NaruSaku - The Storm Part III

The Storm
Part III

The Sun was high in the sky, it’s only been 2 hours since the rescue mission began, and yet, the two Jounins couldn’t keep up with everyone’s needs. Even when Tsunade arrived to help out, it barely made any difference, the damage done was simply too great.
The original Naruto was looking over to Sakura, seeing how she was struggling to close a wound that she usually would heal in a flash. She had almost no Chakra left, and that he knew, and couldn’t stand it.
‘’Sakura.’’ Naruto called to his friend, who had finally succeeded in healing most of the injury, it wasn’t perfect, but the rest could heal on its own with time.
‘’Yes what is it?’’
‘’You’ve done enough for now, go eat something and rest for an hour, maybe two if you can, I’ll take over from here with Tsunade.’’
‘’What are you saying?!? Or maybe you didn’t see that the whole populace is waiting in line to get their wounds treated?’’
‘’I have seen them, but if you burn yourself out completly, you won’t be able to able to help at all for at least a whole day, compared to a few hour rest. Don’t worry, I can generate at least 10x more clones, even if I don’t know Medical Ninjutsu, most wounds are broken bones and open flesh, those can just be bandaged and they will be fine. Tsunade can handle any major case while your away, and Shizune should almost be done going around the village to have everyone regroup. We’ll be fine without you for a while.’’
She didn’t like it, but she knew he had a very good point, so she gave in without arguing. Of course, people were yelling and whining about her stopping, but Naruto quickly intervened, creating 4000 more clones. They all got to work on the wounded.
‘’I now have 5000 clones up and running, even I can’t keep this up for more than 3 or 4 hours with the Kyuubi’s help, so rest up as much as you possibly can.’’
She didn’t say a word, simply turned around and went to lie down on some debris a bit further away from everyone else, and in a few seconds, she fell asleep.
But she didn’t dream, in fact, she was lost in her memories, recent ones too. Yesterday, the night spent with Naruto and how relaxed she felt when he took her in his arms, and also, what Tsunade had told them that very morning.
= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = **Earlier that morning**= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =
‘’What? Your saying Konoha was attacked by a God? But that’s impossible!’’ yelled Sakura.
‘’Why wouldn't it be possible?’’ replied Tsunade at her student, still as calm and serious as ever ‘’This village did get attacked by a Demon 18 years ago, so how would it be impossible for a God to attack us as well?’’
Sakura couldn’t answer her master’s question, although it didn’t made much sense to her, she had to admit, it was very possible, Konoha had just as many enemies as it had allies, and some of their enemies were strong, very strong, nations and shinobies alike.
‘’Now as to who summoned Susano’o... it is still uncertain, but from what I’ve discovered, it can only be one person...’’ said Tsunade, her eyes now looking at the ground, she almost looked depressed.
‘’Then tell me who the bastard is, and I’ll go kill him personally!’’ screamed Naruto, his eyes had turned red and his whiskey (sp?) marks and his hair were going wild.
‘’I doubt you could Naruto, even with Kyuubi to help you...’’
The Demon Fox had heard that last comment, and, using Naruto as a medium, replied to Tsunade’s comment.
‘’Watch what you saying wench, I may be trapped in this boy, but I am no fool, I am perfectly able to match Susano’o strength! Insult me again, and I’ll have to prove it!’’
Tsunade realised that it was the Nine-Tails that had spoken to her, not Naruto, she did not punish him, but she did glare at him. She remained silent for a long time and, although it was clear he was struggling to get control of his body back, Naruto just couldn’t pull it off. Finally after more than 15 minutes of silence, his ocean blue eyes came back to normal.
‘’I won’t ask you why the Nine-Tails is able to take control of you to such an extend, but make sure it dosen’t happen again, ever. Is that clear?’’ calmly told Tsunade to Naruto.
‘’Yes ma’am, he caught me completly by suprise there, but by taking over my body like this, he must have burned himself out, he won’t bother me for a while now.’’
Sakura had her eyes on her friend, at his comment, she stepped closer to him, and hugged him behind. Naruto said nothing, did nothing, since there was no need for words or action between them. He then took Sakura’s hands that were in front of his waist, and to the pink Kuniochi’s suprise, he held them, tightly, with his own. He didn’t want to let go.
‘’As I was saying...’’ said Tsunade, breaking the silence, ‘’The one that attacked the village is more than likely your lost comrade, Sasuke.’’
Sakura let out a quiet whimper, Naruto had, without realising it, almost shattered the bones in her hands when he heard the Hokage’s words. She didn’t fight back, she didn’t try to break his hold, she knew what he was feeling right now, what he was thinking, and she wanted to have her share of his pain, be there for him. That would be her pain.
Naruto was on the edge or tears.
‘’Why?!? Why would he attack Konoha?!? He has no reasons to do this, and besides, how in the world would he aquire Susano’o?!?’’
‘’By killing his brother 3 years ago, Sasuke aquired Itachi’s powers, or at least some of them. Susano’o became his to control.’’ Said Tsunade, answering the boy’s question.
‘’I will hear nothing of this, I’ll be waiting outside!’’
Naruto then let go of Sakura, and walked out the room, slamming the door behind him.
‘’Hopefully you will be more reasonable.’’
‘’Yes, Lady Tsunade...’’ quietly replied Sakura, who was tending the her hands.
‘’I’m sure you don’t want to hear any of this either, so I’ll make it short. You and Naruto are going to go help the villagers, if you guys see or hear anything concerning Sasuke, you are to go check it out, engage him if possible. And Sakura, be very careful, if he really did aquire Susano’o powers, then he will be too much to handle, even for you, Naruto is probably the only one in the village strong enough to take him on.’’
‘’Understood...’’ was all Sakura could say, she too, was hurt by the possible news. She headed for the door, lost in her thoughts.
‘’One more thing Sakura, that coat Naruto is wearing, why did you give it to him?’’
Sakura turned back to face her master.
‘’You’re the one who told me that his ressemblance with the 4th Hokage was simply stunning, I figured that it would give the people some hope to ‘’see’’ him again.’’
‘’We’ll see I suppose. Your dismissed, get to your duties.’’
Sakura left the room, not saying anything else.
‘’I wonder how the people are gonna react when they see Naruto dressed like Yondaime... maybe some of them will even see the connection between them. All for the better I suppose...’’
= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = ** End of Flashback**= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =
Sakura woke up, something was calling to her...
‘’Sakura! Sakura wake up! Sakura!!’’
She opened her eyes, and she welcomed the sight of the blond shinobi in front of her.
‘’Naruto... what’s wrong? Did I overslept?’’
‘’Oh yeah you did, but no worries, Tsunade, Shizune and the other medical squad took over the rest, they knew how long you had to work by yourself this morning, so they decided to let you rest for a while longer.’’ Naruto responded with one of his familiar grin.
‘’What time is it...?’’ as she said those words, she looked to the sky, it was glowing red and orange, at first she only thought it was beautiful, but then her mind clicked.
‘’Wait, I slept for the whole afternoon?’’
‘’Yeah, you did, and you looked really cute with that little drop of drool by your mouth, fortunatly, you didn’t snore!’’ Naruto said, trying to contain his laughter as much as possible.
‘’Idiot!’’ she bumped him on the head, just hard enough for him to hit the ground, not enough to give the number 1 knucklehead in Konoha a headache of any sort.
She then got up, and looked around, they were a lot of people lying around, some on the ground, the children were lying on some homemade fortune beds... she also saw an area where the bodies were completly covered with white sheets. She thighten her fists.
‘’Are they really that many dead?’’
Naruto looked over where Sakura was looking, he didn’t look sad, or horrified, or even mad, he wore an emotionless expression.
‘’I still can’t believe he’s the author of this... massacre...’’
‘’Are you talking about... Sasuke?’’
‘’No, not Sasuke... I’m talking about Orochimaru’s disciple...’’
‘’I... see...’’