❝𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑲𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒉𝒂❞

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 23: 𝑹𝒆𝒃𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒕 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒕 2

-Timeskip: 7 days-

Sakura sat beside Naruto's hospital bed for the 4th straight day. The staff had long since given up on trying to convince the distraught kunoichi into into leaving. Minato was staying with Ino considering Sakura's mental stability was currently shakey at best. Occasionally Naruto would cry out in pain as another tomoe on his seal became red. There were only 2 black tomoe left but everyone was still confused about what was happening. The design on his back only had 2 red tomoe while the rest had turned green. Now Sakura sat staring blankly at him when he suddenly convulsed in pain and the other 2 tomoe became red. The ripple pattern began to spin, each ripple going a different direction, and began to pulse with an ominous black light. The marks on his neck faded to black and began to pulse the same black light. Naruto began to have violent seizures and was screaming so loudly that her ears began to hurt. He was in more pain than Sakura had ever seen him in and she couldn't do anything.

"Oh god Naruto please wake up! Please please please wake up!" Her tears flowed down in streams as she hugged him close. A tear landed in each of his eyes and they suddenly shot open. Sakura was horrified as she found herself staring into one blue eye that she was used to and one black eye with red ripples. Then she knew. Everything that had happened was projected into her mind before the two eyes closed again but she now knew what was happening.

She needed to warn the staff.

It was two days ago that the hospital evacuated. Once the last person was out the building did the impossible: it vanished. Only Naruto was left inside. Now out of the blue the entire hospital reappeared looking like it had been in a warzone. Its sudden reappearance shocked many people. It didn't take long for a crowd to form either. Everyone was anxious to see what would emerge from the destroyed building. The building was dark and nothing could be seen moving inside through the shattered glass. Everything was silent. Not even the birds were chirping. It was as though the world held its breath in anticipation for anyone to emerge from the devastated building.

"Look!"

The shout made everyone turn their gaze to the hospital and a figure could be seen slowly making its way out of the building. The figure collapsed to one knee and was forced to extend an arm to catch itself. After several moments it pulled itself up and began to stumble towards the door. As the figure neared the entrance Sakura seen the green glow from every pattern etched onto the figures body.

"Oh my god!" Sakura started forward even before the person cleared the structure. Sasuke tried to stop her but missed her arm. Cursing under his breath the Uchiha followed to ensure her safety. The front door fell open and Naruto fell forward face first into the ground.

Sakura dropped to her knees beside Naruto and rolled him onto her lap. She was shocked to find him smiling. His face was pale but already the color was beginning to return to his face. It was like she could physically see his energy returning right before her eyes.

"I did it Sakura. I finally did it." Naruto sat up and captured the stunned Sakura's lips with his own before standing up. He was about to offer his hand to her when he noticed a red glowing line extend down each arm and ending in a circle on the back of his hand. Before he could question what it was for the lines turned black and peeled off of his skin to form a liquid substance that hovered above the center of the back of his hands. Before he could question what it was the liquid suddenly began to move through his hand. What shocked Naruto more was the new hole in each of his hands that closed when the liquid wasnt being used. The liquid returned to his arms where they melded with the skin to once again form the lines.

"Well that was interesting."

He was about to talk once again when he spun around but became extremely dizzy.

"Hey Sakura."

"Yeah Naruto?"

"I need to go home."

With that he collapsed in a heap on the ground, snoring with a smile on his face.

"Silly baka." Sakura said with a smile as both her and Sasuke lifted their burden between the two of them and set off at a slow pace back to Naruto and Sakura's house.