Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Road Less Travelled By ❯ Naruto in Hospital! The World’s Most Unlikely Candy Striper Visits ( Chapter 12 )

Naruto in Hospital! The World's Most Unlikely Candy Striper Visits

 

As hard as Sasuke tried, he could never feel truly apathetic about the medical ninjas. Any time he needed to see them implied weakness on his part, or at the very least some screw up in his training, but he couldn't deny that they did a good job of sorting out the various injuries that the ninja lifestyle sustained. Personally he thought that the order to go get his arm checked out at the hospital was paranoia on Kakashi's part, since the jounin had done an adequate job of cleaning and binding the burns up. Sasuke, however, didn't put it past Kakashi to somehow check up on whether he had gone to the non-critical emergency care section. The man had been meddling in his affairs too much lately.

Sasuke looked at where the medical ninja had just finished tying off the bandage somewhere at the top of his arm. Wisely the nin had passed no comment on the cursed seal that was clearly visible now that Sasuke had removed his shirt.

“There you go, Uchiha-san,” said the medical ninja, starting to tidy up his supplies. “I'm afraid it won't be fully healed in time for the exam, but I've tried my best.”

Sasuke nodded slightly and moved his arm around, trying to get used to the restriction in movement that having his whole left arm bandaged caused. “Thanks for the effort,” he said grudgingly, realising that it was wise to at least be polite to healers. He grabbed his shirt and shrugged it back on, ignoring the renewed itching of the seal at the touch of cloth. Damn it, is it going to do that every time I try to push myself?

“Um, Uchiha-san, may I ask what caused the burns and scrapes? Is it some new jutsu for your fight against Gaara of the Desert?” The medical ninja looked eager for information and Sasuke tried not to sigh.

Looks like someone else trying to make money off of the outcome of my fight. Damn it all. He slid off the examining table and glared at the ninja. “That's none of your concern. If there's nothing else for you to do here, I'm sure there are other patients waiting for this room.” He walked off leaving the medical ninja spluttering. There's being polite, and then there's allowing fools to ask whatever enters their heads. He stuck his hands in his pockets and tried not to wince as his left hand complained at the rough cloth grating through the bandages. Great. A handicap for what may well be a fight for my life if things go wrong. This `chidori' seems an ideal solution to the problem of Gaara's shield of sand, but only if I can sort out what went wrong on the second attempt. I don't want to use my weapon hand like Kakashi does, but I can't use my sharingan to copy it directly in that case. I'll have to try to at least partly learn it for myself.

He sighed and started towards the outer door, noting with dismay that the sun had already set. Great. First of all, I get burns all down my arm from incorrectly controlling the seemingly bucketfuls of chakra needed to power that damn jutsu, then Kakashi makes me report here to check all the grit was cleaned out correctly from the boulder I failed to cut through, and now I'm late enough that Sakura and Naruto will think that something is wrong with the seal again. At that thought, the throbbing in his neck that had faded while he was being examined started up again. “Oh don't you start!” he complained, drawing several worried looks from the medical staff.

Sasuke tried not to blush. And now the idiots have me talking to myself. Great. Just great. From the pain in his neck he could understand why Kakashi had warned him not to try to use chidori three times in a day. The chakra exhaustion could cause the cursed seal to escape the fuuja houin(1), and without Sakura there to help calm me or Naruto to try to knock some sense into me, I dread to think what I might do. Next time I might not stop at just the enemy's arms. He pushed open the outer door, frowning as he could hear yelling from just outside the hospital compound. What could be happening? Is there an emergency coming in? Has Gaara found someone else to be his `prey'? Sasuke shuddered at that thought, and moved away from the entrance as a group of medical ninja came running forwards carrying someone.

As they came forwards, Sasuke started to see flashes of orange in amid the medical whites and that created a feeling of dread. This only grew worse as they closed and he could see Naruto lying prone on a stretcher carried between them. “Naruto?” He moved forwards to run alongside those carrying him. “What's with Naruto? What's happened? Is he alright?” he demanded.

None of them spared him a glance as they rushed Naruto into the restricted areas of the hospital.

Sasuke moved away from the door reluctantly, moving a hand to his neck where the cursed seal had started to increase its toll on his concentration. He backed slowly to a wall and leant against it, closing his eyes and trying to calm himself down. Naruto's fine. He looked all in one piece, just dirty and tired. He'll be fine. A part of him felt enraged that Naruto was making him feel this worried, and that Naruto was somehow responsible. The fact that Sasuke was seeing Naruto's form on the stretcher superimposed on top of the stretchers that his family were carried on was not helping his anger lessen. Between that and the worry, it took him a few moments to regain his mask of uncaring detachment enough for him to feel happy re-entering the hospital to look for answers. And if they try avoiding giving me any I'm using my new jutsu, twice a day limit be damned.

 

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Sakura wasn't happy to be kept waiting. Not at all. She was starting to suspect some sort of prank on Naruto's part, like him turning up that morning and trying to grope her or something. He'd seemed very odd and nervous about the whole thing, and there had been some strange white-haired old man egging him on. She was starting to feel seriously neglected when Sasuke finally showed up outside the Ichiraku Ramen, fifteen minutes late and looking tired and out of breath.

“What kept you?” she asked, trying not to snap at him. “I expect Naruto to keep me waiting around all the time but not you, Sasuke-kun.” She paused as she noticed him rubbing at his neck and shoulder with his right hand, while the left hung limp and bandaged by his side. “Sasuke-kun? Are you alright?”

Sasuke nodded absently. “Just a little too tired to escape a neck ache, that's all, Sakura.” He moved towards the curtain, not meeting her gaze as she glanced at him worriedly.

“Is it a bad sort of neck ache, or just a little one?”

Translation, am I about to go crazy and kill everyone if they're out of pork again? “I'm fine, Sakura. I wouldn't be out here if I wasn't.” He sat tiredly, and ordered two bowls straight off. Stupid Kakashi, making us skip lunch so that I could come here and get my arm checked over.

Sakura sat with him, still watching him nervously. “Shouldn't we wait for Naruto? He can't be much longer.”

Sasuke shook his head. “Naruto isn't coming, Sakura. He's in the hospital.”

Sakura looked at him, blinked slightly, then looked at his arm pointedly. “What the hell have you two been doing to each other then? Meeting up for some stupid reason when you're going to face each other in the arena anyway!” She slapped Sasuke's injured arm, causing him to grunt in pain. “Stupid men, always trying to prove something.”

Sasuke slammed his uninjured hand on the counter. “You think I'd do something that stupid? I was there getting my arm fixed up when he came in, that's all. It was that idiot's fault, not anything to do with me!” He glared at Sakura, willing her to break his gaze first and so admit that she was jumping to conclusions.

Finally she did, and sighed. “Sorry, Sasuke-kun. I'm just so used to the two of you arguing over every little thing, and then with your arm I guess I just thought the worst.” She looked at him. “Are you going to forfeit at the exam because of your arm?” Please say yes, Sasuke-kun. I was afraid Gaara would be too much for you when you were uninjured.

Sasuke grunted slightly. “I'm sure that's what you and Naruto would like me to do, just like you wanted me to stop when… my neck was causing trouble,” he said, looking pointedly around at the people sat for an early diner at the counter. He then looked back at Sakura, curling his hand into a fist. “And I'll give you the same answer as I did then. I have to push myself, and this exam is where all the strong genin will be. If I dropped out now, I'd be no closer to my goal and would have no idea where I stand compared to the best.”

Sakura nodded sadly. “I can understand that, Sasuke-kun, but what if the best is too good for you and especially Naruto to stand a chance? I just see you and him trying to out-stubborn each other and you both winding up hurt or dead. I know that you and Naruto can take care of yourselves, but Ino has been filling me in on some of the gossip when I catch up with her when I'm not training. Neji is some sort of prodigy even for his clan, and Gaara has never been harmed on a mission according to rumours. I know that you're the number one rookie for our year, and even have the sharingan, but do you really think you're ready to take on Gaara?” She put a hand gently on Sasuke's injured arm. “You're not even at full strength anymore, and you still want to try your luck?”

Sasuke looked at her hand. She's really worried for me. “Sakura…” he started, then stopped and laid his own uninjured hand over hers. “Sakura, you shouldn't worry. A lot of things have happened in my training, things that you've missed.” He looked back up, meeting her worried gaze with what he hoped was a calm expression, although her close contact was leaving him anything but calm. “I'm ready. Kakashi made sure that I had all the tools to defeat Gaara if I had the sense and knowledge on how to use them. And I won't be as stupid as I was with my neck problems. If it's more than I can handle, I'll forfeit. I could still make chuunin, even doing that.”

Sakura smiled weakly at him. “Okay, Sasuke-kun. I trust your judgement.” She sighed softly. “How is Naruto, anyway? Did you get to see him?”

Sasuke shook his head. “Visiting hours were over, and since I wasn't family or his superior I wasn't allowed in to see him. They said he was mostly fine though.” He looked up as his order arrived, then looked at Sakura. “Aren't you going to get something to eat too?”

Sakura nodded distractedly. “Sure. Just tell me what you know about Naruto. How is he? What happened?”

Sasuke waited until she had ordered some food before beginning, ignoring the protests of his empty stomach. “They say that there's nothing physically wrong with him apart from minor cuts and bruises. He's just suffering from extreme physical and chakra exhaustion.” He shrugged, trying to look unconcerned. “They aren't sure if he'll be awake in time for the exams. I asked them if they knew exactly when, and they muttered something about Naruto having a lack of records, so they really couldn't say how long it would take him to recover.”

Sakura looked confused. A lack of records? But surely Naruto has some medical files from training in the academy. You don't get through the academy without getting hurt in some way, that's just impossible. And besides, Naruto isn't part of a clan, he should be pretty normal in how he heals, so why they won't tell Sasuke-kun when he'll wake up, I don't know. She tried to smile. “I'm sure Naruto will be fine, Sasuke-kun.”

Sasuke nodded. “He got through the second exam, so he's no weakling. He'll be fine.” The assertion sounded slightly hollow to his ears. He's gotten through worse than this. And after all his work he deserves a shot at the exam. Sasuke paused in his thoughts. Assuming I only use chidori once against Gaara, that means I'd still have an attempt for Naruto. He frowned as he remembered the rock he had practiced on fracturing. No. Gaara has armour to help absorb the hit, Naruto has nothing. Using it on him would be at the best foolish, and at the worst it could kill him. I've no wish to kill my team-mate, no matter how annoying he is. He sighed and started to eat. I guess I should go see if there's any news tomorrow, before I leave with Kakashi. It just doesn't feel right to abandon him while I go out and train, but I've only got four days to get chidori to work properly before the exam.

Sakura watched him, trying not to smile. How cute, Sasuke-kun is worried about Naruto. Guess he wants him in one piece so they can fight. I swear, it's like watching a little kid getting near their birthday or something. She smiled gratefully at the owner as he placed her order in front of her. “Thank you, mister.” She looked over and saw that Sasuke had started on his second bowl. “Hungry?”

Sasuke nodded, blushing, and wiped at his chin with the back of his hand. “Kakashi made me come back early to get my arm checked out with someone who knew more about medicine than he did. Skipped out on lunch because we were travelling.”

“Ah.” Sakura went back to eating, trying not to think of this meeting as a lucky chance to get Sasuke alone. After all, that would mean that I was taking pleasure in the fact that Naruto got hurt trying something. I don't want revenge that badly from his groping this morning.

 

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Kakashi wasn't an elite jounin for nothing. He had sensed that he was being followed some streets back, and so took a winding path away from his apartment that had been his destination and out to the training grounds. He figured that it was best to remain unobserved. After all, that would be what his pursuer wanted.

“Jiraiya-san. It's been a while.”

“Glad to see your eyes are as sharp as ever, Kakashi-kun.” Jiraiya moved out from the shadows and into the moonlight, arms folded against the chill of the night. “I'm afraid I have some bad news to give you about Naruto.” He saw Kakashi's visible eye widen slightly and shook his head. “Don't trouble yourself, he's fine. The brat just wore himself out and collapsed.”

Kakashi relaxed a little at that, but fixed Jiraiya with a level gaze. “I've already seen the notification from the hospital, Jiraiya-san. If you were supervising him correctly that should never have happened. Did I misjudge giving my agreement to you training Naruto?”

Jiraiya stared right back. “You know Naruto. Normal training methods hardly apply to someone with that much stamina. Been trying to wear him out ever since I got a hold of him, and I've only just managed to do it.” Pesky brat just couldn't figure it out for himself. I'm glad the cliff thing worked, else I'd be trying to explain a much worse mishap to Kakashi-kun. Gambling was always Tsunade-hime's thing more than mine, just glad I don't have her luck. “You want to chew me out over this, fine, but can't we go somewhere a bit warmer? And that has sake?”

Kakashi sighed. “Very well. I have some sake in my apartment, and I believe the landlord has just gotten the heating systems fixed so…”

“Sounds perfect!” said Jiraiya, draping an arm across Kakashi's shoulders. He was unsurprised at Kakashi's refusal to relax.

“I want to know what it is you've been teaching Naruto, and why he's currently hospitalised after being found next to a huge footprint.” Kakashi looked at him with a level gaze as they walked. “You've been teaching him kuchiyose no jutsu(2), I assume? Is that entirely wise? Naruto is still only a genin.”

Jiraiya snorted. “Naruto isn't any ordinary genin, Kakashi-kun. His own chakra capacity is high, and then when you consider that his guest's reserves can leak through the seal…” He shook his head at Kakashi's disapproving glare. “That guest of his is only going to drag him into more trouble. I've hearing rumours of others like Naruto, and that they sometimes go missing. I'd rather that didn't happen to the Fourth's legacy.”

Kakashi sighed. Naruto just seems to attract more and more trouble by himself. He doesn't need help from you, Jiraiya-san. “I still want to know how you managed to send him to hospital with exhaustion. Even the medical ninja don't know when he'll wake up, and they have fairly accurate records of Naruto's recovery times.” He stepped away, letting Jiraiya's arm fall between them. “I don't appreciate my subordinates being worked to exhaustion.”

Jiraiya snorted. “But you'll let them shred their arms on something, like that Uchiha brat did?” He grinned as Kakashi turned to face him. “You think you're the only one to keep themselves well informed? Next time you try to lecture me about looking after genin, make sure it's when you haven't screwed things up yourself.”

Kakashi sighed again. “Okay. Just no more crazy stunts with Naruto. From what the medical ninja told me, it could only have been Gamabunta that Naruto summoned. From what I remember of him, he wouldn't have liked Naruto summoning him as just a mere genin.” So that would be why Naruto exhausted his chakra capacity. Gamabunta is a large drain to summon. Doesn't really explain the physical exhaustion though.

Jiraiya was chuckling to himself. “No he didn't. And your damn brat refused to budge off his back, so they made a pact. He'd only acknowledge Naruto as having a contract with him, if he could ride him until sunset.” He snorted. “Looks like that cranky toad is going soft in his old age. Naruto didn't quite manage until sunset, he fainted just before, but Gamabunta still accepted him. Good thing too, from what I've been hearing.”

“Oh?” Kakashi raised an eyebrow. “Is that how you're insuring that if Sasuke loses against Gaara, Naruto has a valid weapon to use?” He shook his head. “Isn't that the very definition of `overkill'?”

Jiraiya just looked at him. “I just don't trust the Sand ninjas. They'd have too much to gain by attacking us and weakening our status. With all the rumours about Gaara and his team, it wouldn't surprise me if they were pawns in a much larger plot.” He shook his head. “Just keep your eye open, Kakashi-kun. This exam may turn out to be messier than expected.”

 

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Having reached the hospital gates, everything in Sasuke made him want to turn back. Internally he was berating himself for making himself late to meet Kakashi, and the straps of his pack were rubbing uncomfortably at where the bandage was knotted at his shoulder. And besides, he thought, what could I say to that idiot anyway? That I was just stopping by to make sure that he'd be up for the exam? Sasuke snorted to himself. “Yeah, right. Not even Naruto would believe that.” He adjusted the box he was carrying in his arms slightly and sighed. I don't even know why I'm doing this. I'm obviously going soft in the head or something. Being stupid and overly emotional. He shook his head slightly. Might as well get it over with, then Naruto will have an age to laugh at me when I'm not in the village. He focused his attention on the hospital doors, straightening his shoulders, and purposefully marched into the hospital, heading for Naruto's room.

To his relief Naruto was just lying in a bed, snoring softly, totally asleep. Sasuke tried not to act too relieved. If he's asleep he can't see me do all this, and he can't try to make fun of me or tease me. He moved forwards silently, senses alert for any sign of Naruto waking up. He made it all the way to the bedside table without Naruto so much as stirring. The idiot is totally out of it. What the hell has he been doing to himself? Sasuke sighed as he looked Naruto over. Nothing hugely wrong with him. No big cuts or bruises, just those hideous, itchy, hospital issue pyjama things. Sasuke shuddered as he remembered the few occasions he'd had to wear them before getting his hands on some of his own clothes. Ugh, makes my skin crawl just thinking about it.

At that thought Sasuke set down the box he'd been carrying, removing a pair of boxer shorts and a t-shirt that he had liberated that morning. Hope Naruto appreciates me having gone through his war zone of an apartment to get these. He laid them on the bed carefully, making sure that they were clearly visible. No way am I changing his clothes while he's unconscious. What would he think if he woke up halfway through? Sasuke wrinkled up his nose at that thought, and at the screams he imagined would follow if Naruto did wake up in that position. At least he's not awake to laugh at me. Sasuke went through the rest of the box, pulling out some of the instant ramen he'd found from Naruto's apartment and set it on the table. Pretty sure if they tried to feed him anything here, he'd just complain and insist on ramen anyway. He picked up the note he had written and looked at it, debating as to whether he should leave it after all. Could take it with me and just let Naruto wonder who got his things. Probably just think it was Iruka. Pretty sure I wouldn't like having anyone I didn't trust break in to my apartment, no matter how well they meant. He flicked the folded paper with a finger, trying to decide. Then again, if he does talk to Iruka about this he'll worry that it was someone else. Sasuke sighed, and propped the note up against the ramen pots. There. Now I'd better get out of here before he wakes up and there's a lot of uncomfortable um-ing and er-ing. He decided to leave the box as it was really worth nothing and quickly retreated out of Naruto's room, back out of the hospital and into the village proper.

Once outside, Sasuke almost broke into a full-speed run in an effort not to be late to meet Kakashi. After all, I wanted to fix whatever was wrong with the chidori so that I can use it in the exam. Naruto has obviously been up to something, and I'd never live it down if he beat Neji and I failed to beat Gaara. He stopped just short of a run, preferring a jog that didn't make his injured arm ache so much from rubbing against his clothes. He was totally unaware of the watcher who had seen him enter the hospital, leave the gifts in Naruto's room, and then leave.

Kakashi smiled under his mask slightly, watching Sasuke progress away from his current location and towards their meeting spot. Looks like those two are doing okay now. With luck their team relations have so improved even the exam won't break them apart anymore. He tracked Sasuke with his eye until he moved around a corner and out of sight. Whether this will help any in the field or not remains to be seen. Perhaps I should submit a request for another C rank mission after the exam. Something that would involve them working together in something other than training, against a common enemy. To see if their rivalry has cooled a little. It must have socially at least for Sasuke to visit Naruto like this.

He straightened up from his crouched position overlooking the hospital and stretched slightly. I should really make all this training up to Naruto later. Jiraiya-san was no doubt a good teacher for him, but just because Sasuke is more similar to me I shouldn't ignore Naruto. Or Sakura for that matter. He lazily hopped off the building, and started to amble calmly after Sasuke. If she's been good enough to train alone, when there's no goal to it, I think she deserves a little extra push just like Naruto and Sasuke have been given. Maybe with her excellent control she'd be good at genjutsu. He paused in his walk as an attractive girl close to his own age walked past. His one eye tracked her slowly, then he turned to follow her in her path. Looks like I'll be a little later yet, Sasuke, but this girl will obviously need my help with something, so I'll just have to follow to make sure she gets home safely, and so be late again. He smiled, and kept following.

 

(1) For those of you who've forgotten from the earlier chapters, this is `Evil Suppressor', the ringed seal around the cursed seal

(2) Summoning Technique