Secrets of the Kitsune

Chapter 32

Naruto had shielded her from a barrage of attacks; knives to the back, a heavy flower pot to the head, acid thrown from the right, hot water from the left. Naruto had thrown a thick cape which she had summoned using her space-time ninjutsu over her to protect her from the acid and the hot water, using the rest of her body to shield and take damage. Naruto trembled from the pain as she quickly picked up the daimyo and disappeared from the market. This was a mistake, I put our daimyo in danger. Naruto thought to herself as she went to the first place she could think of. Sasuke's house. She can feel that Sasuke was home and that was the only thing she could reach out to through the pain.
Sasuke was home with Shikamaru and Neji. They were snacking, discussing training strategies and planning for their upcoming mission together, the rest of the family were in the same area just doing different things when Naruto appeared in front of Sasuke. They stared in horror at the state Naruto was in. She was trembling as she let the person she was carrying down. "Sasuke," Naruto whispered as her knees buckled. The raven was next to her within milliseconds, followed by the others. "You have to bring her to the hospital!" Himiko snapped.
"No." Sasuke growled immediately, not caring that he was growling at the daimyo.
"What? You dare disob-"
"They will kill her in the hospital, they hate her too. Tsunade-sama is busy." Sasuke growled out when the daimyo tried to order him to do something that he would have done in a heartbeat if he could. Itachi appeared next to them with a first aid kit, all they can do right now is clean her wounds and let the Kyuubi do the rest. The acid burns had destroyed a lot of her skin and flesh, they almost puked when they saw how horrendous the wounds were. The other side of her body was suffering from second-degree burns. Blood poured from her head, they fear that she might suffer a concussion or worse. Mikoto led their daimyo away so that she doesn't have to witness the gruesome sight of them pulling out knives from Naruto's back and prodding at her wounds. Naruto wanted Sasuke to hold her but Sasuke will not, in fear of agitating the wounds. She felt really sleepy, Shikamaru noticed her head dropping lower and lower as he steadied her with his shadow, keeping her still and in place. He signalled to Neji and Sasuke to tell them to keep her awake. Keeping her awake doesn't help with anything but they need her to cooperate with them so that they can clean her wounds quicker and easier. "Come on Naru-chan. Just stay awake for a little while longer." Itachi muttered, cleaning the wound on her head. Upon closer inspections, her skull had a fracture but he wasn't sure how bad the damage is. Fugaku is cleaning the acid burns and was trying his best not to react too much to the horrible sight. He has seen a lot of gory scenes and injuries before, but this... This was on Naruto, a mere child thrown into the world and left to fend for herself even at a younger age. She didn't even get the injuries from a mission, she got them from her own birth village due to stupid villagers.
"Sasuke." A weak whisper.
"I'm here, Naruto. I'm here." Sasuke muttered. Naruto looked up at Sasuke wearily. She held a hand out and Sasuke hesitantly took it. He didn't want to risk hurting her or aggravating her wounds. "Can you tell the daimyo that I'm sorry for putting her in danger?" Sasuke looked at the rest of the occupants, everyone equally shocked.
"You did not put me in danger. They did. I'm going to Tsunade, I've had enough." Himiko said, turning and walking towards the front door, mumbling about the villagers being absolute idiots and that Minato and Kushina are rolling in their graves. "No no no."
"Enough Naruto. This has to end. They cannot keep doing this to you, you kept us all safe from the kyuubi and yet they repay you like this." Mikoto said, kneeling next to Naruto with a cup in hand and helping her take a few sips of water.
"It doesn't matter anymore." Sasuke glared at Naruto when she said that. He trembled with anger before he abruptly stood up and tried walking out but a hand gripped his wrist. A weak grip that he could've easily broke out of but he recognised the touch immediately. Naruto had moved to stop him despite the pain. They watched as wounds slowly start to heal, flesh grew back into place, followed by skin. It was a really slow process and they didn't want any contaminants in the air to get to her wounds so they wrapped it up. "You look like Lee." Shikamaru joked. Naruto stood on wobbly feet before she grinned and struck a pose like Lee always does. "It must be the bandages." Neji stage whispered, making everyone laugh despite the horror they experienced when Naruto moved so violently that it would've definitely hurt her but she didn't even flinch.
"Would you like to stay for dinner daimyo-sama?" Mikoto offered. Himiko pretended to look offended at Sasuke.
"How dare you not tell them I'm joining for dinner?" Himiko said, putting a hand to her chest before she turned to Mikoto. "Yes, I would like to stay. I have to discuss something with you. All of you. These two can stay to listen too if they'd like." Mikoto looked at the Nara and Hyuuga who nodded immediately. Naruto sighed. What is the daimyo planning? She heard Kurama cackling but the fur ball said nothing.