The Great Medic (discontinued?)

7: The Future of Konoha

A/N - And chapter seven is finally complete, after twenty days, it's done. I really struggled with this chapter and for those keeping up with my message board on Wattpad, a few of you will know that I've been very busy. Shortly after posting chapter six, I got an interview for a job and, shortly after, I did get the job.

For the past week and a half, I was receiving training at my new job. I work the overnight shift there so, for the majority of the night, I am by myself for almost ten and a half hours - yes, I work full-time again... yay! However, getting used to working overnight that long has been pretty taxing on my sleep schedule and, out of everything - learning all the codes on the machines I work with, the register, paperwork upon paperwork - trying to figure out a good sleep schedule for me has been the hardest and most taxing thing ever.

However, I do feel a lot better now, though. I have a better sleep schedule to match my overnight work and have managed to squeeze writing into those cracks. But that's enough out of me, enjoy the chapter!

Oh, wait! Before I go, join my discord! You'll get some early access to this story as well as being able to contact me directly without much wait time as I'm more active in talking on discord: https://discord.gg/bYJ2fGMMnw

Naruto had read books similar to the state the village was in now. On his off-days where he'd take time to relax because Iruka constantly insisted he was going to work himself to death, he'd pick up some fiction books from the library. Most told tales of heroes saving the day and finally getting the love of their life - simple stories like that always brought a smile to his face.

But amongst those were a couple with darker tales, where it feels like the world stands still, silent. Where the air feels thick, where villages feel like ghost towns even with people still walking around. It's reading someone being so completely shell-shocked that their body sways with the wind and their eyes are dark, gray - devoid, his mind supplied.

It's how his village was now.

Naruto had never seen Konohagakure like this. People in varying groups scrambling around the streets, some screaming and crying in alleyways, outwardly sobbing in the middle of the road. They mourned and grieved violently, their tears ran tracks that stayed on their faces for days. Their puffy, red eyes showed pain much greater than the blond could perceive. The way their hands clawed at their chest made Naruto shiver.

He couldn't blame the village-wide pain everyone was feeling - it was to be expected after such a massacre that had taken place in the Uchiha compound late one night.

It was hard not to hear about what had taken place only three days ago - it was all anyone talked about in the wake of such painful deaths. It was scary too, to think that a single member of the Uchiha clan had chosen genocide and slaughtered all those innocent people - it made his stomach clench painfully tight. Their bodies were found mangled and bloody only an hour after the incident. Through the horrors lies only one, single living Uchiha, the murderer's little brother, one eight-year-old academy student.

Sasuke Uchiha.

To be frank, Naruto wasn't all that familiar with the other boy other than knowing his class rank in the academy - number one, mind you - and that all the girls in their class fawned over him on the days before their summer break. He was kind if he remembered correctly, with soft smiles and constantly talking about how his big brother was 'the coolest ninja ever' - how the tides have turned, his mind cooed without prompting. Although the blond had never held a conversation long enough past formal greeting with Sasuke, he could feel a sense of pain deeper than he was willing to dissect towards the 'Last Uchiha' in Konohagakure.