Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Talking: “…”

Thinking: ‘…’

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Chapter 19: Swords

‘Orochimaru is closing in.’ Sakura said as the tears fell down on Naruto’s jacket. She held Naruto closer and tighter with each step Orochimaru made. ‘And I’m not strong enough to fight him!’

Naruto did not move an inch.

“Now, my dear, move aside so that I can claim the Kyuubi.” Orochimaru said, as he stopped walking when he was right above them.

‘I can’t give up...’ Sakura said, her tears overflowing. “I will not move aside!”

“Oh?” Orochimaru said with a grin on his face. “Well, then, I’ll just have to force you, won’t I?” While he said that, his left hand began to turn into a snake. The ‘snake’ opened his mouth to show the sharp point of a-

“Sword?” Sakura whispered.

Orochimaru grinned even more, “Don’t worry, you’ll be able to join Naruto-kun soon enough.” He made a side glance towards Sasuke, who was still being healed by Kabuto. Sasuke’s face was not approving.

This made Orochimaru smirk. “Believe me, Sasuke-kun, this is something I’ve always wanted, and I will thank you gratefully for it.”

Sakura couldn’t move at all, she just held Naruto closer in her arms, suddenly a soft look on her face. She turned her face to look at Naruto.

“If this is what it takes to be with you, I will take it, Naruto...” She whispered, but it was still audible for Orochimaru.

“Well said, child!” Orochimaru said as the mouth of the snake went wider. The sword become longer and sharper.

It only needed one last thrust to kill Sakura.

“Orochimaru!” Sasuke yelled as Orochimaru was about to fire the sword.

Sakura closed her eyes, not wanting to see the sword penetrate her body. She heard Sasuke’s yell, but nothing happened.

“Ugh!”

Sakura’s head shot up quickly, her eyes opening at the same time;

She wasn’t killed, she was still alive. She saw that Orochimaru was held back by Jiraiya; Jiraiya had put his arms around Orochimaru’s so that the sword would fire off towards the ceiling.

Tsunade was right in front of Sakura, also protecting her.

“Jiraiya-sama... Master!” Sakura exclaimed when she figured out the situation.

“You didn’t forget about us, now did you, Orochimaru?” Jiraiya said as he had Orochimaru in his hold.

Orochimaru didn’t struggle, he only smiled. “Of course I didn’t forget... How could I? We were team-mates once...” And as he said his last sentence, he melted, escaping from Jiraiya’s hold.

“Damn,” Jiraiya cursed. “it was a Kage Bunshin...” He looked around him, but the only people he saw were Sasuke and Kabuto. Kabuto didn’t payed any attention to the fight, but Sasuke looked furious.

“Where is he...?” Jiraiya muttered, and while he searched, Tsunade was talking to Sakura.

“Sakura, are you ok?” She asked, anger heard in her voice.

“Y-yes, master... thank you..” Sakura whispered, really grateful to her master, but also realised how much danger she has caused.

Tsunade sighed of relief. “Thank God... I think you realise how much danger you’ve put yourself in, right?”

Sakura nodded, only looking at Naruto. She softly caressed his cheek; he felt so cold.

“Master... Naruto...” Was the only thing she could say. Fresh tears started to build up in her eyes, but she made no effort to stop them.

Tsunade nodded, “Let me see, Sakura...” Tsunade said as she sat on her knees on the other side.

Sakura removed her hand as Tsunade began to exclaim him on places that only a medical ninja would know about.

Sakura looked at Tsunade, to see if she could read her expression; she couldn’t.

Sakura heard Tsunade curse under her breath, and she knew that that couldn’t be a good sign.

“Master? You can save Naruto, right? I-it’s not too late, right? He’s going to be alright... right?”

Tsunade looked at Sakura, seeing the tears fall from her scared and delicate face, wanting to lie to her... wanting to tell her that everything is going to be alright.

But it wasn’t.

“Sakura...” Tsunade began, tears starting to form in her own eyes. She couldn’t continue, she didn’t knew how she could continue.

She closed her eyes and shook her head.

Sakura’s eyes went wide, she gasped for air she couldn’t seem to get.

“No...” She choked out. She looked down.

“Naruto... no... wake up.. you have to wake up!” Sakura almost yelled hysterically. She began to shook him softly.


“What’s all that noise? Is somebody having a party?” Naruto asked, as he looked up, towards the white ‘sky’.

The woman with red hair shook her head; “No, Naruto, those are the voices of your friends.”

Naruto looked at her with a confused look, “My friends? They don’t sound like that! This sound is just... like pounds... like someone is pounding their foot on the ground.

“That is because the voices of your friends are very far away, Naruto.”

“Well, then, how do I reach them?”

The woman smiled, “Think about those who are very precious to you, Naruto. The feelings you share for them, they will guide you to your friends.”

“The feelings I have for my friends?” Naruto repeated. Naruto closed his eyes and folded his arms over his chest. He had a pained look on his face, trying to remember them all.

“Well,” He said out loud as he began, “Tsunade-obaachan thinks she can do everything just because she is the new Hokage. But somehow she always looks out for us.” Naruto smiled as he remembered.

“Ero-sennin is a pervert, always looking at girls in the onsen. He always tells me that he will teach me a new jutsu, but instead, he peeps at those half naked girls. But... I guess I can be grateful to him that he taught me the ‘Rasengan’.”

He sighed, thinking about who he can name more, “Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei have also taught me many things and I’m very happy that I know them and have fun with them. The same goes for all the people in Konoha. Even though they all thought of me of a monster,” Naruto paused, shaking his head. “we all became friends. We even do missions with each other sometimes!”

“You have made some great friends, Naruto.“ The woman said softly, smiling at him. Naruto opened his eyes and beamed with joy.

“Right, right?! We have so much fun with each other and we help each other out when someone is in trouble.”

“Naru...to...!”

“Ah! He voice is becoming clearer now!” Naruto said as he looked up.

The woman nodded, “Yes, now think about who are most precious to you, other then the one you already named. Who are the ones you would do anything for?” The woman smiled, like she already knew the answer.

“The ones most precious to me...” Naruto had to think, but not too long. “Are you kidding me? The ones most precious to me are Sasuke and Sakura-chan!”

“And why is that?”

Naruto looked at her confused, like he thought she would knew why. But he answered her anyway; “Well, Sasuke is the first friend I’ve ever had. Although we couldn’t get along with each other at all in the beginning, we became each other’s best friend. Until Sasuke left to train with Orochimaru.” Naruto’s fists clenched when he spoke out the name ‘Orochimaru’. He looked at the woman with an intense look.

“And now I’m going to take him back!”

The woman smiled, “I know you are going to succeed, Naruto.”

Naruto smiled as well and scratched the back of his head, “Yeah, but it seems like I lost this round.”

“Then there is always round 2, is there not?”

Naruto grinned; “Jup! I’ve gotta get back! I have to go back to be with... Sakura-chan...” His smile suddenly disappeared as he said her name.

“I can see you care a lot about Sakura.”

“Oh, yes!” Naruto piped up. “I wish you could meet her, ma’am, Sakura-chan... I love Sakura-chan so much! Sakura-chan can throw a punch, but she’s really beautiful and nice ad kind and-“

“Naruto! Come back, please!”

“Naruto, don’t know if you can hear me, but don’t you dare to give up, little punk. You are supposed to be the next Hokage!”

“Naruto, I promise I’ll give you my newest Icha Icha Paradise book when you come back. Oh, and some new jutsu!.”

“Naruto... This fight was not suppose to happen this way.”

Naruto looked up, a smile on his face; “That’s Sakura-chan! And Tsunade-obaachan, Ero-sennin and... Sasuke..?”

After he said those names, a blue light emerged out of nowhere, blinding Naruto by the sudden change of colour.

“W-what the...?”

“You have found your way back, Naruto. You have found the ones that are most precious to you. Now go back, go through the blue light and you will be reunited with your loved ones.” The woman said, walking towards Naruto to give him a pet on his head.

“Thank you so much, ma’am! I will never forget you!” Naruto said as he walked towards the blue light.

“Remember that you always have a guardian angel watching over you, my precious Naruto...” She whispered, too low to be heard by Naruto.

Naruto suddenly stopped right in front of the blue gate. He turned his head around so that he could look at the red haired woman.

“Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask you... What’s your name?”

The woman smiled and closer her eyes; “My name is Kushina...”

Naruto’s eyes softened, “Kushina is a really pretty name, ma’am.” After he said that, he walked trough the blue light, disappearing.


“Everyone, watch out!” Jiraiya yelled as he looked up.

Orochimaru was back and he was not changing his plan to take the Kyuubi from Naruto. His left arm transformed into a snake again, who had a sword in his mouth. He aimed at Tsunade, Sakura and Naruto.

The snake spew the sword out with full force, not swinging out of course.

“No!” Jiraiya said as he wanted to make his move, but Kabuto suddenly held him back; it seemed that he was done healing Sasuke.

“I’m sorry, Jiraiya-sama, but I cannot let you through!” Kabuto said as he attacked Jiraiya with one of his kunai’s, forcing Jiraiya to jump back, away from Tsunade and Sakura.

And that was exactly Kabuto’s plan. Now no one could intercept Orochimaru’s attack.

‘Shit,’ Tsunade thought. ‘I don’t have enough time to move Sakura and Naruto. I will have to jump in front of them.’ Tsunade already wanted to make her move when suddenly something pink pushed her away.

“Sakura!” Tsunade said as the sword went through Sakura’s leg. Sakura screamed with pain, as the sword came out on the other side of her leg.

“Sakura!” Tsunade now yelled as she quickly was at Sakura’s side. Sakura wanted to touch her sword, but Tsunade stopped her.

“Let me do this...” Tsunade said as her hand began to glow green. She touched the sword, letting the green glow surround the sword.

Sakura’s face softened as the pain became less worse.

“How could you do this, Sakura!? Do you know how dangerous that was? You could have been killed!” Tsunade said angrily, only concentrating on Sakura’s wound and sword. She slowly began to pull the sword out. Sakura hissed sometimes, but the pain was less because of Tsunade’s medical jutsu.

“You could have been killed, Master.” Sakura began to protest, but with much less anger in her voice. “You wanted to take the sword with your whole body. I only put my leg in danger, you wanted it to do with your life.”

Tsunade sighed, not really wanting to argue, “You are right... But never do that again!”

Sakura smiled, “I promise.” The sword was now completely removed from Sakura’s leg, and only he wound had to be healed.

But it looked like there was no time.

“It doesn’t matter! I have even more swords!” Orochimaru said as he jumped up in the air again. Both his arms transformed in snakes with swords, while he opened his own mouth to show a sharp blade.

“Dodge it!” Jiraiya yelled as he attacked Kabuto with some shuriken, but that didn’t make Kabuto let Jiraiya pass.

“Sakura!” Tsunade said, unable to heal Sakura’s wound.

Orochimaru shot his swords, them going straight towards Naruto and Sakura.

“Sakura! Move away!” Tsunade ordered, but Sakura didn’t listen.

“No! I’m not leaving without Naruto!” Sakura said as she held onto Naruto again.

“Sakura!” Tsunade said as she wanted to jump towards Sakura and Naruto, but Jiraiya appeared and took Tsunade in his hands, jumping away from the two. He looked behind him, seeing his kage bunshin disappear as well as Kabuto defeated him. But at least it kept Kabuto in the back.

“I’ve got you!” Orochimaru screamed as the swords hit it’s target, somehow creating a huge cloud of dust.

“Sakura! Naruto!” Tsunade screamed as she and Jiraiya landed on the ground.

There were some sounds, like swords falling on the ground, as suddenly jumped up from the cloud of dust in high speed.

“Silly, what do you think you were doing?”

Sakura looked up to the face who saved her... and the voice was all too familiar.

“N-Na-Naruto...” Sakura stuttered as tears began to form in her eyes again.

Naruto held her in bridal style, slowly descending down.

Naruto grinned, his eyes closed. “The only one, Sakura-chan!”

Sakura smiled at his goofy grin while the tears fell down, “I knew it! You came back!” She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. They landed nearby Tsunade ad Jiraiya, who came running towards them.

Naruto planted his arms around her waist, holding her tightly, smelling her scent; “I could never leave you, Sakura-chan. I love you too much for it...”

Sakura didn’t pulled away; this felt so good. But she was wide awake now.

‘Did he just said that he... loves me?’ Sakura thought, never knowing that...

He loves her as well.

To Be Continued