Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Naruto vs. Sasuke The Aftermath ❯ Sakura's Return Revealed ( Chapter 17 )

Chapter 17 Summary: As Sakura and Kakashi continue to struggle for their lives, the news of their return and of what has happened is slowly filtering throughout the village. The Konoha 12 soon learn of what has happened to their friend and classmate, and the ramifications of this news will be felt by most of them for years to come.

Naruto vs. Sasuke The Aftermath

Chapter 17 “Sakura’s Return Revealed”

It had started out as a good day for Tsunade when she awoke this morning. Both Sakura and Kakashi had survived the night, and the prognosis for the both of them had improved greatly since the night before. Unfortunately, there are very few good days in the life as Hokage and today was no exception. After learning about the status of Sakura and Kakashi, Tsunade had received a message from the council demanding an emergency meeting with her. Apparently, they had heard, no doubt through Danzo's spy network of what had happened and of course were in a panic about it. Anything that even remotely involved Orochimaru tended to strike fear in even the most die-hard council member. So Tsunade had spent a good deal of the morning attempting to assuage the council’s frightened concerns and assure them that everything was under control. However, due to the lack of information, the council was demanding that the Haruno girl be awakened from her medically induced sleep and interrogated to see if she had any information in regards to the Snake Sannin. Tsunade objected most strenuously, saying to awaken the girl to soon might put Sakura's life in jeopardy. After arguing for most of the morning, Tsunade finally agreed, but only under the stipulation that the council rescinds the death penalty for the Haruno girl when her trial for treason began. The council led by Danzo and Hiashi readily agreed. They could care less about the life or death of one insignificant kunoichi. They only wanted to know if she had any information they could use to their advantage. It was a small victory for Tsunade over the council, as she made her way over to the hospital. Unbeknownst to them, she and Shizune had already planned on attempting to awaken Sakura this morning. But since the council had been so insistent, Tsunade decided to use it to her advantage to help Sakura as much as possible for her trial. When Tsunade entered Sakura's room, she saw that Shizune and a Medic Nin and nurse were just finishing up preparations to awaken Sakura. Shizune looked up to see her mentor enter the room and asked.

"Hokage-Sama, did everything go alright with council this morning?"

"It's the council Shizune, rarely does it ever go right with them. But it did go better than I expected; I'll fill you in later. So, are we ready to wake up our wayward kunoichi?" Tsunade asks.

"Hai, I believe so Lady Tsunade. We just finished final preparations and her vitals are stable. We were just waiting for you to return as per your orders." Shizune replied.

Tsunade just nodded her head as she gazed upon the heavily injured girl. Sakura practically looked like some sort of incomplete mummy, as only one half of her face was still visible and not covered with bandages. In fact the entire upper half of her body was wrapped in bandages as, along with her broken arm being held in a sling in front of her.

"Alright Shizune, let's do this." Tsunade says.

Shizune nodded her head and began to administer the medication to awaken Sakura and then everyone patiently waited for the drug to take effect. After a few minutes, Sakura's lone visible eye began flutter, and she inhaled a deep breath before it opened fully. The pupil of Sakura's eye began to move about in a rapid manner, as if trying to ascertain where she was. Tsunade leaned forward to let Sakura get a better look at her in the hope that seeing a recognizable face would help ease Sakura's obvious confusion to her surroundings. Sakura's eye then fixated on Tsunade, and the Hokage smiled thinking that Sakura recognized her. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, because as Sakura stared at the Slug Sannin, the only face she saw was that of Sasuke. Then the memories of what had happened to her came forth like a tidal wave in her mind and in Sakura's disoriented state, she let loose a terror stricken scream and began to violently thrash about. Tsunade immediately attempted to hold the screaming girl down for fear Sakura would reopen her wounds and shouted an order to knock the girl out once more. While Shizune hurriedly measured out a sedative into a syringe, Tsunade and the Medic Nin desperately tried to keep Sakura still while listening to her frantic screams and sobbing pleads for help

"Nooooooo! Stay away from me Sasuke! Aaaaaaaaaaaaahh! Please Sasuke, why are you doing this? Aaaaaaaaaaaaahh! "Oh God it hurts, it hurts! Naruto! Where are you? Aaaaaaaaaaaah! Make him stop, please Naruto make him stop! He's hurting me; oh God Sasuke's hurting me! Aaaaaaaaaaaaah! Please Naruto, please save me!"

Shizune finally got the sedative injected into Sakura and after a couple minutes her body began to relax and her screams and pleading started to die down. Soon Sakura began to drift off to sleep once more, but not before saying in a drowsy sorrowed filled voice.

''I'm, I'm, so sorry Naruto, it should have been you. Please, please save me Naruto, I love, I love you Narutoooooo"

With those final drifting words said, Sakura once more fell into unconsciousness while Tsunade relinquished her hold on the girl. After taking a moment to catch their breath, Tsunade and Shizune examined Sakura to see if any damage had been done to her. Surprisingly, they found nothing which in its self was a miracle considering how violent her outburst had been. Tsunade decided to give Sakura another 24 hours of rest before they would attempt to reawaken the young girl once more. Shaking her head sadly, Tsunade looked at the sleeping kunoichi and sighed. She knew deep down that while they could mend Sakura's physical damage in a short amount of time, the psychological damage done by Sasuke's attack might take years to heal.

Meanwhile, as Sakura's awakening was taking place, her former classmates had gathered for another training session with each other. However, like the last time, Neji, Tenten, Chouji, Shikamaru, Temari, and Ino were waiting patiently for their other classmates and friends to arrive. As they were waiting for Naruto, Hinata, Kiba, and Shino to arrive, this gave Ino ample opportunity to tell Neji, Tenten, and Temari about what had happened at the Hyuga compound the day before.

"And then Naruto said to Hinata's father, she may no longer be a hime to you Hyuga, but she'll always be my hime." Ino said in her best imitation of Naruto's voice.

"Oh my god, that is so sweet!" Tenten squealed.

"And very romantic too." Temari added.

"Why can't all guys speak and act like that about their girlfriends?" Tenten lamented while Temari nodded her head in agreement.

Then the two kunoichi's shot disapproving glances towards the respective males each was sitting by. Shikamaru just rolled his eyes and looked up to the clouds, while Neji muttered something unflattering about Naruto under his breath. Then lno finished telling the story ending it with a description of Naruto's 500 Shadow clones flipping off Hiashi Hyuga as they left. Needless to say this brought about more gushing from the kunoichi's present about how romantic Naruto is to stand up to Hinata's father like that. Both Shikamaru and Chouji were still amazed that Naruto had done that to arguably one of the most powerful men in the entire village. Neji's reaction was the most surprising of all, as he shocked everyone present by doing something he rarely ever did, he laughed. The image of 500 Naruto's giving Hiashi Hyuga the "Bird", and Hiashi's probable reaction filled Neji's mind and he thought that was the funniest thing he's ever heard in his life. After Neji's laughter finally died down, Ino motioned for Tenten and Temari to come with her as she had another story to tell them about Hinata and Naruto from last night, but didn't think the guys should hear about this one. As Neji, Shikamaru, and Chouji looked on with curiosity, they would periodically hear from one of the girls in between giggling of.

"No way!" "Naruto did what?" "Hinata did that?" "Oh my God!" "I didn't think she had it in her!"

As the girls still giggling headed back over to the guys, Naruto appeared giving Hinata a piggyback ride as they greeted everyone. When Ino saw them she smirked, as now was the time to get some payback on Naruto for tying her up like a calf and tickling her last night. Unknown to everyone but Ino, she had stopped by her home and gotten some specialized ink from her father's den. It was unusual ink similar to invisible ink that was used for secretive messages or documents. When applied, nothing would appear until the document was fully exposed to direct sunlight. Ino had used it to paint a little message onto Naruto while he was unconscious last night. Now, all she had to do was to get Naruto to remove his shirt, for her revenge to come to fruition. Fortunately she had just the plan to do that and bounded over to Naruto and Hinata with a can of soda she had been vigorously shaking this morning. When she reached the young couple, she smiled sweetly and in a very contrite voice said.

"Hi Naruto, Hinata. Naruto I just wanted to apologize to you about last night. I was wrong for jumping to conclusions and I'm sorry. I know it's not much, but I got you a can of your favorite soda, and you look pretty thirsty right now."

"No, I'm ok right now. But thanks Ino, I'll have some later on, and don't worry about last night; I know you were just looking out for Hinata. So I really can't be mad at you for that." Naruto replied with a grin.

"Oh, alright I guess." Ino answered the disappointment in her voice evident because her plan was failing.

Hinata heard the disappointment in Ino's voice and thought it was because Naruto had refused to take a drink of the soda and said.

"Naruto-Kun, you must be thirsty, you carried me all the way here. Go ahead and have a drink."

Naruto looked at Hinata for a moment and smiled before agreeing and taking the soda from Ino. Ino slyly stepped back a little bit taking Hinata with her and began to talk aimlessly to the Hyuga princess before a loud fizzing sound erupted and everyone looked over to see Naruto getting sprayed with the soda he had just opened. Ino feigning concern immediately apologized and grabbed a towel for Naruto to use. His shirt was completely drenched and Ino said he should remove it and let it dry out in the sun, to which Naruto agreed and began taking off the soaked garment. Hinata began to blush a little bit at the sight of Naruto without his shirt. However, her revelry was short lived as she began to hear a few snickers from her classmates and Ino had stepped back and was laughing. Turning back to an equally confused Naruto, Hinata was mortified when in big bold letters a message had appeared on Naruto saying "Property of Ino Yamanaka."

At this point Ino was clutching her sides and doubled over laughing hysterically. Naruto saw the shocked look on Hinata's face, and following her line of vision to his chest, looked down to see Ino's message sprawled across it. His blood immediately began to boil and he let loose a massive amount of killing intent before shouting.

"You are so dead Ino!"

As Naruto began to march forward and take apart Ino piece by piece, Hinata stopped him and looking into his eyes said.

"No Naruto-Kun I can't let you beat up Ino, she's my friend."

"Yeah Naruto, thwpppppp!" Ino remarked, while pulling her bottom eyelid down, and sticking her tongue out giving Naruto the raspberry.

"But, but Hinata-Hime, I can't let her get away with this!" Naruto pleads.

"I know what Ino did was mean Naruto-Kun. But it's not your job to make her pay for it."

Naruto just scowled and growled in disappointment, before hearing Hinata say in a very dark voice.

"It's mine!"

Ino's smile immediately disappeared after hearing this and she looked at Hinata's face, which bore a very scary and determined look to it, and this was before she activated her Byakugan. As Hinata advanced towards Ino, the blonde kunoichi realized that she hadn't thought her plan for revenge on Naruto all the way through, and began to stammer.

“Uuh, come, come on Hinata. It was just a joke to pay him back for tying me up and tickling me last night. You're not, not really mad about this are you?"

Hinata just continued to move towards the nervous kunoichi before saying in a voice filled with anger.

"Naruto-Kun only did that Ino because he was worried about me and wanted to find me! You however did this out of spite! So to answer your question, yes Ino I am very mad at you about this!” Hinata then lashed out with one of the Hyuga clans most prized fighting techniques and yelled out.

“Hakke Rokujuyon Sho (Gentle Fist Style Eight Trigrams 64 Palms), two hands, four hands, eight hands, sixteen hands, thirty-two hands!”

Ino crumpled to a heap onto the ground after taking the multiple strikes from Hinata effectively closing her main chakra points. Hinata had been merciful to her friend and only used half the normal strikes of that technique as she stood over Ino breathing heavily, her attack having used quite a bit of energy. Ino came to one conclusion about her new best friend; do not fuck around with Naruto anymore now that he is her boyfriend. Hinata knelt down and put Ino's arm into a painful Taijutsu arm lock and said.

"What do you have to say for yourself Ino."

"I'm, I'm sorry Hinata, Naruto. It was a stupid prank and I'll never do it again." Ino replied while wincing in pain before she added.

"Are we cool now Hinata?"

"Not quite." Hinata replied before adding a little more pressure to the arm lock and shouted for everyone to hear.

"Whose property is Naruto?"

"Your, yours." Ino quietly stammered in response.

"What was that, I can't hear you!" Hinata yelled

"Yours, yours! Naruto Uzumaki is the property of Hinata Hyuga and no one else’s!" Ino cried out for all to hear, as the pain in her arm was becoming unbearable.

Hinata smiled and released her friend’s arm. She then knelt down and reopened all the chakra points on Ino she had closed and helped her off the ground before quietly saying in a saddened voice, because she feared she had lost Ino as a friend over this.

"I'm sorry Ino, I didn't want to do that. But I won't let anyone humiliate Naru-Kun while I'm around, not even you. I hope we can still be friends."

Ino looked at the forlorn Hyuga princess while rubbing her arm to bring some feeling back to it. After a moment, she realized that she had been the one at fault in this entire ordeal and said.

"No Hinata, I'm the one who's sorry. I was wrong in doing this and I had that coming. I still want to be your friend if you'll still have me?"

Hinata's eyes grew wide in relief of hearing that and she smiled and nodded her head before they embraced in a hug. Ino then whispered into Hinata's ear.

"I know a way I can make this up to you Hinata if you're interested. Do you know that medical jutsu that allows you to remove topographical poisons or chemicals from the skin?"

Hinata released the hug and looked at her friend in a confused manner before answering that she did know that jutsu. Ino then smiled and whispered once more into her ear.

"Well I'm pretty sure that jutsu would work in removing my message, but it would require you to move your hands all over Naruto's chest, if you want to that is?"

Hinata's face blushed slightly, and she began to chew on her bottom lip a little bit, before turning around to look at the shirtless Naruto and then back again at Ino. A wicked grin spread across Hinata’s face and she nodded her head in approval to her friend. Hinata then walked over to take Naruto's hand and lead him to the bleachers before he stopped her and said.

"Hinata-Chan, I'm not sure I like being called the property of anyone."

Hinata just looked at Naruto's face a moment before she grasped the back of his head and devoured his lips in a kiss earning a muffled gasp from Naruto. After getting over the initial shock when she did this, Naruto quickly succumbed to the pleasurable feel of her lips and wrapped his arms around Hinata's waist to pull her closer to him and returned the kiss with a ferocious passion. Their friends looked on in amazement at the two kissing, and the other kunoichi's present felt their faces get flushed, as the scene before them was very romantic as well as hot. After a minute, Hinata finally broke off the kiss, and seductively said to a now breathless Naruto.

"So Naru-Kun, do you still mind being called my property?"

"Huh?" Was Naruto's dazed reply, which caused Hinata to giggle and say.

"That's what I thought. Come on Naru-Kun and I'll get that message removed from you."

As Hinata and Naruto sat down at the far end of the bleachers, Hinata charged some chakra into her hands, activated the jutsu, and slowly began rubbing her hands over Naruto's chest to remove the chemicals of the ink, when Kiba and Shino finally arrived.

"It's about time you guys showed up, now can we get some training done?" Neji says with annoyance to Kiba and Shino.

"Well you can't expect two of Konoha's most valuable Shinobi's to be worried about showing up on time for a training session with some mere Genin. Kiba answers with a swagger to his voice.

"Most valuable Shinobi, you've got to be kidding. Shino perhaps but you dobe, don't make me laugh." Neji replies with derision.

"Yeah me you arrogant prick! I didn't see the Hokage assigning you an A ranked mission like we got the day before yesterday!”

Neji was about to reply when he was interrupted by Ino, asking if Shino and Kiba were on the same mission as her parents and Lady Kurenai. Kiba just grinned widely before flexing his biceps at Teten and answering with a smirk.

"Yeah they were on the same mission as us. In fact all of the Leaf villages top Shinobi were on that mission. I guess that answers why you weren't included Neji."

"Hmmph, the Hokage must have been truly desperate to include you in such a high ranked mission. What could have been so important that it required your minor skills Kiba?" Neji asked with sarcasm.

"How about the betrayal and defection of a Leaf village Shinobi! Is that important enough for you!” Kiba growls with anger.

Everyone turned their attention to Shino, and stared at the Aburame prodigy as if silently asking if what Kiba was saying was correct. After a moment, Shino adjusted his sunglasses and uttered two words.

"It's true."

Needless to say everyone was a little stunned to hear about another defection of a Shinobi from the village. It hadn't been that long since Sasuke's defection and his betrayal was still fresh in everyone's mind. Ignoring his classmates surprised reactions; Kiba went on to say that because of his teams' exceptional tracking skills. They were sent out along with all the other top Shinobi to track down the traitor and bring them back or kill them outright if they refused to return, hence the high ranking of the mission. The news that this was a search and destroy mission shocked everyone even more than hearing of another defection. After a minute of silence while everyone absorbed what they had just heard, Tenten finally spoke up and said.

"Wow, you guys were really on such a high ranking mission, that's incredible!"

"We sure were Tenten-Chan. How about I take you out to dinner tonight and I'll tell you all about it." Kiba replied before taking Tenten's hand and kissing it, much to the kunoichi's embarrassment.

Suddenly, a massive amount of killing intent was felt by everyone, but especially Kiba who quickly turned around to come face to face with Neji, who said in a voice dripping with malevolence.

"How about you tell us all about it now dog boy, and step away from Tenten before I'm forced to put you down!"

''I'd like to see you try it white eyes. Besides, what do you care about Tenten for, she's just your teammate!" Kiba growled back.

"I'll show you what Tenten is to me you mangy mutt!” Neji shot back before quickly pulling Teten up from her seat and smashing his lips onto hers in a soul searing kiss right in front of the bewildered Inuzuka heir. Tenten was momentarily shocked when Neji did this, but quickly returned the kiss with a passionate fervor that only angered Kiba even more. After a minute, Neji broke the kiss off while holding a now breathless Tenten in his arms and said to Kiba while activating his Byakugan.

"Now back off from my woman before you get neutered dog boy!"

An enraged Kiba was ready to attack Neji, before Shino and Akamaru pulled him back away from Neji. Kiba was too blinded by anger at the moment, but they both knew that were he to fight Neji, he would be on the losing end of that outcome. After a minute or two, Kiba finally calmed down due to some coaxing from Akamaru and Shino before he said while looking at Temari and winking an eye.

"Whatever branch member, you're just lucky I'm in such a forgiving mood. There are plenty of other girls out there who would love have me as their boyfriend."

A chill went through Temari's spine; as the thought of Kiba pursuing her made Temari feel very nervous. She needed to squelch any hopes that Kiba might have of being with her right now. If they had been in Suna, she could have just beaten the Inuzuka to a pulp and been done with the matter. However, she wasn't in Suna, but Konoha as a duly appointed ambassador for her country. And she was pretty certain that were she to give a beating to the heir of one of Konoha's most prominent clans, this would cause serious problems politically in the new but fragile alliance between the two nations. After quickly assessing her options, Temari decided there was only one thing she could do to curb Kiba's attention. Taking a cue from Neji's earlier actions, she turned to Shikamaru and grabbed his face before crushing her lips onto his in as passionate a kiss as Neji had given to Tenten.

"What the Hell?" Kiba and several others either said or thought.

Shikamaru attempted to push the sand kunoichi off of him, but her grip was too strong for him to overcome. He finally gave up, and wrapped his arms around her and returned the kiss with fervor while thinking.

'Damn troublesome woman, I didn't want to let the others know about us this soon. We only had our first date last night. Damn it, how do I get myself into these troublesome situations.'

Temari finally broke the kiss off, and saw the annoyed look on Shikamaru's face and knew she would hear an earful from him later on about this, but she didn't care. She knew how to deal with Shikamaru if she wanted too, as she laid her head onto his shoulder and smiled contently while staring at Kiba. At this point, Kiba was fuming, as he was now 0 for 2 with the kunoichi's present. It seemed every kunoichi that he knew was pairing off with someone else. That left only Ino, as he looked over to her and grinned while cocking an eyebrow. Ino saw this look and rolling her eyes said with conviction.

"Don't even think about it, I'll go out with bug boy before I'll ever go out with you!"

'"Thank you for the offer Ino-San, but I'm currently in a relationship with a girl from another insect clan. Besides, you're not really my type anyway." Shino calmly stated.

"What do you mean I'm not your type, I'm every man's type!” Ino shouted feeling very insulted by Shino's statement.

"I meant no offense lno-San.” Shino replied.

At this point, Kiba said while laughing boisterously.

"Ha, ha, ha, looks like I'm not the only one getting shot down today. Care to change your mind about you and me Ino?"

"Grrrrrrrrr, in your dreams Inuzuka." Ino growled in response.

"Enough of this, are the two of you going to tell us about this traitor who betrayed the village or not?" A still aggravated Neji asks.

"Yeah we'll tell you about it, but we should really wait until Naruto is here." Kiba answered.

"Naruto is here, he's with Hinata over there." Tenten replied, as everyone turned to look to the far end of the bleachers at the couple. The sight that greeted them caused many of the Konoha 12 to blush, except for Neji who developed a facial tick, as he watched the scene before him. The message on Naruto's chest had long since been removed, though this had been oblivious to Naruto and Hinata along with everything else happening around them. At some point, Hinata had ended up in Naruto's lap with her eyes closed and her head lying on Naruto's shoulder while she continued to slowly rub her hand over his chest and abdomen. Naruto for his part also had his eyes closed, as he held Hinata close to him while his hand slowly moved up and down the side of her body. Finally, Neji could take no more of this and shouted.

"You can stop now Hinata, the message bas been removed already!"

Hinata heard her name being shouted and quickly realized her current position and actions before turning bright red and jumping off Naruto, much to his disappointment He stood up and wrapped his arms around Hinata's waist from behind causing her to blush even more, before groaning in annoyance.

"What the Hell is so important you have to interrupt us?"

"Be grateful that's all I'm doing to you Naruto!" Neji replied, before adding.

"I'm interrupting you because Kiba and Shino say you need to hear about this Shinobi who betrayed the village and defected."

“What do I care, I’m already dealing with a traitor from my own team. I don’t need to another one to deal with.” Naruto casually replied as he rested his chin on Hinata’s shoulder.

“Well you should care Naruto considering this traitor is also from your team.” Shino stated.

“What!” Naruto exclaimed.

“That’s right Naruto, the Shinobi who betrayed and left the village two days ago is one Sakura Haruno!” Kiba announces for everyone to hear.

Before Kiba could blink, Naruto had grabbed his shirt collar and lifted him off the ground. Naruto had his fist cocked back, while his other hand held Kiba, and shouted with fury.

"If this is a joke Kiba, it isn’t funny! Sakura would never betray the village, never! She, just wouldn't do something like that, she wouldn't!"

"Well she did Naruto, if you don't believe me ask Shino! Kiba spat while wrenching himself from Naruto's grasp. Naruto turned and looked at the insect master who lowered his head slightly and said.

"I'm sorry Naruto, but I'm afraid what Kiba has said is correct."

"It, it, can't be true? Sakura couldn't do this, she, she, couldn't?" Naruto stammered.

It was at this point that everyone had gathered around them, and Shino and Kiba began to inform them of everything they knew from the start of the mission to witnessing Sakura's return in the hospital. When the hospital was mentioned, Ino spoke up and asked.

"Why did she have to go to the hospital? Is Sakura alright?"

"I don't know Ino-San, the extent of her injuries looked pretty severe, the brief moments that we saw her. But if you would like to wait a few minutes, I can give a more detailed account of what happened to her." Shino replied.

Shino then gave a mental command to one of his insects, which immediately flew off, towards the hospital to retrieve his insect brethren. While waiting, everyone was silent as each one wondering about their classmate and friend. The silence was suddenly shattered by a mirthless laughter and everyone turned to the source, which happened to be Naruto. After a moment, he stopped laughing and said in an angry and pain filled voice.

"So she really deserted and betrayed all of her friends, family, and the village just to be with that teme. I don't know why I'm so surprised; Sasuke always came first to her over everything and everyone else. She probably didn't give one thought about how this would affect everybody around her, including me."

"That's not true Naruto." Shino says.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asks.

"Sakura did think of one other person Naruto, she thought of you. I already told you about the letter she sent to the Hokage. She also left one for you as well. It was opened during the mission briefing to see if it contained any information about her whereabouts, sadly it did not." Shino stated.

"What, what did it say?" Naruto asked.

"It said, I'm sorry." Shino stoically replied.

Upon hearing this, Naruto closed his eyes and dropped his head down before dejectedly saying.

"Yeah, that's about the extent of Sakura's vocabulary with me. She's either calling me a baka, or apologizing to me about something."

Hinata put her arms around Naruto and hugged him close to her. She absolutely hated seeing Naruto in any kind of pain. And the fact that once again it was Sakura, who was causing his pain, infuriated the Hyuga heir to no end. Hinata didn't think she could hate Sakura anymore than she did that day in the Hokage's office, but she was wrong. At this moment she hated Sakura with every fiber of her being. Not long after this, Shino's insect spy returned and crawled inside Shino's head through his ear to deliver all the information it had learned while at the hospital. Taking a moment to process some of the information he was getting, Shino spoke up and said.

"What I'm about to tell you is straight from the initial medical report on Sakura. I'm still processing much of it as I speak, but I can tell you what I know so far. Patient #02389, Haruno Sakura, age 14, Gender female, Shinobi status Genin, Parents Haruno Ishi mother, Haruno Taro father."

"Grrrrrrrrr, enough Shino, we already know this about Sakura! What about what's wrong with her?" A very irritated Ino angrily said.

"I already told Ino-San, I can only relay the information to you all in the order I receive it. Please be patient, I will get to the extent of her injuries in a moment. Ah, here it comes right now."

Everyone present leaned in a little bit, as Shino began to speak of Sakura's injuries.

“The patient was admitted to the hospital suffering from blunt force trauma and severe lacerations on over 50 percent of her body. The patient was also suffering from severe blood loss and had gone into shock before medical procedures were initiated. Once the patient was stabilized, a cursory physical examination was given to ascertain the extent of the injuries the victim was suffering from, and is as follows.

Blunt force trauma to the cranium resulting in at least one major concussion possibly more.

Several fractures to the face including the left eye orbital bone, cheekbone, jawbone, and nasal cavity. Also several teeth had been dislodged due to the BFT. The patient also had deep lacerations on the left side of her face, which will require Orbital-Craniofacial surgery (Head & Facial Reconstruction) in the future.

Contusions around the throat, consistent with strangulation.

The left shoulder of the patient was dislocated as well as the left elbow.

The left arm of the patient also suffered fractures to the Humerus, Radius, and Ulna bones

Fractures were also discovered throughout the patient’s ribcage, 4 fractures on the victim’s right side and 3 on her left side.

Numerous deep lacerations on the front of the patients body causing severe damage to the breasts and abdominal area of the victim.

A single laceration was found down the patients back as if caused by some type of sharp implement. This differed from the lacerations on the front of the victim, as there cause was more indicative of something organic. Possibly the jagged bark of a tree as traces were found within the wounds both in the face and chest area of the victim.

Severe contusions were found in numerous amounts throughout the body.

It also appears though not confirmed as of yet that the patient was sexu - - -.”


Shino stopped speaking at this point and became deathly silent. After a minute he finally spoke once more and informed everyone that was all the information his Kikaichu insect was able to gather. However, someone who knew him quite well recognized that this was false, and a soft voice said.

"Shino-Kun, wa, was Sakura, - - - - -?" Hinata hesitantly tried to ask the question every other kunoichi was afraid to. Shino looked to the ground a moment before quietly saying.

"Repeatedly."

All the kunoich's present visibly tensed upon hearing this and many of them held onto the hand or arm of their respective boyfriend a little bit tighter. The moods of everyone present dropped like a stone after hearing what Shino had said. Kiba however did not understand why Shino had stopped talking or what he meant when he said repeatedly. He began to openly question his teammate about what he meant but was receiving no answer from the bug master. After about a minute of this, most of the people present were wishing Kiba would just shut up, but it was Temari who finally lost her patience with him and answered his question by yelling.

"She was raped you idiot!"

Hearing it said out loud brought everything to a standstill, and no one would say anything as each one tried to come to grips with what they had learned. The reactions of each one of the remaining Konoha 12 was varied, as each person had different thoughts or feelings about what had happened to Sakura.

Tenten felt saddened for Sakura as belied her giving nature. True while she hardly knew the girl and of what she did know she didn't particularly care for. She wouldn't wish that fate upon her worst enemy, let alone a fellow Leaf kunoichi. But Tenten also felt a little afraid as well. Although not so much for Sakura, but rather she was afraid for herself. If Sasuke could do this to his own teammate, would the same fate be in store for her, if not worse were they to ever meet again? Tenten also felt ashamed for caring more about herself than of Sakura's well being, but she couldn't help it. What had happened to Sakura was the one common fear that every kunoichi in the world shared to the depths of their souls. She gripped Neji's arm a little bit tighter, and looked to his face and wondered what thoughts were going through his mind about this.

Neji felt his girlfriend grip his arm a little tighter and he gazed upon her frightened face and attempted to smile to reassure her that she was safe. When she smiled backed he brought her head to rest upon his shoulder, while his thoughts returned to the subject at hand. He had never liked Sakura, but even she didn't deserve the fate that had befallen her. But as much as he wanted to sympathize for the girl, he found that he couldn't. The truth of the matter was that Sakura had brought this down upon herself of her own choosing. And though he did feel badly that she was hurt, he wondered if she finally realizes her utter stupidity in forsaking all others in pursuit of that Uchiha bastard. Neji's thoughts then turned to how this event might affect the Hyuga clan. And as morbid as this act was, it could prove to be very beneficial to the clan. Sasuke's betrayal and now his committing of this heinous crime against a Leaf village Shinobi would effectively end any power the Uchiha clan had within the council. Even Danzo the Uchiha's most diehard supporter would not be able to save their clan seat on the council after this. So, in the vacuum of that removal, the Hyuga clan could fill the void and become the undisputed most powerful clan in Konoha. This was all contingent upon Hiashi recognizing and quickly filling that void left by the expulsion of the Uchiha clan. But for all of Hiashi's faults, politics was not one of them. In fact, on the council he was a political genius and would never let such an opportunity pass to increase the power and stature of the Hyuga clan. And all of this would come about from the actions of one idiotic lovesick fan girl of Sasuke Uchiha. The absurdity of the whole political power shift was almost comical, if its foundation hadn't been based upon such an evil act. Neji's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a bag being crinkled, as he looked over to see Chouji closing the bag of potato chips he was eating.

Chouji to his surprise found he wasn't hungry anymore, as he closed his bag of chips. He didn't know why he had lost his appetite, he rarely ever did. He suspected that hearing the news about Sakura had something to do with it. But this too was a mystery to him, as he didn't have any type of relationship with the girl other than she was a fellow classmate. Sakura had never treated him badly, in fact she had treated him like most girls did and ignored him for the most part. The few times they did have to interact growing up, she had been polite and cordial with him, but there was never any type of genuine feelings between them. Which is why he was surprised he was feeling as badly as he did. Chouji could only guess that what had happened to her he wouldn't wish upon anyone, and this alone was causing his feelings of sadness, rather than any actual fondness for the girl. The only memories he had of Sakura was when she was with Naruto and she usually treated him like dirt, which never sat well with Chouji. But Naruto always stuck up for his crush or made excuses for her treatment of him. In truth, Chouji understood Naruto's crush on Sakura better than anyone else, for he too had fallen in love with his own kunoichi teammate. The only difference being that while Naruto was brave enough to express those feelings to his crush, Chouji kept his bottled away because he knew he had no hope of those feelings ever being returned by Ino. He looked over to his teammate and worried about how she was handling the news of what had happened to her former best friend. He could see that her entire body was slightly shaking, as she stared off into the distance. Chouji wanted badly to go over and hug the young kunoichi to comfort her, but he knew he could not. His relationship with Ino, much to his despair was very similar to Naruto's with Sakura. All he would ever be to her was a teammate and nothing more.

Ino was sick to her stomach over what had happened to Sakura. Confusion was running rampant in her mind as countless thoughts and emotions grappled with one another. How could this have happened? Why didn't Sakura talk to someone, anyone before doing something as foolish as to try and bring that traitor back to the village on her own? Was she really willing to go with him if he didn't come back? The more she thought about these and other things, the angrier she got. She was enraged at Sasuke for committing such a twisted and evil act against her former friend. She prayed that she would be able to see him brought to justice and if left up to her, killed as painfully as possible for doing this. Ino was even angrier with Sakura, for being so stupid and foolish as to continue to chase after that bastard Uchiha after everything he has done. Though she was ashamed to admit it, at one time she herself had been a rabid fan girl for Sasuke. But even she had realized his true nature, when her friends and comrades had been brought back that horrible day in the hospital months ago. Why couldn't Sakura recognize the truth about Sasuke when everyone else did? It was beyond Ino's understanding, how could one girl be so book smart yet life retarded all at the same time? But the person that Ino was angriest at most of all was herself. She hadn’t been a friend to Sakura since that day her teammates were almost killed trying to retrieve her precious Sasuke-Kun. Actually, that wasn’t true, she and Sakura hadn’t been friends for a long time before that. And even though it was Sakura who ended their friendship so long ago over that stupid Uchiha bastard. Ino always believed that they would one day resolve their differences and resume their friendship. Ino thought to herself as she looked at a red sash she had pulled out of her pocket. Ino was angry with herself because if she hadn’t been so vindictive with Sakura these past few months, they may have already repaired their friendship and none of this would have happened. Sasuke had hurt her friends, and since she was powerless to hurt him, hurting his number one obsessive fan girl was the next best thing. Sakura had tried many times to reach out to Ino since that day in the hospital, but to no avail. Ino always felt that Sakura never really did value their friendship. So when Sakura reached out to her, Ino refused to have anything to do with her anymore. Even going so far as to tell the girl to go find her traitor teme of a boyfriend and go talk to him, before slamming the door on Sakura. In a way, because of her actions towards Sakura, she had practically pushed the girl into going after him. That’s when it hit Ino, the anger she was feeling towards herself was nothing more than an attempt on her part to hide from or ignore the one true emotion that was filling her mind and heart, guilt.

Shikamaru glanced over to his teammate and watched her quickly wipe a tear out of her eye and shove a red sash back into her pocket. He knew Ino and Sakura had been the closest of friends growing up, and as much as Ino would pretend that it didn’t bother her when their friendship ended, it did. Shikamaru recognized the significance of that sash, as it marked the day Sakura decided to willingly throw her best friend aside, all in pursuit of a boy. And that act alone had hurt Ino more than Sakura could have ever imagined. Shikamaru sighed, as once again Sakura’s actions had struck a chord with his teammate and he knew that dealing with Ino for the next few days was going to be troublesome. That troublesome aspect of Sakura is the main reason Shikamaru distanced himself from her growing up. The only thing they had in common was Sakura came the closest of his classmates to matching his academic scores while at the academy. Shikamaru had witnessed a few interactions between Sakura and his friend Naruto in the past. But those usually didn’t end well, especially for Naruto who would end up with a lump on his head. But Naruto never seemed to mind, so if he didn’t, why should he. In the end, Shikamaru was sorry that Sakura had been so badly hurt by Sasuke, but was apathetic about the rest of the situation except for two points, politics and Naruto. Shikamaru closed his eyes and made his trademark hand sign, which always signified when he was in deep contemplation. This attack on Sakura would have deep ramifications within the Konoha Council. Danzo who had been voting for the Uchiha’s seat in their absentia would lose that seat because of Sasuke’s crimes. Once this happens, the Hyuga clan will swoop in and claim an additional council seat for themselves, which would make their clan the most powerful in the entire village. This increase of political power and prestige for the Hyuga’s would place them upon nearly equal ground as the Hokage. This would not bode well for Lady Tsunade in the future and would be most troublesome for Konoha in the long term, Shikamaru surmised. Now when it came to Naruto, even Shikamaru’s incredible brainpower was unable to deduce what reactions his friend may experience, as one of Naruto’s greatest strengths is his unpredictability. But, when it came to matter of emotions his unpredictability is also his greatest weakness. A frustrated Shikamaru finally gave up and opened his eyes to scan for Naruto, when his vision fell upon his new girlfriend Temari who was staring intently at his face. He gave a slight smile and a squeeze of her hand before turning his head skywards and lying down on the grass.

Temari looked at her newly acquired boyfriend as was perplexed. He had been in deep meditative thought for several minutes before he awoke and smiled at her while squeezing her hand. She could tell he was bothered about something but didn’t think it was solely about what had happened to his female classmate, though what had happened probably did play some part in it. Temari didn’t know this Sakura girl at all and the only thing she could recall about the girl was she had been fortunate to tie Shikamaru’s teammate Ino in the Chunin exam. Other than that it was just the normal girl gossip, and the prevailing opinion of most people was Sakura was a “Grade A #1 Bitch.” Especially where Naruto was involved. This did not endear Sakura to Temari at all; as she owed Naruto a debt of gratitude for giving her little brother back to her after he had been gone for some many years. It was a debt she felt she could never repay Naruto no matter how much she tried. So, while Temari did feel badly about what had happened to the girl, for it was the one fearful act all kunoichi’s shared. It sounded like the girl had brought it down upon herself. As far as Temari was concerned, if that were true she wouldn’t reward stupidity with sympathy from her, only indifference. A small growl from Kiba drew Temari’s attention to her former would be suitor.

Kiba was stunned to hear the news about what Sasuke did to Sakura. Kiba always felt if you could get past Sakura’s large forehead, she had a slamming little body. Sasuke, he never had liked that pampered arrogant piece of shit growing up, and now learning that asshole was capable of doing something like this. He disliked him even more now. Kiba thought Sakura was supposedly that prick’s friend, and she definitely was his number one obsessed fan girl. Hell, all Sasuke had to do is ask, and Sakura probably would have given it up to him in a heartbeat. Why rape her? He just ruined the girl for no reason. Kiba couldn’t even date Sakura now if he wanted to, because of his clans laws about prospective mates being pure and not used. Kiba thought to himself. Shaking his head in disgust and growling in disappointment, Kiba looked over to his friend Shino and wondered what he thought about this whole situation.

Shino had very little to say about what happened to Sakura, but Shino very rarely had much to say about anything. He was sorry that such a horrendous act had befallen the girl, as it was something no one should have to experience. However, on a personal level he felt nothing for her. The truth of the matter was he did not know Sakura at all. Shino had always stayed clear of Sakura while growing up. There was something about the frequency and pitch of her voice, which always caused him and his insect’s discomfort. He did know that this girl had caused his teammate Hinata great pain and heartache over Naruto throughout the years, and this did bother him. Hinata, as well as Naruto, Kiba, Chouji, and Shikamaru had been the first people outside of his clan his age to accept him as he is without judgment. Shino was unable to openly express this to his friends, but he felt a great loyalty to all of them, but especially when it came to Hinata. She had been the first girl outside of the clan who didn’t shriek or run away from him because of his insects. And even though he never had any romantic feelings towards Hinata, being her teammate over the years, she had become a surrogate sister to him, which he greatly appreciated being the sole heir of his family’s clan. In the end, the only emotions Shino felt towards Sakura at that moment was apathy, and great concern for Hinata, and how she is handling all of this. Shino turned to look Hinata, and saw her standing alone with her arms wrapped around herself, shivering slightly even though it wasn’t cold outside.

Hinata thought her whole world was crumbling down around her, when Naruto released his embrace from her and walked a short distance away from everyone after hearing the news of what had happened to Sakura. Subconsciously, Hinata had wrapped her arms around herself, as if trying in some vain attempt to mimic the feel of his arms around her. As this was happening, her mind was flooded with numerous emotions each one in conflict with the other seeking dominance of her thoughts. When she first heard the news, the first emotion she felt was one of sorrow. No woman should ever have to endure something as horrific as what Sakura went through. But then that emotion was quickly replaced by one of anger. Hinata was angry that Sasuke would do something like this, and she was even angrier that Sakura had willingly put herself in a position for this to happen. Anger soon gave way to hatred, both of Sasuke and of Sakura. Hinata hated Sasuke for his betrayal of Naruto; by someone he once called a friend and a brother. And she hated Sakura even more for the pain she was causing Naruto from her own selfishness in seeking out that monster to join him in his betrayal. The two people who Naruto had once considered his most precious in life, had each stabbed him in his back without a care or forethought of what this would do to him. Hinata thought briefly that maybe she should carry out her warning she made to Sakura that day in the Hokage’s office. But after hearing what Sakura has already endured the past few days, Hinata knew she wouldn’t have the heart to carry out her threat, no matter how much she might want to. The last emotion that was overpowering the others that Hinata was feeling was one of fear. The fear Hinata felt wasn’t of Sasuke as one might think, but rather that what he did to Sakura would drive Naruto straight into her arms or hers into his. No matter how many times Naruto had expressed his love to Hinata, deep down she always carried the terrifying notion that one day he would leave her for Sakura. Hinata has always known that Naruto at one time considered Sakura his one true love in life. And even though he had purged himself of those feelings, Hinata knew that he would always carry a remnant of that love he felt for Sakura throughout his life. This vile crime committed by Sasuke, is something that could act as a catalyst for that remnant to grow into something harmful in Hinata’s relationship with Naruto. Hinata found herself wishing that Sakura had never returned or even died out there by the hands of her precious Sasuke-Kun. She felt horribly ashamed for thinking such thoughts, but she couldn’t help it. The heart gripping terror she felt at the prospect of losing Naruto was too overwhelming to ignore. The love Hinata felt for Naruto was so immense, if he were to leave her, she truly believed she would not survive. Hinata wiped the tears welling in her eyes, and lifted her head to gaze at Naruto a few yards away from her. She desperately wanted to go over to him and say something, anything that would help take away the pain he was surely feeling. But Hinata found she couldn’t move and had no words to say to try and comfort Naruto with. This last realization on Hinata’s part hurt most of all. Because of her inability to help Naruto with his pain when he needs someone the most, Hinata felt like the failure her father always said she was.

Naruto’s mind and body seemed to go numb on him after hearing the news of what Sasuke did to Sakara. He had walked a short distance away from his friends; fearful they would ask him questions, which he had no answers for right now. At the moment, his brain was on overload, as it seemed a thousand memories, thoughts, and emotions filled his head. So overwhelming was this, he thought he might pass out from the sheer pressure inside his head. He wanted to cry out in anguish, but found he had no voice to make a sound. All he could do with his arms folded in front of him is look to the sky with his eyes screwed shut to keep back any tears. But no matter how hard he tried, a single tear did escape and slowly rolled down his cheek. Naruto knew that his life would forever be changed after today, and what the future held for him; he couldn’t even begin to imagine.



Authors Note: I know, all of you are saying this can’t be all there is to Naruto’s reaction to the news on Sakura. Well you are correct, but Naruto’s reaction or should I say reactions will encompass quite a bit of writing. If I were to attempt to include them in this chapter, it probably would have made the chapter even longer than the last one. So the title for chapter 18 will be “Naruto’s Reactions” unless I come up with something catchier. Sorry I wasn’t able to include it into this chapter, but hopefully you all will still enjoy this chapter, and as always, thanks for all the great reviews both from the old and new fans of the story. If anyone wants to discuss the story in greater detail, just shoot me a PM. I enjoy talking about the story with the readers who really have an interest in it. I’ll try to respond back to you as quickly as I can. To everyone, take it easy!

Kingkakashi