on friendly relations now, but isn't it a mutual rule to bring only two retainers?"
"He's not a retainer!" Tsunade snapped. "He's currently a prisoner. And I only brought him because he said he wouldn't explain himself unless he could speak to all of us at once."
"Hmph! I hope you placed restraint fuinjutsu on him like you did with Sasuke!" Ay bellowed.
"Well of course I did!"
Gaara watched the man in question turn away, looking east.
GAARA!
Gaara shot to his feet, his chair toppling over behind him. The other kage and Mifune stared at him expectantly, but he looked over his shoulder stunned.
"Kazekage? Something wrong?" Enoki asked.
"You haven't spoken at all." Mei pointed out.
"Gaara?" Temari called out, with Kankuro on her heels.
Blinking away the stunned gleam in his eyes, he relaxed.
"It's nothing." He said
It had to have been his imagination.
NARUTO'S POV
He fell head first through the bitter cold blizzard winds, numb and dazed from his too-high temperature that made steam spout from his limbs, torso, and skull. His eyes were open a crack, watching the upside down world pass before his eyes as he mad his way too the snow buried ground.
Blinking, he wondered why it was taking so long. The fall, the snow, the world itself was so unbearably SLOW and HOT when it should have been bite cold.
Closing his eyes, he felt nostalgia fill him. Yes, this was familiar. He'd fallen through the air like this before. He'd known then if he did nothing he would die, and he'd been unable to act.
How stupid...
He hit the comfortable plush pillow of snow and fell through two feet. Even when every inch of him was buried in snow like this, he was still burning up.
The others...? Where were they...?
They had to be nearby. Teleportation jutsu always sent people to roughly the same location. If he didn't look for them in this blizzard, in the condition they were probably in, they just might die.
Grunting, he pushed himself to his knees and focused his chakra. Calm, stay calm. The chakra fluctuations would stop as long as he relaxed.
Feeling his heart rate slow and his head stop throbbing, the steam disappeared as his chakra went back to flowing normally.
Knowing what he had to do next, he took note of how low on chakra he was. Yes, very, very low. He'd used most of Kurama's chakra too. Best not to use that jutsu again.
What kind of exit was that?! The mass emergency teleportation jutsu was meant for ancient ruins, emergency food and water supplies, and forbidden sacred ninjutsu among other things. NOT PEOPLE! When he saw Anna, he was gonna--
Cold!
Hugging himself, he sneezed and frowned. Freezing! It was freezing! Maybe he shouldn't have stopped the chakra fluctuations after all, even though they could have killed him easily.
"Quit whining and get moving!" Kurama ordered.
"Shut up! I'm not used to the cold!"
"That doesn't matter! Your group will be in big trouble if they get buried under all this snow! No one will be able to find them then."
Gritting his teeth, he agreed with a nod and focused his remaining chakra in his ears. He flinched when all he heard at first was screeching, followed by the rapid heartbeats of sleeping forest life. Hearing what he knew was a human heart, he started trudging through the thick snow at top speed, wishing he had even a little more chakra to spare so his feet weren't numb.
Something was off about this blizzard though. The trees still had all their leaves on them. So did the bushes and the shrubs. Heck there were little flowers poking out of the snow where it was most shallow, and moss on the rocks.
"Something's not right here." Kurama said.
Naruto nodded. This snow felt just like normal snow, but it didn't belong here. He was certain of it.
Gasping at the sight of a human hand poking out of the snow, he ran, knelt and dug through the icy cold with his fingers. The hand was barely visible, but it was so slender and small it had to be a woman's.
Hinata?
He pulled her free and lifted her into the air, keeping her close.
However it wasn't Hinata. It was Sakura. And she looked awful. Pale as a sheet, blue lips, ice in her hair.
Gasping, he held her closer and checked her heartbeat. She was still alive, but she needed warmth NOW.
Spotting a rocky cave, he ran inside and held her up with one hand while he pulled scrolls from his pocket, producing firewood, stolen fire style, and blankets.
With the fire started and Sakura trapped in a cocoon of blankets, he decided he had to head back out to get Sasuke, Hinata, Kiba, Anna, Akamaru, Jugo, and Suigetsu.
He knelt in the dirt next to Sakura and bowed his head so they were on the same eye level. She blinked open her puffy, frozen eyes.
"I'm gonna go find the others." He told her with a grin. "You stay warm until I get back okay? Then we can go home."
Her eyes widened at this but he didn't have anymore time to talk. Reinvigorated, he braved the storm once, this time sprinting as he sought after the second closest person. Some hopeful voice in his head was jumping for joy at the thought of rescuing Hinata from the blizzard and having to sit with her JUST RIGHT to keep her warm. Another part of him, namely Kurama, was chewing him out for having disgusting fantasies that HE was unfortunate enough to have to listen to. And a third part was saying "shut up I'll think what I want with my own head!"
But regardless, he reached the second persons location a little late. He or she was already buried, because he couldn't see them at all.
Focusing on the sound of their beating heart, he started digging through the snow. Ignoring his screaming, numb fingers, he pushed through scooping up heaping snowballs and tossing them overhead. He saw a pinky nail, and and index finger, and finally a complete hand and reached down, trying to find some part of it to grip. It was frozen, wet, and slippery, and Naruto's own hands were shaking, but he nonetheless half yanked, half dragged his friend out of the snow.
Sasuke coughed up slush and sleet, and reached around in the snow blindly for something to grip, something that wasn't shifty or frozen. Naruto helped him up, slinging one arm over his shoulders and turning to head back to the cave.
Sasuke muttered something unintelligible, and Naruto quickened his pace. He had to hurry to find the others, and get everyone to he cave.
He stopped, panting as he noticed somebody in the distance. Somebody who was crouching in the snow, half bent over, having died the surrounding snow red with blood. Somebody who was half-dead already.
"TSUNA?!!"
Horrified and confused, Naruto set Sasuke down under the short ledge of a nearby rock formation and took off running. It WAS Tsuna, and he was in bad shape. Fatal shape. But this was the same route he'd taken FROM the cave! How had he not seen him before? Unless!
Skidding to a stop, he focused on Tsuna for a moment. His chakra... The nature energy of he area... The snow, the air, the scene before him itself...
Everything was flowing normal! It wasn't a genjutsu!
He took off again, crouching in front of Tsuna and checking him for injuries. Most of the blood seemed to be coming from the center of his chest.
Yuuki! Yuuki's medicine! That's right, Yuuki showed Sakura all her tricks...
FLASHBACK STARTS HERE
NARUTOS POV [THE SHIP]
"We should reach the island tomorrow." Sasuke reported as he shut the door behind him.
"Awesome!" Naruto shouted.
"Wait!" Sakura yelled, getting the attention of the entire group.
They waited expectantly as she pulled six small palm sized compact tubs from her shuriken holster and held them out, three in each hand.
"What are those?" Hinata asked.
"Elixir." Sakura answered as Sasuke took one. "Yuuki gave me all the right herbs. It will heal any injury and restore any organ except--"
"The heart and the brain." Naruto remembered as Kiba took one.
"Yes. It took me hours! But I was very careful to follow her exact instructions." Sakura said with pride. "It should be perfect."
Naruto shuddered. Elixir, yeah right. If this was the same stuff he remembered, then he'd sooner carve out his kidney with a pair of chopsticks than use it again. Taking one of the compacts and popping it open, he immediately clicked it shut.
"This stuff is green." Sasuke complained, looking like he might hurl.
"It's moving!" Kiba pointed at his, which was stretching out to grab him.
Hinata clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Quit complaining!" Sakura ordered.
Sasuke put his away, looking disgusted. "You have my word I'll only use it in case of emergencies."
"Same here." Naruto promised.
FLASHBACK ENDS HERE
"Sorry, Tsuna!" Naruto apologized as he revealed the compact and clicked it open. The disgusting green paste shot out, attaching itself to Tsuna's chest wound and fizzing away through his clothes, repairing skin and bone and tissue.
Naruto waited, his face lighting up when he saw Tsuna blink his eyes open and look up.
"Partner...?"
Naruto sighed in relief through a big grin. "You're okay!"
Tsuna's gaze shifted while his head and body remained motionless.
"Where am I...?"
"Don't worry, you're gonna be okay! I don't really know where we are, but you're okay!" Naruto reassured him as he helped him to his feet and gripped his shoulders. He seemed steady, but it was important to keep an eye in him. The elixir had some weird after effects like hallucinations.
He slowly loosened his grip and stepped back. Seeing how Tsuna wasn't falling over, it was safe to assume he could stand on his own for the moment.
Naruto whirled, glancing about.
"Who did this to you?" He asked. "Where'd they go?"
"... It's no good, partner..."
Naruto smirked at him. "Don't worry! We'll take them down, just like the others."
He returned to glancing around. Remembering Sasuke, he looked at him to see he was standing up, though hugging the wall. He was also glaring murderously in Naruto's direction.
"Sasuke?! What's wrong?!" He called.
"Partner..."
I'M SORRY
Naruto jerked, blacking out as red hot pain filled him, starting at the center of his chest and snaking over his shoulders, skull, and knees. His toes and fingers went numb as something warm and runny dripped from the corners of his mouth.
Shocked beyond all imagining, his eyes slowly trailed downward, his pupils shrinking as his mouth formed a wide, unbelieving grimace of pain from various origins.
There was an arm through his chest.
Right where his heart was.
Tsuna's arm.
And this wasn't a genjutsu.
Feeling his knees become heavy, Naruto raised his arms with difficulty, cupping his hands over his mouth. He coughed up a waterfall of blood that seeped through the spaces between his fingers and died his hands red.
His surrounding vision turned blurry, and black as he looked over his shoulder at Tsuna, who met his gaze without flinching.
Tsuna's eyes blinked, narrowing into crescent moons.
"I'm sorry..." He repeated, raising two fingers to focus his chakra.
His vision all but gone, Naruto blinked slowly. He could hear voices calling out to him desperately. Sasuke, Kurama, others too...
And as much as he wanted to stay conscious, his body wouldn't listen to him. His thoughts drifted to Sakura, alone in the cave, and Sasuke who'd looked so angry, and Kiba, Akamaru, jugo, Suigetsu and Hinata who were still lost in the blizzard somewhere.
Especially Hinata.
Her voice was the loudest of all.
I WILL SCOLD YOU! I WILL!
He could remember that time at the inn, after the seal stone had shown him and Sasuke that vision of the past. It was just before he'd gone after Hinata.
That's right... He heard her... And he could hear her now...
'NIGHT, LOVE YOU.'
The past...
Last edited:
