Colors of Life and Death
by Songbird21
Chapter 8
Sakura began to run toward Naruto in slow motion.
"Naruto-kuuuuuuun!"
"Sakura-chan!" he yelled back with his arms
stretched out for the impending romantic hug. When Sakura got to him though,
instead of hugging him, she began poking him in the arm.
"Naruto...Naruto wake up," Sakura said. The
scene blurred, then Shizune's face focused into view. "Naruto! We're going to
be late!"
"Uhnnnn. Shizune-san?" Naruto said as he sat
up and rubbed his eyes. He frowned. "You ruined a great dream," he grumbled.
"If it involved that Sakura girl, I don't want
to know," Shizune said with a wave of her hand.
Naruto did a double take. "How'd you know?"
Shizune giggled a bit. "You talk in your sleep."
Naruto turned tomato red, suddenly wishing the
earth would open up and swallow him.
"Anyway, you need to get up. Tsunade wants us
in the practice field in fifteen minutes," Shinzune remarked, attempting to
get back to her reason for waking up the blonde ninja.
Naruto groaned and looked at the clock. "Six
fifteen in the morning? Damn. She's as bad as Kakashi-sensei" he thought
groggily. He rolled out of bed and shuffled over to his closet.
Shizune, seemingly satisfied that she wouldn't
have to wake him up again, walked back to the door. "I'll be waiting for you
by the front gate," she announced.
Naruto simply nodded and pulled out his usual
outfit.
"Good morning Naruto," Tsunade said as she saw
he and Shizune coming onto the field.
"Morning, Granny," Naruto said with a yawn.
::Twitch:: "Eh hem." She waved a hand around
in a circular motion. "Welcome to my personal training ground."
Once Naruto's eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight
that had assaulted them after leaving the protective shade of the trees, he
grinned at his surroundings. "Now this is kick...ass."
The field had to have been at least a good three
acres. A nasty looking obstacle course took up nearly a third of it. In the
middle was a small lake for practicing water related jutsus, which also had
jump poles in a small section of one end. There were various throwing targets
and dummies scattered around the third of the field closest to him. A tiny wooded
area to his right had a sign up that read: Trap evasion course. Enter
at own risk
"Okay. First thing we are going to do..." Tsunade
began.
"The obstacle course!" Naruto interrupted, practically
drooling at the sight of it.
Tsunade 'Eh hemmed' loudly. "First thing we
are going to do is have you mold some chakra."
Naruto looked absolutely crestfallen. "Why?"
he complained.
Tsunade simply cocked an eyebrow at him.
Naruto sighed and was about to do as asked,
when he got an idea. "She wants me to mold chakra, eh? I'll show her some
chakra," he thought with a mischievous grin. He put his hands into his favorite
seal.
Tsunade's eyes went wide. "NARUTO! WAIT!"
"KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU!" Instantly the entire
first acre of the field was filled with Narutos, all pushing and scrambling
to get out from under one another. This included the trap evasion course, which
set off every single trap...all at once.
"GET DOWN!" Tsunade shouted as a hail of poison
tipped spikes shot out of the woods, barely missing everyone and taking out
most of the replications in the process. After the danger was past, she stood
and glared at her temporary student.
Naruto desperately wanted to be somewhere else.
"I..." he began.
"That... is why," Tsunade growled as
she stood to her full height. She took a deep breath to regain her composure.
"Now...just mold some chakra," she said in a mildly dangerous tone.
Naruto gulped. "Y, yeah." Making a basic molding
seal, he pushed out just enough chakra to give himself a yellow glow.
Tsunade nodded in approval. "Alright, now a
little more. Keep going until you feel yourself loosing control, then stop,"
the Fifth Hokage instructed. She then turned to Shizune. "Shizune, you may want
to step back a bit."
The memory of what had happened with the Kage
Bunshin still fresh in her mind, Shizune didn't hesitate to move back by a good
fifty feet.
Naruto's 'glow' had taken on the likeness of
a bonfire as it continued to grow in size. "Keep control. Keep control,"
he chanted in his mind.
Tsunade watched with a thoughtful gaze as the
chakra aura towered over it's owner by nearly six feet. "I think two weeks
may not be enough," she thought warily. Suddenly, the chakra flattened down
to the ground, shooting sideways as a ring of energy, pushing rocks and dirt
toward Tsunade and Shizune with frightening speed. Tsunade managed to jump to
a branch in the tree next to her, but Shizune was pummeled to the ground just
before a fist sized rock hit her in the head. "SHIZUNE!" Tsunade screamed. Tsunade
immediately jumped down to her friend's side, her eyes wild with fear.
"SHIT!" Naruto yelled as he ran over to the
two women, regret and fear flooding his features. "Shizune-san!" he yelled as
he skidded to a halt next to them. He watched Tsunade treat her friend, a lump
rising in his throat. "Is she gonna be alright?!" he asked in a choked voice
as tears filled his eyes. No answer. "Granny Tsunade?!" he yelled.
Tsunade sighed with relief. "Yes. Amazingly,
it's just a concussion and some mild lacerations."
"Tsunade-sama...I..." Naruto began.
Tsunade held up a hand. "We'll talk later. Right
now I want to get her to my infirmary," she said as she cradled Shizune in her
arms and stood to leave.
Naruto nodded and followed the Hokage back through
the trees.
A doctor stood at the end of Shizune's bed with
a clipboard. "I have all the information I need. I'll take care of her." She
looked in the direction of an open door. "You go take care of him," she said,
referring to the boy slumped on the bench in the hallway.
Tsunade made a slight half-smile, half-frown,
then went to see Naruto. "She'll be alright," she said as she sat down next
to him.
"Yeah," Naruto replied with a monotone voice.
"Naruto, look at me," she said as she placed
a gentle hand on his shoulder. Naruto looked up, but his expression was empty.
It hurt to see his usual, carefree grin replaced by such a ghastly hollowness,
but she smiled reassuringly anyway. "It was an accident. I know exactly what
you're thinking and you're wrong. I'm not going to stop caring about you over
this. And I know Shizune will tell you the same when she wakes up."
A small amount of life came back to the young
boy's eyes. "Really?"
A warm smile found its' way to the Hokage's
face. "Yes." She put two fingers under Naruto's necklace, lifting the stone
up a little. "I have considered you family ever since I gave you this necklace
and I never abandon family because of an honest mistake."
Naruto wiped away the tears that had started
to form and smiled. "Thank you, Old Lady Tsunade," he said as he gave her a
big hug.
The doctor came out of Shizune's room. "She's
awake." She turned to Naruto. "She wants to talk to you," she said with a smile.
Looking a little nervous, Naruto stood and followed
the doctor inside the room. "Sh...Shizune-san?"
"Naruto...I'm okay," Shizune said with a weak
smile.
"I'm sorry..." Naruto began.
"Naruto, it's alright. You didn't mean it."
Shizune winced as her headache spiked a bit. She put her hand to her forehead.
"Although, I hope you don't mind if I don't go to your next training session,"
she said with a small laugh.
Naruto allowed himself a slight chuckle as he
wiped away some fresh tears. He sniffed. "No problem."
Shizune yawned. "I think I'm going to take a
nap."
Tsunade smiled and ruffled her friend's hair.
"Glad you're okay. Sleep tight."
Shizune looked slightly annoyed. "Tsunade-Sama!"
she scolded. "I am too old for that kind of treatment."
Tsunade simply chuckled and waved goodbye as
she walked away.
"Bye, Shinzune-san!" Naruto said as he fell
in step behind the Fifth.
Shizune just smiled. "Good luck," she
thought.
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